#but getting directly from ag just let me know they should be fine

[dolla-dolla-yeah]

What are your really petty American Girl Doll complaints? Mine are I wish they sold more earrings, I hate the dolls shoes with heels cuz the dolls then stand weird, and I also wish they sold the bedroom/larger playsets accessories separately

[pitchsidestories]

know that you're not alone II Leah Williamson x Reader

Masterlist I word count: 2279

“You know, you can always tell me what’s going on in your mind…“ Leahs words made you look up in surprise. You hadn’t even noticed that you were lost in your own thoughts. With a sigh, you sat up a bit straighter on your team mates couch; “It’s just…“

“It’s what?“, Leah prompted you to continue. She was sitting on the opposite side of her living room on a piano stool. You also didn’t notice that she had stopped practicing.

“I’m not where I thought I would be with 26… and it seems like everyone else has got it all figured out with with marriage and kids…“, you explained truthfully. Leah smiled empathetically at you; “Trust me, no one’s got it all figured out yet.“

“Well, you do.“, you shrugged in response, taking in her perfectly tied pony tail. “I do? I have nothing figured out.“, the defender laughed. You pointed at the piano; “Your career is flying and I don’t know how you manage all the things you do at the moment.“

She was currently learning to play the piano for a performance with the BBC Concert Orchestra and you couldn’t help but be impressed by her eagerness. “I don’t have it either. I don’t manage all these things by myself.“, Leah replied, shaking her head.

A moment of silence passed between you two. “I’m so sick of it, Lee.“, you complained. “Okay, wait.“, Leah started, turning back to her piano but you interrupted her; “No, why don’t those things matter too? That we play for a great club? Have amazing friendships?“ “It does matter. We might not get measured by that but it does.“, Leah replied, before you could continue your rant.

As she played the first notes on her piano, you looked at her in confusion; “What are you doing?“ Your team mate remained silent and carried on playing. You recognized the song quickly and groaned; “Oh no. Not Cat Burns.“

“Hey, don’t complain about her music. She’s great.“, Leah scolded you with a laugh. “You’re obsessed with her.“, you rolled your eyes, amused. The defender gave you a death stare with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth; “Shut up and listen to this song.“

Thankfully, instead of singing the song for you, she turned it on and continued playing along. “Okay, fine.“, you gave in and had to admit that the lyrics of the song really resonated with you.

Still, you had to make a comment about the song text; “Wait, why is she singing about the troubles of being 26 when she’s just 23?“ Leah rolled her eyes at you; “It doesn’t matter what age. The twenties are always confusing and I have a feeling the thirties won’t be any better.“

“Kim and Jen seem pretty comfortable.”, you disagreed winking. The blonde gave you an amused look:” Yeah but I can tell you, they still don’t have a clue what they’re doing?” “Yes, I guess you’re right with that.”, you admitted chuckling.  

The softness in the defender’s features disappeared again and the usual stern expression returned when she demanded:” I am. Now listen to the rest of this song.”

With closed eyes you let the lyrics comfort you like a warm hug from a friend, by the end of the song you had to swallow hard: “Okay, I might still not like her music that much but the song hits right there it should be.” “You just have no taste.”, Leah shrugged.

As usual you couldn’t help but to tease your teammate a little bit: “Rude coming from someone who’s music taste is stuck in the 70s.” “Not my fault that they don’t make music like that anymore.”, the blonde responded with a dramatic sigh.

That didn’t stop you from adding:” But you’re not from the seventies, you’re a nineties girl.” “And? I can still appreciate that music.”, Leah replied unimpressed.

To appease her you took the place next to her, already placing your fingers on the keyboard:” Let’s play another song together.” “Which one?”, she curiously turned her head to face you directly.

Sheepishly you grinned at her starting to play the opening of North London forever:” What about this one?” “My favourite one.”, she answered laughing. You loved making your normally serious friend break out of her shell and hear her laughter fill the room.

Later that day Leah offered you to stay overnight, as usual you were sleeping in the same bed side by side but when you woke up the next morning you couldn’t believe your eyes. “Lee stop stealing my sweaters.”, you scolded her not quite as serious as you liked it to be.

In a sassy tone the defender remarked: Too late.”  “Also, it’s winter break you don’t even need to go to the gym.”, you told your teammate.

Stubbornly she packed the final things into her sports bag: ”And? I still have to get up at some point.” “But your bed is so cozy.”, you countered, wearing an innocent smile on your lips.

For a moment Leah paused in her movements: “You can stay in my bed if you want.”  “Thanks. When are we supposed to meet the girls again? So, I know when I have to get ready?”, you asked her as you were closing your eyes.  Promptly the defender reassured you before heading out of her home: “You have a few more hours.”

With a sigh, you snuggled back into the warm blankets, snoozing for a bit longer. Leah, on the other hand, was trying to focus on her exercises in the gym instead of Keiras video call. “Lee, you have to tell her how you really feel about her…“, Barcelonas midfielder was telling her.

“It’s not that easy, Kei.“, Leah replied between two sets of lunges. Keira sighed; “Why not? I think it’s pretty simple. Honestly, didn’t your self-help books teach you anything about that?“ “Actually, no. They don’t tell me how to tell my team mate that I might have a crush on her.“, the defender rolled her eyes.

“You’re lucky that football is my love language and I only have experience from dating other players, so here’s my advice. Are you listening?“ Instead of Leah, Keiras girlfriend Laura replied to her question; “Yeah, I’m listening.“ “She wasn’t talking to you!“, Leah laughed.

Laura grinned into the camera at the Arsenal player; “I know but I’m still curious.“ “You two need to shut up to hear my advice though.“, Keira reminded the two. Leah took her phone to see her friend better and patiently sat down on her mat; “Enlighten us.“ “Stop being afraid and go for it.“, Keira advised her.

The defender frowned; “Just a short question about that statement.“ “Sure, go on.“ “How many girls did you ask out again? And how many times were you asked?“ Keiras cheeks immediately turned red while Laura hysterically laughed in the background.

The Barcelona player grimaced and admitted; “They always ask me.“ “And now tell me why I should listen to you again?“, Leah asked with a smug smile. “Because I’m your best mate and I want you and her to be happy.“, Keira replied, making big innocent eyes at her friend.

Leah let a few seconds pass before she shrugged; “We’ll see.“ “Can’t wait to see you guys later.“, Keira smiled happily. “Me neither.“, Leah answered before resuming her strengthening and mobility exercises.

When Leah came back from the gym, you were wide awake, having showered and dressed yourself. When your guests showed up in the evening, Leah and you were just in the process of preparing dinner.

You left your team mate alone with the pizza dough and opened the door; “Kei and Lau, hi. You’re lucky we already prepared everything to do the pizzas!“ “And we’re starving!“, Leah yelled from the kitchen. “Same here.“, Keira laughed back and you stepped aside to let the couple into Leahs kitchen.

The Arsenal defender couldn’t help but to smirk at her comment: “I knew you would say that.” “Stop only talking and let’s start doing the pizzas.”, you reminded them why you four were in the kitchen. The mentioning of food made Lauras stomach growl:” Please.”

“Did Lee already told you?”, curiously the Barcelona midfielder turned to you. In confusion you lifted your eyebrows:” What do you mean with she told me.” “Keira shut up.”, Leah demanded while hitting her playfully on her arm.

With a soft chuckle Keira lifted her spoon so the Arsenal defender could see it: “Be careful I’m having the tomato sauce in my hands!” “I don’t care.”, the blonde replied cheerful. Clearing your throat, you intervened: “But I care about the pizzas.”  

“We have enough sauce, don’t worry.”, Leah reassured you. You could feel your muscles relaxing as she softly touched your shoulder. Optimistic the Roma player added:” Yes, they will turn out great.” “Ours yes.”, Leah grinned cheekily putting her free arm around your waist just as to underline who she meant with ours.

Eyerolling Keira countered: “Excuse me I have a Roma player in my team.” “Yeah, but she’s Austrian. Laura doesn’t know how to make a pizza.”, the defender interjected feisty.

Not too impressed by the blonde’s teasing Laura asked her interested:” So it’s a competition of who will make the better pizzas.” “Yes.”, you nodded.  Your teammate confirmed: “It’s now.” “The game is on.”, Keira answered, while throwing flower into your direction.

Surprised you looked down at your clothes who were covered in white now:“Keira what the hell?”  “Barca isn’t good for her. She would have never done that a few years ago.”, Leah sighed out loud. Laughing you continued:” Yeah, she’s getting too confident now.”

After you four put the pizzas into the oven you told them:” I’ll go to the bathroom now and get myself cleaned.”

While you were away the Barcelona midfielder whispered into her close friend’s ear:” Go after her Leah.” “To the bathroom?!”, the defender exclaimed. Winking Keira cheered on her: “Uhm you’re usually in the locker room with her, so there’s nothing you have not seen yet.”  

“There’s a difference between a locker and a bathroom, Keira.”, Leah shook her head. “Don’t be a coward, Leah.” “I’m not.”, she pouted.

A few minutes later you nearly walked into your teammate as you opened the door from the bathroom: Oh sorry, Lee.” “Oh, don’t worry.”, the blonde waved it off. You could sense that something was off with her, so you wanted to know:” Are you okay?” “Uh sure.”, Leah licked nervously her lips.

“You looked like you were about to say something…“, you prompted your team mate to speak. “I… uhm…“ Leah was never lost for words, you knew that.

You cocked your head, watching her closely, before trying to encourage her; “Remember the ‚You know you can always tell me what’s going on in your mind‘? That counts for you too.“

Finally, Leah sighed in defeat; “Are you sure you want to hear it?“ “Yes.“, you nodded determinedly. Another few seconds passed. “I like you.. not just like team mates or friends. You get me like no one else does.“, Leah revealed.

For a moment your breath stopped; “You mean…“ “Yes. But you don’t have to say anything right now. We can just continue the evening like nothing ever happened.“, Leah explained.

She was about to turn away from you and go back into the kitchen but you held her back; “No, I don’t want to forget it.“

With hopeful eyes, Leah looked back at you as you started to quietly sing live more & love more by Cat Burns under your breath; “'Cause if there's something you wanna do, just do it. Don’t let your head stop your heart from moving.If there's someone you wanna talk to, talk to ‘em. Who knows who we'd be if we just live more and love more.“

Biting her lip, the defender listened attentively. When you stopped, she lifted her eyebrow; “I thought you didn’t like her music!“

“Oh, I think our pizza is ready.“, you changed the topic, innocently blinking. Leah suppressed a laugh while you went back to the kitchen, where Keira and Laura had placed the pizzas on the table.

“Ours looks prettier“, Keira declared pointing at big smiley face on their pizza. “No, it doesn’t!“, Leah protested. “Yeah, it does!“ “Children!“, Laura interrupted them with a laugh. You sat down, taking a slice of your and Leahs pizza and happily biting into it; “As long as it tastes good. That’s how you actually recognize a good pizza.“

“Yours definitely looks like it was made with love.“, Laura commented, winking at the two of you. “Laura!“, Leah exclaimed but her face had turned a slightly pinkish colour. The Roma player shrugged; “Just saying.“

“You’re right though, Laura.“, you smiled and reached over the table for Leahs hand. Laura returned the smile; “I know.“ Leah shook her head about the girls on her kitchen table; “I hate you all.“

“No, you don’t.“, Keira countered. “Sadly. But I could need a kiss right now for all the bravery it took to say those things.“, Leah explained, looking at you with a slight pout. You raised your eyebrow, laughing; “From a team mate and friend?“

“Coming!“, Keira answered and stood up from her chair. “I didn’t mean you, Kei!“, Leah grimaced before leaning towards you and kissing you for the first time.

You were so caught up in the kiss that you didn’t even register Keira saying; “Rude. Do you have it on film, Laura.“ “Yes, I got it.“ When you two pulled apart, you saw the other couple happily looking down to the photos on Lauras camera.

[lemonlover1110]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬

Satoru Gojo

[Chapter 12] Appropriate Behavior

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Pairing: Satoru Gojo x f!Reader

Discord +18 - Twitter - Ko-Fi

*hope this makes y'all feel better

Your date progresses as smoothly as it can after Satoru leaves. You try to joke around and completely ignore the fact that Satoru is in the restaurant– It’s hard to do when both of you constantly glance his way to see what he’s doing, to see if he’s looking over at you. You don’t catch Satoru staring your way, but Suguru does. Of course, Suguru isn’t going to comment on it.

Suguru suggests getting dessert elsewhere because the dessert at that restaurant sucks; it isn’t true, Satoru took you there once years ago, and it was delicious but you agree. Neither of you want to stay there while Satoru is there. You get ice cream at a nearby place, and you feel like everything is going like it was at the very beginning of the date. The laughter isn’t as forced and conversation feels more natural.

Your night must come to an end though, and you stand in the front of your apartment a little too early for your liking, but there’s nothing else for you to do. You don’t feel like the date can go any further, even though you had many more plans for tonight. It just feels like everything went south after Satoru walked to your table.

“So…” Suguru awkwardly stands with his hands in his pockets. He hates first dates because he has no idea how to end them. You sweetly smile at him, and he smiles back. “We should do this again.”

“We should.” You answer. And you awkwardly stand outside for a moment or so, before you muster up the courage to kiss his cheek. You unlock the door to your apartment and you wave at him, “We’ll keep in touch then.”

He tries his best to not smile like a fool while he waves back. You enter your apartment, and try to quietly shut the door, believing your son is asleep. But he isn’t. He’s on the couch watching a movie with his grandma who passed out right beside him. You walk over to them, grabbing the remote control and turning off the television. Unlike his father at that age, Ren doesn’t throw a tantrum. His eyes go directly towards you and he runs your way, and you pick him up from the floor. You kiss his forehead.

“Did you have fun?” You ask, and he nods in response. He then looks at his grandmother who is fast asleep. He points at her and you chuckle in response. “What do you say, should we wake her or let her sleep on the couch?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs, and you raise your brows.

“Well, is the couch comfortable enough to sleep on?” And maybe you shouldn’t have asked because Ren finds any surface comfortable to sleep on, so of course he nods his head in response. You kiss his little face over and over again, and you ask, “You wanna sleep with mommy tonight?”

“Yeah.” He answers, and you put him down on the floor.

“Will you get ready for bed and then go to my room while I wake up grandma?” You ask him, and he slowly nods his head. His tiredness gets to him, his eyelids getting heavier and heavier which makes it hard for him to keep his eyes open. He walks away and you attempt to wake your mom up.

“Mom.” You half whisper, patting her shoulder to wake her up. You have to do so a couple of times before she finally opens her eyes. She takes a moment to gain consciousness and when she does, she frantically looks around. You laugh, and you’re glad that it’s something that you can laugh about since Ren is fine. “Ren is okay.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I was so tired and he wore me down.” Your mother apologizes and you assure her that it’s okay; Ren is fine, there’s nothing you can reprimand her about. Sure, it’s dangerous to leave him unsupervised but Ren is a smart boy and she didn’t fall asleep on purpose. “How was your date?”

“Guess who we bumped into?” You respond and she ends up sighing. Maybe she should’ve warned you against dating Satoru, but since she watched you two grow up together, she thought that maybe things would work out. But they didn’t, and Satoru is entitled. He grew up spoiled, how could he not be? “It’s fine. He walked away without saying a word anyway. I don’t think he’ll do much.”

“Hopefully he doesn’t.” Your mother says, although she doubts it. She watched the boy grow up, and while she’s not sure if Satoru still cares about you or not, she knows that Satoru doesn’t like when people use his old toys. She yawns before saying, “I’m going to bed. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

When you get to work on Monday, you’re mentally prepared to deal with a bitchy Satoru. You’re ready for him to act the same way he did when you first started working together. However, he isn’t. He isn’t quite nice either, he’s silent. He doesn’t say anything to you when he walks past you. You don’t know what to say to him either, so you don’t greet him.

For an entire day, you work well without anything personal getting in the way. You hate to say that you like this arrangement better because he’s not the same cold boss, but he isn’t the one that’s trying to joke around with you. He simply does his job and you couldn’t be more grateful. Him seeing you with Suguru was the final push that was needed. Whether you’re okay with each other or not, the fact of the matter is that business comes first. 

You’re working late once again, and he’s asking a million questions. The charity event that’s coming up has to be perfect, it’s the first big event that’s hosted with Satoru in charge, and he can’t afford to screw that up. You keep yawning with every passing second since you’ve been here since the morning, and you’re sure that it’s almost midnight.

“Are you hungry?” He asks, and you shake your head even though your stomach growls. The last time you ate was more than eight hours ago. You don’t want to waste more time, you simply want to get home and go to sleep since you doubt your baby boy is still awake. “I am. You should order some food.”

You glare at him but regardless do what he says because you have no other option but to. He’s still your boss. “What do you want?”

“Whatever you want.” He responds, and you’re about to argue that you don’t want to eat, but you do want to eat. You know you’ll end up wasting your time and energy by arguing that you’re not hungry. Getting something to eat is two taps on your phone screen, and then you can focus back on work. But it doesn’t seem like he wants to. You try to talk to him about the topic at hand but he doesn’t say anything. When you don’t get a response, you repeat yourself, but he replies with, “I’m too hungry to work right now.”

“I don’t see the point in continuing this. We can always start early tomorrow.” You say. It’s not like you can leave when you just ordered food. Satoru raises his eyebrows but instead of agreeing or disagreeing with you, he says,

“Contact the front desk, tell them you’re expecting a food delivery.” And you do as he says. Since he doesn’t want to continue working while you wait, you stand up from your chair and you begin to walk out of the office. You plan on calling your mom (who took after the nanny when the sun began to go down), talking to your son, and then playing some stupid game when Ren gets tired of talking to you. But Satoru speaks up, making you stop in your tracks. It’s a question that has been on his mind the entire day, “How was your date with my best friend?”

“Are you two still best friends?” You ask, turning to look at him. He crosses his arms, leaning back on his chair. You feel your face get warm as you realize you’re the last person that should probably ask that question. “It was fine. I don’t think that’s an appropriate question though.”

“Hmm… I don’t think you dating my best friend is appropriate.” He responds, and you roll your eyes. He stands up from his chair and begins to walk over to you.

“Why not?” You reply. He stands right in front of you, his hands in his pockets. He purses his lips together, wondering if you really asked that question. He opens his mouth to speak but you speak before him, “You’re really the last person that’s allowed to tell me what isn’t appropriate. I hate to remind you that months within our break up you were married to another woman.”

“Well, we were broken up. Not like I was cheating on you.” He argues, making you scoff. Right, just because he wasn’t cheating on you everything is good. The whole situation stops being fucked up. He stopped being your lifelong friend, cutting off all contact with you and getting married, but it’s all fine because at least he wasn’t cheating. “That’s my friend who you’re trying to get with.”

“The same friend who had a crush on me? Didn’t you get with me knowing that Suguru had a crush on me?” You point out, making him clench his jaw. “You’re really no friend, Satoru.”

“Mr. Gojo. We’re in a professional environment, don’t talk to me like you’re my friend when we’re not.” He corrects you out of spite, and you roll your eyes at him. He says through gritted teeth, “Would you have chosen him over me?”

“Didn’t you just say that we’re in a professional environment? Why are you asking me this question, Mr. Gojo?” You laugh in disbelief. He bites his tongue and you sigh in response before nodding, “I would have chosen him over you. Suguru has never and will never treat me the way you treat me. Do you remember why you stopped being friends with me when we were preteens? Because you didn’t want to be friends with the poor girl. Suguru never thought of me as less than, but you– You’ve always managed to make me feel inferior even when you weren’t meaning to.”

It’s all lies. Given the option you would choose Satoru over and over again.

“You’re basing your answer off something that happened when we were twelve?” He asks, and you nod your head in response. You won’t elaborate further about all the instances. It doesn’t matter anyway.

“This isn’t something that we should discuss. It doesn’t matter now anyway, what’s done is done.” You say. “You’re married. Why does it matter if I had chosen you or Suguru? We don’t end up together anyway.”

“Because it hurts me.” He’s honest, and you puff out a breath. You inhale and think of what to say next. You’re definitely not getting out of work after dinner so you might as well try to make things less awkward for the night.

“Let’s get even then. If we were eighteen again and Sayo was friends with you, would you have chosen me or her?” You ask, and you feel your heart get heavy. Maybe you understand why he feels hurt because knowing that a man you loved so dearly for so many years, wouldn’t choose you if he had the chance to go back in time. But it’s not your fault. He chose to leave you. He takes two steps closer to you, dangerously getting closer to you. “Would you have chosen me or Sayo?”

“You. I would’ve chosen you.” Satoru’s hands cup your face and you watch his face creep closer to yours. You watch him, and maybe you should push him away but you’re too dumbfounded to say anything. Before you can even say anything, Satoru’s soft lips press against your own.

Your eyes are wide open as you feel his lips on yours. Should you push him away? What the actual hell is he doing? He’s married– He’s fucking married and he said he would’ve chosen you. He’s a piece of shit. He’s a fucking jerk kissing another woman that isn’t his wife.

You aren’t proud as you shut your eyes, your hands going behind his head and pulling him closer.

[skipper1331]

Loving Esme // Esme Morgan

a/n: based off this and this request:)

Loving Esme was the easiest thing in the world and always had been.

You fell in love with her the moment you saw her.

Back then, you didn‘t know what love was and neither did she, but you knew that she was special.

The two of you became friends in an instant as you shared the same interests and hobbies. You wanted to spend every second of the day with her, play football, read books or no matter what. As long as Esme was there, you were the happiest girl in the world.

With 15 you realized that the feelings you had for the blonde weren‘t just friendly but much more. It scared you.

Age 15

"How do you know if you like someone?" you asked Esme who was sat at her desk, doing some homework while you relaxed on her bed. "Well, I think you should feel butterflies, that weird sensation in your stomach when you are near that person. But you should also feel nervous and shy, afraid what to say because you want to impress that person. A racing heart and sweaty hands is also a sign yet always feeling comfortable and secure in their proximity. If you like someone that someone could never do anything wrong because they are too perfect to do anything wrong. Their laugh is like music to your ears, the sound of their voice is angelic and the slightest touch of skin burns your skin…" Esme told you as she didn’t even look from her work.

To you, it sounded like Esme talked about the feeling of being in love like she had read in her many romance books. What you didn’t know nor did she realize was that she in fact described the things she felt when she was with you.

When no answer came, the blonde turned on her chair, looking directly at you "Do you like someone?" a frown displayed in her face.

"No"

Lie.

Esme turned back on her chair, trying to focus on her work. You had lied to her, you have never done before. Why now? Did you like someone? Why would you lie about that? Why would you lie to your best friend?

Silently, you slapped your forehead. You were such a bad liar and Esme knew you better than anyone. Of course, she knew you were lying, her eyes gave it away.

Why couldn't you tell her the truth?

You felt exactly as she had described.

Because you had these feelings for her.

Those feelings got exposed two weeks later.

Bothered by your lie, Esme couldn’t think about anything else. Did you realize she talked about you? Are you in love with someone?

The two of you didn’t hang out as much as before. It felt weird not seeing each other every day - the blonde always some excuse ready. She didn’t understand her behavior but she felt like that was the only way to protect herself. She didn’t realize that that was the cause of so much pain. Her own pain and yours - she never wanted to hurt you.

When you asked if she wanted to hang out because you missed her, she already had plans.

"Sorry, mum asked me to help in the house today. Maybe tomorrow" she said, not looking in your eyes, her voice higher than usually - she was lying.

"Fine" you replied grumpy, walking away. Why was she lying? Did she not want to be friends with you anymore? Have you done something wrong? The defenders eyes followed you until you were out of sight.

You deliberately walked the longer way home to calm down. Unfortunately it didn't work as your frustration was still very present. It wasn't just the frustration that was bothering you, but the warm feeling that filled your heart when you thought about Esme, even though you were annoyed with her.

You had to talk to her, you couldn’t leave it the way it was at the moment. It not only annoyed you but hurt too.

"Where are you going?" your mother asked as you marched down the stairs, determined to talk to Esme - to get your girl.

"Esme‘s"

-

You knocked on the door like your life depended on it, knuckles already red when finally someone opened it.

"Y/n? What are you doing here?" the person you wanted to see answered, "come in" as she stepped aside, letting you enter her home, your second home.

"Your mum isn’t here" you stated, "you‘re alone at home."

Shamefully, the blonde looked down on the floor, "i am"

"You lied to me"

"I didn’t mean to" the blonde started to walk to her room, not wanting to discuss this with you right in front the front door as one of her family members could come home any second.

Following her, "Why did you?" your voice was quiet, afraid of the answer.

"You lied to me too" she defended herself, pacing around in her room, "why didn‘t you tell me you like someone?" she asked, catching you somehow off guard. You knew that she had caught you lying that day. "Who do you like?"

"You lied to me, because I lied to you, is that what you‘re saying? Esme! What kind of behavior is that?" your voice started to raise, the built up frustration discovering the surface.

"And what is yours?! Since when do you lie? You‘re the worst liar I know!"

"Of course I am! I hate lying, especially to you! It was a reflex" you tried to explain, arms flying wildly around.

"Reflex?" Esme’s voice lowered, not liking the loud shouting atmosphere.

"Yeah" you shrugged your shoulders, your voice dropping quite as well, "I lied because I panicked. And I panicked because the- the feelings you explained, I feel them. For you" your heart stopped beating, your hands shaking, mind spinning. Did you really just admit your feelings?

"I love the way you laugh, I love the way you smile, I love the way you talk about the world, i love that you‘re the most supportive, sweetest and caring person I know. I want to be around you all day long because you make me happy and nervous. I don’t want to be your friend, i want to be much more."

Because loving Esme was the easiest thing to do.

The widest smile appeared on Esme’s face as her eyes shone with so much happiness, "can i take you on a date?" she smiled, stepping closer to you, slowly taking your hands.

Your smile matched hers when you heard her question, "yes please" you answered, standing on your tip toes to press a kiss to her cheek. She blushed furiously in response.

"I really didn‘t mean to lie, i was- jealous of you possibly liking someone that isn‘t me"

Age 17

"Do you want kids in the future?" your girlfriend asked as the two of you laid in the garden, stargazing. Your head rested on Esme‘s shoulder, her arm wrapped around you as your legs tangled together.

"Yes, a boy and a girl" you replied sheepishly, the stars so clear, "the boy as the firstborn, so he can protect his little sister"

The sweet girl giggled "small perfect family" yet secretly loving the idea as she imagined little yous running around.

"Do you ever want kids?" you prompted yourself on your elbow to look at the blonde - she looked breathtaking under the moonlight. "I want everything you want" she was completely lost in your eyes, their sparkle something magical as her hand reached up to brush the loose strand of hair behind your ear. She was falling in love with you all over again.

In that moment, no words were exchanged, the loving looks telling more than words ever could. Leaning down, you pressed your lips against the defenders, the butterflies erupting in your stomach as your cheeks caught fire - nothing could compare to the sweet kisses you shared with Esme.

Loving Esme was the easiest thing to do.

Age 20

Sitting next to Esme‘s family in the family and friends section of the stadium, you waited for the Manchester Derby to start. You were wearing your girlfriends jersey, her name and number across your back which always made her heart melt. You looked so cute in sky blue.

You loved derbies almost as much as Es did, the excitement and enthusiasm radiating off her body weeks before match day.

You cheered for the tall blonde as if you were her biggest supporter - which you were, in fact and always had been.

Every time she won the ball and each clean tackle made your heart swell with pride. That was your girl!

The game was thrilling as City and United had their chances. Games like these were always intense, both teams wanting to show what colour Manchester had.

The game ended in a solid 2-0 win for the sky blues, your girlfriend already happily walking over to you after she had shook hands with her opponents and talked to her friends for a few minutes.

"Hello my love" she smiled, her voice raspy from communicating on the pitch. It made your knees buckle every time.

"Hey my superstar" you grinned, leaning up to kiss her. Immediately, her arms went around your waist, pulling you close as took in the atmosphere.

"Marry me" she whispered, completely dazed "I want you to be my wife"

Confused, you took a step back. Was she high? "Are you messing with me?" you chuckled nervously, eyes darting around her face, searching for any signs of joking.

"No. Seeing you in my jersey, with my name on your back - i want it permanently. I have the ring hidden in my car since months, but it never felt like the right moment. But now it does. I know this isn‘t the way you probably wanted to get propo-" you launched forward, cutting the blonde off as you connected your lips in a public appropriate kiss which was yet passionate.

"Ask me"

"Will you marry me?" she asked, eyes locking with yours at each word.

It didn‘t matter if it was the way you imagined that she would propose,

it didn’t matter that it wasn‘t the way she had planned to propose,

all that mattered was that it was the just two of you.

"Yes!"

And loving Esme was and always had been the easiest thing to do.

Age 26

"Did you ever believe we'd make it this far?"

Three years ago, your beautiful baby boy greeted the world. He looked like a mini version of Esme - blonde hair, eyes sky blue.

He was playing in the sandpit in your garden while Esme and you had an watchful eye over him, her arms wrapped around your stomach, head resting on yours.

"Mama! Mommy! Look!" proudly, he showed you his sandcastle, the boy more interested in building stuff than kicking the ball - Esme had tried often enough to play with him but he just wasn’t a footballer.

"I always believed in us" you replied, melting further in her touch after both of you had answered your son.

"Let me rephrase it, my love. Did you ever think our dreams would come true?"

Her fingers drummed softly on your pregnant belly, declaring her question.

Your firstborn was a boy, always like you wished for. And in not even two months, your baby girl would greet the world - the fairytale you always wanted.

"Yes, because loving you was the easiest thing to do."

[cinnamontoastcrunch-15]

Today's @wolfstarmicrofic is a Roommate AU!

(872 words.)

James is slowly going mad.

No, not even slowly. He's fallen straight into madness, and he doesn't know how to save himself.

When Sirius asked if one of his course mates, Remus Lupin, could move in for a while, of course, he said yes. Remus had been going through something, and James is always happy to help. Not only that, but Remus is bloody brilliant. He went from being shy, fairly withdrawn, to a hilarious, witty person who James is happy to call his friend.

Sirius clearly doesn't just want to call Remus his friend.

James doesn't think he can watch the two of them practically undressing each other with their eyes at breakfast, accidentally reaching for the same thing and blushing like idiots while they apologise, or trying their hand at fucking awful flirting. It's getting painful, the clear fact that they've fallen for one another right in front of them, while they dance around it like they've never been certain of anything less in their lives.

To be perfectly honest, James is starting to wonder if he should just lock them both in a room and-

"S'fine, I don't care," Sirius' voice cuts through James' thought process as he steps out of his bedroom and into the kitchen. James looks up just in time to watch Remus following behind him hurriedly. So quickly that he almost walks directly into Sirius when he stops and turns around to face him. "I'm not carrying you through the project just because you forgot you had shit to do, though. You can do your part later."

"When have I not done my work, Sirius? Christ, at this point I thought you'd trust me. I already apologised for forgetting!"

"Mhm, and I've already said I don't care. Go have fun on your date, Remus," Sirius says back, just a hint of bitterness settling in his words. It really does sound like he cares.

Remus must be thinking the same thing, because he walks out without saying another word. Sirius immediately heads to the fridge, dropping his head against the door and letting his shoulders slump with a sigh.

"Oh, Sirius, you're a fucking idiot," Sirius groans to himself under his breath. James chuckles.

"Agreed."

"Jesus buggering Christ!" Sirius jumps a mile, practically falling into the counter as he whips his head around to face James. "How long have you been sitting there?"

"Long enough to watch that trainwreck," James answers simply. For some reason, Sirius seems to decide that it's the perfect time to play dumb.

"What d'you mean? It's fine, Remus is just..."

"Going on a date," James fills in. "With someone who isn't you. Which, by the way, is really bloody stupid of him, so at least you've got that in common."

"No, that's not- I don't..."

All James needs to do is arch an eyebrow, and Sirius' shoulders slump.

"Okay, fine, yeah. I really like him."

"No, really?" James asks sarcastically. At Sirius' unamused look, he keeps talking. "Sirius, I'm not being funny, you should see the way he looks at you when you're not looking. Or even when you are, actually. I'm surprised you haven't seen it! You should have asked him out months ago."

"God, I've really fucked it up, haven't I?" Sirius groans, scrubbing a face over his hand. "I wanted to tell him ages ago, I swear! It's just, he-" Sirius drops down into the chair opposite James, eyes fixed on his hands. "He was going through a lot, and then I was asking him if he wanted to move in before I knew what I was saying! How am I meant to tell him anything when he's living in the same flat as me? That could go so wrong, James. I could literally ruin everything!"

Okay, James is at a loss for words. That's... a lot, and Sirius is clearly stressed out. He opts for reaching across the small table and squeezing Sirius' shoulder. Before he can say anything comforting, though, a rustle comes from the door. Someone's trying to get in, and if they have a key, they're really struggling to use it.

Sirius walks over to the door with a confused frown, pulling it open to find Remus, key held out and a stunned expression on his face. James watches the two of them hesitate in front of one another for a moment.

"Remus? What-?"

Before he can say another word, Remus expression fixes to one that James can only describe as determined, before he surges forward and connects his and Sirius' lips. Sirius staggers backwards for a moment, caught by Remus hands sliding around his waist as he reaches his own up to the nape of Remus' neck.

James doesn't know whether or not he should be averting his eyes. Thankfully, they decide that for him, Remus pulling away and starting to speak hurriedly.

"I got halfway down the street and realised that I was being so fucking stupid. I really like you, Sirius. I have for so long, and I guess I thought maybe a date would help me get over it but, God, all I wanted to do was come back here and see you, so..."

Okay, so they're both idiots.

Still, by the look on Sirius' face, he has a feeling that they're finally getting their act together.

[hotchfiles]

❝ ['CUZ YOU'RE A NATURAL] ❞ — a in this house of mine prequel ; MDNI!

pairing: aaron hotchner x rossi!reader. summary: not having a crush on your dad's friend and co-worker should be rule number one. but what are rules when said friend is aaron hotchner? content warnings: this is suggestive at best. foul language? still let's go with MDNI! age-gap flirting. word count: 1k. a/n: might do a pt.2, i just needed to get this out of my brain.

He’s just pretending not to notice it at this point, which isn’t easy coming from a person who notices everything. Coming from the man who helped build the unit that literally analyzes people for a living. 

Granted he wasn’t the most present of fathers and he wasn’t even sure if your mother was his second or third ex-wife anymore, but he knew human behavior, and human behavior clearly showed there was no reason for you to be there, “Kid, I’m sure you hate sports of any kind.” David comments, observing as you make sure Jack’s shoes are tight and won’t get in his way. 

“Well dear father, actually, I was a cheerleader for my last three high school years. And the first two college ones.” He knows that, and you know he knows it, but your best way out of the mess you were purposefully getting into right now was to appeal to the guilt you knew he still had from not being around much. “Base of the pyramid, very important, sporty, love sports.” You noticed you were going on for too long and shut your yapper.

Lucky for you Aaron didn’t seem to mind the two of you discussing, busy watching his baby boy with the most sweetest look on his face, he looks ethereal, his smile the most enchanting you’ve ever seen. 

You can feel your father’s glance going from you to Aaron slowly, he’s observing, analyzing but trying hard to ignore the signs. The signs that you weren’t there for some dad and daughter bonding.

Unless the dad in question was Hotchner.

The sole reason you had put yourself in short rounded skirt, sports short underneath, gym sneakers and shirt, and an old baseball cap to make it look like it wasn't so out of the norm for you to be at an event like that. It was. Your dad was right, you didn't like sports, you liked cheer squad and the parties and the players, not the game. But you had your eyes set on the coach today which is why you were there instead of working on your masters' assignments.

You couldn't even pretend to know what was going on, if it was football you had some experience from watching and hearing past flings talk about it, but soccer? You could only cheer for Jack and bicker with the soccer moms around as they talked about how much better their children were.

"Hey, lady if your son gets that close to Jack again I'm gonna jump him." You point your finger at one of them, decorum almost goes to hell as she begins walking in your direction, Rossi stepping in the way to apologize for your behavior.

Oh. You can't just threaten to hurt kids. That's not okay. "Sorry, just used to fighting with guys' girlfriends to defend my team. Cheer squad reflex memory." You say lowly directly to Aaron, not even bothering to apologize to your father. Your cheeks tomato red, a combination from the embarrassment and the sun that was making everyone sweat.

"It's fine, she has to teach her son fair play anyway, he's not gonna go far like that." His expression doesn't show even one single sign of being mad at you, you notice it, Rossi notices it. Aaron's actually smiling, completely amused by the situation.

It was nice to have someone sticking up for his boy like that.

And to have someone look at him with those eyes. Not the aw you're such a good dad eyes most mothers gave him when he's around for matches. Nope. The please fuck me eyes you always shot at him even if your father was around. For the sake of his loyalty to Rossi he pretended not to see it, as he knew Rossi did too. He hoped David didn't notice the eyes he himself gave you though, or that if he did, he was kind enough to ignore it, Aaron would never act on it. Never. He was twice your age if not more even if he weren't friends with David.

Still, he enjoyed the touches, the stolen glances, the way you wore your short dresses and skirts around him, the way you showed you cared above the desire for the unobtainable. How you sent him cute videos with show Jack as a caption, how you remembered to bring a towel not for yourself, but to pat his face dry, delicate as ever.

"People will think you were the one playing sweating like this." You go through his face and his neck with it, handing him a water bottle after. You brought those yourself too, you wanted to be useful.

Before he can hold it back, a smirk deliciously mischievous takes grip of his lips, "What can I say dear, I tend to sweat a bit when I'm doing any type of exercise." You're not sure if you wished you hadn't caught the innuendo of his reply, as you were now fighting hard not to squirm in front of him. Oh you wanted nothing more than to be the one making him sweat.

"Good thing your bedroom has an A.C then." You say almost mindlessly, panicking just a tad when you grasped the idea that maybe remembering that so easily wasn't the most normal thing to do. Did you just sound obsessive? Stalkerish? You think not when he chuckles, nodding in agreement.

You both just look at each other for a minute, breathing patterns completely irregular, being interrupted only by your father loudly coughing from some steps away from you both, tired of having to deal with the obvious tension between his daughter and his co-worker, his friend! Rossi doesn't say anything else though. And neither does Aaron or you, deciding to just go back to paying attention to the match.

But Hotch had just got you an in. If he hadn't flirted back you might just keep it as a crush, but now?

Now you needed him.

[iloveaustinelvisandmannymore]

Guilty love.

Pairing: Toji Fushiguro x chubby reader

Part 2, part 3.

Warning: Augst, Breeding kink, Infidelity, Creampie, Unrequired love, Dilf Toji, Degradation, Daddy kink, Dirty talk, Spanking, Use of the word Fat, Hair pulling, Fingering, Crying, Possessive sex, Toxic Toji? Drinking, Age gap (Mc in her early 20s, Tojis in his 40s).

Summary: Loving Toji Fushiguro wasn't easy, especially if you weren't supposed to. You're just the babysitter and a side piece to him, your guilt finally reached its peak when Toji and his girl decided to upgrade their relationship. So with a heavy heart, you left but it seemed you couldn't escape Toji just like that.

Moonlight shined through the wall-length windows of Toji's massive bedroom. 'Or Nah' covered by SoMo was playing in the back, and The bed creaked roughly

"Fuckin' love poundin' this juicy ass pussy." Toji growled above you as he held you in a chokehold, his hips smacking into your plumb ass, his heavy balls slapping your sensitive outer lips and clitoris. Tears cascade down your cheeks, as choked words, and moans leave you, the harsh strokes of his monstrous cock. His grip around your neck tightens "What do ya say when daddy compliments ya?" he bit your lobe and loosened his grip "Thank yoahhh!" you cried, as his other arm snaked under your tubby belly and lifted you into a semi-doggy style, forcing himself balls deep.

His bulbous head pushed against your cervix, sending a burning pleasure up your spine. He slowly pulled out until only the tip was out before slamming back in, jolting you up the bed, he repeated this three times then finally found a pace just as punishing. Your eyes rolled back as you let out silent screams, every thrust into your cunt hit that spot that made your toes curl and each thrust helped tighten that knot inside.

"Daddy wanna..wanna cum!" you choked out, clawing at the expensive black silk bedsheets "I don't know do ya deserve it fuckin' whore?" toji grunted rolling his hips "Please!" you whined unable to form a real sentence, your pussy clenching down.

Toji groaned as you clenched around him "Fine. Cum f'me babydoll." he ran his hand down your stomach to your pearl and rubbed with his rough finger. You sobbed as your release gushed around Toji's cock and onto his balls triggering his climax, a hot bunch of cum filled your womb "Damn woman." Toji took a sharp inhale before reluctantly pulling out. Exhaustion settled in quickly as your eyes closed, the last thing you felt was a wet sensation between your legs, cleaning up the mess there before the bed dipped and a strong arm pulled you into a muscular chest.

You groaned as the sun's light beamed directly on your face, turning on your back and you opened your eyes, After looking at the ceiling you got up, your knees almost buckled from non-use and the soreness was a frequent visitor. You shakily walked to the master bathroom "Well hello sleeping beauty." Toji smirked at you through the mirror taking in the absolute mess he made of you all while trying and failing to tie his tie for his job, "Let me help." You rolled your eyes and walked to him as he turned to you and bent down so you could reach it. Toji's emerald eyes watched as the determination on your face hardened as you struggled a bit, his lips twitched as you smiled after getting it just right "There all don-" you froze, just now noticing how close he was than before, his lips inched closer to yours, so close they almost touched until the blaring sound of Megumi's alarm clock when off and Toji pulled away "You should go." Toji spoke with no emotions in his face or voice. He did a quick once over in the mirror and left the bathroom to his son's room, not a single goodbye to you.

You sighed, got dressed, and left the luxurious penthouse. You walked home, ignoring the stares and whispers you got every time you went out, didn't faze you anymore, when you first moved to Japan and away from your home country it bothered you so badly but as time passed it was nothing. The only thing you could think about was the almost-kiss you shared, You remembered when you and Toji first started this babysitter-friends-with-benefits he set three rules,

Number one: No falling in love.

Number two: No kissing.

Number three: No telling anybody else.

And of course, you had to broke Number One.

Tomorrow was another bright day, the birds sang a beautiful song, and the weather was warm, perfect for a day at the park and having some ice cream. It was a Saturday and little Megumi was going to be bored inside though sometimes it was hard to read his emotions something he shared with his father. You stood in front of the door and fixed your clothes before knocking, a happy smile on your face as you waited for Toji to open the door "Oh heyy, you're the babysitter right?" a familiar pretty Japanese girl with dyed light pink hair with cat-like brown eyes answered the door, a grin stretched on her natural rose pink lips, wearing jean booty shorts and a white with bright pink sleeves crop top. A sliver pretty pendant Toji written in cursive around her neck, glared at you, reminding you were nothing compared to her status with Toji. "Yep that's me.." you muttered looking anywhere but at her, the guilt that you were being fucked by her boyfriend and not only that but you also loved him too, raised. "Who is it Himari?!" a deep baritone voice asked, "It's the babysitter!" she called back past her shoulder Suddenly a thud and pitter-patter of small feet came from the penthouse until Megumi's cute face peeks through Himari's legs "Baba's here!" Megumi smiled and crawled through the woman's legs ignoring the squeak of surprise from Himari and hugging your legs.

"Hello little Megi." You giggled as he made grabby hands for you, "I forget ya was comin'." Toji walked up behind Himari and wrapped his beef arms around her small waist, watching with mild interest as you picked up the five-year-old and sat him on your hip "Where you takin' him?" he asked "We're going to the park and to get ice cream." you smiled at the excited yes from the little boy. "Lemme get ya some money" he walked off before you could protest "He really...likes you huh?" Himari gestured to the boy certainly in your hold, a faint glint of envy in her eyes. You went to reply but were saved by the gods above when Toji returned to give you the money and sent you on your way.

"How do you like your ice cream?" you laughed watching the boy eat his cold treat like it would melt in a second "Good." Megumi hummed, he smiled at you some ice cream smeared on his chubby cheeks. You took a napkin and wiped it off, The boy In question stopped smiling and in its place was a blank look, and a barely noticeable longing in his eyes. You frowned, worrying that somehow you upset him "Why don't we head to the park now?" You tried to cheer him up which was a success as he nodded excitedly and like that, you were now at the park keeping an eye out for Megumi playing with another boy who was much more energized while Megumi looked almost bored but the tiny smile on his face showed his true feelings "they look so cute, huh?" a woman sat beside you asked looking at the boy with Megumi with a motherly fondness "Yeah. They truly do." you looked at her for a second before returning your attention at the playing boys "He's a cutie pie he yours?" she smiled, you paused not knowing what to say, why was it hard to say you just babysit "I-" you started but nodded to her questions "He's mine.." you reply softly, if she saw the longing in your eyes she didn't say anything.

You let Megumi play for a good 29 minutes before you walked to his home, his hand holding yours. The door was left unlocked and when you walked in, you felt tears well up in your eyes and your heart ached so bad it felt like it was breaking. Moans and cries, and the noise of skin hitting skin, what was worse you could see Himari bouncing and the back of Toji's head slightly above the couch, the view of the back of the couch facing you. You quickly gained your senses and picked up Megumi, leaving for your apartment so he wouldn't be more traumatized. It wasn't until an hour ago that Toji called asking where you two were and you told him, telling him to hurry up and get his son, when he came you refused to look at him.

You cried yourself to sleep that night

You begin to distance yourself from Toji for the next few weeks and you can tell he is losing his patience. You needed to move on, you had to so since it was your day off you decided to go to a nightclub to have fun. You put on a short mid-thigh dress that showed off your curves in just the right way in your favorite color, did your hair, put some makeup on and you were ready.

The club was packed, sweaty bodies swung to the beat of the song, a purple and blue light lit the place and the bar was at the back overlooking the dance floor, you walked through the crowd with a confident stride, a smile on your glossed lips as the stress already rolled off you.

You walk to the bar and ordered a drink, While the bartender makes your choice of poison, you looked around the club, and a man, who looks around your age is looking at you with that glint in his eyes, he's handsome too so you think why not have some fun? You sent a sly smile his way before turning around just as the bartender sat down your drink. Like hook line and sinker, he gently tapped your shoulder as you took a sip of your beverage. "Yo." the man started with a smirk when you turned back around from the tap, drink in hand, he was a little more handsome up close. His hair was black with red highlights, his hair covered half of his forehead and the back to his neck, and his eyes oh, his eyes, one was green and the other was reddish brown. His shirt was a white tank top under a black leather jacket, with a black belt and white ripped jeans at the knees, and black sneakers. He wears a couple of jewelry, two silver chains that sit on his neck nicely, and a ring on each pointer finger. "Names Daichi, nice to meet you" he brought your free hand to his lips, kissing your knuckles all the while he looked into your orbs.

Toji groaned, bored out of his mind as he sat with his 'friends' and colleagues who dragged him to this stupid club to talk about work. Toji's jade orbs scanned the building, and there by the bar was his son's babysitter, looking sexy as hell and what made his blood boil was her laughing at whatever the younger man. Before Tojj could think he was already out of the broth and storming her way, the crowd parted at the sight of him, his anger more than evident, You stopped laughing when the man you were trying to move on from approached you, the most pissed off look on his face then you have ever seen before. He didn't say anything he didn't have to, Daichi did not get the memo when he started "Hey bro i-" One look from Toji had Daichi walking backward a few feet. Without a word, he took your hand and pulled you out of the club, You weren't gonna attempt to try to escape his grasp, the man could pick you up during sex and hold you without a single trace of strain. There is no way.

He continued dragging you to his black Porsche, opened the passenger door, threw you into the seat, and slammed the door after you. Why was he acting like this? He never acted like this but that was no excuse, You went to speak but as he sat down in the driver, "Put your seat belt on." he spoke with such cold authority that you looked away and just did as you were told. The drive to his penthouse was silent.

"Here's whatcha gonna do." Toji started as he parked in front of the building "You're gonn' get that fat ass up to my apartment and you will wait f'me like a good girl." he handed you the keys while still looking straight ahead, You took the keys and like before did what you were told. What was he gonna do? Why was he so damn mad? You walked back and forth, it kept repeating over and over again, You gulped, the front door opening and Toji closed it, resting his forehead against it and breathing in deeply his back muscles flexed as he did so. He turned around and made his way in front of you, he grabbed your hair and forced you to look into his intense irises "So you think you could pimp out my pussy?" he asked angrily "Let some inexperienced boy touch ya? Nahh. That ain't how this works." he got in your face, his minty breath hitting your lips "Go to my bedroom 'fore I take you here," he slapped your ass harshly "Go." he ordered, you nodded, slick now covering your inner thighs, you speed walked to his room and laid on the bed, panting slightly. You shouldn't be turned on by the way he's being so possessive, so mad, so pissed, so angry at the thought of some other man fucking you, it got your pussy weeping for that big cock that ruined you pretty much on a daily.

Toji strutted in, taking off his shoes, and see this you went to take your heels off "Don't. You wanted to look like a fuckin' whore. 'm gonna fuck ya like one." he pushed your hands away from your shoes, and laid beside you, his hand sliding down your belly to your wet cunt "No panties and already wet?" he rubbed your slit creating more slick "This wet f'me?" you nodded which earned a sharp slap to your vagina "Words" he hissed "Yes, all for you, Daddy!" you cried, Toji hummed, apparently pleased and pushed two thick fingers into your puffy pussy, his digits curled, his palm smacked your mound and your clit in every thrust. A third finger was added, and the exotic squelching made your eyes roll back and your jaw drop, your slick now covering Toji's hand and your mound "Fuck!" you whined as he bullied that spot that made toes curl and legs shake "'m gonna cum daddy!" you bucked your cunt more into his palm, your high rushing to come out, Toji was a cruel man, though and you seemed to forget this. "You ain't cummin' just yet" Toji smirked and chuckled at your teary eyes, pulling out his fingers and sucking off your juices, getting between your legs, pulling off his half-button dress shirt and his tight dress pants, and tearing your dress down the middle, the large head off his cock teased your opening. You sat up on your elbows to give him a piece of your mind, that dress was your favorite!

"Toji what the hell-AH!!" you screamed, your body almost slid up the bed if Toji hadn't held your thick thighs when he hammered his cock with all his might into you, and a single loud clapping noise surrounded the room, and your toes curled. Toji's hips began to smack against your thighs, pounding you into the California king mattress.

"Your pussy is mine, you're-" Toji grunted, from a particularly tight clench of your cunt his head thrown back as he rolled his hips "Wanna fill ya up, Gonna make ya a mother," he growled suddenly standing up, taking your lower body with him, ramming into your puffy cunt rapidly "Yes! Fill my pussy up! Want a baby, want daddy's baby! Make me a mommy!" you babbed, a primal need to have this powerful man's offsprings came strong. The coil inside snapped unexpectedly, and your wetness splashed Toji's dark pubic hair and abs, your poor, beat-up pussy was pulsating around the older man's dick, milking it for all it's worth "Want it bad?" he asked, breathlessly, you dumbly nodded in response "Fuckin' take it then bitch!" he grunted, injecting his hot-cum into your womb. The rest of the night, he didn't let up, fucking you until you lost consciousness. Needless to say, you were sore from every position he put you and you were hooked on him again. The weeks to come was like before you caught Himari riding Toji, today was gonna be a good day or so you thought.

You and Megumi were walking looking for a place to eat, Toji said he was going on a date with her, you didn't let the bitterness control your day and took the boy out, you almost passed a fancy restaurant, when you spotted something you wished you ever did. The big glass window showcased Toji down on his knee before Himari with a diamond ring that could be mistaken as a rock, The crowd video-tapping the romantic display, Himari seemed to say yes and jumped into the man's arms you wanted to be yours. You couldn't stand the scene and walked away, Megumi stared up at you with a worried expression, you and Megumi went to your small apartment and ordered some take-out, The entire day Megumi looked at you in concern but chose not to say anything, Toji didn't pick him up, leaving him to spend the night with you. You brought him home in the morning with a kiss on the cheek and forced a smile his father's way. You quit, you couldn't do it anymore, he didn't care, and what further that truth was when you told him you quit over text, his only response was 'Okay'. It's been a month since and you slowly were getting better, you started to make friends and build a life that wasn't around him. Suddenly though you have been sick, throwing up in the morning and you snapped at people more easily, craving weird food compilations. You thought nothing of it until you were out with your best friend.

"So how have you been?" Asami smiled, watching you fondly "I've been okay.. I've been a little sick you know?" you said, taking a bit of your cake "Sick what do you mean?" her voice took on a concerned tone "Lately I keep throwing up what I had for dinner, and I have been moody more than I have ever been and..wait..I haven't my period. Do you think?" you looked at her with horror, the only man you slept with had been Toji "When was the last time you had sex?" she questioned "Last month.." "oh girl. You should go to the doctor." She advised, you quickly paid and walked home. As she suggested, you booked an appointment. You sat in a room that had flower paintings on the walls, and medical tools "Miss (L/n) (Y/n)?" the doctor walked in looking at his clipboard "Yes?" You griped the chair you sat in "The results came back from the urine test," he looked up at you with a smile.

"Congratulations Miss (L/n), you're expecting!"

'Fuck me.'

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

An: How I think Toji's penthouse looks like, his bedroom, the living room, kitchen, Megumi's room, and master bathroom. This is my first time writing for tojj so fingers crossed it's not bad.

[thesunfyre4446]

I’m surprised to see so many people happy with the Sept scene, it’s complete illogical fan service.

They should’ve been clawing at each others faces. Instead you have Rhaenyra chuckling and joking “I’ve begun badly” girl, Vhagar made a mukkbang out of your son. A little bit of “Bitchy Alicent” peeked out towards Rhaenyra but still. Alicent knows Rhaenyra is a liar, the “On my mother’s memory” is a dig at that so why should Alicent believe at face value that Rhaenyra didn’t order Jaehaerys’s murder?

Rhaenyra also never apologizes about Jaehaerys, never expresses remorse or condolence. Her feelings last episode were more to do with it being bad publicity and less that a child her littlest sons ages was murdered. The whole thing is being treated like a one sided Rhaenicent fic where they wax on and on about Luke’s death and Alicent must repent for it every single day and twice on Sundays. While Jaehaerys is brushed over, that is if he’s even mentioned at all. His murder is never something that Rhaenyra needs to atone for. It’s never something Alicent or Helaena hold a grudge towards her for. All is forgiven.

That’s what the show is doing.

Not only that the Sept scene has ruined the potential of f Rhaenyra taking King’s landing. This meeting didn’t end badly, they didn’t throw insults or hands. Both just said they had no part in the murders of their son and grandson, both believed the other. Then Alicent let Rhaenyra go peacefully and Rhaenyra never intended on actually stabbing Alicent.

Alicent tells Rhaenyra that she meant it when she said she’d make a fine Queen- despite Rhaenyra never showing the potential to be a great ruler and Alicent deploring her for years because Rhaenyra’s lack of regard for duty usually led to Alicent having to fulfill them as well as her own and Viserys’s.

While Rhaenyra walks away from this reaffirmed with this thought that Alicent is still this pure soul and gentle heart- despite Rhaenyra accusing Alicent of hiding her true nature behind a cloak of righteousness and then saying “Now they see you as you are”. How do you go from getting sliced by Alicent to basically saying “Alicent is a sweetheart, she wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

Sure Aegon is about to almost die from injuries gotten in battle against the blacks and Rhaenyra will lose Jace and Viserys, that is going to impact both women but after this meeting of “It wasn’t me!” The other things can be explained away too, can’t they? Rhaenyra didn’t directly burn Aegon and Alicent isn’t the one who skewered Jace and kidnapped Viserys.

The build up of tension, rage, hate, resentment was just destroyed with this meeting. It doesn’t bode well for the Queen in chains/Half year reign/Maegor with teats storyline. We probably aren’t going to get one of the lines of all time, Alicent saying that her Grandson was an innocent child and Rhaenyra’s sons were “bastard blood shed at war” and Rhaenyra probably won’t even put Alicent in gold chains.

The entire war just seems pointless after this, these two started this way before Viserys died. With Driftmark or even long before that when Rhaenyra had Alicent’s father exiled from Kingslanding and Alicent wore that dress… but they don’t want to finish it anymore?? These women are about to sacrifice their whole families for this and neither of them want it. Now they realize how pointless it all was? How they could’ve co-existed in the same place?

Also, why have the writers seemingly forgotten about Alicent’s very valid fear for her children’s lives if Rhaenyra ascended? Her fears are being validated with each episode yet they’re hinging it all on the ramblings of a dying man while he was dope sick?? On Viserys’s ramblings why didn’t Alicent(the writers) remember the conversation Alicent and Viserys had by the fire in ep 3? The one where Viserys explicitly says “a male babe born to me wearing the conquerors crown” he’s describing his son Aegon. Could Alicent have not countered Rhaenyra’s “he meant the conqueror” with “No, years ago he told me the same thing”

After having the blame of her Grandson’s murder placed on her for having non dissociative sex for once in her life, yet again Alicent will be filled with guilt. This time at the thought that the entire war and its casualties are her fault because of a misunderstanding.

Free Alicent, Ryan Condals whipping boy.

I would honestly take Benioff and Weiss, at least the seasons where they had the material laid all out for them were good. Condal has a full story outline but is still fucking up right out of the gate.

(Sorry for the long rant)

anon you ate and left no crumbs. i truly have nothing to add.

up until ep 7 the show made sense. in ep 6 alicent tells aegon that if rhaenyra becomes queen him and his brother will be murdered. but by ep 8 she apparently doesn't give a fuck anymore?

[claiestve]

𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 ꨄ Isaac

˜”* ❝𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙙.❞

⎯⎯ ୨ ୧ ⎯⎯

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ: ɪꜱᴀᴀᴄ'ꜱ ᴘᴀʀᴀɴᴏɪᴀ

⎯୨⎯ " " ⎯୧⎯

It was already five minutes before you needed to be out the door. You hurriedly gathered your things, while Isaac waited impatiently in the car. You were on your way to an important meeting, and Isaac was your designated driver. The client had specifically requested to meet with you alone, and naturally, you respected their wishes.

The client’s request didn’t bother you at all, but you couldn’t say the same for Isaac. The meeting had been scheduled two weeks in advance, and Isaac had been dreading it ever since. You initially thought he was joking—after all, why would he be so anxious about a meeting when all he had to do was wait in the car?

“Okay, let’s go.” You jumped in the passenger seat holding what looked like a stack of information. 

“That much paperwork? You sure you need all that?” Isaac asked, glancing at the pile.

He had no idea just how much there was to unpack. This case was complex, and naturally, it came with a mountain of papers and files.

You rolled your eyes at him, “Just drive, Batman.”

“You know,” He started up the car and put his hands on the wheel, “you have a lot of attitude for someone nicknamed after a pickled cucumber.”

He shot you a teasing look, clearly waiting for your reaction, before bursting into laughter.

You couldn’t help but smile at his antics, though you were eager to get going. The drive to the client's office was quiet except for Isaac’s occasional mutterings about how much he dreaded this meeting. When you finally pulled up to the building, Isaac’s demeanor shifted. His playful banter turned into a serious tone.

“Alright, here we are,” Isaac said, parking the car. “But before you go in, I need to say something.”

You looked at him, puzzled. “What’s up?”

Isaac’s expression changed to something more solemn. “I– Are you sure about going in alone?”

You frowned. “Isaac, we’ve been through this. The client specifically asked for me. It’s part of the job.”

“I get that,” Isaac said, “but I just have a bad feeling about this. Maybe I should come with you, or at least wait in the lobby.”

You sighed, knowing it wouldn’t be easy to change his mind. “Isaac, I appreciate your concern, but you know I can handle this. I’ll be fine. I just need you to trust me.”

You put your hand on his in an attempt to reassure him at least a little.

Isaac looked at you, clearly torn. After a moment, he nodded reluctantly. “Alright, but if anything happens, I’m right here. Just call me if you need anything.”

You gave him a reassuring smile, took your hand off his and stepped out of the car, adjusting your papers. As you walked toward the building, you heard Isaac's door creak open behind you. Glancing back, you saw him stepping out of the car, his expression one of determined anxiety.

“Isaac, what are you doing?” you called out, hurrying back to him. “I thought you were going to stay in the car.”

“I know, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing. I’ve got a bad feeling, and I’m not just going to wait around without checking things out,” he said, his tone firm.

“Isaac, seriously, go back to the car,” you said, trying to keep your voice calm. “It’s just a meeting. I’ve got this.”

By the time the client arrived, Isaac was sort of lurking in the background, creepily observing you two. It amused you a little but you tried not to bring attention to his weird antics. 

Meeting your client was awkward knowing Isaac was staring directly at you from afar but you got it done. The client, a middle-aged man with a stern demeanor, greeted you with a polite but guarded smile. You exchanged pleasantries and led him into the conference room. Isaac, meanwhile, took up a position just outside the door, his gaze fixed on you with an intensity that bordered on obsessive.

After your meeting, you met up with Isaac again. 

“How’d it go?”

You glared at him, flashing a sarcastic smile his way. “It was fine! Until he noticed you still staring at us.”

Isaac looked sheepish but relieved. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t shake that bad feeling. I guess I was being a bit overprotective.”

“It’s okay, cutie, let’s go to the car.”

“Don’t call me that,” He pulled the key to his car out of his pocket, “in public.”

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

i heard if u say isaac's name three times, he'll escape the dungeon

[genshin-obsessed]

When Someone Flirts with You | Haikyuu [Karasuno]

Ok, so I debated on this for a while because this has already ben posted. However, its on a blog I don't/can't go on anymore. Since this is my writing (idea and all), I'm gonna repost it here. I did debate on reblogging the fic here, but it's my works and I want them with me, on this blog. Basically, if you've seen this exact fic posted two years ago, it was me. That blog has my name and everything if you need proof. I just don't want to draw attention to it. I did reuse tags lol cuz I don't know them too well yet

Characters: Shoyo Hinata, Tobio Kageyama, Kei Tsukishima, Tadashi Yamaguchi, Ryunosuke Tanaka, Yu Nishinoya, Asahi Azumane, Koshi Sugawara, Daichi Sawamura

Extra: they're all aged up btw

COME ONE! COME ALL! See what happens when someone flirts with you in front of your mans!

➺ Shoyo Hinata

He’s kinda scared of PDA? Not scared, but he gets embarrassed easily. So there’s not much touching in public, aside from hand holding. This leads people to not know you’re taken and so you’re fair game.

This boy is NOT scary. He’s quite the opposite unless he has his MOMENT which is rare and fizzles out really fast. At first, he’ll let you handle the situation and ONLY jump in when he’s positive you require help. He’s not a helicopter boyfriend, you’re an adult. You can handle yourself. So, he’ll usually come up and tell the person that you’re uncomfortable and that they should go away.

That’s never worked before. Ever. Not one time. Hinata just looks CUTE and he’s not the tallest. Even as an adult, he’s still about 172cm (5’7). So there’s a chance the person is taller than him and if they are, they won’t take him seriously. The whole “under 6ft is not a man” bs. They’ll just shove him aside to get to you.

He hates that. There’s one thing to tease him and bully him but YOU? Oh that’s a whole nother ball game. Hinata doesn’t like seeing you upset/uncomfortable. He does everything in his power to keep you smiling so when he sees someone directly causing you discomfort… God help them.

The next method would depend on the situation. If he has a ball with him, he will throw it (this happened once at practice when you came to watch and someone wouldn’t leave you alone). But he can also jump to their height and punch/slap them. Hinata has gotten much stronger since his high school days. He will defend you at all costs.

His little jump attack? 10/10 it works EVERY SINGLE TIME and they’re GONE. Or you know… unconscious. Usually the area would go dead silent and all you can hear is Hinata huff. He’ll take your hand as gently as he can and lead you out of the establishment. Once you have fresh air, he’ll gently take your shoulders and ask if you’re ok. Reassurance is especially important here.

“They’ll never bother you again, (n/n). Are you ok?”

➺ Tobio Kageyama

Tobio isn’t one to flaunt your relationship because he’s a pretty private person. So not EVERYONE knows you’re together. Which is completely fine and acceptable, it’s just how he is. The thing is, this leads to situations where people think you’re single. If he walks away or you’re alone, people will take their chance.

 You get hit on when you’re alone, usually. So, you’ll always try to find Tobio when you’re in that situation. He’ll spot you in seconds. He’s always got an eye on you (cuz you’re hot and he can’t help it).   You’ll get the person to see Tobio and he’ll just GLARE. Usually, about 9 times outta 10, his death glare makes everyone go away. It’s pretty scary, especially if he’s like two feet away from them.

But there’s always one person it doesn’t work on. The one who decides to push it and try to physically touch you. This has only happened once, but the person rolled their eyes, pushed Tobio away, and pushed you against the wall.

Oh boy. Tobio doesn’t care if people bother HIM but someone who makes you uncomfortable tries to touch you? Their funeral. Especially this dirtbag. Your eyes widened in pure fear and panic when your back roughly hit the wall. The person’s face was inches away from your own and you couldn’t see Tobio anymore. You’d frozen up completely.

It only lasted a second before the person was on the floor. You’d barely had time to blink before Tobio DRAGGED them and roughly threw them to the side. The person glared and sat up, ready to curse him out when Tobio kicked him in the chest. This is usually how it would go. He takes them by surprise and throws them to the ground, all while barely breaking a sweat.

10/10 they’re probably unconscious or too terrified to move. He’ll just glare at them before slowly walking over to you. Tobio will give you a minute and will often try to hide you from the crowd that is undoubtedly staring at you. If your other friends are there, they'll hide you from view until you’re calm enough to where Tobio can take you away.

“Are you ok? It’s ok, take a deep breath. No one will ever do that to you again… I swear.”

➺ Kei Tsukishima

If you’re dating Tsukishima, you’ve gotta be tough on SOME LEVEL. There’s no way you can’t handle him but got close enough to start dating him. Then again… he doesn’t mind a cute, soft, shy partner. That just means he’ll need to be your shield more often than not. And let’s be honest, he likes protecting you. Tsuki’s not big on PDA. Like Kageyama, the entire world doesn’t need to know your business. So people can think you’re single. And you, lil pretty thang, you attract people.

You try to stick next to your boyfriend when you’re out in a public place or somewhere with lots of people. But if he does leave for a minute or you do, people will swoop in. Tsuki knows IMMEDIATELY. He just does, he’s psychic like that. He’ll see if you need help and if you do, he’ll come stand by. Tsuki’s height alone is enough to deter people, but of course, he’s pretty lanky (like… where’s the muscle?). So, most people wouldn’t be too deterred. 5/10.

See, Tsuki gets it, you’re hot. Of course people wanna flirt with you but they should learn to take a hint. Especially when you tell them you’re not interested. They usually kinda just ignore him or push him out of the way or even try to take you away. Like hell Tsuki’s gonna let that happen. Bitch please. Anyone who underestimates Tsuki is in for a treat. He can and will destroy someone’s self esteem through words. Who needs to fight? Not him. He will roast tf outta some until they’re no longer confident in themselves.

That’s the good thing about Tsuki, he doesn’t need muscle to chase people off. He’s not that weak either though, so worse comes to worse, he can defend you. But worry not, there’s no need for violence with that mouth of his. There is ONE more thing Tsuki will do that will ALWAYS get rid of people. He does this rarely because it scares you a little, but it's effective.

Tsuki will come up to you and then… he’ll punch the wall above your head and glared down at the person. No one stays after that! So 10/10! Would recommend. After that, Tsuki sighs and lets his hand fall on your head, breaking you out of your trance.

“Your face looks weird. Come on, it’s fine now. Let’s go somewhere else though.”

➺ Tadashi Yamaguchi

Oh boy… 

He HATES confrontation, but for you, he’ll step right in. Usually, Tadashi likes to get in between you and the offender. He’ll try to tell them to stop bothering you. He really crosses his fingers and hopes it’ll work.

2/10, sadly, he’s just too cute to be scary. So, usually, people just brush past him or even shove him away. This kinda does put a damper on his mood. He wishes every single time he was as scary as Tsukishima (who wouldn’t want to be?) so he could scare people off. When you see that though… ooh.

This usually causes you to get VERY upset! You don’t like it when people treat Tadashi like crap so you become quite aggressive. That works BUT sometimes you’ll get those creeps that like “feisty” people. So they’ll often just pin you to a wall. This usually sparks something in Tadashi. He just… loses it. Sorry, Tsukishima who?

Since their backs are turned to him, he’ll just come up behind them, grab their hair and pull so hard they fall to the ground. If they’re bald then he’ll do the same but with their shirt. You’ll take your chance to hide behind Tadashi, who’s just death glaring at the person on the floor.

69/10! Works EVERY SINGLE TIME! Tadashi doesn’t understand it, where the hell did that come from?! But it’s very effective because the person is always gone. He just hopes no one stands up to fight him because he’ll 100% lose. He’ll realize that he might’ve been really scary and slowly turns around to face you.

“A-are you ok? I-I’m sorry if I scared you.”

➺ Ryunosuke Tanaka

Everyone and their grandmothers have to know you two are together! He’s usually all over you but you don’t hate it. It’s nice when you’re in a place with creeps around. But sometimes one of the creeps doesn’t see him or does see him but doesn’t care. They’ll saunter over to you and just shamelessly start flirting.

He’ll join them! Literally. He’ll swing his arm around the person and just lean in and start complimenting you. “You’re right, they’re hot! Hey baby! You here by yourself?” It’s odd, but you always feel better when he’s nearby in situations like this.

Usually, the person gets weirded out. They don’t know Tanaka (unless they saw him) and so they’ll either claim you’re theirs or just ask Tanaka what he’s doing. Usually, it works. If they recognize him, they’ll just quickly leave but sometimes they don’t. They’ll shove him off and try to regain your attention.

Tanaka takes it as a compliment. He’s not one to just start getting aggressively possessive. No. You’re HOT. DROP DEAD GORGEOUS! He takes it as a compliment when people flirt with you BUT to an extent. If they make you uncomfortable he goes nuts. Yeah, you’re ridiculously attractive but that doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings.

His next method is usually shoving them back. He’ll make it clear that you’re his partner and you’re not comfortable. Sometimes this makes people go away but there’s always one. For that, Tanaka just punches them. It only takes one. They’re either knocked out or just too scared to stay.

10/10. Unconscious or gone. He’ll smirk proudly, then hug you immediately. If you’re super scared or just really anxious, he’ll take a second before touching you. He prefers to reassure first before getting too into your space.

“It’s ok, they’re gone. Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”

➺ Yu Nishinoya

He’s kind of like Tanaka. He loves to show off his gorgeous partner. Everyone has to know cuz he brags about you ALL THE TIME. Kiyoko who?

Like I said, he’s like Tanaka. He’ll join whoever’s flirting with you. “Hey sexy! Wanna get outta here?” This prompts the person to ask who tf he is. “Huh? Oh! I’m just flirting with my partner. They’re hot, right? I know.” 

3/10. That, unsurprisingly, fails. Why wouldn’t it? Unlike Tanaka… Nishinoya’s just kinda… cute. He’s not very intimidating. People just shove him away and turn their attention back to you.

Nishinoya’s really in tune with your emotions. Like… it’s kinda weird how well he knows you. He can just feel the second you panic. That really pisses him off. He even scares you sometimes.

He’ll usually grab the person’s arm and tug them back, silently with just fury in his eyes. “Don’t. Touch. Them.” This bumps the effectiveness to 8/10. People get scared and leave but there’s always one. Noya’s already in aggressive mode, so it’s not too difficult to handle this person. He’ll kick their knee. Hard. If it breaks, oh well. 10/10. They’re gone. Either taken away by friends or something, but they won’t ever bother you again. At this point, Noya takes your hand and leads you away.

“Sorry if I scared you, but we should leave. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Some people are just disgusting.”

➺ Asahi Azumane

He doesn't show you off like Tanaka or Noya, but he usually has his arm around you. This proves to everyone you're his, right? Well some people just don’t care. 

If he sees you getting uncomfy, he'll be by your side in a second!! He usually starts off by putting distance between you and the offender. 5/10; Asahi’s pretty intimidating looking, so 50% of the time, people get scared off. But there are some who don’t…

He’s not a fighter. He won’t just resort to kicking ass, so he’ll try to explain that you’re uncomfy. That kinda shows people he’s intimidating on the outside but soft on the inside, so they push him out of the way. That’s when you’ll scream for Asahi to help.

It’s on purpose, actually. Because it kinda sparks something in him. He just… changes. He doesn’t like it when you’re uncomfortable and he hates it when you’re scared. So, he’ll grab the person’s shoulder with a death grip. With one rough shove backwards and away from you usually does the trick. If it doesn’t… we’ll he’s pretty strong and he’s a big guy.

then people realize… yeah no, he’s just as scary on the inside. 10/10 they’re GONE.

“Hey are you ok? I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. Do you wanna go home? We can just watch movies and cuddle.”

➺ Koshi Sugawara

Koshi is attached to you at the hip. He’s always with you and your friends know you’re dating. But he’s not really one for super, crazy PDA. I mean, he doesn’t have an issue with it, he often just finds himself standing next to you. Not touching you. This kinda leads most people to think you’re just friends.

Koshi kinda lets you handle it, but if you’re starting to get really uncomfortable, just look at him. He’ll stand beside you and just ask what’s going on. To which most people tell him to “get lost”. He��ll just smile and explain that you’re not very comfortable and they should leave you alone. 

0/10. It’s never worked and it never will. They usually sigh, roll their eyes, grab your hand and try to tug you away from Koshi.

Usually, that’s what sends Koshi into like… defensive, scary Koshi. Flirting is one thing, being pushy is one thing, but forcefully taking you away…

The second someone pulls you away, he’ll grab their wrist with such a strong grip, it causes bruising. That causes the person to let go and you immediately run and hide behind Koshi.

69/10! The air around Koshi is just suffocating, he’s horrifically intimidating, and with just one look people go rigid. No one bothers him or you if you're still at the establishment. Chances are you’ll leave though.

“Sorry if I scared you, darling. Are you ok? Come on, let’s get you home.”

➺ Daichi Sawamura

Daichi’s kinda like Suga. He’s usually seen with his arm around your shoulders or you attached to his arm. Again, he’s not against PDA- he’ll kiss you in public, no problem- but does he need to? If not, there’s no reason. So again, people have a hard time telling you’re together.

Because of that, he doesn’t become aggressive when someone flirts with you. Maybe they didn’t know and they DID build up the courage to talk to you. So, he’ll just stand beside you and kindly explain you’re taken and you don’t appreciate the flirting.

It’s rare that this works out. Some people will genuinely apologize and leave, which is great. But the chances of that are like 2%. 98% of people scoff and just brush him off, turning back to you and explaining they’d be a better option.

Oh boy. Daichi does NOT appreciate that. He’s caring and sweet and often doesn’t seem like a scary guy BUT HE CAN BE. This lil “scary Daichi” thing depends on you. If you’re ok, just talk to the person, but if they’re really giving you anxiety just ask him for help. There’s just a way his name comes out of your mouth when you’re scared that irks him. He hates it when you’re so scared and vulnerable. So, scary Daichi is the result!

So, the next step is Daichi grabbing the person by the collar and glaring at them. “Maybe I’ll need to beat the respect into you which I really don’t mind doing.” Daichi is NOT bluffing. Anyone who dares challenge him WILL get their ass beat. He doesn’t negotiate when it comes to your safety/comfort.

10/10 NO ONE WANTS AN ANGRY DAICHI! 100% of people who go up against an angry Daichi run off with their tail between their legs. He’s just so goddamn scary. But he understands he can scare you too, so he’ll immediately get that under control. He’ll slowly approach you and try to touch you. Once you hug him, he’ll know everything’s ok.

“Let’s leave. I’ll buy you some ice cream on the way home, that sound good?”

[crazylittlejester]

Ahhh hello :D your takes on Warriors are so absolutely fabulous that I was wondering if you have any favorite headcanons about him? Perchance?

ALSKDKDL OH GEE, THANK YOU I’M GLAD YOU LIKE EM 🥺 i am very mentally ill about the blorbo…

and OH BOY DO I- *cracks knuckles* OKAY:

- The crooked smile thing that I yapped about very recently (link to post)

- He’s not naturally blond, his hair is naturally very curly and a dark brown but he bleaches and straightens it because it’s part of the “Hero” image he’s created for himself to act as. A lot of stress and pressure was put on him at a very young age and he didn’t feel like he was good enough compared to the past heroes, so he created a persona, essentially, of an idealized version of himself so people would think he was worthy of being called hero, and the hair was initially part of it. Nowadays he’s probably just attached to the color, though still somewhat worried about his image

- This one is based off NOTHIN but me, but I headcanon he has chronic low blood sugar :) Because I can, literally no other reason

- He does NOT like things against his neck, specifically the front. It makes him feel like he’s being choked and he’ll start actually coughing and gagging if fabric gets up too high. That scarf is pinned down in place in such a way that he Cannot be strangled by it if someone just pulls it. If they wanna wrap the long ass end of it around his neck and strangle him that way? Sure. If they wanna yank him down to the ground? They easily could. But Warriors is careful not to let anything get too close to his collar bone or higher up his neck. Tall collars are fine just as long as theyre open in the front

- His comfort food is oranges! This comes from a headcanon I have (which I’ve also yapped about in a few other posts) that he gets very uncomfortable with eating certain foods. It’s based off my own personal experience with my food allergies, and since I headcanon Warriors has a fear of poison (in a similar way a fear of cross contamination works), I figured something that’s the equivalent of prepackaged food would feel safe for him. It’s a comfort for him because he can tell himself the peel is going to protect the part he actually eats. COULD you poison an orange? Absolutely. They’re not poison proof, and deep down Warriors does know that, but his dependence on them has ALMOST reached a point of irrationality where he’s got himself convinced the oranges are safe and cannot be poisoned. Mentally, he relies on the fact that the peel will protect his food and he tells himself it’ll be fine because when he’s panicking he can’t really handle the fact he could be wrong, it’d send him spiraling faster

- Not someone you should EVER touch without permission. He will either just be uncomfortable and freak out, or he’ll panic and pull a knife out before he can realize who’s there

- comes from a pretty large family and he lived out in the countryside until he joined the army. directly related to this, he’s very good at sewing because some of his family were tailors and he would’ve been too had the war not happened

i got a lot of thoughts and a lot more headcanons alskkdkdldkdk but my brain is turning off and these are all i got for now

[ssa-atlas-alvez]

I feel like cowboy has a background in crisis management or hostage negotiations, he’d be Quantico’s finest silver tongue. But maybe when he first arrived on the BAU team hotch seemed to doubt his abilities and wouldn’t give him the chance to prove he’s more than just a sharp shooter - maybe bc Strauss really pushed to have him put into the team in the first place so hotch is keeping cowboy at arms length

- 🦕

I'm aware this is slightly very unrealistic but ya know, it's fiction. I picture Jackson as a scared kid with a bad past

Also I didn't mean to post it so yeah hopefully it's okay lmao

Directly followed from this.

Warnings: guns, hostage negotiations, untrusting team

Taglist: @xweirdo101x @xdark-acadamiax @ara-a-bird @heidss @chubbyboyinflannel @pendragon-writes @migwayne @bigolgay @technikerin23 @supercriminalbean @honestlycasualarcade @caffeine-mess @1s3v3n1 @oddmiles @kevyeen @stealing-kneecaps @criminalskies @woodandwaxwings @anonstories08

"Let me do this." You and the team had managed to track down the kid who was doing this, when the police had surrounded the diner, he had felt trapped and pulled out a weapon. You wanted to be the one who negotiated with him, who talked him down. You could relate to him.

All of this stemmed from a scared kid who had no one left. He was left to deal with everything on his own, left to deal with the death of his father, abandoned by the system with no justice, so he took it into his own hands.

"Why should I let you do this when I have Rossi here?"

"Because I understand the kid." You answer, "And I was damn good at my job which is why Strauss recommended me for the position,"

Hotch stares at you for a moment and you stare back, you weren't going to let him intimidate you. Or even think that he can intimidate you. He nods slightly and you turn to the phone.

"Jackson? You there?"

"I'm here."

"I'm Agent (L/N)," You introduced, "You can call me (Y/N). I'm here to make sure everything gets sorted out,"

"You don't care. They don't fucking care!" Jackson yells, "No one fucking cares! No one cares that he's dead! No one cares that someone killed him! No one cares!"

"Hey, we care. That's why we're here, ain't it?"

"No, you're here so I don't go down in a rain of bullets."

"I hate to break it to you kid, that's not why I'm here." You answered, "It might be why the others are here, I'm here to make sure you don't do somethin' stupid. Somethin' you're gonna regret for years."

"You don't fucking get it!" Jackson shouts over the phone.

"Hey, hey, I get it," You kept your voice understanding, "It's tough, losin' someone you love."

"Yeah, and what would you know?"

"I- I lost my Mama at an early age, my biological Mama," You said, your voice crackling over the phone. "Everyone thought I was too young to understand, too young to remember, like twelve year olds can't think for 'emselves, y'know? N I remember bein' so angry that no one even thought to just sit me down and talk. And that's why I'm here, Jackson, I'm here to talk, to help."

"If you want to help, come inside. If you come inside, I'll let everyone go. I'll talk with you. But no one else. No one else sets foot in this building." Jackson paused for breath, "And no guns."

You nod, "Okay. That's just fine, we'll do that." As soon as your hand is off the button, Hotch is shaking his head.

"No."

"Sir, I get it, I'm the new guy, but I know what I'm doin'." You said strongly. "Just let me prove myself."

Hotch studied you for a moment before nodding. "You have five minutes."

"Thank you, sir," With that, you placed your gun in Hotch’s hand before making your way into the building (after they fit a wire).

When you get in, the hostages run out. At the very least you would be the only casualty if this went south.

"Hey kid," You said softly, sliding in one of the booths, Jackson hesitantly sat opposite you, his gun firmly aimed at you.

"This has to be some kind of trick."

"I want to help you."

"Do you have a wire?"

"Yes." You answer honestly, Jackson looks at you for a moment before nodding.

"You weren't supposed to tell me that, was you?"

You shook your head, "Nope." You answered, "But I did - for two reasons, I need you to feel like you trust me - and that requires my honesty - and I honestly think at this rate I might get fired, so it don't matter all that much anyway."

"That's ballsy," Jackson commented and you gave a small laugh.

"N what? Bein' an FBI agent isn't?"

Jackson laughed before sobering up, "Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because you're a kid." You shrugged, "You've had it tough, but if you work hard, and face the consequences of your actions, you can come out the other end of this better."

"How? Everyone already treats me like I'm some lowlife. How can I possibly change that if no one is willing to give me a chance?"

"I'm willin' to give you a chance. I'm willin' to help." You said, "All you need to do to show me that you're willin' to change is to give me the gun n walk out there with me n show me that you're willin' to put in the time."

Jackson studies you for a moment before he nods, placing the gun on the table and sliding it towards you. You take it, emptying it of bullets - placing the gun in one pocket and the bullets in another. "Okay." He whispers softly. "I want to change. I want to be better."

"Then that's all that matters kid, fuck everyone else." You said, "Come on, let's go set things right, yeah?"

"Yeah... Okay..." He says hesitantly as he stands from the booth.

"Facin' the consequences of your actions are never easy," You said as you also stood, "But it's how you react to realisin' you made a mistake that determines the type of person you are."

Jackson nods, squaring his shoulders before leading the way out of the building with his hands raised. You give him a nod of encouragement as he gets into the police car.

You turn to Hotch, "Sorted." You answer before climbing into the SUV.

"He's good, I'll give him that..." Rossi mumbles before joining you in the car. "Good job, Kid."

"Thanks."

[legendofmorons]

You're drunk and tell them you have a boyfriend (it's them) Part 2

Pairing: chain x reader

Rating: T

Summary: You've had too much to drink at a party in their hyrule, and your boyfriend finds you. He tries to bring you back to the inn but you tell him you have a boyfriend (it's him).

Warnings: previous drinking, drunk! Reader, reader is assumed to be of legal drinking age

Other: Reader is of legal drinking age in this (if you are going to drink, please be safe and drink water too)

This part has: Time, sky, and warriors

-------

Time

Time blames Malon for this

She'd happily dragged you and the boys out to a tavern for a "fun night"

You'd left a grumpy Wind with Talon and his cuccoos.

Fortunately, Time hears your shouting from where he's grabbing water.

When he turns around you have decided to get up on the table

Dear reader, you're trying really hard to teach Malon tik tok dances while drunk and on a small table.

You can imagine there's a lot of eyes on you

Malon is delighted though.

Twilight is trying to catch Time's eyes and motion him over.

Time just sighs, but he brings the water over to where you are.

"Hello, dear." Time says as he stops beside the table.

"I have a name. And a boyfriend." You say, turning to look at him.

"I know, (Y/n). But you should come down. I have some water for you, love."

"I just told you I have a boyfriend. Please leave me alone."

Twilight looks like he's trying not to laugh.

Malon has no such compulsion and is laughing. Her amused giggles are anything but helpful.

Time just takes a slow breath. Obviously you have had way too much. Though he could have guessed that from when you got up on the table.

"(Y/n)." Twilight says slowly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." You say, turning to Twilight. "Where's Time?"

"He's right there, (y/n)." Twilight motions towards the old man.

You squint, but decide that man is in fact your lover. "Link!"

Time smiles, a little too amused, "Hello, dearest."

"There was this guy that was flirting with me. Did you see him?"

Time has to bite back a laugh. "Yes dearest, he just left."

"Yay!!! Can we go lay down? The room is spinning all fast like." You explain, stepping confidently off the table.

You fall directly into Time's chest and arms. He saw it coming so he catches you quickly.

"We can. I'll carry you, beloved."

"Yay!!!"

Time moves 6 he's got you held princess style.

He bids farewell to those you were with and carries you to the inn. He's careful with you, making sure you're comfortable.

He bathes you himself, mostly because you're too uncoordinated to be trusted

But he's gentle with you

When he tucks you in you pass out real fast and he just chuckles.

Cute

He also wants to find out what you drank so he knows what to be careful about he doesn't want you to feel gross

Sky

Sky had stepped away long enough to go to the bathroom

That's it

And he comes back to find you trying to have a dance off with Pippit and Groose.

Unfortunately, you have resorted to a VERY drunk macararna , song, and all.

Oh-

And now you're doing the chicken dance

Huh

Pippit is also drunk, and is trying his best to beat you. He has resorted to what looks to be a very painful attempt at the worm.

Shit

"Hey dove," Sky says as he comes up beside you, "Let's go to bed, mh?"

You turn your eyes to him and slur, "No, I have a boyfriend go 'way."

Groose just looks between you and Sky. He looks concerned.

"(Y/n), it's me, Sky." He tries to soothe you.

"Oh- sky! Hi baby!" You're cooing

You forget about the dance off and throw yourself into him. Your arms go around his neck as you smile up at him.

"Hey, (Y/n)."

He smiles at you softly, glad to see you happy.

"Help me beat these two!!!! It's a battle of dance!" You ask Sky.

"I was actually thinking we could head back? I'm feeling a little off." Sky says.

And sure, he feels fine but he knows ypu won't object to helping him.

He DOES feel a bit bad for the white lie though.

"Oh... okay! Lemme just uh- lemme just win this real fast!"

"You already won." Groose says, eager to end this odd experience.

"Oh! Hell yeah I won!" You giggle, looking truly excited

"Nooooo!" Pipit groans.

You just smile, taking Sky's hand in your own.

Sky leads you out of the building and to his room at the knights academy. He has you bathe before crashing.

You're gushing to him the whole time about how wonderful he is.

Sky is relieved when you wake up the next morning, mostly coherent if a little hungover.

Warriors

Warriors dosen’t know what happened. He left you with Time and his Impa.

He left to go get you water, like you asked!

He comes back to find you trying to connect Time and Impa both that you are in fact, a wolf hybrid.

What the fuck?

"(Y/n), darling, what are you doing?"

"I'm a fucking wolf!" You declare loudly, thinking back to the playground games you uses to enjoy.

"Oh my Hylia." Impa groans, "Link get your partner. "

"You're not a wolf, beloved." Warriors says.

"Excuse me,I have a boyfriend." You say quickly, turning to give Warriors a look of displeasure.

"(Y/n)?" He asks.

"Please leave me alone."

"(Y/n)." Time says with a snort, "Come on.

"(Y/n), it's me, Warriors."

You squint, trying to figure out if that is in fact Wars.

"Oh yeah? What's my favorite color then?" You challenge.

Warriors tells you your favorite color and you beam.

"Wars!" You declare as you throw yourself at him.

He catches you with a grunt, wrapping his arms around you. "Hey."

"Hi!"

"How much have you had to drink, darling?"

"Oh... uh- some?"

"I can tell."

You just laugh.

Warriors decides he needs to get you home.

Like- now probably.

"Wanna go to bed?"

"Am I that irresistible?" You giggle.

"Oh dear." Warriors frowns. "Dearest your very drunk."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Let's get you showered and in bed." Warriors says.

"Okay!"

So, he takes you to the inn and gets you showered and tucked into bed. His entire body relaxes when you snuggle into the bed.

"Night Link!"

"Good night, dearest."

[ladytanithia]

WIP whenever tf

I've had practically nothing in progress writing-wise in ages. Lost my mojo. But I'm trying to get back into a groove. Not happy with how I've done BLP so far, so I'm rewriting it, from the beginning, and incorporating Miranja's journal into it.

However, this scene from Out of the Ashes came up in a conversation the other day, and OotA technically still counts as a WIP, since it's not finished (dammit - NONE of the parts of Miranja's story is truly finished!). So I figured what the hell. It's been a long time since I had any writing to share, and this is one of the best scenes to really show how Miranja's mind works. Not even any sex here. <gasp!>

Tagging friends whose writing I've been enjoying whilst not producing anything myself. @dirty-bosmer @lillxart @mareenavee @skyrim-forever @thequeenofthewinter @theoneandonlysemla I hope you enjoy it.

It was just about eight o’clock in the evening when they arrived back in Solitude. Before doing anything else, Miranja went directly to Castle Dour.

Tullius was sitting on the bench in the corner by the enchanting table in the foyer. Miranja had gone straight to the war room looking for him, hadn’t found him, had checked his bedroom, still hadn’t found him, and had backtracked to the front door before he finally spoke to her and drew her attention.

“Looking for me, Auxiliary?”

Surprised, Miranja turned toward the sound of his voice and approached him.

“Yes, sir. Here’s the Jagged Crown. Legate Rikke sent me to deliver it to you.” She handed over the Crown, and Tullius took it and turned it in his hands, examining it with interest as he replied.

“Excellent work, soldier. I have to admit, I had my doubts it even existed. Did you run into any trouble?”

Tears filled Miranja’s eyes, but she kept a stiff upper lip. Teldryn’s hand in the middle of her back certainly helped give her fortitude.

“We lost a lot of good men. I hope it was worth it.” Tullius didn’t need to know that she was also talking about the Stormcloaks who died.

“That’s not for you to decide, soldier. I wouldn’t have sent you in the first place if it wasn’t going to be worth it.”

Miranja’s pride stung at those words, while at the same time, her sense of justice was offended. She was the gods-damned Dragonborn, as well as a Thane in this hold, and she had become largely unaccustomed to people talking down to her. And in her opinion, this stupid war wasn’t worth the loss of ANY people, if you got right down to brass tacks. No one should be dying over what she felt was a deeply personal religious issue. It was tantamount in her mind to killing people for what they did in their own bedrooms.

“You seem to forget who you’re speaking to, General. May I be candid with you, sir?”

“By all means, Auxiliary. Let’s hear it.” There was a challenge in his voice and in the way he jutted out his chin.

“With all due respect, sir, I don’t like you very much.”

“Well, that’s fine,” Tullius replied indifferently. He rose and brushed past her to carry the crown into the war room. “I’m not here to win popularity contests. I’m here to keep the Dominion out of Skyrim, and to quell this dissention.”

Miranja followed him, and Teldryn tagged along quietly behind her. “The Dominion is already in Skyrim, whether you want to admit it or not. I pass Thalmor on the road every day taking Stormcloak prisoners to gods-know-where to do gods-know-what to them. The only reason I don’t kill them is that I don’t want a bounty on my own head.”

“Wise choice,” Tullius acknowledged briefly, but added, “Think what you want, Auxiliary. It could be much worse.”

“I’m sure it could. I just want you to know that I think you’re a cold, insensitive…” She hesitated for a moment, searching for a milder word than ‘asshole.’ “…jerk. I wonder if you have a compassionate bone in your body, and if you really care about the people of Skyrim at all.”

Tullius’ face darkened with anger. “Listen up, Auxiliary. I’m here to do a job. Not that it’s any of your damned business, but I have family back in Cyrodiil who I love and miss terribly. I’ve been in Skyrim longer than I ever wanted to be. I’m doing what I’m paid to do, what I believe is for the greater good in the long run. I hope that’s also what you’re doing, why you joined the Legion in the first place.”

“Of course it is,” Miranja glowered back. “But I’d like to think I’m going about it in a more personal, compassionate way. I’m not sitting in a fancy castle ordering everyone else around. I’m on the ground, learning about the people and helping them in more ways than just killing Stormcloaks and getting Imperial soldiers killed.”

“Well, good for you,” Tullius replied with overt sarcasm. “Imperial Generals don’t have that luxury. I didn’t get to my station in life by being compassionate.”

“That may be so, General, but it’s obvious you’re not particularly happy. And there’s no reason to take it out on others. You chose your path.”

“And you chose yours when you joined the Legion, Auxiliary. You can either follow orders or take up residence in the Solitude prison. Which will it be?”

She was sick of being addressed as a title. “My name is Miranja. Miranja Laurentius. And I will follow orders, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“You’re absolutely right, Miranja. We all have to do things we don’t like to bring about things we do like.” He stopped and regarded her with a scrutinizing look, as Miranja stared back with some surprise at his unknowing echoing of her father’s words.

“You said your name was Laurentius?”

“Yes.” She didn’t bother with the ‘sir.’

“Your father was in the Legion, wasn’t he?”

“Yes… sir.” Where was he going with this?

“Ah, yes, I see the resemblance now. I worked with your father briefly in Hammerfell some twenty-five years or more ago. I remember him because he had the same bleeding heart and lack of respect that you do.”

“I’m proud of my father and his work for the underprivileged,” Miranja said, jutting out her chin as Tullius had earlier. “And both my father and I give respect where it’s due. We just feel morally compelled to point out injustice regardless of who’s perpetrating it, and that includes the Empire.”

“Well, his soft heart is what kept him from advancing past Captain. He could have been a general himself, if he’d been tougher.”

“My father and I don’t measure success by titles and wealth. We measure our riches and our station in life by the happiness we create and the love we give and receive. My father retired a happy, peaceful man, and he’s still bringing joy to those around him and earning respect for his deeds.”

“Well, that’s a heartwarming story, Auxiliary, and your opinions are duly noted, but it’s time we got back to business.”

Miranja heaved a resigned sigh and closed her eyes for a moment, then spoke tiredly. “Very well, sir. What’s next?”

“I need someone I can trust to deliver a message of great import to Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We have it on good authority that Ulfric has raised enough men to attack the city of Whiterun. The Jarl, however, refuses the Legion’s support. This missive should convince him. Be aware, soldier, these documents contain sensitive intelligence for the Jarl’s eyes only.”

Yes, yes, she’d overheard the conversation between Rikke and Tullius when she’d first walked into Castle Dour yesterday. “Of course, General. We may not see eye-to-eye, but we are on the same side, and you can trust me. Balgruuf was one of my first friends when I came to Skyrim. I’ll see this gets delivered.”

“You do that,” Tullius replied, eyeing her thoughtfully. “You’re dismissed.”

Once they were outside, Tel whistled – or tried to, and only partially succeeded with the scarf over his face – and shook his head. “Damn, woman, I can’t believe you spoke to a General like that and didn’t end up in the stockade.”

“Speaking your mind isn’t a crime, Tel, and I didn’t disobey any orders. I asked him for permission to be candid, and I also made sure to include ‘with all due respect.’ My father taught me that. I know when I’m within my rights.”

Teldryn chuckled. “I like a woman with cast iron balls. I bet your dick is bigger than his.”

Miranja grinned and blushed with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. They were still standing between the door guards, and there was no way the guards hadn’t heard the whole conversation, but they were wisely keeping their mouths shut. She knew the barracks would be abuzz later, though.

“So, what are we going to do with the rest of the evening, boss?”

[ssinnerplazahotel]

╭──────────.★..─╮

*Chapter Thirteen*

╰─..★.──────────╯

WC: 6k

Warning: 18+, age gap, smut, fluff, toxic elvis, manipulation, drug use, it’s the 50s/60s, death threat, painful-difficult-devastating-life-changing-extraordinary love

Pairing: elvis x black reader

Disclaimer: full of inaccuracies, inaccurate timeline, inaccurate depictions of Graceland, historically inaccurate themes and items

Masterlist: Prologue, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

You woke with a start the next morning—not even realizing that you’d fallen asleep at some point throughout the night. You checked the time—Liz would be there by now.

“You’re awake,” Andrea said, appearing from the bathroom. “I thought I’d let you sleep. Since you never do.”

“I’m supposed to be dressed by now,” You said. “Liz is probably waiting for me.”

“You aren’t scheduled to be anywhere, are you?”

“No, why?”

“Why don’t you skip Liz today? I can give you something to wear.”

You didn’t even consider it. “I can’t.”

She tilted her head. “Why?”

“Because…” You knew it’d only piss her off to know the reason. “I like the clothes Liz chooses.”

She shrugged. “You should head over then. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Come with me.”

“Why?”

“Because, he might not yell at me if you’re there.”

She rolled her eyes, but agreed to go. “He can yell. I want him to actually. Because if I have to deal with him~”

“You won’t have to. I don’t want you to fight him all the time, Andrea.”

“I do it because you won’t.”

“I know, but I can’t protect you. So I’d like it if you didn’t give me a reason to.”

“Do you think I need you to protect me?”

“No, of course not. Just don’t pick a fight.”

When you got to the bedroom Elvis was there with Liz and Serena. Aside from a brief glance, he didn’t acknowledge you when you walked in. You could always tell when he was on the brink of losing his shit.

“I’m so sorry, Liz,” You said immediately. “I had no idea what time it was.”

“It’s okay,” She said. “We already got everything ready for you.”

“This is gorgeous,” Andrea complimented as she looked at the dress laid out on the bed. “With the headband especially.”

“Oh, I wanted to let you know that the things you sent to the cleaners won’t be back until Monday,” Serena started as Andrea and Liz talked about your outfit. Liz spoke to Andrea more comfortably, you noticed. “I tried to get it back sooner but it’s been so busy because of the holidays.”

“It’s okay,” You reassured her. “I won’t even miss them.”

“Where’d you find the shoes?”

“Uhm, they were actually a wedding gift~”

Elvis stood from the edge of the bed suddenly, effectively ending every conversation happening in the room. “Liz, go show Andrea that thing you wanted to show her. You too, Serena.”

You met Andrea’s eyes—she gave you a look that said she’d stay if you wanted. You shook your head.

“Go ahead,” Elvis encouraged, walking over to open the door. “Shouldn’t take but five minutes. Come back when you’re done.”

Liz nodded and led the way out of the room, Serena following silently behind. Andrea stayed in place, crossing her arms with her eyes set on Elvis. You tried to motion for her to go but she wouldn’t look out at you.

“Andrea,” Elvis sighed.

He was too close to his breaking point and you didn’t want Andrea to be the recipient of his rage.

“Drea, it’s fine.” You stepped forward.

“I’m not leaving her alone with you,” She said directly to Elvis. “Can’t you see that she’s afraid of you?”

“N-No, no,” You said quickly, stepping between them. “Please don’t~”

Elvis snapped. “I’m so fucking sick of you acting like you know her any better than I do~”

“I wouldn’t have to know her at all to see that she’s terrified of you,” Andrea said with an equal amount of anger and distaste behind her words as she stepped towards him. “You’re a control freak.”

“If she’s so terrified, she can leave and take you with her.”

“As if you’d ever let her go.”

“She wouldn’t, Andrea, that’s the thing~”

“Do you see what I mean? You’re a fanatic.”

“You wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t hunt you down for weeks, that’s the kind of friend you are.”

“At least I treat her like a fully functioning adult. The way you run her, I can’t tell if you want a wife or pet.”

“What did your ex-husband want? It wasn’t you—that’s what we all know.”

“You trap one little girl and you think you know how to get and keep a woman?”

“I don’t have to trap anyone, she can fucking leave!”

You were frozen as their screaming match intensified with every dig. Elvis stepped forward until your hands pressed against his chest and the two of them were face to face. You had to force yourself to speak.

“Stop,” You said, too breathlessly and quiet at first. You had to shout over them. “Stop it!”

They fell silent and looked at you, both fuming as you stopped them from taking things too far.

“You’re gonna let her talk to me like that?” Elvis asked, forcing you into a position you never wanted to be in.

“Andrea,” You said, walking to the door. “Can you, please…?”

She heaved a sigh and walked out of the door but stopped short and gave you one last questioning glance. You nodded reassuringly despite the fact that you were so on edge that you could have thrown up.

You shut the door behind her and faced him, he had his arms crossed. You expected him to immediately snap and dig into you, but instead he asked—

“What the hell are you wearing?”

You looked down at the pajama pants and mismatched shirt you had fallen asleep in.

“Andrea gave them to me…”

His expression was furious but you could somehow still see the traces of a distasteful frown. He eyed you silently, watching you squirm in anticipation.

“You look fucking ridiculous.”

He could’ve thrown you across the room and it would’ve hurt less—been less humiliating.

He looked away as if he couldn’t stand the sight of you. “Get dressed before Liz gets back.”

You stood there for a moment before walking over to the dress laid out on the bed. You picked it up to take to the bathroom but he stopped you.

“We’re not done yet.”

You felt ashamed and embarrassed of yourself—you wanted to disappear as he watched you strip.

“Where the hell did you go last night?” He continued. “I sent Red all around the world lookin for you and he said you weren’t with Andrea.”

“I was with Andrea~”

“Do not lie to me right now~”

“I swear.”

“Then why weren’t you there?”

“I was, s-she…lied. I-I don’t know why. It was a joke. I told her~ I said that it wasn’t funny.”

“But you didn’t come to me when I asked you to?”

“I-I just…”

“You just…let her make up your mind for you like a little girl? You just go along with whatever she says? Because you just…can’t make your own decisions?”

“Don’t do that.”

“Tell me what it is. I mean, you act just about dumb as hell when it comes to Andrea, it has to be something.”

“What is your problem?” You didn’t wait for him to answer as you stormed into the bathroom to finish putting your clothes on.

“My problem is that I at least expected you to be in place this morning. Instead you come galavanting in here with Andrea like you didn’t disappear all night.” He followed you.

“I don’t understand why you’re blowing this so out of proportion.”

“Because you need to be reminded of your place. It’s here, with me, when I tell you to be.”

“Go to hell, Elvis.”

“Hey,” He barked, fuming as he caught your arm and made you face him. “You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

“And you don’t get to treat me like some useless accessory you get to stick your dick in whenever you want to.” You snatched your arm away. “I mean, for the love of god. Calling me dumb and demanding my respect?”

“Do not talk to me like that.” His stern eyes bore into you even after you looked away. “You will lose, every time, I promise.”

There was a knock on the door—it was Liz.

“Keep your fucking mouth shut,” Elvis said before going to get the door. You tried to put on a neutral expression as Liz and Serena entered the room. “She’s all ready for you.”

You smiled—it was forced but you didn’t think they noticed. He returned when your transformation was complete.

“What’s on the agenda for today, Mr. Presley?” Serena, who had also just returned after slipping out somewhere along the way, asked as Liz finished your hair.

Elvis slipped his arm around Serena’s shoulder and kissed her cheek before continuing. You usually wouldn’t think much of it—but seeing how her hand lingered on his, you couldn’t help but wonder. After the thought crossed your mind it was all you could think about. After they had left the room you couldn’t help yourself, you had to know.

���You’re fucking Serena.”

He fell silent, you were shocked by how stunned he seemed by your knowledge of his situation with your “assistant”—or whatever title he’d given her. His reaction stirred something inside of you. You were angry, and hurt, but you were right. For once, you were right and he couldn’t even process your words fast enough to deny it.

“What?” You asked. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Shut up.” His voice was low and unnerving, but you continued.

“People notice you, Elvis. They watch every little thing you do. When are you going to realize that?”

“I’m telling you right now, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t know why I’m surprised, you’ve always been that way. You’re a liar and you’re a cheater~”

“Shut up!” He was yelling now but his voice was muffled by the sound of your heart beating in your ears. “Do you really think you have any right to question me or anything I do? After everything I’ve done for you?”

“I never asked for any of this, Elvis. I’m here for you!”

“This is me,” He shouted, gesturing grandly with his arms. With each step he took forward, you stepped back until the back of your legs touched the bed—forcing you to sit as he towered over you. “To hear you so much as utter a complaint after everything I’ve risked for us, everything I’m sacrificing—it’s fucking ludicrous.”

You fell silent for a moment, too frightened to speak. “You said that it would be different this time—no more bullshit, remember? No more fighting, that’s what you said out of your mouth~”

“Whose fault is it that we’re fighting, huh?”

You kept your eyes trained on him but you didn’t speak—you only glared silently.

“You have two options,” He said. “You can either get your shit together, go downstairs with Andrea, and keep your mouth shut so we can enjoy the party. Or you can stay here, out of my sight, for the rest of the night. Pick one. Now or I’ll decide for you.”

You stood and forced past him to the bathroom. You made sure your makeup wasn’t ruined before leaving. As you made to walk past him and out of the door he grabbed your arm, forcing your hand into his.

“Don’t embarrass me in front of my family, they already think I’m insane,” He said, and then you were leaving. The commotion from downstairs could be heard clear as day from the top of the stairs. “You just stick with Andrea tonight. No one here’s gonna bother you, I told them not to.”

You kept your lips pressed firmly together as you met Andrea at the bottom of the stairs. All eyes were on the two of you when you entered the room—you hoped the forced smile on your face was fooling the crowd.

Andrea didn’t acknowledge Elvis but she forced a smile all the same. “Are you okay?”

“Keep an eye on her,” He said, handing you off. “She’s in a mood.”

You forced yourself not to pull away when he kissed your cheek—smiling as he tapped your chin and walked away.

“What’s wrong?” Andrea asked when he was gone. “What’d he do?”

“Did they give them to you?”

“Yeah.”

You took the envelope and turned to go into the kitchen. Andrea followed, keeping as little space between you as possible in the crowded house. You saw Elvis, the center of attention as always, being surrounded by people. They were mostly women, and you wanted to feel something when you saw the way they pawed at him and hung off his every word.

But you felt nothing.

You tried to stay in the least populated areas of the house but everywhere you went there was someone.

“I love your scarf,” A woman with long false lashes said to you. “Where’d you get it?”

You knew she was speaking to you but you didn’t respond. You kept your mouth shut.

“You can find one just like it at that boutique downtown,” Andrea spoke up, filling the awkwardness in the wake of your silence. “You know the one with the red mannequins in the window?”

They spoke for a few minutes before the woman finally walked away.

“Happy holidays. It was nice to meet you,” She said, you knew it wasn’t true but you offered a small smile as she left.

“What was that?”

“What?”

“Why’d you ignore her?”

You avoided her eyes. “Did I ignore her?

Andrea scoffed, stunned. “Yeah, kind of. What? Did he not give you permission to speak tonight?”

Your expression must’ve said what you were hoping Andrea wouldn’t assume.

“Really?”

“It’s not like that.”

She struggled for a moment to grasp what you were saying. “Did he tell you not to speak to these people?”

“Andrea,” You said, forcing a laugh. “It’s fine. Let’s just enjoy the party.”

“Did he?”

“They aren’t supposed to speak to me either.”

Your words had the opposite effect of what you intended and she looked even more bewildered.

“Not now,” You said before she could say anything else. “Let’s hang out down here for a while then we can go upstairs and do something else.”

“We need to talk. Now.”

“Please, can’t we just~”

“Now.”

You shook your head. “I told him I’d be downstairs with you. I want to be with you.”

She followed your gaze to where Elvis was. “I don’t think he’ll notice you’re gone.”

You almost laughed at that. “He’ll notice.”

Andrea’s expression was disbelieving but she didn’t continue to pressure you. You sat at the dining table with her well into the night—until Serena found you and told you that Elvis wanted you to turn in for the night.

“Thanks, Serena,” You said, standing. “He wasn’t screwing you when he said it, was he?”

You didn’t have time to take in her expression but you imagined that she was shocked as you walked away.

“M-Mrs. Presley, I’m so sorry.” She crumbled fast. “It was a-a mistake. I told him~ i-it was a one-time thing. I-I swear.”

You stopped and faced her, trying to calm her down before anyone noticed. You forced a reassuring smile. “God, don’t make a scene in front of all these people.”

“Please don’t fire me.”

“I can’t fire you. You don’t work for me.”

She looked devastatingly guilty, you didn’t care. Andrea followed you when you walked away, eyeing Serena judgmentally.

All you wanted to do was go to bed when you got upstairs, however, Andrea quickly reminded you that you had unfinished business to tend to.

“I guess he did it,” She said as soon as the door clicked shut behind you. “He finally shrunk you down to size.”

You didn’t respond. You sat down on the edge of the bed to remove your shoes. You wanted to say something but you couldn’t. Your throat felt like it was constricting, trapping all the words inside.

“He made you show up tonight in a room full of people he told to ignore you,” She continued. “He told you not to speak to anyone and you actually did it. I mean, god, you actually did it. What kind of program is he running on you? It’s like he changes your batteries every thirty days.”

“Please stop.”

“It must be all the pills he funnels down your throat.” You couldn’t take it anymore but she didn’t relent. “That’s why he does it. To keep you pliant and easy to control. Then he keeps you trapped here like a caged animal. If you were in your right mind for more than a few days at a time you might be able to see how fucked all of this is!”

You screamed in frustration. Not necessarily at Andrea, more outwardly.

“What’s the matter with you?” She asked, startled.

“What do you want me to do?” You sobbed.

She sighed reluctantly and hugged you as you cried. “You’re out of your mind.”

You wanted to argue and say that it wasn’t true—you weren’t out of your mind, not completely.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Andrea said. “You can love him and be your own person at the same time. You shouldn’t need his permission to…exist.”

“It’s my fault,” You said. “I chose this. I deserve it.”

“All you’re good for is throwing pity parties.” She sighed, sitting beside you. “When are you going to stop punishing yourself and start living with your decision?”

“You don’t think I’m living with it?”

“I don’t think you’re living at all. You’re going through the motions and drowning everything out.”

You shook your head in denial but your voice was caught in your throat again.

“I can’t stand to see you living like this.”

The hurt you felt suddenly morphed into anger. You wanted to cry even more now, but you clenched your teeth and held back your tears. You felt bad enough without her looking in and speculating about how sad your life must be.

“Andrea, please,” You said. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t?” She asked. “I’ve been by your side for this long. Have I somehow misinterpreted what I’ve been seeing?”

“I don’t know, have you?” You countered. She released a stunned scoff, staring at you in disbelief. You raised your eyebrow in question, waiting a moment for her to continue. “It’s a simple question.”

She directed her gaze downward. “I’m worried about you. That’s the only reason I’m saying anything.”

“You don’t have to worry. I’m happy.” You didn’t notice the evident catch in your voice. “I’m taken care of and I’m loved. I have everything I want. I have you.”

She met your eyes again, her expression was troubled.

“I know you’re worked up about the party but…Elvis does that kind of thing all the time,” You continued. “He thinks he’s protecting me. He doesn’t mean any harm.”

You couldn’t tell if she was believing anything you were saying. She still had that expression on her face—she was so concerned. You sighed when she didn’t respond, glancing off for a moment.

“I think you should go~”

“Don’t make me leave~”

“I have to,” You said. “Just take a few days~ o-or however long you need. Maybe it’s all too much t-too soon. You just need to get away from me…from us.”

She stood with you and let you take her to the door as you spoke.

“If you spend some time away and your feelings don’t change then…maybe you just shouldn’t come around anymore.”

“What?”

“I don’t know…” You opened the bedroom door.

She had tears in her eyes and you fought to hold back your own. “I don’t even recognize you anymore.”

“I don’t want to hurt you. All I ever wanted was for you to be here for me and to support me. Because I need someone like you in my life.”

“Someone like me?”

“A friend, Andrea. I need a friend.”

She batted away her tears as they fell. You stepped towards her.

“If you can’t be my friend,” You started. “If he makes that too difficult, then you have to go.”

There was a beat of silence before she attempted to dry the last of her tears and left the room. You stood there for a moment. You weren’t shocked, but you had hoped she would have stayed.

You were lying awake, alone in bed when the door crept open. You had no idea what time it was as you stared blankly into the darkness of the room.

“Birdie?”

“Hm?”

“Where’s Andrea?”

“She had to go.”

You felt the bed dip and turned blindly into his arms. You were glad that he couldn’t see your tear ridden face in the dark.

“Why’re you crying?”

“Because she left.”

He tried to comfort you but it felt like he didn’t care. “I’m here.”

“You aren’t going to leave me?”

“Why would I leave you?”

You closed your eyes. “Sometimes, E…it feels like I love you so much and you don’t care about me at all.”

“Everything I do is for you.”

“I know, but still.”

He sighed, tracing patterns into the small of your back. “You’re my heart.”

“Then how could you sleep with Serena?”

“That wasn’t love with Serena.”

“Did you think about how I’d feel?”

“No, because it had nothing to do with you or how I feel about you.”

You didn’t understand.

“I didn’t do it to hurt you,” He said. “You’re my girl. You’re the only girl that has that privilege.”

“So that means you get to go around doing whoever you want?”

“It’s not like that, baby.”

“Then what’s it like?”

He fell silent. You wish you could have seen his expression.

“All I’m saying is…if you’re going to have extracurricular activities I want some liberties of my own.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I want a car and I want to go wherever I want.”

“Ray can take you anywhere~”

“I want to take myself.”

“That’s unreasonable.”

You turned over so that your back was to him. He kissed your shoulder, still holding you.

“What do you think is going to happen?” You asked.

“You’ll run away.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You’ve done it before.”

You fell silent—he was right. “I came back.”

He laughed. “Yeah, after I fucked some sense into you.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Maybe I should just knock you up, make sure you don’t go anywhere.”

“I married you. Is that not enough?”

“Nothing will ever be enough. I love you.” His voice was a whisper now. “You’re the only girl I love.”

“Liar.”

“I’ll prove it.”

*

You didn’t hear from Andrea again for a few days. When you did see her, she was downstairs talking on the phone in the kitchen. Upon first sight, you were relieved that she had come back. But she didn’t speak to you directly when you approached her.

“Here she is,” She said, handing the receiver off to you before walking away.

You watched her go in confusion, bringing the phone to your ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hi, Joel.”

“How are you?”

You hesitated, narrowing your eyes. “I’m okay.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” He said. “I was just talking to Andrea~”

“Since when do you and Andrea talk?” You asked.

“Only the past few days really.”

“Why?”

“She’s been worried about you.”

“She has?”

“Yeah…I’m worried about you too.”

You laughed. “Why?”

“We’re concerned~”

“‘We’re?’”

“Andrea, Dawn and me.”

“Oh, are you?” You felt ambushed even though it was only Joel on the line. “Dawn hasn’t been here or even picked up the phone to call.”

“She’s worried about you, honest,” Joel said. “Andrea thinks that you’re not coping well with the changes happening in your life~”

“Do you want to talk to my husband about this, Joel?”

“No, I want to talk to you.”

You took the phone from your ear. “Elvis!”

Andrea rushed into the kitchen with a panicked expression.

“Go get Elvis,” You said. “You can’t bombard me like this~”

“We aren’t bombarding you,” She said, trying to deescalate the situation. “Just talk to him.”

“How could you do this to me?”

“I’m doing this because I care. We both do.”

You brought the phone to your ear. “What do you know about how I’m coping?”

“I know exactly how you’re coping,” He said.

“You have no idea what I’m going through~”

“Okay, I’m sorry~”

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” You stressed. “I’m happy. Tell Dawn that the next time you talk to her. Since she’d rather hear about me from you.”

“Dawn’s been trying to get to you at Graceland, it’s impossible,” Joel said. “The only reason I even got through is because Andrea’s there.”

“What?”

“It’s like he has you cut off.”

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I?”

You looked at Andrea. “Why would he do that? He loves Dawn.”

“Dawn’s not the only one trying to get in touch with you,” Joel said. “I’m only saying this because I care about you. I think you have a bigger problem here than you’re willing to admit.”

You leaned against the counter, worrying your lip. You couldn’t get the mental image of Dawn trying to call you out of your mind. She must’ve thought you’d discarded her.

“You have free will,” Joel continued. “You can do whatever you want.”

“Okay?”

“Do you want our help?”

“With what?”

He sighed on the other line, he sounded defeated. Elvis entered the kitchen then, looking confused. “What’s going on?”

Andrea looked at you, her eyes pleading with you. You didn’t know if she wanted you to spare her and Joel or hear them out.

You took the phone from your ear, keeping your eyes trained on her as you handed it to Elvis. You hadn’t noticed it before but it was at that moment that you had felt the true impact of your final decision.

“It’s Joel,” You said—your voice sounded flat and separate from yourself. “He wants to talk to you.”

You didn’t wait to hear what came of the conversation. Nor did you linger to see the look of ultimate betrayal on Andrea’s face as you walked away.

She followed after you—stopping you with tears in her eyes. “I’ll never come back here. I refuse to stand by and watch you lose yourself like this.”

You stalled at the bottom of the stairs but you didn’t face her. You couldn’t.

“If I leave now, you’ll never see me again,” She said. “Please, don’t make me leave you.”

If you had another little piece of your heart to spare you would’ve given it to be crushed as she stood there awaiting your response. Her voice was a whisper when she spoke again.

“Come with me.”

You felt her hand slip into yours and, for a moment, you wanted to go. You turned and hugged her, despite the fury still burning in the pit of your stomach.

“I’m gonna miss you,” You said with tears in your eyes that you didn’t feel like crying. “I love you.”

She hugged you back but only for a moment before you were pulling away. You went upstairs without another word or glance in her direction.

You didn’t want to be bothered when Elvis found you upstairs. “Leave me alone,” You said, before he could say a word. “Just leave me alone.”

He caught the bathroom door before you could shut it, forcing it open. “What the hell was that?”

You rushed to leave the room, but he didn’t let you get far.

“What is it that Andrea’s got going on, huh?” He asked, keeping you in place by your arm. “She’s got Joel calling to talk to you, why?”

“I-I don’t know.”

He let you go, pacing angrily. “There’s no reason he should be calling to talk to you about anything. Let alone some made-up issue that Andrea’s conjured up. This is why I can’t fucking stand her. And you don’t make it any better by falling for everything she says.”

You looked at him, bewildered. “Is this my fault?”

“What’d she tell him?” He asked, fuming.

“I’m as surprised by all of this as you are,” You stressed. “I have no clue what they talked about before.”

“Bullshit~”

“I had nothing to do with this~”

“Bullshit! You’ll never talk to her again.”

“What?”

“I want her gone. I gave you a chance, it’s fucking done.”

You narrowed your eyes. “Excuse me?”

His jaw unclenched as he spoke. “You heard me.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so. It’s for your own good.”

“Is it? Or is it for yours?”

He shook his head with a look of disdain. “That’s exactly what the fuck I’m talking about. That’s all her.”

“No, it’s me.” You stepped in front of him, making him face you. “I’m asking you.”

“I’m trying to protect you.”

“By not taking my aunt’s calls? By keeping me isolated from everyone?”

“Everyone?” He asked. “Dawn, I’m sorry about, honey, I really am. But who else is there?”

“That’s not the point.”

“I haven’t exactly been standing guard by the phone, and, last time I checked, it works both ways. You can call anyone, anytime. What’s stopping you?”

You didn’t meet his eyes but refused to step away when he neared you.

“There is no one else,” He said. “Joel and Dawn. Two people who’s call probably got thrown out with the other hundreds of calls that come through asking for you.”

“So?”

“So, it’s not like you’re locked in a bunker with no communication with the outside world. Don’t be a baby.”

“I’m not.”

“Don’t be.”

You met his eyes when he fell silent, trying not to let the hurt show in your expression. “You told Liz not to speak to me.”

Despite your suspicion, you weren’t prepared for his confirmation. Something about his tone made you think that he didn’t want you to find out. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“To protect you.”

“From what, Elvis?”

“…Things you don’t need to hear.”

You turned your back to him, hoping it would stop him from coming any closer. It didn’t.

“I’m not punishing you.” He placed his hands gently on your shoulders.

“Do you want me to be alone?” You asked.

“No, I want you to be with me,” He said. “I can’t risk anyone coming between us and messing with your head.”

You didn’t know what to say. His hands slipped down your shoulders and his arms wrapped around your torso.

“People like Andrea and Joel…they’ll ruin us if you let them, birdie,” He continued. “And I’ll be damned if I let anything or anyone tear us apart again. Do you understand?”

He kissed your shoulder, then your neck—murmuring against your skin. He told you how much he loved and needed you and that nothing could ever come between you. He swore that he’d be there, that you wouldn’t be alone because you’d have him. Always.

“We go together. That means wherever I go, you go.”

He loved doing that—repeating himself until his words became ingrained into the very fiber of your being.

You were supposed to relinquish all control and live within your false sense of bliss, happily. That’s what he expected of you—so that's what you did.

You let him silence your curiosity.

“It’s you, and me. Always.”

Cage up your free will.

“You’re my girl. I’m just making sure you’ll always be my girl.”

However he wanted you—

“Okay, birdie?”

—you’d try your best to be.

“…Okay, E.”

He seemed relieved. He sighed, and some of the tension left his body. He kissed your shoulder once more before pulling away.

“Come on,” He said. “Let’s go downstairs.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You have to. Liz didn’t get you all dolled up for nothing.”

You nodded—not in agreement exactly. “I’m tired.”

He narrowed his eyes for a moment, no doubt deciding whether or not to force you. “Do you want me to stay?”

“No.” You didn’t want to be alone, but you didn’t want to be with him either.

“Are you sure?” He hummed suggestively, slipping his arms around your waist again and kissing your neck.

“Stop,” You laughed, pushing him away. “I’m sure.”

“Alright,” He sighed. “I’ll be back up in a few minutes.”

A few minutes turned into a few hours turned into the entire night and some of the next day. You didn’t know what time it was when you finally woke up. When you did, Liz was already there for you.

“How was your day yesterday, Liz?” You asked, even though you knew she wouldn’t give you much of a response.

“Fine, thank you,” She said without elaborating or even glancing up as you did your hair.

“What’d you get up to?” You asked, humoring yourself.

“…Nothing.” She shrugged off the question, showing you yourself in the mirror. “Something for around the house.”

“It’s perfect,” You said, hardly glancing at yourself. “Thank you.”

She smiled bashfully. “Of course.”

Serena entered the room carrying the coffee you requested. You didn’t want it, you just wanted to get rid of her.

You didn’t pay her any mind as she placed the coffee on the table in front of you. Elvis entered after her, meeting your eyes through the vanity.

He always waited until you were fully dressed to come get you. You didn’t know why. There was no mystery to what you’d be wearing or how your hair and makeup would be styled—it was his choice after all.

“You’re gorgeous, doll,” He said, leaning down to kiss your cheek before presenting you with a narrow black box. “Final touch.”

“What is it?” You asked, taking it.

“Open it and see.” He smiled and watched intently as you opened the box.

You offered a smile, hoping you looked pleased with the bracelet.

“Do you like it?” He asked.

“I love it.”

He took the bracelet from the box and carefully secured it around your wrist. You stood when it was done and gave him a hug—thanking him.

He dragged you along with him to the studio that day. You figured you were back to being attached at the hip. You were never sure what they were working on—it happened so fast in those days.

“Stay with Ray and Serena,” He said, taking your face in his hands and examining your expression. You weren’t sure what he was looking for. Was he picking apart your appearance or your expression? You couldn’t tell and it made you feel over-scrutinized. “I’ll come find you when we’re all done here.”

“I’ll be waiting.” What else would you be doing?

Ray showed you to the green room. Him and Serena stood by the door in shifts—they tried to go about switching out and taking guard in a casual manner. They’d pretend to be pacing the space in front of the door rather than posting up in front of it. Ray would do this thing where he’d stand and pretend to stretch his legs before Serena would suddenly decide to rest hers. It was funny, and did nothing to make you feel safe. It made you feel caged in and unable to move freely.

“Serena, can you grab my bag from the studio? I must’ve left it by accident.”

“Of course.”

You smiled as she left, looking at Ray. “Do you think they have water?”

His expression remained indifferent as always. “I’m sure they do.”

“Do you mind?”

You were relieved when they were gone and tried to take in the moment before it was over.

As you were slouched down on the couch a white envelope slipped beneath the crack of the door. You frowned and stood to grab it. You peaked out into the hallway—it was bustling with people. You shut the door and tore open the envelope. You didn’t even need to read it to know what it was.

A death threat.

You felt lightheaded. When you showed it to Ray he tried to take it to Elvis but you told him not to mention it and to get rid of it instead.

“Are you sure?” He asked. “They may still be on the premises.”

“It’s fine. No need to blow things out of proportion.”

He nodded and discarded the letter with a sigh. He stood by awkwardly as you cried and never tried to comfort you.

sorry for the late post! next week is the finale <3

[trainsinanime]

Trains in Anime - Arcane Season 2

As you may have heard, the second season of Arcane is out. Arcane is a complex and amazing show about love and loss, about power and class, about friends and family, about playing god and being god. It’s amazing, it’s beautiful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s an ad for a game you should never ever play, it sets the benchmark for what animation can be and do in this decade and beyond.

But most importantly, it has trains. Let's talk about them.

Prison Train

Apart from a few new angles on the funicular we already know from season 1 and some mine carts, there are two interesting train-like thingies in this season. The first one appears in episode 4 and is used to bring prisoners and main characters to the prison island. And it's weird.

Individual train cars run on two parallel lines of… something, with an overhead line ostensibly providing electric power (there are sparks from it). The running lines are not directly supported by anything, they run between pillars in the sea, and there, they're placed on some roller structures.

The main thing that gets me about this is structural. Are these ropes or steel beams? Either way, why don't they bend?

It's easy to say this is wrong and just move on, but it's more interesting to think of ways this system can make sense.

Personally, I choose to interpret it as a variation of the Aerobus design.

Picture: Rowema AG, CC-BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Aerobes is a classic gadgetbahn, a thing where an inventor said, "trains are boring, let's do a new thing that's exactly the same but proprietary, untested and less practical". In this case, it was a Swiss aerial cable car designer who came up with it. The design is that the train cars run on either two parallel steel beams or cables that are above it, and that are themselves suspended in the air. The resulting thing doesn't look too different from e.g. the Wuppertal Schwebebahn or similar systems (not that there are many), but with a much lighter infrastructure based mostly on steel ropes. Two commercial lines were built in the 1970s, one in Québec that lasted surprisingly long, one in Mannheim, Germany, for an exhibition, and that was where it stopped.

With the weird roller thing, I'm choosing to interpret this prison transport system as a similar thing. In this case the carrying rails/ropes are underneath the vehicle, but that doesn't change much. The vehicle is probably self-propelled and the rollers are just there to deal with heat expansion. I'll assume it's some magic steel so the wires don't move perceptibly as the vehicles pass over it. The vehicles themselves are only run singly, never as trains, presumably to avoid overloading the system.

There are two vehicles, one with a ramp, one with doors that open outwards. It's possible that this represents the totality of that system. Somewhat unusually for a prison train, the system is fully automated and can be used easily by escaped prisoners and by bloodthirsty alchemical monsters trying to break in. It looks cool though.

Intermodal transport

The other rail thing I want to talk comes at the end of the show, episode 9, and here Netflix really screws me over. It was basically impossible to take screenshots, even though it worked just fine for episode 4. They ended up crazy blurry, of the wrong moment, whatever. I've been making use of Fancaps.net, whose collection is exhaustive, but sadly they tend to focus more on important character moments and cool stuff and less on rail infrastructure. So please excuse the wall of text.

At that point in the show a big invasion is happening, and our heroes are trying to defend themselves. One of the means they have is an innovative form of multimodal container transport. The shipping container is brought to the loading station by rail. From there, it is lifted by magic, through a magic gate… and then fired at high speed at the enemies. Fun!

The shipping container and the flat car are both designed to be a bit fantastical, not a direct copy of our modern world, and I can respect that, even though I don't know how these angle brackets are actually supposed to hold the container in place.

But then… look at that truck. Or bogie. I'd give you a better angle but Netflix insisted on making it blurry. Hell, I'll give it to you anyway.

Ignore the foreground, that's just characters frantically trying to save someone's life. What's important is the railroad truck. And as you can sort of see, that's clearly a Y25!

Okay, back up a bit, let me explain. So most rail vehicles have four axles. To go around corners easily, these are not directly attached to the main body. Instead two axles in the front and two in the back are attached to a special frame that can swivel and pivot; the truck or bogie. I think one of these terms may be British and the other North American, but as someone who is neither, I don't actually know, as far as I can tell both are in use.

As the part that holds and guides the axles, provides most of the suspension, takes all of the shocks that the suspension can't, holds braking equipment and propulsion equipment, the bogie of a train is super important. There is a lot of research and development in that area, with designs being constantly refined and improved.

Except when it comes to freight cars. For freight cars, there are two bogies: The French one, used in Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union, probably Finland, and for the UK it's difficult), and the American one, used everywhere else.

This division isn't quite accurate, but it's accurate enough. It's not a law by any means, people keep inventing new trucks for freight cars all the time. But they rarely get sold much. The standard designs are good enough, they get produced in large numbers for cheap, and since they're so standardised, if you use them, you can skip a significant number of steps the approvals process that otherwise come with inventing a new type of rail vehicle.

I am somewhat lying here, in that both the French and the American design are actually large families with many different types, and I assume in particular American rail fans will be angry when I say all their bogies look the same to me… but I'm correct anyway, sorry.

I don't have any good pictures of the American style, so have one from a model railroad car instead:

These are known as Bettendorf-style or sometimes "three piece bogie", their central part is that they have two side frames that hold the axle ends, and one central bolster connecting them. The springs are between the side parts, the bolster isn't directly fixed to them. Rides well on rough tracks, which is why you'll sometimes, rarely, see them on maintenance of way equipment in Europe (although generally beefier versions of the same design. Same in the US).

In contrast, the French version is the Y25.

It also consists of one bolster and two side frames. However, it also usually has additional relatively weak parts at the front and end. The bolster is fixed to the side frames, but it's designed to flex in itself. The springs are between the side frames and the wheel bearings. A characteristic part for the standard type is the "belly" between the wheels, and the hole in there.

Arcane is made by Fortiche, Fortiche are French, and thus their rail car gets a Y25. They spaced it up a little, and in the course removed the suspension and brakes and added a plate over the hole where the central bolster attaches, but it's still clearly a Y25 type bogie.

The rest of the track is a bit weird. The train car doesn't have flanges, instead it runs in grooves in the ground. It's also unclear how it's moved there; it seems to be some kind of winch (you need to turn a handle really hard or push the train car with superpowers). Most importantly, it's unclear why someone built a container delivery railway to the top of the city's tallest tower in the first place. But I am absolutely delighted by the Y25 freight car bogie there.

If you are interested in the wide world of freight car bogies, and you speak German, I strongly recommend Drehgestelle.de, a delightfully old-fashioned website by a single guy who really cares very much. He charts the history of the Y25, the Bettendorf bogie, the earlier Diamond bogie, the German counterpart to the Y25 that used to be popular until it got outlawed, and all the various weird other things that have been tried.

All in all, a good show, I can recommend it.