#anyway thanks for enabling my obsession friend thank you so much

[this-is-krikkit]

HUM HI HELLO YES I'M HERE

This man...

[yanderes-galore]

Hi I really liked your generic Ruby concept that you did a while ago so I was wondering if you could do the same but for sapphire’s if it isn’t a bother thank you (also sorry if I’ve requested this before I have the memory of a goldfish 🥲)

I can give my thoughts, sure! Just a warning though... I'm rusty on Steven Universe content.

General Ruby Concept Here

Yandere! Generic Sapphire(s) Concept

(FT. Ruby Guards)

Pairing: Platonic/Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Overprotective behavior, Stalking, Manipulation, She uses her Rubies against you, Dubious/Forced companionship/relationship.

Sapphires are different from Rubies, obviously (In Steven Universe).

Sapphires are an entirely different caste, often used to predict the future for other Gems.

While Rubies are soldiers, Sapphires are aristocratic.

They are important and rare Gems and aren't typically seen in groups.

Rubies are naturally found in groups due to their fusion abilities as soldiers.

Sapphires are usually singular, so you'd most likely have one Sapphire as a yandere... which is easier.

Sapphires probably aren't too bad as yanderes.

They aren't physically strong without fusion, but they do have future vision and ice powers.

You could meet your yandere in the same way as your Ruby(s).

You're a Homeworld gem... you're a human and found her... or you met her in Little Homeworld.

I personally like the idea of you finding a Sapphire who came to Earth and befriending her.

Sapphires are usually seen with Ruby Guards, perhaps she was separated from her guards and you found her?

Either way, I imagine your Sapphire is curious and very patient.

She originally is hesitant to communicate with you, but as you get to know her she's floating by your side.

The ice powers and future vision no doubt come in handy.

Imagine when your Sapphire gets attached she attempts to use her future vision to predict how your bond will go.

However, with future vision I imagine Sapphires would be more lucid.

They know better than any other Gem the toxicity of their attraction... allowing them to predict how to make it better or when to back off.

As a result, an attached Sapphire is aware of what their obsession could cause.

Or at the very least... somewhat aware.

Another cool thing to add is a Sapphire can alert other Gems to their own obsession.

For the most part your Sapphire would use such an ability to keep you safe from danger and predict how to win you over.

Honestly, alone Sapphires aren't much of a problem.

However, imagine if your Sapphire had Ruby Guards.

Perhaps you promised to help her find her guards?

You could be a human or Gem, eventually your Sapphire feels comfortable around you.

She feels a strong connection with you... although due to being a Gem she isn't quite sure what it is yet.

(Especially if you're human/a Gem from Earth and she's from Homeworld)

By the time you do manage to locate her guards, she's a bit too attached.

Her Rubies originally treat you with hostility, after all they've been lost here for what seems like weeks.

If they aren't her guards, they're at least old friends.

Yet your Sapphire reassures them that you're no threat... leading to the Rubies to calm a bit.

Your Sapphire even says you helped her... she considers you an ally and friend!

However... I feel a yandere Sapphire comes with an issue despite how tame they'd be.

Their guards will do anything to keep their assignment happy... leading to you dealing with Rubies ANYWAYS.

Your Sapphire tries to reassure you when you notice Rubies following you around.

They're protecting the both of you!

The main yandere is still your Sapphire, she's the one who has a bond with you after all.

It's just that she has guards now enabling her.

She says it's all for your protection, that she's trying to make you happy.

If you tried to separate yourself from your Sapphire, she could send her Rubies after you or freeze you.

She hates the idea of harming you, but she's doing anything she can to chase a future in which you're both happy.

The good thing is, sometimes she leaves you to have your space.

She's lucid enough to give you your space.

Sapphire would most likely learn affectionate gestures from you.

Remember, affection isn't common in Gem culture.

Unlike Rubies, she isn't fully for the idea of fusing if you can't.

But she does know how to learn hugs, kisses, cuddling, etc....

She just hopes it'll be able to make you both happy.

She still believes the perfect future for the both of you is one where you're both happy...

The issue is... what actions will bring you both to that point... and will it hurt?

[animentality]

laughing at this convo I had the other day

so my friends and I play a soccer game called omega strikers, and my one buddy and I play a mean forward duo.

and we always joke around about blue lock, because you know, it's soccer.

but legitimately. as players.

my buddy plays a very precise character, who locks down areas and is always trying to anticipate what the enemy team is going to do next. he's a barrier character who relies on positioning.

meanwhile, my character is a brute force DPS, who moves in straight lines and has all abilities related to doing damage and hitting the ball very hard, and at strange, unpredictable angles. she excels at being in the right place at the right time, and quickly.

and legitimately... we play like a metavision x predator eye duo, because he's always aware of where opponents are, and thinking about what they're going to do. he plays like a midfielder, basically, always locking down the midfield, or making sure I can make a goal. he's very aware of what's going on at all times.

literally has Metavision.

meanwhile, I could not explain to you how I do what I do, AT ALL, because it's literally pure instinct for me.

I just know where I need to be, and I let muscle memory tell me where to run to. I am focused on the ball at all times, and sometimes I straight up just do not see what is happening anywhere else.

He's always enabling me to make shots or helping me kill or damage other players, and I don't usually notice, I just know it works, right, like, it's actually kind of funny, because he'll be like, I totally stopped the goalie from stopping you, and I'll be like oh did you? Cool. I just tried to score, and I did. So thanks.

But anyway, we were talking about this, and we came to the fucking hilarious realization.

that he is the Sae to my Shidou.

like fr.

I cannot explain how to play my character at ALL, because it all just comes to me from experience and instinct. I just rush around to where my heart wants me to go. I brute force goals in. I am constantly trying to score, even if it is not advantageous to do so. I miss as many shots as I take, because I'm just so aggressive, that I want to be in the penalty box as much as possible.

Plus, my character (the only character I willingly play, like ever, seriously, I never ever swap off her unless she gets banned), straight up demolishes people with a nuke, and has abilities that let me get wicked nasty angles on people that make it very hard to predict what I'm going to do... very Shidou coded, essentially.

Meanwhile, he's my Sae because his character has less abilities related to actually forcing the ball into goal, but he has impeccable set up ability. He's got the midfield on lockdown, and he's always thinking ahead of opponents. And he's my enabler.

and we're in love.

jk (or am I)

Anyway, we had a good laugh over this, because he knows I'm obsessed with Shidou... and the fucking irony is that even in a soccer game... I'm emulating this bitch, or rather, we share one soul, one nature, one heart.

call me predator eye kai.

[obsessedwithceleste]

Hii! I would like to be paired with a slytherin boy, please :)

I’m 18 (I don’t know if age influences anything). I have tan skin, brown eyes and long/ medium brown hair and I’m Latina (from Brazil to be specific :)). I wear glasses and I’m around 5’5. I like to think I’m a ravenclaw but my friends are always telling me I’m a slytherin, so im not sure. I’m an ambivert (my personality changes between introvert and extrovert depending on where I am), I’m a bit shy when I first get to know someone, but once I get comfortable I’ll be pretty much be my chaotic self. I’m very ambitious and driven, so I care a lot about my grades and studies. I’m a huge bookworm and always carry a book with me everywhere I go. I have a bunch of hobbies, such as reading (as I already mentioned), doing crochet, swimming (I compete and all that), doing ceramics, journaling etc. I also love traveling and meeting new places and cultures. I have a little obsession with fashion and wanted to work on the industry when I was little, but it didn’t really work out, so now I’m studying law. I’m a huge swiftie and I also love Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo. Anyway, I don’t know what else to say. Thank you for your time and have a good day <3

Oh girl, I just know that we would be besties🫶🏽

Pairing: Blaise Zabini

Blaise is the most reserved of the Slytherin boys, often difficult to get a read on

He likes having a good time, but doesn’t always involve himself in the antics that his friends often find themselves in

You first run into each other out by the Black Lake. It was a pretty fall day, perfect for reading out on the lawn. One moment you’re transfixed by your novel, the next moment Blaise had appeared next to you, asking if he could join you

It all seemed quite normal to you, a sweet coincidence

It wasn’t

Blaise had been observing you for ages (he swears it wasn’t in a creepy way) silently admiring you from a far. Your pretty brown hair, the cute way you had to adjust your glasses when you were deep into your book, the way you seemed to burst into life around your friends

He finally worked up the courage to approach you that day and the two of you wind up talking for hours about anything and everything

Blaise also takes his academic studies quite seriously and the two of you easily spiral into a debate about your history of magic essays on elfish laws from the 1900’s

It’s not until the sun is low in the sky that you realize how long you’d been out there

Of course being the gentleman that he is, Blaise offers you his sweater as it had grown a bit chilly as he walks you back to the castle

The two of you make your way back into the castle, and you’re about to turn to leave when Blaise reaches out, catching you by the arm, and asks you to join him at Hogsmeade the following weekend

The day passes by perfectly like a sickeningly sweet montage straight out of a romance film

He loves to spoil you with little gifts and regular bouquets of flowers (his mother made certain that he knew how to treat his lady right)

Blaise finds that he loves your chaotic little bursts of energy and enjoys enabling you in all your endeavors

He also just loves spending time with you, whether you’re both just reading, studying, or he’s observing one of your many hobbies

Blaise definitely is not someone who likes to get messy, but one day you’re determined to teach him pottery and he somehow turns out to be a natural (?!?)

Being the only son of a famously rich widower, Blaise loves taking you around the world to visit his family’s different properties, especially the summer home in Italy

One night, you find yourselves splashing about in the lake near his family’s villa when his arms wrap around you, pulling you under the gentle waves

You barely have time to register anything before his lips are on yours (good thing he mastered the bubble-head charm) it’s warm and sweet and you just melt into each other

The two of you just fit effortlessly together, balancing each other out perfectly, lighting up when you’re together

[officialdaydreamer00]

TWST spotlight!!

thank you to all the people who tagged me in their twst spotlight :o yguys are such darlings and i love how my circle expanded in just a month or two! ily mwah <3 /pla

i can't remember my early mutuals' order but anyways look at my friends!!

@azulashengrottospiano aka aubbie 🐙!! my first mutual on tumblr and THE author who singlehandedly fuel my love for twst in my earlier days in the fandom :D azul's legal wife and writes characters x reader oneshots SO HONKING WELL i am blushing giggling kicking my feet ESPECIALLY HER OCTAVINELLE FICS :000

@shyhaya aka hayami 🌺!! oh so shy but she's such a darling to talk to <3 has beautiful fics for so many fandoms HOW ARE YOU SO TALENTED?? i am in love with your writings shaking you hard

@hisui-dreamer aka rinna 🌟!! one of my fellow jade kissers and writes VERY DELISH fics (i am in shambles over this one in particular) eating your writings om nom nom

@identity-theft-101 aka denti 🪓!! a menace, he's just like me fr fr :D one of my fellow eel kissers and the enabler of my ever growing obsession for the tweels AND I AM LOSING IT OVER HIS DOODLES OF THE TWEELS AND HIS OC REMY

@aqua-beam aka calira 🎉!! my platonic soulmate and fellow jade kisser 🫵🏻 (/aff) brings me so so much serotonin whenever we interact, her reblogs on my posts always succeed to make my day :D

@siren-serenity aka rennie 🌙!! one of the writers i look up to the most in the twst community :D i don't think she's usually active, but whenever she does, it never fails to bring a smile on my face c: absolutely beautiful writings and a super cool oc named melody striker whom i love a lot!

@shinysparklesapphires aka sapphy 🎀!! she's so passionate about precure :D has a cute artstyle and very cool ocs, i think navi is the first one xe introduced to me through my earrings event :o phrog prince my beloved c:

@ceruleancattail aka ceru 🔷 another one of the writers i look up to the most bc their writings have me in a chokehold ACK their twst aus are so very creative and bantering with mooties about cater diamond is very entertaining ^^

@cecilebutcher aka cece 🪩!! fellow floyd kisser and has a great masterlist :D they write for twst and obey me and i adore their ocs! also AESTHETIC MOODBOARD FOR EACH OF THEIR OC I EAT!! :O

@moonlit-midnight aka hannah 🌸!! beautiful writings that makes me cry randomly when im in the mood to read at night c: the fellow jade kisser and writes TWO octavinelle masterlists + twst hcs in which my heart go brrrrrrrrr

@leonistic aka soru 🍞!! number one leona kisser on my blog lmao c: HER WRITINGS IS SO BEAUTIFUL I AM SHAKING YOU BACK AND FORTH :0

@nem0-nee aka nem 🃏!! my newest mootie and THE artist whose art had me in a chokehold for weeks now c: her art is so srcumptious i want to put it on a pedestal and stare at it in awe :D also AESTHETIC *om nom nom p2*

any of my other mooties who are not on here are also very amazing c:

[manicpixiefelix]

I just read part 7 of your salt burn series and IM IN LOVE! I loved the dynamics between Felix and reader and the Oliver and reader throughout! Everything is so detailed and paints such beautiful imagery in the mind. I’m honestly speechless and it’s so hard for me to put into words how much I love this series and just the over all writing. I really like how much of the reader we got and how they interacted with not only both the boys but the friend group as well. Felix and reader getting so intimate and then Oliver and reader fucking too which MAKES FELIX JEALOUS. Then Felix reaching for her even without meaning too and the part where only she calls him FI! All this reader stuff makes me feel so special. I love this like favoritism (I think I would say, not sure if that’s the right word) that reader is getting. OBVIOUSLY I LOVE FELIX AND OLIVER TOGETHER TOO but there is just something so rbjdkenodmebsubfi about the complexity and sensuality with reader and them.

AHHH I MEANT TO RESPOND TO THIS DAYS AGO IVE BEEN EATING SAND ABOUT IT SINCE I READ IT YOU'RE SO LOVELYYYY!!!

seriously though, thank you so much for taking the time to indulge in my writing, and to send such sweet, detailed thoughts (they feed me and boy you have made me well fed, fam. sorry i refuse to phrase things in a normal way).

i work very hard, especially in my longer fics, to make it feel like the reader has a place in the world and in the story, like if im giving you the same essential beats as saltburn, i want there to be a reason for you to stick around, to see what's different, to see what this film would be like if you (or this version of you that i've created) lived alongside these character.

still there's absolute favouritism; it's a wish fulfilment fic, of course there's going to be favouritism! i think the reader allows felix to somehow be both better and worse than what we get in canon, we give him the support and genuine love he barely even receives from his family, while also enabling his, at times, self-obsessed hedonism. that's something that i've actually wanted to talk about it that is one of the ways that Oliver and Reader differ despite their relatively similar functions in felix's life. where Oliver calling Felix messy and cleaning up for him and forcing him to see how much people have to pick up after him is Oliver bringing up uncomfortable truths, when it's established that one of the reader's habits is looking out for felix and getting him whatever he wants/helping out all the time, that's an established Game for them, that's their roles, the reader does it without any kind of resentment, and has made it clear they take joy in it.

anyways as much as i love oli, and the dynamic he's building with fi and reader, fi and reader themselves have something so damn special honestly. love love love them looking out for each other, being jealous, being in love, but still being weird and image conscious and unwilling to let their youthful, stupid freedom go and fully commit to each other. they'll get there. <3

[imminent-danger-came]

Your analysis is delicious and thank you for enabling my bitching. We are holding hands.

Your point about the samadhi fire is so right! Like if Red Son got it, it would have to be a completely different arc, everything would have to change. Unrelated but I think Mei, MK, and Red Son all simultaneously being foils of each other is very interesting

TBH I could go on for even more paragraphs about my many problems with how Mei's treated by the fandom so here's some petty complaints I left out of the first ask:

Her getting hypersexualised in a lot of fanart

Her struggles with the samadhi fire only getting used as angst-fuel for other characters and never for herself

Fans only ever addressing misogyny when it's about someone disliking a ship shes in.

She gets compared to Willow from TOH like a lot? I don't know why???

(this one is hyperspecific and very petty) Multiple Youtube vids about LMK that only bring up Mei to talk about how the ship her with Red Son (while making fun of other ships simultaneously for sooome reason...)

girl is canonically into MCR. thats not a complaint i just dont see people talk about it

and thats not even going into how the fandom treats female villains :P

Anyways Mei deserves a gun and LBD and Spider Queen deserve the world

Mei, MK, and Red Son all simultaneously being foils of each other is SUPER interesting. I just talked about Mei and MK as well as Mei and Red Son parallels, and like it SLAPS. I should delve into MK and Red Son parallels, but that's for another time.

On the topic of Mei being compared to Willow, I think it's because they're both green girl characters who are considered "tough"? It's a very vague archetype—but, I think fandom in general likes to put characters into these nebulous categories. Each character gets sanded down to like 3 base traits and everyone calls it good. It's genuinely maddening.

And personally, I don't really ship anyone in LMK (excluding Freenoodles), so the amount of ship art I see and the way ships predominate is very off-putting for me. I think that's mainly because none of the actual show really focuses on romantic relationships (one of it's virtues, I'm an MK is aroace truther), but to each their own. Shipping is super fun, and I totally get it. However, when it gets to the point where no other relationships/dynamics are really focused on, especially on a show so focused on friendship, it just feels off. It feels even MORE off when the only time you discuss the main female lead is to ship her with Red Son.

AND LOL THE FEMALE VILLAINS. MY POOR GIRLS. I don't think I've ever come across a post about Spider Queen (though her henchmans get a lot of love), and really it's a shame. That girl was doomed by the narrative, and BOY was she doomed by the narrative with MK. Granted she's been dead for 2 seasons, but I STILL see Sandy and Huntsman art, so idk. It honestly feels like the misogyny.

Lady Bone Demon and I are best friends and I love her so much. Truly one of the most villains of all time. "No staff and no backup—so, your plan is to fist fight a child?" OH MY GOD SHE'S SO ICONIC. That AND she has fucked up parallels to MK (sorry my boy foils just about every character in this show, he's a reflection), what is there not to love?

She TRIED to go about helping the world the "right" way, attempting to lead someone with real power to be better (as shown in the 3x11 flashback, but on god that scene parallels her whole relationship with spider queen), and IT DIDN'T WORK. So then she tried to "help" the world by starting with a clean slate, and that didn't work. And then you realize that she was doomed by the narrative just as much as anyone else. I'm fucking obsessed with her. Seriously, the "to pain" scene has been in my head for 5 straight months. I'll never stop yelling about it.

I've been listening to Lady Hell by Dirt Poor Robins on repeat thinking about LBD, and I can't help but rotate her in my mind. She captivates me.

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

i’m being predictable but if no one else has asked yet… bosselot (for the ask game)

Congrats you ARE the first!

Send Me a Ship

Ship It

What made you ship it? Ok so let me start this off by telling you a bit of a story. My introduction to Metal Gear was MGSV. I played Ground Zeroes and then started up Phantom Pain. I straight up thought that Ocelot was Kaz because hey it's been 9 years I've only seen a handful of Kaz and then Ocelot is introducing himself and telling me I know him and I'm like 'Nah dude I really don't.' AND THEN AND THEN. EVERYTHING HAPPENED. Within maybe..3 hours of playing I determined 3 things about Ocelot: Cowboy Gay Evil By the time I finished MGSV, listened to all the tapes and saw the CIGAR SCENE. I had to know more immediately. More I played through the series more I got into Bosselot. By the end with Ocelot's fuckin' finger guns call back and BB's graveyard I was A SOBBING DISASTER THAT GOT SO ATTACHED AND ANYWAY.

What are your favorite things about the ship? I already had a huge weakness for 'evil freak painfully devoted to one person' (re: Yoshitaka Mine, but also I like that kinda thing in general) and Ocelot delivers that in SPADES. (Also their WIG fight? Hello? BB might have a sex drive once a year and wouldn't know romance if it hit him in the face and took his other eyeball but sir, son, my friends; that man likes what he sees). It's extremely funny to me too that EVERYONE calls BB out for helping Ocelot-and asks him why, and he's just *genuinely baffled* "I..don't know...I just had to." Because you like him sir it's okay it's fine. I also don't think BB gets enough credit for enabling Ocelot. I think Ocelot could do whatever he wants and BB's unhinged self would openly encourage him. Ocelot lived and died and brought down the Patriots for Big Boss. Ocelot devoted his ENTIRE LIFE to this man. That is some *chews on glass* worthy shit there. "In love with the legend not the man" my entire ass. If anything he transitioned from loving the legend to loving the man, and stopped associating the two as one in the same. IT IS THE MESSIEST THING EVER. But also weirdly romantic in a way that makes sense to them. Perhaps. Romance can be romance without being sweet-or good. I have more thoughts I'm sure but this is getting long oops.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? No authority on this here again but I don't think the power dynamic isn't quite as it seems. Ocelot is completely, 100% life long devoted to Big Boss, but that devotion is where the ball is in HIS court. Ocelot could take that devotion away at any given moment should he choose; and there'd be NOTHING Big Boss could do about it. The iron grip Big Boss holds on Ocelot is because he knows Ocelot WON'T because Ocelot is terminally in love and obsessed with him. But this isn't a weakness so much on Ocelot's part as it's a known fact. Which can make it a weakness in the right hands. Also, as tying into the above, Ocelot's really bad at hiding it. His enemies might not know jack about him, but his Big Boss open weakness is known to those who can REALLY use it against him (such as Zero).

THANK YOU FOR SENDING IN <3

[sunset-bridge]

asks your thoughts on akeshu. go. be free and be a hater - 🍾

THANK YOU GUYS for enabling me. thank you thank you..

ok so like,,,,it's just, i think their genuine rivalry is like. sooooo much more interesting than a normal ass romance,, and like thats rich coming from me cuz im honestly such a grand romantic i love to wax poetic about sweet nothings and the other etc. but like. helloooo

true kibouheads will remember my rival poll from a bit ago. truth is ive been that way my whole life ahahah i always seeked out someone to be "rivals" with at school or otherwise,,, like i cant live without having this cool ass person i can both look up to but that also challenges me to get better and always try my best yknow... but like an important part is that i feel its always someone that. Gets me you know. i hope i dont sound insane but . people think in different ways u know and some people kinda see things a bit similarly to you and so you feel more connected to them. well like that. finding someone that is like that to me is..... quite the amazing feeling. some of my friends also feel like that to me; someone who gets how i think because they see the world similarly but yet a biiit different so we can share our experiences...people you can talk about anything with for hours and hours and never get bored. i feel like this is a form of real love and im not fucking joking . have u had ur rival give u a compliment or tell u happy birthday ...... WAHOOOO over the moon

ANYWAYS when i was playin p5 at first i didnt think much of goro (unbeliavable i know). but then when i started doing his social link i was like. um. erm. HELLOOO its like. points at screen 🫵🫵🫵 rivals. helloo. YES??? like . i feel i dont see too much appreciation for this kind of relationship EXACTLY because a lot of the time it gets reduced to romance or normal friendship when its so muuuuch more than that.

for anyone that hasnt had a rival its not like normal friendship,, theres this element of strange freakazoid obsession going on and also admiration and dare i say a streak of jealousness !!! at the risk of sounding delulu i will say it occupies a different and special niche compared to a friendship or a romantic relationship. its a different thing that u cant replace!!!

so yeah it was like. finally a weirdo relationship for freaks like me. im seen...yyyyyes. sooooo imagine my disappointment when a lot of ake shoo content reduces them to just plain romance HELLOO wheres the freakazoid content. this also goes to the other extreme where they make it seem like they Completely hate eachother when like. uh. yeah they do not obviously... like just read the dialogue helloo

also because a lot of romantic ake shoe woobifies goro soooo much (NOT ALL obvs but. a majority). like helloooo thats not my freak thats some random twink,,,.. i think this is more for gorogirls sorryyyy its true. i had the tragedy of seeing Things on google images while trying to look for a fucking Gorb png T__T

i also understand the desire to see him more happy but we cant fall on the "fandom takes guy whos a cunt and draws them happy 100% of the time and then kinda starts to forget canon" etc... happy goro is awesome cuz its so rare. its what makes it Sting yknow

anyways. theres also the thing that i see the p5 protag really differently from a lot of people apparently but i dont think that affects this issue toooo much. thats another can of worms

thank you :3c

[femmefatalevibe]

Hi, love your blog. Slightly specific question here, but do you have any advice on knowing whether or not to ask someone out? For clarity: I’m fairly sure, but not quite, that my ex from high-school is flirting with me (I’ve just finished uni now, but my childhood friends and I tend to meet up as a group). However, she’s off to uni too in a few weeks after working for a few years. I’ve been told by my sister not to say anything, and by a few friends to say something anyway even if it goes nowhere, because I’m agonising over the whole thing. So, my main question is, is there ever a way to know whether saying something will make things exponentially worse or better, or is it really just about taking the risk and dealing with the consequences after? Thanks so much for your help.

Hi love. Thank you so much <3

I think the best way to go about a situation like this is to ask her for clarification on the situation because you value your relationship with her. Don't make it into a confrontation, but a conversation that allows you to express how you picked up on "XYZ" behaviors and want to see whether you're interpreting them correctly. Hopefully, if she's a good friend, she will be honest with you. It's either the potential beginning of a fun romance/fling, relationship, or a simple conversation to clear up any miscommunication. To save face when encountering the latter, blame it on your recent media consumption. For example: "Oh, my mistake for misinterpreting your actions. I guess I've been reading too many friends-to-lovers books/watching too many movies & TV shows in this genre lately, lol". (Just don't allude to any type of porn, smut, or overtly sexualized content)

I believe that when discerning whether to confess your feelings for a friend, a few factors come into play:

Whether you're capable of being "just friends" if nothing is said. If you're going to romantically and/or sexually obsess over your platonic friend if you continue the friendship as usual, it is best to be honest about your feelings and stay away in the future if necessary. It is the mature thing to do and is doing right by your friend instead of just ghosting them out of fear of rejection.

Proximity to your friend/interconnected social group or professional life. If you're very entangled with this person's family or close friends, consider whether these relationships could go sour if you confess your feelings (they better be for real with long-term intentions, not a lustful connection if you share these desires with these types of close friends). If this is potentially your last conversation/you have much looser social connections with similar friends/family/professional relationships, sharing your feelings can be a reasonable way to part ways honestly or cultivate something you've both secretly been desiring.

It should go without saying, but never confess your feelings if you know they're currently in a relationship. Do not enable emotional and/or physical cheating for your own selfish gains. Being their friend doesn't place you on a higher ethical playing field when it comes to others respecting their loyalties and relationships with their existing partners.

Of course, there are other circumstantial and personal factors that come into play with these types of interpersonal situations. Consider what you're intuition is telling you. Is your desire to confess a strong, lingering pull or an intense, impulsive feeling? The answer to this question – with these other factors taken into account – will be quite telling.

Hope this helps xx

[scribbledquillz]

20 and 25 for Revka from the list you posted today c:

Edgy/misc OC ask meme ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Mo you are a treasure, thank you for enabling me to continue gushing about my idiots. 🥰

20. Does your OC have a tendency to get jealous? If so, how does this manifest?

I'm going to be an obsessed shipper and approach this from an angle of romance/relationship jealousy just to spare myself from my tendency to write fricken novel length answers lol

I would say with Revka during Origins it isn't so much that she's prone to being jealous so much as she's just - not in a good place to deal with feelings of inadequacy. She's carrying a LOT through all of the Blight, and romance at all was the last thing on her mind when she joined the Wardens. It's a huge part of why she tried to deny her feelings for Zevran as staunchly as she did for a while there, even when it was blatantly obvious to everyone else.

Her being able to let herself become romantically involved in that time is already risking a lot for her, because it's one more thing that's at risk of being destroyed by the Blight. She needs it to remain simple as possible, to let this be something between just her and Zevran for a while without extra complications. Hence why she turns down the threesome with Isabela at the Pearl - it isn't that she wouldn't be interested at some point, or that she'd be jealous of Zevran being involved with Bela. Just that it's one more set of strings added to the knotted mess they're already dealing with.

After the Blight, however, I could see this changing. She's secure in her relationship with Zevran, knows he loves her and that at the end of the day they're committed to one another and will always come home to each other. So long as there's communication and clear expectations/boundaries set she's all good. I really do for example see potential for both her and Zevran to become involved with Fenris in a FWB turned throuple situation - even if just in an au.

With Ceral, well - his best friend is a literal spirit of Love, so the more the merrier. 😂

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

For Revka it's how she loves and cares for those she's close to, regardless of how determined she is to keep it under wraps. She is an extremely devoted and loyal person to those she's fond of, and does not hesitate when there's something within her power to do that would help them or comfort them.

And for Ceral, it's his optimism. He goes into each day determined to see the best in it and in everyone. He has the maturity to approach negative happenings or feelings in a way that's constructive and beneficial rather than getting caught up in dread or helplessness - more often than not anyway. Like his sister he cares deeply, but he's far more liberal with his affections than Revka. He's just an all around good dude who wants the best for everyone, and doesn't let the bastards get him down.

[ugh154628]

Also, you really should just block them and move on if they’re not coming to your house your place of work or personally contacting you then they should not exist in your mind and you’re paying them way too much attention. They are psychotic. I understand that but you also have control and you can choose to ignore it. You’re choosing to feed into it and you need to acknowledge that baby girl

See that's the thing. They have followed me to my grandma's house on private property, they have been following me to my friend's businesses knowing I will be there, I also have reason to believe they are sneaking around my house because my registration sticker on my plate was peeled off, and they are also spreading serious lies about me across social media that I believe require public defense. It would be different if they were just saying the whole "ooo she's a cheater" crap, but it's criminal level activity they are accusing me of. Silence is complacency in my opinion and I think its important to explain my side / refute certain lies they tell. With that aside, if the police won't help, drawing the public's attention to my position regarding them is all I can do to feel safer. It makes me feel better to at least speak out my side of the story in general, too, instead of bottling it up and isolating myself as well as the issue at hand from everyone.

Oh and going further, my ex works for the same employer (different store) and somehow accessed my personal information, hourly pay, vacation time, etc. And told Cece. And she posted about it. So yeah, they are bothering my employment, too.

This isn't just petty drama and it's not easy to ignore whatsoever. It's really serious and I do not think it should not be ignored anyways. How obsessed they are with me is concerning and I genuinely believe their level of obsession indicates they are dangerously unstable people. I don't want then to fly under the radar with what they do to me, and that's the primary reason I am talking about it publically. It makes me feel safer to do that.

I understand where you are coming from, but telling me to just ignore it is hurtful to say, tells me that you're not understanding the level of seriousness that is (the legal definition of) stalking, and to ignore it would be enabling this problem to continue, too. I have tried ignoring it before and every time it did things only escalated badly. For example, when I ignored it for around 4 months, they snuck onto my grandma's property. Other things they do is attack my friends and family when they arent getting my attention, which also makes it difficult to ignore because I can't forcr my friends not to tepl me about it nor tell them not to defend themselves. They essentially escalate to physical stalking and harass my loved ones when they aren't getting to me and I dont talk about it for awhile, and when you put two and two together, that's worrisome. I think when I ignore it they think they can get away with worse and then actually try to. So I feel better off making public statements.

Thank you for your concern, but ignoring it is not an option.

[carpenoctem-tharea]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks to @the-reading-lemon for tagging me here. It took me a few days to answer, but better late than never :)

How many works do you have on Ao3? 3

What's your total Ao3 word count? 161,814 words

What fandoms do you write for? So far, only Captain America (Stucky)

What are your top five fics by kudos? Since there are only 3 of them, here’s the top three: 3) Mission Protocol, 2) Press Pause To Halt The Game, 1) Press X To Jump. 2 and 1 both being part of my We Could Be Heroes Series (unofficially called "MCUJumanji")

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yep. I’m always super happy about comments. When I posted my first fic, I had to get a handle on constantly checking my mails for comments, but I think I’m getting better at not obsessing over my writing and the comments too much.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Well, to be honest I think I’m a sucker for non-happy endings. That being said, I do not plan on writing a not-happy ending for We Could Be Heroes - mostly because my friend and fic enabler will appear to smother me with a pillow (after writing a happy ending). But I planned a happy ending for that series anyway ;) So far, the angstiest ending is Press X To Jump. Not that Press Pause to Halt The Game does not have its fair share of angst, but I wanted to end that on a hopeful note (with at least one character’s pov).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Considering that We Could Be Heroes is planned to be about 4 parts (and we’re finally moving to the happier endings with part 3!), it would be Mission Protocol.

Do you get hate on fics? So far, no.

Do you write smut? Yes, but none of it in those published fics ;)

Do you write crossovers? I have a WIP that has a crossover setting (kind of), as there is a quick blink-and-you-will-miss-it moment @the-reading-lemon's characters from Destruction of Ice appear (Sally Donovan, John Watson and Sherlock). Overall, however, it’s mostly focused on something else in the PsyChangeling world (with some mentions of the original characters by Nalini Sing). Other than that, no. I haven’t written any crossovers. I'm all for AUs apparently. Looking at my WIP folder/ideas there are definitely a few more AUs I'd love to do ... or just daydram about :D

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of. Then again, I have only three published works (and only started publishing my writing on AO3 recently-ish).

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope, but if you want to go for it, please do. It would be an honor if someone read my work and thought "you know what, I want to translate it". Funny story though I did translate two (and a half) fics for fun when I needed a distraction from writing my dissertation (on translation). And what better way to do that than translate 100k of fanfic on the side? :D I never published those though and it was more out of personal curiosity of how I would handle that in German. If I were to translate other fics I’d put just as much research and care into it as I do with my translations at work - and that is currently something I don't have the time or energy for. But maybe I'll re-translate those fics and check with the author if it's okay do add them to their work on AO3.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Technically, no. I only got to the plotting part after a friend told me about her story idea and we snowballed from there, agreed to never inflict our combined writing evilness on people and continued plotting. We didn’t really get to the writing part. For We Could Be Heroes, I had immense help from two friends who helped with bringing the plot into shape and navigating some roadblocks and character questions in general.

What's your all-time favourite ship? Tough question – I’d say any combination of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh god. I used to be so good at finishing things I was writing. Mostly because I hate jumping between different stories, so I made myself finish my current WIP before I could move on. Now, however, I have a few WIPs on my drive that have been there … a while. @the-reading-lemon will hate to hear it, but I fear it might be my pirate story (but one never knows, maybe I’ll finish it one day – all parts of it^^)

What are your writing strengths? Honestly, I’m not sure.

What are your writing weaknesses? Definitely one of my weaknesses is that I cannot keep things short (which can also help sometimes). When I re-read the first part of the We Could Be Heroes series, I noticed that some things were quite repetitive and I would cut them now. But when I moved on to part 2, I noticed that the repetition was not as bad anymore.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Being a German native, I love to see it! Other languages make things interesting in stories and I always love to see how it is handled (by characters in the story, and the author).

First fandom you wrote for? Don’t hate me, but thinking back I think it was Twilight. Although I have to say I didn’t know it that I was writing fanfic at the time – I just wanted Seth to have a nice story too :D After @the-reading-lemon had kindly dragged me into the fandom world and I willingly jumped down the rabbit hole of Captain America, it was Stucky.

Favourite fic you've ever written? From the three published ones, Press Pause To Halt The Game.

Tagging: Whoever feels like answering those questions.

[alstroemeriadissonance]

HELLO QUEEN hope you’re all well and safe!! before i proceed with my shameless ask i just wanna say I AM SO IN LOVE w/ the ingrid threesome fic (extreme blushing) uGH also the one with aaron got me 🥵😳 aaaaa thank you for the delicious food!!

so uh anyway hehe for my shameless ask... marius being obssessed with vyn's beauty mark that he just cant stop kissing it every now and then aaaa and vyn secretly loving mariusÀ' obsession over his... mole. ok or what if a jealous marius bc other men keep on flirting w/ vyn OKAY BUT FOR SORRY TOO MANY ASKS THIS IS THE LAST ONE I PROMISE :D

[patiently waiting for the next vynmarius content ilysm ilysm]

Marks (NSFW)

VynMarius

Wherein Marius is driven mad by Vyn's usually-hidden beauty mark. Things happen as a result.

Wet shirt doctor happens once again, this time deliberately

Marius was an early-riser. 

Were it not for his duties as a stand-in for his brother–currently missing–this fact would have enabled him to enjoy the wonderful quietude of the early morning hours, something that would have benefited his creative output. 

Instead, the beauty of dewy mornings were withheld from him as he would lose himself into the flurry of duties and responsibilities as Marius von Hagen, which started from the very moment he inhaled his very first waking breath in the morning, and last until he finally closed his eyes to slumber.

Except for today. Marius opened his eyes not in his own bedroom, but in someone else's. This time, instead of the usual sterile quiet of his bedroom, what greeted his slowly waking senses were the chirping of birds, the scant sunlight that slipped through the thin gaps between panels of blackout curtains…and the soft snoring of his lover, slumbering beside him.

The fragrance of his lover, the arousing yet soft mixture of flowers and musk stirred certain things inside the young artist. 

Marius swept his eyes over the slumbering form of his childhood friend, tutor, and lover: Vyn, whose moonlight hair spilled onto his dark green pillow, long silver lashes fluttering ever so slightly at every rising and falling of his chest in slow, steady breathing.

His fair skin, bared with the undoing of his silk sleeping robe, undoubtedly by his tossing and turning in bed.

Vyn was practically naked next to him: he laid on his back, body prone; and aside from the silk robe that had long slid off his body, his blankets had also been kicked off to the foot of the bed, leaving his entire body naked and defenseless.

Marius gulped. Not that he hadn’t seen the man without his clothes on; they have made love so many times now, and Marius had certainly had indulged himself so much in Vyn’s beautiful nudity that he could paint his lover’s magnificent form even in dreams; but never had he seen Vyn both naked and vulnerable, at the same time.

Vulnerable. 

With utmost care not to wake up his Sleeping Beauty, Marius rolled onto his side to better face his lover, and probably spend this rare peaceful morning watching him sleep until he finally woke up.

Then he notices it. That thing about Vyn that gets him slightly off-kilter whenever he sees it. Marius grins as he leans forward, lips hovering over Vyn’s right collarbone. His warm breath fanned Vyn’s cool skin; carefully he pressed his lips quite reverently onto his lover’s beauty mark.

That secret beauty mark, always hidden within Vyn’s multiple layers of clothing. Marius himself never knew about this particular mole that sat right near the center of Vyn’s right collarbone, not until one of those very rare moments he had seen the man topless. 

Ever since then that particular beauty mark came to possess a certain element of tantalizing taboo, reinforced by the fact that he mostly only ever saw it whenever they made love to each other. Vyn wasn’t the type to casually shed clothing nor wear anything that exposed skin below his neck; the man was that guarded.

Lips smiling against Vyn’s cool skin that gradually warmed by his touch, Marius once again kissed that beauty mark–nothing but a cluster of pigment underneath the skin, yet bore so much secret meaning for him–and let his lips linger onto that silken patch of skin. 

If only mornings were always like this. The prevailing artist in Marius knew that most of the beauty of these sorts of trysts came from their fleeting, ephemeral nature; yet that did not change the fact that he wanted their time together, their shared sanctuary, to never end…

Vyn stirred. Marius did not pay mind; instead he dared to let his tongue taste his lover’s skin; the beauty mark. The wet muscle lapped at that patch over the collarbone, the tongue-tip drawing smaller and smaller circles directly over the mole. 

Vyn’s student knew he would not see this tiny forbidden marking the moment they get dressed for the day, and for several days thereafter until their next meeting, and so Marius endeavored to make the most out of their remaining time in bed enjoying it as much as he could.

“If you do not quit that, Marius, I will knee you in the gut,” came Vyn’s sleep-heavy, raspy voice. “It tickles me.”

A short burst of laughter escaped Marius’s lips. “Can’t help it. Your mark is really sexy.”

“I still do not understand why it catches your attention so much,” Vyn groaned as he shifted on the bedsheets. “It is but a mere mole.” His hands felt around for his blankets, only to find they were well out of his grasp, and he was too sleep-addled to sit up and reach for the sheets that he kicked off in his sleep. 

That, and his student was holding him down on the bed obsessing over a cluster of melanocytes like an idiot. 

“I am cold. Let me get the blanket. Or fetch the blanket for me, please.”

“Ehhh, am I not warm enough for you?” Marius pulled away from Vyn’s clavicle, pouting. “I can be your blanket.”

“I want to sleep, Marius.” came Vyn’s irritated murmur, the doctor still bogged down with drowsiness. “Leave me be. This will be the last time I entertain you in my bedroom.” Frowning, Vyn shifted on the sheets, his back now facing his student. 

“Aww. Don’t be like that,” Marius simpered, like a puppy begging for attention. “Here,” he threw an arm around Vyn’s waist, spooning him from behind. He took care to maximize skin-to skin contact, melding his form to Vyn’s slightly curled position. “There, comfy yeah?”

Even Vyn could not deny that the taller man spooning him felt nice and warm. “Mm,” was the only sound that came from him.

The next couple of hours flowed, fluid-like, with both men drifting in and out of sleep, tossing and turning on the bed. Kisses were shared and kisses were taken in between bouts of slumber. 

Time solidified, eventually, when Marius noticed Vyn’s morning glory poking against his thigh. 

Might as well. Marius spat on his palm, then grasped Vyn’s cock as he leaned forward, once again nibbling on Vyn’s beauty mark with his lips. Slowly, Marius with his spit-slickened hand started to jack his tutor off; his own stirring arousal neglected for now.

For now, all Marius wanted to do is to enjoy Vyn as much as he could.

Vyn’s eyes remained closed, yet a soft blush started to suffuse his cheeks and his breathing became shallow. His cock stiffened even more under Marius’s ministrations; eventually a moan slipped through his delectable, kissable lips and his golden eyes opened a smidgen.

“Marius…how dare you…” Yet Vyn made no move to stop his student, instead pushing him away from his collarbone just so he could claim his lips in a kiss. “Ah–please do not stop.”

Marius laughed into Vyn’s mouth. “Make up your mind, will you?” then once again leaned down to lazily lap up at Vyn’s beauty mark as he kept on masturbating his tutor. “As if it matters, hah.”

“Why are you so preoccupied about that–hahh–spot?” Vyn groaned, Marius’s hand working him into a slow-burning frenzy. “You have been–ah, fuck–doing that all morning.”

Smiling impishly Marius latched his lips over the beauty mark, and started sucking steadily onto the patch of skin. By the time he was done a deep red-violet mark had bloomed directly over the mole, as if blotting it out.

“It just drives me crazy,” Marius whispered as he beheld his small work of art, painted directly onto the canvas that was Vyn’s previously pristine fair skin. “Having something on you that only I can see just makes me feel things, you know?”

Vyn’s eyes snapped fully open. “Did you just give me a hickey?” He hissed as he realized what his student had done. “You dare–” Within a few seconds he was now straddling Marius on his stomach, hands pinning the younger man’s arms to the bed with an iron grip. “You have no right to mark me,” Vyn hissed. He would have pulled at Marius’s collar right now, if Marius was wearing anything in the first place; all the younger had on his person was a pair of lounge pants, and he was topless.

“Well, uh, yeah if you say so,” Marius drawled, unfazed. “Still doesn’t change the fact that your dick is hard. For me, that is.” He licked his lips. “So–”

Vyn tsk-ed. He slid his hips up to ride Marius���s chest and grabbed a fistful of his student’s dark hair, pulling Marius’s head close to his hard cock. “Suck me off,” came his command, imperious.

“Oh fuck,” Marius groaned, incredibly turned on. “Yes, Professor Richter.” He let his tutor shove his cock deep into his mouth, hitting the back of his throat until involuntary tears rolled down his cheeks. 

“Yess. Just like that. Hahh, yes–” Vyn sighed. It was all too easy to relish the feel of his student’s tongue swirling around his tip. Then his voice gained an edge. “If only you were this diligent with your studies,” he said as he licked his lips, watching with an impassive gaze as Marius took most of his cock into his mouth, sucking in earnest.

The student lets the snark slide; Vyn throwing snide comments here and there was par for the course before their relationship turned sexual and would remain to be so. Not that he actually dislikes the barb-laden interaction; for Marius all kinds of attention, as long as it came from Vyn, was good attention. And so he returned Vyn’s snark by massaging his tutor’s cock with the flat of his tongue; he peeks at Vyn’s face through his lashes and found himself grinning–or what semblance of grin was possible with a dick in between his lips–upon seeing Vyn throw his head back, giving himself into waves upon waves of pleasure.

Then he removes his mouth from Vyn’s painfully stiff cock just long enough to say, “Admit it. You really don’t mind me marking you.” A long, languorous lick just right where the cockhead met the shaft. “You’re just looking for reasons to be pissy at me, Vyn.” A chaste kiss at the slit. Then Marius once again slips Vyn’s dick into his mouth, resuming his heavenly worship of his lover’s dick with his relentless tonguing and sucking.

His earnest efforts eventually sent Vyn shuddering on top of him. “That’s enough for now, Marius,” Vyn whispered, gritting his teeth as he quite regretfully pulled out from the other man’s mouth. “Not yet,” he said as he adjusted his position over Marius, now straddling his student’s thighs. 

The student’s own hard on was all-too obvious from within the soft fabric of his lounge pants; Vyn slipped his hand underneath the pant’s garter to free Marius’s now-weeping cock, tip moistened with precum. He let his thumb idly stroke the shaft, and Vyn enjoyed the resulting moans from the younger man almost writhing underneath him.

“Hahh–Vyn, god that feels so…” Marius moaned out loud, driving his head deeper into the pillows.

With their painfully hard cocks now dangerously close to each other, it was now possible to take both of them together in one hand, and that was what Vyn exactly did. 

“How badly do you want to come in my hand?” came his question as his long fingers wrapped around both cocks, his hand not yet moving.

No doubt Vyn intended for his words to be laced with a sharp edge, yet with the way his breath hitched, voice wavering, he sounded deliciously needy. 

“Professor Richter,” Marius began, incredibly aroused; “How badly? Fuck,” he gulped, eyes never leaving the utterly erotic sight of their glistening cocks both gathered in Vyn’s long, slender fingers; and of Vyn’s lust-heavy face tinged pink with a sex flush, lips slightly parted. “You can tell me that you’d fail me in all our subjects if I give in and shoot my load,” Marius licked his lips. “But I will still jizz all over your hand anyway.”

“I pity your father,” Vyn remarked at this, then his hand started moving. Slowly at first, but enough to send both men sighing in relief and utter gratification with how their dicks rubbed against each other. His pumping gradually picked up speed; Marius’s fingers dug deeply into the sheets as he almost lost control over himself. 

“Shit, Vyn,” Marius hissed. “That’s–ah–”

“I am disappointed that you cannot string coherent words together, Marius,” Vyn said, yet his breathing hitched a little, his fast, shallow breathing audible. “What?” he said as his hand did not let up his pumping; instead he adjusted his hold just enough to allow his thumb to massage the underside of his student’s cock as he jacked them off.

“Ah crap, I’m going to c–” Marius unfortunately did not get to complete his words yet again before he came; his hot white fluid splattered against Vyn’s stomach, trickling down all over the tutor’s fingers. “...come.”

Muttering a string of curses under his breath, Vyn then followed the tail end of his student’s orgasm with his own climax, his own thick fluid spilling all over Marius’s abdomen in hot white ropes.

“Hahh–passable,” was all he said as he collapsed on top of Marius, spent.

“Just passable? What standards are we grading our performance against? Because that was pretty hot to me,” Marius muttered as he gathered Vyn in his arms, letting the tutor’s face nestle in his neck. “Anyway, will we meet here again next week? 

“You are no longer welcome here in my bedroom,” Vyn muttered, face still buried in Marius’s neck. “I will drop by your place on Saturday next week.”

“Aww, surely you can’t be that upset over a hickey,” Marius whined. “You don’t even show that bit of skin! No one’s gonna see it anyway.” His chest sank as he sighed melodramatically. “I’ll miss this place. It’s so nice and comfy and smells of Vyn Richter…”

“You will get your just deserts, little von Hagen,” Vyn murmured sleepily as he draped an arm across Marius’s chest, getting a little bit too comfortable for someone casually tossing threats. “Ah–just you wait.”

A light snoring could be heard from Vyn, having gone out like a light in Marius’s arms.

“...I love you too, Vyn,” said a slightly wistful voice into the renewed silence of the bedroom.

===

Saturday came, and Marius threw open the door leading to his private study like a puppy eagerly awaiting for the arrival of his master.

“Vy–” his words died in his throat as soon as he saw the man who just entered the door.

It was still Vyn, still the man who was Marius’s guilty pleasure, still the man whose poker-faced expression gave everything and nothing away at the same time; the one who always dropped by with a bag full of books that almost never got used anyway, not ever since they started seeing each other in that manner.

Yet there was something fundamentally different, something that was very obvious to anyone who saw Vyn on a regular basis. 

His clothing.

Instead of his usual layers that covered everything from his neck downwards the Vyn who greeted Marius tonight was wearing a white long-sleeved cotton shirt, with nary a jacket nor a cardigan; just a thin cotton shirt whose long sleeves covered enough skin to pass itself off as something that came from Vyn’s usual wardrobe. 

All things considered there was nothing really remarkable at what Vyn wore tonight; it was merely an ordinary shirt-and-jeans ensemble.

But the thin cotton shirt itself wasn’t what bothered Marius. Instead, Vyn’s shirt sported a boat-style neckline, which bared his collarbone including the beauty mark that Vyn knew made Marius go crazy.

“Um. Vyn?” Marius said, rooted on the spot. “That’s…uh. Quite a new look on you.” His eyes never left Vyn’s beauty mark, surrounded by a very faint shadow of what used to be the hickey he gave him, almost completely faded into obscurity.

Vyn looked at him, innocently. “Why thank you, Marius.” Then, “Where should I put my things?”

“Um. Table to the left?”

“Excuse me, then.” Vyn casually loped his way to the indicated table, then–positioning himself so his front is in his student’s full view–he slowly and deliberately took his books out of his tote bag and placed them one by one onto the smooth mahogany surface. There were around ten books; the display was so tantalizingly and excruciatingly long Marius could not help but take it as Vyn’s way of teasing him.

The entire act probably took around three or so minutes, yet for Marius that was three minutes too long. “Vyn?” Marius took a deep breath. “What are you trying to do?”

“Whatever are you talking about?” Vyn asked, raising a delicate silver brow. “I hope you did not forget the essay test I told you about a few days ago.”

“Wait, wait,” Marius raised his hands, stopping Vyn from continuing whatever he was going to say. “You were serious about giving me an essay examination? Tonight?”

“Yes.” Vyn crossed his arms, brows furrowed. “Do not tell me you did not do your readings. I will not take any excuses for you to skip the essay exam.”

“But! We never had to do quizzes! This is strictly tutoring, Vyn! You’re not supposed to–”

“Your grades are flagging, Marius, this essay exam is your remediation,” Vyn cut in. “Need I remind you that if this goes on, I will terminate this arrangement? I refuse to render service that will not bear fruit in the long run. I have other things that I need to do.”

Marius’s mouth merely gaped open, words suddenly having left him. 

Vyn then took a quick glance at his wristwatch. “You have five minutes to get ready, Marius. Feel free to use either paper or your tablet; as long as I get your essay the format matters not.” He seated himself by the table, and motioned for Marius to take the chair opposite his.

Grumbling the rest of his misgivings under his breath, Marius grabbed his pad of paper and fineliner pen from a nearby pile of haphazardly arranged art supplies, and settled into the chair Vyn wanted him to take, presumably for him to catch any attempts to cheat by looking up answers in the internet.

“I want you to write, in your own words, your understanding of the inverse U-Shape hypothesis in visual art,” Vyn said as he took out his tablet that he uses for research work. “You have exactly an hour starting…now.”

It was already useless to voice out his complaints; Marius did do his reading homework, and he could deliver the essay with minimal trouble; most of his grievance came from the fact that he wanted to spend time with Vyn doing something better than listening to the man drone on and on about concepts in the Psychology of Art. Things like…

Marius’s eyes shifted from his still-blank sheet of paper to the man seated directly in front of him; specifically, his bared neckline. There it was, that delectable dot that was, until now, usually hidden from view. 

Before long, the student’s thoughts started to wander, mostly from that time last week where he lost control and just had to give Vyn a hickey, getting himself permanently kicked out of his tutor’s bedroom–or maybe until the tutor had forgotten all about the incident. The bit where he jacked the both of us off, too…

“Marius.” Vyn interrupted his sweet, sweet daydreams. “Fifteen minutes have already elapsed. I’m not seeing anything on your paper yet.”

Marius tsk-ed. “Vyn, surely you know no one likes a micromanager? Let me be, I’m thinking about what to write. You’ll see.” 

“I did not know thinking up of hypotheses makes you grinning like a halfwit, but as long as you can give me a satisfactory output I suppose the means matter not,” Vyn said, pursing his lips. “I shall keep to myself then.”

Ah fuck, Marius you goddamn idiot, he cursed himself inwardly. Now you’re not getting any ASMR treatment for the rest of the day.

Soon enough Marius gathered enough mental willpower to set aside his delicious daydreams of his time with Vyn last week, and of what he wanted to do as soon as he turned in his essay. The sooner he could set the annoying essay aside the better, yet Marius had to keep in mind that this was for a remedial that Vyn had so graciously allowed him so he can hike his grades up without the preferential treatment becoming too obvious. 

That, and Vyn was not the type to give preferential treatment anyway; hence the need for a remedial in the first place.

His fineliner pen flew across the paper, producing lines upon lines of handwritten text as Marius seriously put effort into the exercise. His thoughts on paper came out slightly disjointed in the first few paragraphs, yet he finally managed to find his rhythm and the words effortlessly flowed from his brain to his fingers.

He was three-fourths into his paper when Vyn reached for the bucket that sat on the other end of the table, which contained various cold drinks ready to be consumed whenever either of them needed to slake their thirst; or in Vyn’s case to relax his throat after hours of talking high concepts. 

His long, slender fingers picked out a bottle of carbonated plain water; the screw top hissing as he twisted it open.

Marius was not paying attention to Vyn’s mundane act of consuming a beverage, intent on finishing his essay as soon as possible, until the older man said “Oh, clumsy me,” and the faint splashing of water could be heard.

The student looked up from his paper, and inwardly gasped at the sight that greeted him: The front of Vyn’s white shirt was drenched in water, rendering it almost transparent; transparent enough for him to see his faint nipples showing through the fabric of the wet shirt.

Vyn was giving him the wet shirt treatment.

“Vyn,” Marius rasped out. “Please tell me you are not doing this on purpose. You aren’t doing this on purpose.”

“Ten more minutes, Marius,” was all Vyn said, before he stripped off his shirt and hung it by the backrest of the unoccupied seat beside him. 

Baring his upper body for Marius’s…pleasure. Or torture, depending on his desperate the younger man was on keeping Vyn as his private tutor.

“Vyn. You are fucking doing this on purpose.”

“Nine more minutes. Remember that this will contribute 30% towards your final grade,” Vyn said as he planted an elbow, resting his chin on his palm and looking coolly at his student. “If you indeed read about the topic, then you should be able to easily get full marks and improve your final grade,” he said, as if he was not topless and preening in front of Marius. “Are you not glad? Normally I would leave things be if a student did not display any amount of enthusiasm to my lectures and lessons.”

A hint of a cruel smile ghosted Vyn’s pretty lips.

“Fucking. Hell,” Marius muttered as he wrested his gaze away from the delicious sight that was Dr. Vyn Richter, topless, and furiously continued on writing his essay. He knew this essay mattered, Vyn did not deliver empty threats, and so he struggled to write actual words instead of just drawing literal squiggly lines onto the rest of the paper just so he could be done with it.

“DONE!” Marius ended up with a sheet and a half’s worth of essay, tearing the paper from its pad and submitting it to Vyn’s cursory checking. 

“Hmm,” Vyn murmured as he gave both sheets a once-over, then gave Marius a withering look. “Passable, but I honestly expected more from you, Marius,” he said as he neatly folded the paper and slipped it into a folder inside his satchel bag. “Now, as we are behind sche–mmph–”

Marius, driven mad by the delicious sight of his tutor after a solid week of pining for their next meeting, lunged across the table to grab Vyn’s face, kissing him fully on the lips. “No, no, we aren’t behind schedule, Vyn,” Marius whispered in between loud, wet kisses. “Mm. I checked. You fucker, you think I wouldn’t notice our accelerated curriculum schedule?” His hands slid onto his tutor’s bare chest, thumbs teasing Vyn’s nipples to hardness.

“Hahh–and here I was thinking you don't even care enough to check,” Vyn murmured as he allowed his student’s hands to roam his bare skin. “Pushing your limits is what I intend to do, Marius.” He let out a moan as Marius nipped at his neck. “I wanted to see if I could have you finish on an accelerated schedule to allow yourself more time to–ahh–”

Marius unceremoniously pushed away the papers, books, tablets and other items off the table with the exception of the bucket of beverages–he had a good idea for those–and climbed the table, pulling Vyn up to join him. “Because of your little ploy I actually got scared,” he huffed as he assaulted the older man with hungry kisses. “I’ll take my reward now, if you don’t mind.”

Vyn found himself being pushed down onto the table’s cold, hard surface, his student studying his bare skin with his lips and tongue. “There was no such talk of reward, Marius. Whatever–”

“Shut up, Vyn,” Marius hissed, the momentum of his arousal not letting himself stop. “You wanted this. Which is why you’re toying with me. Now,” his lips found purchase once again on Vyn’s beauty mark, languidly tonguing it as he fumbled in his back pocket to retrieve a certain item.

A tube of lubricant.

“I’ll enjoy you. And more. Hope you don’t mind, Professor Richter,” Marius whispered, lips still caressing that unassuming cluster of melanocytes. “You knew what you were getting into.”

Vyn laughed, then moaned, and that was all Marius needed to hear to confirm that he was right on point.

[helnjk]

Sixth Year - D.M.

Draco Malfoy x fem!reader

Platonic!Blaise Zabini x fem!reader

Requested: yes

Hey if requests are open could you do a prompt#21&50 for Draco.. Could it be a bit of angst and end with fluff? Thanks!

“all you do is make empty promises” “i’m tired of your lies”

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: angst, swearing

Summary: 6th year with Draco isn’t turning out how you expected it to be.

A/N: ok 1, i wanted to try writing angst (pls give comments/reviews!! i wanna know how i did) & 2, other than the request, i kind of based this off of one of my fav tiktok acct’s shifting stories aksjdhsadh you can find her here ! i love her tiktoks and she’s what got me into shifting LMAO but anyway ! let me know if you wanna be added to my taglist ! enjoy xx

THIS IS A REPOST BC I THINK TUMBLR DID ME DIRTY WITH THE TAGS

Prompts are in bold

—

Eighth. This was the eighth night you had stayed up until god knows what hour waiting for Draco to show up.

The moon was high in the sky by the time you realized he wasn’t coming yet again. The biting wind rushed past you as you tried to gather as much warmth as possible from the jacket you brought up to the Astronomy tower. Your breath came out in short puffs, white wisps trailing from your mouth out into the chilly night.

With one last glance at the midnight stained grounds, the only light emanating from the moon above, you wrapped your jacket tighter around your body and turned to make it down the stairs. It was a long trek to the Slytherin dorms, which gave your mind more time to spiral. This meant fighting back the prick of tears at the back of your eyes by the time you had reached the dungeons.

The next morning, you found yourself at the Slytherin table barely able to keep your eyes open. You hadn’t gotten much sleep, your mind refusing to stop running the different scenarios with which you imagined Draco must have gotten into causing him to forget your rescheduled plans.

“Y/N?” Blaise’s voice startled you into opening your eyes, having nodded off, leant against your palm.

“Huh?” You murmured, trying to blink the sleep from your eyes, “Sorry did you say something?”

“You alright? You look like you could just drop dead any second,” His eyes scanned yours worriedly, shifting closer to you so that you could have something to lean on.

“Gee thanks Blaise,” A sarcastic drawl came out of your lips, “Just tired. I was up late last night at the Astronomy tower waiting for Draco.”

His brows furrowed at your statement, “Draco? He got to the dorms pretty early last night. Didn’t say he had anything planned with you last night.” Eyes widened at the realization of what he said and he quickly tried to back track, “I mean-That’s not-”

Despite the distinct crack you felt in your chest, you mustered up the faintest of smiles (which probably looked more like a lopsided grimace), “It’s alright, Blaise. Thanks for letting me know.”

The rest of the day passed by you in a blur.

Everyone seemed to notice the melancholy mood that you were in, everyone except for the only person you wished would pay attention.

Being in your sixth year at Hogwarts, you were excited to spend a good chunk of it with your boyfriend. After all, there were no OWLs or NEWTs to worry about (yet), so you assumed that this year would bring more time for you to spend together.

You were wrong. Clearly.

The moment you had stepped off the Hogwarts Express in September, Draco started to spend less and less time with you. It was November now and the less time you found yourself spending with him, the more you noticed that he began to keep things from you. His eyes would shift whenever you would ask him what his plans for the day were or when you questioned who he would be with all day. He never gave you straight answers either.

“Why? What do you have planned for us today?”

“Just off brainstorming for our next date.”

“Obsessed with me, are you? You’re too cute darling.”

No matter how charming he had tried to be with his answers, you could tell something was off with him. None of the so-called plans he came up with ever came to full fruition. Often, you would find yourself waiting for him to arrive, either at the common room to take you to wherever he planned your date to be, or up in the Astronomy tower since that was where you went when you wanted to spend time, just the two of you.

Some nasty rumors had also been circulating Slytherin house. It started when someone overheard Harry Potter speaking to his friends about running into Draco right before a quidditch match, but the catch was that he was in the company of two other girls. Of course, you tried not to let these kinds of things get to you, they were just silly little rumors after all.

Still, these kinds of thoughts plagued you at night when you would go to bed not wrapped in the arms of the person you loved most.  

When you brought up these feelings with him, it had only started an argument.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Y/N.” Draco said rather harshly after you asked him about the rumors, “Are you implying that I’m cheating on you?”

“No!” You replied immediately, “I just want to know where these rumors are coming from. You’re my boyfriend, I should know what to say when people ask me about it.”

“Then tell them they should be minding their own damn business.”

You didn’t bring it up after that, afraid that if you did, it would cause an even bigger rift between you two.

By the time you had made it back to the common room, it was mostly empty. There were a couple of seventh years trying to get in some extra revising time in the corner, but they mostly left you alone. Not wanting to go up to your dorm yet, you settled on the couch next to the blazing fire instead. By some stroke of luck, Draco came stumbling inside the room as you sunk into the cushions.

“Draco!” You called out, his name slipping from your lips before you even knew you were saying anything.

His eyes registered that you were in the practically empty common room a second slower than usual, “Y/N. Hi love.”

“I missed you last night,” You admitted as he reached you.

A furrow in his brows told you that he didn’t know what you were talking about, “Come again, love?”

For the nth time, his words struck a chord deep in you. You didn’t think it was physically possible, but they added yet another crack to your already broken heart. You cleared your throat in an attempt to push down the lump that had formed, “Uh, I was waiting for you in the Astronomy tower? Because we had plans?”

As if a bucket of cold water dropped on him, his demeanour changed completely in the blink of an eye.

“Oh darling I’m so sorry,” He muttered softly, taking your face in his hands and pressing kisses all around, “I was completely knackered yesterday, I didn’t even think about anything after dinner except sleep. I’m so sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?”

Instead of the calm you usually felt being around Draco, you felt like you were at your breaking point. You couldn’t do this to yourself anymore. It was surprising to realize, that even with the added comfort of being at the receiving end of his kisses, there was still a large part of you that was tired. You couldn’t fall back into his arms after more than a dozen attempts at trying to keep the relationship afloat.

Gently, you pried his hands away from his face and took a deep breath. You could already feel the sting of unshed tears in your eyes as they locked with his, “I don’t think you can do anything to fix this.”

“What-Love, what are you talking about?”

“All you do is make empty promises, Dray.” You whispered, “And I’m tired of setting myself up for disappointment.”  

The love of your life was speechless, so you took the opportunity to stand up quickly. “I don’t understand what you’re doing or why you’re being so secretive about it, but find me when you’ve figured out if it’s worth it or not.”

Without waiting for his response, you hurriedly made your way to your dorm room and sparing no glances back in his direction.

-

A few days after your heartbreaking conversation with Draco, you still weren’t one hundred percent. It didn’t feel like you were ever going to be one hundred percent again. Your only solace was your friendship with Blaise.

For all intents and purposes, he was your best friend. Even before you had started dating Draco, the two of you were thick as thieves.

Oftentimes over the next few days, you found yourselves huddled in a corner of the common room. He would remind you to eat and to do your schoolwork as you went about your days mindlessly.

“C’mon,” He said one night, holding his hand out to you as you were cuddled up against a cushion. You merely raised your eyebrow at him, “Get up, I’ve got somewhere to take you.”

With a sigh, you pushed yourself off the couch and took his hand. It was well past curfew, but it never really bothered the pair of you. Being Slytherins made you resourceful with how you navigated the castle, the easy dynamic between the two of you enabled you to sneak through the shadows unnoticed by anyone who might have been nearby.

“Why are we going to the Astronomy tower?” You whispered as you climbed the seemingly endless staircase.

“Just thought you could use some fresh air.” He answered nonchalantly, “Feels like you’ve kept yourself cooped up in the castle this whole week.”

“That’s awful sweet of you, Zabini,” You teased, the shadow of a smile on your lips.

He shrugged as you got to the top of the tower, “Just don’t like seeing you so sad.”

Few words were exchanged between you two as you leant against the railing of the turret, taking in the view of the grounds in the dim light. The moon was full and high in the sky, and the breeze wasn’t as biting as it was the last time you were here.

Something about being up there in the clear night with Blaise was doing wonders for your aching heart. It might’ve been the fresh, crisp air, it might have been the calming presence of your best friend. You were grateful either way.

As the wind picked up, you huddled closer to Blaise’s warm body. What was it about boys being basically walking furnaces all the damn time?

“Draco’s a prat,” He murmured as he wrapped his arms around you, “I just wanted you to hear that.”

“He’s not though,” You defended weakly, “Something’s up with him, definitely, but I don’t think he’s being a dick on purpose.”

“Yeah but he’s still made you feel like shit.”

You shrugged, “And I let him.”

After a few minutes of silence, you heard the distinct sound of a door swinging open behind you. You craned your neck to see who would be up here at such a late hour when your heart stopped in your chest.

“What’s going on here?” Draco sneered, taking in the sight of you cuddled up at Blaise’s side, “Replaced me already, Y/N? Reckon he’s the reason why we’ve broken up?”

You felt Blaise tense up beside you but paid no mind when your focus was solely on the rage brewing in your chest.

“How dare you,” You seethed, “You have no right to accuse me, we weren’t even doing anything!”

He had the audacity to scoff at your retort, “Sneaking off at nearly midnight, to share a romantic night under the stars? Seems like more than just ‘nothing.’”

Before you could respond, you felt Blaise’s warm hands on your shoulders, “I’m gonna let you handle this one, love.” Blaise whispered in your ear, “He doesn’t deserve anything from you, but I feel like I’ll only make it worse if I stay.”

You nodded slightly.

“Hurt her even more than you have, Malfoy, and you’ll see just what kinds of curses I know how to cast.”

With Blaise making a quick exit and taking away your source of warmth, you crossed your arms in front of your chest and clutched the jacket you had on closer to you.

“You never had a problem with my friendship with Blaise before,” You muttered.

“Because he wasn’t all over you then!” He argued.

“We’ve always been like that and you know it.” You rolled your eyes, “Why are you even up here Draco?”

“So you own the Astronomy tower now?” He huffed, stepping next to you to lean on the railings, “I needed somewhere to think and clear my head.”

Almost as if there was no gaping chasm between the two of you, your bodies slowly inched towards each other until you were shoulder to shoulder. Almost as if the boy standing next to you hadn’t broken your heart with his secrets and his deflection tactics, his presence seemed to calm your elevated heart rate. Almost.

“Are you finally going to tell me what’s been going on with you recently?” The words that escape your mouth are no more than a whisper. You hold your breath in anticipation.

“Nothing’s been going on,” Is all he says in reply.

“Stop lying through your teeth, Draco!” You burst out, your frustrations finally getting the better of you, “I’m tired of your lies. Do you not trust me? Is that it? Because I can help you, you just have to let me in!”

“Of course I trust you! I love you for Merlin’s sake, Y/N!”

You sucked in a breath, all of your resentment seeming to escape your body, “I love you too, Draco,” You whisper, taking his warm hand in your cold ones, “But all of this sneaking around, this hiding, I don’t think I can handle not knowing what you’re up to especially when it’s affecting you this way.”

Draco took a deep shuddering breath, you could practically see the gears turning in his head. “I don’t want to lose you.”

That wasn’t what you expected him to say, “You won’t, you just need to be honest with me.”

He turned to face you, thumbs rubbing gentle circles on your hands, “I can’t tell you exactly what I’m doing,” You opened your mouth to argue but he cut you off with a look, “All I can say is that I love you and I want to protect you. What I’m doing has nothing to do with how much you mean to me, but it’s something I have to do. I just need you to be here, be with me.”

“I don’t understand,” Came your reply.

“I’m saying that I have an important job to do, and I want to be with you, but that means you’ll have to be okay with not knowing everything.”

“You’ll tell me if you need any help though, right?” You all but whispered.

“I’ll tell you if you absolutely need to know,” He nodded slightly.

“Okay,” You were still trying to wrap your head around everything that he said. It wasn’t exactly what you wanted, but it was a good compromise, “And you can’t keep blowing me off. If you want me to be here for you, then you have to do the same for me.”

“I can work with that.” A slow smile graced his pale features and you felt your heart stutter at the sight, you hadn’t seen him look so calm and at ease in a long time.

“Good.” You pressed your cheek against his chest and reveled at the comfort it brought you. He wrapped his arms around you and you could feel yourself melting into his touch.

[clumsyclifford]

lashton prompt: luke falling asleep on skype and ashton taking the opportunity to draw him, bonus if someone else finds the sketches before ashton shows them to luke

meghna this prompt is from almost a full calendar year ago. i am proud to report that after all this time i did in fact manage to set it in spideyverse because that’s how determined i am. more info in ao3 notes but it takes place in the summer before their senior year of high school, so after the events of everything else in spideyverse so far

read here on ao3

-

Ashton will have to thank Maya later for the tip about the Fine Arts Room. He jimmies the door handle and, as promised, the door swings opens to reveal a darkened room full of half-finished projects. They must really take the decency of humanity on faith here. Anyone could come in at any time and sabotage any of this work.

Ashton has less nefarious plans.

He sits at his usual spot but doesn’t turn any lights on; the big windows shine just enough moonlight into the room that Ashton can see the silhouettes of the furniture, and his laptop will be on in a moment anyway. Careful of the scattered pages over his workspace, he opens his computer and loads up Skype. 

Just in time for an incoming call.

Ashton fumbles with his headphones and plugs them in with one hand while he accepts the call with the other. The screen fills with Luke’s brightly-lit, highly pixelated face. Chin in his hands, elbows propped on his desk, hair a ruffled mess (from the mask, Ashton knows) — the sight of him fills Ashton with warmth.

“Hey,” Luke says, smiling his usual cheeky smile. They’ve been texting sporadically, but seeing Luke’s face — hearing his voice — gives Ashton a fluttery feeling behind his sternum. Calum would call that anatomically impossible, but he’d do it with a smirk. “I can barely see you.”

“I’m sitting in the dark,” Ashton explains. His voice is a hushed whisper even though he knows it’s absurd to be paranoid. They’re supposed to be confined to their bunks by now, and the staff and counselors will all be asleep. The only reason he and Luke are calling now, past midnight, is because now is the only time they’re both available. “I’m in the Fine Arts Room.”

“Ooh, can I see?”

“I don’t want to turn on the lights,” Ashton says. “There are windows and stuff.”

“Are you not supposed to be there?” Luke raises an eyebrow and grins. “Ooh, is Ashton Irwin sneaking around?”

“Well, if we weren’t calling at the middle of the night, I wouldn’t have to.”

“Don’t they lock the buildings?” Luke suddenly looks concerned.

Ashton shrugs. “Maya told me that if I jiggle the handle, the door will open. She was right.”

“Go Maya,” Luke says. “I like Maya. Who’s Maya?”

“My new friend,” says Ashton. “She mostly paints. We’ve got a challenge going on about whether she’s better at drawing or I’m better at painting, since neither of us really use those mediums. Hannah — one of the other campers — is going to find something for us to both paint slash draw and then there’ll be an unofficial panel of judges. It’s pretty stupid.”

“You’re smiling a lot,” Luke says, and Ashton realizes he is. “Doesn’t sound stupid to me. You think you’re gonna win?”

“No,” Ashton says honestly. “I’m pretty awful at painting.”

“I’m sure you’re better than you think. How hard can it be?”

“That’s very rich coming from you, Mr. I-Can’t-Draw-A-House.”

“Hey, fuck off! I can draw a house, thank you very much.” Luke looks down at his desk and his focus shifts, and Ashton watches in bemused patience. As he waits, he draws a blank piece of paper towards him and grabs the nearest pencil lying around. His hands move almost unconsciously, drawing lines and curves and sketching the outline of something Ashton hasn’t quite decided on yet. Luke finally lifts his head up. “Here, see?” He holds up a piece of paper to the camera, where he’s drawn a box with an isosceles triangle on top for the roof, complete with a little chimney sticking out. “House,” Luke proudly declares. “Boom. Get fucked, Irwin.”

“I stand corrected,” Ashton chuckles. He hums. “They’ll probably just find us equally talented because painting is different from drawing and blah blah blah artsy hipster bullshit.”

“Stop dismissing the artsy hipster bullshit,” Luke says stubbornly. “I’ll have you know my boyfriend deals exclusively in artsy hipster bullshit.”

“You think my drawings are artsy hipster bullshit?”

“No, babe, I think you are artsy hipster bullshit.” Luke grins widely and then gets cut off by a yawn. Ashton bites back a very cheesy comment about how Luke should web himself up for being criminally cute.

“You know what, I’m gonna let you have that one,” he says instead. “Since I am at an artsy hipster bullshit summer camp.”

“I miss you.” Luke pouts. It’s a funny look on him. Ashton tries to imagine Spiderman pouting and completely fails. Sometimes it’s hard for him to reconcile Luke and Spiderman being the same person. That this adorable six-foot-and-change beanstalk who yawns on Skype is the same person who can do a double-backflip and land on his feet on the rooftop of any building. Ashton’s boyfriend stops crimes. What the fuck.

“I miss you too,” he says. “You seem tired.”

“I’m not tired.” Instant karma is a bitch. Luke immediately yawns again, this time much wider. “Okay, I’m a little tired,” he admits, smacking his lips like a child. “Summer break is deceptively boring. I…I run out of things to do all day, so I just kinda…keep patrolling. I might be wearing myself out.”

“Jesus, Luke, take it easy on yourself. Queens goes the entire school day without Spiderman’s protection during the school year. You can handle a break.”

“Yeah, but I might as well patrol,” Luke counters. “I have the time, and it’s not like I’m doing anything else.”

“I thought you and Michael were working on new specs for the suit.”

“It’s mostly Michael. Also, I think he’s kind of annoyed about the whole 24/7 patrol. He can’t work on the suit if I’m wearing it.”

“That is true.”

“But he’s been spending a lot of his time with Calum, anyway,” Luke says coolly. “So I figure he’s probably got other priorities.”

“Well, if you keep blowing him off to obsessively patrol the city, I can’t possibly imagine why he’s making other plans.” 

Luke stares through the camera. His shoulders slump. “Maybe. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Ashton chirps.

Luke sighs deeply. “You’re not here, Ash.”

Ashton purses his lips and frowns. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, but I’m just saying. I miss you. I wish you were here.”

“Yeah,” Ashton says. He misses Luke too, more than is probably healthy. That’s what he gets, he supposes, for only having a handful of close relationships; Luke and Calum are his whole life, and not being able to hug either one of them for even a week has been pretty challenging. “But look, it’s only another week, and then I am all yours, I swear.”

“Don’t enable me,” Luke says, affronted. “You’re supposed to say things like… ‘You don’t own me’ and ‘I’m my own person’ and stuff like that.”

Ashton blinks, confused. “Uh…well, yeah, but we both already know that. I’m just saying I miss you too. But if it’s any consolation, Maya has ruthlessly mocked me for all the drawings I do of you. Like mercilessly. It’s actually kind of embarrassing.”

“That is super embarrassing,” Luke says, with a small, bashful smile. “You’re so fucking lame, Ashton.”

“Wow,” Ashton says. “You even sound like her.”

Luke giggles, which turns seamlessly into a yawn. “Hey, I came first. Maya sounds like me.”

“Luke, babe, just go to sleep,” Ashton says. “We can talk another night. Maybe one where you’re more well-rested.”

“I’m super rested,” Luke says in a monotone. “King of restedness, me.”

“Wow, I’m suddenly convinced.” Luke makes a half-hearted face at him and Ashton makes one back. The sketch under Ashton’s pencil has revealed itself to be Luke, yet again. Shocker. It really is embarrassing that Ashton defaults to drawing his boyfriend. If they ever break up, Ashton will be fucked.

“Are you drawing?” Trust Luke to notice. Although the fact that it’s taken him this long to notice means he must be slower on the uptake than usual. 

“Yeah,” Ashton says, because when is he not. 

“Drawing what?”

“Guess,” Ashton says dryly.

Luke gives a sleepy smile. “At least you’re predictable.”

“Luke, I’m begging you to get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow or this weekend or something, okay?”

Luke yawns yet again. “Okay,” he agrees, right hand propping up his head. His eyes flutter shut and then open again. “Okay, fine.”

“And please let Michael look at your suit,” Ashton adds. “You know he’s only going to make it better.”

“I know, I know, I just…” Luke’s eyes fall shut again. It seems more out of tiredness than distress. “If I give it to him, then I can’t use it.”

Ashton’s pretty sure if Luke’s hero complex gets any bigger he’s going to have to start renting out rooms. “It’ll be two days, tops,” he says. “Take two days off.”

“I wanna wait ‘til you’re back,” Luke mumbles. “Spend ‘em with you.”

“You spend most of your time with me,” Ashton says gently. “Spend them with Michael. Hell, spend them with Cal.”

“But I want…” Luke yawns. He lists sideways a little. “I want you.”

Ashton chews his lip. “I’ll be back before you know it,” he says. “You won’t be able to get rid of me.”

Luke hums absently. “‘Kay, g’night,” he slurs, but makes no gesture to hang up the call. He probably expects Ashton to end it. If Luke is as asleep as he looks right now, Ashton kind of has to.

The graphite on the sketch paper is smudging a little. Ashton glances down at the half-assed likeness of his boyfriend and has an idea.

Quietly, he grabs another blank page, moves his laptop back a little, and starts to draw.

-

They’re up bright and early the next day, and after breakfast Ashton follows a decidedly more lively Maya into the Fine Arts Room, where she takes her place diagonally from him at their table. They’re both mid-project; Ashton stacks and sets aside his scratch papers and pulls forth the drawing he’s currently working on.

“So? You talked to Luke?”

Ashton blinks and looks up at Maya. “Yeah,” he says. “Thanks for the tip, I meant to say.”

“Hey, don’t thank me, thank Cupid,” Maya says airily. “I’m on the side of love, baby.”

Ashton snorts and rolls his eyes. “Let Cupid know I say thanks.”

Maya hums. “Cupid says you’re welcome.”

They’re quiet while Maya gets herself set up — she has to put all her acrylics back every evening only to set them back out every morning, another reason Ashton prefers pencils over paints — and Ashton picks up his pencil and starts to draw. 

“Is this yours?” Maya asks, peering at Ashton’s discarded stack of sketches.

“Yeah,” Ashton says without looking. “Just sketches and stuff.”

“Wait, this is so cute.” She’s leaning over the drawing on the top. Ashton glances up.

It’s Luke from last night, soundly asleep over Skype.

Ashton had ended the call after about ten minutes of silence, enough time to get the rough outlines of all the important shapes. The video quality wouldn’t have lent itself to a good sketch anyway if Ashton had been chasing authenticity, but fortunately he knows Luke’s face well enough — both from drawing it and gazing at it in real life — to pretend the call had had a crystal-clear picture. None of it is colored in, but it’s as obviously Luke as all of Ashton’s other drawings. Somehow, though, this one feels more personal.

“Did you draw this last night?”

“Uh,” Ashton says, reaching for the drawing. He shuffles it between several other papers so an innocuous collection of doodles is now at the top of the stack, and Maya clicks her tongue in disapproval.

“Hey, I was looking at that. It was cute.”

“Yeah, it’s— it’s just nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, it’s adorable,” Maya says. She fixes him with puppy-dog eyes. “Pleeeease can I see it? I won’t show anyone. I’m studying so I can kick your ass in our competition.”

Ashton sighs. “It’s just Luke. You’ve seen millions of drawings of him.”

“But those were obviously from memory,” Maya points out, taking his non-answer as an affirmative and sifting through the stack. Ashton doesn’t bother trying to stop her. It’s not like he has anything to hide — or at least not anything Maya could figure out by looking at the drawing.

And in her defense, Luke does look cute as fuck in the drawing, because he’d looked cute as fuck in real life.

“For all you know, this one is also from memory.”

“You drew the screen, Ash, it’s clearly from last night.”

“Well,” Ashton says diplomatically. Then he abandons diplomacy, because Maya has located the drawing and is grinning and aww-ing. “Well do you blame me? He fell asleep on our call. It was adorable.”

Maya giggles. “You guys are so fucking cute,” she says. “Y’know, most people would be insulted if their boyfriend fell asleep on a video call with them.”

“He’s been really busy lately,” Ashton says. “And it was the end of the call anyway.”

“One day, I will have someone to draw me when I fall asleep on our Skype calls,” Maya says wistfully. “I’m putting the vibes out into the universe so it’ll happen soon.”

“Maybe you’ll be the one drawing them,” Ashton points out. 

Maya finally sets down the Luke drawing. She dips her brush in red paint, clearly intending to put it into her work, but at Ashton’s words instead brandishes it threateningly at him. “I won’t be drawing anyone, buddy.”

Ashton laughs. “But you’d date someone who drew instead of painted?”

“At this point?” Maya sighs theatrically. “I’d date just about anyone who did anything.”

Ashton laughs again. They work quietly for a few minutes. Ashton starts shading.

“Why do you only ever draw Luke?” Maya asks. “You said you’ve been together for less than a year. Who were you drawing before then?”

Ashton shrugs. “Uh, anyone, really,” he says. “People. There are a lot of pretty interesting people at my school, and besides, I’m from the city.”

Maya snorts derisively. “You’re from Queens.”

“Queens is in the city.”

Another derisive snort. “Queens is in the city the same way using ink stamps is painting.”

“That’s not even a little bit the same thing, at all.”

“You’re not a city boy.”

“I am literally a city boy!” Maya waves him off, but Ashton ignores her. She’s from Massachusetts. She has no leg to stand on. “My point is that there are lot of interesting people near where I live, too.”

“You didn’t ever, I don’t know, draw your friends? Calum, didn’t you say he’s your best friend from home?”

“Ah, yeah,” Ashton says. “Calum. Didn’t like when I drew him.”

“What, seriously? Why not?”

“I don’t know,” Ashton says, and it’s true. “He just asked me to stop drawing him one day so I did.” He hesitates. “...Mostly. Sometimes I still do. But if you knew Calum you’d understand why. He’s extremely good-looking.”

“Of course he is,” Maya says. “Any chance he’s single and/or interested in women from several states away?”

“No to both questions,” Ashton says sympathetically. “But good try.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Maya says good-naturedly, and they lapse into silence again.

It’s broken by Maya, again. “Do you show Luke the drawings you do of him?”

That’s a complicated question. No, Ashton doesn’t actively show his drawings to Luke, but Luke usually sees them anyway. Some of them are more private; Ashton keeps the one of Luke in the Spiderman suit sans mask folded up in the bottom of his socks drawer where he’s pretty certain no one ever looks. There doesn’t seem to be a point to showing it to Luke now, so long after he’d actually done it. But for the most part he’s not hiding his art from Luke; Luke sees what he sees, notwithstanding Ashton’s intention.

“Sometimes,” Ashton says.

Maya nods at the drawing of Luke asleep on Skype. “You gonna show him that one?”

“Uh, probably not.”

“What, why? It’s so cute.”

“I don’t know, maybe because it makes me seem like a ridiculous lovesick borderline creepy idiot?”

“Guys love that,” Maya assures him. “Or so I’m told. C’mon, why hold out on him when he already knows you’re basically obsessed with drawing him?” She taps the drawing. “And when he looks this adorable?”

Ashton breathes a laugh. “You have a point.”

“I always do,” Maya says, and she flips her hair dramatically.

Maybe Michael would let Ashton draw him. That would be a nice change from always drawing Luke and never drawing Calum. Maybe Ashton could just do it and then ask Michael what he thinks. It would be nice to have new muses. Ashton has spent a lot of time on Luke; maybe it’s about time he branched out again.

“Hey,” Ashton says, struck with inspiration as he watches Maya make brushstrokes across her paper. “Can I draw you?”

“Hell yeah, go for it,” Maya says. “I’m not sitting still for you, though.”

“I’ll live,” Ashton says dryly. Maya grins and laughs. A fresh page before Ashton and a new pencil in his hand, he studies Maya’s profile carefully and then brings his pencil to the page.

-

“Did you break into the Fine Arts Room again?”

“I don’t think it’s breaking in if it’s technically unlocked,” Ashton points out.

Luke squints but evidently fails to argue with this logic. “How’s artsy hipster bullshit camp?”

“Really good,” Ashton says, cracking his knuckles. His parents have told him repeatedly that doing so will give him arthritis, but Ashton suspects that’s more of a scare tactic than a fact. At this point he doubts even rehab could get him to stop. It’s the only thing Ashton can think to do with his hands when he’s not drawing. “By the way, remember the other day when you fell asleep on our call?”

I fell asleep at the end of our call,” Luke corrects him. “We were done talking.”

“Okay, weirdo,” Ashton says, shaking his head. “Well, anyway, Maya convinced me that I should show you this because maybe you’d think it was cute, or something.” He holds up the drawing of Luke.

Luke leans closer to the camera. Anyone else might have trouble discerning what’s on the page given how dim it is around Ashton, but not Luke. Luke has super-senses. His visual acuity is, like, a thousand. (Rough estimate.)

So when Luke’s face splits into a grin, Ashton knows he’s seen exactly what’s there. “Oh my fucking God, you sap,” he says. “I thought you just hung up straightaway.” 

“Nope,” Ashton says. “I’m just saving moments. One day I’ll have enough for a flip book.”

Luke’s expression goes all mushy and heart-eyed. “You’re unbelievable,” he says, fond and endeared. “I can’t believe you’re not bored of my dumb face yet.”

“Are you kidding? Have you seen your dumb face?” Ashton laughs. “It’s impossible to be bored of it.”

“Ashton,” Luke says, his eyes crinkling so much that the blue all but disappears. “I love you.”

And everything makes sense.

“I love you too,” Ashton says, struck by the realization that he does. The drawings, the midnight Skype calls, the death-defying trips around the city with only his faith in Luke to keep them afloat, the fluttery feeling — all of the colors lock into place, and Ashton can see the rainbow clear as day in front of him. He’s never been in love; of course he couldn’t tell. But there’s nothing else it could be.

“Oh, good,” Luke says timidly. “I was a little worried you wouldn’t say it back.”

Ashton glances from the drawing in his hand to the look on Luke’s face on the screen, and he cracks a crooked smile. “Then you, superhero, have not been paying attention.”