#but at least do it privately or something

[mandoriana]

There's something so beautiful about the fact that Arthur's first words to his LITERAL soulmate are: "Do I know you?"

“Do I know you?”

“I’m Merlin.”

“So I don’t know you.”

“Who do you think you are, the king?!”

“No, I’m his son, Arthur.”

Greatest characters’ introduction of all time, in the entire cinematic industry.

And the gayest.

[caamboys]

FUTURE SPOUSE PAC

the dynamic between you both

long time no see guys <333

love reading for 2025 ! 🦪 I pray the reading resonates for anyone who engages.

( unedited )

this is focused solely on your personalities / energy within your relationship, not outside or in general.

PILE ONE

core energy within the dynamic : first love, situationship turned relationship, love coming when you least expect it

Reader within the relationship dynamic

channeled song- “ pretty girls walk this “

“ foreign, private, designer, stylist “

“ I’ll throw a tantrum, now a b*tch’ll get childish “

You’re turning over a new leaf within this relationship, embracing change. You could’ve been single for a while or this is your first relationship, either way you’re inexperienced. You’ll be exploring this relationship and all the aspects of it, embracing the new physical and emotional connection. You move quickly within this dynamic, a very spontaneous energy. You might have a key to their house and pop up randomly on them. You might want to move in quickly.

I see despite you being inexperienced you’re navigating dating them freely and bravely. They make you feel confident enough to date them without being plagued by feelings of paranoia or caution. You’re going into everything headfirst within this dynamic.

Future spouse within the relationship dyanamic

channeled song - “ poison “

“ I’m not above love to cash in “

“ Anyway you want me baby, that’s the way you got me baby, I’ll be yours “

-

This will sound cliche but they’ll be the ideal romantic partner. This is a lover boy / lover girl, a simp if you will. I think prior to your guys' connection they struggled with cold and detached partners, people who never could truly handle their emotional depth and yearning. This will dampen their spirit towards love in general until they meet you. The nonchalant facade will fade, and you renew their passion for love. Your genuineness towards dating and even the naivety you have towards love is shocking to them. You’re a breath of fresh air because you have nothing but good intentions, no ulterior motives in dating. Their ability to give to you is like a bottomless pit. They feel useless if you don’t ask them for anything. Want your hair or nails done? They got it. Want to go somewhere? They’ll take you. Don’t have something you need? They’ll handle it. This is definitely Mr/Mrs. Make it Happen. Gift giving is their ultimate love language to you. It’s funny because they’ll surprise you with something you didn’t even know you wanted. This person will be in a constant internal battle on whether or not they’re doing too much. Some of them want to show you the true depths of their love and just how deeply they can love you but another part of them doesn’t want to scare you off with their intensity. Their solution to this internal struggle would be “ gift giving “, a token of their affection for you that isn’t necessarily showing it in verbal / emotional way and making them feel vulnerable.

Another thing I channeled is the way they gaze at you. Even their stare has another level of intensity and yearning.

PILE TWO

core energies: expansion, extending the lineage, exploration

Reader within the relationship dynamic

( tw : mention of childhood trauma & abuse )

( promise it’s not a sad read just a small section addressed it )

channeled song- “ I wanna be your girlfriend “

“ I don’t wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your lips “

“ I wanna kiss you until I lose my breath”

Pile two you’re never paying for anything in this relationship. It’s giving, show up and look cute and you’ve fulfilled your payment. You don’t pay attention to anything when you’re with this person in public, you’re in your own little world, content and protected. I see you in a very youthful and reckless energy within the dynamic. You may be in college/school right now and living with either roommates or parents during the initial stages of this relationship. This relationship will address and heal a lot of childhood trauma. The main thing I channeled was parental wounds. Perhaps one or both of your parents may have been emotionally absent or abusive, or something happened with a trusted guardian or teacher that formed some sort of trauma at a young age. The one thing I’m getting from this is you’ve carried a lot of burdens that forced you to think / act a lot older than you were. You may have developed a hyper independence from this. This person is going to help you release control to someone else and allow them the opportunity to help you take care of yourself.

One thing about you in this dynamic I’m fond of is your standards. You know what you want, how you wish to be treated and you won’t hesitate to leave. You have very strong boundaries and this comes from a strong self worth. You will advocate for yourself within this relationship, you will voice any opinions you have regardless if they’re positive or negative. If your needs aren’t being met you have no problem communicating it. You’re not aiming to be a people pleaser within this relationship but instead your most authentic self.

Future spouse within the relationship dynamic

channeled song - “ Alone tonight “

“ I don’t wanna be alone tonight, can you keep me company? “

“ My names known worldwide, still need someone in my life “

They’re older than you or they have more life experience or knowledge than you. They will play many roles within your relationship including your partner, protector and teacher. This is a very intellectually charged person. They’re already established within their long term career or pursuing it. They’re the more disciplined and structured individuals in the relationship. When it comes to making plans, scheduling trips or dates they’ll handle it. Look up airport couple on TikTok and you’ll get a glance into your relationship, you’ll turn off your brain in public and they’ll be the vigilant and focused ones. Another scenario I’m channeling for you is them taking you camping. I can imagine them guiding you to build the tent, teaching you how to start and maintain a fire, etc..

They will be the clean freak within the relationship. If you’re more disheveled or messy they’ll be stern about it lol. They will move quickly within the relationship. To you, they plan spontaneous dates but for them, it was already calculated and thought of days ahead of them communicating it. This person has a strong paternal/maternal instinct and it reflects itself in the relationship. They know exactly how to read you emotionally, soothe you, or show up for you way you need. It also shows in their protectiveness. They want to have your location and know your work schedule. This person's protectiveness to you is also because you represent a legacy to them, a new lineage, the chance to build their own family.

The overall energy of this dynamic that I’m channeling is

“ I can do it myself “

“ I know; but I want to do it for you “

PILE THREE

core energies: best-friends, lots of banter and bickering, US VS THE WORLD

Reader within the future relationship dynamic

( yall, I channeled these songs AFTER I did the reading and wrote everything down. CHANNELING THIS SONG WAS SO FUNNYYY TO ME 🤭🤭 the “playfighting “ I mentioned several times below was definitely confirmed lmaooo in no way am I condoning violence but im giggling )

channeled song - “ bust your kneecaps “

“ honey believe me, I have your heart on a platter”

“ they’ll bust your kneecaps, probably some other stuff too “

You try to overpower them. You’re constantly challenging them mentally or physically. You enjoy invoking a reaction from them, getting them super hype during debates or red in the face from play fighting. Prior to the relationship you didn’t like this person, they may have come across as egotistical or arrogant and it irritated you. The kind of person everyone likes and you’re just like “ yeeah okay whatever “. Somehow you two enter a partnership but I think you still have the energy of wanting to take them down a peg, not in a toxic way, moreso the way bestfriends bicker and check each other. That aside, you're very grounded within the relationship. You seem very down to earth, perhaps a humanist or an animal lover. You might have a cat lol. Your energy alone within the dynamic is a constant source of growth for you both. You balance out the love and tension well, dishing it out at the perfect moments. You get cuteness aggression with this person a lot, I think it’s the source for a lot of the banter between you both.

Future spouse within the relationship dynamic

channeled song - “ super shy “

“ I wanna go out with you, where you wanna go? “

“ You don’t even know my name do you? “

They are similar to you, but can be even more immature. They are childish and allow themselves to be free and youthful around you. Within the relationship they might be the reckless one, never scared to cause commotion or be a daredevil. They may have a lot of scars or get hurt easily from this lol. They’re super active, whether in sports or working out but they’ll want to include you in it. You might go on hikes or walks or nature trails with this person, be careful though because they’ll be the type to get you lost lol. They get off on the tension / debating within your relationship. Physical touch is their love language with you, and play fighting with them will be like the ultimate foreplay. They have a big family, friend group, or a lot of external energy around them. I say this because people are naturally drawn and charmed easily by your significant other. I think prior to the relationship you’ll be the one to see past all sweet and nice exterior and into their underlying mischievous side. They may seem like an angel in front of others but you can sense the deception within it, and in turn you don’t treat them like everyone else. This will catch their interest first about you, your seemingly detachment or dislike of them. They will pursue you and seek you out first because of your obvious dislike or disinterest in them and then realize how well you connect mentally.

Communication will flow naturally and honestly I'm getting a sort of telepathic bond between you both. Not literally, moreso you can read each other’s expressions and know what the other is thinking. They can look into your eyes and have an entire conversation with you. They’ll definitely encourage this “telepathic bond”, wanting you both to be in a bubble apart from everyone else.

They’ll honestly recognize you as themselves in another body, you two may think so similarly that you both see each other as extensions of the other if that makes sense. An example I’m channeling is

“ you’re the boy version of me”

“ no, you’re the girl version of me”

PILE FOUR

core energy: breaking barriers and social norms, establishing wealth, breaking generational curses

Reader within the relationship dynamic

channeled song- “ take me to church “

“ knows everybody’s disapproval, I should’ve worshipped her sooner “

“ my lovers got humor, she’s the giggle of the funeral”

You’re in a very successful energy within this relationship. Career wise you are independent and very productive, I channeled booked and busy to be exact. You have very ambitious energy within the relationship towards finances and establishing wealth, part of this is through a stable and healthy partnership. In the past you’ve lowered yourself to meet others levels, within this relationship you stand securely within your power. You wish to combine finances and wealth and build a sustainable legacy for your future generations to come. That aside, you seem to be the more extroverted one in this Dynamic. Even if you’re introverted, people are very fond of you. This will irritate your future spouse because they feel like people are constantly “ orbiting“ around you. You may have a lot of friends or social connections, or just a well known person. You may have a large social media following. People might even think you’re out of your future spouse's league in terms of appearances or finances but you understand that shallow and superficial standards won’t secure a healthy and flourishing life. I’m not getting your future spouse is unattractive, but something about them compared to you is different. They could be nerdier than you, alternative, super spiritual, etc, goth. You may have to defend this person and explain to others you’re not dating this individual for social norms, instead you’re securing a healthy partnership. You will recognize just how well you collaborate and vibe together on an emotional, spiritual and intellectual level. You’re not dating them for them to be your trophy wife/husband, but moreso a soulmate connection that exceeds society's standards. This may also be a same sex connection you’re in.

Future spouse within the relationship dynamic

channeled song - “ money trees “

“ love one of you bucket headed h*es? no way “

“ money trees is the perfect place for shade “

They’re very fulfilled within your relationship. They daydream about starting a family with you. They feel like no one knows you better than them, and it’s something that makes them feel special especially compared to other people around you. In the beginning stages of your relationship I’m seeing your future spouse in a competitive energy with your friends or maybe even family about who is closer to you. This may cause strife within your dynamic, jealous of the attention you give to others and scared of the attention you receive, sometimes making them question whether or not they’re good enough for you. You will realize this very early on in the relationship, recognizing that they put you on a pedestal. Unlike with other people, it may particularly bother you when your future spouse does, you don’t want them to romanticize you like others. You will share with them all the repulsive sides, flaws and shortcomings you have and you will be reborn again in their eyes. This will only make this person love you that much more. “ seeing what no one else gets to see “ is what I’m channeling from them. Your vulnerability will soothe any feelings of abandonment. They will know how special they are to you after you’ve let them see past your surface level and into the depths of who you truly are. This will make them arrogant within your dynamic about their spot in your life, no longer insecure. A random example I channeled is someone offering you a certain snack / food and your future spouse answering for you and telling them “ no, they’re allergic to so and so”. They’re like a walking encyclopedia of you . They know everyone’s connection with you doesn’t nearly go as deep as theirs. They’re a bit obsessive over you, strong Scorpio energy here. You will have a very watchful and observant partner, even when you think they’re not watching, trust me they are. I think prior to this relationship they knew you and liked you, but you didn’t know this. They give me the energy of someone getting into a relationship with their crush. They have tunnel vision when it comes to you, I don’t think anyone could ever tempt your future spouse.

—

[oikarma]

xoxo, gossip girl

pairing: lando norris x reader

summary: you kind of popped into lando's life out of nowhere-and he loves it. but there's no such thing as being private when you're dating a formula one driver. sorry, did i say dating? i mean when you're friends.

a/n: yay first smau of the year and the second driver i'm writing for! i started watching gossip girl recently n i was inspired

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

liked by alex_albon and 128,407 others

f1gossipofficial: mclaren's lando norris was spotted out and about in the big apple last night with a mystery girl!

view all 6,353 comments

user1: uh oh magui's going to be mad...

user2: ngl thought that was her at first user3: they got back together AGAIN?? user1: @/user3 someone posted a vid of them partying

user4: alex being messy in the likes LMAOOO

user5: aww did he give her his hoodie in p1

user6: such a gentleman 😍 user7: THATS WHAT I THOUGHT user8: girl be fr he's nothing compared to osc

user9: lando stick to one girl at a time will you

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yourinstagram has added to their stories

replies:

hannahstjohn: i bet you're glad i convinced you to get dinner w me that day 👅

yourinstagram: oh shush i had to sit through two hours of you and liam gazing into each other's eyes. DISGUSTING. hannahstjohn: please. don't act like you even looked at anyone other than him

yourbff: regular dates now i see...

yourinstagram: we're just friends!!

lando: i learned for you 🥺

yourinstagram: liar lando: hello?? yourinstagram: you literally told me the other day you used to do your sister's hair lando: maybe i lied yourinstagram: well you definitely did at some point

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liked by hannahstjohn and 203,991 others

f1gossipofficial: we think it's getting serious with y/n l/n, daughter of NYC-based tech mogul y/d/n l/n, and lando norris. rumor has it that they met through liam lawson and his girlfriend hannah. despite the newly promoted red bull driver lacking friends across the grid, norris is probably grateful for the introduction 😉

y/n and lando were spotted at not one, not two, but SIX different locations across new york in the past week. above is a compilation of photos fans have taken of them dining out, shopping, and even going to the opera together.

view all 10,274 comments

user1: grocery shopping?? do they live together already??

user2: sleazy af if they do user3: maybe they wanted to cook something together its not that deep

user4: what a golddigger...

user5: how is she a gold digger user4: @/user5 did you not see how she dressed for the opera? probably his money she spent on that dress user6: the way people r so illiterate and yet so confident drive me crazy IT LITERALLY SAYS HER DAD IS A TECH MOGUL user7: i don't even know what a mogul is but it sounds rich user8: @/user6 right and if you just googled her dad you'd figure his sister was the one owns the brand she's wearing 💀

user9: the way he looks at her in p1 though

user10: wonder how long they've known each other 🤔

user11: hannah we see you

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lando has added to their stories

replies:

user1: LANDO DID YOU POST ON THE WRONG ACC

oscarpiastri: mate

lando: 🥺 yes osc? oscarpiastri: lily says this is why you've been in NYC for so long lando: idk lily's always right oscarpiastri: you said it was for a brand deal! lando: maybe her dad wants to sponsor mclaren lando: actually forget about that i think he already does �� oscarpiastri: i don't like talking to you on instagram text me lando: what if i don't. lando: hello???

mclaren: so cute!

lando: HI ADMIN

maxverstappen: someone's been busy

yourinstagram: what happened to being private 😭 now they definitely think we're dating

lando: sorry i didn't know it was such a bad thing yourinstagram: at least my fake boyfriend is a lot of people's celebrity crush yourinstagram: can't be ruining my image

user2: LANDO ARE YOU STALKING THE #LANDOYN TAG ON TWITTER?? HOW DID YOU FIND THAT??

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liked by scuderiaferrari, redbullracing, and 1,913,500 others

f1: lovely seeing all of you at the o2 ❤️ we hope you enjoyed the livery reveals! one week until pre-season testing begins in bahrain.

view all 253,014 comments

user1: admin you know what you're doing with that pic of lando

user2: missing him and yn *liked by f1 user2: f1 a landoyn stan confirmed?

user3: eh liveries, great articles about max trying to get out of going

user4: alexandra the prettiest wag

user5: yn appearance when 😔 did anyone see how he looked around for her then stopped bcs he remembered she wasn't there

user6: I KNEW I WASN'T CRAZY

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yourinstagram has added to their stories

replies:

lando: did me so dirty with that pic

yourinstagram: shh you look adorable lando: adorable AND pretty? you flatter me yourinstagram: don't get used to it

yourbff: "friends"

yourinstagram: but you're my best friend 😋 yourbff: cause he's more than a friend where is your media literacy

hannahstjohn: I SAW HIM CALLING YOU BACKSTAGE

yourinstagram: so did everyone else it seems hannahstjohn: whoever runs the f1 account loves wag appearances🤷‍♀️

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lando has added to their stories 🔁 yourinstagram's story

replies:

oscarpiastri: are you sure you don't like her

oscarpiastri: sorry i meant are you sure you're not in love with each other lando: you know i think she might fancy me a little oscarpiastri: a little?? lando: im not sure how i feel about her though oscarpiastri: the cameras literally caught you blushing on call lando: ARE YOU SERIOUS oscarpiastri: yeah admin outed you oscarpiastri: they tagged you

user1: posted her on main again aww

yourinstagram: im not even complaining

lando: am i that charming yourinstagram: no i just look great in that photo yourinstagram: y/n l/n, absolute baddie who bagged what's his name norris lando: ☹️ yourinstagram: its okay your fangirls still love you

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liked by oscarpiastri, f1, and 330,217 others

mclaren: lando when y/n calls him (for legal reasons we can't repost that clip until f1 posts it but you know which one we're talking about 🤐)

tagged: lando

view all 57,341 comments

user1: admin you're so brave * liked by mclaren

f1: it's okay we won't rat you out

mclaren: thanks bestie!

user2: oscar crying in the club because his boyfriend is in love with someone else

user3: @/oscarpiastri would you like to comment user4: he's been crying since jan prob

lando: admin i am literally going to hunt you down

oscarpiastri: he follows the landoyn tag on twitter lando: @/oscarpiastri HELLO??? mclaren: he said it not me user5: they're so chaotic

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bahrain

you saw him get out of his car, landing evenly on the ground. you looked at oscar, who gave you a small nudge. "go on, he doesn't know it yet."

"what if he doesn't-"

"then he's a dickhead for leading you on." you liked his bluntness. it was a change from how polite he normally was. and it showed just how strongly he believed it.

you nodded, then strode forward. you could hear the cameras turning, but it didn't matter. lando had taken off his helmet, and his back was to you as he talked to his race engineer.

it was now or never. you gave him a small tap on the shoulder. he whirled around so fast you almost toppled backwards. realizing it was you, his hands shot out and wrapped around your waist. "y/n? oh my god."

you gave him a shy smile, wrapping your arms around him. "told you it was good."

he buried his face in your neck, embracing you so tight you didn't know if he was capable of letting go. eventually, he did.

"so what did you have to tell me?"

you blinked at him slowly. "try to guess."

his eyes widened, as if a hope had come into him. "you won't laugh?"

a shake of your head. "promise."

"then-" he bit his lip, looking down for a minute. "do you like me, like that?"

"what are we, in grade school?" you deadpanned. you saw his heart plummet, then wanted to take back your words. "yes, lando. yes, i came all this way just to see your stupid face. yes, i like you. like that. like i can't get your smile out of my head and i'll stay up until 5 just to watch you hold an award. like i'll respond to you any time, because talking to you is-"

he raised one of his hands ever so slightly so he could pull you closer, so close his lips were on yours and you were cut off mid-sentence. you'd been waiting for this since you'd met him, you realized. since you'd first seen that curly mop of hair at dinner with liam and hannah. since the first time he'd laughed and you realized you'd never heard a prettier sound.

"i like you like that too."

and the cameras caught all that, words and kiss and pictures and all, but it was different. this was something you wanted to remember.

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liked by yourinstagram and 1,504,891 others

lando: a great end to pre-season testing, all thanks to my lucky charm 🤍

tagged: yourinstagram

view all 94,102 comments

yourinstagram: me fr -> 🍀

yourinstagram: (get it. FOUR leaf clover) lando: i literally worship the ground you walk on lando: you're the reason i believe in fate yourinstagram: woah slow down there buddy user1: i'm so single its not okay user2: they're basically a married couple already

mclaren: your team in the garage rn like 🧍‍♀️🧍

lando: love you guys too! user3: @/mclaren f1 account alr posted kiss why have you not 😡 mclaren: @/user3 we're carefully selecting the cutest ones

hannahstjohn: lando norris and his "friend"

yourinstagram: IM STUPID OKAY hannahstjohn: can't believe it took you that long

user4: hes so happy 🥹

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liked by lando and 919,501 others

yourinstagram: by your side 🖤

view all 71,440 comments

tagged: lando

lando: baby where'd all your posts go ☹️

yourinstagram: oh i forgot to add you to my close friends lando: is that because we're more than just friends yourinstagram: no i just forgot user1: HELPP

user2: hottest WAG on the grid

oscarpiastri: i'm sure you'll take good care of him

yourinstagram: scout's honor 🫡

user3: okay her dress is so pretty though where's it from

yourinstagram: my aunt's brand! (brandname) <3 user3: @/yourinstagram OMG TYSM QUEEN

user4: she finally made her acc public AHH does this mean landoyn content

lewishamilton: lovely meeting you, y/n

yourinstagram: 🤩 you too lewis!!! lando: you're such a fan. yourinstagram: you're just jealous

[trashytracktales]

Heyy girliee, first of all I want to say that your writing is absolutely amazing. I’ve been reading your Lando fics for the past couple of days and “endings, beginnings” had me feeling butterflies in my stomach 🫢 I wanted to ask you if you could write something about lando and reader being friends but constantly having sexual tension building up between them. Maybe they flirt with each other but never think of it as something so serious and one night after a party they completely destroy each other. I fully trust you with this and how you’ll develop the story haha and don’t hold back. Thank youuu :*

Think twice | LN⁴

💌 REQUESTED by anon ──── Thank you so much for the love on Endings, beginnings & I appreciate you for taking the time to share this. Hope you like it 🤍🎀

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

𐙚 summary ──── What starts as a chill party, where they sit in their old habits, ends with new boundaries crossed and a heavy tension they can no longer ignore.

𐙚 pairing ──── Lando Norris x she/reader

𐙚 rating ──── explicit

𐙚 category ──── F/M

𐙚 warnings ──── 18+, mature/sexual content, descriptive language, swearing, mentions of alcohol and drinking, friends to lovers, bit of jealous!Lando, smut, slight teasing, praising, fingering & oral (sit on it), multiple orgasms, unprotected sex.

𐙚 word count ──── 4.8k

𐙚 date ──── Jan. 21, 2025

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

THE TWO OF them are always standing next to each other, no matter the room they’re in. The context, just like the reason why this happens, is redundant. Plus, they don’t even do it on purpose; rather, they are unconsciously drawn to each other like two magnets.

The party has finally slowed to a lazy hum, the music just a tolerable background noise now. People linger in clusters around them, their voices a distant murmur blending with the faint bassline of a forgotten playlist. The living room is dim, lit mostly by the glow of a string of fairy lights drooping across the ceiling.

It was supposed to be a small gathering, but then a friend told a friend, and that friend told their friends. And now, it’s almost impossible to find a private spot to catch your breath without breathing someone else’s air.

Somehow, they did. They are tucked into the corner of a couch, their space a small bubble of comfort. Her legs are draped over his lap, bare skin warm against the fabric of his black jeans. He’s cradling her calf in one hand, his thumb absentmindedly stroking her skin.

Her fingers thread through his curls at the back of his head, twirling them lazily. It’s a casual gesture, but it sends a shiver through him every time she does it.

Their conversation shifted into easy gossiping about a mutual friend — someone they both think is trying a bit too hard with their Instagram posts.

“It’s fucking obvious he’s fishing for attention,” says Lando, sounding almost conspiratorial.

“I know, right? The cryptic ass captions, the mirror selfies. He thinks he’s smooth with it, too,” she replies, giggling at the thought.

Lando grins, his thumb still tracing circles on her leg. The banter feels safe, the kind of effortless connection they’ve always had. But underneath it, there’s a quiet tension that neither of them is ready to address. Because they are, maybe, a bit tipsy, or because none of them has ever had the courage to take it further, for some reason.

“Alright, I need to pee,” she announces suddenly, getting ready to stand.

But Lando tightens his grip on her legs, his lips twitching in a smirk. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do,” she insists, half-laughing, half-exasperated. “If I don’t go, I might pee on you.”

Lando shrugs, “Go ahead. Then I might discover a new kink,” he encourages her.

“New?” she laughs. “That implies you already have at least one.”

Lando winks at her without saying a word, the corners of his mouth curling into a mischievous smile.

She rolls her eyes, smiling back at his immature behavior. “My God. You’re actually the worst. Move.”

He doesn’t. Instead, Lando, just stares at her with an expression that’s visibly different. His usual playful gaze has shifted to something more intense, and she tells herself he’s just a little... intoxicated. Still, it makes her heart skip a beat, because he looks so adorable when his eyes focus on something so intently. And so hot, that it makes her almost forget why she wanted to get up in the first place.

“Lan, I’m not joking, I actually have to go,” she whispers, her voice softer now.

He exhales, loosening his grip but not before giving her leg a small, reluctant squeeze.

“Don’t get lost,” he says, the words carrying more weight than they should.

She shakes her head, slipping off the couch and disappearing into the hallway. Lando watches her go, his eyes trailing after her like he’s afraid she might actually not come back.

Which is ridiculous, because he should not care. There are lots of other girls that he can take home tonight if he wants to.

Want, being the keyword.

Leaning back against the couch, he sighs, running a hand through his hair. He’s always known she was the embodiment of the perfect girl for him — funny, kind, and loyal. But tonight, there’s something else in the air that makes his mind wander. The way she carries herself, her laugh, the way she makes everything around her seem brighter.

Lando realized long ago that he wants to he in her presence. The truth hit him like a punch in the gut. And he still feels that punch sometimes, especially when he sees her interacting with other people. Especially men.

He’s had thoughts about her before. Many thoughts. Wild fantasies he brushed off as nothing more than fleeting curiosity. And they’ve joked about it, too, their drunken ‘if we’re single at 35’ pact a favorite running gag. But tonight, it doesn’t feel like a joke — he might actually marry her if she keeps letting him invade her personal space like that. Except she wouldn’t have let Lando do that if she didn’t want him there.

He finds himself smiling at his own thoughts. But then, an unwanted stiffness claws his body.

She’s on the way back when a guy leaning against the wall near the bathroom is blocking her path. He’s tall, too close for Lando’s liking, and he is gesturing animatedly. She’s always too polite, smiling as she talks, but Lando notices the way she shifts her weight, edging away slightly.

Something close to jealousy ignites in his chest, but he manages to tame the feeling by looking away, and forcing himself to take a slow sip of his drink. She can handle herself, he knows that. But he’s also ready to step in, just in case he needs to. Most men don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and he’s aware of how insistent some of them can be.

When she finally returns, Lando’s mood has shifted drastically, and she notices it the second she looks at him.

“Hey, you good?” she asks, plopping back down and swinging her legs over his lap again.

“Yeah,” he says shortly, his hand resuming its absent stroking on her shin.

Her brows knit together. “Not you lying to me. Come on, Landinho, what’s with you?”

“Nothing,” he insists, but his tone is clipped, and his eyes won’t quite meet hers.

She punches his arm lightly, trying to break through whatever wall he’s just put up. “You sure?”

He looks at her then, and the vulnerability in his gaze takes her breath away. “Sure,” he says. But his hand tightens slightly on her leg, like he’s holding onto her in more ways than one.

Her heart clenches. Lando is her friend, the one person she can always count on, but in this moment, she feels the air between them growing in different direction. It’s not the first time, and it doesn’t make her uncomfortable, but it’s not easy for her to sit in it, either.

“You’re being weird,” she states, trying to lighten the mood, but her voice wavers.

“Yeah, sorry,” he mutters, forcing a small smile. “Just tired,” adds Lando, but there’s something he hides behind his eyes, something that makes her chest ache.

She studies his face, her teasing words dying on her lips. His eyes are heavy-lidded, the usual spark dulled by the late hour and maybe one drink too many. His movements are slow, lazy, his thumb still caressing her skin.

“I can see that,” she says gently, sliding her legs off his lap. “Up. Come with me?”

The sudden loss of contact pulls him out of his haze, “Where?” asks Lando, his voice faintly slurred with exhaustion.

“Do you trust me?” she replies with a knowing smile, standing up and extending a hand to him. “My god, Lando. My friend gave me keys to one of the rooms upstairs in case I wanted to crash.”

He hesitates, glancing at her outstretched hand before finally letting out a soft laugh and taking it.

They make their way upstairs, the faint thump of music growing quieter with each step. The room isn’t far, tucked at the end of a hallway. She unlocks the door, revealing a small but cozy space. The room is dimly lit, with a single bedside lamp casting a muted glow over the single bed that’s pressed against one wall, a small dresser, and an armchair in the corner.

Lando steps in behind her, the faint hum of the party fading as the door clicks shut. His gaze sweeps over the room, taking in the space. She lingers by the door for a moment, turning the key with a soft click, locking them in; the sound feels final, and heavier than it should.

Lando notices the bed immediately, his eyes narrowing briefly before he rubs the back of his neck, a gesture that betrays his unease. His voice is low and uncertain as he says, “You know what, I can crash on the couch downstairs. It’s fine.”

She tilts her head, her lips curving into a small smile as she watches him fidget. “You can,” she agrees, knowing that Lando has the superpower to fall asleep anywhere, no matter the place or how loud the background noise is. “Unfortunately, I locked the door,” she adds with fake concern in her voice.

Lando glances at her, his expression caught somewhere between playful and wary. “Yeah. You can unlock it, though.”

“But I won’t,” she replies, her smile softening, her words carrying an unspoken challenge that Lando catches immediately.

His lips part, and for a moment, he says nothing, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. Then, quietly, his voice dipping lower, he says, “Then don’t.”

His words linger between them, and she feels the weight of his gaze as it shifts to her. There’s no teasing in his expression now, no trace of the lighthearted Lando she’s used to.

She lets her arms fall to her side, her pulse quickening.

Lando’s chest rises and falls steadily, though there’s a tautness to his posture. His gaze darts back to the bed, then to her, and she swears she sees a flicker of something in his eyes — fear? Desire? Anticipation?

His jaw tightens, his eyes searching hers, and she feels the weight of everything left unsaid pressing down on them both. Every glance, every touch, every joke that lingered a second too long — it’s all there, bubbling to the surface.

The tension between them that has simmered for months, maybe even years, suddenly feels unbearable. Lando’s eyes meet hers once again, and the quiet resolve in her gaze breaks something inside him. And then, suddenly, a glance he catches from her it’s all it takes. The restraint he’s held onto for so long snaps like a rubber band stretched too far. Before he knows it, he’s closing the gap between them, his hands cupping her face as his lips crash against hers.

She responds instantly, her hands tangling in his curls as she pulls him closer. The kiss is all-consuming, months of buried feelings and unsaid words spilling out in a rush. It’s intoxicating, a heavy blend of alcohol and the faint sweetness of her cherry lip balm. His lips are soft, impossibly so, molding against hers like they were made to fit. The taste of him is dizzying, a perfect balance of warmth and want, and each movement of his mouth sends sparks of heat rippling through her.

It’s overwhelming, the way Lando kisses her — gentle, but with a growing intensity that leaves her breathless, her heart pounding as if it’s trying to match the rhythm of his. His fingers trail down to her neck, squeezing lightly and pulling her against him as they stumble backward toward the bed.

“Do you know how long—” he begins against her lips, his voice rough with need.

“Too long,” she cuts him off with another kiss while her fingers are rushing to tug at the hem of his shirt.

Lando groans as they tumble onto the bed. Their breaths are loud and uneven, filling the small space as their lips crash together again, need and desire fueling every movement. Her palm presses against the small of his back, coaxing him between her legs. He instinctively follows her guidance, his body lowering against hers until his forehead rests on hers. At that, Lando sighs, not with frustration but a soft exasperation that halts them both.

“Are we… okay?” he asks, half-amused and half-concerned. “We shouldn’t—we should not do this. Not like this.”

She doesn’t release him, her hands still on his sides, her legs loosely wrapped around him. “We are,” she assures him, her voice calm but insistent. “It’s just us, Lando.”

His brows furrow, his lips parting in disbelief. “I know. I just don’t want you to wake up tomorrow and—”

Her hands move to his face, cupping it firmly and forcing him to look directly at her. “Regret it?” the girl asks, her thumbs stroking his cheekbones. “Don’t be silly. You know this isn’t about tonight. I’ve wanted you for a while now. I know you do, too.”

His eyes flicker with something raw, and he swallows hard. “I do,” he agrees. “But. It’d be such a waste to mess it up.”

The weight of his confession settles over them, and he falls onto the mattress beside her. For a moment, they both stare up at the ceiling, their fingers brushing tentatively before intertwining. It’s quiet, save for the hum of the party faintly bleeding through the walls.

And then, “You’re such a good kisser, by the way,” she finally breaks the silence.

He lets out a chuckle, visibly affected. “You’re not making it any easier.”

“I’m already messed up because of you, Lan,” she confesses, turning onto her side, her fingers finding his arm and tracing slow patterns along its length. “I trust us. No matter the outcome.”

Her hand travels to his chest, her fingers brushing lightly over his collarbone before moving to his jaw. She traces the line of it, her touch light but electrifying. Finally, her thumb brushes over his bottom lip, her gaze following her movements so closely, as if she wants to devour him.

Their thoughts run wild, revisiting every stolen glance, the tension, the want — it’s always been there. Every moment brought them here.

And now?

“Do you, really?” asks Lando, his voice laced with curiosity.

She nods, her hands sliding down to rest over his, her fingers curling around his. “Completely. I trust us to figure it out as we go. Don’t you?”

He lets her words settle, a warmth spreading through his body. He does. But he still has to think twice before agreeing to something so drastic, especially when he is faced with something he wants so badly that it makes him burn with impatience.

Finally, Lando sighs, looking at her.

“It’s not a big deal, right?” she says with a quiet laugh, her voice tinged with both affection and relief. “We’ve always been good at just... being us.”

He smiles at that, the tension in his shoulders easing just a little. “That’s true. We’re pretty fucking great at that.”

Lando’s breathing hitches as she guides his hand to her ass, pressing it against her curves with an undeniable confidence. His grip tightens instinctively, and she drapes a leg over his waist, pulling herself closer. Their eyes lock, her fingers tracing his features, as if committing every contour to memory. They’ve never been so close to each other, and the intimacy of the moment makes his heart race, while hers almost melts under the warmth of his body.

“You’re going to ruin me,” he admits matter-of-factly.

Her lips curl into a faint smile. “Hopefully,” she whispers, her hand traveling south, to work on unbuttoning his jeans.

Lando swallows hard, his gaze darkening as he grips her tighter. “If I fuck you tonight…” his voice drops, laced with a possessiveness that makes her shiver. “I won’t be able to let another guy come anywhere near you again.”

Her eyebrows arch in surprise, finally able to put the pieces together, understanding why Lando was acting so strange earlier.

“Are you jealous, Lando?” she teases, though there’s a flicker of curiosity in her tone.

Lando’s response is silent; instead, he leans in, his lips finding the soft curve of her neck. He sucks lightly, then harder, leaving a blooming hickey that makes her gasp.

When he pulls back, his voice is firm, “No, I just want people to stay away from what’s mine.”

Her breath catches, and before she can stop herself, the word escapes her lips in a near-whisper. “Yours.”

The corners of his mouth twitch, but he doesn’t say anything, letting the intensity in his gaze speak for him. She pushes at his chest, making him fall back against the mattress with a soft laugh, and crawls on top of him, her thighs straddling his hips.

Impatiently, her hands work on his shirt, pushing it up his chest. “Off,” she demands, tugging until he lifts his arms and lets her pull it over his head.

His hands waste no time, slipping under her skirt and pulling at the lace of her panties. “These,” he says quickly, his breath warm against her collarbone, “are in my way.”

With a sharp pull, he slides them down her thighs, and she shivers as the cool air kisses her damp skin. She leans down, burying her face in the crook of his neck to hide her embarrassment as he guides her hips forward, her bare core pressing against the warmth of his abs. The firm ridges of muscle beneath her send a jolt of pleasure through her body, and she lets out a soft moan.

Lando’s hand tightens on her hip, his thumb brushing over her skin. “Look at that,” he breathes heavily, “What got you so excited, hm?”

She whimpers at his words, the heat pooling in her cheeks as much as between her thighs. “Don’t—” she mumbles into his neck, her voice muffled and shy.

He chuckles softly, the vibration of it against her skin making her shudder. “No, that’s so hot,” he teases, moving her hips just slightly so she drags against him. His own breath catches, and his hips shift upward, pressing the hardness of his length against her thigh. “You feel what you’re doing to me? It’s mutual.”

She lifts her head, her eyes meeting his as she lets her fingers trail down his chest. Next, she adjusts herself as her hand slides lower, brushing against the waistband of his pants before she pushes them down just enough to free him. His cock springs free, and she bites her lip at the sight of it, her own arousal growing as she reaches out to wrap her hand around him.

Lando groans, his head falling back against the pillow. “Fuck,” he breathes, his voice rough and full of longing.

As she leans down to press her lips to his chest, her tongue flicking over his nipple, a sound escapes him that’s somewhere between a gasp and a moan. She glances up again, amused. “Well,” she teases, her voice playful but sultry, “I think I just found your new kink.”

Lando lets out a weak chuckle, his hand tangling in her hair as he pulls her back up to kiss her. “Shut up,” he speaks over her lips, but the way his hips buck against her hand tells her she’s right. “Everything you do is my kink,” he whispers, the rawness in his voice making her heart race.

Her cheeks flush a deeper shade, and with a playful glint in her eye, her hand squeezes his cock lightly, eliciting a sharp inhale from him. “Sorry,” she giggles, feigning innocence, “I just wanted to make sure.”

He scoffs, shaking his head with a smirk before his hands cup her ass firmly, pressing her harder against him. His voice is rough and dripping with need as he almost begs, “Come sit on my face.”

The unexpected plea is leaving her breathless, painting her face in confusion. “What?” she stammers, her voice nearly swallowed by the thrum of arousal coursing through her.

“Yeah, you heard me,” Lando assures her, his tone insistent, his eyes ablaze with anticipation.

Without waiting for her to argue, he pushes her skirt up around her waist, revealing the soft skin of her thighs, and pulls her closer to his face. She hesitates for a moment, her nerves warring with her desire, but when his strong hands guide her gently and his lips press a teasing kiss against her inner thigh, she gives in. The first swipe of his tongue against her entrance makes her gasp, her hand flying to the wall to steady herself.

Lando groans as he tastes her, the sound vibrating against her core and sending shockwaves through her body. One arm wraps tightly around her thigh, anchoring her to him, while his free hand drifts down to his cock, stroking himself in tandem with the rhythm of his tongue. Her moans spill into the air, mixing with his as Lando’s mouth works her over like a man starved, warm and wet and utterly relentless.

“Lan,” she breathes, her voice shaky as the intensity builds. Her hips jerk against his mouth instinctively, and he responds by pulling her even closer, burying his face deeper between her legs.

His tongue flicks, swirls, and presses in all the right places, and she can barely keep herself upright. She has to press both of her palms on the wall, but even then it’s not enough to keep her grounded. Not when Lando laps at her clit, his fingers digging into her thighs to keep her still as her body begins to tremble.

“You taste so fucking good,” he informs her between strokes of his tongue, his words muffled but clear enough to make her toes curl.

As her breaths turn shallow and erratic, she feels the pressure coiling tightly in her abdomen. Lando senses it, too, and his grip tightens, his movements growing more fervent. “Wanna come for me?” he asks as impatient as she is.

Before she can even process his question, her climax crashes into her like a tidal wave, her thighs trembling around his head as her moans echo through the room. Lando doesn’t stop, his mouth and tongue coaxing her through every pulse and tremor until she’s gasping for air.

In one swift, effortless motion, he pulls her down onto the bed and flips her over, positioning himself above her. His lips are slick, his gaze heavy-lidded with lust as he pumps two fingers into her, the wet heat of her still clenching around him.

“That’s it,” he encourages, his thumb brushing against her sensitive clit as his fingers curl inside. “Let me feel you.”

Her body arches off the bed as another wave of pleasure crests over her, Lando’s name spilling from her lips in breathless cries. The sheer intensity of his touch and the quickness of it all leave her spinning, her mind barely able to keep up as he drives her over the edge once more.

By the time her breathing begins to steady, Lando leans down, his lips brushing hers in a lingering kiss, tasting her satisfaction on his tongue. He grins against her mouth, utterly smug but entirely captivated.

“See how fucking delicious you are?” he whispers, and she can only nod, still lost in the aftermath of him unraveling her completely.

Seeing the pleasure etched across her face, Lando can barely hold it together. His hands tremble slightly as he shoves his jeans and boxers down for good, freeing himself at last. His cock, heavy and flushed, rests against her thigh, the warmth of her skin giving him goosebumps. He breathes heavily, his chest rising and falling in sync with hers as he pauses for just a moment, meeting her gaze with a mix of vulnerability and pure lust.

“Are we really gonna do this?” asks Lando, his voice hiding too much desire under its raspy tone.

His eyes search hers, looking for any hint of doubt. Luckily, there is none. She just nods frantically, her hands sliding down his back to cup the firm muscles of his ass.

Her touch sends electricity through him, and she guides him where she needs him most, her body arching in anticipation. “I want you. Please.”

Without breaking eye contact, he sinks into her, and the world stops for both of them. His head falls forward, a low groan rumbling from his chest as he feels her warmth envelop him, her slick heat drawing him in effortlessly. Her body opens for him so easily, so perfectly, that it steals his breath. The tension that had coiled tightly in her frame melts away as her legs wrap around his hips, pulling him closer.

Her arms encircle his shoulders, holding him tightly while she gasps Lando’s name. Her voice is music to his ears, and he presses his forehead against hers, the connection between them both overwhelming, yet grounding. Her fingers slide into his curls, playing with the strands at the nape of his neck as her hips shift instinctively, adjusting to his size.

“God, you feel…” he trails off, unable to find the words. Instead, he lets his body speak for him, drawing back before thrusting forward again. His movements are purposeful and powerful, each one making the bed creak slightly beneath them and pushing her up and down the sheets.

Her lips part with soft cries, her fingers tightening in his hair as her body meets each of his thrusts. “Lando,” she moans, her voice full of need and adoration, spurring him on. “Yes, that feels so good. Don’t stop.”

He catches her mouth in a searing kiss, swallowing her sounds as his hands wander over her body. His fingers hook under the hem of her t-shirt, and he tugs it upward, breaking the kiss momentarily to pull it over her head. The sight of her bare skin, flushed and glistening, takes his breath away. Her breasts are adorned with black lace, and the contrast against her skin ignites something primal in him.

“Stunning,” says Lando just as his hand drifts to her chest, brushing over the delicate fabric.

The way she arches into his touch, her nails scraping lightly against his shoulders, drives him wild. His thrusts deepen, his hips moving with purpose as the room fills with the sounds of their bodies meeting, her moans, and his ragged breaths.

“Fucking hell,” he rasps. His jaw clenches as he feels her tightening around him. “You’re killing me. So tight and—”

Before he can finish, she pulls him into a kiss. It’s shallow, their lips barely meeting as they breathe each other’s air. Her nails dig into his back, her legs trembling as she holds him as close as humanly possible.

“You’re so good, Lando,” she murmurs, her voice quivering, her praise like gasoline on his fire. “My favorite boy.”

Her words send him over the edge of control, his hips stuttering as he thrusts deep inside her, feeling her walls begin to flutter and clench around his cock. Her back arches, her head burying into the pillow as her orgasm crashes over her like a tidal wave. Again.

Her moans are unfiltered, and she clutches him like he’s her lifeline, while Lando stills inside her, groaning low and long as her body grips him so tightly that knocks the air out of his lungs. He presses his forehead against her chest, their breaths hurried as her aftershocks pulse around him so sweetly. Her nails scrape lightly down his back, grounding them both, continuing to whisper his name like a prayer.

It’s enough for Lando to surrender to his own orgasm, his body trembling as wave after wave of release takes him over. He stays buried inside her, unwilling to part just yet. The warm tightness around him makes him shudder, his hand gripping her thigh to anchor himself.

When he finally pulls out, he hesitates before pressing his knee between her legs, feeling the slick warmth of their combined arousal smearing against his skin. She squirms against him, her overstimulated body trembling, her hips shifting involuntarily as aftershocks ripple through her.

Lando watches her, his eyes dark with satisfaction, his voice husky as he whispers, “Forget 35. Let’s get married tomorrow.”

She exhales sharply, a laugh bubbling out of her. “I’m down,” she teases, her tone light but affectionate. “Let’s book the venue now.”

He looks at her, gaze softening, filled with something deeper as he reaches behind her and, with one measured motion, unclasps her bra. The suddenness of it catches her off guard, her eyes widening as he tosses it aside like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Before she can say a word, Lando leans over the side of the bed, fishing for his shirt. He finds it, holding it up, then tugging it over her head, the oversized fabric swallowing her frame.

“Perfect fit,” he says softly, his fingers brushing against her arms as he helps her adjust it. The gesture makes her chest tighten, her heart swelling with an ache she doesn’t fully understand yet.

After that, Lando slides back into his boxers and pulls the covers over both of them. The bed is small, forcing their bodies to press together in a tangle of limbs. It doesn’t feel awkward, though. It feels like a new home, safe and peaceful.

He rests his head on her chest, his breath warm and steady against her, while his hand absently caresses her through the fabric of his shirt, his fingers brushing over her nipple. Everything about the moment feels somehow so normal, like they’ve been this way forever.

The silence stretches on, so comforting, until she suddenly breaks it with a soft groan. “I have to pee again.”

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ MASTERLIST . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

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© trashy track tales, 2025

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Screenshot with an underwater filter reading: Not to detract from your point, because you are correct. However, something that I feel is always overlooked in this conversation is just how much by design this is.

(Caveat, I'm in my 30s, and don't have kids in school, so I do lack first hand knowledge of how it currently is, but from what I hear it is worse.)

When I was in school, we did not get offered to learn a second language until high-school. I remember learning that most other countries starting at least English as a second language as early as 1st grade, and being infuriated. They forced us to wait until it is harder for us to learn, and fill us with media that portrays learning another language as boring and tedious and lame. The number of books I read as a kid that had some school kid talking about "how they just picked Spanish because it's easiest" and all the same kinda stuff that perpetuates kids hating math and vegetables.

Of course, the rich kids in the private schools and got to learn the languages early.

They designed it so that we have a negative perception of learning other languages, and made it as difficult for us to learn them as they could deniably get away with, to keep us ignorant of our privilege. /End ID]

Look I'm gonna be honest. Most of those things aren't untrue. But ultimately none of these things are the reason why so many anglos are monolingual.

The reason why I and so many other foreigners speak your language while you don't speak anyone else's is not because we start learning English earlier in life, or because we have better language education (most of us don't lol) or because there's a negative perception of foreign language learning in anglophone countries.

The reason is much simpler: It's because we have to, and you don't. That's all.

[fancyfeathers]

Part two to this post

Barry Allen would baby trap his darling at some point, it’s when he would not if he would. He also does not exactly view it as baby trapping, it is just the next step in life, you get saved by the Flash engaged, you get kidnapped married, so naturally kids would come next in the line. He know, he know, kids are a really big step, but they have time. Then they have to figure out what to do if the kids have their father’s speed, there is no way his darling can raise the little ones all on her own as a stay at home mom, they’ll have to figure a dynamic that keeps him home more often so he can teach the kids while she is getting dinner ready-

Meanwhile while telling his darling about his their future plans while eating dinner with her and she is just sitting there horrified, he had their whole life planned like they had been together for years.

“Hey, hey, hey, baby, don’t cry. I know this is scary, but we’ll figure it out together.”

The moment he finds out she is pregnant, he hits the ground running, pun not intended, on the preparations. Then literally a minute later after getting the news he has the crib built and is just all over his darling, names for a girl, names for a boy, what if they have twins?

When the baby is born, he does not want to put them down, Barry always needs to holding his baby. Hey, kangaroo care does improve brain and motor development, lowers risk of infection, regulates temperature, and improves weight gain.

Oliver Queen does not really try to get his darling pregnant, but it is not something he bothers to prevent either. It is a thing that naturally happens in time so if they are meant to have kids then so be it, if they aren’t then that is fine to. Now unlike some of the Justice League members, Oliver is more in tune to his darling’s emotions and chances are when she gets that positive pregnancy test that she will not exactly be happy, probably be crying. Oliver will not say anything and he will just sit with her on the bathroom tile and hold her while she cries.

Now just because he understands how his darling feels does not mean she doesn’t have to carry the baby, no she still has to, after all it’s their future child, it means that Oliver will be far more lax with things. Oliver doesn’t really have a lot of rule, and the few he does have are to protect his darling from the sort of threats that may come at her because he is Green Arrow, he is by far one of the least up tight members of the Justice League with their darling. She can go out with him if she wants to rather than being stuck home all day long, she can stay up later, she can even go with him to Justice League meetings because the social interaction would be good for her especially since at least one of the Green Lanterns’ darlings is around the Watchtower while their partner is off planet, and if Clark’s darling is around it is good for them to talk because lord knows how many babies she has had so there is bound to be good advice from her.

Also I think that Oliver would want to do an at home birth, it is free from all the chaos of a hospital because it will attract attention if he is there suddenly with a wife no one has ever seen, plus his money will cover everything, even hiring private doctors for the baby’s vaccinations and such post delivery, and then not to mention to comfort of being able to relax in his own home with his darling and their little baby after the delivery, holding them both and just being in the moment without the stress of anything and not having to be away from either of them.

Also I feel like Oliver would be such a girl dad, like sure he would be happy if it was a boy, but if it’s a girl then that’s his little princess.

Look with Bruce Wayne there is only one correct answer here, absolutely he would. He would not even need to get his darling pregnant to do it, he already has too many children to count. But sometimes empty nest syndrome hits rather hard especially when Dick moves out to Blüdhaven and then the grief when Jason died, then as the other kid come and go they get older and grow more distant, then only one of them is biological and Bruce never got the chance to see Damian as a baby because his son was being raised by the League of Assassins and Bruce had no idea he even existed, so maybe having a child would not be such a bad idea after all.

He would not be surprised or acted surprised when his darling tells him she is pregnant, he planned everything down to the little details, tracking periods, morning sickness, everything. He is happy, but he is calm, telling her that they can handle this. The big thing is telling the rest of his children, who are most likely yanderes as well, that she is pregnant, it’s difficult enough to get them all in the same room at the same time and it is even harder to get them all to calm down when they tell them the news. Dick and Stephanie are by far the most excited at the news, Dick is so excited that he picks her up in a hug and spins her around, but meanwhile Cassandra is just staring at her, just with a look she knows that Bruce’s darling is not happy with this but she can’t exactly say that out loud in a room full of people who are more happy about her baby than she is.

Setting up the nursery is even a family affair, Dick and Tim are painting the walls while Bruce figures out how to build the crib, and meanwhile she is just sitting in an armchair with a cup of caffeine free tea from Alfred with Stephanie and Duke suggesting names while she drinks. Meanwhile Jason takes the initiative to begin to baby proofing the manor because they cannot expect to have gear outside the Batcave with a baby in the house, not ever child in this family is going to be a vigilante.

Then when the baby is born, Bruce makes it a point to shut down any jokes about the baby becoming a Robin, they are not going to be trained from birth like Damian was and they were not taken in by Bruce like the others were. Though Dick and Barbara definitely get the baby a Robin onesie as a gag gift.

But one good thing about having Bruce’s child, when the baby wakes up in the night, either Alfred, Bruce, or one of the kids get there before she does. Now Bruce or the kids may still be in full costume and have just run upstairs from the cave to help after getting back from patrol, but it’s fine.

[limarkova]

Yandere Batfam x Neglected Reader x Yandere Al Ghuls

Pt 7.

Prev

The gun was cold in your hands. After everyone had left for patrol, you had snuck into Jason's room. Knowing he wasn't in the manner made it easier to do soon. You took one of his smaller guns and 4 boxes of ammo. It took you longer than you would have liked to match the bullet in the gun's magazine. Still you were able to find the right ones. He also had throwing knives hidden in his room which you gladly took.

Now standing on the small private beach in the back of the manor grounds, you shot at discarded cans. Your old tablet played videos on gun safety and how to aim. Still you couldn't hit a can. It was different from throwing a blades.

With a blade there were many factors. How you held the blade played a part. The best way you found was to hold the blade towards you balancing it on your middle and index finger. Than lightly push down with your thumb towards your palm. Bring that up over your head than throwing and releasing. When you released, how much power you put in, and amount of pressure you placed with your thumb depended on distance. Aiming was just a matter of when to let go.

Yet it seemed like very little of that applied to guns. Sure there were sights to help you aim. But that didn't mesh well with how you were used to aiming with knives. Plus the kick back was starting to make your wrists ache. Jason was doing this shit one handed. Maybe you were holding it wrong, the videos weren't giving you a good view. Adjusting your grip you tried again.

Bang. The can stayed upright but at least the gun didn't kick back as much. You were able to keep from flinching too much as well so you were adjusting to the noise. There was a new chip in the rock next to the can. You sighed before setting the weapon down. This wasn't working.

Yes, you had improved. No longer hitting the sand or the cliff face behind your target. Still you weren't hit the can and weren't even that far away. There was no way you could face these guys without a weapon. Grumbling in frustration, you took one of the throwing knives and threw at the can. That one actually hit.

You reached over and paused the video. It was than you heard something. It was faint an inhale of breath from behind some rocks. Breathing throught your nose, you steel your nerves. Going off on Dick ealier was going have consequences. Maybe Bruce had sent someone to take you back. There was no telling. Smiling at the screen, you said, "Break time."

You changed the video to a dance routine you liked. Taking the first position in the dance you waited.

Dance was a hobby you picked up from Barbara. You had watched her do some old ballet routines from when she was seven. Orginially she had preformed them for Dick back when you were one, you could barely remember the movements. Still caused a small spark in you, a want to be like your big sister. The spark remained for two years. You started learning from videos when you were three. You never did them where anyone could see you, preferring to learn privately. In the experiments, you would use the routines in your cell to check that your muscles still functioned properly.

Now you used it as a way to observe subtly. The spins and position changes allowed you to take stock of your surroundings. Mid song is when you saw him.

He was hidden in alcove with a deep green cloak. He was tall around the same height as Jason. A part of you question if he just came from a Ren Fair because of his clothes. However that didn't seem to matter as much as his size and the sword at his hip. He was probably trained to use it too. You didn't doubt he could fight just as well as Bruce. You would have one shot to take him out.

The choreography had you turn away from him. When he couldn't see you grabbed a knife from the holster. Twirling back around, you flung it straight for his head. He caught it by the handle right in front of his throat. Too low. "Impressive. Going for a killing blow before I can start the fight."

The man step forward spinning the blade in his hand. You step back and began thinking of ways out. He stopped five feet away from you and tossed the dagger towards you. "Though your throwing form was off causing the blade to not have as much force. I can excuse that for the creativity of blending it with a dance."

"What?" You caught the dagger feeling it sink into your hand. You turned it subtly allowing the wound to heal.

The man nodded to your hand, "That also makes you intriguing. A girl capable of healing with great potential that needs only to be refined."

The climb up the cliff's edge was not a viable option. You could run into the sea, swim or just let yourself drown. Yet you couldn't judge if he was capable of swimming or if he would buy the fake death. If he came from the experiments he would know drowning didn't actually kill. There was no way out. The man gestured, "Get into a throwing position."

You paused, looking at him. Why did he want you to get into throwing position. If he was take you back than letting you fight him seemed useless. He tilted his head making his gesture again, "Do you not wish to learn?"

Slowly you got back into throwing position. He walked over to you. The first thing he did was kick your legs slightly further apart. Afterwards he made you bend your knees slightly. He than grabbed your hand, paused, and had you pull it back just a little further.

Once satisfied with the adjustments, he walked back to his spot 5 feet away. "Throw."

You did. This time he had to stop in front of his face. The throw felt more powerful and you had an easier time staying balance. With some minor adjustments he fixed a problem you hadn't fully realized you had. This allowed you to grab another blade and get in position quicker.

He smiled once more. "Again." You did, this time aiming for his throat. He caught the knife once more, nodding once again. The two of you practice knife throwing for a few minutes. In that short time he had you do underhand throws and side thows. He clapped after another successful throw, "Enough."

You were out of knives. He moved towards you again and handed the blades over to you. As he handed them to you, he started to speak. "Don’t fuss with the gun for right now. With a blade you are more dangerous to people not paying attention."

Once done he handed you an ornate blade. It was incredibly sharp with a blood red handle in the shape of spider lilies. The handle was a polished wood that shone in the moonlight. There was a sheath underneath the blade that could be strapped to your hip. "When next we meet I will show you how to use this blade efficiently."

"Where will we met again?"

"You'll know." He turned and left without another word. You grabbed Jason's gun before leaving yourself. The whole encounter felt like a dream.

Stephanie was physically watching Orphan's assigned target but mentally she was thinking about (Name). When she first arrived at the manor, she had been fed stories by Tim. Of how she stole his mask and yelled at him for replacing Jason. So as the next Robin she avoided the girl.

Than she became Batgirl for a brief sprint. Which made her made her more wearily about accidentally coming off as replacing Barbara. When she did try reaching out to the girl it was awkward. Plus the girl seem perfectly content living life without her barging in.

Steph had left her be figuring she had plenty of other siblings to bond with. There was no way in a manor full of people she was alone. Right?

God, now she just felt stupid. Assumptions really had made an ass out of her. Right now she was just waiting for the man to get off the phone with whoever he was talking to. After struggling to find anything beyond (Name)'s mother and she had switched task with Cass. The girl seemed more interested in doing the research anyway, so what was the harm.

She would finish investigating for the day, take a nap, than take the girl out somewhere. Maybe have a girls day with Barbara and Cass tagging along. Get their nails done, haircuts, bat burgers, maybe karaoke. Was any of that stuff (Name) was interested in? Whatever the girl had gone through was pretty traumatic, based solely on the breakdown Dick described. She deserved to have a fun day where they could spoiled her. Maybe she could take her rollerskating. Steph stopped her planning as the guy finished the phone. First they had to make sure these guys were handled.

Crashing through the window, Spoiler caught the guy off gaurd. He jumped reaching for a weapon. She grabbed his wrist and pinned him to wall. "Hey Matthew. Let's have a quick chat."

"Look, Whatever you're here for I didn’t do it." The guy, Matthew Jenkins, struggled against Spoiler's hold. He had worked with James and Marcus at a security firm two years ago before spontaneously quitting four days before (Name) disappeared. The same had occurred with two other man, Henry Duncan and Gregory Hartley. Signal had already reported that Henry was dead and had been for awhile. Maybe five or six days

"Oh, okay. So you have no contact to (Name) Wayne?" Spoiler pushed on his wrist a little harder making him cry out in pain.

"Who?"

"Playing dumb won't help you. I already know you were using her debit card to pull cash." They didn't actually know which of five man were pulling cash from the card. Based on video analysis there had be at least three of them making the pulls, so odds were good.

Matthew froze in Spoiler's hand, sucking in a breath. Looks like she was on the right track. "Shit, that girl really was a Wayne?"

Spoiler twisted his wrist just a little bit. He hissed through his teeth, "Yeah. Keep talking."

"Fuck. Look we didn't know exactly what they were doing to the kid. We just watched the room they kept her in and moved her to research room when asked. They usually carted her back when we were on lunch. It was just a good paying job and she never looked to badly hurt."

"How much were they paying you."

"Fithteen hundred a week." Matthew lightly banged his head against the wall, "Shit I should have tapped out when Henry did. I knew the girl was going to get us in more trouble than she was worth."

"Henry Duncan?"

"Yeah. Is he doing okay, we haven't heard from him since he stormed off the job?" Matthew shifted in Spoiler's grasp.

"He was found dead in ditch two hours ago. Marcus Antonio was found shot last night in his apartment." Matthew let out shocked breath and shook his head.

"We are fucked."

"Maybe not. If you answer all my questions I might be able to get you out of Gotham." It was a gamble but one Spoiler had to take. This guy could give her at least a location on where they held her and maybe who was paying them. Especially if three of them were dead. "First, you mentioned Duncan tapping out. What happened to make him leave?"

"They had said the testing was almost completed. They just had one last test to make sure everything was successful before we would know if we'd be getting raises or let go?" Matthew started. "We were informed to never look in the room unless instructed to."

"Henry didn't listen did he?" Spoiler let up on his wrist. He was more scared of these guys than her right now, better to let that fear keep him talking.

Matthew shook his head, "Henry didn't listen. After the final test he got curious because she was oddly quiet. We could usually hear her muttering to herself. He said she looked like a deflated balloon."

Matthew paused taking a deep breath. "We all looked. I don't know what they did but her chest had caved in on itself. There also something growing in her. Honestly I thought she was dead until she blinked. Henry lost it, said he wasn't going down for whatever they had done to her. We all almost walked out but James stopped us. If the last test was marked successful we'd each get a raise to five thousand dollars a week."

"You know what happened to James?"

"The kid killed him. She also took out Greg's eye with a fucking scalpel. No amount of money is that shit." Matthew banged his head to the wall.

Spoiler paused processing. Money was a huge motivation to this guy, so chances were he knew who was paying him. "Where was the money coming from? Not just for your paycheck either."

"The girl’s card and her tuition. Her dad was giving her fifteen thousand a week. They use that to buy a generator and some other shit to keep the building off grid. We would pull cash for them every once and a while but most of it came from the accountant. They would divert the kid's tuition to James, he paid us." That explained where the tuition was going.

"Who was in charge?" Spoiler needed a name. Sure she had a lot to rely back at the cave but she needed just a little more.

"I don't know." The pressure return to his wrist. Matthew started struggling, "I don't know, I work with some intern chick who took notes on girl's status and the accountant."

"Good enough. Give their names." Spoiler gave his wrist one last twist.

"The intern chick's name was Isabella, I never got a last name. Just heard a rumor that she was related to the big boss. The accountant was..."

"Mr. Davis, so glad to finally be able to meet you." The man zip tied to his office chair glared at you. After the training on the beach you discovered you still had five hours before anyone got back to the manor. Using the Gotham Subway you had gotten to Davis' office. Surprisingly the man was still there. Hurriedly packing files into a briefcase. You used the knife to keep him under control until you could zip tie him to the chair. The man had proven right, a knife was more powerful.

You glanced at the files. Documents approving a change in wiring numbers, written approval for changes to the limits on your checking account as a minor, and so much more. All incriminating with Bruce Wayne's signature on the bottom. You turned your gaze to Davis twirling a throwing knife in your hand. Sitting on his desk made you eye level with him, "Now what were doing with these?"

"Fuck you brat." His word turned into a cry of pain as you threw the knife. It cut a line across his cheeks.

Standing from his desk you walk towards him. Pulling the stranger's dagger from the sheath you held it over his hand, above the knuckle of his left thumb. "Let’s try again. What were doing with those files?"

"I'm not scared of a fucking ten year old." Of course. You were a baby faced ten year old. Who would be scared of you? If you wanted information from this man you had to scare him into giving it to you.

Pushing down on the blade, he started to scream. It took a minute find where the blade could cut through. Mangled his hand pretty bad but eventually his thumb came off. He slumped in the chair, panting. Was this how you looked when they cut off your body parts?

"Will you answer me now? I really don't want to have cut off another one." You picked up his severe digit, rolling it around in your palm. There was a disturbing calm in the violence. It was as if you could finally relax. Maybe the experiments had messed with your head more than you thought, "Well."

"Fine. I was told to destroyed them." Davis spat the words out inbetween harsh breaths. Finally information.

You lifted an eyebrow and set the thumb on his desk, "By who?"

"Clint Owen. He was my son's doctor." You began to think through the people you saw in the experiments. There were six scientists that would poke at you. Clint was probably one of them, especially if he was a doctor. They hadn't used names near you.

"What did he tell you about the experiments?" The more information the better, you needed to know what Bruce gained from this. Davis stayed silent. There was an intense staring contest between you two. Finally you sighed, "Okay, fine. Your ring or your pinkie? I'm thinking pinkie, personally."

"No, I'll tell you." Davis started to struggle in the chair as you walked closer. "Owens told me, it was a way to get organs for dying kids. That's all I know, he offered to give my son one of the kidneys."

"Really? You did all of this for a kidney?" At least you knew where your kidney was now. Wrong thing to focus on but your head was getting buzzy from the violence.

"He would have died without it." Davis shook his head. A part of you felt a little bad for cutting off his thumb. The man was just desperate to save his kid. Could you really blame him for that? "Beside, the Waynes needed to be taken down a peg. Why not remind those idiots their money can't do shit to save anyone, even their own? The little bitch had it coming."

Nevermind. You stabbed the knife through his right hand. He pissed himself, gross. You began talking over his screams "Did I ask for your shit rate opinions? No, I didn't. Stick to telling me the facts or your losing the hand. Who was involved in the experiments?"

"Three doctor's from the Martha Wayne Childern's Hospital, One researcher from Gotham U and his student assistant." He screamed the words at you. A part of you contemplated twisting the knife just because you could. When had you got so violent? Eh later problem.

"Names." You sounded bored even to your own. Maybe you should be concerned, how do you get here again?

"I don't know." The darker part of you won, twisting the blade in his hand. He started struggling again. "I'm telling the truth, I really don't know. They weren't on any payroll I had access to."

"Who's Sionis?"

"Black Mask. He provided the weapons for the guards." Oh that wasn't good. Black Mask was violent hopefully you could just ignore him as an ignorant arms dealer.

You paused looking him up and down. This wasn't a lot of information. Yes, you had a name and occupations for some of the scientists. There were also the documents showing Bruce Signed off on this. The paper proved he was involved by themselves. But than the take the Waynes down a peg comment didn't fit. "Who was on payroll?"

"Doesn't matter half of them are dead."

"Is that an opinion?" You removed the knife from his hand.

He paled and began pushing back in his chair, "James Lenon, Marcus Antonio, Henry Duncan, Gregory Hartley, Matthew Jenkins. They were the ones guarding the place. The first three are dead, the fourth guy left Gotham after losing his eye. Jenkins is the only one left in town."

Maybe you could get to Jenkins before he left. Than again those guys didn't seem to know much. You could hear them talking through the door at night. They nickname for the scientists and never talk much about the experiments other than supplies. What else could you get from him, "Who was in charge of the experiments?"

"Owens."

"Are you sure?" Davis paused. He gave you a wide eye pleading look while nodding. You looked out the window while trying to connect the pieces.

If Cass was the one who found 'the school' than you needed a connection between her and Owens. Of course Bruce wouldn't let someone like Davis know he was connected. With Davis's disgruntled attitude towards Bruce, he was likely state up to rat on the wrong people. With no clue about Bruce's real involvement it be easy to brush him off as a rouge accountant. Probably claim forgery on the signatures too.

"Well. I got everything I needed." You flipped the knife in your hand. Grabbing the briefcase you turned towards the door.

"Wait, you gotta let me go." Davis tried shuffling the chair. You looked towards him and considered. He could alert Bruce to your investigation.

You gave him a sheepish smile. "Right my bad." You walked behind him and the smile dropped. The next few moments blurred into your mind but than you were the fire escape. Holding a briefcase and changing into some clothes you had brought with you. Checking time you realized you had 3 hours to get back to the manor.

The rest of your investigation would be on hold until you were fully trained and they were lulled into a false sense of security.

Bruce starred at the body of his accountant. His hands had been mutilated and his throat slit. Written in his blood on the wall behind the body was, "Don’t Forget Me."

Both remaining gaurds had implicated Davis as the one that tranferred the tuition money to them. Said they didn't know names but faces of the scientists. Their last lead pointed to Davis as having more information. (Name) wouldn't tell them anything if they went by her interaction with Dick. Yet he was dead when they got here and all of his financial records had been thrown about the office be covered in blood. It seemed most of the ones on (Name) were missing either way.

The next best hope was to look into Meta Traffickers who went off the grid two years ago. Maybe they could look into doctors too since one was needed for that kind of experiment.

Bruce's eyes drifted to the words on the wall. There was no way they would forget this person. Not until who ever they were was behind bars for what they did to (Name). Bruce's hands drifted to the center pocket of his suit and pulled out a photo.

It was him holding (Name) as an infant. A broad smile on his face as he cradled the squirming infant. Looking back at the scene Bruce made a silent vow to not let the people who hurt her get away.

Prev

Taglist:

@stove-top96 @00hellohello00 @mysticalhills @yhin-gg @charlenexoxo1 @a-lurking-fae @moondust-clouds @darkumbreon92 @jsprien213 @bellethesleepypotato @time-shardz @randomlyappearingartist @kittzu @bat1212 @vanilliona @welpthisisboring @plsfckmedxddy @tulnukaz @eyeless-kun @daisy56789

[kamiversee]

𓆩 Crown of Sin 𓆪

Segment I Chapter: Three

❀ ~ Synopsis > In which you’re a princess who's given a total of six months to converge & inaugurate a solid plan secure enough to rid you of your fated marriage arrangements to Naoya Zenin. 

❀ ~ Content > language, heavy tension all over the place, lingering touches, stolen glances, taunting, teasing, flirting, etc.

❀ ~ Word Count > 5k

❀ ~ Pairings > jjk men & women x f!reader.

{ chapters m!list }

——Harems are hard work, you know that much from the extensive research you’ve conducted over the years. They were always intriguing to you, the way a man or woman would go around collecting multiple lovers for themself, reasons on why varying from person to person. In your case, you’d like to escape the engagement you’ve found yourself in.

So the first thing you do the next day you wake up, on day two of being an engaged woman, is parade around your home in preparation to leave. Your parents tried to subtly convince you to stay and instead send out letters during breakfast but you brushed off each advance they made on the matter.

You had your heart fully set on this plan. It’s going to work, it has to. Whether or not you stay this encouraged will depend entirely on your first target. He doesn’t know it yet but Gojo will set the mood for the rest of your travels. Should things with him go poorly, you may just turn around and head right back home to accept your fate.

But deep down inside, you know things will go well. Call this cliche but honestly, what’s the worst thing that can happen?

With that mindset, and shortly after breakfast with your parents concluded, you had two people you needed to speak with privately before you left. Carriages were already being prepared for you so you didn’t have much time. 

The first person you set out to talk to privately was your knight. She was made aware of the details of your plan first thing yesterday alongside Utahime since both of them are typically the first people you greet each morning.

Currently, you and Yuki pace down a lengthy corridor with no set destination in mind.

“We should hurry, y’know,” Yuki warns as she walks alongside you, “People will be lookin’ for you to leave soon.”

You wave her warnings off dismissively, “I’ve got an hour at the least. That, and there are a few goodbyes I should like to make before I depart.”

Your knight hums. “To who? You’ve given most of your goodbyes already.”

“Okay well, I have one more goodbye I need to make,” You tell her before turning down another hall. “Right after this, I suppose…”

Yuki raises a brow, still following you closely, “That doesn’t answer my question.”

You ignore her and point to a door not too far off, “There’s a study down this way, yes?”

Her eyes squint to you, “What business would you have with a study at this time? And why do you keep avoiding my—”

Before she can get the rest of her questions out, you’re grabbing a sudden hold of your wrist and dragging her off into that room you’d pointed to. Inside, you shut the door quickly and find yourself alone with Yuki in a vacant, almost abandoned, study.

She looks as confused as ever while she takes in her surroundings, unsure of why you pulled her in here entirely. “You’re acting strange, princess,” Yuki tells you as she folds her arms.

You’d released her wrist and allowed her a moment of space as you stayed by the door for a second, listening closely to something. “Shhh,” You hush.

Yuki throws her hands up defensively for a second.

A couple of seconds pass before you pull away from the door with a smile and turn to her. She’s got this expectant look plastered all over her face, clearly itching for you to tell her what you’re up to. You step nice and close to her and then take her hands into your own.

Yuki’s gaze falls down to the sudden connection and although she’s got a smile on her face, her eyebrows furrow in a quick meet of confusion. “Is everything alright?” She asks you cautiously. 

You nod, “Of course. I just needed a moment alone with you.”

“Were we not alone in the hall moments ago?” She huffs fondly.

“We were but,” You glance off to the side with a shrug, “Anyone could’ve passed by at any given moment.”

She nods at that, her eyes yet to leave your hands holding onto hers so dearly. “Right… So, what did you need this privacy for?”

You lean closer and whisper, “I’ve got something for you.”

“For me? Now?? Why?”

“Why does everyone always have a million and one questions for me,” You sigh, moving to the left pocket of her pants for a moment. You’d asked her to hold something for you earlier in the day and instructed her not to look at it without your permission so, now you pull the item out and hand it to her.

Her eyes follow your every move and then she takes the slip of paper you hand her. “What’s this?”

A smile graces your face, “Open it and find out, silly.”

“You could just tell me, it would save so much time…” She utters to herself as her fingers work the folded-up piece of paper open. Her eyes rake over the paper in one fell swoop before she looks at you, “Why did you hand this to me?”

You’re still beaming, so much so that it nearly makes her nervous. Nearly. “Why do you think?” You ask her almost sarcastically.

“It’s…” Her lashes flutter in clear disbelief whilst she looks over the paper once more, “An invitation to your harem, my lady.”

Even as she says it out loud, Yuki can’t quite believe what she’s holding. Nor can she really wrap her head around why you’ve chosen her first—or at all, for that matter. For a minute or two, she’s unable to do anything more than look back and forth from the paper in her hands to you, constantly finding her gaze drifting downward on each.

“Sooo….” You eventually crack the silence and lean forward without step.

Yuki clears her throat and her brows tense, “You are inviting me.”

You hum, “Mhm!”

Finally, she lets her sights lift fully and settle firmly onto you. “Why?” Yuki asks.

You’re unsure of what it is exactly about her sudden unwavering gaze but it makes your feet shift against the floor slightly, a motion of which doesn’t go unnoticed by your hyper-aware knight. Every faint movement of yours never seems to miss her eye but now it feels… different? It’s almost as though a new light had been cast on you instead of the natural lighting that currently dawns on the study you occupy.

Yuki’s eyes widen with how long it takes you to reply to her and her left foot unconsciously moves as a step closer to you is taken. It was weird but, the mere request of her to join your harem… first, has the knight seeing you differently in a way that is more familiar than ever. Per her own thoughts, it is like gazing upon you for the first time.

The windows to this study are rather large and the light bounces off of the beautiful furniture surrounding the two of you so, maybe it’s a shift of the outside sun that causes you to glow just a bit brighter in her eyes than before. It truly was like seeing you for the first time all over again. Hell, her lips twitch in thought and suddenly she’s recalling the way her breath escaped her and never returned on the day she’d first seen you.

Now, as you stand before her all these years later, proclaiming to desire her, that feeling returns. 

Looking away entirely, “...Does it matter why?” Your voice soon hits her ears again and she barely recovers her recently escaped breath.

Yuki’s right foot takes that last step and she answers you faster than she can even process your words, “Yes.”

“Because I want you,” You practically breathe out once you become overly aware of how close she’d gotten, slowly turning your head to look her in the eye, and swallowing thickly. “I-In my harem, I mean.”

Her features soften and she smiles, the sight enough to make you beyond anxious. “Hah,” Your knight breathes.

Taking another gulp to compose yourself, “Sooo, what do you say?”

Yuki shrugs, “I’m your knight. Joining this would mean that you and I are-, or, would be intimate.”

You stare instead of replying.

To which a breathy laugh of disbelief leaves her lips. Then, as her next question is asked, you notice her tone has changed, “You wish to be intimate with me?”

“I wish for you to join my harem,” You divert with a nervous smile.

Yuki tilts her head and it’s right then that you realize she knows you’re feeling some sort of anxiousness right now, “That doesn’t answer my question.”

You sigh heavily and nearly stumble over your words again, “I-Intimacy comes with joining the harem so—”

“If I may be so bold,” She interrupts, taking a step forward that only causes your back to meet a wall. “Princess, please do not avoid my questions and give me a straight answer.”

“I believe my answer would be anything but ‘straight’.” You tease. Perhaps dragging her into this room alone like this wasn’t the best idea. Maybe you should’ve just told her to shuffle through her pocket on her own time…

“You jest,” Yuki whispers, now leaning forward, “But I need to know if you are serious.”

There’s a slight shake of your head, “Why wouldn’t I be…?”

She ignores your constant avoidance, “I won’t join unless you answer.”

“I…” You trail off entirely and your mind decides then that it’s a good time to blank on you. Thus, you are left at a loss for words and have no answer to her question whatsoever. It is quite hard to find anything to say to a woman of Yuki’s beauty who stands so closely to you and stares at you as if you were bliss personified. “What uh, what was the question again?” You eventually squeak out.

Gently, Yuki allows every word of hers to leave her lips in a way that has you looking down to watch their departure from her tongue, “Do you wish to be intimate with me?”

You’ve had your fair secret glances at her mouth before but now that you find yourself so close, it is difficult to organize your thoughts properly, “Well—”

“Yes,” She cuts off, tipping her head to the opposing side to gain your eyes on hers again, “Or no, princess.”

You first clear your throat and then nod, “Yes.”

At that, Yuki lets herself look downwards on your face and she sighs, “Then I will join.”

“O-Okay..” You stutter, noticing where her eyes have fallen.

She doesn’t say anything and neither do you. Instead, the two of you just stand still for a while and take in one another’s faces. In that time, you both creep closer to one another and you only snap out of your daze of appreciation when Yuki’s hand meets your waist and your entire body decides to react.

A gasp leaves your throat, your torso moves into her touch, and your eyes flutter in surprise at the small touch.

And to top it all off, Yuki finds herself inches away from your lips whispering, “You are nervous, why?”

You force a smile and try your best to remain composed, “We are quite close, Lady Tsukumo.”

“We could…” She tips nearer, “Be so much closer.”

If your breath hadn’t been lost before then it damn sure is now because good lord is the proximity alone enough to make you long for that fated connection of her lips to your own. She’s hardly laid a finger on you and yet you find yourself a wreck within your mind. Words fail you entirely and all you’re capable of doing in that moment is stare at her.

“Princess,” Yuki breathes out, her soft tone hitting the skin of your lips given how close she is. Then, her other hand lifts to your chin and she urges your head further up, nearly causing your skin to brush over hers. “Can I…”

You’re not clueless, you know what she wants to ask for. And yet, she just lets her words fade off, never deciding to finish that request of hers, which only leaves you hanging off of her every inhale and exhale. 

Luckily for you, you’re both interrupted right then by a knock on the study’s door. Both of you flinch and she blinks out of whatever stupor just came over her, soon turning her head to look at the door and then clearing her throat. “Yeah-, yes?” She coughs out.

“Is Her Highness in there with you?” The voice of a palace guard questions from the other side of the door. He must’ve seen you two duck off into this room earlier.

Yuki scoffs and looks to you once more, “Yeah,” She replies as she slips her thumb upward and past your chin, letting her fingertip rub along the outline of your bottom lip. “She’s riiight here.” 

Your brows furrow and you whisper as you realize what your knight just pulled, “...You teased me.”

She smirks and weighs the pad of her thumb against your bottom lip, tugging it down slightly, and then leaning in to match your tone one last time, “You’ve been teasing me for as long as I can remember.”

“I–”

“Most of the carriages are ready to go, my lady.” That same voice from before interrupts again, “I believe they are packing your last one up but, you should make haste in getting to them soon.”

You puff out a long sigh and pry yourself away from Yuki’s grasp, “I will be out there in a bit. Tell them I have someone I need to speak to before I leave.”

You can’t see it but the guard bows from beyond the door, “Yes ma’am.”

The sound of departing footsteps can be heard and once the sound discontinues, Yuki starts laughing to herself, prompting you to glance over to her. She hasn’t moved an inch from where she almost kissed you but you notice she’s got a hand over her mouth.

You frown, “What’s so funny?”

“Shoulda’ seen the look on your face,” The woman snorts, “Hah. I didn’t know you could make such an expression.”

“What are you talking about??” You question further.

She motions to her face, “You were so flustered.”

With a roll of your eyes, you let off a scoff, “I was not.”

“Oh please, it’s no use to lie.” Yuki argues as she turns to meet your gaze, “Admit it, cutie, you were nervous.”

Your lashes begin to bat in pure and utter disbelief, “I don’t get ‘nervous’.”

At first, she merely hums in response. But when she starts walking toward you again, you end up looking away from her. Yuki now stands directly behind you and leans over your shoulder to tease, “Right, okay. So,” Her hands find your waist and her voice hits the crown of your ear, “This, is fine, yes?”

You try laughing it off as if her touch is no big deal, “Perfectly.”

Then her hands slide up and tread dangerously close to your chest. All while she’s grinning from ear to ear, “And this?”

You’re pretty sure you were unable to hide the hitch in your breathing but hopefully, it goes unnoticed (it doesn’t). “Yuki.” You say rather firmly.

Her lips, as soft as ever, grave the tip of your ear, “Yes… princess?” And suddenly your title no longer sounds like a name of respect and hierarchy, but a nickname instead.

Finally standing your ground again, you just barely manage to lift your head up to its normal hold, regain your posture, and come to your senses. “I invite you into my harem and suddenly you find yourself unable to keep your hands off me?”

Her hands freeze against your sides and then her head dips down. You’d turn to get a nice look at her and the face she’s making right now but the sensation of her mouth grazing your neck drives you right back into that mild frenzy again. Carefully, Yuki inches forward with her head and you release a shaky breath the moment her lips make raw contact with your neck.

Then, she whispers right against you, “I’ve been holding back for a few years now…”

Your jaw falls open and you choke, finding yourself clueless beyond belief, “What?”

Yuki snaps out of whatever came over her there and tugs herself back a bit. Her eyes proceed to squeeze shut and instead of answering you right away, she just inhales deeply—unintentionally getting a strong whiff of your perfume. Behind her shut lids, and hidden from you, her eyes so graciously roll back. Then her grip on your waist tightens, her lips part again, a faint noise nearly escapes her throat, and—

She snatches her head away from your neck entirely and her hands follow suit with your sides. Yuki stumbles back a few inches from you and clears her throat, “W-What?” She stammers.

You start turning to look at her but your motion comes to an abrupt end when she walks past you, “Yuki, what did you say—”

“I’m gonna go ahead and sign this now before I do anything uh…” She tugs that invitation of yours out of her pocket again and waves it in the air, “Yeah.” Her statement ends there, leaving you wondering what exactly just transpired.

You blink. “Are you okay?”

She’s made her way over to a desk and is busy scrambling for a pen to finally sign her name. For a while, she pays no mind to your concern and eventually locates a pen, quickly printing her name where it’s required. Once done, she acquits a tremulous sigh and spins to hold out the signed invitation—confirming her entry into your harem as the first member.

Barely any more words are exchanged between you and her after that. You end up taking the signed invitation with a smile and quiet thank you, to which she soon bows to you. Then, not even a second later, Yuki hurries toward the door to leave this secluded area.

· · ──────── ·𖥸· ──────── · ·

Neither of you addressed what went down in that study after you both left. The walk toward the last person you wish to say bye to is conducted in silence. It’s not exactly awkward or anything, just tense. You can’t define what kind of tension lies between you and your knight but hey, at least she joined your harem…

It feels nice to walk next to her knowing that she’s a part of something you’ll come to hold very dear to your heart. When you really think about it, you could touch her in any way at any given moment and no one would bat an eye. Your eyes can linger on her as you please and not a soul would find it scandalous. After all, your eyes travel over to her as you think, simply gazing at her for a while brings you deep satisfaction.

You’re quite proud to have someone as gorgeous as her as your knight. It’s like a silent compliment to you. People do say that the company you keep is a direct reflection of your character.

With that, a smile spreads across your face and your pace down the hall picks up a bit. If things with Yuki went well, surely things with everyone else will too.

Before you know it, you and your knight find yourself approaching your final destination for the time being. The last stop before you head outside to leave your kingdom entirely, to the final person you wish to say goodbye to, and—

“The infirmary, my lady?” Yuki asks cautiously as she comes to a stop just beside you and stares at the door in front of you both.

You wave a hand out, “Stay here while I head in, this’ll only take a second.”

“But—”

And as usual, before Yuki can spit out any sort of protest, you’re disappearing behind those doors and leaving her alone in the hall. She remains still for a moment before shrugging the entire thing off and turning to properly guard the doors as she typically does.

Meanwhile, as soon as you enter the room, the person you’d been looking to say bye to comes immediately into view. Long brown hair falling down past her shoulders, soft brown eyes flickering up to meet you as soon as you walk in—with those tired bags decorating the area just beneath them, there sits Shoko Ieiri in all her glory.

She blinks more than a few times to take in the fact that it’s really you standing there. Then her hands are moving and she shuffling papers across her desk for a moment as a pen falls from between her fingers, “Oh shit-,” She breathes out, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth seconds later, “I-I wasn’t expecting you to be here today, your highness. God, I–”

“It’s okay,” You murmur gently with a smile that makes her hands slow to an easy halt from their scrambling to straighten up. “Been a while, huh?”

Shoko’s all wide-eyed for a minute, watching as you look elsewhere and take in her workspace. You walk over to some cabinets and scan your eyes over just about everything as curious as ever. Eventually, she nods, “Yeah, yeah it has… Still as nosy as ever, I see.” She teases lightheartedly.

You turn to her and notice she’s stood up. “What can I say, it’s been so long since I’ve been in here.”

“Mhm,” She hums, carefully rounding her desk to approach you. “So what uh, brings you in here now? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“Well, I’m not sure if you’ve heard but…” Your voice fades as you ponder on how you should go about explaining things to her.

“You leave today, right? For some harem thing..?”

Well, that saves you an explanation, “Yeah.”

“Well, everyone knows about that. I’m still confused as to why you stopped here though. You should be leaving, I saw the carriages and everything—”

“Do you wanna come with me?” You blurt out.

She blinks, “Pardon?”

“I’ll be gone for a month or so and… Well, I’m traveling to other nations that I haven’t been to in years and I-, well, y’know anything could happen during the journey so I was just wondering if you wanted to accompany me because you’re the only person I trust to tend to my wounds properly, in the event that I got any—”

Shoko cuts you off with a gentle whisper of your name. Not your title as princess, not any sort of honorific, just… your name. By the time you look at her again, she’s leaned against the wall nearest to you with her arms crossed and her head angled to the right. 

It’s then that you recall why exactly you came to see her. Not only to try convincing her to travel with you but, also to see a childhood friend again. Rarely anyone has the pleasure of addressing you by your name but Shoko? Your name sounds more than perfect falling from her tongue. 

“While I enjoy your nervous rambles,” She starts off, lips curving into that typical tired grin of hers, “You could’ve just said you wanted to travel with me, sweets. And while I’d love to do exactly that… It’s a bit last minute of you to come and ask me, doncha’ think?”

You chuckle. “The trip itself was rather last minute so, apologies if I’m putting you in a difficult position here.”

“Mh. Well,” She pushes herself off of the wall and shrugs, “I’m not sure if I’d be able to pack in time.”

Your brows meet in confusion, “Whatever you’d have to pack that’s not in this room, I assure you I can purchase it for you on this trip, Shoko. I just want you to come with me.”

Shoko lets out a huff and glances elsewhere, “Don’t you already have a doctor accompanying you?”

You tilt your head at the woman, picking up on her clear silent refusal to join you. Resulting in a knowing grin sparking across your face, “If you don’t want to come, you can just tell me, y’know.”

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure how I feel following you along while you collect men for your personal pleasure,” Shoko says as she clasps her hands together behind her back and paces toward you slightly.

“Oh.” You chirp.

“Yeah, ��oh’.” She scoffs and her feet come to a stop just a mere step away from you, her eyes dragging across the room before landing on you again, “I know it’s ‘been a while’ but surely you haven’t forgotten the feelings I possess for you?” Your friend asks you, her tone softened.

You swallow at the recollection, “I haven’t. But, this isn’t just for pleasure Shoko, I’m trying to—”

“I’ve heard.” She interrupts, “You wanna escape your marriage. But with all due respect, princess, I think I’ll stay here while you do that.”

A deep feeling of disappointment rushes through you and you quickly find your gaze becoming rather downcast. You had high hopes of her telling you she’d join you and now…

“I know you’re not used to people declining your offers or telling you no but, y’know me.” Shoko hums—doing that thing you know her to do where she’ll try to lighten your mood with a gentle reiteration of the truth. “I will stay here and patiently await your return, as I always do. Should you come back with any wounds, even one of the heart, I’ll be right here to patch ya’ up…”

A pout tugs at your lips before you know it and in come those pleading irises of yours, “Sho’.”

“Awh, don’t ‘Sho’ meee, you’ll make me feel bad.” She mocks, taking a hand and placing it on your cheek as she wipes a soft thumb under your left eye.

You lean into her touch and place your hand over hers, “I really do want you to come with me.”

Shoko smiles, “I know. But someone’s gotta teach you a thing or two about not always getting what you want, right?”

“I guess…”

For a moment, she just comforts you with that easing caress under your eye but once she sees that it’s doing little to nothing for you, she rolls her eyes and strips her hand away. 

“C’mere,” Shoko mutters before moving to pull you into a warm hug. Her arms hold onto you tightly and you rest your head on her shoulder, “You’ll be fine without me. It’s just a month, yeah? You’ve gone for longer.”

You sigh, “...Not like this.”

“Hey,” Her hands move again and meet your cheeks, cupping your face in her gloved palms. You practically melt into her but her firm tone keeps you grounded for the most part, “Tell Gojo I said hey when you see him?”

You scoff, smiling a little, “You could come and say hey to him yourself.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Shoko please?” If not for the plead leaving your lips, it was definitely escaping the look on your face, “You know I’m not one to beg.”

“We’ve past encounters that say otherwise, pretty girl.” Shoko teases, “I’m serious about this though, I’m not sure how long I could stomach a trip like that. So,” Her hands drop to yours before she raises your fingers to her lips and plants a kiss across your knuckles, “Just promise me you’ll return in one piece?”

You sigh, “I promise.”

To which she smiles, fully. “Atta’ girl. Now go on before your knight comes in yellin’ at me like old times.”

It’s then that you decide to accept defeat. As much as you longed for her to accompany you, it seems there’s no convincing her. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you first thing when I come back.” You tell her while the two of you part ways.

Shoko sends you a wink, “You better, doctor’s orders.”

“Yes ma’am.” You end up waving her off, disappearing behind the same doors you came in from, and leaving her to herself.

The second you’re gone, Shoko tosses her head back and stares up at her ceiling. Raking her hands through her hair, she groans at the way she handled that situation for reasons unknown to you. Then she wipes over her face, stopping at her eyes in an attempt to rub the weariness away. 

When that proves to be unsuccessful, she turns back to her desk and kicks over a small trashcan nearby. Muttering only for her ears to hear, “Fuck…”

· · ──────── ·𖥸· ──────── · ·

After all that, you finally finally make your way outside. You and Yuki ended up jogging a bit to get there since people all throughout the palace had started to call for you. By the time you got outside, you were met with your parents, General Yaga, and some of your maids who sought to see you off.

The goodbyes were rather quick, a few hugs, and ‘be safe’ ‘s given to you before you approached your carriage. There, you found your feet coming to a stop and your eyes drinking in the eye candy you were about to have for the entirety of this trip. Your carriage driver merely tips his hat to you and smirks ever so slightly, “Shiu Kong, at your service, princess.”

Your lashes flutter but before you have enough time to gawk at him, there’s a slight nudge forward given to you from behind.

“We need to get going, now,” Higuruma grumbles to you.

You scoff and nudge him back before taking Shiu’s offered hand and stepping into your carriage. 

There were quite a few carriages but for this trip, it seemed as though you would be sharing one with your royal advisor. Outside would be that fine gentleman of a driver, Shiu, and beside him rode your knight. In another was your things, along with Utahime who wouldn’t dare stay home as you traveled elsewhere—who would help you into your dresses?

And with that, a few more exaggerated goodbye waves, and a tear or two from your dramatic mother (the Queen, mind you), you were headed off to your first destination: The Northern Nation. Home to your first (technically second) target; Prince Gojo Satoru.

m!list | last chapter | next chapter |

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[derww]

the thing that bugged me the most after watching the wormhole video is actually that we never got the proper ending for the main plot line that was in it: parrot and spoke's personal relationship.

even though spoke showed that conversation from the end of wormhole, where parrot stood in front of spoke, clutching the handle of the hyperion, and said that he refuses to let people down even if it means he has to sacrifice something very important to him, this does not answer the question hanging in the air. from the point of view of the narrator, after losing op, parrot seems to lose his autonomy, both as an antagonist and, more importantly, as spoke's best friend, after spoke himself talked almost exclusively about their friendship for an hour, both as characters and, first of all, as real people.

"i didnt just exploit a game, i exploited a friendship i had built over the years.". speaking about both parrot and mapicc, spoke mentions several separate times how much it went beyond just playing on the server, that he abused their real, actual relationship in order to achieve his goal. at the same time, spoke does not tell what happened between them – both characters and people – after him receiving an op. in the jungle part, parrot literally has almost no lines – he just stares and stares and stares and stares. until the very end of the story, he follows the path that spoke paved for him, living in the conditions created by spoke.

we see only glimpses that everything is actually – at least relatively – fine. not only because parrot continues to play within the game, but also how he complains to spoke about the unfairness of using teleportation and that after the season ending he even suggests for spoke to become the new lifesteal owner. grains that do not reflect full image. was parrot horrified and shocked, was he angry, at least for a moment, when he realized how far spoke's manipulation extended, did they have to somehow solve and discuss it, or was he immediately like, "wow, you made a lot of awesome moves, there will be cool content!" and everything was fine? sure, parrot loves risk moves and adrenalin, but wasnt it too far?

can it even be "okay" if your best friend has been manipulating you for months for a personal goal? does this cross the line of what is truly acceptable, even in a lifesteal setting? even if it's all for the sake of shared content, even if the community has the right mentality, even if no real harm has been done, even if you're willing to trust a friend that he won't cross the line, does all this change the fact that it's, in general morality, just plain cruel?

although this is undoubtedly too personal to just insert into the video, it should be noted when the whole story is about abusing irl friendship. although i absolutely understand this decision, this is by no means a critical review, from the point of view of storytelling it is strikingly incorrect, as if in the middle of writing a book the writer threw out all rules.

of course, this is an important conversation to be had on the whole – with the rules never mentioned out loud, with an unspoken agreement that everyone understands what's going on here and how, and what everyone is signing up for, when the price is friendship and connection, how far is it too far? lsers are friends, to a greater or lesser extent, but it's almost inappropriate to answer "everyone has their limits" when a relationship is at stake. everyone, including spoke himself, agrees that what he did in s4 was too much, but there were many, many other moments where everything was not so clear, and, moreover, there was no discussion, even in private, which never solves the essence of the problem.

lifesteal is not unique, but it is a very rare system in how far people can be willing to go in a war against others, despite the fact that everyone is friends: most of the pre–lifesteal stories of this approach took place on public servers and against strangers, and friends' servers either remained frivolous to one degree or another, or were scripted. post-lifesteal, many servers of a similar kind have appeared, but only a small part of them are comparable in terms of the proximity of the players and the rigidity of the approach, because it is incredibly difficult to simultaneously allow yourself to get involved as deeply as possible and, at the same time, having received a knife in the back, not want to bury the traitor underground. It's about trust, and it's about content, and it's so strikingly different for different people, and there's obviously no right answer here.

when playing league of legends, one of the important skills that every player needs to develop is not to tilt. at the same time, take the game seriously, but be ready to let go of defeat, no matter how much effort you put into the game. don't go crazy when you lose a line and die ten times, and jungler yells at you as the worst possible being. it took me a few years to stop tilting, and it carried over to minecraft too – where my friends got upset, angry, and gave up, i learned to just shrug my shoulders and try again. but that didn't teach me how to deal with betrayal, even in-game, because the worst thing about betrayal is that it always comes from someone close to you. not from an accidental co-player in a match, and not as a simple accident, but as an intention to harm, even if only in the game. it is a lot to take, and the cost is too high. and, while parrot and spoke are still good friends, parrot left owner role because of the distress it gave him, so doesn't it show the presence of a real impact.

i like that we got only half-truth tho. because it is who spoke is. when he needs you to believe him, he says something actually truthful, and then – his lie and manipulation, and you eat it because believe everything to be true. even now, spoke continues to metagame. he's fine with showing that he was a dick, and he's using that to cover a part he never wants to explain. and he wouldn't.

spoke tells the truth saying he liked to do the impossible, but it is not a full answer. while s4 ending was supposed to be a relief for him, an opportunity to stop lying and being a villain, there remains something else – not only the showdown, but the guilt, the realization that you were so wrong that you hide huge chunks and you refuse to get them for another year and a half. when everything ends, when there is nowhere else to run, reflection and awareness remain. a year and a half later, from the season 6, spoke can end the video on a positive note, but for that long-time spoke, who had just released the god from his body, covered with lightning scars everywhere, absolutely not feeling like a winner, it was a bad end, and perhaps for his character, it couldn't be good.

how old was spokeishere when he did all this, 16? there is an irony that he is the worldender, the trickster, the manipulator, and he's the youngest of them all. sometimes i want to call him dumb for not being careful enough or anything else but then i do remember how he played everyone in s4. not in a big picture, but in smalltalks, toying people while they thought him to be completely harmless. spokeishere being smart is like lifesteal having its unspoken rules – you need to be too attentive to see it. often it is like a... circles on the water. you can't see a fallen pebble, but you can see the waves radiating from it. and, in the end, he is the one who did it, who succeeded, and who am i to judge him?

minecraft roleplay can do something very wrong with you, how any acting sometimes can break you apart and turn inside out. because while you are letting yourself feel like it's real, it is, at some capacity, can be real. and while it is a known factor of being an actor, it's not something you do think about when you go to play a game with your friends. sometimes it changes something very, very important in you, and sometimes you look back on that experience and realize that it hurt you. or not. everyone has their unique experiences, as always.

also, we finally found out the reason the fishing spot was so important. not only a place of friendship but also a place of the exploiting! yay!

[atangledfate]

Miles gave Belle a comforting pat on her shoulder. It was true that not everyone knew Rouge as well as he and sonic did. She was trouble, and you could only trust her so far as you could toss her. But when things were tough she was always on the right side of things. He trusted her in this, and did not believe she'd screw them over when it came to GUN and it's new leader. he had a feeling this guy was bad news for everyone involved.

" Ah it's fine Belle i know how she comes off, and truthfully you should always be a little wary around her. But when the shit hits the fan i believe she's always on the right side of things... unless it involves the chaos emeralds then she's defiantly untrustworthy hah! "

Sonic snorted a little thinking back, the blue hedgehog had his fair share of issues with her. But he was on miles side here, she was rotten to the core Rouge! but she had to live on this world to, and Sonic believed that under all the sass and devilish motives was someone willing to do the right thing when it counted.

" Yea... took alot of bribes for me to get her to promise not to try and swipe the Sol Emeralds... "

He snorted finding it funny!

" But at the end of the day she always does right by us... heck she even saved Jewels museum collection from what she told me. The Rogues tried to make a quick getaway... and she cut them off at the pass. Course she even returned them... without anyone asking--- that said Miles is spot on, if it has to do with a chaos emerald or a rare gem consider her an enemy of the state! hah! "

Lanolin shook her head at Sonic and Tails defending Rouge like that. She personally didn't trust her, and wouldn't put it past her to rob them all blind. Still she did believe the two that she could be an ally when the world was in danger. but likely for selfish reaosns. Her eyes turned though at Blaze's motion to follow and she made her into one of the private offices. She was curious about what Blaze had to say but she didn't like what it implied.

" So he Survived? I wish i could say i was surprised... But he's every bit as dangerous as Eggman. He likely had some kind of back up plan if things went sour. Still i dislike that he attacked you... he had to be after something... "

She didn't know why he'd be so brazen as to strike at Blaze, knowing she was so powerful. She didn't like not knowing why he attacked her in the first place.

" When this GUN situation is over we should probably inform Sonic and Tails at the very least... I... also want to tell Surge but i have no idea how she might react... and right now that feels like a bad idea "

Miles had such a smug smile on his face at the notion anyone could monitor Rouge. That bat had been a thorn in GUN's side since day one. On some level they had brought her on to keep an eye on her and, tried to black mail her. But it was the worst thing they could have done. She used her access to dip her sticky fingers in all of GUN's dirty little secrets. She knew how far she could take it and what she could and couldn't say. But Miles had no doubt Rouge was already in deep and finding answers for these new players.

" Oh i'm sure GUN thinks the same as you Princess... But ... if that were true they'd have nailed her to the wall years ago. She's very good at what she does... and i don't just mean flirting... "

sometimes people forget that Rouge was a spy among spys. Still he'd send a coded message, either way he probably wouldn't hear back for awhile.

" Heh, Rouge has no love of GUN, she works for them out of necessity. I trust her... and i know she won't get caught... i have confidence in her. "

The Sheep turned her head to the fennec and back to the Princess. She didn't much like talking about them when they could hear. She was fairly sure Kitsunami had keen enough ears to hear them. She respected them enough not to throw any ill shade in there direction. She'd keep it to the facts of the story and, leave her feelings on the sidelines.

" Well... I Only know what was in the reports so--- take what i say with a grain of salt. I wasn't there, but i've heard the story from amy and the others. "

She explained as she gave the Princess a sideways glance.

" Starline was a sort of Fanboy for Eggman, but he and eggman had a falling out. So in a bid to take the power for himself, he opted to create his own ideal heroes. Obviously he used Sonic and Tails as bases ... but instead of mechanical doubles, he used a combination of bio, and cybernetic technologies. "

She explained but looked rather dour after that, as the truth of Kit and Surge was a rather sad one. She knew just enough to find her heart strings tugged. How she wished she could do more then just be sympathetic to there plight. But at the end of the day, she knew they wouldn't want sympathy.

" So he kidnapped something like 100 orphans, homeless... you know people who wouldn't be missed. From what Miles put in his assessment report... was only the two who survived... We aren't exactly sure what he did to them, but the end result is Surge and Kitsunami. Each able to keep up with and in some cases surpass our greatest heroes "

Sure Surge might fall short of Sonic's speed but, a battle was about more then just speed. She beat Sonic in stamina, and strength and raw determination couldn't be discounted. How Miles beat Kit was still unknown because he was such a power house in her mind.

" Well you can guess how things went...Starline was killed by Eggman, Surge... well i imagine she was bitter, angry, and found a new toy of eggmans. Long story short she tore up downtown... fought sonic and tails... who had to team up with eggman just to stop them. We thought they were dead, but then they showed up asking for a place to stay. Considering the circumstance... it wasn't entirely there fault... The Director wanted to give them a second chance to prove they weren't just weapons of starline. "

" I've worked with them for awhile now... i think deep down the genuinely want a life for themselves. They were victims of starline...no different then Shadow was a victim of GUN...i ... believed in them both... i hate how this is all ending..."

[muffinsin]

Hey y'all! Now...we started out with Cassandra and Daniela more than a year ago, added Bela soon after- can you guess what this is about? I figured it's high time to write a little nsfw ABC for Alcina, at last! One tall dragon countess needs some loving, too! ;) Perhaps we ought to get Donna's out, if I haven't yet ;PP Here you can find the other parts, if you're interested:

Cassandra, Daniela, Bela

Let's get into this! ;P

Masterlists

A- Aftercare

Alcina is a very passionate lover. And, needless to say, quite a tall one. Regardless of how careful she is, it's very easy for her to bruise her lovers up or accidentally cut at their skin at least occaisonally- if she does not do so on purpose, that is. From bruises from having their limbs held in place, to the rings caused by her teeth digging into their smooth throats, and various other body parts, all the way to their sore muscles and sore privates, she will tend to it all. It can be said she's very...thourough, ensuring to knead at their chests, and drag her fingertip across perky nipples while she is at it, and thighs and lap up any remaining wetness between their folds when she's done with them.

Her favorite form of aftercare is to indulge in a nice, warm bath together and share some treats, usually chocolate covered strawberries, or bloody ones, in her case. It's spacious and she likes to pull those she deems worthy of her love on top of her for this, allowing them to use her soft chest as a cushion and her beating heart as a lullaby.

B- Body part

Favorite body part of hers: Alcina has long struggled finding beauty in her altered body. Tall, strong, a little clumsy for a long time, too large to fit into anything not custom made. It took her long to finally appreciate some of the perks that come with the mutation. And while it was first her daughters pointing out that only like this is she capable of swooping all three of them up in a hug, lovers she has taken in her time further added a level of confidence to her body: finding it and herself to be arousing, too. Her favorite body part of hers are her hands and strong tongue, capable of bringing those she loves like this immense pleasure. Aside from this, she acknowledges that her breasts are strong and shapely, but finds little care for them within herself, having so often been on the receiving end of unwelcomed stares from men due to them. From her female darlings, her lovers, she does not mind, even dares boldly looking at their breasts, too, when she can.

Favorite body part of others: of course, she holds quite the liking for a woman's neck. She just loves how she can drag her tongue along it, often even cover most of it with it. Her favorite body part of others depends entirely on their physique. She likes soft, large thighs and biting into them. The bigger the better, in her opinion, as it allows her to hold onto something properly. This aside she truly does believe lips capable of displaying a beautiful smile are a woman's best body part.

C- Cum

She's a light creamer, though has paid little mind to her own cum in her life. And while she would not appreciate a lover smearing her cum across her with her finger, she has no qualms at all of eating her darlings out no matter how much cum sticks to her already. If anything, she only becomes more thrilled at the taste of it, but has no true kink overly associated with it.

D- Dirty secret

Whether this is a secret or not, she likes to believe it is. Alcina is into roleplay. She loves to have her lovers act out the role of the maidens, serving her every wish as their countess. Should her lovers, or playthings even- occaisonally, behave well enough and serve, she is outright eager and thirsty to pay them back.

E- Experience

Having lived for a long, long time, Alcina has made plenty experiences. There's little she hasn't tried yet. Domming, subbing, a variety of kinks ranging from degredation and praise to wax and ice, to heat and bondage and much more. She certainly has her favorites.

F- Favorite position

She loves eating her lovers out and being eaten out in return. Regarding the first, she loves to make use of her height and strenght and pick her lovers up, their moans filling the room when her tongue easily finds their folds. Like this, she is not only willing, but eager to devour them for hours, until even her hands give out.

When receiving oral, she loves to sit either by the bed or in a grand chair, her legs spread wide, her head thrown back, her clawed hand carefully keeping her lover in place.

G- Goofy

"Goofy" is not the correct word here, though she does like to have fun during sex. She likes to laugh and smile, tease and hum playfully, though is not one to crack jokes during the act and can, at times, come across as sensual, but serious overall.

H- Hair

She doesn't shave her privates very often, for the simple fact that her size makes this a challenging task. She does not care for it and keeps her pubic hair clean at all times. Should a lover she truly respects, loves, and share a home and future with, her wife, suggest trimming or shaving her hair for her, she is not against the idea. She has grown to care little for such things, on herself and others.

I- Intimacy

While she occaisonally takes in "pets" to spend her time with (and often take her frustrations out on), Alcina does prefer sex with someone she cares for, if only to see them unravel for her.

J- Jack off

While she is one to get in the mood fast, she considers jacking off too often below her. She quite enjoys feeling her underwear stick to her, too, and will eagerly wait until her lover agrees to help her out, or- something she enjoys even more- wait until she is approached and begged to help take care of certain urges.

K- Kink

Having experimented a lot in her life, Alcina has many, many kinks. She's big on a praise and degredation kink, bondage, and wax though. She is not overly big on strap-ons, unless perhaps she's wearing one herself. And still, she knows she has no use of it and is unlikely to use one unless in a specific mood.

L- Location

Alcina prefers having sex in private locations, such as designated rooms within the castle to "play" with her pets. Should her lover get in the mood though, she is happy to take her to her room or any empty, available room instead.

M- Motivation

Being teased and teasing her darling, and seeing her lover flustered is what gets her going the fastest. She loves to draw this out too, however, and is unlikely to give into her lover's needs until she is begged to her liking.

N- No

Anything involving men, that being the presence or mention of one especially, of course. She is repulsed by scat, sees no point in liking feet, is not into golden showers and all belonging to this particular kink category.

O- Oral

She loves and prefers giving it, but enjoys it greatly when the favor is returned. It's her favorite way to have sex.

P- Pace

Quite slow paced. She has all the time in the world, it feels, and she will ensure her lover knows this. She loves to tease and likes a long foreplay and many drawn out orgasms.

Q- Quickie

Unless she's feeling particularly feral, she is not a fan of quickies.

R- Risk

She is hardly a risk taker as it comes to sex. She likes to keep things private, if only because she has a reputation to uphold, a staff to guide, and daughters to raise and love. She would not want to scarr them by risking having even one walk in on her and someone.

S- Stamina

She has incredibly much stamina and can go on for hours with no problem at all. She's grown very good at controlling her own orgasms, too.

T- Toys

Alcina has little need for sex toys, but is not opposed to them, should someone she loves, a wife, wish to try them.

U- Unfair

While she is far less sadistic than others at the castle, namely her daughters, the countess does like to torment her lovers in the sweetest of ways. Her go-to's are degredation and bondage, drawn out and taken orgasms

V- Volume

She's quite loud in general and has spent years training herself to control her moans. Now she's capable of being somewhat quiet, or at least as quiet as someone of her stature can be.

W- Wild card

She likes spanking her lovers occaisonally, if only to see their flesh turn pink with a single slap of her large, strong hand.

X- X-Ray

Strong, large muscles, especially across her back. Alcina sports a tall and very strong body, muscles built up from years and years of training and hunting. Her skin is rather pale and her hands are slightly darker, which she likes to hide beneath her gloves. She sports many scars, especially on her back. The most come from her transformations, while others come from various other things.

Y- Yearning

Very high at all times, though she is excellent at not showing it, unless she wants to.

Z- zzz

It would take a lot to truly tire her out, but she's happy to hold her lover and sleep or work for a little bit, still.

[alexanderwales]

Someone on my discord said that it didn't seem like it would take all that much work to worldbuild a plausible Age of Piracy that lasted for a thousand years. I somewhat disagree, but I think it's an interesting challenge.

To start with, some boundaries:

Piracy is the act of a sailing ship attacking another sailing ship carrying goods for the purposes of ransom, robbery, and taking on new crew from their number. I will also allow some coastal raiding, even if that's not technically piracy.

Any system/culture of piracy is going to have to consider at least two things: supply of ships and supply of pirates.

Any system/culture of piracy is going to have to have some kind of prey. The snake cannot eat its own tail.

The pirates cannot be primarily state-sponsored, though the ecosystem can have privateers in it, and there can be other tacit approval of piracy from higher powers one way or another (especially e.g. bribes).

The age of piracy needs to be relatively geographically contained and relatively continuous, rather than moving from hotspot to hotspot.

So where does this leave us? What are the big problems to solve?

We need a continuous source of trade for pirates to plunder from. This has to be a trade route, or set of trade routes, that's incredibly stable, surviving political and economic disruptions, and has a high enough value that it persists in the face of piracy.

Sort of inevitably, the people trying to move goods from one place to another do not want them stolen. We probably have to model this thousand years as a series of changes in pirate tactics and trade tactics, but also as something that moves slower than in the real world.

As above, you need a source of ships. You can potentially get these from "pirate havens", but that gets dangerously close to being state-sanctioned if this is in fact the source of ships and pirates. So I actually think you're mostly fine if no one is building ships exclusively for piracy (or only doing that rarely), and instead most of the ships come from the major powers building ships. This is historically accurate, with capture and mutiny being the main source of pirate ships.

As above, you need a source of sailors. Being trained as a sailor took some time, and there's not that much room for on-the-job training for a pirate crew, though there is some. So the source needs to be navies or merchant fleets, and they need to be pretty terrible such that piracy offers the better option. And in the real world, there were lots of indentured servants, slaves, etc. who could get a better life by taking to the seas, though they wouldn't start with skill as sailors.

So we are, I think, starting to sketch out some features of the Thousand Years of Piracy just by implication.

We have a few major continents that are separated from each other by major oceans, maybe with some smaller islands between them to serve as pirate havens, secure harbors, etc. These continents have huge amounts of trade with each other that lasts for a millennium in spite of pressure for them to go local, which means they probably can't. They have incompatible climates leading to incompatible crops, they have different mineral wealth, etc. This trade is super profitable, enough that piracy only puts a dent in profits, and is "cost of doing business".

Macro technology is stagnant for whatever reason. The Scientific Revolution was not inevitable, I think all you need are pretty regular wars on the main continents that rip through institutions of learning, or purges of philosophers for ideological reasons, or just political fragmentation that means there's not quite enough stability to get thinkers together. (Yes, we're using instability to create the stability of stagnation.)

Micro technology is ... probably fine? At some point in the 1,000 years, there are changes to the sails, copper sheathing on the hulls, different shape to the bow, all probably fine. Cannons can get better, rifles and pistols can get better, any of this still falls within "1,000 years of piracy". Certain things are there to stay. Other things fall out of fashion.

What is a problem are changes in tactics. There needs to be no particular thing that can cost-effectively be done about piracy for a thousand years, or at least not in all cases. It's easy to imagine pirates as being a part of the risk-reward calculation for merchants, for pirates to be hunted by navies interested in securing trade ... but if they're to stay pirates for a thousand years, then there needs to be no way for them to get into a stable non-pirate situation. It has to devolve into pirates, even if there are points in this thousand year history where pirates get stomped in every now and then.

One of the big risks is cooption or institutionalization of deviance. What prevents the pirates from all taking deals to become privateers, getting letters of marquee from the major powers and agreeing only to attack one side or another? We want a thousand years of piracy, not a thousand years of privateers. What's stopping the formation of a pirate kingdom, or a pirate monopoly, one that stops any upstarts and forces everyone under the same banner?

And all this I'm much less sure about. I think it's plausible, I guess, but if I had to go fill in an actual worldbuilding document where I mark down all the twists and turns, if I had to think through all thousand years of people trying to stamp out the very practice of piracy, all the things they tried and the ways they failed, that's where I think some cracks might start to show.

[xoxoaugust]

bewitched

In which: Reo begins to feel different, excited after meeting you. You weren't anything special or different, but there was something about the way you carried yourself that drew him to you. He found himself entranced, even speechless in your presence. You bewitched him. wc: 1.9k

(Just a quick note, reader likes matcha and listening to music. Sorry if its too specific, I needed something to work with)

Now playing...

Bewitched by Laufey

Reo Mikage never wanted anything, he already had everything he wanted. Nothing excited him anymore, at least since Nagi.

He walks out of the locker rooms after practice, walking down the hallway and up to the front courtyard, rubbing his hands in response to the biting cold before walking up to where his car was waiting for him. Lost in thought, he bumps into someone.

"OH! I'm so sorry are you alright!?"

He stopped, has he met you before?

You stood there in front of him, bundled up in the school uniform.

"I'm alright! Are you okay? I'm the one who ran into you". he says with the signature toothy smile.

"I'm okay! I wasn't watching where I was going anyways". You laughed.

He felt a warm feeling in his face, and his stomach. He laughed with you before saying bye to you. He thought you were the cutest thing ever.

"It was nice to meet you! I'll see you around!" You said before running to your bus stop. He waved in your direction before realizing he never asked for your name.

Yeah, see you around

Reo Mikage didn't get excited anymore, or at least he thought he didn't. Ever since your interaction he's felt...different. He didn't realize that he would eagerly wait for you outside your classes, not even to talk just to smile, wave and pass by. If he had you in his class, he'd stare at the back of your head. He would walk different routes just to see your face. For the past two weeks, he has collected the following information about you.

You were a scholarship student

You liked loved matcha

You always have an earbud in

You were kind, very kind

You used the public transportation

He felt a bit weird writing this down, he had it saved in his notes app and locked with a password.

"Reo what are you doing?"

Saying his soul jumped out of his body is an understatement.

"Nagi! Don't scare me like that!" he exclaimed, while profusely sweating.

"Why are you stalking the scholarship student?"

Reo paled.

"Who? There's a scholarship student? Never heard of her"

Nice save!

"How did you know she was a girl?" Nagi questioned with a straight face.

If Reo could dig a hole in the ground and die in it, he would.

"I can explain I swear..."

The private academy you attended was posh, extra.

Having a cafe, three gyms, a food court and dozens of courtyards, there isn't a word other than extra to describe it.

You loved it though. Walking around the hallways with an airpod in your ear, you stop by what had to be your favorite place. The cafe.

You walked in, greeted your friend (and barista) Rumi.

She was around 21 years old, interning for the school just for fun, she likes the 'ambience' of the place. She graduated from the school around three years ago, and just like you, was a scholarship student. She just understood you like no one else at the school did.

"Hi Rumi! How have you been?"

"Hi [name]! I've been pretty okay, y'know same old." She clicks a few buttons before looking back up to you.

"¥1339.66"

You blinked twice before smiling.

"I didn't even order yet."

Rumi looks at you unamused.

"I already know what you're going to order, the last year you've been here, you've ordered the same thing, a medium hot matcha latte with frothed milk and one order of six macarons." She deadpans.

You smile at her and laugh under your breath before handing her your rewards card.

You take the receipt from Rumi and start to walk towards your usual table. The one by the window with the bulletin board right in your view. You liked looking at that bulletin board, it carried the memories of the past and current students. It held value.

As you walk toward the table, you can't help but notice that its already taken

Usually when you see someone sitting there, you just move to another table nearby. But this specific person, piqued your interest.

"Hi Nagi! I didn't know you were going to be here." You said cheerfully.

Nagi looked up at you and just said, "Hi [name]" in the same mellow tone.

Reo has never been so confused in his entire life. Did Nagi know you? Were you and Nagi dating? Why are you guys so comfortable with each other.

You looked at the other boy, in reality you only walked up there for him.

"I know you! I met you earlier in the courtyards! You're Reo right? I always see you on the way to my classes."

If heaven is a feeling, Reo was feeling it. You knew his name, obviously you did, everyone did, but you called him by his name. Not the one he's known by. Not Mikage.

You called him Reo.

"Oh hi! Yeah I remember you, I meant to ask your name that day, [name] right?"

He's acting cool, but in reality, the sweat pooling in his hands are probably leaving marks on his pants. Especially since he was just talking to Nagi, about you.

He's acting cool, and you can see right through it.

"[name] you should sit with us". Nagi mumbled.

You gave an appreciative look and mouthed thank you to him before you smiled and sat down.

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you know each other?" Reo interjected.

Nagi glanced at you before replying.

"We live in the same complex, we live next to each other, she brings me food."

You rolled your eyes.

"Because you eat like a toddler, I don't know how you haven't died of malnutrition yet." You commented, with a clear humorous undertone.

Reo could tell you guys were decently close, Nagi doesn't keep contact with someone unless he thinks they're not a hassle. He knows that your relationship with Nagi is anything but romantic, or rather he was counting on it not being romantic.

You looked at him, curious eyes lingering on him, his hair, his demeanor. He looked like a typical rich kid, but there was something about him that you couldn't quite place. He didn't seem like the usual 'high and mighty' type. He was genuine.

"Reo what classes do we have together?" you asked him, hoping he knew off the top of his head. Hoping he's also thinking about you.

Instantaneously, Reo responded.

"Oh, we have Chemistry, English, Music theory, and Econ." he smiled.

God he smiled.

To say you weren't internally giggling and kicking your feet would be a lie.

"We should sit together! It would be nice to work with a friendly face."

Reo felt his face turn hot, he hasn't even spoken to you that long, so why do you have this effect on him?

"Yeah of course! We have Econ after study hall, so I can move up to your desk." He beamed. You stared at one another for a bit, not because you're creepy, but because looking away didn't feel right.

"Can I take a macaron?"

Nagi interrupting at the worst time.

He took the macaron off your plate and ate it in one bite, expression not changing at all.

You and Reo looked at each other with the same look, before you burst out laughing.

...

After the bell for end of study hall rang, you and Reo walked to Econ together. Talking so casually, like you've known each other for years.

Reo could get used to this.

The following three weeks consisted of you and Reo, walking together, talking for hours, facetiming, and study dates sessions. You looked forward to his bright purple eyes pulling you away at any given moment, the laughs you shared, the smiles he gave you, you wanted to take it and store it for safekeeping. He wanted to listen to your laugh forever, the only music he would ever want to listen to.

He was utterly mesmerized by you.

And you were utterly mesmerized with him.

But, you were starting to give up hope, did he not want to be with you? Are you just friends?

And he was internally dying, what if you said no? what if he was reading this all wrong?

He learned how to make matcha for you, so many failed attempts he doesn't even really know what it tastes like anymore.

15 attempts.

Thats how many times he's tried to ask you out, but he ends up chickening out, or he can't find the right timing.

The sharpie ink on the matcha cup smeared, or the pickup line was lame or he just kept stumbling over his words.

It was Friday afternoon, you were on the bus going home. Earbuds in, dnd on and zoned out. You didn't realize it was raining until the bus made its final stop to your building. You ran straight out the bus and under the shade in front of the lobby as fast as you could, still wet but it was worth a shot. You go up to the third floor, and unlock your door. No one was home, so you decided to take a nap. All was well until you hear knocking on your door, getting more frantic as time progresses. You shot up, who would be knocking at your door? At 9 PM? You grab a rolling pin from the kitchen and approach the door. You opened the door and...

Reo?

What was he doing here? And why is he out of breath? And he's dripping water.

"Reo is something wron-"

"Wait, please listen before I chicken out again."

You went silent, what could this be about?

"Okay uhm, so how do I say this..."

He pauses.

"I can't stop thinking about you, everything I do everything guides my thoughts back to you. It's like you've casted a spell on me. Im in trance when i'm with you, i'm in a trance when i think about you. I don't know what to do..."

You froze.

Finally.

You couldn't help but smile, something in your chest bubbled with that warm melted feeling.

You paused before finally saying.

"If you don't know what to do...let me give you an idea."

You kissed him, short and sweet with a smile on your face, waiting for him to do anything.

He pulled you into a warm embrace, the water from his hair and shirt bleeding into yours. You two stood like that for a bit, before you pull away and look up at him.

He's looking right back down, eyes flickering at the features on your face.

Standing under the light he looked ethereal, stunning, you couldn't believe what you were seeing.

He stared into your eyes deeply one more time before going down for a deep kiss.

Gentle.

Thats how to describe it.

He held you as if you were fragile, as if you would crumble right before him.

When you pull apart he looks into your eyes, finally asking you.

"Will you be mine?"

Reo Mikage never wanted anything, except you.

xoxo, august

[malk1ns]

january 14 vs kraken, 4-2 loss

i'm tired of this grandpa!!!!

some notes on this one: werewolves, branding, ownership, and a power imbalance that i think everyone is ultimately quite happy with.

It took a great deal of cajoling for Sid to sign off on Zhenya’s return to play for their last game in the homestand. He’d been buzzy and overprotective the entire week Zhenya was out, and add in that the full moon was the night before, the Wolf Moon at that…Zhenya did as much groveling and begging and incentivizing as he could, but he’d honestly expected to sit this one out too. Sid signing the papers allowing Zhenya to play had been a surprise the morning of the game, waiting for him next to the coffee machine when he stumbled downstairs before morning skate.

Zhenya stares at it for a minute, blinking sleep out of his eyes. Written English always takes a while to register when he first wakes up, but he’s just figured out what it is when Sid’s palm closes around the back of his neck.

“If you’re good,” Sid says, shaking him lightly. Zhenya lets his head loll forward, dropping his shoulders down. Sid’s hand on his neck feels amazing, better now than it ever has before. He wants to roll over and show his belly.

“But,” Sid continues, digging his nails warningly into Zhenya’s skin, “if I find out you’re lying about being ready, if you hurt yourself again, I won’t be happy. Alright?”

Zhenya’s right hand moves instinctively to his right wrist, touching the bandaging still wrapped tightly. “Yes,” he says breathlessly, fighting off the lassitude that always comes when Sid scruffs him like this. “It’s good, I’m play.”

“Good boy,” Sid says, shaking him once more before letting go.

It takes Zhenya a while to collect himself before he can start making his coffee for the day.

—

The training staff whisks Zhenya away as soon as they arrive at PPG. Sid doesn’t like it, Zhenya can tell—it’s still so strange, being able to feel what Sid feels—but when it comes to medical stuff he can’t override anyone about Zhenya, so he just frowns after them as Zhenya shoots an apologetic grimace over his shoulder.

He’s marched directly to Vyas’s exam room, sitting quietly on the table as Kevin tugs at his sleeve and unwinds the bandage.

The brand is still shocking to look at. It’s starting to scab over, enough so that Zhenya isn’t worried it will rip off every time he makes a fist, but it’s livid and red over his veins, dark and ugly on his winter-pale skin.

Zhenya loves it.

He’s been begging Sid to brand him for years, ever since Sid took over his contract halfway through the one he signed in 2013 and moved Zhenya in. Sid had been hesitant about the responsibility, but over the summer when he was working out the details of his own new contract something shifted, and when training camp started he told Zhenya he’d do the brand in January.

Zhenya didn’t know why he picked January, and it wasn’t his place to ask. He was just happy Sid decided it was time.

Kevin’s touch as he probes the wound feels wrong, but Zhenya holds still, grimacing when Kevin pats ointment into the scar.

“Looks good, G,” Kevin says, touching Zhenya’s shoulder. “Congrats. I’ll go grab Doc—do you have your form?”

Zhenya nods, fumbling for his wallet as Kevin exits the room, shouting for Dr. Vyas as he half-closes the door behind him.

A few staff members peer in curiously as Zhenya waits, clutching the signed return-to-play form in one hand. Normally he’d wave or make small talk, but he looks down whenever someone pops their head in, turning his arm so the brand isn’t visible.

It’s private. He doesn’t want any random person getting a look at it.

When Vyas enters the room, he at least thinks to shut the door before making his way to Zhenya’s side.

“Geno,” he says warmly, taking Zhenya’s left and and turning it palm-up so he can see Zhenya’s wrist. “Congratulations. I’m so happy for you and Sid, I know how long you’ve been waiting for this. And he signed off on you playing tonight?”

“Yes,” Zhenya says, thrusting the form at Vyas. The paper is wrinkled, but the signature is unmistakable. “He gives to me this morning to bring.”

“Mmhm,” Vyas hums, looking the form over. “Okay, good. Gonna have to get used to that, big guy, you’re not gonna be able to so much as get your Toradol without his sign-off now.” He chuckles, setting the paper aside and pulling a stool up. “Alright, let’s take a look. At first glance it seems like you’re good to go, but I just need to confirm. Oh, and you’ll have to take it easy on faceoffs tonight. I’ll tell Mike, but probably only every other one as the scar gets used to the movement again.”

Zhenya nods, but his brain fogs over thinking about Sid having to sign off on his medication for the rest of his life. The haze lasts for his whole exam, and when Vyas slaps his back and sends him on his way, he barely makes it to the lounge without needing to sit down.

—

Zhenya wants to fool around when they get back from morning skate, but Sid insists on going down for their nap early, tucking them together and passing out almost immediately with his hand heavy on Zhenya’s neck. Zhenya takes longer to fall asleep, but eventually he slips under too, lulled to sleep by Sid’s whuffling snores.

Sid rushes them through their pre-game rituals, hustling Zhenya into the car a full 15 minutes earlier than normal and refusing to provide any explanation, even when Zhenya makes big eyes and pouts. They’re not even early, though—the entire team is already there when they arrive, milling around in their base layers and sucking down last-minute protein shakes.

Sid does the rounds while Zhenya sits quietly in his stall. It took a while to remember where he sits now—when Sid told the team he was going to be branding Zhenya sometime this season they moved him over to Sid’s left, and for the first month and a half Zhenya went on autopilot to his old spot. Sid was understanding, but OC, who’s sitting where Zhenya used to, made fun of him every single time.

A few of the guys stop by to say hi, but for the most part they leave him alone, and Zhenya zones out. He doesn’t even tune back in when Sully steps into the room and starts his pre-game pep talk; he’s heard it hundreds of times by now, it’s the same three variations every game.

He snaps back to attention when Sully ends with, “And we have a pretty big milestone tonight. Sid?”

Sid steps to the front of the room, grinning so big his eyes disappear when the whole team bursts out into whoops and catcalls. Karl puts his pinkies in his mouth and whistles piercingly, loud enough that the guys near him wince and slap at him until he stops.

“Thanks, guys,” Sid says, loud enough to be heard over the ruckus, and everyone calms down. “This has been a really big week for me, and I really appreciate everyone who stopped by to check in. It’s something that’s maybe a little overdue—” Kris interrupts him to shout “A little?!”. A bunch of guys break out into laughter, and Sid rolls his eyes. “—thanks, Kris—anyway, it’s been a long time coming, and your support means the world to me and G.” He pauses, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a thin box. Zhenya’s heart almost stops. “So, it’s G’s first game back, which means he gets to wear a collar now. I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather share this with then all of you.”

When Sid crosses the room to stand in front of Zhenya, the team bursts into applause.

“Hey, baby,” Sid says quietly, reaching down to card his hand through Zhenya’s hair. “You good?”

Zhenya’s frozen, every muscle tense at the surprise and the focused attention of his entire team. He’d forgotten about the collar, but now that he’s been reminded, he can’t look away.

Sid skates his fingers over the side of Zhenya’s throat, pulling back so quickly that Zhenya leans forward involuntarily with a distraught little sound. Sid laughs, but it’s not mean, and he holds the collar up. “Let me get this on you, sweetheart, you’ll like it. Alright?”

Zhenya nods, but he doesn’t need to—Sid’s already slipping the collar around his neck, buckling it at the front.

Zhenya doesn’t even know what it looks like. It’s dark leather, he registered that much, but he doesn’t know if there’s writing on it, or a design. It doesn’t matter—Sid likes it on him, if the look in his eyes is any indication, and that’s all that Zhenya cares about.

“It’s good?” he asks just to be sure, craning his neck to one side and peering up at Sid through his eyelashes. 

“Looks so good, G,” Sid says huskily, running his finger along the top. “Maybe I should have done this at home after all.”

—

Zhenya feels the weight of the collar all throughout warmups. Turbo yells something at him from across the ice, but he focuses on settling back into his routine, on stretching and puck-handling and always, always watching Sid

He downs half his Gatorade in the room before they line up for puck drop, then stands next the door shifting from skate to skate as everyone falls into their places in line.

He and Sid are last, like always. They both slap Tanger on the shoulders as he makes his way between them out the door, then Sid steps close to Zhenya, grinning up at him as they go through their handshake.

Normally after the chest tap, Sid would turn to leave the room, Zhenya would smack his calf with his stick, and off they’d go. Today, though, Sid shakes his glove off, reaches up, and twists his fingers in Zhenya’s collar, tugging hard at him until Zhenya bends down.

Sid doesn’t even say anything. He doesn’t need to. Zhenya knows how he feels, can feel it rising as if they’re his own feelings.

One side of Sid’s mouth quirks up and he lets go, turning to head out.

Zhenya stumbles after him. He doesn’t slap Sid with his stick—he’s afraid any impact would send it clattering to the floor from his suddenly nerveless fingers.

—

Halfway through the first period, Zhenya realizes he forgot to tell Sid that Vyas told him he wasn’t allowed to take all his faceoffs tonight.

The trainers spend more time hovering over Zhenya’s shoulder than normal, and Zhenya tolerates it, pulling his sleeve up when asked so they can check the bandaging. He can feel Sid getting more and more wound up as the period drags on, but he chalks it up to the razzing he’s getting from the Kraken—Zhenya heard Oleksiak yell something about Sid finally getting his hound on a leash earlier.

Zhenya doesn’t care. He’s heard it all over the years. Officials look the other way on wolf-slurs. It used to piss Sid off something crazy, but even he’s able to blow it off more now. Zhenya’s surprised Big Rig is getting him so worked up.

He figures out just how wrong he is when they troop off the ice at first intermission and Sid yanks him so hard into a supply room that Zhenya’s shoulder nearly dislocates.

“Sid,” he complains, but Sid yanks Zhenya’s left glove off and shoves up his sleeve without a word.

He’s boiling mad, and Zhenya wants to cower, wants to pin his ears back and tuck his tail between his legs and whine for forgiveness—except he doesn’t know what exactly he did.

“You promised,” Sid grits out, stroking over the bandage. It’s clean and relatively dry, Zhenya’s pleased to note—he’s been twirling his wrist around when he’s on the bench like Vyas suggested, to help stretch the skin, and it looks like that hasn’t aggravated any bleeding. “You promised me you felt okay, that you were ready to play tonight. Did you lie?”

“No!” Zhenya yelps, yanking his arm from Sid’s grasp. “Sid, I’m say to you it’s fine, like, doctors say it’s fine, why you’re like this?” He’s seesawing between his own rising anger and an instinctive need to cower and make nice, and the extremes are making him queasy.

“You’re not taking your faceoffs,” Sid snaps, taking a step back. The sudden distance leaves Zhenya cold, but he forces himself to stand still. “I’ve been watching. You’re skipping half of them.”

And, oh. Zhenya might be many things; a liar isn’t one of them, but forgetful certainly is.

“It’s part of plan,” he says, slouching his shoulders and shuffling closer to Sid. “I promise, Sid, Vyas says to me this morning, it’s for be safe, take care since it’s first game back. It’s not because I’m hurt, like, try to do to much. I forget to say to you, I’m sorry, but you ask Vyas, he’s tell you it’s true.”

Sid’s quiet for a minute, but Zhenya can feel his anger start to ebb. “You swear?” he finally says, voice softer than before, and Zhenya takes the opening to sidle up to him, pressing their bodies together. “If I really go ask, he’ll tell me exactly what you said, you’re not just making this up to get out of trouble?”

“I swear,” Zhenya says fervently, and he feels it when Sid believes him, practically whimpering at the cool wash of relief.

“Okay,” Sid practically whispers to himself, no more than a breath of sound in the room that Zhenya latches on to regardless. “Okay, okay.”

He reaches up to tug at Zhenya’s collar. “I’m sorry, baby,” he says soothingly. “It’s just…I feel like I have to watch you every second. I didn’t realize how intense this would be.” Sid blows out a breath. “I didn’t mean to yell.”

Zhenya’s already forgiven him. He’s embarrassingly, fawningly glad to be back in Sid’s good graces.

He wishes he could change, slink down into his wolf form and wind himself between Sid’s legs and pant at him until Sid laughs and bends down to scritch between his ears.

Unfortunately, they have two more periods of hockey to play.

[darkserenity24]

𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒐𝒔 - 𝑪𝒉. 10

Loki x Reader

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛.

𝘈/𝘕: 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦! 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵!

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙄 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪?

After you and Loki were ambushed earlier that week, the atmosphere in the tower had noticeably shifted. Things felt unusually tense, to say the least.

The team seemed to be unsure of what to do about the media–and now the whole world–thinking that you and Loki were together. Mixed emotions were coming from everyone, ranging from confusion to annoyance, anger, and even subtle amusement. Tony and Steve were trying their hardest to mitigate any more rumors the press were spreading about you two, but it was pointless in your opinion. Regardless of what the truth was, people would always think what they wanted to.

Then there was Natasha and surprisingly enough, Sam, who were both getting a ridiculous amount of enjoyment from the situation. If it weren’t for Tony being highly peeved, they’d probably be teasing you any chance they could. They still did it, just in private.

You, on the other hand, were mind blown about the current situation you found yourself in. You didn’t know what to think, or how to go about it, being completely lost for words. How could anyone think that you and Loki were dating? Why did anyone think you and Loki were dating? It didn’t make any sense to you, and you continued to drive yourself crazy by reading every news article that popped up on your phone.

You were sitting in the living room, watching the ten o’clock news as they debated on how dangerous your and Loki's relationship was for the human race. But that wasn’t even the worst part about it.

You cringed as the headline ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA’S FORMER LOVER CHEATS ON HIM WITH INFAMOUS WAR CRIMINAL’ rolled across the screen in bold letters. 

The fact that people still believed you were ever with Steve in the first place was enough to send you into a mental spiral. How were you supposed to show your face at school again? It was almost impossible for you to step outside without getting bombarded with cameras and questions. You couldn’t even take a five minute walk without being ambushed.

You didn’t register anything the newscaster was saying, eyes glued to the displayed photo of you and Loki walking in the park the other day. You were staring up at him as he gazed down at you, his jacket dwarfing your smaller frame. His hand was on your back as you both walked back to the car. They made sure to choose the photo that supported their story as much as possible, seeming as if they had caught a very intimate moment between you two. It was hard to say whether the photo had been edited or if it was simply one of those rare, perfectly-timed shots.

As you scrutinized the photo more, there was a tiny wisp of a thought in the back of your mind that you didn’t really want to entertain. Maybe the photo wasn’t exaggerated at all, and even though the media was lying, your intense gazes and the almost nonexistent space between you made it hard to believe your relationship wasn’t deeper than you were claiming it to be.

Whether you both noticed or not, it appeared that you and Loki were giving off the impression of being a couple to those around you. Or at least to the public.

Your close friendship was enough to send people into a frenzy, and they were turning it into something more than it really was.

Your brows furrowed when the television screen suddenly went black. You turned to see Loki standing a few feet away with the remote in his hand. He sat it down on the coffee table before taking a seat next to you.

“I don’t believe it’s wise for you to be torturing yourself with this foolishness,” he said.

You groaned in frustration, running a hand over your face. “I know, I know, but I can’t help it. I just can’t wrap my head around how all of this happened.”

“Perhaps you do not need to put any more thought into it. It is obvious to me that this city is not ran by the most intelligent of your species. The statement about your involvement with Rogers is completely false. These people are absolute idiots.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that at least. I don’t know how the media is in Asgard but I hope it’s nothing like this.” You commented, leaning back on the sofa cushions, face twisting into an amused expression.

“I mean, think about it. Why would anyone believe you would ever want to date someone like me? That’s really the most ridiculous part about this entire situation.”

It was true. Never in your life had you deluded yourself into thinking a literal Norse god from a different planet would be attracted to you out of everyone he’d met before. You could only imagine the long line of beautiful Asgardian goddesses that were patiently awaiting his return.

Glancing back at Loki, you anticipated his signature smirk, or for him to be joining in on your laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation and in agreement with your take.

There was no laughter, no smirk—his expression was devoid of amusement. Strangely, he appeared taken aback, dark brows knit and his gaze sharp and unexpectedly serious.

“What?” You asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” He muttered, glancing away with a thoughtful frown. “Not exactly.”

He didn’t elaborate more, but by the troubled look in his eyes, you got the hint that he probably didn’t want to speak more about it at the moment. 

You blinked, slowly looking away from him in silence, feeling largely confused about his sudden mood change. All you said was the obvious so you did not understand why he seemed to be thrown off guard by it. He didn’t even provide an offensive, but ridiculously clever, quip at your expense. 

It was unusual.

You found yourself thinking about it on and off throughout the rest of the day but it soon left your mind when you got caught up in the busyness of the week. The days flew by before you could blink.

One thing about living in the Avengers Tower was that there was always something going on. Boredom didn’t exist there. 

Between keeping up with your coursework, lab work, and everything else, your schedule was packed and you were pretty worn out by the end of each day. Another thing you didn’t have any trouble with these days was lack of sleep, though when you awoke in the morning, your body still felt like it was hit by a semi-truck. 

You knew you had to do something about your lack of energy and physical weakness. There was no way you’d last at the rate you were going with the amount of dizziness and fatigue you were experiencing on a daily basis. You put up a pretty convincing front around others, but you knew it was only time before you started to show more symptoms you couldn’t hide anymore.

The fact that you had gotten sick in front of Loki the other day raised some serious alarm bells within you. Dr. Cho did her best to handle your care, and you meant that with full honesty and appreciation. You most likely wouldn’t still be walking around if it wasn’t for her extreme intelligence and quick remedies. However, she was not able to give you what you really wanted at the moment.

Though Dr. Cho was obligated to keep full doctor-patient confidentiality between you two, she didn’t hesitate to make it known at every chance she had that she didn’t think it was a good idea to continue to hide your illness from everyone else. She always made that clear to you, but you also knew she wasn’t going to put you at risk by allowing you to try any experimental treatments either. 

Nothing was stopping you from seeking out another doctor who would be open to providing you access to beta-tested treatments or medications with higher risks, but there was no one else you would be able to trust more than Dr. Cho. Even if you wanted to, you didn’t have the resources or knowledge about the right people to go to. 

Then of all people, Kayla found you having some trouble in one of the women’s bathrooms at school one day.

Against everyone’s wishes, you had braved it out enough to go back to school in person. To say that was a bad idea was a huge understatement.

The looks that were shot your way from your fellow classmates, and even complete strangers, ranged from awe to confusion, and all the way to downright disgust. Even some of your professors seemed to look at you differently now. No one had been brave enough to say anything to your face but you caught numerous camera flashes being aimed your way. 

The attention made you sick to your stomach. You were in such a hurry to get to the toilet that you forgot to lock the stall door, and to just your luck, Kayla accidentally walked in the middle of you vomiting your guts out.

“Hey, is everything okay in th- oh my god!”

You yelped in surprise, peeking over your shoulder as you covered your mouth.

She was kind enough to help you up, quickly ushering you to the sink and grabbing a few paper towels before handing them to you.

You gratefully took them, wiping your mouth before thoroughly rinsing it out with warm water from the sink. 

“Are you pregnant?!” She exclaimed, blue eyes wide as saucers. 

You took a few much needed breaths before answering her question.

“No, I am certainly not pregnant.” you grimaced.

Her shoulders dropped in relief. “Thank god, because you would have owed me a hell of an explanation if you were. Did you just eat something bad?”

“Yeah, something like that.” You half answered, attempting to throw her off your scent. You weren’t ready to have yet another person find out about your illness. Wanda was still pissed at you for hiding it but by some miracle, she continued to stay silent about it like you had practically begged her to. 

Kayla on the other hand was not known for keeping secrets. 

“Oh, well let me know what I can do to help. You don’t look so good so I’m guessing you should probably get out of here sooner than later. Do you want me to drive you home?”

You weren’t exactly opposed to the idea of going home with Kayla. You wished you could call Lana instead and ask her, but she was knee deep in her own work and responsibilities so you didn’t want to interrupt or distract her. 

“Yes, that’s probably a good idea. Thank you.”

You followed her to her jeep, you both taking the route to the parking garage that was out of the way to avoid any more unnecessary harassment. You took that time to catch up since you hadn’t seen her in a while. Unfortunately for you, all she seemed to want to discuss were the latest news headlines.

“I’m telling you, I almost choked on my matcha latte when I saw you were on the news.” She chuckled.

You shook your head with a sigh. “The media is bored right now and needed someone new to torment, it just so happened to be me yet again. They only care about me since I’m so close to the Avengers. I just hate that they also dragged Loki into this as well.”

“Yeah, it is super crazy that they would even think that you’re dating him. I immediately knew it wasn’t true. I mean, why would he decide to go for you out of all people? That wouldn’t make any sense.” She laughed, pulling out her keys to unlock the doors to her jeep. “If he were interested in anyone he would probably go for someone with more of a status since he’s a prince and all, don’t you think?”

You paused, blinking in mild surprise. As blunt as her words were, you had to admit you agreed with her. It was almost exactly what you had said to Loki, but it seemed much harsher coming from Kayla’s mouth.

“Yeah… right. I didn’t know that you knew that Loki was a prince.”

“Oh, of course I do, silly!” She opened the door to the driver’s seat. “Right after I met him I immediately went online and researched every single thing about that man, and I have to say he’s kind of hot.” She smirked. “If only I were lucky enough to have dating rumors spread about me being with him. I’d certainly turn it into a real thing. I already told you, if he’s not taken then I’ll happily fill that role.”

Something deep within you despised the idea of Kayla thinking she had a chance with Loki, and it wasn’t just because he absolutely hated her. There was a feeling you couldn’t exactly describe that made your chest feel tight with pressure. 

“I-I don’t know about that.” You hesitated. “I don’t think that Loki’s looking for a girlfriend anytime soon. Eventually, he’s going to return to Asgard. That's really his main focus while he’s here.”

Kayla shrugged. “Doesn’t mean he can’t have any fun while he’s still here if you know what I mean. Plus, him being with someone else could possibly take some of the heat off of you. That way, everyone’s happy.” 

The wink she sent you had your stomach turning, and you quickly hopped into the passenger’s seat, ready to get home already. In your hurry, you clumsily dropped your backpack on the floor, hearing something tumble out of it and roll under the seat. Not realizing your bag was open you zipped it up and searched around for the missing item.

“Here, I think I see it,” Kayla said. She reached behind your seat and grabbed the item before pausing, a slow frown spreading on her face.

“What’s wrong?” You asked. It’s not like she of all people would be offended if it was something like a tampon.

Slowly, she brought the item into view and your face fell. It was a bottle of the most recent medication Dr. Cho had prescribed you to aid with your symptoms.

“Is this what I think it is?” She asked, looking between you and the bottle.

You quickly snatched it out of her hand and threw it into your bag.

“It’s nothing really. Just something I’ve been taking for my stomach ache.”

Her gaze narrowed, suspicion drawing upon her features.

“That’s not just for any stomach ache and both you and I know it. You want to tell me what’s actually going on?”

You quieted, looking down at your hands and she continued with a less accusing tone this time.

“I’ve seen the type of patients that get prescribed these drugs, and they all usually have something in common.”

“I..” you sighed, not really knowing what to say to her. You felt like you were caught red-handed, yet again, and this time it was because of your own clumsiness. She didn’t even have to look inside of your head to get it out of you. 

You decided to give in and tell her the truth. One thing about Kayla was that she was relentless when it came to getting the information she wanted and lying to her would only make the situation worse. You didn’t need another person pissed at you because of this.

“Yes… I um... I’m sick.” You whispered.

“How sick?” 

You swallowed hard. “I was recently diagnosed with cancer. Leukemia to be exact.”

Her breath hitched, and she looked genuinely worried for you.

“What? No...” She looked away frowning down at the excessively bedazzled steering wheel. “When.. How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. It could just be genetic.” You shrugged sadly. “I don’t really have that many people in my real family, and the ones I do have I don’t know very well. My mom died prematurely and my dad seems to be doing just fine. So… maybe I’m just an anomaly.”

“That’s insane. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I like… don’t even know what to say.” She admitted. “Does your dad know?”

“God no.” You said exasperatedly. “He’s busy building his new life in another country. The last thing he needs to hear is that his only child was diagnosed with cancer before she even graduated college.” You placed a hand on your forehead, feeling stressed out to the max. “What can he do, anyway? The last thing I want him to do is feel obligated to move back here. I think he’s happier where is now, and I’m also happy with how my life is. We’re both in better places than we were before and I want to keep it that way.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” she agreed. “This is about you since you’re dealing with it, so you have the right to tell or not tell anyone you want. You come first, so don’t think I’m upset with you for keeping this from me, because I’m not. I totally understand. I honestly have no clue what I’d do if I was in your situation.”

You smiled at her. “Thanks, Kayla. That means a lot.” It truly did. You were glad she understood that this was something you wanted to keep close to you. Because of that, you began to open up more to her about everything that’s been going on concerning your illness, including your current predicament with Dr. Cho.

You sat in the car for what seemed like hours, and it probably was. The more you explained your symptoms, the more her expression grew serious with thought

“I don’t know if I told you before but my uncle has a medical practice in Long Island and it’s a really good one.” She added. “He has a facility that specializes in cancer research and may have more access to treatments that can help you. I’m sure Dr. Cho doesn’t have the current bandwidth to do that for you. Would you be interested in having a consultation with him?”

“Oh. Yeah sure.” You agreed in mild surprise. You weren’t familiar with her uncle, but if she believed he could improve your health, it was worth considering. “That would be great.”

“Okay! I’ll set up a meeting between you two sometime next week. Though my parents will probably want to be there as well. I know you don’t want anyone else to know but they’re kind of funding his research facility so they need to be involved.”

You didn’t know how to feel about her parents getting involved with your cancer treatments. It wasn’t exactly ideal.

“And if you’re worried about them saying anything to Tony, they won’t. I swear.” She promised, finally starting her car. “He doesn’t need to know everything that goes on. He thinks he does,” she snorted. “But he doesn’t know the half of it.”

She was right. You loved Tony like family, but knowing how much he tended to overreact to the smallest of situations, there was no way you were revealing this information to him anytime soon. He would probably just make things worse. You could forget leaving the tower altogether or continuing your work with Loki. He would probably ban you from working in the lab as well with all the various chemicals you were being exposed to.

Dr. Cho had ruled out all of those things a while ago, so none of those activities were contributing to your sickness but they did require a lot of energy to do. Energy was what you needed the most.

You needed the energy, you needed the vitality. You needed to appear and feel healthy even if you weren’t exactly one hundred percent well. That’s the only way you could fight this disease.

You agreed to meet with her uncle. You had doubts that he could solve anything or do much more than Dr. Cho, but you couldn’t go down without trying absolutely everything. You would do everything in your power to make sure you stayed healthy for as long as possible. Loki depended on you.

Later that evening, you were sprawled on your bed, legs in the air, while talking to Lana on the phone.

You wouldn’t normally be in your room before ten but you had a lot on your mind and had to speak to someone about it. 

“I don’t know how I’m going to continue doing this. I can’t even show my face at school without my classmates throwing me dirty looks.” You sighed out in frustration. “It’s like everyone’s attention is suddenly on me, and for what? A stupid rumor that’s not even true? Even if it was, it shouldn’t matter who I’m dating. Oh–and they still think I’m in a relationship with Steve at the same time. How in the hell would I be double-timing an Avenger and an Asgardian prince? Do they think I’m the queen or something? I don’t know if everyone else is aware of this but we don’t have royalty here in the States.”

If it was anyone else, you were sure they’d be long tired of your complaining and moping, but Lana continued to listen on, providing supportive commentary here and there as you went on.

You continued to blab on about the current messy state of your life to Lana’s welcoming ears, migrating from your bedroom and into the small living room. You walked past the large window, watching as small water droplets began to hit the glass. The brewing storm that was bound to happen at any time seemed to match your current mood. Gloomy and dark.

“I’m truly considering if I should just finish this semester at home. Being remote won’t be too bad. It may be best for everyone if I just didn’t show my face in public ever again.”

“I completely understand, girl. I would feel the exact same way. I’m sorry this is happening to you, but you can’t let them get to you.” She expressed. “You can’t let them send you into hiding. Who cares what they think? Hell, if I were you I would be flattered that people thought I could pull both Captain America and the god of mischief. They’re like the total opposite of each other, and that means you have range! I’d wear it like a badge of honor. They’re just jealous foreal.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. The situation wasn’t as glamorous as she was making it out to be but you knew she was just trying to lighten the mood. She had a knack for knowing what to say to get you to feel better. It was a talent.

“Yolo, right? You only have one life, so you can’t let what these randos are saying get to you. So get out there and live! Show them how much you don’t care what they’re saying about you. The more you show how unphased you are, they will eventually get bored and find some other unsuspecting victim to torment.”

You thought about her words, a newfound sense of pride running through your body. You realized that she was right. Here you were, sulking in your bedroom like a helpless victim when you could be out there living your life like normal. You couldn’t allow other people to dictate what you should and shouldn’t be doing, or let their opinions of you slow you down.

It may have taken a lot longer than you wanted to to come to this realization but you were glad to have such great friends. Though you had lost some trust in Kayla because of her brother, Jacob was no longer around, and her recent show of genuine care for you and your wellbeing made you feel as if she was a better friend than you thought she was. Everyone made mistakes, and you needed to cut her some slack.

She also was willing to help you find new treatments through her family’s business. The possibility of finding something that would improve your quality of life, as well as your boost in mood from Lana’s words of encouragement made you feel powerful.

So you decided to do something a bit spontaneous.

When Loki opened the door to his suite, he was surprised to see you standing there in a long raincoat and boots, holding two large umbrellas and grinning brightly.

His eyes were narrowed as he eyed you carefully.

“Please do not tell me you’re planning on going out in that dreadful weather?”

“Nope,” you chirped, shaking your head. “We are going out in that dreadful weather together. Now go put on something warm before it gets worse out there.”

He didn’t look too thrilled about that, jaw dropping as he stared at you incredulously. “You have to be joking.” 

“No sir, I am not. It’ll be fun, I promise! Plus, the benefit of the rain means there’s likely to be little to no press camped outside right now.” You urged. “Will you come with me, please?”

You weren’t one to use pity to get him to agree with your plans, but you couldn’t say it didn’t work whenever you did.

You failed to suppress your excitement when he reluctantly agreed to venture out in the dreary weather with you. 

“Fine, but do not expect this to be more than a one-time occurrence.” He grumbled, unable to hide the soft curl of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

As soon as you both stepped outside, you began to question if it really was a good idea to be out there. The sky had darkened significantly, hanging heavily with thick ominous clouds, and the rain was pouring down harder by the minute.

You stared at the dense sheets of water that fell from the sky while you stood under the tower’s overhang with Loki standing beside you. 

“So… this is a lot worse than I thought.” you dragged out with uncertainty. “I think you’re right, maybe we should do this tomorrow.”

You started to back away, ready to head back into the building and figure something else out, but Loki wasn’t having that.

“Oh, no you don’t.” 

He grabbed your arm, pulling you back towards the sidewalk. “You dragged me out of the comfort of my own space to venture out here, so we’re doing it.”

“But-”

“No rebuttals. This is what you wanted, right?” He tutted.

You were prepared to argue with him for however long it took, determined to not step one foot into the flooded path before you, but didn’t get the chance because you were suddenly pushed from under the shelter and into the pouring cold rain. Without your umbrella.

The shriek you let out was loud enough to scare any nearby people away.

“Loki!”

The large grin that was plastered on his face made you even more heated. 

“This isn’t funny!” you exclaimed, water dripping from your hair as you stood getting absolutely soaked in the rain. “I wasn’t ready!”

He paused in his laughter long enough to make a teasing remark at your expense. “I’m afraid you are now.”

“You think this is funny?” You hissed, watching him double over in laughter, still dry as can be as he lingered safely under the building’s overhang. “Let’s see how you like it.”

Determined to share the wetness of your rain-soaked figure with him, you advanced toward him, ready to pull him into an uncomfortable hug—but before you could do so, he disappeared right before your eyes.

You halted, letting out a confused sound. When you heard the familiar tone of Loki’s laughter you whipped your head to the side, seeing him standing a few feet away from you, still underneath the safety of the overhang.

You were about to ask how he had done that so fast, but quickly closed your mouth when you realized he was using his seidr.

“No fair! That’s cheating.” 

“Is it now?” He smirked.

You stood there glaring at him, plaguing your mind to come up with the best way to get past his magic. There weren’t many viable options, so you played the worst card of them all to get him within reaching distance.

Wrapping your arms around your body, you began to shiver, teeth chattering loudly. “I-If you ch-cheat that means…”

You cut yourself off, feigning a cough as if you were getting ill from the cold. “T-that means-.”

He was near you in an instant, features no longer displaying arrogance, but severe concern for you instead. It almost made you feel bad. Almost.

“What was I thinking? I should not have done that to you.” He pulled you close, waving a hand over your form. You blinked when you realized you were no longer wet. He had dried you completely.

“I am so sorry, Dove. Let’s get you inside before your chill worsens.”

You shook your head. “N-no I don’t w-want to.”

He frowned, tilting his head at you in bewilderment and that was your queue.

“I was trying to say that if you cheat,” your lips curved into a devious smile. “That means that I can too.”

Knowing it wasn’t going to be easy, you used all the strength in your body to force Loki from under the overhang.

To say he was shocked wouldn't even come close to capturing the utterly stupefied look on his face as he stood there, rigid and drenched by the rain. It was your turn to double over with laughter, having never seen him so completely caught off guard.

“You should see the look on your face!” you taunted, giggling madly. 

Slowly, he turned to you, eyes gleaming with a cold, calculating intensity. His usual calm, soft demeanor towards you was gone and it sent a chill up your spine.

“You little minx,” he growled ominously. “You are going to wish you’d never done that.”

Your eyes widened, and when he took a step towards you, you darted in the opposite direction, heading back out into the rain without much thought. The work that he did to dry you off had been completely undone as you ran through the heavy rainfall.

You could hear the sound of his rapid footsteps close behind you. He was right on your tail. Trying to think fast you took a sharp left into an alley, hoping to catch him off guard. You witness him run past without seeing you and you let out a large breath, wiping the water from your face and backing into the side of the building. 

Except, there was something else behind you. Someone else. Long, sinewy arms wrapped around your frame, and your sharp gasp was covered by a large hand.

His tone was silky as he leaned down to whisper into your ear. “Did you truly think it would be that easy?” 

You blinked, feeling mixed emotions of fear and something else you couldn’t really describe crawling up your spine. Something much different than usual.

He spun you around swiftly, pressing your back against the side of the building as his body crowded yours, his hands braced against the wall. 

You were both still breathing pretty heavily from the chase, but you wouldn’t let him think he won this one. The adrenaline in your body had you behaving in an unusual way.

“How dare you use those abysmal tactics to manipulate me? That was extremely deceptive of you. Though, I must admit it did take me by surprise. I’m impressed.”

“What can I say? I’ve learned from the best.” You stated cheekily, staring up at him in defiance. “Regardless, you’re the one who started this. I just finished it.”

“That is not what it looks like, at least not from my perspective,” he teased. 

“Of course, you’d think that. Now let me go so I can go inside and get dried. I feel like a soaked mess and I probably look even worse.”

His face softened at your words, an indiscernible expression crossing his face. A familiar one you had seen a few days before.

“What’s wrong?” you asked a worried frown of your own forming on your face.

He paused for a moment, his eyes tracing your features closely, following the path of the water droplets sliding down your cheek before he finally spoke.

“Would it truly be so unorthodox?” He breathed out.

“What exactly?”

He licked his lips before his eyes met yours again. “Would it truly be that absurd to believe that I would want you?”

You froze, your breath leaving your body as you took in his words. Eyes darting around in every direction, you tried to come up with an answer or a clever comeback, really anything that would suffice. But you were completely lost for words.

“Perhaps you are not truly hearing me when I speak about you, or do you not realize how beautiful you are, inside and out?”

You drew a quick, shallow breath, wide eyes meeting his intense green ones again. 

“It pains me to hear you speak of yourself so poorly as if you wouldn’t be worthy of me when it is the exact opposite, in fact.”

“Loki…”

“Any man would be lucky to have you regardless of your status or species. Anyone would jump at the chance to be with such an amazing woman, to call you theirs.”

He leaned down, face slowly inching closer to yours. “If only you could see how much of a gift you are, Gersemi.”

Your breath came faster, a lightheaded feeling creeping in as you held the gaze of the god before you. Each word he spoke, revealing exactly what he thought of you, left you reeling.

It felt like too much all at once, yet you couldn’t shake the feeling that this was what you’d wanted all along—even if you hadn’t realized it before, even if you’d refused to acknowledge it before

Your gaze drifted to his lips as your body instinctively leaned closer to his. When you looked back into his darkened eyes, a nervous expression crossed your face. It seemed to have the opposite effect you intended—he blinked, as though snapping himself out of a trance, and took a step back.

You swallowed heavily before letting out a long breath. You didn’t know if it was from relief or disappointment. Maybe a mix of both.

With a faint frown, Loki cleared his throat and glanced down at his shoes. ”We should get inside before you end up catching a cold,” he remarked quietly.

“Y-yeah.” you stammered, “I think you’re right.”

Then suddenly the rain stopped. You looked above you, seeing that it was raining around you, but not on you anymore. You looked at him questioningly.

“Wait, you’re telling me you could do this the whole time?” 

“Of course.” You felt your shoulders relax when his signature smirk appeared on his face. “But what fun would that have been?”

When you both arrived back at the tower you went your separate ways. You headed straight for your room to take a much needed long, hot shower. Your thoughts ran wild from your recent interaction with Loki in the alley outside. The things he said and how he said them had you shivering under the warm spray of the shower. It was as if he introduced something to you that had never crossed your mind. The fact that he seemed to already have come to that conclusion and you were just now catching up had you questioning how long he felt that way about you.

You were probably blowing it out of proportion. It was not like he confessed his undying love or desire for you, but it was sort of adjacent to that. You’re not exactly sure what it was, or if it was going to happen again. What you did know was that you needed some time and space to clear your head before you were ready to speak to him again.

When you exited the bathroom, you heard the familiar chirp of your phone. Picking it up, you saw it was a text from Tony.

Come down to my office, I have a surprise for you. Oh– and bring Loki too.

You frowned, wondering what kind of ‘surprise’ Tony had in store for you and what he was up to. You replied to him saying you’d be there in a few minutes and got dressed. You weren’t sure if Loki was ready to see you so soon either, but it had to be done.

You both walked to Tony’s office in complete silence. It wasn’t exactly awkward or uncomfortable, but it wasn’t normal either.

“Kid, Reindeer Games, come on in!” Tony called out cheerfully as you and Loki stepped into his office. “There’s someone that I want you to meet.”

You were surprised to find Steve sitting in one of the chairs in front of Tony’s desk. He turned to you, sending you a reassuring smile.

You almost didn’t notice the other person in the chair beside him–someone unfamiliar.

She was a brunette, and a very tall by the looks of it. You confirmed this when she stood up, smoothing down her dress before reaching a hand out to you. 

“This is Sarah. If things go well, she’ll be working with us for a while so please give her a warm welcome.”

“Oh, that’s great!” You said, shaking her hand with a grin. “What department will she be working in?” You couldn’t tell by the way she was dressed. She looked as if she should be walking in a Victoria's Secret fashion show by how gorgeous she was.

“Let’s just say she’ll be working very closely with you and Loki,” Tony smirked. “Especially Loki.”

You didn’t understand what he meant by that, not until you saw her shaking Loki’s hand, a wide grin spread across her pretty face.

“Nice to meet you both.” She said, “I’m Loki’s new girlfriend.”

**𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵**: 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘍&𝘊 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳…. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘰𝘬𝘪’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪’𝘮 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳.  𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥–𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 (𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘭). 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤����𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩. 💚🥰 𝘗.𝘴. 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 “𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴” 𝘣𝘵𝘸 🤭

Story Masterlist

✦ 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰. 𝘙𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 🤍

✦ 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘒𝘰-𝘧𝘪 ✨: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘬𝘰-𝘧𝘪.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺24

𝘛𝘢𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵: @aintnooooway @mischief2sarawr @talesofadragon @cass0419 @lcolumbia1988 @timeladyrikaofgallifrey @echo-is-worth-more-than-2000  @juliannarayvenne

[pennyhall99]

The Mother, The Comments and The Ship.

Ladies and gentlemen, TikTok has been blacked out for at least 48 hours in the US. The big question is: will Donald Trump swoop in like Spider-Man to save the day? My vote is a hard no, because let’s be real—he’s about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. But honestly, it doesn’t matter to me because this Penny does not live in the good old USA. I’d rather endure a root canal with no anesthesia than live in the US!

But enough about that! Let’s dive into the delightful chaos of our beloved shippers' world! What a wild 48 hours it has been! So, what are your theories about Luke’s mom posting something on some random shop Facebook page that seems to have a whole lot of Newton’s? And by the way, if you're snooping around their private social media accounts and following them like you’re their bestie… that’s just creepy—like, seriously, get a hobby! I don’t like to tell adults what to do, but let’s keep it classy, people! And for heaven’s sake, let’s slap on a happy face while we’re at it!

But hey, it’s already out there, and everybody’s buzzing about it.

Do we smell a heaping pile of BS, or could this actually be the real deal? Spill the tea, folks! I can't wait to hear your thoughts below. 👇

💋