#and with an 8°C drop? yeah that's probably it

[invinciblerodent]

bear instinct is to hunker down and sleep through the entire afternoon, only to emerge in the evening and devour all food in existence

the cold winds, they are coming

I must prepare by ingesting so many berries and nuts

[mylovelies-docx]

Sorry, I Love You - Part 9

Oh wow, a new chapter? Who'd have thunk it.

My posting schedule is all off and I honestly don't know if I can get it back under control. I have no idea when I'll get time to sit down and write and when inspiration will strike, so I can't assure weekly updates. But I'll try my hardest to get this story out! I have future chapters written, it's just that I have no way of connecting them right now :/ Oops.

Plot: You and Bucky have a good thing going - best of friends that also have more than a little chemistry between the sheets. Everything is fine until you develop feelings for the man who doesn't want a relationship. What will happen when Bucky finds out?

C/W: Ah shit, here we go again. Angst, arguments, jealousy

Word Count: 2,250

Tag List: NOW CLOSED! If you'd like to keep up with this story, please follow my blog and turn on notifications! ❤️ you :)

[Prologue][Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4][Part 5][Part 6][Part 7][Part 8]

Some moments are easier than others. Sometimes you feel like you’re not pining like a love-sick teenager enough to think that you can actually do this – you can actually be friends with the man you love.

But then there are moments like tonight.

A few weeks have passed since community get-together, and you and Bucky are the new kids in town. Everyone drops by to say hello, leave you with enough food to last the winter, and invite you both back to their homes for dinner. It’s all very sweet, and you would appreciate the hospitality in any other situation.

But the amount of mothers trying to marry their daughters off to Bucky is insane. 

Several have not-so-subtley seated Bucky next to daughters of marriageable age, while everyone else is silently discouraged from interrupting their conversations. It skeezes you out when the girls are barely out of their teens, but most of the girls are around your age or older. Morality-wise, that’s a whole lot more appropriate. Internal monologue-wise, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh doesn’t even begin to cover it. What you feel whenever he laughs at something they say, or looks at them with his intense blue eyes – it hurts. That’s how he used to look at you, once upon a time. Like his life wouldn’t be the same without you in it, like you’re one of the most important people in his world.

To be fair to Bucky, you probably read waaaay more into it than he ever meant. And you only ever really saw that look come out when you were straddling his waist and grinding hard on his cock, skin mottled with his teeth marks and wearing his metal hand as a necklace. 

Stop, stop, stop, stop!

Anyway,

You’re usually placed next to older, widowed relatives, as most of the young men in the town have already settled down and popped out a few kids with their spouses except for Petre. Tessa foists the two of you together at every possible opportunity, hoping you’ll hit it off and decide to get married in the near future. 

Petre is nice, smart, cute, but not really your type. You’re convinced that you’ve only ever had one type and he’s off-limits. But Petre’s company is much more enjoyable than the sad, lonely older men they try to pair you with – it never feels great to be compared to someone’s long lost love – so you don’t mind having someone around your age to talk during these things.

Speaking of.

“It’s a nice night, yeah?” Petre comments. The night is warmer than expected, but you and Petre are still bundled up in your coats as you stroll through the dead copse of trees near the latest dinner party. The sun had set only minutes ago and the stars are making their presence known. There’s next to no light pollution in this area, so you always take the time to admire the night sky when you have the chance. 

You often take walks with Bucky up and down your street as a way to decompress after your shifts at the HYDRA facility. After the first week or so of being everyone’s errand-runner, they’ve slowly built up your workload to include calculations and deductions based on redacted data – it’s not as much information as you’d like, but it’s enough to build a foundational understanding of what the experiment was about.

You hum in agreement and continue walking. It’s about time to turn around and head back, but you can’t bring yourself to return only to watch Bucky flirt with the pretty girls that were also invited.  

“Is something the matter?” Petre asks you.

You startle out of your petty, jealous thoughts. “Hm? Oh, no. Nothing’s wrong,” you reply with a smile.

“It’s just that you seem very distracted tonight,” he responds.

With your hands in your pocket, the only thing you can do is shrug your shoulders. “Just tired, is all. It’s been a long week at the office.”

“Ah, I know the feeling,” Petre commiserates. 

All of the sudden, a wailing, piercing shriek ricochets between the tree trunks and reverberates in your ears. Tensing with adrenaline, you take two steps forward, ready to intervene in whatever events are unfolding in the darkness.

Before you get much further, Petre reaches out and takes hold of your elbow. Turning you around, he starts leading the way back. You try to tug your arm from his grip, but he holds firm.

“The cry of a vixen who is looking to mate. They’re rather vicious creatures this time of year, foxes. We don’t want to get in her way,” Petre deters.

“But…” you begin, looking back over your shoulders and watching for unexpected movement among the swaying branches. “It sounds so real.”

“Terrifying, really. I was just as concerned when they began, as well.” Petre gives you a tight smile and relaxes his grip slightly when you stop trying to pull away.

“What do you mean?” you question.

“What?” Petre’s eyes flash around quickly, looking through the woods that surround you.

“‘When they began’. What do you mean by that?”

“Ah,” Petre replies. “When mating season began.”

There’s no more discussion on the eerily accurate sound of a woman in distress. You can only trust that Petre would know the local fauna and their habits better than you, since you’ve never spent an extended period of time in areas such as this.

***

The neighbor’s house finally comes into view. A lone figure stands silhouetted against the porch as they lean against the railings, their arms braced against the banister and posture rigid. When you get closer, you realize that the figure is Bucky. 

You can’t see his face, but you can feel his eyes on you. And apparently Petre can as well.

“He doesn’t like me?” Petre asks.

“Why do you say that?” The question puzzles you because Bucky has no reason to dislike Petre. He’s been incredibly helpful so far, allowing you to ask as many questions as you want about himself and others and he doesn’t seem bothered by it at all. In fact, you feel as if you and Petre have become friends.

“It just seems like he’s never happy to see me.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that – James just has RBF,” you reply nonchalantly.

“RBF?” Petre replies.

You laugh as you and Petre climb the stairs, only now realizing that he still has a hand on your arm. You’d forgotten all about it, but you miss the slight warmth that permeated through your jacket when he removes his touch. You turn to look at him, but Petre is looking away, his hands now deep in his pockets. Turning your focus onto Bucky, you see him watching Petre, his eyes squinted.

A large smile returns to your face as you reach up and grab Bucky’s chin, squishing his cheeks and making his lips pucker from the pressure. “This –” you say triumphantly, “is an RBF.”

Bucky glares down at you and swats your hand away. You cackle at the perfect example of Resting Bitch Face™ in front of you, throwing your head back in joy. When you right your posture again, you can see a small smile on Bucky’s face as he laughs along with you.

“Whatever,” he murmurs. He shakes his head in exasperation before circling his arm around your shoulders. Bucky begins dragging you back down the steps you had just ascended and you grunt in protest. “It’s time to go,” he says simply.

“Ugh, you’re so rude,” you say to him. Craning your neck as much as possible, you look back towards Petre who remains on the porch. “I’ll see you later!” you call backwards with a wave. Petre raises a hand in return, face hidden in shadow as Bucky’s had been.

Focusing back on the road in front of you, you can practically feel what little mirth Bucky had drains away. Looking up, you notice that his jaw is clenched and a hard look has entered his eye.

“What’s wrong?” Now you’re worried that something happened to Bucky while you were gone that has put him in a bad mood. Did someone say something to him? Did one of the women reject his advances? You can’t see who in their right mind would turn him down, but not everyone feels the same way about him as you do. But if it’s the latter, the guilt you feel only slightly outweighs the relief.

“You don’t think you’re spendin’ too much time with him?” Bucky says between clenched teeth.

A frown appears between your eyebrows as you continue to look up at him. “No?” you respond. “He doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Ofcoursehedoesn’t,” Bucky mutters under his breath, but you can still hear him.

You slide out from under Bucky’s hold, his agitation sparking flames of your own. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“You don’t think you’re leadin’ him on a bit, Y/N?” Bucky asks you.

You scoff. “What the fuck are you talking about?” 

“You’re always hangin’ around him!” Bucky quips back. “You’re flirting with him and walking out of parties together. All these people, Petre included, are going to think you’re pitching for an engagement.”

The hurt and pitiful feelings from earlier tonight come flooding back. Only this time, instead of feeling them for what they are, you combine them with the anger his comment brings. How dare he accuse you of leading Petre on? As if he isn’t doing the same thing to all those girls?!

“And what about you?!” you yell, the last word ripping its way between your lips and setting your tongue ablaze. “You don’t think you’re stringing all these girls along behind you? You don’t have any intention of getting into a relationship with any of them, either, do you?” 

As the words escape, you remember how Bucky sat you down and asked for a friends-with-benefits situation. Said he wasn’t ready for a real relationship, but tired of one night stands. How the two of you could help each other out since you weren’t seeing anyone either. The old resentment towards yourself and how you let yourself fall for someone wholly unavailable whiplashes back into your mind after months of repressing it. 

If he could ask that of you, does that mean he’s asked someone else? You usually arrive home later than him, but on some occasions that you are released early, he’s not there. Instead of asking where he’s been, you had just let it slide since it could have been construed as possessiveness. Like your feelings – that Bucky believes to be long gone – entitle you to his life. You hadn’t wanted to risk anything at the time, but now your mind can’t help running wild at the possibilities.

“It’s not like I’m screwing his brains out every time we’re gone!” You shout at Bucky. You had been walking down the road away from the house party which was on a street with few homes, so there’s nobody around to hear your fight. “We’re not in the bathrooms having quickies, he’s not fucking me against a wall, or bending me over his motorcycle! He hasn’t proposed we fuck around with each other until someone better comes along!” 

Your chest heaves with the effort of expelling these vicious words from deep within your heart, and you can feel a burning beginning to creep behind your eyes. You hate getting angry – hate that any strong emotion makes your eyes well with tears and makes you look weak. And in this situation, you are weak – weak against Bucky, weak against yourself, weak against the knowledge that the one man you’ve ever loved never felt the same way and never will. Your inability to keep yourself from falling for someone you knew you could never have? Your jealousy that he is probably sleeping with one or more of the women in town? That makes you weak. 

And you can’t stand to be weak in front of Bucky again.

“Newsflash, Buck: I know how it feels to be lead on by you and it fucking sucks!” You lower your voice slightly and take another step away from him. “I know that wasn’t your intention, and I didn’t feel that way at first, but that’s how I feel now.”

“You were my best friend, Y/N – I didn’t want to lose that!” Bucky exclaims. “And I genuinely thought we were on the same page!” He takes a deep breath and clasps his hands over his eyes before saying, “And seeing you run off with Petre all the time just reminds me of us – how we’d always sneak away to get some time alone. It’s just –” He drops his hands and sighs heavily, looking up at the star-studded sky and then back down to you. “I’m jealous.”

“You’re jealous?” You ask incredulously. “Why?”

“Because –” You can tell that he’s struggling to get this out, and if he hadn’t started this argument and accused you of wronging Petre, you might have been more receptive to what he’s saying. More understanding. But right now, your anger swallows all empathy and hope that his words would usually supply. “Because that could have been us,” he breathes. Bucky takes a tentative step in your direction, but freezes solid at the icy glare you send his way.

“No,” you say flatly, “No, it couldn’t have. You made that abundantly clear when I asked.”

You turn your back on him and start running, ignoring the sound of your name as you leave Bucky behind.

Part 10

Taglist: @jackiehollanderr @rabbitrabbit12321 @12345sebby @blackwood-bodecker-housewifeife @lauraashley93 @themorningsunshinee @happinessinthebeingg @nash-dara @calwitch @stany0url0calwh0res111 @pono-pura-vida @learisa @introverbatim @kentokaze @marvelogic @kaz11283

[i-literally-cant-with-this]

C/W ::: Sorta sleepy oral M->F, cum // piss on face, piss play (??) heed the warning, please. And planning // prep for more piss play. Over use of italics as usual. What. I like them, ok?

F!reader married to Dilf!Bkg (in his early 40's), v. established marriage // 7 years, 1 kid at Mitsuki's house for the weekend,

Katsuki wakes up first. The sky is bright as he peeks out of his sleepy eyes. He lays there for a few minutes, just staring at the outline of your curves under the light pink sheet. It's already hot. Probably 85 outside by now despite it being only 8 or so in the morning. He hasn't looked at the clock yet. He can't seem to take his eyes off of you.

You shuffle in your half-asleep state and roll onto your back. He smiles at you when you open your eyes to see if he's still there. But in your heart, you knew he would be.

"Good morning," he whispers to you and moves over to kiss your shoulder up to your neck. It's slow and lazy. The kind of affection that didn't know the rush of everyday necessity.

"Hey, you. What are you still doing here? I thought you'd be long gone by now. You think you'd be getting breakfast after the dessert I gave you last night?" You tuck your chin and giggle as the 2 day growth on his face tickles your bare chest. His hair is wild against your face as you try to push him away.

"Oh my god, you perv! Are you trying to shove my head down to your cunt again? Jesus fuck. I go down on you last night and you think it's all I'm good for? You think you deserve it? You're somethin' else, ya brat." He grabs your hand and holds it above you, against your pillow and scoots over so he's between your legs.

He hooked his arms under your knees and raised them up to your chest, his hands rest on the mattress next to your hips. "Mm, I gotta pee real quick. Lemme up. I'll be right back."

"You weren't even that good at it, ya loser." You spit back. He stopped and looked you dead in the eye, "That's not what you were sayin' last night. You goddamn liar. You wouldn't shut the fuck up, 'Oh Kats, don't stop Kats, holy shit Kats. You're God's gift to women, Ka-'…"

You slapped his flexed bicep, laughing. "I would never say such lies. I would never wish you on anyone. Man or woman. You're terrible. You're a terrible, horrible, filthy person."

You tried, and failed.

"Yeah? Gotta piss, eh. Well, you should've thought about that before you sassed off to me, fuckin' brat. Now, lemme see if you can keep that smart ass mouth of yours shut while I give it to you again." He leaned down and started to lap at your clit. You inhaled sharply, unable to get anything out of your mouth but a desperate whine. "K-Kats, really. I - h- oh fuck, th- fuck that's good. You're stupid good at eatin' pussy. And I promise I'll come back to you after I use the little girls room. Ge-get up, p- pl- … Kats, you're gonna make me cum and it's not gonna stop at that. It's not gonna be pretty."

He wouldn't let up on your clit. And it was so fucking hard for you to make him. It felt so good, very first thing in the morning. His fingers found their way inside of your hot and dripping pussy, sliding in and out easily. He knew just where to hit you and when. He knew exactly what buttons to push. He knew your body almost as well as you did and it was so good.

Katsuki looked up at you, his eyes hooded and his mouth slick with your juices, "You're so fuckin' cute when you whine for me to stop. However … not gonna ... stop. Not until I can feel your cum dripping down my chin and your legs are shaking aroun' my ears."

You laughed and dropped your head back onto your pillow. "I'm warning you. You have been warned, you stubborn shit." Resting your forearm over your eyes and anchoring your other hand in the hair just above his undercut, you gave in to him. And relaxed, while trying not to relax everything too much.

And, so you did. You quit your bitching and relaxed into his mouth on your cunt. It was warm. His tongue running between your folds wasn't much in contrast to how the rest of you felt; it was wet and hot, too. But when he doubled down, sucking on your little bud of nerves and delving his fingers into you, it was nearly more than you could handle. His nose sliding over your clit when his mouth wasn't on it. You could feel yourself quickly approaching that crossroad.

He hummed approvingly when you melted under his touch and raised your hips to match the ebb and flow of his ministrations. He was sloppy, his slurps and soft moans only egged you on more. "What are you so - hohh shit - happy about? Nothing about this is going to end well, Katsuki." He let go of your clit with a pop and told you to quit yer bitchin', let him do what he enjoys doing and does best. "Fine. But you're changing the sheets, shit ass." You laughed at his response to that; He buried his face even further into your hot core and doubled his efforts.

"Hm-mahh, Kats, nuh-uh, nonono oh fu- holy shit! I'm g- I'm gonna fffuuuccckkk, Katsuki!"

Your cheeks turned rosy pink and you felt the sudden urge to have the fan on. "Kats - hot, I'm h-hot." He grumbled into your cunt, "Fuck, I know y'are. I know, baby. So fuckin' hot. Cum for me, c'mon."

Your body tensed up and your knees snapped shut as your orgasm hit you like a runaway semi. The hot liquid - not much of a surprise to you - caught your husband completely off guard. Despite your many, many warnings, he still didn't anticipate the release of such bodily fluids.

"Hol- … holy fucking shit, babe! Did you … did you just … piss?" He yelled. You had never been so grateful that your kid was at their grandma's house and not there to hear their dad yell at their mom about pissing the bed.

"I-I- YOU!!! I fucking told YOU!! And your dumbass just pushed and pushed and poked and sucked on me. And now? Well now, you have to change and wash the sheets." You looked at him with a smug look on your face that you had not earned but felt like he deserved to be at the receiving end of.

He laid there. Half stunned and fully hard. "Babe. I'm … you … fuck. That was so hot. I mean, I'm sorr-sorta sorry. But fuck. You just came so hard you pissed. I have never made you cum like that." He stood and walked over to where you were standing, dripping onto the hardwood floor. Cupping your pussy and rubbing it with the palm of his hand and fingertips, he leaned down to kiss you. "We're doing that again. I'll get the shit we need. You do whatever you need to do. I'll be back and serving up some drinks after a bit. Be ready for me. I love you, peeps."

"Peeps?" You tilted your head in confusion. "Oh, yeah. 'S my new nickname for ya. You like it?"

Laughing, you tiptoed the rest of the way to the bathroom to clean yourself off. "Whatever floats your boat, baby. Whatever floats your boat."

Taglist ::: @darkstarlight82 @millennialmagicalgirl // @bakubunny (Yes I know. But just in case you somehow missed it and because of the conversation we had about his little kinks the other day ; )) @thenamesmiz (if you only wanted kiri stuff lmk!) @callm3senpaii (are you still out there? Lol) @arlerts-angel

[dwaekkistar]

Pack Omega

Chapter 1: First strike

So now here he was in the airport waiting for the host group going by the name of Stray Kids, according to the email, to pick him up. He didn't have a grand amount of belongings with him, just an average black traveling bag that contained all his pieces of clothing and his Doc Martins, as he was wearing his Converse sneakers on his feet at the moment. He readjusted his clear-framed glasses, pulled his phone out, and checked the time, it was 12:30 p.m. He softly sighed to himself as his stomach seemed to grumble in response. As he waited he played a little game, until someone inconspicuously bumped into him, jolting his arm and sending his poor phone, which was in miserable condition, flying just a few feet away from him.

He sighed to himself once more and walked over to the phone picking it up. He accessed the phone, making sure it hadn't sustained drastic damage that would deem it useless. When he saw that it still worked he let out a soft breath and chuckle he hadn't realized he was holding in. He looked back up checking his surroundings as he didn't want a repeat of what just happened seconds ago. He began to get even more hungry and he didn't know how long it would take before his host pack would show up and was contemplating buying food at the airport and getting ready to turn around. He was stopped in his tracks when he saw a small poster board that had stray kids and both his English and Korean names written on it in the distance. He took in their appearance realizing there were at least 8 in their pack, and they all looked divinely attractive. He instantly knew it was going to be a long year ahead of him if these were the visuals he was going to have to wake up to every day. He slightly shivered as the airport air was starting to get to his omega body, and it hadn't helped that he traveled to the country on its coldest autumn day so far, it only being 61°F/16°C. It took every fiber in his body to convince his introverted mind that he needed to walk over to them so he could finally be taken somewhere warm and get some food.

He shyly walked over to them, softly waving, when their jaw dropped as he got closer to them.

He slightly furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at their responses, unsure of what could trigger such a reaction. That's when the thought popped up. 'Do I look ugly or something?' he thought to himself, causing a river of negative thoughts to suddenly pile through his brain. He internally held back the urge to cry, as he told himself his pack had to be right if this was how people reacted to him. But not wanting to create a scene the omega forced a small meek smile onto his face as he hid his hands in the paws of his sweater.

"Wow, he's so... tall.." the light blonde one said aloud. His voice was quite deep and it piqued Alex's interest and attention.

"Yeah, I thought they were bluffing but it turns out they were telling the truth." another one with reddish brown hair said.

"Minho, I've never met an omega that tall if we're being honest ?" another one said, this one being completely ripped with muscles.

"Me either," said another one, who from the looks of it was probably just an inch or two taller than Alex himself.

The poor omega was so shy, and fighting back the feelings he had over his appearance that he didn't quite know what to say. He just stayed silent and quietly watched them all take in his appearance. He looked down at his feet and continued to mentally nitpick his entire appearance as they did so, a habit he likely picked up because of his former pack. It had turned him into a dreadful perfectionist. Oh, how he had wished it was so much easier and cheaper to change his face and body. He wasn't the type to gravitate towards cosmetic procedures but in this instance, he honestly wished he was financially better off as he was considering it now. Maybe then he would have been able to make himself look more like a cute omega.

"He's quite adorable though," a boy with light orange blonde hair said while all the others agreed. That was the sentence that had snapped him out of his thought process. They thought he was cute? He slightly blushed at the thought and instantly tried to cover his face.

"Awe, he's flustered." they all said in unison, which made Alex blush even harder, his ears and cheeks flushed a deep red. He shivered once more, as the cold was starting to become a problem, and the same red-haired one, who sujin assumed was Minho, seemed to take notice.

"Ah okay, let's hurry up and get Sujin home," he said, turning to the Orange blondie, " I think the cold is starting to bother him, and that shirt is way too thin."

The same Orange blondie that complimented him, folded the poster up, resting it back in his pocket before gently grabbing the omega's hand and leading them towards the vehicle they drove to the airport in. They had been walking for a bit, as they Parked in a parking lot, and Alex couldn't help but uncontrollably shiver, the shirt he wore doing absolutely nothing to keep any heat against his body. The orange-blonde holding poor Alex's hand took notice of the shaking at his side and decided to pull the other in a bit closer to give him some extra heat, to which Alex internally thanked him while slightly blushing, his body shivering a lot less as the alpha's body heat radiated on him. They eventually got to the car, it was a sleek nice-looking SUV, but Alex was unsure how it could fit 9 of them into it. It seemed that his confusion showed when the muscular one softly chuckled as he slipped into the driver's seat and allowed everyone to start getting in. As most of the pack slipped in, the one in the driver seat spoke.

"This car can seat like 11 people," he said with a soft chuckle as he patted the outside of the door, "so don't worry about all of us fitting cutie."

Alex softly blushed in response to the word cutie, quickly getting in the car and setting his bag between his legs when the orange-blonde gestured for him to get in first. The alpha followed behind him, and everyone buckled their seatbelts as the alpha closed the last door. The same red-haired one eventually slipped into the passenger seat just in front and turned on the heat in the car. Soon enough Alex felt comfortably warm and relaxed into his seat.

"Okay, Sujin my name is Minho," the red-haired one said with a soft smile as he turned to face me in his seat, " I just want to warn you that this is gonna be a 3-hour ride so get comfortable... also is that the only bag you have?"

The latter was taken aback not expecting Minho to ask about his belongings. His mouth parted open to speak but nothing came out as he couldn't push himself to verbally respond, so he nodded instead.

"Oh... if your stuff in there looks anything like what you have on at that moment, I'm afraid that's not gonna cut it," Minho said as his face became a little more serious. Alex softly pouted as he knew the other was right, considering he was downright freezing whilst walking in the parking lot not too long ago. He had underestimated South Korea's weather compared to Auckland and a part of him wished he could have a do-over in terms of his wardrobe.

"Since we're gonna be in this vehicle for a while," the orange-blonde alpha spoke up, "why don't we do ice breakers?" and everyone cheered agreeing in unison. Alex wanted to agree with them as it sounded somewhat fun, but his introverted nature just nagged at him, trying to convince him that he shouldn't speak. He mentally argued within himself until he decided that he was going to speak, as he was worried that maybe they would think he was mute, something that had happened to him before at his previous job back in Auckland. He had accidentally spent an entire week of shifts not verbally speaking, and a rumor on the job developed that the poor omega was mute and customers were wondering why his boss wasn't accommodating him.

The orange-blonde seemed to be waiting for Alex to respond as he silently stared at Alex from the side. "What about you Alex? Or do you prefer Sujin?"

      The omega couldn't tell why but the way his Korean name was rolling off the tongue of those who had already mentioned it, kind of did something. Don't get him wrong... Alex is a great name... But it was beginning to remind him all too much of the pack that essentially abandoned him before he traveled here in the first place.

"Sujin is better, and an icebreaker sounds good to me." the omega finally spoke albeit very shyly with a smile. Before he could even begin to process how the other knew he could speak English, he was suddenly hit with a smell of strong confusion and a tinge of arousal as everyone's scent started to fill the car. "Is something wrong? Why does it smell strongly of confusion and who's aroused?" he said as his voice and scent began to drip with worry and embarrassment. He couldn't wrap his head around the latter of the scent... how could his speaking make someone aroused? It's not like he said anything remotely even sexual.

"Why is Sujin's voice so deep but his scent is so sweet ?" someone blurted out.

"Maybe we'll find out soon Jeongin." the same orange-blonde alpha said in response. "Although maybe we should set up the seats in a comfortable way for this activity since they're able to turn and stuff."

This statement confused Sujin even more because he'd never heard of cars having seats that were able to turn around. It was then that the alpha next to him pressed something and his seat turned in a 35-degree angle allowing him to see everyone behind him, and the driver's seat, but not able to see Minho. You're probably wondering how the omega could tell the orange-blonde was an alpha, but in reality, it was the boy's omega that was able to sense it, and the latter was covered from head to toe in the scent of seawater. It quite honestly fit his appearance and was very comforting for the omega as it reminded him of his former escape place back in Auckland. He could sense himself becoming somewhat dazed and having a harder time breathing as he continued to take the scent in, his eyes becoming half-lidded as he was suddenly and overwhelmingly aroused all too quickly.

" YAH, Channie stop bedazzling the poor boy" Minho laughed and yelled from behind Sujin, " his scent smells like he's practically ready to take you at any second." followed by the entire pack giggling at the situation.

Minho's words made Sujin unintentionally blush his ears turning a deep red, as he tried to hide the fact that he was somewhat affected by whatever the alpha was doing. Not that he minded it, it was somewhat comforting and left a nice warm feeling in him knowing there was a possibility for once in his life that an alpha probably wanted him.  But just as quickly as he had that thought, the negative thoughts he knew all too well began to pile up on him. His nagging self-conscious nature beginning to convince him that the alpha didn't see him that way and he was reading into the scent situation all wrong.

"Well I'll go first, I'm Chan, and I'm the pack leader and alpha, I'm 25 and alpha," the alpha said softly smiling at the omega who was now watching him intently wondering why his voice had a feeling of familiarity. That's when it hit Sujin that he was hearing an Australian accent from the alpha. He sat there deep in thought, as the dots connected, his application must have had his native tongue listed, and the Australian pack leader took advantage of that probably wanting him to feel welcomed.

"I'm Han or you can call me jisung and I'm 23 and Alpha," another said with a soft smile. This particular one, Han, had a British accent and resembled a squirrel or quokka to Sujin, and that kind of shook him out of his thoughts and made him giggle. "What's so funny?" Han said furrowing his eyebrows in confusion on what could have led to Sujin's reaction.

"Nothing, you just really resemble a Squirrel," he said as he tried to stop himself from giggling earning a soft whine from Han, "it's quite cute."

"Well if you find it cute, I guess I can't be too mad can I ?" he said sending another soft smile to the omega. "Do you hear that guys? Sujin thinks I'm cute." Some of the pack groaned in annoyance while others laughed at the antics of their pack member.

"I'm Hyunjin the pack Prince, I'm 23 and also an alpha," another one said. This one in particular was sporting a short ponytail with an undercut. His demeanor at the moment was somewhat sensual, and Sujin wondered if he was the only one noticing it as everyone else seemed to be perfectly calm. Sujin carefully grabbed the sleeves of his shirt into his hand as he suddenly became shy. He softly bit his lip and tried to look around the car when he caught another blonde pack member looking dead at him, smiling when he noticed the other looking at him. Sujin once again blushed and immediately looked down, and he was 100% certain that everyone in the car could smell the embarrassment laced in his scent.

"I'm Felix, the pack sunshine, also 23 and also alpha," the blonde one said with a smile as Sujin looked back up. His voice was quite as deep as Sujin's and that kind of surprised the omega as he never frequently heard other people's voices with as much bass as his. It also surprised when he noticed the boy had an Australian accent just slightly stronger than the first blonde who spoke.

"I'm Changbin, I'm 24, and also an alpha, " The muscular one in the driver's seat spat out quickly before shooting a smile in Sujin's direction. Something about his smile brought out a warm feeling in sujin's stomach and he couldn't quite place why. He smiled to himself as the other already looked away, wanting to keep his eyes on the road.

"Seungmin, 22, beta," another one spat out as he went back to his phone. Sujin carefully took in his appearance and thought to himself that the other resembled a puppy in a way, causing him to grin widely without realizing it. Sujin loved puppies and dogs, and the mere fact that someone in the pack resembled one brought a feeling of content happiness to him.

"SUJIN, why are you smiling so hard at Seungmin?" Jisung yelled out causing everyone to laugh except Seungmin, who just looked at the omega and scoffed in annoyance. Sujin immediately furrowed his brows in confusion at the other, wondering what he had done to evoke such a reaction out of the elder. He softly frowned and looked back down at his hand, carefully fidgeting with his fingers as he tried to not let it get to him.

"I'm Jeongin, 22, and a beta," he said with a griny smile. The last one seemed sweet and friendly, and he had a strong feeling that he and the other would get along quite well soon.

"And I'm Minho," Minho said with a soft chuckle, " although you already knew that, I'm 25 and alpha. Your turn Sujin."

        "My name is Sujin,  I-I'm 20 and an omega," Sujin said feebly as he internally cringed at his stutter. All of the pack however immediately gasped in unison at the omega's words and he couldn't tell why as his anxiety started to consume him. 'Now of all moments was not the time for my anxiety to show face' he thought to himself. He carefully retracted his hands into his sleeves, not having any other way to calm himself, when suddenly he felt the scent of seawater from Chan and a dark chocolate scent from behind consume him. He immediately assumed the chocolate scent was from Minho, and figured he would have to make a definite confirmation sometime later. But at the moment all he could focus on was two Alphas pushing out various calming pheromones, quietly slumping into the chair as he continued to stare at his shoes. He couldn't push himself to continue speaking as it seemed that icebreaker had already drained him enough. He was sure Chan noticed because the alpha returned his hand to the button from earlier as he turned the omega back to the front. He was met with Minho looking back at him shooting the younger a quick reassuring smile.

     Sujin became curious about how much time had passed and decided to pull out his phone. He knew that it was roughly 12:50 by the time left the airport, so he was quite surprised to see that the cracked monitor of his phone read 2 p.m. That meant they had at least two hours until they reached their destination. He softly sighed to himself as his stomach grumbled with hunger, but was thankful that it wasn't very loud as the introvert didn't want to attract any further attention to himself for the afternoon. He sighed as he tried to get comfortable in his seat, the jet lag from his flight and lack of food in his stomach making him more restless than usual. His eyes slowly began to close on him as he drifted to sleep, the scent of dark chocolate overpowering his nostrils once again it pushed out comforting pheromones once again, aiding him to sleep.

Time skip.

Sujin was woken up by the motion of being shaken. He softly whined in response, the omega not wanting to open his eyes, he couldn't help it when jet lag was consuming his entire being.

"Sujin, you got to wake up so we can go in the house... it's either that or I carry you." Changbin whispered, not wanting to spook Omega in front of him out of his sleep. But changbins words were enough to wake the other up fully, as he frantically looked around and took in his surroundings. The car was empty beside him, Changbin, and his bag. The car was parked in a driveway, in front of the garage that the omega noticed was connected to the house, a huge 2-story house at that meaning there had to be more than enough room for all of them including Sujin. Quickly he got up from his seat and discarded himself from the car.

"Sorry about that... I take it I had been out for the last 2 hours then?" sujin said softly to which the elder nodded.

"And there's no need to apologize Sujin," he said shooting the omega a soft smile as he started leading the omega into the garage closing its doors behind them, "I wouldn't have minded carrying you at all.. Just didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

Sujin softly smiled at the older's thoughtfulness as they finally reached the door that connected the garage to the house. Changbin opened the door as they both slid off their shoes and placed them on a nearby rack, and both he and Sujin were met with utter chaos. Han was chasing after the youngest Beta, Jeongin, with a shoe yelling unspeakable curse after curse while the younger mischievously laughed seemingly having done something that set the alpha off. Chan was chasing after them both, trying to break them up before any serious damage could be done. Hyunjin was sitting on a couch cuddling up with Felix, Minho sat next to them, focused on a show plastered on the TV, while Seungmin was sitting on another couch alone still going at some game on his phone. Changbin sighed before looking back at the omega.

"Sorry about this, this is usually us on a normal day... I'll just show you to your room and let you get situated," he said nonchalantly grabbing the omega's hand as he led Sujin up to the stairs to his room. When they got there Changbin swiftly opened the door, a fully furnished room meeting the omega's eyes. It had a desk, a wardrobe, a dresser, nightstands, and 2 beds, a regular one planted against a wall, and a nesting one as it was placed in what looked like a nesting nook to the omega. The nesting bed was filled with various blankets and pillows.

"OH, uh we decided to all gift you at least one of our blankets and pillows, well except Seungmin. Seeing as your application said you were an omega..." changbin said trailing off a bit at the end. He knew what the alpha getting quieter meant. 'Of course, he doesn't believe I'm an omega..' Sujin said thinking to himself. Who would honestly? He didn't look like one or sound like one, the only thing genuinely solidifying him as an omega was his scent, his overly sweet cotton candy scent was the only proof of it. He softly clenched his hands into a fist, as he tried to hold back the urge to cry in front of the alpha, not wanting his scent to go sour and alert the alpha that he wasn't okay.

"Uh, can I have a moment ?" Sujin said just barely audible. Holding back his emotions was seemingly way harder than he thought at the moment. All of the fucked up things his former pack ever told him came puddling back at an alarming rate and it was taking everything in him not to cry.

"Of course, I'll let you set up and relax until dinner is ready." with that Changbin left closing the door behind him. Sujin sighed as he dropped his bag near the wardrobe not having the energy to fully unpack it. He opened it having the intent to shower and pulled out a pair of black skin-tight boxers, something his old pack teased him for. He couldn't wear loose boxers as they made him feel weird, triggering his sensory ick. He then pulled out a pair of black PJ bottoms and socks, he also pulled out a black Tee, knowing that when dinner was done he couldn't just walk out of his room shirtless. That would have been too much in his opinion, an overkill. He placed the items on the bed and decided to look around the room. He saw 2 doors in it besides the one they just come through. He opened one seeing it was a closet but was surprised to see the second one was a door to a decent-sized bathroom that was only connected to his bedroom. His brain lit up at the thought of not having to bother asking anyone about the bathroom.

He carefully walked back into the room picked up his clothing and headed into the bathroom. He saw that a towel and various toiletry items were waiting for him, so he placed his clothes on the counter and quickly turned on the shower, removing his glasses shortly after. He locked his bathroom door, and headed into the shower, instantly relaxing the moment the hot water came into contact with his body. He let out a low groan as all the anxiety and ache from his flight finally left his body. He began to lather some soap all over his body. He carefully rinsed his body once he was done before grabbing the nearest shampoo and conditioner and washing his hair. He rinsed his hair out drying it with a towel as he stepped out of the shower. He silently took his appearance in while staring into the full-door mirror. Oh, how he hated his body. He would give anything right now to have a small cute build like the others he's seen. He softly traced his hand across the rose tattoo resting just near his rib cage that he had gotten two years ago and softly sighed to himself. he quickly got dressed, opting to keep his glasses off and holding his t-shirt in his hand as he wasn't ready to quite put it on. He walked into the room, eyeing the nesting bed for a few seconds before eventually giving in as he walked over to it and lay in it. As soon as he fell into the bed, his omega fully took over as the scent of all the alphas and Jeongin mixed at an overwhelming rate. His eyes turned a soft golden color as he softly groaned into the array of blankets and pillows. As he roamed the bed giving into his headspace, he began to intricately place them all together, until he was content with how his nest looked. He carefully placed himself in the middle of the nest and hugged his legs against himself as he continued to take everything in. Getting way too deep into his headspace, he started to gently scent the nest, letting soft little whimpers slip through his soft plump pink lips.

"I see you're enjoying the nest we got you," he suddenly heard Chan say, causing Sujin to instantly sit up as he snapped out of his headspace. 'I told them you were an omega... No beta reacts that intensely to scents...' Chan mentally thought to himself.

"Yea.. s-sorry about that..." the omega said back in response. He cursed himself once more for his stutter. Why wouldn't his anxiety just allow him to speak normal coherent sentences for once?

" There's no need to apologize Sujin," the elder said in response as he walked closer to the omega, "It's natural."

That made Sujin smile as he calmed down a bit until he noticed Chan was quietly staring at him longer than usual. When his eyes met where the other was looking he realized he was still shirtless, and jumped up frantically to look for the shirt, spooking the alpha with worry.

" Are you okay Sujin?" Chan spoke as he tried to reach out to the latter. But Sujin only recoiled as he found the shirt and quickly put it on.

" Never been better," he said high-pitched as he ran out of the room. He didn't even know if dinner was done, but he just needed to be somewhere else that wasn't alone with an alpha. He couldn't help but feel like Chan was silently judging his body. He quickly went down the stairs quietly walking past the living room which was currently occupied by the entire pack.

"Oh, Sujin's come to join us," Jeongin said out loud seeing the omega appear reaching his hand out, but Sujin was not joining them. The omega stayed silent ignoring them all as they tried to speak to him, avoiding Jeongin's hand. All of the emotions that he bottled up were starting to get to him as the tears started to drip down his face. He continued walking to the door to his garage, quickly opening it to grab his shoes before placing them on and leaving the house through the front door. He cried even harder once he reached outside. He didn't know a thing about South Korea but he just wanted to be alone, everything becoming all too overwhelming to him at once. He saw that the house was near what looked like woods, and decided to take a walk into it as the tears continued to fall his face. He walked for about 20 minutes in no certain direction before collapsing onto the ground and crying to himself as he held his legs against his body.

Sujin stayed like that for almost 2 hours crying, eventually falling asleep as he shivered from only having the t-shirt and pj pants on. It wasn't a very peaceful sleep either, as what started as him trying to escape to a happy place became a nightmare. The omega was dreaming and reliving a memory that he knew far too well but always tried to shove deep into the pits of his brain where he couldn't reach. It was an uncle from his family pack, an alpha, who at first was very sweet to the omega pup or so Sujin thought. Every time he came over to the Sujin's parents' house the uncle always had treats and toys for him. The uncle would sit in the omega's room and play for hours until the younger fell asleep. As Sujin grew into a teenager it transitioned from toys and sweets to a weekly allowance and video games. One night on his 15th birthday, however, the omega decided he would call it a day and head to sleep. His uncle was watching him as usual because his parents never liked staying home on Sujin's birthday, but they also needed someone to watch him because they never quite trusted him. That very night His uncle traumatized him and took away what little innocence Sujin had as a homeschooled 15-year-old, and any time his negative thoughts became too overwhelming he was brought back to that very memory. No matter how many times he tried to wake himself from the dream it would just keep replaying, that was until he felt a soft jolt that awoke him.

        Sujin frantically shot up awake in the woods, trying to regain his composure and breathing. But what was more surprising was the huge scent wave of seawater hitting his nose, the pheromones strong of a comforting component indicating that they were trying to calm him down. He turned his head to be met with a chest. He tried to use his hands to stabilize himself against the alpha's chest, as they were holding his body up and gently rubbing his back. Sujin knew it was Chan, but he just couldn't push himself to look the alpha in the face, not after what he just did to him back in the house. Chan moved his index finger to sujin's chin, causing the younger to slightly flinch which the alpha took note of, before the elder continued to tilt his face upwards to look at him. He quietly assessed the omega's face in its red and puffy state, his slightly breaking at the sight of him.

"I may not know... what made you react like that or what you've been through," the alpha said ever so softly as he pulled the omega closer, "But I want you to know that I'm always here for you no matter what." Chan then carefully stood up bringing the omega with him. He properly wrapped his arms around Sujin gently hugging him. Sujin relaxed into the hug eventually reciprocating it back to the alpha.

"Would you like to tell me what triggered you back there?" the alpha gently said to Sujin, continuing to rub his back.

"I don't know if I'm ready to talk about that at the moment," Sujin replied softly. He honestly felt tired, even after being asleep for god knows how long. His body ached, and his face was just puffy and irritated and he was covered in mud.

"That's perfectly okay, let's go back to the house and get you cleaned up then," Chan said calmly as he grabbed Sujin's hand the same as he did when they first met today and quietly led the omega back to the house.

They eventually reached the house and Chan quickly kneeled in front of the omega gesturing towards his shoes indicating that he wanted to take them off for him. When Sujin caught on he blushed but he couldn't possibly just accept such a gesture.

"O-Oh no, it's okay I got it !" he said trying to hide any signs of his shyness, but failing as he stuttered immediately. "I just couldn't accept such a gesture."

"Sujin you're in a program where people look for new packs," he said with a chuckle, "It's okay to accept any gestures from us, that you're comfortable with that is. How else are we supposed to get to know you and what you like and vice versa."

Sujin could only softly blush in response. He didn't know how to respond to it, so he put his foot forward, watching as Chan carefully removed the muddied shoes. He internally smiled to himself at the sight in front of him. The alpha then gestured for Sujin's other foot and the omega followed, the alpha then removed his other shoe. He then got back up removing his own before carefully opening the door. When they both walked in, Sujin was immediately face to face with Seungmin, Which caused the omega to look down, his face immediately changing into a frown as he tried to walk around the beta.

"Well I wasn't happy to see you either." the beta scoffed, and that hit Sujin pretty hard in the feels as he clenched his hands into a fist again before unclenching it.

      "Seungmin, what's your problem?" Chan asked the beta, but before the beta could respond, Sujin already made his way upstairs to his room. He went to the bathroom immediately locking the door behind him. He kicked off all his clothes and threw them into an empty laundry basket, before turning the shower on and practically shoving himself in it. He let the hot water run all over his body as he roughly scrubbed at all the parts of his body that came in contact with the mud outside. He then sat crouched in the corner of the shower, letting the water run all over him, as he tried to release all the negative emotions with the steam from the shower. He stayed like that for about 20 more minutes before shutting the shower off. He quickly dried himself off and pulled a pair of boxers on, heading to his regular bed. It was getting late and at this point, Sujin didn't care if he hadn't eaten all day, he just wanted some rest.

         He splayed his body out before eventually sliding under his comforter trying to fall asleep. That's when he heard a soft knock at his door.

         "Come in.." the omega responded lowly, not having the energy to be any louder. The door opened and he was met with the same deep voice blonde from the car ride, Felix.

          "Hey, you okay?" he said in a whisper as he carefully walked to the side of my bed. "I came to check up on you."

      Sujin softly nodded, as he was starting to slip into a non-verbal headspace. He positioned himself under the blanket to face the blonde alpha. Felix took the initiative to sit on the floor in front of sujin so that the omega wouldn't have to strain his neck to look up at the other.

       "Sorry about Seungmin by the way," Felix said softly, " he wasn't the most open or happy about us joining the program to find an omega for the pack." Sujin just quietly stared at the alpha not sure how to take in what was being said to him. Is that why the beta was being rude to him?

         "Uhh... I'm not sure what else to say, but do you want to hang with us downstairs?" Felix added quickly. To the omega, it seemed like Felix was trying to find a way to make him feel comfortable and included, which would be the goal since they were courting him. "Your dinner is ready by the way."

         "Oh, let me put some pants on then.." Sujin said softly as he did not want to reject the alpha's offer, especially when the other seemed to be so nice and accepting of him. Felix waited for him at the Door of the bedroom, as he carefully got out of the bed, almost struggling at a point to get the comforter off himself, before he ran to his bag in just his boxers which were again somewhat on the tighter side. He swiftly pulled out another pair of pj pants which were black and another black t-shirt.

         " I'm kind of glad I checked up on you," Felix said with a soft chuckle, " 1. because you seem to have a nice body for an omega, and 2. Just looking at you rummage through your stuff tells me I need to go buy you more stuff."  Sujin shot his head up in surprise at the last part. It felt weird having someone offer to buy him things, as it was something he never experienced in his former pack. He was used to getting hand-me-downs from them or buying himself things when he had enough money saved up back in Auckland. He was worried that if he accepted the offer, he wouldn't be able to pay them back, because, from the looks of it, their taste seemed to be pretty expensive. Just earlier today when they picked him up Chan was wearing a Givenchy sweater, and those cost a very pretty penny.       

        "Ah thank you but you don't have to do that.." Sujin replied, "I'll just try to get a job and buy some myself when I have the chance."

       "You don't have to worry about paying me back you know," Felix deadpanned, " I'm doing it because I want to." Honestly, Sujin didn't know how to respond to the Alpha's words so he just quickly put on his pants and shirt as the Alpha seemed to be adamant about his offer. He followed the alpha downstairs, seeing that everyone was in the living room watching TV. He assumed they must have eaten while he was in the room. He silently sat at the island they had in the kitchen, Felix handing him the plate of food that was still very warm and a utensil. He looked down at the and began to smile as he saw it was a beef stew with a side of rice and some kimchi. He carefully ate the food as Felix sat next to him and rested his head on the Omega's shoulder.

"So how do you like it ?" he said wiggling his eyebrows as he excitedly waited for sujin's answer.

"It's really good," Sujin said with a smile, he couldn't deny that he was enjoying the food a lot more than he thought he would. He gave it extra points for the fact that it gave him a homey feeling as he always made it for himself back in Auckland whenever he was feeling down.

"Good because Seungmin made it," the alpha said with a gentle grin. 'Oh' was all the omega could mentally utter. It's not that he thought the beta couldn't cook, more so that the behavior he experienced from the beta gave him the impression that they weren't so nurturing in the first place. He eventually finished the food, Felix picking up the plate and washing it after ushering the omega to the others. But Sujin felt way too shy to just walk up to them and join them on the couch. He didn't want to throw off whatever balance they currently had.

That's when Minho turned around on the couch to look at Sujin who was currently watching the entire pack. It was as if he could sense the omega was watching them. He carefully got up from his seat on the couch, grabbing Sujin's hand once he reached the younger and pulling them towards the spot he just come from. Upon reaching it Minho sat down, pulling the omega into the spot next to him without a word or warning, causing Sujin to yelp in embarrassment. The entire pack began to giggle at the omega'a shyness which made him turn even more red in the face.

All Sujin could focus on at the moment despite most likely having the pack's attention was the scent right next to him. The way Minho pulled him onto the couch and had him sitting in a way where the alpha's scent gland was practically right near his face. Having been through what he experienced, he couldn't understand why most of the pack was so affectionate towards him, although it was better than having them treat him how Seungmin was. He turned his head towards the TV to see what they were watching realizing it was some movie he wasn't able to recognize. The omega softly sighed, as he tried to fixate on the tv when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. To his surprise, it was Han, the alpha resting his head on the omega as he got comfy.

"Shouldn't we let Sujin make a communal nest or something," Hyunjin blurted out mostly towards Chan, "we might as well since Minho and Han are getting all touchy with him. Sujin just stared at the alpha that spoke in confusion, because despite their affection he hadn't noticed that was the route it was going. Was he comfortable with that? Was he even ready for that was the better question he thought to himself?

" I don't know if I'm ready for such a task honestly," Sujin said shyly. His face turned red again as he tried to hide it. But he couldn't because Han wasn't allowing the omega to as he held the younger's arm away from his face.

"Don't omega's like things like that? Are you not an omega?" Seungmin blurted out in response. Again striking the same nerve as before. Sujin clenched his teeth together and closed his eyes trying to help himself calm down. It was as if the unruly blunt beta was purposely saying things to try and convince everyone and the omega that he wasn't his true sub-gender. And that irked Sujin to no end. Still not opening his eyes, Sujin finally spoke.

"Never mind I'll do it.." Sujin spat a lot more aggressively than he intended it to. He slithered his way out of the hold the two alphas beside him had.

"Sujin you don't have to do it if you're not comfortable yet," Felix said softly, as he could sense the anger in the omega, from Just his tone alone. But this was the first time the pack was able to get a full whiff of Sujin's scent, the omega's angry pheromones mixing with his strong sweet strawberry and honey scent. The omega just getting angrier by the second the more he tried to calm himself down, as began clenching his hands into really tight fists and biting his lips. That's when the omega began to smell an overbearing amount of Fresh blood, causing him to let out soft whines of worry in a panic. The smell was so strong that he thought someone had hurt themselves or possibly him, causing him to force his eyes open and take everything in. His bright golden omega eyes began to search the room for blood only to be immediately met with the source of the smell sitting right next to him on the floor holding him, Hyunjin.

"where's blood?" the omega said softly in way too nervous omega headspace. His face dripping with worry, as he was in a highly vulnerable state and couldn't hide any of his emotions.

"There's no blood silly, that's my scent," the long-haired alpha said as he picked the omega up bridal style, quite surprised at how light Sujin was and how easily the younger gave into his action with no fight. He carefully started heading up the stairs, only stopping at the top unsure of which room he should bring the omega to. He knew he couldn't just leave Sujin vulnerable like that in front of the entire pack. Who knew how the omega would feel about them after? He also knew it would have been a good idea to not have Sujin around Chan as the Head alpha was fuming once he realized Seumgmin's behavior triggered the younger into the headspace in the worst way possible just to prove if Sujin was an omega or not. He didn't think the beta would act on his doubt despite being warned. Hyunjin mentally fought with himself for a bit more until he decided it would be better to take Sujin to their room.

He quickly walked to the omega's room, setting sujin down to open the door. When he turned back to the omega, Sujin was sitting against the wall with his legs hugged against his chest while he softly sucked on his thumb. The omega's eyes were now a deep rosey golden color and Hyunjin couldn't help but feel that the boy looked weirdly adorable. He had never seen an omega behave in such a way while in the headspace, It was almost childlike. He kneeled in front of Sujin and softly caressed their cheek, before deciding to snap a quick photo of the latter's eyes to show Minho later. The older alpha despite being one of their lovers was indeed also the pack's nurse, and who would know better than him what was going on with the omega?

He gently picked up Sujin once more, slightly jumping as he felt the younger purring as they began to wrap themselves around him. Hyunjin knew for a fact he wasn't going to be able to leave the other any time soon. The alpha then eyed the omega's nest but thought that it wouldn't be appropriate to just invade the nest Sujin worked so hard on, especially since he hadn't been permitted to enter it yet. He walked over to Sujin's bed slipping them under the comforter as he gently started to rub the omega's back, which earned him a small coo from the omega as they closed their eyes and rested their head in the crook of his neck.

Hyunjin, seeing that sujin was most likely way more occupied with his scent and the gland it was protruding from decided he would text the group chat to ask Minho what the eyes meant.

stray kids

hynjinnnn:

Minho hyung?

Uhm.. What's with Sujin's eyes?

Youknowiknowleeknow: What do you mean?

yong.Lixx: Yeah what do you mean? Is there something wrong, is he hurt?

i.2.n.8: don't tell me Seung-min broke him before he even got through a proper day with us...

miniverse.__: I DIDN'T BREAK HIM.

Jisungamericano: dude, yes you did— I literally never smelled an omega get that angry before?!!?

It was kinda hot…

gnabnahc: Seungmin and Han shut it, Seungmin we're going to talk later. Now Hyunjin, what about Sujin's eyes?

jutdwae: [Reply to gnabnahc] I'll also join that talk later, simply because it seems someone here has forgotten my lesson on consent and boundaries, especially with omegas. Seungmin you crossed a huge line and it hasn't even been a Day with the new one, what happens if your actions possibly scare him off? What are we gonna do if you scare off every new omega we come into contact with?

miniverse.__: sigh. I'm not talking about this right now.

hynjinnnn:

Good because I still need to show you guys Sujin's eyes which was the topic at hand here—

[Image Sent]

Youknowiknowleeknow: Wtf? Why are his eyes bright orange? I mean new pups have orange eyes but it's a very deep orange? This one is very light? Let me do some research.

yong.lixx: Uh guys... Idk how to say this but I actually know what his eye color means...

I had a friend experience something similar back when I lived in Australia...

Sujin's in little space at the moment... he's mentally regressed to a certain pup age.

Jisungamericano: you're kidding right? I thought that only happened in the shows and stuff???

yong.lixx: that's because it's not a common thing... Not everyone goes into little space Ji. People who slip into it usually experience Something pretty traumatic and are trying to go back to a period when they felt the safest or non-traumatized.

Youknowiknowleeknow: lixie is right. Sujin's definitely in little space. But now I can't help but wonder what that event was and what got triggered the moment Seungie questioned his sub-gender.

gnabnahc: Hyunjin where are you?

hynjinnnn:

Sujin's bedroom—

IWJEDJEIEIODDKDIEN

SORRY, I DROPPED MY PHONE SUJIN JUST SUDDENLY SUCKED ON MY NECK—

SOMEONE HELP DON'T. JUST. READ.

Jisungamericano: PFT, there's absolutely no way you're complaining about that—

gnabnahc:...

I'm coming...

Although mostly because I wanna see this for myself.

i.2.n.8, Jisungamericano laughed at a message.

hynjinnnn: YAH STOP LAUGHING.

Within mere seconds, Chan was in Sujin's room with Hyunjin. The orange-haired alpha softly chuckled at the sight of a dramatically horrified Hyunjin who was currently holding the omega as they suckled onto the older's neck.

"Chan make him stop!" the long-hair alpha said with a whine, "if he continues I'm going to get a boner and it feels wrong when he's like this—" the younger said as he gestured to the omega.

Chan walked over and carefully pulled sujin off Hyunjin, giving the taller alpha a chance to regain his composure and calm himself down. Chan then carefully placed Sujin back down in his bed, watching as the youngest in the room moved his thumb to his mouth.

"I wonder if I should ask him how old he is?" Chan quietly whispered to Hyunjin. The taller alpha looked at him confused, greatly furrowing his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what Chan's intentions were for such a question.

"Fourteen," sujin quickly blurted out as he continued to suck his thumb. His answer however caused the two alphas in the room to jump, the omega's level of self-awareness catching them off guard.

"Well, that answers only one of our questions.." Hyunjin said even more unsure than he was minutes ago. " What happened to him when he was 15 that he regressed to 14 at the age of 20? And why was he so baby-like at such an older puppy stage?"

Chan could only shrug in response as he took in the omega's behavior. Sujin was still sucking on his thumb, pulling on his comforter as he tossed around to get comfortable. The omega's lack of communication at the moment just exposed how much of an introvert he was.

" I think I'm gonna stay with Sujin for the night. You should get some rest Jinnie." the elder said to Hyunjin, as he carefully got into the bed with the omega. Hyunjin quietly left the room as Sujin softly purred at the feeling of the bed dipping as Chan lay next to him. The younger snuggled up to the alpha quietly, purring even more as he got closer to the source of Chan's seawater scent. He softly cooed before wrapping his arm around the alpha the best he could.  Chan couldn't help but think to himself how cute the younger looked at the moment, as the omega searched and longed for any kind of skinship in his head space.

[hottpinkpenguin]

Joel Miller X Fem!Reader - Last of Us - Part 9

A/N: read part 1 ! read part 2 ! read part 3 ! read part 4! read part 5! read part 6! read part 7! read part 8!

Taglist: @midgetpottermills @casssiopeia @flyingmushroomss @amethystwonders11 @hiphopdancer101universe @kiszkawagnerwhore @littleshadow17 @rh1nestonecowg1rl @alm0501 @ch4rcuterie @lodeddiperrodrick @amandalove1355 @laurathefahrradsattel @moshpot24x @middleof-thenight @kettlechips3 @happymakercollectorsworld @alainabooks143 @mikariell95 @superbreadsoull @twd-rocks-blog @livmadsen11 @sage-bunn @emmy626 @somenerdyuserr @vitavenio @yjnicks @littleshadow17 @honeybunzzzz @thenovelcarnival @shypositivitywritinghorse @kik51199 @lovelyygirl8 @adriennemichelle98 @imobbssed @sofsofsposts @axshadows

Warnings: dark themes; substance abuse; post-apocalyptic dystopia; death of reader's minor child; probably a lot of non-canon details since I've never played the game; not proofread; spoilers if you haven't seen the show/played the game Word Count: 2473 Abbreviations: QZ = quarantine zone; FDRA "Fedra" = Federal Disaster Response Agency

---

You smiled, placing the dark eyes and deep voice of the man who rescued you instantly.

“Damian!”

Seized by a sudden rush of emotion to see him alive, you wrapped your arms around his neck, wincing at the dull throb in your ribs and carefully avoiding the sling he had around one arm. 

“Y/N, it’s damn good to see you up and about. I really thought you were a goner there.”

You released him, feeling flooded with gratitude. He’d been the one who’d found you in the stairwell and carried you all the way back to the QZ. On top of blowing up the propane truck the night before, you now owed Damian your life twice over.

“Yeah, that makes two of us,” you agreed congenially. Damian looked cheerful, albeit worn out. In addition to the arm he had hanging limply in a sling, one side of his head and neck was covered in a bandage damp with what appeared to be a mixture of blood and vaseline. He caught you eyeing the wound.

“Burns,” he clarified, dropping his gaze. You nodded, forcing your eyes back to meet his. He’d be scarred for life, you realized with an uncomfortable twinge of guilt, and partially because of you. 

With your eyes no longer on his burn, you noticed that he was wearing a pack, freshly restocked judging by its size, and he had a full ammo belt slung sideways across his chest.

“Damian, you’re not seriously going back out there, are you?”

The remnants of a smile melted from his face.

“We gotta get the girl, y/n. Everything depends on it.”

The gravity of his tone signaled to you that Damian knew about Ellie, just like you and Marlene. 

“That’s ridiculous, you look like you’re fresh out of a warzone.” 

Damian’s dark eyes narrowed slightly, his shoulders puffing up a half inch.

“Wars don’t stop on account of the wounded,” he replied blandly, although you saw the flame of conviction simmering in his eyes. Like Marlene, Damian was a true believer. He would die for the Fireflies and their cause. And Ellie was more than that. Ellie was everything.

You swallowed thickly, remembering that you’d let her walk off into the open city alone.

“Well, fuck, I better get dressed too then.”

The words were out of your mouth and your decision was made before your mind had caught up with your body. 

Damian chuckled darkly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, y/n. I may look a little on the well-done side, but I’m not hours off of a near-death fever with three broken ribs.”

Three ribs, you noted idly. You’d assumed two. 

“Yeah, well, I’m the whole reason she’s out there by herself anyways.” 

Regret threatened to turn you inside out. You couldn’t meet Damian’s eyes.

He reached out, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

“You made the best decision you could. We’ve all been there. Marlene included.” 

Damian gave you a sympathetic smile. His compassion made you hate yourself all the more.

“How’re you gonna find her, anyways?” you asked, itching to change the conversation. 

“Not a damn clue. I got lucky with you. Caught a glimpse of you two from a roof a few blocks over. You were moving so slowly I was able to catch your trail pretty easily. Must have missed the girl by only an hour or two.”

You nodded, chewing on the inside of your cheek as he continued.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky twice. There’s realistically only so much ground that Ellie could cover in a day. Plus we know she’s headed for the QZ. So we’ll start by sweeping the blocks directly between where I picked you up and the wall, and we’ll go from there.”

Damian’s false optimism was difficult to hear. It drove the spike of regret deeper into your chest.

“Three pairs of eyes are better than two. I’m coming with you.”

You squared your shoulders to Damian, expecting him to argue. He gave you a long, thoughtful look before he shrugged.

“I know you won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, so I’ll save my breath. Here, take this-” he handed you the fully loaded backpack from his shoulders “-we head out in ten minutes.” He gestured to the end of the hallway - presumably the exit.

The pack was much heavier than what you were used to carrying, and the strap pressed uncomfortably just above where your ribs hurt. You grit your teeth and readjusted the supplies on your back, trying to find a comfortable position. With the added weight on your back, you were acutely aware of how weak you felt, your body’s reserves sapped by the infection you’d only just managed to kick. The rational part of your mind raged against you for volunteering for another run when you were quite literally just off your hospital bed.

“Y/N, listen to me.” Damian caught your arm gently as you went to walk by him, his voice low. “This time, if you fall behind, I can’t carry you back to HQ.” You nodded grimly as he released your arm, sidling past you to re-up on supplies.

As he rounded the corner and disappeared from view, you had the bleak thought that maybe the only reason he’d bothered saving you was because he’d expected you to be able to tell them where Ellie was. You tried to brush that speculation from your mind as you heaved the pack up higher on your back, wincing as your ribs wailed in protest, and walked in the opposite direction. Back out into the open city that had almost killed you. 

*****

“God damn it.”

Joel swore to himself quietly as he peeked out through the emergency access door hanging askew from its rusted hinges. Unfamiliar with the T tunnels, he’d ended up making a large arc, skirting the wall of the quarantine zone, rather than the straight shot into the city he’d hoped for. In the distance, he could see the bright halogen searchlights that marked the main gate. 

It was a dismal night, cold with a heavy rain. Joel flicked off his flashlight, heaving against the metal door with his shoulder until it budged enough to let him out. As soon as he stepped into the rain, he felt a bone cold chill settle over him. 

Based on his mental map, his route miscalculation had landed him about fourteen blocks northwest of where the spot Marlene had last seen you. Even though Joel knew the chances of finding you exactly where Marlene had left you were slim to none, it was all he had to go off of. 

Resigned to his fate, Joel zipped up his rifle underneath his jacket to shield it from the driving rain. His hair was already plastered against his head, rain streaming down his face in rivulets and dripping off his jaw. His supplies would get soaked if he didn’t get out of the rain quickly. 

Running his gaze over the nearby buildings, a sudden flash behind a nearby car caught his attention. He froze, eyes narrowing, straining in the dark to make out whatever caused the flash. He saw it again. A brief flicker of light glinting off metal. 

Unable to see through the rain and the darkness, Joel crouched down, hovering his weight on the balls of his feet to avoid touching his knees to the wet pavement. He wiped away the moisture as much as he could from his face, yanking up the hood of his jacket. Another flash.

He’d have to get closer if he wanted to see it. 

He picked his way carefully over the wet pavement, trying to stay out of sight for as long as possible. Caution was the order of the day this side of the wall.

As he moved closer, Joel recognized he was looking at a person, dressed in a waterlogged red hoodie. They leaned against the underside of an old Mitsubishi that had been flipped on its side; their head peering around the corner of the vehicle. They were tossing something up in the air that was catching the dim, diffuse light from the QZ gate. That was the flash he’d seen. Whoever they were, their eyes were glued on the QZ. They didn’t see him - didn’t suspect anything to be moving behind them. Rookie mistake.

Joel snuck close enough to rest the slender muzzle of his rifle at the base of their neck.

“Don’t scream,” he commanded, his voice low. 

The person froze, the switchblade they’d been tossing up in the air clanging to the pavement. 

“Who are you?” he asked. The person’s hands went up in a gesture of surrender. Small hands, he noted. Small, with slender fingers. A woman’s hand, probably. No, a girl’s. 

“I’m looking for the QZ,” came the girl’s reply. 

“You blind or something? You’re staring at it.” 

A moment of silence passed between them, only the sound of the pattering rain filling the seconds.

“I’m looking for a way in.” 

Joel caught the girl’s meaning. She was trying to sneak in. 

“You infected then?” he pressed, cocking his rifle. If she was infected, he’d drop her right now. This was turning into a delay he really hadn’t bargained for.

The girl scoffed at his question, shaking her head. 

“No, I’m not.” 

There was more to the story. Joel could hear it in her voice.

“Then why don’t you walk in the gate?” he asked. Even though FDRA didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet to refugees, he couldn’t think of too many reasons someone would try to sneak past the main gate unless they were concerned about failing the medical screening.

“I’m not infected,” she repeated, although Joel heard the same hint of unshared details. 

He exhaled through his nose, dropping the muzzle of his gun, zipping it back up underneath the protective layer of his jacket to keep it dry. 

“Then use the main gate.” 

The girl turned to face him. She looked pale and wiry thin with dark, wide-set eyes. There wasn’t a trace of fear in her expression. 

“I can’t use the main gate,” she repeated through gritted teeth. 

Part of Joel wanted to ask why; part of him wanted to turn around and leave her. He had other business to attend to. A memory of you smiling sweetly at him over a cup of coffee in his kitchen drifted across his mind, underscoring his antsiness to leave. 

“You can get me in.”

The girl’s statement wasn’t a question. More of an observation, with a hint of command.

“No, I can’t. You say you’re not infected, then walk yourself up to the gate and let FDRA process you in like the rest. I’m not smuggling you in, no way. Besides, I’ve got shit to do.” 

The girl stood up, sensing Joel was about to leave. She was shorter than he’d expected; she barely came up to his armpits. Not like Sarah, who’d been almost as tall as him by her fifteenth birthday. For the second time in as many seconds, the image of another sweet smile - his daughter’s this time - ricocheted through his head. The girl in front of him looked to be about Sarah’s age. Joel’s heart twisted in knots with an obligatory sense of duty to protect her.

“Then take me with you,” the girl insisted. 

He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Open city’s no place for a kid,” he replied weakly. He sensed this kid was no stranger to the open city, and all the risks it entailed.

“I’m not a kid.”

“You sure look like one.” 

“I’m not a fucking kid.” 

Joel chuckled. She was spirited, he had to give her that. 

“What’s so funny?” she challenged, puffing her chest up. The action made her seem all that much younger. 

Joel pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Whatever was going to happen, he couldn’t stay here any longer. 

“Alright, kid, here’s your options. You can stay here or go through the main gate. Good luck.”

Joel turned on his heel with every intention of leaving her, despite the guilt gnawing at his chest. 

“What about going with you?”

She was following him, her soaked shoes squelching in puddles on the pockmarked pavement.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t afford to be slowed down.”

“I won’t slow you down. I’ll keep up.” 

Joel tried to ignore her as he surveyed the area, trying to get his bearings. The rain was beginning to lessen, although he was already thoroughly soaked. Behind him, he heard the girl’s sopping footsteps keeping time with him. 

“Where are you going, anyways?” she asked.

“Out.” 

Joel hadn’t banked on the girl following him without an invitation. The last thing he needed was someone else to take care of.

“Why?”

He ignored her, stepping over a downed power line and flicking on his flashlight. They were far enough away from the QZ wall that they’d lost the benefit of reflected light. 

“Why are you going out there?” she pressed. 

“Looking for someone,” he replied flatly. He could feel a headache beginning to pulse in his temples. 

“You think you’ll be able to find them?”

The girl’s incredulous tone bit deeper than Joel wanted to admit. The longer he’d been on this rescue mission, the more and more unlikely it seemed that he’d actually find you. He was committed to seeing it through primarily because he couldn’t let himself consider any of the  alternatives.

The rain had slowed to a thick mist, hanging like ghosts in the dark spaces between the buildings. 

“How do you exp-”

“Listen, kid, if you’re going to follow me I can’t stop you, but I won’t have you yammering on the entire time. You’re going to get us killed.”

His voice was sharp as he rounded on her. Her mouth snapped shut, but her eyes burned like coals at Joel’s chiding tone. After a moment of defiant silence, she nodded once. 

Joel sighed heavily as he resigned himself to what she’d already decided: Joel Miller was a party of two now.

“What’s your name?” he asked as he turned to keep walking. They came to an intersection; Joel chose the southeastern-most road option, tracking their progress in a bird’s eye view mental map. 

His plucky travel companion stayed quiet for a beat too long before answering with what was obviously a lie.

“Jaime.”

Joel ignored the lie. He knew a thing or two about keeping secrets himself.

“I’m Joel.” 

Another silence. 

“What’re you doing out here all alone anyways? Aren’t you a little young for that?”

“I thought you told me to be quiet.” 

He shot her an amused glance out of the corner of his eye before he nodded in surrender. They let the quiet mist envelope them as they made their way deeper into the city…

read part 10 here **let me know if you want to be tagged in future chapters! ty to everyone showing this series so much love! <33

[the-mspfa-200-favourites-project]

413 AC

This one’s interesting, because I think it’s the first “Earth C” focused Sburbventure (besides Nightfall, but. Nightfall seems to be an outlier in a lot of things). It makes sense that we’re getting Earth C Sburbventures now in 2017, because the Fandom is now realizing “oh yeah, there’s more to the story after they go through the door” thanks to those Homestuck Snaps I was talking about. Also this one has survived to the present day, so that’s neat to notice. I always like opening up the “Recent Posts” portion of the site and being greeted by a “2024” post that’s fairly recently, because it makes me feel like, wow. The fandom *can* survive, and people from that age of Fandom CAN in fact make stuff in the current post post-canon environment that we find ourselves in. I don’t know, it’s neat.

Oh, that’s a cool technique. The vines on the ruins getting more and more overgrown as the years tick up, and then it gets to the title drop of the fanadventure itself. It’s kind of hard to explain without seeing it, so just look at Page 8 and bask in the glorious narrative technique that is the montage. Ah…montages…In fact, the entire opening section is a very good and concise way of showcasing that, yes. This is Earth C.

The reason why I don’t really include Nightfall in the assestment of “Earth C Sburbventures” is that…while it does take place on Earth C, the first year atleast is unconcerned with the actual mechanics of like. What that really means, for the world. It just takes it for granted that the Earth that comes after the SBURB Session will be just like our earths, despite that not being the case. Probably this fanadventure has the luxury of coming after those Snapchats, but still, I like how it has like. Kind of this history behind it. People had to rediscover Ballet! It’s not just something that the people invented, they had to like, dig out the ballet and opera theatres on Earth C and go “what is this?” It’s those kinds of details that make this world feel real and alive, just a tiny bit.

Also yes the Ballet is Swan Lake because of course it’s swan lake. I haven’t even *seen* swan lake but I know that if any Homestucks are going to like Ballet and want to reference Ballet. It’s probably going to be Swan Lake.

I like this opening bit of like, this one troll wanting to message our protagonist but our protagonist is clearly not wanting to deal with them. Having this overarching bit that’s clearly setting up these two characters talking to each other builds up towards their eventual conversation, and makes me wonder at least “why does one troll want to talk to the other so badly, but our main character doesn’t want to talk to them?” It’s subtle, but it’s nice storytelling.

Overall, this one’s a very nice little Sburbventure! It seems to have a good grasp on storytelling and making characters that you want to spend time with. It’s competent, and enjoyable beyond that competency. Check it out if you’re interested.

[intercal]

I think I am going to abandon C++ for writing this language. it was a nice idea, and maybe I bit off more than I could chew, but I don't think it's what I want to be using. often I will find myself getting annoyed-the-hell-out-of while I'm writing it, and this is supposed to be a fun project. it was not a big, specific thing that caused me to drop the language, but a combination of a lot of small things:

no lifetime tracking, which I can't really complain about because that's the language. but it's still very annoying having to worry about getting a reference to something, releasing that reference, and then taking it again in case its position in memory had changed.

implicit integer narrowing was probably what caused me to stop. say you have a 16 bit integer, and you accidentally try to shove it into an 8 bit argument (which I was starting to run into). it will happily chop off the top 8 bits and compile your program without telling you.

incomplete implementations of the current standard. C++23 was finalized last year, but gcc and ESPECIALLY clang (holy fuck they are so behind) have huge chunks missing.

the standard library feels really incomplete and not integrated with the rest of the language with its newest features. I was originally going to use std::u8string everywhere just to show that I plan on using utf-8 strings everywhere, but passing a u8string into anything doesn't seem to have much support in the standard library functions, probably because it's so new. so why would anyone want to use it if it has zero support within the library it's defined in?

no native utf-8 support. I can live with this, but man it would be nice not having to pull a new library in for it.

having to think about lvalues, rvalues, glvalues, and so forth. I finally get why it's important in a language like this, but I would prefer to just ... not. lol

so yeah. I think I am going to shoot for using Rust. I hope I do not rue the day. it has its own annoying shit with pointers and memory but I hope that I can just ignore that for a while, considering I was going to ignore it for a while in C++. I'm a lot more familiar with Rust too and its pitfalls. my main worry is that I have had multiple projects completely stopped in their tracks because I made an incorrect assumption and it completely ruined my design. hopefully this won't happen since I'm just porting stuff over, but we will see.

[princess-of-the-corner]

So I have more Ojiro thoughts! You can take or leave whatever, just thought I’d share!

So, the last thing I shared was my and Mimi’s version of his backstory, which is that he was raised mostly by his grandparents, with assistance from an aunt and uncle, cause his mom just dropped him off one day and didn’t come back. The grandparents are his primary guardians, cause the aunt travels a lot for work, and the uncle is married with 8 kids, so while they were both willing to take him, and are very involved, they thought the grandparents would give him a more stable childhood. Uncle (name TBD), runs a martial arts dojo with his wife, and was where Ojiro spent a lot of his childhood. Aunt works for some kind of finance company, and spends at least a week every month or so travelling. Mom is flighty, likes living fast and fancy, and hasn’t tried to contact any of them since she dropped Ojiro off at age 5. None of them know who Ojiro’s dad is, and the grandparents in particular are very angry over this.

just be aware, all new Info assumes the above is, for lack of a better phrase, canon, so bear that in mind.

Most of Ojiro’s family (baring one or two members, if anyone wants to play around) has a Quirk called “Stubborn”, or at least a variation. It basically lets the user “plant” themselves in a solid stance, and they promptly become completely immovable. They cannot be shoved, pushed, or otherwise forced to move from their chosen spot. They even have some enhanced durability, making hurting them while they do this EXTREMELY hard. This Quirk was inherited solely through the grandfather.

Mom is called (tentatively) Masumi. Her Quirk is not related to Ojiro’s at all, in fact, she’s the only kid who got Grans Quirk, called “Bounce”. It’s A combination of kinetic force manipulation and durability, basically allowing Masumi to jump extremely high, control the force of her descent, and allow her to “bounce” off things instead of smashing into the ground. She has spent the past decade or so travelling the world, visiting various places, “having adventures”. However, she Was funding most of this through gambling, and while she is actually VERY good at it, a combination of factors has put her in an awkward situation. This when she sees Ojiro competing in the UA Sports Festival on TV, and decides NOW is the time to go see her kid that “she missed SOOOOOO much!" 

(Yeah, everyone is side-eyeing her right now)

Ojiro’s dad (name TBD) is actually a fairly good sidekick/minor hero of a hero agency near where Ojiro grew up. Hero Name Scorpio, his Quirk "Scorpion Tail” literally gives him a tail (similar to Ojiro’s), with a scorpion-like stinger on the end. The stinger injects a non-fatal venom that can cause temporary paralysis. The guy had a one-night stand with Masumi years ago, and has no idea she got pregnant or had his kid. He is now married with 2 kids of his own, a third on the way, and if/when he finds out about Ojiro, he’s going to be devastated that a) he didn’t know about him, b) that Masumi never told him, c) that he’s missed so much of Ojiro’s life, and D) will also be kicking himself, because given he lives and works in the same town Ojiro grew up in, he’s absolutely seen the kid before and never realized the kid looks like him (buddy, while I headcanon Ojiro grew up in the sort of small town “everyone knows everyone” kind of place, I doubt it was THAT small, I’m putting a successful hero agency there).

The way I see this working, Masumi starts calling up her sister (she correctly assumes her brother or parents will be more willing to yell at her for dumping Ojiro off and leaving), saying she wants to reconnect. Auntie is sceptical, but at least willing to hear her sister out, so they meet up a few times, and Auntie acts as a bit of a go between to the rest of the family. The others are suspicious of the fact that Masumi’s choosing NOW to start trying to get back in contact - they’ve probably had a bit of sucking up from neighbours and slightly more distant family members, who saw Ojiro compete - but eventually decide it’s up to Ojiro if he wants to see his mom. Ojiro himself is … mixed. The big thing is, he doesn’t actually remember his mom super well, so while he kind of WANTS to see her again, most of his impressions of the woman were formed from listening to his uncle, aunt, and grandparents disparage her for “abandoning” him (not to his face, they tried not to do that, but he overheard plenty of conversations he wasn’t supposed to). So, Ojiro decides “k, I’ll agree to see you if you tell us who my dad is”. Like, he honestly expects her to NOT KNOW, he’s figured he was a one-night stand baby, but the one thing his grandparents are really mad about, the thing they HAVE insulted her for infront of him, was not saying who Ojiro’s dad is. He figures, solve a mystery, hopefully make the eventual meeting less awkward (like, he doesn’t BLAME her or think less of her if he was a one-night stand baby. No judgement on that front, but he knows his grandparents will be angry about him wanting to meet her anyway, might as well see if he can ease the tension a little). The fact she can give them a NAME, a PICTURE, a freaking PHONE NUMBER, the fact that Ojiro’s PASSED HIM IN THE STREET, had this guy on a POSTER IN HIS ROOM, makes him blue screen a little.

(How the actual meeting with his mom goes is up in the air at the moment. The meeting with Scorpio will be a mess of feelings, but mostly positive, and Ojiro’s new half siblings are going to think he’s impossibly cool. Scorpio’s wife will think Ojiro is lovely, and will Have to restrain herself from trying to parent him, she has to keep reminding herself he isn’t TECHNICALLY her kid, he has guardians. Scorpio, his wife and kids are all quickly going to get adopted by the Ojiro’s as a whole, it will be REALLY chaotic, between them they’ll end up with 12 kids [Ojiro, his eight cousins, his two current half sibs, the third one on the way] and then the Aunt finally settles down and starts planning to adopt-)

Mimi and I also posit this could all potentially happen in 1-A’s second year, or at least after the “war”, to give everyone more time to breathe, and so there aren’t too many story lines being juggled.

Other thought! Possible Kendou/Ojiro ship beginning!

Because literally EVERY OTHER KID in 1-A seems to be involved in their own kind of tv drama, Mimi and I want to give at least ONE of them an easy high school romance, so Kendou and Ojiro are literally the most bland, cliche romance compared to their peers. They started chatting after a few shared classes, found out both of them come from families of martial artists, and decided to spar together. They start doing it regularly, eventually develop feelings, and Ojiro asks Kendou out after one of their spars. She says yes, they go out for a movie and milkshakes, and proceed to be the calmest, most stable couple for the rest of high school. They get married two years after graduating, and eventually have four kids (one was unplanned) who all have variations of tail Quirk, mixed with Kendou’s. One kid could size-change as a whole, ala Mount Lady, but probably control which size they are easier (has more settings than “normal” and “giant”). Another kid has multiple tails, which can stretch to at least a dozen feet long or more (give'em nine tails, becomes a hero called Kitsune). When Ojiro and Kendou retire, they’ll probably take over their families dojos, end up merging them, maybe start a chain or something.

Thoughts, feelings, opinions?

-

I love ALL OF THIS and I need to slam dunk it into CC right now lmao.

Also

Ojiro 🤝 Izuku

“parent who abandoned me showing back up because they think they can use me after seeing me on the Sports Festival(also no idea who dad is but hey we’re gonna find that out eventually and oh boy is it someone more important than ‘some rando’!’).

[janetbrown711]

A Better (not) Son or Daughter

MK has been acting like a "goody two shoes" at school and it really starts to get on Mei's nerves until she finally reaches her breaking point

tw for the besties fighting, minor fantasy racism, and anxious mental breakdowns

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 8.5 Part 9 Part 10 Part 10.5 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

Ao3 Link

Mei wasn’t liking how MK was acting at school as of late.

There was just something… weird about it– something wrong about it.

Like how during math class, he started not glancing at Mei’s answers, or at lunch he’d keep quiet, or how during PE he just started laughing along to Qiang’s stupid jokes– and on top of all that she could actively see him hiding or stopping his numerous little fidgets he did during the day.

It was weird!

Of course the teachers didn’t seem to notice the negative behavior, even praising him for “being more focused” which was totally weird because if Mei knew one thing it was that her best friend struggled with focusing just as much as she did (if not more). Of course, his grades were still not the greatest, but he was starting to get C+s and B-s, which made Pigsy proud.

MK really liked making Pigsy proud, so at least he was happy, but… but still. It was weird, and Mei didn’t like it.

What probably frustrated her the most was how she couldn’t even talk about it without sounding crazy or jealous. Like– “Wow Mei, way to be happy that your best friend is getting good grades and is getting your guardian’s approval. You’re such a good friend.”

But it was off! It was weird! It was so very not normal. Annoyingly so.

She wondered if perhaps Qiang was blackmailing him or something, or if it had to do with the whole “Career Day” thing since she noticed the behavior had started right after winter break. Maybe it had to do with Pigsy saying he now “trusted them enough to not need him to drop them off”, which was a lie if Mei ever heard one, but even then she couldn't say why that'd make MK change his behavior. Plus, MK was completely unresponsive to her questioning, especially if it was during class, so Mei was left to wonder all on her own.

Yippee.

“If you keep twisting those noodles you’re going to take the whole bowl, kid,” Pigsy commented with a chuckle.

“Oh! Sorry, Piggy,” Mei apologized, immediately releasing the poor sesame noodles back into the bowl.

“You got a test today or something? Your face is as scrunched as my ma’s playing mahjong,” He laughed a little more, but this time more at the memory than her.

“No, I’m just… thinkin’,” She glanced at MK, who was eating peacefully with his legs swinging (unlike how they’d be at school).

MK suddenly stopped though, looking at her and pointing out, “Uh, yeah we do. We have a history test,” with a mouth full of noodles.

“MK, don’t talk with your mouth full, please,” Pigsy massaged his forehead.

MK laughed and nodded before swallowing. “We have a history test today.”

Right. One of the last ones before school ends. A last ditch effort for Mei to get her grades up, but she wasn’t all that hopeful.

Pigsy glanced at Mei. “Did you know that?”

“Kinda,” She admitted, looking down at her bowl and poking it with her chopsticks.

“You study for it at all?” He then asked.

Mei shrugged. Unless the history had dragons actively involved, she wasn’t interested. And the unit right now was just on some dead chairman guy they were all supposed to really care about, but Mei’s dad had never liked him much, so she didn’t either… whatever his name was.

“Gotta study for these things if you want your grades to go up, kiddo,” Pigsy pointed out while washing some of the dishes from breakfast.

“I know, I know,” Mei lowered her head, picking up a single seed and trying to squish it between her chopsticks. “History’s just kinda… boring.”

“Yeesh, don’t let Tang hear that,” Pigsy joked but Mei could only crack a weak smile.

Pigsy sighed, turning off the sinking and looking at her. “Just try your best, kid. That's all you can do.”

Mei wasn’t really sure she could do her best right now… Heck, she hadn’t really been doing her best since before her parents died. After all, if she were doing her best, she'd be perfect and if she’d been perfect, her parents would still be here.

“Okay,” she said instead, since it made Pigsy happier to think she agreed.

He smiled at her softly, ruffling her hair before going off to grab his keys while Mei shoved a few more bites before throwing the rest in the trash and rinsing out the bowl, which MK copied.

“I can let you copy off of my test if you want, Mei,” Her friend suggested, smiling all innocently.

Mei couldn’t help but roll her eyes with an aggressive huff, making MK step back and give her a weird look, but Mei moved on before it could be acknowledged with words.

She went into her room, shoving a few loose papers into her bag without care just as Pigsy called asking if they were ready to go.

Mei zipped up her bag, giving a glance to the shrine to her parents in the corner of her room. “Yeah! Just gimme a sec!”

Her parents were looking at her with a perfectly neutral expression, their stance and position perfectly neutral towards each other. At least, that’s what it looked like at first, but Mei remembered that photo shoot. It was for a big promotion at her Mama’s company and she had spent hours making sure Mei looked absolutely perfect. In fact, if she focused really hard on her Mama’s dark eyes, she could see her not quite looking at the camera, but at Mei with this look of… expectation. And hope, maybe.

Or maybe she was just paranoid from staring at dead people instead of getting ready for school.

Mei sighed, shoving a water bottle and pencil case into the sidepockets of her backpack.

She shouldn’t be feeling this way. It had been seven months. Her parents loved her. Or love her, if there’s some kind of afterlife or if ghosts are real. But either way, there was love. Mei was loved. It was cool.

Mei ran out of the room and joined her guardian and MK by the door.

“You two ready for today?” Pigsy asked, hand on the doorknob.

“Yes sir, Mr. Pigsy,” MK gave a big, bright-eyed grin.

“As I’ll ever be,” Mei bit her cheek, and with that the three of them were off.

.o0o.

Drop-offs were more like a ding-dong-ditch these days, with Pigsy making sure to step off the subway with them and make sure they got to the stairs okay before watching them disappear, and only then would be begin waiting for his next train (which Mei only knew because sometimes they’d go back down and watch him). If anything, it told Mei he was totally lying about trusting them, but she knew not to confront him since adults were usually sensitive about those things.

It didn’t make the walk to school from the station any easier though, and Mei tried kicking a pebble all the way to make up for being kind of annoyed at MK for no real reason.

“I– um… I could also help you study before class starts… if you want,” MK suggested, and Mei kicked the pebble harder.

“I’m fine. I don’t need help,” She focused really hard on a second kick that sent it across the crosswalk right before a car drove by.

“That’s true, you are really smart,” MK smiled at her but she ignored it, looking both ways before crossing the street, which MK quickly followed.

Mei continued kicking the rock.

“The test is also stuff I mostly knew from my old school– which means you must really, really know it if you’ve been here for so long,” MK continued trying to be all light hearted and stuff, but it just made Mei’s skin crawl, and for once in her life, she was relieved when they arrived at the school.

Instead of leaving the rock, she picked it up and put it in her skirt pocket.

Mei then looked around the yard, seeing some kids playing hopscotch, others doing homework, and a few playing a trading card game. However, Mei couldn’t have been less interested in any of that and so just made her way to Miss Yang’s classroom, which MK scurried to follow like a lost little duck.

Mei greeted the teacher with nothing more than a curt bow before going to her desk, immediately taking out a pencil from her bag and drawing on a crack in the wood.

“Mei, you’re going to get in trouble for drawing on the desks again,” MK whispered, glancing at Miss Yang, but she was busy on her computer.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mei huffed her bangs out of her eyes.

“Mei, Pigsy really wouldn’t like it if–”

“Why do you care so much about what he thinks now, hm? You’re like some little goody-two-shoes– makes me feel sick,” Mei rolled her eyes and scribbled harder.

MK didn’t speak for the rest of the morning period.

Math breezed by uneventfully, with MK volunteering and getting answers wrong like he always did, and Mei trying to not let that annoy her. Reading was boring, science was alright, and then it was time for the history test.

Mei groaned as the “pass-er out-er” handed her her paper, and a part of her thought about writing an insult, folding it into a paper airplane and sending it her teacher’s way, but the fact that Pigsy and MK would be disappointed in her? It was a bit much.

Well, MK’s whole thing felt like “a bit much” to be honest. Like– since when did he expect things from her? Why was he always wanting her to be on her “best behavior”? Since when was he the leader here?

She thought again of her parent’s photo and felt her face get hot with shame as she looked down at her paper. She was immediately bombarded with dates and questions she couldn’t remember if she tried, which only made her face get hotter and hotter. She glanced at MK, who seemed laser focused on the top question about Mao Zhedong’s birthday, and she looked away before he could look back.

Well… at least the test was multiple choice, so she had a 25% chance of getting right by guessing, so Mei filled out random answers before flipping her paper over and resting her head, waiting for the “pass-er out-er” to become the “take-er away-er”.

After five or so minutes, MK coughed, and when Mei looked he was sliding his paper towards her. Mei glared at him, which just made him look confused which made her get more annoyed, and so Mei just closed her eyes once more.

It was another five or so minutes before their tests were taken away and they were dismissed for PE, which also went by uneventfully– until it was yard time.

Mei was still angry by the time they were released outside, and MK was still following her around because despite all that, she was all he had and he knew it.

And, well… that kind of went the other way around too.

But Mei wasn't in the mood for MK today, getting in line for tetherball, a game MK hated, and tapping her foot impatiently as she watched.

“Uh– Mei? I-I don't really… like this game, can we do something else?” MK asked, looking at the other students with unease.

“It's not always about you, MK,” Mei said bitterly, making MK frown.

“Well– yeah, I know, it's just– can't we play something else? Like jump rope or wall ball or something?” MK offered.

“Nope. Tetherball. You. Me,” Mei squinted at the red ball as class athlete, Kija, managed to successfully wrap it all the way around the pole, beating his opponent. Another boy rose up to the challenge, making Mei next.

“You and me? That means you'd have to beat Kija,” MK pointed out.

Mei scoffed. “I've beaten him before, I'll be fine.”

“If you say so,” MK eyed her a bit, but she didn't take her eyes off the ball, watching as Kija and the other boy went back and forth, back and forth, before Kija used both hands to shoot the ball at impossible heights for the average student to fight and he won yet again.

Mei smirked as she stepped up to the plate. “You ready to dance, Kija?”

Kija laughed. “You only won because the whistle blew.”

“Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll finally get an award for being a ball hog,” Mei cracked her knuckles and Kija growled and served.

The two of them went back and forth, with Mei attempting an angle shot, but Kija managed to snag the chain since he was a bit taller than her. Thankfully though the chain was metal and in stopping her move his wrist was weakened, meaning Mei could go in for a fast ball. If he didn't recover in time, victory would be hers.

Kids watched in awe as Mei hit the ball with overwhelming speed and precision, and she laughed as Kija missed again and again until right at the last possible moment he managed to recover and struck back.

Some kids booed as Mei growled in frustration, hitting the ball as quick as she could, determined to teach this punk a lesson and wipe that stupid smug look off his face.

There was a bit of back and forth, with Mei getting dangerously close to losing her lead here and there but she remained vigilant. After five minutes of intense competition, she managed to wind the ball all the way around the pole and all the kids watching cheered in her honor.

“I don't hear any whistles this time, Kija,” Mei smirked and crossed her arms.

Kija growled. “You're gonna regret that, pony girl,” He threatened, shoving her before storming away to play some other game.

Mei rolled her eyes, taking Kija's place and taking the ball as MK hesitated to step to the plate.

“C'mon, MK, we don't have all day,” she rolled her eyes.

“I– do I really have to, Mei? Seeing you win was fun enough, but I don't really–”

“Just shut up and play, MK,” Mei glared, and MK stood upright in alarm.

She didn’t even give him time to relax before she served, hitting the ball with all the rage and aggression in her heart, causing MK duck and cover his head.

“C’mon, MK, stop being such a coward!” Mei glared, hitting the ball again.

“Mei, stop!” MK shouted at her.

Mei knew she should. That she was freaking MK out and it wasn’t nice. That Pigsy might actually get mad at her if he knew. But her anger felt like a flame in her chest, and she hit the ball again.

“Woah, she’s really going for it.”

“Is she glowing?”

“Why doesn’t Xiaotian fight back?”

“She is glowing! Woah!”

“Someone take a picture!”

Kids were gawking all around Mei, but she was still too angry to pay any attention to the green aura surrounding her and making her heart pound. This time when the ball came her way, Mei grabbed it point blank and let it go before grabbing MK’s collar and dragging him across the play yard until she reached the gate and shoved him against it.

“What the heck is wrong with you, MK?! You’re acting like a crazy person!” Mei shouted at him.

“Me?!” MK was completely lost. “You’re the one attacking me a-and acting like I’m an evil clone or something!”

“You’re the one who’s all obsessed with being all goody-two-shoes-y and getting good grades and not fighting back! What happened?!” Mei twisted his collar tighter and her free hand curled into a fist.

“Mei, stop! Please!” MK noticed and started to cry. “I-I just wanna be good f-for Pigsy! Promise!”

“Stop lying! There’s more, there has to be,” Mei shook him and dared to raise her fist, making MK clench his eyes shut.

“I-I-I’m not lying, Mei, I would never lie to you!” MK sobbed, sending waves of guilt crashing through Mei, but she remained in a fighting stance.

“What’s different, MK?! Hm? All studious, all perfect, thinking that’ll make him happy,” She growled and MK opened his eyes to look confused.

“H-huh? I-I’m not– I’m not perfect, I just wanna be good ‘cuz–” MK glanced around at the other students, before looking back at Mei and deciding to whisper. “‘Cuz Pigsy, he– Qiang’s Dad– he threatened we’d be kicked out, a-and he said things, mean things, about his past a-and he cried, a-and I don’ wanna lose him too, Mei, I don’ wanna,” MK couldn’t speak anymore, choking on his sobs, and Mei let go of his collar, allowing him to sink to the ground.

Mei’s anger evaporated in an instant, only leaving her with an empty, panicked feeling as her chest rose and fell at a feverish pace and kids started whispering around her again.

“Aw man, she stopped glowing…”

“What happened? Did she beat him?”

“Gross! She looks like a demon!”

“I wanted them to fight!”

“This was so lame.”

“Their dad is that pig demon? No wonder.”

“Boo! I wanted to see her punch him!”

Mei stumbled back, finally noticing the hot tears streaming down her face. She looked down at her best friend, who brought his knees to his chest and just kept crying and crying and rocking back and forth. “MK– I– we aren’t–”

Just then she remembered Pigsy’s words all those months ago and it echoed in her mind like a broken record.

“If we slip up like this– get into one too many fights, or get the cops called too often– then you’ll probably never, ever see me or MK ever again.”

A soft “no…” escaped her lips and she fell to her knees, getting dirt all over her knee-high socks.

“I-I– I didn’t mean– I-I just– Y-you were– but now– M’so sorry MK, m’so, so sorry,” Mei began to weep and buried her head in her hands. “I-I ruined it– I-I ruin everything– M’so sorry.”

Mei continued to sob, but briefly stopped when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. She startled at first, until she realized it was MK, and hugged him back, crying into his shoulder.

“I-I don’ wanna lose Piggy either, MK– m’so sorry,” She sniffled and tried to explain herself.

“I-it’s okay– I just– w-we can’t be mean, you know? W-we need to be nice and happy for Piggy,” MK hugged her a little tighter, and she could tell he was shaking too.

“I– yeah, we– we can be good for ‘im, right? We can be good kids, I know we can,” Mei tried to smile but her bottom lip wobbled beyond her control so she squeezed MK tighter as he nodded in silent agreement.

She felt like such an idiot. What was she doing getting all mad at MK for? What did she hope to accomplish by threatening to punch him? She was supposed to be smarter than this, Pigsy already told her what would happen if she got too rowdy. She was supposed to have listened, but she never listened. That’s why her house burned down and that’s why her parents were dead, she could never just listen–

They’d probably get called to the office again. And then it’d be over– it’d be one fight too many and Mei would never see MK or Pigsy or Mr. Tang ever again and be dragged to the bottom of the ocean to be with her weird mystical uncle or whatever.

“M’so sorry, MK, I didn’t mean to, m’so sorry,” Mei repeated so quietly she wasn’t sure he could hear over his own crying.

The pair of them stayed huddled by the fence crying until the whistle blew and the two of them wiped their faces and clothes as best they could and headed back to their classroom, praying to every god or star in the heavens that they wouldn’t get called up and everything would be okay.

But, no. As soon as everyone was back in their seats and ready for their science class, there was a phone call and Mei and MK were sent down.

Mei kept her face stoic and unreadable, like she had practiced back with her parents despite wanting to cry. MK wasn’t nearly as lucky though, since he had never practiced so his tears just streamed down in a hot mess and all Mei could do was hold his hand and urge him onward until they were waiting in the familiar chairs that should’ve had a plaque with their names on it by now.

They weren’t called in for a while, so Mei kept her eyes on the old clock as it ticked seconds away at an agonizing pace while holding MK’s hand.

After a while though, she whispered, “M’so sorry, MK… I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“I know, Mei, I know.”

Mei clenched her eyes shut and took a shaky breath. “I’ll miss you.”

MK could only squeeze her hand and cry more.

After seven minutes, MK was called in first, though he almost refused to go in without Mei. They didn’t have a choice though, and the two were separated.

Mei buried her head in her hands and stayed that way until it was her turn, only catching a glimpse of her best friend before heading in.

“Miss Long, I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see you again this time,” Headmaster Jiangxi folded his hands and placed them on the table.

“...Are you gonna call Pigsy?” Mei asked, taking her seat.

“It is school policy, Mei. You of all people should be very aware of th–”

“I didn’t mean to–!” Mei interrupted. “It wasn’t even a fight really, I was just– I was so mad– I’d never really hurt MK, not with what I know now– please don’t tell CPS and have us separated or Piggy arrested or expel us, please, please, please, please,” Mei got on her knees and begged, clearly startling the man.

“Miss Long, there’s no need for kowtowing, please,” He urged and Mei took her seat again, face red and hot.

Headmaster Jiangxi took a long breath. “Miss Long, we were never going to expel you or Mr. Qi over this–”

“R-really? What about Mr. T–” Mei slapped a hand over her mouth.

“‘Mr.’ who?” The man looked at her with a hint of concern.

Mei lowered her eyes. “MK told me about something… Mr. Tao said…”

“Ah…” The headmaster glanced at his computer with unease. “I had a feeling something like that would occur. I meant to send an email to dissuade him from presenting, but…” he shook his head. “No matter now, there’s no need for Mr. Tao to know. You said it yourself, it never turned into a fight, did it?”

Mei shook her head. “I just got really, really mad– some kids even said I was glowing, but I didn’t mean to! I swear, I was never gonna actually hurt MK, I just– I was so mad…”

Headmaster Jiangxi nodded to himself as she spoke, typing a few things into his computer and clicking some others. “Am I correct in assuming you’re very familiar with the school’s policy on bullying and violence?”

“Yeah, I remember breaking Qiang��s nose,” Mei confirmed, trying not to smile at the memory.

“In normal circumstances, the two of you would be given lunch detention for a week, on top of a phone call home, but seeing as there was no actual fighting between the two of you and all has already been resolved I see no need for this to go on any records– so long as you swear to be on your best behavior for the rest of the school year, understood Miss Long?” Headmaster Jiangxi gave her a look and Mei’s jaw dropped.

“I– yes sir! I promise! I’ll be the best darn kid in this whole academy, I won’t let you down, I promise,” Mei couldn’t help but beam.

“Don’t get too excited yet, Miss Long. We still have more to discuss,” He reminded, and Mei forced herself to sit back and tried to take a breath, though couldn’t stop her legs from swinging happily.

She waited as he typed a few more things, clicked a dozen more, typed a bit more, and took another breath.

“Your… ‘glowing’... is that something you can control?” He asked.

“Oh, um… I mean it really only happens when I’m really, really scared or angry. I’m just surprised my ‘inner dragon’ didn’t make an appearance too, haha,” She tried to laugh, but Headmaster Jiangxi clearly didn’t find it funny.

“Right… Well, rumors like that are going to be hard to quell, Miss Long, especially with your guardian situation,” He explained.

“But it’s because I’m a dragon, not because I’m a demon. I’m not going to hurt anyone,” Mei frowned.

“I know, Miss Long, but– well– you have brought harm to students in the past–”

“Qiang deserved it,” She muttered.

Her principal gave her a look. “I’m not saying he didn’t, but what I am saying is that I recommend you get this anger of yours under control before it grows beyond my control, understood?”

Mei slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think I get it.”

“You’re a smart girl, Miss Long. You can go on to do many great and important things like your parents always dreamed; you just have to make the right choices,” The man smiled at her softly, and Mei felt her stomach drop.

“R-right, yes. I can– I will. I promise,” Mei stood and bowed.

“I’m glad we could come to an understanding, Miss Long. Your family has always been good to this academy and it would be a shame for us to part,” He nodded at her.

“Yes sir, I understand,” Mei nodded back, fiddling with her skirt. “Am I free to go, sir?”

The headmaster nodded once again. “Have a good day, Miss Long.”

“You too, Headmaster Jiangxi,” Mei meant it as she bowed yet again and stepped back into the outside world.

Well that was strange. But hey, Mei would take what she could get, especially if it meant they weren’t going to be separated after all.

Mei said a quick prayer to her ancestors as a “thank you”, and hurried back to class.

.o0o.

The rest of the day was as Headmaster Jiangxi had warned. Students whispered and kept looking back at MK and Mei– especially stupid Qiang– but Mei was okay because she and MK weren’t going anywhere and that meant there was nothing they could do to hurt her.

During the cleaning period, MK and Mei stayed by each other's sides and swept the classroom in complete silence, which got them a compliment from Miss Yang. It was equally strange for the both of them, but it was a strange day.

Both of them were flooded with relief when the bell finally rang and they were free to board the city bus and ride to Pigsy’s Noodles.

“So… what did Headmaster Jiangxi say to you?” Mei asked, adjusting her backpack as she looked out the window.

“He had a lot of questions I couldn’t answer for a while because I… just kinda kept crying and begging not to be taken away, haha,” MK admitted, messing with the carpeted seating. “He said he wouldn’t call Piggy though, and after that I was able to explain how you were just having a bad day and you didn’t even hurt me and we’re okay now, you know?”

“Ahhh, yeah that explains it,” Mei pieced together. “I was wondering why he was so mellow about the whole thing. I guess I owe you one.”

MK laughed a little. “Maybe… but I’m just glad we’re okay and Pigsy’s okay too.”

“Yeah, me too…” Mei looked down. “I… I really messed up. I don’t know why I got so angry, I just– I don’t know… I guess some part of me thinks Pigsy likes you more than me and you switching to act all good and quiet kinda threw me, m’sorry,” she confessed.

“Hey, it’s okay,” MK smiled and held her hand. “I’m not mad at you or anything, I really should’ve said something sooner about Mr. Tao, but… yeah,” he laughed a little, which Mei copied.

“Still friends?” Mei asked, offering her hand to shake.

“The bestest,” MK shook it and the two of them smiled and laughed the rest of the bus ride before arriving at the familiar noodle shop.

“Hey, you two,” Pigsy smiled as they walked in, drying off a glass with a rag like everything was perfectly fine. “How’d the test go?”

“Oh, right– that did happen today,” Mei completely forgot about everything before recess.

Pigsy raised an eyebrow. “Busy day?”

MK and Mei exchanged a look. “You… could say that.”

This, of course, just made Pigsy even more confused.

“Why? What happened? Some kids get into a fight or something?” Pigsy guessed, moving on to drying off a bowl.

Mei shook her head. “Not really, but it did get kinda close.”

“Yeah, but everything’s okay now and no one really got hurt,” MK smiled at her.

“Ah, I see,” Pigsy nodded to himself. “I gotta say, it is kind of refreshing to hear about kids getting into fights that aren’t you two,” He laughed a little.

“I beat Kija in tetherball–!” Mei blurted out, immediately diverting the conversation.

“Really? That’s impressive, kiddo. Congrats,” Pigsy gave her a smile before going to put the bowl and cup away.

“Smooth,” MK whispered and Mei rolled her eyes, pushing him a little.

It wasn’t long after that that Mr. Tang came back from a long day of studying, and soon the conversation became all about him and the Monkey King– not that Mei minded by any means.

Because this was normal for them. This was right for them.

Things were so right and normal right now and Mei wouldn’t give that up for the world.

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 4 Trivia

Tsukasa's stone-cold goals are revealed.

Tsukasa's still got some lion blood on his hand from the punch he delivered in the last chapter.

Because lions have to be stronger than their prey, they're full of muscle and don't have a lot of fat, making their meat tough. Because of the lack of connective tissue and fat to soften the meat through traditional methods, the best way to do it is slowly over a low temperature which prevents the meat overcooking while allowing the connective tissue to break down and soften. Recommendations for cooking lion meat say 57°C over 24 hours. After that, it apparently tastes like pork, but richer.

(I couldn't find any sources on the meat smelling or tasting like ammonia, I'm forced to assume it's a side effect of their territory-marking urine?)

Normally it takes 6-8 weeks to make leather out of skin, but here Tsukasa is wearing it immediately and probably even before the body's become cold, judging by Taiju carrying Yuzuriha's statue to the base in the next panel. This is absolutely disgusting. Don't do this please.

Here we have proof Senku switches out his pouches based on what he needs. What's actually in them is anyone's guess though!

Smoking food works for several reasons. It dries the food (preventing fungal/bacterial growth), the smoke keeps insects away during the process, and the smoke itself imparts preservative and antimicrobial compounds such as the aldehydes Senku mentions. (Too much is toxic though!)

Interesting little habit you have there, Senku...

According to Senku, Tsukasa's skin is extremely pale. I'm not sure if this means he's got Snow White's complexion, or if Senku and Taiju are by comparison very tanned from working outside all day.

Tsukasa may have deemed himself the fighter, but he's no meathead! Based off his thoughtful comments, it looks like Tsukasa is quite scientifically knowledgeable himself, just not as much as Senku.

Adding lime (calcium carbonate) to soil reduces its acidity. Most plants prefer a pH of 6-7.5, which is neutral to slightly acidic. Obviously adding lime to already alkaline soil will make it even more alkaline, so you should test your soil first. Some plants like the acidity!

Heating lime to over 900°C releases CO2 and forms calcium oxide. Adding water and sand to it creates mortar, a substance that hardens by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and turning it back into calcium carbonate.

Fun fact: you can use the carbon in mortar for carbon dating!

To make soap, you need a fat (vegetable oil, bacon grease) and a base (lye, wood ash, lime). The goal is to saponify the fat. In modern soaps, calcium carbonate is added to bulk up the product and act as a mild abrasive.

Taiju is a very good friend for Senku because he obviously pays good attention and has a good memory. That is all.

He's just not that great for subtlety or negotiations...

Legally, "disfigurement" means to cause permanent change in a person's body, particularly by leaving visible scars which affect a person's appearance. We don't see any of that on Tsukasa, so did they heal? Was he fighting with broken fingers pre-petrification? What happened?

Freshly broken stone parts are colored in white. Does this mean as long as the stone is still white/unblemished, the pieces can be recombined?

Haha yeah it would be a shame if an evil dictator was woken up...

I still don't understand why Tsukasa skinned the lion where it dropped instead of bringing it back with them if they were going to eat the meat anyway...

[zeldaelmo]

I'm a little late for my rest-of-the-year writing goals this time around. Usually, I make a little summary towards the end of August, but now is just fine, too.

I'll list all the projects knowing very well I probably won't manage to finish them all until 2024 starts.

Finishing The Promise (prewriting only. editing happens in between with my betas); status 15/19

Advent Calendar (sewing class AU with a sprinkle of Regency); status 1/24

Both are prio A. I'll try to switch between the projects but if I realize that I'm behind with the calendar, I'll push it up because it obviously needs to be finished in December.

Then I have things from my ask box from you lovely people:

Epilogue to Crown of Lies

Prompts; status 0/7

I hope to get some prompts done in-between, but at least for one I have a somewhat bigger idea (cuz of course I have 🤪; looking at you, shiny-huntress). I also have an idea for the epilogue, I just have to plot it in my commuting time (and then write it lol). Prio B

(Getting back to inspiration, illusions, and other inconveniences. I need to plot out the second half but I doubt I'll get to it this year. I still love the idea but the concept is so chaotic... status: 8/?? chapters written, 50% plotted, the rest a hot mess of ideas and plot bunnies.

Prio C, but Prio A for 2024. Really. Goddess, I need someone to yell at me in January to actually do it. It's been a year and a half!)

So, yeah, that's my writing schedule for the rest of the year! Feel free to drop questions about anything in my inbox if you feel like it.

[justreckin]

20 questions for fic writers

alright @emonydeborah said hey there's a thing and i say yes (ages later)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 6

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 28,070

3. What fandoms do you write for? Honestly, whatever's catching my fancy in that moment. Of the things I've posted, The Librarians is the only fandom that I've ever even posted more than one fic for.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Raising Harry (Harry Potter/Underworld) Where Selene comes across Harry playing at the park alone at night and decides that the best idea is to sorta adopt him.

Never Say He Isn't Grateful (Agent Carter/Captain America) Howard realizes he owes Peggy big time and the best way for him to repay her is to go rescue Steve.

5 Times Ezekiel Called Eve Mum and the Time They Made it Official (The Librarians) 5+1 what it says on the tin.

Second Time Around (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Coulson went in on the Bahrain mission, May died. Oneshot re-write of the first episode that I considered expanding and have actually written other chapters for but... 🤷‍♀️

How Apep got Ezekiel Grounded for the Rest of his Natural Life (The Librarians) Season 3 Finale in the same universe as the previous Librarians fic that has a second chapter I have yet to write...

5. Do you respond to comments? I certainly try to. I'm not the best at it, but I love getting to have a conversation with anyone who likes the same things I do.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Heh probably I'm Not Your Mother but even then it's a) not really all that angsty and b) mostly that I dropped a mean bomb on characters and then ran away because I have no idea what else to do with it.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? ...everything else? Look, canon is already regularly very mean to characters. I am here to live in my happy little fantasies where everything works out.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not hate per se but I'd left up an unfinished multi-chapter fic at one point and someone commented that I was the reason they'd lost faith in authors with unfinished works and is maybe more responsible for me not posting any of the myriad of things I have on my computer than I want to admit.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nah. I write more family than relationship stuff, really.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Yes. Uh... it's not posted, but maybe the Harry Potter/Song of the Lioness that I hashed out at one point.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Don't think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?  Don't think so.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Ha! @emonydeborah and I spitball all the time (it's wonderful) and she absolutely gets credit if that parent trap fic ever gets finished, but I don't think I'm up to the group project that would be co-writting a fic.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? the Enterprise NCC-1701 dash nothing! All jokes aside, it genuinely is the only ship I go back to on a regular basis.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Uh... honestly, I don't know that I'll ever finish half the things in my WIP folder.

16. What are your writing strengths? Probably dialogue. I feel I'm pretty good at getting the character's literal voice down.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Anything happening around the dialogue. In my head these people are always moving around and doing things, but it always feels so clunky if I try to put that onto a page.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Maybe an individual word or two for a curse or endearment. I know enough Spanish I'd probably be comfortable writing in it. But that'd be about it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Uh.... Star Trek? One sec, must check files. Yeah, pretty sure it was a short TOS thing. Hmm might need to take a look at that again, clean it up, repost...

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Posted? Probably Ezekiel calling Eve mum. Not posted? Nah, actually, don't know that there is one that's not posted.

.... @the-redhead-in-a-dress and @sun-lit-roses did you do it yet, did you do it? I wanna see 😁

[navarresimp]

ALL NUMBERS FOR GASTON

You do not know what you have brought upon this cursed website

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Genuinely always enjoyed extremely over the top dramatic flamboyant arrogant bastards who get redeemed as a character. I also love that never in the game he is an actual antagonist, he just makes himself very hard to get along with in the first half of the game and makes every fight as a partner extremely frustrating just because you killed a snake before he could once. 10/10 petty behaviour. You actually feel for him when he no longer is crusader captain because you know he's a sucker for attention and cares a lot about how others perceive him. Also spears are genuinely underrated weapons to give to a character. He's the definition of Christian boy guilt. 5 stars most arrogant man in Mikado (alive) would buy again

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Him canonically striking a pose when winning against Merkabah is by far the funniest fucking thing. He would absolutely do that again. I like to think he does that after every battle. He probably does it in front of a mirror sometimes.

Also him being a picky eater evident by his hunter association dialogue. Yes autistic king I get it.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Ik it's not really canon(thank god) as it is like a hallucination by nanashi but like the downright pedo dialogue at the start of the Beach DLC (Ew Ew Ew banana peel banana peel tomato tomato crucify the french boy)

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Faith the unholy Trilogy: make this man experience the religious horrors and see how long he'd survive

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Titanic by Falco (it's about fully giving into decadence and being brave enough to take the fall)

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Massive ego and flamboyancy

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

The insanely scrumptious fanart that people post every now and them. Also everyone unanimously agreeing that he is the worst battle partner and is only good when auto grinding.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

The fandom consists of like 3 people and a bunch of dead shitpost accounts brother there is nothing to criticise when there is nothing to begin with

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

No, I genuinely think he would get very pissed by the way I organise and sometimes forget to pay rent (judging how decked out his family is he would probably be a landlord sympathiser).

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

We are already besties

11. Would you date this character?

HELL NAH

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Most homosexual homo to have ever sexualed but is extremely repressed. Has memorized most of the bible and will drop psalms occasionally (even after killing God it's just that ingrained) Autistic, his first special interest was the bible, but autism wasn't yet invented in 1432 Mikado so everyone thought he was a child blessed by God. Knows how to ride horses, was taught by his father and knows how to cook, taught by his grandmother. After the peace route he discovered a cooking show DVD and rewatches it constantly. Is iron deficient, passed out often during puberty. Has NPD. If he lived in the real world he would be very rude to customer service staff but leave a 100€ tip.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

Fork emoji

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Light academia: white and brown hell yeah

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Literally any ship that ships him with an under age character or him and his brother (I can't believe I have to say this)

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Forget the insanity of angels and the weird time bending shit that went on in Mikado for a minute and Gaston x Jonathan would actually become an interesting narrative of two gay guys who had their gayness repressed by a super religious kingdom and the inherently classist feudal system whose heteronormative structure demands heterosexuality to uphold the godchosen oppressor class and the tragedy of one becoming the very essence of the force that oppresses(angel) and the other bing forced to kill his lover to achieve freedom. Doomed yaoi if you will

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

If the writers knew how to cook they would've utilized the clear parallels they established between Toki and Gaston. Their friendship could've genuinely went hard. It does go hard but only in my head unfortunately.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Bestie behaviour

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

His extravagant speech, that is on the other hand very weird to Google how do you write the past tense of dilly dally

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

There are like 2 fics I love them all

23. Favorite picture of this character?

These two I made I can't decide

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Apollo Justice Lawyersona Shin Megamitourney Acesei

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Genuinely don't remember anything that happened between 2013 and 2018 including my first play through. All I know now is that he is literally me.

[isa-ghost]

Im thinking about how all the different phils think about family and how it contrast with each other

They all struggle with family getting ripped/taken away from them or just being not there in general, c!phil with being imortal and techno and wilbur, o!phil the backstory of how being ambiguous but he needs to find them by any means nessary and how it breaks him, and q!phil with chay and lulah being kidnapped over and over and him wanting to be close to missa but not seeing him more than 8 days the whole time hes known him

Also thinking about how they all veiw family relationships will impact thwir interations with each other

Do you have any thoughts?

OOUUGGHGHGOUGOHGOGUGH GOD. TOO MANY THOUGHTS HEAD FULL. NO WORDS ONLY VAGUE GESTURES AND EMOTIONAL SCREAMING.

CURLS UP ON THE GROUND AND WAILS INCOHERENTLY.

I don't have enough deep analyses on o!Phil to explode about it and we'd need Phil to actually drop whatever he has in mind for o!Phil's backstory but OUGH GOD YEAH THEY'RE ALL SO DAMAGED IN SIMILAR YET UNIQUE WAYS.

That would probably definitely be something I thoroughly explore in the AU. Something something deeply damaged and jaded people somehow seeing themselves in each other (which is funny in this case bc they're all the same dude from different universes) and gradually healing through that and ultimately becoming better(ish?) people.

[leiawritesstories]

Instruct Me

WHO Is This? Part 2 ;))))

For Rowan Week, day 7: Aelin admiring Rowan

the people have spoken and i hope this delivers hehe. happy happy birthday Emma @thegreyj!!!!!!!

Word count: 4.4k (oops)

Warnings: language, suggestive jokes, Rowan in leggings, smut. NSFW and definitely not for kids.

Enjoy!

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

Rowan was most definitely out of his depth.

He sat in his truck and breathed deeply, gathering every scrap of willpower he could find to convince himself to stop worrying and get out of the car already. He'd made it this far--it would be a damn shame to turn around now, when he was parked in the lot of Caraverre Studio, fifteen minutes before the eight o'clock class.

The eight o'clock Pilates class that Aelin Galathynius taught.

Gods above, he was like a high school kid with a crush.

Exhaling slowly, Rowan opened his door and swung himself out, closing the door firmly before he could second-guess his decision and locking up the truck so he wouldn't just climb back in anyway. He tucked his car keys into his pocket, allowed himself exactly twelve seconds to stress the hell out about going into what would probably be a roomful of women who would stare at his ass, and walked across the parking lot, each step feeling more final than the last.

The green-eyed brunette woman at the front desk glanced up and smiled brightly, a faintly wicked spark glinting in her eyes. "Hi there!"

"Hey," Rowan said slowly, awkwardly.

She raised a manicured brow. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, um, Aelin told me you take drop-ins for classes and I was hoping there was a spot at the 8 o'clock Pilates?"

The woman tapped on her iPad. "You must be Rowan."

Rowan blinked, stunned. "How--"

"Aelin's told us all about the bigshot hockey player who's on the alumni board with her," the woman laughed. "Nice to meet you, Rowan. I'm Lysandra."

"Leave it to Aelin," he snorted, grinning, set at ease by Lysandra's friendliness. "My cousin Sellene comes here all the time, she wanted me to tell you that y'all are amazing."

"Thank you," Lysandra beamed. "I should have known--you look so similar to her." She slid a clipboard with a form and a pen across the desk. "We do have a few spots left for the 8 o'clock, I just need you to fill out this form and pay the $10 drop-in fee."

"Perfect." Rowan quickly filled in the information on the form, signed, and handed Lysandra the form and his credit card. She swiped the card and handed it back.

"Studio C tonight. Go all the way down the hall, all the studios are labeled and the doors to C should be open." She waved. "Enjoy the class!"

"Thanks." Rowan followed where she'd pointed him, heading off down the hall until, as promised, he reached Studio C.

And just as he'd expected, he was the only guy there.

Shit.

~

Aelin arrived at Caraverre at exactly seven-forty, a good ten minutes earlier than she typically got there, but she wanted to have a little extra time to prepare for that night's class. Lys had texted her that there were a few more beginners signed up for the class, and she knew that Rowan might be dropping in, so she just wanted to make sure her planned workout wasn't going to be too much.

And no, the bright red, sculpting set she was wearing was definitely not because of the possibility of Rowan's presence.

Not at all.

After the, er, dreams she'd had--dreams in which every strong inch of his chiseled body was pressed to hers--well, teasing him was the least she could do.

She unrolled her mat at the front of the studio and set up the big basket of equipment, making sure she had a few spare mats for anyone who didn't have one. Around the room, as usual, she set up the electric candles, casting the space in soft warm light. As the people came in, she greeted all of them, recognizing a handful of women who regularly came to her classes as well as a few newbies.

By seven fifty-five, fourteen of the fifteen people who were scheduled to be there had arrived and settled themselves in the studio, low hums of conversation flickering around the space.

At seven fifty-eight exactly, Rowan Whitethorn walked through the doors.

And every female gaze in the room flicked straight to his unfairly sculpted body.

"Hey," he said nervously, uncertainty flashing across his handsome face as he flicked a wary gaze around the room.

"Hey, Rowan," Aelin smiled, walking over to his side. "Don't mind the ladies," she murmured, leading him to a relatively quiet place in the studio. "Having a man here is almost exotic."

He snorted quietly. "You say that like I'm a treat, Aelin."

"For the eyes, you are," she smirked, flashing him a wink.

Good lord, he was wearing very tight pants. Yes, and shorts over the top, but they were running shorts, dammit. He could not be having this...reaction to her. Not now.

But gods burn him, that red ensemble of hers did bad, bad things to his tenuous self-control.

"Not you too," he groaned, pleading.

She chuckled. "Don't worry about me, Whitethorn. It's our dear Maeve who's got her eyes on you." She tilted her head to the left, indicating the petite, salt-and-pepper-haired older woman wearing leggings and a loose, short-sleeved shirt who sat comfortably on her mat, her dark eyes trained on Rowan.

"Gods burn me," Rowan muttered. "She reminds me of my gran, she does."

Aelin snickered. "She's a lovely woman, but she firmly believes that I'm turning into a crazy cat lady and she's tried to set me up with every man who's ever come to one of my classes."

Rowan chuckled. "Seems like a lovely lady."

"She is," Aelin grinned, "she just adores to meddle, though." She glanced at Rowan's mat. "You're gonna want to grab a set of weights and a booty band from the basket." After checking his equipment, she nodded. "Good. Don't look so terrified, Whitethorn, you're going to be fine."

"I hope so," he mumbled, more to himself than to her as she headed back to the front of the room.

"Good evening, everyone!" Aelin settled herself into a comfortable seated position. "My name is Aelin and I teach Pilates and barre here ad Caraverre. Welcome! Tonight's class is going to be focused primarily on stretching and stability, and it's very beginner-friendly, I promise." She smiled. "For those of you who are familiar with Pilates, please feel free to modify the exercises if you need a higher difficulty. And, as always, honor your body and don't do anything that makes you feel pain."

Rowan followed Aelin's instructions, her husky, smooth voice guiding him and the rest of the class to lie down flat, and breathed deeply, focusing his attention on his breath. To his surprise, he found her instructions precise and clear and easy to follow, and he found himself much more capable than he'd thought he would be at coaxing his body into the stretches she demonstrated.

"Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart," Aelin instructed. "Good, good! Now, step your right foot out into a wide side lunge, and lean your weight towards the right leg." She demonstrated, lunging sideways, enjoying the stretch in her left leg.

And thoroughly enjoying the way Rowan's eyes trained on the lines of her body.

Standing back up, she walked slowly around the studio, offering her instructions to the students. Good--make the stretch a little deeper--keep your back straight--less weight on the left foot--looks good. When she came to Rowan, she flicked her eye over his form, nodding. "Looks good, Mr. Alternate Captain."

"Stop it," he mumbled, flushing a little.

She smirked and turned around in front of him, demonstrating how to shift weight to the other leg. This was totally normal for her--demonstrating the next move wherever she was in the room, whether on her own mat or somewhere else.

And if Rowan had a prime view of her ass as she demonstrated, well, wasn't that a funny coincidence?

~

Rowan was going to combust. Right here, right now. Actually burst into flames and die.

It took every ounce of his willpower to think of sad puppies and roadkill and other such boner-killing things to prevent himself from looking like an absolute creep. But in his defense, Aelin's tiny little smirk meant that she'd done that on purpose. Demonstrated the stretch right in front of his face on purpose.

She was trying to kill him, he was sure of it.

It was almost as if she knew that he dreamed of her. That in his dreams, she was as bare as the day she was born, her softly tanned skin soft and smooth beneath his wandering hands. That in his godsdamned dreams, the moans that left her lips were sweeter than the loveliest melody ever composed.

As she made her way around the studio, Aelin paused next to Rowan, placing her hand onto his side and nudging his weight farther over his left leg. "The stretch will feel better if you aren't so planted on your supporting leg," she explained softly.

Rowan's jaw twitched at the twinge of old pain in his left leg, the injury from years ago that made him hesitant to stretch too deeply.

Aelin, of course, noticed. "You alright?"

He nodded.

She raised her brows, unconvinced. "Honor your body, Rowan."

"Damn catchphrases," he grumbled, but allowed her to help guide him into a less strenuous stretch. "Thank you."

She patted his shoulder, her hand lingering on the tanned skin and muscle exposed by his tank top. "I'm a certified instructor, Whitethorn. Trust me when I tell you that I don't want you injured."

"Right, always stretch to be safe," he muttered, half to himself.

A wide, wicked grin flashed across her face. "All the better to warm up your old muscles, darling."

That did it.

Rowan was in deep, deep shit.

~

Aelin could barely keep herself from smirking with glee as she led the Pilates class into a series of bridge holds, booty bands looped around the upper thighs for extra resistance. As she lifted her lower body off the mat, explaining how to properly lift and lower the body so as to engage the targeted muscles, she couldn't help but admire the way Rowan's toned legs and ass flexed and clenched as he followed her directions.

Those Spandex leggings did marvelous, marvelous things for the imagination, they did.

"Lift...and lower," she instructed, keeping her voice level and calm, guiding the class. "Good, good! Lift...and lower. Make sure your back is flat against the mat when you come down, and if it's not, just take your time! Remember, form is far more important than the number of repetitions. Lift...and lower. Good!"

Sliding the band off her legs, Aelin stood and circled the studio, still directing the set of bridges. "All right, good! Now lift!" A longer pause this time. "And lower slowly, as slowly as you can. Good!" She returned to her mat and laid down, settling herself onto her side. "Now, turn slowly onto your left side, keep that band around your legs, we're going to do some leg lifts."

She demonstrated how to position the legs, bent at an angle and slightly in front of the body. "Now lift your top leg up, keeping the heels together, just like this." She showed the froglike leg lift, knowing full well that Rowan's attention shot right to the borderline seductive crook of her legs as she lifted her top leg. "Remember, honor your body and don't lift any farther than you're comfortable doing." She looked around at the class. "Good, good! Really good!"

Rising, she directed the class through a slow set of leg lifts, adjusting form as she walked. She tossed Rowan a sly wink when she approached him, smirking down at him. "Nice leg work, Whitethorn. Bet the ladies love it."

His face went the most delightful shade of embarrassed as he coughed, struggling for words. "Aelin," he wheezed, cheeks flaring bright red.

She just winked. "Okay, everyone, turn onto your other side and repeat the same exercise! Slowly now, we're focusing on stability, not reps. Ready?"

After the more demanding part of the workout, Aelin guided the class through a series of cooldown stretches, staying on her own mat and just talking through the motions. And smothering her evil smirk when she noticed Rowan's attention drawn directly to the swell of her breasts through her sports bra when she leant forwards, explaining the stretch. "Remember, only go as far as you can and hold, your muscles will loosen up after a bit of time and you may be able to stretch farther."

She had to clamp her lips together to keep from giggling when she noticed how many of the ladies' gazes flicked over to Rowan's ass as she guided the class into a folded-over stretch. One that deliberately placed everyone's ass up in the air.

But it was such a good stretch for tight backs and hamstrings.

"And that's the class!" she announced, grinning at the fifteen people as she slowly rolled her head up, comfortably seated on her mat. "Thank you all so much for coming!"

Murmurs of thanks rippled around the room as people slowly got up and rolled up their mats, placing equipment back in the basket. Aelin stood at the doorway and said good night to everyone, smiling and laughing and making her goodbyes.

Rowan was the last person lingering in the studio, waiting until all the ladies had left before he strolled up to her and leaned against the doorframe, eyes bright with mischief and something...darker.

"What did you think?" she asked, genuinely curious.

He rolled his neck, considering. "I actually really enjoyed it," he admitted.

"I'm glad," she beamed. "Really, Rowan. I hardly get guys in Pilates classes, it's just so much more marketed to women."

"I see why all the team trainers want us to do something with more stretching," he chuckled. "God, it's like I'm discovering muscles I never knew I had."

She smirked. "That tends to happen with Pilates and yoga and other, slower workouts. I remember when I took my first Pilates class, I had to take a few minutes before I could put my shoes on."

His soft laugh echoed through the studio, a low joyous rumble she wanted to capture in a jar and keep forever. "I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling it in the morning."

"Not the only thing you feel in the morning," she smirked, unable to help herself.

Instantly, Rowan's eyes flared, that suppressed darkness in their depths rising up. "What exactly are you implying, Aelin?"

Gods burn her, the way this man said her name. "Why don't you use that little brain of yours and think about it, Rowan?"

He stepped closer to her, bracing one forearm on the doorframe, right beside her head, drawing her gaze up into his. Hell, she hadn't realized how much of a height difference there was between them. Or how much that height difference turned her on.

"I think," he purred, brazenly curling his free hand around her hip, "that you've had too much fun instructing me tonight, Aelin Galathynius."

"Hmmm," she purred, daintily placing her fingertips against his toned chest, a smirk curling the corners of her full lips, "and what makes you think that, Rowan Whitethorn?"

In response, he tipped his head down, pausing when he was no more than a hairsbreadth away from her tantalizing lips, his own wicked grin unfurling at her tiny, shuddering sigh of yearning. "Someone couldn't keep her hands off me," he hummed, slipping just a fraction closer, the heat of his body pressing into hers.

A shiver danced down her spine. "At least I wasn't afraid to make a move," she smirked, taunting him.

To her complete and utter delight, it worked.

Rowan closed the barely-there gap between them, pressing his lips to hers, his kiss soft and tentative at first but quickly deepening when Aelin rolled up onto her tiptoes and looped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers into his soft hair.

Gods, this must be what heaven was like--six-foot-three and toned as hell, with a tattoo straight out of her fantasies licking up the length of one arm.

A muted whoop broke through their reverie, making them jump apart and whirl around to find Lysandra standing a few paces away, beaming like a child on Christmas and clapping. "I win!"

"Dammit," Aelin grumbled, laughing through her pretended grouchiness. "Really, Lys?"

"You're the one snogging the man you've been crushing on in public," Lys smirked.

Aelin rolled her eyes. "Fair enough. Now shoo, Lys."

"Love you too!" Lysandra called over her shoulder as she headed off. "It's my night to lock up, so go home, lovebirds!"

"You're the worst!"

Lys just giggled. "I'll expect details tomorrow, babes!"

"Gods," Aelin fake-grumbled, chuckling as she grabbed her rolled-up mat and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm never gonna hear the end of this from her."

"Oh, but you'll have stories to tell," Rowan promised, smirking darkly at her.

She arched one blonde brow. "Awful big talk, Whitethorn."

His smirk grew, curling lazily across his face as he trailed his eyes down her body. "And I can back it up, too." He slipped his hand into hers, linking their fingers, and walked beside her out into the parking lot.

Where he promptly pressed her up against the side of his truck and kissed her deeply, pressing his body flush with hers. She groaned into his kiss, her lips opening to his tongue, and yanked him closer, delicately slipping her hands beneath his thin tank top to slide up his torso, his chest, feeling his heartbeat thundering under her palms.

"Gods," he groaned, panting, pulling away only to kiss down her jaw, her neck, "gods, Aelin!"

Head tilting back, she moaned softly, her grasp on reality swiftly slipping away under this gorgeous man's ministrations. "Rowan," she panted, a half-coherent thought breaking through the fog of desire clouding her senses, "home."

He stepped back. "Where?"

She caught her breath, the coolness of the night air helping to clear her head. "I live fairly close..."

"Your place, then." His eyes glittered. "I don't need to waste any more time, love."

The pet name warmed her to her core. "Right, you can just follow me, I'm not leaving my car here."

~

The drive home was a hazy blur of shock and elation and disbelief, paired with the steady throbbing in her core. Aelin parked in her driveway and locked up her car, waiting by the front door for Rowan to hop out of his truck, lock up, and stride over to her, wasting absolutely no time in wrapping one thickly muscled arm around her waist and kissing her long and slow, not caring that they were on her front porch and anyone could see them.

"Inside," Aelin managed to gasp, fumbling for her key and unlocking the door. Rowan hoisted her effortlessly into his arms and carried her into her house, hands wandering the moment he set her back down on her feet.

"Fuck," he rasped, toying with the band of her sports bra. "You're so damn gorgeous, Ae."

"You're one to talk, handsome" she hummed, boldly surveying his chiseled frame, her wicked gaze not missing the tent in his shorts. "Looks like I'm not the only one who had fun at the studio."

"Wicked woman," he chuckled, sweeping her into his arms again, his large hands cupping her ass. Before he could give in to the temptation of kissing her flushed skin, though, he looked into her eyes. "Are you sure about this?"

She cupped her hands around his jaw. "Lys is right, Rowan, I've had a crush on you for far longer than I'm ever going to admit." A soft kiss to his temple. "I'm absolutely sure. I need you, Ro."

"Thank all the gods," he rumbled, nipping softly at her collarbone. "I--I've had a crush on you for years, too."

"Look at us idiots," she laughed, "both--oh gods, Rowan!" Her mirth shifted into a moan as he slid one hand between her thighs, feeling the warmth pooled there.

"So you did enjoy teasing me," he purred into her ear, his heated breath fanning against her skin.

"So much," she gasped. "Ah, fuck, Ro!"

"I need you," he panted, so close to just damning it all to hell and taking her right there, first times be damned.

She slipped out of his arms, took his hand, and led him upstairs and into the master bedroom, where she peeled off her leggings and sports bra and stood before him wearing only a scrap of lace that could barely be called panties. "You have me."

Rowan all but ripped his tank top off, eyes fixed onto the absolute beauty that was Aelin Galathynius standing near-bare in front of him. The leggings were a bit trickier, but soon enough, he stood bare before her, endlessly thrilled at the way her gaze tracked down his body, darkening as she looked.

"Fuck me," she whispered, her voice low and throaty. "You're so damn beautiful, Ro." Her lips, slightly swollen from his kisses, dropped ever so slightly open at the sight of him standing hard and proud and ready for her, at the whole of him bared to her.

"That's the idea," he chuckled darkly, striding to her, tilting her chin up to meet her brilliant turquoise eyes. "But first..." He played with the waistband of her lacy little panties. "These need to go."

With one quick rip, the offending garment laid on the floor. Aelin barely had time to gasp before Rowan was on her, his lips and touch everywhere she craved it, his body hard and warm and tantalizing against hers. Almost before she knew it, he was laying her down on her bed, a look near reverence in his desire-darkened eyes.

"Tell me if you need me to stop," he whispered into her ear, just about making her cry with sheer overwhelming emotion.

But she settled on a long, low moan as he splayed one hand between her breasts, alternating rough and soft touches, teasing her nipples into hard, eager peaks, and trailed the other hand through her soaked pussy, his thumb landing squarely on her clit. "Fuck, Rowan!"

"That's it, love," he rumbled, "say my name." Gods burn him, she was dripping against his hand, her slick eager core welcoming him as he slipped one finger gently into her heat, groaning thickly at the way she gripped him. "Fuck, you feel amazing."

"Don't stop," she begged, so wound up and ready for him. "Please, R, don't stop."

"Such pretty manners," he smirked, adding another finger. "You like that, Ae?" He took her frantic, wordless nod as assent and sped up the pace of his fingers, leaning down to tug one deliciously peaked breast into his mouth, needing to feel her coming undone for him before he would let himself enter her. She moaned breathily, a jumble of curses and pleas and his name leaving her lips.

"Close, Rowan, so close!"

"Come for me, love."

And she did, climaxing around his fingers, her face scrunching and then relaxing in utter bliss as her body rocked. He worked her through it, pulling away to slide his tongue across his glistening fingers, moaning lowly at the taste of her.

"Delicious," he purred hotly, lowering his lips down to hers. "Taste yourself, love." And he kissed her, possessive, claiming, making her taste the essence of herself on his tongue. His hips jerked involuntarily as she wrapped her wicked hand around him, pumping too slowly for the way his blood raced, craving her.

"You like that?" she murmured, her tiny smirk proving that she knew very well he liked it.

He grunted a curse and plucked her hand away from him. "Keep doing that and I won't last long enough to have you screaming my name, love." He ghosted a kiss against her throat. "And I will have you screaming for me."

Her whole body shuddered at his promise, fresh arousal pooling in her core. "Yes please," she breathed, pressing a kiss to his strong jawline.

"As you wish," he murmured, locking his eyes onto hers as he lined himself up and slid slowly into her, both of them moaning at the sensation. He rocked his hips slowly, easing into the heavenly tightness of her until his hips bumped against hers. "Hi," he breathed, tenderly brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face.

"Hi," she breathed, her hips subtly rocking upwards into him. He smiled at her, stroking across her face as he withdrew, only to plunge back into her, drawing a sharp moan from her lips. "Ohhhh, oh gods!"

"Not gods," he panted, his thrusts rattling her whole world, "just me." He could feel himself on the verge of breaking, even so soon after entering her--she was perfect. So perfect. His pace sped up, growing almost frantic, and she met him thrust for thrust, gripping his shoulders and raising herself up to lean her forehead into his. Their breaths mingled in the sex-tinged haze of the bedroom as he pounded into her, gasping praises and curses and chants of her name.

"Rowan," she pleaded, desperate, writhing beneath him. "Please, gods, Rowan, I'm so close!"

"Then come for me," he ordered, slipping his hand between their bodies to flick her clit, the last touch of pleasure she needed to tumble into ecstasy, yelling his name as she shattered around him.

He groaned her name into the crook of her neck as he followed, just barely remembering to pull out and spill himself all over her thighs and lower abdomen. Gods, but the sight of her covered in his orgasm did terrible things to his self-control. Her chest heaved as she came down from the blissful high, tugging him down to sprawl atop her as he stilled.

"Mmmmph," he mumbled, something resembling sanity telling him he needed to get up and get a washcloth. "Need to clean you up."

"And a gentleman too," she murmured, allowing him to get up--a little unsteadily--and go into her bathroom to grab a warm washcloth and clean her up. "Mmm, I got really lucky."

His laugh rumbled through her room. "You are incredible, Ae," he whispered, sliding back into bed and curling around her.

She settled comfortable into his embrace, tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder. "No, you are."

He didn't have time to protest before she was asleep, her breathing deep and rhythmic.

Well, then.

He'd tell her how he felt in the morning.

~~~

TAGS:

@charlizeed

@cretaceous-therapod

@clea-nightingale

@autumnbabylon

@nerdperson524

@fireheartwhitethorn4ever

@morganofthewildfire

@rowanaelinn

@wesupremeginger

@stardelia

@shanias-world

@mybloodrunsblue

@swankii-art-teacher

@wordsafterhours

@cookiemonsterwholovesbooks

@violet-mermaid7

@holdthefrickup

@goddess-aelin

@rowaelinismyotp

@dealfea

@irondork

@elentiyawhitethorn

@live-the-fangirl-life

@darling-im-the-queen-of-hell

@chronicchthonic14

@lovely-dove-zee

@sweet-but-stormy

@hanging-from-a-cliff

@jorjy-jo

@rowaelinrambling

@thegreyj

@silentquartz

@backtobl4ck

@throneofus7

@elizarikaallen

@llyncooljones

@booknerdproblems

@julemmaes

@earthtolinds

[ike-mcswains-mortician]

15 questions for 15 people

[ thankyouuu @locke-n-k3y for the tag c: ]

1. are you named after anyone?

nope!

2. when was the last time you cried?

uhh earlier today. finals season is hell teehee

3. do you have kids?

right now? god no, but maybe someday! :)

4. what sports do you/have you played?

i did volleyball in middle school but i dropped it when the team got really toxic, and i haven’t done sports since lol

5. do you use sarcasm?

no. never. /sar

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

hmmm probably their hair or outfit, maybe body language too

7. what’s your eye color?

green! my friends have tried to gaslight me (/j) into thinking they’re blue but they are green hehe

8. scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings by far, i need fluff to distract from The Horrors

9. any talents?

i can memorize stuff really well. songs or speeches or stuff like that! friends think i’m super impressive for having eggman’s announcement from snapcube’s SA2 fandub memorized but that’s pretty easy lol

10. where were you born?

i’ll go pretty general and say the chicago area! :)

11. what are your hobbies?

i draw, read, persist through the horrors, write, play dnd, stuff like that! i’ve also gotten into collecting old vinyls!

12. do you have any pets?

no, unfortunately. when i get my own place though i wanna get a cat!!! :3

13. how tall are you?

5’6 heehee

14. favorite subject in school?

in high school it was english and history!! i now am majoring in english sooo yeah i like it a little bit

15. what is your dream job?

i would LOVE to be an editor!! or really just publishing in general :)

i do not have 15 people to tag LMAO so uhh i will just toss this to @thedndgoblinwholivesinyourwalls @marsomar @lumi-lyn @livingponcho @oakay @cookies-over-yonder and anyone else who wants to jump in /nf!