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shellshocklove · 8 months ago

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wet nights | joel miller

pairing/AU: bfd!joel miller x female!reader – no outbreak

summary: getting beer spilled down your dress at your best friend sarah’s birthday party might not have been so bad– not when her dad can help you clean up.

warnings: this is an 18+ fic so mdni! reader is 25 and joel is 47, reader is described as wearing a dress, swearing, use of pet names, oral (m receiving), dirty talk, exhibitionism, praise with a dash of degradation kink, one small touch of your clit, soft dom!joel, use of sir, cum play, no use of y/n

a/n: mom said it was my turn to write bfd!joel lol. basically this is just me wanting to write joel getting his cock and balls sucked bc it's what he deserves 😌 as always thank you to @dustydaddyyy for reading through this for me! and happy reading <3

main masterlist / ao3

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🇵🇸 this account stands with palestine. the creator of tlou is a zionist, and the second game is largly based on israel/palestine. please, everyone who interacts, educate yourself about the genocide happening right now, and support/donate.

Nodding your head to the beat of the music you gulped down a cooling sip of beer. The bar was stuffed to the brim tonight for Sarah’s birthday. Every chair and booth occupied, large groups huddled together against the walls, and a growing crowd of brave, seemingly deep enough down their drinks, dancers moved across the makeshift dance floor. Leaning against the bar right at the end, you were shielded from the continuous line of people looking for a drink to sate their thirst on this hot summer night.

You’d missed Sarah since graduation. She’d moved back to Austin to be closer to her father – a man you had still to meet even after all these years of knowing Sarah. You’d met in undergrad where you’d had a couple of overlapping classes the first year. She’d been one of those people where you’d just clicked, like a hand in a glove, you two just fit together.

Now you had moved to Austin. It wasn’t exactly planned, but you’d applied to a postgraduate program at the University of Texas, not necessarily thinking you’d get in– but then you had. Sarah had been ecstatic when you’d told her. You hadn’t seen her in person in over a year, but you couldn’t wait to live in the same city as your best friend again.

But first, her 25th birthday party.

Tonight would be your first night out as a new Austinite. Sarah had invited all her closest friends and family to her favorite bar to celebrate. You’d dreaded it a little, you weren’t gonna lie. That nagging anxiety had bubbled under your skin all week at the prospect of being the only one at the party who didn’t know anyone already. Sarah had told you not to worry though when you’d voiced your concern to her a few days ago – she’d introduce you to everyone – nothing to worry about, and she’d been right.

All Sarah’s friends had been extremely friendly and nice, and you’d been taken under their wing immediately. Quickly, your anxiety had melted away, condensing into nothing as you’d started to have a good time.

It was deep into the summer, and Austin had shown itself from its hotter side the last few days. Inside the bar everything ran hot, even with the AC on blast and with the amount of people who’d made their way inside in the last hour, looking for a good time on a Saturday night, it never stood a chance.

Trying to cool off you’d excused yourself from your new group of friends to order yourself a cold beer. One of the ACs blew cold air directly towards the bar, keeping the frantic bartenders cool as they pushed out order after order of drinks. You watched them from where you stood perfectly in the wind of the AC, glass raised to your lips when you felt a hard bump against your shoulder.

“Fuck,” you cursed as your full glass of beer spilled all down your front, staining your white summer dress.

“Shit– sorry, sweetheart.” You didn’t have time to react as your beer was lifted out of your wet hand and placed on the rough wood of the bar.

Looking up from your ruined dress you took in your beer thief as he reached across the bar for some napkins. He was older, forties maybe, maybe older if you were to take the sprinkle of salt and pepper in his hair into consideration, but he was gorgeous. A strong jaw and sculptured nose. Clad in a t-shirt and a dark pair of jeans, you thought he looked casual– not like he belonged to the rest of the birthday party. The material of his t-shirt strained against his bicep as he leaned back from over the bar – a stack of napkins now in his hand. Standing to his full height before you, you noticed just how broad he was, and it made a drop of desire pool in your core.

The man’s previous frantic movements came to a halt as he took you in for the first time; his dark brown eyes rolling down your body and leaving a trail of heat. His fist full of napkins stalled when his eyes landed on your dress, quickly diverting them with a loud clearing of his throat.

“Um– here,” he said, voice strained as he handed you the napkins.

Pulling your eyebrows together in a frown, you looked down at yourself again. The fabric was completely soaked through, and you felt a prickling heat tickle your cheeks as you realized you now looked like a walking ad for a wet t-shirt competition.

“Oh shit,” you muttered, taking the napkins from the man as you tried your best to cover yourself.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart– bumpin’ into ya like that.”

Pressing the napkins to your dress you shook your head at him, “It’s fine– eh,” you looked up from your body.

“Joel,” he introduced himself.

“It’s fine, Joel. It was an accident. I’ll just go to the restroom and try to get the stain out,” you said with a grimace, and reached for more napkins.

“Let me help ya,” he offered as he placed a friendly hand on your elbow.

As Joel guided you through the crowd towards the toilets, hand hovering at a polite distance behind your back, he continued to apologize.

“I feel terrible– let me at least pay for it if it ends up needin’ replacin’.”

Inside the bar’s toilets, you jumped up on the stone countertop lining the wall, turning the closest sink on.

“It’s okay,” you repeated as you busied yourself with trying to clean yourself up, “This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten beer spilled all over me,” you said with a teasing laugh, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Standing beside you with his hip leaning against the stone and a knee popped, Joel huffed out a strained laugh, a laugh somewhere between embarrassment and relief.

“Yeah?” He questioned, eyes falling to your working hands.

“Tell you this much– I’ve had plenty of wet nights.”

A sound escaped Joel at your words, one he quickly tried to cover up with a cough, and you realize your innuendo a second too late. When you looked up from your hands, eyes wide, you noticed that Joel’s cheeks had flushed slightly, like he was embarrassed that he’d even caught onto the innuendo you hadn’t meant to make.

“Oh! No, not like that–” you rushed, tone slightly mortified as your eyes met his, trying very hard not to stutter through the rest of your sentence, “I–uh... I only meant that I uh–... I‘ve had plenty of situations in which I’ve gotten wet–”

At this sentence, Joel raised his eyebrows in a look that seemed half-surprised, half-amused, and your stomach dropped even further into your ass in embarrassment.

“–with water!” you clarified quickly, before you scrunched up your nose in embarrassment, closing your eyes as you huffed out a laughing sigh, “There’s no way I’m getting out of this gracefully, is there?”

You heard Joel’s chuckle to your side, deep and syrupy, like the stuff you’d liked to pour over your pancakes in buckets when you were a kid.

“You’d have gotten away with it if you hadn’t started explainin’, I think,” Joel told you, his tone joking, and you chuckled bashfully, nodding before you looked up at him.

There was a moment in which you exchanged a look, before you felt the smile break over your face and you dissolved into embarrassed laughter, shaking your head as Joel laughed, too.

“Off to a great start,” you muttered in between chuckles, “First week in Austin and I’m already making passes at handsome strangers in bar bathrooms.”

“I never said I was complainin’,” Joel said jokingly, and you let out a chuckle, “First week in Austin, hm?”

“Yeah,” you said with a nod, “Here for a postgrad.”

“Smart and beautiful,” he mused, “Reckon I should spill beers more often if this is what I get in return.”

Delicate wings fluttered in your tummy at his words as a feeling of excitement filled your chest. Looking up at him with a raised teasing eyebrow you said, “Not sure spilling beer on someone is the tried and tested formula.”

“Well, that depends, really,” Joel answered back in a teasingly contemplating voice, “‘s it workin’ on you?”

Your stomach dropped slightly at his words, and when your eyes moved to meet his, he was looking at you with a look that made your insides burn.

“Maybe,” you told him with a teasing smile pulling at the corners of your mouth.

You were never usually this bold, but there was something in the way he was looking at you and the syrup-y tone of his voice. You could tell he knew what he was doing, knew exactly what to say, and you wanted more. Biting down on your bottom lip coquettishly, you leaned backwards on your arms, giving Joel a full view of the soaked front of your dress, and more specifically, everything he could see underneath.

“And what works on you, Joel?”

You watched with some satisfaction as Joel's eyes ran over the length of your chest, before he quickly redirected them to your eyes.

“You’re making it very hard to be a gentleman here, sweetheart,” he almost whispered, his eyes as dark as the Austin summer night sky. You gave a noncommitted shrug as a teasing smile tugged at your lips. Then, you leaned forward so that you were closer to him, feet dangling slightly.

“I never asked you to be,” you told him, your voice low but not quite a whisper as you looked up at him through your lashes.

Behind your rib cage your heart quickened with excitement as Joel’s darkening gaze bored into yours, and you knew you him right where you wanted him. His eyes danced over your face for a moment, before they flickered down to your lips. It almost made you stop breathing for a second, the tension in the air between you so thick you could cut it with a knife. There was just something about this man, something about Joel – and in this moment you wanted him more than you’d ever wanted anyone before.

Maybe it should’ve scared you, the speed at which you’d fallen under his spell (or was it the other way around?), but right now, with Joel’s darkening eyes staring into yours, you couldn't bring yourself to feel any fear. You could only look at him, could only feel his breath fanning over your lips and the intensity of his gaze on your face.

“You’re trouble, aren’t ya?” Joel’s voice was low, not quite a whisper, but full of deep bass.

You felt the expanse of his hand fall on your bare knee, rough and calloused over where your sundress had ridden up.

“Nothing you can’t handle.” You batted your eyelashes semi-innocently, spreading your thighs slightly, which made Joel’s mouth twitch in amusement.

“’s that so, darlin’?” He asked, taking his place between your legs, your face now only inches from his as he looked down at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Mhm,” you nodded slightly, your hand falling over his to guide it slowly up your thigh, “Don’t you wanna find out?”

As Joel’s index finger made contact with the side seam of your underwear, he closed the space between you and pressed his lips against yours. The hairs of his mustache tickled your cupid’s bow as he dove deeper, lips rolling over yours. You sat up slightly when his other hand wrapped around your waist and pulled you closer to him, your core rubbing up against his growing bulge. You whimpered against his lips at the contact, and Joel inhaled it, consuming every breathy moan and whimper.

His hand slid slowly downwards to your ass where he gave it a nice squeeze, pulling you even closer when your legs came up to wrap around his waist. He licked at your lower lip hungrily, and you opened yourself up to him to allow him to deepen the kiss. It was hot, and suffocating, and all-consuming, all at the same time. He was a great kisser, probably the best you’d kissed. His lips moved expertly over yours, soft and firm at the same time as he guided you through it.

The grip on your ass tightened again and soon you were half-way to hanging off the counter as he rocked his front steadily against your core, where your arousal had started to pool. The kisses turned needier then, shorter and desperate between quiet whines. You could feel the shape of him against you, hard and thick, and big. A wave of tickling arousal washed over you as you imagined yourself on your knees before him, the weight and taste of him on your tongue. He was so fucking hot, and you wanted him so fucking badly.

“Can I suck your cock?” you panted through frantic kisses.

Joel pulled back slightly, head tipped back to find your eyes.

“You wanna suck my cock?” he asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. You only nodded, head tipping slowly with the bite of your lip.

Joel tsk-ed, “Dirty girl,” he said and rocked his hard bulge against your core, which earned him a moan. It made a wicked grin spread across his face, like he’d just proved a point.

His hands left your body as he slowly stepped backwards – that same cocky grin adorning his features as he nodded towards one of the stalls. Jumping off the countertop, you almost tripped over your feet to follow him inside.

“Relax, baby– ain’t no need to get on your knees until after we’re inside,” he teased, holding the door open for you, bicep bulging against the fabric of his t-shirt. Fuck, he looked so hot.

“Ha-ha,” you fake-laughed at him with a teasing roll of your eyes as you stepped past him and into the bathroom stall. When the door clicked behind him, followed by the unmistakable sound of the lock turning, you felt a pair of strong hands land on your hips as he pressed his body against your back.

“I’m only teasin’,” he reassured you in your ear, his breath fanning over the shell and sending a tingle down your spine. Turning around in his hold, your own teasing smile spread across your face as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

“Yeah?” you queried with the raise of an eyebrow, “Well two can play that game, sir” you teased as you slowly sunk to your knees, missing the way Joel reacted to the title you’d assigned him.

From above Joel watched you, body relaxed and composed like he wasn’t about to get his dick sucked, but the lust in his eyes gave him away. Your teeth caught on your bottom lip as you fumbled with his belt, the sound of metal clinking bouncing off the tiles as you focused on popping the button on his jeans and pulling the zipper down. You couldn’t take your eyes off the shape of him hidden behind the denim, and it made your mouth water, your thighs squeezing together. You were mesmerized as you let your pointer finger run over the covered length of him, the cotton fabric of his boxer briefs soft under your fingertips.

For a moment, you couldn’t believe what you were about to do – suck a man you’d just met less than an hour ago off in the bathroom stall of some dingy bar? But then again, something excited you about it.

Maybe it was Joel? Or maybe it was the thrill of it all– of maybe getting caught?

“Go on, darlin’, it’s okay– be a good girl n’ take it out f’me,” Joel ordered from above, his voice dropping an octave. You looked up at him, caught the way he studied you, gauging your every move and reaction.

Then something shifted in his eyes, a flash of insecurity making its presence known, “Or don’t– we can stop f’you want– if you ain’t feelin’ it anymore.”

You shook your head before he’d even finished his sentence. God, no! You sure as hell didn’t want to stop.

“I wanna keep going, Joel,” you smiled, your fingers hooking into the elastic band of his boxer briefs.

A genuine smile bloomed across his face then, his rough hand coming down to cup your chin, “That’s good, baby,” he said, swiping his thumb slowly over your skin, before he leaned down to press a chaste kiss to your lips.

“Know you’ll be good f’me, won’t you?” he whispered against your lips, drawing a breathy whine from you at the praise.

“Yes,” you sighed, almost breathless as he kissed you again quickly before he murmured against your lips, “Yes, you will, darlin’– you’re gonna choke on my cock ‘n thank me for it, won’t ya?”

He was driving you mad with all these questions. In just a few minutes, this man had turned you inside out, pushed every button to turn you on– you were practically swimming in your panties, your mind clouded in hazy arousal.

You didn’t know what to do, and not thinking clearly, you chased his lips.

“Nuh-uh,” Joel chuckled, pulling away slightly, “lemme hear you say it, sweetheart.”

“Yes,” you sighed again, “thank you for giving me your cock.”

“Thank you for giving me your cock, what?”

This manwas relentless.

“Thank you for giving me your cock, sir?” you tried, teeth nibbling on your bottom lip.

Pleased, a satisfied grin pulled at Joel’s lips. He rewarded you with a quick kiss before he pulled away, standing to his full height again.

You couldn’t wait any longer, you needed to touch him. Hooking your fingers into the elastic band of his boxer briefs again, you slowly pulled them down, revealing inch by inch of the base of his fat cock.

He was big, and the sight made your mouth water, but what excited you the most was the weight of his heavy balls.

“Fuck,” you whispered, eyes wide with fascination.

His hand found the back of your neck in a grounding hold as he guided you closer, your lips bumping against his tip. “Give it a kiss, baby… just like that,” he praised as you did exactly what he wanted, placing a kiss to his cock the same way you’d kissed his lips.

Over you, you could hear Joel release a content breathy chuckle, “That’s so good, baby, such a good girl.”

Egged on by his praises, you shifted a little on your knees, steadying your hands on his thighs as you pooled a blob of spit in your mouth that you let drip down the head. Joel watched you intensely as you used your dominant hand to slowly work the spit over his length, earning yourself a strained grunt. He grew even harder in your hand as you familiarized yourself with the weight and size of him in your hand.

“Wanna taste it, sir,” you said and placed another soft kiss to the head, swiping your tongue over the slit to taste the precum that had started to pearl.

“Yeah?” he taunted, almost degrading, “You wanna taste my cock that badly?”

“Y-yes,” you whined, looking up at him through your lashes.

Joel watched you for a beat before he tapped at the hand wrapped around him, shooing it away as he fisted himself. “Open wide then, honey, ‘f you want it that bad,” he said, slapping his cock against the side of your face.

Your mouth dropped open in an instance as Joel stuffed his cock inside your mouth slowly. You opened up as wide as you possibly could, relaxing your jaw to accommodate the size of him in your mouth. It was a wide stretch, and the tip touched the back of your throat far too soon, making you gag around the head.

He pulled back to let you breathe for a moment, before he sunk back down your throat again, a large and grounding hand resting at the back of your head. The second time you were more prepared to take him, holding him in your throat for a few moments longer before you started to gag. Over you, Joel let out a strained grunt; the noise sending a bolt of arousal straight to your core.

After that, Joel let you take the lead.

You started out slow, taking the head into your mouth as you let your spit-covered fingers glide over his shaft in an experimental tug. Under your fist, a slick sound echoed off the tiles with every jerk of his cock. You made sure his cock was thoroughly coated in your spit as you set a steady rhythm. You let your tongue glide over the underside of his tip, his hips bucking when you dipped your tongue into the slit.

It was sloppy, and wet, and the noises coming from your throat were entirely too obscene as you started bobbing your head, taking him down your throat.

“That’s a good girl,” Joel praised you, helping guide his cock down your throat with the hand resting at the back of your head. “You love suckin’ cock, don’t you? Love havin’ a big cock fill up that tight throat?”

Suddenly, you heard the muted music coming from the bar grow louder before dying again at the sound of the door slamming shut. You stilled your movements in panic as you heard someone slip into the stall to your right. Your eyes met Joel as you slipped his cock out your mouth, but to your surprise he looked far from concerned about the new audience.

Stretching his neck he turned his head in the direction of the occupied stall, while he wrapped his fist around the base of his cock. Even in his hands it looked big, and you started to wonder how you’d ever managed to fit it down your throat. A beat passed before he turned his head to look at you again, a wicked grin coating his lips as he bobbed his cock in your face, rubbing the head over your closed lips before he slapped it lightly against your cheek.

“Open up,” he mouthed with another light slap to your cheek. His actions made a tingle of arousal spread throughout your body, and you realized in shock how much the thought of getting caught turned you on.

You did as Joel said and opened your mouth for him to feed you his cock again. He watched you very closely this time, letting you ease yourself down his cock at your own pace, trying your best to be quiet. When the very tip of your nose made contact with the thatch of coarse dark hair at the base and your lips were snug around his cock, Joel couldn’t help himself. The grounding hand at the back of your head held you down as he shoved himself as deep as he possibly could down your throat, his balls bouncing against your chin at the movement.

To your right you heard the unmistakable sound of a toilet being flushed and a lock being twisted. Your eyes welled up with tears, your vision fogging over as you tried your best to fight against your gag reflex. Over you, Joel watched you with a proud smirk on his lips. When the sound of the sink turning on echoed through the restroom, you allowed a whimpering gag to escape you as you squeezed your eyes shut.

It shouldn’t have turned you on as much as it did, but the thrill of getting caught choking on an older man’s cock, a man who was essentially a stranger, made you wonder if you could come untouched. You were so close already, just a flick of your clit would send you off the edge of bliss.

Your eyes were about to roll back into your head when Joel finally pulled back. You gasped violently for air at the exact moment the door opened, filling the toilets with loud music for a moment before you and Joel were locked away again in your own little world. Like you were on autopilot, your hand slipped between your thighs to find your clit, and soon you were withering with your orgasm.

“Oh, there you go, honey, come all over those fingers f’me, just like that,” you heard Joel say, though the force of your orgasm made it seem like he was far away, like your ears were filled with cotton.

When you finally calmed down, you steadied yourself with a tug at Joel’s jeans – the fabric rough under your fingertips. Over you Joel fisted his cock as he watched you with a wild look in his eyes.

“Goddamn, baby, you’re so fuckin’ hot comin’ like that just from gettin’ your throat fucked.”

“Thank you, sir,” you managed to let out, your voice strained and hoarse.

Realizing he must’ve been close, you sat up straighter on your knees, ready to pull him off the edge too. Leaning forward, you stuck out your tongue, licking a fat strip up the seam of his balls to the underside of his shaft. His cock jumped in his hand as Joel let out a breathy laugh.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” he muttered, “Look me in the eyes honey– look me in the eyes when you lick my balls.” Joel jerked his cock above your face as you continued to lick at his heavy balls – your eyes locked with his.

“Look so fuckin’ pretty like this,” he choked out through groans, “Suck on ‘em, baby, suck on my balls.”

Blinking up at him you tried your best to fit one of them in your mouth, hollowing your cheeks and sucking greedily and lapping at the skin, before you moved on to treat the other with the same amount of love.

Joel’s mouth dropped open in a gape, his breath coming out quicker and more staggered. He squeezed himself harder at the base with each jerk before skating his thumb over the swollen head, massaging it.

“Fuck,” he panted, “I’m gonna come, baby, I’m gonna fuckin’ come.”

Popping his balls from your mouth you hurriedly sat up in front of him, the tip off his cock brushing over the plump of your bottom lip with every thug of his cock.

“Please, sir,” you begged, “Please, come in my mouth.”

Joel wasn’t one to deny your request, especially not when you were sat so pretty in front of him with your tongue sticking out.

A second later, Joel shoved his cock in your mouth and came – balls drawn tight as he shot his load down your throat. The force of it made you gag a little at first, the restriction around his sensitive cock only making him come harder. He groaned above you as you sucked him dry, before he pulled back when it was too much, and caught his breath.

“Say Ah,” he said, a gentle but firm hand cupping your jaw. The squeeze of his fingers made your mouth drop open to reveal the cum coated on your tongue and where it pooled at the back of your throat. “Don’t swallow– Let me see, darlin’.”

Your smile fought against his grip. Sticking your tongue out the best you could, you let him see the state he’d left you in; chin coated in saliva, tears starting to dry on your cheeks, mouth puffy and fucked, and marked in this stranger’s cum.

“Pretty as a picture,” he tutted before he let go of your jaw, and with a pat to your cheek finally gave you permission to swallow.

After that it was like the spell had broken between you. Joel helped you to your feet, both of you giggling when your legs wobbled like a foal unsteady on its feet. He held you upright with a strong hand to your waist, while the other one traveled up the length of your body to cup your face, and bring it closer to place a slow and sensual kiss to your lips.

“Would you believe me if I told you I’d never done anything like that before?” You asked him a moment later as he helped you clean your face by the sink.

Joel gave you a look in the mirror.

“You don’t?” you exclaimed.

Joel gave you an infuriatingly casual shrug, “It ain’t your first time suckin’ dick that’s for sure,” he teased with a pinch to your side which made you jump.

Giving him a playful shove, you said, “I’m not lying! I’ve never had a one-night stand.”

“Well, the night’s still young,” Joel joked, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind and dipping his head to place a soft kiss to the column of your neck.

You leaned into his touch, feeling the soft grip of his hands on your body, and the soft presses of his kisses as you watched the two of you in the mirror. You found that you liked the reflection looking back at you, and if you were lucky, you hoped he liked it too; maybe enough to want to see you again.

“I can’t go back out there like this,” you said after a moment.

Your dress had finally dried, but so had the beer – staining it yellow.

Joel lifted his head from your neck to rest his chin on your shoulder as his eyes scanned your body in the mirror.

“I have a flannel in my truck I can borrow you?”

“More layers in this heat?” you questioned, already sweating at the thought.

A wide grin spread across Joel’s face, full of mischief, “I guess I’ll just have to take ‘em off of you later, then.”

Turning around in his hold, you wrapped your hands around his neck, your fingers toying with the hair curling at his neck as you met his eyes. “That doesn’t sound so bad,” you whispered, painfully aware of the wet stain of arousal soiling your panties and sticking to your cunt.

“No, it doesn’t,” Joel hummed, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.

“Wanna get out of here?” you asked and brushed your lips over his.

A moment later Joel guided you out the restrooms with a protective hand resting at the small of your back. Weaving through the crowd, you’d made your way almost to the exit when you heard a shout of your name over the music.

“There you are!” Sarah shouted again as she moved through the crowd towards you and Joel, arms reached out to the sky.

“Oh! And you’ve finally met my dad!”

i hope this was okay and that someone liked this? as always feedback as a comment, in the tags, as an ask or reply is very much appreciated, and they make me super happy! <3 i'm very curious to hear your thoughts about this! <3

#joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller one shot #joel miller fanfic #joel miller smut #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us smut #tlou fanfiction #tlou smut #bfd!joel miller #dom!joel miller #pedro pascal #*writing

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kamaluhkhan · 11 months ago

Text

you are so gorgeous (it makes me so mad)

pairing: young!coryo snow x fem!reader

summary: clemensia dovecote has a theory that you and snow are destined for an enemies to lovers arc. you're sure it's completely, absolutely not true...right?

warnings: 18 + smut; biting + mention of blood ; both reader and snow are not the best ppl and have some very classist/elitist opinions

a/n: finally!! i wrote one of the ideas that has been haunting me ever since i've been back in my hunger games obsession + watched tbosbas...needless to say this will likely be a series inspired by taylor swift's reputation album. also i am so sorry this is unedited bc ofc it's 3am when i had the motivation to write this but i hope y'all enjoy ♡

i've had enemies so intense it felt like love, so mutual it felt romantic (chelsea hodson)

"what in the name of all the gods is he doing here?"

you're practically seething when coriolanus snow walks into your foyer. he's wearing an ensemble made with crisp white silk and intricately embroidered with gold thread - elegant, eventhough its silhouette would have been fashionable last year. a single white rose sits in the pocket of his jacket. he surveys the crowd, like he's calculating who's most worthy of his attention, platnium blond hair perfectly curled and practically glowing under the light of the chandelier. he looks beautiful, almost angelic.

you absolutely hate it.

"oh, i invited him," clemensia dovecote informs non-chalantly.

coriolanus makes eye contact with you from across the room, and you turn your head sharply to your best friend.

"why would you think it was okay to invite him?"

clemensia smiles mischeviously, grabbing two champagne flutes from a passing silver tray. she hands one to you.

"i know the two of you have your petty squabbles — "

"they are not petty, nor are they squabbles," you grumble, taking a sip of your drink.

your contempt towards coriolanus was perfectly reasonable and absolutely mutual. he had some ridiculous notion that snow had to land on top, that it was his right to be there instead of yours. your relationship, if you could call it that, was limited to nothing more than snide remarks, sarcastic comments, and scornful stares. you both hyperaware of the importance of keeping up appearances, but the older you got - the closer to life outside of the academy and the higher the stakes - the more any sense of civility between you two faded. just earlier this week, you'd gotten into such a heated debate about the best way to increase viewership for the upcoming 10th annual hunger games, that your professor excused you both from the class early due to the disruption. it seemed that no one knew how to make you burn with anger quite like coriolanus snow.

clemensia rolls her eyes. "whatever you want to call it, i actually think the two of you would get along if you really tried."

one of the things you admired - and, frankly, loathed - about clemensia was her determination to always prove herself right. she had this theory - one you would call ludicrous - that the tension between you and coriolanus had nothing to do with academics or status and everything to do with wanting to rip each other's clothes off.

your eyes catch coriolanus' icy blue ones again and you down the rest of your drink. obviously, clemensia was wrong about this. so, very wrong.

"well," you huff, setting your empty glass down on another silver tray that passes by. you brush invisible dust off your dress - a deep red lace, short and form fitting with exaggerated long sleeves - and add: "you'll be lucky if i invite you to my next party."

clemensia might have had the sense to apologize then, but you walked away before she had a chance.

you allow yourself to weave through the crowd, greeting every guest with an equal facade of enthusiasm and grace. you smile as brightly at one person as you do the next, showing off your newly bleached teeth and making sure that everyone feels special. silver trays of food and drinks appear and reappear throughout the crowd, being carried by nameless waiters. there's a table overflowing with gifts concealed by crisply folded wrapping paper - you expect at least half of them will be worthless.

you put up a good front, but soon enough your lipstick needs reapplying and your hair readjusting, so you briefly excuse yourself lest anyone notice a crack in your perfectly constructed image. the door to your room is slightly ajar, and you open it to reveal none other than the person you'd deliberately, but not so successfully, tried to ignore all night, his white silk shirt stained a dark crimson that happened to match your dress.

coriolanus was furious when he found out you'd invited the entire graduating class, except him, to your birthday party. you'd even invited sejanus. it wasn't that he particularly wanted to celebrate you, of all people. you were the most brilliant, biting, enfuriating person he knew, but to be excluded in such a way was insulting. when clemensia extended him the invite, he jumped at the chance to prove to everyone, to you, that he belonged here. tigris curated his outfit, and it would have been perfect had arachne crane, vapid creature she was and ever the lightweight, spilled an entire glass of red wine on him. he hurried away before anyone could see him in such a humiliating state. coriolanus is in the middle of calculating his options when you walk into what he now realizes is your bedroom.

you don't say a word at first. you haven't said one to him all night. instead, you close the door behind you and your eyes graze his figure.

"you show up to my party, late no less, and now you're parading around in what looks like a bloodstained shirt that is far too outmoded to be appropriate attire for this occasion," you remark, displaying that signature fierceness. "are you trying to ruin my birthday, snow?"

"don't blame me," coriolanus scoffs. his shoulders tense and he makes a point to stand up a bit straighter. "blame arachne for not being able to hold her alcohol while she's complaining about the food."

"oh?" you raise an eyebrow. "what did she say?"

"something about people in the districts having better options."

"vapid bitch," you mutter under your breath. you walk over to your closet, disappearing for a few seconds before bringing out a fresh shirt. you extend it to him, but he doesn't take it.

"i can't very well have a good time when one of my guests looks like he just got killed in the hunger games," you huff. "so either you put this on or your leave my party. now."

coriolanus holds your gaze, his jaw clenched, before giving in and taking the shirt from you. he goes to undo the buttons of his shirt, but stops when he notices that your eyes never leave him.

"some privacy would be nice," he says sharply.

you roll your eyes, muttering something about it being your house and your room, before sitting across the room at your vanity. as he undresses and throws his soiled shirt on the floor, coriolanus watches you closely. you meticulously apply lipstick, the shade of red almost as dark as your black nails.

you were attractive, there was no denying that, but ultimately dangerous. because you weren't carelessly cruel like arachne, nor did you wear your heart on your sleeve like sejanus. you didn't use your family's status as an excuse to avoid hard work like felix, nor were you a spineless know-it-all like clemensia. no, you were different from the rest. you had a fiery ambition and a sharp tongue, a wicked streak with just enough charisma to lure people in. sometimes when he thinks of you, coriolanus recalls stories his grandma'am once told him and tigress, about sea monsters who would tempt sailors with their bewitching voices and enchanting beauty, enticing them to risk everything - to jump into the ocean and never be relevant as anything more than a midnight snack. you were a constant, suffocating reminder of how quickly he could lose everything if he lost control, if he gave in.

coriolanus watches you set down the tube of lipstick before picking up a compact. you lightly brush the shimmery powder inside over your face to accentuate some of your gorgeous features.

the desire that burns throughout his body now has to be a side effect of the few glasses of liquor he managed to drink, allowing himself the appearance of having a good time alongside everyone else without losing control.

your eyes leave your reflection momentarily, and you finally catch coriolanus staring at you. you wink at him from across the room just as he's finished with the last button. the way you look at him makes the collar of his shirt feel tighter.

he can not give in....but what's the harm in admitting, just for one night, that he would let you drown him? devour him? beg on his knees to give you pleasure, and then thank you after the fact?

coriolanus clears his throat. "this feels wrong. i should be the one gifting you with a new shirt. it's your birthday, after all."

you let out a breathy laugh, setting down your makeup. you walk over to him, until there are only a few inches between you despite the vastness of your bedroom.

even you had to concede that coriolanus snow had such a gorgeous face for such a vicious person. you're infuriated by how elegant he looks now, in your shirt. your hands busy themselves in smoothing down his already perfect collar and you take note of the intensity of his heartbeat. you notice the way his jaw remains clenched, his posture stiff, his skin flushed. you realize that he must be trying so hard right now to retain his composure around you and you feel something that can only be described as triumph.

you smile at him, sickly sweet, and remove your hands from his body. "the best birthday present i could get is winning the plinth prize over you, snow. we both know you're not good enough, let alone better than me."

he hesitates slightly before responding.

"sorry, valerius. that's the one thing i can't give you. is there anything else you'd want from me?" he whispers, words dripping like honey.

"that depends, is there anything you want from me?"

he hums, moving his hand to cup your cheek. he begins to trace your lips with his thumb, ruining the look you had so meticulously crafted.

if only you knew.

"you're the birthday girl, sweetheart," he chides. "i'm supposed to be the one giving the gift. you do know how birthdays work, don't you?"

he's mocking you, you know that. he's trying to make you feel weak and small. you had the power a second ago, his heartbeat in the palm of your hand, and normally you wouldn't stand for him turning the tables. you'd push him away, storm out the door. but right now all you want is to tug on his perfect blond curls, to bite the smirk off his lips. maybe it's the way he's so close and can't seem to take his eyes off your lips or the calculated amount of wine you drank that's made your head a bit foggy, made you put your guard down. made you start to entertain the idea that maybe possibly clemensia's theory had some truth to it.

"why don't you surprise me?" you suggest.

coriolanus surges forward and kisses you with such ferocity, he might as well be a man starving. teeth on teeth on tongue. you instantly tangle your hands into his hair, pull on some curls just to see what he'd do. he retaliates by biting down on your bottom lip, hard enough that you taste the metallic tang of blood mixed with the remnants of honeyed wine on his lips. you whimper and pull away slightly. he holds your face firmly between his two hands, so you cannot go too far.

"sorry." but he smirks, and you know he doesn't really mean it.

eventually, you've both stumbled onto the bed half-naked. coriolanus positions himself above you, effectively caging you in with his arms and legs. you take note of his lean thighs, his bare torso with skin taut around his bones. you're almost taken aback by how frail he looks - like a malnourished teenager from one of the districts. you reach out to trace the outline of his ribs, your nails scraping against his skin, and he shudders. your hand moves lower, teasing the waistband of his underwear. he stops you before it slips underneath the material.

instead, coriolanus begins to indulge in his deepest fantasy. he kisses and sucks and bites down your body, his tongue trailing down your chest, over your breasts and around your nipples, across your stomach. he laps up your soft whines, the curses that tumble from your lips for him to do something more. you sink further into the silk sheets when he arrives between your thighs. you raise your hips, desperate to find any sort of relief, and you feel his nails dig into your hips.

"patience," he teases, his breath fanning over where you needed him most. "so needy." you could practically feel coriolanus roll his eyes.

"i swear to god snow, if you don't do something soon. i-i'll go find someone else to fuck me. felix, or maybe sejanus --"

you yelp when his teeth sink into your inner thigh. he looks up at you, eyes the darkest blue you've ever seen them.

"don't," coriolanus warns, and he gets back to work, lips actually arriving at where you needed them most.

after you've reached your high, he comes back up to kiss you, allowing you to taste yourself. when he pulls away, you take note of how his lips and nose shine with remnants of you. the way he looks at you while he licks his lips shows you that he wants more. you move your hand down, and you're deeply satisfied when you feel him half hard, already sticky with his release.

"oh." you smirk. "you already finished."

his eyes widen, skin flushing pink. you could feel his heartbeat grow faster above you. you could imagine he was debating the best way to restore his dominance from before. yet, here he was, nothing but a horny teenage boy who came untouched as he was eating out his worst enemy. you find it in you to not call him pathetic, but instead decide, in your post-orgasm haze, you find it endearing.

"i-i didn't mean to, but --"

"i'm just that sexy when i cum," you suggest, running your hands through his curls to calm him down. "how about we try again, pretty boy?"

soon enough, he's sitting up with his back against your headboard and your legs wrapped around his waist, his length fully nestled into your warm cunt. coriolanus' blunt nails graze your hips, moving lower to your ass to guide you with each thrust. you love seeing him underneath you, seeming completely mesmerized by how your breasts bounce up and down in front of him. he leans forward to wrap his lips around your nipple, but you beat him to it. you bend forward and suck bruises onto his skin, everywhere and anywhere: underneath his chin, across his collarbone, where his neck meets his shoulder.

his moans are so loud, and you're sure he's not going to last much longer. you're also worried that some of the other party guests might catch you, so you pull his head away from your shoulder and crash your lips back onto to his. you swallow his moans as best you can, tongues fight for dominance, but he lets out a deep groan, and lets you win. you bite down on his bottom lip just as you reach your climax, causing him to let out a deep groan once more.

you gasp when he suddenly flips you over, pulls out of you and stokes himself a few times before painting your body with his release. coriolanus all but collapses on the bed beside you. you're both breathing heavily for a few moments, on your backs looking up at the ceiling, before he turns on his side towards you. coriolanus trails hs fingers down to your abdomen, sticky with his cum.

"i told you: snow lands on top."

"was that a joke, coryo?" you guffaw, genuinely surprised at the mischievous but playful glint in his eye. a bit surprised at yourself, too, for using his nickname that you'd so carefully avoided. you had to remind yourself that he was still the same coriolanus snow you'd grown to hate.

the boy tangled in the sheets beside you, his messy curls translucent under the light of your chandelier, his skin glowing with sweat and decorated with lipstick and rose-petal bruises. the boy who now smiles at you with dazzling blue eyes, leans closer and whispers:

"don't get used to it. it's a special occasion." coriolanus kisses you sweetly, and you shiver before he adds: "happy birthday."

this boy in bed with you now is the same manipulative, power hungry snake who would stab you in the back if need be. and, the truth of the matter is: you aren't much different, either.

you get up to grab his wine-stained shirt, use it to wipe off his release and toss it back down to the floor.

his eyes follow you the entire time, even as you come back to straddle him again. almost instantly, you feel him harden underneath you. you hold his head in your hands, kiss him deeply, tease his bottom lip between your teeth as you pull away.

"snow lands on top, huh? not for long, if i can help it."

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ziggyzolch · 7 months ago

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Headache Ⅳ (Wanda Maximoff x Reader)

Summary: You're bored and Tony won't let you leave the building unless you bring a babysitter with you. Warnings: ig kinda mean wanda Previous Part

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

❅❅❅

A week with the avengers and you’re already bored. They haven’t let you go on missions or leave the building yet, so you’ve been relying on your friends’ class notes. All you’ve been doing is training, studying, playing video games, and attempting to prank Wanda. She was always one step ahead of you. Scaring you before you could jump out the corner to scare her, using her powers to flip the bucket of ice water and making you spill it all over yourself, and worst of all, predicting the punchline of your jokes before you could get to them.

You learned of her mind reading capabilities when you called her stupid in your head and she rid you of your blanket privileges. She was super sensitive to lame insults, you noticed. It was either that or shoving you against walls was just enjoyable to her.

The one time she was tolerable was during your occasional drinking nights with Peter, and sometimes Pietro. She was touchy, but not mean. Kind of. Last night was one of those nights, and Wanda had gotten the most wasted out of all of you, leading you to call it a night a little earlier.

You wake up to a gentle nudging on your cheek. Peaking an eye open, you break into a smile at the sight of your cat. “Hey, little buddy” You whisper to him, adjusting your position on the floor. He meows back, continuing to paw at you. Pain pierces through your head when you push yourself off the floor. You probably shouldn’t have drunk half your weight in vodka.

A groan comes from the bed in the corner of the room when the chair you were using to hold yourself up creaks loudly. Your eyes widen when you see Wanda gagging with her upper half leaning off the bed. Rushing to get the bin, you bolt towards her, placing the trash can under her before she could puke all over her floor. Wanda clutches the bin while you hold her hair back.

“Let it all out.” You attempt to comfort her while your own head’s spinning. She groans after emptying the contents of her stomach, rolling onto her back.

“I’m never drinking again.” Wanda groans while you laugh, taking the bin to the bathroom and dumping its contents into the toilet.

“Do we have training today?” You peek your head out of the bathroom while washing your hands.

“No practice on Saturdays.” She finally gets up, walking towards you.

You’re brushing your teeth as she looks in the mirror, fixing her hair. Spitting the toothpaste out, you ask, “Can I leave the building yet?”

She shrugs, making eye contact with you through the mirror, “You’re gonna have to ask Steve or Tony.”

You groan. Kate has been on your ass about your whereabouts the past 7 days, and you’re running out of excuses. Also, you missed her. The team is great, but you’ve only known them for a week. Plus, you’d rather not cross paths with Steve again. He’s lectured you more times than you could count.

Finishing up, you wash your face and leave Wanda to do her business. You bend down to take out a random black camisole and sweatpants out of your bag and place them on the desk, your back cracking as you straightened back up. Wanda refused to let you keep your clothes in her closet, so you had to make do until you got your own room.

You don’t really know where you stand with her, you haven't fully warmed up to each other yet. She still hasn’t let you sleep on the couch. Even drunk, she pushed you to the floor when she caught you falling asleep on her sacred sofa. You couldn’t be assed to argue at the time, but as you're twisting and turning your torso, attempting to rid the pain in your back, you wish you did.

Walking to the nightstand, you check the time on Wanda’s phone. She confiscated yours as a ‘security protocol’, but you think she just wanted to fuck with you. Ignoring the feeling of eyes on you, you sigh and lift your shirt over your head, groaning when you realize you left your clothes on the desk. When you turn, you find Wanda standing outside the bathroom. She looks you up and down, smirking at your blush as you walk to get your clothes.

“Uh, can you turn around?” You curl into yourself, attempting to cover up your body.

The brunette rolls her eyes, “This is my room, you can’t tell me what to do.”

Your blush deepens, “You can’t be serious.”

Wanda doesn’t move from her spot, shrugging. You groan and leave the room, closing the door behind you and taking off your pants. You’re mumbling curses under your breath when a gasp catches your attention. Peter and Natasha are standing at the end of the hallway. The former with his hand over his eyes, a deep blush covering his face. Natasha smirks as she drags Peter by his arm, walking past you and turning a corner. Sighing, you lean against the door, pulling up your pants when suddenly you’re falling forward.

Wanda looks down at you, flat on your face with your pants halfway up. “Fucking bit-”

You don’t even get to finish before you’re being lifted and pushed into a wall. “I dare you to finish that sentence.”

“Why are you always abusing me?” You pout, attempting to turn around and look at her when she pushes your face further into the wall.

“Apologize.” She grits out.

You’re about to retort when you remember you have to talk to Tony. Reluctantly, you mumble out an apology and Wanda turns you around to face her, smirking, “Good girl.”

She pulls your pants up, tapping your reddened cheek and walking back into her room.

What the fuck.

❅❅❅

“Come in!” You push past the door of Tony’s lab, taking in all the machines and holograms around the room. You hadn’t actually gotten a chance to get a good look at everything during your failed heist. “What’s up?” Tony turns to you, blowtorch in hand. Eyes widening, you slowly back up, “Uh, I just wanted to ask if I could leave the building-”

“Nope.”

“What! Why?”

“You’re not exactly the most trustworthy person.”

“Untrue! I saw Peter pick his nose once and I haven’t told anyone!”

“You literally just told me.”

“Please!”

You grab Tony’s shoulders, moving him back and forth and pleading, voice raising in pitch.

He groans, grabbing both your wrists, “Jesus, Fine!”

“Yes!”

“But you have to bring Wanda with you.”

Your face drops, “Peter can come with me.”

Tony shakes his head, “He wouldn’t be able to catch you if you ran, plus you’re all buddy-buddy with him.”

“Okay, fine, but on one condition,”

He raises an eyebrow.

“Can you get me an automatic cat food dispenser, or install one, or hire someone to feed my cat.”

He laughs, “Don’t let Steve find your cat, and sure.”

You internally celebrate, rushing out and back towards Wanda’s room. “Hey, Wanda-” Pushing open the door, you catch the witch sitting on the couch with you laptop on her lap. You grab your laptop and place it in your backpack before she could blink.

One hand on your hip, you stare at her, waiting for an explanation. After a beat of silence, you finally ask, “What were you doing on my laptop?”

Wanda’s eyes dart around the room, looking everywhere but you, mumbling something under her breath.

“What?”

“I wanted to play the game I saw you playing earlier.”

You tilt your head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion before she groans, “The one where you fight zombies and stuff.”

“Resident evil?”

“Not that one.”

“Call of duty?”

“No!”

“Left for dead?”

“No it was like, ugh I don’t know! Like, it had skeletons and I saw a pig.”

Your eyes light up in realization, “Minecraft?”

Wanda slaps her hands together, “That’s the one!”

You laugh, shaking your head and moving towards your bag to take out cat food. “I’ll let you play, if you come out with me tonight.”

Your cat approaches you when he hears the bag rustle, and you exit the room for a second to pour the food in his bowl. Wanda refused to let you keep the litter box and food bowl in her room, which was fair.

You walk back in, finding Wanda wide-eyed on the couch, “Like, on a date?”

Your eyebrows shoot up, “What? No! Tony said I could go out if you came as a babysitter.”

Wanda deflates, “Oh, sure yeah.”

You take your laptop out again, moving to take a seat next to Wanda. You’re explaining how the game works when you get an email from your roommate and best friend, Kate, jokingly asking if you’re gonna bail on the hangout. You quickly type out a reply, ‘im coming. bringing a friend,’ You pause for a moment before continuing, ‘best regards.’

Wanda’s lips tilt upwards at you considering her a friend despite her behavior towards you. “Why is she emailing you?” You raise an eyebrow, “You took my phone. Remember?” Her mouth forms an ‘O’ shape before reaching her hand behind the couch cushions, bringing your phone up and handing you it. You snatch your phone from her hand, rolling your eyes. “Asshole,” You stiffen, only relaxing when you realize Wanda hadn’t heard, “Uhm, okay, so you make these tools…”

Wanda was horrible. It took her an hour and a half to finally get used to the walking controls and crafting, kind of. “This is a stupid game.” She pouts as the respawn screen pops up for the millionth time. Glancing at the corner of the screen, you curse as you jump up. “We need to get ready. Can you call Peter and ask him if he’s busy?”

You change your clothes, not caring about Wanda seeing you. She had already seen you in your underwear so there was no point.

Wanda hums, makes no move to pick up her phone.

You roll your eyes when you catch her staring, “Can you stop being a creep and call Peter. Invite Pietro if you want.”

“Fine.”

❅❅❅

The silhouettes of your friends become clearer as you approach the location on your phone. Wanda’s bows furrow when she sees that it's an abandoned construction site, awkwardly parking the car. You and Peter rush out of the car, excitedly hugging your friends. Peter had invited Ned and MJ, while you had Kate Bishop. The twins weren’t as popular as the rest of the avengers, so you didn’t worry about your friends recognizing them. Wanda and Pietro stepped out of the vehicle and approached your group.

“Guys! This is Wanda, and this is her brother, Pietro.”

Exchanging pleasantries, you all start walking towards the building. Wanda turns towards you, “Why are we here? Is this just your normal hangout spot-” Her eyes widen when you shush her, placing a finger on her lips, “All will be revealed, little witch.”

You were all sitting in a circle inside the abandoned building, the flashlights of your phones illuminating the room. Ned and Kate sat on either side of you, with the twins, Peter and MJ sat across. “Silence!” You clap your hands together, continuing when everybody turns their attention towards you, “Rumor has it, this building was the site of satanic…occult? Cult? Whatever, you get me. Ritual!”

Wanda smiles in amusement, winking when you make eye contact.

Kate tilts her head at your blush, “Anyways! We will be contacting the spirits present here.”

Kate chimes in, lifting a bottle of water, “I brought holy water with me!”

You and her planned this thing together, and holy water was never mentioned. Taking the bottle from her, you pop open the cap and take a sip. Bishop laughs when you attempt to stop yourself from making a face, “Wow, okay. Glad you brought vodka to a fucking demon ritual.”

Ignoring you, Kate takes out a ouija board from her bag and places it in the middle of the circle. Wanda’s eyes light up as she turns towards her brother.

“Alright, everybody put your hands on the pointer thing.” You say while placing your hands first, everybody following after you. “Spirits, ghosts, beings, entities, and everything else, if you are here, move the…puck thing.” Kate is about to laugh when suddenly the pointer moves towards ‘yes’. Peter looks around, wide eyed, while Wanda and Pietro are oddly calm. “Uhm, okay uh. Jesus.” You wipe the sweat off your forehead, “Are you evil?” Everybody gasps as it circles around ‘yes’. Kate pushes on your shoulder, “Can we stop?” You roll your eyes, “No. Alright, what’s my name?” You all look in confusion when it moves to the wrong letters. You read them out,

��H-E-I-S-E-N-B-E-R-G? Heisenberg.”

Wanda, Pietro, and Kate all break out into laughter, removing their hands from the board while you and the rest look at each other in confusion until Kate explains the reference.

Kate gasps, “Weren’t we supposed to say goodbye before we took our hands off-” The phone lights flicker, and a banging sounds behind you. You screech, jumping into Kate’s arms, “What the fuck!” You tuck your head into her neck when the lights flicker again. Your friend wraps her arms around you in an iron grip, just as scared as you. You don’t catch the red mist dissipating off the board.

The banging stops, and the lights don’t flicker. You detach yourself from your friend, standing up. MJ slaps her hands on her thighs before getting up, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” You all agree, turning to rush out of the building.

Every little sound was making you jump as you exited. Wanda sneaks up behind you,

“Boo-”

A blood curdling scream comes out of you as you turn, your hand clutching at your heart. Your glare does nothing to the witch. Wanda fakes a look of pity as she pulls you into a hug, “Aw, are you scared? I’ll protect you, baby.”

“You literally are the reason I’m scared!” You whine, lightly shoving her off of you. For the rest of the night, you were attached to at least one person from the group. Wanda was growing irritated watching you hang on to everyone's arm except hers, and everybody could tell. Kate was holding onto your hand when she caught a glimpse of Wanda, jealousy radiating off of her.

She gave her a knowing look, “My hands are getting sweaty, hold someone else’s hand.” She shakes you off of her, ignoring your whine and pushing you towards Wanda. You didn’t want to hold onto her since all she did until now was torment you, but everybody else already got a turn.

Wanda beams when you hold onto her arm, smiling when Kate shoots her a wink. She blushes when she feels you squeezing her bicep.

After getting burgers and circling the area for a while, you land back at Wanda’s car. MJ and Peter continue the path alone as Ned bids everyone a goodbye.

“Hey!” Kate approaches you, “You coming back? I know you have that thing with your grandma but I miss your company.”

Deflating a little, you shake your head, “Not for a while, I’m sorry.” She was your best friend, your laptop wallpaper was a picture of her, “I’ll tell you if I do, though.” You add.

She leans in to kiss your cheek, “Alright. Stop ignoring my texts, at least.”

Your eyes stay on her as she walks away, slightly frowning. Wanda wraps her arm around your shoulder, ushering you to the back seat. “I miss my life.” You sigh, leaning against the window as Pietro and Wanda enter the car. She looks at you from the rearview window, “You’ll get used to it.”

Pietro twists his body to turn towards you, “Who knows, maybe you’ll get to go back to your dorm in like a couple months.”

“Maybe.” You pick at your cuticles. A couple months. Here. You could do that.

Just a couple of months.

❅❅❅

Next part

A/N: my new fic is depressing so i figured id update this cute little one, thank you for reading!

Comment if you wanna get added to the tag list.

Tags : @sgm616

#marvel #marvel imagine #mcu #mcu imagine #mcu fandom #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #the scarlet witch #wanda maximoff imagine #scarlet witch x reader #wlw #reader #x reader #sapphic #fanfiction #fanfic

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sugarandspisces-writes · 7 months ago

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Kiss It Better Pt. I

Pairing: Melissa Schemmenti x reader

Summary: Melissa engages in a game of kickball with her students and takes a nasty tumble. With the help of her colleagues, she makes her way to you, the school nurse.

Word Count: 4.6k

CW/TW: Mentions of hospitals and injuries

Although Melissa was a seasoned teacher, sometimes it was challenging to get into the swing of things after a nice vacation. While she was used to instructing two classes, the job still came with its fair share of tough days. The holiday break was much needed, considering it gave her time to recuperate from the first semester.

Originally, she hadn’t planned on going anywhere, and was fully content with spending two weeks at home with her feet kicked up. That was until she heard you complaining about the brutal winter weather. You weren't native to the north, and though you'd lived there for some time, you hadn't adjusted to the seasonal changes.

The more you mentioned it, the more she realized the feeling was mutual. She decided it wouldn't hurt to ring in the New Year differently, so the two of you brainstormed destinations and settled on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Florida. She had a guy who could get her discounted plane tickets and a hotel room for little to nothing. Before she knew it, she was getting sunkissed on Palm Beach. She’d be making a ton of ziti to return the favor, but the bottomless margaritas and adrenaline-filled nights at the casino were more than worth it.

It was now a week later and with her mind still on island time, she hoped for a relaxed first day back. The class was rowdy when they arrived, but that was to be expected. They were excited to be with each other after a couple of weeks away, but luckily they could themselves down without much of her guidance. So far the day was going well, and she was teaching her last morning lesson before recess.

The class was reading silently, making it the perfect time to catch up on some emails. Most of them were from parents, but she had one from Ava with the schedule of upcoming meetings for the remainder of the year. The first one was tomorrow morning meaning she had to wake up extra early.

She rolled her eyes, and the expression only intensified as she skimmed through the rest of the message. According to the principal, breakfast would be provided. However, the last time Ava promised to provide food, the “breakfast” in question was fun-sized boxes of cereal from the cafeteria. She would definitely need her extra-large Stanley Tucci mug to get through tomorrow morning.

She had one last email to read and was delighted to see your name attached to it. The message was marked as a priority, declaring the content to be urgent. It was a reminder for all teachers, asking them to collect and return the forms the students received before the break. As the school nurse, part of your job was ensuring that the kids had updated health records on file.

As for Melissa's class, just about everyone remembered to have their guardians fill out your forms, and she planned to give them to you later today. That prompted her to text you so she could see what your schedule looked like.

M: Hey, I’ll bring those forms to you during my planning period

↪ You sure? I don't mind stopping by your class later

You knew someone was bound to forget to deliver the forms, so you’d have to snag them at the end of the day.

M: I’ll bring them, hon. One less trip you’ll have to make.

Truthfully, the redhead wanted an excuse to see you, and her planning period conveniently took place when your day came to a lull.

↪ Thanks! You’re amazing!!

Melissa’s lips curled upward at your compliment.

M: I might sit with you for a few when I come down. Is that okay?

She was considerate of your job, and no matter how much she wanted to see you during the day, she never wanted to interfere with your work.

↪ Of course that’s okay. You’re always welcome. Just let me know when you’re headed down

For the most part, your relationship was under wraps. Everyone who needed to know was informed, and everyone else was left to assume. And assume they did, because your affinity for each other was a hot topic around the school. Abbott loved to talk, but Melissa had eyes and ears all over–literally.

She’d become acquaintances with a couple members of the camera crew, and their knowledge combined with Barb’s allowed her to obtain information from virtually every square inch of the building. Just about everything that was said made its way back to the source. However, it didn’t bother either of you. If anything, it was amusing, and you found fun in keeping everyone guessing.

Engaged in her reverie, Melissa didn't notice the child standing directly beside her until the small voice spoke. “Ms. Schemmenti.”

Startled by their presence, she nearly jumped out of her seat. A hand clutched at her chest causing the young girl to laugh. “Jeez, Mya!”

“Sorry.” She motioned toward the clock on the opposite side of the room. “Isn't it time for recess?

Melissa looked to where her student was pointing and saw it was 11:20 AM. Crap. They were supposed to be gone five minutes ago. She thanked the girl for telling her, then stood up to alert everyone else.

"Alright, my little eagles, it’s time for recess! We’re a little late because I got distracted, but you guys aren’t surprised, right?” A unison of “no” echoed around the room. “That was a rhetorical question, but thank you for the enthusiastic responses.”

She answered queries about the meaning of ‘rhetorical’, while everyone got their coats on. It was considerably cold, but not cold enough for the school to cancel outside activities. Melissa didn’t mind since this was her kid’s way of getting their energy out and she always made sure everyone had enough clothing on to protect them from the chill.

Once everyone was ready, they walked down the hall in formation. Melissa’s class was large, and while it could be hard to wrangle them all, they did a pretty good job at keeping each other in check.

“I can’t believe we lost a whole 5 minutes,” Daniel whined from the back of the line. It was quiet, but Melissa still heard, so she slowed her steps to meet him once he strolled by.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, buddy. I’ll make it up to you, okay?” When he didn’t respond she spoke again. “How about this? I’ll do a class vote, and then youse can decide what I owe you.”

Even though the boy accepted her apology, he still hung his head low. Melissa squeezed his shoulder for good measure, then let him free as they approached the doors that led outside.

“Melissa!” Janine shouted, waving the redhead over to her. “I was looking for you guys. What happened?”

“Hey, kid. I was reading emails and lost track of time.” Melissa explained as she walked over to the second grade teacher.

“I had a lot of those too! Did you see Ava sent that one email, like, three times? It was so weird,” she laughed and Melissa agreed. “I bet your kids were sad about being late, huh?”

“You shoulda seen their faces when I told them they lost some time,” Melissa shared. “I might as well have told them Santa wasn’t real.”

Janine stuck her bottom lip out in a pout, knowing the exact look Melissa was referring to. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m still getting used to the flow of things too. The first day back is always a little rocky for me.”

“I’m usually okay, but I don’t know what happened today.” Melissa shrugged, looking off into the distance (Except she knew exactly what happened, and it was you).

“Well, they seem pretty happy now that they’re out here, so that’s good,” Janine noted.

“Yeah, but I’m sure I’ll be making it up to them for the next few weeks.” Melissa sighed and Janine nodded in agreement, knowing how relentless kids could be.

“Oh, one of your students is coming over here. I spoke too soon, it looks like he has a bone to pick with you.” She nudged the woman in her side.

Melissa narrowed her eyes before turning toward the student. “Hey, Daniel. What’s up?”

“Can you please play with us?” The little boy asked politely.

She looked across the playground and saw a group of students eyeing her expectantly. She couldn’t deny that it tugged at her heartstrings to see them so eager. However, playing with them wasn’t exactly on the agenda today.

“Oh, I don’t know, hon. There isn't much time left, and I’m sure you don’t want me slowing your game down.”

“Please, we really want you to play. And you said you’d make it up to us, remember?” He reminded her.

This wasn’t her ideal way of making it up, but when Melissa looked down at the boy’s big, hopeful eyes, she couldn’t say no. She looked toward Janine and of course, she was looking at her with just as much expectation as the kids. The next thing Melissa knew, she was involved in a lively kickball game.

“Ms. Schemmenti, Ivy’s cheating!” Tyler yelled as soon as Melissa stepped up to the makeshift base. “I caught the ball, so that means she’s out!”

“I’m not cheating! The ball slipped out of your hands, so I’m still in the game!” Ivy yelled back at him.

“Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!” He teased. “You’re out!”

Melissa knew that it wouldn’t be an elementary school game if there wasn’t a little drama, but she had to hold her laughter back as she listened to their banter. “Okay, that’s enough, guys. Now, Tyler, tell me what happened again.”

“Ivy kicked the ball and I caught it, so that means she’s out.” He explained to her.

Instead of handling the situation herself, she decided to play the mediator. “Okay, How many people saw Tyler catch the ball?” Almost everyone raised their hand, so she turned to the girl to give her a sad smile. “Sorry, hon. You gotta follow the rules.”

“No fair!” The girl crossed her arms over her chest and began to stomp away.

Before she got far, Melissa gave the child a proposition. “Hey, how about I let you run the bases for me? That way you can stay in the game.” Quite frankly, she wasn’t in the running mood, and due to the cold, her joints were stiff. She also didn’t want the child to be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. This way, everyone got what they wanted.

“Deal!” Her mood instantly changed, and Melissa received a wide grin and a high five.

“All right, Ivy’s gonna run for me.” She announced to the group.

“I think that’s against the rules.” Someone piped up from behind her.

“Well, I’ve got a bad knee, so I ain’t running anywhere.” The teacher emphasized her point by wagging her index finger from side to side.

“Well, Ms. Schemmenti, you did say we have to follow the rules.” Ivy recited the woman's recent words.

Melissa closed her eyes and released a sigh at the girl's remark, now regretting using that exact phrase. “Alright, Alright.” The teacher relented. As much as she wanted to disagree with the girl, she was right, and it would be unfair to go against her word. “I’ll run, but go easy on me.”

“Okay, everyone get into position!” Tyler yelled, alerting his classmates that the game was about to start. He rolled the ball down to the teacher, and the woman gave her best kick without using her full power. They were undoubtedly faster than her, but she was certainly stronger, and everyone needed a fair shot.

She then ran to first base and was pleased with herself at how quickly she got there. She hadn’t played a game like this in a while, so it was gratifying to see that she still could. The confidence boost allowed her to make it past the next two bases. Tyler hurled the ball in an attempt to get her out, and she dodged it.

Melissa soon realized that was a mistake once she tripped. The heel of her boot got caught on an uneven patch of grass and she failed to regain balance. Her ankle rolled inward and she collapsed with a thud. A series of gasps filled the air, and within seconds she was surrounded by concerned children. They were too scared to touch her, but that didn’t stop them from getting help.

“Teacher down! Teacher down!” A shrill voice shouted at the top of their lungs.

While Melissa was thankful for the effort, she was unhappy about the attention she now received. Embarrassment was an emotion she rarely felt, but today it was warranted. Listening to her students' frantic chatter gave her something to focus on other than the blush burning her face.

“Okay, let’s back up! Give Ms. Schemmenti some space, please!” Janine's voice of reason rang through all the chatter.

The kids inched away, but only far enough so Janine could have access. It was clear they were protective of their teacher, as they wouldn't take their eyes away for a second in case something were to happen.

Janine held her hand over her mouth as she kneeled in front of the woman. “Oh my God, Melissa! What happened? Are you okay? Can you get up?”

Once the crowd dissipated some, the woman felt she could move freely. She sat up, dusted her hands off, then brushed the debris from her clothes.

“M’fine,” she muttered in response to Janine’s frantic questioning.

“Are you sure? You fell pretty hard.” Janine noted her flushed cheeks and she could only imagine how she felt. Being that she’d embarrassed herself countless times, she had an idea, though she’d never been in this exact situation.

Melissa smoothed her hair back into place, ignoring the sympathetic look on the younger woman’s face. The expression made her want to crawl into a hole and never return. “Thank you for that riveting statement.”

She reached out for Janine’s hand, a silent invitation for her assistance, and felt herself being tugged into an upright position. She hadn't felt it at first, but once she planted her right foot on the ground, a searing pain shot through it. Reflexively, her arm slung across the shorter woman’s shoulder to keep herself steady. She hissed, then hung her head low in an attempt to conceal the pain on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Anxiety laced the junior teacher’s voice, but Melissa just ignored her, unable to simultaneously be in pain and answer questions. She took another step, thinking she could walk it off, but she was sorely mistaken. A groan slipped from her mouth and the sound shocked her as much as it did Janine.

The latter's steps halted, almost causing the injured woman to topple over. “Okay, you’re obviously hurt. I think you should go see Y/N.”

At the mention of your name, the redhead straightened her posture. There was no way in hell she would go to your office and interrupt your day for something minor like this. She wasn't bleeding or dying, so she wouldn't have you fussing over her when you had students to care for. “I'll be okay. I just need to make it to my classroom.”

Janine bit the inside of her cheek, a telltale sign that her worry was increasing. “I don’t know, Melissa. I think you should let them take a look at it.”

She tried to stand on her own to prove a point, but she simply couldn’t do it. The pain only grew with her efforts, and tears began to prick at her eyes. “Just let me sit down for a bit, okay? I’ll go see Y/N after lunch if it still hurts.”

Janine settled for the compromise and recruited a teacher to watch their kids while she got Melissa inside. It was a challenging effort, but miraculously, they made it back safely. They received a few strange looks from other staff members, but Janine warded their concerns away with a smile. Once they arrived, she helped Melissa get settled at her desk.

“Don’t worry about your class, I’ll bring them back,” Janine assured her. “Do you need anything while I’m here? I could get Barbara if she’s–”

Melissa immediately shook her head. The very last thing she needed was for Barb to find out. “That's okay.”

Janine gave a wary look in return, as she wasn’t expecting her coworker to deny that offer. “Are you sure?”

She huffed, sick of the questions, and took a beat before answering. “Just bring my kids back, please. That’s all I need right now.”

She wasn’t in any position to argue with that, so she accepted the task. “Okay, I’ll have them back in no time.”

“Thanks, pipsqueak,” Melissa said, causing the woman to take on a disgruntled look. Though she wasn't happy about the circumstances, she switched her tone to show her true appreciation. “Really, Janine, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled, happy that she could complete a good deed for the day.

Moments later, Melissa was reunited with her rambunctious class. They came pouring in, not even bothering to take their coats off as they filled the empty space around her desk. Despite the considerable change in climate, they were too invested in her situation to care.

“We heard you fell.”

“Are the second graders in trouble?”

“Did you break your leg?!”

“Are you going to the hospital?”

“Who’s gonna take us to lunch?”

She broke her silence to address the last comment. “Really, Elijah? That’s what’s on your mind?”

“I’m sorry, Ms. S, but I’m starving.” He rubbed his belly in broad strokes.

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna get to lunch on time.” While that was great news, it only answered one of their burning questions. They continued to stare her down and she caved at the sincerity. “I know I probably scared some of you, but I’m okay. My leg is not broken, and no, I will not be going to the hospital. Most importantly, no one is in trouble, capisce?”

When she received answers of understanding, she moved on to the next order of business. “Now, let me see who’s gonna walk youse to lunch.”

“Ms. Teagues can take us, or Mrs. Howard!” A student announced excitedly, waving in the direction of the door where both teachers were standing. However, Melissa was so focused on consoling her class and making sure they got fed, that she didn’t notice their presence.

She tried to roll toward the class phone, but it was on the opposite side of the desk. The feat was too large, so she grabbed her cell instead. She scrolled to Janine’s contact, internally swearing that this would be the last favor she asked of her. “Mrs. Howard might be busy, hon, so I think Ms. Teagues is our best bet.”

Elijah grabbed the woman’s attention again. “No, she's not. Mrs. Howard is right there.” He nodded toward the outskirts of the crowd.

Barbara’s deep eyes shone with concern as they met Melissa’s, but the redhead could only scrunch her face in confusion. What the hell? she thought, but it all made sense once she saw Janine sporting a guilt-ridden expression.

Her lips thinned into a smile as she tried to keep her composure. “Ms. Teagues, do you mind taking them to lunch? I’d appreciate it so much.”

Janine knew what that look meant, so she was quick to speak. “Not at all! Come on guys, grab your lunches if you brought one today.” Once everyone was ready, they made a swift exit because she didn't want to face Melissa’s wrath.

As the last footsteps trickled out, quiet fell over the teachers. Barbara’s eyes never left her best friend, inspecting her from head to toe, watching as Melissa twiddled her thumbs. It irked Barb that she wasn’t paying the slightest attention and she would not tolerate being blatantly ignored. “Melissa Schemmenti! Are you going to tell me what's going on?”

Melissa proceeded to avoid eye contact. She picked up a pen along with a stack of papers as if she were about to grade them. Her petulance sent Barb over the edge. If she didn’t want to tell her, that was fine, but she was tired of this little game.

“You know, I was trying to give you a chance to tell me yourself, but it seems you would rather act like a child.” The woman smirked, knowing her next words would get a reaction. “Janine already told me what happened.”

“I told her to keep her mouth shut!” Melissa curled her hands into fists and banged them against the wood. “I’m gonna kill that girl!”

“Not with one working ankle, you won’t,” Barbara quipped.

“I'll find someone to do it for me.” She shot back, not in the mood for jokes.

Barbara just rolled her eyes, disregarding her friend's dramatic nature. “So what’s your plan? Are you going to roll around in this chair all day?”

“Just leave it alone, will you?” Melissa was getting tired of the third degree from everyone. If she wanted to sit in her room all day, why did it matter to them? It was her injury, not theirs.

“I will not leave it alone! Not until you go see Y/N.”

She looked the older woman directly in her eyes for the first time today. “I’m not goin’, Barb.”

“You will, or I’ll tell them to come to you. Better yet, I'll drag you to an urgent care.” Barbara crossed her arms and gave Melissa a daring look.

“Oh, now you’re out of your mind,” Melissa scoffed. Even though they were in her classroom, if she could get up and walk away, she’d leave Barb right there with her delusions.

The woman gasped audibly at the insinuation that she was crazy. “Trust me, you haven’t seen me out of my mind.”

“You sure? 'Cause that sounds pretty insane to me.” She twisted her pen in a circle near her head, showcasing how absurd the idea sounded.

“No, Melissa, what's insane is you sitting here with an injury, making no attempts to seek medical attention, when there's a perfectly capable nurse in the building!” Her hands moved fervently as she spoke, the pearls around her neck rattling from the action. “Since you won't go on your own, I’ll get someone to take you.” With that, she marched out of the room, having had enough of her obstinacy.

“Barb, don’t you dare!” She yelled, but there was no use as the woman was halfway down the hall due to the speed she was walking.

She groaned in frustration, not faring well with having one working foot. The dull ache was a constant reminder of what occurred, and though she knew it was in her best interest to see you, she wasn't in enough pain to seek your help. But leave it to her colleagues to put their noses into her business.

She reached for her purse and rifled through it before pulling out a compact mirror. If she was going to be seen in this state, she wanted to make sure she looked presentable. As she met her reflection, she frowned. Her hair was out of place, her eyelashes were wonky, and there were a few spots where her makeup had smudged. She fixed what she could, applying lip gloss to finish her look. As she ran a brush through her strands, footsteps approached her room.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” She threw her head back as Gregory came through her door. “Why are you here?”

Gregory almost looked as confused as her, and as he prepared to speak, Barb cut him off.

“To escort you to Y/N's office.” She smiled kindly, directing her pearly whites in Gregory's direction.

Melissa side-eyed the man, adding a mean mug to show her dismay. “But Barb, I don't need—”

“Ah, ah, no buts." She held a hand up to silence her. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go teach, but I expect you to have your injuries mended when you return.” She didn't walk away until she received final confirmation from Gregory.

“Oh, yeah, I'll make sure of it,” he promised. Though he was content with minding his business, he'd only agreed to this because Barb wouldn't take no for an answer.

Melissa sighed as the man moved to stand behind her, in preparation to wheel her out. She turned around so he could understand the grave meaning behind her words. “Just take me there. Don't ask any questions and don't tell anyone what you saw.”

“Oh, I already know how you roll.” After receiving another dirty look from the redhead, he noticed his poor choice of words. He tucked his lips into his mouth, then bowed his head before saying, “I'm sorry.”

You didn’t expect the first day back to be so crazy, but it had been jam-packed with injuries. Nose bleeds, headaches, fevers, stomach aches, you name it. You didn’t mind though because it made the day go faster. You had one more student to tend to before your break, so you decided to clean your office before their arrival. You disinfected the cots and countertops, as well as your little waiting area, and then you took inventory of your supplies and stocked up on whatever you’d need for the last half of the day.

“Hey, nurse Y/N!” Melissa’s student, Daniel, waved excitedly as he entered your office. He gave you a quick hug before retreating to his original spot.

“Hey, buddy! How was your break?” You loved hearing about what the kids did during their time off. He told you about the trip he took to visit family in New York, and how he got to spend the holidays with his grandmother who he hadn’t seen since he was a baby. He also mentioned all the good food he ate and the presents he received. “That’s awesome! It sounds like you had a great time.”

“Yeah, it was pretty great. What did you do?” The curious boy asked.

“I went to Florida,” you said casually, hoping to get a reaction out of him. When he gasped in shock, you flashed a grin in his direction.

“No way! That’s so much cooler than New York.” Daniel was infatuated with Florida, on the account of Disney World, and he made it known that he would save every penny ever given to him in hopes of being able to afford a ticket to the attraction.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t go see Mickey Mouse without you.” You knew the question was on the tip of his tongue. “But it was a pretty cool trip.”

“Ms. Schemmenti went to Florida too!” He informed you, still looking at you with stars in his eyes.

You smiled as he told you the bits and pieces that Melissa shared with his class, minus the details of her gambling adventures. However, you weren’t sure she left out 100% of the details, because Daniel recalled her saying that she would incorporate some new card games into their math lessons to “teach them some new strategies”. Leave it to Melissa to teach her students how to outsmart each other.

“It sounds like she had a lot of fun!” You exclaimed, taking in the events as if you weren’t there to experience them firsthand. Her students were ridiculously smart, so you were ready for him to catch on to the similarities in your story, but he didn’t.

You busied yourself with preparing his medication so he could make his way to the cafeteria. Daniel had cystic fibrosis, so he took pancreatic enzymes to aid his absorption of nutrients. He took them before every meal and snack, so he was a frequent flyer in your office. “Alright, dude, I got your pills ready. You just need to get some water.” He gladly accepted the paper cup from your hand and walked toward the water fountain.

You looked around the room as he took his meds, and the absence of another child caught your attention. Normally, Melissa utilized the buddy system to ensure that her students made it to their destination safely. “Did you walk here by yourself?”

“No, Ms. Teagues walked us to lunch today.”

You scrunched your eyebrows in pure confusion. “Why was Ms. Teagues taking you to lunch?”

“Ms. Schemmenti hurt herself so she couldn't take us,” he explained.

Hearing Melissa’s name in the same breath as the word ‘hurt’ made your heart rate pick up, but you kept a poker face. “Really? How’d that happen?”

A guilty expression crossed his face, and he released a deep breath before speaking. “Well, we were playing kickball during recess and she fell. It was kind of scary, but then she got up and everything was okay. At least I think she’s okay.”

“What makes you say that?” You tried to get as much information as you could before the bell rang, signaling that it was time for the younger kids’ lunch.

“She told us she wasn’t in pain, but I don’t think that’s true.”

You hadn’t assessed the woman yet, but you agreed with his statement because you knew how Melissa was. She worked hard to keep up her tough persona, but even the students could see past it sometimes. “You guys really roughed her up out there, huh?”

The boy shrugged sheepishly. “We didn’t mean for her to get hurt. She’s one of our favorite teachers, and we just wanted to have some fun.”

You could see he truly felt bad, so you attempted to cheer him up. “It was very nice of you guys to include her. I’m sure she appreciated that.” You smiled. “Don’t feel too bad, okay?”

He nodded, and with that, the bell rang. You walked him to the exit and sent him on his way, but now without a hug goodbye. “Have a good lunch. I’ll see you later for a snack.”

Once he made it down the hallway, you focused on the sight directly to your left: Melissa sitting in her desk chair with Gregory at her side, standing against the wall, as if he were her bodyguard (though that would be a pointless duty because everyone knew Melissa didn’t need a guard).

You motioned them into your office so they'd be out of the crossfire of hungry kids. The pair looked at you with blank faces, and you stared at them with your hands on your hips. “Well, what do we have here?”

A/N: Hey, how are ya? It’s been a while and I’ve missed writing immensely. I'm a little nervous about posting again, but I hope this was worth the wait. Let me know what you think, and thank you for reading! P.S. Special thanks to everyone who voted on the poll <3

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti #sugarᥫ᭡writes

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gabessquishytum · 11 months ago

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Okay, divorce lawyer Hob has been rattling in my brain since you posted the original prompt. Gotta say I think he would make the best family lawyer. He's fiercely protective, worldly and street smart, and definitely has done terrible things for money.

I'm thinking he met Dream in college after the other kinda laughed at him getting his juris doctor at a mixer. Which lead to a highly competitive relationship of anything you can do I can do better when it came to grades and extracurriculars. Dream even joined the rowing team when Hob joined the swim team.

They've remained friends since. Hob is used to girlfriends and wives come and go. It was his idea to protect the Endless family money, which is most of Dream's wealth, behind a prenup. He's the one who drafts letters and notarizes things that need notarizing. He was also the one who set up a trust for Orpheus when he was born.

He comes over every summer to the annual family barbeque and has definitely helped keep Desire out of legal trouble when they've screwed the pooch. He also helped Destruction change his name and keep his portion of the inheritance when he left the family. He's just a damn fine lawyer and friend.

But he's not just a friend. What people don't know is that himself and Dream keep a relatively low key affair going on. It started in college when Hob came home drunk and interrupted a date between Dream and a girl from his art class. He scared her away with his gross manners and then started fighting with Dream. Things escalated from screaming to making out. They fucked that night with Hob being the one bent over the coffee table.

Every month since then they make their excuses and spend an extended weekend together. They go far for their little weekend getaways, so nobody sees them or knows them. They fuck all weekend long and then head back to live their boring, everyday lives.

That's not the only secret. Hob is also the one behind every break-up and divorce. It used to be just running the girls out of the college dorm. Then he had to use more indirect methods. Planting fake evidence of cheating, hiring men to seduce his friend's wife, playing mind games with Dream and telling him that he doesn't really love his wife/girlfriend. After all, why does he need them when he's got Hob?

Dream will never see his best friend, his other half, the smartest man he knows as he truly is and that's fine with Hob. Just as long as Dream keeps coming to him with messes to clean up. After all, he just loves his favourite client!

- 🤜 anon

Oh, Hob. You bastard. I love EVERYTHING about this. Law is the perfect profession for Hob (especially when he's breaking it).

The thing is, you can't feel too bad for Dream. The red flags are RIGHT THERE. Hob covers his tracks well in front of other people but with Dream, he doesn't even bother! So Dream knows every slimy, underhanded, down right nasty thing that Hob has ever done to him/for him, and he just... he's blinded ok. By platonic affection for his friend, or by sexual desire for the most fulfilling lover he's ever had, or maybe just dirty ole romantic love. He simply chooses not to see.

Its a weird, almost sadistic little game at this point. Dream finds a new obsession, a woman who is FAR too good for him but is unfortunately charmed by his passion. But even though the obsession never lasts, Dream insists on following through. This time the marriage will work, he insists. Hob doesn't even bother to hide the smirk. Sometimes he shows up at the wedding (they have absolutely fucked on Dream’s wedding day, more than once), sometimes he waits for Dream to come to him after a few weeks of wedded bliss.

Then comes the inevitable collapse of Dream’s relationship and Hob’s favourite part, the divorce. He's had Dream sign the papers while Hob is balls deep inside him. And he always likes to take a picture. Another one for his collection. And so the cycle begins anew.

They're awful. The only hope for decent society is that they'll eventually marry each other. But that wont happen for a bit - not before they've had their fun...

#🤜 anon #the sandman #dreamling #nsft #cw infidelity #cw manipulation

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sirwow · 8 months ago

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Hello once again RD tumblr. I recently went on an extreme discord ramble about Cocole in my au and its so long i feel it be a waste not to put it here! usual me warning of yeah its reallly long under the cut. anyways have fuuun

(PS im not editing this from the discord messages cus im eepy so might be a bit messy!)

So to start before rhythm doctor even starts some background on CC Cole and Nicole. Cole first:

Cole was a single child that grew up a VERY privileged life style. Rich neighborhood and spoiled rotten at the expectation that he would be like his parents. (be a CEO or high ranking individual like his dad n have a stay at home wife like his mother) Cole however ended up with a music obsession ever since he was 12 and started playing the piano. At first his parents encouraged this, giving him lessons and everything but when they realized music was the only thing he did care about, they were more hesitant on supporting him n tried moving him on a different path. This does work well on a rebellious spoiled teen so Cole just ended up becoming more obsessed out of spite. Spending all of his allowance on his electric guitar, synth and microphone. Cole was still being a freeloader off of his parents money by 22, never having actually gotten a job and just barely finishing highschool. His parents kicked him out when he refused to get a job n this lead him eventually to Middlesea after many long train rides across the countryside. Got admitted to the hospital basically as soon as he got to Middlesea due to a lack of sleep and an extreme amount of caffeine drinking. Doesn’t mind too much because it gives him company and he wanted to stay in Middlesea anyways since it was told to him by a chance encounter with miner that it was the capital of music.

Now Nicole:

Much less privileged growing up in comparison to Cole. Moved to Middlesea when she was just 1 from Norway since her dad got a job offer. Unfortunately said offer fell through and now they were stuck in North America just trying to make do. Nicole grew up with all brothers- 1 older, 2 younger. Picked up the guitar after begging for a full year for her parents to get her one for her 14th birthday. (which they did) Nicole grew up with dreams of grandeur- being a famous enough player to help her family and be know more then the awkward lanky gameboy girl in class. Her dreams of that were half crushed though when she entered a high school talent show that she was planning on playing at but when she was actually on stage she completely froze up and had a panic attack. Got bullied pretty relentlessly for it and the nail in the coffin was seeing how poor her family was in comparison to others and how she was just putting more stress on it trying to be a musician. Gave up on music at 20, moved out into a small apartment, got her barista job, and started getting check ups by 22 due to her sudden smoking habit from stress. Met Cole when he stumbled into the Cafe the same morning he was admitted n they started up their daily routine of chatting with each other

SO! Everything is basically identical to what happens in game till after act 5. When Lucia proposes the idea of a talent show, Cole reeaaally wants to get Nicole to play with him and Samurai. Nicole is pushing him off due to her past trauma of the last talent show she tried to preform at. Using the excuses that she got rid of her guitar and she can’t even play anymore anyways. Meanwhile only a few weeks before this, Nicole had started teaching Logan how to play the guitar to confess his love to Hailey with music. Nicole had been spending the whole day dealing with Cole coming in every 30 minutes to try and convince her but Nicole repeatedly shut him down. Cole was making a final plea to her at the end of her shift n just as she was gonna tell him one last time she didn’t have a guitar anymore- Hailey and Logan suddenly barged in. Turns out Logan had confessed to Hailey not more then 10 minutes ago and when she found out who taught him how to play guitar, Hailey wanted to return the relationship favor to Nicole. Handing her back the guitar right infront of Cole n thanking her for teaching Logan before running off dragging a very apologetic Logan behind her. Cole and Nicole were silent as she held her guitar before Cole asked if she could now that she had her guitar. Nicole put it away and told him to get out so she can close shop. Cole tried staying but got pushed out and locked out by a very flustered Nicole

Nicole was. Kinda mixed in her feelings. Angry that even happened, guilty that she was called out for her lie and wondering if she should take Cole’s offer. She was still thinking it through for the next 2 days n her completely ignoring Cole asking about it was enough to make him give up n just start planning with Samurai. Samurai came into the cafe when Cole admitted defeat to him n very roughly questioned Nicole if she still enjoyed music or not. When she said she did and had actually been playing more before this because of Cole, Samurai told her she should show him that. Nicole didn’t really respond but that night while Cole and Samurai were song writing- Nicole showed up with her guitar after work, ready to join them. Cole jumped up to quickly hug her excited before catching her up on what they were doing. She never had her heart jump so suddenly

So the trio started practicing for the talent show, writing a song together and practicing together. As the day of the show started approaching, Nicole’s nerves started getting the better of her and smoked more as a result. Smoking more made her SVT worse so now during practice she was even more fidgety and nervous then before. Cole eventually took notice when she kept getting pissed at missing her cords n turned a practice night into a gaming night with the three of them to calm her nerves. Over games, Nicole admitted to Cole and Samurai why she was so damn nervous about this and how stupid her first attempt at a talent show went. Cole offered to shove her if she froze up n though she laughed and pushed him calling him a dick, Cole meant it in a caring sense. They would be by her side in this dumb idea so if she felt embarrassed she could blame them for it. Nicole still laughed at the idea but felt some calmness in the idea. Regardless- the day of the show was there and Nicole still had a shift to finish so they were going last. It was a quiet day in the Cafe n so her thoughts were racing while watching the clock occasionally. She began drifting off into nervousness again by the end of her shift and only snapped out of it when an exhausted Lucia broke into the cafe sweating and huffing. She was surprised to still see Nicole there as she pointed to the clock showing it was only about 5 minutes before she played. Nicole FREAKED out n asked Lucia if she could close for her in a panic n as soon as Lucia said yes, Nicole handed her the keys and apron thanking her, before dashing down to the parking lot the show was being held at. When Nicole got there, she froze before the backstage seeing how many people where there to watch but quickly ran again when she saw Cole and Samurai signaling her over. Cole reassured her one last time it be okay before they went up there n to just keep her eyes on him. No other time was left for anything else to be said but Nicole gave a nod

Cole Nicole and Samurai all went up to the stage but right before they were going to play, got cut off by Richard waltzing in trying to use this massive crowd as a publicity stunt. Some shenanigans later and Insomniac running at Richard with his sword to scare him off, the three got to play their hearts out. Nicole and Cole sing together. N as she kept her eyes on Cole as he suggested, she realized he was looking right back at her just as they did in practice when it was just the two of them. Playing like no one was watching. The trio finished and ended up winning 1st place in the show with much cheering. Everyone afterwards headed back to the cafe for an after party n Nicole got to properly close up n got Lucia comfortable with a blanket. Cole sat back with Nicole behind the bar counter as the little party chatted about. Suddenly through a light whisper, Cole thanked her. Nicole was confused but Cole just showed her his still shaking hand. He was just as if not more scared of going up there but her looking at him gave him the strength to push on. Nicole didn’t say much in response but ruffled his hair calling him a doofus.

Now then it’s only gonna get rough from here!

Cole and Nicole return to their usual routine and banter after the talent show but something seems very off with Cole one day. He came in for the usual morning chat but in the afternoon he was far more nervous n off and tried to ask for some caffeine. Nicole declined of course, asking if he wanted to get himself back into an addiction n he obviously agreed he didn’t but seemed to be unsure of his own answer. Nicole did her best to try and burry the thought thinking Cole was just having an off day but then the same thing repeated the next 3 days. Him getting more and more pushy about getting some caffeine and Nicole getting progressively more frustrated with him. Nicole was planning on confronting him completely on the 4th day but he didn’t even show up that day at the Cafe. Nicole wondered if he was just going to a different Cafe to get caffeine but was much more shocked with the actual answer. Cole’s parents walked into the cafe that evening n spoke to Nicole if she had seen Cole. They told her that they had found out he was admitted here only a few days ago from a recording of the talent show n were coming to her after seeing her with him in the show. Nicole found out she hadn’t seen him today because he was hiding from his parents and refusing to see them even after they paid off all of his medical bills for his discharge. Nicole was flabbergasted by this. 1. That he was refusing to see what seemed like wonderful parents if they were just willing to pay off that debt and 2. This is how she found out he was attempting to get caffeine to avoid his discharge. Nicole couldn’t help his parents anymore and they had to get home for work so the conversation fell off quickly. Nicole however was PISSED

Cole meanwhile all this had locked himself up in his hospital room, petting Loafy to destress from the situation. He refused to be dragged back home by his parents and lose all the genuine friends he had gotten there. Besides he was so close to realizing his music dreams n giving in now would be ridiculous. Those friends he had made though were all now trying to talk to him since all of them had met n talked to his parents before they left n believed he was just being crazy and rash again. He didn’t let any of them inside either.

Night came n Nicole got off work. As soon as everything was closed up, she made a beeline for Cole’s room. Cole didn’t wanna let her in at first but didn’t miss a beat to when he realized that it was Nicole n gladly let her inside before locking it again. Cole immediately acted like everything was normal and fine to avoid the inevitable conversation but that just sent Nicole off. She called him for what he did to his parents n how she would of done anything to have something like that just covered instantly. Cole’s demeanor changed again into defensive annoyance with her. Cole still hasn’t told anyone his past at this point and he sure wasn’t now. Just called his parents out for trying to control what he was doing with his life and didn’t care what they tried, he wasn’t going back to them. This hit Nicole right in the heart with rage- she had given up her dreams to help her struggling family who never could help her much but he was just willing to throw that all away out of spite of not wanting to work. She knew he didn’t have a job n was broke but this was insane behavior. Nicole exploded at Cole, yelling that he was one hell of a selfish freeloader if he was willing to hurt himself just to get what he wanted. Cole backed off out of surprise but bit back yelling that she had no idea what he went through. They continued yelling at eachother for a minute-loafy hiding under the couch and a few other patients passing in the hall listening in

Cole snapped suddenly when Nicole refused to hear him out, telling her that at least he wasn’t a pathetic miserable minimal wage worker who gave up on his dreams because of other people dragging him down. Nicole stood still staring agasp at what he said and processing it. Cole seeing her expression immediately tried to back track his words but Nicole just told him to fuck off while stifling tears n left for the hospital balcony to cry and smoke. Nicole stayed up there for almost a full hour comprehending everything that just went down untill she got a grip on herself n lost her anger and just wanted answers from Cole. He might be an idiot but she knows he had to have some reasons. He always did.

Nicole headed down from the balcony after another 20 minutes of thinking through her words and finishing her second cigarette but found the janitor cleaning Cole’s room instead of Cole. Nicole, confused, asked where Cole had gone if he was cleaning out his room and Janitor told her Cole had taken his discharge early immediately after their fight. The one thing Janitor could point to where Cole had gone was seeing him searching up train times as he was packing. Nicole looked at the clock. 20 minutes till 11 pm. Nicole wordlessly walked out of the room and looked down the hallway. She broke into a sprint.

Cole’s feet dragged across the ground to the major train station platform. Hood up and hat spun back forwards, he was going through his contacts and deleting all of the ones he had. He hesitated with Nicole’s contact but ultimately ended up deleting it when he started getting notifications from her. Just shut himself down and pulled out his ear buds being sick of music. Wondering if his parent were right for a moment before shoving down the thought and just focusing on the train signs to look up what town he’d end up at next. He looked down the open track and spotted the lights of a train only a few minutes off so gathered his things in preparation to leave. A loud thumping and trip against stone caught his attention from the tracks though and saw Nicole standing there at the end of the stairs.

Nicole was horribly winded but regained her strength as she stumbled over to Cole and pulling him into a hug before he could say a word. Cole stumbled over trying to apologize to Nicole while she held him but Nicole just told him to shut it before falling into a ramble. She confessed everything openly to Cole, how he had gotten her into music again, how she had honesty been smoking less because of him, how brighter her days were with him around, ect. She told him she wasn’t angry anymore but was instead begging for him to stay- not just for her but for himself too. She was scared what might happen to him alone out there- and openly admitted her love for him and everything about him even if it was a mess sometimes. The train to leave rushed by while Nicole still held onto him and it left him to make the next decision.

Cole struggled to muster his words through tears but clutched Nicole back, swearing to her he’d stay. Telling her that he loved her too in much more plain words as his tears choked him out. They kept holding onto each other crying till the train was gone and they separated from their griphold. Nicole took Cole back to her apartment and both collapsed. They were too tired to talk that night and Nicole had another shift that morning so they agreed to talk about this the next night before Cole crashed on the couch and Nicole crashed in her bed.

SO! Cole stays at the apartment for the day while Nicole goes to work for the morning. Nicole wasn’t expecting much that day but it turns out most everyone Cole was close to have been thrown into a panic since they can’t get in contact with them and didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Hailey and Samurai especially aren’t doing so well after Cole disappeared. Nicole finds all this out through a distressed Samurai getting a caffeine drink with a shot or two in it. Nicole tells him that Cole is alright and at her apartment so Samurai immediately goes to tell everyone else. Hailey is pissed as hell that Cole was willing to scare them that badly n shows up to the cafe to tell Nicole that. Samurai is just sad, worrying that Cole didn’t actually care about him that much. Nicole swore that she’d bring Cole back tomorrow to sort things through n left after her shift with more questions for Cole.

Once Nicole does get home, she finds Cole actually cleaned the entire apartment while she was gone n was just sitting at the dinning table waiting for her and doom scrolling socials. He stopped as soon as Nicole came in n once she got herself comfortable they basically immediately started having the talk they said they would. Nicole demanded some fuckin context for all his actions at this point and Cole relented. Told Nicole how he didn’t want to be near his parents since all they wanted from him was to drop his dreams of being a musician and instead get a big business job like his dad. Nicole could understand that but then asked why he removed all the contacts of his friends because they were all distraught because of it n Cole just kinda sat back processing that. Cole admitted quietly he didn’t think he’d be missed that much before going quiet again thinking. Nicole stared at him with sympathy but sighed that was a can of worms they needed to sort another time- but for now there was something more pressing.

Nicole told Cole pretty plainly that if he was gonna live with her, he had to start paying rent too and that meant getting a job. Cole was still adverse to the idea, mumbling that he thought music was a job but Nicole pretty bluntly asked how much he was making. Cole said 30$ a month. Nicole stared at him unimpressed. Cole conceded and agreed he needed a job but frankly had no idea where to start. Didn’t exactly have connections or a great resume to use n him getting along with someone is a 50/50 coin flip of them getting along or them hating him. Nicole agreed that it was rough n buried her head in her hands in thought trying to come up with something. Both sat silently thinking till Cole sprung back forward from the wooden chair almost falling over with him in it. Cole warned it might be insane but maybe he could start working at the cafe too? Nicole could use another hand, he was already used to the layout of everything and it be alot easier for him to get in. Nicole called him crazy but when taking a moment to think about it she agreed it was kinda the best bet they had. A few calls later- Nicole was able to convince her mostly absentee manager to interview Cole in a few days much to his excitement and extreme anxiety of getting an actual job.

Nicole ruffled his hair assuring he’d probably be fine there n to worry about it when it’s actually time to. Cole agreed and both were suddenly left wondering what to actually do for the rest of the night. They still never properly had really thought of themselves in a relationship yet but the thought was now pressing on them. Nicole just excused herself to make them dinner and just told Cole to turn something on the TV. She eventually joined him on the couch n one attempted cuddle later, things felt a lot more natural now that they were past the overwhelming fluster of knowing they were in a relationship. They ended up passing out in bed together cuddling

Now then- next day Nicole dragged Cole’s ass back to the hospital to apologize to everyone. Hailey smacked him with a nearby magazine before hugging him, telling him with a bit of a shakey voice to never do that again. Cole swore not to and hugged back. Samurai on the other hand was more nervous to talk to Cole then Cole was to him. He was scared Cole didn’t actually enjoy his company but Cole spent the next 30 minutes swearing that no, he did really care and promising to play drums and base with him again to reassure him. Also got hugged by Samurai but Samurai wasn’t really paying attention to his strength and nearly crushed the boy. The rest was pretty much the same, angry at Cole in the moment but happy to have him back. Things move relatively quickly and in the background after this point for them- Cole got the job and learning how to work hyjinxs insue but things in the story for them settle for a little while after this.

The two mostly play a supporting role for the next month or so. Nicole also dropped smoking when they started dating. Cole understanding the plights of Ada Ian Nicole and Janitor now that he works himself and it acts as a major ego check for his usual antics. Cleans up after himself, thanking and uplifting Ian n Ada when he gets the chance (especially to Ada after feeling guilty for literally throwing hands in 2-2 when she was just helping) n having a general more respectful attitude to everyone. Only playing with samurai on free days and never at night, n being less of a genuine shithead. He’s got a good heart just not the greatest lessons learned from being spoiled rotten by entitled parents.

Nicole during this whole break though ended up in contact with Cole’s mom behind his back. She reached out to try and check in on Cole more but slowly got more and more info out of Nicole about his life- including them being in a relationship. Nicole was still kinda hesitant of believing Cole’s words completely after how much he lied before and his mother really did seem to just want the best for him so she continued contact. Eventually his mother asked Nicole if she could bring Cole back home just for the holidays to talk to him. Nicole was incredibly hesitant trying to figure out what to do about it. She eventually decided through her own values that it would be a good idea for Cole to make amends with his family. Nicole agreed to it before telling Cole n well. Cole was angry to say the least. He told Nicole that his parents were nothing but bad news but she defended herself that she spoke to his mother for a month and she saw no red flags in the slightest. Cole was even more elated at that admission but Nicole begged him to please just give them one more chance. Cole’s new mellowing out lead him to agree with Nicole just to keep the peace in their relationship as much as he hated it and quietly hoped maybe she was right.

So! Cole and Nicole get their holiday break n head out on the long train ride to his hometown. Cole was brooding most the ride but Nicole kept holding onto his hand as reassurance. After the 6 hour ride there they arrived and Nicole was a bit shocked. It was fancier then anything she had ever even seen let alone stepped foot in. Not exactly a neighborhood for a minimum wage worker to belong. Regardless they were able to be taxied to the house after Cole gave his Id for passage into the gated neighborhood and arrived at the house. A grand moderately sized home kitted out with everything you could imagine, Cole’s mother, Holly, came outside first to greet them. Cole accepted her hug hesitantly n Holly went ahead and hugged Nicole too making her just as awkward feeling. Shortly after Holly was his dad, Cresso (are these both coffee puns? Yes). Cole just backed up without interacting outside of a strained hi but Nicole shook his hand when Cresso offered it. Both were welcomed inside and told to just go ahead and make themselves comfortable for the night since it was pretty late. Cresso didn’t say anything exact but lead Nicole to the guest room while telling Cole he could stay in his own room for the night. Nicole didn’t wanna piss off his parents so just relented to sleep in the guest room without Cole even when Cole tried to push it. Cresso seemed satisfied with Nicole shutting down Cole’s rebelling n though that left a pit in Nicole’s chest she just blamed it on train exhaustion n went ahead to clonk out without another word.

Now I’ll be frank im still rewriting the details here but the important stuff: -Nicole obviously finds out how privileged Cole was -Cole when he gets the chance to speak to Nicole alone tells her he hates it here- not the comfort of money, but the social sense. He’d rather live on the streets then be stuck here -dinner the next day. Ohboy dinner the next day. Over dinner there’s essentially a blow up when they find out Cole is still doing music and Nicole is too along with encouraging him. It starts light but eventually devolves into Cresso calling Nicole a lowlife service worker n that Cole could do better then this. Holly tried to damage control but it was too far now and Nicole n Cole packed their things to leave immediately.

The late night train ride was tense to say the least. Nicole tried to apologize to Cole after a long silence but he just told her he didn’t want to do this right now but he was angry. Cole just cuddled up to Nicole’s side and fell asleep for the rest of the ride. Guilt ate her up on the way back n handled Holly texting her after the whole thing. Basically telling her off, Holly understanding n agreeing to not speak again. Nicole stayed up the whole ride just watching the stars and snow n they still didn’t talk once they got back home at 4 am other then Cole choosing to sleep on the couch that night. Nicole wanted to give him the bed but chose not to stress him more with a pointless argument.

Things do not go swell once they’re back. Cole and Nicole aren’t talking n everyone can tell so eventually someone (Ada) asks Cole what’s up n he vents the whole situation out bluntly. Ada asks Nicole if this is seriously what happened n Nicole didn’t even try to defend herself anymore n said yes. Ada was shocked and appalled what Nicole did all because she didn’t believe Cole. Ada told Ian, Ian told Cinny- and eventually the whole story got spread around the whole hospital. No one was happy with Nicole and frankly all became hesitant to confide in Nicole after that leading to silent shifts and nothing to break up the monotony of it all. The added social stress brought Nicole to start smoking again. Cole stopped being as cold with Nicole just wanting to move past now but the damage had been done to her by herself. Nicole wasn’t okay with just being forgiven quietly like this or forgiven at all.

A week into this when Cole finally said it outloud that he forgave her and just wanted to move on, Nicole refused it. Cole tried to get through to her more forcefully with yelling but Nicole just ended up misinterpreting it as her fucking up again- the combination of meltdown and smoking sent her into a really bad SVT attack making her faint. Cole rushed her to MSH for care and stayed by her side till she had to be taken back for urgent care. Nicole woke up the next day sore and breathless n a note left by her bedside. Cole was taking over her shifts alone but wanted her to know it was okay and to please just rest for his sake. Nicole didn’t have much choice in the matter anyways being bed bound but took his word to heart. Cole visited every break he got from the rush n though he looked exhausted n a mess he still told her it was okay. Nicole while he was gone started writing a song for him as some sort of apology. However when she did play it for him a week later n got to the line that she didn’t deserve him, Cole shushed her up.

Cole was already a bit teary from her being so thoughtful to write a song for him but told Nicole he was the one who didn’t deserve her. They went back and forth with sad laughs that they didn’t deserve each other but Cole eventually stopped it n made Nicole a deal. If he stopped saying it then she had to stop saying it too. Nicole thought he was still joking but when he wasn’t she gave an exhausted sigh n smiled before agreeing. Cole thanked her n hugged her tightly. Nicole joked that she’s glad he didn’t hear the rest of the song cause she wants to rewrite it to be perfect for him. Cole didn’t quite care if it was perfect but as long as it was her it was alright. Nicole called him a goof for that one n he just giggled saying he was being honest. They ended up cuddling n passing out again even if it fucked up Coles sleep schedule

After this mess part 3, they get back to their normal groove again n do their usual routine n chilling in the bg. Unfortunately this peace after the winter holidays would move into a blooming disaster in the start spring. The two were off work but over at the hospital after doing their morning baseball workout with everyone else. Cole n Nicole were just hanging out with loafy n after throwing a bone for him outside n watching him struggling to find it in a bone, the lights suddenly shut off, old metal gates shut on the outside door n emergency lights were the only thing lighting up the halls. Nicole and Cole ran down to the main hall hearing something going on n joining a group of other patients they saw CT dropping Edega and turning to them. Lucky yelled at them all to run so they followed without another word. Once they were able to get a safe distance away they all listened in on Logan’s phone to Ian explaining the situation. Frankly Nicole n Cole didn’t understand half of it other then they were all in danger and to protect Hailey n Logan the most. The call cut off as the phone’s screen shut off from Connectifia before Ian could help them get out. Lucky took command of the situation n told Cole and Nicole to get Logan and Hailey as far away from CT as possible. They didn’t hesitate, nodded, and took the kids by the hand to get away from this horrible situation.

Nicole and Cole course couldn’t go as far as they wish they could but honestly they were trying to not freak out from the distance screaming n keep Hailey and Logan calm. While Cole was trying to calm Hailey from a meltdown, CT began stomping towards them n they all froze. Cole watched CT with baited breath before telling Nicole to hide them without turning around. Nicole barely got out a whispered “what?” Before Cole asked her if she trusted him. Nicole looked at him, still turned, and back up at the slowly approaching CT and said yes. Cole told her to go then and started running down the hallway to distract CT. Nicole hesitated to go and stop him but turned away n ran to take Hailey n Logan somewhere safe much to their chagrin. Cole grabbed a left behind baseball bat and though he was no hitter, just used it get get CT’s focus on him before dodging for his life. He couldn’t run forever though in a place like this and inevitably got trapped in a room and tripped over equipment before CT got a grip on his chest and sent him straight into a paralyzing SVT attack with its electrocution. Cole was left on the floor of that room once CT left to find the last 3.

Nicole knew that scream. But it was twisted and mutilated from the fun moments she had heard it before. Logan n Hailey were clutching to her hand still but knowing what was coming, Nicole took both of them and put them inside a empty cabinet to hide before running out herself. What more did she have to lose anyways? She followed the same steps as Cole with CT to get them away but her running into a room was stopped by all the fallen over equipment making her hesitant to go in. The moment of hesitation gave CT enough time to pin Nicole against the wall by her back and zapped her without a second to react.

Nicole sat delirious, the repeating blaring of the alarm slowly deafening in her mind and was slipping away till she moved in the slightest and all the pain hit her again. A voice cut through the monotony of it all. Cole had crawled out on his hands from the room he got trapped in and was using what little voice he had left to call out to Nicole. They couldn’t see each other much at all in the darkness and slipping conciseness but kept each other company with their presence. Talking hurt too much so they just sat listening to each other’s quivering breath till they passed out entirely.

If utter darkness was the one thing Cole had seen before the soft florescent light he woke up to might as well of been a flashbang. It was definitely still MSH but everything seemed tidyer then when just Ian and Ada handled things. Cole sat up slowly feeling his breath still burning but looking around realized Nicole was right by him with her eyes still closed and laying on her chest. It took a bit of willpower to do but enough bugging her sleep by saying her name managed to wake up Nicole as well. Neither could really do anything once they were awake but seeing each other still there was enough reassurance.

They recovered relatively well after the incident other then being self conscious about their new scars but uplifting each other about them. Talked the most to the 3 kids when they couldn’t sleep n just wanted to make sure everyone was okay and were the first ones to start walking around on their own again. Mostly stuck together when they were recovering after that whole ordeal. Generally avoiding talking about all the heavy implications and thoughts that traumatic event caused n seemingly getting through it the easiest. (when in reality they’re keeping all that fear in the back pocket for later when it’s gotten worse )

and well. Honestly that’s kinda where they end off for the main plot of CC before they start going on their own life story together.

If you managed to read this far, thank <3 i hope you enjoyed the straights simplifed

#rhythm doctor #sirwow ramble #rhythm doctor writing #cole brew #nicole ting #cocole #rd connections converged

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girderednerve · 3 months ago

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list!!

okay i am heading into my last week at this job, which is also the last week of summer programming, so it is going to be busy & socially fraught (not excited about this!!). i have to make cookie dough and slime with children, and also get through my exit interview with my stupid boss who lied to my face & then impugned my professional integrity when i disagreed with him. HOWEVER this weekend has been pretty great: i made pizza with my partner, we went out to our CSA farm & picked cherry tomatoes & basil & tomatillos & late season blueberries, later we are going to make salsa & pesto & feast upon blueberry bounty. also we watched the gold medal men's basketball game, which was really fun. steph curry at it again, etc.

anyway here is a list of things i am thinking about doing with my pending unemployment, other than panicking about my future & feeling guilty for quitting my stupid job, and obviously applying for other, hopefully less stupid, jobs:

weaving! i got a second heddle & i am going to attempt simple 3x1 twill. i got yarn to make my partner a scarf & hopefully i will have managed it by fall, aka scarf szn. also i have to figure out what i'm doing with the baby blanket i am making for my friend: the fabric is off the loom but the two panels aren't quite identical, so i could either do a big hem (don't want to do this), do some surgery (nervous but probably best option), or wet finish it & then line it with some kind of cute fabric to hide its flaws (i'm considering a couple different spoonflower dragons?). feel free to weigh in if you have Thoughts™

sorting through our books for ones we no longer need & generally tidying up. i find this sort of thing very difficult but it will be good once it is done

drop spindle!! considering getting a cheap 3D printed turkish spindle & seeing if i like that, but also i got some dyed top so i'll be able to see what i'm doing when i try to figure out plying. my dream is to make reasonably cute textured handspun that i can weave into placemats and then mail to my mother

i'm gonna sign up for a class to learn how to do MARC records. i didn't take a dedicated cataloging class in grad school (not required in my program & offered relatively infrequently/at terrible times), just the required one about the general principles. i wanna know how the metadata works

looking at schools. nobody needs two advanced degrees but sometimes it turns out that i am nobody

baking projects! i want pavlova, which is in my opinion an objectively perfect dessert, and also it's coming up on apple season, which means mandatory galette

podfic. i have ideas but as always if you have a thing you want a recording of please feel free to ask

i owe at least one person a letter & i have a stash of fun stationery! i want to write LETTERS let me know if you want one & you might receive one in um. like. a calendar month. i'm a mess but letters are fun!

friend of mine is considering running an old gods of appalachia campaign and i could be annoying about it. i'm considering being soooo annoying about it, like have you ever heard of a better excuse to finish reading all of my appalachian labor history pdfs??

anyway i'm sure i'll end up doing maybe a third of this at best but it's good to have plans. i hope you also have time in your life to do things which are important to you! if you have hobbies you are up to please feel personally invited to tell me about them :)

#also i have like two unfinished sweater projects i could pick up & one finished sweater that i gotta find buttons for #irredeemable whining #the world is a deeply cruel place for many people & i feel my own good fortune very sharply. not trying to be a jerk here

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spacedlexi · 1 year ago

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Tag 9 People You Want to Get to Know Better!

i dont usually do tag games but i'll take any excuse to have a reason to post wips lmao tagged by @foibles-fables

Favorite color: pink and purple baybee!! (my original fave colors ive come back to you im sorry i ever left...) green yellow and red are also nice (sorry i love colors)

Currently reading: nothing 😭 i keep trying to read books but i cant do it anymore the internet has brain broken me my attention span is non existent. tried rereading and then there were none last. couldnt find my murder on the orient express (i love mysteries)

Last song: shes not there - neko case

Last series: the walking dead but i had to give up i cant do it anymore 💀the games are better than the show im saying it. i got to S10E7 but i just cant go back i wont. currently mentally preparing myself to watch utena for the first time

Last movie: the lost boys :) its halloween time. been meaning to watch bound tho ive had the link up for a couple weeks now

Sweet/savory/spicy: savory > sweet > spicy honestly just depends on my mood. i like sour more than any of these tho wheres sour and salty >:( i eat lemons for fun

Currently working on: SOOOOO MUCH ALWAYS HELP ME heres just a small selection of my wips from the past month or so. i already want to re-draw half of them. dont be like me 😭

half of those notes are board scripts (other half comics) and that doesnt even include my unfinished fic (that ive been writing on the train i promise!!!!). started boarding the tower but we're about to learn storyboard pro in class so im gonna use it to help me get used to the program (no way i'll finish in time for clems bday 😔)

No-pressure tags: calling any and all mutuals who would like to play a little game feel free to say i tagged you :)

#my brain always needs something to chew on like a dog with bone thank god ive latched onto something otherwise i go silly!!#i mean... im still going silly but at least i have an outlet. thank you twdg for ending well i'll be chewing on this bone forever #clementine my beloved :)#something beloved to me having an unsatisfying conclusion....you are dead to me now. so glad that didnt happen with clem :)#and when i say unsatisfying i mean fumbling the ball. endings dont have to be happy they just have to FIT and feel like a natural conclusio #ok random ramble over #it speaks #wip #long post

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thessalian · 28 days ago

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Thess vs Valid Critique

For all I am still hugely excited about having Silent Hill 2 (and frustrated beyond all reason at some of the bullshit going on around it, which I will go into momentarily), I'm a little less mopey and a little more accepting, if grudgingly, of my various limits. I pushed too hard the last few weeks and I need an actual rest, so today was largely about putting together some homemade instant hot chocolate mix (because 'tis the season for the warm drinks to come out) and playing Wildermyth.

Part of those limits is the bloody flu vaccine. My left arm still hurts, mostly around the injection site, and while I'm feeling a bit better after way more sleep than I suppose most people tend to need, I'm still a little wrecked. I mean, don't get me wrong - if the vaccine hits me this hard, it's just as well to get it because a bad case of flu would probably be a nightmare. Just ... you know. Same old "everything bad is intensified and I hate it" complaint. So after measuring and sifting and cleaning various powders off my countertops, a game with relatively simple gameplay and still a reasonable amount of story was pretty much just the thing.

As to Silent Hill 2, obviously I still want to keep playing it, and I will, once I feel a little better. I don't know how long that'll take, but it will still be there. I think part of my grumpiness about it is wanting to in some way stick it to some of the aforementioned bullshit surrounding it. The neckbeards are one thing - even if "vandalising the entire Wikipedia page with false review scores and incel rants" just makes me roll my eyes so hard they're in danger of falling out of my head. Like, they're pretty clearly taking a leaf out of the current Republican Party handbook - if the facts don't match up with their beliefs? Lie your ass off. They're just getting louder and angrier lately because of how obvious it is becoming that they are no longer the majority, and honestly never were. While corporations are never going to be anybody's friends, they do at least acknowledge that half of the people doing the bitching about how "woke" gaming has become either had no intention of buying the game in the first place or will buy it regardless of how "woke" it is, and thus actually being inclusive will get them more money in the long run. The neckbeards tried a certain amount of lying with statistics in the form of, "Look at this huge percentage of people who don't really care about that DEI shit!" but the wording they're using makes it pretty clear that that huge percentage of people may not be desperate for it, but certainly aren't against it either - not the way the neckbeard assholes are. Most of us can put up with a game that doesn't go out of its way to be inclusive because we've been doing so for decades - we're used to the eye candy and the carbon-copy YAGWD protagonist, anyway. The thing is, most of us also understand that it's not "shoehorning in minorities where they don't belong" because ... y'know, people who aren't Yet Another Grizzled White Dude do actually exist, and seeing them shouldn't be the end of the fucking world.

Then there's the Guardian review. Now, I mostly trust the Guardian on reviews ... but I admit that a lot of those are for lesser-known indie titles. Whoever wrote the review for the Silent Hill 2 remake seemed to have been going out of his way to look at nothing more but the surface level of the game. Honestly, it's not that the reviewer didn't like the game that bothered me; it's that the review itself was apparently just an excuse to shit on a game from a great height and get paid for it. My old Theatre Studies teacher would have looked over his review and not only given it a failing grade, but read it out to the entire class as an example of what not to do. It was fairly clear that as someone who had heard all the hype but was "too young to play it at the time", that he had very different expectations of what "an excellent video game" looks like. If he'd talked at all about his expectations instead of "I don't care about Angela; I've got enough to do looking for my two-dimensional maybe-dead wife and for some reason doing busywork like gluing together records", or if he'd explained why he felt those elements didn't work, I'd respect it, even if I didn't agree. But for fuck's sake, if you're going to critique something, critique it; don't just lob a few insults at it and call it a day. Especially not when you're getting paid for it. You want to just insult a game you didn't like? That's your right, but go do it on Steam or Metacritic like everyone else.

I mean, is it wrong that the main reason I get upset about this type of behaviour isn't out of protectiveness of a game / book / franchise / even person I admire and more out of wanting a better debate partner than this? Like, I will hear you out all day if you give me some kind of explanation; I will be grateful for the new perspective, even if I don't agree, and then we can at least have a discussion about how our respective viewpoints affect our enjoyment of the ... whatever it is we're discussing. But just insulting it leaves no room for discussion--

Whiiiiiiiich is why they do it. It's harder to challenge a definitive but subjective-as-fuck statement. They don't want a debate; they want to be right. Well, fine. I like being right too. But things you like aren't things to be 'right' or 'wrong' about, and if I'm going to feel obliged to justify my enjoyment of something, I want a decent debate with a rational human being, not a kid on the playground using offensive language as an everything-proof shield against an opinion that wouldn't even really hurt them if they were as firm in their opinion as they make themselves out to be but which they can't even listen to for some reason.

Gods, some people's egos are weird.

#Thess plays video games #Thess gets aerated

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infini-tree · 2 years ago

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damage control

Summary: Monster fighting is dangerous work.

(Alternatively: Three times Krupp doesn't care or does anything when the boys get hurt*, and the one time he does.)

A/N: * The second part is more on the emotional hurt side of things, but it still counts.

Woe, drabbles put into one fic due to their similar theming be upon ye. They’re all in chronological order that range from the day after the canonical events of the movie, to mid/late game Sticky Notes.

The last 1/4th was part of a different drabble, but that messed with the flow of the story I wanted to tell there. So instead of throwing that part out, I just put it in a separate fic and retooled it for a compilation-style fic. One day, you might get the rest of the fic the last 1/4 was made for, but today is not that day. Also there's a brief mention/implication of blood in the last 1/4.

Long story short, one of the boys gets an injury that draws a bit of blood. Its fine.

——————————–

In retrospect, Benjamin should have figured out the whole… thing with the other guy much quicker.

In fairness, between making sure the semester was still on schedule after George and Harold’s pranks (and their subsequent separation), ferris wheel-induced destruction of school property, and his first date with Edith, he had assumed the lapses in his memory were from stress.

A part of him still wondered how they got that tiger.

At the earliest, it should have been on that first date. He remembered thinking it was a disaster. Not that he could remember much of it. They had just gotten their orders and then… noise. Glimpses of radioactive-green blurs.

And suddenly, he had his arm draped over her shoulders for support as he stared down the front door of his house. He was too out of it to be flustered about the whole affair to notice anything outside of the lingering smell of Edith’s perfume that smelled suspiciously like soup.

After a bit of fumbling on both their parts, she deposited him gently on his bed. Edith was looking out the window, slivers of pale orange from the streetlights filtering through his blinds.

“Wild week, huh?” She turned around, not expecting an answer. Between his head swimming in and out of consciousness, he was sure he missed something– he remembered her lips moving, but what little of his attention not devoted to trying to sleep or the pain preventing him from said sleep was singularly focused on her eyes.

Sleep, thankfully, was starting to win out. There was a soft rustle of fabric and then he felt his own blanket on top of him for once. “I’ll see myself out. Get some rest.”

The day after wasn’t much better– exhaustion settled deep in his bones as it replaced the now-dwindling pain. At least there was coffee in the teacher’s lounge for that, so it was business as usual. And by that he meant that George and Harold had been sent to his office, both for sleeping in. It was only after the third or fourth time did both teachers get fed up and sent them up to his office.

“I have half a mind you’re doing this on purpose.”

George rubbed an eye with the back of his fist with a yawn.

“At least sit up straight when I’m talking to you–” The jab in particular was towards Harold, who had been teetering to the side at a dangerous angle. “Honestly, I don’t care if you had an all night horror movie marathon–”

“We didn’t. Harold’s last syllable was punctuated with a yawn.

“-- Like I said, I don't care either way.” He waved a hand dismissively, ignoring the fatigue pulsing behind his eyes. “But sleeping during class time is prohibited and any further disruptions like this are grounds for suspension.”

They blinked up at him, but didn’t do much else. The principal didn’t know whether their sedate responses so far were more aggravating than their usual tomfoolery.

George’s unobscured eye stared up at him with a look he couldn’t place. It quickly shifted to something more wry. “You look worse than we do and you’re still running the school– what’s your excuse?”

Harold snickered quietly. He gave a sly glance towards the other boy in acknowledgement of an inside joke.

“Detention, both of you.”

No, their usual is much more annoying, he thought at the time.

——————————–

“Ugh, come on– quit being such a big baby about it!”

Now that Krupp had gotten wise as to how they switched him over to Captain Underpants, the entire process of trying to switch him over had gotten much too long for either of their liking. Every time they had to come find him, he set up some sort of counter to the sound of snapped fingers. Soundproofing the office, playing old-timey music at ludicrous volumes, the works.

Right now, he had taken to using industrial-grade earplugs.

“Most people would kill to be a superhero, you know,” George continued. “Captain Underpants has super strength so it really wouldn’t be hurting you that much, anyway.”

“George!”

“What? It’s not like he can hear!” The last word was pointed spitefully towards the principal.

Said principal continued his boring paperwork. While he wouldn’t be able to hear the monster terrorizing the kids outside, let alone them slamming the door open earlier, but the tremors through the floor were another thing. Besides, he at least knew that he could see them from his periphery if that smirk had anything to say about it.

“No, look!” Harold threw the curtains open to show the scene below them.

The ground below had suddenly erupted to reveal a set of craning necks and sharp beaks attached to bulbous heads. The Muck-Raking Vultures would not be satisfied until it’s brought everyone down to its muddy level. A few unfortunate kids were entrenched in the surrounding earth that was now under the bird’s control. All its heads let out a haughty laugh as the kids cried out and tried to struggle.

Righteous anger mingled with concern for his fellow kid and fear. It was bad enough for Krupp to make every kid feel powerless on a normal school day, but withholding the only thing that could save them was beyond– beyond stupid, George managed to think up. Beyond petty!

Krupp had rolled over to the filing cabinet, conveniently turning his back towards the window. Despite the cacophony of noise outside, the shuffling of folders and metal clangs flooded their ears.

“Hey, man, are you doing…” Whatever Harold was about to say lodged in his throat as George loosened his tie. “Oh boy.”

It’s been a while since he had deployed the Tie. There had been no reason dire enough for it. He thought for a moment before tying one end of the Tie in a knot, and tied it again for good measure.

“On my signal, you snap your fingers, alright?” George gave a loose experimental swing. His expression shifted to something determined as he found whatever he was testing for.

Here’s the thing about those industrial-grade earplugs: there’s a thin plastic cord that connects both of them. According to his dad, it was to make sure you knew where both of them were at all times. One earplug is just as useful as none in his line of work.

George fastened his grip on his Tie, quietly circling around Krupp’s desk. He was still busy trying to look busy. Just as he was about to turn the corner of the desk, he whipped the Tie forward. Krupp jolted back at the last second.

“What was that supposed to accomplish,exactly?” His mouth split open in a mocking grin.

The other thing his dad mentioned? They also have a good chance of being caught in things if the wearer wasn’t careful.

The Tie had managed to hit in the space between the cord. The knot acted like the head of a mace: as a counterweight, it spun around the cords to entangle it. With a quick yank to the Tie, the earplugs practically flew out.

Krupp yelled as he tried to reach out for the earplugs now sailing over his desk, but it was too late for that. Harold was at the ready with a snap.

——————————–

The cafeteria is brimming with the sound of kids shooting the breeze. Though, Harold’s been around long enough that it’s not as bright as a result of Krupp milling around the food serving area. Three guesses as to why he’s there, the first two don’t count.

He makes his way to the vending machines next to Krupp and coughs. “You’re holding up the line.”

While Edith manages to look a little ashamed, the principal jumps back like a current ran through him. “What?”

In the periphery of Harold’s vision he could see some of the kids at the nearest table move further away than they already had. But not so far as to be out of hearing range. No one’s looking at them directly, but he could tell they were expecting something.

“Kids are avoiding coming here to get their lunch because you’re here,” he pointed out bluntly.

In response, Krupp props an arm over a cleared portion of the counter. “At least some kids here have taste.”

Despite the context, the lunch lady lets out a surprised little laugh. Harold couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Like-liking.

Instead of hearing them trill and coo for the next bit, his attention shifts to something much more interesting. Like this vending machine. It's one of the few additions to the school that wasn’t a net negative for him and the other kids.

(Though, he’s convinced it's only here because something twisted Krupp’s arm.)

“Awfully quiet.” The statement comes out like an accusation.

He couldn’t help but shoot him a look. The lunch lady was long gone and moved to the far end of the serving station, either out of guilt or to give them privacy. He isn’t sure which.

The vending machine clangs, depositing Harold’s soda. “Gotta be more specific than that.”

“When it's this quiet,” he tries again. “It's usually because you two are planning something.”

A few kids flinch at his tone. He knows this is him softballing, so fine— he’ll play.

“George is sick.” Harold sees how his expression darkens, and he adds, “He got it over the weekend, it doesn’t have to do with Edith’s food.”

Krupp still has that look on his face, so clearly it wasn’t what he was looking for. And he didn’t feel like telling him specifics. He doesn’t need to know it's the flu. He doesn’t need to know it might have had something to do with the monster over the weekend.

“Ah.” He manages. Just as astutely he adds, “Hm.”

The student body writhes. They don’t know what to do with a Krupp that isn’t yelling, or a Harold that isn’t actively provoking him, or a George that isn’t there.

Neither does Harold, to be honest. And he doubts Krupp knows, either.

“He’ll be getting a mountain of make-up assignments once he’s back. Ribble isn’t exactly known for her grace periods.” With the way Krupp’s voice lowered, he wasn’t sure he was talking to himself or continuing whatever this conversation turned into.

None of them know where any of them stood lately. The sidestepping was honestly kind of annoying. It reminds Harold of his house, half a decade ago.

His attention shifts to the soda can in his hand. It's cold enough to hurt holding it, so he starts tossing it from one hand to the other. “None of the teachers are.”

He hears one of the kids squawk out a laugh before it's muffled. He’s not sure whether the kid covered their own mouth, or someone else did.

Krupp’s mouth splits open to show his teeth and the kids eavesdropping flinch back. This close, Harold can see that it veers closer to wince than intimidating grimace. “Of course.”

The boy doesn’t provide an answer to that. He’s still too busy trying to figure out the principal’s angle here, and without George to ping-pong ideas with, he was more frustrated than anything.

His receiving hand fumbles the catch. It grazes past his fingers and falls to the ground. Between the tosses and sudden impact, its contents spill into a small fizzy explosion.

Thatwas more than enough to break whatever fearful lull the other kids were under moments ago. Laughter bubbles out of the direction of their impromptu audience.

It also breaks whatever train of thought Krupphad up to this point as he stares at the bubbly mess pooling underneath his shoes. “Lunch detention.”

“It’s already lunch,” Harold shot back.

“Don’t care—” he pointed to the lunch doors. “Go.”

And then that off moment was forgotten by the kids nearby.

——————————–

The leftover feeling of having to do something do something do something thrums under Krupp’s skin long after the disorientation of switching in fades. Experiencing emotions that aren’t you own will never be a thing he’ll get used to, but this particular emotion is.

It's a little worrying considering that it's anger.

Working backwards, he could figure out why. There were scratches on Harold’s arms, and while George looked fine his pinched expression and the way he had one of his legs propped on his knee said otherwise. In their short walk to the office he had thought he was walking strangely— not quite limping, but angling his body so he was hiding one leg behind him.

For, he amends in his head. Angry for. Not angry at.

The office is relatively clean for now. While it wasn’t hit during the most recent monster fight, there was still evidence of aftershocks. At least the glass from the shattered picture frames were out of the way and he was properly clothed now. The boys look up at the suitcase he slammed on his desk with various levels of uncertainty.

“What happened to the old suitcase?” Harold asked.

“I was meaning to get a new one with more compartments.”

George gave a curious noise as he pulled out a large bottle of rubbing alcohol and managed to catch a glimpse of the compartment’s contents. “Man, did you pack a whole hospital in that thing? That thing’s got more supplies than the nurse’s office here.”

“Figured I needed it one of these days, considering-- you know.” He lets the statement hang in the air for a moment. The boys chorus an agreeing noise, but left it at that.

He diverts his focus towards grabbing a pack of cotton pads, quickly smudging some alcohol on one of it. As soon as he starts circling the desk towards them do they push themselves into the back of the chair.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing with–” George points at the bit of cotton in his hand. “-- that.”

“I thought the supplies were for you,” Harold adds, just as hastily.

“Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “I’ll feel it in the morning, but no skin’s been broken— unlike you.”

The boys give a silent glance towards each other. Their expressions pinch.

“They’re just surface level,” Harold waves him off. “It’s fine. We’re fine.”

Krupp looks them over and simply raises a brow. If he didn’t know any better, he would have chalked the injuries up to rough-housing. Which, technically, was true, if he discounted what they were rough-housing against.

“I don’t think the other guy will forgive me if I let you leave this room like that.”

The boys suddenly take an interest in the floor tiles under them. Do something,the feeling under his skin thrums.

“More importantly,” he said in a much lower voice. “I don’t want your parents calling me to complain about child endangerment.I won’t hear the end of it from the school board if word gets out.”

That,at least, eases them in a weird way– if only for the familiarity of the routine.

“You worry about grown-up things too much.” Despite that, Harold reluctantly showed off the fresh scrapes on his arms.

“Do we get candy at the end of this?” George smirks, though his brows still remained pinched.

Krupp blotted the scratches before slapping a pair of band-aids on the smaller of the scratches. “You don’t get detention for the day for that locker gum prank you pulled, how about that?”

Harold rolled his eyes, his hand picking at the skin around one of the band-aids as he slapped an extra-large band-aid pad on the other one. George, on the other hand, had turned away from him.

“Welp since you’re done, we better get out of your hair then.” He waved a hand. “Or, scalp. I guess. C’mon, Harold.”

“Now hold it, bub–” He pointed a finger at him. “Your turn.”

He looked over his shoulder with an irritated glare. With a sarcastic flourish, he shows off his arms and even rolls up his already short sleeves to prove a point. Save for the bits of bubblegum-stuck rubble and dust that still clung on his skin, there wasn’t anything he could see.

“What about your legs?”

“Ugh.” He slid back to sitting properly and gestured to them incredulously. They were similarly dirty from the recent fight, but they weren’t hurt as far as he could tell.

At least, as far as he could tell with the unobscured leg. He still hasn’t moved them.

“George,” Krupp warned.

Harold gave a nervous glance. As much as the other boy refused to budge on the subject, his conviction crumbles at the sight of his friend.

“Ugh, fine!” He uncrossed his legs. The knee that had been supporting his other leg was smeared in red.

The roiling feeling he felt when he first swapped in, comes back in full force at the sight. Pull it together. He gritted his teeth as he focused on something else.

George was looking straight up at the ceiling. What looked like a case of childish rebellion clearly wasn’t that on closer inspection: somehow, he had gotten even more tense.

“I don’t like–” He stops himself, and instead says, “Just get it over with already.”

Krupp drops whatever lecture he was about to spit automatically. He’s never seen George freak out like this— which was saying something, considering everything else before was just as harrowing.

“Get the gauze.”

It takes Harold a moment to realize that he’s talking to him.

“Both of them. It's in the big inside pocket—” The boy scrambles to the principal’s desk without hesitation and comes back in record time. “Just put them on the chair, it’s fine.”

The boy opts to circle around the chairs to be at George’s side. He places a hand on his shoulder, and a bit of the tension bleeds out of his shoulders.

Speaking of which.

Upon closer inspection, it looks a lot worse than it actually is. The leg on top of the wound just made a mess of it by unintentionally rubbing it all over his knee.

The next few minutes happen in silence, save for the occasional hiss from George. He cleans up the wound with cotton-soaked rubbing alcohol before wrapping it tight with gauze.

“Done.” Krupp takes a few steps back, rounding back towards his desk. “It's not the nicest job, but I’m not the school nurse for a reason.”

George hazards to look down. The knee in question is wrapped tight, with the ends of the gauze wrapped in a farmer’s loop. He pokes at it and only winces a little bit.

“Huh,” he mumbles.

While the both of them whisper between each other, Krupp rummages around his desk drawers until he finds the forms he was looking for. Ignoring how dusty the page on top was, he sets to write and check off the necessary boxes.

The murmuring stops just as he was finished with it and the boys were now at the edge of his desk.

“What’re you doing?” George gives the pen he was holding the stink-eye.

Harold tilts his head. “Accident Report,” he reads aloud.

“Just to keep things above board.” The principal sighs before handing it off to them. “I’m going to have to call your parents because of this–”

“Our parents are going to flip!”

“Hold on–” Harold squinted at the sheet. “What do you mean ‘injury was caused by playground incident’?”

“It means what it means,” Krupp replies. “I can’t exactly say you two were fighting gum monsters. Knowing most parents they’ll probably want to take you home, or talk to you before I send you off to class, so stay here for the next ten minutes.”

When self-loathing got old, his pragmatism bled in and thought of the logistics of… everything, really. Someone had to, and it wasn’t going to be the other guy, least of all the boys themselves. Though a part of him suspects that the other guy is considering it now.

The thrum, thankfully, quiets.

Harold opens his mouth. Closes it. “That’s… surprisingly cool of you,” he says in disbelief– both with the situation and the words coming out of his mouth.

“Yeah, well, don’t mention it.” He flashes a grimace. “Ever.”

“Done,” George agrees immediately.

“I don’t think anyone would believe us anyway!”

“Our parents are still going to flip out, though.”

The principal swivels back towards the file cabinet to pull up their parents’ contact info, letting the two of them take their usual seat. It was the pragmatic thing, letting them calm down from all that.

#mellsian fanfics #captain underpants #sticky notes au

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diamonata · 2 years ago

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The Room of Requirement had been acting up ever since the fiendfyre damage was repaired. No matter how hard Harry concentrated on his requests, the Room always managed to slip in some mischievous twist to its intended purpose.

So it was with some trepidation that Harry entered the Room on the last night of term. Hermione had insisted they throw a Christmas party, something about "inter-house unity" and a "return to normalcy". Harry thought that was a load of bollocks—as if they could pretend things were even remotely normal just seven months after the worst day of their lives—but it was as good an excuse as any to test out the undetectable extension charm on his new flask.

As he stepped into the darkened room, the tinkle of Christmas music and chatter of a couple dozen students washed over him. He wandered the room aimlessly, scanning the crowd for Ron and Hermione. As he tipped his head back for a mid-stride swig of his flask, he nearly collided with someone who had stopped directly in front of him.

It was Theodore Nott, his Slytherin potions partner and general pain in his arse. The swot was always chatting to him about potions ingredients and alchemical theory. Nott never wanted to talk about something interesting like quidditch, even though Harry knew he attended every match. Nott didn't seem to pay much attention to the game, his nose buried in a book or watching Harry and the other seeker scout for the snitch. He obviously didn't care about the score.

Harry wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and gave Nott a perfunctory nod. He was just standing there, his pale blue eyes riveted to a point over Harry's shoulder.

"Oh, shit", Nott breathed.

Harry spun around, whipping his wand out reflexively. "What is it?", he asked, as he scanned the crowd and nearby alcoves. He didn't see anything amiss. He was about to turn back toward Nott to demand what he was on about when a cluster of foliage with small glowing berries caught his eye.

He felt inexplicably transfixed by the small bunch of mistletoe. It could have been mistaken for normal mistletoe were it not for the luminescent berries and golden aura of magic that seemed to pulse around it. Harry was also suddenly, intensely aware of Nott's presence behind him. He was close enough that he could almost imagine he felt Nott's body heat emanating through his tailored oxford.

"What—" Harry began, unable to tear his gaze from the magical plant.

Nott made a strangled sort of noise, and Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle as Nott's exhalation ghosted over his skin. "That's—" Nott's voice was barely a whisper— "that's meschever mistletoe. It's—" Nott let out a low groan that Harry swore he could feel in his chest, lower. "It's the active ingredient in—fuck."

Harry tried to look back at Nott to respond, but instead felt his feet move of their own accord, edging him closer to the mesmerizing plant. He felt, more than heard, Nott's footsteps as he followed close behind. His stomach swooped with awareness of the Nott's proximity. He felt lightheaded.

Harry managed to unscramble his thoughts for long enough to remember that Nott had mentioned this very plant a couple of weeks ago during potions class. And the single, key detail that he remembered hit him like a freight train.

"You mean," Harry choked out, "the one that draws you in... but only with the person you—"

He was underneath the hanging bunch now, and he slowly turned, his eyes running over Nott's chest as he raised his eyes to meet his gaze.

"Yeah," Nott murmured. Harry felt as if he were falling, like gravity had reoriented toward Nott's crystal blue gaze.

Harry's breath hitched as he felt cool, long fingers slide up his jaw. "That means we're—"

Nott's hand tightened on his face. "Kiss me, Potter."

------

Drawn and written for the HP Season of Giving Fic/Art fest

#nottpott #eighth year #harry potter #theodore nott #drabble #fanart #fanfic #hp season of giving #self indulgence at its finest

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hawkesque · 9 months ago

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Get to know you game! Answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.

tagged by my beloved @theloopus thank you for giving me an excuse to procrastinate my readings <3

under the cut :)

Last song listened to: spotify says it was Anyone's Ghost by The National but i currently have that + several other songs stuck in my head so its like i'm listening to them all at once constantly. shout out to Back to the Old House, Fun, Fun, Fun, and Depression! Despair!, a lineup which may tell you exactly how my brain is functioning at present

Currently reading: i am getting through We Set The Night On Fire: Igniting The Gay Revolution by Martha Shelley extreeeeemly slowly because i am currently inundated with class readings. turns out when you take a class on theory you have to read a lot of dense theory. who knew. its been a good book so far though i can't wait to continue reading one page of it per week

Currently watching: nothing in particular :(! i just finished Fellow Travelers last week (bawled) and as usual i go back and watch episodes of MASH every so often, but there's nothing i'm actively watching, per say. i keep meaning to either rewatch DS9 or restart/subsequently catch up with Lower Decks but. well you know. the horrors (college)

Currently obsessed with: i will be so real i am in an awful nihilistic period and/or depressive episode at the moment so the answer is nothing. i am still rotating MASH in my mind quite often, uhhh thinking about star trek/quantum leap/scifi in general bc its been too long since i really engaged with it (my favorite genre ever), i've been enjoying my human osteology and geoarcheaology classes...? thats it. el oh el

tag 9 people agghhh sorry feel free to not do this (or to do it if i didn't tag you): @amrv-5 @mashbrainrot @honey--wraith @nedlittle @saltseashark @ds9mp4 @remyfire ahhh im running out of people who can be tagged LOL we'll call it at 7

#txt #sorry to ping people waugh #SORRY THIS IS LIKE. KINDA SAD #im fine i promise its just been an uhhh interesting series of months in my life for sure #college will do that to you!

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dartagnantt · 11 months ago

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Illusory Shinanigans

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! You should also follow my new Kickstarter so you can be alerted when it goes live next year!

The last of my potential. How tragic! … err… I mean, the last of my "potential" theme. (saved it)

This week, I delve into my favourite school of magic, the one with the vaguest rules and is either awesome or lame depending on your game master. I've fortunately had some pretty rad GMs who run with my nonsense. So I get a lot of mileage out of illusions. I mostly play with phantasms this week AKA hallucinations but I also throw in some shadow magic for fun. The fleece is getting stretched very thin today.

Daydream

This one seemed like a lot of fun after all of the hallucinating I was doing. Literally trap someone in their thoughts. It's a bit of an advanced single target colour spray.

Mass Phantasmal Force

I couldn't figure out how to scale the power of phantasmal force, as a result it kind of became four spells. This was a version of of the original scaled for additional targets.

Phantasmal Force: Revised

This is the one closest to the original, however, this one is specifically attack focused, hence why it scales the damage. I did do an overall change where instead of just believing everything but still being able to use an action to escape, I make failing a check force the belief instead. As much as I call this revised phantasmal force, I kind of rewrote the entire spell so I could use it for other projects because for some reason, they left my favourite spell out of the SRD >:(

Phantasmal Image

This one is my primary use case of the spell, you'll note that you can be more vague with this. This is borrowed from audiovisual hallucination, a spell from pathfinder and my actual favourite spell. This is also how I both use and run the spell. Because the phantasm subschool is locked inside someone's mind, its weaker in that only a designated creature can see it, but because it taps into their mind you can force belief and use their own knowledge against them. But yeah, as much fun as harming creatures with illusions is fun, the diverse fuckery in funner.

This one scales in size, because I've had to abuse the notion of perspective more than I'd like in a hallucination to get around the size limitation. Tempted to make a 'phantasmal diarama' spell at some point, but that's kind of what the next one is for.

Programmed Hallucination

This I made mostly as a retroactive excuse for what I did to my players in my game (I do this quite often, feel free to judge me) I wanted a hallucination trap, because they needed to enter a crowded room, and needless to say, if they didn't feel the people, then this would fail immediately. But I wanted a more general use case, because fuck yes!

Shared Hallucination

And this is the last variation, scaling the non damaging version for more people. Because you really need to distract multiple people with one concentration spell.

Shadow Duplicate

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Not called shadow clone, because that would imply its related to the clone spell. But really this is effectively a lesser simulacrum. I was always disappointed that mirror image doesn't give you illusory doubles that can move indepenat from you, kind of like the trickery domain power, and I didn't really want to make a specific spell for it, because silent image and major image can kind of do that already. So instead, a spell that makes a copy, that you can cast from or attack, or whatever. This should probably be a higher level, but I REALLY wanted this is be available for bonus spell lists.

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Concubus Patron

The Siren's Call

Satyr Ancestry

Sanguine Seeker Ranger Archetype

I also have three classes, and a splatbook over on DriveThrueRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

#d&d 5e #spells #illusion

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skye-huntress · 2 years ago

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Today, I wanted to write about something different. I got into Bocchi the Rock! a few weeks ago, mainly because I find the protagonist, Hitori AKA Bocchi, to be super relatable. Like her, I am also a dork with severe social anxiety who finds otherwise mundane activities for the average person to be extremely difficult. Where we differ is that she is apparently a guitar god, while I’m maybe somewhat decent at non-competitive video games (I suck at PvP). Music based stories aren’t something that particularly interest me but I think the main attraction of the show is watching Bocchi being thrown into all sorts of anxiety triggering situations, freaking out and then barely overcoming them.

It was one of the few shows I’ve watched recently where I had my queer shipper brain switched off. There was some queer rep with fellow band member Kita being completely infatuated with another band member, Ryo, but from the start I thought it unlikely to go anywhere. When the point of the show is a protagonist with zero social skills joining a band in a desperate attempt to gain popularity and fame, there’s little room for romance. That said, the last two or three episodes (9 to 11) have awakened my dormant shipper brain from its slumber, and I’m seeing signs pointing to something definitely going on between Bocchi and Kita. It’s been a few days since Episode 11, and my brain is not shutting up about it, so I feel a need to get the thoughts out there.

Just a disclaimer, I have not read any of the manga and will only be commenting on the show as I have interpreted it. I’m sure it goes without saying but I am obligated to warn you there are spoilers below the cut.

Kita and Ryo

I want to get this point out of the way first since I’ve seen one or two people comment on this. As I’ve already mentioned, Kita is explicitly attracted to Ryo, there is no room for ambiguity there. Would that make it less likely that Kita could develop feelings for someone else? I would say, not at all. It is entirely possible to develop feelings for more than one person at a time.

That said, looking at Kita’s behaviour towards Ryo, at no point did I ever see it going anywhere. Where Ryo is concerned, Kita acts more like a fanatical fangirl than a girl with a crush. I hesitate to even call them friends at this point since we have not seen any meaningful interaction between the two. Ryo has never even acknowledged or shown any interest in the other girl’s adoration as far as I can tell, and Kita hasn’t shown any effort to actually get to know Ryo beyond the idealised version she has in her head.

Kita and Bocchi

Where things are different with Bocchi is that Kita actually has shown a clear, unbiased interest in her, compared to how she is with Ryo. Rather than being blinded by first impressions, Bocchi is a mystery to those unfamiliar with her and it takes time and patience to really learn to understand her. Since Kita has been taking guitar lessons from her, she probably has had more one-on-one time with Bocchi than perhaps anyone else. Plus since they attend the same school, Kita gets to see Bocchi in a setting Nijika and Ryo can’t.

In the past few episodes, there’s evidence that Kita has gone through the effort to mostly understand Bocchi with some success. In episode 9, she was the only band member to sense Bocchi was being more melancholic than usual, while other two dismissed it as typical Bocchi behaviour. She was also the only band member who had actually thought of inviting Bocchi to do something over the summer holidays but didn’t think she would be comfortable around Kita’s other friends. When Bocchi ran away from her class’ cafe, Kita knew the places they needed to search for her. I’m just going to assume Kita’s own class didn’t need her present for their own festival project, but the possibility exists she excused herself to check on Bocchi, either out of concern or to see her in the maid outfit. She also saw right through Bocchi’s attempts to stall the band’s return to her class’ maid cafe.

The part that sticks with me the most is the application form for the Culture Festival that Bocchi filled in. It’s unlikely that Kita hadn’t already considered signing the band up for the festival herself, or at least asking the band if they want to do it. The only plausible explanation for why she would choose not to bring it up herself would be that she didn’t want to pressure Bocchi into doing something she might not want to do (the Kit-Aura is a mysterious and dangerous power not to be underestimated). Since Bocchi had filled out the application herself, that would have told Kita that Bocchi is in fact interested in playing at the festival for her own reasons and it was only her own anxieties and fears holding her back. It’s possible Kita also figured out that Bocchi was trying to get rid of her so she wouldn’t have to talk about the application, and I doubt it was just luck Kita found it in the trash after Bocchi had left for work.

It’s interesting to me that Kita initially tries to lie about why she turned in the application. Perhaps she thought it would soften the blow or that if Bocchi thought it was just an innocent mistake she wouldn’t judge Kita too harshly for it. Either way, it seems turning the application in on Bocchi’s behalf was the right call. And through her thoughts we hear the real reason why Kita really wanted the band to play at the festival. Sure, the exposure is good for the band, but what she really wants is for their peers at school to see how amazing and talented Bocchi is. It means so much to Kita that she actually went to Ryo for extra guitar lessons instead of taking up more of Bocchi’s time.

Words Unspoken

Those who’ve seen episode 11 know what this is about. Actually, it started in episode 10, when Kita had an unfinished thought about Bocchi before we cut to the scene where she asks Ryo for those extra lessons.

Then the next episode, during their last practice, Bocchi has her own unfinished thought about Kita and is almost about to say something before changing the topic. It’s possible she’s noticed some change in the way Kita played during practice, likely the result of Ryo’s lessons and maybe even Kita’s newfound determination. Even if we saw the actual practice, I probably wouldn’t be able to guess what Bocchi noticed so that is pure speculation.

Immediately following, Kita is about to say something to Bocchi, but stops herself before we find out what it is, and she definitely started blushing when it happened. It’s all just speculation on what she wanted to say, but I have no heterosexual explanation for this scene, and Kita is definitely not a heterosexual. If she was concerned that she might expose any deeper feelings for Bocchi, I could see a few reasons why she’d stop herself now. While Ryo hasn’t once responded to Kita fawning over her, if you were to confess similar feelings for Bocchi, you’ll definitely get one of her unique reactions, maybe even add to the Bocchi death counter. It wouldn’t be a good idea to spring something like that on her the day before their biggest performance yet. Besides, whatever Kita wanted to say, perhaps she is saving it for a better time and place, because whatever it is definitely seems very significant if we’re being teased with it two episodes in a row in the lead up to the finale.

Also, there’s this from the Opening:

That’s a smile and a blush on Kita’s face while she’s staring at Bocchi when she looks away. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.

There is definitely something going on between these two, and we’re definitely getting a heart-to-heart between them in the finale. I have more thoughts, too many thoughts, but I’ll leave it here and probably do a follow-up after the next episode.

#bocchi the rock #bocchi the rock!

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