#and i hadn't noticed until now because the AC did the work

[ourceliumnetwork]

well no wonder it didn't feel like the ceiling fan was doing that much in my room. it was set to Winter not Summer.

[livelaughloveluffy]

Hi! I really enjoy your works!

Is there any way I could request a modern Ace x platonic younger sister? I guess modern or not doesn't matter too much. But basically his usually sweet, anxious younger sister hasn't been doing great with depression/anxiety, and he's noticed a little bit, silently keeping an eye on it, but doesn't think it's TOO too serious. But he's wrong because late one night he finds her hitting rock bottom. What that looks like is up to you. He gets scared, but wordlessly just kind of hugs her, holds her tight, she automatically clings to him and apolologizes, and he lets her know how much he and Sabo and Luffy and Dadan love her.

Self projecting the need for a comforting older brother figure like Ace.

Please don't write this one if you don't feel comfortable or don't want to! Have a good day 🩷

we need you here - portgas d. ace

a/n: i'm so glad you enjoy my writing!! thank you so much for your request!! i absolutely adore ace as a big brother, hopefully this is sort of what you had in mind!!

a/n: i was listening to my yearning playlist to write this and literally a more perfect song to go with this fic started playing and now i have to share it with you guys too because it works way too well. here's the song

tw - depression/mentions of self-harm

there's some hurt and some comfort here...

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some days we're better than others.. but most of the time you could barely keep your head above water. the constant onslaught battle of depression is pretty crippling, and it takes everything in you to just get through the day. not that most would be able to notice.

it's not like you were born depressed, how you long for the days were the world felt lighter, when the breeze blowing through the leaves of a tree was a wonder to revel in, rather than being so caught up in your own head, you can barely hold a conversation. while this change had come to your realization like a freight train, your brothers hadn't really picked up on it.

it's not because they didn't love you, you know they did, it's just that they were busy training to leave goa kingdom and conquer the sea. so to them, over the years you had just gotten more reserved. sure you didn't smile as much as you used to, or the way you used to, but it was hard for them to tell considering that they weren't even home for dinner half the time anyways.

•♡•

ace hadn't really noticed how bad it was until dadan had approached him one day before he, sabo, and luffy were going to their hideout, resting her hand on his shoulder, leaning down to softly whisper in his ear "can you ask your sister if she wants to join you guys? i'm a bit worried about her.. she hasn't come out of her room for a couple of days... she could use some sunlight.."

the freckled boy turned to dadan with his typical wide smile "yeah! i'll go ask her!"

•♡•

the voices were getting bad again. they were so loud, constantly taunting and jeering, laughing at your existence, reminding you of all you failures, faults, ugly personality traits, everything you hate about your body. it was suffocating. tears began to well up in your eyes. your skin started to itch for pain.

then a quite knock sounds against your door, then you hear ace's voice, warm and gently asking "we're going to head to our hideout, wanna going us angel?"

you muster all your strength to reply above a whisper "maybe another day, ace. i'm pretty tired."

and with that, you can barely hear the sound of his footsteps retreating before the voices are back, stronger than before.

•♡•

you had no idea how long you had been crying now. your eyes were swollen and sore from all your tears, fingernails bloody from constantly digging and itching at your skin, scratching it raw in various spots on your arms.

the voices in your head felt as if they were never-ending. the brief flashes of pain eased them... for minutes maybe, but they would still come back. they always came back.

•♡•

ace had just walked into the front door to dadan's eyes on him. "where is she?"

it took him a minute to realize that dadan was asking about you, "oh, she said she was tired and she didn't want to go today." and as he watched dadan's face sink, instantly filled with dread and worry, he knew he had to do something to ease her worries. "did she come out for dinner yet?" dadan lowered her head, softly shaking it side to side. "i'll go eat dinner with her in her room, okay?"

dadan could only muster a soft sigh before slowly nodding. ace had a way of making everything better somehow, she just had to trust that he would know what to do.

•♡•

you couldn't stop the tears from flowing in the same way that you couldn't stop the voices you heard. and the utter frustration at your own helplessness just made you even more upset, driving you to sob even more. breathing was now a struggle, as the tears also took all the air from your lungs with them. your hands were buried into your hair, gripping it tightly, as if ripping it out would give you some sort of silence.

you didn't hear ace's knock this time. didn't hear his soft voice call your nickname "angel? can i come in?". didn't hear his footsteps as he crossed the space of your room at record speed. you didn't even notice his presence until his arms were wrapped tightly around your body. dinner plates for the two of you, forgotten on the floor in front of your opened door. you didn't even hear them shatter.

even with his strong warm arms around your body, you couldn't will yourself to stop crying. in fact, it almost made the sobs worse. your face was sticky with sweat, snot, and tears. hair sticking to your face. ace didn't seem to mind though. he pulled your face close into his bare chest, it is only then that you hear his voice whispering in your ear "i'm so sorry. i'm sorry i didn't notice. i'm sorry i haven't been home. i'm here now, angel. i'm not going anywhere without you. we need you here, angel."

the desperation in his voice finally allowed you to move your body, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist. the tears still flowed, but they had slowed just a little, enough for you to choke out "ace.. i don't... i don't know what's wrong with me.. i don't want to be like this.. i hate this.."

his soft voice and the sound of his heartbeat filled your ears "i'm here for you, always. i'm not going anywhere. i love you no matter what, and we'll get through this together. i love you so much."

your eyes were heavy now that the crying had finally stopped, and you no longer had the energy to keep them open. the only thing you could hear as the sleep finally came to claim you was ace's voice in your ear, a constant stream of whispers of "i love you, i love you, i love you so much." on repeat.

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tags ♡: @3v37773 @irethepotato @dreamcastgirl99; want to join the taglist? click here!!

a/n: i lowkey had to hold back some tears writing this one 😭😭😭

a/n: enjoyed this fic? here's my masterlist!!

[jinnie-ret]

If ur taking rq still can I rq a skz x 15 year old girl in training (like that protection gic you wrote ) and how they react to her being good at producing, singing, rapping and dancing but they didnt know she could do all that until they keep running into her or maybe look for her because they ordered fkkd for her too eat with them and they see her in her rehearsals and in her dance practice room learning like idk an itzy choreo or sum by herself and they see shes improved since they last saw her do everything? Ig like a little Ace if u would like to put It that way!

It's ok if u don't want to or can't do this tho! Love ur writing💕

ace of hearts

stray kids x reader (platonic)

genre: fluff

content warnings: none

word count: 1.1k

summary: stray kids have nothing but good things to say about the upcoming ace of jyp.

I hope you enjoy! There's a small excerpt of a song Y/N has written herself which I actually wrote (it's a hobby of mine hehe) so if you want me to post the whole thing I'll do so, maybe as a poem haha

My asks are currently shut but if you want to be added to my taglist, do let me know! And if you liked it, please reblog and like! :)

MAIN MASTERLIST

Shoulder shimmying had never been so hard, but Y/N seemed to have finally gotten down the choreo to ITZY's 'Wannabe', the members of Stray Kids seeming to think so too. They had just been looking around for a room to practice in when they came across their young trainee friend, who they hadn't seen for a while due to their busy schedule.

A small applause sounded from behind Y/N, making her jump as she saw the door open and Stray Kids clapping for her.

"Ah! Hello sunbaenims!" Y/N blushed and bowed politely. She wasn't expecting to see them there, so absorbed into practising for her next showcase.

"Hi there!"

"Annyeong!"

"Wow!"

They all let out greetings as they walked over excitedly to Y/N.

"How has everything been? It's been a while since we saw you," Jeongin smiled widely at Y/N, trying to ease the obvious nerves he saw from her.

"Have you been practicing regularly? Your dancing has improved a lot," Changbin nodded his head in approval.

"Ah, you really think I've improved?! Yeah I've been practising a lot these days..." Y/N bashfully admitted, rubbing her sweaty palms on her leggings. Was it from exercising or from nerves? She wasn't quite so sure herself.

"We can see that. You're better at dancing and freestyling than us now," Lee Know laughed, praising the younger girl jokingly, but there was still a hint of seriousness to it that showed Y/N he was proud of her, and that helped her relax more.

"Maybe one day even Jisung will be jealous of your dancing skills," Felix laughed, causing the quokka like man to look over at him with a mock appalled face.

"Haha maybe I'll take his place as the ace," Y/N smirked, feeling comfortable enough to joke around with them. It wasn't a regular occurrence that she saw the boys but everytime she did, she was soon able to fall back into a relaxed state where it felt like she had known them forever.

"No way! You will never be as talented as me!" Jisung smirked back, yet he couldn't help but goofily smile back at her as he ruffled her hair.

"Well, we're glad you're practicing so hard. Would you like to have some fried chicken with us?" Seungmin piped up, his eagle eyes noticing that she only seemed to have some water in the room with her. Plus, he remembered what it was like being a trainee, and an offer of fried chicken would not be one to be turned down.

"Oh sure! If there's enough to go around!" Y/N clasped her hands together excitedly.

"Of course there's enough food! We're so proud of all your progress by the way, we can tell how hard you've been working, Y/Nnie," Chan praised her, as they all sat down together on the floor.

"Here, eat up," Hyunjin passed over a box of fried chicken to Y/N from the bags of fast food they had.

"Just remember to take a lot of rest too," Jisung commented genuinely, yet anyone could tell he, as well as the other members were very much so enthralled with the heaven sent food in front of them.

"Don't worry I do!" Y/N rushed out, before taking a bite of the fried chicken and wiggling slightly as she did a happy dance.

"You're so cute when you're excited!" Felix giggled as he saw her.

"That's exactly what Channie hyung does," Seungmin laughed along.

There was a moment of peaceful eating before Chan kept up the conversation.

"Oh yeah, we wanted to ask you something! Are you good at rapping?" Chan wondered, wiping his hands on a napkin.

"Well, I don't want to brag but I think I'm pretty good," Y/N shrugged, she had practiced enough and knew she was at JYP for a reason, and her talents certainly didn't go to waste when it came to rapping.

"Oh yeah? You actually rap too? I had no idea. Have you tried writing your own lyrics before?" Changbin got excited at the prospect of hearing Y/N rap.

"I'm not as confident in writing rap lyrics as I am in singing them if that makes sense?" Y/N explained, hoping it was understandable.

"I get what you mean. You must be very talented though since you can sing so well," Lee Know wondered.

"Do you happen to write your own songs too or do you learn songs from other artists?" Chan asked, interested in what her identity as a future artist would be.

"Oh I like to write my own songs too!" Y/N beamed. Now that, was an area she was proud of herself for.

"Really? Can you play one of your original songs for us?" Hyunjin said in a shocked tone, head tilting slightly in disbelief but wanting to hear her sing nonetheless.

The boys all stared at her in anticipation.

"Oh, sure... If you really want me to," Y/N became nervous again, because this was Stray Kids! Yes they felt like her friends but to sing her own personal works in front of them was still nerve wracking.

"Yes, we really want you to!" Jeongin encouraged her, offering that same reassuring smile as he did earlier.

All of the members were now eagerly waiting for her.

"Ok, here's a chorus I wrote recently," Y/N finally nodded, making the boys even more excited as she began to sing.

"Oh it's in my bones.

Hereditarily alone.

Surrounded by people,

But that gives no meaning.

It's in my bones."

The boys stared in in wonder, thinking the words were so beautiful and they loved the emotion she put into it even for such a small snippet of the song.

"Her voice is amazing..." Hyunjin was in awe.

"Yeah, you have a really good vocal tone!" Jisung clapped.

"And you wrote that yourself?" Chan smiled like a proud dad.

"Can we hear more?" Changbin said hopefully, nudging Y/N playfully.

"Well, I think I should now that I've sang a teaser for you," Y/N beamed, and for the next couple of minutes she sang the rest of the song to the boys. She even played a small backing track which consisted of an acoustic guitar, simple but sweet, building up towards the end of the song.

"I can't wait to see you debut!" Felix clapped with the other boys.

"You really will steal everyone's hearts, Y/N, you'll go far," Chan said, a big smile adorning his face as everyone offered their comments and praises to Y/N.

"Just don't let it get to your head," Lee Know joked, causing his members to whack him playfully and tell Y/N to not listen to him anymore.

"Thank you guys, it really means a lot."

tagged: @skz-streamer @kiraisastay @hannahhbahng @backintomykpopphaseagain @sakufilms @arloo00 @dunno-wut-to-do @splat00z @hanjiquokkaaa

[gayofthefae]

The talk in the junkyard getting Mike on the right track but him still not having figured it out and his speech in the van not being that he thinks he figured it out or that he's committed to breaking up with her, but rather more matching in the speech's anxious energy in being

"What if I don't figure it out in time? What if I show up and I'm trying so hard and she says 'too slow' and leaves me?"

The fear not just that he's not enough, but that with all the effort he's pouring into solving this, his best isn't enough. The feeling of lost effort or unacknowledged effort. The feeling that unlike just a fact of being incapable of it and her being hurt by that, the fact that he still is trying.

"What if El gives up on us for me? What if I'm not giving up and she 'calls it'? She deserves better than someone who makes her wait like this. What if she realizes that in time?"

That's the line. That's nearly the line he says.

So let's break it down, actually.

"What if- what if she doesn't need me anymore? - I keep telling myself that [she'll always need me] but- I don't believe it. She's special. She was born special. Maybe I was one of the first people to realize that, but the truth is: when I stumbled on her in the woods, it wasn't fate. It wasn't destiny. It was just simple dumb luck, and one day she's gonna realize that I'm just some loser who got lucky that Superman landed on his doorstep. [She's already beginning to understand she doesn't need me. I saw it- I saw it in her eyes that last time we talked.] I mean, at least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for the Daily Planet, right? But-" [I will also be referencing the cut line

Now subtextually.

"What if I can't figure it out in time, and she stops waiting around for me? I keep telling myself she'll be patient with me, but I don't know. She's amazing, she always has been. But I'm not the only one who knows that anymore, I just happened to be the first to tell her. Anyone who took her in could have told her that, I was just the first person who had the chance to know. It was coincidence that we met and one day she's gonna realize that. She's gonna realize that it wasn't some fantasy true love fate or destiny. She just needed someone - anyone. She could have been found by anybody that night and whoever that random person was would have told her she was amazing just like I did. I'm not special. I never brought anything to the table but making her feel lovable, which anyone who knew her could do. Then lots of other people loved her and she only kept me around because I didn't fall behind. Now, I'm falling behind. What reason does she have to keep me around, then? She's starting to realize that. I couldn't make her feel lovable like I used to. When we fought, I saw it in her eyes: she started to give up on me. She realized that the one thing I could give her, I couldn't anymore. She loved me because of what I had to offer and I don't have that to offer anymore. I haven't for months, in our letters, she just hadn't noticed yet. She's noticed now. What if next, she realizes not only am I of no use to her now, but she doesn't need to wait around for me until I am? At least Lois Lane has other value, I don't. All I can do for her is love her and I can't even do that. She knows I can't right now. What if she gives up for me - *on* me? I'm trying still, but what if she calls it? What if she decides she's done waiting for me and it doesn't matter when I get around to loving her because there are plenty of other people who already do and plenty of other people who could? What if I get around to it and she doesn't care because...I just took too long?"

It all comes back to that same idea: if he knows the problem and explicitly, word for word, how to solve it...why is he scared? He's not scared of the solution not working. And his confusion and fear he keeps repeating in episodes 4 and 5 too aren't about what that solution is. He's scared of the ACTUAL unknown: what happens if he fails.

Because he doesn't know. Maybe she doesn't leave him, but look what happened last time he failed. She could barely look at him then she left.

I don't think he knows yet. I think he's panicking because he still doesn't. He's on his way, but he still doesn't. He empathized with not wanting to admit he still can't because it would upset El like Will said, but he hasn't given up on trying yet. This isn't his reasoning for why he can't say, it's his panic around the fact that he can't.

Then Will comes in. Lovely, comforting Will...with a painting. And for those first couple seconds...it's from Will. And I think that's what ruined everything. That's where the feelings came crashing down. That's the thing he can't unknow. It broke his illusion. It answered his questioned.

He was terrified El wouldn't stay with him if he couldn't love her because he thought he was generally unlovable if he wasn't of use. Will showed him that he wasn't. Then said it was from El. And he was disappointed. And then he knew why.

Because for everything I've just written, he knew too...his face shouldn't have fallen Will said it was from El.

[hero-tech]

twst housewardens with a kuudere yuu?

Kuudere Yuu & Housewardens

This was a lot of characters to write for at once but I managed to write a little blurb for all of them ! Naturally because of how many characters, I couldn't expand on them too much, but I hope these are accurate enough to the character trope ! I'm rather unfamiliar with it, actually :" Content under read more since it's a long post !

Riddle

From the start, Yuu had managed to get under Riddle's skin without even trying. Every time they got mad during the time he was spiraling out of control, they'd barely react no matter how vile his tone got. Even worse, they wouldn't hold back on rudely calling him out either. In the end though, Yuu had not been wrong about the fact that he had been out of control, and he had to respect their ability to keep order in their own demeanor. As part out of respect and part out of guilt, he had started to help Yuu out with schoolwork; often aiding them in writing notes or spending time studying with them. He got used to the way they behaved- perhaps even felt a bit of endearment- But the more he found himself enjoying spending time with Yuu, the more he noticed that they were behaving differently. Their face was often flushed, and there was a more compassionate tone in their voice. Whenever he asked Ace and Deuce about it though, they said they noticed no such thing. Riddle remained puzzled about it, until one particularly busy week, where he had accidentally fallen asleep during studying with Yuu. They had placed a blanket on top of him, which had roused him awake just enough to hear their voice the moment they got close. "I love you, Riddle.." Oh.

Leona

Leona couldn't really be bothered to care much about Yuu's attitude, at first. Of course, if they decided to act all big mouthed and insult him about something it was annoying as hell, but other than that they were usually pretty quiet and minded their own business, and he couldn't say he minded the lack of drama there. Yuu had proven through their actions in helping the other students that they had guts, too- He couldn't say he minded keeping someone strong minded and quiet around his pack, so he let them hang out with him whenever they wanted to. He wouldn't really admit it, but they actually did get pretty close over time. Leona also was not stupid. He could see Yuu blushing lately when they spoke, or how they looked over at him much more often when they thought he wasn't looking. It was during one of those longing glances that he finally scoffed, a smirk playing on his face as he looked over, ready to call Yuu out over this. It had dragged on long enough for him to get bored waiting to get the chance to finally hear their feelings. "Cut it out already, pipsqueak. You have a crush on me, don't you?"

Azul

Azul knew the importance of keeping your head cool- Which is why he had thought of Yuu as potentially useful as soon as he met them. After his.. series of accidents had concluded, he had bounced back relatively quickly- and had gotten back into contact with Yuu, doing his best to get on their good side again. He had thought this had worked well since Yuu was spending time with him- But he hadn't realized how well it had worked until Yuu started to act differently towards him. He had noticed they were acting a bit softer towards him- And frankly, he started acting like he had a soft spot too according to the eels- but he still ended up surprised when they were suddenly holding onto his hand as they talked. His words slowed down and his cheeks gained colour now as well. "Y-Yuu?" They both ended up sitting in silence with red cheeks, still holding hands- Perhaps they were somewhat similar when it came to love.

Kalim

Kalim had never really read into Yuu's cold demeanor much. He just thought they might be feeling a bit shy or down, and since he knew they were rather alone at this school (and this world), he had immediately offered his company and friendship. It took a few tries, but much to Jamil's surprise eventually Yuu started hanging out at their dorm pretty often. He even started to see them laugh and show more emotions when they were hanging out alone- So he started hanging out with Yuu in private more often, assuming they were more comfortable alone. Well, as private as he was allowed to be, at least. At some point, he noticed Yuu'd do this cute thing where they'd get all red faced at something he'd do. He wanted to make Yuu happier, so he started often giving them flowers and other small gifts to get that same reaction. The happiest he got though, was when Yuu was finally overcome with emotion and confessed to him. Of course he said yes. How could he not love someone who he'd witnessed bloom open like that with him?

Vil

Yuu didn't really seem to be phased by Vil's beauty at all- He thought so, at least. To be fair, Yuu didn't seem phased by anything at all. He was confident in himself though, so it's not as if he cared much- But he still felt a bit intruiged by the Ramshakle resident. They got along well with Epel, after all- And he wanted their dorm to succeed too, so he'd start pulling Yuu into lessons meant for Epel as well, hoping it'd help the both of them better. The more they spoke though, the more Vil found them having interesting conversations- And he started inviting Yuu around more often to spend time together. Vil was an actor though, which meant he knew how to read people- But he was surprised when it started to seem like Yuu was getting a crush on him. He had thought they had not been phased by his looks- This was curious. "Yuu.. Do you think I'm beautiful?" "You are.. But I don't just mean your objective appearance, Vil.." "I know. I expect proper efforts to ask me out, though. But to not let you hold your breath- I'd say yes."

Idia

Yuu's cold and detached responses really freaked Idia out. Sure, there was never any yelling or anything else unexpected, but he could just never tell what they were thinking, which just made him trust them less to interact with. How was it that he ended up getting close to Yuu anyways? It just so happened that Yuu was a great gamer, and had found refuge in one of the online games Idia frequented. They were playing together before he found out about their identity- And he had been scared at first when he found out who he was really playing with, but at that point Yuu had apparently already felt close enough to him to just show up at his dorm to play games. And somehow he couldn't convince himself to get them to leave, so they once again grew closer instead through spending time together gaming. Before he knew it, he was even talking to them about subjects close to his heart. He could tell Yuu was more comfortable with him too, as they got rather sweet with him. Yuu would even lean against him sometimes, aond one time this was happening he couldn't help but to snicker. "You know, Yuu, you're really like a kuudere, aren't you? Acting all cold at first and then getting all cute~" It was purely a joke and while he would perhaps be hopeful in his wildest fantasies that Yuu indeed had feelings, he did not expect it- And he definitely did not expect them to quickly sit up and try to sputter out a response with a red face.

"W-wait, wait, hold on, I was just kidding! promise!"

Malleus

Malleus knew Yuu's words had been far from kind most times, but the most important thing was that the housewarden did not seem afraid of him at all- And that honestly was more than he could expect from humans per usual. So he tried to spend more time with them where possible, and found that they'd actually let them as well. He had started to harbor feelings embarrassingly fast, even if he didn't quite realize it at first- It had finally clicked when Yuu stopped acting icy around him. They'd even initiate physical contact, and at that point he knew he'd want more. He was surprised at how loving Yuu could be, while he still felt like he struggled expressing his affections in a conventional way- Instead penning his confession down in a letter, hoping he understood correctly and his love would be returned. Even if it was not, he still felt rather special, getting to see this side of Yuu.

[nkplanet]

WON’T LET YOU DOWN (AGAIN) : nmr smau

<- prev : kiss? : next ->

back to mlist wc: 870

you sighed as yet another person entered the cafe danielle was supposed to meet you in. it had been fifteen minutes so far and she hadn’t showed, nor had she texted you to tell you she’d be late. you didn’t even really know what she wanted to ask you about or why she needed to do it in person. all she’d said was, “hey, can we meet to talk about the class work?” you pulled out your phone, leaning your chin on one hand and texting danielle with the other.

“who’s that?”

you practically jumped out of your skin at the sight of riki standing in front of your table.

“what?” “the person you’re texting. who is it?” “oh… just danielle. she wanted to meet here but, well-“ you gestured to the otherwise empty table. “jay told me to meet him here too but he’s no-showed. can i sit?” riki said, looking at you with mirrored sympathy as you hummed sadly at him. “yeah, of course."

you talked with riki for a while. he seemed a little nervous, if not shy, and you could feel butterflies in your own stomach. when did you start feeling like this? you looked at him once again and realised that you could see every detail of his face, from the flecks of gold in his eyes to the moles on his face and even the streaks of blond he'd put in his hair. anything you hadn't noticed before, any freckles or tiny blemishes, now stood out to you as clear as day, and they were gorgeous.

shit. riki was gorgeous.

you stopped talking abruptly at the realisation, leaving riki confused. he was taking in everything that he could see on you, too; the way your hair blew slightly from the ac in the cafe, the slight shimmer of your cheeks in the sunlight, the way your clothes sat perfectly on your body. your cheeks coloured slightly as you made eye contact, and riki felt himself blushing a bit.

he cleared his throat. "should we order?" "yeah," you said, clearing the love haze from your eyes, "yeah, i'm pretty thirsty."

you called the waiter over, only to be told that your drinks were on their way already. "we haven't... we haven't ordered anything." you said, furrowing your brow. "oh, someone kindly ordered and paid for you. they also told us to tell you, 'you're welcome'. your drinks will be out shortly." the waiter said, smiling and turning away.

"what the fuck?" riki whispered, immediately taking out his phone. you did the same after staring confusedly at the place where the waiter had been previously stood.

"oh my god," you said, looking up at riki, "they've set us up." riki's jaw dropped, and he blushed. "shit," he groaned, "this is so embarrassing." "uh... why?" you asked. your heart was beating a thousand miles a minute. if riki was embarrassed, did that mean he didn't feel the same? "it's just, well... i wanted to tell you in my own time." he mumbled, looking at the floor. "tell me what?" he didn't answer. "riki?"

it was at this moment that the waiter came back with your drinks. or rather, drink.

it was a pink valentine's day milkshake with two straws.

upon seeing it, riki's cheeks turned bright red. he his his head in his hands, groaning once again.

"i guess this is a better time than, well, never," you said, shifting in your seat. riki glanced at you through his fingers. "i know i said when you came back that i would never see you this way again. hell, i even said i didn't want to be friends with you, but look where that got me-" you laughed breathlessly "-and yet, for some reason, every time i'm around you my heart beats faster. i get all warm and fuzzy inside when you touch me, and even just thinking about you gets me flustered and excited. ricky and i didn't break up just because i had a crush on some other guy. we broke up because i... i like you."

riki was silent. your heart began beating rapidly, and your brain was filled with thoughts telling you that he didn't feel the same, that he would hate you now, until-

"can i kiss you?"

"if you're playing with my feelings right now i swear to god-" "i promise i'm not. please. i'd never do that to you again." you looked down at the milkshake sat between the two of you, then back up at riki. the sin was shining behind him, hitting his back perfectly so that the rays spread out around him. he looked angelic. "okay," you said. his eyes lit up and he grinned.

he got out of his seat, leaned down next to you, put his hands on oyur cheeks, and kissed you.

your breath hitched. it was nothing like you remembered, and nothing like you had been expecting. his lips were soft now, much softer than they had been two years ago. he seemed to have more practice, a fact which left a pang in your heart until he deepened the kiss.

you broke apart, gasping for breath. riki leaned his forehead on yours and smiled.

NOTE : lol sorry for disappearing but it’s been a BUSY couple of weeks omd 😭 anyways RIKIYN!!!!

TAGLIST : CLOSED : @yvjw @k1ttylvr @soobs-things @daniels-hlini @asteria-wood @eneiyri @sel1uv @tzuyusluv @natalunae @eleanorheartschishiya @candyhere @ttylxox2 @maoyueze @haechansbbg @whippedforbeomgyu @nyfwyeonjun @lazysmushi @lcv3lies @beomgyusonlywife @lazy-miya @laylasmother @syuuji @melbsvrr @who-tf-soddhi @coolikeh @luchiet

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[gyuluttony]

hello i love your fics and neeeeeed!! more yeonjun wg in the world; maybe a freshman 15 (or more ;) ) wg? where yeonjun takes a break from dance classes for a semester or the summer and doesn’t focus on his diet, does even notice anything has changed until his pants are weirdly getting tighter and tighter, maybe eventually he goes back to dance classes kilos heavier and is surprised when he can feel.. his belly? jiggling? that he’s never felt before.. and everyone is noticing their ace has gained some weight

i've been cooking this one quietly because i always love to write yeonjun gaining,,, when he's been my number one ult for like three years. that's usually why i throw him down the gain train for all the txt fics SDFJSDF

so i've been excited for this request and i hope you enjoy it hehe (i'm also lowkey yeonbin trash so don't be surprised if they're the only pair i write for him sDFJSDF)

also an apology because holy shit i kind of go off on a tangent before filling this request properly SDFJSDF

Honeymoon Weight

This is a feederism fic and features weight gain, breaking of clothes, unintentional weight gain, and smut. Don't like, don't read.

It was pretty commonplace to receive flowers following a dance recital. When someone had worked their way to the top of the dance team and become the de facto leader as well as ace, most of the flowers were praises for a semester of hard work and just people who had fell for the way that he performed on stage.

His solo on stage had taken the more sensual route so flowers were expected... but what he didn't expect was a single extravagant bouquet from one person. One man who looked like his face was about to explode in flames.

Although, he was fairly certain that he didn't look all that different, covering his face with his hand as he looked away shyly.

"Oh my god, Soobin hyung actually did it." Yeonjun looked at Kai rather flustered who awkwardly started whistling and looking anywhere but their little scene. He could feel the dance team behind him, giggling about it.

"I don't think I've seen Yeonjun oppa that red and we've had some pretty intensive practices this semester."

"Oh, is that the hyung that always comes to pick him up after rehearsals? I thought they were dating."

"Finally. Do you know how long that Yeonjun hyung-" Yeonjun's head turned back to shoot a glare at Beomgyu specifically who put his hands up defensively, an indicator he'd stop talking as he smiled. The little brat seemed to enjoy pointing at Soobin.

Which was fair. Yeonjun hadn't said anything as he looked at the taller man.

"Ah, Soobinnie... thank you so much. I thought you weren't..." They had discussed it earlier. Soobin said he might miss the recital because he had an exam to study for and it was one of the many traits that he loved about the younger man. Even if he was disappointed, he would miss the performance.

He had been so invested he didn't see Soobin enter midway through the performance and he probably would have stumbled on stage seeing that large of a bouquet.

"Hyung, I wouldn't miss it for the world." The coos from behind him were ignored as he felt his face flush a little deeper, "I really like watching you dance... but I also just like you in general."

Yeonjun laughed, the smile splitting his face as he covered it with his hands, "Ah, wait a minute. You can't just ambush me with that after this long." Although, the hands that snaked around his waist and feeling the bump of Soobin's belly pressing against his thin waist made him feel weak.

"I'm serious, hyung. I like you." Yeonjun looked at him in the eyes, seeing the serious intent as his mouth opened, slightly agape before he cupped his cheek with the now free hand and pulled him into a tender kiss.

The choice to ignoring the hollering behind him was strong until Beomgyu told them to get a room and then he was ambushed by the new happy couple.

-

For the first time in his four years at college, he never really took the summer off for the dance team. But, there was a lot of work to be done. Mostly rearranging his apartment with Soobin. Considering the two of them lived together prior to becoming a couple, they wanted to organize it to suit them better now that they were a couple.

Originally, Yeonjun planned to manage both but the conversation was pretty present on his memory. "Hyung~" The sound of Soobin whining filled their space as Yeonjun washed the dishes from their meal. "You can trust your team to be fine while you rearrange everything..."

Drying his hands, the older man walked over, sliding rather naturally onto Soobin's lap, the plush thighs providing a comfy space as his hands cupped his lover's soft cheeks as he was pouting at Yeonjun. A small kiss to him as he looked rather pleased, "Do you want me to take a break that badly? This is going to be my last summer with them... and we're going to have a lot of summers together in the future."

He enjoyed seeing the way that Soobin smiled at the comment before he added, "Well... you're right about both of those but no one is stopping you from helping them after you graduate. But, we only get one first summer together..." Soobin grew a little more shy as he added, his hands resting on Yeonjun's hips, "And... I might have wanted to take you with me when my family goes on a cruise."

Yeonjun's eyes widened. It's not like Soobin's parents didn't know and love him but the family cruise that they went on every year? He usually missed his best friend significantly during that time. "Binnie, are you sure? I know you miss me but I don't want to intrude-"

Soobin looked awkwardly, "They're inviting you... It's not like they didn't know I had a crush on you and they're happy that they can finally get the family of four discount." A laugh come from Yeonjun before he hugged him tighter, hands sinking in a little closer to Soobin's soft body as he felt his lover's hands move to his perky behind.

It'd be a first in terms of not leading his dance team through the summer but Beomgyu should get the hang of it since he was the prospect as the next captain.

The team was rather sad to hear he wasn't going to be helping them for the summer showcase but he promised that he would be there since it was right before classes began again. Beomgyu in particular looked rather excited, "Don't worry, hyung. We're going to do a number that will have you jealous you didn't participate!" The smile from the elder as he ruffled his hair roughly was only widened as cried out for help.

-

Yeonjun lounged around their apartment on the couch as he examined. It didn't take all that long to move everything into place and most of the time that he wasn't at work, he was wondering if he could have just attended the dance practices as usual.

But at the same time, Soobin seemed to have some date planned. He hadn't really pegged the young man as a romantic, but considering they did something almost everyday from the other man's plan, it was hard not to fall deeper in love with him.

The restaurant they first ate out at when Soobin started to attend the same university as him, at home dates where he'd get all of their favourite dishes to share, other date activities like laser tag, mini golf, or just movie nights. They spent a lot more time together considering Yeonjun wasn't spending lots of time in the dance studio these days.

As he walked to Soobin's room, he watched the younger man game before he moved into the space of his chair rather naturally, sitting on his lap. Any creak from the chair was flushed out by the noise of surprise that came from his lover as he smiled. "Was I taking too long? The game is almost done."

Yeonjun shook his head, "I just wanted to sit here." Settling on his thighs, his hands squeezed him teasingly as Soobin sighed into his ear. He saw the mute button pressed in the corner of his monitor as he slid down again, a small whine coming from his boyfriend before he knelt in front of him. "Are you going to stay muted? Don't you have to do call outs or something?" He was getting more familiar with the terms but the kiss on the bulge of his shorts made him twitch as Yeonjun smiled at him.

Soobin looked rather conflicted as he unmuted, sensing the sort of vibe from his boyfriend and began to say some things about what the other team might be doing as he slid down his shorts, the length sort of popping out as Yeonjun glanced at it. Had he gotten smaller? He touched his crotch as Soobin whimpered before apologizing to his friends. It felt softer than it had before. Maybe he'd gotten bigger.

His boyfriend was a victim of the freshman 15 and it was only expedited with how he shamelessly asked his boyfriend for meals during his first year. And Yeonjun was happy to spoil him but he didn't expect him to get bigger. His stomach was already pretty comfortably on his lap but it's not that he didn't mind it. Quite the opposite really. The feeling of his boyfriend's heavier body pressing him into the mattress was one of the highlights of their sex life and he told him in earnest that he didn't need to hold back because he wanted that sort of feeling of being pressed down.

So, knowing he was getting bigger? Yeonjun felt himself twitch in his pants before taking his whole length in his throat. Bobbing back and forth while Soobin tried to talk through it was one of his favourite hobbies when it came to spoiling him. Sinking his hands into plush thighs, he made sure that his lover couldn't move back while he struggled to play.

"Ah, I died!" Soobin seemed to exclaim as Yeonjun smiled before continuing to suck him off, the complaint no longer valid when Soobin knocked his head back, biting his fist to stop from moaning as he struggled to mute himself as he looked at his hyung who continued to service him without a second thought. "Hyung~" The whine was complaining but his gaze was thankful for the act, "That was an important game~"

Yeonjun moved back with a pop, enjoying seeing how his boyfriend shuddered at the sight, "Should I stop then?" Soobin looked at the screen hesitantly while Yeonjun smirked, feeling one hand move to his locks as he moved him closer to his dick again, "N-no. I can do both... please keep going."

He watched Soobin unmute, a little excited with how he seemed to be confident in himself as he moved his hips forward a little, grinding in his spot while Soobin moved forward, the gut hitting his forehead as Yeonjun moaned a bit around his length. Soobin's tone with his friends sounded more out of breath while he continued to suck.

Before long, the game finished as Soobin hurriedly left the call and placed his hands on Yeonjun's face, stroking his cheek. "Hyung, I'm gonna-" It didn't take much longer before he felt his mouth filled as he swallowed it, taking the load perfectly even with the short warning.

They were rather comfortable in their domestic bliss and after Yeonjun brushed his teeth, he asked, "Where did you want to go for dinner today?"

-

Yeonjun collapsed on the bed in a heap as he groaned. He hadn't known that most of the time on cruises, the most that you could do was eat. He wasn't sure if he was looking too hard at him after those cruises before, but now he was sure of it. Soobin usually did get heavier after those sorts of things and it was already showing at how he sort of waddled back to their shared room, almost amused at the state that Yeonjun was in.

"I told you they were good, weren't they?" He looked at his boyfriend's gut which was starting to hang out of the bottom of his shirt. It was hard not to drool but his own stomach didn't seem eager to do anything right now as he sank into the bed.

"Too good. Oh my god, I don't think I can move today." The bed creaked and groaned as Soobin lied down next to him, his gut pressing into his boyfriend before he felt the chubby hands rubbing his stomach as he groaned in relief at the pressure. "Don't stop, Soobinnie. Your hands are like magic..."

A giggle came from his boyfriend as he continued to massage Yeonjun. "Would now be a bad time to tell you that they change their special everyday?" He laughed rather hard seeing his boyfriend snap his head at him.

"We have to go then." The cruise was a month long which meant that he had time to try different things. And that restaurant by far was his favourite.

Soobin's fingers combed through his hair adoringly, "There's still the dessert bar we haven't tried either." He patted Yeonjun's stomach who groaned before he started massaging again.

"If you keep working your hands like that, we can go in an hour or two. It's all-night service, isn't it?"

-

As the cruise made a stop over, Yeonjun was struggling. He had an outfit ready for when they docked but as it turned out, maybe there had been a flaw with the laundry that they were doing because it almost felt like everything was struggling to fit on him.

He felt Soobin come from behind him and press into him. His stomach on his back as Yeonjun looked at him. "I think they messed up my laundry." It invited his boyfriend admiring his figure before he smiled.

"If you're fine with a baggier look, you can just borrow my clothes." It worked out well since Soobin adopted his style since they started living together, so it's not like it was out of his taste anyways. He dressed baggy most of the time anyways, so this was rather comfortable. Plus smelling his boyfriend on the clothes definitely added to his enjoyment of the fact.

"Ah, you're the best, babe. I'll show my thanks later." Yeonjun winked as his boyfriend flushed as if they hadn't done worse at this point.

Although, following this dock, the trend was that Yeonjun just started wearing Soobin's clothes. They both enjoyed how he looked wearing Soobin's clothes and it made them more excited when they got back to the privacy of their room with the way Soobin always seemed to pounce on him. He wasn't ever as lethargic after eating all day like he was on the first week so they were able to do a lot more.

The last night of the cruise specifically stood out. Getting their fill completely and when they made their way back to the room, it was hard to stay off of each other. Yeonjun wearing a button up that completely drowned him since Soobin was a lot bigger than he was as they fell onto the bed.

"Wait, Soobinnie, let me..." He was quieted with a kiss as Soobin stripped, the stretchmarks on his belly an angry red as Yeonjun admired his boyfriend's large figure.

"No, hyung. Let me tonight. You had a lot so I can do more." A chill ran down his spine while he felt Soobin prepare himself, sitting down heavily on Yeonjun's thighs, suffocating in the bed as he guided Soobin closer to kiss him while the sound of him stretching himself out with lube filled the room's sounds.

Despite his boyfriend's own gluttony, he was a lot more mobile compared to Yeonjun who leaned on him while they were leaving the buffet and it showed with how well he rode, almost mirroring the way that Yeonjun was able to do it to him. Grabbing thickened thighs, Yeonjun's head rocked back while his boyfriend's body jiggled with each small movement.

An end to their first summer together with an explosive finish. Yeonjun definitely would have to stick around for the cruise next year.

-

True to his word, the number that Beomgyu organized had him itching to go back into the dance studio and Soobin patted him on the hip as he dropped him off, waving before heading to his classes for the day.

"Welcome back, hyung!" The members of the team seemed rather eager for him to settle, even bringing a cake that they happily snacked on before they began their practice.

Beomgyu in particualr was eyeing him a lot but he didn't really pay it any mind when they began stretching. Simple warm ups to make sure they were ready to dance but the room felt slightly colder as he looked at the rest of his teammates.

Oddly enough, they all sort of avoided eye contact when he looked at them before they switched positions. Halfway through, Yeonjun was a little more aware of the way he felt out of breath. Most of the time, he could lead warm ups just fine so he wasn't sure what was happening today.

While they learned the choreo, the cold feeling never really left before Beomgyu awkwardly scooted closer to him as he whispered, "Uh, hyung. your belly is sort of peeking under your tank top." The words sort of splashed over him like cold water.

He hadn't really ever heard that word directed to him. He knew Soobin was bigger and his gut was something that he'd call a belly but in his mind, he wasn't that size so he had always had an abdomen... until he looked at himself now.

That trim middle that he had when he first got together with his boyfriend was nowhere in sight. Completely exploded with fat, Yeonjun was now suddenly aware of the way the mass jiggled when he tucked it into his tight pants. It seemed that just about every part of him was hit with this sort of weight gain.

The rest of the practice was distracting. Constantly needing to tuck in his mass into his clothes that he was spilling out of. The glances that were following his every jiggle and just how much he'd let go in that honeymoon phase with Soobin.

If Soobin had gained the freshman fifteen and then some, Yeonjun was almost certain he did most of that gain in a fraction of the time. The stretchmarks he had seen in the mirror looked horribly angry in comparison to the ones that he saw while Soobin rode him.

Some of the dancers definitely found it distracting and Beomgyu even squeezed his chest playfully, saying Soobin must have been having a lot of fun before he swatted him away. That made him wonder if Soobin had known about it this whole time... it's not like it made him unattractive because it was just weight but was he enjoying the way Yeonjun was completely unaware of it?

He'd have to put it to the test.

-

It was a little funny to act innocent of it now when they reached the weekend.

He was eating a lot less compared to the summer but Soobin basically made sure to keep him well fed throughout their dinners to make up for it... basically confirming with Yeonjun that he enjoyed the extra padding.

The touches that he didn't really notice before like Soobin fondling his own gut and shaking it, squeezing his plumpened ass and thighs. He was actually pretty bad at making it subtle but it's not like it'd be a secret after tonight.

Wearing old clothes was a choice considering nothing fit anymore and Yeonjun regularly stole Soobin's clothes which were starting to fit comfortably instead of oversized. But, the button ups that had no business being on his frame were what would get Soobin's attention.

They had gone back to their favourite restaurant and the mood seemed to shift as Yeonjun put Soobin's hands on the space between the buttons. "Soobinnie, I think I broke my shirt..." His boyfriend seemed to short circuit, trying to stammer out a response before Yeonjun added, "If you order another plate, I might even break my pants..."

He moved Soobin's hands down the swell of his gut with a smile, feeling the taut button as he watched him exhale shakily before looking at him with hungry eyes.

This was definitely a new layer to their relationship but given how he was getting excited by showing off his own gluttony to his boyfriend, he'd probably just need to adjust the routine. Only Soobin would get the luxury of seeing how he'd jiggle from overexerting himself.

And with the way he ordered two plates of food after he already broke his shirt, this was going to be something he'd need to get used to.

[luckyshotwrites]

Ch. 94 // Weren't You Happy? // Day 68

Contents (Warnings): Happy? (Angst, slight blood mention, character and monster info as always). Read full chapter on A03

Wordcount: 3,000+

Song I correlate to this Chapter: None Yet

-------------------------------------------------------------------

(Current Day)

Drake

His thoughts that went on all night were interrupted by Lynette stirring awake. Her sound quickened realizing that everything that had happened wasn't a dream and she was trapped with him in a cell. There was little to no light within—Drake could only see because of his species. 

He wouldn't suppose she could. 

"D-drake." Her shaken voice called for reassurance, looking in his direction but too afraid to physically reach out for it. 

He hadn't moved his back from the corner. "Yeah..." The ease of her relief did nothing to calm his nerves. 

His anger festered and bubbled like flesh in frying oil. I should have fought like hell. I should have died trying to do something. Drake gave in for her sake more than his. 

Lynette was innocent. 

"Are you still hurt?"

"Physically, no." He felt the words expelling from his mouth. "I let this maniac catch us. He somehow was able to perfectly imitate Ace, and now I'm stuck as his damn merchandise, and he's keeping you here as a hostage and for me to drink from. This whole situation is-" Drake wanted to yell. "If I ever get the fucking chance, I'm going to rip his smug head from his body."

When Lynette's heart rate spiked, he noticed the guttural growl in his vocal cords. He wasn't going to apologize for what he said. He meant it. 

It created silence between them. Usually, it was something Drake enjoyed. At the moment, it felt heavier, like his torn clothes, hair, limbs, and even the air pulled him to the ground. 

"I'm just glad you're not alone," Lynette said. His ears felt the honesty past her fear. 

Drake winced—he thought the same. "You shouldn't have gotten involved." 

"Neither should you have."

Yet I did.

An encroaching heartbeat made his fangs tense together. It's that girl. He heard Victoria through the others whom he listened to all night.

It made Andras's words flood his mind.

"However, starting tomorrow, you and your battery will be getting your work cut out for you. I expect you to have at least five to ten clients daily." [...] "Until you make up for all that precious time I lost not having you."

I can't do that. I'll go insane. It's only midnight. Drake masked his panic with anger. His eyes darted across the room to Lynette. He barely pulled back yesterday. He couldn't imagine it being a repetitive cycle.

"If either of you," Victoria said with a slight irritation, "move in a way I don't like, I'm covering your 'home' in fire." She gestured to the cells she stepped in front of it. "And I only think one of you guys will survive being a crisp."

He could feel Lynette's frustration. They both remained still as Victoria opened the gates and walked in. Drake contained his reflexes. He knew Andras had little purpose for Lynette, so Victoria's threat wasn't a bluff. 

Her boots thumped with each step. 

"Turn around." She ordered. 

He did so. 

She roughly snapped them shut and made sure he was held with his arms behind himself. He pulled at the dampeners, much like their cell. They drained the user of energy when they used magic. 

Given my defect, I'll probably be close to dying, if not dead. 

"Open your mouth." She instructed next.

Drake hesitated. He didn't want to feel the metal tendrils dig and squirm inside his mouth and throat again. Damn it. She moved the slightly luminescent metal piece closer.

"That hurts him," Lynette whispered. 

Don't be stupid. Drake knew she'd move. It was something he knew Lynette shared with a particular friend of his. The need to meddle. 

"LYNETTE." Drake snarled viciously. 

Victoria didn't seem to care since Lynette's movement was stopped. 

She put the item to Drake, and it activated. It broke into the tendrils and wrapped around the inside, clinging and tearing anything it could: teeth, flesh, even in the back of his throat. It barely left him enough room to breathe.

Victoria then flipped him around and made him march out of the cage, leaving the cell and Lynette behind. 

...

His mind tugged back and forth between his yearning for blood and logical thought—his instincts were winning. 

The promise of clarity after drinking blood tempted him as his energy dipped dangerously toward less functional levels. He balanced on the cusp of going rabid and making anyone his meal if he could. 

Until he was brought into the office. 

Andras sat on the front of his desk, facing the door where Drake entered. He seemed to be reading over some odd book missing its cover. 

As he glanced up, Andras put down his book and approached Drake. "You look in a lot better shape than before. Glad to see you're playing your role better." 

Drake's muscles started to flex with anticipation to end him.

Andras put his hand up and out to Drake's face. He got the part of the bar that had forced his jaw open and tore it out, tendrils and all. 

His bloody mouth soon healed, and he stared at Andras as it did. The tendrils shook themselves off and returned to the shape of a bar. "Since Drake has another client in two hours, why don't you go downstairs and get-" He scanned over Terrance, who still held Drake's arms. "On second thought, can you retrieve Zetsu to do it instead? He should be assisting a client a few doors down."

Terrance let Drake go, leaving him alone in the room with Andras.

"I hope one of these days I don't forget that Terrance eats humans," Andras muttered.

Without sparing another moment, Drake twisted his head and pushed himself to Andras so he could bite into him. 

...

Lynette

It wasn't a time for self-pity.

Not that I could focus on that. My mind was too busy running what happened hours ago, like reruns of a Christmas special. He couldn't have...he didn't even think twice.

I perked up at every noise and little shuffle. I assumed it might be someone bringing Drake back. 

I can't even remember what happened when he attacked me. The whole thing seemed to blur when I tried to think about it. 

I hope they bring him back. 

I didn't want to imagine Andras eating Drake the same way. He went through all that effort. He wouldn't kill Drake just like that. I chose to believe that. 

The faint ding from the elevator caught my attention. I used the wall to bring myself up. What's the point of getting up? I still did so. 

I can't do anything. This is different than with Claudia. I'm not going to get lucky for being reckless.

I softly took another breath and heard a voice beyond the bars.

"I'm sorry."

That's not Drake, Andras, or Victoria. Their sound was far too timid, almost like they held tears welling up in their eyes.

"Zetsu?"

I didn't receive a response right away, just the creak of the cell door. "Andras sent me to get you," he muttered.

"You don't sound like you want to do this," I replied. I followed his blob in the darkness. I couldn't fully discern it. 

He struggled to speak. "You seem nice."

I can't imagine how he feels. "And you don't seem bad either." Should I really think like this? He's working for them or was somehow.

He approached. I kept myself in place. He stood over me, and his fingers gently touched my shoulder. He was guiding me out of the cell. We walked down the corridor amidst murmurs from the others trapped in theirs. 

"I don't know what I want. I wanted to be free of him for so long. I thought it'd make me free..." His fingers dug slightly into my shoulder. I flinched. "I didn't even want Osiris to die. I just wanted him to stop."

All I knew was that Osiris worked with Andras to do this. There were undoubtedly countless others that Osiris might have tricked or forced into doing what he wanted.

'I just wanted him to stop.' What he said reintroduced a painful memory. "You didn't do it to him. Andras did." I said, through hurt breathes. It had been so many years, and my guilt, though settled, never truly left.

"I should have died, not him."

"No." I said sharply. I grabbed his hand. I don't know what he's done. Whether he's good or bad. He might be manipulating me. We're in trouble, so why do I care.

We neared the elevator. He wouldn't gain anything by saying this. Andras has us both. 

"You should find a way to leave," I said when we reached the elevator doors. It's what I wanted. I wanted to leave safe and sound with Drake. Yet...I can't leave these people down here. If we did escape, he'd relocate, right? Would they be able to find them? I can't even call Wicks. Can Wicks even find me? I didn't want him to. I don't want him to die trying to help me. 

Zetsu stirred me from my thoughts. "I can't." He put his hand on my back again.

The elevator door opened and blinded me. It was as if I were engaged in a staring match with the sun. It took thirty more seconds for my eyes to fully readjust, and I saw my reflection staring back at me. My clothes were slightly bloodied near my neck, my hair a frizzled mess of curls, and my face was dirtied from being on the ground. 

It'll only get worse. 

I attempted to fix what I could and glanced at the looming, scared figure. "You have more of a chance than me." The honesty tasted bitter. "Take it."

His stared at the floor, his words left without emotion. "I don't have enough power to leave alone."

...

Drake

He couldn't buck Andras off. The dealer sat on his back like he was a bench. He couldn't do anything but argue, until his senses made him tune in on the heartbeat, hers. It came closer, rising from the elevator shaft toward them.

And then his eyes locked onto her, he could feel his body pull toward her. He also saw Lynette react as well, unlike his initial eyes that never left her, she went out toward them.

Andras leaned forward, "don't worry, he's fine." Andras's hand patted Drake's head. "Don't be so hostile, you did this to yourself."

Drake snapped his head back and Andras smiled, "Get the hell off me."

"You don't want her to know do you?"

"That you made me believe in your lies?!" Drake painfully twisted his wrists, he wanted to break out form his shackles.

Andras worked up a chuckle, "those 'lies' made you happy though, didn't they?" He said. "You wanted to be be looked at like everyone else." He moved his hand by Drake's mouth, he snapped at it, Andras moved it away in time.

"But they only looked at you with pity. Poor Poor little flawless."

He struggled profusely and it made Andras leap up.

"I gave you a way out of that, one that you loved, remember?"

"SHUT UP!" Drake stumbled up to his feet, his cuffs kept his arms locked.

His focus wanted to drift, he sickeningly didn't let it. He refused to be part of this game. His own heart beat like it had been bruised. "I wasn't happy at all!" He shouted, less confidently, at the time he knew he was.

"You were," Andras took his chance to tease. He approached Drake, slowly. "So happy in fact you wanted my help to cut the only tie holding you back."

His vocal cords twinged and tightened. They wouldn't let him hum out a single word. He exhaled in response, his lips trembled before they pushed into one another.

Everything was quiet. The eyes fell on him. Their piercing gaze choked him and it sent him into a frantic haze.

He had forgotten why he held himself back.

He launched himself at Andras. He was powerless. His best idea was to smash his head into the dealer. At least to shut him up.

Andras moved his head to the side, and threw his hand up. It caught Drake's forehead and eyes. Andras made sure Drake's ear was at his lips.

"Wipe that guilt from your face," Andras snickered, "I can tell you still hate him, don't you?"

Andras curled his fingers tighter around Drake's face before he could answer. It felt like a clamp. Is he using enhancements? His eyes weren't glowing again.

"I missed your tenacity," he said, "so how about this. If you answer me honestly, we can work as a team again."

Fuck you. Drake wanted to say as his energy was being syphoned.

Andras's tone pulled Drake's ear, "all you have to do is tell me, Drake. Do you still want to kill, Alexander?"

...

Hey, you, thank you so much for reading. I'm glad I put out a story that people can enjoy! I hope you continue to enjoy it as WE have a LOT more to go! YOU BETTER KEEP PROSPERING! (Nonnegotiable, as always~).

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What I’d do for a Livable Income Part 2 (Synopsis/Chapter - List)

[ramshackle-ramblings]

An Unacceptable Accessory

In which Alise repurposes some items, and Riddle reclaims them

"Riddle, look out!" Alise looked in front of her to see Silver grab Riddle - who, it seemed, had also not been looking where he was going - in time to prevent him crashing into her. "Oh! I'm sorry," Riddle said, looking forward and then down. "I didn't see - " He stopped, and his jaw tightened with anger.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you either," Alise shook her head. It was sort of ridiculous that he should be angry just by her existence. But she was just as much at fault, she wasn't looking, either, and if Silver hadn't said anything she wouldn't have stopped, either. "I was looking for - " she tried to explain but he cut her off.

"What are you wearing?" he demanded.

She was genuinely confused at first, until she noticed he was staring fixedly at her hair. She looked down at herself, making a show of inspecting herself thoroughly so that the ends of the distinctive red and black ribbon twined through her left bun waved and fluttered as she moved.

"My uniform?" she looked up at him, the picture of innocence.

"In your hair!" he growled, struggling to keep his voice level but pointing viciously at the ribbon. "Why are you using a dorm armband as a hair ribbon? Where did you get it? Where did you get a Heartslybul armband?"

"How was I supposed to know it was an armband? It looks like a ribbon, and no one gave me an armband," she swiveled her right side toward him to show the lack of her own armband.

"You could try paying attention to what's going on around you!" He gestured extravagantly to the hallway around them. He was shouting now, and they were drawing a crowd.

"Says the boy that almost crashed into me because he wasn't paying attention!" Alise shouted back, folding her arms across her chest and tilting her head back defiantly.

The cold winter sunlight streamed through the window and glinted off something gold in her other bun. Riddle caught sight of it, and went several shades of red darker. It was several seconds before he managed to find his voice. "That is not a hair ornament! Where did you get these?" he demanded again, practically stomping his foot.

"I found them!" she shouted back, planting her hands defiantly on her hips. It wasn't exactly a lie. She had found them - on the arm of Ace's jacket. She had intended to give them back to him when he noticed she was wearing them today, but despite being right under his nose for the most of the day, they seemed to have escaped his notice. Seeing how furious Riddle was, there was no way she was going to throw Ace under the bus like that, though.

"You should have given them back!"

"To who?"

"To whoever wasn't wearing an armband!"

"We've already established I'm oblivious! How could I be expected to notice which single person in the entire school had lost their armband?"

Riddle thrust his hand out to her. "I am the house warden. You can return them to me." She didn't move and he shoved his hand at her more forcefully. "Now!"

"Fine!" she snapped, and started to untie the ribbon. It was woven through and tangled in her bun, which made it harder to remove without a mirror than she had anticipated.

Riddle glared impatiently at her at first. After a minute he reached toward her. "Let me do it," he snapped.

She swatted at him with one hand, her other hand tangled in ribbon and hair. "No, I've got it!"

He swatted back at her. "You clearly do not! Just let me help."

He was right, and Alise relented. She untangled her hand from the remains of her bun and he began to work to separate the ribbon from it. The gentleness with which he tackled the task, in spite of his ongoing frustration, surprised her. Every one in a while he would make a little muffled sound of frustration and move a little closer to her as he worked. She ended up with her hands awkwardly braced against his stomach. He smelled of crushed roses and black currant and she couldn't help but breathe him in.

Finally he freed the ribbon and released her hair to tumble across her shoulder and down her back, a waterfall of deep plum and brilliant emerald.

"Is the crest going to be as difficult to remove?" He leaned back slightly so he could see her face.

"It shouldn't be," she looked up at him. "It's just sort of shoved in there. My hair might be tangled in the pin back some, though."

"Would it be easier to just take the whole thing down?"

"I'll be less lopsided if you do."

He nodded, and set to work on the second bun. It didn't take near as long to free the crest from her hair and release her hair from the second bun, and he stepped back.

"The next time you find something like this, return it to a housewarden if you don't know where it came from," he admonished her.

Alise nodded, her hands in her hair, shaking out the last remnants of her buns. "I probably won't."

Riddle's eyes flashed and he opened his mouth, but she had already taken off down the hall past him. He settled for bellowing "Don't run in the halls!" after her.

[quinloki]

Family Ties

Fem Reader x Donquixote Doflamingo

CW: Language, violence, blood, moral ambiguity, murder, sexual themes and situations 18+ only

Chapter 1 - Table of Consent -

Chapter 3: Home Sweet Invasion

You had such a long day yesterday, and you had all of today to yourself, so it was no wonder you didn't even twitch until about 2pm. You did your 'morning' routine and put on a tee and some jeans before heading out to Pops' place. You should've gone there first thing after last night, but you wanted to sleep more than anything else, and sleeping at Pops' place was near impossible.

Besides, you weren't one of Pops' boys, so you were doing him a favor updating him on last night. Unless he already knew about it.

Your pace down the street slowed as you realize that you might've botched one of Pops' own jobs on accident. Well, whether you had or hadn't, you needed to make sure he knew. Because if someone other than him found out you'd botched their hit on Doflamingo you were going to need Pop to protect you.

You turned your phone on when you got on the train, and realized that the doc, Trafalgar Law, had called a few times. Then texted. He wasn't mad mad, he sounded more concerned than anything else. You decided to text him back instead of trying to have an ambiguous conversation on a packed train.

(Y/N): On a train. Don't blow a gasket, I'm okay. Wasn't me. Patched up a stray.

The little dots that indicate typing were going for a long time, and when the message finally comes through you realize he must've been typing and retyping quite a few times before deciding what to send.

Law: Clinic. Not a pet hospital.

You laugh at the idea of Doflamingo being someone's pet.

(Y/N): I didn't use anything expensive, did I?

Law: No.

(Y/N): Bill me then, or let me know if you need a hand and I'll work it off.

Law: You work at a café, a flower shop, a delivery service, and that other place. How can you even offer to work here?

That other place huh? You smirk at the screen, you are well aware Law doesn't get along with Eustass, but the guy had built up a successful auto-body shop from literal scrap. It was worth at least a little recognition.

(Y/N): I'd make it work. Let me know.

Law: Your stray survive?

(Y/N): I imagine so.

It took ten minutes to reach your stop. You walk briskly the rest of the way to Pops' place. If you had been thinking at all when you woke up, you would've called and asked Marco or Thatch to come pick you up. Getting around on your own was a habit, but if you had screwed up royally last night, asking for the ride would've been the smarter move.

Getting to the gate was the first time you'd relaxed since leaving your apartment.

There was a bit of static and a beep before Sabo's voice came through. "(Y/N)?" You look into the camera and make a funny face in response. "Come in, come in." Sabo laughs and the gate buzzes, opening up and letting you through.

Jogging up the driveway you notice Thatch outside smoking. "Hey, is Pop home?"

He nods, "You missed breakfast, but it won't be too much longer until dinner." Thatch offers automatically and then gets a better look at you. "(Y/N), you alright?"

Taking a moment to consider things, you shake your head. "Thatch. I need to talk to Pops. Like, now now."

Thatch puts out his smoke and turns toward the doors alongside you. He calls to Marco when you got inside and then makes a gesture you don't catch. Marco nods, and you and Thatch continue upstairs. The boys were a mess most of the time – loud, rowdy, it was amazing this manor could handle it, but when things were serious, so were they.

You saw them shift gears one time with some punks when you were all hanging out back in your school days. The creeps didn't realize who they were, and were being disrespectful, but it wasn't bothering any of them. You pipped up because you all were running late and one of the punks turned too fast and accidentally hit you with the back of his hand.

Things went from 1 to 'oh no' in a split second. Ace had scared you a little, wanting to know if he should break fingers individually or all in one go. It took you two agonizingly long minutes to get everyone to chill and get the klutz who smacked you off with a bruise on his wrist, only cause Sabo had snatched it out of the air so fast.

It's nice to know you're loved, but mob boys are overprotective.

Thatch knocks on the study doors for you. "Hey Pops, (Y/N)'s here and she needs to speak to you."

"Come in, come in!" Pops sounds like Santa Claus when he's in a good mood. You know the big red gift giver isn't real, but Pops had that same big jovial voice and presence. Like he was an entity much larger than his appearance would suggest, and his appearance was by no means small.

Thatch opens it up and lets you step in. Pops, Edward Newgate to most folks, had his arms out for a hug, but the smile on his face relaxes when he realizes Thatch wasn't coming in with you. You give him a hug, you weren't here because you were mad at him, so hugs were in order.

"What happened, lass?" He asks. His voice was still kind, but it was stern, and a little comforting as well.

"I hope nothing bad, but you're going to have to tell me, Pop." He gestures to a seat, and after you sink into the big chair you start telling him about last night, or rather this morning. He doesn't say anything while you talk, doesn't even hardly move as a matter of fact. When you finish, you looked up at him with concern.

"Look, my biggest worry is I messed up a job you were overseeing."

Newgate shakes his head. "I know you know we're not exactly legal, but we don't facilitate hits. Especially not against an international organization like his."

"In... INTERNATIONAL?" Your eyes nearly fell out of your head before you sink back into the seat. "Aw fu---uuudge." Pops doesn't like his kids swearing, and while you might not be one technically, you don't test something like that.

"Are you willing to stay here for a few days, (Y/N)?" He folds his hands together and leans forward on the desk. "Doflamingo won't do you any harm, but it sounds like him and his Family are going to be recovering for a couple days whether they want to or not. Whoever had betrayed him might have enough connections to figure you out, and we can at least keep you safe for now."

You make a face, one torn between wanting to stay safe, and not wanting to spend a few days in a row around all of Pops' sons. You loved them, but they also loved you, and it was all very sibling-like and that meant it was not going to be relaxing at all.

Plus, it meant not working, and if you weren't working you were fidgety. You had plenty of funds tucked away, because while you worked a lot, you didn't spend much. You didn't work because you were desperate for cash, you just preferred to be busy versus not.

You make frustrated grunting noises for a moment and then sigh. "Can I borrow someone to come with me while I go to my jobs for a couple days, or is that asking too much?"

Pops smiles. "I do admire your work ethic." He ponders your request for a moment. "Take Marco and Thatch with you to your place, get some clothes and whatever else you need. I'll have Sabo set up the guest room for you, and I'll work out a schedule so that at least one of the boys are with you at all times."

"And you won't reach out to Doflamingo and tell him I'm the one who helped him, right?"

"Won't?"

"Won't." You insist.

Pops shrugs. "I suppose I won't."

He calls all the boys into his office and explains what was going on. They got that 'serious business' look on their faces for a second, but then everyone was patting your shoulders and ruffling your hair and promising that you weren't going to have anything to worry about.

.

.

.

Thatch and Marco drove you back to your apartment, well, duplex-surrounded-by-other-duplexes. You had two floors to yourself, but it was still a tight community. Nice, but not upscale, plenty of eyes watching, but not necessarily snooping. It was exactly the kind of balance you preferred.

The three of you were all laughs and light conversation until you open your front door. Marco pulls you back and he and Thatch had guns in their hands in an instant.

"Keep behind me, yoi." Marco instructs, and you tap his back to show you understood. He and Thatch step in, covering each other as they work their way into your home. They knew the place well enough that there weren't going to be any nasty surprises for them to worry about. You followed in behind them, staying only where it was explicitly clear.

You weren't devastated at the destructive tornado that had blown through your home, but you were unsettled by it. Having left a little after 2pm, It was barely 5pm as the two eldest Newgate sons were walking through your home making sure there wasn't anyone still around.

Pulling out your phone you send a text to Law.

(Y/N): My stray might've had an owner last night.

Taking a picture of the upheaval in the front room you send it with the text.

Law: Tell me you're not in that alone.

(Y/N): Nah, Marco 'n' Polo are here.

Law: Stay. With. Them.

(Y/N): I'm gonna. They're here with me cause it was already decided. You be careful.

Law: I will.

Doc had his own connections, or was his own connections, sometimes you weren't really sure which it was, but you still wanted to make sure he had as much of a heads up as possible. Once you knew Law was okay you catch yourself starting to shake. Thatch comes back downstairs and gives you hug after tucking his gun away.

"Marco's making you a bag. We'll swing by the store if you need any lady stuff." He says matter-of-factly. "It's gonna be okay, kiddo."

Nodding, you try to speak, but instead, just start crying. Someone was in your home, putting their hands on your stuff, inside of a very short window of time in which you could've still been here for it. You didn't care that the place was a mess, you cared someone came uninvited into your home. Thatch hugs you tighter and lets you cry for a few minutes. Marco stops on the stairs and waits for you as well, your suitcase in his hands.

You imagine they were both considering taking revenge on Doflamingo's behalf, but they wouldn't do something like that unless you'd been hurt. Stepping in on another man's revenge over some furniture wasn't a good enough reason.

The car ride back was silent. Thatch drove, Marco sat in the back with you and kept petting your hair while you dozed off and tried to stay calm.

[hedonistic-peacock]

Family Ties

Fem Reader x Donquixote Doflamingo

CW: Language, violence, blood, moral ambiguity, murder, sexual themes and situations 18+ only

Chapter 3: Home Sweet Invasion

You had such a long day yesterday, and you had all of today to yourself, so it was no wonder you didn't even twitch until about 2pm. You did your 'morning' routine and put on a tee and some jeans before heading out to Pops' place. You should've gone there first thing after last night, but you wanted to sleep more than anything else, and sleeping at Pops' place was near impossible.

Besides, you weren't one of Pops' boys, so you were doing him a favor updating him on last night. Unless he already knew about it.

Your pace down the street slowed as you realize that you might've botched one of Pops' own jobs on accident. Well, whether you had or hadn't, you needed to make sure he knew. Because if someone other than him found out you'd botched their hit on Doflamingo you were going to need Pop to protect you.

You turned your phone on when you got on the train, and realized that the doc, Trafalgar Law, had called a few times. Then texted. He wasn't mad mad, he sounded more concerned than anything else. You decided to text him back instead of trying to have an ambiguous conversation on a packed train.

(Y/N): On a train. Don't blow a gasket, I'm okay. Wasn't me. Patched up a stray.

The little dots that indicate typing were going for a long time, and when the message finally comes through you realize he must've been typing and retyping quite a few times before deciding what to send.

Law: Clinic. Not a pet hospital.

You laugh at the idea of Doflamingo being someone's pet.

(Y/N): I didn't use anything expensive, did I?

Law: No.

(Y/N): Bill me then, or let me know if you need a hand and I'll work it off.

Law: You work at a café, a flower shop, a delivery service, and that other place. How can you even offer to work here?

That other place huh? You smirk at the screen, you are well aware Law doesn't get along with Eustass, but the guy had built up a successful auto-body shop from literal scrap. It was worth at least a little recognition.

(Y/N): I'd make it work. Let me know.

Law: Your stray survive?

(Y/N): I imagine so.

It took ten minutes to reach your stop. You walk briskly the rest of the way to Pops' place. If you had been thinking at all when you woke up, you would've called and asked Marco or Thatch to come pick you up. Getting around on your own was a habit, but if you had screwed up royally last night, asking for the ride would've been the smarter move.

Getting to the gate was the first time you'd relaxed since leaving your apartment.

There was a bit of static and a beep before Sabo's voice came through. "(Y/N)?" You look into the camera and make a funny face in response. "Come in, come in." Sabo laughs and the gate buzzes, opening up and letting you through.

Jogging up the driveway you notice Thatch outside smoking. "Hey, is Pop home?"

He nods, "You missed breakfast, but it won't be too much longer until dinner." Thatch offers automatically and then gets a better look at you. "(Y/N), you alright?"

Taking a moment to consider things, you shake your head. "Thatch. I need to talk to Pops. Like, now now."

Thatch puts out his smoke and turns toward the doors alongside you. He calls to Marco when you got inside and then makes a gesture you don't catch. Marco nods, and you and Thatch continue upstairs. The boys were a mess most of the time – loud, rowdy, it was amazing this manor could handle it, but when things were serious, so were they.

You saw them shift gears one time with some punks when you were all hanging out back in your school days. The creeps didn't realize who they were, and were being disrespectful, but it wasn't bothering any of them. You pipped up because you all were running late and one of the punks turned too fast and accidentally hit you with the back of his hand.

Things went from 1 to 'oh no' in a split second. Ace had scared you a little, wanting to know if he should break fingers individually or all in one go. It took you two agonizingly long minutes to get everyone to chill and get the klutz who smacked you off with a bruise on his wrist, only cause Sabo had snatched it out of the air so fast.

It's nice to know you're loved, but mob boys are overprotective.

Thatch knocks on the study doors for you. "Hey Pops, (Y/N)'s here and she needs to speak to you."

"Come in, come in!" Pops sounds like Santa Claus when he's in a good mood. You know the big red gift giver isn't real, but Pops had that same big jovial voice and presence. Like he was an entity much larger than his appearance would suggest, and his appearance was by no means small.

Thatch opens it up and lets you step in. Pops, Edward Newgate to most folks, had his arms out for a hug, but the smile on his face relaxes when he realizes Thatch wasn't coming in with you. You give him a hug, you weren't here because you were mad at him, so hugs were in order.

"What happened, lass?" He asks. His voice was still kind, but it was stern, and a little comforting as well.

"I hope nothing bad, but you're going to have to tell me, Pop." He gestures to a seat, and after you sink into the big chair you start telling him about last night, or rather this morning. He doesn't say anything while you talk, doesn't even hardly move as a matter of fact. When you finish, you looked up at him with concern.

"Look, my biggest worry is I messed up a job you were overseeing."

Newgate shakes his head. "I know you know we're not exactly legal, but we don't facilitate hits. Especially not against an international organization like his."

"In... INTERNATIONAL?" Your eyes nearly fell out of your head before you sink back into the seat. "Aw fu---uuudge." Pops doesn't like his kids swearing, and while you might not be one technically, you don't test something like that.

"Are you willing to stay here for a few days, (Y/N)?" He folds his hands together and leans forward on the desk. "Doflamingo won't do you any harm, but it sounds like him and his Family are going to be recovering for a couple days whether they want to or not. Whoever had betrayed him might have enough connections to figure you out, and we can at least keep you safe for now."

You make a face, one torn between wanting to stay safe, and not wanting to spend a few days in a row around all of Pops' sons. You loved them, but they also loved you, and it was all very sibling-like and that meant it was not going to be relaxing at all.

Plus, it meant not working, and if you weren't working you were fidgety. You had plenty of funds tucked away, because while you worked a lot, you didn't spend much. You didn't work because you were desperate for cash, you just preferred to be busy versus not.

You make frustrated grunting noises for a moment and then sigh. "Can I borrow someone to come with me while I go to my jobs for a couple days, or is that asking too much?"

Pops smiles. "I do admire your work ethic." He ponders your request for a moment. "Take Marco and Thatch with you to your place, get some clothes and whatever else you need. I'll have Sabo set up the guest room for you, and I'll work out a schedule so that at least one of the boys are with you at all times."

"And you won't reach out to Doflamingo and tell him I'm the one who helped him, right?"

"Won't?"

"Won't." You insist.

Pops shrugs. "I suppose I won't."

He calls all the boys into his office and explains what was going on. They got that 'serious business' look on their faces for a second, but then everyone was patting your shoulders and ruffling your hair and promising that you weren't going to have anything to worry about.

.

.

.

Thatch and Marco drove you back to your apartment, well, duplex-surrounded-by-other-duplexes. You had two floors to yourself, but it was still a tight community. Nice, but not upscale, plenty of eyes watching, but not necessarily snooping. It was exactly the kind of balance you preferred.

The three of you were all laughs and light conversation until you open your front door. Marco pulls you back and he and Thatch had guns in their hands in an instant.

"Keep behind me, yoi." Marco instructs, and you tap his back to show you understood. He and Thatch step in, covering each other as they work their way into your home. They knew the place well enough that there weren't going to be any nasty surprises for them to worry about. You followed in behind them, staying only where it was explicitly clear.

You weren't devastated at the destructive tornado that had blown through your home, but you were unsettled by it. Having left a little after 2pm, It was barely 5pm as the two eldest Newgate sons were walking through your home making sure there wasn't anyone still around.

Pulling out your phone you send a text to Law.

(Y/N): My stray might've had an owner last night.

Taking a picture of the upheaval in the front room you send it with the text.

Law: Tell me you're not in that alone.

(Y/N): Nah, Marco 'n' Polo are here.

Law: Stay. With. Them.

(Y/N): I'm gonna. They're here with me cause it was already decided. You be careful.

Law: I will.

Doc had his own connections, or was his own connections, sometimes you weren't really sure which it was, but you still wanted to make sure he had as much of a heads up as possible. Once you knew Law was okay you catch yourself starting to shake. Thatch comes back downstairs and gives you hug after tucking his gun away.

"Marco's making you a bag. We'll swing by the store if you need any lady stuff." He says matter-of-factly. "It's gonna be okay, kiddo."

Nodding, you try to speak, but instead, just start crying. Someone was in your home, putting their hands on your stuff, inside of a very short window of time in which you could've still been here for it. You didn't care that the place was a mess, you cared someone came uninvited into your home. Thatch hugs you tighter and lets you cry for a few minutes. Marco stops on the stairs and waits for you as well, your suitcase in his hands.

You imagine they were both considering taking revenge on Doflamingo's behalf, but they wouldn't do something like that unless you'd been hurt. Stepping in on another man's revenge over some furniture wasn't a good enough reason.

The car ride back was silent. Thatch drove, Marco sat in the back with you and kept petting your hair while you dozed off and tried to stay calm.

[ericaxmanning]

[female, she/her] Welcome to Aurora Bay, [ERICA FAYE MANNING]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [KATHERYN WINNICK]. You must be the [FORTY-TWO] year old [FLOWER MERCHANT]. Word is you’re [LOYAL] but can also be a bit [GRUMPY] and your favorite song is [AC/DC - T.N.T]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [FISHERS COVE]. I’m sure you’ll love it! 

TL:DR

- Oldest Keaton sibling. The family pressure drove her to leave town at 18 and move to Montana to work as a ranch hand. - Got pregnant at 22 to a rodeo boy. Had the baby and the pair lived under the same roof for two years to raise their son. But her baby-daddy went and got married so their son mostly lived with him. - Erica tried to be a good mom, was there for all the sports games and things. Her son is a good kid. - She met Annie and eventually they got married. Things seemed good. But being who she is, Erica stuffed things up. - Used 'coming to check on Nicole' as an excuse to dip from her messed up marriage and is now stuck in limbo because she hates Aurora Bay but doesn't want to go back.

Here is the full bio that's way too long:

The oldest of the Keaton siblings, Erica spent majority of her childhood as an only child, being the focus of her parent's attention - not something that she was particularly thrilled about. Their attention came with a lot of pressure, constant pushing to do more, to be more. Erica was relieved when her younger brother came along, thinking it would divert some of her parent's intensity -- but it did not. This pressure sometimes caused rifts between the siblings, since they didn't have anywhere else to take out their frustrations.

When Erica was seventeen, Nicole was born, and despite falling in love with the adorable baby girl, Erica had already decided that she was leaving. Which she did almost as soon as she graduated. She'd never liked the beach or the ocean and so fled as far away from that as she could, ending up in Montana. With her ingrained work ethic and competitive nature, the blonde found herself thriving as a ranch hand. The fact that this wasn't exactly what her parents had had in mind for her was of little bother to Erica. She'd spent the last eighteen years trying to live up to their expectations and now she was living her own life.

That life wasn't paved with the best decisions, however. At twenty-two, Erica met rodeo rider Jack. The pair had a whirlwind relationship, chasing the rodeo circuit and partying like their lives depended on it. Until Erica discovered she was pregnant. Not exactly surprising considering their behaviour, but it sobered them up real quick. Erica had never even considered children before, but she couldn't bring herself to end the pregnancy. Thankfully, Jack promised to be their for his kid, even though their relationship didn't survive the pregnancy. For the first two years, the pair shared a small cottage, finding a way to co-parent their baby boy Cody. But eventually Jack began a new relationship and moved out, getting married not long after. With his life becoming the more stable of the two, Jack took majority custody of Cody, though Erica spent as much time with her son as she could, taking him ranching with her on weekends when he was old enough, until he outgrew that and began filling his weekends with his own hobbies and sports.

They found their own sort of rhythm for the next few years, Erica attending all of Cody's sports matches, every significant high school milestone.

When she was thirty-six, Erica met her to-be wife. While she hadn't really had any serious relationships over the years, things with Annie just came easily and Erica found she enjoyed having a partner in life after being self-reliant for so long. The pair built a pretty comfortable life together, and Erica was thriving. Until a small thing somehow became a big thing, the blonde's stubborn nature kicking in and causing her to drive a wedge between the two of them.

So when Erica heard that her youngest sister was struggling, she used it as an excuse to leave the situation she'd created, saying she was just going back to make sure her sister was okay. But Erica found herself stuck in limbo, not wanting to go back to face the mess that she'd left behind while also hating Aurora Bay and the coast where it was located. When it was clear that Erica wasn't coming back in a hurry, Annie followed her to town in hopes of saving their marriage. Deep down, that's what Erica wants, she's just terrible at dealing with her emotions and admitting that she's wrong.

Currently Erica is working at a large flower farm outside of town, cutting and delivering raw batches to florists around the bay area. It's the closest thing the farming she can get, but it's definitely not the same.

@aurorabayaesthetic

[thirteens-earring]

(Transcription under cut)

[ I met Hilary at a kink class. I don't even remember what the topic was; it never seemed to matter. The takeaway from a class on flogging, play piercing, caning, whatever, was if you were a top, you should go home and practice whatever you learned. But I didn't have anyone to practice with, and I was way too broke to shell out eighty bucks for kink equipment I didn't even know if I wanted and didn't have anyone to use on anyway.

I noticed her because of the patches on the back of her denim vest: a rainbow-colored cat rubbing lovingly against an ankle, a hand-lettered ACAB, and an ace flag, purple, white, black, and gray. I wanted to talk to her as soon as I saw the flag; I'd come out as ace a few months earlier, but when I mentioned it to an older dyke at a play party, she'd laughed in my face. You know this is a kink party, right? When I replayed the conversation in my head, I gave all kinds of clever replies, but in the moment I'd just shrunk into my chair. I wondered if I was wrong to think I could be kinky and ace at the same time.

My friend Charlie, who'd stopped going to kink stuff, thought maybe the older dyke had assumed I was a bottom and wanted to give me a hard time as a way of flirting. I said disparaging someone's identity was a shitty way of flirting, and Charlie said yeah, that was why they didn't go to kink stuff anymore. I kept going back though. It was the only way I could think of to meet people who might, against all odds, want to do kinky things with me.

The group who ran the classes always gathered people afterwards at the Skylite Diner down the street. As I moved with the loose crowd of queer kinksters headed toward the diner, a voice behind me said, "I like your boots."

I looked down. The boots were calf-high lace-ups, vinyl and shimmery. I'd bought them over a year ago, but this was only the third time I'd worn them. They seemed like something the person I wanted to be would wear, but I wasn't sure the person I was could pull them off. A couple weeks earlier, I'd let Charlie chop off most of my hair and dye the remainder purple, and I felt the same way looking in the mirror that I did looking down now, as if I was wearing a costume that everyone could see didn't fit.

"Thanks," I said anyway, and turned around to see Hilary. She was a head taller than me, with broad shoulders and a curvy waist, wearing lipstick in a bright glittery violet that made me smile. Her skin was pale and dotted with freckles, and her honey-brown hair hung over her neck and shoulders in delicate wisps. "I like your vest."

"I'm Hilary, by the way," she said, though I'd heard her introduce herself in class. "She/her."

"Rae. She/her too."

We sat together at the diner. I usually didn't know what to talk about on diner trips. People sometimes asked what you did for work, and I didn't like to say. I was a library assistant in a children's department, and I was scared of it getting back to parents that Rae who sometimes did storytimes for kids also liked to hurt people for fun. When I did tell people about my job, someone inevitably said something about sexy librarians, and I'd only recently found the words for how alien the idea of being sexy felt to me.

Hilary and I talked about webcomics, and her cat, who could open cabinet doors, and I asked if she wanted to split a basket of curly fries, which she did. It wasn't until our orders came that I got up the nerve to ask about her flag patch. I told her about the woman who'd laughed at me when I said I was ace. Hilary took a deep breath and gripped the edge of the table, her fingers curling like claws. "That's some bullshit," she said, loud enough that a few people across the table turned their heads.

I laughed. "I thought so too, but then I thought maybe there was a reason I hadn't met other ace people here."

"Well, it's not because we don't exist." Hilary picked up a curly fry and blew on it; I didn't dare touch them yet. "The scene's got some warped priorities sometimes."

Hilary had been away from the scene for a few years. She'd been in a relationship with someone who didn't like public parties, then she'd been depressed after a breakup, and now she figured it was worth dipping a toe back in. I told her how I'd been coming to scene stuff for a couple years, how I wanted to top, but how people looked at a small, awkward femme-ish newcomer and thought bottom. How you weren't supposed to top if you weren't experienced, but how you needed experience to get experience, like the old entry-level job problem. How I'd ended up making out with people at parties even though I didn't give a shit about making out, because sexual stuff felt like the only thing I was allowed to do without practice.

"There's a lot you can do without practice," Hilary said.

"Like what?"

"Rough body stuff. Hitting, pinching, scratching, hair-pulling."

"I guess." I'd done a spanking scene with someone at a party once. "Don't people think that stuff's boring though?"

Hilary frowned "Do you think it's boring?"

I thought about the person I'd spanked, how their voice had broken with each hit. How I'd stroked their back the whole time and felt warm and connected, how the few times I'd dared hit harder, their body had seemed to crumple, thrillingly, onto our padded bench. I'd played the scene back to myself for days afterwards. "No," I said, feeling faintly shy. "I don't."

"I'm a masochist," Hilary said, biting slightly at her glittery lower lip. "And a service sub. I like pain, and I like doing things for tops."

I had to stop my head from tilting quizzically. I knew Hilary was kinky, or else why would she be here, but somehow some part of me still thought she couldn't be, let alone have desires that matched mine. Maybe it was an ace thing, but until I saw it, I found it hard to imagine people as erotic actors of any kind.

"I don't know if you're looking to play tonight," she continued. "But if you are, and you're looking to try some hitting or pinching or something..." She trailed off. My heart was racing.

"Yeah," I said. "That sounds really nice."

The playspace was a large, black-walled room in the basement of a theater. Hilary and I sat on a bench by the entrance, and I looked around at the now-familiar sights: a padded cross, a clean-up station, a bench with stirrups. A pair of regulars strolled by, the domme in leather pants, the sub wheeling their toy collection in a suitcase. Someone out of sight shrieked; somewhere closer came the metallic clink of restraints being fastened. Across the room, I spotted the dyke who'd laughed at my aceness caning a bottom who wore a tutu, and I wondered what she'd think if she saw me topping too. Maybe it didn't matter.

We talked more about our scene. Hilary said she liked boots, and being lower to the ground than her partner, and having her hair pulled. I said I liked touch, like how I'd rubbed my partner's back in that spanking scene, that I'd never hit anyone's upper body or pinched anyone, but that I'd like to try. We had all the conversations I knew from classes you were supposed to: safewords, limits, how she did and didn't want to be touched, how she usually felt glowy after a scene and wanted to cuddle, how the few times I'd played, I'd wanted that too. It still felt surreal, like I was playing a part that wasn't written for me, but at least I knew my lines.

And then Hilary pointed to a spot in the back corner of the playspace where it looked like there was room for the two of us and asked if I wanted to go there. I nodded and rose from the bench, and she followed.

There was no equipment in the spot we'd chosen, just a bit of bare wall and a stretch of floor. Hillary sat on the floor and looked up at me, her eyes darting shyly away when I looked back. I felt a little power flow from her and into me, like we were sharing a secret. She unbuttoned her vest and lifted her T-shirt, and I watched her bra appear underneath, gray cotton, sporty and cute. It felt good to look at another ace person undressing and not feel that pressure to feel...something. Her boobs were a nice shape but knowing I wasn't supposed to want to touch them, wasn't failing by eyeing instead her exposed skin and downcast gaze, made something in my chest untighten.

She folded her vest and shirt crisply and carefully, then turned around on her knees to lay them by the wall. When she turned back toward me, she looked up again and placed her arms behind her back, presenting herself to me. That gaze up again, that smile, and I felt the space between us start to close. I ran my tongue over my canine teeth. A new friend was offering herself to me and I was accepting and something in my consciousness was shifting, righting itself.

"Are you ready?" I heard myself ask. I stopped briefly to wonder if I was ready, but I didn't have to look far within myself to feel, incredibly, that I was. Hilary lifted her chin and nodded up to me. Her arms were still behind her and I wanted to move closer, was moving in closer, stepped in close enough that the toe of my boot pressed against the knee of her jeans. I reached for the nape of her neck and dug my fingers into her hair.

Hilary's hair was soft and fine and delicate. I took the wisps between my fingers, holding tightly enough to control her movements but not hard enough, yet, to hurt. I pulled her in against the front of my leg, gazing down as she gazed up. She was taller than me, but not here, not on her knees, not looking up with wide eyes. The room shimmered like a camera coming into focus. We were doing this. I was doing this.

Around us, other partygoers walked by, a few pausing to glance at our scene. I froze for a moment, imagining myself through outside eyes, but when I looked back down at Hilary on her knees, her face pressed against me, my insecurity receded. I kept my left hand in her hair and ran the other down her cheek, over her bare shoulders, smooth, warm skin that was suddenly, improbably, mine to touch, and breathed with her there until my chest swelled again with the steely certainty of my own power.

I wanted to hurt her. Wanted to know how her body looked taking pain, what sounds she'd make, how deep under her skin I could get. I reached for her face again, took her chin in my hand. It felt like taking a liberty, intimate and condescending. "Stand up," I said, and her breath caught when I tugged at her soft hair. "I'm going to hit you now."

I moved her toward the wall. Lifted her by her hair and she stumbled upwards, guided her face-forward, stopping her with a hand on her collarbone. She made a little sigh as as she jolted toward the wall, pleased and vulnerable, and I wanted to hear more. The nape of her neck was warm under my hand and I tugged at the hair in my fingers to hear her voice catch.

Kink was a miracle. Stepping into the space of someone who wanted you there, hurting someone who wanted you to hurt them, breathing together in the delicious haze of intimacy and intensity. This was why I kept coming to these parties: the outside chance of feeling exactly as sharp and joyful and hungry and right as I felt right now.

Was Hilary feeling it too? I turned her head to the side to see her face. "How are you doing?," I asked, and her voice was breathy in answer.

"Good. You're good at this."

Was I good at this? Wasn't I too new, too ace, too hesitant, too inexperienced? But the soaring feeling in my chest told me everything I needed to know. I breathed in, pulled harder at Hilary's hair, and sighed at the sound of her gasp, and the worry was gone. I was going to hit her. I loosed my grip on her hair and readied myself, my hands palm-open against the broad flats of her shoulders. Then I stepped back and pushed forward, a gentle slap to start. Hilary made a small sigh and stumbled forward against the wall. My palms tingled with the impact. I felt myself grin.

I hit her again, and again, letting more of my weight fall each time into her bare, available skin. Her sighs became grunts; her expression, when I leaned in close enough for eye contact, was dreamy and vague. I wanted to be closer in, more in her space, more under her skin. There were red marks on her shoulders. The right one looked like an imprint of my hand, fingers outlined in flushed skin. Her body, marked up with mine. I hit her again, harder. Her body sagged against the wall and I drank her unsteadiness in.

I was aware of my own body but focused on hers, the hug of the boot shafts on my calves, shoulders loose and back and relaxed, each hit fluid if not graceful. Something that felt like joy in my throat, cheeks alive with grinning. I wanted—I think we both wanted—our scene to last forever.

After more hits, Hilary murmured something, and I paused and leaned in. "Do you want to try pinching me?" she said, when I asked her to repeat herself.

I had almost forgotten we'd meant for me to pinch her too, and I felt a welling of gratitude to Hilary for reminding me, for wanting this, for wanting me. "Yes," I said. "Do you?" She nodded so vigorously I could feel the strands of hair in my hand tighten and go slack.

Nobody taught pinching in kink classes. It was too straightforward, too low-risk, too unskilled. If all you had to do to top was press a fold of skin between your fingers, then anyone could top. I could top. I tugged at Hilary's hair, gently this time, and told her to turn and face me. She followed my lead.

I ran my hand along her biceps, fleshy and warm and mine to touch. I gathered skin between my thumb and index finger, closed my fingers together until I felt resistance, until Hilary breathed in sharp through her nose, her jaw set, eyes wide and locked softly on mine. She whimpered a little and I let go, rubbing the spot I'd been holding. "You okay?" It was still hard to remember that she had chosen this, that she really did like pain, that some people loved to bottom, that the things I wanted to do were things a lot of people wanted done.

Hilary's face was flushed, her voice quiet and breathy. "I'm good. I like this a lot."

That feeling of gratitude welled in my chest again. "Me too."

I liked the intimacy of it. I liked controlling the intensity, moment to moment. I liked our eye contact, the way I could watch her watching me hurt her, a dizzying feedback loop. I pulled out another fold on her biceps and pinched again, longer this time, watching her fight the sensation and then surrender. I held her there, letting her gasp and whimper, feeling myself grow bigger and more alive. I let go and tried the other arm. Hilary swayed against the wall and I held out my free hand to steady her. I let go and pinched again. And again. Eyes and whimpers and breath and my cheeks split open grinning. My thumb was tired. I didn't care.

Eventually, Hilary reached her free arm back and tapped my hip. "I don't think I can stand up anymore."

I thought about having her kneel. About making her put her arms behind her back and pinching her again while she gazed up at me, while I held her body close. But the pause made me more aware of the ache in my fingers and a dryness in my throat. As much as I wanted to keep going, maybe it was time.

"Do you want to wrap up?"

Hilary nodded, tugging gently at the hair in my hand. "I don't want to," she whispered, "But yeah."

I helped her to the floor. She draped herself over my boots and wrapped her arms against me. My heart filled up, and my face hurt from grinning. Hilary smiled too, her body slumping against mine. After a while, I sat down next to her, and we held each other there for a still, seemingly infinite moment.

Hilary spoke first. "Definitely not boring," she murmured into my shoulder.

"What?" I said, then laughed. I'd forgotten I'd even worried about topping with my bare hands not being enough. "Oh. No, not boring at all."

"You made this face when you were hurting me," she said, and I tried to brace myself to be embarrassed but found I could only muster calm curiosity. "Like you were, I don't know, an orchestra conductor."

I gave a small laugh. "Yeah?"

"Like you were in the center of the stage, and you ran the show, and you were channeling all your passion and focus and art into...I don't know. Into something that felt really good."

I tried to imagine what she'd seen, me with my purple hair and my shimmery boots, holding myself like some kind of kink maestro. I couldn't picture it, but somehow, I believed her.

We returned to our bench and chatted a while longer. When scenes started wrapping up around us, and Hilary gave a yawn and I yawned too, I said I thought it was time to go.

"There's another party next month," Hilary said, as we took the rickety elevator back to street level. "I was thinking you could come with me, if you want."

I thought about walking into another party with a friend and play partner. A friend who wore an ace flag with pride, a friend who saw me in my newness and believed I was enough. I thought about Hilary at my feet again, the heady feeling of power flowing between us. It wouldn't matter what anyone else thought; I'd know I belonged there. We both belonged there.

"I'd love that," I said, as the elevator doors creaked open. We walked through them together, both still glowing. ]

megan stories, conducter, from best lesbian erotica of the year vol. 6

[eishtmo]

Why Your Inventory Sucked Part 3

I may complain a lot, but I actually did like my job. And I was pretty damn good at it. I wasn't an ace, super counter, or the greatest supervisor ever, but I was good enough people noticed. Most liked when I was running the crew, or at least seemed to. And I was valued as a counter and a driver. Hell, I knew the software and hardware we used well enough that I was often called on to help find ways around a problem.

I could easily have stayed there for, well, maybe the rest of my life. It wasn't to be. It really just came down to stress. I don't think I made clear earlier how many hours I was working, but there were days when I would leave the house at 2 am, get home at 7 pm and have to go to bed almost immediately to do it again the next day. And this went on for literal years.

I was cooked. Burnt out, fried. I was making more mistakes and feeling more overwhelmed. I tried to get time off, like 2 days in a row time off, and they wouldn't let me. Once I finally gave out, well, it was with rage. I felt bad for my coworkers I left behind because they would work that much harder to make up for me leaving.

It took a month to catch up on my sleep, and now, almost 2 years later, I look back on it and wonder how I manged to do it all and stay sane. The answer, of course, was I couldn't.

PART 3: The Store

Of all the forces that effected an inventory, the store itself was the biggest and most unknown factor. Often I didn't know what was walking into until I walked into it. Oh yes, there are ways to know, pre-inventory calls and visits were a thing, and they were annoying, but they weren't required, or even necessary in some cases.

Still, the store itself is just another work place, it's the people inside that was where the problems came from. And of course I'm not talking about the the workers, I'm talking about the managers.

The main part of my job was to communicate with the managers and let them know what was going on, how we were doing and resolve any issues that came up. In a good store, it was rare that there was an issue and they'd just let me do my job. Sometimes there were issues, they were minor and easily resolved.

Then there are the nitpickers. So many managers wanted things done in particular ways, ways that aren't called for in my instructions or by company policy. I'd try to explain the limits of what could be done, and I could get them to back off, sometimes. Other times. . .

A picky manager is one that can ruin a good working environment. Maybe they want the counters to be neater, maybe they don't like how one of the counters is doing their job, and sometimes they scream about "every dollar" counting. Yes, every dollar counts, but if one dollar is going to make or break your inventory, you've got a lot more problems than my crew.

Getting them to back off is hard and sometimes the only option is to let them have their way, and they still won't be happy.

I hadn't done a Sephora beauty store as a standalone store before, but I was pretty confident I could handle it. When I arrived the store manager had marked out the sections of the store to be counted. Not tagged, that's my job, but broke the store into color coded sections and we were expected to count the store by these sections. Okay, no big deal, it's generally what I would be doing anyway.

So I didn't have a full crew from my office. I had a few people, but the majority had to come from another office. I do not know most of these people, but the way the store is setting up to go, that shouldn't be a big deal. It's all AQ-1, so they'll all go about the same speed. That said, each 4 foot section of makeup has multiple tags, and it's usually not a good idea to squeeze more than one person in each one, even with multiple tags.

So things get started and they seem to be going well. Then one of the counters from the other office finishes his tag, looks at the tags in the area where we're working and comes to the reasonable conclusion that he can't get in there. So he moves to the next section.

The manager and store staff don't like this. Their color coded section isn't done yet, and we can't move on to the next one. NOW, had they come to me about this, I likely could have calmed them down by pointing out that there was no room and we were about to move to the next color section as a group anyway and by the time he's done with the tag, we probably would be.

Of course they didn't. They confronted the counter first. And apparently he's the kind of person that when faced with confrontation, he responds with confrontation. Suddenly there's a yelling match. I'm caught completely off guard, no idea this is even happening as I'm doing other stuff.

The next thing I know, the store manager is demanding this counter be removed from the count. So I try to figure out what the hell just happened, look for a way to back down and can't find one, and finally I'm forced to remove him from the store. Which annoys the driver of the van, who promptly, in the MIDDLE of the store, calls THEIR boss to complain, who now calls me.

So now the guest crew is all pissed off, the store manager is still pissed, I'm pissed because I just got blindsided by this mess AND have to deal with the other crew's boss who's trying to tell me "we don't do that" when, no, YOU don't do that, WE do.

There's a couple places to leave notes at the end of the inventory. One is very small, the other is quite large. I told whoever is filling out the survey at the end that the box is for high praise or high damnation. Guess which one this store manager used? I never read it, it's something I learned to not do after doing this job after many years, it would just make me angry.

Audits are the main way that we can keep tabs on how the counters are doing. One might think audits are about finding mistakes, and most store staff does think that. But that's not actually the point of doing audits.

The thing is that counters make mistakes. We are human after all, miscounts, miss scans, and even missed shelves happen. The point of audits is to find out if counters aren't doing their jobs. Are they scanning one item on a shelf and counting everything? Maybe they are just inputing random numbers into the scanner? Perhaps they keyed in the item numbers for a bunch of molding in a hardware store, but they keyed it wrong so instead of 100 pieces of molding, the counted 100 saw blades? Yes, that happened. Scan first, key only as a last resort.

But store staff when they get to auditing doesn't quite understand that. They see a mistake and then they start looking for more. They're going to make the count perfect, damn it. Well, they can try anyway. The thing is there's always required amount of audits that need to be done. Sometimes it's a set list of generated tags, sometimes it's a percentage of the tags, and maybe only a percentage of each of those tags. Keeping them on task is a great amount of what I do running an inventory.

Auditors make mistake too. Sometimes the very mistakes they're supposed to be hunting for, they make. At a Pink store (it's branch of Victoria's Secret, just more clothes and less panties), my counter did a rail of dresses on the wall, and scanned each of the 16 pieces there just like they were supposed to. The auditor, however, grabbed the first dress and scanned it 16 times. It was obvious, so I had to reject the audit and bring the audit crew back so I could remind them what to do.

Often though, the auditors try to fix the entire tag. Thing is, that never works out. It took my counter 15 minutes to count that section, but it'll take an auditor an hour to go through the entire section. In the meantime that counter has done at least 4 more tags, and if the audit is excessively bad, which the auditor will claim even if it's not true, then the other tags will have to be audited, or if they have to be removed then those tags all have to be recounted! It's why only a percentage of the tag needs to be audited, because if it's bad, we can see it pretty quickly. If it's just not good, then we can coach and move on.

Sometimes a store thinks it can save the inventory if they just audit a few more tags. . .

I was in a franchise gas station which has it's own quirks. The main one being that the parent company pays for the inventory, and however much the store is short, the franchisee has to pay. In cash. So they're pretty sensitive to large shrinks.

I didn't have a great crew, kind of mediocre honestly, but I made point of doing the more sensitive stuff, mostly the cooler. Well low and behold, the inventory comes up something like $11k short, which for a gas station is stupidly high. So the store manager (who is not the franchisee, the franchisee was never in the store) grabs the audit tablet to see if he can find the missing money.

In the candy section.

Unless my counter missed the ENTIRE candy section, there's no way that money is there. And yes, mistakes were going to be found, my counters aren't super great. So congrats you found about 100 bucks worth of missing candy. Now, where do we look for the other $10,900 dollars?

After talking the manager down, we look at things a bit more clearly and figure it out. About a week earlier, someone walked in the door of the store, walked behind the register and grabbed two full BOXES of cigarettes. Not cartons, BOXES, you know, holding like 25 plus cartons. Well, there's your problem. Still he thinks the counters were bad and the inventory is bad. Not that it matters, the next time I do the store, the franchisee is selling back to the parent company.

So there was going to be another section here, but this is getting long and I will be talking EXTENSIVELY about the next section, so I'll leave it at this for the time being.

Next time: The real reason your inventory sucked.

[gerbilena]

Mickey D's story time! So the location I worked at back in the early 2010's was a really old store, and was in not the greatest neighborhood. They also did monthly mystery shops, and back then, the light hadn't left my eyes yet so I was always put on the front counter because I was a bubbly 20 year old girl and I always helped us ace the mystery shops. So one day I was at the counter, and I was getting close to lunch time, which meant mystery shopper maybe, so I was at the register, smile on my face, customer voice on point, when A LITERAL FUCK TON of people pour in. turns out 2 full busses of people had decided to come to us as their rest stop. So I'm taking order after order, the back of the place is firing on all cylinders, timers are going off everywhere for fresh fries, hot burger patties, people making various drinks behind me, running a bunch of things everywhere as we scramble to get like 40 different orders taken, paid, and out. While we're working harder than anyone ever should at a fast food job, every one starts to notice our lobby is filling with smoke, and Concha, who was assigned to do the cleaning for the day, is running around like a maniac shouting in frantic Spanish. Turns out, during the chaos of all the customers, one of the well know homeless girls in the area had slipped into the bathroom and lit the giant toilet paper roll in one of the stalls on FIRE. So Concha went into the bathroom to clean it like usual and saw a literal BALL OF FIRE on the wall of the stall. She panics, and tries to find the fire extinguisher, but then realizes that it's LOCKED to the wall and she doesn't have the key, and she can't remember where it is, so she quickly fills a cleaning bucket with water and rushes back to the bathroom and throws water on the fire until she's able to get it out. Nothing else happens the rest of the day, but the next day we all get a safety lecture on where the fire extinguisher is, that the key is now right next to it, and the toilet paper holders in the bathrooms were all switched out from plastic to metal.

[xazz]

I doooo have memory issues but I do remember reading Moth Wings on Tumblr, wherever that happened to be! Or maybe my brain made that up hahah

Ah I wasn't sure you still had your patreon up! I remember getting the notifs that you might be shutting it down (I was subbed at some point for the archive stuff when it was the regular pricing but I'm pretty broke so I think I only did it for a month and tried to devour as much as I could! Including backlog posting that you hadn't put on AO3 yet for Lily in the Valley and Moth Wings etc!)

Flocking Movement yeah! Honestly I love slow burns :) one of my fav AltMal fics outside yours is like. Online relationship to in person slow burn and they don't even meet in person until 60k in and I lapped that shit right up so I know I love me a good slow burn! I feel like I need to go back and reread Flocking Movement now if it's still posted hehe x3 that might take me a few days unlike Moth Wings which only took me a day haha! (Too much time on my hands haha). I feel losing the thread sometimes, I'm like that a lot! I don't feel I probably felt that at the time when reading it but I'm a bit blind when reading sometimes hahaha

Oh man I feel that, I keep my writing to myself now since I didn't get really much engagement. Though I tend to write original works which is harder :( It can be hard to find the motivation when there is lack of engagement! I'll try leave comments some more now (and you might have noticed I've left a few x3) because I genuinely get excited when I see the emails for the AC fics being updated (though I see I missed a few since I saw Lily has been updated!!)

D

Moth Wings is also posted here but I didn't keep it updated. It'd just... I hate cross posting man. Hate that shit.

My Patreon is now only up for archival purposes.

FM is like 500k so I hope it takes you more than a day >3>'';