#but also I don’t think it’s terribly unlikely that it was a house of cards that just never got knocked down either

[lliquidllyrium]

I don’t personally think it’s so difficult to believe the companions didn’t grasp the full extent of what was going on with Rook and Varric.

“Varric” spent most of his time in the infirmary—where the real Varric’s clothes were being kept along with the pieces of Bianca. It was effectively a shrine, the closest thing they had to a grave without a body or ashes, unless they went back for him and got that too (edit: come to think of it they had to to get his jacket soooo my bad). Harding and Neve probably visited too, and it was probably pretty widely accepted that if someone’s paying their respects or “visiting his grave” as it were, you kinda just give them space. If someone hears Rook talking to him they likely assume that’s what they’re doing, visiting the grave and “speaking” to him. Without further context who would jump straight to the assumption that Rook is under the impression he’s still alive?

[freak-accident419]

The Unlikely Postulate of Clapton’s Love Life

Clapton Davis x GN!Reader Headcanons

Content: a little bit of fluff, mentions of virginity, mentions of underage drug use, that’s pretty much it :)

(A/n: Just like in the movie, I made a chapter title card as if you and Clapton’s relationship were inserted. I was really in love with the names such as ‘The Terrible Ultimatum of Clapton Davis’, ‘The Lonely Ballad of Billy Nolan,’ etc. so I came up with one as if these headcanons were scenes in the movie.)

-

You knew Clapton since Freshman year. You knew of him, at least, and you didn’t actually have a conversation with him until junior year. It all started when he asked you for a pen.

You weren’t too popular like him. But you were sort of the sweetheart of the school. Nobody would talk about you as much as they did Clapton, but when you were brought up, only good things were said about you.

A few small things had progressed your friendship with Clapton. First, it was the pen thing. Then you two were teamed up for a science project. This showed him how smart you were, so he began to rely on you. You were also charming and he began to become infatuated with you, so he asked you for homework help a lot of the time. You went on ‘dates’ and things, like how he skated you home, went on a movie date with you, went bowling together, until you two were official partners.

You two were both in Spanish classes. You were passing and he was failing, so you had to tutor him a whole lot. He came up to you one day with a giddy smile and said ‘Tu es mucho bonito.’ It wasn’t completely correct, but you appreciated it nonetheless.

He burned a CD for you consisting of all of your favorite songs.

Sometimes he appeared in your front yard at midnight for a late night skate. Other times he appeared, he went to your window and you two just made out.

You made out a lot. And you probably lost your virginity to him.

You two got high sometimes. One time you had a very long, weed-driven conversation about who the ‘real’ karate kid was: Ralph Macchio or Billy Zabka. He said it was obviously Macchio, but you liked to argue for Billy. In retrospect, you weren’t sure why.

You two are basically each other’s best friends. It took a while for the school to realize you were dating.

As attractive and charming as Clapton was, nobody really expected him to be in a relationship. He seemed like one of those cool chill guys who wouldn’t involve himself in one. That’s why everyone was so surprised to know that he was in a relationship, let alone with you—it was highly unlikely. Everyone in the school thought you were the power couple, though. Everyone talked and gossiped about your new relationship with him a lot.

You both didn’t like the idea of extravagant prom-posals. Plus, it was sort of a mutual understanding, you two knew you wanted to go together.

He loves holding your hand. Whether he’s walking you to your class or home, he cannot go without holding your hand.

He tried to teach you how to skateboard once because you asked him. You fell. It was terrible. But he patched you up and blamed himself for not teaching you or protecting you properly.

He loves sharing his music with you. Sharing earbuds and everything. When he found out that your go-to slow dance song was “Fields of Gold” by Sting, he instantly knew you were his soulmate.

Sometimes when you two cuddle, you talk about your future together. You hope to stay together long enough to get married. Then you think about articulate things like where to live, what kind of house, pets, etc.

He always said ‘Clapton don’t dance’ but that was a lie. He’d never hesitate to slow dance with you.

You made each other friendship bracelets. He never wants to take it off.

Riley was very supportive of your relationship. As Clapton’s best friend, she was glad that he found someone as amazing as you.

He loves whenever you play with his hair. You do it a lot.

Sometimes you’d ditch school to hang out at a 7-11 or smoke pot. It didn’t matter what you did, as long as he hung out with you. He enjoyed quality time.

One time, before you two were dating, you two ditched school because Clapton wanted to show you a trick he learned on the skateboard to impress you. Clearly he wasn’t ready because he fell, suffering a terrible injury. But there was something so dorkishly charming about that moment, that that was probably the first time you realized you liked him more than a friend.

The first time he said ‘I love you’ was by mistake. You two were both very high. He genuinely meant it, however. And so, the very next day, he properly confessed. And you expressed your reciprocation.

-

This was my first set of headcanons I’ve written, so I hope you enjoyed it! I hope I did this prompt justice :’) I was so proud of the title that I was too eager to wait until I got a solid fic idea, so I just decided to write headcanons :) thanks for reading!

[cursecuelebre]

Witch/Tarot PSA: DO NOT BUY COUNTERFEIT DECKS.

What is a counterfeit deck?

These are “decks” are illegal manufacture of actual real tarot decks that are not created by the actual publishing houses or the artist or author. These were copy pasted terribly on small cheap card stock in plastic folded boxes rather than the regular boxes that the publishing company would use. These cards will not sometimes credit the author or artist, do not use the copyrighted company which is illegal and it will not come with a guidebook but a QR code on the back.

Why are they bad?

Yes buying regular and legit decks can be expensive in my country US it’s about $30 if the deck is brand new. Not that expensive but if you can’t spare $30 save your money or wait till they go on sale. Tarot is a luxury not a necessity remember that. When one buy these decks their money will not go to the artist or author or even publishing company but a Chinese factory most likely a sweatshop that are treating their workers terribly. I’d rather pay full priced for an artist and authors hardwork that they deserve knowing they put their blood, sweat, and tears for. Also creating these inauthentic decks harms the environment as well.

Keep in mind publishing houses like Llewelyn or Us Game systems are not big, their not penguin books or Harper Collins these are small publishing companies that need to have a percentage of the sales.

Author Ciro Marchetti known for his Glided Tarot said that he doesn’t want to continue his art career for tarot because of this reason, of his deck being illegal pirated and sold for a very cheap price that isn’t worth it because the quality is terrible and unethical. It affects the artists and authors mostly because their work is being produced by companies that they won’t get rightfully paid for.

Also here’s one of the most messed up thing I discovered, I love my small metaphysical shops and my family likes to explore all kinds of shops in my state of Connecticut. But when I go into a shop and I see those counterfeit decks now unlike Temu where they sell them for less than $10 these owners would sell them for full price. This is a scam because people who are unaware just brought a pirated item thinking it’s legit and actually produced by an actual publishing company when it’s a cheaply made deck and the pictures are terrible quality very pixelated. I get angry when I see these decks and I’m taking my business somewhere else.

There have been cases where people are selling AI versions of tarot decks for instance, The Dark Wood Tarot by Sasha Graham (wonderful deck highly recommend) the art was stolen and reused for a AI tarot deck that used the same name and everything. Beware of that and I know that isn’t a common but AI tarot exists so be careful especially on sites like Etsy, Etsy has a lot of AI decks, do your research and message the seller if possible at times the seller will even put in the bio of what it is their selling if it’s made from AI.

How to Prevent It

Spread awareness, US game systems made an excellent statement on counterfeit decks and telling customers how to spot them. If you see counterfeit decks in your metaphysical shop you can confront them if you want I know confrontations can be difficult especially for small businesses but again it’s important to bring it up even asking politely, “I noticed you have counterfeit decks and selling for full price why is that?” But if not take your business elsewhere maybe leave a review warning others about them. But I find it hard to believe that a lot of these shop owners don’t know what their doing when selling these decks, unless they’re very irresponsible or just don’t care about ethics of business or even laws of their business.

Cues when you are checking a counterfeit deck?

Does it have the artist’s and author’s name sometimes the person is both author and artist.

Does it come with a guidebook when the normal deck usually does. Some of these illegal decks will remove “guidebook” from the title and have a small QR Code on the back of these decks that’s your NUMBER ONE CLUE when you spot these decks THEY DO NOT HAVE GUIDEBOOKS BUT QR CODES FOR THE SAID GUIDEBOOK. THEIR VERY SMALL COMPARE TO THE AUTHENTIC DECKS.

Do they put the Publishing Company’s name for copyright? For instance those annoying US Game systems borders usually will have their copyright (within good reason to not let the cards to be ripped off that’s why you don’t see many us game system tarot rip offs). To spot the copyright title it’s on the box usually on the back, it will be small but it will have ©️ then the publishing company’s name.

Do you know of the tarot deck is a mini? Sometimes authors and publishers will republish regular decks for minis. Be sure the deck says mini or look up to see if the publishing company republished a tarot mini compare the decks if they match.

[babblingeccentric]

How Useful Each of The Strawhats Are At Getting Your Stuff Back From Your Shitty Ex

Luffy- destroys your ex's house, eats all their food, beats up your ex, and steals their dog. Weather you wanted him to or not. Only gets the items you told him an emotional story about back. For best results send him in a team Zoro- gets all your shit back plus some of your ex's shit that he wasn't sure wasn't yours. Visually intimidating. However if your ex starts a fight he's gets distracted by that and if your ex owns swords Zoro starts a fight and then calls your ex a mall ninja when he inevitably wins Nami- gets all your stuff back that isn't too heavy. Also steals all your ex's credit cards, cash, and jewelry along with their entertainment system and anything else valuable. She fences it all before she gets back to you and calls it payment for her services. Send her in with Zoro and Luffy to rein in their more distractible tendencies and for them to get the heavy stuff. Add in Ussop and you've got a crack team designed to ruin your ex's life. Also if she likes you she'll ruin your exes credit no charge, no need to ask. Ussop- Gets your stuff and also takes your ex's phone charger, toilet paper, remote, leaves their freezer unplugged, and does whatever else he thinks would be funny and vengeful. Sanji- Honestly terrible choice. You'd think with his white knight syndrome he'd be good but no. If your ex is male and you're a girl Sanji beats him up on sight while scolding him for breaking such a delicate heart and completely forgets about your stuff. The fight absolutely trashes your ex's place and breaks some of your stuff too. If your ex is a woman and you're a guy he gets your stuff while flirting with your ex and then forgets the box of your stuff on the porch when she blows him a kiss and he drops the box to catch it dramatically. If you're both women he's caught in a catch twenty two where he desperately wants to please both of you and in doing so does nothing helpful. I'm not even going to get into what happens if either of you are nonbinary except to say he gets really uncomfortably weird about it. Don't ask him to get your stuff just show him a picture of your ex and Sanji will ruin every date they bring to the Baratie for eternity. Chopper- Good choice! He can use his Walk Point or Heavy Point to transport large or heavy objects he can't handle in his Brain Point form, and he's thorough enough to get all your stuff without getting distracted and he's conflict avoidant so he's not gonna get in a fight with your ex either. If your ex tries to start a fight Chopper can either use Brain Point to go "you wouldn't hit a little guy whos so cute and also its my birthday you wouldn't hit a little guy on his birthday?" or use Heavy Point and your ex isn't stupid enough to fight a guy who looks like a gorilla Robin- Her devil fruit makes packing up all your stuff very fast and she is not easily intimidated. She's also very unlikely to get in any fights with your ex but if your ex starts a fight Robin can end it. However do not send her in with strawhats because she will just enable their destructive tendencies. She is NOT the levelheaded one. Franky- Has done this before for people back in Water 7. He's a pro and he will assemble a team. They may even be little robots he built specifically for this purpose. Even if he doesn't all his cybernetic enhancements make the job easy and he's both easy going enough not to start a fight and tough looking enough your ex wont start one either. Gets all your stuff with exactly the right amount of intimidating your ex and without causing you any problems Brook- Honestly kind of useless. He's a tall skinny dude who's too old and silly to be very intimidating, and he's not the heavy lifter that some of the other people are on the crew are. His biggest skill is that he is able to keep the rest of the team on track so I recommend sending him in with Luffy Jimbe- A big fucking dude which adds significantly to his intimidation factor despite him being honestly a pretty soft dude (in comparison to rest of strawhats). This also means he can take back furniture you left behind. He doesn't start fights but you can bet he ends them. The one your ex is most scared of at first because he both looks scary and has scary rumor swirling about him.

[astaroth1357]

Cuddle Time w/ the OM Cast

Baby Simeon woke me up from my slumber. That card is fucking adorable, I want it.

Lucifer 

The fact Lucifer doesn't immediately throw them off whenever they try to snuggle should be proof enough of his love.

Cuddling is mostly done in the privacy of his bedroom. Occasionally he'll allow it in his office, but only if he's not busy.

He prefers to do it on one of the many chairs or cushions he has by the fire. Between the warmth of their body and the heat of the fireplace, he'll relax into it in seconds…

His favorite position is face-to-face with them on his lap - it's a way for him to "hand over" control while still feeling perfectly in charge. Sure, they can trace his jaw or fluff his hair as much as they like, but it's his arms holding them in place.

Gets beyond grouchy if they get interrupted... First, it's embarrassing, but second, who even has the right? If he gets pulled away for anything less than a house fire, someone (usually Mammon) is getting tied up to the chandelier...

Mammon 

Jumps at cuddle time, but always tries to play it off afterwards like an indecisive puppy.

Like Lucifer, he prefers his bedroom or theirs, but he'll do it in the Common Room too if he really needs a "pick-me-up." It's just that they usually get interrupted in there, so…

Likes to cuddle in bed or on couches, any place that's long enough to let him stretch out a bit. He wants to monopolize as much MC as he can.

Favorite position is laying on them so that his head is on their stomach or chest, kind of like a blanket. Like I said, the MC Surface Area to Mammon ratio is very important to him. More than half of MC must be cuddled for supreme satisfaction.

Whines like crazy if they get interrupted (and they usually do). Nearly every brother has an automatic gut reaction to toss him across the room if they see it happening, but that never stops him trying.

Leviathan 

Levi had to warm to cuddling but after that he was all-in for life.

Really only does it in his room (duh). He gets so nervous about trying it anywhere else that you'd think it was scandalous or something...

Actually prefers to cuddle on the floor - on beanbags or pillows of course. It's not terribly comfortable to cuddle and play games together in his bedtub and he needs the multitasking.

Favorite position (scratch that, the only position) is with their back to him and his arms around them in some way, probably also gripping a controller (or vice versa). They can do it laying down or sitting up, but that's what he can muster. His brain stops functioning if they ever try to face each other...

Not above vague thoughts of homicide if they get interrupted. He already doesn't like letting go, so add on the depletion of his all important "MC Meter" and he's going to be very grumpy indeed…

Satan 

Cuddles a bit like a semi-social cat. Less big on full-on snuggling, but he still requires physical contact.

Much more relaxed about the PDA than the others, but his affection style is more casual looking as well. He'll cuddle right about anywhere, but mostly whenever he's reading.

Couches or loveseats are easiest. Chairs are less so, but manageable as long as they can sit close to each other. 

Favorite position is to have them sit next to him with their legs over his lap. He only needs one hand to read so the other usually roams around mindlessly while he's engrossed in a book. He may rub their thighs, hold their hand, or play with their hair.

Hates being interrupted with a burning passion. The death glare he'll send to anyone stupid enough to try could curdle milk… Give Satan his MC time if you know what's good for you.

Asmodeus

Needs cuddle time like he needs air, but would you expect any less from the embodiment of Lust?

Down to cuddle anytime, anywhere - zero shame and no hint of hesitation. Sometimes he'll come over and latch into them in the middle of someone else's conversation...

Fond of using beds but he's also mastered cuddling in the tub, his bathroom is certainly built for it. Nothing beats a nice hot bath with his nice warm MC! 😘

Favorite position is really any of them. He's hardly going to be picky - though if given the choice, he'll pull them to the nearest bed and wrap himself around them so tight that they may get stuck together.

Whines louder than Mammon if they ever get interrupted and pelt the intruder with pillows or shoes to make them go away (it rarely works though…). 

Beelzebub 

Always happy to cuddle with MC!... as long as they don't mind his stomach growling from time to time.

Prefers to cuddle after he's downed some big feast. When the food coma is setting in, it's really nice to hold MC for a while… They make him feel full for at least five extra minutes!

He tries to incorporate MC into his training sometimes so his favorite position is to have them latched onto him like a kola while he goes about the House. If their arms or legs get tired, he'll carry them over to a couch and just continue from there.

If he's got to be still, then he prefers to cuddle in a bed, ideally one where Belphie is. Nothing warms his heart more than having the both of them clung into him in some way, it's very therapeutic. 😊

Not AS bothered when they get interrupted… If anything he's just disappointed. He was probably having fun, but they'll come back, right...?

Belphegor 

Look, all time is "Cuddle Time" and any other activity is just a distraction. If Belphie could hot glue the MC to his body, he would. 

Being cuddled to sleep is a MUST. He thrives on their proximity and the sound of their heartbeat is the world's best lullaby.

Unfortunately, he doesn't even need to be particularly comfortable to get cuddling in… He has been known to just collapse onto their lap if he's tired enough, all else be damned.

His favorite position is any way that lets them be his pillow. Any particular soft parts of the body like the stomach are fair game. He'll use their thighs like a neck pillow if he wants to (and hope that they don't try choking him out of revenge...).

There's really no interrupting Belphie. If someone needs MC, he'll latch onto their legs so they either stay put or bring him too. The others have to use magic or spatulas just to pry him off...

Diavolo

Big on cuddle time. HUGE on cuddle time! This man has hardly ever been touched, so this is a dream come true!!

Look, he's the king so he'll cuddle them wherever he damn well pleases! (That's a lie, Barbatos won't let him do it during work hours… Otherwise it's fine.)

He's very enthusiastic but uh… kind of inexperienced so a lot of things (like convenient location) don't occur to him right away. Like sure, they could go cuddle in a big ass bed, but he really wants to hold them RIGHT NOW so they're just going to have to do this in an empty ballroom somehow...

His favorite position is probably best described as the "Teddy Bear," where they just sit on his lap and he hugs them from behind. He'll even rest his chin on their head if he can. It looks vaguely like he's holding them hostage but they actually seem happy about it.

Unless your name is Barbatos or Lucifer, you do not interrupt them. As far as he knows, there's still a snake in the dungeons and you don't want to be the person he sends to check…

Barbatos

A spot of quiet intimacy is quite rare for him… but never unwelcome.

Assuming Barbs even finds the time in his schedule to sit still for a while, he will almost always opt to do so when utterly alone (sometimes even in deserted timelines). It's very embarrassing to be caught procrastinating at work...

Ever the pleaser, he'll claim that he has no real preferences but if he were being honest it's when they're curling up together on a cushion or loveseat. It's comfortable, but still allows for some proper conversion.

Unlike others, no matter what position they take he'll always want to be face-to-face. When he gets to be with them so rarely, why would he ever want to see their back turned…?

NO ONE interrupts them. No one. Short of Diavolo needing him desperately, if someone sees the two of them together they will turn around. Even an irritated Barbatos is scary, an angry one is terrifying…

Simeon

Oh man… This is the height of intimacy for an angel. Cuddling with Simeon is just as sweet and relaxing as it sounds - it's an almost photogenic level of serenity, fit for the brushes of Renaissance painters trying to define what divine love is...

Naturally, because it's such an intimate act Simeon will only do so in absolute privacy. He doesn't even want Luke to see, it's just that personal...

Part of why he's so guarded is because it's one of the rare times he'll let his wings be free. They're very delicate, so he has to sit on stools, logs, or other backless seats to even let them out but it's worth it.

His favorite position is to have the MC sit across his lap while he holds them as close as possible. He'll beat his wings for a nice breeze on hot days or fold them in to shelter the MC from cold ones. No matter what, their movement is so glimmering and graceful that they're practically mesmerizing…

To him getting interrupted is legitimately so mortifying you'd think he got caught streaking. Even the brothers - sans Satan - will avert their eyes if they find them like that… while still telling him to back off but at least they're considerate about it.

Solomon

Solomon's softest moments come when he's cuddling MC… but he's still a little mischievous no matter what.

They pretty much have to do it in secret because if any of the brothers see them, they'll throw a fit… So snuggling in cramped storage closets or "so-high-up-in-the-air-no-one-can-stop-us" it is!

But when he wants to poke buttons, Solomon will magic them onto his lap dead-ass in the middle of RAD, like, two minutes before a class starts just to watch the world burn…

If he had a favorite position, it's sitting wrapped up together in his cape. It feels intimate, warm, and the starry-sky pattern makes him feel like there's nothing in the universe but them…

Interruptions are frequent - thank the PDA police - but only in the Devildom. In the human world, though? They're all his and he soaks up every minute of it... Sorry fellas. 😏

[mercy-burning]

Your Favorite — Part 1

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Reader Summary: When Y/N comes home from college for the summer to meet her mom's new boyfriend, she finds herself in a rather tough spot when she can’t stop thinking about him— And it seems he feels the same... Category: SMUT (18+) Content: Adults w/ age gap, masturbation (female and male), minor exhibitionism kink, oral sex (male receiving), penetrative sex, breeding kink (kinda? i think? 😅) Word Count: 7.3k (do you see now why I had to make it a miniseries? alsdjfdk)

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | MASTERLIST

DISCLAIMER: In this story, Spencer is dating Y/N’s mom while also having a sexual relationship with the reader herself. Because of that, there are obvious undertones of cheating, alongside some perv-y tendencies when it comes to a partner’s daughter. That being said, Spencer and Y/N’s relationship is consensual. However— If any of what I just forewarned is something that you think will make you uncomfortable while reading, please do not read! If there are any more disclaimers you think I may have missed, don’t hesitate to tell me! There is another post I made HERE with some disclaimers as well if you want to know more about what this story will entail.

NOTE: This intro is already too long, so I’ll just get this out of the way: you can find visual nsfw inspirations for this story over at @mercy-midnight, I’m working on a playlist for this story on my Spotify @/mercyburning, and I don’t know when part 2 and 3 will be out, but you can assume they’ll be here within the next few weeks.

———

JUNE 5th

I hate my mom's new boyfriend.

For the past three months she'd been telling me about this new guy who's "The One" as if "The One" hasn't been like four other guys in the past two years.

And as much as I'd love for my mom to find someone to spend the rest of her life with, I don't believe she'd ever find Mr. Perfect at this rate. Unless she spent more than a few months with them at a time before dragging me home from college for a weekend to meet them, I really don't see it happening.

It just sucks. Because every time she does this, every time I return home, I see the glimmering hope in her eyes and the diminishing spark in his, and I know. I know it won't last, and her heart will be utterly broken within the span of a few months.

I always thought maybe she just had terrible taste in men.

But this time around, when I begrudgingly walk through the door of my childhood home for the summer and see my mother clinging to a man who returns that glimmer in her eyes, I know she's picked a good one.

And I hate him.

His name is Spencer Reid, and he's a retired FBI agent who teaches full time at local colleges now.

He greets me with a bona fide, radiant smile, unlike all the others before, and it sets my insides on fire. And when we sit down for dinner, he's polite (but not in a fake way,) and he seems genuinely curious about my studies and my personality and my relationship with my mother. And when dinner is finished he offers to clean up while Mom and I settle in the living room.

I see the way he looks at me as I leave, a gentle, closed-mouth smile and eyes that linger a little too long on my exposed legs before averting, a glint of shame pooling within them, and it only spreads that fire in my belly.

Maybe I'd been imagining the whole thing, because deep down I wanted him to look at me the way he had... But it's hard to tell when my brain is mostly setting off sirens, blaring "THIS IS WRONG! THIS IS WRONG!" on a loop with blinding lights.

And they're even louder when my mom wraps her arm around me and lays her head atop mine. "Well, what do you think? He's great, huh?"

She's so lovesick, it hurts. It hurts even worse knowing that all I can think about is his big hands wrapped around my throat while he fucks me into the squeaky twin-sized mattress in my bedroom upstairs.

But I can't tell her that, obviously.

And so I decidedly hate him. And I have no choice but lie to her face, embracing her joy and hoping that I'll be able to survive this summer.

"Yeah, Mom. He's really great."

JUNE 19th

It's been two weeks and I can barely stand to be in the same house anymore.

I try to keep myself busy by going outside, to the beach or for long walks in the park; but it's too hot for my liking, and our town is so small that unless I want to spend my time in the grocery store or one of the three bars on Main Street...

I'm stuck either outside where it's hot and uncomfortable, or in the house where it's also hot and uncomfortable.

We have air conditioning, of course, but that's not the problem.

It's Spencer.

I thought by now my little crush on him would have gone, but the longer he hangs around the house, the stronger my feelings for him grow. They're not romantic—nor do I think they ever could be given the fact that if anything serious really were to ever happen between us, my mom would disown me for the rest of my life and murder Spencer with her bare hands—but that doesn't make it any easier on me.

Every day he just exists, right in front of me with that tug-able mop of hair, those warm honey eyes, and his hands that never stop moving. I swear, it's like every time he breathes, his hands are breathing too, challenging me to try and stop them.

But I refuse to touch him. Because I know the moment I do, all will be lost. I won't be able to control myself anymore. And if I don't drop to my knees and try sucking his dick at the dinner table, I'm sure I'll blurt out how I can't handle it anymore and that I need him, and either way I'd be royally fucked.

Right now he's in the dining room, teaching my mom how to do a disappearing card trick. She thinks it's utterly charming that he can do it at all, but mostly that he's patient and willing enough to teach her. And normally I'd agree, but I can barely look at them without wanting to waltz over, grab his wrist, and suck his fingers into my mouth.

It's truly pathetic.

So I try to focus on the television just a few feet away. It's one of those rare instances where I wish our house was bigger, because while I don't mind having less wall-space between rooms, I do mind not being able to watch TV without the kitchen table in my periphery at a time like this. And I think about going up to my bedroom instead for a moment, but I'd have to go past the kitchen, and I just know Mom is going to ask if I'd want Spencer to teach me his magic trick.

And I most definitely do not want that.

In another life, maybe, where he isn't a hot professor and rather an average-looking dude who's way too into fantasy football... But not in this lifetime.

So there I sit, concentrating so hard on Family Feud that my face hurts.

When I hear a flutter of cards and joyous giggling from the other room, it's more than my face that hurts.

It's also my chest, churning and tensing at the hands of the green devil.

Fuck!

I barely even know this man... I haven't really talked to him because I'm afraid that if I try to hold a conversation I'll snap. He's literally just some hot older guy who's dating my mom, and still, my whole body twists and aches with envy when they do anything together, and it fucking sucks. Not only because of the jealousy, but it's also the fact that my mom deserves to be happy.

This time it's different. This time, she's really found someone who returns her every loving gaze, who makes her laugh, who's kind and genuine and not a total douche. She's happier than I've seen her in years.

And the one time she finally finds "The One", every waking second of my life is spent longing for him fuck me.

But it's only been two weeks.

And it's also been nearly two years since I got laid, so maybe that's just my issue...

I figure it can't hurt, so in a spur of the moment decision, I turn the TV off and sprint towards the stairs, right past Mom and Spencer before they can ask questions.

———

I hardly even register the dimness of the light inside the house by the time I glide up the steps, fumbling with the key and trying to make my entrance as quiet as possible. Though, because I'm so used to the dark by this point, the light—no matter how dim—nearly blinds me. The door shuts louder than I'd have liked, and I cringe inwardly, pausing as if that will keep anyone from seeing or hearing me. Not like it'll matter, considering Mom and Spencer are the only ones that are staying here and they'd also been the only ones aware of my plans for the evening.

Well, somewhat, anyway. I told them an old friend invited me out and I probably wouldn't be home until late.

Regardless, that instinct of trying not to get caught coming in late at night is stronger than common sense. Throw a little cheap beer and some shots into the mix, and it almost feels like I'm a teenager again.

The only thing different now is that I have a pool of some stranger's cum soaking my underwear and a man in front of me who stands like an angel. An exhausted, almost scruffy-looking angel more like, but my point still stands.

"You're up late," Spencer observes. It's a simple enough statement— not really judge-y, but I can tell that regardless of his knowledge of my coming home late, he seems shocked to see me coming through the front door right now.

And it's hard to look away from him. Just like it has been for the past two weeks. Still, I try, just barely avoiding his eyes as I cross my arms and fight the urge to clench my legs together. "I'm a whore. What's your excuse?"

Maybe not the best thing to say. But like I said, common sense? Gone.

"O—oh... Umm..." Spencer stumbles through his words, obviously stunned by my response, and the look in his eyes kind of makes me want to curl up in a ball and die from embarrassment. Still, I stand my ground and wait for him to continue.

He settles on a short, "I can't sleep," and then there's nothing else.

"Ah," I express. One syllable. I don't draw it out, I don't exaggerate it... This is the first real conversation I've had alone with him, and I've made it extremely awkward, so I sigh and take a few steps forward, trying to walk past him. "Okay. Goodnight."

I only make it a few steps before he stops me, his hand reaching out to tap my shoulder. "Wait—"

The touch makes me jump, and he pulls it away immediately as I turn to face him. My heart is racing at the speed of light, my panties are soaked through, and if I'm not careful that whole 'no common sense' thing is going to bite me so hard in the ass I won't have one left.

"Can I talk to you?" His voice is barely audible, and the gentle rasp it has to it seems to make me even more wet.

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

"Look, I um... Your mom has been totally transparent with me about her relationships, so I know that she's been through a lot of them in a short amount of time... And I know that must be a little difficult for you. Especially now that I'm here... And you've been... distant. And I know that I don't know you that well, so forgive me if I'm assuming anything, but I just want you to know that I don't have any intention of making things difficult for you and your mother."

Too late, pal, I think bitterly, the gentle authority in his tone setting my insides alight. I'm positive that voice could get me to do so many things...

That's the alcohol and sex talking, Y/N, just shake it and move on...

He starts again, but I cut him off with a short wave of my hand. "Look, I... I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I had a really long night, and I'm exhausted. I just wanna shower and go to bed."

I expect more resistance, but Spencer only nods. I still can't bring myself to look him in the eye, though this time I catch his hands clenching at the bottom hem of his shirt. "I understand. Sleep well."

Without another word I turn on my heel and walk a little faster towards the stairs, and I'm about to take my first step when I realize he's followed me. His voice calls out my name softly from a few feet behind, and it stops me in my tracks regardless of my desire to get out of there as fast as I can. And then I turn around and finally look directly at his face.

Big mistake.

His eyes are on my legs again, trailing slowly upwards until he reaches my face. The light over here is dimmer, barely noticeable at all, though I swear I can see red forming on his cheeks.

"I like your dress," he says softly. It's almost meek, like he'd been afraid to say it but took a chance anyway.

It's such a random, small compliment, but with the alcohol and endorphins flowing through my body after the night I'd just had, it nearly makes me quiver.

It also makes me incredibly stupid.

An amused, almost sensual grin forms on my face as I make eye contact with him, and I feel myself throb at the way I can just barely see his throat move. He looks like a deer in headlights, afraid to make one sudden move.

"Turning to flattery to try and win me over, are we?" I say slowly.

I almost think he'll stumble over his words once more, but again he surprises me with a full answer. It's only three words but it's clear, and his voice is deep, and I want to fucking jump his bones right then and there.

"Is it working?"

This has to be the alcohol making me imagine things... I swear I didn't even drink that much tonight, but it has to be an obvious lapse in judgement. The drinking mixed with the sex mixed with the dirty thoughts I've been having about this man lately have to be what's making this feel real. It's all culminating into this one big fantasy (or delusion, more like), and all I need is to shower and sleep it off.

That has to be it.

So because there's no other reasonable explanation that my brain can conjure up, I take a chance and throw Spencer a wink before turning and sprinting up the stairs.

And it's that same seemingly undeniable reasoning for this illusion that doesn't keep my hands from wandering in the shower. Even though those warning sirens in my brain keep blaring, telling me that the common sense is still there for me to utilize, they're drowned out by my thrumming heartbeat and the repetition of Spencer's soothing, authoritative voice, guiding my movements.

Keep rubbing your clit for me, baby... Just like that, nice and slow...

Warm water cascades down the front of my body as I lean back into the wall of the shower, but that's not why I'm so warm. This heat radiates through my insides, spreading like wildfire and bringing out small whimpers and mewls that I know I'll have to contain in fear of waking my mom from her bedroom right next door.

But then the thought of her hearing me next door as I cry out her boyfriend's name only excites me more. I keep it quiet still, but just knowing that someone else is in the house while I'm having these thoughts right now (one of them being the object of said thoughts) is what finally brings me over the edge.

I finish my shower on weak legs, definitely overstimulated now, but also feeling even more tired. I know that the moment I lay down on my bed, I'll be pulled into the sweet, soft surrender of a deep sleep.

Nothing else has ever sounded so pleasant.

———

When I woke up that morning after, I was feeling surprisingly calm. Realistically I knew that my whole 'this has to be an illusion' montage had been less truth and more inebriated babble, and the longer I sat on it the more I thought it'd all turned out for the better.

Turns out, tipsily masturbating in the shower to thoughts of your mom's hot new boyfriend was a surefire way to get it out of your system, right?

Wrong.

It really had been okay at first. I thought about Spencer almost immediately, and yeah, he was still hot as fuck—But there wasn't this overwhelming desire within me to jump his bones when I saw him that morning, his hair messy and his hands clutching a cup of coffee while Mom made breakfast behind him.

But that good feeling I had about all of this? It lasts only about a split second.

Because the moment he looks up and sees me, the mug falls out of his hand and shatters to pieces. His eyes stay glued to me, even as my mother darts over to pick up the pieces of the ceramic that are scattered about the table and the floor. And when she turns back to grab a paper towel, he still stares at me, once again at my legs.

It takes me all of four seconds afterwards to remember that not only did I talk to him briefly last night, but I also flirted with him after he complimented me.

That whole part seemed to have slipped my mind when waking up, and now that his gaze is bringing me back to that moment, that 'this has to be an illusion' montage is starting to become larger than I'd remembered.

It isn't until he finally snaps out of it and starts to help my mom clean up the mess that I snap out of it, too, going back upstairs to clear my head and cool the heat radiating over my skin.

———

There's a knock at my bedroom door about an hour later, and it sounds different than my mom's usually quick two-knock succession. That means it's someone else, and unsurprisingly, my stomach tightens at the thought of seeing him again.

"Yeah?" I call out, turning in my desk chair and meeting Spencer's figure in the doorway. He's changed, a rather nice pair of slacks and a white button-up shirt clinging to his limbs.

"Can I come in?"

"Mhm," I say. I still don't know if I entirely trust myself to say anything more than a few words to him, and as he enters the room and sits on the foot of my bed, I wonder if he can tell.

He tries, really tries, to look me in the eye, but I know that it's hard. I've been in the same spot. And then he takes a deep breath before folding his hands in his lap.

"Y/N, I want to apologize... When we... talked last night... It was kind of weird, and then this morning wasn't really any better..." He can barely get out the words 'talk' and 'last night'... And then he avoids my gaze altogether, staring at the floor and trailing off, trying to put his thoughts together it seems.

And that's when it starts to click into place.

There's one thing that both last night and this morning have in common, and I've noticed it almost every time I've caught him staring at me. At my legs. It's happened almost daily since I've met him. And then, the night I come home clearly having just been fucked, waltzing past him, entertaining his fascination with my legs and then masturbating to thoughts of him in the shower, he finally starts dropping mugs.

He must also really feel something here. Something similar to my own feelings. And really, that should be a red flag, because he's my mom's boyfriend, and it's a goddamned fucking mess...

But fuck, it excites me.

I'm still wearing my pajama shorts, silky and lavender in color, and I use them to my advantage, slowly crossing one leg over the other and just barely gaining Spencer's attention back.

"Yeah, what was that, anyway?" I ask him, amusement dripping off my tongue.

I can tell from his reaction that he wasn't expecting me to ask. A few times he opens his mouth to speak and then closes it , stumbling before panicking. He's been pretty good so far at coming up with answers and explanations, so the fact that this time I finally seemed to have broken him down makes it all the more clear.

He must have heard me in the shower.

Right?

I'm almost completely positive that's what this is about. And there's one way for me to get the confirmation I'm looking for.

"So you heard me, huh?"

I try to keep my voice as plain as I can as not to give away my motives, and with my luck Spencer is so flustered that he probably wouldn't have even noticed it at all. He looks up at me, his eyes desperately trying to find something he can use to make up a lie, but in the end there's no use.

I've caught him. And he knows it.

"Yes," he whispers. He looks exhausted, guilty, and also a little like he wants to cross the barrier and kiss me.

Okay, maybe that part's just in my head. I really can't tell. But I do know that hearing me call his name out in the shower last night is what brought him to this point of severe distress. As much as that excites me, though, it also embarrasses me a little. Maybe if it hadn't happened we could have avoided further destruction.

It must read on my face, because Spencer perks a little. "Oh! Y/N, I'm not... I'm not mad or anything. I really didn't mean to overhear and invade your privacy... Really, I-I'm sorry."

The fact that he's apologizing to me right now, rather than acting all grossed out that I even did it in the first place, tells me he either feels guilty for not being able to help himself from hearing me, or he's just a good guy who loves my mom and doesn't want to ruin it because of a little mishap.

Either way, it's frustrating, because I don't know what to do.

Well, I know what I want to do, but I don't know if I should hint at it.

But then he does something. It's small, and no one would have noticed, but I've been fascinated with his hands since the moment I met him, so my eyes are instantly drawn there.

They're clenched so hard, his knuckles are nearly white.

He's nervous.

To ease his mind a bit, I hold off on poking the bear harder (though it's really tempting to see what will happen if I don't) and nod, trying to make myself look as apologetic and small as possible.

"It's okay... I... I won't make it awkward if you won't?"

His shoulders slump, and his body seems to relax. "Y–yeah. Yeah, deal."

He gets up off the bed and blurts one final apology before heading for the door, but that part of me that wants to poke the bear further makes me stand up and follow him.

"Spencer?" I call out.

He freezes and turns to face me, and I don't think he quite expected me to be as close as I am. I have to tilt my head up to look at him, and the angle gives me an added layer of this innocence I'm trying to achieve.

"I'm sorry, too..."

No the fuck I'm not.

Whether he can sense my lie or not, he doesn't show it. But I think he at least knows that I'm pitching my voice a little higher on purpose, and if that doesn't give it away, the way I'm staring at him sure should.

Still, he only nods and retreats.

All there's left to do is see what happens.

JUNE 25th

For someone who agreed not to make things awkward, Spencer sure can't keep his eyes off of me.

To be fair, I have tried to keep things fairly normal. I only really interacted with him if I had to, I kept my distance, and I saved my skimpier clothing for the strangers I was regularly going out to see almost every weekend.

My lustful feelings for him aren't as strong now that I've been getting some on a semi-regular basis and keeping myself occupied. I've been doing my part.

But I still can't shake him entirely.

Whenever he spends the night (which is surprisingly most nights), the occasional wet dream about him gets me frustrated when I know he's just down the hall and sleeping soundly next to my mom. On those days I try to cut as much interaction with him as I can, though it doesn't keep me from seeing the occasional stare he throws my way.

I wish I could say that I hate it.

But I don't, and it increasingly gets worse. It's only been a week, so there's still time, but honestly, I don't think there's any shaking him.

Today especially is one of those days where it's hard not to give into the incessant need to tease him and coax some stronger reaction out of him.

I talked to Mom earlier this morning about getting some new clothes, and she had this brilliant idea to have Spencer take me. "It would be a good chance for you two to bond a little, don't you think?" she insisted, nudging him in the side and silently pleading with her eyes for him to agree.

I could tell from the look on his face that he really wasn't ready to be alone with me again, but that only excited me.

"Yeah, I think that's a great idea," I piped up, positively beaming.

Mom was so excited for us to 'bond' and also that I was gladly inclined to go through with it that Spencer couldn't have said no to her even if he wanted to.

And I was pretty sure he didn't want to.

Yet here we are, sitting in the car, the air conditioning so strong it's blowing some of my hair into my eyes. I think it had been his way of punishing me for choosing today to wear a short skirt, something I usually refrain from nowadays unless I'm going out, and it makes me smile. I can't help it.

I also can't help the way my fingers play with my skirt, dying to tease him some more. I just want to see, to know for sure that I'm driving him mad.

"No offence, but you seem weird today... Is there something wrong?" I ask him, lifting my skirt just a smidge. The air from the car blows the fabric in waves.

"You're acting this way on purpose."

Well, I hadn't been expecting that answer... All this time he'd hardly been confrontative, and now he's full-on calling me out. It's plain to see that he's finally snapped, and I would have felt sorry about it if I didn't find it extremely sexy.

"What do you mean?"

"Y/N..."

My name on his lips is a warning. He's clearly annoyed, exasperated, and I'm loving every second. "Don't act oblivious. I'm not stupid, and neither are you. I don't want to make you hate me or anything, but you have to know where I'm coming from. I was willing to let the shower thing slide... And you said you were too, for that matter, so I don't know what's changed, but it has to stop now. Understood?"

Oh, all I want is to argue with him. I want to point out that none of this is really my fault because he's the one who hasn't been able to stop staring at me all summer so far. I want to tell him that if he wants this to stop he has to make it stop.

But that isn't going to give me any of the answers I'm looking for or further proof of my theory that he wants me just as badly as I want him. And I am not going to fuck this whole situation up by making a poorly-timed move on him.

I have to know for sure.

So, I fold my hands neatly in my lap, sigh, and look dead ahead. "Right... We said no awkwardness. I'm sorry."

Spencer seems to accept my apology and continues down the road.

When we make it to the mall I think he's calmed down. At least, he seems a little more comfortable around me, and honestly I'm okay with it. As much as his spiel in the car turned me on, it also exhausted me to the point of silence.

Even as we walk around each store in the mall, I just lead and he follows, not saying a word when I pick out a top or a pair of pants or whatever else I need. And when it comes time to pay, he takes the basket from me and pays for it with no question.

Near five bags of clothes later, I figure I could get used to this new dynamic.

But then we pass a lingerie store, and I remember that the main thing I'd needed was new underwear. I start to turn into the store, but stop suddenly, pausing awkwardly and deciding to go straight ahead instead.

"You don't want to go in?" Spencer asks.

I shake my head. "No, it's fine. I can just pick some up later, it's not a big deal."

He sighs then, nodding his head towards the sign. "If you need to go in, you can... I'll just wait out here if you're uncomfortable."

I really want to call him out, ask him if he's the one who should be worried about being uncomfortable. But so far this afternoon has been pretty decent, and I really don't want to make things any weirder than they have to be.

Besides... If my theory is right...

"Sure. Thanks. Uh, how am I gonna pay, though?"

"O—Oh... I'll uh... I'll just watch the counter and come in when you need me."

"Orrrr, you could just give it to me?"

This time I get a laugh out of him. "Not a chance. Go in, I'll wait."

I smile at him and hand him the bags to hold onto while I leave, and it fills me with absolute amusement that he'd just given me one more ounce of proof that I'm right.

He's gonna have to come inside and pay for what I bought. He could have just given me the card, and maybe he truly doesn't trust me with it (which I don't know why he wouldn't honestly), but he chose to come inside all the same.

I browse happily then, going through the displays and picking out things I need, but also things I know Spencer will like.

Specifically, I stumble on a pair of lavender panties, embroidered with flowery trim up top. The pattern from the outside is lace, but there's a thin layer of cotton underneath designed to be more comfortable to wear.

I've noticed that he can never seem to look away when I'm wearing anything, really, but it's more intense when I wear one of two things. Florals, and any type of purple. And these fit both of those bills perfectly.

Now there's just one more bill to take care of.

I stride over to the counter and turn around, finding that Spencer's caught my eye immediately. Either he truly had been paying attention to the counter the whole time, or he'd been watching through the glass, following me with his gaze to the best of his abilities. Either way, he blinks a few times and looks like he's gathering the courage to go in before actually taking any steps.

I laugh to myself, eager to gauge his reaction to this next step.

Surprisingly, he holds up well. The air between me, him, and the cashier is obviously awkward, but he doesn't say anything and barely looks at what she rings up. (I say barely because he tries extremely hard not to look at the purple pair I picked out, inadvertently adding another checkmark to my list of proof.) She tells him the total, he hands her the card, and within a minute, everything is in our possession and we're leaving the mall entirely.

I don't think there are any more steps to my plan today once we get in the car and I tell him thank you. (To which he responds a short and simple, Sure thing, and turns the radio on.)

But then there's a note taped to the front door, and it instantly gives me another one.

My Sweethearts,

I got called in on a work emergency and won't be back until 7. I would have called but I figured you were having a nice time and didn't want to interrupt! I'll bring home dinner, and then maybe you can tell me about how your day went. Can't wait to hear it!

XOXO,

Eve/Mom

I check my phone, seeing that it's almost 3.

Perfect.

But I don't want to give myself away too quickly, so I thank Spencer again for taking me out and tell him that I'm going upstairs to make sure everything fits right. He nods and lets me go, though not without lingering eyes. I can feel it.

The smile never leaves my face as I try all my clothes on. Once each article has been fitted, I throw it in a laundry basket and move to the next, until I get to the last piece.

The lavender panties.

As expected, they fit perfectly, and as I look at myself in the mirror I picture what Spencer would look like when he sees me wearing them.

That's right. When.

I throw back on my earlier outfit and grab the basket, acting as bored and normal as possible to find him sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book.

"Hey," I greet him, setting the basket in front of me once I reach the bottom of the stairs. "Everything fits good, I just need them washed now. Could you run these down to the laundry room for me? I think I'm gonna make something to snack on before Mom brings dinner."

It doesn't surprise me to see him look at my legs before my face, even if it is brief. I want to smile, but I hold back, watching him nod with a tight smile of his own.

"Sure."

He disappears and then I wait.

One...

Two...

Three.

I sneak as quietly as I can to the laundry room once I hear the washer door open. I hadn't specifically asked him to put them in the washer for me on purpose, and it looks like now he's doing exactly what I thought he might.

My head peeks around the corner, barely in his range of sight as I watch him empty the basket. He takes one item of clothing at a time and throws it in the washer, and halfway through the basket he stops, just to place a pair of my new underwear on the dryer beside him.

My heart races faster the more I wait for him to get to the end of the basket. Once he does, he pauses again, and I think I know exactly what he's looking for.

Still, he sets the basket aside and picks up the stray pair of underwear, a simple black cotton pair that I'd been getting for years, and drapes it over his hands. My thighs instantly clench, and I try so hard to remain where I am so I can see where he takes this.

He takes it straight to hell, apparently, tentatively pulling his dick out of his pants and gripping it firmly. I can barely see since his back is partially turned, but I see enough, and god he's so fucking pretty. My underwear dangle from his left hand while the other works slowly over his erection, a soft sigh falling from his lips.

I fight to let one of my own slip as my hand sinks down the front of my body, past the lavender cotton and lace that I know he just wishes he had right now.

And then, a few seconds later he's already coming, using my brand new underwear to catch each rope of it, and the sight nearly has me on my knees.

And because I want to catch him in the act, I quickly draw my hand away from myself and step into the room, barely giving him time to recover.

"You come fast."

Spencer looks utterly devastated when he turns to see me standing in the entryway to the laundry room, arms crossed and an amused smirk adorning my face.

"Y/N... I—I... I'm so sorry, I didn't... I..."

"Don't worry about it," I say, taking a step towards him and shrugging. "You heard me, and now I heard you... We're even. Besides, I... figured you might be looking for these."

He's still stunned, but he looks down all the same, watching my hands slip under my skirt and glide the lavender panties down my legs. I step out of them and hold the garment up on one finger, a soft smile still on my face.

"I picked 'em out just for you, you know," I tell him, tossing them past his face and into the washer. "I've noticed that you like purple."

This time he's quick to respond. "Y/N, we... We can't... This isn't right."

"Says the man holding my underwear soaked in his cum..."

He looks panicked again, extremely guilty, but if this isn't going to end in a total disaster, then I have to reassure him that I'm okay.

"Spencer, I'm not mad..." I take another step forward, and it feels much like trying to approach a wounded animal. I can see in his eyes and in his posture that this conflict is killing him, so I decide to show some rapport. "And I know... I know this is messy... I love my mom... And I'm sure you care about her a lot... But are we really going to ignore this? We tried that, remember? And now look where we are."

"I..." He swallows, shaking his head and trying to avoid my eyes. "I can't stop thinking about you... I can't..."

My hand finds his arm, and the light touch has him sighing out, an incredulous, breathy laugh escaping him. "Y/N, please... Don't."

"Don't what?" I ask softly, praying he won't turn me away. If he does, we're just back to square one, only the square is jagged, sharper than ever before, and in serious danger of injuring someone.

When he meets my eyes, I see nothing but a desire for something he knows he can't have. "Don't want me."

Now it's my turn to laugh. My knees start to wobble as I go down, keeping my eyes locked onto his, and I swear I see them dilate fully. I scoot in closer, sliding my hand up his leg and finding the words in my heart to finally say out loud.

"It's too late for that..."

My face moves closer, and the hand of his that doesn't currently hold my underwear flies down to gently tug at my hair, keeping me in place.

"If you do this... God, Y/N, I won't be able to stop myself..."

A smirk dances over my lips as I lean in, breath fanning gently over his exposed skin. "Don't."

He swallows. "Don't what?"

"Don't stop yourself."

I barely get the words out before his hand is completely pulling me towards him, and the second my lips press against the silky skin of his hard cock, he loses it completely.

His fingers thread through my hair as I kiss and lick my way softly up to the tip. Once I'm there, I swirl my tongue out and taste the small beads of cum that had remained after he came, a low, satiated hum radiating through my body and making him shiver under my touch.

And then I wrap my lips fully around the head of his dick, and there's no stopping the most beautiful sound I've ever heard come out of his mouth. It's a broken, desperate whisper of my name. The crack in his voice when he says it spurs me forward, and I take him deeper into my mouth until he hits the back of my throat.

That's when he tosses my underwear in the washer and uses both of his hands to grab my head, roughly guiding me along his cock and fully taking control of my actions.

The fire in my belly doesn't ease up, not even once he's decided that he can't take it anymore and pulls me off of him harshly.

And that's only because now he's fully turned over, finally given into these desires that have been plaguing him presumably from the moment we met.

"I want you stripped and in your bed, on your hands and knees within the next five minutes."

I get up off the floor and walk up to him until our bodies are flush, my arms reaching up to wrap around his neck.

"What are you gonna do to me, Spencer?"

He searches my eyes, and his own grow dark with the purest form of sin I'd ever seen. And when his hands come up over the back of my legs, and under my skirt to grab my ass and pull me even closer to him, I can't help the little mewl that slips past my lips.

He smiles, and if it hadn't been for the grip he held on me, I would have fallen to my knees. "Little girl, when I'm through with you, you'll have to come up with some excuse to your mom about why you can't walk straight... Is that what you want?"

The mention of my mom should send me running in the opposite direction, but his threat only prolongs that fire in my veins and makes me want him even more.

I tilt my head up and press a gentle kiss to his lips.

"Do your worst..."

———

Turns out he was very true to his word.

Sitting at the kitchen table is somewhat of a relief, but I try not to walk around as much when Mom gets home. She'd asked me almost immediately if I was okay, and I told her I was just hungry and needed to eat something.

She seemed to have bought it, rushing to the kitchen to unpack the fast food she'd ordered for us. Over her shoulder, Spencer gave me a sly smile, and it took everything I had within myself not to crumble.

Through bites of food, I only half-listen to Mom telling us about the stuff she had to do at work because most of the words I'm hearing are in my head— A loop of endless dirty talk that plants deep into the soil of my stomach and spreads out through my whole body. It infects me, like the most beautiful poison, and I never want it to stop.

"Tell me, sweetheart, you ever let a man come inside you before?"

His weight on top of me coupled together with the heft of his voice has me whining out in pleasure, each snap forward of his hips over my ass as he pounds into me from behind the most delectable burn I've ever felt.

"Uh huh," I answer happily, twisting my head to feel his cheek against my own. "That night you heard me in the shower... I walked through the door with a stranger's cum soaking my panties... And you know what?"

He grumbles, his hips hitting into me harder as he waits for me to continue.

"I wished it was yours..."

My legs clench together under the table and I take a large gulp of water.

I feel something graze over my bare shin, and I already know it's Spencer's foot, a silent reassurance of his presence and that no matter what, he'll always be here.

"Here's what's going to happen..."

He has me on my back now, my legs hoisted over his shoulders and bent back so I'm nearly folded in half. His hips are flush against mine and I can feel his cock throbbing as he comes into the condom.

"You're gonna make an appointment to make sure you're clean... You're gonna make sure you're on good birth control... And then the next time I fuck this pretty little pussy, you're gonna really know what it feels like to have a man come inside you."

Right... Like I really need a reminder of his presence.

I can practically feel it still inside me, taking up every inch of space my body could provide. And no matter how long I go without seeing him, I have no doubt that it'll always remain.

"But that's enough about me, I'm sorry." Mom's voice shifts and breaks me out of my fantasy. "So, how did your day of bonding go? You have fun?"

Spencer and I share a look, a smile spreading over his lips that makes me smile in turn.

"Yeah, Mom," I say. "It was great."

He nods in kind. "Yeah... We'll definitely have to do it again."

His foot grazing over my leg under the table cements the unwavering smile on my face, as does the way my whole body burns at the memory of him fucking me upstairs only hours before.

I don't even flinch or get sick to my stomach when Mom reaches over and gives Spencer a kiss.

———

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[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

This is a weird question, but what would happen if Edward slept with or raped Bella in Twilight and got her pregnant with Renesmee? I know that this is even more unlikely than her getting pregnant in NW, but well we're in the land of answers to unlikely questions on this blog

Well anon, I guess we're going here.

Specifically anon is referencing this post.

My Usual Up Front Note

Yes, I know, we all know this is outlandish but I have to do this. Otherwise this blog descends into me writing fanfiction, and I have an AO3 and FFNet account for that.

Edward is many things and it's no great secret that I think he... makes very questionable decisions all the time and should not be romantically entangled with anybody.

However, Edward is not a rapist.

In the original post I go over my thoughts on this but essentially the crux of it is that Edward does have his moral standards. He will not have sex with a woman without a) being married to her first and b) without her explicit consent. Which, Bella does give against his advice in New Moon, fully aware of all the consequences that Edward himself is aware of (neither knew Renesmee was on the table then).

I do not think, at least without a lot of terrible things and huge catalysts happening first, that Edward would rape Bella.

I certainly don't think they'd be having sex as early as Twilight. Bella's not yet eighteen, Edward has no immediate plans to leave her (likely telling himself he'll leave after graduation when the separation is more natural), and he has no plans to marry her.

Sex isn't even on the table in Twilight.

Come on, Muffin, Try

But, per the ask, Edward and Bella do have sex in Twilight.

I have no idea how this would occur without a substantial amount of sex pollen. So, sex pollen it is.

Edward and Bella are in the meadow, it's the happiest day of Edward's life as Bella now fully understands what he is and doesn't run in terror. It's the happiest day of Bella's life as beautiful Edward has just shown her his innermost vulnerable self.

The stupid lamb is in love with the stupid lion. Huzzah.

Just then, wafting through the sky, is a blossoming alien plant life that for some unknown reason is also an intense aphrodisiac. This likely affects the entire town of Forks, but never mind them, we're focusing on Bella and Edward.

Bella looks at Edward, Edward looks at Bella, chemicals in their brain are churning. And as many a fanfiction protagonist has found out: resistance is futile. Edward and Bella succumb to the sex pollen in short order.

Edward probably crushes Bella in the act of sex and ends up sucking her blood out of the grass like a vacuum cleaner while naked. When he comes to, there's bits of Bella's pancreas on his face. He sobs in despair, for he is the world's greatest monster who has raped the love of his life to death and then devoured her corpse.

He goes to Volterra to kill himself. Aro's not sure what to say to any of this, Caius judges Carlisle by association.

However, we're not in that timeline per the ask.

Instead, somehow, despite both parties being not at home, Edward does not crush Bella in the midst of intercourse. Instead, as the sex pollen fades, they get to stare at each other in the aftermath.

They're in a meadow, naked, their clothes are torn into pieces, neither Bella nor Edward is a virgin and both of them can barely remember having sex.

Edward likely flees with suicide on his mind.

He may not have crushed Bella and devoured her corpse but he did just rape her. His inner demon took over and tarnished the most wonderful thing in all the world: he is no better than the monsters he once devoured.

He's likely planning his flight to Volterra before he even gets to the house. All he needs is a change of clothes and a credit card.

And luckily for him, since the entire town just succumbed to sex pollen (including the Cullens), Alice is probably in too much of a daze to see what's about to happen. Edward is able to find some pants, purchase a flight, and runs.

Bella is left naked and alone in the meadow. And very, very, sore.

Eventually, she has to hobble back to the street. She probably gets lost, as she did in canon. Eventually, a search party is probably sent out for Bella. One of the Cullens probably finds her first and... holy god she's looking full on rape victim.

No clothes, shivering naked and dangerously cold, covered in bruises.

Carlisle has not seen Edward all day, sex pollen descended on the town, this is painting a very bad picture of what just happened to Edward and Bella.

Bella tries to insist she's fine. She's not. She's taken to the hospital. And then the bomb drops. Bella easily confesses to Carlisle that she and Edward had sex. Bella has had sex with no one else. She's given a pregnancy test, it comes back positive.

Bella is pregnant with Edward's vampire child.

Carlisle... does not know how to tell Bella. Bella takes it very well surprisingly. By which she doesn't at all.

She does not want to be a teenage mother, that girl in that small town, at all. (She also would be devastated to be thought of as Edward Cullen's rape victim, but Bella's oblivious to that whole part of this)

She also has her whole life ahead of her and never wanted kids or to get married. She's seen how that shit turns out.

On the other hand, this is Edward's child, how can Bella take something so beautiful out of this world? Also, Renesmee's probably working overtime.

Bella tells Carlisle, right there in the hospital, that she's keeping the baby. Yes, she knows that she will have to fake her death, that she'll never see her family again. Yes, she's carrying a child that Carlisle's never seen before, he's not an OBGYN, and there's no telling what will happen. Yes, she's aware she could die. She's doing this.

Well. Carlisle's life just got ten times harder.

He fakes her death in the hospital somehow. Bella Swan dies of internal bleeding from the rape and is carted out of the hospital. Charlie, naturally, comes to arrest Edward Cullen (despite the entire town being affected by sex pollen all at once) but Carlisle truthfully notes that Edward isn't there. He hasn't seen Edward since the day before.

Charlie is also probably working overtime as the whole damn town was raped and does not have much time to look into this. Though Bella will be top priority case.

Charlie leaves (likely to go get a search warrant) and Carlisle gets to breathe a temporary sigh of relief. That sigh of relief is very temporary. Alice comes in in a flurry: Edward has fled to Volterra to kill himself.

Bella, who comes out of the cupboard she was hiding in during Charlie's visit, asks, "What's a Volterra?"

Carlisle calls Aro, tells him to stall Edward until Carlisle can come and also, Bella's pregnant with Edward's child.

Aro has no idea how to take that, and confesses what Carlisle guessed: no, he's never heard of such a thing before. Well, Aro will ask around and try to see if this (or sex pollen) have ever happened before and why doesn't Carlisle bring Bella with him when he comes to pick up Edward.

(Remember, this is before Eclipse, and as such all the shady nonsense has yet to go down.)

The whole family vamooses in the middle of the investigation, Dr. Carlisle Cullen won't be allowed t exist for a while. They head to Volterra, where Edward, indeed, has been stalled and he and Bella reunite.

Though, when I say "they", it's probably the Cullens sans Alice and Jasper. Alice wouldn't want to tempt Aro too much and, since Bella's carrying Renesmee, her visions are pretty much useless anyway. She'll see them later.

Edward is not nearly as thrilled as Bella that she is carrying his demon rape child. However, no one's listening to him and Bella insists she's not aborting the baby. Instead, Bella is heartbroken and tries to assure Edward that he's worthy of her and that it wasn't rape (it was) she had a great time! And she wants his demon baby!

Caius can't believe this soap opera is in his house.

Well, Edward probably won't try to kill himself before killing Renesmee, but then Renesmee's gift works overtime and he's convinced vampires have souls and is somehow able to forgive himself all this madness.

Edward marries Bella after she turns and gives birth, everyone loves Renesmee and they decide she's not a demon and is worthy of life, and they eventually leave Volterra great friends with the Volturi.

Sort of.

Weirdest decades of Caius' life.

[fieryfantasybooklover]

You Are My Sun - A Chain Of Iron Fanfic with basically all of the protagonists.

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

“I win!” Matthew shouted with vindication in his voice as he rose from the table and put down his cards. The group gathered there at James and Cordelia’s house (composed of the Merry Thieves, Anna, Ariadne, Lucie, and Jesse) had gathered to spend the evening together. The current entertainment was card games. The previous one had been poetry, and raiding the kitchens was before that. “I wish many bad things upon your deceased family members, Fairchild.” Anna said, crossing her arms and frowning. “You stole my victory, and that is something that can never be repaid.”

"Anna, my dear Anna - you are forgetting that there is no chance you don’t have at least one common ancestor. Be careful what you wish for.” Ariadne said, stifling laughter.

“She is right, Anna. You don’t want to get yourself into a complicated situation.” added Thomas, who had seemingly taken the loss with more grace as he was unlikely to win either way. “Anna, he is right - and our family is a good one, so you will be responsible for it’s fall in glory.” Christopher interjected.

“Attacked, attacked by my own friends and brother. I will never recover from this, and it shall be all your fault.” Anna said crossly.

"I think you’ll be ok.” Matthew said, smiling with no small level of smugness.

“Let’s try to not burn my house down tonight, for I fear that is the next step in this situation.” James said. “I would have to pay to replace so many expensive vases.”

"James. The vases were all gifts. You will not be replacing anything except the broken hearts and lowered expectations of the gift givers.” Cordelia said, grinning. “Even so, I think you would survive the loss.”

“It’s not like he can lower their expectations any more anyways.” Lucie said, pointedly ignoring Jame’s affronted face and grinning at Cordelia.

“If I wasn’t such a kind person, I would suggest you had cheated, Matthew, and stolen Anna’s victory.” Thomas said, smiling as he stood as well. “Nonetheless, I better be going. I’ve got one other person I must visit tonight.”

“Yes, and I think I know who that might be.” Matthew said, joining Cordelia and James as they escorted Thomas to the front door. There was no answer from Thomas beyond a small but overjoyed smile. “Could you give Alastair our best? Also make it clear to him he’s always free to join us if he wants to.” Cordelia said as Thomas put on his coat. “I will definitely do that.” Thomas replied, and there was a surprising lack of ire from Matthew. Soon after, Thomas made his move to leave and goodbyes were exchanged.

“Well, it seems prudent for me to leave as well. I wish you the best of nights and the best of luck in any endeavors you take upon yourself.” Matthew said, winking as he grabbed his coat and prepared to head out into the cold of a London night. “Thank you Matthew, and do try not to get run over or kidnapped. It would be terrible and I’m already exhausted.” James replied, grinning. “Good night Matthew!” Cordelia called as he exited the house. Returning to the rest of the group, the two flopped down onto the couch and grinned. “Things are going very well, it appears.” James said and Cordelia smiled. “I agree. It’s quite nice to see, Thomas and Alastair deserve it. They all do. Including us, I think.”

“Definitely including us.” James answered, kissing Cordelia on the forehead before gesturing to the cards discarded on the table with a question in his face. “I’m going to beat you.” Cordelia said, moving to sit in one of the chairs. “I will hold you to that.” James answered, and the game began.

Lucie was, in the absence of Matthew and Thomas as card game partners, apparently talking to Jesse and admonishing him for something. (“It does not matter that you are a ghost, you have to maintain responsibility. This includes avoiding unnecessary pranking.”) Jesse was still invisible to them, but the unapologetic air was still palpable. There was no real malice in Lucie’s voice, and she laughed after a pause of silence. Anna and Ariadne were engaged in a heated game of pool as Christopher watched, scribbling in a notebook. “I never knew you had such talent in the area of the game of pool, my lady.” Anna said, smirking as she aimed her cue at a ball. “Well, I would have told you if you asked, but you didn’t.” Ariadne quipped back, awaiting her turn as Anna spoke again. “I shall make sure to make a list of unexpected talents and ask you about them at a later date.”

Ariadne raised an eyebrow as Anna scored a point. Aiming her cue now, Ariadne replied. “Would you mind so terribly if you asked me some of them now? It seems as good a conversation topic as any.”

“I will most certainly ask some now, I have already mustered a good amount. The first one is the ability to steal hearts so thoroughly.” Anna said, the expression she wore now for Ariadne and Ariadne only. Ariadne blushed a deep red before smiling softly and answering with “It seems only fair that I give you a taste of my own experience, otherwise how unfair would that be?” Clearly not expecting that, Anna put her cue down and strode to Ariadne’s side. Anna took her hand then, saying nothing but communicating everything necessary. They put the cues and billiards away before calling goodbyes and leaving, still holding hands.

"It’s getting late, I think I should head home now.” Christopher said, standing and putting his notebook away in a pocket. Cordelia looked up from the card game, her face going from adamant focus to a smile. “Alright! I wish you the best of luck in getting home, and also with whatever you were writing about. I’d love to hear about it soon. Good night!”

“I will definitely tell you, it’s actually quite fascinating and I think it will be useful - I think it could help speed the healing process. Anyways, good night!” he said excitedly as he disappeared down the hall. The only other two left were Lucie and Jesse, who had long since gone from poking fun at the other to Lucie sitting on the couch James and Cordelia had abdicated and talking quietly to him about this and that. Her hand was resting on the couch beside her, and there was a faint impression on it - almost like a ghostly and invisible hand was holding it.

The exhaustion began to wear on them, and the final ones left departed with similar well wishes and friendly teases. It was now just James and Cordelia, who had managed to tie in wins and loses, and were thoroughly worn out. “Would you like to try an evening chess game?” Cordelia asked, and some of the fatigue cleared from James’s eyes as he nodded. They darted down the dark halls to the study, lighting a lamp inside and clearing the stacks of books from the table to make room for the chess board. The night was visible through the window, and the moon shone faintly. They placed the board there and began the match.

“I have a suggestion to make.” James said, moving his bishop into place to take Cordelia’s knight. “That sounds incredibly interesting, do elaborate.” Cordelia said, moving her rook. James narrowed his eyes at the board before taking the knight and continuing. “I am in the mood for learning something. If I win, you have to provide me with a fascinating fact I have never heard before. If you win, I have to provide you with a fact you haven’t heard before. Does that sound fair?”

“I like that idea, and I agree to the terms. I think you will find that I am practically bursting with fun facts and knowledge.” Cordelia answered, smiling as she took his bishop. He had fallen for her trap.

“I have the utmost faith in you, Daisy.” James said, and their game continued.

"I do believe that is checkmate.” Cordelia said with great satisfaction as she shifted her queen into position.

“Well, it seems that you have beaten me again. I do believe I owe you a fact. Now, I’ve been thinking over this one and I like it very much. Are you ready?” James said, leaning forward and fixing his gaze on Cordelia. “Ready and waiting” was the answer.

“Did you know that sunflowers try to face the sun whenever they can, and when they cannot they face each other? I find this a fascinating fact, it is one of those beautiful things of nature. I can attest to this fact because even though I am not a sunflower, I turn to you as you are my sun.”

The study was quiet then, beyond the muffled sounds of the wind outside. Cordelia met James’s gaze and they sat like that for a few seconds that seemed to stretch out for eternity. The time still passed however, and Cordelia spoke. “I think that is a fact I will carry with me into and beyond the grave, along with the hope that you know how much it is true for me as well. You are the sun in my life, and you will never fail to shine just as brightly as the star that lights our sky.”

They retired to bed soon after that - happy, content, and carefree in a way that was hard to attain. James and Cordelia treasured the feeling twice as much for its rarity, safe in the knowledge that while the world might have to come crashing down tomorrow, the other would still be there to illuminate the wreckage.

[lochnessies]

ok here’s a dissection of a post an anon sent me the link to and bc i have the worst time management possible and i completely forgot i had it lol so sorry anon here you go ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I am constantly thinking about how Edelgard just doesn’t seem designed to appeal to cishet men.

i hate to be the one to break this news to you op but just because a character doesn’t show skin like charlotte fire emblem doesn’t mean she isn’t designed to pander to men. she’s very much designed to pander to the (majority straight male) player base with her ‘uwu i only trust you professor omg did u see that rat? pls don’t look at my painting of you uwu’.

then there’s the whole edelgard c support in japanese where byleth makes reference to having come to her room for ‘yobi’ which is

there’s also the scene where byleth can make an unsolicited comment about edelgard’s breast size. which is… uhh… gross.

edelgard also has cipher cards that go from slightly fanserviceie to full on suggestive

and also her breast armor that my sister relentlessly mocked lol

and here’s a chart from the 3h subreddit about gender/sexually in regards to edelgard and edeleth. it’s extremely straight male. op might have just overlooked this since they probably don’t go on reddit and stay on tumblr (which unlike reddit is mostly female and has a high lgbt demographic).

Like the joke is that Bleagles is the Gay House, but everything about her feels deliberately non-hetero.

i don’t like where this is going…

She’s dressed in sharp outfits covering her upper body, with proportions that don’t seem exaggerated.

so women who cover up must be lgbt because straight women are naturally more revealing? oh y i k e s

Her poise and the way she effortlessly flourishes her axe exhibits an air of coolness. While titties out =/= character of no substance, Edelgard being dressed more modestly suggests that she wasn’t designed with male-centred fanservice in mind.

“titties don’t equal no substance but here’s my post on how she has more substance because she doesn’t show titties” ok

And she still looks absolutely stunning in her more modest attire (like seriously, I haven’t felt the need to return to cosplay in years but I want to do her academy look so bad). 

yes she does. amazing design 10/10. i have a feeling this is the only part i’m going to agree with

Edelgard is intense. She does not mince her words and she is constantly evaluating you. Though she tries, she has a difficult time understanding her peers initially. Early on, she talks about how she would sacrifice herself and others in the name of some greater good. She is terrible at communicating with her peers. She has to be seen as infallible. Her heart has been hardened for years and she assumes she has to stay that way. She also assumes everyone mourns the same way she does - which is why she (kind of insensitively) insists you move on when Jeralt dies. Because to her, grief has to be channeled towards action, or else you’ll get lost in it. This attitude is demonstrated time and time again as she presses on. It can make her come off as cold and unfeeling - but look closer, and she’s anything but.

don’t really have anything to say at this part. it is pretty on the nose though i would slightly disagree with that last sentence a bit. i wouldn’t say she’s as i feeling as hubert is but all of her talks of the war boil down to how she feels and never her victims.

Her story is ultimately about her realizing that to achieve her goals, she needs to let people in and allow herself to want things like cakes and tea parties and lazy days in peace. 

????? what ????? her goals include imperialism, ethnic and religious targeting. her story is about having a set of beliefs and mowing down anybody who stands in her way. that has nothing to do with tea, friends, and lazy days. also am i supposed to be sad that she has to get up everyday and work? i do that and i didn’t start a war and only throw a pity party for myself

The game leaves the player guessing as to how involved the Flame Emperor was in each Part I event, makes you feel hurt by her betrayal, and leaves you with a choice: do you follow the orders of the woman who tried to make you a god without your consent, or a young girl with questionable morals about to throw the world into upheaval?

this isn’t an ideal situation but i think i’m going to stick with the woman who tried to make me a god since i’m not selfish and i know it’s not only my desires and life at stake here. plus the green hair slaps ngl

Choosing her of your own volition (not for completionist reasons) requires the basic ability to sympathize with a woman’s pain. It also requires the player to read beyond her unwavering will and dubious methods to get a sense of how deep that pain goes and how the theme of humanity relates to her differently in each route.

i’m not going to touch this since @nilsh13 made a post on it that i’ll link here. i agree with everything he said so to repeat it would be redundant.

The player must be able to see a young woman’s desperate resolve to change the world so it stops exploiting people and ruining lives. They must be able to accept the fact that women can make the same morally wrong and ambivalent decisions that complicated male characters get to make all the time and still be the one to root for.

literally the same reason i love rhea lol her goddess experiments are dubious at best but her reasons are the same you mentioned. i would say that i like this quality in edelgard too if her ending, while bloody, actually ended in a good outcome for fodlan.

This is not unique to LGBT+ people, but this population is likely to understand why Edelgard feels so strongly about why she has to change the system. 

i understand wanting to change a system, i really do. like edelgard, i’m an opinionated bisexual woman (who’s also physically disabled) so yeah i get it. and change can be good but it can also be terrible. even if the church was the boogeyman edelgard treats it as she still replaces it with her own shit regime. so it’s the same circus just with a new conductor.

I don’t think “Edelgard gets undue criticism because she’s a woman” captures the full picture. An important aspect of her treatment by certain parts of the fandom is that she’s a radical woman.

or maybe she does some pretty fucked up shit and it goes unacknowledged in her own route. and yeah she’s radical but in all the worst ways.

Her hatred of the Church and the Crest system resonates way harder with people who have been hurt by institutions that are deeply engrained in our society. 

and what about people who have been hurt by systems where their ‘merit’ didn’t measure up and they were left behind? what about people from nations that experienced imperialism?

Siding with her means siding against the Church - which, while different from real world religious institutions, still invokes language about “sin” and “punishment.

yeah the ‘sins’ and ‘punishments’ are used in relation to attempted murders which i think everybody can agree is a bad thing that needs to be condemned.

Choosing Edelgard will likely hit different if homophobic and transphobic Christians used that rhetoric against you.

it has literally nothing to do with ‘sins’ and ‘punishments’ in regards to being gay or trans. that’s you projecting. especially since the church has 2 canon gay characters and two coded ones.

like i can understand why having a church condemn you can be uncomfortable but i’m begging you to please look at the context of what’s happening.

I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that the reason F/F Edeleth is the more popular iteration of that ship because most people who would choose to S-support Edelgard are LGBT+ themselves. This is not a revelation. To anyone in the community, it’s fairly obvious. 

i was talking to nilish and he said

so yeah… while there is definitely sapphic femleth shippers out there, there’s still a whole lot of weird fetishizing going on from straight men about edelgard.

Crimson Flower was my first route. I went into the game knowing absolutely nothing. I played it during the last week of 2020 and hoo boy was it cathartic. 

i can tell. this wasn’t supposed to be a dig but it came out that way and i’m not taking it out.

I felt like I was living out a gay revolution power fantasy, where I could truly change systems of oppression while fighting alongside a group of troubled students I’d shaped the lives of.

so a gay revolution power fantasy (cringe) goes hand in hand with imperialism and installing a dictatorship? also the war had nothing to do with sexuality.

Through your unwavering support, Edelgard learns that she needs to be human, that she must listen to her friends, and that she’s allowed to enjoy the world she’s creating.

edelgard gets to learn how to be human all while hunting those who don’t. and she doesn’t listen fo her friends. she doesn’t even trust them. she’s willing to talk to byleth but keep the people who’s been by her side for five years in the dark about everything. and yeah she gets to enjoy her new words since she’s on top. hate to be a commoner under her rule after she burned down my village in her war.

I love this character so much.

clearly. and i honestly don’t care if somebody likes her. i do as well even if my sometimes scathing words can make it seem otherwise.

It has been six months since I first played and I am still analyzing her,

me too. please help me escape i’m losing my mind

because there’s so much depth. Yet so many people fail to see that depth and dismiss her as evil,

i mean, she does some fucked up shit that goes beyond any of the less than desirable actions of the other main characters and does an extremely poor job in trying to make herself seem innocent. i personally don’t think she’s pure evil but i completely understand where the people who say she is are coming from.

because they never had the will to understand complicated women in the first place. 

that’s big talk from somebody who implies that a gay pope is comparable to homophobic and transphobic irl religions and that leads an oppressive regime all because she uses the vague terms of sin and punishments that you have to gay power fantasy your way out of

[unecoccinellenoire]

📖

So another one I haven't written because it would be long, is basically the Adrien goes jumping through Alternative Universes, and gets mounting evidence his father is probably Hawk Moth.

Essentially Adrien, probably as Chat Noir, but maybe as Adrien gets caught up in an akuma attack. The akumatised victim can't time travel per se but what they can do is jump to different timelines.

For handwavey reasons I haven't figured out Adrien gets pulled along for the ride.

Now sensibly it should be Ladybug with him. But instead this is set pre-Miracle Queen and...it's Chloé he wakes up untransformed with on the pavement.

She still has no idea he's Chat Noir and tries to take charge as Queen Bee, and since neither of them know what's going on they decide to retreat to his house b/c it's closer.

Unfortunately when they get there and Adrien rings at the gate whoever's on the other side of the camera isn't Nathalie and he recognises Adrien as Felix, and tells him M.Agreste's busy and Mme.Agreste's out.

At that last bit both kids panic and turn to leave, because Mme. Agreste???

So they figure they've time traveled/are dreaming/something. Chloé freaks out about her debit card working. Adrien tackles the "do I want to see my Mom when she's still gone at home?"

Only as they're about to leave they run into Nathalie.

With two kids.

And yeah it turns out?

Mme. Agreste?

Not Adrien's mom here.

Nathalie is suspicious of what the hell "Felix" is up to but Chloé transforms into Queen Bee and drops the "I'm a superhero" bombshell.

Which completely throws Nathalie b/c there's no superheroes in this Paris, and as both sides put together this is a different world, she also realises to her horror that Adrien is Adrien, not Felix.

Because both Emilie and Adrien died in a car crash years ago in this world.

Gabriel coped...badly, as in since he and Emilie either hadn't got the Miraculous at this point or hadn't worked them out, he wasn't aware of a way to save them.

Nathalie just about kept him functional enough the company didn't collapse, but honestly he did not get anywhere near getting his act together until their son was born

(He was an accident. They were not in anything resembling a functional relationship. Nathalie gave Gabriel an ultimatum that either he co-parented the baby or she'd cut him out of their lives completely. He one-upped her by deciding they'd get married. They had a very quiet ceremony)

Nathalie does not give them the full story of this world but the kids get the essentials. No Adrien or Emilie but also no Hawk Moth.

Per her, Gabriel is mostly alright these days, if a tiny bit obsessed with his attempts to get cars banned from the centre of Paris.

From what Adrien sees of his father (very little b/c Nathalie keeps them away from him), he thinks mostly alright is an understatement. He seems WAY better than the father he knows.

...................

But they're not there for much longer b/c they're thrown into another world.

Where Ladybug and Chat Noir do exist.

Only I think Chat Noir goes by a different name because...Chat Noir isn't Adrien.

He's Luka.

Here it's Gabriel Agreste who went missing.

I'm not sure if it was the Butterfly Miraculous that broke, or if he used the Peacock and Emilie the Butterfly.

I stopped writing this AU b/c of the pain of working out hero names.

But either way it's Emilie who's terrorising Paris here.

And unlike Gabriel she didn't keep what was happening secret from her son, and kept isolated in the mansion Adrien guiltily keeps her secret because how could he be so terrible a son to not want his father back?

And honestly he's kind of getting scared of what his mother's turning into?

And sometimes he looks out his window and catches sight of Ladybug and....well he feels regret.

Until Heroes Day comes around and terrified his mom's about to be caught he runs and puts the broken Miraculous on.

And now Emilie Agreste is fighting to save both her husband and her son.

Though unlike Gabriel with Nathalie she actually does take a lot of effort to ensure Adrien never steals it again.

The kids don't learn all of this, but they do learn which Agreste is missing, that the Hawk Moth equivalent here is a woman, the Mayura equivalent only turned up once, Adrien isn't Chat Noir, and that the last time Alt!Chloe saw him Adrien was sick.

Adrien is starting to note some worrying patterns regards his parents and Hawk Moth's existence.

............................

Which is lucky b/c the next world they're in it turns out...Hawk Moth is a hero????

Ladybug and Chat Noir are the newest members of the Miraculous hero team Master Fu's put together against some other threat.

I think they're the only teen heroes here. Adrien's essentially in a Robin-type situation, and Tikki chose Marinette.

Unfortunately the Peacock Miraculous holder (Paris' Beloved Favourite Heroine) died two years ago. Here the Miraculous doesn't hurt the user...unless they use it to send out Amoks and then they take the damage their sentimonster does.

Emilie held on too long, and Gabriel's always blamed himself for her needing to do so and has started to get distracted from their fight b/c he's began to think, if magic can do this, then why can't it bring her back.

Worse the possible successors Emilie chose for herself (Lila and if not her then Felix) aren't deemed ready for the responsibility by Master Fu and the other adults.

Aren't Adrien and Marinette enough teenagers on this battlefield?

also both kids are way more self-centred than A&M

Nathalie uses it despite it not being a good fit in the Heroes Day type equivalent situation where Mayura is needed, and gets hurt. Gabriel freaks out b/c it's happening again. Nathalie thinks it's because she's not good enough in his eyes to wear his wife's Miraculous.

Alt!Adrien blithely tells Adrien about some of this, because it never occurred to him that Adrien wouldn't know his parents where Hawk Moth and [insert name here].

B/c after all this Adrien's also Chat Noir, and he seemed to recognised Hawk Moth.

Adrien and Gabriel also have a conflict in this world b/c alt!Adrien and alt!Marinette are falling for each other, and the last thing Gabe wants after his wife's death is for the same to happen to Adrien.

This is also where Chloe gets the "Adrien is Chat Noir" reveal.

...............

And then they're back in their world.

Marinette plus back-up managed to defeat the akuma somehow.

And now Adrien's left with the information that his dad is probably Hawk Moth and has to work out how to act on that.

Especially now he also knows that his dad can be a better father and a hero.

[guiltycorp]

honestly watching succession on-going while also checking up on tumblr posts about it makes me think so many things... about the way we here in one breath claim that ‘oh yeah these people are terrible people’ and in another still find a way to romanticize and halfway excuse the unapologetically horrible actions of pretty unlikable characters and it makes sense, right? sure, the show is all about the rich republican family who manipulate the political landscape shifting it closer to alt-right, but the political and corporate intrigue plays a second fiddle to the interpersonal drama, which is written just... deliciously, honestly and! and i think the reason why so many of us on tumblr are capable of rooting for our despicable little meow meows  is because it’s not about characters we can really relate to there’s a big layer of separation from any one of them, and most of the shitty things they do are incredibly removed from us like, most of us here are simply not that bad? threatening an abuse victim if she dares to speak up, backstabbing your family for money, shredding documents related to systemic company-approved abuse, propping up alt-right politicians, treating your employees like shit etc etc we can all name the ‘bad things this or that character did’ but it’s unlikely that we are culpable of anything similar (likely because this isn’t the website for rich ppl in power lol) at the same time, who among us doesn’t have mommy/daddy issues and relationship drama, sexual and romantic difficulties, dealing with authority etc? every time kendall gets sad because his life isn’t like what he imagined his life should be like we relate and pity him, every time shiv is shut down by men in power we think ‘oh a similar thing happened to me yesterday’, when tom is unhinged and looks for attention in loveless places we feel sad for him because we’ve all been lonely  trying to baby-trap your wife just before you go to prison is kinda creepy, sure, but it’s so sad that she doesn’t even care! i also had a girlfriend once who didn’t care about me much, wow, poor tom!  gerri was the one who advised tom to hide evidence and to silence concerns over sexual harassment suuure but awooga older experienced woman character alert! love her, want to bed her!  so... we don’t get to relate to the negative qualities and actions, but we DO relate to the pitiable and the attractive and so we pity and love them reminds me also of south park and bojack and house of cards and how these shows, too, were of interest to people with all sorts of different opinions  it didn’t matter much that south park was written by so-called centrists and bojack largely by left-leaning writers from diverse backgrounds only by finally giving bojack a wrong-doing that was so cowardly and self-serving as to dissuade even the most staunch defenders the writers were able to finally convince their audience of a thing that was evident from s1 (that this guy sucks and wont really change lol) i wonder if succession will end up doing the same in the end, if it will finally be done with the coy neutrality of presenting different opinions through the mouths of the characters and try for a more black/white approach otherwise it will end up a show with both the people who share the writers’ views on corporations, nepotism and media control AND with republican fans who love and celebrate the 1% and what they represent oh and it would still be a good show and i would probably still like and appreciate it for what it is, let’s be clear! after all the audience aren’t babies and all that, the creator shouldn’t have to spell out what’s good and what’s bad yeah yeah just, there’s a lot of fun morality stuff to think about when you portray bad people

[gallavictorious]

I know I’ve already asked you questions, BUT….I would love for you to answer, if you feel like it, any questions you wanted to answer but haven’t been asked yet? ❤️

Ah, Calli, you remain the most thoughtful and sweet person on this site. <3 This turned into self-indulgent ribbing of one Ian Gallagher. Sorry, not sorry.

---

21. Ian “Don't you mean guest womb?” Gallagher or Ian “Play what cool?” Gallagher?

Yeah, choosing this one so I can soundly denounce Ian's bloody puns. It's not cute, you terrible little man, it's an insult to me personally. (Though, plus side, Mickey's reaction to this particular bit of idiocy is extremely useful for me to pull out when my colleagues insist on making godawful jokes in our Messenger chat.)

Clueless!Ian, however, is adorable and needs to be protected at all costs. Sometimes also maybe gagged a little and shoved into a closet to keep him from Saying The Wrong Thing and Messing Everything Up. (Can you see Mickey using his tiny little body to keep the door shut while insisting to the mark that no, don't mind the thumping, it's nothing, just trapped a racoon in here, no idea how it got into the house, but it's really aggressive so maybe we should speed this up so I can call animal service? Afterwards Ian is highly put upon and demands that he gets to ttie Mickey up in recompense, and ah, Mickey does notmind.)

Honestly, this is just one of those little things that I truly love about Ian, and it's been pretty consistent throughout the show? Something about him obviously not being stupid – not at all! - but not being streetsmart either, not the way Ian and Mickey is? I think it says something about his character that unlike most everybody else he is not always looking for an angle or an opportunity to pull a fast one on someone? Ian is somewhat secretive and plays his cards close to his chest a lot of the time, but he's also mostly a very honest character? An earnest one?

Truthfully, though, I like this less for what it says about the character and more for making me giggle with delight every single time. You bring me joy, silly Ian, you truly do.

---

34. Sharing clothes or matching camo uniforms?

Listen here, I don't kink shame so if Ian's desperate to get his husband into an army uniform, sure, more power to him, BUT. They don't exactly look great in those uniforms (especially not when they wear the nasty little hats) and I can't help but mourn all the missed opportunities of seeing them in other, nice outfits. (And also. Using an ambulance while dressed up as army dudes as to not attract attention still strikes me as Utterly Absurd.)

Sharing clothes, though. Now that, that's heaven. That's perfection. Mickey walking around in Ian's far-too-large-for-him clothes will never not make me giddy and gleeful and soft. Part of it is just practically, of course, and them growing up under circumstances where sharing clothes was pretty much a must, but part of it is both of them just sometimes loving wrapping themselves in the presence and scent of the other? Like a hug from their favourite person, keeping them warm and safe all day long. (Mickey obviously does it more, because Ian can't actually comfortably fit into all of Mickey's clothes, but also because Mickey runs colder and is especially given to use his clothing as armour and comfort.)

---

Either Or Ask Meme

[orsuliya]

Somebody hold me! Song Huaien needs to die and he needs to do so RIGHT NOW. You think I am exaggerating? Oh, how I wish that was the case!

Song Huaien is holding a final briefing before the Big Day. Things to do, Mooks to prepare, the whole shebang; he’s a really busy guy, our usurper-to-be.

And then Yuxiu comes in, visibly distressed and even, dare I say, panicked. She asks where her husband is going and once she hears that he’s leaving the city for a military camp, she cries out in protest. Now, a good husband would have tried to reassure his wife and soothed her fears, but not Song Huaien, oh no. He gets angry - you can see his cheek tighten in clear irritation - and sends everybody out.

From now on it gets really interesting: this scene is clearly meant to correspond with the Yuzhang Acting Company’s first production, Our Marriage Is On The Rocks. Once more we have a rebellious husband and a protesting wife trying to stop him, only this time it’s deadly serious and everything plays out a bit differently due to the fact that just as Song Huaien is no Xiao Qi, Yuxiu is no Awu. You’ll see.

Yuxiu clutches at Song Huaien’s arm and I immediately start to feel murderous. Why? Well, there is something really worrying about the way she keeps hunching her shoulders forward as if to appear smaller. There is also the fact that she gets exponentially more distressed once Huaien’s Mooks start to leave; she follows them with her eyes and dammit, Song Huaien, your wife is afraid to be alone with you when you are angry!

And then he leans in - which I don’t like either - and asks what happened in the most condescending way possible. As if speaking to a pet, really.

At first Yuxiu tries to hide beneath a pretense of a silly smiley wife, but there is no chance of her holding onto a smile in these circumstances. The capital is a mess right now, she says. I worry that something will happen to you. Can you not go? No smile, not anymore, but the pretense of being a silly woman is still going strong. To be fair, he’s buying into it completely, which only proves how much he really knows his wife. Sure, Yuxiu can be silly at times, but she is also more astute than she seems. He’s been dodging her questions for weeks, how stupid does he think she is...?

Let’s have some more condescension. I guess we haven’t had enough yet.

The capital is a mess, which is why I need to go and stabilize the situation. Right...?

Sure you do. Only the capital is not a mess, because there is currently no reason for it to be. Unless the people are rising against Zitan, but we would have heard about that from Daddy Wang; a public uprising is too much of a golden opportunity for him to miss. Logically, Song Huaien should know that Yuxiu is prevaricating. But no, silly scared wife it is. Ugh.

Seeing that she’s not getting through to him, Yuxiu plays all her cards: she lets on that she may actually know more than expected, tries to play on his emotions using her own fear and even uses their child against him. Nothing works.

All she gets in response is a heavy sigh and him turning away from her. To stay with you and the child, he ponders, showing quite clearly how little he thinks of that idea. For heaven’s sake, Song Huaien, can you not muster even a bit of actual empathy? I’m not saying you should stay, but there is nothing forcing you to act so terribly put upon. Poor you, your wife dares to worry for your well-being! Be as insincere as you want to, but at least try to go through the motions of comforting Yuxiu. You are not in that much of a hurry.

But no, he tries to leave immediately; not so fast, though! Yuxiu literally glomps him. Now, what would Xiao Qi do? Why, I do believe he would hug his wife back, should she choose to try to stop him in such a way, and then keep holding her until she calmed down.

What does Song Huaien do? Well...

He asks Yuxiu to let go, which she refuses to do. This first request is more or less neutral in tone. He’s mildly irritated at most, nothing extreme.

His second request to be let go is openly aggressive and accompanied by an actual attempt to shake her off. And still she won’t let go.

The third time she refuses to let go - and he’s positively furious at that point - he decides that no more playing nice and PHYSICALLY THROWS HER AWAY FROM HIM. True, not as hard as he could have... but what kind of consolation is that, really.

Once he’s free from her embrace, he cuts off any attempts to re-establish physical contact by holding her at arm’s length. Literally.

And then he just marches off, although not before asking his retainers to keep an eye on the lady of the house. And not in the same rather mild and protective way that Xiao Qi used. It’s quite clear that Song Huaien means to hold Yuxiu under house arrest and she better not get out... or else. It’s noteworthy that despite that order Yuxiu will still have the freedom to send her personal maid to Awu with a warning... but that doesn’t change Huaien’s original intention.

You know what? At first I didn’t understand why Yuxiu wouldn’t just tell Song Huaien that she knows exactly what he’s been doing right then and there. Now I get it. He really could have killed or at least seriously harmed her. Or at least she thinks he might have done so. It’s quite clear, going by her open terror during the first part of this confrontation; she’s hunching down, breathing fast like a bird half out of its mind with fear and then shows open reluctance to stay alone with her husband, the father of her child. It’s also debatable if he would be any more open to political arguments than to emotional blackmail, even if she was inclined to use those in the first place.

And despite all this, her protest - senseless though it might be - is not some feeble and half-hearted thing. She plays all the cards she can reasonably play and gambles hard on Song Huaien’s affection. It’s not her fault that she overestimated the depth of his feelings; another man, even with no actual love in equation, might have at least tried to placate her, even if folding completely would never be a viable option.

And now let’s compare and contrast. If Awu found herself in a similar situation (for real this time), would she pick emotional blackmail as her primary weapon? Doubtful, except as the absolutely last resort. She would have started with logical reasoning or appealed to Xiao Qi’s conscience. Or - and that is more likely than you think - she’d have gone straight for his throat. I mean, we already know that she’s fully capable of bringing a nuke to a fistfight. Yuxiu’s strategy is not bad per se, it’s just not something that a proud Princess would pick as her first choice.

Xiao Qi, unlike Song Huaien, would never dismiss his wife’s concerns so callously and he would never ever try to shake her off physically. Well, not unless wild Hulans were killing and raping their way through the suburbs, but then she’d have given him her blessing to go, so that’s not really applicable in this case. But still, if he really needed to go, he would go despite all of his wife’s protests... but not like that. Not leaving her behind emotionally destroyed and in tears. Dammit, Xiao Qi shows more concern for Awu’s feelings while they’re playacting that Song Huaien does for Yuxiu’s when her distress is real!

Somebody kill that bastard right now or I’ll do it myself.

[gaylotusthatexists]

lost and returned

fandom: sanders sides

pairing: brotherly creativitwins

prompt: missing and presumed dead

trigger warnings: sympathetic remus, injuries, talk of death, drowning mention, past bad family relations, being kicked out

word count: 1942

taglist: @theloveliestsweetspongy

a/n: hey! so it’s been a while since i did one of these haha. i remembered about this the other day and looked over my card and was hit with sudden inspiration, so here we are :) hope y’all enjoy this~ (requests for any prompt that hasn’t been done yet are still open btw) this is written for the @badthingshappenbingo

ao3

It had been five years since Remus disappeared into the night. Roman had given up hope four years ago.

At first he thought that Remus might come back, no matter how many times his parents said he wouldn’t. He wanted Remus to come back, he missed his brother so much. Even if Remus was mean to him sometimes, that’s just what brothers were like. Even if his parents always said that Remus was just a hassle, that Remus was better off gone.

Roman wondered sometimes what it would be like if he were the one to disappear. Would his parents think the same of him as they did Remus? Surely not, they always said that they loved Roman. They never really said that about Remus.

He remembered the moment he gave up hope as clear as day. A body had been found in the river near their house, a teenage boy, the same age as Remus would have been, a similar description as well. His parents never said anything about it, but Roman noticed that weird, regretful look pass over their faces whenever it was mentioned, and the way they always told Roman to stay away from the river, to stay safe.

Occasionally Roman would go out and look, when his parents weren’t around. He never found Remus, or even a body - he supposed the body would have been taken away anyway, but a part of him hoped that maybe Remus had made it out. He knew that was stupid, impossible, but...

He just wanted his brother back.

Five years later, and Roman had moved out, moved in with a couple friends. He’d almost forgotten about Remus, about the boy who had supposedly drowned, mostly gotten over his lost twin. Remus was dead, most likely - if not in reality, in Roman’s mind at least.

So, when Remus showed up on Roman’s doorstep, soaking wet and drenched in blood, his reaction was perfectly reasonable. A scream, a slammed door, and a horrified expression.

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked, immediately rushing into the hallway. Roman had sunk down to the floor, holding his head in his hands and trying to push that image out. Surely that hadn’t been real, right? It must have been a ghost, and... ghosts weren’t real, he must have just imagined it.

But then someone knocked on the door again, and Roman couldn’t say that wasn’t happening. He breathed in and out as Patton went to answer the door instead, Roman shuffling to the side and craning his neck to look at the person on the other side. Not his brother, surely not his brother.

“Oh, uh-“ Patton plastered on a smile. “I don’t- Are you okay?”

“Roman lives here, right?” the person said. He sounded exactly like Remus, looked exactly like Remus, and Roman was terrified.

“Yes, um-“ Patton glanced down at Roman, then back up at the Remus lookalike. “Do you want to come in? Or, uh, I don’t know, let us drive you to the hospital, or something?”

Not-Remus’ eyes widened and he shook his head, long hair falling in front of his eyes, sticking to his skin. Remus’ hair hadn’t been that long the last time Roman had saw him, and this person had a silver strip, which Remus did not have, so perhaps this wasn’t Remus after all.

Patton just blinked. “No to coming inside, or no to the hospital?”

“Hospital,” Not-Remus clarified.

Patton gave him a soft smile. “Ok. Well, uh, just come on in, I’ll go get Logan to patch you up. Roman, take him to the front room, will you?” Before Roman had chance to protest, Patton had moved further into the house.

He really did look like Remus. Older, less innocent, damaged, but Remus nonetheless. And Roman wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“I’m sorry,” Not-Remus said. “I- You are Roman, right? My brother?”

“My... name is Roman, yes.” He didn’t want to admit that he was his brother, because this was not Remus. Remus was long gone, and nothing would change that. Still, he slowly stood up, and began to lead Not-Remus into the front room, where he allowed him to sit down on the sofa. He looked defeated, tired, and Roman couldn’t help but notice how his shoulders were shaking. “What’s- What’s your name?” Roman asked, hoping that he wouldn’t say Remus, anything other than Remus. He’d rather have some old one-night-fling show up than his long lost twin who was supposed to be dead.

“You’re joking, right?” was all Not-Remus said in response. Roman tried his best to breath. “It’s Remus. You know. Your brother.”

Roman shook his head. “No. No - my- my brother died four years ago.”

Not-Remus frowned. “Did I? Shit, really?”

Roman’s eyes fell to the floor. “I-“

“I don’t feel like I’ve died.” He hummed. “Hey, if I’m dead and a ghost now, do you think I can walk through walls? That’d be fucking awesome.”

“You’re...” Roman breathed in. “Tell me something only Remus would know.”

There was a long pause, before Remus grinned. “We found a salamander once in the river behind our house, and you kept it in our room for, like, two weeks before we had to get rid of it before Dad found out. We named him Sir Sala of Waterlogs. He was bright orange and enjoyed eating flies, although I’m not actually sure if it was supposed to do that. We tried feeding it Doritos one time but that did not go well.”

Roman felt like he was about to cry. No one else would know about that, so unless Remus had told someone (which was unlikely, Remus had just as little friends as Roman did) this was the real deal. He slowly made his way over, sitting down besides Remus and holding out his arms, checking to see if Remus was okay with a hug. He’d always been okay with hugs, always craved them, but Roman had always made sure as well, just in case. Remus sank into his arms, just as he always did when they were younger, and Roman failed to stop himself from crying.

He soon drew away from Remus, though, who wasn’t smiling like Roman was. He looked... sad. Defeated. And Roman didn’t know what to do with that.

“What happened?” Roman found himself asking, moving away a little.

Remus breathed in. His shoulders were still shaking, even worse than before. “Too much.” He didn’t seem willing to go much further into it.

Eventually, Patton returned with Logan, who, whilst a little confused, went to clean up Remus’ injuries - they were as bad as they looked, just a few small cuts on his shoulders and face, which Logan quickly bandaged up. There wasn’t much they could do about anything else, though - the bags under his eyes, the light fading from his once bright eyes, the way he bounced his legs and clenched his fists. Something had happened, someone had hurt him, and Roman wanted to know who, so that he could go over there and murder them.

“May I ask what happened?” Logan eventually asked, breaking the silence and causing Remus to stop moving. He glanced over at Roman, fear in his eyes, and maybe things were even worse than Roman thought. He’d never seen Remus look so afraid.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it,” Roman told Logan.

Logan moved his eyes over to Roman. “Can you, then?”

Roman thought for a moment. “He’s my brother. Remus. I, uh, he disappeared five years ago, I don’t- I don’t know what happened, he’s not telling me either.”

“Brother?” Patton repeated, frowning.

“Disappeared?” Remus also repeated, sounding... shocked.

Roman just blinked. “Yeah? I- I searched for you for ages, but you never showed up. And our parents refused to even talk about you. Like, it was like you’d never even existed.”

Remus scowled. “That’s because they fucking kicked me out.”

They... what? “I-“

“Did you not know that?”

Roman shook his head. “No. You- You just disappeared. They never... They never said anything like that. Why would they do that?”

Remus laughed. “Seriously? Why wouldn’t they?”

“I don’t know.” Roman stared down at his knees, pulling his legs up onto the sofa. “You were fifteen.”

Remus stayed silent. He lost his smile, face moulding into an unreadable expression.

“Where have you been all these years?” Roman asked, now more... scared, for his brother. He wanted to know that he had been safe. Needed to know he was safe.

“Around,” Remus replied. “I... I was living with some friends for a while, then... uh, some more people. And then, I...” He trailed off.

There was silence for a while, and Roman didn’t want to make Remus share anymore than he was comfortable with. Yes, he wanted to know what had happened, but... Remus could tell him in his own time.

“Who did this to you?” Roman asked instead, gesturing towards Remus’ injuries.

Remus shook his head, biting back tears. “I don’t know. I was... I don’t know. I got hurt and this was the only place I could go to.”

Roman breathed in and out, trying to take that in. He had a feeling that Remus was lying, but didn’t say anything about it. “How did you even know that I was here? I haven’t talked to you for years, Remus.”

Remus gulped. “I saw you walking around here a few weeks ago. S-Saw you coming in here. I didn’t want to say anything to you because... I-I don’t know, I was scared that you’d hate me just as much as... as...” He couldn’t finish the sentence. Roman had a terrible feeling that he meant to say their parents.

“You’re here now,” Patton said, softly. He reached a hand out to Remus knee and patted it gently, to which Remus broke out a small smile. “You can stay as long as you need to.”

Silence again. Roman glanced around the room. “Could you leave us for a moment, please?” he asked his housemates. They both nodded, and left the room. He turned back to Remus, who had once again lost his smile. “Are you okay?”

Remus shook his head.

“Can I... do anything about that?”

He paused, then shook his head again.

“Okay.” Roman breathed in. “Are you in danger?”

Remus snorted. “When am I not?”

Okay, that was just a little concerning, but Roman tried not to think too much about it. Remus had always been somewhat chaotic as a kid, always getting into trouble and making a mess of things, so perhaps things just hadn’t changed that much. Yeah.

“Are you... sure that I can stay here?” Remus asked, his voice quiet.

Roman’s face softened. “Of course.” He scooted closer. “Why wouldn’t I let you?”

Remus shrugged. “Most people don’t let me stay long. And- And, I don’t know. You never tried to stop me from leaving before.”

“Because I didn’t know,” Roman defended. “I looked for you, really. Every day I was out searching for you, but I could never find you. I- I was always so confused about why our parents were never looking for you.”

Remus stopped breathing for a second, before breathing out. “Please don’t tell them I’m here.”

“I won’t,” Roman promised. “Trust me, I haven’t spoken to them in ages.”

“Good.” Remus looked over at him, his eyes now beginning to fill with hope. Things were going to be okay. “Thank you.”

“It’s okay.” He opened his arms again, and Remus moved into the hug, relaxing in his brother’s arms as Roman began to run his fingers in circles on his upper arm, just below the bandages. “You’re okay.”

[osleyakomwonkru]

A New Together: Why Both Clarke and Octavia Should Take The Final Test

As much as I would love it if Octavia took the Final Test on her own, because she’s so ready and primed for it (see below), I know realistically that’s unlikely (also see below) - so the next best option is for Clarke and Octavia to take the Final Test together.

Not one person, but both of them.

So let’s review -

Reasons why Clarke should take the Final Test:

1. Protagonist Privilege

Let’s be real, that’s 90% of the reason. Clarke is a mess right now. Understandably so - I’m not knocking her. She’s been through hell the past week. She’s about as stable as a house of cards in a windstorm. She’s not currently suited to take a first grade math test, let alone a Final Test for whether humanity deserves to survive. But she is The Protagonist, so needs must. She has to be there.

2. She has Nothing to Lose

Clarke has lost everything (except her so-called friends, who she hasn’t spent a lot of time with, who she doesn’t really know, so really I don’t think they’re a factor). She has nothing to lose by going into that white light. Especially if there’s any chance that the Final Test could save Madi from being trapped the way she is - Clarke will do it.

Reasons (and Evidence) why Octavia should take the Final Test:

1. Peace and Mental Calm

Perhaps words one would never expect to associate with Octavia Blake, but that’s what her story has been this season. Finding peace, both externally and internally. Finding mental stability and calm for the first time in her life. She’s got the wisdom and maturity and experience to take on a challenge like this.

2. She has Everything to Lose

Counterpoint to Clarke right now - Octavia has a child, she has a declared family, even a living love interest. But Octavia’s always been non-possessive in her love - she has Her People, yes, but she’s also the one to have a love and a hope for all of humanity (emphasis on the humanity, rather than just the ambulatory meatsacks that the Disciples favour for “all mankind” and skipping the humanity aspect), and that love is what I believe is a key aspect of the ability to pass the Test.

3. The Call of the Anomaly

Remember that plot point back in season 6, where Octavia, Diyoza and Gabriel were being “called” by the Anomaly? What if that isn’t just a dropped theory? What if it was true - because they were candidates for taking the Final Test?

Ever since we’ve heard of this being a Test instead of a War, I’ve immediately thought those three would be the best candidates to take it - all three have been through the full spectrum of human highs and lows, done all sorts of terrible things, but made it through the other side and found a new peace and purpose. Also - all three of them spent time on Skyring. What if Skyring is the “waiting room”, a purgatory of sorts, where souls are further purified in peace and stillness to be able to take this Test?

With Diyoza and Gabriel dead, Octavia’s the only one left of that group to take it.

4. Her Poster Symbol

Octavia’s symbol in the season 7 promo posters (♁) has a variety of names and meanings - it is a symbol for the Earth in astronomy, as well as the globus cruciger, which in Christian tradition “represents Christ’s dominion over the orb of the world, literally held in the hand of an earthly ruler” (Wikipedia). Yet a third interpretation is the alchemical symbol for antimony, where it represents the wild aspects of human nature.

Those are a wide variety of potential meanings - or it could be all of them at once, because they all reflect Octavia in some fashion. Earth because that’s where she found freedom. I’ve written before about how Octavia is this show’s Jesus figure and here she could bring salvation to them yet again. But she’s also been a wild free spirit.

Most characters share their poster symbols with someone else, but crucially, Octavia does not. This could be significant.

5. Marie’s Interviews

Marie has a particular way of giving interviews when it comes to hints and spoilers. She very specifically has a list of things she’s not allowed to talk about, but outside of that list, she doesn’t really hold back. She’s also very literal. She also repeats things almost verbatim for every interview (presumably to avoid getting close to that list of things) unless someone asks a vastly different question.

One phrase she’s repeated across many interviews is the three words she uses to describe Octavia this season - “nurturing, self-actualized, elevated”. We’ve seen the first two, and what with knowing that Marie is very literal, the third can easily point to “transcendence” as a logical option.

Additionally, in her Collider interview, when asked about Octavia’s journey in season 7 and the conclusion of her arc, Marie says “It’s a storyline, for her character specifically, that people have not seen coming yet”. What would be better than jumping into a situation not with her sword, but with her love and wisdom to save humanity this time?

I’ve believed Octavia was going to transcend humanity this season before transcendence was even mentioned on the show. Even before this season started. It only makes sense.

But since Clarke has to be there too, not to mention what JRoth Tweeted about Bellamy’s death, and how “his life and his endless love for his people will loom large and affect everything that comes after, to the very end of the series finale itself” - Octavia won’t be doing it alone.

JRoth also apparently promised “an emotional conclusion” for the Blakes. Well, they didn’t get that in person, but Octavia and Clarke working together here could be a way for that to happen anyway. Clarke and Bellamy often did things “together”. But he’s gone. Octavia isn’t. And she’s right there with Clarke. The Heart of their trinity might be dead, but the Head and the Soul stand together.

Now is the time that Clarke and Octavia do something together. For Bellamy. For all of their people.

Ogeda. Not for “all mankind”, but for what makes us human: Love.

[madamspeaker]

I am always amused by revisionist takes like these in which the narrative spun is that the Speaker of the House just randomly decided one day to sit down and talk to the press about a freshman, as if Nancy Pelosi had literally nothing else going on that she would rather talk about.

At no stage did Nancy ever stop an interviewer and say, "I know you're asking me about dealing with Trump right now, but would you mind terribly if I spoke about one of my freshman members?". When she has spoken about AOC, it has been prompted. Let's be honest, Maureen Dowd is a dreadful reporter, but there is no way in hell she would have wasted her time asking the Speaker of the House about a freshman or four rebel votes on the border bill, especially given the majority that the Dems had in the 116th Congress, if it wasn't for the fact that the freshman member had already spent a great deal of time tweeting derisive things about colleagues, and about the bill that she and the other three had rebelled on. And this is the same with every other interview in which Nancy has been asked about her - 60 Minutes etc. Seriously, think about it all for a second and ask yourself why would the press be asking the most powerful woman in the country about a freshman? They never asked her about any of the rest - Underwood, McBath, Davids etc. So what it is about this specific freshman, who unlike the rest hasn't passed any legislation, that warrants asking the Speaker a question about her?

AOC made herself the story. She and her COS went out of their way to denigrate and criticize a bill that every other Dem, bar three others, had voted for. By the time of the NYT interview with Dowd, AOC had already been threatening for months to primary colleagues like Hakeem Jeffries who she didn't consider policy pure enough. She was making a name for her by doing the very thing you say Nancy did - she was taking cheap shots at colleagues, and all of it to bolster her own social media status. Was Nancy to have no right of reply to this when asked? Also bear in mind that part of Nancy's job as Speaker is to try and protect her members, or the majority of them. AOC had by the time of the summer 2019 attacked quite a few of her own colleagues. By a simple numbers calculation, Nancy was somewhat obliged to protect the majority from the attacks of one member.

You accuse me of dishonesty with my "apologist white-washing of Pelosi" but what you neglect to mention is that AOC was far from honest in her carefully edited take on how Nancy was supposedly dissing her. The now infamous "a glass of water with a D next to it could win" comment was made to sound like it only referred to AOC and her district. What AOC deliberately left off in her recounting of it is that Nancy included herself in that comparison too, that NY14 and CA12 are so blue that anyone with a D beside their name is going to win.

The other thing to understand about Pelosi is that she talks the language of numbers. Numbers and votes. I don't know if you have ever seen the first season of House of Cards, but there is one very good moment when they discuss how if they can get a certain member of congress on their side then he will bring along with him another 13 votes. That is kind of power Nancy means when she referred to the squad as just four votes, and crucially AOC's reply to that, talking about Twitter opinion, illustrated just how little she understands, or certainly understood in 2019, about what power and influence is on the Hill. She may well have millions of followers on social media, but they can't vote in Congress on bills, and she also clearly hasn't established a big enough circle of influence within Congress to bring more than a handful members along with her voting wise. The fact that AOC was offended by this mathematical observation from the Speaker shows how politically immature she is. I also think it is important to separate here the Progressive Caucus from the squad. Yes, they overlap but the CPC is bigger and much more powerful and influential than the single digits membership of the squad, and on that border bill, they all voted for it, bar those four members. Whether AOC would like to admit it or not, Jayapal is much more important than she is in terms of votes to get, which is why leadership was relieved when Jayapal said that although she would be voting no on the Heroes Act, she would not be, in her role as CPC chair, whipping her members to follow suit. That is what Nancy meant by "just four votes". That AOC took that observation so badly, says more about her than Nancy. As to whether any of this is still the case, who knows. The Dem majority in the House is slim this time, but AOC is also coming off an absolute shellacking in the vote to be on the Energy and Commerce committee. Rice won that more than handily, and those were the votes of colleagues. I sincerely hope that AOC has woken up and released that two years of making digs at colleagues isn’t how you make friends and influence people, and perhaps also the realisation that whoever succeeds Nancy is probably not going to wait to be asked about any negative comments she makes about others in the way that Nancy did.