#and i didnt pass at all so people asked a LOT of questions abt it + whenever they did
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I kind of adore how in ur tags you're talking about his foot position being off and everyone (including me) in the tags is too busy being memorized by tenzō's arm and armpit hair to notice or comment.
ITS REALLY FUNNY!!! AND HONESTLY KINDA HEARTWARMING!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! LMFAOOOO also u + everyone else is right body hair is sick as HELL!!!! its easy to forget to add onto drawings too
#yamswers#icouldreallyuseanewurl#this drawing isnt of kakashis body hair bc i tack on already-drawn things to ask answers. but i feel like u in specific will enjoy it#bc of the kakashi back of the head hair getting ruffled LMFAO#anyway yeah#it reminds me vaguely like. back when i was 16 and first came out as trans i made the intentional choice to grow out my leg hair#and i didnt pass at all so people asked a LOT of questions abt it + whenever they did#my response was always “its gorgeous. i tend to it lovingly. like a garden”#16 yr old me had confidence and a sense of humor for sure LMFAO#genuinely i love it its sooo funny to me. hello body hair enjoyers. ur objectively correct. body hair is so fun to draw too bc it kind of?#grows in swirls? like obvs theres the swirl on the top of the head. but there are directional swirls at the elbow...the belly...the chest..#dont even get me started on facial hair swirls. for people who love drawing lines i think bodyhair is REALLY good#image desc in alt text
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15 Questions 15 Mutuals
hiiiii 🫶🏾💕
tagged by @medusadeux & @demonicgodarmand 🫂💕✨🥹
1. Are you named after anyone?
i gave myself my current name first, middle and last. but my birth middle name is really special to me and it was after my grandma, and an aunt that passed 🤍
2. When was the last time you cried?
i’m not a big crier. but when i do get into those moments it really all comes out. i think the last time was a week ago or two weeks. idk, time is doing a thing rn. but i was by a lake it was beautiful and i was talking to someone incredible and processing some things. so it was good.
3. Do you have kids?
no, i love kids, but no i dont.
4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
not often, or at all really. i like really clear communication. sarcasm makes things confusing for me sometimes.
5. What sports do you play/have you played?
i wanted to be a cheerleader. i loved playing volleyball for fun. i had hops for a while, and im tall, so my gym teacher asked me to join the basketball team, but i resented being asked about it all the time so i didnt. the jump i did that got his attention went crazy tho. whole room slowed down and got slient. i think i would have been good at it tho.
6. What's the first thing you notice about people?
kindness and if theres an oddness to them. i like odd ppl.
7. What's your eye color?
brown. not the darkest but close.
8. Scary movies or happy endings?
both, just depends on what im tryna get into. but rn im fascinated with horror.
9. Any special talents?
singing i suppose. dancing, while i still have my megan knees. and lot of art stuff.
10. Where were you born?
Nairobi, Kenya
11. What are your hobbies?
reading, writing, singing, dancing, drawing, cooking
12. Do you have pets?
yes. this little bean [Korra Lula] is my best friend. i love her so.
13. How tall are you?
5’10” / 177.8 cm
14. Favorite subject in school?
history, english, science, i loved all the gender studies and queer study classes i took too.
15. Dream job?
i want to be a writer. i want it to supplement my life enough that i can just have a simple tasking job like within my community, something local or something and work part time. and i can volunteer to. like thats my ideal situation.
i tag anyone who wants to and you can say it’s me. i hate choosing between y’all. i thought abt all the people i missed for days last time 😭🥺
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What is your opinion on poly quartet?
WHO is the anon slowly asking for my opinion on all the yuukei quartet ships. i have a nagging suspicion its the same person
1. is that its ship name??? thats lame it should be poly yuukei. like...quartet is a very generic word. that could be anything
2.(actual answer) its CUTE and i support it 👍👍👍 as for my personal opinion i dont rly ship it or care for it a lot tho. cuz if i dont get in the nitty gritty of everything i die and pass away so to me its not as simple as omg the 4 of them are dating. like in there there are SIX relationship dynamics to consider that have to not only work on their own but with all the others too to make the 1, yknow.
i obviously ship harutaka and shinaya, but for the other ones i truthfully dont care for haruaya or harushin in a romantic way (ive answered their own asks lol) and i dont see shintaka working out in any good way in the long run even if i do like it a lil bit! the only one i can see genuinely working out and being cute is ayataka (like with shinaya and harutaka also at play cuz were talking abt a polycule) but i... don't care enough abt that ship when compared to shinaya and ESPECIALLY harutaka to consider it a lot. like ayataka requires being a little delusional because they barely have a good established dynamic together other than. yep theyre friends. and thats not to diss on it bc i LOVE being delusional and i LOVE when people are delusional about ships like FUCKKKK YEAHHH but HERE particularly i myself dont care enough to BE delusional. you get what im saying??? i still think theyre cute though but honest to god their biggest appeal to me is that its gay. like sorry i am a lesbian and i 100%admit the only appeal to ayataka to me is that theyre gay. lol. thats why i dont particularly care for it anyways. the most poly i can ship is shintaro+takane+ayano but haruka is out of it only dating takane and tragically rejecting shintaro and ayano. SORRY thats a funny concept to me.
erm. hope that answers ur question. and i hope i didnt sound mean pointing out uve been asking me abt the ships but im just kinda curious abt what makes u so interested in my ship opinions 😭
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3 + 14 + 15 with ELLIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
me walking in here acting like i didnt forget to answer this ermmm
3. how do the other characters generally feel about your self insert?
SO POSITIVE sorry Ellis to me is someone who generally has a lot of people who like him. his whole thing is being a pseudo-legend where his stories are passed around allll the time and the stories get incrediblyyy bloated. so people will vaguely know who he is and think hes like. Amazing. but hes kind of just a guy!!
at most people will have a different opinion on him Based on the stories-- like i could see ellegaard saying something like "ohh but ive found that some legends are a little...hm...egotistical" when really its because all his stories have been blown out of proportion.
in PARTICULAR the only person who really Knows knows of him is petra. petra like meets him and is like so excited genuinely like asks him all these questions abt things shes heard && whatnot
14. what hobbies does your self insert have?
SOOO ok ellis' main hobby is exploring obviously. but i think outside of that i think hed pick up writing. hed have to eventually i think especially because hed probably start getting just a little bit miffed about people getting the story wrong & whatnot.
i think... just a little bit i think he knows cooking (he has to bc otherwise hed be eating badly cooked beef) && ALSO he knows enchanting language && villager!!
15. how does your self insert play a role in the plot of the story? do they help directly defeat the villain, support the heroes, etc.?
(tucking hair behind ear) when hes another main character...
ellis shows up during ep 2 regardless of whether jesse goes to boomtown or not-- regardless either way he helps out & jesse/axel invites him to tag along. he like Tries to get out of it at first but axel is like "are you stupid? youd probably get killed with that witherstorm" and from then on hes stuck w these guys
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one of my best friends from middle through high school and even into adulthood despite the distance passed away when we were like 20ish.
it was so tragic. i was devastated. but at her wake everyone wore ratty punk and metal band tshirts, full goth make up, lots of long haired dudes in grateful dead tshirts. it was wonderful, honestly. there were way more people i could tell were there for her mom, but i instantly knew who was there *for her*. it was probably 2/3 her moms church and 1/3 people who knew a single thing abt her.
and everyone who was there for her mom hated us. they said we werent being respectful - i kept asking to who? who arent we being respectful to, her mom whos pissed we all look like we got out of a drunk party the night before and wandered into the funeral home in whatever we fell asleep in? probably half the people there did, and she would have adored that.
the funeral goes on, and this preacher gets up there and starts fire and brimstoning. me and her high school friends look at eachother totally fucking confused. what the hell is he saying? hes going on and on about how much her daughter (who also passed away - not going into these details) loved to go to church every wednesday and sunday. how my friend loved to take her daughter to Bible studies. how when the fucking meals on wheels showed up her daughter would dance around the parking lot of their government funded section 8 housing singing hallelujah and kids gospel songs and praising jesus.
we were pissed. the little group of weird emo bisexual girls-soon-to-boys, who grew up with her, sat in the back of the funeral and steamed. i whispered to one of them "if she could get up out of that coffin and leave this bullshit, she would." i guess that was more rude than lying about a dead persons life because some old lady turned around and gave me a nasty look. i asked her who are you? howd you know dana? whens the last time you saw her step foot in a church, cuz i havent seen her in one since we all quit going at 14 because the youth leaders stopped providing free food and that was the only reason wed been going.
she didnt have a response. but i was rude, not the man lying about her, or lying about her daughter. her daughter was only like 2 btw, she could barely walk or talk let alone dance around and sing. and meals on wheels was an incredibly embarrassing experience for her as a young, single mother raising her child. everyone judged her for getting pregnant in hs and while unmarried. she had to pretend to be christian when they came around cuz theyd always give her pamphlets and tell her god loves her and she was afraid they wouldnt stop by her apt anymore if she didnt say those things back.
her tombstone has a bible verse carved in it, because even after death she has been forcibly christianified no matter how many times she told me she didnt believe in god, she believed in kurt cobain, and she hoped if she got reincarnated she came back as a cat.
none of that shit mattered and when i expressed how fucking rude this shit was, i was told the funeral wasnt for her it was for comforting her mother. i said so if i decide to lie abt u after u die and say you were an atheist just like me and ur scared of the black void after death, thatd be ok?
no one likes that question.
anyway, this particular subject is a sore spot. this was my friends blog, let me know if u think she might have been a Secret Christian @1000silentneedles-blog (warning her header is Very Flashy)
I know I just restating the point of that post but respecting religious freedom will sometimes require you to respect someone's belief that religious beliefs are categorically untrue, and there are a lot of people who are unable to handle this, and even more people who think they agree with this but haven't really grappled with what it means.
#death //#child death //#sorry to op if this response is too much#i tried not to be graphic and just focus on the topic of the post but this subject can easily get away from me#anyway i continue to be fucking pissed abt this#its been like 8 years
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long post ahead!! this is purely copy and paste so sorry for any spelling errors
after they get brought back, regressors roxas and xion and caregiver axel bc theyve all been through so much
roxas and xion regressing bc, i mean, they never had a childhood and axel just easily takes up the mantle of caregiving bc i he loves them so much and they deserve to have a healthy coping mechanism and dangit they are just so cute!
the two started regressing involuntarily and neither could put a name to it, they both would just find axel and tell him something was wrong and cry and all axel could do was craddle the two and tell them it would be alright
it wasnt until riku visited one day and the two "had another episode" and riku saw and pointed out that they were regressing
axel didnt catch on as fast but the two littles did and they were devastated
riku easily stepped up and calmed the little down. after a little explaining to axel what age regression was, axel didnt even think before he started taking care of them.
riku decided that it was nap time to he "coherced" the two littles to lay down and watch a movie while he "got them a surprise"
riku taught axel how to make the kids angel milk and even wrote it down. the two presented the sippys and while xion was eager to taste whatever sugary surprise riku made, roxas w as shy abt the idea of drinking from a sippy cup but ge eventually gave in and the two littles passed out before even finishing the cups
axel asked riku how he knew so much about age regression and riku was silent for a moment.
-"riku you dont have to tell me"
-"no, its not that, its just... sora was a little and i used to be his caregiver... i just miss him is all"
that couldn't be said without a little tears, everyone missed sora and no one was any step closer to finding him
the two regressors had a talk with axel and riku the next time they were big, riku explained an answer to every question they asked, very knowledgeable in experience. the two had a hard time accepting the coping mechanism their brain choose for them but [riku: "its a totally healthy and normal coping mechanism and response. i know nobody says it but you were put through a lot and deserve to be able to experience the childhood you never had"] it was just a little bit easier after that
riku was a frequent babysitter and the two littles even started calling him "bubba"
before sora disappeared, when riku was new to caregiving, he worriedly searched everywhere for an appropriately sized paci for sora and ended up in traverse town before sid. riku tried to be as inconspicuous as possible around sid but sid had been around long enough to gather that something was going on and confronted riku abt it. riku caved and told him about sora coming to him regressed one nice and how he had sucked on his thumbs for so long that he had a blister and riku really needed a replacement. pitbull sid, been there, done that actually had a hidden supply of adult pacis. he knew a few people who were littles and, hey, he does run a shop, so he supplied some just in case he ran into someone who needed it. riku almost cried tears of joy when sid presented him with a plain red a paci and riku was off back to the tower to give sora his new present. the little boy was beyond happy and spent the rest of the day curled up to riku's side with his new paci
#age regression#sfw agere#agere#sfw age regression#fandom agere#kingdom hearts#kh#kh agere#kh age regression#kingdoms hearts agere#kingdom hearts age regression#xion#xion kh#xion kingdom hearts#roxas#roxas kh#roxas kingdom hearts#axel#axel kh#axel kingdom hearts#🫐#secret scribbles#secret sighs
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Relationships: WayV
MaeKun
if it werent for the the laws of ncity he wouldve asked her to join wayv and stay in their dorms
Since they don’t live together or are part of the same unit they don’t really spend a lot of time together but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t want to be with Mae
Large parent/protective older brother energy
not as protective as 127 hyungs but you know
Yeah she’s a menace when she teams up with other WayV members but she doesn’t clown him as much as they do it’s cause she saves that energy for doyoung lmao
mae claims she visits the wayv dorm for him but he’s 50% sure she’s just there for the animals
the other 50% is because she wants him to cook for her which he does even if she doesnt ask
hes like those parents who insist on giving you leftovers to bring home to your family
he taught her to do magic tricks bc she was insistent on wanting to learn at least one
okay but honestly she thinks he really cool despite all the clowning she does to him
like singing? dancing? cooking? visual? magic? and he can fly a plane????
one of the reasons she has high standards ngl
MaeTen
ten has unofficially adopted her whether people like it or not
he has fought with taeyong and doyoung about it she is his baby
if mark and johnny are his brothers, mae is basically his younger sister
if you look at his photo gallery he has a folder dedicated to mae and mae only
any photo or video of them together is basically ten clinging to her like a koala
he looks at her like she put all the stars in the sky but the same goes for mae
she has admitted in an interview that ten is one of her role models because of his talent and work ethic
whenever she needs help with dancing he’s one of the first people she asks
xiaojun once asked him who’s his favorite between yangyang and mae and you could see him malfunction for like six seconds before jokingly scolding him
“yah how could you ask me that type of question?”
fun fact! ten was the person she asked to go with her when she got her first tattoo!
he arranged the appointment at the place where he got his and held her hand when she was getting it
Lowkey considered getting matching tattoos but never really took the time to think of what tattoos they’d get
MaeWin
another top ship among czennies
these two are so soft for each other omg
just one glance at the two and you’re already melting
You can see Yuta screaming about MaeWin whenever the group is together and they’re interacting
And if you can’t see it you’ll probably hear it
MaeWin: casually talking
Yuta: is this what heaven looks like
MaeWinMark is just yuta’s weakness and he doesn’t even bother to hide it
Okay back to MaeWin before I get ahead of myself and make an entire post about Yuta and MaeWinMark
If they’re gathered in a large group their interactions aren’t really noticeable unless you’re actively looking for it
While the others are talking you can just see Mae playing with his hands or winwin giving her a soft smile while patting her head
They talk more when they’re either in a small group or just the two of them
MaeWin shippers were devastated when they got separated so when nct 2020 happened they went feral
Every once in a while they go out for hotpot and talk about what has been going on
LuMae
this man right here
they first met when she was visiting NCT U dance practice for BOSS with food and she heard him from the hallway
its one of the reasons why she wasn’t intimidated by him even though hes a giant
she was excited to see what kind of energy and personality he would bring to nct
and she was not disappointed at all
personal hype man
whenever they’re on a variety show together and mae is asked to do something he just yells “FIGHT HAEYADWAE”
of course the same goes for mae but less loud bc last time she kept yelling she lost her voice and couldnt talk for the rest of the show
He just has this energy where if he’s hyped up about something she feels energized to be hyped up well so you just hear the both of them cheering loudly
its always interesting to see because you just see a gentle giant cheering loudly with this smol girl next to him trying to match his energy
he always makes sure she’s comfortable when they’re at a schedule
like we know how he’s really silly on camera but he’s also very observant and caring
one time mae complained about how her feet hurt from the heels she was wearing so he just picked her up bridal style and walked to the van without a word
XiaoMae
They’ve heard abt each other from Kun and ten and greeted each other when they passed by each other in the halls but they never really had a chance to grow close until nct 2020 happened
Mae wasn’t in the Make a Wish unit so there weren’t a lot of chances to get to know each other while promoting either but it doesn’t mean they’re not friends
ten also hogs her attention when she visits the wayv dorms but we dont talk about that
these two arent as close as the others but not to the point where they actively avoid each other
whenever they’re together they just vibe
theres no awkward silence or small talk they just talk about random stuff
“no lucas, i dont hate xiaojun hyung we just dont hang out as often as we do”
“yes hendery we do have each other’s numbers we just don’t talk often”
WayV is lowkey tempted to lock the two of them in a practice room together and do a vlive to see what’ll happen
prime candidates for “It’s Awkward but It’s Okay”
their dynamic is kinda DoRen where they pretend to be awkward around each other as a joke
like they went out together once and everyone as excited bc omg they were interacting
XiaoMae shippers are starved for content and will accept any crumbs that come their way
HenMae
the duo people didnt know they needed until they met
its not like people didnt want them to become friends its just that theyre energies match well
these two are such a vibe
you know how there are ppl who don’t see for long periods of times but you still want tackle them in a hug whenever you meet? yeah its like that
kun sometimes wants to separate the two bc of how much chaos they cause together
they’re the duo where they think something is a good idea at the time but ends up as something bad at the end
kun has banned the two from the kitchen bc of a fire they started
HenMae shippers are thriving because of all the stories of the dumb shit they’ve done
lowkey considered doing a series together on nct daily but then the channel stopped uploading vids so it was never mentioned again
one time he was on call with his sister when she walked in and accidentally mistook her as his gf and now they jokingly have each other as bf and gf in their phone contacts
ten nearly had a heart attack when he saw the contact name pop up and mae picked up the call
yangyang has the whole thing recorded on his phone and refuses to delete it
MaeYang
(A/N everytime i see this gif i need a moment to pause and try and remember my ideas cause my head goes empty when it comes to yangyang)
okay if HenMae are chaotic, MaeYang are worse
kun doesnt need to dye his hair gray bc of all the stress these two cause him
czennies thought they didnt interact much bc of different schedules and groups but once nct world happened they changed their minds
MaeYang slowly climbing up the ranks of nct ships
during one of his lives yangyang mentioned how he spoke a lot with mae and that she wanted to add him to the 00liner gc
czennies lost it that day bc 1) holy shit theres a 00liners gc and 2) why tf hasnt yangyang been added into it yet
insists that she calls him oppa/hyung even though theres only a one month difference between them
Mae and Yangyang: whispering in the corner of the room
kun: theyre either talking shit about someone or world domination and i cant tell whats worse
he tried teaching her some german once and she now knows like three sentences
“Hallo, Ich bin Mae. Was geht ab? Mir geht’s gut.” (A/N this is the outcome of my three years of german lessons everyone)
and basically all the swear words but we dont need to talk about that
haechan jokes that he’s stealing mae away from the dreamies so he wont be the maknae in wayv
#nct 24th member#24th member of nct#nct female addition#nct female oc#nct au#kpop female addition#nct addition#nct dream female member#nct dream female addition#nct 127 female addition#nct 127 female member
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i really really like chibedo aaaaaa they're so cute
i keep daydreaming about them in my genshin hs au ahahshdh
like albedo has like no friends and is quiet and childe is like. popular. and in a class they have assigned seats next to each other or smthn and childe keeps trying to talk to albedo but albedo is still quiet, but everyday chulde learns just a bit more about albedo and before he even knows it they're good friends; albedo's only other friend is sucrose and even then they're not the closest? so childe is like “woo im your second ever friend!!” and albedo is just like. yeah, sure ok.”
most of the time during their conversations childe does the speaking, but sometimes albedo will chime in with their own stuff. it's only really when the two are alone does albedo speak a lot, and most of the time it's rambling about things they're learning. childe finds it all the more intriguing, how they can ramble on and on about things they've studied and things they're learning and how childe could find it all so interesting. childe wasn't stupid, not by a long shot, but he never found science or math or anything “stem” related all that interesting. yet when albedo just went on and on about those subjects— he’d listen on so intently. and albedo would always help out childe if he needed it, always make sure he was passing his classes just fine while not being too hard on him.
they met when they were juniors, and got close. they stayed just as close around the summer too. if you saw childe, albedo was probably with him. if you saw albedo in the halls, guess who was right next to them? childe. it wasn't often you'd see them separated. and it wasn't often you'd see anything but a neutral expression on albedos face except when they were talking to childe, where a small smile always seemed to creep onto their lips. the duo didn't have arguments or fights ever— sometimes it seemed like they never even had disagreements. albedo was never one to share their opinions on anything and even when childe said his opinions it was like they always agreed.
senior year was a little different though. they both were a little busier, trying to plan out what they'd do after high school. albedo seemed to have it cut out clear, even with certain universities offering them scholarships. they knew what they wanted to do, who they wanted to be, and yet childe had barely any idea of what he wanted to do. there were so many options and he just didnt know—late one night while he was over at albedos, just sort of idly sitting on their bed while albedo quietly read something next to him, leaning into his side ever so slightly, childe let out a breathy sigh. his gaze fixated on the ground, “how did you figure out what you'd wanted to do for the rest of your life?” was all childe asked. and a few moments later he felt albedo sit up a bit more, no longer leaning into his side and leaving a bit of warmth there. his blue eyes glanced towards the other, his gaze still fixated downwards. albedo gave a light shrug, not saying a word for a few moments, “I don't know. I suppose I've only ever been good in two fields, so I went with my best one. I didn't have much of another choice really.”
ah. that didn't help much at all did it? childe didn't really have something he excelled in like albedo. he wasn't good at one particular field like albedo. he didn't have his life set out and planned for him like albedo. and in that moment, maybe he felt just a slight tinge of resentment and jealousy. albedo already knew what they wanted to do, who they wanted to be, exactly how to get there- and it was all just practically handed to them because they were always good in that subject. they were too good in every subject. childe sighed, clearing his throat afterwards. “right, that makes sense,” childe mumbled, quieter than usual. quieter than albedo's ever heard. “im sorta jealous of you, ahah. you have your life set out, planned, handed to you even. i have no clue what i want to do, im not particularly the best at anything.” childe added an awkward chuckle at the end, slightly embarrassed.
“jealous?” albedo questioned, their head turning to fully look at childe, a brief quirked. they almost seemed upset at the implication that childe of all people was jealous of them. “youre great at many things, childe. you have some traits i wish i had. you're charismatic, charming even. you can make friends, talk to people like it's nothing? I can't, childe. you don't have to be absolutely sure on your life just yet, alright? please, don't be jealous of me.” albedo narrowed their eyes, and the two were making eye contact. childe blinked, and he felt for maybe the first time in his life something he'd label as actual love.
and over the months he only felt his love grow stronger. every time albedo would place a hand on his back, every time albedo would say something reassuring, the times they'd stay up way late at night just talking about whatever came up, it made childe pin all the more harder. albedo would spare a glance while they were sitting in class. childe could feel his heart skip a beat or something, and he tried paying attention but he just couldn't stop thinking about the other. these emotions, feelings, christ they were going to be the death of him, huh?
he'd invited albedo to hangout somewhere outside of their home. usually if he wanted to hangout with albedo it'd have to be at albedo's house. but now here they were, late at night in some random park. it was dimly lit, as the only real lighting came from unevenly spaced lamp posts you'd see every once in a while in the park and the street lamps from the road. it was just bright enough for childe to make out albedos features, all of their wonderful features. he stared, stared for far longer than he should've, than he was allowed to. albedo glanced over, moving a piece of hair just slightly out of their eyes. “is something wrong?” albedo questioned, though it was quiet, their voice as soft as ever.
“no, im just... admiring you,” childe let out with a awkward laugh following it, “youre amazing, albedo, i really like you,” childe confessed with a small sigh and another awkward chuckle. he'd hoped albedo understood what he meant, that this wasn't platonic. childe already felt like his face was burning up after confessing now, and he might just die if he had to elaborate.
albedo stared at childe, their face blank and mouth slightly ajar. they tried to find the words, to find what to say. their expression morphed into a perplexed one. emotions was certainly not something they were good at childe could seem so in touch with his emotions. albedo was not. they rarely tried to express how they felt, yet childe could surely express himself so casually. albedo didnt know what to say, how to feel, surely they felt the same way but they really weren't sure they could put it into proper words. “give me some time to think.” that's what albedo said. truthfully, they knew it wasn't the thing to say, they knew they felt the exact same way childe did. but now they had to figure out how to put that into words. childe looked disappointed. albedo internally sighed. they hated seeing childe upset, and now they were the reason. great. well now albedo would have to say something, to fix the situation. “er... i didn't know what to say, sorry,” they began, “i feel the same way, i think,” they looked down. staring at the ground, face far more red than it's ever been.
they didn't know what to do. neither did childe. but for now the just remained quiet. childe broke the silence, “uh, let's figure things out tomorrow, ill walk you home.” childe offered, grinning and trying to lighten the mood up a bit. albedo glanced up, making brief eye contact and nodding. they knew tomorrow was certainly going to be something. but for now, they could just enjoy the few moments left they had tonight with childe.
ok yeah i got really carried away on what was supposed to be a short au desc but, it's ok! ehhehsbxb i just thought this was cute and ive been daydreaming abt it all day so i thought i might as well ramble on tumblr sjdbfbdb
#long post#xingqiu.txt#chibedo#tartaglia#childe#albedo#genshin impact albedo#genshin albedo#genshin impact childe#genshin childe#xingqius aus.exe#aaaaa i love them#childe x albedo#albedo x childe
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hi! im new around here, first off i wanna say congrats on ur milestone!
and second of all i wanna request a matchup. either for twst or genshin, whichever one is easier for u.
my pronouns are he/they and im into men
im an intp and a virgo. im relatively quiet unless around people im close with, bcs then i can talk for hours. im more of a book smart kinda guy (burnout gifted kid) im a nightowl, love watching the sky, im also obsessed with mythology and murder mysteries. im the walks behind the group when the sidewalk is too narrow friend. im also very creative and most of my hobbies relate to that (singing. writing, drawing, painting, cross stitching and sometimes gardning) my ideal date would be something like having a midnight picnic under the stars.
im a personality over looks person so i dont care about physical atributes. im average height a bit underweight and look somewhat androgynous. i have blue-grey eyes (which i consider my best feature apart from my hair) and wear glasses. the cool thing abt my hair is that its dyed blue at the tips. apart from that its straight w almost no volume and dirty blonde. my overall style is somewhere between grunge emo and softboy (for some reason)
hope i didnt ramble too much
hope you have a good day/night whenever you see this, dont forget to take care of yourself and take breaks. if u ever want another writer friend im always willing to talk (no pressure tho ofc)
byee!!
Hello! tysm, and i’d love to be friends!!!
【A Time of Celebrations】 - Matchup for Twisted Wonderland!
I’d match you with… Kalim Al Asim!
Kalim is persistent in making friends, and wants to include everyone in everything and will often follow you around like a puppy wanting pets
You might have to sit him down and explain you like being alone sometimes, he’ll understand the words but constantly has guilt eating away because you’re alone, but has to remind himself you’re not alone you just want quiet time (does that make sense?)
But! moving on, Kalim’ll will gladly stay up, since it’s almost blazing hot where He and Jamil come from, I imagine they’d also prefer night to day because it’s cooler and Kalim never seems tired so long as he pays attention to something
He’s never had to wear glasses, so he’s the type to ask if he can wear them and (depending on how bad your vision is) will run into a wall
You two can sing together! Kalim loves (unironically) horrible karaoke (early 2000’s songs, any Katty Perry song, etc.) and knows them by heart, and will either get you to join him or stand on a table and preform for you
Kalim, surprisingly, isn’t too phased by any serial killer documentaries, horror movies or anything of the like, the only thing he hates is when they show the body
He usually ends up zoning out during movies anyways, so it’s not a problem even if it is scary
Be careful and do not let Kalim near your makeup, god forbid do your makeup, cause he can’t remember what’s what no matter how many time he assures you “It’ll be fine”… Just don’t, unless you’re looking for a laugh (and a mess)
He isn’t too good at hair either, not dyeing it at least, but he’ll watch attentively and pass you whatever you need while you do your hair, asking questions about this and that, and listens with fascination
Some of his siblings really like mythology too! That probably means you should meet them, right?
He really wants you to meet his family cause they’re the best and you’re the best so it’ll be the best time ever! Kalim will try to nudge it to you (like, he wants it to be your idea but will attempt to egg you on in hopes you’ll ask, but if you don’t then there’s not much else he’ll do about it)
He missed the “be subtle” part of it though, so it’s easy to know what he wants, but it’s ultimately up to you since.. Well, he has a lot of siblings so it may or may not be stressful depending on how you are with so many people at once
“The stars look amazing! Next time though, we should take my magic carpet!… What do you mean that ‘wouldn’t be a good idea’?… Ah, the food? Right.”
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More Divaz confos
Mod: Round two of these, previously: link. There’s some interesting customer reviews in this batch (5 and 8) which may be useful to readers.
1.Vic3mage "the secret bjdivaz vip group is just pictures of boxes coming in and going out". Yeah, between the bitching about d0llshe, asking people to post on doa for them, dunking on ex-customers, posting pics of random doll parts that they can't identify which doll they're supposed to go with, whining about how little money they make, whining when ppl e-mail them, whining. Yeah, other than that it's just boxes, and alpacas u can buy off amazon anyway lol.
~Anonymous
2.The butthurt users crying and guilttripping under every Divaz confession who have never been seen before elsewhere on this blog are extremely unsuspicious and unproblematic and definitely unconnected to Divaz and unbiased in every possible way
/s
~Anonymous
3.idk shit abt bjd1vas but v1cemage i can absolutely tell you the shit about ch0o is 100% accurate, fucker's got a long, long history of being an awful little man that stretches well beyond his involvement in the doll community. between the two i'd still trust bjd1vas over ch00 ch00 the fool any day!
~Anonymous
4.The Z3st and Div4s thing is really silly and both entities were being shady but did they really have to take the DZ waiting room down with them? :( He had even made a separate thread about it......
~Anonymous
5. RE: BJD Divaz
I’ve been a customer of BJD Divaz since they first started, when it was only run by Chart3rline. I even contacted other BJD companies trying to persuade them to work with Divaz as their US representative. Most declined because they didnt like D's commission fee, but I was able to persuade a few of them.
I asked them to purchase a doll off DOA because I couldnt afford the asking price, and while they did, I found out later that instead of agreeing to purchase the seller's price, they negotiated the price to be lower. This significantly cheaper price was not passed down to me. I paid the full price +the commission fee based on that full price. I am disappointed I was not told this. This is when I stopped viewing them as a "friend" and instead, as a business. I dont hold this against them, it’s context to what Im going to say later.
I’ve stopped purchasing from D after my recent order from them. This company usually takes 3 or less months to make a doll. I’ve ordered the doll from D and it took 11 months. They let me know it arrived to them in March and that it will be shipped soon, except it only shipped on July, and only after I sent them several "reminder" emails. Before people in the comments try to put the blame on me for not sending a reminder soon, please keep in mind that I acknowledged the email in March and confirmed everything and they keep stressing to not send them emails because they are busy, I’ve emailed once every month since. I’ve since switched to ACBJD and Ive been happy with communication and the dolls ordered. I imagine ACBJD gets the same amount of emails, but they dont berate their customers if they email more than once.
I regret when people wanted a D0llshe, but not deal with him, I always recommended D. I would warn people of ordering directly and instead go through D. They assured buyers they would be handling communication and all the efforts so they wouldnt worry, except they didn’t. A person that I’ve recommended D to, who surpassed 2 years, keeps messaging me for help because D wouldnt reply to their emails. She is respectful, sweet and a timid person, not a Karen. This person, emailed D without a reply so would email a week later, only to be told that their email would be pushed down to the bottom if emailed again. No response, so she goes to FB and IG, who both tell her to email because they arent the person running orders. Finally got a response that they would get their refund, after D0llshe sends D's payment, but minus the PP fees. 3 months later and theres no refund, only a promise of them getting it later. Why is the customer missing out on fees when they have no doll? Customer emails d0llshe and he says he cant offer refund, because they didn’t order through them, which is understandable, but when all options are out for a customer, do you blame them for chargebacks?
If anyone files a chargeback, D will be blacklisting them from every company they rep, as in blacklisting you from buying direct from those companies. I urge everyone who has negative experiences with D to email the companies they rep instead of venting on confession blogs, and writing your experiences on social media. Make it count and send letters to the companies they represent, and please provide proof because they will try to make you out to be a liar.
Speaking of, they made vague posts on cl0ver singing for charging paypal fees, and that they offer guarantees as an official dealer, except when offering refunds, to non delivered products I might add, they are keeping the fees, and offered no help with d0llshe, even before they ended their dealership with them. Someone on DOA was told to not email them unless the wait time surpassed 1.5 years. They are even so petty that they post screenshots with the full name and address (dox) of the customer on purpose and then delete it out a day later as if they just realized their "mistake".
Before you try to make excuses for them about the fires, keep in mind, I am dealing with a business. The lower price negotiation with the DOA sale, I am in no way obligated to give them a pass or treat them as a friend when they made it clear that our relationship is strictly business. Their issues, are not my issues. D0lk got dragged for not shipping in time, others, including artisans, got dragged for being so late with communication and sending back refunds for cancelled orders. Why does D get to be exempt?
The supporters are the worst part of this, because of instead of being honest so D can improve, they support them for being "real". For example, look how micemage words it, to make it seem like this criticism is from one person, when there are people on addicts who didn’t have good experience. Check the bjd dealers tag here, you will see the supporters in the comments going off on any and all criticism of D. Some have sane comments, but the majority are cult like and try to identify the person venting as if it’s one person. Addicts deletes threads with criticism asking people to instead direct it to their feedback group; which lets be honest, no one is going to do because its "not that bad", and most dont want to join a new group, which is mostly dead.
This is my first and last confession on D, I’ve emailed each company they rep and told them my experience as well as contacting the 3 month wait company, with screenshots of my order, how they handled it, and the excuse they used to put blame on the company for being so late (package arrived march to D, 4 months to be shipped is on D, not the company). I’m not using company or order details because I know they are petty enough to try to identify me and publicly shame me like they have to others. This and the threat of suing is why not many people like to go public with their experience. They just keep feedback neutral, move on and never deal with again.
~Anonymous
6. Listen, I can't take you seriously in regards to BJD!vas because you're posting on a confession blog. If you were serious, you would have posted in buyer beware groups, DoA reviews or the board to get things resolved, or you would have made a complaint to the BBB. And your language makes you come off more as someone with an agenda rather than someone who is trying to warn people. If shipping is the issue, stop buying with standard shipping and pay the extra price for express shipping. I saw one of you complain that it sat with them for 20 days; that's probably because you're not the only one and they more than likely have a queue to check and then ship out. Do mistakes happen? Yes, because we're human. I've been in this hobby for a few years now and it seems like most people know you're going to have to wait, sometimes even outside the expected wait time. And shipping something as big as a doll is a timely endeavor. I shouldn't have to say that.
My point is simply to stop complaining on an confession board and either take it to the places previously mentioned. Posting here behind the anonymous mask makes you sound like a petulant child who didn't get their way right away.
~Anonymous
7.My only issue with BJD Divaz is how I never get any updates. Every email, they tell me to join their facebook page for status updates. I dont have a FB and I dont want to create one. I bought my doll through their website, updates should be posted on their website, or they could send me an email. That isnt asking much.
~Anonymous
8. Since there seems to be a lot of either "completely negative everything sucks" or "everything was sunshine and rainbows" confessions about bjd!vaz I thought I'd chime in with a neutral review.
PROS
-They were always polite and professional in their emails, and gave me very detailed answers to my questions.
-I got exactly what I ordered, so no mix ups or missing parts or anything like that.
-I think them being forthcoming about personal issues (only one person on staff, illness, the flooding isue etc.) on social media is good, since it keeps customers updated as to why there might be delays.
-If you live in the US their shipping is very reasonable.
CONS
-Reply times were varied. Sometimes it could take over a week, sometimes a couple hours.
-My order took about 10mo which, when comparing to other people who ordered through the same company around the same time, was about 3x as long as if I bought it direct and 2x as long if I had gone through a different dealer. I get some of the waiting time is out of their control, but it was kind of ridiculous.
-They dont necessarily ship the same day they send you a tracking number. I wish they said something like, "Here's your tracking number, our pickup is Xday so it should start moving after that" just so I could be aware.
All in all no major complaints. I got my doll and all that. Their lone employee is clearly overwhelmed. I hope they hire another person, if only to give the one a break.
Truthfully, I most likely won't buy through them again. I'd rather pay the international shipping and go direct, than deal with the extensive wait time. I'd still recommend them to someone looking for a very long layaway, though. I paid in full, but if I had a 12mo layaway I would've never known they weren't ready to ship my doll until month 10.
~Anonymous
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freedom of the press 06 | t. jefferson
title: freedom of the press 06
pairing: thomas jefferson x reader
words: 15k
warnings: implied sex, suggestive jokes & teasing, thomas has astoundingly shitty timing, lafayette is a huge fucking cockblock, hella fanservice, v v v tender quality time, and then some more implied sex
desc: the 2020 republican presidential frontrunner is an obnoxious, morally bankrupt people-pleaser, but what happens when you become the person he’s most eager to please?
tags: @stargazelaurens @ivory-haired-queens @exoticxchicken8 @assbuttstyles777 @superbarriobrothers @distinguishedpotsticker @fukaaaaaaaa @hereforthepsyche-assessment @ivetoldamillionlies @fangirl570 @thealaddinkid @lasciviouspeach @snazzydoesthings @shy-and-awkward-daveed @rachelhermionerose @soft-weeb-s @gryffinclxw @anamrnk @daveeddiggsit @ayayayayana @marinovakovich @cryinghazelnutt @thefandomgirl03 @a-hopeless-fan @cloudywlw @tinywhim @lolidunnoaboutnow @siriusorionblackiii @fanfic-addict-98— hope i didnt miss anyone; lmk if you want to be added!!
By the time Y/N woke up, the sun was hardly up, the streets were plowed, and the bed was warm. She didn't try to leave it, instead curling further into Thomas's warm embrace when he pulled her close. Huddled alongside him, his skin against hers, she didn't bother to fight the fatigue that still ebbed at her mind, instead letting herself drift peacefully in and out of consciousness. She could feel Thomas's quiet laugh rumble in his chest when she made no move to get up. She didn't process it enough to react when his lips brushed against the crown of her head.
By the next time she woke up, the sun was high in the sky over Washington D.C., the streets were still plowed, but the bed was cold.
She frowned as she pushed herself to sit up, leaning back on a hand as she rubbed her bleary eyes. He'd left without saying a word.
She knew as she peeled the covers off herself, still damp in places with sweat from the previous night, that she shouldn't have expected him to stay.
Why would he have? He was a busy person; it was already... Shit, how had it already reached 2 PM?
She slouched into the bathroom, feeling like a wreck as she wiped the smeared mascara from her face, tied up her wreckage of sleep hair. She couldn't bring herself to take off his undershirt she'd donned the previous night, too cold to sleep in nothing but too exhausted to find some real clothing. (He'd laughed at her for it, but all the same, he didn't give much resistance before offering up his shirt.)
Regardless, they'd done nothing more than sleep together. He had no commitment to hang around any longer. If she were him, she probably wouldn't have stayed either. Still, it would've been nice for him to have said goodbye.
She tried to blink the sleep from her vision as she padded to her kitchen on bare feet; she would force herself to eat something before getting dressed and having to go down to another shift at the diner that evening.
Dry cereal might not have been the pinnacle of health for her just then, but it was easy, and she was in no mood to fight her cravings. When she pulled down a bowl, though, a flash of purple in the corner of her vision gave her pause.
She closed the cabinet absentmindedly as she turned, eyeing the post-it note dubiously from a distance, glancing around her apartment to confirm she was alone. (There hadn't been much question about the matter, but she couldn't be too careful.)
It was a moment later still when she approached it, stifling a yawn, and plucked it from where it'd been stuck onto the countertop.
Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep, And yet a third of life is passed in sleep.
Y/N raised an exasperated eyebrow at the scrawled note despite the smile she fought back. The handwriting wasn't hard to recognize; not after she'd run her fingers over matching pen marks through a few hundred pages of Byron poetry -- not to mention the fact that there had only been two people in her apartment all night, and she certainly didn't remember writing that.
She shook her head lightly as she went to recycle it, but that time, it was the writing on the back of the paper that made her freeze.
For the next time you need some ancient literature, or for the next time you lock me out in the cold.
(202) 863-4828
Perhaps it wasn't such a gloomy afternoon after all.
------
Unknown Number: [Attachment: 1 image]
Unknown Number: nerd
Thomas grinned down at his phone where it was tucked halfway into his pocket. He'd been in meetings since noon, but after the night he'd had, he was struggling to focus on fundraising numbers and campaign strategy, most of it going in one ear and out the other as he waited restlessly for his phone to buzz. He'd begun to think by then that she wasn't going to reach out.
thomas 🙄: kinda harsh to say that abt someone who's been dead for 200 years
Y/N 🍑👀: ah yes because i was definitely referring to byron
Y/N 🍑👀: not the person who carries around purple sticky notes just to paste byron quotes in people's kitchens
thomas 🙄: you insulting my stationery?
Y/N 🍑👀: just your taste in literary quotes
thomas 🙄: don't be mad just cause i'm right
thomas 🙄: it didn't even wake you up when i left in the morning
thomas 🙄: at that rate you were gonna spend a lot more than a third of your life asleep
Y/N 🍑👀: wouldn't have still been asleep if you hadn't had me up past 4 am
thomas 🙄: is that really a complaint, now?
Y/N 🍑👀: uh??? yes, it is????? i have to deep clean my sheets and my mattress now smh
thomas 🙄: as though it wasn't worth it ;)
Y/N 🍑👀: wasn't worth the cost of the five gallons of bleach i'm gonna need to get the smell out
thomas 🙄: don't even pretend
thomas 🙄: you didn't seem to have any problem last night when i started ruining your sheets
thomas 🙄: you really gonna act like you don't want me to ruin them again?
Y/N could almost hear his voice in the messages, could picture his self-satisfied smile, and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she read and re-read the text.
Y/N 🍑👀: you're paying my laundry bill
thomas 🙄: worth it to me
Y/N 🍑👀: or maybe we'll just have to ruin your sheets next time
Thomas inhaled sharply; his eyebrows shot up. Next time. He wouldn't have thought that just two words could turn him on quite that much.
"Thomas?" His head snapped up, his eyes wide; he'd somehow managed to forget entirely where he was in the few minutes since Y/N had texted him. Thankfully, it was only James who seemed to have noticed.
"Hmm?" He blinked, staring up at James's expectant stare. His gaze flickered across the conference room, and while James was clearly on the border of annoyance, everyone else looked to him curiously. "'M sorry, James, I spaced out for a second thinking about... your proposal for the fundraiser?"
That was the last thing he remembered hearing, and James didn't look impressed. "Right," he said dryly. "Anyway, I was asking how you felt about doing another town hall in D.C."
"Yeah, alright." He nodded, hardly processing the words, and James cocked a brow.
"Really?" He folded his arms. "I'm surprised you're giving in that easily. Last I remembered, you wanted to move your next few town halls up further north."
Thomas shrugged. His palms were sweating as all eyes turned to him for an answer after he'd spent the past ten minutes thinking about something very different from his supporters. "You make a good case for it."
(The fact that he hadn't caught a minute of the advocacy was irrelevant.)
James hadn't bought a word of it, and Thomas could tell from a single glance at him. He made a mental note not to pick someone who could see right through him as a running mate next time.
However, he fabricated a smile, much to Thomas's relief, having no desire to confront him right there or then. "I'm glad. I had a couple venues scouted out, but I'm open to any more suggestions."
"I think we need a new type of place. The same locations again and again get monotonous." Thomas struggled to resist rolling his eyes; he had to remind himself he'd only hired Charles Lee because he was donating more than twice his salary to the campaign.
"So what do you suggest?" He met his eyes skeptically from the other end of the table.
"What about a café?"
"A café?" Another of his campaign staffers who he couldn't identify by name spoke up -- Noah? Nate? Nathaniel? Thomas couldn't help but agree with his incredulity.
"It would be good for you to actually get to know your voters instead of... preaching to them from on high." As Lee continued, his voice close to a sneer, Thomas had to force himself to control his expression. "It would be much more personal for you to finally sit down and meet them."
"I'm runnin' a campaign, not speed-datin' the voters." Out of the corner of his eye, Thomas saw James purse his lips to repress a laugh.
"It's actually an excellent idea." Really, now? He glanced disbelievingly at the woman to his left. "The most common criticism you receive is about thinking yourself above your voting base. It'd be a good chance to lose some of your aristocratic reputation."
Hurtful, but not inaccurate. Thomas nodded, though he knew the skepticism was still clear in his gaze.
"If we do go through with this, where in the city do you propose we hold it?" James didn't seem to appreciate his fundraising proposal being derailed into a meet-and-greet, and by Charles Lee of all people. Thomas was right there with him, his annoyance only compounding when Lee shrugged unhelpfully.
"It's the Jefferson campaign, not the Lee campaign." Charles did make a good point with that. Thomas only wished he'd have thought of it before he decided to wedge his opinion into James's plan like a Republican jigsaw puzzle.
The question gave him pause, however. Were he to be perfectly honest, he didn't know more than five restaurants in the city by name, four of which wouldn't exactly earn him any points as a 'man of the people.' The last, however...
It was probably a poor idea; he'd known that even before he considered it. But it did seem to fit what they were looking for. It was in a low-income neighborhood, run by a family of immigrants. It had a bright atmosphere and an abundance of seating. However, the most tempting part to him wasn't how it'd look to the voters, but being able to see one person's expression when she learned he'd rented the place out for an entire evening.
It might've been a poor idea, but he had to put his campaign first, and the benefits were more than defensible.
He grinned. "Think I got a place in mind."
------
Y/N spent the next few days overthinking the fact that Thomas had left her last text on read. God, why'd she have to go and put the idea of a 'next time' out there? She was sure he didn't want commitment any more than she did, so she must have scared him off.
She hated how tumultuous the past Friday night had left her emotions.
Thankfully, when she arrived at work the following Monday, it didn't take too long for the distractions to come pouring in.
"Y/N!" Her head snapped upwards, her eyes wide as she saw Ashley marching into her office. She wore a smile, but her eyes were narrowed, and Y/N couldn't help the sense of dread building in her stomach.
"Ashley." Her response was wary.
"So your article got a decent bit of attention last Thursday." The words were nice enough, but they were altogether devoid of energy.
"... Thanks?"
"No, that's definitely a good thing; take the compliment." As Ashley circled around to take a seat on the edge of Y/N's desk, however, she tensed in her office chair, trying not to noticeably grip the armrests. "But a lot of it was controversial attention."
"How?" she asked, taken aback. Her brow was furrowed; it was likely the most unbiased article she'd written about the election.
"A lot of our readers seem to think you're siding with the Jefferson campaign toward the end of it." So this was why Ashley had entered looking so skeptical, and Y/N was sure her disbelief was written plainly across her face.
"Seriously? Because I mentioned that they're turning away funding from super PACs, you mean?" Ashley nodded, and Y/N let out a huff of incredulous laughter.
"You don't need to hold back on your critiques, alright? You can go after whatever information you uncover." She either didn't notice the annoyance growing in Y/N's eyes, or she didn't seem to care. "Don't be afraid to use what you uncover."
"And if what I uncover is entirely unrelated to the election?"
"Nothing is unrelated to the election, Y/N. That's exactly what you don't get." Something akin to excitement flashed in Ashley's gaze as she leaned forward toward Y/N, but the hint of vindictiveness gave her pause. "For you, the people are readers, not voters. You're not the one in an election."
Though she shifted further away in her rolling chair, Y/N said, "I'll keep it in mind, but for the time being, it's all been pretty mundane. Haven't found any skeletons in his closet."
"Then make some."
A beat passed; Y/N could only stare up at her boss in disbelief. "Excuse me?"
She rolled her eyes when Y/N didn't seem to be on the same page, which only elicited more worry. "You, as a writer, have grown to national visibility. You have the power to sensationalize things if you want to keep people hanging onto your every word."
"I'll keep it in mind, thanks." Ashley narrowed her eyes further at the bite behind Y/N's words.
"I'm serious. If you want to go further as a reporter, you can't just state facts. You need a narrative. There's a reason no one watches C-SPAN."
"Pretty sure I can spin a narrative on the election without stooping to the level of a gossip column." With Y/N's hard stare, Ashley seemed to realize she wasn't getting any further with the conversation, and after eyeing Y/N for another moment, she sighed heavily.
"You'd better show me a good narrative." Y/N had begun to tune her out as she pushed herself off of her desk, instead turning back to the article she'd been drafting. "I trust your judgment as a writer, so I'll let you take this however you want it. But people want to know who they're reading about."
"I have a feeling everyone knows who Thomas Jefferson is by now," Y/N responded dryly.
"I mean know him, know him." That elicited a raised eyebrow. "He's a person, not just a candidate. That's what America wants to see."
Y/N couldn't help the strange sense of pride that curled in her chest, tried instead to suppress it alongside the inexplicably conceited mantra Ashley's words elicited: she knew Thomas Jefferson in a way America never would.
When Ashley raised her eyebrows, Y/N realized she'd let the silence stretch on a moment too long. She swallowed her thoughts. "So you want me to air his dirty laundry?"
Y/N's eyes widened at the grin that broke through Ashley's unimpressed demeanor.
"Finally, she gets it." With that, Ashley turned to go, ignoring how dumbfounded she'd left Y/N. She glanced back with a well-pleased smile.
"If you need dirt, never be afraid to dig up whatever it is he's left buried."
-----
Unfortunately for Y/N, the distraction that was her boss's scarily cutthroat mentality only weaved itself into her racing thoughts about her most recent encounter with everyone's favorite Republican frontrunner. The next few evenings at the diner were slow, which she couldn't necessarily complain about -- being rushed and nagged by half of downtown D.C. over the course of a week wasn't quite her paradise. However, it only gave her time to spiral under the weight of everything she'd learned.
To her conflicted relief, coming in earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday provided a welcome diversion. It would've been her afternoon to herself after leaving her office at the Post, but when one of their baristas called in sick, the money for an extra two hours was too tempting for Y/N to turn down.
Despite her early shift, it wasn't until around 7:30 that her evening hit a bump in the road.
"Prosciutto roll for Belle?" she called out as she reached the end of the counter, putting the tray with the finished order and the receipt on the end of the counter. She pulled a paper cup out of the stack by the divider for the drink that was ordered. She was about to dash back to the kitchen after checking over the food, when--
"Excuse me."
She was sick of overly-familiar voices interrupting her workday. She froze on the balls of her feet where she'd begun to retreat, before turning with forced positivity permeating her demeanor. Couldn't her two jobs stay separate, at least most of the time?
"James! Hey. Congrats on the Super Tuesday win." His surprised smile put her at ease as she reached where he stood.
"Oh... Y/N. Thank you," he said, tone hesitant, his eyebrows shooting toward his hairline. "I didn't know you worked here." She only shrugged.
"I just started two weeks ago. Not surprised you haven't noticed me around."
"No, I don't mean..." She raised an eyebrow when he trailed off, before he chucked to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is my first time coming here. You being an employee just... explains a few things, is all."
"Glad to provide some clarity... ?" With any context, his insinuation would've been painfully obvious; however, completely ignorant of the previous Saturday's meeting, Y/N was absolutely oblivious. She pursed her lips.
"You have my gratitude for it." James's knowing smile explained nothing for her, however.
"Right." She glanced at the growing line over at the cash register, anxious to keep the flow of customers going smoothly as the place filled up. "Anyway, what can I do for you? If you're here for dinner, line starts that way."
She nodded to the other end of the counter, but he shook his head.
"I'm not looking for food, actually."
Y/N cocked an eyebrow. "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but I'm starting to think you're in the wrong place."
"No, no..." He plucked a takeout menu from the stand toward the end of the counter and nodded, eyeing the diner's logo. "I'm where I'm supposed to be."
"You're sure?" Her skepticism was still blatant.
"I'm sure." He glanced up from the menu with a smile. "May I speak to your manager, just briefly?"
That was when she paled. Eyeing his nonchalant expression, she prayed none of her assumptions about his motives could possibly be true, especially as they grew stranger and stranger. Her new spiraling was beginning to tie back to her previous spiraling -- could James have found out about the past Friday? Would Thomas have possibly told him? Why would that mean he showed up at her family's diner to talk to her manager about it? Could he have been trying to--
"Why do you look so nervous?" Her alarm only seemed to amuse James, and she huffed, leaning against the counter.
"James. You're a politician who showed up at my place of work, rejected food, and requested to speak to my manager." She looked up at him with a flat gaze, and he only chuckled, shrugging in acquiescence. "There isn't some new health code no one told us about, is there?"
"Not this time. Check back in a week, though." She rolled her eyes. "In all seriousness, may I speak to whoever's in charge? I assure you I'm not here to shut down your café."
Y/N allowed herself a small smile. "How generous of you. Give me a second."
He nodded as she turned away, laughing when she took only three steps before aggressively yelling "Orlando!" in the direction of the kitchen.
The man in question emerged with his brow furrowed, wiping his hands on a dishtowel with his brows furrowed. "What's wrong, mija?"
"Nothing yet." She glanced between him and James, her stare inquisitive. "Someone wants to speak to you about the diner real quick."
"You get us into trouble again?" Orlando raised a playful eyebrow, and Y/N couldn't help her wry smile as she rolled her eyes, batting at his arm.
"No, Orlando," she huffed.
Her contrived annoyance hardly buried her amusement before James decided to pipe up. "'Again'?"
She turned to James with a playful glare, and he grinned. "You stay outta this." She pointed a reprimanding finger at him, but he didn't appear at all fazed. "Gonna get me fired before you have a chance to shut us down, at this rate."
"You got us shut down?" Orlando gasped, but when Y/N saw the mirth behind his playful shock, she groaned.
"No, Orlando." James's and Orlando's grins mirrored one another as she looked between them, exhaustion settling into her tone. "I need you two to take each other off my hands, now. I have drinks to make."
"Of course, Y/N." James wasn't too hurt by the final glare she sent him before turning away.
As she fell back into her rhythm fulfilling orders, Y/N couldn't help but keep an eye on the two men, especially not when Orlando emerged from behind the counter to talk to James, trying to stay out of her way but also moving just out of her earshot. She knew the glances she kept sneaking toward them weren't as subtle as they should've been; she knew Orlando could see her watching them. As James continued on, Orlando's entire demeanor went from skeptical to welcoming, his body language opening up in turn. (Y/N tried briefly to read their lips, but something gave her the feeling that 'sent out the minors' wasn't quite true to their conversation.)
She had to force herself to turn her focus back to the customers as the unfinished drink orders began to pile up, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the mounting line of cups to her right with names and orders, but with a distinct lack of coffee. A few more minutes passed as she struggled to keep up, finally holding pace with the ever-growing demand when Orlando shook James's hand, passed off a business card before the two parted ways.
At the risk of making just a few customers lose their heads, Y/N followed Orlando into the kitchen, her curiosity overriding her work ethic.
"Hey, what was that about?" She caught him just as he was tying his apron back on. How pleased he looked had her skeptical.
"Oh, nothing very big. Don't worry." He withdrew his plastic gloves from the front pocket, pulling them on with a shrug. "He asked me about renting out the diner for a night for an event with Thomas Jefferson's campaign."
That stopped Y/N cold. "He did?"
"Mhm." He nodded, and he didn't seem to notice how stunned Y/N had suddenly begun to look. "I told him yes. I didn't think Mira would be thrilled if I turned it down. He offered us a lot of money for it."
"Oh, did he now?" She let out a shaky exhale, glancing back at the front of the diner to see James just exiting through the glass doors. "And did he say why he wanted to do it here, of all places?"
Orlando shrugged. "I didn't ask."
Why wouldn't that be your first question? Despite her moderate angst, Y/N tried not to let her frustration show. "Is Mira around? I need to talk to her."
"Aren't you in the middle of a shift?" He gave her a pointed look, and it elicited a dramatic, drawn-out groan from Y/N.
"Orlando," she whined, folding her arms. He gave her a mocking pout.
"Y/N." She rolled her eyes. "You're losing us valuable customers and valuable time as the line gets longer. Go back to making drinks."
Despite her scowl, she nodded. "After I close tonight, you're gonna get a piece of my mind."
------
As it turned out, it wasn't Orlando who was given a piece of her mind that evening.
2 New Messages, 10:38 PM
Thomas raised an eyebrow as his phone vibrated. He sat at his own dining room table, the sound coming from just inches to the left of where he was working on his laptop. Who would be contacting him that late?
Y/N 🍑👀: tell me it wasn't you who came up with the idea of renting out mira and orlando's diner on the only night when i work all evening
Y/N 🍑👀: please for your sake blame james
He grinned. The draft reports of the campaign's funding allocation he'd been typing up could wait just a few minutes.
thomas 🙄: i feel like you're just tryna get me to lie so you can slander me in the papers for it
Y/N 🍑👀: thomas i stg
Y/N 🍑👀: are you just planning your campaign around what's gonna annoy me most????
thomas 🙄: that's a heavy accusation, i would never
thomas 🙄: just wanna make sure you don't get too lonely without me
Y/N's scowl held no real anger as she read the texts.
Y/N 🍑👀: oh of course
Y/N 🍑👀: if this is your way of trying to get laid again, it's a flawed strategy
thomas 🙄: what happened to ruining my sheets "next time"? :)
Y/N 🍑👀: you still owe me for all the bleach i had to buy
thomas 🙄: don't avoid the question
Y/N 🍑👀: don't avoid the cleaning bill
thomas 🙄: if you're still tryna ruin MY sheets next time, it won't be your problem
Y/N 🍑👀 is typing...
Thomas rolled his eyes when the typing bubble disappeared and he didn't receive another text. Y/N, on the other hand, was biting her lip, her fingers hesitant on her keyboard as she read his text to herself. Her heart rate was picking up as flashes of the past Friday played in her mind.
thomas 🙄: did you really just stop typing on me??
Y/N 🍑👀: can we return to my actual question???? why the fuck did you decide to rent out the diner for your campaign?????
thomas 🙄: wasn't my idea to hold a meet and greet at a restaurant
Y/N 🍑👀: there are literally hundreds of restaurants in dc tho
thomas 🙄: and??
Y/N 🍑👀: and you just happened to rent out the diner i work at during the entirety of my shift???
thomas 🙄: pretty sure i mentioned a while back that i was gonna learn your schedule
Y/N 🍑👀: i'm not sure how good it's gonna look for your campaign when i file a restraining order against you
thomas 🙄: you mean you don't miss me? :(
Y/N 🍑👀: oh c'mon you're just asking for it now
Y/N 🍑👀: you almost make it too easy to mock you
thomas 🙄: i'm so hurt
Y/N 🍑👀: already?? i haven't even started mocking you yet
thomas 🙄: we'll see who's mocking who when you're stuck with my campaign for five hours this friday
Y/N 🍑👀: five hours??????
thomas 🙄: don't get too excited now
Y/N 🍑👀: fuck you
thomas 🙄: only after you get around to changing your sheets
✔ Read, 11:03 PM
------
Try as she might, Y/N failed to find a way out of her evening shift the following Saturday. She pleaded with her co-workers (no one else was available); she faked sick (Jac marched up to her apartment just to call her out); she was about ready to find a fake ID and leave the country when a better idea occurred to her.
Mailto: john.adams@exec.gov
Hi Mr. Adams--
(No, too informal.)
Vice President Adams:
(.... Passable.)
I hope this email finds you well. This is Y/N L/N of the Washington Post, to whom you gave your email address a number of weeks ago at President Washington's gala.
(She prayed she was using 'whom' correctly.)
As you know, I've been assigned to cover the Jefferson campaign up until this November's election, and I'm reaching out for any timely information you would be willing to share on the current relationship between Secretary Jefferson and yourself, as the projected Democratic nominee. I was hoping to find out--
(What was she hoping to find out? Her mind was still attached to Ashley's most recent ominous wisdom -- don't be afraid to dig up what he's left buried. But how could she ask the vice president for dirt without erring on the wrong side of collusion?
Backspace just a little.)
I was hoping to give my readers a somewhat more personal perspective on Jefferson's time holding office as Secretary of State. Is there any chance you'd be available for an interview? Please let me know; I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
(Was regards too stiff? Backspace.)
Best regards,
Y/N L/N
She'd been hesitant to actually use the email address he'd given her; she bit her lip as she pressed send. She might not have been able to find a way out of five hours of the diner being full of nothing but Jefferson supporters, but if Ashley was looking for dirt, eavesdropping and an opposing perspective could go far for her. Despite her writing prospects, she spent the entirety of her Saturday dreading its end.
James was the first to show up. The diner was cleared of its usual patrons, but that night, it'd be operating at capacity.
"So should I assume your presence means this whole 'meet-and-greet' wasn't an elaborate hoax just to deepen my frown lines?" Y/N was looking up at him with somber resignation as he entered the diner wearing a wide smile.
"Your input and documentation are valuable to this campaign, Y/N. We would never target you like that." She rolled her eyes as she pushed herself off the counter, despite how amused James appeared. "In other words, you have a long evening ahead of you."
"Y'know, I'm firmly convinced you're just trying to make my life Hell until I stop covering the election," she accused him, and he laughed.
"Have a little faith. I wasn't even made aware that you work here."
"Yeah, you weren't."
"What are you implying, exactly?"
"Take a shot in the dark." She glared at him, but it had no real anger in it. "Now, I'm not sure why Thomas is so fixated on antagonizing me, but you'd better tell him--"
"James, hey, you ready to get set up?" It was at that moment the front door of the diner flew open, and it was only a moment of silence that passed before Thomas looked up from whatever he was so absorbed in on his phone, and when he caught sight of Y/N's exasperated expression, a grin split his face. "Y/N? You workin' here, now?"
"Don't even start."
"Aw, c'mon, what d'you possibly mean by that?" His hands were stuffed in his pockets; he wore a shit-eating grin, and Y/N just scowled.
"I have too many hours left in my shift to deal with you two this early." She pointed an accusing finger between the two of them as she threw down her dishrag. "I'm getting Mira and Orlando."
"Some hospitality," Thomas pouted as Y/N began to turn, pausing to give him the stink eye, and he failed to mask his entertainment under his feigned offense.
From there, the evening went about as well as she could've hoped. Mira, as expected, was beyond overjoyed to see Thomas, didn't waste even a moment in helping him set up, and when the floodgates opened at 4:30 PM sharp, Y/N's feet were sore even thinking about scurrying back and forth for five hours on the tile floor she'd already spent her morning polishing. (So much for that polish, anyway. It was less than five minutes before layer after layer of bootprints wracked the shining ceramic with an avante-garde collage of brackish slush and sidewalk gunk.)
Demands were ringing in her ears. She struggled to distinguish between her rather lifelike migraine and the surrounding frenzy of voters and journalists alike -- the voices all sounded the same. A disembodied shout requested an extra tub of honey butter, and she tossed one onto the end of the counter without thinking twice. Two dozen hamburgers over the next thirty minutes seemed a small price to pay to no longer be working the cash register.
She'd begun to count how many viruses could fit on the surface of each dollar she collected in tips with a strained smile, retreating back to the kitchen to wash her hands every time she stuck one into the pocket of her apron. Considering the crowd, she considered herself lucky she was making tips at all.
The money was an undeniable result of the wandering eyes of a number of middle-aged men in the crowd, being to various degrees of seedy -- her skinny jeans seemed to be a hit. Though he wasn't one among the crowd stuffing wadded bills into her hand with a sleazy grin every time she came around to bus tables, there was one man whose wandering gaze she kept meeting. (He'd rather have provided a much different type of gratuity, and she suspected that went beyond subsidizing her trip to the laundromat to wash her bedsheets.)
She had to put it out of her mind every time she caught and subsequently broke his stare. The wolfish smile he watched her with had her feeling more vulnerable than she'd have liked; every time she noticed it, she couldn't help but pale and duck away like a mouse dodging a trap (no matter how tempting the bait might've been). Not to mention it was distracting her from her job. She shook the thought from where it weighed down on her shoulders, instead scurrying back to the register to deal with the line.
"Alright, what can I get you?" The words were breathless as she rushed to the counter, having just made seven lattes in the span of approximately five minutes and ferried forty kilograms of dirty dishes back to the kitchen -- she wasn't looking forward to washing them at the end of the night. Her tired eyes snapped open when she realized who stood before her. "Lafayette! How long have you been here?"
"Standing in line, or in ze restaurant?" His smile was just on the right side of jeering, and she rolled her eyes.
"I didn't take that long to get here; I don't wanna hear it."
"Of course not, chérie." He eyed the menu posted above her as he spoke. "I arrived 'ere nearly two hours ago, but I 'ave only just now come to get food."
"Been avoiding me?" she teased.
"Can you blame me?" Her scowl was all but involuntary at how self-satisfied he looked, choosing to avoid her annoyed gaze. "Any recommendations from ze menu?"
"Whatever's most expensive." He raised a skeptical eyebrow, and she shrugged, holding her hands up defensively. "What? Like you can't afford the New England stuffed lobster?"
He pursed his lips as he looked back down at her, but his eyes were all smug amusement. "Fine. I will 'ave zat and ze agave lemonade."
"My paycheck appreciates it," she said. "That all?"
"Zat will be all for me." The devious smile he wore as he leaned in a fraction of an inch had her on edge. "But with 'ow he 'as been ogling you all night, I daresay Thomas may want something more."
"Lafayette!" she scolded him, stepping back from the counter to glare. "Why has that become the first thing you bring up every time you see me, now? I am at work."
Her seething was in a hushed tone, and he only shrugged, leafing through his wallet with a smug smile. "Remind him of zat, not me."
____________
It was nearing eight o'clock, and Y/N refused to remind herself that she still had more than an hour and a half to go. She'd deigned to wash the dishes by that point, actively avoiding the crowds in the dining room between Thomas's wolfish gaze and Lafayette's knowing smile -- she wasn't sure when her family diner had become a lion's den.
The yellow latex gloves she'd been forced to sport were an occupational hazard, she supposed, as she reached up to return her latest stack of side plates to their rightful place in the cabinet above her. When she turned back to the sink--
"Thomas!" She jumped back, holding the edge of the counter behind her. She hadn't heard him come in.
He raised an entertained eyebrow as she pulled off her thick rubber gloves, throwing them down onto the counter with a thud before reaching over to turn off the water. "What are you doing back here?" she huffed, "You can't be here."
He shrugged, and she could feel her heart rate rising along with the blood to her cheeks. Him cornering her, alone in the kitchen at her part-time job after all the texts they'd exchanged over the past week, had her feeling increasingly vulnerable.
He plastered on a mock pout, folding his arms as he leaned against the side of the counter. "Oh, nice to see you, too, Y/N. I'm great, thanks so much for askin'."
Y/N scowled. "Don't pretend I'm the one out of line, here."
"You aren't happy to see me?" His brow creased as he held a hand to his heart, and though she rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips twitched upward. "You're hurtin' my feelings. Figured it'd be a welcome surprise."
"Oh, of course, based on how thrilled I was to hear you rented the place out for the night?"
He grinned. "Exactly."
She huffed at his audacity, shaking her head.
"Anyway, what d'you want?" she asked as she moved to go back to where she'd been at the sink, shooing him away. However, entirely undeterred, he took a step toward her, and she took one back, nearing the corner of the room. Her eyes were wide.
"Thomas," she said hesitantly, and he took another nonchalant step toward her, slowly backing her against the kitchen wall. Her voice was shaky, her heart pounding in her ears like a warning bell. "What are you doing?"
"Well, sweetheart," he began matter-of-factly, his gaze hawklike. Her breathing stopped for a moment as he closed in on her, one hand landing on the wall beside her head and the other on her waist. His grin broadened. "I seem to remember being promised a 'next time.'"
At that, she couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh, the sound breathy. "Seriously? And you think now is a good time to cash that in? I'm working."
"So am I." He shrugged. "Makes it more fun, doesn't it?"
"No, it absolutely does not!" Her reprimanding was losing its bite, though; his smile was apparently more contagious than anything she was going to pick up from touching the used cutlery of his unsavory voters. He leaned in toward her with a mischievous eyebrow raised. "Thomas."
"Y/N," he echoed mockingly before he dipped down, lips finding the side of her cheekbone, trailing down toward her jaw.
"There's a window in here," she reminded him, despite tilting her head to give him access to her neck. "We're in plain sight."
"Not from this corner." She could feel his grin against the side of her face. "Really think I didn't think this through, sugar?"
She let out a skeptical hum when his mouth reached her collarbone, running her hands up his chest, arching up against him despite herself. "This is a bad ide-- Ah!" She squeaked when he nipped at her skin, and his grip on her hip tightened.
"Whatever you say," he murmured into her neck.
"We're going to get caught." She let out a soft gasp as his hand on her hip traveled south.
"By who? Mira?" He pulled back to look her in the eye, a playful shine to his gaze. "She gonna fire you for stealing the attention of her favorite customer?"
Y/N rolled her eyes, pursing her lips to push back the grin that threatened to break hef stony facade. "No, she's gonna fire me for whatever health code violation this constitutes." She shoved him lightly by the shoulder, but it only prompted him to anchor her to him by the waist.
"I won't tell." The hand that rested against the wall threaded itself into her hair, tipping her head back to look her in the eye. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for any sort of reaction in the affirmative. She bit her lip.
"My kitchen shift ends in less than half an hour." His expression visibly deflated, and she gave a small, sly smile. "So you'd better be quick."
Delighted surprised flashed in his eyes; she squealed when he hitched one of her legs up to his waist, tightening her hold on his shoulders. "Well, I can't turn down a challenge, now, can I?"
With that, he reached over and flicked the sink's faucet back on, the water drumming loudly on the underside of a saucepan. She furrowed her brow. "What are you doing?"
"Drownin' you out."
His lips returned to her neck with increased fervor, and he tugged aside the collar of her shirt, biting softly into her skin. "Fuck you," she moaned, and he laughed.
"Right here, in plain sight?"
She was about to rebuke him, eyes narrowed and mouth ajar, before he began sucking a hickey into the skin of her shoulder, and he felt her whole body relax in his grasp as she let out a groan. "You're unbelievable."
"I do my best." Her eyes began to flutter shut as she lost sight of her initial task, the small tsunami of dishes becoming hardly a wave in the distance. His hands trailed further downward, and she could feel her chest heaving as she dug her nails into the thick material of his suit. She bit down on her lip, trying to remain quiet, desperate not to draw any attention, when the door opposite them flew open.
Y/N squealed, shoving Thomas away from her, but the damage was done when she met the intruder's eye.
"Lafayette?" she asked breathlessly, "What are you doing back here?"
"So it is only a problem when I come into ze kitchen?" He gave Thomas a pointed look, who glanced to Y/N guiltily. She yanked her shirt back over the reddening mark halfway across her shoulder with a huff. "I was only coming to ask where ze bathroom was, but I fear ze two of you may need it more zan I do."
"Out. Both of you." Y/N glared at Lafayette, who looked spectacularly amused by the scene he'd walked in on. Thomas, however, looked nearly as put-out as Y/N. She walked over to pull her rubber gloves back on, turned the water off in the sink. "I need to get back to work."
"It seems you should do ze same," Lafayette commented to Thomas, who straightened his tie, scowling.
"Thanks for the reminder." He brushed past Lafayette on his way to the door before he turned to leave, casting Y/N one more burning gaze that left her palms sweating.
Y/N turned back to the sink and grabbed the next dish from the stack, expecting Lafayette to follow Thomas out, but he only raised his eyebrows, joining her near the sink as she picked up a sponge and returned to scrubbing a spot of yellowish crud from the edge of a plate, grimacing when she realized it was crusted over.
"So," he started, and she looked up at him warily, not abandoning her task. "I take it my hunch as to where you disappeared to at ze fundraiser last week was not misguided?"
She closed her eyes to take a deep breath, pausing for a moment, thoroughly displeased with the hubristic smile he wore. She didn't give him the satisfaction of meeting his eyes. "What d'you want, Lafayette?"
She glanced in his direction as he pulled his lips into a dramatic pout. "Is my company not good enough for you to 'ave here? You hurt me, chérie."
"Right. No agenda there," she said dryly, and he shrugged, unable to contain his self-satisfaction.
"So, 'ow long have you and Thomas been carrying on in secret?"
After the momentary pause the bluntness of his question gave her, she rolled her eyes. He came around to the drying rack on her other side, apparently ignoring her peeved sarcasm. "We aren't."
"Non? Then what, exactly, did I just walk in on?"
"Give it your wildest guess." As she turned to add a plate to the stack, she watched Lafayette hoist himself up onto the counter to her left. He gave her a sly look.
"Why did you not tell me about your little liaison? It is not like it was difficult to figure out."
"'Liaison'," she snorted. "Is there anything you don't know how to make sound pretentious?"
"Do not avoid the matter at hand."
She could feel her cheeks beginning to heat as she turned the faucet back on, and it wasn't just the steam coming from the scalding water. "It's not like that, Lafayette. Seriously."
"'Ow far 'ave you two gone?"
"Lafayette!" She turned with that to glare at him, his nonchalance about her embarrassment only compounding upon it.
"What? Do you really not want someone to confide in?" She paused at his words, though her scowl didn't relax, and he took that as an invitation to continue. "I can only assume you 'ave not been 'aving zis conversation with Alexander. I can picture quite clearly how 'e would react."
She let out a huff of bitter laughter as she returned to the dishes. "Can't argue with that one. He thinks the hickey I came back from Detroit with was from you."
"Non!" His eyes shone with mischief, despite his contrived incredulity. "I am your cover story?"
"It's his theory; I didn't even give him the idea." She added another plate to her pile. "Though, a lot of my friends seem to think you're a whore, now."
"Mm, and why should I not go and tell them ze reality of ze situation?"
"Don't you dare!" she said. "What do you stand to gain from that?"
"Protecting my reputation, apparently," he said mildly. "Or, you could simply tell me what 'as been going on."
"Are you blackmailing me for gossip?"
"Think of it as an exchange."
She scoffed, turning her head to look at him. "You really are shameless, huh?" He shrugged, folding his arms as he turned to look at her expectantly, his knee bumping her pile of silverware. She sighed. "Fine. We screwed. You happy?"
"Delighted." He wore a small smile as he shifted her dishes out of his way. "'Ow many times? Only once? When was zis?"
"Lafayette!"
"What?" he asked innocently, but the exhaustion written across her face made him laugh. "Come on, Y/N; we are friends, non?"
"Seems like I'm stuck with you, so sure."
"Zen why do you not feel like you can speak freely with me?"
When she met his eyes that time, the words seemed to be in earnest, not even mocking in the slightest. He wore a small smile, and he broke her gaze after a moment, eyeing the layout of the kitchen.
"Alright. If it'll get you off my back." She sighed, shooting him a dirty look, and he nodded, pursing his lips to suppress the grin that was bursting at the seams. "It was a week before Friday. Only once. And, to be honest, I have no idea where to go from here."
"Thomas seems to have some idea where he wants to go." When she gave him a dead stare, he laughed. "I am not making fun of you, zis time. Truly."
"This time," she repeated bitterly. "I'm just... not entirely sure what I want. The whole thing feels risky."
"It certainly is risky if you are trying to get lucky in public during his campaign event." He gave her a scandalized look, but her scowl was unwavering.
"Thanks for the advice."
Her sarcasm left him undeterred. He shrugged. "But if you are careful, what is ze harm? I assure you, even the papers zat care enough to cover Thomas's sex life do not 'ave the resources to find out who is ending up in his bed."
She hesitated a moment, considering his words.
"No, you're probably right." She sighed. "The thing is... I don't know. It feels like it could become a problem."
"Ah, is there... something more you want out of zis?" The sidelong look he gave her was more concerned than she expected it to be. She shook her head, giving a light laugh.
"No, no, nothing like that." He'd begun moving the dishes to his other side by then to maintain his spot on the counter. Y/N rolled her eyes when she noticed. "My career just complicates things, is all."
Before he could respond, she took a step back from the counter, peeling off her rubber gloves despite the looming load of dishwashing she'd still have to do before the end of the night. "And as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I need to get back to making sandwiches. Head back out to the dining room."
She jerked her chin toward the door while retying the strings on the back of her apron. Lafayette frowned.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"Not trying to. Kicking you out." She gave him a flat stare as she turned toward where she stood. "Some of us have bills to pay. C'mon."
He scowled as he hopped off of the counter and she waved him away, following close behind to herd him out the door. He glanced back over his shoulder at her when she did, though, and his gaze looked once again as smug as it had when he first realized what he'd walked in on. "If you insist, chérie. I understand that you must do away with me before you can carry on with your little affair. Do not let me get in ze way."
Y/N rolled her eyes at how pleased he looked with himself as he strolled back into the seating area, not giving him the satisfaction of a response. However, when she returned to the kitchen counter, she couldn't help but scan the room through the front window; who she was looking for went without saying. She found him already looking at her, and she swallowed hard.
Nothing articulable was conveyed in his heavy stare, nor in the barely-there smile he wore, arms folded as he watched her shamelessly. She bit her lip. The three seconds she held his gaze felt like hours, and when he finally winked and broke eye contact to turn to someone who'd just approached his table, she felt her stomach turn. This wasn't over.
------
Thomas's rally ended at nine, but it wasn't until closer to nine-thirty that he'd persuaded the final member of his constituency to call it a night. Mira, Orlando, Jac, and all their miscellaneous employees had gone home when their shifts ended at the official end of the event, but Y/N was stuck on the clock for another hour or longer until she finished cleaning up the mess left behind from the evening. Unfortunately, his event running over time meant that he didn't start clearing out his campaign setup until around five minutes after the diner was empty, and that his posters, decorations, and gaudily-colored buttons weren't actually gone until closer to nine fifty.
Y/N was clearing the kitchen counters all the while, knowing she couldn't begin to mop up the grayish mess of liquified dirt and matted grass scattered across the floor until they were both gone. When they seemed to be on the last load of red streamers and campaign merchandise, she emerged back toward the front counter to lock up behind them. Thomas was still out in the back when James approached her, his final box of t-shirts resting on his hip.
"Is there anything else you need from us before we leave? I don't want to take up too much more of your time."
Y/N smiled at the concerned look he wore. "Depends; have you paid Mira in full for all our troubles?" Despite her exhaustion, her tone was light, and the tension in James's brow relaxed.
"I gave her the check before she left."
"Then you're good to go." She shrugged as she went to collect another basin of dirty dishes from under the side of the counter; her annoyance at it couldn't even rise, not after the mountain of plates she already had waiting for her next to the sink. "I've got everything else under control."
He nodded. "Thank you for letting us rent out the venue. All our attendees seemed more than happy with it."
"If it was up to me, you wouldn't be here, but I'll take the credit if you're offering it." She raised a playful eyebrow, and he wore a tired smile.
"The credit's all yours."
"My gratitude is beyond words." Though the words were mocking, he let out a light laugh, and she couldn't help her wry grin.
"I'm always glad to hear it." He took another glance around the place, checking for anything that might've been left behind, before turning toward the back exit Thomas had just re-emerged from.
"What else do we still have to box up?"
James paused on his way out. "You're welcome to do a final sweep, but I believe we have everything."
"Yeah?"
"I'm fairly certain." He looked back toward where Y/N stood behind the counter once more, leaning down on the bakery case. "Goodnight, Y/N."
"Bye, James." Her sleepy voice has a singsong lilt to it that made Thomas smile as he searched the dining room a final time. She'd started toward the kitchen once more to retrieve her broom, but Thomas's voice stopped her.
"Anything else I can do before I head out?"
She turned on her heel to face him, wore a soft smile when she saw how earnest he looked, eyebrows raised and his hands tucked into the pockets of his dress pants. "So long as you’ve gotten everything you brought here, there’s nothing I need from you."
"You sure?" When she raised a questioning eyebrow, he shrugged casually. "Just hate to leave this place a mess from our campaign event. Don't wanna leave you with all the extra cleanup."
She pursed her lips when her smile threatened to broaden. "That's sweet, Thomas, but really, it's okay. I'm on the clock for a while longer anyway. I think I can stick it out, considering I'm the one employed here."
"Feel like I remember hearin' somewhere that your shift ends at ten." He furrowed his brow, walking toward the counter where she stood. She didn't quite get his point until she turned to the clock above the doorway: it was nine fifty-eight. "'S there really nothin' I can do to help out?"
She snorted, folded her arms. "Not unless mopping the dried coffee off of the floors is your idea of a good time." When his expectant expression was unwavering, her eyebrows shot up. "You're not seriously offering your services as a janitor, are you?"
The corners of his lips quirked. "Only if it's welcome, sweetheart."
"You're wearing a full suit." The disbelief in her eyes was rigid despite his conviction.
"Don't mind. Long as I can throw my jacket somewhere." He cracked a grin. "Unless, of course, you just wanna get rid of me."
She eyed him skeptically, but he didn't seem to be joking just then. "If you're serious, I'm not turning down free labor."
"Or an excuse to spend more time with me?" His tone was playful, and she couldn't help her spiteful laugh as she re-entered the kitchen.
"So that's your ulterior motive? Hope you don't think you're getting any when it's eleven o'clock and I'm half asleep from my seven hours here tonight."
"As, c'mon now, why's there gotta be an accusation?" he called after her, and she could hear the teasing frown in his voice. "Can't I just wanna lend a hand?"
"I'll believe it when I see it." She emerged not a minute later with a broom and dustpan to see him having shaken off his jacket and undone his tie. She quirked a brow.
"Hey, anywhere I can throw these?" His sleeves were rolled up to his forearms as he slid his tie out of his collar, popping open the first few buttons on his dress shirt, and Y/N bit her lip. The suits he wore didn't quite do justice to his physique; his jackets may have fit tighter around his upper arms, but his shirts were practically molded around his biceps just above where the veins bulging in his forearms disappeared into his sleeves. She was sure the few extra inches of visible skin below his collar were meant to draw her wandering eyes, only hinting at the toned chest she knew lay beneath the starched fabric.
When she looked back up and caught his eye, he looked predictably cocky. He wore a wide, smug grin, and she rolled her eyes before he even spoke. "You're starin', sweetheart."
Y/N shrugged, wearing the smallest of smiles. "Nothing I haven't seen before."
"Anything you wanna see again?" He raised a suggestive eyebrow, and she laughed.
"Tempting," she said, and when surprise flashed in his eyes, his interest piqued as he started toward her. However, she stopped him at arm's length, a hand on his chest. "But you know what would be really sexy?"
His delight in the turn of events was obvious. "What's that?"
She leaned her broom against the counter and took a step forward, pushing herself onto her toes until her lips brushed against the skin just below his ear, and his hands ghosted down to her hips. Her voice was just above a whisper. "Watching you disinfect all the dining room's high-touch surfaces."
She pulled back with a broad grin when he let out a disappointed groan. "Seriously?"
His frustration was obvious, his brow furrowed as he looked down at her, deadpan, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, yeah. Free labor really gets me going."
"Tease," he grumbled, and Y/N gave him a skeptical stare.
"Don't you gimme that; I'm not the one here under false pretenses," she reminded him, and he folded his arms.
"Now I dunno what you could be refferin' to." She raised a dubious eyebrow when a grin split his phony discontent. "But there's nothin' wrong with mixin' business and pleasure."
"Don't you dare try to derail me after taking up six hours of my time, Jefferson." She prodded his chest with a scowl. "If you're sticking around, I'm putting you to work."
"Wouldn't have it any other way." When he did grab the broom, he glanced back toward the kitchen, wearing an inquisitive frown. "I'm gonna go stick my jacket in a cupboard; is that alright? I'll only be a minute."
"Oh, yeah; do you want me to take it? We have a coat closet in the back."
"Nah, 's alright. I can find it."
Though she gave him a skeptical once-over, Y/N nodded. "Have at it."
When he wasn't back a few minutes later, her train of thoughts managed to run a full 5k -- what could he possibly be spending that much time in the back for? Was he really still trying to find a coat hanger, by then? How hard was it to find a closet in exactly two rooms? Or, really, was he just hiding out until she'd already gotten the worst of the grime off of the tile?
She eliminated her final guess when early-2000s pop music began blaring through the diner's sound system. Though she groaned loudly enough for him to hear it from where he'd located the aux input, she couldn't say this was really a downgrade from Orlando's dusk-till-dawn smooth jazz. When he emerged from behind the kitchen's swinging door and caught sight of her dead stare, he laughed.
"Hanging up your jacket, huh?" Her annoyance was contrived; the way the corners of her lips twitched up gave her away.
"Hey, I can multitask." He bit his smile back, giving her a serious look, brow furrowed. "I said I'm here to help, didn't I?"
"How is this possibly helping?"
"'Cause you need to liven up a little bit," he said matter-of-factly, and Y/N rolled her eyes. "Cleanin's only boring if you make it boring."
"You'll be singing a different tune when you start wiping down the bathroom."
"Hey, how'd I end up on bathroom duty?" he pouted, and she shrugged, turning to the shelves at the back to hide her growing smile.
"As the only one of us who actually works here, I've elected myself the de-facto CEO." She hung her dishrag up on the rack next to the sink before looking back at him over her shoulder, shrugging. "Hate to break it to you, but you're on my turf."
"But I'm a volunteer!" he protested, and she grinned.
"My point exactly."
"Now, what if I refuse to do it?" Though she was busy restocking all the cups that she'd finished washing earlier in the day, she could hear Thomas's footsteps approaching where she stood behind the counter.
"Then you don't, and you finally leave so that I can be productive."
"Sounds like I'm really the one with the power, here."
"Not when I have something I know you want." She looked up with a suggestive smile when he hoisted himself onto the counter beside her, and he raised his eyebrows, folding his arms across his chest.
"And now what's that?"
"Three guesses, Thomas." She had a feeling he'd only need one of them when his gaze began to wander down the length of her body, eyes shining.
"I dunno how unpaid this labor is, sweetheart."
"Well, you won't quite be making minimum wage," she said, turning back to face him as she leaned against the counter opposite where he sat. "But I think the employment benefits will make it worth your time."
"That so?" He pushed himself off the counter's edge, hardly having to take a step forward before his arms landed on either side of her on the counter's edge, caging her in, and she inhaled sharply. His grin was wide; his hips pressed into hers as he leaned in, and she swallowed roughly, leaning back on her hands which rested on the linoleum countertop.
"I'd like to think so," she breathed, as he dipped down, wasting no time as his lips met the tender skin below her jaw.
"Mm, I think I'm gonna need to decide that one for myself," he murmured against her neck, and despite how tempting it was when his hands gravitated to her waist, falling slowly further as he bit down softly on her earlobe, she pushed him away the minute she found her last shred of willpower.
"Uh-uh." Thomas scowled as he pulled back, hands planted on the counter at her sides. She folded her arms. "I'm not gonna make even more of a mess of this place that I'll have to clean up. When the diner's shining, I'd be happy to revisit."
One of his hands rose to her jawline, lifting her chin up ever so slightly to look him in the eye, and she raised a skeptical eyebrow. "After the place is spotless," he murmured, his voice hard and his gaze fixed on her lips, "Hope you know how much you're gonna regret leadin' me on like this. You won't be tryin' it again."
Despite her effort to remain unaffected, Y/N's breath caught, and she bit down on her bottom lip as she struggled to fight the heat rising in her cheeks. Her eyes were wider than she knew, and he seemed to be reveling in her reaction, wearing a wolfish grin.
After a moment, she swallowed, took a deep breath, her voice shaky. "Last I checked, I'm still at work."
"And I wouldn't dream of hinderin' your career." Thomas winked as he took a step back, going for the broom where she'd discarded it before, acting as though nothing at all had happened. Y/N was left reeling.
Thus began the next ninety minutes of her life. Though, to Y/N's surprise, Thomas did end up cleaning the bathrooms, putting up little resistance, he'd also managed to convince Y/N to help him. Despite there having been two of them, every subsequent task took twice as long as it otherwise would've. She'd have denied it, but Thomas's presence was a more-than-welcome distraction.
About half an hour later, he'd managed to drag her away from her Lysol bleach and her old rags in favor of taking a break to dance with him (apparently, she was underappreciating the wonder that was Outkast's greatest hit). She rolled her eyes at the suggestion but grudgingly obliged, and Thomas couldn't help but call out the small, growing smile that broke her grumpy facade. He'd seemingly done the impossible by getting her to let herself go for an evening. Neither of them was quite sure how the floor had gradually become spotless between their distracted banter, nor when exactly they'd managed to wipe down every surface in the kitchen as his playlist seamlessly ventured through every one of Britney Spears's wildest phases.
She'd just about forgotten about her fatigue as Thomas repeatedly soaked the ankles of her jeans with his mop, claiming that her being in his line of sight was just too much of a distraction for him to do his job properly. She scoffed every time, but the fact that her cheeks had grown sore from smiling made her annoyance marginally less convincing.
He eventually took off his shiny black oxfords after having spent the evening trying to hide his concern over some of the chemicals in her soaps ruining the varnish; she didn't bother to argue with his insistence that it absolutely marked a milestone in their progress that he wasn't afraid to step in any greenish gunk or black mold -- if they hadn't missed any, what was the harm? However, she did reprimand him for ransacking their fridge when she left for three minutes to put the mop away. She didn't stay mad long.
Wiping down the glass of the bakery display case took too long for her liking. As it turned out, it was difficult to focus after teasing him for the expected mediocrity of the John Mayer impression he claimed to be impeccable, as he immediately decided it needed to be proven. However, she didn't regret provoking him when the result had her sides beginning to hurt from laughing. She was just glad that they'd nearly finished cleaning.
Much to his dismay, Thomas had to cut the music after the sweet old lady who lived above the dry-cleaners next door came down, banging on the back door to chew them out. The fire behind her threats to file a noise complaint with the cops died down pretty quickly when Thomas offered her a beignet and a cup of tea, sending her on her way with a winning smile, a to-go box, and a Jefferson campaign button. (Y/N proceeded almost immediately to scold him for just giving away the fruits of her hours of labor behind a deep-fryer.)
But as the music was revoked, their animated evening of slacking off began to wind down. The only thing left for them to do was to finish the dishes, and Thomas proved to be much more helpful with this than Lafayette had been earlier in the day.
All was quiet as he washed the dishes and she proceeded to dry them, silence split only by his sporadically humming the best of the Black Eyed Peas. It was comfortable, just being together as the warm air wafted from the cooling oven not too far behind, as their hands brushed every time he passed her another plate. Her lips were pursed in a feeble effort to hide how endeared she was every time she glanced to him, his sleeves soaked past the elbow while he remained unbothered. If he noticed, he didn't mention. Finally--
"How are you so good with people?"
"Hm?" He turned his head toward her with a raised eyebrow, and she had to ignore the flecks of foamed soap that clung to his curls and his shirt. Y/N shrugged.
"I just mean..." Her smile was shy; she didn't meet his eyes. "I don't get how you do it. Mira absolutely dotes on you; you've befriended half of our staff after one night here. You just talked to my crankiest neighbor for literally all of five minutes, and suddenly, she's part of your voting bloc."
He just watched her for a moment. His stare was soft. "Can't help it if people find me irresistible."
Her loud, disbelieving scoff made him grin, but she looked far from annoyed. "That's your secret? You were just born with it? It isn't Maybelline?"
Though he laughed quietly, when she turned to him with her eyebrows raised, he shrugged. Her question seemed to be in earnest. "I dunno, sweetheart. Don't think it's anything special. People seem just as drawn to you, anyway."
"Sure, 'cause I have a nice ass, and I'm wearing tight jeans. Not the same thing." How frankly she spoke made him grin, and he shot her a wink, passing off another bowl to her.
"Can't argue with that." She rolled her eyes as she began drying the next dish. He bumped his elbow lightly against hers, gaze teasing yet soft. "But you know that's not what I meant."
She sighed. "Alright, fine, but I'm not forty-points-ahead-in-the-polls charismatic. I just... can't figure out what it is about you that people seem so drawn to."
As she concluded moments later, the uninvited smile she wore when he flashed her a warm grin could've contributed to the reason. She turned back to the plates before her, feeling her skin warm under his heavy gaze. "So you're tellin' me people don't follow me strictly 'cause of my political framework and field experience?"
"Oh, I'm sure every one of your supporters has invested hours into reading the 174-page pdf of fiscal policy your campaign published." Another stack of cups went into the cupboard below her.
"People really don't care about how taxin' it was for me to write all that? And here I was, thinkin' every American voter was out there doin' their homework." He looked with disappointment down at the salad plate he was scrubbing at present, but Y/N wasn't buying it.
"Thomas," she groaned as she turned to meet his phony pout, her stare flat. Her mild annoyance only served to amuse him further, and though she scowled when he laughed, he leaned over to gently kiss the crown of her head. She could feel herself flush despite how chaste it was; the casual affection left her more thrown than if he'd tried to rail her in the middle of the kitchen.
"'M only kiddin'," he defended, voice heavy with mirth, making her roll her eyes.
"Aren't you always?" she asked, wiping off the inside of a cup.
"'Course not." He frowned, and she deadpanned as she turned to him, arms folded.
"I'm not sure we've had a serious conversation since I met you."
"Now, that's just not true."
"Isn't it?" He put down the saucepan he was rinsing out to turn to her, matching her demeanor.
"It isn't. I know I tease, but I've never been anythin' but one-hundred percent authentic with you, Y/N."
A moment passed where neither said anything. The corners of Y/N's lips quirked at how sincere he sounded as he waited for her to react. Finally, she turned back to the dishes before her with a tight-lipped smile.
"Maybe this is what it is."
"Hm?"
"Why people like you. This whole endearingly earnest act you've got going on. I could see that being pretty appealing to voters."
"Hey, what d'you mean act?" He bumped his shoulders into hers, offense written across his face, and she laughed.
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know what I mean. Traipsing around from state to state like some type of charismatic golden boy. Making everyone feel all special and appreciated. It's a good tactic; don't get me wrong." She shrugged as she shelved the last stack of bowls. Just a few more things to wash, and they could officially consider the diner spotless. She didn't think much of her own words, but he hung onto them. It was inexplicable as to why he took so much pride in her all but admitting he made her feel special.
"My bein' all kind-hearted and charmin' isn't some scheme," he said after a moment, plastering on a scowl, and she raised an eyebrow as he passed her a fork. For a brief moment, she was worried she'd crossed a line, but when his eyes met hers, his gaze was playful. "'M just a nice person. Maybe you should try it sometime."
Her mouth fell open in surprise, indignant but hardly disguising her smile, and she let out a huff. "I was joking, you asshole!" When he only snickered, she pursed her lips, shoving him away from her with the little comparative strength she had.
"Hey, now!" His reprimanding had very little bite to it with the laugh carried in his voice as he stumbled a step to his right, tugging the faucet head along with him. He scowled at Y/N's self-pleased smile, flicking his wrist to turn the spray of water from the sink onto her.
She yelped, jumped back from it, but he'd already managed to drench the front of her shirt. She wore an expression of disbelief as she paused a moment, watching him return to the dishes as if nothing had happened despite his entertained grin. It was then that she struck back, lunging toward the sink to retaliate, and he wasn't quite quick enough to stop her.
He could only do damage control once she'd already managed to spray a line of water across his chest, and she gasped when he pushed her back to her part of the counter.
"You're more trouble than I was expectin'," he laughed, and she folded her arms.
"You're no walk in the park yourself."
"But you're the one who decided to let me stick around, sweetheart," he retorted, giving her a pointed look, and she shrugged good-naturedly.
"You might be a handful, but you're worth having around once in a while."
He laughed at how matter-of-factly she spoke, and for once, she wore an unabashed grin. "Now you're just flatterin' me," he teased.
"Oh, of course, such high praise; you aren't always awful."
"Hey, that means somethin', comin' from you," he defended, prodding her in the side, and she squealed, jumping away.
"Hands off, Jefferson. I'm at work."
"Aw, 'm sorry. Didn't mean to disrespect your professional boundaries."
"Check yourself next time," Y/N scowled, but there was no heat to it. The pair caught one another's eyes, both wearing the same, gentle smile, and it seemed too soon when he broke her gaze, returning to the last couple pieces of silverware. She watched him another moment until he turned to pass her a ladle. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed her gaze hadn't strayed.
She only turned back to the counter when she took the ladle from him, drying it off and sliding it back into its place in the drawer. All was quiet, and though they could both feel the chilled air of the spring night drifting in through the poorly-sealed back door, where they stood, it felt perfectly warm.
He glanced at her. "'S nice to see you like this."
The comment was offhanded; he didn't wait for a response, only returned to washing the spoons, but Y/N furrowed her brow.
"Like what?"
He turned back to her with a raised brow, mildly surprised at the curious frown she wore, and he shrugged, still wearing his faint smile. "I dunno." She didn't fill the silence, and he continued, "With your guard down. Always feels like you've got some kinda walls up."
She swallowed; for a split second, her gaze was absent. Ultimately, she sighed. "I guess I'm just cautious," she said quietly, and Thomas frowned at the defensive lilt that had returned to her tone.
"I get it." He reached over to finally turn off the water, and she put away the final fork he handed her. "'S not always worth lettin' people in."
His smile was tiny, barely there, but understanding, and when she met his eyes, it felt like he was seeing right through her. "It just makes it too easy to get hurt."
He nodded, eyes kind. "'M glad I make you feel like you can relax."
She hardly shrugged as he turned to her, leaning on his hand on the countertop. "Yeah." A small smile graced her lips as she eyed his expression, and she bit her lip. "I guess there are worse things, huh?"
His laugh made her nervous gaze soften. "Aw, sugar, you're too kind," he said, the mocking sarcasm in his voice balanced out by how gentle his grin was. She rolled her eyes.
"Whatever," she said softly, and he plastered on a mock pout. "I'm not building up your ego any more, alright? I'm not sure it has any room to grow."
"I wouldn't mind you makin' me just a little bit more conceited, now."
She finally turned all the way to him, putting down the dishcloth she'd been using for drying, and despite herself, the affection in the way he was looking back down at her made her heart flutter. "If you're looking for blind adoration, you should've figured out by now that I'm not the girl for that."
"No, you really aren't, are you?" Though her words had been pointed, had come with the intention to knock him back down a peg, his low voice was far, far from contemptuous. Her eyebrows jumped when he took a step toward her, taking her chin in his hand to lift her face to his before bending down to meet her where she stood, his confident lips gentle against hers. "You're so much more than that," he murmured, not pulling away enough to even look her in the eye, their noses brushing together.
Though she hesitated, it was a moment later that Y/N took a step forward to meet him halfway, her tentative touch rising up the stiff material of his shirt and to the back of his neck. He wrapped an arm around her waist. She pushed herself up onto her toes, and their lips met once again.
The patience in his every move was new to her, inconsistent with the raw desire that usually governed his actions. When he sucked her bottom lip between his teeth, her mouth parted in a soft moan, and he took the opportunity for what it was, wasting little time in pressing his tongue teasingly against hers. He was holding her close, but she was arched fully up against him regardless of it, wanting to feel the movement of his body against hers. Both her arms looped around the back of his neck, pulling him down to her.
The kiss was deep, intimate, but not harsh, and when his mouth moved to the skin of her neck, she tipped her head back, eyes closed with her silent sigh as his hands moved down to grip the backs of her thighs. She couldn't help her surprise at how effortless it was for him to pick her up, to lift her onto the counter she'd been standing in front of. She groaned when his lips found a particularly sensitive patch of skin, all but going limp in his grasp.
"Thomas," she whined, wrapping her legs more tightly around him to anchor his hips against hers, grinding against his hard body.
"Come home with me," he muttered into her neck, and though she gasped at the feeling of his teeth scraping against her, she pulled back to look him in the eye, raising his head to hers with a hand in his curls.
"What?" she whispered, chest heaving, and he pressed another soft, chaste kiss to her lips.
"Come home with me," he repeated, looking into her wide eyes.
"Why?" He raised his eyebrows at her hesitance, and she took a deep breath. "Thomas, I live upstairs; if you wanna stay, I... I definitely wouldn't mind that, but--"
She cut herself off at his skeptical hum, and he said, "Listen, I almost got caught tryin' to sneak outta here in the morning last Saturday, and I'm not tryna have a repeat of that, alright? Just come back to my place." One of his hands lifted from her thigh to weave itself into her hair, holding her head by her nape as he kissed her, more intently that time. "Promise I'll make it worth your while."
She swallowed. "Pull your car around the back."
---------
It was hours later that Y/N found herself lying exhausted on satin sheets, slumped in a penthouse just across the river and high above the city. Thomas hadn't been lying about making the most of her time; his hands had seldom left her skin from the moment she entered his passenger seat, dragging her quickly past the doorman on the first floor of his building, pinning her against the wall of the elevator for a heated, fleeting moment before he'd finally tugged her the rest of the way to his apartment.
She was wrapped in his covers up to her chest, feeling just on the wrong end of self-conscious, but her clothes were rumpled and sprawled across every corner of the rooms they had to pass to reach his bed. They hadn't been overly concerned with where the outfit ended up, just that it wasn't on her skin. Every joint in her body was already sore, and she groaned as she tried to sit up, leaning against his headboard as Thomas returned to her with a glass of water.
"Thanks," she said, and he couldn't help but grin at how hoarse she sounded as he handed her the cup.
"'Course, sweetheart." He came to sit beside her as he pressed a kiss to her temple, and she took a long sip of the water, nearly draining all of it in one gulp. "You alright? Everything still feeling okay?"
"I'm exhausted, and my ass hurts like a bitch," she griped, but when he raised an eyebrow, she nodded. "But I'm all good. Might have to bill you for the truckload of concealer I'll need to cover up all these fucking marks, but I'm fine."
"Good." He squeezed her thigh lightly when she leaned against his side, her legs bent and knees pulled in toward her chest. When she rested her head on his shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her against himself with a small smile.
"Can't believe I didn't know you live in the same building as Lafayette, though," she mumbled, and he looked down at her with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, he actually lives just across the hall. When he came back from France lookin' for a place to live, I thought it'd be fun if we were neighbors, and he took me up on it pretty easily."
She hummed her acknowledgment. "So that means, when Lafayette showed up half an hour late to your lunch date and I was there instead, that it would've taken you all of five seconds just to go home?"
He laughed. "Now, what exactly are you accusin' me of?"
"Being a pain in my ass two weeks ago," she grumbled, and he shrugged, wearing a small, self-contented smile and not bothering to argue with her.
"You didn't seem to mind me bein' a pain in your ass last night." He raised a smug eyebrow, and she scowled, turning her head to break the eye contact. She disregarded the heat she could feel rising in her cheeks.
"You say 'last night' as though we didn't get back here less than four hours ago."
"Don't pretend you don't get the picture."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips quirked when he kissed the top of her hair. She looked down at the cup she held against her chest. "Is it cool if I stay over?"
"'Course. I don't want you gettin' in an Uber with some creep in the middle of the city at this time of night."
"Mm, but you had no problem with me getting in a Bentley with some creep in the middle of the city four hours ago?"
Despite the teasing bite to her words, he grinned. "Hey, now, I'm just sayin' you gotta be selective about which creeps you're lettin' drive you around at all hours."
"I mean, you haven't killed me yet, so I'd call that a point in your favor." She yawned, reaching over to put the glass he'd given her on his bedside table. "We should get some sleep. It's late, and I'm sure you have somewhere to be tomorrow."
"Alright, sweetheart." She pushed herself forward from the headboard, laying back onto the pillow she'd been leaning on, holding it close to her head as he reached over to turn off the lamplight before joining her under the covers. "G'night."
"Night, T."
They fell asleep almost immediately in one another's arms.
------------
5:17 AM
From: john.adams@exec.gov
Y/N--
I’m glad you reached out. Your writing’s excellent as always, but if there’s information you want, you’ve very much come to the right place. I’ve worked with Thomas for years, and though they left me dismayed, I’ve become quite familiar with the not-so-shining moments in his background.
I’d rather not put anything in writing should someone find this communication. Let’s find a somewhat private place to meet. Be sure to bring a recorder and a notepad. Believe me when I say you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.
John Adams
#hamilton#hamilton fanfic#hamilton x reader#hamilton x reader imagines#hamilton x reader imagine#hamilton oneshot#hamilton oneshots#hamilton scenarios#hamilton imagine#hamilton imagines#hamilton on disney+#thomas jefferson#thomas jefferson fanfic#thomas jefferson imagines#thomas jefferson fanfiction#thomas jefferson fic#thomas jefferson x reader#thomas jefferson x reader drabble#thomas jefferson x reader smut#thomas jefferson scenario#thomas jefferson scenarios#lafayette x reader#daveed diggs x reader#daveed x reader#hamilton smut#lafayette#lafayette imagines#daveed diggs imagines#lafayette x reader smut#freedom of the press
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you talk a lot about magnus and camille dynamic and how they started and all that great meta content that you know i love but here's a question that idk if you ever got: how long do you think they were together? bc i can't think of a specific timeline and personally i love the one you talked abt at some point how she was pretty much right after asmododo or something like that, so he went from one type of abuse into another... but how long was he there? was camille with him for 20 years? 80? 130? any theories?
ugh that's a complicated one because i don't really have an answer for that and i think about it often as well
altho i think you got confused about her being right after asmodeus, i definitely don't think she was. i mentioned it my post about the timeline to say that magnus COULDN'T have been born close to the 1800s because that would make it asmodeus and camille way too close and that can't be the case because it would imply camille is basically the only person he dated before alec doajsdoaj and we know that's not true cuz there's also other ppl like george and etc. it was more a point in favor of "early to mid 1600s" for his birth date
anyway! let's go through this. i mentioned in another post that i think he got together with camille right after george, and that i think george died around the middle of the US civil war, which lasted from 1861 to 1865. so let's say they got together around 1863. now, we have a few pieces of information:
magnus mentioned that he hadn't been with anyone for "almost a century" when talking to alec. i know i think magnus is time blind but he can't be TOO off here. that was in 2016 so that would make their breakup date be a little after 1916 if magnus remembers correctly
literally the only thing about the timeline in that time period that i can remember is that one picture there was in his file of magnus surrounded by girls at a party, which looked to be in the 20s to me. since camille was an abusive asshole probably sabotaging his every chance to meet people, that couldn't have been when they were together. so i'd say 1920 is like, the limit for when they could have broken up. it's up to you whether or not you think magnus would be jumping into his party animal role immediately after the breakup or if it would take some time for him to heal; personally i think both make sense (i think she made a huge number on him so it would make sense for him to take a while to get back to that kind of thing; on the other hand, a lot of people turn straight to being party animals after breaking up abusive relationships, especially because for so long abusers have kept them from doing anything fun. so both work imo) so it's up to you
conclusion: they broke up in 1920 at the latest, so the max you could go for is 80 years, if you go with a timeline where camille was right after george (george can't be after camille because magnus has had no relationships after camille, but there could have been a bigger gap between george and camille than i personally hc). it could still be less tho, because we literally have NO information whatsoever on what happened between 1861 and 1920. even if you go with "they broke up and magnus immediately went full party animal" (which is perfectly valid), it's also entirely possible that this happened in say, 1901 and that pic just happened to be from the 20s, years later. but i also don't think it could have been a lot earlier than 1901 because magnus said almost a century, implying less than a century between the year they broke up and 2016. and while i do think that any immortal would lose track of time after a while and mingle years and decades together, nevermind adhd time blind icon magnus bane, if they had broken up in, say, 1880, magnus would remember that over a century has passed, if anything because so much has changed since then. so i think for him to say that the breakup should have happened in the 20th century at least
so that's the analysis from what we've seen in the show. personal opinion! i think 80 years makes sense, but is a bit much. it makes sense because there does seem to be a pretty obvious gap in magnus' file from the 1860s to the 1920s and then it goes back to having many pictures of him, and that "disappearance" makes sense in the context of him being in an abusive relationship (which limits your interactions and going outs by a lot). it does seem to be a bit much because magnus is at max 400, so, if they had been together 80 years, that would have been 20% of magnus' life spent with camille. or 1/5. added with all the time with asmodeus, it seems to be... a bit much dioadsoaijd and like look i'm not judging, i know abusive relationships can last many years and decades even for mortals, nevermind immortals, but i just don't like the idea of it lasting this long personally, especially because i think it makes him getting with alec seem actually a bit soon considering how long the abusive relationship lasted, and that's ignoring asmodeus' abuse on top of it
so personally, i like it morenif its around 40-50 years. i think it makes sense. it would mean the breakup was sometime around the 1910s, and while, okay, there is a gap in his file that seems to only end in the 20s, we must not forget an important fact: shadowhunters are stupid. so i actually think it makes sense that like, magnus emerges from his abusive relationship and is still getting back on his feet, and shadowhunters just don't care. like who is that guy? oh some warlock, no one's heard of him since like the 1860s lol. whatever happened to him? who cares. anyway, we love racism
and then around a decade later it turns out that magnus is healing enough to be a pain in their ass; say, that is when he becomes HWoB, or simply that they are reminded of how powerful magnus actually is once he is back in activity, and so they go back to like, investigating him and updating his file. so the file gap could be explained in that case. it also actually makes more sense that it would take shadowhunters a while to pay attention to him again, and since magnus was healing from an abusive relationship, the time it would take for him to draw their attention might well be around a decade
and with 40-50 years of an abusive relationship that would mean magnus has spent 10-12% of his life with camille; which is a LOT of time (for comparison: my first abusive relationship lasted a little over a year and i was 16 at the time; that makes it have lasted around 6% of my life at the time, and it did a HUGE number on me, taking me almost 3 years to have a relationship again), but not quite as much as a full 20%. not just that, but him taking "almost a century" (it would actually make it be a little over a century in this timeline, but again, magnus is immortal and time blind, so give him a break) to get with anyone again makes sense. that would be around double the time he's spent with her before he heals enough to be with someone else. that tracks, because abuse fucks you up fast and unfuckening yourself up takes longer. magnus isn't even fully unfucked up (which is okay, he doesn't have to be), but for him to be ready to take such huge steps as he is taking with alec, i think around double the time he's spent with her spent on healing makes sense
(again, i'm mostly going off my own experiences here; my abusive relationship lasted almost a year and a half, my next relationship was almost three years after the breakup. so almost perfectly double the time before i was ready to have another relationship. and again, i know recovery isn't the same for everyone and a lot of factors go into this, but i just think a timeline where he's been with her for 80 years and then gets with alec less than 100 afterwards is a bit too fast)
i still think 40 years is kind of a very long time to be in an abusive relationship and like holy shit i cant even imagine, but also i mean, mortals have abusive relationships that last that long and to an immortal itd feel like less time, and it does seem to be what best fits the timeline, so
and yeah i think those are my thoughts dadsajdsa
LAST MINUTE EDIT BEFORE THIS IS PUBLISHED CUZ IM NOT REDOING THE WHOLE THING: i got an anon today saying that magnus said something about not having seen camille in 130 years (link) which i didnt/dont really remember but i trust that theyre right and im wrong because i dont remember a lot of shit from this show. 130 years before 2016 would be 1886, meaning that if they broke up at that time and got together right after george's death as i personally hc, that's a 20-year relationship. that sounds like it fits the timeline as much as any other to me, and like i said in that ask, i think it makes sense that magnus would play it down to alec by saying "almost a century" instead of how long it's really been cuz it's a bit too vulnerable, and plus, we know one of the ways he protects himself is by not letting people pinpoint exactly some important dates from his past, particularly his birthday and etc
and okay i know that 20 years together, then 130 years recovering is a huge difference, but also i think with twenty years together as opposed to my comparatively short abusive relationship the scars of abuse would deepen a lot and quicker, so maybe it makes sense that it would take a longer time to feel confident enough to get to dating again. plus, like i said, there's no real math to be had in that process, everyone is different, has their own history and recovery process and etc so it's not like there is a deadline. so actually scratch everything i said above im going with this timeline. the one thing that doesn't track with that is the gap in his file but also like i said shadowhunters are stupid, so. yeah 20 years together is probably closer to it
in the end its kind of a relief cuz i was like "holy shit 40 years is so LONG" so... yeah udndidn
#me: i don't really now. also me: gigantic essay with lots of numbers and a relatively narrow time gap as a result#sh#shadowhunters#magnus bane#camille belcourt is an abuser#camille's trash party#magnus bane meta#anti shadowhunters#abuse tw#death tw#mentions of war#meta#ask#some-thrilling-heroics#there is too much math in this post tbh#q#adhd magnus bane#time blind magnus
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Letters Anon.
Personally I found the question important because last year I started working on a documentary about an actor who, like Bogarde, was very dead and very very private, (even likely to lie during interviews). I suspected he wasn't straight but I had no proof of anything. There were passing mentions of girlfriends, but he was for the most part, a bachelor with no children (that I know of). The documentary at the moment is on hold because my trail has gone cold, and I'm trying to get hold of any relatives. But my initial plan was to hear what they had to say, ask for their blessing and, if given, out him if he turned out to be not straight. After all, the family was okay with it, right?
Watching TPDB made me rethink that and change my mind.
The thing is, actors and general media people are sort of... public property, whether we like it or not. They impact people, and I think that we should be able to explore their lives and that impact on society as one does with any other science subject. The key is respect. A documentary about Dirk as an actor and (perhaps also as an activist) seems alright to me. The problem with TPDB is that it's almost morbid and voyeuristic. They got the nurse who took care of him in his final years to show us his flat and talk about his daily routine, going as far as showing us his BATH and all. A line has to be drawn. The main interest in Dirk wasn't (in that documentary) about his work in films, books and all that. It was about his OWN life and what he had (rightfully) refused to share with his audience. Was he gay? Was he not? Who the fuck cares.
yes very true about them having a public impact and the kind of implicit contract they more or less agree to by entering the kind of work they do, but also equally true and important abt the matter of respect and boundaries. i do think something like dirk being gay clearly informed his life and indeed a lot of his work in both film and literature so that information can be useful in exploring his work and cultural impact/legacy. yet outing someone, even posthumously, carries a lot of baggage and history with it and its something i would never ever ever dream of doing especially to a family member or someone i knew closely- but its done now and we do have to live with it. i guess we just have to accept that its happened and take solace in the fact that other gay people like myself (and you im assuming) now see him as an icon or beacon or whatever and for us it positively impacted our view of him. things like his daily routine in the last years of his life or the painful details of tony's nursing and eventual death however don't feel valuable or necessary in that context.
that private life of dirk bogarde doc i actually remember looking at, decided it seemed overly invasive, and did not add it to my watchlist. glad i didnt based on what you said about it. also very interesting abt the doc you've worked on, i wish you luck w finding out more! especially since it seems you're approaching it with intelligence and sensitivity and respect and are working on avoiding the pitfalls of something like that bogarde doc.
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WOOO POG DREAM SMP AU
theres 1.8k words and 9,393 characters of a schlatt au below the cut LMAO
[i was rambling to my friend and this is what came out of it! send me an abt it if u have questions i would love to talk abt it more pls]
(slight body horror/gore tw!!)
slams fists on table rattling any dishes on the table au where schlatt doesnt die of a heartattack and tubbo locks him up to rot basically and his horns grow into his eyes effectively blinding him and chained his hands together and basically a leash on him to keep him from moving around in his cell so he cant do anything to break the horns off before they get too long and one day when technos breaking into lmanberg he gets chased into the prison and loses them in the halls before coming across schlatts cell and schlatts calling out like 'whos there i can hear ur foot steps whos there please someone whos there' etc yk and technos speechless they thought they executed him to keep him from causing any more problems in the country but this is this is just much worse than anything he even thought theyd do and hes standing in front of schlatts cell just looking at him as if hes imagining it he knew lmanberg was bad but holy fuck they just let this man rot in a cell to the point of his own horns blinding him and giving him no aid or way to ease the pain so he makes himself known and schlatt 'ive never been so happy to see, well, hear an anarchist in my life, its good to see- hear you technoblade' and chuckles and blood runs down his face like tears would, few drops landing on his clothes before techno starts trying to get into the cell to take him out of there he cant leave him here sure he was an anarchist terrorist w a murder record but he had standards and now that schlatt wasnt in power he had nothing against him really considering he isnt a citizen of lmanberg so he manages to pick the locks enough to get him out of there, schlatts arm slung over technos shoulder they stumble out of the prison building and as they slowly make their way to the nether portal to get back to technos base, they run into tubbo and quackity, schlatts old right hand men and they try to stop techno bc hes well an anarchist terrorist w a murder record but the glare techno gives them levels them and theyre left staring at each other for a moment when schlatt 'whyre we stopped whos there tech' and techno mumbles 'tubbo and quackity schlatt' and schlatt just furrows his brows as far as he can without sending excruciating pain into his eye sockets before he purses his lips and asks 'are they going to try and stop us?' techno looks back at the other two 'no they wont, isnt that right boys?' tubbo and quackity slink away allowing techno and schlatt to the portal and them going thru, schlatt still silent as he tries not to trip over technos cape or off the ledge of the bridge passing over the lava lakes, they make it to the portal and begin the walk across the arctic tundra to technos house, philza isnt there right now so its just the two of them and techno leads him up the ladder to his room (its not really a room i think its just a bed, a bell and an enchantment table) and sits him down on his bed mumbling something abt being right back and he is with some medical supplies and a change of clothes to clean everything up, they dont talk techno works in silence and when schlatt winces he mumbles a small apology before continuing eventually techno got schlatt as cleaned up as you can get someone w horns in their eyes and a sweater to keep him warm and finally starts asking questions 'how long had u been in there' 'lost count' 'did they bring you food' 'a chests worth at the beginning of the month' techno sighs 'i thought they executed you' 'tubbo chickened out despite me being 'an active threat to our peace in lmanberg' and locked me up a few days after u set the withers loose and dropped off a chest of food once a month and most of them refused to talk to me others couldnt even make eye contact with me, other than the few instances where they said things like 'heres ur food' or 'u deserve this' or 'i cant believe tubbo let u live' i talked to no one other than myself for however long i was in there' techno stands and walks around for a moment before flipping some pages and schlatt can hear him gasp quietly in mild surprise 'what is it tech' looking in the direction he heard techno from and techno says, turning to face schlatt on his bed 'schlatt that was almost 3 months ago' a single beat of silence rings for what feels like forever 'oh. i, i didnt think itd been that long. though it would explain my current predicament' loosely gesturing towards his face 'oh right abt that i have a few questions if ur ready to answer some' schlatt hums and techno grabs a pen and paper and sits next to him in case he needs to take any notes for future reference 'how fast do ur horns normally grow' 'idk just a steady amount my whole life pretty much' 'will they ever stop growing' 'they generally stop growing around 30 and continue to grow more in width than length' 'did anyone who brought u food notice' 'they grow quickly and by the time the person w the third chest came around they were getting close to my eyes but they didnt listen to me, no one did' he sighs looking down at would be his hands 'the odds of both of my horns growing into my eyes and blinding me like this are so low but of course it would happen to me' a chuckle void of any amusement 'because losing my country and my people and my power wasnt enough already' techno stands up 'you had that coming' schlatt actually laughs this time, short and curt 'ok fair, u were the one that took me down afterall' and from then on schlatt lives w techno and phil and eventually tommy and then without tommy (tommy was Not happy when he found out that schlatt was living with techno but he needed somewhere to stay too and techno happens to live in an arctic tundra where only a handful of people know how to get to so he didnt complain too much) and eventually techno saws off schlatts horns at the bend adn removes them from his eyes bc if they kept growing into his head theyd hit his brain and kill him on top of blinding him and techno gags and almost throws up despite not being sensitive to gore and gives schlatt a bandanna to cover the holes in his head for everyones sake and once they heal somewhat he can find something else out and thats how they live, schlatt helps with what he can like farming w phil but mostly spends his time learning braille or something so he can read and techno gets him books in braille so he isnt bored or alone like he was in the prison and he feeds him and takes care of him and schlatt is funny and entertaining despite being blinded by something from his own body and the torture it was like to rot in a cell alone for almost a 1/4 of a year and nights when techno gets home late and hes shaken and the voices are bad schlatt will sit behind him and play with his hair and talk abt his own day and rub technos back and in return when schlatt relapses and gets violent and angry techno will wash his hair and read him stories until he calms down and hopefully asleep and no one told him the news that wilbur died so when ghostbur shows up and starts talking to him he treats him the same as he would wilbur bc he cant see that hes a ghost all thats different is his speech pattern and overall personality and one day he says 'ur different wilbur what happened to that, i dunno spark u used to have' and wilbur simply 'im not sure if im being honest a lot abt me has changed since i died, or so im told i dont remember much from when i was alive' and schlatt just 0_0 and then hes scrambling down the ladder and stumbling around the house looking for techno, finding him in the basement working on something and when he gets there hes out of breath and his hands are shaking bc holy shit wilburs not only dead but a ghost and he was just talking to me and he doesnt remember what i did and and and and techno is shocked to see schlatt in the basement and asks whats up and schlatt just 'wilbur died wilbur fucking died tech why didnt anyone tell him and now hes a ghost hes a fucking ghost who lives in ur house and doesnt remember anything he doesnt remember that he blew up lmanberg does he he remembers my name but not anything that i did what hes a fucking ghost techno hes a ghost holy fuck' and technos just standing there like ??? no one no one told him 'yea philza had to kill him after he blew up lmanberg i thought u knew thats why i didnt say anything' oh. 'phil, phil had to kill him?' 'yea its a touchy subject, dont bring it up' and simply goes back to what he was working on so schlatt sits on the ground by the ladder and listens to him work his brain going a mile a minute trying to comprehend whats going on 'would i have become a ghost if theyd chosen to execute me?' 'its hard to say im unsure if theres specific circumstances that contribuite to someone becoming a ghost but theres really no telling' and goes back to working yet again and from then on they fall into an easy schedule of techno going out and doing whatever an anarchist terrorist w a murder record does on ur average wednesday and schlatt stays home reading and organizing whatever he can based on size and feeling and sleeping in windowsills and schlatt greeting techno comes home beaten up and full of new resources and a side of bruises and cuts so he tends to them, getting better at maneuvering and functioning without needing to see then techno making dinner and then curling up by the fire for the night enjoying each others company as they talk abt their days :]
#dream smp#jschlatt#technoblade#sorry abt the lack of paragraph breaks i wrote this on discord and just copy pasted it#sorry if things dont make sense too! i just started watching a few weeks ago :]#looks at schlatt and technoblade: i just think theyre neat#also this isnt intended to be a ship au or anything but u can interpret it as whatever#fic au idea
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You should do all of them questions and 90 is true
I love you!!!!
1. Favorite instrument?
I work at a music store u can’t just ask me this. When my coworkers play it’s the saxophone or the flute, when the boys in the repair shop are testing repairs and they harmonize with each other or try to outplay one another it’s the bassoon or the trombone or whatever they’re fixing at the moment. When I hear 🎺 give his lesson on Wednesday afternoons it’s the trumpet, and when I think about middle school it’s the clarinet, the flute, the French horn. When I hear the nutcracker pas des deux is the oboe and when I hear edith piaf l’accordeoniste it’s the remarkable human voice. Really my favorite instrument is all of them, it just depends.
2. Favorite fic trope? Mutual pining 🥺
3. Sport you played for the longest amount of time? LMAO I wasn’t a sporty kid but I did ballet
4. Shoe size? 10-11
5. Most recent (good) dream? Uhh I had a dream last night about my coworker 🎹 it wasn’t bad though I can’t really remember what it was about
6. Last person in your DMs? smugg
7. Can you do a handstand? Nooo nooo lmaoo nooooo
8. Unpopular food opinion I don’t like oranges or red meat
9. Conspiracy you believe in? There’s some kind of weird weather dome in my hometown around the military base that makes most storms pass around us
10. Is your hair its natural color/style? Most of it is I dyed the bottom layer of my hair tho so it’s blonde rn
11. state a useless fact all that’s coming to mind is outright lies rn hold on. The inventor of pringles is buried in a pringles can that’s so fucking nasty omg
12. most interesting gossip you’ve heard? Idk I don’t really care for gossip uhhhh have u heard tho rin dippindogs is a huge gay hah she uhh she like men AND women lmao gaaay gaaaay
13. Middle name? Carolyn
14. Sexuality? Bisexual
15. Amount of sleep you got last night? Idk actually I think like 9-10 hrs tho I slept in until 11
16. Opinion on ice cream cake? Tasty!!!
17. Opinion on (cup)cake frosting? It’s depends buttercream is usually too sweet for me in large amounts so I prefer whipped cream frosting
18. Last board game you played? Idk??? We played hunt a killer tho last Thursday me n my family I guess that counts kinda
19. Project you want to start? I need ideas first baby
20. Project you’re working on right now? HAHAHAHAHAHA
21. TV show you’re watching? nothing rn I just rewatch bojack a lot if I watch anything
22. Last movie you watched? Lego batman I think
23. Ever left anon hate? Not legit hate
24. Ever left anon love? Yes all the time. Sometimes to strangers it’s my favorite thing to do
25. Best Disney movie? The princess and the frog
26. Best Pixar movie? Soul or Up I can’t decide
27. Best Star Wars? Um. Empire strikes back
28. Last thing you consumed? Fuit gumy
29. NoTP? Idk I don’t really hate ships unless they’re gross like pedophilic gross
30. story behind your (nick)name? When I was a fetus my great grandfather had a dream that my name should be Carolyn Marie but my parents were huge dweebs so they named me Marina after the actress of Deanna Troi in Star Trek. Idk about my nickname ive just always been Rina/Rin as long as I can remember
31. ice cream order? Lately it’s lemon sorbetto I know it’s SO high in sugar but I love it
32. describe your blog in <5 words I love you
33. how many blogs do you follow? 436
34. Describe your voice it depends usually I sound like a sick child but my customer service voice is really pleasant
35. Describe your smile it’s cute :)
36. What is the place you live known for? LMAOOO LMAO we have a military base nearby and like. I could go on abt that one but also like. There’s a lot of gang violence and a lot of the other consequences of poverty. People from the cities around us see us as “””ghetto””” or violent but it’s just. It’s more than that it’s always more than that. And idk what else there’s nothing really particularly special about this town except that we’re all here and not anywhere else
37. What is the place you’re originally from known for? (if they’re different)
38. pronouns? she/any idc
39. Languages you speak? English
40. first friend you made through tumblr? Idk. I probably don’t talk to them anymore :(
41. Person on tumblr you know in real life? my brother
42. First dog breed you think of shih tzu I have 2 next to me rn
43. room wall color? Purble!!!! The paint color is called grape juice that’s why I picked it!!!
44. Song that’s stuck in your head right now? It’s tricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that’s right on time it’s trickyyyyy
45. Favorite number? 5, 34
46. Color you associate with your name? Red
47. Favorite jolly rancher flavor?watermelon
48. Pets? 2 dogs rocket and groot and 4 cats loki danni who r from the same litter and we raised from kittens, miss kitty who we adopted from a shelter after my boy blue moon passed away and ben (his real name is Kylo Ren thanks to my mom but I refuse to call him that) he is my little baby and he has 7 toes on his front paws
49. Collections? Hot wheels
50. Character outside of your fandom you’d marry? Girl what lmaooo idk
51. Character outside of your fandom you’d kill? That’s mean :(
52. Have you met any celebrities? NO thank god id have to kill on sight
53. Favorite time period in history? Itslian Renaissance & Romantic Era
54. What time is it right now? 2:35 am oops
55. History or future? Future but like . A good one. Or prehistory
56. Space or ocean? Space
57. Fears? Abandonment
58. Command + v and post. It’s this list of questions u don’t want that
59. Favorite season? Spring
60. Describe your aesthetic. Messy just a mess, neon and old buildings and things, antiques, countryside if there weren’t so many trump pence flags still lmaoo give uppp give up, nature just al of nature and space and places humans can’t touch and places they used to touch but can’t anymore
61. MBTI? Infp but I haven’t taken it in a few years
62. What’s your relationship with your family like? Normal.
63. “Biggest fan” in your tumblr activity? I’m in mobile hold on acc to tumblr it’s akky
64. Favorite musical? Sweeney todd
65. Comfort book? Idk how to read 💔💔💔 wuthering heights tho
66. Comfort movie? Whisper of the heart
67. OTP? Girl idk
68. BroTP? Joey and Tristan yugioh
69. AUs or canon compliant? Canon ig idk
70. Opinion on the person who’s sending the ask? It’s an anon!! But I love them
71. FMK + 3 characters anon didnt leave any characters and I was going to say something very bad but I won’t
72. Dream date? I’ve wanted to do this for a while but ideally it would be after we’d been together a while maybe even engaged or whatever, I wanna go to like a Home Depot or a furniture store and pretend to be married and looking for house paints and furniture and plan what our home is going to look like I wanna do that so bad. But idk for a first/early relationship date i really want to go to the zilker botanical garden it’s one of my favorite places, we could also go to the natural gardener which is a plant nursery in Austin I really love it there too and it’s not that far from zilker.
73. Relationship status? Single
74. Ever dyed your hair? Do you plan to? Yes and perhaps. Maybe
75. Dream job/career? Idk anymore I used to have big girl goals and I haven’t had any in a while. But when I was younger I wanted to be a game warden
76. Favorite band/singer? Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
77. Something that makes you soft/that you find adorable? My cats
78. The first thing you would do if you won the lottery? Buy a house
79. Are you superstitious? Yes
80. Character you project onto? Shizuku tsukishima
81. Fictional character you’ve had a crush on? Vergil devil may cry. Forever husband
82. Celebrity crush? LMAO
83. Person on here you’d date? my mutuals
84. Person on here you’d marry? 🥺 my mutuals
85. Person on here you’d throw into the void? Smugg
86. Other social media you have? I’ve got a photography insta that I barely use and a Twitter that’s just nintendo switch screenies that’s it
87. Finish the sentence: Due to personal reasons, ___________i will be passing away
88. Bad habit? I find it rlly hard to say no or like to say when and why I’m upset I don’t feel like for the latter I don’t feel like I should bring something that’s upsetting me up because I know I’ll get over it on my own and I don’t really trust myself to be upset about rational things. Idk I’m working on it
89. Three things you like about yourself? I’m hot, I’m kind, I’m resilient
90. Ily and you deserve the world I love you!!!!! YOU deserve it too!!!
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7 19 23 35 40 52 69 for The Jester and The Crimegirl
thank you so much bee omg i loved the questions u made sm!!! time for Them. this is super super long im sorry njdkkfkrenkjr
7. which party member do they understand the least?
for pen it is probably alba if he had to pick anyone? just because he can do Crazy Shit Sometimes. but pen still feels like he understands him v well!!
for agni its probably elvira! she is from a place she knows next to nothing about besides what elvira’s explained or what she’s learned from school, she is 100+ years old, yeah! while agni doesnt like fully Understand her she still thinks she’s really cool!! it was rlly nice of her to try and comfort her when she initially found out abt Rei Time. and also knitted her a pretty holster that was so nice of her!!
19. what haunts them? what doesn’t?
pen’s is home. so mf much he genuinely loves his party a lot and has gotten really attached but also like he misses home so bad it hurts. he felt like he was an intrinsic part of something that he fit perfectly and was never gonna have to give up, and he got to be w everyone he cared about all day. he’s haunted by mikolai’s wedding lol. he’s also haunted by The Shit That Went Down Pertaining To His Exile, His Subsequent Exile, Making the Pact, Dying, Making The Pact Pt 2, The Thing He Had To Do After He Made The Pact, And Then Also Dying Again. he’s haunted by holding ori dead in his arms and bringing her back using power he now understands was from a Not That Great Place. he barely knew her then but he still thought about it all the time, and now he thinks abt it even more lol! he just is not used to life being. Like This. at all. he was a vvvvvv spoiled kid. (some nobility complex part of him is haunted by lydia! stupid jester!)
he’s not haunted by everyone he’s been a bitch to lol, unless he vocally apologized for it later nfjnf. he’s not haunted by vargas. uh
agni is not haunted by most things and That’s On her super healthy coping mechanism! she tries to not think about her personal life with that much weight, she tries to keep it abstract in her head? but also there are some things she can’t help but get Unnamed Bad Feeling from instinctively. rei. w how last session fucking turned out lol, watching seras collapse in the doorway Will Def Become One. Moms Time, both for individual reasons. sometimes, not being accomplished, but that also filters into Moms Time. everything else tho she kind of just vibes through.
23. how do they feel about nicknames, titles, or labels that have been given to them? how do they feel about their name?
pens Official Title is penance the jester, court jester of tarbyen (and he makes sure no one forgets it lol.) everyone he grew up around had official titles so it made him feel realllyyy good abt himself that he had one too! (he likes that the party’s nicknamed him pen tho, he thinks its sweet >:) ) his Name name is camil, but only his mom n mikolai called him that, so he thinks its very like..... informal, and he likes being a Formal Title Boy, but also it makes him go all soft bc the two ppl he loved most called him that!! conflicting feelings.
agni’s had her nickname since she was really young i think, one of those like, you’re in fantasy kindergarten and learning how to spell and your first name is rlly long, so u employ a nickname very early Kind Of Moments. her full name is agnodice and she likes it well enough! it feels very kind of like. stiff and formal to her tho. she thinks agni suits her better!
35. which party member do they worry for?
pen worries for All Of Them. he tries to follow juni when he’s having one of his (as pen puts it) “freak out moments” bc he’s scared someday it’s going to be something that really hurts him, and he wants to be there to help if it does. pen has fully accidentally triggered ori before, and he feels really bad about it, especially since her triggers literally Set Her On Fire. so you know. he tries to be really careful with his words around her, especially since the incident a couple sessions ago. also, he is Very Concerned abt all of her past stuff with the mahne that he’s recently learned abt, especially putting together all the past knowledge she’s given him abt the river and what to do in a pact and Where Exactly She Got That Info From. he’s grateful she’s not in any of that anymore, though, whatever the mahne is exactly. alba’s impulsivity worries pen n he wants to make sure alba doesnt accidentally Put Himself In A Situation accidentally w that someday.
agni worries for theodosia, just because she seems to know a lot about the fucked up illness time thats going on and it seems to rlly effect her and she knows it cld be coming from prior past experience? she also worries for cyrus because of the whole you know. his family’s shop and home being burned to the ground Situation, even though theyve since recovered it couldnt have been good for him. worries for kai, also, because he is Small Baby Boy. but worries as in like. does so in her agni way and it may not come across as such?
40. do they enjoy poetry?
pen loves poetry he heard a lot of epics at home!! the stories were Less fun when it was about like, war and bloodshed and stuff, but he loved them when they were all pretty n flowery or like romantic 🥺
agni likes hearing poetry recited, especially when it has a specific repetitive syllable pattern she can get lost in!
52. from whom do they seek validation?
pen simply be like [wants validation from nobility noises]. its his Complexes. thats why being @ ravenloft rn is so... bad for him lol bc hes getting like all the positive attention from important people hes wanted for his entire life, oops. hes literally living out a dream being asked to dance with someone so important!! he also seeks validation a lot from like powerpful women bc of growing up with his mom and how much he looked up to her and cared about her, which manifests itself a lot w wanting attention from ori and jenny (and previously w lady wachter lol) and also the lady of delights.
growing up agni sought validation from her mothers n instructors, now (while she still wants momsvalidation) she looks for validation mostly from herself, which is kind of bad bc she never feels fully satiated w her work n accomplishments!
69. how would they describe their party members?
for pen: ori feels like an older sister to him, hes too scared to express as much, but yeah! she is warm (he means figuratively but also lol) and Kind and Competent and Smart and above all, Safe. he defintely feels like, the safest with her than anyone else he’s encountered in his life, both i mean in the physical protection sense but moreso the emotional sense! yeah. juni is.,, complicated. at first pen was uhhh scared of him bc of the whole Sorcerer Thing, but after all of them talked abt it at jenny’s, that feeling passed and he was more just concerned for him than anything. he is Powerful and Pretty and even though he’s been thru a lot of things pen himself cant even comprehend juni’s still Soft and Understanding and pen really admires that about him! alba is Also Complicated, for different reasons. pen thinks he is Reckless and Impulsive but also Smart in his own little scheme way, and pen really appreciates him as like a constant in his life? like yeah, he is scary and concerning sometimes but he’s always Predictably as such and while pen doesn’t see alba as all that loyal in general pen is kind of blind to that stuff when it comes to ppl in relation to him, so he’s just glad he’s met someone that wants to stick with him.
for agni: cyrus is so nice to her!! he feels like a capital f Friend in her head and so far like. she’s only had one of those before so thats really cool!! he helps her out a lot and she tries to do what she can to be there for him too! it was nice of him to teach her abt Beach Swimming. theo is really cool and agni loves seeing her in her element doing Medicine Stuff she thinks she is really smart w that kind of thing and rlly respects her practice, agni’s also very interested in her magic!! she thinks dendy is small little lizard guy who sings silly songs. greatly appreciates him. she wld follow kai blindly into terrible plans because she wants to make sure this cool teen is alright , is thankful to know he can turn into a bear at will and she didnt do that on accident that one time! amadeus is confusing and hard to keep track of in her head, but at the end of the day she thinks he’s very caring and just looking out for people. adaeze is really fun to hang out with and she is both concerned and greatly impressed w her just straight up downing one of fer’s Fucked Up And Evil Potions no questions asked, bc thats something even Agni’s too scared to do. thinks her sword is very interesting in terms of the arcane, wants to see what happens w all that! elvira is super different from anyone agni’s been around but she thinks she’s an amazing artist and would love to see her home bc she talks about it so vividly!!
#mel talks#dnd tag#penance the jester#agni#whenever there is a pen question about feelings it is an automatic Long Ass Paragraph#and thats on his cancer moon
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