#and they have beef with her because she thinks that ''some things should just stay dead'' about their dead child(ren)...

[morrigan-sims]

Judgement

upright: resurrection, reflection, reckoning, judgement, and awakening. reversed: lack of self-awareness, doubt, self-loathing.

Yet another tarot card edit, this time for my Curse of Strahd character, Avra! She's a shadar-kai/reborn phantom rogue who was brought back from the dead by the Raven Queen to serve as her chosen assassin. She was sent to Barovia to kill a rogue lich, but one of the people meant to help her (a raven given human form by the Raven Queen) has made a bargain with him instead...

Her epithet in my notes is "the revenant", and I think it's pretty obvious why. And also pretty obvious why she gets the Judgement card. (Resurrected from the dead, brings her goddess's judgement upon people, etc.)

In this case the reversed version of the card is also fitting, or at least it most likely will be as her arc progresses... (Though the "lack of self-awareness" is pretty accurate, given recent events in the campaign.)

Oh, and of course I had to include a raven looking down on Avra. The Raven Queen does keep a very close eye on her, even now that she's in Barovia...

[rinkkuma]

୨୧ ATTENTION

you got me looking for attention!

ft. satoru gojo

tags. gn!reader, all fluff ! just satoru wanting your attention after you're giving your attention to a new cat the two of you adopted. / author's note. lyrics taken from the song, attention by newjeans. i chose the cat name bambi because there's this cat on instagram named bambi that i follow and she is the cutest cat ever omfg!!

satoru stares at the new cat that the two of you adopted, like it's the most evil cursed spirit he's encountered.

your cat bambi, has seemingly noticed his intense gaze and stares back at him with the same intent. satoru might be going crazy, but is bambi perhaps smirking? you, on the other hand have not noticed the two of them having a stare off and continue petting bambi while you mindlessly scroll on your phone on the couch.

after another 5 minutes of the two staring each other down, satoru finally breaks and sighs loudly. you, being used to his loud, dramatic sighs, mumble a “what?” before you finally look up at him.

satoru looks at you and then bambi, and stays silent before saying something incoherent. he even seems a little embarrassed and sulks afterwards.

“what? say that again, satoru. couldn't hear you.” you murmur as you continue to pet bambi.

“stop giving bambi all your attention and cuddle with me.” satoru mumbles, but it's not clear enough that you still can't hear him.

“still can't hear you, satoru.”

satoru thought steam was going to start coming out of his ears as bambi kept staring at him with a smug look. and how silly would you think he was for getting jealous of a cat?

he sighs before clearing his throat. “please stop giving all your attention to bambi and pay attention to me.” he quickly says it, but it's clear enough for you to finally understand what he's been trying to say.

you laugh for a second before quickly holding it in. “s-satoru. are you jealous that i've let bambi lay all over me since we've got her?” you chuckle, trying your best to not laugh.

satoru groans before walking over to you and grabbing bambi off your lap before plopping down next to you and pulling you onto him.

“no. ‘ts just.. you know. i'm your boyfriend, and some cat should not be taking your attention away from me.” he smirks victoriously as he looks at bambi, who is now on the ground, glaring at him. she lets out a meow that sounded like it had some sass hinted in it.

you let out the laughs you've been holding in as you lean into his touch. “as much as i love bambi, she will never take away my attention from you.”

“hey! don't laugh at me. and it's bambi's fault, not yours. she does not seem to like me at all. she scratched me on the first day we got her!” satoru shows off the microscopic scratch that bambi gave him on the first day that's almost healed, but you agree with him nonetheless.

“okay, true. but maybe it'll just take time for her to like you. good things take time, they say.” you laugh.

“i guess. but i feel like she's the dramatic type. you know, keeping first impressions in mind and keeping grudges. i didn't even do anything to her.” satoru mumbles the last part, but due to bambi's excellent hearing, she whipped her head to look at him as she hissed.

satoru gasps. “see! she understood what i said and hissed at me. we should've got that white cat instead.” the two of them seemingly having another stare down.

“she'll warm up to you in a few weeks. she just liked me from the start because ‘m cooler.” you chuckle as bambi jumps back onto your lap, not liking all the attention you're giving to satoru.

“she's even barging into our conversation. leave, buddy.” satoru sits up and grabs bambi off your lap before laughing triumphantly.

“you two are literally beefing for no reason.” you sigh and shake your head as you lightly punch his shoulder.

“it's reasonable! we all know that i'll be the one to have your attention more anyway.” satoru chuckles.

“unfortunately, you do.”

the two of you end up falling asleep on the couch, and when you wake up, bambi is cuddled between the two of you, like she magically warmed up to satoru overnight.

[cynthiav06]

Question. do you think Percy should have stayed Single? Or ended up with somebody other than Annabeth? I Really think he should have stayed Single. Because I personally don't Like Percabeth, I don't Ship Percabeth and I don't Like Annabeth at all because of the way the Shippers act, or The way the characters themselves in Canon Act, like how Percy just does whatever Annabeth says, or how Percy is scared of Annabeth, Or how fans make it seem like Percy would become an Emo Edge Lord if something happened to Annabeth, Or How much she Belittles and Degrades him (I hate the nickname Seaweed brain), Especially since she acts like Percy cant do anything without her That moment when She and Reyna were talking about how ("Percy Couldn't find his way out of a Paper Bag without you")Made me SO mad it made me Dislike Annabeth even more and Dislike the Percabeth Ship as a Whole, I even hated when she Pretty much Restricted percy of using his powers You Know? "The sea doesn't like to be Restrained" well here it is.. being restrained...Exactly what it hates, and I hate how the Fandom makes Percabeth a Godly Ship saying they are the "It Couple" which they aren't and how They treat anyone who doesn't like Percabeth or Ships Percy with someone else other then Annabeth, but the one thing I HATE the most is how they make EVERYTHING percy Does Romantic for Annabeth like she's the only person who matters to him (Percy Only Remembering Annabeth (a Girl he's Known for only a couple years) Instead of The woman Who RAISED him by a goddess who isn't even the goddess of Love Made me SO MAD and Even when Annabeth made Percy remember when he was in the River Styx when it should have been his Mom made me mad) which is why I mostly believe that Percy Should have just stayed Single (I'm all for an Aromantic Percy) or At least Give him a Love interest who he can be Comfortable around and doesn't have to Constantly walk on Eggshells around her (I wished he Dated Rachel) or Hell Even make him Gay i've saw characters who have Better chemistry with Percy then Annabeth IMO but this all just my opinion.

You honestly don't know how long I could rant on this exact subject.

It's partly Annabeth's fault, and it's partly Rick's fault.

Anyone and everyone who has read the Pjo and HoO series should have noticed how illogical Percy's personality change was.

Percy Jackson, the hero of Olympus and the strongest demigod to ever live, sassy as can be, laid back but scary beyond measure if you cross him and an absolute menace to his enemies and loyal to death.

That's who he is, and Rick remembered that initially, and even till Son of Neptune then he just forgot how Percy someone he himself wrote to be this way is.

It's like Percy has no identity of his own, and he is only significant if he is with Annabeth. Like hello, he's the main character people, is the Fandom seriously going to degrade the main character, especially when the said mc is Percy Jackson???

Percy, despite his own issues, is and will always be foremost in helping people. He would be the first person to help keep the seven together. He would be the first to try and make a bond. He wouldn't have some stupid and illogical and totally ooc beef with Jason. Instead, he would help Jason be more sure of himself to stand up to Jupiter and for himself.

He would help Leo personally to bring back Calypso and they would both shit talk Olympians and how fickle their oaths are.

He would literally do anything to save Nico. Like hello, are you telling me that the boy who at 14 took it upon himself to bear the Great Prophecy, which he thought who end up killing him just to save Nico from that fate????? He would go absolutely madly feral to save Nico from the Giants.

If Piper and Reyna had their screws all properly fit they would see that Annabeth and literally everyone else would be all left to die if it wasn't for Percy. Percy gets himself out of everything by his own efforts and his own strategies. (Annabeth's rarely work). It's time the Fandom acknowledges that the best strategist in the verse is Percy, no questions asked and finally give him due credit for all HIS efforts.

Percy would never ever leave Sally unless it was for a quest, especially not when she was pregnant and absolutely not to go to college, something he hates especially when it concerns New Rome.

Here's a thing about Percabeth shippers they care about Annabeth's plans and her dreams, not Percy's. It is literally so out of character for Percy to want to live in New Rome a place that invests in a child army, a place that despises his father and wouldn't even build him a decent temple, a place so extremely cut off from the sea.

If Percy wanted to live in peace and grow old, he would do it in a place of his choosing close to his mother, Paul and Estelle, and close to the sea. But here's the thing about Percy.

I don't think people get this, but Percy can't just up and leave, nor would he want to. His damned fatal flaw is LOYALTY. He would never ever leave demigods or anyone helpless by leaving Camp Half Blood. Sure he would take less quests on but he would ALWAYS stick around and Rick did him so dirty by making all his thoughts revolve around Annabeth and insinuating he would let others suffer just fine to be with Annabeth.

Percy gave up immortality because he took Sally's teaching to heart as she did so too when she denied Poseidon's offer. He did it for himself for demigods it didn't have shit to do with Annabeth, but of course, he would look at her because she represents his life as a demigod.

Rick making Percy see Annabeth near the Styx and making him remember Annabeth instead of Sally is just him bullshitting. We all know Percy is a mama's boy, and he would do right by Sally always, so him giving a girl who he has known for barely long enough has no basis to it.

And Percabeth stans literally can't take a mention of a single alternate Percy pairing that alone is the biggest red flag. Because they know their ship is toxic and that Annabeth is the root of it.

For the PEOPLE IN THE BACK aka toxic stans:

Annabeth's fatal flaw is HUBRIS, and she is by nature controlling and condescending, and her character had the chance to GROW and CHANGE, and it would have been the most epic character growth sequel but she did not and she is CONTROLLING, DISMISSIVE , DEMEANING.

The newest Read Riordan entry literally has Annabeth saying that she needs to catch up to Percy cause he scores a better grade than her in school (even there Percy is smarter folks there you have it) and she literally says if she doesn't catch up Percy might start calling her SEAWEED BRAIN. So it is a demeaning nickname she gives Percy and continues calling him that even after knowing how Gabe similarly verbally abused Percy.

This is the fandom's IT couple? Wow. Percy literally is going against his own nature of being free and unrestrained like the sea because of Annabeth's controlling nature.

The worst of her behavior is when she blames Percy for his disappearance when she dismissed him when he was talking about his trauma induced by Gabe, her beyond toxic treatment of Rachel, especially when she unreasonably asked Percy to supress the use of the very power that got them out alive (she is scared naturally but she cannot force her own fear on Percy when he did nothing wrong).

So yeah, Percy Jackson with anyone but Annabeth. I am all for aromantic Percy, but personally, I find Perachel to be more appealing.

Trust me, I could rant about this for hours, especially how Rick butchered Percy's personality and made it full of Annabeth, especially how he threw Percy's insecurities and trauma and PTSD out of the gutter post tartarus.

[thebetawolfgirl]

Could you do one where the reader and Timmy are co stars and the leading roles in WONKA and they’re doing press tour and stuff and the whole internet ships them but he’s dating Kylie. Kylie and y/n had something like big beef years ago , so when she finds out that Kylie is attending their wonka premiere, she decides to stop press tour completely , I just like some drama idk and I love your writinggg 🤍🤍

A/N: This isn’t my best work but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless! Thank you so much for all your support!!!

Dream Come True

Pairing: Timmy x Reader

Warnings: None. Just pure fluff and a little bit of angst.

Dream come True

Y/n met Timmy when they were cast as the leading roles in the new movie ‘Wonka’ telling the origin story of the famous Chocolatier Willy Wonka and they hit it off right away. They spent nearly every day together between takes talking about movies, literature and food, they would debate art and history, Timmy was intelligent and had a certain view of the world she had never seen in anyone else her age. He was sensitive and had passion, he was also very giving with his fans, he would stand and talk to them and listen to them. It was during Covid so he couldn’t get too close to anyone on the outside, which meant the only people they both saw was the rest of the cast and each other.

She stayed with him when he came back to work after his grandmother passed away as he lay in her arms breaking his heart. They had become close.

When Covid ended and he was able to do press finally for Dune, she sent him a quick message to wish him good luck and he replied with a heart emoji.

Now it was 2023 and they were finally able to do a bit of press for Wonka together, they were excited to talk about this project finally, everyone adored them together and the internet was shipping them together already, but of course he had already been spotted out with Kylie Jenner. Much to y/n’s disapproval, she didn’t like the girl but she had no right to tell Timmy who he should be dating. It wasn’t her business.

Timmy noticed how y/n would become distant with him whenever they were together and Kylie showed up, he didn’t like it. He hated not having y/n around him, he knew she and Kylie had a history long ago but he didn’t think she would completely distance herself from him. After his beloved grandmother passed away she was like his rock keeping him anchored as he drowned in his grief, now that Kylie was constantly around him, she wasn’t. And it was making him antsy, so much so in fact when she bailed out of one of their many press interviews for Wonka everyone around him could tell he was agitated because y/n wasn’t by his side. She claimed she had fallen unwell and lost her voice from all the talking and was taking a break.

When she came back he was fine again and back to his usual chatty goofy self.

When it came closer for the world premiere for Wonka in LA Timmy’s management came to him and said Kylie would be joining him on the red carpet for at least two of the premiers and he sighed burying his face in his hands.

He heard through the wall in the next suite y/n going crazy after hearing the news.

‘Is she that fucking desperate for attention that she needs to go to a premier for a children’s movie?! Talk about fucking creep factor! Will she be in the Chanel commercial too, or is this the only thing of Timothée’s she wants to destroy with her existence?’

She was so upset and furious. She sent Kylie a text telling if this movie flopped because of her, she would make her life a living Hell then turned off her phone. She told her publicist to send for her car, she was done with the whole tour and she was going home.

She saw Timmy’s agent in the hallway looking at her with regretful eyes and stormed past his shoulder. ‘I hope this little act was worth the money, she’s going to destroy his career he’s worked so hard for.’ She walked to the elevator and left without saying goodbye to any of the cast or to Timmy.

Timmy had been doing publicity work when he heard about y/n leaving and walking away from the rest of the tour and was devastated.

But when the night of the premiere arrived and y/n was nowhere to be seen he asked around thinking maybe she was just running late, but when his publicist told him with a nervous air that y/n had pulled out of coming to the premier as well as the tours Timmy went pale feeling himself falling back.

He felt Hugh and Olivia grab his arms lowering him into the chair as someone went to get him a glass of water, he buried his face between his legs as he felt his chest tighten.

He needed y/n here, he needed to see her face when the noise got to much for him she was the only one who could calm his nerves with her soothing words. She wasn’t happy about Kylie he knew that, she told him countless times that he could do so much better than her, he deserves so much better than her.

It was always her though, Timmy realised as he drank his water.

The premier came and went he did the whole arm around Kylie looking in love charade, when really he couldn’t stand her. The longer he looked at her the more his stomach turned. How had he not seen how fake this woman was, how vapid! No wonder he couldn’t think straight after being with her, it wasn’t lust his brain cells were dying, gasping out for some sort of stimulation.

No wonder after every conversation with Kylie he would call y/n to just to contradict her about something she said just to rile her up and have a healthy debate with her.

After the premier he ditched Kylie and locked himself in his hotel room and tried to call y/n but the phone just rang out, so he tried to message her and it said her phone was now switched off. He tried to Skype her on his laptop but that was disconnected. He slammed his laptop down getting annoyed, if she thought she could ignore him and he would just leave her alone she was wrong. He changed into his sweats and his hoodie with his baseball cap and grabbed his car keys before sneaking out of the hotel.

He knew where she lived, he remembered her telling him how she had inherited her grandfather’s ranch where she grew up as a little girl. It was out in the California countryside, a place surrounded by beautiful trees and mountains. It was still light for some reason, LA he guessed rolling his eyes. He drove along the road and he knew he was getting close when the desert become more leafy and he was suddenly surrounded by autumn trees, he smiled and came to farmlands and turned into a beautiful driveway dusted with fallen leaves and fenced off grasslands for the horses to graze on, he looked out his window and saw the stunning backdrop of mountains and and greenery.

He parked outside the house and got out of his car. His fancy wheels looked stupid in these surroundings. He looked around in amazement taking everting in, from the fresh air around him to the house and the huge mountains in the background and the horses grazing in the fields beyond. He couldn’t believe he was still in California. Maybe, Montana or somewhere in Arizona.

He understood why y/n loved this place so much, what happy memories she must have made here with her grandparents, he turned as he heard the door open and out she stepped looking at him. Dear God she was stunning, he had saw her all glammed up and he saw her all messy and covered in chocolate and mud and he had even saw her in her pyjamas when he showed up at her hotel room late one night, but he had never saw her like this.

She was wearing a pair of old torn jeans, covered in some sort of white stuff like powder, she must have been baking, and an off the shoulder knit sweater and her light brown hair was in a messy side braid. Her bangs were whipping around her face, as she walked up to him shoving her hands in her pockets.

‘Timmy? What are you doing here? I thought you would be at the after party?’

‘I’m sorry, I am so so sorry. I was a total dick to you!’ He blurted out before he could stop himself and she blinked at him.

He looked around, spreading his arms wide ‘This just proves my theory!’

She smiles stepping closer to him ‘What theory is that?’

‘That you’re definitely an angel, because this,’ he gestures around him. ‘This is Heaven!’

She smiles watching him look around him.

‘I could see myself spending my out my life here,’ he looked her in the eyes ‘With you. I could see me spending my life here with you.’

She takes a deep breath looking at him. ‘Is that what you came all the way out here to tell me?’

‘No, actually I drove out here to confront you about ignoring me tonight and argue with you. Tell you, Plato was an idiot and the Yankees suck ass!’

She glared before raising her eyebrow looking at him ‘And now?’

He sighed shoving his hands in his pockets ‘Well I can’t very well yell at you now.’

‘The Yankees are a great team by the way.’

He scoffed rolling his eyes and she raised her eyebrows. ‘Because the Knicks did so great this season?’

‘Hey! They did their best okay!’

‘My ass they did their best!’ She turned and walked back towards the house and he followed her immediately almost automatically.

He closed the door behind him and stepped inside the cozy house and looked around, there were family photos of different generations scattered along the wall, he saw a picture of y/n in her graduation robes holding her diploma.

‘What did you study?’

‘Before becoming an actor I wanted to work with animals. So I studied veterinary science.’

‘Wow.’ He muttered under his breath as he looked at all of the family photos and saw a picture of a young girl on a horse holding a large trophy.

‘Hey who’s the little girl on the horse with the trophy?’ He called to her in the kitchen.

‘Oh that’s me. I came in first place in the equestrian event. My papa was so proud that he was actually crying.’ She came back with two bottles of his favourite beer and handed him one, smiling at the photos. He watched her closely as he sipped his beer ‘What was your grandfather like?’

She looked at him and smiled ‘You’re the first person to ever ask me what he was like.’

He smiled and waited. ‘He was always smiling, always singing. He liked putting the radio and dancing with grandma around the kitchen. He taught me how to dance too.’ She looked up at Timmy smiling before frowning ‘When grandma died he was never the same again, I think a little bit of him died when she did. The thing that killed him most, I think was that none of the family came to the funeral. I skipped school and took a bus using my lunch money to go. All the other families from the neighbouring ranches came but her own children didn’t come. I moved in here after graduation, I told my parents to stay away, invited my grandpa instead. Haven’t spoken to them since his funeral eight years ago.’

She sighed as Timmy listened intently without interrupting. He knew she had been keeping this bottled up for years. All of the love and pride she felt for her grandparents, the hurt and the shame of her family not paying their respects and her total determination with her loyalty towards her grandparents. No wonder the old man left his entire life to his granddaughter. She was the only who cared enough to stay.

‘I’m sorry y/n.’ He wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

‘Your parents sound like assholes. If you don’t mind me saying.’

She shook her head closing her eyes and smirked ‘Not at all. You’re right on the dot. They are assholes. When I made it to the big time they contacted me, wanting to ‘make amends’ I told them to go fuck themselves. After how they treated my grandparents I’m not interested.’

She turned to him and buried her head in his chest wrapping her arms around his waist ‘You’re actually the first person I’ve ever told that story.’

He was shocked as he wrapped his arms around her back he had heard she wasn’t the most trusting person. In fact he heard rumour about how hard she was to work with, she wasn’t good at taking orders and she barely spoke to anyone on set. But Timmy had seen her with fans, she would spend ages with the kids and the elderly, she always made sure was allowed the same lunch hour the actors had. She remembered the names of crew members asking one how their daughter enjoyed her first day of school, she even asked one of his grandmother was getting better.

He took her over to the couch and sat down with her holding her close as she lay against his chest.

He would break it off with Kylie, he didn’t care if he had to pay a big fine for terminating the contract, it would be worth it if he could be with y/n.

The fact that he could already hear the echo of their children running around the house and eventually their grandchildren, was huge. He never envisioned his future with anyone before. But with y/n, he saw himself spending the rest of his life on this ranch with this kind, beautiful woman and one day their children.

Y/n looked up seeing Timmy lost in thought and reached up to kiss his jaw, ‘penny for your thoughts?’

He looked down at her and blinked at feeling her lips on his skin ‘I don’t want to freak you out or scare you.’

She reached up and kissed his jawline again ‘You won’t, please tell me.’

‘I was thinking about our future. A-and I was picturing our children and our grandchildren running all about this house.’

He blushed and looked down and she sat on his lap lifting his face to make him look at her. ‘Are we married or do we live like hippies?’ She smiled and pecked his lips before he deepened the kiss leaning forward. ‘No, we’re definitely married until we’re old and grey, and calling the cops on each other because we can’t remember who the other one is.’ She laughed against his lips at his strange narrative of their future, she pulled away before standing and taking his hand to guide him upstairs to her bedroom.

They didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but they were ready for whatever would be thrown their way. They met on a movie based on following your dreams, and they ended up being each other’s dream come true!

@sufferingstarlight

@gatoenlaciudad

@kteezy997

@lixzey

@tchalamess

@mel-vaz

[chaifootsteps]

if that leak is accurate that Stella and/or Andrealphus are going to die in the s2 finale, it's going to make parts of the fandom dogpiling on Octavia look even more ridiculous

like she just lost her mother and possibly her uncle because her father's affair partner (as far as she knows) just murdered one or both of them and she maybe also had to get involved herself by making the incredibly traumatic choice of saving her father's life from her mother/uncle by potentially hurting and killing them both

and she just discovered she has incredible magic powers which her father has not prepared her to use or handle at all

and to top it all off as far as she knows her father broke his promise not to leave her for Blitzo. like even if Viv goes the route of 'Stolas is kicked out of the palace as consequences for lending out his book', Stolas still bears responsibility for that. He did break his promise to be there for Via when he decided to risk his nobility and titles on sexually extorting someone with his grimoire (a grimoire that's also her inheritance) - he keeps talking about breaking demon law so he knew the risks. that'd be the same if he'd made the more sympathetic choice of having a business arrangement with Blitzo to loan him the book instead of exorting him for sex. and he could have avoided all of this if he'd tried to get Blitzo a crystal in the first place, since he knew full well they existed

and when Via's understandably upset by all of this Stolas doesn't validate any of those feelings but just tells her she 'doesn't understand' and he didn't leave her (presumably Viv is going to pull a 'Stolas tried to call but couldn't get through bcus Stella' to get Stolas out of this, despite all the stuff I mentioned with the book above being entirely his fault).

He tells her she's the best thing in his life but doesn't address any of the ways he's completely failed her - didn't stop having a monthly fling when he knew how upsetting she found it, didn't teach her enough magic if any magic at all, didn't take her away from Stella even though the situation was miserable for everyone involved, didn't explain the arranged marriage situation when she got old enough, didn't bother telling her Stella tried to assassinate him, didn't bother to beef up security to protect her while he was busy negging Blitzo, presumably got distracted again when Blitzo finally folds and gives him the love he wants, etc.

like objectively he's a terrible father even if Stella is worse, but the fandom thinks Via should just be able to switch off caring about Stella at the drop of a hat for Stolas' benefit, even though it's Stolas' fault she'd be attached to her mother because he chose to try and play house for 17 yrs

like supposing Stolas was around Via's age when they first had Via it's understandable he wouldn't know the perfect thing to do. but he was definitely an adult when she was around 5-7 years old and was presumably well aware Stella had been a nightmare for most of that time, yet he insisted the family stay together

it's such a huge lack of empathy and understanding of how abuse works that even if Via had some awareness that Stella is the worst, she'd probably still have mixed feelings about losing her mother. most children struggle to break off attachments with abusive parents because of the good times and because they still love them and want them to be the person they hoped

and Via is facing that exact issue with both Stolas and Stella. it's unreasonable to expect her to immediately be on Stolas' side if the fandom is also arguing he managed to hide what Stella was really like from her for so long - and how would she even know he's telling the truth if he does finally tell her? he's lied to her and let her down before and it'd be very convenient for him to blame Stella for everything (including lending out the book, which was completely his choice) - it's not uncommon for divorcing parents to demand their child's allegiance by throwing the other parent under the bus, after all

Those are all excellent points, and if it does pan out according to the leak, it's not going to matter a particle to this fandom. They're going to rip into that broken, hurt, grieving child like a swarm of lampreys.

[freedelusionshere]

Syd is staying at The Bear

Started thinking about this after getting into a meta discussion with @gingergofastboatsmojito, but I would really love it if Syd chose to stay at The Bear and turn down Chef Adam entirely for sensible business reasons in addition to the fact that she has deep feelings for what she built with Carmen?

Her dad constantly puts pressure on her about the financial side of things and finding a good partner. I think this is a reference to Sheridan Road and maybe someone not holding her down in the past when she tried to have her own business, and it blew up in her face.

The show makes it clear that Syd does understand how to run a business right out of the gate but has avoided saying exactly what happened with Sheridan Road up until this point, and that has to be intentional. Some thoughts:

She writes that whole huge business plan for The Beef and hands it to Carmy in S1 and it has charts and numbers and everything. Carmy has never done this himself but does understand how to make the kitchen run like it's been run at other fine dining places he's had an open door to work at. That becomes very clear in S2 when he buys $11K worth of Dystopian Butter (LOL) like he's Chef David or something.

Carmy is bad with money and operations. Syd and Sugar are not, but Carmy wants to be in control, so Syd is starting to not trust that he's going to be a good partner. Then, what does she do? She goes around in S2 and talks to other owners and chefs and does her research and they all tell her their horror stories and give her advice. She is thinking about all this stuff in the background when Carmy ditches for Claire, which leads up to S3.

Carmy, after losing it in the walk-in in the S2 finale, is terrified because they finished the service just fine without him, and he knows Syd has every reason to leave him now. His pivot is to tell her that he will get her the Michelin star and offers her a partnership, but of course he has to be creatively in control because he's retained stars (never won them). But really, this is all about impressing Syd and also competing with her, and it mirrors the story Syd's dad tells her about her mother in S2 when they got a flat tire, and he was fumbling around trying to pretend he knows what he's doing while her mother just got out of the car and changed the damn tire.

Syd avoids signing the agreement, because she doesn't want to read what is in it. She's already got one foot out the door mentally and is afraid it will give her a reason to stay, and she knows these people are sincere and cares about them. The same people that repeatedly bring it up and try to get her to sign it, but things are starting to get too real real, and it's triggering all her shit about Sheridan Road all over again. Chef Adam approaches her to poach her from The Bear and it gives her an out that promises the financial stability and promises of the control she's always wanted. But at what cost?

With all of these things taken as a whole, Syd has access to Nat and Pete, who can help her run numbers, she can figure out who the backers are, Richie worked around people who worked closely with Chef Adam who she has now been introduced to. She can look at the timeline Chef Adam is presenting, and the show has told us that Syd should know Chef Adam is "off" (he's applying way too much pressure already) and will turn him down. But it also would be great if Syd makes Carm have to counter-offer, to give her more creative control, hash out their differences, etc.

Also, Syd can present her own business plan to someone like, say, Chef Terry, for The Bear, and possibly secure financial support for The Bear when Cicero's money goes sideways (and make Carmy fall in love with her even more than he is already). This allows Syd resolution to her past so she can move forward with Carmy as her partner, do the family style with the cola ribs and risotto like they originally planned, and fend off stuff like Chef Adam trying to poach their staff in S4 for his fine dining underworld nightmare restaurant.

[apomaro-mellow]

From this post about Eddie controlling the demobats

When Eddie returned, so did the bats. In a great blast of cracking concrete and flapping wings, they emerged like a storm right in the middle of main street. The people of Hawkins, who were still getting over the earthquake, had run inside every nearest building, waiting for the revenge of the man they had hunted down.

Eddie had simply taken one long look at their cowering faces through the windows, and then walked off. The horde of bats followed closely behind him. They were still just as menacing in the daylight but they never strayed to pick off a helpless human.

So Eddie was back. Good news!

The bats were also top side. Bad news?

Eddie had control over them. Definitely good news.

It was an odd arrangement. It was made less odd by the fact that Eddie didn’t bring them absolutely everywhere. They mostly stayed in a dark cave unless called upon.

At least at first.

It started with small things. These were wild, territorial things and they never backed down or deferred to anyone who wasn’t Eddie. Except for Steve. Eddie had been sitting on a park bench, tossing some food to the geese who dared to get near. The demobats were perched next to him and around his feet, at least a dozen. They were immovable. But as Steve walked up and drew near, they parted and cleared a space for him.

He had staunchly refused to be around the bats at first. He never wanted to give them a taste again. It appeared his worries were for nothing. Because they hadn’t touched him once.

“Do you think they think I’m gross?”, Steve asked as he tossed to the birds. “I mean, they chomped us both up but they obviously like you better.”

“Why? Is the king jealous?”, Eddie teased, flashing his fangs in a grin.

“I’m just saying you’d think they’d have better taste. No offense, but I’m basically prime rib and you’re just some beef jerky.”

Eddie scoffed in offense despite Steve saying no offence. “Robin is right, you’re a total meat head sometimes. Tell me Steve, when you’re on an hours long road trip and need somethin’ to keep you going, do you just fork a whole steak while driving? Or do you stop at a 7-Eleven for a Slim Jim?”

“You’re just proving my point at how slender you are compared to me.”

While he and Steve traded barbs it would’ve been clear to anyone who made the connection between Eddie and the bats that he wasn’t offended at all. But no one had made the connection yet.

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

It was one of those days where a bunch of things had simply lined up and everyone was in the same place. Hopper was fixing his car with the help of Jonathan, Mike, and Max. Joyce was merrily cleaning the house and even rearranging the furniture with the assistance of El, Steve, and Eddie. Robin, Dustin, and Erica were posing for a painting outside for Will. Argyle and Lucas were sitting on the porch, talking about California.

As usual, Eddie’s command for the bats was to stay in the cave. Even if the others knew they wouldn’t be attacked, they still didn’t feel totally comfortable with them around. But throughout the day, a few at a time had appeared, making the roof their perch.

“Should we be worried about those?”, Argyle asked, pointing towards the sky.

Hopper looked up from the hood and let out an exasperated sigh. “If they cause trouble we can handle ‘em. Mike, oil.”

Eddie looked out the window and cursed under his breath, making El pause as she moved the couch.

“It’s fine. Nothing. I guess I’d get stir crazy in a cave all day too. Aren’t bats supposed to be nocturnal?”

“They’re not exactly normal bats”, Steve grunted as he pushed the fridge into its new position.

Eddie bit his lip as he watched the way his arm flexed a little and right then a demobat face planted into the kitchen window.

Joyce whipped her head. “What was that?”

“Nothing!”, Eddie rushed to cover his tracks. “There’s always one that’s a little uh, new to their wings, you know?”

Their need to follow Eddie was beginning to be a problem. Because they only seemed to disobey when he was with Steve. When Eddie was by himself, they stayed put. But the moment Harrington was in the picture, these little monster shits had to be there. And if anyone ever realized that, his cover would be blown.

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

Eddie thought he’d been keeping a good handle on things all considered. That is until one bat decided to have a personal vendetta against him. Eddie had been calm, cool, and collected while he and Steve hung out by the quarry. A couple of bats had joined them as usual. But Eddie kept a straight face about it.

And then their bull session turned to serious talk. About what the future held for them after this. About how they’d never be able to leave this town. About how it felt like no one would need them.

Eddie was quick to shoot down that part for Steve. This man was like the air he breathed and if there was ever a day that Steve wasn’t in the world, that would be it for him. That’s not what he said though.

“People need you more than you think. Just cause we don’t say it, doesn’t mean we’re not thinking it.”

“Dude, we’re about a six pack in, too many negatives.”

“I’m saying we all want you here. Even if we don’t need you to hold our hand, isn’t that enough?”

Steve’s eyes softened. “They need you too. I can’t even describe how they all-how we were while you were gone. We need you just as much Eddie.”

And then one of the bats, those traitorous bats, sidled right up to Steve and nuzzled its ugly little head into Steve’s side like a pitiful dog and Eddie could’ve cried. At least he did internally.

‘Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo what are you doiiiiiiiiiiing????’

Steve was visibily nervous at first because that was the same area he’d been eaten but the bat didn’t put its mouth anywhere near and simply rubbed its cheek to his torso.

“Hey, hehe”, he laughed a little when it was clear he wasn’t being attacked. “I think they like me now.”

“You don’t say”, Eddie breathed out in a strained, punched out voice.

That incident was enough for Eddie to have a heart to heart with his group of followers. He paced around the mouth of the cave while the bats sat on the ground at attention.

“Okay, here’s the deal guys. You can’t keep stalking Steve like this. I get it, trust me. But if people start to catch on to what I’m feeling because you guys keep. Making. It. Obvious. Then we’ve got an angry mob on our hands again.”

Eddie felt like he was talking to a pack of puppies because that’s exactly how they looked right now and didn’t these things kill him before? He couldn’t believe he’d ever been afraid of them.

The talk did nothing though. They still left the cave in the middle of the day to find him and Steve together and were getting more and more affectionate as the days went by.

And somehow Steve just got more comfortable with it. Nancy had them in her garage, teaching the two of them how to clean a gun and a demobat was honest to god (was there a god up there? If there was, he was getting his giggles in) snuggling up in Steve’s hair. In his hair! The crown that Eddie dared not touch. He had never been more jealous or mortified.

“Those things really like you Steve”, Nancy mentioned.

Eddie was mentally begging her to not be a sleuth for once.

“I think they’re just realizing which of us would’ve been the better boss based on flavor.”

“On the flavor?”, Eddie and Nancy deadpanned in unison, also giving him twin looks of judgement.

“Nancy how you’d ever date this guy? It’s like he’s got beef for brains.”

Nancy shrugged. “I guess I’m just a little carnivorous. I think we’ve got that in common”, she said, giving Eddie a meaningful look.

Outwardly, his throat bobbed. Inwardly, he was screaming from the edge of a cliff. Still his feelings for Steve trumped any panic that Nancy Wheeler might know his feelings because the demobat just burrowed deeper in his hair.

Eddie cleared his throat. “Yeah”, he admitted. “I’m pretty carnivorous. Maybe a little too much. That bother you?”

Nancy shook her head quickly. “To tell you the truth...I might be....”, she hesitated on the words. “Going vegetarian.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up while Steve was on another page entirely.

“Vegetarian? Nancy you’ll never survive in this town, everyone cooks with bacon grease or lard.”

“Well it’s more like, I’m omnivorous but I might be trying to add more vegetables to my diet”, she amended. “Does that bother you Eddie?”

“I’m in no position to argue Big Wheel. I’ve been circling your steak like a vulture.”

“I haven’t looked at that steak in ages. You can have it. Not that you need my permission.”

“I get the feeling you guys aren’t talking about food anymore”, Steve said.

And Eddie just couldn’t resist that confused face Steve made. But the moment wasn’t right to reveal his and Nancy’s ahem, dietary preferences. So he just patted him on the shoulder.

“We just agree with the bats man. You’re pretty tasty. Even if not all of us are getting bites in anymore.”

“Oh that reminds me”, Steve said. “We weren't able to get you a blood bag. I kinda dropped the ball. So tonight you can just drink of me.”

At least five bats descended and inched their way towards Steve like desperately hungry animals and Eddie had to stop them in their place.

“Looks like steak’s on the menu tonight”, Nancy commented.

Part 2

[fumifooms]

Hi hi! I'm sure you have loads of asks to get through. But if you may, we talk a lot about Chilchuck and Marcille (as we should 'cause they're great!), but since you've mentioned that Laios is your fave char, I would love to hear if you have any takes on Laios and Izutsumi's dynamic. I feel sometimes like she doesn't really like him...? It's funny but I also feel bad for him sometimes. ^^;;

You can’t ask me this and expect me to not drop everything else I’m doing. Little did you know they are my brotp. They are so special. Izutsumi gets along more with literally everyone in the party, but their relationship was so narratively important. They’re a really underrated and overlooked dynamic! I’ve had them as a topic at the back of my mind for a while, seeing someone else interested was all the push I needed gdbdg. This isn’t super long though, their issues with each other and lil arc is surprisingly brief and easy to summarize.

Laios & Izutsumi : what’s their deal with each other

For me one foundational train of thought for Izutsumi & Laios is, well. I read this awesome smart post deconstructing how Izutsumi’s beef with Laios is because she only just broke free and wants freedom without having someone ordering her around, and that’s sort of her whole character arc, isn’t it?

Isn’t Izutsumi’s picky eating a reflection of just that? In a life where she was a slave, she could at least control what she chose to eat and not eat. But then you might wonder, why did the narrative want her to grow out of that? Simply put, Izutsumi has a contrarian streak, one that is often extremely counterproductive. We saw that especially near the beginning, with how hard it was to make her work with them as a team. The issue is that now that she is free, she needs to not block out others by habit, to not lash out and refuse the healthy things in life, the people who want good for her. And that’s something that’s addressed in the succubus chapter as well as the fight against the ice golem, that she shouldn’t insist that she can do everything alone and fight against any team effort.

I love how onesided the Laios izutsumi dynamic is. He stays away from her generally, like doesn’t interact much, but he wants the cat pats… Which Izu made clear she did NOT want. And Chil is the only one in the party to not really see her as a cat for most of the story really, as shown in the relationship chart. He’s well meaning and wants the best for her, but he crowds her and doesn’t understand her at all. But he reallyyy wants to get along with her.

On the other hand, Izutsumi’s very existence and identity gave Laios an immense amount of hope that Falin could be brought back and still be herself and live well, even if she still had part of a dragon’s soul in her. I think that’s a lovely way to contrast the way that Izutsumi hates herself as a beastkin and her body, while Laios is like "Thank you, your existence as you are is the answer to all my worries" AND he super likes monster bodies and beastkins so it’s like. I think part of her hostility to him, besides feeling like he doesn’t understand her perspective and is maybe dismissive of what his party members want (which would remind her of Maizuru to some degree probably), is that he says all these good things about her being a beastkin, and it’s so jarring with her own version of herself that it raises her hackles and she reacts negatively, especially with how flippant and eager he is about it. But yes like, this is their first meeting!! Beyond his interest in her as a beastkin because of his monster hobby, Laios is just so very grateful for her and chooses to put his trust in her.

That’s interesting too, how one of the first things she asks about upon meeting them is why the hell they would want to rescue Falin even if she were to stay as a chimera-beastkin and still have the dragon soul in her. It’s her asking "Who would want to stick with a beastkin?" thinking that there’s something fundamentally wrong with having two souls and it making you unlovable. And their differing views on monsters do make them clash

But ultimately he chills out about her, which ironically enough shows in the way that they don’t interact much- He gives her space, and accepts that the beastkin may not like him. BUT at the end of the day they have an incredible bond of trust- Laios asks Izutsumi to kill him if something goes wrong with the Winged Lion. Not only is that sort of an intimate request and act, but that means that he leaves it up to Izutsumi’s judgement as well to know if it went wrong and when to act. He doesn’t only trust her skills but also her decision making, despite how tough they’ve been on each other in the past. He’s giving her the ultimate role, the go ahead to make or break their plan and be the difference between saving or destroying the world. And the last tidbit of info we get on their relationship in canon is when she hides behind him because she’s shy- Certified having befriended the cat moment. She trusts him and sees him as a safe person! And by saying that she’s shy, he’s showing that he did end up understanding her and how she is.

No matter the rocky parts of their relationship, they still have a strong foundation to it and were great allies and road companions, one of the few persons that had each other’s back when it mattered the most, both for the world and for their personal arcs. And post-canon, well…

He’s accepted that she needs space and whatnot, and meanwhile she’s accepted his interest in monsters and taken it in stride 😌 They end up having this familiarity with each other and even if there’s still a bunch of emotional distance imo and they never really got into the nitty gritty with each other not like her with Chilchuck or even Marcille, they see each other. They nod in greeting and respect each other from afar……. But also still tease and chat familiarly up close and if she offers him the opportunity for cuddles he will take it. You know, if it’s not her just falling onto him because she’s sleeping she has no respect.

Siblings behavior… If you know my take on the general party dynamics, I love thinking of Laios & Izu’s dynamic as him being an older brother figure where they have a love-hate relationship. Siblings rivalry. I have a bunch of funny little doodles I’ve wanted to make with them for months, the prompts for which are in the screenshot put below. But yeah like you know, they’re protective of each other but in that very critical way as well, truly forged by being stuck with each other for a while and having to come to understand and accept how the other is. Strife with conflict, but ultimately sticking with each other through thick and thin… Siblings siblings SIBLINGS SIBLINGS SIBLINGS. Sigh I just want them to cuddle on a couch and she purrs while simultaneously being snide and mean to him, they are so… Izutsumi is the character ever

Oh, which! While I’m here, I always recommend this fanfic about the two of them interacting and Laios treating her like a cat, it’s just fun and lighthearted. They’re suuuuch an underrated duo

If I find more Laios & Izu moments I think are worth sharing I’ll just add it onto this I think. We shouldn’t be too hard on him he was raised by dogs so cats are a whole other language to him but also, so wild to me that he never tried to engage with her on a cat level properly like where is the hissing at the catgirl and the cat taming moments, he sucks at socializing with cats smh smh.

I want to do an analysis of queerness in Dungeon Meshi with relationships and social norms and stuff and Izutsumi’s arc is gonna be central to that too. Her relationship with EVERYONE is SOOO GOOD AND IMPORTANT AND COMPELLING. But I guess this is where I leave it off for now, I hope I’m not forgetting any point I wanted to make hmmm

[whxre-bxby]

hear me out... CNC with mansk, lyle or quaritch??? or all three??? hcs plz??? take this as payment 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕

-🍔mm chezburger

Thank you for the idea and the pizza <3

Forced Miles Quaritch Smut

x recom Y/N

WARNINGS: This is a forced CNC scenario, Smut, Angst, bad language, I’ll do HC (hurt/comfort) to not make it super brutal lmao

This is not for everyone! Don’t read it if you are sure you don’t like this. 

Word count: 4799

This is my fanfiction and my fantasy and it’s kinda fucked up but I’m into it.

Click here for Masterlist

Authors Note: I was going to do Mansk/Quaritch/Lyle again but for this scenario, it definitely doesn’t fit all the characters. 

I’m leaving Lyle out of this one because this is not like him at all. He would never do this because he is a softie, no matter how angry or worked up he is. 

I hesitated with Mansk because he would never dare to do this to a human or recom y/n. However, he has beef with real Na’vi. If he’s having a bad day or a mission went really sideways, he would probably have no mercy on Y/N if she’s Na’vi too. Literally would take out his anger on her. (giving racist white American vibes so he would despise Na’vi in certain scenarios) (100% degrading Y/N)

Quaritch might do this to human or Na’vi Y/N if they are really pissing him off or he’s in a really really bad mood. Recom him is morally better off than human him, but his character still stays. 

For example, after Spider rejected his offer to come with him and Quaritch left on his Ikran, he would be fuming for the next few days. If he were to come across a real female Na’vi, the man will take out all his anger on Y/N with no hesitation. 

Human or recom Y/N would have to be purposefully messing up his missions or doing everything he hates, then the man would lose it. 

(In general, I don’t think any of their characters would actually ever do this, this is just fanfiction displaying an extreme situation) 

Finee I’ll add fluff to the end

The missions we’ve been on have been going to shit lately. I saw that it was agitating the Colonel. Nothing was going as planned. Each time we went out there we were attacked and outnumbered; someone always ended up injured or almost killed. 

That didn’t stop me from showing my disagreement and dissatisfaction. He was the Colonel for a reason after all, wasn’t he? He’s responsible for these missions and for his soldiers. I don’t understand how he can be failing his job so badly. 

Seeing the state of my other fellow soldiers just fueled my anger. Lyle had an injured shoulder and couldn’t move his arm. Ja had his leg wrapped in bandages. The team was suffering and basically useless in this state, yet he kept sending us out there. 

I noticed he would start catching my glares and I could see that he hated them. 

He hated that it wasn’t working out for him but he hated that you weren’t staying loyal to him. As a marine, you should listen to him because he was your superior. Picking up on your bad attitude had him enraged. The fact that he felt some type of sexual attraction to you since he laid eyes on your recom self made him more hateful. He resented you because of the way you behaved to him now. Before, he thought of you as his top soldier. 

Perhaps you had forgotten your place and were in need of a reminder. 

Every time now, when he would give orders you would doubt them or mumble some rude comment. Once you even snapped at him when he called you out for your behaviour. 

Miles was suffering himself. He was unable to take care of his everyday increasing arousal. This was discovered when he realised masturbation didn’t do it for the Na’vi body. So he tried to suppress it, thinking it would go away but it just started building up and was now on the verge of collapsing down on him. He felt that he couldn’t go on like this much longer. 

First, he lost Spider. That had him upset. Then, his mission started going sideways. But on top of all that, the main thing having him this riled up, was you. 

Little did he know, I was dealing with my own problems. The more team members were injured, the more work I was assigned to do. At the base and during a mission, I would have to cover more ground than usual to keep things running and it was overwhelming. 

On top of that, my body had started acting up and like Quaritch’s, I quickly found out that trying to solve the problem alone did not help. In fact, it probably made my needs worse. 

Another thing neither Quaritch nor Y/N directly knew, was that their scents grew stronger. Luckily, Y/N was not required to work with that many other recom’s because they were mostly injured, but she had to see the Colonel on a daily basis. And every time she entered the room, her scent filled his sense and worsened his critical state. The same thing happened to her, but the female scent had more power than the male musk. 

Miles’ tail would hint at his feelings, flicking around excitedly without him noticing. He was too entranced by you. But you just understood his body language as him being irritated again. What you didn’t see was the way his pupils would dilate when he smelled you. It awakened something primal in him and he couldn’t be around you for too long otherwise he might lose control over himself. 

Seeing him in all his sculpted glory made things more difficult for you too, but you could still think clearly. 

It was late in the evening. The clock just passed 10 pm and I had tended to Lyle. He had his weird little requests like wanting to eat something specific but he couldn’t get it with his injury or he would insist on working out so I had to assist him while lifting weights.

I was walking to my room which was down the hall and to the right. Opposite me, on the other end of the hall, Quaritch appeared and was heading to his own room that I had just passed. I refused to acknowledge his existence, keeping my head down and fiddling with my bracelet. 

Quaritch spotted me the second I spotted him and he cursed himself for bumping into you now. He had just isolated himself in a room for the past hour to get his senses under control. Once he had calmed down, he left to go get some sleep, but apparently, the universe wouldn’t let him because he had to walk past you. And he was in a critical state, which he managed to hide with his confident walk and long strides. 

He wondered whether you would greet him and watched you intently as he neared. 

Once he reached you and you both walked past each other, your scent hit him again. It was so sweet to him now, even more so than before and it made his body tense. The fact that you were wearing only a sports bra and shorts from your workout with Lyle didn’t help him at all.  You did in fact not greet him and he had enough of your bratty behaviour. 

I made sure to avoid eye contact and was about to let out a small sigh of relief after passing him but suddenly I felt something tug me back by my braid. 

I gasped, wanting to scream when a hand wrapped itself around my hair but another hand was firmly clasped over my mouth. My body was pulled back against what I assumed was Quaritch’s chest and he held me in a firm lock while I struggled against him. With my eyes blown wide, I gripped his arm, trying to release myself from him. Eventually, my wriggling calmed down and he walked back to which I could only stumble with him. 

The light of the hallway faded out as I realised I was being dragged into a room. It also just happened to be Miles’ room. I could tell by the coat on the doorknob and the smell. 

He turned me away from the door and I heard him lock it behind him before he released me. I stumbled forward and gasped for air, turning around and facing him. The light was off and we could only see each other through the specs of light on our skin. I never properly saw his patterns before. They always showed one’s strong facial features. 

He stood still and I noticed that he seemed taller than ever. I gulped, immediately feeling intimidated and trapped by him. I was too tired to argue with him or fight him. 

My fear reached the same level of presence as my arousal and I wrapped my tail around my leg for comfort while I hugged my waist with my arms, taking a step back from him. I heard him growl and then he leaned down and turned on a desk lamp, which lit most of the room up. 

His eyes met mine before they started to shamelessly roam my body. I turned away, trying to hide myself with my arms. 

I didn’t think I would meet anyone on my way to my room. 

Miles seemed to hate how I hid from him and with a few swift steps, he was around me again. 

His hand wrapped around my neck, making me look up at him. I gasped again, my ears straining back, showing my fear and anger. 

“You’re gonna pay for your attitude.” he snarled, his own ears tilting back showing his emotions. My heart was racing and I felt his pulse on his palm as well. He was just as aroused as me and it made me hate and resent him more. Him thinking he could solve this through whatever this was made me angry and I scratched his arm. 

Miles pulled away, seeming taken aback by my reaction and I hissed at him, trying to desperately create some distance between us. 

This riles him up to his limit. His hand grasps my wrist, pulling me back to him so quickly I don’t have time to move it out of the way. He turns me around, pinning both my arms behind my back before pushing me onto the bed. I fall face-first into the mattress and he scoops me up and arranges my position so that I’m not hanging off the edge anymore. 

I cry out and struggle but he just scoffs. 

“No one’s gonna hear ya, sweetheart, it's just you and me.” 

“You asshole.” I swear at him, trying to kick him off. 

“Watch it, or else I really won’t hold back.” he warns me, harshly squeezing my wrists to emphasize his point. 

“Your mine to deal with.“ he snarls close to my ear before his hand is running down my back, feeling my hot skin. He stops at my shorts and when I feel his fingers linger at the waistband and tug at it I protest. 

He wasn’t allowed to find out I was in heat. That would be the end of me. 

But I was helpless and could only wait for time to pass while I felt his hands almost rip my shorts down my legs. 

Quaritch audibly groaned seeing me in my very revealing underwear and delivered a stinging slap to my ass. I yelped out in pain and when the second one came, I buried my face into the sheets to try and cope with it. 

He then pulled my panties off and I heard him sigh. 

“Fuck- look at you. So ready for me.”  he mumbles, his hostile tone slipping up. 

My cheeks heat up and I feel how not only the rest of my clothes are stripped from me, but my pride with them. I let out a muffled sob which Quaritch instantly picks up on. 

But he couldn’t care less right now. Seeing the state you were in and feeling the need in his body flood his senses, he could only act on his instincts. 

“It’s not… for you.” I manage to say, struggling to breathe properly. 

He cocks an eyebrow and my snarky remark and I hear a breathy chuckle. 

“Really?” he asks, sarcastically. “This here, isn’t f’ere me?” His hands trace down the skin of my inner thighs and rubs over it with his thumb, nearing my heat. Immediately, goosebumps erupt on my skin and I shiver in anticipation. Next, another slap is delivered to my ass which has a red mark on it. 

“Quit lyin’. You’re mine.” Quaritch snarls.

His hand grips my jaw, forcing it open and stuffing it with my panties. I comply, knowing I can’t fight him and he taps my cheek in praise before focusing on what he was doing before.

My hips were pulled off the bed while my upper body stayed pressed into the mattress by his firm grip, holding my arms behind my back and pushing me down. I tried maintaining stability so that I wouldn’t fall over and spread my knees apart a little. What a mistake that was. 

My scent was stronger than ever now and my bare pussy was on full display. His free hand rested on my ass, while he just stared. My tail was throwing a tantrum of its own, flicking around and showing my impatience, so he didn’t even have to move it out of the way. 

His hand then drifted down slowly and I tensed up when I felt his fingertips run through my folds. I bit my lip and clenched my eyes closed, trying to resist the feeling of pleasure. 

Quaritch noticed me tense up and grinned. 

“Bitch in heat.” he chuckles. “Looks like I’m not the only one suffering.”  

Suddenly I feel him push a finger all the way into me and my eyes shoot open and I whine out, involuntarily arching my back. 

No matter how hard I try to suppress my desires, Quaritch knows how badly I need him. He’s seen my state and it reflects his, except that he has control over this situation. 

“No need to hide it, baby,” he growls, moving down to whisper it seductively in my ear. “your body’s betraying you.” 

And with that, he starts to move his finger in and out of me before adding a second. 

I bite my lip to the point where my fangs are threatening to penetrate my skin. He was right, I knew he was. I also knew I couldn’t hide it any longer or keep up my streak of fighting and arguing with him. So I gave in. 

My hips pressed up against his fingers and the second that happened, his ears perked up and his eyes shot to my face. He saw my flushed cheeks, glossy half-lidded eyes and needy expression and that was all the confirmation of submission he needed. 

“That’s it, be good f’ere me.” 

I let out a small sob because the heat in my groin was becoming unbearable and while his fingers felt so fucking good, they made me crave more and thereby made my desires go through the roof. 

Miles was also becoming more desperate for any type of relief. His dick was straining his pants and he was painfully hard because he hasn’t been tending to his needs in the slightest for weeks. 

Quaritch removed his fingers from my dripping pussy, licking them clean in two strokes of his tongue and humming at the taste. It made him feral and he was sure that if anyone were to walk in on you, he would be unfazed because he was so lust-driven and you were lust-drunk. He would also definitely fight anyone who would try and take you away from him. The Colonel needed to claim you as his. No matter whether it influenced your relationship as colleagues, at this moment in time, neither of you could think straight. All professionalism was long gone.

He continued to hold your wrists behind your back while one of his hands was hastily trying to open his belt and free his aching cock from its restraints. 

The shuffling made me keep still and listen, my ears no longer pulled back. My tail slowed its movements and eventually stilled in anticipation. 

Miles groaned once he had finally managed to push his pants down but it didn’t stop there. His skin felt as hot as yours and all his clothes suddenly felt like an obstacle in his way to claim you. They seemed to restrict his movements so everything had to go. 

He let my wrists go for a split second, swiftly pulling his tank top over his head after discarding his cammies. 

His hands are back on my body in an instant and my wrists are released. I look up at him but then I feel him tug my sports bra over my head. 

I sigh at the feeling and he bites down on his lip, letting his hands roam over every bit of exposed skin, making me moan lightly. The noise makes his ears twitch and he focuses on our needs once again. My arms are pulled back behind my back once again and the mattress dips as Quaritch positions himself behind me.

Quaritch notices one of his fingers twitching from how needy he feels and it surprises him because this is unlike his character. Then again, his body also happens to be unlike him. 

He adjusts his weight evenly on both knees behind you and places his free hand on your hip while the other isn’t giving you any indication of letting your wrists go. 

Suddenly, my hips are pulled back and my ass is gently pressed against the Colonel’s lower abdomen. I can feel his throbbing dick against my skin and I gasp while he just lets his ears relax a little and sighs. Finally, you both can solve your torturing feelings. 

He grinds himself against your hot, wet skin and groans. 

Feeling him rubbing up against me makes my eyes flutter closed again. 

Suddenly, his hand lets go of my hip and I feel my braid get picked up from my shoulder. I try to turn my head and follow his movements but he pulls it behind me, so I can only rely on my other senses to figure out what he was doing. I had a feeling I knew what was about to happen. But if he would bond us, it would be permanent and that didn’t seem like such a good idea if I still have to work with him in the future. I struggle again, whimpering out protests and warning ‘no’s’ but Miles wasn’t listening. His full attention was focused on our queues. He pushed my back down and pinned my hips down with his body weight, before his other hand reach for his own queue. He brought it forward and pinched the base of mine which made my eyes go wide. He watched the tsaheylu for a few seconds before pinching his own queue. Eyes wide, he brought them together and watched how the strands reached out for one another, before binding and becoming one. The bond shot through both our bodies, reaching every nerve at every spot on the body. Suddenly, I felt all of Miles and I knew he felt all of me. It was something completely humanly indescribable. It just felt right to Miles. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself and relish in the new feeling.

Without further ado, he pulls away and thrusts his hips forward. He didn’t even line himself up with my pussy, this man was so hard it just worked straight away. He didn’t manage to push all the way in the first time though. 

I moan, arching my back into him again and he closes his eyes. It hurt a little, but I tried to ignore it. 

“Fuck- so tight.” Miles groans, his hands gripping onto me to keep him grounded in reality. He picked up on my tension and pain, but nothing was going to stop him now. He felt it too, but his body's needs were stronger. 

His hips retreated before thrusting forward once more, eliciting a slight squelching sound from the swift movement. I whine, feeling how much he is stretching me. I’d never felt anything like this and I needed a few minutes to get used to it. 

A few minutes were way too long for Quaritch. The man was flooded with pure primal instincts and no common sense anymore. As I said, Quaritch was lust-driven. His ears were strained back, his body muscles flexed, his tail either flicking around or stretched, and his fangs slightly bared. Occasional growls were heard from him that I haven’t heard before but they made him that much more attractive. 

He started to find a steady pace and kept on forcing himself deeper into me. My ears were tipped back too, my tail caressing his torso. 

The pain was starting to fade and both of us could sense that. Which is why Quaritch let his thrusts get rougher and soon his hips were relentlessly drilling his cock deep into me. I felt him in my lower stomach but I couldn’t look or feel for it. He held me in place, not letting me move a limb. 

“Goddamn, sweet’eart…” he mumbled, losing himself inside you. “Ya feel so fuckin’ good.” 

I cry out when his tip hits what I think is my cervix and realise he is balls deep inside me. 

Suddenly, he stops and pulls out. Within seconds I’m laying on my back and he pulls my legs apart, blocking them from closing with his hips. Then before I can think a single thought, he’s back deep inside me. I throw my head back and grab the sheets next to me with one hand while the other holds onto my braid which is flung over my shoulder. 

“Oh my god-” I mutter out, unable to keep still. 

Quaritch leans down closer to me, resting his elbows and forearms on either side of my shoulders. His rutting against me doesn’t falter for even a second. 

He reaches out and wraps his right hand around my throat again. I look up at him through half-lidded fucked out eyes and he swears under his breath. 

Just seeing you look at him like that could make him spill himself into you already now. But he wanted to feel this pleasure for as long as possible with you. 

Our breaths mix and our eyes lock. 

“You goin’ to quit being a brat now?” he asks, his cocky side still very much present. 

“Miles- I’m so close…” I whine, having to close my eyes and break eye contact. His hand releases my neck and he slaps my face. Not harshly, but just enough to get my attention and have tears stinging in the corners of my eyes. He raises his eyebrow and I realise my mistake.

“Sorry, sir.” I breathily answer but he doesn’t react. 

“Answer.” Quaritch demands. I frantically nod. 

“Yes, sir. I’ll stop.” I reply in a more desperate tone than I would have wished. He seems to like that, a grin forming on his face but his teeth are still clenched together and his jaw is tensed. 

“Good girl.” he coos, rubbing his hand over the cheek he slapped before returning it to my throat. The praise and pet name have me clenching around him and he curses again. 

“Fuckin’ hell. You like that, huh? Little slut.” he snarls, still grinning and I moan. Everything was becoming too much. 

“Please-  I’m gonna-” I say, unable to form words because of how harshly his hips were slapping mine and how deeply he was drilling into me. Yet somehow, it felt amazingly good. 

“Only if you scream my name, baby.” he grins, leaning down to my ear to say that. “Let everyone know who’s fuckin’ ya this good.” 

I moan again just from his words. “You- so good.” I mumble in bliss. 

He squeezes my neck, unsatisfied with my noise level. 

“You, Colonel Miles fucking- nghh, Quaritch!” I scream, throwing my head back and he chuckles. 

“Who’s fuckin’ pussy is this?” he asks, clearly demanding an answer and I just spill the first words that come to mind. 

“Yours, sir!” I cry out and he grins even more. 

“You’re goddamn right.” He says, somehow managing to pick up his pace again. I arch my back off the bed, my hands holding onto his shoulders and my legs wrapping around his waist, pulling him even further into me. 

This turns Quaritch on to the point he knows, he can’t hold it much longer. 

He takes one look at my teary eyes and he can feel how close I am. 

“Please, sir I’m so close…” I mumble. “Can I cum?” 

Quaritch is not just pleased but almost proud that you asked. To him it meant you learned your lesson and he trained you properly. How could he say no?

“Whenever you’re ready, baby.” he mumbled, lowering his head and resting it in the crook of your neck, while his hips continued to rock you back and forth. 

With his permission, you finally came undone, repeatedly crying out his name which he loved. All the pressure you have felt for the past week or two was finally being resolved and you felt your orgasm rip through you, making your entire body quiver and shake. 

You squeezed around Quaritch and he cursed under his breath again before thrusting into you one last time as deeply and hardly as he could. He stilled his hips and his muscles flexed once again as he released himself deep inside you, stuffing your pussy full of his cum. His fangs slightly bit down on the skin of your neck as he felt his own wave of pleasure hit and drown him for a few great seconds. 

I had come down from my high and cradled his head with one hand, while he regained his breath. Our chests were heaving and the room was quieter now. I traced down his neck, fumbling around with his dog tag. I felt him smile against my skin before he lifted himself off of me and just stared down at me. 

I wondered whether he felt regret because he wasn’t showing any emotions right now. Maybe the reality of the situation just hit him now and he could be disgusted that he was in a bed with me. But then his gaze softened, in a way I’ve never seen. I didn’t feel like I had the Colonel infront of me, but just Miles if that makes sense. He didn’t seem as intimidating all of a sudden and I just watched him wide eyed. 

He pulled out and I closed my legs, still unsure of how he felt. He seemed to be trying to read my own emotions which made me feel very observed and I tried retreating in myself, hugging my body with my arms, trying to perhaps cover anything even though he’s seen it. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N…” he whispers, seeming almost sad. 

Miles was disappointed in himself. He knew he had crossed a line and he wasn’t sure whether you even wanted that. You were his soldier after all and his responsibility. It wasn’t fair that he would ever even put you in a position like that, but he did. And he felt guilty, seeing how beautifully you looked up at him, even after all he had done. As if you were awaiting further instructions. 

What he hated was that he took advantage of your loyalty and obedience. 

My ears perk up at his words and I tilt my head to the side. It genuinely took me a few good long seconds to figure out what he meant. He saw my confusion. 

“I shouldn’t have done that.” he says and I feel my heart drop. 

“Oh…” I whisper, looking down at myself. He did regret it. 

Now Miles had his head tilted, wondering why I reacted like that. Then, it made sense to him. 

“No, Y/N I mean I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that.” he says and I look up at him again, my tail hugging my knees. 

“But I feel better now.” I say, trying to help him understand that he did infact help me with my body crisis. His ears perk forwards. 

“Do you regret it…?” I ask him. He thinks about his answer. 

“Only if I hurt you.” 

“You didn’t…” 

“Then I don’t.” 

I smile up at him and his posture relaxes a little in relief. 

“I wanted it as much as you did.” I force myself to say, putting my already gone pride to the side. My cheeks form a blush again and he takes it to heart. 

He nods, smiling to himself and we both just sit on the bed, staring at each other. 

“Would you like me to leave?” Quaritch asks, ready to give you space even if he preferred not to. He wanted you to feel safe, even if it wasn’t with him around. Then again, he asked because he would feel just as bad if he were to leave you alone after using you to his liking. 

Even though it was his room, he felt as though he had intruded in your space. 

“Can you stay?” I ask him, knotting my fingers together and letting my tail swish down on the mattress. His eyes light up and he smiles. 

Quaritch then leans over and turns the light off but his room still isn’t fully dark. He lays down next to me, pulling his blanket over us, tucking me in a bit before covering himself. I smile at his actions. 

This was a new side to him and I liked it a lot. 

The bond we formed was permanent and it had created a new sense of closeness between us. I felt safer with him now. Our queue’s had already disconnected but his energy was much more present to me now. We both knew we were connected together in some way for the rest of our lives now. It was deeper and more meaningful than our jobs, so we ignored that side and just focused on each other. He pulled my body against his and rested his arm on my waist, cradling me to him. 

Before falling asleep, Quaritch placed a soft kiss on my cheek and I wanted to throw myself on him and cuddle. Luckily, my self-control was back, so instead, I hugged his arm and we fell asleep.

[not-neverland06]

Alone And Forsaken pt. 2

Joel Miller x fem!reader

A/N: clearly I don’t do one shots, I tried, I failed. I can’t help it he’s just so fine (@woodland-mist you asked so, here you go)

WC: 5.6K

Part one

You weaved through the throng of people in the town square, hoping to get by unnoticed. Maria had told you where to find Tommy, you should have known it wouldn’t be easy, nothing with him ever really was. 

“Y/N! Hey!” 

Nope

You had one goal and it was not to meet and greet with all your neighbors. You ducked your head down, hiding yourself in the passing throng of people and evading them. It was a new couple that had just moved to Jackson a few days ago. 

You, of course, had protested anyone new coming in after the incident with Abby and her people. But because you and the brothers had been less than forthcoming with what happened and no one had any reason to listen to your doubts. 

They’d been moved into the big house across from you and Joel, because they needed the space. 

Because she was pregnant. 

In three months your life was going to get very loud and very miserable. 

The couple was too nice for your taste. You’d just barely gotten used to staying in Jackson for longer than two weeks, then Maria went ahead and shoved the two friendliest people you’d even met down your throat. 

Maybe you were too bitter. Maybe everyone was right, you should try and socialize, give people the benefit of the doubt before you write them off. 

“Do you see where she went, honey?”

Then again, maybe not. 

You rushed into the Tipsy Bison before they could spot you. You were sure they would tell Joel about this when they spotted him on the porch with his morning coffee. And you were sure he would give you hell for it, but you already have to deal with Tommy this morning. They can go bother someone else. 

You glanced around the bar, spotting some blonde hair in the back. When you rounded the tables you could see Tommy was busy haggling with Sam, trying to trade a shirt for some of his roast beef sandwiches. 

“I think I’m offering more than enough for some sandwiches, Sam.” Tommy, being the de facto leader after Maria, was trying to maintain a semblance of diplomacy. 

Sam was a stubborn jackass and you knew if you didn’t do something this would take all day. You walked up and nodded a greeting to Tommy before glaring at Sam. “Give him the sandwiches.”

Sam glared at you, trying his damndest to look down his nose at you. “Mind your fucking business.”

Tommy straightened up, a frown on his face. Neither he nor his brother had ever been good at losing the whole Texan chivalry thing. They didn’t do well when someone disrespected a ‘lady’ in front of them. “I think you need to watch your tone, Sam.”

You held up a hand towards Tommy, stopping him from getting too riled up. You already had a less than respectable reputation in Jackson, didn’t need to drag him down with you. “Give him the sandwiches, and we won’t need to get Joel involved.”

Sam opened and closed his mouth, he glanced between you and Tommy, like he was trying to call your bluff. You couldn’t really help yourself as your hand drifted down to land on your holster, your fingers idly drumming against the leather. Finally he huffed, mumbled something prickish under his breath and shoved the sandwiches into Tommy’s hands, snatching the shirt. You watched until he retreated into the kitchen to address Tommy. 

“You probably coulda kept the shirt.”

Tommy shrugged, tucking the food in his pack. “Yeah, but we do things a certain way here. Can’t just go flashing your pistol at people.”

You scoffed, “Didn’t flash my pistol, I used your brother.”

Tommy chuckled and nodded his head towards the bar’s exit. You followed him outside, looking around to make sure the coast was clear of your neighbors. When you turned back to face him he was giving you an odd look. “What’re you so jumpy for?”

You sighed, “Your wife decided to move Mr. and Mrs. Rogers next to me and Joel.”

Tommy smiled and laughed, most definitely at your expense. “You mean Ann and James,” you nodded, ushering him along the sidewalk in case they popped up again. “They’re nice people, I think she’s just trying to get you to branch out.”

“Don’t need to,” you grunted out. Though, hunching over, hiding from anyone who wants to talk to you, you weren’t sure you were making a great case for yourself. You straightened up and glared at him, “‘Sides, I didn’t come out to chat about my new neighbors. I want to talk about the Harvest Festival and my ‘date.’” You couldn’t keep the disdain out of your voice if you tried, which you weren’t.

“Bob,” Tommy offered. You rolled your eyes and nodded. “What about it?”

“I’m not going.”

Tommy crossed his arms and smirked. “Says who?”

“Me,” you weren’t sure what he wanted from you. 

“And why not?”

Oh. Oh. That stupid smug little look was back on his face. How in the hell does he know? “I think you know why.”

He shook his head, “Nope, don’t think I do.”

He was really making you do this? “I can’t go because of Joel.”

“What’s my brother got to do with this?”

You opened your mouth, some argument at the tip of your tongue, but it was lost to you the second you tried to speak it into existence. Why couldn’t you go?

You broke apart from Joel slowly, neither of you in any sort of rush to end this. Idly, and without much thought behind it, your fingers traced the shape of his lips. You didn’t realize you were smiling until you saw the same soft expression mirrored on his face. 

“Been wanting to do that for a while,” his voice was quiet, as if he spoke any louder the trance would be broken. 

“I’ve been waiting for you to do that for a while,” your smile grew when the hands around your waist squeezed you tighter. He pulled you closer and you got comfortable in his lap, your hands moving down to play with the fabric of his shirt. 

He didn’t seem to mind the subtle exploration, his own hands mimicking yours. Now that you finally had the chance, neither of you seemed able to stop touching each other. You weren’t sure where to go from here. 

You hadn’t realized how desperately you had wanted this, wanted him, until you had him. You didn’t want to ruin the moment by overthinking or complicating something simple. Still, is everything going to change now?

Did that kiss mean as much to him as it meant to you? 

What did this mean-

“Hey,” you startled slightly, jolted out of your thoughts by the heavy weight of Joel’s hand on your cheek. “I can see that brain going. I can practically hear the rust flaking off the gears in your head.”

You scoffed and smacked at his chest, “Shut up.” But he was right, it was far too easy for you to get lost in your own head. Especially concerning him. You were grateful for the way he could anchor you in the present, drag you back out of a trap of your own making. 

Joel stood, his arms wrapping around you and dragging you along with him. You could hear his bones popping, you wanted to protest, tell him to just let you walk, but you knew he wouldn’t listen. He had that determined look on his face, the one that meant he was ignoring how old and worn out his back and knees were. 

Besides, you liked how strong he was. Relished in these little displays of strength, even if it was something as simple as carrying you to bed. You knew you needed to talk, you needed some sort of verbal confirmation that this was more than just two lonely souls looking for company.

But Joel just dropped you on the mattress, grumbled about getting your stuff from the guest room, and left. You changed out of your clothes, brushed your teeth, and waited for him to come back. When he did, he had changed too, he dumped a pile of blankets on the bed and got in beside you. 

He laid down and wrapped his arms around your waist, dragging you into his side. You looked down at where he was holding you, lacing your fingers together, and let yourself fall asleep. You two didn’t say anything else, you just reveled in each other's warmth, let the comfort you provided lull you both into an easy sleep. And when you woke up in the morning, he had breakfast ready for you, but he didn’t say anything about the night before. 

In fact, for the next week, there was no mention of you two kissing or what his vague, half-confession meant. Sure, now he greeted you with a kiss each morning and night, but other than that nothing had changed about how you two operated. 

You didn’t have anything to appease Tommy with as he looked at you expectantly. No, nothing had majorly changed between you and Joel and you hadn’t had a real discussion about anything. But, you didn’t really need one, you knew what you meant to each other. And you knew how hard it is for people like you and Joel to have those discussions. 

Emotions, romance, love were all such distant concepts, it felt so foreign to you. If you tried to date, or speak into existence how much weight he held in your life you know inevitably it would just end up complicating and ruining things. 

You were together, alive and not some mindless fungi outside Jackson, the rest was inconsequential. 

You just said, “Cancel it, I’m going with Joel,” and walked off before you had to be subjected to more of his smug face. 

You made your way back through town, the morning rush having calmed down now that everyone had gotten their supplies or found their assignments for the week. You were thankful not to spot any nosy neighbors as you made your way back, that was the last thing you needed after having to deal with Tommy’s questions. 

Neither you or Joel were really big fans of talking about your emotions, hell you’d have punched someone out back in the QZ just for telling you to look for the light. Gooey stuff was practically a foreign language to you now. 

You could function based on actions; setting out his coffee in the morning or a new book appearing on your nightstand when he’d gotten back from patrolling. It was all you needed to understand what you were to each other.  

You trudged up the stairs to the porch, Joel was sitting in his favorite rocking chair, a mug resting on his knee. His supply was running low, you were gonna have to find someone to trade with again. You had been keeping an eye out on your patrols, trying to see if you could find any beans. 

You weren’t really sure how coffee plants worked, if you planted the beans whether they would even grow or not. But it was worth a shot. 

“How’d it go?”

You let out a long sigh and threw yourself down on the chair next to him. It creaked under your weight but held up against the strain of its old age. You rocked back and forth, plucking at a string on your jeans. “Fine.”

He snorted slightly as he took another sip of his coffee. “Looks like it. Oh, Jason and Anna stopped by.”

It was your turn to laugh, you smirked at him, propping your head in your hand. “You mean Ann and James?”

He rolled his eyes and nodded, “Yeah, them.”

“You’re losing it, old man.”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, they were concerned about your hearing. Said they must’ve called your name ten times and you didn’t hear them.” There was a shit eating grin on his face as he stared at you, like he knew it was complete bullshit. 

You rolled your eyes and scoffed, “Please.” You sat up and leaned forward, irritation forcing you upright, “If I have to listen to her complain about how tender her breasts are again, I’ll shoot myself.”

Joel grimaced, giving you a disgusted look as he put his mug down. “These people know what T-M-I is?” He put too much emphasis on each letter and you couldn’t help yourself as you laughed. It was always funny to hear him get an attitude with that gruff Texan accent, he ended up sounding like a poor attempt at valley girl. He swatted your knee, trying to get you to stop making fun of him. 

“Tommy, come on, what’d he say?”

You shrugged, looking down and away from him, going back to playing with the loose thread of your jeans. “I don’t know, he was asking all these questions.”

Joel was quick to ask, “What questions?”

You rested your head on the back of the rocking chair, “Why I didn't want to go on the date.”

“What’d you say?”

Jesus, he was barely taking a breath. “I said,” you paused and looked at him, not really surprised to already find him looking at you. His gaze wasn’t as intense as you were expecting, more eager? You weren’t sure Joel got eager. “I said I couldn’t go with what’s-his-face to the festival because of you.”

“Yeah?” He smirked, leaning back in his rocking chair, a strange sort of male pride clear on his face. “How come?”

You scoffed, glaring at him from where you sat. The hell was he getting at? “Why do you think, genius? Why would I go out with someone when I’ve got you?”

“You got me?”

You paused, irritation draining from your body as you stared at him. His face wasn’t giving anything away, he wasn’t closed off, just staring at you expectantly. “Don’t I?” You hated the way your voice went quiet, you wished it had been more confident, teasing, like you knew the answer and were screwing with him. You sounded too vulnerable. 

Joel let you squirm for a minute, you’re pretty sure he thought it was funny. Finally he sighed and leaned forward, his hand landing on your thigh and you could feel the warmth of it through your jeans. You hadn’t realized how cold you’d gotten until he was this close, walking furnace that he was. 

“Yeah, you do.”  You tried not to let the relief show, though you’re sure it did if his little smirk was anything to go by. He squeezed your thigh once before he stood up to go back inside. 

“Oh,” you suddenly remembered the last bit of your conversation with Tommy. “And I told him you were taking me to the harvest,” you called over your shoulder. It was your turn to screw with him, and if the way his shoulders tensed up as he paused in the doorway was anything to go by, he was just as excited as you about that ridiculous festival. 

“When’s your next patrol?”

Joel had found you an old mystery book on his last run, the same one you were reading now. You marked the page and put it down on the nightstand as he got into bed next to you. “Not sure, I think thursday. Why?”

He shrugged, leaning back against the pillows and gazing at you. “I was thinking I could go with you. We could go exploring that old art museum Maria told me was a couple miles out.” He reached out, tucking some hair behind your ear and you tried not to lean too much into him.

You smiled, almost accepting when you realized what he was doing and the smile dropped. You huffed out a breath and rolled your eyes. “Nice try, Joel, we’re going to the harvest festival.”

He held up his hands in mock surrender, “Got no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” He shook his head, oh-so-innocent. You scoffed, “You’re so full of it. If I went with you, we’d miss the harvest festival. And who would have to listen to Tommy’s bitching? Me.”

“He’s my brother.”

“Then you deal with him!” You picked your book back up, deciding on ignoring him for the rest of the night. You should have known he would try and weasel his way out of this.

Honestly, once you’d decided you were going with Joel, the festival didn’t seem that awful or daunting. You’re a little hurt he wants to get out of it so badly. You weren’t that bad of company. 

“You ignorin’ me now?”

You shrugged, flipping through the book, not really absorbing anything. You’d have to reread this chapter tomorrow. 

A big hand found itself in front of your face, blocking you from reading anything more. Joel dog-eared the page, something you loudly protested to, and threw the book on his nightstand. “Joel, you know I hate when you do that.”

“Yeah, I know,” you rolled your eyes at his little smirk. “But you’re talkin’ to me.”

“Child. You’re a child.”

He leaned over you and shut your lamp off, ignoring your snippy still usin’ that. He settled down in bed and patted the spot next to him. You hesitated, only for a moment, debating whether you wanted to give him more of a hard time or just give in. 

It wasn’t a hard choice. 

You settled down beside him, your head falling on his chest and his arm naturally wound itself around your back. You tried to ignore the way your legs fit together, how you felt like a complete puzzle when you laid down beside him, the two of you fitting together perfectly. You tried even harder to ignore the way the thought made your heart race, but it was nearly impossible. 

Sometimes you resented Joel a little bit. Resented him for the way you lost control of yourself and your emotions when you were around him. Resented all the power he held over you and how unaware of it he seemed to be. 

“I really don’t want to go.”

You scoffed, your fingers tracing the design on the worn out t-shirt he was wearing. “You think I do?”

“Then let’s just skip it.”

“Joel, I already said-”

“We used to be able to just do whatever we wanted.” You paused as he interrupted you, closing your mouth and tilting your head up so you could look at him. “We went where we wanted, when we wanted. There weren't all these bullshit obligations like patrol, or making sure our shifts match up.”

You were silent, taking in what he was saying. It wasn’t hard to miss the resent lingering in his tone, or the way he spoke fondly of your past. Before you had responsibilities. But you must have been quiet for too long because he reached over and turned his lamp off, closing his eyes with a sigh. 

You stayed awake a while longer, just thinking about what he said. He was starting to sound like you, the same frustration and anger at being expected to provide for others. You were at everyone’s beck and call here. People viewed you as do-ers. Someone needed something done, you were the one to do it, and there was no arguing either, because everyone worked together here. 

The thought left a bitter taste on your tongue as you went to sleep.

“Come on, hurry up!”

Ellie was sitting on the couch, she ran the towel in her hand over her hair roughly. You stood behind the chair, scissors in your hand as Joel trudged down the stairs. You wrapped a towel around his shoulders to keep his wet hair from dripping on his shirt. 

Years ago, a time that feels nearly as distant as 2003, it was Tess who would cut yours and Joel’s hair. You’d sit down in the crappy apartment you had in the QZ and she’d use some blunted ass scissors to saw off your hair. 

Neither you nor Joel should have been trusted with any scissors, but when Tess was gone and you were on the road for too long Ellie and Joel would start bitching about their hair. Neither of them liked how it would touch their neck. 

Luckily while you were still learning there were no mirrors. They couldn’t see how horribly you had done. They would always run their hands through their hair and frown, like they knew something was wrong, but they just couldn’t prove it. 

The only thing you had to worry about for a while was just not busting out laughing every time you saw the bangs you accidentally gave them. 

Thankfully, by the time you reached Jackson you’d gotten good enough at it that they would still come and badger you for a haircut. They’d never had a chance to see just how horribly you had done in the beginning. 

“Oh, Jesse wanted me to ask you if you’d do his hair soon?”

You gave Ellie a noncommittal hum, running your fingers through Joel’s hair. “I like it long.”

“Cut it.” He didn’t exactly leave any room for arguments, he even crossed his arms, like you were actually going to pester him about it. You weren’t, but you were leaving some length, it’s not like he could cut it himself. 

He tilted his head slightly towards Ellie, “What’s Jesse want with her?”

You pushed his head back in place and started snipping. “What do you think he wants?” Ellie snorted, she got off the couch, probably already bored of sitting there. She went over to the mirror on the wall, running her hands through her hair and grinning. 

“Isn’t he with Dina?” You weren’t proud of it, but you might have picked up some information about people around town. Would you say gossiping? No. Would others? Probably. 

“Not anymore, they broke up a while ago.” Ellie turned around, hands on her hips as she stared at you. 

You momentarily paused in cutting Joel’s hair, ignoring his disgruntled complaint. “Am I missing something?”

Joel turned to face her as well, matching confused expressions on both your faces. “Yeah,” Ellie paused, like she was waiting for the two of you to connect the dots. You glanced down at Joel but he just shrugged. 

He tried, “I thought Jesse and Ellie were dating.” 

You rolled your eyes and shoved Joel’s head forward, going back to the haircut. 

“God! You guys, me and Dina are dating, we’ve been dating for like three months.”

”I thought you were friends,” Joel offered unhelpfully. 

“Clearly not,” Ellie sniped back. “You guys seriously didn’t know?”

You shrugged, “I don’t know what you kids get up to.” Ellie sighed and sat back down on the couch seemingly disheartened by your underwhelming reaction. “At least you can’t get her pregnant.”

Ellie sucked in a breath, “Right.”

Joel swatted your hands away from his hair, he better pray that doesn’t screw you up. “Ellie, what was that?”

“What?”

“That noise you just made.”

“Joel,” you interrupted, forcing his head back in place, “stop moving, dammit.”

“Dina’s pregnant,” Ellie rushed the sentence out in one, jumbled breath. 

You watched as Joel’s shoulders tensed and then slumped in front of you. “How’d you even get her pregnant?”

“What’re you doing?”

Joel closed the patrol log and shook his head, “Nothing, come on.” 

Your eyebrows furrowed in suspicion as you watched him walk off. He had spent way too long by the log book for him to have just been writing - Couple runners, took ‘em out -J

You wanted to open it up and look but he was watching you from the entrance of the garage. You shoved aside your curiosity and followed him out to the horses. He grabbed the reins of his horse, “Come on, Sunny.” He shook his head and scoffed as he mounted her, “Still think their names are ridiculous.”

“Sunny and Cher,” you pet the black mane of your own mare and huffed out a laugh. “How’s Ellie even know who they are?”

“I don’t know, must’ve heard it from someone ‘cause she don’t even spell Sunny’s name right.”

“And she’s a girl.”

He laughed, “And she’s a girl.” 

He led you both outside into the sunny woods. Snow’s completely melted now, you weren’t sure how Maria and Tommy managed to time their ‘Harvest Festival’ so perfectly but it was a good time to celebrate the incoming warm weather. 

“So,” you nudged Cher forward to walk alongside him. “Where are we going?” Joel shrugged but didn’t provide you any answers. “Clearly not Jackson,” you were going the opposite direction of the town. 

You glanced at the back of Sunny, the bags he had tied to her saddle, each of them far too stuffed for a simple patrol. “You kidnapping me?”

“Maybe.”

You sighed, rolling your head back and taking in the greenery of the woods. You were definitely eager for winter to be over. Something about the cold weather makes the infected go fucking insane. They're faster, meaner, and just over all bigger pains in the ass. Not to mention the fact that they travel in huge fucking hordes. 

Tommy always tries to pretend he knows about them, something about the barometric pressure making them migrate but you know he’s just full of it. You watched a pair of hare’s dart in front of you and Joel and took in a deep breath. 

God, you’d forgotten how nice it was to be outside without the sound of people around you. There was the sound of the horses' hooves squishing lightly over wet grass, the wind moving the leaves above you, and the distant sound of birds singing. But no voices, or kids, or people demanding favors.

You’d missed this, with Joel specifically. It’d been a while since you had this type of quiet with him. So, you didn’t push him too much about where he was taking you, just followed him down the path. 

You were fine not bugging him while you were on a lovely jaunt through a pretty forest. But it’s been an hour and you can’t feel extremities that really need blood flow. “Joel,” you tried to remain friendly but your tone was strained as you shifted on your saddle for the nth time. 

“Yeah?” He grunted out. 

“How much longer?”

“Not much longer.” He turned around and frowned at you, “Have some patience.”

You tugged on Cher’s reins, forcing her to stop while you glared at Joel’s back. “Patience? Joel, we’ve been out here since six. I’ve had a lot of fucking patience. But that ran out about three miles ago, right when I stopped being able to feel my a-”

“We’re here.”

Of course you were. 

Joel got off Sunny and offered you a hand down. You took it eagerly, more than happy to finally stretch your legs out. You were a bit surprised when he kept your hands locked together, he wasn’t normally one for touchy shows of affection. 

Not that you were complaining, you were more than happy to revel in the comforting feeling of his hands in yours. Though, his were definitely rougher than your own, you weren’t without your own callouses, but he’d had years of carpentry and being a contractor under his belt before the apocalypse. 

He’d paused in a field, the grass here was up to your waist which made it difficult to see where you were stepping and what you were stepping on. You kept close to Joel, the horses trailing behind you both as he led you through the field. 

It took a moment for you to realize you’d never been out here. You’d only been vaguely paying attention to the direction you went while you were on the horses, trusting Joel to know the way. But this was definitely unrecognizable, which was strange, you thought you’d found everything when you went exploring on your own. 

Out in the distance you could see a vague shape forming, some brown structure that you couldn’t really make out as the grass was getting taller. It only took a few feet to finally figure out what was looming over you. 

A fence. 

Fun.

You said as much to Joel, probably in the most sarcastic tone you could muster. He rolled his eyes and kneeled down. You couldn’t help but admire his arms as he dug his fingers into a rotten plank of wood and pulled. He managed to make a hole large enough for you to crawl through and motioned towards it. 

“Well, go on, smartass.”

You huffed, getting down on your hands and knees and squeezing your way through. You didn’t bother seeing what was in front of you, turning around so you could keep the way through open for him. The wood dug into your palm, splinters burying themselves in your skin. 

God, this better be worth it. 

He groaned as he straightened up, pulling you to your feet and stretching his back out. “Alright. Ready?”

”Yep,” you rolled your eyes as he walked in front of you. What could have been so amazing he had dragged you out here?

A house. 

Well, it was a nice house, better taken care of than you’d seen out here. Looked like an old farmhouse, two stories, and a wraparound porch. Something you would have loved a long time ago. Surrounding it was a tall fence, it went out pretty far, there was room enough for a large garden and then some. There were bits where the wood had rotted or had holes in it that looked like someone had broken through. But the grass was trimmed, a normal height instead of tickling the ends of your hair. 

Overall, nice, but you had no clue what Joel was doing out here. 

“What do you think?”

“It’s nice.”

Joel scoffed, he crossed his arms and stared at you, “Just nice?”

You laughed and walked up the stairs of the porch. It was cleaner than you thought it would be, no signs of aging on the wooden boards. “It’s a nice house, Joel. I just don’t get why we’re here.”

He sighed and walked up to you, you took in a deep, centering, breath when he placed one hand on your waist. He moved you slightly out of the way as he leaned in, opening the door up behind you. “We’re here ‘cause this is ours,” admittedly your eyes were on his lips and your focus was how close he was to you. 

It took you a second to actually process what he had said. You blinked and your eyes shot back up to his, “What?”

He nudged you inside and you stumbled over your feet as you went. The interior was even nicer than the outside. There wasn’t a spec of dust or decay, it was like time hadn’t had a chance to touch it. There was a couch, bookshelves, even an old record player. 

“Joel, what the hell are you talking about?”

He sighed and threw his backpack down on the ground. He walked over and took yours off your shoulders, nudging you to take a seat on the couch. “Been working on this for months.” He smiled a little, the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes crinkling with the movement.

You were still a little confused, eyes darting around the living room as you sat there with a dumb look on your face. “Look, Jackson was nice for a while.”

You tuned in enough to grunt in opposition. Joel chuckled, “Alright, fine, it was never my favorite. I was out here one day, looking for you,” he added with a light nudge to your knee. “Found this place.”

“And… What? Decided to test out Jesus’s favorite pastime?”

“I was a contractor before the world went to shit. Like riding a bike, it just comes back to you.”

“I just don’t understand. Why? Why put in the time and effort and materials?”

He scoffed, “Why do you think?” When you didn’t answer he rolled his eyes. “We always talk about disappearin’ and I thought this would be a nice place to do it. There’s already a perimeter up, just have to make some more repairs. Worked something out with Tommy, it’s close enough to Jackson that we got some power from the dam,” he stood up now pacing around the living room a little as he talked to you. 

You slowly became aware of the stupid grin growing on your face. The warmth that was spreading through your cheeks and stomach as you realized he’d done this, fixed up this old house for months in secret for you. 

That explained why he’d been complaining about his back so much lately. 

You stood up, cutting him off from his tangent about how you were still close enough to Jackson for supplies and to see Tommy and Elllie. You fisted your hands in the flannel he was wearing and tugged him down. “Joel.”

He smiled at you as his hands landed on your waist, squeezing a little. “Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Have I ever told you I love you?”

He pulled you in and grinned, “Not once.”

This kiss felt different than all the rest. Felt like something more final, like you both knew you’d reached the end and there was nowhere left to go. You’d explored all you could, fought your way here, and now you stood in this old house. The one he had fixed up and you knew you didn’t need to fight anymore. 

You just needed this, him in this moment. 

“Ellie?”

Ellie turned around at the sound of Dina’s voice. “Yeah?”

She nodded her head towards the patrol logbook, there was a strange smile on her face. “Might want to take a look at this.”

Ellie walked over, shooting Dina a confused glance before she took a look and let out a laugh.

We aren’t gone, but we’re disappearing for a while. You won’t find us, don’t come looking (I mean it Tommy) - J

end. — I do not own the characters or the game The Last Of Us, but this writing is my own all rights reserved © not-neverland06 2024. do not copy, repost, translate & recommend elsewhere.

TAGLIST: @chrysanthemum-00 @marimarvelfan

[bengiyo]

Last Twilight Ep 10 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Day talked to his dad and got some closure about how his dad left his mom and them. Then, Mhok and Day decided to take a side trip to climb the mountain featured on the Last Twilight book. They ended up using the same homestay as the author, and learned that he went on an international journey so that his daughter, who was losing her visions, could see lots of beautiful things. They managed to reach the top of the mountain and had an emotional moment as Day’s remaining eyesight failed.

This is how you start an episode! Immediately into the mom conflict.

Ouch, they made Mhok stay outside for this appointment.

Currently feeling a little sorry for the mom because I understand her being jealous that she wasn’t present for Day’s final moments of vision, feels complex responsibility about making sure they continue to be wealthy enough to care for Day, and also probably is just scared because she feels so powerless. I get the instinct to exert control in some way, even if it’s over Mhok for overstepping in his role.

I’m also glad Mhok made the choice to quit on his own. He’s too close to Day now to serve as his caregiver in a professional capacity.

“Keep it secret. Keep it safe.”

Not keen on the mom being okay with Day regressing.

“Mom, I love him,” is not a winning play here, Day.

Oh no mom hired that patronizing guy from earlier.

At least Mhok got the car back.

I kinda wish Mhok had been holding a boom box in this phone call scene.

She said, “I’m not homophobic. Mhok is just too broke to be with you.” If we’re going down this route, I hope this ties back into the earlier stuff about Day choosing to quit school.

Mm, I do not approve of her taking Day’s phone.

I am glad Porjai called Mhok out on prioritizing Day over himself. I was wondering if we’d do anything else with Mhok’s ex-con status. Not sure how I feel about him picking up culinary skills since he started taking care of Day and changing careers. I was hoping his technician skills would stick around.

She changed the wifi password too? WTF

Mark Pakin is still so, so good. He continues to absolutely crush huge emotional moments that involve a face journey. I like this reconciliation with the brothers. There’s really nothing else for Night to say.

Hold on, what have Porjai and Night been up to? Fill me in!

Okay! That’s his child?? I’m here for this. Good job, Mark and Namtam. So much with so little.

This painting class looks like a lot of fun.

I like the Day has adapted to his system and can find the shirts he wants now.

Oh, Mark, you are selling Night feeling like he doesn’t get noticed by the mom so well.

I’m sure Julia Child would be happy to see these people crying into a beef stew.

This family scene is very charming, but I ain’t forget that she took that man’s phone and changed the Wi-Fi password.

Curious about ending on the eye donation.

I don’t like how we just seemed to forgive the mom, because I did not like the way she handled literally anything this episode. We had Porjai point out that Mhok had spent too much time thinking about Day, and only mentioned his job struggles as a quick aside. Yeah, we saw his issues earlier, but I feel like we should have spent more time with Mhok this episode seeing him step back into the reality of his world. In a less egregious way, this is a lot like the Dangerous Romance issue, where we switched perspectives after one or two episodes and never really went back.

[aeligsido]

[WM] Prompt 24 — Kid fic.

Rating: G.

TW: Snape being his delightful self.

Characters: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Maeve Lupin (OC), Severus Snape, Fleur Delacour, Ginny Weasley.

Additional Tags: Maeve is Remus’ adopted daughter, she’s also a baby werewolf, Snape has beef with a seven year old and is losing, bigotry, slur I guess?, this awkward moment when you went to prison and your fiance got himself a kid and now you don’t know what your relationship is anymore, Sirius and Remus are both dads, OotP, a bit of Fleur appreciation bc i love her.

Summary: Sirius watches as Fleur and Maeve excitedly talk.

Words count: 813.

A/N: Missing Scene for a fic I haven't written yet lmao. I hope you like it! ❤️

@wolfstarmicrofic

—

Sirius watches as Fleur and Maeve excitedly talk, the little girl making large hand gestures all the while. Fleur joining the Order is surprisingly not surprising, considering what happened just short of two months ago — she barely even took the time to go back to her own country before signing up. And she’s good with kids, never making Maeve feel less because of her young age, which can only endear her to Sirius.

Molly is busying herself in the kitchen once again; her children are scattered around, Ron looking more and more annoyed each time they remind him he can’t tell Harry anything. Ginny doesn’t exactly look better either. The twins are talking to each other in low tones, seemingly unaware of the world around them; Sirius knows better for seeing them react to anyone coming a bit too close to their private discussion. Bill is alternating between trying to help his mother and looking at Fleur with a look in his eyes Sirius knows well.

Remus is drinking his tea beside him, his gaze fixed on Maeve as well. She laughs, and she sounds just like Remus when they were young and invincible. She doesn’t have his hair nor his eyes, or even anything of him, yet she is so jarringly his daughter all the same.

Maeve Lupin, taking their old heart hostage since 1993 and onward. Sirius smiles into his own tea.

Snape suddenly comes in like a bat out of hell (and who should have stayed here). He sneers, his usual expression when in the presence of anything breathing. His sudden arrival stops all motion in the room — even Molly turns around with a new tension in her shoulders — except, of course, for Maeve who somehow manages to not notice him. One of her wide hand gestures ends up with her bumping into Snape, and she blinks owlishly at him as she realizes his presence.

“Oops. Sorry!”

Remus puts down his cup, watching the exchange carefully. Sirius feels ready for a fight. Snape sneers some more.

“Should learn to leash the beast,” he says, and Sirius sees red; Maeve straightens up, scowling, and wonderfully unphased.

“You’re mean and ugly and still wear the same robes than two years ago!”

Remus snorts, a low sound nobody else probably caught. Snape opens his mouth to answer; Sirius has already silenced him.

“Don’t fucking talk to my daughter like that.”

Snape glares and glares and glares some more; then, with a dramatic swish of his cape and a last sneer, he disappears into the corridor.

“Why he's so mean anyways?” Maeve huffs, still scowling, and Sirius hates seeing her like that — she’s a child, she should smile and laugh and be happy.

“Oh, he's just a jealous dick,” comments Ginny, ignoring her mother’s following reprobation to wink at them.

Maeve thinks it over. “Because I'm smart and pretty and he's not?”

“The smartest and the prettiest,” confirms Sirius, and things suddenly feel a bit lighter.

-

When they had to move into Grimmauld Place, the first room they cleaned up and decorated and otherwise made sure looked just right was Maeve’s.

Despite the clutter expected from a seven year old, the room is still clean and perfectly lived-in in a way his parents would have hated. Not enough control, probably.

Technically, Sirius has no reason to be here and kiss Maeve goodnight, but he’ll be damned if he misses it for anything. Maybe it keeps making things weird between him and Remus, because truthfully they still have no idea where they stand with each other, and Maeve calling them both her fathers is delightful and not helping at all. But he'll do it all the same.

That night, Remus grabs his hand as they exit her room and close the door behind them; there’s a look in his eyes, fond and hopeful and a little bit of something else, too, that Sirius recognizes so well.

“You called her your daughter,” he says.

Sirius thinks back to the scene in the kitchen. “I did.” He never had before; Remus is the one who adopted her, not him.

For a few seconds, Remus doesn't say anything, absentmindedly playing with Sirius’ fingers instead; he looks almost shy, as if trying to find his words and failing, and it reminds Sirius of their first year at Hogwarts when Remus was still so afraid of everything.

“I liked it,” he finally admits, and Sirius catches him blushing, and he can’t stop smiling.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Sirius lifts his hand to Remus’ cheek; in the dim light of the corridor, he looks just the same as when he kissed him for the first time.

“Good. I don’t plan to stop.”

Remus nods, squeezing his hand before dropping it, offering him a bit of his space back; instead, Sirius bends down and kisses his cheek.

(Maybe they’ll be alright, in the end.)

[smolwritingchick]

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 60- Running Man: The Golden Duo

Chapter Summary: Due to popular demand, Jennie is asked to guest star in a Couples themed Episode of Running Man, bringing Jungkook with her to go up against other groups of two

Words: 6,000+

Genre: One of my favs!! MAJOR Jungkook fluff and things get suggestive at the end with some suggestive Jungkook content!

Author's Note: I wanted to experiment just for shiz and giggles. Hope it didn't disappoint! <3 Lemme know what you think. And thanks again for reading!

-------

All over the K-pop news sites, there had been a poll on who viewers wanted to guest star on Running Man, and surprisingly, Jennie was voted one of the top favorable picks. Viewers were impressed with her athleticism and passion and wanted her back on the show.

Once she was called and asked about being on the show again, she was thrilled and eager to come back. Besides, the Monday Couple wanted revenge on her, so that added to the anticipation.

When told that there would be other guests, competing against each other in pairs due to the episode being a couples themed episode, Jimin and Taehyung quickly suggested that Jungkook should join and be Jennie’s partner.

Naturally, Jen and Jungkook happily agreed, ready to take on the challenge.

‘BTS’ Jennie and Jungkook to guest on an Episode of Running Man’

Running Man announced today through its Instagram that BTS’ Golden Duo, Jennie and Jungkook are currently filming their guest appearance on the show to compete against the Running Man cast and other guest stars in teams.

The article went on to explain that Jessi, 4Minute’s Hyuna and Gayoon, Hayoon and Amber would be joining in the episode to pair with the cast members. Positive reactions were in the comment section for The Golden Duo to be working together again since they made an impact the last time BTS was on the show.

When all the couples were on the set, they were paired out with one another and wore team colors. Jaesuk and Jessi wore green, Haha and Gayoon wore orange, Gary and Song Jihyo wore blue, Sukjin and Hyuna wore purple, Jongkook and Amber wore yellow, Kwangsoo and Hayoon wore brown and JenKook wore red. 

Each couple stood by one another, inside a cozy room. They were told that their first mission was to play the pepero game and whichever couple had the shortest stick, would win the round and be one step closer to winning Korean Beef at the end of filming.

“How many times have we eaten pocky sticks together?” Jen recalled while Jungkook let out a chuckle.

Yeah, they had this in the bag.

This would be the second time they were filmed eating pocky together, bringing back Rookie King vibes. It was going to be interesting how things played out at this time.

The Monday Couple were the first ones to go up. 

“Golden Duo, watch closely because our stick will be the shortest,” Gary warned

“Wow, tough crowd.” Jen chuckled

The Monday Couple were impatient to get their revenge on them for the tag game the last time they were on the show. 

“Don’t get too cocky. We’re dealing with the Golden Duo here. Don’t get them angry. These kids are dangerous.” Jaesuk exclaimed

Jen’s mouth upturned at his statement as everyone watched the Monday Couple munch on their stick at a fast pace. Their noses briefly touched, causing the rest of the couples to giggle. Their lips abruptly touched and the stick fell on the plate, looking around 1.5 cm.

“Golden Duo can’t beat that.” Gary taunted and high fived Song Jihyo.

Jennie and Jungkook glanced at each other and smirked with amusement. It’s best to let their actions do the talking instead of entertaining their comments. They weren’t bothered by the Monday Couple. They’ll still win for sure with a strategy.

Jongkook and Amber were called up next, grabbing a stick. They both were flustered and giggly, trying to take it seriously. Amber couldn’t help but stay still, squinting her eyes, chuckling to herself while Jongkook did all the work. He continued munching forward until the stick fell before he could go further. JenKook took sight of Haha and Gayoon munching on their stick, and they ended up letting their stick be a little bigger than the Monday Couple’s, who were confident in winning because no one had beaten them, yet.

Jungkook took a stick out of the box and met Jen’s gaze.

“Good ol’ Rookie King.” She mentioned, making them laugh at the memories. 

After they pulled themselves together, she stood in front of him. 

“Go slow and steady,” she advised, getting a nod in response from him.

Jungkook placed the end of the stick in his mouth, leaning down slightly for her to bite the other end of the stick.

“Start!”

They were told and slowly began munching, with their eyes on the stick. Both feeling keen to win and strategic to make sure their stick was the shortest, they ignored any distractions surrounding them which consisted of the Monday Couple playfully trash talking.

Jungkook ended up moving closer to Jennie, cupping her face as the stick got shorter and she slowly tilted her head to the side.

“You ship?” Amber glanced over to Hayoon, off camera.

“I ship,” she confirmed with a giggle.

“I ship too.”

Once their stick dropped on the plate, it was measured as everyone gathered around to see. 

It was announced, “It looks like 0.5 cm.” 

“No!” the Monday couple yelled.

“I ain’t even mad...” Jessi shook her head while Jen high fived Jungkook.

When it was Sukjin and Hyuna’s turn, they were a giggling mess and their stick accidentally broke in half, which made everyone laugh. Jessi and Jaesuk were finally up, going slow and steady. Jaesuk had accidentally dropped the stick, which made Jungkook place out a hand for Jen to slap for a low five, feeling good that they were still in the lead.

“Why is it so long? It should be shorter!” Jessi playfully scolded, causing Jaesuk to laugh nervously when she grabbed ahold of him.

“I-it was an accident!” he tried to explain

“Accident, huh?” she let go of him, narrowing her eyes.

Lastly was Kwangsoo and Hayoon. Jennie giggled at their banter when Hayoon kept covering her face, trying to get serious about the game. She was so adorable as her face became flushed. When they both had the stick in their mouths, everyone began freaking out when they started to munch. After their stick dropped due to Hayoon pulling back when he got closer, their stick was nowhere near close to JenKook’s stick.

“Winners! Jennie and Jungkook, Team Golden Duo!” the staff announced

Jungkook instantly fist pumped and high fived Jennie once again.

“This is unacceptable!” Gary complained.

“We’ll beat them on the next mission.” Song Jihyo reassured.

When they traveled to the next destination, Amber and Jennie had discussed a date when they would be free to hang out and catch up. Both being busy with their respective group comebacks, they managed to find some time to hang out next week. Jen couldn’t wait to hear what F(x) was working on.

For the second mission, each couple stood on a big platform surrounded by water, located in an indoor swimming pool. The mission was simple. All they had to do was push all members of the opposing teams off the platform and be the last team standing.

‘Round 1’

“I have a plan! Let’s all take out the Golden Duo!“ Gary called out.

Wow, again?

“Man, you thirsty! He’s so obsessed with us.” Jennie called him out.

“I agree, they can’t win again,” Kwangsoo added. “Let’s take them out.”

“Geez, what is this? Survivor?” Jennie pondered

“I think they’re just jealous,” Jungkook added.

When the game started, Gayoon had decided to make the first preemptive attack, going after Hyuna. She succeeded in shoving her off the platform as she watched Hyuna fall into the water, giggling. She was clearly unprepared and wiped the wet hair from her face. She’ll get her revenge on her group member in the next round.

Gayoon had tried to push Haha off and they began to try to overpower each other. The other teams had been watching their match and finally got into the game, going after each other. Jongkook effortlessly began shoving people off the platform with his muscular arms.

Cornering Hayoon, Jennie bumped her hip against hers, causing the GFriend member to lose her balance and fall into the pool. 

“Hips for days. Sorry Hayoon, love you.” Jennie waved.

“I’ll remember that!” Hayoon called out.

Due to the slippery water and her shoes, Jennie yelped, about to fall. Jungkook was quick to scoop her up, bridal style in his arms and she held onto him. The sudden action made her stomach flip as she locked eyes with him.

“Careful,” he mentioned with a reassuring smile.

Carrying her, they decided to go after Kwangsoo when he was distracted by trying to push Jaesuk out. Using her feet, Jennie kicked Kwangsoo on his back to make him fall off the platform. The motion caused everyone to start laughing at Kwangsoo and JenKook’s unique teamwork.

“I wasn’t ready!” Kwangsoo yelled, with his guard down.

Getting set down, Jennie watched as the rest of the teams were all up on each other, grabbing and pulling, trying to shove each other off. Sadly, Jen ended up getting pushed off due to Song Jihyo tripping her. 

Swimming back up to the surface, she watched the rest of the match, rooting for Jungkook. When it was down to him and Gary, Jungkook had easily shoved him off the platform to win the round.

“Yes!” Jennie got helped back up on the platform by Jungkook and happily celebrated their victory.

“This cannot happen again!” Gary complained.

For Round 2, Jennie went on a defensive route, surviving with Jungkook as she managed to protect him. She would constantly get in front of him, shoving anyone back who tried to go after him. Jongkook, the tiger, began to get ganged up on, as most of the teams strived to shove him and Amber off the platform. Once they failed to shove Jongkook and Amber off, they went straight after the Golden Duo.

“Oh gosh.” Jennie stood back to back with Jungkook. 

After she took in the sight of what was going on, Jen made her move, grabbing a hold of Hyuna’s manicured hands. Miss Bangtan used her strength to shove her into the pool. Turning her awareness to Kwangsoo, he let out a yell, staring at her in horror. 

“Nope! Nope! Nope!” he ran and jumped off the platform

Meanwhile, Jungkook had worked on pushing Sukjin and Jaesuk off the platform. JenKook regrouped and stood in front of Jongkook and Amber. Jennie and Amber go after each other, clasping their hands together, attempting to push each other off while giggling at each other. Amber slipped on the platform and Jen took advantage by rolling her to fall into the pool. 

Turning to Jongkook, she noticed that Haha was trying to shove him off, ignoring Jungkook and she helped Jungkook up, bringing him to safety. The two managed to shove Haha and Jongkook off and happily high fiving each other.

“How many people have they taken out so far?” Amber laughed.

As the round progressed, Jungkook was shoved out by Song Jihyo. He was annoyed that he had lost but rooted for Jennie to win the game for their team.

Jessi had attempted to push her off the platform. 

“Sorry, hon. You gotta go.” Jessi said but Jen stood her ground and managed to push her off instead with the help of using her feet to trip her.

Distracted from Jessi, Jennie felt a strong push on her back and fell into the pool thanks to Song Jihyo.

“Yes!” Gary happily shouted, applauding her.

"Darn it..." Jennie swam up and Jungkook pulled her into his arms.

"Take that Golden Duo!" Song Jihyo smiled victoriously.

"We told you we'd beat you!" Gary added as the audience laughed at how passionate the Monday Couple was about beating The Golden Duo.

"Don't worry about it. We'll get 'em. Good job," the Golden Maknae reassured Jennie with a smile and gently moved some of her wet hair from her face.

In the end, Song Jihyo won the round for her team.

For the final round, everyone ganged up to take out Jongkook first, creating a big group on top of him. Jennie avoided the chaos with Jungkook and decided to start pushing people off who were near the edge to increase their chances of winning.

Standing in the middle of the platform, Gary and Song Jihyo faced off with the Golden Duo, as they tried to push each other near the edge.

“Jennie! I will get my revenge!” Gary yelled, grabbing a hold of her. "We are going to win this! We are not going to lose! We are not going to lose!” 

Miss Bangtan laughed, evading his attempts to shove her off the pool.

Song Jihyo shrieked when Jungkook easily picked her up over his shoulder and tossed her into the pool. With Jennie, she used her hips to bump Gary off the platform.

“Nothing personal.” Jennie shrugged, feeling victorious despite the Monday Couple’s complaints.

Kwangsoo had crawled away from them, on the platform but ended up getting rolled off by JenKook.

Near the end of the round, it was down to Jennie and Amber. They caught their breaths and stood in the middle of the platform. Going to strike, Amber had tried to trip Jennie, but Miss Bangtan evaded her move. It was a back and forth battle between the two, pushing and pulling each other, near the edge of the platform. In the end, Jennie caught an opening when Amber began to lose her balance on the edge. She then did one final push and watched as Amber fell into the water.

“Yeah!” Jennie cheered and jumped off the platform, landing into Jungkook’s arms. 

He embraced her and spun her around as they celebrated their victory.

“Great job, Jennie! You did it!” He giggled, wiping some of her wet hair from her face.

"Woo! That is what I'm talking about!" she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“ARMY is going to be very happy to see them winning on behalf of BTS.” Jaesuk chuckled.

“They really want this Korean beef,” Jongkook added.

“Why do they always win?” Kwangsoo complained.

"This is not fair!" Gary complained as the audience laughed.

“I think we should just give them the beef. They already won.” Gayoon giggled.

-------

For the last mission, everyone was scattered around a mall, by themselves. Jennie stood near an emergency exit, with her Korean spelled name tag stuck to her shirt.

On the speaker, it was announced that they would need to find their significant other. Once they reunite with their partner, they must team up and find the correct key. After they find the key, they must find the room where the key opens, and find a platform to land on while avoiding getting their tag ripped. If one person gets their tag ripped, the entire couple is eliminated.

“Gosh...really?” Jen cringed at the camera. “That’s...a lot of work.”

Once she heard the buzzer, the game began and she let out a breath. “ARMY, time to find our Golden Maknae.” she gave the camera a thumbs up and started walking with a cameraman following her.

With Gary, he carefully walked around the mall on the second floor. “I must find Jennie or Jungkook. We need to take out the Golden Duo, so they can’t win. Hopefully, I can convince everyone else.”

He was so fixated on making sure the two teenagers lost this time. They won too many battles. It was time to lose for a change.

With Hayoon, she chose to hide in a changing room that was in one of the clothing stores. 

“I’m going to hang in here for a little while,” she spoke on camera.

Back with Jennie, she walked slowly, looking at her surroundings. 

“All right...so far so good...” she mumbled. 

She recognized Gary walking by and immediately leaned against the wall, making sure he passed her, unnoticed. She let out a sigh of relief and quickly left the area to avoid being detected. 

With Haha and Gayoon, who had found each other, they go to each store to find the correct key. They came across three sets of keys, but none were the right ones.

“Found you!” Gary called them out, causing Gayoon to yelp in surprise. “Wait! Wait! I don’t want to fight. Let’s work together.”

“Why should we trust you?” she pointed out.

“I want to get the Golden Duo out, so they won’t win. Don’t you want to get them out too? Let’s work together, find Song Jihyo and take down the maknaes.”

“Well, those maknaes are insane.” Haha started to become convinced.

“Okay, we’ll work with you.” Gayoon agreed and the three of them began walking together around the mall to find keys and search for Jennie or Jungkook.

It looked like JenKook was in trouble if Gary continued to convince other teams to join him to take them out.

With Amber, she walked around, seeking to find her partner. “I have a feeling someone is hiding around here,” she murmured, going inside the store that Hayoon was hiding in.

Hayoon had heard a noise and remained quiet while Amber walked around to see if anyone was hiding. In the end, Amber couldn’t find her and ended up finding a key, but it wasn’t the right one. The rapper continued her hunt for Jongkook by leaving the store and going up the escalator.

Hayoon, still hiding in the dressing room, placed a hand over her heart. “Thank goodness. I don’t want to get my tag ripped anytime soon. Ah...maybe I should go find Kwangsoo. But I’m so scared. What should I do?”

With the Golden Maknae, he kept a low profile as he went to find keys. 

“Ah...I wish Jennie was here with me, right now. They are doing well to keep us apart. But I will find her. And we’ll win for sure.” he said to the camera, determined.

“Hey!” the sound of Jessi’s voice, caused him to look Jungshooked. 

He immediately began backing up while she walked after him. He ended up giggling at her as she tried to grab onto him to rip his tag off. His strength overpowered her attempts and he escaped. Jessi tried to run after him, but he was too fast and she stopped running. 

“I don’t know why I even tried.” she shrugged on camera, chuckling as the audience laughed.

Back to Jennie as she unsuccessfully discovered the right key in a shoe store, she came across the row of Nike sneakers. 

“Daaaaaamnnnnn, how much are these?” she exclaimed in English and picked up one of the shoes to check them out. “Yo...I need to get this after the show.”

Distracted, she was unaware that Hyuna and Sukjin had spotted her. Hearing footsteps, Jennie quickly set the shoe down and ran out of the store, with them high on her tail.

“Jennie!” Hyuna laughed and grabbed a hold of her.

“This is so cheap. You gonna run up on me when I was looking at Nike shoes? Really?” she evaded her attempts to grab her tag, defending herself against them both.

“Let us oust you, Miss Bangtan. We need to win this.” Sukjin responded.

“Sorry, but I didn’t come here to lose. I appreciate your determination. Not enough to take me out. Jungkook and I are going to win this.” she managed to push them away and escape. 

She ended up losing them, and she hid in another store to catch her breath, hiding behind the register. 

That was too close.

“Ah...I hate this. I want Jungkook. The heck, is he?” she complained.

Turning her head, she found another small box and opened it to find a key. Examining it, she realized that it was not the right key and placed it back. She abruptly heard Hyuna and Sukjin yelling in panic and loudly running past the store she was hiding in. She realized that Jongkook had found them and started chasing after them.

“So glad I’m not them right now,” she murmured.

As the game progressed, Gary managed to find Song Jihyo with Haha and Gayoon, discussing strategy when they found Jen or Jungkook to eliminate them. Unfortunately for them, they had bumped into Jongkook who had been chasing after Hyuna and Sukjin. The two teams instantly run with Hyuna and Sukjin, yelling and screaming all over the place. 

Hyuna got in an elevator but unluckily none of the others made it inside with her. When the door opened on the next floor, she saw the Golden Maknae quickly looking up from his feet, widening his eyes.

“Oh no!” she shrieked as he rushed in, grabbing a hold of her. “Wait, wait, please! The game just started!” she pleaded but unfortunately for her, he ripped her tag off to eliminate her and Sukjin from the game.

“Sorry, Noona.” Jungkook bowed and grinned.

‘Hyuna out. Hyuna out.’

Back to Hayoon, she still was hiding in her hiding spot. When she heard the announcement, she sighed out of relief when it wasn’t her partner. Out of nowhere, she shrieked when she suddenly saw the dressing room door swing open, locking eyes with her best friend, Jennie.

“Really?” Jennie laughed and took a seat next to her.

“Aw...it was nice when it lasted.” Hayoon pouted.

“Have you seen Jungkook?”

“I heard him in here a while ago. I have no idea where he went. Thankfully he didn’t find me.” 

“Thanks. Okay. See you.” she stood up.

“W-wait, you’re sparing me?”

“Yeah.” Jen nodded. “I love you, that’s why.”

Hayoon smiled at her answer and felt a little flustered.

“Just try not to get caught," Miss Bangtan warned. "And if we meet again, I won’t hesitate to take the tag off.”

“Gosh...you and Jungkook are so scary when competitive. Reminds me of our dodgeball game at school.”

“That’s riiiiight.” she kissed her forehead. “Be safe out there.”

“You too!” Hayoon watched her leave. 

Standing up, she decided it was time to move around and find Kwangsoo and some keys. No more getting scared. It was time to play the game.

As the game went on, Amber and Jongkook had found each other and were running after the rest of the teams that were plotting to find Jennie and Jungkook.

“Run faster! Run faster! They’re here! They’re coming!” Haha yelled.

“Ah...we are in deep trouble!” Jaesuk huffed

“This was not part of the plan! Work with us to take out the Golden Duo!” Gary pleaded.

Jungkook had found himself in the mix when Song Jihyo spotted him and started running after him. Now it was Gary, Song Jihyo, Haha, Gayoon, Jessi, and Jaesuk running after Jungkook while running away from Amber and Jongkook.

“Get Jungkook! One team has to sacrifice themselves so we can oust Jungkook!” Jaesuk shouted.

“Go! Go! Go! We’re losing him!” Gary yelled, determinedly.

Out of breath, Jungkook came to a stop and had to fend for himself desperately as he saw the three teams halt in front of him. The three teams were distracted because they wanted to focus on Jungkook but Jongkook and Amber were behind them and they weren’t sure what to do.

Out of nowhere, Jennie jumped into the fray, grabbing a hold of Jungkook from behind. He widened his eyes in surprise when he turned to see her, gesturing for him to run with her. Everyone noticed that Jennie and Jungkook were finally reunited and freaked out.

“No! This was not supposed to happen!” Gary whined as all the teams scattered to go after them and escape Jongkook and Amber.

“Ah! Separate them!” Haha shouted.

“They’re headed downstairs! Go down!” Jessi yelled.

Song Jihyo managed to grab a hold of Jungkook’s arm, which made Jennie get pulled back with him.

“Uh, uh, not today! Kook and I will live to see another day! Get off of him!” Jen made her lose her grip before running away with her Golden partner.

“Aish...these kids...they’re too fast,” Jaesuk called out.

“We are dealing with two pains in the asses here.” Jessi chuckled, shaking her head. “These kids need to go but they run so fast. So how are we going to beat them?”

Once Jennie and Jungkook found a safe area to hide, he wrapped his arms around her tightly for a hug.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“I am just very happy to see you, right now.”

“Feeling is mutual. I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it. Catch your breath, I know you’re tired.”

They sat on the floor as he tilted his head back, making it rest on the wall. Jennie laid her head on his shoulder and rested with him while keeping her eyes and ears alert for anyone walking by. 

Finally, they found each other and can work on winning.

After resting for a while, they walked around the mall to find the keys. As they strolled down the hallway, they heard a loud noise behind them. Jungkook was quick to grab her to safety by wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against his chest. He looked both ways to see if anyone was there.

“That scared the crap outta me,” Jen said in English, exhaling sharply with a hand on her chest when they noticed that one of the camera crew had knocked over a plant by accident.

“What are we going to do? Everyone is after us. Should we go stealth?” Jungkook suggested as they continued their search for keys.

“No, I don’t think we should do stealth this time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah because they aren’t focused on getting the key, they’re focused on getting us out. They’re gonna do anything to eliminate us. They’ll try to corner us, distract us, this, that, and the third. We need to be quick and on full offense. No more messing around. We gotta win this. So, let’s find this key and if anybody runs up on us, we’ll rip the tags off. No more running away. I won’t let anyone rip your tag off. I promise.” she reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I got you, Jungkook.”

A bunny smile appeared on the Golden Maknae’s lips, motivated by her words. “I got you, first. Now let’s go.”

As time went on, the Golden Duo searched around, undetected, and managed to find the right key. All they had to do now was find the room to open the door and stand on the platform. 

Walking to the door that leads to the stairwell, Jennie opened it and walked in with Jungkook, only to spot Jaesuk, Jessi, Kwangsoo and Hayoon, Gary and Song Jihyo trying to get each other’s tags after they all had turned against each other.

The sight of JenKook caused Kwangsoo and Hayoon to rush down the stairs in panic while the rest of the teams were caught off guard and ran down the steps to avoid them. JenKook had decided to dash after them, going after the Monday Couple first for revenge. 

Running through a door, the Monday Couple had pushed to close it shut, only to have JenKook push forward to push it open.

“No! It won’t end like this!” Gary yelled.

“Don’t let them in!” Song Jihyo shouted.

Jennie, using her strength, gripped the doorknob and placed her foot on the wall, slowly pulling it back as the door gradually opened. Jungkook took advantage by grabbing Song Jihyo’s arm. He pulled her to him and used his other hand to search for the name tag on her back.

Riiiiiiiip

‘Song Jihyo out. Song Jihyo out.’

“Ah...I can’t believe this.” Song Jihyo slid down and sighed in defeat with Gary. 

After bowing and thanking the Monday Couple, Jennie and Jungkook continued their search for the platform.

“Are you okay?” Gary helped Song Jihyo up.

“Wow...the Golden Duo is no joke,” she mentioned, bewildered.

“They have to be the strongest guests we ever had. Iron Man and Captain America strength. This won’t be the end. We will get them next time.”

Near the end of the game, Jennie and Jungkook finally found the door. Managing to open it with no problems, they quickly jumped onto the platform as confetti popped out from the ceiling, making them the winners of the game.

All the teams had met up in the room to recap on the episode and congratulated JenKook on their successful win despite the odds not being in their favor.

Receiving Korean Beef as their prize, Jungkook happily announced, “We’ll eat this proudly. Jin Hyung, prepare to make this for us when we get home!”

“Ahhhh, they came to our show and won everything. They cannot be beaten.” Haha shook his head as everyone laughed

Once Jennie and Jungkook went back to the dorms with Seijin, the members greeted them with loud cheers when they saw the Korean beef in their hands. 

A victory dance commenced between the members and afterward, Jennie showered and helped Jin cook the beef. 

After dinner, Jennie chose to turn in early due to the full meal and long day of filming. Wearing a white tank top with black shorts, she dozed off in her warm bed.

-------

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Stirring in her sleep, Jen slowly woke up and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. Squinting her eyes at the high brightness of the screen, she turned her brightness down and checked out the message.

Kookie: You awake? I have a headache. Could you massage it away?

Jen: Sure. Drink water and then stop by

She sat up and stretched her limbs. Turning on the lamp, she turned to look at the time. It was past 1am. It looked like Jungkook was done gaming for the night with the rest of the Maknae Line. 

Noticing that her bun was messy, she realized that her bonnet had fallen off while sleeping. Yawning, she took out her bun and shook her hair out, deciding to fix it after massaging Jungkook. 

Hearing a firm series of knocks on her door, she called out with her voice filled with sleep, “Who?”

“Golden Maknae in need of Miss Bangtan’s famous massages.”

His bright voice made her smile. “How much are you paying?”

“I’m sure we can negotiate with smarties.” he quipped, making her giggle softly.

“You got me there. Enter my realm.”

She watched him walk in with a big smile as he closed the door. She noticed he was wearing one of his many white shirts and a pair of shorts that came to his knees. His hair was messy, too, it made him look even cuter.

She scooted over as she felt the bed dip when he got on the bed to lay down next to her. 

“I told you don’t eat so much candy. But what do you do? Eat a lot of candy. Now, look at you. Suffering from a headache.” she scolded.

“The candy Hyung buys is really good. I can’t help it.”

“I can’t help it.” she mocked in a low voice, making him chuckle. “How much did you even eat after dinner?” she let him lay his head on her lap as she gently began to massage his temples.

“You don’t want to know.” he let out a content sigh, closing his eyes.

“No more eating a lot of sweets, especially before you go to sleep. Those sugar headaches are killer. And make sure you drink more water and take aspirin."

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re a handful.”

After a while, he ended up falling asleep, with his headache nearly gone. She gently removed his head from her lap and let him sleep next to her. Moments later, Jen decided to play on her phone, to pass the time until she felt herself getting tired.

After ten minutes, she glanced over at the Golden Maknae, watching him sleep as his chest rose and fell slowly. Placing her phone on the nightstand, she turned to her side, to continue observing him. Her hand slowly ran through his soft hair. Gently brushing her fingertips against his cheek, she absentmindedly ran her thumb over his bottom lip. Glancing at his lips, she quickly shook the thought away and removed her hand.

‘The heck was that Jen?’ she looked away from his lips but couldn’t help but look back at them.

Jungkook had grown up. His vocals get better and better throughout each comeback. He had gotten so much taller, it was like it was yesterday when they were almost the same height. His English skills improve day by day, making her proud of his efforts. And he had become so handsome over the years.

Her body began moving on its own as she found herself slowly leaning down. She stopped midway, looking at his gentle face. Closing her eyes with hesitation, she pulled back. 

Jen laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling, inhaling and exhaling deeply. She didn’t understand what she was doing. What this strange feeling was. 

Turning her head to the side, she looked at him, falteringly.

After a moment, she turned her body on her side and leaned forward to press her lips to his. She kissed him softly while closing her eyes. His lips were softer than she anticipated, taking her off guard. Nonetheless, she felt something strong from the kiss. 

When she realized what she had done, she pulled away, confused by her abrupt actions. 

‘What the hell, Jennie? Why did you do that? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I am such an idiot.’ she thought to herself, touching her lips.

She was so fixated on thinking of what she had done, that she didn’t even notice Jungkook slowly opening his eyes.

Consequently, he knew exactly what she had done and when she met his gaze, her stomach dropped.

Busted.

She stiffened, widening her eyes while her face felt flushed. All she wanted to do was crawl into a hole. She had no excuse for her actions and couldn’t even think of coherent thoughts without making a fool out of herself.

“...u-um-I’m...” she hesitated, averting her eyes from him. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me. I think I’m gonna go get something from the kitchen.”

She began scrambling to get out of bed but felt his warm hand, firmly grabbing her wrist to stop her from getting off the mattress.

“Don’t leave,” he whispered.

Jen let out a sharp gasp when he gently pushed her down on the bed, feeling the soft, warm sheets under her. Her heart raced quickly as she watched him slowly climb on top of her, placing his palms on the bed, next to both sides of her head.

She couldn’t look at him in the eyes as she felt a mixture of crazy emotions while still feeling awkward by her previous actions.

“Look at me,” her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his low voice. 

She nervously held his gaze, unable to ignore his request. She didn’t understand where this sudden desire to kiss him was coming from and it bothered her.

It bothered her because she shouldn’t even be in this foreign position with him.

It bothered her because the way he was staring at her made it harder to resist him.

It bothered her because he looked so enticing and she anticipated what he was going to do to her.

Her chest rose up and down with the butterflies in her stomach getting worse. She watched him take a good look at the position they were in. 

From his face, it seemed like he was contemplating if he should risk it all. It was like he was struggling to suppress the urge to do whatever his mind was thinking of doing to her. She regarded that he had licked his lips and placed his bottom lip in between his teeth as his eyes traveled down to her bare, thick legs. When he locked eyes with her, she felt her nervousness intensify.

He slowly leaned down, pressing his body against hers, gently kissing her softly. She froze, widening her eyes as she felt his lips move on hers while he tilted his head to continue kissing her slowly.

‘What the hell? What the hell are we doing? What the hell are we doing?’ she thought in panic.

His lips were tender and he pulled away briefly, leaving her breathless. Jungkook moved some hair from her face before leaning down to crash his lips against hers again.

Part of her wanted to push him off.

Tell him that this should not be happening.

But his kisses were too much to handle and she found herself kissing back, uncertain. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Gradually, she became in sync with his lips, finding a rhythm, despite her lack of kiss experience.

With a hand in his soft hair, she ran her fingers through it. Shortly after she felt his large hands caressing her legs and she hitched a breath. 

Jungkook’s hands were all over her. Places that a friend shouldn’t be touching but he was so gentle that she couldn’t help but melt into his touch. They slowly eased back from their lingering kiss to catch their breaths. 

Jennie, unable to resist and giving in to this heated encounter, sat up with him to straddle him on his lap. The sudden gesture made him grunt softly as she gripped onto his shirt. 

The way he looked at her looked like he was giving her permission to do whatever she wanted. Sensing her hesitation, he ended up guiding her hands to remove his shirt before tossing it to the side.

'Oh my God...' she thought as she ran her hands down his chest and then took his face in her hands. 'What's gotten into me?'

She resumed kissing him again as she felt warm and tingly. Each kiss felt better than the last one, making her feel good. Their kissing got heated as he slowly ran his hands down her back and squeezed her hips. He was starting to drive her crazy as he continued his frisky behavior when his hands slowly traveled down to squeeze her rear. The sudden gesture made her jump and let out a squeal of surprise before resuming their heated kissing.

Once they pulled back to breathe again, a thought in her mind made her place a hand on his chest, as the doubts came back.

‘We shouldn’t be doing this...I should not have kissed him. This isn’t right. But it feels right. But friends don’t do this. We need to stop. This can’t go any further. I need to get out of this.’ she thought, feeling conflicted with everything that was going on.

Jungkook noticed her pulling away and closed the gap by pulling her back against his body.

"Don't. It's okay," he murmured and swiftly laid her back on the bed, climbing on top of her to kiss her again.

Jungkook made her forget about the doubts as he deepened the kiss, causing her to softly moan. It made her feel embarrassed that an abrupt sound like that came out of her since she never made a sound like that before. She felt his strong hands grab her wrists, pinning them on the bed, beside her head. His hands gradually slid up to her hands slowly intertwining his fingers with hers. He kept a firm grip, making her unable to escape his passion.

Jungkook took his time, placing sweet kisses on her face. From her cheeks to her jawline, he made her feel wanted and cared for. He needed to stop kissing her like this. Every time he kissed her sweetly, he would glance at her lovingly before doing it again. His kisses were making her heart pound. She couldn’t take much more of this.

Turning her head to one side, she closed her eyes and let out shaky breaths when she felt him shift down to her neck. His nose nuzzled against her neck before placing, soft and gentle kisses around it, leaving her panting from the foreign feeling.

‘Oh God...why am I enjoying this?’ she thought as she threw her head back against the pillow.

She tightened her hands against his, writhing underneath him while trying to fight back any sounds. Of course, with Jungkook pinning her down to the bed, focused on her neck, she failed miserably, becoming undone. Jungkook appeared to be satisfied with his efforts and her reactions because he let out a low chuckle in response.

“Jungkook,” she whispered breathlessly as she felt his warm breath against her ear.

“Relax, baby girl...” he whispered, feeling her squirm from all the overwhelming and foreign feelings in her body.

This was torture, what he was doing to her, and she couldn’t do anything as he held her down.

"Do you trust me?" she heard him ask in her ear, making her shiver. 

"Y-yes," she breathed out. 

Suddenly he let her go and began kissing down her neck and started to move lower, making her feel flushed

"W-wait...where are you going?" she stuttered with her breathing increasing as she placed her hands in his hair when he continued to travel down to her stomach. 

Never would she think that Jungkook would ever do this, especially to her.

----

Jennie ended up falling off her bed with a big thump. She quickly got back to her feet. Snapping her head from side to side, looking around, she noticed that no one was in her room but her.

“What the hell...?” she placed a hand on her hair, which was still in a bun, and checked her phone to see no messages from Jungkook that indicated that he needed a massage tonight.

She then realized that she was just dreaming.

“Oh no. Oh my gosh, please. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” she started pacing around, in panic. “No. No. No.” she shook her head repeatedly, trying to get the thoughts out of her mind.

It startled her that she just dreamed about her friend this way. 

“That meant nothing. That had to mean nothing.” she tried to convince herself. “No way. No way this would happen. Why did I dream of that? Why? Am I drunk? Did I eat one too many Smarties? Get it together!”

She slapped her cheeks with her palms. Going into her small bathroom, she splashed her face with cold water and sat on top of the toilet seat, to collect her thoughts.

That imagination...came out of nowhere.

Jungkook would never think of this, would he?

He would never think of her like this, right?

So why did she think of him like that?

He probably never dreamed of her like that, either, so why did she?

He would never think about making out with her, would he?

She was so confused.

Friends don’t just make out with each other like they did in that dream and she shouldn’t be having these types of thoughts of him.

“This is wrong. We can’t...we’re friends.” she reminded herself. “Best friends. In a group. We are in a group, working together. Professionally. This...can’t happen. It meant nothing. It meant nothing, Jennie.” she tried to convince herself as she worked on pretending that the dream didn’t happen.

Boy, it was going to be hard to act normal around Jungkook in the morning.

[cameronspecial]

Thorn In My Side, Rose In My Hand (Part 7)

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings:  Swearing

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 4.6K

Summary: After a frustrating argument with his dad, Rafe goes to seek comfort in Y/N’s arms. This leads to him finally asking for the moment he has been waiting for. 

Masterlist

Y/N wakes up the next morning in the Camerons’ guest bedroom. She has a slight headache from the alcohol she drank the night before. She thinks about what almost happened with Rafe and is glad he pulled away. Now, being sober, she remembers what she saw at Midsummer and finds herself upset again. They never had a chance to talk about it. Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the bedroom door being opened. Sarah comes in with a glass of water and Tylenol. Sarah being 14 meant that Rafe forces her to stay at a friend’s house whenever he throws a party. “Rafe told me to bring this up to you,” Sarah tells her as she hands over the things. Y/N takes the medicine, “Thanks.” “No problem. The boys are making breakfast downstairs,” Sarah informs as she walks towards the door. “And Y/N, I’m sorry about Wilson.” 

After a few minutes of lying in bed, Y/N finally makes her way downstairs and greets everyone at breakfast. Everyone eats with pleasant conversation. Sarah needed to get to the Trembley’s house to babysit the kids, so Mason offered to drive her, which left Y/N and Rafe alone to do the dishes. “So what does last night mean for us?” Rafe asks, handing over a wet plate for her to dry. Y/N takes the plate and starts to dry it, “Rafe, I appreciate you waiting to kiss me, but I saw you with Elizabeth at Midsummer and I know you know how I feel about her. I know that the unconscious part of you chose her because it would hurt me. So I can’t be with you right now. I need some time.” “Okay, I get that. I’m sorry that it hurt you, I wasn’t trying to. I want to be honest and tell you we did end up kissing last night too. But we only ever made out, it never went further than that,” Rafe confesses. This eases Y/N’s mind a little, but she still needs time to figure things out, “I understand, thanks for telling me. Since we are done, I think I’m just gonna go to the beach for a bit.” She places the dish towel back onto the oven railing and heads to the guest bedroom to get her stuff. 

She gets her stuff, heading back downstairs to say bye. “Can I borrow Sarah’s bike to go home? If she needs it any time soon, she can just text me and I’ll bring it over to her,” Y/N asks. Rafe looks over his shoulder at her from the sink, “Actually, hers is being tuned up at the store, so you can borrow mine. I’ll pick it up next time I come over. It should be around back near the pool.” Y/N nods her head. “Cool, thanks. See you later.”

———

Y/N got home safely and is now relaxing on the beach. She always tries to spend as much time here as she can during the summer because she feels at peace surrounded by water. She is relaxing on a water inflatable when Lacet finally makes her way to Y/N. “Look who is finally awake. It’s like three in the afternoon,” Y/N teases, shielding her eyes from the sun. Lacey groans, taking a sip from her coffee, “Shh, I still have a headache from last night. I never want to drink again.” 

Y/N laughs at her friend’s misery, “I’ve heard that before. At least it sounded like you had fun last night.” 

“You and I both know I like to pretend. This is totally tmi, but important to the story. I was on the toilet this morning because we both know that being hungover gives me the shits. But like I was looking at these recipes for different ways to make wellingtons and it got me thinking that we should have another girls’ dinner. Maybe tonight?” 

“Oooh, I love that idea. I could go over some of my writing with you. I was able to write another chapter.”

“I cannot wait. I can make some mocktails for us. Because mama cannot do another hangover tonight. I’m gonna make a beef Wellington and a mushroom one.” 

“Lol, I like the sound of that.” 

“So, now that we have that out of the way. How are you feeling about Wilson?” 

“I’m feeling better since last night. I mean I’m more hung up on the fact that he used me. Looking back on our relationship. I wasn’t really into him that much anyways. I think in a way, I was using him too.”

“Really? How so?”

“At first, I definitely do think that I liked him. But as I started to get to know him, I realized we weren’t good for each other and I should’ve ended it then. And yet, when I started to realize that maybe I didn’t hate Rafe, I pushed myself to be with Wilson because I didn’t want to admit it. We dated for a month, even though I knew it wouldn’t go anywhere. I definitely don’t think that what I did was as bad as what he did because I did genuinely want to explore what we could be, but I wasn’t exactly perfect in the relationship either.”

“You are right. Using Wilson to ignore your feelings about Rafe wasn’t great. But at least, you recognize that. I bet you Wilson doesn’t even think he did anything wrong.” 

“True. I just want to get past the whole thing though. And before you try to shift the conversation to Rafe. I’m really not ready to talk about where we are out right now. Maybe tonight after I’ve eaten some delicious wellingtons and mocktails.”

Lacey nods, knowing her friend just needs some time to process what she is feeling. The two girls spend most of their time in the water for the rest of the day. Only making their way to Lacey’s house when the sun started setting.

——— 

The next day, Y/N is picking up some groceries for her mom. She rounds the corner of the aisle and accidentally hits someone else’s cart. “I’m so sorry,” she begins until she sees who she hit. “Oh, Elizabeth. How are you?” Y/N tries to be polite with the other girl. They may be rivals, but they are mostly civil with each other. “I’m pretty good. I’m sorry to hear about the break up though. What Wilson did was totally a jackass move,” Elizabeth replies sincerely. “Thanks. How are things going with you and Rafe? I saw you guys at Midsummer and he told me about you guys during the party,” she says, hoping to see if Rafe and Elizabeth’s stories match up. Elizabeth’s face turns into a slight frown, “Nothing really happened. We just made out both times. Honestly, I’m pretty sure he was just using me to distract himself from you.”

This causes surprise to cross over Y/N’s face. “Why do you think that?” she inquires with her head slightly tilted to the side. “Well, at Midsummer, I stopped making out with him because he groaned your name when I played with his hair. Then at his party, we were making out, when all of a sudden his phone started ringing. With the way he shut down the party after the call and from the rumours I heard, I’m pretty sure he dropped everything to go pick you up. Anyways I gotta go. Bye.” Y/N calls out a goodbye as Elizabeth walks away. 

Rafe told her the truth after all. What is more interesting to the girl is that Rafe seems to have done the same thing she has done. She finishes up her shopping and heads back home. 

———

A week has passed since Y/N’s break up, which means that school is also bound to start up again in about two weeks. Rafe is sitting in the living room, watching some random show he isn’t really paying attention to. His focus is diverted to his dad as Ward walks into the room with a huff. “Tell me why I just got a call from Mr. Porter saying that if you don’t give his son a public apologize, then he will have no choice but to file a lawsuit against you for assault,” Ward gripes to his son. Rafe honestly thought nothing more would come from the punch because it had been a week since it happened. “He was an ass to Y/N. I had to make sure he knew what happens when he messes with her.” Ward runs his hand down his face, “God, I knew that girl would get you in trouble. I want you to give that public apology tomorrow morning. You are going to do exactly what Mr. Porter says because if you don’t, then I’m not gonna clean up your mess this time. Is this understood?” Rafe agrees with the statement. He knows Y/N would prefer he takes the peaceful way out of this situation. 

He thinks the conversation is over, but his dad doesn’t get up from his seat on the couch. “I also want to know why I was sent a parent approval form from Marvin to sign, so you could start an internship with him,” Ward interrogates, his voice beginning to rise. Right, Rafe had forgotten to talk to his father about this before the paperwork was sent. “Well, Marvin and I were talking a few weeks ago about his law firm. He said he needed some extra help with some organizational stuff, so I offered to help,” Rafe begins to explain. “You wanted me to figure out how to do swim team, university work and an internship at Cameron’s Development, so I thought this would be a good trial run for university and Marvin thought the same. He said if I have any trouble with handling the internship and everything else, then it would be fine if I quit. Pre-law students are always looking to intern with him.” 

Ward shakes his head in disapproval, “If you wanted to intern somewhere, you should’ve just come with me. I don’t understand why you would work at a law firm. It has nothing to do with development.” “I know you have this life plan for me, but I wanted to do something for myself once. I may have been given help from Marvin to get the job. But it’s something new though and I asked for myself. I want to be able to experience other things in life other than just the development company,” Rafe clarifies to his dad. “Whatever, I’ll sign the stupid paper, but I don’t understand why the fuck you would make that choice. Why can’t you just do as you are told?” Ward complains to his son, storming off toward his office. Rafe expected a screaming match to happen between the two of them, but this felt worse somehow. 

Rafe keeps trying to do what his dad wants, but even when he thinks he has it figured out, he still disappoints his dad. Instead of feeling the normal anger that would normally radiate off of him after an argument with his dad, he feels this sadness that washes over him. His mom would always push him outside of his comfort zone and it was part of the reason why he offered to help Marvin. He thought his dad would understand that and be proud of him. But like always, Ward just wants to be able to control every aspect of Rafe’s life. Ward has this life plan for Rafe that he isn’t allowed to deviate from. Rafe knows Sarah doesn’t have to listen to what her dad plans for her life. He doesn’t understand why his dad puts all this pressure on him. Rafe feels like utter crap after that conversation and there is only one person, who he knows can make him feel better. She can be found in the Y/L/N residence. 

———

Y/N sits outside in the gazebo, reading her book in the hanging basket. She lifts her eyes from the page when she hears a knock from the screened door. “Hey, Y/L/N. Care for some company?” Rafe interrupts as he slowly opens the door. She could see his  watery eyes, looking like he is going to burst at any second, “Of course, what’s wrong?” She immediately wraps her arms around the boy and buries his head into her neck whilst leading him to sit on the loveseat. “Why does my dad insist on controlling my life? Why can’t I just do things for myself without him questioning everything?” Rafe cries, feeling safe to now let himself be vulnerable with the girl. 

Y/N knows this is always a source of upset for him. Rafe’s relationship with Ward will never be anything like Mason and Marvin’s. “I don’t know why your dad is the way that he is. But I do know that you are not at fault for how he treats you. He has issues that he doesn’t realize he needs to fix and that is not on you,” she tries to comfort. 

“I know. It’s just last time we were fighting about how I didn’t want to join the uni swim team because I wanted to focus on school and my internship. And he absolutely blew up about that. Now, I want to do a trial run to see if I can find a balance between school, work and swim team and my dad isn’t proud that I’m trying. It’s like one step forward and twenty back. I don’t know how much longer of this I can take.” 

It pains Y/N to hear how much pain is in Rafe’s voice as he explains it to her, “Why didn’t you tell me things were getting this bad?”

“Last time it got this bad, you were avoiding me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. But I’m here now.” 

“I know, thank you. You are the one person that could’ve made me feel better right now, honestly.” 

“I’m glad I can return the favour.”

Rafe smiles, knowing she is referring to how he took care of her after Wilson broke her heart, “Right, how are we feeling after that?” 

The look in Rafe’s eyes tells Y/N that he is really asking how she feels about him, “I’m actually feeling great considering we only broke up a week ago. I think my heart was always set on someone else.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, that someone is ready for more. If you are ready too, of course.”

“Really? Would he maybe want a kiss? I wouldn’t want to take advantage of his vulnerability,” she jokes as she strokes his hair.

“He absolutely wants a kiss.”

Rafe removes his head from where it is buried in her neck and pulls Y/N into a kiss. His lips passionately move against hers and after a few seconds, his tongue makes its way into her mouth. She feels butterflies in her stomach and she hears him groan as she gently tugs his hair. Rafe removes himself from her lips and starts attacking her neck with kisses. She lets out a soft moan when he reaches her soft spot just under her ear, which causes him to grin and start to suck on the spot. Eventually, the two pull away from each other because of Rafe. He places his forehead on hers and looks into her eyes. They both have a soft grin on their lips. “Would you want to go on a date with me the day after tomorrow?” he whispers to her. They may have just been kissing, but he still is fearful that she will say no. She gives Rafe a quick kiss before answering, “Of course. I would love to.” 

———

The next morning, Rafe gets up earlier than usual to make his public apology to Wilson. It wasn’t very public seeing as he was just instructed to go to Wilson’s and the only people there are Wilson, his parents and all of his dinner guests from that night. However, the Porters still had to make a ridiculously big deal about this and have Rafe make his apology on a makeshift stage and podium. “I am sorry for assaulting you, Wilson. I was wrong for doing so. You are an amazing person and the fact that my dirty and violent hands touched you never should have happened,” Rafe reads off of the cards that one of Porter’s employees is holding up for him. The group claps and Rafe zones out as everyone bustles about around him.

Once he is allowed to leave, Rafe makes a mad dash to The Wreck to meet with Lacey to ask her for help with his and Y/N’s date tomorrow. “I hope you know that you are paying for whatever I order. And I plan to order a lot,” Lacey notifies him, not even looking up from the menu as he sits across from her. Rafe laughs at her antics, “I don’t expect anything less. But I need your help with something for Y/N and mine’s date tomorrow, please.” “And what exactly does that help entail?” Lacey replies; this time actually diverting her attention to the boy. “I just need you to cook some things for me. I’ll make you a list of the foods and then you can give me the bill after you get the stuff you need,” he answers. “Okay, I can do that. Especially if it’s for Y/N. Now, let’s order and then we can talk about this more. Mama is hungry.” 

———

 Rafe picks Y/N up at ten in the morning. He told her he had a whole day planned out for them and he knew she is an early bird anyway. He is wearing gray flannel on top of a gray T-shirt with some jeans. When Y/N opens the door, Rafe just pauses and admires her beauty. Her purple sweetheart neck raglan sleeve sweater shows her collarbones, which have a golden heart-shaped necklace resting between them. Her black pleated skirt rest just above her knees and this causes his eyes to follow down her legs to her white embroidered high-top converse. He knows she embroidered the flowers onto them herself. Her fingers are littered with rings and her double ear piercing both have hoops in them. Her hair twisted back behind her head with a claw clip. Rafe notices she is wearing some light makeup; god, he wants to smudge that pinkish-red lipstick. 

Y/N smiles softly at him and gives a tiny wave, “Hey, are you okay?” Rafe snaps out of his trance. “Yeah, just soaking in how happy I am to finally be taking you out on a date. Are you ready to go?” he admits whilst holding his hand out to her. She nods her head and takes his hand as she places her brown purse across her body. They get into his car and he drives off to their first destination. 

———

The massive grin on Y/N’s face, when she sees the sign for Outer Banks’ biggest independent bookstore, tells Rafe that he is on the right track for their date and this causes his heart to swell with pride. He holds open the door and she practically runs into the shop. They randomly walk around for a little bit to start. The conversation only begins after Y/N sees the Percy Jackson books. “Rafe, these are my absolutely favourite books. I owe my love of reading to Rick Riordan,” Y/N gushes to him. Rafe loves how passionate she is about the books and how she is not afraid to show it, “Really? How so?” 

Y/N's heart leaps at the genuine interest that Rafe is showing, “When I was a kid, I had a hard time learning to read. So I hated doing it. My parents tried getting me to read so many different books. I never really felt seen with any of them. But with Percy, I felt a connection with his character because of his dyslexia. His sarcasm and jokes made him relatable to me and I fell in love with reading because of it.” 

“I never knew that you could connect to a character on that level. The last book I remember reading is the Harry Potter series and I don’t think I really felt that way about any of the characters.”

“Yeah, it feels kinda magical when you can. It really helps you immerse yourself in the story. I’m actually thinking about starting a YA book club. Maybe, you can join and you’ll find your connection.” 

“I would love to join. You really have interesting perspectives on books and I would love to learn more. Plus, I think it would be fun to have reading dates together.”

Y/N is surprised that Rafe actually likes her idea. The excitement she feels about being able to show him some of her favourite books grows. The rest of the time at the bookstore is spent with Rafe holding Y/N’s stack of books she wants to buy, listening to her point out the books she has read or wants to read. He finds it adorable and it reminds him of a little kid on a scavenger hunt. It takes a lot of convincing from Rafe to get Y/N to let him pay for all of her books. He asks her to take the books out to the car, saying he thinks he forgot something in the store. He quickly locates the Percy Jackson series and runs it up to the cash register to pay. Rafe knows he could probably borrow the books from Y/N, but he wants it to be a surprise that he is going to read them. 

———

The next destination for their date is Rafe’s kitchen, where Y/N finds all the ingredients she needs to make chocolate chip cookies on the island. “I thought we could make cookies for dessert for dinner,” Rafe announces to her. Y/N looks at him with delight, “Okay, but only if you let me take the lead.” “I will always let you take the lead,” Rafe confesses with adoration in his eyes. This causes Y/N’s cheeks to heat up. 

Y/N’s back is facing Rafe; she is concentrating on mixing the ingredients, so she doesn’t notice Rafe scooping some chocolate chips into his mouth from the bag. She turns around to ask him something when she sees his cheeks puffed like a chipmunk and giggles. “Are you eating some chocolate?” she laughs as he nods his head with a guilty look on his face. “You really are just like a child. Come here, please. I need you to help me place the balls on the pan. You roll the balls and I’ll place them.” Rafe listens to her order and scoops some of the dough into his hand and forms just about the smallest ball she has ever seen. This causes some more giggles to fall past her lips. “Those are too small and it looks more like a cube than a sphere. Here, let me help you,” she instructs, wrapping her arms around his to help guide him with making the next ball. She directs his hands to the ball and helps him take some cookie dough into his hands. She places her hands over his as she helps him make the motion to make the balls. 

Y/N is not going to lie; she gets a little distracted by Rafe, who smells like the salty sea air and a hint of chlorine. She pauses for a second and this causes Rafe to look down at her to see if she is okay. He smiles when he notices she is admiring his smell. She snaps out of the daydream and continues to help him form a golf ball-sized dough ball. Now, knowing how to make the balls, Rafe continues on his own. Y/N places the pan in the oven when all the balls are formed and they go to watch Clueless as the cookies bake. 

———

Dinner is served picnic style on the beach, watching the sunset. Battery-powered lanterns litter the sand around the picnic mat to create light. It illuminates the spread of sushi, pasta, cheeseburger sliders and mini tacos; all of Y/N’s favourite foods and all cooked by Lacey. The couple gorges themselves on the buffet before they cuddle together on the beach, sharing the cookies they made together. “When did you think you started to fall for me?” Y/N ponders, taking a bite from the cookie and then handing it over to Rafe. 

“You are going to call me a liar. But I think I’ve been slowly falling for you since we were five. I remember thinking: ‘She is totally wrong about who won the race, but I love how she isn’t afraid to fight back in her own way.’ Also, I found it funny how long you could hold a grudge. How about you?” 

“That is totally a lie and such a cliche. For me, it is probably when you took me to McDonald’s after my first date with Wilson. You knew what I needed and what I liked without me having to tell you. I really appreciated that. You also did a bunch of things that Wilson didn’t even do for me on our date and I kept thinking about that.” 

“No, it can’t have been then. It was so recent.”

“Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. It’s when I knew for sure though that I had feelings for you. Maybe I started unconsciously falling for you way before then.” 

“Good. Because I want the book of you and me to be a really long one. So your chapters have to start before that.” 

“Okay, whatever you want.” 

“You’re cold. My swim team sweater is in the basket for you.” 

“How did you know I’m cold?”

“Caring for you is my sixth sense now.”

Y/N untangles herself from his arms and goes over to the basket to put on his hoodie. He loves to see her wearing his number and last name on his back. One day, it’s going to be hers too. She goes back into his arms to cuddle for a little bit. After a while, he notices she is growing tired and they pack up to go back to her house. 

———

Rafe is parked outside of her house, waiting for her to get out of the car. She doesn’t move, but instead turns towards him, “Can you sleep over? I don’t really want this date to end.” He tiredly smiles at her and turns the car off. They get into her room and go around getting ready for bed in sync. The scene felt perfectly domestic as they brushed their teeth together. He gets into the bed first and lets his arms wrap around her when she lies beside him. She rests her head on his chest and her eyes flutter closed, “Goodnight, Rafe.” “Goodnight, my rose,” he whispers, placing a kiss on her forehead before falling asleep. 

———

Marvin and Cassie Y/L/N find their daughter in bed the next morning in the arms of Rafe Cameron. They are not surprised by the sight and are glad the two have finally gotten together. “You owe me a book,” Cassie mumbles as she closes Y/N’s bedroom door and they walk downstairs. Marvin lightly grumbles, “They really couldn’t have waited a year. I thought they would finally realize it in university.”

“Not them. They were meant to be.” 

Taglist: @itsalexwin​ @sublimepenguinpeach-blog​   @gillybear17​   @terraeluce​  @f4ll-for-you​

[princesstarfire1234]

Random ideas for a hypothetical Scavengers (mini) series

So I made a google doc a few nights ago and filled it with random ass ideas for how a cartoony likely-episodic Scavengers series could go... It was around the same time I wanted to get to animating a Scavs-related thing but no promises there or to this ever becoming more than rambles

Anyways... heres an unorganized collection of my silly thoughts:

POST-WAR!! War’s over, Autobot-Decepticon alliance is great and dandy for everyone except of course the folks who got left behind and forgotten by respective High Commands and have had to make their own dealings in space to get thru life and shit; focusing on the daily struggles of your average low of the low genericons/bots, the Scavengers

Optimus and Megatron are definitely married (trust); we go the IDW MTMTE route but instead of Megs off on a quest with Roddy and gang, he’s with Optimus and they both publicly surrender/call truce or whatever on-video and agree to help repair cybertron instead of squabbling, sending a message to all cybertronians taking refuge amongst the stars blah blah blah its time to go home (pilot should open with this i think, set the worldview up straight from the beginning)

It could either be set in the slums of like some populated city or smthn, like maybe Dead End of Kaon or smthn OR… now consider… Set NOT on Cybertron, literally anywhere BUT Cybertron; the Scavs wander space, at least every few episodes or so would be set in a different planet or smthn, having them do their usual shenanigans and (failing) their supply/scavenging runs, as well as the occasional star station too for like a pit stop i guess; there’d be atleast one episode where they go to earth probably

Main characters (scavs duh, but lemme write some shit down here rq):

Krok - the dutiful, ever-patient (one can of engex away from losing it) leader of the Scavengers; he’s the one that usually has the single functioning brain cell

Crankcase - the skillful pilot of the crew’s beloved Decepticon-hijacked Autobot vessel, always in a sour mood, think TFA Ratchet but up the old man crankiness to 500; really good at fixing things (mechanic)

Spinister - a little stupid… all the stupid actually… but he’s got things rattling in there too, don’t worry! The Scavengers’ medic; would probably be Cybertron’s greatest surgeon if it weren’t for everything else

Fulcrum - Defunct?? Rejected?? Something-class Decepticon, a bit of a coward, found in a dumpster by Misfire; he’s a technician too! Score!

Misfire - ideas are about as good as his aim (which is not at all); the really really talkative and social one; rejected Rainmaker/Seeker (bro didnt pass Decepticon Academy, rip)

Additional members that get added to the crew later on!

Grimlock - resident Dinobot and the only Autobot on the crew (for now or smthn idk), thinking of either having them find him during the pilot episode or a bit later on?; i think Krok would definitely have a thing where he’s super wary of him until a big character development episode thing happens like in MTMTE #46

Nickel - hmmm idk yet.. Maybe a former high ranking decepticon officer whose position has been stripped from her the more fucked up and bad the faction ended up becoming because she was very vocal about its problems til the current day? (I just don’t think her being connected to the DJD would work here womp womp)

Flywheels (unsure) - some mech that tagged along with them during one random shenanigans episode

MP3 / or some other new human character (unsure) - they have an episode where they go to Earth and befriend silly human… may or may not keep them, maybe they could be an honorary Scavenger but only appears sometimes or stays on Earth but keeps in touch with the Scavs (look I just think having a human on the crew would be kinda silly and funky for the dynamic)

Meanies to the crew (weekly bad guy):

Novastorm - leader of the Rainmakers; has beef with Misfire

Skullcruncher- Krok hates his guts; he’s the TFA Sentinel to Krok’s TFA Prime, probably served together on like whatever the equivalent of a Warworld ship would be in this

Raiders??? Space pirates??? Idk but I’d def make em be related to Spinister’s past or smthn (this was inspired by some fanfic I read a bit ago, I think Fool’s Paradise on AO3)

Needlenose? (Spin trusted him, betrayed copter boy :((( or smthn)

Scorponok - probably the biggest threat of the show (ofc not in universe), but he’d be like IDW Scorponok in that one Scavs issue, all kinda silly and dramatic but def a threat, he kinda reminds me of Dino/BW Megatron a bit

DJD (absolutely unsure, maybe a passing mention or not at all) - would probably have to sillify them a bit (a lot, idk how the hell Cyberverse managed it with Tarn)...

There's more in the doc but they're not fully formed ideas yet... My countless hours scrolling the Scavengers tags on tumblr have also given me ideas for certain kinds of episodes that could happen but again, nothing concretely written down yet

If I have the energy or remember this, I'm def gonna be updating it with some more ideas cuz whether this becomes real or not, its fun!! Maybe I could write it as a fic one day or if someones wants to idk

Okay bai bai for now, I gotta eep 👋

[happyk44]

Do you have anymore of this written? Annabeth's way of helping Percy actually making it worse until he runs away and finally gets a taste of peace elsewhere? I love it so much.

https://www.tumblr.com/happyk44/749307578218053632?source=share

Pretty sure I've written something (or a couple somethings) similar to that piece before. It's a concept I really like. One of my first "Percy runs away to the Nome" pieces points out that Annabeth has been kind of preparing for the inherent trauma in being a demigod under the thumb of not so helpful gods her whole life compared to Percy who was thrown into it at random and retains a lot of bitterness over it versus passive acceptance the way Jason and Annabeth have kind of grown up to. Yeah, she has her beef with Hera but like. More or less, it's kind of "that's just how the gods are" with her and Percy is very much "well they should be fucking better".

I think that with her having known she was a demigod since she was a little kid, the difficulties she went through in getting to camp with Thalia, Grover and Luke, Thalia's sacrifice and seemingly having been holding onto the possibility of war at least since she was 12 and Percy came flailing into her life and into the prophecy - she's just able to compartmentalize her pains better than Percy who we know suffers more aptly with emotional regulation and anger issues. Whether she processes them in a healthy manner through this or represses, represses, represses is up to you, but I can see it being her default, and subsequently she gets very stressed out about Percy not being able to do the same thing.

Also people just process trauma differently and Annabeth gets very headstrong and stubborn about being right and that her way of doing things is superior (which is. like. one of the reasons I lowkey wanted to add her to the cluster B roster because imo her fatal flaw would fit NPD so well, but unfortunately I don't think enough of the diagnostic criteria suits her so RIP). So her way of handling trauma not working for Percy doesn't make sense to her, or the fact that Percy is still clearly having problems even if he pretends otherwise just makes her feel like he's not trying hard enough to get over it, so she starts pushing in ways that don't help because she's Annabeth and she knows how Percy works and she can map his way through this and if he would just try, then it would work (except they don't and they won't).

I've also mentioned before that Annabeth strikes me as someone who gets so beholden to her ideas and plans that any deviation from that plan (even if not well-thought out) is Not Allowed, and no matter how obvious the solution (change course, make other decisions, break-up and stay friends), she is extremely reluctant to do so. In Tartarus, she clung to the idea of her and Percy making it out alive and safe and moving to New Rome and being happy and going to college and growing old together and now, faced with the reality that the goal is likely unattainable (I really don't see Percy moving to California for college of all things, like let's be real) or facing some hitches (Percy's depression and self-isolation negates the whole happy and healthy thing), she gets further into her head about him not being able to get with the program.

So she tells him how to fix himself. He can't do it because her methods don't work for him like they work for her. She gets mad because there's no improvement from him and she doesn't know what else to try because she's exahusted all the options that Make Sense and Will Help Him and her way of doing things is right so he must be doing something wrong or not trying at all. He starts to withdraw from her because Percy doesn't really instigate fights and he's angry and unhealthy and doesn't want to hurt his girlfriend, and she gets mad because that's not how this is supposed to work, and they argue and the cycle just continues over and over and over again unti he's gone.

Personally I can write Percy disappearing in a bunch of ways. He fakes it until he realizes he can't make it and no one notices. He fakes it and people notice but they can't get him to open up about it. He suffers obviously but no one knows how to help him and he refuses to communicate. It will always culimaniate in him turning to isolation, turning to self-harm, turning to suicide, turning to whispering Carter's name like a desperate lifeline because if he kills himself Grover might die and his mom might be sad (he doesn't know, Estelle is there and she's good and she's normal and it's fine, his mom doesn't really need him, does she?) and Annabeth would probably be mad at him.

And if he calls out for Carter and he doesn't come or he doesn't care, well, then at least he can say he tried getting help, right? He didn't give up right away. He tried.

(Carter will always come and always offer the Nome as sanctuary and Percy will always accept it, even if he freaks the fuck out when they get there)