#anyway this one got a lil deep sorry bout that.

[snowedinpodcast]

Hit the read more for the transcript <3

Let’s Walk: Soft Spoken with a Broken Jaw [Transcript]

“With the birds I share this lonely view, and/with the birds I share this lonely view …” 

I don’t normally read pre-written statements aloud for these, but this really encapsulates how I feel about that song in particular … and it feels important? It feels bigger than myself, so I just wanna … wanna immortalize it, I guess. It’s about the lyric, specifically, um, “soft spoken with a broken jaw, step outside but now to brawl, and …,” and what I wrote is: 

Why's this feel so achingly familiar? It's the sort of person I want to be. Yet, standing up for myself and being relentless is as much a point of pride as it is a vice for me. It's part of me I'm deeply proud of and deeply frustrated with. So like? In another life, I'd be a soft spoken—I’d be soft spoken with a broken jaw, y'know. It's a way of personhood I admire the hell out of but I can't bring myself to actually be it. It isn't for me. But I treasure it.

And I think that’s exactly it. Something someone I used to really care about told me was you can mold yourself into the person that you want to be. It’s not like this is super profound or anything, like, yeah, he’s—this person who said this to me is very smart and will go places and I believe that. But, it’s just that … I hadn’t believed it until he had said it to me; I think because I watched him do it. I watched him … shapeshift? 

I’ve always felt very me my whole life—I’m pretty sure everyone does, one, one can hope—but somehow my positive traits, the things I favor about myself, have felt more static … no! They’ve felt more dynamic than the things that I want to work on about myself. My vices feel really rooted. To give you another lyric, from a band who broke my heart … and who I don’t think about anymore, “I speak my mind whenever I feel slighted” [voice drops so low that the end of the lyric is inaudible]. I can’t sing that lyric properly ‘cause it goes too low! Um—no, I’ll try again. [Pitches the lyric higher than previous attempt] “I speak my mind whenever I feel slighted.” That was closer. [Sigh]. ‘Cause it’s true. [Laughs] that’s what I like about you! No, that wasn’t where I was trying to go with that. 

It’s true. When I get, when I … It’s not even just when I get upset, it’s when I feel like someone … isn’t listening to me. It’s when I feel like someone is putting me down, whether or not they’re actually doing that, it’s when I feel slighted that I get so angry and that I have to shout louder and stomp harder and prove to this person—who already is belittling me and therefore doesn’t think I’m worth anything—that I’m worth something. How useless is that? Getting angrier at a person who laughs and says “aw, you’re so cute and harmless when you’re angry” is not going to make them … respect you. Because they’re laughing at your anger in the first place! 

It’s the way yelling is this strategy I keep going back to to try and express to people how much something matters to me [even though] I understand what being yelled at feels like. I know it doesn’t make me feel more willing to change my mind. It’s just so deceptive. Yelling is so deceptive. In the moment I feel like I am making a power move but what I’m actually doing is pushing people away from me and I hate that. I hate that it feels like I’m doing something meaningful and I don’t realize that’s not true until I’m distanced from that occasion. Hindsight 20/20, yknow? 

I’ve been able to pick up new skills, I’ve been able to meet new people and develop new interests and find beauty—and if not beauty, find interest—in things I hadn’t considered before. But I can’t shake this yelling thing. [Sigh]. It’s like I have infinite good in me but finite bad, and I don’t know which orientation is better? I don’t know if it’s better to have finite good and in—well, I guess it’s not … but see, the thing about having finite good with infinite capability for bad is that you’ll never dip below however much good you start with. That’s a given. It’s a constant Y, right, for a changing X ... on the graph. You—it’ll always just be a line, a horizontal line, it’ll stay constant. I meant, in a, in a grid plane? What? What’re those called? Y’know? You have the Y axis going north-south and then you have the X axis going east-west? Yeah, that. 

But the thing I have, the way it is for me, I have finite bad and infinite good. At least—well, maybe that’s a little bit … maybe I’m flattering myself because I’m sure I have the capacity to pick up more bad habits. But my personal, biased self-assessment is that it’s so hard to shake the things about myself that I want to shake, they feel stuck in me, but at least I don’t feel like I’ve gotten significantly worse—significantly more unhealthy—in terms of how I relate to people and express myself. I’ve stayed at about the same level of decent, but could do better. And that sucks in its own way! ‘Cause I feel like I’m still here while everyone else is progressing in life. 

And then this taps into a whole other set of things, where … being asexual and not tapping into attraction on this level that feels like—that, that feels like—everybody else is able to get … I don’t know what I’m missing out on, so I don’t miss it, but I feel a loss somehow … and that’s tough. I feel static in that way. And don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to be proud of too. There’s plenty of drama I don’t have to deal with and there’s a sort of quiet solemnity in my soul, I guess. Zero doesn’t have a value, per se, but it’s a placeholder that’s as important as any other digit. [Sigh]. I don’t know. I don’t know. 

I don’t think I’d be the same person if I … if I was soft spoken with a broken jaw. Because that’s the only option there is, right, I couldn’t have been soft spoken from the beginning. The broken jaw implies one used to brawl or one used to get pulled into brawls whether or not they started it. But now soft spoken, or perhaps always soft spoken, one didn’t want to be in these altercations, however they ended up there. It’s the history in that line, it’s, it’s that implication of reform—I think that’s also what gets me, what feels its way into my heart, y’know? ‘Cause maybe that line is offering me a venue through which to unstick myself? ‘Cause if he could go from breaking his jaw every other week to stepping outside but not to brawl, then maybe so can I. [Exhale].

This is sort of an offshoot to the, um, to the brawling thing, but … I’ve also given myself a lot of crap over the years for caring about romance. For trying to figure out how I feel about it, how what I am capable of feeling stacks up against the majority of everyone else's experiences. It’s so hard to tell because one person’s flirtatious action is another person’s platonic action, and also different actions can hold different weight for different people or for different relationships held by the same person, yknow? It’s all very context-based, I think, for the most part. So romance kind of means anything? And, like, what constitutes sexual contact also has a range? And that’s why communicating with your partners is so important, so everyone’s on the same page about where, where the attractions are and what things people like and what actions mean in these various contexts. [Sigh].

What I’m trying to say is, I have given in to this implication—it's not an implication—to this outright labelling of being interesting in romance as stupid and shallow, particularly if you occupy a feminine space in the world. Like, no one’s dumber than a girl who cares about kissing people. That’s what I’ve been taught to believe and that’s what I’ve internalized and that’s probably what I’ve projected outwards too—especially in middle school, hashtag “not like those other girls”—and I want to be better than that, and I think I have gotten better than that. 

So part of this ongoing journey to be better than that is to forgive myself, I guess, for caring about not just relationships but the identity aspects to these thoughts? Thinking about relationships is not inherently stupid because life is short and relating to people is one of the most beautiful things that there is out there, in the same way that pure, unadulterated solitude is equally beautiful. And, like, chipmunks are beautiful, like, there’s so many things! Ballads, piano ballads! Like, there’s so many things that are beautiful and worthwhile and relationships are one of them. Romantic, platonic, familial, what have you. So caring about that isn’t stupid, and I’ll repeat that until I believe it, and I’ll forgive myself for caring. And I will forgive my past self for trying to act like she didn't care. It’s ok, little idiot, you’re fine. 

I think this does tie into why I feel like I have to fight. I’m just so prepared to be laughed at or to be challenged … and I think part of that is, I believe stereotype—like, I believe that people are more done in by stereotypes than, maybe, they actually are? I anticipate the worst in others because that’s kind of a coping mechanism that’s kind of a safety thing; if I expect the worst then I’ll be prepared for the worst and if the worst comes to pass, then I will be emotionally and hopefully also physically prepared for it. But what turns out, what ends up happening, is people are are actually a lot kinder to me and a lot more genuinely interested in what I’m on about … so by being so willing to fight, as a coping mechanism for what might happen, I end up pushing people away and making these situation worse by bursting out and being aggressive and hostile. And that’s not fair … to me, but especially to the people I’m talking to who are not treating me the way my outburst—they haven’t earned the outburst! And then sometimes they do, but the ratio is off. I outburst way more than people deserve. And I understand why I do it … and I forgive myself for why I do it. 

I get it, I get that you are scared, ‘cause I am scared, ‘cause I feel that too. I am right here with you all of the time. But dude, you are going to be happier and healthier if you figure out how to trust people just a little bit. Just a little bit. I’m not asking you to become soft spoken with a broken jaw. I’m not asking you to get your jaw broken. I’m asking you to get your jaw maybe a little bruised, ok? I’m asking you to risk it. [Exhale]. 

Thank you for this. I love you.

[dabilovesme]

omg can i send a request fav moot <3 deku x black!reader who’s taller than him please i need tall black reader with big hands and everything 😩😩 only if u want to ofc

A/n:YESSS, I HOPE YALL KNOW BASICALLY ALL MY Y/N’S ARE IMAGINED AS TALL CUZ IM 5’9

Anyways wish granted 🧚🏾‍♀️

-He’s head over heals for you

-He loves that you’re taller than him because it’s like you’re a literal goddess walking on earth

-As you walk he loves the sway of your full wide hips sway,the deep curves your body has on display for everyone to enjoy but only for him to have, you’re jus a bad ass stallion

- your style? Top tier. It’s like a New York fashion girl, ripped tights hugging your thick thighs,mini skirt hugging your wide hips, mini leg warmers that rematches with your hand warmers, a fitted croptop hugging your curves, with sweater containing unique designs on it, even your boots are cute and izuku loves when you wear em cuz it gives you extra height (nigga real live be ready to dick you down anywhere istg)

-You fuckin love your height n body but Izuku knows that you get a lil insecure bout your height sometimes, make you feel “less feminine” since the standard is short n skinny, but If izuku even hear you say sumn negative about yourself, oh honey it’s goin down. He’s gonna fuck you up. Your long thick legs wrapped around his waist, he’s holding you up with his scarred hands, he leads y’all to the bedroom floor and put you on all fours, and fuck you in front of the mirror and he’s gonna make sure you watch yourself the entire time, his scarred hands will be wrapped in your long beautiful braids n he’s gonna keep your head up for you

-yo ass will be struggling to walk the next mornin, he did dat one for all hit on yo ass

-he likes to go on nature walks with you to watch waterfalls and take notes of the beautiful and mystical things y’all may come across , one time y’all came across this stunning deer and izuku took several photos of you petting it truly magical. Y’all also like to go to art museums, walking around and lookin at old n creative art, ‘zuku didn’t really care for art museums till he met you, when y’all first went to one together, he not only was viewing the art displayed on the walls but he stopped for a second and actually examined your alluring figure, he started off by looking at your light blonde bohemian braids that travels all the way down to your phat ass,he examined all of your jewelry that you were wearing, he started to focus on your beautiful side profile, your features were softened while you were looking at the art, he honestly never thought he’d fall in love so quick, but he did and doesn’t regret it one bit.

-he LOVES cooking with you…..well more like loves watching you cook. Since you guys are from two completely different cultures, he doesn’t know how to make soul food, his ass barely knows how to make his own cultural food. He takes notes as you season the chicken or making baked mac n cheese, he’s taking notes so that he can cook for you, but for now he cleans up everything for you which you tell him he doesn’t have to but he wants to feel useful and help the love of his life.

- he likes to show you off to everyone cuz he know everyone wants you, you’re stunning,got killer curves, tall, n thick, who wouldn’t want you. Even Ochako tried slidin in yo dms, she wanted a piece of dat ass. Izuku is just happy to have you in his life and is ready to love you forever<3

HEY BITCHES, A BITCH IS BACKKK AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO FINISH THIS REQUEST SEVERAL WEEKS AGO BUT YK PROCRASTINATION 💀 SORRY THAT IT AINT THAT LONG

My fairies 🧚🏾‍♀️🧚🏾‍♀️: @whatdidshesayyy @emonaculate @rinhoes @tenyaiidasslut @thicksimpx @yutaswifey @pervysenpaix @plussizeficchick @angwritez @aizawasbrazybaby @sexy-lil-nugget @sintiva @dejwrites @gabzlovesu @luna-indigoduh @loyenne @zu-ku @xogabbiexo @blkchxrryblyss @bookwormsenpai @bumbleblackbee @boredandelusive @nasty-quillz @misss-chrisss @maydayaisha

[jake-g-lockley]

Good morning sorry if I bother you you can Marc Spector x fm!reader

Reader is depressed because I think the past ( reader is old avengers and widow ) and Marc she’s love so much and tell casual words

Sometimes Cliché is Okay (Marc Spector x fem!reader)

Masterlist | Spotify Playlist

Trigger Warnings: Violence, depressive episodes, PTSD, trauma, self destruction. 

Ye ye ik thats Santi but Santi is basically mercenary Marc in my head atm and I love Oscar’s face in this xxx

Whoohoo another one. I’ve seen a similar one somewhere (if any of y’all find it please let me know). I hope you’re okay with me adding PTSD into the mix. Sorry about the lack of dialog lol. Anyway, keep the requests coming in &lt;3

Parings: Marc Spector x fem!reader

Word Count: 900 words

A/N: How do I write these at top speed? I’m bored and I like it when people give me lil ideas :))) Also, much of the diagnostic criteria for depression and PTSD in this story are taken directly from the DSM-5 but again, it is not accurate to a single individual. 

If you or anyone you know is suffering from mental health issues, please seek professional help. I just wanted to let you know that you are loved no matter what &lt;3

☾ .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Have you ever felt like you were sinking into quicksand as the rest of the world is speeding past you? That's the only way you could describe the anguish that you were facing at the moment. 

At a young age, you had your livelihood stripped away from you and it was hard to get out of the cycle of torture when you had no one to protect you. You were thrown around, like an object, like an apparatus to an experiment, a tool to something bigger. 

The assassinations felt grousome at first but eventually it made you numb. Your judgment was clouded by the instructions you were given and at one point you did everything blindly. The things that they taught made you forget about yourself, about other people and it desensitized you and made you almost robotic. 

After you dropped the entitlement of being a Widow, you were recruited to join the Avengers and you thought you found your purpose and you started to heal. Knowing that you were purposely saving lives with the skills that you possesed instead of destroying them gave you a sense of hope that you knew you might be able to get by. 

However, the blip changed everything.

Everything you knew, everything you loved, was gone. 

You witnessed the fall of Wakanda. You were there when you heard Wanda’s grueling and gut wrenching scream as Thanos tore the mind stone from Vision. You remember the snap that echoes deep inside your mind each time you try to close your eyes. 

Nothing could drag you out of the misery post-blip. Those five years were the most fatiguing years you have ever had. The world was dipped into a whirlwind of chaos, millions of mourners, and every single one of them blamed the Avengers. 

Afterall, are heroes really heroes if they can't protect the ones who could not defend themselves?

One day you lost it.

Steve Rogers found you curled up in the corner of your room in the Avenger’s compound. You were screaming, hysterically trying to get rid of the painful memories in your head. You had fought every single person who came into your room that horrible day and you trusted no one, the paranoia evident in your self-destructive ways. 

Rogers, on the other hand, that man was made of steel. He patiently waited till you got tired and calmly made sure that you got the help that you needed. 

You had to go for therapy for 3 months before you could come to terms with yourself without causing anymore self destruction. You denied your diagnosis for so long, as you tried to push away the issues you were having, hoping it wouldn’t catch up with you. You thought that your mind was stronger than the parasite that was consuming you. You eventually accepted that you were suffering from PTSD and had crippling depression. 

It took months of healing after that, but bouts of depression would occasionally come around every now and then. You again had started to isolate yourself, until the day you met Marc Spector. 

You didn’t know he was a vigilante / superhero at first, but you had your usual suspicions. He was the only one that made you feel like you were someone again. It was almost like he brought out the human in you again. But most importantly, he made you feel loved. 

Every single thing he did would increase your love for him by tenfold. The way he would lose his contact lens in the sink too many times for his liking, the way he hummed while he cooked and the way he would drive you up the wall with his tickling. 

He, of course, had his own problems, but he was a problem solver too. He had ingenious ways to combat the issues that he and you were facing. He didn’t treat you as if you were fragile, but when you broke, he was there to pick up the little pieces and put you back together. 

Both of you have sleeping issues and would spend nights laying awake, staring at the ceiling until Marc would drag you to your feet and the both of you would dance in the silence, to your own rhythm in each other's arms. Sometimes, he would turn on some music and you would laugh at his silly moves as he shimmied around the apartment you shared.

When you felt horrible and couldn’t get out of bed, he would do everything in his power to make you feel comfortable. You learned to not argue but comply with his doings even when at times your guilt would consume you. He would bathe you, clothe you and feed you, making sure that you were well hydrated. 

Sometimes, when you were ill, he would stay up for hours by your side, as you fell in and out of consciousness, changing the wet towels on your forehead or feeding you medicine. 

When the night terrors struck, he would hold you for hours until you stopped shaking, soothing you with whispers of beautiful words of endearment as you sobbed into his nightshirt. 

Slowly, you felt yourself getting much better, your trust in humanity slowly easing its way back into your world. You stopped ditching your therapy sessions and made sure you took your medication. He had a devotion for you and you also had a devotion to him and that pushed you to get better. 

As cliché as it sounds, he was your knight in shining armor. But sometimes, the only thing that could save you from eternal pain is a cliché.

☾ .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Reblogs are appreciated <3 love you all so so much *muah*

[captain-josslett]

Broken Melody - Part Sixty One

Masterlist

Summary: Grammy Award winning Emma Danvers is the first to say she has a pretty good life. But what happens when it implodes around her and it looks like things will never be the same again?

Words: 7k

Warnings: Angst, fluff, emotions... the usual

Pairings: Alex Danvers x Sam Arias, Kara Danvers x OC

This Part: The Superfriends continue to try and help Emma and figure out the best steps forward.

Sooooo sorry for not posting in forever. I moved out to the channel islands and tried to settle into this new job.... Now I got covid! But I'm on the mend. Please let me know what you think as it does mean soooo much to me.

Remember, you are loved, you are enough and you are important.

Thank you for reading and let me know if you wanna be tagged or any general feedback will be greatly appreciated. Please! I like knowing your thoughts.

Taglist: @finleyfray, @life-is-hella-unfair, @natasha-danvers, @supergirl-writingz, @camslightstories, @inquisitive-nix, @thinking1bee, @aznblossom, @checkingoutforheroes, @mmmmokdok, @certainkryptoniangeek, @starmako26

Robyn woke up with a jump from feeling heavy licks and pressure on her torso. In the morning twilight she is able to make out Lily standing over her and feels the labrador continuously shaking her with her paws. 

“Wha? Lil?”

With a small bark Lily quickly jumps down and runs to Emma’s bed. She gives Robyn a mournful look before carefully jumping up to Emma's side.

Robyn sleepily rubs her eyes and then realises what is happening as she registers Emma’s faint groans and gasps of breath.

Stumbling to her feet, Robyn quickly moves to Emma’s side and sees Lily lying on Emma’s torso.

“Em, hey, you’re okay. You’re safe.” Robyn repeats over and over as she tries to soothe the agitated blonde.

Finally Emma’s husky groans stop and her breathing returns to some normality. Suddenly her eyes shoot open as she jerks awake.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay. You’re in Midvale, you had a nightmare. Everything is okay.” Robyn says softly, trying to reassure a clearly frightened Emma who has tears streaming down her face. “Take a deep breath for me, Em.” 

Robyn watches Emma who follows her hand motion of when to breathe and exhale.

“That’s it, you’re doing great.”

A gentle knock on the door makes them look over and J’onn quietly enters.

“Everything okay?”

“Nightmare.” Robyn responds and J’onn nods.

He walks over to Emma’s side and gently tucks a few damp hairs away from Emma’s face. “How bout we take Lily for a walk?” He offers and Emma barely nods. “I’ll go change and be right back.”

Emma watches him leave and moves to get up, she stumbles slightly and Robyn has to reach out to stop her from falling.

“Easy Em.” Robyn whispers and watches the blonde nod and sluggishly pick up her clothes from yesterday to change into. Robyn decides to do the same, figuring out she won’t be able to get back to sleep anyway.

Emma gives her a questioning look but Robyn just shrugs and follows her down to the back room where Eliza is filling two flasks with hot liquid.

“Thought you’d like some hot chocolate on your walk.” Eliza smiles lovingly at her daughter and Emma gives her a small smile back. Eliza tightly hugs her daughter, feeling worried at how her eyes aren’t as bright as they should be.

“Ready to go?” J’onn asks, holding out her coat and trainers for her. Emma nods and puts them on, she snorts at how quickly Lily’s tail wags while she waits patiently by the door. 

The trio leave and Robyn sits heavily on the stool at the island, resting her head on her fist. 

“I’m making myself a coffee, would you like one too?” 

Robyn looks tiredly up at the older blonde. “Yes please.”

Eliza begins preparing the drinks and Robyn sighs heavily as she rubs her forehead.

“Are you alright?” Eliza asks the brunette.

“Yea, I’ve just never been good at being woken up quickly. Or so early.”

“Jeremiah, Emma and Alex’s father, was the same.” Eliza chuckles and places the mug in front of Robyn and sits next to her on the other stool. “One time he got up to feed Emma but I could hear her fussing. I looked over at them and he’d fallen back to sleep with the bottle teat by the side of her mouth. Poor baby couldn’t get to it.”

“He sounds like he was a good man.” Robyn smiles at the older woman. 

“He was. He always believed in our girls.” Eliza sips her coffee.

“Must have been hard for you.” Robyn says softly, remembering the story Emma told her of her father. How she holds onto what he was like before he was captured and changed. Seeing the sadness with Eliza’s eyes, Robin decides to change the topic. “Do you have those photos of Em as a baby?”

“Of course!” Eliza chuckles and finds Emma’s photo book. “I always wanted to make sure every milestone was recorded for each of my girls.”

“Your science background is showing.” Robyn jokes as she opens the book, smiling at a toddler Alex hugging Eliza’s swollen stomach.

“I guess it is.” Eliza smiles and they continue looking through the photos. Eliza points at mostly all of them and tells Robyn the story that goes along with it. 

The first time Emma walked on her first birthday to try and follow Alex. The pride the family felt at her first word, how she quickly started singing and bouncing to music. On and on the stories go and Robyn smiles at the pride within Eliza’s eyes.

They near the end of the book and Eliza excuses herself to go get changed. Robyn continues to flick through and comes to the photo showing Emma and Lena beaming at the camera.

Robyn taps the surface of the island in time with a song on the radio while she sips her coffee. She stares at the photo and can’t help but feel torn. She knows Emma loves her family but something isn’t sitting right with the Brit. 

She hears footsteps upstairs and knows the others will be down soon to begin the next session with Alistair. 

She ponders on what else could be said as she feels a lot of the main issues have been aired. She sips her drink and wonders whether she can air her thoughts about a certain raven haired woman.

“Good morning.” Lena says politely while cautiously entering the room to the coffee machine.

“Morning.” Robyn utters back coolly, causing Lena to turn and gaze at her.

“You don’t like me do you?”

“No shit Sherlock.” Robyn sasses and Lena’s shoulders deflate and turns back to the coffee machine. Robyn frowns at this sign of weakness being shown by the CEO. 

“I completely understand, I would feel the same way if I was in your position.” Lena starts the machine and leans against the kitchen counter.

“Well, let’s hope you never have to be in a position like this.” Robyn growls and taps the cup in her hands. “To see someone you love believe she is worth nothing, that something is so wrong with her that she doesn’t deserve love. That she questions every interaction she has and shuts down when things get too much.”

Lena lowers her head but before she can respond some of the others enter the room.

“Everything okay?” Kara asks and makes a beeline for Lena.

“Yup.” Robyn says, emphasising the end of the word and stands to go over to Lucy who is patting the cushion next to her for Robyn to sit on.

Kara places a comforting hand on Lena’s shoulder as she looks in concern at Lena’s sad face. “Is she upsetting you?”

Lena shakes her head but Kara wraps her arms around her anyway. They hug and Lena buries her head into Kara’s shoulder. 

“Okay everyone, please gather around.” Alistair says, grabbing everyone’s attention.

Kara and Lena break apart, Kara takes her best friend’s hand and leads Lena to the circle of chairs. “Where’s Emma?” Kara asks with a frown as she notices her sister’s absence. 

“She’s taken Lily for a walk.” Robyn explains and see’s Alex tense up. “J’onn went with her.” She quickly explains and Alex nods in appreciation for the information.

Movement outside the door catches everyone’s attention and a knock echoes around the room. Kara zips over and opens it.

“Agent Reiff?” 

“Good morning, may I come in?”

“Oh, yes, please.” Kara steps aside and the agent enters.

“Director.” Agent Reiff nods at Alex who approaches quickly.

“What’s going on?” Lucy asks as she looks between the two. Alex motions for Reiff to continue.

“We managed to do the clean up before the news crews got there, made the site look as if the storm caused the mudslide rather than a boulder breaking cleanly in half. Agent Vasquez wanted me to show you this.” Reiff pulls out a tablet and holds it out for Alex.

The redhead takes it and swipes through the photos. The Danvers crinkle making an appearance on her face.

“Alex?” Eliza asks in concern.

“How many?”

“We estimate roughly six bottles or more.” Agent Reiff answers quietly, aware how delicate this information may be.

Alex sighs lightly. “And the contents?”

“Alien alcohol.”

“Shit.” Alex mutters. “Okay, thank you. Have agents continue to monitor and patrol the area. We will review when we are back at the DEO.”

Agent Reiff nods and Alex hands back the tablet. She stares ahead for a moment, deep in thought while the agent heads back out of the house.

“Alex?” Sam gets up and heads over to her fiance, clearly seeing that Alex was getting more and more agitated. “You okay?”

Shaking her head Alex marches out of the room and up the stairs.

“She’s going to find the rest of the bottles.” Alistair explains to the group, immediately causing Kara and Sam to run after the redhead.

“But Emma won’t like Alex going through her things.” Lena says with wide eyes and quickly follows them. She rushes up the stairs and hears Kara and Alex arguing.

“-calmly ask her about it!”

“Kara! Let go of me!” Alex snaps as Lena stands in the doorway. She pauses at the sight of the opened suitcase on the floor full of empty bottles and Kara firmly holding onto Alex.

“No! Not until you’ve calmed down.” Kara says determinedly. “We are trying to help her, not shame her or cause more friction.”

Sam steps forward and tenderly moves Alex’s hair out of her eyes. “I understand why you would be upset by this, but Kara is right.”

The stairs creak and Lena’s head spins to see who it is. Emma stares back at Lena in confusion and Lena’s stomach drops.

“She’s here.” Lena calls and the trio freeze. Emma hesitantly approaches her ex, and looks into her room. Her eyes immediately land on the suitcase of bottles and she swallows deeply. 

Her chest stings with hurt at witnessing her things being rummaged through and her shame burns her cheeks. However, she takes a deep breath and steps into the room, kneels down and zips the suitcase back up. 

“Little one?” Kara queries, still holding onto Alex who had remained frozen, her chest still heaving slightly from her outburst.

Emma straightens up and lifts the suitcase by the handle. The unmistakable rattling of empty bottles fills the silence and Emma motions with her head for them to follow her downstairs.

The four women follow the blonde into the back room where Emma lifts the suitcase onto the coffee table and opens it, revealing it to be packed with mostly empty bottles.

Emma lowers her head and moves to her seat where Lily is already waiting for her. The dog’s tail starts pounding against the sofa, Emma gives her a small smile and sits. Making Lily immediately place her head on her lap and snuggles in. Emma yawns and rubs her eyes, clear fatigue is etched on her face. 

“Good morning Emma.” Alistair softly greets her and Emma echoes his welcome back in her mind.

“Would anyone like a drink before we start?” Eliza offers, noticing Emma didn’t have one. “Sweetheart?”

Emma’s tired eyes lift up to hers and she nods.

“She would like an apple juice, please.” Fay answers for Emma and she signs her thanks.

Emma settles back and closes her eyes while she strokes Lily’s fur. She tries to block out the different conversations happening around the room but it’s difficult. Her mind races with shame with what the others must think and how she is going to explain herself.

“Here you go sweetheart.” 

Emma opens her eyes and takes the glass of cool apple juice from her mom, nodding her thanks. 

She sips the tangy liquid and glances over at J’onn. He nods encouragingly at her and she takes a deep breath in to calm herself. 

They mostly walked in silence, enjoying each other’s company but they had also discussed how yesterday had gone and how they were both feeling. They even sensed how today’s session could be harder than the previous one, causing J’onn to vow to support her, whatever happens.

“So, are we all ready?” Alistair draws everyone’s attention and they stop their conversations. Alistair waits for them to settle before talking again. “Before we discuss what is in front of us, Fay and I were both able to detect you were all holding back yesterday. Which is understandable, however, this is a safe place where no judgement should be passed.” He glances around the room and everyone nods before focusing on Emma. “Emma, would you like to explain about the bottles?”

‘Do I have to?’ Her mind asks apprehensively.

“We won’t force you.” Alistair responds and Emma shifts in her seat, feeling uneasy.

‘No, I need to.’ Emma sighs heavily and looks up at the ceiling. Unable to look anyone in the eye. Lily sits up and watches her carefully, her head tilting to the side in concentration. ‘I started drinking after the breakup with Lena. A few here and there at Robyn’s, then when I went to Europe I had a glass with each meal. But it then slowly increased over time and I found myself having more and more. A glass became two, to half a bottle, to a full bottle, to many bottles. I can see now it’s developed into a problem and I’m sorry. I know you guys are being sober but it was like an itch I needed to scratch. It would help numb what I was feeling, so I’d have a bottle or two in the evening after everyone went to bed. I’m sorry.’

Emma scrunches up her eyes and feels Lily nuzzling her nose into her cheek, sensing her distress.

“Sweetheart? Can you please look at us?” Her Mom’s voice breaks, causing Emma to lower her head and slowly open her eyes. But instead of looks of shame or disgust, she sees expressions of compassion and understanding on everyone’s faces.

Emma’s worried eyes focus on Alex’s. She notices how troubled her sister looks. She tilts her head, asking Alex to voice her thoughts.

“Alex?” Fay voices out.

Alex bites her lips before finally talking. “I understand how easy it is to use alcohol as a means to run away from your emotions. But, we can help you overcome it.”

“If you want.” Kara adds quickly but Emma is already nodding.

“I’m also sorry that I searched for the bottles instead of asking you, I just-” Alex’s face is overcome with emotion and she sighs heavily. 

‘It’s okay.’ Emma thinks and Alex sniffs. 

“Due to the nature of the group we have sponsors within the DEO and meet separately. Lena and Alex suggested it and we all started together.” J’onn reiterates what he explained to her on their walk and Emma nods.

The room is quiet for a moment and Robyn lifts her hand. “Question.”

“Yes Robyn?” Alistair asks.

“How did the whole sobriety thing start? From what Emma told me, you all like your drink.” 

Lena fidgets in her seat and plays with her hands. She looks timedly over at Alex, who seems to be silently communicating with her.

“Well, if you must know.” Alex begins telling Robyn and the others exactly what happened.

— — —

It has been over a month since Emma disappeared and Alex is sitting on her sofa in Sam’s apartment and nursing her fourth whiskey. She stares mournfully at her laptop on the coffee table. Despite her Mom telling her not to, Alex keeps trying to hack Emma’s devices to find her sister’s location.

“Where are you?” Alex whispers and takes a sip of her drink. Feeling the burn slide down her throat and course through her system.

The results ping up, making Alex feel a surge of hope. But the hope quickly drops when they show the word she is dreading: Inconclusive. 

“Fuck sake.” Alex slurs out and slams the lid of her laptop down. She flops back onto the sofa and downs her drink. Tears prick at her eyes and she presses her lips together. Her gaze falls on the collage of photos on the wall, the beaming smiles of her family and friends. Her eyes land on Lena, pressed up against Emma and beaming at the camera. Alex’s blood starts to boil.

Without much thought Alex angrily stumbles to her feet and grabs her jacket. She hops on the spot to get her boots on but manages in the end. Alex storms from the apartment and punches the call button on the elevator. She taps her foot impatiently until she's down in the lobby where she's stomp outside to hail a cab. In no time she’s in front of Lena’s apartment and she raises her fist to pound on the door.

But the raven haired woman doesn’t answer, making Alex grumble and seethe as she can clearly see the glow of the lights coming from within the apartment.

“Hope, let me in.” Alex orders.

“I do not believe that is wise due to your heightened level of-”

“Hope, please.” Alex snaps and hears the whirl of the locks. The redhead quickly opens the door and searches for her sister’s ex. 

Alex can’t help but notice Emma’s things still placed around the apartment. Her paintings, notebooks, instruments, clothes...

But what she can’t find is Lena, until she turns to the bedroom and notices the door is closed. Rolling her eyes she storms over but before she slams open the door, she hears Lena sobbing through it. 

Her eyebrows furrow tightly. ‘Why is she crying?’

Sighing heavily, Alex knocks on the door and enters. The room is dimly lit and she spots Lena’s head poking above the bed, sitting on the ground next to what was Emma’s side.

Alex stumbles around the bed and makes her presence known by clearing her throat. She can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the raven haired woman as she jumps and stares wide eyed up at her.

“Alex?” Lena squeaks out, which Alex would have found funny if her emotions weren’t raging inside her.

“You broke her. I told you what would happen if you ever hurt her.” Alex grits out, she watches as Lena’s face crumbles and she lowers her head.

“I know.” Lena sobs out and clutches something close to her chest. 

Alex slowly kneels down to face the distraught CEO. She frowns and notices the almost empty bottle of Scotch next to Lena. “What’s wrong? Why are you so upset? You are the one that ended it.”

Lena shakes her head. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” 

But Lena just keeps shaking her head.

“Lena.” Alex places a hand on Lena’s shoulder, concern seemingly replacing her anger.

Slowly Lena holds her clenched fist out and opens her hand. 

Revealing a ring with an emerald diamond.

Alex stares at it, dumbfounded. 

“You- you didn’t know?” Lena hiccups as her bloodshot eyes study Alex’s reaction.

Alex shakes her head, unable to speak.

‘When was Emma going to tell me she wanted to propose?’ Her mind races as she tries to pinpoint any conversations she had with her baby sister but comes up blank.

“Where was it?” Alex asks softly.

“In her drawer.”

“Why were you looking?!”

“I was going to start moving her things out and I-” Lena says but her throat closes up with emotion and her head drops forward. More tears pour from her eyes and she clutches at the ring again. “I should die because of what I did.”

“Wow! Hey! No!” Alex says sharply, causing Lena to flinch when she grabs her shoulders. “Lena, look at me.”

Slowly Lena raises her head and stares sorrowfully at Alex.

“Yes I am really angry at you.” Alex grits out and lets out a deep breath. “But you aren’t solely to blame for Emma leaving.” 

Lena shakes her head and starts to sob again, despite trying to hold them in.

Alex pulls her friend into a hug and knows there must be more that Lena isn’t saying. 

But for now, Alex just holds her.

— — —

“Then Sam and Kara came over and we stayed with Lena that night. In the morning we both had killer hangovers and decided to be sober. Once we told everyone they joined us too.”

Robyn nods and Emma sniffs heavily. She wipes a tear away, hating the thought of how low Lena got.

“But?” Fay prompts Robyn, who does look like she wants to ask another question.

“Why are you all so chummy with Luthor when she broke Emma’s heart?” Robyn glares around the room. “Why not leave her alone after that?”

“Lena.” Fay says quickly and glances over at Emma, who’s looking irritatedly at Robyn. “Her name is Lena.”

Robyn sighs and juts her jaw to the side. “Okay, sorry. I’d like to know why Lena is still a part of your friendship group.” 

“She’s one of us.” Kara says softly. “Despite what she did, we forgave her.”

Others in the group nod and a tear slides down Lena’s cheek that she quickly wipes away. 

But Robyn’s frown deepens.

“I really wanted to hate her.” Alex admits darkly. “I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but then I saw how broken she was and in a worse state than me. In the end, I just couldn't hate her.”

Lena sniffs. “I know I don’t deserve the love and support they give me.”

Kara reaches out and takes Lena’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze of support.

Emma watches and feels a pang of hurt hit her chest, but she quickly pushes it away.

“Robyn?” Alistair asks. “Do you have something else to say?” He nods, giving her permission to voice the seething thoughts in her mind.

“I still don’t understand.” The brunette says cautiously. “What about Emma?”

The Superfriends frown at the question, some even looking over at the blonde.

“What about her?” Winn asks.

“She’s one of you right?” Robyn shoots back.

“Of course!” Nia responds, shocked that Robyn would even need to ask that.  

“So where were you when she needed you?” 

“Robyn.” Fay utters as Emma tries to get her attention.

“No, they need to know what you did when you came to mine.” Robyn says fiercely, her fury mounting. “She spent weeks in bed and I had to prompt her to eat, to shower and take care of herself. When I finally got her up and out of the flat her clothes were loose on her.” Robyn seethes, glaring at the group. “And do you know what she communicated to me when I asked how she was? That she was okay if she didn’t think about it. That when she does she feels like she can’t breathe and it’s just too painful.”

Emma slumps forward slightly and rubs a shaved part of her hair to try and self soothe. She understands what Robyn is doing but she still feels awkward. Lily nuzzles into her, keeping pressure on her side and keeping Emma grounded while she continues to listen.

“I spent hours holding her as she cried over you guys, how you treated her and made her feel worthless. I tried to tell her you all loved her, but I’m not so sure.”

“What?!” Kara yells in anger.

“Where were you? When she needed you guys after everything that had happened? The cancelled sister nights, or games night or whatever you all do! You let her down! But then when she left you all rallied around Lena!”

“No we didn’t!” Nia tries to fight back, remembering how she had felt awkward towards Lena for weeks. Unsure where the line was and if they were taking sides but Robyn gives her a scathing look before she can explain that.

“It sure looks that way! I’ve been watching all of you and you treat her like she hasn’t done anything wrong! That she didn’t break Emma’s heart and make her believe it was all an illusion! From where I’m standing it makes it look like you’ve chosen Lena over Emma!”

“Robyn!” Emma’s husky voice barks out but she immediately starts coughing and wheezing. Causing the heated argument to pause while Emma tries to get a hold of her breathing again.

Eliza quickly gets a glass of cool water for her daughter. “Here you go Sweetheart.” 

Emma takes it and signs her thanks before taking a few sips. There is a palpable tension in the air and she quickly tries to gather her thoughts. ‘I’m okay.’ 

“Thank you Robyn for your honesty.” Alistair nods in appreciation and sits up in his chair. “Emma? Would you like to respond?”

Emma nods and taps the glass while she continues to think.

The Superfriends wait anxiously and she can tell her sisters want to jump in.

‘I’m torn.’ Emma takes a deep breath in and closes her eyes. ‘I’m not going to lie and say this hasn’t affected me. I was relieved when Mom told me that Lena was still part of the group. But there was a part of me that felt disappointment. But as Kara said, Lena is one of us and I wouldn’t have expected anything less.’

Emma takes a few more sips and her eyes meet Robyn’s. 

‘Thank you for standing up for me, I respect your opinion but it was also slightly unfair with what you said. You knew I ran away and made it impossible for them to find me. I understand how it looks, believe me. But, I also don’t believe it’s as easy as that. I mean, your balcony doors and walls took a huge beating from Kara when she tried to find me.’

Robyn opens her mouth but Emma motions she wasn’t finished.

‘I understand what happened made you dislike Lena. How broken I was and thank you so much for being there for me. But you need to understand how deeply I still feel for her, despite what she did. But I know I need to work on myself too. That I need to repair the bridges I broke-’

“No!” Alex interrupts causing Emma’s eyes to snap to hers. “We all caused the damage. As Alistair said yesterday, we all need to work together.” She glances over at Robyn. “But we all need to be honest with each other too.” Alex hesitates and focuses back on her baby sister. “Like, when I saw you in that music video-”

— — —

The Superfriends were gathered around Kara’s coffee table for a games night. To start with they decided on playing Jenga while they waited for the pizza to arrive. 

The tv was on in the background as Alex wanted to watch the news while Lena was currently trying to get a block out, her eyes were focused in concentration.

“You always go for the precarious ones!” Kara laughs.

“That’s what makes it more fun.” Lena says cheekily and grins at her.

But then her heart drops as she looks past Kara and sees Emma on the tv screen.

The tower immediately falls.

“Jenga!” Kara and the others yell. 

But Sam grows concerned at her best friend’s pale face. “Lena?” She also turns to look at the tv and immediately unmutes it, causing everyone to gaze at it.

“-believed to be in London, although sources haven’t been able to confirm this. The music video, which shows Emma Danvers lip syncing, is believed to have been filmed in Egypt and was released at midnight UK time. Already we are seeing an outpouring of positive responses and speculation about who the song is about, which, I believe we can all take a guess at. Back to you in the studio.”

Alex quickly takes the remote and logs into YouTube to find the video. It doesn’t take her long due to it already being at the top of the most viewed list. She frowns at seeing the name of the song, ‘Perfect Illusion.’

The video starts playing and the sound of synths begin. 

The camera zooms in on a blonde’s back as they stare out at the barren, white desert in front of them. Even from behind angle the Superfriends can tell it’s Emma.

The camera swivels around and focuses on Emma’s stoic expression.

Alex leans forward as she studies her sister’s face. Kara curls into Ben, hating the broken look in her sister’s hazel eyes.

Emma starts lip syncing perfectly to Robyn’s voice, something that is a bit jarring to everyone. To hear another voice timed with Emma’s lips.

Soon different camera angles flash up on the screen showing Emma stomping and kicking up the white sand around her as she continues to lip sync and perform. The sky continues to shift from a brilliant blue to the colours of sunset.

Lena stays frigid as she watches and listens to the lyrics. When the chorus begins, it breaks her heart in two.

‘It wasn’t love, it wasn’t love

It was a Perfect Illusion.’

The raven haired woman tries to hold it together but her eyes fill with unwanted tears and a lump forms in her throat. 

When the song reaches the second verse the other members of the band are shown within the circular rig and moments of them playing in the warehouse too.

“I knew she was with them!” Lucy says exasperatedly and digs for her phone in her pocket while continuing to watch. 

The second chorus hits and Emma is brokenly staring into the camera with tears streaming down her face. Her passion radiates from the screen.

“Wow.” Ben whispers out, feeling his heart being tugged at the utter pain being portrayed in Emma’s eyes.

Kara sniffs in his arms, wanting to bury her face into them but her eyes are fixed on her sister.

While the chorus proceeds, Emma lip syncs next to the band members, the camera angles tilt, representing her heartbreak and used to make the viewer feel uncomfortable with her.

The song builds and builds until the key change hits. At that exact moment Emma swings the baseball bat, bearing the words ‘FUCK YOU!’ at the camera where it switches to show her hitting a car and denting it like the metal was nothing. Glass explodes around her as Robyn’s vocals increase.

Alex lets out a slow breath as she watches the destruction happening on the screen.

“Super strength?” Brainy asks and Alex nods.

They watch as plates and glasses go flying and crash against the walls. Showing each member giving into their rage.

The final chorus begins and the intensity on the screen almost becomes overwhelming as the scene changes with flashes of light.

But near the end it shifts again and focuses back on Emma by an edge of a cliff. The sapphire sky is a stark contrast against the white of the sand. 

As soon as Robyn utters the last words Emma falls heavily and rolls into the sand. Her face is pained as she voicelessly screams and sobs in the barren, white desert.

The music ends and the camera pans upwards towards the sapphire sky, the sound of Emma’s anguished breathing fills the room and the video ends.

The Superfriends don’t move or say anything, but continue to stare at the tv.

The silence is broken as Lena sniffs heavily and lowers her head into her hands. Her tears slip from her eyes and her curly hair shields her face from the others.

“Lee.” Sam utters quietly and slides off the sofa to comfort the raven haired woman. 

Anguished muffled words sound out from Lena’s hands.

“What was that?”

Lena lowers her hands. “I did that to her.” She chokes out and a sob breaks through. Immediately Sam pulls her into a hug.

“I don’t think it was just aimed at you.” Alex says softly while she continues to stare at the TV. “We need to find her and fast.”

The others nod around her and the notion of a games night and pizza is forgotten as they race to the DEO.

— — —

“Then we searched through footage around London, trying to find a hint of you.” Alex explains, her eyes shining with tears.

‘That’s why you all appeared so quickly?’ Fay voices Emma’s question.

“Yes.” Brainy responds. “We were monitoring every security camera by major attractions.” 

“As soon as the bus crashed through the barriers we suited up.” Nia explains and Emma nods.

Her eyes fall on Lena who seems fixated with her hands.

“So, question.” Robyn raises her hand again and glances at Lucy. “If you knew she was with me then-”

“Well, it was more of a hunch and you can’t plant bugs in someone’s home on a hunch.” Lucy shrugs and winks at the singer.

“Noted.” Robyn says softly. “But why not pursue it?”

Lucy swallows and her eyes flick over to Emma’s. “I wanted to. Believe me I wanted to catch the next flight to London, but I knew Emma needed time and I wanted her to come back on her own.”

Emma nods and signs her thanks to her friend.

“And Robyn, are you happy with their explanation about Lena?” Alistair asks and Robyn purses her lips forward.

“I guess. I mean if anything like that happened within my band, and we are as close knit as you guys, then yea. Happy, no, but I understand.”

“Good.” Alistair nods and gives Robyn a warm smile. “Are there any other questions relating to what has been said?” Alistair asks, opening the space to the group.

“I have one.” Kara says quietly and Alistair motions for her to continue. The blonde focuses on Emma, who can tell her sister doesn’t want to ask what is in her mind.

“It is okay.” Emma signs reassuringly. 

“Did, I mean, were those words-” Kara says quickly but falters and goes to fiddle with her glasses. However they weren’t there as she had forgotten she hadn’t put them on today, so she ran them through her hair.

‘Did I mean them?’ Emma tilts her head, finishing Kara’s sentence for her.

“Yea.”

The room holds their breath, waiting for Emma’s answer.

‘I did.’

Everyone’s shoulders deflate other than Robyn, Alistair and Fay.

‘But that’s what art is.’ Emma tries to explain. ‘At that moment I was angry, hurt, upset and I needed to express it. The words and melody came quickly and before I knew it the song was there.’ Emma glances over at Robyn who nods, remembering how Emma’s pencil flew across the paper while she wrote the lyrics.

“It came from her heart.” Robyn says softly, focusing everyone’s attention on her. “Music is generally the same notes over and over, but it’s what you have to say that counts. And Emma chose to play out her pain.”

‘It’s just a moment in time.’ Emma adds.

“But do you still feel the same way?” Kara asks hesitantly and Emma pauses. Her eyes find Lena again, who slowly raises her head to watch Emma’s answer. She freezes when her apprehensive eyes connect with Emma’s.

‘I want to say no, but I’d be lying to you.’

“Which Emma is allowed to feel.” Alistair quickly interjects, feeling the build up of confusion and hurt in the room.

“How can we move forward and help you see we were wrong?” Sam asks while holding Alex’s hand.

Emma shrugs, unsure herself.

“May I offer a few suggestions?” Alistair injects and Emm nods. “You all experienced trauma that day, not just Emma. I believe doing group exercises, your film and game nights will help. Also-” Alistair pauses as he looks between the sisters. “You don’t need to do this right away, but Eliza told me the apartment where the attack happened is still empty. When you three feel ready, it might give you some healing to go back and make peace with what happened.” His eyes focus on Alex in particular who shifts in her seat.

The sisters nod in unison.

The rest of the session goes by quickly and soon the sun has set. They finish and say their goodbyes to the couple, offering for Lily to stay with Emma to help her heal.

“She has taken a great liking to you.” Fay smiles widely after hugging Emma. “See you soon.”

Emma waves goodbye and goes back into the house to eat dinner with her family with Lily staying close by her side. 

The atmosphere is relaxed and the group joke and laugh as they eat. Afterwards the group decides to go down to the beach and build a bonfire to enjoy the crystal clear night. They sit and roast marshmallows while drinking rich hot chocolate. 

Emma is listening to Winn, Kara, Lena and Brainy debate something sciency, but she cannot keep up with their discussion. However, she enjoys how passionate they are when trying to support their theory. Even if Winn gets overly exasperated to the point Ayla has to pull him back.

Emma grins and takes the last gulp of her drink before getting up.

“You okay?” Nia asks and Emma nods, motioning she is going to the water.

She stands by the water’s edge as it gently laps against the sand and takes a deep breath. Finally feeling like things could, possibly, get back to some normality. Although she still felt apprehensive about what the future could hold and whether things could repeat themselves again.

‘I AM YOUR DOOM!’

Emma flinches and frowns slightly at the monstrous voice that plays out in her mind and she remembers her dream from this morning. The same grotesque monster that demolished National City. But this time, it had destroyed her family as well.

Emma shivers at the memory, her sisters covered in blood, eyes fully dilated, staring at nothing. It had felt so real and she can’t help but feel a sense of dread.

“Hey.” Two voices greet her, making Emma jump out of her skin and slip on the sand. 

“Wow!” Alex and Kara grab a hold of her to steady her footing.

“You okay?” Kara asks in concern and Emma nods, running a hand through her hair.

“We can go if-” Alex starts to say but Emma firmly shakes her head and pulls her sisters into a group hug.

They tightly hold onto each other and Emma places a kiss on their heads. Still not used to the new height difference.

“I love you.” She whispers, causing both of her sisters to tear up and Alex to lower her head.

“Love you too.” Kara responds back and sucks in her bottom lip. “Can I ask you something?”

Emma nods and Kara steps out of the hug while Alex clings to Emma, who rests her head against Alex’s.

“So, you said you still feel the same way? That it was an illusion?” Kara shuffles on her feet, worried about the answer Emma will give.

Emma takes a deep intake of breath and straightens up, allowing Alex to look at her.

She swallows and feels her throat, wanting to voice her words rather than sign them.

“I still feel- disappointed.” Emma whispers out and coughs. Kara superspeeds to grab a bottle of water and hands it to her. Emma nods her thanks and takes a few sips before continuing. “I needed you both and you weren’t there but you were for Lena.”

“I can see how that looks.” Alex says softly and steps back but keeps ahold of Emma’s hand. Seeing this, Kara takes the other. “I can’t say anything other than I’m sorry.” Alex begins. “You are my sister and you mean the world to me. I would never choose anyone over you and I’m sorry it felt that way.”

Kara nods in agreement. “Yea, I’m sorry.” Kara agrees. “But our love for you has never been an illusion. You’re our sister and we love you no matter what.”

Emma sniffs and her sisters pull her into another hug before they start heading back to the group. 

“Oh and Mom wants to know your thoughts about New Years tomorrow.” Alex asks and Emma gazes at her questionaly. “If you wanna go to the party or stay at home.”

“Am I expected?” Emma asks and the sisters share a look, which Emma catches.

“Well the town knows you are here-” Kara begins and Emma nods.

“We can always go for a bit and come home.”

“Good plan.” Alex nods and squeezes her shoulder before they separate. Alex heads for Sam and Ruby roasting marshmallows and Kara goes over to Ben who is joking with Eliza.

Emma approaches Robyn, who hands Emma her new guitar to play. Emma grins and sits on a blanket, she softly strums the guitar while listening to the conversations around her. In time she stares into the fire and her eyes become unfocused and distant as she watches the dancing flame. 

“May I sit here?”

A velvet voice says next to her, causing Emma to blink and look up to see Lena standing there with two steaming mugs.

Emma nods and passes the guitar back to Robyn, who gazes at Lena with less animosity than she had done. 

Lena kneels down and hands her one of the mugs.

“It always amazes me how beautiful you make music sound.” Lena utters while making herself more comfortable.

Emma gives her a small smile and takes a sip of the hot chocolate. A moan escapes her lips from the velvety taste, making Lena smile and chuckle. 

“I agree it’s good.” Lena takes a sip of her own before lowering her mug to her lap. “Can I tell you something?”

Emma nods and sits so she is facing Lena more.

Lena takes in a nervous, deep breath. “I understand your process of writing songs. You write from the depths of your soul and are able to connect with others. But please know, my love for you, it wasn’t an illusion. I just wanted you to know that.”

Emma lowers her head for a moment, unsure how she can respond to that.

Placing her mug on the ground she goes to sign.

“You broke my heart.”

“I know and I will regret it for the rest of my life. If I could go back and change it, I would. But I can’t. All I can do now is try to support you the best way I can. If you’ll let me?”

Emma nods slowly. “Maybe we can rebuild our friendship?” Her eyes fall to Lena's chest, where the ring sits, hidden by the raven haired beauties clothes.

“I’d like that.” Lena gives her a small smile and the pair focus on the fire in front of them. Content to sit in silence while laughter and jokes sound around them.

[bi-bi-buckleydiaz]

deep breath, do your job | owen joyner

requested; yes! - Could you do a Owen x reader where the reader is Owens personal assistant while filming JATP and while they are filming the reader starts catching feelings for Owen but Owen is in a relationship. Owen and his girlfriend breakup and the reader comes over to comfort Owen and Owen confesses that the reason him and his girlfriend broke up was because of the reader.

word count; 6.4K ... yeah kinda got away from me there. longest fic i’ve ever written

warnings; language, implied sexual content but no actual sex or description thereof

a/n; lol, so i just wrote from 1AM - 4AM because i’m procrastinating my child dev. project thats due today that’s worth a quarter of my grade. i really didn’t mean for this to be so long so it’s probably not this good and the ending is a lil’ rough, but oh well. hope whoever requested this likes it. i kinda do even though it’s long and only slightly proofread.

“Owen Patrick Joyner! Get your ass into hair and makeup before - oh, um, okay oops. Sorry ‘bout that. Should have knocked. I’ll just - yep, i’ll just go.” 

You thought he’d be sleeping. It’s nap time for him anyway, so he should’ve been sleeping. Instead, your technically boss and definite crush, was on his trailer couch with a girl you’ve never seen before. Kissing her. Without a shirt. Yeah, you definitely need to get out of there. 

You’re quick to close his door and begin to walk back to the hair and makeup trailer to tell them Owen will be a minute. 

“Y/N! Hey! Wait up! It’s um, it’s not, well it is, but -” He grabs your arm, causing you to turn around and face him, which, big mistake. Abort. Abort. Turn around. His post make out face is something you did not want to see. Liar.  

“It’s fine Owen. What you do in your free time is not my, well, actually it is since i’m your PA, I just mean who - WHAT, what you do in your personal time, in your trailer, is not my concern. Just, you’re needed in hair and makeup like, an hour ago. So, yeah, just, get there.” You stumble over half your words and watch his face fall as you near the end of your spiel. When he lets go of your arm you’re quick to turn around and leave him alone, walking right past hair and makeup and to set where you can curl up in your chair and eat your weight in brownies, if Madi hasn’t taken them all that is. You hope he goes to get his hair done. You know you should walk with him there because if you’re not practically dragging him to where he needs to go he never gets there on time, as just witnessed. But it’s usually because he’s goofing off with Charlie, not sucking face with a random girl. 

You don’t notice the brownie in your hand has crumbled until a whistle comes from behind you. You turn around a little too quickly, sending the brownie bits flying to the floor. 

“Shit.” You kneel down to begin picking it up, another hand coming into help. Charlie, based on the rings adorning the fingers. 

“Is Owen’s keeper okay?” You huff a laugh at the name the cast gave you a week into filming. You’re the only one who has managed to keep Owen in line since filming started, the only reason he’s ever on time for anything or actually has real food in the apartment or has his drumsticks when needed, etc. etc. 

The boys didn’t want PA’s when Kenny proposed it during bootcamp, they were young adults, they didn't want to boss someone around, it felt wrong. But having more experience than the boys, Kenny vetoed how they felt and told them PA’s would help tremendously, especially on a project like this. That’s where you came in. You were trying to get into the directing and producing scene in Hollywood, you’re dream to be as good a director as Steven Spielberg or, well, Kenny Ortega. But you knew you had to start small, so you applied for a PA job on an upcoming Netflix show, getting hired within the week. Now here you are, a nineteen year old being in charge of another nineteen year old who acts more like he’s five. 

In the beginning, it was purely professional. You were nothing more than his PA who got him from place A to place B in a timely fashion. But then he started to rope you into pranks with the rest of the band. He started inviting you to movie nights, and adventures to the grocery store, and ice skating with Charlie and Madi, and somewhere between helping him keep his life in order and watching him fall on his ass at the ice rink, you fell for the blonde. You know it’s a mistake, falling for him. You work for him. He’s your friend. That’s all he sees you as, but you couldn’t help it. But you’re good at compartmentalizing, so you took all the inappropriate feelings, shoved them in a box, locked the box, and hid it deep in your unconscious. You were doing well with ignoring the box, until you walked in on Owen kissing someone that wasn’t you. 

“I’m fine Charlie, just, stressed. Owen was an hour late to hair and makeup so I kinda feel like a shit PA right now.” Charlie chuckles and hugs you as you both stand up. 

“Please Y/N, you’re the best PA. If it weren’t for you, Owen would never know where anything is, including his head.” You laugh into his shoulder, reveling in the hug for a few more seconds. When you part, you see a flash of blonde enter the set and sigh in relief. He made it. He’s ready. You’re not fired today. 

Just incredibly confused and upset. 

But not fired.

“You better go, I know you’re in this scene with Owen.” Charlie nods and squeezes your shoulder once before running after Owen onto the set that holds Julie’s shed. Taking a deep breath, you try to push whatever the hell you saw ten minutes ago into your box, and get ready for the day ahead. 

Four hours, six brownies, and two cookies later, Owen is officially wrapped for the day, meaning you can go home and continue to eat your feelings in ice cream. You’re quick to grab your binder full of Owen’s schedules to drop tomorrow’s off at his trailer before he sees you. You’re not really in the mood to talk to him about what happened earlier, so you fast walk to his trailer, fully intent on just leaving the paper on his counter where he’ll see it, but a brown haired, green eyed girl throws that plan right out the window. 

You’re so stupid. You should’ve known she would still be here. Waiting. 

“Oh, um, hi.” She says. She sounds nice. She looks nice. But when you look at her all you can see is her hands in Owen’s hair and his lips on hers. 

“Hi.” You don’t know how, but you managed to put on a smile and put a little pep into your voice. “I’m Ashley. I’m waiting for Owen. Is he done?” You nod, not trusting your voice as you stand awkwardly in the doorway, one foot on the step the other in the trailer, hand outstretched ready to place the schedule on the table. 

“He just wrapped for the day. Should be here in a few.” The girl - Ashley - nods. 

“You’re Y/N, right? His personal assistant?” How does she know that. She giggles, “He talks about you all the time. Says the only reason he’s not fired or dead in a ditch is because of you.” OH, you said that aloud. Coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoo-

“Y/N! What are ya doing just standing in the doorway?” Fuck. You put a smile on and turn around. He’s smiling softly at you, still in Alex’s clothes, twirling those damn drumsticks around his fingers. 

“Um, just dropping tomorrow’s schedule off. Here. Okay...bye.” You walk down the steps, letting the door shut behind you, fully intent on leaving, but Owen grabs your arm again, just like earlier, causing you to stop and turn to look at him. 

“Wait. Can we talk real quick. About...earlier?” No. No absolutely not. 

“Um, I really have to go. I have a lot to do tonight for tomorrow.” Owen sighs and lets go of your arm, face contorting into that of a sad puppy. 

“Just, one minute Y/N. Please. Let me explain.” Screw him and his perfect freaking face. 

“A minute.” His face lights up and grabs your hand, leading you back into his trailer, smiling even wider at seeing Ashley sitting pretty on the couch. 

“Y/N, this is Ashley, my girlfriend.” Ashley smiles and waves, standing up to stand by Owen and grab his hand. A rock settles in your chest at the word. 

Girlfriend. 

Girlfriend. 

Girlfriend. 

“Nice. I��m Y/N. But you knew that. Just like you also know I’m in charge of getting him to places on time. Which didn't happen today.” Owen’s face flushes at that while Ashley terribly hides a smirk behind her hand. 

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that Y/N. She surprised me today. We weren’t supposed to see each other until Thanksgiving but she finished classes early and flew out to surprise me. Kinda got, caught up in -” His face is beat red so you’re quick to cut him off. 

“It’s fine. Just, try not to get ‘caught up’ tomorrow, yeah?” It’s harsh and full of hostility, but you want to leave, the word still bouncing around in your head, swirling around the scene you walked into earlier. 

Girlfriend. 

Kissing. 

Girlfriend. 

Flushed face. 

Girlfriend. 

Kissing. 

“I have to go. See you tomorrow on set at 5 Am. Got it? Five A M. Don’t make me break into your apartment again. I almost got arrested for that.” Owen is still reeling from your harsh words said a second ago to laugh at the memory. Ashley however, has no qualms about speaking up. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s here on time.” She smiles and wraps around his arm like a koala. You hold back a scoff, throwing up a fake smile before turning and leaving. 

Girlfriend. 

Girlfriend. 

Girlfriend. 

It’s almost midnight.

It’s 11:48 PM and someone is knocking on your door. 

Who the fuck is pounding on your door at near midnight. 

You shuffle to the door wrapped up in your comforter, wiping the sleep out of your eyes. You don’t bother looking through the peephole, too angry at the person behind the door to bother, just wanting to yell at them and get back to bed. 

“What the - Charlie?” He looks exhausted, hair ruffled and eyes puffy. He’s in joggers, a random band tee and his denim jacket. You’re pretty sure his shoes are on the wrong feet. 

“Can I stay the night?” He doesn’t wait for your response before walking into your apartment, flinging his shoes and jacket off and walking to your room. You sigh, ignoring the way he just threw his stuff around and instead follow him to your room before he takes your side of the bed. You walk in just as he chucks his shirt off and woah. You were so not expecting that. An explanation as to why he’s here at midnight? Yeah. Him taking your side of the bed? Definitely. But not Charlie taking his shirt off and crawling onto the right side of the bed and curling around a pillow. You take a moment to collect yourself and your thoughts before crawling into bed next to him, making sure to drape the comforter over him as well. He hums in content and turns around to face you. 

“Sorry for barging in like this. Just, ugh, Owen and that girl are not quiet if you catch my drift.” And it’s like the rock in your heart is now a boulder and it’s crushing your ribcage. You can’t breathe. You can’t think. You’re frozen, staring at Charlie’s half asleep face. “Like I get it, you’ve missed each other. But c’mon bro I’m there too.” He keeps talking. Keeps pushing the boulder until all the ribs crack and puncture your lungs. “There’s somethings in this world I never wanted to hear, and Owen moaning was one of them.” He won’t shut up. Charlie shut up. You’re entire chest is fracturing, breaking at his words and he needs to shut. up.

“I didn’t really know where else to go, but I remembered how comfy your bed was last movie night so, here I am.” His voice is raspy, words slurring as he’s trying to fight sleep to explain to you why he’s here. But you can’t focus on him right now. Can’t think about a shirtless Charlie in your bed. There’s only one thing you can think about right now. 

Girlfriend. 

Shirtless. 

Girlfriend. 

Kissing. 

Girlfriend. 

“Thanks for letting me crash by the way. I’ll try not to kick you in my sleep.” He chuckles, then finally opens his eyes when you don’t laugh back. You don’t know how you look right now. You know you’re frozen. But is the panic and pure sadness showing on your face? It must be, because suddenly Charlie is wide awake and leaning up on his elbow to look at you fully. “Y/N are you okay?” He’s worried. You want to tell him you’re okay. It’s fine. Everything is fine. But you can’t move. You can’t talk. Because reality is crushing you. It’s ripping up your heart, suffocating you, consuming your mind. 

Owen isn’t yours. 

Owen will never be yours. 

You’re just a friend. 

You’re just his PA. 

That’s when the tears finally start. They come slowly, one trailing down your cheek, then another. Then all at once your sobbing into Charlie’s chest, no doubt getting snot all over him. But he doesn’t seem to care. He just starts to hum some random song while he repeatedly runs his hand over your hair, the other holding you close to him. He keeps humming, his chest vibrating and giving you something to focus on that isn’t your depressing thoughts. It’s almost soothing, the petting and the hug and the humming. 

You don’t know how long you sob into him, but when you stop, his humming stops too. He still holds you close, just lets go of your head so you can lean back a little and look up at him. He’s brows furrow in concern and he pouts at your post-crying face. 

“Are you okay? Am I really that bad of company?” He tries for funny but you can’t bring yourself to laugh with him. Just pout and push his semi-wet chest. “Seriously Y/N, i’ve never seen you like this. What’s wrong?” Those two words. 

What’s wrong?

What’s wrong? I fell for my boss and now he’s doing it with some girl and I can’t stop thinking about them and it’s killing me because before I could live with being his friend and PA because at least there was some sliver of a chance but now there’s nothing because he has someone and I have no one and I can’t breathe because oh my god I love him. I love that stupid fool and i’m nothing but his personal assistant. 

It’s quiet for a minute, too quiet, and that’s when you realize you said all that out loud. You look up at Charlie, which was a mistake because his face is full of pity. It’s all sad puppy eyes and “Shit Y/N i’m so sorry.” A fresh wave of tears make their way out of your eyes, but Charlie is quick to wipe them away. 

“Y/N I didn’t know I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have said all of that, God I was so stupid.” And then it’s like a whole new flood gate opens, this one full of laughter though. You start with a chuckle, but soon it’s full out belly laughing. Because Charlie isn’t the stupid one here. “I’m the stupid one. I mean, how idiotic does a PA have to be to fall for the one they’re in charge of? Never mix work with pleasure. It’s PA-ing 101, don’t fall for your boss. I’m so fucking stupid to ever fall for him or think he’d like me back because i’m just his stupid PA who has no talent what so ever, never has a good hair day, can’t go a day without eating their weight in sugar, and will never see him again after filming is wrapped.” Your laughing dies down by the end, and then ends completely when you see the look on Charlie’s face. It’s not exactly pity, but it’s not exactly sadness either. It’s hard to describe what exactly it is, but it’s not good. 

“Y/N. Babes. I don’t ever want to hear you talk about yourself like that again, okay? I swear to God next time I hear anything like that come out of your mouth again, I’m hitting you with a pillow.” You giggle, but he stays serious. “Dead ass Y/N. Listen, was it probably not the smartest to fall for Owen? Yeah. But you didn’t know he had someone. I didn’t even know he had a girl and I’m his roommate. But, we can’t help who we like. It’s all brain chemistry and heart palpitations and whatever else. It’s something we can’t control. So don’t say you’re stupid because of something you can’t control.” 

“You’re being really smart and caring for twelve am.” You both chuckle, a real smile gracing your face for once in the past twelve hours. 

“I’m sorry for the breakdown it’s just, there’s a lot in my head right now and what you said really didn’t help.” Charlie sighs and pulls you in close. 

“I’m sorry babes. You should’ve slapped me or something.” 

“I probably would’ve had the breakdown at some point tonight anyway.” Charlie pulls back a bit to look at you, confusion on his face. “I kinda walked in on them making out earlier when Owen was late to hair and makeup.” 

“Is that why you crushed that brownie earlier?” You sigh and nod. 

“Y/N, i’m sorry. I’m so sorry you have to go through this.” 

“It’s fine Charlie. It’s, well, it’s not but, I’ll get over it. I’m a big girl. Besides, I have you to get my tears and snot all over right?” He groans while you giggle, but he isn’t really mad if the way he pulls you close and rests his face in your hair is any indication. 

“Always babes.” 

The next day you drive to set with Charlie who didn’t have to be on set at five like Owen, but joined you nonetheless. Taking his duty as your new ‘heartguard’ as he called it last night, you walk to hair and makeup with his arm around your shoulders. It’s comforting, even though he’s putting most of his weight on you because he’s exhausted, the coffee you gave him this morning clearly doing nothing to wake up. 

“Charlie, you could’ve stayed in bed until you were actually needed.” You laugh as he trips up the steps to the trailer, nearly face planting if it weren’t for you wrapping your arms around his waist last minute. 

“Char you good?” You hear BooBoo ask. Charlie grumbles something incoherent and shoves his face into your neck as you lean against the arm of the couch. BooBoo laughs, so do you, but quickly sober up when Owen walks in, Ashley on his arm. Charlie must have ESP or something because, without looking up at who walked in, he wraps his arms around your waist and murmurs in your ear, “Deep breaths. I’m here.” You do as he says, shooting Owen a friendly smile, but dropping it as he frowns at you. 

What is that about? 

“Glad to see you on time Owen. I wouldn’t have been able to break in this morning anyway because an octopus decided to break into my own apartment last night.” You ruffle Charlie’s hair as you say that and he grumbles some more, playfully biting your neck as well. “Ow. Asshole.” Owen frowns even deeper at that, while BooBoo chuckles. He get’s scolded a second later for moving. 

“So that’s where you disappeared to last night. I was wondering why you weren’t home this morning.” Owen’s voice is tight while he says it, Ashley noticing as well if the tightened grip on his arm is anything to go by. Charlie squeezes your waist as a way to say, ‘prepare yourself’ before he moves his head to lean against your shoulder so he can talk. 

“Yeah well, I wouldn’t have had to if you and your girl weren’t so freaking loud.” You tense up, mind starting to reel again, but a squeeze to your waist and a warm breath on your neck manages to bring you back. The trailer goes quiet, even the hair and makeup ladies tensing up and sensing the tension. Charlie, ever the wrong place, wrong time type of guy, grabs your hand and places it on his hair, then moves it back and forth. 

“Pet me.” Despite the tension in the room, you can’t help but giggle at the stupid Canadian boy wrapped around you. Apparently that’s all the rest of the people in the trailer needed to go back to what they were doing. That or they just didn’t want to get involved in young adult drama. You shoot a look at Owen, his jaw tense and hands clenched into fists. Completely ignoring the way Ashley leans up to kiss Owen’s neck, you open your phone and begin to read off his schedule for the day, your left hand still running through Charlie’s hair. 

“Hair and makeup at five AM, sit your butt down and let Shelly do her thing, costume fitting right after. First scene at six-thirty with BooBoo, you guys are doing the scene at the Orpheum where you talk about what’s been going on, you’re going to be sad so this whole frowny face you got going on? Keep it. A break after that then rehearsal with Charlie, Jer, and Mads for Stand Tall. Fitting for the Stand Tall suit is after that, but no actual filming for that scene yet, just getting the measures right so after that, you’re done for the day.” You take a deep breath after all that, BooBoo whistling at you from his seat. 

“You could be an auctioneer with how fast you talk.” You smile and bow your head at him.

“I’ll take that as a compliment Boo.” He shoots you a smile and then raises his hand to high five Owen as he sits next to him. Owen ignores him. In fact, he stays silent throughout all of getting his hair and makeup done. Only smiling occasionally when Ashley shows him a meme on her phone. You watch them, the boulder in your chest rolling around as you do so. But not for jealousy, no, for concern. Owen is acting very unlike himself. You may be upset right now, especially with him, but it doesn’t mean you still don’t see him as a friend; still don’t worry about him. Something is wrong, and you can’t help but feel like it’s your fault. 

“So did it work?” You jump in surprise at the voice behind you, the cookie in your hand crumbling and falling onto the table. 

“Charlie! What did I say about sneaking up on me?” You turn to look at the boy who is smiling too wide at you for you to think this is about to be a completely innocent conversation. 

“Did it work?” He’s practically vibrating where he stands.

“Did what work?” 

“The cuddling this morning? Didn’t you see Owen? He was totally jealous.” And - what? That’s why he was so touchy this morning? 

“I just thought you were tired, that was - you were trying to make Owen jealous? Charlie what the hell? He has a girlfriend!” Charlie rolls his eyes and loops his arm around yours, dragging you away from the cookies and towards the costume room. 

“Yeah, but we both know she shouldn’t be. And the way he was acting this morning? I think he’s starting to realize that too.” There’s no way...right? No, the way Charlie described last night...no. 

“No, okay, he was probably just tired and angry about having to be here so early.” Yeah, that’s it. He was not jealous of the friendly cuddling you and Charlie were doing. Totally...not. Holy shit. You hear Charlie giggling in your ear as you enter costume. 

There, in front of you, is a very shirtless, very toned, very pretty Owen Joyner.

“You’re welcome.” Then Charlie is off to God knows where. Leaving you alone with Owen. Well, not really alone since Soyon is here too, running around looking for different fabrics and textures to throw on Owen. A still very shirtless Owen. 

“Oh, hi Y/N. What are you doing here?” Owen asks, looking at you though the floor length mirror in front of him. He’s not smiling at you, but he’s not frowning either, so improvement from this morning. 

“Oh, um, just making sure you got here on time. And look at that. You did! Good job.” You clap, who knows why, but it makes Owen laugh, which, whew, okay. 

“Yeah, I reminded him.” A voice behind you says. You turn and look at Ashley walking in, coffee cup in hand. She bounces up to Owen, ignoring Soyon and placing a big, wet kiss onto his lips before moving to the couch off to the side. Owen seems shocked by the PDA, which makes sense, you know he’s not big on that, remembering one late night conversation you both had a few weeks ago. 

“Anyway, Y/N, how does this one looks. I think the ruffles are nice. And then when he’s performing Stand Tall we can,” and then she begins to unbutton the shirt all the way down to mid chest and okay, seriously Soyon, now you just want to torture me. 

“I like this.” Owen says, twirling in the mirror like a ballerina. This causes the shirt to fling open more, showing his chest more in the process.

Deep breaths. 

Be a friend. 

You’re a big girl. 

“Yeah. It’s good,” you say, walking over to him to tuck to the sides back together somewhat. “Are you going to keep with the pink theme for the jacket?” Soyon smiles and nods, walking away for a minute leaving you alone with Owen and Ashley. 

“Should it really be unbuttoned that much? I mean, it is a kids show? I don’t want to share my boy with fangirls.” Ashley says. You can’t stop your eyes from rolling or the scoff that leaves your mouth. You watch Owen’s Adam's apple bob as he gulps. 

“Please, Charlie is sleeveless for a majority of the show. Owen showing a little chest isn’t gonna hurt anyone. Besides, Soyon chose good. The way the shirt fits and settles it’s never going to open all the way. Unless, ya know, he twirls like some Carolynn Rowland wannabe.” You smile up at Owen and inhale sharply when you see he’s already looking down at you. “And with the jacket on it’ll stay put pretty well.” You’re still holding the shirt in your hands, looking at Owen’s face as you talk. For a second, it’s just you and him, looking at each other, smiling. Then Soyon comes back and clears her throat. The trance breaks and you back up. You wipe your sweaty hands on your jeans before backing up and standing next to the mirror. You feel eyes on you and look over to see Ashely glaring at you. 

“Here we go. One pink jacket to match.” Owen slides it on and smiles wide. You have to say, it looks good. Professionally speaking of course. 

“Soyon, have I ever said how freaking amazing you are. I mean, this is really good looking. Very Alex.” Owen praises. He’s smiling and it’s a nice sight after this mornings debacle. 

“Alex is going to be the best looking one on that stage.” Owen looks over at you, his smile still there, and the boulder shrinks three sizes. 

“Still think the shirt should be buttoned.” Ashley mutters. But everyone ignores her, even Owen, who does another twirl in front of the mirror. 

“Well then, you’re all set Owen. Go ahead and change and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Soyon leaves, going off to do costume designer things, leaving you alone with Owen and Ashley again. Owen takes the jacket off, then looks around not knowing what to do with it. You sigh and smile softly, taking it from him.

“Here, just give me all the clothes and i’ll take them back to your rack.” He smiles thankfully at you, before frowning again and looking down at his outfit. Getting what he’s thinking, you chuckle and cross your arms. “Bub I just saw you shirtless it’s not a big deal. Now c’mon, give me the clothes before Soyon thinks you’re stealing them.” Owen looks up at you in a way you’ve never seen him look at you before. It makes you take a sharp breath in.

“Maybe you should go. I can give the clothes to Soyon. Don’t you have assistant duties to do?” Ashley is right next to you as she says it. It makes your ears hurt and hands clench. You’re quick to unclench though, not wanting to wrinkle the nice pink jacket. Ashley moves forward to unbutton Owen’s shirt all the way, but he grabs her hand before she can begin. 

“Actually I need Y/N to stay. I have to talk to her about some, ya know, assistant stuff. And besides, she knows where Alex’s rack is and that’s where the clothes have to go. Why don’t you go wait for me in the trailer, I’ll be there in a few.” 

I need Y/N to stay. 

That shouldn’t make you feel as warm and tingly as it does. 

Ashley scoffs and looks away, clearly trying to guilt trip him. Owen sighs and kisses her cheek.  

“Trailer. Ten minutes.” Ashley sighs before nodding and finally leaving. He watches her go, then turns back to you when she finally disappears. You clear your throat and he looks back at you, face a bit red. 

“Um, hey.” You chuckle. 

“Hi.” He nods, and you sigh, walking so you’re right in front of him. “Seriously, O, you need to get this off because if they’re not on the rack for Soyon to fix up by the end of the day it’s my head on a stick, not yours.” Then you’re unbuttoning his shirt. 

You’re unbuttoning. His shirt. You don’t realize you’re doing it until you hand grazes his navel when you untuck it from his pants. You hear him suck in a breath and you immediately take two steps back. 

“Sorry, um. Sorry that was not, um, -” 

“It’s okay. You were just, doing your job. Making sure I get stuff done on time, right?” But his voice is wobbly as he says it and his face is as red as a tomato. You couldn’t have made him that flushed, not you? 

“Right. Yeah. Um, so, pants?” Owen looks at you with wide eyes. “I need to take the pants back too.” It’s quiet, but you know he heard you because he nods his head and begins to unbutton them. You suddenly feel very hot, very suffocated. You should’ve left when you had the chance, just let Ashley do this. You shouldn’t be here, watching as he pulls the velvet pants down his legs. Watching as he steps out of them and - oh God he’s falling. You grab his hand to help him but it’s too late, you both tumble to the ground. You’re on top of him, smushed up against his bare chest, faces centimeters apart, sharing breaths. 

“Sorry.” You mumble. You watch him gulp and look down. Down at wha - oh. 

“It’s, it’s okay. I’m the one that fell and pulled you down.” You nod, causing your nose to brush against his. You’re close, so freaking close that if you were to move not even a full centimeter, your lips would touch.

So. 

Close. 

“What. The. Hell!” SHit. Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

You’re quick to scramble away from Owen, butt scooting across the floor to get as far away from him as possible. Owen jumps up, kicking the pants away then realizing that was probably not a smart idea because now he’s half naked in between Ashley and you.  

“Ash I -” 

“You were taking forever, wanted to know why. Thought you said there was nothing between you two?” She’s practically screeching. You know within minutes there will be a crowd. A crowd Owen will not want, his anxiety will not want. Ignoring his stuttering and the conversation in general, you push away the heat in your belly and the tingling in your spine and take a deep breath. 

Deep breath. 

Be a friend. Do your job.

You grab Owen’s clothes and put them in his hands, ignoring his speaking and Ashley ranting, you grab his hand and then hers, and shove them towards the back exit. 

“This is a trailer conversation, not a wardrobe fitting conversation. Leave, now.” 

“No, I have a lot to say -” 

“Listen to me, I’m trying to do my job and not get Owen in trouble. If you really care about him, you’ll take this conversation to his trailer. Now.” Then you shove them out the door before Ashley could screech some more. 

Deep breath. 

Do your job. 

You go back to the fitting area, only to see Charlie, Jer, and Madi standing there, looking confused. 

Deep breath.

Do your job.

“Hey guys. Owen just left. He and Ashley are having a date night.” Charlie gives you a look, but Jer and Madi nod, going to accept it, but Charlie has to open his big dumb Canadian mouth. 

“Why’d we hear screaming then?” Charlie questions. Jer and Madi look at each other, then back at you. 

“Oh, uh, mouse. I saw a mouse. Yep. Mouse. Anyway, I have to get this clothes hung up before they wrinkle, so excuse me.” 

Deep breath. 

Do your job.

You walk around the trio, gathering the suit and shaking everything out as you walk over to the Alex rack to hang them up. You hear the door to the room open and two sets of feet walking out. 

“Charlie, everything is fine okay? Just a little misunderstanding.” 

“Like?” You sigh and turn around from finishing hanging up the clothes. 

“Like...Owen kinda fell and when I went to help him I feel too...on top of him.” There’s silence then, 

“OH MY GOD! Y/N THAT’S LIKE FANFIC SHIT THAT WAS THE MOMENT! DID YOU KISS OH MY GOD TELL ME EVERYTHING!” He’s jumping up and down as he makes his way to you. 

“Ashley walked in.” All excitement stops.

“Oh shit.” You nod, walking past him to settle on the couch, pulling a pillow to your chest. 

“Yeah. And she started screeching and I knew Owen wouldn’t like to attention so I shoved them out the back door to his trailer.” Charlie’s arm goes around you, pulling you close. He goes to say something, but your phone ringing indicating a text from Owen stops him. You pull it out, opening it as Charlie watches over your shoulder. 

My trailer plz. 

Charlie starts shaking your shoulders, smiling like a maniac. “This is your chance Y/N go go GO!” you shake your head at Charlie’s antics, but leave nonetheless. 

Anxiety creeps up on you as you get closer and closer to his trailers, not knowing what you’re going to walk into. Him firing you? Saying you can’t be friends anymore? Ashley ready to claw your face off? 

Deep breath.

Be a friend.

You knock on his door. It opens a second later to a frantic looking Owen. Now you're anxious about him. Why does he look upset? Is he okay? He grabs your hand and pulls you into his, oh, empty trailer. Ashley is nowhere to be seen. 

“Hey, thanks for coming.” You nod, still looking around expecting her to jump out and slap you. “Um, sit. Sit, I have to talk to you about something.” You go to sit on the couch, but then remember what occurred there yesterday and instead lean against the counter. He notices but doesn’t say anything. 

“Yeah okay. What’s up?” You try to act nonchalant, but the anxiety is too high for that. ‘I have to talk to you about something’ never ends well. He walks over and sits on the bed pats the spot next to him. God, this can’t be a good conversation if he really wants you to sit. 

“Ashley and I were never...on here.” He mumbles. You walk over and sit next to him, blushing that he caught on to why you didn’t sit on the couch. 

“Must be serious if you need me to sit.” Owen takes a deep breath, another, another, and then there’s lips on your. They’re soft and nice and taste like carmex chapstick. 

“Mhm, Owen, what, what are you doing?” Your faces are still close together, both of you not wanting to back away yet. 

“I’m gonna talk. Okay I’m gonna talk and I want you to listen and not crawl inside your head too soon okay?” You nod, knowing in this moment you’d do anything to keep him this close. 

“I knew Ashley from high school. She started texting me a few weeks back and one thing led to another and she was calling me her boyfriend. I didn’t want it but it happened and I let it because it got my mind off a girl I shouldn’t like because it would ruin so many things. I didn’t know she was coming to visit and when she knocked on my trailer she jumped me and just kept going. And I just went along with everything yesterday because I’m supposed to be her boyfriend and I’m supposed to think about those things with her and I’m supposed to want those things with her, but I don’t Y/N. I don’t want those things with her I never did. I, I want them with you. I’ve wanted them with you from the moment you finally stopped being shy around me and dragged me from crafts by my ear to hair and makeup. You’re so amazing Y/N and I thought if I did anything I’d ruin this and ruin your career and I didn’t want that. I never wanted that so I went along with Ashley but I shouldn’t have because the whole time I was thinking about you. It’s always been -” You kiss him. You grab him by the cheeks and kiss him. It’s a passionate kiss, an ‘about time’ kiss, an ‘i’m never letting you go’ kiss. 

You only break away when you can’t breathe, and even then you only pull away enough to breath in each other’s air. 

“She left. She’s gone. She knew I was never 100% in.” You nod, but you’re not really listening. You can’t hear anything other than your heartbeat. 

He likes you. 

Owen likes you.

Owen kissed you. 

“It’s always been you, Y/N.” You smile. It’s a big one that you have to hamper down by biting your lip. Owen smiles back, then you’re kissing again. 

And again. 

And again.

[moonlitmeeks]

༄ soft / wholesome gerard pitts headcanons

pairing; gerard pitts x gn!reader (platonic + romantic)

warnings; one very brief mention of food, one tiny alcohol mention

request; hi bee!! i know ur probably v busy rn but i just love your writing so i was wondering if i could make a request. could i please request some soft/wholesome pitts hcs? they can be platonic, romantic or both - whatever ur feeling!! take ur time, no pressure & take care of urself! thanks so much <3 - @sammijd

a/n; you're the absolute sweetest omg,, of course u can bestie!! i love pitts so i may have went a lil overboard with these,, but c’est la vie <3 thanks so much for the request and kind words lovely,, hope you're well and taking care of yourself!!

-> platonic

you have a lot of inside jokes, some going back years that just never left

it leaves everyone else extremely confused when pitts mutters something seemingly normal to you and you both burst into laughter

“what are you two laughing at now?!” “don’t worry about it knox, you wouldn’t get it”

comfortable silences!

pitts has a very calming presence which means you can just sit in silence with each other without feeling awkward or bored

sometimes you'll just lay next to each other and one of you will poke the other and start a conversation before you fall back into the silence

but on the other hand, pitts is definitely one for deep, philosophical conversations at like 3am

you'll be half asleep and just hear "hey y/n, do you think we actually have free will?"

9 times out of 10 he gets a pillow to the face for waking you up

he throws it back with a lot more force than he anticipated

its now war.

pillow fights are a serious thing for you two

its no holding back - pitts can and has knocked you off of your feet on multiple occasions

he definitely asked you to make a secret handshake with him

the problem is he's constantly forgetting it

you have to re-teach him every few weeks

pitts loves going for long drives, so please prepare to spend hours on the road with this boy just listening to music and picking up some food on the way

we all know pitts can be incredibly sarcastic (duh it’s a lamp meeks) and it’s no different with you

constant bouts of teasing - all playful, of course

especially about your height, considering this boy is an absolute giant

he’s the type of person to hold things above your head

or move things to a higher shelf just because he can

however he always ends up feeling bad and giving you whatever it was back a few moments later

“stop being an ass and give it back!” “alright sorry there you go”

he could never say a bad word about you if his life depended on it

film nights are a must

this boy loves movies but not in a film bro way, don’t worry

his favourite is fantastic mr fox

second favourite is it

but thats neither here nor there

anyways movie nights! they’re always so over the top

he gets all of the snacks he can think of and covers the coffee table with various bowls and bags of snacks

so many blankets. mountains of them.

pitts loves horror movies tell me im wrong you cant

yeah they still get him a little spooked but if anything that makes him like them more

if you’re not the biggest fan though, don’t fret! he’s more than happy to watch whatever else you’d prefer

but if you saw him crying at the lion king, no you didn’t

is more than happy for you to meet the other poets but he will get a little jealous if he thinks you’re having more fun with them than with him

“they were my friend first!” “are you seriously jealous right now?” “no! i’m simply reminding everyone of a fact, don’t flatter yourself y/n”

bff pitts supremacy i think

-> romantic

god pitts is the absolute sweetest

with him most likely being a lot taller than you, he loves giving you his clothes

he thinks you look ten times better in them than he does and insists you keep them

you’ll find one or two of his jumpers have ‘mysteriously’ made their way into your wardrobe

he has ‘no idea’ how they got there

he will also give you his coat at a moment’s notice - his mother raised him to be a gentleman!

he sees you shiver even slightly?

he’s tugging it from his body and shoving it around your shoulders in seconds and will ignore your refusals and complaints (unless you are genuinely uncomfortable)

pitts loves hot chocolate and is incredibly good at making it - you both end up drinking a lot of it, especially in winter

speaking of winter - he gets so excited

wants to do all the typical ‘winter’ activities so please be prepared to make snowmen and do snowball fights with him

if you drink, pittsie also loves mulled wine

loves the idea of subtle matching items, so when he slips you a ring that just so happens to match the one he wears on his middle finger, he can’t suppress the grin on his face

such thoughtful gifts holy shit!!!!

loves going to vintage shops/independent businesses

he just adores the cosier vibes and thinks you can find such amazing things there

i cant talk about pitts without talking about hugs

my god this boy gives incredible hugs

the moment he wraps his arms around you, you’re wrapped in warmth and he just feels safe

kisses to the top of your head yes sir!!

dance to music with him

just do it i beg

he also sings to you a lot

is he the best singer ever? definitely not. but he can hold a tune and always has a huge smile on his face so let him continue please

he likes hozier and will scream work song at the top of his lungs

study dates!! pitts doesn’t like studying too much, so doing it with his favourite person definitely motivates him (especially if he gets a kiss for every right answer but shh)

talks about you to meeks a lot

meeks teases him about this in front of you to embarrass pitts but it’s cute

if you paint your nails, pitts will ask for you to do his matching

it will probably be chipped and picked off in a few days, but he still loves it

and no, it isn’t just an opportunity to hold your hand why on earth would you think that-

listen pitts is just in love with you okay thats just how it is

okay so maybe i got a little carried away here and wrote a bit too much im sorry i just love pittsie he needs more content <3 thanks again for the request lovely!!! i can’t explain how happy i was to write these omg!

taglist; @mendesxruel @thesilverskull @pretentious-strikes @yer-erster @tall-my-beloved

dead poets society masterlist <3

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Yuma Dark [01]

ー The scene starts in the study room

Yui: Hey, can I really pick any book I want?

Yuma: Ahー... I don’t see why not? It’s not like anyone but Ruki will use this study room anyway.

Yui: Thanks!

( I’m so happy to be able to read so many different books. Where should I start...? )

Yuma: ...Guess we’ll be here for a while...

Imma go take a nap on the sofa, so wake me up once you’ve decided on which one ya want to read.

Yui: Okay, gotcha!

Yuma: ...God. What’s so fun ‘bout a book with no pictures...?

Yui: ( I’m keeping Yuma-kun waiting as well, so I should try and quickly make up my mind...! )

( But it’s hard to choose when there’s so many new books to choose from...I’ll start by browsing this shelf. )

*TIMESKIP*

*Rustle*

Yui: ...Nn...!!

( The book I want to read is all the way on the very top of the shelf, but I can’t reach that high...! ) 

Almost there...Ahー!

*THUD THUD THUD*

Yui: ( The other books around it came falling down! I better clean up this mess and fast... )

Yuma: ...Che...

Keep it down, will ya?

Yui: S-Sorry, Yuma-kun.

I wanted to read the book up there, but it’s a little too high up for me...

Yuma: ...Ahー That one, huh? Well, a midget like ya can only dream to ever reach that high. 

Yui: N-No need to remind me...

Right! Hey, Yuma-kun? Would you please grab the book for me? 

Yuma: Aah? And why would I...?

Yui: ...So that’s a no?

Yuma: ...

...Fineー Guess I’ve got no other choice...

*Thud*

Yuma: Here ya...ー go!

ー Yuma lifts her into the air

*Rustle*

Yui: ーー !?

( He’s giving me a ride on his shoulders...!? )

Yuma: All books look the same to me, so like this ya can grab it yerself. 

Selection

→ Thanks (M)

Yui: T-Thanks...

Yuma: Sure.

Yui: ( I better pick the book quickly... )

( But his hair is brushing against my legs, it tickles...! )

Y-Yuma-kun! Don’t move your head that close...!

Yuma: Aah!? Whatcha complainin’ ‘bout!?

...Wait, hehe. Yer face is bright red, Sow.

Yui: ...I-I mean! Your hair is tickling my skin...!

Yuma: Don’t make such a fuss ‘bout just hair. If ya wanna get flustered, at least wait till I do somethin’ like this...Nn.

Yui: Ah...!

( He ran his tongue along my thigh...! )

→ Don’t touch me in any weird places, okay? (S)

Yui: Don’t touch me in any weird places, okay...?

Yuma: Aah? I’m not even touchin’ ya, am I!?

Yui: B-But! Your hair has been brushing against my legs...!

Yuma: Haah!? You’re really gonna make a fuss ‘bout such a lil’ thing?

...Nn...

*Smooch*

Yui: ーー Yuma-kun!!

Yuma: ...What? Ya said no touchin’, so I licked ya instead, but you’re still gonna complain?

Yui: ( ...My leg tickles, I can’t answer back...! )

*Smooch*

Yuma: ...Nn. Come on, hurry up and pick yer damn book already...Hehe. 

Yui: ...!

( I can’t choose under these circumstances...! )

( Um...It’s not either one of these... )

( I can’t focus at all because the sensation of Yuma-kun’s tongue still lingers on my skin... )

Yuma: Oi, how long is this gonna take? 

Yui: L-Let’s see...

Yuma: If ya don’t hurry up, imma bite ya next, understood...?

Yui: W-Wait...I’ll pick one right away...!

( I have to hurry...But my legs feel numb... )

*Rustle*

Yui: ーー !!

Yuma: Baka! If ya squeeze yer legs together now, I can’t see a damn thiーー!

ー They both fall over

*THUD*

Yuma: ...! Don’t drag me into yer stupid shit!

Yui: S-Sorry...!

*Rustle rustle*

Yuma: I guess the only way for ya to make it up to me is by lettin’ me suck plenty of yer blood...Nn.

ー Yuma bites her

Yuma: ...Nn...Nnh...

Yui: ...Ah!

( His fangs are sinking deep into my nape... )

Yuma: Nn...Kuh...Hah...So sweet...Nnh...

Just lickin’ alone would be too dull, hehe. 

Ya prefer gettin’ my fangs as well, don’t ya? 

Right, Yui...? Nn.

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー 

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

<-[ Dark Prologue ] [ Dark 02 ] ->

[amor-immortalem]

Everything Undesired chapter 12

chapter 11

Warning: kidnapping

A/N: I hope y'all are ready for a very heavy chapter because toward the end our Greed boi is going to go to a very dark place with his real thoughts on Cyrus.

“Do you think he does?” Belphie asked as he watched his older brother feed the baby.

“It would make sense.” The second-born shrugs. “I think Lucifer realized it too ‘n that’s why he was in such a big hurry for Beel and him to leave.”

The seventh-born only nods in response. “Hey I heard you three are going up to the mortal world after the term... Is that true?”

“Yeah... ‘Rella says she wants to go back to her home in York. I like the idea- been there a couple times with her after Solomon taught her to summon us. It’s nice. Hardly anybody stops by so it should be relaxin’ ‘n maybe it’ll do the baby some good to get away from the house for a bit.”

“More power to you, since we don’t know a whole lot about what kind of nutrients cambions need to begin with, it’ll probably be good for him to get some sunlight, I guess. Hey, why’re you holding the bottle that way? Doesn't it make more sense to hold it higher so he finishes eating faster?”

“Nah, any higher and he could take too much and inhale it while he’s eating. Learned that out the hard way with Satan. Plus, lowers your chances of gettin' spat up on.”

“It’s crazy that you stepped up like that for him... How did you do it?” The Avatar of Sloth leans his head against Mammon’s shoulder.

“Lots of sleepless nights and lots of coffee- I swear, m’blood probly consisted of just coffee back then,” Mammon pulls the bottle away from Cyrus after he had finished eating and started to burp him, “at least for those first few months anyway.”

“I’m not surprised,” Belphie hums.

“S'why our rooms are right next to each other. That way I wasn’t having to risk poppin’ my stitches runnin’ through the halls just t’get to him before he could wake any of y’all up. Man, that thing took forever t’heal. Not t’mention it kept getting infected since between watchin’ out for the lil’ ball of wrath that was our brother ‘n school, ‘n plannin’ Lilith’s service, I only had the time t’really take care of it when I showered save for the rare moments I had to change my bandages...” Mammon is silent for a moment, “I don’t regret it though. Gettin' to see him grow up to become a strong demon and knowing I made that possible, makes it all the reward itself.”

The younger brother only nods as he notices the infant’s eyes were glued to him- more specifically at his face. “What’re you staring at, kid? Do I have something on my face?”

“Nah, it’s just a thing babies do around this age. Its more about learning faces and facial expressions right now,” The older brother explains.

“Considering what you went through, you seem awfully calm now when you deal with him.”

“It's parental instinct and nothing more right now. Think of it as your body moving on its own. If I’m being honest with you, it’s still kind of hard- especially when he gets clingy like this but I think I’m gettin' better with him- acceptin' reality for what it is and learning to bond with him. Believe me, Belphie this isn’t how I wanted to have my first kid, but,” Mammon lets out a depressed sigh, “I’m a father now... and that means I have to suck it up and get my shit together. It’s what he deserves at the very least.”

“Wow, I guess what they say is true, huh? You really do change your ways once you have a kid.”

“Whatcha mean by that? I feel like I should feel insulted...”

“Sorry, it wasn’t meant to come out that way, Mams... It’s just that it feels like you’ve changed. Before all this, there wasn’t a single day where you went without thinking of easy ways to make a quick grimm, not a day where we didn’t have to take inventory of our stuff in fear that you had stolen something valuable of ours, went on massive shopping sprees whenever you could, but now... now, you don’t do any of that. It’s like you grew up somehow... like you’re back to how you were when we were angels and how you were way back when we had just fallen and your sin hadn’t quite settled in yet, you know?”

“Let’s just say priorities have changed...”

“Well, whatever the reason, it’s a nice change. I’m going to head to bed now. See you around.” Belphie smiled as he got up and left.

“See ya, Belphie.”

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

He doesn’t remember how long he sat with Cyrus until the little one fell asleep against his chest, but once he placed the infant in the crib, he just stood there, lost in dark thoughts.

“It’s funny...” The white-haired demon’s voice was hardly above a whisper, “I should resent your presence in my life- wish you were never born, hate you. The worst part of me- the scummy part of me- does. You took everything that I was reserving for my child with Arella and you’re a representation of everything your birth mother did to me but... I can’t- and that’s what I hate most about you. Maybe my reason for keepin’ you comes from a fear that I won’t have the guts to risk my mate’s life that way so I just took the closest alternative I could ever get to that... I know... I know I’m being selfish by keeping her for myself as long as I can and not giving her that family with me she wants so badly and it makes me angry to watch her give a child that’s not even hers so much love when you shouldn’t have ever existed in the first place... Now it's far too late to get rid of you without hurting her.... I made the wrong choice for me even though I know ultimately it was the right one for you.”

He bit his tongue as a snarl formed on his face. Here, with no one to hear him, Mammon would let out his true feelings as wrong as it was. As if letting them out would somehow change his feelings for this child.

“For now, I’ll lie and pretend for your sake and everyone else’s. No one will ever know the way I wish Lucifer just would have done away with ya and part of me wonders... if a lower demon were to attack you and none of my brothers or Arella were there to spur me to action, would I even bother to protect you or would I dare to act selfishly and just let you die? Let the problem resolve itself? Ya better prove that you were ever worth what I’ve been putting myself through in the first pla-”

A sudden bout of clarity strikes the demon, the weight of what he had just said hit him like a stack of bricks and suddenly he can’t breathe. Oh devils, he can’t breathe under the weight of it all. Was he really that messed up in the head that he would do this to his own child? That he would force Cyrus to earn his love when he knows he should just give it to him unconditionally? What happened to all that progress he thought he’d been making? What kind of father would that make him? His eyes widened in horror at the thought as he broke down in silent tears.

How unfit of a father am I? He thought, He’s my son and I can’t even bring myself to love him? I really am the worst scum of the devildom. I’ve been holding some kind of grudge against a baby for crying out loud! Is this how I would act if Arella and I had a kid and they killed her?! The thought terrifies him. He wanted so badly to be a father and now that he was, this is the way he reacted to it? Unforgivable. Mammon remembered how it felt to fight for his father’s love and how he felt when Arella told him about her horrible mother and he felt so disgusted with it but wasn’t he just the same?

As he sank down to his knees, he felt a tiny hand grasp one of his fingers and his head snapped up. There was his son who had managed to wiggle his way closer to the edge of the crib, watching him with eyes full of what appeared to be fear. It froze his blood to see that look on anyone, let alone his own child. Without thinking, the Avatar of Greed rushes forward, scoops the child up and holds his son close to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers as fresh tears begin to fall. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” Apologies tumble from his mouth in between choked sobs. “I said all those terrible things to ya. I don’t mean them. I don’t.” He doesn’t know who he’s trying to convince more at this point. Was it himself or his son? “I love ya. I love ya. I love ya. I’ll change. I’ll do anything I can for you- give you everything ya deserve.”

The baby only cooed softly, trying so hard to lift his head up, but with the way his father was held his head to his chest left no other option but for Cyrus to pat his hands against his father’s chest.

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

Over the coming years, Mammon held true to his word on that dark night. He embraced his son fully and finally formed a deep bond with him. There were some good days, some bad, but never once had the demon let his mind wander back to that dark place of hate and malice. At some point, the Avatar of Greed was even able to move past the rape all together and he felt completely at peace with everything that had happened to bring his son into his life. He and Arella had even decided to take the chance to bring a new life into this world and were now expecting a set of twins. Everything felt right. But peace is never lasting for demons and Mammon has always been unlucky.

It was five minutes. Five. Damn. Minutes. Mammon should have known better. Cyrus had gone with his father to one of his photoshoots. Typically, he kept the boy in his sights at all times but this time he allowed his director to turn his attention elsewhere for a better shot from a different angle. When the demon turned back to check on his child, Cyrus was nowhere to be seen and the Avatar of Greed panicked. It was only five minutes but he was gone. He hoped the little one had just gone off to use the bathroom and would be back shortly, but after a few minutes of nervous waiting, Cyrus never reappeared.

The whole set went into a frenzy searching for the child but he was nowhere to be found in the building. Mammon wanted to scream. How could he have let this happen? His child was taken. The white-haired demon couldn’t even finish the photoshoot as he dashed out the door searching- looking for any possible trail that would lead him to Cyrus, but there was nothing. Not even a scent trail to follow. He feels his heart break as horrible thoughts ran rampant through his head. That crushing weight from five years earlier was back.

With shaking hands, he pulled out his D.D.D. from his pocket and called his older brother. Told him everything that happened. How he let his child be abducted because he got careless, how he’s searched every conceivable place he could think of. After that, the entire family mobilized. Levi ordered his Navy to search for the boy, other smaller search parties were formed as well but nothing ever came of them. They even asked Solomon to search the mortal world and there were some leads but that too led to dead ends.

Mammon, Arella and the rest of the Avatars were left heartbroken by the loss. Not even with the birth of their twins were the parents able to find peace. Six months went by, then a year, then three- after five, the searches were called off. His body was never found, which left everyone with hope. It was hope that Mammon would hold onto until he was left with no other choice.

———————————————————————-

Next

There’s one more part left: an epilogue stay tuned folks.

Find more on my masterlist

[ahkaahshi]

sleeping over at their s/o’s house for the first time [scenarios]

pairings: sakusa kiyoomi; hirugami sachirou; kuroo tetsurou x fem reader

genre: fluff and humor, as per usual

warning(s): n/a

notes: kinda popped off on hirugami’s part. couldn't help myself. not sorry bout it either. can’t wait til we get to see more of his cute lil face in the anime.

he is so painfully awkward I love him

will just stand in the entryway with his duffle slung over his shoulder, staring straight at you until you tell him when he can put his stuff

this literally isn’t his first time over at your house but he acts like it???

poor baby’s obviously nervous about ~ spending the night ~

immediately washes his hands

brings his own pillow

asks if you’ve sanitized all your surfaces recently/if anyone in your household has been sick lately

does he wanna play video games? not until he’s wiped down all the controllers.

does he wanna watch real housewives? no, but you put it on anyway because you know he secretly loves the drama

does he want a snack? possibly? but refuses to eat on your bed because lying on crumbs is nasty

all he does is get under the covers and hang out

only moves to brush his teeth and, of course, wash his hands

will do a face mask with you but only after thoroughly reading the contents of the bottle/package

wears his hoodie and sweats to bed

is asleep before 10pm

2/10. total party pooper who only gets points because he’s hot and dislikes the same housewives as you do

Moments after releasing a rather loud guffaw at a funny scene from the television show you have playing on your laptop, you hear a small groan echo from beside you. Turning your head to the source of the noise brings your attention to your boyfriend, whose tall form rested on the bed beside you, ensconced in your blankets. His eyelids flutter open and his eyes the color of charcoal fasten on you before narrowing in a small glare of annoyance from underneath the sea of black waves atop his head.

Maybe you would’ve felt even the slightest bit intimidated if his face wasn’t close to being absorbed by the yellow fabric of his hoodie--and if he hadn’t flattened his hair against his forehead by closing the drawstrings to secure his hood around his head.

“Kiyo!” you whine, crossing your arms in front of you chest, “Were you really asleep just now?”

His dark eyebrows furrow as he answers matter-of-factly, “Yes. You know I go to bed at ten o’clock, (f/n). It’s ten thirty.”

You roll your (e/c) eyes at him and protest, “But this is a sleepover! Would it kill you to stay awake a little longer so you can spend some precious time with your beloved girlfriend?”

“Lack of sleep can lead to sickness. Sickness can lead to death. So, yes, staying awake longer to spend precious time with my beloved girlfriend could kill me.”

“I hate you.”

He lets out a long sigh and reaches over towards your laptop to close it, putting an end to your Real Housewives marathon. Once he’s moved it off of your bed, one of his arms snakes around your waist and pulls your body down towards the mattress. His midnight gaze doesn’t falter as he says, “If you get sick, I won’t be able to spend time with you like this, so sleep with me.”

Your heart skips a beat at his tenderly spoken words, and you crawl underneath the covers so you can place your head on his muscular chest and curl up beside him. The feeling of his warmth surrounding you is enough to make you melt into his arms and forgive him for completely ditching you in favor of sleep.

“(F/n).”

“Yes, baby?”

“If you kick me off the bed, this will be our last sleepover.”

sweet boy who is very excited to spend the night at his girlfriend’s house!!

brings snacks and movies

he enjoys doing any activity with you, whether it’s watching movies, playing video/board games, or just cuddling on the couch and talking

not hard to please at all!!!

watches rom coms with you. secretly a hopeless romantic

you’ll probably spend at least ten minutes of your night trying to catch pieces of popcorn in your mouths

and another ten doing the same thing with m&ms

poor boy is too tall to fit under your blankets, so you have to give him an extra one for his legs and feet

bedtime attire consists of boxers with corgis on them, a sweater, and crew socks to keep his tootsies warm 🥺

brings you a pair of matching, corgi-patterned sleeping shorts bc he wants to twin with you

your parents are gone, meaning you can do chaotic activities...

... like baking at 2am!!

he loves to bake (and you can’t convince me otherwise). pls bake with him

wants to stay up all night with you but ends up passing out around 3am after y'all eat all the cookies you made together

11/10, best sleepover ever

Few things were more romantic than spending an evening with your boyfriend on your hands and knees, against the cold, tile floor of the kitchen, cleaning up the aftermath of the mess you’d created.

Lifting your gaze from the white goop coating the flooring, you glance over at Hirugami, who looks completely unfazed and unbothered despite his face still being decorated with dollops of whipped cream. Beholding this sight once more sends you into another fit of laughter that makes it hard for you to keep yourself steady.

“What?” he asks, a small smile creeping onto his lips at seeing you so amused.

In between breaths, you manage to ask, “Why’ve you still got whipped cream on your face?”

With a roll of his chestnut brown eyes, he uses his fingers to swipe some of it off so he can help himself to another serving. “Obviously,” he scoffs sassily, “I’m saving it for later.” His smart comment makes you snort rather unattractively, which, in turn, causes chuckles to pour out from his mouth. “I’m assuming that’s what you’re doing too, right?”

Your (e/c) eyes widen, since you thought you’d done a good job of clearing up the results of your whipped cream battle from your face. A glance at your reflection in the glass of the oven where the cookies were slowly baking soon proved you wrong. Instead of being irritated by this discovery, however, you let out another, wheezing laugh and fell onto your side.

To any outsider, the situation would’ve looked rather strange--an incredibly tall volleyball player dressed only in corgi-patterned boxers, a sweater, and socks, face covered in whipped cream as he fell about laughing with his girlfriend who wore a similar ensemble and was sporting the same whipped cream situation. However, in your defense, it was two o’clock am, and you were high on sugar.

"Come over here and I’ll get the rest off your face, then,” Hirugami suggests, extending his long arms towards you that beckon you closer to him. After you scoot closer to him, he pulls you into his embrace and starts peppering your skin reddened from laughing so heartily with kisses. With each press of his lips against your face, your heart flutters in your chest.

He only pulls away from you when the oven beeps, alerting you that the cookies you’ve been awaiting are finally ready. But he does so with hesitation, seeing as he’d been caught up in savoring the sweet taste of your lips instead.

“You ready to eat some cookies?” he asks with a grin.

Your reply makes him snicker: “Always.”

is fully prepared to stay up the entire night (spoiler alert: doesn't)

made an entire party playlist for y'all to listen to throughout the evening

expect lots of dancing, vibing, singing, and buzzfeed unsolved episodes

brings dance dance revolution over to your house and then proceeds to challenge you to a dance off

was not prepared for what you brought to the table

tries twerking to distract you but still fails

will go on a midnight mcdonalds run with you

is the kinda person to share deep, late night thoughts with

only with him can your conversations go from discussing the questions of human existence to debating which form of potatoes is the most elite

will 100% do face masks with you to keep his complexion lookin godly

INSISTS on watching scary movies

expectation: “don’t worry, babe; I got you!!”

reality: is visibly shaking underneath the covers, questioning all the shadows in your house

wears only a pair of shorts to bed even tho it’s cold af (he runs hot, if ya know what I mean heheh)

8/10. would’ve scored the last 2 points if he hadn’t stolen the blankets and made you wonder if your house was haunted

"(F/n).”

The familiar and gentle voice of your boyfriend rouses you from your semi-conscious state, and you hear the sheets of your bed rustle.

“I’m so tired, Tetsu... what is it?” you wonder groggily, not even bothering to open your eyes to see what’s upset him.

“I think your house is haunted,” is his response. Though he speaks calmly and coherently, his hazel eyes are wide with fear and darting around the dark bedroom.

“Oh, stop. I knew it was a bad idea to watch those supernatural Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes before bed.”

The bed sinks behind you, and you feel the warmth of the blanket he’d stolen from you earlier around your body as he pulls you towards him so your back is flush against his chest. While you appreciate his closeness to you, you can tell he’s far from relaxed. The grip his fingers have around one of your shoulders is tight, as if he’s using it as a stress ball.

You murmur his name with indignation and pry his cold hand off your shoulder, but press a gentle kiss against the back of it. “Baby, go to sleep.”

He noticeably stiffens when a quiet whoosh sounds from another part of your house. “What the heck was that?” he asks from where his face is buried in the back of your neck, too afraid to look around and risk finding something he might not want to see.

“The dishwasher.”

“Y-Yeah,” he stammers, “the dishwasher... of course...” 

With a gentle groan, you lift your head so you can turn and press a gentle kiss against his forehead in an attempt to soothe him. As soon as you plop back down onto your pillow, Kuroo takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, desperate to get a wink of sleep.

The sound of a creak brings both of you to attention moments later, however, and your heart begins to race.

“That was the house settling... right?” you whisper.

He pulls the blanket over both of your heads, fully cloaking your bodies beneath it and says, “Yeah. Yeah. Let’s go with that.”

At this point, you realize it’s going to be a long night for reasons other than those you’d expected.

[vanderlindemorgans]

Cross My Heart (Chapter 5)

Pairing: Agent Whiskey x Reader

Rating: Explicit/18+

Summary: A traitorous Agent Whiskey returns to the United States on the run. Being cast out by Statesman, he soon finds that you’re the only person he can turn to - the embittered former flame from years long passed

Word count: 7.5k

Warnings: Eventual smut, some references to alcoholism and drug use. Reader is in her late twenties but there is an age gap between her and Whiskey. Chapter specific warnings: one scene takes place in a hospital, some medical talk, more heavy drinking, talk of death and alcoholism (specifically related to drunk driving), mentions of drug addiction, Whiskey being a dick, lotta heavy topics in general.

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“Alright, so the X-Rays have come back and as you can probably already guess your left arm has been fractured”.

The news hadn’t been a shock to you at all - it was only logical that the result of being thrown off the back of a horse was your arm breaking from the impact of the fall, nevermind the sheer amount of pain that it had already caused you was even more indication that something was definitely wrong there. All things considered, it still wasn’t a pleasant piece of news to receive, causing you to let out a low groan as you settled back into the hospital gurney they had allocated to you after the ambulance had pulled you in. Dressed in only a hospital gown, you felt the chill from the room's air conditioning prick the edges of your skin, the coolness of temperature making the whole experience even more foreign to you. Of course, it wasn’t like you’d never been to a hospital before - an unlucky bout of croup had sent you to the emergency room as a little kid when you’d almost stopped breathing. At the resurgence of that particular memory you felt yourself shudder, recalling the hours spent passed out in a brightly lit room and being forced to drink gross tasting liquid that was meant to clear up your airways. At least you weren’t choking on your own breath this time round. 

“Well that’s just fantastic. How long will it take to heal? I kinda got a ranch to run” you asked the doctor, who was standing off to the side consulting the clipboard nestled against his arm. Sighing, he looked up at you with a look of sympathy while he ran through the information he’d jotted down on his notes. “Usually it takes twelve weeks for fractures to heal - given the fact that a good part of your arm has been displaced you’ll need to be put into surgery to shift the bone back into place, which we’ll have scheduled for you in the next twenty-four hours. Afterwards, I’ll be putting you in a cast for a couple of weeks and you’ll have to come back in for checkups weekly. I’ll also give you a list of rehabilitation exercises you can do to ensure the recovery process goes as smoothly as possible” he explained. “After your surgery and subsequent discharge, I heavily recommend a few days bed rest due to the concussion you have sustained”.  

“So I’m guessing most physical labour is out then” you muttered under your breath, sighing once you realized how heavily this would impact your ability to keep things running smoothly back at the ranch. Yes, you had employees but without you to oversee everything things would slow down and descend into madness real quickly. You wished you had allocated some sort of second in command for times like this, a manager of sorts to keep things in place while you recovered but you’d just never gotten around to it, brushing the thought aside every time it sprung up with a simple “Why would I need extra help anyway? Nothing ever happens around here”. 

“You’d be correct on that. Now, I have some other patients to check on but I will be back in about 20 minutes or so to prep you for surgery, though I will send a nurse to give you some painkillers so you can stop feeling the worst of the pain for at least a little while” he replied. You went to thank him but before you could you felt a light touch graze along your right arm. Your eyes glanced over to where Jack’s hand was placed, his touch delicate and comforting, sparking that same feeling in your chest that you’d felt when he’d stroked your forehead back at the ranch. His eyes met your own for a moment, deep cedar brown looking at you with nothing more than concern and worry, somehow pulling at a single string of your heart even though you wanted to fight against it with all your might.

Snapping you focus back into place, you nodded back over to the doctor and thanked him for all he was doing, listening to his reassurances that he’d have you fixed up as soon as possible as he hurried on out of the room to his next patient in need. Once he was gone, you exhaled in annoyance and went back to staring aimlessly at the ceiling, mulling over the inconvenience of your predicament. 

“Everything ok, sugar?” you heard Jack ask you, feeling his enchanting eyes study your expression, his anxiety over your wellbeing plain as day. Letting out a small laugh, you returned his question with a small smile of your own. “Does it look like I’m ok?” you joked, gesturing vaguely to your fractured arm. 

He chuckled at your sarcasm, always enjoying that certain fire you had to your character that refused to silence itself. Unbeknownst to you, that was one of things that drew him towards you in the first place - his own air of cockiness and confidence was equally matched by your spitfire and sarcastic wit. Finding out the sweet disposition that lay behind that harshness the first time round had taken him by complete surprise, but only did more to endear himself to you. God, he was such a fool for losing that. He was certain that your sweetness was still there, closed behind even more layers of hurt and pain that he’d caused such a large hand in. 

From the moment the ambulance had arrived, Jack had stayed beside you, refusing to leave for even a single moment. It was quite endearing, truth be told, a feeling that attempted to worm its way through your steadfast reasoning against him. He’s a liar. Don’t fall for his shit again, you repeated to yourself. Though it was becoming harder and harder to continue regarding him as your greatest mistake when he was behaving so kindly and gentlemanly towards you. Just a part of his deceptive charm, I guess, you thought bitterly. 

“Y’know, you don’t have to worry about things gettin’ outta hand down at the ranch. I’m more than happy to step up and help” he spoke up, snapping your attention back to his words and out of your own contemplation. You thought about his proposal for a minute, the temptation to say yes seeming very appealing towards you, though somehow that felt like admitting to weakness. The ranch wasn’t his responsibility, it was yours, left to you by your dear parents. It was your obligation to run it in their stead - there’d been difficulties along the way, sure, including the occasional nasty cold every now and then but you had pulled through without any trouble. You didn’t need help or any sort of handout, and you were more than capable of taking care of business by yourself, even with a broken arm.

Then again, it is gonna be kinda hard to run a business while being confined to bed rest. Briefly you thought about just closing the ranch for a couple of days while you got back on track yet once you thought about the loss in profits you discarded that idea quickly. It wasn’t like you were struggling to make ends meet but a dip in profits could cause a bit of issue. 

“Yeah but...It’s my responsibility. I can’t just ignore that because I got a stupid broken arm” you rebuffed, though you didn’t sound entirely convinced of what you were saying yourself. Sadly, stubbornness was your nature and even if you knew you were fighting a losing battle, sometimes it was more about the principle of having a position rather than whatever thing you were debating over. Some would say that was quite a counterproductive way to look at things, and you’d agree with them, yet you still remained stubborn in spite of them, feeding back into the cycle.  

“Darlin’, with all due respect, I think what’s best for you is that you take a step back and let someone else take the reins. You need to allow yourself to rest a lil. Tell me, in all the years of runnin’ the ranch by yourself, have you ever once taken a day off?”. 

“No, but-”.

“Exactly as I thought. You’ve been doing an amazing job at keeping things together for all these years, sweetheart, but you gotta relax a bit. Let me help you” he interrupted, gazing at you with those heart-meltingly sweet eyes of his, a look which made you seize up ever so slightly in minor fake annoyance. Little shit, he had to be doing that on purpose.

“Fine, only if it’ll get you to shut up” you relented, rolling your eyes in a dramatic fashion and hitting your head back down into the pillow below, eliciting a playful smirk from him in return. “That’s my girl, stubborn as always” he jested. 

To that you cocked an eyebrow at him in disbelief. “Your girl? Careful there, Jack, for a minute I thought you were capable of genuine compassion and care. I may have once been your girl, cowboy, but not anymore. Or did you happen to forget?”. 

His own expression softened slightly in regards to your snide remark, his mischievous grin faltering while he turned his gaze to the floor, looking somewhat sheepish towards what you had said, a far cry from his usual air of arrogance. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that” he murmured. “Tell me, sugar, do you ever think one day you’ll believe me when I say that I’m sorry?”. 

“When pigs fly, dearest” you smiled with a shit-eating grin, though you couldn’t miss that momentary flash of hurt in his eyes that made you pull back, a sharp pang striking through your chest that hurt harder than the agonizing ache in your arm, which really, was saying something. Could that be...guilt, perhaps?, you thought, searching Jack’s face for any further sign of offense. If he was feeling hurt, he was doing a pretty stellar job at hiding it. Maybe it was nothing, and even if he was hurt, well, he said it himself, he deserved it. Without giving you another minute to ponder your own feelings, a welcome interruption in the arrival of a nurse found you, shifting your thoughts towards the relief of finally getting some painkillers into you. 

___

The surgery had gone over well, and after a grueling day spent hanging out in that hospital room hopped up on painkillers you were finally discharged late afternoon the following day. The worst of your concussion had cleared itself up too yet you were still confined to your bed for those first few days - the doctor was insistent on that fact, saying you could never be too careful. You’d begrudgingly complied, not wanting to cause any further problems to your health, and even if you had tried to go against the doctor’s orders, you knew that Jack would be there to send you off back to bed if you dared lift a finger. 

Jack had doted on you the entire time, making sure you were well hydrated and cool enough in the midst of the hot Texas summer, fetching you snacks and whatever else you needed from downstairs. In his own words, what kind of man would he be if he didn’t take care of an ailing woman. You’d rolled your eyes and insisted that he didn’t have to go all out with looking after you yet he’d insisted. It was somewhat heartwarming, and it felt nice to be taken care of again after those last few years alone. It reminded you of when you’d come down with the flu back in third grade, staying home in bed lazily watching television and barely being able to keep your eyes open while your mum made soup in the kitchen. You could feel your heart drop at the mere recollection of your parents, pain that stayed beneath the surface rising up in full force. Usually you pushed those feelings down, not wanting to become distracted from the business, but today, you allowed yourself the indulgence of missing them. What would they think if they could see you now? Would they be proud, or disappointed? 

Feeling your stomach grumble, you shifted over in bed and reached your only good arm out to grab onto the half-eaten grilled cheese Jack had brought in for you five minutes before, letting out a low wince at the pain that writhed through your other arm, which had been placed into a cast and sling for the time being. Already you couldn’t wait for the day you could get the damned thing taken off - you hadn’t been able to shower and you felt grotty and gross. It wasn’t like you had to impress anyone, it was just you and Jack lying about the place. Still, you could only take so many days of waking up with unwashed greasy hair. And it was itchy too. Oh dear god, it was fucking itchy. You’d heard about how itchy the plaster could get second-hand but you never anticipated it to be that bad. 

Directing your eyes to the clock on your bedside, you took notice of the time and let out a small relieved sigh. You could finally take another one of those painkillers, the fourth and dismally last one for you of the day. 

Your relief quickly fizzled out into disappointment when you realised the packet of painkillers that had been sitting by your bedside was empty. “Seriously? It’s only been a few days, I couldn’t have gone through them already…” you muttered to yourself in annoyance. Nevermind, there was another packet downstairs. You may have been perfectly capable of getting out of bed and retrieving it yourself, though you found yourself not wanting to be bothered with such a task. “Hey Jack, you there? I ran out of painkillers, could ya run some up to me?” you called out.

“Sure thing, sweetheart” you heard him shout back, and no more than two minutes later he was striding through your bedroom door, carrying exactly what you had requested within his palms. “How are you feelin’?” he asked. 

“No better than six minutes ago when you last asked me that. Thanks for bringing these up though, fuck that stupid horse for bucking me off” you grumbled, sniping the blessed white packet out of his hands and into your fingers. “Pain making you grumpy, sweet girl? You seem a bit more full of spitfire than usual today” he joked. 

“Nah, you’re getting the discounted version today. If I wanted to vocalise exactly what I was feeling right now you’d be obliterated in a second” you laughed, chucking a tablet into your mouth and washing it down with a large gulp of water, anxious to feel some semblance of relief. 

“You don’t say. How’s your head doing, though? No dizziness or anything like that?”. 

“I’m fine, Jack, I promise. You don’t have to fawn all over me just because I broke my dumb arm” you assured, rolling your eyes at him. 

“I wouldn’t call in fawning, I only want to make sure you're comfortable and all that. Not only because of your arm and all” he smiled gently, reaching out to brush a stray hair off your forehead. It could have been the heat of the room but you could have sworn your skin felt on fire the moment he touched you. You could feel him press the back of his fingers against your head, unconsciously allowing your breath to hitch at his touch. And just like that, the warmth of his hand was gone, leaving an invisible searing mark in its place and your own head full of frenzied and confused thoughts. 

“Like I said earlier, just call out if you need anything else, alright darlin’?” he said as he was leaving, words that you didn’t care to take notice of as he left you to yourself again. Blinking slowly, you couldn’t even fully begin to describe what had just taken place, or why one little gesture was throwing your mind into somersaults. Why did his mere touch have to affect you like that? Why couldn’t he just leave you alone? Groaning loudly, you settled yourself underneath the sheet covering you and huffed at nobody in particular, cursing both yourself and him for even existing. For fucks sake...

___

Taking a sip of bourbon from your glass, you leaned against the side of the stairs of the veranda with your gaze fixated off into the distance, though you didn’t take any notice of what lay ahead, lost deep in your own thoughts that clouded your mind. It’d been a couple more days, and you’d finally been able to get out of bed and get back to helping out around the ranch - not that you were still of any use to anyone, given the state of your arm. It felt good to be back overseeing things, albeit a bit more behind the scenes than you had been in years. It’d be a good month or so before you were able to move your arm properly and have things back to normal. At first that fact did nothing short of irritating you, since you weren’t one to lie about helpless when work needed to be done. Over the last few days though, seeing the ranch go about with business as usual with Jack’s extra help had put you at ease a little. It still bothered you somewhat that you had to be asking any sort of help from Jack Daniels of all people, though really, he was the one offering it in the first place so you hadn’t so much as asked him to do anything, moreso conceding to his instistance at the behest of your stubbornness. 

The pain was getting a little better too, though whether that had more to do with the painkillers or not remained to be seen. For example, you couldn’t feel anything now but you had just ingested two glasses of pure straight bourbon, so of course any type of pain would be numbed. Remember when it could numb more than just that? You let out a small snicker at the thought, sounding as hollow and empty as it felt. Once upon a time you might have been classed as relatively lightweight, a fact that changed after years of the trials and tribulations life had thrown your way. You still got drunk easy, but it took a good few glasses before you actually passed out.

“You know, you should let me sign that for ya”. 

Hearing that familiar voice ring out from behind you, you swivel around so see its owner standing right in the opened doorway of your home, his hands casually resting in his pockets and his frame leant against the wall. “What are we, in middle school? I don’t want it getting dirty” you scoffed, rolling your eyes at him for good measure. 

He smirked right back at you, letting out a small snicker that mirrored your own. “Why not? It’s not like you're gonna have to be wearin’ it forever. A little scribble in permanent marker wouldn’t do ya any harm” Jack grinned, taking a large step forward to descend down to your level, seating himself right next to you on the veranda. You cocked an eyebrow at him, letting your fingertips trail over the edge of the glass in your hands while you stared at him with utter audacity. “And yet I know you’re only so persistent in signing it because you’ll write something crude or vaguely flirty” you snipped. 

“How little you think of me, sugar. I’d never dream of doin’ such a thing. I am nothing if not a gentleman”. 

“Oh, do cut the charm, Jack. What is it you want?”.

“Please, can’t a man share a glass of bourbon with a lady without being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition?” he asked, wearing his devilish and frustratingly charming grin as he spoke, the appearance of which you swore made your cheeks flush a little bit hotter. Probably because of the alcohol...and it is hot out here after all...

“Not this lady, cowboy” you stated, gulping down the last dredges of bourbon in your glass and placing it back down to the floor with a thud. You went to go grab the bottle from beside you but found Jack had already snatched it up, pouring you another glass. Mumbling out a small thank you, you considered asking him if he wants a glass of his own, however once you caught sight of his silver Statesman issued flask in his hands you dismissed the idea entirely. With nothing else left to say, you glanced back up to the sky above towards where the moon was hanging over you two, the delicate light illuminating the stretches of countryside around your property in a soft glow, one that was both enchanting and eerie at the same time. Every now and then you would be reminded of how beautiful the Texan countryside could look, whether it be bathed in the rays of that damned blistering sun or the enigmatic glimmer of moonlight. It could pull you back to moments lost in time, years ago sitting right where you were in that very same spot, seven years younger and with the exact same man sitting beside you, head rested on his shoulder and looking out into the vast expanse of midnight black. Funny how things change, don’t they?

Out the corner of your eye you saw Jack shake his head, his eyes quiet, the sparkle of stark confidence bordering on plain arrogance missing. It was a similar look to the one he’d given you at the hospital that night, before he’d tried to cover it up with a certain facade of indifference. “What will it take for you to believe I’m sorry? What happened between us, it was all-” he started before being unceremoniously cut off by your interjection. 

“In the past? I’m well aware of that. Doesn’t change how I feel” you stopped him. You’d anticipated him throwing out that line from day one and you’d come prepared. Shut it down. Don’t let him try to swindle you for a fool. 

His expression changed to one more serious, a hint of him being slightly miffed that you cut him off in the first place. “Let me finish, darlin’. I’m gonna level with you for a second - what I did to you was one of the worst mistakes of my life. Letting everything fall apart like it did, I never should have let it happen” he expressed, his tone straddling between being firm and also being gentle. Cocking an eyebrow at him, you turned back to your glass of liquor, swirling the liquid around idly in a way that reminded you of that persistent thought running round your head. Did he have a point? Were you being too harsh on him? 

Don’t become soft on him. Don’t do it. You shifted back into focus, pushing those thoughts far to the back of your tipsy mind while you took a couple large sips of liquor as if it were a lifeline. “Worse than whatever mistake led you to showing up on my doorstep?” you asked, eager to direct the conversation right back out of that uncomfortable territory and into something a bit more easier to stomach. Maybe later on you could ponder the true depths of your perceptions of Jack. Right now, though, you wanted to get wasted and not have to think about anything anymore. And hey, it’s not like I wasn’t wondering about the events that led him here in the first place anyway.“You never did tell me what happened. I know you said it was none of my concern but...I want to know. Call it a spate of drunken curiosity, if ya want”. 

The question alone was enough to draw Jack’s face from being merely serious to an expression more cold and distant. He looked away from you entirely and rested his gaze to the few steps below the two of you, his hand clenching in a subconscious act that alone was enough to tell you his own reservations regarding the topic. “Truth is, I’ve been fucking things up for a good couple of years. What happened to lead me here, well, it ain’t a pretty story”. 

“I don’t care, Jack, I wanna know” you asserted, surging with a sense of fiery confidence. It might have been the alcohol giving you a bit more moxie to push the topic. One thing was for sure though: you wanted answers, and you didn’t wanna let this go. Stretching your legs out, you finished off the glass you had while you waited for him to reply, not wanting to cave to your request even if he was looking at you like you’d threatened to kill the President. 

Finally, he let out a low groan of annoyance and leant against the side of the veranda, not affording you a single look as he launched into his tale. “Basically what happened is some agents from an English based secret service came over to the states as a last resort - their base got blown up by someone and the two guys that approached us were the only ones left alive. Well, them and this other guy we had at our headquarters, but that’s a whole other story. The people behind the attack were a group called the Golden Circle, and Statesman had already been investigating them for awhile. I was called in by Champ to partner up with the Kingsman fellas, do the regular secret agent spiel of espionage and savin’ the world and all that crap. But, me and these other agents, we had an...ideological disagreement. I was covertly tryin’ to hinder them until the older guy got wise to my shit and shot me in the head. Ginger managed to bring me in and revive me, I went over to Cambodia where the two agents were confronting the leader of the Golden Circle, and to make a long story short things got nasty pretty quickly. I barely escaped with my life” he explained.

You nodded along to his explanation, the load of information being a lot to take in the first time round. You were always somewhat aware of Jack’s position as a secret agent though you were never privy to the nitty and gritty details - in fact, the way you’d found out about it in the first place was by complete accident and Jack had to beg Agent Champ to allow you to become cleared on even knowing the basics of his true work behind the front of being a Statesman investor. “And these ideological disagreements were…?” you pushed. 

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know” he deflected.

“Try me”.

He didn’t reply to you straight away, instead staring at you with a stark look of confliction across his face, an inner turmoil brewing inside of him on whether or not he should tell you even more. Being cast out as a traitor, he didn’t have to worry about breaking any sort of rule of confidentiality, so if you had to wager a guess at what his dilemma was, then it must have been that he felt mildly ashamed, or even embarrassed about the whole situation. In your mind though, you’d let him keep his secrets for weeks now, but if he was going to stay in your house you wanted to at the bare minimum know what he did that was so bad that he simply couldn’t return back home anymore.  “Well go on then, hit me with your best shot” you prodded further, hopefully enough to get his demeanour to crack and for him to spill what exactly the entire fuss had been about. And sure enough, crack he did. 

Running a hand across his forehead, he let out a low exasperated sigh, one that would have been inaudible if you hadn’t been seated beside him, indicating the exact moment he finally decided to break his own silence and reveal everything to you. “The Golden Circle were primarily a drug cartel and terrorist organization based out in the hidden depths of the Cambodian jungle. Their leader had devised a plot that involved lacing their distribution of drugs with a new type of chemical she created that caused death. Since their supply was mass distributed over the globe, they were holding the entire populace of drug users and addicts hostage to their respective governments, demanding a payout for the antidote. They didn’t, however, anticipate the President and other world leaders not really giving a red hot shit about the lives of junkies. Being the noble men they are, the Kingsman agents as well as the rest of Statesman were striving to get ahold of the antidote to save all those people. And that, is where me and them disagreed” Jack elaborated, avoiding your gaze in what appeared to be a calculated move in order to refrain from seeing your reactions to his admittance. In the span of two minutes, your expression had shifted from intense curiosity to straight up bafflement at what he was saying. It didn’t make sense - why was he against distributing the antidote? He was a secret agent, wasn’t he meant to save the world and innocent lives and all that?

“Let me get this straight - you were assigned on a mission to try to save the lives of innocent people, and you chose...not to do that” you asked, your tone laced with judgment. Not that you had intended for what you said to have come across any different. If what he was implying was right, then that would mean...

“Well, when you put it like that, sure, it sounds awful. I will concede, it wasn’t my best move. But all the people who ingested those drugs did so willingly. They knew they were taking a gamble on their lives the moment they stuck a damn needle into their arms” Jack grumbled defensively, allowing you to gawk back at him in utter disbelief. “Jack, no, you can’t seriously believe that? So what you’re saying is that the kid that decided to get high with his mates one weekend at a party deserves to die? Is that right?”. 

“No, no, I didn’t mean like that, I just…”.

“Really? ‘Cause it sounds a lot like you’re saying that innocent people should die for their poor choices” you cut in, shaking your head to further drive your point in. “Jesus, just when I thought you couldn’t be a bigger asshole you proved me wrong”. 

“Sweetheart, please, I know. It was a mistake, you don’t have to keep rubbing it in”. 

“You know it’s a mistake, but do you truly feel it? Do you really feel remorse? Because if you don’t then it’s just a bunch of empty words” you rebuffed, shooting him with a cold piercing glare that could make an entire continent freeze over. Around about this time, you really began to take notice of the dazed feeling clouding you, every glass of liquor draining straight into your brain and making you feel like your entire head was swimming. Maybe take it easy on the next glass, why don’t ya? With that thought, you shoved the glass off to the side with your free arm and bit your lip, debating whether or not you should even say what you wanted to next. That debate, however, did not last very long as you found yourself blurting out exactly what was on your mind within two seconds of your last thought. “Jack, look...maybe I’ll hate myself for saying this later, and maybe it’s just the liquor talking but I don’t think you’re an inherently bad person. I think you’re an arrogant son of a bitch who does cruel stupid things but probably has a decent enough heart. You just...you gotta stop with this shit. Stop with the betrayals, and the lies, and the false promises, all of it, and just be the real you. The Jack I knew may be a prick but he was never one to let an innocent die on his watch. What’s really behind all this?”. 

He continued to glare from his position beside you, somewhat intent on making you recant and drop the whole subject entirely. You wouldn’t go down that easy though, and he knew it, for as stubborn as Jack was you were at least ten times moreso, so when he folded first and trained his eyes low to the ground, you knew that he’d finally conceded. You could feel a whole shift in his demeanour from where you sat, the mask of defensive anger slowly falling away to reveal what was truly underneath: hurt. Pure, raw, unbridled hurt. Anguish that felt especially familiar to you and spoke to a part of yourself that you’d been turning away from for years, and even before he said those words you knew exactly what he was going to say. 

“Years ago, before I became an agent to Statesman, I was married to the young woman I’d fallen for in high school. I think I told you about her in passing maybe once, or twice, I don’t know…” Jack started, trailing off once he began to fully re-immerse himself in the past, heartache plainly sewn across his features. It was then that you felt an ache of your own in your chest, a heavy feeling of guilt descending upon you once you realised the gravity of what he was saying. “I remember. You said her name was Lily, wasn’t it?” you murmured, your voice small and unsure, with a hint of something else present too. Regret? Guilt? Whatever it was, you couldn’t quite put a name to it, but it was there, strong as anything and clearly wasn’t going away any time soon. 

Jack let out a small hum in reply, everything about his composure presumably a million miles away from everything around the both of you.“So you do remember” he muttered, brushing his fingers over the edge of his silver flask that he had cradled in his handles, tracing the Statesman logo engraved on the side with the pad of his thumb. “I remember you askin’ me about her the first time you came back to my apartment in New York - you saw the photo of her I kept on my desk and asked who she was. I only told you briefly that she was long gone, but I never told you how. The both of us were only twenty-three, and she was pregnant with our first child, a baby boy. Last time I saw her she left the house to go to the convenience store a few streets over”. He stopped himself for a split second, the darkness of his eyes being the all-too recognisable sign of falling deep into his own recollection, feeling as if he was reliving every memory that he revisited in his mind. “Twenty minutes later I get a phone call from a cop, saying there’d been an incident. Meth addicts had robbed the store at gunpoint and she’d been caught in the crossfire. She died instantly, and I wasn’t there to say goodbye. I never got to meet our baby boy, I never got to hold her in my arms again and say how much I loved her, because she was taken from me by a couple of meth-addled scumbags”. 

You were honestly at a loss for words, not knowing if saying something would be the appropriate option or not. He was right, you knew he was married before - the time with the picture that he mentioned was the most you had heard of her. He never brought Lily up again, and you never thought to ask, since in your mind it wasn’t any of your business who Jack loved before. Now, the pieces were falling into place, the interwoven connections of his past to his actions as an agent making all the more sense to you. 

What you wanted to do most was lean forward and envelop him into your embrace, tell him that you understood more than anyone what exactly that felt like, and even permit yourself to pour out your own heart to him. Drunk as you were though, you couldn’t talk yourself into doing anything more than placing a reassuring hand on his knee, letting your touch be soft and hesitant in case he shrugged you off, since you did basically just goad him into revealing his own wounds in the name of having answers. “Jack, I...I had no idea, I-”. 

“How could you have known? I never told you” he mumbled flatly. In the dim veranda light, all though it was faint, you could swear that there was a teardrop lingering in the corner of his cedar brown eyes, nudging the dagger of guilt further into your heart. Say something, you idiot.

Starting off softly, you let your hand rest firmer on his knee, trying to catch his eyes into your own. Tearing his glance away from the flask, he looked back at you with the same raw grief that you had seen on your own face so many times. “I know it must have hurt like hell losing her. And you have every right to feel angry, and hurt that she was taken, but that doesn’t give you the right to hate. Every addict in the world is not the same man who took her life. You can’t just-” you started, before the sound of Jack’s harshest tone cut through your words like a knife. 

“How would you know? Do you have any idea what it feels like to hurt, to have lost everything because of someone else’s choices?” he spat, anger seething in his scowl that was directed solely at you. It had taken you by surprise at first - as a reflex you withdrew your hand quickly from him as if he were burnt, perplexed at his sudden outburst. That didn’t last long however, as soon enough confusion was replaced by your own flair of anger. Now it was your turn to get defensive.“I think I do know what it’s like to hurt and to lose. In case you’ve forgotten, dickhead, there’s two people who should be right inside this house that aren’t anymore and haven’t been for about six fucking years now!” you yelled back. 

Shit. He’d forgotten about your parents. The anger that had been in him disappeared without a trace right then, being replaced by something close to resembling remorse over his behaviour. “I...I didn’t mean...fuck, sugar, I…I’m sorry. I don’t even know what to say” he apologised. You didn’t say anything back to him. You didn’t want to dignify him with any sort of a response. First of all, how dare he? You were only trying to empathise with him, and here he was biting your head off for daring to suggest that he doesn't hate every drug user on the planet. Why do I even fucking bother? 

The awkward silence between you hung for awhile, the two of you not wanting to break it for your own different reasons. You could feel Jack stealing glances at you, like he was trying to talk himself into saying something but never had the courage to follow through. Huffing to yourself, you took in your next glass fast enough to make your head spin. You’d have to turn in for the night eventually, and truth be told you were considering doing so right then when you heard Jack speak up. 

“I never did ask...if you don’t mind me askin’ that is...what happened to your folks anyway?” he asked hesitantly, as if he knew the question was fat-witted to begin with. Not that you minded too much by then. Drunk you was a lot more forgiving than you were sober. 

Taking in a heavy breath, you relayed your tale of woe to him, one hand placed steady to your side to keep you sitting upright. “It was late, and they were coming back from a friend’s 50th birthday party. Their friend lived in downtown Dallas, so they had a fair way to go to get from there to here. When they were almost on the highway, an out-of-control car barrelled towards them, smashing into the front of their windscreen and killing both of them instantly. The driver of the other car had been drinking - according to the local news he was a known alcoholic and had been out having a heated argument with his friend in the passenger seat. The only survivor of the entire collision had been his friend”. 

You saw Jack blink at you in silent shock, the weight of your words falling heavily on him while he continued to process it all. “Shit, darling, I feel like an even bigger piece of shit than I already did. If you slapped me clean across the face and kicked me out on my ass after this I wouldn’t blame ya one bit” he replied to you solemnly in a way that didn’t leave you questioning the authenticity of his words - he was genuinely sorry this time round. Taking his apology in stride, you shrugged back at him  and acted as nonchalant about the whole thing as possible, not wanting to ponder the topic further. As far as you were concerned, you’d felt enough things for one day and would very much like a break from it all. 

“It’s fine. You had no way of knowing. But please, if you take anything from this, at least listen to my words: externalising hate towards random people only feeds your trauma. It doesn’t resolve anything, and the only person left suffering in the end is yourself”. 

He furrowed his brow at you, most likely feeling a little defensive that the topic had circled back around to here, but considering his unruly display of anger earlier he wasn’t one to indulge in his own instinctual need to defend his position. “But...didn’t you want the man who took your parents away to suffer? Didn’t you look at every other drunk driving incident in the papers with a little more anger and rage than before?” he asked, earning a single eyebrow raise from you in return. “I mean...I guess what I’m trying to say is...it’s so easy to hate...why didn’t you fall into that trap?”. 

“Well, I did, for a little. It was almost tempting to look at every person I saw struggling with alcoholism in red. Since the man who caused the collision was already dead as a result of his own mistakes, at times I’d externalise part of that pain I was feeling onto others, and sometimes that anger became so hot and so burning that it was almost impossible to ignore. I realised pretty quickly that hating alcoholics wasn’t going to bring my parents back and that I’d have to make peace with their passing at some point. Honestly, I still haven’t processed a lot of that shit myself yet I’m still out here living my life as best I can, and really, with my own drinking habits I’d be a goddamn hypocrite to even try to find any true hatred in my heart towards heavy drinkers” you explained. Taking one last sip of bourbon, you discarded your glass off to your side and chuckled lightheartedly. “God, If I drink another glass I’m gonna collapse on the fucking floor. Think it might be time for me to turn in for the night. At least it’s Sunday tomorrow so we can sleep in a lil”.

“Y-you’re goin’ to bed? You’re not telling me to get lost or anything?” Jack sputtered in disbelief, which in turn earned him a minorly strange look from you. “Why would I do that?” you asked. 

“I quite literally just admitted to treason against my former organization to you”. 

“So? You made a mistake. A pretty fucking big mistake, and a shitty one at that, but still, a mistake. You obviously have some of your own pain you need to work through, and I can get that. Doesn’t mean I agree with what you did, but I get it. I’m not gonna kick you to the curb just because you have issues”.Upon saying that, you hoisted yourself up by latching your free arm onto the veranda’s fenceline, stumbling a little as you fought to maintain your balance while being both drunk and unable to fully utilise one of your arms. Nevertheless, you’d managed to straighten yourself up, and once you’d determined that you were alright to take yourself upstairs you faced on towards the front door and grasped at the brass knob in your hands, taking a brief pause to turn back and nod softly towards the man behind you. “Night Jack, I’ll see ya tomorrow” you called out, leaving him to sit there and watch you disappear back into the house with a certain look of dumbfounded astonishment.

Tag list (lemme know if you wanna be added): @giselatropicana​

[roo-bastmoon]

Girl...idk why I'm always doing asks on your account 😭😭😭 but anyway...sorry but this might be long.

So this is not really in response to the anon but just my lil ranting.

So I'm not gonna dive too too deep but do I believe jikook is still dating? Yes I do. Now I'm not gonna give a timeline for how long I think they were dating but I think mutual crushing started happening in 2015 (it's a stretch but maybe late 2014). As time passed we started seeing it alot. In late 2017 or early 2018, we saw rings on their wedding finger. Now idk bout yall but I ain't ever seen two straight men get matching rings and put them on their wedding finger. EVER.

2018 and 2019 were the years of grand gestures. Jkkers love to mention Rosebowl and call me weird but I've never been gassed about rosebowl. Never once. It doesn't do anything for me. I know...I'm weird 😭. Almost anything that was on stage never did anything for me. What I focus on is the members reactions, words that were unspokenly spoken and off work behavior. For me, one of the big things that make me ship/support jikook and know that there's something there, is the members reactions. Alot of people don't like 2020 and 2021 because it doesn't have any grand gestures but those 2 are my favorite years because it showed the domesticity of jikook.

In jk's 2020 birthday vlive, jk went to make his wish and v said he doesn't need to make a wish because he already has everything he wanted. Hobi and suga laughed and hobi leaned forward and looked at jm. I say that because when he was talking to jk he didn't need to lean forward, he just needed to look across. Suga looked at v and said don't say any nonsense. On jm's birthday vlive, hobi asked a simple question. You could hear the smirk in his voice when he asked what is he doing in jk's studio. Nobody would've batted an eye if he just answered the question normally. But instead he looked back at jk, got shy and lowered his head. Following up with hobi saying let's move to my studio. It's just a studio room, why make a big deal out of it?

Then you have the leaked photo from jm dad's phone that people said was a cosplay. Now why the hell would jm's dad have a photo of cosplayers portraying his son and bandmate in an intimate position in front of a heart? Tf?

Don't get me wrong, I see where people have doubts about the 2022 behavior from jk. I see it too, it's not like I'm disagreeing with everything the anons are saying, it's just that I genuinely believe their relationship is fine behind close doors. And alot of people bring up v this v that. But if I could remember they had a "adult conversation" where jk said thay had to catch up, now why you need to catch up with somebody if you're close? That just shows (TO ME) that they're not as close as people make it seem. One time he didn't even remember jk's birthday, so the fact that people keep bring up v for everything related to jk is weird.

I believe 90% that jikook are together. That 10% is where stuff doesn't add up. One being the passiveness and the other the tattoo and song mystery conspiracy that people keep bringing up. He said "where did jimin get his tattoo again?", meaning that he knew that he got a tattoo but "didn't know" where (under the 10%)....I talked about the song thing previously so you know how I feel about that. The passiveness, I talked about in the dms. About the social media thing, both jm and jk have not interacted with each other at all. Except for jm posting the 2 photos of them (which again is under my 10% btw) btw. They both didn't promote each other's songs.

Is it possible that they could've never been together all this time? For me impossible. At least if they're weren't in a relationship, something was there. The amount of times that jm has slipped up calling his room "our room"....🧐....that's another thing that is under my 90%, yall are bandmembers, NOBODY would bat an eye that you're in each other's room but the constant need to hide it makes it weird. The smallest things they make soooooo suspicious for no reason. Jk saying "I go to his room cause it's the closest and he's bored".....🧐.....oh I'm sorry I didn't know you had to walk a mile to get to another member's room. Again...the white lies.

People say they've broken up but in what period would they have been supposedly broken up? What date? What month? Because the consistency and the breaking up don't make sense. Jm said himself that he's not a good actor, if they've been broken up, we would've sensed it somehow...someway. People thought that they were broken up when the January/March "drought" happened only for them to be out to lunch on white day with jm's friends. And last time I checked, if I have an ex, he's not going NOWHERE near me or my friends. He's also NOT finna be on my social media...periodttttt. I don't give a flying @%# if he's a bandmember or not.

All I'm saying by saying all of this is that I have more faith in the 90% than the 10%.

XOXO ~ Kas

Sing it, child! I agree with your timeline

I'd heard Jimin's dad filmed JK doing Euphoria but what's this about a photo on his phone getting leaked? Can you share with me the backstory?

To be honest, I'd like to believe Taehyung sincerely loves both Jimin and JK and that fans' reactions don't factor into his actions with either of them, but I've worked in entertainment for years in my previous professional life and I'd be astounded if his on-camera behavior isn't somewhat calculated (I'd be astounded if that weren't true for all the members, but Tae especially seems very self-aware of his own brand marketing and solo ambitions at the moment). I'm just gonna say it: Tae leans into Taekook a lot more lately. A lot, a lot. He doesn't just drape himself all over JK, he holds on to him and won't let go. Like literally will not give him his arm back sometimes. Makes it a point to bring up fire and water, playing video games together all night online, dressing each other up--pointedly mentioning these things when no one asks. And JK just passively accepts these overtures, sometimes even leans into it too. And yeah, they are super close friends, but sometimes it really comes off flirty. Now, if JK is online and monitoring everything, he knows what the cult is like and he knows the hate Jimin gets and he still participates in open displays of affection with Tae but not with Jimin anymore, which baffles me. It is not how I would behave if I were in a relationship with Jimin (or if I were Jimin's best friend/soulmate). But I'm not a twenty-something South Korean male pop star. Things that look hella sus to me could be par for the course to them. So far, none of the members have raised eyebrows about it, so I take my cue from them. And Tae is super touchy feely with everyone. Like he literally kissed Jin twice in recent months, damn! But he's way less so with Jimin this year (or rather, it's Jimin to again initiate touching faces or hair, back hugs, compliments). So I'm not making a judgment call about what all it could mean, but once again here's an instance in 2022 where Jimin is pulling the lion's share of emotional labor and being the one making gestures for connection. I'm just clocking it, based on the content we have so far. I know plenty of Jikook supporters who will froth at the mouth over this but I call it like I see it. It is one thing to keep some distance and plausible deniability around a closeted gay relationship. It's quite another thing to sit your ass on another man's crotch when you know you two are part of one of the biggest and most popular ships in the world. That shit is calculated. I just don't understand the math. But again, Jimin doesn't seem especially triggered by it, so I take my cue from him. But the cult seems pretty convinced that Jikook died during the pandemic and Taekook is real now, and it kinda makes me sad that they can point to instances this year where Tae and JK are all over each other and Jimin and JK are not. For the first time ever, they have something I don't have enough information about to refute. Kinda sucks. (I'll probably get crucified in my inbox for going there but again, I really don't give a shit about peer pressure. I am trying to gauge reality regardless of what I want to be true. Show me evidence that says differently, and I'll say I was wrong and call it differently.)

In conclusion, I have to agree with what you've said--there have been enough unique instances (even in 2022) to indicate very real Jikook intimacy is still going strong off camera. I just can't figure out why it's always Jimin reaching out to show affection, always Jimin hyping up his members' projects, always Jimin who gets the worst hate. I'd feel a lot better about it if there were more irrefutable instances of Jimin support from JK and all the members. But keep in mind, I'm Jimin biased. :-) You could probably make that same case for all the members if you were inclined.

[jemwritesstuff]

▪︎ David King x reader

notes: this is the first piece of writing ive ever published in english and outside of my friends and creative writing class lol pls go easy on me

content warnings: mentions of canon typical violence, terrible depictions of feelings

ETA: this was written before bhvr claimed david as a gay man and it's sat in my notes for way longer than it's been published, so you might have to use a lil imagination. i also noticed some inconsistensies with pronouns (im blaming english for that, my mother tongue doesnt have gendered pronouns) so im sorry bout any confusion. if i ever actually get my motivation back ill def edit rewrite this whole piece. sorry!

...

You were unconcious, just like everyone who appeared from the Fog, when he spotted you from afar. David didn't know it was you just yet though.

He called for Claudette. Most newbies did have some injuries. He remembers the detective coming in with a huge gash on his shoulder. David didn't ask him for specifics.

Just another month, just another survivor, he thought and trudged on. They wouldn't be dying soon and he knew it. The Entity is a bitch and works in mysterious ways. One day of rest, first trial, rest of the day off and then thrown into the same rhythm with the rest. Adapt or get killed again and again and again. Death is not an escape.

They were dirty. Leaves, branches and mud on their clothes, tangled in their hair. David recognized you. He froze. Cursed. A crow flew away from a nearby tree.

He kneeled down next to you. Under all the dirt, you looked just the same. It made David question this reality even more. He had been counting days; four hundred and eighty nine today. Yet it seemed like you hadn't aged a day.

He didn't dare to touch you.

He looked over you. You weren't bleeding and every limb was intact.

He wanted to touch you.

Four hundred and eighty nine days.

He wanted to cry.

Not having you with him in the realm was hard but having you there with him was even worse. Death is not an escape. You die over and over and over and over again. Time stands still and yet one is able to feel it flow.

David felt his legs bucking underneath him. The ground was shaking.

He couldn't touch you. Memories of you were already flooding through him. It only gets worse. You probably didn't even want to see him. He had vanished without a trace after all. Left you all alone, dealing with his issues...

He wanted to hold you.

Claudette startled him from his thoughts.

"Can you carry her to the camp for me?" She asked.

David wanted to refuse. He glanced at you, then at Claudette.

At her waiting stare, he picked you up. He couldn't bare to look you in the eyes. They were closed anyway, what would it matter? He remembered. The deep color of your eyes and the way they shone in the morning when you woke up. He put you down where Claudette wanted you and walked away. He couldn't bare to look at you any longer.

Yet he did want to see you again.

He wanted to talk to you again.

He wanted to feel you again.

He wanted to love you again.

Truthfully, he never stopped. He did think about you every passing day.

David was furious. He was ready to do anything if he could get his hands on the Entity. Instead of the Entity, the nearest tree got a taste of David's wrath.

David was devastated. If there was one person on the whole goddamned Earth that didn't deserve what the Entity had to offer, it was you.

He glanced back towards the camp. Only trees and bushes in his vision, he dropped to the ground and bawled his eyes out.

He thought long and hard.

He couldn't just walk up to you, pretend everything is alright and continue on like before. It had been over a year since he last saw you. His last words to you were in a fight. He couldn't even remember what he had said to you. He could remember your expression, though. The hurt, sadness and fury, all mixed into one.

After that, he had disappeared from your life.

You didn't know he was here exactly. No doubt the other survivors would mention his existence. What would be the odds after all of you two ending up in the same place? If he could bare it, he could avoid you at all costs. He couldn't face you and he knew that.

So he chose the cowardly way.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

You had been introduced to most of the others during your first few days.

To David it seemed like you had made some friends. On some of the easier nights, you sat at the campfire with the rest and shared your stories. Kate and you seemed to get along easily, sharing the same passion for music.

David couldn't help but to realize that he hadn't heard his name once. Although he wasn't there to listen all the time. It was hard to keep an eye on you at the same time as avoiding you.

David sat in the woods. He listened to the fire crackling and you talking. He'd heard the same story about the ducklings many times.

You asked whether you had met everyone already. David's breath hitched in his throat. In as small community as this was, it was a wonder he had avoided you even for a week now.

He heard someone elses name too but naturally he paid more attention to his own. He cursed Dwight for remembering his last name.

He couldn't see you but he knew what kind of an expression you were wearing. You asked for specifics about David King. Where he was from, what he did for a living; easy questions to determine if there was another David King who had gotten sucked into this bitch of a world.

There wasn't.

Someone pointed out that they hadn't actually seen David much out of trials. You hummed in response. David was glad you didn't start spilling your guts about the whole situation.

He knew there was no avoiding you now. You would confront him the moment you saw him, trial or not, it didn't matter.

He didn't know how to feel.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Four hundred and ninety nine days.

You had counted.

On four hundreth and ninety sixth day you had heard about David first of all still being alive and second of all existing in this same fucked up realm you were in.

That night you went through every single emotion a human was capable of feeling.

You were happy that David was alive. He hadn't come home after your petty fight, the cause of which you couldn't even remember anymore. You feared he got jumped.

You were also seething with rage. He knew you were here - Claudette told you he was the one who found you - yet he didn't even try to speak to you.

You were sad, too, and all for the same reasons. He was here and he didn't want to talk to you. Or so you thought.

Unfortunately, you were also glad. You had ached to see him, to hold him again. You couldn't say you had stopped loving him.

So you made a decision. You would find him and you would force him to speak to you. Didn't matter if it was on a meat hook or in front of everyone.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

David had come back from a trial all beaten and bruised. If not for the stupid rules in the Fog he would've loved to obliterate that masked twink.

He was just about to head to the campfire when he spotted you.

You spotted him, too.

David couldn't run anymore. He had made it to five hundred days. It should be enough.

David turned to the woods. He knew you would follow. And you did. When the camp was no longer visible, you called out to him.

David stopped. His body ached to turn around and run to you. His mind, too, yet he was frozen in place.

You circled around him. If there was malice in your actions, you would have been the deadliest vulture. There was none. Concern, curiousity even, but no hatred.

You would've looked the exact same as five hundred days ago if not for the dark under-eyes that seemed to be the standard in the Fog.

He was about to open his mouth, mutter out something; an apology, confession, anything. His brain shortcircuited itself trying to get everything out at once. You just shook your head and wrapped your arms around his torso.

It was just like before. David engulfed you. His body working on its own, longing to be as close to you as possible. You were warm, maybe even warmer than before. Soft but muscles tense, ready to leap out of the way of danger like everyone here. It hurt David to see how accustomed you already were to the Fog.

"'M sorry." He breathed out into your hair once he finally found some voice in him. You just shook your head and told him to shut his piehole.

Pulling him even closer to you, David choked a laugh.

"'M sorry." He repeated and tightened his arms around you.

He smiled into your hair. He wanted nothing more than to say out loud just how much he missed you and how he never stopped loving you and everything else that was like a whirlwind in his head but his voice betrayed him again.

You didn't seem like letting your thoughts out either, deciding to just do your best at crushing his ribs.

David had a million things at the top of his mind for the first time in a while.

He didn't mind, he had you again.

[rurifangirl]

Here's y'alls new fave cursed shapeshifter Deer bitch🤩

Name: Echo.

Pronouns: It/He.

Gender identity: Genderqueer.

Sexuality: Abrosexual.

Age: 719.

Height: 1.82 cms.

Species: Shapeshifter.

Likes: Fluffy objects, grass, quietness for long periods of time, blackberries.

Dislikes: Busy places, rocks, lavander flowers, arrows, potatoes.

Personality: He's mainly nonchalance. Both because of its backstory and person it's now, but even then, that's not to say it doesn't show much emotions, and as a way to cope, he gets pretty sassy easly, and can seem ruthless in some occasions. It still has some characteristics from when he was human, and Is emphatetic to those who deserve It.

Magic ability: He doesn't have many abilities. Though, It can shapeshift into a white deer. In that form, It can use the power in his oval, on the top of his head, that permits it to use the nature beneath him at its advantage. It also has the ability to glow, as a way to see better during nightime, even if It can only use that three times per day.

Also to make this thing clear in case ya won't read the lore thing, he got cursed, otherwise It wouldn't have these abilities.

Now putting a read more cus its a veryyyy long boy

Now onto sum lil facts/hcs/lore bout him🐏:

Oh boy, it's backstory Is kind of complicated n long too, so I'll try to be brief.

As i said before, he was indeed human once. It was a rouge, who got left behind since It was a child, and slaughetered several people in order to survive.

After being a line wolf for the majority of its Life, It eventually find people he deeply started caring about, and also formed bonds out of convinience. It also stopped his "work", as It wasn't needed. And he felt genuenly happy. That was, until things took a far darker turn.

Because, he was send on a mission, which was pretty vain by itself, and was forced to,, let's say, torture some people, who allegedly betrayed them, even if there was no proof, and litteraly children were there.

He refused initially, and as he tried to revolt, and instead stabbed one of the little kids was now,, aight i won't get graphic but let's say, It wasn't a cute thing to look at. It started running away, straying away from everyone, who in the aftermath through It was missing. Or just died.

When he was distant, It fell on the ground, growling in both anger and disappointment. He got to a point, deep into nighttime, where It was now near a lake, trying to take some rest. That didn't stay long, until it was face to face to an eerie figure, which he tried to persuade for forgiveness, and for him to be killed. It couldn't understand their words, and even if they seemed to be gentle ones, that didn't seem the case as he woke up. Its body was completely different.

Everything wasn't his. But even then, what was it? Who was he? How did it look like? It couldn't remember. But felt something was off. Even if he knew where his friends would've been, It opted not to see them ever again. They wouldn't have recognized him anyways. And it was probably for the better. And that's, how he spent several years. Alone, and in solitude.

Oh but i forgot to mention this mf has a connection to Rui sowhrgkdkw, MORE OF IT NOW BABEYYY

Detail before talkin bout that: his horns weren't as big, and grew with time. And you see the things It has on them? That's a memory of an important Person to Echo, who was at that point completely forgotten.

And the more people are there, the more they're bigger and have things on that. He in fact thinks it's just a side effects of the curse. Which, yes, but not in a way It thinks.

HOLY IT'S LONG N I JUST REALIZED ITWHDKKD AIGHT SO:

He met Rui while they were pretty young, and just escaped the cult. Remember them? It,, didn't care much about actually saving them. He let everything pass, and in the form of a deer, observed from afar.

It was one of the few times It had contact with anyone with an human like appereance. Eventually, he makes them learn about the hard Life they'll have to adjust to, rarely helping even in deadly situation.

Even if it's a real cold act, he was generally looking out, since It saw something,, oddly reassuring in Rui. And was the one introducing them to places where they could've found many other shiny things. After he was sure he could've survived alone, It left them, with no many regrets.

Aight now time for the lil things and I'm so sorry i left them hanging 😭😭

One thing It really loves to do is searching for blackberries. Not suffering much from fatigue, It can easly search for them. He loves their taste.

He got pretty used to his deer form, even if it has gotten some of their habits.

It once found a potato. It tried it. Never again. It was so disgusting to him it was basically puking, and refused to go back in its 'human' form.

It actually doesn't hate having its horns touched. Even if It however hates being thrown questions at them, since he himself doesn't know.

He has some marks on his body, and they're pretty visible. Even then, it wears long sleeves, so it's hard to notice.

Oh n the way it meets the gang and later on joins It was because they had plenty of blackberries with them. And also connection with Rui but that's secondary 😭😭

Myst, with Eris's help, out some ribbons and sometimes glitter on his horns, especially if Echo's asleep. He doesn't mind much of them, It could easly pull them off.

Tags:

@a-chaotic-dumbass @spoopy-fish-writes @damnfoxx @nadi-117 @dopesaladlady @purplet1gerx @audre-falrose @ikesenfangirl

[heximagines]

I was wondering if I could request Severen X Fem!Reader? Severen is walking down the street and hears yelling. He comes across reader getting robbed in an alleyway and goes to help her. What he doesn’t realize is that she’s a vampire and she bites the offender and drains him of his blood before throwing his body to the ground and Severen is like “Woah that’s kinda hot” whether it ends in fluff or smut is up to you! I really love your work and thank you for taking the time to read this! If this makes you uncomfortable in anyway feel free to delete it :)

Whew! This one took me a hot minute. I’m sorry for the wait. I had a lil bout of writer’s block but I finally worked though it. I hope you like this! I really miss going to shows and stuff so I kind of threw some of that in here to help get myself going. The basement venue I mention in here actually existed in Austin in the 80s, so if anyone who reads this is into punk you should see if you can fin d out where I’m talking about. ;)

PART 2

Severen loved when their travels brought them to places like Austin. The crowded city streets surged with life and music seemed to pour out of every little crevice. He itched to dace around and cause some mayhem but he was hunting alone tonight, the others choosing to do their own thing, so he needed to exercise just a little more caution than usual. His eyes scanned endlessly searching for his next meal but everyone seemed to either be in a crowd or looked just plain unappetizing. He paused at the mouth of an alleyway to light a cigarette, back pressed against the brick wall of what appeared to be a bookstore. Just then his sharp ears picked up on a sound. It was almost drowned out by crashing drums that came from fuck knows where and the chatter of the streets but he was sure of it. Severen lowered his lighter and slid into the alleyway, the drumming grew louder but the rest of the city dimmed to background noise. He focused his sharp hearing just enough for him to make out what he was looking for. A feminine voice rose just barely above the din making him lean in. “You’re making a big mista-” “Shut the fuck up bitch! I told you to drop the bag.” Severen ducked beside a dumpster and peered farther down the alley. If it weren’t for that loud mouth and his uncanny hearing Severen would have passed right by but now you had his attention. He could see you just past the light, pressed against a wall by a large man with a gun. A frown tugged at his lips. He might not be the most gentlemanly guy around but Severen certainly wasn’t about to stand by while a pretty girl got robbed. Besides he couldn’t turn down such an easy meal. He watched as you unslung your bag and tossed it carelessly into the ground with a bored expression. “It sure is a shame, handsome guy like you robbing a pretty lady like me? I could’ve taken you out to dinner. I’m starving ya know.” You tilted your head to the side and now a little smirk quirked your lip. “I said shut up!” But despite the man’s words Severen watched his eyes traveled from where his gun was pressed at your navel up your stomach, over the swell of your breasts, and finally to your full lips. He let the barrel follow his gaze upwards, pressing it to your throat and making you tilt your chin upwards. Severen could feel himself salivating at the sight of your exposed throat. Finally he stood upright ready to intervene, he’d done enough watching, he wanted action. But before he could do anything your eyes fluttered over his direction. He waited for your scream for help but it didn’t come. You only grinned and winked at him. “I like to eat alone anyway. I’m kind of a glutton.” Severen had a feeling you weren’t talking to the man in front of you. Finally you grabbed your would be attacker’s wrist in a bone crushing grip and twisted hard. A loud wet snap sounded down the alleyway followed by an agonized scream, a scream that was muffled by the loud music that filled the small space. The robber dropped his gun and you yanked him down, breaking eye contact with Severen to bite into your meal. You wrapped the man in your arms and held him close as his movements slowed then stopped completely. Severen watched you drain every last drop of life from him before dropping the now useless copse to the ground. You took a beep breath a licked your stained lips with a little laugh.

“God damn...” Severen couldn’t keep the words tucked in his mouth, he was utterly fascinated. He rarely got to meet other vampires outside of his little family but when he did it sparked his curiosity. But before he could say a word you were scooping up your bag and wiping the gore from your face with the sleeve of your jacket. He watched as your form retreated farther down the pathway. You stopped at a door and pulled it open, the loud music he’d been hearing was now amplified and pouring out of what he realized was the basement of the bookstore. You look back at him and raise an eyebrow as if asking if he was coming. That was all he needed, he hurried after you and slipped into the doorway beside you. “Y/n.” You held a hand out for him to shake. With a crooked grin Severen held your hand gently in his own and brought it up to his lips for a kiss. “Severen.” You roll your eyes but laugh despite yourself. Locking your fingers with his you pull Severen deeper into the basement. He found himself surrounded by punks with foot long mohawks and metalheads with hair down to their asses. At the front of the basement a band was ripping through a fast paced song with deep vocals. You pulled Severen through the sweat slicked crowd and to the front where you began to dance around recklessly. He let a loud laugh rip though him as you locked arms with a girl who’s head was shaved down to the scalp and danced around in circles slamming into the people around you. When you released the girl you’d been dancing with she spun off into the crowd and you surged forward to grab Severen by the lapel of his leather. You effortlessly pulled him him into the fray of the pit. That was all the coaxing he needed before scooping you up into his arms, whooping and hollering. You held onto his neck with one arm and let your feet kick out at the crowd around you as he danced around, your other arm reached up to touch the ceiling of the basement, making sure you didn’t hit your head. You and Severen danced like that though the whole set before the music finally came to a a screeching end. You laughed and grabbed your new friend by the arm, pulling him off to the corner of the room.

You placed your hands on his chest and pressed gently, encouraging him to lean on a support beam. “I haven’t seen you around. I’m guessing you’re not from here.” You pulled away to dig though your bag but your eyes stayed locked to his, looking up through your lashes. Severen rubbed the back of his neck, feeling almost insecure under your gaze. “I travel a lot. Only come though here a few nights every couple a years or so.” You hummed as you pulled out a flask. You popped it open and pressed it to Severen’s lips. “Go on drink up.” He took it from you and tilted the contents into his mouth. When he realized what it was Severen snorted a short laugh and sputtered on the mixture of blood and whiskey you’d handed him, making you giggle. He was pretty cute. “Traveling makes sense. Makes it harder to get caught huh? That’s why I stay in the city. There’s a lot of people sometimes they end up missing or just get found dead.” You shrug. “You mean like the guy you just left out there?” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the door. You give another short shrug. “Eh, punks don’t call cops. And besides when everyone leaves they go around the other side of the alley. The owners don’t want anyone to see a bunch of people sneaking out of the basement. No one will notice him in the dark and I can get rid of him later.” He chewed on that thought. He supposed it was reasonable enough and it seemed like you knew what you were doing. Severen wanted to ask you more but your attention was pulled away by the call of your name. You turned your head to see the bald girl you’d been dancing with earlier waving you over. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

Severen never really considered that the entertainment value of humans could extend past terrorizing them, but you didn’t just prey on humans you coexisted. Some were friends. Some were food. He wasn’t sure how you decided which was which but didn’t really get the chance to ask before the next band started and you demanded he dance with you some more and drink more from your flask. He supposed all of his questions could wait. Right now he just wanted to have fun with you while he could. So he fell into the ebb of the show. Dancing and screaming along to the music, to short quiet moments with you, to meeting your friends and carrying on a normal conversation as best he could, back to dancing and screaming. His attempts at socialization started off awkward at first. Severen wasn’t used to talking to humans as people. But after watching how you interacted with everyone he eventually fell into that too. Finally the show came to an end and the number of people dwindled. You bid your friends goodnight and told them to get home safe before leading Severen back out of the hot basement. As you said everyone who was still lingering stayed within the yellow circle of light that illuminated the doorway or trickled farther down the alley to the road behind the bookshop. You and Severen hung back until finally it was quiet and everyone was gone. “Just a sec, let me take care of this.” You moved to grab your earlier meal by the arms and drag him over to a dumpster. Severen hurried ahead to flipped the lid of the dumpster up before helping you lift him up and throwing him in the trash. “Ugh thanks, I hate that part.” “Yeah, usually we just burn all ours.” You bite your lip and look down at your feet. “We huh?” Severen straightened up, he’d been much more invested in trying to get to know you he realized you really didn’t know anything about him at all. “My family. I travel with my family.” Your lips turned down in a thoughtful frown. The one who’d turned you wasn’t what you’d call family. But something like that must be nice. People to look out for you, who really understood you. “And I suppose you probably have to get back to them huh? You said you only stay a few nights right?” You didn’t want him to leave now. You didn’t want to be alone. “Well I can’t go nowhere if it’s gonna make you frown.” His calloused hand came up to cup your cheek, thumb running along your soft skin. “Besides I just got here a few hours ago. They won’t leave without me unless I stay gone for a few days.” Your eyes find their way back up to Severen’s and a little smile spreads across your face. You lean up on your toes and wrap your arms around his neck. “Well in that case, you wanna come back to my place?” His hands drop down to your lower back pulling you flush against his body. “You just lead the way, sweet pea.”  

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch12 Battle Gym Leader Kabu

You had been so, so confused at first when Gloria all of a sudden announced she wanted to use your sobble against Kabu. And to be honest you weren't really too keen on the idea either. Your little cute roll-y poll-y sobble who'd cling to you when scared?? Fighting against the second strongest gym leader in all of Galar??......Yeah. You really, REALLY weren't feeling up for the idea, and had asked her why for goodness sakes!? Her answer was simple.

"The tears ability! Sobble's tears will be my winning strategy against Kabu. I already gotta plan in mind but I can't do it without your pokemon's help since I ain't got a sobble 'o my own! Please Y/n! I'm beggin' ya!"

Well.....You really didn't want to just hand over your sobble even if you trusted Gloria by now, but you also didn't want to make her lose the gym challenge either. After all completing the game was your only shot at making it back home so far. If Gloria couldn't beat Kabu and was snuffed out of the challenge by him then what would you do? So...You agreed. Your sleep didn't come easy to you that night but somehow you managed to fall in a deep dreamless sleep. The next morning literally having to make Gloria push you off the bed in order to wake you up as she shook you. Not on purpose of course, as she had just been trying to get you to wake up but the moment your groggy body fell to the floor with a thud she began apologizing purfusely.

"Y/N!!" Your body rattled more than a maraca as you suddenly began pulling out of the darkness blinking rapidly at the blurry vision of everything shaking before you like an earthquake. "WAKE UP ALREADY!! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!!"

"WHAT- AH!!" Your world tumbled as you fell from the comfy bed and was met with the hardness of the wooden floor by Gloria's feet. "OW!!"....You groaned as the blanket slowly fluttered down to messily cover you.

Gloria's hands shot to her mouth, making a hissing sound as she watched you experienced pain. "Y/N!! Oh my Arceus! I'm so so sorry!," she quickly apologised.

"...Good morning to you too, Gloria," you mumbled before kicking the sheet off you and pushing yourself off the floor, your hair a mess, and yawning. "What time is it?"

"Um..Seven in the morning I think?" You turned to her tiredly and noticed she was already wearing her white challenger uniform and all ready to go.

"Did you get the others up?," you asked stiffling a yawn as you stood.

"Um..." She chuckled nervously as you stretched your back and rose a brow at her as she held up a hand. "Uh..About that...They're gone." Her face frowned more as you paused...and blinked at her.

"...What do you mean 'They're gone'?"

"They weren't there when I knocked on the door, so I guess they left early! I'm sorry I didn't know!"

"Oh for the love of-..." You sighed and waved her off. "Nevermind." Quickly reaching over, you bent down and pulled the blanket off the floor, throwing it back neatly over the bed before going for your bag. "Are you all ready?" She nodded. "Good. We'll find them later. For right now let's just worry about getting to the stadium and seeing what's up! Ok?"

She had quickly agreed to that and you wasted no time throwing yourself together, tossing your bag over your shoulders, and grabbing your sobble's pokeball. From what she told you last night, you thought it'd be best to put the little critter into it's pokeball and give it to her before her battle to avoid any complications should your sobble start acting up. Which lead to now. The two of you were already in the elevator on your way down to the lobby. Anxious tention in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife as you lightly gripped the pokeball in your hand slightly harder. After a moment or two of silence Gloria went digging through her bag and pulled out something that looked pretty much like the goggles you'd see a diver wear before entering the water.

"Did you eat anything?," you asked glancing at her as she slipped the straps over her head making you give a confused look. "...And what are those for?

She silently shook her head slightly as her head was bent down and you watched in silence as she silently tightened the black straps tightly around her head. When Gloria finally managed to look up at you, the goggles were tightly clamped around her eyes and she shook her head no. "No. I was too busy tryin' too get ready. 'sides I feel pretty queezy. I don' know if food's a good idea right now." She blinked obviously noticing the look you were giving her goggles. "What are you- Oh these?" You nodded and she smiled. "Well last time he cried ya'll didn't stand a chance. But I figured if I covered my eyes real good I won't get affected by whatever's in those sobble's tears that makes ya cry rivers!"

You stared....."That's bloody genius!! Why didn't I think of that!?"

She chuckled. "To be honest it really ain't my idea anyways. I remember Hop telling me the idea back when I got my toxel. I remembered it when I thought of usin' your sobble and stopped by that clothes shoppe in town. They were sellin' swim wear n' stuff since it's summer and picked up these lil babies. Like I said. He's a genius."

Ah! That must've been why it took her a while to get back to the hotel. She really was preparing for her gym battle. As the elevator went you had reluctantly handed over your sobble's pokeball to her and she gently took it. Giving it a look before deeply inhaling and slowly exhaling, most likely psyching herself up before relaxing her posture and slowly slipping the pokeball into her pocket. You watched as she did so with worry and a little bit of guilt eating away at your stomach. You weren't sure if this was really the right thing to do after all, especially without telling your pokemon. This was surely going to be quite the shock for it, and you weren't too sure what the outcome could be. A ding interrupted any of your thoughts as the both of you looked back towards the doors as they opened, and you were lightly surprised to see the girl there. The same girl you had been worriedly thinking over last night. Marnie!

She was standing there in the lobby kneeled down handing her hamster like pokemon some kind of fruit to eat, which it took eagerly, but upon seeing you two blinked and slowly stood to her feet. "Mornin' Gloria. ..Oh. And you too Miss."

"Uh hi!," Gloria greeted a little unsure since she must've looked a bit strange in the swimming goggles. "Are you headin' off to battle Kabu too?"

She shook her head no. "No. We were 'bout to shove off on the next leg of our journey now. That friend of yours already went off to challenge the next gym, tho."

"He did?," you asked and Marnie politely nodded towards you. "...How early did those two wake up?"

"I couldn't say for sure, but by how happy they were it seemed like they had a plan."

"Oh! Well we have a pretty great stragety too!" Gloria smiled proudly. You were glad at least her nerves were seeming to be getting better.

Marnie only nodded. You looked at her for a moment and it didn't seem as if she had any nefarious schemes or malicious intent behind that polite exterior of hers. But still last night's questions swirled in the back of your mind as you narrowed your eyes in thought, raising your brows as she calmly reached into her leather jacket pocket and pulled out a small reddish card before handing it out to Gloria.

The brunette blinked at it for a moment before raising a brow in question. "What's this?"

"Kabu's League Card," she replied calmly, "It's supposed to help against him, but I ended up with a few copies, so I'll give you one." A look of surprise passed on both your faces as you two exchanged looks before looking back to Marnie. "Don't look so chuffed. It's no big deal. 'N I already got two others already."

Gloria stared for a second longer before smiling and taking the card from her. "Wow. Thanks!"

Marnie nodded in reply. "Oh. Here." She reached back into her pocket and pulled out a second card before holding it out towards her. "Take this too. A little somethin' for our battle yesterday. As a thanks for helpin' me out."

"What's this?"

"My own league card. Your friend gave me one of his so I figured you could have one too."

"Whoa! Thanks!" Gloria gladly accepted the other card with a smile. "That's real nice 'o ya!"

Marnie gave the smallest of smiles. "I bet you'll have no trouble beatin' that ''man of fire'' Kabu chap, right? Why don'cha get over to Motostoke stadium and get that gym badge already?"

...Gloria jumped. "OH!! RIGHT!! We need to get to the stadium!" She stuffed the cards into her pocket as fast as she could as Marnie peered up towards you and you blinked at her. ...You opened your mouth to ask her about the Team Yell involvement that's been going on. Not expecting really any answers outta her, but before you could say anything something tightly gripped around your arm and you yelped as Gloria yanked your forward in a run. Almost making you hit the floor for the second time that morning. "THANKS MARNIE!! GOOD LUCK ON YOUR NEXT STEP!!"

Marnie waved a hand back at your retreating forms. "Good luck out there!"

Gloria yanked you along, nearly tripping down the steps and over your own two feet as she raced ahead putting one arm out to shove the door open in her mad dash to the stadium ahead. Thank goodness the Budew Drop Inn was literally right next to the stadium. You didn't think you could last too long with Gloria's way of yanking you forward in a frenzy without falling over for too long. Cheers and loud noises were clear as day as soon as the two of you stepped out the doors and started running over towards the stadium. How early did these people wake up around here!? Thank goodness at least you two didn't have to worry about bumping or tripping over other people. It was a short distance, but with the adrenaline pumping and worry in your systems it felt as if you two ran a marathon by the time Gloria moved the two of you towards the double doors she had gone through previously during the Entrance Ceremony. Her sudden stomp making you stumble and catch your self clumsily on your knees and free hand as she still gripped your arm tightly, thankfully not smacking into the ground, as she skidded to a stop. Low and behold guess who was already waiting for you two? Victor gave the two of you a raised brow before sighing and reaching up to rub at his temple, as Hop chuckled and crossed his arms at the sight of you two girls.

"Slow moving aren't you, Glory?", Hop teased.

"O-Oh...S-S-Shove...o-off!," she forced out back at him between deep breaths. Letting lose your other arm. You hissed in sourness as you pulled it towards you, reaching up to rub where Gloria had gripped it.

"Where had you two been?," Victor asked frowning, "We spent half an hour knocking on your door before we left."

"I've already gone and earned my fire badge," Hop said in agreement, "The man of fire Kau is just what you'd expect. Nearly got burnt in my battle with him."

"LITERALLY," Victor added, "I'm surprised his pokemon weren't turned to ash when he barely made the second round. .....Was a very lucky close call that made him win."

"Even with my strongest team it was definitely tough- and - go .....but I still won in the end!"

"Just barely. He lost the first round, won the second, and third ended with a tie. Since no one won or lost the third round it counted as a win towards Hop as well and he managed to walk away with a two out of three win victory."

"SERIOUSLY!? How early did ya'll get up!?"

"Nevermind all of that!" Hop interrupted everyone waving a hand. "You need to get a shift on, Gloria. I bet you could beat the man of fire toooo....." He blinked. Staring right at her face seeming to FINALLY notice the swimming goggles on her face. "...Hey. Whatcha wearing those swimming things for? Afraid you'll get fire blasted at ya?"

She blinked as Victor was nice enough to walk over and help pull you up to your feet, pointing to her face. "Y'mean these? It's sobble protection."

he gave her a confused look. "Sobble protection? But Kabu doesn't have a sobble on his team."

"Not for Kabu's pokemon." She gestured to you as you thanked Victor. "I'm borrowing hers. I remembered what you said about using goggles to maybe help block the effects or their tears, so I'm tryin' it out."

Hop gained a look of surprise. Not sure if it was from what Gloria said or the fact she was using Sobble. "You...remembered t-that." He asked shyly. Yep. Def from what Gloria said.

She nodded. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I? By the way, how was the challenge?"

"Huh?" He blinked before turning an embarrased pink. "Oh uh r-right. *ahem* It went well. I mean you have to catch t-three pokemon but it's no big de-"

"WHAT!?" He blinked at her shout and watched silently as she quickly patted her pockets. "We have to catch pokemon!? B-But I didn't bring any empty pokeballs!!"

"Gloria, calm down-"

"Calm down!! CALM DOWN!?," she snapped towards her twin shouting with a look of panic, "I don't have any pokeballs on me except the ones that already have pokemon in them! How am I supposed to battle the gym LEADER if I can't make it past the gym CHALLENGE, Vic!?"

"You can borrow some of mine!," he shouted back at her.

Gloria shut up and stared at him blankly for a moment. "......Come again?"

Her brother groaned giving an eye roll before slipping the large (suitcase-) pack off himself. Silently you all watched as he brought it up and opened it before shoving his hand quickly inside for a second before pulling out a trio of pokeballs. Shoving them all at Gloria who barely managed to catch them all fumbling as she did. "Here!" He insisted already starting to close his bag. "Don't worry 'bout paying me back. You can keep 'em. But for crying out loud, Glory!! Become more prepared!"

Her brown eyes glanced between the poke balls and her brother. Looking to be at a loss for words. "I-....Uh....T-Thanks??"

"Don't thank me yet! You still have to get in there and beat him. So get to it, Glor! I know you can pass this challenge like you do every other- AH!!"

"THANK YOOOUUU!!! You're the best brother EVER!!"

Victor groaned as she hugged him before squirming his way free like a worm. "Yeah, yeah. Nevermind that now, you have a battle to win! Remember?"

"YEAH RIGHT!!......Um."

"What now?"

"You might want to stay out here instead of going inside, I uhhhh...Don't know how this might turn out."

"That might be a good idea," you commented. "Especially if those tears are gonna get BIG from Dynamaxing....But would you be able to do it without us there?"

"Yeah!...Wait." She glanced back to Hop with a slightly worried expression, "You'll still watch me from the live footage, r-right?"

Hop nodded without hesitation. "Of course we will!,'' he smiled whipping out his phone, "You don't even have to ask us. As your best rival and friend it's my sworn duty to support you in your journey even if it's from behind the scenes! We'll be here cheering you on all the way!"

"But first she actually has to go inside and do the challenge before Kabu decided you're not coming at all."

"R-Right! Yeah." With a turn of her head Gloria faced the doors before her before with another inhale and exhale, her face steeled and she started forward. "Wish me luck!"

"You don't need it!" "Go get 'em, Glory!" "Good luck!" The three of you shouted at her as the doors opened and she slowly walked her way in.

The worry feeling in your gut increased as you realized you wouldn't be watching your sobble battling within the stadium, but it might be better you all weren't affected by the giant tears if Gloria really was going to be dynamaxing the sobble. Hop pointed over towards a bench nearby where the three of you could sit and watch and you agreed, following the boys over as the cheers from the stadium was ever present. Guess the crowd must've gotten wind of another challenger on their way in to challenge Kabu. Hop had turned his rotom phone on and went to what he said was the Gym League's official website where you could find everything from past Gym leader's biographies, to their pokemon, to even content the Gym Leaders themselves posted. You could even find live footage if they currently battled anyone to watch if you couldn't be at the stadium. How convenient! It didn't take Hop too long to pull up a video turning his phone sideways to full screen as you and Victor huddle around to watch. What was shown on screen was the inside of the stadium, the many people in the stands, and an empty field. Gloria must've still been just starting the challenge presented to her. To which Victor commented it might take a bit to catch all three pokemon. So all the three of you could do was wait it out for the moment, which you did. You sat there for the longest time just staring at the phone screen mind wondering off into space as the boys chatted among themselves next to you glancing at the phone every so often. Would this really work out ok? You were starting to feel like maybe you shouldn't have let Gloria borrow sobble but you also really wanted to get home so if this really was the way she could win you were doing the right thing.....Right?

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!" You jumped at the loud man's voice that shouted out in what sounded like two different directions. And it kinda was, the announcer's voice was loud enough to be heard outside the stadium and came from the live feed being recorded live from Hop's phone as well. "The battle between Gym Challenger Gloria and Gym Leader Kabu shall now commence!!" The three of you quickly snapped to attention at the phone Hop held as the camera recording the live feed zoomed it just close enough where you could watch the battle at it's fullest, but also too far away to see their faces sadly. You hoped Gloria wasn't feeling too anxious. The crowd roared again in cheers as at last both the figures of Gloria and Kabu jogged their way towards the very center of the big field before stopping. Here we go. "Battlers please take your place on opposite field and face one another!!" It looked like they exchanged a few words before turning and walking a decent amount away from one another. " SET!" They faced one another. "Pokemon at the ready!! BATTLE BEGIN!!"

In a flash of bright light, both parties sent forth their pokemon as the crowd cheered. Kabu a fox looking pokemon, Nine tales if you remembered right. And Gloria her Roselia.

"Wha- Why's she using a grass type?," Hop asked confused, "Grass-type pokemon are usually weak against fire-types. Shouldn't she know the type disadvantage? "

You were confused at first too. Why would she be using a ro-...Your eyes widened remembering something from your past encounters. "....Stun spore."

"What?," he asked turning to you.

And you them as you spoke. "I bet you more than anything she's going to use that stun spore move on that thing."

...Hop's eyes widened. "Of course! Stun spore leaves a paralysis effect on it's opponent! She could that to get an edge up on Ninetales if she's able to land the hit!..If she can that is. Ninetales has the time advantage and more speed than any other nine tales I've seen. I couldn't even get passed it."

You said nothing after that and turned back to the screen as a flame thrower type move nearly hit the roselia by a couple inches. OH Crap- The battle must've started while you weren't paying attention! So far Gloria seemed to be doing ok. With a point from her form she must've been giving an order, because that roselia in all it's agility used tackle and ran straight towards the ninetales. ..!? WHAT WAS SHE DOING!? She was gonna get that poor rose pokemon hurt! A tense and cold feeling grabbed a hold of your body as the fox pokemon opened it's large mouth, and filled with the burning  fire as it shot towards the roselia. A collective aw reaction coursed through the crowd and you three as the roselia....slid. That's right. SLID. The grass pokemon suddenly dropping back as it it slipped and fell to it's knees (Or you guess what counted as knees on it) and as if in a rock star pose, leaned all the way back as the fire passed above it literally inches from it's face. No doubt the speed from the tackle added in it's aid of sliding across the grassy field. As if time slowed down, the fire soon left the ninetales's mouth, and it turned it's head down towards the roselia sliding towards it at break-neck speeds. Lifting the roses on it's arms surrounded by burst of electricity, you could've sworn the fox thing gave a look of panic, before there was a flash of light as bright as a camera's flash as the roselia continued it's journey under the ninetales as it was enveloped face first by electricity. Now if you thought the corvinkight's loud cries when you crashed into it's nest was terrifying, it was nothing compared to the high pitched dog like wails that came from this pokemon really made your stomach flip. Through the static shock surrounding it, the ninetales gritted it's fangs and looking as if pain, forced itself to snap towards the roselia who stopped just behind it. And in one swift motion, in a white blur the pokemon turned and swiped at it. HARD. With a cry from the pokemon it went flying across the feild, tumbling head over heels, round and round in summer salts until finally with a thud the poor thing landed with half it's body crossing one of the perimeter lines.

"MATCH!!" The announcer's voice called back through and it honestly made you jumped by how it surprised you, too lost in the battle to notice. "THE GYM CHALLENGER'S POKEMON IS OUT OF BOUNDS!! GYM LEADER WINS FIRST ROUND BATTLE!!"

The crowd roared out again at Kabu's obviously win, and you weren't too surprised since he is supposed to be the second strongest gym leader. So it shouldn't be surprised that the ninetales was still able to move like that after Gloria's stun spore surprise. Tho you were a bit sad at her loss.

"Aw man! She totally got canned out there!," Hop sighed lowering the phone a little disappointed as both battlers returned their pokemon

Victor hummed. "Well, yes. Glory lost first round but it's not a total loss. Stun spore's affects increases the more the recipient of it moves, so it'd be dumb if Kabu forced his ninetales to battle again for the second round. It'd just be giving her a better chance at winning. So she still managed to wittle down them to an equal two pokemon each."

....Hop nodded. "Yeah! You're right. But it doesn't mean the other two won't be just as powerful."

"SECOND MATCH START!!" The voice returned. "POKEMON AT THE READY!! SECOND ROUND BATTLE BEGIN!!"

Two more bright lights appeared and the BIGGEST arcanine you had ever seen appeared before you! That thing was huge! Much better than the ones in game. And Gloria had sent out her raboot. A fire type against a fire type. They should be equaled out but you had a feeling the arcanine was the more powerful in terms of strength and skill. Gloria better have had a trick up her sleeve for this one. Kabu was the first one to make a move. As it quickly leaned his head forward just an inch and the raboot jumped a good yard back away in fear.

"That's arcanine's intimidate. Hope that raboot's not too scared."

The arcanine took a step forward the rabbot took another step back. Kabu pointed and in an instant it charged. Flames spewing from it's mouth the moment it opened it's maw and it fell. Well at least you thought it did by how fast it dropped, only to flip using it's back legs to kick off and a envelope itself in fire to perform Flame Wheel- Raboot. Charged! It's feet gaining fire with it's speed when you realized what was going to happen. Was Gloria attempting to use Flame Charge as a way to counter the Flame Wheel like back when she used her Scorbunny's move to deflect Hop's Wooloo's tackle? That may have worked out back then but Arcanine was much bigger and stronger than an ordinary wooloo! There's no way as strong as raboot was they could deflect that flame wheel....Except..Well...That wasn't what they did at all. As soon as that raboot jumped and made contact with that fire hoop of death, it was like a catapult suddenly went off under it's feet. Using the momentum of the moment that crafty little bunny used it's own fire as a shield for it's feet from the flames of it's enemy to leap itself into the air. The three of you watched in awe as the raboot launched itself a decent twenty or so feet in the air above the arcanine who had stopped and then looked up in confusion as it most likely didn't expect that. That's when it struck. With a surprising speed for being in mid air, the raboot shot back back down straight towards the arcanine. The dog pokemon in retaliation growled and opened it's maw WIDE to catch it within it's fangs at the same time as the raboot flipped, and landed a perfect double kick to the upper part of the pokemon's face. The. Arcanine. WAILED OUT!! The jerk it's head gave shoving the rabbit pokemon to the ground with a loud squeak as it hit the dirt but as quick as ever sprung itself back onto it's feet to face it's enemy. The much taller fire type shaking it's head and pawing at it's eyes.

"A Quick Attack and Double Kick combo!! How'd they do that so fast!?"

None of you had time to answer that before Gloria was already pointing at the arcanine and the raboot swiftly followed. The arcanine snarled it the approuching raboot's direction eyes closed and again went to use Bite, but with a quick side leap to the left, it easily delivered another double kick to the side of it's head. Making it recoil. And thus it had begun. Side! Back! Gut! Front Leg! Back Leg! Under Chin! Front Leg again! The raboot as quickly as a real rabbit in your world, was light on it's feet. Using quick attack and double kick over and over again to kick the blinded and confused arcanine in random places jumping over, under, around and sometimes latching onto it's fur to propel itself in a different direction from the jaws or swiping paws as it growled and blindly went after him. One time literally trying to slam it's whole right side onto the smaller pokemon before the rabbot quickly thrust itself forward under and away from the falling body before giving it a tackle to it's exposed middle in retaliation for the body slam. Using it's speed and smaller body to it's full advantage. The blinded pokemon's only saving grace was to suddenly use the order of flame wheel to break away from the small menace. Rolling fast away in a hoop of flames. You nearly choked on your own breath as you all watched in disbelief as the tinier much smaller raboot CHASED. Yes. CHASED after the spinning wheel of death faster than you had seen it run. The flames gathering on it's feet again. Another flame charge?? The arcanine stopped just a few yards away from him, flames still gathered within it's mouth as it turned, presumably to launch a strong flame attack at the smaller beast. And raboot with all it's speed and flaming feet. KICKED!! As fast as a jet streaking through the sky, a flaming rock was launched right at the pokemon's face. And connected. With a yelped and smoke going off from getting straightly hit by it, the arcanine went down.

"ARCANINE HAS BEEN RENDERED UNCONCIOUS!! GYM CHALLENGER WINS THE SECOND ROUND!!!"

THE. CROWD. CHEERED!! Ember....That raboot used ember to knock out that arcanine!! You didn't know whether to be impressed or surprised at what just happened but both the boys next to you exchanged a few cheers of their own and high fived. And you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. Holy canoli that was tense!! ....But then you froze. Wait...If both first and second rounds were over..that meant only the third was left. And the third round was the dynamax specialty. And Gloria was planning on using... all the worry came rushing back in an instant.

"Oh no-"

"FINAL MATCH DETERMINES WHO WINS AND LOSES!! YOU FOLKS KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!" Oh please don't say- "DYNAMAX ROUND SET!! GET YOUR POKEMON AT THE READY!!" You could all suddenly hear the crowd begin chanting the word 'Dynamax'. Your eyes widened as, as tiny as Gloria's figure was on the camera, you could CLEARLY make out her reaching into her pocket and pull out a pokeball, her other hand coming up to her goggles. In than instant your face paled and your blood ran cold. A heavy feeling of cold settling in as you saw that unmistakable red energy gathering around her wrist band as she held your ball. Your poor baby's ball. "FINAL BATTLE BEGIN!!"

The first to make a move was Kabu as the pokeball in his hands swelled up to the size of a watermelon and with a firey look in his eyes, swiftly turned on his heel and with one arm chucked the giant thing into the air. It sored through the sky until popped open and THE BIGGEST centipede you had ever seen came forward. The ground where you three were sitting shook from the force of the giant pokemon in the stadium in front of you landed on the ground. Sending a wave of wind and rubble from the field flying in it's wake as dark reddish-orange storm clouds darkened itself overhead, making it look even MORE horrifying than it was....OH. SWEET. MOTHER. OF MILTANK!! If that thing was scary to you than it'd be an utterly drop dead terror for your poor sobble! The pokeball in Gloria's hold swelled up to the same size as a watermelon. Using both arms to lift the thing over her head, and tossed it into the air. It soared through the air and all three of you watched like you were watching a trainwreck happening. Too scared for the results but unable to look away feeling as it popped open. And your sobble made it's entrance. The blue pokemon now several times bigger than it's usual cat like hieght. It landed in the same fashion as Kabu's centipede thing did. And instantly a look if confusion graced it's face as with a montrous chirp it started quickly looking around at itself. Although that confusion quickly dashed away as soon as it's eyes laid upon the terror in front of it. It froze. Staring unblinking with that blank stare of his as it laid eyes on the centipede pokemon.

"Oh no-

Now you weren't entirely sure what move it was called that it used, but all of a sudden this giant bug thing decided to play....But this thing moved so fast in air as Kabu leaned back and pointed up at it you nearly had a heart attack then and there. It took the form of a sideways zig zag pose and gathered a great deal of fire within it's coils. The GIANT ball of flames launched in a moment's notice as it sailed out. And hit your sobble directly with an explosion. You cried out, hands coming to clasped at your mouth at the noise the water pokemon made as it connected and tumbled over. The three of you had to grab a hold on the bench as it wobbled, Hop nearly dropping his phone in process as he did. Thank goodness he didn't because you still had your panicked eyes stuck to the screen even as it shook. .......Your now giant sobble with storm clouds gathered over it's head was just laying there for a moment....before it pushed itself onto it's bottom silently, dirt from the field falling off itself as it did. He stared blankly back at the centipede-...thing for a moment....before it's giant mouth quivered. And in a flash the giant sobble threw it's back and began to cry. The loudest cries you ever heard rung out through the sobble's mouth, it sounded like someone took the world's largest bagpipes and cranked it's volume to eleven. But that's not what concerned you. Thousands of shining droplets starting floating down everywhere. And in an instant the centipede thing violently shook it's head. A loud cry of protest coming out of it.

"Holy Arceous..."

Was all any of you could manage to say at the situation as you continued to watch your sobble cry as the centipede thing continued to shake it's head and yell out. Kabu's small form on the screen even shown him using whatever towel he kept around his shoulder to suddenly smush his face against. The centipede thing suddenly dove. A giant crater forming in the field as it attempted to bury it head away from whatever was irritating it. After a moment your sobble stopped. Giving it a look as it twitched and kept it's face in the giant crater it made for itself like an ostrich, eyes watering a bit as it did. It gave a look around again but seemed to be scanning more of the stadium than the field. Most likely looking for a way out. That didn't surprise you in the slightest. What DID surprise you next was what it did next. Your. Sobble. Scowled. In the direction of the centipede thing who still rubbed it's head in the dirt, most likely trying to settle down the burning sensation of the tears it experienced before. You blinked as it gave off a montrous sound of it's own towards the other pokemon. Did....Did your sobble..The one who who dive under your arm or hide behind your head just...growl at the other pokemon?? By the end of the war cry it gave as a shock, it pushed itself forward. Landing it's hands right onto the ground as a wave of energy expelled from it. The force making crackes in the earth around the thing's buried head before blue light seeped through the depths of the earth and a geyer of blue light shook the stadium and the three of you.

"T-T-THAT WAS A SOBBLE'S MAX STRIKE MOVE!!," Hop managed to force out between holding onto the bench as everything shook.

"IT WAS A WHAT!?," You shouted back at him trying to make out the shaking screen in his hands between holding onto the bench yourself.

The centipede things wretched it's head up from the dirt and with a loud cry began shaking it frantically like a panicked snake. That was before it was attacked again of course by your sobble. A torrent of water rushed out from it's mouth the moment it was opened and hit the thrashing fire type straight in the face as it cried out. The fire becoming so bright it turned white...except it wasn't coming from the giant pokemon. The bright light was coming from the other side of the field as your sobble cried out again- The screen shut off with a beep. A flash of 'No Signal' coming over the sudden white screen. The three of you stared at Hop's phone. No one moving. No one saying anything. As the three of you just....stared at the lost signal-

"NO!!" Hop yelped and wretched his arm back in surprise as you snatched the phone from his hands. Frantically bringing it up to your painicked face as your body drawled in quicker breaths. You shook the phone within your hands and furiously tapped the screen in rapid moment before the rotom within it wretched itself from your grip with a scowl to escape your grip. "NO NO NO!!" You snapped back to Hop. "WHAT HAPPEND?!"

"We must've lost the live feed signal," Hop replied back reaching over and grabbing the rotom from mid air and bringing it back to him.

"Can you get it back?!"

"I can try, but I don't know if-"

"GYM MATCH IS OVER!!" All three of you froze to stare in the direction of the voice coming loud and clear from the stadium. ....You slowly stood up. "CENTISKORCH IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!! GYM CHALLENGER GLORIA WINS THE MATCH!!" The crowd cheered...And you leaned forward-

"OOF!!" You were yanked back by your backpack by Hop before you could fall to the ground below and you landed with a thud back onto the bench. "....Thanks.''

Hop nodded before he put the phone quickly away and stood along with Victor. "C'mon. I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna see what happened."

You stood up quickly with a scowl. "You bet your pokeballs I'm going to see what happened! Gloria and my sobble is in there!"

There was no questions or doubts about it as the three of you unanimously started towards the inside of the stadium doors in worry for the young trainer and your pokemon. ...Except as soon as the doors opened the trio of you were stopped by some man wearing a gym suit and sunglasses. Surprise, surprise. You and Victor weren't allowed in as unregistered gym challengers. ....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? You wanted to yell at this guy and push past him if you bloody had to to see them! And Hop looked as if he was about ready to argue in your favor as well squaring up. The only one who seemed to be thinking clearly in the situation was Victor who had to pull the two of you back to wait outside for her. You wanted to get it!! Who cares if they threw you out kicking and screaming!? You were seeing your pokemon!! Oh the irony when Victor yelled at you two it would only put Gloria's and Hop's places in the challenge in danger if either one of you did anything dumb to threaten their places. Oh....Well when he put it like that, then it did make the two of you seem foolish. But that didn't you liked it standing right outside those giant double doors leading to the inside of the gym pacing, and tapping your foot, staring at the doors in worry, mumbling to yourselves. Poor Victor standing deadpanned in the wake of your two's worried mess with a sigh. You all nearly jumped as the door opened and the slightly dirt covered girl of the hour finally came out-

"GLORIA!!" The brunette yelped as she was all of a sudden encased in a tight hug by her worried friend. "OH GOSH!! WE WERE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!! I figured if anyone could do it you and raboot would be the ones....But STILL!! That match had me right at the edge of my seat! I thought for sure you would've been crushed-"

"Hop! Geez! I'm perfectly ok! See?" She pried herself away from the clinging boy to make some space between them both. "I'm as fine as a deep fried curry! And I walked away with more than just my safety!" She beamed brightly as she spoke. "I got my bloody fire badge!"

His eyes widened. "WHAT!? No way! That's incredible!"

As the four of you were a little busy focusing on Gloria and worrying, none of you noticed the blue thing walking past her legs and up to you.

"WAIT WAIT!!" Hop nearly stumbled as you dove and Gloria blinked in surprise as you grabbed her shoulders in worry. There wasn't any signs of a sobble around her so it must've meant she put him back in his pokeball!!...Or at least you hoped she did. "Where is he!?" You asked in a worried tone. "Where's my sobble, Gloria?!"

......She blinked. "Oh...Ummm. Yeah about that." She gave an almost cringe as she said the next few words. "He's uh....Not exactly a sobble anymore." The three of you stared at her....A pit dropping in your stomach strong enough to make you feel like hurling.

"WHAT!?"

"No no no! He's fine I swear!," she insisted holding her hands up to your scared face. "It's just that-"

"ACK!?" Gloria blinked as you were suddenly whipped back by something heavy latching onto your backpack. It felt like someone had dropped the weight of a toddler on your shoulders all of a sudden. The three looked on in confusion as you stumbled back in panic waving your arms wildly for balance before throwing yourself forward to right yourself and grabbed your knees in a leaned over position. "What in the actual-" You paused. Something shifted on your back and grabbed your shoudler. In an instant you whipped over your shoulder to look at the thing pulling itself up onto you. And what you were met with was a face to face encounter with a frowning blue head who gave a small thrum sound at you. ............You blinked. "What the heck!?"

"Uh...That's what I was trying to tell you about," Gloria said pointing to it.

Without breaking eye contact with the thing that was half sitting on your pack half slumped over against your shoulder, you slowly stood up and pointed at it. "What the world is this thing?" To which it gave a indignified chirp and grabbed your nose. "Hey!"

"Oh hey! It's a drizzilie!"

...You looked at Hop for answers brow raised. "It's a what?"

"A drizzilie," he repeated pointing at the thing slumped over your shoulder. "They're considered highly intelligent pokemon but also really lazy ones." Another pouty chirp was thrown in Hop's direction. " I think I read somewhere that they're good at making traps."

"This still doesn't tell me where my sobble is!"

"Y/n, drizzilie is the evolved form of a sobble!," Gloria pointed again, "Sobble evolved near the end of the match! He's literally right there on your shoulder!"

You paused...whipping back to the drizzile who only moved his eyes from where it's head laid upon your shoulder. ....THIS was your adorable tiny little sweet innocent baby sobble!? It reminded you of a moody preteen. You two continued to stare at each other a bit regarding each other silently...before you asked a question. "You want food?" It immediately lifted it's head up and gave a deeper chirp noise in approval and you laughed. " Ok...It's definitly him alright. But how come he evolved?"

"Because...it's what pokemon do?? They're always evolving and growing as they go, there's no stopping it."

"....Fair enough."

"Hey." Gloria blinked as her brother gently grabbed her shoulder with a concerned look. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Of course I am. It'll take more than a dynamax battle to stop me."

Hop laughed. "With all the badges we've earned ourselves, I reckon we should be alright even against the fierce pokemon you find deep in the Wild Area. Let's go find out for ourselves-"

"NO!!," both you and Victor screamed at once making Hop blink...And Gloria snorted.

Surprisingly you did not want to stay there any longer in fear of what else might happen to you all, so after a bit of convincing on Victor's side to Hop who was eager to go straight to the Wild Area for the rest of the day to battle and catch wild pokemon, you five just went back to your hotel. You felt entire exhausted, and not because of the extra added weight to your load now thanks to your sobble's new and maybe not so improved form. But mentally from the exhausting experience you had been put through. It...was a day you'd have to get used to but in the end Gloria won her third badge and your sobble...uh..Drizzlie was perfectly fine even if he changed a bit. So at the end of the day it was in fact a win win situation for everyone. You had felt relief when you got back to your hotel room and slid off your bag, plopping yourself on the bed with a sigh. Your new drizzile standing there for a moment before flopping itself onto you with a small 'Oof' escaping you....Yeah. You guessed you'd have to train him out of just jumping on you anymore now that he was the size of a six year old child.

"Hey, Y/n? Are you going to sleep right now?", Gloria asked curiously.

"....I dunno. Maybe,'' you answered muffled by the pillow. "Why?"

"We're getting lunch. Want me to grab you a curry?"

"......Yeah. As long as it doesn't have any eggs or tails on it. Grab me one-" Your drizzilie patted your shoulder and you sighed. "Make that two. Something tells me he's going to be more hungry from now on." Gloria laughed again and you sighed.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly in your eyes. You all ate lunch and you ended up falling asleep way earlier than usual with your drizzilie watching the three teens curiously as they ate and ended up chatting and showing off their league card collection card collection thus far before you ended up closing your eyes. By the time you woke up again Gloria and Drizzile was already up and ready to go eating what must've been the room service breakfast, but she was also kind enough to order a small stack of waffles for your hungry self. Perfect! It wasn't long for the both of you to get packed and meet up with the boys outside the inn waiting for you two by that weird mechanical elevator.

"Hurry it up, Gloria!," Hop called over waving an arm.

"We're coming! Boy how early do you all wake up?"

You were a bit cranky. Still a bit groggy so early in the morning and having to lug around extra weight on your back as your drizzilie had insisted on jumping onto your back and took residence inside your back pack. Most of his body was inside the backpack amongst your other belongings but his head and arms were thrown over your shoulders as he refused to start walking chirping in protest when you tried to reason with him and wouldn't let you put him in the pokeball so you had to get creative with a compramise. Moving all the food you carried into the secondary pocket leaving just your clothes in the main space of your pack and leaving enough room for it to find acceptable. You wondered if the reason Drizzilie didn't want to go back into it's pokeball was in fear something like what happened yesterday would happen again, being used to getting carried by now, or if this was just because of the lazy behavior Hop mentioned before?..Or maybe a combination of the three? The boys gave a couple chuckles at the sight of your new situation but stopped when you tossed them a look and changed the subject by making the elevator go.

"So. Have you two decided where you want to go next?," you asked walking up to the exit of Motostoke that lead out to the Wild Area.

Both nodded.

"Yeah. I wanna stay here for a few more days and catch some pokemon," Hop answered.

Gloria blinked at him. "Wha- But I wanted to stop by Hammerlocke."

Hop stopped walking immediately just outside of the giant exit. Making Gloria stop and blink at the bewildered expression on her friend's face. "Hammerlocke? Why would you go there? You know Raihan doesn't battle anyone unless they have seven badges."

"Yeah. I know, but it's on the way to Stow-on-side." She explained with a smile. "Bea sounds like a good challenge for me to tackle next being the fighting type gym leader. Hammerlocke just happens to be on the way there."

"Eeehhhh. I dunno Glor. I really had my mind set on taking on some wild pokemon. With a stronger team comes a stronger trainer right?"

"I...guess so..."

"'kay. How 'bout this? If you're all that dead set on going to Hammerlocke, you can go and we'll we'll meet up with you there!"

Gloria seemed not too keen on that idea for a moment but sighed and nodded. "Alright. But how are you planning on getting there?"

Hop went to answer, but paused. Gold eyes blinking widely before leaning over to the right to look behind you all. "Huh? Hey. Is that who I think it is coming this way?"

Brown and f/c color eyes followed the path of Hop's gold ones to look behind you and the three of you paused at seeing who exactly was jogging towards you all. Coming towards you in all his firey glory was the 'Man Of Fire' Kabu himself. What was he doing here? ...Oh no! Were you all in trouble with what happened yesterday!?Was he angry from your sobble-..Er..Drizzilie's tears?! Were you all going to be billed or something!? You all couldn't pay any medical bills! None of you had enough money! The gym leader jogged right up to the four of you as you all exchanged confused or worried looks before stopping in front of you all.

"Thank goodness I managed to catch the lot of you before leaving Motostoke," he stated. It..didn't sound like he was angry.

"You're the gym leader, but you still came all the way to see us off?," Hop questioned, "...Oh! I bet you can already tell that I'm the one who'll become the next champion, yeah?"

To your surprise the older man chuckled and gave a smile. "There are many trainers who never manage to gather three or more gym battles, and they just give up on the gym challenge all together. So I make a point to see off any trainers who are able to defeat me. So allow me to send you off with a proper, sporty chant." He cleared his voice as you raised a hand to say he didn't have to- "Hustle, hustle, hustle Hop! You can do it, you can do it, Gloria!" ...Gloria gave off a few giggles and you lightly kicked her foot to get her to stop. "The Gym Leaders you will face ahead are all tough opponents. But I believe you will prevail! Believe in your pokemon and keep pushing on!"

"Thanks y'all! We're gonna keep winning!," Hop confirmed with a smile and thumbs up towards the older man, "We've got too if we want a face-off in the Champion Cup after all! C'mon, Everyone!" He spun on his heels and pointed towards the exit. "Let's head for Hammerlocke!" And ran off.

Victor groaned turning to walk after him. "Not again."

You chuckled and rolled your eyes. You wish you had that much energy. "Gloria correct?" You blinked and turned your head over to Kabu who was looking at Gloria. "That was a most unexpected battle the other day. As I already said, I'll have to learn from it. But I don't suppose you'd mind telling me how you thought of such strageties?"

She beamed. "Of course! Your league card listed your pokemon and their main abilites like everyone else! So I used that info. Your ninetales was pretty fast on it's feet, so it made sense to use a move that wouldn't let it use that speed. But arcanine are built bulkier and have more muscle than a ninetales. They may be fast on their feet too, but no where near the speed of raboot or ninetales. So speed and agility would've been the way to go. And as for your centiskorch, I didn't have a lot of pokemon that could withstand it's fire power, so I had to find a way around that. A sobble's tears seemed like the greatest force to fight it."

He hummed before nodded once again. "I see. Well then I must train my pokemon to overcome your sobble's tear attack before another trainer gets the same bright idea as you did."

"Oh it wasn't my sobble." She pointed at you and he looked at you. .....Then to the Drizzile's face lazily staring back from your shoulder. "It was hers."

"I see...Well then, Miss. I'll have to congratulate you on raising such a strong water type. I have no doubt that it'll make a mighty Inteleon one day."

You smiled as your drizzile patted your shoulder. "Thanks! I think he's a good boy too. Ain't that right?" Embarrassed your pokemon tutted and looked away making the old man chuckle.

"We'll then. I shall leave you. I must be off to start training up before the next gym challenger comes knocking at my door."

"We outta get going too. I have a feeling we're in for a long trip ahead of us." .....Hey. Now that you thought about it...Your eyes widened. Wasn't there some kind of character development or a tragic event that happened to one of the characters after the player received their third gym badge??..."Yeah. We better catch up to the other two."

You managed to pull Gloria away bidding good bye to the jogging gym leader and pulled her out of Motostoke at last. Onto the dirt path leading out of Motostoke and splitting in three directions to chose from. You spotted the two boys somewhere up ahead as the two of you approuched. Hop throwing his hands up into the air pumped.

"Hello again, Wild Area, my old friend!," he shouted to the sky, "I've come back to you even stronger than before!"

"Hop you don't need to shout." Victor adjusted his pack on his back with a roll and stretch of his shoulders. "If anything you might scare away any good potential pokemon with that racket."

....He hummed. "Well I guess you have a point about that, Vic." ..He turned his head more towards the two of you girls approuching before he smiled and twisted around fast to face the both of you. "Gloria! Hammerlocke is up that way." He pointed towards where the road split off towards the left. "Got it? Over Motostoke bridge and straight on down the road a ways. And yeah, you could certainly rush there without a single detour....But now that you and I have a few gym badges, we should be able to catch stronger pokemon! So I know what I'm doing!"

" And what's that mate?" Gloria asked in a tease.

"I'll be catching myself some amazing pokemon to fill in the next page in the tale of my legend!" You chuckled at his enthusiasm.

All of a sudden your Drizzilie turned to look behind you as footsteps approuched. "Don't waste your efforts." The rest of you followed suit to stare at the figure just now leaving Motostoke as well. And your eyes widened slightly. "It's not like either of you would ever make it through the gym challenge anyway." The one who approuched the two of you was none other than Bede. The poor gave that smug smirk he always did and placed a hand on his hip staring at the lot of you. "The Champion really must have been off his rocker to endorse likes of you."

"WHAT DID YA SAY YOU LAVENDER SOAKED EYED COTTONEE FOR BRAINS!?" "DON'T YOU INSULT MY BRO LEE LIKE THAT!!"  Gloria shouted and made a move to step forward but you grabbed onto her back pack to pull her back effectively also blocking Hop with your other arm as the two shouted with glares at him.

"Whoa there you two." You gave him a glare and he slowly looked up towards you the smug grin turning into somewhat of a frown. "I thought you left after collecting those Wishing Stars from the mines. Did you stay behind just to insult them? That's a pretty petty thing for you to be doing with your free time."

He didn't answer right away which made you raise a brow until he tutted and turned his head away. "I was going to leave after a day's rest here, but after hearing these two were going to battle Kabu I decided to stick around and watch the pitiful efforts of my enemies. I mean, Hop here can't even throw a poke ball properly."

You saw Hop flinch. Oh no..You remembered somewhat of him saying he practiced throwing the ball sometime during your first meeting with Leon. "Rubbish! More like you don't know enough to recognize greatness when you see it! My throws are the greatest and my bro is the finest champion the world has ever seen! I'm not gonna listen to you insult him!"

"How tiresome," Bede mutter again running a hand over his hair. "Fine. I'll battle you over there." He pointed a hand towards some trees. "Maybe that will help you finally understand just how weak you are."

Hop growled and your brows rose in shock at his sudden anger. You didn't think the ever chipper Hop could've gotten so mad. "You're on then. I know you challenged Gloria in Galar Mine Number Two and lost to her there." Your eyes widened more glancing between the two of them as Bede frowned more....So THAT'S what Bede meant by them causing him trouble. "And I'm her greatest rival. In other words there's no way you're beating me."

"All this prattle about Gloria and the Champion and whatnot. Do you not have anything of your own to show?"

"YOU BET YOUR SORRY PINK TUTU BUTT HE DOES COTTON FOR BRAINS!!," Gloria shouted giving  another tug against your grip on her as she leaned forward, angry glare that could put a dynamaxed pokemon to shame, hands balled into fists at her sides. Her sudden spout of anger caught Bede off guard enough to take a few steps back from the red faced girl spitting her scottish accent at him. "I'll have you know Hop's one of the smartest, most kindest people I know! He's a bloody genius who knows all kinds of pokemon skills! 'E's like a walking dictionary of smarts that's how skilled he is! He knows more than you and me put together so badger off with your sorry excuses!! I don't see you doing anything but complain about everyone else and praise the chairman like he's Arceous 'imself!" Victor grabbed onto his sister's other arm pulling her back with you at this point. "Yet ya complain 'bout us talkin' 'bout how amazin' Lee is!? When are ye gonna step up from being a walkin' billbourd for the Chairman n' his bloody secratary and show me somethin' huh!? HUH!? How 'bout you take ya own advice!?"

"GLORIA THAT'S ENOUGH!!," Victor shouted in his own scottish accent at her pushing her back by a wide eyed Hop as she continued to glare angrily at Bede who remained silent and wide eyed at her. "CALM DOWN!! Ok!?...I'm pretty sure he's gotten the point by now."

"Oh he better!"

"Hey! That's enough now!," you agreed giving her your own frown, keeping your grip on her back pack in case she tried anything. "I think you're scaring him." Gloria paused enough to give you her own stare, as you turned to look at Bede who continued to stand and stare....before he blinked, quickly whirled on his heel and sped walked away with his hands forced into his pink coat's pockets.

"I-I'll wait for you over there! Don't keep me waiting!"

Gloria huffed, jerking her body from her brother's grip as she glared at his leaving form. "Yeah? Well he started it by causin' all of us trouble n' insulting us for no reason. The bloody cottonee born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Ey Hop?".....She rose a brow when her friend didn't answer and turned to the silent boy staring wide eyed at her. "....Hop? Are you ok?"

".....I-..." He coughed reaching a hand up to rub at his neck as he looked off. "I mean uh....That was some roasting you gave h-him back there. Heh."

"Well it's true!," she insisted pointing at him, "You were the smartest kid in school! And y'know so much about science, and history, and you can calculate math in your head faster than a calculator could. You know so much about pokemon that I know you'd be a great Champion. That's why I got so angry at him."

Hop stared at her again mouth opening a little..before sputtering on his words. "I- You- R-Really?"

She crossed her arms and nodded with a huff. "'Sides, I wasn't about to let the Mareep Head get away with smack talkin' my best friend and his brother. If he's going to bring a fire then he better expect someone to roast him back!"

He stared at her a moment longer before an unmistakable red washed over his face as he quickly looked away. "R-Right! T-T-That's what friends do after all! D-Don't worry. I'll show this wally my skills in battle! S-So..." With that he quickly turned and began jogging off from the three of you. "See you later, Glory! L-Let's meet up in Hammerlocke when I'm through with him!"

Well whaddya know!? You smiled watching as Hop scampered off in a knowing way as Victor sighed before turning to his twin. "DONT DO THAT!!"

"Do what?"

"Try to fist fight another gym challenger like yer in a wrestlin' ring! Ya cook! What would've happened if that guy told ye off to the Chairman especially after you had dinner with him in Hulbury?! You'd get yourself kicked out by him or worse both yaself and Hop since you were defendin' 'is honor like in the bloody stone ages!?" You had started to notice a pattern that the accent would become more prominent in their voices when they were angry.

"Like I would've actually tried to punch to punch him! I know better then ta throw hands and risk somethin' like that now."

Victor groaned reaching his hands up to rub at his face. "I love ya but you drive me crazy!"

"I could say the same for you too."

.....Still rubbing his temples Victor turned. "I have to catch up with Hop before they start fightin' again. Make sure she stays out o' trouble."

"I can-"

"I was talkin' to Y/n!" He shouted back making Gloria pause as he walked off....And it was finally your turn to chuckle.

With a huff she placed her hands on her hips with a glare. "Well that's just a bunch of flamin' Rapidash crap if I ever heard it!"

You nodded reaching up to rub your face, finally letting go of her backpack as you did. "He has a point tho. If you and your opponents want to have a battle then that's fine, but you guys shouldn't get into fights like that." She hummed but didn't say anything else to that. "Come on. Let's get going to Hammerlocke. I'm curious about this place."

"Oh. Then if we're lucky we might meet the selfie guy himself hangin' 'round his gym!"

"Oh boy. Can't wait to see what the big bad strongest gym leader has to show."

"I think you'll like 'em. Lee said he's one of the kindest people he's met in the industry...But there is one thing I should warn ya 'bout."

"What?"

"He's a playful teaser so he'll probably try to flirt with ya when he sees ya."

"........He's going to what?"

[mulletcal]

too hot to handle - calum hood blurb.

a/n: this idea is based purely on his hands and the fact that i was watching too hot to handle when i started this. word count: 1.9k warnings: pure smut, consensual unprotected sex, oral (female receiving), light dom!cal behaviour, and choking *****

Your morning had been rather uneventful -  Calum and you had continued your binge of Too Hot to Handle, and you both were chuckling at these adults who had a hard time keeping it in their pants, saying how you both couldn’t relate.

That was, until their band’s Twitter account posted pictures from a magazine they were featured in; and all your teasing of the people who struggled with chastity went out the window.  Calum was oblivious of the thoughts going through your head, his fingers absentmindedly running through your hair as the show played in the background.  Your eyes were trained on his hands though, well the one you could see anyways, mind reeling.

Calum happened to glance down at you, his brows furrowing for a moment, “Everything alright, love?” He asked, his fingers in your hair pausing their movements. 

“Mm, just thinking,” you said softly, lacing your fingers with his free hand.

“Bout what, angel?”

“May or may not be thinking about your hands,” humming softly, you brought your joined hands to your lips, individually kissing each of his fingers before opening up his hand so you could kiss his palm.

Beginning to catch on, Calum encouraged you to sit up so you were sitting next to each other.

“What about my hands?” Cocking his head to the side, a playful grin tugged at his lips while he brushed your hair over your shoulder.  His opposite hand went to rest on your knee, trailing small circles with his.

Your grin mirrored his, your legs parting slightly in hopes of encouraging his hand to travel up further, “Just how talented you are - you can do so many things with those fingers of yours.”

Taking the hint, he slowly dragged his fingertips up your thigh, goosebumps forming in their wake causing you to shiver slightly.  Calum leaned forward, brushing his lips along your jaw, tongue teasing at the skin.

“Might have to get you to list those things for me, doll, d’know what you mean…” His tone was teasing, but his fingers pressed against your clit through the fabric of your underwear, the friction causing you to arch your hips into his touch.  “Go on, m’waiting.”

 Letting out a shuddering breath, your eyes made their way over to his that were alight with mischief, “Well… For starters, when you’re playing your bass.  You’re so talented and such a skilled bassist,” You let out a gasp as he applied more pressure, watching as he rolled his lower lip between his teeth.  “Baby please,” you whined, gripping onto his forearm.

“Please what, love? You wanted this… So desperate for me you could get off just like this couldn’t you? While I’m hardly doing anything,” His voice was just above a whisper, leaning in to press his lips against yours while you whimpered against his mouth. 

You could have screamed when he pulled his hand away, but it died in your throat when he slid off of the couch to kneel in front of you, “I was about to curse you - I was getting so close from the friction alone.”

“Oh trust me, I know, but I wanted to taste you,” Calum worked your underwear down your legs, tossing them beside him somewhere.  You weren’t concerned much with where they landed, but rather his breath ghosting over your heat. Expecting him to simply dive in, you shifted your hips slightly to give him better access - but you were surprised when he lifted his fingers to your lips, waiting expectantly for you to take them into your mouth.

You of course complied, making it quite a spectacle as you sucked his fingers into your mouth, twirling your tongue around them which only earned a groan from Calum.  “What is it that guy called them - naughty little possums? That’s what you are right now,” He teased, pressing kisses to the inside of your thighs, pulling his fingers away.

“Don’t forget also: naughty little quesadillas,” You said with a laugh, tugging at his blonde locks.

“Oh right,” He looked up at you, eyes wide, “That’s you for sure- because you always look good enough to eat.”

Rolling your eyes, you tugged on his hair once again so he could get the hint - to which he responded with a smirk before teasing his now slick fingers against your entrance, you sucking in a breath in anticipation. 

“So needy, baby.  So wet, too - who’s this all for, hm?” Calum teased, his mouth achingly close.

“You Cal, always for you,” you murmured, glancing down at him with a hooded stare.  He had such an effect over you; one minute you were laughing about a dumb reality show, but the next you were writhing while awaiting for him to touch you - but he always made it fun.  You weren’t sure if the two of you had ever been strictly serious during sex, and if anything it made you love him that much more.

At your words, he finally leaned forward to circle his tongue around your small bundle of nerves, two fingers sliding into your entrance as he did so.  Your fingers tightened in his hair, moaning softly at the movements.  It never got old, the sight of this beautiful man between your legs - even more so because your past relationships had never been an equal give and receive, rather just give.  Something about feeling so wanted turned you on even more, and you knew after his previous actions you knew you wouldn’t last long, but you also knew this wouldn’t end here.

“Fuck Cal,” You groaned, laying your head back against the couch, legs tightening against his shoulders.  Calum hooked his fingers inside of you, causing you to arch into his touch, grinding your heat against his awaiting tongue.  He moaned against you, sending electricity coursing through your veins at the new sensation. 

A borderline pornographic sucking sound came from Calum, driving your senses into overdrive.  You were close, so close, and he must have been able to feel it because he seemed to suck harder, and pump his fingers faster.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck--” You gasped, reaching your peak all at once, Calum working his fingers into you even through it all.  Slowly as you came down, he lapped up the mess you had made, pressing kisses to your thighs before he came back up to sit on the couch beside you.

“You good baby?” Calum asked with a chuckle, pressing kisses along your jaw.  You merely hummed in response, turning your head so you could kiss him, brushing your tongue against his lips.

It took you a beat, but once you caught your breath you sat forward, going to slide onto your knees on the floor before Calum stopped you, “Wanna feel you, think you can ride me?”

Nodding eagerly, you allowed him to shimmy his shorts down his legs, only assisting him when they got to his feet before you straddled his lap, grinning down at him.  A look of realization crossed your face though when you had realized you had used the last condom the other day.

“Shit, we don’t have protection,” You frowned, brushing your nose against his.  “Sorry bub, you’ll have to settle for my mouth.”

“What if we… don’t use one?” Calum suggested, nerves clouding his gaze.

“Are you sure baby? I’m okay with it, but we just hadn’t talked about it… Or the implications--”

“I’m all in if you are, love,” His lips pecked yours, and you responded with a grin, turning your attention then to your hips and rolling them against his.  Calum hissed, gripping your hips and resisting the urge to take control entirely.

You reached between the two of you, taking hold of his length to line it up at your entrance, eyes meeting his one last time for his consent.  When he nodded, a small smile on his lips, you sank down slowly.  The familiar stretch made you moan, lowering yourself until Calum was fully bottomed out.  You both took a moment, sharing small kisses, hands exploring over still clothed territories. 

When you felt adjusted, you began to rock your hips against his, drawing a soft moan from his lips. He couldn’t keep his hands to one place, they roamed from your ass, to your hips, up your back, and into your hair.

The room had grown silent now, except for the sounds of your blended moans, the show had long since switched to the ‘Are you still watching?’ page not that either of you cared at that moment.

Calum could only hold off for so long before he began raising his hips to meet yours, the pace gaining speed as soon as he shifted to do so.  You let out a whimper when he hit the right spot, angling your hips so he could drag across that spot on repeat. His calloused fingers held onto your thighs, grip so tight it would likely leave bruises in the morning; not that you cared much anyways about his marks.

Calum bit his lip, breathing laboured as he looked up at you, “Wanna try something princess, but if you don’t like where it’s headed you use your words okay?”

You nodded, curious to where this was headed.  It didn’t take long for you to find out, Calum’s hand sliding up your body, fingers coming to wrap around your throat while holding no pressure.  “Figured since you liked my hands so much, you might like this.”

“Yes,” You gasped, hands going up to grasp at his forearm to help balance yourself, his opposite hand still steadying you as your hips moved together.

Calum applied the lightest bit of pressure, just enough to send your head spinning, moans increasing in frequency.  Smirking, he leaned in to your ear to whisper, “My baby likes that, hm? Always knew deep down you were a lil wild.  Gonna cum for me, princess? Show me how much you like my hand on your neck?”

You slumped forward slightly, trying to get more friction of your hips against his, wanting to feel that spot inside you that would ultimately send you reeling, “Cal, shit.” Hands leaving his forearm, you grasped at anything you could reach to help give yourself momentum to fall over the edge.

Calum’s fingers left your throat, going back to gripping your hips so he could snap his hips into yours with all the force he could.  A gasp fell from your lips, unable to move anymore while Calum took control.  Burying your face in your neck, you felt tears prick your eyes from all the overwhelming sensations, his name falling from your lips over and over as you reached your high.  He continued to fuck you through it, whispering praises in your ear before ultimately reaching his peak as well.  His warmth filled you, overtaking all your senses as you felt wave after wave of affection crash over you for the man underneath you.

The two of you sat in the silence, both of you breathing heavily in a vague attempt to catch your breath.  Calum tapped your thigh gently, signaling you to move from him.  You whimpered at the loss of him though, and he pecked your lips before he ran to get a warm washcloth to help you clean up.

“I think we’d go broke if we were on that show honestly, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of you.” Calum wiggled his hands at you in a teasing manner at the word ‘hands’, causing you to smack his arm in response.

“D’know baby, Kelz was lookin’ pretty damn good,” You giggled, and it was met with a pout on his plump lips that you couldn’t resist kissing. 

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