#and luckily it came out as “good job! way to go!” in like a funny silly way

[agaypanic]

Regina's Barbie (Regina George X Reader)

Masterlist

Request Something!

Summary: You’re Regina George’s latest project, but her reasoning for fixing you up is completely different than what you think.

A/N: a little drabble based on this ask that i answered a couple days ago bc it keeps getting interaction and lowkey i cant stop thinking about the concept ugh

***

“Hold still.” Regina scolded for what felt like the hundredth time, hand holding your jaw firmly to keep you in place while she put blush on your cheeks.

“Sorry.” You whispered, looking at the wall behind her so you didn’t have to face her intense gaze.

When Regina approached you one day, twirling her perfect blonde hair around her finger as she asked you if you wanted to hang out, you thought it was a prank. It had to have been, because there was no other reason why Regina George would even consider getting close to a ‘nobody’ like you. But when you stuttered out a response, her grin seemed genuine when telling you to meet you at her car after school. Sure enough, she was sitting in her car with the rest of the Plastics, beckoning you to come over and sit in the seat behind her.

Gretchen and Karen seemed to be a bit confused by your presence but didn’t question Regina. They welcomed you, but didn’t go out of their way to make conversation with you while Regina drove to the mall.

When she parked, Regina basically pulled you into shops by the arm, her friends rushing behind you. She thrusted some sweater into your hands, telling you that you just had to try it on. And when you tried telling her you couldn’t afford it, she rolled her eyes, took a credit card out of her purse, and dragged you to a fitting room.

And now you were here, perched on Regina’s bed while she did your makeup. She had insisted that the way you did it was all wrong and that you needed to know the proper way to do it. Gretchen and Karen weren’t here, which surprised you a bit. But you knew better than to question Regina.

“Okay, now you need lipgloss,” Regina said, looking through some of the glosses she had bought you. She opened one and looked at you. “Pucker up.”

You gulped at the demand, but did as she said. Regina grabbed your jaw again, a bit more gently this time, as she swiped the wand over your lips. She bit her lip in concentration as she stared at your mouth.

“Perfect.” She muttered, capping the gloss and taking you to one of her many mirrors.

You hardly recognized yourself, but Regina definitely didn’t do a bad job. She smiled at you through the mirror.

“What do you think?” She asked, leaning her head against yours a bit.

“I look…” It was hard to find an end to your sentence with the way Regina looked at you, like you were a piece of meat. “Pretty.”

“Hell yeah, you do.” She fiddled with your hair, trying to put it in a style she thought would be more suitable. “Oh my god, I totally forgot. We’re going to a party later, so we gotta find something for you to wear.”

“What?” You were a bit taken aback, not expecting to go to a party tonight. Especially with Regina. “Couldn’t I just wear this?”

Regina laughed, and it didn’t seem like that fake, almost mocking laugh she’d do when people tried to be funny with her. It sounded genuine, like she was actually amused by your question.

“No way, Y/n! Wait here, I think I have something you can wear.” She sped into her closet, leaving you to stand awkwardly in her room. Luckily, she came back quickly with a two-piece outfit. Regina went behind you, hands holding the clothes up to your body. “You’d look so good in this. Besides, it’s better than, like, anything you own.”

She kissed your cheek before sending you off to the bathroom to change. It was so quick that you barely registered what had happened until you were already switching your clothes for hers. You caught sight of yourself in the mirror, seeing a faint lip print on your cheekbone. You decided to leave it, not wanting Regina to get mad at you for messing up the makeup she spent practically forever putting on you.

When you left the bathroom, Regina was fixing up her lipstick in the mirror. She turned to you and smiled a bit, straightening up a bit.

“See, I told you you’d look good.” She took your clothes, throwing them on the bed, before noticing the mark she left on you. Regina stepped closer to see it better, soon looking at you with the same hungry look from before. “Keep that, it’s hot.” Then she walked away to change her shoes.

You took a deep breath. This was gonna be a long night.

***

Part 2

[nervoussagittarius]

hey, let’s not be alone tonight

matt sturniolo x reader

summary: matt introduces his girlfriend to the world through a video on his personal channel, request

warnings: extreme fluff, maybe some swearing who knows lol

matt sat in the driver seat of his car looking down at his lap. his face displayed a slightly distraught look as he glanced up into the camera.

“hi guys welcome backs to my personal channel…god i hate filming by myself.” he said with a sigh.

his gloomy look soon brightened into a smile as he stated “luckily i’m alone tonight” and turned the camera hoping both of you were in frame. you simultaneously laughed at his little bit before realizing that the camera was in fact very much crooked.

“hey matt,” you said pointing to the lens.

“oh fuck, let me fix it. hang on guys” he said holding a hand up to the camera in a “wait” motion .

matt quickly got out of the car making his way around to the front. he conducted you on which way to move the camera so both of you were evenly in the frame.

you tried to concentrate at the task at hand, but everytime you looked at matt for direction he made a funny face back at you, making you laugh.

“is that good? i can’t tell” you said calling to matt. he sent you a thumbs up in response, and made his way back to his seat.

matt and you were in sync as you looked at each other, then to the camera, and then back to each other.

“you ready?” he questioned reaching down to hold your hand over the center console.

���absolutely” you replied.

“guys, you were all wrong…. i’m coming clean and telling you that i’m still as single as i’ve ever been” matt said with a very serious look on his face.

“what?” you exclaimed with a slight giggle, looking at matt. he tried not to break character, but didn’t last very long as you poked his cheek getting him to smile.

“i’m just kidding,” he said “this is my girlfriend y/n. all of you have been speculating so we thought it was time to announce it.”

”you can talk you know” he chuckled softly squeezing your hand.

“i know, i just didn’t want to cut you off” you whispered, looking into his blue eyes as they softened at your statement.

“hi guys, i’m y/n” you finally repeat waving at the camera.

matt couldn’t take his eyes off of you. you looked so perfect sitting under the lights of his car. he didn’t want to pressure you into having to succumb to parts of his lifestyle, but your willingness to participate in a video with him made him love you even more.

matt was very private with his personal business. he didn’t like people speculating or starting rumors. for the longest time he didn’t want to expose you to the hate that came from his job, but he wanted nothing more then to be able to show you off to the world. you were everything to him and he wanted to celebrate that.

“matt..” you said softly, grabbing his attention. “do you want to tell them what we’re doing today?”

“oh yeah, so i was gonna make an instagram story asking you guys to ask us questions, but i couldn’t figure out how to do it, and then i realized it would spoil the suprise. so nick and chris wrote us a couple questions that they figured you’d want us to answer.”

you released your hand from matt’s with a giggle at his statement, picking up your drink. this caught his attention as he quickly grabbed your drink from you, putting it in your other hand, and grasped the left one back in his.

this made you give him a “really?” look but he just responded with a shrug and a brief kiss to your cheek.

“alrighty” he said dragging out the y. “we’re gonna start out simple and take turns answering questions. y/n is going to go first with the question ‘how did we meet?’”

you laughed, “so matt and i actually have different views on how me met, but nick cleared it up for us because he has a better memory of the situation.” matt jokingly rolled his eyes and he looked at you intently.

“i know that we originally met at a vintage thrift store when i had complimented nick on his shirt. i was wearing this vintage leather jacket and he loved it, so he wanted to show matt and chris. that’s actually when we met, but matt claims he wasn’t there for that, so to him we met at a small gathering one of our mutual friends had for their birthday.”

“i promise i was not there when you first met nick and chris”

“how did they get to that vintage store then matt? you drive them everywhere.” you broke out in laughter at the dumbfounded look on his face.

“okay you may have a point, but i’m still sticking to my original story.” he said passing you the phone to ask the next question.

“okay baby, whatever you say.” you patted his cheek as he once again rolled his eyes at you lovingly.

“how long have we been together?” you asked.

he pretended to think for a second before saying “seven months. literally the best days of my fucking life.”

“really?” you said looking up at him with a small smile on your face.

“of course. i love being with you”

you guys stared at eachother for a few seconds before you cleared your throat looking away with a slight blush on your face.

“okay, next question.” you got out quickly, not being able to make eye contact with matt.

you and matt have been together for a decent amount of time, yet he still manages to suprise you and make you nervous daily. he thinks it’s cute, but you find it a little frustrating. he loves seeing how he can still make you blush just by looking at you. it boosts his ego and tells him he’s doing something right.

“how do you manage a healthy relationship? i feel like nick and chris are asking this questions for themselves because neither of them can stay in a relationship” matt laughed.

“i think it’s all about how you communicate and developing a flow that will bind both of your lives without disrupting the previous routine.” you said through giggles.

“it’s definitely important to make time for each other, but you also have to make time for yourself. especially with matt’s job being very time consuming. we’ve done a lot of trial and error to figure out what’s best for us and our relationship. matt and i also have a rule that we can’t go to sleep mad at each other so it kinda forces us to figure our shit out.”

“i agree.” matt says looking at the camera giving them a slight head tilt. he leaned his head back on his seat turning to look at you.

“okay last question for the night. would we ever start a channel together?”

“do you want to answer this together?” matt asks. you nod.

“on three” you reply.

three counts are made before you both answer. “fuck no” “absolutely not”

the serious faces you’re both making are soon broken as you fall into eachother laughing. a few seconds pass before matt lifts his head first placing a kiss to your hair.

“listen, we’re not saying that y/n will never appear in a video again, but neither of us want the hassle or the constant publication of our relationship on the internet”

“yeah, we’re definitely not one of those couples.” you say with a smile, still leaning your head on matt’s shoulder.

matt finally released your hand, grabbing the camera off the dash. you took this time to take a sip of your drink as matt placed the focus on you.

“any last words for the viewers?”

“we love you all and i hope you’re prepared for matt’s constant talk about me, because nick and chris complain about it all the time.”

you grabbed the camera pointing it at matt.

“and what are your last words mr. matthew sturniolo?”

he looked over the camera to you and then back to the lens.

“let’s kiss the camera, babe” he said.

you both leaned forward to place a short peck on the camera lens. pulling back, you both laughed at the fog and matt wiped the lens clean as he ended the video.

“do you think they’ll like it?” you asked softly.

“i think they’ll love it because you’re perfect, and funny, and beautiful, and i love you.” matt rambled.

“i love you too, matt,” you smiled.

you took his hand, once again, as he started the short drive back to his house.

comments:

i’ve never seen two people more perfect for eachother

the fact that matt wouldn’t let go of her hand the entire time did something to me

i don’t blame y/n. i too would get nervous if i was in the presence of matt sturniolo

nick and chris being the biggest supporters of their relationship and making them questions is so cute.

i can’t wait to see all of the posts matt makes about y/n now

crying at how adorable they are

an: i’m in love with this one and them. i hope y’all enjoyed it as well🤍🤍

[dontbesoweirdkira]

Hey, hi! I really liked your work about the harem! It's very interesting, in my opinion. And can I find out the continuation of this whole story, when the reader chooses some nondescript extra as his love?

“Okay. Let’s refocus our efforts, men. Y/N has a partner which mean we need to figure out how to get rid of them first. *Then*…we can finish killing each other in the tournament.”

A/N: I didn’t really want to continue the story because I was kinda lost on what to do with it but I thought this little Drabble would be funny. Thank you soooo muchhhhhhh💞

Pt.1

Warnings: obsessive and aggressive behavior

Requests: always open

Masterlist

When your partner came to visit you in the outworld, all eyes were on them. The way they had confidently strutted over and kissed you with a chill, “Hey baby. I missed you so much”, sent them into orbit.

I’m sorry you have a what—?

So you mean to tell them that you already had someone and basically all of this infighting was for nothing?!? It was never going to be one of them?

Nahhhh

you’re such a jokester. You did this to rile things up and make them jealous. So playful, you are.

Johnny of course was the first to go up to y'all and start his bullsh*t

“Y/N, this is absolutely hilarious. Was the attention I gave you not enough? You don’t have to try to make me jealous with this…punk. I would’ve gladly given you more if you just asked.”

Umm no Johnny this is actually your lover..

Kano was the next to bite

“Haha doll, that’s a real good one! There’s no way you’d want someone like ‘at. Tell you what, why don’t you come make some jokes over there with me..I’m a real good tickla’.”

Oh.. they are in reeeaaal bad denial

“Hey—let’s give Y/N some space. She’s allowed to have privacy and a personal relationship of her choosing—“

Luckily Fujin is the voice of reason and compassion

“—-even if they are so…unexpectedly unique.”

You had one job 😩

They definitely were still trying to process this whole situation. For the rest of the night all the men were whispering amongst each other and sending weird looks over their way. There was no way that was actually your partner. This was just all some ruse. They’ll be gone by the morning.

Nope. They weren’t and you were as affectionate and clingy as ever. You were just so smitten over them that it couldn’t have been fake. Every question about you, your lover could flawlessly answer and recall stories only someone close to you could.

They even showed pictures of you two together through the years on different occasions and at family gatherings…so either this was the greatest actor/stunt ever or you really was taken.

The guys loathe them so bad..

Not only did they take their beloved darling away from them but how could someone so average claim your heart so easily?

All of them felt like they were far better than them, like come on you have assassins, celebrities, monks, kahns and more at your disposal but you chose…them? What about them could possibly be better than what is right in front of you?

I can imagine the mk harem frequently going up to your partner and sizing them up. Like it’s so funny watching them pop out their chest and flex in order to seem more superior.

Oh and all the things I mentioned previously about the being super creepy and desperate…it’s cranked up to ten now.

They’ll purposely do..questionable things in front of your partner to get them upset and insecure. Especially the younger guys.

They’re all huge show offs during training sessions and can’t help but to be a little too comfortable with you.

Will steal garments (hoodies..ect) from your closet and then return them to your partner to make it seem like you were spending time with him.

We all know that Kano, Erron, Kabal, and Johnny have no filter. They’ll put things into your lover’s head to make them worried. These men love to talk big game and boast about anything they can. Sometimes they’re just flat out crass about their feelings towards you.

Shang tsung flants his wealth and constantly is gifting you money, clothes and other luxury goods…your lover could never afford it.

“I like to make sure that Y/N is well taken care of. All of her old stuff was hindering her beauty. I hope you don’t mind the initiative that I’ve taken…I figured it’d help you out since you possibly couldn’t have access to the aristocracy that I do.”

*has tried tricking your partner into drinking pure acid*

Raiden and Fujin are great at pretending they like your partner and wanna welcome them but are soooo shady.

“I appreciate you inviting me into your temple. It’s so cool that you both can control the weather. Wish I could do that.”

“Yes, it is quite a shame. It’s one of the many things that Y/N loves. We frequently make thunderous skies and wind storms for her whenever she’s feeling a bit down.”

“ Dont worry, though. I’m sure Y/N enjoys the fact that you can make her laugh and whatever other talents you possess.”

PLEASE—

Backhanded insults, threats, hazing and rough housing are frequent.

By the way, you cannot leave your partner alone…like at alll. Like take that poor thing into the bathroom with you because they are constantly watching and waiting for any moment to pounce on them.

This is the first time in months these men are bonding over something since you came along…the mutual disdain for your partner is so powerful.

They really need to do something about this relationship and a plan will be devised soon.

Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kotal Khan, Erron and Shang Tsung, Kabal and Baraka all want to just flat out want them brutally killed in some kind of public execution so you’ll learn that having a lover outside of any of them is completely unacceptable.

Fujin, Night Wolf, Raiden, Jax and Liu Kang all want to try to…passionately pursue and manipulate..you out of the relationship. They don’t really want your partner to be harmed in any way.

Kung Lao and Johnny Cage think it would be hilarious to haniously humiliate them AND jump them so they’ll be left not only traumatized but filled with hatred for you.

The only reason why they haven’t gone through with any of these plans is because they can’t come to an agreement on which method is better.

I can’t imagine your partner being like “hey…I think they want me dead..”

“Oh that’s non sense, honey. They are a bit strange but I promise you that they are the sweetest to me.”

“They’re literally are into you and hate me for being with your partner. I heard them talking about getting rid of me.”

“Sure a few of them may have a crush on me but I promise you they like you! They’re just guys being guys.”

Yeah they are NOT safe in the slightest. You are owned by the harem, not by this nobody. I really hope they’ll learn how to fight very soon or dump you because your s/o is going to go missing soon. And they’ll make it look like an accident.

[henry7931]

Haunted By A Horny Ghost

Travis:

6 months ago, I purchased my house and I got an amazing deal for it. Granted I’ve heard some of the rumors about it being haunted but I don’t really believe in that stuff. Or I didn’t until now!

I’d hear an occasional creaking of the stairs or some noise in the hallway. I always told myself that I’m just getting worked up from some made up story. And at no point did I actually see any evidence, no shadow figures, objects floating, idk things ghost do.

And I have a lot of personal stuff going on, being single and young can be tough. And I have a lot of bills to pay.

But a few weeks ago, my step dad’s nephew Brad (or my step cousin) came to me after a bad break up and needing somewhere to live— I figured a roommate for a little bit could help me save up some cash.

Brad is your typical straight guy, loves sports, goes to sport bars at night when he’s not at his construction job.

I figured living with him couldn’t be that bad. That said, in practicality he’s a bit of a slob at home and his room is a mess. Dirty laundry laying everywhere, he brings over his buds and girls over for late night hook ups. He can be a bit of a pain at times but I have to remember that I’m getting half of my mortgage paid right now.

But one night, Brad came home late like 2 in the morning. I was still up myself. I was supposed to have a guy come over that night since I knew I had the place to myself but unfortunately he cancelled last minute.

So I was a little drunk and horny. When I heard the Brad’s Uber pull up, I peaked out the window to see if he brought anyone home. Luckily, it was just him clumsy climbing out of the car.

As I watch him approach the door, I see him struggling to get it open.

I roll my eyes, I guess I’ll help him out.

I head to the stairs, when I hear the door finally open up. I start to turn back around when out of nowhere I hear Brad screaming on the top of his lungs.

I rush down the stairs only to see something that I never thought I’d ever see…

Brad is standing by the shut door while astral smoke shaped like a person forces itself down his throat.

Unsure what to do, I stood frozen in one spot. I watched whatever was forcing itself into Brad go all the way into him.

His eyes close… and then reopen. He takes a deep breath of air.

“God it feels so good to breathe again! Wait a minute, am I drunk??”

He starts laughing to myself and I try to back up. I take my back leg and try to step backwards. But the floor are wooden and old. As I step back, he hears it and looks directly at me.

“Oh it’s you! Travis right?”

“Ahhh shit!!!”

I rush up the stairs running in a panic. All I can hear in the background is Brad’s voice saying, “Wait!!! Stop running!!”

I get to my bedroom, I lock the door and try to think of a game plan to get out.

I look around my room, think to myself— I could tie my sheets together and go out the window.

That’s when I hear a knock.

“Travis, it’s me. I don’t know what all you saw but can we talk?”

What can I do? Risk the chance of breaking my neck by going out the window or reason with the ghost now inhabiting Brad not to kill me.

“Travis! I promise I’m not going to hurt you!! Please open up!” he says banging louder.

I look around my room for something I could use as a weapon but unfortunately the only thing I can find is a clothing hanger.

“Hey im going to open up but you better not try anything funny!” I say back to him holding the hanger in hand.

“You have my word, I won’t harm you.”

With the coat hanger in one hand, I carefully unlock the door and open it.

Standing outside of the door is Brad’s body, grinning at me.

“Well hi, what are you going to do with that coat hanger?”

“Protect myself!” I blurt out.

He starts laughing at me and says, “well fyi if you hit me with it you’re just hurting this guy. Plus, he’s a lot taller than you.”

“Fuck, fine.”

I lower the coat hanger and let him come in.

He glides into the room and he seems to be enjoying himself.

I watch him and he eventually says to me, “so ask the question you want to know the answer to.”

“Huh?”

“I know you want answers, so ask.”

“Okay… are you a ghost?”

“Yes”

“And is Brad still alive?”

“Also, yes— he’s in here but in like a dormant state while I drive.”

I feel somewhat realized to know that Brad’s okay.

“So why are you possessing Brad when I’ve been here longer.”

“Well who’s to say I haven’t possessed you?”

“WHAT?!?”

“Kidding, no Brad’s my first time taking over someone. I honestly wasn’t sure if it was due able but I did it! The real question you should be asking is what made me choose tonight to try and take over Brad.”

“Okay, why tonight?”

“Well… Travis, I’ve been watching you since you moved in. I hope that’s not too creepy. Being a ghost and stuck inside a house, leaves me with very little to do. But you and I have a lot in common. Both of us are gay, we share a lot of the same interests. Hell you and I even like the same porn. I guess what I’m saying is that, I have a bit of a crush on you. And after seeing you get stood up tonight, I felt like you deserve someone to uhh— keep you company.”

I was shocked, not only has a gay ghost been watching me for over six months but he’s now flirting with me?

“Sorry if this is a bit much but I find you to be so attractive. And now that I have a body, I was hoping you would be down to have a little fun together.”

“Uhhh I don’t know what to say, it’s a bit strange since that is Brad’s body.”

“Oh really? So you didn’t sneak into his room the other week and take his dirty socks just to jerk off while inhaling them.”

“Oh god you saw me do that?”

“Yeah and it was hot as fuck! Listen, I know Brad’s body may not be your first choice but he’s straight guy cute. And I know you’ve thought about him in ways you’d normally wouldn’t admit. But right now, I’m in control of him and you can do whatever you want with me.”

He starts pulling off all of Brad’s clothes until he’s fully naked. I can’t help but stare at Brad’s massive dick swinging between his legs.

He gets into my bed and reaches for Brad’s cock. He gingerly play with it while watching me.

“Travis, please join me. This cock is so eager right now, you can smell my big stinky feet. I haven’t bathed all day…”

He runs brads fingers between his taint and balls. He lifts up his hand and sniffs it.

“Fuccccckkk, you need to come get a whiff of my balls.”

I’m so hard now. I walk over to him and out for Brad’s left foot. I bring it up to my face and sniff it.

I feel myself slowly lose control of the situation and just accept all of the lust running through me.

“I knew you like these feet Trav. Here come taste this cock.”

He holds it up like a prize, I take it out of his hands and press the head of it to my lips.

It’s so warm… I lick the tip of it and rub my tongue down his shaft. When I get to his balls, I take in a breath. Just consuming the smell of them.

“That’s it, doesn’t that smell so good.”

“Mhmmm…”

I pull off my clothes and I notice his eyes go straight to my dick.

“You wanna touch it?” I say to him.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to touch it.”

I come closer to him and he gently touches my dick. He makes a moaning sound and I notice pre-cum leaks out of Brad’s dick.

“You have the handsomest dick I’ve ever seen,” he says to me.

“Thanks haha.”

“No I mean it. You’re so cute Travis. Between your green eyes, brown curly hair, that freckle right above your happy trail, your sexy hairy legs, and those beautiful feet. Can I see them?”

“Sure.”

I let him take my feet into his hands and watch him press them against his face.

I let him lick my soles for a minute before he stops to say, “ you wanna take this up a notch?”

I nod my head and he pulls me in for a kiss. I can taste the whiskey Brad was drinking earlier.

We start making out and both of us are tangled up, our feet rubbing up and down on one another’s legs. Both of us have each other’s junk in our hand.

I feel around until I grab on to one of his butt cheeks.

He let’s do so much to him. Suck on his toes, sniff his pits, play with his nipples… and in return u let him do the same.

By the end, it’s morning. We’ve spent the entire night just edging each other.

By this point, he has Brad’s toes wrapped around my dick and I try to hold back but my cock has been toyed with for over 4 hours now.

I let out this loud moan and streams of cum squirt onto Brad’s feet.

He keeps stroking it with his toes until every last drop has been drained out of me.

He takes Brad’s cum soaked feet and licks every inch of them off.

He calls for me gesturing for me to finish him off.

I grab his dick and force it down my throat. I do it over and over until he immediately comes down it.

Both of us exhausted, lay back in my bed. I cuddled up to him and say, “hey thanks for tonight. By the way, what’s your actual name?”

“It’s Sebastian but you can call me Seb.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Seb.”

I curl up to him and soon pass out.

By one the next day, I wake up and thought last night may have been a weird dream. I look over and Seb isn’t in bed with me.

I get up to go pee and walk past Brad’s room. But to my surprise he’s not in bed.

I walk to the bathroom and see Brad naked looking at himself in the mirror.

He turns around to me and says, “Yo! What the hell Trav, have you heard of knocking?”

“Oh sorry Brad!”

“HAHAHA just messing with you! It’s me Seb.”

I feel blood rushing to my dick knowing that last night wasn’t a dream after all.

I walk over to pee and peak over at Seb.

He’s checking Brad’s body out in the mirror and starts flexing.

“I tried to leave his body this morning but I don’t really know how to…”

“Oh,” I say to him.

“Not that I’m in a rush to leave but I guess I really didn’t think this one through.”

“Well I don’t mind having you around.” I say to him.

I finish peeing and turn around to him. My eyes focus on Brad’s bubbly butt.

I grab his cheek and he lets out a yelping noise. I press my morning wood on his ass and he grins.

“Someone’s perky this morning.”

“I guess I’m just excited to have some more fun with my new ghost friend.”

“Well I have nothing better to do in the after life so I’m all yours for the day.”

I kiss him on his back and say, “whenever you’re done with the mirror come to my room.”

Seb follow me and we start an entire day of fooling around and talking.

I spend hours with his feet with my head at the end of the bed while does the same with mine. Both of us rubbing and playing with each toe. I just love how hairy and smelly they are.

Seb tells me about his previous life, how he used to live here and died from a freak accident one day. He seems like he’s been lonely all of these years.

“It was so refreshing seeing you move in, I was so bored for so long Trav. Then walks in this handsome guy.”

“Well my life hasn’t been too exciting either, I guess you can I’ve been lonely too.”

I feel him tickle my sole.

“Hey!”

“Sorry couldn’t resist!”

Days passed and Seb still could not figure out how to get out of Brad. Which I didn’t know if he was lying or not. I honestly didn’t want him to leave.

And by a month, Seb figured out Brad’s job and all of the things he needed to know to pretend to be him.

3 months in and we’re officially together. Seb loves all of the new video games he’s missed over the last 20 years while I just love watching him.

And we get soooo kinky! I’ll suck him off while he plays some game.

He even lets me tie him up. Which is sooo hot to me.

I’d like to think of that night as a fresh start for the both of us. And I couldn’t be happier with my horny ghost boyfriend!

[xmads-omensx]

CHAPTER 1 - SOAKED IN THE NEON GLOW

Content warnings: Violence, Swearing, angst, death, blood, weapons, enemies to lovers, alcohol Word Count: 5802

VANIA

The rain pattered on the ground surrounding me as I stood outside the warehouse before me. Karius always gave me the jobs that no one else wanted. I had nothing to lose. He knew that. And I can see why no one wanted to take on this job. Getting into the warehouse had been no small feat. ERRA, one of the biggest organisations here, owned the building and it was extremely evident by the sheer amount of security they had invested in.

Luckily for me, my savings came in handy when the Underground had gotten in some new Optics that I immediately got installed. My eyesight was now phenomenal and spotting ERRA’s men positioned out of view was as easy as seeing them in broad daylight.

By some insane stroke of luck, I got into the back office with little to no trouble and stole the chip Karius was paying me to grab for him. I learned the hard way not to ask questions. And trust me, I wish I had never asked questions in the first place. Questions get you killed in this line of work.

I like to work quietly. In and out. No funny business. I only kill when I have to. The less mess the better as it is harder to trace back to you. Something OMNS doesn’t quite grasp. OMNS is a crew who have been running for as long as I can remember. There are four of them. Folio was their scout, always riding ahead on his bike with his x-ray optic upgrades to… well… scout, kinda a giveaway if you ask me. Jolly was the muscle. He was upgraded to an extent I wouldn’t even be able to handle even in my wildest dreams. Nick was the crew leader’s right hand. He was the brains. Rumour was that he was a crazy good netrunner and could hack anything from over a mile away. That leaves Noah. The leader. The fucker was even more upgraded than Jolly was. Nobody knew anything about that crazy son of a bitch except from the fact that he is the most ruthless and cold fucker to ever step foot in the Concrete Jungle.

Those four men have been making my life in this line of work literal hell for years. It started when the leader of my old crew stole a job from them and ever since they have been taking it out on all of us. However, when my crew got killed a few months back, OMNS focused their rage onto me. It started with them stealing jobs from me. Then evolved into implicating me on their shitty work. As if I would ever leave that many bodies lying around. God. Men are so messy.

The rain washed away all of my fatigue and the cold reminded me that I still needed to get the chip to Karius before I got caught. I hopped on my motorbike, pulled my black and pink hair into my helmet and began my journey to meet K.

Poppy’s was a popular location for crews from all over the Concrete Jungle to meet and relax after jobs. The neon lights that illuminated the place reflected off of the puddles on the concrete ground as other crews mingled about the place. Most of them usually hung out in the parking lot outside to show off their upgrades, but due to the rain everyone had migrated inside.

The barstools are all occupied along with the booths lining the walls. The stage in the middle of the room was occupied by a cyborg woman dancing to the music blaring throughout the building. My eyes danced around the room looking for a familiar blonde-haired man so I could get in and out of here as quickly as possible.

Karius was a tall, well-built man in a grey suit. He looked out of place being in a bar like Poppy’s, full of low-life criminal crews and other people who had been forced out of the more legal side of life. The only thing that made K somewhat fit in were the projectile launcher upgrades he had fitted into his tree-trunk like forearms.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” Karius called. Not even looking up from the shitty whiskey he had been drinking.

“Yeah, well I’m not exactly going to be super fucking fast if you send me out on a job like that are you?” I snapped back at him.

His broad shoulders shuddered as he chuckled at my bitchy tone. K and I had always had a decent employer-employee relationship. Neither of us had any reason to stab each other in the back. The dynamic wasn’t close or personal by any means but we was the closest thing I had to a friend.

“You know, V, these jobs would be a hell of a lot easier if you just joined a crew.” Karius argued. He had been pushing for me to join another crew pretty much since my last one fell apart. But he just saw credits, not people. I guess that’s what helped keep that wall up between the two of us.

“Yeah, well, we both know that will never happen.” I replied with a sigh, “Now do you want your precious chip or not K? I got places to be.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here… your payment that we agreed and a tip for your troubles.” Karius replied, taking the chip out of my hand.

I made to leave Poppy’s and head home so I could get some much needed rest when I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder. I whipped around, preparing to engage my Mantis blades, when I realised that it was Karius who had grabbed me. I relaxed upon realising that he wasn’t a threat. You never know in these parts of the Concrete Jungle.

“One more thing V.” He said with a smirk on his face as he led me back towards where he was sat at the bar, “I have another job to discuss with you. Let’s just say it’s a matter of… urgency.” The smirk on his stupid face told me everything that I needed to know. This job would be dangerous. Ridiculously dangerous.

“ERRA have doubled their security and I need something else from them. I can’t go in and get it as that would be too obvious. And besides, I’m only the middle-man. It’s my boss who really wants this. You understand right, V?” Fuck. Another ERRA job. Karius still wore his signature smirk on his face.

“Are you  trying to fucking kill me asshole?” I sighed back at him dejectedly. Alreadyaccepting that I probably won’t be seeing my bed tonight.

“Now why would I kill my best runner?” K laughed back at me. “I would never make any credits then would I? And besides, by boss would have my fucking head V.”

“Fair point.” I replied

“Okay. ERRA’s leader, Jesse, owns that skyscraper off of Coyote Park right? The red one? Tomato colour? He has an office on the second top floor. I need access. But the only way to get into the office is through a three part authentication process. Part 1: the warehouse. You did that part. Check. Part 2: ERRA also owns Electric Twilight. You know, that super exclusive club? If you get the chip, looks exactly like the one you got for me tonight, from the main office on the top floor of the building, then we are one step closer. Now, onto part 3: You will need to find a way into the basement below ERRA’s secondary base. Now security will be tight. But those new optic upgrades you’re sporting should help you. They look good by the way. In the basement there should be a safe. That is where the final chip is. Get all three of those and you should be good to get into their skyscraper.” Karius explained.

“Okay, sounds simple enough. You know, if you ignore that ERRA is the biggest fucking crew in the Concrete Jungle you fucking ass! Do you want me dead!” I replied, full of anger.

“Well luckily for you, it won’t just be your ass on the line. I have arranged back up for you this time.” Karius replied. His smirk not faltering for a second as he laughed at my outburst.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“You will be working  with a crew”

“No!”

“V please.” Karius pleaded, “You need the backup for this. And I really fucking need to get into that goddamn skyscraper.”

“Karius. I work alone. You know this. Especially after last time.” I explained through gritted teeth.

“And why might that be?” A new voice entered the conversation.

I turned around and behind me stood the tallest man I had ever seen up close. Noah. Fuck. I would quite literally rather die than work with this man. His dark brown eyes glared craters into my own as he smirked smugly down at me. He knew something that I was not yet privy to. Double fuck. I refused to be caught unawares by the man who had been making my life hell for the past five months.

 Noah wasn’t exactly unattractive. In fact, he was probably the most attractive guy I’ve seen in the Concrete Jungle. His huge, muscular frame was covered in beautiful tattoos. His cyberware was top of the line, which was rare in this line of work, and looked fucking killer. He could kill everyone inside of Poppy’s right then if he really wanted to. His eyes were the deepest brown I had ever seen. His dark hair framed his face effortlessly. He was gorgeous. I hated him even more for it.

Karius greeted Noah with a belly laugh, which was most definitely at my expense considering how both men towered over me. I was absolutely fucked.

“Noah. This is Vania.” K began, “Vania, this is Noah. He is the leader of OMNS. That crew who ran the Kingdom of Cards job oh so very smoothly about two months back. Ring a bell?”

It most definitely did ring a bell. I was supposed to do that job. Me. Not OMNS. Me. Asshole.

I rolled my eyes in response to Karius, whilst Noah chuckled at me. Fucker.

“You will be working together on this ERRA job. And V, before you start complaining, I don’t want to fucking hear it. You will work alongside them in order to get this job done.”

“Then why doesn’t OMNS just do the ERRA job and you give me something else?” I scoffed in reply.

“Because, V, OMNS need someone with your skillset. They don’t have anyone as quiet as you. And we both know those Lynx Paws were not cheap in the Underground so you may as well use them to get your credit’s worth.” Karius explained with an exasperated sigh. “And besides, we both know why you need this V.”

Fuck. There was no way in hell that K was seriously blackmailing me. Especially not in front of Noah. Right?

“As much as it pains me to say, Vania, we can’t exactly do this job without someone like you.” Noah offered. Clearly reluctant to compliment me.

“What the fuck is in it for me then?” I pushed. Needing something to convince me to actually go through with this.

“One million credits, V.” Karius stated.

Yeah, that would convince me.

“Fine. But we do this my way. Or we don’t do this at all.” I argued back. Refusing to give in and make myself look like I would just roll over for credits.

“Not gonna happen princess.” Noah barked back.

Asshole.

“Why the fuck not? You said it yourself hotshot. You. Need. Me” I snapped back. Punctuating my words with a sharp poke to his hard, muscular chest.

“Get fucked princess. You work for me now.”

“No. I don’t. We work together now. Don’t get all patriarchal just because you’re the leader of your crew. I bow to nobody.” I angrily replied, “And stop calling me princess cocksucker.”

“In your dreams princess.” Noah snarkily replied. “Sure. Try and get us to play by your rules. The others won’t agree to that. They won’t roll over to a short-ass dictator rolling in and fucking things up.”

“Fine. We work together. But don’t think I like this asshat. I’m only doing this because I need the credits.” I gave in.

“Brilliant! Here is your contract. You will be paid a small portion of the one million each following each part of the mission. That way we don’t lose any money if you guys short circuit while you’re on the job.” Karius beamed.

Both Noah and I signed the contract next to our names at the bottom of the paper. Suddenly, I was aware of five other men standing behind us. Turning around, I realised that these were the other members of OMNS. I recognised three of them as being Folio, Jolly and Nick, but the other two I had never seen before. Both had long hair, one must longer than the other, and wore what looked to be baseball caps on their heads. They must be new to OMNS I thought to myself.

I had never been this close to them before. All six men were absolutely beautiful. The world is so cruel. God I hated insufferably attractive men. They all had tattoos covering their bodies, but Noah very clearly had the most. His throat tattoo always prominent against his pale skin.

The shortest man, Folio, I now came to realise has new optics fitted. One remained as his green x-ray upgrade, but the other now glowed a vibrant blue colour. Holy shit. He had somehow managed to get his filthy hands on a tracker upgrade. Holy fuck. Now he can see people through walls and lay a target on them so he, and the others, can easily kill them. Fucking asshole. The amount of people he would have had to kill for that implant would have been insane.

A man with a goatee and long brown hair stood next to him. Jolly was significantly taller than Folio, but did not stand quite as tall as Noah did. Jolly was muscular too, but this was largely because of the sheer amount of upgrades he had put into his body. It looked like he had spent his credits on body-mod upgrades focusing on force and strength as opposed to Folio’s more techy upgrades. Jolly was practically impenetrable with his implants making him  bulletproof all over, except for his head. Those implants were risky. Anything impacting your nervous system was bound to make you go full cyberpsycho. The leader of my old crew fucked with a gnarly sandevistan implant but it… well..

The third man was smaller. He blended in seamlessly with the scene around him. Nick was rumoured to be one of the best netrunners in the Concrete Jungle. He could hack anything. His eyes glowed a soft purple hue  due to his optic upgrades. They looked fucking sick. His long, dark hair was pulled back into a bun on the top of his head, letting his amazing bone-structure be on full display. He wore a long, black trench coat that made him blend into the darkness around him perfectly.

The men didn’t bother to introduce themselves to me as they signed the contract. After signing, they all made their way to a booth in the back where they must have been sitting. Noah stayed behind with myself and Karius. Presumably to gloat or something. I snuck a glance at the tattoos that covered his muscular arms. His black tank top hid the tattoos on his chest and back.

“Like what you see princess?” Noah laughed.

“huh?” I spluttered out.

“So you weren’t just staring at my arms?” Noah mocked sarcastically.

“Of course not asshole.” I barked back

“Sure. I believe you.” Noah said with a smirk across his face. His stupidly attractive face.

“Well I see this is off to a great start.” Karius sighed as he got up to leave Poppy’s. “Oh and V! You will be staying with the OMNS guys until this job is done. Just to ensure neither of you steal this job from each other.”

Pure outrage coursed through my veins as the realisation of what K just announced pounded in my brain.

“Fucking excuse me?” I screamed.

“You heard me V. I know what you’re like.” Karius called back over his shoulder as he walked through the front door of Poppy’s.

I face-planted onto the bar and wrapped my arms over my face. The last thing I wanted was to be in close quarters with these men. Especially Noah. My lifestyle revolved around me being alone. That’s how I work. No attachments. They only hurt you. I found that out the hard way. If I stay with the OMNS crew for the entire job, then that would be for  months. I would probably lose my apartment and have nowhere to go. Fucking Karius.

“Come and meet the guys princess.” Noah commanded once Karius had left.

“Fine.” I mumbled. I was really getting sick of him calling me that. But then why did I feel all warm inside when he said it?

Walking over to the table in the corner, I began to have second thoughts about what I was doing. I was the only girl here in a group full of some of the most dangerous men in the Concrete Jungle. Was this really a good idea? Probably not.

They all spoke quietly to each other. No doubt complaining about having to work with me.  As Noah and I approached the table, the conversation stopped as Folio and one of the guys I didn’t recognise shuffled up the bench to make room for Noah to sit. On the other side Jolly, Nick and the other unnamed man shuffled and made room for me. At least they were considerate enough to do that for me.

“Guys this is Vania. As you know, she used to run with Davis’s crew. She will be running with us on this job.” Noah introduced.

A chorus of “hey” and “Hi” echoed around the dark booth.

“Jolly, Nick, Folio and myself you already know. But you haven’t met Matt and Bryan yet.” Noah gestured to the two unnamed men. “Bryan is our wheels and Matt is in charge of seeing how logistical and plausible plans are to execute.” The two men raised their hands in a wave to me. I weakly smiled back. I wasn’t about to make friends with these people.

It turned out that the rest of the OMNS crew were actually tolerable and that it was just Noah who was a colossal pain in my ass. We all talked for about an hour, retelling stories from other jobs we had worked on, but that just became a pissing contest between myself and Noah as we continually tried to outdo each other, recounting jobs we had stolen from each other. I was starting to grow tired of his bullshit and wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and go to sleep in my bed.

“So what’s the plan then?” I asked. “Do you assholes have a secret lair somewhere that you’re going to take me to after you’ve kidnapped me?”

“Look, I get that you don’t want to work with us, but you don’t gave to be a bitch about it.” Noah sighed.

“I just want to get this over with so I can get my credits and move on.” I snapped in reply.

“And so do we. It’s not like we exactly want to hang with you.” Noah basically shouted back.

“I see that manners aren’t something you get taught on the pig farm? Is that right, pig?” I barked.

“Doubt you would know since a princess like you never wants to get her hands dirty.” He smirked. God he was cocky.

“You wouldn’t know how to do a job discreetly even if it was worth a trillion credits asshat. You make too much mess.” I chuckled back.

“What because I like to make sure a job is done right and there are no witnesses left? Because I’m thorough with my work?” He fought.

“No because you like to leave a trail so people fear you. It’s pathetic.” I laughed.

“You’re inability to work with other people is pathetic princess.” Noah stated simply.

He knew he struck a nerve. He always knew when he struck a nerve. Yet he always pushed it. Luckily I didn’t have enough time to launch myself over the table to claw his eyes out like I really fucking wanted to as Nick intervened, “Alright guys. Lets motor.”

“Alright guys. Lets motor.” Nick intervened.

“Agreed.” Noah bluntly stated without breaking eye contact with me.

The walk to the cars outside was silent as everyone got into their respective vehicles. Folio rode a bike similar to mine. But whilst mine was pink and black, his was completely black in colour with red LEDs on the sides. Pretty sick to be honest. Jolly rode in a large black SUV with blackout windows that appeared to be bullet proof. Nick rode with Matt and Bryan in a large metal-framed armoured SUV that looked similar to Jolly’s but had clearly been modified. Noah’s car was much more understated. He opened the door to a low black car with tinted windows. It was very sleek and almost flat looking. God he was so annoyingly flashy.

I trailed behind the others on the way to their base. The neon glow of the Concrete Jungle embraced me with opened arms as it sat below the star-filled night sky. The skyscrapers belonging to suit corporations painted the skyline in a halo of varying colours as each fought for your attention. This was always my favourite parts of jobs. The silent ride home. The quiet. The peace. It was the only time I was ever separated from the crime-filled life I lead.

Right in the centre of all the chaos in the Concrete Jungle stood a tomato red skyscraper that belonged to ERRA. They were absolutely untouchable here. They were the fucking kings. The red glow always held your stare. It felt like the building itself was watching you. ERRA had that kind of effect on people. You always feel watched while they are around.

This neon landscape has been my home my whole life. I don’t remember a life without knowing the inner-workings of this place inside and out. My dad had never been around and my mother died about seven years ago in an accident. The circumstances surrounding her death had always been suspicious, but I never questioned it. It wasn’t like she was ever a good mother to me. Shortly after that I met Davis, a fellow orphan who was also struggling to pay rent. From there we met Lana and Steven and they welcomed us with open arms into their crew and the rest was history.

Now I ride solo.

A loud bang echoed over the sound of the traffic around us. The armoured car Nick, Matt and Bryan were in veered off course and into the next lane as it looked like they were trying to swerve out of the way of something. Suddenly, gunfire ripped through the night.

Noah, Jolly and Folio all pulled in behind the armoured car so I followed suit. A large grey truck with ERRA painted along its side in their trademark tomato red colour, was coming straight towards us with a man in a helmet hanging out of the window shooting at us from his weaponed arm implants.  

Noah got out from the passenger side of his car with a large assault rifle and began opening fire on the oncoming vehicle. The rest of OMNS followed his lead. I, however, didn’t have my gun on me so I wouldn’t be much use to them. Instead I got back on my bike and rode past them, planning on assessing the threat from a further distance and hopefully finding a weak spot.

“Where the fuck are you going!” Noah called out after me. But I ignored him. I wasn’t used to have to explain myself mid-combat.

The truck had stopped opposite the parked convoy, about thirty feet between both crews, and three men had exited the truck and were all firing at the OMNS guys. A hatch opened up on the roof and a turret was raised. Gunfire rained down all around me as I tried my best to dodge other cars and bullets.

Screams and yells from other cars both directed at me and the carnage happening further back echoed in the chaos. Bullets whizzed through the air after me. Some hitting the other people in cars and some lodging into the road beneath me.

“Fuck!” Matt exclaimed as he and Bryan lowered themselves back into the armoured car.

Nick was sat in the back of the armoured car trying desperately to hack into the turret to disable it, but was appearing to have no luck. This didn’t surprise me as ERRA had recently upgraded all of their security measures. I had found that out the hard way earlier in the night as a mine nearly blew me to shreds when I was sneaking into the back of the warehouse.

Fuck, I thought to myself, meant that they knew that I had broken into the warehouse and stole the chip. So I was basically fucked.

Jolly disappeared back into his SUV for a second but reappeared with a massive shotgun attached to his arm and had started firing at the men operating the turret, successfully taking out two of them, leaving only one on the turret and three remaining on the ground, as well as the driver and the man in the passenger seat.

I dismounted my bike and ran round the back of the truck. Using my Lynx Paws upgrade, I easily jumped up onto the roof of the truck without making a sound. I swiftly engaged my mantis blades and took out the final man operating the turret with a quick slash. He crumbled to his knees as blood trickled out of the side of his mouth. His bottom half fell to the floor below the truck as his top half remained on the roof next to the now unused turret.

Meanwhile, Noah had taken out two of the men on the ground and Jolly had made quick work of the  third man.

The man in the passenger side would be more difficult to take out. And besides, he had noticed my presence on the roof when half of his crewmate’s body fell to the ground and had started firing up into the roof. This however, left him undefended on his side and allowed me to swing down and slash open his throat. The driver made to grab me, when suddenly, a gunshot rang out as he slumped forward. Blood trickled from a bullet hole in his forehead.

Silence fell over the group as we surveyed the damage surrounding us.

Three innocent bystanders had been killed in the gunfire. Blood coated the road. Following the trail with my eyes, I noticed that there was a puddle of blood below Folio’s bike but no sign of Folio. Fuck. If he had been killed it would be my fault. This job was going to be absolute hell.

I ran over to his bike and saw that he was knelt on the ground clutching his side and taking short and rapid breaths. He had been hit but wasn’t dead… yet. Thank fuck.

“Let me see.” I stated, touching his shaking shoulder gently.

“Fuck you.” She spat shakily.

“Folio, let me help.” I pleaded.

He cautiously moved his hand and blood trickled to the floor. It looked like the bullet was still inside.

“I can help him if we get him to your hideout quickly.” I gushed to Noah who was looking at me with eyes filled with utter hatred.

“you won’t lay a damn finger on him.” He snarled.

“Do you want him to die, Noah?” I challenged. “Because if I don’t help him, he will die. And I can guarantee that it will be very slow and very painful.”

A pause.

“Or I can guarantee you that he will live happily ever after and will get to see another day if you let me help him.” I attempted to persuade him with an exasperated sigh.

“Fine but we need to load his bike into Matt and Bryan’s car or  Folio will never forgive us if we leave it here.” Noah caved with an exasperated sigh.

Upon arriving at the OMNS hideout, a large steel screen door opened to let the seven of us into the building. It wasn’t anything special. It looked like a car garage that was attached to a tattoo shop. It wasn’t where I pictured OMNS operating out of. I’d always thought of it as more similar to ERRA’s layout. I should have known OMNS wasn’t the skyscraper type seeing as they already had two of them in their crew in the forms of Jolly and Noah.

The garage was large. They easily had enough space for their own vehicles and about five others. Drawers and shelves lined each of the walls, which were all painted a deep purple colour. The neon lights that illuminated the room cast a blue hue over everything.

Matt and Bryan hauled Folio out of the back of the armoured car as Jolly cleared off one of the workbenches to use as a makeshift bed for him. Noah stomped straight through the smaller door in the right hand wall, slamming it behind him, as soon as he got out of his car. Asshole.

Nick followed after him after muttering something to the rest of OMNS quiet enough so that I wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation.

Folio groaned and writhed around on the table in pain. I began cutting away his black t-shirt in order to inspect the wound. It was a clean shot. No tearing. Lucky for him. However, the bullet had not gone through all of the way and had appeared to be lodged in between two of his ribs. I would need to cut the wound wider in order to gain enough access to remove the bullet. Less lucky for him.

“Do you guys have anything that will nock him out for a few hours?” I asked Matt, Bryan and Jolly who had all hung around to keep an eye on myself and Folio.

“We only have immune-suppressors here. But I can go see if Nick and Noah have some?” Matt replied.

“Be quick. I think it goes without saying that your boy here is in a fuck tonne of pain.” I said.

With that, Matt jogged out of the door Nick and Noah had left through. About five minutes passed when the door slammed back open and a frustrated looking Noah barged back through with a brown paper bag.

“Here. This should nock him out.” He snarled at me, “Get it yourself next time princess. I don’t work for you. And neither do my guys.” He then turned back around and left through the door he came through.

Rolling my eyes at him, I got to work with giving the meds to Folio who was still writing in pain.

The meds helped tremendously and I was able to remove the bullet from Folio with little to no fuss at all. It was easy without lord asshat, Noah, breathing down my neck or generally pissing me off.

After stitching Folio’s side back up, Matt, Bryan and Jolly moved him into his room so he would be comfortable.

I was then brought into their home. I was greeted with a large, open-plan room that contained a kitchen with a large island that extended for most of the back wall and had enough stools surrounding the breakfast bar side of it for a small army. On the opposite wall was a living area with what appeared to be a one-way window that wrapped around the outer wall of the room. Impressive. Expensive.

The door on the right hand wall slammed open and Noah stormed through. A scowl etched across his face in replacement of his signature smirk. The glare he sent me bore holes into my skull.

“What the fuck was that!” He yelled while stomping towards me with his finger pointed at me accusingly.

“Huh?” I replied.

“Don’t fucking play dumb with me princess. Back there. On the road. You bailed. Who the fuck does that!” He argued back.

“I didn’t bail. If you remember correctly. That is if you didn’t hit your fucking head you delusional asshole. I came back and killed the people you fucking couldn’t.” I retaliated furiously.

Noah started laughing. Fucking laughing.

“No princess. You pussied out and came back when the fight was easier.” Noah chuckled menacingly.

“Go fuck yourself!” I screamed back at him.

“You are one of us now. Whether you like it or not. We protect each other. That’s the deal.” Noah snarled. Getting right in my face. “And you. Fucking. Bailed.” He punctuated with a poke to my chest.

“I wouldn’t have had to do that if your fucking scout had done his fucking job.” I snarled back at him.

“Yeah? You mean our scout who is currently upstairs out cold because you fucking bailed and he got fucking shot? That scout?” He whispered menacingly.

“I didn’t bail. I covered the back Noah.” I said in response.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night princess.” He replied without breaking eye contact.

Silence fell between us as my eye flickered from his brown eyes to his lips that were incredibly close to my own. I could see Noah’s eyes doing the same.

“Now I see why you ride solo. Selfish bitch.” He muttered as he backed away from me.

“The fuck did you just say to me asshole?” I screamed as I followed him.

“You heard me princess.” He replied with a grin across his face.

“I don’t think I did because you would have to be a complete fucking moron to say what you just said.” I yelled at him.

“I think we both know who the moron here is princess.” Noah growled back at me.

“Go. Fuck. Yourself.” I snarled in reply.

“All I’m saying is that it’s no wonder you ride solo because who the fuck in their right minds would want to be in a crew with a selfish, backstabbing bitch like you.” Noah Growled with a smirk on his gorgeous face.

Before I had time to slap his stupid face, an incoming call tore through the silence that lingered after his statement.

Chapter 2

[notelcol]

Wriothesly enemies to lovers (more like annoyance to denial💀)

You were always in the fighting rings. That would be fine if you knew how to fight. It made him angry to watch you, every day since you arrived two weeks ago you had walked in that ring and made an utter fool of yourself. The first week he found it a little funny, but by the start of the second it became painful to watch. He could not fathom why you kept going back in. By the end of the second week he decided to call you into his office, you were starting to bring shame upon the fighting rings.

You were a bit confused as to why you had been corralled to the Dukes office during your lunch.

“Save my food!” You called over your shoulder to Julienne, the woman you were talking with before you were interrupted. She simply laughed in reply. Your food was definitely going to be gone when you came back.

You started to become nervous as the looming doors grew larger with each step. What could he want? Has something happened to your family on land? Your mind raced with possibilities. You even considered the idea that someone had gotten you in trouble somehow. The echoing creak of the doors opening broke your questioning thoughts.

You looked around the round room, black shiny decor with gold accents seemed to be its theme. You found it rather pretty, which surprised you. The decor in the dorms were no where near pretty.

“Ahem.” You were reminded of the Dukes presence. “I assume you’re wondering why you are here?” You nodded in reply, allowing him to continue. “I ordered you here today in the hopes that you would shed some light on something that has been bothering me since you arrived.” His statement caused you to swallow nervously, you couldn’t think of what he was referring to. You hadn’t put a toe out of line.

“I don’t understand.” You said, making him sigh.

“Neither do I.” His answer confused you more. “I don’t understand why you let Julienne pummel you every day.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “You made me miss my lunch to ask me that? You must be drunk on your title, I guess the rumours are true.” You smirked when his eyebrow twitched.

“I think you will find it is well within my duties to put a stop to someone making my fighting ring look like a flawed system.” His self righteousness was irritating you already. Much to your dismay, he continued. “Give me a good reason not to ban you from the ring.” He should have outright banned you for the sake of the system he created, but he was compelled to know why you were doing this to yourself. Luckily for him, you were amused by the situation and decided to explain.

“Julienne is my friend. She’s teaching me to fight. We thought it would be fun to make a show of it. Not much entertainment round here.” The answer was simple and made him snort, very uncharacteristic of the image you had painted of the Duke.

“She’s obviously not doing a very good job.” He snickered. Was he teasing you? How insufferable. You jumped to defend your friend.

“She told me that the best way to become a good fighter is to get your ass beat and learn from it.” Julienne was trying her best, it wasn’t her fault you weren’t strong yet. His smirk dropped into something more sincere, eyes meeting yours intensely.

“That works for natural fighters, but for people like you….you will never learn that way.” He shattered your hopes. Now you really didn’t like this guy. “There are two kinds of fighters. Ones foundation is instinct and emotion, while the others is foresight and precision.” You tried to take in his words. “You are clearly not an instinctive fighter and quite frankly, your emotions are all over that ring and not in a useful way.” He explained and you did not know whether to be offended or not. “If you wish to fight in that ring again, it’s on you to learn the foresight and precision needed in battle. Until then, you are banned. You cannot continue using Julienne’s technique, it’s not for you.” You sort of understood him, but it still annoyed you. How can you learn to fight when you’re banned from the fighting ring?

He stood from his seat and rolled up his sleeves.

“Get up.” He ordered. You furrowed your brows but complied anyway. You realised his intentions when he held his fists up, bare arms flexed and ready to fight. He was going to teach you. You copied his stance, barely in position before he swung. You swerved left, his fist just missing your shoulder. Your leg stretched out while you dodged so you decided to use it to kick his ankles, earning a grunt and an impressed nod.

You landed a few well placed and timed hits while avoiding most of his. You were doing your best to be precise and keep your mind steady. He decided to test your foresight, sending a punch he knew you could dodge. When you ducked, he spun around and kicked you to the ground. You fell ungracefully. As always you got back up, impressing the Duke once again, your determination was shining through. You however, thought you needed to up your game. You refused to show any weakness. You threw your punches harder and faster, but every single one missed as he weaved from side to side.

Rage erupted from your throat as the Duke grabbed your hand mid punch, stopping its course to his face. “Slow down.” He chuckled. “Let’s do that sequence again but slowly.” He leaned to the side and pulled your fist in the same direction, leading you into the pace. Just as you registered the fluttering in your heart, he dropped his hand and leaned to the other side. You blinked hard before throwing a slow punch with your opposite hand. You went back and forth like this a few times, finding a rhythm reminding you of clock pendulums. You could tell he wanted you to find a way to break the rhythm. So you threw another punch the same way, then stole his trick. You twirled when your punch went past his head, then hit his neck with your other hand.

He wheezed loudly, the noise bouncing off the walls. He was actually taken by surprise by your choice, he was expecting you to go for the ankles again. You had to stifle your laugh, though it didn’t work too well.

“Well done. You picked that up quick.” He spoke, voice a little raspy. “A few more sessions and you will be allowed to return to the ring.” His statement made you grin. The breath in his lungs got caught as he saw your eyes light up. He did not know if it was you or his throat at fault so he coughed, but it was clear.

“That will be all for today. Go have lunch. I’ll send a message out to explain why you’re late back to work.” You were confused why he ushered you out so fast, but assumed it was busyness. You were surprised he even had time to train someone in the first place.

You walked back to the canteen, stomach rumbling loudly. You hoped Julienne didn’t eat your food. Lunch was probably over by now though, so even if she didn’t, it was likely gone. You finally turned the corner, pleasantly surprised to see your friend sitting next to your untouched food.

“You waited!” Julienne was a true gem.

“Lucky for you I skipped work today, had the extra time to wait around.” She punched your shoulder. “I got to go now! I have a bet on some guy in the ring, gunna try catch the end.” Julienne grabbed her drink and stood from bench. “You can tell me later why you’ve come back from the Dukes office all hot and sweaty.” She winked before dashing away, leaving you to smile to yourself at her antics.

While you ate your cold lunch, your mind found itself on the Duke. He was annoying and self righteous, but also kind enough to teach you how to fight properly. His curiosity intrigued you, but you hated how he teased you. Most of all you hated how he made your heart skip a beat when he stood too close. Fighting with him felt like an intimate dance. You cursed when caught yourself looking forward to your next session with him. Yet you prayed to the archons that he shared your sentiments.

Ty for reading this❤️

Requests are open ✨

[fandxmslxt69]

Here For You

Jake Lockley x f!reader (Steven Grant x f!reader, Marc Spector x f!reader mentioned briefly)

Warnings: Some swearing, negative self talk um...Jake being so <333

A/N: Can y'all tell I'm running out of GIFs to use I need to rebuild my collection. ANYWAY. This is funny because y'all REALLY liked the first soft Jake Lockley (thank you!!) and i literally wrote that one in like 2 hours and this one took a week + editing and I actually don't like it a lot but...here it is? I will probably write fluffy comfort stuff for the other boys + other characters but that will be to come <3 I'm gonna tag a few people who really liked the first one in this but please don't feel obliged to read!! THANK YOU <3

-Clem

Synopsis: You were starting to feel the negativity creep up and take hold of your mind again, but luckily, Jake is always there to make you feel better.

Word count: 1529 (mm.)

Bad days sucked. Everyone had them, but sometimes it really felt like the world was out to get you more than it was there to help. You were in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables as you waited for Jake to get home from work. It felt childish, to feel so out of your skin, but your mind couldn’t stop running through every small awkward thing that happened, or every wrong step you’d taken.

Maybe you should start working out more.

Maybe you should eat less.

Maybe you need to find a better job. 

Maybe you did need to get better clothes.

Maybe you needed to start putting in more effort. 

Maybe you weren’t doing enough, despite feeling so drained from all the work you did. 

Maybe you needed to just do better. 

You shuddered, feeling the icky feeling snake through your body and cover your skin in an uncomfortable layer. You sighed, putting everything down as you dug your palms into the edge of the counter, stretching out and taking a deep breath. 

It’s okay. It’ll go away soon.

You screwed your eyes shut, trying to ease the overwhelming ache in your chest. It grew and took your body captive, settling a heavy weight over your shoulders and on your heart, making your mind feel sluggish. “Cariño?” You heard Jake’s gruff voice before you saw him as his arms wrapped tightly around you, holding you steadily and pulling you into his chest. He still had his gloves on and his work jacket, and his voice was laced with concern. “Cariño, are you okay?”

You took a deep breath, leaning your head back as your body melted into Jake. “Mm…yeah,” You mumbled halfheartedly. You hated doing this to him. It was like a broken record. Everything was perfect until one bad day led to all three boys running and crowding over you to make sure you were okay. A day led to a week, and sometimes when you felt really shitty, even more, and it just left them extremely worried and on edge. You always tried, you really did, to keep it at bay and try to keep the bad days away, because you hated seeing them worry and you hated how it always came back no matter how hard you tried, and it made you feel like you just couldn’t be properly happy. It made you feel horrible and guilty for worrying them so much. But bad days always come, no matter how hard you try and of all three, Jake was always the first to catch on. He noticed the way the tension started building, how you’d start sleeping less and isolating yourself. It became clear signs that he tried to catch early, but it slipped sometimes, out of the blue and it constantly made his heart hurt to see you ache so badly.  “Yeah? You sure?” He pressed his lips to the top of your head. “Yeah…I’m sure. Just a little off,” He hummed. “Yeah? Why?” You shrugged, turning around to wrap your arms tightly around him. “Dunno. Bad day I guess,” “Aw, poor bebita,” You could practically hear his mind whirling a million miles an hour trying to run through the past few weeks, to try and maybe catch a problem. You felt horrible, because you had no way of explaining to him that there is no problem, sometimes you just didn’t feel good- but he found that hard to understand. If you were upset, there had to be a reason, right? And he’s going to search for that reason so he can find a way to fix it. 

But when you don’t give him a reason, it makes him feel useless and that makes you feel even shittier. 

“It’s okay!” You tried to reassure him quickly, pulling away to give him a small smile.  “It’s fine, please don’t worry about it. I’m just being a burden again,”  His face quickly changed from a soft pout to a confused look. “What?”  You frowned, detaching yourself from him. “What?”  “The-” He shook his head. “Burden? Who said you were being a burden?” “No one! No one said-it just slipped, bad habit right?” You tried laughing it off, noticing the way he frowned deeper with concern with every passing second. You quickly turned back to making dinner, trying to ignore him and the suddenly awkward conversation. “Amor.” He said firmly. “Hm?” “Look at me,” “I’m cooking dinner, I can’t,” “I’m serious,” “So am I,” 

When he didn’t offer something back, you thought you had won the argument, until you felt his strong arms wrap around you tightly, lifting you and effortlessly placing you on the counter. He reached over and turned off the stove, before turning his attention back to you as he placed himself between your thighs, hands firmly gripping your waist as he searched your face. “Alright princesa, no more avoiding confrontations. What’s up?” “Nothing,” You tried pushing him away, but he wouldn’t budge. You tried wiggling away, but he held you right in place. “Jaaaakeeee,” You whined. “Let me go right this second,” “Absolutely not,” He pouted, his big brown eyes melting into the biggest, saddest puppy eyes you’ve ever seen a man pull before. “Put those away!” You covered his face with your hands as you looked away. “Mi vida por favor…” He trailed a lazy kiss down your jawline. “Tell me what’s wrong,” You grumbled, feeling the fight dissolve in you. “That’s the thing. Nothing is wrong! Everything is perfect! Job’s going great, money is awesome, life’s going absolutely wonderful and yet for some fucking reason I’m once again feeling like shit, even when everything’s going right!”  He deflated a little, surprised by your outburst. “See! You’re even stunned speechless,” You ran a hand down your face, sighing heavily. “I just- I’m constantly dumping my problems on you and you’re forced to put up with them, even when you have your own issues to deal with. I mean- for fuck’s sake Jake, you just came home from work and you’re probably exhausted and need to rest to go out again later tonight and instead of letting you rest and giving you something to eat I’m sitting here complaining and whining!” He looked at you for a solid minute after your outburst, eyes roaming over your face as he stayed silent. “You really think you’re burdening me?” “I-...” “Don’t you always tell us it’s okay to ask for help?” He shook his head, his hands rubbing your side gently. “Why do you go back on that when it comes to you, hm?” He smiled but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. “You’re allowed to ask for help, bebita. Especially here,” 

You hummed, kissing him back. “Okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be worrying you so much,” He shook his head. “No more apologising. We’re gonna go sit on the couch and talk, and I’m gonna order food-” “-But-” “No buts,” He pressed a soft kiss to your lips. “And we’re just gonna chill, okay? Until you feel better,” “I don’t deserve you,” You felt your eyes tear up again, and this time you didn’t bother trying to stop as the tears fell over the edge. You weren’t sure why you were crying. The joy of having him by your side? The feeling of relief, knowing you don’t burden them? The overwhelming sense of love you feel for this precious, devastatingly handsome man?  Probably. “I love you,” “I love you too, and we’re here, I’m here for you, through anything and everything, got it?” You nodded and he kissed you again, before pulling away and smiling softly. “Now. Food?” You laughed, feeling the ache that engulfed your body earlier starting to make room for absolutely unfiltered joy. “Yeah, food sounds good,”

[italiansteebie]

Love on Screen

Welcome to my Streamer au :-) Episode One, also on ao3 (Preferred format)

Steve sighed as he opened his laptop, clicking on the ‘Youtube’ icon and pulling up his channel. He likes his job, really he does. But so many people do the same thing that he’s honestly running out of ideas. Luckily, his subscribers seem to enjoy the weird ass shit he’s been putting out lately. In the last one, he’d made a bed out of cheese for his cat, the only issue was, was that she wanted to eat it, and if you don’t know, cat’s are lactose intolerant, so what started as a stupid video turned into him vlogging how to clean cat diarrhea of a carpet.

His subscribers thought it was hilarious, paying no mind to his discomfort, moreso worrying about piggy, his cat, and how her tummy was doing. She’s fine. Just a little dramatic. So with a lack of ideas, he goes lives. “Hey. How’s it going, chat? Look, I really need some new ideas because honestly, I’m bombing here.” And like always the chat blew up with responses, ‘call robin!’ and Steve snorted, “call Robin? Fine?” He picked up his phone, tapping Robin’s contact and waiting for it to ring.

“What?”

“That’s real nice, Rob. What a way to answer your best friend.”

“You aren’t my best friend, Nancy is.”

Steve scoffs, “Whatever, say hi to chat!”

“Seriously? This is the content y’all like? God, give him good ones, like getting a life.”

“I have a life, okay? Just because I don’t-”

“Your life consists of bugging me and Nancy, now get off live and think of some real idea’s, Steve!” Her tone was accusatory and Steve didn’t have a chance to answer before she hung up on him. He sighed, looking into the webcam, “Well. You heard her. I’ll talk to you guys later. Bye chat!” He ended the live and shut his laptop with a huff. He pondered for a moment, before deciding to scroll, what better way to come up with ideas than to scan and see what’s trending, right? 

He knows it’s a lazy tactic but, hey. He’s been doing this for years, there’s only so many ideas a brain could hatch. Maybe he could play a new game? Nah, he’s played all the good ones. Maybe he could play a really bad one just for giggles, maybe that’d be fun? It’s not fair! Robin and Nancy use their lives as content! Steve’s life was boring! Maybe it was worth a try, and so, a dumb little morning vlog was in the works.  

-

And okay, so it turns out maybe his subscribers are somewhat interested in his life. How was he supposed to know? He wakes up, answers emails, makes breakfast, works out, and that’s it! It wasn’t anything special. He felt… Boring. 

And yeah, the video did well but he still felt like he fell flat. He was supposed to be funny! So in his fit of doubt, he decides to scroll a little bit. (A bit of mindless scrolling didn't hurt anyone, right?) Wrong, Steve. It hurt a lot of people. But either way, in his attempt to bury his feelings he came across a video titled “Freak Rage Quits and Then Cries,” and Steve was a little apprehensive. He doesn’t really do the bullying, mean girl content, well, at least not like he used to. (He was a different person then). But he clicked on it anyways, and holy shit. He was funny. And really hot. 

And soon enough, Steve fell down a rabbit hole. He couldn’t get enough of this guy, he was cute, and charming, and somehow chaotic in a way that made Steve weak in the knees. (And look, the liking guys thing was relatively new, but the whole ‘attracted to chaos thing’ came out of left field). Well, if he’s being honest, it really didn’t. When he thought he had a crush on Robin it was her chaotic energy that really got to him, which was surprising seeing as his ex before her was very much the opposite. But as it turns out, chaos is like this guys whole brand. Eddie. That’s his name by the way, goes by corrodededdie on twitch, which honestly, fit him perfectly, 

Steve didn’t get the guys subscribing count at first, over 1.5 million (which is almost as many as Steve), but he gets it now. He doesn’t understand how someone could make him fall in love, over video. It was a bit ridiculous, really. Luckily for him, corrodededdie struck the inspiration bucket and Steve fell asleep with some new concepts floating around in his head. And yeah, maybe they were a bit more chaotic than what he usually did but… Oh well. Blame it on his new muse.

—

Eddie grinned as he waved goodbye to the stream, he’d just finished a 12 hour long long haul that he did on a dare because some troll in the chat said he wouldn’t be able to do it. And well, Eddie runs off spite, so of course he made sure to do it, and do it right. 

So here he was, 12 hours later, absolutely exhausted. He’d started the stream at a nice time of 6pm. That meant he’d have to stay streaming and making actual content, not just farting around on his phone, for 12 hours. It seemed easy enough. 

It wasn’t.

Right around the eight hour mark he started to get pretty restless. He’d already played all the games he had within his reach like, twice, and he was honestly really sick of talking about himself, so he made the courageous decision to ask the chat for suggestions on what he should do. (That was especially dangerous since at the time he was doing it, which was 2 am, was the time his especially creepy subscribers like to join and torment him by suggesting really gross stuff. And not like eating dog food gross). But luckily someone in the chat, named ‘dustybun04’ came through for him, suggesting a channel by the title of ‘Steve goes to Hell’ and well. Needless to say, it wasn’t what Eddie was expecting with a name like that. 

It was mainly this guy doing different hair techniques and making weird shit for his cat. He has to be honest, ‘dustybun04’ really disappointed him. He was under the complete impression that this guy was going to be some metal badass that played COD and killed zombies. But… It wasn’t. “Oh come on, dustybun. This guy?” And the chat lit up.

Dustybun04: watch the one where he makes a chees bed for his cat it made me laugh so hard i threw up.

And that caught Eddie’s attention. So there he was, at 2 am, pseudo stalking this guys channel looking for a very specific video. And he makes sure he’s mic'd up so that the stream could catch his candid reaction. “Mr. Piggyyyy, look at what mommy made you,” and Eddie had to pause the video. The guy called himself ‘Mommy’? Oh god, who was this guy? He snorts, looking at the camera like he’s on ‘The Office’ before turning the video back on. And as much as he hates to admit it, he was crying with laughter by the end of the video. 

And so the 12 hour long stream turned into him doing a deepdive review on ‘Steve goes to Hell.’ And he wasn’t disappointed. He could tell that his viewers were ready to move on to something else, but Eddie couldn’t help it. He was just… Enamored with the guy. Eventually though, around the 11 hour mark, Steve ran out of content for Eddie to watch. So he reluctantly decided to bother his best, dear, friend, Nancy. She ran a channel with her girlfriend and they were so disgustingly cute that it almost made Eddie want to barf. He picked up his phone and dialed Nancy, waiting with a mischievous smile on his face. “Eddie? It’s… 5 am, why are you calling me?”

“Say hi to chat!” He cheered, far too loud and excited for the early hour.

“Ugh, Eddie. You’re the worst.”

“You love me, Wheeler.”

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Oh shit. Did he wake up Robin? “It’s just Eddie baby, go back to sleep. You woke up Robin you fucking asshole. I’m going to kill you the next time I see you.” Yep. 

She hung up on him with a huff, “Isn’t she a charmer, folks? Okay…. Let’s see.” Eddie muttered to himself, scrolling mindlessly, looking for something to get him through the last 30 minutes. “Okay… Thirty minute stretch guys. What should we do?” And then it happened. ‘Steve goes to Hell has uploaded a new video.’ “Awh, shit guys. Steve goes to Hell has another video,” He dragged out the ‘o’ far too excited for a channel he just found of a guy he knows virtually nothing about. “Wake up with me? Ew. God, he’s so cheesy. Let’s watch” And it turns out it was actually pretty cute. 

And yup. There it is. Eddie has a new crush on a guy. A guy who happens to look super hot when he wakes up and by definition out of Eddie’s league. He sits and watches silently, enraptured with the way this guy lives his life, waking up so god damned early. As the video comes to an end, so does the 12 hour stream. “Well, shit guys. We did it. Actually, I did it. You guys did nothing. Anyways. It’s been fun. wheeliemike, suck my dick, and fuck you for saying I couldn’t do this. Alright. Thanks for chilling with me!” 

And that brings us up to speed. Eddie slumped back into his gaming chair, breathing out deeply. “Shit. I am never doing that again.” He slid out of his chair and trudged over to his bed, flopping down onto it and groaning loudly. He was just about to succumb to the sweet release of sleep when his phone chimed. ‘Steve goes to hell just subscribed to your channel.’ And oh fuck. Oh fuck, was he watching? Shit. Well. His heart was beating too fast to go to sleep now, may as well instagram stalk the guy. Like all normal people do when they develop a new crush.

[v3nusxsky]

Id like to use this to request any fic that you have that you want to publish for your own personal needs, because i vaguely remember you mentioning that whenever you dont publish specifically for us first, you feel guilty. I dont want you to feel guilty for writing and publishing for yourself when you feel like you need to, so thats what this request is for. And it has infinite uses, so if you feel bad for posting something nobody requested, i requested it. 😌🫶🏻

- 🪩

Thank you darling this was a self indulgent fic so I felt like this was the perfect one for your request ♥️

Innocent dove 18+

*A/n I had actually planned a cute fluffy update but this one would not leave my head. Something that I hadn't actually planned on writing ever but let's move on. This is an extra post I'll still be posting later on*

Warnings~ corruption k!nk, dominant Larissa sub reader language? F!ngering strap on! Light Degrading? first time! Mommy kink

Prompt~ see ask^^^

✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬ ✬

Larissa Weems, headmistress of Nevermore Academy watched you from afar for years. You intrigued her in a way no one else could. Of course she knew of her staff's personal lives, after all they all spent so much time together it was only natural to work out who was seeing who. Expect for you. Larissa couldn't work out anything about you. And that's what made you even more interesting. Now she knew the basic information, of course she did it was on your file. But anything personal? Not a clue. It was like you locked it away and buried the key. This is what spurred her to try and befriend you. Your dedication to your job was admirable so she started by offering you to her office.

The meeting in the office soon migrated to Larissa coming to you quarters for a class of wine. You began to look forward to those nights. Your first friend of so you thought. Through these meetings Larissa got to know more about you and in return allowed you to know her. One evening on the way to your office with a coffee in hand, a student rushed passed spilling it all down your front. A frustrated sigh left your lips. Today was not your day. Luckily the principles office was a few doors down, this led you to knocking in hopes she could help you. And that she did. She leant you a t-shirt. Not something you imagined the classy women owning but loving how it hung loosely off your frame. Larissa told you to keep it due to it suiting you more than her. And that was how you came to having her shirt. Little did you know Larissa had grown feelings for you that you couldn't even comprehend.

Religion. What a funny thing. You believed you were strong in your faith. But how could you be if you were having the most sinful dreams that you didn't quite understand, about the taller women. Those dreams came to head the one night where you had drank through a little more wine that would be your normal.

Unsure if it was the wine or if it was the tension that had build between you both, Larissa leaned over to your ear and whispered " darling, may I kiss you"

Your face flushed. You'd never been kissed before. Would she find that an odd fact? "I uh I haven't um" you trailed off looking embarrassed. A mischievous glint remained in her eyes as she whispered "I'll be your first then my dear" before she leant in to capture your lips gently. Stunned for a few seconds you just let her kiss you, only then did you gingerly respond moving your lips against hers. You knew this was wrong. Your whole religion frowned upon this. But why did it feel so good? This undeniable feeling of want and desire.

You pulled away, eyes wide with panic, what was god going to thing. You'd have to pray extra hard tonight. Unknowingly in your panicked state you voiced those opinions out loud. "Stay on the ground until your knees hurt, no more praying to a god baby, I'll be your preacher." The blonde women murmured watching your reactions carefully. Delighting in the fact that your eye's darkened with lust for a second.

"La-Larissa? What? Uh this can't it's not right " you mumbled trailing off. This is so confusing after all you want her? But it's not what you've been taught to allow? Sinning was bad. But why did she feel so right?

"Oh my darling, it's more than right. It's perfect. I know you want me Y/n. Your body language practically screams that message. And if this god tells you it's bad what would he say if I admitted my true feelings and desires? Hmm?"

"But my faith is all I have?" You mumbled sounding as if you were questioning yourself.

"Darling your faith is yours. It's up to you to decide what you believe in, but there is nothing wrong with feeling love for anyone. And that's my personal belief. After all doesn't God tell you to love everyone?" She quizzed never removing herself from your personal space.

Maybe it was the wine, you subconsciously followed your deep desires. You launched yourself at her once more. Lips finding hers, the need and desperation evident. Only pulling back when your need for oxygen became apparent. "I want you" you mumbled against her lips, oh if only you knew what you'd just asked for.

Smirking she held your gaze wanting to know you really understood her here. "Darling, you've never done anything like this and believe me I long to be your first but I don't want to pressure you here. I need to know you want this" her tone left no room for any argument. You nodded giving In totally to your own instinct.

"Words my darling" she reminded you in which you quickly responded "please" in a whine you'd never even knew you could create. In a foggy haze you were led back to Larissa's quarters. Almost on autopilot. What were you doing? How could someone have such an effect on you?

You were laid back on the bed, looking up at the older women, her lips moving but the words not really sinking in. "Darling you need to listen to me" was what snapped you back into the reality. This isn't a dream? "You are so innocent my little dove. So here is how this works. I'll help you. Oh baby I'll take you back to church, you'll be mine. All you have to do is be a good girl for me can you do that?" She all but purred out watching as you shivered in excitement before whimpering out a yes.

"Red means stop I want you to say it whenever you don't feel safe or what to stop, it's your first and although i want you as mine doesn't mean I desire to hurt you. Yellow means you have a question or want to change something but not stop completely okay? Yellow will open up the line of communication to allow me to adjust whatever you need. You being comfortable will always be at the top of my list okay dove?" Larissa explained to you wanting you to understand this was all under your control.

"Wh- uh can you- do you get to say them" you mumbled out confused. "Oh my dove I won't need to use them but yes it would extend to me too." She reassured, "now darling can we start?"

"Yes" was all you managed before her lips once again found yours. More demanding this time. Lust finally taking over you both. Wandering hands made quick work of your clothing until you were bare and at her mercy. She watched as you squirmed against her lingering gaze, allowing your insecurities to show. After all this is the first time you'd ever been this vulnerable and on show. Larissa was enjoying watching you squirm for her. "Oh pretty girl, don't be shy you're beautiful baby" was whispered against your skin as she trailed kisses down your neck before making her way to your breast. Only then did she take the perky bud into her lips. The sounds you were making were ones so pure spurring your older women on. You were so innocent and she craved to destroy it.

After lavishing your breasts with attention Larissa dragged her attention south. "What's the colour pretty one?" She murmured against your stomach.

"Gr-een please" was all it took for her to continue her journey. "Pretty one I'm going to baptise in your thighs till I can't breathe." And with that Larissa focused her attention your aching core. Absolutely soaked for her. Of course taking it slowly, wanting to savour the feeling of breaking down your innocence. You're moans of delight we're filling the room as she worked between your thighs. Slowly exploring your soaked folds. Your whimpers and whines of delight following freely as you chased whatever unfamiliar feeling was burning within you. Your thighs shaking as they closed in around her head. All tale tale signs that you were very much enjoying her ministrations. However enjoyable this was the older women craved to see the change in your eyes as she ruined you. That was the one desire and reason why she pulled away from your drenched core. You whimpered out of need and displeasure at the sensation leaving you.

"Rissa? No please I god please I need..." you trailed off not knowing what you needed. "Oh my pretty one you enjoyed that hmm?" Causing you to whimper out and nod in confrontation unable to word what you wanted to say.

"Oh darling don't you worry I'm not done with you. That was just the start my love. Would you like to continue?" She questioned as she walked round her room looking for her chosen item. Once you confirmed that you wanted her only then did Larissa strip down to match your level of clothing. You watched through half lidded eyes, the sight aiding your arousal that was now soaking your thighs.

Larissa quickly adorned her favourite strap on which would pleasure the both of you simultaneously. She delighted in your little scared gasp, eyes blown wide open just looking at the sheer sight of her. "Rissa? That's not gonna fit" you blurted out panic evident in your voice.

"Hush pretty one it will fit you're more than capable of taking all of me. In fact you will take it all bc your my good girl hmm" she all but purred at you hoping to ease some of the tension. You seemed to respond marvellously well to her praise and touch so it was only natural you whined at the good girl part.

Larissa settled herself between your thighs once more. Her hand coming up to hold yours as she lined herself up effectively coating the fake cock in your slickness, watching as you held your breath. You'd heard stories of course. And you heard it would hurt but you were unsure how much? "Darling you need to breathe for me" Larissa reminded you and you took a shaky breath. "Pretty one keep your eyes open I want to see the innocence drain from your beautiful irises as I take you. You'll never belong to anyone but me and we both know you'd love that hmm?" Doing as you were instructed you kept your eyes trained on the women who was now gently slipping into your soaked core. The cry tore from your lips as you felt a stinging burning pain. Tears filled your eyes as you desperately tried to keep them open. Once in Larissa stilled, allowing you adjust to her intrusion and whispering comforting words into your ear. "Such a good girl for me y/n. You're okay darling it won't last long. Such a good girl. You're mine now y/n. I'm so proud of you. That's it baby relax for me"

The pain defused into pleasure causing a loud moan to rip through you. "Mommy oh-" you whined. "Sorry sorry I don't know why I said that oh fuck please I'm sorry" you whimpered out your apologies.

"Oh my pretty baby I know why you said that. And I loved it. Say it again" she growled into your ear.

"Mommy please fuck I don't know what but please" you whined now only feeling the pleasure of being so deliciously filled.

"Such a good slut for mommy" was the final sentence whispered before Larissa withdrew just to the tip before pushing back in. Still mindful that it could still hurt. But if your moans were any indication to go by the painful part was over. You were hers. And who would've knew you had a mommy kink?

There was that feeling again. You found yourself chasing it. The curiosity of not understanding what was happening but knowing whatever it was felt amazing souring you on alongside the moans of the older women. It didn't take Larissa long to have you a whimpering mess below her. The tale tale signs of a climax painfully close were obvious to her yet you had no clue. Begging and pleading for the unknown. "Mommy please fuck god please I need something" you whined causing her to snake her hand between you both and circle your clit. That was all it took to throw you off the edge.  " oh my god o irrumabo mammam i deus larisaa" you all but screamed out at the overwhelming new sensations. (oh fuck mommy i god Larissa) you had switched languages half way through due to the strong waves of pleasure clouding your mind. The perk of being the language professor meant you knew a fair few languages but Latin being one of your favourites, so it wasn't surprising that's what you swapped to. The Latin mixing with your mewls of pleasure is what threw Larissa over the edge alongside you.

Once you'd both calmed down, she slipped out of you causing a whine of discomfort. "Oh my pretty girl did mommy make you sore?" She questioned with a caring tone. You just whimpered in response. Exhaustion clouding your mind. You almost missed when she asked if you needed something. You just reached your arms outwards and did the grabby hands signalling for a cuddle which was happily given. "Rest now pretty one, if your agreeable mommy would like to play with her good girl in a few hours." She whispered pressing light kisses to your head as you snuggled onto her chest. A sleepy hum of agreement was all you managed before sleep claimed you.

Word count ~ 2504

[goddess-aelin]

Putting Out Fires

For Rowaelin Month day 26: taking care of the littles solo

@rowaelinscourt

Masterlist

Word count: 1.2k

Warnings: none!

Alma Whitethorn Galathynius, six years old and eldest of three children (so far), was a beautiful and gentle soul. That is, when she wasn’t being a little hellion. With a strong gift of fire from her mother, Alma inherited the famous Galathynius temper and penchant for “accidentally” setting things on fire. Her four-year-old younger brother, Errin, was no better. While he also had fire powers, they were thankfully much weaker than his sister’s, especially since he also inherited his father’s strong gift of ice and wind, Rowan’s twin. Errin, though, found it funny to chase his sister, hands aflame and ice covering the floors to make it more difficult to run.

And not to mention poor Leven, the newly two-year-old who tried and failed to keep up with his older siblings. Leven, unlike his siblings, had a quiet disposition, contemplative and cool headed. While he wasn’t usually easily upset, his siblings chasing each other with flames certainly put a damper on his mood.

To put it short, Rowan was absolutely, positively exhausted.

Aelin left for Adarlan two weeks ago, hoping to meet with Dorian and Chaol to forge new trade agreements. Rowan had excitedly volunteered to stay home with their children instead of taking part in the courtly bullshit. But he didn’t anticipate that not having Aelin as a buffer would tempt his two oldest into becoming creatures sent by Hellas himself. If only Lorcan could see him right now.

Carrying Leven from his quiet room where the youngster was napping into the chaos of the playroom was like walking into a warzone. Rowan swears his hair was singed by a fireball passing by his head. Putting Leven down, the boy immediately latched onto his leg, not willing to take part in his siblings’ antics. Rowan, however, needed to get this under control…and fast. Otherwise, Aelin would be coming home to nothing but a burnt crisp of a castle.

“What is going on?!” Rowan tried to use his best booming voice, the voice of a commander, but he didn’t do a very good job. His voice came out as a squeak instead since a fireball shot directly toward his head once again, which of course, made Leven clutch his leg harder and tears form in the poor boy's eyes.

Rowan cleared his voice and tried again. “WHAT IS GOING ON!?”

The room went silent except for Leven’s sniffles. Both Alma and Errin’s hands were wreathed in flame, covering their tiny hands like wraps for sparring. A quick once-over of his kids informed Rowan that, luckily, no one seemed to be injured or burned.

Both Alma and Errin just stood there for a moment before spurring back into action. It all happened so fast. One minute, they were standing in front of each other, and the next, Errin’s little hand was holding the drapes. Still on fire.

“No! Don’t set fire to the–” Rowan was cut off by a wave of water dousing the flames. Huh, he thought. That’s new. Both Alma and Errin were frozen, looking bewildered as he felt. As far as he knew, neither Alma nor Errin had water powers, which left… “Oh my Gods!”

Rowan looked to his youngest, still clutching his leg but now with an outstretched little hand. He had an adorable pout on his face and it reminded him so much of Aelin that he could help but let a cackle escape.

Picking his youngest son up, he asked him, “Was that you, buddy? Did you put the fire out?”

Still pouting, Leven nodded. “Water.”

A smile burst over Rowan’s face. “That was amazing! You’re only two and you just put that big fire out!” He tickled his son’s belly and the youngster started giggling. His two older ones made their way over, bashful and embarrassed.

“We’re sorry, Daddy. We were just playing,” his oldest stated.

Bringing his arms around all three of them, he pulled them into a tight hug. “I know, my loves. You just have to be careful, especially inside.” He could feel Alma and Errin lay their heads on his chest and shoulder, Leven still in his arms, holding onto his neck. “I think that finding out Leven has water powers calls for some cake, yes?”

All three of his children started jumping up and down eagerly, having inherited their mother’s love of cake.

Afterwards, the kids were luckily more pliant and subdued, allowing Rowan to give them baths and get them into their nightclothes. With all three of them tucked into bed, Rowan was looking forward to absolutely passing out once he reached his own.

He was almost asleep when the patter of little feet reached his ears. In the doorway was a tiny shadow with long hair: Alma. The small girl crossed the room to where Rowan was laying and crawled her way up onto the massive bed.

“Daddy,” she whispered. “Can I sleep here tonight?”

As he sat up and started rubbing her back, he replied, “Did you have a nightmare?”

The little one shook her head. “No, I just missed you.” Rowan’s heart melted at that though he couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle as he pulled his daughter into his arms.

“You just saw me five minutes ago, little bird.”

“But I miss Mommy, too. And I want to sleep in here.” She crossed her arms and pouted, Aelin through and through.

“Okay, okay. You can sleep in here. But you have to sleep, okay? No playing.”

“Okay, Daddy! I’ll sleep, don’t you worry.”

Rowan made to lay back down but instead of resting next to him, Alma hopped off the bed and padded once again toward the door. Like a tiny mother with her little ducklings following behind, three figures now walked toward his bed. One by one, his children climbed up onto the bed and tucked themselves in beside him. Leven, only two and still fairly small yet, couldn’t reach the bed himself so Rowan hauled him up.

“I don’t think I remember agreeing to having three little birds in my bed.” A chorus of giggles broke out. Soon enough, though, his children’s light snores reached his ears and lulled him to sleep.

- - - - -

Something woke Rowan the next morning, though it was still before dawn. As his bleary eyes sharpened, a familiar figure was standing by the side of the bed, taking in the scene.

“Fireheart,” he whispered. “You’re home.”

She bent down to kiss him, short and sweet though not without feeling. “I’m home.” Her gaze turned to their three little ones snuggled up against Rowan. “And why is everyone in my bed?”

Rowan let out a soft chuckle. “The little masterminds formed a plan and ganged up on me to sleep here. I didn’t know you’d be back yet. I can move them.”

Aelin shook her head. “No, leave them be. I’ll snuggle in on the other side.”

Moments later, their three children were sandwiched between the two of them.

“Soon we won’t be able to fit all of them in here.”

Rowan gave her a knowing smile. They hadn’t told the kids yet that Aelin was expecting another sibling again but he knew they’d all be overjoyed at the prospect of another baby to spoil and scheme with. Rowan reached his hand to rest on Errin’s back, sleeping in the middle. Aelin’s covered his moments later and Rowan couldn’t help but thinking he was so godsdamned lucky.

A/N: I’m slacking so hard on the prompts this past week but I’m hoping to get some out after this month is over! Hope you enjoyed!

Tagging:

@cretaceous-therapod @morganofthewildfire @tomtenadia @live-the-fangirl-life @charlizeed @violet-mermaid7 @euphoric-melancholyy @kritical24 @rubyriveraqueen @dealfea @wellofnothing @ayaashryver @moonknight-spector @leiawritesstories @whoever-you-choose-to-love @holdthefrickup @heirofflowers @thecrispypotatochip @shanias-world @rowanaelinn @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @hanging-from-a-cliff @fantacysoup @swankii-art-teacher @thegreyj @fromthelibraryofemilyj @westofmoon @lovely-dove-zee @books4eva04 @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @backtobl4ck @dreamer-133 @elentiyawhitethorn @writtenonreceipts @shyvioletcat @aelinchocolatelover @captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship @athena127 @tothestarsandwhateverend @highqueenofelfhame

[i-cant-sing]

Okay, so the new OC I'm introducing yall to is... Dimitri.

Basically, this dude is a mafia man. But he's like very, very rich and powerful, like the type that controls politics and shit. Now, Dimitri has a 3 year old son, Xavier, who goes to the school where reader teaches. In fact, you're his class teacher.

Dimitri met you for the first time during the parent-teacher meetings where you updated him on his son's progress. To say that he was immediately smitten would be quite the understatement. However, Dimitri doesn't obsess over you, nor is he in love with you. He can't afford to do that, not with his line of work. For all he knows, you could've been sent to spy on him and Xavier or worse, to hurt them. So he pretty much forgets about you.

That is until one day, someone tried to kidnap Xavier from the school, threatening everyone with a gun. Almost everyone fleed, except for you. Not only were you successful in hiding away Xavier, but you had also somehow distracted and delayed the kidnapper, who only ran away once he heard the police sirens. But not before, shooting you.

Fortunately, someone had rushed you to the hospital and you made it.

Dimitri (after making sure his son was safe) came to the hospital to thank you and even paid for your surgery and stuff. Of course, he didn't tell you he had enemies as a mafia leader. No, no. To you, he was just a successful business man and that kidnapper (who had been caught and brutally tortured by Dimitri's men) was just some fucking perv. Anyways, now you had permanently made a spot on Dimitri's radar.

The school had given youbsome time off to recover, and Dimitri very graciously offered to drive you back.

After a 2 months or so, you were ready to return back to work, only to find putvthat you've been fired and replaced. Well, that sucks.

Luckily for you, Dimitri who had came to pick his son up saw you. He took you out to a coffee shop to thank you once again, and you tried basically caught up on stuff. When you told him about how you got fired, he offered you a job.

"Would you like to be Xavier's nanny? Well, actually, you'd have to be his caretaker and private tutor."

"I- what?" You thought he was just doing this out of pity or guilt. But he assured you, he actually did need help.

"Its just- my wife had died soon after giving birth to Xavier. She was sick." He cleared his throat, looking sad over the mention of his wife. "Xavier is... a bit different. He's a quite child, a good kid really, but... he's a little emotionally detached. I've reached out to professionals and all, but they've never really made much progress with him. But you... you're different." He took a sip of his coffee. "I don't know what you did, but Xavier has become attached to you. He talks a lot about you, could go on for hours until he falls asleep."

You smiled.

"I try to make time for him, I do really. But I suppose I am somehow lacking. I just- I do need your help. You'd really be doing me a favour by taking this job." He sighed.

So you accepted. (You'd be an idiot not to, especially after seeing the pay)

The job was easy. Really, you didn't have too much of a hard time. Xavier was a good kid, easy to bond with, very well behaved. He often shared details about his life with you, something you noticed he didn't do with anyone else. Perhaps, he sees you as a friend. Sure, most of the things he overshared were funny ("I saw the maid kissing the chef!"), but some details were... a little concerning to say the least. You think he hallucinates, or just has a very vivid imagination, perhaps he even daydreams. Because when Xavier tells you "daddy came home with blood clothes. I told him to clean up because you didn't like dirty things! I sang him the "clean up" song you taught me!" Certainly, there is no way that is true.

You've told Dimitri about his son's vivid imagination, and he looked shocked to hear that, promising that he will talk to him about it, or even go to a psychiatrist for help.

As for Dimitri, he's a pretty decent boss. He waits with his son every morning until you come, wishing you both a good day before leaving for work. He usually returns in the evening, after you've put Xavier to sleep. You wish him a good night, and he always looks like he wants to say something, but he just nods and has his driver drop you off to your place.

Now, reader had moved into the city recently and she's just getting used to knowing her new surroundings. She doesn't have a car so she tends to walk around (when she isn't being picked and dropped by Dimitri's driver) and she feels like she's being watched. At first, she thinks it just her paranoia, but then it happened.

A bouquet of roses and a small letter attached to it, right outside your door.

Flowers for my flower, my favourite one of all❤

You would've thought they were for someone else, but it was addressed to your name. It weirded you out, because you don't remember making anyone new who would send you such a gift.

But things only got worse from there on, because once a week (which later became everyday), you got a bouquet of flowers and a letter that mentioned details about your life you don't remember telling anyone about.

It really got to you when your secret admirer started writing creepy details about your daily life, as if he was living right inside you.

You did not want a stalker, and you especially didn't need a creep to endanger Xavier. So, you went to the police, who laughed right in your face, telling you that with vicious and actually terrible crimes happening in the city, getting flowers from a lover isn't their top priority. Meaning they weren't going to help you.

So you decided to take some caution yourself, and added security cameras in your home, and then installed an app that would let your family and friends know about your whereabouts, should you go missing.

Things turned even worse for you the following months. The feeling of being watched only increased, someone continued dropping bouquets and letters with disturbing personal details about you.

"My dear Y/n, how do I say I miss you in a way that will make your heart ache as mine does? You are a sight for sore eyes, and so is your pink underwear."

Your friends took you to a club for a night out, to get your mind of things. And it did, you danced and drank until things started to feel a little numb.

You sobered right up when you got another letter with flowers the next day, along with coffee and painkillers. Inside your house.

"My sweet, it hurt me to see other men touch you and dance with you. Your friends certainly do not have your beat interests in mind, having you endanger yourself like that. You're lucky I was there to make sure none of those vile men took you home, although it pained me to see you put yourself on display like that.

But I forgive you. My heart won't ever hate you, no matter how much you hurt it."

You threw the coffee and the flowers and the letter in the trashcan outside. You immeadiately called your landlord, a sweet old lady, and trued to switch places. You possibly cannot stay here after that creep had been inside your house. But she told you that she couldn't really help you because of a "new clause" in the lease. So all you could do was change the locks for now.

Somewhere along the way, you started dating a guy. He was a sweet guy, and he would always come over when you didn't feel safe inside your own home. Well, one night, he was over for a romantic dinner at your place. You both had moved over to the couch, where you had started to inch closer to kiss him, but you both jumped back when you heard a loud crash outside. You looked out the window, only to find his parked car completely crushed.

You called the cops, and soon your date left with the cops to file a report. However, only 10 minutes later, someone knocked on your door. When you opened the door, there was no one, only a letter. With trembling hands, you opened it.

End things with him. Or it'll be him that's broken next time.

Your paranoia gets the best of you. Its just- its just not safe for you here, anymore. So, you go to Dimitri, hand him your resignation, along with a replacement, saying you had to leave town. He tries to inquire more, saying that perhaps he could help you in some way, but you say it's a family matter. So, he agrees and gives you your last cheque

Then, you go to your apartment and pack your stuff up, returning the keys to the landlady, who agrees into ending your lease when you bribe her with the cheque Dimitri gave you.

You then go to the bank to get the rest of your savings that'll be enough for you to move to another city, if not country. However, the bank says they've frozen your account and cannot give you access to your money because of a technical issue.

You're walking back to your old apartment, hoping that you could somehow beg the landlady into giving your apartment back again as you realise how truly fucked you are.

You are currently homeless, jobless and penniless.

And when you look over your shoulder and see a black van following you, you know you can never catch a break.

You break into a sprint, picking up the speed when you hear the van speed up after you. All you could think was you were gonna die tonight.

Too absorbed in your fright, you didn't see where you you were running, until a car almost hit you, finally making you stop as you fell to your knees.

You were still looking behind to notice the driver getting out of the car to check on you.

"Y/n? Oh my- are you okay?" You finally snapped back, gasping as you realised it was your old employer- Dimitri.

You stumbled up towards him. "Please, oh my god- there is a van following me! Please, help me." You said pointing behind you, and sure enough, Dimitri saw the black van.

"Okay, shh its okay. Im here now." He continued glaring at it as he pushed you towards the passenger seat. "Get in the car. I'll drive you home."

As soon as Dimitri drove away from that van, you finally broke down, telling him everything, about the stalking, the creepy gifts, the bank issue, etc.

Dimitri nodded, giving you his handkerchief as he tried to console you. "Its okay, everything is gonna be okay. You can stay with me and Xavier until the bank unfreezes your account. I'll hire you back, and if you'd like, I can get a private investigator to look into the creep. Hm?" You tried to turn down his offer, but he insisted. Besides, you needed the kindness, something you haven't had in a while.

Exhausted, both physically and emotionally, you fall asleep in the car. Dimitri looks over at you, and he can't help but tuck a stray hair behind your ear.

He can't help the way the corner of his lips quirk up.

He is the one who had the school fire you.

He is the one who owns the cops.

He is the one who bribed your landlady to "evict" you.

He is the one who bought the bank and had your accounts frozen.

And he is the one who had been sending you all those letters and gifts, and the one who set the van after you.

He is your stalker.

Now do you guys like the name Dimitri, or do you think Alexei or Nicholas would be better? Or something else? Also, suggest surnames, preferably Russian.

So what do you guys think???

[saline-coelacanth]

Alright, here it is. The Kalmaar essay about why I think he's great and why I think he's better than Pythor. This post is gonna be long so I'm gonna put most of it under a cut. I wrote this all in about an hour so some things may be a bit sloppy, but I think it still gets my points across

____________________

So I’ve had Kalmaar on my mind a lot lately, and whenever I think about him, I just think about how great he is as a villain. I enjoy this squid bitch a lot and I feel like he is criminally underrated. Now to preface, I’ve only watched all of Seabound a few times, so some things may be a bit fuzzy for me. And I was also not active in the fandom when Seabound first came out, so I don’t really know what the general consensus was on his character initially, but nowadays, it feels like he doesn’t really get talked about all too much. And I find that to be a real shame because I enjoy him immensely. So I think it’s about time I actually give an in depth explanation for why I find Kalmaar so enjoyable and also so I can explain the bold claim of mine that he is a better villain than Pythor, at least when comparing Kalmaar to season 1 Pythor.

To start off with the easy stuff, I just think Kalmaar is fun to watch. He has a very good balance between funny and intimidating that can be really hard to pull off with your villains. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say that Kalmaar is the funniest Ninjago villain, but he is definitely pretty high on my list. And a lot of this comes from his voice delivery. Giles Panton does an amazing job voicing Kalmaar and is able to pull off the intimidating and funny moments incredibly well. In fact, I’d say the voice acting for Kalmaar is one of the main reasons why Kalmaar is as enjoyable as he is, at least for me. But he also just plays off of other characters really well. A notable scene is when he captures Nya and Maya and tries to get information out of them. Obviously a lot of the humor here comes from Nya messing with him, but Kalmaar’s growing frustration is still really funny to watch.

Ok, now that I’ve given the small basis, let’s get into comparing him to Pythor. Now pretty much everyone has compared these two and said that they are the same character. They both had this plan to reawaken an ancient, giant snake to wreak havoc on the surface world and ended up getting defeated when they were eaten by said giant snake. They’re also both purple and british. So yeah, very understandable to compare the two of them. Luckily for me, this just makes things easier to compare and contrast my points. Now to start off, I will talk about one thing that Pythor does have over Kalmaar which is motivation. Pythor was mainly motivated by revenge as the humans locked the Serpentine in tombs, and yeah that’s understandable to get upset about. Meanwhile Kalmaar doesn’t have much motivation at all. I have my own personal headcanons for why Kalmaar is the way that he is, but in canon, we don’t get an explanation. Trimaar was very chill and had no dislike of the surface dwellers, meanwhile Kalmaar just always seemed to hate them for… no given reason. He’s just like that. And I know some people don’t like that, but I don’t really have a problem with it. Not every villain needs a reason to be evil. Sometimes they are just evil people and that’s ok. That might sound a bit hypocritical coming from someone who shits on the Overlord for being generic evil guy, but that’s mainly because the Overlord has a lot of other problems that I don’t wanna get into right now because this post isn’t about him. It’s about Kalmaar.

So Kalmaar doesn’t have a real motivation or reason as to why he’s evil. Some people don’t like that, but I have little issue with it because in my opinion Kalmaar makes up for it with basically everything else about him. To get back to the Pythor comparisons, I feel like the evil actions Kalmaar takes are so much more impactful than what Pythor does. Again, comparing Kalmaar to Pythor from season 1 since that’s the season where Pythor’s plan is most similar to Kalmaar’s. Pythor manages to rally all the different Serpentine tribes together through deceit by using the flute to defeat the other generals. (And also Skales helping him out). So Pythor gets the rest of the Serpentine to follow his rule, which is impressive. I feel the need to remind everyone that I ADORE Pythor and this post is not meant to hate on him at all. But when you compare Pythor’s rise to power to Kalmaar’s, it is very obvious to me which one comes out on top. Kalmaar gives what I think is one of the most badass lines from a villain in this show during an interaction with his father:

Trimaar: “I will not accept this brazen defiance! You have no power here, Kalmaar. I am your father and your king!”

Kalmaar: “I can’t do anything about the first thing, but as to the second…”

And then Kalmaar proceeds to shoot his own father, ultimately killing him. Not just that, but he also shoots the two guards who try to apprehend him afterwards, presumably killing them as well. After this, Kalmaar throws his trident to the ground and calls for help, blaming the ninja for attacking the king. In an instant, Kalmaar has turned an entire kingdom against the ninja while also making himself the new king. I don’t understand how people can look at this scene and then say that Kalmaar sucks as a villain. And to be fair, it is hard to tell if the people who do actually hate Kalmaar think he’s a genuinely bad villain or if they hate him because he’s a terrible person and they don’t actually think he’s a bad villain, they just hate him as a person. But that still doesn’t change the fact that nobody seems to talk about him, so yeah I feel like this scene is incredibly underrated.

And yeah, Pythor cannibalized the other anacondrai. That’s pretty messed up. But we don’t see that happening, it happens off screen. (Not that they would show that on screen, this is a kids show after all and I don’t think they wanna show on screen cannibalism) But I don’t think it’s ever confirmed whether or not Pythor ate all of the anacondrai, or if they all started eating each other and Pythor was the last one remaining. I always assumed they ate each other but I’ve seen some people argue that it was just Pythor. But with Kalmaar, we see him kill his father on screen. We get on screen patricide AND regicide, all in one combo! We also get an extremely emotional scene between Trimaar and Benthomaar afterwards. You can tell just how heartbroken Trimaar feels after realizing that his son is an irredeemable monster who wants to cause absolute calamity for the world. We never really get a scene like this regarding Pythor. The closest we get is the other Serpentine realizing that releasing the Great Devourer would mean they all get eaten as well, but that’s mainly played up for laughs, at least with the initial scene. We also get comments from Skales saying that he told the others not to listen to Pythor, but they didn’t want to listen. We never actually see Skales doubting Pythor’s plan to reawaken the Great Devourer, he just makes a comment about in season 2, and in season 1 he says, quote: “How was I supposed to know he was mad?” after being questioned on why they listened to Pythor in the first place.

Going back to Kalmaar for a bit, his relationship towards Benthomaar is another thing that makes him such a despicable villain in the best way possible. He is terrible to Benthomaar, that much I don’t need to explain, everyone knows that. Bentho’s character arc from wanting nothing but the love of his adopted brother, and then learning that Kalmaar killed their father, learning just how terrible of a person Kalmaar truly is, and deciding to side against him is such a great arc. Benthomaar is probably one of the best written side characters in Ninjago because of it, and I don’t think a lot of people are gonna argue with me on that. We love Bentho in this house. I feel like it’s fair to say that Kalmaar is more of Benthomaar’s villain than he is Nya’s, or at the very least Kalmaar is both a Nya and Benthomaar villain. But yeah, I feel like the fact that it’s Benthomaar who ultimately defeats Kalmaar really shows how important their relationship was to the plot of Seabound. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that Bentho is the only side character who defeats the main villain of the season without much help from the ninja.

Speaking of that final battle, let’s talk more about Kalmaar and Pythor’s plans. As mentioned before, they have pretty much the same exact plan just with different coats of paint. But the way they go about said plan is the main glaring point as to why I think Kalmaar is better than Pythor. See, when Pythor succeeded in reawakening the Great Devourer, he immediately got eaten by it. And yes, it was because Wu literally held him captive so he couldn’t escape, but that doesn’t change the fact that his plan backfired greatly. Meanwhile you have Kalmaar, who actually made sure that he would be able to control the giant snake before he started sicking it on the city. And yes, he did end up getting defeated the same way Pythor did, by getting eaten by the giant snake they tried to control, but Pythor’s downfall was immediate. Kalmaar had control over Wojira for quite a while until Benthomaar destroyed his trident and Wojira regained control. So even if you enjoy Pythor more than Kalmaar, you cannot argue with me that Pythor in season 1 was smarter than Kalmaar in Seabound. Maybe you could make the argument for Pythor in season 3, but right now we’re only focusing on season 1. Season 1 Pythor’s plan was just much more flawed than Kalmaar’s plan in Seabound.

So yeah, those were a lot of the main reasons why I think Kalmaar is an amazing villain and why I think he’s better than Pythor. When I first watched Seabound, I had said that Kalmaar was my new favorite villain, dethroning Pythor who had been my favorite for a long time. But part of me thought that I was probably just overhyping him in my head because it was a new season for me so it was exciting. It happens all the time where you experience something new and then immediately claim that it’s your new favorite thing only for time to pass and you realize it’s not as great as you initially thought. But given the amount of time passing, I don’t think my opinions have changed all too much. Maybe I still like Pythor more because I’m just very attached to Pythor, but then again Pythor had A LOT more screen time in the show compared to Kalmaar. Maybe if Kalmaar appeared in more than one season he’d surpass Pythor with a lot more ease, but for now I’d say they’re extremely close and my favorite changes between the two depending on how I’m feeling. Point is, I still see Kalmaar as one of my favorite Ninjago villains of all time. I guess it makes sense that the only one to give Pythor competition would be Pythor again except now he’s a squid.

To end things, I just wanna reiterate that these are my opinions. You can dislike Kalmaar for whatever reason you have, I’m not gonna force people to enjoy him. I just think that he’s a severely underrated villain in the fandom and I wish more people appreciated him. Seabound is one of the best seasons of Ninjago and people praise it all the time for its writing, for the arc that Nya goes through, and for pretty much everything. But the one amazing part of this season that I feel like doesn’t get talked about enough is Kalmaar. I don’t tend to write these long essay-type posts, and if anyone has reached this part I appreciate you greatly for listening to me ramble about this squid bitch. Even if I am the only one on this hill, I will continue to gas up Kalmaar as the fantastic villain he is to me. And maybe I was able to convince some people that he’s a pretty good villain as well. If not, well then that’s ok, too. I’m just glad I was able to share my own opinions and ramblings about Kalmaar.

[mdhwrites]

So, do you think they do a good job connecting redeemed Zuko with the competence and skills he had when he was an antagonist?

So what's kind of funny here, as someone pointed out to me recently, is that Zuko dominates my mind as impressive but... He actually isn't the most competent villain in the world. Many of his schemes fail, he has plenty of losses that would fit right in with Team Rocket, etc. like that. So first we have to ask if he was competent or had skills while as a villain. After all, both General Xiao and Azula beat him in scope, danger, etc.

Yes. Because no one was willing to go as far as him.

Zuko's greatest character flaw is also flipped around to be his greatest strength as a person: Stubbornness and Dedication. A lot of his failures come from being so focused on one goal as to end up tunnel visioned and failing to fully utilize all that was around him, which Aang was far better at. However, that conviction also came from the fact that once he chose a goal, nothing could stop him except killing him.

For it to be fully a strength though, this fervor needed to be tempered. Luckily, a lot of Zuko's growth in Book 2, and what would allow him to give wisdom like Uncle Iroh could by Book 3, is about genuinely being able to read a situation and swap square pegs to round ones when he needed to. One of the best examples is the contrast between Zuko Alone, where in order to win a fight he resorts to firebending to win a fight handedly despite it being an objectively wrong move for his goals, versus when he's found by Jet in Ba Sing Se. By then, he's learned to read the room and so adapts, having to fight WAY harder than he would have had to if he had broken out his bending but winning much more because of it too. A character with less conviction to his ideals and goals would have resorted to the easy victory if they ever thought they were losing.

He never accepts defeat. He struggles to even compromise on how complete his victory can be. It is all or nothing for Zuko at all times and that sort of tenacity allows him to achieve things no one else in the series does. Even back in Book 1, his need to be the one to capture the Avatar leads to him infiltrating and taking down his own people, even working with Aang just so no one else can claim his prize. Then by Book 3, we see stuff like him not allowing Katara to compromise who she is for something as petty as revenge, or the fact that rather than try to compromise with Aang on Ozai or have a soft talk to him, he attacks Aang with enough ferocity to make it clear to everyone just how bad of a position they're in when he tells them what the whole problem is. Heck, one could easily say that it's his dedication that makes him understand that beating Azula by letting her kill Katara, still wouldn't be a victory because his goal at that point isn't to just beat Azula. It is to fight for better, more peaceful future and letting someone die for his victory would be counter to that. So jumping in the way of the lightning bolt was easy for him because no other option even crossed his mind at that point.

As a note: Yes, Azula has similar drive but her breakdown in Book 3 actually is extra satisfying in contrast to Zuko's fall because Zuko could have lost all of his allies and had his one victory turn to ash and gone "Alright. Time to get up and figure out how to fix this." Because that is just who he is. It's part of what makes their final fight against each other so good as we have someone who appeared to be an unstoppable force going against someone who is an actual unstoppable force.

I... Will pull back on this for a second though. If not for Mother's Basement's top Avatar fights, I wouldn't have had the comparison of Zuko's Book 2 fights ready and while I feel confident enough about my knowledge of Avatar to talk about the broad strokes of Zuko's character arc, this sort of analysis, how one's strengths and weaknesses as a villain can transfer over to them as a hero, is something that requires a lot more specificity. I need to remember him better as a villain in order to better judge how those traits transferred over. I'm still confident enough to say that it did happen, especially since Zuko is still recognizably himself as a hero versus as a villain, but it's one I wanted to include a disclaimer for anyways.

What do you all think though? Do I make a good case? Am I maybe overlooking some other strengths he carried forward? Let me know and I'll see you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[eternalchaoschocolaterain]

The Most Powerful Waitress

Chapter six Will post the last one here tomorrow. It's already complete on AO3

Chapter one: School's out

Chapter two: I'd hire me

Chapter three: No cure for me

Chapter four: Rinse and repeat

Chapter five: Patience

Chapter seven (final chapter): No one knows

@whatwouldvalerydo

I don't know

A Snyde never gave up, so the next morning Merula pushed herself to get up early, slung a bag over her should and went back to Hogsmeade. Losing her patience yesterday wasn’t her fault, it was all on that guy. She’d been doing great before he came along and she’d fucking prove it to anyone who’d hire her. And hire her they would!

Luckily, Zonko’s had a note in the window saying they were looking for help. Selling some kids joke items couldn’t be worse than anything else she’d tried so far. Plus with how annoying kids could be they’d be a great way to practice her patience some more and she doubted any kid would be dumb enough to behave like the guy from yesterday.

The bright coloured store smelled like dungbombs and Merula wondered why Bilton didn’t have any spells in place to cover that smell up. But knowing him, he might like the smell. He stood behind the counter, grinning at a couple of kids who were arguing whether dungbombs or nose-biting teacups were better. The one arguing for the teacups was right: all the fun, none of the smell.

She walked over with a confident grin and put her hands on the counter. ‘I’m the help you need and I can start right now.’

Bilton frowned at her. ‘I don’t know about that. I heard what happened last night-’

‘Then you know it wasn’t my fault.’ Merula cut him off, because she would not start her day with another rejection. She would practice her patience and she’d practice it here! ‘I can sell stuff to some kids. Look!’ She walked over to the arguing kids. ‘Obviously the teacup is the better choice. You want to smell like dungbombs for the next week? Everyone will know it’s you.’ The kids shared a look and took a step backwards, but Merula pressed on. ‘Just buy the teacup. You’ll thank me later.’

She looked at them expectantly and the kids shuffled away to put the dungbombs back on the shelf. Bilton rung them up with his jovial laughter, while the kids looked over their shoulders a few times.

‘So, I’m hired, right?’ Merula asked when the kids left.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Didn’t you see what I did there? I’m a natural.’

They stared at each other. What was he thinking questioning her! All because of that absolute fucking twat from yesterday? That wasn’t her fault and she wouldn’t let Bilton deny her the chance to prove it.

‘I guess you can try out today and we’ll see how it goes.’

‘Good.’

Only a day, but whatever. It would be enough. Bilton let her behind the counter and showed her the cash till. Basically she would be the cashier, so her job would be to calculate. Bilton would go around the shop, joking with the kids and taking stock of everything. Easy.

The morning went about in slow fashion. Merula rang up purchases and even wrapped a few. Bilton kept his eye on her, but she made sure to put on her best Madam Rosmerta face and after a while he seemed to relax. The kids in the store were better than the costumers at the Three Broomsticks. They were loud, but some of their pranking plans were unexpectedly quite funny. The smell seemed not as bad after a while, though she figured she needed a long bath to get rid of it when her shift ended.

‘Why don’t you take a little break?’ Bilton said after Merula rang up another group of kids. ‘There’s an owl for you in the break room.’

Curious, Merula left her spot. The break room was Bilton’s own kitchen, a simple white painted wooden kitchen, located directly behind the stock room. Even with the window open and a pot of tea damping on the table this room stank of dungbombs too. She fed the owl a piece of a biscuit, untied the letter and tore it open. Ismelda’s familiar writing greeted her.

Merula,

We’ve settled into an apartment in New York. The city is huge, with lots of flickering lights. I hate it and have bought the thickest curtains I could find. The apartment is so dark now that we have candles everywhere.

Ben’s been busy with his job. It’s different than he expected. The muggles here are used to seeing weird things and most of it is chalked up to aliens. No really. Lots of talk about aliens here. Most of the times he’s needed for people pranking muggles, or when someone lets some creature escape or shapeshifts in the middle of the street. People are so dumb, it happens quite a lot. Somehow he still likes it and I guess his stories are kind of funny.

My job is good. I barely talk to anyone and when I do it’s all about history. I have my own room where I can research and date artefacts. They also let me work on my own research. I’ve been looking into the relations between the muggles and the native magical community here to help with dating. It’s quite gruesome.

To be honest I’m happy. It’s a weird feeling, but I think I could get used to this.

Hope you’re doing well,

Ismelda

PS: You owe me five galleons.

Merula rolled her eyes. Typical Ismelda to take something said in a fight so serious. But whatever, she’d pay. She read the letter again. Good for her for being happy. With her perfect apartment, perfect boyfriend and perfect career. How the fuck was she supposed to respond to that?

Glad you’re doing well. I’ve been fired from five jobs this week. Oh and Quinn moved out the day ‘the retreat’ was over and I hate it?

Yeah that would make for a nice letter. She chucked the thing in her bag, she could answer later. The letter and possible responses kept running through her mind while she counted some more and rung up some more kids. It was a slow day and most of her time was spent staring ahead. She almost missed the whiny costumers at the Three Broomsticks, at least that hadn’t been boring. If she’d known today would be this boring she’d have brought a book. The store even emptied out and Bilton came up to her, twisting his moustache.

‘I have to run a little errand. If you want, I could close the shop, that way you could have a long lunch break.’

Merula narrowed her eyes, she saw right through his offer. ‘I’m fine.’

‘It’s only your first day. I could understand if you didn’t want to be alone yet.’

‘I can handle the store by myself for a few minutes. I’ve been doing great so far, haven’t I?’

‘That’s true.’ Bilton admitted with a laugh, but it didn’t fill the room like his usual laughter did. ‘Okay, I’ll let you to it. It’s a quiet day after all. Just close the shop if you feel the need to, alright? I won’t mind.’

‘I will.’ She wouldn’t, because there was nothing that could happen that could make her need to close the shop. Except lunch.

‘I’ll be off then. I’ll see you in a bit.’

How hard did he think this fucking job was? That would make a nice addition to her response for Ismelda.

I’m working at Zonko’s now where Bilton doesn’t seem to think I can handle counting some coins by myself. What does he think I’ll do? Steal? Like I need the money.

After lunch she opened the store again. The sign had only turned back for a few minutes when a horrid clanging sound filled the room. Quinn walked towards her, looking as surprised to see her as Merula felt. For a tiny moment she thought today would get better. They’d have a nice conversation where Quinn would be all enthusiastic about her job, her home and seeing Merula later. Then she would gush over her and tell her how amazing she was. Just the cheering up she needed right now. But to her even bigger surprise Quinn held the source of the clanging: a toy monkey banging its cymbals together.

‘Can’t you turn that off?’ Merula shouted over the noise.

Quinn shook her head. ‘I wanted to ask Bilton for help with this. Is he around?’

 ‘Bilton?! What the fuck?! You think I can’t help you with it?’

‘No, of course. You can help-’

‘Merula? Quinn Lee?’ Tulip walked up to them, with her toad Dennis on her shoulder. ‘What’s that?’

‘It’s from work.’

‘Your work just gave you that? That’s brilliant!’

‘They did, but how are you, I haven’t seen you in ages?’ Quinn asked with a smile.

‘Dennis and I no longer conform to the construct of time. As far as I’m concerned, we all exist in a blank space of creativity and ambition. It’s the best way to work on my inventions and that monkey of yours is giving me all new ideas.’

‘You’re an inventor?’ Tulip grinned at Quinn as an answer and Quinn returned the look. ‘You did it! That’s amazing. I’m so happy it’s working out for you.’

Look at Quinn being all sweet and gushy. Perfect Tulip with her perfect job doing so much better than Merula. Tulip did what she wanted, Ismelda did what she wanted and she’d heard Quinn’s friends yesterday. They all did what they wanted. Haywood the potioneer, Egwu the fashion expert, Tonks the auror and Murphy the quidditch commentator. Copper had his fun obliviating muggles and Ismelda even said she was happy. Happy! She hated being happy!

‘Brilliant! Does everyone have a fantastic career except me?!’

‘Merula, calm down.’ Quinn pleaded.

‘Shut up!’ Without thinking, or looking back, Merula stomped off.

Let Quinn date Tulip if she was so amazing! Or one of her other friends. She kept going, internally cursing everything and everyone. Another terrible job and to top it off she had practically begged Bilton for it. When she could do so much better! How had she managed to sink this low? Thoughts kept running through her head as she stomped on, until she realised she had walked all the way out of Hogsmeade. All around her were trees and grass, no building in sight.

She needed to calm down, find something relaxing for a moment. It took her only a few moments to think of what she wanted. She apparated to a spot just outside of the Hogwarts grounds and hurried over to creature care. Professor Kettleburn had insisted that she was welcome to visit the creatures whenever she wanted.

The puffskeins lived in a large grass enclosure with lots of hideouts and holes. Throughout the enclosure stood various objects. Some were for the puffies to play with on their own, others for people to play with the puffies. Most puffskeins were wandering about, humming a little. The humming became louder when she greeted them and entered their enclosure. It had been over a month since she last saw them, but the puffies always remembered her. She had been visiting them sometimes multiple times a week when she was still in school and had been doing so since third year. Throwing puffies around was one of the best ways to calm down.

She sat in front of the puffskein-sized quidditch hoops and the poffle ran up to her, climbing in her lap, all eager to be thrown around. The moment her fingers closed around one of the soft little furballs some tension left her body. One by one she threw them through the hoops, their happy humming grew louder and soon they had Merula making her own happy sounds. Puffskeins were the absolute best.

They flew about as she tried to throw away her feelings of anger and guilt. She’d gotten herself fired again. Bilton would rightfully be pissed when he found out what she did. So much for being the Most Patient Witch. Her arms grew tired and she laid down. The poffle got on top of her, because one thing they liked almost as much as being thrown around were cuddles on a warm pillow. She ran her fingers through their fur, letting her body relax.

It didn’t seem fair. Life after Hogwarts should be great! All she’d wanted was a good job, a great career, something that would make people look up to her. Make them forget about her name, who her family was and say nice things like what Quinn said to Tulip.

Quinn!

She shot up, making the puffskeins fall to her side. How long had she been here? She was supposed to come see her apartment for the first time today. If Quinn even wanted to see her after she yelled at her. Fuck. What a lovely girlfriend had she been. This would certainly go a long way in proving Quinn made the right choice by staying with her.

She made sure the puffies stayed in their enclosure and hurried towards Quinn’s apartment. It took a moment to find Quinn’s building, because all buildings looked alike in the side street to Diagon Alley. But its name was etched into the wood above the door, so she knew she had the right one. Quinn’s apartment was easier to find, the one with the fox doormat, but no one answered when she knocked and knocked again. Could she still be out? Or maybe she’d gone to look for her. That meant she’d probably be waiting for her to get home. Yes, that had to be it.

Except it wasn’t. Her own home was as empty as Quinn’s seemed to be. Her mind began to race. She’d messed up. She’d messed up again and this was the last straw. Why would Quinn even want to be near her? She’d probably fled to a friend and would never speak to her again.

Calm down you idiot. She’s not like that and you know it.

No, that’s right. At the very least she’d write a letter. So there had to be a letter. She scoured her whole home, even the rooms she only ever entered to clear some dust when she remembered to, but no letter anywhere. Her bag had somehow made it back to her home, but nothing in there either. Had Quinn been here, or had Bilton send it over when he realised she left? Fuck, she owed him an apology too, but that would have come later. First Quinn. Had to find Quinn. If she wasn’t here, or at her own place and hadn’t left a letter then what happened? Had something happened?!

She had to track her down. Return to the place she’d last seen her. Thankfully Zonko’s was closed now, because that gave her an excuse not to come over and apologize just yet. To find Quinn she painted a clear picture of her in her mind. She pictured her bright smile, fiery red curls and freckled skin and let the desire to find her overrule every other thought and feeling when she cast what she hoped to be the best tracking spell for the situation.

Against her expectations the spell showed that Quinn hadn’t apparated, but rather walked from Zonko’s. That made this part a bit easier. Merula hoped it stayed like this when she followed the footsteps out of Hogsmeade, in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. The large forest stretched out way beyond both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and when both were a good distance away the footsteps led her inside.

A few feet into the forest almost all light disappeared, even from the pathway, and she had to light her wand to keep going. After a while the track led her off the pathway and that’s when she heard the clanging again. She quickened her steps, hoping that Quinn hadn’t abandoned the thing here. But no, in a small clearing, just big enough to let in some light from the grey sky, stood Quinn. That terrible monkey sat a few feet away from her. Next to her floated some books, parchment and a quill.

‘Quinn!’ The books dipped for a moment when Quinn heard her. ‘What are you doing? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!’ Merula still had to be loud to be heard over the monkey.

‘I’m sorry, I forgot about the time, I didn’t mean to worry you.’

‘No, it’s fine.’ Merula wrapped her arms tight around her and buried her face in her neck, inhaling her scent. Quinn hugged her back, trying to say some more apologies, but Merula cut her off. ‘It’s alright, love. It’s alright. I’m glad I found you and-’

She hated this part, especially because there should’ve been no more need for it now, but she messed up again. Being close now she saw the bags under her eyes and noticed that Quinn wore the same clothes as yesterday. She remembered the little disappearance of her smile and how she’d literally asked for help earlier. Some girlfriend she had been. She had to make this right. Do better.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for yelling at you and storming off.’

‘It’s okay, I know you’ve had a rough week.’

‘Unlike you, you want to say?’ She gestured at the horrid clanging monster. ‘Can I help you with that thing?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve tried so much already.’

Quinn stepped back to let the parchment float in front of Merula. It turned out to be a long, long list of crossed out spells. Most of them were aimed to destroy the monkey, others focused on stopping the noise. Nothing helpful came to her after seeing that list.

‘Then let’s sit and ignore the thing, you look like you could use a break.’ To her relief Quinn didn’t protest and she guided her towards the nearest tree, where she invited her to curl up against her. ‘Want to tell me about the monkey?’

‘It’s my first work assignment and it’s cursed to keep following whoever gets it around and keep clanging forever.’

‘It follows you?’

Quinn nodded against her. ‘My neighbours are already mad at me, because it doesn’t let itself be dampened in any way. I’ve been trying since I got it yesterday to get it to shut up or destroy it, but nothing works.’

Realization dawned on Merula and she swallowed to keep her questions inside. Instead, she stroked Quinn’s back. She knew why Quinn didn’t come to her last night and her actions today had done nothing to make Quinn feel like she could come if there was a next time.

‘I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t come to me.’

‘At least you got a good night’s sleep now.’

‘I don’t want that. I want to be there for you. I’m sorry for yelling and walking away from you earlier today.’

‘What was that about anyway?’

Quinn looked up at her, her green eyes curious. No judgement. Merula’s chest tightened and she snuggled closer against Quinn, hiding her face in her curls.

‘I thought everything would be better now. We defeated R, got everyone behind bars. Now we would just get to live. And I thought it’d be easy, but it’s not. I thought nothing could mess my life up anymore,’ her voice cracked, ‘but I’m the one messing up my life. Got myself fired six times in one week, while everyone has these big careers. I yelled at you when I could’ve been there for you. I messed everything up. I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t even know what I want.’

‘You could take a break, you don’t need to work.’

‘I can’t just be jobless!’

‘Why not?’

‘Because-’

What if people thought she was lazy? Incapable? Or worse, what if it proved what they thought about her? That someone with her background wasn’t fit for society.

The Most Powerful Witch should have a career that lived up to her title, not whatever she did now. No job meant no recognition, but on the other hand, this situation made her look like a failure. What she did today would get her no favours. Who would hire a her knowing she would storm off when things didn’t go her way? Besides, doing stupid jobs for the fuck of it wouldn’t help her figure things out.

‘I don’t know.’ She paused for a moment. ‘What about you? Do you even like your job so far?’

‘No. I have a nice coworker, but my boss hates me because Moody and Dumbledore forced me on him. He gave me this monkey to spite me and won’t tell me how to solve it. But I know he knows, because he said a lot of agents have gotten this case. He also said if I don’t solve it that he’ll fire me.’ Quinn sighed deeply. ‘You’re right, life after Hogwarts is not easy.’

Merula almost suggested for Quinn to let herself get fired, but she knew better. Quinn could be as stubborn as she was when trying to prove herself. Instead she thought of something to cheer her up.

‘I liked the first month.’

‘Me too.’

‘Maybe we could do something like that soon, it doesn’t have to be a month, a weekend is good too.’

‘I’d like that.’ Quinn turned to give her a kiss. Then her eyes widened. ‘It stopped.’

It took Merula a moment to get what she said. Quinn had already gotten up and grabbed the monkey.

‘It stopped.’ She repeated and turned the monkey around.

‘So this whole thing exists to annoy people and when it can’t, it stops?’

‘I guess so.’

‘I hate that thing and whoever created it.’

‘Me too.’ Quinn tossed it aside and came back to cuddle her. ‘But I love you and I don’t know if I’d have figured it out without you. Thank you.’

‘I’m glad I could help and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you before. Maybe you could’ve slept last night.’

‘It’s okay and it’s over now. I suppose I’ll have to go drop it off at work.’

‘How about I pick up curry from that place you love and we meet at your place?’ It was well beyond dinner time, but since the sky hadn’t darkened yet Merula figured that the place would still be open.

‘Can we meet at yours? I like your place better. It’s more like a home.’

Her words made Merula feel all kinds of soppy and all she could do in response was nod and hug Quinn tighter. At least things were good between them. Even though she still had no idea what she wanted, or how to fix her problems, Merula felt a lot lighter once they let go.

[meelkiewee]

EXQUISITE CORPSE SHENANIGANS

Hello!

The other night me and my friends @hoodyknight and @mellowmango were playing Gartic Phone and I wanted to share the characters that came out! We specifically played "Exquisite Corpse". For those who are not familar with it: each person makes one part of the body, having only a tiny hint of what was previously made.

We were very surprised, to say the least, when we put together many actually interesting ones.

Since it's fun to rate things, I'll do a personal chart starting from worst to best. For each one I will say the drawing order, my rating and a personal thought.

Drawing Order (DO) : Michael-Gabriele-Sole

rate: 4/10

We had a nice start with the girlypop bull but even tho I like that and the arm tattoos very much I think I did a mid job with the legs. Overall It's not even colored so meh.

DO: Gabriele-Michael-Sole

rate: 4/10

The face is interesting and the shirt is kinda cute, then i ruined everything with that nonsense foot and the colored background. Tbh the background wasn't really my fault but a bug sob...

DO: Michael-Gabriele-Sole

rate: 5/10

Nice palette, nice face. The rest: I probably see something like this running after me in my nightmares, luckily I never remember anything when I wake up.

DO: Gabriele-Sole-Michael

rate: 5/10

Head and torso look good together but I think we achieved the AI vibe with this one soooo.....

DO: Sole-Gabriele-Michael

rate: 6/10

I didn't put much effort in the monster heads but I didn't really expect my friend to draw yet another head below so that's funny. What's even more funny is if you know where the three animal heads come from, you'll probably understand why the cutlery is so unexpectedly fitting lol. Rat feet are cute.

DO: Sole-Michael-Gabriele

rate: 6/10

My most failed attempt at drawing Husk by heart, I should never do that again. Tho this is the first drawing that tells a story uwu and shouts trans rights even for the fellow femboys out there <3 feat a very disrespectful ant checking what's under the skirt for good measure. Little accident happened with the colors so meh.

DO: Gabriele-Michael-Sole

rate: 6/10

Those are the most realistic eyes ever, they spook me asf I feel like it's staring in my soul ;; I am also not a big fan of the fact that the drawing goes out of the canvas. Funny points for the mom tattoo and the implications of cannibalism though.

DO: Gabriele-Sole-Michael

rate: 6/10

Body and legs(?) are kinda meh and it's totally my fault for messing it up on purpose but I wanted to experiment a bit. I'm sorry to my friend who was responsible for the marvellous face :'c Points for the bad-boi jacket.

rate: 6/10

DO: Michael-Sole-Gabriele

This turned out kind of intimidating in a funny way and has some bitchy vibes.

DO: Gabriele-Sole-Michael

rate: 6/10

I liked how my friend used the space for the heads and they came out nice as well.

DO: Sole-Michael-Gabriele

rate: 6/10

What the hell is this. And she's a dragon too now. She's clearly typing the news in the chat with the ToudensSibs and receiving some compliments about it. Look at that blushieblush and the tail wag. She's def getting attentions.

DO: Gabriele-Michael-Sole

rate: 6/10

This looks like everyone's typical first OC back in middle school, that one OC you pray no one will ever remember again. Love this vibe for it.

DO: Michael-Sole-Gabriele

rate: 7/10

Don't get me rong this tiger is magnifique, the head belongs to a character Michael's has been working on lately. It just doesn't get extra point cause we all figured out where the drawing was going while we were completing it so yeah it came out really good to no-one's surprise.

DO: Michael-Gabriele-Sole

rate: 7/10

Came out nicely but nothing really catches my attention.

DO: Sole-Gabriele-Michael

rate: 8/10

It looks soooo polite, so well behaved, so into art and crafts, so passionate about country tip-tap. It's just the kinda guy I wanna date frfr AND GIIIIRLLLL THAT MUSTACHE SLAYSSS! Look at the details too! we have a butterfly bowtie and not one but two pair of shiny boots. I mean c'mon ladies, get in line!

DO: Michael-Sole-Gabriele

rate: 9/10

This is our water best boi, it's marvellous cause it's yellow and collecting shoes it's his hobby! We still don't know what method he uses to acquire these many spare shoes but we felt shy asking such a personal question.

DO: Sole-Michael-Gabriele

rate: 9/10

Miss Marbles! Yall can tell she's quite the refined lady, she occasionally gets really grumpy but I forgive her, after all who doesn't get upset hearing a mechanical racket following you all day while you do your office job? Guys let's all have some patience.

DO: Sole-Gabriele-Michael

rate: 10/10

I don't know if my friends agree with my chart up until now, but I'm sure they agree this one is absolutely the best one out of all of them. We are actually discussing turning this into a proper poster cause the perfection left us all speechless. Well not really speechless, we actually proceeded to compliment this drawing for a good half an hour lol. We are still unsure how to call this beautiful creature but if you read untill here and are invested, you can totally suggest names for it!

Have a nice day/night everyone!

[pokegalla]

Hi! May I ask please Ink and dream headcanons with a fem!reader who looks like a doll and wears lolita goth style clothes? if possible maybe a poly relationship? I hope you have a good day! I really loved your writing <3

Thank you! I’m glad you like my writing! It’s fun for me and I love to make people happy doing so! And OOOOOOOO the moment you said Poly relationship I said, “Yo say less-“

Ink and Dream in a poly relationship with doll-like Reader who wears lolita goth style clothes

* Now canonically these two don’t get along but let’s say how they both met you was a MAJOR coincidence. Dream met you at a time you were at your lowest. He stayed and cheered you up. Then Ink came through via accidental portal mishap while trying to escape Error….right in front of you two. Yea you could sense the tension in the air between the two. But luckily you just simply welcomed them kindly and invited them to stay as long as they wished.

* Yup. They were in love. Eventually they managed to come to an agreement to make you happy. They are usually busy but you didn’t mind. As they always came back and kept their promise to make you happy. Dream likes to call you a princess whenever he looks at your delicate features and doll like face. Ink calls you his masterpiece as he always found your outfits, although not too colorful, very creative.

* And you always make them feel right at home. Sometimes Dream can come back so exhausted from being the guardian of positivity and dealing with Nightmare. Even if he’s too stubborn, drag his ass to bed. Give him cuddles and let him rest. You get some time with him AND he gets the rest he needs? Win-win!

* Ink is very forgetful and sometimes forgets to visit you. You might have to be a little patient with him. Dream does get annoyed about it but helps by reminding Ink. He always comes back with gifts and an apology. Just reassure him and remind him how much you love him. (Don’t worry he’ll go from sad to happy in seconds-).

* And I’d say you would be the reason these two slowly start getting along again too! They actually talk to each other more and hang out thanks to you. Sure they do still have their disagreements but stuff like this takes time! Just be by their side and help when you can!

* Best activity together: Making up each other’s outfits then just doing a makeshift fashion show. Ink does your makeup and Dream does your hair. And you give them fun outfits too! You all have the most fun giggling and laughing at each other before just cuddling on the floor and enjoying the moment.

Mini story time!!!

You smile seeing Dream in one of your dresses. He looked so adorable and he pulled it off wonderfully! Ink was also laughing at him making Dream glare at him. Ink suddenly gulped when you and Dream pulled out a rainbow dress and a clown wig. We both chased after him and managed to put it on. The colorful dress actually looked nice on him but the wig Dream threw on him made us burst into laughter.

“Oh very funny,” Ink said with his eye lights red.

“It’s ok sweetheart,” You said taking off the wig, “The dress is fun, cute, and colorful! Just like you!”

Dream laughed, “Sorry Ink! The dress really was picked out for you. I just brought the wig as a joke!”

Ink looked surprised that Dream was the one who was behind the little prank. He laughed with us but suddenly pulled out a paintbrush, making a mischievous smile making us both freak out. But we were pleasantly surprised when the paint simply added yellow ribbons and bows to the dress on Dream. Both of us ‘ooooo’ed

And ‘aaaah’ed at the lovely added details. The yellow added a pop of color and matching Dream’s eye lights made it look amazing!

“See! I told you a little color wouldn’t hurt,” Ink said proudly.

“Nice job Ink! You two look amazing!” You said happily.

“But we have ONE more person left,” Dream said smiling sweetly. You gulped seeing both of them having their full attention on you.

You sigh and put your arms out, “Ok! Lead the way!”

The three of you happily enjoyed your time together as Dream ran his hands in your hair playfully and Ink making you giggle as he flirted with you while doing your makeup. And you couldn’t have been happier.