#as well as a ground cover to cut back on the weeds trying to take over the area

[thetraumaking]

The Accursed Crown

Other chapters

Chapter 18

Her fist clenched in rhythm.

Staring ahead at the ongoing battle, Azula couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from you.

The mountains surrounding the battle field was that of a giant pot. Mountains high with no trees in sight, a simple plane land with nothing but grass and weed. Within the overgrown hollow, stood you, leading the soldiers as you all fought, while she, the princess, stood at base, in a village of tents and supplies surrounded by the tacticians and elderly.

Weaving around the rocks and boulders that are sent your away, she tapped her foot, impatiently waiting for your victory.

The plane lad that was riddled with pink and blues of flowers and plant now splattered with blood or scorched by flames. And true to her judgement, those rookie men she saw flailing at the deck laid their drowning in their blood. They didn't make good soldiers anyway.

Well, at least they'll make good fertilizer.

Her lips twitched.

There were hardly anyone worth watching, none were as graceful as you or as masterful.

Her eyes then moved to the old men that sat around the table with liquor in hand. Compared to them, you were of higher rank, so why was it that you were there on the field, getting your hands dirty -and to their knowledge, risking your life- while they, the subordinate ate cut fruit and drinking to their hearts content.

"Princess, why don't you sit down and enjoy the show? There's no need to worry, everything is all under the Major's control." A balding man with twice the recommended amount of forehead spoke. Letting out a bellowing laughter as her face redden from his intake.

Pigs. That's what sat before her. Filling her ears with nonsense as they ate and drank.

"That's Princess Azula to you, Captain Lou. I'll be sure to notify my father of your disrespect and attempted fraternization." She paid no mind to the panicked apology. There is only one person who could speak so…

She lets out a sigh. "You are dismissed. Captain."

The chattering died down after that. They even did away with their mess, how wonderful. There was finally some comforting silence in the room(rather than a room it was more of section of the land that was blocked off by cloth and sheets.)

Her observation continued. Watching you as you broke through the Earth Kingdom's defenses. Burning and slicing, forcing your way through, breaking their formation as you go.

It looked easy enough, she'd seen enough already to depict who was an earth bender with how they moved.

And, the battle is nearing its end. At least half of the enemy forces has been taken down within the first hour. It is more than ideal time for her to join in on the fun.

Besides, the ground cracks before anything happens.

She just has to be observant.

Rolling her shoulders, she prepared to descend the mountain. Her armor hugging her form as she stretched. Without a moment to spare, she ran before propelling herself with her fire. Her aim locked in on you as she flew. With her knees tucked in, her arms fully extended back shooting continuous blasts of blue flames as she soared.

Once high enough, she changed her angle. In a perfect forty five degree, she shot down.

Landing just a bit of distance in front of you on a group of earth kingdom soldiers. The armor on their backs melted as she landed, the men being sent forward from the blast.

The bewildered look on your face was worth the dirt that covered her. Sending a smile your way, she ran forward. This is the perfect opportunity for her to show everyone how great she was. The word of her power shall spread like wild fire, her grandfather and father will surely make her the heir, she will be the next Fire Lord. Those who try to take you will see just who stood behind you.

And her mother, well, she could rot for all she cares. But you? You'll have a piece of mind knowing what a great job you did in raising and training her. Then all you would need to worry about is how to better spend your time off. What to do when all the need to outshine others is not a necessity. You'll be free like the birds you admire. Live with pride like the phoenix you wear.

And best of all, she can be the one to take care of you.

Her smile broadened at the thought. Once she gets rid of all the shackles that weigh you down, you'll be back to normal. You'll smile and laugh again, hug and kiss her, cook for her and more.

Condensing her fire to a singular point, she shot at the earth benders. Flakes of blood dusted her cheeks as she smiled on. Aiming at the center of the body. Keeping her chin low as to better focus on the opponent. Dodging from side to side rather than jumps and ducking for better evasion. Never locking joints for sudden and sporadic movements. And making sure her heart and breathing are steady. Just like how you taught her all those years ago.

Before she knew it, she had made a small clearing. Sweat dribbled down her head as she took slow steady breaths. Her stance still in that of an offensive one as she took in her surrounding.

Bodies scattered across the burning plane. Ash and sooth rained down, black and red powder like substance tainted her skin. The heat now only nipped at her as she looked around. Her stance easing up only when she noticed that both nations' soldiers stood clear of her.

She was quite a bit away from the main group. The only ones near her were either corpses of maimed men. Groans filled her ears as a cough ripped through her throat.

Must be due to the filth she was breathing in. For a moment she wondered just how many she had accidentally inhaled. Licking her now very dry and ashy lips, she tried to spot you.

She will admit.

That was a stupid mistake.

She. amongst most of the Fire Nation denizens are fire benders. Any wound they inflict cauterises the wound and or either burns it. There is no liquid involved, they are the ones coming out victorious.

Meaning, she should not be seeing blood at this moment.

Her rear hit the ground. Rather than seeing the blood it was more so feel. Warm sticky liquid splattered across her face. Palms scraping against the rubble as she looked ahead.

Due to adrenaline, one wouldn't feel pain after getting stabbed. Maybe some pressure and maybe some heat in the area, but pain? Not so much.

But she hasn't felt either or. With her warm yet dirtied hands, she wiped at her eyes.

Smearing the rich red across her face, spreading it as she felt the smallest drop roll down the side of her cheek down to her chin.

She heard fire roar ahead, just a few steps from her yet she still couldn't see.

The blood got into her eyes. The world looked as though she was looking through a red stained window. Her eyelids felt sticky, she wanted to keep rubbing at her eyes but she couldn't bring herself to.

Both her words and breath got caught in her throat. She tried to gasp for air but couldn't.

A long spike poked through where she stood just moments before. Blood ran down it like river as you took ragged breaths. Your hand still outstretched, still holding onto the face of the earth bender that had tried attacking her. The man's head crumbled as his headless body fell with a loud thud. Gray blackish ash blew in the wind as they escaped through the space between your fingers.

She sat there frozen as you broke the spike with a grunt, the fight still ongoing behind you. The wound on your cheek was now covered in the ash of the war as you spoke, "Don't get distracted, A-" You let out a cough, "... Princess."

She watched you as you plunged two fingers deep into the bleeding hole that now decorated your left shoulder.

She had spend the better part of her day in this war, both as a spectator and as a participant. The smell of burning flesh or the raw rich aroma of blood did not phase her. But yours were different. It made her sick.

With another grunt, you pulled your fingers out. The scent of burnt flesh was stronger now.

Even when you left her behind the formation in favor of advancing into the enemy line, the smell lingered. Only when the horns of victory were blown did she found herself still seated on the ground. Her hair out of sorts, armor covered in dust and flakes of blood and flesh, her face covered in now dry blood.

She fisted at the ground below her.

Those barbaric savage earth benders. How dare they humiliate her like this? How dare they spill your blood? On her. She bit her lip, your blood mixed with yours as she seethed.

They had no place in the world she wished to establish. She'll get rid of them one way or another.

She now understands how Zhoa must have felt when he was beaten by that water bender.

Maybe another cleansing is in order.

[billluver0124]

The Green Out

Synopsis: bill and y/n try smoking weed for the first time, it ends up in an unexpected panic.

WARNING : teen smoking, mild peer pressure, cannabis overdose (non fatal), panic attacks. please skip this one if you know this will trigger you.

It was like any other school day, y/n and bill; who are the bestest of friends, had went through another school day and now it was time to go home. This day specifically y/n was going to sleepover at bills house for like the 50 millionth time since they became friends. As they were walking to bills they come across a group of familiar kids in the alleyway five houses down from bills. These kids were familiar, they were the sophomores at the high school bill and y/n attend. For some reason they both had the urge to walk over to them, so they did just that.

“Hey guys” y/n greets them with an innocent smile, “what are you guys doing?” a boy with a black hoodie and beanie answers, “nothing much but, you know you guys aren’t supposed to be here right?” bill and y/n raise their eyebrows. “what do you mean by that?” bill asks curiously, crossing his arms as he waited for an answer. “w-well” “just leave them be, they’re fine” a girl with purple hair cuts off the guy. “okay fine” the boy with the beanie rolls his eyes and takes a hit of a small cone looking thing, it resembled a cigarette. “is that a cigarette?” y/n asks, “no even better, it’s a joint. wanna try?” bills eyes widen at the boy’s offer “u-um y/n..” he whispers, “I don’t think we should” “what’re you? Her dad?” The boy cuts bill off and scoffs at him before looking back at y/n, a charming smile formed on his face. Almost hypnotizing y/n. “U-um, I don’t know..” she hesitates, then looks to bill. “I’ll only do it if you do it.” bill hesitates as well, then the purple haired girl gets closer to bill. “cmon, don’t be shy. the weed won’t bite you..” the soothing, seductive voice the girl had almost put bill in a trance. The two kids agreed after heavy hesitation.

The sophomores hand them the joints, “put it to your mouths..” y/n and bill place the joint in their mouths, the boy lights each joint carefully. “Now inhale..” the kids did just that, a burning sensation stinging their throat, causing both of them to take the joints out of their mouths. Just as they were about to cough, the girl covers their mouth. “Hold it in until you count to five” the kids obeyed her instructions, holding it in for as long as they could. Then they exhale in heavy nasty coughs, the stinging sensation caused their eyes to water. But really it wasn’t that bad

“you’ll get used to it after a bit” the boy pats their shoulders, “let’s go somewhere more..private” the girl suggested, the sophomores lead bill and y/n to the woods behind the alley, finding a spot where no one can see. they all sat down on the soft grass, beginning to smoke more, taking more hits from the joints. Y/n starts to feel funny, like she was floating but her body was still on the ground. Bill feels the same way, he laughs to himself. He looks to y/n, her eyes bloodshot red. “woah! look at your eyes” “what’s wrong with my eyes?” she slurred, then looks to the sophomores. “Oh yea, weed makes your eyes red, it won’t last long don’t worry” the girl says as she takes another hit of her joint. “wanna try something even cooler?” The boy suggests, “yea sure, what is it?” Y/n asks “they’re weed gummies, edibles” the boy brings them out of his back pack, “do they taste good?” bill asks curiously, “yea! They taste like gummy worms, you want some?” the girl says, “yea sure but just a little for me” bill politely accepts.

He gets two gummies, chewing them and then swallowing them. Furthering the high that was already there, y/n gets a handful out of the bag. “hey y/n/n, don’t you think that’s too much?” bill places a hand on her shoulder. “cmon billy, it can’t be that bad can it?” y/n says with a drugged smile, her eyes so red it looked like she was crying. Bill sighs, just looking at her to let him know that she’ll be okay. Y/n puts them all in her mouth chewing them and swallowing them. They kick in almost five minutes later, hitting her like a wave. She lays back on the grass, looking up at the sky as she began to feel funnier. Too funny.

She felt lightheaded, and everything around her began to move very slowly. “woah..” she whispered to herself. a smile forming on her drugged face, she looked to her left, where bill was and just admired him. She always stared at bill, not in a romantic way but in a admiring way, bill always made sure she did the right choices. He was the sun to her moon, even though bill had a twin brother, y/n and bill were like the same person, in different bodies. Bill looked back and smiled, before looking around his area. Y/n looked back up at the sky, her smile slowly fading as she felt pressure in her chest. She tried to brush it off, thinking it was normal, until it became to the point where she couldn’t move. The pressure on her chest became worse, her breathing became heavier to the point where you could hear her dry throat as she inhaled. bill looks at her, “y/n/n, are you okay?” he asks, slightly worried. She couldn’t even move, she can’t get her vocal chords to make out any sound.

Bills eyes widen, “y/n, what’s wrong?” he shakes her a bit. It doesn’t work, he begins to panic. He looks at the sophomores “w-what’s wrong with her?” The sophomores look to her, no emotion on their faces “she’s just greening out man, chill.” The boy says, brushing it off. y/n’s body began to shake, tears spilling out of her eyes as she tried to make a sound, still. Nothing was coming out. Bill gets even more scared, “n-no there- there’s something wrong with her, we need to go get help” he says, his voice shaking as he was about to cry. The girl’s eyes widen and she grabs him by the shirt, “listen here you little shit, we’re not gonna tell anyone and you won’t tell anybody about this. Do you understand?” bill gets shaken by this, “b-but” “but nothing, we all could get in huge trouble if someone knows about this, and you know snitches get stitches right?” bill was so scared he didn’t even say a word, the girl let’s go of him. “Let’s go” she tells the boy, he gets up and grabs his stuff as they get up to leave. “w-wait, you can’t leave me here! I don’t know what to do!” bill yells, panicked. “I don’t know man, just figure it out” the boy in the beanie says, laughing as him and the girl walked away.

Bill is distraught, he has no idea what to do. He looks back at y/n. Who is still actively overdosing, he goes to hold her shaking body. “It’s okay y/n, everything will be okay. Just hold on for me please” he says while crying, holding her as tight as he could, her heavy breathing ringing through his ears. He felt her body go limp in his arms, “nonononono y/n/n stay with me, I c-cant lose you” he cries, trying to sooth her back into health. he holds her a baby, cradling her in his arms, she slowly looks up at him as her own tears flew down her face, still actively trying to get a noise out of her vocal chords.

Y/n’s mind was full of chaos, she could hear her subconscious mind screaming for bill to hear her, but nothing is coming out. Her lungs felt as if they were going to collapse and on top of that, her ears mute bill’s voice with a loud buzzing noise. She felt as if she was going to die, her eyes slowly closing as she felt her body caving in, the brightness of the stars becoming brighter and then boom, she sees black.

Bill just sat there watching his best friend of almost five years, go out of consciousness right in his arms. He felt his own heart break, “no-no y/n..” he cried out. He laid his head on her chest, crying his eyes out, he felt as if he wanted to die too that night.

An hour later, of bill now asleep on y/n’s chest. She wakes up panicked, “bill?” she says, “bill, wake up.” She shakes him awake, bill is shaken awake, jumped a little by the unexpected awake. He rubs his eyes and sees a panicked y/n, “y-y/n, you’re okay!” he holds her, rocking her back and forth to calm her down. “I-I thought I was going to die, it was so scary” she cried into bill’s chest, holding onto him as tight as she could. “I know y/n/n, but it’s okay because you’re alive and safe with me. I got you, you know that” bill reassures her more as he feels her calm down

a few minutes later they go back on the path to bill’s house. “I’m never doing that again” y/n says, bill laughs “yea never.”

lowkey I’m kind of proud of me for this one, I like doing angst fics! ALSO if this story triggered you I’m very sorry, I too know what it’s like to green out and I used my own personal experience to make this story. Hope you guys enjoy, stay safe out there🫶🏻

[pastel-peach-writes]

Would I be able to request an Ellie Williams imagine where she has a younger sibling, and they get hurt protecting her and Ellie is worried about them as they are self destructive, please?

You got it, dude!

"Dude, Chill Out." | Ellie + Sibling!Reader

╰┈➤ PLOT: Ellie this, Ellie that. Believe it or not, being Ellie's younger sibling is complete ass. Everyone raves about how strong she is and how she's able to keep her own. Well, what about you? You're barely two years younger and you can keep your own just as well as she can. Besides, she needed your help this time.

╰┈➤ WARNINGS: Cursing, Self-Destructive Reader, Sibling!Reader, Angry Ellie, Mentions Of Joel, Long Fic, No Use Of Y/N, Custom Nicknames, Not Proofread, Mentions of Weed/Smoke/Alcohol

⍣ ೋ Enjoy!⍣ ೋ

Breathe. Breathe.

Okay, now be still... look around. Clear. Run.

Through the trees, you zigzag. You're careful not to step on loose twigs and branches. Your throat is scratchy and your breath is as uneven as it's ever been.

From behind you, you can hear the squeals and hisses of whatever demonic creature you've stumped upon this time. You promised her you wouldn't get into trouble. You swore it was a quick trip. At least, it was supposed to be.

Your heart's in your stomach and your legs ache as if you've been running for days. You don't know how much longer you could go.

You glance back to see how far the creature is from you. You can't see anything with the deep gray fog that settled over the forest as nighttime came around. Even the tall tree trunks were unidentifiable.

A wail exclaims from what you thought was fog. The creature's face is bloodied and covered with rotten flesh and fungi. It roars, bringing its chest to the sky before going down on all fours and racing towards you.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" You're in for it now. You inhale sharply as you find any last of your strength in you to book it. Your thighs are screaming at you and your shoulders burn in every location possible.

You should've stayed home.

In the midst of your running, you fail to see a fallen tree trunk in your path. Instead of hopping over it, your shoelaces catch onto the bark of the tree.

You collapse over the trunk, and the wind violently punches out of you. You made first contact on the ground with your ribs, then your chest, and lastly your arms and face. Your legs scuff up against the wood.

Now you're not just feeling the burning of your muscles being overworked, but you're also feeling the burning sensation of many tiny cuts on your legs and arms. Possibly a few cracked ribs if you're lucky.

The creature roars again. You can smell its rotten stank as it comes closer.

Five feet.

Four feet.

Three...

Two...

Bang! Blood erupts from the middle of the creature's face. The bullet sends the creature flying and it lands on its back. More shots are fired into its chest to ensure its death.

You're not disgusted by the guts that exploded onto your face or your blood-soaked garments. Instead, you're afraid of what stands behind the gun.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Trailing up from her muddy, broken-down shoes to her jeans with dirty knees all the way up past her dark gray shirt and sage green button-down, you grin at Ellie. "Hey."

-

"Oh, come on! I'm fine!" you exclaim as Ellie drags you by your collar and into her home. She tosses you to her couch. You sit down with a plop. You scoff and fix your shirt.

"You're full of bullshit. You're scratched up and if I wasn't there to save your ass, you would've been dead," she says. With a grunt, your sister goes over to her desk. She scrambles through books and papers before taking out a tin box. "You're lucky you don't have any real injuries."

Does a bruised ego count as a real injury?

"Yeah, yeah," you mumble. "No one can beat Little Miss Perfect."

With her head cocked, Ellie whips around toward you. "What did you just say?"

She's using that tone a mother would use. The same tone a bully would use to make their prey cower when they try to stand up to themselves. She sounds like Joel. When did she become him?

"Nothing." Your eyes falter between the coffee table in front of you and her eyes. No, scratch that. Her green eyes are piercing into your soul. You stare at the coffee table.

Ellie scoffs. Despite the thick tension in the room, Ellie comes to your side. She crouches on the floor and guides your arm towards her.

You wince, turning away and locking your jaw.

"I thought you said you were fine," Ellie's smirk is apparent in her words. She lengths your arm towards herself. She takes a wet cotton and cleans the minuscule cuts the infirmary didn't notice.

You nearly screech at the burning and tingling sensation. "I am. You're just gripping my arm like I'm some piece of chicken and you're the predator."

"That doesn't even make any sense." Ellie's eyes stay locked onto your arm. After she cleans up the cuts, she applies cream and gives extra delicate attention to your bruises. In the end, she wraps your arm up with a bandage wrap to prevent the cuts from getting infected and gross. "There."

You glance at the bandage. The wrap around your forearm is tight, as it should be, and moving your arm from straight to bend is damn near impossible. The classic Ellie bandage stamp of approval. "Thanks."

Ellie stands with a groan. "No biggie. Just stop getting yourself into shit. I'm tired of saving your ass." She puts her first aid supplies back in the tin box before storing the box in its original place.

"Yeah, right," you stand to follow her. "You love saving me. It paints you as the hero of the town and gets you in good cahoots with whomever you pissed off now."

Ellie turns to glare at you but decides against it. Arguing with you over this subject wasn't worth it. She sighs instead. "Whatever, man. You coming to the party tonight?"

"I wouldn't call it a party. Parties are supposed to be fun."

Ellie snickers. She rests the small of her back on the edge of her desk She crosses her arms as she shakes her head amused. "You're not wrong there, but still, you should come. If I have to go--"

"--then I have to. I know how this works." You let a sigh escape from your lips. "Fine, but I'm not going to show up on time."

"Wouldn't expect you to."

-

When you tell Ellie you're going to be late for something, you mean it. You hate arriving early to parties earlier. If they were parties held in someone's house, you're forced to mingle with the host which could be an awkward situation if you're not close with them.

Additionally, you may be forced to help set up.

Coming in late means you can slip into the party unnoticed and the decorations are bound to be done. Also, everyone's past the introductions and getting rid of the awkward air.

When you're late to a party, all that's in the air is vibes and maybe weed, smoke, and alcohol. Regardless, there's no awkwardness, just vibes. And vibes are all you're here for.

You slip into the fairy light-lit barn dressed in a fresh pair of jeans and your favorite shirt. Oh, and maybe a coat you took from Ellie who took it from Joel.

There's no scent of smoke or weed that greets you and there's only a faint smell of alcohol.

The oldies must not be here.

In the middle of the barn were people dancing and enjoying each other's company. By the back walls were people sipping on drinks and chatting amongst themselves.

You scan the party for your people, Kate, Ren, and Wired, but they're not here. You further scan for Ellie and her crew, but they're not here either.

One con on arriving late to a party: sometimes you're too late and miss seeing your favorite people.

Your shoes scuff on the floor when you turn to leave. Before you're greeted with the cold, fresh air, a girl with a short black bob grabs onto your shoulder.

You groan in pain. You turn to face her only to find that she's absolutely hammered.

"Oh, sorry!" the girl slurs. With a finger pointed towards you, she gasps. "No way! You're Ellie's sibling, right? Oh, she was just here saying how she saved you from the forest earlier this evening. She's so cool!" a giggle interrupts her ramble, "she's always saving us here and protecting us. It must be awesome to have her as your sister!"

You feign a smile. "Yeah, it's great."

The girl giggles again. "It must suck to live up to her. Like, I would feel like, inferior towards her and how she acts for others. She's so selfless. It's admirable really. She's so awesome-- Hey, I went on patrol with her once--"

You tuned out the rest of her ramble, vent, mumbling -- whatever the hell she was doing, you tuned her out. You didn't need to hear how great your sister is. You already know. You hear it every day, all day, 24/7.

What you rarely heard was how awesome you are and how great you are at things. You're lost in her 5'5 shadow and it sucks. Ellie this, Ellie that. All things Ellie can fuck off. You were going to prove how great you could be. Then maybe all this Ellie talk could stop.

You leave the party, letting the girl continue to talk about Ellie. You're sure she has some sort of crush on your sister, but that was none of your business.

-

"Hey," Dina says as she walks up to Ellie with two drinks in her hand. "Did I just see your sibling come in and then leave?"

Ellie takes a glass from her hand. Her eyes never left the barn's entrance since you walked in and then walked out. "Yeah, I just saw them too."

Dina purses her lips to the side as she leans on the wall they're standing next to. "Think they're okay?"

Ellie nods. She takes a sip of her drink, letting it linger on her lips then tastebuds before finally swallowing the liquid. "Yeah, I didn't see any signs of distress or upset on their squishy face."

Dina laughs. "You talk about them like this to their face?"

Ellie takes another sip, letting the liquid go straight down this time. "'Course not. Who do you take me as? They'll be alright."

-

The next morning, you were on the rotation for patrol. Typically, whoever's in charge of the schedule and shifts would never put you and Ellie on the same rotation. Putting siblings on the same team could be a scramble sometimes.

Sometimes you get the dream team, other times you don't.

But when you left the party last night, you changed the schedule to make sure you were on the same shift Ellie was on. You also made sure you two got paired up.

Jesse would be fine. He can deal with not being with Ellie and Dina for the morning.

So far, patrol was fine. Calm horses, easy breeze, and quick conversation.

Ellie and Dina talked more than you, but you were fine with it. You weren't trying to prove how great of a talker you were, you were trying to prove how great of a protector you are.

And saving Ellie in front of Dina guaranteed town buzz. No offense to Dina, but she can't keep a town secret to save her life. It's okay though, everyone has their faults.

"Clumsy, if I have to tell your ass to keep your horse straight one more time, I'm going to lose it," Ellie barks.

And your fault was horse-riding.

It didn't matter how long you've been horse-riding or how many times Joel and Ellie tried to teach you, you could never get the concept.

"Sorry! I'm trying. She's being rowdy today," you pout as you move your horse's reign.

"Don't blame the horse, blame the rider," Ellie snickers. You give her a scowl in response, but she only laughs it off.

An hour or so into patrol and there was no chaos. Unfortunate for you because you need the chaos in order to prove yourself. You've tried to make chaos like, snapping a twig or maybe distracting the horses so they'll run away, but to no avail.

You three dock your horses momentarily to search through a building on foot.

The building is tall and abandoned, like most of the buildings nowadays. Greenery grows from the sides and the windows are simply frames. There are no window panes in sight.

Cautiously, Ellie walks inside the building first. She has her hand on her upholster and another one guides the flashlight. Though the sun was shining, it was natural for a place like this to have dark corners or areas to be discovered.

Dina waits patiently while you cross your arms with a scoff. "Why do you have to be the first one to go in?" you ask your sister.

She sticks out a finger to shush you. You roll your eyes but obey nonetheless. Ellie scans the building, still close to the entrance in case something is hiding in the shadows. When she determines the area to be safe, she invites you two inside. "Because," Ellie answers. "I'm..."

Ellie's eyes shift toward Dina. The girl is scanning the building as told, not paying mind to your sibling conversation. Ellie lets out a breath and continues but with a lower tone. "I'm immune. If something comes running out at me, I'll be fine. You two on the other hand?" she shakes her head, "I would be dumb to let anything happen to you two."

"Blah, blah," you wave her off. You walk further away from Ellie and discover the rest of the building on your own.

The building had five stories. The first two were pretty well lit with the morning light, the others not so much. Not to mention the wet and stinky stairways.

You stomp your way up the stairs with a scowl on your face. You keep a strong hold on your flashlight.

"Will you quiet down?" Ellie whisper-exclaims from the bottom of the steps. You ignore her. You didn't even know she was following you. "If something's here, you're going to attract it."

"I don't give a fuck. You're here anyways. You can save the day as usual." Your voice is bitter yet quiet. You speak to Ellie through your teeth. "Shouldn't you be with Dina anyway?"

"She can handle her own." Ellie quickly goes up the stairs to be closer to you. "We agreed she should keep watch while us two search through the other levels."

You scoff. "So, you trust her but you don't trust me."

"Did I say that?"

You shrug. "You might as well," you make an effort to have your stomps be heard. You open the door to the other level, but Ellie rushes in front of you to scan the level first.

When safety has been assured, Ellie walks in. "Well, I didn't. So, don't get your head wrapped up over shit that isn't even true." She uses her flashlight as her eyes as she steps further into the room.

You shut the door behind yourself. You don't dare to speak to Ellie anymore as you clear the level. Onto the next you go.

You and Ellie go up the stairs in silence. Per usual, Ellie checks the level first and then allows you to come inside.

"You know, I'm getting real sick and tired of your bullshit superhero act," you drop the bomb on her as you scan through cardboard boxes.

Ellie groans to herself, "Here we go."

"You always have to save people then flaunt it. Could you ever save someone and then swear secrecy? Do you have to blab your mouth like you're Dina every time you save someone?"

Ellie's jaw tenses. "Watch yourself."

"And here you go with that bullshit!" you toss the box aside. Something in the far corner creaks, but you both pay no mind. "You're not my fucking mom, Ellie! Hell, you're not Joel or any other parental figure in my life--"

"Good! I don't want to be any of those anyway. If I birthed you, I would have no clue what to do with myself," Ellie scoffs. "You're so fucking insane sometimes, you know that?"

You shrug, crossing your eyes over your chest. Her words stab you right in the heart and send tears to your eyes, but you don't let them show.

"You're always getting yourself into trouble. You say, 'Oh, I'm fine!' but then you come to me with a dislocated knee. You'll say 'Oh, I'm just going out for a bit,' but then come home bruised up with leaves in your hair, dirt and blood on your clothes, and if I'm truly lucky, your little friends would tell me you nearly came in close contact with a fucking infected," Ellie's voice grows the more she talks.

The creaking in the corner is more apparent. In fact, it's beginning to sound like more clicking.

"Ellie," you warn, your voice quiet.

"No, you wanna do this here? Let's do this then. There's never a day where I don't worry about you. Did you eat? Drink water? Are you in your bed safely tucked in at night or am I going to wake up in the morning and receive the worst news of my life?" Ellie's voice cracks.

You can barely see her eyes stare into yours. By the sound of her voice, you can tell she's getting choked up. Maybe even crying?

"You always get yourself into shit, Clumsy, and I--"

"Ellie, look out!" you exclaim as a hand shoots through the frail wall beside her. Ellie moves, but not a sound escapes her body. She turns to the hand, then back to you where she finds you're no longer where you were two seconds ago.

Instead, you're charging headfirst into danger. You break down the wall with the crowbar that was stashed in your backpack. The clicker runs straight toward you once it's free from the wall. You bash the bar on its head before taking a blade and jamming it in the clicker's throat.

"Holy shit, are you okay?" Ellie asks. You wave her off. Instead, you walk inside the hidden room the clicker was in. You don't make an effort to scan the room like Ellie does. If something wants to come at you, so be it.

There were only two more clickers hiding in the room. You killed them both, not letting Ellie get a chance to save your ass.

Finishing up the room scan, you head over to a case of books. They're weathered and crusty, and the words on the pages bleed through. Ellie tries to spark a conversation again, but you ignore her once more.

You continue walking around the room with the floor creaking under you. Your flashlight shines a path for you to get out of the room, but you fail to see the giant hole in the ground. You step right through and fall three stories down.

Ellie calls out for you, but the moment she runs towards the hole, it's too late.

You land in a mist of cardboard boxes filled with packing supplies, but they don't do much in terms of protection.

"What the--" Dina mumbles. She turns behind herself to find you dropped in the pile of boxes with a broken arm and leg. You can't even look at her. The tears blur your vision and your head is scrambled from earlier actions and conversations.

Ellie shines her flashlight down the hole and sighs, "Only you, Clumsy."

-

You lie in your bed with your arm hoisted up and your leg resting on a stack of pillows. On your nightstand is a mug of cold soup, pain meds, and books to keep your mind busy, but it was all useless.

The day you were going to prove yourself to Jackson, you came home sharing a horse with Ellie and with broken bones.

"Oh, Ellie! Thank God you were there." "Imagine what would've happened if she wasn't there." "You're lucky you have such an amazing sister."

"Oh, fuck off," you groan. You turn your face into your pillows and groan once more.

"Oh, sorry," Ellie's voice goes through the muffling of pillows. "I can leave if you want."

You peel your face from the pillows. "No, sorry. That wasn't catered towards you."

Ellie nods. She plays with her hands as she steps further into the room. Inches away from the edge of your bed, Ellie's eyes flicker to everything else but you.

Your eyes, however, remain on her.

Your last conversation wasn't the best, that's something you both knew. But, you never knew how much she cared for you and went out of her way to protect you. You didn't need protection. At least, not from outside elements. Maybe from yourself.

You're too ambitious for your own good. You're too stubborn for your own good too. You believe you can do everything on your own when you can't. In fact, you're pretty sure you've done nothing on your own since the apocalypse broke out.

You try to be hyper-independent but instead, all you are is self-destructive.

"I'm, uh, sorry for what I said on patrol," Ellie's voice takes you out of your spiraling thoughts. "I didn't mean most of it. Like, the part of, uh," she scratches the back of her neck. "'Being lucky I didn't birth you'? One, that was weird... uh, two, I'm very lucky to have you the way I do. I'm sorry if I made you feel otherwise."

If you could shrug right now, you would, but everything hurts too much. "It's okay. I know I'm a handful."

"Maybe," Ellie walks to the side of your bed. "But isn't that your job? You're the younger sibling. You're supposed to get into trouble and I'm supposed to be the one to get you out of it."

"But I don't want you to. I want to get myself out of it."

"Oh, yeah? And how do you manage to do that? By dying?" Ellie's voice raises.

You deplete. You take your eyes off of her the moment her's lands on you. "You can go now."

"No, shit, Clumsy--"

"Stop calling me that. It's not cute, it's not endearing, it's fucking embarrassing."

"Okay, well," Ellie scans your room. It's been a minute since she's been in here. There are old porcelain sculptures of blueberries and pears scattered around your room. Most are chipped, but they're polished nicely.

On your bookcase, there are pictures of you with your friends and of you two with Joel. None of the two of you by yourselves. There are books in the case too, but they look to be untouched by you.

Ellie scans your room once more. There are speckles of blue around and even more porcelain sculptures of chipped blueberries. "How about Blueberry? Is that fitting?"

"It's fine." Your eyes remain on your window.

"Okay, well, Blueberry, I'm sorry. I really am. I've talked some things over with Dina, I guess I am a blabbermouth, but she helped me realize that, maybe you're feeling left out somehow or less than," Ellie finds her place by your bedside. "Is that true?"

"Could be."

"Right, well, Dina's a younger sister, you know that? She said that sometimes it can be hard to be your own person when your older sibling is amazing and all that shit, but I'm not amazing. I'm just me."

"Your point?"

"My point is, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad by saving you all the time. I was trying to do my part as your sister to protect you and I guess that blew up in my face," she sighs.

You finally face her. "I just wanted to prove I can be something besides Ellie's younger sibling who always gets themselves into trouble. I don't want to be known as the reckless one. I want to be strong and brave."

"But you are those things, Blueberry." Ellie's eyes motion towards the empty space beside you. You nod and allow her to sit. "I can't count all the times you went out after dark just because you heard something and wanted to ensure safety. Or however many times you stood up for the little guy. That's brave and strong."

"Not in the same sense of your strongness and bravery."

Ellie frowns. She puts a careful hand on your good thigh. "That's because you're not me. And if you spend the rest of your life trying to be someone else, you'll never be happy. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be me. You'll always be you and that's beautiful. Your friends like you for who you are. I like you for who you are. Why don't you?"

You fall silent. Your eyes well up with tears and your throat gets scratchy. With your eyes stinging, you try to move yourself close to Ellie.

You don't need to use your words to get what you want from Ellie. She already knows. She lies down, cradling your head in her arms as she does so. As you sob into her, she doesn't shush you. Instead, she draws circles on your good arm and kisses the top of your head. "I love you, Blue, and I want you to start loving yourself too. Start being you for you. Who cares about what others think?" she whispers.

You still don't have much to say. You let Ellie comfort you until the tears spill out until there are no more tears left to cry. You've spent all your time trying to prove you can be like Ellie, you kind of forgotten how to be yourself.

From this moment on, you make a promise to yourself:

Be you for who you are. The world does not need two Ellies.

WC: 4,263

A/N: I wouldn't mind two Ellies but, okay. LMAO

[formulapookie]

💚💛

Sweet sound of you -> Under the cut franky/mig, 2.9k words smut

It’s been a long day.

Really fucking long day.

There were problems with a location for a concert, they didn’t want them to perform no more after their last show at Wembley Stadium, where Diggia decided bringing on an italian flag with written on it “It’s coming ROME” was the perfect idea in front of the british public.

God he’s gonna kill him.

One day he’s gonna kill all of them for all the headaches they cause him.

Bez and his stupid cult-like friends, Pecco with his “I’m not good enough if I don’t get the song right at the first try”, Enea and Diggia - he doesn’t even want to begin listing all the trouble they put him through, 

The only decently calm and collected ones were Cele and Luca.

Until they fucking decided to come out to the world as a couple without telling him first and he had to manage the situation.

As the manager of the band he was always overwhelmed with problems and issues coming from everywhere.

“Mig you need to book one more date” “Mig you need to order new instruments Bez smashed the last two guitars”

“Mig we need you to book better hotels these are shitty”

“Mig put me in the room with him, not with the other”

Blah blah blah.

All fucking day and night.

Now he finally has some time to himself.

Note really himself cause he’s sharing the room with his boyfriend but still close enough.

He wants, and needs to relax and he knows nothing gets him more relaxed than having a weed-powered orgasm, and dating a weed-smoker guitarist comes with a few pros in that field.

Mig drops his backpack next to the entrance, says hi to the cats and takes off his shoes.

The jacket gets unceremoniously thrown to the ground next to the backpack, he’ll think about it later.

He needs a shower.

As if God finally decided to listen to him, he hears the faucet opening, Franky must be getting ready to shower as well.

What convenient timing.

He almost trips over the guitar he left laying around as fucking always, and actually walks over some music sheets he’ll have to approve of later that week.

Last time he didn’t look at the song it was basically a porno, obviously Diggia had written it, God knows for who, and it fucking described a blowie.

“Franky? I’m back”

“Oh be careful with the guitar eh” “Yeah yeah I know”

Mig is taking off his cap and rings, doesn’t like to get 'em wet under the shower.

When he opens the bathroom door to shoot his shot and flirt his way into the shower he fails miserably, staring mouth agape and probably drooling even at the sight before him.

Franky, completely naked, which yeah, makes sense if he wants to take a shower, already half soaked from the water, hair loosely around and fucking drenched, a joint hanging between those lips who made him scream so much under the covers, hands fidgeting with the lighter they bought in Miami and he could just have a peek of what he needed more in that moment.

Franky sees him and smirks, managing to flick the lighter on and light the joint.

He always manages to get excellent weed somehow.

“Care to join me Andre?”

“Yes”

It’s pathetic? Yes He’s impossibly needy right now and just needs that dick inside him? Also yes Franky’s gonna tease him about it for years? Yes

“Hurry or I’ll finish the joint myself bimbo”

God he hated that pet name, just because he was a bit - ok no a lot - shorter they all messed with him.

“I’m - fuck come on come off - almost done”

He’s struggling with taking his shirt off, it got stuck in his necklace, he’s scrambling to get it off.

Suddenly there’s another body near him, pulling the shirt up without breaking the necklace and throwing it on the bed.

Mig lets out a small whimper when he sees Franky looking right at him.

“Hi” “Hi”

“Want a drag?”

“Yes please I almost killed myself today”

“Let’s not ok? Still need my favorite manager with me”

Mig blushes, because Franky might seem calm and shy and all those things, but as soon as they’re behind closed doors he shifts to this and he surely can’t complain.

He takes the joint and takes a few drags, the smoke hanging heavily in the stiff air of the room.

“Come on, get naked and join me in the shower”

“Can be a bit nicer about it”

“You like nice? Since when?”

And Mig blushes again, and takes another drag as he takes off jeans and boxers.

He leaves the joint in the ashtray and gets in the shower.

He barely makes it inside that Franky is already kissing him, warm water running down his back as he gets backed up against the wall, cold blue tiles in contrast with the heat’s pooling in his stomach.

“I love you”

“Mh love you too”

Franky moves so so slowly Mig thinks this could be torture, and gets into kissing his neck, soft plump lips against his skin, and it’s boiling hot at this point.

“Can I?”

“Yeah go on go on”

Franky always asks for permission to leave marks, especially if on his neck, he’d never want to do something which could upset the younger.

The only thing that could upset Mig now tho would be them not fucking, because he really needs a release and knows Franky probably does too, it’s been a week full of rehearsals for the Tour, and Franky has also been working on a few new songs.

“You smell nice”

“It’s the cologne you bought me”

“Yeah I know, that’s why you smell nice”

“You smell like weed”

“Mh you don’t like it?”

“Oh no I love it”

Franky smiles against his neck, kissing it again, before letting his hands wander all over Mig’s body, pressing his thumb right on the hickey he left on the younger’s hipbone in the morning.

“Don’t - fuck - not there”

“Why? It gets you horny”

“It gets you horny”

“You want me to stop?”

“Don’t you dare Franky”

He presses his thumb on the bruise once more before pulling Mig closer to him, their cocks brushing against each other at the move, making both of them moan.

“Can’t” Franky smashes their lips together again, moving a hand behind Mig’s thigh and pulling it up “stop wanting to kiss you”

“Please don’t”

They make out for another good five minutes, during which Mig gets shamelessly hard and his need just multiplies. 

“Do you think you need lube or are you still ok from this morning?” “I’m ok I’m ready Franky just fuck me. I need it”

“As you wish”

Franky lifts Mig up, it’s no big deal, like at all, not because Mig is not muscled or something, but he’s definitely smaller in height and frame, and it’s really easy for Franky to pick him up whenever.

And Mig fucking loves this. He’s always felt like being shorter and smaller was a disadvantage, something to be ashamed of, but with Franky he just felt protected by their difference, and he honestly couldn’t hide it was hot how Franky could basically lift him up with one arm.

The older pushes his dick inside, slowly, he knows despite going in the morning already Mig always needs some more stretch before actually getting fucked.

He feels so good, he’s basically built for him.

“Fuck”“Ok? Can I keep going?” “Yesyesyes please”

Franky thrusts up, it’s not comfortable per se as a position, but he knows Mig loves when he holds him there like he weighs nothing and just fucks him stupid.

Mig moans and to him it’s more beautiful than any music he can make with his guitar.

They kiss again, Franky picks up the pace and in a matter of minutes the only thing they can hear are each other’s moans, their skin slapping and the water running warm on Franky’s back.

“You’re big fuck”

“You never complain”

Mig laughs, and it gets interrupted by a louder moan once Franky moves to suck a hickey on his neck, marking him more than he did in the morning when he left marks all over his hips and thighs.

“I love -fuck- love how you get my mind off things” Mig’s breath is hot against his skin, hotter than the water dripping down his back, he’s got his arms thrown around his neck, hands holding on his back, trying to not slip away from the hold Franky has on him.

“You’d look sick with a tattoo on your back, you know that? Or if you actually got up the courage to pierce your dick. I’d suck you off every fucking day for eternity, you’d be so fucking hot”

“So I should get my dick pierced just because you’re a needy little boy and you need my dick to keep you happy?”

Mig whimpers at the words, he can feel Franky inside him and it’s so good, he never wants this to end.

Wants to get pinned to the bed as soon as they get out of here and get fucked again, he wants to forget all about work and the problems he’s got and just get fucked by him to an inch of his life.

“Please yes” “You know I’d do anything for you”

They’re kissing again, much more passion this time, much more raw need, much more excitement.

It’s not easy or practical to fuck like this, they both know, that’s why Mig would very much like for them to somehow have enough brain to at least move out the shower so Franky could bend him over the sink and fuck him there.

But right now none of the two is willing to separate, not even for a millisecond to breathe in some oxygen, they’re both running solely on lust and need.

“Don’t hold back Andre, I love how tight you get when you’re close, makes me go fucking crazy”

“Harder. Harder please”

Franky doesn’t wait to hear it a second time, he’s thrusting deeper, touching spots inside him that make Mig see stars.

He bites at Mig’s collarbone and draws out a satisfied moan, which just gets to his brain as a signal to keep going, harderdeeperfaster.

Mig’s hands move from his back to tangle in his hair, tug at them, play with his curls as he gets louder and louder with his moans.

God how he loves Franky’s hair.

When he cut them off two years ago he wanted to kill him.

He wants to have something to play with, needs to have them through his fingers when he gets fucked to an inch of his life, or when they lay in bed smoking and chatting.

He knows he’s close, he always gets there before Franky, but that just means Franky can still fuck him after he has came, and he wants that to happen so fucking bad.

“Close Franky so close fuck” “I know baby I feel it, what do you say I keep fucking you on the bed after you cum now?” “yes”

Franky smiles again, fucking into him enough to tip him over the edge, making him come all over both their abs with a chocked scream from Mig.

They untangle, Mig letting his leg slip down, his feet touching the ground and for a second he limps, he can feel his thighs shake, but he manages to gain back control immediately, starting to walk out the shower.

“Can you reach it on your own? Or do I have to help you?” “Not made of glass I can walk”

“I was just making sure I didn’t fuck you too hard”

The motherfucker is smiling, moving a hand on the small of his back and slightly pushing him towards the bedroom.

“You’re too nice to actually fuck me that hard” Franky raises an eyebrow in surprise, he’s never made Mig actually unable to walk because he doesn’t want to embaraìrass him in front of the others.

But if he asks. Who is he to say no?

“I wouldn’t talk like that if I were you, I just fucked you in a shower and you were already moaning like a bitch in heat”

“You can’t do any better? Fuck me properly until I can barely say your name?”

They’re close to the edge of the bed, Mig knows perfectly what game he’s playing, and honestly Franky doesn’t have time to play it, he just wants to fuck his boyfriend until he can’t speak anymore.

“Come on big guy you want to do something?”

“Get on the bed”

“Make me”

The half ounce of self control Franky still had in him gets ripped from his body as he not so gently throws Mig on the bed making him squirm.

He kisses the younger with force, almost imposing himself in a way he doesn’t usually do because he fears it’s too much.

But the way Mig acted earlier made him send his thoughts to hell and actually act on his wants.

And what he wants right now is Mig moaning and being completely helpless under him.

“Come on fuck me” it’s the only thing Mig manages to say in between kisses, or more precisely whatever they’re doing, Franky is basically eating his face and he’s just whining and complying.

Franky doesn’t even ask, he just brakes away from the kiss and flips Mig so he’s laying on his stomach, he does it as if Mig doesn’t fucking weighs more than a feather and it gets the younger lightheaded.

He feels a hand lifting up just his ass and knows he’s in for a really hard fuck.

Maybe he’ll get stupid enough he’ll actually forget about his problems.

Mig barely manages to realize the position he’s in that Franky is already pushing his dick inside him, they’re still wet from the shower, the sheets will be drenched with water but neither cares right now, they both want the same thing.

Mig whimpers at the sensation, and starts to moan right away as Franky moves, setting a deep and fast pace from the start, holding Mig’s hips up with both his hands.

The younger loves to feel smaller but god does the other love feeling bigger, broader, basically towering over Mig, who’s currently moaning at every thrust Franky does, hitting his prostate everytime.

“Mo-re please”

If Mig is still able to talk it means he isn’t doing a good enough job of keeping his mind from running around like a pinball, so he thrusts harder, tightens the grip on his hips.

He’s gonna leave a mark for sure, both there and everywhere he kissed before.

He moves a hand so it goes to rest on Mig’s nape, and at first just leaves it there, a warning he can do whatever he wants to him and he better be careful.

“Is it enough? Or you want more? You need me to fuck you more?”

The only answer he gets is a mess of moans and whimpers, meaning he’s doing great, but he still wants to remind Mig he shouldn’t disrespect him like that, and that in the end he’s the one getting fucked, not the other way around.

So he pushes Mig’s face onto the mattress, letting him just enough freedom to turn his head and breathe, before fucking him like a man possessed.

The only thing Mig can feel is pure pleasure and that slight side of pain that comes with Franky being big even once he’s stretched properly.

He can just moan and hope this goes on as long as possible, he wants the others to know Franky is with him, they all stare a bit too much when he takes off his shirt, they need to know he’s his, only he gets fucked like this by him.

He wants the marks to last forever, like tattoos on his skin, he wants to feel this sensation for days, going around knowing he made Franky snap and finally fuck him as he wanted him to.

He knows his boyfriend is getting closer to the edge, he can feel it in his moans, in the way his thrusts become irregular, understands it because Franky lowered himself to suck at the skin on his shoulder blade, and is grunting in his ears.

Mig is close too, so fucking much, he’d just need to hear Franky’s voice and he’d cum on the spot.

And that’s just what happens, as soon as FRanky gets closer to his ears and whispers the words “beautiful”, he’s coming, he’s barely got any voice left to moan properly, he just whimpers at teh release, and clenches around FRanky, who simply can’t hold back anymore, and comes buried deep inside Mig, still holding him face against the mattress as his mind clears in the post sex clarity.

He lets go of him, sees the mark he’s left.

It’s fucking red.

“sorry baby I didn’t mean to hurt you” “you didn’t - ah - you didn’t hurt me, you made me see fucking starts”

Mig sits up, turns towards Franky and he thinks he’s just fallen in love once again.

There’s a moment where they just look into each other's eyes, before kissing once more, sweetly this time, slowly.

“I love you” “Love you too”

[fiyero3305]

TUA Fic: Witchy Prompts 19

Witchy Prompts via @myloveforhergoeson

19. Blood

Ben has his eyes shut tight behind his domino mask, but it only blocks out one of his senses. He can still hear the men’s bodies being broken and ripped amongst the constant background of fearful, agonized, pleading screams; can feel the heat of their blood as it pours down on him; can smell and even taste how metallic it is as it splashes into his nostrils and makes its way through his clamped lips. Eventually the last of the screams are cut off and the final body parts drop to the floor. Finally, he can reel the Horror back in and go.

Some of his siblings clap him on the back and congratulate him on another job well done. “Ben, the finisher!” Some try to be comforting and check in on him.

They don’t get it.

He can’t stand being touched after a mission. He’s not like Klaus who needs to be held and grounded among the living after a training session, what he needs right now is to be away from this time and place. Dissociating, he’d recently read it was called, and the verbal and physical interactions just force him to stay in his skin. Skin on which he can feel the blood beginning to cool down. Soon it will be so cold that he’ll be shivering and it will turn so sticky that he’ll feel it with every move he makes.

By the time they make it home his clothes feel thick and heavy and they cling to him, making every movement tight and uncomfortable. It’s in his socks, squelching with each step, but he still has to sit through the debriefing session. His father and Luther go over every single detail of the mission, breaking down how each step of the plan was enacted and what each team member contributed, but very little of the discussion makes its way into Ben’s ears. He knows to pay attention toward the end so he can answer questions about his role.

“… where Number Six was stationed. The eight remaining combatants met him as they attempted to flee”

“All eight combatants were disposed of within the escape corridor. Combatants’ weapons were spent by the time of retreat. I sustained no physical damage”

Thankfully his father has no follow-up questions that apply specifically to Ben, so he’s able to return to blocking out his senses quickly.

Finally they’re dismissed and he can head straight to the bathroom to wash the gore away. He leaves his blood-saturated clothes in a heap by the door, knowing that Mom will be by to take them away and leave his pajamas and a towel in a neatly folded pile by the window. Meticulously, he begins scrubbing every bit of blood from his body. It’s so congealed in his hair that he has to let the water run over his head for several minutes just to soften it enough to even begin shampooing. Once the water running down the drain is no longer tinged with red, he dries off and dresses for bed. The smell lingers faintly, but it’s as good as it’ll get.

As soon as the covers are in place he hears Klaus enter the room and slip in bed behind him.

He’s the only one who gets it.

That Ben can’t stand being touched when he’s wearing other people’s blood. He gives him his space after missions and waits until Ben is ready to be Ben again. Ben turns to make a pillow of Klaus’s chest and breathes in the scent of weed and peach body spray.

It smells like home.

[duck-in-a-spaceship]

Congrats to @tiptapricot for reaching 1k followers!!!!!!!

This is a little entry for their create this in your style challenge, using some of their OCs!!! I fucking love this little dudes, so I was happy to take the chance to write a little something for em. I hope you like it, mikey, plz tell me what I got right or wrong lol. I hope this all isn't terribly out of character

Prompt: Small things make up love languages. Intent with care, wanting with direction, and sometimes even just a reminder that one party values the other. It’s not a science, really. Everyone is different.

Story under the cut-

The flowers brush up against Romero’s knees, whisper-thin petals tickling down his palm. They reach back to his outstretched hand with rough leaves that try and fail to snare onto the fabric of his gloves as he gently pushes them aside. Instead, Romero grabs the weeds, the weeds that have thrown themselves into the edges of his garden, that grab with sharp teeth coating their stalks onto the fabric of his gloves, and he pulls them from the ground. Their roots rain down soil, arcing through the air as Romero tosses them aside.

The glow of his pumpkin head diffuses gently on the rows of flowers, leaking out into the cold darkness of the night. It lights the way for Romero as he works, yanking more weeds from the ground, brushing back the soil where he disturbs it. Bugs, startled by the uprooting of the plants, skitter across his gloves, searching for a new refuge, and he leaves them to go about their business.

The door creaks open behind him, and Romero sits up, stretching out his tense shoulders and leaning his head back, tilting it up towards the stars. Powder blue clouds drift across the sky, lazy as everything else is in the night, covering the stars so they wink in and out of existence.

Antez melts onto him, sprawling hymnself over Romero’s lap, head falling languidly over his shoulder. It tips back, following his gaze to the stars.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“___ _____ _ __,” Romero says, in words that aren’t words, that only Antez can really understand.

Antez laughs, he laughs the sound of windchimes falling but never hitting the ground, the sound of glass un-shattering, the sound of flowers brushing up against palms, of a thousand other things Romero couldn’t name. “Well, I do appreciate it,” he murmurs, wrapping the stalk of a flower around hiss finger and pulling it from the ground. Romero watches as he gathers more, and begins braiding them, twining their stalks together with one hand.

“__ __ __ ____ __ ______.”

“Well…” Antez sighs, and he feels a little heavier, all of the sudden. “I had hoped to be but I… well I suppose I got carried away this time.” There is light leaking out from hiss face, a blue glow winding cracks all around hiss head. “I think I waited a bit too long.”

Romero knew that, of course. He knew from the tension held in Antez’s shoulders, from the tired eyes, from the dizzying spin of hiss light and halos when it was just the two of them. He knew, but he doesn’t say as much.

“_ __ _____ ___?” Romero asks, tilting his head to one side.

“Oh,” Antez says in almost a sigh. The cracks of light on hiss face widen, and he lets hymnself fall apart a little, facial features drifting away from each other. They hover only vaguely tethered, like they’re held together by bits of invisible string. “Very.”

“___.” Romero runs a hand down his husband’s hair, watching as Antez drifts apart from hymnself a little more, the puzzle pieces of hiss face just beginning to shift and turn. “__ ___ _ ___.”

Antez hums hiss agreement, and the sound trails up Romero's back like chills. “Come here,” Antez murmurs, and Romero tilts his head towards hymn questioningly. Antez gathers hiss flowers, stems braided together to make tiny clusters, and slots the miniature bouquets into Romero’s eye holes. He hums to hymnself as he works, rearranging the flowers, shifting Romero’s worldview with the careful movement of hiss long, slender fingers.

Romero sits still for hymn, content to watch the petals dancing in his vision, catching glimpses of Antez as hiss facial features continue to drift apart from each other, those tenuous strings being cut as they pull away to show the gleaming light inside. Its brilliant blue falls over Romero’s own gentle orange, shining over both of their hands, illuminating the eyes and halos and mouths that orbit in slow, winding trails around Antez’s head.

Antez lets hiss hands fall, one coming to rest on Romero’s thigh. Hiss mouths, spinning around hiss face, are all smiling warmly. “You look lovely.”

Romero nods his thanks, careful not to let the flowers fall. He reaches up, brushing his fingers against their petals. They sweep against the inside of his head.

Romero grabs a flower from the dirt, breaking it just before the roots. With one thumb, he pops its head off, lets the stem fall back to the ground. He offers it to Antez, who seems to understand, who always understands.

When the flower is tipped into the whirling space of Antez’s mind, there is a moment of careful suspension. The eyes and mouths and ears churning slowly through the air tilt towards it slightly, observing as it drifts closer to the light in the center, sinking down until its broken tip touches something, some physical presence in all that blue.

And it explodes.

Petals fly outwards, more than Romero thinks there should be, speckled with seeds that have begun to glow like the starry freckles that dot Antez’s face. The petals get caught up in the halos, the eyes, winding their own orbits through the madness. They are sprays of color, arcs of nature.

“_______.”

“Yes,” Antez agrees softly. Some of hiss eyes flutter close, and hiss head tilts back as he leans against Romero. Melts. Together, they look down at the flowers, up at the stars. “Beautiful.”

[ase-trollplays]

Things Left Unsaid

Despite two and a half sweeps having passed, Mareth's grave still stood where Thiomi and Corali left it. The land had reclaimed the disturbed ground as thick wild grass and weeds grew where the blueblood was buried, and the makeshift headstone was covered in plant overgrowth from sweeps of neglect. It was doubtful anyone just passing through would have even realized it was there if they hadn't already known to look for it.

Thiomi could feel a knot the size of a brick form in her stomach as she laid her eyes on it. What a sorry state it was in. That alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes. How dare she let her late moirail's grave fall into such ruin. Just further proof that she never deserved her if she couldn't even fight off her guilt enough to keep her resting place presentable. With a sigh, she got to work pulling the weeds and cleaning the large, upright rock that symbolized her headstone. The shallow, unrefined carving of Mareth's name was long faded and barely visible now, but it didn't have to be visible. Thiomi knew it was there, if not physically then in spirit.

It took well over an hour to bring her grave to its former glory, and Thiomi looked it over with a mixture of pride and guilt before taking a seat before it and removing a bagged lunch from her sylladex.

"Hello, Mareth. It's been... a while. I'm s-sorry I never came back after burying you. Considering the circumstances of your death, I didn't think I deserved to. I was s-sure you wouldn't want me here, either."

She removed a thermos from the bag, wisps of steam gently trickling out as she removed the lid and poured some of the potato soup into the cap to sip. The knot in her stomach hadn't budged since she arrived, but she forced the soup down regardless.

"I wish I could s-say a lot's changed in the time you've been gone, but... it really hasn't. At least, I haven't changed much. I made s-sure all your cats went to loving homes, s-so you can rest easy knowing they're being taken care of. ... My matesprit and I are s-still raising Varoll. I wish I'd gotten to introduce you to her; you would have gotten along really well, I think.

"S-Sonja and I are on better terms. His less s-stable half has a matesprit now, s-so he's not interested in me anymore. He bullies me if we happen to cross paths, but I've accepted he's always going to hate me. The other half and I decided to be friends. I'm nervous, but I think we can pull it off, especially s-since he has his own moirail now. I don't know much about her, but s-she s-seems really good for him, so I'm glad.

"I also enrolled in therapy. I've learned a lot about myself... and it's all bad. I have s-so many things wrong with me, things I already knew and... and s-so much I wasn't aware of. Heh, I'm a real mess."

Thiomi took another sip of her soup and wiped her eyes to get rid of the tears forming.

"Corali and I aren't s-speaking anymore. I know you two never got along, and you hated being neighbors with her, but you have a lot more in common than either of you realized. You could have been amazing friends. I know it's not your fault that never happened. Corali hates highbloods too much, especially bluebloods, unfortunately.

"It's my own fault my friendship with Corali ended. S-she came to me for help with her alcoholism, and... and I took advantage of her s-situation for my own gain. S-she reminds me s-so much of you, and before I knew it, I was trying to replace you with her.

"You're both alcoholics, but s-she was trying to quit. S-something I begged and pleaded for you to do. All the help I tried to do for you -- Trying to make you cut down on your drinking, giving you locations and times for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, making you promise me you would try to get better -- she took it without question.

"At s-some point, it s-stopped being about helping her and became a way of atoning for my mistakes with you."

Tears fell into her cap of soup, which she clenched in her hands and gripped like it was her life support. Pitiful whines and hiccups escaped her as she let herself weep. Thiomi didn't try to stop the tears from falling or wipe them away and instead allowed herself to wallow in utter misery.

"I never moved on from causing your death. Two and a half s-sweeps later, and it s-still hurts. It s-still hurts like it did when we found your body that night. I keep replaying that night wishing I could go back and s-stop myself, and that I would have been more patient with you instead of constantly nagging and pressuring and pushing you to do what I wanted for your own good. I s-should have let it be your choice on your own terms. I s-should have been patient and respected your autonomy.

"I was a bad moirail, and you paid the price for it. I don't know if I can ever forgive myself for that.

"But..."

She forced herself to straighten up, sniff back her tears, and wipe her eyes. She looked up for the first time since she took a seat and stared at Mareth's headstone.

"... I know I can't keep s-staying here, s-stuck in the past wishing things could be different. You're gone because of mistakes that I made, and I have to make peace with that and move on. The grief may never truly go away, but I can't let it hold me back anymore."

With a sigh, Thiomi poured her half-eaten soup back into the thermos and placed it back in the bag with the water bottle and the orange she ended up not touching. She placed the meal back into her sylladex and stood to walk up to the headstone. She knelt down in front of it and tightly wrapped her arms around it in a tearful embrace.

"I... I'm s-sorry. I'm s-so... I'm s-so s-sorry. I'll never be able to apologize enough, and I'll never not be s-sorry. I can't change the past, but I can do better not to repeat my mistakes. That's how I'll do right by you."

She stayed silently weeping and hugging the rock for several minutes before she finally let go. She gave the makeshift headstone one last look before standing up and starting to walk away.

"I promise I won't take another two and a half s-sweeps to s-see you again."

[spacepunksupreme]

What is some good vampire media i. Like just came to the realization that I don’t know much. Finishing Dracula and watching the movie soon, watched the Netflix castlevania and i wanna watch iwtv soon (both of them)! I ask because I trust ur taste :-]

AH Hi! Feeling very honored that you trust my taste aha

I hope you enjoy Interviw with The Vampire and whichever Dracula movie youre watching! There is certainly no shortage of Dracula movies out there for one, both actual attempts at adapting the book and otherwise. There is literally (at least) one for every year from 1969-1979 lol so if you dig 70s stuff that’s certainly something to explore.

Obviously there’s vampire stuff out there in a range of aesthetics and subgenres, so I’m gonna try to cover a little variety of vibes off the top of my head, and hopefully one of these things is in your preferred flavor of vampire :) 

unorganized list with brief synonsis’ under the cut

As for serious vampire series the only thing that comes to mind rn are some anime/manga. Vampire Hunter D is a light novel series with two anime film adaptations. The newer one, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) is like an all-time favorite animated movie for mine. D is an angsty half-vampire vampire hunter, and it’s also set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy world. Really good mix of more traditional vampire lore with science fiction elements. Vampirism is implied to be the effects of a plague that swept earth as well as like a magical affliction in this.

Trinity Blood is a similar post-apocalyptic hard sci-fi/fantasy mix. Leaning more on the gothic fantasy side. It’s set in a world where we’ve gone back to the Catholic church being the dominate like governing force, so the main character Abel is (again an angsty half-vampire vampire hunter) a funny little priest man. The vampires are like really demon/angel vibes in this, but are also implied to be the result of intermingling with an alien species that humanity fought pre-apocalypse, if I remember correctly. I havn’t read or watched any of this since high school so it might suck now lol

The Hellsing manga/Hellsing Ultimate OVA. An all time fav of mine, but I also havnt reread any since high school so, again, it may suck now lol. This one is more modern than anything traditional fantasy. It’s set in the 90s and centered around Abraham Van Helsing’s (great?) granddaughter, Integra, running a vampire-hunting organization, with thee Dracula now calling himself Alucard (lol) as her weird devoted man-slave. The villains are undead nazis who have come back to take over the world after scientifically achieving vampirism in the pursuit of immortality. So it’s basically like Dracula and his cool lesbian boss fight vampire nazis … with guns. It’s good stupid fun. And Alucard is a really good example of vampire character who is both a gleeful killing machine and a miserable “I regret the loss of my humanity and the fact that I can never die” poor little meow meow type.

And in non-serious and non-anime (lol) there’s also the What We Do in The Shadows TV show which I’ve seen best described as “what if vampires were gay and stupid”, pokes good fun a lot of common vampire media tropes. And the characters are great. The 2014 movie is the same premise, but different characters. 

Some other movies I might recommend are Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) cheesy 70s movie but has some really great exploration of lesser-discussed vampire lore; the main vampire antagonist doesn’t drink blood but drains youth with a kiss, can have their hypnotic power projected back at them with a reflected surface, and causes dead animals to come back to life when passing over them in the ground, etc. It’s also got fantasic sword fighting scenes, and really fun characters. Kronos in particular is definitely supposed to be a mysterious badass type, but he really just comes off as a socially awkward loveable weirdo. He’s super strange and he smokes weed lol. Set in like a mid-19th century fantasy germanic country. 

Lost Boys (1987) or Blade (1998) for more edgy modern vampires. Both movies are stupid. Lost Boys is fun for the vamp characters which are southern Californian teenage biker gang members (gay). and Blade is fun because it’s just so bad it’s good, it’s a movie to be watched for laughs, with vampires who are just like goths that go to blood raves and sit around in suits in fancy rooms. Blade himself is also another angsty half-vampire vampire hunter (I’m realizing I’m fond of this type of character lol). 

And finally if you’re looking for something more similar to the Dracula novel, I think I can only recommend Le Fanu’s Carmilla. Older and shorter than Dracula and perhaps a little less exciting, but a solid classic in vampire literature (and lesbian literature), and has a lot of its own adaptations ranging from serious to silly as well. 

[gas-stxtion-a]

@modestmuses said: Before Jack can cross the threshold of the door, Silco grabs him by the wrist, frowning deeply, lines of worry etched into his forehead. "You're not going into work today. You're not going into work ever again. I don't care if there's no one else to cover your shift. Let the place sit empty. To hell with them."

Jack freezes up, mostly unintentionally, when Silco grabs him by the wrist. The older man’s grasp isn’t rough or painful by any means, but the unexpected touch still catches him off-guard. He relaxes quickly enough, though. Silco is one of the few people who can do that, who can grab Jack unexpectedly, in part because he so rarely does. More often than not, he makes sure Jack is in control of when and how he is touched, which is something Jack very much appreciates.

Which means that he knows immediately that Silco is very serious when the older man grabs his wrist, gentle but firm, and when he turns his head he sees an expression of blatant worry on his face. The words aren’t exactly unexpected--he and Silco have been talking about him quitting his job at the gas station for some months now, after all. He knows how Silco feels about the gas station well by now.

What is surprising, though, is the urgency behind those words. Jack meets Silco’s eyes as he looks back, and though he can only maintain the eye contact for a few seconds before it becomes overwhelming, he knows his partner isn’t going to let this go so easily.

Immediately, Jack feels terrible, because he knows Silco has a real point in all of this and many very, very good reasons to want him to quit. Even aside from Jack’s general stagnation throughout his twenties, his job at the gas station has put him in the direct line of fire of so many people and entities that want him dead (or worse, even). Especially in the last two years or so, Jack has been in peril more often than not, and he knows that his life would be significantly easier and safer if he did just as Silco is saying right now and never went back. Perhaps not totally safe, but definitely better than he’s doing now.

But it’s not that easy. Jack knows he doesn’t have a choice in this, not anymore (if he ever did).

“I-” Jack swallows, biting his lip. “I have to,” he says, the words sounding hollow, even to him. “I don’t want to go back, but I have to. I-I mean, I’m the one the owners trusted to take over after they died.” Sure, they didn’t tell him as such, and they were usually pretty shitty to him when they were alive, but he thinks that being the only person named in their will, at least where the gas station is concerned, means a lot. He knows Silco understands this kind of loyalty and obligation--he has to… right?

“If I just don’t go and let everything fall apart, then i-it feels like everything’s just been for nothing. I owe them. I-I mean, yeah, I wanna quit, but then they left it to me and now I have to make sure it keeps going.” Jack doesn’t want to fight, but the idea of just… not going back, at least not without making sure things will be okay without him, is enough to make his head swim and his skin itch unpleasantly. He can’t do that to them, he just can’t.

“I have to go,” he says again, more to himself than anything. Yet, he makes no move to try and remove Silco’s grip or leave. His eyes fall to the ground for a second, then he looks back up at Silco, his expression deeply conflicted.

“I’ll be okay,” Jack says softly. As he’s prone to do when he gets nervous, he soon starts babbling. “I-I mean, we do keep a shotgun in the store now, so if anything happens I can protect myself. And, besides, I’m not working alone today--Jerry’s gonna be there, too, so unless he wanders off to go smoke weed in the woods or something then it’ll be okay. ‘Cause, y’know, Jerry’s kind of a coward sometimes but he’s usually pretty good in a crisis, at least when he knows what’s going on.” He cuts himself off there, not wanting to go into the million and one excuses and justifications hiding right behind his teeth.

Because he knows, at the end of the day, none of them really matter.

Jack takes a step closer to Silco, tentatively resting his hand on the older man’s own where it’s still gripping his wrist. Jack’s hands are cold, as they always are, but his touch is gentle and, he hopes, reassuring. Not that he thinks it's going to make Silco feel better about all of this--he knows it won't be that easy. But Jack truthfully doesn't know what to do here. He is well and truly out of his depth.

No, Jack doesn't want to go back, and he wants to leave it all behind and be fucking happy and safe, but the obligation he feels to the owners and the gas station as a whole means he can't just back down from the job they left him.

It's almost funny, but Jack can't find it in himself to laugh right now.

[yumitsukiyoru]

Title: Low Maintenance Landscaping: Creating a Beautiful Garden with Minimal Effort

Subheading: Transforming Your Garden Into a Self-Sustaining Oasis

What homeowner wouldn’t want a lush and colorful garden just outside the window? But while a garden definitely boosts your home’s curb appeal, it also claims a lot of your free time. There’s no such thing as a maintenance-free garden, but choosing smarter plantings does cut down on the amount of pruning and watering required.

So, the next time you plant, try some of these lovely options that take care of themselves. Then get ready to enjoy your new low maintenance landscaping—from the comfort of your porch swing.

Subheader: Drought-Tolerant Plants: The Key to a Low Maintenance Garden

When it comes to low maintenance landscaping, choosing drought-tolerant plants is essential. These plants have adapted to survive in arid conditions, meaning they require less water and attention. Succulents, such as agave and aloe vera, are excellent choices as they store water in their leaves and require minimal watering.

Additionally, lavender and yarrow are beautiful flowering plants that can thrive in dry climates.

Another option is to incorporate native plants into your garden. Native plants are well-suited to the local climate and soil conditions, making them naturally low maintenance. By planting species that are native to your area, you can create a self-sustaining ecosystem that requires minimal intervention.

Subheader: Perennials: A Long-Term Solution for Minimal Effort

Perennials are a gardener’s best friend when it comes to low maintenance landscaping. Unlike annuals, which need to be replanted each year, perennials come back year after year, reducing the amount of time and effort required for maintenance. Some popular options include daylilies, hostas, and coneflowers, which not only require little care but also provide vibrant and long-lasting blooms.

When selecting perennials, it’s important to choose varieties that are well-suited to your climate and soil conditions. By selecting plants that are adapted to your specific environment, you can ensure they thrive with minimal intervention.

Subheader: Ground Covers: The Secret to Weed Control

One of the biggest challenges in maintaining a garden is keeping weeds at bay. However, by incorporating ground covers into your landscape design, you can minimize weed growth and reduce the need for constant weeding. Ground covers, such as creeping thyme or vinca minor, spread quickly and form a dense mat that prevents weeds from taking root.

In addition to weed control, ground covers also help retain moisture in the soil, reducing the need for frequent watering. They can also provide a lush and uniform appearance to your garden, creating a visually appealing landscape with minimal effort.

Subheader: Mulch: A Time-Saving Solution for Garden Beds

Applying mulch to your garden beds is a simple yet effective way to reduce maintenance. Mulch helps retain moisture in the soil, preventing it from drying out quickly and reducing the need for frequent watering. It also acts as a natural weed barrier, suppressing weed growth and minimizing the time spent on weeding.

Furthermore, mulch adds a polished and finished look to your garden beds, enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal. Organic mulch, such as wood chips or bark, also breaks down over time, enriching the soil and providing nutrients to your plants.

Subheader: Smart Irrigation: Efficient Watering for a Low Maintenance Garden

Watering is an essential aspect of garden maintenance, but it can be time-consuming and wasteful if not done efficiently. Implementing smart irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation or timed sprinklers, can help minimize water usage and ensure plants receive the right amount of water.

Drip irrigation delivers water directly to the roots of plants, reducing evaporation and water waste. Timed sprinklers allow you to schedule watering sessions, ensuring plants receive consistent moisture without overwatering. By using these smart irrigation techniques, you can save time and resources while maintaining a healthy and thriving garden.

Creating a low maintenance garden doesn't mean sacrificing beauty or curb appeal. By choosing the right plants, incorporating ground covers, applying mulch, and implementing smart irrigation techniques, you can create a self-sustaining oasis that requires minimal effort to maintain. So, the next time you're planning your garden, consider these low maintenance landscaping options and get ready to enjoy a beautiful garden with more time to relax and unwind.

[planter01]

Preparing your garden for autumn

Preparing your garden for fall is one of the most important tasks of the year. If you do it right, you can rest comfortably during the colder months. But if you do it wrong, you’ll have a lot of work to do come spring.

Read our list of essential jobs to complete from September to December to ensure your garden looks its best as the weather changes.

Take care of your lawn

While it’s still relatively dry, mow the lawn one last time. Increasing rain will make this task more difficult, so try and get it out as soon as possible. You should also remove all dead leaves and debris to reduce the chances of rotting and give your grass room to grow.

After that, a final feed in October will give your lawn exactly what it needs to survive the winter. Choose a nutrient-dense fertilizer as the weather cools to keep it well-preserved and promote healthy growth.

Pro tip: If you plan to mow the lawn in the winter, don’t forget to set your blades high. That way, you won’t scratch the turf or weaken the grass.

Decide what to do with your plants

Plants are central to any outdoor plant pots UK space, but not all of them will be able to survive the winter. To give your garden its best shot, be sure to remove annuals and bring in plants that aren’t suited to harsh conditions. You should also cut back perennials at soil level so they don’t dominate during the colder months and de-weed flower beds and patios to prevent it from becoming a big job later.

Keep your garden looking vibrant by filling in spaces with fall plants such as snowdrops, autumn crocuses and winter pansies. You should also plant spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths to retain spring color.

Welcome to the wildlife

Even though you may be spending less time outdoors, it won’t be for everyone. Fall season animals struggle to find sustenance and may need extra help to survive.

Make your garden more attractive to wildlife by stocking bird feeders, leaving leftovers and creating shelters for small animals like hedgehogs. You can also do your part by adding a number of bee-friendly plants to your yard. Heather, asters and hellebores are perfect examples of these and will help keep the bees buzzing as the year winds down.

Taking the above steps may not seem like much, but it can be potentially life-saving for creatures struggling for food and warmth. If you want to avoid those other unwanted visitors, like slugs and snails, there’s a lot you can do to keep them away. Put a barrier between them and your plants with coffee grounds or eggshells, or invest in anti-slug tape to give them a little shock. They certainly won’t be back in a hurry.

Store things away

In summer, your garden is a hive of activity. But as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, you’ll be more inclined to spend the evening on the couch than out in the cold. The same cannot be said for your garden furniture. If you don’t put it in storage, it can deteriorate and become discolored from prolonged exposure to the elements.

Move anything at risk of rotting or damage to a safe, dry place such as a shed, or cover it with a waterproof sheet. Unless specially designed to handle extremes, like our fiberglass planters, plant pots should also be cleaned and stored properly. Cover them in bubble wrap to prevent damage, and store them upside down to make sure they don’t crack. Storing them this way will get them ready to go for spring.

Last-minute checks

Before calling it a day, do a thorough inspection of your garden. Is everything stored away? Are your fence panels strong enough to withstand winter weather? Could your greenhouse benefit from cleaning?

Go over everything with a fine-tooth comb and finish any repair and maintenance work while you still can. Failure to do so could leave you out of pocket and destroy all your hard work. It is definitely better to be safe than sorry.

[tipsycad147]

Violets:Medical and Culinary Uses

As temperatures start to get warmer and spring starts to rear its head, a sweet purple bloom starts to appear. With heart shaped leaves and a range of petal colors from white to blueish purple, these wild violets are known by many.

While it is considered a weed or wild ground cover by many people it is truly so much more. Useful for food and medicine, this is a wild forager plant everyone should know and use.

What are Violets?

Violets come from a genus of somewhere around 600 types of the Viola family. The most common types we see in yards and garden are the Sweet English violet (Viola Odorata) and the Wild garden Violet (Viola Sororia/Viola Papilionacea). Both of these are edible and share many physical similarities.

If you decide to spread seeds or cuttings, know that violets are likely to take over your gardens and walkways. A shrinking violet they are not!

Depending on what part of the world you live in, violets tend to start showing up somewhere around April or May and continue to sprout over early summer. Once it’s hot, they settle down for awhile only to reemerge with the cooling temps of fall.

What can I do with them?

The great part of these cute little flowers is they are more than just a decorative bloom. They are completely edible, while also holding medicinal properties. High in Vitamins A and C (they actually hold more Vit. C by weight than oranges do!) they are a great addition to salads and sandwiches for some veggie fiber and vitamin and minerals.

Culinary uses of Violets

A more everyday use for violets are teas,vinegar, and syrups. These are used both for culinary and medical uses.

Syrups

Syrups can be used for pancakes, flavorings in tea or lemonade, drizzled across ice cream and more.Try adding to honey for a sweet syrup that also helps with coughs and upset tummies(just remember babies under 1 year cannot have honey!)

Tea

Dry the flowers for use all year in teas. Use a mixture of the leaves and flower to make a tea that is good at helping to calm anxiety and stress, relieving headaches and hydrating the body.

*Use 2 Tb of dried leaves and 1 Tb of dried flowers or 2-3 Tb of fresh flowers and steep in hot water for 5 minutes.

Vinegar and Salad Greens

Fresh violet leaves taste better than cooking them. Cooking violet leaves tend to make them very gooey and blech due to their mucilaginous state when heated(aka they turn into a thick gel). However, this is actually a really great way to thicken soups and stews naturally while adding in greens.

Jelly

If you want to take the violet syrup a step further and make some great gifts for the holidays, try making violet jelly. A pale purple with a sweet floral taste, violet jelly is a nice burst of spring in the winter.

We make violet, lilac, rose and honeysuckle jelly’s over the spring and summer for back up gifts. A small loaf of homemade bread and a jelly jar full of the pretty pastel colors make for an easy gift you can make months in advance.

Infused Sugar

The last culinary use for violets I’ll give you is making violet sugar. You simply take violets and sugar and run them through a food processor or grinder. Similar to lilac or rose sugar, the flowers give a light color to the flower to making it pretty while not overpowering the flavor of the sugar. Use for candying other violets, sprinkling on cookies or even for sugar scrubs and soaps.

Medical Uses for Violets

The greatest part about using violets for medical as well as culinary is you use a lot of the same products. Teas, vinegar and syrups are all popular for medical ailments as well as salves, oils and ointments. Violets have many medical attributes that make them useful for the modern homesteader.

Cooling and Inflammation

The number one use for violets is their superb cooling abilities. Violets are super useful at hydrating and cooling the body, relieving dry skin, inflammation and fevers. Who would think that much cooling power was in such a tiny flower?

Headaches

Violets also contain salicylic acid, a natural source similar to aspirin. Native Americans actually used to make a poultice of violet flowers specifically to relieve headaches!

Anti-septic and burns

Oral and Respiratory Ailments

In the Renaissance era, violets were claimed to help cure throat and mouth cancer. While not a definitive ” cure” violets are definitely good for mouth and respiratory ailments.

Sore throats and colds are soothed with a cough syrup made from honey,violets and other herbs. Sinus infections and other respiratory illnesses can be dealt with quicker by the violets boost of the immune system.

Lymphatics( Lymph Nodes)

One of the coolest things I found out about violets is that they help to stimulate our lymphatic glands to detox the body. Especially good for mastitis and breast issues, use an infused oil and daily massage to stimulate your lymph nodes and encourage bodily health.

HOW TO MAKE VIOLET INFUSED OIL OR VINEGAR

Gather violets until you fill your container.(I use small mason jars typically because I use multiple kinds of oils and vinegar.)

Fill with oil or vinegar of choice.

Infuse. Now your options are the slow and easy method or the stove top method. It depends on how soon you need your oil.( Check out my post on my citrus vinegar cleaner for more info on infusing and how to fill your jar and store it)

If you would like to turn your infused oil into a salve, melt some beeswax and add to it. Check out the Nerdy Farm Wife for a full recipe and tutorial using violet leaves.( Check out her page for a lot of awesome tutorials. She’s my number one go to for salve and soap recipes)

Health Safety Warnings for Violets

There are a few warnings for using and consuming violets however!

First is make sure if you are eating and using violet products, don’t overwhelm your body. Violets do contain mild laxative properties and too much too soon will create a big mess.

Also, only use the leaves and flowers. There are some native American tribes that use the roots externally for joint pain supposedly but internal consumption of the roots will make you throw up!

And lastly, if you are in taking violets regularly, let your doctor know, especially if you are going to be having surgery in the near future. This is a safety measure as some of the medical properties of violets can cause an increase in bleeding.

So that’s the general breakdown on how to use violets for food and medicine. What other ideas can you think of?

Check out my Pinterest page for recipes and more ideas on wild foraging and if you missed Friday’s post on how to use violets for daily magical work make sure to check that out as well!

[tintinntabuli]

Set a Weed to catch a Weed.

Readers in America will have to forgive me some of this. I understand you have many ‘invasives’ and many people only wish to grow native plants. And I think many of you have local rules which also inform what you are allowed to plant. Though it does seems some Ranters like to indulge a weed.

In the UK we have been cautioned not to call slugs and snails ‘pests’ , no doubt because it will offend them. And now we been forbidden to call a weed a weed. ‘Hero Plants’ they are now. We do have an invasive plant list in the UK, but there’s only about a dozen plants in it, but we do have a lot of what people term ‘thugs’, which they moan about volubly. Confused?

Well, my theme here is not really the particular plants I use as examples, so if any give you the horrors or would lead to you getting arrested if you adopted them, please spend a few minutes thinking of usable alternatives.

I think many people fear weeds because the weeds may gobble up the more delicate and refined plants. But many of us have quite large areas with no refined plants and none on the horizon, given the price plants are managing to sell at now. Some of us have quite large areas covered with a ‘hero plant’ we have been unable to get rid of. However, wandering round Veddw, as I do, I have been thinking how many rampant plants work well with other rampant plants.

I have a lot of ground elder, (Aegopodium Podagraria) for example. Which I gather you can eat. Though I know that if it were really nice to eat, the supermarkets would sell it. But I have it mixed very pleasurably with some other plants.

Here it is with Persicaria campanulata, which in the summer will ordinarily take over from the ground elder. Either of them can give UK gardeners the horrors, but they are happy together and you may even find yourself able to enjoy their springtime mingle. Quite attractive, I find it.

Last year I experimented with letting my hostas fight it out with the ground elder, and I confess the ground elder was a little too victorious. I don’t contemplate getting rid of it, as I know some people try to – I’m absolutely against futile and demanding activity. But it will get cut back regularly this year to give the hostas the upper hand. Management is my theme.

Were you to look very carefully at that photo you might spot another reputed monster: vinca minor (periwinkle) in that picture. A bit of an enemy in America, I understand. And probably here too. We inherited it with a ruined cottage, and from there it has spread:

Quite a bit of periwinkle.

It’s doing no harm there, and I do notice that other plants do come through it:

Blue wood anemone with periwinkle

The anemone has been in for some years and is slowly begining to spread. This euphorbia (what is it??) is happy submerged in periwinkle.

At the edge of the periwinkle there is ivy, along with Erythronium White Beauty (see also) looking very happy. Will it seed into and spread maybe in the periwinkle?

Elsewhere a different variety of periwinkle is almost failing to hold its own:

Periwinkle competing with persicaria and (see on the top right) rodgersia. Looking good.

The rodgersia wins, of course:

Where’s the periwinkle gone?

I think ivy is well hated though we manage to cohabit happily, including having an ivy fence.

Maybe it’s more correctly a hedge? I think some call it a ‘fedge’.

It will also mingle pleasantly:

Lamium and ivy

That wicked ground elder has a variegated version which also makes pleasing combinations, in this case with a plant I know a friend of mine has been painstakingly removing from his garden:

Lysimachia ciliata ‘Firecracker’ and Variegated Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’)

Last year I enjoyed this combination, purely resulting from my inability to weed this area satisfactorily. And now I won’t try.

Geranium macrorrhizum and creeping buttercup. (Bad plant = Ranunculus repens)

And here’s a fun battle –

Euphorbia Fireglow invading some ground elder

Are you begining to see some possibilities? If you love the leaves when they are fresh and new it is possible to strim them after they’ve been growing a couple of months to make them start again. This will also reduce their vigour, which you might possibly think is a good thing too.

I am always frustrated by knowing that the people who really hate gardening but who have a garden will never read garden posts and books. So they won’t benefit from contemplating such possibilities. But maybe you know someone like that and could suggest some vigorous and not illegal combination to them? Here is one of my biggest favourites:

Alchemilla mollis with geraniums and ferns

There must be some possibilities for you? And just think how sound it will make you. Wild Gardens are IN. Aa a lover of ‘hero’ plants – you’ll be a star.

Set a Weed to catch a Weed. originally appeared on GardenRant on May 11, 2023.

The post Set a Weed to catch a Weed. appeared first on GardenRant.

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[crispyfryenperu]

Faenas, Oysters, Life in Site

Saturday I was with the Calango JASS, clearing weeds and shrubbery from the water source and captacion.  I learned our water source, a “manantial,” is not a spring, as I have been telling everyone. A manantial is actually cold water that runs from the Andes, down towards the coast. The water runs under the mountains though, and comes out either from the ground or from the mountains. We cut many stalks which the operator took home to feed his farm of cuyes (hamsters), and I spent 3 hours pulling out vines and roots from the water. We shared an Inka Cola and some boiled water I brought in my hydro flask. The La Capilla JASS was supposed to come as well, but we changed the date and forgot to communicate to them - 50% my fault and 50% the fault of Calango’s JASS president. La Capilla JASS not showing up caused big waves and complaints that they never help in faenas! I should have known better because in my farthest districts, they fight over the water, all because of bad coordination in faenas where people weren’t able to show up. In all of my districts however, cell reception comes perhaps for half an hour a day, and the older men who run the systems only call, no text, no voicemails, so coordinating can be almost impossible, especially from the perspective of those from the main town, who DO have  cell service. It’s best, but difficult, to coordinate in person. 

My socio and friend, el Señor Medina making friends with a kitten he held for our 2-hour meeting.

Sunday i had a faena with the Aymara JASS, I don’t know why they wanted to meet at 7 am, so I had to wake up at 6 am, speed stuff a pineapple slice in my mouth, and grab 1 of the 3 pieces of bread from the gate (the baker leaves us 3 pieces every day at the front gate), then wait 10 minutes for the combi to take me down, arrive on time but be the second person there. Everyone arrived within 20 minutes, and we went to a spot of the water system that was covered in plants, because somehow they knew there was a leak there. I guess the plants were the signifier, but plants covered a very large area of land, so it doesn’t make that much sense to me. Here we also pulled out a ton of vegetation and bushes, then dug down to the buried tubes and continued along the pipe until we found the leak. Once we finished, we went to the reservoirs which are located in one of the invasiones (new, young towns) that still doesn’t have connections to the water system, only a public faucet. But for some reason the reservoirs which provide water to most of that district are located in that invasion. The reservoirs have some leaks so there were plants growing there, again we went at them with machetes, an oz, and a shovel. We drank Inka cola and ate some lays chips and non-spicy hot cheeto puffs. I shared my hydroflask of water from the main town, and the JASS of immediately noticed it was chlorinated water. I never even notice if my water is chlorinated, and you probably don’t either, but I’m glad they pointed it out to me, as all of the water drinkers from their district also notice, hate, and complain about any concentration of chlorine we try to put in their water. 

Monday I finally visited the comedor popular (like a soup kitchen), and helped cook. I chose Monday because I really thought they would be participating in “lentejas lunes,” and I would get to eat some lentils, but instead they made picante de machas. Machas are like oysters I guess, and I spent more than an hour hacking and scraping out the poop of the machas. they’re kind of stretchy so sometimes the macha juice and even poop would fling back at me. Afterwards, I was invited to eat some of the “minestrone soup” that had chancho (pork) in it, minus the pork chunks. Sometimes I think about going back to eating meat but then I do something like clean the poop out of clams…

[soulwillower]

semi-charming •  bill denbrough

(bill denbrough x reader smut)

requested:  Do you have any bill denbrough x reader’s that you have finished that can be posted? I really love your work I re read it like everyday lol :)    +      AKANSHAKAKMA U SHOULD POST THE BILL DENBROUGH HATE SMUT AHHHH     +     don’t be shy post the b.d hate smut 😀🔫🥰🌝

i haven’t posted a fic in well over several months but i hope u guys like it :) im here and around still so send me something if u wanna chat <3 i also have re opened my requests lkajsdlkaj

also - i gained a lot of new followers while i was gone and im sure some ppl want to be removed from my taglist SO: i am gonna start a new taglist!!! pls send me a message and let me know if you want to be on it bc after this post im starting fresh  !!!!!!!!!

warnings: drinking, mentions of weed, dorm living, almost-strangers hooking up, smut, choking (light), light spitting, a tiny bit of dirty talk, switch!bill, its kinda fluffy smut tbh, enemies-to-lovers but its so lowkey, kinda cute guys, neighbor-ish au, 

(losers + reader are 19+.)

4.1k words

♡

the first time it happened, you wrote it off as unintentional. 

it's happened to everyone: you're joking around with your roommate, or reaching over to grab your laptop, and you fall off your bed to the floor. you knock over your lamp or someone knocks over the handle that was sitting half-empty on the mini-fridge. the tile on the ground of the dorm rooms are hard and cold and don't do much to quiet the noise of anything, so you get that. 

but whatever the hell was going on in the room above you was not that. it was three in the morning, and your head was spinning in that sickening way that only happens when you take too many drinks in a short time and find your way to bed for a few hours before being startled awake. 

a loud thump made you jump in your bed, heart racing as you woke in surprise. 

it was around twenty more loud thuds from your ceiling (in a span of barely two minutes) that you gathered the energy to slide out of your bed, sliding on your dorm slides and throwing on a shirt to cover your near naked body before storming into the hallway to climb the most challenging single story of stairs in your life, right to your upstairs neighbors' door. 

your hand was banging on the door for a mere five seconds before the door swung open and a terribly confusing sight fell onto your eyes. 

three boys who you've only ever seen in passing before in your dorm, all shirtless and heaving breaths. the one who answered the door, possibly bill or mike (judging by the stupid name tags on their door), has bright eyes and dark auburn hair that reflects in the dim light of the hall, backlit by the neon purple from inside the room. his sweaty bare abdomen made your eyes twitch as you glared at him, suddenly more irritated because he's kind of really hot and stupid and annoying, and you needed to sleep.

"hi.” he said casually, and you could tell he wasn’t entirely sober, either. 

“so what is your fucking problem?" you said in lieu of a greeting, half-asleep and pissed beyond belief (also still drunk). the boy who answered the door raised his brows, head turning with a brow raised, as if to ask his buddies 'are they for real?' before turning back with a large, cocky smile, "pardon you? we already turned down the music." 

you blinked, knowing you must have seemed so rude and looked insane but it was a weeknight and you had class in the morning, "wh- what, no- i'm not here about music. it's like three, you're slamming on the floor and i can hear it like i'm in a fucking tornado in my room below you so you need to knock it off." 

then the other boy, further back with foggy glasses, started laughing. the other one laughed too, rubbing his neck sheepishly, still breathing heavy. "what the hell are you guys even doing in there?" you added, running a hand through your hair in exasperation. 

"they were trying to bench press me. but then bill decided to start doing squat jumps onto his bed." the boy with glasses explained as he rubbed his chest, still concealed by the darkness of the room, illuminated only by the stupid LED neon lights that every single person in the dorms had lining their rooms. that explained the thudding. 

"why." you'd deadpanned. you were too tired for this, but you'd wanted them to understand that it was keeping people up. "richie got us kicked out of Pike for stealing their doorknobs and pledge class photos." the third boy says, elbowing the boy, richie. "we felt like working out, but then richie said we couldnt press him, so..." he trails off at the look you give. 

"you want my workout routine or something?" richie asks you. you sharply inhale and bill smiles, "well, if that's all, we'll be going. i've got one more rep to get in." 

your eyes widened, jaw dropping at his words. he'd laughed, then, and your eyes couldn't stop as you stared at his sculpted abs flex in the light. god damn it. 

"chill out, neighbor. sorry to wake you from your beauty sleep." he said as he noticed your look, and you wanted to fucking hit him. 

you rolled your eyes, picking up on his facetious tone. "whatever. just knock it off. thanks," you'd griped, sarcastically smiling at them before trudging away towards the stairwell. and you'd caught it when bill muttered, "is now a bad time to assemble my ikea desk with my drill?" 

you'd run into bill once again a few days after when you'd gone to use the bathroom on the floor above you where your friend lived, washing out the bowl you'd used for lunch. a 'shh!' had made your brows furrow as you'd walked in, not paying attention as you'd heard a shower stop and a girl laugh from the other side of the bathrooms. 

but a deep voice grunting 'ow, fuck' made you freeze and then feel hot, wondering what kind of luck you have to be in the bathroom when some people were hooking up in the shower. but you're reminded that you had the worst luck when you go to leave the bathroom and two figures round the corner, hair soaking wet and hoods pulled over their heads. making eye contact with him, he must've seen how flustered and irritated you were, because he cracked a grin, "good to see you again, neighbor. you sleeping well these days?" 

that was only a few days ago. you'd seen him in passing at a party at one of the frats, but had avoided any interaction with him after you saw him and his friend with the glasses snickering to themselves after sneaking looks to you. god, you didn't want to face them again - they were so mocking, so cocky.... so rude, and they made you feel like you were being insane just for wanting to have peaceful sleep. bill was not your favorite person. 

but as bad as the first two experiences were, the third time you had the misfortune of interacting with bill, it was the worst. 

your roommate was out for the weekend, and you'd found yourself stuck with your leg and ankle pinned between your heavy file cabinet under your bed and your bedframe, unable to scoot it over on your own to free your leg. 

you were planning on relaxing tonight, after being stood up from a booty call hook up. you’re mad, frustrated, horny, and close to tears now that you’ve gotten yourself stuck pinned to your bed.

it’s nearly one in the morning, and nobody’s in the hall. 

but then, bill walked past your open door as you struggled, and desperately you called, "hey!" 

his double-take into your room, his head poking in, would have been charming if the face was anybody but him. 

"what?" he asks, suddenly noticing it’s you. his voice is not charming and calm as you've seen him be with other peers, but in your stubborn mind, you convince yourself it’s fine; you don’t like him, either. 

"i'm stuck, can you help?" you say despite your thoughts. 

he sighs, dropping his backpack next to your bed and then tugging to try and move the cabinet. 

"how did you do this?" he mutters as he pulls as hard as he can to pull it, but your shoe is too wedged diagonally against the floor, cabinet and frame. you sigh, "thought i could nudge it to the side with my toes, i dropped my dab through the crack." 

he chuckles, trying to instead shove it backwards instead; to no avail. "smart girl." he says sarcastically, and you roll your eyes, trying to help him shove it. "what was the point of you keeping me up all fucking night if you aren't strong enough to move this shit?" you say, exasperated because it's starting to dig into your calf. 

he stops, rolling his eyes at you. "has anyone ever told you that you can be a bit rude?" he asks, moving closer to you to try and push it away. you look down at him from where you stand, elbows on your mattress. "no. you're just a dick. fight fire with fire, or whatever." you mutter, face feeling hot. 

you can't stop staring at his shoulders, his arms - they're so hot, the veins popping out of his hands and forearms, the smell of his aftershave wafting into your nose from where he kneels next to you. 

he just hums. "i'm going to try to push your leg forward and then push the cabinet away." he states, and you nod, just wanted this nightmare to be over. you're still terribly embarrassed and the proximity to such a hot and confusingly irritating boy is making you lose your grip. 

it takes a lot in you to not jolt when his warm hand wraps around your bare leg and starts to pull you, his strong hold on you making you tingle. "what's your name?" he asks, and you almost laugh as his grip on your thigh tightens, the feeling of his fingers wrapped around your skin making you hot. this is insane.  "y/n." you struggle out, throat feeling dry - there's no reason his hand needs to be so high up on your leg, but some part of you really wants it. "it says that on my door." you say breathlessly. 

whatever he was going to reply with is cut off as he tries to readjust his grip on you and the cabinet, but his hand slides up and grazes the skin near the apex of your thigh, coaxing a sharp gasp to fall from your mouth. 

he turns red, looking up at you, "god, sorry." he mutters, and you bite your lip, unable to look away. 

you kind of forget to say anything, stuck staring at him, heart thumping as wetness pools between your legs just from this boy's touch. god, you've got to get laid. 

his arm is wrapped around the onside of your leg, thumb reaching higher on your thigh than his other fingers, and for a moment you hesitate before deciding to go for it: you drop your hand hand to his hair, pulling lightly as you 'steady yourself,' smirking as you feel his shaky breath against your thigh. 

you don't even care about getting unstuck now, all you can think about is being fucked into the mattress by this asshole boy from the fourth floor. you’re not sure where this feeling came from. 

when he finally pushes the cabinet away, causing you to stumble to catch your ground. he helps you get the cart and then push the cabinet back, awkward small talk making you want to die. "why were you down here anyways?" you ask, rubbing your leg. "mike kicked me out to be with a girl and all my friends are out for tonight." he sighs, rubbing his neck. "i have to do homework tonight, just going to find somewhere quiet to get it done." 

"that's surprisingly responsible." you say, looking at him wearily. he gives you an annoyed look, "what's that supposed to mean?" you roll your eyes, "you don't seem particularly academically motivated." you state, unsure if you're coming across as flirtatious or just a dick. he gives you a look as he moves to grab his things from next to your bed. "you seem more pleasure motivated." 

you catch your mistake immediately - and he does, too, smirking. you stutter to fix it, "don't be gross." you defend weakly. 

he's biting his lip and something rumbles in your chest, flames in your abdomen. it's hard to gauge if you don't like him or if you do. maybe you're just horny.

"i thought you were cute, you know, until you showed up at three in the morning to chew me out." he mutters, eyebrows raised, "i get that that was annoying, but it was a saturday. everyone was drunk, i don't get why you are still being a bitch." his face drops when he says that, as if he didn't mean to say it at all, but he doesn't take it back. you shrug, not too offended. he kind of has a point, "i don't get why you have to make everything so much harder than it has to be. doesn't matter how hot you are,  i don't have to like you, you know." you say, crossing your arms with a smirk. 

"believe me, i'd rather you not like me." he says, smile on his face troubling. you look at him, trying to gauge why you're feeling so flustered, why you want to jump his bones right now no matter how annoying he is. "then why haven't you left yet?" you challenge. you figure if you're reading his actions wrong, this gives him an out. 

"because i kind of want to fuck you now." he says boldly. you just smirk, walking towards where he sits on your desk chair, lowering yourself to straddle him. he looks up at you, eyes large and mischievous as he pulls you down on him all the way, your hips grinding lightly. "i think you want to fuck me always." you whisper, lips hovering above his, teasing. you're eating up all his attention, soaking it up and savoring the way he watches you. 

you boldly snake your hand down between the two of you, lips still refusing to touch his, your hand starting to tease his clothed cock as it hardens under your palm. you stroke him as you lean, almost kissing him before pulling away. he glares at you. 

then you move your hips, the tension in your room killing you. he lets out a half-moan, causing you to buck your hips again, relishing in the pleasure it gives you. he leans forward, trying to catch your lips, but your hand catches his chest, your lips just centimeters from his own.  "fuck you, y/n." he says, fed up with your teasing as his hands squeeze your ass, moving to the bottom of your thighs and then rising with surprising ease, holding you against him and making your heart thump in shock. he takes four long strides towards your bed, tossing you on it. you grin, expecting for him to climb onto you, but instead he's walking towards your door, making your heart quicken. is he leaving? 

he slams your door shut, though, and it makes you smirk as he clicks the lock. you're on your back, the sight of him upside down making you bite your lip, eyes nearly even with the bulge in his sweatpants. 

he walks up to you, and you eye him as he bends forward, hand catching your chin, holding your head forward with a strength you didn't expect. "look at me." he says suddenly. you blink, feeling hot as you stare into his eyes. 

"don't tease me." he says, and you swallow, heart racing in excitement. "okay." you croak, and it seems to satisfy him because he tilts your neck from here he holds your neck and chin, kissing you soundly on your lips. you feel on fire at his touch, squirming as you slip your hands into his hair - it's making you so needy that he's holding you, almost trapped on the mattress, kissing him upside down. 

he pulls away and you flip around, allowing for him to climb onto the bed, barely enough time before you pull him in for another kiss, this one heated and desperate. 

he bites marks on your neck as your hands palm him, pushing your own thighs together in need. slowly, you push him down against your mattress and sling a leg over his hip, moving to straddle him. his hands find your hips easily, looking at you like you're the only thing ever worth looking at; your breath leaves your lungs and you steady yourself, the reality of how fucking beautiful bill is hitting you at once. 

you pull his shirt off, yours coming off, leaving you in just your shorts and underwear. he palms your tits, pinching your nipple as you grind down against his cock, whimpering at the feeling of his pants against your clothed clit. "if only you'd come up to my room like this." he says, and you snap your eyes to his, seeing the teasing grin but glaring at him. "maybe you would've been nicer to me if you knew how good i'd make you feel." he whispers as you resume your hip's movement, "shut up, bill." you hiss. he laughs, his thumb making contact with your clit takes you by surprise and you jump a bit, moaning quietly as your eyes close in pleasure. 

"take these off." he mutters into your mouth as you bite his bottom lip. you take off your shorts, quickly resuming your spot straddling him, his lips trailing from your breasts to your throat and then your mouth again, grinding against him in need. he toys with your slit over your panties before he pulls them slowly to the side, spreading your juices on his long fingers, humming as he brings his fingers to his lips, watching you as he licks his fingers. you nearly moan, impatient enough that you kiss him, tasting yourself on his lips faintly; "do you want me?" you whisper against his lips.

"i wish i didn't," he says, "but yes. do you want to do this?" 

you're breathless, beside yourself with need, "yes." you say quickly, tugging his sweats off and tossing them to the floor. "fuck you, by the way." you spit, flipping him off. he grins and it's fucking beautiful, his smirk, his red cheeks, heaving chest. budding hickeys bloom over his neck and chest as he catches your hand, tugging you forward over him, whispering, "you're about to." 

you roll your eyes, ignoring the butterflies in your chest, hand falling over his as he pumps himself. your thumb swipes over his tip, spreading his precum before opening the condom he'd pulled out of his pocket (you don't even want to know why he brought one with him to study) and roll it onto his cock. 

and then you’re pushing aside your panties and stabilizing yourself on bill’s chest. you line yourself up on him and look to him for one last confirmation. he nods, “quick fucking around, babe.” he says, but his voice sounds desperate and his cheeks are flushed and you let out a strangled moan as you sink onto him, the nickname making your stomach flutter. you have to stay and give yourself time to adjust to his size, his moans swallowed by your own mouth as your tongue swipes his. his hands roam your body, squeezing your hips, your ass, your breasts and then rising to cup your neck and back. 

“shit, bill.” you whimper as you slowly start to move up and down. his eyes fall shut in pleasure and his head tilts back, exposing the entire expanse of his throat for you to claim, his hands falling to your hips. your eyes watch his thin necklace shine in the faint light from your lamp and he's filling you up perfectly. 

he looks like fucking heaven.

you kiss his neck lightly as you pick up the pace, bouncing on him steadily as his fingers grip the sides of your thighs.

“fuck, y/n.” he whispers, staring at you with his lips caught between his teeth. the feeling of him stretching inside you and hitting the perfect spot has your legs shaking already, breathing heavily. he’s soon surging up, kissing you deeply as groans fall from his lips, his arms rising to your waist to hold you as you move.

"you're much better when you're not talking." you mutter as you fuck yourself on him, moving your hips as you bounce. he rolls his eyes, "i'd fuck you every day if it meant you wouldn't come ruin my fun every night." he quips back, eyes challenging. and your hand rises to squeeze around his throat, at first as a joke, but then he smiles brightly, a smirk that stirs something in you and you squeeze ever so slightly, the feeling of his pulse making you moan. 

his smirk sends butterflies through your stomach, pleasure swirling in your core. but then his own hand rises to your own throat, squeezing lightly.

you moan, unable to keep it together. "you think two can't play this game, y/n? it's like you don't know me." he tuts, seemingly pleased as you're flushing, gasping as your legs stutter, his hips moving up to meet yours, strokes hitting you deep. “i don’t,” you whisper, and he hums. 

your legs stutter after one particularly satisfying thrust and he grabs your hips, lifting slightly and biting his lip as he starts to thrust up into you. “oh, my god,” you moan as he hits your g spot and he curses under his breath.

your hand comes up to rest on the wall behind him as you meet each other half way, hitting a spot deep inside you that has you moaning his name loud enough for anyone to hear. you hope to god your next door neighbors are out. 

he presses his lips to yours and you know its to get you to stop being so loud - it makes your toes curl in pleasure. then his thumb snakes its way to your lips, his grin widening when your lips immediately part and suck on the finger, humming around it as your hand rests on his neck, the other over his abs as you bounce. 

"so pretty like this, y/n." he leans up, then, sitting up more and changing the angle, making you gasp with a moan as his hand snakes around your waist, pulling you closer to his face with the hand on your face. he pulls his thumb from your mouth with a light pop, your legs barely riding him at your proximity, instead steady on his hips, his cock warm and stretching you. "do you think you'd look pretty under me?" he asks. you swallow, moving your hips again and sliding on his cock, movements making you stare at him, pleasure building. 

"i think you would." he whispers, hand still on your neck. you whimper a bit, sliding off of him, allowing him to climb over you, kissing you soundly before pulling you to the edge of your bed, legs hanging off as he stands in front of you. lifting one leg, he kisses your knee and holds it up as he teases your slit with his cock before sliding into you again, causing you to let out a loud moan, his own melding with yours. 

your eyes roll back at the new angle, legs shaking as his fingers dig into your thigh. “wanna see your f-face when i make you cum.“ he mutters, hand rising to thumb your lip, dragging your bottom lip down.

 "you think you're gonna make me cum?" you bite, knowing no man you've been with has been able to. 

you watch as his eyes admire the half-lids of your eyes, the blissed, fucked-out look on your face. your chest is littered in blossoming hickes, varying from pink to dark red and slightly purple already. 

he says nothing in response to you, but pulls your leg further open, spitting down onto your cunt, making you moan lightly, the action being terribly sexy. his thumb finds your clit and starts to rub perfectly in counteraction to his thrusts, his lips finding your nipple. 

you gasp in pleasure, panting as you start to wonder if he really is going to make you cum. then his thumb rubs circles on your clit and as he presses lightly, you can’t hold off any longer. “fuck,” you hiss as you hit your peak, your orgasm making your legs shake. you can’t help it, gasping and bucking your hips as you clench against his cock in bliss, your orgasm causing you to tug his hair in ecstasy. “so pretty.” he mutters against your neck, pressing kisses to it as you’re moaning and arching your back. "so good, cumming for me." he says cockily. you're panting as you whisper, "shut up," his hips still pounding into yours. 

“god, you're such a sweet talker.” he mutters sarcastically as you look at him desperately, his eyes fall shut in bliss, a deep groan leaving his lips, you can tell he's close. 

"and you're such a gentleman." you jest back, pulling him closer by his shoulders, eyes shutting in bliss. he hums, strokes getting sloppier, "i let you cum first, didn't i?" he counters. 

you huff a laugh, something in your heart twinging in affection. you kiss him so you don't say something stupid, moving your hips with his. a few strokes and he's pulling you closer to him by your back, whimpering into your mouth, “y/n, fuck.” beautiful moans fall from his cherry colored lips as he cums, and you just stare at him in awe, surprised by how hot it is as he says your name. he rides his high and then falls off of you, onto the mattress between you and the wall. 

"hey," he says after a few moments of you both catching your breaths, your hands overlapping on your stomach but not nearly holding hands. it makes you feel warm in a weird way. excited, nervous. 

"what?" you ask, turning to stare into his eyes. he smirks, "you think we woke up the downstairs neighbors?" he whispers, eyes alight with tease. 

you shove him, smothering him with a pillow while he laughs, pulling you onto him. 

tag list:  @gabiatthedisco @blisshemmings @stenbrozier  @sft-core @clownsloveyou  @moon-shine-baby  @daughter-of-the-stars11 @trashedfortozier @oceandog13 @kait16xo @upamongthestarss @fiantomartell @beverlyparkerr @beauregard-s @diorbubs @leighjaenikhowell @groovybimbo @deepestofwaters @unfortu-nate-ly @sassy-uris @loverloserrr @hauntingkaspbrak @soph-ec @hockslutter @babytortie  @decafcoffeew

[artzee-bee]

End of all things [1] | Chat Noir x witch!reader

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug (Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir)

Summary: Y/N had been Chat Noir’s friend and moral support for a long time now. Even though she had magical powers too, she never liked getting involved with akuma attacks, but now, as Hawkmoth’s gotten control of the miraculous of creation, she couldn’t stay indiferent anymore. She had to save her friend and Paris!

Genre: Mostly angst? A little fluff

Warnings: canon typical violence, mentions of death/dying

A/N: This was requested, but as I was writting it, it got very long and I’ve decided to post it in 2 parts. I’m not gonna post the request just now, so as to not spoil the rest of the story but Part 2 will be coming out on friday!!!

Part 2

~~~

Chat was pacing around the room, waiting for you to be done with your potion. You had heard from your parents that there had been a new akuma attack today, but as the news reported, the two parisian heros took care of the problem in no time. For this reason, Chat’s presence at your house felt unusual. Normally he would stop by when he needed to rant, when he was in need of comfort and reassurance but the fight today went well, so what could possibly be bothering him?

“Ok, I’m done” you said, screwing the cap on the little bottle and placing it on your shelf “Wanna talk?” you asked, to which Chat gave you a shy smile

“Yeah, a little”

You made your way to your bed, motioning for him to follow you. You got under your covers and passed him his favorite plushie, a cat to no one’s surprise

“So what’s up? Is it about the fight today?”

“Well no it’s more like a...personal problem?”

“Oh…”

“Claws out” in a rush of light and electricity, the infamous hero vanished before you, transforming into Adrien Agrest

“Well, what is it?” 

Adrien revealed his identity to you months ago. You first met him as Chat, but when you really got to know each other, he decided you needed to know all of him. Well, he needed you to know all of him.

You listened to him rant until way past midnight. Until you were both too tired to stand up straight, so you laid down in your bed, covers up to your necks, muffled stories told in between yawns. You listened carefully, giving him your full attention. He fidgeted with the collar of the stuffed toy and you used your magic to make 2 hot chocolates. Eventually, everything that needed to be said, was said. You offered Adrien to watch a movie, since that always cheered him up, but he refused

“It’s late and I have a photoshoot early in the morning. My makeup team will be angry with my dark circles anyways, better not make it worse” he joked

Adrien transformed back into Chat and you cast a safety spell on him, which you did every time he left your house late at night. He always teased you about being ‘too protective’, but deep down he found it sweet how much you cared and wanted to know that he would get home in one piece.

“Night Chat” you said, wrapping your arms around the hero

“Good night Y/N!”

The next few days went by quietly. You hadn’t run into Adrien at all, but you texted a bit back and forth. Sunday evening however, things took a toll for the worst. You turned on your tv, ready to catch up with your show when you heard Nadja Chamack’s voice doing the news report

“It seems as though Rena Rouge and Chat Noir are struggling to stay on their feet! They have taken shelter under a fallen bus, leaving Ladybug alone to defeat Hawkmoth'' your pulse skyrocketed. As you watched the screen you could see Chat and Rena off to the side, struggling to catch their breath. Rena seemed to be in pain while Chat was trying to help. Ladybug was using her yoyo the best she could in order to protect herself from the supervillain, who was wielding his cane like a sword over her head. The fight was clearly going in Hawkmoth's favour! You grabbed your jacket and ran out the front door and onto the empty streets of Paris, towards the Eiffel Tower, where the fight was taking place. 

People screamed at you from their balconies to go home, warning you about the fight and the danger you were putting your life in but you didn’t care. All you could think about was how they needed you. Chat needed you! Every late night talk and every inside joke shared between you two replaid in your head like a broken record. Behind Chat’s tough mask, his alter ego of hero and protector, was the fragile figure of Adrien Agreste. The young blonde boy who cried during romantic comedies, who liked to have his hair braided and forgot how to speak when someone complimented him. If you didn’t help, the heros would loose and he would most likely die! Alongside Ladybug and Rena who, even though you didn’t know their real identities, were still young girls. As you ran down the street, you heard kids crying inside one of the homes. You ran past but at the last second you heard Nadia’s voice coming from their tv

“Ladybug was akumatized”

You approached the Eiffel tower from the side, where you could see everything going on. In front of the tower, right next to Hawkmoth, stood Marinette Dupain-Cheng, dressed in a tight, dark red suit, darker than Ladybug’s. Black butterflies replaced the dots of the heroine's suit and the purple butterfly mask of Hawkmoth’s control was shining over her face. Marinette was Ladybug! She did, in fact, get akumatized. On the other side, you saw Rena and Chat, struggling to stay up right. They were obviously in a lot of pain and extremely tired, but Hawkmoth was merely mocking them.

“After all this time” Chat spoke up, but his breaths were shallow and rapid “I thought you’d know one thing about us! We don’t give up without a fight. Never will. Especially not against you” and with that, the two ran at each other.

“It doesn’t have to end like this, you know?” he said “We don’t have to fight to death. I wouldn’t want to have that on my conscience. All you have to do is give me your miraculouses willingly. The town will be safe, you will be safe! It’s the most heroic option you’ve got. You won’t be any good to Paris if you are dead”

You knew this was not just another fight between them. This was it. Either the heros won or everything they’ve worked for would be lost. Hawkmoth would win and get his hands on both miraculous and god knows what kind of destruction that would bring not only upon Paris, but the world. You focused all your energy in one spot in the air, right between where Chat and Hawkmoth were supposed to clash but before they could reach each other, you sent a wave of energy that blew both of them apart, like a bomb. Hawkmoth flew back into the Eiffel tower while Chat hit the pavement with a thud. Confused and certainly disturbed, both of them began looking around for an answer as to what happened when, finally, Hawkmoth’s eyes landed on yours.

“Aha, miss Y/L/N. What a spectacular honor to finally meet you!” you didn’t reply, instead you stood tall, maintaining eye contact

“I know a lot about you. Seen a lot. Felt a lot of your emotions. None of them can compare to the powers I’ll have with the two miraculouses. With Ladybug’s earrings and the guardian under my control, I’d say my mission here is almost over’’

“Y/N get back!’’ Chat screamed but you were too involved now to run. This was your fight too.

“It is time you give up Hawkmoth. Paris is not yours, neither are the miraculouses. We will destroy you, no matter what it takes!”

“Listen to yourself, kid! <<Destroy me>>? The most you can do is pull a rabbit out of your hat…” before he could finish his sentence, you snapped your fingers in his direction and instantly, the ground around beneath Hawkmoth and akumatized Marinette, fractured. From within the cracks, many tangled plants came out, encapsulating the 2 villains. You sprinted towards Chat and Rena, ignoring the signs of struggle coming from the prison of weeds.

 Alongside the two superheros, you hid inside a corner coffee shop, which was now empty.

“Y/N, you need to leave!! You are putting yourself in too much danger!” Rena told you, as she collapsed to the ground from exhaustion

“Stop with that already! I am here and I’m not going anywhere!”

“Yes you are!” Chat looked at you. His voice was calm and yet, his eyes were filled with disappointment “You are not a superhero. This is our job!”

“You need help”

“No we don’t!” Chat had never, in all your years of friendship, raised his voice at you, let alone yell “ You need to stay safe! You could die! Hawkmoth doesn’t care about anything if it helps him get what he wants! I am ready to take that risk. Rena is too” you both turned to the red headed hero, only to see her slowly nod “But I can’t allow you to take it”

“You can’t tell me what to do”

“I don’t want you to die!” he screamed again “I love you and I will never forgive myself if you don’t come out of this alive!”

Before you could say anything, you saw Hawkmoth and his minion, through the cafe window, cutting through the last of the plants and escaping your trap. You grabbed Chat’s arm and pulled him to the floor, from where you could not be seen

“We’re in this together now” you said in a stern voice, looking the blonde kid right in his eyes “Whether you like it or not '' this time, he simply nodded.

You stuffed your hands into the pocket of your jacket and pulled out 3 little bottles, containing a mate, green liquid. You had prepared one for each of the heros, now you’d only need two.

“Here, drink this!” You handed each of them one “Regeneration potion. Should put you back on your feet.” as soon as they finished drinking the brew, you could see color coming back to their faces

“Where’s Marinette’s akuma??” 

“Her necklace” replied Rena “It’s a gift from her kwami”

“Got it. You deal with Hawkmoth. I’ll bring Marinette back!”

Chat and Rena exited through the front door, grabbing Hawkmoth’s attention. He called out to Marinette to attack, but before she could take a single step in your direction, you had snuck up behind her. Using a simple invisibility spell, you managed to exit unnoticed behind the two heros. It finally felt like the fight had truly begun. From the corner of your eye you could see Chat and Rena doging Hawkmoth’s attacks while you, were doing your best to get your hands on the stupid necklace! Even though she couldn’t see you, Marinette seemed to almost always know what your next move was. She would expertly block all your attack and would keep you an arm’s length away at all times. Finally, you had enough and in one swift motion, you pinned her back to your chest, ripping the necklace away. A wave of black and purple took over the both of you and when it vanished, all you were left with was a half unconscious Marinette in your arms. You dropped her to the ground slowly as she was coming back to her senses. You wanted to talk to her but your thoughts were driven away as you heard Chat scream bloody murder.

On the opposite side of the platza, you saw Hawkmoth rip Chat’s ring off his finger, forcing him to detransform. The exhausted figure of Adrien Agreste fell to the ground with a thud. Hawkmoth had, indeed, gotten his hand on both the miraculouses.