#and it's not actually 24 hours since I started counting yet!

[whump-and-suffering]

...Huh. Don't think I've ever sneezed 50 times in a day before.

I'm normally not a sneezy person at all, I've just got such a sneezy cold...

[sapphosclosefriend]

- Money, Power, Glory pt 5 -

Pairing: CEO! Silverfox! Natasha Romanoff x Escort! Fem! Reader

Genre: smut, fluff, a little pining??

Summary: your Christmas vacation with Natasha couldn't start off in a better way… Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Word count: 5.2k

Warnings: top! Natasha x bottom! R, Natasha has a penis, big age gap (N=56, R=24), very brief drinking (N), SMUT, anal play (R receiving), butt plugs (R), anal sex (R receiving)

A/N: this story contains smut so anyone who isn’t 18+ DNI. I already have something in mind for the next part, but after that I still don't know how it will go…anyway, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and happy holidays!!! As usual, likes, reblogs and comments are very appreciated! Enjoy ♡

Masterlist

To say it was cold was an understatement and soon a part of you regretted getting out of bed, despite the turmoil of emotions that plagued your mind any time you stopped for more than one second and got the chance to let your thoughts run free.

It had been weeks since that one beautiful weekend in Cuba and Natasha’s words still echoed clearly in your head.

“You make me wanna be perfect.”

You didn't care about her being “perfect”, she already was, but the thought of Natasha caring about what you thought of her made you feel special, deep down. You made sure not to bring up the topic if not prompted by her, though. You remembered very clearly the uncertainty in her beautiful eyes as she had said those words and, despite the reassurance you had tried your best to give her once she tried to apologize for her confession, you knew she still wasn't completely confident with the things she felt with you.

After her confession, for some time, asking you to spend more than a couple hours with her, something you had done almost as soon as you got to know each other, had started to feel almost overbearing to Natasha. It was her instinct immediately screaming at her to run away, just like usual, but the deal she had made with herself pushed her to try her best this time around. So she ended up doing what had plagued her mind for hours to no end, she asked you to spend Christmas with her. She knew it wasn't a holiday you particularly liked to spend with anybody, so she hoped there could've been a remote chance of you possibly agreeing to spend it with her.

She honestly didn't like how, deep down, she was starting to feel something extremely close to desperation at the prospect of, by chance, spending the day alone, yet again. It usually wouldn't have upset her too much, but this year she felt herself being more emotional than usual, thanks to the tumult of emotions you had been making her feel, which is why she knew that doing her usual trip to that place would've been so much harder than usual…

But luckily enough for her, you said yes and spared her heart an ache she really wasn't looking forward to feeling.

You didn't know what you were expecting when she said she'd bring you to a special place she liked, but a gigantic, wooden mansion in the woods wasn't exactly what you anticipated. At first it didn't really feel like something that would fit Natasha’s character, but when you thought about it a bit more, it was actually the perfect place for someone like her. Yes, it was still incredibly luxurious and slightly over the top, like the strong, stone cold CEO everyone knew her to be, but the quiet nature surrounding it, completely void of the chaos of the city and any people, felt like the real Natasha, the quiet, almost slightly shy one you had gotten to know in private.

You knew she had worked nonstop right until you had left, so you were pretty sure she would've appreciated what you had planned for your first day of vacation.

As soon as you got to your destination and she had given you a brief tour of the beautiful place, you were in her bed, not to do anything scandalous for once. You had barely given her the time to get in the bedroom before you were pushing her on the soft mattress and getting to work to give her the best massage you could, trying your best to relax her tense muscles at least a little bit. Thankfully, it had definitely worked because not only was she moaning the whole time in a way that you could barely ignore by the end of your little session, but she was out for a good three hours as soon as you finished your job.

You wanted nothing more than to bask in her relaxed beauty as she soundly slept next to you, but her calmness almost immediately lulled you into a delicious slumber as well.

You had unfortunately woken up from your nap all alone but you thankfully found her quite easily, despite the extremely large building you were still unfamiliar with.

You immediately missed the warmth coming from the cracking wood in the fireplace as soon as you stepped foot outside. Despite someone having taken care of the previously fully white hangout area right outside of the living room, there were still traces of snow over the large terrace as you shakily crossed it to reach Natasha. Maybe you underestimated the weather a bit too much and you definitely shouldn't have gone out only in sweatpants, uggs and a sweater but it was too late to change now, you needed to be with her.

She was leaning over the railing, facing the frozen lake a couple of feet away from the house while she lazily smoked a cigarette by herself. You had strangely never seen her smoke, but the lighter always sitting on the coffee table in the terrace back at her home suggested she sometimes indulged herself in it. She heard you way before you were able to reach her and, by the time you were by her side, she was already welcoming you with open arms, waiting for you to sneak in front of her to close her coat over the both of you.

"You're gonna freeze to death, detka."

Her murmured words and her voice, still slightly raspy from sleep, warmed you up just a little as you sneaked a hand out of its warm spot to snatch her cigarette and take a drag, appreciating even the small traces of warmth on your fingers from the end burning. Your breath, mixing with the smoke in the cold air, created a thick cloud in front of the two of you as you gave her back her cigarette.

"You should stop."

A sense of déjàvu seemed to suddenly hit Natasha as you repeated the words she'd heard from every single one of her wives. But the usual hints of annoyance she expected to feel at the thought of someone trying to tell her what to do surprisingly never came, leaving her only with the faint need to grant your wish and prevent you from worrying for her.

“If it'll make my sweet girl happy, maybe I will.”

“My”, that word hit you so deep and kept echoing in your mind over and over. How good did it sound, the idea of being Natasha's girl, of being the one next to her in life. It must've been even colder than you thought for your brain to get lost in such thoughts once again. You promised yourself you wouldn't give them air, yet there you were, melting in her arms at such simple words she probably didn't mean in such a deep way. Ok, maybe she did mean them in the exact way you were hoping…

You admittedly couldn't stop thinking about her, the deeper and deeper feelings you had for her plagued your mind all. the. time. And the only thing that reigned in your head every second of every hour was pure, emotional chaos. You knew you had to decide whether you wanted to try to pursue her in a less…professional way, but you hated to admit that you didn't know if you were brave enough to do so. You were still technically working when you spent time with her and hiding behind your job admittedly gave you a small sense of reassurance while you tried to get a grip on your spiraling thoughts.

You hated the fact that you were making her wait, you still hadn't given her a sign as clear as hers that you reciprocated the way she felt for you, and you knew that, if you waited for too long, your chance would've slipped away.

You didn't even really know what caused your stupid hesitation and you hated yourself for it. You could only do what felt the most fitting lately and tried not to think about it for too long. And the beautiful woman pressed right against your back, despite being the cause of your dilemma, at the same time easily gave you the perfect distraction any time you needed.

“It would…tho, I've got to admit, you're so hot when you smoke, jesus christ!”

You used the pretense of the icy weather to hide most of your face behind her warm coat, but she immediately noticed your genuine shyness behind the action at your spontaneous admittance. It warmed her heart every time you left some appreciations slip and got embarrassed for it. She only chuckled at your words and finished the rest of her cigarette in silence, soaking in the calmness from simply being in each other's presence.

As soon as she was done smoking you couldn't help but turn around in her arms, hugging her under her coat and breathing in her intoxicating scent from your warm spot in her hold. Your not so sneaky kiss on her neck as you hugged her could only make her need to feel your lips on hers and, lifting your chin with her index finger, she finally lost herself in a soft kiss. For once, you managed to lazily make out without your clothes immediately ending up scattered everywhere and you had to admit that you loved the tender, yet still passionate, moment just so much more than you expected. You gladly would've spent the rest of the day frozen in that moment, but you knew that, if you didn't stop yourself, you were the one who would've ended up frozen to death. And you wanted to live long enough to at least show her what you had ready for her…

“I have a surprise for you”

You barely managed to break the kiss to murmur the words against her lips and the small glint in her eyes made your stomach flutter like crazy.

“Another one? You're spoiling me, pretty girl.”

She seriously had to stop calling you all those names or else you were sure you wouldn't have been able to handle being called anything else ever again.

“I'm barely repaying you. You do so much for me.”

You felt your cheeks slightly warm up at your own words and the way she sweetly kissed your lips as a response certainly didn't help. You felt some of your confidence come back, though, once your mind went back, once again, at what the rest of the day would've been.

“Now, how about you go get comfortable on the couch, relax a little and wait for me? I'll be quick, I promise.”

“Yes ma'am.”

She smirked as she muttered her words, knowing that was the most you could manage to boss her around. She was more than happy to comply, though. Not only was she actually curious of what was to come, but she knew she would've done basically anything in her comfort zone to make you happy.

So she did just what you said. She made herself a drink, sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and patiently waited for you to finally come back to her. She barely had the time to get herself lost in thought, before the sound of your footsteps got closer and closer to her. The white fur trims were the first things she saw once you rounded the corner and, as soon as your full figure graced her eyes, a playful, yet genuine, smile broke out on her face.

You had decided to do something a little more playful, and got yourself a red velvet mini dress with white fur trims at the bottom of the skirt and the top of the cleavage. If you had to be honest, you didn't even mind it, the dress itself definitely wasn't on the cheap side and you actually felt quite pretty in it. You also knew that Natasha liked something a bit different from time to time, so the thought of making her happy was most definitely a big plus.

“God, detka! You only get prettier, don't you? “

Despite your innocent facade you had purposely put on, your big smile and brief giggle were the most genuine thanks to her words. You couldn't help but lean over, giving her a perfect view of your cleavage in the meantime, to give her a quick kiss on the lips as a way to thank her.

As you turned around to move towards an armchair near the couch she was sitting on, she noticed the small pouch bag you'd been holding behind your back the whole time and couldn't help but grow curious as you got something from it. Leaning over to get the object you were looking for, the short skirt rode up your thighs deliciously, barely covering your center. Natasha knew she would've ended up leaning her head down to get a peak of what was hidden from her if you didn't straighten your back once again. And the initial, very brief, disappointment, immediately got replaced, once again, by anticipation as she intently observed your every movement. Gosh, you were driving her crazy while barely doing anything…

You held the mystery item behind your back the same way you were doing before with the bag and made your way back towards her, stopping in front of her. Natasha could immediately notice the mischievous nature behind the tiny smile you were trying to hide. She was starting to grow restless and she would've almost jumped on you if you didn't start talking.

“You've been very very good this year and I think you deserve a nice reward!”

She didn't utter a word as she waited for you to finish. Curiosity was eating her up, though, and sitting still on the couch, with you standing in front of her, your beautiful body perfectly on display for her, was getting harder by the second.

Thankfully, you easily got her attention as you showed her what you had behind your back.

“But first, you need to help me out with something.”

Your innocent voice and the glass candy cane that was hanging from your index finger, something most definitely void of any innocence, created a contrast that Natasha immediately felt in her pants. She had long given up by then, knowing that even the smallest thing you did or said could've easily gotten her riled up in a matter of seconds.

Her full attention was soon back on you once you'd gotten a secure hold of the candy cane and licked its tip before slowly pushing it into your mouth, stopping only once you had gotten down to its curve. Natasha couldn't stop a low groan of hers at the sight and unconsciously gripped her own thighs as to control herself once you leaned down. Your raised eyebrow and your eyes moving from hers to the toy made her understand what you wanted her to do. Your hollowed cheeks as she slowly pulled the candy cane out of your mouth, helped her pants feel even tighter and your pop once she fully pulled it out made it even worse.

Before she could make sure to calm herself down a bit, though, you turned around and leaned down a little, resting your hands on your own knees. Your new position made the skirt of your dress ride up dangerously and, soon enough, Natasha was finally able to fully see your surprisingly exposed center. She could only hum from the beautiful view of your already glistening core.

“Go on, put it in.”

Your words finally pulled her attention back to your face, as you now tried your best to look back at her. Happy to comply with your playfulness, she immediately went to push the end of the glass toy, now wet from your spit, into your pussy, but your giggle made her stop her movements as her smirk fell.

“Not in there, silly!”

She was at a loss for words and, thinking it was all a dream, she had to make sure she understood you correctly.

“Are you sure?”

You just smiled and nodded as a response and, seeing her still stuck in place, you wiggled your ass a little to get her attention back to her task in hand. Natasha took a deep breath to try to get a grip on herself. She knew that the tent in her pants was only destined to get worse in a matter of seconds.

Once she finally pushed the glass toy into the tight hole of your ass, she couldn't help but loudly curse. Your soft moans as she very slowly pushed more and more of it inside of you were already driving her crazy. Not wanting to go too fast she stopped herself once the straight end of the candy cane was around halfway inside and admired the amazing view in front of her. She could see how you unconsciously tried to squeeze your legs together as you softly whimpered from the different, yet extremely good, feeling.

As soon as she noticed her free hand getting closer to her own pants almost as if on its own, her attention was back on you. You slowly started to move back and forth over the glass toy Natasha held still in her hand and, the thought of possibly feeling her cock inside of you instead, surprised you with a loud moan of your own. Despite the toy's girth being quite alright, you soon found yourself needing more. You wanted her, you needed her. You could also hear Natasha's breathing getting a bit quicker partly thanks to her own hand now massaging herself through her pants.

So you pushed down one last time and, once you reached the curve of the candy cane, making the older woman groan at the lewd sight, you fully lifted yourself off of it with a breathy moan. The toy left a small opening once it left your hole and Natasha couldn't stop herself from imagining what it would’ve looked like if it was her cock you had fucked, instead. In that moment, the need to manhandle you on all fours to fuck you until you couldn't remember your own name hit her stronger than ever since you had known each other. But she did her best to hold herself back to find out what you were planning to do next.

The older woman was partly thankful once you moved away to rummage through your pouch bag, giving her some time to catch her breath and quickly finish her drink in one go. Once you got back, she knew it was all in vain, though.

Of course, the first thing she noticed was the butt plug you were holding that you had covered with lube. How could it not be? She had to admit it took her a couple of seconds to snap out of her trance as she admired you once again standing in front of her, this time offering the new toy to her. Once she was finally able to move a muscle and grab it, you turned around and leaned down like before, waiting for Natasha to do what you silently asked her to. The cold metal on your skin slightly made you jump in surprise as she moved the tip over your hole to get some lube over it too. Feeling her applying a bit more pressure, you tried to relax as much as you could, but couldn't hold back a whine as she gradually pushed more and more. Natasha's low cursing kept gracing your ears and only made you more eager to please her. You held your breath as the widest part pushed past your ring and, just like that, the rest slipped in almost as if on its own, making you yelp in surprise.

You giggled at your own reaction and, looking back at her, you found her eyes still on your center as her hands gently moved over your cheeks. Natasha couldn't believe how much she was being affected by everything you were doing and the sight of the red stone on your tight hole and your pussy now most definitely wet, were starting to make her twitch in her own pants. You still hadn't explicitly said if you wanted her to fuck you, so she made sure

to make the most out of the beautiful view in front of her, definitely more than enough for now.

You unfortunately put a stop to it to stand back up, taking a deep breath and turning around to face her once again.

“Much better!”

Your smile was filled with fake innocence as you leaned down to kiss her on the lips and whisper to her as if you were telling her a secret.

“I'll wait for you in the bedroom”

You barely had the time to leave the living room before she was catching up on you and following you towards the bedroom, shamelessly admiring your exposed thighs. She couldn't stop thinking about what was hidden under your skirt and her anticipation kept growing bigger and bigger with every step you took and every gentle sway of your hips.

You wanted to treat her to a night all about her, and you also selfishly wanted to do it because you liked it too, but she apparently was more needy than you made her out to be.

As soon as you got into the bedroom and you tried to make her lie down to properly worship her body, she was pushing you to stay under her instead. The way she had manhandled you and her slightly flushed cheeks as she hovered over you, made your center spasm around the plug still inside of you, drawing a moan out of you. She couldn't waste one more second, her cock was almost painfully hard and the sight of you lying down under her, with your skimpy dress and your legs open, were making her, if possible, even more eager to have you.

Seeing her frantically taking her pants and underwear off all while looking at your core made you pathetically whimper and you couldn't hold yourself from moving your own hand downwards to gently rub your clit in the meantime. You both knew you wouldn't have been able to indulge yourselves in any foreplay today, so you let her climb on the bed, between your legs, as you made yourself comfortable, ready to let her do whatever she wanted to you. But, before you could lay your head on the pillows, she made you turn around and pulled your ass up, making you kneel on all fours before her. You could barely breathe, she was always the one in charge during your sessions, but this was a slightly different side of Natasha you still hadn't met, unfortunately.

She ran her hands over your ass cheeks once again, lifting your skirt while doing so, before gliding her palms over the small of your back and upwards. Once she got to your shoulder blades she gently, yet purposefully, pushed until the side of your face was pressed against the mattress and your ass was in the air. You could see her admiring you from the corner of your eye and after a few seconds she leaned down a little to get closer to your face.

“Can I take it out, detka?”

Her soft voice was so much different than her actions and it made your heart flutter. You could only eagerly nod and whisper a small “yes, please”, after which she immediately straightened her back up, kneeling behind you, and took a deep breath before taking a hold of the end of the plug. She gently pulled on it, making you gasp at the incredible feeling, and gradually pulled it out. Natasha couldn't help but moan at the sight of your ass stretching over the largest part of the toy and the need to feel you got almost unbearable.

She made sure to get a hold on herself, though, wanting to make the experience as comfortable as possible for you, and thoroughly lubed her cock.

“You ready?”

As soon as you answered positively, she positioned her cock against your ass, trying to calm down her breathing in the meantime.

Your mouth opened in a silent moan as she slowly pushed the head of her cock inside. It felt overwhelming yet not nearly enough at the same time and you didn't know whether you wanted her to stop or give you more. She wasn't even halfway inside when she stopped moving for a little bit to let you get used to it and, in the meantime, admire once again the way your ass tightened around her.

She couldn't believe how good you felt around her even without moving at all and she ended up having to focus on your beautiful face to distract herself while you got more comfortable. Your eyes were closed while you grasped one of the pillows for dear life and your lips looked even more tempting than usual as you shakily breathed through them. She would've gladly leaned down to kiss you with all the lo-care she had, but she wanted to wait for you to be more at ease.

“Please, move”

Your small, trembling voice that finally graced her ears after a bit, sounded heavenly to Natasha, who, taking a hold on your hips, slowly pulled out a little, before pushing back in, gradually going just a little deeper each time. She basked in the blissful sounds you were making and, once she settled on a regular pace, she finally left herself get lost in the pleasure. You finally got to hear her guttural moans as she fucked you still at a quite slow pace. You were sure there couldn't have been a more beautiful sound in the world and you would've gladly done anything to listen to it all the time.

Natasha's hold on your hips kept getting tighter and tighter, almost to the point of it being painful. You knew she was holding back and while at first you were thankful for it, you were once again feeling the gnawing need to feel more of her.

“Oh shit”

Natasha couldn't help but curse under her breath once she started feeling you pushing back against her every thrust, and your loud moan as you tightened around her once again did nothing but drive her wild. You tried to look back at her to admire her beautiful face of pure bliss and, once her eyes met yours, you couldn’t help but moan and move a little bit faster, making her movements quicken as well.

You settled on a steady pace and, while it satisfied you for a bit, you soon found yourselves needing more and more and more. It seemed like it was never enough.

You were desperate to feel each other cum as soon as possible, but, at the same time, you didn't want the blissful moment to end.

After a bit, sensing both of your orgasms approaching, Natasha pushed as much of herself she could inside of you, staying still for a couple of seconds and admiring you as you tried to hold yourself upright. You could barely breathe, if you thought she felt big while fucking you, you were wrong.

Once she finally pulled out, she graced you with a loud groan as you collapsed on the bed. Your and Natasha's heaving was the only sound in the room as you tried to recover as much as you possibly could.

You only noticed the tear that had escaped your eye once she gently wiped it with her thumb, before leaning down and kissing your cheek so softly you barely felt it.

“Are you ok?”

She barely pulled away to whisper her words, lowly speaking as if to make sure no one else could hear her. You only nodded while looking at her beautiful face and basked in the feeling of her hand gently running up and down your back.

“Do you wanna keep going?”

This time your nod was more eager, despite your energy starting to run low, and before she could ask you again, you made sure to confirm your desire with a firm “yes”.

As soon as you complied, she once again kissed your cheek and helped you turn around, letting you lie on your back to face her. She looked so beautiful, even more beautiful than usual, if that was even possible, and you suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling tugging at your heart at the sight of Natasha softly smiling down at you. You almost wanted to cry, but before you could get even more emotional than you apparently already were, you caressed her cheek and leaned up to deeply kiss her on the lips.

As you kept languidly making out, she ran her hands over your thighs as she settled between them and made you open them as much as you could. Once she broke the kiss, she leaned her forehead against yours and pushed her cock back inside of your ass, making you whimper at the even more intense feeling thanks to her closeness this time.

Thanks to the orgasm you both were about to reach just minutes before, you soon found yourselves settling back into a regular pace, gradually growing quicker by the minute.

You couldn't hold back another whine when Natasha straightened her back to stand on her knees, putting some distance between the two of you you admittedly hated deep down. But her hold on your waist as she resumed with a fast pace and her other hand moving to your clit, easily clouded your mind once again.

She was making you once again get closer to your peak incredibly fast and as much as you tried to hold it back for as long as you could, knowing that she was equally close to cumming, made you get even more lost in the highest pleasure you'd ever felt. She looked like a straight up goddess as she breathed hard through her mouth with her eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes roaming every snippet of your figure she could, made you feel like you couldn't be blessed by anything holier in your life.

You never wanted her to stop gracing your eyes and ears and skin. You wanted, no, needed her at all times and the moans that you couldn't hold back were unfortunately the only thing you could offer her back.

You could feel it coming, oh how sweet was your peak going to be, like no other in your entire life.

There it was! It was coming to the surface! No no no no, it wasn't a moan! Why couldn't you stop it!

“I love you!”

.

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Part 6

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Tags: @fxckmiup @natashasilverfox @dmenby3100 @marvels--slut @dvrkhcld @elenimoris @mrsrushman @mrsromanoff @thalia-is-not-ok @alianovnasposts @clintsupremacy @taliiiaasteria @meowymari @lissaaaa145 @natashaswife4125 @olsenmyolsen @angrywhisperslove @aemilia19 @setsuna1415 @letsboandy @mrsromanovaa @wizardofstories @karsonromanoff @scarlettbitchx

[becca-e-barnes]

The Study

Not only is this the start of my 'Moving In' series, I'm also calling it my birthday piece! I turn 24 on Tuesday and I'm trying hard not to think about the fact I'm overdue a quarter-life crisis.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 2.7K (oops)

Warnings: Pleasure Dom!Bucky, sub! reader, spanking, use of a vibrator, forced orgasms, kinda Dom vibes but totally consensual, degradation, safe word system but safe word not used, pet names

Summary: Bucky spends the weekend at your new house and you take him on a tour.

Minors, do not interact

Turning the key in the front door still feels odd. One of the very first changes you made to the house was installing a new locking mechanism on both doors and it hasn't had a chance to stiffen up yet.

The smell of paint is starting to dissipate but it hits you hardest when you open the front door. The hallway was one of the last areas of the house to be redecorated so the smell seems to be most noticeable right at the door.

"Damn, this place is deceptive." Bucky's remark makes you smile to yourself while you hang your jacket up. "It's a whole lot bigger on the inside than I thought."

"It surprised me too. All of the rooms are a nice size."

The house had ticked so many boxes for you. More than two bedrooms in a quiet development, a low maintenance garden, off road parking, a downstairs bathroom and the whole house has plenty of potential. The plan isn't to live here forever, after all. It should be easy enough for you to sell when you decide to move on.

You flick a few lights on in the hallway and toss your keys into the bowl on the hall table before you turn your attention back to Bucky standing in your living room. Despite the fact you hadn't removed your own shoes, he's taken his off, leaving them neatly at the doorway of the living room beside his travel bag.

He's respectful of your space; he always has been but it's nice to just have him in your space. It's nice to have him be part of it.

He walks slowly around the little living room, looking at the few ornaments and picture frames you'd collected. "That's cute." He's looking at a picture of you and your best friend, sitting on the floor of your old kitchen, laughing yourselves to tears over the fact your Christmas tree was three inches tall and cut out from the back of a cereal box. The photo brings a smile to your face every time you see it.

"Are you hungry? You've had a long day." You move over behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist and kissing his back through his clothes while he looks at your pictures on the fireplace. He's had to travel for a few hours just to get here so you imagine he's bound to want something.

"I'm okay for now." You nod at his response, taking in the fact he's actually standing in your home.

The time you have with him is limited. That's how this works but for just less than two days, he's yours. After that, he'll go back home so you've learned to make the most of the time you have with him.

"Help yourself to whatever you like. Kitchen is down the hall." You don't even really want to move but you can't stand like this forever.

He turns in your arms so he's facing you and captures your lips in his. It's a soft, slow, gentle kiss; the kind you've been dreaming of since you last saw him. You need him to feel exactly how much you've missed him without having to tell him.

The kiss lasts for minutes, far beyond its natural end but neither of you care.

After what feels like forever, your lips part but your foreheads stay pressed together, both of you determined not to pull away.

"I still haven't gotten the grand tour." He's got the most beautiful eyes and they're locked on yours to the point that you'd almost forgotten he's never been here before. "But I want to start in your favourite room."

"Well, the study is my favourite. I converted one of the bedrooms into an office space."

"Show me."

You don't protest. Instead you head out of the living room and up the stairs to the furthest end of the hallway, with Bucky following closely behind you.

"These all used to be built-in storage units around a headboard for a bed. I took all the doors off the cabinets and made it into shelving." You'd turned the room into a space that you love. The walls are painted a light shade of cream with houseplants lined up between books on the shelves. Instead of storage around a headboard, you now have book shelves, arching around your desk. The other side of the room has a sofa that converts into a bed for extra guests and there's a beanbag in the corner by the window to read on.

"I see why it's your favourite. Odd mix of books here though." Bucky's eyes flick over the titles, ranging from your collection of political figures' autobiographies, the 'Diary of an Oxygen Thief' trilogy, the selection of books providing commentary on the criminal justice system and a good few classics.

"It is. But I like this room. It'll be cosy in winter once I get some fairy lights and nice and bright in summer. Somewhere to unwind." You're thinking out loud as you reach up to close the window and that's when you feel Bucky step behind you.

"I think we should celebrate." Bucky’s voice is low, his lips trailing up the side of your neck, heading towards the spot just behind your ear that he's always loved to kiss.

"I think..." He stops briefly on his path, taking a second to inhale deeply, determined to slow down. "I think we should make love in every room of your new house this weekend."

Fuck.

"Are you sure you're up for that? Because I can really stretch it out. I'm not sure how we're going to make it work in the pantry or the downstairs bathroom but I'm happy to try."

"Your 'pantry' is a cupboard." Bucky's breath is hot on your neck, and you feel his lips have curled into a smile.

"I know. You promised every room though." You can't help but tease him, although you're half serious. It's not your fault that you're keen. Not when he's kissing down your neck like that and holding your waist so your back is flush against him.

"You're a handful." You feel his fingertips graze the bare skin of your waist and you remember how nice it is to just be touched the way he touches you.

"I might be a handful but I can promise if I have my way, after you leave here on Sunday, you won't even be able to think about cumming again until Thursday at the very earliest."

"Jesus, that's one hell of a promise." He turns you around to face him and you notice his eyes are damn near twinkling with excitement.

You've got all weekend together; there's no need to rush but you can't help the overwhelming need to feel him sliding into you. That's when you feel closest to him and it's the closeness you're craving more than anything.

Your hand cups the side of his face, your thumb tracing across his freshly shaved jawline and you allow yourselves a second to just be together.

He smells familiar. The heat of his body against yours makes you feel safe. He makes you feel safe.

"I want to start with you though. I brought you a little something." He kisses your lips gently and smooths a hand down over your hair before he retreats downstairs to the bag that he'd brought a few changes of clothes in.

He returns with a small cardboard box with the tape on one end already cut.

"I didn't have time to wrap it. It arrived last minute." You're so busy trying to get into the box that you hadn't even noticed.

Inside the box are a few instruction manuals, a thin white cord and a black satin pouch. Inside the pouch is a neon pink toy that's thicker at each end, narrow in the middle and nicely curved.

"I've already charged it and paired it to my phone. This end slips inside you." He points to the thicker end, studying your face to make sure you're okay with this.

And why wouldn't you be? This is pretty damn close to a dream come true.

"Remember what you said last time I saw you? You wanted me to spank you. Maybe we should take it a little further." He's always been hesitant to do anything that would hurt you and that fact is the very reason you want him to. You know how much he wants to protect you and knowing he cares about you has you convinced that he's the right person to explore this with.

"Please." You whisper, beyond excited at the thought of getting everything you've begged him for. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking about you bent over this desk with this inside you and we'll start off with a couple of light taps to that pretty ass." He presses the button on the narrow part of the toy and it give a short buzz, coming to life in his hands.

Fuck, you're into this man. You're into his hesitation just as much as you're into his willingness to try something new.

"Traffic light safe word system. 'Red' and I'll stop, 'amber' and I'll give you a break, 'green' to keep going." He wants to be fully sure you know you're in control here, not that you ever had any doubt.

You nod and stretch up on your tiptoes to kiss him, this time with as much passion as you can manage. Your hands run through his hair while his trail over your body, your tongue flicking gently against his.

Just being around this man makes you wet, not that you'd ever admit that to him. Even the thought of him has you throbbing with arousal so now that he's here in front of you, your whole body feels like it's buzzing.

He touches you like he can't get enough. He can't get you close enough and it's beyond thrilling to be the subject of his need.

It's almost embarrassing that you get yourself worked up so easily but from the hungry look in his eyes when you undo the button of your jeans, he doesn't seem to mind.

You step out of your jeans and panties and Bucky helps you out of your top and bra, leaving you naked in your study.

"Look at you." Bucky sounds like he's almost in awe, no matter how many times he's seen you naked.

He kisses you again, matching the same passion he'd had earlier, trailing his hands over your soft, warm skin until his fingers are nestled between your thighs.

"Fuck, you're soaked." His fingertips trail between the folds of your sex, gathering the wetness he's responsible for. "Good girls don't get this wet at the thought of being spanked. You know that, don't you?"

You're almost too turned on to even respond to him. "Bend over. I want to see how well you take your toy."

You do as you're told, bending over your desk while Bucky drops to his knees behind you to slip the toy inside you. You feel him trail the thicker end of the toy against your slick cunt, gathering enough wetness to let it slip inside you comfortably.

Within a minute, the toy comes to life inside you and there's no way to stifle the moan that catches in your throat.

Not only is the internal part vibrating at a low, delightful buzz, the other end is pressed right to your clit and is stimulating it at the same strength.

"Did I say you could make a sound?" Bucky quizzes, sounding harsher than ever and when he gets no response, his hand comes down on your ass with so much force that it makes you yelp.

It was a hell of a spank and you can feel heat blooming under the skin of your left cheek, quickly followed by another spank to the right.

"For the record, you can make as much noise as you need to. But only because I've told you that you can. You see the difference?"

You force yourself not to nod and it has the effect you were hoping for. Two more harsh, painful spanks are delivered, one to each cheek, the same as before.

You don't know if you imagined it but the toy inside you feels stronger. You can't be sure if you're just focusing on the pleasure over the pain or if Bucky really has turned it up.

"Does that feel nice, sweetheart?" He needs to know you're enjoying this because a little part of him is surprised at just how much he's into it. He gets to control both your pleasure and your pain because you want him to and the trust alone is enough to get him off.

"Feels amazing, fuck. Making such a mess." Stringing sentences together isn't easy but you swear you're about to cum already. Your nipples rub delightfully against the wooden desk and you swear every sensation is heightened.

"I wish you could see the mess you're making. Looks fucking delicious." He turns the toy up ever so slightly but that's enough to send you spiralling, gripping the edge of the desk as pleasure ripples through your entire body.

You can do nothing but sob, cumming relentlessly because he's refused to turn the toy down. Even after you're done, he keeps it at the same intensity, moving on like nothing happened.

"You say the sluttiest things. That promise of yours to totally drain me. Who says shit like that? So fucking filthy."

"I mean it. I want every drop of cum you can give me. And then more." You know saying something like that will earn you another spank and it does.

"You're not just acting like a slut. You are a slut. You spend your life hiding it from everyone else but you can't hide it from me." A shiver runs down your spine. You almost feel like you've been caught. Like he's figured you out and now you have nothing left to hide. "Say it."

It's a clear instruction but saying it makes it real.

Your hesitation earns you another sharp spank, heat prickling both your face and your ass at the same time.

"Don't make me tell you twice." For someone hesitant to slip into a dominant role, he's absolutely nailing it.

"I'm your slut." Your voice is less steady than you would've hoped but the words at clear at the very least.

"My slut?" He almost sounds like he can't believe what he heard.

"Yours. Your slut." You repeat, wishing you could see his face.

"Oh sweetheart, that's cute." He means it too. He turns the toy up as a reward and even though it's only at half its full strength, you can't help but cum again, pleading your way through another blinding orgasm.

"Such a good girl for me. That's it. Cum nice and hard. Give that slutty little pussy what it needs." He lands one more harsh spank on your ass and you swear it only makes you cum harder, to the point that your legs are shaking.

But all of a sudden, the sensation stops completely.

"B-Bucky?" You ask, turning around to look at him, wondering if something went wrong.

"Don't want to wear you out, sweetheart. I think that'll do for now." You agree that it's probably a good place to stop and you have no problem taking the toy out for a while.

He pulls you in close, resting your head on his chest, letting you catch your breath while he holds you and kisses your forehead.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" His voice is soft, hoping that you'll tell him the truth.

"No. It was perfect." You smile, capturing his lips in yours, hoping to relieve some of his fear. You're almost giddy with excitment. It truly was everything you needed and you fully intend to thank him for it before the weekend is over.

"Good. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would." He's back to the gentle, tender touches that you're so used to from him and it's a blessing that he can flick so effortlessly between both personas.

"How about we order in and stick a movie on?" He suggests, kissing the tip of your nose. "Go put on something comfortable. I'll find a takeout."

[confessionsofatvjunkie]

2.5k

~~~

Eddie isn’t stupid. He knows he’s an attractive man, he notices the looks he gets when he goes out in public. Putting on the uniform only makes it worse. He can’t count how many times he’s been hit on while actively trying to save someone’s life. It’s flattering, it really is, but there’s a time and a place for that, and asking for someone's number while they’re trying to splint your broken leg isn’t it! 

Ever since he managed to screw things up with Marisol so spectacularly, everyone at the firehouse has been asking when he’s going to get back out there, and since he doesn't have an answer for them, he just jokes it off and changes the subject. It’s not like he wants to be alone forever, especially with Chris being in Texas and the ample free time that’s left him with. Of course he’d like a partner. He just doesn’t want it to be so much work. 

Which is probably how he let Buck talk him into going out tonight. He came up to him after their shift, throwing his giant body down in a huff on the bench next to where Eddie is packing his duffle to start a glorious 48 off of work. 

“So what are your plans tonight?” He asks, there’s something in his voice, it’s his I’ve got something up my sleeve voice, but Eddie is too tired to indulge him right now. 

“Uhh, gonna catch up on laundry, then probably order in, watch the game.” 

Buck is quiet, eyeing him suspiciously, Eddie knows what’s coming so he braces for impact, a small smile pulls at the corner of full lips, “Ehh! Wrong answer!” Buck imitates a buzzer noise as he scoops up Eddie’s duffle and heads to the employee parking lot. Eddie follows behind like a lost duckling. 

“How are my own plans a wrong answer,” Eddie asks, snatching back his duffle and tossing it in the truck. 

“Because you're going out with me tonight!” 

“No. I’m not.” 

“Yes, you are,” Buck repeats, “We have the next 24 hours free, and you’re not going to spend the weekend before Halloween doing laundry. Especially when we have to work actual Halloween and you know what a shit show that usually is. We have to celebrate when we can.” 

“But I need to do laundry, and I hate Halloween,” Eddie protests.

“Since when?” Buck asks, a baffled expression on his face. 

Eddie sighs, reaching up to push back the swoop of hair that’s fallen onto his forehead, “since my son, my sole reason for celebrating the Holiday in the first place, is almost a thousand miles away.” 

A look of pained understanding crosses Buck's face, followed by the mischievous grin Eddie has always had a hard time saying no to, “that’s exactly why you’re coming out with me tonight Eddie, it’ll keep you from sitting at home, moping over Christopher. Besides, when was the last time we were both single at the same time? We can be each other's wingmen.” 

“Buck, you’ve been single for 4 days,” Eddie points out. He’s not sure what happened with Tommy, Buck hasn’t told him yet. He would, in time, Eddie knows that, but even for Buck 1.0 a 4 day rebound period seems a bit much. 

“I’m not looking to get married here Eddie, just looking to have a fun night out with my best friend,” Buck replies, a slight edge to his voice. 

Eddie knows they can go back and forth like this for hours, but in the end he’ll give in, he always does where Buck is concerned, “Fine! God, you’re a menace, but I’m not dressing up,” he states with finality, slamming the truck door and starting the engine. 

Buck slaps the hood as he heads to the Jeep, he turns back to Eddie, “that’s easy, just wear your Uni shirt. Boom, instant costume.” 

Eddie groans and starts to pull out of his parking spot, how bad could it be, he thinks as he heads home to shower and get ready. 

***

Yep, putting the uniform on always makes it worse. 

Eddie feels several pairs of eyes on him and Buck the second they enter the dark nightclub. He capitulated, and wore his Uni shirt, but even that he did with protest. Buck is wearing a vest, no shirt, and cowboy hat. He said he ordered chaps to go over his jeans, but they didn’t get delivered in time. 

He looks good, and Eddie thinks it okay to acknowledge that. After all, aesthetics are aesthetics. Buck has really been focusing on the gym lately and all that hard work is starting to show. So Eddie is pretty sure it’s no big deal when Buck picks him up that his breath catches a little in his chest at the sight of copious amounts of smooth, even skin. That it’s fine if his eyes linger on the column of flesh laid bare between either side of the vest that draws an arrow of skin down to thick hips clad in very tight denim. It’s okay, because he’s just admiring his friends' hard work. 

This is going to be a disaster, he thinks, the music in the stuffy room already too loud. A pretty brunette in a vintage Cigarette Girl costume stops in front of them, her tray loaded down with little plastic cups filled with some black and orange substance… Eddie bends to take a closer look… jello. They’re serving jello shots, he hasn’t done jello shots since basic. 

He looks over at Buck who has already scooped one up and downed it. The muscles in his throat work around the jello as he swallows. He thanks the girl as he stuffs a couple singles in her tip cup and passes one to Eddie, “Bottoms up my friend.” 

Eddie rolls his eyes but accepts the little cup and runs his finger around the edge to loosen it, he looks up and sees Buck transfixed by the movement, they make eye contact and there’s something he can’t name in his friend's expression. But Buck, being Buck,  just smiles bigger and raises his eyebrows in an expectant manner. Eddie downs the shot, and the night goes a little blurry from there. 

***

It’s a few hours later and Eddie’s pretty much done. He’s having fun, but he’s not as young as he used to be and has definitely hit his wall. They’ve spent the night alternating between jello shots and cheap IPA’s, making the rounds to socialize with the crowd, he’s even danced a bit… and at every turn Eddie has had people asking about his “costume,” asking where he got it, then watching their eyes fill with interest when he says it’s his actual uniform, yes really, yes he’s an actual firefighter. 

He’s also had his biceps, waist, hips, and even his ass, grabbed by more strangers than he can count. So yeah, he’s done. Which he’d love to tell Buck about, but he’s still on the dance floor pressed between Lola Bunny and Maverick from Top Gun, and Eddie is stuck at the bar being interrogated by a Sanderson sister. 

“So you’re really a real firefighter?” She asks for the 5th time. 

“Yep, I’m really a real firefighter,” he answers. 

“That’s so awesome, I love firefighters, is it scary running into all those burning buildings?” 

She’s asked that already too, and Eddie is starting to suspect she’s drunker than he first thought. He really wants to go, but he’s waiting for Buck and everytime he tries to get away from her, she starts asking the same series of questions, her body way closer than he’d like. He’s trying to not be a dick because she’s not done anything wrong, a place like this is made for overindulging, close dancing, and lots of flirty, Eddie’s just not feeling it. 

He’s about to try and excuse himself for the third time when he feels a set of strong arms encircling him from behind. With as much as he’s been groped tonight you’d think he’d be on the defensive, but something about these particular arms are very familiar. Buck has pressed up behind him, arms coming around his waist in a tight embrace, Eddie barely has time to catalog  what he’s feeling when Buck nuzzles into Eddie’s neck, lips pressed against his overheated skin, and lets out a hot breath as he says, “Sorry to keep you waiting babe, the line to the bathroom was crazy long. Who’s your friend?” 

Eddie, who has yet to exhale since Buck touched him, sees confusion, then understanding spread across the young woman’s face. It takes her realization for Eddie to make his own, Buck’s helping him out of a jam. Pretending to be his date to get out of an annoying conversation. It’s absolutely something Buck would do. So why does Eddie suddenly feel disappointed?

Still unable to move, or speak, Eddie listens as the girl introduces herself and apologizes for flirting with Buck’s man. Buck chuckles good naturedly, and says he doesn’t blame her, who wouldn’t flirt with someone so hot? They share a laugh, but Eddie is still mute. Buck has released him and positioned him so that Eddie’s back is against the bar. Buck has one arm propped behind his back, caging him against the left side of his, oh so large from this angle, body. The heat that is pouring off him is making it impossible for Eddie to catch his breath.

He listens to the conversation for a few more seconds, watching as this Sanderson sister starts to look over Buck’s tall frame and nearly naked chest. The lust filled haze Eddie has been dodging for the last 15 minutes settles over her again, and Eddie knows exactly where her mind is, and he’s absolutely not here for it. Finally moved to action he raises his left hand and brings it to settle on the soft spot where Buck’s neck meets his shoulder, thumb resting right by the hollow between his collar bones, and Eddie swears he can feel Buck’s pulse pick up. 

Buck turns into Eddie’s touch, making eye contact right as the woman, now all but forgotten, not so subtly suggests the three of them go somewhere more private. Eddie hears himself reply, “Sorry honey, I don’t share,” as he wraps his fingers around the back of Buck’s neck and pulls him into a breathtaking, soul shattering, explosive kiss.  

The second his lips meet Buck’s everything makes sense. Everything. Every embarrassing flutter he felt in the locker room after baseball practice. How his love for Shannon grew out of their friendship and not any physical connection, and why being on deployment for so long was never as difficult for him as it was for his friends. Why it never could have worked with Ana or Marisol. 

He doesn’t expect to have some huge revelation about his sexuality in a dark nightclub while his best friend's tongue is halfway down his throat, but here he is, and he doesn’t want it to end, and if the hard length currently pressing into his hip is an indication, neither does Buck. 

Eddie breaks the kiss and already misses it. He rests his forehead against Buck’s, they’re quiet for a moment, just looking into each other's eyes, but those full lips of Buck’s, now swollen and kiss stung, break into a full smile, and then they’re giggling. Buck ducks his head back down and captures Eddie’s lips again in another brief kiss, capturing Eddie’s lower lip in his teeth. The sensation causes a sound Eddie is sure he’s never made to escape him, it's somewhere between a moan and a whine and it makes Buck giggle again. Buck leans into Eddie’s ear and whispers, “Take me home.” 

Buck’s loft is closer to the club than Eddie’s place, so that’s where they head. They kiss in the Uber the whole way there, lips crushed together, hands exploring everyplace that is semi proper to explore when you’re in a car with a complete stranger. Eddie know’s a part of him should be embarrassed by his behavior, he’s never done anything so bold in public before. But then again he’d never made out with Buck before, so suddenly he can’t make himself care enough to stop. 

On the elevator, while Eddie’s head is thrown back to make room for Buck to feather kisses down his throat, Eddie cards the fingers of his right hand through soft, bouncy curls and tugs gently, eliciting a soft moan from Buck, “Hey,” he tugs again to get his attentions, “hey, look at me,” he whispers. 

Buck stands to his full height and brings his arms up on either side of Eddie, holding him in place against the wall of the elevator, Eddie looks into brilliant blue eyes, pupils blown wide with lust, “Hi,” he whispers. 

Eddie smiles, “Hi,” he replies, and takes a deep breath, knowing his next question might break the spell, “should we talk about this?” 

Buck’s face is unreadable, “Absolutely.” 

Eddie nods, “Okay, so - -” 

Buck cuts him off, “Tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow?” 

“Yeah, Eddie, tomorrow. I’m sorry, if it's selfish, but I’ve waited a lot longer than I can even admit to myself for you to meet me here, and all I want to do tonight is enjoy this.”

An emotion Eddie’s pretty sure has always been there blooms in his chest and catches Buck’s face in his hands as he asks, “You have?” 

Buck turns into one of Eddie’s hand and presses a hot kiss to his palm, “Yeah baby, I have, and I know we have a lot to discuss, and figure out, but all I want to do right now is take you inside and then take you apart,” he kisses Eddie’s palm again, then the inside of his wrist, “over and over again,” Eddie shudders as the door of the elevator opens and Buck leads them into the hall. 

“Tomorrow's good,” Eddie sighs as Buck brings his lips back up to Eddie’s neck, he nips lightly and the playfulness of the moment only further ignites Eddie. They’re kissing again as they finally reach the door, Eddie has Buck pressed against the wall, taking his turn at peppering kisses over the impossibly smooth skin of his chest. Buck has one hand at the back of Eddie’s head, guiding his movement, the other fumbling in the pocket of his jeans looking for his key. 

When Buck begrudgingly breaks contact to turn and unlock the door he spots a blue and white envelope on his door mat, he leans down to pick it up, then huffs, “of course they’d come after the party is over,” he’s turning to pull Eddie into the dark loft behind him, when he see him eyeing the package in his hand curiously.

Eddie looks up at Buck, a cat that got the cream glint in his eye, “that’s the last part of your costume?” 

Buck nods, and a look he likes very much crosses Eddie's face, “Buck,” we say, voice low. 

“Yeah?” 

“Put them on.” 

Buck laughs, as Eddie pushes him into the darkness, shutting and locking the door behind them, and from that night on, Halloween becomes Eddie’s favorite holiday of the year. 

[goosewriting]

Wherever you go, I go

summary: after reader and Cal are rescued from Bracca, reader questions whether they know him at all.

relationship: Cal Kestisx GN reader

warnings: none!, a tiny bit of angst sprinkled in there but mainly fluff

word count: 4.4k

A/N: i have the Cal Kestis Brain WormsTM and they will not leave me alone sdfsdfd this follows the first part of the game on Bogano pretty closely but not to 100% 

Navigation: Part 1 (you're here) | Part 2 | Part 3

(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)

— — —

You breathe in Bogano’s humid air deeply into your lungs as you stretch your back, stepping out of the ship onto the soft grass. The last 24 hours have been wild.

Around two years ago, you had ended up on Bracca, where you met Cal. You were both around the same age and Prauf had taken a liking to you both, so he had ended up introducing you to the redhead when you were new. They showed you the ropes of the place, how to properly use the machinery and tools, and pretty much everything you needed to know to be a scrapper. 

You had been dealt a bad hand early in life; it wasn’t without reason that you ended up on a planet like Bracca after all. You were on your own, needed a job, and the bounty on your head didn’t make it easy to hide, so you had to disappear. 

And yet, after everything that happened, you can’t help but think that it wasn’t all so bad, in hindsight at least. Because after leaving behind everything you knew, adopting a new name and taking the first ship to “as far as way as possible” from your homeplanet, it was like the universe dropped you right into Cal’s arms. Or at least that’s how you liked to think about it.

Ever since then, Cal and you became pretty much inseparable. In each other you found the friend and peer you needed right then. You were both pretty secretive about your lives thus far, but you knew that if there was anyone you’d trust on that heap of scraps, it was Cal for sure.

As time went on, you grew ever closer. You ended up telling him about how you had been on the run and needed to lay low for some time. Even if he didn’t tell you much about where he was from, you knew that if he wanted to tell you, he would, on his own time. And you were okay with that. You tried not to make up your own stories about him in your head, yet sometimes you couldn’t help but wonder. Whatever backstory your mind came up with though, never in a thousand years would you have believed the truth if he had told you, which you learned later and saw with your own eyes.

You think back to how that day had started and gone by normally, everyone working on their own thing. It was only on the train ride home that you noticed how weird Prauf was acting, and he and Cal were having a talk in hushed whispers, looking around nervously. You had made a mental note then to ask the readhead what happened later on, but you’d never get to that. 

From the moment the train stopped and Stormtroopers escorted you all out to line up, everything happened so fast; the Inquisitors talking about a Jedi traitor in your rows, Cal suddenly taking out a lightsaber, Prauf being killed, the whole train chase… Your memories are foggy, and you’re not sure if it’s because you’re having a hard time wrapping your mind around everything that’s happened, or if it’s because you understand exactly what trespassed, but are unwilling to accept it. For now, at least.

Cal had somehow managed to get you out of there, falling onto moving wagons, and ushering you to go on. He fought off the scary Inquisitor lady while you cowered away. Then a mysterious ship came to your aid, bringing Cal and you to safety. 

And now it turns out this Cere person needs Cal to go to a… vault of sorts? Because he is actually a Jedi, and needs to pass a test to help her on a mission.

Truly, what a wild 24 hours it has been.

Now on the swampy planet, you somehow convinced Cal to let you tag along. You really don’t want to leave him on his own right now, and to be honest, you also don’t want to be left alone with Cere and the Latero. You aren’t even sure yet if you can trust them. This whole situation is just… too much right now.

So off you go with Cal, making your way towards the first cliff in silence, breathing in the clean air and taking in the sight. Little creatures with big eyes hop around and out of your way, looking at you curiously. As you reach a drop, Cal jumps first, helping you down. 

When your feet meet the ground, you don’t let go of his gloved hand just yet. He gives you a questioning look.

“It’s the first time in a while that I’ve been off-planet,” you remark with a smile. “It’s so silent out here. I had almost forgotten what that’s like.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while for me too,” Cal says. “It’s nice out here.”

You two just look at each other for a moment, suddenly aware that it’s the first time in a long time that you’re alone, hidden from prying eyes. And there’s also the bantha in the room of Cal being a Jedi. 

“Thank you, by the way,” you speak genuinely. “For… taking me with you, and not leaving me behind.”

“I already lost a friend,” Cal says, and you see the hurt cross his face for a moment. “I wasn’t gonna let them take you too.”

‘Friend,’ you think, and bitterly smile to yourself as Cal turns and keeps walking, without letting go of your hand though. You look at where he holds you, heat starting to spread on your cheeks. You’re painfully aware that your feelings for him have developed into more. You’re not quite sure when it started, but they were solid. And as strange as it was, Cal being a Jedi suddenly seems like the last piece to a puzzle. Everything falls into place, finally making sense. It actually suits him, somehow. And you understand why he didn’t tell you. The memory comes back of how he fought with his lightsaber, and how good he looked while doing that. You shake your head, trying to rid yourself of those thoughts. You were actually planning on confessing at some point, but that just got pushed way further into the future. There’s more pressing matters right now.

You don’t want to force Cal to talk about his past or his abilities, but you do have to talk about what your plan is. Not entirely sure how to approach the subject, you start formulating some questions in your mind, trying to find the best way to word them. You don’t get to ask him though because Cal stops at the base of another cliff, removing his hand from yours, which you miss immediately. 

“This seems like a good place to meditate,” he remarks, more to himself than to him.

“Meditate?” you ask.

“Ah, yeah,” Cal says and kneels down onto the ground. “To, you know, connect with the Force. It’ll take just a minute.” 

And with that, he closes his eyes and starts evening out his breathing. You look at him for a moment, then decide to sit on a rock a couple steps to the side. It doesn't take long and Cal’s face starts twitching lightly, his brows furrowing. Wherever he is, you hope he’s alright. 

You watch him a little longer, then avert your gaze as you realise you’re just shamelessly staring at this point. Taking in your surroundings a little better, you take note of the rocks and their curious colouration, with several shades of reds and browns between the white layers.

Suddenly you hear little, mechanical steps approaching, so you stand up and turn around, your body getting tense in a fight or flight moment. But you immediately relax as you see a curious little droid approaching the two of you. It looks at you, then at Cal, and stands in front of him, seemingly waiting for the redhead to come out of his meditation.

Cal’s breathing starts growing shallow, with the slightest of whimpers, and you want to reach out to him, asking if he’s okay, but you’re not sure if it’s safe to interrupt his meditation. So you just sit next to the droid, who gives you a look and a beep you can’t quite understand; you’ve never been fluent in binary. 

With one last pant Cal finally opens his eyes and is met with your worried gaze and the droid. 

“You good?” you ask him.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he answers, and gestures to the droid with his chin. “Who’s that?”

“Oh, he joined in earlier. Looks like he was waiting for you to react,” you explain and the beeps sound like agreement to you.

“He says his name is BD-1,” Cal translates, then introduces you both to the little droid. BD gives another series of beep-boops.

“We’re looking for someone,” Cal answers, and BD beeps excitedly. “No, not you,” Cal says with a chuckle. “We’re searching for a Jedi. I think.”

BD jumps with a series of quick beeps, and hurries off.

“Hold on, you know the Jedi?” Cal asks and stands up. “Hold on!” he calls after the droid who is running ahead, and tells you to follow him.

You two navigate through the landscape of floating rocks and cliffs, following BD. He brings you to what seems to be a long abandoned hiding place. As you have to walk over a big pipe to get there, BD arrives first, and gets attacked by a rather ugly, maggot looking creature that was burrowing underground, and you see some sparks fly. Cal rushes to his help, getting rid of the creature and its friends with his lightsaber.

“BD! Are you okay?” you ask the droid, picking him up to inspect his leg, which is pretty busted. He beeps sadly. 

Cal joins you, taking a look at the droid to check out the damage, and you can’t help your heart skipping a beat at how he’s standing behind you, looking over your shoulder, and you feel the warmth radiating off of him. BD tilts his head at you for a second but you choose to ignore it, trying to convince yourself that droids can’t pick up on that kinda thing. 

“That was pretty brave,” Cal says to BD as he takes the droid from your arms. “And hey, I can help you with that…”

He brings BD over to a workbench, quickly fixing up the mechanical leg. BD seems to run some damage analysis as he stares straight ahead, then beeps at Cal.

“The vault?” he asks. “Yeah, that’s where we’re headed, too. Let’s go.”

“Uhm, what’s happening?” you ask, following behind the other two.

“BD says we have to go to the vault. He said he knows a Jedi, so, I’m guessing that’s where we’ll find them.”

“So… BD is a friend, yes?” you question further, lowering your voice so the droid doesn’t hear you.

“Yeah,” Cal answers, looking after BD that is rushing ahead to show the way. “I hope so…”

Trying to find a way out of the place, you two squeeze through a barely open door. There’s a hallway that could be your exit, but it’s blocked by some thick cables. You’re too late to notice Cal swinging his lightsaber at them; they’re clearly sparking. Before you’re able to stop him, he gets zapped and thrown back. You rush to his side.

“By the Maker, Cal, are you okay?” you ask, checking him for injuries. 

“I- I’m okay,” he groans, as he sits up. 

You’re about to give him an earful about being reckless when BD rushes to Cal’s side, offering a healing stim canister from a little slot on his cubic head. 

“A stim?” Cal asks as he inspects the vial. Looking up at you, he offers you the object with a lopsided smile; you’ve always been the one to patch him up. 

You playfully roll your eyes at him, taking the stim and stabbing it into his upper arm. 

“That’s better,” Cal sighs, and you help him get back to his feet.

“Thanks, little droid,” you say to BD, and he beeps happily.

“Let’s try that again,” Cal mutters, and you give his shoulder a squeeze.

“Without getting hurt this time, please,” you instruct, to which he chuckles, and you let him go. But BD is now holding onto his leg, beeping. Cal lifts him up and swings him over his shoulder, where the droid settles, and you see the happy little shimmy, which internally makes you go “aaw”. It really is an adorable sight. 

The three of you continue your journey to the vault mainly in silence. Cal makes a little conversation with the droid from time to time. You can’t understand everything but it seems that BD doesn’t remember how he got here.

At one point you get to what seems to be the last stretch towards the vault. You wonder how you will get across that narrow space, which essentially is just vertical, rough walls, in mid-air. You turn to Cal, about to voice your concerns, when you see that he touches the wall, and his eyes glaze over, staring beyond the walls into nothingness.

Is he… meditating again? 

You wait a couple of seconds, but he remains unmoving. Reaching up, you give his arm a gentle squeeze. 

“With persistence…” he mumbles, shaking his head slightly, seemingly coming back from wherever he was.

“Hey, you okay?” you ask him, stepping in front of him to have him meet your eyes.

“Yeah, all good. Just remembering old tricks…” he replies.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“I just saw my… my old Master,” Cal explains with a slight shudder. “I was remembering my training, as a Padawan.”

Padawans. Jedi Masters. The Force. Those are all names you’ve heard growing up, but you never got to see one for yourself. You were too young to understand what was going on when the Clone Wars ended, but you did hear the stories. Some fantastical, others straight out of a horror holomovie.  

“Listen,” Cal speaks softly, taking both your hands in his, and your heart flutters as you look up at him. “I know this must be all so weird to you, and I promise I will explain everything. Just… I have to do this.”

“Do you though?” you counter. “What happened was awful but it was our ticket off of Bracca.” ‘We can start over again. Together’ is what you want to say, but it doesn’t seem like the appropriate time. “Why are you listening to a stranger?”

Cal hesitates for a second.

“It’s hard to explain,” he starts. “There’s just something coming from that vault, it’s like it’s calling out to me. I know you probably don’t understand, but please, trust me on this,” he almost pleads. “If anything is off, we’re leaving, I promise. But if there’s another Jedi… I need to know.”

You don’t trust Cere, or Greez. Maybe even BD, not yet at least. But you trust Cal. So you nod. 

“Just promise me one thing,” you insist. “Warn me when you’re about to meditate or think about your old Master. It’s a bit scary when you’re just… gone like that.”

“I will,” he promises with a smile, giving your hands one last squeeze before letting go.

“So,” you say after a while, looking at the vault which is so close, yet so far. “How are we getting there?”

Cal gives BD a sly glance, then looks back at you with that stupid grin you’ve grown to love so much. 

“Heads-up: you won’t like this,” he says and suddenly leans in, and you freeze. His arms snake around your back and under your legs, lifting you off the ground like you weigh nothing. “Hold on!” he quips. 

And with that he runs towards the cliff end, and you do hold on, for dear life. Cal skillfully runs along the walls, jumping from one side to the other, until he reaches the far end and hops onto safe ground once more.

He chuckles as he sets you back onto the grass, but you have to hold onto his shoulders a little longer until you feel safe on your legs again.

“Please never do that again,” you mutter under your breath, and Cal laughs. 

“C’mon, we’re almost there,” he remarks, gesturing towards the large structure with his chin. BD beeps happily. 

You walk next to Cal as you climb the rather steep mud path towards the vault. Up close, it is much taller than what it looked like from a distance. Still, you’re not sure what you expected it to be, but there really isn’t much… It’s just a giant tower surrounding a smaller column. That’s it.

“Huh, such a fuss over this?” you ask no one in particular.

“Hold on, I think I can get it open,” Cal says, and reaches up to touch the front panel. Closing his eyes, he focuses, and you can feel a shift around you as well as under you, as the ground shakes slightly, and the panel opens, revealing a dark and narrow passage. 

You inspect the passage, but you can’t see anything through it; it’s just a black void, and it’s rather unsettling. 

“I think you should wait here,” Cal states, giving you a reassuring smile. “I’ll be right back.”

“But–” 

Cal walks into the void, BD still on his shoulders, and you circle around the column to catch him coming back on the other side to make fun of him thinking that would lead anywhere, but he doesn’t come out.

“Cal?” you call, but there isn’t even an echo of your own voice to answer you. 

With a sigh, you walk back to the side where the redhead left in, and you lean onto the opposite wall, waiting for him to come back. The wait grows longer and your patience thinner, and for a second, you think that you just got ditched on this swamp planet, and you hug yourself. No, you tell yourself, Cal wouldn't do that.

…Right?

After what feels like an eternity, but probably was just a couple of minutes, Cal and BD finally emerge from the void again. You all but throw yourself onto him, hugging his torso. 

“What took you so long!” you say into his chest. 

“Sorry, I…” he hesitantly hugs you back, and you can feel he wants to say something but is holding back. So you look up at him.

“What is it?” you ask. “Did you meet the Jedi?” 

Cal just looks down at you, studying your face with an unreadable expression, and if you weren’t so worried by his silence, you would probably be very flustered by his gaze and how close his face is to yours. 

“Things just got a lot more complicated,” is all Cal offers as an explanation as he takes your hand, pulling you with him, out of the vault. “C’mon.”

“Wait, what?” you ask confused, trying to keep up with his hurried pace. “What happened in there?” 

“This is bigger than we could have imagined, I need to tell Cere immediately.”

That’s all you got out of him all the way back to the ship. BD kept looking back at you with questioning beeps, but Cal either didn’t hear or ignored him.

When you finally make it back to the Mantis, you’re out of breath. Cal’s pace was relentless when he was in a hurry, and he did carry you across some of the walls like before without warning, so you were looking forward to getting in there and sitting down for a moment.

“You passed the test,” Cere calls from the entrance of the ship as you approach it. 

You beeline for the corner bench behind the round table, where BD hops on as well, and is immediately scolded by Greez. Cal introduces everyone to BD, telling the other two that he’s “with us” now. 

Sitting down, Cal starts explaining what he learned in the vault. Some guy called Cordova hid a Holocron with a list of force sensitive children in the vault. The only way to get it though is by following his path, and the next leads are on the planets Zeffo and Dathomir. 

You’re still trying to wrap your head around this whole ordeal, when Cal asks Cere why she’s no longer a Jedi. She explains that an experience changed her perspective (vague much?) and she cut herself off from the Force. But she believes that with the holocron they can rebuild the Jedi Order, and in that way fight against the Empire.

When Cere asks Cal if he’s on board with the plan, he’s about to answer, but then looks at you, and you can see in his eyes that he wants to do this. So you give a short nod.

They come up with a plan, deciding what’s the next step, and Cere and Greeze disappear in the cockpit. You find an empty cot at the back of the ship and take a seat.

Your chest tightens at the realisation that Cal isn’t who you thought he was at all. That maybe you don’t know him at all, actually. But Jedi or not, he’s the guy you fell for. Behind whatever it was he’s been trying to hide all these years, there was a personality that was just unmistakably and often unapologetically Cal. And he’s become too important for you to lose. 

And now there’s this mission. A mission where, if you got things right, the weight of the universe will be placed on his shoulders. And it makes you angry, because that’s just not fair. There must be other Jedis out there that could do it, right? To make it worse, and you’re aware this might be a selfish thought, it makes you feel inadequate. Was Cal gonna drop you off on the next pit stop? You aren’t exactly an experienced fighter. You doubt they’d have a need for a thief on the run from the Empire. Would you be just a burden to him? 

Cal, who survived the Purge of the Jedis, and will now attempt to restore the Order. And you, helplessly in love with him, probably holding him back, because you’re too scared to lose him.

Just as there’s a voice echoing in your mind, telling you that you’re not enough, you feel a dip in the cot beside you. Looking up, you’re met with Cal’s worried gaze.

“You okay?” he asks softly. 

You slowly nod, but it quickly turns into a shake of your head instead. 

“I just…” You hope your voice doesn’t betray you, giving away the tears threatening to spill. “Everything happened so fast, so much all at once. And now I’m left feeling like I don’t know who you are.”

Cal is about to retort but you quickly add, “Wait, I didn’t word that right.”

So he waits for you to collect your thoughts.

“What I mean is, we’ve known each other for some time now. And I understand why you hid who you are. I just can’t help but wonder if the Cal I know is the real Cal or not?”

You dare bring your gaze up to meet his, and your chest tightens at the hurt look in his face.

“Because I like the Cal I know,” you blurt out before you can stop yourself. “A lot.”

He gives you a smile, and you swear you can see the slightest shade of pink spreading on his ears and cheeks. 

“There’s only one Cal,” he says, leaning slightly to the side, softly bumping his shoulder into yours. “And he likes you too. A lot.”

For a second, you simply watch your hands in your lap, replaying his words in your mind. You see how his hand gets into your field of vision, folding over yours, and now your brain short-circuits for real. You look up to him, searching for regret or teasing in his eyes, yet you find nothing but affection and warmth. A warmth that spreads through your whole body, and has you taking a shuddering breath.

“So what’s the plan now?” you ask him after a while, giving his hand a squeeze that he returns. 

“Telling you the truth,” Cal answers. “And then you can decide if you want to actually be a part of this.”

“And if I say no, you’re just gonna ditch me?” you say with a playful scoff, but a slight panic still sneaks itself into your voice. 

“What? No, of course not,” he assures you. “I already talked to Greez. You can stay on the Mantis as long as you need. What I mean is… I want you to stay by my side. But I won’t force you to. We have a pretty ambitious mission, after all.”

“Fighting the Empire?” you ask rhetorically. “Been there, done that.”

“Wait, what?”

“Why do you think I have a bounty on my head, Master Jedi?” you say with a playful tone.

“What did you do?” he asks, genuinely curious. 

“Hmm,” you stroke your chin as if considering his question. “I’ll tell you after you tell me about your training and how you escaped.”

“Deal,” Cal says with a smile. “And I’m not a Master Jedi, actually. I only ever was a Padawan, an apprentice.” 

“Well you have some nice moves for an apprentice,” you chuckle. “And Master or not, you look good with a lightsaber.”

Cal lets out a strangled sound at your comment, face now several shades darker. 

You both turn when you hear steps approaching, seeing that it’s Greez. You instinctively want to remove your hand from Cal’s, feeling like you just got caught, but he doesn’t let you go. 

“Ah, I see you’ve found the bed,” Greez says. “It’s the only extra we have. We were counting with just one Jedi, after all.”

“Technically you’re not wrong,” you say, unable to meet anyone’s eyes and looking down at the floor instead. “We’ll figure it out.” 

“You’ll have to,” Greez answers with a smile as he doesn’t miss your joined hands, and turns to leave. “Come get some dinner, kids.”

Cal wants to stand up but you pull him back. He turns to look at you with a raised brow and you take the chance to plant a kiss on his cheek. You almost laugh at the surprise on his face.

“Wherever you go, I’ll go,” you tell him as you rise to your feet with a smile. “At least it won’t be boring, right?”

— — —

A/N: this may have the potential for a second part? if you'd like that let me know! ♥ // (screenshot is mine)

~~~~~

🐥 taglist: [more info in my pinned post!] @dybynyght, @galaxtic-writings (sorry for the late tag!)

[menfenced]

I've seen a lot of posts in the last 24 hours about why Kamala lost and I feel like most of them are failing to actually look at reasons voters are giving. Instead, they're putting forward what they personally didn't like about Kamala's campaign. But here's the thing to remember... You didn't like that thing about Kamala's campaign. You still voted for her. There's something else going on.

Because people didn't just vote against Kamala. They voted FOR Trump, and early polling results are showing they did it across the board in almost every demographic.

I've seen the calls for investigations into voter fraud and voter suppression because "this doesn't just happen!" and I agree with one thing. This doesn't "just" happen. There's a reason and democrats aren't listening. Because it's not just a handful of counties that got hacked or had crazy people trying to stop votes or didn't get all of their ballots counted. That's not to say that none of that stuff happened, of course. There may have been serious issues in some counties. But across the board, in nearly every state and every county, even if he didn't outright win, Trump made gains. The only two states where he didn't make gains: Washington State and Utah.

If that's due to voter fraud or hacked elections, it would have to be on a scale unlike anything we have ever seen before and honestly, we don't have any evidence of that right now.

So what happened? What do we know?

We know that since the pandemic and since the record inflation that caused, incumbent leaders all over the world have been losing elections at higher rates than usual. That crosses all political persuasions and again, has been seen across the globe.

Based on polling prior to the election, which remained fairly consistent throughout the election run, 3/4 US voters think the country is on the wrong track and 2/3 are unhappy with the economy.

Biden's approval rating when this election started was 40-41%

This is all a recipe for an incumbent losing, which to be frank, most people still saw Kamala as, even though she was running instead of Biden.

In addition to all of that, let's look at what the exit polls showed.

Kamala's approval rating in the exit polls was 48.5%

Donald Trump's approval ratings in the exit polls was 44.54%

And I know he wasn't running, but just for context Biden's approval ratings were 40%

When asked if Harris's views were too extreme, 46% said yes, 51% said no.

When asked if Trump's views were too extreme, 55% said yes, 43% said no.

So how did he win?

People like him less and think he's more extreme. Why did they vote for him?

Well, let's look at some other polling data.

45% of voters said that their family's personal financial situation was worse off than it was four years ago.

Only 25% said their financial situation was better than it was 4 years ago.

75% of people polled said that in the last year, inflation has caused them either severe or moderate hardship.

When asked who can bring needed change, 73% of voters said Trump and only 25% said Harris.

What that means is that a majority of American's don't like Trump. They don't think he's a good person. They think he's too extreme. And yet they still voted for him because the issue that was most important in this election was the economy.

Will Trump be better for the economy?

No.

But there's a perception that the current administration did not do everything they could have to fix it and people were willing to roll the dice on someone different.

Maybe we could have done more. Kamala only had 110 days to make her case and no matter what she said, the fact remained that she is the sitting VP. Maybe there was no way for her to escape the incumbent/status quo perception.

I hope we can learn something from the behavior of the American electorate this year, and I really hope Trump doesn't fuck things up too bad before we get another chance to step in, because the Republican Party is learning things too. They're learning that they can be as extreme as they want, but if they can make people believe the economy will work better under their leadership, even if it's not true, they'll still get votes.

[tanith-rhea]

Only Pretending #2

Alright, you asked and I heard! Here's Only Pretending Chapter 2

@the-bagel24 you have 24 hours!

@regalbootie, @tundra1029, @thoroughly--confused I hope you all enjoy this one just as much ^^

@anti-bright-places you didn't ask but I'm tagging you on your fanfic!

Word count: 3.9k (ooof I did not realise that before)

“It was entirely his idea, principal. I had nothing to do with it,” you had no qualms against throwing Vlad under the bus. It was his brilliant idea and if she hated it or thought it ludicrous he should be the one reprimanded.

You were sitting in the leather chairs in front of Larissa’s table. She was at the other side, looking from you to your backstabbing friend with a calculating expression.

“And why do you think this is a better idea, coach?” she arched an eyebrow at him, they were having a small staring contest and you wished you could understand their silent conversation, but they were friends for about two-thirds of your entire life, so tough luck on that front.

“I believe,” he accentuated the word with an arched eyebrow of his own, “that since our friend here isn’t much more than acquainted with Morticia and vice-versa, she would be a better fit to fool her into believing you’re together.

“Let’s make it a thinking exercise, shall we?”

“You don’t have to speak to us as if we’re children, Vladislav” Larissa drawled, seemingly annoyed. She probably was regretting the entire charade. It hadn’t even started yet but she looked like she could not phantom any more of it.

Vlad smiled and bowed his head minutely, “I’ll be more serious, then. Forgive me,” his tone changed nothing, “But imagine: if you and I appear at the Addams Manor, hand in hand saying we decided to, after twenty years, take a step further and pair off, what would they think? After so long not wanting anything similar and giving others no indication of a potential flame?”

“Flame? Vlad your centuries are showing,” you snorted, trying not to laugh, and could see the glint of humour in Larissa’s eyes as well upon seeing your predicament.

“Shut up, child!” he hissed, but you knew he could take a teasing, “As I was saying… on the other hand, if you appear with a new teacher, young, charming and professionally accomplished, the chances of people believing rise exponentially. You are simply fitter for each other than you think, and other people would agree, thus making it easily believable,” he finished with crossed legs and both hands atop his knee as if delivering the god’s law.

Larissa had a bothered expression on her face again, but she was mulling it over, you could tell. Vlad’s words seemed more as if he was trying to convince you to go on a blind date than to just pretend to be a couple. You had to give it to him, but you also wanted to punch him in the face for painting pictures in your head.

“I admit you have a point,” Larissa conceded in a soft voice, “But you shouldn’t have dragged another co-worker into this without their consent, Vlad, and that is highly unprofessional and disappointing of you.”

Vlad was easily a hundred and fifty years older than her and she still could pull off talking to him like a disappointed mother while making him actually listen and even agree with her fond chiding. You were in awe of her, and nothing would ever change that.

“However, if Razvan is also involved in this and presuming he couldn’t keep it to himself, more people know. Which I’m regretful to acknowledge is a good starting point for our little fabrication to seem real,” at that, she looked at you with a questioning look. You were sure if you said no, she would immediately ask someone to clarify the rumours and wipe away any trace the idea of you two together might have made. You loved her a little for being committed to everyone’s well-being to that level.

“It is,” you stated, looking at your lap for a brief moment before returning her gaze, “And I wouldn’t mind playing the part. I was mad at Vlad for doing it without your consent, you decided on any of this as much as I did, but if you’re ok with it, I can say I am too.”

That was very eloquent. You mentally patted yourself on the back for not mumbling, squeaking, stuttering or doing any of the things fitting of your panicked and excited state. Larissa smiled at you with what seemed to be… relief? Did she actually think you would say no? And loose on the chance to pretend to be hers? As if.

“I’m happy you’re amenable to that. If we’re being honest it would be rather more credible for me to be with a woman, and although Vlad should have asked you first,” at that, she gave him a severe look, “I can’t say I’m disappointed with the results.”

You were a single praise away off screaming like a schoolgirl with a crush, but Larissa only gestured for Vlad to leave, saying thank you and don’t ever do that again before the door clicked shut.

“So,” she started again, you weren’t saying much but, in your defence, it was out of fear of ending up impersonating an overwhelmingly happy quokka, “I think we should meet a few nights to discuss how we’ll be doing this. We leave in a week’s time, on the 30­­th­, so maybe two times before that we could plan for general questions and get to know one another a bit. I’m so sorry this is how you’ll spend some of the time you should be off work but I promise to compensate you for it.”

“No, it’s no problem at all!” you hurried out, “I would just spend it here anyway. This way I’ll go to an Addams’ party,” you shrugged, smiling. Yes, the Addams’ party which wasn’t even near as delightful as spending time with Larissa; that was the good part, of course.

“In any case…” Larissa looked away as if embarrassed, “This situation is far from adequate, and my motives aren’t the most selfless, so I’m very sorry you got caught up in all of this. Even if you say you don’t mind.

“I am aware you don’t feel the most at ease when I’m present and I wish I could fix that, but at least know that I don’t want you to do this thinking I’ll hold it against you if you don’t or out of feeling intimidated, or whatever reason you might have,” she seemed deadly serious, and if that didn’t make you like her even more.

“It is really not a problem, as I said I don’t mind helping if you don’t mind it being me. I’m just happy I can be of use and a party full of outcasts seems like a very fun time,” you smiled fondly at her.

You loved the outcast community, they were far more accepting than the normie people from your past, the close-minded village you were raised in would spit at you on the street if they knew about your work, your beliefs and especially your sexuality. As if liking women would affect the growth of the crops or bring a storm to the town.

“Right. Then I’m very glad it is you who’ll accompany me,” she returned the smile.

“Really? Aren’t you just saying that because you have no other choice?” you said it jokingly, but your eyes searched for anything there that might betray her words. You only found an amused smirk and a playful eyebrow.

“Oh, absolutely. I can never stand being near someone beautiful and funny, they steal all of my attention, and I can’t get anything done.”

You felt your cheeks burn. You asked for it, but the teasing was a bit more than you could take. Damned stunning blondes and their ability to make a mess out of you!

“So, what do you think about we meet the night after tomorrow and one before the day we go?” she cut your train of thought and you only nodded, getting up and preparing to leave.

“I’ll see you then, principal Weems,” you gave her a curt nod and went to the door.

“Ah, and y/n…” she said right before you opened the door, “Thank you for doing this. I am truly in your debt.”

If only she knew she was gifting you the thrill of a lifetime.

The brief conversation might have been the longest you’ve ever had with the principal after your interview, and far more cordial than any interaction you’ve had. When you were admitted, Larissa had a very serious tone and severely set face while questioning you on why you wanted to teach at Nevermore, your previous career, and if you had contacts at the other institutions you’ve lectured at who could vouch for you.

You remember thinking it all a bit much for some time, and then you became friends with Vlad, the fencing coach, and discovered the whole Mexican Soap Operathat was the year before you arrived.

So, you knew Larissa was reluctant to like you and you didn’t blame her for that. What did disappoint you was that after an entire year, she still kept you at arm’s length and weekly visits to discuss your interactions with students were still a thing. You didn’t even have what to talk about at these moments, she just asked how was the week and if someone caused any trouble or if you were still happy in your position. It was as if she was waiting for you to get fed up and leave at any given moment.

But leaving the principal’s office that day was different. She had been in such a vulnerable position, asking you to help her deceive an old… nemesis? It certainly looked more and more like that with every passing moment.

The next day was a blur of picking outfits, researching outcast Halloween parties and freaking out to Vlad in your ridiculous excuse of card game night.

“So I don’t buy a costume?” you place your last chip on the ten of clubs.

“No, absolutely not. This is the normie tradition. Why would a werewolf dress up as a mummy?” Vlad draws a ten of clubs and a three of hearts.

“Goddamn it, I’m horrible at this,” you give up and Vlad seems very pleased at having all your chips to himself. Two of them were dead bets and the other six were just very bad luck.

“For us, Halloween parties are more of a formal gathering with music and canapes,” he explained, shuffling the cards and putting them away. “I remember the actual balls,” his expression turned almost forlorn, reminiscing on who-knows-how-old memories.

“So you’d say a formal dress?”

“Maybe a suit, whatever you’d feel comfortable with, dear.”

You did have a burgundy blazer and high-waisted trousers you’d never gotten around to wearing. Not many occasions at Nevermore for it and the last Raven was themed Mothman’s black and red.

“I’m sure Larissa will be pleased with anything you wear…” he gave you a sly smile before continuing and you were already looking for something to throw at him, “or don’t.”

“Just shut all the way up you… insufferable man!” you got a handle on a stress ball left on your table and missed his face by half a foot. He laughed and you threw yourself on the bed. “I hate you.”

“You love me. And you depend on me,” he sat on the bed looking down at you, “If it wasn’t for me, you’d still be nowhere near getting onto Larissa’s skirt and now you got an entire weekend to do just so.”

“It’s pretence, you madman! We won’t do any of it!” he wanted to torture you; you were sure.

“Yes, and you won’t hold hands in public or casually kiss when you feel like it because that’s not what infatuated new couples do,” he arched an eyebrow at you and laid down at your side.

He had a point. In the back of your mind, you knew from the start that you’d have to keep close proximity to Larissa, and while that was not a problem to you and she was an adult and could deal with the consequences of her decisions, it was still a bit intimidating to think about.

You wouldn’t have to kiss; you were almost certain. You’d love that, but if Larissa draws a line you will keep yourself behind it.

“Why are you acting like she actually wanted it to be me?” your voice was little more than a whisper, “She asked you. You are her friend, she’s comfortable with you. If I don’t annoy her, which I’m almost sure I do, the most I am to her is her employee.”

He didn’t respond for a while, leaning on his elbow to look at you, “I wish you weren’t so horrible at this. You are a very special girl, y/n-“

“I’m almost thirty, c’mon-“

“Still a girl, shush. What I mean is that you are incredible company while also not being too bad on the eyes.”

“Ouch, thanks-“

“Stop interrupting me, insolent child!” you both laughed a bit, and you decided to keep quiet, “Larissa might not know you personally, but she asks about you, she is interested in your well-being and impressed by your achievements. I wish I could say more without spoiling your fun, but what I can say is that I know you’ll get along like a house on fire.”

You only smiled at that. Vlad had a wisdom only someone who lived a very long life could attain. Sometimes he took rash, irritating decisions that turned out to be a lesson in the end, and soon you realized he only did things the hard way to add some spice. Life probably got boring after seeing two centuries of it.

“I trust you,” you conceded, looking at him with all earnestness, “I just wish I could understand you better.”

“You will, soon, my dear.” He kissed your forehead and got up. “Good luck tomorrow and good night.”

Seeing Larissa should not be this nerve-wracking. You did it every day, in some way or another. Passing by in the corridor, bringing the coffee someone asked you to, discussing students’ results or weekly reports. But this time it was different. You were meeting her, purposefully meeting her for wine and planning. It was akin to work but with the added atmosphere of decidedly not work. Your stomach was in a knot.

“Come in,” the gentle tone welcomed you when you knocked.

Larissa wasn’t at her usual seat behind her laptop. She was in front of her fireplace, leafing through a leather journal, a pen gracefully kept between her index and thumb. Another chair had been brought to face her own with a side table where an empty glass sat.

“Am I late?” you walked to her and sat.

“No, I was just going over some questions,” she smiled, putting her own half-drunk glass down on the floor.

So professional. Even to lie. It was amusing how Larissa could transform everything into work. So much for being nervous; she had everything under control.

“Questions?”

“Yes, but that can wait.” She put the journal down on her lap and leant to pour you a drink. “How was your day? Have you rested a bit already?”

“Oh… not so much, I picked some clothes for the trip and graded students’ works to clear my next few days.” You admitted to being restless when there was still work to do, but you were planning on relaxing a bit soon. Even more now that all you had ahead was enjoying Larissa’s company and maybe getting her out of your system once and for all.

“Yes,” she chuckled, “I understand. I just sent my last e-mails for the day and still have some things to figure out in the morning before finally being free.” She picked up her glass and took a long sip, you could hear her swallow, “I confess I can’t wait for a good twelve-hour sleep.”

You smiled at that. Imagining Larissa giving in to leisure and spending an entire morning in bed. In your head, you would be massaging her feet and encouraging her to keep napping however long she wanted.

“So…” she filled her glass again before continuing, steeling herself. “I think we should establish boundaries and discuss a simple but credible set of events for us to be together.”

“Agreed.” You took your first sip, and the velvety sweet taste surprised you. Larissa noticed because a small smile crept the side of her mouth. “This is really good!”

“I thought you’d be the type to enjoy sweeter things,” she seemed proud of herself and nudged you to continue.

You took another sip, and wow it was even better now you knew what to expect. The taste lingered in your mouth, and you felt strangely content.

“As I was saying, I think it wise we discuss boundaries. I would like to know whatever things you wouldn’t like to do as displays of affection go and which you can handle.”

“Jesus, Larissa, I won’t die for holding your hand,” you tried to joke, but she was serenely serious.

“Some people are very sensitive about touch; I just want to make sure.”

This woman was going to kill you. The fire lighted the side of her face, casting the other in a soft shadow, making her eye shimmer in the dark.

“I’m ok with touching. Handholding, sitting close, caressing as long as it’s innocent. I’m not big on public displays of lust, affection I can do.”

“What made you think we would need to-“

“I don’t know, Morticia and Wednesday’s father were a lot the first time I met them. I just can’t do any of that.”

Larissa let out a deep, thundering laugh at that, and god was it a vision. Her exposed neck, head back with a hand covering her mouth.”

“No! No, we won’t do that.” She assured, regaining control and trying to school her face, but she was still looking amused, “Gomez and Morticia are a lot. Their level of love and devotion borders obsession and although sweet it is also nauseating to everyone around them. You are not alone in this, trust me.”

“Oh, thank god! I mean, if they're happy, great for them, but I don’t need to be part of it.” You didn’t realize, but your glass was almost empty, and Larissa arched a brow questioning if you wanted more. You nodded.

“So, touch is fine. What else?” she asked.

“Tell me what you feel comfortable with,” you goaded, drinking some more.

Larissa seemed caught at that, not expecting your prompting.

“Hm… I don’t mind touching of any kind, as long as appropriate. I’m not opposed to kissing-“ she interrupted herself at that, having another sip while looking away and then back at you, “In the cheek, hands, forehead-“

“Mouth?” you let out, immediately regretting it. Larissa was purposefully not saying it, it was obvious she didn’t want to kiss you in public. And in private came without saying.

She stayed silent for a while, looking at the floor in front of the fireplace, where a few of the glowing ambers were falling and dying out.

“I know this is unpleasant for you. I promise to try my best at making you comfortable for the entirety of it, and I won’t ask you to do that.”

“And what if I want to?” woah what? That was a bit too much, backtrack, fast! “I mean, what if I don’t mind? Just like touching. It’s just kissing Larissa, we’ve done more with other people, it’s not a big deal,” nice. Good save.

She took a deep breath and looked at you again, “If the moment arises, I’ll ask. How about that?”

Sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t.

“That’s fine.” You conceded, standing up and taking the bottle from the floor beside her chair. You filled your glass and offered to fill hers. She accepted, and the bottle was empty. “If we’re going to be close, I think we should get accustomed to that, don’t you?”

You could not only stop at the clear fail with the kiss subject. You were a bit drunk, and Larissa was so there it almost ached not to touch her.

“What do you suggest?” she seemed curious, standing up as well.

“We can sit on the sofa together. Come up with our story. Not much, just the casual closeness a couple would have,” for a tipsy fool you were proud of how much sense your argument made.

“That’s reasonable. Very well.” She walked to the sofa, and by her less upright and proper posture, you could tell she drank a bit more than you but also held her alcohol with much more ease.

She sat close to the middle, and you sat right beside her, your bodies touching from shoulder to knee, in your case; even sitting you only got to her bicep.

“When did we get together?” you were tempted to phrase it as how did you fell in love with me, but you guessed her tolerance had a limit and you didn’t want to find it.

“I think good old office cliché. We met at work, spent some time together and our mutual respect and admiration mixed with feelings of attraction and fascination and someday it was simply too plain not to see.”

That was very rational. In a way, it was sweet and simple, and you thought no one would need much more than that.

“Makes perfect sense.” You leant your head on her arm, and to your surprise, she shifted so you were resting on her shoulder and her arm laid around yours.

She smiled, looking down at your stunned face, “Comfortable?” she seemed entertained by you, “If we’re going to do this, we might as well be friends. You are doing me an enormous favour; I think we are past being shy and awkward about physical contact. It will only make things more difficult.”

“You’re right.” You buried yourself further on her chest, catching the fading scent of her sweet perfume. She always wore that one and you loved it.

“So how was our first date?” she prompted, a laugh on her voice.

“Hmm… I took you out for a picnic. You were wearing heels and it was early so it was a disaster to walk on the grass. I regretted making it a surprise because I thought you weren’t enjoying yourself, but when we arranged the things down, you took off your shoes and laid on my chest, saying you couldn’t care less about dirt in your heels.”

The image came to life in your head as the floral scent reminded you of vast fields in spring. Larissa hummed and her fingers came to put a few strands of your hair behind your year.

“That’s a very sweet thought,” she mused, and you smiled to yourself at the gentleness of her voice.

“Do you think we’ll need much more than that?” you whispered; you were feeling sleepy.

“Maybe a timeline and some more getting acquainted with being close. But it can’t be that hard to convince people someone is dating, it’s not like it is completely unfounded that I would have a partner, is it?” her last words were weaker than the rest of her sentence, and you felt a pang in your chest. Of course it wasn’t. Larissa was focused on work, but she was so much more than the principal. She listened, protected and cared for everyone around her. Always trying her best to help everyone succeed and be happy.

“No, it’s not. And I’ll look so in love with you that it won’t even cross their minds for a second.” With that, you leant away, looking at her face, and planted a soft, slightly longer than necessary, kiss on her cheek. “For practice.” You whispered and got up, wishing her good night and leaving to your room.

Chapter Three

[schoenht]

↳ denny’s at 3 am

characters: octotrio.

genre: crack.

a/n: thank god for denny’s for the inspiration ong i’ve seen insane stuff from there and also this follows no rules. you will read this and it will make sense.

“Okay, you three, listen up.”

“Yeah, hold on, octopus, I’m beating Floyd’s ass at table football right now and he’s about to take on my extra shift tomorrow if I win.”

Azul groaned, his fingers pressing the bridge of his glasses against his nose. From the pressure, he guessed that he was going to have a mark there once he took them off. He was your boss and yet sometimes he wondered if you weren’t actually the boss. Maybe he was too lenient. Either way, it was more often than not that you and Floyd would quite literally be a menace to the customers based on your “friendly” competitions.

Out of all your competitions, the most friendly one was when Floyd resulted in almost pouring hot oil over you and you had quickly grabbed a pan to hit the back of his head. Meanwhile, Jade had been outside collecting mushrooms. He came back to see you and Floyd doing a strange dance with angry looks on your faces, knives in your hands, and Azul almost crying out of exasperation and desperation.

Nevertheless, the competition had not escalated that far. It was merely 8 pm, though. Azul guessed that, if anything, it could only get worse from here. He tensed up when he heard Floyd’s loud groan, followed by a large smack on the table.

“I win! Hope that thump didn’t hurt your brain, if you have any bits left in there.” You were snickering as you flicked Floyd’s head. His strand of black hair was lying on the table, so you merely pressed your fingers to it. When he tried to get his head off the table, he was stopped abruptly and he glared at you. 

“Shrimpy, this is your last warning.”

“My first one, you mean. You’re covering my shift tomorrow, you little shit.”

“But I don’t wanna!” Floyd whined, turning to Azul. “Tell them I don’t wanna!”

Jade appeared from behind Azul, almost ghostlike. “Oh? I hear conflict.”

“Yeah, conflict because your brother doesn’t want to admit he lost for once and he’s not as good as he claims to be. How are you going to be a basketball player and lose at table football?” You were leaning against the plush seat, your arms crossed. “Anyways, what’s up, Azul? Do you need us to knock out a customer again?”

Floyd perked up. “Oh, oh, yeah! Last time it was a surly man with his best friends, maaaaaan, Y/N and I had the time of our lives! That baking sheet was genius!”

“This is why I’m the brains of the group.” You and Floyd high fived, chortling as though Azul wasn’t standing there, in disbelief at the both of you. 

Jade cleared his throat. “Starting today, we stay open 24 hours.”

Incredulously, you whipped around to look at Azul. “If this is a joke, it’s not a funny one, I’ve got a better one for you, Mr. Business Man. What’s funnier than 24?”

Azul had to take a deep breath in. “What.”

“25.” You and Floyd were howling with laughter, sharing yet another high five with a fist bump. Catching your breath, you grinned. “You can’t be serious. We are not staying up for 24 hours.”

He pushed his glasses up, fixing his hat while he was at it. “Your sleeping habits alone are training. You tend to pull all-nighters--”

“Excuse me, being a Discord kitten is hard work. You can’t possibly expect me to count on money here--”

“You are an employee. I expect you to conduct yourself as such.”

You rolled your eyes, huffing. “What does this look like, a Denny’s?”

“YES. Where do you think you’re employed at?!”

“I dunno, IHOP?”

It was like the devil had appeared. Jade’s usual calm face was replaced by his eyes wide and even Floyd winced. IHOP was your rival and it was worse since it was right across the street. The manager was known to arrive just to get on Azul’s last nerve. Azul literally made you sign a contract saying that you and Floyd would be on your best behavior, lest you wind up tap-dancing for three days straight without stopping. You had learned that the hard way.

Even now, you realized you went too far. And that was why you were in the kitchen, fuming with a spatula in your hand, a chef hat, and a neon pink apron that said “Kiss the Cook” across the top part. “Stupid Azul with his stupid...” You were cursing under your breath and the colorful language was enough to make Jade chuckle as he walked in.

“Still grumbling? It’s been weeks since that incident.”

“I look stupid, Jade. And don’t you dare say--” Using a high pitched voice that sounded nothing like him, you said, “’Shouldn’t have brought up the Interdimensional Hut of Pasta, then.’”

“The International House of Pancakes is international for a reason, we can’t possibly compete with them.” Jade had a bag slung over his shoulder and subtly, he looked over his shoulder. “All right Y/n, cover for me, I’m going to go outside and get some mushrooms.”

You made a face at him. “Jade, for the last time, you are not going to be the chef no matter how much you beg Azul.”

“Hear me out--”

“Sorry, can’t hear you over this pancake which I’m sure is trademarked by IHOP. I mean, why are we making pancakes? We’re Denny’s! Shouldn’t we be, you know, making Denny’s?” 

Jade deadpanned at you and it took all your effort not to falter because even you knew what you said did not make sense. However, if you could muster up enough fake confidence, maybe you could have him believe it-- “Try again. Ensure Floyd does not eat all the potatoes raw, he tends to do that. And next time, make sure to come up with something that makes sense. It has to be good.”

“That’s what your mom told me last night.” You knew you were running in dangerous territory, but you were covering for Jade. He could not, unfortunately, tell you anything in response. If he said anything, it was more than likely that you would go running to Azul and snitch on his mushrooms in order to gain some sense of dignity back. By dignity, he meant the confiscation of your neon pink apron.

“The pink really brings out your eyes, I’m sure Azul would not mind if you kept it a little longer.” Jade may have looked like the calmer twin, but he had a way of getting on your nerves. He was even snickering under his breath as the door shut behind him.

Meanwhile, Floyd had just arrived in the kitchen. “Shrimpy!”

“If you keep calling me that, I swear to God, I’m going to find out how fried eel tastes.”

“That’s cannibalism, you can’t do that.”

“It’s Denny’s. There was literally a fight outside over a plate of our pancakes.” You flipped one with your spatula, still grumbling over the stupid apron you were wearing. “Besides, business is slow. And ever since Azul said, ‘You guys are working for 24 hours because I hate you--’“

“I’m pretty sure that’s not what he said.”

“How dare you interrupt me. Anyways, I haven’t had time for anything!”

Jade had walked back into the kitchen. It seemed as though, no matter how far he went, he came racing back when he heard you complaining just to tease you more and make your life even more miserable. Sure enough, he practically waltzed through the door and said, “Oh? Well, can we interest you in a truce?”

“Over my dead body. Now if you’ll excuse me, it is my break.”

It seemed as though you had disappeared completely. Floyd had to watch Jade and prevent him from putting mushrooms in the food as he cooked. Then he frowned, looking up. Something was off and it was not the red colored vegetables that Jade continuously kept trying to put in. “It’s been more than ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes and how many seconds?”

“One--”

Azul slammed open the kitchen door, his glasses outrageously bright as if he was a horror movie villain. “Why has no one served the customer at Table 18?”

“Huhhhh?” Floyd dragged out his whine, his head thrown back. “I’m tired of this, boss! It’s so late!”

“Even if it’s late, we will still give the customers good service, just as they expect!”

Jade mumbled, “I do not believe they expect much from us as a Denny’s.”

Azul ignored that statement, knowing full well it was your influence that was latching onto the tweels. “Where’s Y/N? It’s been 10 minutes and 15 seconds. Floyd, there’s literally a customer at that table.”

“That ain’t a customer, boss, that’s Y/N having their nightly 3 am crisis.” Floyd was thoughtful for a few seconds. “Do you think they want pancake puppies?”

Then Azul’s eyes widened as he looked out the window. A familiar shadow was heading their way. It was the enemy that he had not wanted to see for the longest time. Perhaps, in another world, he would have wanted to make an alliance with this person. But after being rejected multiple times and overthrown, he had no choice but to become their enemy.

Jamil Viper, the manager of IHOP.

Azul almost screeched. “Y/N, GET UP! GET UP!”

“Azul, I am literally--” Your eyes widened as you followed the trail of where his went. “Is that--”

With a flourish and tossing of his own hat, Azul replaced his hat with a cooler one and put on his jacket as if trying to complete that magical girl transformation in real life, only watered down and looking cheap. He turned to the tweels. “You know what to do. Y/N, over here.”

“Boss! It’s 3 am!”

“MEN, PREPARE FOR BATTLE. TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!”

[pommunist]

In relation to the "Quackity was losing money from the qsmp!!!" point that people bring up in defence of him, like... tbh in my opinion quackity probably could have made quite a bit of money in subs and donos if he ever actually... streamed on his server.....

Via twitchtracker from march 2023 to march 2024 (this is the timeline i use for all numbers/averages in this unless otherwise stated, also i use 1 year for emphasis sometimes even when meaning 13 months, start of march last year to end of march this year) The highest amount of subs quackity (on his main channel, quackitytoo's subs stats arent available) has received within a month (ie. subcount at end of month) is 2.7k in august 2023, with quite a few months dipping below 1k, and the lowest being just over 500 in july 2023 (Though he also only streamed once in the entire month, so this is understandable), coming to an average of 1.6k subs/month. While his average viewer count across those 13 months was about 35.1K, with a high of just under 65k average in august 2023, and a low of 22k average in january. (This is across all categories of game/just chatting)

Only 48 of quackity's main channel streams (67 total if im not miscounting) in that time were under the category minecraft (71%), with over half of them being in the first 4 months of qsmp (really mostly the first 3 months because it started in late march). With only 13 streams in the category in the latter half of 2023, and 8 in 2024.

To compare, ill use badboyhalo as an example: (Im using him because the vast majority of his streams were qsmp until recently, and i didnt want someone to try and say "but they stream other things!" to discredit this (even though so does quackity), and of the other streamers who have been on the qsmp since the start either a) They "stream other stuff" (ie. not qsmp, including other minecraft like phil's hardcore) often so it "wouldnt count", b) Their subs arent tracked on twitchtracker (its opt-in), or c) They stopped playing on the server/very very rarely play on the server so i cant accurately compare the full timeline. I could have probably also used foolish but bbh came to mind first (And his sub stats weirdly stop tracking in october 2023? I assume because that's when he changed his twitch channel name?))

Bbh's highest number of subs in a month was may 2023 with 4k, with his lowest being just under 400 in march 2023 (only 4 streams that month, so again this is understandable), across march'23-march'24, he got an average of 1.8k subs/month. To compare viewers, bbh's average viewcount across those 13 months was 3.7k (nearly 10 times lower than quackity), with his lowest being 1.7k average viewers in march 2024, and highest being 6k average viewers in september 2023. (again across all categories)

(Im not counting by hand all the times he's streamed in the category minecraft, but seeing as its nearly daily its over 300)

Of course, you could use the argument "Bbh streams every day for so long!", and like... Yeah. He does. In the past 13 months bbh has streamed for 2.1k hours. Quackity has streamed 106. One hundred and six hours. Quackity has streamed on his main channel less in a year than bbh streams in one month (avg 163 hours/month if anyone's wondering). And yet their average subs/month are only about 200 apart. No wonder hes apparently too broke to pay his employees fairly.

At time of sending this ask quackity has 6.3 million followers on twitch, bbh has 2.6 million. They have a drastic difference in followers and viewcount, and yet their subcounts are still so shockingly close to eachother.

If quackity needed money to pay for server costs or to pay his employees that badly he definitely could have made more by doing his job streaming more consistently. He doesn't even need to do it as much or as often as bbh does, seeing as hes already very close to bbh in average subs/month on his main channel with his incredibly low number of streams.

And again none of this factors in quackity's streams on his second channel, where he streams more often and for longer, because twitchtracker doesnt track that channel's subcount (again, it's opt-in) so i cant factor that in to how much he hypothetically makes. But as for the other stats on quackitytoo: 35.7k avg viewers, 168 total hours streamed (13 hrs/month), 65 streams in the category minecraft (march 23rd-now, though i might be off by a couple, my brain is fried for numbers at this point), and 4.6 million followers. Based on this, he most likely has a similar or higher amount of subs than his main channel on that one.

And this entire thing doesn't factor in donations at all seeing as that is a 3rd party thing and not something twitchtracker tracks.

Sidenote about the "in the category minecraft" thing: twitchtracker will include a stream in the category stats even if you forgot to change categories before starting stream playing/doing something else. So there are some "minecraft" streams where the time spent in the category is under 15 minutes, or if a stream crashes and restarts it will count as a separate stream. I still tried to count these to give the most benefit of the doubt

(In case anyone is curious about the foolish stats: (again across all categories, seeing as he does play quite a bit of valorant), viewers avg 6.7k/month, total hours streamed 2.4k, avg 190 hrs/month, subs avg (march-october 2023 because of the lack of tracking afterwards) 6.7k/month, ~250 streams in the category minecraft, and 2.1mil followers. Also, before anyone complains about only using english streamers to compare, the only spanish speaking streamer whos been on qsmp from the start and still logged on consistently through the entire year is roier, and his subs also arent tracked. And none of the other languages were there from the very start.)

Sorry about how long this ask got (i bolded the numbers to make skimming easier for anyone who's not reading all that). I just got so curious about people defending Q by saying how the server running costs meant paying his employees fairly was too expensive that i went to check the actual stats, and i was kinda shocked by how low everything but viewcount was. Of course, I never believed quackity was a "millionare" by any standard, but im also not a viewer of his so i didn't know how much/how often (how little/how rarely*) he actually streamed.

And as a final thing, I have no idea how truly accurate twitchtracker's subcount numbers are (and the wording is a bit confusing on the graphs, which is what i interpreted as "# subs at end of month/subs gained within month" seeing as subs last 30 days (i think?)), as I'm not a streamer and I don't personally subscribe to any streamers. I just know that streamers themselves see it as accurate enough for the "highest current/all-time subcount" records. So i guess that's to say disclaimer: this is all just estimates.

WHAT THE HELL ANON ? Ever thought of having a career in financial/statistical analysis because if not maybe you should consider.

I’ll admit that I don’t know anything about how exactly twitch revenue works so I can’t really make comments on what you just said, but I’ll leave it here for anyone who may be interested in the numbers side of things and this seems like quite the thorough investigation.

I just wanna add that, depending of the societal form of the company, Individual fund may be separated from company funds. Aka Quackity’s money ≠ Qstudios money.

[shadowofthelamp]

I scribbled out a little ficlet when first tossing around the idea for Bea. Might as well toss it up over here with a few little tweaks since I still like it.

It's impossible to keep track of time when jumping between realities. Ford had never had the best of sleep patterns, even before… well, the subtle curve to his abdomen was a reminder that he'd never be able to shake of what had happened, as if the fact that the sky was currently green and squirming wasn't clear enough. Unfortunately, that combined with the fact that he often went days without sleep in worlds that didn't have 24-hour days meant that it was nearly impossible to tell how much time had actually passed- he couldn't just count using his own circadian cycles.

Sleep had been a waste of time. Moments that could have been used for study, for calculations, for furthering his work to create a new world, a better world. Now, as he hung over the edge of a ship floating in an endless ocean of blood-colored brine and fought back nausea, he wished that if he couldn't have that, he could have at least come through with a watch that had worked well enough to keep ticking.

It had been months, at least. It had been over a week from the discovery to the betrayal, and then a month between that and when Stanley had come and he'd gone through the portal. Now, on the other side, it had been several more. And yet, the inching out of his stomach was subtle, still appearing only as a slight bloat. If he hadn't known the truth, he would certainly have assumed it was merely food from a hearty meal. Perhaps it was just small? Bill He had often appeared small, perhaps to seem innocent, unassuming. Cute, even. Five fingers drummed over the knit of his sweater with the thumb resting as the boat bounced, and he sighed.

He wanted to hate it. He had hated it, at first.

Well. Not quite at first.

They'll be ours, Sixer! The first of their kind, borne of the bridge between realities! You'll be in every history book, the genius who carried the world on his shoulders and in his squirmy, fleshy guts!

It had been a shock, and then he'd convinced himself it was an honor, and Fiddleford had never even known about It before he had driven himself insane because of Ford's hubris and everything shattered.

It'll be fun to see you try! You're mine, Fordsie, and I'm never letting either of you go!

(He tried to carve it out. The protection Bill placed melted the knife to slag.)

He'd bound his belt with a makeshift thread of unicorn hair after it turned out that Dimension '45SU(y)' had the species be slightly less… stubborn than they were in 46'\. They just asked for why you needed it and judged that, and his story was sympathetic enough to get a thread that could be tied around his middle with some extra room to spare. That was good. He was probably going to need it anyway.

He did need it, as days passed. Weeks passed. More months passed. He grew a beard and shaved it, he gained tattoos he liked and those he didn't, he sometimes lost or gained weight but never lost the persistent bump even as he shoveled down squid or grass or raw sugar or whatever the latest dimension had beyond human language capacity. It had been a year, hadn't it? Some dimensions had only days, the others, only nights. Some didn't have skies at all, existing within encased domes or underground.

(He didn't know if Bill haunted his dreams or his dreams were simply haunted by Bill. If the unicorn hair was as potent from other dimensions.)

Slowly, almost gently, the curve grow. Sturdy, heavy. A reminder of his own foolish gullibility. A reminder he couldn't trust anyone.

A gentle glow at night, when he didn't have a soul around but himself and the creature inside of him.

It started moving one night, when he was full and polishing a gun and relatively content. It was a little tickle, and he wasn't sure he felt anything at all before the glow flashed, as if demanding that he pay attention. Awestruck, he swallowed thickly before setting a hand on his stomach and spreading his fingers (one, two, three, four, five, six). A tiny bump nudged his palm along with a rush of pure delight at existence- at protection, at safety, at care for him too concentrated to fake and injected directly into his spinal cord. It damn near knocked him over and almost made him shatter the only pair of glasses he had.

"…It's just us, isn't it?" he murmured, and the glow of his swollen stomach pulsed again before settling into a contented luminesce as he didn't pull his hand away.

[wordsandrobots]

Contact

[@lilenui informs me today (8 April) is Shino/Yamagi day. Actually, they informed me of this via a post four days ago, which proves I can write fast when I have a looming deadline, since I bashed this out inside 24 hours.

Anyway, in honour of today, here's a flip-side piece to accompany Falling for a Fool. Content warnings for extremely bi himbo energy and general dumbassery.]

————

It shouldn't have meant anything.

It probably didn't.

Touching other people was such a normal part of everyday life, Shino barely thought about it most of the time. A nudge here, a knock there, the clasped hand or bumped fist, a slap on the back for a job well done or a kick to the ass for being an idiot. He couldn't count how often he'd lifted one of the little guys where they couldn't reach, or knocked about with those in his weight class, or simply slung his arm around a familiar pair of shoulders just because.

What was there too think about?

Why couldn't he get this time out of his head?

The battle with the mobile armour had been intense. A giant monster robot from hundreds of years ago on a rampage that nearly ended with Chryse getting flattened, that was only stopped because Mikazuki went all-out. When the dust settled, Tekkadan were heroes once again. They'd done something nobody had since the Calamity War and by rights it ought to have been the start of bigger and bigger things, putting them on the path to truly becoming the kings of Mars.

Hadn't worked out that way, but still: they got to prove how awesome they were!

And in the middle of it all, Shino headed out to fight in a mobile suit he barely knew how to use.

Yamagi had been pissed at being dragged into the cockpit to work the new Ryusei-Go's equipment. He didn't wait to start bombarding Shino with homework afterwards, insisting he wasn't about to take a job as a full-time operating manual. That sucked because reading a mountain of technical mumbo-jumbo was more likely to send Shino to sleep than help him understand the rail-guns and the transformation mechanism and so on, but he supposed it was fair.

He'd practised hard until he could remember which buttons did what, first try.

His record now stood at switching to and from shelling-mode three times in a row without throwing anything out of whack, which had earned him a rare nod of approval.

So all in all, the situation worked out well, for him specifically. He got a Gundam to call his own, did his part in the battle, bringing down a canyon to split the mobile armour off from its drone swarm, and Yamagi was still talking to him despite everything. Sure, with what had happened since, it felt like a very small achievement in amongst a storm of massive disasters, but you took what you could, right? It definitely wasn't nothing, to finally have the strength to protect his friends.

Yet the memory kept worrying at him, like a stone in his boot.

Not the whole thing, just one particular part.

Because there'd been this moment, on-route to the target, where he'd needed to swerve. He can't remember what he was avoiding, exactly. An outcropping or a crater, some common hazard of speeding across a rocky desert, pinging on his sensors. He'd done what he always did, throwing the Ryusei-Go into a sharp sideways jink, and normally that'd be that. Only, he had another person stuffed in there with him and when he hit the dodge harder than he'd meant to –

The cockpit rocked as he regained his balance.

And Yamagi's hand struck his shoulder.

Which made sense. Yamagi was sitting across Shino's knees, folded practically in half, and there wasn't anything else for him to have braced against. It was that or being pitched across the cabin. In any case, Shino hardly felt the touch. Yamagi was not what you'd call heavy, or especially strong. He could've pushed with all his might and it'd likely have done very little had Shino been standing up, much less sitting down with a back-rest behind him.

But Yamagi didn't push.

He flinched away and hunched up, and began tapping furiously at his data pad.

Now, true, Yamagi wasn't the world's biggest fan of being manhandled. A holdover from how he got treated when he first joined the CGS and quite a lot of the time after then, before Orga took charge. Probably from being a small, slim little guy who worked for a military company in general, really, especially since getting so badly sick from the Alaya-Vijnana surgery meant he never took to the training. It was understandable, if he was sensitive over getting shoved around

Shino did his best to respect that, even when circumstances meant he needed to physically move Yamagi about the place.

Yamagi usually let him know if he went to far, with glares that had him regretting his life choices.

Except this wasn't that. Yes, Shino did catch hold of Yamagi as well, to stop him going flying, and got shrugged off for his trouble, but he was fairly sure that hadn't been the reason for the reaction. No glare, for one thing. Could it run both ways? Did a dislike of being touched make you hate touching? That didn't sound right. Then again, Shino couldn't say he'd ever paid much attention to who or what Yamagi went around touching. Maybe it was just something he'd failed to notice?

No, hang on, Yamagi helped him put on Alaya-Vijnana connector blocks all the time.

Surely he'd have noticed if that made Yamagi uncomfortable?

If they hadn't been fighting a life-or-death battle, and if Orga hadn't chosen that exact moment to come on the comm to tell them to get a move on, Shino would probably have asked Yamagi what was up then and there. He regretted missing the chance. He got too caught up in the high of victory to remember to do it when they made it back home, only thinking he should after Yamagi had already shoved the pad into his hands and hurried off, boots dangling from his…

Wait.

Did Yamagi run away from him?

He replayed the scene in his head, trying to recall the exact expression with which Yamagi delivered the instruction to read the damn files already. He'd had his head lowered, fringe falling across his face, making it hard to see fully and meaning it was even harder to picture in hindsight. Vaguely annoyed and despairing? That wasn't exactly unusual. Sometimes, Shino genuinely wondered why Yamagi had put up with him for so long.

That was probably why Shino was worrying about this.

He and Yamagi made such a good team, he hated the idea of anything coming between them.

Was it just a gross place to put your hand? Checking for himself, running a finger around the point under his collar bone where the slab of muscle on his chest gave way to his arm, there didn't seem to be any strange bumps or warts or whatever. Maybe the bare skin felt bad? Mobile suit cockpits weren't much better than mobile workers when it came to overheating and getting ugly-sweaty. Except Yamagi had been wearing gloves…

And Shino never got complaints from people who touched him there while working up a nicer kind of sweat!

The thought wrapped around to hit his brain like a live grenade.

No. No! Absolutely not. Why would he think for even a second that that had anything to do with it? Sure, yeah, it was technically an intimate place to touch, and looking at things from that angle – the angle where he hadn't been wearing a shirt and he and Yamagi were closer than they'd ever been before in their lives – then the connection wasn't a totally wild one to make. Under other circumstances, for other people, it might have been sensible. But come on!

Did Yamagi seriously think Shino thought he'd been trying to cop a feel?!

That was crazy!

For starters, Shino would never think that. Tekkadan was his family and as far as he was concerned, that put everyone else in it squarely off-limits when it came to any sort of intimate touching, giving or receiving. That was just… obvious. Orga said they were a family, and Shino cared about the guys around him the way you were supposed to care about your brothers, so of course he wasn't about to start leaping to all the wrong conclusions just because –

It suddenly occurred to him he hadn't ever checked if the others took the same meaning from what Orga said as he did.

Perhaps he needed to change angles again.

Yamagi being into guys wouldn't be the most surprising thing. All the crap the First Group bastards used to sling around aside, it was hard not to notice how uninterested Yamagi was in girls. Or at least, he wasn't interested in going out on the town to pick them up. Like Orga, except without the feeling the point was flying over his head. Yamagi seemed to understand sex as a concept, he just didn't appear to want it with the kind of people who showed up in Shino's magazines.

Didn't he ask if Shino was into girls once? As though there could be any doubt!

…had he maybe wanted a different answer?

OK, this was starting to feel weird. Now Shino was wondering if he'd ever seen Yamagi look at someone in a way that suggested he wanted to get it on with them! He was always so quiet and serious, it was hard to picture him being horny. Or giving anybody the time of day, honestly. The closest he got was maybe how he'd looked when they were putting the Alaya-Vijnana into the Graze Custom. The intense concern he'd shown over the pain the testing caused Shino.

Since then, he'd made it a mission to always perfectly tune Shino's A-V system, to avoid it hurting him again.

Did… did he do that for anyone else?

An itch spread across Shino's scalp as he took stock of the sheer amount of stuff he relied on Yamagi to do for him. Hell, there hadn't been a question that he'd be the one to head off to the Saisei to get Gundam Flauros fixed and turned into Ryusei-Go the Fourth. Shino bought the paint out of his own pocket but he'd known he could rely on Yamagi to make sure his new machine came back a roaring pink. Shino knew he could rely on Yamagi, full-stop, with pretty much everything.

Which was great!

Having a comrade – a friend – who'd make sure he got what he needed to fight the way he wanted was amazing!

Why though? Why did Yamagi do that? Shino was always bugging him with new ideas and he was always going along with them, despite his better sense. Sometimes, he'd explain bluntly why a suggestion was stupid and impossible given their resources, then come back an hour later with a plan to get close to something like what Shino wanted, and the result would turn out even better. In fact, the only time he'd flat-out refused was…

When they talked about funerals.

When Yamagi said he'd not make ice flowers bloom for Shino because they were too expensive.

Shino got the strong urge to slap himself across the face. He'd known he was being given the brush-off back then, it just hadn't occurred to him that was because – because, well, how could it have been? 'Cos when you started bringing in things like… then you weren't talking about sex any more, were you? And he could deal with somebody thinking he was hot, he could handle them being embarrassed over that, but if it was more than just a guy into guys being into a hot guy –

He was getting ahead of himself.

Way, way, way ahead of himself.

So what if Yamagi's flinch could possibly, maybe be taken as a response to… that. What other clues were there? He hadn't squirmed or blushed. He was a predictable level of snitty over being treated as on-site tech-support. He'd… not exactly been pleased when Shino got a tiny bit loud over Ride using Ryusei-Go the Third to snag the monster's attention. Nothing out of the ordinary for someone so cool under pressure, the only sign of nerves was a single foot tapping against Shino's knee.

Hold on.

Back up.

For a long few minutes, Shino sat with what snatches he could remember from before the flinch. The yelp Yamagi gave on being hoisted through the hatch. The restless patter of his toes, like he was trying to grab on with them. The all-business voice in which he rattled off information about the Flauros cannons. The faint reek of engine oil, soaked into his overalls, mingling with the new-clean smell of the cockpit and the animal musk of another body. The way he kept looking away –

None of it should have meant anything.

It still probably didn't.

But if Shino's suspicions were on the mark, then there was somebody in Tekkadan who did not think of him as family, or at least, not the kind of family Shino had assumed they were. Which meant he needed to figure out what to do next, because he couldn't just leave the guy hanging after going so long without realising. He'd have to say something, do something, decide if he wanted to see what came of saying yes…

Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be much of a question over that.

Good to know.

Even so, he ought to make sure. It'd be a huge pain in the ass if he worked himself up to asking an important question only to find he'd completely misread the situation. That'd be a real jerk move, inflicting such an awkward mess on Yamagi, and then Shino'd be the one dealing with horrible embarrassment. No, the smart thing would be to get a second opinion, check his working, make sure he wasn't chasing down the wrong rat hole with all of this.

And Eugene was sitting right there, so –

“Hey, can we talk about Yamagi? Do you think he… likes me or something?”

[rozcdust]

Addicted

Pairing: Ran Haitani x f!reader x Kakucho Hitto

Genre: Crack, SMAU

Word count: 1.2k

Warnings: Canon divergent, ooc, profanity, substance abuse, kind of locker room talk

masterlist

It wasn’t always, but since throwing himself in the world of Bonten and near constant threats of death, it got to be in Kakucho’s nature to investigate people before engaging for a prolonged period of time, to gather enough blackmail and dirty secrets to be a threat.

Yet, there was hardly anything dirty to be found on you.

And not because you didn’t have plenty of filthy, nasty little secrets, no, it was because you were so goddamn open about them.

It was one of those lazy afternoons, where after the meeting, everyone stuck around for a little longer, lounging on sofas and just existing in each other’s presence, some chatting, some doing their own thing, but together nonetheless.

He suspected Kokonoi was the only one actually working, though, as Mikey was probably just watching Netflix on his phone, snacking, Ran engaging in idle chat with Mochi, absentmindedly petting Rindou’s hair as the younger tried to sleep, head placed on Haruchiyo’s lap and legs over Kakucho’s.

Kakucho sighed, scrolling on his laptop, through the archive of files he dug up on you, and they told him everything and nothing.

There were no police records, you didn’t have a file, although he found a report on your mother’s car accident. She died when you were a little over 3 years old, and you were an only child, your father never married afterwards, passing two years ago due to complications during a liver transplant.

Your love for games of luck was a well-known fact, as was your engagement to Naoto fucking Tachibana out of all people, but the two of you seemingly broke it off out of nowhere, mere few weeks before the wedding.

You also inherited your father’s IT firm, and seemed to run it well.

Kakucho couldn’t find anything else.

Sanzu peeked over his shoulders, reading along, cockily smirking before Kakucho even had a chance to slam his laptop shut.

“Searching up our y/n? My, my, Kakucho, are you interested in her?”

Kakucho scoffed, throwing the man a nasty look, but refused to relent into Sanzu’s teasing.

“I’d suggest you go for it, she liked you, and she’s not the type to be on the market for long, never was. Plenty of men and women interested in warming her bed.”

“Plenty of douchebags interested in a bitch.” Kokonoi muttered from the side, gaze still fixed on his work, “If you want someone to fuck you up, go ahead, sign up for the circus.”

Sanzu laughed.

The conversation seemingly caught Mikey’s attention, and he threw a look between Kakucho and Kokonoi, seemingly pondering about something.

“She is a blood-sucking fiend, correct, but she has her good qualities too.” Mikey mused, shutting everyone up in a second as everyone fixated their gaze on him, “She’ll never leave you high and dry, at least. Kinda reminds me of Ran over here.”

“Excuse me, I’d be an excellent boyfriend.” Ran grumbled, turning his nose up in offence when Rindou, Sanzu and Kokonoi started cackling.

“With your commitment issues, the tendency to ghost people and 24-hour napping? Doubtful.”

His face turning serious now, Ran looked at Kakucho, seemingly deep in thought.

Deep in trying to pretend he wasn’t a sad and lonely loser with a desperate crush.

“Go for it Kaku, why not? You’ve been alone in a while, a few months of having fun won’t kill you.”

Kakucho opened his mouth to at least try and defend himself, but Kokonoi cut him off firmly.

“Don’t. Go for anyone else, hell, you’d be better off going for fucking Sanzu-“

“Hey! I am very happily taken!”

“Than her. You deserve at least some joy in your misery of a life, and you won’t get it with her.”

Kakucho wasn’t sure if he should be complimented or insulted.

Mikey and Sanzu rolled their eyes simultaneously.

“Put it to rest, Kokonoi.”

“Hey, Kakucho.” Sanzu smirked suddenly, and Kakucho wasn’t sure he liked it when the older man put his hand on his shoulder, “I know y/n’s going out tonight, to Ran’s and Rin’s club, actually. Why not stop by?”

Kakucho pondered over it.

The day of the car accident was coming up, and he could use a little harmless fun to get it off his mind.

“I hate it already!” Draken yelled into your ear, face sour as one of his arms was wrapped around Inui’s waist, the other occupied with his drink.

“C’mon, Kenny boy, live a little! It’s fun!” You yelled back, the smile echoed into your cheeks, containing the urge to laugh at your friend’s miserable state.

At least the rest knew how to have some fun.

Mitsuya and Hakkai were dancing together, fingers interlaced, way too slow for the rushed beat of the song, but they’ve always been like that, way too lovey-dovey and cute and borderline making everyone else gag.

At least the pet shop bitches knew how to have fun, shaking their hips to the beat and grinding all over each other, borderline fucking on the dance floor, as God always intended.

Flicking your eyes up to Draken and Inui, you could already tell they’d be good for nothing in that department, if anything, they’ll probably have a lazy makeout session in the booth, and you didn’t want to be anywhere near for when that happened.

Downing your drink, you went ahead to sway to the beat alone, close enough so Draken could see you, but far enough away that you could pretend he didn’t.

He has been fussing over you since the two of you were 9, and it doesn’t seem to be improving with age, no matter how many times you tell him you’re all grown up now.

Soft idiot.

An arm sneaks it’s way around your waist, interrupting your train of thought, and you don’t even have time to turn and glance at the person responsible.

“Hi, pretty girl.” A familiar, husky voice fills your ears, sending a pleasant shiver up your spine.

“Hello.” You reply back softly, allowing him to turn you around, his hands still locked firmly around your waist, “Long time no see. Assumed you’d never call back.”

Kakucho smiled, too softly for a man like him.

“Got busy, sorry.”

“Wow, I’m not a priority after the two times we’ve spoken? How horrible!“

He rolled his eyes, but there was no malice behind the act, no insult at all.

You found he looked just as handsome under the dim, flashing lights of the club as he did in the bright light of the wedding hall, a graceful sort of beauty adorning his face, his eyes clear and warm and his smile pleasant, even if his face betrays his real emotions, his real intentions.

You were staring into the eyes of a man in depths of misery, just trying to find a way to forget.

People often assumed you didn’t care about others’ feelings, or merely didn’t notice them at all, considering you to be a spoiled brat with no kindness or consideration for others.

You merely considered one’s private feelings their own business, and it wasn’t something you felt the need to pry into.

“Wanna get out of here?” You ask, your hands making their way onto Kakucho’s shoulders and around his neck, your fingertips lightly caressing his nape.

He smirked, and your suspicions got confirmed.

. . . next

🔖Taglist (open):

@dilf-city @wakasa-wifey @rinsie @kisekihany @bajifairyy @cryszus @r-xochitl @7rkx @graythecoffeebean @mukounisuru-gashadokuro @sunahyejin @yamaguccitadashi @minoozi @trashmemebitch @frogtits1 @sup-zfam @whydohumansss @shiyuumisaki @xashiui @bontens-whore @chronic-claire-universe @nqctre @crybabylisa @adeptiixiao @denkis-sluttyboy @yukimaniac @toobsessedsstuff @yuushs @sh4nn @lumi-does-some-stuff @hana-patata @hxked @erza-uzumaki @syddisheep @satsuri3su @soushswag @wisteria-aa @bontensbabygirl @qualitygiantshoepsychic @levii-s @astropheia @galactict3a @a-toxic-person @inurmom00 @eriislost @phoenixflames498 @luvjiro

a/n: just to let you guys know, updates will be delayed for all fics bc a bitch got ✨ e x a m s ✨

[baynton]

thanks for the tag @thelastplantagenet <3

for the sake of this tag game i'll only be using my main/current ao3 account to answer with. otherwise it'll get far too messy

1. How many fics do you have on AO3?

53, and i only made this account and started posting on it in january of this year. i'm very normal

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

144,946

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mostly just mat fandoms to be honest, although i've got like... 4? non-mat fics on this account. i will be disregarding those 4 fics from now on (because obviously bigger fandoms get more recognition and this is a Mat Account)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

- Cold Turkey - 24 kudos, pat/thomas

- Performance - 22 kudos, thomas/julian, thomas/getting bukkaked by all the ghosts

- Follow Through - 22 kudos, alison/thomas

- Simon Says - 20 kudos, mat/simon

- Permanently - 16 kudos, julian/thomas

obviously since ghosts is the biggest mat show, it makes sense (not really anyone reading fics for ymata, spy, the wrong mans, etc)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i'm a lazy shit, and usually forget. when my friends comment they also tend to message me about it in the mat discord (if you're 18+ and want to join hmu it's a lot of fun) where i post all my fics too, so i tend to reply to them over there to be honest, but sometimes when i remember or am particularly touched by a comment i will go and reply

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

definitely "tell me what you imagine, when you think of me." rip ariel. literally

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

okay well it's not actually finished yet, though i have a good idea of where i'm taking it when i get around to writing more, but i'd say Fixer-Upper probably. chris waltzes into joe's life, improves it, then starts giving him lots of kinky sex while they also dance around ~actually dating~ (which they will end up doing properly. when i get around to writing it)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

generally, no. i make it clear what my fics contain, whether that's kinks, rpf, dubcon/noncon, etc, so most people know not to click if they're not interested. i did have a hate comment on simon says a while back, i remember because it was genuinely funny

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes, lol. and all kinds, ranging from sweet to kinky as sin

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

i write many crossovers, i mean. i write a lot of mat character/mat character so like chris x joe (spy x reluctant persuaders), ariel x chris (ymata x spy), but yeah they're only really crossovers in the sense that i'm like hmm this mat character should fuck/date this mat character. the only ones i *properly* create a believable crossover world for are my chris x joe fics, because i'm very normal about them

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

don't see why anyone would bother stealing mine, the mat fandom is so tiny there's not much to steal. emma @toomanyfandomsneverenoughtime has written a few fics based on my favourite chris x joe crossover world i created, though, which isn't stealing but the greatest gift ever <3

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

no, actually! i would 1000000% cowrite with emma though. if she wanted to :3

13. What's your all time favourite ship?

look. look.l ook. i can't choose between ariel x jamie and chris x joe but if i had to. chris x joe lol

14. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

i fully intend to finish my wips! i have the next chapter and a half written for Paid in Trade, i just haven't published it, and i've also got further plans for Fixer-Upper, and those are my only wips. most of my fics just tend to be smutty oneshots tbh

15. What are your writing strengths?

i write pretty good smut when i actually put in the effort, as opposed to being like oh god i have this smutty idea and i need to get it out of my head so i'm just gonna write it all in two hours and then post it because why not

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

having patience. i'm trying to write a longer sam/marat fic at the moment but i just keep wanting to rush ahead to the good bit rather than drag out the slow burn, even though i really want to. i'm impatient af tbh

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i only speak english and would probably definitely butcher another language. however if i ever have a need for a character to speak another language, i would probably make it czech so i could get @the-illuminated-one to provide me with actual sensical sentences as opposed to google translating it

18. First fandom you wrote for?

ohhhh wow kingdom hearts lol. but those are all wiped from the internet. there's still some ancient glee fics i wrote out there though, which came right after the kh era

19. Favourite fic you've written?

keeping it within the mat fandoms once again (otherwise i will just talk about my jopper fake dating fic which i am still so fucking proud of lol), probably come closer (ariel x jamie), but there's also a few fics i'm working on that are completely unpublished atm that i am very very attached to haha

and now for tagging. i tag @toomanyfandomsneverenoughtime, @sonnet-of-anarchy, @kore538, @goodonecap. no pressure, i just love u guys and know u all write. xo

[aurora567]

Pandora's Gift Ch. 23

Warning: this story will contain mature content such as but not limited to sex, cursing, blood, violence, breeding kink, A/B/O themes ect.

Summary: The smut continues so if you do not wish to read smut or are under 18 please skip to chapter 24.

Word count: 3188

Last Chapter Next Chapter

Once the pair was able to part ways they did. Bakugou slipped his boxers on and proceeded to walk to her tiny kitchen as he gave Kirishima a call to let him know that neither Sakaki or himself would be at work and they Kirishima most likely had their place to himself now as well. Sakaki on the other hand could not have cared any less about what the blonde was doing as she was digging through her closet pulling out the supply of extra soft pillows and blankets. Not a care in the world that she was still naked or that she was less than clean now. Nor did she care that Bakugou was rummaging through her kitchen to find she didn’t exactly have the place well stocked in fresh food. A lot of canned goods or things in boxes but she lacked a lot of fresh stuff, which of course irritated the blonde who was hoping to cook something for a late lunch since they had been interrupted.

Meanwhile Sakaki was arranging the pillows and blankets as her omega demanded them to be. A soft and warm place to curl up in and stay for the next good number of days. And yet it didn’t seem complete as she stood over the bed now eyeing the blankets and pillows with a scowl. It wasn’t till her eyes drifted down that she spotted Bakugou’s shirt by the door. It was irritating that she felt the need to grab the shirt. And yet she couldn’t stop herself as she scooped up the shirt. Quickly she lifted the shirt up to her face allowing herself to cave in and take a deep inhale allowing Bakugou’s scent to wash over her as she found herself softly purring before adding the article of clothing to the pile of blankets and pillows on the bed.

Her body was burning up and sweat licked at her skin and yet she still happily crawled into the specifically piled blankets feeling extremely happy and content at least for the moment. But of course it wasn’t perfect even as she buried her nose into Bakugou’s shirt that sat among the mix of pillows and blankets. It wasn’t the same as having the actual body and scent beside her to curl up to.

Finally she could hear the footsteps she had been listening to as Bakugou strolled into the bedroom pausing before the bed to scowl down at her as he always did. Even in a mild foggy heat induced brain she still returned a scowl back to the blonde.

“How the hell do you survive with an empty kitchen,” he growled, looking down at her. He didn’t dare enter the now quickly made nest without her invitation even if she had officially invited him earlier but still she had not made her nest then. And he knew the woman would happily growl and snap at him if given a valid reason and excuse.

“I had planned to go grocery shopping but as I have made clear this series of events was not at all planned, usually when I stop my suppressants I have a few days before my heat. I was not expecting it to hit me like a fucking train in only a few hours,” she growled up at him. Though she was cranky it was due to a few factors and the pain once again starting to stab into her stomach was one of the reason’s she was a little more short with the blonde than normal.

“Now get your ass back in bed,” she growled, which only had the smirk on his face growing as he enjoyed this chance to tease her.

“And what if I decide not to?” He asked an eyebrow arched at her.

“Do not test me Katsuki. I will throw your ass out of my apartment in nothing more than your boxers and let your PR team deal with that disaster,” she threatened not even hesitating for a moment either. If she couldn’t have him, or more particular his dick then she would not hesitate to throw his ass out. She did not have the patients in that moment to deal with him if he wasn’t dicking her down good into her mattress.

Of course Bakugou found that reply funny in the moment, maybe more so that he knew she would actually try and do it too if he wasn’t careful.

“Alright alright no need to threaten social media murder,” he said as he moved along the edge of the bed looking for the best way to crawl in without risking damaging the way she arranged everything. He was careful which was a little surprising that he actually cared enough to not damage the nest. Or maybe he just feared she would try to bite his head off like a praying mantis would after mating.

The second he was in the bed her nose was running along his shoulder and up to his neck nuzzling her nose along the scent gland there oh so happily taking a long deep breath as a soft purr seemed to rumble in her chest. Why was his scent so soothing? She had never found it that way before. Even in highschool she had never found his scent so mouth watering but also so soothing. Not even noticing she had crawled into his lap till she moved to grind her hips against him did she notice he was still wearing his boxers. The material was rough when she ground her sensitive body against it. She did not enjoy that as she let out a soft whine.

Her hands had moved down his chest as she nearly ripped the offending material off of his body, whether it was because she just didn't want to feel the scratchy material against her sensitive skin or it was the fact she wanted what was being hidden under the material her fog riddled brain wasn't sure. But in the moment she didn't care as her hands tugged the material off of his hips and down his strong thighs. Dark eyes ran up his thighs and happily oogled the rippling muscles of his abs of his lower stomach before making their way up taking in the way the muscles of his broad shoulders rippled as he shifted beneath her to toss his boxer across the tiny room. Has Bakugou always looked this good? It was almost hard to believe this man she had been working the last two weeks with was the same young blonde idiot she remembered from highschool.

“Are you just going to sit there and keep drooling?” The tone of his voice was completely teasing as she was sitting there straddling his waist before she blinked her eyes slowly pushing away the fog of lust for a moment while she had a chance to.

“Oh shut up,” She growled her top lip pulling back to flash her teeth at him. Though all that did was earn her a growl back from the blonde who was lying beneath her.

“Watch it little omega,” He growled back at her, his own sharp teeth flashing back. A shiver ran down her back at the thought of what the blonde would do to her if she continued to push his buttons as the two of them boarded on the line of being feral animals and still people.

“Make me,” maybe she was a little suicidal as she actually growled that back at the man. Of course she was given no chance to even think over what the outcome of those two words would be when she suddenly found her back pressed into the bed beneath her. A large hand wrapped around her neck kept her pinned to the bed even as she tried to snap at the hand holding her in place. But she knew she didn’t wish to actually remove the hand or the body that pinned her down.

“Better watch what you say,” He growled before grinding his hard cock against her inner thigh. This drew a whine from her as her own hips bucked up trying to meet his hips but a simple shift of his hips had hers meeting nothing.

“Bakugou,” she whined softly as she started to pant softly beneath him as she looked up at him.

“We are a little past using last names now don't you think?” The blonde said smirking as he looked down at the dark haired woman that laid out beneath him unable to keep herself from squirming and already panting even though he had not actually touched her yet. Then again the scent of her slick was filling the room making his own head dizzy and his alpha clawing at the back of his mind to remove his hand from her neck and instead sink his teeth into a sensitive scent gland and claim her for himself. But that would probably get his ass killed rather literally by the woman if he claimed her after she had told him earlier not to.

“Katsuki,” She really didn't have the ability to hold a conversation with the man at the moment as she just simply repeated his name though using his first name this time as she watched his pupils blow up and his nostrils flare. Just hearing her say his first name alone seemed to completely snap whatever little bit of self control he had.

A low rumble vibrated in his chest before his hip’s thrust forward sinking himself deep within her body, which had her cry out in a mixture of surprise and pleasure. Yet the cry didn’t have him stop as his hips moved quickly to start snapping against hers as the room filled with her moans and his soft grunts and groans. Her hips quickly tried to meet his every time he snapped his against hers sending him deep within her body. The feeling of being stretched and filled once again had her moaning and trying to squirm beneath him. But the hand fingers wrapped around her neck lightly kept her pinned to the bed in her spot only allowing the lower half of her body to be able to move at all. But still it limited how much she could move as her body felt like it had a mind of its own as her back arched or tried to.

She tried to whine but the pressure from the hand kept her from being able to make much more than a breathless low whine. She wanted to squirm and move her body demanded to try and help him. But the low growl from him when she grabbed at his wrist to try and remove it warned her that he would not be removing his hand soon. And so all she could bring herself to do was grab at his forearm weakly and whine a little as she was at his mercy as he fucked her into the mattress beneath her back.

Her body was growing tense as her walls slowly started to tighten around him. She wasn’t sure how long she could last. But the feeling of his knot starting to catch on her entrance informed her that he was in a very similar boat. Finally the arm around her neck moved to grip the top of her shoulder as if he could somehow pull her even closer to him as he sunk himself deep into her body.

“Katsuki… alpha!” She couldn’t even get her mouth to work and warn him that she was close. But it seemed finally being able to freely call out to him was too much for him as his knot popped and she could feel him filling her with his hot seed. She cried out as teeth sank into a spot of her right shoulder right by her arm. That sent her over the edge as well as her body squirmed and waves of pleasure crushed into her before her body slowly started to relax as she panted softly.

Though all it took was a minute or two to start regaining the ability to think to recall the pain in her shoulder before a quick panic set in and she raised a shaking hand to her skin before feeling across the tender area. Although it hurt and she was pretty sure someone could take a dental mold from her skin the bite had not been strong enough to actually break the skin. Still hurt and the skin around was an angry red. But she sighed as she realized he kept his word even during the heat of climaxing.

“That hurt. Dick,” she said softly before she finally turned her dark eyes to look up at the blonde who was leaning over her. His forehead leaning against her other shoulder trying to catch his own breath and wait for sensation to return to all of his body.

“Oh boohoo you big baby,” he growled at her but there was no bite to his tone as he laid there catching his breath before his arms carefully wrapped around her before the two rolled over to lay on their sides in an attempt to get more comfortable. Though the initial movement had sent off a jolt of pain and discomfort through her she didn’t say anything as she found herself nuzzling into the blondes chest inhaling his scent softly as she found herself drifting off to sleep.

It wasn’t till a knock at her front door jolted her from her sleep that she had even noticed she had fallen asleep at all. The growl rumbling from a half asleep Bakugou had her eyes flash up to her as she heard her dear friend's voice after having let herself into the apartment. A slap to Bakugou’s chest had his growl stop as he looked down at her, almost as if he was offended at the action.

“It’s Sasara. She probably heard what happened and brought me food knowing my fridge would be empty,” she said softly as she looked over at the blonde who was now fully awake.

“Good I’m hungry,” the blonde said simply before pulling away from her to crawl out of the nest of blankets and grab his boxers, slipping them on before leaving the bedroom. Not great but at least he had the decency to not give her friend a full heart attack while walking around naked.

It wasn’t long till she heard her front door open and close once again before the blonde returned with two bowls of curry in hand. Of course that’s what he would go for first out of the few meals her friend surely had to have cooked for her.

“I don't think that will be up to your royal tastes buds,” Sakaki said smirking as she watched the blonde growl at her.

“It’s not like I’m expecting much. But we should eat while we can,” he said, sitting down carefully on the bed before offering her a dish. They both knew what he meant. He was likely going to go into rut once his own suppressants wore off. Though Sakaki wanted to know what company made his meds cause his were clearly better than hers.

She watched as Katsuki stuck the first mouthful of curry into his mouth. He was well aware she was watching him like a hawk, and the cheshire grin she was sporting as he chewed did not help. If anything it was annoying but he had to wait till he was able to swallow the mouthful of food before turning on her with his sharp tongue.

“What the hell are you looking at?” He barked at her which only had her laughing lightly before she shoved a mouthful of food into her own mouth drawing out her reply knowing the blonde would hate it if she talked with her mouth full. He used to reprimand Kirishima and Kaminari back in highschool if either of them would ever talk with their mouths full, and so she doubted that would have changed.

“Nothing, just waiting to see if you choked on it,” she said, completely teasing even as he growled at her. Which in turn only made her start laughing before she continued to eat her food.

“It’s not as spicy as I like it but it’s not that bad,” wow was that an attempted compliment about someone else’s cooking coming for Bakugou Katsuki the cooking king?

“Wow look at that. You can actually eat someone else’s cooking and not combust?” She said unable to help but continued teasing and pushing his buttons.

“Of course I can dumb ass. And anyways I doubt you could cook any better,” he growled back, expecting to irritate her but she just smiled.

“Nope I can’t. Never was great in the kitchen. Sasara’s cooking is much better than I could ever hope to make,” she said honestly as she happily ate the curry faster than she planned to. But skipping lunch and now her heat starting had made her hungry as her body demanded protein and food before the days of fasting and strenuous work that it knew was coming.

A part of her was sad once her plate was cleaned off. But her stomach said she was full so she didn’t complain when Katsuki took both their plates and headed to the kitchen where she assumed he was washing them. But still she didn’t enjoy the nest being empty. Her stomach full and a fresh nap in her body was once again heating up. Curiously what sliver of her sanity she had, or maybe it was an insanity? It was hard to tell at the moment but non the less some part of her brain figured her next action would be a good idea.

“Katsuki!” She cried out in a low, needy whine ensuring it was just loud enough that he would hear her from the kitchen. And of course he did as all the noise in the kitchen came to a halt. She was pretty sure he even left the sink full of water but she didn’t care. In a matter of a few steps he stood in the doorway of her bedroom looking at her with blown out pupils and flaring nostrils as he watched her almost warningly.

“Oh what’s that face for Katsuki?” She asked flashing him a wide fake innocent smile as if she did not know about what she had just done. Or the fact that she very much loved the way he reacted to something as simple as her saying his first name. Though she was most likely going to regret that discussion as she watched him start to stroll towards the bed a deep growl in his throat as he quickly shed his boxers before reaching the bed. He was already rock hard and the sight was more than enough to kick start another round of slick running down her thighs. Good thing they got a nap in earlier because she was pretty sure she was not going to get any more sleep till very early in the morning now.

Next Chapter

[the-scouts-codex]

Summary: “Yay I win!” Kalim cheered.  Jamil was confused. “Huh? That means you have to think of something…oh no.”  Kalim beamed even more. “Party at Scarabia!

Scout's Notes: Hello, This is Part One of my third work here on Tumblr, "Party at the Oasis!" The word count will be determined once the entire work has been completed. That being said, I have no clue on how many parts this will need. Also, that would mean that this work will not be on Ao3 until it's completed. (″ロ゛) Other than that, please enjoy Part one. <3

Ever since the successful sleepover, the HeadMage had them pick something to do together again. They were getting used to having to do things together, especially Renmu. He enjoyed every bit of it. This was the first time he had friends his age, the first time he had a sleepover, the first time he could say he had friends to hang out with. It was a big milestone for Renmu. It was like a door had finally opened up for Renmu and his life was starting to look up.

  Some of them, Leona and Idia, didn't want to hang out or pick things to do so it made it hard for them to choose what to do next. To make it easier this time, Renmu decided to draw strings.

“It’s simple.” Renmu explained. “Whoever draws the string in this case, that does not move from the bunch, has to find something for everyone to do.” 

“But…how do I know which one I have?” Azul asked, concerned. 

Leona and Vil sighed irritably. Renmu understood why Azul was concerned. He hated anything that he could not control. He hated things based on pure luck and or chance. He had to be able to control the odds to guarantee success. 

“I know you don’t like things that you can’t control but this is the only way to make things fair.” Renmu Reasoned. 

Azul huffed but nodded. Renmu pulled out the string and tied them all together and to the bottom of the stick. He then swung the stick around to mix them all up. -“I do not know which was which anymore. Now, everyone come over to pick a string but don’t pull it yet.” 

All the Housewardens walked over and chose a string and held it. “Yosh, everyone ready?” Renmu asked. 

Nods and yeses chorused from the group. 

“Pull.” 

They all pulled their strings. One by one, a string came undone until there was one left, stuck to the stick. Kalim was the “Lucky” winner. 

“Yay I win!” Kalim cheered. 

Jamil was confused. “Huh? That means you have to think of something…oh no.” 

Kalim beamed even more. “Party at Scarabia! I already know that I want to have it on Friday!” 

“Tomorrow is Friday, Kalim!” Jamil interjected. “That’s less than 24 hours to prepare it all!” 

“But we did it before. Plus I know if we work together, we can do it!” Kalim cheered. 

Jamil sighed. “”We” as in “Me”...Fine, I guess it can’t be helped.” 

Trey gave Jamil a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I will help out with the food again.” 

“I’m willing to lend a hand too.” Renmu offered.

Jamil muttered a small thanks for the support. “Just don’t bring extra people, Kalim. Understand?” 

Kalim nodded. “Promise. Have I ever let you down?” 

The room gave Jamil a reassuring look as he hung his head. He was going to need all the patience in the world to pull this off. Renmu bowed his head and put his hands together. “May Jamil-Senpai’s patience last until the party.” 

Jamli’s patience did run out. There was less than 3 hours left until the party and Jamil needed assistance. Not only did Kailm change the location and theme of their party, he also invited one more person. Whomever it was, no one knew. The party was now at the oasis and was going to be an indirect “Beach party”. So now they had to decorate the Oasis and carry things back and forth. That's where extra help came into play.

After dropping Grim off at Ramshackle, because everyone knew that Grim wouldn’t help, Renmu decided to aid Jamil with the food prep. Trey would be joining shortly once all of priorities were accounted for. Kalim liked a lot of food and couldn’t decide on what he actually wanted. Thus leading Jamil to cook an array of foods for the party. 

Jamil had already gotten the majority of the food prepared or completed but there was still more to do. There were many pots on the stove boiling, pans sizzling. Jamil was going back and forth like a five star chef in the kitchen. Not to mention Jamil gave out orders like one too. Renmu was right behind him, executing the orders in a timely fashion. 

“Prefect, is the lamb done?” Jamil asked, string a pot on the stove. 

“Hai. Would you like me to leave it to the side to rest?” Renmu asked. 

“Yes and could you start cutting the fruit and vegetables for the kabobs?” Jamil asked. 

Renmu turned the heat off the lamb and rolled it out of the pan and onto a cutting board. He then went over to the fruit Jamil had set aside to wash and cut. Jamil turned the heat off the stove and took the pot off the eye. Renmu wondered what he was making. It smelled sweet like pudding but the ingredients were different from the pudding he was used to making. Jamil immediately went over to the other side of the kitchen to prepare the shawarma for Kalim. Jamil worked quickly and efficiently. Not a single step was missed, not a break was taken. Renmu couldn’t help but wonder how much Jamil worked without a break. Did he even take breaks? If he did need one, he didn’t voice it or show it. They had been cooking for a while and Jamil didn’t miss a beat in the hot kitchen. 

“Jamil-Senpai…do you need a break?” Renmu asked softly. 

“No,” came Jamil’s reply before replying in a better tone. “I mean, no, I don’t need a break. Thank you.” 

“You seem…stressed is all Jamil-Senpai.” Renmu mumbled as he stabbed the pieces of fruit on the stick. “Even now, you're running behind Kalim and prepping for the party. Not to mention homework. Don’t overwork yourself, alright?” Renmu reminded him. 

Jamil sighed and mumble and nodded his head. If Jamil was being honest, he couldn’t remember the last time he made time for himself. All he wanted was to relax tonight but the party came up and now he was working again. He would just deal with it like always. Maybe at the party he would have some time to relax. 

“Wow, it smells good in here.” Trey said, catching their attention. Trey placed two large bags of sweets on the island. Trey was in charge of making ice cream and Shaved Ice. 

“Jamil, I’m done with homework now and I’m heading to the Oasis!” Kalim yelled, running past the Kitchen. 

“W-Wait Kalim!” Jamil yelled. 

“I’ll go with him, Jamil-Senpai.” Renmu offered. “I’m done with the kabobs by the way.” 

Jamil sighed, he guessed it wouldn’t hurt to let the Prefect go with him. “Alight. Just…hurry please.” 

Renmu didn’t need to be told twice and scurried off after the exited housewarden. 

Renmu eventually caught up with the Housewarden and arrived at the Oasis. Renmu couldn’t believe that the dorm had an Oasis near it. How big were these realms? How far did they go and did they have an end? There were still a lot of things that Renmu didn’t understand about this world or the magic that came with it. Those were all things that Renmu hoped to be able to see and learn. 

Kalim and Renmu got a head start decorating the Oasis. Cater and Lilia would be bringing beach supplies in the next few minutes. So far, the pavilion was put up, the table and cushions that went underneath were also placed. The pavilion was made from crimson silk and could be tied closed, perfect for keeping the bugs and sand out and to keep cool. Big umbrellas were also set up around the Oasis for shade. Next was the lanterns. Kalim had taken some of the extra ornate lanterns from the treasury. Would Jamil flip out? Yes. Did it seem to bother Kalim at the moment? No. Kalim was far too happy to be decorating for his guests. 

“Where do you want this one, Kalim-Senpai?” Renmju asked, holding up a lantern. 

Kalim hummed in thought. “Those can be placed in the water.” 

Renmu looked at the dry oasis. “...Kalim-Senpai, the Oasis is dry.” 

Kalim looked over at the Oasis and started laughing. “Oops, I forgot that I had to fill it.” Kalim hopped off the ladder he was on and jogged over to the dry crater. Renmu was curious on how he would fill the body of water. Kalim summoned his staff and held it up high towards the clear blue sky. “Unwinding on the hot sands!” The crimson gem began to glow. “An endless party! Sing! Dance! Oasis Maker!” 

Water began to fall from the cloudless sky. The water looked like drops sapphire, sparkling and shimmering as the sun rays hit them. The water pooled into the dry crater, filling it up quickly. Soon the dry pit burgeoned into an entire body of water but not only that, all the surrounding vegetation came back to life and flourished. So much bright green and color decorated the dusty horizon. 

“Awesome right!?” Kalim boosted. Renmu nodded “My signature spell is called “Oasis Maker”.” Kalim explained. “I often used it back home to fill the pools and or water the plants, But now I use it here to fill the Oasis up!” 

Renmu could see the use for a spell like that where Kalim was from. He could imagine him saving his country if a drought was to fall upon them. Luckily they were safe from that happening.

“Hey look! Cater and Lilia are here!” Kalim shouted. 

Cater and Lilia finally arrived with the beach supplies. Frome buckets, to blankets to beach balls and beach floats and so much more. They went all out on the beach supplies. And it looks like they needed extra hands to carry it because they also now had Rook and Ruggie with them. 

“We got the stuff!” Cater yelled excitedly. 

“Sweet! This party is going to be so much fun!” Kalim cried. 

“I suggested that we have some more things to do than just dancing and swimming.” Lilia explained. “So we might have gotten a few extra things.” 

“I brought a volleyball net too.” Rook supplied. “I’ll help set it up for you, Roi du D’ior.” 

“And we will help set the other things up. #PrepSquad.” Cater said with a wink. 

“Thank you guys!” Kalim cheered. “I know we can get it all done!” 

With that, everyone went back to work. 

They made good time now that more people helped out. The Oasis was fully decorated and prepped, the food was done and waiting for them at the Oasis. All that was left was for everyone else to show up. The party didn’t start until another 5 minutes. Those that helped were already there and in their swimsuits waiting outside the main building. Cater and Trey were in matching swimsuits. The only thing that made them different was the clovers and diamonds. No doubt that Riddle had a similar one with roses or hearts. Rook was in a purple swim trunks with gold apples on them. Kalim and Jamil were in matching black swim trunks with red flames at the bottom, though Kalim kept his gold jewelry on. Renmu was starting to see a trend in their swimsuits. They all matched the colors and style of their dorms. Ruggie had one with the same design as Savanaclaw. Renmu was the only one with the school's generic swimsuit, not that it mattered to him. 

“Riddle, Vil and Leona are here!” Cater announced. 

Sure enough, they had matching swimsuits. Vil had other accessories like Kalim. Not to mention the satin robe that he used to cover up with. Riddle had on a button up that was open and Leona sunglasses. 

“Rook, help me put on sunscreen please.” Vil asked. 

Rook was at Vil's side in seconds, ready to lend him a hand. 

“Cater, Trey, I trust that the two of you put on sunscreen?” Riddle asked. The two of them nodded. 

“I’m not putting on that slimy mess.” Leona grumbled. 

“You should.” Vil argued. “You will damage your skin like that.” 

Leona rolled his eyes and sat down next to Ruggie. 

“Renmu, did you put on sunscreen?” Vil asked. 

Renmu shook his head. “Not recently.” 

“Come.” Vil ordered. Renmu scurried over to the Vil and Rook and sat down next to them. Vil took the sunscreen from Rook and began apply into Renmu’s face and arms. Vil made sure the Sunscreen lathered every exposed piece of skin that he could see. Vils gentle care made Renmu feel warm and fuzzy. They looked akin to a mother and their child getting ready for a fun filled day in the sun. 

“Done. You may go.” Vil said with a smile.

Renmu gave him a small thanks and sat back down on the steps. 

“So, what are we even doing at the Oasis?” Leona asked. “I hope you don’t expect me to make sand castles like some kid.” 

“Oh, you don’t like the sand? It’s okay.” Kalim assured him. “We have other things over there.” 

Leona didn’t bother answering the sunshine Housewarden. The comment obviously went over his head. 

“Don’t worry Leona. We have fun things in store.” Jamil assured him. 

“Fine. Just wish the others would hurry up already.” Leona whined. 

“We’re here.” Azul announced. Azul, Jade, and Floyd, made their way over to the group. The twins were carrying a large cooler. Behind them were Idia, Malleus, Lilia and Silver. Lilia was carrying a large banana boat. 

“I'm ready to party!” Lilia cheered. 

“Thankyou for inviting me, Kalim.” Silver said softly. 

Kalim beamed. “No problem buddy. The more the merrier. Now, let's head over to the Oasis!” 

Everyone got up and got their things and followed the far too eager Housewarden to the Oasis. With a very annoyed Vice Housewarden running after him, reminding him to wait for his guest properly. 

The sun was still high enough to have a sun filled evening but it was cool enough to the point it wasn’t unbearable. That being said, everyone was eager to get into the cold Oasis water. 

“Last one in is a rotten egg!” Kalim yelled, dropping his things and running to the water. Cater, Lilia, Floyd, and Ruggie took off behind him.

“Wait Kalim....” Jamil sighed in defeat. Jamil went to pick up Kalim’s discarded bag but Renmu beat him to it. “Let me help.” Renmu said softly. “You should take some time to relax.” 

Jamil wanted to argue, he wanted to protest, he wanted to say no but, something about how genuinely kind the Ramshackle Prefect was made him keep his mouth shut. Renmu picked the things up and brought them over to the pavilion and sat them down. Idia, Riddle and Leona went straight for one of the umbrellas and made themselves comfortable. Trey, Jade, and Jamil went to the buffet table to set the food and drinks up. Vil and Rook sat together on one of the beach towels to soak up some sun. Malleus and Silver ended up under one of the big palm trees. And then there was Renmu, Renmu didn’t know what to do. He never got the chance to go to a beach before let alone an Oasis. Maybe he could see if the “food Crew” needed any help. There was a lot of food after all. But in fact, they didn’t need help. Everything was already laid out and ready for the taking. Renmu hummed in though before just setting on sitting down in the sand and grabbing a bucket and shovel. Sandcastles it is then.

Renum hummed a little tune as he shoveled sand into the bucket. He added little stones around the edge before putting another layer of sand on top. Leona watched the little Prefect trot over to the water and dunk the bucket in. 

“Really? A sandcastle?” Leona mocked rather than asked. 

Renmu nodded. “I never got to make a real sandcastle before.” 

Leona sat up. “You never been to the beach?” 

“Nope!” Came Renmu’s reply as he smothered out the sand to make a flat surface. 

“Technically, your home country is nothing but sand.” Riddle interjected. “I have never been to the beach either…” 

“I have not had the pleasure of going to a beach either.” Malleus added, watching Renmu pat the bucket to get the sand out. “Lilia has always told me stories of them though. 

Renmu lifted the bucket slowly to reveal a perfect sandcastle. Renmu cheered softly and began to make another one. 

“I think I would join him in creating his seaside fortresses.” Malleus said, walking over to the pile of buckets and shovels. Malleus picked a green bucket and purple shovel and sat down next to Renmu. “Would you mind if I joined you?” Renmu shook his head.

Malleus watched Renmu carefully, mimicking his steps in making a sandcastle. He put the sand in then, some rocks though, the rocks looked strange. Renmu could tell what the Fae Housewarden was thinking. “You don’t have to put rocks in it. I like to do it for decoration.” 

Malleus nodded as he began filling his bucket with sand. Once it was filled, he followed Renmu to the water and dunked it in. 

“Don’t leave it in too long or it will be too wet!” Renmu hollered as he walked back to his other castle. 

Malleus quickly took the bucket out and followed Renmu back to the sand. 

“Yosh, now all you do is flip like this.” Renmu demonstrated by flipping the bucket quickly onto the sand. “Then pat the bottom to get all the sand out.

Malleus quickly and roughly flipped the bucket over onto the sand. Renmu chuckled at the haphazard way Malleus did it. “Lastly, slowly remove the bucket. You might have to wiggle it.” 

Malleus watched has Renmu’s bucket came right off and a perfect sandcastle stood tall in its place. Malleus then looked down at his. He carefully and slowly lifted the bucket but all that came out was a glob of wet sand. Leona cackled from his spot on the sand. “The heir to the Brair Valley can’t even make a simple Sandcastle!”

Malleus frowned. “I never made one…” 

Renmu smiled softly at the pouting prince. “It’s okay. Just try it again. They won’t always be perfect.” 

Malleus shook out all the sand from the bucket and started again. “I’ll show you what the heir to the Brair Valley can do, Kingscholar. Who knows, maybe you can’t make one either.” 

Leona sat up, his tail swishing back and forth irritably. “Huh?” 

“Leona can’t make a sandcastle?” Kalim asked, walking out of the water. “Don’t worry I can show you.” 

Leona was on his feet, snatching a bucket and shovel out the bag. “Ima show you herbivores what a Sandcastle looks like.”

“Oh I wanna make one too!” Kalim cheered, getting his bucket. 

Now Cater came running out the water. “Cay-Cay wants to play-play!” 

At that point, Silver, Riddle, Trey, Floyd, who was still halfway in eel form, Jade, Ruggie, and Lilia were grabbing buckets and shovels to make Sandcastles. 

“Let’s make teams!” Cater announced. “We can do it by dorm.” 

“That would be best, yes?” Jade said in agreement. 

“Though, there is one flaw in that proposal. Azul interjected. “It would seem that Ignihyde and Ramshackle only have one member. The rest of us have 3 or 2.” 

“Then just put the two odd balls together.” Leona replied, filling his bucket with sand. 

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa…whoa. Time out! W-Who said I was joining the Sandcastle war!? Idia shouted incredulously. 

“Us. Now come and join us. It will be fun!” Lilia cried. 

“H-Here's the thing, I don’t just team up with normies. There has to be a certain criteria a-and building sandcastles is such a normie thing to do…” 

“Just say you never built one, radish sprout. It’s obvious since you come from the Island of Woe.” Leona mocked. 

Idia scowled. “Huh?...” 

“I mean, it’s quite obvious that someone who’s been stranded in the middle of the ocean their whole life wouldn't know a thing about making a proper sandcastle.” Leona mocked.

Renmu could tell Leona was doing the same thing Malleus did to get him to join them. He was poking Idia’s buttons, pushing them where he knew it would hurt most. With a little more pressure, he would have the gloomy Housewarden caving in. No wonder these boys were so Twisted.

“Fine.” Idia said, caving. “I’ll show you noobs what a real sandcastle looks like.” Idia walked over and snatched a blue bucket and shovel and sat next to Renmu. “You better give it your all, Prefect!” 

“May the best Seaside Fortress win!” Lilia cheered.

This is the end of Part one. I hope you enjoyed it.

Part Two is here.

Word count: 14135

[sovvannight]

20 questions for writers

tagged by @mac-lilly! Thanks - this was fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

73

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

415,449

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Julie and the Phantoms, Teen Wolf, and Arrow

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Yes is Being My Answer (Arrow)

God Answers Every Question, But Sometimes the Answer is No (JatP)

The Total Agony of Being in Love (Arrow)

The Review (JatP)

The Loophole (JatP)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I usually don't, but that's something I really want to start doing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Momentary Distraction, a Stydia fic for Teen Wolf - I was trying to figure out how to work Stydia sex into the timeline around the season 3 finale without it causing canon to diverge, so I needed Stiles to still end up dating Malia. That meant Lydia had to pull away at the end.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Let's go with The Thief and the Dude of Honor, featuring Willie reuniting with his family and being 24 hours away from getting engaged! (The season 3/series finale will top that, but I haven't finished that yet so I can't count it.)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I know of, although I was actually too afraid to read comments when I first started writing, so there could be hate in there and I just don't know.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes - 17 out of 73, about a quarter of my fics. I've written M/F, F/F, M/M, threesomes, and one orgy 😳. I tend to write relatively vanilla smut - no BDSM, nothing too kinky.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nope. I know I had an idea for a Teen Wolf/Arrow crossover but I don't think I actually wrote anything for it, and it's certainly not finished and posted.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Don't make me choose between my children! Uh, let's say Juke since they're my current OTP.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

There's a Stydia WIP in my "Trunked" folder called "You Can't Spell Family without I-L(ove)-Y(ou)" that I really love - it's a teen parent, marriage-of-convenience-for-financial-aid fic. I was 78k in, but it probably would ended up being around 200k. And even now, I think about it, and it's like, you love that story, but do you really want to spend 6 months of your life writing something that will get like 4 kudos? But baby Allie is my all-time favorite OC, so... maybe someday.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization, maybe? And I'm good at pantsing, if that makes sense--for example, a thing happens at the end of season 2, leading into season 3. And all along part of me has been like, "But it makes no sense. Why would this happen?" but the rest of me was like, "I don't care, it's happening." And then I got to the point of actually writing the scene and it was like, oh, obviously, that's why this is happening, and it actually makes complete sense. Like, I make what feels like an off-the-cuff decision but it ends out playing out perfectly.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Description, the bane of all fanfic writers. I'm writing some ofic, and it's like, what do you mean, I have to describe this guy's apartment? (Also, what do you mean, I have to come up with a personality for my heroine? It's a struggle.) Too many compound sentences, too. Someone should take away the em-dash from me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I want to avoid it unless it's necessary. JatP Season 3 is probably going to need some Spanish, so that'll be a combo of class from 30 years ago and google translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Arrow

20. Favorite fic you've written?

The Thief and the Dude of Honor.