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zomboivex · 2 months

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requests are open, you say??? /bursting through your door

may I have a little bit of Haru? I dont really have a prompt idea, but I've been so starved of Haru content ;-; if I were to choose, I'd like to see him pining desperately for the reader (⃔ *`꒳´ * )⃕↝ but I'm open to anything – fluff, smut, yandere, I accept any crumbs 🤲

Sorry this took a while! My dumb-self decided to open up asks two days before I moved and then totally underestimated how exhausted I’d be after the fact!

But! Here you go! One Haru pining after the reader (feat. a bit of smut).

Enjoy the small crumbs I have sprinkled onto the ground. 💫

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Got That Magic Touch

Haru x Reader

Word Count: 2k

Minors DNI 18+ Content

Smut Scene Ahead

Jabberwok had always been a breath of fresh air. At least, this is what Haru had settled on in his own mind. Even with the various anomalous animals that would trot about the grassy plains or charge or nip or bite or simply just exist- it was peaceful in its own right. The simplicity only seemingly a surface level ideal. In reality, it was time consuming and chaotic and harsh and beautiful. It was beautiful.

A few anomalous cassowaries stamped their feet into the ground, angrily strutting about and letting out their loud screeches- much to Haru’s chagrin. Hands going to cover his ears briefly before watching them stomp away. Their daily routine of angrily nipping disrupted only by the sudden breach of your arrival. Haru’s day disrupted as well. A gentle breath as he would take in the sight of your gentle frame. Heart feeling as if it filled just as time would still itself.

God… you were a beauty.

Of course, even with the slowed nature of it all, Haru was fast. Arms thrown up in the air with enthusiastic greeting. “You made it! And just in time!” The words filled with energy that was matched by his quick and ecstatic tempo. Arms claimed out as if to wildly gesture at a small blanket that had once been neatly set down- now littered with wrinkles.

“It’s a beauty today, ain’t it?” The voice rang out, a lofty grin as Haru would confidently stride over to the blanket that was laid out. He’d plop down, patting the spot next to him- beckoning for you to come over.

With a slightly slower stride, you would find yourself soon sitting beside the Jabberwok Captain. The plush grass underneath allowing some give as you made yourself comfortable. The familiar weight of an arm casually flung around your shoulder as you’d turn to look over at those always crescent shaped eyes. Your own expression filled with brief confusion and a subtle tilt of your head. Haru would extend his other hand, the fabric of his glove gently grazing your cheek.

You found yourself unable to look away, your own hand extending over to gently brush some of his rusty red hair out of the way. His skin warm to the touch as a gentle breath drew from your lips.

The warm glow of the sun hung low in the air- an array of colors washing over the Jabberwok landscape. Oranges and pinks painting the skies above before morphing into more subtle purples and darker blues. Stars would begin to dot above, providing light that the sun had formerly offered. Twinkling as your body naturally would scoot closer to warmth as the night air grew only a little chilly.

There had been no words spoken in all of this. But the silence wasn’t unwelcomed. The two of you had spoken of this day- planned out meticulously. Such plans needed to be made in advance with how busy Haru found himself. But for you? Of course, he’d make the time.

The gloved hand that had been gently caressing you would move to take hold of your chin, turning you to face the ghoul- your heart picking up.

“Are you sure you wannna do this?” He would ask, his tone soft and searching for confirmation that this was something you wanted.

“Yes-“ was all you managed to breathe out, the smile Haru wore melting your heart.

The hand that had held your chin now guiding you in for a kiss, lips pressing to one another. His own only slightly chapped if only from the apparent neglect he put himself through to ensure all the anomalous animals were taken care of. It wasn’t off-putting, though.

Melting into the connection, you found yourself being pulled closer into Haru as his arms would guide you so you now sat atop his lap. The crashing of your lips grew more intense, filled with passion as the breathing between you both would fill the night air.

Soon, there was a shift and you had your back pressed into the wrinkled blanket- wide eyes staring up at Haru, who was towering over you. Even with his eyes closed, you could tell he was studying your every feature and taking in the sight of you beneath him.

Chirping from crickets would sing to the both of you as Haru would begin to undo the buttons of your shirt, pulling it open. Your chest bare and bathed in moonlight. A raspy breath shook its way from the ruddy redhead as both his gloved and ungloved hand would explore the exposed skin. You felt your breath hitch as two fingers would pinch a nipple, giving it a soft tug.

Body lightly twisting underneath as the hands would return to their roaming and exploration. The peeling of clothes was slow and drawn out- playful. Some garments removed with teeth and chuckles shared between the both of you at just how silly the ordeal had been.

Soon, the two of you were both bare, only the stars in the sky a witness between the intimate scenery below them. Limbs entwined and tangled as heavy breathing lifted in the air- kisses bringing you both closer. A few more giggles and breathless gasps before Haru had reached down to let his fingers dip into you, getting a feel for your inner warmth. A shudder running up his spine as the two fingers would slowly begin to pump inside of you- brushing lightly against the inners of your walls. Slow and methodical before they would spread to stretch you.

As the fingers would pull out, Haru would reach down to grasp his already glistening erection before pressing the tip against your prepped hole, holding it there as he let his head rub small circles before inching in. Each inch slow and stretching as a drawn out moan would pour from your lips, eyes screwing shut.

“Open them-“ Haru spoke through low and breathy words. “I want you to keep them open.”

You couldn’t help but to feel your cheeks burn as you’d oblige. Eyes slowly cracking open as you were met with the flushed cheeks of the ghoul above you. His own lips puckered as he gasped and settled himself deep within you- fully submerged. There was a brief pause, Haru wanting you to have a taste of the fullness within you before hips drew back and gave a purposeful thrust back in. Moans filling the night air as the repeated slow and forceful juts would cause your eyes to water and roll back. Hands found themselves busy with feverishly exploring your naked form.

Each time Haru would fully press in, he’d stay seated for a moment, roughly grinding and pressing deep inside of you. Each moan it would illicit from you causing the ruddy-red to shudder out a moan of his own. Hands shaky as nails would softly drag lines along your skin- never enough to break and draw blood. No, he never had intentions of hurting you. And this moment was too sweet to ruin with any accidents.

The passion between you both lasting as long as the ghoul wanted to drag it out- relentless in his drawn out movements. They would build up their pace as Haru felt his stomach squeeze- knowing it wouldn’t last much longer for him. A race home to get you to your edge and spill over. The quickened pace met with soft whines from the both of you as he’d jackhammer away, leaning down to sloppily meet your lips with his own. A thin sheen of sweat building up on your skin and his hair clinging to his forehead with sweat. The world buzzing in your ears, unsure if you were moaning loud or not. You were.

“Haru-“ the name wrenching its way from you as your own gut would squeeze and a warmth pooled around.

Haru knew exactly what that meant. He reached his goal, the thrusts unbearably fast and ragged before coming to a stop. His girth pressed deep inside as his seed would spill inside- remaining pressed in as his hips subtly would grind into you. The motions slowing to a still before he would catch his breath. Your body sprawled out on the blanket, which had become a tangled mess everywhere where there was not direct weight holding it down.

Staring up, you would watch the rise and fall of both your chests. Haru letting out a breathless chuckle followed by a soft groan when he pulled out. Some of the mess you both made spilling out.

“Aht… that won’t do-“ Haru would whisper out- unable to raise his voice any higher as he was quite spent from your intercourse.

“What won’t-?” You didn’t have a chance to finish asking before you were already receiving your answer. The lips you had moistened with your kisses now down below and giving the same passionate attention your mouth received. You couldn’t help but to gasp out, toes curling and legs screwing up as your hands shot down to grab onto the sweaty messy red strands. A light tug as you felt a tongue delve in to clean the mess that had been made.

Your eyes would close, melting once more as you felt yourself coming undone once again. Already sensitive from your last high. Haru, however, was relentless in the attention he’d give you. His tongue slipping in and out with practiced ease. The nights he had dreamt of exploring you with his mouth now finally coming true.

If he could, Haru would have gone another round. And then another. But that would leave you both ragged and unable to walk. The thought making him chuckle against your entrance.

“What..?” You breathed out, your own voice veering into a soft laugh. Haru was just infectious like that.

Pulling back and peering up with his crescent eyes, the ghoul would then move to pepper soft kisses to your inner thighs before murmuring against your skin, “You’re just so beautiful.”

The way he said it- it made your chest warm up. It was clear he meant it. And it made you feel so loved. Easy to believe anything he said. But Haru never struck you as a liar.

“And you’re handsome.” You’d respond back which only caused Haru to chuckle again. It’s not that he doubted your sincerity. It was just so warming to know that you thought he was attractive at all. After all, you were ethereal in your own right.

The night would end with the two of you cuddled against one another- fingers tracing lazy shapes into each other’s bare skin as you’d stare up at the night sky. Talk of constellations and dreams of the future spilling between the two of you until the air became too chilly and a few mosquitos decided to have a small snack of you both. Clothes returning and you’d return to the dorms, Haru going to gently cover your bug bites with anti-itching cream.

Thanks for reading! And thanks for the patience! Hope you enjoy it. If not, sorry aha.

#tokyo debunker #tdb #haru sagara #tdb 18+#smut smut smut #vexanswersasks #vexiswritinghere #Something about Haru screams to me that he’d be into mating presses #and also sex under the stars #idk man I’m shooting the shit fr #tokyo debunker fanfiction

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leewritestoomuch · 8 months

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Hiii (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

I see that u r accepting nsfw asks🫶

So can I request an Ukyo x reader where the reader is touching theirself then ukyo hears them and helps them??

It's okay if you don't want to do this tho 🥲

hiiii thank you for the request! I’ll totally write this!

So sorry, I’m going to assume fem! Reader. Do let me know if you wanted otherwise.

Warnings: Masturbation, Oral (Fem! Receiving)

He couldn’t help it. His ears were too sensitive. Too sensitive to not notice the slick sounds of what he can only assume is the pad of your finger teasing yourself. Too sensitive to not notice the sound of a finger sliding in, then back out with a slick “pop!”

Too sensitive to not notice the way your breath hitches as quiet squelches leak out from behind your bedroom door, if you could even call it that.

You had assumed he was a sleep, and maybe if he was he wouldn’t have woken up over such small noises, but he wasn’t. He didn’t know what to do. In this stone world, he currently has no earplugs, headphones, muffs, or anything to drown out the sounds.

And unfortunately, as disgusting as he felt for it, he couldn’t control the way his pants tightened, the way his breath hitched with yours, or the way his mind can’t help but picture what your face must look like. And that image doesn’t help the situation in his pants at all.

He feels it’s too far to let himself touch himself to your sounds. After all, you didn’t even know he was listening. And though it’s not his fault, he’d feel creepy and like he took advantage if he made it a silent mutual thing. So he endures it until he hears you grunt and a whisper falls from your lips.

“Ukyo…” he heard it loud and clear, even though you’d whispered it low enough anybody else wouldn’t have noticed. Then a low groan and you whisper again, “It’s not enough…”

He can’t help but let the idea cross his mind that maybe he could make you cum quick. And he finds himself nearing your door, though he feels selfish for not keeping his mouth shut and staying still during this. He hesitates, but now he feels creepier if he doesn’t knock. After all, now he’s standing at the door, close enough that with his ears he’s certain you’re curling and thrusting in 2 fingers, but the rhythm he picks up for your clit is irregular. And your disappointed noises that follow soon after tell him that’s not how it’s supposed to be.

So before you can do anything else, he knocks in the door. He hears you freeze, the air goes still and silent, before finally you call out.

“Uh… yes?”

“Hey…” He doesn’t know what to say yet, but he quickly tries to think of the right words. “I heard my name.”

“Oh, sorry I must have been dreaming.” You chuckle awkwardly, lying through your teeth.

“I heard more than that.” He says quickly, tone clearly a bit more nervous than he intended. It goes silent for a moment before he hears shuffling, then footsteps, and lastly the door swings open.

You’re standing there is pajamas that are haphazardly thrown on. He knows it’s a little weird to think, considering the lack of consent given thus far, but he wishes you hadn’t gotten dressed again.

“I heard my name, and I know that doesn’t mean that you want to have sex with me, but I figured I’d… uh… ask? Do you want any help?” He’s more calm than a lot of people would be, but he’s also a nervous wreck inside.

“Yes, I do.” You answer quickly, and on queue, both of you are backing into the room, the thin excuse for a door gets locked behind him.

He decides he’d take his time, within reason, because he’s fairly certain you’re already sexually frustrated.

Between the two of you, it was fairly obvious there were feelings. Even the two of you could see that. However, the two of you have no relationship. So he knows he’s gotta cover some basic respectful bases. Not only that, but he’s dying to kiss you.

“Can I kiss you?” He asks, and you chuckle. It’s cute he feels the need to ask when you let him in to have sex. You nod, and he closes the gap between you two. He pecks your lips first, before changing to an open mouth kiss, one that deepens in hunger as a new kind of heat brews between the two of you.

Once the two of you are exploring the taste of each other’s mouthes with your tongues, he finally starts to touch you. His hands find their way under your shirt, and soon his lips leave your mouth for your neck. His hands leave your shirt to slip off your pants, but not before looking to you for permission, which you grant.

And soon his head is buried between your thighs, his tongue lapping at your clit in an experimental rhythm. His eyes are locked on your face, watching your reactions. Once he finds the pace he sees, or more so hears, the best reaction, he keeps it and adds his fingers into your cunt.

His fingers curl a few times before rubbing against your g-spot, then pulling out and pushing back in time with his tongue on your clit. He continues his motions as you tangle your hands in his white hair, your head thrown back as you breathe heavily.

“Don’t stop…” You breathe out. He hums against your clit in response, causing you to whine.

He doesn’t stop, he doesn’t change anything. And soon your hips buck up against his face a bit, which he doesn’t mind, and your back arches off the bed. Your legs shake a bit as he pushes you over the edge.

“Fuck, yes! Ukyo!” You shout, moaning for him.

“So pretty…” he mutters when he pulls away, slick covering his chin.

You’re already thinking about returning the favor.

I was half awake when I wrote this so I apologize if it’s not very great at points. I’ll look over it tomorrow but I’m posting it for now.

#ukyo saionji smut #ukyo saionji x reader #Ukyo smut #dr stone x you #dr stone smut #dr. stone #dr. stone x reader #dr stone x reader #dr. stone smut #saionji ukyo #Ukyo #dr stone Ukyo #Ukyo Dr stone

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glitter-soda · 5 months

Text

I’d like to break down my current feelings and gripes about the trans movement, both to inform my followers and maybe start a discussion.

The vast majority of trans people are relatively normal and are just trying to live their lives in peace.

Trans women are trans women. They are male, and by definition it is much more accurate to call them men than women, but I do believe they are something of a separate category. The same goes for trans men, in reverse.

Definitions like “a woman is anyone who identifies as a woman” and “a lesbian is a non-man who’s attracted to non-men” are ridiculous and frankly offensive. The word lesbian is taken. It means “female homosexual”. Literally nobody is stopping you from making your own term, so stop trying to forcibly redefine ours.

Male socialization and female socialization both exist and are important. Trans women were socialized male and trans men were socialized female.

The sheer amount of vitriol towards “terfs” and anyone else who questions anything is just…disgusting. It’s acceptable to send them graphic rape and death threats, doxx them, assault them at protests, and celebrate when they get sick or die. I don’t know how to explain that that’s not normal fucking behavior, especially since “terf” is thrown around very casually these days.

Biological women should be allowed to have spaces that don’t include any males, regardless of the purpose. Lesbian bars, female only gyms, female only domestic violence/rape shelters, and literally anything else are fine and should be allowed to exist without being vandalized or threatened with shutdowns.

The former point includes female only sports teams. Males are biologically very different from females and it should’ve be offensive to anyone to say so. Both sexes have advantages and disadvantages over the other, it just happens that many sports are designed in a way that makes it easier for males to succeed.

Abolishing female only categories in award ceremonies, scholarships, and the like in the name of inclusivity is stupid and completely forgets the reason they were established in the first place. Male bias exists and women will almost never be included because of it.

I’m not against transitioning because I believe in total bodily autonomy and find language like “mutilation” to be incredibly gross and callous. However, I think it’s bad and dangerous to be presented as the literal only treatment for dysphoria.

Children who express any form of questioning or gender nonconformity should not be immediately assumed to be trans. A little girl saying “I want to be a boy” may mean “I want the freedoms that boys have and this is the only way I know how to express it because I’m six”. For actual trans kids, puberty blockers are dangerous and minors should only be allowed to socially transition.

The entire idea of being non-binary is frankly silly to me. I believe it to mostly be a poor coping mechanism for sexist stereotypes. Again, do what you want, but don’t expect me to take you seriously.

The way a lot of information and discussions that don’t support the current trans narrative are censored or lied about online is really bad and honestly borderline cult-like. Very few people actually know what radfems believe because people are discouraged from reading anything straight from the source. The Cass Review was picked apart in bad faith and many of the articles that “sum it up” are just straight up full of false information. Detransitioners are swept under the rug and told to shut up and stop trying to ruin things when they try to talk about their experiences. The trans community needs to do better.

And most importantly:

I do not want trans people dead. I believe in my heart of hearts that the vast majority of actual radfems and gender criticals do not want trans people dead. Neither ideology is hateful or inherently against trans people.

(Y’all just hate being told “no”.)

(Also I probably forgot something, so feel free to ask or discuss idk)

#radfem safe #terf safe #personal #trans #misogyny #gender critical #i s2g if this flops after all the time i spent on it i’m killing someone

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theroastedwretch · 2 years

Text

Between the Lines- Ep. 7

Warnings- PG-13 due to Swearing and Explicit Language, Innuendos and bad jokes, Mature Themes, Violent References

Index Ep. 6

Not telling Lilly about leveraging my sister’s contacts was possibly the hardest I’ve ever bit my tongue. #IAmJake, for all of my doubts, was actually taking off. There was nothing the internet loved more than the chance to stick it to “the man”, so the story of a government-wanted hacker being thrown into the line of fire while just trying to help find his missing friend played into that narrative pretty well.

I think she knew, though, since she continued to keep me updated on the progress despite the fact that I hadn’t participated directly at all.

I wanted to— I’d actually started several times, but stopped just short of hitting enter. I still had access to Nym-0s and the link to the video about Hannah, and I worried that if I got linked any closer to Jake, it might put what few secrets he had given me at risk. I wondered if Lilly’s involvement wasn’t a bit of a liability, too, but hers could be seen as making amends. Since she’d contacted people directly about the movement, compared to her very public video, most people probably still thought she hated him.

Which, since it would be safer for her, was probably fine with Jake.

Paige had been a godsend, though. I could tell she wasn’t happy about it, at all, but she accepted my determination without much more than cursory protests and then threw her weight into pulling whatever strings she had available.

As it turned out, one of the photographers she’d worked with had some higher profile clients than she’d known, and really wanted to bang her. As a result, I was actually seeing the hashtag on profiles I’d had for things totally unrelated to my own social circle. It was actually a bit trippy the first time I saw it pop up on a profile I’d made exclusively for when I wanted to scroll through cat pictures.

Guess I wasn’t the only crazy cat lady in his corner anymore.

I wasn’t sure how I felt, sharing Jake in this way. Before Lilly’s video, talking to him had felt like my own illicit secret, even the others weren’t totally sure of my level of association with him. Now, they all knew his name, along with so many others, and it felt like what little claim I had on him was gone. Even though Lilly considered us together now, it just didn’t feel the same.

Especially since I still had no idea if he even knew she thought we were together.

It temporarily mollified me a bit when the group automatically assumed the movement was my doing. But even that, I knew, was as much about what they didn’t know as what they did. Jake’s absence, now by far the longest we’d gone since our first conversation, was making me question everything and doubt myself in ways I was struggling to get control over.

I knew he’d be back for Hannah, of course. Now that I knew their connection, it all made sense. How many times had I bent over backwards to put the fear of god in some asshole who was making Paige cry, or drive two towns over to pick her up off the pavement when she got too drunk? And wasn’t she, right now, throwing her professional life on the line over Jake for me?

Similarly, after everything, I was having a really hard time staying mad at Lilly. Looking back, it occurred to me that he’d never seemed angry about it. Annoyed, inconvenienced, maybe even sad. But he didn’t seem to blame her. And he could have deleted her video himself, or just sent one of us his explanation with no strings, but it was important to him that we work through our anger.

She’d hurt him way more than she had me, so it probably wasn’t my grudge to hold. We’d revisit the issue if it ended up he was captured or hurt, though.

I’d also ended up her confidant for her attempts to come to terms with everything. That, I was a bit more conflicted with, but I also knew I was the only one she could talk to. Hannah was missing, telling her parents would only cause more upheaval, and she felt honor bound not to tell the group. So while I had to bite back a cutting remark every now and then, I was pretty practiced at that by now considering my sense of humor.

It was during one of these times that the first hacking attempt startled me into dropping my phone. Which, once I’d gathered my wits a bit, made me feel pretty silly. If there was anything you’d think I’d be used to by now, it would be my phone being accessed by someone else. But since when could my phone recognize that? Was this what Jake had done ages ago when he’d had me open my devices for him? I’d been under the impression that he was mainly looking to shield the dubious nature of our work, or maybe program a kill switch if it went bad and I got arrested or something.

Man, I really needed to learn to ask for details.

The fact that it was Nym-0s that pushed back the attack wasn’t lost on me either, that name was engraved into my mind now from the amount of times I’d listened to that video by now. So it was definitely Jake’s doing.

But why?

I mean, I guess I did opt out of sharing the hashtag for similar reasons. Other than Hannah, who was missing, I was really the only person with a confirmed link to Jake that wasn’t just a casual social media post. Maybe not sharing it made me look more suspicious? Reverse psychology wasn’t my thing.

The second attempt actually made me a bit nervous. Location tracking was a bit more alarming than just trying to access my device. I mean, maybe it shouldn’t have been since I had no idea what they could do with my device versus my location, but there was something a bit sinister about the idea that they wanted to find me, not just search through my chats with Jake.

But I didn’t know anything. What good would knowing where I was do? I guess they could take my phone from me, but that didn’t make sense, I could just break it or something. My phone number alone made it clear Jake couldn’t have come to me to hide, and there was no way I could have gone there without a huge paper trail that would be much easier to trace than my phone.

I couldn’t determine what they wanted from me, but suddenly my location didn’t seem as far from everything as it had before. Worse, the fact that this program existed on my phone meant Jake hadn’t told me something. Again. Boy was that getting old.

We’d have to talk about that at some point. Through this mess, I was discovering that I could accept a lot in a relationship. Reading every word I said, making changes to my device, and being a fugitive? That was fine. But don’t make decisions for me, and don’t keep secrets.

Well, at least I was learning about myself…

I was also learning just how prone I was to bouts of hysterical laughter during stress. That one I knew, abstractly, but had never been hit with enough stressors in a row to really know how warped my sense of humor got when all else went to shit.

MC: Oh my god.

MC: Phil just asked Jessy if I was single.

Paige: WHAT?

MC: He’s still never seen me. What is he playing at?

Paige: 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was a bit confused when Jessy told Phil she didn’t know if I felt the same way as Jake. I hadn’t really discussed him with her since my pity party a while ago, I supposed, and it was possible that Paige said something to her about Joe (how were they talking? Why hadn’t spy mode alerted me?) but the fact that all of these people seemed so sure about his feelings was just baffling to me.

Am I really just that bad at this???

___

Jessy: Guys, look at this!

When I swapped over to the group chat, I was confronted with a picture of… me. Pink hair, black lipstick, and cat ears.

MC: Oh god.

MC: Where did you find that?

Jessy: Facebook! Well, Paige sent it to me from Facebook.

MC: That was like 12 years ago!

MC: How did you even find my profile?

Jessy: She and I have been friends for a while and I tried looking for you but didn’t see anything. Your name and profile picture are different.

So that was where they were talking. Cool.

MC: Look. I have no excuse except that I was young.

Dan: Damn, MC. You had a nose ring?

MC: I still do, but not the point.

Jessy: And tattoos!

Richy: I never would have guessed.

I decided to let the teasing distract me for a little bit, the group chat had been so serious for a while now.

MC: Yeah, what were you guys like at 18?

Dan: Mostly this.

MC: Okay, that I believe.

MC: I had a goth phase. It happens.

Jessy: I love the hair! The lipstick doesn’t suit you though.

MC: I looked like a ghost. But you know, that’s what I was going for.

Dan: I’ve never seen what you look like now, so you could still be goth

Had I never shared a picture in the big chat? Huh. Jessy already knew, and Cleo too, but it only now occurred to me that none of the guys or Lilly had any idea what I looked like. But Jessy quickly took care of that too, sending the picture that Paige had taken for the Single Ladies.

MC: Okay I don’t look like that either, my sister does magic.

Jessy: You’re pretty! You just look extra fancy here.

MC: And about 5 years younger.

MC: Jessy, why were you looking for my profile?

Jessy: 😘

MC: Do I need to kill Paige?

Jessy: Noooo! She just likes talking about you and stuff from when you were younger.

MC: Don’t take them to heart too much, I grew up and got boring. 🤣

Jessy: You did not!

As if the universe could sense that we were enjoying a moment of light-hearted fun, it all came crashing down. Thomas interrupted with a clip from the news, finally naming the woman they’d found so long ago as Amy Bell Lewis. It was good to have a name, but sobering to be brought back down to earth so violently.

The group was wholly unhelpful in learning about her. It seemed like she was quiet, maybe a loner. For a half second, I wondered how many people would know anything about me if I was killed. At least, beyond a nose ring and tattoo, I guess. But I knew it would take a while before anyone noticed I was missing other than the people from work.

Additionally, it was somewhat disturbing how long it had taken to release her name, and how easily we’d forgotten about her after learning it wasn’t Hannah. She had to have people out there wanting to know what happened to her too, right? Had there been a group chat like this dedicated to finding her? Or had she really gone totally unnoticed for so long that her absence was overlooked entirely?

No one had any idea what her connection was to Hannah, either, so it must not have been anything recent, or significant. Could they know each other from therapy? If they had regular appointment times, they could have met in the waiting room.

Not everyone who is quiet is depressed, MC.

Phil’s arrest, too, threw a cold bucket of water on the group, and once again I found myself wanting to give Jessy a hug and comfort her. So much of the recent activity had hit home for her— the attack, her workplace being marked, and now her brother being arrested. She had so much on her plate and there wasn’t anything any of us could do to help.

I hated to prod her about the attack, but now that her brother had been arrested, I hoped that she’d be more eager to go over it and it would be less traumatic.

Way to pretend anything positive is coming from this. When did I become so cold-hearted?

I’d forgotten that Richy knew Jessy was out the night of the attack. I went over to my notebook and wrote that under him and, praying for Jessy to forgive me, I made a page for Phil, writing about the arrest and Hannah’s call.

Jessy’s blind faith that I was worth the risk, even after she was attacked, left me wallowing in guilt. How could she think that, while I was safe from the culprit, hiding away while he stalked them to scare me?

I had to start planning to go there. It would take time, and a fair bit of it, to get the money together. But I could take on extra hours, and budget carefully. I had to stop thinking of Duskwood as a place I wanted to see, and start thinking of it as somewhere I needed to go. To help my friends.

As I was explaining to Jessy about the attacks on my phone, I sent off an email to my boss about working out additional shifts. My work hadn’t been the best lately, but I’d been there for a while and hoped that my recent boost in productivity counted for something.

___

Oddly, Phil had added himself to my rotation of adopted randos from Duskwood. Maybe Jessy had told him I was single, or I was still just the town’s new shiny toy and he needed to get his turn to play.

Maybe I would throw Paige at him sometime soon.

Not that I didn’t appreciate the attention. Hadn’t that been the whole reason I’d gone out with Joe? I’d never had much self-esteem, and external validation could easily make or break it. Being a hermit for years now meant that just about every man I encountered was either a co-worker, paid to smile and be nice, or a stranger at the supermarket.

He didn’t just flirt, either. We talked about music a couple of times, though he was way more familiar with a broad variety of things where I mostly listened to the same bands on repeat. I suppose he didn’t have much choice, working a bar.

I still didn’t know ages for the group— it kept slipping my mind to between all of the death and vigilantism—but I suspected that I was somewhere between Jessy and Phil. Jessy’s sweetness and naïveté made her seem far younger than she likely was, yet I felt like I was probably a bit closer to Phil’s age than Jessy’s.

He gave me a few funny stories about regulars, and I talked about the times I had to drag my dad’s drunk ass home from the bar.

MC: To be fair, he’s nicer drunk than he is sober.

MC: You can always tell when he’s had enough, he starts actually talking about his feelings. 😂

Phil: I’ve got a few of those. You learn a lot about them very fast.

MC: My dad’s bartender knows his AND my entire life story. Every time I go home for a visit he starts asking me about stuff I didn’t even think I told my dad.

The one thing I still hadn’t opened up to the group much about was my family, at least outside of Paige. She may have told Jessy about our rather dysfunctional adolescence, especially if she sent her a photo from that time. But I didn’t think Paige would go into much detail about it either. She was less tight-lipped about it all, but also knew I tried not to mix that life with my current.

But it kind of felt good to talk to someone about part of that craziness, and as a bartender, I knew my dad would barely scratch the surface of what it took to faze Phil.

Phil: It sounds like he’s proud of you then :)

Phil: I bet you’re adorable when you show up to get him home safe

MC: Again, I remind you that you’ve never seen a picture of me and have no idea what I look like.

Phil: You could send me one

MC: That would make it seem like I’m encouraging your behavior.

Phil: Tease

Phil: I could just ask Jessy you know ;)

MC: But you haven’t yet. Pretty sure it’s not about the picture at this point, it’s about winning.

Phil: I imagine both would be equally enjoyable.

MC: Nice try, I almost believed you that time.

Phil: It’s almost time to open, talk to you later, Mystery Woman.

Rolling my eyes, I didn’t bother replying and went back to my contacts list, checking to see if Jake was online out of habit. He wasn’t, but Richy was.

For all I felt like I’d talked to Richy, I couldn’t say I really knew much about him. He’d never disappeared the way Thomas and Dan had, or pushed me away like Lilly. But it felt like Cleo and Jessy had both tried to connect with me in a way that Richy had only ever attempted once, with the Dare House.

Maybe it was worth a try again. I had a sense he was hiding something, if only because of how much he occasionally reminded me about what I was hiding.

MC: So, you’ve told me about your childhood trauma from the time you peed yourself in the forest. What else you got?

Richy: Excuse me?

MC: Sorry, that sounded way more friendly and casual in my head. Let me try to speak human.

MC: You told me about the Dare House but I don’t know much else about you and I wanted to learn more.

Richy: So you’re starting with childhood traumas? 😂

MC: To be fair, that’s where you started, too.

Richy: That’s actually fair. 😒

Richy: I didn’t pee, I just almost did.

Richy: But also, what makes you think there’s more than that?

MC: Jessy has to yell at you for your morbid jokes almost as often as she has to yell at me.

MC: You just kind of smile through it all. I know that look.

Richy: Are you saying because I smile too much I must be hiding some dark secret?

MC: It’s the type of smile. But yeah, pretty much. I don’t trust people who smile too much.

Richy: Jessy smiles a lot too.

MC: Jessy feels everything a lot, though. You’ve got that quiet thing going, and it’s always the quiet ones.

Richy: 😳

Richy: Are you flirting with me?

MC: No, but I can see how you’d think that.

MC: I just finished talking to Phil, so his energy must have rubbed off on me or something.

Richy: Phil? Why did you talk to him?

MC: I have no life? And I’m supposed to be investigating aren’t I?

Richy: So you think he’s involved?

MC: No clue, but he’s been super friendly since he got my number.

Richy: 🙄

MC: I can’t be womanized across the world. No one’s that impressive, trust me.

MC: Come on, tell me your damage.

Richy: You don’t let go do you?

MC: Never!

Richy: I guess it’s just my parents. My dad and I don’t see eye to eye much and my mom isn’t well.

I flinched. I hadn’t expected to get to the big stuff that fast, or to relate so hard to his answer. Why couldn’t these people be totally unlikable?

MC: Woof, I feel those.

Richy: So you’ve got parent problems too?

MC: You could definitely say that, yeah.

MC: Okay, I’ll give you once since you played nice with me, too.

MC: Well, you saw the picture Jessy sent. Around that time I was dating this guy. We got up to some crazy stuff, things were hectic at home and my parents didn’t really keep an eye on me very well.

MC: One time we got super drunk and went skinny dipping in this fountain. There were a bunch of us though and one of them apparently was too drunk to remember how to stand up. We had to “save” her from like six inches of water, and for some reason it made me terrified of swimming when I drink.

I hated remembering that day, of course, but in terms of my own damage it was relatively far down the list. But it was decently low-stakes so it wouldn’t bring down the mood too far, and I was hoping that maybe quid pro quo would open him up a bit.

Richy: Teenagers and booze is always a bad time.

I laughed. That was an understatement. Still, of the two I imagined that talking about his parents would help me understand him way more than drunken teenage shenanigans would.

MC: You’re telling me!

MC: It really sucks about your mom, though. Genuinely. I can’t imagine that it doesn’t take a toll.

Richy: That’s why I took over the garage. He’s taking care of her. That’s a full time job some days.

Well now I was feeling guilty. There was always this fine line between playing with their lives and investigating, and right now I felt like I was crossing it. Still, I told myself it had to be good for him to open up, if nothing else. From what I’d seen so far, this group kept far too much to themselves and really could use a good therapist for the lot of them.

Not Barrett, preferably.

MC: I can imagine, it takes a lot to do home care for someone really sick. MC: You know you can talk to me any time, right? MC: Isn’t that the fun of internet strangers? You don’t have to care what I think. What does it matter if I judge you?

Richy: I might just take you up on that some day, MC.

MC: Good.

I let a small smile cross my lips. Hopefully I could help my friends in ways beyond just helping Hannah.

___

By the time of the third cyber attack, I wasn’t scared. At least, not in the way it seemed like Jake thought I was.

The attempt to hack my phone had been startling, of course. I’d gotten used to the feeling that I was never alone on my devices, knowing that someone could be there at any time.

But the word hack had become almost benign to me at this point. It represented the lengths you were willing to go to for the people you loved, silently pulling data meant to get you one step closer to ensuring their safety.

I’d gotten used to (and disturbingly accepting of) the idea of curious, but admittedly creepy, observation. At some point over the last few weeks, it’d become almost a game, and there were definitely times I tried to use it to my advantage and provoke him.

This was different. This wasn’t an awkward, formal man refusing to discuss the constant stream of innuendos and bullshit I spew while he carefully reviews for any leads. This was targeted and hostile, an attack.

But truthfully, I was still calm about it. Despite my heart racing and ears ringing when the masked faces appeared on my screen, waiting for my face to appear on theirs, I recalled it even minutes later with almost a scoff. The aggressive, over-the-top performance looked like they’d left it in the hands of the interns to do, using cheap props and left over Halloween costumes. The lack of effort they put into making it convincing made me realize something.

Ultimately, if they knew enough to try to get into my phone, they knew where I was. They knew what I looked like. If they’d been able to nearly track down Jake, there’s no way they didn’t already know everything about me down to when my next period was due. I grew up on the internet, my entire social life was virtual— there were too many leaks to plug, too much info out there, to think otherwise.

To think that they needed to access my phone for that was absurd. But I wasn’t the target. It didn’t matter if I was scared of the ski masks and wordless threats. It didn’t matter if I cared about it if they knew where I was. I was an object, a pawn.

They didn’t want me. They’d probably never waste time actually coming for me, not unless they got desperate. I was useless to them, I didn’t know where he was, I could only contact him if he could contact me, and the only thing I knew less about than computers was Jake himself. Coming to get me would be a liability to them. Open them up to scrutiny, require money, effort, time.

It was Jake’s fear they wanted. And for that, they didn’t need costumes or elaborate plans. It was my existence, and their awareness of it, that left him terrified. And I was only useful alive. Kill me, and they lose their leverage, and make Jake even less likely to ever risk another connection and give them that advantage again.

No, their power was in making Jake think they would use me.

For all that Jake pushed me away and tried to keep me from caring, my feelings didn’t matter to my safety. They never did. The second he started caring, and Lilly’s video linked us and made them aware of it, I became incredibly important in a way I never had been before.

Creating Nym-0s and rushing in to cut their access just made it even more clear. He’d tipped his hand, confirmed their suspicions, and exposed himself even more. If he hadn’t been so worried about putting me in danger… we may have both been in less danger.

It made me want to shake him by the shoulders and yell, but it also made me a little sad.

Not just because of the missed time and hurt it’d caused me, and maybe even him. Not just because I knew he would be carrying the guilt of the risk of association for a while now. Not even just because he’d see this as proving him right.

But because the life he’s led for so long now made it so he hadn’t even considered the result of his feelings, just the actions he took. He’d spent so much time suppressing everything, and now that he couldn’t keep that up when surrounded by the stress and trauma of what we were going through, he risked becoming lost.

I didn’t know him well enough to be as sure of this as I was, but some part of me knew with absolute certainty that no matter what happened, he’d never stop working to protect me from then. Even if I broke his heart and walked away, never spoke to him again, he’d never risk leaving me vulnerable.

And that meant I’d always be his weak spot.

Still, seeing his name on my screen again, I did start to cry. I wanted to get mad at him for being gone, for not telling me when he realized they might be coming after me, but he was so broken up and remorseful about the hacking attempt that I had to wait. I couldn’t kick him while he was down like this. Besides, wasn’t I beating myself up about the same thing for Jessy not too long ago?

But we would talk about it, and soon.

I gave Lilly credit for the social media campaign, of course. It had been her idea, after all, and I hadn’t even told her what I’d done. She probably knew, but we’d left it unsaid and I knew she needed this, needed something to convince herself she didn’t totally ruin her brother’s life.

As the shock of his return began to fade and I relaxed into the conversation, I noticed that he sounded different to me. Still very formal, but less cold. I don’t know if he was exhausted from the stress of running, or still worried about the attacks, but something in his tone had changed. Not for the first time, I wondered if his difficulty reading tone over text extended to being unaware of what he was projecting or if he was allowing the softer emotions to slip through.

The needy part of me, which after so long was the vast majority, wanted to demand his attention for longer. It had felt like such a long time that having a short conversation didn’t feel like enough. But I knew he was behind, that he’d had a tough time, and that pushing him right now would be taking advantage of that. So I held off, only pouting in my head a little.

___

Holding off on pouncing on Jake actually worked out for the best, since not long after he logged off, Jessy dropped the bomb on me that Hannah’s GPS took her to Iris’s house, and that Hannah believed Jennifer’s killer was her stalker.

Once she hung up, I groaned. It didn’t make sense, it didn’t fit. Just another corner piece where I already had more than I’d ever need for one puzzle. The legend centered around vengeance, where Hannah’s diaries and therapy session were clearly guilt related. What vendetta would Jennifer’s killer— whether the method was car or murder— have against Hannah, who was a child at the time? How did Amy fit?

Every time I thought that maybe I had something figured out, something else came in and blew it all up. I could only hope that Jessy’s search into the car gave us something. And I guess just twiddle my thumbs in the meantime.

Dan seemed to be struggling about being left on the sidelines as much as I was, laying the blame on Phil for his car. Even when he was talking to Jessy about Dan missing his shift, I didn’t sense rage to the level of attempted murder. It still seemed to me more like he was tired of the shit, which fit with the conversations we’d had about the group. We were his little sister’s friends and not a whole lot more than that, and he took up way more room in our minds than we did in his.

I still wasn’t convinced that Dan’s car had been tampered with at all, frankly. Occuam’s razor had never fit a situation better than this one to my mind. I wondered if maybe he wasn’t even the tiniest bit jealous, since he was safe and uninvolved while the rest of us were in the line of fire.

I knew I’d lost control of the situation, if I’d ever even had it, once Cleo joined in and started agreeing that Phil was suspicious. I didn’t know the man beyond a few casual chats, so I knew I could easily be missing something, but it just didn’t seem to fit.

I guess I’d just have to wait and see.

___

By the time Jake finished catching up, I was ready to pull my hair out over the whole lot of them. Jessy had quit her job, Dan seemed pissed— but oddly quiet— to find out nothing was wrong with his car, and the whole group hated each other. And I just had to watch it all and do nothing.

My boss had approved O/T, and although I was a bit worried about the load I was taking on, I hoped it meant I could afford to go out there in a month or two, depending on how long it seemed like it would take once I got there. But things were falling apart fast, and I was starting to worry I wouldn’t get that kind of time. And the idea of Hannah having to wait that long didn’t sit right with me either.

As always, Jake was almost frighteningly good at keeping a level head. I’d have to ask him how he did it one day.

Just as I was thinking about how impressive his objectivity was, he asked me about Phil.

Well, “asked” is a very strong way to put it. Really he just stated facts and left it open for explanation, which made me roll my eyes. Things would be a lot easier if he just said what he meant, but that never was his style when it came to feelings he was uncomfortable with. Which appeared to be most of them, when I thought about it.

But when he said he didn’t want me to go to Duskwood, I stopped dead. Was this just coming from Phil asking me to visit? Had he seen my ticket searches? On top of that, I was reasonably sure he was in Duskwood, or at least nearby. I’d never ask, for his safety, but I had the feeling he’d want to be nearby. Did he not want me there because he was afraid I’d look for him?

I couldn’t promise him I wouldn’t go, of course. I didn’t want to lie to him, even with all his secrets and double speak, and I knew it wasn’t a promise I would keep.

My mood dropped significantly after that. Maybe he was telling the truth, that he didn’t want me to go to Duskwood because of the danger, but it felt like more. His sister was already in that danger, and I’d be with the others where I’m alone here most of the time.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask though.

Not about me, remember?

___

Somehow, no one was better at reminding me of that fact than Lilly, who was possibly the only person more in knots over Jake than I was. Her role in his life was much more… established, I supposed, since he could never not be related to her. But she’d never even spoken to him beyond the single conversation they’d had over the video, and I think the uncertainty was weighing on her.

Since finding out he was her brother, and my admission of my feelings for him (and hope-tinged bluff of reciprocation), our conversations had gained a new dynamic. Maybe she saw some bond between us with our shared secrets and worries, but either way I’d started hearing from her more than just about anyone else in the group, especially when Jessy had so much on her mind.

I was texting Paige, telling her that Jake was back and asking for some advice on how she’d made me look so different— I didn’t think I’d need it, but a few weeks ago I didn’t think I’d need a program protecting my phone from people using me as bait for a government-wanted hacker— when Lilly lit up my phone again.

Lilly: MC?

Lilly: Have you heard anything more from him? Apart from the investigation, I mean.

Lilly: I keep fretting over not knowing how he’s doing, and whether he hates me.

MC: He seems fine, though he can be a bit cavalier about his own safety to keep me from worrying. 🙄

MC: And honestly, I was way more mad at you than he was.

Lilly: I never really apologized to you properly either, did I?

MC: No, but, I was mostly mad for him once I step back and think on it. The only benefit of being nowhere near you guys is that no one in my life really cared about what you had to say.

MC: Except my sister, she may be plotting your murder, but she’s even less likely to make it over there than I am, at least I have a passport.

Lilly: Oh, I didn’t know you had siblings!

MC: One sister, younger. She drives me nuts as often as she makes me laugh, but I love her.

Lilly: Are you close?

I hesitated over telling Lilly much about Paige. At this point I trusted her well enough, and Paige could hold her own if it came to it. No, I was more worried for Lilly’s sake considering the baggage that sibling relationships held for her at the moment. Although, maybe that was why she asked.

MC: Sometimes. We’re open with each other, actually kind of disturbingly so, she has no filter and I’ve got very little. But we live pretty far apart and she’s got this whole life apart from me.

MC: But when it matters, she’s got my back and she knows I have hers.

Lilly: That’s sweet.

Lilly: Hannah and I live pretty close, but if Jake hadn’t told us all she was missing, I’m not sure when I’d have noticed.

Lilly: Don’t get me wrong, I love her! Of course I do. Please don’t think that’s what I’m saying.

Lilly: But we didn’t talk all that much, not really. I told you that back when she first talked to Jake I wouldn’t have asked her why they stopped, but I don’t really even know if I would have now either.

Lilly: We’re just so different.

Lilly: This is probably the most I’ve talked to her friends in years, since she moved out of our parents’.

Lilly: Maybe that’s why I went so hard after you and Jake.

Lilly: You were no one to her, or at least I thought so, and here you were jumping in to figure things out.

Lilly: It was… easier, maybe, to blame you than to deal with what was going on. It gave me something to focus on.

MC: I get it. If it were Paige, I don’t know what I’d do. Grief is weird and people do dumb shit with it. I just wish you’d talked to me instead. The others tried to figure me out first.

MC: Though, I gotta ask- why do you trust me now? I get Jake, his motivations are obvious now. But nothing changed about me.

Lilly: Well, I guess I just saw what type of person you are. You wanted to curse me out when I first added you, I could tell. But you heard me out when you could have held a grudge. I would have!

Lilly: It made no sense to me that you were helping Hannah. But then it also made no sense to me that you helped me. And I realize: you’re really just that weird.

Lilly: And once you and Jake made sense to me, your motivation became pretty obvious too.

MC: I started helping before I liked him, you know.

Lilly: Yep, you’re weird.

MC: So you trust me because I’m weird.

Lilly: Well, you’re also dating my brother.

MC: We are not at the meet-the-family stage, you know.

Lilly: That’s part of being weirdddddd.

And in that moment, it felt so much like talking to Paige that I had to smile and maybe admit just to myself that I liked her a little.

Which only gave me even more people to worry about when Jessy sent me the picture of the mark on her door.

___

While the others debated about whether or not to leave and took some time to think, I sat around on my ass, worrying. What was I supposed to do? I’d love for them to come to me and us all keep each other safe, but between the distance and the likelihood of Annie murdering me if I brought home that many people, it didn’t seem like the best idea.

When it started getting dark out, I accepted that I wasn’t going to get any definitive news tonight. Before I could sign out, though, I saw that at least one person was still online.

MC: Jake?

MC: I hate this.

MC: I hate sitting here safe while they’re getting stalked, attacked and marked.

MC: You’re in danger too.

MC: Meanwhile I’m just stress eating and getting fatter. My biggest risk is heart disease.

Jake: It is a good thing that you aren’t at risk, MC.

I couldn’t help but huff out a laugh at his total side-step of the stress eating topic. Maybe he wasn’t totally socially inept.

MC: But I can’t DO anything! I’m useless.

Jake: You have done an excellent job with the investigation, even without my help.

Jake: Additionally, I realize you gave Lilly all of the credit for the distraction, but the location information makes it easy to trace two separate hot spots.

Jake: Though I’m not thrilled at the idea of pulling their attention even more in your direction, I know you were involved.

MC: I didn’t even do that, though, Paige did. Just like Jessy and the others are the ones going out and looking for things, I just sift through it all.

MC: I’m sorry, you have things you’ve got to do. I just needed to whine a little.

Jake: You underestimate the effect you have and how important your role has been.

MC: I’m so scared for them, and for you. I know you say I don’t have to worry, but that’s like telling me not to care. Do you want that?

Jake: It would be safer for you.

MC: That’s not what I asked, though.

Jake is typing…

I watched him type and erase for a while, biting the inside of my cheek. I’d told myself I wasn’t going to do this, adding my own bullshit onto the stress he was carrying already. But by now there was just too much going on in my head, and so little I could do to deal with it. It seemed like no matter how hard I worked to unravel the mystery, the more threads I pulled, the more of a mess it became.

I just needed to quiet one voice. Just for a bit. And this felt like the only one I even had the tiniest chance at. It wasn’t fair to him, not at all, but I had to know. So I didn’t jump in to let him off the hook, not this time. I didn’t let my phone go idle or swap screens. I needed a reply, and I was willing to wait for it if I had to.

Jake: Selfishly, no, I don’t want that at all. I know it’s not right and I should be allowing you to be with someone who could offer you more than this, but it was the knowledge that you were there and waiting to hear from me that kept me going. I read your messages whenever I could, and it meant more than I can express to see that you didn’t hate me and that your feelings seemed unchanged by what you’d learned.

Jake: You were so confident that I would return, I couldn’t allow myself to disappoint you.

MC: I’m glad you liked them, I was so afraid I was being super annoying, spamming you like that.

Jake: Admittedly, there were times it became rather distracting. I had disabled alerts for the rest of the chats but couldn’t bring myself to mute ours. It was occasionally difficult not to reply.

MC: I was worried about that, I should have been more careful. I just missed you, I guess.

Jake: No, it was… appreciated.

I fiddled with my phone, at war with myself. I should let myself be happy with this, already far more than he’d ever opened up before. The temptation was too great, though, as if the combination of his absence and the hint of the growing connection made for an addicting brew.

MC: You don’t want me to not come there because you don’t want to see me, right?

After hitting enter, I re-read that and cringed. There was probably a way I could have said that more awkwardly and included more negatives, but fuck if I knew how. Thankfully, he replied much more quickly this time, which I tried to take as a good sign rather than letting my insecurities take over and topple this house of cards we were building.

Jake: That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

MC: I know it sounds silly. I think I just get lost in doubt when I’m left to my own devices too long.

Jake: It sounds like we should avoid letting that happen, then.

I chuckled. He may not have meant that as flirty as I took it, but who could really blame a girl for letting her mind wander just a bit, right?

MC: Yes, that’s a very good idea.

Jake: It would certainly be much harder to prevent myself from coming to see you if you weren’t half a world away, and right now it would be too risky. There are too many eyes on us both. But I don’t expect that to mean you avoid my entire hemisphere, nor do I want you to. When the time comes, I want you to meet your friends, and of course I would like to meet you as well.

Jake: I simply would very much prefer that when it happens, Duskwood is home to fewer masked criminals.

MC: Fewer bartenders as well?

Jake: Mmh, it doesn’t seem like you’re much safer from that particular danger where you are, either.

Huh, this was the closest he’d ever come to acknowledging Joe, though he wasn’t a bartender. Still, since I hadn’t gone drinking out of my house since right after this whole thing had started, I couldn’t imagine what else he was referring to.

MC: I imagine that means you got into other messages, then.

Jake: I…

Jake: Yes. I don’t have an excuse for this one, as there was never a chance he was related to Hannah and I knew it.

Jake: It won’t happen again.

MC: I appreciate that, and you telling the truth.

MC: Joe was my reaction, and an immature one, to being pushed away.

Jake: You owe me no excuses, it was my choices that led to the both of us being in that position.

MC: I know, but I want to explain, so there’s no misunderstanding.

MC: He’s a very nice guy, a friend of my roommate’s boyfriend, who I met a while back, before I even knew your name. Annie is pretty desperate for me to be less of a drag, so I think she tried to set me up with him.

MC: You had made it clear nothing could happen, and I tried to make him as aware of the situation as possible without giving anything away about you, so I know I was free to see who I wanted and didn’t do anything wrong.

MC: But it may have sucked for you to read, regardless of whether you should have been or not.

I decided not to point out that I still had no idea whether or not I was free to date someone else, being that we still really hadn’t discussed our status in the slightest since that time. His reaction to Phil, and even somewhat to Joe, made me think that he at least didn’t particularly like the idea, and it seemed like that was hard enough for him to admit as it was.

At the same time, after the number of bad experiences I’d had in the past with it, I wasn’t crazy about committing myself to someone that I didn’t know for sure was committed to me without at least a conversation. But for now, my feelings alone would make dating anyone else a bit of a bad idea, so for now I’d hold off.

Jake: I thank you for the honesty. I certainly didn’t enjoy it, but as you said, you had no reason not to act freely and it was my own fault that I had become aware.

MC: Well, I’d hate knowing you were talking to another girl, so I wanted to clear it up.

MC: I was jealous enough of Hannah as it was 😂🤭

Jake: Yes, that was a bit uncomfortable, as you can likely imagine. It was difficult to think of ways to reassure you without giving too much away.

MC: Guess I’ll have to think of something to call you other than bro now, seems like that’s taken. Dude? My guy? Dan seems to have taken Hackerman up, but I could co-opt it, I do like that one.

MC: Broski is close enough to bro but not quite.

Jake: I have full faith that you will come up with endless alternatives that are plenty physically painful to read.

MC: That’s what I’m here for, isn’t it? 😎

Jake: I’ve missed your ability to make me laugh.

MC: I’ve missed you actually finding me funny.

MC: Oh god, it must be like 3am there, why didn’t you say anything?

Jake: You know that my sleep schedule tends to be rather unusual.

MC: Right, but I’m pretty sure you haven’t been sleeping well while you were running.

MC: And don’t think I haven’t noticed it shifting later and later over the last couple of weeks.

Jake: It only made sense to adjust my schedule a bit considering that’s when you’re most available.

Jake: You spend most of your day working and discussing things with the group, and that leaves us free to debrief in your evenings.

I hadn’t totally been sure that I had anything to do with his changing patterns, but the delay in his response and detailed explanation confirmed it for me. Feeling suddenly much lighter, I giggled quietly to myself.

MC: Well I don’t want to be an excuse for your insomnia tonight, Hackerman. At least swap to your phone and get in bed while you talk.

Jake: I will turn in shortly, I’ve just finished setting a few things up.

MC: Nope, you got me in bossy mode. I’ll be sitting right here waiting until you’re in bed. ⌚️👀

Jake: It’s not even ten for you, I’m not keeping you awake.

MC: First of all, unlike you, I like my sleep. I go to bed as soon as I can justify it and wake up as late as I can get away with. Second, I said you were going to bed, not me.

Jake: If it’s not inconveniencing you, then what’s the harm in my continuing to stay up a bit longer?

MC: Because you need sleep! It’s not good for you.

Jake: I may still be rather worked up from everything and having difficulty relaxing. Our conversation has been helpful in helping me to unwind.

MC: Fine, I’ll go to bed with you then. My boss approved overtime for a while, so I can start waking up earlier, meeting you halfway on matching our crazy schedules.

MC: Tell me when you’re laying down, I’m going to go shower and brush my teeth.

I bit my lip, a little bit nervous. I hadn't explicitly done a long-distance “goodnight” like this in years, especially not with someone I’d never actually been in bed with who I was nagging into sleep. But I really was worried about how exhausted he must be, and once the silly idea had taken hold it felt sweet, if childish.

I didn’t wait for a response, trying to put off the possibility of him saying no, or taking my comment about going to bed the wrong (or right?) way. I set my phone down, hiding the screen from my view, and left it on my stand as I got up to get ready to turn in.

The shower was quick, it never took me long when I wasn’t bothering to wash my hair. Even knowing he wouldn’t see me, I took extra care with the routine to calm my jitters. I still hadn’t checked for his response yet, so for all I knew he’d refused my demand, but after the shower had calmed some of my nerves I somehow no longer thought he would.

After flossing carefully to give him extra time, I threw my hair up into a braid to keep it out of my face and clambered into bed.

Jake: You clearly are feeling bossy.

Jake: It will take me a few moments to get ready, I wasn’t prepared to lay down for a while yet.

Those had been sent not long after I’d given the order, so he was hopefully nearly wrapping up whatever his routine was.

MC: I’ll be patient, I just laid down myself 🤭

I flopped around on the bed, trying to get comfortable. Under the sheet was too warm, but no sheet was too cold. My pillow was too small when flat, but too thick when I folded it. For some inane reason, everything felt just a bit off kilter while I rolled around in bed, stomach buzzing.

When I finally found a position I could deal with, I scrolled for another five minutes or so before he got back to me.

Jake: As you commanded, I’ve gotten ready and laid down.

MC: Good! Comfy?

I was well aware he could be lying to me, but I preferred to think he was doing the same thing I was, maybe even amused by my strange demand. God knows he had to be used to me being weird by now, right?

Jake: Not exactly, motel beds aren’t known for their comfort.

MC: That’s probably true, I haven’t stayed in one in years. As Annie likes to remind me, I’m basically a recluse and I’ve never traveled much anyway.

Jake: Is there somewhere you’d pick to go if you could?

MC: Hmmm, Duskwood? 😘

MC: Otherwise, not really. I never gave it much thought, “travel” mostly meant going to my grandma’s when I was a kid, we couldn’t afford much else. And as an adult, I usually just go back home to see my family. It’s a lot of work and I still can’t afford much else.

MC: You?

Jake: Well, to be honest, travel for pleasure isn’t something I’ve considered much recently. Staying in one place feels much more like a privilege, I suppose.

MC: Well then we’ll both need to think about it and get back to each other with our answers. 😁

Jake: :)

After that, the conversation stayed light and it wasn’t long before my eyelids began to droop and I drifted off with my phone on my chest.

___

Lilly reached out to me rather early the next day, for me at least, but since I’d gotten up early I was a bit more emotionally prepared for what she shared than I would have been normally. It was always polite of the drama to wait for my second cup of coffee before it smacked me in the face, at least.

I noticed the trembling in her hand as she sent a picture of the letter she’d found in Hannah’s post and I wished there was something I could say to reassure her. But with everything else I already knew, the application to visit the prison didn’t look great. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her everything right then, but even without the extra context she seemed to know something was wrong.

Jake wasn’t online yet, and I hoped that it was because he was managing to get some sleep. He’d replied to the last message I sent before falling asleep, and then after a few minutes when he must have realized I’d passed out, he wished me goodnight. So despite the early hour on my end, he’d outlasted me. That kept me from blasting him with frustrated messages when Cleo kept up her accusations against Jessy, accusing her of putting the mark on her door.

I felt for her, knowing she was just trying to make sense of the whole thing, but we needed to stop throwing around baseless claims and yet it seemed like they were just determined to do it more.

We had just as much proof that Richy marked himself as we did that Jessy made hers, really. If she’d been looking to exonerate Phil, there were better ways to do it since we had no evidence the police were even considering the marks as part of the case. As far as I knew, Jessy had never gone to the police with her attacks and Richy had never reported his mark. Dan was the only one to discuss his suspicions with the police, and that was the one I least considered involved, and the only one without a mark.

I had no idea what the beef between Cleo and Jessy was, but I really needed it to stop now.

I checked out of the Duskwood drama for a bit, wanting to get more work done before Lilly made it home. The application to visit seemed much more relevant to the case than whether or not Jessy made the mark herself, and I knew my productivity would be monitored more heavily now that I was taking on extra hours.

I gave short answers as they made plans to go to the cabin of Richy’s friends, then at the last second realized that if they were leaving, that meant that I was running out of time to get someone to investigate the pawn shop. I quickly assigned the task to Cleo and Thomas, hoping that wasn’t a mistake considering they weren’t known for their subtlety or sweet-talk.

There’s no way they’ll break into the pawn shop, right?

___

While I was at lunch, I was caught off guard by Annie walking in and sitting down at the counter across from me. It only occurred to me then that I hadn’t really seen much of her recently, and she almost never joined me at lunch. My suspicions were confirmed when she fidgeted nervously and avoided my gaze.

“MC, I need to tell you something.”

I froze, my fork full of rice hovering halfway between my plate and mouth. I lowered it slowly. “Is everything okay?”

She nodded, but still looked twitchy. She took a deep breath before replying. “I… well, I’m moving in with Steve. This weekend, actually.”

My mouth fell open and I stood up so fast that I bumped my ribs off of the counter in the process. “What? Annie, there’s no way I can find a roommate that fast, I can’t afford the place on my own.”

She nodded, twisting the ends of her hair between her finger tips idly. “I know, I’m so sorry. I’m not leaving you in the lurch. My parents agreed to buy out the lease with you instead of the landlord, that way if you can’t find anyone to move in that you like you’re not stuck just moving someone in without vetting them. I’ll just give him the normal 60 day notice when it comes time to renew. It’s only a month more than what he’d charge me for breaking the lease now and it gives you a bit more flexibility.”

I blinked, still reeling. We didn’t totally get along, and I had been a bit of a spazz lately, but we’d lived together for quite a while now. I’d moved in with her fresh out of a bad relationship where I hadn’t been on the lease, so when he decided he wanted the girl he’d been dating behind my back to move in instead, I had to find somewhere fast. So while we weren’t friends, I had a soft spot for her since she’d kept me from ending up in a bad situation.

“I know I’ve been weird lately, I’m sorry. I’ll go to therapy if it’s about that—“

She put her hand up, cutting me off. “No, MC, it’s nothing about you. I’m, well… pregnant. We’re not getting married right away, but we want to at least live together so that he’s there for all the milestones and support and stuff, you know?”

I puffed my cheeks up with air and released it slowly. Realistically, I knew she wasn’t really at all young to be having a baby, but it still felt like it to me. Maybe it was mainly because I had years on her and felt like I’d be lost if I were in her shoes, but still.

I realized what a dick I was being and plastered on a happy face. “Congrats, Annie! I’m so excited for you!”

She laughed and shook her head. “You don’t have to pretend, MC. Besides, we’re still not to the excited place yet. We want to keep it—them—the baby, but I think I’m still mostly in shock and scared. And it’s weird to imagine another human just kind of hanging out in there.” Her eyes were wide and her hand kind of drifted toward her stomach instinctively. “I know it’s normal, and we found out a couple of weeks ago, but I only just had my first ultrasound today and I think it’s starting to feel real.”

“You’ll do great,” I said reassuringly, almost surprised to find it was genuine. “You’ve had practice lately taking care of my sorry ass, and you and Steve are great together.”

She scoffed, but her smile was grateful. “No matter how bad you got, your head didn’t have an off button and your neck didn’t flop around like a dead fish.”

I conceded that point, realizing I had no idea what it was to take care of a baby and that maybe what she needed right now was to vent, not reassurance. “That’s true, I also cleaned up most of my bodily functions on my own like a big girl.”

With the first laugh that sounded truly real, she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. “Usually. But I had my fair share of vomit sessions myself.”

“I’m guessing you’ve got plenty of that in the future.”

She clutched her stomach dramatically. “And the past, and present. It’s actually worse than a hangover.”

“Good luck to Steve then, you’re a huge bitch when you’re hungover.”

We chatted through the rest of my lunch, and when I went back to it, she wandered up to her room to get started on packing. I waited until she was fully out of sight to let my head fall back onto my shoulders and sigh. I had no idea what I was going to do now.

___

I didn’t know how much of Dan’s sudden need to help stemmed from Jessy being marked, but I think it surprised me more than the letter Lilly scanned and sent. He was starting to go stir crazy, and considering he’d already come up with the idea that his car had been tampered with to feel included, I figured giving him something to work on was in everyone’s best interest. Sometimes it felt like babysitting, I needed everyone to be occupied before they took matters into their own hands.

As I waved Annie off and she promised to come back tomorrow to continue packing, I pondered what he’d told me. It wasn’t much to go on, but I couldn’t help but agree with his last point. What the hell had Hannah gotten herself into?

With the benefit of hindsight, it was obvious that the MWAF hadn’t been a hallucination the way that her doctor had thought, but why hadn’t she shown anyone this video? This at least proved that something was going on.

Considering the length her friends were going to find her, there was no way any of them would have denied her a safe place to stay if she’d come to them. Could it really have just been the depression keeping her from seeking refuge with one of them? Or had she known exactly what her stalker wanted with her, and couldn’t bring herself to confide in anyone?

What could have been so bad as to potentially risk her life just to keep hidden?

The group was going to the hideout the next day, and as much as I couldn’t help but join Dan on the FOMO, I was glad that they were going to be together. Safety in numbers and all that.

Though now that I was going to be living alone, I envied them that comfort as well. Even with the distance, it was unsettling to know that I would have no one here with me if anything happened and no one due back to find me after.

Richy’s Boy Scout list only made me more jealous— it seemed like he, too, was having trouble separating this from a fun friends’ outing. To make myself feel better, I decided to give him some shit about it and fall back into our routine of jokes.

I was surprised when he admitted he hadn’t been sleeping well, even when he presented it in a light-hearted fashion. Maybe he’d taken it seriously when he said he’d take me up on my offer to talk more, and I wanted to make good on it if he was ready.

His burst of positivity seemed unwarranted, but I bit my tongue and kept myself from telling him that. That was made easier by the topic shift to the fact that Dan’s car was, unsurprisingly, not tampered with.

Hopefully that would take that false lead off the table.

I let myself express one of my fears— that my involvement really had just made everything worse, just like Lilly said— when Richy heard the scream coming from the woods. I strained my ears to listen and my eyes on the screen, trying to notice anything that could help, but there was nothing. As far as I could tell, the forest was silent save wildlife and Richy.

When he took off running, the same feeling I’d gotten in my stomach the day of Jessy’s attack overtook me again. This was wrong. What was the chance of it being Hannah, in broad daylight, just on the edge of the forest? This wasn’t how it worked, it had to be a trap.

I yelled at him to stop, to call the cops as backup, anything, but there was no way he heard me as it looked like he took a tumble and the screen went dark for a moment. Until my mind caught up, I was almost able to pretend he’d just fallen from running in the woods, catching his foot on a root or something.

The blood streaming from his mouth and his eyes going empty and unfocused shattered that delusion, and I spent a long time watching the ravens circle the sky before I could bring myself to hang up.

BONUS

#duskwood mc #duskwood fanfic #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood #duskwood fandom #duskwood episode 10 #duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood jake #jake x mc

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inkykeiji · 1 year

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hi! i have a dumb question but was film school scary? i majored in lit for undergrad and now i’m going to a film program for screenwriting for my masters BUT IM SO SCARED LMAO….like ahhh idk idk!! i have one friend that majored in film for undergrad and she was always studying, working on projects, etc. and now she has so much experience on her resume (w internships, projects etc.) n i don’t have any but got in to the same uni as her (both w screenwriting as our major) so i’m just scared i’m not prepared…

eeeee anon that is so exciting!!!!!! congrats!!!

ah i may not be the best person to ask as i didn’t technically go to film school in the literal sense (aka a program where you are constantly making films & getting hands-on experience), i got a degree in cinema studies (which, in my program, has a program within the cinema studies program for screenwriting that u have to submit a whole application and portfolio for etc). i chose not to go to traditional/hands-on film school because i was privileged enough to have film classes offered at my high school, which i took throughout my entire high school career. i felt like, after four years of practice, i had a pretty good grasp on the practical side of film + editing + all the elements of production n post production, and didn’t want to spend $$$$$ on something i already knew.

but!!! if your masters program is focused on screenwriting, then i don’t think you’ll be doing much hands-on pro / post production stuff??? unless they talk about like on-set rewrites and script doctors, but even then i’d assume that would only be a very small portion of your program. if you can look at the syllabi for a few of your classes you might be able to get a good idea of what to expect!

my point is, if your program is heavily focused on screenwriting (which i assume it would be???) then practical experience on-set + with post production wouldn’t really serve you all that much. if your friend studied film from an academic standpoint & studied film narrative and writing etc or had an internship with a screenwriter (not sure those exist???) or a writers room, then they’d probably have a bit of an upper hand.

either way, i wouldn’t worry too much anon bb <3 you got into the program because the faculty deemed you worthy and capable of being there! they most likely won’t just jump into the material and should offer some sort of refresh/review on the basics before they get started. better yet, they might even fully teach you the basics right off the bat! i can’t say for sure because i don’t know the program u got into obv, but there’s a chance they accepted other lit students too that have a writing background but not a screenwriting background. you probably won’t be alone! and worse case scenario and you feel like you’ve totally been thrown to the sharks, there are tons of incredible screenwriting resources online & in textbooks that you can check out, too!

#i feel like i rambled here #hopefully i got my point across HAHAH #anyway i’d put money on you being totally fine #like i said if ur friends experience is more hands-on film work instead of studying narratives etc then she doesn’t rly have anything on u #usually for screenwriting programs you have to submit a portfolio of *writing* samples not film #there isn’t a whooole ton of on set experience that would really transfer well to scriptwriting #like i wouldn’t say a cinematographer would be able to write a good film just because they’ve worked on a set #so uhhh yeah!!! i think you’ll be fine lovey <3 #have a wonderful tuesday n stay safe!#inky.bb #clari gets mail

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thefanbasewhore · 3 years

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Can you do a soulmate Stucky x reader? I feel like you would write that so well, especially how you portrayed bucky in "are you mad at me" was so soft. The soulmate version would be so cute

Summary || Bucky and Steve meet their soulmate, which they had no idea existed.

Warning/content || fluff, a small explicit scene, fighting. Soulmate AU.

Paring || Bucky Barnes x reader x Steve rogers

I got a little carried away, but enjoy ❤️ not edited or beta read but I'm sleepy 😴

Bucky and Steve have had each other from the moment they have met. Imaging their surprise, being two little boys from Brooklyn seeing colors, something the two agreed to hide, pending the time period.

It was different now, a different time. They were accepted and while both of them loved each other, so very much, especially through the mind control, fighting each other, then for each other. They always knew something was missing.

A color, maybe even two, three. A part of them missing but they both collectively came to the conclusion that it was just that. Some missing colors, it happens sometimes.

It happens when they least expect it.

After Thanos, after Tony finally deciding to leave that kind of life behind, buying a small two bedroom house on the outskirts of the city. A home to grow old in, be together for the first time since before the war started but only one thing prevented that.

The house was a disaster, gutted to the foundations, no running water, green moss outside covered the whole house, the lawn completely out of control. For Bucky it was a hard no, it was a dump but the moment Steve fluttered those ridiculously long lashes, how could he say no?

So here they are, sweating on this 90 degree day, putting up new dry wall with no air-conditioning.

"What color should it be?" Steve asks, glancing to his dark haired lover, taking notice of his now shirtless appearance. Bucky let out a sigh, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Maybe we should get all of the walls up first."

Steve clicks his tongue, "I like the color green, like a nice pastel mint green."

"Whatever you want, honey." Bucky wasn't too picky, besides whatever made Steve happy, made him happy.

"Hello?" A sweet, feminine voice came from the kitchen. The doors left open because of the heat, there was nothing much in here anyways.

Steve pulls away from his task, pulling his shirt over his head to wipe his forehead with it. "Come in, we are in the kitchen."

Bucky wasn't too alarmed, Steve had told him previously that he hired a someone to make up the yard, nothing too fancy but the both of them were completely clueless when it came to plants, or gardens period.

"Quite a project you have going on here, Mr. Rogers." No doubt taking in the half gutted house along the way. While they have never met, they spoke on the phone briefly about his wants.

"You have no idea, Hun."

The woman looks around the kitchen first, noticing the freshly painted cabinet, the smell a dead giveaway, half eaten burgers thrown to the side on a small, make shift table with barely enough room to fit.

At first glance towards the man she notices the sharp jawline, defined but soft feature of the blonde as she greets him with a smile which soon drops in confusion as small dots of color appear. Stormy blue eyes with a full beard, Steve's mouth dropping agape as he notices the splirts of color - the missing colors for 106 years finally appear.

Bucky notices the tension in the room, shifting his attention from the wall to Steve, noticing how intensely he's staring, Bucky follows the line of vision and meets sweet eyes.

She's hit with another line of color, different from Steve's but now there's no more gray hue, bright yellows and blues. The outside is suddenly so bright and Bucky mouth drops.

This cannot be happening.

They sit there and stare for what seems like hours.

"I - ugh.." she starts, "What is happening?"

***

Sometimes life just throws curve balls, like finding out that your soulmate or in this cause soulmates are two, one hundred year old super soldiers who have already been in love with each other for over a decade.

The pull is already strong, nature intended for these souls to be together until death due part and honestly Bucky could feel it. With Steve he was used to the urge of wanting to have him close, kiss him every free minute he has but with the woman in front of him, it's new.

He doesn't even know her name, watches the way she nervously flickers from Steve's gaze to his own. She's beautiful.

Strong but delicate features, the curve of her nose is cute, cupid lips are so full... kissable. He can't stop staring, even with Steve and her in the mist of conversation. The make shift table cleared of all prior mess, Buck and Steve have to share a chair, which is quite comical, seeing two giant supersoldier try to share a small, old, dinning room seat.

Bucky's metal fingers twitch, metal plate click and whirl to life as he tights to urge to map her face out with his fingers. His heart is beating so fast, filled with so much... Love? Joy?

No matter how much Steve and Bucky try to hide it.. deep down they always knew, something was missing and in this case, someone.

"You're beautiful." The words catch both her and Steve off guard, Bucky blushes red something terrible but the sweet smile defuses the fire.

Well until she says something back, "You are too."

His whole face is hot and Steve reaches over to affectionately rub the back of his shoulder. Of course Steve was calm, he always is.

He handles things with lots of thought and understanding, while Buck is more hot headed, acts on the moment.

***

"It doesn't feel right." Bucky comments, watching from the window to insure she safely gets into the car. Steve sighs, by the time they're done talking darkness has filled the house. Steve affectionately squeezes the brunette's bicep, pressing a kiss to his hair.

"I know Bucky. This is a lot for her, for us. She needs to take time and reflect on this. She'll come to us when she's ready."

Bucky knows nothing then her name, and love for plants but chews at his bottom lip nervously. She's too far, the bond pulls at his heart strings. Now bonded forever. "What if she never comes back?"

"She will."

***

A few days pass, the kitchen is finally done, new appliances, new china and kitchen fully stocked. Steve is making something for Dinner - it smells amazing while Bucky starts painting the walls of the lifeless living room.

It's bare, not even something to sit on but no doubt with the stamina of two super soldiers it will be done by next week.

The knock on the front door is unexpected, but Bucky replies quickly. "I got it, Stevie!"

He expects some older, much wrinkly neighbor to be complaining about the noise of the nail gone or something this late at night. His mouth drops, a little shocked at the sight of her.

A very formal sitting dress, long and black, dips into a sweetheart neckline, the valley of her breasts easily visible. Hair is thrown into a neat updo, sexy and sleek.

Bucky clears his throat. "Hi." He squeaks out, feeling like a total idiot as he watches her nervously shift her weight from one heel to the other.

"Hi, I was in the area. A wedding for one my clients, thought I'd come say hello." Bucky wants to shake his head in disbelief that something so beautiful, just like Steve is made for him.

The universe sculpted and made two beautiful, breath taking human beings to be his and it's overwhelming. She's so pretty it's alarming.

It was a good excuse, the truth but not the real reason she stopped by. How could she tell them that they have been on her mind none stop? It physically hurts to be away for so long.

"Who is it, Buck?" Steve mumbles, interrupting the thick tension between the two.

"Come in, doll." Bucky's helps her with the jacket that lays over his shoulders, mentioning his head towards the direction of the kitchen, where his other lover is.

Steve is stunned none the less, he at least expected a few more days. Also, feeling much like Bucky, amazed by the radiating beauty.

He decides to play it cool, dimples forming with a breath taking smile. "Do you like spaghetti?"

Hours pass, time moves so fast with conversation, and adding wine to the mix surely didn't help.

The trio once again in the kitchen, but this time each have a chair, a new, more comfortable dinning set.

"You got this done fast. It's beautiful." She comments, "Colors are beautiful, I guess I have you two to thank for that."

Bucky shifts in his seat, the glass of wine is useless but still finds himself sipping from it. Her eyes are red, watery with a slight buzz.

"Do you feel it?" The question has both Bucky and Steve look at each other, watching her teary eyes as she presses a hand to sooth the ache in her chest. "It hurts, it hurts to be away. All week."

"It's normal." Steve answers just above a whisper, his next words make Bucky's bottom lip quiver. "I felt it every day for the last 5 years, Bucky was gone."

Bucky had never thought about it - there hasn't been enough time to. It's only been a month later since the return and it never occurred to him what Steve has gone through.

"Steve.." He starts, tears kiss his waterline as his fingers run through the blonde's hair. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't know, I -."

"Couldn't prevent it Buck. It happened but you're here now and.." Steve turns his attention towards the girl, tears slip past her eyelids. It's for Steve, for Bucky.. all the pain and suffering they've been through. "Hey, don't cry, it's alright beautiful."

It's feels right, despite barely knowing the man, nothing feel more right then being pulled into his chest as a large metal hand comforts her in a different way, rubbing the loose strands of hair as he murmurs. "We've got you now, you're our other half."

***

Months have past from that day. The house is finally done, everything they could have imagined with the additional of an extra tooth brush in the cup that sits on the bathroom sink, a pile of fuzzy blankets at the bottom of the bed and a five year old chocolate lab. Steve didn't mind much, he's always loved dogs, Bucky on the other hand...

"Alright, alright, Maverick." Bucky huffs, grocery bags in hand as the dog excitedly nuzzles his legs, following him throughout the house like it wasn't only an hour ago he's seen him. Once putting the bags down, hears the whine, big brown eyes staring up at him. Bucky sighs, dropping to a knee before petting the pup's head. "Alright you mutt, don't tell anyone about this."

"Too late, pal." Bucky jumps, hearing the amusement in Steve's voice, followed by the giggle of the woman that peers out from behind him. Wrapping her arms around Steve before testing her head against his shoulder.

"Caught you red handed, you love Mav." Bucky grumbles at her words, feeling two smaller hands wrap around his waist as a head falls into his chest. He presses a soft kiss into her hair before taking in the blonde that barely fits through the doorway he leans against.

Bucky's free hand reaches out, mentioning him closer but as she's soon finds herself in the middle of a super soldier sandwich. "Hi, baby." Bucky presses a kiss to the blonde's lips.

"Hi, pal."

***

"It's only one mission. That's it, we will be in and out." Steve promises, not liking the way his girls face twist into a worried expression.

Heavy eyes, lower lip sticking out to pout. "What if something happens? If you get hurt? Or if they find you, Bucky?"

"I told you, Hydra is gone, honey." Bucky's large hands sooth over her tight shoulders, pressing soft kisses to the back of her upper traps.

"No. You still have nightmares at least three times a week. This can't be good for you. And you." She turns her attention back towards Steve, "Barely sleep four hours a night. You carry the fault on your shoulders, you don't need anymore. I don't want you two to go."

"We don't have a choice. They were my family once, I owe this to them." Steve didn't miss the way her lips moves to form a snarl, not sparing another glance as she makes a b-line for the stairs.

Bucky sighs, leaning against the wall. "She's going to be mad at us." Rubbing his chest with hopes to ease the burn.

The bond pulls at their hearts, a slow, painful punishment for their actions.

They return two weeks later, tired, just wanting to see their girl. The moment they walk into the house they look at each other with will wild eyes, heart pumping as they fear the worse. The dog, the annoying wiggling tail that would bark is one where to be found, something is wrong.

It's alarming. "Where is that freaking mutt?"

Steve calls her name, but there is no answer. Bucky and him are searching the house, ascending the stairs, opening the bedroom door with a deep sigh of relief.

The stupid dog takes up half of the bed, but is cuddled into his owner. Arm draped around the ball of fur, amount as long as her.

The dog lifts his head, a little tail waggle as Steve stretches his ears, lowering to his knees and laying his top half over the bed to press loud, audible kisses to his ears. "Good boy, protecting our girl while we are gone."

When morning comes she notices the dog is still pressed against her, licking small stripes against her cheeks. "Have to go out, buddy?"

She barely makes it five steps before tripping over two rather large bodies, sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor. Bucky groans and Steve's eyes flicker open.

"Why are you on the floor?"

"Wanted you to sleep pretty girl. Mav was taking up all the room and you looked like an angel." Bucky hums in agreement despite his eyes being closed.

"Mmm, well it's all free now." It's short, simple but the sarcastic tone has Bucky's eyes flickering to meet his boyfriend's. They both sigh, staring up at the ceiling, knowing it's going to be a long day.

And it is. She's does whatever she can to get away from them, only answers with short replies to the point Bucky can't take it anymore.

"Sweetheart," Bucky tries again but she doesn't acknowledge him, eyes stayed glued to the book. He gets fed up, metal plates click as artificial appendages run over the binding and pull it from her grasp.

"Give it back, James."

He cringes at the name, a displeased frown wears his face. "No, you have to talk to us."

"No."

"You're bring a brat." Bucky starts, watching her expression change from annoyed to anger, wrinkles of frustration pinch between her eyebrows.

"Buck - don't say that to her." Steve comments, it's his fault, he's the one who said yes without confiding in her first.

"She is, it's over with now. She has no right to be this mad."

"No right?" Her chest fills with emotion as a humourless chuckle causes both men to stiffen. "No right? Huh Buck? I sat here for two full weeks, no communication, nothing while the two of you are out there fighting God knows what after you swore, promised you would always be with me. Don't promise me forever if you're just going to throw yourself in danger! You're going to die and leave me, or worse! Both of you will."

No one says a word, only watch as her chest rises and falls with deep, heavy pants despite the tears that rolls past her eyes lashes.

"Honey, I'm sorry -."

"I don't want to hear it James, and you." She turns towards Steve, fire in her soul. "I thought you would understand, more then him, considering it has happened to you."

She leaves the room without another word, Buck turns towards Steve, watching the way he fights the tears that gather. The pain of loosing Bucky is still so fresh, "She's right Buck, we fucked up."

"I know, I know." He mumbles into Steve's shoulder, pulling him close.

***

"You're so good to me, sweet girl." Bucky moans as she shifts her hips against him, the blunt end of his cock hitting the spot inside her that makes her squeal for more.

Large hands squeeze her hips as Steve leans over to find his boyfriend's lips, kissing him through the gasps and whines of their girl's name as she circles her hips around Bucky.

Steve's hands pull at his hair, lips trailing from his lips, down his cheeks before nipping at his jaw.

"How does he feel honey?"

"So good, Stevie." For a second he's in a trance, watching the way her face contours with pleasure and the pain of her third orgasm well on its way.

Steve lays next to Buck, hand wrapping around his own heaviness between his legs as he stokes it, switching between her face of pleasure to Bucky's, who bites his lip to suppress a moan.

It's short lived as hips stutter against her own, coating her walls with his warm cum.

Steve barely gives her time to recover, positioning her on his hands and knees before hovering over her ear and nibbling on it. "My turn, honey."

***

Her hands nervously shake, the kitchen table is all set up, dinner is ready but at the moment she doesn't have an appetite.

Between this morning sickness, the overall change her body is under going, food makes her sick. The opening of the front door makes her sit up straight, sucking in a deep breath.

Two voices conversationing in the hall, "I thought I said for you to lock the door when we leave." Buck is clearly annoyed, it's been a long day but Steve rubs his shoulders, mumbling something incoherent.

Upon entering the kitchen, they both grow worried. Face drained of color, red blotchy eyes with shaky hands.

"Hey, hey." Steve drops to his knees in front of her seat in an instant, hands curling around her wrist as worried steel blue eyes follow his stance, reaching over to stroke her cheek. "What is it? What happened?"

"I'm pregnant." She pauses, "I'm scared, I'm scared. What if someone comes for you? How are we supposed to raise a baby? What if it has the serum, will it ever be safe?"

The questions fill Bucky with dread, how much though put into every sentence, every word is like a new hit of pain to his body but he stays strong. For his girl, he leans forward, wiping the tears away from discolored cheeks. "Everything is going to be fine babydoll, you're going to be fine, our baby is going to be fine."

#bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky x you #bucky fluff #fatws bucky #bucky x y/n #bucky fic #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers #steve x bucky #steve x reader #stucky x you #stucky x y/n #stucky x reader #stucky

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Guilty As Charged

Guilty As Charged: Bucky Barnes One Shot

Summary: Defence Attorney James ‘Bucky’ Barnes is the absolute bane of your life…

Pairing: Lawyer AU Bucky Barnes x Reader (Frenemies!)

Warnings: Bad language words.

Word Count- Under 2k

A/N: This was originally posted on my old blog ages ago, but I’ve just given it a little polish and thought, seeing as I’m on the Bucky Train at the moment, I’d bring it back. Also, my knowledge on US Criminal Law is sketchy at best, so humour me…

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this bar reader and any other OCs that may or may not be mentioned. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Bucky Barnes Masterlist // Main Masterlist

*******

In God We Trust, the words set about the Judge’s podium were fixed in your vision, motes of dust moving freely in the rays of sunlight which were streaming through the large, ornate windows of the court room and you took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, concentrating on expelling the nerves you were feeling with the air that left your mouth and lungs.

No matter how many times you were in this position, the reading of the verdict still got to you. Your gaze turned to the jury, as the judge did the same, that all important question ringing across the room, the air stiflingly tense.

“On the charge of murder in the first degree, do you find the defendant or not guilty"

“Not guilty.”

Fuck.

Cheers from the defendants family drowned out your loud groan as you rubbed at your temple. Looking over at your colleague, Sam, you shook your head in utter disbelief.

The judge continued through the remaining charges, second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, and your despair grew as the same verdict was returned for each.

You’d lost. And it stung, not merely because of your near perfect conviction rate, but for the family of the victim you were one-hundred percent convinced the accused.

"Y/N this wasn't your fault.” Sam stated in a low voice but you simply sighed again and shrugged.

"I was sure they'd see through his lies,” you glanced over to your right where the defence team, headed up by James Buchanan Barnes of Barnes and Rogers Law firm were shaking hand with each other and their defendant. Barnes' face was arranged in the usual smug look that you always had the urge to slap right off it. His partner, Steve, glanced over at you and gave you a genuine, sympathetic smile.

He’s always the most courteous out of the two, the one you actually didn’t mind dealing with when it came to cases.

"He fucking did it Y/N," Sam's voice was almost a growl, "I know he did."

"Well in the eyes of the law he didn’t." You stated, standing up.

The commotion continued behind you, as the defendant was told he was free to go. Making sure to keep your head down, you hastily shuffled your papers back into their respective files and packed your briefcase up. Picking up your jacket, you shrugged it on, smoothing down pencil skirt before you head to leave the courtroom before Barnes can pipe up with his usual smart ass quips. But you're not quite fast enough. "Commiserations Miss Y/LN, can't win em all." The familiar Brooklyn drawl hit your ears.

"Buck," Steve sighed "c'mon pal..."

You grit your teeth. You know you shouldn't rise to it, but you just can’t help it. The man is an utter jack ass in the courtroom. Spinning to face him, you shot him your best contemptuous glare, the one you always reserve for those people you really cannot stand, and looked at him like he was something you'd just trodden in.

"You know Barnes, there is such a thing as being gracious in victory as well as defeat." "Defeat?” He asked, looking at Steve with a puzzled expression on his face, “no, not sure what that is." "Eat shit.” You mumbled before turning to Sam who was stood behind you, watching the exchange. You nod to him and the two of you continued up the aisle towards the exit. The victim's family were congregated outside and all at once the start barraging you with questions.

"How did that happen?"

"You said it was a cert he would go down!”

"What about a private prosecution?”

You sighed and turn to look at them, you were exhausted. "I'm sorry.” You shook your head. “That new evidence that his attorney submitted, it was just threw too much of a doubt into the juries mind..." you held your hand up to gently silence them. “If you're serious about a private prosecution then I can meet you next week to discuss and put you in touch with a few people but I’m sorry, as far as the State’s involvement goes…I can’t do anymore."

Escaping as quickly as you could, you and Sam headed back to your office. After a short meeting with your boss, the District Attorney, who was as pissed as you were that the prosecution had failed, you emerged feeling twice as tired and battered as you had when you’d left the courtroom.

As Sam stated, there was only one thing left you could do. Drink alcohol. A lot of alcohol.

It was a short walk to your preferred bar, having decided to abandon your car and collect it in the morning. You were going to get drunk. Really drunk. "Hey Y/N, hey Sam." Clint, the bar tender greeted you. “I hear it wasn't a great day.” You looked up and saw he was pointing to the TV behind the bar. It was on a news channel, focussing on a report from earlier that afternoon which wasn’t surprising. The case had thrown up huge public interest ever since the body of the teenage girl has been found in the alleyway in Queens. The defendant confessed but somehow, the new evidence submitted was an alleged recording that the defence had gotten their hands on as proof the confession was taken under duress. If you were being totally honest, you had to admit that it didn't sound great, the officer did seem to be leaning heavily on the defendant, but the other evidence was, no, IS overwhelming.

But all it needed was that little seed of doubt, which the defence sowed expertly, and the jury couldn't convict. And now, thanks to Barnes and Rogers, specifically Barnes, in your mind a dangerous killer was walking free. As you stared at the television, you saw Barnes on the screen with the defendant, all smiles and Steve at his side. Barnes greeted the press with a raised hand. "Clint turn it over man." Sam almost pleaded and Clint shot you both a sympathetic look, before he pointed the remote at and flicked the report over to a mundane, late afternoon game show. You ordered 2 beers, and then settled at the bar on one of the tall chairs, crossing your bare, heeled legs as you and Sam began to dissect the case. You couldn’t help it, you always did this, analyse where you went wrong or right.

The pair of you got that enthralled in your discussions, that before you know it, it was an hour lager and you're now four beers deep... and Sam was fielding an angry phone call from his wife, Natasha. "I gotta go, boss." He sighed, apologetically, “it’s my little girl’s dance recital at six and if I miss this one, Nat’s gonna hang me out to dry!” You waved his explanation off. “Its fine, Sam. Oh, and take the morning tomorrow. That case has had us working all hours and I don’t intend on being there till lunch. Clint, gimme a bourbon please?" "Don't let Barnes get to you.” Sam sighed. “You know what he is like" "Smug, arrogant and annoyingly self-righteous.” You nodded. “Yup, I got it.” Sam smiled and dropped a friendly kiss to your cheek. "See you later." Clint slid the glass of bourbon over to you and you smiled before pulling out your phone to check a few emails and your social media. You were just reading through an article about a Billionaire in Manhattan who had designed some kind of metal suit that allowed him to fly (because that's gonna end well), when a familiar voice broke your concentration. "Can I buy you a drink?" You rolled your eyes and looked up at Bucky Barnes as he leaned on the bar, still in his suit, although he had dispensed of his black and white tie, and opened his top button. This was another thing you hated about him. He is utterly gorgeous. Like GQ cover gorgeous, especially in his sharp suits and silk ties.

And he fucking knows it, too. "Depends." You shrugged, throwing back the remainder of your bourbon. "Does it come with a side helping of irritating smugness?" He chuckled. "I'm off duty, Doll so no."

"In that case I'll have another Monkey Shoulder." You slid the empty glass back to Clint. "Take it you're not driving home?" Barnes asked, his azure eyes running over your bare legs. "Well if I do and I get caught, I'm sure you can get me off any charges.” You replied sharply, shooting him a look that made it clear you caught him eyeing you up. And it isn't the first time either. That's another reason you clash so much in the courtroom. Sexual tension. Fucking jerk. He barked out a laugh "You're really not happy with me are you?" "Not particularly." You shook your head, thanking Clint as he pushed the now full glass back to you, with a small wink. It's a double, you noticed. That should set Barnes back a bit. Bucky reached for his beer and after a pull he looked directly at you. "Come work for me." He said and you groaned.

Not this again. "I'm a prosecutor." You rolled your eyes. "Not a defence attorney. I told you that last time you asked. And the time before, and the time before that." "I'm nothing if not persistent." He winked, turning in his stool so he was facing you. "Besides, I can teach you the ways of the dark side." "You’d love that wouldn't you?" You snort. "Oh, Sweetheart you have no idea." He leaned forward slightly, his elbow on the bar and this time he is blatantly staring at the flash of skin that was showing above the buttons on your blouse. "My face is up here, ass hole." With a smirk he raised his deep, blue eyes and they locked onto yours. Despite yourself, you feel your breath hitch slightly. Dammed him and his sex appeal. "Why are you always this insufferable?" You eventually tore your gaze away from his and picked up your drink, glancing up at the TV as an excuse not to look at him. "Ah come on Y/N, don’t be like that." He reached out to squeeze your hand which was resting on the back of the tall chair you were sat in. "We could make a great team..." You raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Professionally.” He added, his eyes not leaving yours as he took another large drink of his beer, and you pulled your hand away from under his. "I'd kill you within five minutes of us being in the same office." You glared at him as you took another sip from your drink. He chuckled and eyed you again, “to be fair I'm not sure Stevie would be able to function with a beautiful dame such as yourself in close proximity. He still flusters around any woman that isn’t his Peggy.” "That's because Steve is a happily married man." "So am I." He shot back. Ah yes, Mrs Barnes… "Your wife deserves a medal. She must have the patience of a fucking saint to put up with you." You said into your glass. "I have other hidden qualities which mean she's prepared to overlook my slightly less favourable personality traits." He quipped, and you looked back to see that lopsided grin on his face that flips your stomach. Behave Y/N. "They must be very hidden." You mused, and he let out another loud laugh. "You're killing me, Doll.” "Good." You drained your glass. The liquid burnt your throat and you could feel the effects of the alcohol from the last few hours as your brain started to hum. You looked at Barnes who was watching you, his eyes shining with all the cheekiness of a teenage boy and you know you need to leave before you do something stupid.

Like snogging his dumb, handsome face off. "I think it's time I got going." You said simply, standing up. Barnes gave a nod, draining his bottle. “Yeah I should be making tracks too. Wife to see to, you know how it is.” You stood and he did the same, and you realised he was holding up your jacket, ready for you to slide your arms into. Narrowing your eyes slightly at his sudden chivalry, you couldn’t help the small smile that flickered across your face as you turned and allowed him to help you into it. His hands dropped to your shoulders and he span you round gently and smiled with those perfect teeth, a smile that lit up his beautiful face, his eyes crinkling in the corners. "Lead the way Mrs Barnes.” He instructed softly, dropping a tender kiss to your lips. "You know it's a good job I love you,” you smiled, sliding your arms up round his neck. "Yeah, I know." "Although right now I'm struggling to remember why." "Well, when we get home I'll just have to show you some of those hidden qualities I was talking about, see if they help jog your memory.” You bit your lip slightly at the dark flash of desire that flit across his eyes, and you leant up to brush your lips across his stubbled jawline. "Unanimous verdict,” your voice drops slightly as you pull back and he smirked again, “guilty as charged.” You tossed Clint a good bye, linked your hand into your husband’s and he walked you outside into the brisk wind, his arm pulling you close, his lips pressed a soft kiss to your temple. Yeah, James Buchanan Barnes might be an insufferable, arrogant ass hole in the courtroom, but outside it he's simply your Bucky.

#bucky barnes #buck barnes fic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #lawyer au

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ironwoman359 · 4 years

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Perhaps I will be crucified on the fandom mountaintop for this opinion but I don’t...actually think that Janus? Is Self-Preservation? Like, that’s not his trait. Nowhere did anyone in canon say that. What Patton said was that “Deceit is an inner coach that acts with the one intention of self-preservation.” [Can Lying Be Good, 23:53, emphasis mine.]

Self-preservation is not who Janus is, it is his goal. His endgame, his justification for his actions. And it goes beyond preserving the self; for Janus it’s about fowarding the self, and he doesn’t care about the cost of doing so. Sometimes we get so caught up in this fandom with SvS and the fact that Janus was technically right in that arguement that we forget about CLBG. When Thomas was worried that he’d hurt his friend, Janus’s suggestion was to lie to make himself look better. When Thomas didn’t know what to do about the wedding, Janus was pushing for the callback because he views Thomas and his career as the most important thing. And while many of us may agree that the callback was the better decision there, Janus, by nature of who he is, was most inclined to not only go to the callback, but lie about why Thomas was missing the wedding, again, to make Thomas look better.

Sometimes I see people say “Janus is self-preservation, therefore his actions are justified. Everything Janus does is to protect Thomas.” And I know that it’s semantics, but I disagree with that last statement. Virgil is the one who does everything he does to protect Thomas. Janus, meanwhile, is the one who wants to further Thomas’s reputation at every turn. I know that Thomas’s instagram stories are word of god, not canon, but remember how he described Virgil and Janus at the Grand Canyon?

“Virgil would be telling you to ‘Get back from those cliffs!’ Janus would be telling you to 'Take pictures to make it look like you’re next to the cliff, for clout.’”

In the case of Can Lying Be Good, it was self-preservation because Thomas had already done something, and Janus wanted to preserve his reputation from the hit it could have possibly suffered because of it. But with SvS, Janus wants to go to the wedding to further Thomas’s own agenda. Which, as discussd in Putting Others First, is not always a bad thing! Janus’s actions in POF show how he is a balance to the other sides, Patton in particular. Patton was so wrapped up in what was good and what wasn’t that he was neglecting taking care of Thomas, so Janus stepped in. HOWEVER, when left to his own devices, the steps that Janus is willing to take to “preserve” and further Thomas and his career/reputation are...not great.

This is not me riding the Janus hate train, I love the snek boi as much as anyone, it’s pointing out what (in my opinion) the whole point of the series is. ANY ONE of the six sides we know, if given total control with no pushback, is very bad for Thomas. We’ve seen how listening to Virgil too much is bad (Taking on Anxiety), listening to Logan OR Roman too much is bad (Logic vs Passion/WDWGOOBITM), Patton's gotten it twice now for different reasons (Growing Up and DWIT), and I think that in our rush to celebrate Janus’s name reveal and “acceptance” arc, we forget that the same is true for him. Again, look at Can Lying Be Good. Janus was 100% wrong there, and in SvS his methods were extremely flawed. If he had allowed an actual discussion to take place, with input from all (especially Logan), they would have probably caught on to the idea that Thomas realized at the beginning of POF...just talk to Leigh and Mary Lee. But doing so goes against Janus’s goals of pushing Thomas and his reputation higher and higher, so for Janus, that idea was not on the table. Too much of his influence, and Thomas got hurt as a result.

Janus’s ideas and goals are not always bad, and his methods aren’t even always bad, but he needs to be balanced against the others, particularly Logan (who can more easilly determine when Janus’s methods are actually the best course of action) and Patton (who is more in tune with how Thomas feels about certain methods; Janus couldn’t give a care in the world whether or not something is right or wrong, but Thomas cares about that, which is why Patton still needs his voice).

I’m not going to get in to the whole “Roman laughing at Janus vs. Janus comparing Roman to Remus/manipulating him in CLBG and SvS” thing here, that’s a different type of post altogether in my opinion, I just have been seeing the “Janus is Self-Preservation” thing thrown around a lot, both within that debate and outside of it, and felt like I’d throw my analysis out into the world, for what it’s worth. Janus is not Self-Preservation. He does not “protect” Thomas in the same way that Virgil does. He is Deceit, and the reason he often exercises his function is to preserve and/or further the self, and I think that Patton’s quote above is something that the fandom often misinterprets.

#sanders sides #janus sanders #thomas sanders #sanders sides analysis #janus sanders discourse #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #taylor talks #longpost

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cjsinkythoughts · 3 years

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FATWS One Shot #7 - Revels

Word Count: 2921

Warnings: Cursing, That’s All, it’s a Really Tame One Shot

Setting/Characters: Party Scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron; Lots of Characters so I’m Not Gonna Name Them All

A/N: I know…it’s very late. I wanted to have it out on Friday, but I dunno, guys. My motivation as of late has been very low. I finally decided to just sit down and write tonight. So here it finally is!

This one is pretty mild compared to others. There’s a few feeling things in here, but it’s mainly just the reader hanging out with the team. The ending’s written a bit weird, but I didn’t know what to cut it off because the writers did a nice job of making the Mjolnir scene flow into the scene with Ultron’s appearance, but I didn’t want to write the whole fight with Ultron, I just wanted the lifting scene.

Listen here, though! Prepare yourselves to be conflicted even more with Steve! I made it a lot more…touchy than I was planning on. Don’t come at me! It needs to be done! This’ll be one of the last ones focused on Steve like that though. The next one is reader and Wanda bonding and then after that I don’t have any more planned for AoU, so we’ll be going to Civil War, which is where reader meets Bucky officially. So Bucky’s coming soon!

I’m gonna update my WIP List and - maybe - my One Shot list and post those later, along with a poll because I dunno which series I wanna start on next.

Thank you all so much for your patience, understanding, and support! As always, not beta’d, so please excuse the mistakes, all are mine! Be kind to yourselves and others! Enjoy and stay tuned!

FATWS Series Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

*******

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

You set your bag down and looked at your phone, vibrating from where you just left it on the counter. You looked at the time and squinted. Seven. You supposed it wasn’t too late, but you weren’t expecting any calls.

Tired, your feet dragged as you moved across the room to get your phone. You were helping Fury set up the Helicarrier again while still remaining “dead” to everyone. It was the last thing you were doing before joining the Avengers full time. You were a bit hesitant to be in the spotlight after all these years, but after much pressuring from your team, especially a certain blonde, you finally caved. It was time for a change anyways. It might even be good for you.

Speaking of blondes, Bubba flashed across your screen, a picture of him with some scruff that you took one day in spite of his protests because you’d never seen him with a beard before lighting up behind the contact name.

You answered it, rubbing your eyes with the heel of your hands as you did so. “Hi, bubs. What’s-”

“Where are you? I miss you. Are you coming soon?”

You chuckled at his whines, an eyebrow raising as you processed his words. “Whaddya mean? I’m at my place. Where am I supposed to be?”

“Honey!” You giggled at his groan, finding it amusing how childish he could be at times. “The party? Tonight? Remember? You promised you’d come. I don’t wanna be here without you.”

“Oh shit,” you hiss out. “That’s tonight?” Moving across the kitchen to check your calendar, you scrunch up your face when you see ‘Avenger’s Tower 6 pm’ written in the square. “It’s Saturday. Aw, Stevie. I totally forgot.”

“Oh. So…are you - are you not coming, then?”

Frowning at his fallen tone, you shake your head. “I’ll be there. Just…give me a bit.”

“No, no. It’s okay. You sound tired. You don’t have to-”

“I’m on my way, Steve. I did promise after all. I’m an hour out.”

You could hear his surprise in his voice. “An hour? You’re not in D.C.?”

“I’m a little bit upstate. Just in a safehouse while I help Fury work on something.”

He let out a contemplative hum from the other side of the line. “That secret project you still won’t tell me anything about?”

A smile appeared across your lips as you walked to the bedroom to change into something a little more appropriate, settling for a comfortable romper instead of dealing with a dress. “You know I can’t, bubs. You haven’t told anyone, right?”

“No ma’am.”

You giggle softly. “Alright. Thank you. You’ll find out soon, probably. It’s almost done. Promise.”

“Then you’ll come live here? With me - the team, I mean? I miss you. The team missed you. On the raid.”

“Oh yeah. How was it?”

“Get here and I’ll tell you.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “I’m coming, I’m coming. See you then, bubba.”

“Okay, honey. See ya then.”

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

It was nearly nine when you got to the Tower, but any party thrown by Stark didn’t end until at least ten, so you knew you were fine. Just…fashionably late. A concept you knew Tony understood and you wouldn’t hesitate to remind him if he brought it up.

You were pleasantly surprised by how tame the party was. Sure there were a hundred people you doubted even Tony knew, but no flashing lights, the music wasn’t blaring, and no one was grinding on anyone. Everyone was just talking, drinking, and having a good time.

“Hey! There you are! Capsicle said he called you, but that was hours ago!”

Speak of the devil. You grinned and let Tony pull you into a hug before taking the drink he offered. “Yeah, well, I had a few things to do today.”

His eyebrow quirked up. “A few things, huh? Anything I should know about?”

“Nope!” You popped your lips and gave him a smirk. “Not everything’s about you, Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, well, we missed you this week. Fun raid.” He looked you up and down and nodded, gesturing to your outfit. “Alright, you know what? I accept this. This is okay. Not what I had in mind, but you pull it off.”

You laughed, shoving his shoulder playfully. “It’s comfortable, okay? Where’s Steve?”

The billionaire rolled his eyes and gave you a look. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. He’s over playing pool with Wilson. C’mon! I wanna get you drunk and complain about my perfect, heroic, billionaire life to my favorite teammate!”

“I just need to tell him I’m here.” You snicker. “And don’t let anyone here you say that. I don’t want my rep to become Tony’s favorite.”

He chuckled with you and gave you another squeeze. “Alright, alright. Come find me later, though. I do have something I need to show you.”

You shook your head, already knowing where the conversation was heading. “Tony! No! I don’t need a suit! Thank you, I appreciate it, but I’m really okay. I like fighting in sweatpants.”

“Fine!” He huffed out. “But at least let me show you some designs I came up with. I put a lot of hard work into them, you know.”

Tapping his chest, you nodded. “I’m sure you did. I’ll come find you and you can show me, but that’s it.”

He smirked, drawing an ‘x’ over his heart with his finger. “Cross my heart.”

“I’m serious, Tony!” You point at him as he started walking away. He just blew a kiss towards you, making you laugh and roll your eyes again.

Turning, you scanned the room for the pool table where, supposedly, Steve was playing with Sam, who you had no idea was gonna be here. You’d been helping him out with the whole James - Bucky, you reminded yourself - Barnes thing during your free time. No such luck yet. The man was literally a ghost, even for you.

You couldn’t stop the smile on your lips when you finally caught sight of him, his brown leather jacket hugging his shoulders a grin on his face as Sam talked to him about something. Quickly making your way over, your arms wrapped around that ridiculously tiny waist, crossing over his stomach. You felt him tense at the sudden contact, before he relaxed at a kiss to the nape of his neck and spun around.

The beam he gave you made your heart flip, his muscled arms winding around your neck. “Y/N! You made it!”

His boyish excitement made you laugh. “I told you I’d come. Hi, Sam.”

Sam nodded and waved. “What’s good, Y/N?”

“Who’s winning?” Slipping out of Steve’s hold, you leaned over the table to study the games process.

“We just started a new one.” Steve informed you. “Wanna join?”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure you wanna be embarrassed in front of all these nice people?”

“Oooh!” Sam winced. “Smack! Alright. Put your money where your mouth is, Y/L/N. Ten bucks says I win.”

“You’re on, Wilson.”

A few more drinks, a couple games, and thirty extra bucks later, Tony called you over impatiently. Steve gave you a questioning look as you heated up, Tony waving his arms dramatically and shouting your name. God, he’s so embarrassing.

“He wants me to look at suit designs.”

Steve frowned at your explanation. “I thought you told him no?”

You chuckled. “I did. I’ll be right back, bubs.” After kissing his cheek, you head over to Tony. From there, you end up bouncing around from teammate to teammate, laughing and joking around with them.

Until Steve dragged you back with him again. “Excuse me.” He interrupted you, Clint, and Natasha’s chatter, grabbing your elbow and taking the drink you had in your hand. “I’m stealing you.”

“C’mon, man! It’s called sharing!”

Natasha laughed and nodded in agreement with Clint’s statement. “Everyone’s gotta have a turn, Rogers.”

Steve hummed, walking backwards and pulling you as you giggled in amusement. “You just had your turn, Romanoff.”

“Sorry guys.” You shrugged when the two looked at you incredulously. “Captain’s orders.”

“Damn right.” Steve nodded firmly.

“Watch your language!” Clint shouted with a pointed finger.

You raised an amused eyebrow at Steve’s groan. “Your language? They do know that you have, quite possibly, the worst mouth on the planet, right?”

He sighed, pulling you to the side of the room and wrapping his arms around your waist. “It’s something that happened on the mission. Which you would know if you were there.”

“Steven.”

He blinked innocently at you. “What?” At your pointed look, he let out a sigh, dropping his forehead to your shoulder. “Did I do something wrong? Is that why you’re avoiding me?”

“Who said I’m avoiding you?”

“C’mon, honey.” He lifted his head, his eyebrows furrowed together. “Don’t hurt me even more. I know you have.”

You shook your head, lips turning down and hand raising to cup his cheek. “Stevie, I’m not. I promise. I’ve just…I’ve just been busy.”

He pouted. “With Fury?”

Giving him a weird look you shook your head. “No. I mean, yes, but I’ve also been helping Sam out with your friend while you help the team with the rest of the HYDRA bases. You know that. What’s going on with you?”

“I’m sorry.” He sighed, ducking his head to your shoulder again. “I’ve just missed you.”

“I know, bubba. I’ve missed you too.”

The real truth was you had been avoiding him. Not on purpose. Kinda. You just felt something different around him. Something you’d never dealt with before. And you didn’t want to deal with it now, so you haven’t been. It was why you were so hesitant about becoming a full time Avenger. Well, that and the fact that you’d been in the shadows for a decade and you weren’t sure how well you’d do in the light.

“Where’s Sam?”

“He had to head home. Long drive. His excuse, not mine.”

You gasped in offense. “And he didn’t even say bye?! Rude!”

Steve chuckled, his nose brushing against the skin of your throat, breath tickling your collarbone. “I’m sure he’ll call you in the morning or something. Apologize for leaving so abruptly.”

You hummed, swallowing the lump that suddenly appeared in your throat. “Tell me about the language thing. What happened?”

He groaned, but straightened and told you about him accidentally scolding Tony, before he proceeded to tell you about the rest of the mission, including the Maximoff twins.

“Why is it that war always seems to breed more war?” You asked with a sigh.

“They’re just kids trying to do what’s right.”

“We all start out that way, don’t we?” You shook your head. Kids. they shouldn’t be fighting in a war. They shouldn’t have to deal with that. “It’s just a shame.” Your voice is muffled by his shirt after you pressed against his chest.

“Yeah.” He sighed out. “Wanna go get a drink?”

Pulling back from him and looking around, you noted that most guests had already gone and it was dwindling down to just the Avengers and a couple allies. “Yeah. Wanna sit down too. I’m kinda tired.”

“Alright, honey. Let’s go sit down.”

It wasn’t even half an hour later when you were all sitting around the middle of the room, everyone else having gone, but Dr. Helen Cho, Rhodey, Maria, and the team. You were in the same boat as Helen, who was basically passed out on an armchair. You’re legs thrown over Steve’s lap, stretched out to let your feet rest on Thor’s thigh, who was on the chair on the other side of the captain. You were hugging Steve’s arm, your head resting against his shoulder, a small smile of content across your features as you listened to the team banter and tease.

You started laughing at Clint’s comments towards Thor’s hammer while spinning the drumstick he had for whatever reason. “Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power! Whatever, man! It’s a trick!”

You and Steve exchanged amused grins as Thor challenged Clint, who stood up with no hesitation and headed to the hammer.

“This is gonna be good.” You chirped, taking the bottle Steve handed you as the archer stopped in front of where it was placed on the table.

Clint stuck his tongue out at you, before turning back to Thor and gripping the handle. He tugged for a moment, grunting, before laughing in slight embarrassment. Chuckling, you snuggled closer to Steve’s side, your eyes feeling heavy. He turned his head to nose your temple and kiss your cheek.

“Oh brother.” You giggled, sitting up with interest as Tony stood up and unbuttoned his suit jacket.

“Alright, so if I lift it, I-I then rule Asgard?” Tony asked in clarification, slipping his hand through the strap.

“Yes, of course.” Thor confirmed with an amused smirk, shooting you a wink when you nudged his knee with your foot.

Tony braced himself, setting his foot on the table. “I will be reinstituting prima nocta.”

You rolled your eyes, scoffing. “Oh God, Tony.” Steve squeezed your knee with a slight chuckle as the billionaire tried lifting it to no avail. You gave him a weird look, watching him leave the room, before turning to Steve. “What’s he-?”

“Alright! Let’s try this again!”

Another fit of laughter left you and the team when Tony strutted back in with his Iron Man glove on. And when that didn’t work, Rhodey joined him with his War Machine glove.

Your eyes were watering and you tried holding in your laughter, but you couldn’t help it, pressing your face into Steve’s arm to muffle the sounds. You felt his shoulders shake with silent chuckles, which didn’t help your own.

When Bruce went up, an awkward silence filled the air after he tried Hulking out, but then you started laughing again.

“Your turn, bubba.” You nudged the blonde, who gave you a look, before shrugging and patting your thigh.

“You gotta get off then, honey.”

You rolled your eyes but swung your legs off him, letting him stand up. He rolled his sleeves up, stepping up to Mjolnir, a few encouragements from the team, before pulling on the hammer. You thought you saw it shake a little, but Steve yanked some more and it didn’t move, so you figured you were imagining it.

Steve sighed and let go, putting his hands up in surrender with a grin like the good sport he was. Thor laughed. “Nothing.”

You shrugged at the super soldier who plopped back down besides you as the others tried getting Natasha to go up. “You tried.”

He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and leaning back. “Well if Romanoff isn’t going…your turn.”

“Wh-what?” Your eyes went wide.

“I did it.” He gestured to the hammer. “Now you gotta.”

“Hold on, hold on. We didn’t agree on th-”

“Honey.” He gave you a little pout, cocking his head to the hammer. “C’mon. Just a tug.”

You narrowed your eyes, but your lips turned up and you straightened off the couch. “This is peer pressure. Captain America, everyone.” He chuckled as you stepped over to Mjolnir. “It’s not gonna work.”

Tony snorted. “Not with that attitude.”

“C’mon, Tones. If none of you could.”

The billionaire shrugged with a grin. “Never know if you don’t try.”

You deadpanned at him, gripping the handle and trying, in vain, to pull it. You didn’t put nearly as much effort as everyone else. “Wow. Look at that. What a surprise.”

“What was that?! You barely touched it!”

Giving a shrug, you started back to your seat. “I’m guessing if you’re worthy or whatever, it wouldn’t take that much to lift it.” You fell onto the couch, your head landing in Steve’s lap as you looked upside down at Thor and pointed at him. “But I do have a question for you.” The god looked at you in interest, gesturing for you to continue. “What does worthy mean? Like, what makes a person worthy to lift it? You couldn’t lift it a while back - I know, I read the files. SHIELD agent, remember?” You added when you saw him open his mouth to question you.

You blinked at him curiously, tilting your head, watching as his brow furrowed. Tony cackled and clapped at the silence in answer. “Oooh! She got you! All difference to the Man Who Wouldn’t Be King, but it’s rigged. And the lack of response to Y/N’s question just makes it more obvious.”

“That’s not what I meant-”

“You bet your ass.”

You rolled your eyes, letting it go as Maria teased Steve about Clint’s foul language. “Did you tell everyone about that?” Tony ignored Steve’s question and continued to ride on Thor and his hammer.

“Why are they trying to make sense of it?” You questioned, highly entertained, but also very tired, turning to press against Steve’s stomach.

“It’s Tony. I couldn’t tell you. C’mere.” Steve shifted you so that you were sitting up, but he was holding you more comfortably. “Try getting some sleep.”

You hummed and nodded against him, but a high pitched whine made you wince and stand up, Steve unconsciously standing a bit in front of you. A suit of Tony’s, damaged with wires hanging down and oil leaking out or places that didn’t have metal keeping them in, came in and you inwardly sighed at the bad feeling tugging at your gut.

So much for sleep.

***********

All Works Taglist (Open):

@happygoreading @bibliophilewednesday @breadqueen95 @marvelettesassemble @w-wolfhxrd @the-larry-romance @abitofeverythinggg

#cjswriting #fatws series oneshots #fatws series oneshot 7 #fatws series #falcon and the winter soldier series oneshots #revels oneshot #steve rogers x reader #kinda #💛🧭#❤🐦💙🦾⏪

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 3 years

Text

Into The Unknown, Part 7

First

Sorry the chapter is late my schedule got thrown off by a hurricane

Three days after they arrived in Gotham, they officially ran out of cash.

Honestly, it was a wonder they had even lasted as long as they had. Who knew that rich kids had so much money just laying around? Certainly not her, if she had she probably would have reconsidered rejecting Adrien’s old offers to date to make their fans shut up... because damn.

Now, they sat outside Drake Manor.

Marinette sat, back resting against the gate, playing a game with the baby. In an effort to soothe the kid’s need to fall from high places, she had tossed him a foot in the air and then caught him. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to help, but it did entertain Damian. He giggled like a madman (mad...baby?) every time she did it and would yell ‘up!’ every time she tried to stop. Her arms were tired. She’d been doing this for what felt like years, and would be doing it for many years to come. Save her.

The only person that could possibly save her was, unfortunately, busy with other things.

Tim was applying for credit cards. He had stuck his computer and phone through the gate to get their wifi so the company wouldn’t be suspicious (Marinette said they probably wouldn’t be but the king of paranoia had insisted) and was now pressed up against it as far as he possibly could, arms poking through the bars to keep working.

“This is only until we have enough money to get on our feet,” Tim said.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Tim, I know.”

He nodded a little against the bars that were pressing against his face and allowed the subject to drop -- for now, Marinette knew it was only a matter of time before he said it again.

“At least one of us needs a job at WE, that’s the only way both of us would be able to send the kid to daycare.”

Marinette stopped tossing Damian, considering, only to immediately start up again when the baby screamed “UP!” at her.

“Probably me,” she said, finally. “The you that lives here is a direct competitor, you might get recognized.”

He nodded his agreement.

And then she sighed and set Damian in her lap because her arms were physically unable to lift him anymore. Damian screamed at her but she just wrapped her arms around him tightly and pet his hair until he relaxed.

When he finally shut up, she said: “You know we’re going to have to wait for both of us to get a job.”

He paused in his typing. “What do you mean?”

“Since it’s WE, they probably have pretty thorough background checks. Two adults that seemingly have lived here their entire lives getting a job at pretty much the exact same time is… more than a little suspicious.”

He pulled his head back from the gate and she wondered idly if he was finally done, but then he just knocked his forehead against the bars. There was a resounding clang that neither of them minded, all of this world’s Drakes were currently at work, and he groaned.

“Yeah, that kind of screams ‘we’re using fake identities’, doesn’t it?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

He groaned again, louder this time.

“I can stay at home,” she offered, somewhat reluctantly. “I can cook.”

He sighed and shook his head as much as the gate would allow. “No. You’re probably going to have an easier time getting a job, WE accepts basically everyone. We need money, so I’ll be a stay-at-home dad.”

Oh.

She smiled a little and looked down at Damian, who was currently petting her hair like she had been petting his just a few moments before. She blinked but reciprocated the action. Damian lit up and reached his hands up so he could get more of her hair.

She leaned down a little and nuzzled her nose against Damian’s.

She glanced up and saw Tim checking over what he had done so far, apparently thinking the conversation over.

Marinette hesitated. If she really wanted, she could just let the conversation drop.

She mumbled a quiet: “... thanks, Tim.”

He didn’t look up from his screen, but she could see the pink tinge in his ears. “It’s fine. I don’t even know what I’d do yet. I’ve only ever had one job and I got it because of nepotism.”

She grinned. “From rich kid to even richer CEO to trophy husband.”

“Oh, how the mighty hath fallen.”

She felt a hand tug her hair and looked down to see Damian pouting, so she started running her fingers through his hair. It was getting kind of long, she wondered if she should get it cut. She didn’t want it to get caught on something, the kid could get hurt.

A thought occurred to her. She glanced at Tim out of the corner of her eyes. “You know… you’re taking my name and I’m going to be the one getting money… maybe you should grow out your hair and I’ll cut mine. Y’know, to really get into our roles.”

He huffed a little. “Shut up.”

She laughed. “Fine. But, really, I think you should grow your hair out. It’d be pretty.”

The both of them tensed at the implications of what she had said. She wondered if she could play it off as a joke… or maybe she should apologize? The blush that had tinged his ears was now creeping down his neck. Was he embarrassed or flustered or angry?

Before she could figure out what to do, Tim’s phone rang.

He fumbled for the phone and pressed it to his ear, successfully hiding the rest of his face from her view.

“Hello?... yes, this is Timothy Drake… yes, I just applied for a new card… I figured I would have a backup in case one of my others got stolen, you know how it is… can I have the card information in advance?... great, thank you!”

He hung up and turned to her, smiling widely.

“We have money.”

She didn’t react how he expected, no playful grin or witty remark or even just a smile. Instead, she doubled over with laughter. Damian whined a little in protest as she threatened to squish him.

He frowned confusedly. “What?”

She motioned vaguely to his face, giggles still spilling from her lips. “It’s just… you’ve been leaning against the gate for so long that it’s made little lines in your face.”

He huffed. “It’s not that funny.”

She managed to get her breathing under control again. “It’s a little funny.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

She opened her mouth to continue the dumb little argument they were having but then Damian yelled: “NO!”

Tim lit up. “HA. He agrees with me.”

She gasped. “Dami, how could you? You’re supposed to be on my side,” she said with an over exaggerated pout.

Damian looked up at her pout for a moment before slowly leaning forward and attempting to wrap his arms around her middle in a hug.

“Oh,” she said softly, carding her fingers through his hair a few times. “Okay, I forgive you.”

“Weak,” Tim teased.

She looked over to send him a glare, but then she saw the fond smile on his face and relaxed.

“I am. Look at him. He’s so cute.”

“Yeah. He is.”

Tim leaned back against the bed frame.

Marinette was out at a job interview for WE. He hoped she got it, he didn’t know what they’d do if she didn’t.

But, he didn’t really have much time to think about that. He was on baby duty.

He’d gotten better at dealing with Damian while doing things, it seemed. He had found a position to sit where one knee was pulled to his chest and the other curled close to him, his legs acting as a chair for the kid. One hand held the kid’s bottle as he drank, and the other scrolled through apartment options on his phone.

They’d probably be in an apartment for at least a while. He didn’t know how homeownership was in this new version of Gotham, but in the old one if you were able to afford a house on your own then you were an immediate target for thieves.

So: apartments.

They could probably get away with a one-roomer, at least while Damian was young. It wasn’t like they needed much room for him, anyway, they might even get rid of the crib since it didn’t look like either of them had the willpower to leave the kid in it all night.

Damian slapped the bottle away, apparently done despite only having drank… all of it. Huh, he must have been more out of it than he’d thought.

He turned off his phone and looked down at the baby. Damian looked back up at him, giving that wide-eyed stare babies were so fond of.

Tim cracked, a smile making its way across his face. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of his little brother’s head.

“So, kiddo, what do you want to do?”

Damian babbled at him in an authoritative tone. Tim nodded thoughtfully, as if he understood him and was truly considering the idea of whatever it was he said.

“Interesting idea. I think we should watch TV. Sound good?”

Damian nodded, though Tim really doubted that he had somehow managed to say the exact thing that he had.

He pulled the remote out of the bedside drawer and started flipping through channels, looking for something that was bright and colorful enough for Damian to enjoy it but at least semi-decent so Tim wouldn’t be bored out of his mind.

He came upon Monsters LLC and turned it on. While Tim agreed that, considering the way that Mr. Firenoose acted, the company would totally be an LLC, it just didn’t have the same ring to it as Monsters Inc. So sad. The kids of this world were missing out.

At least Damian seemed to be enjoying it. He gasped and pointed at this world’s version of Sully and yelled “KITTY!”

Before Tim could correct him, though, the knockoff Boo said the same thing.

Great. Well. He supposed the kid was close enough. At least there were no monsters in this world for Damian to mistake for cats. It wouldn’t come back to bite them. Probably.

And, so, that’s how the day went. Tim and Damian sat in bed, Damian leaning back against Tim’s chest and watching his movie, a new bottle of milk half in his mouth. Tim scrolled through apartment options on his phone, picking out a few to check out over the next few days.

After a while, Marinette slipped in. She kicked her shoes off, letting them fly in opposite directions, and then trudged across the room.

She dropped onto the bed face down beside the two boys and Tim frowned.

“I’m guessing that means it didn’t go well?”

“No, I got the job,” she said, her voice muffled. “They said I could start tomorrow if I wanted.”

“... then…?”

She slowly picked her head up. She looked absolutely exhausted. “I’m an intern.”

… yikes.

He hesitantly reached a hand out and patted her head a few times.

She rolled her eyes and pulled a pillow to herself so she could scream into it.

Damian looked away from the movie, eyes wide, and then looked at Tim like he would somehow know how to fix it.

… he probably was supposed to. He was the adult here and, supposedly, married to her.

But Tim was a bat. So, he pulled a classic bat move:

“Want to spar?”

“... kinda,” she admitted. “But what about Damian?”

Damian was currently entranced by a movie about… was that unicorn eating trash?

It didn’t matter. (It totally did. What the fuck was going on in this movie?)

Tim smiled. “I’m sure that Kaalki and Tikki can warn us if something is going to happen. Not that it looks like anything will.”

Marinette hesitated before breaking into a smile. “Okay, let’s do it. I’ve been feeling a little antsy.”

He gently picked up Damian and set him on the bed, telling the kwamis to keep him safe for the maybe ten minutes they would be distracted, and then led Marinette a few feet away so they could let out a little bit of their excess energy.

~~~~~

@nathleigh @peachmuses @unoriginalmess @hammalammadamdam @astrynyx @laurcad123 @927roses-and-stuff

#into the unknown #maribat #timari #timinette #timmari #shutterbug #tim drake #red robin #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug

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tribus-mantodea · 4 years

Photo

[ Memories of the discarded. ]

I’ve been holding onto these but uhhoohogh it’s time for some awkward headcanons again!

Today’s session brought to you by: tentative thoughts centering the Mantis Child.

(In which for me, she was born pre-traitor arc.)

With mutual respect and consent came her^TM, but it was an ultimately loveless cause. Nothing more than a simple bond between two strong(?) mantids. Well. That said, he’s not a bastard and had taken due care of both partner and child when the time came (where the sisters had also doted and loved her).

I will add that while he did betray his tribe at some point for various reasons while still keeping enough of his mind, she had the choice to either stay or go. Feeling it wrong to do otherwise, she had reluctantly left with him and the defectors on her own volition. In part to see it through, and in knowing and being warned that the associations would be... gray, so to speak, if she did stay. So she couldn’t really be considered part of them anymore after choosing beasts over the village.

(...and the phrasing is the Traitors’ Child, rather than Traitor’s.)

Thereby, I enjoy implying that the mantises are fairly cool-knit with each other internally — at least up to an extent, or perhaps in some idea that any offspring of a Lord would be considered part of the tribe/everyone’s.

In turn. Though she did not take the infection like the outcasts had (they respected her will, at least — it was more than enough that she came with them anyhow), they treated her just like how they did when they were not traitors: as if she were their own.

And it’s quite the fun thought, really, to imagine her tiredly and quietly watching her kin slowly accept more of this sweetly foul thing and be more aggressive than they normally would be. Though they held familiarity and a degree of kindness in the initial phase of their exile, she still felt an uncomfortable uncertainty she couldn’t place. Where interactions grew a bit more sternly, hinted with resentment at the existing reminder that they all chose to take the infection even when the Daughter held on her own (albeit not without struggle).

It’s equally fun to imagine that as soon as she died, they started their downhill collapse into the unhinge.

Rather than have her die at her own father’s hands by some whacky rage/misunderstanding, I like to think that at some point they kind of... well, being influenced by the Radiance, I’d like to think that their disdain for anything regarding Hallownest intensified, resulting in them defiling and ransacking the gardens of the Queen since Man She’s Right There (and if not that, then just a hint of a whisper directing them to said area that so happened to be her domain) and their thoughts had grown more swayed.

So she didn’t have to accompany any battle, really, and she especially had some conflict when her own lover admitted her allegiance to Hallownest and here she was trying to keep things under wraps. But she still remembered how fondly she was treated, and so came the feeling of obligation to go.

One thing led to another, and she fell by Dryya’s nail, quickly noticed by the Traitor Lord after she was thrown to the side like she were any other mantid that had clashed with the fiercely loyal protector. And she does remember the brief tell in passing from the other knight, “Che’ found fondest affection for a mantis, different.” Remembered after hearing the roar that halted their fight, where the Lord swung back one of his own kin when they did not seem well enough to heed the order out of both insanity and rage.

The traitor tribe had a screaming headache that they were to kill and continue onwards, but their Lord held on enough to deny them of that. Had managed to get across to the despicable knight following lies that he would — will — bury their beloved Daughter before returning to conclude. It was in no way advantageous to say this and actually follow through in a brief retreat, but he did brush off the hint of appreciation that her corpse wasn’t outright dismembered (somehow).

So right after they could complete said burial in a place they suspected to be most frequented by her (and perhaps another) alongside the surface precaution of thorns, well...ya know. They lost their reminder, their reason; at that point, it was easier to mentally influence the traitor tribe with all the nonsense that came along with the infection. Hallucinations, loudening suggestions, muddled thoughts, the works.

They are led to believe at this point there was no going back and that their tribe would certainly not take them back, so they gave in entirely and lost rationality where not even the Lord himself could remember where the grave they made was at some point (aside from a memory that it’s within these very gardens).

(Miscellaneous | Mantis Lords)

I’d like to also think that the sisters had kept some sort of tabs on the traitor tribe, though they did not directly see to them. A group of scouts here, a hunt to check there; they at least had a vague understanding of where the mantid and beasts had taken territory to.

Concerning the grave, I would like to assume that they do know, but as for how they know... I’d want to say either by word or by an unfortunately-timed and poor impression of meeting Ze’mer, stuck in mourning. It isn’t as if all of the Lords could go and see it, so it’d be a rather one-by-one basis just to acknowledge the fact, if at all.

Also I double-like to think that they could demolish the fourth throne entirely if they so wanted to, but they kept it to serve as a reminder of failure/what could come to their tribe (and in an unspoken yet vain hope). Fun memories/regrets for the whole kin! :D

or something. um

okay listen I already said my interpretations might be a bit too indulgent on the family-loving side, but I hope that makes sense enough? haha ooohg...

I just want a bit of happiness here and there before it turns outright Bad. I figure the dude’s got good intent and lots of thought behind his decision(?) in being infected rather than the straight up “you know what’s sexy? strength. alright. i think i’m going to go batshit now.” and while I love, I would also spontaneously combust at the thought of him killing his daughter (at least for my interpretations), especially if it’s over just somethin’ small like “you love a NOT-A-MANTIS?!” due to that one outsider-honor dream dialogue from a mantis warrior makin’ me wonder otherwise.

(for that my thoughts is more Ze’mer: the Hallowed-of-nest Knight? -> Radiance as Infectious Influence: “Oh. That bug sucks. You hate Hallownest? That bug’s going to totally leave your daughter to rot.”)

I can explain about this stuff more but maybe... maybe I leave that for another post before I babble on hsdflkhj

#;;lastborn #;;daughter #;;firstborn #[ errr. at least in art. hm. though not necessarily ]#;;art #;;a heart forged into nail #|| 2021 #\\#[ if I had the time I'd rather just write a weird one-shot but oh well here's this spill ]#[ I have considered alternatives but bah ]

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fantasia-monogram · 3 years

Text

Happy birthday (the cupcakes are ruined)

♥️ Jaeyoon x gender neutral reader.

♥️ Smut; just 2k words (!) of what I'd call comfort porn, lol. It's Jaeyoon's birthday. An awkward first time handjob with a little sprinkle of oral happens. Jaeyoon is a total sweetheart and the reader tries their best! You could almost take it as a crack fic, I guess I can't take anything seriously (and I imagine sexy time with Jaeyoon must be fun anyway).

♥️ Disclaimer: this is just for fun! I’m not claiming that’s how he is in real life, it’s just my imagination doing whatever it wants. Read at your own discretion.

Baking cupcakes, decorating them, waiting for Jaeyoon to come back from work, then cuddling together and, if it escalated, an extra surprise the mere thought of made your heart beat faster... Through the three months of your relationship, you’ve already figured your boyfriend wasn’t big on celebrations, and his busy work schedule didn’t leave much time to elaborate plans anyway. That’s why your idea for the night was fairly simple.

Except, here you were, staring in disbelief at the burnt cupcakes. You could swear you only left the kitchen for two minutes, long before the set baking time. You carefully peeled each cupcake one from the silicone mold in hopes they could, somehow, still be salvageable. Well, you were in for a disappointment, as the burn had already reached way below the crust the moment you turned off the oven.

The sound of the front door opening caused you to hold your breath in horror.

“Baby, I’m home,” you heard Jaeyoon announcing. His voice was noticeably tired.

You froze, still holding one of the silicon molds, unsure of what to do.

“I’m gonna shower first, okay?”

He didn’t wait for your answer, instead going straight to the bathroom.

Two rooms away, you were trying to think of something. You must have lost track of time again, because it felt as if your boyfriend finished showering in seconds.

The moment you caught him standing in the doorway, you threw a kitchen towel over the tray and, for safety measures, moved to the side in a way that made you cover any proof of your failure.

“Happy birthday!” you exclaimed cheerfully. “By the way, the cupcakes are ruined.”

Jaeyoon blinked a couple times, then snorted, visibly amused.

“It’s fine, baby. Thank you anyway,” he said with a smile, approaching. He sneaked his arms around your waist, glancing over your outfit, which was a very bold word, considering it consisted of baby pink briefs and an oversized white T-shirt.

Another thing he wasn’t big on was wearing clothes at home. You were still warming up to the idea, so you always had to throw something on top (comfy sweats or T-shirts were acceptable, and he wasn’t really a fan of fancy underwear either - you appreciated that greatly). Jaeyoon, however, unashamedly walked around in briefs only. God, it wasn’t easy for you. You couldn’t say you didn’t like what you saw, but it was so distracting it almost forced you to keep eye contact with him.

Looking anywhere else would make you blush profusely.

You snatched his attention away by placing a kiss on the tip of his nose.

“There is still one more present I have for you…” you started, looking up at him.

“What is it?” he asked, smiling. Damn, those cute dimples…

As an answer, you glided your hand from between his exposed pecs, down his abs and happy trail, stopping at the edge of his underwear, cautiously hooking a finger under it.

“Hey, we don’t have to.” Jaeyoon kissed your forehead, lightly grabbing your wrist. “Haven’t you told me you don’t feel ready yet?”

“I’m not ready to go all the way,” you explained, looking to the side, “But I wanna take a little step forward tonight.”

You pulled out of his grip and, biting your lip, placed your hand on his already impressive bulge. You didn’t expect it to be so warm to the touch.

“Okay, maybe not so little”, you snorted.

“Are you sure?” Jaeyoon uttered, sounding a bit out of breath.

You nodded with a smile on your lips.

Your boyfriend, despite very obvious physical attraction to you, has always been a total sweetheart when it came to reaching next levels of intimacy. He knew you had no real experience and never pushed you into anything. It took you over a month to get from shy smooches on the cheek to actual making out, and even then, whenever he’d get too aroused, he’d stop in his tracks and ask you to let him cool down a bit. You almost couldn’t believe his patience, even though he’d insist he was just being a decent human being everytime - that wasn’t the experience you had with your exes, though.

This time, you had no intention to leave him with nothing.

“Do we go to the bedroom, or…” you stopped mid sentence, courage leaving you all of sudden.

“I don’t mind just staying in the kitchen,” he replied, planting another kiss, this time on the side of your neck. “It’s so nice and toasty in here after all that baking.” Another one. “Or maybe it’s just because I’m excited for your present.”

You felt a warm shiver spreading through your body. You motioned Jaeyoon towards the counter before the arousal could haze your mind completely.

A makeout session with a lot of tongue followed, with him leaning against the edge of the counter while you trapped him in place with your arms. You really felt in control despite the height difference, plus, it gave you a nice opportunity to squeeze his glorious butt from time to time - he seemed to like it a lot, moaning into your mouth each time you did that.

One particularly low moan encouraged you to slide your hands to his front. He kept you so occupied with his kisses that you pushed his briefs down almost absentmindedly, while you two stayed pressed tightly against each other.

The weight and warmth of Jaeyoon’s hard cock, that you could feel against your stomach even through the fabric of your shirt, made you break the kiss with a surprised gasp.

Jaeyoon giggled sweetly.

“I guess I did get a bit too excited, after all.”

He pulled back (not without pecking your cheek for a good measure) and carefully sat on the floor. After a short hiss because of the direct contact with the cool tiles, he leaned against the cabinet door below the counter.

Not breaking eye contact, he shamelessly spread his legs.

“So, what are we doing?” he asked with a wink.

Doing your best to hold back a nervous laugh, you sat in front of him, the lewd sight of your boyfriend sprawled for you like that making your head spin with desire. You never felt like this for any of your previous partners, but Jaeyoon absolutely deserved to take all of your firsts.

“I was… thinking…” you mumbled, finding it hard to not glance at his dick every now and then, “I just wanted to focus on you tonight… Maybe I could use my hands?”

You hesitantly looked into Jaeyoon’s eyes. The tender gaze he gave you caused your heart to swell with love.

He reached for your hands and held them delicately.

“Can’t wait, baby,” he whispered, “I’m going to guide you, okay?”

A chuckle escaped your mouth. He really couldn’t give up on any chance to hold your hands.

Not wasting any more time, you looked up at the counter. Conveniently, a jar of organic coconut oil was within your reach, so you grabbed it together with a spoon placed nearby.

“It’s fine to use this as lube, right?” you made sure, uncapping the jar. “I’ve read it somewhere over the Internet.”

“It’s more than fine,” Jaeyoon reassured you, tactfully omitting his amusement over your possible research.

Well, your search history was already messed up. It better be worth it.

Jaeyoon’s face was getting flushed; you’d find it cute if not for the situation you found yourself in.

You spooned a hefty amount of oil. After moving the jar out of the picture, you slathered the makeshift lube all over your palms.

“Where do we begin?”

In a matter of seconds, your hands were in Jaeyoon’s again. He guided your left hand to hold his cock at the base. The sight was mouth watering --- your palm looked so small against the thickness of his shaft, but you did your best, holding it firmly with the pressure suggested by Jaeyoon himself.

He made you circle your right hand around him, with your thumb resting against the underside. Here, the pressure applied wasn’t as hard, so your boyfriend started guiding you through the entire length with slow, careful strokes. The whole experience was so intense for you, even though you were the one pleasuring your boyfriend; his cock was so hard and hot, you could feel all the veins under your fingers, and the gentle guidance only made it feel even more intimate.

The strokes became faster and more desperate. Jaeyoon would let out a breathless moan every time you squeezed his cock near the top. Soon enough, when you brushed your thumb over the head, you noticed pearly droplets of precum smearing along with it.

You didn’t even realize how fast your breathing has become. You caught yourself letting out a quiet, breathy moan from time to time, now unable to look away from the filthy sight in front of you.

The best thing about it? Jaeyoon’s whines were becoming louder and more prolonged with each jerking move now. You could see his arms and thighs shaking.

“Let me…” you whispered, your voice hushed by the weight of your desire.

Jaeyoon let you take control, his hands now squeezed into fists, resting on his thighs. Since you got the gist of the stroking already, you dared to glance at your boyfriend’s face.

He looked divine and so vulnerable at the same time: his head thrown back, image of pure bliss on his face. His sculpted chest heaving for air. His abs quivering.

You couldn’t believe it was you who turned him into this gorgeous mess.

“Oh God…”, he moaned, eyelashes fluttering, heart-shaped lips just slightly open. “You’re doing amazing… Baby…”

You couldn’t hold back a giddy smile that beamed across your lips. Turning your gaze back at his cock, you saw - and felt, oh, you felt it so well - it twitch.

As another motion reached just under the crown, Jaeyoon’s hands were back on yours, this time stopping you from any movement.

“Stop... Wait...” he pleaded, breathing heavily, sweat rolling down his chest. “Gonna cum…”

“Isn’t that like… the whole point?” you asked innocently. Jaeyoon looked back at you, wide-eyed.

He didn’t want you to move your hands anymore? Fine.

You licked your lips and leaned towards his shaft. Mustering up your courage, you kissed the tip tenderly, making a soft, wet sound.

Things happened quickly. You didn’t even get a chance to fully lean back to your previous position when you heard Jaeyoon whine loudly. You felt him tighten the grip on your wrists. Next thing you knew, he came in thick spurts on your chest and neck, some of it even hitting the lower side of your cheek.

You froze for a moment. Did you just really… bring him over the edge? With so little touching?

Jaeyoon’s long sigh snapped you out of your musings. He finally let his hands slide off yours. You let go of his spent cock, putting it down as gently as you could.

Your boyfriend tucked his fingers under your chin. He raised it so you could face him.

His relaxed smile was a tell-tale sign you did an amazing job.

“There is my birthday cupcake,” Jaeyoon murmured, smearing his cum on your face with his thumb, squishing your cheek a bit too much in the process. “With icing and stuff.”

You tried to playfully squirm away, but he firmly held your chin in place and leaned down to give you a deep, messy kiss.

Jaeyoon backed off a little to look into your eyes again. His gaze dropped down theatrically. You followed it, only to discover there was a wet spot on the light pink fabric of your briefs.

“It’s a moist one, too.”

Before you even thought of getting embarrassed, he hooked his arm tightly around your waist. He easily lifted you off the floor, only to seat you on the kitchen counter.

He situated himself between your spread legs.

“I better eat it before it gets all soggy.”

#sf9 smut #sf9 scenario #sf9 imagines #jaeyoon smut #jaeyoon scenario #jaeyoon imagine #Please tell me how you like it!#It's been a while since I wrote a piece this long ;;

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lovely-ateez · 3 years

Text

Vampire Shift~

ꕥPosted: 5/23/21

ꕥGenre: Fluff, Smut, Angst, College!au, Horror!au

ꕥPairing: Fem!Reader x Vampire!Jongho (feat Wooyoung and Minho from skz)

ꕥWord Count: ~5.9k (whoops)

ꕥWarnings: Horror themes, Language, Thigh riding, Unprotected sex, Mentions of blood and blood sucking (please lmk if I missed anything)

ꕥTag List: @cappujinho @bobateastay

ꕥA/N: I hope you all don’t a more spooky concept! Halloween is my favorite holiday and even though its May, it’s always spooky season to me lolol. Also! Feel free to listen to Vampire Shift by All Time Low while reading this (it’s only on YouTube I cry) since this is inspired by the song :)

It was a terrible idea, really, to work the night shift at a gas station alone. Even more so when you’re a young woman whose only defense is the pepper spray on her key chain and 911 on speed dial. Alas, college bills don’t pay themselves and every spare opportunity to get cash was one I had to take.

The digital clock sitting on the counter next to me briefly flashed, indicating another hour had gone by. It was currently four a.m. and it was safe to say I was losing my mind. I’d worked for five hours now, and not a customer had come in. That was the only advantage, really. So long as no one was around my boss let me finish any assignments I had, which came in handy on more than one occasion.

I was only six paragraphs into a five page report and had been staring at my laptop screen for over an hour, feeling beyond brain dead. I was assigned the topic of financial statements and country trade deficits, and wanted to cry every minute I thought about it. I was half convinced to pay someone to write the report for me.

The ringing of a bell indicated a customer opening the door and I closed my laptop to peer around the counter, ready to greet whoever entered. The first man to catch my attention was wearing sunglasses which fazed me, but I tried not to stare. The man that followed had black hair with blond underneath, a combination that I strangely liked. Both men were donned in all back, their faces stoic. They were attractive, I had to admit, but neither were my type.

And then, the last man entered. He looked over to me as he walked through the door, giving me a nod and a slight smile. His slicked back black hair matched his black ripped jeans and highlighted his red leather jacket. He was so handsome he looked like he jumped out of a magazine and I had to suppress a ‘wow’. A string of butterflies fluttered in my stomach and I did my best to ignore them, not even knowing his name.

The three of them wandered through the aisles until I could no longer see them, and I scolded myself for being so thrown off that I forgot say any form of a greeting. I sighed and turned my attention back to my laptop, opening it and blankly staring at the screen. My ears perked when I heard the men’s hushed voices.

“Y’oughta get that girl’s number. I saw the way you looked at her.”

“Yeah, Jongho. She’s pretty cute. If you don’t get her number you know I will.”

“Shut up.” One of the men, Jongho apparently, responded with a laugh, “Let’s just get some snacks, okay? It’s gonna be a long night. Also I’m buying tonight so get whatever.”

A smile crept on my face and I looked down, fiddling with my thumbs.

They think I’m cute. Maybe Jongho’s the one in red?

I heard the bell ring once more and a girl entered who I vaguely remembered from high school. She was popular but for good reason, probably being one of the nicest people I’d ever met. Our circle of friends overlapped slightly so I’d spent a fair amount of time with her. She was smart as a whip and gorgeous all the same, which seemed to stay with her. She looked bright, long red hair falling around her face, freckles still prominent as ever.

We met eyes and she smiled, “Hey y/n!”

I smiled and waved, “Hey Annabelle. How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“Good! I got into my dream college and it’s been great, although I’ve had to take some pretty hard classes.” She giggled, walking towards me. It’s honestly not too far from here. You go to Westgate University, right?”

I nodded and I put my laptop aside. She spoke again, genuinely excited for me, “That’s awesome! Congrats!”

“Thanks,” I smiled, “I’m taking it you got into Orholt?”

“I did! I was really-”

One of the men that entered earlier—the one still wearing sunglasses—shouted the redhead’s name and caught her attention, “Hey Anna do you want a Redbull or a Five Hour Energy?”

“Redbull! I’m not a monster.” She laughed.

The man nodded and walked toward us with several drinks and snacks in his hands.

“Oh! I want to introduce you to my boyfriend!” Annabelle turned to the man still wearing sunglasses and reached for his arm, “This is Minho. I met him at Orholt.”

Minho gave me a slight nod as I introduced myself and he placed the food and drinks on the counter. I began to scan the items, the mindless routine that I was used to by now. The loud sound of laughter made me look up, seeing the two other men approach us and place their snacks down as well. I watched them long enough to notice the way two-tone—my new affectionate name for the man with blond and black hair, I decided—shamelessly checked me out, a cocky smile on his face when I caught him. I just let out a small laugh before resuming my task, watching his confused reaction in my peripheral vision.

“Oh my god I totally forgot to introduce you to my friends.” Annabelle giggled and pointed to two-tone, “This is Wooyoung.”

“Hiya, Wooyoung.” I said with a confident smile, enjoying the way he still had a slightly confused look on his face.

“And this,” Annabelle nodded towards the man in red, “This is Jongho. Both him and Wooyoung go to Orholt, too.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Jongho. I’m y/n.”

“Very nice to meet you.” The man smiled before he sent me a wink.

I had never been a particularly shy person, but as he did so my eyes darted down as I felt my face flush. I didn’t notice the gears turning in Annabelle’s head as she put the pieces together.

I placed the final items in the bag, raising my head as Annabelle addressed me, “You know I’m having a bonfire tomorrow night at my place and you should totally come!”

I stopped to think, first trying to remember if I worked the next day, then wondering if I was willing to go the bonfire when I realized I didn’t have to.

She sensed my hesitancy and her face fell, “Aw do you work tomorrow night? It’s a Saturday!”

“Oh no, I don’t. I...” I stopped to think for a minute. Although I likely didn’t know anyone else who would be there, I was familiar with Annabelle’s house, which brought me a bit of comfort, “Are all of you going?”

Annabelle gave a knowing smile, “Yes. All of us will be here.”

I nodded, accepting the credit card Jongho gave me, quickly after handing them the bags, and returning his card, “I’ll go.”

“Yay! We’ve gotta head out but I’ll send you the details. You’ve still got the same number, right?”

“Yeah I do.”

“Alrighty! I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

Annabelle left with a wave, her boyfriend on her arm and Wooyoung behind her. To my surprise, Jongho didn’t leave with them, the cocky look on his face all but telling me why he stayed.

I looked at him with wide eyes, playing innocent. “Can I help you?”

He placed an arm on the counter, his dark eyes seeming to put me under a spell. The confidence he was radiating was almost palpable and I felt myself being pulled to him. It was intimidating, to be honest.

“You’re really cute and I want your number.”

I let out a surprised laugh, “You really don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

“No, not really,” He propped his other arm on the counter, leaning towards me and raising an eyebrow, “So what do you say, doll?”

A smile crept on my face as I mirrored his actions and leaned towards him, “You gonna memorize my number? Or do you have a phone I can put my number into?”

Jongho’s smile got brighter as he reached to grab his phone, handing it to me. “You’re a firecracker, aren’t you?”

I shrugged, “I’d like to think so.”

When I handed his phone back, our fingers brushed and I could’ve sworn I felt sparks shoot through me at the simple interaction.

“Well I need to head out before the rest of them get too annoyed,” He nodded towards the exit where Annabelle, Minho, and Wooyoung left, “But it was enchanting to meet you, y/n.” He bowed, drawing a laugh from me.

“Ah yes. You as well, absolutely delightful.”

He gave me a smile, “I’ll text you later.”

"Sounds good. I’ll hold you to your word.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” And with that, he was out the door, leaving my heart a fluttering mess.

Me [8:37pm] So is there a dress code for tonight?

Annabelle [8:42pm] Nope! Wear whatever you’re comfortable with. I’m wearing this if it helps at all!

Annabelle [8:43pm] 1 Image Attached*

Me [8:45pm] So leather jackets and crop tops?

Annabelle [8:48pm] Haha sure! We can match!

Me [8:51pm] Lol bet. See you at eleven :)

Annabelle [8:51pm] See you then!

I started the process of slipping on a white cropped top followed by my light washed ripped jeans. I knew I was getting ready far earlier than I could have, but something about new events made me anxious and I had to make sure I looked nice. I giggled at the black leather jacket I was throwing over my shoulders, not having worn it since high school. In the middle of debating whether or not I should add another layer of mascara to my lashes, my phone dinged.

New Number [8:59pm] Y/n this better be you. This is Jongho and I’m texting you for a really important reason and I need you to reply quick

Me [9:00pm] Yeah it’s me. What’s going on are you okay??

New Number [9:02pm] I’m gonna go grab some food before I head to Anna’s. You wanna come with?

Me [9:02pm] Oh my god don’t do that to me, you buffoon. You scared me so bad rip

[New Number name changed to A Cute Buffoon]

Me [9:03pm] But sure I’m down lol. Here’s my address btw

Me [9:03pm] 1 Location Shared*

It occurred to me perhaps a bit too late that I was sharing my address with someone that I’d met only once and in a gas station.

I mean, he’s friends with Annabelle so he’s gotta be good right? God I hope so. I thought to myself.

A Cute Buffoon [9:04] Then it’s a date :) I live pretty close so I’ll be over in 10. That work for you?

Me [9:06pm] Fine with me!

A Cute Buffoon [9:06pm] Sounds good. I’ll see you soon ;)

I set down my phone and thanked myself for already doing my makeup. I checked myself out in the mirror, satisfied with my appearance and proud of how well my makeup turned out. I grabbed my bottle of perfume and spritzed the liquid in the air, letting it gradually fall on me so it wouldn’t be too overpowering.

You look beautiful, babe.

The waiting game was harder than I thought, not knowing what to do except awkwardly sit around and play an assortment of phone games. When exactly ten minutes had passed I heard my doorbell ring and I lifted myself from my couch, grinning at his punctuality.

I opened the door to see Jongho holding a bouquet of flowers, a smug look on his face. “Lovely to meet you here, stranger.”

I wanted to make a joke back but I couldn’t seem to think of anything, too surprised by the flowers in his hands. It wasn’t anything extravagant, the small bouquet of violets, but I felt my heart swell.

It’s perfect. He’s perfect.

My voice was small when I spoke, “No one’s ever given me flowers before.”

His eyebrows furrowed as a confused look painted his face, “Really?”

I nodded, taking the flowers from his outreached hands and smelling their sweet fragrance, “They’re beautiful.”

My eyes flickered to his, the tender look on his face making me feel as if I was melting on the spot, “You’re beautiful.”

I squealed, my face undoubtedly turning pink while my mind short circuited. I’d never become so shy around someone before and the only thing I could think of to say in response was another ‘thank you’ followed by ‘I’ll go get a vase for these.’

I opened my door further, rummaging through my cabinets for a vase when I noticed Jongho was still standing by the door, “You can come in, you know? That’s why I opened the door.”

He laughed nervously, “Sorry about that. Force of habit, I guess.”

I raised my eyebrows in a teasing manner, “What? Are you a vampire? Can you only come in if someone invites you?”

I thought I saw a flicker of shock on his face for a moment, but it was gone before I could register it and I shrugged it off, my eyes finding the perfect vase for the flowers.

“It’s just how I was raised.”

“I get that.” I placed the flowers in the vase, giving them a bit of water before walking up to Jongho and gently patting his cheek, “Your good manners are appreciated.”

He laughed in surprise, full gummy smile on display as he playfully swatted my hand away from his face, “Alright, alright. Let’s head out already.”

I made a sound of agreement before noticing a slight pink on his ears. I was temped to tease him, but ultimately decided to save it for later. If I could fluster him once I knew I could do it again.

The diner we went to was one I’d never heard of before, let alone been to, and I was beyond frustrated that I didn’t even know about it’s existence. It was an adorable fifties style diner and even the attire the waiters were wearing fit the theme.

“This is the cutest place to ever exist, I’m convinced.” I said as we sat down on the same side of a bright red booth.

“I really hoped you would like it. This is my favorite restaurant ever and they have fantastic milkshakes. If you’d like to share one for desert, I’m all for it.” A wink.

I bit my lip and hid my face in the menu that was placed in front of us, thankful for any method of escape.

“You’re so cute.”

“Ahh no don’t say things like that.” I giggled from behind the menu.

His hand grabbed the top of the menu, pulling it down so he could see me, “Why’s that?”

“Because you make me nervous. Like a good nervous!” I tried to explain, which only resulted in becoming even more embarrassed, “I-I mean I’m excited to be around you but I’m also nervous. I hope that doesn’t sound weird.” I cringed at myself. Never in my life did I think I’d be blushing and stuttering over some man, but my god did he prove me wrong.

“Not at all,” he reached over to take my hand in his, “because I feel it, too.”

Before I could properly react our waitress came over, taking our order and effectively saving me from becoming a human tomato.

We handed our menus back to her after ordering and she looked at us with a soft smile, “You two make a cute couple.”

While I was a bit too stunned to say anything, Jongho didn’t seem to have the same problem and went along with it, “Thank you, ma’am. That’s kind of you to say.”

When she left, Jongho leaned closer to me, “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable by saying that we we’re a couple. I thought that-”

“No, I didn’t mind it!” I bit my tongue after likely saying that way too fast with far too much enthusiasm, but I meant it, “I didn’t mind it,” I said again, softer this time.

The tips of his ears once again turned a faint shade of pink, “Good to know.”

The food was as wonderful as it possibly could’ve been, their fries alone being one of the best things I’d ever consumed. Just as Jongho suggested, we shared a milkshake, which led to shy eye contact and laughter and my crush becoming stronger by the minute.

Just as Jongho paid and we were about to leave, a certain song began to play and he looked at me with an air of mischief, holding out his hand to me, “Dance with me.”

I took his hand, trying to hide my smile but failing. He led me away from the table and next to the jukebox. The area surrounding it was more open, probably with the intention for people to dance near it. He grabbed my waist, holding the hand of mine that wasn’t placed on his chest and looking at me in a way that could make any woman fall in love on the spot. We swayed to the music and I couldn’t help but feel full. Like I’d found all that I’d ever need.

Put your head on my shoulder~

“Do you know this song?” He asked with a smile.

I scoffed, “Of course I do! It’s one of my favorites.”

“It’s one of mine, too.”

Hold me in your arms, baby~

I mouthed along to the words as I felt the need to prove it to him. As if to one up me, Jongho began to sing along, his gorgeous voice amazing me.

Squeeze me oh so tight, show me~

That you love me, too~

I blushed as he looked at me while singing along, becoming a bit flustered himself when the lyrics clicked with him.

Put your lips next to mine dear~

Won’t you kiss me once, baby~

As if we were in sync our eyes darted to the other’s lips at the same time. I could feel Jongho’s breathing becoming heavier before he said in a hushed tone, “Can I kiss you?”

“Please.” Was all I could respond before I pressed my lips to his, fireworks igniting inside me when he kissed me back. His lips were so soft and warm and as crazy as it sounded, he felt like home. I felt him smile against my lips as the music continued to play.

Maybe you and I will fall in love~

The fire was loud, crackling and lighting up the faces of all those crowded those around it. It was essentially the only source of light in the dark of the night, except for the distant lights still on in Annabelle’s house. My hands were interlocked with Jongho’s as we sat around it’s warmth, both of us finding it hard to separate from one another.

Conversation was flowing all around us, and I was relieved to find that everyone I had talked to was kind and welcoming. I was more nervous than I realized, but having Jongho next to my side alone calmed me. Someone around the fire mentioned an old story involving Annabelle and I began to wonder where she was, having not seen her since Jongho and I first arrived. I mentioned I was going to look for her and he nodded, at first wanting to join me but then getting pulled into conversation with one of his former classmates. I told him I’d head off on my own and he nodded again.

I looked around what seemed to be the entire property and still there was no sight of her. At that moment I heard yelling coming from her house, startling me. I felt my blood run cold when I recognized one of the voices as Annabelle’s. The yelling didn’t sound like it was out of fear, but instead more aggressive, out of pure anger. Without thinking I ran inside, hoping to calm the situation but instead found what seemed to be out of a work of fiction.

An unfamiliar man was on the ground, obviously trying to get away from a hidden figure before him that seemed to be cloaked in darkness. He let out a sound that I’d never heard a human make, one that I couldn’t even compare to something I’d heard before, and a shiver ran down my back. As the figure took a step forward I recognized it as Annabelle, or what seemed to be some version of her. Her normally grey eyes were now bright red, sharp fangs on display as she snarled at the man. A group of people were surrounding them, alarmed looks on their faces but hardly trying to intervene.

“What the hell?” I whispered, my eyes wide as I tried to back away without anyone noticing. But of course, I just had to step on an empty soda can, all eyes pointing my way. As I looked at the people around me, their expressions seemed to mirror mine and I swallowed, suddenly feeling immensely claustrophobic.

I met eyes with Annabelle and she seemed to change in a flash, her eyes returning to their former color and fangs disappearing. She looked more panicked than I had ever seen her which only scared me more. She was always able to keep her stressors under control, but as she stared back at me, I saw a version of her I never had before.

I was barely able to form a sentence, adrenaline coursing through me at a rampant rate, “Um...”

Annabelle slowly walked towards me, “Oh—hey! Sorry I disappeared for a while but how’s the party going? Are you having fun?” Panic was still evident in her voice but I knew she was trying to keep a hold of the situation.

“I...I don’t-”

A stern voice came from left, and I nervously turned to meet Jongho, an unreadable expression crossing his face, “Y/n.”

“Yeah?” My voice squeaked as I began to regret agreeing to come along in the first place, still hyper aware of all the eyes on me.

“Come with me.”

His eyes softened at my panicked state and he held out a hand, “Please?”

I was hesitant, but being anywhere away from the crowd and whatever Annabelle turned into seemed to be a good idea. I took his hand and watched as he exchanged a look with Annabelle that seemed to calm her. Turning on his heels he led me back to the bonfire, sitting in a chair and motioning for me to do the same. Seeing no one around us gave me a feeling of both anxiety and comfort, and I wasn’t quite sure which feeling was winning at the moment.

“Well I��m sure you have plenty of questions.” He started, “I won’t lie to you and try to convince you what you saw wasn’t real, because it was, but I need you to know that no one is going to harm you. That guy is Anna’s roommate and they get into an argument at least once a week. Sometimes it can be nasty, but they never get physical and neither would ever hurt anyone unprovoked. No one here would.”

I was silent for a few minutes, trying to process what I saw on top of the time bomb of information he dropped on me. “Is she...is everyone....are you a vampire?” I whispered the last words, almost too stunned and afraid to say out loud.

He smiled slightly, his kind eyes making me feel safe. “Yes. We’re what you’d call vampires.”

I took a breath, almost afraid to hear the answer to my question, “Am I in any danger by being here?”

“No, everyone here is good. They don’t pose any threat. There are plenty of dangerous vampires but we stay away from them. Besides,” He placed an arm around my waist, playfulness in his eyes, “If there were, I’d protect you from them.”

“Oh? And how don’t I know you’re not dangerous?”

He leaned closer to me, clearly enjoying this, “You don’t, I suppose. Doesn’t that make it fun?”

“That’s very much debatable,” I smiled for a moment before a frown took over, “Everyone just seemed really...I don’t know, startled I guess?”

Jongho let out a loud sigh, looking down at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up at me, “Humans aren’t normally invited to these parties. It’s assumed that everyone here is a vampire. The perfume that you’re wearing, whatever the hell it is, is masking your scent. If I didn’t meet you before today I wouldn’t have known you were human. I guess Anna didn’t tell everyone, either.” He placed a hand on my knee and looked at me with kind eyes, “How are you feeling?”

“Surprisingly calm considering that I just learned vampires exist.”

Jongho laughed, “Yeah I’d say you’re taking it pretty well. Like I said earlier though, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of questions, so fire away.”

“Yeah I have a few.” I hesitated, hoping he wouldn’t be offended by my question, “Exactly how old are you?”

“Oh are you gonna age shame me?”

“No but it’s probably an important thing to know...since we kissed and all.”

He laughed again and leaned back in his chair, placing his arms behind his head, “How old do you think I am?”

I used his question as an excuse for my eyes to wander over his body. He was beyond attractive, very clearly fit and he knew it, which equal parts pissed me off and turned me on. As hard as I tried, I kept finding myself being pulled to his thighs. Even through his jeans I could tell he had strong thighs and I had to press my fingernails into my palm to keep from drooling. “From your appearance? Early twenties. From what age fiction usually tells us vampires are? I’d guess you’re a hundred and three.”

Jongho nodded with a smile, “I’m not quite that old but that’s a fair guess. You had it right the first time. I’m a pure born and we actually age, but we don’t age as quickly as humans. I’m twenty.”

“Pure born?”

“It means both of my parents are vampires.”

I nodded as another question came to mind, a smile on my lips. “Do you sparkle in the daylight?”

“Oh my god,” He covered his face with his hands, a mixture of a groan and a laugh escaping his mouth, “No, we do not sparkle in daylight, “His hands came to rest on his knees, “But it sucks that we really shouldn’t be in direct sunlight for over two hours a day. That’s normally the rule to go by. It’ll burn us if we’re in it for much longer than that.”

“So do werewolves and witches and everything like that exist, too?”

“Yeah pretty much. We don’t all get along, but we have to coexist. It’s something we’ve struggled with for a while, unfortunately. Basically everything you’d believe to be supernatural exists.”

I was silent for a while, not really knowing what else to say.

“Y/n? Are you doing okay? If you’re not comfortable being here I can drive you home right now or if you’d rather be alone I can call an Uber or—”

My heart skipped a beat at his kindness. “No, I’m okay. I guess I’m just surprised I’m learning about this just now.”

“We do a good job of hiding it. Also it was probably a given, but keep this as a secret if you can. Having a lot of people know about our existence can be risky.”

I gave him a silent nod, unintentionally leaning closer to him. The sound of approaching footsteps made me jump into Jongho’s arms. I didn’t know why I found comfort in him, knowing that he could be dangerous as well, but he’d been nothing but sweet to me. I had no reason to fear him.

Annabelle approached us but stopped, taking a few steps back when she saw how I was buried in Jongho’s arms.

“Hey y/n.” She rubbed her arm, looking down as if she’d done something wrong.

“I guess Jongho probably told you everything at this point. I’m really sorry if I scared you and I understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore.” Even in the dark I could see tears beginning to stream down her cheeks and I felt a pain in my chest.

I got up from Jongho’s hold and wrapped my arms around her, feeling her stiffen, “I trust you, Annabelle.”

Those four words seemed to relax her and she returned my hug, still sniffling, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. We aren’t supposed to tell anyone and I thought you might hate me—”

I pulled back, “Why the hell would I hate you? You’re still you.”

She laughed through tears, gripping me tighter, thanking me over and over for not pushing her away.

We’re gonna be okay. It’s all gonna be okay.

Not too long after, Jongho drove me home. The ride was more silent than when we were headed to Annabelle’s house, but the air wasn’t heavy or uncomfortable. Feeling tired, I laid my head on Jongho’s shoulder, faintly hearing ‘sleep well, baby’ before drifting asleep.

When I woke, I was in my bed. I reached for my phone on the bedside table and found a little note placed next to it that read:

I hope you don’t mind that I carried you inside. I tried to wake you for like five minutes but you were out cold. Anyways, I had a really good time with you yesterday and I hope you had fun too :) Text me when you wake so I know you’re okay. -J

I looked at my clock and saw that it was still early, but I texted Jongho anyway.

Me [3:00am] Not sure if you’re still up, but I really enjoyed yesterday, too. I’m exhausted so I’m gonna go back to sleep but I just wanted to say I’m okay and everything is good :))

A Cute Buffoon [3:00am] Sleep well, darling. We can talk in the morning

It had been roughly a month since Jongho and I started dating, and while I felt like I knew him pretty well, we had only known each other a little over a month, on top of the fact that he was a vampire which was essentially an entire separate culture. I’d asked him most questions I had early throughout our relationship, but one in particular kept replaying in my mind.

We were currently sitting on the couch in my apartment, cuddling each other. The TV was on but neither of us were really watching it. I was far more interested in the warm body in front of me, and based off of how Jongho was looking at me, the feeling was mutual.

I bit my lip, anxiously mulling over the question I’d wanted to ask him for weeks. I didn’t know how he would take it, let alone how I would bring it up, but I needed to ask at some point. Knowing he could probably sense my nerves, I gave in. “Jongho, can a human turn into a vampire?”

He hummed, turning to face me. “Why do you ask?”

“I just...I didn’t know if it could happen or not.”

Jongho chuckled, “Yeah it’s possible. It’s a long ass process to go through though, and there’s a lot that can go wrong, so it rarely happens.”

I shifted in my seat, trying not to appear overly interested. “Why is that? What can go wrong?

He smiled and raised a brow, his cocky persona resurfacing, “You sound so eager to know, dear. Do you want to become a vampire?” His eyes briefly flickered towards my lips before he tilted his head, dragging his soft lips across my neck. I let out a gasp when I felt the tips of his teeth lightly scraping the skin, “Or maybe you’re just looking for an excuse for me to put my mouth on you?”

Like with anything that exuded him, I felt myself becoming quickly overwhelmed, my mind now hazy and distant. I shut my eyes in an attempt to gain some semblance of control over myself.

“Your thoughts are swirling, doll.” Jongho began leaving gentle kisses along the side of my jaw, “Don’t think too much. Just let me take care of you. Okay?”

“Okay.” I said through a short breath, knowing we’d just have to have the conversation another time.

We’d had sex before, so it wasn’t like this was new territory for us, but every time felt like the first, leaving me just as out of breath each time.

He lifted me and placed me on his thigh, dragging me across his flexed muscles. I felt my eyes roll back at the simple motion, my need growing at an embarrassing rate. I grabbed his shoulders as I began to drag myself against him, whines and whimpers spilling from my lips.

“God you’re hot,” Jongho said through hot breaths, beginning to kiss my neck, no doubt leaving marks.

“Thanks I try.” I managed to say, pleased when Jongho laughed.

“You don’t even have to, and it’s completely unfair.” His hands moved under my shirt and danced along my skin, “It’s like you’re an angel come to life.”

I let out a loud moan, feeling tears well in my eyes from his praise, “You always make me feel so beautiful when I’m with you.”

Jongho responded with a smile, carrying me to my bedroom and laying me down on the bed while hurriedly discarding both of our clothes.

“You’re always so eager, babe.”

He nuzzled my neck as he climbed on top of me, his hands finding my own and holding them, “As if you’re not.”

“I never said I wasn’t.”

He then moved in between my thighs, teasing me with his fingers as he ran them along my wet slit, occasionally rubbing my clit, drawing small whines from me.

“Jongho please just fuck me already.”

“Sweetheart, do you even think you’re wet enough for me?” He cooed.

Feeling frustrated, I pushed my fingers inside myself with ease, pulling them out and spreading them so he could see my essence dripping down my fingers, “I don’t know you tell me.” I said with far more sass than I intended.

Jongho’s eyes widened at the sight and wasted no time positioning his cock at my entrance, pushing in and letting out the most beautiful groans.

Neither of us ever bothered to use protection because, to put it simply, vampires couldn’t get humans pregnant. It was only possible when both partners were vampires, and we took full advantage of that.

“Fuck—baby you feel amazing. You’re so warm and tight ohmygod.” Jongho moaned as he began to move, thrusting in and out of me at a steady pace.

I clenched around him, loving when he was vocal. His sounds helped get me off just as much as his actions, at times it seemed.

“You feel...really good...too.” I said through heavy breaths. And as much as I wanted to last longer in bed, with Jongho, I never could.

“I don’t know if it’s because you’re a vampire and you’ve got like magic powers or something or maybe you’re just a sex god—but holy shit...I’m close.”

He threw back his head and had the audacity to laugh, something I really couldn’t stay mad at with how good he was making me feel. “Babe it’s been like six minutes.”

“Don’t be an asshole.” I joked, my laugh turning into a moan. It only spurred Jongho on, making him angle one of my legs up higher, hitting deeper inside of me.

“I know you’re close, baby. I can feel it. Cum for me, baby girl. Let go for me.”

He reached down to tease my sensitive nub, drawing quick circles until I was seeing stars, chanting his name like a prayer.

After Jongho came down from his high, he disappeared into the bathroom as he always did, coming back with a warm towel. As he pressed the towel to my thighs I tried to ask again.

“So...about the human to vampire thing?”

“Well,” Jongho sighed, “I didn’t think I’d be able to distract you forever.” He smiled, “It’s mostly done because couples want to stay together. The thing is though, the vampire obviously gets a taste of the human’s blood and it can be hard to stop once you’ve marked them, especially since smell is such a big allure for us.”

He took a long breath, “Then the human will almost always pass out, and needs to be taken care of for the next couple days because they’ll be so weak. Another problem is that the scent of their blood will be amplified during those days and it’ll be harder for the vampire to not, you know...” He looked away, not able to say the words. I knew what he meant, we both did. In some cases, vampires would kill their human partners for of their blood. Sometimes it was beyond their control. Just a primal need that would betray them. “Then their scent is more easily detected by other vampires and the whole thing is just kinda a mess. I think I’ve only heard of five attempts and only one of them was successful.”

I nodded, not really knowing what to say.

“And then on top of it all, it can be harder for the human to adjust and it can put a lot of pressure on the relationship. Human and vampire relationships are dangerous.”

His face was serious as he ran a hand through my hair. I looked up at him and leaned into his touch.

He cleared his throat and averted his eyes, a shy behavior I hadn’t seen from him before, “I guess it’s important for you to decide then.” His eyes met mine again, “Is this still something you want to continue?”

“Our relationship?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course, are you crazy? You mean the world to me.” I swallowed, realizing he hadn’t voiced his own thoughts, “What about you? Do you want this?”

“I think you have a pretty good idea of what I want.” He smiled and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead, his eyes sparkling.

“Hey Jongho?”

He hummed, looking at me.

“I want to spend forever with you.”

#ateez #kpop #imagines #ateez au #ateez fluff #ateez imagines #ateez smut #atzinc #ateez vampire au #vampire au #jongho smut #jongho imagines

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imagining-in-the-margins · 4 years

Text

Petty Pair (Raymond/F!Reader)

Summary: Reader wants to fuck Raymond to spite his father. Raymond thinks that’s really hot, actually.

A/N: This idea came into my head and literally never left. It lives rent free in my head, and I hope you feel it now, too. Couple: Raymond/Fem!Reader Category: Smut (NSFW) Content Warning: Fingering, penetrative sex, protected sex, mild exhibitionism, getting caught Word Count: 5k

MASTERLIST

——————

There was a grand total of one functioning bar in this town at this hour of night. This drastic and unforgivable shortage of places for me to buy alcohol was also the only reason I found myself frequenting said bar.

After about an hour of swatting off a group of men that were objectively disgusting, I resigned myself to fate and the realization that the night would turn out no better than it would have if I hadn’t tried to get drunk on cheap liquor. I was ready to pack up, close out, and fuck off back home when it happened.

A familiar face walked through the door. Familiar, I suppose, was a stretch. I’d only seen his face in one picture – a picture I’m pretty sure was meant to be thrown away. It stuck out to me because it was the first indication that I got that Donald Wadsworth had a son. And a cute son, much less.

My brain scanned through buried memories to try and find the one where his recently divorced mother had told me his name. I knew the memory existed somewhere, surrounded under a mountain of bullshit, but it was so hard to focus when I was watching the poor kid shuffle over to the bar and plop himself down against the counter.

It had taken me that long to realize that he was wearing pajamas. Cute.

His fashion choices and bedhead paired nicely with the pout he wore when he shyly scanned the room. Altogether, everything about him assured me that he literally couldn’t have been less intimidating if he tried. That theory was further solidified by the way he shrunk against the counter when he saw me approach. By the time I sat down next to him, he’d all but disappeared under his jacket.

“Hey, you’re... Raymond, right?” The name came to me at the same time his eyes locked with mine. The dark hazel color shone almost gold in the orange hue of the bar.

“You’re Donald’s son?” I asked as warmly as possible while using his father’s name. Which is to say, not warm at all.

“Unfortunately,” Raymond droned with a similar disdain.

“I’ll say,” I chuckled as I leaned forward to match his slouch over the bar. “I work with your dad.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.”

That alone seemed to cause a shift in his entire demeanor. It didn’t surprise me. Most of the women in this town were brainwashed into thinking that if a guy didn’t outright assault you at first glance, he was probably a solid dude.

And Donald Wadsworth was not a solid dude.

“He’s like, a giant fucking asshole,” I said.

Raymond’s eyes lit up.

“Right?!” he shouted back, practically falling from his seat in his enthusiasm as he continued to yell, “I know!”

There was no keeping it together with this caricature of a man, but I didn’t really want to, either. In the few seconds I’d interacted with him, everything about him changed from defensive to relaxed. Like all he needed was someone to tell him that it wasn’t all in his head.

Unfortunately, I was going to need to ask something of him. But I figured he wouldn’t mind what I was going to request.

“But hey, that’s actually why I wanted to talk to you. I have a favor to ask you.” I kept my tone even and nonchalant, trying to avoid coming off as parental.

He eyed me as warily as I expected, tugging his drink a little bit closer as he started to shrink in on himself again.

“I’m gonna be honest,” he mumbled, “there’s not really anything I can do to hurt him that I haven’t already tried.”

There was no need for self-degradation. Raymond might have thought he tried everything, but from his body language around a woman, it was safe to assume he’d never tried my plan.

“Wanna bet?”

Raymond sighed in surrender before he shrugged, “Sure. What’s the favor?”

“I want you to fuck me.”

It wasn’t my intention to wait until the drink was in his mouth before I spoke, but it was how it ended up happening. And almost instantaneously, he spat the drink out over the bar before calmly squeaking, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I want to have sex with you,” I repeated like it was the most normal thing in the world. Then I sought confirmation that was only a little important in the grand scheme of things. “You’re staying at his place, right?”

“Just for tonight, yeah—" he started, but all I heard was the ding of a checkmark on my mental list that meant we were cleared for the next step.

“Great. We should do it there, then. Tonight.”

Raymond’s tongue stuck out from between his teeth, the visual of restraint matching his narrowed, shifty eyes and fidgety legs.

“I feel like I’m missing something...” he muttered.

I heard him, but I didn’t really care. The clock was running, and I was ready to get something good out of this night. Possibly even two good things, if he ended up being as helpful as his cute, submissive demeanor implied.

“I’ll drive. You want to go now?”

“I— I mean, sure, yeah,” he stumbled over the words and his own feet as he left the bar. “We can… go have sex.”

I laughed at how cool he tried to sound because he definitely failed. I reached past him to drop cash on the bar and grabbed his hand on the way back. The amount of warmth stormed it in was shocking, considering all the blood seemed to be in his face, ears, and the tent in his pants. But the comfort of his fingers interlocking with mine on instinct did more for me than he knew.

“Great. Let’s go.”

Raymond was silent on the way out and into the car, which was about what I expected from him. Every glance his way would show the gears slowly turning in his head, like he was still trying to grasp whether my proposition was serious. Like I was trying to murder him or something.

When the car started, so did some sliver of confidence in him, although he still cleared his throat before he asked, “Do you need directions, or…?”

“No, I’ve been to his place before.”

That caution and suspicion returned and multiplied, and before I even pulled out of the parking lot he had shrugged down in the seat and buried his face in his hands.

“Please tell me you didn’t fuck my dad,” he whined in the most dramatic manner possible.

I couldn’t blame him for the theatrics, although the implication was not at all appreciated.

“Absolutely the fuck not,” I spat, my face curling into a pure expression of disgust. At least we both felt similarly on that note.

“Thank god.” The relief flowed through him, allowing him to sit back up to his previously half-straight position. I decided that it was probably best to cut him some slack for assuming I would ever fuck that devil of a man, because I got the sinking suspicion that he might have known a couple girls his age that had done exactly that.

That thought led me back to the very reason I was there at all, and a chill ran down my spine as I muttered without thinking, “Wasn’t for a lack of his trying, though.”

The whole tone in the car shifted in seconds. One glance over at Raymond confirmed the repressed rage and sadness rolling off of him in waves that were more accurately described as a tsunami.

It was just unsettling enough that I snapped my eyes back to the road, giving a nervous chuckle to tell him that it wasn’t that serious. I didn’t need him to defend my honor, or anything. It did enough to quell most of the rage, but that self-pitying sadness was still there when he let out a shy, quiet plea.

“I don’t want to pry but… Will you tell me what this is about?”

“You really want to know?”

It was one thing to know the vague generalities of how much his father sucked, but another thing entirely to paint him a vivid depiction of what he was willing to do.

“Yeah,” he said with fiddling hands, “I think.”

I think he was trying to do me a favor. I think listening to my story was meant to be a sign to me that there were people who would care — people who would believe me. He clearly didn’t actually want to hear the story, but I appreciated his willingness to experience some discomfort to make up just a small part of his father’s misdeeds.

“So, I’m new at the school, right? It’s awkward. It’s a small town and everyone knows everyone,” I started, trying to look over at Raymond whenever I could to show him that I was doing alright. The poor thing looked like he needed the reassurance more than I did.

“Your dad very quickly tried to take me under his wing, despite my very obvious discomfort.”

“Sounds like him,” he interrupted with a pissed-off murmur.

“Yeah. I just kind of accepted his help because I was too scared to say no, but then one day he…” My voice trailed off, the words getting clogged in my throat and muddled on my tongue. It wasn’t that bad of a story; it should have been easier to explain. But something about Raymond being there, him listening to me so intently and with such a strong desire to make it better, that made it hard to speak. Eventually, I managed to start again. “He cornered me in the damn teacher’s lounge and—“

“Please don’t give me a reason to kill him. I’ve been toeing that line my whole life, and I will definitely do it.”

That time when Raymond cut me off, it was very clear to me that he was not kidding. He enunciated the words so clearly, venom dripping from his tongue and his chest heaving with a determination coming through clear, despite his best efforts to hide it.

He was a sweet kid.

“He didn’t try to touch me or anything. It wasn’t like that,” I said with an awkward smile, reaching over to pat his thigh. The action alone seemed to calm him, almost like a dog that was being told to stand down.

He was a really cute kid.

But I had to finish this stupid story. I had to give him all the information so that he would know exactly why I’d invited myself into his bed. Sex is sort of a big deal, you know? I mean, not always, but the other party in spite sex should probably know who exactly the target is.

“He just made it very clear that he felt I owed him something, and I kindly told him to fuck off,” I concluded just as we pulled up the dirt drive. The bumps in the road seemed to shake some other memories in Raymond, and he just shook his head to rid himself of those, along with the story he’d just heard.

He looked over at me with a new understanding and something else.

“So that’s what this is about?”

“Yep,” I said with a pop of my lips to match the sound of my car door opening. He clambered out of the car much less gracefully, which was funny considering he’d had significantly less to drink.

But I figured I would have the decency not to laugh, instead just joining him on the passenger side of the car to finish our conversation before we went inside. I wanted to give him the chance to change his mind. I wouldn’t have blamed him. Although I was the one who would have to deal with the brunt of the downfall, Donald wasn’t my family. Like, I wouldn’t be at his holiday dinners. Then again, I’m not sure Raymond would be, either.

When I looked up from the thought, Raymond was staring at me. It wasn’t like before, though. There was nothing suspicious or any sign of concern in his eyes. No, they were filled with a very different feeling.

“You want to fuck me just to spite my dad?” he asked with a deadly seriousness.

I thought about it for exactly one second before I shrugged at the extremely accurate summary.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“God,” Raymond practically groaned, throwing himself on me and pinning me against the car with his hips before he growled, “that’s so fucking hot.”

Those same lips that produced the words quickly covered mine with the same force he’d used to pin me against the metal. I didn’t fight him at first because, well, I didn’t want to. It was the first clear sign he’d given that he really wanted to do this, and who was I to argue with how he expressed his consent?

Also, he was like, a really, really good kisser. The desperation he felt came through in his tongue as it tangled with mine, drawing a quiet, muffled moan from me that alerted me to how quickly this would escalate if I didn’t shove the boy off me.

Which, I did.

“Raymond— inside,” I ordered with the little breath I had left.

He was confused for a second, almost like he’d blacked out in the meantime. But then his tongue swept over his lips, his hands digging through his pockets for his keys before he hastily answered, “Right. Let’s go.”

It made sense to be quiet then, as the two of us tip-toed through the much too large house. Our occasional giggles were louder than our feet, and the whole experience was seriously reminiscent of sneaking into your boyfriend’s house as a teenager. And when we walked through his bedroom door, the sight stirred up even older memories. From the UFO poster and alien sheets to the boxes filled with dinosaur toys and action figures, I felt like I’d walked straight through a time machine into Raymond’s childhood.

“Sorry about… all of this,” he said with an overly apologetic tone, like this scene didn’t perfectly suit what I was planning. Like it wouldn’t be salt in the wound for Donald to see me fucking his son in the most juvenile room I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Ugh, it’s perfect. You are literally a man-child.”

I didn’t mean it as an insult, but his nervous shifting told me he took it that way. But when I kicked off my shoes and started to disrobe my outer layers, it was becoming obvious to him again just how serious I was about this whole thing.

“Sorry, but—“

“Stop saying sorry, Raymond.”

“Sorry,” he squeaked back, doing the exact thing I’d just told him not to do. I shot him a warning glance and watched the way his Adam’s apple bobbed in return. Then, still worrying the hem of his pajama shirt between his fingers, he looked away as he asked, “Are you sure you actually want to have sex with me?”

I was a little too busy at first to answer him. I was already rustling through the bedside table to find a condom that I was absolutely positive would be there. When I finally found it, I turned my attention back to the blushing boy.

“Why are you asking? Do you want to have sex with me?”

“Yes!” he answered with a clear excitement, only to lose it immediately. “But I would have wanted to have sex with you even if my dad wasn’t a pervert.”

“Awww, thanks,” I cooed with feigned sincerity. Raymond was still just pouting, though. I was learning more each second just how starved of affirmation this boy had been. But it wasn’t like I could just start praising him; the poor thing would have whiplash if I wasn’t careful. There was no worse mood-killer than crying, either, so I settled for a joke.

“I’d probably have sex with you, too.”

“Probably?” he responded with a smile and a seat next to me.

“It’s pretty likely, depending on how much we talked first,” I explained as I helped him out of his coat. I even managed to start undoing his pajama top buttons before he realized it was happening.

He didn’t stop me when he did.

“I don’t know if that’s an insult or not,” he said, instead.

With a coquettish grin, I leaned in to whisper against his lips, “And you never will.”

There was absolutely no resistance from Raymond when I grabbed hold of his collar, tugging him on top of me as I laid down on the tiny twin bed. Despite all of his insecurity, he didn’t hesitate to kiss me again, either. This time it was somehow even more heated, like he was trying to pour all of his heart into it.

I almost warned him that he had better cool it if he didn’t want to risk getting me hooked, but I was too late. He was already busy undoing the buttons on my own top and gently kneading my chest through the fabric of my bra, and I was quickly losing track of which of us was more into what was happening.

It didn’t really matter, but just in case he was still worried that I might not want to be there, I snuck my hand down and under the waistband of his pajamas.

“Fuck!” he cursed in a hushed whisper, his body buckling forward far enough that he almost dropped all his weight on me. It was so damn cute that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Don’t be too loud or we’ll never get to the fun part,” I warned, my voice barely a whisper in his ear.

His very eloquent response was a breathless, “Shit.” I couldn’t blame him, though. It was honestly more than I expected him to be able to enunciate when I grabbed hold of his dick and began making soft strokes.

It was obvious that he was trying very hard to stay quiet, but the whimpers and whines were falling from his mouth so quickly that I was forced to kiss him just to muffle the noise. Thankfully, Raymond took the hint that he needed to be quiet and decided to redirect the attention from himself back to me. He accomplished that task by pulling away from me just far enough that he could grab hold of my pants and underwear and roughly pull them down my thighs. The speed and force lit a fire deep in my gut, my whole body breaking out in goosebumps as I allowed myself to enjoy just how badly he wanted me. I’m sure the spite thing had a lot to do with it, too, but it had been a long time since a man was so clearly into me. It was an unavoidable conclusion in every touch from him.

A much-too-loud moan caught in my throat when he returned, slipping his fingers into my heat as he laid another feverish kiss against my lips. But it broke almost immediately with his own choked moan, followed by a low, breathy observation.

“You weren’t kidding about wanting this.”

“Nope,” I replied quickly, trying to control the noises coming out of my mouth by replacing them with words. It only sort of worked when I keened, “Fuck, you’re better at this than I thought.”

Raymond didn’t even stop, continuing to curl his fingers inside of me with each thrust. He did smile, though. A cheeky, borderline annoying smile that told me he knew what a bastard he was being.

“Again, I can’t tell if that is a compliment,” he said with an overwhelming amount of sarcasm as he watched me squirm under him.

I chose to ignore the taunt, opting to grab the condom from the bedside table and throw it directly at his face instead. “Put the fucking condom on, Raymond.”

There was less commentary from the peanut gallery from that point on. I did enjoy the show, though. As I removed my bra, I watched with rapt fascination as he stripped himself of his clothes. My desire grew at an exponential rate at the sight of him slipping the condom on. I’d gotten some idea of the size of him with my hand, but to see something so lewd in such an innocent room and on his shy little figure was something else.

Raymond shrunk a little under my gaze, only regaining his confidence when he saw the way my teeth dragged over my bottom lip. I ran my hands over my body that was still on display for him, thoroughly enjoying the way I could make his eyes go wherever I wanted with such a simple motion.

“Fuck me, Raymond.”

I heard his breath catch and watched the shiver flow through him at the order. Sure enough, he started to follow my instructions and lined himself up at my entrance with adorably shaky hands. But then, right before I got what I came for, he paused.

“Are you su—“

I was tired of waiting. Hooking my leg around his waist, I forced Raymond to thrust forward. My assistance didn’t take any of the pleasure out of it when he was finally, fully inside of me. I couldn’t stop the way my back arched, pressing my chest against his with a wanton cry.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he mumbled into my hair, burying his face in the crook of my neck as he adjusted to the new set of sensations.

I only gave him a few seconds to get used to it, fully ready to get the release that already felt so close.

“Fuck me,” I whined, already starting to roll my hips against the boy blubbering curses into my skin.

“O-Okay,” he muttered in the most adorable fashion.

That shyness was contrasted strongly by what followed. For all his whimpers and trembling, Raymond didn’t seem to mind the way the bed would creak under us. In fact, it seemed that he was playing his own game, trying to elicit as many noises from me as he could get from the bed.

On instinct, my hands rose to try to still the headboard. But to my surprise, they never made it. The man above me had grabbed hold of one wrist, pinning it against the pillow to stop me. That simple, thoughtful act was enough to almost send me over the edge right then, but I held on for what I knew would come.

My moans were another story. They seemed so inevitable, with Raymond slamming into me with a progressively rougher force until I rode that line between pain and pleasure. I could see it on his face, too, that we were barreling full speed to the inevitable.

So, it was as good a time as any for me to set the next step in motion. With full volume and a pitch nearly an octave higher than usual, I screamed, “Yes, Raymond!”

That cheeky little bastard laughed. That noise was such music to my ears, that I couldn’t just stop there.

“God, yes! Fuck me harder!” I cried dramatically while drawing out the words. In a way, I was over exaggerating for effect, but I was also actually having a great time. In fact, it was the best sex I’d had in a long time.

Raymond, catching on to the plan that I’d never explicitly explained, joined in with his own chant of my name, mixed with deep moans rumbling in his chest. I ran my nails down his back, seeking to elicit the higher pitched sounds I knew he was capable of when I realized just how much fun I was having with him.

It was also, of course, super fucking hot. But how often do you get to have this much fun with a random one night stand you found at the bar? Not often enough, I decided.

“Please, Raymond! Harder!” I begged, both in accordance with my previous moans and also because it was what I needed.

I couldn’t decide on a word to describe that wild look on his face, but Raymond had no problem following through with my request. Releasing my wrist, he sat up on his knees, grabbing hold of my hips and lifting them so that he could come down between them at a new angle.

That angle, it seemed, left him bottoming out inside of me with each brutal thrust. My legs were actually shaking around him, my back barely touching the bed as I threw my head back on that damn alien pillowcase.

The clacking of the headboard against the plaster shook the hung UFO picture, which ended up clattering behind it with about as much grace and subtlety as Raymond and I shared in that moment.

But that crashing also masked the sound of the door slamming open, just as I’d been waiting for. And for a long moment, neither of us even looked over to the light filtering in from the hallway. Instead, we locked eyes with each other as the two of us simultaneously reached our peak.

I was so, so glad that I didn’t look away. I kept my eyes firmly on Raymond as he threw his head back, forcing himself as deep in me as he could and holding me against him as I nursed him through his orgasm with my own. His mouth, though dropped open, was curved in a satisfied smile, one last moan tearing through the two of us before he promptly collapsed on top of me.

Then, it finally came. Donald’s voice bellowing, “What the fuck is going on in here?!”

—

As Raymond and I sat in my car that night, there was a much more relaxed atmosphere. Whether the catharsis was from the sex or the big fuck you to his father, the two of us were just basking in the afterglow of the overall experience.

Of course, he was also laughing at the fact I was currently wrapped up in his alien bedsheet.

“We could’ve gotten your clothes, you know.”

“There was no way in hell I was going to drop this sheet in front of that man,” I said through my laughter, my mind replaying the chaos of the last few minutes over again in my head.

“Probably a good call,” Raymond answered.

But then another thought occurred to me, which caused my face to contort into a disgusted grimace.

“You’d better go get my underwear and bra later, though. He cannot keep those.”

“Will do. Promise,” he said with a little nod that ended with him staring at me with an absolutely smitten look plastered on his face.

“You can keep them, though,” I offered, reaching over and pretending like I could actually fix the birds nest on his head.

“Thanks. I’m flattered,” he said while chasing after my hand that eventually settled on his cheek. His face was still flushed, his eyes still only half opened as he nearly fell asleep against my palm. I wondered if it was from the orgasm, or if it was just the first time in a while he’d felt safe enough to do it. He must’ve seen the worry in my eyes, because he interrupted the thought with another question.

“Did you accomplish your goal?”

I thought about it for a second, dragging my fingers down his face before I pulled back with a sigh. “I feel satisfied,” I decided. “What about you?”

Raymond also took the chance to think about it before he nodded with more enthusiasm than before.

“I feel pretty good,” he said proudly.

“That’s all? Just pretty good?” I replied with an annoyed click of my tongue. I mean, I was wrapped in his bedsheets after just helping him achieve one of the most satisfying catharses of his life, and all he had to say was ‘pretty good?’

But then I saw it, that little sparkle in his eyes that showed me he just wanted to rile me up before he gave his real answer.

“It was fucking glorious.”

It wasn’t even the words that filled my heart with pride, but the way his whole expression softened as he said it. He obviously meant it with every fiber of his being, and I couldn’t help but fall in love a little bit at the sight.

“Sorry I got you kicked out,” I said to distract myself from that dangerous line of thought.

“Not the first time. Hopefully the last,” he nonchalantly shrugged as I turned the key in the ignition. We hadn’t actually planned on what to do from this point, but I certainly had some ideas.

“You can stay at my place,” I slurred through my exhaustion, “I have a guest bedroom if you feel weird staying in mine.”

But Raymond didn’t answer. He just laughed, shaking his head and rubbing a heavy hand over his tired eyes.

“What?” I asked, a little worried I’d made a mistake.

“Nothing,” he reassured with that stupid fucking grin that was soon aimed straight at me, “it’s just… You’re asking me if I want to sleep with you. Again.”

“Yeah, what about it?” I laughed, turning to pull out of the driveway. The bumps didn’t bother Raymond that time.

“I’d love to,” he said as we turned onto the main road, his hand finding mine on the gear shift.

“Great.” Allowing the relief to flow through his hand and into me, I realized that the reason I’d had so much fun with this random one night stand was because a large part of me knew it was never going to be just that.

“You know, my bed’s not a twin, and it doesn’t creak, so…” I trailed off, hoping that he would be clever enough to put it together.

“So what?”

He was not. But that was okay, because I realized that was exactly what I loved about him.

“Never mind,” I sighed, “I’ll show you in the morning.”

——————————————————

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