#but as per usual I always check to see if we won first

[the-physicality]

Houston dash won another game in 2024… never thought I’d see the day

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

No Time This Time 9

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon and other elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You prize order and practicality but your past, and newest client, throw your life into chaos. (older [~50s] reader)

Character: Tony Stark

Notes: Alright. Tony is growing on me but only because he’s a shit stirrer.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me <3

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

Love you like Tony loves his own voice. Take care. 💖

"Please clear the week. Reschedule my meetings," you toss a pair of unworn sandals into your suitcase, your phone on the bed next to it.

"Yes, ma'am," Halton answers from the speaker.

"I did a quick sweep, there shouldn't be anything urgent. As it were, we will not be accepting any new clients until the end of the month."

He acquiesces again as you open a drawer and sift through, searching for a swimsuit. You can barely recall the last time you needed one.

"You can file it as paid vacation," you inform him.

"Thank you," he says, the smile obvious in his tone.

"Well, off you go. I don't want to hear from you again unless it's an emergency," you find a black bikini with the tags still on.

"Got it."

"Great, have a good day," you drop the suit in the bag and tap the screen, ending the call.

Almost as soon as the line is dead, another incoming call pops up. Your morning has been effectively avoiding the series of attempts from both Samia and your mother. You've set your voicemail and your automatic replies, you are out of office and soon to be out of the country.

It's as spontaneous as you've ever been. You're a planner. You don't just hop on the next plane out but that's exactly what you're doing. 

Your father was the same way. When he was practicing, he never took a vacation. And what did that get him? A heart attack. Several, actually. There will never be a better time to get away or a better reason.

No, you won't give Stark that much credit. It's not just him, it's you. You're old enough, you need to start doing things just for you.

Another call. Your mother has never been known as subtle. Or to take a hint. Sometimes even when you spell it out, she refuses to understand.

So be it. You need a moment to breathe before you relent. You need a second wind before you face the task that is your family and your past. More so, you need to be far from New York.

👜

You cannot claim to be unfamiliar with decadence. It is a privilege you treasure but never one you place as requisite. You can still admire luxury and you would define the resort as nothing less than.

Your room has a broad balcony that overlooks the Italian coast, the sun beats down on the sparkling sea, and illuminates the space, shadowing intricate patterns carved in wood. The decor speaks of an old world drawn into the present. Refined and elegant.

You wear a caftan down to the shore and claim your reserved seat among the row of vacationers. You strip off the sheer layer and rub in suncreen before reclining beneath the shade of a broad umbrella. You open your book and dive into the plot, forgetting the hot sands and the stolid air.

You're still not used to it. It's as if you're on a whole new planet. The first day saw you fighting not to check your phone or delve into your work email. You fought the urge to cling to routine and won. Your determination has ever been a talent.

After twelve, you have your first cocktail. A simple gin drink with lime. You let it seep in and ease you back into your fictional escape. An attendant brings you a fruit cocktail and some pastries not long after.

It's paradise and you value it dearly. You hadn't realised how sorely you need this. 

As you pack up, balmy and slightly sleepy from the sun, a speck flits across the sky. You look up but cannot place the phenomenon before it disappears. Your imagination must've been sparked by the mixture of heat and alcohol.

You return to your room and enjoy a dinner of handmade gnocchi and wine sauce. The more you indulge, the harder you know it will be to go back to the city. Your peace is underlined by a strand of wistfulness.

Several days trickle by in the same vein of lethargy. You have no appointments, no calls, no obligations besides the beach, a cocktail, and a book. It’s as if you are an entirely different person, as if you’ve taken on someone else’s life entirely. The stuffy overworked lawyer is still trapped in New York with her leeching family and arrogant clients.

A few too many mojitos have you sprawled on the sofa. The open balcony lets in the warm dusk breeze and lulls you deeper into drowsiness. The weight of the alcohol shrouds your body, sweeping you up in a swirling slumber that makes you dizzy.

The soft whisk of metal doors shut and you look over as a button clicks beneath the push of a finger. You follow the arm, the dark fabric of a tailored jacket, to the familiar face. You sneer and take a step back, the elevator tipping with your movement. You stumble and fall against the wall.

He laughs. A menacing laugh that echoes all around you and adds to the disorienting skew of your subconscious. You brace the metal rail against the wall and suddenly, you’re falling back, plummeting through open air.

Bright flashes of white appear above you as you flail helplessly. The laughter is muffled but deep. You’re scooped up in a hard metal embrace, the red and gold mask taunting you as you’re carried through the open sky.

The metal retracts and reveals your saviour. Not who you expect. It isn’t Tony but Carlisle, mocking you with that slanted grin you once thought was charming. He winks and lets you go, letting you fall like a stone through water.

You spin and face the looming ground, hurtling faster and faster towards you. You let out a shrill scream and jolt awake as it cuts through to reality. You’re out of breath as you sit up, nearly rolling off the couch as the sharp noise continues. It isn’t you, but your phone, shrieking at you.

You stagger to get to your feet. You shiver, still in only your bikini, and the phone goes silent. You search around the dim room, the sounds of the ocean crashing through the open doors.

Your cell lights up again and you snatch it from the wooden tabletop. You drag your finger across the screen, only vaguely reading the name on the display; Samia. You answer with a croak, holding back a hiccup.

“About time!” She sounds like your mother with her abrupt greeting, “I’ve been calling you all day. Don’t you understand it’s a fucking emergency?”

“Samia,” you say dully, bracing your forehead, “shhhhh,” you amble around and sit on the sofa, “why are you yelling?”

“Are you drunk?” She accuses.

“I’m on vacation–”

“Yes, we know, but not all of us just run away from our problems–”

You snort. Loud. You devolve into sardonic laughter and click your tongue loudly.

“Don’t lecture me on running away from responsibility, Sam, don’t,” you warn, “tell me what it is. Let’s cut out the rest.”

She gives a dramatic heave, “mom’s in the hospital.”

“What?” You sit forward.

“She fell. This morning. I… I was looking at venues, I couldn’t be there.”

“Fuck!” You exclaim without filter, “Samia… have you seen her?”

“Mmm, I really wanted to but Carlisle–”

“Oh,” you snarl, “Carlisle!” You growl as you ball your hand to a tight fist, “I’ll get a flight.”

“I’m going in the morning, I prom–”

You hang up and throw your phone onto the narrow table before you. You hang your head, cradling it as you fear it might split in two. Were you really stupid enough to think you could ever catch a break?

👜

The redeye has you back in the city by noon. You fall into the rush of the city naturally, hailing a cab and collecting yourself in the back seat. You tip the driver as he idles outside the hospital and you hop out, rolling suitcase in tow as you march through the front doors.

It takes another hour to be admitted to your mother’s room. You don’t expect a warm welcome. You’re not entirely sure what to expect as you enter her private room. The nurse informs you before she lets you in that your mother is awake. That must be good.

The entire space is decorated in bouquets of flowers. You didn’t know your mother would have that many wellwishers. You leave your bag by the door as you give a long consideration to the red roses nearest you.

“Finally, you decide to show up,” she yaps at you.

“Flights from Italy are not quick,” you reproach, “I came as quickly as I could.”

“You wouldn’t pick up the phone.”

You repress your frustration, “I left it in my room. I’m sorry, mother.”

“Selfish, as always.”

You swallow tightly. Selfish. You cut short your first vacation since your honeymoon to come make sure she was alright. Even after calling and being assured by the staff that it was luckily only a fall. She hadn’t even broken her hip.

“Lovely flowers,” you remark as you walk along the row of vases.

“Oh, isn’t it so pretty? Mr. Stark is so generous–”

“Stark?” You spin on your heel, “what do you mean?”

“Well, of course, he heard that my daughters were both absent and he had to be here. Samia is so busy so she called him just to be sure that I wasn’t alone.”

“She called him. Why would she do that?”

“Oh, he’s been most helpful with the wedding. He’s let her have his Tower for her party and he’s been helping with all sorts of details. He referred her to a wonderful designer for her dress, too. Ah, and he’s invited Carlisle to some tournament? I think, golf or the like–”

“That makes no sense,” you sniff, “why is Tony Stark… doing all that?”

“Perhaps he sees a lonely old woman who’s been neglected by her only children,” she bemoans.

You know you won’t get the answer from her. She’s drunk the fresh-ade. She is entirely swindled by the overpaid crook.

“So, where’s Samia, then? She told me she was coming this morning.”

“She’s on her way, I’m sure. The city, traffic.”

You could scream. You could break her hip yourself. She would excuse Samia for not making it across the city but would remand you for not magically teleporting from across the globe.

“Well, I’m not waiting on her. I think we have something to discuss.”

“Is it lunch? I am rather hungry and this hospital food, it does not agree with me,” she touches her stomach, “Mr. Stark was kind enough to come for dinner last night but I hate to trouble him further.”

“That can wait. Mother, we are hiring you a caregiver.”

“A caregiver? I am not helpless.”

“That isn’t what I’m saying. But it would bring peace of mind if you had someone around when me and Samia are not. It wouldn’t be forever but given your fall, you will need supervision.”

“Oh, so you can take time to go traipsing across the world but you can’t take any for me?”

You cross your arms and sigh. You stare at her blankly.

“It’s not an argument, it’s not a negotiation. It is how it will be. You are getting a nurse, at least until the physiotherapist clears you. That’s that.”

She scoffs, “ugh, you always did have the makings of a lawyer, you know that?”

“Thank you,” you retort harshly, “that’s the kindest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Oh, lord, what is up your behind? You’ve always been trite but you’ve never like this.”

“Mother, realise that you are not the only one with hardships, yes? I have to make sure you are well, which is what I am doing. I have attend the wedding of the husband who cheated on me, and I have to deal with the that is—” You stop yourself before you can say his name, “I have work. I have responsibilities and I hold to them. And it will never be enough.”

You wave her off and go back to the door, “I will order you lunch, we will eat it together, and we will hope that Samia for once comes through and shows up.”

You leave the room before you can combust. You stand in the hall, searching through your phone for somewhere nearby, or somewhere to order from. You fight to keep from shaking as you read the screen; get yourself together.

👜

Your vacation is a quickly fading memory as you fall back into the city life. You make several calls around in search of an appropriate homecare worker for your mother. Amid that, you return to office and work on your own to catch up. Halton is away but you’ll let him enjoy the last of his days off.

Between all that, you are faced with the daunting sight of an unexpected delivery. The clear glass box with the bouquet of pure white roses. It’s all very elaborate and exhausting. You flick back the silver clasp and lift the lid. Inside is a crystal rose on a golden stem, a date etched into the metal.

It’s an invite to your sister’s wedding and you are unsurprised by the tackiness of the overdone gesture. Beneath the ornament you would rather smash to bits, is a triarch that folds out to reveal the details and how to RSVP. You roll your eyes and blow out a breath.

A vineyard. Suiting. You replace the pieces in the box and leave the bouquet where it is. You type in the venue to Google. You nearly choke. Brick and Blossom Vino recently acquired by Stark Industries. How convenient.

It’s no coincidence. Stark has no business in wine or vineyard or event planning. It is not an advantageous deal, it is a direct statement. He may not be there in your face but he is haunting you nonetheless. Taunting you.

Let him waste his efforts. You will not be affected.

A knock comes at your office door. Another delivery. You sign and accepted the second bouquet. This one small and admittedly aesthetically pleasing. The small wooden box holds a cluster of pink tulips and baby’s breath. There’s a ribbon around it, attached to a simple card. It doesn’t really suggest Stark handiwork.

You take the envelope and unfold it. You smile as you see only the embossed bumps of braille within. Oh.

You take the card to your desk and grab your phone. You pull up Matt’s number and put him on speaker as you wait for an answer.

“Hey,” his voice comes amidst the honking of traffic and shuffle of the street.

“So, uh, how exactly am I supposed to read this card?”

“Ha, well, I could show you,” he offers, “if you’re free for dinner.”

“Hmm, well, I suppose I could clear my schedule,” you hum.

“Wow, really?”

“Sure,” you chew your lip and catch the unusual pinch, unclenching your teeth and clearing your throat, “I could use a drink.”

“Hopefully, this one doesn’t end up in some jerk’s face,” he chortles, “I’ll pick you up.”

[mrsvalentinefucker1]

Check this hand cause I’m marvelous

Funny valentine x f! Reader

It was a boring day, doing your chores as per usual. The president who seemingly always wanted to be left alone was a social butterfly today. He moved around the room, making his way to everyone and greeted them. “How are you?” “How is your day so far?” “You look good today” flattering all of his employees.

Then he made his way to you.

“Hello Miss. Y/n.” His tone was much softer to you than it was to the others

You gripped your skirt

“Hello Mr. President.. you’re looking rather happy as of late.”

“I couldn’t be happier actually” he leaned in and cupped his hand to your ear “I have recently won a few games of poker against some of the best player in our area.. I won a large sum of money and honestly.. the high of playing has gotten me in such a good mood!” He whispered to you excitedly

“That’s amazing, Sir.” His breath hit the shell of your ear, making you shiver

“Do you play?” He straightened his posture and reached for your hand, holding it and leaving a kiss on it.

“I used to, I haven’t in a while..”

“We’ll maybe you could loosen up tonight and we could play a few games”

You accepted his invitation in fear that if you didn’t he would take it the wrong way

You continued your daily work, making calls, doing paperwork or leaving to deliver certain things to certain people or places. Then came your break. You decide to go down town and buy lunch, After that you head back and did the rest of your papers or anything else you needed to do really.

After work you went home and got ready, trying to find something but ended up with a skirt and work shirt. Something professional but in a sense scandalous

You made your way back to the White House.. then you rang the doorbell

“Who is it?” A man answered behind the door

“Im Miss. Y/n” you took a deep breath ���im here to see Mr. Valentine.”

The door opened and you were immediately welcomed in and taken to the room you were supposed to meet the president. The door was already opened and candles were lit, as well as the curtains being closed.. this all set the mood perfectly

“Hello, Y/n~” the president appeared behind you and held your shoulders

“Hello Mr. President.. are you ready to play?”

“Of course I am.” He shut and locked the door, then lead you to your seat

“Would you like a drink?” He picked up two glasses and started pouring his while waited for a response

“Yes sir.” You nodded

He poured your drink, then handed it to you

“Drink up my dear”

You took a sip as he grabbed a deck of cards.

“Would you like to shuffle or should I?”

You finished your sip and nodded

“You can shuffle”

He started shuffling then he cut the deck, you did the same.

“Looks like I go first”

He started dealing both of your hands, he then picked up his hand and looked at them. Making no expression.

You set your drink down

“Where are the chips? Aren’t we betting?”

“Yes..” he scanned your body “but not with money or any materialistic items.”

“What do you mean? Then how are we betting?” You chuckled

“Whoever wins that hand tells the loser a piece of clothing to take off. Eventually if you are left with no clothing, you lose.” He smirked

“It’s chilly in here? You should make sure you have a blanket near by, Valentine.” You shot back “just in case that is~”

He chuckled at your words

“What are you laughing at?”

“You’re obviously too head strong.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m not one of the people you went against before. Im actually one of the best.”

He laughed and shook his head, looking back at his cards and then at your face.

“You’re going to lose. You obviously have terrible cards.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Your face says it all. Terrible poker face.”

“Check this hand, Valentine. I’m marvelous.”

His cock started growing. Maybe it was the way you were talking or maybe it was because of how he was staring you down and imagining all of your clothes being stripped away one by one

“Care to raise?”

“Raise what? We don’t have chips.”

“Raise a clothing item of course...” his free had moved under the table and started palming himself

“I think I’ll stay with just the one, thank you.”

“I’ll raise then. You can pick two pieces of clothing off of me if I loose this hand, which I doubt will happen” valentines words cut you like a knife. Your ego was shattered.

“What is your next move, Y/n?”

“Show them.” You threw your cards down and valentine did the same

“A- A royal flush!?” You we’re stunned

“I told you. I’ve bee doing oddly good as of late.. maybe lady luck is on my side after all” he tapped the table “now if you don’t mind, I think you owe me something?”

You sighed. You knew he wanted a show, so you decided why not have a little fun with it and give him one. You slowly took off your shirt, revealing your bra.

“Fuck” he whispered under his breath and continued to palm himself under the table

“You perv! You’re getting off to this?” You acted like you hated it but deep down you knew that you couldn’t get enough of him loosing himself over you

“My apologies, y/n. shall we continue?~”

You sat back down and he tried to deal the cards again but you stopped him. His eyes meeting yours

“I’m dealing this time.”

And he lifted his hands and let you deal

You dealt both of the hands. He lifted his hand and did the same as before, looking at his cards and looking back at your face

“Do you feel head strong now?” Valentine spoke once again

You laughed and traded out another card. Valentine did too but you didn’t know. He traded one of his weakest and pulled a strong one out of his coat sleeve.

“Ready?” You said, about to show your cards

“Whenever you are my dearest.” He smirked

You both threw the cards down and he laughed, “I win again! This is going to be a fun night huh?~”

“Oh shut up..” you mumbled and stood up to take off your skirt

“Ah ah.. I won so I get to pick.” You shivered at his words

“Take off your remaining top.” Valentine commanded

You Unclasped your bra and threw it at the man. He smirked and set it in his lap.

“What a prize I’ve won.. I can’t wait to see how many more I gain before game comes to an end…” his voice was smooth and comforting but what he was hinting at was the complete opposite

“Now..” he pulled out some chips “let’s use these”

“For what?”

“Use them and bet an article of clothing. You can raise as many as you please, that is until you have no clothing left.”

You scoffed and he shot you your chips to start

He dealt the cards once again and you took your hands.. you’re fucked. These cards suck! Was he purposely dealing you bad cards??

“I’ll raise. What could go wrong.” Your ego getting the better of you and it was obviously showing.. maybe if you bluffed and acted like you had decent cards he would fall for it and you’d win!

“I’ll trade one of my cards”

Shit shit shit! This isn’t going to end well at all.. now you’re kind of regretting your decision..

He got an ace. While it looked like he had grabbed a completely random card he had really took the top since he’s been dealing you the second card this whole time. Valentine was bound to win.

“Show?” Valentine spoke

“Show..” You replied

He won. Straight flush all around!

Valentine took a peek at your cards.

“You thought a bluff would have won?” He chuckled “with only one pair anyone could have beat you and taken the win.”

“Whatever. Which clothing items..”

he thought about it

“How about the skirt and the heels?” He tapped the table and crossed his legs to hide his already aching bottom half. You couldn’t deny it.. the knot in your stomach was burning with desire for him aswell.

“Yes that’s good.. turn around for me dear?” You turned around to show yourself in just your panties “wonderful.”

He moved the cards out of the way and made his way over to you

He grabbed your waist and lifted you onto the table. Kissing you and moving your panties over to feel your slick folds.

You moaned at his touch but whimpered at the loss of it.

You gripped his hand pulled him closer, as you did the cards he had in his sleeve fell out.

“So that’s how you’ve been winning?”

He chewed his lip and nodded

“Hmm.. i guess ill just take some sort of payment for that.”

“Loose the coat and shirt.”

Valentine moved back “Yes ma’am” and undid his shirt and coat, letting them fall to the floor.. his member still ached for pleasure

“You nervous, mr. President?” You took your hand and started rubbing his bulging member. Earning a grunt from him as a result.

He gripped your hand.

“Don’t play with me, Y/n.” His voice became more stern than before

“Okayyyy jeez… what are you scared of a little friction?~” you whispered in his ear.

He pulled you into a kiss once more and started groping your ass, kneading it like dough.. then he moved up and started pinching your nipples which made you moan.

“Stop playing..”

“Now who’s afraid?~” Funny murmured into your ear

Funny pulled your panties over and undid his pants, letting the head of his cock slide up and down your folds before thrusting into you and not giving you anytime to adjust

You let out a yelp

“Shhh” he caressed your cheek with his gloved thumb

“I’ll take good care of you, y/n”

You nodded and he began to rub your clit in circles, helping you loosen up a little more so Valentine could start thrusting into you more

You could hear his voice. Moaning about how good you felt..

He gripped into your hips and start thrusting into you at a much harder pace, you could obviously tell he wasn’t going as hard as he wanted.. he was shaking, just like you.

“Fuck.. you like this? Do you like me stretching your tight cunt?” He mumbled out

“M-m yes.. yes sir..” you felt a hand come to your cheek and hold you as he started to go faster and harder. You wrapped your legs around him, then let one of your arms hang around his neck the other reached down to play with your clit. You clenched around his cock as he chased his orgasm

“Do-“ he huffed “do that again, dear.. it felt good..” valentine was close and you could tell. You clenched a few more times around his cock

“I’m close.. valentine~” you head was thrown back and eyes clenched shut as you reached you orgasm. Your legs shaking. Valentine lost the last bit of his composure as he came inside of your warm walls. Painting them with his seed.

You laid there catching your breath. He stood up and made himself look decent then helped you up to do the same.

“What about the mess??” You inquired

“Someone will get it. Now get in a room My wife will be back any minute.”

“I’m sleep here tonight?” Your heart felt warm

“If you’d like too. Then yes”

You reached to hug him, play with his hair, anything! But his wife walked in.

“Hello dearest~” Mrs.valentine greeted her husband, tilting his chin and kissing him.

“Hello scarlet.. this is Y/n. She will be staying the night with us”

“Oh really? She’s so adorable ~” she made her way over to you “this will be so fun..” Scarlet ticked the shell of your ear with her words

————

Buy me a Kofi! ☕️

Definitely not required but they do help:)

[banannabethchase]

Ride on You - also on AO3

~

Matt had thought Adam was joking about the mustache, but also, Adam kind of wants to see how he reacts when the mustache is under Matt.

~

I really fucking lovehate those mustaches. Title from Ride by SoMo.

~

“I thought you were effing kidding,” is the first thing Matt says with Adam answers his FaceTime.

Adam grins at him. “What, you don’t like the new look?”

“I – it – that’s not the point!” he huffs. “I made a bet.”

Adam raises an eyebrow. “A bet.”

“Yes, a bet,” Matt grumbles. He turns the camera to Nick, sitting there with the funniest look on his face.

“I won,” Nick says and he does what Adam has to believe is a happy dance.

Matt groans and flops back onto the couch. “I hate you so much.”

“Anybody wanna clue me in here?” Adam asks. He likes seeing Matt flustered, usually more so when Matt’s next to him and he’s doing the flustering, but, as a general rule, he likes to know why.

“I told him,” Matt says, flashing the camera back to Nick’s shit eating grin for a second, “that I bet you were joking about the mustache.” He sighs. “But no. You had to go out there looking like Magnum PI and make me lose five hundred dollars.”

Adam chokes on his coffee. “You bet him five hundred dollars that I was exaggerating my mustache?”

“Joking about it,” Matt clarifies. “And yes. I had faith in you.” He sighs, long suffering. “And now you look like Magnum TA.”

“I thought you said PI,” Adam replies.

Matt shakes his head, and it could almost be called disappointed but there’s definitely a smile behind his eyes. “TA is more accurate.”

“Hold on a sec.” Adam pulls up and searches. “Oh, fuck you! I don’t have a mullet!”

“You don’t,” Nick says, “but the hair color and mustache are right on target.”

“I still have the beard!”

Matt cackles on the other end of the phone, and Adam aches at the distance. “You do, but the point still stands.” He calms, finally. “Miss you.”

“Oh, ew,” Nick says, rolling his eyes. “I’m out. You two be gross on your own.”

“Later, dude!”

Matt smiles. “Everything okay at Dynamite?”

Adam shrugs. “Lots of shit going down. I miss you two, and Kenny.” He presses his lips together. He knows it weighs on all of them that World’s End was the first pay per view without any of the Elite, that the first episodes of the year have felt a little strange to watch without knowing Nick and Matt are behind the scenes. “It feels weird.”

“I know,” Matt says gently. “I wish I were home.”

“If you were, I wouldn’t be there,” Adam chuckles.

“Yeah – okay, you know what I mean,” Matt says, and even the way he rolls his eyes makes Adam’s chest ache. “This stupid moving company issue is really getting in the way.”

“The couch’ll get here soon,” Adam promises. “One more day of you yelling at the transport people and it’ll be on a truck.” He fights a smile. “And, until then, we have my couch.”

“Your couch is garbage and I hate it,” Matt says, for the millionth time. “And you look stupid with the mustache.”

“I do not!” Adam says. He checks his image in the mirror. It’s not as bad as Matt thinks it is. At least, he hopes. “Is it that bad?”

Matt frowns. “No. It’s fine. It’s weirdly hot, but that’s why I hate it.”

“Great!” Adam says. “I’m gonna go antagonize Swerve now.”

Matt’s face falls. “You’re going to what?!”

“Later, baby!” Adam blows a kiss to Matt through the phone. “I’ll talk to you later.”

He does antagonize Swerve, which was cathartic as always, but there’s less blood than he’d hoped so he’s still a little antsy when he gets back to the hotel.

He makes Matt wait while he showers and gets dressed, because annoying him is kind of fun, then finally answers the fifth FaceTime call.

“God, finally,” Matt says. His face is sweaty and his hair is in a disaster that may have once been a neat bun. “How are you? Not dead I see.” He smiles, looking both beatific and chaotic. “Good.” He wrinkles his nose. “Well, you’re good. The mustache.”

“You know you love it,” Adam says, touching it. “You wanna get all over this.”

Matt’s face turning bright red is unexpected.

“Oh!” Adam says. “Oh, you’re into it, alright.”

“Shut up,” Matt grumbles. “Get home as soon as you can tomorrow so I can shave that stupid thing off your face.”

Adam snorts. “Sure, baby. Give it a try.”

He didn’t expect Matt to actually mean it. When Matt gets back to the house the next day, he chases Adam around with a razor.

“Get over here!” Matt yells. “I’m gonna shave that thing off if it kills me!”

“No you won’t!” Adam yells back to him. He stops short in the hallway before the bedroom and ducks Matt’s wild swing, grabbing him by the waist and throwing him over his shoulder. “There you go. Now I’ve got you where I want you.”

“You do not,” Matt says. He pokes Adam in the back, and he hopes it’s with a finger and not with the razor. “I could shave your pants off from here.”

“Oh no,” Adam says, walking to the bedroom. He Alabama slams Matt onto the bed. “Whatever could I do without pants.”

Matt rolls his eyes. “You suck.”

“You know I do.”

Matt groans and rolls over. “Look, I love this, but I’m so effing tired and I need, like, eight hours of sleep and a long hot shower before you give me stache burn.”

Adam raises an eyebrow. “Huh. That something you’re thinking about?” He leans over Matt and kisses him, deep and promising. “Wanna get some stache burn between your thighs?”

Matt shivers. “Yes, but not right now,” he mumbles. “Tired.”

“Course, baby,” Adam kisses him again, then on the nose, forehead, and top of the head. “Want some alone time?”

“Yes,” Matt says. His eyes are already drooping. “Need a nap.”

Matt’s eyes are fully closed as he fights with the blankets. Eventually, Adam takes pity on him and arranges his limbs to be under the bed. Matt sighs, snuggling up.

“Take my jeans,” Matt mumbles. He shoves them up at Adam. “And can I have one of your hoodies?”

“Are you cold?”

Matt shakes his head. “Smells like you,” he mumbles.

Adam’s chest twists. “Of course.” He grabs his favorite hoodie, one he got years ago at one of the first AEW events, and Matt shoves it under his head and inhales, settling in with a tiny smile.

That could have been the moment, he thinks, but Matt had to go and fall asleep.

Adam busies himself with throwing Matt’s clothes in the washer and starting Operation Mincemeat for the third time in the past three years. It’s comfortable, in his living room chair, but he gets distracted by every little sound, hoping it’s Matt ready to wake up and hang out.

He misses him. Matt’s in the other room, and Adam misses him.

Hopefully, with the couch finally on the way to Virginia, he won’t have to anymore.

He’s on page 156, stomach starting to growl, when he hears Matt stir.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Adam calls. “Except it’s four in the afternoon, so good afternoon.”

Matt pads out, in Adam’s hoodie and a pair of boxers.

“Oh, fuck you,” Adam sighs. “You look adorable. Get over here.”

Matt, still half asleep, stumbles and falls into Adam’s lap.

“Sometimes I look at you and your giant arms and capacity to commit actual murder and I forget how cute you can be.” He yanks Matt in. “You feel better?”

Matt nods, yawning. “Yeah. I still smell like airplane.”

Adam leans in and sniffs Matt’s hair. “I guess. You wanna take a shower?”

Matt shakes his head. “I need to eat something first.”

They Door Dash sushi and eat curled up on the couch, rewatching Dynamite.

“Genuinely the worst mustache the world has ever seen,” Matt says, dipping his nigiri in his soy sauce and wasabi mixture. “I hate it even in person.”

“You do not,” Adam says. He wipes his mouth and sets down his plate. “You’re into it.”

“I absolutely am not,” Matt retorts, glaring. “It’s terrible. Awful, even. I won’t kiss you until you shave it off.”

Adam raises an eyebrow. “You’ve already kissed me.”

“I have not!”

“You have.”

Matt huffs. “Technically, you kissed me.”

“Does that mean you won’t want me to give you beard burn?”

“Oh, I do,” Matt says. “But quickly. I think I’m getting tired again.”

They exchange laughter-laden blow jobs on Adam’s old couch with Matt insulting the mustache the whole time. He does leave mustache burn, but kisses it better.  

~

The week is busy, with Matt and Nick preparing for their return to AEW. Nick flies in Saturday morning so they can all fly to Jacksonville together and hang out.

“I love him,” Matt sighs, burying his face into Adam’s chest the night before their Tuesday flight, “but he really is the biggest cock block in the world.”

“You are not allowed to have sex while I’m in the house,” Nick yells. “And yes, I can hear you.”

“You don’t have to announce it.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “I forget how annoying the two of you are together.”

At the same time they yell, “Me?!”

It’ll be a relief, Adam realizes, when they finally get the place to themselves in a few days.

The whirlwind of getting into Jacksonville again, of hiding the Bucks, of Adam preparing for the match against Claudio, keeps them apart. Adam is itching to get his hands on Matt, really get him worked up and under him into that desperate territory where all he can do is beg for more and say Adam’s name. But they were apart, and then they had Nick, and now they’re at work.

Adam beats the crap out of Claudio with half a boner, simply because the thought of Matt finally being behind the cameras watching him wrestle has him hot and bothered. But he gets pulled away before he can get to Matt, and then he’s got no choice but to go out there and speak his two cents to Joe and Swerve, and then –

“What the fuck?!” he cackles. “What are – what?!” He can’t speak. He’s bent in half laughing. “They’re so stupid!”

“Correct,” Claudio says, eyeing him. “But it feels strange of you to say that to your boyfriend and his brother. May I get by please?”

Adam shuffles and waves him on, not even tempted to kick his ass again. “I meant the mustaches,” he chokes out. “But sure, yeah. Insult them. They deserve it.”

“Rude,” Matt grumbles, adjusting his jacket. “We just returned from weeks away and this is how you repay me?”

Adam straightens and wipes tears from his eyes. “I’ve seen you a bunch, baby, but not with that caterpillar on your faces.” He laughs out the last few giggles. “This your idea?”

“Mine,” Nick says, looking giddy. “We took inspiration from you looking like an idiot.”

“Hey!”

“You insult us, we insult you,” Matt says. He stands on his toes and kisses Adam, quickly. “But, um. We’re needed to help with Rampage.” The pout is somehow even more absurd with the pencil thin mustache. “We won’t be back tonight in time –” Matt seems to remember himself and stops.

“In time for what?” Nick asks. Adam watches him silently for it to click. It happens faster than he expects, to Nick’s credit. “Oh, gross. I hate both of you.”

“You do not!” Matt calls after him. He turns back to Adam. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Adam insists. He leans down and kisses Matt’s forehead. “Soon. We live together now. We’ll have all the time in the world.” He can feel himself beaming down at Matt, like a big old dork, but at least Matt is beaming back at him too.

“You two are sickening,” Anna says, staring at Adam. He stares back, and she smiles. “Good. If anybody has to be gross around here, at least it’s you.”

He doesn’t know when she decided to like him. He’s just happy it happened.

~

He’s asleep when he hears the door unlock. Matt likes to think he’s quiet when he sneaks in, but Adam wakes up to every little noise when he’s waiting for Matt to get back, whether they’re at home or at a hotel. He rolls over and smiles. “Baby,” he mumbles. He half remembers reaching out and pulling Matt back into bed when he wakes up the next morning, still curled around Matt, hard as nails and ready to go.

He’s pretty sure he hasn’t gone this long without fucking Matt since their breakup in 2020, and it feels awful. He nuzzles into Matt’s side, arms sliding under Matt’s shirt, when Matt’s alarm goes off and Matt jolts awake.

“I meant to change that,” he says, shuffling so he’s sitting. He turns to Adam with a frown. “I planned on seducing you and waking you up all sexy, but I, um…” He looks at the time. “Well, now we have two hours before we have to get on a plane.” He flops over Adam, which isn’t really doing much to help Adam’s raging boner. “I wanted you to rail me this morning.”

“I wanted to fuck you so hard we’d get charged for damaging the hotel bed,” Adam grumbles. He shifts to nuzzle Matt again, getting the mustache right behind Matt’s ear.

“No,” Matt says. “No. Don’t get me all riled up. It’s not a private jet this time. We can’t have sex in the airplane bathroom.”

Adam sighs, trying to hit the same level of dramatic that Matt seems to nail every time. “We can’t?”

“No!” Matt insists. “I mean, I want to. Obviously. But I don’t want to get arrested for public indecency.”

“Fair point.”

They flight home is quick but not painless. Matt seems determined to rile Adam up at any point – a hand on his thigh, a kiss to his cheek, random conversation. Some of it might just be Adam’s horniness. He’s not used to being the one struggling to keep it together. Since the beginning, he’s been the one messing with Matt. The tables have been turned and he’s not even the one who got to flip them.

By the time they get home, the two of them are stumbling into the room, hands all over each other.

“Stupid mustache,” Matt mumbles against Adam’s lips. “I hate it.”

“I think you’re into it,” Adam says, “just like you’re into me beating the shit out of Claudio.”

“Shut up,” Matt says, moaning.

“You still thinking of him!”

“No,” Matt says. “Yes. Of course. And you are, too, so don’t give me that look.”

Adam chuckles. “Only Mox.”

“I know,” Matt says, beaming. “Though I’m surprised you haven’t changed your mind on that. You looked like you were battling for dominance with Claudio.”

“Weren’t we?” Adam asks. He slides his hands up the back of Matt’s shirt. “And remind me. Who won?”

Matt goes pink. “Um. You did. Obviously.”

“What do I get for winning?”

Matt exhales so long and slowly Adam’s wondering if he’s about to pass out. “I still smell like airplane,” he says, and goddamn him for always having that on his mind, “so I’m going to go take a shower.” He’s so calm it must be intentional, “and when I get out, you’re going to be naked on the bed. Okay?”

“You were so close to being dominant, and then you added that sweet little ‘okay’ on the end,” Adam says. He leans in and kisses Matt’s forehead. “Anything else you want me to do?”

Matt opens his mouth and closes it. “I mean. I figured that was kind of obvious.”

“Good point. We’ll play it by ear.”

Adam whistles as he makes his way to the bedroom, picking up the trail of clothes Matt left on the floor and tosses them into the laundry basket. The warmth in his heart nearly overtakes him as he remembers this is permanent. Matt’s not flying back to California all the time, he’s not leaving in between Dynamites. They won’t split their time between their places.

This, their home, is their place.

He might have to fuck some domestic bliss into that man, just to assure himself that Matt’s feeling the same way about it.

Slowly, he strips. His clothes join Matt’s in the laundry basket, his belt gets hung on the hook next to Matt’s baseball cap rack, his sneakers are kicked off into the corner next to Matt’s favorites. It feels like home. It feels like his.

“Hurry up in there,” Adam says, and he can’t help but wrap a hand around his dick for some sort of relief. It’s not enough. It’s never enough, if Matt himself is an option.

“I’ll take my time, thanks,” Matt yells back.

Adam sighs. If that’s how it’s going to be. He walks into the bathroom and pulls open the curtain. Matt is standing there, looking smug.

“Took you long enough.”

It’s a three second scan to make sure Matt doesn’t still have soap in his hair and eyes, then Adam grabs him around the waist. Giggling, they make their way back to the bed, not caring that the sheets are getting drenched. Matt is warm and wet around him.

“Get up here,” Adam says, shuffling down on the bed.

“Up – where?”

“You’re riding my face tonight, baby,” Adam says. “Gonna make you see stars. And the positives of this mustache.”

Matt blinks. “You’re gonna make me associate the mustache with sex to make me like it, aren’t you.”

Adam shrugs. “Call it an experiment. You like how it feels? I get to keep it. You don’t? I’ll shave it off.”

“I could lie.”

Adam’s laughing as he says, “Yeah, like you would lie about something that gets you off.”

It takes a second for Matt to get in position, but he lowers himself down on Adam’s face so carefully it’s almost cute.

“You can sit all the way, baby,” Adam says, and tries not to feel like he’s speaking into Matt’s ass like a megaphone. “Go ahead. You won’t hurt me or the mustache.”

“Kinda wish I could hurt the mustache,” Matt says from above him, but he seems to lose some of the anxiety and hesitation and sits.

Adam feels smothered, yes, but in the best way possible. He thinks, if he has to go, this could be the way to do it. He licks up against Matt, aiming as best he can. After a moment’s probing he’s pretty sure he’s stuck on Matt’s taint so he grabs Matt’s hips and pulls him up. Matt’s delighted squeak tells him he’s adjusted him to the right place.

“Oh my god,” Matt says as Adam licks into him. It’s warm water and soap and Matt surrounding him, thighs tight around Adam’s head. “Damn it. This is so effing annoying.”

Adam laughs and moves his head. Matt moans.

“The stupid – it feels good,” Matt says. “Not – not your tongue, obviously that feels good…Oh, god, yes. I mean…I hate when you’re right.”

Adam massages Matt’s ass cheeks as he licks him open, trying to be thorough. It’s a little sore on his tongue since it’s been a while and Matt’s tense from hovering, but he’s more than happy to suffer it to hear the sounds coming from Matt.

“Okay, this – so good, but I need – I need –”

Lights are a little too bright and air is a little too freely available when Matt swings his legs off of Adam’s face. It takes a second to adjust.

“Get – now,” Matt demands. He’s flushed and panting, looking debauched and destroyed and Adam hasn’t even fucked him yet. It’s beautiful. He starts to shuffle backward but Adam catches his hips.

“Hold it,” Adam says, throwing his free hand out to open the drawer with the lube in it. He flicks it open and pours it on his hand. It’s too much, too messy, but the sheets will have to be changed anyway. “I’m not fucking you with just spit, not after this long.”

Matt whines. “But it’d be so good.”

Adam gets as much lube as he can on his cock, trying to think with his actual brain before letting Matt’s impulsive tendencies infect him, and releases his grip on Matt’s hip to get a better balance. He knows what Matt’s about to do, and it still feels like sinking into warm sheets in winter when Matt drops down onto his cock.

“Fucking – baby,” Adam sighs. He can’t move. His head is spinning. “You’re so goddamned tight.”

Matt’s grin is devilish. “You feel even bigger now that it’s been a while.” He rolls his hips and sighs, eyes fluttering shut. “God. I’m riding that mustache, like every day. Your tongue feel okay?”

“Kind of sore, but worth it,” Adam chuckles, but it’s choked off when Matt rises the tiniest bit on his knees and then drops back down. “Jesus Christ, Matty.” He rests his hand on Matt’s thigh before remembering it’s covered in lube. “Oops.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Matt says, breathy as he rocks. “We can change the sheets. I have those new ones in that box I have to unpack.”

“Because you live here now,” Adam says, and he wraps the lube covered hand around Matt’s cock. “You’re mine. You’re mine always.”

“Always,” Matt says. He looks transcendent as he rocks between Adam’s dick and his hand. “I – always. Never leaving. You’re going to have to be in me forever.” He whines. “God. Like this at work. I want – on your cock – when we’re working.” Nothing he’s saying even makes sense at this point, something about the desperation of how long it’s been getting under Matt’s skin, but Adam gets it.

“You still want me to fuck you all over, don’t you,” Adam asks, planting his feet so he can fuck up into Matt. “Grab you mid-Dynamite to bend you over a table? Interrupt a scrum with a fake emergency and fuck you with my hand over your mouth so the live cameras don’t pick it up?”

“Oh, god,” Matt whimpers. “Yes. I do. M-maybe – maybe you could push me under a desk when you’re doing signings. I can blow you while you’re signing eight by tens, try to mess up your – your signature.”

Adam nods. “Maybe I’ll get you in front of a camera and suck you off while you’re cutting a promo with a belt over your shoulder.”

Matt comes without any warning, all up to Adam’s chin and all over his chest and belly. Adam’s head spins with how much more impossibly vice-like Matt gets around him.

“Fucking Christ,” Adam growls. He grabs an arm around Matt’s back and flips them over, barely pulling out of him before he arranges Matt’s legs and slam back into him.

“Yes,” Matt gasps. He braces his arms against the headboard. “I want – give – harder.”

“Love it when you forget how to talk,” Adam laughs. He goes a little wild with it, a little possessive with the way he digs his fingers into Matt’s thighs. He wants to leave a mark. Knows Matt wants a memory there.

“Come on,” Matt says. “You can go harder than that.”

“Jesus – you already came!”

Matt grins. “Yeah, but you haven’t. And you like it when I get bitchy.”

Matt, infuriatingly, is right. Adam comes with a wordless shout, yanking Matt onto his cock with all his might. The room spins around him a little as his body rearranges itself around Matt.

“I think I managed to edge you,” Matt muses. “I mean, not on purpose. But I think I did.” He’s grinning. “Also, I expected you to make fun of the mustache at least once.”

“I was busy with my tongue in your ass,” Adam says. He carefully lowers Matt’s legs as he pulls out of him. “Maybe next time I use it to clean you up after.”

Matt swallows. “Is your tongue too sore right now?”

Adam laughs and nods. “Sorry, baby. You’re gonna be all messy.” He licks his lips. “You said I could do anything, right?”

Matt nods. “Yeah.”

Adam slides two fingers back into Matt who gasps, hips twitching. “Yeah,” he murmurs, “all messy. Gonna get you even messier.” Something primal rears up in him as he feels his fingers, slick with come and lube, glide in and out of Matt. This, Matt, them, is his. Forever. He wants to brand Matt with it, make everyone know it.

Matt squirms. “This – you look –” Adam watches as Matt’s dick starts to twitch with interest. “You look like you want to eat me alive.”

Adam shrugs. “Kind of already did.” He twitches his fingers up, exactly where he knows Matt’s prostate is.

“Fuck!” Matt shrieks. “Too – okay! Too much!”

Adam pulls his fingers out and rubs a gentle hand over Matt’s trembling thighs. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just – oh, my god.” His breathing slows back down. “That was like pressing on a broken bone or something, but in a good way?”

“You’re out of your goddamned mind, you know that?” Adam lays down next to Matt, arms open. “Normal people don’t consider pressing on a broken bone in any way good.”

“I don’t,” Matt says, curling into Adam’s chest. “Just – if it were a thing, that’s what it would be like.” He hums. “I think, maybe, you should keep going next time. Even if it is too much.”

“Oh, god,” Adam laughs, turning to press his face into Matt’s hair. “It’s like every experiment I come up with, you discover a new kink.”

“Two, this time,” Matt muses. “I got a thing for riding your mustache, too.”

“I still hate yours,” Adam says, and he leans in to kiss Matt despite the caterpillar. “Just want to make sure you know that.”

Matt shrugs. “As long as you still love me.”

Adam pulls back enough to look Matt in the eyes. “Always,” he promises.

The ring in the drawer feels like it echoes him. Always.

~

Mini Playlist: Haven't Had Enough - Marianas Trench Keep Riding Me - ur pretty Ride - SoMo Mine - Taylor Swift

[randomobsessionsofa30something]

My top 10 korean OSTs of 2023

It's time to countdown my favorite music from korean dramas. As per usual I only chose one per dramas from dramas that started in 2023.

H.M. New Jeans-Beautiful Restriction. I actually didn't watch A time called you. I just never got around to it but I found this song and it reminded me of those typical OSTs from like ten years ago so this song felt nostalgic somehow.

10. WINTER- With you. My demon is my favorite drama right now. I've always been a sucker for rom coms with a supernatural twist. It feels like every OST from this drama is gonna be great. New Jean's Our Night is more beautiful than your day is probably the most played in the drama but it's Winter's beautiful vocals that won me over. No surprise there since she is my favorite Aespa vocalist. Still Whenever Wherever by Roy Kim and Dawn's Even if we disappear are so good.

9. Melomance-The secret between us. Melomance are one of my favorite interpeters of OSTs and this song is sweet with a playful chorus, which goes perfectly with the fun romcom A good day to be a dog. Sunday Latte by Junggigo and Jea is also worth a listen.

8. Kim Sejeong-Once Again. Kim Sejeong sang two OSTs for the second season of The Uncanny Counter and they're both a really good listen. However the way Sejeong's voice soars in Once Again just gives it a bit of an edge. By the way if you haven't watched the Uncanny Counter it's a fun fantasy drama to binge. Cravity's Ready Set Go and Dvwn's No problem are also really good.

7. Lee Chang Sub- Love from a real heart. Honestly I felt too old to watch Beginning is from the first kiss but the OSTs are power ballads that are definitely worth listening. From Lee A Young's Even Silently Cry to Heaven by Lim Jae Hyun they all get you in the feels. BTOB's Changsub however just has that extra something in his voice that makes you pay attention.

6. Noel-That's you. Lyn made some beautiful soundtracks for Destined with you (I'll always be with you and We love each other) that you should check out but the chorus of That's you by Noel is so catchy that I had no choice but to choose this song in my list. The vocals are full of emotion.

5. Jeon Seowoon-Fall in love. Having SNSD's Yoona and 2PM's Junho as the leads of this drama was somehow exactly what I didn't know I wanted. I love Jeon Seowoon's tone for OSTs and he released a few this year but for me this was the best one. It's just painfully sweet. This drama had other pretty songs but Punch's Keep me busy, and Minseo's Perhaps love are also standouts.

4. Solar-EXIT. This song for the drama The Escape of the Seven sounds so epic. It has a lot of verses in English. And Solar's power vocals shine through.

3. Doyoung-Here with me. NCT's Doyoung keeps delivering beautiful OSTs. And my favorite this year is the one he did for See you in my 19th life which happens to be one of my favorite romcoms of the year. Colde's Star is also a stand out song for this drama.

2. Baekhyun-Hello. The third season of Dr. Romantic was my least favorite of the series but it had great OSTs. EXO's Baekhyun sang the first one and it has such a beautiful melody. The vocals are of course on point. Gummy's I will stay with you, Doyoung's Beautiful Day, Seukwang's Still you and Lia's One Hundred Love are worth listening too.

1. Kang Seung Yoon-Half&Half. The drama True to love was crazy funny. This song by WINNER's Kang Seung Yoon is so great and definitely my most played OST of the year. iKON's JU-NE also sang a beautiful song for this drama called Accidental love.

[la-appel-du-vide]

09•02•23 - Lake Powell, and the day we could have died

Since we didn't make it to Lake Powell last year, it was extra important to get out there this year. Beach already had Labor Day weekend off for her birthday, so we decided to make that work! Jason hasn't ever been to the slot canyons at Powell, so she was excited to show him some of our favorites!

Luke Bryan getting rescheduled threw off our original plan of getting to head down to Powell Thursday night after work, so that we could actually be in Powell on her birthday, but we readjusted and made it work. We spent Friday morning celebrating her birthday here, with a group breakfast at Jeremiah's where Kena and I could give her our gift (new bluetooth running headphones). Then Beach, Jason, B, and I went down to Boondocks to mini golf. Beach won both games, which is fitting for her birthday activity haha.

We ran home to get a little work done, and pack, and then Jason, Beach, and I made the long drive down to Powell. We did stop at a Chinese restaurant in SLC on the way, so that they could check it out as a possibility for their rehearsal dinner. But otherwise, it was a pretty straight-forward drive down. B decided he wasn't up for coming this year, which is totally understandable given how busy we've been. He loves Powell, but doesn't like to spend that much time on a wave runner, especially when riding doubles. So it was just the three of us!

We checked into our hotel at about midnight, and it was the first time we stayed in a hotel rather than an Airbnb. It was nice though, and I'd stay there again. We were all ready for sleep before an early morning to pick up the wave runners!

We were able to grab breakfast at the hotel first, and they had waffle makers! I was thrilled. It's been so long since they've had those at a continental breakfast, and it always brings me back to that excitement I felt seeing that as a kid. Then we picked up the wave runners, stopped at Maverik for snacks for the day, and went off to launch. We couldn't pick them up until 8, so we were launching at a busier time, but the wait still wasn't awful. Beach still backs the trailer like a champ, and everything went very smoothly getting them in the water.

The first stop of every Lake Powell trip is over to the dam, for the first dip of the trip! So that's exactly what we did. The water is nice and warm, but still refreshing, so it was great. Then we had to brave the channel, which is always a nightmare hahah. I was not mad to have my own wave runner this year, and even less mad to not have to ride with Beach while she tries to hit waves as hard as she can hahah. Good luck out there, Jason. We filled him in on how badly she hurt me the last time!

We knew flash floods were "probable" and weren't planning to visit any slot canyons that day, but when we got out on the water, it was such a gorgeous, clear day that we decided it might be worth a shot. That way, we could split up the slot canyons, doing one per day as usual, to help preserve gas. Antelope Canyon is always the one we do for Day One, so we started looking for it.

After a while, we realized that we had gone way too far. We forgot our map, so we were going off memory alone, and were both mixed up. Beach suggested that we just go on and find Labyrinth Canyon, since we were probably close by that point, but I said that I didn't think it was worth trying to find without a map, since we couldn't even find Antelope Canyon - and that's the easy one.

We ended up deciding to go back to find Antelope, but drove through Navajo Canyon in the meantime. You can always count on finding nice, still water at the end, where you can cruise SO fast over the glassy surface, and that's my favorite thing in the world. We played there for a while, and then made our way back out. We were scouring the shoreline looking, and eventually figured out our mistake. When we actually did find it, we couldn't believe we'd missed it! It was so obvious.

We drove down the canyon, and found that Antelope Canyon was as mucky and thick as Labyrinth was last year, so a bit of swimming was required - so gross.

While we were beaching the machines, there were so many people hanging out, either kayaking in or out. It still seemed like pretty clear weather, so we started hiking in, with a few other people. As we went along, clouds started coming in. It began sprinkling, and we kept asking each other if we should turn back. But we'd kind of look to Jason as the flash flood expert, and he kept saying, "Well, if it rains any harder, we'll turn back." So we kept going. The rain would stop and start, and we'd get some good thunder every once in a while, but we just kept going. Finally, we decided that it was probably smart to turn around. I'm not sure what finally got us to do it, but we turned around to head back out. As we were walking, the rain picked up a bit. Jason noticed the water accumulating into a stream on the canyon floor, and advised us to pick up the pace. We were feeling fine though, making jokes about how "funny" it would be if we all died in a flood just weeks from the wedding and things like that. As it started raining harder, we started jogging, and Jason started filming - not sure what inspired him to do that, but I'm glad he did.

At the beginning of the video, we're all still laughing. My flip flop broke, so I was jogging barefoot - which didn't feel great with so many rocks and a lot of debris. But as time goes on, it starts to get REALLY scary. The rain started coming down STRONG, and there were waterfalls pouring in on us from all directions. In my mind, a flash flood happened because there was a wall of water behind you, which probably can happen too, but I never considered that the canyon just floods from water pouring down the walls. You can feel the moment in the video when things get tense. We stop laughing, and start asking each other if we're scared. The river we were running through started getting deeper, and stronger. My lungs were on fire, but by this point I really believed our lives were in danger. Every time we'd round a corner, I'd hope and pray that it was the last one and we'd see our wave runners waiting, but it was a let down over and over again.

At one point, I rounded the corner and found a massive river running perpendicular to the canyon, because of a HUGE muddy waterfall coming down. Because it was running the opposite way of the canyon, I thought that was the shoreline, and I didn't see our waverunners. My heart sunk, thinking we were going to be trapped. I turned around to look at Beach and Jason, and he told me they were further, and to keep going. I was so scared to run across that powerful river, in case it took my feet out from under me, but I did it. We were all soaked, and shaking, and so scared. I had so much adrenaline running through my body. In the video, you hear Beach's little voice say, "I'm scared" and you know it's real. There's a point of the video where Jason is showing the massive waterfall, and Beach says, "We need to get going." And Jason very calmly says, "Yeah, we should get going." And that's so funny now, but wow, scary.

I can't really describe the terror of thinking we could really die. Even when we did finally round that last corner and see the wave runners (plus two boats waiting to make sure we were ok), I didn't feel like we were in the clear. We threw ourselves into the water, muck and all, and started swimming for our lives. As soon as we were able to, we jumped on and started the machines, and CRUISED out of there. I was still waiting for a massive wall of water to come swallow us up. After we'd made a few turns, we calmed down and just sat there trying to calm down. None of us could get over what we'd just been through. My whole body was shaking. The point is, take flash flood warnings seriously. It is not worth it. Even if it "seems" like a nice day - believe me. It's not worth the risk.

We ate some candy to get some blood sugar going again, and as Jason put it, they were the "best peach-o's we have ever tasted." A near-death experience sure makes you appreciate things more! I will admit that once we were safe, it was awing to be in a tight canyon like that, and just see all of the waterfalls pouring down all around us. It felt so magical - like a scene straight out of a movie.

After we'd calmed down and enjoyed the waterfalls for a bit, we made out way out of Antelope Canyon completely. We were all feeling done for the day after what we'd been through, and it was still rainy and windy which doesn't make for great jetski weather, so we decided to turn back. Getting through the channel was absolutely miserable. The waves were massive, and the rain was hitting us like a million little sharp needles because of the wind. If we weren't done for the day before, we sure were after that. I was so relieved to load the machines and be on dry ground again. We were all freezing, so we went back to the hotel to take hot showers, and relive the trauma by watching Jason's video footage together. Then we had a well-deserved dinner, and went to bed early. The exhaustion, both mental and physical, was so real.

We had an even earlier start for day two, since we had to have the machines back and turned in by 5, and there was still a lot to do! We skipped breakfast, and just got snacks at Maverik while we filled up with gas. We got a couple of gas cans to take for the day, and strapped them onto the backs of the machines. We were a little nervous that they'd fall off or cause problems, but they never did, so that is a good hack. Launching went a little less smooth this time, since Jason and I bumped into each other, but worse things have happened so we'll take it.

We checked, and flash floods were not likely for today, and we had the green light for Labyrinth. We also talked about how much worse it would have been if we really had done Labyrinth yesterday instead of Antelope, like we considered. Labyrinth is WAY tighter, and the water level would have risen so much more quickly. It still makes me shiver even thinking about it. But we didn't, and everyone is ok. Ugh.

So we made the long drive out to Labyrinth first thing. The channel was so much more calm that early in the morning, so we made good time. There was a couple of boats there by the time we made it all the way down the canyon to the shoreline of the hike, and I've never seen boats that far down. We even swam the wave runners part of the way because of how tight the canyon gets, and they had BOATS?! Crazy. It was significantly less mucky this year. Thank goodness. We had enough of that at Antelope.

We hiked quite a lot of it, as we always do. There were some differences this year though. First of all, there were a million frogs. Big ones, baby ones... Weird. I've never, ever seen a frog in this canyon before, and now we couldn't get away from them. There were still lizards, but way more frogs. Beach pet a big frog, caught a baby frog, and caught a couple of lizards per usual haha. Second, the canyon was SO MUDDY. Obviously from the flooding, everything was still wet. We were walking through ponds and some pure mud pits, and were just getting sucked down into it. Everything became so slippery, and so much harder to hike than normal years. We all ended up pretty muddy by the end, so overall, neither slot canyon was as good as usual haha.

After we got out, we drove up to Padre Bay, which is the most picturesque spot I swear. You're surrounded by rock formations everywhere you look, and it's just amazing. We played around and tried to find some new canyons to try, but never did find what we were looking for. Jason looked at his phone and panicked about the time. He said we needed to haul out of there if we were going to make it back in time. We cruised back to the marina as fast as we could, including a miserable ride through both channels. I was hating it. My butt bones and knees were so beat from hitting some good waves the day before, and I wanted to take it slow, but apparently we were late. When we were in the final wakeless zone, I pulled out my phone to discover that Jason had been looking at UT time, not AZ time. So we had a whole other hour before we needed to be back. That sucked haha. We could have kept looking for our other canyon, or just hung out in Padre Bay for another hour, but now we didn't have time to get all the way out there again and back. So we hung out by the dam for a bit, eating snack and swimming, and then spent the last of our rental time playing around Wahweep Bay. I did get embarrassingly lost looking for our ramp for some reason - I could NOT find it, and I'd lost Beach and Jason. By the time I found them, we were 20 minutes later than we'd hoped to be loading. We went from being very early, to late, because I couldn't figure it out. Oops. But we actually loaded really quick, and were able to be back at the shop in time. No damage, hurray.

We stopped for dinner at a local chicken place, which was great - especially the mashed potatoes - before the long, long drive home. I fell asleep for quite a bit of it, but poor Jason had to drive well into the night. I was so glad to have the next day off.

So, yeah. What a trip. It's one we'll never forget, and not really for good reasons. We're now trauma-bonded for life.

So PSA: Check for flash flood warnings. Every time. And LISTEN.

Thanks.

[fictionalwh0ree]

hey hey, i hope you’re having a good day! recently, i watched the outsiders and have such a soft spot for ponyboy, and i love his brothers too soooo I was hoping I could have something where reader is with Ponyboy, but always takes care of the others when they come home with any wounds after a fight, and maybe Pony gets a little jealous about it?

Hopefully this makes sense, if not, i can elaborate! thank you for your time <33

kiss it better- ponyboy curtis

summary: ponyboy gets jealous when you help take care of the wounds of the gang, but don't help him.

word count: 1k

warnings: none

join my taglist here!!

rain pattered on the roof of the curtis house, the only other noise being the music and occasional crackling of the old record player that sat on a wooden side table. you sat on the couch awaiting the arrival of the gang, basking in the calm before the storm. the storm being a group of riled up boys who haven't felt the severities of their injuries because of the adrenaline pumping through them. just as you expected, your peace was disrupted by the loud yelling you heard coming from the front yard.

they must've won, you thought as they opened the door.

you heard darry quickly scold steve for almost ripping it out of the frame, causing you to let out a small laugh. you stood up, immediately searching for ponyboy. he was the last to come in, and as per usual, his injuries consisted of some cuts and bruises that would heal themselves. he greeted you by wrapping his arms around you tightly, his wet clothes dampening yours.

"you're wet, pony," you giggled, ruffling his hair.

"sorry," he apologized sheepishly.

"we won, y/n," soda informed you, earning some hollers from steve and two-bit.

"i assumed so," you responded.

"you sound like pony," steve commented, reaching into the fridge.

"steve, do you mind washing your dirty fucking hands before you stick it in the cake?" you scolded, placing a small slap on the back of his head.

"language!" darry said, provoking some protests.

you turned around, ready to defend yourself, but instead let out a laugh. it was the first time you'd properly looked at darry. his face was covered in bruises and cuts, his fists were bloody, his shirt was ripped and he had a couple bruises scattered around his arms.

"jesus christ, what did you, wrestle a gorilla?" you commented sarcastically.

"yeah, yeah," darry rolled his eyes.

"if you think he's bad, you should see the other guy," johnny added.

"come on," you said, tilting your head towards the kitchen where you had a first aid kit out.

"what?" darry asked.

"what do you mean what? you think i'm gonna let you guys walk around with infected cuts, looking like a pack of rabid dogs?" you said, stating the obvious.

this was followed by numerous objections until they finally gave in. you cleaned up all of their cuts as they iced their bruises. you were too focused on them and the conversations you were having to notice pony sitting at the table staring at you. you had helped everyone but him as he didn't need it.

when you finished, pony went up to give you a hug from behind, his cold clothes causing you to flinch a little.

"pony, why don't you get out of those wet clothes. you're gonna catch a cold," you said, dismissing his hug.

he pouted slightly, but you didn't notice. you sat down on the couch and began watching tv with those around. after a while, you noticed ponyboy hadn't come back. it's as of soda read your mind.

"where'd pony go?" he asked.

"i don't know. i told him to go change out of his wet clothes and he never came back. i'll go check on him," you said, to which soda agreed.

first, you went to his room but found it empty.

"pony?" you called.

as you walked around the small house, you noticed the bathroom door slightly open. you slowly pushed it, peeking your head through the crack. there stood pony, running his knuckles under cold water. his jaw was clenched as he muttered incomprehensible words in a hushed tone.

"pony?" you said gently, entering the small bathroom.

he jumped at the sound of your voice.

"jesus, y/n, you can't just sneak up on people like that," he said in a tone he'd never used before, at least not with you. he was also refusing to look you in the eye.

"what's wrong? i told you to go get out of your wet clothes and then you disappeared," you spoke.

"yeah right," he mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"huh?" you asked, confusion written across your face.

"it's nothing, don't worry about it. just go hang out with the rest of the gang," he said. he wore an almost distasteful expression as he said the end of his sentence. that's when it clicked in your head.

"ponyboy," you smirked, "are you jealous?"

"what- no," he denied, his face turning a light shade of pink.

"oh my god! you are!" you whisper-yelled.

"i am not!" he responded, his eyes finally locking with yours. he saw how amused you looked at his behaviour, a smile spread across your lips. he seemed to be fighting back a smile as well, trying to keep the conversation as serious as possible.

"are you jealous because i helped take care of the other guys and i didn't do you?" you asked.

he quickly looked down, his face turning redder than it had before. you placed your hand on his chin, pushing it up gently so that his eyes would meet yours again.

"pony, you know you're the only one for me," you whispered, nearing your faces so your lips were almost touching.

he made the final move, leaning his head forward to close the gap that was left. the kiss was slow and gentle with no intention of going any further. once you pulled away, you took his hands in yours, placing tender kisses on his bruised knuckles.

"i'm sorry," you apologized once done.

"it's okay, i shouldn't have gotten so upset over it," he said.

"it's not your fault you got upset, but please tell me next time, okay?" you asked to which he nodded.

"now, what do you say we go out there and play cards so i can kick your ass, as per usual?" you suggested, a smile playing on your lips.

"yeah right, just you wait," he joked, returning your bright smile.

--

taglist: @whoreserena @unstable-puffin-writing

[yandere-daze]

Yandere-daze´s 3k followers celebration

Event period: 22. November - 30. November

Hi everyone! As I had announced earlier, we´ve hit 3000 followers today which is really huge for me! As I was starting out, I never thought that there would be more than a handful of people that would be willing to read my writing but here we are!

Your support and nice comments kept me motivated to keep going and I´m very glad to have all of you here with me!😊

As thanks, I will be doing a small celebration to commemorate 3k followers!

For the first time in months, requests will be open once more! Please carefully read the information below before sending in an ask!

During the time from the 22nd to 30th of November, my askbox will be open to requests once more.

I´ll be taking requests for headcanons ( up to two characters per ask) and the Yandere Tarot prompts will be making a return as well!

You can request the following fandoms:

Twisted Wonderland ( all the students + Neige)

Ensemble Stars ( all the idols + Anzu)

My OC Amir

You can attempt to send in a request for a scenario but they usually take a lot of motivation and effort for me to do so it´s very likely that it will end up being deleted.

First, make sure to read my general rules that apply when sending in a request:

Rules

As stated, please only send in headcanon requests with two characters at most! You can send in several asks but it´s easier for me to write when there is a limited amount of characters per ask.

I will also take requests for the Yandere Tarot prompts again! I know that they were very popular last time so I hope you´ll enjoy them this time as well :D

Here´s a link to the original prompt list made by ddarker dreams!

Tarot Prompts

As stated, I´ve done the tarot asks once before so make sure to check the masterlist before sending in an ask to see if I´ve already done your ask before:

Yandere Tarot Masterlist

For the tarot prompts, please request only one character with up to 3 prompts per ask. It´s easier for me to write that way ^^

Sidenote: I´m not too fond of / comfortable with the Empress prompt so I would like to avoid it if at all possible. It can be done if you happen to include it but you probably won´t get a very in-depth or enthusiastic response in that case. I hope you understand!

As always, I reserve myself to reject a request for any reason and there is no guarantee that every ask will be answered, depending on how many are being sent.

I can also warn you that I´ll probably prioritize answering enstars asks because I´ve fixated on it right now so it´s easier for me to do ^^

I hope you still have fun sending in requests and that you´ll keep reading my stories with a smile on your face ☺️ 

[ov105]

Pool Party

Wrote this to take my mind off the stress of semester’s end. I’ve been thinking about this after going to a pool since August. Since then I’ve gone through a million powerpoints, and created a billion more. It’s not easy being a social sciences student. And I’m here, writing 7,600 words paying attention to my horniness. Humans truly are an odd bunch.

7,644 words 

Enjoy.

"Oh yeah, Yujin's inviting you to her pool party later."

Ah, eighteen. The crossing of the Rubicon. Well, when you were seventeen, at least. I just nodded in reply, slipping out "yeah," to a friend while rolling through our textbook. Having forgotten to review the entire chapter, now I have only a thousand won note slipped on its opening page while rushing to reach the conclusions at the back of it. I probably just pushed everybody else's noise behind my head as I scanned the chapter before everything started. I barely memorized anything as I went and fell back to the classic tactic of letting keywords decide my answer. Everything else was a blur after that. The blue hues way above became darker, with the orange light breaking through the window panes as we all waited for 3:30 pm. Before that rang, Yujin came up to me, asking.

"Hey, what's your score?"

"22, you?"

"Higher," she replied, saying it with such proud conviction I almost shared it myself. I knew well I wouldn't score high, yet my brains made it in one piece. 

"Good job," Seeing that my little website referral made her life easier earlier. 

"Oh yeah, about later, who's coming along?" I asked, a bit puzzled. Perhaps trying to gain more comfort knowing that I may know everyone there, in any case, I get drunk. 

"Well, you know, the usual. You're the only other guy there, plus him," she replied, looking in the direction of a friend of ours. A credible crowd and a pool party, nothing can go wrong, right? It will. I was already betting that somebody would jump in the pool in their casual clothes, which was me at the last birthday party I attended. 

"Alright, tomorrow's Saturday anyway," I just said, with Yujin nodding in reply as she went back to her seat. I guess she did have a party planned after all. 

After that, the bell rang. The bug of getting home had bitten us as our class scrambled to get out, some briskly walking, and some going slow as they caught up with their friends. I had a few conversations about the more mundane things come Monday. I caught the metro on the way home as I saw other batchmates of ours try to crowd themselves into the bus and inevitably get stuck in traffic. It wasn't precisely as stark a difference trying to catch the train, though. Both were still close to jam-packed, even if it's been a year since every whitecoat advised us to stay at least a meter apart. I checked my phone as I clung on while the railcar rocked slightly at a hundred kilometers per hour. Being the fashion terrorist I am, I typed up "casual wear pool party" into the search box, trying to make sure I didn't look like I dressed up last minute, which was what I was going to do.

Coming home, I first jumped into my bed, having an hour or two before the sunset. Getting a good nap before I rolled out of bed, took a bath, and started to make a mess of my cabinet. If I had taken out the time I spent checking my phone, ten would've only been two minutes. The last thing I (or any guy) would do is always stand in front of the mirror, give ourselves a quick scan and pat down. Now is the year of birthday parties for people my age, all of us are turning 18, being in the 12th grade. It's pretty surreal we are to finish high school being seen as adults, but well, we already seem to think we act like one. 

Heading into the party, I took what probably was the same train there, though now with a lot fewer people that I could actually take a seat and maybe thought about things for a second as we went over the Han with a view of the 5 pm sunset going through the bridge's beams—matching my thoughts with the thunderous rolling sound of the rail over the girders. I guess now being invited and going alone to Yujin's birthday party wasn't exactly too different when she had her first blowout when she was seven. The last thing we would worry about is if we got our fractions right instead of filling in redundant pages of college application forms. 

Though I guess neither is a challenge for Yujin. Her energy never seems to fade. Such is Yudaeng. 

But now we were all much older, probably put some booze, and for others, cigarettes and vapes, into the mix, so might as well make the party last tomorrow. 

Now, Yujin and I were "equals," as our English tutor told us, that I was her and she was me. I guess it was because I did a lot of the heavy hauling in our more academic and reading-heavy classes. She was a somewhat faster runner and a more coordinated dancer than I was, though. The thing was that I could count more times we were classmates than we weren't, and while commonality wasn't something I would completely describe us, I was almost always her go-to "smart guy" to make sure she wasn't getting another F or D for that matter. Thankless, sure. But I don't complain. It gives me some purpose from time to time. My introspection ended itself as the PA announcement rang, and I had my cue. 

I was taking my time walking towards the party, now at some quieter neighborhood across the river, far out of where we lived. It wasn't shady or anything, but it was more subdued. Though I imagined nobody would want to go home later, I imagined what the place would look like at night. As I turned the corner and asked for directions, the lady I asked at the street pointed two floors up a faded white building. The pool was a part of the balcony above it, and what I assumed were the bedrooms below. I knew she was pretty rich, but not this rich, I thought to myself as I paced up the stairs, messaging her on my phone and slipping it in my short pocket.

Turning the final staircase, someone opened the door, and I looked up. It was Yujin, having swapped out the stuffy uniform for a more casual fit, shorts, and a tucked-in loose shirt, but nothing too extraordinary.

"You're a bit late, come on!" she beckoned me as I got up the stairs. I was greeted with a hug and saying another happy birthday as I returned it. It indeed was a chill atmosphere there. The same friend who told me about this was bent over the butane-flame grill trying not to mess the meat up. At the same time, her girlfriends were closer to the pool, an L-shape block of rooms behind it, the kitchen being right beside the staircase, with the pool and kitchen separated a bit by an open area where everybody was. It was comforting knowing every face. Taking a seat and was handed a cola before my neurons even linked to grab my phone and text home that I may just come home late.

Later, I stood up to be the 2nd man on the grill. The music wasn't too loud nor too obnoxious. I'd imagine none of the six of us wanted to confront an angry local breaking the party up. So that was it, two guys and four girls in their conversations as purple skies turned black. Yujin led the girls in laughter, being the fun and the hyperactive person she is. Meanwhile, I was just in banter with my mate while we waited for the meat to cook. We all kept it down a bit and just relaxed after midterms week, the test earlier being a last-minute addition.  

"You're almost done?" Yujin asked as she came up. 

"Almost, I mean, maybe?" I shrugged before reaching for chopsticks and offering it, "Wanna try?"

"Alright!" she replied with glee as she grabbed it from my hand. She was excited at the prospect of being the first one of us to eat, taking one of the middle pieces and eating it. She approved of it, and about fifteen minutes later, we began to stuff our faces full, maybe with some laughs and banter in between, but soon dying down as we got some more on our bowls, and later the banter came back again. It's been happening more and more now that we're getting back into things, getting used to how people talk and hearing them for who they are instead of conjuring voices that make me sleepless.

Later on, we all decided to take the beer out, though these were of the weak kind. Not that they tasted terrible, but much in the vein of would be called pisswater. Having that right malt taste, but otherwise, the only saving grace was that it was ice cold. I'd rather have an undermixed iced tea, but I digress. It was almost getting late. Ironically it must be the alcohol getting to me. After sitting down for about two hours, we all began to stand up and split up into our corners. 

The two girls went by themselves, talking as loudly as usual, then retreated to watch Netflix by themselves. Sliding doors shut, locked—two out. 

The lovebirds began the same way, and then a little frisky, then quite handsy. Then one of them just whispered into one another. I just sighed. I just hoped the rooms were soundproofed, taking another sip as their sliding door locked. 

I was then alone, taking out my phone and switching data on as I leaned back against the railing. 

"You wanna eat?"

"Again?"

"What else are we supposed to do?" Yujin said. To be fair to her, I wanted to ask the same thing. Maybe watching YouTube or sending memes to each other's phones would do. 

"There are leftovers, right?" I asked. Putting my leg down as I made the few steps to the kitchen, sliding the door open as Yujin went and probably got something for herself. Taking a seat as the microwave buzzed to life, I was a little surprised when she came back in. She had this smile on her face as if she had uncovered something. 

"Dang, you hear them?"

"What about it?"

"They're not having...sex? Right?" she said as she came close and pulled a seat beside me. Oh, you sweet summer puppy.

 "They are," I flatly replied, with a chuckle to voice both disbelief and surprise.

The microwave dinged after that, and as I put my fingers under a towel to open it, Yujin decided to test my remembrance of sex education at the worst time possible. She dropped the bomb on me as I put the noodles on the table. 

"How does it feel?"

"What do you mean by feel?" I said, air quotes as "feel" left my mouth. 

"How'd I know..," I replied, trailing off as my brain started to scramble and cover up the images of months past. I just sighed as Yujin waited on me. To think I was getting nervous being asked about my sex life by an analog nonetheless was just outrageous!

"Well, it feels good, I guess. Everybody's a little nervous at first." I replied, in hindsight, sounding more like a confession. Yujin just sounded wowed. For some reason, perhaps hearing it from a friend does sound different. 

"Good? What do you mean by good?" She prodded further, flashing a shy smile as if to trap me.

"Alright, I'm not a writer for nothing," I began, "You know that feeling when almost every hair on your body is raised, not because you're scared, but between it. The point of being nervous, but it feels so damn good. Your brain just gets caught up between feeling that and going instinctively that it, pretty much, freezes."

Her playfulness, having rolled over into curiosity, was only natural. And the honeytrap of asking about my budding sex life had hooked me by that point. Now I had little choice but to continue, though, in my defense, I asked. 

"Why are you even asking me this? I'm the worst guy you could ask," I calmly replied, though slightly defensive in my tone.

"What?" she replied, quite ridiculing me, "Haven't had a classmate ask you?" 

"The guys, yeah, but the girls? No." 

Yujin nodded, then left me hanging, scratching her nose as she looked down on her phone. She was thinking about something. Reaching for the chopsticks and pulling the noodles to me, not long after, I took my first slurp of it. She leaned back in, placed her hand on my thigh, looking quite shyly at me, she asked. 

"You want to join me in our room?"

What was, at our age, an odd request, something only someone more scared of the dark, or just feeling lonely, would ask. I was betting my choices, but if I knew anything, I immediately lit up my alarms. Questioning Yujin was not the course to be taken. 

"Sure."

Tapping my thigh to signal that she wanted me to come with her now, I put my food away and just laid my chopsticks on it. The pantry became quiet just as quickly as we left it. Trailing behind Yujin as she walked off to our room, it didn't feel too awkward. Looking around a bit, I thought I heard one of our friends moan again; it kicked back to a flashback to my first time myself. 

Mine was similar to tonight, but it was a far stranger companion, one of my cousin's friends. She wasn't much older than I was, but not far off. Yet anything I experienced as she toyed with me with her lips, hips, and just how she used her body against mine that night will always stick to me. I would admit my endurance was miserable at best. Whatever, I had sex anyway. I got sent to Hong Kong that one night and back. This was just my second time tonight, I was taking the lead, and I was nothing more than a jungle of nerves. 

The sound of lightly screeching metal and a lock turning split us from the rest of the world now. Our shoes remained outside, some of the lights were on, and the aircon was just winding up. Those were a giveaway that perhaps maybe, something was up. I turned around and pulled the thick curtains over the blinds, facing about to see Yujin standing there. Approaching her as the statuesque woman she was, we were equals, after all. Putting her hands on my chest and scaling up, her neck craning forward as if to kiss me, but I wasn't just about to get on with that. Moving back a bit, she stopped. 

"Save it for someone you like," I told her, though I needed to say something quick not to kill her spirits. 

"But, can I kiss you on your neck?" with Yujin softly lifting her chin as she allowed me. I went just right below her jaw with a few soft yet admittedly dry kisses. Moving down and having just put my lips, Yujin giggled, probably tickled as she slightly pushed on my chest. 

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling back a bit. 

"Nothing, just getting a little tickled," she replied and so proved me correct. 

I told her to sit on me to save us the awkwardness of keeping standing against each other. I assured her that I wouldn't do anything "stupid" as she put me between her legs. She put her weight on me as she sat on my lap, both of us completely awkward. Though before I could put my hands on her hips to pull her close, she reached down for her shirt, pulled it up, and took it off. 

Now Yujin's body was normal, at least if being as tall as isn't accounted for. But now that the only thing keeping me away is a mere few inches of air and pinned down on this bed. It was a sight to behold from the well-matured woman she was. The way her thighs, built on the same bones that made her stand tall, stocky but toned, to hips that, while broad enough, were made discreet with a torso that matched it. It was an unreal, daringly perfect physique. She looked back at me as I gave her a look, though I was just trying to trace where my lips would go. She was just about to reach behind for her bra, so I stopped her. 

"Not yet."

I said before moving back onto her neck, trying to remember everything I was told months back as I trailed downward, my kisses on her skin far deeper and more playful. I wasn't there to tickle her. A quick diversion over her collarbone before marking my checkpoint at her mole, just as I gave it a second kiss, I heard a faint, shaky moan. So there it was. Pulling her slightly closer as I gave it a deeper kiss, and I listened to her breath get shaky. 

As I moved down, I could feel Yujin just watching me. Perhaps we were thinking the same thing as I came right down, leaning and pushing her forward, my lips just above her cleavage. How the hell did we get here? But before I could rationalize an answer to that, her hand clasped on my wrist and placed it close to her right tit. I took her cue as I wrapped it in my fingers and squeezed. She remained silent throughout, still shy and holding her moans in, but I felt her getting warmer as my lips and hands softened the awkward mess we were now. Thinking that it would only get more uncomfortable if I kept leaning forward, it was time to get more serious. 

"Lie down," I whispered to her as I sat straight. I moved aside and stood up to let Yujin get on the bed. By the time I had turned back around, she, too, was facing me. Trying to copy a sex scene I've seen in my head, I took a few steps forward, got into bed with her, and had my lips right back on her neck. Though we just crashed on the mattress but luckily didn't slam right into her. The tension broke as we laughed at the face of erotic disaster. Nope, that was no reenactment. 

 Continuing as my left hand now reached up to her left tit, softly squeezing and rubbing it as I continued kissing down her body. I puckered my lips and sucked on the soft flesh of her tits before kissing down her tummy, as far down as my lips took me right before her shorts. I was done. 

The only thing missing now was that Yujin wasn't naked. 

"You're okay taking everything off?" I asked. She just nodded in reply. Taking that, I went back in, now with both my lips and tongue doing the work as I have heard again and again; keep up with the foreplay. My hand was instead trying to get behind her, feeling my fingers poking her sides. She lifted her back up and let my hands slide in. It was a little awkward as I tried to unhook her bra, getting after a few seconds or so then hovered above her. Yujin moved her shoulders and slid her straps off but kept her forearms close to her chest. I had a long way to go. 

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've never done this before," Yujin shyly replied, rubbing her forearms. Well, I was too. I was just in the same position a while ago. And well, I had little else to say. 

"Hey, I don't know this either," I told her. She just lightly scoffed at me.

"I don't know, my ass, I'm not almost topless for nothing," she replied, and with me between her legs and my arms already straining as I hovered above her. She was anything but wrong. I was a neuron away from telling her we should just back off, but Yujin beat me to it. Putting her forearms away, she slipped a finger into her bra and swung it to nowhere as I remained fixed on her.

They hung free, a perky pair of tits with well-colored areolas. My face immediately went for them as I wrapped my tongue around Yujin's nipples and tugged at them as I began to suck, my lips puckering right against her areolas. As if to respond to my tugging, Yujin slightly lifted upward. As I flicked on her nipple, she moaned. Then I slipped my free hand between her legs, pressing down hard on the fabric of her shorts as if to knock on her. After all, It was only two layers beneath. And to only drive my libido even higher, my fingertips only feel her warmth.

Then I began drawing circles with my fingers, and she cried out and squealed. It was a more sensual, not erotic release as she writhed, biting her lip but still moaning loudly. With my mouth clamped shut on her left tit and fingers bearing right against her pussy, she didn't want to push me away. But just like I was, I could do nothing in the face of pleasure. Just right after, I moved to her right tit and kept a good eye on her. Yujin's hands moved under me and unbuttoned her shorts, but before she could hold the hem of it, I softly squeezed her forearm to tell her that I'd do it. 

Giving one last suckle on Yujin's tits and a few kisses on her stomach later. My fingers found themselves hooked between her shorts and panties as I pulled them back, her legs straightening to get them off cleanly. As the final piece of clothing dropped on the edge of the bed, I dove low and between Yujin's now bare legs. In the first place, she didn't precisely close them. As I parked right in front of her pussy, it looked a little shy of a few weeks of shaving. Being as gullible as I am under nerves, I asked.

"This isn't your first time being eaten out, right?" She's had a boyfriend before, so I expected a nod. However, Yujin shook her head. 

"I see it in porn a lot. I tried rubbing myself a few times, felt something, but never really came," she dejectedly stated. That didn't seem too believable, but alright, now I had something to do.

"You ready?" I then asked.

She just nodded, and down I went. 

As I gave her the first lick, I remembered that eating Yujin out wasn't on my mental schedule, nor ever on my fantasies since I had hit puberty. After all, she was only a good friend. Now was a little more than that. And I've only seen the stuff I'm doing now in adult videos. Though if there was anything different from the way I was licking upward and drawing circles around her clit, it was that she sounded far quieter, more bearable, and gladly, more regular and human than the actors I'd seen. On the other hand, the sight of her friend eating her out had us forced to be a lot less sensible and just be simply horny. 

Tracing around her folds as Yujin continued to moan. But because it was her first time to be touched like this, she might as well have gone insane. She bit hard on her lips as I continued eating her out, beginning to taste salt not long after as she writhed ever so slightly. I thought of fingering her, but at the moment, I thought I'd rather save penetration for my penis instead. For now, my hands held her and traveled upward to keep squeezing on her tits as I put my tongue against her pussy. Now I put my all into it as I pressed my tongue against her clit, but I continued to trace her folds with the tip of it.

Her hips moved, jerking right up against me and inadvertently driving me deeper against her clit. It didn't help that her smaller jerks pushed her hips against me while my tongue did the same. It only multiplied the friction for herself. She just moaned and whimpered as she began to leak. That's one way to hasten your first non-solo orgasm. 

Licking past the fluids the Yujin was secreting, she was getting more vocal and pronounced in her movements. Her thighs began to close in on my ears as she rumbled back and forth on the mattress. Not to mention the drippings I had to wipe off my lips ever so often as she let her body speak for itself. My tongue is the suspect of it all.

In a matter of a few seconds, she was hitting an almost uncontrollable fever pitch. Her eyes shut, her mouth hung open, the release of her lustful moans filling the air as her torso waved and her hips and I struggled to keep her from completely flying away. It was only delaying the inevitable. 

"-fuck," Yujin weakly said, biting her lip but immediately letting out a moan that only told the obvious.

Continuing my assault on her senses, I rounded her clit faster. Yujin had slipped into orgasm, her moans drawn out and erotic, her entire physique rocking the bed as my deeds paid themselves off. Calling my name out as her legs folded back and her feet, much like her hands, scrambled to hold on to something as her toes curled, with fingers grabbing my hair and the sheets. Her thighs were just about to crush my head as her hand suddenly grabbed on my hair and hung on to me for her dear life. Arching and throwing her head back as her juices leaked as she shook herself loose. She just sighed as her orgasm passed. Plopping down on the bed as she finished, having had her few seconds of high heaven as her chest pumped itself of air, her body had turned into jelly from a powerful release. 

I slowly pulled myself back to watch the orgasmic mess that was Yujin. After wiping my lips clean of her, I asked.

"How's that?"

"Fucking amazing."

She was breathless, hands moving around her face as if she couldn't believe what had just happened. I just let her be. I was just as tired with my tongue. That's it. I just made a friend cum probably a little too hard on my second sexual encounter. 

"Well, what do you want to do next?" I said. Now fully taking up my role as the guide.

"Blowjob?" Yujin said. Her lips were moistened from her lip biting earlier. Our gazes met to tell me that she was eager to try me for herself. But unlike eating pussy, I knew what I wanted with a blowjob. I just beckoned to her to come over as I unbuttoned my shorts. The only thing she had to do was pull it down. I just waited as she rolled off the bed and then stood right in front of me. 

A naked, glowing Yujin was an image that left me without words; what a woman. 

Kneeling and taking my shorts with her, the sight and touch of her hands wrapping my penis sent a slight shot of electricity up my body. It's been a while since it wasn't me touching myself or touched at all. Held it as she began to stroke, or at least try stroking it. Telling her that it'd be better to sit, and I did. Yujin seemed like she knew what to do. 

She took a shy lick on the tip, tugging it upward as she tried copying whoever actress she'd seen. Though once her lips wrapped around my glans, I was split whether I was feeling pleasure or pressure to tell her to get it right. For a moment, I thought she had it under control as I felt my tip getting wetter but was dashed the moment my shaft was uncomfortably squeezed, and I shrieked.

"Don't squeeze it too hard. Just keep stroking, and be gentle," I told Yujin, and before I was even done, she was already getting the hang of it. Keeping her gaze at me as I approved of her, and then I appreciated how soft her hands were. It was better than any fleshlight I threw money at or any fully erotic masturbation fantasy I would dream up at 2 am. All Yujin had to do was keep doing what she had to do, and I was trying to get used to her giving me pleasure as I slowly got erect, my butt slightly clenching as she went. 

"Do I spit on this?" she asked not long after, having begun to feel like some assisted handjob rather than anything. My cock was already hard enough, but that looked a little too lewd for my taste, so I decided to take it even further.

"Slowly wrap your lips around it," I told her instead. I coached her as she leaned forward. Kissing the tip of my cock before pushing herself forward, her lips parting around my tip and tongue sliding under it. It looked a little awkward at first as she kept waiting on me. I just told her to start. Though I left "start" on a vague note, Yujin began to bob up and down slowly. And with her tongue placed right under my supposed sensitive spot, I suddenly twitched inside her mouth. She just giggled and stopped before continuing, and now she knew where to hit. 

There wasn't much to be done after that. Yujin just softly bobbed her head with my cock on her mouth. Beginning to suck as she got a little deeper, yet I kept telling her to do it as far she felt comfortable. Comfortable, however, rhymes with daring in Yujin's mind, going deeper and pressing her tongue against my cock as she did. After trying to control myself and not react quickly to the way she slid and wrapped me. I couldn't hold it anymore and let out a moan. I sat back as I felt my world shaking under a virgin's mouth. 

That only told her to go faster, maybe a little too fast. She didn't know she was bringing me into an orgasm I didn't want. 

"Don't you want to save me for later?" I quipped as I laid my hand on Yujin's shoulders. She took me out of her mouth, and after wiping her lips, replied. 

"Oh, sorry, I was almost carried away," and after taking a look at my slobbered member, asked, "That felt pretty good, didn't it?" 

I just scoffed and nodded. Yujin smirked and got a bit bashful. To be fair, it isn't the norm to compliment anyone for giving amazing blowjobs the very first try. 

"You have a condom, right?" she then asked me. I just pointed to my pocket. A little bit of rummaging in the slots, she pulled out the sachet and tore it twice. Had she bit down a bit harder, the whole plastic would've been ripped, and we'd have to walk the wire. Giving my cock one last lick of her tongue for, in her words, "insurance."

"This feels so weird," Yujin said as she slowly rolled it down my cock, "Do you even feel anything under this?" she asked. I just shrugged. 

She paused as my cock stood, covered, ready to penetrate her. Haywire, that's what our minds were. I'm going to have sex with Ahn Yujin, and she's going to let me into her. My thought process was just scrambling and going code red as she led me to the bed. I reached for the switches and left only the bed lights, bathing us in a golden shower of light, looking to the side to see our shadow, man atop woman. As I planted my knees, she opened her legs and pulled me towards her. Both of us looked down as I brought my cock closer. 

It was so quiet we could hear each other breathe. The silence only broke as Yujin gave me a warning.

"Be careful." 

I just nodded, oddly solemn, like I was going down to a dark basement and had to run back without my candle going out. After all, Yujin asked me to penetrate her now; there's no more excellent comparison to being led into the dark. 

I placed the tip of my cock against her folds. It was a warm, slippery opening, folds parting, and I pushed inside in an instant, barely able to feel anything. Yujin whimpered, and I pulled back. She nodded as I gave her a look. I felt the plastic on my tip get moist as I pushed myself against and back inside her. Inch by inch, I broke into her, feeling the choking, mind-numbing warmth and pleasure that I couldn't help but let out a moan as I stopped. 

"You alright?" I asked. 

"Just keep going," Yujin ordered me. Moving slowly enough but not from inserting my entire shaft and probably undoing everything. She also began to moan as soon as I did, though pained as her walls were parted. I kept it to that pace, trying to control myself from going ultimately ape as I let her become comfortable. As she did, I bent down and let that paceMy hips had a mind of their own while her hands moved from around me, coming right to my shoulders and pulling me close. My face was right against her shoulder, hiding my lip bite, as our brains were barely struggling to keep up with our sensuality. 

There was nothing more but the sound of sex after that. Yujin's moans slowly converted from pain into pleasure. She loosened up from under me and got wetter as I slowly continued. Even if I had plastic over my cock she was just so wet I could feel her through it. Her hands slid down as if to tell me to go deeper, and not long after, I was moaning too. Having had to close my eyes to take it all in. 

"Ah, fuck, that feels so good," Yujin said, biting her lip as I thrust into her. She was getting the hang of it. She looked at me and probably expected a reply as she could read the pleasure on my face. I just had to conjure something.

I just smiled and thrust deep as I could. Yujin broke her gaze, moaned, and threw her head back. I kissed her on the neck as she presented it. Coupling that with deep thrusts had her shaking right under me, pulling, sucking me closer into her. I wish she gave a warning next time; that felt too fucking good. Then I thought of something, thinking I only had a minute left in me. Giving her neck one last kiss, I straightened my back and put my weight on my legs, looking down to see my member thrusting in and out of her. For a second, I thought I saw a smidge of blood on the condom, so she wasn't lying after all. However, we were past that now as her body and face shifted, mired and tangled in the welcoming, intoxicating embrace of sex. 

"You wanna switch?" I whispered, just nodded, and I pulled out. 

Yujin slipped a finger between her legs to see how wet she'd become. Rubbing her fingers as she was, for lack of a better word, shocked by her sticky fluids. 

"I guess this is why it feels good, huh?"  

"Yep, we have to keep going so it'd feel better, come on," I told her as she turned around and bent over. For a moment, I remembered how she always made most jeans look skinny, even when they weren't meant to be. That ass right before me is why. I caressed and felt it for how thick it was while Yujin grabbed a pillow, then discarding it as I coached her into the "perfect" position.

Hands firm on the bed, back slightly bent down, and legs comfortably wide apart, I lined up into Yujin. With her pussy giving itself away, I pushed myself back inside. I wasn't one to wait as I did, grabbing her hips as she gasped and began and thrusting slightly faster than earlier. I was more confident that I wouldn't bust. Though that was quickly disproved when I felt a single twitch shoot up electricity and feel my fingers digging into her skin, and like an idiot, thrust and twitched again, now moaning in unison with her. 

Yujin turned to look at me as I slowly settled into a rhythm. Both of us gave mischievous looks as I kept fucking her, having to turn away and moan into a pillow as she got used to the sensation. The thing is, even when she was loose, she never lost her tightness. She was painfully tight but kept me coming back for more. The perfect ounce of flesh enrapturing me yet barely keeping me from losing myself. I felt like I couldn't go any faster without cumming myself, but I wanted her to feel good. And from the from the moaning, shaking, moaning, dripping mess that I was penetrating. I have more than succeeded.

Plopping face-down on the bed, hands clinging onto the sheets to it as her body pistoned against me. Yujin must've just kept her eyes on me the entire time, just watching and, when she wasn't, feeling me inside her. Though whenever our eyes met, she was smiling or smirking at me oddly, like I was some maniac. She spoke up not long after.

"You're having quite a time, aren't you?"

"Because I'm fucking you," I managed to say between breaths. Around five more thrusts later. I stopped, tugged on Yujin's arm, and told her to come up to me. Yujin processed it for around five seconds before I got a better word, "put your back up to me," and she did. I was just trying to follow something I vaguely remember. Once she did, I slipped my arms up against her tits and pulled her close to me. Her hands then unexpectedly found themselves on my neck and wrist as I began to thrust again. It was a lot more awkward without any kissing, but she held on still. 

Now we didn't just feel each other. Now we could hear every last sound of ourselves. A carnal chorus; Though like every other one, never lasts enough to leave one fully satisfied.

I lasted just shy of half a minute before our hands got tired, and the position got a little harder to maintain by the millisecond. I stopped when I couldn't go anymore. And amidst huffing breaths, I asked. 

"You wanna ride me?" I asked. Yujin, also catching her breath, nodded. I pulled out of her and sat back. Not only was there a sheen of her fluids on my cock, but a faint sheen of sweat on my forehead, wiping it with my wrist as I lay down. I was spent by that point.

Yujin then straddled me, with the light illuminating the inside of her thigh, which was dripping wet as it got closer to her crotch. She didn't need to be told as her palm put itself just below my tummy, the other hand guiding my cock towards her. As she put me back inside, her eyes went wide, then shut and exhaled, moaning as she sat down and filled herself with my entire cock—something I hadn't done. My breath shook in unison, and fingers fumbled to hold on to something as she began to move on top of me. 

"We should've done this earlier," she said, beginning to bounce on me sloppily. Arms to the side, giving me the freedom to put my hand on her hips and the other to squeeze her tits. She was moaning far louder now, but I couldn't blame her as I was stifling myself too. My cock was just sliding perfectly against her, and she had some magic that was slowly making me lose it.

We were watching one another as she continued to fuck me, her hand sliding through her hair as it began to mess itself up. There was a problem as Yujin was going too fast for me, finding myself far more challenging to control. I told her to slow down as I sat up, with her surprised a bit as her hands wrapped around my shoulders. At that moment, I twitched inside her. It was soon game over for me. 

"Did you cum?" Yujin asked. 

"Soon," I replied. Now it was a question of whether or not Yujin would cum again, but I knew I was due soon. Feeling that tightening pit in my lower regions that were only subject to a single flick to spill. 

"Just go slower, let's not fuck this up," I told her as I dove down, her leaning back so I could get to her nipples. As she began to roll her hips again, I was far more aggressive with my tongue on her nipple, bringing up and squeezing her tit with my hand and hoping I could last long enough. That was despite already outlasting my earlier guesses. It was ironic that I didn't want her to fuck it up but keep fucking me still.

Quickly changing tactics as I put her up straight again, now just kissing Yujin's neck as she rolled her hips slowly against mine. Knowing my ear was just next to her, I could hear her whisper one thing as she discreetly, then dramatically. While her entirety, her soul shook, she whispered; I think I'm cumming. 

I held her closer and kissed her neck deeper as she wrapped her hand around my nape, tugged me closer, and sang me her sensual swansong. Just when we thought we had control over our young bodies. I pulled away a bit and filled my lungs with air as I was soon to empty myself. It was just enough to glimpse Yujin's face as she looked down and brushed her hair. She gave me that shy look as if she felt bad that I was under her mercy. I took my chances and went for her neck. Just resuming the same thing we had done a moment ago, 

The way Yujin and I slowly slipped away and was just driving her hips and pressing her chest against mine on the mere instinct of a creeping orgasm, knowing I was to go down with her. Her walls tightened as her movements became more pronounced. I swore I could feel juices dripping down my balls as she used me to reach cloud nine again. Even I let out a moan as we both shook, slowly unraveling myself as she reached her peak. 

After an unintelligible whisper, Yujin's body froze, and her fingers dug into me, her jaw probably unhinged itself as she let out a moan that was all pleasure, relief, and a tinge of pain at once. As she did, I followed too. Shutting my eyes, seeing white as I got seared in her heat, jaw silently dropping as the proper shocks shot down into my cock. Shaking and almost biting into her neck as I stiffened and twitched violently, squeezing her tits as I shot thick spurt after spurt of sperm into the condom as she rode against it, giving me, until that point, the hardest orgasm of my life. She was pulsating a bit as she came down from her orgasm, only forcing every last drop out of me. It was a short moment, not more than a minute, as neither she nor I were there. Both of us ended up shocked, revived, exasperated, and exhausted at once. 

We were just in an embrace after the fact. Perched on each other's shoulders as we huffed and puffed. Speechless. I couldn't feel much of my lower regions as our libido withered away. Of course, as a result of our shared orgasm, that'd make nuclear fission blush. I wouldn't expect a second go at it. 

Neither of us made a peep as Yujin got off me. Her juices trickled off her the moment she pulled herself out. That was when we broke. She was genuinely shocked she could've gotten that wet, even more so with the filled condom that it left behind. I knew I shot a lot, but not by that much. I volunteered to take it off myself as I moved to the edge of the bed, pulling it off in a wet snap. The blood I thought I'd seen earlier was almost overrun with the rest of her juices. 

"Damn, I'm gonna remember the last ten minutes for a long time," I told her as I held it up. Yujin became bashful as she couldn't think; during her first time, she'd fuck the guy probably a bit too hard. It was more erotic for me. 

Being the humans we were, and knowing Yujin and I both cleaned and dressed up, and left the room to get food. We just decided to change the bedsheets after we'd eaten, as it was stained with us. As I turned to lock on the sliding door, I just remembered that we were supposed to eat, but instead, we had sex—what a night. 

"That wasn't too painful, wasn't it?" I asked Yujin as I came alongside her. She just shook her head and turned to look at me, shyly smiling.

"I'd rather have you do it again," she answered. 

[voiceswithoutlips]

Calico - Chapter One

— pairing: Hybrid ot7 x Human Reader (Female) — genre: hybrid AU , fluff, angst, slow burn (like real slow), eventual smut — word count: 1.8K — Rating: M — warnings: trauma, mention of past abuse. 

Click for Tag List

— chapter summary: 

Y/N runs a animal shelter, Calico was built on a simple principle, to help those who were in need. What will Y/N do when her sanctuary is threatened by an unexpected hybrid?

— A/N: This is going to be a series, I’m just getting back to writing, so I’d really appreciate your input and feedback <3

Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 3.5 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6

“So do you like your new puppy?” I asked the little girl that was trying to hold a squirming golden retriever pup. She frantically nodded her head. How cute!

“Congratulations on the new addition to your family! We’ll send someone for an inspection soon but I don't see how there can be any problems,” I reassured the parents. They were proudly beaming at their daughter, I doubt they even heard what you said. 

“I’m going to name him Bubbles!” Sana squeaked excitedly as the family left with their new pet. I suppressed a giggle, I was a sucker for cuteness. 

Seeing one of our animals get adopted was the best feeling in the world. Running a shelter was not the easiest thing in the world, grumpy animals, grumpy humans and an abundance of body fluids to clean up but it was rewarding. Calico was a no-kill shelter, a privately owned animal shelter. The upside was that we didn’t have to rely on the government for funding, the downside was the paperwork. Every animal that came to the shelter had to be meticulously checked and catalogued. 

The legalities were another headache. Most animals that came to Calico were rescues. We worked with several animal rights organizations that collected evidence and built cases against the owners. Sometimes we got rescues that weren’t exactly legal so we had to get the evidence and build the case ourselves. That’s why Calico had Song Hwa, a badass lawyer. She was just five feet tall but she could stare down men twice her size. 

“One down, two to go,” Jason said as he plopped down on the couch in your office. He was the head veterinarian at Calico, overseeing the health of the animals. He was also my best friend. 

“We have three potential families visiting tomorrow. How’s Hector doing?” I asked as I stretched in your chair. 

“He’s good but I’m still against the name Hector. He looks more like a Raphael,” Jason said with a frown. Last week one of our animal handlers Shownu found a box near the shelter’s gate. There was a small turtle in it, the poor thing was injured. Jason had to amputate his left hind leg because it was infected. 

“I’m not naming him after a mutant turtle. He’s a one legged turtle from the sea, he’s a pirate and nothing you say will change my mind,” I had named him after Hector Barbosa from Pirates of the Carribean movies after I won the rock paper scissors tournament against Jason. 

“Dorks,” Hana scoffed from the corner. She was the one who dealt with the potential families, showing them around the shelter, doing background checks and whatnot. I was the one who sealed the deal and dealt with the paperwork. I was terrible at social niceties, somehow I always ended up saying the wrong thing and had the worst timing in the history of humanity. 

Before Jason and I could retaliate Moonji burst through the door. “He’s back, Yonu is here,” he was breathless. He must’ve ran here all the way from the gates. Moonji was the other animal handler, he was a retired botanist with a wife and two daughters. 

We all collectively sighed. Yonu was a proud member of Animal Liberation Front, an extremist group or as the government would like to call them “animal rights terrorists”. Once in a blue moon Yonu would drop by without a warning to drop off rescued lab animals, he had a thing against scientists. The problem was that they were illegally acquired so we had to lie on the paperwork. Every time Yonu visited Calico, it was a stress fest for everyone, well everyone except Yonu. 

I reluctantly made my way to the exam room. Yonu was standing there bickering with Song Hwa with a box of rabbits. 

“We are NOT taking in the rabbits unless you tell us where you got them!” Song Hwa put her foot down. 

“It's classified,” Yonu said with a grin. 

“Then take them back,” Song Hwa was staring daggers at him.

“Yonu, you know we need to clear the legal side of things,” I shook my head, he knew how things worked. Usually he would brag about his conquest, giving us in depth details about his adventures. Sometimes he brought back research and documents for evidence.Something didn’t sit right with me. Where did he get the rabbits? Why wouldn’t he tell us?

“Sorry sugar, can’t share the details this time,” I sighed at his nickname. One day Yonu discovered that I didn’t like sugar in my coffee and he decided to start calling me Sugar. He was one annoying bastard. 

Jason was already weighing the rabbits and taking their temperature. No matter what methods Yonu used to ‘rescue’ the animals, we always took them in. Song Hwa always said I was too soft, she didn’t know how wrong she was.

There were seven rabbits in total. All white with long ears and pink noses. They were unusually small. “Yonu did you kidnap kittens?” I frowned as I leaned in to take a closer look. 

“No they are all adult males,” Jason interjected. He was checking them one by one, taking their blood to run tests, checking their limbs for any injuries, it was a routine procedure. 

“Aren’t they too small?” they were.

“Maybe they are like those toy poodles… toy bunnies?” Song Hwa suggested. It could be or maybe their growth was stunted. Either way, I didn’t like it, something was off about this, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. 

Jason was running blood panels in the lab as I took over the paperwork. The rabbits were safely left in a hatch outside in the garden. Yonu had miraculously disappeared as soon as we turned our backs and I was starting to get a headache. 

The rabbits barely showed any movement when they were being examined. They were practically limp in Jason’s hands. They had clearly been abused. I didn’t like the blank look in their eyes. Most of the time if the animal was scared it’d get defensive and lash out, it was a good sign, it meant that it still had its faculties. These rabbits didn’t make a squeak as they were moved to a new place, it was worrying. I just hoped they weren’t too far gone. 

“We have a problem,” Jason said as soon as I entered the lab. He was sitting in front of the computer, double checking the results. 

“This day just keeps getting better,” I murmured as I leaned in to see what he was looking at. Not that I could make any sense of it. 

“One of the rabbits is a hybrid,” did I hear that right?

“Come again?” did he just say what I thought he said?

“We have a hybrid in our hatch,” my heart sank.

The presence of a hybrid posed a threat to Calico. Not because he was dangerous, but because he was stolen. The laws regarding hybrids were still primitive in most countries. They were basically slaves to the system, regarded as sub-human. Hybrids were considered as property, something to be owned. Rare animal hybrids were highly sought after by the wealthy to show off their status. So technically the rabbit hybrid in our hatch belonged to someone, we had no right to keep him here. If his owner found out, they would sue us. If the government found that we were keeping a stolen hybrid they’d shut us down. 

“Let’s just send him to a hybrid shelter,” Shownu huffed. The staff was gathered in your office for an emergency meeting.

“Most of those shelters have terrible conditions. Why not just keep him here, we have license to house hybrids, it's not that big of a deal,” Jason said. 

“Might I remind you that he is stolen. We can’t keep him here, we have a shelter inspection next week,” Song Hwa frowned. 

Few months ago we had decided to expand Calico to accommodate hybrids too, we had enough room to do so. We had constructed a hybrid “enclosure” as per the government guidelines. They had sent us the requirements. … they wanted us to put people in cages. We all collectively agreed that no hybrid will ever be housed in that place. No matter what anyone said, they were still human. 

“We can’t just abandon him, who knows what those lab people did to him,” Hana retaliated and an argument broke out. I knew they loved this place, they all wanted what’s good for the shelter. This wasn’t this first time we had to lie but having a hybrid was different. None of us had ever dealt with a hybrid before, even if we decided to keep him, what then? But I knew I couldn’t hand him over. Calico was built on a simple principle, to help those who were in need. And that rabbit hybrid needed our help. 

“Enough. We took in the animals that Yonu had brought before because they needed help. We’ve lied on the documents and it’s no different this time. That hybrid needs our help, we just need to come up with a plan,” I passed the verdict. Not everyone liked it but I knew they’d never let me down. 

After the stressful day all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch with Jason and watch TV. Our house was on the edge of the property, secluded in the forest. It was a country cottage with a private garden. YouI stopped by the rabbit hatch on my way back. The poor bunnies were all squished together in a corner, scared of the new environment and the open space outside. 

I couldn’t tell which one was the hybrid as I leaned in to take a look. Looking for him was no use. Maybe talking would work. I sat down beside the hatch with a sigh.

“I know you’re there,” I said quietly. “It must’ve been scary huh? Being taken from the lab. Yonu, the man who brought you here, he’s a good person. He only wanted to help. His methods aren’t always ….well savory but his heart was in the right place. Do you know what this place is? It's called Calico, it's a shelter for animals. We take care of animals who need help and find them a new home. 

“This is my sanctuary. Nobody will hurt you here. You don’t have to be scared. You are safe here, I’m going to keep you safe, okay?” One of the rabbits was looking at me, he quickly ducked his head as he caught my gaze. I smiled, he was listening. 

“You must be hungry huh? Rabbits only get veggies and greens, don’t you want to eat pizza, and ice cream, and pancakes, maybe some sashimi…” I rambled on about food, about Calico and the staff, inside the hatch a bunny was listening intently to my stories. 

Next

[imhereiguess556]

Brahms one shot story

Ok I finally did it, I’m posting a story here. This is my first short fic I’ve written in a long time,I tried my best to make sure its gender nuteral, hope you guys like it!

Warnings: Just some making out, implication of sex

Prompt: You just found out your ex was cheating on you, and a big hairy man has come to comfort you!

The fire place hissed as another photo was thrown into the fire. Soft sobs echoed in the manor, breaking the usual cold silence. Pictures of your ex sizzing as you reviewed the relationship. You gave them your all and they decided to throw everything away. Catching them cheating via an email from their mistress telling you of their misdeeds. Another photo went in as you sipped on the last of the red wine in the manor. Fuck them, fuck everything. You didn’t need anyone except Brahms. Yes, it was silly but the only constant in your life at this point was this doll and its schedule.

           You admitted it was weird at first, taking care of a doll. It was a reminder or the Heelshires deceased son. To cope, his parents made a porcelain doll of the boy. But you didn’t judge them for that. Losing your family at a young age, you wish you could have done the same thing. Whatever, more wine will make the bad thoughts go away. Swishing the empty wine bottle, you let out a defeated groan. You’ll burn the rest tomorrow; this wine was starting to get to you anyways. Dumping water onto the fire, you retreated into the dark towards your accommodations.  

           You had put the doll to bed, per instructions but you couldn’t help but check on the doll every night like a real child. Maybe it was your curiosity, maybe it was the loneliness you felt, but something always seemed to be in the same room as you. A presence was always watching you, studying you. You felt it with ever creak and groan the old manor would produce. Was it the ghost of Brahms watching over how you tended to his effigy? It did make you feel less lonely in the empty space, but it didn’t make it less creepy. But it has been like this for a month, you got used to being alone.

           The movement behind you sparked your imagination. You wanted to try something that you were always so chicken shit to try. Getting the ghost of Brahms to show himself. “Brahms? You’re supposed to be in bed. Don’t be a naughty boy tonight, I’m to…hm. Do I tell a doll I’m drunk?” the sounds stopped in the hallway, sobering you up a little. You placed your hand against the wall. Was the ghost of a child really hiding in the walls? “Hey Brahms, if I knock will you knock back?” you were met with silence, but it didn’t stop you from knocking twice. Silence again, sighing you turned away. Two slow knocks came out of the wall, causing you to let out a shaky breath. “Ok Brahmsies, how about we play a game. If you win, you’re not in trouble. If I win no good night kisses for a week!” Mrs. Heelshire told you he used to love playing games, so maybe this will entice the child ghost? Two knocks came out of the wall in what seemed like a response.

           “Ok let’s play red light green light. Red means you have to stop. Green means go! If I say red light and I see you, you lose! But if you touch me without me seeing you win! Knock twice if you understand.” After a minute, two loud knocks came from the wall, you walked into the middle of hallway, covering your eyes tightly. “Ok….green light!” the walls started to creak all around you. This would normally terrify you but in your state, you really could care less. The sounds were coming from above you now, “Red light!” It stopped, biting your lip you covered her eyes again, “Green light!” The sounds made their way towards Brahms room, with your eyes covered, Anna walked into the room. “Red light!” when you removed your hands from your eyes yet again, you notice the closet door had pushed open slightly. That’s when you realized what might happen. If you keep playing you might see….something… where you really ready the see the ghost of a dead child?! Inhaling sharply, you covered your eyes again, “You know what Brahms, you win. I’m to tired to play, I’m going to bed. Your not in trouble” You start to back up from the room but soft voice chimed out, “Y/N Not fair, I want to play.” You froze, that was a child. A child’s voice. Shivering you called out “Green light.” You could hear the closet door creek open, heavy footsteps, walking slowly towards you. Those are not child’s footsteps, “R-Red light!” The footsteps stopped but you wouldn’t uncover your eyes. You tried to walk out of the room again, “Y/N. You’re cheating!” Heavy footsteps walked towards you; Brahms sounded irritated.

           “Enough Brahms, please stop, go to bed.” Tripping over yourself,  you stumbe into hallway, you still kept your eyes shut tight. The footsteps picked up speed, two feet started to sound like someone was crawling on all fours. That defiantly was not the sound of a child crawling after you! You bumped into the wall pulling your knees to your face, shaking. Brahms was in front of you, you knew it, his was breathing so heavily. Much lower and heavier than any child should sound like. Something touched your bare foot, causing you to yelp, a child’s voice rang out, “I won Y/N, look at me Y/N.”

           Something moved up your ankle to your knee, was that a hand? That was not a child’s hand, that was a man’s hand. Oh god this isn’t happening. “Y/N….” The voice whined as his hand grabbed your calf, pulling your leg down. Taking a deep breath, you slowly opened her eyes, a porcelain mask was inches away from your face. It was Brahms face it looked exactly like the dolls face. This was not a child, this was a grown man, a giant, muscular, hairy man. He reeked of sweat, dust and what you assumed was his natural musk. You were speechless, terrified but also intrigued. Has he been watching you this whole time?!

Being lost in your thoughts seemed to be an invite for Brahms to run a shaky hand through your hair. “Pretty y/n, I won.” He leaned into your neck, the cool porcelain stinging your warm skin, a hand holding the other side. You let out a gasp as you felt his hot panting breath coming from behind mask, “I’m a good boy.” You gently tried to push him away, “B-Brahms please, you’re too close.” But this seemed to excite Brahms, causing him to push his chest against yours, his massive hands holding wrists against the wall, holding you in place.” B-Brahms please stop!” He came out from the crook of your neck and getting close to your face again, his eyes locked with yours. This time when he spoke it was deep, a man’s deep growly voice “You asked for me, so I came. I’m here now like a good boy.”

He was right. You asked him to come out of the walls to play with you. And now in front was you was a sweaty grown Brahms. “Please don’t cry.” This caught you off guard, was he watching you earlier? Was your assumption correct, that Brahms has been watching you for the past month? “They are not worthy of you y/n. I don’t want to see you cry anymore.” Another porcelain kiss was this time on your cheek, he seemed sincere with his words. Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the blow to you ego for being deceived, but you felt comfortable with his advances. “Brahms, I…I won’t cry anymore tonight, ok? You’re right. He’s not worth it.”

Brahms let out a soft giggle as he kissed your cheek again. “Hey Brahms, can you…take off the mask?” His head jerk back a little, his breathing seemed nervous. “I want to see your face, please. Can you do that for me?” Brahms released your wrists, his fingertips sliding under the mask hesitantly. With a quick motion, he pulled off the porcelain mask, his breath quivering. You push the thick wavy locks out of his face, revealing the burn scare on his face. Brahms leaned his face into your touch, letting out a breathy groan. He was beautiful, handsome, breath taking. Pushing yourself off the wall, you couldn’t help but lean into his lips for a kiss.

His lips were dry at first but him kissing back quickly moistened them up. He pushed into your kisses eagerly, but inexperienced. No surprise if he had been living in this house all his life. You start to lead him with the kisses, allowing his tongue into your mouth. He brought you close, pressing your chest against his. Wrapping your legs around his waist, he lifted you up with ease. You two kiss with passion as he walks into the bedroom, gripping onto you as if scared he might lose you. This night was about you two now. No more ex’s, no more hiding, no more pain, just a night of two lost souls to become one.

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Tf2 headcanons? Aw yeah! So let's say a new merc joins the team. They're a total asshole: Cocky, sarcastic, overconfident, refuse help. But both Spy and Scout see right through that, it's a defense mechanism. How do they go about making this person comfortable enough to not be an asshole?

*chanting* HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMF

Okay, jokes aside, this is one of my favorite tropes. Maybe I’m too naïve to believe that some people are just mean to be mean, or maybe it’s a sort of comfort to know that even the worst people can be understood, but either way, WOOOOOOOOO!

*****************

An Ass For An Ass

Headcanons

Scout:

To be honest, Scout’s threshold for asshole-ery is pretty high. Growing up with eight brothers will do that to you.

But when the new recruit came around, something immediately rubbed him the wrong way.

Recruit always stole his thunder with the crass jokes and over-the-top displays. Every battle turned into a competition, which messed with Scout’s system of fighting. He never had to focus much on his own team before, and now he had to worry about keeping his own reputation upheld while trying not to get stabbed, shot, or blown up.

Recruit also kept hitting on Miss Pauling - even after reminding them again and again that she was lesbian, and was not and never will be into dudes.

“Come on…you just haven’t been with a real man yet…”

“No, no, I’ve been with a lot of men. Real men. I just wasn’t into any of them. After a while, it was kind of obvious.”

But what really pissed a lot of people off was Recruit’s fighting style.

They were an absolute monster on the field - that’s why they were chosen - but every interaction was treated as some sort of survival scenario.

One would think that would be a good thing, but Recruit was ridiculous.

No matter what the situation was, he was fine, he was okay, he could take it, he could fix it.

He could be killed only inches away from a Medic because he would never yell for one. Sometimes Recruit would even show visible anger at being healed. It got to the point where Medic didn’t heal him at all, and just allowed him to die as to not waste time he could give too more grateful patients.

Missions were even worse.

He followed orders to a T, but Pauling had to beg him to leave a failed mission, or to leave without completely destroying the site.

Everyone just took it as Recruit showing off, or having something to prove as a rookie.

It was annoying, but ultimately harmless in most circumstances.

However, it all came to a head when Recruit tried disengage a sentry by himself and was severely injured.

Both Engineer and Medic, who had had to fix most of Recruit’s past and current recklessness, ripped him a new one, one chewing out after the other.

“What we’re you thinkin’, son?! One crossed wire and you woulda blown the whole base!”

“Zhe only reason you are allowed in my lab at all is because it’s in my contract. Personally, I vould have rather left nature to it…”

Since then, Recruit did exactly as he was told, and nothing else. And most of the team liked it that way.

But Scout recognized some warning signs immediately. Fatigue, near silence except for missions, self-isolation, snapping when people got too close…it all paved the way for a pretty nasty (and, for Scout, very familiar) result.

One night, Recruit was sitting on the balcony, and Scout came out with two bottles - a beer for Recruit and a root beer for himself.

(Scout can only drink on the weekends because one, unlike most, he can’t go to work hung over because his job requires a lot of movement, and two, he has no restraint and can’t stop once he starts.)

“What do you want?”

Scout shrugged. “Depends.”

“On what?!”

“What are ya willin’ to tell me?”

Recruit just looked at the beer and sneered.

“Can’t we just skip this?” Scout said. “Maybe get to the part where you tell me what kinda Sally Sob Story we’re dealin’ with here?”

Recruit looked away.

“Aw, c’mon, don’t tell me you don’t got one. ‘Cause you do. I can see it a mile away. So what happened? Pop leave? Somebody died? Lotta brothers and sisters? Ma had a few too many and smacked ya around?”

Recruit didn’t turn around, but Scout could tell he was crying. He had hit a sore spot. Hard.

“Hey, pal, listen…”

Scout trailed off, then slowly began again.

“…the only reason I know is ‘cause I’ve been through it, ‘kay? Outta everybody I knew, I only trusted me. And that was great when I did a good job, ‘cause I knew I put me there.”

Scout opened his bottle of root beer and took a long swig.

“But when I screwed somethin’ up, it’s like everybody I ever knew just let me down. The one thing I could count on was gone.”

Recruit looked at Scout with tears in his eyes.

“But ya can’t do everything by yourself,” Scout continued. “Believe me. I learned that the hard way.”

Scout laughed, but it was mostly to clear the air. He didn’t get serious very often.

Recruit hadn’t touched his beer, but was leaned over the balcony with his head in his hands.

Scout sighed and looked up at the stars.

“But here’s somethin’ that nobody told me - it gets easier, y’know that? You just gotta relax and cut yourself some slack.”

Recruit shifted uncomfortably. “But the Administrator said…”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know what she said. Gave ya that whole speech about how bein’ part of the team means discipline and focus and whatever. It’s all bull crap. She don’t know the first thing about bein’ on the field. If she did, why’d she hire us?”

“Sh-she said my perseverance was an asset to the team.”

“Perseverance, my ass. You know what would be an asset to the team? Stayin’ alive for more than fifteen minutes!”

Recruit looked at his feet. He had blinked away his tears, but he still looked on the verge of falling apart.

Scout put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it a little.

“You’re a great fighter, Recruit. You’re one of the best…that’s why you’re here. You got nothin’ to prove to nobody. Not to me, not to the team, not to the Administrator…not even to yourself. You’ve made it, kid. You’ve made it.”

Scout slid his hand off Recruit and started to walk away.

“Hey.”

Scout turned to see Recruit in the process of opening his beer.

“Thanks.”

Scout smiled. “No problem, pal. Plenty more under Demo’s mattress.”

“No, I mean…for that. I needed that tonight.”

“Oh…yeah! Sure. Don’t worry about it.”

Scout went back inside and to his room - but not before checking the cameras on the balcony a few times. Just in case.

Over the next few months, Scout kept helping Recruit break some old bad habits.

Recruit learned to take criticism without getting angry, to leave tanked missions, and to take care of himself.

He still occasionally flirted with Miss Pauling, but it was now more of an inside joke than anything.

Recruit still isn’t perfect - he still cringes a little when he’s healed, and falls back into survival mode when times are stressful - but he is now a much happier, much healthier person.

Spy:

Spy’s asshole wasn’t a merc, per se.

They were more of an informant, usually giving out important facts about locations, missions, and a target’s history.

Sometimes they would even use the Administrator’s PA system to announce new rules and reminders.

This would be perfectly fine - after all, you get kind of tired of hearing the Administrator all the time - except for the fact that Informant was the most sarcastic, most nasally, most apathetic, most matter-of-fact person on earth.

Even outside of a work setting, which was rare because they stayed in their office most of the time, Informant would go out of their way to be as condescending as possible.

Especially to whoever they considered to be in the “less intelligent” category: Heavy, Pyro, Scout, Demo, and Soldier.

To all the “others,” he turned every briefing into a contest to see who knew more at any given time…which, of course, usually meant he won.

“Now, does anyone know where his address is? Come on, any takers? Yeah, I thought so.”

Unlike Recruit, which would only warrant a few grumbles here and there from the team, Informant was the subject of a lot of hissed complaints and terrible rants from even the calmest of members.

Informant was the only one who could get under Heavy’s skin - a personal pet peeve of his was being considered less intelligent or less of a human being because English wasn’t his first language, which Informant chose to remind him of constantly.

It began with a few simple jabs at his grammar or word structure, but once Informant figured out that Heavy wouldn’t hurt a fly outside of battle, the taunts grew more and more daring.

Heavy would usually ignore Informant, which would only exacerbate their need to be noticed. This led to some pretty nasty interactions - from spouting the statistics of Russia’s average intelligence to even saying Heavy was a disgrace to his country by being a literature major.

“How’s that Russian literature major treating you? You know - in America.”

Sniper and Medic had tried to set Informant straight, but Heavy refused to accept any help. This was something that was his to bear, and his alone. He knew that they both took their own helping of harassment.

But one day, Informant went a little to far.

He did the one thing you should never do: insult Heavy’s family.

“You mother and sisters can’t do anything more than wait for you. No wonder you’re the only source of income.”

Before he knew it, Informant was against a wall, struggling to breathe, blood running into his eyes.

Heavy walked away after the incident, and told Medic about it, but he refused to heal him. Informant had called Medic a Nazi on more than one occasion.

This, finally, is where Spy comes in.

Spy was walking by Informant’s office, when he heard a strange sound - barely suppressed hiccups and sobs.

Despite his aversion to displays of emotion, the promise of seeing one of his greatest enemies as their lowest was too amusing to resist.

He knocked lightly on the door, then slowly opened it - always the master of drama.

Informant was under their desk, bloodied and bruised, sobbing into their knees.

Spy entered noiselessly, sitting in Informant’s office chair and lighting a cigarette.

It was only when Spy made a dramatic exhale of the smoke that Informant looked up, tears streaking their face.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Spy finally spoke.

“Oh, how the mighty fall. Flown too close to the sun, have we?”

Informant couldn’t do much more than snivel and retreat farther below the desk.

“Who did it?” Spy asked. “I want to give them my regards…and maybe a bottle of wine.”

“H-Heavy…”

“Oh? Well, if anyone can bring him to blows, it’s you.”

Spy put his feet on the desk and continued to blow smoke out of his nose, thinking.

“It’s strange,” he said. “Most offices have at least a few pictures of family. A trip to the beach, perhaps the zoo…?”

He took a quick glance around.

“No children. No army mates. No graduation photos or a large catch at a local lake. The only personal item you have is this…”

Spy picked up a Rubik’s Cube. The plastic still around it crinkled.

“Unused.”

Informant looked at the floor.

“I like to keep my personal and professional life separate.”

Spy pursed his lips and squinted.

“How noble of you. But I don’t think that’s the case. You know what I think, Informant?”

Spy took his feet of the desk and bent down, looking Informant in the eyes.

“I don’t think you have a life.”

Informant’s eyes went wide for a moment, then his face immediately crumpled. Bullseye.

Spy smirked and got up from the chair, starting to leave.

Informant’s sniffling turned into sobbing, and before Spy could put his hand on the doorknob, muffled wailing filled the office.

Spy closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He was trying not to remember something. But the imagery was too strong.

He remembered hiding under a table, like Informant was. People screaming and cursing at each other in French. His knees all scarred and his nose runny from a cold that should have resolved weeks ago. Waltz music coming from next door, trying to drown out the fighting. Glass breaking. Biting his knuckles so he wouldn’t whimper or cry.

Spy’s hand closed into fist. He took a deep breath, and turned to face Informant again.

“But to be fair…”

He walked towards the desk, putting his hand in his suit pocket. He got on his knees and pulled out a pink handkerchief.

“…I don’t have one either.”

He offered the handkerchief to Informant, who put it to his face, still staring at Spy through red eyes.

The pair were silent for a moment, with Spy putting out his cigarette and lighting a new one while Informant cleaned themselves up.

“But the difference between you and I,” Spy said, his voice wavering a bit, “is that I am a Spy. If my information got into the wrong hands, it could be the end of me and my team.”

He tapped his cigarette on a nearby trash can, letting the ashes fall into it.

“But what are you hiding from?”

Informant took a shaky inhale, the handkerchief still covering his nose and mouth.

“W-what?”

“Why do you feel the need to be, as Scout puts it, a tier five jerkazoid?”

Informant sniffled. “I…I didn’t think I took it that far.”

“Took what that far?”

“I just…snrk…I thought that’s what I had to do to get them to take me seriously.”

Informant laughed, but their heart wasn’t in it.

“I’m five foot four with red hair and freckles. I look more like someone’s Andy doll than a contract killer. I thought maybe if I knew everything…I’d be worth it.”

They shrugged.

“At best, they’d be impressed. At worst, they would never get close enough to me to know the truth: the only reason why I’m here is because I can rattle off a few names and that I had good grades in school because I had nothing better to do.”

Spy’s chest ached. He didn’t know why, but it was a strange feeling to him.

“Mon ami…”

He cleared his throat.

“If half of the team is any indication, you don’t need to be Nikola Tesla to be hired. Hell, the fact you can read is an anomaly in itself. But there is something you must understand…”

Spy cleared his throat again. His voice had gotten quite unstable all of a sudden.

“Intelligence is measured in different ways. Scout could never read even the simplest of children’s books, but his physical intelligence - reflexes, spatial awareness, aim - is phenomenal. Medic would have to put my spine back together if I even attempted to do what he does on the field.”

Informant snickered at the joke, or perhaps the image it conjured.

“And me,” Spy continued. “I can speak almost any language, adjust to any social setting, charm anyone, fool anyone…kill anyone. Just like you, I can remember, and I use the information I absorb mostly to show how superior I am to all my lowly colleagues.”

Spy furrowed his brow and looked away.

“But I know less about myself than even my enemies. I have hidden it so deep within my mind that I can hardly remember…or perhaps would rather not remember…who I was before this mask of mine.”

Informant hesitated. “I…I’m sorry, Spy.”

Spy sneered and puffed a few smoke rings.

“I don’t want your sympathy. I want you to have some self-respect - and respect for my teammates. Because next time you are beaten within an inch of your life, you might catch me in a less generous mood.”

With that, Spy got up, reached into his suit pocket and presented a small MediKit, which he tossed to Informant.

“I’d suggest freshening up before going to any more briefings.”

Informant nodded, and set to work healing himself.

Spy started to leave, then stuck his head back in.

“And hang a few posters, would you? Your office looks like a prison cell.”

Finally, the Frenchman took his leave, adjusting his suit and nodding solemnly to the team members he happened to pass - or scowling at them, depending.

He glanced over the security feed, and once he was satisfied, made his way to his smoking room.

Spy closed the heavy oak door, poured himself a small glass of scotch, and sat down in his chair next to the fireplace.

He put a magazine on his knee and began to flip through the pages, but his gaze soon started to wander.

He closed the magazine, tossed it into the fire, leaned into his hand, and wept.

…So what became of Informant?

Well, after a reluctant heal from Medic and a few well-deserved apologies, Informant began to try and break the cycle of self-sabotage.

The process took a lot longer than Recruit’s did - especially since Informant’s transgressions were a lot more egregious - but, little by little, they began to heal.

A lot of the time, the other mercs would have to tell them to tone it down a bit, or to cut him off completely if necessary.

Informant still almost has a panic attack if he doesn’t have the right papers, and his office is still pretty bare, but he took Spy’s advice - a few AC/DC posters hang on the leftmost wall.

As for Spy, well…he needs to have a talk with Medic.

******************

I am so sorry…this is all so messy and weird. One is so much longer than the other, and I’m not even sure half the dialogue sounds right.

The two headcanons were just typed out at different times, the first where I had less motivation and the second when I had more motivation. This wasn’t on purpose, it just happened.

I hope you still like it, though!

[cdroloisms]

Sooo... how about that reveal that c!Sam wasn’t feeding c!Dream? I mean, we all knew it was coming, but still. The auto food dispenser probably broke or smtg bc when c!Sam came down, c!Dream asked if he was there to give them potatoes. (Also with him being shaken up by learning c!Tommy is alive, c!Sam might not remember or care to feed c!Dream, who has none of his stores of potatoes left.) So, assuming the dispenser is broken and he doesn’t know, why would he come down in the first place? 🟩⛏?

hello anon !! yeah that reveal ,, dang, we already knew that c!sam had presumably been starving c!dream, but to see not only c!dream but c!sam confirm it as well as it having lasted AT LEAST a week ,, d a n g . they are Not pulling any punches in this arc (which, i mean, judging on the q stream, isnt exactly surprising anymore,, but still)

in the prison guard stream, we see how the dispenser works - it’s not automatic as much as it’s remote, as c!sam or the prison guards still need to press a button in order to dispense food. he also says “i havent even been around to feed the prisoner” or something along those lines in tommy’s stream, so we can conclude that the decision to deprive c!dream of food after c!tommy’s death is INTENTIONAL,, which i mean. again. yikes. 

anyway, here’s a snippet of c!dream finding out that the “automatic” feeder isnt as automatic as he might’ve thought - here, the dispenser + crying obsidian are installed at around the same time, so it’s between bad and sapnap’s visit

tw: starvation, disordered eating, abuse, mental illness, self-hatred, toxic relationship, gaslighting, disturbing imagery, dark content, c!sam/warden!sam critical (again, be careful with the content warnings)

Dream stares up at the hole in the obsidian, barely able to make out a glint of metal in the dark chute. The dispenser, just as expected, doesn’t respond to his glare, refuses to whir and click in the way that indicates food, and Dream bites his tongue, mumbles curses under his breath.

“Prick,” he blows a breath through his gritted teeth, only more irrationally angry when the dispenser, as expected, ignores him. “Some automatic dispenser, Warden.”

The walls don’t respond. Nothing responds, here, besides the dark dark thoughts swirling in his brain, and he thinks he’d prefer it if those didn’t - or maybe he doesn’t, because company is company, even if said company is the same litany of blood anger revenge pain you deserve this you deserve all of this you have destroyed the world now lie in the bed you have made pounding at the base of his skull. He drags his hand down his face; every minute is an hour, and every hour is a minute. Time has no meaning when your only frame of reference is eternity.

Even so, even he can tell that it’s been a long time since he’s had food, even by his usual standards - several days, at least, because the ever-present ache of hunger in his gut had swelled into something angrier, demanding, no longer as easy to ignore. Another stabbing round of pain nearly sends him to his knees, and just as he always he does, he clings to the feeling, gathers it into his hands, grabs it by the edges and directs the sharp edges into the words he spits at the indifferent walls. Let the Warden hear him - what can he possibly do?

Just as it always does, the fury in him peters out, drains, leaves him alone in the middle of his cell. He sinks the ground, arms wrapped around his stomach; a part of him wants to laugh at the irony. Some people think of silence as emptiness, void; he knows now that it’s anything but. Silence is suffocating, thick, so present that anything he says seems to get lost within it seconds after leaving his mouth. It grows and pushes into his limbs, becomes a weight tied around his throat, expands into the air in his lungs like a slowly inflating balloon until it’s pressed into every corner and space of the cell, every corner and space of him, taking up so much room that he can hardly breathe around it.

The hunger hollows him out, and the silence fills the space that’s left; Dream wonders how much more there is for him to lose before he’s completely empty, just a husk filled with the same liquid misery that drips down the walls. He wonders if anyone would care- laughs. As if.

“Dream.” The intercom crackles; Dream perks up at the voice, spine straightening against his will, and his hands tighten into fists as he realizes - prime, how pathetic is he, now? The voice deepens, becomes more insistent. “Prisoner.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Or maybe I’m not; you better come and check, yeah?” A humorless smile tugs at his lips, and a static-filled sigh comes through the speaker.

“This isn’t the time for games, Dream.”

Dream rolls his eyes. It’s not exactly the time to be a dick, either, but you don’t see me complaining. A flutter of something warm, joyful, rises in his chest at the sound of something- someone, other than his own voice, and he strangles it with a hand wrapped around his own throat - he won’t let them break him, won’t let himself become desperate enough to crave the attention of a man that hates him - he won’t- he can’t-

“Do you need something? Or were you yelling at the wall for no reason again?” Sam’s voice is steely, indifferent, on a knife’s edge between apathy and anger. “Don’t waste my time, prisoner.”

Dream bites down the snarky reply sitting on his tongue, breathes in, out through his nose until the fury is no longer blinding.

“Your fancy automatic jig is broken. The potato one. It’s not- working.” The hunger fogs his mind, makes it hard to think. He feels caged and weak and pathetic and he hates it.

“That’s because it’s not automatic.” Footsteps echo on the speakers, Dream tapping along to the rhythm before he realizes and stops himself, and a moment later the familiar whirring and clicking of the metal box comes from behind him and a small pile of potatoes fall down and splash into the water. “There. Is that all?”

Dream feels the fury rise, again, but doesn’t quite to keep the words back, this time.

“So what was the point of the whole automatic feeder, asshole? You’ve changed nothing! What’s the difference between that thing and you coming over to my cell besides that you’ve wasted a couple stacks of redstone? Congratu-fucking-lations, you’re a goddamn genius-”

“It’s remote now, so I don’t have to come into your cell.”

“Oh, so it’s just the good ol’ Warden looking for more ways to make the prisoner suffer, huh? Should’ve figured, you fucking self-righteous prick-”

“Dream.”

His mouth shuts with a click, a flash of fear searing through his muscles, white-hot, and by the time he’s blinked back the ringing in his ears the silence has stolen all the words from him, once again. Pathetic, he screams in his head, but his jaw remains firmly locked in place - the Warden’s won, per usual, and they both know it.

“Is that all?” He sounds impatient. Part of Dream wants nothing more than to never hear his voice again, and the other half of him rails at the idea of being alone with his thoughts once more. All of him hates himself, and all of him hates the silence; they’re the only two constants in this place. “You’ll have to speak up if you want anything.”

“How- long was it, since you last gave food?”

Static for a moment, then another. “It’s only been about a day.”

“Bullshit.”

“You’d know if you took care of your clock instead of destroying it, prisoner.”

“I’d know if you were less of a fucking prick.”

“Behave, and you might get it replaced.” The Warden’s breathing is harsh, almost labored - he must be angrier than Dream thought, then. “Speaking of which, you won’t be getting any for a day after this stunt.”

“Ooh, I’m so scared. It’s not like you don’t do this - what, every other day?”

“Do you want food or not?”

Dream’s teeth grind against each other; he breathes in, out. He hates this, hates the potatoes, hates the Warden, hates himself. Hates the way that a part of him recoils at the thought of making the Warden angry at him, reaches desperately for a chance to earn his clock- his approval. Attachments are weakness, he tells his traitorous heart, knowing that it, as always, will fail to stay away.

“Yes. Thank you.” The pleasantry burns on his tongue, tastes worse than the bitterness of raw potatoes that seems to be the only thing it knows, anymore.

“Good-bye, prisoner. Don’t make me come into the cell.”

The intercom cuts off with a click, the space that the static made immediately filled by silence. Dream watches it blankly, jaw sore from how tight it had been clenched, and begins to work his way through the first potato, nibbling at the pale flesh just enough to tide over the worst of the pain.

This is fine, he tells himself, and the walls stare at him impassively. He’s not sure they believe him.

He’s not sure how much longer he can believe himself.

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for Friends to Lovers with Rodrick Heffley

Rodrick Heffley x reader

warnings: mentions of a bad home life

a/n: YALL I FUVKING DID IT AND IM TERRIFIED OF THE REPERCUSSIONS

prompt: y/n and rodrick have been friends for a long time, so long boundaries seem to be blurred

you’ve actually known rodrick since elementary school

it all started when he asked you to join his band

“i can play drums, you can play the tambourine because that’s the only other instrument i have! it’ll be wicked!”

your band lasted a week and only had one gig, it was for rodrick’s parents

who LOVED you by the way

they somehow permitted you to sleepover almost every other day, you practically lived at their house

FOR YEARS you did this

terrorizing lil greg

“what’s he gonna do, pee his diaper?”

“rodrick!!!”

always trick or treating together, exchanging candy when you got back go his house (or occasionally yours)

you guys didnt like hanging at your house, your parents were kind of....a lot to handle

starting middle school together, wreaking havoc on all the teachers

rodrick did it to impress you, according to mr. and mrs. heffley

but he’d give you a stupid little smirk from across the classroom after he got scolded so you believed them

whenever anyone gave you shit at school, rodrick wouldn’t hesitate to step in and show them who’s boss

“rodrick, you’re gonna get detention again!”

“yeah, well, i’m not gonna let them be mean to you”

you went to his house after school most days, sometimes you’d get there first while he was in detention

mrs. heffley had after school snacks

“y/n, why don’t you play some video games with greg while you wait for rodrick to get home?”

playing wii sports with greg, who cried when you won

you also had time to do homework while you waited, rodrick usually copied afterwards

when rodrick came home, he’d drag you to the garage to show you his drum skills

he hit himself in the head with his drumstick

“ooh, that’s gonna leave a mark”

next step was high school, which was a weird step up

but you guys had each other

you still spent most nights at the heffley residence, but you had to sleep on the couch instead of on the floor in the attic (aka rodricks lair)

“you two are growing up, so we think it’s best that you don’t sleep in the same room together, right?”

rodrick emptied one of his drawers for you to put your clothes in

but you still end up stealing his clothes half the time

“i wish i could be mad, but you wear all of my clothes better than me”

subconsciously doing couple-y things without realizing it

like rodrick would pull you closer to him when you two were together, put his arm around you, give you his jacket, etc

“are you guys serious? you’ve got to be dating!” -everyone

“rodrick, when are you and y/n going to get together?” -mr. and mrs. heffley

the answer was always the same: “we’re just friendssssss”

watching his band practice and cheering him on no matter what

you’re his guest vocals ☺️

when he got the van, it was a whole new world for you guys

you could go out wherever whenever

(with parent approval usually)

“wanna go ride around for a little while? hit a gas station and get a bunch of candy?”

“do you even have to ask?”

watching scary movies in his room

“platonic” cuddling in his bed

stuffing your face in the crook of his neck during scary scenes

“come on, y/n! it’s not that bad!”

him having to hold onto you for comfort so you’d keep watching with him

sometimes falling asleep together and his mom or dad coming to check on you later

“alright, time for bed! y/n, you get your usual couch...”

laughing your ass off at rodrick when he messes with greg

manny loves you, sometimes rodrick is jealous of the attention you give to his baby brother instead of him

rodrick scooping you up in his arms when you least expect it, never fails to make you scream

“hey there, hot stuff”

“you’re impossible!”

roller skating together, he held your hand the whole time bc he was worried you’d fall

his friends ENDLESSLY taunt him over your relationship

when he makes plans with others, he always says “let me ask y/n first” which just SENDS his friends oh my god

“dude, that’s your s/o!”

“no, they’re not! shut up!”

hating being apart a lot its so stressful

sometimes you’d have a pretty hard time at home and show up to his house at odd hours, but you were always welcome

you have your own key

“hey, what’s wrong?”

“my parents...they’re just the worst”

rodrick knows its bad when you start crying

he took you up to his room and played some music (quietly as not to wake the house)

you laid on top of him while he rubbed your back and told you that he was there for you

dozing off on him, as per usual

dude, the amount of pictures you have? astronomical

you playing his drums, the two of you going 🤘, an actual nice picture of you guys, him carrying you on his back, kiddos on your first day of school by year, you kissing his cheek “platonically”

comforting him when he was having his own hard times, whether it be an argument with his parents/greg, difficulties with musical inspiration, or anything else

“come here, you need a hug”

“i need several”

“you’ll get ‘em”

talent show! talent show! talent show!

you completely cussed out the rest of his band before they went on bc they had the audacity to replace him

but greg managed to save the day

“greg, my dude, give me a high five, that was awesome”

he wasn’t actually half bad but like, his mom kinda stole the show

more joyrides in the van

absolutely BLASTING the music in there while you and rodrick sat on the floor in the back and ate the taco bell you’d just picked up

“dude, you gotta try my potato griller, it’s a godsend”

“okay, but try this slushie, its so good. i mean, not as good as a 7-eleven slushie, but it’s up there”

finishing your food and laying in the van for another hour bc you just loved each other’s company

but after sitting together alone for so long, you felt like there was something left to do, what was it?

you and rodrick were moving around a bunch and ended up next to each other sitting against the wall of the van

you looked over at each other and hesitated before leaning in to kiss

and you guys kissed for a while

okay, so, you made out on the floor of his van with led zeppelin playing in the background

✨magical✨

it wasn’t awkward or anything, just long overdue

okay it was a little awkward actually

“well, that was” *clears throat* “that was cool or whatever”

“yeah...wanna do it again?”

“oh, for sure”

not like it was a surprise to anyone when you announced you were FINALLY dating

“wait, you guys just started dating? i thought you’d been together for like, at least 5 years” -mr. heffley

“this is great! obviously, we’ll need to set up some boundaries so that everyone is comfortable and safe, but yay for young love!” -mrs. heffley

“gross” -greg

mrs. heffley wrote a column in the newspaper about you titled “my teenage son’s fantastic significant other”

not much changed after you and rodrick got together, just kissing, “i love you’s” and more teasing from friends and school faculty

“we were all rooting for you two, actually!” -the teachers

summer vacation with him

it was always SWEET

going to the pool together, he’d usually lay out on the chairs with you but you were able to drag him into the pool a few times

“come onnnn, it’ll be funnnn”

“you’re lucky you’re cute”

hugs from behind!!! kisses on the top of ur head!!!!

PROM AH HAH HAH

seeing rodrick in a tux was too funny for you, you almost couldn’t stop laughing (especially at the eyeliner he insisted on wearing)

but he just couldn’t stop staring at you

“rodrick!”

“what?! you’re stunning!”

honestly, prom wasn’t all it was cracked up to be

you danced like maniacs for a few songs and ended up ditching early on

but you did end up renting a bunch of movies and getting tonssss of snacks and changing into pajamas as soon as you got to his house

im talking popcorn, candy bars, ice cream, cans of pop, chips, chicken nuggets and so on

and also passing out on each other

“i think i love you a little more, i didn’t know that was possible”

“i have that effect on people”

he makes u breakfast before his mom gets the chance though

“pancakes? for me?”

“i put chocolate chips in them too, you’re gonna love them”

(they were a lil bit burned, still good tho)

you guys really did just spot on get each other

okay but i know you also roast each other sometimes so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

relationship goals, honestly

fresh outta ideas 🤠 goodnight

[jokertrap-ran]

(光与夜之恋 Light and Night) Charlie’s 5✩ Inspiration: Daytime Spiritualities [昼日疑魂] Date Translation (Prologue)

“An eligible fiancée should always be prepared to make some sacrifices in the name of love.”

*Light and Night Master-list | Charlie’s Personal Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Join the Light & Night Discord (＾▽＾)~ ♪ *5✩ Inspirations have 5 Endings!! *CG Image used with permission from 蓝咕咕 ☆ *Charlie’s tag will be #For Night, For Paradox

Even the unluckiest soul in the world will one day meet a stroke of good luck at some odd point in time.

For example, I'd gone out to purchase some batteries last week, only to somehow win a chance to try out a new model of Home Projector. All I had to do was to give them feedback about it afterwards, and the projector was mine.

What a rare stroke of good luck! Shouldn’t I share some with the exceptional “Mr. Perfect” as well?

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Setting my mind to it, I dialled the number I knew by heart.

Charlie: How rare it is for you to be the one calling me.

MC: Cut the crap. I'm here because I need something from you.

MC: Are you free this Saturday, Charlie?

Charlie: I… probably don't have any shifts on that day.

Charlie: Ah, I know now. You're asking me out for a date? Please tell me it's not for a Saturday candle-lit dinner.

MC: Dream on. Dinner's a stretch and candles are a no-go.

Charlie: How dull.

Charlie: But, yes. You do have a point there. My presence overshadows any candlelight before me, so long as I am around.

MC: I'm starting to regret ever calling you.

MC: I'm not going to tell you what we're going to be doing so just wait till Saturday and you'll know.

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Saturday arrived much faster than I thought. I went out grocery shopping early on Saturday morning to give Charlie, "his highness", a grand welcome.

I passed the hospital on my way home when something extravagantly gold suddenly caught my attention.

A gold leaf-painted car. One with extremely showy butterfly doors. There, it stood; sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the calm serenity of the hospital.

This grandiose display of extravagance was something all too familiar to me…

Who else would do this, but Charlie?

MC: But… Why's he at the hospital today?

MC: Didn't he say that he didn't have any scheduled shifts?

Unable to restrain my curiosity, I decided to head into the hospital and have a look for myself.

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Hurried footsteps sounded inside the IPD (In-Patient Department) as people came and went. Medicinal bottles clinked, and soft murmuring came from the Doctors and Patients down in the Wards. The IPD’s corridor was already abuzz with life this early in the morning.

Yet, the door to Charlie’s office was shut tight with nary a sound.

MC: How quiet. Is he not in his office?

I gently pushed the door open, only to be stunned speechless by the scene that greeted me inside his office…

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Charlie was lifelessly sprawled on the floor. His eyes were closed, and it was deathly silent.

The fridge by his side was wide open. The enzyme drinks and the fruit and vegetable juices within were exposed to the open as the fridge expelled cool air. White sheets of document paper were scattered all over the floor.

MC: Charlie?

Said person sprawled on the ground didn't move a finger, much less make a sound.

"An Employee's Sudden Death In the Early Morning", "Inside the Medical Industry: Why Work Crazy Overtime Hours". Possible headlines started running through my head, causing my mental alarm bells to start ringing.

MC: Hey? Hey! Are you okay!?

I flung my shopping bag to the side, quickly reaching out to place my finger under his nose to check if he was breathing.

MC: Phew… At least he's still breathing.

Just as I was about to turn tail and ask for help, I felt my fingers get caught in a soft and warm hold.

Charlie: Wait.

MC: !?

MC: Are you okay?

The person on the ground reached out to pinch my trembling fingers, shaking them twice in what was supposedly affirmation.

The heart that had leapt to my throat upon finding him settled back down, but doubt still remained.

MC: How… How do you feel now?

Charlie raised his head in a daze, looking like a right mess with tired black circles under his eyes.

Charlie: %#*$&...

MC: ???

MC: Wait, were you just asleep earlier!?

Charlie was just like a lion who’d awoken from slumber. He leisurely rubbed his eyes sleepily, the action itself seemingly giving you the answer to your question.

MC: ……

I started to replay everything I’d seen earlier in my mind… Steady breathing, warmness, and even the ever so faint snoring that came out from his parted lips...

Looks like I'm truly the one who’d jumped to conclusions here.

Recalling how I’d totally been frightened out of my own wits upon finding him earlier, I suddenly felt my cheeks grow hot.

MC: But, why are you sleeping on the floor? Are you that tired that you just crashed on the spot?

Charlie: As if. I purposely chose to sleep on the floor.

Charlie paused for a second, gathering up all his documents that were scattered all over the floor before rightening himself and walking over to bask under the morning light that filtered in. However, the expression he wore was still a little out of place.

Charlie: Once you’ve tried out all of the high-end beds in the world, you’ll soon come to realize that the bed is actually a pretty inferior piece of furniture to be sleeping on.

Charlie: It is only by staying in tune with nature and reverting to primal nature that you can get the highest quality of sleep.

Charlie: And the ground is the one thing closest to nature.

MC: ...We're on the second floor here.

Charlie: I have my own manner of thinking.

MC: ……

Although it did sound ridiculous, Charlie was someone who could even the most absurd things miraculously come true. I think I've pretty much been… rendered speechless.

As I was rendered speechless, the initiator of this entire farce had settled back in front of his desk as if everything was as per usual.

Charlie: I'll have to congratulate you first, (Y/n).

Charlie: For taking the initiative to find my workplace; and advancing us a step further in our progress towards making it onto the "Guangqi City's Model Married Couple List".

MC: Sorry, but we don't seem to be married yet. So, there's no way we'll be up on that list.

Charlie: Keep at it and we'll soon qualify for it.

MC: You've got some thick skin…

Did I really need to worry about this man earlier? He has such thick and impenetrably hard skin that I don't know whether I should be pitying him or the floor his face smashes into.

MC: Still, what are you doing here on a Saturday?

MC: Didn't you say that you didn't have any scheduled shifts today?

I leaned over and stared at him with narrowed eyes.

His eyes were a little dodgy. And when paired with the dark eye circles under his eyes, it was a rare sight on this "pricelessly perfect face" of his.

Charlie: I came to the hospital today to… Ahem. To wait for my assistant to deliver the blood test report.

Charlie: Last week's report; dragged till today. I'm not one to say this, but the young doctors all have serious procrastination issues.

Charlie: If all doctors are like that, then who dares be their patient?

Charlie had his brow furrowed into a particularly deep crease at that. He turned his gaze outside the window with eyes as dark as the old senior director of the hospital, who had a head full of grey and ever so grave.

And when I moved closer to peer at the stack of documents on the table and the crooked and askew words… His face morphed into a look warmer than that of welcoming neighbours.

However, the problem here was that… Wasn't that "Ward Round Medical Records" written on top of those documents?

MC: This doesn't look like a blood test report.

Charlie: You can actually tell?

MC: If I squint at it… Your scrawl is most certainly…. Erm… Unique.

His face slightly changed at that. He swiped the document from my hand and shoved it under the table.

Charlie: Enough of that. There is no way that this can ever be my handwriting.

Charlie: My calligraphy was already level 8 out of 10 in middle school.

Charlie: This is clearly someone else's handwriting!

He purposefully angled his body so that his back was facing the documents and propped his hands on the table.

Charlie: And, back to you. Why are you in such a rush to see me?

Charlie: Come on then; let's hear it. Just where are you asking me out to?

My eyes moved to look away, the fluttery airiness in my voice no longer carrying its lilt.

MC: My house.

Charlie: ...That quickly?

There was an odd hint of hesitance in his tone, something different from his usual overwhelming confidence.

However, this minuscule hesitance of his was gone as soon as it came. Soon, the corners of his mouth lifted up as high as they could go.

Charlie: Tsk, tsk, tsk. Never thought you'd be more proactive at this than I.

Charlie: There's no need to refuse; no need to feel shy. I know.

Charlie: But still, just us alone… together? Don’t you think that’s a little too rushed? Shouldn’t you do this more romantically, at least?

MC: ...Are you still half-asleep?

Charlie raised his eyebrows before shooting me an overly enthusiastic wink.

Charlie: What do you think?

MC: If you're awake, then stop spouting nonsense.

MC: Long story short, I won a trial run of a new Home Projector model last week…

Charlie: So, you’re inviting me to your house to watch a movie with you?

I never thought that Charlie would understand what I was getting at so quickly. I hurriedly nodded.

MC: Yup!

Charlie suddenly perked up. He crossed his fingers in thought.

Charlie: I suppose that makes sense. First, a movie; and then slowly, step-by-step.

MC: ……

He “knowingly” quirks his brows at you, his lips curled into a satisfied smile.

All traces of sleepiness on his face had been wiped clean from his features. Charlie stands up from his desk, seemingly having been suddenly imbued with a burst of energy.

With a faint smile on his face, he stretches his slender fingers out to hook it around the handle of the leopard-print mug on the table.

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I was caught off guard as an oddly familiar sense of deja vu overcame my senses…

It was as if a lively, yet oddly out-of-place saxophone piece had started playing in the background of his deserted office.

And there he stood, slowly coming into the view of the lens, panning forth in slow-motion. Golden sunlight filtered in from the windows, kissing the contours of his face and highlighting his profile.

Charlie: ……

He hooks his fingers onto his tie, tugging gently at it. His collar loosens, revealing his collarbones that peek out from beneath his shirt.

The knot of his tie rested next to the third button of his dress shirt. It was undone, yet not quite.

He pushed back the stray strands of hair that had fallen out of place by his sideburns.

Charlie: Does something seem off?

MC: What do you mean?

I lifted my head to peer into his cup. I could only see his reflection reflected in the waters.

MC: Not really…?

Charlie: As it should be.

MC: ?

Charlie: It appears that I am still as glamorous as always.

MC: ……

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If Narcissus, the God of Narcissism who turned into a Narcissus, were to be reborn; then his reincarnation will be none other than Charlie.

In just a mere 2 seconds, Charlie was back to his usual pompous self.

Charlie: I'm going to get changed. Please give me a moment.

With that, Charlie briskly turns around and heads into the dressing room. He muttered lowly to himself as he went, the sound trailing after him as he disappeared into a corner of the room…

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Charlie: Charlie, I don't want to be the one to say this; but what’s the matter with you today?

Charlie: Passing out in the office! Your perfect image was almost ruined!

Charlie: Thankfully, I reacted fast enough.

Smiling, Charlie shakes his head helplessly at his own mirror image.

Charlie: Still, my posture is still so very charming, even if I did pass out cold on the floor.

Charlie: Oh, perfection; your name is Charlie.

Meanwhile, I was blissfully unaware of these small theatrics going on inside the dressing room as I waited for him outside….

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Since Charlie was out, I decided to take the chance to survey his office.

The multitude of silk award banners and certificates of merit displayed on the cabinet stupefied me. I couldn’t believe the fact that all these awards belonged to Dr. Zha, who was currently piecing himself back together in the dressing room.

Suddenly, my attention was drawn to the work calendar that hung at the door. It had Charlie’s familiar handwriting scrawled on it.

MC: Is this…

The door to the dressing room opens with a thud as Charlie appears by the window, now casually dressed.

I ended up blurting out the question that was festering in my heart.

MC: Charlie, were you… working overtime overnight yesterday?

MC: Just so that you could make time for me on Saturday?

I looked at Charlie, attempting to gauge the answer from his eyes. That was when I realized that his eyes were bloodshot.

Charlie freezes for a moment. Something clicked inside his brain as he realized that he’d unwittingly overlooked a small detail. His high spirits immediately dampened.

Charlie: Do you have to say it out loud for the entire world to hear? How unromantic.

His honesty confirmed the disbelief I’d felt upon the revelation. It finally made sense now.

Charlie: No need to feel overly moved by this. An eligible fiancée should always be prepared to make some sacrifices in the name of love.

Charlie: Of course, I have to be willing to make said sacrifice as well.

He faced me with utter confidence. The sincere look in his eyes made me think that maybe this was only right.

Looking at the childish chicken scratch on the calendar, I can’t help but suspect that this might just be how he is when he was actually being serious for a change.

Charlie: Stop standing around. Let's go.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹ 

Charlie led me out of the hospital. The engine of the flashy golden sports car roared as it brought us to my place.

I took my keys out and moved to open the door.

Suddenly, I recalled that it had been a long time since I last cleaned my room. I feel like I should say something about it first…

MC: I’ll warn you beforehand. My room is a little messy, so I’m sorry if it offends you, your highness.

MC: Express your distaste, and today’s session will end here.

Charlie: That's all?

MC: ...That's all.

Charlie: And here I thought that you were going to say something like, “Close your eyes, I’m going to blindfold you.”

Charlie: Or, maybe ask me for the right password before granting me entry.

Charlie: What’s wrong with a messy room?

He laughs, leaning down to place his hand upon mine, which was gripping tightly onto the doorknob. He gave it a small push. My hand moved along with the doorknob under the pressure he exerted, and the door creaked open.

Charlie: I can always help you move into our new apartment if you want a bigger room to place your things in.

Charlie went around me and walked straight in.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

The lights weren’t on yet, but I could hear his voice in the dim room.

Charlie: Where's the mess?

Charlie: It’s pretty good; enough to house another person.

The embarrassment that had yet to completely set in was soon washed away by his teasing words. Relieved, I left the bag of snacks by the door and ran into the room.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Charlie was seated on the loveseat, his hands casually resting against the back of it.

MC: Your arms are stretched so far out. Made yourself at home, I see.

I patted the hand that he’d stretched out to lean against the sofa with a smile.

MC: I think distance makes the heart fonder between us.

Unfazed, he withdrew his hand without a word.

Charlie: And this is how you treat the evaluator you specially invited?

MC: Yeah.

Charlie: Can't you be a little more professional?

MC: Of course I can. But, I’ll also have to ask this evaluator here to kindly up his professionalism as well.

MC: Don’t get any funny ideas from your own fantasies during the movie.

Charlie knowingly retracted his “I own the world” sitting posture and moved further out.

Charlie: I can obviously do that.

Charlie: But, what if the person picking out the movie has their own selfish motives and chooses to watch some romance flick?

MC: No need to worry about that. We’re watching this today.

I sat down and turned the projector on. A shockingly red movie poster flickered onto the screen. Charlie's smile immediately froze in place.

Charlie: What… What is this?

MC: "Massacre of the Spirit". This is what we're going to be watching today.

Charlie: Massacre of… the Spirit? A horror film?

Charlie: Seriously, (Y/n)?

MC: Absolutely. My hard disk died not too long ago, so this horror movie is the only thing left in my cloud storage.

Charlie didn't reply, only mutedly leaning back against the loveseat.

His lips were pressed into a thin line, and he looked a little… nervous.

MC: Charlie? Are you scared of watching it?

Charlie: ...How absurd.

Charlie: The word "scared" doesn't exist in my dictionary.

Charlie: Don't go clinging to me in fright when the time comes.

With that, he casually pulls the blanket over our laps as if it was the most natural thing to do.

I peered up at him, but he cut me off before I even had the chance to thank him.

Charlie: No need to thank me.

Charlie: I can most definitely lend you this warm chest of mine if you get so frightened that you get the chills.

MC: Heh, there's no need for that.

MC: But, thank you for the blanket.

However, just as I was about to hit the play button, Charlie held my hand down.

Charlie: Wait, wait!

He reached over my lap and quickly smoothed over all the wrinkles on the blanket. He was very swift, almost as if he was handling white mice.

Charlie: Okay. You can start now.

Why's this man acting so strange today?

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

I lowered the blackout curtains and the room darkened.

The screen before us flickered twice as screams and the sound of something tearing reverberated through the room.

The movie showed an autopsy room that was lit up as bright as the day with a withered human chained to the operating table. And hidden within the darkness, was a deathly sharp bayonet that was fatally poised.

It was then that Charlie brought something up. His low voice cut through the movie's colourful sound effects and entered my ears.

Charlie: Are you not afraid to see scenes like this?

Charlie looked at me, awaiting my reply…

How should I reply to him…?

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

✥ Choose your Ending:

END 1 | Choice: Do Nothing [都不做]

END 2 + 3 | Choice: Approach [亲近] ⊹Touch⊹

END 4 | Choice: Listen [倾听] ❖ASMR

END 5 | Choice: Heart-throb [心动] ★Night★ 

❖☆————— ⊹ For Night, For Paradox⊹ —————★❖

[www-artforoddballs]

Alright, so notice. Most of you probably know this, since you're following me for the Autistic Levi stuff (thank you, we're closing in on 100 followers!!!!), but people with autism can have "tantrums". I've kinda touched on this in a previous post (it's a full meltdown, but you can see that post here https://www-artforoddballs.tumblr.com/post/644803780958879744/autistic-levi-angstkinda-i-guess-this-is-him). For those of you who DON'T know, an autistic tantrum is not the same thing as what you'd think of in regards to a toddler or kid, it's just the word used for it. This is a mistake my mother and I made when getting the paperwork done while I was going through testing that later got cleared up lol

I had a tantrum yesterday, and so I figured that I could post about Leviathan having a tantrum, since it's still ready on my mind. I don't care if anyone else is proud of me for coping with it as well as I did, since it's a major improvement from last time I had one, but I am proud of myself!...with that in mind, here we go!!

There will be some angst in this post, like the last post in relation to this one, but like the last post, it turns out fine.

However.

Trigger warning for things such as self harm, both physical and verbal. If you or a loved one is self harming, either reach out to someone for help or reach out to that person to help, yeah?

OK on with the post.

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First of all, Levi's autism is part of why his brothers always agree to help when there's a raffle for tickets or something like that on the DDD messages, because he can get overwhelmed if they don't at least help, even if he doesn't win in the end.

They figured out that his autism was the culprit for this shortly after his diagnosis.

Now when I'm writing for Levi, I like to think that his diagnosis was around the early 1990s since, while autism was a separate diagnosis in 1980, it didn't really start becoming fairly accepted and expanded upon until 1987. Hence why everyone is mostly used to it by now, but are still sometimes off put by his odd behavior; for them, as beings that have been around since...the beginning of the universe, pretty much as far as we know, but for at LEAST since humans were around (so at VERY least 2.5 million years now, but potentially up to around 7 million years (if they haven't been around since the beginning of creation)), this would be like...I dunno, give me a second.

Waiting

Waiting...

Okay, so from 1990(earliest year I have in mind) to 2019 (the year it was released) is 29 years. That's a minimum of 1/86,206.89th of their lifespan, and a maximum of 1/475,862,068.96th of their total lifetime.

So this is a VERY recent development for them on the grand scheme of things, but I digress.

So they're still figuring everything out, especially as the human race continues to learn about the condition itself.

So the first time Levi threw a tantrum and they recognized it for what it was...it was certainly interesting.

What had happened was exactly the situation described; Levi had wanted to go to a concert in the human world and they were raffling off free tickets. Except, unlike now, his brothers hadn't offered their support. They hadn't in the past, why would this time be any different?

Except now they viewed it through a different light. Leviathan had an image in his head that he desired so badly and had asked his brothers to support him, hopeful, only to be rejected at every turn. That he was used to, but it was still upsetting.

He put that to the side, though. He really wanted to see this band, and these were VIP tickets where you got to hang out with the band for a few hours after the concert! They'd cost a LOT of human money, and while they COULD afford it, he knew Lucifer would be bringing hell down upon him if he used that amount of family funds on a concert. And his anxiety was already somewhat raised, so he decided to enter the raffle on his own.

He sat there for hours, waiting for the results to come in. He'd hyped this up in his brain the entire time; He'd win, go to an amazing concert, have dinner with the band, maybe even make some friends....!...and then the results came back. He hadn't won.

As per usual, our snek boi went into one of his rants about how unfair it was, but instead of going on a rampage or something like that, locked himself up in his room and cried, hating himself for getting so excited over nothing.

As I mentioned before, I've made another post about a tantrum/getting too overwhelmed slipping into something even more dire, as that's almost always what happens to me. This would be in the 90s, so this would be their first real incident with one of these moments where they had the proper diagnosis, so bear with me, there will be some angst here, but like the other post, it'll be fine.

So Mammon ends up feeling bad for rejecting his little brother, and, not knowing it was too late, decided to go to his room and offer his support. It was almost Leviathan's birthday anyways, and Mammon knew how rejection felt and how much it sucked. So, he knocked on Leviathan's door.

No response. He knocked again...still no response, but a quiet sob.

Right away, Mammon switched from semi-carefree to worried. "Levi...?"

Again, no response. He decided to just go in and check on his brother...

The door was locked. And he smelled blood.

"Leviathan, I need you to open the door," Mammon said with a half hearted chuckle, his voice now becoming slightly strained. "Because if ya don't, I'm gonna have t' break the door down."

"Just go away!" Leviathan cried from inside his room. "Just leave me alone, you jerk!"

"I ain't goin' anywhere. Either open the door or I'm gonna break it down. Those are your two choices."

A moment of silence, before Mammon sighs, stretching, as he transforms into his demon form.

"Alright, option two it is."

He rammed into the door repeatedly, before the wood finally splintered and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Mammon quickly looked around, eyes widening as he saw Leviathan digging his own sharpened nails into his arms, multiple raked wounds, made by the same culprit, carved into his skin.

"Levi...look at ya..." Mammon said, voice faltering, tears welling up in his eyes. "I...how long has..."

"Just shut up! Don't act like you care about me, I'm the freak of our family, remember?! I'm the one whose brain isn't right, I'm just a shut-in, good for nothing, re-!"

He was quickly cut off by Mammon going to him and hugging him.

"I don't care who you are. You talk about my brother like that again and I'll kill you. Alright? You're a little off, but you ain't a freak, and your brain works just fine as is. You're perfect just the way you are, and if anybody else says any different, I'm gonna beat them the fuck up. Including you. Got that? So what if you've got that fancy lable on ya now...? Labels like that matter, but it didn't change ya. You're still my cringe, annoying as hell little weirdo of a brother...and I wouldn't have ya any other way."

Leviathan fully listened to Mammon talk, before clinging to him, breaking down sobbing again, and trying to explain what happened through his tears, the older demon gently rubbing his back and allowing him to cry it out, making sure no more harm was done.

A while later, once Levi had calmed down, Mammon ruffled his hair.

"Let's get you cleaned up, yeah? Lucifer is already gonna kill me for breaking your door, but he'd be even more pissed if I just left you here with those wounds."

So they did. And Mammon, after telling a VERY angry Lucifer what had happened hours later, had surprisingly NOT gotten chewed out by the eldest brother. Instead, that day, the entire family had a long discussion, and they all agreed that if it was something as small as entering a raffle, or even if it was bigger but not an inconvenience to anyone in the slightest, they'd all help out from then on. It's not like it was hard, and it would save Levi from hours of stress and negativity toward himself and others around him.

They also made a plan for if a tantrum were to happen while someone was around, or if he became too overwhelmed and started to spiral...because, as annoying as he could be, Leviathan was still family. And they loved him, oddities and all.

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

Alright, so...that was the post! I hope it was okay. I know I've written about this type of thing before a little, but different situations can end up with the same negative outcome, like being in an overwhelming situation, or not being able to change your thinking and not easily being able to get over your expectations. I've personally suffered with both, and it's a regular thing for me, so I like writing about it, because maybe, just maybe, it'll help someone out, or help someone that isn't autistic understand a friend or relative or classmate or employee better. And I love these characters, I really do. The only ironic thing is that I see so much of myself in Leviathan, but I adore him and despise myself. Go figure 😂

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed, and if there's anything you guys have questions about (in regards to me and my experience), or any specific writing requests, asks are fully open!

Thanks so much for being here to support me, you have no idea how much it means to a little oddball such as myself.