#because i never get yeses

[kurokoros]

I hate how guilty I feel about wanting things sometimes.

[ghostgirl101]

Hi! I saw you did a obsessed oliver quick, would you consider doing the same for felix catton?

Dating Felix Catton Would Be Like This...

A/N: I would absolutely consider it, and here you are 😎 also if anyone has any oneshot ideas for Oliver or any of the other Saltburn guys then drop them in my inbox, I wouldn't mind writing a proper imagine scenario for them too 📩 next up is more Oliver Quick stuff anyways, so go crazy. Also, why did I find this kind of hard to write? Maybe I'm just used to Oliver's craziness and not this pretty little aristocrat's 🙃

🍾• Contrary to Oliver, Felix's type of obsession would be less murderous and delusional, more realistic, kind of vain... he's a Catton, a rich boy everyone knows and loves, who wants to be him or be with him. He's used to getting his way, learning new things about people until they get boring or get on his nerves, and then life goes on.

🍾• Not this time.

🍾• You'd meet at Oxford, either by coincidence, or by getting in with his clique of friends somehow. Chances are you helped him out on a test or covered for him in a class, and so he calls you over in recognition next time he sees you, to hang out with him and Farleigh and the rest.

🍾• There's something about you that gets the pretty aristocrat interested. Maybe it's just your charisma, your beauty, some definition that makes up you. You're different from his other friends, don't follow the crowd, have a different mind, a worldview he doesn't get. And he likes it.

🍾• So prepared to be hounded with questions over a drink at the pub after classes, all curious but friendly eyes following yours as you summarise yourself, your background, your ambitions. And what are his? Well, he lives in a beautiful estate with his high-class family, goes to Oxford because he can... I never really saw that he made any plans for himself in the film, so my guess is that he's not all that bothered about it. He's got money, he's got connections, he'll do what he wants, like always... so long as it meets the Catton expectations.

🍾• Assuming you don't have the same outrageous luxuries as Felix does, he wouldn't see the need to impress you or get your attention at first, because his status is a given around school and everyone's after him. But if you're not the same as the other girls who crowd around him when they're given a good enough chance, he'll find himself keeping on calling you over, wanting you around for your input on things they do.

🍾• Probably shows off his wealth - unknowingly or not - by buying you something for an unnecessarily high price, like a designer fountain pen when yours runs out in English, and he'll shrug and smirk softly, because it's nothing, don't worry about it.

🍾• Farleigh will undoubtedly be interested in you, but I see him warming up to you instead of being mocking and sceptical like he was with Oliver. Probably because you give off a lot better vibes than Ollie, and treat his friends like normal people, not tiptoeing and aweing of them because they're all rich and popular, but getting on as well as you can. There's something special about you that Felix saw to try pulling you into his circle, so you don't have to do anything but be yourself.

🍾• And when the summer break does come by, you're invited to Saltburn with his closest; a dazzling, rare invitation from the young Catton himself, probably away from others in a nice spot around campus. He'll give you his charming smile and warm eyes as he tells you to come along with them, that his mum will like you because you're beautiful, and that he really wants you there.

🍾• Expecting you to go all squealy and eager with a dozen yeses - if you can manage it, hold that all down to give him a nod and a shrug with a light smile as you agree calmly and casually instead, because that's a whole new response he'd never expect from any lucky person he shows an interest in. How come you're not falling all over him like the whole of Oxford does just by him being there?

🍾• You'll definitely be showered with attention at Saltburn. Elspeth will marvel over your complexion or your eyes or your hair or your outfit (or all of the above). Venetia will probably be grateful to have someone around who has a proper personality that she can talk to and will make friends with you fairly easily.

🍾• You'll catch onto Felix's jealousy over the attention you get pretty quickly, because he doesn't even try to be subtle about it. He'll just shamelessly approach you and complain in his own way that you're his guest, and he brought you here so you two could hang out. His sister's annoying, Farleigh's a troublemaker, so you should probably just stick around him, right? Makes sense, doesn't it?

🍾• Sure it does, Felix.

🍾• He's a nice guy really, kindhearted and sweet enough, but at the end of the day, the world is his to play with, and so are its people. He just needs to understand that you're not a toy... you're an individual, and so if it's going to be anything like his other "relationships" where he gets bored and leaves them to it without a second thought, you're not interested.

🍾• Which is all shock and horror for Felix Catton, because is this really what a proper relationship means? Proper thought and feeling 24/7, staying with that one person instead of having flings with whoever whenever he feels like it?

🍾• So just give him a hot minute to sulk about it over there while you have a good time with his other friends and Venetia, because the more he sees you hanging around with others and being true to yourself, adjusting to Saltburn's black-tie standards but not letting it shape or belittle you, Felix has to actually realise that he hasn't got a whole lot of depth or meaning to his life if it doesn't involve you somehow, in the closeness that he wants and needs it.

🍾• Okay. Convinced. He'll give it a shot.

🍾• I think that Felix would expect it to be difficult for him, because he's used to his carefree, no-strings-attached game of life instead of anything serious. But it'd come easier than he'd think. Other people just don't interest him as much as you, simply because they're not you. They don't have the same little... thing. Girls trip over his feet and cling to him, everyone wants to be his mate, to try to fit into his rich lifestyle, but you do it all effortlessly, and it's puzzling.

🍾• And so hot

🍾• Felix would be casual and open with PDA, since everyone will come to grips with the two of you being an item after you've been dating for over the span of a few solid days. An arm slung around your shoulder, messing with your hair with a fond, teasing look, linked fingers under the table. Nine out of ten times, he'll beat you to it and reach out to you first, because whatever he says, there's a needy boy in him somewhere 😏

🍾• This guy was a complete playboy before you, so needless to say, when you're getting real close, Felix has a pretty good grasp of what he's doing, and he'll do it right. Petnames too, of course, Surprisingly - but unsurprisingly - things like darling and beautiful, but he'd probably try to make a nickname out of your name and shorten it to give you one, finding it funny if you give him a mildly annoyed and amused look because it sounds weird.

🍾• He'll be all bright eyes and grinning proudly as he takes you to his parties, to have dinner with his parents, who get on with you wonderfully, because you're polite but not a suck-up like everyone else, and can hold a good conversation with them while looking over their shallow spins on things.

🍾• Honestly though, from what I saw of Elspeth, she made me laugh out loud a good couple of times from watching, so being friends with his mum wouldn't be a bad thing at all. And Felix would like to see you getting along with his family, because it just proves that you're a perfect fit, like he knew you were.

🍾• You'd make a friend for life in Venetia if you tried to comfort and genuinely help her with her insecurities and problems, not play her like the rest... I felt so bad for her tbh

🍾• You'll never want any material thing ever again, because his money can buy pretty much anything you want. I'm pretty sure his family would give you some kind of allowance when you're serious with Felix anyway, since they can see it in him that he's serious about you too, and the whole relationship is a great step he's made in his life. Any financial support you need, you've got it. Don't even mention liking the look of something in a shop window, because chances are you won't get the item, you'll part-own the store 😭

🍾• So, basically, you don't just get a gorgeous young aristocrat who finds every little unique, original thing about you fascinating and attractive, you get the whole of Saltburn as your second home. Just try to make friends with Duncan, and you'll probably get all the dirt on them too lmao- he'd get on better with you than he did with Oliver anyway, since he apparently was the first and only one in the household to realise that there was something off about Oliver.

🍾• Ohhh, and if we're getting to the twisted-up subject of Oliver Quick...

🍾• Let's just say that it could go two ways. Either he'll be obsessed with the both of you, and treat you the same way he treats Felix, looking up to him with intense, wide ocean green eyes, shadows after him in the hallways after dark. Or, once he's done destroying Felix... his obsessive, delusion-spiked gaze will flick straight over to you.

🍾• Either way, steer clear, that's all I can tell you.

[palmettoshenanigans]

You know what I want?

Well I'm getting ahead of myself already. You know what I like?

I like those fics where someone says something untoward about Andrew (usually about his character, usually in reference to violence, and sometimes in reference to be worried about Neil's domestic safety) and Neil just,,, immediately starts tango-ing with his instinct to commit violence (sometimes an immediate 'oh. i gotta kill them now' or 'they mean well and also don't understand, don't kill them don't kill them don't-').

I also like those fics where Neil confronts his ability to be violent, but in a way that contains too much willingness and not enough shame, thus triggering his Wesninski Prodigal Son Issues (best when it's because his violence comes from either survival instincts or protective instincts - 'better them over me/my family').

With that in mind, you know what I want? I want a post-canon fic that is a big character study on Neil's capacity for fatal violence vs his desire to preserve life. First half of the fic being the tragic "Am I really my father's son?" angst where the person who keeps helping him through it is Andrew. Probably someone said something Quite Accurate But In Bad Faith about Neil in the media, which gathered attention, and it hit home harder than anticipated and now Neil is spiraling.

Do this a few times, Rule Of Threes and all that.

Then have a scene where Andrew does some violence (someone says something sexual about anyone under Andrew's umbrella of 'I care about this person but don't tell anyone I said that') and Neil stops him from doing something *clears throat* Not Great When Caught On Camera, and as a consequence someone expresses something about Andrew.

And Neil? Responds accordingly. Very Wesninski coded (I refrain from saying Nathaniel coded because that one fic somewhere on my pinned post convinced me that Nathaniel was never a cold blooded violent type - that was never his purpose. Nathaniel takes hits and survives them, he gets cut and makes sure he doesn't bleed out, he gets cornered and finds an out to run through. Nathaniel was never a predator, he was always prey, and that's why Nathan always saw him as a failure because Wesninski's were always supposed to be Apex Predators- but i digress)

Cue Neil unrepentantly embracing being Very Very Scary and later Andrew asks him how that little show is holding up with his issues. Neil shrugs and spouts some unintentionally romantic shit about not letting shit slide in regards to besmirching Andrew's character in front of his face. Cue Andrew saying something about 'Wesninski's would never commit violence out of protective affection. Only a Josten would do that.'

and suddenly Neil's spiraling is over via the power of Realizing Things, there's some banter about letting each other fight their own battles, Andrew says he hates him, questions get whispered and yeses get exchanged and lips get locked and other things get extracurricularly activitied-

Yea, that's what I want

[acourtofthought]

It seems that Elriels are coddling Elain too. Way too much.

Well- I see the stark difference between how Gwynriels treat Gwyn and Elriels treat Elain. While obviously they headcanon constantly of Azriel worshiping Gwyn and all that, they still acknowledge that they both aren't close now. That we'll first see them challange each other and that there's much to do before unlocking the level of trust. Although Gwynriel might be mates, there will be times in which they'll probably be cold to each other. It's a high possibility that Azriel will at least try to push her off, not wanting to share something personal about himself to someone he isn't even friends with. It's not bad, it should be part of their story. It's realistic that way. Gwynriels want an on page love story in which they want to see their relationship fully boom in one book.

But Elriels are convienced Azriel and Elain are in love. That Elain wants him and Azriel wants her despite what the bonus chapter says from Azriel's point of view. They're convienced that Azriel is basically a total simp for Elain, that he'd never even dare to underestimate and he already trusts her and so on... which is not canon. They explain Azriel's lack of feelings for her from the bonus chapter away. "Azriel hadn't thought of anything beyond fantasies cause he's scared of the future!" That wasn't included in his thought process. "Sexual attraction is normal" no one claims otherwise. "Azriel was willing to go on his knees for her" yes, to get the chance to taste her, not marry her. Attraction ≠ love. "If Azriel only wanted her for the mating bond, why would he go after a mated girl?" Azriel explained it himself: 3 brothers x 3 sisters. "4 books of build up" 4 books of suppose build up and he couldn't think of Elain as a person? And then they explain away the entire gwynriel half with the "Gwyn is evil" argument.

It's not just that, but they can't take the slightest inconvenience when it comes to Elain. You challange or insult her? You're evil. Oh, Elain looks uncomfortable? You're evil, even though you haven't done anything. You're telling the love of her life to stay away from her? You're evil. The love of her life is talking to you instead of her? You're evil.

I don't know how to explain it but it seems that Elain has no flaw and everything that is inconvenient in their eyes is evil. I don't ship Elriel, but if they were endgame, I'd at least want to see Elain get challanged or have some problems with Azriel (like what I had listed in for the Gwynriel part) or Elain herself having problems.

For example, Elain's friends. I don't see the wraiths ever challange Elain. The inner circle aren't pushing her either. They're just content with the soft and kind girl she is. And staying in the Night court for the rest of her life to be with her family? Idk about that...

But the BoE? Jurian and Vassa don't seem to be the coddling type at all. I can imagine Vassa coming off as mean to her and Jurian talking to her like everything is a joke to him and I can imagine Elain getting frustrated with that. They probably would challange her. Lucien would.

I guess they don't like that. Everyone has to be nice and friendly with Elain. That... isn't good for her growth.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that they don't care about Elain and are just self inserting. Their problem is that they love her and Elriel too much.

ALL the yeses. I'm going to copy and paste your different comments to address them: "It seems that Elriels are coddling Elain too. Way too much." Fully agree. Elain, in their eyes, needs protected from everything. She needs protected from Jurian because god forbid she be allowed to confront him face to face if she has a problem with something he said years ago (something she wasn't even around for), giving him the chance to explain how horrible he felt for making those comments but he needed Hybern to believe he hated the IC and giving her a chance to demonstrate empathy and undertanding. Elain in their eyes needs protected from Lucien and his looks that occur once every few months because she's too delicate to vocalize if it bothers her, that his presence bothers her. Elain in their eyes needs protected by Az and Nesta because there is absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that neither gave her credit for anything she did in the war. Not saving Az's life with the hounds, not for saving Briars life, Nesta's life, Cassian's life, for stopping the King. Honestly, they turn her into such a child it's concerning considering the very adult headcanons they have for when it comes to Az. And you're right, Gwynriels and Elucien's have no problem with Gwyn and Elain having it out with Az or Lucien. Two characters sitting around talking about surface level things suddenly declaring they're in love simply because Az gave Elain a dagger then listened to her talk about gardens leading to an almost makeout session after avoiding one another for a year is not even close to how Sarah writes her pairings. We want the real and the raw up front and that is when the characters can begin to fall, because that's when they'll have seen each other at their worst and will still want each other anyway.

"If Azriel only wanted her for the mating bond, why would he go after a mated girl?" This is how it all went. Az obsessed over Mor for centuries. Elain came into his life and he continued to obsess over Mor, with Rhys even saying he's been waiting for a mating bond to snap between them. He gave Elain TT and he continued to obsess over Mor. Mor continues rejecting Az and then one Solstice Elain gets Az a gift though that same evening he looked at Mor with heat and yearning. Mor heads to bed and Az ends up staying downstairs to listen to Elain talk about her gardens. Mor is then sent away to the continent for months at a time and suddenly Az does not have her to obsess over anymore so he turns his attention to Elain because she's there, she's single, she isn't paying attention to her mate, she got Az a gift last year and because his brothers are now getting paired off with two sisters. Az grows more jealous of his brothers being part of the "I got a sister" club while he was left out of having a mate so he naturally begins to wonder why it worked out that way? Why didn't he get the third sister when there were three of them and there are three brothers and Elain doesn't seem interested in Lucien? What if the mother was wrong because that math seems too perfect to Az. It's never been about Az having real feelings for Elain but of circumstance and his wondering why he didn't get what everyone around him got. First Mor's continued rejection of him, then Mor's absence from the NC, then of the realization that he got left out of what his brothers were given. I always thought the "Az questioned his religion for Elain!" statements were a bit strange. I'm agnostic but if you are religious....is it a good thing to be questioning your god / goddess / deity? I mean, yes, if that deity is written to be an asshole spreading hatred it would be a good thing but the Mother seems to be written as a positive force so Az questioning her seems to be a problem with Az losing his faith and learning to accept that the Mother knows better than him? That's kind of the theme of this book, isn't it? That the Mother is the guiding force of these characters and you shouldn't be pissy just because she didn't instantly give you the things others are getting? "I don't know how to explain it but it seems that Elain has no flaw and everything that is inconvenient in their eyes is evil." YES! You know a ship is problematic when all the good guys in this series are suddenly the bad guys simply because of their proximity to E/riel. Az shows admiration for Gwyn? She's EVIL! Elain might meet Jurian one day because he's her mate's friend who also lives with Vassa who Elain had a vision of? Jurian is VILE! Rhys prevented Az from using Elain like a sex doll when he couldn't even admit to thinking of a future with her or being over Mor? Rhys is an ASSHOLE for keeping two lovers apart (though I missed the memo on Elain having any actual feelings for Az). Lucien treats Elain with nothing but respect, allowing her to do whatever it is she wants with whoever she wants? Sarah should just KILL Lucien!!! Literally, every single character is suddenly an obstacle for E/riel. When has Sarah ever written something like that? Relationships that are meant to be are written so that the friends and family are supportive. Rhys had major issues with Nesta because of Feyre yet he still found a way to push Cassian and Nesta together. The fact that it's been books and the IC still has not brought out the best of Elain despite her attempts at fitting in just proves to me that she's not found her people. The clues the author has left us regarding the people Elain will most likely have a connection to in the future (Helion, Eris, Jurian, Vassa), will bring out the side of Elain that finally shows everyone why Sarah wanted to write a book about her.

[justmystyles]

Do you think you might make a part two for ‘Home Stretch’? I can totally see it happening where reader comes back after those two weeks, the same ritual happens after the show (and we all know H will be exhausted mentally and physically from it being the last show), she’s unsure of taking an ice bath because she feels insecure after the birthday celebrations and H calms her down and they do it together with him guiding and helping her through it?

pulling double duty and also answering this ask:

Crossing the Finish Line

read my other work here!

this is a sequel to Home Stretch.

pairing: Harry Styles x plus size reader

word count: 1.8k

summary: after the final show, Harry charms you into making good on a promise you made last time you were together.

a/n: i'm digging through my asks again, this time i'm focusing on the more time sensitive topics, so i've got a couple of final show pieces, and i'm also still sitting on a daylight video request, so i'm hoping to have all of those out this week at some point.

thank you to both of these lovely anons for sending your asks. this became a little more emotional than i had planned, but i'm really happy with how it turned out. and of course, any time i get to use that picture, it's a good day!

tags: @allthelovehes @ameerakane20 @ash-craze @bethanysnow @blue-ballad @blueraspberryreader @brightlightsinlife @creativelyeva @cute-as-ducks420 @deannaard @fanficismydrug @gem1712 @golden-hoax @gothmingguk @groovychaosavenue @hillzrry @iceebabies @indierockgirrl @jerseygirlinca @jng4kook @jooniesbabie @kaverichauhan @laurxn-robinson @lexiecamposv @mrs-anna-styles211994 @n0vaj3an @potterheadandsherlocked @rach2699 @ravenclawdirectioner @stylesfeverr @superchrystaldrug @tenaciousperfectionunknown @tiaamberxx @thechaoticjoy @theekyliepage @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @youknowwhaaat

You can’t help the smile plastered on your face and the tears welling in your eyes at the sight before you. Your boyfriend is surrounded by the people that mean the most to him in his life, celebrating the successful and emotional end to Love on Tour. 

As the cheers and laughs start to ebb, Harry locks eyes with you, crooking his finger, beckoning for you to come closer. You immediately comply, and he pulls you into his arms. “How does it feel?” You ask, wrapping your arms around his neck. 

“Not sure yet,” he shrugs. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in.” 

You nod in understanding, the adrenaline was still running through him. It wasn’t likely to wear off any time soon, considering you were about to go out and celebrate for the next several hours. Harry squeezes your hip gently before releasing you and grabbing your hand. 

“Come with me.” He tugs your hand and pulls you away from the crowd and down the hallway. 

“Where are we going?” You ask as he hurries you toward his dressing room. “Everyone’s back there.”

“I know, but I haven’t had a chance to have you all to myself yet,” he smirked, as you reached the door to his dressing room. “Besides, I have a surprise for you.”

You eyed him curiously, he planted a kiss on your forehead and opened the dressing room door leading you straight through to the bathroom where there were two large tubs set up with ice water. 

“Harry,” you said cautiously. “Why are there two tubs?” 

A sly grin overtook his face, he knew you’d ask. “Last time I saw you, you said you’d do the last one with me.” 

“I said maybe, I never promised anything.” You removed your hand from his, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“I know,” he said, stepping closer. “But I also know how to turn your maybes into yeses.” He placed his hands on your hips, leaning down and leaving a trail of kisses down your neck. “Would you really deny me, the man you love, tonight of all nights?” He mumbled in between kisses. 

You groan, arching into his touch, knowing you’re one brush of his lips away from giving in. “Harry, I can’t.” You step back, putting some distance between the two of you. “We’re going out, I can’t walk around with dripping underwear all night.” Harry arched a suggestive brow at your words. “Oh shut up, you know what I mean.” 

“Lucky for you, I thought ahead, I brought you a spare set.” He grinned, walking over to his Pleasing tote and lifting it proudly in the air. 

You narrowed your eyes. “You went through my underwear when I wasn’t looking?” He smiled sheepishly. “Creepy.” You chuckled. 

“Now you have no excuses.” 

“It’s too cold.”

“You’ll get used to it in no time. Besides, it’s only a few minutes.” 

“Harry.” 

“Y/N.” He noticed your expression change, and he switched from playful to serious. “Hey,” he stepped up to you, taking your hands. “You know I’d never make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with. If you really don’t want to, it’s okay. I just missed you, and it’s the last night of the tour, so I wanted to do something special with you.” 

You sigh deeply. “I just, I don’t know… it’s stupid.” 

“Tell me princess, I’m sure it’s not stupid.” He places a hand on your cheek, preventing you from dropping your gaze. 

“I’m not feeling super great about how I look right now,” you said, eyes locked on Harry’s as his brow rounded. “I went kind of overboard with my family last weekend, stuff hasn’t been fitting right and I don’t know, just the idea of stripping down in front of you right now…”

Harry’s eyes were wide at your confession. “Baby,” he stroked his thumb over your cheek. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” 

“You’ve had so much going on, I didn’t need to burden you with my dumb issues.” You blinked rapidly, trying to hold back your tears. 

“Don’t do that, Y/N.” Harry’s tone was tender yet stern. “You are never a burden to me, and your feelings are always valid.” He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close. “And you’re always beautiful and perfect.” He kisses the top of your head. 

You stay like that in silence for a few moments, feeling the comfort of Harry’s embrace. In that time, you let Harry’s words sink in, wondering why you thought he would have reacted any differently. Since the day that you met him, he’s always made you feel better about your insecurities. In a room full of people, he looks at you like you’re the only one there. Of all of the people in the world, Harry was the last one you needed to feel embarrassed around. He was your safe space. Your sanctuary. 

Harry finally pulled back, looking you in the eyes with a soft smile. “Would you at least sit with me while I do mine?” 

You stay silent for a beat, thoughts running through your head, until you finally make your decision. “I’ll do it with you.” You said softly. 

“It’s alright, baby you don’t –”

“No,” you place your hand on his cheek and smile up at him. “I want to. I like that you get me out of my comfort zone, and get me to try new things.” 

“Are you sure? What about how you’re feeling?” He asked, wanting to make sure he wasn’t pressuring you into anything. 

You shook your head. “Those are my insecurities, but I know that you would never see that in me. You only see the good things.”

Harry kissed your palm, which was still resting on his cheek. “That’s because there are only good things, my love.” 

You leaned up, placing a soft kiss on his lips before pulling back and grabbing the hem of your shirt. Harry’s hands rest over yours. “May I?” You nod and remove your hands as he begins to undress you, slowly kissing every inch of newly exposed skin. 

As his lips trail up your stomach, you run your fingers through his hair, still damp with sweat from the show. When he reaches your bra, he places a soft kiss on the exposed curve of each of your breasts. “So beautiful,” he mumbles against your skin, tossing your shirt to the floor. 

His hands move to the waistband of your pants, his eyes meeting yours in question. You nod in permission, and his hands move down your legs. His body follows, dropping to his knees in front of you. He maintains eye contact with you as he kisses up your leg, determined to make you feel wanted and loved. 

Once he felt he had doted on you enough, he stood and offered his hand to you. “C’mon pretty girl, I’ve got you.” He leads you to one of the tubs. “Okay baby, I know your instinct is going to be to just get in there, but I need you to go nice and slow for me, and take nice deep breaths. Just like this,” he inhales deeply through his nose, blowing it out of his mouth. “Try it with me?” 

You take a few deep breaths along with Harry as he looks at you with adoration in his gaze. When you feel ready, you lift your foot, dipping your toe gently. 

“Fuck!” You immediately recoil at the sensation. 

Harry couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped him. “It’s alright baby, you’ve got this.” 

You give Harry a determined nod and return your foot to the tub, lowering it completely as you maintain your deep breaths. You continue to lower yourself into the tub, soothed by the constant words of affirmation Harry is showering you with. 

“Oh wait, hold on one second princess.” Harry stops you as you're about to sit down. He steps behind you, lifting your hair up. “Don’t want to get that wet,” he whispers in your ear. “I know how long it took you, and it looks so pretty.” He kisses you sweetly on the cheek as you continue to lower down. He’s careful to drape your hair over the back of the tub, ensuring it stays dry. 

You close your eyes, the deep breaths continuing as you let the cold wash over you. Your hands grip the sides of the tub with white knuckles, as if it will bring you some relief. 

“You’re doing so good, baby.” Harry coos as he kisses the top of your head. “Do you want a distraction?”

Though externally you’re freezing, the care he’s taking with you lights your insides on fire. “God yes, please Harry.” Your voice wavers as your teeth chatter.

“Okay, you’ve gotta open your eyes for me, can you do that?” You open your eyes, watching Harry as he moves to stand in front of your tub. “Good girl.”   

You watch as he unbuckles his pants and lowers them down his legs. You are unable to stop the laughter that escapes you at the sight. 

His head snaps over to look at you, his brow arched. “That’s not the reaction a man hopes for when he performs a striptease for his girlfriend.” 

“Sorry,” you titter as the laughter subsides. “Just to be so full of yourself that you think taking your pants off will distract me, it’s… it’s funny.” 

He approaches you, leaning forward and placing his hands on the sides of your tub to get close to your face. “Are you thinking about how cold you are right now?” 

“No, just how silly you are.” 

“I was going for sexy, but either way, it worked.” He said with a sly smirk. “See my love, it’s not that I’m full of myself, it’s that I know you so well.” He closed the gap, placing a quick kiss on your lips. “And I know what distracts you.”

“Okay, now I’m thinking about how sexy you are.” You lean forward, kissing him again. 

He laughs with his lips still pressed against yours before standing and moving to the tub beside you. You watch as he takes a few breaths and steps into the frigid water, taking a seat with ease. 

“Damn, you’re good at that.” You say as he lays his head back, adjusting to the temperature. 

“It comes with practice,” he shrugs. “You’ll get there eventually.” 

“Bold of you to assume I’m ever doing this again.” You keep your eyes on him, watching his profile as he lays back with his eyes closed. 

“You will. I know you so well, remember?” With his eyes still closed, he lifts his arm out of the tub, reaching it toward you. You do the same, linking your fingers with his. “See,” he said in a cocky tone. “I knew you were going to do that.” 

[callsign-joyride]

For SOS..#19 with Bob..beach sex after hangman makes “baby on board virgin Bob” joke

Like a Virgin | Robert "Bob" Floyd

Summary: An insulting joke turns into you and Bob sneaking off/

Content warnings: SMUT (18+), public sex, unprotected p in v, mentions of a threesome

Prompt: "Kiss me."

This was written for my Summer of Smut writing event. Feel free to send in requests!

You and Bob had been dating for a few months, and you were pretty much in love with each other. Trivia nights and karaoke at The Hard Deck let you meet the Dagger Squad, and you had taken to close friendships with Phoenix and Rooster in particular, but you were on fairly good terms with everyone. You were about to lay on the couch and order a pizza when Bob called. It was kind of strange, considering he never really called around dinner, but you didn’t mind. When you answered, he asked what you were up to.

“Just about to order a pizza and watch a few movies, why?”

“Okay. I know it’s last minute but we’re having a cookout and bonfire at the beach. D���you wanna come? Rooster’s gonna grill.”

“Sure! What time?”

“Around six. I can pick you up, if you want. We’ll be behind The Hard Deck.”

“Sure, that sounds good. Okay, I’ll start getting ready. See you in a bit.”

It took a few minutes for you to get a bag ready for the beach and Bob came to pick you up closer to six. You waved to Phoenix as she was passing a ball back and forth with Fanboy. The burgers that Rooster made were delicious, and you went into The Hard Deck with Phoenix and Bob to get drinks for everyone. Payback brought fireworks and everyone messed with those until late into the evening.

“Poor baby on board here is pushing thirty and still a virgin,” a very drunk Hangman said. You glanced over at Bob and saw him put his head in his hands. A beat of silence passed over the group before Hangman cleared his throat and said, “That was supposed to be a joke,”. 

“Who wants to get in the water?” Rooster asked. A chorus of yeses was heard and you got up, taking Bob’s hand and heading to the water. Of course, you knew that Hangman’s attempts at jokes usually leaned more towards cruelty than anything else. But Bob seemed more quiet than he usually was while the two of you swam to a cove.

“You wanna talk about it?” You asked with your arms wrapped around Bob’s neck. 

“Not really much to talk about. I’m the butt of every joke because I’m quiet. Pretty much all there is to it. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t made a woman cum in like five years. Maybe I should’ve used that as a comeback, I don’t know.”

In the distance, you could hear Phoenix shrieking about Rooster throwing her in the water. 

“We could prove him wrong, y’know?” You asked.

“Who, Hangman?”

You hummed a yes before palming Bob through his swim trunks. He groaned and started to grind himself into you. The water was about four feet deep, so no one would be able to see what you were doing to Bob if they swam by. 

“Kiss me,” he said. You obliged and pulled him in for a deep kiss. He tightly wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted you as you wrapped your legs around him. You broke apart for air and giggled as Bob started to walk further into the cove with you in his arms. He leaned against the wall so that your back wouldn’t get scratched up from the rocks. You let out a small moan as you felt him grind his bulge against you.

Your legs were tightly wrapped around him as he pulled his swimtrunks down and moved your swimsuit bottoms to the side. The rush of the waves and the current was almost enough to cover up the noises that you were making as Bob ran his hand through your folds.

“Always ready for me,” he said. You moaned into his ear as he slowly slid his dick inside of you. He did most of the work as you kept your legs wrapped around him and he moved you up and down on his cock. You weren’t paying attention as the faint laughter from the rest of the group died down, and you definitely weren’t paying attention when Hangman swam up to the cove.

“What are you guys - oh,” he said. You turned your head at his presence and glared at him. Bob was sill pumping in and out of you while whispering sweet nothings into your ear.

“You gonna join us or just watch?” Bob asked. You were a moaning mess as Bob pounded into you, otherwise you would’ve laughed.

“I think I’m good, man. Was just gonna tell you that we’re headed back to shore. God, I need a drink.”

Hangman swam away and Bob was relentless as he pounded into you and harshly rubbed your clit to get you off faster. You moaned into his mouth as you came and he slowed down before pulling out of you and setting you down.

“You didn’t-,”

“It’s okay. Let’s get home.”

Everyone was staring when you and Bob got back to the shore, and you let out a small chuckle as Bob walked with you to the rest of the group. Everyone was starting to put things away and decide who was going to take the leftover alcohol. You put a few seltzers in the back of Bob’s car and said goodnight to everyone before he took you home.’

“Can you pull over?” You asked after a few songs on the radio played.

“Yeah…”

You were still close to the beach so there was some sand on the side of the road as he pulled over. As soon as he looked at you, you reached into his swim trunks and pulled his semi hard cock out. 

“You really don’t have to - oh fuck,” he said as you wrapped your lips around the tip of his cock. He leaned his head back and groaned as you hollowed your cheeks around him and he came in your mouth. You looked into his eyes as you swallowed his spend and leaned up to kiss him. Heat was rushing up his chest and he tucked himself back into his swim trunks before starting the car again. He wrapped his arms around you tightly and gave you a hug.

“I’ll text you when I get home, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Get some sleep. I don’t want you tired at work tomorrow.”

You give him a quick kiss before heading inside and locking the door behind you. He stayed true to his word and texted you when he got home, joking that he wanted to have a threesome with Hangman being the third person. Of course, you knew that he was joking, but you weren’t opposed to the idea as you started to type a long message to him, but you deleted it before hitting send.

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[gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot]

What are their guilty pleasures? Who's ypu want to explore

Hi love <3

Tbh I never thought about it! You make so good questions that force me to come up with background lore and I love it <3 thank you so much

For Christine it's techno and electropop music. She'd be caught dead before admitting it (although she and Soap have the most obnoxious shared playlist where each song needs to have two yeses to be in, so it's a mix of folk, rock, heavy metal, techno, electropop, latina, classical... chaotic during car rides. Ghost wants to strangle them). Publicly she listens to rock, metal and pop, in that order (she is a Lady Gaga fan, also likes Sia, Loreen ... Miley Cyrus... ). But in those nights where she can't sleep and she needs to drown the voices? Electropop in her headphones, dancing like crazy in the gym or the hand to hand combat room at 2am. Need to blow out steam and lifting weights is not enough? Can't get out the noise of the explosion and the building collapsing on top of her? The harder the beat the better.

She also likes poledancing but she doesn't feel guilty about it, she just doesn't tell anybody for the stigma. She took it up after enlisting, a female sergeant told her and other female recruits that it was a good way to exercise to avoid the gym (and male recruits in there) and she loved it.

Also... karaoke. Enough said. Not now though, she won't dare be in front of an audience with that face.

For Simon... he has a sweet tooth. He can't be arsed to cook (but is a master with the grill. Price and him always argue about who is better) and has absolutely no idea about baking. But he likes food, he just can't be bothered to make it. He can cook the basics, very basics, but he doesn't enjoy cooking. But if some kind of pie, buns, cake, anything sweet is around, it won't be there much longer. He just can't resist it.

Christine stress bakes, so the common room fridge is always full of baked goods and other leftovers, to Soap and Gaz's delight (food dumpsters...). Even Price tries to grab something every day, because between her and Mylène they sure have them well fed. And that means more gym hours to keep the weight gain at bay. But GG, they could just eat less, or ask the girls to bake or cook less. Yeah right, and live of the shit at the mess hall. No thanks.

Thank you love <3

[unreliablesnake]

Hold it together when the world’s on fire (Simon “Ghost” Riley x reader)

Summary: After Soap dies during a mission, Ghost suffers from survivor’s guilt and depression. You’re there by his side both during and between missions, but sometimes you wonder if you’re enough to help him through this.

Note: Based on “Hold it together” and “World’s on fire” by Mike Shinoda. Soap, I’m so sorry. You were loved by all of us. Alex is a part of the team. Unedited story because I'm too lazy after work. What do you think?

Warnings: major character death (obviously), drug abuse, reader has a sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and parents.

Neither of you handled Soap's funeral well.

You took Simon's hand the moment he returned to stand by your side, squeezing it tightly when he looked down at you for a moment. He had fallen apart after Soap died, and he hadn't been himself ever since. But you were there by his side, and so was the rest of the team.

His eyes were shining from a few stray teardrops, something you never thought you would see on a man like him. Maybe watching as they buried the casket made it real, made him understand that he truly lost one of his brothers. Because that's what Soap was–his brother.

It should've been me. I shouldn't have sent him there. I fucked up, it's on me. If I went there myself he would still be alive.

Price had said it was probably the survivor's guilt speaking when he said these things. It shocked you at first, not understanding how he could say something like this, and making you wonder if he truly believed what he told you. You'd been together for almost two years now, but you'd never seen him be this low.

"Are you okay?" you asked quietly, putting a hand on his arm while you sat in the backseat of a car with him.

Price was driving, taking Gaz, Simon and you back to the hotel you were staying in. Laswell and Alex were closely behind, probably talking about work as usual on the way there.

You waited for Simon's answer, but he was just staring ahead without saying a word. In the rearview mirror your gaze met Gaz's, and he flashed a supportive smile at you when he noticed the worried look on your face.

Back in the hotel Price asked the two of you to follow him to somewhere less crowded, then told Simon it wouldn't be wise to let him back on the field just yet. "You need some time to get your head on straight," he said. "I'll send you the contact info of a therapist who specializes in these cases."

"I'm fine," he told him darkly.

But the captain wasn't stupid. "You're clearly not."

When your boyfriend took a deep breath, ready to speak up again, you placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "He's right, Simon, you need time. Be happy that you'll have the whole bed to yourself when I'm gone," you added with a small laugh, hoping this could cheer him up a little.

"Oh, no, you're staying home with him," Price informed you. "You'll make sure he's okay."

It was an order. There was no need for you to try and resist, so you just nodded. Simon suddenly took your hand, but he didn't look at you. He didn't even look at his superior, instead his gaze turned to his shoes.

Two days later the trip from Scotland to England passed mostly in silence. Simon still didn't feel like talking, the only sounds leaving his lips were quiet yeses and nos, maybe mixed with an occasional I don't know.

"I'll take a shower then hit the bed," he said when you entered your apartment in the evening.

After driving for four hours, it wasn't surprising to hear him say that. You didn't question if he was tired or depressed. Probably both, deep down you knew that, but you were clever enough not to push him. "He'll come out of his shell and talk to you when he's ready," Laswell had assured you when you said goodbye.

Later in the night you woke up, instinctively knowing Simon wasn't sleeping well. Another nightmare. You could tell that from the rapid way his chest was heaving, how he was tossing and turning, and how he mumbled a few words in his sleep, as if he was hurrying someone to move.

Maybe he was talking to Soap. Again.

But it didn't seem to be a severe one, there was no need to wake him up just yet. So you let out a sigh then leaned over to put a hand on his cheek and give him a very soft kiss. Sometimes it helped to calm him down, it was worth a try this time too.

Simon stopped moving around and from what you could tell, his breathing also slowed down. Good. You laid back down to get back to sleep yourself, but soon you felt his arm wrap around your waist as he pulled you close to him.

"Thank you," he whispered into the nape of your neck, probably still half asleep.

••••••••

The weekend arrived soon, and you were invited by your sister to your nephew's sixth birthday party. Simon liked that kid, so you convinced him to jump in, give him his present, and say hi. "We don't have to stay long," you told him kindly before leaving the apartment.

"Maybe being among people will avert my thoughts for a while," he said, surprising you with this answer. Seeing the look on your face, he was quick to add his therapist was the one to suggest this.

There were a bunch of noisy kids at the party, with their parents standing in smaller groups, talking to each other. You didn't know most of them, so you and Simon flocked with your family in the living room, while the rest of the guests were outside with the children.

Your family knew about Soap's death. Well, they knew a friend of yours had died, so they were extra nice with Simon that day. Every time someone new arrived, they asked you two how you were holding up. He didn't really know what to say apart from a short fine.

When it was time for the cake, everybody gathered outside around a table and watched as the kids went crazy from the sugar rush. Some guy came over to your small group that included your sister, your brother-in-law, and your parents, and a guy you didn't know who brought up his three kids and some weird joke they brought back home after a sleepover.

"What has two legs and bleeds?" Simon suddenly asked, surprising you by speaking up for the first time that day. Your family glanced over at him with a concerned look, and you were just about to stop him when he said, "Half a dog."

No one laughed.

"Who the fuck says such a joke on a kid's birthday party?" asked the unknown guy, sounding offended by the joke.

Simon casually looked around, then he turned back to the man and spoke in the most uninterested voice you'd ever heard from him. "I don't see any kids nearby," he stated.

"Simon!" you warned him, only to earn a raised eyebrow from your boyfriend.

After a few seconds of silently staring at each other–you waiting for an apology, him waiting for an explanation as to why his joke was inappropriate–he eventually raised his hands and told you he would wait in the car.

Letting out a sigh, you turned to your sister with an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry, he hasn't been himself lately. It would be for the best if we left now. Thank you for everything," you said quickly, then rushed out of the garden as fast as you could.

His dark sense of humor was lovely, but it definitely didn't belong to a six year old kid's birthday party. It was painful to see him be so out of place, especially since he had a good relationship with your nephew. But today there was no sign of it, he barely interacted with the boy.

Once you were sitting in the passenger seat of the car, you turned to him and asked, "Are you okay?"

"It was just a stupid joke," he muttered under his breath.

You wanted to tell him that the guy had been right about this not being the time and place for this particular joke, but in the end you remained silent. Deep down you knew he knew it was a small mistake, although you also knew that he wouldn't admit that, not even to you.

Instead of giving him a lecture, you just leaned over to pull him into a tight hug, stroking his back with your hand. "It's okay," you told him. "I'm sure they understand."

••••••••

"Hey, John," you said into the phone as you walked down an aisle in the grocery store.

"How's Simon?" asked the captain, sounding just as concerned as he had been ever since Soap's death. You came to a halt and remained silent which obviously caught his attention. "That bad?"

You let out a sigh and picked up a cereal to take a closer look at it. "No, I just tried to figure out what to say. I mean, he's better than he was two weeks ago, but he still zones out sometimes, he barely sleeps, like two or three hours tops. And even then he often has nightmares."

"And how's therapy going?"

"He's there two times a week. It's helping, he sometimes does or says things he heard there. But he still blames himself, and he still says every now then that it should have been him who died that day," you added with a groan. It was hard to hear it, and it was just as hard to talk about it.

Price remained silent on the other end of the line, either trying to process what he just heard or thinking about how to continue. Maybe it was both, you weren't sure. "When do you think he can come back?" he asked.

That was a good question. "Honestly, he would go back right away if he could. He says it would take his mind off of everything, but I'm not sure," you admitted.

"Yeah, he didn't sound convincing to me either," he replied with a sigh. "I talked to Alex, he's okay with keeping an eye on him on the field, and you could join his group to be there, but–"

"Would that be a good idea? Wouldn't he be afraid of losing me too?" you asked, interrupting him.

In the beginning you worked with Simon, but once you got together and the team found out, John insisted on separating the two of you. He wasn't sure if Simon could give you strict orders on the field, if he wouldn't favor you over Soap–which was something he definitely didn't need on his team.

"That's true," Price admitted. "But you know more about how to comfort him now than any of us. Maybe you could help him focus."

As you put two bottles of soda into your shopping cart, you thought about his suggestion. It could work, you and Alex being there by his side to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. But what if you get separated on the field? You can't be glued together all the time.

So you took a deep breath and began to walk again. "We can give it a shot. I'll talk to him when I get home and see if he'd still like to go back to work," you said.

"All right. Send me a text with his answer," Price asked you. "Take care, we'll talk later."

You said goodbye and ended the call, putting the device into the pocket of your jacket. A quiet voice in the back of your mind kept telling you it was a bad idea, that maybe it would only put Simon in danger. He still wasn't himself, he probably wouldn't be able to give out proper orders just yet.

When you got home, the apartment was empty and eerily quiet. He was probably still in the gym, the only place where he could be alone according to him. Then you remembered something from the past. You suddenly began to laugh at the memory of all of those stupid little competitions Soap had started with Simon in the gym, both of them eager to prove they were faster, stronger, and had better stamina than the other.

To pass the time, you sat down on the couch and opened a streaming service on the TV to see if there was anything to watch until he got home. But you were just flipping through the titles, one less exciting than the other–your mind was way too worried about Simon to even think about entertainment.

Then you finally heard the lock turn and he finally entered the apartment, throwing his duffel bag near the living room door before walking over to the couch. "What are you doing?" he asked, his eyes momentarily turning to the screen. "You're not watching anything?"

"No. But I have a feeling I won't watch anything in the end," you told him with a short laugh, your eyes moving up from his crotch to his masked face.

There was a strange look in his eyes, one you hadn't seen in a while now. He looked excited and energized, not like someone who just returned from a two-hour workout session. There was also a hint of desire, although you weren't quite sure about that.

You hadn't had sex with him since the incident, but you knew that despite desperately wanting every piece of him, you had to be patient. He would come around eventually, but he had bigger problems than satisfying your needs right now.

"Good," he said, drawing a questioning hum out of you.

But Simon remained silent, he only took off his mask that landed on the couch next to you, then leaned down to scoop you up. With your hands automatically moving to the back of his neck, you took a closer look at him. You were right, that look in his eyes definitely mirrored his desire.

But his pupils weren't right, they were dilated. It could be because of the dim lights of the living room, but you were afraid it meant something else, something more dangerous. Could he be stupid enough to use drugs with his brother's history?

He lowered your body onto the bed before gently kicking your legs wider apart to get into position between them. His hands were resting next to your head, and he slowly leaned down to give you a soft kiss, one that became deeper, hungrier, and more feral as the seconds passed.

"Simon," you tried weakly as his lips moved on to your neck.

"Shhh," he tried to silence you.

But you didn't want to stay quiet, you wanted to ask him if he was high. So you reached out to seal his mouth with your hand, causing him to let out a deep growl. He opened his mouth and tried to bite you gently, but you gave him a warning look that made him stop.

You curled the fingers of your other hand around his muscular shoulder, stroking the rough skin with your thumb as you looked him in the eye. "Give me an honest answer, Simon. Are you high?" you asked him seriously.

Instead of replying, he reached up to peel your fingers off of himself then intertwined his fingers with yours and pressed them against the bed above your head. "I missed you so fucking much, sweetheart," he murmured against your lips.

"Answer my question."

He raised his head to look you in the eye and let out a sigh. "Do we really have to do this?" You raised an eyebrow at him, getting fed up with his bullshit. The more he avoided the answer, the more suspicious you were. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath.

Suddenly he let go of you and sat down on the other side of the bed, his head buried in his hands. "Simon, drugs won't solve your problem," you said the obvious as you sat up as well and buried your fingers in his hair. "Listen, I talked to John today and we were discussing whether or not you should go back to work."

His eyes found your face, eagerly waiting for you to continue. You weren't mad at him, you were just sad that he made the wrong choice. You thought he was getting better, that he had learned how to handle his grief by now, but apparently you were wrong.

"Was this your first time?" you asked him quietly, and he nodded in response. "Can it stay this way? Can you resist the urge to use this shit again?"

"If it means I can go back, then yes," came his response.

You let out a sigh and took his hand in yours. "Alex and I will work with you when you return," you began to explain. "John asked him to keep an eye on you until you get used to being back on the field. But after tonight…"

Your voice faded and he knew what it meant. "I already told you, it was a one-time thing," he assured you quietly, leaning over to rest his forehead against yours. "I saw what drugs did to Tommy, I won't make the same mistake, I promise. I just… I was in the gym and remembered something and I just needed something to take my mind off of everything, you know?"

"Mmm-hmm," you hummed before placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Listen, I'll buy some drug tests and you'll do one every day for the next… Let's say ten days. If you're always clean, I'll tell John that you're ready to return."

Simon let out a sigh, but he nodded eventually. When you flashed a sweet smile at him, his hand moved under your shirt, long fingers moving up your spine that made you arch your back a little. "I'm so fucking hard, baby, why don't we do something about it, huh?" he asked as he kissed your neck.

"You should get some sleep," you told him, although your voice came out as a whisper.

"It's been so long, I'm sure you've been missing me. I should fuck your sweet, beautiful brains out before sleeping," he mumbled against your skin, his deep voice sending shivers down your spine.

Every cell in your body was craving him, but the fact he was high on some shit told you it was the perfect opportunity to teach him a lesson. You take drugs? Fine, no sex for you. So you pushed him away and cleared your throat as you gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, but not tonight."

"Are you punishing me for being high for once in my entire fucking life?" he asked, sounding angry.

You nodded. "I prefer it when you're clean," you said, then climbed out of bed and returned to the living room.

••••••••

Three weeks later you could finally join the team again, but everybody seemed to be walking on eggshells around Simon. He noticed and he hated it, but decided not to say anything. He only mentioned it to you, telling you how frustrating he found this treatment.

"It's good to see you again, Ghost," Alex said with a wide smile when the two of you walked over to him for the first time.

Simon nodded and shook his hand. "So you'll be my babysitter, huh?"

"Yeah, it seems like it. But whatever you say goes. I'll only step in if something's wrong with the order in that situation," he assured him.

You gulped, carefully examining Simon's eyes through his plastic skull mask. When you looked over at Alex, you noticed he was doing the same, cautiously watching the lieutenant and trying to decide his movements.

Before he could say anything, Gaz showed up, telling you Price's briefing was about to begin. You followed him, and inside you and Simon sat down next to each other.

You soon saw him rapidly tapping his feet out of the corner of your eye, so you reached out and placed a hand on his knee to calm him down. He glanced over at you, then put his hand on top of yours, his fingers carefully leaving with your own.

After an hour or so everybody left the room, but the two of you stayed behind, silently agreeing to have a quick chat. You looked around, making sure there was truly no one left there, and then pulled up his mask to his nose so you could give him a gentle kiss.

Soon you pulled the mask back down and looked at him with a small smile. "I'm proud of you, Simon. You seem to be a lot better lately."

"I am better," he told you with a sigh. "I'll keep going to therapy when we're home. And if it wasn't for you…"

With a short laugh, you reached out and took his hand. "I'll always be here for you. Never forget that," you said.

"I love you."

It had been a while since he had last told you this. It was as if his brain had forgotten how to say these words, but you knew it wasn't intentional. So you flashed the brightest smile at him before you replied, "I love you too."

[ciaossu-imagines]

Hi

I'm new here but I've read almost all your mm prompts and head canons and i reallllly loved the way you described the characters. That's why i want to ask you a rather wierd question....

I was wondering how you imagine saeyoung's sex life...like what is sex to him? How important s it to him in a relationship? Will he be fine with an asexual partner?

Almost everyone that writes about him describe him as a person who has a lot of fun with sex but i think he as someone who worked in the dark side of the world for a long time might have seen and understood things that made him repulsive towards sex and the whole sex industry from porn to even nightclubs

I would love to know your opinion on this

Hello there, my lovely anon! I’m so glad you found my blog and thank you so much for reading and enjoying what I write 😊 That’s really sweet of you to say and makes me really happy. Now, I’m answering this less with actual headcanons but just kind of a blanket statement that I’ve made a couple of times and then I’ll share some of my views! I apologize in advance if this wasn’t exactly what you wanted though, and as a note, this definitely isn’t a weird question at all!!

So, plain out and out blanket statement that I will always hammer home – I might write Saeyoung one way. A lot of the writer’s might write him a certain way too, a lot more sexual than you see him being. But that doesn’t mean that you’re wrong in how you view him in any way or that we’re wrong in viewing him as we do. That’s the wonderful thing about the characters, that we can all see and write them however we want, unless the creators tell us specifically not too.

So, if you see Saeyoung as sex-repulsed, that’s a valid interpretation and you should feel free to continue thinking and writing that, even if others write otherwise!

Another blanket statement that I cannot make clear enough – If you are asexual and are wondering if your favourite character would like you and be okay with it, YES. YES, A MILLION YESES. Your favourite character is going to love you and want to be with you no matter what you look like, no matter your sexual orientation or lack thereof, your gender identity or lack thereof, no matter if you have mental health struggles, no matter what really. I will never, ever, EVER tell anyone their favourite character wouldn’t like them; the only time I ever take my personal headcanons about sexual orientations or how important sex or any other big issues regarding the characters is when I  do matchups, when it’s part of my job to do so, so to speak.

So yeah, Saeyoung will be okay with an asexual partner because my writing is meant to make people feel happy, not to make them feel excluded or like their favourite character wouldn’t be cool with who they are.

Also going along with that, I do think asexuality or being sex repulsed is not necessarily caused by trauma, in the majority of cases actually. And just as a reminder, from someone who hasn’t been a virgin since I was seven, trauma related to sex can actually lead to just the opposite, hyper-sexuality where a person starts to heavily tie their self-worth into sex.

Now, we’ll get into my opinion around Saeyoung and his views on sex. I don’t actually think he has a lot of trauma tied around sex itself, but I do think his religious views really do impact his views on sex. I think that he does believe in waiting for marriage to have sex, whenever at all possible, or at least a firm commitment towards marriage, so he does have some surprisingly traditional views on sex.

To him, in my opinion, sex is a way to not only connect with his lover and feel closer to them, but he gets a lot of his physical affection through sex, and it helps how touch-starved and affection-starved he really is as a person. It’s not quite healthy, I’m not going to lie, but I do think that he does rely on sex for just that feeling of connection and love from someone else in a physical sense.

On top of that, in bonus stories from the same, we do see Saeyoung get very flirty, touchy, and seductive in a very playful way, which really is where a lot of the fandom, including me, does get the impression that sexually speaking, once his sex life with his partner does begin, he is someone who brings a lot of fun to sex, who isn’t afraid to instigate, and who does find the fun in the experience.

That being said, I do want to point out that I actually heavily agree with you in that Saeyoung has a pretty low view of nightclubs, they’re not something he would enjoy in any sort of way, but I think that’s less to do with anything sexual. I do think his mother was a drunk, that Saeyoung has very poor attitudes towards alcohol. The pure amount of people getting absolutely piss-ass drunk at a nightclub? It’s not going to be something he can deal with, and the situation would make him exceptionally anxious and unable to deal well.

[dreamofmetoday]

HAECHAN AND RYUJIN RELATIONSHIP READING - DID IT EVEN REALLY HAPPEN?

this reading was a paid request, a big thank you to the buyer!

cards included with some explanation since it was requested, keep in mind descriptions are brief (since i think reading cards be quite individual to the person). deck used: silver witchcraft tarot.

did haechan and ryujin really ever date?

10 of pentacles, lovers, 6 of wands.

yes.

how did their relationship begin?

lovers, chariot, 9 of wands, the sun, the emperor.

haechan pursued ryujin with obvious flirting and intentions (the sun) which ryujin initially rejected, a lot. essentially, it seems haechan love-bombed ryujin and kept trying until she said yes and she accepted his offer.*

*the chariot represents taking charge and fighting against odds, 9 of wands represents fighting until you can’t any longer and strong resilience, and the emperor, male, jumped out and landed on top of the chariot so the pursuer was haechan.

more information (how did haechan pursue her specifically): ace of wands, 8 of wands, knight of cups.

so initially he moved quite quickly. he might have been quite forward with how he wanted to sleep with her, acting quite boldly*. he backed away and then approached her more gently, romantically and methodically - likely became friends with her first to win her over slowly (knight of cups).

*8 of wands can represent a confession and ace of wands can be sexual, so a confession of a specifically sexual nature.

are haechan and ryujin still together now?

ace of cups, the emperor, knight of cups, king of wands, death. song: clean by taylor swift.

no and if they are, it’s not romantic and much more casual in this moment but more likely, haechan is going to propose a friends with benefits relationship to ryujin.

how does haechan feel about ryujin now?

lovers rx, 8 of swords rx, 2 of swords rx, 5 of pentacles.

he sees her as a crazy ex - thinks she lies, deceived him, has betrayed him, is cold and not giving etc. (he sees her as someone with a lot of personalities). he feels pretty victimised and hurt by her. along with the 5 of pentacles representing poverty and lack, this deck portrays a naked woman so i get the sense he feels he’s “seen it all” now so there’s no more novelty and she’s no longer exciting the same way she was in the beginning. at the same time, he feels pretty regretful and blames himself too and hopes they’re not really ever going to be over (his personality itself seems pretty self-pitying and dramatic which explains some of these "conflicting" thoughts).

how does ryujin feel about haechan now?

ace of swords, hanged man, page of wands rx, 2 of wands, 8 of wands rx. song: my tears ricochet by taylor swift.

she feels she finally sees him for who he is (ace of swords, hanged man) and that this truth is both painful and liberating - she thinks he’s immature, can’t see when he’s the problem and that he manipulated her. she also thinks his flattery was fake, that he told her what she wanted to hear and didn’t mean it and sometimes even switched up on her - he would do things like compliment her on something but then get mad about the same thing later (from “i love that you don’t wear make up, i like natural girls.” to things like, “you never try to look nice for me.”), and this really hurt and confused her. he was jealous and possessive which she interpreted as him just really loving her but she doesn’t think that anymore because repeatedly he would not support her when she felt it really counted. however, there is a part of her that wonders if the timing was just off and she worries about being forgotten or that she was nothing to him (because she loved him a lot).

bonus question: is the rumour about their relationship beginning around wannabe era (beginning of the pandemic) true?

ace of wands, ace of cups, ace of swords, six of wands, ten of cups

yes (all these cards are yeses and aces represent beginnings too).

[fallingforel]

Louis and 70 pls 💗💗💗

A/N good morning, afternoon and evening (have to cover all bases because who knows where people may be in the world its evening for me loves 🫶) of course I would be glad to write this for you (sorry it took me so long to get round to it) on with the showww. OH and I'm gonna make you part of 1d in this hehhehe

PROMPT 70:“I don’t want you… I need you.”

Words: 1,094

warnings: mentions of death via car accident, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sick, mentions of sex its a generally fluff piece though so hope you enjoy.

Life was great at the moment, I was living life to the heights I'd never thought I'd get to 3 years ago when I was a little 19 year old who just lost both parents in a car crash to a teenage drunk driver who knew no better than what I did at that age, I performed on the x-factor stage after my mum told me to "chase your dreams sweetheart" getting me to where I am now. In a band with 5 boys we love performing every night recording our albums and I get to do it with my best friends in tow.

"So. If you guys didn't know. One of our band members has a birthday tomorrow, but we're not playing a show tomorrow. So can you make this show extra special for us? Her family couldn't be here tonight, because they're in better places. So can you make her feel superrr loved for us?" Louis asked the crowd that we were performing to in stockholm tonight. They screamed back.

"You know I think I see a sign over there that says Y/n we love you, we can be your family, there's another one that says We love you y/n happy birthday. There's another one that says I love Y/n more than free wifi. Wow Y/n you are getting the love tonight" Louis said making the crowd scream loud at that part.

"I think we should sing Happy Birthday to Y/n don't you think?" Harry asks which earns multiple yeses from the boys and screams erupting from the crowd and a shake of the head from me.

"okay okay. 3, 2, 1"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR Y/N HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"

"I think that's the loudest happy birthday I've ever had. Thank you. Now time for one of our fans favourites this is teenage dirtbag"

⋆｡°✩

Running off the stage on our Very high high.

"LOUIS!!!" "Y/n, Love you did so great" Is all he says before he's pulling me into a very big hug and swooping me up into the air and then finally putting me down and letting go after much protest on his behalf but me saying I can't breathe did the job

"Thank you for that happy birthday. It was honestly the most love I've ever felt from one of our shows." "yeah well it was all for you and you did it. Happy birthday love" "thank you Louis" Is all I say before I'm pulling him into a hug again in which he wraps his arms around my torso and placing chaste kisses on top of my head.

"And you mean to tell me they aren't together?" Niall speaks up from beside Harry where they are both watching Louis and I from the wall just a few feet out of earshot. But I still heard it. "Yes we are very much not together."

⋆｡°✩

Louis and I decided to go out to celebrate my birthday, wanting to bring in my 22nd birthday with me. As I had no-one to have a phone call from so Louis decided to take my mind off of it and go celebrate. The other boys were too tired to celebrate I don't blame them so it was just Louis and I

"Lou it's getting late its like 3, we should probably get back. I'm gonna spew my guts if i drink another drop" "yeah that's probably wise me too, come on then dove" "That's a new one?" "yeah, they represent peace and that's what you've always shown. Even when you found out who hit your parents when you racked up the money, you were so calm, you were the one to apologise when you saw how guilty it felt. If that was my mum in the car I'd be saying all kinds of nasty shit to the driver who killed her. Guess that's what I like about ya, dove" "thanks lou but they also represent innocence and purity and I'm none of those two things am I lou?" "No I suppose your not but you do have a pure soul and I guess that is what matters the most" "alright stop with the spirituality mr donny. and lets get back to the tour bus I'm exhausted"

⋆｡°✩

we get back in and I sit at the kitchen table nursing a whiskey and louis looks at me funny

"what?" "thought you were gonna spew if you drank another drop of alcohol?" "thats different." "how?" "whiskey I can drink slowly, you made me literally DOWN shots" "thats the thing about you that makes me love you Y/n" I just burst out laughing because it wasn't true, the guy I liked had been crushing on ever since 2010 at the first group auditions stage liked me back. "yeah okay" "no I'm being deadly serious" "you're drunk lou. Go to bed" "No, I'm being deadly serious Y/n." "You just want me because your drunk Louis, I'm being serious" "and I'm being serious when I say I want you. Actually no fuck that, I don’t want you… I need you." "Louis you have to mean it because I am not going down that hole of where we mess about like silly fucking teenagers because we're past that point, being teenagers I mean we're fucking adults" "As serious as a heart attack, I love you darling" I jump into his arms where he drowns me into a heavy snog, "Fuck lou. I love you too."

⋆｡°✩

Last night was one of the best nights ever somehow after everything I ended up in Louis' bunk, the reminder of that was Louis kissing my shoulderbone waking me up from my post-sex slumber "Louis, You seen Y/n" Harry shouts from outside Louis' bunk which earns a giggle from me, ultimately making louis clamping his hand over my mouth. "NAH MATE, HAVEN'T SEEN HER SINCE WE GOT IN LAST NIGHT" I lick his hand that is covering my mouth "DID YOU JUST LICK MY FUCKING HAND!" "Lou who have you got in there?" which makes harry open the bunk, meeting eyes with the both of us "HOLY FUCK. Y/N AND LOUIS FUCKED." which makes the remainder of the boys (excluding louis.) scream from their respectful places on the bus "FINALLY WAS ABOUT FUCKING TIME" and then ultimately zayn says "SHIT NOW WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM FUCKING LIKE RABBITS"

⋆｡°✩

lets just say that night in stockholm lead to a certain song on four with the same place name, that I wrote.

⋆｡°✩

end.

[kakusu-shipping]

I just had. The worst idea. And I'm so excited about it.

Match-Up games are where you send me in an ask with info about yourself (as much or as little as you want to include) and then I tell you a character I think you'd make a good couple with. (You can also include if you have specific Gender/Age/Morals preferences for the character in question; Say you're an adult uncomfortable with being matched-up with a minor, you can say so)

I'm very personally obsessed with Match-Up games, I love playing them, I have submitted myself to every single one I can find, especially ones for Fandoms I'm not in because I love getting second hand info on media I have never and probably will never watch and getting a little glimps into what I might be doing in that Universe, but I don't know if there are people in the Self Ship community who are as into those kinds of games as I am.

If I get enough yeses I'll make a dedicated post about it with more information, just so everyone can be on the same page about this.

[missmaybe-not]

Booked for Trouble: Perils of Booking a Hotel Room for a Maybe

Hey Maybe Nots and Maybe Yeses! So sorry for the radio silence last week. I was off on a whirlwind travel adventure, collecting stories, getting lost in charming streets, and (of course) navigating the ever-interesting world of international dating. Buckle up, because this week's post is a juicy tale of missed connections, mixed signals, and a whole lot of me yelling at my phone screen.

The Long-Distance Lure: It all began last June, a classic Tinder swipe right that turned into a virtual pen pal situation. He was a foreigner visiting my country, but alas, fate (and my work schedule) had other plans. He was only here for a short visit, and our schedules never quite aligned. Despite the limited time, we kept chatting – a slow burn of sweet nothings that escalated in November. Here's where the red flags started popping up like confetti at a wedding:

Destination Dreams: He tried to convince me to change my vacation plans to his city (thankfully in the same country I was already planning to visit). Blinded by the potential of a meet-cute, I actually changed my itinerary accordingly!

Double Trouble: Fast forward to January, and things were getting serious (or so I thought). We're talking sweet nothings, and I've even booked a double room for our rendezvous. Yes, you read that right. Self-inflicted facepalm moment right there.

The Ghosting Games Begin: By the end of January, radio silence. He completely ghosted me for a month and a half! Excuses poured in later about work and trouble with his ex (due to having a child living in another country, no less). Despite wanting to scream into the void, I offered a listening ear if he needed to vent. Maybe I was falling for the potential, or maybe I was just lonely – either way, I was hooked, and it was bad.

The Back-and-Forth Tango: After establishing a boundary about communication (hello, 3-second voice note!), things went silent again. But wait, there's more! My weak spot (aka Instagram) led me to reply to one of his stories. By then I doubted he knew who I was – the girl with the upcoming trip and the paid-for hotel room! But no. Briefly, things rekindled, only to fizzle out once again.

The (Almost) Grand Finale: Fast forward to last week – my trip to his city. Complete silence from him since March 31st. Did he show up? Did he make an excuse (again)? He texted me while I was on the train, asking for the hotel info and promising to meet for drinks after work. Talk about mixed signals!

Two Nights of Passion (and Questions): He showed up, looking even better than his pictures. The conversation flowed, and after drinks, we ended up back at the hotel. We stopped in front of the elevator waiting for it. The air crackled with anticipation. Suddenly, his eyes met mine. Before I knew it, his lips were on mine, his hand holding my waist and back. The kiss was intense, passionate, hungry.

The elevator's ring broke the spell. We turned to each other, half smiles and rosy cheeks. We entered the elevator. With my back to him, I felt his arms wrap around my waist. His kisses trailed up my neck, searching for my lips. No need to say what happened as soon as I opened the door to my room.

He didn’t stay the night, but the following day, there he was and it was basically a copy-paste of the previous night minus the elevator scene (as we had company).

The Aftermath and the New Maybe: We texted for a while after my trip, but the messages dwindled. Now, here I am, confused and conflicted. Am I being irrational for wanting more from a long-distance connection?

Meanwhile, in Another Corner of the Dating Pool: To add another layer of complexity, I've been chatting with someone else from the same country as the previous guy (seems I have a type!). He's a sweetheart, but also comes with his own baggage.

So, what's a girl to do? Here's the thing, love warriors: This is where you come in! Should I wait for the maybe-something with Mr. Miscommunication? Do I give the new guy a chance, even though my heart might not be fully invested? Or is there a Mr. Right lurking around the corner who hasn't swiped right yet?

Spill the tea in the comments! Let's hear your thoughts on this long-distance drama and any advice you might have for a Miss Maybe Not who's feeling a little lost. 

Until next week, stay strong, stay hopeful, and may the dating gods bless you with clear communication and genuine connections!

[serpentinearchitect17]

Just a short scene I wrote because Zutara has been occupying about 90% of my thoughts lately 😅

Side Note: This scene diverges from canon after the end of the war because damn it, Zuko and Katara will always end up together in whatever context, scene, or story I write. I’m also still working on my full fledged fanfic! I don’t want to give away too many details, but it is a Modern-Day AU with Lunar New Year celebrations, and an extreme amount of fluff and pining. I can’t wait to finally share it! I’m hoping for a late spring/early summer release on AO3, but that may be optimistic because I write about as fast as a snail-sloth.

Anyway, without further ado…

*****

~Zuko’s Favorite Color~

Three years after the end of the 100 Year War, the Gaang meets on Ember Island to spend the week together. Before leaving, Zuko asked Iroh to take over his Fire Lord duties for the time being, just so he could spend his holiday relaxing and enjoying his time with his friends.

They’re all lounging on the beach at the night, drinking tea around a fire.

After slurping her tea and setting the empty cup aside, Toph turns to the group.

“Let’s play a game,” she suggests. “The rules are simple. All you have to do is guess Sparky’s favorite color. The winner gets to have all of their meals paid for by him tomorrow.” She slaps Zuko, who’s sitting next to her, on the back. With a wicked grin, she continues, “And the loser has to plant one on him tonight, with his consent, of course.”

Zuko chokes on his tea. “Hey, wait a minute! None of that is even remotely fair,” he protests, gesturing wildly. He glares at the world’s greatest Earthbender with a scowl. “Either I have to dole out money or I have to give out a kiss. How does any of that benefit me? And why in Agni’s name would we play a game where you all guess my favorite color? It makes so sense!”

Sokka laughs. “Dude, you’re just afraid I’m gonna win and you’re gonna have buy me food. You’ve seen the way I eat - you’ll be out of money by the end of tomorrow!

Snorting, Zuko shakes his head. “Buddy, I think you’re afraid that you’re gonna lose and have to kiss me.”

“Psh, you’d be lucky to kiss me! I’m a real catch, aren’t I, Suki?”

Suki kisses her boyfriend’s cheek and coos, “You sure are.”

Impatiently, Toph sighs. “Are you in or not, Fire Lord? C’mon, you’re among friends. No one’s gonna hurt you. You can back out if you wanna, but I think it’ll be fun.”

Zuko knows she’s right. It’s all in good fun. These are his friends - the ones he’s trusted time and time again. No one would be cruel. Plus, if he’s being honest, he’s hoping that he’ll get to kiss a certain someone tonight. Someone he’s had a crush on for a long time.

“Fine,” Zuko mutters. “Go ahead.”

Toph gleefully rubs her hands together. “Excellent. Does everyone consent to the rules of the game?”

A chorus of ‘yeahs’, ‘yeses’, and ‘yeps’ goes around.

“Sweet,” Toph says. “I’ll go first. Sparky’s favorite color is…blue.”

Sokka nods sagely. “Yep, it’s 100% blue, no doubt about it.”

Suki chimes in with, “I agree. It’s totally blue.”

Aang hums, stroking his chin. “I think blue would be the correct answer here.”

It’s Katara’s turn. She furrows her brows and frowns. “Why are you all saying blue? His favorite color is obviously red! It’s the color of his homeland, and every article of clothing he owns has some shade of red in it!”

Zuko’s cheeks flush to a deep crimson. He feels himself sinking further into the sand. “Um…” he trails off, scrubbing his hands over his face. He’s not even sure how to respond.

Everyone looks at him expectantly.

Toph smirks. “So, Sparky, what is your favorite color?”

He knows he can’t lie. He’s never been able to, and he doesn’t think he could start now. He decides to give in, resigned to his fate.

Peeking between his fingers, he mumbles, “It’s…um…blue.”

Toph laughs uproariously. “Called it! And we all know why! See, you love blue because everything about it reminds you of Sugar Queen.”

Sokka makes a gagging sound, but offers his own explanation. “Blue is the color of her eyes, which you’re constantly drawn to, by the way. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

Suki smiles. “Blue is the color of the clothing that she wears.”

Finally, Aang wraps up the conversation with, “Blue is the color of water, which is the element that she bends.”

Katara has been silent this whole time, her entire face highlighted in a lovely, rosy hue. She only has eyes for Zuko right now.

Quietly, she stands from her spot and crosses over to him, sitting down beside him. “Is any of this true?” she asks him softly, an unreadable expression on her face.

A shaky breath leaves his lips, and he nods. “Yeah, all of it,” he answers honestly, feeling his heart thump wildly.

Then, to his complete dismay, she gives him breathtaking smile.

Her ocean blue eyes never leave his as she murmurs, “Now might be a good time to tell you my favorite two colors.” She pauses, leaning over to brush the hair out of his eyes. “Red and gold because they’ll always be a part of you, Zuko. Every time I see those colors, I immediately think of you.”

His gasp is low, but an enormous grin overtakes his face. “Really?”

“Really.” She turns back to the group, who’s been watching with rapt attention. With a gentle smirk, she shrugs. “Guess I lost the game. And I’m nothing if not a gracious loser.”

Zuko hears Sokka snort, but only focuses on Katara.

“Do you really want to kiss me?” he asks nervously, hands clenching the bottom of his tunic to keep them from shaking. “Because I want to kiss you. Spirits, do I ever want to. But, your comfort comes first to me, always. So, we can forget this whole thing if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“I want to,” she sighs dreamily. “I’ve been waiting three years. Don’t make me wait any more.”

With that, they both lean and their lips touch. Finally.

As they continue to kiss, Zuko vaguely registers the sounds of claps, hollers, and an indignant whine of, “Dude, that’s my sister!” in the background.

Eventually, Katara pulls back to catch her breath, leaving Zuko in a dazed state.

She giggles, presses a light kiss to his scarred cheek, and says, “I think you may need to tap into the Fire Nation’s budget tomorrow. Your personal finances aren’t going to look so good with all of those mouths to feed.”

His eyes widen and dart to his friends, who all wave back at him smugly.

Groaning, he wraps his arm around her waist to pull her closer.

He addresses the group. “You’re all the worst. But…” he trails off to kiss the top of Katara’s head. “This stupid game was worth it.”

[neopronouns-in-action]

Neopronouns in Action #069: First Day of School

Neopronouns: zo/zol/zov/zolself which follow the same rules as he/him/his/himself

Replace he with zo

Replace him with zol

Replace his with zov

Replace himself with zolself

EX:

"He is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as he gets a fence set up around his yard so the puppy can go outside without him having to walk it. His uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he’s letting him use, since he lost his. He's going to buy toys and train the puppy himself.”

Becomes:

"Zo is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as zo gets a fence set up around zov yard so the puppy can go outside without zol having to walk it. Zov uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he’s letting zol use, since zo lost zov. Zo's going to buy toys and train the puppy zolself.”

= = =

Another Flatland short story, which will make a lot more sense if you go read Flatland.

Trigger warning for child abuse and police brutality.

= = =

069: First Day of School

“Alright, students, when I call your name, you will come north one at a time, and feel the angle on this specimen. Then you will return to your seats and write south what you think the answer is. You all remember your lessons from before your break, I hope? Eating lunch hasn’t erased your memories?”

“Yes.” Finley said, along with a simultaneous chorus of other yeses, nos and confused, “uhhs...” from the rest of zov classmates.

Zo had started out confidant with zov answer, but now zo was confused. Was zo answering yes that zo remembered zov lessons, or yes that lunch had made zol forget? This was zov first day at school, zov first day somewhere without zov mother there to supervise. It was frightening and exciting and fun. Right at this moment it was mostly confusing.

But Teacher Benami didn’t seem to care how confused the class was, because he started calling names. And because no one in the class had a byname that started with A, “Finley Brytye.” was the first name to be called.

Finley obediently moved to the front of the classroom, carefully maneuvering around the angles of zov classmates, and approached the blurry, almost imperceptible point of brightness that zo recognized only as Teacher Benami’s eye through sheer habit, and the brighter point that zo could only assume was the eye of the specimen. Since Finley sat at the back of the classroom, zo could only see the dim lines that were the backs of the rest of zov classmates.

Only because zo’d navigated this route dozens of times now did zo manage to avoid bumping into any of zov classmates as zo made zov way to the front of the large classroom where zov teacher was waiting. Everyone else made it look so easy, zo was constantly ashamed of zov clumsiness and did zov best to hide it.

This would be the first time Finley actually tested out zov educated Feeling skill. North until now, it had been nothing but theory, with Teacher Benami explaining the different kinds of angles, the scale from .5 to 59 degrees that indicated a wretched Isosceles--

(Any time zov parents talked about Isosceles, they always referred to them as ‘wretched’, so Finley now automatically placed the word ‘wretched’ in front of ‘Isosceles’ without even thinking about it)

--and how the students were to carefully feel along the angle of the specimen with their cillia, making sure not to press their side against it, or they might hurt themselves.

The specimen was, of course, a wretched Isosceles, which wasn’t a person, but it would give them practice for Feeling real people to tell their angles.

Finley’s mother had taught zol how to feel to recognize certain people, like zov siblings, father, and herself, but zo’d never thought about the measurements of their angles before in numbers, or anything besides a personal marker.

Finley approached cautiously, not wanting to bump into the specimen or zov teacher now that zo was closer. Finley’s angle was 60°, which was less dangerous than the angle of a wretched Isosceles (or Nature forbid, a Woman), but still much sharper and dangerous than that of a Square, or Pentagon, or any of the more elevated classes.

Zo was very close to the specimen and Teacher Benami now, and Finley paused for a moment, suddenly nervous. Did zo really have to touch the wretched Isosceles? What if its acute angle was contagious? Finley’s parents sometimes worried about zol and zov brothers being “infected” by too much contact with wretched Isosceles, it was why zo and his brothers always had to walk the long way to school, to avoid passing the work sector where the wretched Isosceles lived.

“Go on, son,” Teacher Benami said, chuckling a little, as though reading Finley’s mind, “It’s chained so securely, it couldn’t bite even if it wanted to.”

Finley still hesitated. North until this moment, zo’d never been this close to a wretched Isosceles before, let alone been preparing to touch one. “Can I wash my cillia afterward?” Zo asked, afraid of the infection zov parents were always whispering about.

Teacher Benami’s eye brightened in a smile, his laugh was louder this time, and Finley felt a ripple through the air as Teacher Benami waved his cillia in a gesture of mirth as he laughed, “Yes, yes, you may, Finley, and good on you for asking! That’s the spirit! But hurry on now, everyone needs to have their turn. Feel the angle right there where the eye is, figure out what degree you think it is, then you can go wash your cillia.”

With Teacher Benami’s urging, Finley gave in and scooted close to the brightly glowing eye, reaching out with zov foremost cillia, stretching it so much it started to hurt.

Zov cillia connected with the smooth line of one of the specimen’s sides, and zo almost felt zov heart stop with fear, expecting pain, or for some terrible mutating disease to sweep over zol, changing zol into an unrecognizable monster--

But nothing happened, except that Teacher Benami told zol to hurry north.

So Finley hurriedly brushed zov cillia forward, towards the now hidden glow of the specimen’s eye, wanting to get the experience over as quickly as possible--

And on the way of zov cillia’s slide south the other side of the point covering the specimen’s now hidden eye, zo felt his heart leap again, but this time not out of fear, but of surprised recognition.

“Felix?!” Zo cried automatically, instinctively shoving forward with zov other cillia to feel the familiar spot again to make sure zo wasn’t wrong. Zo wasn’t. Right there, to the left of Felix’s eye, was her birthmark, the small dent in her otherwise smooth side that had allowed Finley to recognize her for as long as zo could remember.

Finley’s mind was whirling with bewilderment and sudden anger. Why was zov cousin tied north and being called a specimen? Felix wasn’t a wretched Isosceles, she was a respectable Equilateral!

Not thinking about anything except the injustice of it, Finley began tugging violently at one of the chains constricting zov cousin to the wall, thinking to zolself, because zo couldn’t speak when zov mouth was latched onto the bitter metal of the chain, ‘I’ll get you out, Felix!’

The loud clacking of the heavy chain and Finley’s sudden, overwhelming rage made zol immune to the reprimands of zov teacher and the confused laughter of zov class, until zo felt the sudden, sharp jolt of the lance in zov side, before Teacher Benami shoved zol with one of his flat sides, so that Finley went crashing backwards away from zov enchained cousin, reeling from the shock.

Teacher Benami’s enraged voice roared so loudly Finley could feel the ripples of air against zov bruised skin; “What in Nature’s sight has gotten into you, young man?!” His eye was suddenly all that Finley could see, right in front of zov face.

Zo jerked backwards, and shouted back, “That’s not a specimen, that’s my cousin, Felix! Let her out! She’s not a wretched Isosceles! She’s an equilateral just like me!”

The room fell dead silent for a few heartbeats, then Teacher Benami jumped to the alarm button and snapped out, “Guards! Room 17! Get in here!”

Then Finley was being shoved again, this time until zo was squashed back against Felix, the large chains bruising zov side, pressing the two of them together until Finley thought zo would burst from the pressure.

Zo didn’t even know how long this lasted before the pressure was suddenly released, and for a few precious moments, zo could breathe again – then there were spikes of pain in all three of zov sides – the sharp stab of the guards’ lances, pinning zol in place.

Finley was dizzy, terrified, and felt sick. The lunch zo’d just eaten was threatening to come back north, hurting zov eye, which had clamped shut instinctively in self-preservation.

Teacher Benami whispered something to one of the guards that Finley couldn’t understand past the terror suffocating zol.

So zo didn’t see anything as zo was forced out of the room at lancepoint, shoved roughly and lanced any time zo stumbled or faltered, with the guards snarling and swearing each time.

Finley was forced backwards into a cell so small zo could literally feel zov back corners being crushed and bent out of shape. Zo still couldn’t convince zolself to open zov eye, so all zo could do was tremble in pain and fear as the sharp stench of distress pheromones filled the tiny room.

Hours passed where Finley had nothing to do but wallow in zov own misery, trying to understand what had happened. The temperature began to drop, signaling the fall of night. Zo began to shiver, feeling claws of ice wrap around zov insides.

Everything had turned into a disaster so quickly, zo still couldn’t process it or understand why these horrible things had happened.

Felix had been chained up in zov room like a wretched Isosceles, even though she was a respectable Equilateral. Equilaterals weren’t specimens, they were respectable tradesmen. They were supposed to grow up to be artisans.

This was Finley’s first day of school.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

[thelustdevil]

Fueling those café au’s in my head... Part 2!

This time let’s look at what baked goods they would enjoy. 🫶🏼 (based on what I offer in shop & some new ideas!)

Part One: Drinkies!

Hitoshi S.

Will buy the cute seasonal sugar cookies, especially the cat themed ones during the spring & fall. Otherwise a blueberry muffin will suffice. If he’s really hungry a baked cheese & plant “sausage” turnover.

Denki K.

Frosted muffins, loaves & scones. The frosted matcha & vanilla crème Swiss roll is a favorite of his. But the frosted strawberry scone is a good second choice. Will be the one to order a breakfast bagel when super hungry.

Katsuki B.

He enjoys spice over sweet that much is true. He’s not one to order baked goods often, but there’s a hatch chili bread released during the later fall season that he will buy a slice or two of. If not, a savory maple sausage pull-apart roll every once in a while never hurt.

Izuku M.

Flaky pastries!! Always always. Chocolate croissant? Yes. Spinach feta croissant? Also yes. Spiced ham & pepper Jack cheese blossom? … yes. Quiches with buttery crust. Biggest yes. It’s used in so many dishes and so yummy in his opinion.

Shoto T.

Plain/simple flaky pastry or biscuit. Usually something to go along with his tea. There’s an orange blossom and currant biscotti that he’s grown fond of thanks to midoriya’s suggestion. Will have some quiche if offered. Not the meat heavy ones though.

Eijirou K.

Sweet boy loves some sweet loaf slices. He will indulge in pumpkin spice during the season. Otherwise the spiced loaf or apple crumble loaf are great choices. Will get the warm breakfast sandwiches on fresh bread.

Hanta S.

Contrast to his drinks and similar to bakugo, Sero likes the more savory pastries. The rosemary & tomato tart is the perfect snack. While the chili, egg & spinach blossom is a good breakfast option in his eyes.

Tenya I.

Cinnamon roll, no raisins but yes to cream cheese icing. Only once in a blue moon though. He allows himself to enjoy this with his classmates. Otherwise a buttery croissant will do, there’s no need for the excess sugar all the time.

Dabi

Again this mf doesn’t go to coffee shops… Will take warm bread, he likes the softness of it when it’s freshly baked. The topped toast options are usually what he goes for. The special spices Ogura jam with everything bagel seasoning is a go to.

Hawks

Learned to like the Ogura jam pastries because of Dabi. Will get the baked Ogura & sea salt stuffed rolls. There’s also a seaweed flakes croissant he enjoys with a sweet plum jam.

Mirio T.

Loves to try just the most American sounding baked goods. Apple strudel with cinnamon, strawberry & rhuebarb blossoms, Canadian bacon and cheddar boomerang? All yeses! Tamaki has told him countless times that two of those things are decidedly not American but Mirio is too busy ordering to hear him.

Tamaki A.

Is less shy when it comes to ordering pastries from his favorite bakery. Enjoys trying the new seasonal items. The sweet Sakura dango was a big hit with him. Will also get the milk bread toasted with a semi-runny egg & chives on top.

Shota A.

A bagel. He enjoys trying to different toppings but prefers having something easy to eat between classes and napping. Open to trying different kinds of bagels as well. Hizashi once bought him a breakfast bar and he enjoyed it. Still gets bagels though.

Hizashi Y.

Much like Tamaki, Hizashi likes trying the seasonal pastries. It only makes sense if he’s trying the seasonal drinks too! It’s the full experience. The toasted coconut & pineapple loaf was a surprising new favorite. So was the miso & cucumber tea sandwich.

*based on my view of them & their personalities*

Might do this for JJK or another fandom next. This has also given me new ideas for some trial goods in the bakery next week…