#anyway i am starting to wonder that if when he signed his contract to make those movies

[hyohaehyuk]

Taka appears around at 2:08 and 2:16 from each video respectively (well his voice even tho he appeared on the screen. i wish there is videos from that. I finally found some footage of taka on the screen. i wish there was more videos)

At 4: 16 and 2:56 (from each video respectively) is the famous part where when asked what taka is for him, he said that taka is his 1st wife, tomoe is the 2nd wife and since he forgot kaoru (😭) he said she is the 1.5 wife XD

And then taka said he would work harder to not fall from that position XD

They also ask taka about takeru and he said that if he is the wife, takeru is the husband but the reverse is also true (aka him being the husband and takeru the wife) XD

After 6:36, I think takeru and taka was talking about the "Rurouni kenshin" theme songs

By the automatic translation it seems that takeru have quite a saying into RK OST since it seems he was choosing the song together with taka

I wish someone translated those videos :(

Bc i cant find any, i use the google translation to translate this article and this one:

"Director Otomo and ONE OK ROCK's Taka, who performs the theme song throughout the series, also appeared remotely, but Sato said, "ONE OK ROCK saw the movie before anyone else. I wonder if it's finished yet?'' When I was so excited, Taka told me, "It was really good,'' he confessed. For Kyoto Inferno Arc/The Legend's End'', I composed the music in America, came back to Japan, and was so excited that I was asked to listen to about three songs. I was told, "You can choose whatever you like.'' While listening to it at the counter, I cried quite a bit on the spot,'' he said, "Even though I was worried about it, I realized that I liked Taka's voice in ``Heartache.'' I chose a song that had the vocals in front.'' .

When asked to express Taka's presence as a comrade in words, Sato flatly replied, "He's my wife." When he points out, Wife 1 (Taka) and Wife 2 (Arimura),'' the MC asks, Kaoru is…'' and then says, Kaoru is Wife 1.5.'' In response to this, Taka said, "I will try my best not to fall from the position of wife number one. We are friends, and I think we are also like each other. If I were the wife, then (Sato) would be the husband, but… I think the opposite is also true, and I think we have a really good relationship and get along well.''

During the stage greeting, each of the four members confessed about their "happy moments".Arimura said, "I have a houseplant at home, but it's a houseplant that lives a long time by repeatedly dying and putting out new buds.'' I love it so much that when the new buds appear, It’s really cute and makes me happy,” she said with a smile.

In response, Sato excited the audience by revealing, ``I'm a late night person. I worked hard all day and even ate dinner (lol).''

On the other hand, Taka confessed, "It's when you work hard to write and record songs, and after a break, you feel like, There's nothing tomorrow'' or ``I don't have time for myself.''

Meanwhile, director Otomo commented, ``Watching the passionate relationship between Takeru and Taka, it makes me feel happy,'' referring to the two who showed their closeness throughout the stage greeting, and expressed his feelings towards their relationship. "I was very impressed".

google translation of this article:

"Ever since Sato and Taka met when they were teenagers, they have spent time together influencing each other. Taka, who was in charge of the theme songs for all of the Rurouni Kenshin' series said: "Our life as a band was with Rurouni Kenshin.' I feel a little sad that it ended with 'The Beginning,' but at the same time, I feel relieved.''

Taka went on, "I love The Beginning,'' adding "Up until now, the focus has been on action, but in this work, I feel like I'm being ripped off in a painful way, and as a Japanese person, I've found myself feeling overwhelmed many times. It made me feel so good," he praised.

　In response to Taka's words, Sato said with a smile: "Taka told me he liked 'The Beginning' from the first time he saw the movie,'' and added, "As a Japanese person, I felt the same way. Now, I feel happy that the spirit of ``The Beginning'' has been conveyed,'' he said with joy.

　After that, episodes were shown that showed Sato and Taka's private interactions and their relationship of mutual trust, and the host asked the question, "What kind of person is Taka to Sato?'' After thinking about his answer for a while, Sato shyly said, "He's my number one wife.'' At Sato's words, Taka laughed and said, I have to make sure I don't fall down (from the position of wife)...'' and then said, "Takeru is my friend, and we're good friends. If I were the wife, would Takeru be the husband? The relationship would be the other way around.' "There are some things," he said, admitting that they had a honeymoon relationship."

google translation of this article:

On this day, ONE OK ROCK's Taka, who was in charge of the theme song for all series, and director Keishi Otomo also participated remotely. Regarding this film, Taka revealed his thoughts on the film, saying, "As a Japanese person, I felt sad, but it made sense to me,'' adding, "When Director Otomo gave me time to talk after watching the movie, he said, ``I'll leave it to you.'' When I was asked to sing the theme song for the first time, I felt a lot of pressure, but as the episodes went on, I started to think that it was important to write songs the way I felt. I went there," he recalls.

Sato said, "Taka composed the theme song "Heartache'' for "Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends'' in the United States, and when he came back to Japan, he excitedly played three songs to me. While listening to it at the counter of a restaurant, I was told "You can choose whatever you like,'' and I cried quite a bit on the spot. They're all good, so I said, "I want them all to be theme songs'' he says, revealing an episode from that time. "I was thinking about it, but I chose that song because I liked Taka's voice in ``Heartache,''' he said revealing the story behind the song.

When it came to the relationship between the two, Sato laughed and said, "He's my wife. My wife is 1, and my wife is 2 (Arimura).Kaoru (Kamiya) is my wife 1.5,'' and Taka also said, "We're friends and comrades. It's really great. We get along well because of our relationship,'' he says, showing how close they are. On the topic of happy moments, Arimura said, "Seeing new sprouts coming out of a houseplant is cute and makes me happy,'' and Director Otomo commented on the interaction between Sato and Taka, "Seeing the passionate relationship between Takeru and Taka makes me happy.''" he replied.

At the end, Sato said, "I feel like it'll end when I say, Thank you, everyone.'' I hope it's a long run, and I want to make the most of the remaining release period, so I'd like to say today. Instead of closing with "Thank you", I would like to close with "See you again", and I look forward to your continued support.'' I hope you will continue to support "Rurouni Kenshin.'' Finished the stage greeting.

google translation of this article:

In addition, Taka, who participated remotely from the United States, said, "We also wrote the theme songs for all the works, and along with Rurouni Kenshin, our life as a band was also there. It finally ended with ``The Beginning.'' I'm sad to see it go away, but I'm also relieved, but I'm confident that it's a work filled with great soul," he said, expressing his thoughts.

Sato and Taka are said to be good friends in their private lives, so what kind of person is Taka to Sato? Sato laughed and said, "He is my wife," and then said, "My wife 1, my wife 2," and then pointed at Arimura. When asked by the MC, So, what about (heroine Kamiya) Kaoru?'', he answered, "Kaoru is 1.5 years old.''

In response, Taka said, "I want to do my best not to fall from the position of wife number one,'' and then, regarding Sato, "I think we are both friends and colleagues, and if I'm the wife, then (Sato) is also the husband, so we have a very good relationship and get along very well,'' he said of the passionate friendship between the two.

google translation of this article:

Taka (ONE OK ROCK) remotely participated in the stage greeting to thank the blockbuster success of the movie "Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning " starring Takeru Sato , which was held at Marunouchi Piccadilly in Tokyo on June 12th. ONE OK ROCK has been in charge of the theme songs throughout the series, and also wrote a new song "Broken Heart of Gold'' as the theme song for the final episode. In addition to Taka, Otomo participated remotely in the stage greeting, and Sato and Kasumi Arimura, who plays Tomoe, took to the stage at Marunouchi Piccadilly.

Sato touched on the film's release last week, saying, "I've been running through the promotional period for this movie, and I feel like I'm finally heading towards my goal. I've been wanting to keep promoting this movie forever.” he said with a look of regret.

"Taka-san!" called out the MC, and Taka appeared on the screen. Taka describes his current state of mind by saying, "I feel like I've spent my life as a band with "Rurouni Kenshin.'' I feel a little sad that it's over, but also a little relieved.'' He also commented on "Rurouni Kenshin Final Chapter: The Beginning,'' saying, ``The focus was on the action scenes, but it was also heartbreaking, and as a Japanese person, it was a work that I could easily relate to.'' Responding to this, Sato said, ``All the One Ok Rock members watch the movie before anyone else. I heard from Taka, ``That was really good (lol)." You said earlier, "As a Japanese,'' and I thought the same thing, and Taka is mostly in the United States, so I think that's why he has a strong sense of being Japanese.'' Taka, who is still in the United States said, "I'm trying to embody the spirit of a samurai here,'' he said with a smile.

Regarding "Broken Heart of Gold,'' Arimura said, "The melody is mostly piano, and it conveys a delicate feeling, and the lyrical content comes straight to me, and in a sense, because it hasn't been fleshed out in many ways, it really touches my heart." she says quietly. Regarding the affinity between OOR's songs and the "Rurouni Kenshin'' series, Otomo said, "When I listen to the finished theme song, I get the feeling that OOR's lyrics are discovering the spirit of the movie and what is hidden deep within the movie. I felt it from the moment I saw it. I think that the whole package until the end of the one-off music, and I think that when you watch it up to that point, you'll be able to convey everything we wanted to convey." Regarding the production of the theme song for the series, Taka said, "Director Otomo always told me, "I'll leave it to you,'' in the first movie and that was actually a lot of pressure. My thinking changed to the fact that the most important thing was to make the songs the way I wanted. This time, the moment I finished watching it, the first notes were ringing in my head, so I cherished that first inspiration when creating the song. "I'm doing it," he said.

Taka and Sato are close friends in their private lives as well. When asked by the host what kind of person Taka is, Sato emphatically replied, "My wife." Afterwards, when asked about Arimura, who plays Tomoe next to her, he added, "(pointing at Taka) Wife 1, (pointing at Arimura) Wife 2.'' Furthermore , he introduced Kaoru Kamiya, played by Emi Takei , saying, "My wife is 1.5.'' Taka said, "I want to do my best so that I don't fall from the top. Takeru is a friend and a comrade, and if i were his wife, Takeru would be my husband, but I think the reverse could also be true.'' When asked how he felt as this was his first time doing a stage greeting, he said with a somber expression, ``I don't really feel like I'm doing a stage greeting (lol). For me, it feels like I've reached a turning point in my life.''

[drvscarlett]

About You Pt2

Sebastian Vettel x Webber!Reader

Summary: Everyone knows about the history of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. But there's a well kept story within the paddock about Sebastian Vettel and another Webber. This is that story.

A/N: were in the 2009 season. i also grabbed some ideas from a film quote so if you notice that, hello hehe. hope you enjoy, let me know your comments

About You Series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Taglist: @spideybv28 @randomcuboidshape @mehrmonga @casperlikej @cliosunshine @randomgirlnumber-13 @sugyomama

2009, Albert Park

Moving from Toro Rosso to Red Bull has been the source of excitement of Sebastian ever since he signed the contract last December. He was excited to work with a bigger team and it opened up better opportunities for a championship which is why he feels really giddy walking to Albert Park.

"Seems like a good year for a championship?"Christian greeted Sebastian.

"I'm looking forward to that, the car feels nice"Sebastian agreed.

When the two walked to the garage, they immediately saw the Webber siblings discussing with some of the mechanics. Mark immediately waved at Sebastian.

Sebastian can tell that their dynamics improved since it was announced that they will be teammates. They spent a lot of time together in Milton Keynes so they found each other tolerable. It was surprising that now he feels a lot more closer to Mark than to Y/N.

He was actually expecting her to be around when they said Mark will be around Milton Keynes but the female Webber never showed up. Mark says that Y/N has been taking some time off since she will be busy during the season. Sebastian thinks he might be the reason why she has been absent so he felt a little relieve to see her.

"Excited for the first race of the season?" Y/N asked.

"The car seems alright, I think we can bring some good points in"Sebastian replied.

"We're gonna bring in a challenge this year, I can feel that we can compete for the drivers and constructors championship this year"Mark added

"How about Brawn, do you think they'll be a challenge?"Y/N wondered.

Sebastian heard about the team during the winter break. It was sort of a crazy story about how everything happened. He never saw Jenson or Rubens as a threat so he thinks that they might be an okay team that he doesn't have to worry about.

"They are a new team, I'm sure they won't be a threat" famous last words.

Brawn GP turns out to be a slight threat. Sebastian calls it a slight threat since this was only the first race and maybe its just their luck that they managed to pull away. They have to see how they perform in the next few races.

It was quite a bummer that Red Bull was unable to bring any points. It frustrated him heavily since he started 3rd and managed to stay 2nd the whole race until that unfortunate collision with Kubica that ruined his race.

Mark managed to finish the race but he finished 13th. Still out of the points.

As Sebastian was replaying the whole thing in his hotel room, he heard soft knocks at his door. He didn't remember ordering anything from room service so he was a bit confused as he headed to open the door.

"Hi Seb" it was Y/N "I was sent here by Mark to ask you if you want to go out and eat. You are in Australia and our family is from Australia and it will be a little bit rude if we didn't treat you out in Australia"

"That's too many Australia in one sentence"

"Have dinner with us and the family?"she simplifies "Please?"

There was not much to do anyway, Seb thinks so he accepted the offer. It might also be a good start to rekindle the friendship since its been a while since the two spoke with each other.

"You're driving?"Sebastian asked

"Of course, what kind of host am I if I'm going to make you drive"

The drive was reminiscent of Sebastian's memory when they were in Germany. Only that the view is more of beaches rather than the greens and the cold of Europe.

"I heard stories about you and Mark, it seems that you two are getting along quite well"Y/N opened up the conversation

"Oh he talks about me?"

"Well as his assistant, I have to ask about his work dynamics so yeah you have been a talking point of our conversation"

"That's nice"Sebastian smiles "How is life treating you? I didn't see you in Milton Keynes"

She lets out a heavy sigh and Sebastian could tell that there is a certain tiredness in her eyes. Maybe its true what Mark said that Y/N is actually drained from a season of F1.

"I just have to get away. A lot of pressure to deliver"

Sebastian understands that. Its probably the reason why he also tried to be understanding with Mark's situation as well. He knows that at the end of the day, the sports was brutal in one way or another. Everyone eventually gets that pressure to deliver.

"Let's not talk about f1, lets just talk about basic life things" Sebastian steered the conversation.

There was a smile gracing both of their faces because its just Sebastian and Y/N again. No last names, no championships, just them.

2009, Sepang International Circuit

"I hate wet races" Y/N confirms.

She doesn't get why everyone gets a bit excited with wet racing but she can't find how this is enjoyable for some people. Isn't the thrill of racing beyond speed limit exciting enough for them? Now they even want to race under dangerous weather conditions.

"It test your skills as a driver" Sebastian defended "Back me up here Mark"

"You're on your own Seb"was the reply of the older Webber. He did not want to take side with anyone.

The trio has been sitting at the garage waiting for the race to start. There was still 20 minutes left and Y/N has been stressing about how the dark clouds are looming over. She thinks it may start under dry conditions then go to wet in a snap.

"You can test your skills by overtaking and setting the fastest lap" Y/N noted

"Its all about strategy and taking risks"Sebastian assured.

"You better make sure that the both of you finish the race"

"No promises, Seb might hit me again"Mark joked

"Oh c'mon, I said I was sorry about that"

True enough to Y/N's prediction, the race started on the dry conditions then it ended up to be a wet race. Y/N had her fair share of wet races but this was the most terrifying for her opinion. There were puddles and the drivers can't see a thing with the rain blocking their vision.

It gotten so bad that Y/N actually went out of the driver's room to check on the status of the drivers.

"Aren't they red flagging the race?"she asked one of the mechanics

"There is still nothing from the stewards but Mark is also insisting that the race should be stopped"

Y/N was glad that she wasn't the only sane Webber around.

Just then there was a crash on screen and the weather made it very difficult for them to decipher which car spun but it was for sure a Red Bull. Y/N felt a bit comforted that it just spun without hitting anyone or anything.

"Its confirmed, that is Seb's car"

"Safety car for the lap"

"Webber is gonna ask to stop the race"

There was a flurry of emotions inside the garage. The race was stopped at lap 33 and there was the question if they will wait for it to restart or is it called off completely.

"I'm in 15th, this is not good"Sebastian was already groaning. He missed out on the points again by a big margin.

"Hey 15th is okay than dnf or being hospitalized"

Knowing Sebastian, Y/N knew he wanted to do well and it didn't seem like it was going to how Sebastian had it in his mind earlier this year. She gave him a comforting pat.

"Do you want some ice cream?"she asked

Sebastian looked at her as if she grew two heads "In this cold weather? You are asking for ice cream?"

"Ice cream heals people's boo boo" Y/N shrugged "Besides Kimi made me hungry for ice cream"

"You are crazy" Sebastian started "But c'mon lets go get some ice cream"

2009, Circuit de Catalunya

Mark: Can you see me before qualis at the back of the garage Mark: need your help, please

Sebastian never received any urgent texts from Mark so he must say that his curiosity is piqued by it. He immediately set out to meet Mark in the designated location.

"You need me?"Sebastian asked.

"Sebastian, just the person I needed" Mark seems elated to see him "Listen I need you to do me a favor"

"Okay as long as I don't have to hide a body"

"What?"

"Nevermind that. It was a joke Mark"Sebastian wanted to facepalm himself. Mark never seems to understand his humor especially when he was too excited with things.

"So May 15 is coming up. I need your help to distract my sister and maybe tour her around Spain while we do some preparation at the hotel. I just need your help to distract her for like 3-4 hours"Mark explained.

"15th?What's on the 15th?"

Sebastian was pretty sure that there was no race or other commitments that is happening on the 15th. He tries to rack his head for any important dates on the 15th but he can't remember a thing. Meanwhile, Mark looked offended that Sebastian didn't know the significance of May 15.

"Its Y/N's birthday"Mark answered.

Oh. Now that Sebastian thinks about it, Y/N never told her birthday. He felt like an idiot after realizing how they spend a lot of time together but he still haven't asked her about her birth date. But now that he knows, he makes a mental note of it.

"Okay. I think I can do that. Leave it to me"

"Thanks Seb, I owe you big time"

Seb: Are you still here at the 15th? Y/N: Why are you asking? Seb: I'm feeling adventurous. What do you say about getting lost in spain? Y/N: hmm sounds nice. Count me in.

"How long till we get there"Y/N asked.

They have driven for quite some time already and Sebastian promised that this place will be worth the wait. Sebastian will not admit it but maybe he got a little bit of lost in directions for the past 20 minutes and he is just starting to get the hang of the destination right now.

"Just a few minutes more" Sebastian assured. He can already see the spires of the building so he felt a sigh of relief escape.

"We were lost a while ago, aren't we?"

Sebastian just give out a grin as he continues to drive closer to the place. He stopped at the designated parking lot and unlocked the door.

"Adventure awaits Miss Y/N, welcome to La Sagrada Familia"Sebastian introduced.

When Sebastian was looking for a place to go, the La Sagrada Familia was one of the top hit. Sebastian didn't even consider if she is religious or what but he thinks she can appreciate the reminder that this architecture is still a work in progress and it has managed to endure a lot throughout the years of construction.

"This is beautiful" was her response.

"They say that this will be the most beautiful form of apology when it is finished"Sebastian informed "This was built for the city's sins"

"I beg to disagree"Y/N replied.

It was now Sebastian's turn to be curious.

"I think this is the grandest gesture of someone's love"Y/N elaborated "This went on for years, decades, centuries-they did not stop loving Barcelona that they continue working so that the city will be forgiven"

It was a pretty analogy in Sebastian's mind. He felt like no amount of his research could compare with that realization.

If the outside of the cathedral looks majestic, the inside is beyond what they could imagine. The both of them let out a small woah as they stepped foot into the church.

"You know you can make three wishes when its your first time to enter a church, they say it comes true when you do that"Y/N mentioned "You wanna give it a go?"

Sebastian nodded and he noticed how Y/N immediately closed her eyes.

'A world drivers championship. Happiness. Y/N receiving her wish' was what Sebastian prayed for.

He takes out a peek and Y/N was still in her own solemn state. Sebastian wonders what is it that she wishes for and he hopes that this three wishes thing works. He really wanted Y/N to fulfill her wishes, it will make him extremely happy.

"What did you wish for Y/N"

"Safe races, World Peace, and points for you and Mark" she answered

"Oh c'mon, you don't have things about yourself. Don't you have any personal wishes? Like your own goals or your own things?"Sebastian quizzed

Y/N knew deep down that she wanted something but she knew that saying it at the moment might not be ideal. But heaven knows, she prayed for Sebastian Vettel to stay in her life.

2009, Nürburgring

Y/N didn't mind that she was in heels, she was running as fast as she could to parc ferme. The moment that the last lap started and Mark was still leading, she immediately headed straight to the destination. Their father was already at the pits waiting with the signboard.

There was certainly a mix of emotions. Y/N's mind reel back to how Mark started pole and then had an incident with Hamilton at the start of the race. It caused him to have a penalty which lessens his chances of winning but Mark was in for a mega-drive. He managed to regain all the places that he lost from the penalty and here he is leading the Grand Prix.

Y/N felt her ears ringing as the crowd roars as the chequered flag appeared. Every speaker was blaring out the obvious, this is Mark Webber's first win in Formula 1.

People are starting to line up near the barricades. Y/N doesn't care if she was being pushed but she will be the first one to meet her brother and congratulate him once he gets out of the car.

"YOU DID IT! YOU ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED IT" Y/N screamed to Mark.

Mark did not miss his sister and immediately hugged her tight. He kept on repeating his thanks for her support and for not giving up on him. Y/N could only choke on a sob with the cameras flashing the emotional sibling moment that they shared.

"Congratulations Mark"Sebastian appeared next to him and Mark gave him a hug.

It was a happy day for the Red Bull team for securing double podiums. The whole Red Bull team cannot contain their happiness as the two walked to their podium spots. It is certainly a day that warrants a much needed night out.

So fast forward and Red Bull rented out a club to celebrate the victory of today. Y/N was certain that she deserved to let loose a little with the events that happened today.

Shots after shots, Y/N managed to drink everything up until the room started to feel a little bit wavy. It was a good thing that Sebastian has not been much of a party animal, he knew that this was Mark's time to celebrate so he won't be taking too much of a spotlight.

"You are seriously wasted, you should stop drinking now" Sebastian said, catching Y/N before she could trip in her heels.

"my brother won, can't you believe ittttt"her words are slurred.

"Yep, I'm getting you water and were going back to the hotel"

"NOOOOOO"

But Sebastian has already carried her out of the club. Sebastian knew that there are probably much more people wasted there but Sebastian was focused on Y/N. She was the reason why Sebastian decided to sober up the entire night. Knowing that Mark will be celebrating, no one will take care of Y/N.

Sebastian wanted to take care of her.

The trip to the hotel was smooth as Y/N was asleep at the car. Sebastian was giggling when he picked her up and she started rambling about how there are different kinds of beautiful in formula 1.

"But you know what's the most beautiful thing in f1 that I have seen?" she asked "Its the time where I saw Sebastian Vettel test the car"

Sebastian got curious, he didn't know that Y/N was around when he tested the car.

"And it was so dreamy. There was this beauty about him and you know he is so passionate. He isn't a paid driver or maybe he is but damnnnn the way he raced and the way he loved the wheels"Y/N rambles on.

It feels illegal for Sebastian to be hearing this and he knows he should not take advantage of Y/N's truthful drunkness to hear what she thinks about him. But somehow, Sebastian stayed with her. He tucked her in the bed and left a glass of water at the bedside table.

"Did you know Sebastian Vettel is the prettiest boy ever. He is so pretty like how the sun is so pretty to the plants" Sebastian also laughed at the comparison. Y/N was really really drunk.

"I like Sebastian"

"What?" was Sebastian's shocked question.

"I like sebastian, what sue me? I think he is a pretty pretty boy"

Sebastian feels like his heart is pounding but he has to stay cool. She is drunk right now and she might not be aware of the things she is saying.

"You get some rest, lets talk about this in the morning" Sebastian said as he left the girl.

It took every ounce of his being to prevent himself from confessing that he likes her a lot too. But Sebastian will do his confession sober. If Y/N remembers this incident then they will talk about it. If not, he will wait for the right timing to discuss the feelings he has for her.

Morning came and Y/N did not remember anything.

[whatsk-poppinhomies]

Pairing : poly!Han Jisung x F!Reader x poly!Lee Minho TW : poly relationship ; obvious angst because ya know ; another famous Nana cliffhanger (but I actually want to write a part 2 for it after making a poll because I want to know what you all think) ; straight to the point angst, no dillydallying here ; Word Count : 4.0k Request : Anonny : Can we have poly minsung plus reader but with angst? I am a sucker for angst. AN : first time writing for poly skz... lemme know how I do... please... I hope you enjoy this, I hope I did this right.

Things had started off fine, and that in itself should have gone to show that things surely wouldn’t stay that way. The relationship in itself wasn’t normal, not to say that it wasn’t perfect, but you knew that if it weren’t for the fact that you had to hide your relationship, fans would be judging you, the entire world would be judging you. Those thoughts used to plague you in the beginning, but you had been so happy… Maybe you should have just listened to your head… Maybe that would have saved you from the ending that you received. To get to the end, we have to start from the beginning… It’ll be short though… It’s not like things had lasted very long anyway. 

You were a secretary at the JYPE office, the job in itself was boring, but you also got to see a lot of stars during your walks through the hallways. There was always one that caught your attention, and he had always been so kind to you, giving you a beautiful smile and bowing his head just slightly to say hello. Your heart would throb and you’d get the most wonderful fuzzy feeling in your stomach whenever you saw him, but you were under a contract, much like he was… Those 1 second interactions in passing were all you were ever going to get… Or so you thought. 

Roses had been left on your desk one day, a secret admirer, the card had read. You weren’t sure where they came from, but they were gorgeous, and you placed them at the corner of your desk, looking at them every so often, and that warm fuzzy feeling would return. You thought that it was just your hopefulness that had you wishing that it was the man in the hallway that had those flowers delivered to you, the back of your mind telling you that it was foolish to hope for such things when he was famous and you were just a 9-5 office worker. 

That is until you were heading out of the office for the day, your bag held close under your arm and your folder of paperwork clutched against your chest. You were the last one out of the office that evening, you had stayed a little past your scheduled time and you assumed that everyone had already gone home for the evening. When you stepped out into the hallway though… There he was. 

“Did you get the flowers?” He asked, leaning against the wall and giving you that beautiful smile that you had so foolishly already fallen in love with. “You’re not going to take them home with you?” He mused, noticing your flowerless hands, and you looked between him and the door to the office that was now shut. You could have gone back in and gotten them, but you were taking the subway home and you didn’t want them to get damaged. 

“I like them on my desk… I think they brighten up the room a little bit more.” You explained, and while it wasn’t exactly the real reason… It was still one of the reasons. “Do you know who sent them? I really want to thank them… Seeing the flowers made me so happy.” You mused, and it felt strange to be talking to him so casually… Maybe it was the fact that you were running on little sleep and 3 cans of energy drinks. You were exhausted, and maybe your mind just let it slip who exactly you were talking to. 

“Of course I know who sent them.” He pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to you, causing you to stumble back a little as the words that had been printed in the darkest bold letters on your contract flashed in your mind's eye like a bright neon sign. “I sent them… And you don’t know how hard it was to get them to your office without anyone knowing. I’m glad you like them though. Do you… Know who I am?” He quizzed, and you slowly, almost robotically nodded your head. 

“Y-You’re… You’re Lee Know… Lee Minho… Best dancer…” You rambled, and with every word that left your mouth you got more and more embarrassed, but you couldn’t stop yourself from going on and on. “I’ve seen you… In the hallway… You’re… I didn’t think… Why did you send me flowers?” 

Now his answer is probably quite obvious considering after only a month of the two of you talking he ended up asking you out. That month can be a story for another day though, because right now, this is the story of how your seemingly perfect little world got turned upside down in what felt like a matter of seconds. 

You and Minho had been dating for 2 months, and in those months there was no one that you got more close to than Jisung. You had heard about their friendship, how close they were, how they almost did everything together… You heard just about everything… But you didn’t really expect the proposition that would be brought to you one night over dinner. 

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” Jisung had asked, and the question coming from his lips sounded so much softer, so much shier than it had when Minho had asked. Of course, you were thrown for a loop and it took you a couple seconds to fully process what he had asked. The craziest part was that he had asked right in front of Minho… And Minho didn’t seem to mind it, he actually seemed a little bit too calm. 

“W-Well… I’m… Me and Minho are together…” You stammered, looking between your boyfriend and the man who had asked you the question. Your expectations were probably a little bit too normal for the situation, considering you expected Jisung to apologize and backtrack and you expected Minho to maybe go off a little bit on Jisung for asking something so silly, but none of those things happened, instead, Jisung looked up at Minho as if asking for help. 

That’s when Minho cleared his throat, grabbing his seat across the table from you and holding your gaze with his twinkling eyes that almost seemed a little bit mischievous. “Well you know, Jisung is my friend, my best friend and… He’s been on almost all of our dates with us.” And that was true… It was something that you thought was strange in the beginning, but Jisung had become such a key part of all of your and Minhos dates that it almost felt strange when he wasn’t there. “He really likes you, and I gave him the okay, I wouldn’t mind sharing you with him… But I told him that it was up to you whether you were okay with it.” 

It was up to you? It was a strange decision to make, and it almost felt like a test… You were worried that that was what it was. Minho was testing you to see if you’d really take him up on his offer, and you were nervous, you were scared about what his reaction would be, what he’d do if you took him up on the offer. “We can give you time to think about it… I know that it’s not the easiest choice to make…” Jisung mumbled, his thumbs twirling as he sheepishly looked down at the table. 

“I just… I need to think about it…” You murmured, and you waited, waited for Minho to call you out for even thinking about potentially saying yes… But he didn’t. He patted Jisung on the shoulder, and then he got up from his chair and walked around the table to stand beside you, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. 

“Take all the time you need, kitten. We won’t rush you.” He whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. It wasn’t a test… They were both serious about this… And you didn’t know how to feel about that. You had never been in a situation like this, you had never been in a relationship like this before… But would it really be any different from how things already were? You just needed to think.. You needed to think about it… 

And think about it you did… You thought about it for quite a while, and, well… It’s quite obvious what you chose. 

Being with both of them was something that took a little bit to get used to… But all in all, it was generally simple at first. It was more like the guys having shared custody of you, which, in itself, was a funny way to look at it, but it also made things easier for you. One week was Minhos week to have you, and the next week was Jisungs. It went back and forth like that for a couple months. 

Sometimes the two of them would want to take you out together, and that’s really when the weird looks would come from bystanders who didn’t understand the relationship. They’d tell you to ignore it, finding something else to capture your attention so you didn’t think too much about what people might be thinking. To them it didn’t matter, as long as you were happy being with the both of them, they were happy. 

You never felt the tension, you never thought there was any. If you even thought for a second that being with the both of them would cause any problems, you wouldn’t have agreed to it, but they both were adamant that things would be okay. It truly felt like things were okay. After your week with either of the guys was over, they would drop you off at the other's house and they always looked so happy. Sometimes they’d even stay for dinner, or have you sit on the middle cushion of the couch as the three of you watched a movie together. Things felt perfect. 

There wasn’t any sign that things were going downhill, to be honest, it didn’t even seem like there was a hill. The falling of the relationship was more like a drop tower, you had been shot up so fast that your heart was still hammering in your chest and that adrenaline from excitement was still coursing through your veins, you didn’t even have a second to think before that loud click and then you were falling, your stomach being lurched up into your throat and when you reached the bottom you didn’t really know what to do, it was like your brain was jumbled and you couldn’t think straight and everything was just… It felt off. 

“Why are you packing up your bags already?” Minho asked as you walked out of the bedroom. Even though Jisung had made a room for you at his own place, your dresser was filled with clothes that he had bought you and you had all the stuff you needed in the bathroom, you had everything you needed in general… You still liked to take a few things from Minhos with you when you went over to Jisungs and vice versa. “You want to leave?” 

For a second you were confused, double checking your calendar to make sure you hadn’t just lost track of the days, but you were right. It was Sunday, and Sundays were when Minho would usually take you over to Jisungs. “It’s Jis day… Remember? Today starts his week.” You reminded your boyfriend who probably had the days mixed up as well considering they were working on a new album. 

He rolled his eyes, letting out a noise that sounded a little bit like disgust as he leaned back on the couch. “I already talked to him. I get to have you for another week. I miss you too much and… I just want to spend a little extra time with you.” He explained, and you nodded your head along with his reasoning. He had been in the office a little bit more this week which meant that he couldn’t spend as much time with you as he probably would have liked to, and considering he told you he had already talking to Jisung about it, you were more than happy to cozy up on the couch next to him and enjoy the rest of the evening. 

“He’s okay with you keeping me for another week though? He said that?” You asked, just to be sure. Jisung was… Well, you wouldn’t say possessive… But he didn’t really like the idea of missing a week with you. He took great pride in the relationship and making sure you felt loved by him. He loved his weeks with you, and on many occasions, he’d get a little choked up whenever he had to give you back to Minho. 

“Of course he’s okay with it. I don’t know why he wouldn’t be.” Minho seemed to brush it off, and you silently thought of a million reasons why Jisung wouldn’t be okay with not seeing you. “You were my girlfriend first. He’s lucky that I even share you with him… I think it’s only fair that I get to spend more time with you anyway.” That was the first sign, although you weren’t exactly sure what that sign entailed, but your gut was telling you that it wouldn’t be good. 

You didn’t push it though, you allowed yourself to lean against Minho as he looked through the movies on tv, trying to find one that you could watch together. It was always so cute to you that he took your opinion into consideration when picking a movie considering the fact that you almost always fell asleep before the halfway mark. That’s exactly what happened, the sun beginning to set, and the golden hue that painted the room mixed with the sound of Minhos light breathing as you laid against his chest, it was the perfect setting to rest, you always found it easier to fall asleep next to him. 

The rapid knocking against the door stirred you enough to have you slightly conscious, lifting your head from Minhos chest that you found yourself laying across fully now, completely on top of him as you both laid on the couch. “Shh… It’s alright, go back to sleep, honey. I’ll get it.” Minho whispered, brushing his fingers over your hair to lull you back into your slumber before shimmying out from underneath you and running to the door. 

Even though you were still out of it, your mind was awake, your ears fully tuned in to what was happening around you. You heard the door being opened, and then the sound of Jisungs voice, just far enough away to know he wasn’t in the house yet, but loud enough for you to know he was irritated. “Why didn’t you drop her off? I was waiting! Do you know how worried I was!? Where is she?” He ranted almost immediately, and you heard Minho shushing him, and it sounded like he was trying to push him out of the house. “No… No, where is she?” Jisung continued, and then Minho sighed heavily, the breath followed by a loud groan. 

“She’s sleeping. She’s not feeling well and I just wanted to keep her here to make sure she’s taken care of.” It was a blatant lie, you had been more than ready to go over to Jisungs this evening, and while you wanted to call Minho out on it, a part of you was scared to. You loved Minho… You loved both of them… And you didn’t want either of them to get hurt. “I’ll just spend the rest of this week with her and then I’ll drop her off at your place. Sorry for worrying you.” 

You thought that it would end there, that Jisung would believe the lie, but you were sorely mistaken. “The rest of this week?! So you’re saying I don’t get to see her for two weeks straight!?” Jisung screeched, and you could tell from the intermittent cracking of his voice that he was already worked up. “I can take care of her just as well as you can. I’ve taken care of her when she has her period, I’ve helped her when she was sick. I love her and I can take care of her too.” And that wasn’t a lie. Jisung was probably the best caregiver you’ve had. He always made sure that you had what you needed, and he’d do his best to take your mind off of whatever was hurting you or making you feel sick. Even when you felt like you were going through hell itself, he managed to make you smile and make you laugh. 

“She’s my girlfriend!” Minho snapped, and you heard his hand slap against the door, something that he did often when he was trying to make his point or when he felt like his words were being threatened. He didn’t like being wrong, and he surely didn’t like when anyone other than him said anything slightly valid. “I had her first, so how about you just accept what I’m saying and you can see her next week.” 

There was a silence… And for the first time, silence scared you. Your eyes peaked open and you pushed yourself up just enough to see over the back of the couch. Jisung was standing right in the center of the doorway, making sure that Minho couldn’t shut the door on him, but not pushing the boundaries. “Oh! I see… I see what’s going on here. You’re jealous…” Jisung stated, and you heard Minho scoff, and you could see his head fall back as if he were silently laughing at the accusation. “You are. You know I treat Y/N better, you know that I love her better… You’re jealous and you’re scared that she’ll end up just choosing me at the end.” 

You weren’t sure when this turned into a competition, that’s never what it felt like to you, but maybe deep down that’s what they both thought it was. “Why would I ever be jealous of you? If I was so scared I wouldn’t have let you start dating her in the first place.” Minho retorted, his words vibrating with his silent laughter. “I felt bad for you because you were always the awkward lonely third wheel. I let you be with her… But you’re really pushing it thinking that you can just come over here and try to take her from me when it’s my week. I make the decisions… She’s my girlfriend, she’ll always be mine first.” 

You hated that… You hated that he felt like he could make the decisions for you, that he should be the one making all the choices. It had been your decision to date the both of them, so it should rightfully be your choice as to who you wanted to spend the week with. Those words had you getting up from the couch and making your way over to the door. “Hey, sweetie!” Jisung cooed, and Minhos head whipped in your direction, his eyes going wide as he looked at you and then back to Jisung. 

“Honey… You’re not feeling well. You should be laying down. Maybe you should go to the bedroom so you won’t be woken up by him.” Minho urged, or… Moreso pleaded with you, motioning to the bedroom door with a forced smile. You couldn’t believe that he was still trying to ride with that lie, and you weren’t going to allow it. As much as you loved Minho, you loved Jisung too, and you didn’t want him to think that you chose to not see him. 

“You know… I’m actually feeling better now.” You said, shooting a smile in Jisungs direction, and you saw his own smile spread across his face as his eyes sparkled brightly with excitement. Minho on the other hand, looked pissed. “I think I should spend the week with Jisung, I haven’t seen him in a whole week… That’s a long time to not see my boyfriend.” 

Jisungs hands clapped giddily, but Minho was growing more and more furious with each passing second. “I’m your boyfriend!” He growled, his arm wrapping around your waist and pulling you back when you tried to move closer to Jisung. “I’m done sharing… You’re breaking up with him. It’s done. I’m over this.” 

It was a shock, especially considering he was the one who wanted this. The only person more shocked than you was Jisung, but his emotions were more of a flurry, he was desperate, he was pissed, he was devastated. “N-No, you can’t choose that! It’s her choice to make, not yours!” Jisung shouted between heavy breaths, it almost looked like he was on the verge of hyperventilating. “Y/N… Sweetie… Tell him…” His eyes widened with panic as he looked at you, and you were panicking too. 

“Yeah… Tell me, honey… Because I’m done sharing you… And if you want to be with him, then you’ll have to just be with him. I’m done doing this weekly bullshit, I’m done having to be away from you. You’re mine… I shouldn’t have let this go on for so long… I shouldn’t have let it start to begin with.” Minho said, biting the inside of his cheeks as his eyes turned ice cold, although you weren’t sure if the look was all for you, or if he was just so pissed off that he couldn’t look at you any other way. 

“That’s not fair…” Jisungs nostrils flared as his own eyes became sharp, his glare directly pointed at Minho. “You waited… You waited long enough for me to get attached to her, for her to get attached to me… You waited for us to love each other and then you try to give her an ultimatum… It’s bullshit and you know it.” While they both seemed to have so much to say to each other, you were speechless. Jisung was right though, it wasn’t fair. Why did he take so long to figure shit out? “Sweetie… Look at me… Y/N…” Jisungs voice softened, and you saw that he wanted to reach out for you, but Minho was like a guard, doing his best to keep Jisung from being able to even breathe too close to you. “I’m not going to hate you for whatever choice you make… But I hope you make the right one. What he’s doing… It’s not right… It’s not okay. I know that whatever choice you do make… It’s going to hurt you. But I’ll still be there for you… No matter what, I’ll always be here for you because I love you. That will never change.” 

It shouldn’t be so hard to choose, Minho was there first… He should be your choice… But Jisung… He was so sweet, he was so loving… He made you feel loved in a completely different way than Minho. It was all so confusing, and you already felt your heart breaking for both of the men that you loved so deeply, you’d lose a piece of yourself no matter who you chose. “I…” You started, tears spilling over your bottom lashes as you looked between both of the guys that held your heart. “I don’t know… I… I need time to think…” It wasn’t easy, it would never be easy… And you knew that it would only be made harder since they both were always together, they were in the same group, whether you chose Minho or Jisung, you’d always have to see the both of them… You’d always be faced with the thought of what could have been if your choice had been different. You’d need a lot of time to think… And you’d need a couple weeks, weeks to yourself to think about who you’d choose… If any of them… Because you didn’t just have to protect your own feelings and your own heart… You had to protect theirs too.

[devilmen-collector]

Hi Klein👋

I’m a big fan of yours since you started your OM blog .Super happy to see you in WHB😊

So what request can I ask?

Oh how about this, MC who finds it intriguing that they have pacts with demons .(They are secretly a powerful sorcerer) So who knows if MC is the actually a threat to hell or the saviour 👀

Solomon said to break the pacts …..um sir these are 72 demons and you expect me not to take advantage of it

Oh and I am 24 btw

I want to shake your hands, Anon. If not for the fact that the devils will like MC more (as evident in the case of Satan and Zagan), I would have taken advantage of them 😈

Also I'm so happy to hear that you're a big fan of mine >3<

MC IS A POWERFUL SORCERER WHO WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CONTRACTS

Satan

Satan gonna make that face above when he realizes your true identity and after you said "Oh, I'm not going to break the contracts. It's more beneficial this way... Bla bla..."

Well, it's totally fine. After all, Satan is one of the seven kings of Hell with immense power, he doesn't have to have his contract broken to deal with the angels. Furthermore, this is Hell, and one can do whatever one desires, everyone has their freedom respected.

Though it would be a lie to say Satan doesn't get disappointed a little bit. He brought you to Hell in order to break the contracts, which can help devils regain their full powers against the angels. But you refuse to do that (for whatever selfish underlying motive you may have), and after what he has done for you by saving Minhyeok too.

The most serious problem is that the King of Wrath likes you so much but you are taking advantage of him and the contract he has signed from ancient time, this gonna give him more depression.

Mammon

You don't want to break the contract with him. Ok, that's fine. He has taken a liking of you. He doesn't want to have the contract broken anyway.

You are already a powerful sorcerer who can hold your ground against angels, and you are taking advantage of him through the contract. Fine by him.

Mammon loves it that you are using your contract for your own personal greed.

MC, you are the Master of the King of Greed who owns everything in the world, make sure to use him to the fullest to fulfill whatever desire you have.

Leviathan

He was right. You are a danger to Hell.

When Leviathan used whatever creature inside his coffin to pull you into it, you managed to escape with ease thanks to your immense magic capability. You even managed to land yourself in the ground in a spectacular way.

Levi is jealous. He doesn't like you being more spectacular than him. And he doesn't like to be defiled. He has decided, he will hang you and turn you into his new sex toy.

I guess your relationship has a bumpy start. Well, good luck!

Beelzebub

When you two first met, you didn't know who the tanned devil before you was.

Beelzebub only needed to sniff your armpit to recognize who you were.

Beelzebub is more interested in what purpose for which you are taking advantage of them, than the fact that you are a powerful sorcerer (not just him but all the kings have seen many powerful sorcerers in the past).

Your goal & your desire, the King of Gluttony wonders if they will turn into the darkest desire that devours all~ such a fine dish, he wants to devour it 😋

Lucifer

Lucifer does not possess omnipresence like Beelzebub, but he has his way of knowing what you are doing.

If you are the savior Satan and others have been waiting for, fine, do your job. But if you are a threat...

I wish you all the luck!

Hope you like it :3

[gartenofbanny]

So I watched Helluva Boss S2E6 "Oops" and let me tell you, it's better than Unhappy Campers, but it's also pretty mediocre too. So let's start off with the things I did like

Pros

Fizzarolli and Asmodeus's relationship

Fizzarolli and Ozzie's relationship is pretty adorable to look at, unlike Stolas and Blitzo's. They actually bounce off each other pretty well and are actually cute. Dick jokes aside.

I also like how Fizzarolli is sort of an advisor to Asmodeus's business related things, telling him what he needs to do for the day, and I also like how he tries to hide how other demons are starting to question whether or not their relationship is entirely lustful or actually romantic.

Asmodeus is very protective of Fizzarolli and respects whatever decision he makes. This is what Stolitz wants to be lmao.

Anyway, that's really the only thing I liked about this episode, now onto what I don't like

Cons

The intelligence of the characters

Most of the characters shown on screen are just dumb for the sake of moving the plot along.

Fizzarolli says he won't raise attention but then decides to raise attention in the Greed Ring where there are theives, bank robbers, and mob bosses.

Asmodeus, despite being one of the Seven Princes of Hell doesn't want to read a fucking contract. I get that he's impatient, but he's one of the Seven Princes and he's had to sign a contract AT LEAST ONCE in his centuries of living.

Striker and Crimson are just..they get distracted in a song where Fizzarolli is intentionally distracting them. I know Crimson is dumb as hell, but Striker and the rest of Crimson's mob? How am I supposed to take these antagonists seriously when they're stupid as hell?

Stolas

Stolas really had no reason being here since why isn't he in the hospital recovering from his injuries? How fast can demons regenerate if it has only been a week since Western Energy? That just removes even more tension even more for when certain characters take injuries because they can just heal from them at most a week later.

Stolas serves ZERO purpose to the plot. He barely does anything throughout this episode. Instead, he just gets all giddy at the sight of a stack of papers. He also says "get fucked little one" and I'm over here like YOU DID NOTHING SHUT UP.

In my opinion, they should've just let Asmodeus answer the phone call alone and read through the contract off-screen. Or have Asmodeus kill the lawyer and search for Fizzarolli while wandering around the Greed Ring.

The entire lawyer scene was pointless anyway because Asmodeus killed the lawyer in the end.

The Backstory

The backstory between Fizzarolli and Blitzo was...eh. I didn't really feel anything while watching the backstory because it was pretty predictable. While I was surprised that Blitzo admits that it was his fault (because when's the last time Blitzo took accountability)

I just could not feel sad for the life of me. And then, when Blitzo tries explaining, he's just interrupted. I'll get to the tonal shift of this episode later, but Blitzo says, "You have no idea what I lost in that fire". So Blitzo's mom died, and I'm wondering was Blitzo even aware that Fizzarolli was alive or not?

Because in Fizzarolli's perspective, Blitzo did see him but just ignored him. Not to mention, Blitzo somehow didn't acknowledge the fire when he bumped into Wally Wackford.

I'm damn sure Wally Wackford was screaming. Even then, Blitzo should've heard the flames go off, Blitzo should've seen the light of the fire in his peripheral vision, but he doesn't acknowledge it.

Blitzo's mom

Yeah, I'm counting this as a con. I don't feel bad that Tilla died because WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HER. She's the same as Moxxie's mom but with a name.

Are the mothers of male characters just supposed to fucking die? At least we got to see Moxxie's mom on screen. We never even saw Tilla in the first place aside from some fucking portraits.

Is this supposed to make me feel bad for Blitzo because he caused the fire, and I'm pretty sure Fizzarolli also had a good relationship with her, yet we never see his reaction to the death of Tilla either. Just Blitzo's and, to an extent, Barbie Wire's. Speaking of

Barbie Wire

Yeah, Barbie Wire wasn't really mentioned at all throughout this entire episode, not even in the flashback.

In the storyboard she did appear, but in the final version she just doesn't make an appearance for some reason. Vivziepop does not give a shit about their female characters

Fizzarolli forgiving Blitzo

Fizzarolli forgave Blitzo way too quickly in this episode. It doesn't make any sense that Fizzarolli forgave Blitzo, but Barbie Wire doesn't. Even though Barbie Wire has still been in contact with Blitzo.

Turns out Fizzarolli and Blitzo's hatred for each other was just a huge misunderstanding. Someone or something has prevented them from coming into contact with one another. They both keep saying, "But they told me" or "I never told them that" and who the hell is "they"? Just leaving out information for no reason at all.

Fizzarolli says, "It's hard to forgive you. It's been 15 years," but then he proceeds to forgive Blitzo near the end of the episode.

That's not how forgiveness works. Forgiveness takes time to go into effect it doesn't just happen when you hear a sob story.

Personally, I wouldn't have mind if FizArolli forgave Blitzo but not in the same episode where they're the main focused of an episode for the first time.

Convenient shit

Stuff just happens because it happens in this episode. Blitzo is at Greed because he wants breakfast and just so happens to meet Fizzarolli despite the fact that Crimson is still around.

Striker and Crimson coincidentally meet and are conveniently near Fizzarolli and Blitzo, allowing the two to get kidnapped.

A goon conveniently has anger issues and kills a large amount of his own crew allowing Blitzo and Fizz to escape

Striker and Fizzarolli are conveniently behind fucking gasoline WHY IS THERE PERFECTLY GOOD GASOLINE IN A DUMP?!

Fizzarolli's arms conveniently malfunction, so he can't escape the flames, so Blitzo has to save him.

It's just convenient stuff just so the plot can move along.

Tone issues

Can't be a Helluva Boss episode without tone issues. I don't feel like listing the examples because there are A LOT, but one major example I will put is Crimson blackmailing Asmodeus and at the end of it, one of his goons don't know how to hang up a phone or to stop a video.

This series can not have a serious scene if it saved its life.

Conclusion

I would comment on how Striker is just mischaracterized again through Blitzo calling him a supremacist or how the antagonists overall in this episode are dumb as hell. Or how this episode raises even more questions

But I believe those two deserve blogs by themselves. Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a nice day! ❤️

And I give this episode a 3.1/10

[schoenht]

↳ denny’s at 3 am

characters: octotrio.

genre: crack.

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

“Okay, you three, listen up.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Shrimpy, this is your last warning.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I dunno, IHOP?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hear me out--”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ten minutes and how many seconds?”

“One--”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jamil Viper, the manager of IHOP.

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

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

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

“Boss! It’s 3 am!”

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

[stereax]

I seek your wisdom, o wise one.

Exactly how screwed are the sharks, the flames, and the oilers?

You can't see me but I am RUBBING MY HANDS IN DELIGHT at this ask. Nothing I love more than talking about why teams suck. As always, meet you under the cut! 💜

(Also, sorry this took so long! Had to make a presentation on the Chinese Super League for sports diplomacy and it siphoned my will to live.)

Do I have you? Great! Okay. Let's go one by one.

CALGARY FLAMES: CANDLE IN THE WIND

I, for one, never got the hype behind the Flames. Every pundit in the entire NHL was saying "Oh, the Flames are going to have a massive bounceback year, last year was a down year for everyone!" And now look at them. 3-7-1 to start the season with a mere 7 points in 11 games.

Spoiler alert: Trading your best forward in points production to literal Satan for a single corn chip is not going to help you be competitive. Who'd'a thunk it?

In addition, there seems to be a major coaching problem. On theory, this team should be solid. Maybe not top of the league good, but solid enough to make a wildcard spot at least. But you watch the systems at play and they just don't work with the players. For instance, Huberdeau is an east-west player being forced to play a north-south system. He can't do what he does best, make plays, because the current north-south system simply won't allow it. Firing Sutter was supposed to fix this locker room. It only seems to have made the problems worse. Christ, Zadorov is apologizing to the fans because they're playing that shittily.

How screwed are they? Probably a solid 8/10. Markstrom seems to have bounced back, but the team in front of him has not, tanking his save percentage because the defense simply cannot defend. We're being treated to a classic Huberdeau and Kadri Disappearing Act (2-4-6 and -12; 1-4-5 and -12). Mangiapane and Andersson have both gotten suspensions already for no god damn reason. All extension talks (Lindholm and Hanifin chief among them) have been suspended. It's chillingly possible this team will have to sell big at the deadline to get any value out of their expiring UFAs - and then what? You've got a few good pieces (Cary, Sharangovich, Wolf) that can lead your retool, but you've also got anchor weights in massively underperforming contracts, like the aforementioned Huberdeau's, that come with no-move clauses and are just such bad deals that even if those clauses were waived, who'd take them?

EDMONTON OILERS: BULLS ON PARADE

I think if you told anyone in July that the Edmonton Oilers were going to start their season 2-7-1 in 10 games, you would be laughed out the door. And yet.

I do have to preface this by saying yes, McDavid was out for several games, and when you're without the best player in the NHL, it gets tougher to win games. But fuck, man. The Devils are now down BOTH their top six centers for the foreseeable future and yet they're still managing to win games. You know why? DEPTH SCORING. Something that the Oilers have not had since seemingly the 80s. If your game plan revolves so strongly around one guy, chances are you'll be fucked anyway if that guy goes down.

Also, Campbell cannot stop a beach ball in net. Skinner isn't much better. How much of this is the defense and how much is just the goalies sucking? Unclear, but it is NOT a good sign. Although the Oilers mostly work under "outscore your opponent before they outscore you", you want to be able to make SOME timely saves. Neither tendy is giving any hope recently.

And all this can ultimately be traced back to Ken Holland fucking this team over with contracts. Nurse did not deserve that much. Kane is questionable at best. Campbell? Christ. And then you have no cap room to sign actually decent bottom sixers and then wonder why they're getting shelled. Why is Sam Gagner, a random legacy Oiler on a league minimum contract, on your second line? Make it make sense!

The thing is - you CAN win if you have a few guys getting paid the big bucks. Just look at Vegas for an example of that. You CAN'T win if you have a few guys getting paid the big bucks and almost no depth beyond your top line where you stack McDavid and Draisaitl to try to get SOMETHING going. You can't doubleshift those two across the entire lineup. I know, it sucks.

SAN JOSE SHARKS: COLD WATER

How screwed are they? I'll give them a 6/10. We're seeing the "or bust" part of "cup or bust". Can they turn it around? They have McJesus. Anything is POSSIBLE when you have McJesus. But it's not looking pretty, at all. I bet they end up in the wildcard hunt, or close to it. Just enough to maybe make the playoffs but too exhausted to do anything else.

Remember, Draisaitl's contract is up after 24-25. McDavid, 25-26. Will they want to stay in this garbage fire? If one, or God forbid both, ask to be traded, this team better channel the early 2010s and tank hard.

And now we reach the ultimate lolcow. These guys STINK. 0-10-1 in 11 games. .045 points percentage. The only point they managed to get was because Blackwood stood on his motherfucking HEAD in game 2.

But then you have contracts like Hertl, Vlasic, and Couture, which you can't move and which will weigh down the franchise for years while it tries to rebuild. What are you going to do with them? How will you get rid of them?

What's the problem? More to the point: What isn't??? There's zero star power on the entire roster. The defense doesn't know how to defend and the offense can't score against a Shooter Tutor, much less an actual NHL goalie. The goalies... they're trying! I think! Give them credit. And Quinn's trying, maybe, to coach? But when do you kick his ass to the curb too, just to try to put some life back into that lineup? That is the world's deadliest team. It's like hockey is a punishment to them!

FanDuel is running bets on when they will finally win their first regular season game. That's how ass they are. I wish I were kidding.

On top of all this, the locker room seems like it's going up in flames. Remember the Nucks' 10-1 beating of the Sharks? Kahkonen, the Sharks' tendy, got injured after the sixth goal, when Kuzmenko ran into him. Kuzmenko and the Canucks made sure Kahkonen was alright and that it wasn't a major injury. The Sharks? They just went back to the bench!

This unironically is probably the worst team in my lifetime, and maybe for decades before I was born too. They're just so BAD. There's no redeeming reason to watch Sharks games at all except to laugh at the Sharks as they get 10 goals dumped on them.

How screwed are they? 10/10*. I'm sorry, but fucking Zetterlund is leading your team in goals. ZETTERLUND. I cannot name ONE player on that roster who I would send to an All-Star Game. Maybe Blackwood, if he doesn't crumble into fucking dust first. And knowing how injury prone he is, he just might.

But this is a 10/10 with an asterisk. And here's why: * They WANT to be bad. The worse they do this year, the better their chances for Celebrini or whoever is the first overall. That's the idea of the Shark Tank. And if that's the goal, it's being executed perfectly.

There you go, anon! Hope this helps! If you have any more questions, feel free to drop into my inbox! 💜

[jiliansky-blog]

I will find my way back to you. Last chapter. The engagement

Pairing: Morpheus x FemaleReader

Rating: PG

Words: 940

The next morning, you found that Morpheus didn’t sleep and was watching you sleeping.

“Did you sleep at all?” you asked.

“Yes,” he said. “A little bit. I don’t need to sleep.”

“I should know,” you smiled. “So are we as good as a married couple now?”

“In Romanian law, yes,” he replied. “But we can still can have a ceremony here or in the Dreaming, if you want.”

“I want everything,” you said.

“So insatiable,” he smirked. “How do you feel?”

“I feel happy for the first time in weeks,” you said. “I love you.”

“I love you too, beloved,” he said, petting my hair. “I didn’t have the chance to apologize for pushing you away. I’m sorry, I tried to do the right thing.”

“I know,” you said. “But it hurts when you do it.”

“I won’t hurt you again,” he said.

“You better not!” you smirked.

After that, Nuala interrupted you and invited both of you to breakfast before the engagement. So you should get up.

“Welcome to the engagement feast,” said Cluracane, when you came.

“I thought it was yesterday,” you replied.

“It was interrupted,” he said. “So now we can do everything properly.”

“We want to engage in the Dreaming, actually,” you said, understanding that Morpheus would prefer that.

“You are breaking my heart,” said fairy. “At least we need to sign the contract about our friendship. Don’t worry, I won’t bother you after that.”

“Very well,” Morpheus replied. “Let’s finish it.”

Cluracane brought the paper, and you read it carefully. And only after that did you sign it, and Morpheus signed it too.

“Hope, we won’t see you soon,” you said, and let Morpheus bring you to the Dreaming.

“My lord!” Lucienne met both of you with relief. “And Y\N.”

“Am I queen consort now?” you asked with a smile, seeing how Lucienne was looking at you. “We went through a Romanian bridal ritual.”

“I see,” she said. “So do you remember everything and feel?”

“I do know,” you replied. “Also, something happened. For example, Queen Titania was killed.”

“Goodness, by you?” She was really surprised now.

“No, it’s a long story,” you replied. “But the small version is that Cluracane overplayed his queen. He wants me to kill her.”

“But Y\N is still too kind for this,” Morpheus admitted.

“Yeah, I was too angry, but I just wanted to give her a lesson,” you said. “Anyway, Cluracane wanted alliances between realms too and insisted on engagement. So now we are here to make it.”

“I see,” she said. “I am going to prepare everything.”

 She smiled softly and went away to make arrangements. You looked at Morpheus, who was deep in thought again.

“What are you thinking about?” you asked.

“What are you going to do with your mortal life?” he asked in return.

“I need to go back so my family and friends won’t start to panic about my absence”, you replied. “I still want to be there. But I want to be here as well.”

“You are always welcome here,” he smiled. “For as long as you want.”

“You are so cute.” You smiled and kissed him. “I couldn’t imagine that a man like you could fall in love with someone like me.”

“You are wonderful,” he said. “And I’m not perfect.”

“You are perfect for me,” you smiled.

“And I’m not a man,” he said.

“I think that’s the secret,” you smiled. “You look at me differently than others, and I’m grateful for that, love.”

“You looked at me first,” he smiled.

“Do you mean that time when you appeared in my dream?” you smirked.

“You are right,” he said. “Perhaps, it was a destiny that brought me to you. I need to say thank you, my brother.”

“And send him my regards as well,” you smiled and kissed him again.

You engaged on the next day. You were dressed in a beautiful white long dress with a little bit of green. And Morpheus of course was dressed in black. His hair though was a little less messy.

“You look stunning,” you smiled.

“And you are bewitching,” he smiled back.

“I knew it worth the risk,” you admitted.

“You were beautiful when you were human too,” he said.

“Well, the wedding, and you are worth the risk too,” you smiled.

“But I hope you won’t be risk anymore,” he said.

The ceremony was beautiful and fast. And even a few of Morpheus’s siblings came to the Dreaming. Especially Death.

“I am so glad for both of you,” she smiled. “Fairy beauty is looking good on you.”

“Thank you,” you smiled. “I’m glad to meet his favorite sister.”

“Oh, it’s good to know that he has a favorite sister,” she smiled. “I’m glad he is not alone anymore. And a little bit less stubborn.”

He rolled his eyes, but with a smile. And you wanted to tease him too.

“I don’t know, it’s still in progress,” you said. “He broke my heart and only came when he knew that I can be in danger.”

“And I am endlessly sorry for that,” he sighed.

“Alright, I’ll leave you two alone,” Death smiled. “See you in the future.”

And she disappeared. After talking to some other guests, you decided to hide in the palace and wait for Morpheus there. And he understood you.

“Are you tired?” he asked.

“I just to be alone with you,” you admitted.

“And what do you want to do?” he smirked.

“Oh, just to kiss you forever,” you hugged me.

“That I can give you,” he whispered before kissing you.

You can deal with your real life later. Right now, all you want is to enjoy the love you found and your new eternal life.

@shadowqueen1318 @mypsychoticlove @justathirstyhoe​ @ladymoztaza @sapphireonline @deniixlovezelda

[lana0120]

A bittersweet evening

Fem!reader X Alhaitham

Genre : angst/fluff

Warnings : mentions of aphrodisiac/kind of bullying

Today was a really tiring day you felt so exhausted from the overwork, but you had one more commision to finish you had to do a food delivery. you didn't know why would someone commission such a thing but you just went with it.

when you arrived you saw a lady she was dressed in a fancy strapless bandeau mini red dress which was hugging her body and her hair was styled in a bun with bunch of hair accessories on it, she looked at you up and down and started laughing you were confused at her actions but either way you asked

"excuse me are you miss kat?"

She looked at you with an annoyed expression

"it's Katy not kat. And pleasure to see you too I am Katy a very dear friend of Alhaitham~ katy Dawson sounds familiar?"

she has a mischievous grin, and it all suddenly hit you she was Alhaitham's ex girlfriend that his parents forced him to date no wonder you got such a weird request she just wanted to make fun of you, you felt so pissed so you walked two steps closer to her

"Miss I'm only here to deliver your food not to chitchat"

as you handed her the delivery and wanted to leave she tried to push, you pushed her hand away as self defence and she fell with all the food Spilled on her, you almost giggled at her state but suddenly you heard an unexpected voice it was your lover's voice he came running and the moment that lady saw him she switched up

"oh Alhaitham your he-"

as you were about to wave at him that lady cried out

"OH HAITHAM YOU'RE FINALLY BACK as I was sitting here waiting for you this disrespectful lady came up to me and threw all the food on me I can't express how terrified I was thankfully you're here~"

she said as she eyed you Alhaitham ran to help her up and clean her dress you felt so disgusted as if you were about to threw up then he ran up to you and held you by your shoulders

"[NAME]I know doing commissions might be tiring but you didn't have to go that far although she is my ex this women is a family friend "

you stood there with a confused expression

"huh...no no don't tell me you actually believed he-" he cut you off and removed his hands away "[NAME] doing this won't fix the situation please go apologise"

you frowned at his words

"what?! no I won't I haven't done anything to apologise for in fact she is the one supposed to apologise she almost-"

and just when you were about to finish talking the women jumped out of her seat and yelled

"AHEM I am not gonna sign up to this business contract anymore not until I hear a 'sorry'from a certain someone....but oh well you'll find me in the club if you want to give a proper apology I might change my mind"

the last sentence was whispered in Haitham's ear but it was loud enough for you to hear you felt really bad and disgusted you couldn't believe what have just happened you were deep In your thoughts then suddenly Alhaitham spoke *sight*

"I have no choice but to go and apologise for what you've done, you go home first I'll come back later"

You were speechless but you didn't want to explain anymore since he wouldn't believe you anyway.

~

You were laying on bed pillow wet with tears and you couldn't fall asleep so you turned on the lights and decided to read a book you finished all your books so all you had was one of Alhaitham's books you started reading it then you heard the lock of the door you closed the book and turned off the lights quickly but when Alhaitham came in you smelled a very strange smell on him he was heavily breathing too when you got up you saw him sweating and breathing fast then he sat next to you struggling to speak

"love look at me love please that disgusting woman made me drink an aphrodisiac t-thankfully I noticed before d-drinking the whole thing and left she tricked me and I believed her w-words I'm r-eally sorry I ugh am a j-jerk I'm a moron you can hit me if you want.."

tears fell off your eyes as he spoke you knew he wouldn't do anything bad but tears couldn't help but fall from your eyes as a stinging sensation built up in your chest

"no no don't cry dear I would rather die than see your tears please don't cry"

he said as he was wiping the tears out of your face with his thumb, you went to the kitchen and brought some water and a calmer(medicine? idk 😔) then came back and gave it to him then you both layed down and cuddled he was still apologizing and asking if you wanted to hit him but all you done was chuckle as you said quietly

"you better treat me to dinner later for this"

he giggles voice raspy from the medicine

"anything for you darling just say the word"

That was the last thing he said before holding you tightly against him and falling asleep~

Note

I hope this was good and I hope you like it please request if you wanted me to write a fanfic of any character!

Have a lovely day <3

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

[Defense] Lawyer Yuu because I actually just started watching people play Ace Attorney myself and I am recently refreshed! Yuu is ambiguous on age but is hinted to be about Phoenix's starting age (20/21), because a lawyer would be an adult out of school... and that's Ace Attorney logic, a young lawyer...

Swapping between third and second person because I'm speed typing, but Yuu is still Yuu.

Yuu can not believe he was getting shaken around by a bunch of children! Not only had he been dragged into an alternate reality full of magic and fire breathing cats, but he was brought back to school! Night Raven College... when he heard the word college, he almost froze from shock and bewilderment.

How unlucky, especially with his student debts still going in his past world. He was determined to leave in the beginning, and Crowley was all too quick to agree, because of his general age difference with all the student body. Because of reasons unknown, and all identification except his Attorneys Badge taken from him, Yuu was forced to settle... for going back to college...

Thankfully, seeing Leona in the last situation with your gaggle of fellow students put you in a better mood. At least someone else was also your age, making this less awkward.

But you were unthankful for a specific gaggle of students that had attached themselves to you on the first day, breaking a chandelier. You could have flashed your badge, but you knew Crowley had all the power over your no ID person. Riddle had been much easier to deal with as the student held respect for you getting into Law School, and was conflicted when you basically called out his abuse of power and how these students could probably file harassment charges.

Well, that was until you realized you still had no proper ID, so all trials would be trials with Crowley as a judge... no thank you...

Oh, Chapter 3 is going to be hell, especially as this is what you trained for! If you had your ID and anyway to call the police, you could have a trial to put Azul at least in juvenile detention. But you don't. You have to constantly remind yourself that your barely able to do much at all, barely able to go to gym class because it's just you running laps while everyone flies. And so, watching a slimy 16 year old hold over 250 students hostage as you start to sign over your temporary living arrangements...

You pause before you actually sign. "Wait. May I have a magnifying glass? Before you get offended: I'm just making sure that there's no fine print. Also, I'll be drawing a line at the bottom so you can't update the contract. I've had that happen three times on autopsy's in the span of months."

Azul and Jade, curious as they are about laws unironically, hand you a sea glass magnifying lens shaped like a shell. For now, it's all you can do.

... Gosh, do you miss the Prosection... at least with him, your not wondering if the next student will stab you. Or anger Grim. Or vandalize your items. Or Overblot...

IM FOAMING ATBTHE MOUTH WITH THIS. TY SO MUCH.

ALSO imagine how Riddle is since he wants you be a lawyer. He's just so excited to ask questions and Yuus like "I had to interview a fucking parrot."

[holdmyhopeinyourhands]

Makhy ive wanted to ask since like. Last week sometime. What the fuck is happening at psg? I saw some posts but i dont get it, soooo if you have time, dish the tea and the drama? (i am always on the lookout for drama). Hugging you sosososo much 💖💖💖💖💖

Hey baaaaabe. Okay so this is going to be long so hang with me.

A season ago, we weren't that great but overall psg was doing fine. They got along like they used to (not perfectly because there were frictions starting due to contract extentions etc but it was ok). Then Messi joined the team after Hakimi and then Ramos and things started to go a little south. Neymar and Messi became attached at the hip. Mbappe and Hakimi became attached at the hip and neymar and mbappe had some falling out. It wasn't huge. They still hung out and had fun but there was tention. Rumours were mbappe wanted neymar sold since he wanted to be the man of psg (mbappe signed 3 year extention with the club when everyone assumed he would leave and the team bosses promised him allegedly the veto power over who the club would sign). Anyways, neymar and messi weren't playing well and mbappe hard carried psg for a whole season until the manager was fired and a new one was hired. Ever since then, things have really gone down hill. The club is divided in half. Mbappe and neymar no longer hangout (neymar didn't even post anything about Kylian after he lost the final which is so strange because only a year ago mbappe was his golden boy and baby brother he could not shut up about him) and messi and mbappe have some tension even though they all on the outside still seem to have respect for each other, I don't think that's gone yet. And our captain marquinhos is losing confidence because of a couple of mistakes and people are calling for Ramos (real madrid former captain who now plays for psg) to take the captain armband from him which is making og psg fans pissed because marquinhos is loyal and has been here since 2013. There is also the issue with our goalkeepers as we signed Donnarumma the italian young goalkeeper because he was super talented and young and available but our number 1 keeper keylor is still at the club (the one that got us to our first champions league final with his skills) and the club has practically thrown him to the side. Now Messi has won the world cup, mbappe has lost (the whole argentinian team celebrating by mocking kylian --- which to be fair france also celebrated their win with a song about kante pocketing messi but back then neither were teammates) and all these players who've had so much tention between them this season are going back to play together in order to win the champions league because they all play for the same club. I don't think there is a hatred between any of them and some of these rumours might be false (God knows psg rumours ought to be taken with a grain of salt) but the fraction is there (6 years of friendship doesn't just turn into neutral "hellos" for no reason) and I'm worried this will effect our season. Mbappe is the best player at the club and the one who carried us last season so I hope things don't escalate to the point were he wants to leave because that would be upsetting and likely turn the fans against the club because it's mbappe and we don't want to lose him. I really hope this team for once in their lives find a way to be mature about this and get along. They were all friends before. I hope they find a way back to that because on the pitch this season, they've played really well together. And the new manager Galtier is doing wonders with them so praying for the best.

Hope that makes sense.

[adrianasunderworld]

In chapter 3, I wonder how the Disney princesses would agree in the deal of the ramshackle dorm since there are more members than just yuu and Grimm. I can figure they feel bad for Ace, Deuce, Grimm, and on the others on the deal that they have to help. Also there's also the issue on where they are staying like it is not like everyone will go to savanaclaw unless the princesses split to other dorms but Octavinelle like Alice in Heartslabyul. It will be hilarious to think of this scenario...

Floyd: No fair, why does little mermaid get to be around Sea Lion instead of me around?

Ariel: I am mad on what you guys did to this poor students. All of them don't deserve this fate.

Azul: Then they should have know when reading the fine print.

Obvious Ariel is the main POV but I also figure Tiana as the second since she has to do with Dr. Facilier and deals which makes Azul have this kind of romantic tension. I figure Ariel might recognize her father in the museum and made her questioned herself about the world.

And after overblot battle, Ariel and Tiana will feel bad of Azul about how he used to be when he was young which made them try to help him be a better person.

My first thought is maybe the dorm doesn't get put up as collateral, at least not right away.

The book starts as it originally does. It's final exams, Grim, Ace, and Deuce seem very confident in how they did. Now where it diverges is, maybe Crowley uses his "It's so expensive to take care of the dorm" thing to get Elsa and Tiana to hep him with something minor since theyre the dorm heads, Ariel over hears it all. It's no secret that Ariel is an excellent singer, so not long after that, Jade and Floyd approach her and say she would perfect for a job. Ariel, seeing this as a chance to contribute financially to Ramshackle, goes with them to Octavinelle. Where Azul cuts her a deal: If Ariel agrees to be Mostro Lounges lounge singer, she will be payed very well, but she cannot sing anywhere else. Mostro has exclusive rights to her singing until she graduates. Ariel, not wanting Tiana, Elsa, or anyone else to stress about necessities like food expenses, signs the contract.

Afterwards, The test results come out, we find out about anemone thing, and once again Crowley shows up and wants Tiana to try and fix this, since in his mind, they're both business minded, maybe they can strike a deal. When Crowley brings up the food expenses, Ariel pipes up that that the headmage would not need to worry, and after Crowley asks what she means by that, her only reply is that she got a job to help out, so Crowley can't use their food expenses over them anymore. After Crowley leaves, Tiana looks at her and goes, "Ariel, what sort of job did you take?"

After a thorough scolding from Tiana, and now that Crowley has to go back to the drawing board, That's when all the other girls realize Ariel hasn't been singing anymore and the true gravity of what being the lounge singer entails. Cut to after the whole ordeal after the test results comes in and we see the contracts can't be broken, after Jack and Tiana leave, Ariel is furious at Azul for doing all this, to which Azul reminds her that she doesn't have to like it, because she can't leave anyway. If Ariel quits, her voice in it's entirety is forfeit.

Ariel tearfully tells the others everything. That she just wanted to help, She swore she didn't know about the study guide plan, and how miserable she is now that she's signed over her voice. Everyone agrees that they have to do something not only for Ariel, but for Grim and the others, no matter the cost. Tiana and Elsa as the prefects of Ramshackle, along with Jack and Mulan for backup in case, go to Mostro Lounge to see what can be done.

That's when Azul strikes the one time offer: He will release the students and Ariel from their contracts if they can get the picture at the museum, with Ramshackle dorm as collateral. This is a one time deal, it's now or never, and not knowing what else to do, Tiana and Elsa make the deal, with the caveat that the others get to stay in Ramshackle for the three days, and they will go.

Everyone is obviously upset at this turn of events when they return to the dorm. Not knowing what else to do, Jack offer for Tiana, Ariel, and Elsa to stay at Savannaclaw.

Ariel feels so guilty and used this whole time, she feels like this is all her fault even though she was trying to help, to which Leona says that there's no sense in feeling sorry for herself and all about how she's going to fix it.

When Ariel isn't at work, she goes with Tiana and Jack to the sea, while Elsa stays behind to make sure the others are ok and sorting out where they'll go if the worse comes. They obviously have trouble because of the tweels interference, and pretty much everything plays out in the book more or less. They get Leona to help break the contracts once they figure it out, and Ariel, being an actual mermaid (In this au she's learned she gets her tail back when submerged in water like the tweels can) and has evaded plenty of dangerous creatures back home, is able to sneak into t he museum, snag the photo, and get out. All the while Leona is watching Azul have a breakdown after his contracts get dusted.

Tiana and Ariel get back to Octavinelle in time for the Overblot. They deal with it, they learn Azuls backstory and do feel bad for him, and the book wraps up with them returning the picture to the museum, to which Ariel is very confused at all the stuff about her family in there, but maybe keeps it to herself for a dramatic reveal later. Maybe Ariel continues to sing a Mostro, but as a regular employee, with no one but herself having rights to her voice.

[girlhorse]

sorry to bother you, but you made a post talking about signs of GI issues in dogs and was wondering if you could tell me what helped you recognize that enzo has GI problems? it’s something i’m worried about my own dog struggling with, but i have 0 clue what to look for. don’t feel obligated to answer this!

well, first was at 6 months, i noticed Enzo started coughing after he drank, about every other time he drank. It was at first not something i thought much about before it became more consistent. My first vet suggested it could be collapsing trachea (literally only bc hes a toy breed) and said not to worry about it. I saw another vet at that practice, and since i was worried about it i asked her opinion. She said it was possible that it was GERD, and that we could try an antacid eventually to see if it would help.

Other symptoms that I figured were just puppy stuff (and may hve just been puppy stuff!): very rare vomitting of bile in the AM, being a picky eater particularly in the morning, and the very rare soft poop. A lot of these can be explained by pupoy stuff, puppies are notorious for "garbage gut" (eating nonfood items that makes them sick), and sometimes just have sensitive tummies. bilous vomitting in the morning isnt particularly unheard of in healthy dogs or in puppies, sometimes having an empty stomach can make dogs feel nauseous and throw up, but this is more common in dogs with gerd/acid reflux.

one other less common symptom is halitosis aka bad breath. especially if it smells foul, like puke. Puke smell would mean reflux. Other bad smells can be dental issues related to reflux or some dysbiosis in the gut.

GERD tends to get worse overnight, mostly because of how gravity is acting on the stomach. It's easier for stomach acid to travel up the esophagus when the dog is laying down.

Things got worse when he contracted giardia in March. After treatment, his symptoms were better but did not completely resolve. He still had softer stools and I was pretty much washing his butt every day. He also continued to show reflux signs - at this point coughing every single time he drank, and starting to show intermittent (but short) gulping episodes.

video of a gulping episode from today, which is basically just what dogs sometimes do when they feel stomach acid traveling up their esophagus:

These were new, but i was aware of what they were bc of my anxiety induced research spirals from before I knew what his cough was

He also was having bile vomit episodes a little more frequently, though not in a super concerning amount at first.

My vet prescribed a diff diet for Enzo after 2 weeks of no improvement post treatment, even though the fecal tests were negative. This diet worked amazing at first and had his stool firm immediately, I was impressed!

But shortly after, like a week later, he made himself sick by eating cat poop (my current theory) and he was having trouble holding food down for a couple of days. We dosed cerenia and he was fine for a couple days but continued ti have issues with bile vomitting that week. And about a week after he was feeling better, he had an episode of passing bloody stool.

Basically at that point we started screening him for IBD, since a lot of other issues were ruled out. So far nothing has come back conclusive. but before this week, he was doing great with the diet trial of hydrolized food and an added probiotic.

His symptom flared, i ASSUME, because I fed him a bit of chicken. His flare started with increase in coughing (which had gone away!) and progressed to soft stool and eventual reflux episodes especially directly following meals.

i hope this helped. every single dog presents GI issues differently. If you tell me what specifically is concerning you i might be able to help better but i am not a vet, just someone who researches a ton when shes anxious lol

anyway. gi issues suck!

[coffeeandfaeries]

The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle - A book review

L. J. Smith

I have once again read this book in one sitting. I am for some reason REALLY into this series. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. But then again, I was obsessed with TVD (the show) as a teen so it makes sense. But the books somehow have more likable characters. Don’t get me wrong I think the cast did an amazing job, but I wish they didn’t change some characters, Elena and Bonnie in particular.

Even though Bonnie in the books can be a bit annoying because she’s often way too nice, I like her better than the TV Show version of her. I feel like Bonnie in the show was often rude and stubborn. I can understand why they changed Elena, to a certain extent. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted the main character to be a bit more “palatable”, but instead they made her into this whiny, useless character. If I recall correctly, Rebekah actually points that out. Although, Elena on the show was unbelievably self-centered. I don’t know a lot of people who genuinely liked her character.

I do have to warn you, I will be comparing the books to the show pretty often. I’m also team Stefan. Well, in the books at least. I definitely preferred Damon on the show. So if that bothers you, you probably shouldn’t waste your time reading thirteen reviews.

Yes. I’ve decided to finish this series. Even though L. J. Smith got fired after writing seven books. She wrote books 1-7, then an anonymous ghost writer wrote books 8-10, and Aubrey Clark wrote the last 3 books. L. J. Smith was hired to write The Vampire Diaries, unfortunately she didn’t realize what contract she was signing. If I recall correctly, she didn’t understand what “work for hire” meant. So, while the books were copyrighted to her, she didn’t actually own the books, she couldn’t publish anything without the approval of Alloy Entertainment. She wanted Elena to end up with Damon, Alloy didn’t. So they fired her and got somebody else to write the books. While I don’t like Damon personally, at least so far, maybe she’ll give him a redemption arc, I can’t imagine how horrible it would feel to spend years working on a book series just for that to be taken away. All because someone didn’t like my story.

Anyway, time to start talking about this book. Four hundred words into the review and I’m finally starting to talk about the actual book.

As we remember from the previous book, Elena is shouting Damon’s name trying to get his attention. One thing I gotta say is I do respect Elena’s cockiness, like nothing says teenager in love than acting like you have nine lives. She’s threatening Damon, acting like she could overpower him in any way. Ma’am, he could kill you before you even have the time to react.

Damon is still trying to win her over, he’s comparing her to Katherine. Saying she’s already powerful even as a human and how she would be unstoppable if she was a vampire. Honestly, I do agree with him. Vampire Elena would be amazing. I’m pretty sure Elena will become a vampire pretty soon. I know she didn’t become a vampire in the show until the fourth season. I wonder if she’d be more excited to be a vampire in the book. Another thing that hasn’t been discussed in the books yet is the “switch” vampires in the show have. For those who don’t know, vampires have some sort of switch in their head that, when flipped, turns off their empathy and emotions in general. Essentially turns them into a monster. However, I have noticed that vampires in the book have slightly different powers, like being able to turn into an animal and control the weather. So there is a pretty good chance the “switch” doesn’t exist in the books. If that’s the case then I have no idea how Damon is going to get a redemption arc. Especially since he was a bad person even before he became a vampire.

While Damon was trying to talk her into leaving Stefan and joining him he said this: You’re the girl who has everything else, but there’s always been something just out of your reach, something you need desperately, but can’t have. So… She’s just spoiled? Damn, first world problems. All jokes aside, he’s not wrong. Nothing ever satisfies Elena, she said so herself. The moment she gets something, or someone, she is already bored of it. The only reason she wanted Stefan so badly was because he wasn’t paying attention to her. For the first time in her life she didn’t immediately get something she wanted. I feel like the fact everything is so easy for her is partially the reason she always wants more. She’s never had to work for anything, it always just falls into her lap.

Also, throughout this entire encounter, and a couple of times in the past, Damon has been trying to use his powers to compel her, but it’s not working. She’s successfully resisted them almost every time. I know that she hasn’t been drinking vervain and doesn’t have it on her anywhere. So how is she doing this? It wasn’t explained in this book, but I think she is just strong-willed. I don’t think there’s anything more to it, but I did find it interesting nonetheless.

This book came out in 1991, A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire came out in 1996. Therefore Winter is coming is originally from TVD. G. R. R. Martin apparently was inspired by 15th century Scotland. So I like to think that Damon met the characters from GoT and they decided to steal the phrase from him. Or perhaps G. R. R. Martin is a big fan of the vampire diaries and just really wanted to use the phrase in one of his books.

Damon told Elena that she should give up and join her because Stefan is dead anyway To which she said: If Stefan was dead, she would know. How? Literally how. Did I miss the chapter in which Elena discovered her psychic gifts?

Elena starts running, looking for Stefan. But then she stops, lays down on the ground, covered in snow and says she has no reason to look for Stefan because Stefan will look for her. She falls asleep and Meredith and Bonnie find her, passed out, covered with snow. They take her home, Elena is still in a delirious state, saying she needs to go back and look for Stefan. Understandably, Aunt Judith, Robert (her fiancé), Meredith and Bonnie are against it, and decide they need to stay with her to make sure she doesn’t try to run away in the middle of the night.

But Elena is relentless, she is not going to give up on Stefan. So she asks Bonnie to use her abilities to find Stefan. Bonnie lights a candle and tells Elena and Meredith to focus on Stefan and not say anything, no matter what. Bonnie was channeling Stefan, he’s in water, it’s cold and he’s thirsty and tired. At one point Bonnie says Stefan feels like he should just end his life. And, of course, Elena screams No, breaking the one and only rule Bonnie had. Bonnie is willing to put her life out on a line for Elena, who doesn’t care about anyone other than Stefan.

Then a voice starts speaking through Bonnie, saying to stay away from the Wickery Bridge. The girls assume this is Stefan speaking through her and drive straight to the graveyard. Idiots. How have they not noticed by now that whenever Bonnie channels a message it’s never a positive one and something bad happens every time?

They go to the bridge and Bonnie just feels like something is off. We also find out that Matt followed them, because he knew Elena wouldn’t be able to give up. Honestly, Matt is such a sweetheart I really like him. Sure, he’s a bit of a simp and Elena doesn’t deserve him, but he’s just adorable. Call me boring, but I’d take a guy like Matt over a Stefan or a Damon any day.

Bonnie tells Matt what she saw, he doesn’t really believe her but he helps them find Stefan anyway. He realizes it sounds like he is in a well and drives them to the abandoned well on an abandoned farm. They find Stefan in there, and he looks ROUGH. They take him home insisting he goes to a hospital. Obviously taking a vampire to a hospital would raise some eyebrows so Elena and Stefan are against it. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith keep insisting so Elena compromises. She tells them to go get Bonnie’s sister Mary, who is a nurse, and if Mary says he needs a doctor they’ll take him. This gives Elena the time (and privacy) to give Stefan some of her blood, not a lot, but enough to recover.

I just would like to add one of my favorite quotes from the book, just straight up copy-paste this from my notes. Any additional commentary is unnecessary.

Maybe you think I’m terrible for loving him, considering what he is. He can be violent, and I know there are some things in his past that he’s ashamed of. But he could never be violent toward me, and the past is over. He has so much guilt and he hurts so much inside. I want to heal him. Ok Bob the Builder.

They go back to school and there’s a new European History teacher. Alaric K. Saltzmann, and he is way too friendly. Immediately he’s like “Yeah, let’s all sit in a circle, talk about our feelings, yadda yadda yadda”. He asks Bonnie about the night when she found Mr. Tanner’s body, and, understandably, she gets very upset while talking and starts sobbing. He apologizes and invites them over to his house. Then says attendance makes up for 50% of the final grade. Yeah, totally not creepy. Imagine your child coming home and telling you that they have to go to a teacher’s house that night or they’ll fail history. I’d be calling the cops on the spot.

I assume that because Alaric is a vampire hunter in the show he will be a vampire hunter in the books too. So the only non-creepy reason I can find for a grown ass man to invite a bunch of students to his home, is to check if any of them are vampires. But, uh, spoiler alert, no that didn’t happen. We didn’t really even get to see Alaric during the house party scene.

But anyway, we’re not even there yet, there’s one more thing that happened while they were in school that I just have to talk about. I have no idea if this is a US thing, or a 90s-00s thing, or, most likely, a media thing, but do people actually care about being popular in High School? Maybe I don’t get it because I wasn’t popular in High School, but I can’t understand breaking up with your partner because they’re not “cool” enough and are “ruining your reputation”. You’re a senior, chances are, you are never going to see the other students again after you leave for college. So who cares? Sure you’re not gonna be popular, but you still have friends? Like this quote in particular: It might be better if we didn’t see each other for a while. If they think we’re not together, they’ll leave you alone. Fam, you’re a 500 year old vampire, how do you still have the mentality of a child. I can understand breaking up with someone because they are a suspected murderer, but you know he isn’t. You have met the killer. To be fair, it’s not even Elena’s idea. Stefan is concerned about her public image more so than her.

I know that Stefan was just trying to be considerate because he didn’t want Elena to “suffer” because of him. But Elena wasn’t even being bullied, people were just a bit awkward around her because they think she’s dating a killer. I don’t necessarily blame them, and I do know that we, people in general I mean, love drama and making a big deal out of everything.

Elena‘s aunt Judith really doesn’t like Stefan, and I get it, I wouldn’t want my niece dating a guy who I believe is a killer either. But then again, the cops talked to him and he’s been cleared of all accusations. Also, aunt Judith is referred to as an “older woman”. How old is she exactly? I thought she was in her early 30s. According to the TVD wiki she’s middle aged, older than aunt Jenna in the show. So I’m guessing mid to late 40s?

On top of the issues Elena has with Damon and aunt Judith, Stefan has been acting like an idiot too. He’s extremely weak, weaker than ever and he’s refusing to drink from Elena. Your brother is on the loose, harassing your girlfriend and her friends, and murdering everyone else. If I were you I’d take any blood I can get, especially if it’s gonna help me protect my loved ones, or you know, not get murdered. It doesn’t even matter that Elena’s been keeping Damon’s visits a secret from Stefan, he still knows Damon is in Fell’s Church.

Stefan’s main concern is not being able to stop once he starts drinking from her. So why let him drink straight from the source? When you donate blood you give about 500ml (17oz). Which means she could easily give him a bottle of her blood. Like don’t let him drink straight from you, just fill a cup or something. Problem solved. Author’s need to start writing me as a character in all of their books, I would make the character’s lives so much easier.

Finally, we get to Alaric’s house party. Again, a really weird move from a teacher, but okay. Everyone is pretty awkward around Elena and Stefan, except for Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt, of course. They talk about how strange it was that he had planned a party, but made it look spontaneous. I’m glad they realize this is strange. Elena then goes to get a snack and oh my, who would’ve guessed it! She runs into Damon. Damon immediately starts acting like a weirdo, taking a bite out of some garlic bread Elena had in her mouth, almost kissing her. Stefan gets all cocky trying to threaten Damon. Stefan, sweetie, a child could beat you up now, stay in your lane. Elena drags Stefan out, but on their way out someone slips a piece of paper into Elena’s purse.

It’s a piece of paper from Elena’s diary, and it reads: I want to touch him. More than any boy I’ve ever known. And I know he wants it, too, but he’s holding back on me. I mean yeah that’s pretty personal, but a teenager being attracted to their boyfriend isn’t exactly weird. A bit embarrassing, maybe, but like this isn’t really a good threat. Why this part in particular? Especially since Stefan is dating her, if they weren’t together and the word that Elena was thirsting over a random classmate came out it would be embarrassing. But I’m pretty sure Stefan already knows Elena’s into him.

It’s pretty obvious now that Caroline has the diary. I thought at first that Damon had it, that he was gonna change her diary entries and make it seem like she actually hates Stefan. Then let Stefan “find” the diary and read it. But uh, that doesn’t sound like something Damon would do, it’s kinda childish.

Once Stefan and Elena get home (Stefan’s home) we get a bit of an info-dump, which I don’t necessarily mind because it was all in dialogue. If your boyfriend was a vampire you’d probably have some questions too, so him talking about vampire lore for an hour wouldn’t really be unnatural. The reason I’m mentioning this is because this is the first time vervain was mentioned in the books. It protects humans from succumbing to vampire’s powers.

The next day they find another note, tacked to the office bulletin board. It said: I feel as if someone has hurt him terribly in the past and he’s never gotten over it. But I also think there’s something he’s afraid of, some secret he’s afraid I’ll find out. Seriously, why are these parts of her diary chosen? Again, this is a pretty normal thing to say “Someone hurt my partner in the past, I wonder what happened”. My assumption is that it’s Caroline taunting her. The notes aren’t meant to be humiliating, they’re just supposed to make Elena realize someone has her diary and is planning on using it against her.

I think Vickie turned. Or perhaps she’s being controled by Damon. Nobody has seen her since the night she was attacked. Now she’s back in school, in the middle of the cafeteria, taking her clothes off. She also keeps freaking out whenever she sees Elena and says: You’re the one of them! I saw you! You’re evil! Is Katherine back? Was the gentle girl just a persona she put on?

After the whole Vickie fiasco, Elena tells Bonnie and Meredith to stay away from Damon, and to not invite him in under any circumstance. Bonnie tells Elena she kissed Damon, because of course she did. Then she says the weirdest, yet somehow the most Bonnie thing ever. Killers are sort of romantic. Imagine you’re dying with his hands around your throat. He’d strangle the life out of you, and the last thing you’d see would be his face. Someone keep an eye on Bonnie so she doesn’t fulfill her grandma’s prophecy.

Remember how we talked about vervain a couple of paragraphs ago? Well apparently there’s no vervain in Fell’s Church, at least not during winter. So, Stefan and Matt get in Matt’s car and go on a road trip down south to get some vervain. Honestly, Matt is unbelievable, imagine your ex girlfriend’s new boyfriend comes to you and tells you they need your car so they can go “south” (doesn’t even give you an actual location) to get some weeds for your ex. And you just agree, as long as you can go with them. I’d tell him to go to a flower shop and fuck off from me. But Matt is simply built different. Matt and Stefan are slowly becoming friends. Stefan even said that Elena and Matt are his only friends, the only two people who make him feel comfortable and accepted. I hope their friendship doesn’t get ruined.

For whatever reason, L. J. Smith switches from one POV to another without any warning. There isn’t even a divider, she just starts a new paragraph from another person’s POV. Which makes it difficult to write a cohesive review. How am I meant to do that if we go from two guys in a car to Elena’s dream sequence without a warning?

While Matt and Damon were on the road trip, Elena and Bonnie were planning a sleepover. Not for fun, Elena is worried that now that Bonnie and Damon had kissed, she might become a target. So she thought Bonnie would be safer if Elena was there with her. I’m not sure what Elena could exactly do to protect Bonnie, but alright.

Elena keeps dreaming the same dream again and again. The exact same scene from the beginning of the book is described now, 46% into the book. Almost word for word. Elena and Damon are in the same room and he asks her if she wants to dance. She doesn’t reply, she just laughs and walks away, knowing he’ll follow her. She’s not running, she’s teasing him. He’s trying to get her to forget about Stefan. The first time this happened she remembered him and then woke up. This time Damon managed to bite her, she woke up, screaming, while Damon in his crow form was attacking her. Bonnie’s dad beat him with a broom. King shit.

Damon compelled her to open the window and let him in. But the thing is, she invited Damon into Bonnie’s house in the last book, during the ritual. I can’t remember if I mentioned it in the previous review, but Bonnie taught Elena a ritual she can perform to see who she will marry. You’re supposed to light a candle, put one plate, one fork and one knife on a kitchen table. Then you hold a chair, and when the clock strikes twelve, pull the chair out and say “Come in”. She didn’t realize Damon was there and when she said it, she accidentally invited him in. So… Why did Damon need to compel her to open the window? He can control the weather and shapeshift, but he can’t use his powers to unlock a door?

She asked Bonnie’s dad to take her and Bonnie back to her house. Poor man thought she was suffering from some sort of emotional breakdown so he obliged.

Stefan came back with vervain and gave some of it to her, kept the rest so he could extract oil from the flowers. He notices something is wrong with Elena but she’s still refusing to tell him what’s been going on. He doesn’t even know she lost her diary and someone’s been using it to taunt her. I know Elena thinks she’s protecting Stefan by lying to him about Damon, but if I were him I’d be pretty pissed. She’s putting herself and everyone else in danger. Also, why hasn’t she asked Stefan to tell Bonnie and Meredith his secret? Wouldn’t they be safer if they knew what’s actually going on? They already believe Bonnie is psychic, why wouldn’t they believe in vampires too?

The next morning Elena tells Matt someone’s been sending her parts of diary and she thinks it’s Damon. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith all say that it just doesn’t sound like something a guy would do. It sounds too petty, and Damon doesn’t look like a guy who would be that petty. So they all come to the same conclusion, the only person who would do that is Caroline.

Elena leaves the cafeteria and accidentally overhears Tyler and Caroline talking in one of the empty classrooms. They are planning to use Elena’s diary as proof that Stefan is the killer. They want to announce this during the Founder’s Day parade. To humiliate Elena in front of everyone and get Stefan arrested. In her diary, Elena said that she had lost her ribbon near the Wickery Bridge and Stefan found it. Apparently this is proof that he’s a killer. Like stalker? Maybe. But killer? That’s a bit of a stretch. Seniors get to read poetry during the parade, Caroline was one of the seniors chosen for this and she plans to pull out Elena’s diary instead.

Caroline is taking this “being popular in school” thing a bit too seriously. Girl, no one's gonna care you were popular in like six months. What is wrong with you?

Elena, Bonnie and Meredith break into Caroline’s house one night in order to retrieve Elena’s diary. They ransack the house and find Caroline’s diary, but Elena’s is nowhere to be seen. The Forbes’ come home early and the girls need to leave the house quickly. Elena somehow gets stuck. I genuinely have no idea how she managed that. So she tries to get out through a window and guess who’s already there? Damon! Who would’ve guessed. He, once again, tries to talk her into becoming a vampire and “ruling” the darkness with him. She says she’d rather die than join him and tries to jump off the roof. He catches her and tries to make a deal. He’ll get her diary back and in return Elena has to spend time with him and let him drink her blood. She, of course, says no. Damon tells her to think about it and leaves.

Nothing important happens for a bit, but there is one diary entry I wanted to talk about. (Elena got a new diary).

And there are little things that shouldn’t matter, but they bother me. Like why Stefan still wears Katherine’s ring around his neck, even though he loves me. In his defense, she did die. Breaking up with someone and losing them isn’t the same. That doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t love you, or that he loves Katherine more. But she’s not an ex, she’s his deceased lover. This really is a tricky situation. On one hand dating again can be difficult after losing your significant other, and even feel like you’re betraying them. So just getting rid of the only thing you have left of them can be hard, and honestly unnecessary. On the other hand, however, being 17 and dating someone who lost their partner can be just as hard. Being insecure, not just in general, but also in your relationship can make you feel like you have to “compete” with the deceased person. Grown adults sometimes can’t handle dating someone who lost their previous partner, let alone teenager. Grief is complicated. I don’t think either of them are bad people, they’re handling it to the best of their abilities.

Alrighty, let’s get back to the plot. Vickie is back! And doing worse than ever. Vickie attacked Tyler, tried to bite him. Alaric said: Don’t hurt her! Be careful! It’s epilepsy, we just need to get her lying down! Epilepsy? Really? Does epilepsy make people strip naked, sexually harass other students and try to drink their blood? I’m no doctor, but that doesn’t sound like epilepsy to me. Maybe this Alaric isn’t a vampire hunter, or he doesn’t want the other students to freak out. If you don’t know what epilepsy is, maybe you’d fall for it.

For whatever reason aunt Judith hosts a rehearsal Thanksgiving party every year to make sure everything goes well on Thanksgiving day. Personally, I’ve never seen anyone practice hosting a holiday dinner, is that a common thing? Anyway, it was time to sit down and eat when Judith announced they have a guest this year. Yeah, you guessed it right, it’s Damon again. This man does not give up. The fact that Elena hasn’t tried to kill him is quite impressive. Could never be me. So, now Damon has access to Elena’s house as well. As if that wasn’t enough Bonnie got briefly “possessed” during the dinner. A voice spoke through her, telling Elena that Death is coming for her. Funny how this only happens when Damon is there. Not suspicious at all. Poor Bonnie.

Damon leaves and aunt Judith pulls Elena aside and says this: Well, I just thought you might give him a chance, that’s all. I thought he was very pleasant. The kind of young man I like to see around here. Can’t blame her honestly. Narcissistic abusers are remarkably good at charming people. Much easier to abuse your partner when their close friends and relatives are on your side. They can be incredibly charming and charismatic. It’s not that they can’t help themselves, they just choose not to control themselves. They know exactly what they’re doing. Elena doesn’t really say anything to this. What could she say? There’s no way for her to prove that Damon is a killer and not Stefan, without outing them as vampires. Something tells me that aunt Judith doesn’t believe in vampires.

As I’ve said, Damon does not give up. After they’ve all went to bed he came back. But once he got to Elena’s room he couldn’t get in. Which leads to Elena being, once again, an idiot. She tells him that the reason he can’t get in is because the living room and her room are what’s left of the old house. Therefore someone needs to invite him in again. Why tell him this, he can just come back and ask to see the living room, it’s not like Elena in particular has to invite him.

The following day Elena goes to Stefan’s house to tell him they need to talk. Finally, she’s gonna tell him everything! Is what I thought was gonna happen, but nope. She only tells him about the diary, she continues to keep Damon a secret. Honestly, I’m starting to think she’s not lying just to keep Stefan safe, I feel like she likes running into Damon. I mean, she does talk often about how attracted she is to Damon.

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. (and by we I mean me) Stefan finally feeds from Elena. Technically, he did drink her blood when she dragged him out of that well, but that was just a couple of drops. This time he drank straight from her neck. Also, the whole drinking blood thing is kinda like sex to vampires. The way the author writes these scenes feels weirdly erotic. It’s kinda uncomfortable to read. And!! He told her I love you for the first time. Then, he did something so incredibly stupid. He proposed. Proposed. She’s 17, she’s not even out of high school yet. Not only did he propose, but he proposed with Katherine’s ring. Lord. I think that may have been done so that Elena is wearing a ring once she turns into a vampire.

Elena then says my favorite quote in the entire book. I’ve learned my lesson; I’ll never keep things from him again. Elena, darling, you are STILL keeping things from him. What are you talking about? I don’t think she knows what “I’ve learned my lesson” means, because she most certainly did not.

We’re getting near the end of the book. It’s the day of the Founder’s Day parade. The girls were hoping Caroline will leave the book unattended while she’s in costume. Unfortunately, Caroline isn’t stupid, she found a way to carry the diary with her. At this point I thought they would go to Damon to ask for help. Honestly, if I were Elena I’d fake being ill. Dramatically fall over and pretend to faint. Everyone would be paying attention to me, and then Stefan could offer to take me home. Caroline could still decide to go through with her plan, but the main reason she’s doing it is to humiliate Elena. Can’t humiliate her if she isn’t there.

They fail to get the diary and proceed with the parade, bracing themselves for the inevitable humiliation. Caroline’s turn to speak comes and she gives a little speech. Saying that she would rather read something about what’s happening in Fell’s Church now, not a hundred or two hundred years ago. She then pulls out the diary and freezes. Someone switched Elena’s diary with Caroline’s. Now she looks like an idiot. Was it Damon? Yeah it was. Elena asked why he had done it and he replied: For my own purposes. To which she said: I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the reason at all. She really thinks she’s hot enough to make a cruel vampire feel empathy or compassion. I respect the confidence.

Elena’s aunt comes over and tells her she should be nicer to Damon. Damon takes control of her aunt and Elena has a horrible argument with Judith/Damon. She runs to Matt and asks if she can borrow his car, saying she just wants to be alone right now. She drives straight to the old graveyard. She parks the car and while she was hysterically laughing/crying she feels Damon’s presence. She tries to get across the river, because Damon can’t cross running water. Something goes wrong and she crashes Matt’s car and drowns.

Bonnie, Meredith and Stefan find her and pull her corpse out of the water. The next bit was so confusing and I couldn’t tell if Elena was dead or not because Bonnie kept referring to her as a “wax doll”. For a bit I thought there was an actual doll in the river and Damon took Elena, but no she was actually dead. The darkness comes once again and Stefan tells them to run. He shouts that he’ll leave Elena under the Willow trees. Bonnie realizes that the reason Stefan is telling them this because he will not be there when they come back for Elena.

Since Elena didn’t say anything about Damon to Stefan, he doesn’t know that that night when Damon broke in, she drank his blood and he drank hers. He didn’t know that she died with Damon’s blood in her system.

Stefan is going after Damon. He’s planning on killing himself. He’s fed on Tyler, Caroline and their friends. He has to be stronger if he wants to take on Damon. He doesn’t care about getting caught because he doesn’t plan on living long enough to get caught. But what’s gonna happen once he realizes Elena is not dead? Is he gonna use his new strength to compel the people of the town?

While Stefan and Damon were fighting, trying to kill one another. Elena was waking up. Elena woke up. Hungry and tired. She could hear voices, someone screaming somewhere far away. She got up to follow them, when she remembered “him”. Oh yes, it was coming back now. She remembered him. He was the one who understood her, who loved her. He was the one she wanted to be with forever. And I had a slight feeling she’s not talking about Stefan.

Her next sentence confirmed my suspicions: He was there, with his black, fathomless eyes, and his secret smile. And he needed her help. She would help him. Stefan’s eyes are hazel. Is this because she died with Damon’s blood in her system in particular? Maybe that forms some kind of bond between them. God, as long as this book doesn’t have fated mates I’m good.

The book ends with Elena shaking ice crystals out of her hair and stepping into the clearing in the woods where Damon and Stefan were fighting.

I’m having so much fun reading this series. Honestly, I enjoy it a lot more than the TV show. I’m really glad the books are quite short, about 250 to 300 pages. Since I take notes while I read, it does take quite a bit some time to finish a book, usually about 4h. Writing the actual review takes a couple of hours too, but it does mean I can finish everything in one day. With longer books, especially other YA Fantasies which can be between 600 and 900 pages, it takes a long ass time to write.

I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about a book series. Is it perfect? No, definitely not. But it’s so entertaining. The fact that I know and love these characters already definitely helps.

Fingers crossed that the other authors who took over the series won’t ruin it.

Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤

[jackrrabbit]

Adversary /// Overhaul x f!Reader (18+)

Summary: You make a deal with the devil to save your life, but it turns out Overhaul’s not interested in your soul.

A/N: Remember when I said I was going to do a fantasy collab and then dipped for like 9 months? Hahaha…anyway…

@pleasantanathema @ present-mel @shadowworks—if it’s not too late, here’s my part for the Pleasant & Strider Fantasy AU Writing Collab from a million years ago. Go check out the masterlist and gorge yourself on these amazing pieces!!

Tags/Warnings: dubcon, demon fuckery & occult things, big heresy/sacrilege/perversion of religion, sex in a church ft. Catholic sex guilt, other than that it’s not that bad lol, inexperienced reader, mild degradation, shameless camp and demon-fucking clichés, Overhaul calls you “little girl” 👉👈

He doesn’t look like a demon.

Not that you really know what demons are supposed to look like. But…red skin, right? Fangs and claws and swirling masses of bad energy. Maybe cloven hooves for feet. Yes, that’s the Disney version—but even if you didn’t expect a cartoon personification of evil, you didn’t expect this.

He looks like a doctor, you think. Lab coat hanging open, surgery mask pushed down under his jaw, stethoscope draped over his shoulders. No, he’s a little young to really look like a doctor…an intern, you amend, shifting back in your hospital bed. He looks like he fits right in here, not a hair out of place. Except for, you know, the polished black horns curling out of the sides of his skull.

Overhaul. It was written in the book. That’s the only thing you have to call him in your head.

He’s standing in the center of the sigil you drew at the foot of your bed before midnight, surveying the room critically without meeting your gaze. He looks annoyed—that’s not a good sign, is it?—but then again, of course he’s annoyed. You’d be annoyed too if you got summoned out of your cozy hell dimension in the middle of the night. According to the book, you’re lucky he even showed up…although ‘lucky’ isn’t really how you’d describe yourself most days.

“So,” Overhaul says after a long moment of silence in which you question every choice you’ve made in your relatively short life. “You’re dying.”

You nod.

“And you don’t want to be.”

You nod again, wondering if you’re supposed to be contributing more to this conversation. It’s a bit difficult when your mouth is so dry it feels like you’ve been eating dirt, but you suppose being in the presence of an unholy servant of Satan will do that to a person.

“Fine.” He sighs, frowns, and then finally lowers his gaze onto yours—and you shiver.

Those eyes. No human has eyes like that.

“Make me an offer,” Overhaul tells you, and through his open mouth you catch a flash of sharp white teeth.

Okay. Okay. The chirping of the heart monitor speeds up (as if it weren’t obvious enough that you’re terrified) and you fold your knees up to your chest and fidget with your ring and think. He’s giving you a chance to establish parameters. You’re supposed to start with his end of the deal, the thing you want from him. That’s what it said to do in the grimoire, aka the 19th century demonology volume your creepy cousin brought back from her pagan anthropology research trip in rural France. The one you keep hidden under your bed because your mother would burn it if she knew you were reading about summoning demons.

Offer nothing to a hell creature without first telling him your price. You know the words by heart, both the winding calligraphy of the original French from the grimoire and the rushed scrawl of the English translation your cousin left for you in sheets of lined paper layered between the pages of the book for you to read. Really, this is her fault. She was the one who slipped you the book, who told you that it worked, who snuck you the ingredients for the summoning. She was the one who left a bookmark at the chapter on this particular demon, one that specializes in ‘Contrat pour Remédier au Déséquilibre des Quatre Humeurs’, which she said meant a contract to cure any illness. Even his ‘name’ is translated in her hand, practically an afterthought in the margins of the page.

‘Le Malin qui Ravage et Rebâtit’— Overhaul?

You looked up the literal meaning of this phrase on your own. It did not reassure you.

“Girl.” His voice is cold, irate. Your eyes snap back up to his and it feels like that burning gaze is laser-beaming into your skull. “Do not test me. My time is limited…as is yours.”

You swallow. “How long do I have left?”

“Less than a single human year,” he tells you without a trace of sympathy. “Seven months, twelve days, three hours. Or so. You’ll be too exhausted to leave this bed in four months, and the pain will become intolerable in six… By the end, you’ll wish—“

“Stop,” you breathe out. The heart monitor is beeping wildly and you squeeze your knees into your chest, trying to calm down your breathing. “Stop, I—I want to live.”

“Of course you do.” Overhaul’s lip curls. “How very predictable.”

Be specific, you remind yourself, doing your best to ignore the stifling disapproval from the man—the demon—in front of you. Something about him (maybe how clean-cut he looks, maybe the indisputable authority in his demeanor) makes you want to impress him. But you didn’t turn your back on your religion—you didn’t draw pagan symbols on the floor in chalk, fill silver cups with various questionable substances (including your own virgin blood), and turn the crucifix your mother hung over your bed upside-down so you could let a demon make you feel guilty for wanting to survive. “I want to be cured. I’m okay with whatever natural death I have instead when I’m older, I just don’t want to die of this illness. I want you to make me healthy.”

“Simple enough. What else?”

‘Simple’? Your heart surges with something you’ve felt very little of since your initial diagnosis—hope. “T-That’s it. Just the cure.”

Overhaul glares at you. “Humans… Every vice in the world available to you, and you limit yourselves to the basest priority of survival.”

“But you can do it? You can cure me?” you persist.

Overhaul steps forward (quiet, so quiet you wonder if he really moved) and holds a hand out to you past the foot of your bed—you hesitate, and a second later you can see the muscles in his hand flex, stretching the latex of his plastic gloves tight over his knuckles.

Just do it. You give him your hand. Carefully. Like you’re scared the contact will burn you. It doesn’t (although his skin feels warmer than yours), but after a moment his grip tightens, sliding down past your hand to circle the fragile bones of your wrist and squeeze.

“Ow?” You wince.

The demon’s eyes flicker closed for a second, lips moving silently like he’s talking to himself—and then he drops your hand unceremoniously back onto your lap. “You could be cured before the sun rises this morning. I doubt your stay in the hospital will extend past the end of the week.”

He sounds bored, voice as flat and passionless as it was earlier, but your heart is soaring. Cured. You’ve lived with this illness for so many years, you can’t remember the last time someone told you you could be cured. And getting out of the hospital that soon? You can just imagine taking down all the decorations from the walls of your room here and setting them up in your old bedroom at home. You could see friends on the weekend and not take an oxygen bag, you could get a job or—or apply to college, you could have a life—

“That is…assuming you have something to offer me in exchange for the cure.”

Your stomach drops. You’d almost forgotten about the other half of the deal.

“Don’t tell me I came all this way for nothing.” Overhaul steps back, and the orange light of the candles you set sends strange shadows over his arrogant face. The fires look brighter now, and you find yourself tracing the lines of those shining black horns. In an odd way, they look natural—so organically framing his temples that you can’t imagine him without them.

“N-No, of course not. I have some money—I mean, my mom has some, and I can get it for you…” Which is half the truth. If you know anything, it’s that your mother’s spent most of her savings on your treatment and care. You probably have more debt than you have money in the bank right now—you’d try to get rid of that, too, if you hadn’t read in the book how important it is to keep your request as simple and straightforward as possible.

…Although it’s apparently not enough. Overhaul’s eyes narrow, molten gold irises carved into slits. “Even if I had a use for human money, do you really believe your life is worth so little?”

“No—no,” you say quickly. “I just thought—in case you were interested—”

The air crackles with energy, the candle flames spark bright blood-red, and the hair on your arms stands straight up. “I am not.”

“Okay! I get it.” You wave your hands back and forth, pulling your IV line from side to side with the motion. The book was very clear about staying calm and rational while you work out the terms of the deal, but that’s easier said than done when you have a real live (live?) hell creature in front of you. You always knew this was going to be the hard part—all the stories say there’s only one thing that a demon would be interested in, and no matter how inviting the prospect of living past this illness is, you know you’d rather die than sell your immortal soul to the devil. “I’ll give you anything except my soul! And—and don’t hurt anyone I care about, or— just don’t hurt anyone, okay? Other than that, if there’s anything I can give you, I will.”

Overhaul’s lip curls, baring a thin strip of those unnaturally sharp canines. “And is your soul really so valuable?”

This throws you for a loop. Isn’t that the standard deal? A soul for a wish? That’s how it’s supposed to work—at least in this twisted version of reality where you can summon a demon to perform unholy miracles for you. But if you think about it, it doesn’t really make sense, does it? Why would your soul be valuable to him? You can’t form an argument, especially since you’re not willing to barter it away in the first place.

Your mouth is pursed open as you search for a response, but Overhaul doesn’t seem willing to wait. A gloved hand wraps its way around the railing at the side of your bed, and he leans in closer. “Little girl…what makes you think you possess anything I desire?”

Little girl. You’re not a little girl, you’re a grown woman—and yet there’s no untruth in the statement. In front of him you feel insignificant, immature, weak. You have nothing real to offer, and something tells you that you’re not going to get rid of the demon you summoned without a sacrifice you’re not willing to make.

You twist your ring around your finger—the nervous habit you haven’t bothered to break because you’ve always had more important things to worry about—and the glint of silver in the candlelight must catch Overhaul’s eye because before you even notice him moving, your delicate hand is trapped in his larger one to give him a better view of the tiny piece of jewelry. “What is this?”

“It’s—um, a ring. A purity ring.” Has he never seen one before? Well…actually, that makes sense.

Overhaul turns your hand over in his without touching the band of silver. He’s looking at it closely, inspecting the lovingly engraved cross in the design and the inscription on the other side. “Matthew 5:8,” he reads out.

“…Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” you recite cautiously. It feels wrong to speak the words in front of him, but somehow you can’t help yourself.

Overhaul’s hand doesn’t leave yours. “This ring is important to you.”

“It’s a symbol of a—a promise I made to God. To save myself for my future husband.”

“To ‘save yourself’? To save what?”

You can’t believe you’re explaining this to a literal demon. You close your eyes and inhale slowly and taste smoke. “My…virginity. It’s a promise that I won’t have sex until I enter into a biblical marriage.”

At this, Overhaul is quiet. You give him a moment to answer, half expecting him to question why you think God cares about your sexual status (honestly, you’d be lying if you said you haven’t wondered this yourself), but he stays quiet until you peek up at him to try and gauge the look on his coldly handsome face.

He’s still staring at the ring. He hasn’t touched it—maybe he can’t, because of the cross?—and through the latex, his skin feels hotter than a human’s is supposed to be.

“Is there…” you start, but you trail off when you realize you have nothing to ask. You give a little tug to try and take your hand away and you’re surprised when your wrist actually slides out of his grip to fall back on the nest of sheets in your lap. You didn’t think he’d let you go so easily.

Overhaul turns his head to the side, eyes drilling into you so you feel like you should lower your gaze. The candlelight flickers in strange shadows over his horns. “This will do,” he says quietly.

“What?”

“In exchange for your cure.” The demon taps his own left ring finger, the place where the purity ring sits on your hand, and your heart soars. He actually wants that? It’s just a simple silver band, not worth much, but you’re not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe it has some special significance because of the religious connotation. Your mother will be angry you’ve lost it, but you’re happy to cope with that if it means living to actually get married!

“Yes!” you blurt out before he has a chance to rethink his offer. Sure, you’ll miss the purity ring—you’ve had it since you were a kid, after all—but there’s no question you’re getting the better end of this deal. At least in your opinion.

Something flashes through his yellow eyes, something you don’t even want to try and identify. “The contract, then.”

You barely have time to notice that his voice has gentled, that it’s practically silken in comparison to before, when the candlelight flickers again and suddenly the contract is everywhere. Everywhere. Writing appears on every surface in the room, covering the walls, stretching over the ceiling, coiling around the sides of the hospital equipment and decorating your bedsheets until you and Overhaul are the only untouched surfaces in sight. The characters are inscribed in red, dark red like—don’t think about that, you tell yourself squeamishly. You can make out some of the letters, even a word here or there—French, you recognize, mixed with what looks like Latin and interspersed with what you can only guess are runes.

“I can’t read this,” you tell him, fidgeting with your ring for what you now realize will be the last time.

“I only need your name,” he purrs, and then you feel a fragile weight in your hand: a feather, pearl-black and glossy and too large to belong to any bird you can think of, its angled tip glistening with wet ink. There’s an empty space in the writing before you, and Overhaul’s gloved hand comes to yours again to guide you into place.

This feels wrong…then again, of course it does. Even if you’re getting off relatively easy and just losing your ring rather than your soul, you’re still making a deal with a demon. You sign your name, forcing yourself to think about the future you have ahead of you rather than a disapproving white-bearded caricature of The Man Upstairs wagging his finger at you for haggling with a literal servant of Satan. People have done worse things to survive, haven’t they? It’s just a ring.

You set the feather down and Overhaul sighs, thick black eyelashes obscuring his intense gaze for a moment—and then the contract is gone, leaving your hospital room as blank and sterile as it’s supposed to be (well, aside from the candles and all the other ritual stuff you threw together to summon a demon in the first place).

“Are you going to cure—heal me now?” you ask.

“…Patience, little girl.” He’s pulling his glove off, peeling it down his fingers to bare the pale skin of his hand. You catch your breath and wonder what this is going to feel like, and then the tips of his fingers meet your cheek and—

you stop breathing.

It doesn’t hurt.

Or if it does, you don’t remember the pain a second later when breath floods back into your lungs. What you do feel is energy. Strength in your muscles, blood pumping through your veins, every inhale and exhale as light as a bird and freer. You feel healthy. You’re surprised you even remember what health feels like but you do: it’s like you’ve only been half alive, and now life is surging into you and through you and around you, bubbling up in your core like a spring overflowing. You blink rapidly, thinking you might cry from the sheer pleasure of it, but when you open your mouth it’s laughter that comes out. You’re healthy. You’re alive. You barely notice the IV line literally falling off of your skin because the hole where it entered your vein is sealed shut and healed perfectly.

No more needles. No more hospitals. Even without all the monitors beeping out your heart rate and measuring your vitals, there’s not a shred of doubt in your mind that you’re cured.

“Thank you!” you laugh, looking up at Overhaul and for the first time, not caring that he’s evil incarnate. “I feel—I’m okay! It worked!”

“Of course it did.” His expression is inscrutable, but he lets you have a few moments to enjoy your newfound health.

You roll your shoulders back, flex each muscle you can isolate one by one to test, make fists with your fingers and then run them over your hair, which is already thicker and shinier than it was a moment ago. Your body thrums with energy—you want to run, to feel the ground against your bare feet and the cold night air on your face, and you think you could do it! Your legs are already swinging over the side of your cot, ready to run barefoot out of the hospital if that’s what it takes, but before you can stand up Overhaul’s pushing you back down onto the bed.

“Have you forgotten your end of the bargain already?”

Honestly you did forget, but only for a second, only because you were so excited to just be outside again. “Oh, yeah. Of course.” Your hand goes to your left ring finger, ready to slip the ring off and hand it over, but Overhaul shakes his head.

“Not here.”

“What—?”

You’re falling. Your hospital room is disappearing, the image of your walls and your window and your bed disintegrating into yawning black, and you’re falling through it into nothing, into emptiness, and Overhaul’s still-bare hand in yours is the only anchor you have so you clutch onto it and squeeze your eyes shut. You want to scream—that’s the sane thing to do when you’re falling through miles and miles of empty space, right?—but when you open your throat the sound is swallowed up just like the light was…

Overhaul’s hand burns into yours, an improbable lifeline that you pull closer more out of terror than conscious thought. The slick, empty air rushes around you and you think I am going to die like this and then, incredibly, as soon as you’ve accepted your imminent demise, you feel your back mold onto a chilled, flat surface, vertebra by vertebra up to the back of your head, as if you’ve been lain down onto it.

Your heart thuds in your ears and you brace for an impact because your body hasn’t quite accepted yet that it’s not falling anymore—but at the same time, you know you’re lying down on something. You pry your fingers away from their vice-grip on Overhaul’s arm and feel around blindly for what’s underneath you, and when it seems reasonably tangible you let yourself open your eyes.

Way above, vaulted dozens of feet over your head, is a ceiling studded with gilt-edged frescoes and stained glass. It’s raining (even though it wasn’t in the hospital, you think) but through the massive panes of colored glass there’s enough oily blue light to make out that you’re in a church.

You’re in a church, with a demon. Isn’t that against the rules?

You sit up stiffly and look over at Overhaul, who’s standing at your side and looking down at you…which is how you realize the soft, cold surface you’ve been deposited onto is the blanket on top of the altar in the sanctuary. “Where...did you take me?”

“You should know this place.”

And you do, when you look around. It’s empty now and you’ve never been here at night, but this is a church your mother would bring you to when you were little, back before the disease got so bad you couldn’t risk traveling to it anymore. This is where you took your purity vow…the ring feels heavy on your hand. “Why—why—“

“I can’t stand human hospitals. Filthy places… How that reek of illness and death doesn’t bother your kind, I’ll never understand.” Overhaul pulls his latex glove back on. He’s dressed differently now, no longer impersonating a doctor—black shirt, black pants, and a…bird mask in red leather and gold. So are you, as a matter of fact. Instead of your hospital gown, you’re in a gauzy white dress that’s already been pushed up to pool around the tops of your thighs.

The slip is too thin for the cold, and you can feel your nipples standing up under the cloth so you fold your arms over your chest and hug yourself. “Why did you take me here?” The sound of your voice echoes off the walls eerily and you wish you hadn’t spoken so loudly. The reflection of your words sounds girlish, nervous.

“I told you. Your side of our contract.” Even in this dark, the angular features of his face are clearly concentrating—on you. “Are you already having second thoughts? Such a fickle little thing…”

“You mean the ring?” You reach for it again, ready to tear it off and throw it at him if that’s what it takes to see your deal through, but Overhaul snatches your hand away, pinning it above you.

“Not the ring,” he says. “The promise.”

The…promise?

A chill makes its way down your spine despite the heat radiating off the demon’s body and onto yours. “I don’t understand.”

“The promise,” Overhaul repeats—and you hear a sound almost like wings flapping and then he’s on the altar with you, knees straddling your hips as a single hand holds both your wrists above your head. “To remain a virgin until marriage. Your promise to God.”

A streak of lightning cracks down on the other side of the stained glass window behind the altar, illuminating the room briefly in spectacular pits of red and orange and yellow…and then it’s dark again, and the only color you can make out is the gold in Overhaul’s eyes.

“I’m going to break it,” he murmurs, lowering his head toward your ear right as the answering thunder rolls through the sanctuary, up through the altar, up into you.

///

Méfiez-vous de son piège, the grimoire said. Beware of the catch.

Of course it wasn’t just a ring.

Overhaul’s fingers are in—inside you, his middle and ring finger pumping through the length of your cunt like they belong there, like you were made to be touched this way. A mixture of your juices and your own spit cling to the latex because he made you suck his fingers before he put them in you and he hasn’t bothered to take his gloves off—not that you asked. You’ve been too busy biting your lip to try and muffle the moans that he keeps forcing out of you. He’s bracing himself on top of you with one hand and fingering you with the other, so your own hands are free to push into your eyes and hide your face…until he yanks your arm back and stops.

“Look at me.”

Your eyes are screwed shut and you shake your head back and forth, the movement shuddering your whole body right down to your pussy wrapped around Overhaul’s fingers. He slows the movement and kneels back, pushing one of your thighs up into your chest as he does it.

“Look at me.”

And you’re not sure whether it’s some unearthly power he has over you or the plain old deterioration of your willpower, but you can’t refuse him. You crack your eyes open and he’s glaring down at you, skin pale as ice in the blue light. Once he’s satisfied that you’re watching, the demon leans back in to fuck your cunt with his fingers, slowly at first and then quicker when he hits something inside of you—a spot, a place on the inner wall of your pussy that makes you feel like you’ve been shocked— heat blooms through you like blood in water and you gasp and he curls his fingers up to pet over that spot again.

“Wait—wait, that’s—it feels—weird!” You’ve never felt like this before. You’re not supposed to feel like this, it’s wrong.

“I understand you’ve never touched yourself, but don’t pretend you don’t like it.” Overhaul says, voice as indifferent and calm as ever even though your cunt is dripping clear sticky liquid over the plastic of his glove.

He pushes back in and grinds his palm over the little button on the top of your pussy—your clit?—and you want to scream. “No, I—I don’t—nnhh...”

Do you like it? The demon’s body is so hot next to yours, like he’s running a fever except you’re the one going out of your mind… You’ve heard metaphors for sexual pleasure before (that it’s like having something to drink when you’re dying of thirst; or that it’s the ultimate act of intimacy, love in physical form) but all of that’s a fucking lie. There’s nothing to compare it to, no reference that makes sense, because it doesn’t make sense—you don’t even want him to keep going, do you? You’re only doing this because you signed your name on a devil’s contract, because you don’t want to die and there’s no alternative…but that doesn’t explain why you feel so warm from the inside out, why you’re squirming and your hips are rocking involuntarily no matter how much you try to keep still. This isn’t right. You feel like you’ve been lied to.

A good girl wouldn’t like this.

Overhaul isn’t going to let you close your eyes, so you don’t—but the sounds coming out of your mouth are so…indecent (and how can you think these things about yourself? the word feels like someone else is saying it when you hear it in your head) that your hand is drifting up to your mouth before you can stop yourself, trying to stifle all of it…

“Let your voice out. I want you to hear yourself moan.”

Long fingers slide their way out of your pussy and then move up to rub quick little circles around your clit and you moan, like a whore, like a girl getting her cunt rubbed by a demon— “Oh, uhhhn—something, it’s—coming—“ There’s something building up in your core—a peak, a climax, something that makes you fist your hands in the nightgown he put you in (so tight you’re surprised the thin fabric hasn’t torn) and tilt your hips up into him, begging without words because you don’t have any to express what your body is asking for…

But he doesn’t give it to you. Overhaul takes his hand away from your pussy and the shock of the cool air after his too-hot touch is almost enough to send you over that edge—almost. Not quite. And without it, you’re left shivering and quaking, thighs twitching as your baser instincts beg you to just put your hand between your legs for once and hump your fingers to completion if the demon won’t do it.

You’re not going to risk that, though. Not when Overhaul’s dragging your body closer, bunching up the blanket on the altar under your spine, so your pelvis is angled to his… He’s already shirtless and you hear him unzipping his pants but you can’t bring yourself to actually look at him, even when you feel something hard and hot nudging up against your inner thigh and then aligning to your sticky wet slit.

“This will hurt a bit, but I want you to look,” he says, and you don’t even understand at first until you make yourself feel it—his cock, pushing up against your tight cunt to finish this, this perversion of what your first time was supposed to be…

And what was it supposed to be? Roses and candles and soft kisses? A nameless, faceless husband unzipping your wedding dress and making love to you with the lights off? The way the demon touches you should be cruel in comparison but it isn’t, it’s lighting fires under your skin and turning your brains to mush, so how is your body supposed to tell the difference?

It’ll hurt, you know that, you’ve heard enough about sex to know that it always hurts the first time for girls…women. It was already a stretch to fit his fingers in your virgin pussy, so of course his cock is going to hurt. You turn your head toward the window at your side and try on look out at the rain drawing rivulets like veins over the glass, something to focus on instead of him.

“I said look,” the demon hisses, and his hips push forward a bit and you bite off a whimper of pain. “Watch me take your virginity…look at your tight little cunt swallowing me up just like it was made to.”

“N-No—“ you whine, even though it’s not like you can ignore it. “Don’t make me, don’t make me look, I can’t—“

“Then look at me.”

It’s what he wants, some kind of wicked satisfaction he gets off on, but you’re lucky enough to even get an option so you choose that one, shifting your gaze up into his face instead of the place where his cock is pressing deeper and deeper inside you. Overhaul’s eyes are half-lidded and it’s hard to tell from behind the mask but the look on his face is…pleasure? No, that would be too human. Restraint, at least. He could just thrust up into your body in one stroke, but he wants you to feel it for some reason.

Maybe because it’s a worse betrayal of your chastity if you want to get fucked.

Lucky for you, though, you can barely feel anything aside from the pain. The heat you felt building earlier is draining out of you even as Overhaul tilts deeper, layering his chest over yours. You’re almost grateful for the modest barrier the dress provides between your torso and the solid muscle of his abdomen. His cock in your pussy feels like it’s too big too deep too much and it’s the first time you’ve felt like your body wasn’t created specifically for this purpose so you hold it tight.

“Does it hurt?”

A second of clarity makes you want to snarl (of course it fucking hurts, I’m losing my virginity to a demon I summoned from hell) and you dig your fingernails into your palms to stop yourself from saying it out loud. Overhaul pulls out a fraction of an inch and then pushes back in and you feel like the breath’s being pushed out of your lungs. “Yes! Yes, it—it hurts—“

“I can make you enjoy it…for a price,” he sighs, settling into a slow rocking motion of his hips pushing into yours.

And you want to, every sore muscle in your cunt is telling you to give in and give up, give him what he wants so you can enjoy it like he says—but you’d rather hate every second of this than make another deal. You shake your head quickly and because you’re still too afraid to look away from him, you don’t miss the look of surprise that flits across his face before he tamps it down. “I don’t—I don’t want to—like it,” you gasp out between thrusts. “It’s better if—if it h-hurts…”

This time it’s obvious—his eyes really do widen, and you feel some petty triumph at having caught him off guard like this. Who’s predictable now? you think—and then he’s lifting one hand off the altar at the side of your head and tugging his glove off with his teeth, and you don’t even have time to be afraid of what he’s going to do to you because it’s too late, his bare fingers are already stroking over your mound and onto your core, massaging into the flesh of your stomach so he can feel his own cock sliding in and out of you—

and it doesn’t hurt anymore?

You only have a second to try and understand—he cured you, he healed the pain from your first time just like he healed your illness?—before he hooks his grip under your thigh and folds your legs into your chest so he can fuck into you harder than before. His cock slaps into your pussy and you can hear it, hear how wet your filthy little cunt is, smeared through with your juices. It’s sick—the sound of skin against skin, and the moaning you can’t hold back, you sound like a woman in a porno and you wish the pain would come back just so you could keep hating what he’s doing to you. “What—what did you do—“

The demon ignores you. “It feels good, doesn’t it.”

“Nn—“ It’s deeper like this…deeper and rougher and you can feel it. Now that the pain’s been reduced to the dull ache of a stretched muscle, you can feel everything—his cock sliding against that same spot in your cunt that makes you want to squeal, the friction of his body moving against your clit, all of it, everything you wanted to block out— he pumps into you and you hear your breath sobbing out a moan a second out of rhythm, the sounds of you bouncing on demon cock echoing over the walls. “Please—ah, ahhh…”

“‘Please?’ Are you begging—me, little girl?” Overhaul pushes your thigh up and drags his cock through you, excruciatingly slow, forcing you to feel the thick head slide over every gummy wall in your slick pussy.

You shake your head, mewl, try to force your hips to stop rocking back into his and grinding your clit against him. But you can’t. You’re a—you were a virgin, for fuck’s sake! Overhaul’s immortal. Probably thousands of years of experience on how to make you feel like you want this, like you’re only alive in the places he touches you… You’re at his mercy, if he has any. You never stood a chance.

“Then are you begging your god?” His body lowers directly onto yours and like you’re being controlled by puppet strings your arms fold around him and rake your fingernails uselessly into the smooth skin of his back. You can feel the vibration of his mirthless laughter through his chest. “It must hurt terribly…to know he isn’t listening.”

“Don’t—stop, please,” you sob. “Don’t say—don’t stop—please!”

“Listen to yourself, girl—“ Overhaul’s breath is faster now, but you don’t have time to question it because you feel your peak coming again, the tension rising up through your cunt and your abdomen, harsher and crueler than when his fingers were in you but you want it just as much. More. “Has he ever answered your prayers? Has he...ahh, fuck—who’s the one giving you what you need?”

“No— please, please just let me let me, please—“ You’re talking nonsense now, begging for the release—at least then it’ll be over, and you need it, you need it so badly you feel your muscles locking up, cramping, your ankles crossing each other behind Overhaul’s back.

“Good girl,” the demon breathes, and then he lifts off you so he’s kneeling upright with the two of you still connected, his thick, heavy cock still speared in your pussy, and his fingers come down again to rub at your clit. Everything’s so wet you can hear the motion of his fingers slicking themselves through your juices, sliding up and down the little button over and over and it feels so good that a tiny part of you almost wants to drag it out, to savor it, but the rest of your body is going to die, is going to go crazy if the demon doesn’t let you cum right now, right now, right now!

And he does. Praise the Lord. The pads of Overhaul’s fingers pass over your clit one last time and your head rolls back, your throat moves but you can’t even make a sound, your legs shake and you cum.

You didn’t know it was like this.

Your cunt squeezes down on his cock, throbbing and pulsing and your toes literally curl (you didn’t think that was a real thing!) and your vision goes black for a moment and—oh fuck oh fuck i want this i want more how is it possible that i’ve never felt like this—you understand, more intimately than ever, why sex is wrong:

because nothing that makes you feel this good could possibly come without a cost, could it?

///

It must take longer than you thought for you to come back to your senses, because when you regain awareness of your body you’re in your hospital bed. You’re clean, too, and you wonder for a second if Overhaul bothered to clean you up? Or no…he probably just snapped his fingers and transported you back to your room. You’re not really sure how it works.

What you are sure of, however, is that you just got fucked by a demon. You’re sore in places that you didn’t know it was possible to be sore, and there are already bruises forming on the flesh of your thighs from how tight he was holding you. You don’t really have time to inspect these, though, because apparently your…ordeal (if you can call it that) isn’t over.

Overhaul’s still here.

He’s facing the hints of sunrise through the east window, dressed again in the immaculate lab coat and surgeon’s mask. “You’re awake,” he says without looking at you.

You nod hesitantly. You’re not really sure what the protocol is in this situation, but at least you’ve finally held up your side of the contract, right? And so has he. Despite having been up all night doing sinful things, you’re still itching to get out of this bed and test the limits of your healthy body. “You’re…going to leave, right?”

“Yes—”

At that, you sigh in relief and settle back into your starched bedsheets.

“But there’s one more thing you owe me.”

“Goddamnit,” you swear for the very first time in your life. After what you just did, taking the Lord’s name in vain seems like a relatively minor sin.

Overhaul’s mildly irritated expression doesn’t change, but he holds his hand out to you, palm up, the way you imagine someone would if they were helping you out of a car or requesting a dance at an old-fashioned ball. And really, you want all of this to be over—you want to get out of this hospital, you want to taste what the air outside is like, you want to distract yourself from what you just gave up in exchange for a future. At this point you’re just going to have to hope God isn’t as picky about the whole premarital sex thing as you grew up believing.

So you put your hand in Overhaul’s.

Slowly, carefully, like he’s afraid it’ll burn him, he slides your purity ring down your finger and balances it in the palm of his bare hand. It sizzles when he touches it, glowing orange until it eventually burns down into a ash-black circle in the center of his palm. Once he’s satisfied that your pretty little ring has been reduced to nothing more than a scorch mark, he closes his hand around yours and you feel something sharp, painfully hot, etching onto your finger.

It’s over in a second, but you still yelp and yank your hand away from him as soon as he lets you. “Ah—ow, what was that?”

He burned you, he literally burned you! He’s already healed it, but there’s still a thin, pale scar, an intentional one left wrapping around the skin at the base of your left ring finger. Like a wedding ring.

When you look close, you can make out a symbol on the back of your finger where the cross used to sit—and even though your conscious mind doesn’t recognize it, the sight of it rings out something inside your ribcage, deeper and truer than flesh and blood. It’s the devil’s mark, you think. It’s his.

“…A promise,” Overhaul says softly, and even though it’s a chilly morning, you can feel the heat of his hands on yours a long time after he vanishes back into the dark.

[lebenspurpur]

AN: Helloo, wrote this because I spent today suffering through my post-drunk-vandalism hangover. Guess it's deserved but still, it sucks. After eating chicken broth my dad made, unsalted if I may add, for an hour straight I am now ready to be creative. I really don't know what this is.

Have the link to my Larry playlist while we're at it:

Pairing: Larry Johnson x reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of alcohol

Wordcount: 1744 words

🤍🧷💀⛓🔪🏁🕷🤍🧷💀⛓🔪🏁🕷🤍🧷💀⛓🔪🏁🕷🤍🧷💀⛓

Larry looks really, really stupid right now. Stupid and sick.

His tall form slumped over in defeat, big blanket wrapped around him but not too tight, otherwise he'd feel too hot, too feverish, he still needs some air. There are tissues scattered across the couch as well. Fucking hell.

Usually, this would disgust you but it's Larry, you think you've seen worse.

Small sniffles come from where he's laying, whenever he clears his throat hoarse croaking leaves his mouth and he cringes every time he hears it. He can feel your judging gaze on his body, hear your arched eyebrow without even lifting his head.

His radio is blaring some kind of metal music, you don't recognize the band. Technically, the music is useless since the TV in front of Larry's bed is playing an old horror movie, bloody screams only adding to the grimy ambiance in the room.

"I-", you start but Larry lifts his hand before you can even consider continuing.

On any other occasion, you would've noticed the rings adorning his slender fingers, the metal accessories leaving a trail of dark smudge on his hands. Damn, did he have some nice hands.

Thankfully today wasn't a normal occasion. The metalhead in front of you had worse problems than you drooling over his fingers right now, one of them being the sickness he caught.

"Don't you dare say 'I told you so.'", he croaks out while he finally lifts his head, bloodshot eyes meeting yours. He looks immensely tired. You can sense his annoyance at this sickness, this hellish treatment he's in and can't seem to escape.

You take a deep breath in and drop your bag next to his opened front door.

"Alright. I won't."

You close the door quietly and deposit your jacket as well as boots next to it.

His mom always screams at Larry to finally get something for visitor's shoes and bags but he never does. Too busy, too lazy, he figures his visitors get it. Who even visits him, anyway?

The floor is, as usual, covered in stuff he hasn't cleaned yet. Unfinished drawings, sketchbooks, take-out cartons, empty booze bottles, you keep wondering how he manages to create that kind of mess in a timespan of not even two days.

You tiptoe over them, careful as to not to step into something. Earlier experiences have taught you to never mistake one of these seemingly empty cartons as really empty. Just last week you stepped into a fucking pizza the man in front of you didn't finish.

You sigh as you sit down next to him and Larry tiredly raises an eyebrow.

"Dude, I know you don't want to move but Jesus, we really need to get you to bed.", you then state, voice comforting yet firm. You use the moment to stare into his eyes, adore the brown, thick, deepness of them.

Larry groans loudly, voice breaking from how raw his throat is. His head falls back and he closes his eyes, a pained expression on his features.

"Don't wanna.", he grumbles quietly and you involuntarily crack a smile. Larry always managed to do that, even in the most unbelievable moments.

"I'll join you if you do."

One of his eyes slowly creaks open, observing your face to look for any kind of sarcasm or irony. As soon as he doesn't find any, the other eye opens as well and he leans forward again, blanket clutched tightly in his fists.

"Alright."

You grin at his quiet answer, hand reaching over to pull him with you. He obliges, warm, slightly clammy hand tightly grabbing yours. He follows you through the messy room, his blanket leaving a trail of destruction behind the two of you.

You kick open the door leading to his bedroom. Immediately, the familiar images of various album covers greet you. The air in his room is colder and less damp and you hear him take a deep breath.

Turning around, you mention for him to wait while you walk over, grabbing the blanket on his bed. You shake it a bit, readjust the sheets as well the pillow, all while Larry's eyes never leave your back.

"There you go, sweets.", you add as you finish, quickly turning around to see Larry standing the same way you've left him. Tired, slumped, and emotional. The need to hug him starts boiling inside of you but you try and hold yourself back. First, you have to make sure he gets into bed.

Larry slowly stumbles past you. During the last few baby steps, he drops the blanket around his shoulder, faceplanting right into the freshly made sheets. He's not even wearing a shirt and you huff at his stubbornness.

Larry's back looks strong like this, muscles contracting beneath his skin as he tries to get more comfortable. Your eyes glide over his spine, his wide shoulders, the small bumps where his ribs encase his organs. His olive skin is sweaty and long, brown hairs cling to it.

You cringe at that, knowing the feeling all too well.

Softly placing a hand on his back, you move closer, forehead scrunched together.

"Larry, darling."

He grunts into his pillow, a muffled questioning sound.

"I got a hair tie here. Mind lifting your head real quick?"

Larry obliges and lifts his head quickly, taking a deep breath while he does so.

Your fingers find his scalp and start collecting all the strands, securing them afterward with the tie around your wrist.

The man beneath you hums in appreciation as the cold air hits his neck, sweaty skin finally being able to breathe. You kiss the small space beneath his neck real quick, a short sign of comfort before you stand up again, hands leaving his skin.

Larry whines the second you do so, all while quickly turning around, sending you a pleading look.

"You said you'd stay.", the whiny tone only makes his voice sound more hoarse and you can't help the small grin from appearing on your features.

"In a second, sweetie. You need some water and medicine first, alright?"

He whines again but the thought of something fresh and cold going down his throat is enough to soften the pleading look in his eye. You blow him a kiss and then quickly walk into the kitchen, which is right across from the brunette's room.

It's surprisingly clean but what did you expect? Larry never uses his kitchen unless he has to. Which isn't all too often.

Grabbing a water bottle and placing it on the counter, you keep searching for the small broth packets you'd bought exactly for this kind of scenario. You find them in the fridge, the only thing in this room that Larry actually uses.

Chuckling you get some water cooking, all while pouring the powder into one of the giant cups Sal has gifted Larry a while ago. According to the masked man, everything tastes better if it's being eaten out of a cup and so, everyone has their own sets of cups, a premium gift from Sal Fisher.

Soon, everything's done and you maneuver your way back into Larry's room. Said man is awaiting you, eyes still opened as he watches you creep towards his bed, hands full with water, soup, and medicine.

First, you feed him the medicine. Normally he'd do this himself but you know that he'll just ignore the bitter juice unless you force it down his throat. Stubborn motherfucker.

Larry's sitting up now, back propped up against one of the many big pillows he has. You hand him the broth and he inhales it in less than two minutes, apparently, this is the first thing he's eaten today. Shaking your head at the thought, you tug a few strands of hair out of his face, smiling at your lover's appetite.

Finally, after gulping down half of the water bottle, the brunette leans back and smiles, for the first time this evening.

"Thank you.", he croaks out and you touch his arm as an appreciative gesture, "Does that mean you're allowed to join me now?"

You're about to nod as you notice the faint traces of eyeliner on his skin.

"Did you take off your makeup when you got home?", you ask, throwing a teasing smile his way.

Larry clears his throat, embarrassed that you caught him. A faint blush raises on his cheeks and you feel your heart swell at the sight.

"I might have forgotten about it.", he answers, gaze slowly meeting yours again, "But please, let's just do this later, dude. I am so fucking tired."

Huffing, you roll your eyes at his answer but you nod anyway. He'd be fine with the makeup for a few more hours. You just have to remember taking it off tomorrow.

"You're lucky I love you."

Larry grins at that, the usual wide, blinding grin, that makes your stomach tingle with fuzzy feelings inside of it. His fingers find your arm and he tenderly pulls you down to join him. Soon, your head is placed on his chest, and his arms cradle your shoulders, pulling you into his body.

You can hear his relaxed breathing as he finally settles down, nuzzling his face into your hair.

His skin is warm against your cheek and you smile into it. It doesn't matter how often you've done it, laying on his nude chest always makes you flustered.

Larry's fingers start to draw stuff on your back, the feeling more than a delight for you. Humming, you snuggle closer and the metalhead next to you smiles.

His eyes already start to close slowly, lack of sleep finally catching up to him. The quiet sound of the ongoing movie in his living room, as well as the metal music, make for a great background sound and you both listen intently.

You notice the way his heart beats, slow and steady, beneath the tanned skin. Unknowingly, you start to synchronize your breaths with his. In and out. In. And out.

Soon, your eyes close as well. Damn it, you don't want to fall asleep. Though, you suppose it doesn't matter as the man next to you pulls you closer, his breath warm against your ear. He wouldn't let you leave anyway.

The thought makes you feel giddy, excited, in love. Smiling widely, you try to press yourself closer into him, and soon, you too, fall asleep, enveloped by the arms of the boy you love most. Your favorite boy.