#and i'm not learning anything new and there's no room for growth and it's so fucking boring

[gatheringkeepsakes]

.

[iwanthermidnightz]

When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle.Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me. It was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24. I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally. And I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making red had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my bars. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on red? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see, in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming, the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth. And my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989. And we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naïveté, a hunger for adventure. And a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naïveté, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to… don't say it don't say it. I'm sorry, I have to say it. Shake it off.

I’ll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "blank space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "Welcome to New York". You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989. Reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkle on my life for so long. This moment is a reflection of the woods we've wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It’s been waiting for you.

[kodydrs]

The Arrangement Baby - Gojo Satoru

a/n: don’t shoot. I swear part 4 is coming. So take this as a token of my love. Idk why, but i loved writing for Gojo. He’s so bbygirl. might as well reblog / comment, and feel free to send in a random request / ask

this is set like, just before gojo goes to Shibuya, so no angst (yet lol)

warnings: gojo x fem!reader, husband!gojo x wife!reader, arranged marriage, established relationship, soft smut, mdni, fxm, p in v, unprotected sex (wrap it b4 u tap it), pregnancy kink (maybe?), trying to get pregnant, they’re so in love your honour, kinda ooc gojo

ib: jasminn’s bot on Chai.

request: yes / no (but dedicated to @lvtilzs who has been here since day one)

‘You don't want this and I know you don't. Women can never really hide their emotions well, can they?‘ He jokes. It immediately earned him a glare, to which he waved his hands in defence. ‘Hold on. It's for the good of our clans, isn't it? I think we should think of it that way. You don't gotta love me, but you love your family, right?‘

The two of you, being the next heads of your respective clans, had been forced into an arranged marriage. It was supposedly to 'help build bonds’.

You sigh, seated on your knees with your hands on your lap.

‘If it builds bonds with the clans, then I will marry you, Gojo Satoru. But I cannot promise I will be able to learn to love you.‘

‘Hmm, I can respect that, my dear. But remember, we are bound together now. We must find a way to make this work, for the sake of our people.’

‘And we will. With our clans joined in this marriage, the strength of our family's will work.’

‘Indeed, my love. But don't forget that there is more to a marriage than just strength. There is also passion and desire. And as the head of our families, it is our duty to ensure that those needs are met.‘

You don't say anything. You just hum and nod. You hadn't looked at your husband. You'd only been informed he was to be your husband a few days prior.

Satoru took a step closer, his olden aura intensifying as he did so.

‘I must confess, however, that I'm rather excited for this night. To consummate our union and begin our lives together.‘ His eyes met yours for the first time since you'd sat down.

'Mhm.' You hum again, 6 eyes staring at you. 'I hope it will be for the best.'

Satoru chuckled softly, reaching out to gently brush a stray lock of hair behind your ear.

‘It will be, my love. Together, we'll make this work.‘

You close your eyes, focusing on his touch. You reach for his hand, running your thumb over his knuckles.

Feeling the warmth of your touch, Satoru squeezed your hand gently.

‘We have our entire lives ahead of us, filled with shared experiences and growth. Remember that.‘ For the first time, a smile crosses your face and you feel a sense of warmth in his presence. ‘That's my girl,‘ he whispered, leaning in to press a soft kiss against your forehead.

You lean into his kiss, watching as he pulls back. ‘Satoru.‘

‘Yes, my love?‘ He asked, his voice soft and inviting.

‘Let's take this slow, ok?‘

Satoru nodded, understanding the request.

‘Of course, sweetheart. We'll take things at your pace.‘ His eyes held a promise of patience and care as he reassured you.

It had been almost 6 months since your marriage. You and Gojo were currently living together near the Highschool in order for him to be able to teach his students. You had a simple life where you stayed at home, going on a few missions for your clan here and there.

You were sitting in your living room, reading a book when the front door opened.

‘My dear, I'm home,‘ Satoru called out as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

‘I'm in the living room.' You called, placing your book down.

‘Alright, sweetheart,‘ he replied with a soft chuckle before walking into the living room. His eyes met yours as he approached, a warm smile on his face. ‘How was your day?‘

'Boring. Not much happened. There were no missions for me.'

‘Well, that's good news,‘ Satoru replied with a gentle smile. ‘You deserve a break from all that danger and chaos.‘ He walked over to sit beside you on the couch, his arm brushing against yours in a subtle show of affection.

You leaned against him, tracing his knuckles. It was a habit you'd picked up. There was just something mesmerising about your husband's hands.

'How was your day?'

‘It was... fine.' His eyes followed your hand on his, watching you trace the bones. 'I may have to go away for a little while though. Something has come up.'

'Oh... ok.' It wasn't that Satoru didn't go away often, but you couldn't deny the house felt empty when he wasn't around. 'Do you need me to do anything while you're away?'

‘No, sweetheart, don't worry about it.‘ he reassured you with a soft smile. ‘I'll be back before you know it.‘ He leaned in to press a gentle kiss against your forehead. ‘Now, have you eaten?‘

You shake your head, leaning into the kiss.

‘Well, then,‘ Satoru chuckled softly, ‘Let's fix that. I'll make us something delicious.‘ He stood up from the couch, his strong presence filling the room as he moved towards the kitchen. You also stand, following after him.

‘What would you like?‘ Satoru asked as he pulled out a skillet from the kitchen drawer and began to heat it up on the stove top.

'I don't mind.' You reply, sitting upon the counter as you watch him get to work

‘Okay, consider it done then.‘ Satoru chuckled softly as pulled out some vegetables from the fridge and began to chop them up with quick, precise movements.

It wasn't long before the meal was ready. You thanked him for the meal and both sat at the table to eat.

'So, what's this mission for?'

‘Well, there's been a sudden increase in occult activity around the city,‘ He explained as he took a bite of his food. ‘It seems that some powerful spirits have been unleashed, and we need to find out who's behind it.‘

You nod, taking another mouthful of your food.

‘Will it be a hard mission?'

‘It might be,‘ Satoru admitted with a frown. ‘But don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to you.‘ He reached out and gently squeezed your hand reassuringly. You nodded, a hint of anxiety creeping up on you. After finishing their meal, Satoru cleared the dishes and began to clean up while you sat at the table, lost in thought. He could feel your tension but didn't want to push you further into worry just yet.

‘Hey,‘ Satoru said softly, coming up behind you and placing his hands gently on your shoulders. ‘Don't think about that right now. Just enjoy this moment with me.‘ He leaned down to press a gentle kiss against the nape of your neck.

Satoru slowly pulled away, his hands remaining lightly on your shoulders. You hummed, holding his hands over your shoulders. ‘Satoru?‘

‘Yes, love?‘

‘Do you want to have a baby?‘

Silence filled the room, and Satoru froze, his heart skipping a beat. He hadn't expected that question, especially not now.

‘I...,‘

‘You don’t have to answer right now. It’s just an idea.’

‘No. No. I… I do.’ He said carefully.

‘Mhm.‘ A soft smile covered your face. ‘That way, our clans really would be connected. A child with blood from both clans.‘

Satoru couldn't help but return your smile, his eyes meeting yours. ‘Yes, that's true,‘ He agreed, his voice filled with warmth. ‘But I'd rather have a baby because you want to have one. Not just to further strengthen the bond of our clans.‘

Your smile grows and you turn to face him. ‘I want to have your baby, Satoru.‘

His heart skipped a beat as he stared into your eyes, feeling a surge of emotion swell up within him. He leaned in, his lips barely brushing against yours in a gentle kiss. ‘Thank you.‘

Your hands took his and brought them to his face, reciprocating his kiss. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer as he deepened the kiss, pouring all of his feelings for you into the exchange. He pulled away, breathless and giddy.

‘I love you,‘ He whispered, his eyes filled with adoration.

Your eyes widen slightly. In your many months of marriage, neither of you have once said those 3 words. But it made your heart warm, and your husband was practically glowing.

‘I love you, too.‘

Satoru smiled wide, pulling you into another tender kiss.

‘I'm so glad you said that,‘ he murmured against your lips. He pulled away, still holding your hands in his. ‘We should head upstairs,‘

‘Mhm.‘ You agreed, taking his hand.

Together, the two of you made your way upstairs, their hands entwined like a lifeline. They shared a tender moment as they reached the top, exchanging loving glances before continuing down the hallway to their bedroom.

You'd had sex a few times since marriage, but something about this time felt different. It felt more meaningful

As they undressed, Satoru couldn't help but admire your naked body, his eyes tracing every inch of you. He loved you with all his heart and soul and wanted to make this experience together beautiful and eternal. You pulled him down, kissing him passionately with your chests pressed together. which made him moan softly, his body responding eagerly to your touch.

He wrapped his arms around you, deepening their connection as they continued to share their newfound love through passionate kisses and tender caresses.

‘You're so beautiful, Satoru.' You moaned, losing your hands in his white hair.

‘Thank you, love,‘ he whispered against your lips, his fingers tracing delicate patterns on your skin. He gently pushed you down onto the bed, following you down as his lips and hands explored every inch of your body.

Quiet whimpers filled the room, and you propped yourself onto your elbows, watching him travel around your skin. His eyes met yours, filled with love and desire as he continued his sensual exploration, his kisses trailing down your body while his hands roamed gently over your skin. His heart pounded in anticipation of the connection they were about to share once more.

You brought one hand to his head, stroking through his hair again. As he felt your hand in his hair, he leaned down, capturing one of your nipples in his mouth, suckling gently as he moaned against your skin. His other hand began to caress between your legs, teasingly rubbing against your sensitive folds. You moaned breathlessly, back arched.

‘Oh, Satoru,‘ you breathed, arching your back even further as he continued to please you. Your body trembled with anticipation as he moved to probe against your entrance. slowly pushed inside, filling you with his love and desire. 'Fuck. You're good to me.'

‘I am yours.‘ He whispered against your skin, their bodies moving together in a rhythm of love and need. His fingers dug into your hips, urging him deeper inside as they became lost in their passionate connection.

Your arms wrapped around his shoulders, holding on tightly like he'd run away if you didn't. Satoru held onto you just as tightly, his lips finding the sensitive skin behind your ear as he continued to thrust into you. Their bodies moved together in perfect harmony, creating a symphony of moans and gasps that filled the room.

'Please, Satoru.' You whispered, voice breaking. 'Please let me have your baby?

Hearing your plea, Satoru's heart swelled with love and desire. He pulled out of you slightly before pushing back in harder, claiming you completely once more. ‘Our baby,‘ he corrected softly against your skin, his voice thick with emotion. You nodded rapidly, hiding your face in his neck as you reached your high, a symphony of moans filling his ears.

He held you close, their bodies moving together in a frenzy of passion. He felt you shudder beneath him, your walls clenching tightly around him. Your body rocked back and forth, following in time with your husband's thrusts.

‘I'm here,‘ Satoru whispered, feeling his own climax building within him. He could feel the head of his cock brushing against your sweet spot, teasing and taunting you both.

'I-I can feel you.' You whimpered, tears wetting your eyes. His breath hitched as he felt you tremble under him.

‘Our baby will be so loved,‘ he whispered against your skin before giving one final, powerful thrust that sent them both over the edge.

A flurry of moans filled the house, both of you holding each other like you're going to disappear.

Gasping for breath, Satoru held onto you tightly as his seed filled you completely. Their bodies trembled together, still joined in intimacy even as their lungs tried to catch their breath.

You looked at him, panting deeply, but still able to plant a gentle kiss to his cheek.

'Our baby will be the strongest. Just like their daddy.’

Satoru returned the kiss softly, his eyes filled with love for you. He leaned in closer, nuzzling your neck as he held you close.

‘I love you,‘ he whispered against your skin, his heart racing from their passionate lovemaking.

You laughed quietly, rubbing his shoulders and back. 'Don't say it too much, Satoru. It'll lose its meaning.’

He smiled at your teasing remark, feeling the warmth spread through him. He continued to hold onto you, savouring the closeness they shared after their intense lovemaking session.

‘I couldn't help myself,‘ he said softly, his eyes still locked on yours. Hands held his face, caressing his skin.

'I love you too, Satoru Gojo.'

© kodydrs

all rights and reserves are copyright to kodydrs on tumblr. this material is not to be copied or translated, and is not to be posted on any other platform.

[kaceythecrunch]

RANT. (sturntok.)

Yall. Im so mad. Sturntok pisses me the fuck off to the point it isn't even funny anymore. This might be messy, so bare with me.

Tara. Why the fuck is everyone pressed about Tara hanging out with the triplet, specifically matt and Chris. Yall are acting as if it was only two of them, like they're on a date. They were with fucking I don't know, 8 other people? Like why does Sturntok care who they hangout with? Did you not learn from elementary school to mind your bees wax, or business? You're probably 15. They're literally 5 years older than you. There is no way, in any universe they're gonna date you girl. ALSO TO SHIT ON TARA?? LIKE GIRL. FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO SHIT ON CUZ HOMEGIRL DONT CARE. SHE DONT CARE. SHE IS STRIVING AND LIVING LIFE LIKE YOU SHOULD GIRL. Live life and don't care. You'll probably have a positive outcome. No cuz y'all know how Chris owns the Saturn necklace thing? Its vivienne underwood. It's less than 20 bucks on Amazon. Also when was the last time y'all saw Chris wearing that necklace girl. Also there's a post from like months, or I think a year ago of Tara wearing the same necklace. These fucking tiktok girls are so annoying. Like we get it, everyone wants to be Tara. (she's my gf.)

Podcast. I saw a bunch of btiches shit on the podcast. Like cmon. THEY ARE PRODUCING AN HOUR LONG VIDEO FOR YALL EVERY WEEK. Mfs are burnt out, you're lucky that they even produce content for you ungreatful hoes. Like lwk, I'd rather have them remove Wednesday videos. I remember when they first started their podcast that they were really excited to start and stuff. I also remember, I believe it was their earlier vlogs. When they were still living in Boston and they haven't like went to LA yet, they were talking about turning their basement into a podcast room. Like cmon. This is something they've been wanting to do and you hoes just don't appreciate anything. Like have y'all's mama's not been pissed at y'all for not appreciating her food. Live life positive and not negative tf. But ofc, I respect their decision.

Intro. Yall just love to shit on everyone. Ruining the party. Sturntok reminds me of the kids-the class "clowns" who would be so shitty to the teacher for no reason and would ruin fun things for everyone. Like guys, I think we should all as a community bully Sturntok. It requires a bit more bullying, just to knock some sense into their heads. Anyways, back to what I was ranting about. I loved their new intro. its a new era. A new them. Change. Is. Fucking. hard. I understand that you love the teens from Boston running around making fools of themselves. Me too, I shall admit it. But in order to get sponsorships, to get the little paring things. (For example, them sponsoring Celsius, even becoming the youtooz thing.) Like they gotta act more professional.

Change. This tied in with the last few things. CHANGE IS HARD. CHANGE IS A DIFFICULT THING. But how the fuck are you gonna live life, and enjoy life when your stuck on one thing forever. Change is needed for growth, and for learning. Like guys, THEYRE 20. I think that's something y'all forget. They aren't teenagers anymore. Its kinda like how when everyone went into middle school and started to not like kiddy things when you still liked kiddy things. When I was in middle school I still like to play with Legos, draw, watch anime. Until I hit 7th grade, aka everyone's downfall. I still enjoy some of those things today but I changed because people in middle school stopped like those things and its embarrassing (well for me at least) to show up in school with anime shirts cuz I'm getting older. Thats what they're feeling I guess. Again, theyre 20 now.

Crazy ass mfs. Crazy, as in them soft mf's on sturntok. Also what pisses me off more is that they're coming here on tumblr. Like no, I know your soft ass belongs on Wattpad bffr. I have a long rant about this one, so bare with me again. They are so so so so so SOOOOO sensitive about the "spicy edits." Sometimes the fucking video frame isn't even about something "spicy" aka- them being shirtless, video frame near their crotch. It was when there was a song about sex. How soft can you be. Most songs these days are about sex. Some songs y'all probably didn't know about was about sex. (cake by the ocean for example.) LIKE LETS ME FOR REAL. MOST SONGS ARE ABOUT SEX. Also with the tiktok audios being removed like cmon. Not everything is about sunshine and rainbows. I remember I commented on a Chris edit and I was like.

"I need this man in my life. He's so hot."

"you're fucking gross. He's a human being and do you know how grossed out he would be if he saw that you said this? (bullshitbullshit,morebullshitandstupidness.)"

Yeah, keeping fucking running your mouth. THIS TIKTOK HAS LIKE 4K VIEWS. DO YOU WANNA KNOW HOW MUCH FUCKING FOLLOWERS THE TRIPLETS HAVE? YEAH. THAT'S NOT EVEN A QUARTER OF WHAT THEY HAVE. THIS VIDEO HAS 1K COMMENTS. ARE THEY FUCKING HUNTING ME DOWN?? MY COMMENT HAS 3 LIKES. WHY WOULD THEY CARE TO FUCKING CHECK GIRL. ITS ALSO TELLING THE FUCKING PERSON WHO EDITED THIS THAT THIS EDIT WAS FIRE AND THAT THEY MADE THE EDIT HELLA GOOD. UR FUCKING LUCKY I KEPT MY ANGER TO MYSELF CUZ OH GIRL. I WOULD SUCKER PUNCH YOU. You know whats also funny? They're the same people who will be pissed with when they see matt or Chris with a female. Like girl. You're calling me fucking gross? Do you think how much more worse that is than my comment? You ruin friendships. OG sturniolo fans know that they've been friends with girls. If you genuinely care, yall would know that nick made most of matt and chris' friends. Meaning most of them were females. SO OBVIOUSLY THEYRE GONNA HAVE GIRL FRIENDS. I remember watching the Zach sang pod when nick was on and he explained that matt usually doesn't make the friends. Theres a joke where matt says "I'm gonna make a friend that wasn't originally nick's friends." smth like that. Anyways, off topic. Just because they are seen with a girl, doesn't mean they are fucking dating them. Like shut the fuck up. please. Respectfully shut the fuck because I'm a nice person. Also Chris gives off major virgin vibes lets bffr.

Madi. Yall hate so bad on Madi and its fucking grossing me out. Why do you have to ship her with matt and chris??? Literally to the point they can't even put her in photo dumps or videos. You just gotta ruin it for everyone, huh? shes fucking gorgeous, and she's so funny in videos. Plus, when she does talk shes hillarious. She literally reminds me of Matt. She doesn't fucking talk much because she is more of a listener.. Like guys bffr. How can you hate her when she barley spoke in videos. Like respectfully, shut the fuck up. Yall just jealous shes pretty.

Calling Nick fine. I also hate them mfs who are always running their mouth about girls calling Nick fine. Lets bffr. Y'all didn't think a gay guy is fine? I'm sure you've had a crush on one gay person before. And if you haven't trust me. You will. I had a crush on my gay friend in 8th grade. I feel like its a canon even in every girl's life. anyways, I hate when girls will be scared to call nick hot.

"Nick is so fine. But like as a cool guy friend way. Please don't attack me."

POOR GIRL BELIEVES SHE IS GONNA BE ATTACKED IF SHE CALLS A GAY MAN FINE. Sturntok leave her the fuck alone. He's hot as fucking and I will kill civilians if I'm not given more nick edits. He's so fine. Literally the hottest triplet.

If u made it here thanks. There was shit on my chest that I really needed to let out. What have we learned today?

Sturntok can suck my fucking dick.

Thanks goodbye.

Me to Sturntok :

[paintbrushnebula]

Random Spider-Verse Headcanons for funnsicles?? OKAY

✨ 🪩 🏄

(emojis are funnee)

When Gwen found out she was assigned to visit E-1610 to catch the Spot, in the days leading up to the mission, she would go up to Miguel with a list of prepared phrases and sentences to ask him how to say them in Spanish. Her excuse was that they were quips for her to say in an upcoming fight with a Rhino variant that spoke Spanish. Miguel had no idea who Gwen was actually planning on saying them to, but he was pretty sure it wasn't to a villain, since they were all for seemingly friendly conversation. But he complied and taught her the phrases in Spanish. When she went to 1610 as seen in ATSV, Gwen never ended up saying any to Miles because was too embarrassed or scared that she'd get the pronunciation wrong. She left 1610 regretting not using them.

Both Miles 1610 and Miles 42 are very good cooks. They learned from their moms because it was a fun bonding activity to talk about their day and open up about their feelings. They haven't done much cooking with mom since they were 13; that was when 1610 was bitten and 42 began training to be the Prowler. Both Mileses are good, but 42 is the better cook because he usually tries to help his mom by making dinner when Rio has a long night shift.

Sometimes Peni will just walk up to Gwen and stretch her arms out, to signal that she wants Gwen to deadlift carry her by her pits like she's a cat. When Gwen does it, Peni just lets her head hang back and her body go limp like she's dead or smth. Gwen just holds her out like that and goes about her day like normal for half an hour.

Gwen ends up moving out at 18. She rents an apartment in SoHo, Manhattan along with Glory and Betty as her roommates. Gwen and Betty are absolute WILD CRATS when they have the house to themselves. Betty is the instigator and Gwen just shrugs and decides to be complicit in her shenanigans. I'm talking All-Star playing at full blast on the speakers, Betty pulling out the Guitar Hero 10 minutes in, and then they switch ALL the furniture and wallpapers and belongings of each other's rooms around just to mess with Glory. So it's like, the interior design of the room is identical to what it was before, but it's now in an entirely different room of the apartment. What's worse is they'll try to gaslight Glory into thinking that their rooms were always like that. It never works obviously, but Glory is that mature mom friend who just puts up with her friends' antics. So Glory just settles for that being her room now. But then Gwen and Betty do the switch-around AGAIN only once Glory is finally used to her new room. The whole experience is loads of fun but like...dude. Glory can't leave them alone for 2 hours. They all love when E Jay comes over, sure, but Em Jay has a habit of visiting unannounced to present day plans or activities without taking their schedules into account. (I haven't read the Spider-Gwen comics in full so this headcanon is just what I interpret from Spiderverse).

Miles somehow thinks he's 6 feet tall. He doesn't have a specific number, just that he's at least over 6 ft. This is coming from how he drew himself after his growth spurt in ATSV's opening to be almost as tall as Peter B and a head taller than Gwen which is clearly not the case XD. So he basically assumes that everyone else he knows is just really really tall, because all the adults as well as Hobie are like a head taller than him at LEAST.

Gwen pirates/uses emulators for all her video games

there's this thing that keeps happening where whenever someone unfamiliar with the Spider-Band learns that Gwen is dating someone within the group, they never guess that it's Miles. They assume it's Hobie first, then Pav, then they'll just keep guessing everyone. They will think it's Spider-Ham before they think it's Miles. It's not that they think lowly of Miles or anything. It's just that no one ever thinks that he'd be Gwen's type because well, he's just so...*gestures to all of Miles* normal. Like people just assume that Gwen would date someone equally as wild and out-of-this-world as her, like...well, everyone else in the Spider-band. Of course, no one realizes that Miles' normalcy relative to everyone else in Gwen's life is partly why he's Gwen's type.

Back in her dimension, Gwen did this thing where she'd go on long drawling walks through suburban neighborhoods at dusk, staring at the populated houses and the golden windows lit warmly by the life happening inside. Sometimes she'd say aloud to herself, "that'd be nice."

Jess gifts Gwen her motorcycle for her 18th birthday.

Gwen has a green thumb. Miles gifts Gwen plants and they'll come up with names for them together. They take naming their plants very seriously.

One of Hobie's favorite couple nicknames for Miles and Gwen is Bonnie and Clyde, respectively.

Gwen had a BIG Y/N phase when she was a preteen. She had long since left it behind, but In between the events of ITSV and ATSV, while George was out on a late night shift, Gwen for whatever reason followed a strong sudden urge and wrote a new Y/N in one sitting. She immediately deleted it when she was done before George came home, but what she hadn't realized was that she wrote it in his account instead of hers. One day George was clearing out his Recently Deleted, he noticed that draft that he knew wasn't his. He opened it, and what he read was literally just the plot of Baby Driver with Gwen inserted as the main character. He was completely lost on that street artist character Gwen had replaced the waitress with until he met Miles.

Betty is obsessed with legos. That's it.

There's also this running gag where someone will show up with a very specific problem or be in need of something that they highly doubt anyone there can help with. Betty will be in the corner and just chirp that she possesses the exact skill to solve the problem, but she'll go completely unnoticed every time. And like it's not that people are being condescending to her or mean, everyone's just. completely oblivious to the fact that Betty's a polymath

Betty keeps a collection of fortune cookie papers. Every morning when she wakes up, she chooses a different one from the collection and keeps it in her left shoe.

EDIT: that last Betty one is cringe idk what was I doing I'm sorry

[wandanatsthings]

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭

Hii, so I’m writing this fic because I see ALOT of Wandanat x Reader where Reader is Basically just skinny white girls and while there’s nothing wrong with that I would love to see something more diverse so this is that enjoy :)

(P.s im dyslexic I’m trying my best)

Word count 1.1k

Warnings: If you consider fluff a warning then ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ lol I don’t think there are any, but lemme know if you see anything please!

Summary: Wanda and Natasha help you take out your braids

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

y/n pov It was a Saturday morning and your girlfriends were at work, you were home alone so you decided that it would be a great time to take your braids out. You had them for three months now and your new growth was insane. You had been dreading taking them out because you didn't want your girlfriends to see you like that you thought they would judge you. So now really was the only time to do it so you could have it washed and in a new style hopefully before they got home. You checked the clock on your phone to see how much time you had. You were grateful to know that It was only 9:30 meaning you had plenty of time before they came back tonight at 8. With that, you got up and went into the bathroom to grab everything you needed to bring out into the living room so you could watch TV while you did the tedious task.

It was only about 4:30 and you barely had half of your braids down. Your arms were tired and your back began to hurt. This would be a lot easier if I had help. As soon as that thought crossed your mind. You heard the front door open and close. That couldn't be them. Their home way too early you thought...

Nats pov

Wands and I had left the house around 9:00 this morning leaving y/n home by herself. When we got to work we checked our to-do list to see what it was we had to get done today. Turns out we both only had mission reports due, So we both decided we'd work here at the Avengers Tower for a while and then come home early to surprise y/n.

Wanda's pov

After leaving the Avengers Tower, we went back home to surprise you. As we walked through the house, we could hear your favorite TV show playing and you calling out our names. When we turned the corner into the living room, we saw you surrounded by all kinds of hair products and tools.

y/n pov

As I heard the door shut I called out to see if it was them. “Wands?” “Nat?” After a few short moments, you see them round the corner with smiles on their faces. “Hi…guys, what are you doing home so early?” you ask them feeling a little self-conscious because they were seeing you exactly how you didn’t want them to. “We decided to come home early and finish our mission reports here to spend some time with you,” says Wanda. You look up at them with a smile on your face “Aw guys that's so sweet thank you” You tell them. “Of course detka, Um what's going on here?’’ asked Natasha. You then look around to see all of the combs, conditioner, and grocery bags that surround you. You look up at them and say apprehensively “I'm taking my braids out…” What you hear next surprises you. “Oh well, can we help?” Wanda asked. You looked up at them in shock.

You loved the thought of them wanting to help you. Now neither one of them knew much about your hair curly kinky type but they were always open to learning more about it and asked you questions. “You want to help?’ you ask them with surprise in your voice. “ Yes, why wouldn’t we?” Ask Natasha “Well I mean it is a lot of work and I can't look the prettiest right now.” you say looking down. “I can’t lie you do look a little silly like this but still you are the prettiest anyway you look. I think you look quite adorable like this.” Says Natasha. What she says brings a smile to your face. “Um okay if you guys are sure I would love your help, My arms are tired.” With that, they chuckle a little and sit behind you on the couch. “Okay love you're gonna have to tell us what to do though,” says Wanda “Yes of course” you reply. You had already had the braids cut so they wouldn’t have to worry about that. “So first you're going to pick up a braid, and you can choose to use a rat-tail comb or your fingers. With a rat-tail comb, you will take the end of the comb gently and slowly start to comb the end of the braid to unravel it.”

You demonstrated by using the braid you were working on before they came in. “And if you were to use your fingers, you would do it the same way you would unravel a regular braid, but remember it is still slow and gentle okay?” You look back at them and see them smiling while nodding. “Okay if some of them are a little hard to do just add a little conditioner and it will come out easier.” “okay we got it,” says Wanda. As they start to take the braids down you feel Wanda using her fingers and Natasha using the rattail. Both of them are extremely gentle, Not once pulling too hard. As they complete a few braids you all start to get into a rhythm.

It starts makes you wonder what you were so self-conscious about in the first place. After a while of comfortable silence, Wanda begins to speak. “Thank you for letting us help you with this,” she says “Why are you thanking me, I should be the one thanking you guys. Thank you btw” you reply. “I'm saying thank you for letting us help because this is very vulnerable and we appreciate you letting us get this close to you. For letting us see this beautiful part of you.” “ I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Natasha says. You feel yourself start to get emotional.

You always wanted to be with someone who loved all of you and never made you feel ashamed of yourself and now not only do you have one person who makes you feel that way you have two. “I guess I never really thought about it that way. I'm really glad that I get to share this part of myself with you guys too,” you say. When you turn around to look at them, they're both already looking at you with so much love and adoration in their eyes. You lean up to kiss them “I love you both so much,” you say “We love you more” they both reply. With that, you all continue taking the braids out and time goes by so much faster than it did when it was by yourself. Maybe that was because you had 2 sets of extra hands or because you had your beautiful girlfriends helping you and keeping you company. Either way, before you knew it you were all done. “thank you for helping me again.” you say. “Anytime” Natasha replies. “Okay, now who wants to help me wash it?” “ME!” you hear out of both of your red-headed mouths. You made a mental note to never try and take out your braids yourself again. Why would you when you have 2 very eager girlfriends to help?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feedback welcomed!!

[wands-natsthing]

Helping you take your braids out

This story was on my old acct @wandanatsthings I made a new one (aka this one) which will be the acct I use from now on.

Hii, so I’m writing this fic because I see ALOT of Wandanat x Reader where Reader is Basically just skinny white girls and while there’s nothing wrong with that I would love to see something more diverse so this is that enjoy :)

(P.s im dyslexic I’m trying my best)

Word count 1.1k

Warnings: If you consider fluff a warning then ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ lol I don’t think there are any, but lemme know if you see anything please!

Summary: Wanda and Natasha help you take out your braids

y/n pov It was a Saturday morning and your girlfriends were at work, you were home alone so you decided that it would be a great time to take your braids out. You had them for three months now and your new growth was insane. You had been dreading taking them out because you didn't want your girlfriends to see you like that you thought they would judge you. So now really was the only time to do it so you could have it washed and in a new style hopefully before they got home. You checked the clock on your phone to see how much time you had. You were grateful to know that It was only 9:30 meaning you had plenty of time before they came back tonight at 8. With that, you got up and went into the bathroom to grab everything you needed to bring out into the living room so you could watch TV while you did the tedious task.

It was only about 4:30 and you barely had half of your braids down. Your arms were tired and your back began to hurt. This would be a lot easier if I had help. As soon as that thought crossed your mind. You heard the front door open and close. That couldn't be them. Their home way too early you thought...

Nats pov

Wands and I had left the house around 9:00 this morning leaving y/n home by herself. When we got to work we checked our to-do list to see what it was we had to get done today. Turns out we both only had mission reports due, So we both decided we'd work here at the Avengers Tower for a while and then come home early to surprise y/n.

Wanda's pov

After leaving the Avengers Tower, we went back home to surprise you. As we walked through the house, we could hear your favorite TV show playing and you calling out our names. When we turned the corner into the living room, we saw you surrounded by all kinds of hair products and tools.

y/n pov

As I heard the door shut I called out to see if it was them. “Wands?” “Nat?” After a few short moments, you see them round the corner with smiles on their faces. “Hi…guys, what are you doing home so early?” you ask them feeling a little self-conscious because they were seeing you exactly how you didn’t want them to. “We decided to come home early and finish our mission reports here to spend some time with you,” says Wanda. You look up at them with a smile on your face “Aw guys that's so sweet thank you” You tell them. “Of course detka, Um what's going on here?’’ asked Natasha. You then look around to see all of the combs, conditioner, and grocery bags that surround you. You look up at them and say apprehensively “I'm taking my braids out…” What you hear next surprises you. “Oh well, can we help?” Wanda asked. You looked up at them in shock.

You loved the thought of them wanting to help you. Now neither one of them knew much about your hair curly kinky type but they were always open to learning more about it and asked you questions. “You want to help?’ you ask them with surprise in your voice. “ Yes, why wouldn’t we?” Ask Natasha “Well I mean it is a lot of work and I can't look the prettiest right now.” you say looking down. “I can’t lie you do look a little silly like this but still you are the prettiest anyway you look. I think you look quite adorable like this.” Says Natasha. What she says brings a smile to your face. “Um okay if you guys are sure I would love your help, My arms are tired.” With that, they chuckle a little and sit behind you on the couch. “Okay love you're gonna have to tell us what to do though,” says Wanda “Yes of course” you reply. You had already had the braids cut so they wouldn’t have to worry about that. “So first you're going to pick up a braid, and you can choose to use a rat-tail comb or your fingers. With a rat-tail comb, you will take the end of the comb gently and slowly start to comb the end of the braid to unravel it.”

You demonstrated by using the braid you were working on before they came in. “And if you were to use your fingers, you would do it the same way you would unravel a regular braid, but remember it is still slow and gentle okay?” You look back at them and see them smiling while nodding. “Okay if some of them are a little hard to do just add a little conditioner and it will come out easier.” “okay we got it,” says Wanda. As they start to take the braids down you feel Wanda using her fingers and Natasha using the rattail. Both of them are extremely gentle, Not once pulling too hard. As they complete a few braids you all start to get into a rhythm.

It starts makes you wonder what you were so self-conscious about in the first place. After a while of comfortable silence, Wanda begins to speak. “Thank you for letting us help you with this,” she says “Why are you thanking me, I should be the one thanking you guys. Thank you btw” you reply. “I'm saying thank you for letting us help because this is very vulnerable and we appreciate you letting us get this close to you. For letting us see this beautiful part of you.” “ I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Natasha says. You feel yourself start to get emotional.

You always wanted to be with someone who loved all of you and never made you feel ashamed of yourself and now not only do you have one person who makes you feel that way you have two. “I guess I never really thought about it that way. I'm really glad that I get to share this part of myself with you guys too,” you say. When you turn around to look at them, they're both already looking at you with so much love and adoration in their eyes. You lean up to kiss them “I love you both so much,” you say “We love you more” they both reply. With that, you all continue taking the braids out and time goes by so much faster than it did when it was by yourself. Maybe that was because you had 2 sets of extra hands or because you had your beautiful girlfriends helping you and keeping you company. Either way, before you knew it you were all done. “thank you for helping me again.” you say. “Anytime” Natasha replies. “Okay, now who wants to help me wash it?” “ME!” you hear out of both of your red-headed mouths. You made a mental note to never try and take out your braids yourself again. Why would you when you have 2 very eager girlfriends to help?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feedback welcomed!!

[captainsophiestark]

History

Jack Thompson x Reader

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Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: Jack's ex-fiance left New York and moved to LA to start fresh after she realized he would never see her as an equal. Now, however, their paths might be crossing again, and Jack Thompson's managed to have a lot of growth since the last time they saw each other.

Word Count: 5,152

Category: Angst, Fluff

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I hummed to myself as I steeped my tea, soft music floating through the kitchen. I'd finished eating my favorite dinner before now preparing to settle in for my favorite radio program. A calm, perfect evening after a long day. All torn to shreds by the ringing of a phone in my living room.

I closed my eyes and sighed, but left my tea on its own and moved to answer the phone. Hopefully, whatever this was could be dealt with quickly, and I wouldn't miss any of my radio program.

"Hello?" I asked, resting the phone in the crook between my shoulder and neck and reaching for a pad and pencil, just in case. I froze mid-reach when I heard the voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey, uh, this is Agent Daniel Sousa. With the SSR. I don't know if you remember me-"

"Of course I remember you, Daniel," I broke in. "What do you want?"

He hesitated, and I couldn't help feeling just a little bad. My tone had turned from friendly to harsh in a split second, and Daniel and I had always been friendly. But if he was calling, it must've had something to do with my ex, and I certainly didn't want anything to do with that.

I'd met Daniel through the course of dating Jack Thomspon, who I later learned was actually Agent Jack Thompson. I'd met him when I was young and in love with the idea of being swept off my feet by a tall, handsome man, and Jack had more than fit the bill. It wasn't until much later, after he'd proposed and come home from the war, that I'd realized I wanted so much more.

I wanted a partner. Someone to have my back and build me up, to support me through life the same way I supported them. Jack wanted a maid that he could also sleep with, a picture perfect housewife with no external life or ambitions of her own. So I'd left him.

Before that, though, we'd gotten far enough that I'd found out about the SSR, and met Daniel in the process. We were friendly, and had even been on our way to being friends before everything between Jack and I had fallen apart. Since then, however, we hadn't spoken.

"...I'm sorry to do this to you, but I need your help."

Daniel's voice brought me back to the present. I sighed, sparing a longing glance for the tea in my kitchen before plopping down in the seat next to the phone.

"I assume this is about Jack? Is he... alright?" I almost choked on the word, surprised to find I actually still cared about the answer. I gripped the phone a little tighter as Daniel responded.

"Yeah, he's fine. Look, it's a long story, but we don't have a lot of time. There are some very bad people putting the fate of the world at risk, and I'm working with another agent to try to stop them. We have a plan we're in the process of enacting, but... we need your help to make sure it goes off without a hitch."

"Who's the other agent, Daniel?"

"Agent Peggy Carter. She's one of the best we have."

I paused. I'd been fairly confident he was about to say Jack, and to have him say a female agent's name instead was a nice surprise.

"Okay... but aren't you in New York? I don't know if you remember, but I moved pretty far away after things ended between Jack and I."

"And landed in LA, right?"

"...Yes... How did you-?"

"It's not important right now, just... how quickly can you get downtown? To the parking lot behind the hotel hosting Calvin Chadwick's campaign event?"

"Daniel, I haven't even said yes yet! I haven't talked to you in years, and I honestly don't think I want to get involved in this."

"I wouldn't be calling you if it weren't important. Meaning end of the world important. Please."

I paused, letting out a long, heavy sigh. I could practically hear Daniel waiting impatiently on the other end of the line, but I ignored the pressure. Unfortunatley for me, I believed that he really wouldn't be calling me if it weren't an emergency. And I didn't want to leave the world out to dry just because I didn't want to see Jack.

Which, also unfortunately for me, I knew this would involve. Daniel had very carefully danced around the subject of my ex-fiance, and I knew that dodginess was intentional. One way or another, Jack would be involved. But damn it all, I wasn't willing to blow off Daniel's cry for help on behalf of the world just to avoid Jack.

"...Fine. Dammit, fine. I can be there in fifteen minutes. I'm on my way."

"Thank you, serio-"

I hung up on him, giving myself one moment to relax back in the chair with a heavy sigh before launching into motion. I'd just have to make myself a new cup of tea when I got home, and ask someone at work tomorrow what I missed on my radio program.

Just under fifteen minutes later, I pulled into the back parking lot of the hotel hosting the campaign event. Carefully, I stepped out of my car, on high alert for a certain blond SSR agent. I whirled around at the sound of a door flying open only to find Daniel Sousa climbing out of an undercover van. He looked basically the same as the last time I'd seen him, although he'd apparently traded in his sweater vests for a Hawaiian shirt and a blazer.

"Thanks for coming," he said, crossing the parking lot to meet me. I nodded, my gaze going to the woman behind him. Daniel noticed my attention shift, and nodded to her. "This is Agent Peggy Carter."

"Pleasure, I'm sure."

I nodded and took Peggy's offered hand for a shake, but didn't say anything else as I quickly brought my attention back to Daniel.

"Alright, Daniel, why am I here? Specifically, not just 'to help'. And where's Jack? Don't try to tell me he's not here, you wouldn't have been so dodgy and nervous on the phone if he weren't."

"Dodgy and nervous?" Daniel asked, sounding more than a little offended. I just raised an eyebrow at him, so he sighed. "Fine. Here's the thing... we actually need you to go in there and distract Jack."

I didn't respond right away. I just stared at Daniel, waiting for him to say 'suprise' or 'gotchya' or some variation of the same thing. He just stared back, grimacing slightly. I finally came to the conclusion that he was being serious.

"I'll... pop back into the van and make sure Dottie and Mr. Jarvis are alright," Peggy said much too casually as she backed away from us. I never took my eyes off Daniel, my stare cooling considerably from when I'd first arrived.

"Daniel. Do you want to explain to me what's happening here, please? And why you need to distract a fellow agent, and especially why you think this is something you ought to be involving me in?"

Daniel sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then shifted slightly closer to me. He lowered his voice, then spoke again.

"Look, here's the thing. You should know Jack's had some growth since you left. He's changed enough that I can actually stand to work with him, and I might still say I want to kill him, but I probably wouldn't follow through if I got the chance anymore. But recently, he's got his head up his ass again."

I snorted. "I really hope this is not going to involve you asking me to talk to him or get him to come around or whatever."

"Not quite. Recently, he's decided to take the side of some pretty bad people, although I don't think he realizes just how bad. A few of those people are in that event tonight, and we have operatives inside who need to get something from one of them. But Jack's in there, too. And he'll recognize our operatives if he's aware enough to see them, and since he doesn't seem to know better, he'll stop them. We can't let that happen. Which is where you come in."

I stared at Daniel again, then after a moment, started shaking my head. I was frankly a little speechless, which gave Daniel an opportunity to keep talking before I could get a cohearant thought together.

"Look, I know this won't be easy for you. I know it's unfair of me to ask, to call you out of nowhere. And I know the only reason you showed up at all is because we used to be friends. But please, please do this. I promise it's important, and if it weren't this important, I never would've asked. I... I've been out in LA for a while now, and I thought about touching base, but I figured you'd want your space, since I'm probably tied up with Jack in memories for you. But we need your help with this one."

I shook my head, holding up a hand to stop Daniel's pitch.

"Alright. I came all the way down here, and because it's you asking and I know that means this thing you're involved in is actually, seriously important... I'll still help. But then you are not going to speak to me for at least a month, after dragging me into this mess to manipulate my ex-fiance, and then we're going to go to lunch. And you're paying, because it's ridiculous that you've been out here this long and haven't talked to me, noble intentions or not."

Daniel huffed a laugh, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile. "It's a deal. Promise."

"Great. So... where exactly am I going to do your dirty work?"

"Just in there," said Daniel, gesturing for a set of doors at the back of the hotel. I nodded and turned to face the doors in question, intending to head in. But for some reason, I couldn't make myself start moving. "Uh... you alright?"

I cleared my throat and nodded, although I knew I wasn't convincing either of us.

"Yes, yeah, I'm... I'm fine. Just gonna... go in there. And see Jack. For the first time in a few years."

"Hey." Daniel shifted closer to me, resting one hand on my shoulder and lowering his voice. I huffed and closed my eyes, but didn't pull away. "Look, I'm sorry to put you in this position... if you really don't think you can do it-"

"No. We're not going down that path. I know you wouldn't have asked me if it weren't a legitimate emergency, so I can't afford to think about an out. Just... maybe you could give me a push?"

I didn't turn to face Daniel, but even out of the corner of my eye I perfectly caught the judgey, raised-eyebrow look he gave me.

"Are you serious?"

"Daniel, I am about to go in there and distract my ex-fiance. I am dead serious."

"...Alright. You ready then?"

"No, I'm not! That's the whole point of requiring a push!"

"Okay, okay! Geeze."

A moment later, I felt Daniel's hand on my shoulder, gently moving me in the direction of the ballroom. It had nowhere near the amount of force I'd been hoping for, but the thought at least was enough to get me moving.

I crossed the parking lot at a steady pace, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. I pushed open the door to the ballroom without letting myself hesitate, striding through without looking back. I tried to ignore the sound of it slamming shut behind me as I strode confidently into the room, head held high despite the warring storm of emotions swirling in my gut. It took every ounce of strength I had to walk into that ballroom, but somehow I managed it.

And then I saw him.

I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting, but the moment I saw Jack, my heart stopped in my chest and my knees threatened to give out. So much history stood between us, and even though we'd ended on fairly bad terms and I knew I'd made the right decision, my heart still couldn't completely ignore everything we'd been through. Everything he'd meant to me.

I took a deep, shaky breath. Apparently, a lot of the world was counting on me keeping Jack from interfering in whatever Daniel had going on tonight. I'd agreed to come in here, and now I couldn't afford to fall apart.

I squared my shoulders, then strode across the ballroom, past dancing couples and schmoozing politicians. Everything faded away the closer I got to Jack, until I was standing next to him, just out of his peripheral vision, and we were the only two people in the world.

I reached out a hand to tap Jack on the shoulder, and time nearly stood still. He turned towards me in slow motion, and I watched his face go from one slightly raised eyebrow to wide-eyed, gut-punched shock. The moment our eyes met seemed to stretch for years, until Jack finally broke it, saying my name in a breathy voice that shouldn't have been audible over the sounds in the rest of the ballroom. Surprisingly, I didn't have to fake the slight smile pulling at the corner of my mouth.

"Hey, Jack," I breathed. He blinked at me a few times, maybe expecting me to disappear like some hallucination. When I didn't, he managed to find his voice again.

"Wh... what are you doing here?"

"I feel like I could ask you the same question," I said, voice soft. Speaking anywhere near normal force or volume felt like it would shatter something about the peace of the moment, or bring our problems back to the forefront of our minds. "I thought you were still in New York."

"I was. Am. Still in New York, that is. I, uh... they made me Chief."

My eyebrows shot up. Daniel hadn't bothered to mention that.

"Wow. Well... congratulations. When did that happen?"

"A little over a year ago," he said, shrugging his shoulders and glancing away like it was nothing. I knew him much too well for it to fool, me, though. He was beyond proud, and he wanted me to be impressed.

"That's great, Jack," I said, not entirely sure whether I meant it. "So is that what brings you out here?"

"Something like that," he huffed. He shook his head, staring off at the wall of the bar, apparently snapping out of the moment we'd found ourselves in with something else hovering over his head. It didn't bother me to be a part of that something, although maybe it should have.

"I take it this is more of that highly-classified, highly 'over my head' stuff you always refused to talk to me about?"

Jack's eyes slid back to mine, looking genuinely sad in a way I hadn't expected. Honestly, I'd been expecting to spark some anger. Instead, he looked like I'd just punched him in the stomach.

"I... wasn't great at communicating with you back then, was I?"

I snorted. "That's an understatement."

Jack sighed and took a sip of his drink, nodding slowly.

"Yeah. Yeah, it probably is. Look, I don't know why you're here right now, but..." He cut himself off abruptly, glancing away from me again with a shake of his head. I raised an eyebrow, just waiting for him to work up the courage to say what he wanted to say. The longer he took, the easier it was for me to help Daniel with whatever this was, anyway. Jack took a deep breath, shot the rest of his drink, and set the glass down on the bar before looking at me again. "I was gonna look you up, while I was out here. I've been putting it off, because, well, I wasn't sure you'd want to see me. But... since you're here now...?"

I started shaking my head. I couldn't help it. Jack, apparently undeterred, stepped forward and took my hands in his. I wished I could say helping Daniel was the only reason I let him.

"You hate me. I get it, alright? But I'm not the same man I was the last time I saw you."

"Oh really, Jack? Then what kind of man are you now?" I asked, unable to stop myself. "What are you doing here, schmoozing at some party with a bunch of shady guys in suits? How different is that to the last time I saw you?"

"Very different! Listen, I get it now. I understand what you wanted from me, and I understand why you left. You wanted respect, and I... I wasn't willing to give that to you."

I frowned, scanning Jack's face for any hint of inscenserity or rehearsed speech. All I found was an honest, open expression staring back at me, my ex-fiance looking more open and interested in talking about the hard stuff than he'd been once in the time we were together.

"But sweetheart," he continued, after a brief pause to let his words sink in. I met his gorgeous blue eyes that I'd fallen in love with so long ago, and a hand clenched around my heart. "I get it now. And... I want a shot at giving you that respect, knowing what I know now. Being who I am now."

I huffed a disbelieving laugh, shaking my head as I broke Jack's intense stare.

"Jack... are you kidding me right now?"

"Not even a little bit." He squeezed my hands lightly, stepping even closer to me. The hand around my heart dug its claws in. "I... I love you. I never stopped loving you. If you give me a second chance... I promise, I won't screw this one up."

A choked sob forced its way out of my mouth as the room started spinning under me. I pulled my hands away from Jack, shaking my head fervently as I did.

"I... You can't... I can't think about this right now. After everything you can't just..." I huffed, shaking my head again and moving out of the way as Jack reached for my hands again.

"Baby-"

I turned on my heel and ran before he got another word out. Hopefully, that was good enough for Daniel and his friends. One way or another it would have to be. I couldn't stay there for another second, and it was starting to feel like it'd been a mistake to come in the first place.

I'd been expecting some slightly charged conversation, maybe even some arguing. Breaking off an engagement wasn't usually amiable, and our situation had been no exception. I hadn't been expecting to see real pain on his face, or real regret, or real love still lingering there. And I definitely hadn't expected to feel the faintest hint of the same emotions in my own chest.

Whatever the hell that meant, I couldn't face it right now. Not when I was standing in that ballroom in the first place to trick and lie to the man giving me the apology I'd wanted for years before finally excepting I'd never get it. The guilt started creeping in like a knife to the heart, another thing I hadn't been expecting.

I didn't check to see if Jack was following me as I headed straight for the parking lot, back out the door I'd come in. A thousand different emotions and thoughts screamed through my head, and the only thing that seemed clear was that I needed to get as far away as possible from here, now.

"Hey!"

I don't know why I hadn't been expecting to run into Daniel, but I'd barely gotten a breath of the cool night air in before he called out to me, moving quickly from the back of their undercover van to where I'd parked my car.

"Hey! Are you okay? We didn't mic you up, but one of our agents inside said they saw you running out-"

"This was a bad idea, Daniel," I said, shaking my head and pausing to talk only because Daniel was in the way of the driver's door of my car. "I shouldn't have agreed to this. I didn't... I don't know what I expected. The same asshole I broke up with, I guess. An argument. Not... not what I got."

I moved to push past him, but he put a hand on my shoulder to stop me in my tracks. His eyebrows knit together as he scanned me up and down, concern radiating from him in waves.

"What happened in there? Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "It was a mistake to get in the middle of this, with you and him. He said some stuff... I don't know. I don't know, okay? This was stupid, I should've just stayed home. I need to go home, Daniel. So please, get out of my way."

Daniel hesitated again, looking me over, this time with a more critical eye. I huffed.

"I promise I'm not hurt, and that I'm fine to drive, alright? I just... I need to get out of here."

After another second, Daniel finally nodded and stepped out of my way. I didn't bother sparing him another glance as I got into my car and pulled away, putting as much distance as possible between me and Jack and everything to do with that ballroom.

When I got home, I replayed the conversation I'd had with Jack over and over again in my head, on an endless loop. I didn't hear another word from Daniel, or from Jack, which I tried to convince myself was for the best. When the radio silence stretched on for days, however, my arguments to myself became less and less convincing, and every additional day of silence was another day to overthink myself into a frenzy. Had something gone wrong with whatever world-ending threat they were dealing with? Did something bad happen to one or both of the SSR boys? Or was there some other reason the SSR agents continued to give me space?

By the end of the week, I'd just about decided to go track down Jack or Daniel or maybe Peggy, although I'd only met her in passing, myself. Finding a secret agency probably wouldn't be easy, but I'd been reeling and replaying everything in my mind for days, and I couldn't go back to pretending none of them had ever been part of my life again. I'd just started flipping through a phone book over my morning coffee, looking for any businesses that looked like feasible fronts for the SSR, when someone rang my doorbell.

I sighed, marking my spot in the phone book before standing and moving to the door, my cup of coffee in-hand. I almost dropped my favorite mug when I opened the door to find Jack standing on my doorstep in a nice suit, holding a bouquet of roses.

"Before you say anything, Sousa's the one who gave me your address. So if you didn't want to see me... blame him."

I couldn't hold back a laugh, at least half the weight on my chest lifting off with the knowledge that Jack and Daniel were both okay. I bit my lip, trying to keep control of myself, as I looked Jack over.

"I... I'm really glad you're okay," I finally sighed. "When I didn't hear from you for a while, I got a little worried..."

"We had... some stuff to deal with. But it's dealt with now. I'd love to come in and tell you about it... if you'd be willing to have some company for breakfast."

My eyes shot up to Jack's. He tried to look calm and collected, but I could see the way his hands fidgeted around the stems of the flowers, and the way his eyes searched my face for any sign of an answer in either direction. I sighed.

"Listen, Jack... I don't know..."

"Alright, look. I'm technically supposed to be leaving for the airport to catch a plane back to New York in about half an hour. But I also got Sousa to agree to let me stay with him for a while, if... if I need to stay in LA for a bit longer, for whatever reason. But if you don't want me here, if it's too little too late for you..." He clenched his jaw, swallowing hard and steeling himself before continuing. "Then I'll head to the airport and get out of your hair. And I won't bother you again."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, looking down and shaking my head to try to clear it. I'd sworn to myself when I moved out here that I wouldn't let Jack Thompson back into my life. I'd been confident it was for the best. But he really did seem different than he had the last time I'd seen him. And I couldn't ignore the way my heart still skipped a beat when I looked at him, or how badly I wanted to believe what he'd told me in the ballroom.

Finally, I looked back up at Jack. I met his ice blue eyes, the same ones I'd been staring into since we were basically kids, before he'd served in Japan and a thousand other things in our lives had changed. And I knew I couldn't send him away without at least hearing him out. I knew it might mean I got hurt again, badly, but I also knew the regret of never knowing for sure would eat me alive for the rest of my life.

"Jack... there's something you should know first."

"And that is?"

"It wasn't fate that brought me to the ballroom, or whatever else you thought it was. I... was actually there because Daniel called me to ask for my help."

Jack sighed. "I know. He and Carter told me. They seemed to have a guilty conscience about it. But I'll tell you what I told them: I don't care. It brought you back into my life, so... I'll take it."

The corner of my mouth tugged up again, and I tried not to let the excitement take over too much as Jack leaned a little forward.

"So... does that mean I can come in?"

I bit my lip again in a failed half-attempt to stop the smile rapidly spreading across my face. Finally, I let it win, and gave Jack a nod.

"Oh, thank god," he sighed, sagging and flopping over the doorframe, the flowers falling to his side for a moment until he looked back up at me. "You really had me thinking I was gonna have to race to make my plane for a minute there, sweetheart."

I laughed and shook my head, taking the flowers from Jack as I motioned for him to come inside. I shut the door behind him, then turned to lead him from the entryway into the kitchen.

"So... do you want some coffee?" I asked, moving to the pot before Jack answered. I knew he did.

"That'd be great." He paused, and I heard him sit at the table himself me as I added sugar and milk the way I knew he liked (although he'd never ask anybody else to add it in). "This place looks great."

"Thanks. It's been a labor of love, for sure. I learned how to fix just about everything in here that could break, since it started out that way."

I shot Jack a little smile as I sat down at the table across from him, sliding his coffee over. The statement was a test, and whether or not he knew it, he smiled back.

"If only you'd known all that stuff when we were in our old place. Maybe you could've saved me from breaking the sink beyond repair."

"If I remember right, I did try to help with that. And you told me to let you handle it while I made something nice for dinner."

Jack grimaced, taking a sip of his coffee. "Yeah. I do remember that. And... I'm sorry. I was an idiot back then. I wish I'd known then what I do now."

I nodded thoughtfully. He seemed sincere, which truly might've been a miracle-level personal shift. I still tried to keep my hopes from running wild, but it was getting harder by the minute.

"Thanks for the coffee, by the way," he continued. "I haven't had anything this good since... well, in a long time."

I gave him a rueful smile as he bailed out of "since you left". I sighed, taking a sip of my own coffee before looking at Jack again.

"So... why don't you tell me about all this stuff that kept you from visiting earlier? When I talked to Daniel, he said it was end of the world-level."

Jack nodded, running his hand through his hair. "I mean, it sure wasn't good. Might've been one of the worse things we've had to deal with. You're gonna like this though, since we saved the day. One of my best agents who helped solve all this stuff is a woman. Peggy Carter, she said she met you?"

"Only briefly," I said, smiling into my coffee. "She seemed pretty cool."

"She's damn good at her job. And so were you, by the way. You covered for her and Sousa perfectly when you showed up at that fundraiser. It took one of the people you were covering for walking straight into my path for me to realize something was up, and even then I didn't suspect you. Masterclass."

I huffed a laugh, but my smile grew so big I couldn't hide it behind my coffee mug anymore. Jack smiled back.

"Alright, so, this is kind of a long story. Especially if I start from the beginning."

"I want to hear all of it," I decided. "If you're up for it... including the stuff that came before this mission. I want to know about what you've been up to since... since I left."

Jack nodded, a hopeful smile pulling its way onto his own face. I could see him wrestling with himself to keep his cool, and I was happy to see him losing.

"Deal. As long as you promise to tell me everything you've been up to once I'm done."

"Sounds like we have a wonderful plan for the morning," I replied. Jack absolutely beamed back at me.

"I've never been happier to miss a flight in my life."

I laughed, and for a moment, I got a glimmer of the parts of my life with Jack that had made me stay for so long. His humor, and all the good in him that he worked to hide, but now, without the layer of separation that came from him not seeing me as an equal.

It had barely been ten minutes total of time spent with this slightly older, slightly different Jack Thompson. By far too early to say anything difinitively. But that little seed of hope in my chest had bloomed into a full bouquet since I'd opened my door this morning, and I couldn't help feeling that this time, things actually were different. Jack was different. And this time, maybe things would work.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen

Marvel Taglist: @valkyriepirate @infinetlyforgotten @sagesmells @gaychaosgremlin

[thepoetjean-makes-stuff]

HOW TO ACTUALLY WRITE -- THE BASICS (AKA STEP 0-1)

(AKA ThePoetJean justifies their Master's degree and makes it everyone else's problem)

1) "WRITING IS REWRITING" AND WHAT THE HELL THAT MEANS -- No writing is law or set in stone upon the first draft, and whoever taught you that is a bum. Even permanent glue can be removed by nail polish remover, so why is editing your first draft no different? When writing for fun, oftentimes you can edit the post and clean up the story when things are no longer working (it's called a cutting room floor for a reason). When writing for publishing, you'll often be paired with an editor who'll send tweaks back-and-forth to you, chipping away at any structural mistakes or grammar flaws to bring out the point of your writing piece in the process. The first draft is just about getting the general vibes of the story down: like the batter for the cake recipe before you start baking it. This part is meant to be fun and messy and no one expects you to serve them go when you're just cracking your eggs open. Let yourself be messy cuz (burnt or fluffy), this is the first step to making your story, so no need to have something be all pretty and presentable the first time around! Again, a lot of writing is just rewriting cuz drafts are a thing so getting stuff down is most important. And another amazing thing -- if the story sucks, you can always change it later! You gotta trust yourself to get it done in order to get it out to the world one way or another, so go do that!

2) LEARN YOUR OWN WRITING PROCESS! -- (OH MY GOD PPL, LEARN HOW YOU TO THE THING IT'S HALF THE BATTLE!) Most of the struggles I see with newer writers is never learning how they write, and that sucks since have the joy of making things is making the thing -- so why make writing stories so arduos for yourself. Learn your own methods and use them whenever you get to writing! Learn the writerly basics like plot, structure, framing, character voice, setting, time period, etc and learn how best you can utilize them in your own stories! On a purely craft level: Learn ALL THE WRITING CRAFT and keep in mind that all writing craft is meant to be guidelines rather than hard rules. Learn many ways about how to write in general cuz no writing advice is one size fits all and being embarrassed of your process is dumb and hinders your creative growth. Trust yourself as a writer, you'll improve faster that way. Believing you can and believing it's possible is the first step to doing anything! (Plus all writing is rewriting anyhow to there's no need to feel embarrassed about something you can fix later, anyways, right?)

3) Read projects like your project in order to get a better feel of your project. Whether it be writing style references, basic literary craft examples, or just you want to break down the vibes of the stories so you can better emulate in your own -- GO AND WATCH/READ/LISTEN ETC TO WHATEVER STORIES YOU THINK WOULD MATCH THE VIBES OF YOUR OWN!! Now, this isn't a 1-to-1 copy, you're not mean to make a clone of the thing you like or take properties for the IP that you're into -- that's more along the lines of fanfiction (which can be fun and is ofc, super valid) -- BUT! To create your own stories, you need to learn where you get your ideas from, and learn how to implement, borrow, twist, etc from the story structures and properties you gather your inspo from. Other writers are your peers, not your enemies -- so treat their work and your own with the respect it deserves. No two chicken sandwiches are ever exactly the same; true artists steal from many places, so learn how to be a good thief (creatively speaking). Example from my own secret WIP novel: I'm writing a New Adult Urban fantasy novel with a dark, powerful lady protagonist that uses lots of philosophical themes, alternate history perspectives as well as using mythology as a basis for a lot of the magical roots and setting roots. Likewise, this a story about friendship and romance after major loss and trauma, and how to come back to yourself after grief, so I've been looking for stories that cover those themes in their plots, which has made the story a lot more fun to read and write outside of just being a cool concept to play with.

If you're writing a second-chance romance story, read romance stories. If you're writing a sci-fi story with lots of robots, read stories about robots. Presumably, you enjoy the same stories you're writing in concept if not in execution, so don't hesitate to seek those stories out, and break down how those stories work in order to scrap them for literary parts. You're smarter than you think you are, and breaking down stories is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it, so please consider doing this as you go into your next project, your writing will thank you for it!

OPTIONAL:

4) If the story works better as something else, swap the format and see what happens.

Have you ever read something and been like "Huh, I like this book, but with how iconography is used in the actual text, it might be better as a movie or a comic book"? So have I!

So, if you ever feel like the story you're writing isn't working so well as a novel or a play, consider turning it into a movie or a webcomic! Of course, this is all easier said than done, and every writing format comes with its own rules and limitations, but I'd give it a try if you ever want to see your project from a fresh perspective! If nothing else, you'll learn something new -- and become a better writer for it!

Til next time, beloveds~

__

PS. Take all advice with a grain of salt. I am not your parent or your principal, I'm just a lady with a writing degree and a lil free time. Take what resonates, leave what doesn't, etc. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST AROUND TO ANYONE WHO IT MIGHT HELP! THANKIES :3

KOFI: https://ko-fi.com/thepoetjean

[tanith-rhea]

Hey! i have a smuty request hehe

you're Larissa's roommate and one day when she entered your shared room she finds you masturbating moaning her name... and well I leave it in your hand how this develops

if you're not comfortable writing this or simply don't want to is absolutely okey!

Unexpected Finds

Author's note: I'm horrendously sorry for the amount of time this took me. If you stook around, you'll see your request is the first thing I wrote in a loooooong while. Word count: 2.9k

“You are horrible at this,” Riss murmured with a teasing smile.

 “To be fair, I told you I was, and you doubted it,” her nails were longer than yours; it wasn’t difficult to keep yours manicured but Larissa had long, nicely shaped nails and you had no practice with those. “Why are you complaining anyway? You can simply make them look however you want!”

“Did I complain? I think I simply made a remark on your disastrous attempt at painting them, that’s all.” 

“Ok, shush!” her rumbling chuckle quickly had you both laughing even though you tried your very best to look pissed and not charmed. 

Larissa had the ability to make everything she did look incredibly alluring or adorable. Not just textbook hot things or her cute nose scrunches and fond smiles. But hearing her yawn at eleven pm while studying for an exam you knew she could give a lecture about; her rambling and muttering under her breath at how insufferable some people were; her rare fits of anger which she would try not to show but would turn her knuckles white and make her respond to every comment pissily. It was all endearing when it was her who did it. 

“I’m just trying to support you in learning new skills,” she shrugged like it was the simplest of truths, and she wasn’t at all very amused by the entire situation. 

“Thank you so much for sponsoring my personal growth,” you rolled your eyes but smiled. Her own smiling features turned softer, the slight mocking turning fond like it so often did lately. She had no idea the effect it had on you. 

“Sadly, although I appreciate your interest in my learnings, I think we should sleep. I know you’ll blame me if you wake up late tomorrow and it’s almost midnight.” 

Despite your tender feelings towards Larissa, you couldn’t help but be a little annoyed at the changes she helped you mature into. Two months ago, you’d have kept her awake and laughing until three AM, trying to make her forget tomorrow you had class and spend more time with you. Now, you knew how important Larissa’s routine was for her and just wanted to be good for her, even if it meant giving up on pitiful attempts at doing her make-up or being teased for looking “so cute” with puppy-eye eyeliner. 

She hummed, moving the notebooks, nail polish and other miscellaneous mess from the bed to the floor.

“If you say so,” she smiled again, still fond, but there was something in her eyes like puzzlement and you had no idea what it meant. “Care to make space?” 

You bit your lip to avoid smiling too much, before putting your hair over one shoulder and laying down so Larissa could make herself comfortable on your chest. It had become a habit ever since your first “girl’s night” when you woke up like this and found you both liked it well enough. 

Of course, you had the suspicion you liked it far more than she did, being so hopelessly attracted to her, but that hardly changed anything. If she didn’t mind waking up nuzzling your neck, with her limbs all over you like an octopus, you wouldn’t be the one to complain. 

“Sweet dreams, Riss,” you whispered, subconsciously turning off the light. 

“Will have,” was all she mumbled, knowing not to wish you any dreams at all, and your heart skipped a beat at that like it always did.

You woke up feeling warm. The pleasant smell of the shared covers blossomed comfort and familiarity in your chest as you inhaled deeply. 

Larissa’s warm soft skin was all around you. Her nose was buried in your neck, her parted lips ghosting over where it met your shoulder and breathing heat softly against it. 

As usual, her limbs encased you in a trap you didn’t mind not escaping from. Her arm was slung over you, hand so close to your face that a turn of your head would have your cheek pressed on her elegant fingers. But one thing was different. 

You didn’t sleep together often. In the trimester you’d been roommates, you had only five slumber parties, and only on the last four of them did you share a bed on purpose. And, as you weren’t one to move a lot while sleeping, the likelihood of you cuddling her was relatively small compared to the other way around. But this time, it appeared your body wanted closer proximity, and your leg had welcomed hers between yours, as your hand rested on the exposed skin of her lower back. Larissa seemed to be blessedly content to continue sleeping, but you couldn’t know if she’d wake up when you tried to disentangle yourself. You partially didn’t want to, but it would be horribly awkward if she came to feeling warm wetness on her knee. 

You were robbed of a choice by her stirring awake with a long, content intake of breath. Panic ran through your veins while her muscles tensed in that particular way while she stretched, leg going stiff and tortuously pressing against you while she hummed in your neck. 

“G’mornin,” she grumbled, laying on her stomach almost completely on top of you. 

“Good morning, person who’s trying to turn me into a pancake,” you joked to diverge her attention. Did she not notice? Was this the universe having mercy on you? 

Her rumbling laugh immediately against your chest hurt as if your lungs were filled with more air than they were capable of managing and you wished you could hug her, press her onto the bed and drown her in kisses. 

“Hardly my fault when you’re more comfortable than the bed.” 

“I sincerely doubt that.” 

She chuckled, “You’ll have to trust my impeccable taste, I guess,” her still hoarse voice felt almost like velvet as she half-whispered, and you could feel the warmth of her breath on your neck, lingering for a second. 

With her there, in that fraction of a moment, still, as if waiting, you wondered if you should do something. Was she expecting you to? You wanted to feel the warm skin underneath her pyjamas, hold her against you with purpose, splay your palm and fist her hair, and bring her up to you. You wanted to press your leg between hers as well, see if she’d have the same reaction, if she’d make a sound- 

With a sharp inhale, Larissa got up on her elbow, looking at the pillow beside your head instead of your face and smiled sheepishly. 

“Unfortunately, some of us chose lycanthrope history over vampiric, so I’ll have to leave my personal mattress and get ready,” she tilted her eyebrow, but still avoided eye contact, and you couldn’t help but frown. 

“Not my fault they like to wake up early, maybe next semester you should consider joining me in night classes,” you winked, deciding to let it go and at least make Larissa laugh a little before leaving. 

“I don’t think I’d be able to concentrate,” she smiled, though, and put some books in her backpack without really looking at them, “But I’ll consider astronomy for the sake of staying in bed longer.” 

You could see her in astronomy class. For all Larissa’s attempts to look practical and cynical, you’ve learned just how much of a dreamer she was, an idealist, she’d fit right in with the precise wonder of it. 

“…with me?” you half-joked, trying your best at an impish, non-expectant, smile. 

“You wish,” was all she said, and disappeared behind her folding screen to change into her uniform. You watched as her pyjamas were draped over the division, the rattling of fabric gentle and allusive, making your mind wander until you almost didn’t notice her saying bye. 

Being her roommate was the best thing to happen to you in Nevermore. It was also the most tortuous experience one could put you through. You were still aching from moments ago, the memory of Larissa’s clothes coming off behind the screen, the pressure of her body on yours. She must have known, it was near impossible she wouldn’t notice your dilated pupils and flushed skin. Maybe that was why she left without even doing her hair. 

Fuck, her hair. She was out there with long waves down, possibly for the first time in her three years at Nevermore. How would it look in the wind? You knew how it looked over her shoulders, whiter than her skin but just as soft. 

Your thigh muscles tightened. You could feel an all too incriminating pulsing between them. She wasn’t here to see… it wouldn’t hurt her. You had done it before with her in your mind, but never after moments like this, they felt so familiar that all you could feel when she left was the heartache of not having her. Today was different. Today she left and you felt the ache of not having her against you, not having trapped her underneath you and sought what you needed. 

Your pathetic moan when you finally slid your fingers into your panties could have made you laugh, however, all you could feel were tears of relief running down your temple. Your fingers were immediately soaked, you couldn’t remember being this slick in a long time and would be impressed if it wasn’t so maddeningly frustrating. 

You pictured her on top of you, her fingers instead of yours massaging your clit and teasing you under her breath. Planting kisses on your shoulders and neck, skirting around your breasts with a sharp smile and making you squirm in anticipation. 

It hadn’t been five minutes and you could already feel your orgasm building. Hell if she’d stayed just a few seconds longer, if she had pressed just a little more, you were certain it would have happened then; with her breath on your neck and her warmth and her smell. You were so close just thinking about it- Larissa… 

“Oh my-” The loud sound of your bedroom door being shut should have been an ice bucket, instead it only triggered desperation. You knew her voice, even in that high pitch you seldom heard. If she ran out or stayed in you had no idea, but you needed to finish. 

The adrenaline of fear only pushing you through more insistently. 

You were panting, whining, arching on your back and squirming as new tears escaped your closed eyelids. It was over, she’d never look at your face again and it made you desperate. 

A sob almost choked you as you finally came with Larissa’s name pleadingly on your lips. Though what really did make you choke was a soft hand on your shaking knee. 

You opened your eyes to see her standing right beside the bed. She had an unreadable expression on her face, but her firm touch was grounding while you came down from your high. She sat close to your waist, moving her hand to rest on your stomach while she examined you with a purposefully controlled demeanour. 

“Larissa…” you whispered, squeezing your legs together as if you could hide what you’d been doing, what she saw you do. 

Her eyes shot up to yours, gleaming but not bright as they normally were. You hovered your hand atop hers, wondering if she’d let you hold it; she reached up and interwove your fingers without a word, bringing them to her lips ad kissing each knuckle. 

You squeezed your legs harder, torn between fear and hope. Why wasn’t she saying anything? 

“Why are you back?” 

That, at least, got a small huff and a smile out of her, “I packed your books instead of mine,” she said with a voice hoarser than when she woke up. “That’s what you get for leaving in a hurry,” her eyes travelled down from yours, taking in your rattled state once more. 

With your hand still in hers, she pressed it on the side of your head and gracefully straddled your stomach. 

What was she doing? It didn’t make any sense. You would have known if… if she-

"You tied your hair,” was all your short-circuiting brain could come up with. 

You got the pleasure of hearing her chuckle with fond amusement in her eyes, which was unfair and ridiculous on many levels considering the warm spot currently pressed against your underbelly. 

“Is this relevant?” 

”It could be-” you gasped as Larissa let out a small whimpering sound, eyes closed while grinding down on your hip bone. 

Your free hand grabbed her thigh in an instant, the uniform’s skirt being a practical clothing item for the first time, and moved your hip to help her along. She let out a strangled noise and you could see her belly coil under her shirt. That was unacceptable; here you were, in thin pyjamas, dishevelled and undone while she got to look like a school prefect. 

You sat up, Larissa settling on your left thigh as you did so, and let go of her hand to grab her collar. 

“Are you sure of what you’re doing?” you looked her seriously in the eyes, hoping you were masking your plea well enough. 

“Does it look like I’m not?” she breathed. 

You had to breathe deeply and close your eyes to avoid her smug smile. You bit your lip to conceal your own tugging at the corners of your mouth, then it occurred to you, there are other ways one can hide. Larissa’s half-choked surprise at your lips and teeth on her neck made not smiling quite difficult. 

While you helped Larissa ride your thigh with a steady hand on her hip, your other hand unbuttoned her shirt. She had a death grip on your right shoulder while her other arm rested around them, trapping you close to her. When you dealt with all the buttons, her unhappy whine from having to let you go made your heart race. Did she have any idea what she was doing to you? 

“Shh, love, you’ll like it better like this,” you whispered, taking off your own top as she held your knees for support. 

You made quick work of her bra, but once it came off you had to take a moment to appreciate how astonishingly beautiful she was. White, creamy skin, so hot it could melt all your thoughts away, beautiful full breasts with the rosiest, most charming nipples you’d ever seen. You wanted to look at her for the rest of your life. 

Fuck, she’s gonna kill me. 

Your hands splayed on her back and shoulder blades as you buried your face in her chest, kissing and sucking a bruise at the base of her sternum. You could feel her goosebumps under your tongue as you kissed your way to her left nipple, warm soft skin smelling of fancy lotion. 

Larissa’s fingers wove into your hair and closed into a fist, locking your right where she wanted you to be. 

The sounds she was making were becoming more and more breathless as her grinding grew erratic against you. She pulled you up into a searing and messy kiss that should have felt horrible but only made you burn with need, and when she gasped, muscles incredibly tight under your palms, you wanted nothing but to swallow every broken little guff of air as your pyjamas got impossibly wetter. 

When her shoulders slumped and her weight fell on you, you could only hug her. 

Pyjamas be damned, you could deal with it later. She breathed slowly and deeply on the crook of your neck as you traced soothingly up and down her back. 

“I know you have class soon but I just want to stay in bed,” her voice had the quality of midnight half-sleepy rants and you hugged her tight. 

“You also have class.” 

She stayed silent for a beat, ”We have thirty minutes til the next one.” 

You couldn’t help but chuckle. “I take longer to look presentable, not everyone is magically perfect-” 

“Not magic,” she interrupted, “…and you pull off the ‘I didn’t even try’ look annoyingly well.” 

”Oh, do I?” she left your shoulder as you laughed lightly. 

She looked exasperated — almost hurt, not looking at your face — and you wanted to change that immediately “If you don’t want to stay, fine-” 

“I was just teasing you,” you hushed to say and tentatively touched her chin, making her face you, “I want nothing more than to stay the entire day in this bed with you. I could spend a week if we lived in a perfect world,” you kissed her chastely, hand cupping her cheek, and as you parted her eyebrow were knit together. 

“So this isn’t just a…” she paused, looking down between you and back up, eyes gleaming with the stubborn determination you loved so much, “This isn’t just a product of decisions took in ‘the heat of the moment’?” 

You gave pause for a second as well. If she was asking, maybe… “Is it to you?” 

“No,” she said emphatically. 

“Then no. I’d like to be your girlfriend if you’d like that. She only nodded and gave you a timid half-smile, you smiled back and laid down, dragging her with you. You could spend some more minutes like this.

I guess this one turned out ok, I'm sorry if it didn't, just very sparse minded lately <3

[is-today-tomorrow-in-nz]

Why I cannot accept Alina Starkov as a protagonist

I have a love-hate relationship with Alina's character. Mostly hate though. I loved the few bright moments she had but I absolutely loathed the moments where she was came off as an utterly selfish, unsympatheic, sanctimonious brat which dried up the any pity I had for her.

When I think of Alina, the analogy that comes to my mind is elephants. When elephants are tamed their handlers use an interesting strategy. The handlers use the heaviest iron chains that are too strong for the young calves to break away to tether them. The young calves try as they might to break free, soon realise that the chains are stronger than them and give up. They slowly start to live within the limits of the chain. However as the elephants reach adulthood, the trainers switch to normal, lightweight chains to tie them up because, by now the elephants have been fully trained to believe that they are too weak to breakaway. So the elephants rarely ever attempt to test the strength of the chains or even attempt to escape. The elephants having forgotten the strength they posses, learn to live within the limits of the chains.

Alina is just like those elephants. She has the power of the Sun coursing through her veins and yet instead of raising up to the situation, she actively chooses to remain stagnant. She remains tethered with her one-sided affection for Mal, her crippling self esteem issues, her shame of having 'impure thoughts' and, her fear of becoming something more than she had imagined. Eventhough the chains does not help her realise her true potential or even give her room to breathe, she is unable to comprehend anything beyond it and remain fearful to breakfree.

Had she been a side character, then, all of these flaws would not have mattered. But she is the protagonist and the entire triology moves forward through her. I'm not belittling her fears but the problem with the Chosen One trope is that at one point, the Chosen One is supposed to break away from their shackles and overcome these fears as the story progresses. Because, the story is not about the Chosen One, it is about the cause they are representing. But with Alina we never see that growth and so the cause she represents remains unfulfiled. Rather than becoming the one moving the story forward, she becomes an elephant in the hands of her handlers- Nikolai, Mal, Zoya, Apparat etc. She goes where they direct her to.

We see her passiveness cause actual detriment to the story as she is directed to side with the 'good guys' instead of representing the suppressed people who sees her as a beacon of hope. And in the end her life or death did not impact the cause she represented.

People may say that she suceeded in killing the Darkling and took down the Fold. But neither was her true purpose. She was supposed to be the one who bridged the gap between the otkazats'ya and the Grisha. And so, her victory in the final battle does not satisfy the end goal as the person she killed also wanted the same.

By defeating the Darkling, she no longer becomes the Chosen One. Instead she becomes an instrument of the oppressor who actively wants to maintain the status of the monarchy which in turn thrived on the Grisha serfdom. From a passive protagonist she becomes a passive antagonist. And in the end of it all she serves no purpose to herself or the people she was supposed to uplift and goes back to her chained elephant life with Mal as her new handler.

And this is why I could never accept Alina as the protagonist.

[cohenhyy]

Adopting Whore Woman : ̗̀➛ H. Rindou

summary: That night the whole life of y/n became miserable his client kyoko offer became nanny of his daughter but when her arrived on club she saw Rindou Haitani the handsome and rude jellyfish who shamelessly kissed her in front of many people.

CONTENT WARNING: noncon, possessiveness, humiliation, object penetration, cursing, mention of blood, crimes, death, mention of illegal gambling, virginity loss, cheating, explicit sexual content, detailed smut, traumatic events, fully angst, threesome (?), dark themes. This is a warning for each chapter of this story. MINOR DNI

A/n: If you're not comfortable with my story just leave and do not read it.

REMINDER: if you have encountered the same scenario, lines either titles on other story's on my books it is just coincidence.

this is purely fiction do not romanticize any action in this story.

English is not my first language writing is continuous growth. I'm young and still learning how to write (or type) properly so please bear with me. I'm trying to do a better upcoming story.

pairings: rindou x you

Prologue

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ೃ⁀➷

╰┈➤When else did it fool him? Has it been a long time? Then he found out this morning that he was confused and a man added to their cafeteria who rudely kissed him on the lips in front of many people.

She could still remember the feeling of his lips against her. That man was a good kisser. She will bet her life on it. It was just a simple kiss that made her body heat up, and she couldn't stop it from coming out of her mouth when it put her tongue inside her mouth.

"Rindou, more to come," Sanzu yelled. "Haruchiyo, take a photo while they are undressing and fuck her boobs while they are bouncing." Bonten are laughing as his prostitute.

"Please don't, and please forgive me," Sanzu smirks. "Idiot, forgive you! Ran, give me my katana now!" a girl yelled.

"Somebody! Help me! I don't want to die! Please save me!" Rindou gazed at her and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight sweetie I love you."

Sanzu continually knifed the woman who worked at the tavern. Rindou returned home, but he passed by another tavern. A woman approached him, and another prostitute made an offer. Rindou instantly turned around and chose the woman wearing jeans and a large shirt.

He made her smile and gave. the boss 40 million yen, stating that he would not return the woman he had purchased, and from that day forward, he promised that this woman would serve him for the rest of his life.

"Baby, wanna fuck tonight?" the female asked. "Uhm, sure." This woman is afraid because she knows Rindou. After all, they are regularly reported on television as Japan's worst criminal organization.

"Are you scared?" The woman did not say anything since she was already trembling from the dread that it would kill her and from watching the news.

"Oh, you're trembling. Don't be frightened of me; I'm kind, you know." The girl smiled at him.

Heritage Hotel

"Wow, this is amazing." The woman was amazed as she looked at the hotel when they entered the elevator. She didn't think that Rindou put her hand inside her t-shirt and at the same time rubbed her breasts and ate her lips.

"I want you to make me happy tonight because otherwise, I will kill you." She nodded. " I will do my best Mr. Haitani." He smirks.

"That's what I want from a woman who fights, especially in bed, even though you're a prostitute woman, you can't help but wonder that you have a lot of sex with men." The woman shook his head and looked at Rindou.

"No, Mr. Haitani. It's my first time working here, that's why I look like this." Rindou touched the woman's cheek and said that.

"Fuck I am lucky because tonight your virginity will be mine. Promise me that no one else can make fuck of you except me, because when I find out I will kill you." The girl smirks. "If I catch you I will kill you too." Rindou smiles.

"If you can, baby, But you must handle this my cock tonight." I nodded. "Sure." When they entered room 69, Rindou smiled.

"69? Does it signify that all sex positions we will do?" He is thinking. "Uhm okay, I can do it."

Rindou first asked what the woman's name was and she answered immediately.

"I am Y/n, L/n." Rindou smiles.

"Then how old are you Miss Y/n?" She replied. "I am 21 years old, Mr. Haitani may I request?"

"What's that honey?" I replied. "I need to be able to study but the tuition fee is 40 thousand yen, I will do everything." He smirks.

"Yes of course, but I have a favor." Y/n is still trembling with fear because he might ask her to kill someone. "You just have to follow everything I tell you, is it clear Miss y/n?" I nod.

"Sure, Mr. Haitani." He pulled out the gun and pointed it at my head.

"Don't call me Mr. Haitani, I feel lust when you call me that." I sobbing. "I am scared." He laid me on the bed and started undressing me.

"It's annoying your jeans, how can I insert my cock." I apologize. "hehe sorry." He started eating my breasts while one of his hands rubbed my other breast.

I moaning. "Uhmm..it's good fuck.." Rindou laughed. "It's like I'm just eating your breasts, you moaning haha fuck." I shy slightly.

"Sorry." While he was eating my breasts, he took off my panties and insert two fingers in my hole and play my clit using his tongue at the same time and my legs were shaking because of the lust I was feeling.

"Ahhh..Ummm..Ahhh..Ohhhh.Make it faster... R-rin..fuck... it's good not there...Ouch..b-be careful ughhhh.." Rindou smiled.

"It's nice when you moan." My cheeks turned red when he said that I was a little embarrassed because it was my first, He took out his cock and my eyes widened because Rindou's dick is so big.

"What's wrong baby? your eyes widened." This is embarrassing. "It's embarrassing to ask but how many inches is your dick?" He laughed and whispered. "7 inches baby." I shocked.

I was just stunned when he said that his cock was 7 inches. "I never thought a criminal like you would have a big dick." He smirks.

"I'm not a gentleman when I insert my cock into the ones I've fucked." I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm sure when he inserts it into me my pussy will probably be torn and I won't be able to walk properly.

"Maybe I can continue to suck your nipples?" I nod. "Uhm Yeah." He continued to ate my breasts until he suddenly entered his cock in my pussy and I cried and hugged him very tightly and screamed in pain.

"Ouch Rindou, Be careful, I am sensitive." He apologizes. "Sorry baby, That pain will also go away when I continue to fuck you."

He continued his fucking while he was fucking me he ate my nipples and played with his tongue which made my growl louder all night nothing could be heard in the room but my growl every time Rindou's cock entered my hole I shouted the name he and while he was thrilled with what he was doing.

I moaned. "Miss Y/n cumming." He started fucking me and made my eyes squint because I was so horny. He told me that while he was fucking me, I was supposed to roll my clitoris so that I would be even more lust, so I did it immediately, my whole body was shaking because of the heat I feel in my body I feel my sweat, Rindou, on the other hand, has already ejaculated and shot in my face while lying on my chest we are both welding weakly as we did.

"I'm weak tonight, you're so good Y/n." I smiled. "You too Rindou." While he was talking he was sucking my breast like a baby.

"Love, can you cook for me tomorrow? I'll leave you tomorrow because I have a mission and I'll be gone in two days so be ready when I arrive." I nodded.

"Sure Love hehe." He is still sucking my nipples and he is holding one of his hands on my breast. I am looking at him.

He is very handsome. Is it true that he treats me better?

"I love you Y/n." I hugged him tightly. "I love you too, Rindou." But Y/n doubt this purple hair man.

chapter 1

© @cohenhyy ~ please do not translate or repost my work to other platforms such as twitter and ao3. likes, reblogs, and comments are always welcome and appreciated.

[senditcolton]

touch me like a summer night

we got that heat like the summer and i'm so glad i made you mine

song inspo | word count: 11.4k a/n: yes this is coming out at 10am two days after it was promised but i did promise that you guys would get it so i hope it was worth the wait. i will let you know this is more Casey centric. you know I love Matt but I've been writing so much for him that it was time to give the attention to someone else. it is also my goal in life to turn you all into Casey sluts as well as Marty sluts. hope this accomplishes that goal warnings: it's a threesome fic so, smut, obviously. feminine reader, oral (m receiving), unprotected/creampie. it's a basically filth but with feelings. Disclaimer: Reading/creating content for married players isn’t for everyone. Please don’t read if you don’t vibe with it, but don’t attack me or others!

A pool party. The perfect end to a beautiful summer. Made even better by the people who organized the party. Made even better by the person who invited you.

When your best friend from back home in Vancouver learned that you were moving to New York to pursue your career, you immediately became enveloped in Mathew Barzal’s world. A world that, for you as an outsider invited in, was filled with celebrations of victories, growth coming from defeat, and an insane amount of bonding.

Like this pool party. Mat had told you it was organized by his captain to welcome in the new rookies and give everyone a final chance to relax before the real work began.

But it was still summer. Still time for long weekends and staying out all night and sleeping in. There was still time for you waste by your best friend’s side, joining him as an expected plus-one to team events such as these.

It also meant that you had more time to exist around insanely hot men. Because, yes, you’d be lying through your teeth if being around some of the most attractive people wasn’t an additional perk that came from your longtime friendship with Mathew.

You commended whoever oversaw the picking of the men that made up this team of 20 very handsome individuals and sometimes wondered if visual appeal had been part of the decision-making process. But, more than anything, you wanted to personally shake the hand of whoever it was that brought Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas to Long Island.

While everyone on the roster had a certain appeal to someone, those two…. There was something different about them that made you weak. Perhaps the reason you always thought about them in conjunction with each other was because of their friendship, especially intriguing considering their seemingly contrasting personalities.

Matt Martin was all rough edges and strong energy. He commanded every room he walked into and that domineering power would make any one weak in the knees. Especially when he shoots you that lazy smug smirk of his.

Casey Cizikas on the other hand… there was something about him that you couldn’t quite place. He felt like sunshine incarnate, all gentleness and warmth. While Matt dominated every room he walked into, Casey lit the room up. And the first time Mat introduced you to him, you were certain he lit a fire within you that had yet to go out. But underneath all that light, you could sense a coldness. Like when you get burned by a fire so hot you can’t feel the pain of it. A sense of power that made him dangerous and even more intriguing to you.

They each had you hooked, for many different separate reasons. But combined? There was something there that you wanted to explore. And sometimes you felt like they might feel the same about you.

Or maybe you were simply projecting your lust onto two insanely attractive people who were simply nice to look at. Whatever the reason, you never turned down an invitation to hang out with the Islander team because you knew that they would most likely be there and that always made you giddy.

That being said, you never told Mat your feelings towards his teammates. He didn’t need to know that that took up a major part of your decision making.

You turn to look over at your friend, the steering wheel firmly in his grasp as the breeze blows through the open windows, sunglasses perched on his nose. The suburbs of Long Island pass you by and there’s this feeling in the air that tells you today is going to be special.

“I still don’t understand why you shaved your head again,” you muse, causing a grin to twist onto his lips.

“So concerned with my hairstyle choices,” he teases. “No matter how much dislike you express, it’s not going to magically make it grow back.”

“Doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying,” you quip back, causing his infectious cackle to sound, floating through the summer air. You smile, turning your attention back out the window, watching the scenery pass by you, leading you closer to your destination.

In less time than you expected, Mat turned into Anders’ neighborhood, finding a parking spot on the already crowded street outside his home. You follow him as he wanders straight to the gate leading to the backyard and when a cheer goes up from those already gathered, you can’t help but smile.

Yes, while you enjoyed the superficial perks of being friends with Mat – like parties and being surrounded by attractive people – you were also insanely grateful at how welcoming this group was to you, a purely platonic childhood friend of their star forward. They made you feel like a part of their make-shift family and it made you insanely happy to know that you had a place here with them.

But you are not oblivious to the two pairs of eyes connected to your frame.

Gaining and keeping Marty and Casey’s attention was one of the motives for your choice of bikini and the crochet coverup that feigns modesty. You disguise your smirk as a friendly smile, happy that your actions seemed to be creating the desired outcome. You continue to feel their stares on you as you make your way around the party, greeting everyone and starting small conversations, pretending not to notice.

Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas made you weak in the knees and you were simply excited that their attention was on you. Part of you knew that you would be content if that was all that came out today: a few drinks, a lot of fun, and a little bit of recognition from two handsome men.

But you wouldn’t complain if things escalated a bit beyond lingering glances.

Although that hope is in the back of your mind, you don’t let it infect the entirety of the day, don’t let it control your movements and decisions. You help yourself to the assortment of snacks Anders and Grace provided, along with a more than a few spiked lemonades. You spend time talking to the girls that you had become close with as well as introducing yourself to some of the new faces at the party. You and Mat play (and lose) a two-out-of-three game of chicken with Ilya and his girlfriend Taylor.

And while you are subconsciously aware of the heat of Marty and Casey’s gaze landing on you occasionally, you don’t give them a second glance, wanting to stay in the moment.

However, if you did, their reactions might give you an idea as to where their thoughts were wandering and where the night could possibly be heading.

The way Matt’s jaw clenches every time you bend down to grab another drink out of the cooler. The glint of jealousy in their eyes at your flirty-friendliness towards some of the rookies. The way Casey’s hand tightens around his bottle of beer when you first removed your coverup, adjusting the straps of your bikini before diving into the pool. Their shared glance at the sight of Mat’s hands gripping your thighs as he held you on top of his shoulders.

You didn’t notice any of it, choosing instead to focus on the “right now” instead of the “what if”. It isn’t until you slip away to the hot tub in the corner of Lee’s property, the continual excitement and activity leaving you exhausted, does your mind start to wander and reminisce.

You sigh, taking sip of your spiked lemonade as you stare out towards the distant Long Island coastline. The tang of the drink reminds you of summer, reminds you of the summer that swiftly slipping away.

It was a good summer, overflowing with adventure and enjoyment. But there was something missing. You wanted this summer to be one that you remembered. One that you looked back on with equal parts amusement and perhaps some mortified hindsight because you knew some of the best memories were fueled by wild choices.

Soon the salt air and warm breeze would turn and the cold would come in.

You were ready to make the most of the remaining sunshine.

The golden glow of the sunset seems to encourage you, reminding you that there was still plenty of time left. It is a comforting thought and it allows you to relax, your head resting on your crossed arms that were perched on the edge of the tub, your eyes trained to the horizon.

There is a soft splashing from behind you calling your attention. You only turn your head to look behind you, not bothering to adjust your position. And you feel your heartbeat increase when your eyes land on Matt and Casey slipping into the warm waters. You try not to jerk your gaze back to the sunset, wanting to remain calm and not wanting to notice how they affected you by simply existing in the same space as you.

The soft sounds of their previous conversation float over you, the two of them not even acknowledging you and you find that you don’t mind it. Their deep voices created a comforting white noise, which allows you space to breathe and time to help calm the stuttering of your heart.

You don’t even realize that the focus of their conversation has shifted to you until you finally register the sound of Casey’s soft voice calling your name. You turn your head again, your eyes connecting to his ice blue irises and you must stop them from wandering down the bare expanse of this chest on full display for you to enjoy.

“Still ignoring us?” he asks and although you hear the gentle tease lacing his words, it doesn’t stop the heat from rushing up to the back of your neck.

“Never,” you reply. “You both know you’re my favorite Islanders.”

A chuckle causes your gaze to dart over to Matt and your eyes once again want to wander down, especially considering the nonchalant way his arms are draped over the edges of the hot tub.

“What would poor Barzy think? Knowing his best friend likes us more?” he muses and the heat coursing through your body doesn’t dissipate. If anything, it increases at the sight of that almost dangerous glint in Matt’s eyes. You finally spin your body to face them, sinking into the frothy water before giving a small shrug.

“He can think what he wants.”

Your chirp pulls another small bout of laughter from them both and the smile on your lips grows. The quiet descends over the three of you and you finally let your eyes wander, dancing across their broad frames. You try not to be completely shameless as you admire them but it seems that the alcohol running through your veins threw any subtlety from your body; a suspicion that was all but confirmed with Casey clearing his throat, once again forcing you to make eye-contact. The heat rushes back to your cheeks but your heart also trills when you see no discomfort from either of them in response to your appraisal.

“What were you thinking about? Before this? You looked very wistful when we showed up.”

“Nothing really,” you reply with a small shrug. “Just thinking about the summer. How it’s been so far. What I still want from it before autumn comes.”

“And what is it that you want?”

“Something memorable. An experience that I know won’t happen again any time soon. Something that seems almost too good for it not to be a fantasy.”

If you weren’t already studying their every movement, you would’ve easily missed the quick glance they shared, a silent communication that was built upon their long friendship and a quick understanding as they direct their eyes back onto you. Another bout of scorching heat rushes through your body as you find yourself almost pinned underneath their shared gazes.

“So, favorite Islanders, huh?” Casey asks, repeating the words you first spoke to them. There was nothing different in the words themselves, but they way he said them, the edge that they took falling out his lips immediately caught your attention. “Then why are you sitting so far away?”

The dare is obvious, hanging heavy in the space between you and the two of them. Your eyes dart from Casey to Matt and back again, your mind wondering if this was the beginning of what you hoped it might be or if your alcohol riddled brain was projecting your darkest fantasies onto the current moment.

It takes a second before you decide to take the bait, lifting yourself up, your upper body emerging from the warm water. The combination of the cooling evening air and the weighted gaze of the two men in front of you, practically devouring your body like you had just done to them, cause goosebumps to erupt on your skin as you cross the small expanse of water, turning to settle directly in between them.

Another shiver is sent down your spine as you feel a small droplet fall onto your shoulder, courtesy of Matt’s arm casually draped around you. Your eyes return to Casey, one eyebrow raising in question.

“Satisfied?”

“Never,” he replies, his pale blue eyes now blatantly raking down your body before returning to your face. “But this is a good start.”

“Ignore him,” Matt speaks, calling your attention. “Zeeker likes to have control.”

“Is that so? And you know this how?”

“Experience,” comes his coy reply, leaving you with more questions than answers. Although from the cool casualness of his words, it isn’t hard for you to guess what type of experience he was referring to – a teamwork that extended beyond the public view of the rink and into a more private setting.

“And what about you, Marty?”

“What about me?”

“Do you like to take control as well?” you ask, your eyes sparking with challenge, one which Matt gladly accepts, that smug smirk appearing on his face.

“Yes and no.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Meaning I’m not as… collected as this one,” he explains, his head nodding towards Casey. “But I’m also not about to let you call the shots.”

“Oh, really?” you ask, the electric energy surging as Matt directs his words to you, making it clear that this was more than just conversation. This was persuasion, this was interest being gauged in the subtlest of ways.

The alcohol in your blood makes you desperate and the revelation makes you bold. You lean your body closer to Matt, your hand moving underneath the water before landing on his thigh. You smirk when you see his jaw clench, the reaction only encouraging you to slowly move higher.

“What would you let me do?”

“Careful, sweetheart,” Casey calls to you and your head is once again whipped over to look to him. “Marty isn’t easy to reign in once he has his mind set on something.”

“And who says I want to keep him reigned in?” you shoot back, keeping your hand firmly in place on Matt’s thigh. The throb of your lower stomach increases when you feel Matt shift, his arms dropping into the water, his hands finding your hips. Your fingers flex against the strong muscle of his upper thigh and that small subtle movement seems to break the modicum of Matt’s restraint.

You gasp as he hauls you into his lap, your back pressing against his chest, a moan threatening to escape when you feel him hard against your ass, the sensation sending another thrum of electricity through your body.

“Matt.”

Casey’s sharp voice calls your attention to him again and you look to see his eyes trained on the man behind you. You can practically see the silent conversation happen between them in real time, the only verbal utterance being what you would best describe as a growl vibrating through Matt’s chest as his hands flex against your hips, his restraint regained at least for a moment. It’s only then that Casey’s gaze falls to you, darker and headier than before and the ache between your thighs increases.

“Do you want him?” he asks you, the question as weighted and dangerous as a loaded gun. You know your next words could easily cause the swift end of this delicious build-up, knowing that your words might strain the friendship between the two men. But you couldn’t let Casey slip between your fingers like sand.

“Want both of you,” you whisper and the words feel as load as a shotgun blast but you know no damage was caused when you see the smirk appear on Casey’s lips.

“Are you sure?” he asks and you nod furiously, your wanton eagerness earning a chuckle from the men on either side of you. “I need your words,” he explains.

You are about to answer when the syllables get stuck in your throat at the sensation of Matt’s warm lips brushing across your shoulders. Swallowing thickly, you finally manage to speak.

“Yes,” you breathe out, the racing of your heart a combination of the sensations of Matt against you and the excitement of the realization that your wildest fantasies were about to come true. “If you two are offering.”

“What do you think, Marty?”

“Do you have to fucking ask?” Matt mumbles into your skin and you can feel the desperation radiating from him, almost as strong as yours. It feels as if you are both waiting with baited breath as Casey returns his blue irises to yours.

“Well darling, you said you wanted a summer to remember. I think we can easily provide that,” Casey smiles, the promise bringing a dangerous glint into his eyes that has the fire that had been coursing through your veins finally settle deep within your abdomen.

Casey continues to observe you, his detached appraisal makes you want to reach out and touch him but Matt’s hands on your waist and his lips moving from the top of your shoulders up to your neck renders you immobile, even when the warmth of his breath tickles the shell of your ear.  

“Are you going to come home with us?” he whispers and you aren’t sure if it’s a genuine question or if he is being a tease.

It turns out it doesn’t matter because as soon as Matt’s lips land on that spot behind your ear that makes you weak, all sense of composure evaporates from your body. You spin in a haste that catches Matt off-guard, his hands dropping from you, leaving you room to maneuver your legs underneath the bubbling waters to straddle him. There is only a millisecond for you to register the surprise on his features before your hands cup his cheeks, pulling his face to yours as you finally crash your lips together.

It only takes a moment for Matt to reciprocate, his own body surging up to press against yours, his arms wrapping around you to hold you in place. He tastes like whiskey and cinnamon, his lips moving against your own and you can’t stop the way your body rolls against him.

“Careful, sweetheart,” Casey’s voice echoes and your reluctantly let your lips drop from Matt’s. The man beneath doesn’t seem to mind, his mouth gladly moving down your neck and chest, the heat from his actions feeling like the warmth of a sunburn only much more pleasurable. You turn to look at Casey who is still, once again, simply observing. “I know this hot tub is a little off the beaten path but we’re still at a party. Wouldn’t want anyone to come stumbling upon this, would we?”

The idea isn’t entirely unpleasant but right now, you don’t want an audience; you want these two gorgeous individuals all to yourself in every way they were proposing. You give Matt’s hair a gentle tug, pulling him away from your skin and looking into his darkened eyes.

“Take me home,” your words whispered just loud enough for Casey to also hear. The demand makes that devilish grin appear on Matt’s face but your attention is drawn from him by the splashing of water and you turn to see Casey lifting himself out of the tub. Your eyes trace the path that every droplet of water that runs down his chest. He notices but doesn’t tease you for it, instead offering you an upturned palm.

You gladly transfer your hand from Matt to him, removing yourself from above Marty. You can feel him close on your heels, hear the splashing of the water as he lifts himself off the bench to stand behind you but the intense stare of Casey keeps you almost hypnotized as you climb up to exit the warmth of the hot tub.

You are perched on the seat, about to lift your leg over the side when Matt’s hands land on your hips, halting your movements briefly. The water transferring from his skin to yours has tremors running through your body and you feel his lips press against your spine, weighted with the promise of what’s to come.

Matt relents, letting Casey guide you completely out of the warm water. After the three of you were back on solid land, you break apart, moving back towards the house and into the hubbub of the party. You each gather your things and inconspicuously as possible, not wanting to broadcast your intentions to the rest of the guests like a neon sign. It takes you a minute to locate Barzy, which you eventually do, finding him lounging on the couch with a few of the guys. You walk over to him, your coverup returned over your frame and your bag in hand.

“Hey Mat, I’m gonna head home,” you say, placing your hand on his shoulder. Your words register immediately as he hoists himself off the sofa, turning towards you. You reach out your hand, keeping him upright as he sways on his feet, the evidence of his lack of sobriety clear.

“M’kay, les go,” he slurs and you laugh at his obvious intoxication.

“You are in no condition to go anywhere,” you state and thankfully Grace who was sitting in the group around Mat also notices and helps you guide him back to his original sitting position.

“Anders and I will watch him,” she tells you, her own mouth twisted in an amused smirk that you are sure matches yours. Mat throws his head back, resting on the top of the couch cushion, staring at your face from upside down.

“But how are you get home?” he asks, his mind still clear enough to know he was your means of transportation to and – at least originally planned to be – from the party.

“Casey offered me a ride.”

“Good,” he mumbles, his head falling to the side as he nods in approval. “Case isa good guy.”

You almost feel bad for using the trust he had for his teammates against him, knowing that the actual truth was lightyears off from the good intentions that Mat had in his mind. But in a way, he was right. Casey was a good guy and you knew that he and Marty were going to take care of you. What that entailed was another story but Mat had no reason to doubt that you would be safe with them.

So, you leave him with a teasing rub of his buzzcut before wandering to the side gate, your heartrate increasing when you spy Casey there waiting for you. The excited smile on your face is returned with that calm cool smirk that you’ve come to recognize and he once again offers you his hand, which you take wordlessly.

“Are we taking your car or…”

“We’re taking Marty’s. He’s waiting for us.”

“You’re just going to leave your car here?”

“Me and Marty carpooled,” he explains, leading you out from the backyard and escorting you down the street towards an idling red car.

“Wow, it’s like you two had this planned from the beginning,” you joke, trying to diffuse the tension with your teasing words. However, it doesn’t achieve the intended purpose when Casey just shoots you a knowing smirk that has you questioning everything you previously thought you knew, stopping you in your tracks.

“Wait, seriously?” you ask, uncertain if you were understanding his silent confession or if the heightened emotions had your brain jumbled into a tangled mess. Casey looks over to you and his eyes register your uneasiness, causing him to step in front of you.

“I’m not going to lie, we both found you insanely attractive evet since Barzy first introduced you to the team. When we realized we felt the same way towards you, we thought you might make it clear which of us you favored more. Imagine our surprise when we realized that you wanted us both.”

“And if I only chose one of you?”

“It’s not like I don’t have the money to pay for a ride back to mine. Regardless of whether you were in the backseat with me or not,” Casey explains, the light-hearted tone of his words making you relax.

Although, he slightly misunderstood your question. You debate not clarifying, wondering if your actual inquiry was too big of an ask right now. You might be placing bets on an uncertain future when you should be following the philosophy you had been previously and focusing on the present moment. But you needed to know.

“And if I end up choosing one of you… after tonight?” you elaborate and your heart softens as the angelic smile tugs at the corner of Casey’s lips.

“I know we’d both respect whatever choice you make.”

His quiet explanation gives you the peace and confidence you were searching for. They both wanted you but they respected you enough to let you choose. And respected you and each other enough if that choice came to being with only one of them instead of both.

“Still want to do this?” Casey asks and you can see the sincerity in his eyes. “Because if not, or just one, or whatever, it’s all good. As long as it’s what you want.”

His thumb caresses over your knuckles in a way that would normally make butterflies erupt but with every word previously shared, every weighted gaze, and every lust-filled touch, his caress just sent electricity crackling through your body.

“Take me home, Casey,” you reply, reaffirming your prior consent. You swear you can see the shift reflect in his eyes as his hand tightens around yours, a grin tugging at his lips as he pulls you the final length to the car where Matt waited. Casey opened your door and helped you into the backseat, the action weirdly making you feel even more desired than any previous act.

“Everything good?” Matt asks, his eyes jumping to connect with yours in the rearview mirror.

“All good,” you tell him, hearing the thud of your door closing behind you.

“Thought you and Zeeker might have gotten lost on the way here.”

“Afraid of missing out, Matt?” you tease, trying to lighten the tension in the air but Matt doesn’t help matters by shooting you a devilish smile in return.

“Trust me, darling. If you knew all the ways I could take you apart, you’d want to make sure I didn’t miss a moment.”

The passenger side door opens and Casey slides in, your attention falling from Matt, the heat blazing in your cheeks at his words. Almost immediately after the door closes, Matt is pulling away and driving down the golden sun-soaked streets.

“Your friend Marty is very confident in himself. Did you know that, Casey?” you quip, your mind still chewing over Matt’s assured statement.

“Really? What did he tell you?”

“That if I knew how good he was in bed, I’d make sure to have him there,” you paraphrase, not sure exactly what you were hoping to gain from this teasing. Perhaps you were hoping for another level of comfort; you and Casey sharing a light-hearted laugh at his friend’s cockiness. But instead, Casey just shrugs, his blue eyes sparking.

“I wouldn’t doubt him, sweetheart. He’s made more than a few girls scream. Has even gotten a few of those girls to call him ‘daddy’.”

“Really?” you ask, turning your attention towards Matt, who just has a lazy grin on his face.

“Yeah, a few,” he hums.

“That something you’re into?”

“I don’t mind it. But it’s more a partner preference, not a me thing. I’d much rather hear you screaming my own name instead.”

His words send your mind into overdrive as you try to decipher everything they’ve told you so far in an attempt to understand exactly what you were getting yourself into.

“What else do you like?” you question, your eyes darting between them as they both keep their eyes trained on the road.

“Who are you asking, sweetheart?” Casey asks for clarity purposes and that fact that he needed clarity confirms one suspicion; they were very, very, different.

“Either of you. Both of you. I’m just curious.”

“Well, I know we both like a tease,” Matt states, his eyes darting to look at you through the rearview mirror. “You were doing a great job at that, by the way.”

“Really?”

“Don’t tell me that was all unintentional.”

“I mean, I showed up in this outfit to hopefully catch your guys’ attention but besides that… I wasn’t trying anything else.”

“Well,” Matt laughs, “you were doing a great job without even knowing it. Bending over the cooler, the way you lifted yourself out of the pool. God, I wanted to ravage you.”

“I’m honestly surprised he held back for so long,” Casey quips, earning a light-hearted shove on the shoulder from his best friend.

You laugh at their antics as you lean back into your seat, listening to their casual conversation start up, leaving you to mull over their words.

You turned them on without even trying? Nothing was more confidence boosting than that knowledge, that your mere existence in a risqué bikini could push them that close to the edge. A wicked thought pops into your head and before you can banish it, it takes a hold over your mind.

If you were that good at teasing them without even trying, what would happen if you actually put in the effort?

You lean back in your seat, your eyes dancing between the two of them. The curiosity coupled with the heat that is still lingering in your body finally becomes too irresistible and your hands lift to languidly stretch over your head before falling. You let them travel down the front of your chest, a sigh sounding from you which inadvertently presses your breasts into your palms. Your heavy breath calls Casey’s attention to you and you make sure your eyes stay locked onto his as you gently squeeze your supple flesh, the thin material of your coverup and bikini doing little to muffle the sensation.

A soft moan falls from your lips as your thumbs brush over your sensitive nipples, your eyelids fluttering before your hands continue their trail downwards. You can feel the weight of Casey’s stare remaining on you as your thighs fall open, the action pushing the hem of your dress upwards and exposing your barely covered core. The soft points of your fingers trail across the supple skin of your inner thighs, hands inching closer to your center.

Casey’s silent yet undivided attention encourages you and you make the bold decision to lift one of your legs up onto the center console, giving you more access. Your bare foot nudges Matt’s arm as it rests into its new position, the touch finally calling him to you and out of the corner of your eye, you can see his hands tighten around the steering wheel.

“Didn’t even tell me, Case? Didn’t bother mentioning what a goddamn brat she’s being now?” he mutters and you can see Matt’s eyes flitting between the road in front of him and your reflection in the rearview.

“Needed your eyes on the road,” Casey chirps back. “Can’t put her in her place if we don’t get there all in one piece.”

You aren’t able to make out Matt’s grumble of a reply but you can feel the speed of the car softly increase, your teasing incentive enough for Matt to quicken his pace. A smirk tugs at the corner of your lips as your hands continue to gently explore your body, not touching the one place you wanted but dancing close enough to keep you on edge. Although, sometimes it feels as if you don’t need your hands because the heady undivided gaze of Casey is turning you on all by itself.

The soft sighs and gasps get bolder and louder as you let your mind wander, imagining all the things that were in store for you as soon as Matt got the three of you to the comfort of his home. Your eyelids flutter shut as your hands trail up your thighs, your resolve slowly eroding. You feel the edge of your swimsuit, dancing along the cut of the fabric to the strings and following the lines to the bows tied securely on your hips, a whimper of a sigh escaping as your own teasing starts to get the better of you.

Your fingers retrace their way down to the triangle of fabric covering your core and you are about to give in, about to press your hand against your center, the car jolts forward. Your eyes fly open and come face to face with a concrete garage wall, the sound of Casey and Matt’s car doors closing. Your legs scramble down from their perch as you try to try to compose yourself.

It almost works but before you can even fully register what was happening, the door next to you opens and in a move that you can barely wrap your head around, Matt’s strong hands grab you and essentially manhandle you out of the car.

The energy radiating from him feels dangerous in the best of ways and your breath escapes you as he presses your body against the side of the car, pinning you between the cool metal and the warmth of him.

“You have no idea how much trouble you got yourself into,” he whispers, his breath hot against the shell of your ear. “But maybe that’s what you wanted, huh? Wanted to see how far you could press your luck? Tell me, what was the plan there, sweetheart?”

“Just wanted you,” your reply comes as a shaky exhale. The words don’t entirely make sense but to be fair, it was hard to even form sentences with Matt’s broad body being pressed against your backside, his own swim trunks doing nothing to hide how effective your teasing was.

“Wanted me to get home fast so you could have us as soon as possible?” he deciphers and you nod furiously, your hips grinding back against him causing a low groan fall.

Another gasp escapes as Matt pulls away from you, but only to give himself enough space to spin you around and crash your lips together, his tongue diving into your open mouth, swallowing your moans.

To your disappointment, he pulls away far too soon but his hands remain on your hips, guiding you blindly until he once again maneuvers you so you are now facing forward. The staircase that leads to the entrance of his house stretches out in front of you, the ajar door at the top an enticing invitation.

“Well, go on darling. Casey’s waiting for you inside,” Matt whispers in your ear and another rush of heat floods your body as you remember the other member of this triad who disappeared silently, leaving you and Matt alone for a moment.

Your hand grips the wooden railing as you being your ascent, a surprised squeal falling from your lips as Matt’s hand playfully taps your ass, a gentle encouragement for you to move.

You step into Matt’s house and much like he said, Casey is there, leaning against the kitchen island, patiently waiting for you to arrive. The moment he hears your footsteps, he grins, his smile igniting that fire within once more.

He walks over to you and he doesn’t even need to offer his hand before you reach out and take it. As soon as your fingers are intertwined with his, he pulls you through the first floor Matt’s house, over to the grand staircase and up.

“What about Marty?” you ask as he guides you down the upper hallways, doors passing on either side, no indication on what room was behind any of them.

“He’ll join us in a moment,” Casey replies, confidently pushing open the second to last door on the left and pulling into the master bedroom. Your hand falls from his grasp as he waltzes over to the king-size bed, settling down onto the edge of the mattress. “He likes to get a drink beforehand, don’t ask me why.”

“You know that because…” the question trails off,

“Because we’ve done this before,” Casey replies, leaning back on the bed and fixing you under his ice blue eyes.

The answer was exactly what you were expecting. It was obvious based on all the signs: how much they knew about each other’s ‘methods’, how at ease Casey was in Matt’s house. It pointed to more than just a close friendship.

“How many times?”

“Why do ask?”

“No reason,” you say, the lie falling fast as you turn your head away to glance around the room. The sharp sound of your name calls your eyes back to Casey.

“I need you to not lie to me,” he says, his voice gentle, the demand feeling more like a plea than anything else. “Not here and not now. What are you thinking?”

“I’m just worried.”

“About what?”

“How I’ll compare,” you admit, the insecurity sneaking out. “I’ve seen the girls that come on to you and Matt. I’m nothing like them. I’m just me.”

You can see Casey lift his body upright at your confession and your name falls from his lips again.

“Come here,” he says and you slowly pad across the carpet towards him, standing in between his spread thighs. His hand reaches up and you shiver as they dance across your skin, tracing your fingertips before falling to the side of your thighs, teasing the hemline. A tug at the crocheted material is weighted with a silent question, one which you agree to by gripping the hem in your own hands, helping Casey pull the fabric off your body. His hands trace down the outline of your figure to your thighs, creeping backwards and you gasp when you feel them grip the flesh, pulling you forward.

“Closer,” Casey whispers.

You don’t hesitate to lift your legs up, climbing into his lap to straddle him, your chests almost pressed together. Casey’s hands trail up the back of your thighs over your ass before coming to rest heavy on your hips. Another startled exhale escapes as his hands push you down, the breath transforming into a soft moan when you feel his length press against your clothed center.

“Feel how fucking hard you make me?” he whispers, his lips moving to mouth at your jawline, the delicate brush of them setting off sparks throughout your body. “How turned on I am by you. By just you.” He almost spits out the offending word, making you feel insanely desired by the literal perfection of a man in front of you. “No other woman has made me feel like that,” he continues. “‘How can you compare to them?’ you ask. You should be asking how they could’ve possibly compared to you.”

His proclamation is the final breaking point as you finally take the initiative, grabbing his head between your hands and finally pulling his lips into yours. He gladly accepts, leaning into you, his hands still pulling you deeper into him, swallowing every moan that he pulls from your body. He tastes different than Matt; you can make out the bitterness of the beer he had been drinking but beneath that a cool mint, sharp and subtle, an intoxicating contrast to the sunlight he radiated. Your body rolls against him, impatient and eager for everything he is willing to give you.

“Started without me?”

Matt’s voice echoes around the room and you tear your lips away from Casey to turn towards the sound. You spy Matt leaning in the doorway, a glass with two fingers of whiskey clutched in his hand as he takes in the scene. Casey’s lips trail down your neck before dipping lower to your chest, the heat inside of your roaring with a goddamn fury.

“Maybe you should get another pre-fuck habit,” Casey quips into your skin before he grazes his teeth over the delicate skin of your collarbone, causing another gasp as your eyes flutter close, Casey’s movements demanding all your attention.

From behind you, you can hear the clink of ice and the sound of a glass landing on wood but you don’t understand the sounds until you feel the rough hand of Matt circle your throat, pulling your head back before crashing his lips onto yours. You whimper into his open mouth as you feel Casey’s lips continue their path down, kissing between the valley of your breasts before placing an open-mouthed kiss onto the bow tied at the center.

You aren’t sure if the two of them knew telepathy or if they just had this much fucking practice because Matt breaks the kiss, keeping a hand on your throat and guiding your gaze down to Casey. You once again feel the gentle scrape of his teeth against your skin before they catch the thin string of your bikini. He slowly pulls away, the bow untying with his departure and it is Matt’s other hand that dances over your shoulder, down your torso to push the now loose material away from your chest.

The groan that escapes both men is exhilarating, the sight of your breasts heaving from your breathless pants, your nipples pebbling in the air-conditioned room. They do not hesitate in pulling you close again, Matt’s lips on yours and Casey’s on your chest.

Your moans fall freely now as Casey works his lips and tongue around your sensitive nipples, all of which are swallowed by Matt as he explores your mouth, the weight of his hand on your neck a silent reminder of who was in control.

You can’t actually tell who’s hands it is that creep on to either side of your hip, deftly unraveling the bows perched there but you find that you do not care as the remainder of your swimsuit falls away, a soft hiss sounding out as the room’s chill hits your soaked core. You tear your lips away from Matt to look down and to your somewhat surprise, you find that they each had a hand on either side of your hips.

“You guys are too good at this,” you breathlessly laugh. “It’s a little unfair.”

Your teases pull a chuckle from both as they take you in, now bare and pressed between them. Matt’s hand pulls your head to the side, exposing your neck to him and he leans forward to press kisses into the skin, pausing occasionally to suck a hickey, making those desirable bruises bloom. Your eyelids flutter at the sensation but you force them to stay open, keeping your eyes locked on Casey in front of you.

You can feel the hand that wasn’t still resting on your hip slowly trail up your inner thigh. He tortures you by moving at a snail’s pace, making you whine and whimper as he creeps towards the one place you needed him most. The one place that had yet to be touched.

“Tell me you want this, sweetheart,” he whispers, those icy blue eyes piercing into you and you think that he could easily see what you wanted as it was most likely painted all over your face. But he waits – waits for you to say the words, to give your verbal consent.

“Touch me, Casey. Please.”

You see the flash of a smirk pull at his lips before his hand finally moves that final centimeter connecting with your core. The simultaneous moan you let out is pornographic as Casey’s fingers trail along your slit, your body as desperate and wanting as your mind.

“How wet is she, Casey?” Matt asks, the question slightly muffled as his lips don’t move far from your skin.

“Fucking soaked,” he responds and you can’t stop the loud moan that sounds as Casey presses his fingers into you, the digits sliding in with an obscene ease.

“Yeah?” Matt asks, his question now directed to you. “That true, darling?”

“Why don’t you find out yourself,” you moan, your own chirp catching you off guard. Matt takes it in stride though, another dark rumble of laugher vibrating against your back and you feel the hand that was on your hip slide down to meet Casey’s, a groan falling when he discovers that Casey was telling the truth.

“Fuck, baby,” Matt moans, a sharp gasp ripping from your throat as his calloused fingers find your clit. “Such a desperate little thing, aren’t you?”

The only response you can give is a whine, the euphoria of having both of their hands on you pushing you faster to the edge than ever before. They read your body with ease, their movements never slowing and never ceasing as they continue to take you apart. Your breaths turn staccato as they wind you up and you can feel your body tightening in anticipation.

“Fuck!” The shriek sounds out as Casey curls his fingers inside of you, grazing that one spot that made you see stars.

“Oh yeah? Right there?” he teases, moving again and you can feel your orgasm speeding towards you with the imminence of an oncoming train.

“Yes – fuck – Casey. Please, please don’t stop.”

Casey listens to your pleas, his fingers moving once again and that with the combined roughness of Matt’s fingertips against the sensitive bundle of nerves of your clit pushes you over the edge, your head falling back onto Matt’s shoulder with a cry. You can hear Casey’s deep moan as he feels you clench around him as he coaxes you through your orgasm, the euphoric haze settling over you.

You can feel their hands disappear from your core and it’s Matt’s soft lips and Casey’s soft voice that calls you back to the present moment.

“You look so fucking beautiful when you cum, sweetheart,” Casey whispers, pressing a kiss to your sternum, his eyes gazing up as you. A soft smile tugs at your lips as your hand lifts to tangle through his hair, running through the blonde locks.

The two of you share a soft moment before a small nip at your neck pulls your attention to Matt who is still holding you against his chest.

“Don’t forget about me, darling,” he teases and you can sense no malice behind his words, just pure amusement. You twist your head towards him, your other hand lifting behind you to find the back of his neck, pulling him in and locking your lips together once again. You let him kiss you for a moment before removing your lips but keeping your forehead pressed to his.

“Never,” you whisper, your lips barely brushing and that singular word has Matt surging forward to kiss you again. The kiss continues, heavy and deep, all teeth and tongue until Casey’s voice once again calls you back.

“Now, sweetheart, it’s time for you to decide who you want first,” Casey explains, his hand caressing your skin. “Me? Or Matt?”

“I don’t know,” you whimper out, not wanting for either of them to depart, for their hands to disappear from you. The choice feels overwhelming, your desire clouding any decision-making processes you may have once possessed.

“What’s the issue, darling?” Matt questions, his hand coming to paw at your chest and you moan at the feeling of his rough hand against the skin. “Already so fucked out that you can’t think straight? And to think, we haven’t even properly fucked you yet. What’s going to happen when we do?”

“Maybe she needs a little help.”

Your head nods at Casey’s suggestion, your immediate approval making the two men laugh as the desire steadily builds in your body once more.

“Alright,” Casey continues, his honeyed voice taking on a whole new level of mesmerizing. “Maybe if I tell you what you’re in for, that will help you decide, hm? If you choose Marty, he’s not going to hold back. He is going to ravage you, fucking you nice and rough and deep.”

You can hear an almost animalistic growl sound from behind you, all but confirming Casey’s words and sending a rush of heat through you as the image is so clearly painted in your mind.

“Or, if you pick me,” Casey’s voice continues, the tone of it dropping down an octave, the words dripping from his lips like the most addictive ambrosia. “I am going to take my time with you. Fucking you slowly until I have you begging for me.”

The second image that Casey conjures up pulls another moan from your chest, both choices sounding equally delectable. It felt like someone asking you to choose between your favorite dessert and your favorite wine. How could one possibly be better than the other?

“I need you to make your decision quick, sweetheart. I’m not sure if Matt here can hold back,” Casey quips.

Part of your mind knows that the two of them would wait an hour, a day, a lifetime for you to choose and knowing you had that control made you feel completely relaxed in their arms. That small rational part also knew that Casey had only spoken those words to help coax you, that imagined pressure giving you all the encouragement to speak a name.

“Matt.”

You can feel the grin spread on Matt’s lips at the sound and you know that it mirrors the smirk that you see appear on Casey.

“Alright, baby, if that’s what you want,” Casey says and you nod your head in confirmation, making sure he knows that you are telling the truth. “Well then, I’ve gotta get up. Gotta give Marty room to work with.”

That phrase sends a thrill down your spine and you briefly wonder what you got yourself into. However, you don’t have time to contemplate because before you can even blink, Matt’s arms wrap around your chest and torso and using his impressive strength, he lifts you up just enough for Casey to roll out from underneath you.

You silently curse their insane chemistry before Matt’s placing your knees back down onto the mattress and you gasp as his hands disappear only to push you forward. You instinctually stop your forward momentum with your hands, leaving you on all fours.

You swiftly realize that is exactly the position Matt wants you in as his hands find your hips, gripping you tightly as he presses into with no hesitation and equally no resistance on your part, the force of his thrust pushing a moan from you. His hands tighten around your hips and he moves, the hard and fast pace rendering you almost speechless. The only sounds that fill the room is the rhythmic slap of his hips against your ass as you do everything in your power to hold yourself upright and take everything he gives to you.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Casey come around the bed and your mouth salivates when you realize he removed his swim trunks, his cock on display, hard and perfect. You whine, wanting to reach out to him but the way Matt continues to rail you forces you to keep your hands on the sheets.

“You look so pretty being fucked like this,” Casey praises and you watch as his hand comes up to stroke his length causing another whine to vibrate in your throat.

“I think she wants you, Case.”

“You think so?”

“She’s looking at you like she’s starving,” Matt jokes, a huff of laughter mixing with his own moans as his pace slows down, giving you time to catch your breath and attempt to compose your thoughts.

“Is that it, baby?” Casey questions. “You want a taste?” You once again give a firm shake of your head, your eyes wide and pleading as you look up towards Casey. The only thing he gives you is a quirk of an eyebrow and you realize what he was waiting for.

“Please, Casey. Want to suck your cock, make you feel good,” you beg, your desire throwing any previous restraint out the window.

You see his eyes dart to Matt and you once again silently curse the way they seemed to communicate without even speaking. One of Matt’s hands disappear from your hip, trailing up your spine before coming to wrap around your throat. You gasp as he lifts you, pulling your torso upright, your hands disappearing from the sheets.

Casey makes use of the extra space now opened for him and climbs onto the bed, kneeling in front of you. You try to keep eye-contact with him but this new position has each of Matt’s thrusts hitting even deeper and you can’t stop your eyes from rolling back as he continues to pound into your pussy.

“Absolutely fucking beautiful,” Casey mutters, a hand coming up to trail his fingers down your jawline before grasping your chin. You feel the pad of his thumb press against your bottom lip and you open your mouth willingly.

Casey doesn’t wait before slipping the digit in and you moan at the salty tang of his skin. You suck, your tongue dancing around him, giving him insight into how good your mouth could make him. It seems to work as a groan falls from Casey, his eyes intently watching you as you continue, silently begging him to give you more.

Your movements are stopped when you feel Matt’s fingers descend from your throat down your chest before pressing into your clit, a moan erupting causing Casey’s finger to fall from your mouth.

“Fuck,” you curse, the additional sensation pushing you closer to the release you could feel building deep in your lower stomach. Your eyes dart back to Casey, staring into his as you attempt to gasp out the words you wanted to say.

“Pl-please,” you whimper, the only thing you were able to utter. It seems to be enough for Casey who once again takes your chin in his hand, holding your mouth open for him. He spits onto your waiting tongue and you moan at the feeling, the action turning you on in ways you didn’t think possible. Your moan is quickly cut off by Casey capturing your lips in his, his tongue lewdly exploring your mouth as you whimper against his lips.

He finally breaks away, the hand that was supporting you disappearing, causing you to fall forward once again, once again catching yourself with your hands. The position, however, makes you perfectly in line with Casey’s length and you look up at him with pleading eyes before he speaks again.

“Open up, sweetheart,” he commands and you gladly do as he says, sticking your tongue out in anticipation.

You feel Matt’s movements still behind you and you can’t help but whimper at the loss but are also grateful for it at the same time. It allows you to focus entirely on Casey; the way his hands feel tangling into your hair, the weight of his cock as he taps it against your tongue a few times before sliding into your mouth.

You moan around him, feeling the silky skin, the firmness of him in your mouth almost too good to be true. This entire night felt too good to be true. You let your tongue move against him, tracing every vein you could find, worshipping him the best way you knew how. Your movements were not taken for granted as you hear the cascade of moans fall from Casey’s lips.

“Fuck, you’re so fucking good at this,” he praises, the words causing your pussy to flutter around Matt, still poised deep inside you.

“Oh, you like that, don’t you baby,” Matt’s rough voice sounds out and you moan again as he punches his hips forward, pushing you further down on Casey’s cock. “Like being told what a good girl you are, huh?”

Your only reply is another squeeze of your walls around him, your spine arching as you press back against him, another silent plea. Both Matt and Casey read your desperation with the insane ease that you should come to expect but it still takes you by surprise as they quickly fall into the perfect rhythm, one of them almost completely removing themselves as the other pushes in, placing you in the center of the most mind-numbing pleasure you’ve ever experienced.

The moans do not stop as their pace increases and all you can do is stay as still as possible and let them guide you. You gladly, happily, surrender your power to them, letting them take what they want, their combined words of praise fueling you forward.

So perfect for us. Such a good girl, letting us use you like this. Sweetest little thing.

It only takes a few moments before you feel Matt’s movements start to stutter, his pace faltering. You lift on hand to Casey’s thigh, putting enough pressure against his skin for him to understand and pull away.

“Matt,” you whine, your head turning to look at the man behind you, his hair falling into his face, his abs tight with the effort. “Please. Give it to me.”

Your words have their intended effect, his hands gripping your hips so tightly you are sure there are going to be bruises in the shape of his fingerprints there tomorrow. He fucks you crudely, the force of his thrusts rattling through your entire body.

“Yeah?” he growls, all sense of restraint evaporated like water in the sun. “Want me to cum in this perfect cunt? Want me to fill you up, huh?”

The only word that forms on your lips is ‘yes’ which you repeat over and over again as Matt continues his brutish pace, the filthy sound of him pounding into you echoing around the room. Your fingernails dig into the strong muscle of Casey’s thigh in an attempt to ground yourself. The feeling of Casey’s hand brushing through your hair is enough to pull your very divided attention back to him, if only to mouth at the base of his cock, not wanting him to feel neglected.

The sight of your lips pressed against Casey must have been enough for Matt as he thrusts into you one final time, his hips stilling, a long deep moan rumbling from his chest. You let out a similar moan at the feeling of his cum spilling inside you, the warmth of it causing your core to clench around him, your body almost desperate for every single drop he could offer.

Both of you stay still for a moment, catching your breaths, Matt’s head falling to rest between your shoulder blades. The weight of him draped over you makes you desperate, your own orgasm still hovering on the edge, not quite satiated. The new lack of movement only exacerbated your hunger and it isn’t long until you push your hips back, grinding against Matt.

You feel the chuckle vibrate against your skin before Matt lifts himself off of you. You hazard a glance back at him and see that bemused smirk on his face.

“What is it, darling? What do you need?” he teases and you curse, the now lack of his own desire making him more in control and therefore almost cruel.

“Matt, please. I’m so close,” you whimper, your hips still rolling against him. You feel his hands resume their original positions on your hips and you think he’s going to give you what you want but he instead stops your movements, pulling out of you slowly. A half-whimper, half-sob wretches itself from your lips at the loss, your pussy clenching around nothing.

“Don’t worry, darling,” he coos. “I’m sure he’ll let you cum soon.”

Your brain is so hazy that it takes you a moment to fully register and understand his words. You gasp as Matt manipulates your body again, pulling you down to the edge of the bed and flipping you over, your back hitting the sheets. He grins down at you before leaning forward capturing your lips in one final kiss before he removes himself completely. You watch as he disappears behind a door, most likely to the accompanying ensuite and that’s where your eyes remain until a soft touch on your thigh pulls you back.

Your eyes dart over and your heartbeat quickens at the sight of Casey standing in front of, his sculpted body looking like something out of the Louvre. His fingertips ever so lightly graze up and down your thighs and your legs naturally fall open in response. You can see his eyes darken as he takes in the sight of your ruined cunt, Matt’s cum leaking from you.

“Look so pretty like this,” he murmurs as he drinks in the sight of you and his passionate gaze reignites the goddamn blaze that he set in you all those months ago. His hand dances up your thigh once more, the barely-there sensation making your muscles quiver. The tremble pulls a smirk onto Casey’s lips as he holds you underneath his gaze.

“I always had this fantasy,” he purrs, his voice dripping with ecstasy, “ever since I first saw you, about how you would look on top of me. Riding me nice and slow.”

The image appears in your head and now you want nothing more than to make his fantasy a reality. The desire sends another tremor through you, which causes Casey to laugh.

“But,” he continues. “I don’t think that’s realistic for tonight.”

“There’s always next time,” you whisper, a little bit of uncertainty creeping back into your voice. An uncertainty that is immediately silenced by Casey surging forwards to pull your lips into his. Your arms lift to wrap around his shoulders, holding him close as he makes out with you, pouring what feels like every ounce of passion into you, your cup overflowing with his adoration. He breaks away from your lips, his forehead pressed against you, those stunning blue eyes staring into your soul.

“Next time,” he whispers and you smile, pressing a gentle kiss against his lips again.

Casey eventually pulls away, lifting himself fully upright, his hands dropping to your thighs again. You let him lift your legs, placing one around his waist and lifting the other even higher before resting on his shoulder. His head turns to gently mouth the delicate chain of the anklet you have wrapped there, the softness of his lips against your skin sending another shiver through you.

He does drop that leg to join the other and you hook your ankles behind him as he grips your hips, pulling you closer to him. You feel his cock slide against your soaked folds, a whimper falling from you as he nudges your clit, once, twice, before he is reaching down and aligning himself with your center.

The simultaneous moan that falls is nothing short of pornographic; his in response to you wet and tight around him, yours in response to the feeling of his cock stretching you open and hitting spots you didn’t realize existed. He pushes deep inside you until you are flush against his hips and you whimper at the feeling of being so completely filled.

“Such a perfect fucking pussy.” Casey punctuates his words by thrusting into you again, any breath you had left escaping your lungs in a whimper. Slowly, almost painstakingly, he picks up his rhythm, every press of him inside of you leaving you keening for more.

If Matt was a jackhammer, Casey was a chisel, chipping away your control little by little. His body falls forward to cover yours, his arms bracketing either side of your head as he continues to roll his hips into you. Your arms reach up to his back, fingers tracing over the scar tissue that dotted his skin, feeling his muscles rippling beneath, a testament to his strength.

You can feel your lower stomach tightening, your orgasm building with each pass of his length against your g-spot, leaving you whimpering underneath him. Casey captures your lips in his again and you arch up into him, leaving almost no space between your bodies.

He is all encompassing; the sight of him, his scent, the taste of his lips, the feeling of him rocking deep within you. You are so enveloped in him that you don’t register the hand disappearing from next to you, only to reappear between your thighs. Your lips from his with a shriek as he presses his finger against your clit, circling it and sending you hurtling towards the edge.

“Come on baby,” he whispers, his own voice strained. “I know you can do it. Be a good girl and cum for me. I want to see you cum for me.”

His gentle encouragement coupled with his movements is all you need for your orgasm to hit you with the force of a tidal wave, crashing through your body as a strangled cry rips from your throat. The feeling of your release pushes Casey over the edge as well, his hips faltering as he stills. His cum spills inside of you and the sensation of it – of him pulsing against your walls – has you succumbing to a second smaller orgasm, right on the heels of the first. 

Casey almost collapses on top of you, his hand sneaking beneath your head to pull your lips to meet his. You deepen the kiss, your own hands clinging onto him, your tongues clashing as you stay wrapped up in each other.

“Fuck, that was hot.”

The deep voice that echoes around the room has you breaking away from Casey, both of your gazes turning in the direction of the sound to spy Matt standing in the bathroom doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist.

You can’t stop the giggle that comes at his admission, your playful utterance in turn pulling a laugh from both men. The feeling of Casey’s hand brushing the sweat soaked strands of hair away from your face is enough for your eyes to return to his, a gentle smile on his face.

“Enjoy your summer night, sweetheart?” he asks, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. You pretend to think, your gaze lifting in contemplation as you mull the question over.

“It was alright,” you reply, the teasing edge of your words obvious. “Although, I would’ve liked to see one of your guys’ heads between my thighs.”

Another laugh falls from Casey and Matt at your chirp, a quiet mutter of ‘insatiable’ falling from Casey’s mouth. He lifts himself away from you before pulling out of you, the sensation causing you to wince slightly, a reaction that is quieted by Casey’s soothing hand rubbing circles on your knee.

You hear Matt’s footsteps wandering across the floor and feel the mattress sink underneath his weight as he sits above you. You look up at him, his eyes darkened with renewed interest as his hand trails down over your face to graze against your lips.

“I’d like to feel your lips on me as well, darling.”

“Well, there’s always tomorrow morning,” Casey says and you catch the amusement in his eyes. “What do you think?”

“I mean,” you say, drawing the words out in jest. “I did say I wanted a memorable summer. Think you two can help me with that?”

You watch as Matt makes eye contact with Casey and you can a matching pair of devilish grins appear on their faces before they both fix their gaze back to you.

Yes. This… was going to be a summer worth remembering.

tagging two of my babes. first C (@comphy-and-cozy), happy birthday babe! and secondly Em (@texanstarslove) because some other fics, this all began with an idea i sent to her ages ago that snowballed into this masterpiece.

[pleaseeeimjustagirl]

Reinvent Yourself In 2024

The new year Is almost here and it is time for us to lock in on our goals babes! This upcoming year is a fresh start so whatever has happened this year that hasn’t benefitted you can be left behind and what was beneficial we will take into the new year. I know many of us are on self-improvement journeys and working on connecting with our higher selves. This is my guide to help us reinvent ourselves<3

Takeaways from this year 

♡ Reflect on this year. Did you face any hardships? What growth did you have? Have you made any new friends? Write down how your year has been so far and the takeaways from this year the good and the bad.

♡ Look back on your goals. What goals did you set for this year and did you achieve them? If you didn’t achieve all your goals it is okay to take them with you into 2024 if they align with your higher self.

♡ Accept this year for what it was. This year has happened and maybe it did not go the way you thought it did or maybe it did but either way come to terms with what has happened this year release it and go into the new year with a clean slate.

What does your higher self look like?

These are important questions to ask yourself when trying to reinvent yourself. The person that you want to become who is she? What does she do for a living? Where does she go? What does she eat? What are her hobbies? Who are her friends? I advise that you write down an outline of your higher self answer all of the questions and add anything else that you think of. Script out her daily habits and schedule. You can write a paragraph or more it is all up to you babes<3.

Setting goals for the new year

♡ Write out your goals for the new year. Be specific are you trying to lose weight? Learn a new language? Get your driver's license. Go back to school? Whatever your goals are big and small just make sure to write them out and make sure they are realistic and attainable.

♡ Create a vision board. Vision boards are super important it is always good to have a visual of your goals and higher self. You can create a physical vision board using magazines/printed-out images and craft supplies. Or you can create a digital vision board using Canva/Pinterest. Keep your vision board in a place where you will see it every day my vision board is on my MacBook because I use it every day I'm using it right now to type this post so ill have my goals always in front of me.

What you need to let go of 

♡ Scarcity mindset. Believe in yourself and your goals. There is enough room for everyone to be successful even you! You can read my blog post on how to have an abundance mindset for more details<3.

♡ Social media. Take a break all of that scrolling isn’t healthy. Social media can take up a lot of our time without realizing it. If you can, look at how much of your screen time you spend weekly on social media. 

♡ Learn to enjoy your own company. "This year is all about your personal growth. Sometimes, we tend to use other people as shields to avoid facing reality and to feel safe. However, you need to learn how to enjoy your own company. Try out different hobbies until you find the ones you like and enjoy.”

♡ Negative self-talk. You have to be your biggest cheerleader this year. So learn to speak kindly to yourself through affirmations and gratitude journaling. When you have a negative thought about yourself combat it with two nice thoughts. And remember when you are being mean to yourself you're being mean to the child version of you.

♡ People pleasing. This year is about you babes! Put your waist and needs first. Stop people pleasing at the cost of your comfort. To achieve greatness you need to put yourself first. I'm not saying to be extremely selfish no of course not. But do not do things that make you uncomfortable to make someone else comfortable.

♡ Friendships that do not serve you. If you are in a friendship that is toxic or you feel undervalued and do not see the benefit from the friendship end it now. Do not take people who do not align with your higher self into the new year they will drag you down. Don't completely ghost the person but surely distance yourself and move from friends to more acquaintances.

♡ Masculine Energy. We need to rest in our femininity this year. And felinity looks different for everyone aesthetically but I'm talking about resting in that soft energy and letting our femininity ooze out this year.

My final thoughts  

♡ There will be people and habits that you will have to leave in 2023 and that is okay 

♡ Be kind to yourself! Talk to yourself with love this year and focus on bettering your mental health. If you need to go to therapy invest in therapy, read the self-help books, and have fun this year don’t be super strict on yourself.

♡ Be very intentional this year about where you go, who you hang out with, what you eat, and so on.

You can start planning for the new year now if you haven’t already we have a couple of days till New Year's Eve (12/31 my birthdayyy i’m turning 21 im super exciteddd). I'm so happy to be going into the new year with you girlies and I can’t wait to see what this year bring us<3.

New year book recommendations

♡ “The 12 Week Year” by Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington. I highly recommend this book helps us break our year into 4 quarters so you can effectively achieve your new year goals.

♡ “The Mountain Is You” by Brianna Wiest I've recommended this book in my You’re Postponing Your Dream Life blog post. This book is perfect for anyone dealing with self-sabotage I've been reading it and I love it the author opens you up to a different view of self-sabotage. 

♡ “Atomic Habits” by James Clear is the perfect book for any of my girlies who want to be able to build and maintain habits. I highly recommend it because the habits that our higher selves have are usually habits we don’t have in this book, the author teaches you how to accomplish more by doing less.

♡ "How to Survive Your Childhood Now That You're an Adult: A Path to Authenticity and Awakening,” by Ira Israel this book is for my babes who have childhood trauma and would like to heal those wounds in the new year. The author explains how to let go of negative habits, thoughts, and behaviors that may have developed in childhood.

[transformation4life]

Dungeons and Jocks

Suggested by: @sivfenrir

Gregory slammed another book down on his apartment table. It was another book for his upcoming DND campaign with his friend Louis. It was quite heavy for his scrawny body but he somehow managed to carry it all the way from the library. He was going to be a wizard artificer for the campaign over discord call and wanted to learn as much as he could before properly getting into it. Gregory opened the book and began to look through the pages. The nerd he is absorbed all the information quite quickly and before long landed on a very peculiar page... "Make what you wish come true! A spell of a lifetime for your campaign... Huh..." Gregory was very intrigued.

A spell to make what you wish come true is quite a bold claim from a book from a random library and a nerd who was quite a nerd. "Alright I'll guess I'll try this totally real spell!" Gregory didn't believe it would work so he recited the spell with a hint of sarcasm. "drhs drhs drhs drhs drhs ivzo ivzo ivzo ivzo!!" Gregory chanted the spell right then and there. "Now let's see if this worked... I am rich!" "..." "Haha... as I thought," Gregory was unphased, but just as he was about to go to the next page a notif popped up on his nearby phone. Louis: Hey dude, time for our DND session hop on discord! It was Louis!

Gregory: Alright hopping on now! Gregory quickly made his way to his room where his computer was located and hopped on call. "Yo Louis wassup?" "Oh... hey... I'm... okay.." Louis had a melancholy tone to his voice. "Is... something wrong dude?" "Yea... mind if I vent before the session?"

"Oh, sure what is it?" "It's just these guys that were bullying me..." Gregory felt a chill in his spine.

"P-People were bullying you??" "Yea..."

"What were they? Who were they?" "They were these... high school jocks. Large ones t-too. B-Based on their size they easily went to the gym everyday," Gregory felt more tingles. Gregory's body was beginning to change. Gregory began to gain an extreme growth in muscle like he worked at the gym everyday because well he did. Massive pecs, big biceps, and meaty thighs were some of his greatest features. Gregory's changes didn't stop though as his mind became warped and his past began to change. Instead of being a nerd he was always a jock. Bullying all the little guys More obsessed with muscle than school or anything else. That's when reality snapped back to the new jock Gregory. "H-Huh? What am I doing here? Where's my bros??? And why is this shirt so tight?" The new gregory looked around his room and saw all sorts of nerdy shit that repulsed him. How did he get here and where are his bros??? Louis didn't notice the change in Gregory's behavior and kept going. "A-And I think one of them was bald??? How much steroids did that they take??" And in one fell swoop all of Gregory's hair fell off leaving him completely bald. "I'm pretty sure all they wore was tank-tops with how cocky and self-obsessed they were..." Gregory's shirt began to remold itself into a gym tank-top and Gregory's mind suddenly become self-obsessed, immediately giving his left bicep a kiss.

"At least i got you with me!"

Louis continued on.

"They were total jerks. They piss me off just thinking about it!" Gregory stopped loving himself immediately. He recognized who was speaking. It was Louis the Louiser! Why was he talking to a twink ass on some messaging service. He'd rather beat him up directly than on some app. Gregory was ready to destroy the computer but then... "I wish they were like you, my best friend... kind, nice, nerdy like me." Gregory's mind changing again. He was still a bit of a jock but still spent time to nerd out with Louis and would protect him with his massive size and play DND all the time too!

Gregory paused right before he was about to punch screen as his anger dissipated into a cocky grin.

"Right you are, you're glad to have a friend like me haha!" Gregory's new voice gave a hearty laugh "Oh wow Gregory, your voice sounds different than I last remember..." Louis asked in a shocked tone.

"Whatcha talking about? Always been sounding like this ever since I took the steroids remember. I just had to get PUMPED! GRAHH!" Gregory did a flex with a grunt making Louis jump in his seat on the other end.

"W-Who are you and what you have done with Gregory?" "Come on bro it's me Louis. Your good old pal. We play DND remember?" Gregory turned on his webcam.

"See? It's me! Don't you want to give my bicep a kiss like old times?"

"W-Who is this?! You're not Gregory you're more like a Greg!" Gregory or rather Greg paused for a moment before smirking. "Yeah you're right! Sorry 'bout that. My name is Greg! But come on bro don't remember your lovable nerdy big guy best friend?" Greg flexed again.

"I-I'm still not convinced... I'm going to your house in person...." Louis immediately left the call before Greg could even say "See you later bro,"

Louis arrived to Greg's apartment and knocked on the door expecting the same twink he's known since elementary to open it but nope... it was "Greg" "Hey bro! Good to see you!"

"How did you- When did you-" Louis was in a gay panic.

"Lots of hardwork and steroids bro. Remember. Come on let's talk on the bro-couch!" "W-When did you take your shirt off?"

"Took if off before you got here bro. Needed to let my muscles breathe you know?" "U-Um,,, o-okay,,," Louis's words were barely legible

"Anyways bro let's go to the bro-couch pronto. We can talk like we always do. As bros!" Greg turned around not a moment sooner abandoning his shorts leaving him in just his underwear.

Louis cautiously entered the apartment. It looked about the same as he last saw it but there was a lot more... bodybuilder. There was still all those awards from math bowls but there was also some trophies from competitions. Louis continued to look around while Greg grabbed a huge can of Whey Protein before sitting on the bro-couch. "Want some?"

"N-No thanks..." Louis sheepishly declined

"Your loss," Greg opened up the container and ate the protein powder raw. "Delicious! Anyways whatcha wanna talk about bro?"

"Isn't it obvious? How you became THIS?" Louis blurted out.

"We were supposed to be doing a DND campaign but instead you became a meathead!" Greg's mind changed again.

"Yuppppppp that's meeeeeeeeeeee!" It looked like Greg had no thoughts and only thought of muscles as the math bowl trophies began to disappear. "But at the same time you do seem like my best friend..." Greg got hit with his old intelligence and stopped drooling.

"Yea bro! We'll always be bros! Now come on let's DND!"

"Okay fine, but put some clothes on!"

"Alright bro, alright!" With Greg walking off to get changed.

Greg returned in a tank top and some shorts flexing as he entered.

"Let's do this bro!" Louis almost forgot how hot Gregor- Greg was now.

"Alright alright, let's do this!" And so the buff nerd Greg and the twink nerd Louis did their campaign with Greg's character being a buff as hell Jock wizard artificer with magic and muscles on their side. It was a grand ol' time and Louis finally let this be the new Greg. Luckily for Louis the chant that Greg made was wearing off making this Greg permanent. It's a good life being a large and in charge jock and nerd.

[animebw]

Seasonal Reflection: Winter 2024 Anime

My feelings on the first anime season of 2024 can be summed up thusly: Most of my favorite shows from winter 2024 were continuations of shows that were already great from last season, not new entries. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and there were plenty of new anime I at least enjoyed watching. But it became clear about halfway through the season that aside from a couple fall 2023 holdovers, there was barely anything truly exciting going on here. Most of the adaptations I watched didn't do much to truly elevate their source material, and most of the few original series we got ended up the worst of the bunch. I can't say nothing good came out of winter 2024, but if this is any sign of how the rest of the year is gonna go, we may be in for a slog. For now, though, let's take stock of the anime I watched this season, and which ones are worth your time.

Metallic Rouge: 3/10

If you asked me what the worst show I finished this season would be at the start, I never would've guessed Metallic Rouge. I mean, it's a cool-ass original sci-fi anime from Bones with slick 2D mecha animation, surely that's gotta be at least a little cool, right? Sadly, no. Because this is, without question, one of the most baffling scripts I've ever seen in anime. Almost every single detail of its world and plot are barely explained, if at all, and the mechanics of what's even supposed to be going on are so nebulous that every attempt at a plot twist feels like a twist on something that never actually existed. Characters are plopped into the story without even an introduction. At times it feels like whole scenes have been cut out entirely. The only thing I can compare it to is the original Suicide Squad movie from 2016: a story so cut to the bone in the editing room that you can barely tell what's supposed to be happening half the time, and yet enough of the original story remains to suggest it was never any good in the first place. The one thing it gets right is the prickly chemistry between its two leads, and then it fucking keeps them separated for like half the damn runtime! How do you even unforced error that badly?

Bucchigiri: 3.5/10

Man, this was not a good season for original anime. Bucchigiri might not have been as staggering a writing trainwreck as Metallic Rouge, but its sin is arguably even worse; it's boring. It's a wacky, colorful high school delinquent romp with rainbow-haired Jojo's punks beating the snot out of each other with genie powers, it's sort of a re-imagining of Aladdin, it's got freaking Hiroko Utsumi at the helm, and it's boring. Why? Because this show gets absolutely stuck in the quicksand of its own status quo and refuses to budge an inch. Character growth is nonexistent, the protagonist is an aggravating loser wimp who never learns his lesson, and nothing of actual meaning happens from the first episode to the end. Literally everything you think is setting up a character arc where someone learns a lesson or grows as a person, all of it amounts to nothing. It's a limp, inert world that perpetuates the same overdone jokes and contrived, misunderstanding-based drama over and over again until all the outsized Utsumi visual personality feels like a tacky coat thrown on top of a lifeless corpse. What an utter waste.

Urusei Yatsura Season 2 (1st Cours): 5/10

I'm still not quite sure what to make of the Urusei Yatsura remake. is it charmingly dated? Annoyingly dated? A welcome throwback or a sign that some things should stay in the past? If nothing else, it never fails to get at least a couple chuckles out of me every episode. But the more it tries to lean into being actually sincere, the more its inherent cheesiness and lack of depth starts becoming a problem. I'm sorry, this cast of characters is just too abrasive and purposefully insane to take seriously, and none of their relationships are healthy enough to unironically root for. Lum and Ataru are not a couple I want to see actually get together, at least not unless Ataru stops being such a fucking shithead. And if him being a jackass could be charming in season 1, then this season is really starting to test my patience with him. It's one thing to be a serial skirt chaser, but his actions this season regularly cross a line from womanizing to unambiguous sex pest, and there's only so many wooden mallets he can get knocked over the head with before it stops feeling like like he's getting punished as much as he deserves to be.

Undead Unluck (2nd Cours): 5/10

Good news, everyone: Undead Unluck finally gave up on those awful groping gags that were ruining its central romance! Bad news: at the same time, it spontaneously developed one of the worst cases of recap padding I've ever seen! I'm not just talking overlong recap segments at the start of the episode, I'm talking constant flashbacks to events we just saw just moments before, straight up playing the same footage again just minutes apart, all climaxing in a truly unforgivable episode that spends seven goddamn minutes on recycled footage. Not even Tokyo Revengers was this bad with its time-wasting. And to add insult to injury, once it finally gets its feet unstuck and returns to a reasonable amount of recap for the final arc, it's probably the best arc of the entire show! It's some of the most bonkers high-concept emotional storytelling I've ever seen attempted, let alone pulled off so spectacularly. It's proof that there is so much brilliance to Undead Unluck, if it could just get out of its own way. But as long as it continues suffering from such massive systemic flaws, it's only ever going to be an also-ran.

Solo Leveling: 5.5/10

Okay, look; is this show dumb as a bag of rocks? Absolutely. Is it as nakedly an adolescent power fantasy as any anime has ever been? Ditto. Does it solely exist for dweeby incels to feel like swaggering douchebag chads getting revenge on all the normies who looked down on them by becoming The Bestest Strongest Chadliest Awesomest Of All Time? You know it. But god dammit, it's actually fun. I cannot pretend I'm too mature and sophisticated to enjoy a big, helping heaping of dumb edgy schlock when it's actually done well. I'm the one person on the face of the earth who still caries water for Akame ga Kill, for crying out loud. And Solo Leveling makes two really smart storytelling choices that keep it (mostly) on the entertaining side of dumb fun: building a genuinely interesting and intricate world that exists well beyond the scope of the protagonist's actions (for now, at least), and making sure that no matter how stupidly overpowered Jinwoo gets, his opponents are always just a little bit even more stupidly overpowered, so he's still pushed to his absolute breaking point and barely scraping together a win by the skin of his teeth every time. There is an art to edge that's too often taken for granted, and this show is proof that being the living embodiment of a twelve-year-old boy's wet dreams is no excuse not to be at least a decent version of that. That said, let's be real, Jinwoo was so much more attractive before his supposed glow-up. Give my boy back his scraggly rat locks, you cowards.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern: 6/10

What happens when a campy, cartoony 70s-style super robot anime crashes headfirst into a much grittier real robot anime? Well, what happens is Bang Brave Bang Bravern, the latest ten-car pileup of mismatched genres from the Cygames masterminds behind "What if horse racing but idols?" Take a desperate war story of survival against impossible odds, airdrop a skyscraper-sized superhero into the mix, and watch him completely shatter the original tone one cheekily ironic powerup and power-of-friendship speech at a time. It's a beautifully bonkers sendup of mecha tropes that has some of the funniest individual moments in this entire anime season, and the absolutely wild twist it pulls with the titular robot's identity in the back half is more than worth the price of admission on its own. Unfortunately, if it wanted to be as perfect a parody-until-it-isn't mecha series as Akiba Maid War was a parody-until-it-isn't mob flick, it probably should've tried being as long as most mecha series tend to be, i.e. more than just twelve measly episodes. There's just not enough time to develop any of the characters or world beyond the most essential parts, resulting in huge chunks of the supporting cast hanging around with nothing to do but take up space. And it leads to this show, which is trying to be so big and over the top, instead feeling so small and half-formed. Also, the secondary romance is gross. Like, really gross.

A Sign of Affection: 6/10

I think this show has helped clarify something for me: I'm really getting tired of how quickly modern romance anime get their main couple together. As much as we rag on the endless will-they-won't-they of ages past, taking so much time to build up the characters and their relationship before they finally make it official can result in some truly one-of-a-kind storytelling when done right. I might agonize over how long Sawako and Kuronoma take to get together in Kimi ni Todoke, but the payoff is so transcendent that none of those complaints matter. Whereas Yuki and Itsuomi getting together so quickly in A Sign of Affection... I mean, they're cute, I guess? His cool demeanor plays off her sincerity very well? But it feels like the show's in such a rush to get to the good stuff- and so determined to make Istuomi the dreamiest, most perfect boyfriend ever- that it skips over so much of the careful character-building that makes all the best anime romances so special. It's a sugary sweet confection, but wipe the frosting away and there's just not that much cake underneath. Honestly, I find the side characters a lot more interesting because they're allowed to have messy internal conflicts with a bit more meat on their bones. But hey, props for putting a deaf heroine at the center of your shoujo romance and taking so much time to explore how that affects the way she interacts with the world. That's a cause well worth celebrating.

Sengoku Youko: 6.5/10

Rejoice, everyone, we finally have an adaptation of a Satoshi Mizukami work that doesn't look like absolute garbage! After the flaming disaster that was Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's barely animated hackjob production, Sengoku Youko has arrived to give the cult fave manga artist a chance for his work to actually shine on the silver screen. As someone who only knows him through Planet With, I've always wondered if Mizukami deserved the reputation his manga gets, and with White Fox delivering as tight and intense a production as they gave Re:Zero, I guess it's time to finally find out. And the answer is... mostly? Like, the biggest problems in this sci-fi/feudal fantasy mashup are the characters being a little too eager to state the themes out loud and one pretty crummy death that's about as hamfisted and over-telegraphed as I've seen in a while. But there's a shockingly gripping narrative underlying it all, a story about the scars trauma leaves on people, of characters making bad decisions and facing real consequences for them, of hatred and poisonous ideology forced to reckon with the more complex reality of the world as a whole. And it all climaxes in an absolute barn-burner final episode that knocked my score up a half point all on its own. If future seasons can make good on all the potential this first season has set up, then I may just end up a Mizukami fan myself when all is said and done.

Blue Exorcist Season 3: 6.5/10

I'm of two minds about Blue Exorcist's second return after a six-year gap between seasons. On one hand, it's clear the new staff is just nowhere near as talented as the folks who first brought this series to life at A-1 Pictures. The action is abysmal, the storyboarding is clunky, and the animation feels like it's constantly fighting for its life to maintain a passable standard. And it sucks that a series that once brought such great life to its story is now held back by such a mediocre production. But on the other hand... holy fuck, am I glad Blue Exorcist is back. I once described The Devil is a Part-Timer as the mathematical average of anime as a concept, but if you were to ask me what the best possible version of that mathematical average looks like? It would be Blue Exorcist. This is, hands down, one of the best straightforward shonen action stories in the whole medium, a reminder of why all the most generic and overused tropes were once powerful enough to become generic and overused in the first place. It's proof that even the simplest of "superpowered teens kick demon butt with the power of friendship" concepts can result in a wonderful goddamn series when handled with good old-fashioned storytelling fundamentals. And not even the rough-as-hell production is enough to keep season 3 from delivering on the thrills, tears, laughs, and cheers that make this series so magical. Just, please, give the next season more time in the oven so it doesn't feel like it's wading through molasses to hit those heights. Okay?

Delicious in Dungeon (1st Cours): 7/10

Delicious in Dungeon's biggest problem is that it takes a while to really settle into itself. The opening scene of the protagonist's sister being devoured by a dragon sets the tone for an intense and desperate rescue mission, but the actual series that follows this harrowing opening is as lackadaisical as can be. And it's jarring to be thrust into a gag-filled, character-driven fantasy cooking comedy where the harsh tone of that opening scene and the ticking clock of Falin's digestion completely disappear from the characters' heads in favor of how beast to cook and eat the various fantasy monsters they encounter in the dungeon. Yes, it makes a little more sense once the mechanics of death and resurrection are explained later on, but it's a weird note to start on. Which is a shame, because once Delicious in Dungeon gets a handle on what kind of story it's trying to be, it's really fun! Its sense of deadpan comedy coupled with Trigger's expressive animation makes for some really unexpected gags, and the way it explores its fantasy cuisine is genuinely some of the most creative stuff I've ever seen in the cooking anime genre. Plus, with the dark tone coming back in at the end of the first cours- and landing much more naturally this time- I have high hopes for how this series will marry those two sides of itself moving forward. If the manga fans' reactions are any indication, I think we're in for a damn good time.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2nd Cours): 8/10

So remember in my last post how I said that it was kind of disappointing whenever Frieren turned into an action show because of how disconnected the fights were from the beating heart that makes this show so special? Well, apparently the writers heard me and decided what I meant was I wanted this peaceful, meditative tale about grief, change and the passage of time to turn into the goddamn Hunter Exams for ten episodes straight. It's one of the most shockingly ill-advised storytelling swerves I've seen in an otherwise good show, discarding all this series' strengths in favor of a half-baked tournament arc with tonally jarring grimdark elements and a bland, overstuffed cast of characters who only start becoming interesting in the rare moments they're allowed to stop slinging spells at each other and just, like, talk about life? You know, the stuff that Frieren's actually good at? Not this brainless slice of shonen envy that only avoids being a complete slog thanks to how spectacular the action is across the board? Ugh. Look, Frieren is officially the most beloved anime on the goddamn planet right now, and its best moments are so incredible that I wish I could join that chorus as well. But it's so disappointing to me that a show this singular and special has so often chosen to be the least interesting version of itself.

The Dangers in My Heart Season 2: 8.5/10

It's official: director Hiroaki Akagi is the master of middle school rom-coms. No other creator so perfectly grasps the specific blend of immaturity, awkwardness, cringe, and heart-on-sleeve sincerity that defines the love stories of early adolescence. That was already clear with his work on Teasing Master Takagi-san, but now that he's pulled it off twice, there's no room left for argument. And just like with Takagi-san, the second season of The Dangers in My Heart takes a show that was already shockingly good and catapults it into all-time greatness. This is a coming-of-age triumph, a soaring tribute to embracing your own cringeworthy self, flaws and all, and sharing that self openly with the people who matter most to you. Ichikawa's journey toward maturity, Yamada's journey toward self-love, and the way their romance sparks the best in both of them is the stuff that dreams are made of. I laughed, I cried, I squealed like a little girl, and I felt my heart grow three sizes by the time it was done. This is a new gold standard for anime rom-coms, and if you can stomach a bit of groanworthy fanservice, it more than deserves your attention.

The Apothecary Diaries (2nd Cours): 8.5/10

Most of the time when I cover a two-cours show on these seasonal reflections, I end up in a pretty different place by the end of the second cours than I did at the first. Either it sort of fell apart in the second half, or found its footing and took it to the next level, or it changed in some interesting way that affects how I view the show as a whole. But The Apothecary Diaries has stayed the course from the first episode all the way to the end. Start to finish, it's remained pretty much the same show, with the same ideas and attitude, exploring the same themes in the same ways. And you know what? When you're as good as The Apothecary Diaries ended up being, there's nothing wrong with that. This is a spectacular historical drama that builds such a rich, compelling world for its equally rich, compelling characters to inhabit. It's a powerful exploration of how old society treated the disadvantaged- women, poor people, people with all severities of disability- and how one deeply abnormal girl carves her way through this viper's den with her body and soul intact. It's the kind of mature, thoughtful series we so rarely seen done this well, and with the announcement of a season 2 already confirmed, we may well end up with close to 50 episodes when all is said and done. That, folks, is what a true shoujo/josei renaissance looks like. And I'm so happy such a deserving series is leading the way in reminding us how damn good women's stories can be when they're given a chance to shine this brightly.

DROPPED

Cherry Magic: Dropped at 2 episodes for looking like butt and the central romance feeling pretty lifeless.

High Card Season 2: Dropped at 1 episode because I realized I didn't care anymore.

Ninja Kamui: Dropped at 2 episodes for being dull tryhard edgy bullshit with overdone fight scenes that are impossible to follow.