#but I'm not gonna double check because we done

[valtharr]

In the last few days, I've now had two run-ins with people on this site regarding the idea of a TTRPG's mechanics and rules impacting the roleplay aspect of said game. And from what I can tell, these people - and people like them - have the whole concept backwards.

I think people who only ever played D&D and games like it, people who never played a Powered by the Apocalypse or Forged in the Dark system, or any other system with narratively-minded mechanics, are under one false impression:

Mechanics exist to restrict.

Seeing how these people argue, what exactly they say, how they reason why "mechanics shouldn't get in the way of roleplaying," that seems to be their core idea: Rules and mechanics are necessary evils that exist solely to "balance" the game by restricting the things both players and GMs can do. The only reasons why someone would want to use mechanics in their RPG is to keep it from devolving into

"I shot you, you're dead!" "No, I'm wearing bulletproof armor!" "I didn't shoot bullets, I shot a laser!" "Well, the armor's also laserproof!" "Nuh-uh, my lasers are so hot that they melt any armor!" "My armor's a material that can't melt!" And so on. Because we have rules, the players can't just say "we beat this challenge", and neither can the GM say "you haven't beaten this challenge." Because the rules are clear, the rules are obvious, the rules tell you what you can and can't do, and that's it.

So obviously, when the idea of mechanics directly interacting with the roleplay - generally seen as the most free and creative part of a TTRPG - seems at best counterintuitive, at worst absolutely wrong. Hearing this idea, people might be inclined to think of a player saying "I'm gonna do X", just for the evil, restrictive mechanics to come in and say "no, you can't just do X! you first have to roll a Do X check! But you also did Y earlier, so you have to roll the Did Y Penalty Die, and if that one comes up higher than your Do X die, you have to look at this table and roll for your Doing X If You Previously Did Y Penalty! But, if you roll double on that roll..."

But like... that's not how it works. Roleplay-oriented mechanics don't exist to restrict people from roleplaying, they're there to encourage people to roleplay!

Let's go with a really good example for this: The flashback mechanic from Blades in the Dark (and games based on Blades in the Dark).

In BitD, you can declare a flashback to an earlier point in time. Could be five minutes ago, could be fifty years ago, doesn't matter. You declare a flashback, you describe the scene, you take some stress (the equivalent of damage) and now you have some kind of edge in the present, justified by what happened in the flashback. For example, in the Steeplechase campaign of the Adventure Zone podcast, there was a scene where the PCs confronted a character who ended up making a scandalous confession. One of the players declared a flashback, establishing that, just before they walked in, his character had pressed the record button on a portable recording device hidden in his inner coat pocket. Boom, now they have a recording of the confession.

How many times have you done something like this in a D&D game? How many times did your DM let you do this? I think for most players, that number is pretty low. And for two reasons:

The first, admittedly, has to do with restrictions. If you could just declare that your character actually stole the key to the door you're in front of in an off-screen moment earlier, that would be pretty bonkers. Insanely powerful. But, because BitD has specific mechanics built around flashbacks, there are restrictions to it, so it's a viable option without being overpowered.

But secondly, I think the far more prevalent reason as to why players in games without bespoke flashback mechanics don't utilize flashbacks is because they simply don't even think of them as an option. And that's another thing mechanics can do: Tell players what they (or their characters) can do!

Like, it's generally accepted that the players only control what their characters do, and the GM has power over everything else. That's a base assumption, so most players would never think of establishing facts about the larger world, the NPCs, etc. But there are games that have explicit mechanics for that!

Let's take Fabula Ultima as another example: In that game, you can get "Fabula Points" through certain means. They can then spend those points to do a variety of things. What's literally the first thing on the list of things Fabula Points let you do? "Alter the Story - Alter an existing element or add a new element." I've heard people use this to decide that one of the enemies their group was just about to fight was actually their character's relative, which allowed them to resolve the situation peacefully. I again ask: In your average D&D session, how likely is it that a player would just say "that guy is my cousin"? And if they did, how likely is it that the GM accepts that? But thanks to the Fabula Point mechanic making this an explicit option, thanks to rules explicitly saying "players are allowed to do this", it opens up so many possibilities for story developments that simply would not happen if the GM was the only one allowed to do these things.

And it's only possible because the mechanics say it is. Just how your wizard casting fireball is only possible because the mechanics say it is.

[beatrixstonehill2]

"Super excited for the gymnastics championship in two months! I have three months to go on this pregnancy so I think I'll be pretty massive by the tournament but I've been doing all of my training with a weighted fake pregnant belly and I'm getting to the point where I can hardly find my center of gravity without a huge belly full of kids! So, I think I'll be able to handle this no problem! Wish me luck! Just making a quick post before I see my doctor, no routine today. But I should get a nice update on how my latest brood is doing! See you guys soon!"

Edit: "OK. Um, holy crap.... I can finally write to you guys. I don't really know how to make content yet anymore but I can edit this post and finally give an update, as I've been gone two weeks. Soooo I went in for my checkup and the nurse prepped me to be put under for surgery. I asked why and they told me they need to check something. I asked what and they said to relax and not worry.... I went along with it, of course.

I woke up in the ER with my arms and legs amputated just above where my knees and elbows were, perfectly symmetrical. I knew this style of amputation, it's what those TikTok Influencer girls get done. You keep your thighs so you can sit up, and your upper arms so you have 'handlebars' for guys to use. I recognized it right away. I looked around and saw my limbs were gone. I was naked, propped up in a hospital bed, no sheets over me, just my bandaged stumps. There was a cute blonde girl in the bed next to me, a giant pregnant belly, big boobs dripping milk. She looked me up and down and congratulated me on getting my limbs removed as well, excitedly telling me she was doing it for her boss to get promoted.

I told her I didn't want my limbs removed. That's when a gorgeous tanned Asian girl to my left spoke up, pregnant, propped up, her breasts were really big and fake, round, the size of soccer balls. She told me she was coming in for some lip filler but woke up an hour ago with no arms or legs. I was slightly anxious but soon the nurse came in and talked to me. I asked why they removed my limbs. She squinted at my chart and asked me, 'Oh, you didn't want your limbs removed? Are you sure?'

'Yes!' I told her. 'I never asked to become an amputee.'

'Hold on, let me double check this chart against your file.'

She left for a while, when she came back I asked, 'Well? Why did you guys remove my limbs, I'm a gymnast!' But she walked right by me to the Asian girl, telling her that her limbs were removed because she starred in several adult movies, and the doctor figured the amputations would boost her career. She blushed and accepted this reason, trying to rub her thighs together in a pathetic attempt to masturbate.

The nurse returned to my bed and told me there was a mix up with my chart and they accidentally amputated my arms and legs. She smiled, putting a hand on my belly. 'My, you're the size of a house, and I think you look even more gorgeous with your arms and legs chopped off, but that's just one woman's opinion! You should be happy, guys are gonna go nuts seeing you all helpless like this.'

She had a point, but I was still outraged. 'I'm a professional gymnast who has a tournament coming up. I can't perform without my arms and legs!'

"So sorry to hear that! I do apologize for this minor mix up. But you have to admit the surgeon did a great job. You look absolutely incredible! Tell you what, I'll talk to the front desk and we'll let you stay here for free until we get you acclimated to using a wheelchair and ocular software on your laptop or phone. Don't you worry, we'll get this little mishap sorted!'

She left for a while. Eventually the Asian girl's porno agent stopped in with a group of guys and filmed her getting gang fucked in the ER recovery area. The director eventually noticed me, naked and limbless, asking if I was that cute pregnant gymnast who went to the Olympics last year. I said I was, and without warning he started filming me getting fucked by these muscular, roided up porn actors, absolutely brutalizing my holes, as the blonde next to me giggled in delight, telling me how sexy I looked getting pounded like a big helpless pregnant slab of meat. I moaned like a whore, never so turned on in my life, I came over and over. The nurse walked in after two hours and turned right back around, saying, 'I can see you're busy, I'll come back later,' to the pregnant gymnast who had her limbs removed without her permission, only to be filmed getting gang raped while in recovery, drooling with her eyes rolled back from cumming so much.

The porno agent eventually finished filming, grabbed his card, folded it into a bulky cylindrical container the width of a soda can, and shoved it into my pussy, telling me he'd love to sign me on full time. The nurse came back the next morning. The Asian girl and I were sweaty, a total mess, having pissed ourselves a few times, completely untended to. The nurse scolded us for being so messy, as she showed us how to use the ocular software, and eventually helped us learn to use a wheelchair. I control mine with my left stump and my mouth, breathing into a special control device like a little harmonica. I eventually learned to call my real agent, my friends and family, and now I'm here, discharged. And guess what? I owe the hospital $720,560 for my stay, as well as the physical therapy, software lessons, and the amputations themselves. Naturally.... I've called the porno agent and am already signed on to start filming this weekend. I've got to pay off all this debt somehow! Plus hopefully soon I'll figure out how to post new content! I guess I'll need help..... I might need to hire a nurse or something. Maybe someone willing to help upload my porno vids? Oh, and I should call the hospital and see about getting implants as big as that sexy Asian girl I spent my stay next to! What's a little bit more debt? If I'm doing porn I might as well go all out. And I'm sure none of you mind my new career change, do you? ❤️"

[omghallucinations]

Bang Chan Chart Analysis: in the weeds edition

chart patterns, degrees, fixed stars, aspects, final dispositors, basically all kind of deeper cuts.

ah, bang chan: a double libra gemini rising whose other planets are acting up so much i barely even touched on venus and mercury somehow

like he's clearly an air sign in every respect--he loooOOOves to talk, he's curious and interested in a lot of different things, he's never met a secret he doesn't want to immediately tell five hundred thousand people on live... but damn some of those other planets (saturn, mars, jupiter, uranus) are loud.

right away i noticed his chart is a bucket chart--every planet is in one half of the circle, except for one planet who becomes the "handle": his aries saturn. saturn is hammering all the other planets on the head so to speak.

saturn: you'll have to come through me motherfuckers

saturn is screaming it's ME i'm the BIG BOSS and as the handle, a lot of things in chan's life are gonna be based on or deal with--for better or worse--saturn stuff (maturation, fear, control, authority, judgment). chan's saturn automatically rockets to the top of his Big Boss list (it will not stay here tho, we've got some other bosses coming).

saturn is in its fall in aries--it doesn't speak the language there. any planet in its fall is usually marked down in influence but i also think it makes the planet more important? chan has to struggle with it. a saturn at home in capricorn (barring other chart factors) is very natural. 8/9 members of girls generation have saturn in capricorn and wow does that make sense. saturn in capricorn prizes Work and is self-conscious/guilty of its feelings (feelings are not productive), it's alllways anxious it hasn't done enough, it is very scared of disappointing people, it's deeply conscious of societal conditioning.

aries is a weird sign for saturn to be in. saturn has a lot of fear, and aries has a lot of fearlessness. aries is a baby and saturn is all about maturation. aries is about acting without thinking, saturn is about making a list and checking it 5 times then deciding not to do it just in case.

and then. this is fun. saturn goes on the big boss list again because it is unaspected--this doesn't mean there aren't aspects, it means there are no major aspects to other planets. when a planet is unaspected, everyone around you can sure as fuck see the hell out of it, but you can't really. it's center stage but not in the play.

bang chan: i am the cutest, fuzziest lil libra guy :) i just care about my work which is normal :) and i express that care in a very reasonable and chill way :) i just want things to be good! :) everyone around him, shaking in fear from his scathing judgment and innate leadership aura: uh-huh

an unaspected planet is usually a generational thing--chan really popped up like hey girl :) i'm here to really personify our family problems of work, judgement, fear and maturation and just like. make 'em huge and unavoidable. haha. :)

chan's gonna show real extremes of behavior around his saturn, which

in aries seems like it's dealing with issues of creation, self-determination, doing it on my own, that kind of stuff (so he'll deny himself or assert himself too much in turns)

in the 11th house backs that up--the 11th is the aquarius house, so saturn is in aries (a "me" sign) in a "we" (in a sort of detached intellectual sense) house

11th/aquarius usually wants to set u free :) but in a kind of back-handed passy aggy harry styles way, like "i love you so i'll set you free, because i am such an open-minded person, unlike other people (who are tethered to humanity which is both embarrassing and scary to me yuck), also setting you free is less terrifying to me than being perceived :) go with god :) bye :)"

it's in the sun decan, so there's a flavor of "look at me look at me" and identity formation (am i what i produce?)

saturn's most exact aspect is sesquisquare mars which acts a lot like a square, my favorite aspect! squares get such a bad rap but i think they're so much better for your life in the long run bc they force you to deal with things. his mars is in sagittarius, so we have a double fire sign situation: explosive, passionate, loves attention and creation. mars, who also gets a bad rap, is our survival planet. it's like, how are you gonna survive this. how are you gonna get what you want and defend yourself and win (if you care about winning) (chan cares about winning).

sagittarius mars is gonna go forward kind of joyfully but also in a "fuck you lmao" way. it's courageous bc it doesn't really think anything could go actually wrong. it's gonna Leave if it's bored (and it's already bored). it's gonna wide-angle zoom on the situation and be like "lol embarrassing... for you" and feel 100% sure it's right All The Time. sesquisquare saturn tries to control this force, adds a bunch of fear and repression and Issues (and often in later life, wisdom), so -> chan's gonna really be afraid of his own anger, of losing control of his temper -> ironically he will be unable to stop bouncing between these two extremes to various degrees. u can't control what u can't accept my dude. -> he's also afraid of not being in power, of not winning -> the me/we extreme will also come into play--especially with his sun and moon in libra (that's their whole Thing) sagittarius says "i'm right for objective, philosophical reasons" and aries says "i'm right because i just am bro i don't have to explain myself to you" mars in the 6th house--that drive to assert himself is gonna really go hard at work and in his daily life. this is a #gymbro placement for sure. his daily routine is Let's Fuckin Go At 150% -> his 11th house (where saturn is), loves the idea of people, community, his ideals, is detached from humanity and it comes into conflict with -> his 6th house, which is very much of the world, very critical, very let's get actual shit done and be of service to people sidebar, mars is exactly conjunct the asteroid quaoar-- creation, making new rules and structures, diverging from how things Have Always Been Done, please hold this thought for his uranus, coming up soon

libra moon at 29 degrees: heard u were desperately trying to maintain equilibrium for emotional security reasons lol

another planet i'm eyeing is his libra moon which is in the anaretic degree, 29. he's very good at this energy but it's gonna test him. with his libra moon he needs contact and dialogue with people to feel secure but it can't get too deep because that's gonna freak him out. he is super comfortable being vulnerable and emotional on the internet because the internet is not real. i mean it's real, but it doesn't feel real. it's the equivalent of over-intellecualising your feelings so you don't actually feel anything (which an air moon always enjoys, as a hobby). just like it's way easier and less scary to be in love with an idea of a person, rather than the actual person! the actual person can really fuck up ur moodboard!

chan needs things to be pretty, equal, even-keeled. libra is such a funny sign because often it gets flattened to this like "cutey pie flirt" stereotype which i would say is almost exclusively libra venus. libra is a cardinal sign--an acting, initiating sign--and can be a lot more controlling than it likes to pretend imo. it's also in his sixth house--he's gonna feel safe when he can be of service to others, when he can get things done, when he can edit shit, basically.

he's also a new moon baby, which gives a moon a fun, aries-y, baby-tries-(food)-for-the-first-time vibe. removes a lot of those libra inhibitions and adds a lot of need to feel special.

chan is so good at making sure he feels safe by trying to keep everything cute and not too deep and staying on the surface or removed from the situation through constant activity and like, pruning everything, trying to perfect everything (therefore not having to actually deal with anything). howmstever, this system is gonna repeatedly implode throughout his life. soz bud. his emotional foundation's gonna get pummeled on and off which sucks because he has an almost manic need

for emotional safety through strategic diplomacy and avoiding confrontation

for emotional safety through constant work and "perfecting" everything

for people to like him everyone needs to like him or he will die

(not the real him, that makes him nervous, the projection of him that he painstakingly curates, that is safer)

it's not especially fun to deal with.

bright side, wisdom in later life!

mercury, ruler of chan's ascendant: pretty much exactly what you'd expect?

as a gemini rising, chan's ruler is his mercury in libra in the 5th but ironically i don't feel like she's as major of a player as some of these other planets. you can see the communication and curiosity focus of his life, and in the 5th house of self-expression, creation. mercury is sextile mars and pluto, a talent for making his voice heard and powerful, trine uranus in the 9th he's confident about and believes in his unique voice/perspective.

like mercury is there and she's important, but she's not like. causing big waves? it's like his life direction, again, important, but i'm more intrigued by...

mars conjunct pluto opposite his ascendant: oh boy!

this is his one big opposition and it's on the gemini-sagittarius axis (my fave, she's just fun and curious, she's not super dramatic or that difficult although she doesn't exactly make it easy to make... decisions... or get anything done?). however if we were worried about getting shit done, mars and pluto are here to scream. mars conjunct pluto is exactly as dramatic as sagittarius-gemini is not.

this is an exact conjunction and it's wild. anything pluto touches blows up in a way. it makes it intense and secretive and adds the planet to its portfolio of unconscious past life soul security demands.

lmao i just realized that red lights is fully this conjunction lmao oh no. i don't know if i can talk about this conjunction normally. it's very... ... nsfw.

sometimes pluto conjunct mars forces mars into the background and makes the person afraid to assert themselves, but i don't think that's exactly the vibe here, although it's similar. it looks to me like chan has a lot of rage and anger in him that, with his libra placements, he probably has a very difficult time acknowledging or facing. he'll easily internalize it and turn it inward and be a real asshole to himself, and also his temper will flare up randomly and he'll go for the kill shot when he meant to communicate like a normal person. he has a lot of strong desires, he also wants power, but he's gonna hide it and run from the reality there. he does have almost inhuman will, courage and drive tho, he can truly endure anything.

(idk i think he should be a little worried about his physical body, so many of his coping mechanisms depend on exercise/endurance and with pluto--transformation, security--in the sixth house i worry his health might force transformation? ur body can't carry all of ur unspoken shit my bud?)

gemini rising wants to seem very fun, very friendly, very cute, but with mars and pluto on his descendant chan is almost hiding or ignoring a huge part of himself--all those darker impulses which aren't going anywhere. my guy loves a taboo and (redacted redacted redacted redacted REDACTEDDDD). whatever, it's good for creativity and in sagittarius he has a good sense of humor about it.

jupiter: uno reverso???

damn chan really got #blessed here, a lot of that chart was really screaming Issues, Internalized Rage, Fear, Depression, etc, but jupiter really bounced up to be like "never mind haha. i mean yeah, true, but also whatever"

first of all jupiter is in its home house, the 9th--chan's on a Journey, he's eat pray loving, he's Listening and Learning--and it's in aquarius, so that belief system and personal philosophy is gonna be very open-minded, very science fiction, very predicting trends, very ahead of society.

jupiter conjunct his MC: this is what pulls jupiter up to the big boss list. anything conjunct your MC is at the top of your chart--people see it. people notice it about you. and goddamn are people just gonna give him stuff. and they always have. no wonder jyp was like This Is My Special Boy, like that is jupiter conjunct MC to a t.

(the public perception of chan is also gonna be a lot... cuter and more exuberant and fun than the actual man. not that he's not those things. just that the jupiter of his personality is really what people are noticing about him from the outside: his personal vision, his expansive side, all that. they are not looking at that prominent saturn as much, even if saturn is a bigger player)

jupiter trine the sun: another one where people are just gonna like you. for one thing they'll notice chan's good intentions and generosity--altho they will also notice his tendency to moralise and be a liiiiittle condescending--but his tendency towards bouncy optimism (at least outwardly) makes people want to follow him aquarius jupiter trine libra sun: two "we" signs in a big way, except aquarius is "we" like "humanity" and libra is "we" like "you and me", but they unite in a tendency to conflate the personal identity with the group identity--with jupiter and the sun at play it's like chan is able to bring people on board with his identity and personal vision (but he often presents an idealised version of himself who does not have needs, somehow) 9th house trine 5th house: basically a repeat of jupiter-sun, since the 5th house is the leo house--chan has a talent for using his personal philosophy/vision in creative works

our final big boss of the night, perhaps the ultimate big boss: aquarius uranus

chan's aquarius uranus is really talking to everybody. it has by far the most aspects of any planet. uranus has its hand in his ascendant and every planet except jupiter and neptune. with modern rulers aquarius is at home in uranus, and i'm coming around a little bit on modern rulership even if i think it tends to be less prominent than traditional. still:

aquarius uranus: original thought, technological progress, your box is dumb i'm not going in there uranus in the 9th house: he's gonna have an offbeat belief system--no chance he buys into korea's societal norms, or anyone's societal norms for that matter. he's not a conformist. trine his gemini ascendant: whooooo boy he is really not a conformist. when he's not in a Mood he's not judgmental at all, even when he's in a mood he has a real benevolent Ah, Humanity Should All Be Free to Pursue Happiness vibe. gemini couldn't give a shit about morals, and uranus and aquarius think morals are bourgeois. he has a talent for his own difference--some uranus people (like most of ateez, my weirdo darlings) have chips on their shoulders about being different, but chan with his easy trine is just happy to be himself. i mean a trine uranus isn't gonna change the world (unlike harder aspects like squares, who would be more driven to do so) but he is gonna set a good example just through his identity.

this is a fun side of chan! i like this!

square moon: mmmm ok about that chip on his shoulder. although it's not really about being different--it's more about he both wants to be stable and emotionally secure and also free and independent and he's soooooooo fucking stubborn (but he doesn't see it that way because he's Right, not stubborn). he's prone to feeling really itchy and stuck and then making big changes out of nowhere. also he's very intuitive but overly sensitive and when he's hurt he's gonna shut down completely and not tell the person what they did wrong. didn't he give someone the silent treatment? jisung? yeah that's uranus square moon energy. he has a lot of fear around his emotions and only lets himself feel in short sharp bursts. he feels hurt and he cuts out the person immediately without warning to protect himself--even if it's completely illogical he will dupe himself into believing it is very logical and correct, actually libra moon square aquarius uranus: yeah this looks like a "keep the peace even if it is unhealthy" v. "radical change out of nowhere the tower ass" argument, he'll bounce between the two extremes again. heyyy gemini rising i didn't even see u there!!

man. really haven't gotten into everything including his sun in libra (in its fall), his nodes (classic idol 5th-11th axis, soooo many of them have this), etc, but i've been working on this for so long!! aughhH!!

ok drumroll please, let's gather up his chart big players!! normally i would rank these, but i keep changing my mind.

aquarius uranus

aquarius jupiter

sagittarius mars-pluto conjunction

aries saturn

libra mercury (2nd to lastish)

libra moon (definitely last on this list)

tentatively i'm gonna put uranus-jupiter tied at 1, then mars-pluto then saturn then mercury. ugh i don't know though. they're all big players! chan in general has one of those spread-out charts--when you look at the ruler of each planet, he has what's called a "committee" tree

where there isn't one or two final bosses, and the planets are all connected in one tree rather than being separate. you can see how chan's 3 top planets are sag mars, aquarius jupiter and aries saturn--they all work together and are super interconnected. he's not as single-minded as someone with a singular dispositor (ateez hongjoong has a singular final dispositor tree with his pisces jupiter) but also not as split or conflicted as someone who has split trees (ateez seonghwa has a planet in rulership tree with separate parts).

anyway this has been really interesting! for someone with what seems at first glance to be a very unified chart (air moon, air sun, air rising) he has some interesting conflicting energies--altho i'm sure he sees himself as just an air person. i'm sure he is lowkey aware of that mars and pluto conjunction but i'd bet he really pretends he does not see it (except for in REDACTED REDACTED EXTREMELY REDACTED situations), and he truly cannot see his saturn at all (altho everyone else can!).

[echobx]

A Mistake - Pope Heyward × fem!reader

summary: Pope and y/n wake up after a heavy night of drinking, and what looks like a hookup, and have to face the consequences of the night.

word count: 2.5k

warnings: talk of sex, morning after pill, fluff, tw throwing up memtion, mention of use of drugs and alcohol

author's note: this is my first time writing Pope, so idk if it's good or not. but I had this idea after I thought about Sex Education (the Netflix show) and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so here I am, presenting this fic to you like a newborn baby (i should stop making sick jokes)

The night was a daze. You can barely remember anything that happened after you found that unopened bottle of tequila. The only thing you do know, is that you finally, with the help of alcohol, had the guts to tell your crush how you feel about him. 

Waking up hungover is a slow process, first you blink open your eyes, the room looks unfamiliar to you, but that's just how it is sometimes. Your head feels like it's grown ten times bigger overnight, and your throat feels sore. Although the pounding in your ear is growing quieter, it doesn't help with the overall nausea that has your body and mind in a chokehold. You try to remember what happened; how you arrived with your best friends; how they both basically vanished after each found a respectable guy for the night; how you drank your loneliness away and- You roll over to your other side, slowly, to not wake the person who just groaned next to you. 

Pope feels like the night before was probably the lowest point in his life. He got high and drunk, thanks to no other than his best friend JJ, and went on a rant about how Kiara had fucked him over. Usually he keeps his face clean with the nice facade of “I'm over it” but that was washed away by the third shot and the end of the first joint. Pope has a philosophy to not hold grudges against his friends, because he knows that it's just gonna ruin his friendships in the long run. Also, he would have too many grudges up until now if he did hold onto them. But when Kie lied to him about liking him too, when she stole his first kiss just to break up with him a day later- He was hurt to say the very least. 

“Dude, just let it all out,” JJ encouraged him that night, and boy, oh boy, did he. But what Pope didn't expect was when you had popped up, basically out of nowhere, and yelled at him about how oblivious and annoying he was for not even seeing you as anything more than his lab partner. And maybe, if he wasn't drunk, he wouldn't have been so bold to ask you to dance after you were done screaming at him. 

And maybe if he hadn't asked you to dance, you wouldn't have kissed him and asked him to go upstairs. And then maybe he wouldn't have slept with you, and he could remember more about it than just how good it felt. 

“Oh God,” he groans louder than he wanted to, making his own head hurt even more. 

“You're alive,” you huff, sitting on the edge of the bed, your clothes already on after you scrambled to get up as soon as you had seen him. 

“What happened?” Pope asks, but he knows it's just what he thinks it is, what he feels with his body naked under the flimsy sheet. 

“We made a mistake,” you shake your head, not daring to look at him and get lost in his eyes, or the curve of his lips. 

“Did we-” Pope doesn't want to say it, maybe because there is still a tiny bit of hope that it had just been a dream. 

“Yes,” you hiss, walking around the room trying to find the one piece of evidence that you need. 

“What are you doing?” He rubs his face with his large hands, and when you look at him, it's almost like you can still feel it; the way he held you and touched you, scared to hurt you, as if you're the most delicate and precious thing he's ever gotten to hold. 

“I'm looking for the condom. I'm pretty sure we used one, but I want to be double sure,” you mumble while leaning down to check under the bed, yet you find nothing.

“Uhm, okay. Do you- Was I okay?” he asked sheepishly, his Adam's apple bobbing and making you want to kiss him again, just to know if it feels as good now as it did last night. 

“I think so. Can't remember much, just that you kept asking if I was okay and that you weren't hurting me,” you say and he nods. 

“Okay, cool,” he keeps on nodding, holding onto the sheet and looking at you as if he's uncomfortable in his own skin. 

“You know what, I'm gonna go and you can keep looking. But I'm like 98% sure we used one,” you speak up and turn to leave without another word. 

As soon as you are home, you start puking until you feel like your stomach has turned inside out. 

You hate yourself for what you did, for saying all those things to him and then still ending up in bed with him. Pope doesn't sleep around, that's a well known fact, but you can't help but wonder if he only did it to shut you up and get you to stop pursuing him, like a “get it out of your system” fuck. 

And while you ponder over the night, and try to piece together every little detail, even texting mutual friends to see if they have more knowledge about it, Pope finds himself lying on the porch couch at the Château. 

“That’s my man,” JJ laughs loudly as he walks up the stairs and Pope flips him off. 

“Can you be quiet,” he groans, folding his arms over his head to block out as much light as possible. 

“Dude,” JJ quiets down a bit, but he's still laughing. “First you go full crazy bitch on Kie, and then you fuck that nerdy chick? Please tell me if she's just as much of a freak as she looks like.” 

“What?” Pope lifts his arm to glance at the blonde. 

“You know, the shy girl stereotype?” JJ quips, sitting down in an armchair.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, and I can't remember anything. I can't even remember if we used protection. I'm fucked. Completely fucked, JJ,” Pope sighs, if he could sink to the bottom of the ocean to avoid the embarrassment, he would do it. 

“That's not good. You can pray that she's on birth control, dude, or like get her Plan B,” JJ shrugs and leans back.

“Why did I even listen to you? You're like the devil on my shoulder,” Pope shudders, his body isn't as accustomed to hangovers like JJ is. 

“Shut up, you love me. And you needed that, if not just for a good fuck. I mean, when was the last time you got laid?” JJ asks, but his friend doesn't answer, too embarrassed to admit it, after all JJ is the one who keeps trying to get him to hook up with girls, always making sure they can both get some, the perfect wingman. 

“No way,” JJ shakes his head. 

“Way,” Pope sighs. “What if she's pregnant? What if I fucked everything up, and I can't even remember?” 

That's when his phone rings, and he feels like throwing it against the wall, and if he had the money for a new one he would just do it. 

“Pope's phone, JJ speaking. How can I help you today?” JJ had picked the phone from his pocket and took the call, with Pope even trying to intervene. 

“Is Pope there? I have to talk to him,” your voice quivers and JJ almost drops the phone, he's as giddy as he was the first time he saw boobs, maybe not as much, but it's in the range. 

“Yes, I'm gonna hand him over right now,” JJ grins and hands the phone to Pope. You don't understand why Pope hangs out with his friends, most of them aren't really who you would expect him to be friends with, but you don't want to judge him, or them, too much because truly you only know the rumors. 

“Hi, Pope?” you ask after a low “m-hm” came through the speaker. “It's y/n, uhm, I wanted to ask if you could come by the pharmacy and help me out.”

“Why are you at the pharmacy?” Pope hates the fact that his brain doesn't work as well when he's drunk or hungover. 

“I'm trying to buy the morning after pill, just to be sure, you know, but I don't have enough cash and their card scanner is broken,” you whisper into your phone, not wanting the pedestrians to hear what you were about to do. 

“I can be there in ten,” Pope replies while sitting up, but he feels like he's about to empty his stomach on the floor boards as soon as he's steady in his seat again. “Maybe fifteen,” he breaks out before managing to run into the bathroom and throwing the phone back to JJ. 

“He'll take twenty, looks pretty nasty. Sorry ‘bout that,” JJ tells you, and you nod patiently. 

“Okay, I'll just wait here. I'm sorry about the- Anyway,” you sigh. 

“So, is he, like, freaky? ‘Cause it's Pope and-” JJ starts, but you hit red faster than he can finish his sentence, not wanting to think about what you had done the night prior. 

It takes Pope thirty minutes to get ready and look at least somewhat respectable when he gets to you. He's wearing light gray jeans shorts and a dark green cut-off shirt, paired with some sunglasses. You can't believe that, even hungover, he looks hotter than you want to imagine at the moment. 

“Sorry, I got here as fast as I could manage,” he apologizes, and you nod, not knowing what exactly to say. 

“I'm ten bucks short, and she was already judging, so I didn't wanna ask to pay later and-” You stop when you feel his hand on your shoulder, but it's gone as quick as he placed it. 

“Sorry. It's okay, that's all I wanted to say. I'm gonna pay for it, was my fault after all,” Pope gives you a tight-lipped smile.

The pharmacy is cold compared to the heat outside, but the judgmental glare the lady behind the counter gives you is worse than the shudder that is going down your spine while standing right under the AC. She hands you the pill, explains the usage and Pope pays, refusing you to pitch in. It's almost like waking up from a fever dream when you walk back out. 

“That was horrible,” Pope sighs, heading for the small corner store. “Come on, you need something to drink.” 

“I think I'm better going home,” you mumble and something inside him clicks, how nervous you had been last night, much like him. 

“I wanted to talk a bit, make sure you're okay,” he says quietly, holding a hand out for you, and your heart makes the choice to take it before your mind can tell you otherwise. 

He takes you into the store, asking you all kinds of questions, like what your favorite snack is, and your favorite drink, and once you're done you have a bag full of stuff that you didn't even ask for. It feels like he is trying to make it up to you. 

So, when you sit down on an old pier, looking out onto the sea, you can only hope that this isn't just what he always does. 

“You know, you didn't have to do all this. I'm okay on my own,” you tell him and turn to look at him, but he's already looking at you. Admiring how pretty you look with the soft glow of the setting sun shining on your skin. 

Pope doesn't get confused often, but he does feel a sense of insecurity when it comes to how his body feels when looking at you. Sure, you have always been pretty, beautiful even, and he likes the jokes you make in class and how quick you are with your answers to difficult questions, but he has never paid as much attention to you as he does now. 

“Do I have something on my face?” you ask, and he shakes his head. 

“No, you're just really pretty,” he sighs contently, before realizing what he said and shaking his head as if to clear his mind. “I'm sorry, that wasn't-”

“Pope, it's okay,” you smile at him, taking his hand and drawing his eyes back to you. 

“I've never done this before,” he gulps. 

“Bought Plan B? Me neither,” you giggle, and he thinks it's his new favorite sound. 

“No, all of this. You're probably gonna think I'm fucking you over when I say this, but as embarrassing as it is to admit with the circumstances, this was my first time,” he speaks quietly and your eyes widen. 

“Your- I thought you and your friend-” your words get stuck in your throat. 

“No, she broke it off before anything could happen, and I'm glad she did.” He smiles, but it looks like he's still hurt by it. “You?”

“Not the first, but I don't have any more comparisons to make here,” you laugh because it feels like a sick joke. “At least your friend isn't as much of an ass like my ex.” 

“I'm sorry,” Pope says, and you feel like he truly does care. 

“It's okay,” you tell him and take the small package in your hands. The instructions the lady gave you are the same as on the manual inside. 

“Bottoms up?” you tell Pope and hold your soda out, making him clink his can against yours. The pill goes down smoothly, but you're unsure if it was even necessary. 

“You'd think there would be more foolproof ways to this than… all that,” you sigh and point at the world around you. 

“What do you mean?” Pope asks, taking another sip of his soda. 

“Even if you do everything right, life can still fuck you over. You can play by all the rules, be a perfect little angel to the world, and still lose.” 

“You mean, like chaos theory?” Pope ponders.

“Maybe. I'm not sure. It's just not fair and shit keeps happening and just for once I would like it to go not wrong,” you sigh exasperatedly. 

“Maybe it doesn't have to,” he mumbles, and a small smile creeps into his face. Pope is aware of the comedy of the situation, to suggest you start dating after hooking up is probably one of the craziest things he has ever done, right after drunkenly hooking up with you and not being able to remember it. Yet, you are his favorite lab partner, and he likes your brains and your smile and how you are really not shy when you know you're right. 

“What are you proposing?” you ask, and he beams at you. 

“Would you go out with me?” 

You nod, hesitantly at first, but with every move of your head you get more confident in your choice. “I'd love to.” 

please don't copy and/or post my work onto other platforms! ~e©ho

taglist: @redhead1180 @spideysimpossiblegirl @drwstarkeyy @princessmaybank @ijustwantttoread @kys4-20 @immyowndefender @julczimozart @m2m2m2 @mochimms @itsme-again @maybankslover

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest.

Tonight Isn't The Night

Day #7 - Prompt: Celebrate Good Times, C'mon | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Language | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Older Steddie, Man Plans and God Laughs, Grand Romantic Gesture

Eddie wants it all to be perfect. This has been a long fucking time coming, and if he fucks it up at the last second, he'll never forgive himself. Jeff and Goodie are playing chauffeur, picking Steve up at the airport under an elaborate ruse.

They're supposed to keep him busy, and then drop him off at the arena to meet up with Eddie, pre-show. Eddie rented an event space, and Gareth is helping him try to get it ready.

Eddie planned all of this. 

But Eddie's nervous. 

Gareth is crawling around the room, stringing lights so it'll be romantic, and Eddie's gonna owe that kid. That kid is forty, and a dad to two, but still. Crawling on the floor sounded like hell on Eddie's worn-out body, so Gareth had gotten down and was doing it without complaint.

They don't have time to complain. Not when Steve will be at the arena in t-minus two hours. And Eddie will need to be there, if he doesn't want Steve to realize something is up. 

Eddie watches Gareth crawl out from under a table, and Eddie wishes he was still that goddamn spry. He used to be. He used to be made of elastic, Uncle Wayne always said so. But those days, and those muscles, are long gone, eaten away by bats over two decades ago.

Eddie's hip is killing him today. As if the Upside Down has decided to rear its ugly head again, just because he's so fucking happy. It's bullshit. 

He doesn't want to take anything that might dim his memory, not today, so he takes three ibuprofen and calls it good. That will have to do. 

The ring is burning a hole in his pocket. He keeps palming it, checking, double-checking, just to make sure it's still there.

It is. 

The small box, hard against his thigh.

He's gonna ask tonight. After the show, when they're alone. He's gonna take him back to this venue, take him up on the roof and while meteors fall from the sky, he's gonna ask Steve to marry him. 

When Jeff opens the door, he's making a face that Eddie doesn't understand, not until he sees Steve.

Steve's in a bad mood, a terrible one, actually, and Eddie cups his hand over the ring box. Tonight isn't the night. Goddammit. When Steve stomps off to the bathroom, Eddie fishes the box out of his jeans pocket, and tucks it into his jacket.

"What are you gonna do now?" Gareth asks, in an alarmed whisper. 

Nothing. He'll do nothing. 

He'll listen to Steve rant and rave. He'll be here, and present, not at all thinking about the thousands of twinkling lights or meteors up above.

It's not the night. 

After the show, Steve's still pissy. The ride back to the hotel is filled with Steve bitching and moaning, and Eddie knows better than to try and offer any suggestions, not while Steve's like this. This is just venting, and if anyone knows about venting, it's Eddie. He's made it an art form over the years.

But right now, it's Steve's turn. 

And Eddie listens.

Steve's mid-rant, when he looks out the window, "Hey. Shooting star."

Then, "Oh. Another."

"There's a meteor shower tonight," Eddie explains. 

"And you didn't make plans to view it?" Steve asks, because he knows Eddie, and this is a thing they've done dozens, maybe hundreds, of times over the past two and half decades. 

"Well, a little, but you're not in the mood for that tonight," Eddie says, trying not to sound disappointed. 

He isn't.

No, he is. He really is. But he understands. Life doesn't always go your way. Some days, you're nearly eaten by bats. Others, your marriage proposal gets scrapped. Eddie's used to be fucked by life, well and good and raw, by now. 

Steve looks over at him, "I'm not in that bad of a mood. We can still look at the sky," Steve offers, and Eddie would like that. He really, really would. But he can't take Steve there. It's too much, too over the top, and he'll immediately suss out what was really on the agenda for the night. Then he'll beat himself up for ruining it. 

So, no. They can't go there.

They end up out in the parking lot of the hotel, sitting in a patch of grass that Eddie's pretty sure other people probably let their dogs piss in. But Steve's leaning against him, and that's always gonna make for a nice night.

It's quiet, and peaceful, neither of them saying a word, until Steve suddenly says, "We should get married."

And Eddie nearly chokes. 

"What, you don't want to?" Steve questions.

"Steve Harrington, I'm gonna kill you, and then I'm gonna marry you. No, I'm gonna marry you, and then I'm gonna kill you. I had a whole night planned. And then, well," Eddie says, waving his arms around Steve's head. "Pissy. So. Postponed."

Steve is just looking at him.

Eddie keeps ranting, mocking, "We should get married."

Steve smiles, and Eddie digs in his jacket pocket, handing over the velvet box, "Here. We're engaged."

Steve throws back his head and laughs, absolutely delighted and it's contagious. Eddie has to laugh, too. He's not mad. He's frustrated. 

He's in love, and not even a little surprised. Nothing ever goes his way. He has the opposite of the Midas touch. 

Except. He gets to love Steve Harrington. 

And that's a pretty big win.

After a beat, Eddie says, "Please don't tell Gareth that this happened in the hotel parking lot. He crawled all over, stringing lights, and I'll never hear the end of it."

Steve laughs, and then kisses him, "I'll never tell."

And he doesn't. There's an elaborate romantic story that's fed to Gareth and the public, but it's not the truth. Not a word.

But that's okay. That just means the real deal is only theirs. 

A secret between them, the stars, and the dog piss-soaked grass. 

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @corrodedcoffinfest and follow along with the fun! 🦇

[jeff-from-marketing]

Hey it's been a hot minute, I'm gonna go off about Helldivers 2 for a bit, because the whole thing fascinates me.

Funnily enough it's not even the actual game itself that truly fascinates me, as great as it is. I do genuinely think that, while not perfect, it's a very solid game that knows what kind of experience it wants to deliver, and does a fantastic job delivering on it. The Starship Troopers-esque satire is hilarious, and I love how much the gameplay reinforces that satire through things like reinforcements canonically being a whole new Helldiver sent into the meat grinder, and that the mission still counts as a celebrated victory even if you never make it back alive. I could even talk about how the objectively clunky system for calling in orbital support is actually a positive for the game, but only this game and the type of experience it's selling.

But none of that is what fascinates me about this game so much. Because y'see, I played the first Helldivers game, and it was also a great bit of fun! It's actually why I was interested in the second one to begin with. But I also know that the first Helldivers was not a very wide reaching game, none of Arrowhead's games have been. They've not done poorly by any means, they're still in business and have been for over a decade now. But they've always been fairly niche affairs. Until now. To really sell the picture, I wanna rattle off player counts for their previous games:

Magicka in 2011, Arrowhead's first big game and published by Paradox, had an all-time max player count of 11,727 players according to SteamDB. I don't believe it was on any other storefronts, but I could be mistaken. A quick wikipedia visit tells me that the game sold roughly a million units over a year which, again, not bad! Especially for a game that is admittedly fairly unusual, but is a lot of fun!

The Showdown Effect in 2013, which I only just found out about right now after double checking my numbers, had a all time high of just 3,284 according to SteamDB, and is now delisted from Steam. Though apparently there's a remake from another company happening? There's a lot less info on this one in general.

Gauntlet in 2014, this one I do know a bit more about since I also played this one. A remake of the original 1985 game, and was a good bit of fun as well! This one is trickier to get an accurate player count reading, because it did have a PS4 release and those are harder to find numbers for. Regardless, it was also on Steam, so therefore I can use those numbers at least, which gives me a max consecutive player count of 12,730. I don't know how much PS4 factored into this.

And now we get to the real interesting one: Helldivers 1. Again, this is tricky because not only was it on console, but it was actually on console before it was ever on PC, which heavily skews numbers. SteamDB has the peak at just 6,744, but this doesn't sit right with me. I've seen estimates of 50k people around the place, some say 35k, but never a solid source. It's also very difficult to search atm because of how much Helldivers 2 is blowing up. Speaking of...

So Helldivers 1 is their most popular game, and I'll be generous and say that the 50k count is the accurate one. So surely Helldivers 2 can't be that much more- oh I'm not even going to pretend, you already know what's going on here. The game has reached ~450k concurrent players just on Steam alone! And the game also exists on PS5, and if I recall correctly: there's official statements saying that the player counts are roughly equal with each other. That means a peak of ~900,000 individual players. To illustrate how bonkers batshit insane that is, motherfucking Fortnite has a current consecutive player count of roughly one million.

Let me reiterate: a game that came out of basically nowhere with little marketing, from a small studio with only about 100 employees, is rivaling the juggernaut that is fucking Fortnite. That is insane.

As someone who has played all of Arrowhead's previous games besides The Showdown Effect, this is bonkers. There's a reason the sentiment was "there's no way to have predicted this" when the servers were at their worst, because look at the previous data! How is anyone supposed to predict a sequel to a niche game (from a company very few people have heard about) to get a ~1800% increase in max player count? Their initial server capacity was 250k, which would've been very optimistic if you were just going by Helldivers 1 numbers. But then that wasn't enough. And then 360k wasn't enough. And then 450k wasn't enough. We're now at 700k server capacity and just finally getting things under control. This game just exploded in a way no one could have reasonably predicted. And I have no idea why this is the case either.

I'm not saying it's not deserved; it absolutely is! Like I said, game is great, and there's not even any shitty business practices I can bitch at this time! It's just so sudden and out of nowhere that it baffles me. Such a small percentage of these players would've even heard of the first game, let alone played it. It didn't have a massive marketing campaign, this is pretty much all spread through word of mouth, which is insane in its own right. It's not even like the game is entering an untapped market, it shares its existence with games like Deep Rock Galactic, Vermintide, Darktide, the actual Starship Troopers game, probably some others I'm forgetting. And yet, despite all of this, it breached containment something fierce. I don't have a big conclusion to make from all this, I'd love to be able to say "oh people are just getting tired of Triple A- oh I'm sorry, Quadruple A gaming and this is a breath of fresh air" and it is that, as was Baldur's Gate 3, but I'm not naive enough to think that's the main reason. Not when so many other great games continue to go undiscovered, and so many people still end up buying whatever the next big Triple A thing is. It's a great game to play with friends, and there's a lot going for it and a lot of charm, but such is also the case for the other games I already listed in this paragraph and they don't see the same popularity.

Whether it's just dumb fucking luck, or a really oddly specific set of circumstances at play that I can't see, I'm just dumbfounded and flabbergasted. But I'm not exactly gonna complain. It's fun getting sent into the meat grinder to spread Managed Democracy, and I'm glad the game is doing as well as it is, though I do hope that the devs get to have a bit of rest once the dust finally settles a little bit.

[psychesalcove]

For the 100 event could I request Leo with the prompt: ֶָ֢”I’ve been trying to get ready for like an hour and a half, because i know you're going to look so good and I need to try and match up” :D

✧.* leo valdez x fem reader

my posts are completely race and body type friendly (unless stated in title) so no descriptive words here of someone's skin tone or body shape!! feel free to interact:)

part of psyches, 'in memory of those who chose the sea' event

-> want to participate in the event?

an: thanks for requesting my love!! i love this prompt with leo so so much oh my gods. i also made this a fem reader, so i hope none of you mind. love ya 🩷🫶🏻

you stood infront of the mirror on the wall as you double checked your makeup and hair. leo and you are heading out soon to meet the rest of the seven for dinner at some college restaurant–bar that percy recommended.

well, you would be on your way, if leo wasn't still in the bathroom.

you brushes a light finger over your cheek to level out your blush more before yelling out to leo. 'leo baby! we need to leave soon if we wanna meet them in the parking lot,"

all you got in response: muffleed sound of shuffling and something falling off of the counter in the bathroom. and, leo yelping. you rolled your eyes affectionately at him, pulling out your phone from your purse to quickly text the group chat that you'll be a couple minutes late.

after you made sure the text went though, you walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. knowing leo was always okay with you coming in, you opened the door and was met with quite the sight.

skincare products were all over the counter; along with hair gels, brushes, and even some makeup. you opened your mouth and blinked at the sight. leo grinned sheepishly at you. 'hi amor. i promise that i'll clean up the mess,' he said, eyes flickering over to the counter.

'hon, what are you doing?' you laughed, stepping more into the room. your eyes drifted over to leos hair; which was covered in hair gel. 'leo!' you gasped. 'love, what were you trying to do?' you laughed again, taking account of the amount of gel in his curls.

'amor,' he wined. 'stop making fun of me,' he turned on the sink and cupped his hands to collect water in them.

'i'm not making fun of you, love. just wanna know what you're doing,' you giggled, watching him as he dumped water onto his brown curls and started working the water though the hair. 'so, what are you doing?' you repeated.

'baby, i've been trying to get ready for like an hour n' half because i know you're going to look so good and i need to try and match up,' he explained focus still on working the water through his hair.

your heart midly felt like exploding from the confession. 'hon, you realize that i think you're the most handsome person i've ever seen, why would i need you to match up with me?' you asked as you moved to assist leo with his hair.

leo whined again. 'amor, i love you, but please,' he said, leaning into your touch. 'both of us know you're the more attractive out of us,'

'leo, do you not realize how many girls stare at you in public on a daily basis?' you asked, finally getting the rest of the gel out of his hair.

he tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy. 'nah, they're all looking at you amor,' he said, waving his hand in dismissal to your statement. you shook your head at leo not believing you, knowing every word you said was true; girls were all over him.

you kissed his cheek. 'we'll talk when we get home, we're gonna be late to dinner' you said as you grabbed a towel from a shelve and starting drying his hair in quick motions. once you were done, you kissed his lips with a quick peck before walking out.

you grabbed your purse as leo got the car keys, both of you making your way to the door. 'leo don't forget your flannel, you're gonna get cold if you don't bring it; like last time,' you scolded.

[respectthepetty]

Pit Babe Colors Ep. 12 The Black Parade Episode

I'm challenging myself with this show and seeing how good my color skills really are, so I'm doing my normal thing of watching it double-speed on mute, but now, the captions are off also. It's just colors and vibes here. Y'all done told be EVERYTHING, so I know the entire plot now.

THAT WAS A TEAR! KENTA IS CRYING!

I thought it wasn't just sweat last week but knowing he is actually crying as he thinks about their past did immediate damage to me, and now they are ALL standing there in the dark with Way and Pete highlighted by the blue, and, and, and . . . Kentana are you gonna die? You and Waymond are stressing me the fuck out!

Now that I know they are both enigmas, I can't see them the same. Are they using their superpowers on each other right now? Are they reading each other's minds? Are they trying to figure out how to get Kentana back, so they can make this poly?

Kentana, how many times are you going to have this man spit in your face before you realize that he ain't shit? Go to your room, turn on Billie Eilish's "Happier Than Ever" and really hear it. "Never told anyone anything bad cause that shit's embarrassing. You were my everything, and all that you did was make me fucking sad."

The blue keys in front of the red product placement is all I need to be reminded that this show refuses to allow me peace.

Shocking absolutely fucking nobody, Kentana did not listen to "Happier Than Ever"

And now someone is gonna die because there are only so many ways for you and Waymundo to redeem yourselves, and if you have Jeffrey in all black, I'm worried it's gonna be your funeral we will be planning next, Kentana.

There is one episode left and I am death gripping the one time Vegas' Hedgehog wore blue because I will never get it again. I hate them.

Real question: Is Barbie pregnant? I know he is sad Charles is "dead" *eye roll* but he is taking pills, getting fruit thrown at him, and staring out into space. I would love to believe he is going through his Edward-left-Bella-so-she-was-super-duper-sad era, but now that I know pregnancy is on the table, that's all I can see.

Oh, thank goodness! Someone actually has a tracker on his phone! But Kimberly has been kidnapped, caught up in human trafficking, and is now beating up children. Bro, what was your life before it all went to shit? Do you ever call your mom and tell her these are your friends now? Are you even still racing? Nevermind. Go catch those kids.

The problem with black is the shades. Waymond's jacket looks green. Peter's pants look blue. And yet it still feels like we are preparing for a funeral. A real one this time. Not fake like someone else's *cough* Charles *cough*

Kentana, are you betraying Jeffrey as Big Red watches? Or are you asking him how Peter's been? Has he been well, without you? Is he dating anyone? What is his status with Way? Well, Jeffrey wouldn't know, but Peter x Waymond could be poly if you get out of that fucking house and stop kidnapping people!

Going from Kentana in that House of Horrors to Pete looking like this makes me understand why Kentana is out there kidnapping people. I'd feel some type of way too if my childhood crush looked like this and was getting chummy with a dude who looked like Way Way. Damn.

What the hell is this?! The cover of a boy band album? A meeting to discuss poly? The Thai version of Barbie where Ken(tana) explains why he won't leave the Mojo Dojo Casa House? AND WHY ARE ALL OF YOU WEARING BLACK?! Someone is gonna die.

Did Big Red know Kentana went to see Barbie and the other Kens?! Was he sent there by Big Red?! Kentana is really breaking my heart on his knees hugging this man like this. I want to slap Kentana all the time, but I also want to hug him and tuck him into bed with a moon nightlight calmly lighting up the room.

Let's stick him in a video game, so he can learn to love himself.

Push him down the stairs, Kentana! Do it. PLEASE! Shoulder check his ass at least.

Oh Lord, NO! Waymond, do not take a fucking bullet for anyone. You canNOT die by Whiny Winifred's bullet. I refuse to let you go out like that. You finally used your powers for good, but this is not the time to die.

Y'ALL DIDN'T EVEN GRAB THE BAG!

This is Mission Kim Possible all over again! How do you not grab the damn bag?! Waymundo looks so damn good in his suit, so thank God he is still alive, but what the fuck guys?! One job! SECURE. THE. BAG.

I hate how good everyone looks in black because I keep swinging through emotions. I'm terrified for everyone yet very attracted to everyone. All the guys connected to Big Red have been in black this episode regardless if it was their color or not, so I'm hoping that means the funeral will be Big Red's.

A cult meeting, in this economy? Villains make the dumbest decisions.

Waymond has some white on . . . over black. Please Mary, mother of God, do not let him do something stupid.

Alan, did you just say "eff them kids"? No. Not my Alan. He'll be back for them. Right. Right?

Peter is gonna Regina George his way into this Halloween party that he was not invited to just to cause some havoc. Mad respect.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!

How the hell did Charles get there?! Did Barbie's dad tell him to go to the cult meeting? Dressed like that though? Did his spidey sense go off? So many questions, but all I know is Kentana better let them go, so he doesn't have to die.

Whiny Winifred better not get better at aiming in the final episode because I still need both of these two to wear blue TOGETHER.

WAYMOND, NO!!!!!!!!!!

Good to know it only took being kidnapped twice and (possibly) someone dying for Jeffrey to finally commit to the blue.

My nerves are wrecked. There was too much black this episode. Someone is going to die, and as much as I want it to be Big Red, I just don't feel good that Kentana is still on his bullshit, and Waymond keeps jumping in front of guns. Peter needs both of his boyfriends to live.

Also, Barbara, I already know you are immediately going to hug Charles next week, instead of having a moment to be pissed all the way off at him like you should be, so I'm going to start meditating on that right now. I've been mad at Charles the entire season, so I'll hold this grudge for both of us in the finale.

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

Box Of Wishes

Summary: Brain refuses to come up with something decent, let alone translate it, so this is basically everyone’s wish: Threesome with Drilla and Clark.

Pairing: Drilla Moloney x F!Reader x Clark Connors

Warnings: +18, smut, threesome, mixed feelings (because c’mon, it’s a threesome), adult language, explicit sex scenes, anal sex, double penetration, vaginal sex, mutual masturbation, oral sex.

Tags: @theworldofotps , @writtingrose , @daddyhausen , @melissahausen , @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin , @sophiewolfheart-blog , @sultryfandoms , @new-zealand-chic , @crowleysqueenofhell , @thealliasylum , @legit9thlunaticwarrior , @mjfass , @josiewrites , @seeingstarks , @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch , @whenimakeitshine1234 , @moxkindagirl , @sunshinevirus , @im-just-a-mississippi-girl , @ripleyswhore , @brideofinfamy

Your eyes stared at the small wooden box with uncertainty. It sounded like a good plan - under the influence of honeyed whiskey - but now, in your sober state of mind, you weren’t sure anymore.

“Dan, this is stupid. I don’t think we should do this” You sighed, leaning back to rest on the couch. An annoyed grunt escaped your lips once you remembered everything you wrote in there. Why did my drunk ass think it would be a good idea to write down every secret sex fantasy I’ve ever had? You thought to yourself as Dan’s hand came to rest on your thigh.

“C’mon, Munkie. This could be fun” He smiled, “Don’t give up that fast. Let’s see what comes out of it and then we’ll talk about it. What do you say?”

“I think it’s unfair that only my fantasies are in there”

“Well, that’s because you feel embarrassed to tell me what you want, Munks. I want you to feel comfortable enough to say what you’re in the mood for. I don’t like to think that I'm the only one getting satisfied in this relationship”.

“But you’re not, Dan! I like everything we do-”

“Yeah, but we’re only doing what I want to do, and that’s not how this works!” Dan’s lips came to rest upon your cheek, “C’mon, Munkie, let me see what you’ll draw”.

With one last deep breath, your hand sank inside the small box. The several pieces of paper tickled your fingertips, matching the light scraping of Dan’s beard against your jawline. It was a nice distraction that unfortunately didn’t last that long.

“Oh fuck, no. No, no, no, no!” Your eyes widened in shock. Your legs had a mind of their own, quickly dragging you away from Dan and the couch.

“What is it?” He asked with a concerned frown. “Munkie, what’s wrong?”, after only silence answered him back, Dan swiftly caught the piece of paper - that fell upon the ground - in his hand and it took him a few seconds to process what was written.

Threesome w/ Clark was scrambled with pink ink on the white paper. He’d done this before with Clark, but it was usually with one-night stands where feelings were the last thing involved. But this was you, his little munkie. Dan had a lot more to lose if things went wrong, but at the same time, he felt it was unfair to say no. This was your first fantasy, the first time you agreed to share it with him - even if through a piece of paper.

“Mun-mun, come here” Dan pats the seat beside him, “Let’s talk about it, love”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Dan! We’re not gonna do it!”

“Love, it’s-”

“Save it, Moloney! The answer is no!”

Your eyes stared intently at the four cans of Coke you managed to drink in the last 10 minutes. That was the first rule: everyone needed to be sober. Your hands shook, but you were uncertain if it was due to nervousness or the caffeine.

“Do you think I should take another shower?” You asked while trying to sniff your armpit

Dan held back a chuckle as he stood up from the armchair by the window to make his way toward you on the hotel’s bed. “I don’t know, let me check” He spoke as seriously as he could. Dan’s nose followed an invisible line from your upper arm to your neck, where he took a deep breath in before teasing your pulse point with his teeth.

“You smell divine” He whispered in your ear “Kinda makes me want to start without him”.

That was the second rule: everything would start once all three of you were in the same room.

Dan’s lips traveled from your ear to your cheek, and then finally to your lips. His teeth playfully nibble on your bottom lip, tugging and pulling until he captures the flesh with his lips. His arms circled your waist, pulling you closer to his body. Your lower belly pressed against his half-hard cock, and a small huff escaped your lips when he slapped your ass.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to start anything until I got here” Clark spoke from the door, his voice coated with amusement.

Dan’s unsatisfied grunt echoed in the room as he pulled away from your lips “I didn’t start anything! I was just kissing my girlfriend…can I at least do that?”

With a humorous smile, Clark closed the door behind him. “Sure, suit yourself!”. Settling his wallet and phone on top of the bedside table, Clark’s eyes met yours over Dan’s shoulder. The light blue slowly shifted to a darker color the more he watched Dan’s head burying on your neck.

Clark sat on the bed, taking off his snickers and throwing it by the door before pulling himself far back on the bed until his back rested against the headboard. Blue eyes stared intently as Dan pushed you down on the bed. “Forget that he’s here for now” The dark-haired man whispered in your ear when you stiffened once Clark’s hand brushed your hair away from your face.

“Just focus on me, Munkie. Pretend it’s just the two of us, ok?” Dan softly whispered, pulling away from your lips after you nodded in agreement. “Tell me what you want, Munks”, his gruff voice stated, eyes searching for an answer right before you said, “I wanna taste you. I miss having your cock in my mouth”.

“Fuck, love. If we’re gonna go down that road, I won’t last much”.

Dan’s upper body rested against the headboard, much like Clark’s - who still watched you from the side. Your nails softly scratched up and down Dan’s muscular thighs, a soft hiss escaping his lips as you sucked on his tip.

“Oh fuck me, so fucking good” He bites his knuckles in an attempt to gain some self-control back as you kept staring at him with his cock in your mouth. “Fuck, you drive me mad. So fucking mad!” Dan snarled, tugging on your hair as you giggled.

Clark understands the appeal now. You are a beautiful woman, but Clark never really understood why Dan spoke so highly of your sex skills whenever he was insanely drunk. You seemed innocent, a casual lay. Intimate but quite boring if he was honest with himself, Clark often called it “safe sex”, you just go with someone who will offer you good sex, not mind-blowing but ‘ok for a Friday night’ sex. Nothing crazy, just that simple casualty that satisfies you for a while.

You weren’t the typical “hot gym girl”, the ones Clark would go for quite often, but you were…bland? He felt like it wasn’t the best description, it sounded mildly offensive somehow. Maybe because it was you? Clark likes you, you’re his best friend’s woman - a woman he was for some reason dying to fuck right now - but Dan’s girl no matter what. You’re a kind person, truly a sweetheart, you are fun, smart, and looks-wise you are very beautiful, however, there is an innocence that shields your womanly beauty. To Clark you were beautiful, in an “I’ll put her in a tiny jar” kinda way, not in a “I wonder what is like to fuck her” way. So the countless times he spent hearing Dan praise you as a sex goddess incarnated were confusing, “must be the alcohol” Clark thought to himself whenever Dan started his monologues of how his ‘little mouse ruined him for any other woman’. Drunks tend to tell the truth, Clark knows that, but he also knows they tend to exaggerate reality. So he didn’t think much of it, a part of him felt curious as to how much of that was true, a matter that never got fully discussed because sober Dan threatened to punch Clark in the face if he ever dared to speak of you like that.

“But you were the one who told me those things yesterday!” Clark always pinpointed the obvious.

“I was drunk, very needy, incredibly horny, and emotionally vulnerable! It was your job to not pay attention to one single word I had to say! I was just venting” Was Dan’s typical answer.

But now, as Clark stares at you between Dan’s thighs, he finally gets it. You are a devil sent, a vixen able to murder a man with only a look. The giggles that escaped your lips every time Dan slapped your face, the way your ass wiggled in the air with excitement, the eagerness you exude to have Dan’s cock back in your mouth, the way you smile every time he calls you his “good little bitch”, has Clark’s cock painfully hard in his white boxer briefs.

He’s never been with a woman like you, so powerful, so hypnotic, so confident. It was driving him insane. A primal part of Clark has been awoken. He needs to have you…he needs to have you right now.

So sweet, so addictive…your taste, your little moans, the way you pushed yourself against his face. Clark’s hands closed around your hips, pulling you further back into his face.

“Oh my god” You moaned softly, pulling away from Dan’s cock to rest your face against his thick thigh.

“What’s wrong, Munkie? Does it feel too good?” Dan chuckled, his hand pushing your hair away from your face as you stared up at him.

“Yes, sir. So good” You replied weakly, leaving small butterfly kisses on his shaft - that rested against your cheek.

“Fuck, you look so fucking gorgeous like this” Dan praised, pushing your hair away from your face as your eyes closed from pleasure.

Clark pulled his head away from your core, backing up from between your thighs to watch your reaction to his fingers traveling up and down your folds. His thumb drew lazy circles around your clit, keeping you on edge as his middle and ring finger slowly entered your pussy. He watched you gasp loudly before your lips opened wide to secure Dan’s cock back in your mouth.

It was a hypnotic sight, Dan was solely focused on you while you were completely focused on the sensations. Clark couldn’t stop staring at you, his fingers slowly changed in pace and pressure, he was testing all the little things that made you moan louder, frown deeper, and beg for more. Clark was reveling in the feeling of having so much power over you, of how expressive your body was and how much it would silently tell him everything he needed to know. There was no over-the-top moaning, no character being played, no attempt to be “the best fuck he’s ever had”, no fake orgasms, no need to impress him with crazy positions and tricks.

It was simply pleasure in its rawest, purest, deepest, and most sincere form. And that’s what made this experience so carnal and desire-driven to him, the raw honesty of it all was the main cause for his uncontrollable need to feel you around him.

Blurry vision, dry mouth, hoarse voice, shaky limbs.

Devotion, need, fulfillment, desire, passion, pure instinct.

It felt like a dream, a dream he never wanted to end. Is this what sex supposed to feel like? This connection, the sensations…the feelings, the thoughts. Everything else seemed so shallow now compared to this.

The one-night stands lost their value, their fun, their distracting nature. They left his balls and soul empty, but this? Clark never felt so alive before in his life.

You were straddling Clark’s hips, facing him, his blue eyes stared directly into your soul, you were reveling in the feeling of his cock slowly sliding in and out of your pussy, going in the opposite direction of Dan’s movements.

Dan’s lips rested against your ear, hushed words escaping his lips. A secret, meant for only you to hear.

“You’re still mine, right, Munks? Only mine?”

You looked over your shoulder to the pair of dark orbs behind you. Your lips covered his in a passionate kiss, pouring every ounce of your heart into it, trying to express every emotion you felt with your lips, but still, it didn’t feel like enough.

You pulled yourself away from the boys, their confused frowns soon disappearing once you turned around in Clark’s lap to now face Dan.

You guided Clark’s cock into your ass this time, where Dan was minutes ago. You felt the rubber of the condom going in easily as Clark softly whispered “Oh my fucking God” from behind you.

With your eyes now staring at Dan, you guided his hand to your pussy, silently asking him to fill you up with his fingers, and he instantly did.

Your fist closed around his cock, gliding up and down his thickness. “I’m yours only. No one compares to you, no one can replace you” Was your answer. Your voice was hushed, mere above a whisper, mirroring Dan’s tone.

“Can we please never do this again? I don't think I have what it takes to do this again. Not with you…my feelings are too raw, too real, too deep. I can’t…I feel like I’m losing you”.

Your hands momentarily stopped stroking him and you asked with concern “Do you want to stop?”

Dan’s free hand closed around your fist as he guided your hand to continue to stroke him. “No” He answered with a reassuring smile, “I just don't want to share you with anyone else ever again”.

“Consider it done” You smiled back, moaning when the sync of his fingers and Clark’s cock became too much for you to bear.

“Are you gonna cum, Munkie?” Dan smirked upon seeing your half-open lids.

You nodded in agreement before Dan pulled you away from Clark to toss you on your back on the mattress.

“What the fuck, man?” Clark protested, eyes snapping open at the sudden lack of your warmth covering him.

“I want her to come in my mouth” Dan growled, his lips already hovering over your pussy. His tongue darted out, tasting your wetness.

“Didn’t you want to know how good at giving head she is?” Your boyfriend asked his best friend. “It’s time for you to find out, mate” Dan smirked, his lips already returning to his favorite place in the world.

Clark quickly removed the condom, throwing it somewhere over his shoulder. You eagerly licked his crown, earning a moan from the blonde man.

“So you were wondering all along?” You teased with a mischievous smile.

“Yeah,” The blonde man chuckled. “And I can’t wait to find out” His hands caressed your hair back so he could get a better glimpse at your face “But something tells me I won’t regret it, baby. If anything it’ll fuck me up” Clark’s throaty laugh died in his throat the minute your lips closed around his tip.

Yep, he was, beyond any reasonable doubt, completely fucked.

[a-mel0n]

This stupid "Your Name" Bucktommy AU won't leave my brain, and while I don't have enough faith in my writing skills to actually write the damn thing (and it would be my first fanfic... ever?? and that's a project that seems a bit too big for me lmao), I DID write down what I'm picturing some of the "rules" Buck and Tommy have for each other while in the other's body. Mostly just for fun. (Because Tommy would be switching in 2006, the iPhone does not exist yet, so all of his notes are written in an actual physical journal. All of Buck's notes would be on the Notes app of his phone)

TOMMY: 1) Evan, stop running into burning buildings when you don’t have to while in my body. If I wake up in a hospital bed for the fifth time this month, I might actually lose it.

its part of the job to save as many ppl as possible. also u don’t even feel the pain when i get injured in ur body.

You’re right, I don’t. Unfortunately, the pain from having a wooden beam fall on you doesn't just magically go away when we swap. Just... be more careful? Please?

fine. i’ll try and keep ur hospital visits to a minimum.

2) Can you stop flirting with people on calls? Or at the very least give them your number and not mine? In the last week alone my contact list has nearly doubled because you keep giving people my number. 

dude its not my fault you’re more popular while i’m you. just think of it as me being ur wingman! how u dont have a girlfriend is beyond me btw. hot chicks love firefighters and ur a good looking dude

Jesus Christ, Evan. For the last time, I’m single by choice.

3) Don’t shower while in my body

already dont

4) Don’t go to the bathroom while in my body 

done

5) In fact, unless you’re at work, don’t change any of my clothes while in my body. 

fair

6) Do you really need to spend so much of my paychecks on cooking supplies? I have enough pots and pans already. 

whats the point of a pantry if its half empty. be thankful ur getting actual food now via my leftovers instead of the utter tragedy that was the state of ur fridge when we first started swapping places.

7) Don’t make a scene while at work. 

your boss sucks ass and his stupid orders are going to get people killed. im not gonna listen to him if hes making bad calls while lives are on the line

Evan.

8) Don’t pick up the phone when my dad calls.

got it

BUCK: 1) quit going to eddie’s basketball pickup games. he keeps inviting me while i’m in my own body and its getting harder and harder to come up with excuses as to why i can’t go. it's kinda awkward.

I thought you’d be more grateful, Evan. You’re the coolest guy on the court when I’m you. 

2) are you making movie references when ur me? bc chim keeps asking when i got so “cultured” and the other day maddie asked when i watched the princess bride. 

You haven’t seen the Princess Bride? I’m leaving you a surprise for tomorrow. Check your couch when you wake up. 

did you spend my OWN money on a dvd??? i don’t even own a dvd player. i own every streaming service imaginable.

3) keep the finger guns to a minimum?? idk why you do them so much but both hen and chim have said smth abt it

4) if u get a call from someone called connor or kameron on my phone just let it go to voicemail its personal stuff and i'll deal with it

Evan, you could have told me you agreed to be a sperm donor yourself. Finding out because Connor and Kameron showed up at the fire house was more of a shock than finding out over these memos would have been. 

they did what?????

5) don’t talk to my parents

Done.

6) No rule about undressing? 

dude idc. i’m not gonna stop you from taking a piss in my body if u need to. as long as you like. don’t have sex with someone while you’re me? oh wait hang on i DO have a rule about undressing

7) DON’T HAVE ANY RANDOM HOOK UPS IN MY BODY. 

Wasn’t planning on it, but good to know. 

[brookediamonds]

like snow on the beach | dalton lambert x reader

gif is not mine

Summary: You and Dalton are hanging out like you normally do when you find out he has a muse when he creates. Heartbroken it isn't you, you spend the night pondering the last few months and how this will affect your future, possibly without him.

Warnings: None, fluff, angst, mutual pinning, Fem! Reader

Word Count: 2K

Song Inspo: snow on the beach by taylor swift

Dalton Lambert x Fem! Reader

I sat on Dalton's bed reading a new romcom book I picked up earlier as he continued to finish his art project that was due tomorrow.

Music played softly in the background as we dwelled into our hobbies while still enjoying each other's silent presence.

"Done," The artist stood in front of his now finished canvas looking over the assignment. Glancing up from my page, I admire the work he spent the last few days on.

"Wow," I stare at the painting in awe. The colors are bright and fiery the whole thing was eye-catching. "I don't think I've ever seen you use colors like those."

"I normally don't use such loud colors but," he looked over at me a grin breaking out on his face before facing the painting again. "I've been inspired lately."

Part of me is beaming but the other part of me is dying on the inside because who was inspiring the boy I grew to have a crush on?

"Oh," I nod shutting my book closed. Scooting down to the edge of the bed, I watch as Dalton continues to look over his project double checking it was to his liking.

"What's been inspiring you lately?" I gain the courage to ask careful not to use 'who.'

"A girl," he answers nonchalantly, his back still facing me.

I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. The last few months replayed in my mind, the longing stares, playful banters, late night study sessions, Sunday sundae's in the student lounge, had it all been in my head?

Were we just two friends hanging out to him?

"Lucky her," I breathe out. Before he can say anything else, I slip on my grey slippers and begin to stand up.

"I just remembered I need to turn this assignment in for English, it's due at midnight," I stammer out.

"Do you wanna use my laptop?" Dalton asks motioning over to the computer on his desk.

"N-No!" I reassure him quickly. "I have it saved it specifically in a folder on my laptop."

"Oh, okay, are you gonna come back so we can watch 'Suits?" He grins referring to our usual hangout routine. Last month we binged Better Call Saul, this month it's Suits.

I stood by his door with my hand on the handle ready to flee.

"Actually I feel a migraine coming on," I pretend to wince, pressing my palm to my forehead. "So I'm just gonna head to bed after I submit my paper."

"Do you want me to get you some ice and bring it to your room?" The boy frowns taking a step closer to me knowing my go to remedy was an ice pack.

"No, I just want to be in a dark room," I say quietly avoiding his gaze. To cry my heart out.

"Okay, well text or call me if you need something alright?" He reassures me. "Just down the hall."

Which was true, he was four dorms down the hall from me

I nod ready to walk when he suddenly took ahold of my wrist spinning me around to pull me into his chest. We never leave each other without a hug.

This was the hardest part, being in his warm embrace. It was strong and comforting, the way I can hear his heartbeat against his chest, how perfectly my body molds into his.

All of me is screaming to get away and run before you break down right here but the way he sway from side to side with his cheek pressed to the top of my head, I stay taking in this moment that could be the last.

"Is this helping?" Dalton whispers unaware of his words.

"I wish," I mumbled. It's making it worse.

Pushing him away, I turn away opening the door rather quickly, and walking out prepared to spend the rest of my night sulking in my bed.

-

Waking up the next morning I feel the pounding in my head erupt due to the amount of crying I did last night.

It didn't help that I watched 'P.S. I Love You' but sometimes you just need that extra push to get out that good cry.

"Here," my roommate Izzy holds out two pills of Tylenol for me with a bottle of water.

"How'd you know?" I mumble, half my face still in my pillow.

"The trash is filled with tissues and it smells like popcorn in here," she teases me. I grab the pills from her hand, sitting up in my spot to take the medicine.

"I thought you were staying at Jaime's," I recall her saying she was supposed to spend the night at her girlfriend's room since her roommate was gone for the weekend.

"I did, I forgot my insulin," she walks over to her mini fridge to grab her small bag of her prescription. "Why were you crying last night?"

Swallowing down the two pills, I wiped my mouth to prevent the excess water from dripping down my chin.

"Sad movie," I respond lamely, laying back against my pillows.

Izzy stood up from her place, watching me with careful eyes.

"You only watch a sad movie when you're already sad," she points out. Damn, she knew that? "What happened?"

I sighed scooting further down into my bed, not wanting to bring up last night events. I was being dramatic, I shouldn't be this emotional over someone.

Dalton didn't mean to intentionally hurt my feelings, so how could I be upset?

"I got my hopes up, like always," I responded crossing my arms over my chest.

"With Dalton?" She asked raising her eyebrows. I told her about the liking I had taken on the boy the second I got back from hanging out with him and Chris. "Did you tell him?"

"Not really," I mumble avoiding eye contact with her.

She places a hand on her hip giving me a knowing stare that I wanted to avoid.

"How can you get your hopes up if you haven't even told him how you feel?" Izzy states bluntly making me cringe.

"Its what he said last night," I sighed. "He painted a really beautiful picture of a garden with the sun, with all these bright and pretty colors."

Izzy walked over to my bed waiting for me to continue.

"Dalton doesn't use too much color when he creates, so when I asked why this time around, he said it's because someone inspired him," I explain reliving last night's events.

"So? That someone could've been anybody-"

"He said it was a girl," I say lowly looking to my right at the wall in front of me. Since becoming friends with Dalton, he's gifted me all sorts of drawings.

My favorite flower, peony, a portrait of Louis Armstrong because that's my favorite artist to listen to when I'm reading, and my personal favorite, a painting of me reading my favorite book.

"Was he looking at you when he said that?" My roommate asked a frown forming on her lips. I began to feel that heaviness on my chest again, this time I didn't need a movie help get out this cry.

"Nope," I confirmed for her, my eyes swelling with tears. "I left after that."

Before Izzy could respond, there's a knock at our door causing me to panic.

"I don't want to see anyone right now," I begged my friend. "Send whoever it is away."

Wiping away my stray tears, Izzy creaks the door open before looking over at me with a sheepish smile.

"I think you'll want to see this person," she says opening the door wider to reveal the boy I wanted to avoid.

"I brought you your favorites," Dalton gives me a small smile as he holds up an iced vanilla cold brew in one hand and a small bag in the other which I'm sure was the breakfast sandwich I always got at Starbucks.

Dalton used to give me a hard time about my Starbucks intake but after forcing him to try my favorites he understood why I was so broke all the time.

"Call me," Izzy mouthes to me before walking out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Dalton saunters over to me, handing me my items as I sit there dumbfounded at what my roommate just did.

"You feeling better this morning?" He asks taking a seat at my feet. "Was hoping the coffee would help."

"Yeah, I'm still not all there," I sniffle avoiding his gaze as I stir the sweet cream at the bottom to blend in with the cold brew.

"Sounds like you might have a cold," he reaches his hand out to press the back of it to my forehead then my cheeks. "Maybe we should-"

"Dalton," I cut him off removing his hand away from my face. "I'm not sick."

There's a pang of guilt in me when I see the look of hurt come across the boys face. He was just trying to help and I was being bitter.

"You can't help with this," I assure him quietly taking a sip of the drink in my hand. So good.

"Try me," the blonde pushes. I sigh looking him dead in the eye.

"I really like you, Dalton," I finally let out. "I like you like I'll let you have the last bite of this sandwich like you, I like you like I think of you in every love song Taylor Swift has ever wrote like you, I like you like I want to call you after any little exciting thing happens to me like you."

"I like you so much, and you told me another girl is inspiring you," I look down at my hands that were slowly growing cold due to the melting beverage in my hand.

Dalton falls silent for a moment making me sick to my stomach. I poured my truth out, that's all I can do. I probably just ruined everything. No more Friday show binging, no more Tuesday study sessions with Chris, no more of him picking off my food in the mornings.

It's all over.

"You didn't look at my painting very well," he finally breaks the silence. Looking up at him, I furrow my brows.

"What?"

"You are the girl," the corners of his mouth quip up. "You've been my inspiration since the first day Chris introduced us."

My breath hitches in my throat as I take a deep breath.

"I've been drawing peonies since I saw them on your phone case," he admits reaching out to tap the back of my phone.

I think back to the painting from last night and immediately recall the colors of different pinks splattered across the canvas below the bright orangey sun.

"Peonies are playful, beautiful, lively, and bashful, just like you," he says gently running his thumb over the top of my cheek. "Incase it isn't obvious already, I really like you too, (Y/n)."

Relief washes over me, a giddy feeling running through my veins instead.

"You think I'm beautiful?" I tease him tilting my head to the side. Dalton shakes his head biting back a grin.

"Playful," he refers back to the flower's characteristics.

He lays his palm flat against the side of my face making me lean into his touch.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks staring at me with adoration.

"Never ask again," I confirm for him before pressing locking my lips with his. I snake my free hand around the back of his neck pulling him closer to my body.

My heart sputters in my chest, as our mouths become familiar with one another's. His mouth still tasted minty from bushing his teeth not too long ago, while I'm sure mine tasted of coffee.

We pull away slowly, the tips of our noses still touching.

"You are so beautiful," he whispers confirming my question from earlier.

A warmth splays across my cheeks at his compliment, I smile widely leaning my forehead against his.

"I suddenly feel so much better," I quip up placing my arms over Dalton's shoulders.

"Good," he murmurs pressing a soft kiss to my forehead moving his hands to grasp my hips. "Because I'm taking you out for lunch."

"Why not dinner?" I chuckle at the unusual date time.

"Because we're doing what we should've done last night, tonight," he explains. "We are watching 'Suits' and eating candy as soon as we get back."

"Oh," I laugh realizing his plan.

"Does that sound good to you?" He asks bumping his head with mine.

"Sounds perfect."

[echobx]

Twin Flame 5 - pervy!bsf!JJ Maybank × pervy!bsf!fem!reader

summary: y/n opens up to possibilities, especially a future with JJ

word count: 1.7k

warnings: smut, p in v (protected), fluff, aftercare, soft/fluffy pda

author's note: why is there only one IKEA in NC???? and why is it so far away from the OBX????? let's pretend they have one closer to home all right bc IKEA is life

series masterlist ♡ part 1 ♡ part 2 ♡ part 3 ♡ part 4

   JJ didn't know why exactly you were mad at him for it all. He didn't understand why you had left to go inside, and he also didn't know why you had not come out yet when Cleo had. 

   “She good?” he asked her, and Cleo simply nodded. 

   “Needs time to think,” she smiled and sat back down next to Pope, his hand instantly on her waist to pull her closer. JJ couldn't help but look at them, the closeness and adoration so perfectly on display, without shame or guilt in any of it. 

   He wanted to go check on you, make sure you were alright, but he was too scared that something like last time could happen again. Losing you for good was something he knew he wouldn't survive. 

   But when you still hadn't come out after half an hour, he got scared and made his way towards you. 

   Knocking on the door, he gently pushed it open. You were lying on the bed, his shirt made you seem even smaller than you were, the way it engulfed your whole body, including your legs that you had tucked up under it. Your hands were placed over your closed eyes, not moving even an inch as he went to sit down by your side. 

   “I'm broken,” you mumbled, and he stroked over your hair like he'd done a million times before. 

   “You’re not broken, y/n,” he whispered to you, and you moved your hands just enough to glance up at him. 

   “How would you know that?” 

   “I just do,” JJ shrugged. 

   “You can't know that.” 

   “Of course I can. I know lots of shit about you.” 

   “That's not the same,” you shook your head and looked back down, eyes fixed on the hemline of his shorts. 

   “Why do you think you're broken?” JJ kept on caressing your hair, stroking over the back of your head. 

   “Because I don't know what love feels like. Because what Cleo said is normal, that's not special to me. It's never felt any different, not now, not before, not ever. She said it got more, bigger, but mine has always been the same. I have to be broken.” You are steadfast in your assumption. 

   “I don't know either. Sometimes I'm unsure if it's you or the bad food I had a day earlier,” JJ laughs and you snort. 

   “Dumbass.” 

   “We don't have to be sure about it for it to work. I'd rather do this with you forever than risk it with someone who's gonna run away as soon as I pull shit,” he told you, and it made sense to you. “You already are my partner in crime, always were.” 

   “What are we going to do then?” you asked, looking back up into his blue eyes. 

   “We start slow. I'll take you on a date, we see how it goes, and then we go from there.” 

   Three days later, you were to meet JJ at the beach. He had put together a small picnic, and he had waxed your board for you. The surfing part went smooth as ever, you were simply having fun with your best friend. And the date part wasn't too bad either. He had managed to get some actual food, had prepared sandwiches and even bought your favorite double chocolate chip cookies. 

   “So, did you like it?” JJ asked after you were done eating.

   “You are good at this, I have to admit,” you giggled and he blushed a little. 

   “I'll take the compliment.” 

   “But I do not understand why this is a requirement. Why do people do this?” you looked at him, genuine confusion displayed on your face. 

   “I guess they do it to get to know each other better. To have fun and be with another,” he shrugged, and you hummed for a while, unsure what to do next. 

   “You know my ex? He just- I don't know, we simply didn't do this stuff. And I definitely didn't love him. It was more like he wanted it, and I was bored, I guess.” You exhaled a deep breath. Your first and only relationship was just something that had happened to you, not that you had particularly wished it to or enjoyed it overtly. 

   “Are you bored now?” JJ asked in a low voice. 

   “Not really,” you shook your head and smiled. “I don't get bored with you. Never have.” 

   “That's good. I don't get bored with you, either.” 

   You left it at that, a picnic date and a bit of talking just to fall back into similar patterns as before. JJ was still not too fond of having to keep his affection a secret, but once in a while you allowed him to hug you in front of them, or kiss your head. Other than that, you kept to yourself. You enjoyed each other's bodies and only talked about feelings when there was nothing else to talk about, but you could always find something else to talk about. 

   “All right, I can't do it,” JJ exhaled loudly. 

   “What?” you were completely perplexed as he had interrupted your complaining over the latest reality TV show you found interesting. 

   “Either you talk to me about this, us, or you let me fuck your brains out.” He knew you'd go for the second one. He also knew that you really didn't care all that much about the show and were just trying to kill time and avoid the topic at hand. But it didn't bother him too much as long as he found himself balls deep inside your seeping cunt. 

   “Harder, JJ,” you moaned, and he followed at command, pounding into you with more force until you screamed into your pillow. But what happened next was not something he had anticipated. 

   The bed, your perfectly sturdy bed that had survived so many rounds of him destroying your pussy, was giving you its last breath, and with a loud crash the frame broke and you both fell down a bit. 

   “Shit,” JJ laughed, but he continued to fuck you. “You better come now, baby. Give it a last great hurrah.” He rasped into your ear after pulling you up and flush to his chest. 

   “Oh- You broke- Fuck- Broke my bed,” you spat out sporadically. But he didn't answer, he just snaked his hand down between your legs, rubbing your clit in the same rhythm as his dick kissed your g-spot. 

   “Wanna be a good girl and come for me?” he growled before pushing you down, his hand flat on your shoulder blades, pressing you into the sloped mattress and thrusting harsher while his fingers played with your clit. It was overwhelming how much he could do to you with a few words and a handful of mindfully placed strokes of his fingers. You came, crying out his name and falling limp under him, while he groaned and spilled his load into the condom. 

   “Never broken a bed before,” JJ’s laugh rumbled out his throat. He was sweaty and gorgeous, standing next to you because even though you wanted to get up, you really couldn't. 

   “You okay?” he asked, leaning down to brush sweaty strands from your face. 

   And when you didn't reply, he did what he knew to. Carrying you into the bathroom and sitting you down on the toilet while he let the shower heat up. By the time he helped you into the shower, you managed as much as to keep standing, even though that was also difficult. JJ found himself cleaning you up and littering you with kisses and praises until he thought it was sufficient. 

   “You broke my bed,” you laughed while watching JJ take the broken frame apart and place the mattress on the floor. 

   “We’ll just have to buy a better one. More sturdy. A bit bigger too maybe,” he smiled and kissed you. 

   That's how you found yourself hours from home scouring an IKEA for the perfect bed. JJ threw himself into each one they had on display, trying to really figure out how sturdy they were. 

   “This one seems good,” he said while lying there, and you decided to take the place next to him. 

   “It's a nice bed,” you agreed, but when you checked the price, your opinion changed instantly. “Actually, I think it's pretty ugly and all. The one over there is way better,” you lied, pointing at a bed that JJ had already deemed unworthy, yet it was the only one in your price range. 

   “That one is too noisy,” he pointed out while sitting up and pulling you back towards the bed he had practically fallen in love with. “This one is perfect.” 

   “It's over a thousand dollars, J,” you argued, and he cupped your face, brushing his thumbs over your cheeks. 

   “I broke the other one, so I might as well pay half of this one. And as long as we don't break mine it's gonna be okay,” he spoke softly, trying his best to convince you. 

   “It's too expensive, even if we each pay half. That's three months of tips wasted on one half of a bed.” You really liked the bed, the soft green fabric of the headboard and sides, as well as the storage space underneath that would give you some more space to put your pillows. And you liked the idea of having something that wasn't just yours, something that would solidify that JJ wouldn't leave you. 

   “So? I'll just pick up some handy work with the Kooks and flirt my ass off, and we'll get that money back in no time,” he smiled, his hands moving to hold onto your own, and although you still pretended to not be convinced, he knew he had you. 

   “Hmmmm…” you hummed and wiggled in his hold. “Fine,” you smiled, and he pulled you down with him, kissing you all over and making you squirm until an employee walked up and told you both to stop. But you weren't even embarrassed that the people around you saw JJ and you as a couple. You didn't like the attention, but you didn't mind that he went to hold your hand while walking through the rest of the store, collecting candles and a few more colorful covers for your throw pillows. 

   When you got home and put the bed together, you were sure that you would surely feel even more for him soon. You would figure it out, and then you would tell your friends and everything would be like it was in the movies. 

read part 6 here

please don't copy and/or post my work onto other platforms! ~e©ho

taglist: @redhead1180 @spideysimpossiblegirl @drwstarkeyy @princessmaybank @ijustwantttoread @kys4-20 @immyowndefender @julczimozart @m2m2m2 @mochimms @dorkyfangirl24 @itsme-again @nemesyaaa

[welcometololaland]

NICE ASS(K) WEEK IS UPON US!!!! 🎉

Lola, first thank you for being the Nice Ass(k) originator!!! It is such a fun way to get to know people in the fandom!!!

Now, a very important question for you. You have to do a pole dance routine with three of the following people. Who do you choose and why? What would the routine be like? (Is there such a thing as a group pole routine? I don’t know!! There is now!!!)

TK Strand

June Claremont-Diaz

Owen Strand

Henry Fox

Mateo Chavez

Ellen Claremont

Dani Rojas

Nancy Gillian

Pez Okonjo

Sam Obisanya

Zara Bankston

Bonus points if you give them each costumes for the routine!!!

hello lemon! i'm so sorry this took so long to answer but i come to you humbly with a response that is like... * checks watch * 4 months late sweeeeet ok ok no one look at me.

for context, yes, you can absolutely do a group (including doubles) routine. i actually have the best idea for this but i CAN'T use it because i'm so obsessed with this particular theme idea if someone ever put it on stage before i got the chance to i'd be absolutely shattered so!!!! it must remain a secret.

therefore, i choose my backup option. i had considered some classic ideas here - charlie's angels etc. - but then my partner leaned over and said 'has anyone done a Wiggles themed routine?' and no. they haven't. so that's what we are doing. Big Red Car, Hot Potato, Fruit Salad, Wake Up Jeff (except it's going to be Wake Up Pez), the works. It's gonna be a 4 min medley of Wiggles songs. Obviously, costumes will be coloured bodysuits. People think that pole dancers wear no clothes just to look hot, but actually you need skin grip to do half the tricks, so the standard Wiggles costumes will need to be adapted.

NOW. as to the people.

Obviously, Pez. I don't actually think Pez would be the best pole dancer, but he is very enthusiastic and fun and would bring great energy. I'd probably allocate him to the task of rolling around on the floor and just slaying the stage generally. Also, he has a name that will work with the Wake Up Jeff song. So, he is the Purple Wiggle.

I think Zahra would actually have a concerning level of flexibility and obviously the raw competitive energy. We need her. She's gonna be that bitch that does a back handspring on the stage or something. Plus, she's bossy as hell. So she can be the Yellow Wiggle aka. The Main Wiggle.

Lastly, I would pick June. Idk why. She's giving dancer energy. She's giving team player. She's giving hotness. She would be that person who would actually do the doubles tricks with you and you know she wouldn't let you go. She's probably not the most excited about being on stage, but neither am I, so we can hold each other and cry. Everyone knows the Blue Wiggle is the hot wiggle, so she would be that one.

I would be the Red Wiggle which like... doesn't suit my brand but whatever. Sacrifices have to be made for this routine.

Honourable mentions - I considered Dani Rojas but he is just way too chaotic and uncoordinated, plus, he can't wear dress shoes, imagine him in 8 inch pleasers. absolutely not. I also considered Nancy because she's hot. But she also seems kinda uncoordinated. sometimes having very long limbs can be a limiting factor. Henry was probably my fourth choice, but he missed out because he seems even more hesitant of the stage than I am.

Absolute no go - Owen and Ellen, because no one needs a limelight hog when you're trying to do a group routine. TK unfortunately does not have the rhythm we need. Mateo - I just couldn't imagine it. If the theme was Avengers, maybe I could have included him. I really WANTED Sam to be in this, but he also just didn't fit the vision and I also think he'd just be way too embarrassed to do something this stupid. You actually can't have too much self respect if you want to do a Wiggles routine.

I HOPE THIS WAS INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL. THANK YOU FOR THIS VERY FUN ASK. IF YOU HAVE OPINIONS, PLEASE SHARE!!!!

[inventors-fair]

Select Suites: Room Contest Runners-up ~

Our runners-up this week are @bread-into-toast, @feyd-rautha-apologist, and @nine-effing-hells!

@bread-into-toast — Imaging Center / Splattered Surgery

Ewwww... Imaging... But yeah the splatterness of the surgery is awesome too. You're one of the few common rooms. Actually, were there any others? I'm too lazy to check immediately. The point is that this is a pretty solid common design, and you know that I love those. I mean, hence why I'm running those kinds of contests all the time, yeah? There's something to be said for one-mana discard that's really nasty in limited. Hard to come back from if you're really pressed for resources. But what I ike about this card is the ability to mill/discard your own reanimation targets, which is absolutely the intent.

And yet the imaging could be to see your opponent's cards, which is itself pretty neat from a flavor standpoint! Splattering over to the surgery ward, yeah, one-time reanimation is a great staple, and this one fixes up some of the black side of getting cards back to the battlefield. Duskmourn has a lot of options for that, of course, but simple sorcery-speed recursion on new tech is an excellent demonstration, and fits it into the black shell as well. In a hard week with a lot of strong entries, I appreciate this card for showing just how awesome a simple, effective common card can be. It's design chops with a sci-fi vibe that feels right at home somewhere in the massive sprawl of the mansion.

@feyd-rautha-apologist — Airlock / Hydroponics

Am I a sci-fi Magic nerd? Still not really. Does this card change my mind? I mean, not completely, but it's so well-done that I'm gonna gush a little bit about it, one half at a time. The first thing that I wanna touch upon is the fact that unlocking the Airlock makes everything weaker. Like, that's just a brilliant little piece of gameplay/flavor intersection, and the art direction makes it make all the more sense. Also, a -1/-1 counter set? Very interesting. It's been a hot minute, but I like 'em well enough, and it makes sense here that the action of the Airlock weakens the lifeforms. I don't know about how much non-biological life, but what if it only put counters on things that weren't artifacts or maybe weren't equipped (like with spacesuits!)? See, you've got me brainstorming, and that's a sign of an awesome card.

Hydroponics is also quite interesting because of the interaction with the other side; there's a lot to work through here with intended gameplay. Landfall-to-proliferate is excellent, of course, and there's this ironic bend of "every time we make landfall we collect new species and progress has led to our demise," of course—and then it just so happens that it interacts with the -1/-1 counters in a way that doesn't necessarily mesh flavorfully? But gameplay does trump flavor. Maybe the plant proliferation isn't a 1:1 exactitude with what the Airlock represents in terms of weakness. Or maybe the xenoflora thrive on the disinfectant, and the scientists didn't know that, and—ooh boy. You've got some good tendrils in me, and I'm digging it.

@nine-effing-hells — Living Room / Hungry Hearth

Some days I forget that people love to be really fun with these contests. There are a couple of names and card mixes that people added in that are...certainly choices, I'll say that much. But Living Room works so well as both a name and a card that I almost didn't think twice about it, and cards that make me do double-takes are worth a great amount of commendation for sure. I don't want to put too much of a damper on it, though, because the horizontal design brings one major challenge to this card's existence: if it somehow becomes tapped, how would anyone know? I see that you snuck vigilance onto there, but you and I both know that that's not in-pie for black at all. And yet, I want to know more and work with you here.

Dropping the deathtouch and making it white could've been fine, perhaps. But all that is fine-tuning what's otherwise a really fun design. The Hungry Hearth is an amazing card on its own, encouraging some aggression with complex choices for how you either ping your opponent or make their blockers far less effective if you've got them on the ropes. Attacking with a big room can make that even better, yeah? Huh. Does "this room" look at both sides when it's fully unlocked? Probably, although I gotta brush up on my room rules. Maybe insta-killing on attack should come with a little bit of downside. I want this card to work so badly, hence why it's here. It's clever enough to showcase as one of my favorite aspects of this contest and people's creativity with expanding upon this awesome new piece of tech.

Really hard to choose this week, honestly, lots of strong choices. I've got brownies and LGS work, but commentary will be up when we get there for y'all! @abelzumi

[fountainpenguin]

"My mind is twisted up and you're to blame... Are you aware of how you say my name? I've tried so hard to push you away..." (x)

---

New Dog's Life chapter today! ~ 3rd Life series fan-season

Chapter 33 - “Cinders (Etho)”

❤️ Read on AO3

💛 Start from Chapter 1

💚 More Pixels Imperfect fics

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"But for real, the most beautiful thing Lizzie did was treating me like a stranger. She didn't see him." Sniff sounds like he's floating, eyes like glaciers. "I'm never going to stop being 'Joel 2.0' to you. Am I?"

Etho finally tells SnifferMyFeet what happened between him and Joel post-Double Life. Sometimes people slip right through your fingers... It's just weird it happened twice.

#smalletho - Etho/Sniff tension followed by several flashbacks about Etho's past with Joel (bed sharing, cuddling, teasing, discussing Joel's kids (Hermes & Tiny Tom), and Etho trying to learn Joel's boundaries, which Joel avoids defining)

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

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Yeah, we allogrooming (chewing on each other's code strings and pulling them with mouths to straighten them); keep scrolling

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Etho - Fox

Status: Keep 'em guessing

Self-taught programmer, full-time hero

💙  🧡  💚

It's familiar, but not in the way you think. It's familiar because the universe speaks to itself (to his soul) each time it checks he's doing okay. Especially on full moon nights. When the moon reaches down its light, Etho adjusts his footing and licks his lips, then chews its fingers and nuzzles back.

Give yourself a shake. Fluff up your fur. It's the arctic fox way. Then you run off to do exactly what you're meant to do, because you're born of the universe and were given conscious thought so you could love your role. The mobs play their part. You play yours. Beneath silver moonlight, we meet and make merry, for tomorrow we're AFK for weeks or months on end. You're born in the code. You live forever. And that's just the way of things.

Which is to say that snuggling up next to Sniff, one hand pressed to the back of his shoulders to hold him down against the mattress, is one of those wild things that's new and familiar at the exact same time. You remember all those tools we were gonna clean his code with? Yeah, those are beginner's toys. This is how it's done right.

It's a work of teeth and tongue: nipping code beneath his skin with glowing teeth and pulling it to straighten strings. It's goopy, thick, and messy. It's the way of the world; song as old as time.

Sniff keeps very quiet, his hands stretched out in front of him. He kneads the pillow. They don't speak. Not now. Etho keeps his hand firm, bearing weight on Sniff through a blanket so their pixels won't blend together, as he makes his way around cheek, neck, shoulder, and back. Sniff's filled with stagnant energy. It doesn't move fast - doesn't carry the parts that need attention towards Etho's mouth the way it should - but his tongue's doing the job the activator whisk should do. It ripples through his code. It stirs the stuff awake. That'll get him moving. Sniff gives a big, silent yawn that splays his fingertips and flicks his tongue. Then he turns his head away. His wings flex like a butterfly's and slowly fold against his back.

Etho keeps working. The mask's been dropped aside for this- It's just easier than letting it dangle at his neck. He nips with his teeth, catching strings, and fixes everything he can. There's only so much you can do with stagnant code. Most species don't eat it, but a fox can. Like the phantoms, they scavenge.

Etho takes the stuff Sniff doesn't need. He doesn't need scratches and aching muscles. He doesn't need chipped nails and dirty feet. He doesn't need the callus on his writing finger, the ink stains, or the ache between the V of two fingers. These are little add-ons (just wrinkles in the code). Etho pulls them free of soul and skin. They slip between his teeth.

Sniff drags Etho's other hand forward. Etho shifts, keeping balance. His hand's pretty neat and tidy after the week-long experience of Sniff cycling his code. Sniff nibbles at it anyway. The bits in his system that are ruffled prickle to attention and swish the messy bits forward so Sniff can gnaw the tangles away. Yeah, that's the spot. Etho thumps his tail against the bed.

Unlocking advancements feels like this. And the universe loves them, and it gave them thought without breaking the ecosystem, because it wanted them to know they're loved.

If there's an advancement for allogrooming, it's one he achieved a long, long time ago. Probably when he was just a kit. Not a lot of memories from the early days still stick with him, but he does remember Rhetoric chewing on his ear. He had fox ears back then. They used to wrestle with each other, but growing up is complicated. Sometimes you do the best you can every day of your life… and for what? Your mother will still pick you up by the scruff and drop you on the doorstep of a dragon she thinks could use you more.

He and Bdubs have that in common. Bdubs just refuses to admit it.

Oh yeah… We can't let the Slime Dragon see Sniff. She'll wanna kill him so he respawns at his mom's nest. Etho yawns. He stops messing with the code. Instead, he nestles his chin against the back of Sniff's neck. What time is it? Feels like they've been here for a thousand ticks, but it's such a blur that it could easily be half as much. It probably isn't. It can't be that long… He hasn't been called to Dog's Life yet.

Sniff chews at his fingers for a little longer, but his teeth slow too. He rests his cheek against his knuckles. Etho sweeps his tail sideways, brushing it across Sniff's back. He's warm. And without the nips and pulls, consistent collision isn't going to last. Pixels prickle. His chin starts to sink straight through.

It's familiar. But not the way you think. He never groomed Joel like this, with his mouth, except one time he had to re-open some rumpled bite marks that had sealed themselves in ridges across his shoulders. Long story there… but it's familiar because the universe told him this feels right tonight.

And it does feel right tonight. He's not gonna leave the mask off for long. Or the bandana, for that matter. He's way too exposed like this, raised blue scar curling over his eye and across his lips (all of it on display). Sniff probably feels the same way. He's still got both his shirts off. The curve of his spine's marked with a stripe. When you're this close, you can see the tiny zigzag marks where skin meshes like it's stitched. His giant scar - that big, white X - pulses with a dim, hazy glow.

Etho removes his head before he can sink any lower. He noses Sniff's cheek, then his chin. Once they're upturned, he gets back to work. A little more clipping here. A little trimming there. Making his way around. Sniff makes one soft noise like he's debating whether to squirm away. He keeps his eyes shut though, arms relaxed, and his wings stay folded up- lazy and content. Etho adds a few licks, keeping them light so he can seal the tiny gashes left behind by his teeth without startling Sniff enough to ask questions about 'what they are' again.

Funny. Last week, we did this the other way around. But he doesn't go as far as Sniff did. Tonight's about grooming, not feeding. Etho chews a knot from the back of Sniff's neck, then draws back. "Hey, Sniff, you-"

"My full name, Etho," he mumbles, not opening his eyes. "I only have one rule."

Right. Etho rasps his tongue around his lips and starts again. "SnifferMyFeet, I want to ask something."

"Mm?"

"I know we said we wouldn't be 'serious' right now. I've just been wondering if maybe, after I do recordings and Hermitcraft clean-up… If you'd want to eat my soul again?"

Sniff's fingers still against the sheets. They alternate whose turn it is to breathe, like they used to at night on The Relation or when they were testing how far they could swim without coming up for air. Spoilers: Oxygen does not transfer from one soulmate's body to another.

Then Sniff blinks himself back to full awareness. He sits up on his knees. The covers slide down his back. Hands still braced, but no longer looking cozy. The guy reaches to pinch his brow and take his folded tank top at the same time. "You… want to use my vessel? Fluff, I dunno. Can I say that? I think I can."

[Full chapter on AO3 - Link at top]

[knightyoomyoui]

Jeongyeon x M/F Reader - "Won't Go Home Without You"

HAPPY 1000 FOLLOWERS TO ME ON TUMBLR!!!

As my way of saying thank you and sending back the love and support that you guys have given me to my works and to me as an author, here's a DOUBLE UPDATE, one for a Set 6 main entry and one special one-shot both featuring Jeongyeon!

Hope yall enjoy reading these two updates of mine! Gladly, I was able to finish both of these today because I don't have classes and it's been over a year since I made a double update at the same time. Here's my Ko-fi account where you can drop your donations or ask for a commission. You can check it out on my Tumblr profile too!  Buy knightyoomyoui a Coffee. ko-fi.com/knightyoomyoui - Ko-fi ❤️ Where creators get support from fans through donations, memberships, shop sales and more! The original 'Buy Me a Coffee' Page.

Twiceland has never been at rest since the incident, which has imprisoned the inhabitants inside their own nightmare. Every day, the people go about their lives feeling empty-handed and uneasy about potential threats that may arise at any time.

However, yesterday grew much worse, making it difficult for individuals to focus on what they do as they were all gathered about in their own homes, with the designated spectators keeping an eye out for the arrival of a group of people to whom they owe their lives the most.

They are the annihilators of their land, swore to protect and avenge those who are fallen and victimized, for the sake of the people and the nation's freedom. They are composed of eight warriors, all of them are female. Technically, they were nine of them, what happened to one of them will get to that later.

While the watcher is sipping tea and rolling the butt of his gun on the sandy ground, he saw some figures approaching from the shadows on the distance. He patted his fellow watcher who is sleeping and alerted him, pointing at those figures.

All of the watchers began directing their firearms at it until the familiar count of people made them slowly decrease in relief.

However, that doesn't mean that it was now assured that it was the annihilators who just arrived, because from the look of one of them, something happened really badly.

"QUICK! GET HER SOME AID!" The oldest of the group, Nayeon shouted at the officials as they all saw one of the members unconscious and being carried by her fellow member.

They all ran immediately to search for the rescuers. Placing down their comrade's damaged condition on the blanket, they all let out a huge sigh of defeat, exhausted from the life-threatening battle they just participated earlier.

"I can't believe it." Jihyo spoke first, shaking her head in disappointment. "She really did it. I never thought there would come a day where she would turn her back and forget everything we've done together for this land."

"From the look of her face earlier, it's not the Jeongyeon I've known before." Sana said, with a fear and shiver in her voice as she remember her contact with Jeongyeon during the battle. "It's completely different. Oozing with cruel and evil motivations is what fills her up inside now."

"I'm not gonna be shocked." Tzuyu reacted seriously. "Just look what she has done to Dahyun-unnie. Do you all really think that she's still the friend we knew? She would never dare to inflict pain to one of us in case it's needed for trainings. That, right there... is her pure intention."

"So what does this mean now?" Mina inquired. "Are we really going to view her now as our enemy? We're just gonna let her add more problems to us? Is it really over now to-"

"No." Chaeyoung stood up, staring at Mina then glares around at the rest of the members. "We're not going to let our eyes peeled off on unnie. Our target is still on the downfall of the Emperor. She's just a distraction."

"So what do you have in mind, Chaeng?" Momo asked, curious at what the younger is insisting for them to do.

"We continue on taking down the Dark Side while at the same time, we also try to distract Jeongyeon to not get involved too much at this chaos."

"How?" They all questioned.

Chaeyoung paused and lowered her head before exhaling and glanced at them with determination. "We have to find him. He's the only one who can manage her."

"But Chaeng, we don't even know where he's at now?"

"Only some of you, but not me." Chaeyoung stated. "I think it's time that get some back-up into this ongoing mess, but first we're going to prepare a lot of convincing."

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

Miles away from their town, a certain person is training some children who are aspiring to be the future warriors of the sacred land. The kids were following every fighting moves and listens to his/her masterful advices he/she provides on the lessons in order to provide assistance for them.

During their break, the tutor was reorganizing the weapons they used when a villager called your name before barging in to the tent.

"What is it?" You asked without even looking at the guard.

"Master YN, I've come to inform you there are outsiders from another town who wants to see you."

"How many of them?"

"Four, sir."

"And what do they want?"

"I'm afraid they didn't mentioned-"

"Then I decline. Please, get them out of here." YN glanced at the guard, rotating your eyes on you while the latter saw cautious and well-aware you are of any possible danger these strangers might brought to you, but more importantly, to your people.

"But sir, one of them said you all know each other. And they have something very important to tell you."

You gave the guard another glance again, sensing that he's telling you that everything is going be fine with his communication at these mysterious people.

With all trust, you gave up and sighed. "Fine. I'll be out for a while."

You stepped outside and waved the tent's canvas to let it open. You were shown to be correct when bright lights suddenly blinded you for a brief period of time before gradually disappearing and making everything clearly visible once again. You were familiar with the individuals in front of you, and as was always the case, you felt compassion and never dread for them.

"Chaeyoung." You muttered as you stared at the smallest girl out of the four before looking also at the rest of them. "Girls? W-what are you doing here?"

"Long time no see, YN." Chaeyoung greeted him. "And we're here to talk with you in urgent."

------------------------------------ Many different types of spacecrafts were seen flying around outside the Star Destroyer, a moon-sized space station floating in space which is used as the ultimate destruction weapon of the Galactic Empire, a mighty military force influenced by the Dark Side of the Force.

This serves as the Imperial officers' headquarters as well, where they formulate plans and carry out the commands of the formidable and evil Emperor Jeonghan, the commander of the Knights of Doom, whose only goal is to subjugate new territories and destroy their enemies, the Jedi. Yoo Jeongyeon, the high ranked leader of the Sith and called as the Dark Lord of the Knights Of Doom , was inside the station polishing her bloodstained helmet before slamming it on an ovular tray filled with the ashes of the Empire's fallen victims. She recalled what she done to Dahyun as she looked in the mirror, realizing that she was the one who had injured her friend and former group member. She just followed through on her obligations, knowing that by doing so, she would gain the Dark Lord's complete trust and be granted her proper position within the organization. But when the soldiers told her that Emperor wanted to meet her, an anxious expression came to her face. The troops marched beside her as she went. As she continues walking in the path that would bring her and the Emperor of darkness to the same location, her heart begins to race.

They reached the door, the troopers escorted on opening it, and Jeongyeon was let to enter the room first. There, he saw Jeonghan eating at the head of the table.

"Come on, have a seat and eat." He invites Jeongyeon who kept on watching him just busily devouring his food.

She followed and eat, the helpers assisted her to eat comfortably before they left her alone with him.

It went for some few minutes of silence as they gave more time to satisfy their hunger before Jeonghan initiated the first move to start their conversation.

"The status report has reached to me that you were this close on your mission." Jeonghan said, gesturing the size of her chances of accomplishing that given mission she had to finish in success.

"But I'm afraid it didn't go well as expected."

Jeongyeon shuts her eyes and curses herself in disappointment and frustration. "I-it was them. They are becoming more aware now of our next move."

"I know." Jeonghan said. "And we both know it doesn't have to go that way further. We have to compromise a plan that they cannot avoid. It's their fate to die in defeat with our own hands, and soon we will rule the entire galaxy... together." He glared at Jeongyeon, she felt his sincerity and hoped that the day of that to happen will come by sooner.

"But I'm not here to express my letdown or disgrace what you've done. In fact, I should be rather... impressed."

Jeongyeon became confused, furrowing her eyebrows. "F-for what, sire?"

"You managed to disable one of them, am I right?" Jeonghan said, referring to what she did to Dahyun. Jeongyeon became guilty, her face became interestingly fell as she got reminded again of what she did to her former friend.

"Y-yes. She tried to defend a family against us. She got on my nerves and... I-"

"You don't need to explain, I know. Pests can be a lot irritating." Jeonghan calmed her down. "I congratulate you for not holding back on your desire, my Lord. You remained dedicated on the plan, on your mission. It didn't matter to me if you didn't completely made the mission done, atleast to me... learning that they suffer on our wrath and prove who is the bigger threat here is enough to me."

Jeonghan stands and walks towards Jeongyeon who is still unmoved and staring at her plate. He held her shoulders and gently squeezed it. "You can feel it now, don't you? Let it all in and control you, Jeongyeon. Soon, you'll finally become one of us and then... like I told you, everybody will respect and treat you highly unlike you've never seen before, and I will be there for you to provide all of it. Embrace the dark side."

He gave her few playful pats on her cheek before walking away, leaving Jeongyeon who shivered in her touch, speechless as she kept her composure despite being uncomfortable, resulting to develop a sudden longing sensation from somebody she knows who could do much better than what Jeongyeon is trying to make her prove.

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

"So, what do you want to talk about?" YN said after giving them food and water as his treat to his surprise guests.

All four of them looked at each other before Jihyo, the leader of the annihilators nodded at them in signal. "It's about Jeongyeon, YN."

You stared at her and escaped a bitter smile at the mention of the name before it vanished and went back on being serious. "What's with her?"

"She's now being controlled by the Dark Side, YN; and she is now following orders under Dark Lord Jeonghan." Nayeon reported. "She even hurt Dahyun during the battle."

"Wait what do you mean hurt?" It grabbed your attention. "How is Dahyun doing?"

"Still recovering from her wounds, but that huge slash that Jeongyeon did on the skin of her arm with her lightsaber might put her out of action once the troopers arrives again and try to destroy the town."

"YN, Twiceland is next. The previous town was badly damaged by them few days ago, and I suppose they are now coming for us in return for ruining their goal." Chaeyoung said to you.

YN wasn't shocked to hear any of this being caused by Jeongyeon, but rather you are heavily disheartened and dismayed at what she has become. You knew it already that her betrayal would go this way, but still you couldn't help yourself to put all the blame to yourself for what happened to her.

"You know, until now, I still feel like I didn't do better enough to be her friend, which I know all of us are definitely feeling the same but... the effect of that on me was worse because... you know what I mean, girls. She meant more to me already. I could've been there to observe closer and prevent Jeongyeon get abducted and be manipulated by the scheme of the Dark Side." You expressed your own fault at the girls as you remember how she started to slowly change whenever you talk to her, the lovely smile, her adorable laughs, the color in her mood were all gone. She became even more secretive on her own worries to you. You could've just done better for her, from what you believe in.

"We understand, YN. We all know we wanted to change and hope that all of these should've never occured but what else can we do? It's now here, and all we have to do is to face the consequences." Jihyo said. "But... this doesn't mean that time is already out for us to do something that will grant us... redemption."

"YN, we all know here that you are the one who is most capable of protecting and saving Jeongyeon." Chaeyoung said. "We have this feeling that even if she thinks that she already has found the place where she belongs, there's something that-"

"Icks us inside? Yeah, I've been having that, every single day." You admitted. "Last night, I woke up from a nightmare. She appeared in my dreams and it was very fast, but all I could witness is that she's in trouble."

"So you have it on your own too. Don't you think that... this could be a sign? That Jeongyeon isn't really going to receive the better treatment she seeks for?" Nayeon suggested. "And this is a right timing for us to come here and request if you could... join us for one last time?

You looked at all of them who has their eyes now glued on you as they wait on your response. "YN, we all want to do better, and this is this time that we make a move for it." Chaeyoung said. "This is not just an ordinary battle, but a bloody, horrific war once they step foot into our land. Everybody involved will not be assured of safety BUT, it's better to die trying than let them achieve control over the entire galaxy and watch millions of innocent people suffer in their reign."

"Jeongyeon is THE key here, YN. If they think they just took the biggest advantage for our downfall, they have to be proven wrong, and we cannot do that without you, YN."

Chaeyoung pleaded at you and gave you the exact encouragement you need in order to participate in this plan.

Your mind started to get occupied again with the thoughts of Jeongyeon as you watched the kids and the people just doing their business outside the camp from the plastic window.

"The real her is still there within her. I know it, I can feel it, and I couldn't wait anymore to see again that Jeongyeon that I once loved."

You turned at them which they are now standing on their seat.

"I'm going with you all. I will save her and bring her back to where she belongs. To us."

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

The following days, the group with YN now on their side tries to trespass into the Dark Side's base and steal the chip that contains the information and destroy the power core that activates the entire planet.

They went to proceed to the mission, but due to Sana's clumsiness of getting bumped with a trooper, they were accidentally discovered by them. YN was alone on doing his task when he heard the siren.

They got separated from each other and tries to find a way escape. YN ran as he tries to figure out the paths until you unexpectedly crossed paths with none other than Jeongyeon, now in his Dark Lord appearance. She is now wearing an all black hood with a tight fitted suit that accentuated her perfectly sculpted figure, her hair all sprayed down and her menacing helmet that hides her beautiful face.

Startled and tension arise between them as they finally met once again after a long time, YN stopped on her tracks as he finally comes face to face with the ghost of his past.

"J-Jeongyeon?"

"YN/LN. You are under arrest for trespassing and committing a crime of stealing a confidential information. Stay where you are and don't make any move."

You just stared at this... unknown figure in confusion. She doesn't sound like entirely at all like her. This is a complete different being. It's like a new evil persona was put into her to disguise and enslave her in order to make her fall in line with them.

"Stop acting like you don't know me, Jeongyeon. I know you in there!" You shouted. "I'm not going to follow or be intimidated to any of your orders. I came here with a sole purpose and nothing will do to stop me. And that is to put the Empire down!"

"If that is what you came for, then you just made the biggest mistake for costing your life." Jeongyeon takes out her red lightsaber and wielded it.

"Snap out of it, Jeongyeon! Please, can we just talk and listen to me? You have to take a closer look at the bigger picture here. Don't you see what you're doing? This isn't the Jeongyeon that... that I know." You stammered at the last words. Behind the mask, Jeongyeon felt like her heart was tugged on it's string with your acknowledgement of witnessing her unwanted transformation.

"Don't try anything stubborn that might get us in the hard way here, YN." She tried not to listen. You sighed and shook your head. You released your blue lightsaber and wielded it.

"I don't want to hurt you, Jeong. Please. Don't make me do this."

Jeongyeon was certain of her decision, so she sprang and lunged at you, threatening to slam the lightsaber in your face, but you deflected her attack by protecting yourself. After that, you two clashed in a lightsaber combat in which she tried to strike and you just let her, being care to defend yourself. Since you are aware that you are unable to truly harm the lady you love the most, you were speaking the truth when you said that you didn't want to hurt her.

Jeongyeon uses her force but you countered it, forming your hands and clenching all your finger tips as you aimed it on her, making each of you to be tangled within each other's force field. A tug of war of your own powers, none of the sides wants to give up.

Both of you screamed in rage before the force field went stronger that results to the two of you getting flung away in the away, crashing to the metal bridge painfully. Just as when YN was about to stand up, you were surprised by the arrest of the troopers as they quickly grabbed your arms.

You tried to resist before your vision went dark.

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

As Emperor Jeonghan walks into the detention cell, he is pleased to discover YN still and handcuffed with high tech steel cuffs, having been brought in by Jeongyeon, who had captured you like a rat that had attempted to get into their territory. As this is going on, the group manages to escape and notifies the town to prepare for a fight. They are aware of the consequences now that awaits them as they were unable to recover the chip.

Back at the base, YN was brutally tortured by the troopers, hitting you with their space guns, turning you into a punching bag, and electrocuting you while you are hanging in the ceiling with your arms still tied.

It may not be seen in her face clearly because of her helmet, but Jeongyeon didn't lasted long to stand there, listen to your screams of despair and watch you get abused. She went outside of the room, halted in her steps, her breathing became ragged under the helmet as your shouts of desperation echoes in the background.

Jeongyeon on the other hand, was enjoying it and finds it hilarious to see the woman still have the soft spot for the man, encouraging him to do worst things possible for the man.

Hours later, YN was back in your consciousness and in your surprise, you find Jeongyeon treating all your wounds and bruises. This time, her helmet was off, and you can see her face again. She didn't changed at all. She may look like she became even more angsty and cold, but she was still gorgeous. In fact, she looks even more stunning than before, you never thought you would admire her a lot now with her new short black hairstyle.

"You're awake." She noticed before applying aid again on your bruise which made you hiss in pain. "Don't say I didn't warn you. You should've listen to me."

"I don't much care about it." You said. "They can torture me however they want, but my mind won't change. Soon, the empire will crumble and the Dark Side will end."

Jeongyeon smirked and mockingly pouted. "If you say so. Goodluck with that then. I'm telling you that it will hard."

"I know, but I'm here to try, and I'm not doing this only for the sake of Twiceland... but for you."

She looked at you, her face softened for a second before she switched back in her monotonous demeanor.

"I don't need your help, YN. I never asked for you anyway so just leave me alone."

"Jeongyeon, what has gotten to you?" You wondered. "That day. There's something wrong happened between you and the girls. I know because they mentioned to me about it, but they never got to expand the reason for me to understand it."

Jeongyeon stopped on what she's doing before she turned back and prepared the equipments. "Oh really? I thought they would make me sound like I'm the one who's being troublesome."

You squinted your eyes, suspicious of Jeongyeon's bitterness over the girls. "I don't really get what you're trying to say, Jeongyeon. But why? How can you do this to them?"

She slammed the kit on the table and sighed deeply, her anger starts to boil her blood but she tried to be calm, wanting to match your state. You were taken aback at her aggressiveness, and you just had to watch her take her time to control her emotions that you might've urged her to feel by revisiting the moment that led her departure and betrayal. "Fine, I did turned their backs on them. I didn't want to do it, but their constant mention of my disadvantages has what threw me into my breaking point."

She indicated that the actual cause of their altercation was a misunderstanding between her and Jihyo, the group leader, which made her feel disrespected and insulted, making her believe she was the weakest and least important member of the group. She was under a lot of stress and pressure at the moment trying to figure out how to meet their expectations. She had been feeling as like she didn't really belong in their group for a while until Jeonghan occurred to see her in a gathering talking about what had happened. As he learnt about Jeongyeon's situation, he offered her a help, promising that if she learns how is it like to stand in their side she would become more powerful and hold more purpose than she ever has in their group. She declined the offer at first, but then Jeonghan didn't gave up on her, still letting the offer stand. That thought had lingering around Jeongyeon's head for quite some time.

"Then that day arrived, when a battle emerged between the group and the Knights, I just suddenly snapped when Jihyo started to command me and...all I know after that was I threw her to the tree with my force field. I walked out with the group staring at me in utter confusion, letting them in grave danger as I joined the troopers." Jeongyeon continued as she stares at the wall, in terror as she lets the flashback run in her head. "I arrived at the base, Jeonghan welcomed me with open arms, and he started to do exactly what he promised for me, something that the group could never do to me."

"Yeah, and that is to manipulate and take you for granted." You glared at Jeongyeon who knitted her brows at your change in aura, twisting her words. "Whatever fight you two may had, I know they never intended to hurt your feelings and they just want the best for you."

"You don't know what you're talking about, YN." Jeongyeon said. "Don't sympathize for me."

"And why I shouldn't be? Jeongyeon, you're my friend and so as they."

"BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN I NEEDED YOU!" Jeongyeon yelled at you, her eyes watery and reddened, both her face and fists clenched in anger and heartbreak as she got recalled again of that another memory. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!"

You stared at her, confused from the blame that was put to you by Jeongyeon. You can see how it hurted her badly and knowing that this time, you are responsible for making her feel like that made you instantly owe a sincere apology to her.

"I was at my low when I am having trouble on improving myself, I didn't want to talk to any of them at first, and so I remember that I had you." Jeongyeon started to cry between her words. "I had you, YN and I felt fine at first that I know I still have someone to share my problems and seek comfort but... when I started to look for you, you weren't there.

Every day I waited for you, hoping that atleast I could be happy being with you just like you always do whenever we're together but... why, out of all times, you suddenly disappeared when I needed you the most?

And now you here again, trying to understand a problem of mine that I already buried and wanting to save me when I don't need it anymore? Tell me, what else do I need to have from you?"

You stayed silent, now completely aware of the pain you inflicted on her. It was never intentional to hurt such a pure woman like her, you wanted to explain but you believed that there's something more important that has to be done first."

"I'm sorry, Jeongyeon... for all of that." You muttered. "I know I couldn't fix what I broken, but... I don't want to waste my purpose of putting myself in this situation, with you."

You reached for her hand laying on the vacant space of the bed beside you, Jeongyeon teared up more on your touch, she wanted to admit that she missed it a lot, but what you did would still take some time for her to process. "I'm going to make things right, Jeongyeon. I may have not showed up at the time when you needed my back, but believe me when I say that I never gave up on you."

Jeongyeon stared at you and gently shake her head before she used her force field to make you fall asleep. She emotionally watches you in your peaceful slumber, while thinking twice about his proposition as she remembers all the memories she shared once with the girls, especially Jihyo.

In order to put an end to this once and for all, the annihilators prepare Twiceland for the Knights' arrival during the ultimate battle. When they arrived, Dark Lord Jeongyeon led the troops' charge as they watched the battle unfold, with Emperor Jeonghan keeping watch from his position. The troopers started shooting every peasant and combatant they came across. Additionally, they started using their lasers to demolish the structures until the annihilators started taking out the adversaries one by one. Additional troops march from the ship while others use their spacecraft to take the fight into the air. They started shooting at anybody below, without really caring who they hit in the process.

Their attacks stopped when strange set of lights aligned from the dim distance until they were all startled when one of it fired a destroyer spacecraft and exploded. An X wing then immediately appeared and flew towards the another, blasting it with a laser cannon.

The war was taken below and up above the sky. Emperor Jeonghan and Dark Lord Jeonghan were spooked at the arrival and unexpected alliance of the Rebels and the Annihilators to protect Twiceland.

"Send the scum here." Jeonghan instructs a trooper and went out of the base for a while before returning with his comrades, carrying the injured YN on his arms.

You were brought at the center, near the window where they forcefully had you watch the brutality and destruction that is being unleashed on Twiceland.

"No... w-what are you doing? Leave them a-alone!!!" You tried to scream despite of the pain and exhaustion you feel but then Emperor Jeonghan zapped you with his electricity.

"SILENCE!"

Even Jeongyeon couldn't deny that it stings her to see her beloved hometown and the people being put through hell by the Dark Side.

Jeonghan looks at Jeongyeon. "And now, for your final task, you must claim Twiceland, capture all the people, take those pieces of junk out of the sky and kill those worthless Rebels! With these, you can now fulfill your destiny of becoming the rightful Dark Lord not only by the Empire, but by the entire clan of the Sith." He proudly presented to her.

Hearing the biggest and most difficult task she has ever been given to that involves her hometown and her former friends that stood as her first family, Jeongyeon hesitated on that command.

"Jeongyeon, no don't listen to him. Please! YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!" YN hurriedly pleads on her again as he recalls all the good things they have done for her.

Jeonghan fights back by striking him with electricity, attacking YN. "This is what you get for your lack of faith and vision that we have for the galaxy. Your convincing is the same as your powers, all have no match for the Dark Side!" He said before releasing another tingling shockwaves of electricity to YN, twitching intensely in pain.

"Remind you that we have a promise Jeongyeon, you said it yourself! The desire you have led you standing here with the power you wanted to possess, so why bother throw it away for a half-witted scum like him!"

The disarray of it all was beginning to aggravate and anger Jeongyeon. She then glanced at YN, whose clothes was now smoldering from the amount of electricity you had taken, and she instantly felt a sorrow in her heart. Memories flashed across her mind: when Jeongyeon and YN initially became friends, they vowed to stick by one another through hardship and to support one another through it. She knew you failed, but you are too irresistable for her, mainly brought by the feelings she has blossomed from your connection with her. A series of explosions rocked the town as multiple destroyer fleets fired lasers at anything below, destroying all that was left, including the structures and every beings scattered in fright and madness.

"YES... MORE! MOREEE! MOREEEEEE!!!!" Jeonghan's eyes sprung up in excitement, his face crunched creepy as he shouted and laughs in rage and sinister.

As he continues to harshly electrocute you until you get toasted alive, Jeongyeon walked away beside him as she has made up her decision, removes her helmet, threw it at the wall, grabs her lightsaber and slashes Jeongyeon's back, falling unconscious.

The Knights that were all standing around them in the room shocked at Jeongyeon's betrayal. They began cornering her and unleashed their blazing staff, in which she prepares her fighting stance and gripped her lightsaber tighter.

"Come on, you sons of bitches." Jeongyeon gestured at them to come at her and all of them did, in which she prevented them all by attacking them at once.

Jeongyeon shielded herself from a lightsaber smash before throwing the Knight away with a force through the midsection.

She went into a clash with the second Knight before catching his hand and twisted her lightsaber, yeeting his staff and cutting both of his hands effectively before snapping his head off with her force.

Jeongyeon felt a kick on her back as the third Knight surprises her with a blindside attack. The fourth Knight cooperated, about to slash her head off but she spun aside, the staff hit the floor instead.

She did a kip up, slashing the third Knight to his waist, cutting him in half before rotating the lightsaber backwards, stabbing the fourth Knight behind and pull lightsaber upwards as it slashes his torso open.

The fifth Knight threw his staff on Jeongyeon, she was aware but it was too late. It hit the handle and got thrown away from her hold. She collapsed on the floor and the Knight walks towards her, ready to kill her.

She was about to ran out of energy and get outnumbered before suddenly, the fifth Knight kneeled as YN went back up by grabbing Jeongyeon's lightsaber and stabbing his knee. Jeongyeon then force choked her until his neck snapped.

Jeongyeon slowly stands up and looked at you from above, she lends her hand and you looked at it before focusing on her face. There it is, the same old Jeongyeon that you once knew is finally back in control.

Without any further do, Jeongyeon immediately hugged you tightly and cried on your shoulder. You reciprocate her embrace and patted her back.

"I'm sorry, YN." She sniffed on her tears. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm glad you're back, Jeongyeon." You said with a smile on your face. A teardrop finally escaped in your eye.

You seperated her from your body and looked at her closely. You wiped off her tears and swayed away some strands of her hair. "You asked me what I want from you and I want to give you my answer fast."

"Hope is hard, I want you to believe it's still there. I know the damage has been done but there's always a time where you can start all over again and avoid repeating the same mistake twice. That's why I don't want you to keep on running because... it's harder to stay, Jeongyeon."

"I want to make you feel okay. I failed before but that didn't made me give up on you." You said as you said it to her from all of your heart. "Let me save and protect you again, and this time; I want to make sure that it will be the best thing I ever did. I love you, and please come back... because I won't go home without you."

Jeongyeon cupped both of your cheeks and pulled you closer to her, bringing you to a kiss that you once always imagining to share with her, and now it's here, with her turning it into a reality. It may have been done in a wrong time and wrong setting but, being with her will always going to be special.

"Then take me with you, I have no other plans to leave anymore."

They proceed to make their way escape to the planet as they set it into self destruct. You two encountered more troopers, in which both of you fought them all side by side. Jeongyeon was the one who push and pull them off while you are the one in charge of stabbing and slaying them through their deaths.

As the path were now cleared and continued to make your way out, you ached as you felt a burning sensation on your thigh.

"TRAITOR!!! WHO SAID BOTH OF YOU CAN LEAVE!"

It was then you found out that Emperor Jeonghan is stumbling on his feet, he just fired a lightning on the part you felt the sting. He slowly making his way towards them. Jeongyeon pushed him away with her force field.

"Jeong, listen to me. Go without me and help the group fight the troopers."

"What?!" Jeongyeon was astounded. "No, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying with you."

"Jeong, we're running out of time here! I'm injured, it will take much time for us to get out." You said to her. "I'll be here to take care of him."

"No, I'm not going to leave you here alone! But how about you?!"

You stared at Jeongyeon who is about to cry again, the panic and worry of your condition triggering her emotions.

"I'll do my best." You smiled. "Just please, save yourself for me. I came here for you,  right?"

Jeongyeon pressed her head against yours. "Damn it..." She hiccuped on her sobs, irritated that there's nothing they can do. She quickly kissed you again. "I'll be waiting for you out there, YN."

You nodded and she immediately ran towards the airbase where she can retrieve some destroyer fleet from there.

Now back on their feet, YN and Jeonghan stared at each other with deadly eyes. "Let's finish this."  The tension brought them opportunity to attack together, turning it into a brawl as the two beats the hell out of each other. Jeonghan threw the first blow, a ball of electricity about to bump on your face, but you dodged it and made a spin with a swing of your lightsaber.

Meanwhile, Nayeon was hiding behind a tree, struggling to face three troopers who are looking for her. She was about to build up her courage and whisper "May the force be with me" before she heard grunting and shrieking sounds.

All she know after that is that the troopers are down, and a familiar figure is standing between them.

Nayeon points her lightsaber in fear at her but the latter just smiled and lets out tears as she slowly walks towards the older member and her former friend.

Nayeon turns off her lightsaber and started to look back at her emotionally. "J-jeongyeon?"

She nodded and softly smiled before she hugged Nayeon, the two shared an emotional moment while the rest of the members watched them. Jihyo was the most relieved out of them all.

As she got reunited with the group she instantly became worried that YN isn't showing up yet as the planet slowly crumbles.

With half a minute remaining before the destruction, you finally killed Jeonghan by slashing his hand gripping on the rail, making her fall down to the energy core of the base. However the heavy injury you took unabled you to quickly escape the planet.

You looked at the timer and sat at the middle of a metal bridge. Pulling out the necklace you wanted to give to Jeongyeon after this, you wore it instead around your neck as you went back at the time where you first fell in love with Jeongyeon.

And when you saw her again, you could see the same tenderness in her face but this time it was evident that it was almost the same as what he's feeling. The same love that you've been keeping from her throughout these years.

He smiles in a bittersweet defeat as he accepts his fate.

"Jeongyeon, where are you going?!" Nayeon shouts as they saw Jeongyeon start to sprint away from them.

She continues to run ahead back to the planet but in a flash of a second, everything turns red and yellow as she was splashed away by a huge airwave, a loud explosion could be heard in the background.

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A week later, Twiceland is slowly being repaired by the villagers. The group entertains the children while also serving and assisting the villagers on what they need. In addition, they celebrated the defeat of the Knights and the fall of the Dark Side, freeing the galaxy into the peace it deserves.

Jeongyeon who is now recovering from all the trauma, finally made amends with her friends and her hometown, and learned also that the cause of your short disappearance when she was looking for you was that you were sent to another planet to search for more materials through barter and tutor more children to fight. That explains why you have an idea on what she did to the group but never had the chance to learn the reason behind all of it.

She walks through the top of a hill to take a visit at YN's grave. Wearing a black dress to grieve, she sat down and traced her engraved name on the tombstone with her fingertips. She lets out a faint smile for that.

She viewed the heavenly sky and breathes out, preparing herself to engage in a talk with an imaginary YN, who might be peeking at her from the clouds above, a wide grin and delight in your heart to see her finally back to where she rightfully belongs.

"I know I haven't been able to say this to you, but I know you're watching me and I'll just take the chance to say this only for you." Jeongyeon then glanced at your grave. "I love you too."

She couldn't contain it, her voice broke. Head hanged low, her vision became blurry as tears welled up around her eyes. "I'm still attached to you, and you were pulling me apart from them, having me conflicted if it was truly the right decision that I joined them."

"I was lost. I didn't knew which way I'll go. What side do I belong to. Fortunately, even without your presence, your existence was still helpful enough to help me at my worst. I couldn't even say this to you too but... thank you and I already forgave you, for everything YN. And I'm sorry if I also put you along with them to suffer with my wrong doings. We're fine now but, still I'm gonna be able to forgive myself for that."

Jeongyeon pursed forward, her tears dropped the grass as her tender hands pressed against your name. "I could wish you're here beside me, hearing it directly. I still couldn't sink it within me that... I went back home without you, forever." She muttered.

Jeongyeon rose up and straightened her clothes after nearly an hour of giving you some of her stories about rejoining the villagers and the group. She grabbed the necklace the villagers had crafted for her before turning to leave him. Based on one of your notes where you drew when they were recovering from your items that were given to Jeongyeon to be kept safe, the design was identical to yours. She looked at the necklace appreciatively, knowing that the other one is in your possession since she remembered you wearing it when you saved her.