#but it needs to cook and get more patches that actually fixes more than those patches break

[rhaeheartzsquirrelz]

She’ll be There

Sevika x Female Reader

Headcannons || Angst + Fluff

Cw: Mentions of self-harm (not fully described, I know it can be triggering), self sabotage, and mentions of binge eating disorder. Modern setting. Sevika has both arms (though it doesn’t have anything to do with the plot). Not a lot of in depth details, only because I didn’t want it to be uncomfortable or triggering.

Proofread || Note: It surprised me when I noticed there’s barely any recognition of binge eating disorder. And, so, I decided to write about it. Really sucks that a lot of people don’t even know that it exists. Also, no, I am NOT romanticizing sh and ed, this is just for readers who find comfort in these kinds of fanfics; ones who relate. (Also because I struggle with it.)

Sevika was one of those girlfriends who made you question if you really deserved her. One of those girlfriends that made you so happy that you were sure that all of it was all some sort of dream. She took care of you when you weren’t well. When you needed comfort and support. She was there regardless. You were a priority much greater than anything else, she loved you more than anything else.

But, there was always a sense of guilt that tugged at you whenever she showed affection. It was unfair to her that she had to do so much compared to other couples. It was like being a burden, a broken tool that wouldn’t fix. A tool that had to patched up daily, made sure it didn’t break itself again. You were sure she’d get tired.

But that day never came.

A healthy relationship with food was what you strived for. What you could only try your best for. Not even a few minutes after eating you were hungry again. Well, you weren’t actually hungry. Your stomach was half full and you weren’t needing more. It was just you being bored and eating being a way for you to comfort yourself. It was a coping mechanism that you’d picked up at a young age; and never noticed how horrible it was for you.

Sevika was aware of your problem, of the issues you had with food, and how it was difficult it was for you not to turn to food for distraction.

When you were upset, you’d grab yourself a plate of leftovers. When you were angry, you’d have a bowl of chips in your lap and munch on it. Even when you were happy, you’d make yourself some pasta. And, undoubtedly, your girlfriend was worried with the amount of food you’d eat in such a short amount of time.

Gradually, she decided to do something about it. Convincing you to tag along with her whenever she went out, making plans to go to your favourite bookstore, and even taking you shopping. She tried her hardest to distract you.

Sevika didn’t know much about your eating disorder, but she did her research. Reading books, searching online, and even asking you your struggle.

She’d ask you how you felt about the whole thing. What you thought. How you felt when you didn’t indulge in the urge and it felt after you ate. Your girlfriend had a lot of questions and you did your best at answering them. Some of them were ones you’d never thought of asking yourself, they had you thinking. And you appreciated her efforts in understanding.

Sevika would even cook your favourite food whenever you were genuinely hungry. She’d go on youtube and learn recipes for you, even make desserts so she knew you were full. Most of her attention would be on you, making sure your body was satisfied with your intake.

There was never a time where you felt that your girlfriend was tired of the extra care she gave you. In all honesty, that woman loved all of it. Doing small things for you, like making sure the proportions she prepared for you were perfect, like making sure your plate was full of the essentials; carbs, fibers, fats, all those good things.

And, at first, Sevika thought she’d made progress, made you better. But, on the day she found you in the bathroom with your wrists red was the day she assumed the worse. She thought, maybe, she’d made you feel a sort of way. Thought she’d made it worse. Thought she’d hurt your feelings and had pressured you.

She wrong about all those things.

Your girlfriend blamed herself for everything, as she tended to. You’d reassured her many times that it wasn’t her fault, that it was just the way you were born— also, false.

“Sev, I’m serious. It’s not your fault, it never was. You’re fixing something that can’t be fixed.” You’d say, sat next to her and watching as she only looked away. “Did I make you feel pressured? Or was it just me being obsessed with helping you? Be honest. I can take it.” Obsessed, huh?

“No. The things you’ve done for me are just.. too nice. You’ve helped me, Sevika, not made it worse.” She’d end up furrowing her brows. “So then, why’d you do that? Hurt yourself, I mean.” Her silver eyes would avoid your arms at an attempt to think positively. “I just.. it’s me. I’m a little frustrated at myself, it’s nothing.” Your girlfriend wouldn’t meet your eyes, let alone face you.

“Can you not?” Your tone a little less gentle. “You won’t even look at me.” Only because Sevika didn’t want to stare, make you feel uncomfortable. “All I’m asking is that you don’t look at me any differently. Please?”

It took time and patience for the woman to acknowledge your scars. She thought the subject was too tense, too awkward. But the first time she did, you ended up opening yourself to her. Letting her in on the small details she’d never thought you’d feel.

That was step one. Step two was helping you in other ways. Sevika would give you suggestions, instead of telling you what to do. Give you space and time to think by yourself. Give you advice and even be a source for you to talk about it with. All she wanted was for you to trust her, turn to her, and let her comfort you— instead of you having to look for that in other things.

Over time, Sevika had stopped avoiding confrontation; only when the topic wasn’t sensitive. She’d ask you if you felt any urges, if you’d even tried doing it again. And, slowly, you began saying no. It wasn’t a lie, no, you’d just stopped thinking about it.

And when she noticed that, your girlfriend felt a sense relief she’d never felt before. She was glad she could do something, even if it was just sharing her ideas and being your safe place.

Sevika loved you, she’d made that quite obvious in the way she stuck by your side. Never had she felt frustration, or annoyance towards you for being in the dark place you used to be in. All she felt was the need to keep you out of there, keep you in the light where you were happy and safe.

Your girlfriend would stay with you for hours if you needed her to. If you were crying she’d cry with you. If you needed her attention she’d give it to you at an instant. If you needed her to just hold you she’d do so. She’d open her arms for you, kiss away your pain, and talk away your problems.

All Sevika needed was for you to be alright.

A/N: Pleaseeee please pleaseee! let me know if something I wrote was incorrect or just insensitive, I really don’t want anyone to feel a type of way when they read this; being upset or angry. I tried my hardest to write how I, personally, feel because I know a lot of people might feel the same way— relate. Hopefully I didn’t do anything wrong :(

Please reach out to someone you know and trust if you are feeling stuck and are struggling with an eating disorder or self-harm. I promise you it’ll only get worse without help and support.

[amnestria-the-elf]

So we're all just supposed to be fucking grateful that Larian gave us "new Wyll content" (evil ending for a man who is canonically incorruptible, what the fuck) and simultaneously broke him again (giving low approval greetings to a romanced PC, what the fuck).

I... I just... the simultaneous feelings of rage and utter hopelessness are overwhelming.

Listen, if you've read any of my posts you know I have a pretty clear "Don't yuck anyone's yum" policy. If you think an evil Wyll ending is interesting, fine. But here's why it falls flat for me.

First, like I said above, Wyll is canonically incorruptible. It's literally the entire basis of his character. He is a man who was coerced into making an infernal contract to save a city and had to pay a horrible price for doing so, then spent seven fucking years alone in the wilderness doing his damned best to protect the people of the Sword Coast, while all along telling his horrible, abusive patron to just fuck off already.

Now, could you argue that during the events of the game, Wyll develops a taste for evil? Sure. There are plenty of opportunities for his villain origin story to unfold. But they never do. His moral compass never wavers. Turned into a devil? He feels shame, because it's an outward sign that he was doing things for Mizora that were morally wrong, and he didn't see it before. His approval rating for the PC shoots through the roof if you save Karlach, a sure indicator of his true moral compass. His father kidnapped? Fuck that noise, we're gonna save him. Rescue Zariel's "asset"? Ugh, fine, but don't get distracted from the real reason we're here. His father gets tadpoled? Oh hells no, we're gonna take down these assholes and save the godsdamned world. His father accuses him of being an agent of a devil and is super pissy about it? "Everything I did, I did for the people of the Sword Coast."

For fuck's sake, he will leave the party if the PC gets too evil, even knowing it means he'll probably turn into a mindflayer immediately. Even if he's romancing the PC. Unwavering moral compass. So giving him an evil ending without also going back and changing everything about his character just feels like lazy writing to me.

Which brings me to the second reason all of this rubs the wrong way. Wyll deserves so much more content. More romanced greetings, more reactions to other characters' choices, a final boss battle that is actually about him, a default ending that actually makes fucking sense (I have another post cooking about the Avernus ending, so I will leave it for now.)

And please, spare me your "But Wyll was rewritten after early access" bullshit. That's Larian's problem. They chose to listen to feedback and do a late-stage rewrite. They then chose to implement it poorly and never fucking fix it. Other characters, who already have far more content than Wyll, have had even more added over the course of the seven released patches. Wyll, on the other hand, has been sitting around completely ignored until now when we get this evil ending.

Many have rightfully pointed out the inherent racism steeped in all of this. I want Larian to be better. But as Maya Angelou said, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them." I already didn't have much hope about Patch 7 for Wyll, but this... honestly, this is worse than him just being ignored again.

The thing that kills me the most is that this is just going to be more fodder for the fandom to completely mischaracterize Wyll, for those who already haven't bothered to think critically about his character at all to just be like, oh, cool, Wyll is evil now. Nope. You've completely missed the point.

I'm just... so tired. I've worked very hard to put this little bubble of Wyll enthusiasts around me (hi friends I love you all!) so that I can hold on to some shred of sanity in this fandom. The world needs heroes of color. Just let Wyll be the hero in peace.

[eugenedream]

i hath returned and here are my reading notes…

I love John being concerned about Omega’s behavioural changes. He’s a caregiver, provider, and protector. I LOVE that about him. He recognises Omega is her most vulnerable in those moments and he being privy to them he needs to be on the look out. I kinda feel like Omega could be subconsciously revealing things in those moments. The bonds are changing and so her behaviour is too, showing she’s more comfortable and attached.

(this note comes verbatim from the moment i read the associated part) I SWEAR TO GOD IF THERE IS A CAMERA IN THE MOTHERFUCKING BEAR IM GOING TO LOSE MY SHIT (upon further reflection there definitely is and the general/those running the program have seen the heat - icky ew gross yuck someone call the MPs or better yet let a really angry Si at them)

SI MY SWEET BABY BOI - he is a big smoosh with big soft boi feelings - offering to go get mum?? wanting to beat dad??? i am a simon fan, if si has zero fans im dead - honestly my mum would actually love Si, she too would go absolutely scorched earth in order to protect me, they share a love language of violence. it would greatly please her to know someone would fight for me just as hard as she does

Also Johnny snuggles??? His love is definitely physical touch and is doing his duty as caring beta but it’s also bc he feels a lil left out during the heat. He doesn’t have an offical role during, Kyle is there to make sure everything is okay, so he’s giving himself a role after. He can be the responsible beta, he’s not all sex all the time.

SI COOKING??!! a provider full stop period - I love that he’s leaning into that alpha instinct a lil, check on her, feed her, love her, provide, serve, protect, all that jazz

JOHNNY CONFIRMED PANTY THEIF - just put his card details into all the sites, he rips he pays simples

I LOVE YOU TOO KYLE WITH YOUR BIG BROWN EYES AND SOFT FLUFFY LIPS

I feel like Si would be proud of the snatch and escape. They all probably are on some level. Johnny a lil more turned on than proud tho - I deeply appreciate the look into the group chat - I love how being circled by them all would be so threatening to anyone else but to Omega she’s having the time of her life - John letting Si be dominant and looming poses some interesting thoughts. I don’t think they would directly engage with each other in a scenario but more work with each other (if that makes sense). John is leader of the pack but Si is still an alpha so it would be interesting to see that dynamic play out. I wonder if John would be comfortable with the way Si gets rough and mean, if he would ‘allow’ it while he was there or if he is comfortable being apart of that.

Johnny to patch the bear?? He knows how to sew? Is this bc they’ve all cut/ripped so many holes in clothing? Or bc he’s stitched Si back together so many times and the skill just translates??

A HAPPY LIL OMEGA!!!!!! i love the fluid domesticity between them all. Its a dream and so warm and loving - one day Si will hold Omega’s hand and let her be all cute and preening when he does stuff.

I don’t wanna talk about what went down. I just want answers and solutions…I’m worried that Si is going to react poorly. I feel like they’re all going to be hurt/cut up about Omega keeping secrets. They might interpret it as she doesn’t trust them but I hope she has the strength and opportunity to explain herself and feelings. I’m actually a lil anxious about it bc there is nothing I can personally do it fix it. I’ve just got to wait and I know you won’t give me answers I KNOW ALL IM GONNA GET IS THAT MEME/GIF ABOUT CONFIRMING OR DENYING.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk ❤️

Cherry Red, Crimson Blood

Chapter 29: There's Something Wrong With My Omega

Summary: Things after your heat begin to go back to normal...but you know better than to think that will last long.

Pairing: Poly 141 x reader

Word Count: 10,708 words

Warnings: Suggestive content, kissing, the reader's daddy kink showing itself briefly, Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, Alternate Universe, a/b/o typical classism and sexism, language, anxiety, reader has a panic attack, grief, kneeling, angst, fluff, massive time jumps, brief paranoia, my bad attempts at Scottish slang, angst

A/N: So we're covering a lot of ground with this one in favor of getting to the good stuff. I've put references when there's time jumps relative to the reader's most recent heat. So, for example, "six weeks after" is six weeks post the reader's heat. This was originally going to be two chapters, but then I decided to just smash it into one to avoid dragging things out further. So yeah. Get your tissues, get your ice cream and settle in for this wonderful ride.

ALSO, This will be the last time I'm using the taglist, follow HERE if you'd like to get notifications for new posts

MASTERLIST | <- Previous | Next ->

A Few Days After

You’re like two pups, huddled together under a pile of blankets. The muscle relaxer kicked in an hour ago and you’ve been softly snoring since. Johnny’s arm is tossed over your back, keeping you pinned to his chest as he snores against your head. He’s probably drooling on your hair, but after this last week, it’s probably not the worst thing you’ve been covered in. 

You’ve both just showered, your hair still damp against your pillow. Johnny’s mohawk is plastered against his head, strands sticking to his forehead. It needs a trim again.

John lets out a quiet sigh, shifting in your desk chair as he adjusts the ice pack between his legs. He’s sore, more sore than he had been the first time. You’d put them all through the wringer the week before your pre-heat started, and you’d put him through the wringer during the week of your heat. Maybe Kyle was right, maybe he is getting old. 

He shakes the thought away, staring at the slow and steady rise and fall of your side as you breathe. You’d cried for longer this time, the tears still streaming as he fed you small bites of mash and mushy peas. He had been worried you might choke as your inhales caught and shuddered, but you ate albeit begrudgingly. The next few days you spent in an exhaustion and muscle relaxer induced haze. You woke long enough to eat and use the bathroom, but then you crawled back into bed and napped. Johnny has been a constant presence in your room, having crawled into your nest after they got you settled the first day to cuddle. 

This morning you had been awake for longer, downing some porridge before the ache settled in and John gave you another muscle relaxer. He’d gotten you to down another electrolyte drink before the muscle relaxer kicked in, and before Johnny joined you so the two of you could cuddle up like a couple of pups to nap. 

“You should take a break.” Simon says softly where he’s leaning up against your closet. “Get some rest yourself.” 

John grunts quietly, sinking down further in the chair. He should, yet he can’t bring himself to step away. Things do feel different this time, though he’s not sure if that’s normal, or if Kyle’s participation had shifted things slightly. Did their reactions to your heat change depending on the heat? Did your own symptoms change heat to heat? He has half a mind to call Dr. Keller, get her opinion and ask for her advice. You don’t seem different, aside from the lingering symptoms. He feels different though, and Kyle had lingered a bit longer than he needed to. 

“She’ll be fine.” Simon says, John’s body tensing as his second alpha places a hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t even noticed Simon’s approach, not that he was all that far away to begin with. “I’ll stay with them.” 

John knows Simon won’t let anything happen to you. Logically he knows Simon would do everything in his power to keep you safe, and physically he’d be more capable. Yet John finds himself hesitating, still watching the rise and fall of your body as you breathe. 

“You know I’ll alert you if anything happens.” Simon says, trying to reassure him. 

It’s nothing personal. John just can’t seem to bring himself to move. 

“I know.” He says quietly, finally pulling his gaze from you. “Things...feel different now.” 

“Could just be the exhaustion.” Simon offers, trying to think up an explanation for John’s obvious inner conflict. “Go take a nap. You need it.” Simon squeezes his shoulder gently, massaging his thumb into John’s tense muscles. He could use a good massage. Maybe another hot bath too. 

“Perhaps you’re right.” John murmurs, pulling the ice pack from his aching balls before standing. “You’ll wake me?” He asks, turning to face Simon. 

“Course.” Simon nods, giving him as much of a reassuring look as he can manage. 

John takes one last look at you, sleeping peacefully tucked in Johnny’s arms, the blankets wrapped around you both. You’ll be warm enough, with Johnny’s puppy-like warmth, and nothing will happen under Simon’s watchful gaze. Kyle will be back in soon after his own nap. Maybe he should crawl in with Kyle for a bit. Maybe that will help ease his mind. 

John forces himself to look away, not even bothering to take the ice pack back to the rec room before slipping into Kyle’s room. 

Simon turns the pages quietly, being careful not to disrupt either of you as you nap. He’d pulled a book off your desk to mind the time while he lets Price sleep. His fellow alpha needs it after the last week. He’s no good to anyone, much less you if he’s exhausted. God forbid they get called into something in the next few days. 

Simon will gladly play babysitter if it gets Price to rest. 

He’s tempted to text Kyle and tell him to keep Price in bed as long as possible, but he knows Price will be mad if he sleeps too much. Simon isn’t sure how Price keeps going for so long. He admires his strength and determination, but he can see how tired he gets, the hunch of his shoulders as he begins to feel the weight he carries, the dark circles under his eyes, how sluggish his movements get. He knows Price secretly dreads your heats, when he’s put out of commission completely, 

As a man of action, he doesn't do well laying low. The few times Simon has seen Price get hurt, he’s always disobeyed orders for bedrest, even for just taking it easy. The man never stops, and Simon was hoping you would change that. 

Price will want to be at his best at all times to ensure you’re well cared for, even if that means sacrificing taking breaks himself. Simon knows he’s struggling. That need to ensure he’s able to take care of his omega combating his need to push through and do his duty. The job comes first. That’s what had been driven like a nail into their brains since they found out they’d be getting an omega. 

How silly they were to think they could uphold that. 

Simon glances up as you move, wiggling your way onto your other side. You settle with a sigh, your back now to Johnny. You’re still gripping your bear, arms wrapped around it tightly. He stares at it for a moment, something prickling in the back of his mind as he stares into the beady eyes. It’s almost like they’re staring back at him, cogniscient and aware. 

He shakes his head, going back to his book. The isolation of the last week must be getting to him finally. 

It’s been an hour since Price left, an hour he’s hopefully spent sleeping. Simon is still dutifully keeping watch, halfway through the book he’d grabbed off your desk. You and Johnny are still sleeping peacefully, Johnny snoring into your pillow with an arm thrown over your side. 

The door opens quietly, Kyle sticking his head in. He glances at the bed before entering the room, padding over to Simon quietly. 

“Still out?” He asks, speaking quietly. 

“Sleeping like pups.” Simon answers. 

“You need a break?” Kyle rubs his eyes, still a bit bleary from his own nap. 

“I’m good.” Simon responds, holding up the book. “You keep Price from doing too much.” 

“You got it, boss.” Kyle smirks, patting his shoulder before leaving the room. 

Simon returns to his book, trusting Kyle to do his duty diligently, even if it means keeping Price in a headlock. He doesn’t doubt they’ve been in that position at least once before, and not during training. 

Another hour passes before you let out a quiet groan. Simon glances at you, watching the frown start to pull at your eyebrows. One arm untangles from around the bear, reaching out to the nightstand. Your fingers find the top, your arm stretching as far as it can, fingers sliding along the surface in search of something. 

Simon marks his place in the book, setting it on the chair before he moves to the bed, kneeling down. He takes your hand, holding it still in an effort not to startle you. “What do you need?” He asks quietly. 

“Water.” You croak, licking your lips. 

Simon grabs one of the electrolyte drinks, screwing the top off before he helps you sit up a little bit. He holds the bottom of the bottle as you grab it, keeping it steady so you don’t dump it all over yourself as you drink. Your eyes are half open, your hair in quite the interesting shape after laying down with it still damp. 

You drink half the bottle before he makes you stop, pulling it away. Soft pants leave your lips as he screws the cap back on the bottle, setting it on the nightstand. 

“Better?” He asks, leaning his arm on his knee. 

You nod, licking the remainder of the drink off your lips before you flop back against the mattress. He watches you for a second before getting back up, taking his spot on the chair once more. 

If you fall back asleep, it’s not for very long. You shift closer to the edge of the bed, the bear falling onto the floor. You let it, laying there with your arm dangling off the side. 

“Simon?” You murmur, staring at him sleepily. 

He grunts, glancing up from the book. Johnny is still fast asleep, almost on his stomach taking up the space you’ve vacated, his arm still tossed over you. 

“What does your mom smell like?” 

The question takes him by surprise. He blinks at you for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. It’s an odd question for a time like this, and he almost writes it off as a half-asleep rambling, but your eyes are fully open now, a bit glossy from sleep, but you’re wide awake.

“Flowers.” He finally answers, drawing forward the memories of her scent as he closes the book resting it on his lap. “Fresh flowers on a warm spring day.” 

You hum quietly, tucking your hand beneath your cheek. “My mom smelled like warm sugar cookies fresh out of the oven.” You say. “And vanilla.” 

So that’s where that soft undertone beneath your scent comes from. He doesn’t say anything, sensing you have more to say. 

“After her heats, when we’d come back from the care facility, the house always smelled like sugar cookies.” You swallow thickly. “Every time after her heat, when she was able to, she’d make us cookies. It was like she was apologizing for what we returned to. Most of us didn’t understand until we were older. My brothers never said anything.” A tear slides down your cheek and you hastily wipe it away. “I’m glad they didn’t.” 

Simon feels a lump starting to form in his throat, threatening to choke him. He doesn’t miss the meaning behind your words. He knows exactly what you mean. He remembers those times, sleeping in the living room with Tommy, pillows over their ears so they didn’t have to listen. The few times they escaped to friends' houses, they returned to angry fists and blood on the floor. His mother never stepped in during those times because she couldn’t. She’d already endured a week of him. She couldn’t take any more. 

Simon didn’t understand it either until he was older. The pain, the suffering, the things mothers try to do to ease the unsettling energy pups endure during heats, or in your case return home to. 

He rises from the chair, setting the book down as he frantically blinks back the tears threatening to cloud his vision. He lets out a breath before moving to the bed, kneeling on the floor again. He tosses the bear across the room, almost like it might listen in, learn some secret it shouldn’t know. 

He reaches out, brushing the hair from your forehead. Johnny shifts slightly behind you, almost like he can sense your emotions in his sleep. Simon isn’t sure what to say as his fingers brush your cheek, wiping away the tear that slides down your face. 

“I miss her.” You whisper, your voice crackling slightly. 

“I know.” Simon says, continuing to wipe the tears as they fall. “If I could find her, if it was safe enough, I would. Though, I’d have to beat the living shit out of your father first.” 

A small smile tugs at your lips. “He deserves it.” You sniffle. “Though, I suppose deep down I don’t hate him completely for his decision. If he hadn’t sent me to the institute, I would have never wound up here.” 

Simon lets out a breath, his fingers faltering against your skin. He hadn’t thought of it that way. If things hadn’t happened as they had, they would have never had you as part of their pack. They wouldn’t have ever known you existed, and you might have wound up somewhere worse. Though things weren’t ideal for how they played out, he supposes the outcome wasn’t that terrible for any of you. 

He is glad things happened this way too, even if he still wants to beat the shit out of your dad. 

“Do you want me to make you cookies?” He asks, his thumb still brushing your cheek. 

“No, that’s okay.” You say, attempting to pull the blanket up further, but Johnny’s weight is hogging it. “I’m more of a brownie person anyway.” 

“Do you want brownies, then?” He asks, shoving Johnny to the side to pull the blanket up. He lets out a snore, mumbling in his sleep before pulling his arm from your waist to tuck it up against his chest. 

“If it’s not too much trouble.” You say, blinking up at him as he tucks the blanket around you. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” He says, leaning down to press a kiss to your forehead through the mask. 

An hour later you're wrapped in a blanket, reclined on the rec room couch with a plate of warm brownies on your chest. Your fingers are sticky with chocolate as you half watch whatever daytime TV is playing, content in your cocoon with your sweet treat. 

“You really make those brownies?” Kyle asks, leaning against the wall across the hall. 

“Nah, bribed one of the chefs to do it.” Simon says, standing next to him. 

“Bribed, or threatened?” Kyle smirks. 

“I asked nicely this time.” Simon says, crossing his arms. “Said it was life or death.”

Kyle's brows raise. “Might be next time with how she's downing them. This will become a thing now.”

Simon shrugs. “Makes her happy after everything. I'll threaten - I mean ask, whatever chef I need to each time.” 

“John is going to worry about her getting cavities.” Kyle watches as you shove an entire brownie into your mouth at once. “Or diabetes.” 

Simon shrugs. “We’ll force some protein in her later. Maybe another vegetable.” 

Johnny turns the corner rubbing his eyes. “Smells fuckin’ braw down here. Like chocolate.” 

“No.” Simon says, grabbing him by the nape and turning him around. “You’re not taking that risk. Last time you tried she drew blood.” He walks Johnny back down the hall. “Might lose a finger this time.” 

Kyle watches them, shaking his head. Johnny had paid for trying to steal your popcorn before your heat started. You caught him on the shoulder with your teeth, biting hard enough to draw blood. That had been an interesting trip to the med center. The best part was you didn’t even look guilty. He’d found you eating the last pieces of popcorn up off the floor. 

He pushes off the wall, entering the rec room. You turn to look at him, giving him a grin with your chocolate stained lips. It’s all over your face but you don’t seem to care as you shove the second to last brownie into your mouth. 

“Taste good?” He asks, sitting on the edge of the couch next to you. 

You nod, licking chocolate off your fingers. It doesn’t do much good, only smearing it further. “Very good.” 

“Stomach hurt yet?” He gives you a look. 

You shake your head. “Nope. Just my pussy.” 

He nearly chokes at your words, having to cover his mouth to hide his laugh, but he’s only partially successful. He takes a couple deep breaths, running his hand down his face to try and keep his composure. You seem to lose your filter in the week before and after your heat. It’s like it removes that last layer of uncertainty that keeps your personality from shining through all the time. 

“It’s almost time for another dose of muscle relaxers.” He says, still trying not to laugh. “If you want another one.” 

You nod, taking a bite out of the last brownie this time. “Mhm.” You nod in agreement, chewing slowly like you’re trying to savor it. Like you couldn’t convince them to get you anything you wanted at any time. “Feel like I was in a helicopter crash.” 

Kyle snorts quietly. “I can imagine.” 

You stop chewing for a moment, blinking at him. “You’ve been in one before?” The words come out around the brownie still in your mouth, barely intelligible but he understands them perfectly. 

“A couple times.” He shrugs. “Fell out of one once too.” 

Your mouth hangs open, the last piece of brownie centimeters from your lips. “Huh?” 

He grins, pushing the brownie so it’s touching your lips. “That’s a story for another time. Finish your brownie then you can take your medication.” 

You shove the last piece into your mouth, staring down at your hands as you chew. Kyle moves the plate from your chest, setting it on the coffee table. You hold your hands out to him. “Sticky.” 

He wraps his fingers around your wrist, bringing your hand to his mouth. He wraps his lips around your finger, swirling his tongue around it to clean off the sweet chocolate. You stare at him wide eyed, mouth slightly parted as he moves to the next finger. He cleans the chocolate off of one hand before moving it out of the way as he leans in. He kisses you, licking the chocolate off of your lips. You whine against his mouth, his other hand catching your other wrist before it can touch him and cover him in chocolate. 

He pulls away, leaving you panting. You pout, chocolate still stuck to your face and hands. “That’s not fair.” 

He smirks, licking the sticky sweetness of his lips. “Almost as sweet as your slick.” 

You stare at him wide eyed, hands still in the air as your mouth hangs open. “Huh?” 

“I’ll go get a rag, clean you up.” He pats your leg before standing. 

“You can’t just leave me with that!” You yell as he heads for the bathroom across the hall. 

He’ll tell you, of course. He might just wait until you’re feeling less sore, though.

2 Weeks After

Two weeks pass and so does the pain in your pelvis. It had dulled to a slight throb by the end of the first week, only rearing its ugly head if you sat on a hard surface. You were back for the most part to your normal routine. Waking up early some mornings for training or running, more like jogging right now, on the other days, then breakfast, then stretching for a bit while the guys go to their own training, or your weekly visits with Dr. Keller. Then lunch, then your free time until dinner, then the guys’ free time before bed. 

It feels good, being back in a semi-normal routine. It makes your omega purr in delight being able to predict and plan around a set schedule. Maybe you are perfect for this lifestyle. 

Maybe Kate had been right in choosing you for this. Maybe the initiative was a good idea. Omegas thrive around routine and schedules and predictability. It’s not hard to understand why omegas aren’t allowed in the military, but perhaps integrating them into packs wouldn’t be as bad of an idea as you once thought. Though, you do wish the food was better sometimes. 

That might just be British food in general, though. 

You do miss America. Even after months away, you still feel that yearning for what you thought of as home. Or maybe you were just yearning for your family, the way things were before you committed a sin in your fathers eyes. It wasn’t hard to tell he wished you were never born, or maybe if you had been another son you wouldn’t have disappointed him. Your brothers didn’t disappoint him, so why did you have to be the one to do it? 

Your half asleep conversation with Simon hasn’t left your mind. You do miss your family, your parents. Despite all his faults and failures, you do miss your dad too. He wasn’t all bad, there were good moments in there, though you don’t think you could ever fully forgive him for forcing you away in shame over something you couldn’t control. If it hadn’t happened, though, you would have never wound up here. Though it wasn’t ideal, you wouldn’t trade your pack for anything. 

That doesn’t stop the subtle ache in your chest at the thought of your mother. Though you know the chances are slim that you would ever get to see her again, you just want to know that she’s alright. 

“You’re thinking too much again.” 

Simon’s words ring in your ears, bringing you back to reality again. The plastic around your wrists snaps off before he stands, holstering his knife quickly.

“Good to know even in these situations you’ll dissociate your way through it.” He says, lifting you right out of the chair and tossing you over his shoulder in one movement. 

“It’s called a coping mechanism.” You yell as he races out of the building and over the finish line. 

He lowers you down off of his shoulder, your legs nearly giving out as your feet hit the concrete floor of the warehouse. You take a deep breath, feeling like your diaphragm has been compressed by the edge of your own tactical vest. 

“Three minutes and fifteen seconds.” John says, writing the time down on his sheet. 

“Not bad, LT.” Johnny says, punching Simon’s shoulder. 

“Let’s see if you can do better.” Simon says, punching his shoulder back, only harder. 

Johnny winces, rubbing his shoulder as Simon steps away. 

“Gimme minute.” You gasp out, leaning against a crate so you can catch your breath. “These vests are not comfortable.” 

“Be worse if it was full gear.” Johnny says. 

You make a face. “Don’t you guys carry like 100 pounds of gear or something?” 

“41 kilos at the most, usually.” Kyle shrugs. 

You blink at him, trying to do the math in your head. You’ve gotten used to trying to convert, though you utilize your phone for it more than anything. Of course you don’t have that right now. It’s tucked away in John’s pocket. 

“Roughly 90 pounds in freedom units.” Johnny says. 

“Ah.” You nod, choosing to ignore his comment for now. “That’s still a lot. I couldn’t carry that.” 

“Luckily you don’t have to.” John says, stepping up to you. “Come on, one more.” He motions with his head. 

You sigh, pushing yourself up to stand. At least in this exercise you don’t have to do anything but sit there. You adjust your vest as you follow him into the makeshift house, heading into the room with the chair for the third time. You were playing hostage again, this time in a timed test. Get in, take out the fake targets and then rescue the hostage. They’re firing blanks, but they don’t know what room you’re in so there’s a slight chance you could take a shot still, if they get a bit trigger happy under pressure. 

You plop down in the chair again, holding your hands behind your back. John holds your wrists in one hand, the other securing the zip tie around them. It sends a shiver up your spine, the thoughts of what he could do with a set of ropes flashing through your mind. 

“Alright?” He asks, slipping a finger between your wrists and the zip tie. You could slip out of them easily if you had to. 

“Yeah.” You breathe, leaning your cheek against his hand as he puts it on your shoulder. 

“One more, then we can get lunch.” He squeezes your shoulder gently. 

“Mhm.” You hum before sitting up straight in the chair. 

He leaves you there, closing the door and you wait patiently for the beep of the timer. Your feet tap expectantly as you listen to the door fly open, the crack of blanks being fired. The first round with Kyle had been nerve wracking, your muscles tensing with every loud noise. The three minutes and ten seconds had felt like a lifetime as you waited for the door to fly open and him to rescue you. 

By the second round you knew what to expect, and had even managed to drift off into your thoughts. Of course it had been during Simon’s turn. It was like your brain just automatically drifted off as soon as it realized he was coming. A pavlovian response to his presence. 

The time passing feels like an age as you wait, and you wonder how long it’s really taking Johnny. You had tried counting seconds but had lost count after about a minute. Simon and Johnny were in constant battle for second place, bumping each other up and down the list. Kyle remained in first place in almost all the training you’ve seen or heard about, fast and efficient and forever taunting the competitive Johnny. 

You flinch when the door flies open, Johnny quickly lowering his rifle. “Hi kitten.” He grins as he pulls out his knife, popping the plastic zip tie off your wrists. “Yer hero is here tae save the day.” 

He lifts you over his shoulder before racing out of the crudely built house, your vest digging into your stomach again. It’s making you almost nauseous, the bounce from Johnny running not helping any. 

He sets you on your feet after he crosses the line and you nearly fall backwards from the sudden rush of blood to your head. 

“Three minutes and twelve seconds.” John says, writing the time down. 

“Ha! I did it again!” Johnny says, throwing his hands in the air. 

“Not bad, Sergeant.” Simon says. 

“Not the fastest, though.” Kyle smirks, Johnny just two seconds below his time. 

“I’ll get there.” Johnny says, puffing his chest. “Ye just wait.” 

You tug at the velcro restraints on the vest, managing to get one side undone before pulling it off of you. You let it drop to the floor, breathing out a sigh of relief as you cup your breasts. “My poor tits. They were being compressed.” 

Johnny grins, completely switching mindsets from the previous conversation in the blink of an eye. “Ye need me tae massage them back to life?” He asks, reaching out towards you. 

Simon slaps his hands away, pushing him back. “Not in public you won’t.” 

Johnny pouts, but you give him a grin. “Later.” You wink at him before cantering after John. 

You slip your hand into his, leaning against his side as you and your pack leave the warehouse to head to lunch. You’re hungry after such an exciting morning, the ache in your stomach easing after removing the vest. You don’t know how they wear them all the time, but then again they’re men and don’t have boobs to worry about. Well, except for maybe Simon and his massive pecs. He has to get sore after a while. 

John pulls away from you as you near the mess, giving you a soft pat on the ass. “Go on. I’ll join you shortly.” 

You grin at him before latching on to Kyle, wrapping your fingers around his hand as he leads you into the mess. It’s busy as usual during prime meal time, alive and bustling with soldiers and conversations. You stick close to Kyle, Simon and Johnny walking behind the two of you like threatening shadows, the passing soldiers giving you the usual wide berth. 

Simon yanks the tray out of your hands before you can set it on the tray slide, putting it down next to his before he begins putting food on it for you. You beam up at him, giving him a giddy smile. “Don’t.” He warns, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll make you eat mushy peas again.” 

You make a disgusted face, but you still can’t hide your happiness as Simon makes your tray for you, carrying it over to the table. You plop down next to him, sitting as close as you can. He stares down at you for a long moment before sighing, resting his arm on the table and pushing you to the side just slightly to give himself more room. 

The smile doesn’t leave your face as you eat, Simon having put all your favorites on the tray. Your scent is sweet in the air, filled with contentment and happiness. Your feet even tap under the table, making up some random rhythm. Even being surrounded by unknown alphas and betas, you feel comfortable and safe with your pack around you. 

“Someone got bit by the happy bug.” Johnny says, glancing at you as John joins you at the table. 

“I am happy.” You shrug. “We’re all together and everyone is fine and content. Makes my omega happy.” 

John smiles at you across the table. “I’m glad you feel that way, sweetheart.” 

“Aye, just a crouse wee omega.” Johnny says, patting your head. 

You turn to him blinking. “I don’t know what that means.” 

“I think it’s a compliment.” Kyle says. 

“Aye.” Johnny says, pulling you close to kiss the side of your head. “Wouldnae be mean to ye. These dunderheid’s though...” 

Simon reaches over you, smacking the back of Johnny’s head. “We know what that means, you wanker.” 

You can’t help but giggle, even as your table gets some looks for the sudden rambunctious energy. 

3 Weeks After

Another week passes, same as it always does. 

Your routine stays steady, waking up early some mornings for training or running, breakfast, then stretching for a bit while the guys go to their own training, or your weekly visits to Dr. Keller. Then lunch, then your free time until dinner, then the guys free time before bed. Your life is back to a predictable cycle, and where some might consider it boring, it’s far from it. 

Mostly because you have free time to look forward to. 

Tonight you’re spending it in the living room with Kyle, both of you scrolling on your phones. The TV is on, playing some game show that neither of you are paying attention to. You’re far too busy on your phone, scrolling through websites. You’ve started to run low on panties again, and you’d rather not subject the poor, innocent shoppers of the lingerie store to another scent overload if Simon went with you. Not after the developments between the two of you. 

You might not be able to stop him from getting a bit...handsy. 

So instead you’re looking online, finding far more options than in the store, and so many possibilities. You’re having trouble making up your mind.

“Kyle?” You pat his arm lightly, trying to decide between colors. You want his input, and you’d prefer not to get Johnny involved. You’ll wind up forgetting all about your attempts to fill your dwindling underwear drawer. “Kyle?” You pat his arm a little harder. 

“Hm?” He hums, still looking at his phone. 

“Kyle?” You shake him, but he’s locked in on whatever he’s looking at. An idea comes to mind, something that might get his attention. You sigh, turning to face him. “Daddy?” 

He hums again, turning to glance at you for a second before his head whips around, turning to stare at you wide eyed. “Huh?” 

“I need your help choosing a color.” You say, scooting closer to him, pretending like you didn’t just call him ‘daddy.’

“What did you just call me?” He’s bewildered, not even looking at your phone as you hold it out to him. 

“I need your help.” You say, pointing at your phone. 

“No, first we’re gonna cover this.” He says, pulling your phone out of your hand. “Did you just call me ‘daddy?’” He asks in disbelief, a grin pulling at the sides of his lips. 

“Yeah.” You deadpan, staring up at him. “I needed your attention.” 

“So you chose ‘daddy?’” He laughs. 

“Well, it worked didn’t it?” You shrug. 

“You fucking-” He breathes as he wraps his arms around you, pulling you onto his lap. “What are we going to do with you?” 

You shrug, wrapping your arms around his neck. “I dunno, thought you’d keep me around since I’m kinda funny and nice to look at.” 

He laughs, shaking his head. “I love you.” 

You grin, shifting closer to him. “You do?” 

“Mhm.” He nods, wrapping his arms around you. “Hard not to.” 

You smile down at him, getting lost in those big brown eyes for a moment. They’re so soft and tender as they look at you, and you can almost feel the affection radiating off of him. “I love you too.” You say, leaning down to kiss him. 

He meets your lips eagerly, kissing you deeply. It conveys his love and the deep feelings he has for you, his arms tightening to pull you tight against his chest. 

He presses one last kiss to your lips before pulling away, smiling softly up at you. You want to kiss him again with that look on his face. You’ve never doubted that any of them love you, well, except maybe Simon but he’s a special case. He at least likes you now. 

“What was it you wanted to ask me?” He says, pulling you from your thoughts. 

“Huh?” You blink at him, coming out of your stupor. “Oh!” You grab your phone from where he’d set it on the couch, pulling up the webpage again. “Which color?” 

You hold it up to his face, flicking between the two shades of blue you can’t decide on. He stares at the screen for a moment, his hands trailing down your back. 

“I think I quite prefer no panties.” He says, slipping his hands under your sweatpants. 

“Kyle, pay attention. This is important.” You say, continuing to flip between the two colors. 

He hums, his hands cupping your ass. “Get them both. John is gonna rip them both off you anyway.” He says, leaning forward to nip at your bottom lip. 

You hum, pushing your ass back into his hands as you sit back. “You’re right. Between him and Simon, my stash is getting smaller faster than it had been before. Would help if Johnny quit stealing them too.” 

Kyle pulls your phone from your hand, dropping it onto the couch again. His eyes are dark, his scent thicker in the air. A shiver runs down your spine at the musky edge to it, his hands pulling you close against his chest again. You can feel the bulge under his pants as your arms wrap around his neck again. 

“Worry about that later.” He murmurs, pressing his face into your neck. His lips brush the delicate skin, drawing a quiet sound from your lips. “Right now, I need to show you just how much I love you.” 

He presses a kiss to your pulse before he shifts on the couch, using his grip on you to lift you before moving you onto your back. He hovers over you for a moment before moving back to kneel between your legs. His fingers slip under your shirt, trailing the skin above your sweatpants. 

“Oh.” You say, knowing exactly where this is going. 

He smirks. “Hope you don’t have plans tonight.” His fingers slip under your waistband, starting to tug your pants down. “We’re gonna be here for a while.” 

You're rudely woken after falling asleep quite contently. The arms around you are moving, the chest against your back shifting. It's far too early in the morning, you can tell just by how crusty your eyes feel. The movement behind you stops, and you crack your eyes open in curiosity. 

There's a phone in front of you, screen facing towards you with the camera open. You quickly close your eyes, pretending to be asleep and the quiet click of the camera sounds a couple times. You open your eyes again as the arm under you flexes, the quiet click of the keyboard making you curious. 

Kyle has the group chat open, the one you're not a part of. You've been curious about it since Johnny mentioned it, the need to see what's in it eating you alive. You had tried John's phone but he keeps it locked like they all do. You really should start paying better attention so you can learn their passwords and lock patterns. Would have come in handy in this situation. 

He's posting the picture of you sleeping, and you wait until he's hit send before you strike. You fling the blankets back, grabbing the phone from his hands as you escape his grip. You have his surprise on your side as you just escape his hands grabbing you as you race for the door. You fling it open, running down the hall towards the rec room, victorious giggles leaving your lips. Kyle is on your heels, but your bare feet give you traction as you fake left before heading straight into the laundry room. You manage to get in the door and get it locked seconds before he slams against it. 

You grin victoriously as you push yourself up to sit on a washing machine, finally feeding your curiosity. You ignore the sounds at the door as you scroll through the photos of you, most of them of you sleeping in various positions with many heart eyes from Johnny following. There's texts about you and your training, how impressed they are with your progress, complaints about their dicks hurting and a photo of Johnny's asking if it looks normal or not. 

A photo of Johnny's drawing of you giving him head is next, then a photo of you, tits out and mouth open, your face a picture of bliss sent by Simon. When he had even taken that, you're not sure. There's texts from Kyle giving out advice on eating you out, a few texts from John about positions, as well as a few boring texts talking about your favorite foods, or at least what you pick most often, as well as a short debate about the never ending tea vs coffee argument. 

You've just gotten to the interesting texts about your earlier days with the pack when the door handle falls to the floor with a clang. The door flies open as Kyle shoulders his way through, reaching you in two strides and pulling his phone from your hands. 

“Hey!” You complain, but you don't get much of a chance to continue before Kyle is tossing you over his shoulder, leaving the laundry room. 

“This little sneak was scrolling through the group chat.” Kyle says, setting you on your feet in the concourse. John, Johnny, and Simon are waiting there and you wind up in the middle of the circle. 

“I was just curious. It's only fair considering it's about me.” You pout. 

“How'd you find out about it?” Simon asks, crossing his arms. You turn to look at Johnny, their gazes following. “Fucking hell.” Simon breathes. 

“What?” Johnny asks, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. “She was gonnae find out eventually.” 

“Yeah.” You cross your arms pouting more. “Taking pictures of me in my sleep.” You murmur. 

“Can't help it, love.” Kyle says. “Not when you're just so cute.”

You grumble under your breath before looking up at Simon. “How did you get that picture of me cumming?” 

He snorts quietly. “You're not very aware when you're orgasming, love.”

Your mouth opens and closes a few times as they all step closer, closing in around you. You gulp, looking between Simon and Johnny who are in front of you. 

“We all appreciated that one.” John says, his voice raspier than normal. 

“Bout had a circle jerk to it.” Kyle says. 

You gulp again, the mental image of kneeling in the middle of them, cocks out as they cum all over you sending a thrilled shiver down your spine. Your scent thickens in the air, your eyes meeting Simon's as they press in even closer around you. You can almost feel John and Kyle pressed up against your back, their scents mixing into an alluring cocktail around you. 

“Maybe soon we won't need that group chat.” John says, dragging a knuckle down your spine. 

A shiver wracks through you, your nipples hardening and poking through the baggy shirt. Johnny curses, the toothbrush falling from his mouth as he stares right at your tits. 

“Would you like that, baby girl?” Kyle asks, leaning down towards you. “Think you can take all four of us?”

Your mouth waters as the many images you've conjured up of the five of you together flash through your mind. 

You let out a quiet sound as John's hand smacks against your ass, pushing you forward towards Simon and Johnny. “You haven't answered the question.”

“Yeah.” You breathe, eyes locked on Simon's hand as it lifts.

He grips your chin, lifting your face up so you're looking him in the eyes. “Want to try that again, omega?” The low rumble of his voice and your status coming from him has another shiver trailing down your spine, heading straight between your legs. 

Your scent thickens in the air, your breathing picking up as you swallow thickly. “Yes, sir.” 

A pleased growl rumbles in Simon's chest, Johnny groaning in response. “Good omega.”

You nearly fall to your knees right there, ready to take all four of their dicks at once, but you manage to keep your legs under you as Simon releases your chin. You're ready for it, that moment that the bonds open completely between the five of you and you allow yourselves that vulnerability with each other. Your pussy has been clenching in anticipation of seeing Simon and Kyle together. The image of Johnny's head between John's thighs had been plaguing you for weeks now. Even the image of John and Simon, hands on each other's cocks, has your head spinning. 

Warmth presses against your back, hot breath fanning against your ear as you tremble in anticipation. John's tongue darts out, licking the shell of your ear before he nearly purrs his promise.  

“Soon.” 

4 Weeks After

It’s a Friday evening. 

They’re always rough, the transition between the schedule of the weekdays and the unknown of the weekend always has your head spinning a bit. You feel a bit uneasy as you stand in the doorway to your room, staring into the darkness lit only by your nightlight on your desk. It casts a shadow over your bed, and for a moment you feel as if something is standing there, hidden in the shadows as it stares at you. You’re afraid to turn the light on, afraid to reveal what might be lingering in the darkness. 

You quietly close your door before hurrying down the hallway, nearly knocking your shoulder against the corner as you turn. You take a moment once you’re in front of the door before knocking quietly. You try to steady the rapid beat of your heart as you wait, your fingers trembling around the handle as you get the call to enter. 

The door clicks shut behind you, John’s eyes on you as you turn around. 

“Everything alright?” He asks, his brows furrowing slightly. 

You nod, stepping up to his desk. “Yeah, just...feeling a bit on edge.” You swallow your nerves, trying to calm yourself. “Can I...can I kneel for you?” 

“Of course.” He says, pushing his rolling chair to the side to give you room. 

It’s been a while since you knelt for him. Not since the week after your heat ended. Your knees had hurt, but you’d quickly forgotten after he eased you into that blissful state where your mind becomes unaware and your worries begin to float away. 

You need that right now. 

You kneel down on the floor beside him, sitting back on your feet. Your breath shakes as he runs a hand over your head, moving your hair out of the way. Your hands curl into the fabric of your shirt as you relax, trying to calm the stress from just a few moments ago. Soon it will be over. Soon it will be behind you as your alpha helps you calm those thoughts. You wait for it, the warmth of his hand around the back of your neck, for the gentle press of his fingers against those pressure points in your neck. 

You’ve been working with Dr. Keller on your instincts, on how to get better control over them. She hasn’t graduated you to those pressure points yet, the most sensitive in your entire body. The ones that draw the thin line between kneeling and scruffing. You’re glad she hasn’t pushed that far yet. You’re not quite sure you could handle it. 

A quiet breath leaves your lips as you relax your shoulders, eyes fluttering closed as he begins to apply the gentle pressure, your mind quieting into a hum. You begin to float away, all awareness of the office you’re enclosed in drifting into the distance. All there is, is you and your alpha and the gentle pressure of his fingers guiding your brain into peace and quiet. All the worry, all the stress, all the fear you had been feeling even as recently as a few minutes ago, begin to ease away into nothing. The worry and grief you’ve been feeling around your mother begins to quiet, drifting away for the moment. It’s relieving, your mind calming into a quiet buzz, finally easing away all the swirling emotions from the last few weeks. 

Time seems to still, sounds muffling as you kneel there, being supported by your alpha. He’s always there, always ready to give you what you need. You trust him, even in your most vulnerable moments. He’ll always be there to support you, to catch you when you fall. He’ll never leave you, never betray you. 

6 Weeks After

Things feel strange when you wake. It’s later than you usually nap, the sun not quite as bright as it usually is in your window. It’s quiet in the barracks, the usual sound of boots on the tile floor absent, the shuffling of bodies as they return from training. Even the fullness in the air, the energy of their presence is missing. The barracks feel empty. 

They’re still gone. 

You lift your phone, blinking away the sleep as you stare at the bright screen. It’s just past 11:30 in the morning, and there’s a text from John. 

‘Training late. One of us will take you to lunch.’ 

You let out a quiet groan, setting your phone back on the nightstand. You roll over, tugging a bear against your chest. You trace your fingers along the bear’s back, running your fingers absentmindedly over the soft fur. You’re groggy with sleep, not meaning to sleep so early. You’ve been taking afternoon naps lately to make up for your early mornings. It’s not that unusual for you to nap, but you’ve been tired more than normal lately. 

Ever since your heat, there’s been a nagging at the back of your brain, some kind of warning going off, yet you can’t quite figure out what it is. The feeling of being watched is back, but you searched every inch of your room and there were no more cameras. There wouldn’t have been a time where someone could have entered the barracks unseen. Someone would have seen. Someone would have noticed and alerted John, right? 

Unless they’re all in on it. 

You’re yanked out of your paranoid thoughts as your fingers brush a raised part of the seam on the bear’s back. You’ve never noticed it before, the small bump almost like there’s a hole starting. You’ll have to ask Johnny if he can patch it later. 

You pull the bear away from your chest, staring at it for a moment. You look into its eyes, into the blank, plastic black holes that stare right back at you. Something tickles down your spine, your hackles raising. Danger! Your mind screams, your fingers starting to shake the longer you stare into those eyes. 

Maybe you are starting to go crazy. 

You set the bear down on the bed, facing towards your room as you get up, stretching your arms over your head. You pull the baggy shirt you’d changed into over your head, pulling on the bra you’d ditched earlier and the clothes you’d taken off in favor of something more comfortable to nap in. 

You rub the sleep from your eyes as you head for the bathroom, letting out a quiet curse as you hit your knee against the open cupboard door. You kick it closed before standing at the sink, splashing cold water on your face to wake yourself up. You let out a sigh, dragging your fingers through your hair before walking back out to your room, sitting down on the edge of your bed. The bear falls forward but you don’t bother picking it up, grabbing your phone as you wait for whoever it is that’s going to pick you up. 

That familiar tickling in the back of your brain picks up again, your eyes darting around the room. There’s nothing. You’ve checked before. You’ve checked several times when you were alone, tearing apart your room and putting it back together. You’ve learned Simon’s organization system, memorized it to put almost everything back almost exactly as he had it. You always leave at least one thing out of place, just to make it seem less perfect. 

Perfection from you would raise suspicions. 

How strange it is that at one time you yearned for perfection, drove yourself to tears of shame trying to be the perfect omega. There’s no such thing as a perfect omega, because perfect people don’t exist. You may look perfect on paper, but in reality you’re far from it. Your pack doesn't care. They never cared. John never cared about your scores, the many essays you poured hours into at the institute. He never cared about what the CIA had to say, their own remarks on your aptitude, your ability to learn and adapt, your drive for success that was almost a fatal flaw. 

He always cared about you. They all only cared about you and what makes you a person, an individual. Not just an omega, but an actual living, breathing human being. 

The thought brings tears to your eyes. How many hours you stressed and the things you hid to try and come across as perfect when they were never interested in perfection. Would they have cared, had you been allowed in the military? Would they have cared about perfection if you weren’t just a part of the pack, but also a part of the team?

You’re not, though. You’re an omega, you’re their omega. You don’t know things because they have to keep you safe. 

If only you had been honest with them. 

It’s been almost four months since you discovered the cameras, since they left and you made the stupid decision to break the rules, to go against everything they drilled into your head. Don’t talk to any strangers. Don’t leave the barracks alone. Tell us, or Dr. Keller if anything happens.

You failed all three of those in a matter of hours. You’ve continued to fail one of them. 

They can’t ever know. It’s going to be a secret you take to your grave. 

They have their secrets, so why can’t you have yours? 

The uneasy feeling continues to grow, a shiver running down your spine as you sit there. You can’t take it anymore. You have to get out. You grab your phone, slipping on a pair of shoes before slipping out your door, pulling it closed. 

You let out a shriek as you turn, a looming figure standing right in front of you. 

“Simon!” You shout, putting a hand on your chest, your heart beating rapidly under your palm. You take deep breaths, trying to calm your panic. “Scared the shit out of me.” 

“Jumpy today.” He rumbles, staring at you as you try to stop yourself from having a heart attack. 

“Not my fault you’re like a ghost.” You stand up, driving your fist into his chest. It hits his pec, and you’re sure it hurts you more than it does him. “You can’t just go sneaking up on people like that! Fuck.” You take a deep breath, leaning against the wall for a moment. 

“I think you’ll live.” He says, stepping up closer to you. You tilt your head up, staring at his face. He’s wearing his eye black today, meaning they were doing training training. It makes something stir in your stomach, the sight of him in his gear, eye black on to hide his face further. How he looks in the field. Even now with his gear removed, you still feel warmth in your stomach. It’s exciting, the difference between Simon and Ghost. Though he has tried to keep you under the tender touch of Simon, you wouldn’t mind if Ghost began to show himself occasionally. You’d let him bend you over a crate in the warehouse, fuck you in full gear where anyone could walk in and see. The mental image of him, covered in blood, smearing it on your skin as he takes that post-fight adrenaline out on you...

You try to calm the rush of arousal straight between your legs. 

“I don’t know.” You pout. “Think I might need a kiss to make it better.” 

He stares at you for a moment before shifting so he’s hovering over you, pressing his hand against the wall above your head. He continues to stare down at you, his eyes boring into yours. “Well?” He asks, his voice low. “Are you going to get your kiss?” 

Your breath catches in your throat as you stare up at him. You hesitate, unsure if you’re supposed to cross this boundary, if he’s really opening this door. He’s always been the one to move the mask, to lift it before leaning down. Instead this time he’s allowing you to do it, to lift the mask, to reach up to him. 

He doesn’t move as you lift your hands, your fingers trembling as they close around the edge of his mask. You slowly lift it up, rolling it up over the tip of his nose. You stop there, unsure if you should continue. If he wanted you to take it off completely, he would have made that clear. You doubt he’d do it here, in the hallway. It feels like far too intimate of a moment to be done in the hallway. 

Your fingers trace his lips, sliding down to brush over the scar on his chin, his stubble tickling your fingers. You drop your hands to his shoulders, using them as leverage to lift up on your toes. You wrap your arms around his neck and he lets you pull him down slightly so you can press your lips to his. 

He kisses you deeply, pushing you back up against the wall, crowding into your space. You don’t mind it, his presence comforting, encompassing. It wraps you in a cloak of safety and security. Nothing can hurt you while you’re close to him. 

You know that, so why can’t he ease the prickling fear lingering in the back of your mind? Something is off, something not even Simon can protect you from. 

That thought makes your stomach clench, and not in a good way. 

Simon’s other hand falls to your hip, fingers digging into your skin as he kisses you like he’s trying to devour you, his tongue slipping into your mouth. You moan quietly, pressing your tongue against his. His muscles are tense and you can tell he’s fighting the urge to lift you up, carry you to his room and fuck your brains out. He has a mission though, he’s been sent here for a reason. 

“One of us will take you to lunch.”

He pulls away from your lips, pressing one last soft peck to them before stepping away. You’re panting softly for a different reason now, your heart thudding in your chest from the raw energy that Simon exudes. It makes your omega stir in the back of your mind, prickling down your spine. It mixes with the paranoia, the tickling of danger creating an almost toxic cocktail of sensations. It puts you on edge, your body seeking out Simon’s, and you’re not sure if you want him to hold you or fuck you. 

He tugs his mask back down, lowering his head to stare at you. “C’mon. Let’s get food in you before you get grumpy.” 

“I don’t get grumpy.” You pout, pushing yourself off the wall. 

He gives you a look of disbelief. 

“Okay, fine, I get a little grumpy.” You say, following him out of the barracks. 

You walk with him, slipping your arm around his. The uncomfortable prickling sensation doesn’t ease up any as you walk towards the mess, your fingers wrapping around the sleeve of his sweatshirt. It’s a path you’ve followed many times, so often you’re surprised there’s no footprints worn into the asphalt and gravel. 

You let go of his arm as you enter the mess. It’s prime meal time again, meaning it’s full of soldiers getting their second meal of the day. The back of your mind is tickling again, your metaphorical hackles raising. Your eyes dart around the tables as you pause, your feet gluing themselves to the floor, rendering you unable to move. That feeling is back, the feeling like someone is watching you, someone who shouldn’t be. 

They’re all staring at you. They all shouldn’t. Nothing can stop that. You’re in a public place. They’re going to stare, they’re going to assess. That’s what they’re trained to do. 

It could be any of them. 

The thought makes you sick. Any of them could have put the cameras in your room. Any of them could have violated your space, set up invisible eyes to watch and record you and everything you do, everything you say. They could have watched you with the others, watched your heat. They would have seen you in your most vulnerable moments, the amount of times you’ve changed in your room, come out of the shower in nothing but a towel. 

The blood is pulsing in your ears, the sounds simultaneously too loud and too quiet. You stand there, frozen, your chest rising and falling quickly as you begin to hyperventilate. They’re staring at you, curiously and cautiously. You know you’re projecting, your body trying to keep you safe from whatever threat is causing this reaction, even if it’s just in your mind. 

You let out a yelp as hands grab you, more of them turning to look at you. Your head snaps to the side, the hand that had curled into a fist instinctively relaxing as you recognize Simon staring down at you. He doesn’t have to say anything as he pushes you towards the door, your feet freeing themselves from the glue that held them down automatically, moving before you even realize it. 

You gulp down breaths of fresh air as you step outside, your feet stumbling in the gravel. Your hands are going numb, twisting into fists as adrenaline pumps through you. Simon keeps you steady, moving you away from the door. He takes you around the side of the mess to where there’s tables set up, the place you’ve seen most often used as a smoking area. Thankfully it’s empty right now, Simon pushing you to sit on the bench. He sits on the bench on the other side of the table, leaning on his arms as he stares at you. 

Your breathing is starting to relax now that you’re no longer confined in that space, surrounded by soldiers and alphas, ones that might hurt you. Simon doesn’t say anything for a while, eyes analyzing and observing as you work to calm yourself. Your hands slowly relax, uncurling as you take deep breaths, calming the adrenaline. Your eyes are burning, tears of embarrassment and fear stinging your waterline. 

“You want to tell me what happened in there?” Simon finally asks, leaning slightly closer to you.  

You know he doesn’t mean to, but his tone sounds almost accusing, prying and interrogating you for some logical explanation as to why you just had a panic attack in the mess. He could probably sense the nervous energy coming off of you in waves since he first stepped into the barracks, something not even a kiss from him could push away. You desperately want to sink into him, to hold him until you’ve become one, safe and secure where no one can hurt you. 

Where no one would dare watch you. 

You let out a shaky breath, your fingers twisting together nervously on the table. “I-I don’t know. It’s just...it’s all so much and it feels like everything is wrong.” The words come spilling out before you can stop them, bearing your inner thoughts to the alpha in front of you. “I-I’m going insane. Between the fear and the paranoia and the worry, I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t feel safe anymore, and ever since I found the cameras I feel like I’ve been silently spiraling out of control-” 

The words cut off as you realize what you just said. It had slipped out before you could even stop it. Maybe it was the yearning for some kind of relief, for the weight of your secret to finally be removed from your shoulders. Maybe it was the safety you felt around Simon urging you to confess, urging you to seek out that safety once more. 

Or maybe everything has become too much, and you’re at the risk of spiraling to a place you can’t come back from, and your omega is desperately pushing everything out in an attempt to save you. The paranoia of earlier in your room, the creeping feeling that you missed something, that someone is watching you, the thought that it could be anyone in the mess right now, anyone on base. It makes you sick thinking about it, and perhaps this was a last ditch effort to avoid it scaring you permanently. 

Simon’s back straightens as he stares at you, and for a moment you hope he didn’t hear it, that he might shrug it off as something he misheard. You’re gaslighting yourself, attempting to ease the panic that’s rising in you again. You know he heard it. He’s far too attentive, far too aware to miss something like that. There’s no going back now, there’s no playing it off. You can’t lie again. You’re not even trying to make up a story, an excuse as you wait for his response, for the inevitable question. 

His eyes are piercing into you, all the softness he had been looking at you with before gone. His voice is low, dangerous, not offering up a chance to lie your way out of this again, but telling you, you can’t lie. He knows. You’ve spilled it and there’s no going back now. 

“You want to repeat that?” 

Fuck.

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[clockworksteel]

Goals for 2025

Yep, it's New Year's time.

Serious goals

Make necessary calls and such to hire somebody for at least one major house-related task this year. Some possibilities: repainting the outside of the house, patching the driveway, or fixing AC in my room. Ideally more than one, of course.

Actually regularly exercise this year. It would be good if I could at least make some progress on my shoulder rather than neglecting physical therapy stuff. Like, there's a definite problem.

Prepare at least 10 recipes I've never done before. Some will probably come from the cookbooks I was given for Christmas, but taking over the occasional meal from the meal delivery service I get with my housemate is a possibility. It would be good if I could step up more with regards to cooking, and my housemate will be leaving someday.

Fun goals

Finish some games that I own already, but haven't played in over two months. It's good to appreciate the games I already own, and will save some cash if it reduces my Steam sale spending. Specifically I'd like to finish:

At least one strategy game. Likely one of Persona 5 Tactica, Unicorn Overlord, Mario and Rabbids, or Fire Emblem Engage.

At least one game I never even started. Possibilities include Hi-Fi Rush, Coromon, Dream Tactics, Before Your Eyes, Nobody Saves the World, Blue Fire, Temtem, and about a jillion things from those charity itch.io bundles.

At least two other games. Some ideas: Monster Sanctuary, Chrono Ark, Cupid Parasite, Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair, Berserk Boy, Dungeon Drafters, Tales of Arise, Rain World

Review at least 10 games on Steam. I play a lot of games. I'd like to practice gathering my thoughts on what makes a game fun or not.

Finish the Void Rain species posts. Still need Glyphs, Veyerals, and Zaramechs.

Remarks

I didn't include a gender goal because I don't think it can be forced, but I'm not fully convinced I've got it figured out. See my last post for my current thoughts.

I'm not feeling like pushing Challenge Enthusiasts this year. To write down my current points in case they do change, though, they're at 680. I guess I already remarked I earned about 200, but the actual change in points was from 465 to 680, due to either new objectives I'd already done being added, or point values being adjusted.

While there are a number of other household tasks I will want to get done this year, I don't think making them a resolution will help. I've started playing Spirit City: Lofi Sessions recently and that might be what I need for them. I don't want to make a "play Spirit City" goal, though, because that's not really the essential part of what's going on and I might drop the game without dropping the habit of doing things.

[joyfullyacat]

Putting it Together

its another "good job for being a good noodle in school" reward for @cacaocheri aka the only reason i write fluff /j CW: none, pure fluff (maybe angst if u squint and tilt ur head enough) word count: just a lil over 1k, a nice fluffy rest for y'all -

The sewing machine hums beneath your touch as you carefully feed the striped britches through, letting the quiet music of the nearby radio bleed into the birdsong that falls from your open window send you into a sort of lull.

It’s a pleasant spring morning, chilled in just the right way from the showers of last night. If things dry up enough, maybe you’ll garden. Things need weeding and there’s those bramble patches that need to be taken care of.

You find yet another hole in Sun’s pants towards the ankle and puff in playful exasperation.

Maybe not today… 

Muffled and distant, you can just make out the usual bustle of Sun as he goes about the little home that you inhabit with him. Hopefully he’s not making breakfast - not that he’s bad at cooking but you’re just not hungry yet…

…Have you even eaten yet on that note? How long have you been up?

“Might as well see.” You mutter to yourself with a convenient yawn as your attention teeters off.

Joints pop while you unfurl yourself from the hunch over your working table, maneuvering around the stool to actually face the clock that hangs on a wall just behind you.

He specifically put it there just for you, despite your wishes, just so you’d actually move when it seemed to be about that time.

Usually, it was always just about that time when you checked.

This time was no different, it’s been… Hours since you woke up. You don’t even really recall the surrounding lighting changing with the time. Just after dawn to the afternoon was quite the jump.

“...He’ll get me when he’s ready.” You note thoughtfully, the animatronic typically would get you as he knows your forgetful habits and chastises you for them every time with that same warm smile.

Endearingly kind as he always was.

Though the fact he hadn’t yet meant there was likely a surprise in store for you - so who were you to ruin his fun? 

You spin yourself right back around and continue to fix up the worn out pants.

He was always quite adamant about having stripes on his apparel and was quite averse to stars or other imagery. Why? You didn’t quite know but he’d tell you when he was ready to. 

It was a long long project of patching him up from how he used to be. Riddled with scorch marks, missing pieces and parts of himself you don’t think he’d ever get back. You learned quite a bit about mechanical engineering from him.

He also became somewhat of your walking canvas, the paint you had never lasted long on surfaces that wouldn’t stain like metal - so you gave him new palettes and colors with relative frequency. You think he used to be yellow, maybe golden.

Now he lives freely as your live-in assistant. At least as free as any autonomous robot could.

“You don’t have to stay here, you know?” You offer one evening, looking up from your book so you could see his response.

His hands move deftly. 

“Where would I go? Back to a scrap heap?” He gestures to himself, his rays fluttering from side to side in that way you took as laughter before continuing, hands moving with a held-back speed so you could better read him. “I am happy. Safe here with you.” 

Learning sign language from him had been fun - really, you learned a lot from him that was more than just taking care of yourself, your little house on the outskirts of highrise cities, or the garden that you got much of your food from.

Some days he did have a voice, or at least his voice box fell in a way that would enable it to function, you concluded. It was staticky and muffled as if something was swaddling the device in there and those days weren’t always his best. But it was never something he wanted you to fuss with, no matter how many times you offered.

“Sunray, I put lights back into your eyes and touched more wires in your head than I’ve got fingers - is something wrong down there that I can help with?” You look at him with furrowed brows of worry as he works on his own torso, a mirror in front of him and a pile of your late father’s tools at his side.

He looks up at you with a deer in the headlights look, obviously his hands are occupied so he can’t quite communicate with you but you can see in the way his eyes maneuver and his rays shrink in that he’s confused.

“...What’s that face for? Oh - do you not like Sunray?”

He shakes his head no, his rays unexpectedly popping outwards before doing a spin and he seems bashful of the reaction that happened on reflex.

“Hey, if you like it! I should have asked regardless… But do you need help? Seriously.”

Another shake of the head in refusal and he motions with his chin for you to go about your business. 

“Alright, alright. I’m one heavy foot stomp away though, okay?”

He rolls his eyes in mock, lighthearted annoyance, you can practically hear the “okay mom.”

It’s not long until the pants are complete. A few separate patches had to be done in that you matched to your best abilities but it was done. Your to-do list for the day suddenly shrank by a fair amount.

Maybe you could work on the ribbons? 

Sun held an absolute affinity for ribbons, endlessly he admires those you’ve tied to your plants as colorful notes for what was what. He always got touchy along his wrists when handling them on the few occasions they’ve had to be changed out or replaced due to thieving birds.

So, you were working on a collection for him, one with meaning. Ones for all sorts of occasions. Days he wanted to be to himself, days he needed to be cared for, the whole run of the mill.

So you get up, folding the newly repaired garment in your arms to rest at the corner of your work table before going to your stashed box of work-in-progress ideas, removing the clear segmented box with labeled tags.

Of course, many would just be worn because he wants to - he can give meaning to those as he pleases if he so wished.

The familiar lull kicks back into place as you hem each strip of cloth into a fine ribbon along your machine, the easy trance drawing you in and blocking out the world around you.

You don’t even recognize when the door to your workspace is opened up, even if Sun is someone who is a far cry from being stealthy in any capacity. You don’t notice how he stands there in shock as he looks over what you’ve done…

Sun spies the pants he wore before - the first pair, the only pair he ever really had before knowing you and your sewing machine. Now they brand new as if the fire had never happened to begin with. It was a miracle they survived at all but to see them restored now from the shreds they once were...

He now understood why you spent many sleepless nights in here and fussed over dyes and materials for a good month before settling down.

Currently… What were you working on? Were those ribbons?

He stares at the red strip of cloth feed through your sewing machine, now given a golden threaded edge. 

They look much like his original set, the ones you never got to see. You would have liked them, he thinks.

But he also thinks he’ll love these ribbons even more than his old ones.

The animatronic approaches you carefully, setting the plate full of your lunch down in an unoccupied space on your work table before his arms wrap around your middle…

You’re thoroughly brought out from your reverie at the unexpected contact, just registering the noises of something hitting the surface you were working on before feeling a stone-hard chest press into your back.

Or would it be a metal-hard chest?

“Sunray? What’s this about?” It’s not that he’s never hugged you before but there’s something distinct about this particular one that has you worried.

There's much being poured into this action, feelings and intent that you can't hope to pick apart right now. His arms only wrap tighter around your waist at your question and you feel him softly bonk his faceplate into the back of your head, moving it side to side subtlety.

…Was he nuzzling you?

“I suppose the cat is out of the bag now, isn’t it - this was all gonna be a surprise for you. We’re coming up on a year of existing with one another, isn’t that fun? You’ve come such a long way.” You explain, moving the container of made ribbons over to the edge of the table on your other side not occupied by pants or food so he could inspect them.

Sun stays holding onto you however, just leaning off to the left enough to view your offering.

Something clicks and there’s a little buzz in the air now that you recognize comes from him, it’s the sound of his voice box. Has he got it working?

“I was… Going to surprise you too.” It’s not quite clear, there’s stutters and the audio crackles when he’s done speaking but it’s unmistakably Sun’s voice there. Speaking more than just one word at that.

“Look at you, Sunny!” Excitedly, you pat along one of his hands while awkwardly contorting an arm to hug him the best you can in your given position. A careful caress along his face offered. “It’s the best you’ve sounded yet and you’ll only get better, won’t you?”

Your heart soars as Sun tilts his head into the touch before speaking.

“I… Hope so.” With a final, little pop like an old recording, the buzz shuts off and he pulls away, moving to your side and keeping an arm about your waist while freeing up a hand to look at the ribbons.

It’s not until he has to sign his next request to you that he removes his hold on you entirely.

“...You want me to add bells?” You ask, a brow raising. “I… Think I have some actually, yeah we can do that - hold on…” You get up just to circle the table, pulling at drawers of the stout cabinet that hides beneath your main table. Boxes of various findings get removed before you find your package of silver bells. “Will these do?”

They’re not very large by any means but the way his eyes widen with hope and excitement is all you need. They’d do for now until you get some more suitable for his size.

“Sorry they aren’t gold, that tends to be your preferred color isn’t it?”

Queue the frantic, apologetic and placating signing. You catch onto a handful of words before you reach across the table to still his hands before you’re driving the package of shining, tinkling bells into his palms.

Their sounds, even when in a confined conglomerate of plastic and cheap metal, come out pleasantly.

“It’s alright. Really.” Is all you say before pulling away with a final pat of reassurance.

You spend your afternoon enjoying your sandwich and sliced fruits while watching Sun thread ribbons, bell after bell. 

You can’t think of a better time.

[unfinshedsentec]

Can I request a Nahoya and reader where he has like a motherly girlfriend and she is kind of like the mother of their gang? Like she is super nice and caring but can also become the scariest person ever. If you don’t want to it’s fine sorry if it’s confusing 😊

hey love! thank you so much for requesting! I actually have a friend like this so writing this was almost comforting in a way?

I hope you like it <3 It may not be my best so I’m sorry!!

nahoya (smiley) with a motherly s/o!

reader is fem!

character pairing: nahoya (smiley) x reader

tw: maybe slight cursing? I don’t quite remember

Dating Smiley means you almost have to be motherly in way…

Let’s face it, he’s got a couple of screws loose. And he’s definitely reckless enough that having someone like you around, is necessary.

He’s always going out and getting into fights, and often times comes back home injured. Of course, you have to be the one to scold him! While you fix his wounds, your always making sure to tell him to be more carful and to slow the hell down.

You’re also the one whose waking him up in the morning, dragging him to school, dragging him away from fighting the guy who’s partnered up with you, etc.

You often do little things too, like teaching him how to cook, clean, and in general, you teach him little life things he needs to know.

To you, doing those simple little things helps Smiley not only become more of a person, but he also becomes more prepared for the real world.

Hell, you ended up being the one to teach both Smiley and Angry how to cook ramen, which they both clearly loved!

Often times, you do little things like that with Angry too! You always love teaching him to do some stuff, and he generally loves learning about it too. He loves spending time with you, and to him, doing little things like cooking and cleaning is very helpful and it’s actually calming.

So, Angry helps you and Smiley out a lot!

Sometimes, you even take Angry to little places like cafes and amusement parks to give him some time away from the stress of being in a gang. You tend to be able to tell when someone is stressed, and when you see it, you do what you know helps them!

Of course, when Smiley’s the one whose getting stressed or concerned, you take him on sweet little date, you make a good dinner for him, and you especially cuddle him. He loves being cuddled, especially when he’s stressed.

And in exchange, Smiley protects you, helps you with the things you teach him, hugs you kisses you, cuddles you, etc. He’s pretty much giving you all the love in the world!

But honestly, you’re so cute, how could he not?

Well…you’re cute most of the time. When you’re angry you’re a whole new person…one who the whole of Toman is terrified of.

Yes, as Smiley’s girlfriend, your CONSTANTLY taking care of Toman too!

You’re always patching up their wounds, helping them when their down, and just overall, you help them as much as you can. Hell, you help Draken take care of Mikey every once in a while, (especially when he has a temper tantrum).

When Draken was stabbed, you and Smiley often went to visit him and gave him some home cooked meals, which he apricated a lot. When you found out Mikey was depressed, you made sure to buy him some Dorayaki and got him a little stuffed animal, which Smiley gave to him with a sweeter smile on his face.

The same goes for any other members. When they’re own or need help, you’ll help them!

You just love helping them and giving them the care, they need. They’re all sweet boys after all, why wouldn’t you?

But you will say…they get in trouble a lot, and when it’s too much…you get pissed.

Your pissed off self is certainly not a forced to be reckoned with…and trust me, Smiley is the one who knows that more than anyone.

One time, after the fight with the Black Dragons, you yelled at each and every member who was involved, and they were so scared that some people actually pissed themselves.

Hell, Mikey kneeled to you because he KNEW to leave you be.

Another time, when Smiley didn’t call or text you for a couple of days because his phone got broke in a fight, and he swore the moment he saw you again, that he opened his eyes purely from the horrible aura around you.

Even scarier, when you get super angry, your voice stays super quite and calm…but your face screams “I’m gonna kill you”.

Last time that happened, Smiley ran away and didn’t visit you again for a week out of fear.

Aside from your insanely scary angry self, you’re truly a very sweet, kind, caring person who Smiley loves more than anyone. The way you care for him and take care of him make him feel super loved, which he really appreciates.

You truly are his savior!

Overall, you’re definitely a bit of a mom toward Smiley, Angry, and Toman, but that make you even cuter, and Smiley, wouldn’t change it for the world~

masterlist || once again, thanks for the request!

[shotorozu]

you like their hands

character(s) : shinsou hitoshi, kirishima eijirou, monoma neito (2/?)

legend : [Y/N = your name] they/them pronouns, quirk left unmentioned

post type : headcanons + small scenario [fluff, the mildest of spice] not even nsfw

note(s) : i was gonna put denki in this but i had a hard time thinking about what kinda hands he’d have, so i’m putting him in the next post

»»————-　♡　————-««

shinsou hitoshi

his hands are big, and his fingers are quite thick.

really likes wearing rings and bracelets, but he usually doesn’t wear them when he’s working (i’d say that bc wearing jewelry while doing physical activity HURTS)

regarding texture, his hands were initially soft— but due to transferring in the hero course, they roughened up over time

he’ll use hand cream if you want, but he doesn’t go the extra mile. and his nails are trimmed at all times. painting his nails a black color would be great once in a while.

lol i forgot to mention nails in the last post

he notices right away that you like his hands when he catches you staring at them when he’s cracking his knuckles

like.. people have said that his hands are nice, but he doesn’t really say much about them bc they’re not you

scenario

a crack sound is briefly heard in the rather silent room. the scrolling on your phone halts, and your eyes follow the sound of the crack.

ah, he’s cracking his knuckles. you think to yourself, and you’re left just simply admiring the way he applies pressure on a knuckle. who knew that his rather— large hand would look appealing, even while cracking his knuckles.

you snap out of your observation, but instead of just simply going back to whatever you were doing, you’re met with lilac eyes. “you were staring again.”

your cheeks heat up, and you opt to just turn your head to the opposite direction. “sorry,” you apologize. however— that’s not what hitoshi was looking for apparantly.

“if you like my hands alot,” he scoots next to you, hands sliding up and down your arms— his firm grip practically making the pre existing butterflies in your stomach act up again. “then you should’ve said so, kitty.”

is he conscious of his actions? hm. you could say that

he’ll purposely play with his capture tool right in front of you— the material wrapping around his hand. and he can only laugh when you immediately get absorbed into it

the back of his hand will brush against your cheek. then, when he comes in to kiss you, he’ll cup your cheek— kissing you with his other hand resting at your nape

under the table, his hand will start to slide against yours, interlocking hands with you. he’ll act like nothing is happening, but on the inside— he’s taking in your reaction

a little spicy, but when he wants you to look at him— he’ll do that thing where his thumb brushed against your bottom lip, as it almost dips right into your mouth

if he feels a little extra, his hand will also be tugging on your hair (if you’re fine with that. otherwise, he’s sticking to the one above)

oh and he also does that thing where he rests his hand on your neck, thick fingers squeezing your throat lightly.

overall— THIS MAN omg, he’ll entertain your interest in his hand nicely, just for you. and every single thing he does is memorable

kirishima eijirou

his hands are quite normal regarding size, they are almost always veiny, a lot more than bakugou’s actually. i think at some point he was concerned about them

his hands are rather flushed in color, but that’s because of his quirk. his fingers have a few tiny scars here and there,

he occasionally has pen marks on his wrists due to bad penmanship, and his nails.. don’t look the best, but they’re not the worst it’s bc of his quirk

the palms of his hands are ridden with callouses. but he wears them with pride because it’s the pure evidence of his hard work with his training.

but he starts to get worried about them when he goes to hold your hand.

you always had a thing for kirishima’s hands, but you just never had the chance to tell him that. i guess asking you did it for him

scenario

did you even realize how hard you were staring at his hands right now? it happened every single time he enlaced his arms around you, his hands resting at the sides of your arms

at first, he thought it might’ve been because his hands are too rough, or you might’ve been in discomfort— because maybe, just maybe, he accidentally activated his quirk?

the fact that he can’t exactly tell what it is worried him, maybe he should just ask you.

but his worry washed off when you told him upfront that you ‘liked his hands’

“wait so.. you’re staring at my hands because you like them?” kirishima wants to confirm your words, and— so casually, by the way— nod in agreement.

tracing the veins on his hands, you elaborate “your hands are really nice, i can tell how hard you must’ve worked.” pressing your smaller hand against his, you smile.

eijirou takes a moment to process it, but it’s surprisingly quick. “oh t-thanks!” he sheepishly took the compliment, a small blush sporting on his cheeks. “i’m glad it wasn’t because you thought they were weird.”

kirishima unintentionally feeds your interest with his hands. like sometimes.. he’s just not aware of it, but yes— he is feeding your interest well

will always make you compare hand sizes with him, chuckling softly at the dazed look on your face when your palms touch

if you allow him, he’ll fix your hair for you. doesn’t matter what hair type you have, he’ll do LOTS of research to know how to style it

those hands are magical

if you get a papercut, or a wound from cooking— he’ll patch you up, then he’ll press a kiss on the bandaid.

he’ll do this thing where he’ll squeeze your sides when you pull in for a hug. but if you’re not okay with that, he’ll opt to just rubbing your back with his hand— rocking you softly as he hugs you

a little spicy, but his hands do wander a lot. you might need to even hold them in place to make sure they don’t go too wild

in addition to that, he’ll just SLIGHTLY, activate his quirk to make sure you’re conscious of his touch. his finger tips gliding against your back, sending shivers down your spine.

but of course, he’s careful. he doesn’t activate it to the point it causes scratch marks, nor will his actions draw blood. he doesn’t wanna do that

in short— kirishima’s a little clueless at first. he wouldn’t really tease you in public, but he’s surprisingly attentive to your interest.

monoma neito

his hands are on the tipping edge of slightly above average. he doesn’t have a lot of veins on his hands, but they do pop out depending on what quirk he’s using

monoma’s hands are pretty spotless of any scars (from cuts, abrasions, etc.) because he gets REALLY annoyed with wounds pretty easily

to the point he’d want to attend to the wound immediately, he doesn’t let them sit— it’s just a personal preference

his nails are at the perfect length. not too long and not too short to the point it hurts, you don’t know how he does it.

wears watches on his wrists, and not the digital type— he sorta acts like he can read it easily, but it takes him a few seconds to even get to know the time

you know this because kendo snitched on him and told you LOL

you secretly hate yourself for this, but you really like his hands because of how he takes care of them. you’d never tell monoma even though you’re dating him

scenario

you’re unsure of yourself on how your boyfriend— monoma, found out about your fascination with his hands. it was supposed to be a secret for the rest of your life, and you only remember talking about it once out loud

which you assumed was a close call, considering that you thought he didn’t hear it at all— but he did.

“so i heard you like my hands, huh Y/N?” monoma’s teasing tone does not aid the situation. your cheeks heat up with embarassment, and you can’t get yourself to answer his question— without sounding like a fool anyway.

you fake annoyance, “where’d that come from?” you ask, and monoma doesn’t seem to want to switch the topic

“i’m asking you a question, dear Y/N— i heard you like my hands,” his tone would’ve sounded condescending to any other person, but you can tell that he’s either genuinely curious

or just teasing you, because that’s how he is.

to aid his question, he brushes his fingers along your neck— near your pulse. you jolt, stunned by the sudden action— heart beating rapidly against your chest.

“see,” monoma presses his hand against your chest, where your heart is palpitating, grinning in a way that’s teasing you “it’s true, isn’t it? sweet Y/N has a thing for my hands, hm?”

you furrow your eyebrows, and flick his forehead— and he hisses in reaction, “fine then, i do like your hands.” you finally give in, admitting final defeat.

ever since then, you haven’t heard the end of it

definitely that person that’ll just randomly bring it up to you, no matter what hour of the day it is.

“oh Y/N, you were totally fawning over my hands earlier—”

“i will castrate you.”

you know he means well most of the time, but sometimes he just loves teasing the heck out of you.

but that doesn’t mean he neglects your obvious interest in his hands.

he’ll compliment you, he’s a snarky person in general— but to you, he’s totally smooth with it.

slides his hand from your forearm to your hands, only to bring them up to his lips, pressing a kiss against your hand

squeezes your hand everytime he sees you, it’s kind of a nonverbal greeting at this point

similar to kirishima, he likes comparing hand sizes— teasing you about the size difference (even if it’s not even a big of a difference, he’ll take that chance.)

does this thing where he rubs his thumb against his palm. does it a lot when he’s concentrated about something, or just out of the blue

a little spicy, but he’ll make you tell him what you like about his hands, and what you like about the things he does with those hands of his. if that makes sense

he wants all of the details, doesn’t care if it’s mundane, or things he does when he’s feeling a certain way.

he wants to know, because as soon as you’re done with your spewl, he’ll do exactly what you like, teasing you while he’s at it. and so he can start incorporating those habits whenever he’s around you.

totally someone that’ll make you suck on those fingers. oh, but he’ll purposely get some dessert on them— asking you to suck them off

“good grief, i got some dessert on my fingers again. Y/N, come suck them off”

sometimes he’s serious, sometimes he’s just teasing.

overall— it’s pretty adventurous. he starts to act on it as soon as the revelation is revealed to him.

but i’d say he does just fine.

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei. i only own the writing, and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, translate, repost, or use my work for audio readings without my consent :))

[terry-perry]

Hi! if you're still open for requests,can you please do a oneshot,drabble or whatever with this suggestion?. Loki’s out in the forest to collect ingredients for his spells/potions and unintentionally goes too deep and gets lost, it's evening and he's finding his way back, he suddenly sees a wide patch of land holding many rare ingredients and he's in the middle of taking a bunch of it but suddenly hears a whip of the wind behind him and looks to see a woman ina cloak saying he’s in her property.

Potions were hardly needed in the world of Asgard. For certain spells, however, those who studied magic believed the best way to perfect them would be homemade remedies with the most enchanting of ingredients. Thanks to Frigga, Loki managed to find most of the things he needed to create his potion. There was one thing left though that would complete it. A special herb that could only be found in certain regions.

Frigga did mention it may be in stock with an old acquaintance of hers. As soon as she brought out their name, Loki grew hesitant. There were stories of this woman that didn't put her in the best light. Like with Frost Giants, she was a horror story that parents told their children if they misbehaved.

"Go to bed, or Y/N the Enchantress will snatch you up and cook you for supper,"

According to his mother, she was nothing more than a woman who shut herself away from the rest of the world after the death of her family. She and Frigga had grown up together, being raised by the coven of witches. But since the tragic event, they had since grown estranged.

Despite his mother's assurance, Loki did not wish to take any chances. Her grief could have led to the madness. Simply going to her home to ask for the herb could lead to her inviting him inside. No. It was probably best to sneak away and take just a bit of it from her garden if it was truly in stock.

Late in the evening, Loki snuck out of the castle and went deep into the nearby woods where Y/N was said to reside.

He never saw the place for himself. As one of the princes of Asgard, he was rarely allowed to go anywhere on his own. Any chaperone -- be it a guard or Thor -- was always around to warn him of straying too far. As he grew older and had a better of his skills, there was more leniency in where he could go. This sneaking away in the dead of night was more out of fear than anything else. Perhaps he should've woken up Thor to let him know of his plans.

There was no turning back now since he was finally met by a stone cottage in the middle of the woods. The moonlight seemed to especially shine on the desired garden at the back of the home. He saw that it possessed a beautiful collection of flowers and herbs. His eyes immediately caught on to the specific plant he needed to fix his potion. It looked so fresh and green. He just had to have it!

Looking around his surroundings, Loki snuck around the back of the cottage to retrieve it. He hated that it was in the middle of the whole garden since it meant he had actually had to sneak in to retrieve it. Doing his best to not make a sound, he stepped over and around the other plants until he managed to reach out and pull the other plants until he managed to reach out and pull the ones he needed by their roots. He was so focused on his little quest, he did not realize he had been caught until the enchantress came out to make her presence known in a hissing voice.

"Who dares to come and disturb me at my home?"

Loki froze on the spot. The enchantress was holding onto a lantern, so he managed to see some of her features. He was now frozen for another reason. His mother claimed they knew each other growing up, so he was expecting someone around her age. But the woman before him was a lot younger and very pretty.

He didn't bother himself too much with her looks. In fact, he now feared that the rumors may be true. Could she really be using children to keep herself young and beautiful? He did his best to straighten up and pull down his hood. Perhaps if he revealed his title, he might be let go with simply a warning to never return.

"I am Loki," he introduced himself with confidence. "Prince of Asgard."

"Friggason," she added, her eyes never leaving his. "I know the proper way to address you would be as Odinson, but your mother's name holds more value. Don't you think?"

A smile flicked the corners of his mouth. He wasn't going to argue with that.

"What does the son of Frigga wish to do with my herbs?" She asked then, lowering her lantern.

When she did this, he had a better view of her youthful appearance. It was certainly lovely, almost ethereal. And by lowering the lantern as well as showing a form of respect for his mother might mean he could lower his worries a bit.

He straightened himself up and explained. "Forgive me, I had wished to brew a potion that required this herb,"

"And instead of asking, you chose to steal from my private garden," she responded. "I would've expected this from the local village children, but not from one of the sons of Frigga. Surely she gave me a good word?"

Loki grew pale during her little interrogation. He wasn't exactly sure how how to answer her. As he stayed silent, she sighed.

"The stories," she mumbled. "Will they ever cease?"

"I'm sorry if I offended you,"

Her pretty face softened somewhat as she now looked so sad. He of all people should know what it's like to be judged so shallowly. It's why he was there to begin with.

"Let me show you something," he said.

As soon as her eyes met his once more, they widened as his skin shifted. The Asgardian shield Odin had covered him in when he was a baby melted away as he revealed the blue underneath. She watched as he showed her all who he was. The icy skin, the Jotun markings, the blood red eyes.

"Frost giant!" she softly exclaimed. And yet she did not retreat.

"We might have more in common than we realized..."

[maxismatchccworld]

Patch Notes

Update 07/20/2021

PC: 1.77.131.1030 / Mac: 1.77.131.1230

Console: Version 1.44

Hello Simmers!

Hope you are well wherever you are in the world and that you are all having a fantastic Summer of Sims! We are excited to share today’s update with you. There is a lot of info, so make sure you have your tea/coffee/beverage of choice ready to read on. You all know I have my coffee ready for this!

As we continue to get ready to explore the countryside charm of Henford-on-Bagley and cannot absolutely wait to play with the adorable animals in Cottage Living, we also have updates and fixes that should improve and complement your Sims’ everyday life. We have something for everyone and we hope that you all enjoy them. Thank you for all your feedback and support.

Cheers!

-SimGuruRusskii ft. SimGuruRomeo and SimGuruJoAnna

What’s New?

Let’s start with some items that we shared in our last Sims 411! For this update, we partnered with two talented artists from the LGBTQ+ community, Ashley Lukashepsky, and Mohammed Iman Fayaz, and they have brought their inspiring and beautiful artwork into the game. We have also included the modernized version of the large afro hairstyle that we showed you. But more than tell you about it in text, let me actually attach a screenshot of everything put together:

I love everything about this scene, not only it shows you how the artwork looks in a real game setting, but the whole scene with the two Sims and their surroundings is quite magical. Also, look at that hair! The way the light highlights it, perfection! You may also notice the hair of the Sim on the right, which was also added with this update for everyone. I want to personally thank all Simmers for their feedback and recommendations, as we are continuously working on adding more diverse hairstyles and textures to not only packs, but also to our base game.

Now that we are talking about artwork, the last patch notes I forgot to add the artwork made by the wonderful Jupiter Stevens-Hill. I apologize for that, I totally blanked out. However, I’m happy to see that a lot of you are enjoying it and placing it in your Lots! That makes a very happy Russkii =)

To find Jupiter, Ashley, and Mohammed’s paintings in Build Mode, make sure you take a look at the Paintings and Posters sort and filter by Base Game items. These artists are amazing and we hope you enjoy their creations.

Now, without further ado, let’s get to some new features and improvements that are part of this update!

A little bit of Gallery

When you download a lot made with the bb.moveobjects cheat, the game now notifies you about this so you know to activate the cheat before placing the lot. Builders, this means you won't need to mention it in the lot’s description anymore!

A little for Sims

Trying to find the Sims in the current neighborhood? Select their portraits in the Relationship Panel.

"Focus the Camera" moves the camera to the Sim.

"Lock the Camera" moves the camera to the Sim and keeps following them.

Where did the Notebook go?

Found it! The Notebook has moved out of the Phone and into its own button for quicker access.

The "Center on Current Lot" button that used to be there has moved to the top right, adjacent to the Camera Controls.

Water Tool

You now can make natural, organic bodies of water! Just head into Build Mode, make a hole with the Terrain Manipulation tool, and fill it with water. It is that easy! The Terrain Manipulation and Paint Tools also have more brush sizes to enable finer detail.

In adding the Water Tool, we also took the chance to overhaul the related tools and object categories. Why not? Enjoy!

Pond Effects

All sorts of critters are available to complete the look of your pond ranging from ducks and swans to pesky mosquitoes. There is even an alligator!

New Pond Objects

Outdoor Water Décor now has an assortment of new Pond Objects to decorate the perfect pond. Some of these objects such as the Bog Log and Colorful Lily Pads have interactions on them in Live Mode to activate Turtle and Frog effects. The new Fishing Allowed Sign enables you to stock your pond with any fish your Sims have previously caught. Try it out!

New Water Styles

Go beyond the original crystal blue and dreamy magenta water. Additional options range from “Mossy Water” to “Pond Scum” to complete that au natural look.

The Shrubs category includes new plants to complement the water styles: "Green Fern", "Leaning Not-Grass Grass", "Not-Grass Grass Sans Inflorescence."

Gardening with Children

Children now can help out in the garden by planting, watering, and weeding. They build their Mental skill as they garden. The process of purchasing and planting seeds is streamlined as well to make gardening more enjoyable for everyone.

Group Cooking

Cooking no longer is a solo affair. Sims now can cook in groups of up to five Sims including children. Start cooking together by selecting a fridge, stove, or any empty countertop.

Zoomers Food Delivery Service

Are your Sims getting tired of the same old pizza delivery every night? Well, gone are the days of redundant pizza nights. Maybe you are in the mood for pasta primavera or even a fancy steak dinner. All this and more are available courtesy of Zoomer Food Delivery. Order delivery through the phone or the refrigerator and the food will arrive in a jif.

Calendar

The calendar, previously available only with Seasons, now is available with Base Game to see upcoming events such as birthdays, school and work schedules, festivals, and fairs. You even can use it to book events, so it’s time to get to party planning!

Bug Fixes

Consoles

In Snowy Escape, skiing, sledding, and snowboarding on Bunny Slopes now contribute to the Extreme Sports Enthusiast Aspiration.

Also in Snowy Escape, Sims with high enough Skiing and Snowboarding skills now can enjoy the more advanced slopes. Sims also use the Lift to go to the top of the slopes and not go “the hard way.”

Simmers can now rotate Sims downloaded from the Gallery in Create a Sim. Spin them ‘round, ‘round, Simmers ‘round, ‘round -  like a record ‘round, ‘round, ‘round, ‘round.

The Sims 4

We made some improvements that should help our Simulation lag, particularly on the usage of some computer interactions like playing BlicBlock, along with fishing interactions, which should make the game perform a bit better. Note that this doesn’t entirely fix simulation lag but it should help and it is a step in a good direction.

Fixed an issue in which placing Mirrors directly opposite Doors would create a visual glitch in which walls and borders would disappear around them and well it was quite spooky to be honest, glad we solved that one!

Ever wish your food didn’t expire? I know I do, especially when it comes to traveling and coming back to see a fridge in pristine condition, that is a dream… but alas, it is not meant to be in life or in Sims. Fixed an issue in which traveling didn’t let food expire.

Sims stuck sleeping and couldn’t cancel that interaction? Not a product of a sci-fi film as I thought, but I can say that we have fixed this issue, well I hope.

You want to know how to not make my day, have my coffee brew endlessly but without giving me the coffee! Luckily the issue in-game about the Brew Coffee interaction being stuck has been fixed. Wasn’t it odd? Wait… Sleep and Brew Coffee were stuck in a mysterious loop? SUS.

If your Child Sims suddenly interrupted their computer sessions to draw on the activity table when Inspired, worry not, this should not happen after this update.

Fixed an issue that caused the “Items Removed” pop-up to appear when no items were removed from the game.

Fixed an issue in which setting Lots on Slipshod Mesquite would sometimes generate a crash of the game for some Simmers. The Lot couldn’t handle that much flavor.

Some blush and lipstick opacity sliders are back as they were greyed out.

Step-Parent/Child relationships are no longer missing in the Genealogy Panel. Similarly, other cases of broken families in the Genealogy Panel have been fixed as well. It is all about reconnecting or connecting with what is important.

Platforms will no longer raise in height automatically when creating new walls to intersect part of them.

We also fixed an issue in which if you placed platforms in basement levels and a staircase from the floor to the platforms, it would create this gap or hole in front of the stairs and Sims were not able to route correctly. You know, I have played many platformers in my lifetime, but do you imagine Sims trying to jump those gaps? I mean, I am called JumpFail for a reason… glad we fixed this one!

World view Lots that had some off-centered border have been adjusted.

Toddlers will no longer gain negative Sentiments against their parents randomly, especially the Festering Grudge Sentiment. I should not be laughing at this issue as I type it, I should not…<giggles>

We got word that the camera was malfunctioning and bouncing uncontrollably in some Lots across multiple Worlds. We fixed an issue that caused this, but let us know if there are new instances.

Sometimes Ghosts can be part of our Households if we choose to, however, it is really hard to live with Ghosts that constantly break things, it makes it a bit… unlivable. So our expert team of Simghostologists has communicated with these Ghosts in the non-physical realm and they have agreed to not break everything all the time.

Fixed an issue related to flooring glitches while placing the dance floor or crystal clear flooring.

Went through all the trouble in hiring a Nanny only to have your Toddler get sent to Daycare? More than a schedule conflict I imagine having the Nanny show up and there is no Toddler so what does the Nanny do in this case? Do they leave? Do they stay and wait? I must know… However, This should no longer be an issue.

Fixed an issue where using ‘{}’ (curly brackets)  in renaming objects would make these invisible in lists or UI in general.

Fixed an issue in the Likes and Dislikes section in Create a Sim that had some categories displayed incorrectly (either cut off, or words broken apart in new lines incorrectly) for some languages.

There was a clipping issue with the eye preset ymAsian13_Eyes that occurred when Sims were in extreme emotion, like Angry, and blinked. We adjusted this preset so this should not occur.

Toddlers can be picky eaters, but Toddlers not eating any fish recipe? That is suspicious, so we had a chat with the little angels and we have found a way to help them enjoy the complex flavors of our fish recipes.

Our UI team has fixed an issue in which a scrollbar appeared in the Sentiment section in the Relationship Panel when there were no sentiments. The mysterious scrollbar was mysterious. Similarly, they have also fixed an issue in which if multiple Sims gained sentiments together their thought bubbles look quite not right with the incorrect colors, so now they should look proper.

The Likes and Dislikes icon in Create a Sim will no longer overlap its text. It looked weird, honestly.

Droids (if you own Journey to Batuu) and Drones (if you own Get Famous) clipping into all kinds of objects in Build Mode? We saw that too, so there should be a fix for that in this game update. I mean this went beyond just crashing into things…

The option “Join After School Activity” will no longer be available if Simmers don’t have Seasons or Get Famous packs installed.

Sims in deviant paths now can properly reach the Level 4 of the Criminal Career.

Now, this is one that made my day, Cowplants are now able to dance again when Sims play music in front of them. Dance Cowplant, Dance!

Fixed an issue in which relationship points gained by friendly introductions were more than usual if Simmers didn’t have Snowy Escape installed.

We adjusted the color swatches for the S. Cargeaux Counter Island so that when it gets dirty, the counter doesn’t completely change colors. Dirty Counter - who dis?

Fixed an issue where the Scared Emotion UI was displaying a broken pose for Toddlers. The pose was kinda more scary than what the Toddler had been scared of, so glad that is done.

Outfits worn while Purchased and Worn in Festivals/Kiosks/Stalls should no longer remove accessories that were in place for the Sim.

Error code 134:571e5862 that occurred to some Simmers should be fixed now.

We fixed a few hairstyles (yfHair_EP05WavyBob, yfHair_EP01PartedFlat, yfHair_EP05UnderCutDreads, yfHair_EP01ShortSwept, and yfHair_DreamyCrew) that when used with the recently added color options would create splotches in the eyes, change the color of teeth, and/or change the eyelashes color.

As always the Localization team and this author have fixed and improved text across all packs and updates.

Get to Work

Aliens can now enjoy their custom Blush options in Create a Sim. Lewks out of this world!

Retail employees will now appropriately change into their assigned outfits. Listen, I grew up wearing uniforms for school, I get it, sometimes they are not the prettiest… but you have to wear them if you have to go to that establishment. I know the pain too well… but my sense of style grew from that… I think.

We made a fix to some of the swatches from the Barely Better Digital Camera that were missing a description for the item, so now all the swatches will display the text in all its glory.

Get Together

Some of these Sims are not like the others, some of these Sims just don’t belong. Can you tell which are not like the others by the time I finish writing these notes?

Fixed an issue in which some of the rooftops in Winderburg were not displaying Snow (if you own Seasons) correctly.

Fixed an issue where Sims didn’t sometimes change into their Club outfits when a Club Gathering was being held.

City Living

The Scattered Panes window in Build Mode now displays appropriate shadows in all options.

Sims enrolled in the Social Media career will now gain influence at the end of their stream instead of every few Sim-minutes.

Two hairstyles (ymHair_EP03BunHighPins and ymHair_EP03BraidedFlateBun) have been updated to reflect the correct look when choosing the Neutral Black color option.

Your Sims want to shoot some Basketball Close Shots, but they are trying to eat first? Well, now your Sims can finish eating before trying those hoops. Nutrition is important!

Cats and Dogs

We fixed an issue in which whiskers were not being seen applied to Cats. A Cat without whiskers is like Peanut butter without Jelly… or something like that! Just wrong!

Robot Vacuums should all now return to their docks accordingly. I hope this issue was not a sign that they were becoming sentient.

Sims will no longer get a Moodlet referring to the death of their Pet when witnessing the death of another Sim. The loss of a Sim is heartbreaking, but also getting a Moodlet for the death of their Pet when the Pet has not died, that is cold Grimmy, very cold.

Speaking of Robot Vacuums becoming sentient a few lines above, we fixed an issue that made the game crash when Cats would sit on the Robot Vacuum. CatonRobot.exe is now working.

We fixed an issue in which some Simmers experienced a crash with their last played Household loading into Brindleton Bay.

Seasons

Sims were changing into their cold-weather gear… while not in cold weather? We had some conversations with Sims and even though they love their winter outfits, dressing up in full winter gear in the summer was probably not the wisest choice. So the issue in which Sims randomly would change into their winter outfits while not in winter is solved.

Egg Hunts are adorable and fun! But not being able to have the furniture reset after looking for Eggs in them, can be quite the rain on Sims’ parade. But this should no longer occur.

Island Living

Mermaids will no longer keep the “Dried Scales” Moodlet when they are hydrated. Mermaids’ skincare regimen pays off! Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!

Fixed an issue in which Lots that are placed in the sand looked quite odd displaying all edges of the Lot when it rained.

Sims that have the Collector Aspiration Trait are now able to catch Frogs in Sulani as part of their adventures exploring the island waterfall. Good Luck!

We fixed an issue in which some Simmers experienced game crashes when loading into certain lots in Mua Pe’lam. Happy Exploring!

Discover University

Sims having a hard time in Uni? No matter what they do they keep failing classes? Worry not, Sims will no longer fail classes when meeting all the criteria for course completion. Work hard, pass your classes hard!

Having Roommates can be hard. Have your Sims had Roommates complain constantly and leave even when their needs are met? Yeah, we made it so that Roommates don’t do this any longer.

Fixed an issue in which beds were counted incorrectly when placing an ad for Roommates. I mean, as much as Pets and even Toddlers can live with Roommates, the ad should be truthful to how many beds there are actually in the Lot, not count Toddlers and Pets as needing adult-sized beds.

We fixed Servo animations so that they don’t look like they are walking on one leg when hovering to their destination. Now they will hover properly.

We fixed an issue in which in some instances Professors could not go to work when a Professor NPC is added into that same Household.

Fixed an issue in which removing and adding back Household members as Roommates would create some… inappropriate moments, ahem.

Eco Lifestyle

Evergreen Harbor’s peace has been restored: roads and parts of neighborhoods no longer disappear or turn blue when businesses open in Port Promise while the Modern Development N.A.P is active.

yfBody_EP09DressShirt no longer has a weird texture in some of the footwear from various packs, especially platform shoes and chunky sneakers.

Had you moved to Cypress Terrace in Willow Creek and found you couldn’t really do anything there? We fixed the routing failures and interaction failures on the Mitey-Mitey Home - Insect Farm.

Snowy Escape

Mountain Climbing can be challenging, even for those experienced. But having indecisive moments before a climbing route like getting off and on your bike constantly seems that a lot of doubt is passing your mind… However, we did speak to these Sims that were experiencing this behavior and calmed their fears and doubts, so this should no longer be an issue.

The hairstyle yfHair_EP10BobBluntOmbre now covers all of the Sim’s ears.

For Simmers who own Seasons together with Snowy Escape, rain options no longer affect snow.

Sims no longer have the option to give a respectful or military introduction during activities such as Dancing or Bike Riding. I mean, I’m not sure about you, but I can’t dance and respectfully introduce myself at the same time. So many falls… so many falls.

We made some corrections to the Slippers that came with this pack and they should no longer display a greenish texture on Sims’ toes when selected in Create a Sim. Yikes.

Fixed an issue in which for some Simmers playing with the Yoshida Hall Household would generate a game crash when loading into Mt. Komorebi.

We took a look at our Ramen menu and have updated our cooking menu to label Miso and Egg Ramen as Vegetarian safe options. Buen Provecho!

Want to run a Restaurant in Yukimatsu but also want to enjoy the slopes? Now your Sims can enjoy the slopes and dine in style. However, this action is only directed, and will not be autonomous. In the same vein, Restaurant employees will not be tempted to leave work to enjoy the slopes.

Journey to Batuu

Batuu is an awesome destination for those who want to enjoy something fun and different, but if you bought a Droid from the Droid Depot and never saw it in your inventory, I know how frustrating it can be. Never fear, the Droids you were looking for will appear now in Inventories when purchased.

In Journey to Batuu, the First Order ID no longer disappears from inventory so Sims now can Access First Order Plans for the Top Notch Trickery Mission.

Fixed an issue with the Leveling the Playing Field Mission in which the Scoundrel Informant would not appear on the scene after Sims stole the Prototype Blaster and went to Oga’s Cantina to wait for the informant.

Dine Out

Eggs and Toast sound super basic and easy right? They will continue to be that way for our unassuming Chefs on the Chef Station since we fixed an issue that made them… challenging. Sims can also use the second burner for other recipes without fail or routing out.

StrangerVille

The Decorations and Kid's categories in Build Mode should no longer have a "New" highlight when there's nothing actually new.

Dream Home Decorator

Lighting can change the ambiance of a room, and your mood in a flash. Luckily we have fixed an issue that lighting was not even on sectional sofas to continue to set the right mood for our Sims.

Our stylists fixed the Sleep ‘N’ Study Styled Room to remove the P.R.I.M.A Computer from it as this is not an item that is accessible for everyone, pardon our dust.

Laundry Day

Fixed an issue where an animation clipped when Sims were loading their laundry machines. Because having your clothes go through you is awkward, are Sims made of fabric? I don’t think so.

Bust the Dust

Don’t need Simoleons, don’t need Fame. Don’t need dinner to have this date. It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes but it might just end your night… the power of Dust, that’s the power of Dust.

Our cleaning agents have determined that Sims won’t get romantic negative Moodlets related to filthy levels of dust in public places like parks.

[thirdlastdoublelife]

Pearl stares at the item in her hands. It sits there, its gilded surface reflecting golden sunlight across her face. 

“You should do it, Pearl. You know you want to.“ Martyn sits across from her.

Pearl raises her eyes to meet the ones staring intently back at her. “How about you do it? Since you and Cleo hate each other so much, this could end all your troubles. At least Scott and I aren’t out to get each other.“ She reaches a hand out to him, the forbidden fruit sitting in her palm, now within Martyn’s reach.

He pushes her hand back. “No, no, this wouldn’t end our anger. It’d just fuel it. Give us the ability to actually do real harm to each other with no consequence. At least this way, we...“ His voice trails off. This way, we won’t actually kill each other. But that makes no sense, they want to kill each other. Right?

“Trust me, it’d be better for you.“ He settles on that. “But you don’t have to do it. I mean, it’s your choice, I guess. I’ll just... leave you to it.” He wanders off.

Pearl continues to sit in silence. She can feel a prescence that’s not her own, beyond the thin veil of her current reality, every so often wincing as pain comes through the bond. She hates it.

“Wait, is that a golden apple?“ Scar’s voice breaks the silence. Grian follows quietly behind, mouthing a “sorry” to Pearl.

“Yeah, we found it in a dungeon.“ We. She almost winces at the memory, her and Martyn, before everything went downhill.

“Are you... planning on eating it?“

The silence speaks for itself. Grian begins to panic a little. “Pearl, look, if things aren’t going well for you and Martyn-“

“My soulmate isn’t Martyn. And even if it was, Martyn doesn’t like me anyway, so-“

“Or whoever it is, you don’t have to go this route. It doesn’t have to be like this- Pearl, if you eat that, it’s irreversible, you’ll never have a soulmate again.“

Pearl stares up at the genuinely fearful face staring back at her.

Scar chips in. “Right! Having a soulmate is so much fun, Pearl, they do all kinds of things for you, like they feed you, they give you clothes, you know, like soulmates should! I think as long as you talk to your soulmate, you’ll get over whatever rough patch you’re in!“

“Scar, I’m pretty sure those are a you thing, not a soulmate thing.“ Pearl tries to smile through the pain. It ends up more like a grimace.

“Still, Scar’s right- you don’t need to do anything drastic right now, just talk to them. They’re your soulmate, they can’t just keep you out of their lives forever, you know?“

“...Right.“ He can, she thinks.

-

It’s dark and raining by the time she reaches the canyon where Cleo and Scott call home. She knocks on the wooden door, praying he isn’t home so she can delay it a little longer. But this world does not have kind gods, and the door opens.

“Hello? Oh, Pearl. It’s you. Thought you were in a cave somewhere, seeing how you were getting hurt so much. You’re welcome, by the way, for you know. Keeping us alive.”

Pearl can’t deny getting here was an ordeal, with constant zombies, skeletons, and creepers roaming around in the dark. Scott was still saving her, no matter how much he hated her. It makes her wish she could turn back time, back before this world, back to girlbossing and gaslighting and gatekeeping, back to where they were ride-or-die, back to when they were more like soulmates than whatever this is.

“I’m sorry.“ she half-sobs. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I should have found you, I should have tried harder to look for you, I shouldn’t have-“

“Do you even have any food? Here.“ Scott promptly ignores it all and hands her some cooked steaks, practically shoving them into her hands.

 “I-I do, I just didn’t have any time to eat on my way here, is all...“

Scott’s eyebrows raise. “Then what are you here for?“

“I can- I can fix this. Fix us.“ Pearl practically begs, taking Scott’s hands and dropping onto her knees. “I can be a good soulmate. Give me a chance, Scott, please.“

Scott’s eyes only harden. “I told you this before, Pearl. I. Don’t. Need. A. Soulmate.“

Pearl’s desperation only heightens at hearing Cleo’s voice in the distance, calling out for Scott for something or the other. “I can do that too!“

Scott’s expression turns to confusion as she says that.

“Scott? Are you home?“ Cleo only grows closer with every step, each one only a reminder of everything Pearl has lost. (Or, perhaps, never had.)

Pearl takes out the golden apple, still shining brightly like a beacon in the dark night.

“Pearl, wait-”

Freedom has never tasted so bittersweet.

[pagingdoctorbedlam]

Hello again! Now that I know who you write for, I'm back with a request! Can I please suggest Sanji x Reader (if that's okay) with the following summer theme prompt? I'm actually really curious to see your take on Sanji. 😳

“some asshole left their dog in the car in the blistering heat and we both noticed and are debating on what to do” au

Thank you so much for doing this! 🥰

Hi Luxi, and thanks for bringing me my first-ever askbox fic prompt! (the prompt list is here for anyone interested)

The idea for this fic sprung into my head soon as I read the prompt, so I hope you enjoy...

"Dog Days: A Sanji x Reader Fic"

You hadn't even made it halfway to the store when you noticed the dog. Not that it was hard to ignore; the poor mutt surveyed the entire parking lot from the window of a jacked-up pickup, and its baleful barks escaped the tiniest crack in the window. The day was hot enough that you were sweltering soon as you stepped outside; you couldn't imagine how bad it must be for a fuzzy dog, much less one trapped in a truck.

Soon as you heard the mutt, all plans derailed. You couldn't just leave it there, and who knew how long the owner might be gone? You racked your brain for a plan, but you had to think fast. The dog's whimpers were already getting weaker.

When you strode up to the car, someone else had the same idea. A tall blond strode up to the opposite side of the truck, eyes so narrowed they looked about to shoot lasers. The truck was large enough that it had running boards to reach the doors, but he hopped right up with a water bottle. The dog shuffled over at the sight of a human, and as the stranger dripped cool water through the crack in the windows, the dog eagerly lapped it up. Its tail still barely wagged, even that exertion too much in this heat.

"This dog can't stay in here," you said as you stared at the locks. The truck didn't have a keypad, thank goodness...and as a matter of fact, it had one of those manual locks on the inside, the sort you pulled up to unlock the car. Which would've been perfect if you weren't wearing sandals. "Hey. Weird question, but are you wearing shoes with laces right now?"

The blond looked at you through the truck window. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"I think I can get the truck open, but I'll need to borrow a shoelace."

You figured the guy would refuse, or at least ask questions as to why you needed his darn shoes. Instead, he hopped down from his side of the truck and ambled over to you. He was a handsome guy, now that you got a good look at him. Tasteful button-down shirt and slacks even in this weather, slick blond hair with bangs that covered half his face in a way that looked more mysterious than old-school emo...the curly eyebrow was a little odd, but in a quirky way. Made him more handsome, in an odd way. Especially when he put one foot up on the running board and unlaced his shoe, sliding the string out and handing it to you with a determined nod.

You formed a small lasso with the shoestring, then slid it into the crack in the window. All you had to do was lower it onto the lock, tighten the loop, and pull.

"You happen to be a master thief or something?" The blond asked, simultaneously curious and impressed.

"Nothing so fancy. I'm just real bad about leaving my keys in my car. Keep an eye out in case the owner comes back, okay?"

The stranger nodded and hopped back onto the running board to peer over the top of the truck. Meanwhile, the mutt inside crawled up to the front seat, curious at this new development. It thankfully seemed smart enough to recognize that it was being saved, and didn't bat at the string. Just a little more, and...there! You tightened the loop and pulled the lock up with a satisfying click.

Three things happened at once.

You pulled the door open.

The mutt leapt into your arms with such force, you fell off the running board.

And the car alarm blared with the fury of a thousand hornets.

You clutched the mutt tight to your chest and prepared to hit the pavement, but you instead fell into a pair of sturdy arms. The wind hit your face as you opened your eyes; the blond was bolting full-tilt through the parking lot with you and the dog in his grasp.

"Where's your car?" He shouted.

"Left it home! I took the bus! Where's your car?"

"I walked!" His shoes slapped against the pavement, and you belatedly realized that the shoestring had been left behind in the chaos, still looped around the lock in the still-open door of the truck. Your imagination ran wild with cops somehow tracking down your prints from the shoestring and chasing you down for kidnapping a dog.

"Are we being chased?" You asked.

"Don't know! Not looking back. But if I ever see this dog's owner, I'm kicking his ass!" The blond took a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding a collision with a gaggle of college students. "I'm taking us to my work. There's food and A/C there for the dog, and we can figure out what we're doing from there."

You couldn't think of a better plan, and you wouldn't abandon the mutt at this rate, especially as it licked your face in appreciation. So you nodded and wondered where this bizarre day would take you next.

You'd heard of the Baratie, never had a chance to eat there. Not for lack of funds or interest; it just never came up. So imagine your surprise when you found yourself at the local favorite restaurant before opening, sitting next to a mutt happily lapping up water, the blond stranger humming nearby as he cooked up a meal in the kitchen. Because when he said "get the dog food", he didn't mean ordinary dog chow, but serving up the dog a homemade feast to make up for the ordeal it had just endured.

You had no idea what the dog's name was, or if it had one at all. It had no nametag, just a cheap metal choke-chain you'd swiftly removed. The dog seemed healthy enough, but there were patches in its fur and the scrapes of a rough life outdoors. You decided that, even on the off-chance that someone chased you down for dognapping, you'd refuse to give the mutt up. It deserved a far better home than the one it came from.

Still. "I can't believe I just stole a dog with a random stranger," you said aloud.

"Well then, let's fix that," the blond said as he wandered out with a pair of plates. "I'm Sanji, and here's lunch. Can't be strangers with a name and a meal together, huh?" He set one down in front of the dog, who happily immediately dug into a feast of meat, brown rice, and assorted canine-safe veggies. The other, he set on the table in front of you. You blinked; he'd asked you off-hand questions about your food preferences when you'd arrived, but you hadn't expected him to actually cook for you too.

"I...thank you. And nice to meet you, Sanji." You gave him your name, and his entire face brightened as if it were music to his ears. "Look, this is really sweet, but I don't have a huge amount of cash on hand."

"That's fine. This is on the house, for your heroism and quick-thinking." Sanji took the seat opposite you with a soft smile. "If you hadn't come along, I don't know what I would've done. My only plan was to break the window, but that might've hurt the dog."

You took a bite of your meal. A medley of flavor danced across your tongue. "You know, reasonable folks would've...I dunno, gone inside and had customer service call over the intercom. Or called the cops. Made it someone else's problem."

Sanji shrugged. "Maybe. Think I would've stuck around anyway, saw it through to the end. Had to know if the little guy was alright." There was a softness in Sanji's eye as he looked down at the dog, who chowed down on its meal as if it had never seen food in its life. It was a look of understanding, the sort that came with a history one didn't ask about lightly. Made you curious about this handsome stranger, one who'd drop all plans and leave behind his own shoelaces in order to help someone in need.

You said, "Thank goodness for the unreasonable people of the world, then. Speaking of which...what're we going to do with the dog? I could try to smuggle it into my apartment, but the owners don't allow pets, so I'd have to be careful."

Sanji's gaze flitted up to the ceiling. "My apartment's right over the restaurant. I can keep the dog here."

"Your landlord won't mind?"

"Not if he wants to keep his best chef around. Besides, he's a sucker for underdogs. If the old owner comes back for this little guy, Zeff will toss the guy out by his ears." Sanji winked and turned to the dog. "What do you say, huh? Wanna' stay here with me? Fresh food every day and no choke-chains." The mutt barked in approval, tail wagging at full speed.

Sanji turned to you again. "You're free to visit, if you'd like. I mean, I can't take the dog out during work hours...but like, on breaks, or before we open?"

You smiled at this handsome stranger, with his heart on his sleeve and a sparkle in his eyes. You realize that yes, you'd be more than happy to see him again. "I'd love that. Besides, I'm pretty sure I owe you a new pair of shoelaces..."

[boygirlmeetsworld]

Messy.

ONE-SHOT

Word count: 2793

Disclaimer:  One piece and all it’s characters belong to Eiichiro Oda, I just like to write about them.

Warning: None

Rating: T (i guess?? there’s cursing)

Author’s Note: Whale, this is the first fanfic I’ve posted on the interwebs since high school so please keep that in mind, lol. I do plan to finish it sooner than later so check back in a few days if you want to read the rest, sorry I don’t have it all done right now.  At long last it it FINISHED.

Feel free to tell me what u think! Unless it’s mean, then I ask that u keep those thoughts in ur noggin because I’m just writing these for fun not for grades.

Without further ado, here ya go.

Author’s Note pt 2: So i didn’t end up going the smut route like I originally planned, but I think it worked out better bc this one got nice and Emotional.

Summary: Zoro really shouldn’t agree to be Nami’s drinking partner if he wanted to keep their friendship from getting... Complicated.

__________________________________________

The moon was floating high in the night sky when Nami wandered onto the deck, unable to sleep even after a few hours of sketching. 

She wanted company – specifically, she wanted the company of the crew’s resident alcoholic. It only took a few minutes to find him on the lawn deck with his back against a tree and his eye closed. ‘How typical.’

Nami smiled a small, excited smile as she strode over to him and squatted between his parted legs. An unconscious sigh left her nose as she swept her gaze up and down his face. She caught herself thinking, ‘He really is easy on the eyes isn’t he.’ ....again. 

Who was she kidding? She’d been thinking the same thing every time she looked his way lately. 

Two years ago she’d been able to keep the immature crush she had on him locked tightly away but somehow - it had gotten out and was slowly consuming her entire being. 

Nami hoped he hadn’t noticed how often she invited him to drink with her because she didn’t think she could handle being rejected. So she settled for spending time alone with him whenever and however she could. 

“Hey, moss-head,” the navigator said finally, leaning in to squint at him, “Are you asleep?”

He had literally just settled down for a nice cat nap when the navigator appeared suddenly to interrupt him. ‘Damn. What the hell did she want now?’ 

Instead of answering, Zoro chose to ignore her and pretend like he was deep asleep. ‘Why won’t she go bother someone else?’

Nami started prodding his cheek with one finger to rouse him if he really was sleeping, ”Zorooo wake up, I wanna drink,” she whined and his eyelid opened instantly.

‘Why’s she so damn pretty..’ was the first thought he had when he realized that she was a lot closer than he’d anticipated. 

He mentally chastised himself after, trying to remind his id that Nami had never once indicated that she wanted to be anything other than friends and he should respect that. 

But… There was no harm in looking from time to time was there? And she was pretty. She’d always been... ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, now he sounded like Sanji. He needed to get a grip.’

“Helloooooo,” Nami waved her hand in Zoro’s face until he snapped back to reality and snatched her wrist up, pulling it away. He scowled but it wasn’t deep, and now he was refusing to look her in the eye. “What was that about, huh Zoro?”

“Nothing.” The swordsman replied perhaps a little too quickly to avoid suspicion, “Thought I heard a noise, doesn’t matter – oi, didn’t you want to do something?” 

He couldn’t remember what exactly it was. He’d been so distracted by the way her bangs framed her face and sometimes got caught in her eyelashes—’Damnit! He was doing it again.’

Nami smirked again but didn’t press the subject anymore. She’d do that later once they started drinking. “Weren’t you listening to me? You’re so rude, maybe I should find someone else to share my booze with.”

Was it a good idea to go drink with Nami when he kept catching himself thinking about feelings that he’d been suppressing for the last two years? Probably not…

But he couldn’t just decline an opportunity to get buzzed. ‘And... Maybe he wanted to get buzzed with Nami, specifically.’  

Zoro scoffed, mostly at himself. “Quit playing games, damnit, do you want me to drink with you or not?”

“You’re so stubborn,” The navigator teased with a pleased smile that made his heart beat unevenly, “I could care less if you join me, but you’re not allowed to come unless you say you’ll be nice.”

“Nami. I am older than you, quit treating me like a fucking child or I swear-”

“That’s no way to talk to a lady who’s getting you drunk for free, Roronoa Zoro. If you can’t be nice then I’ll just add the cost of everything you drink to your debt and-”

Zoro didn’t have time to ruminate over the way hearing her say his full name made him shiver because he had to shut her up before she did charge him. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll be... nice.” He hissed through gritted teeth and her answering giggle made his pulse flutter. He had to fight to keep himself from smiling. ‘What the hell was going on with him tonight? Was he sick?’

“Good boy,” she turned and started walking towards the Sunny’s aquarium bar, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure he was coming.

“Don’t push your luck, woman.” Zoro snarled to mask his confusion over the sudden need to touch her that he felt scratching at the back of his head. He really shouldn’t agree to be Nami’s drinking partner if he wanted to keep their friendship from getting... Complicated.

He knew it, but he followed her up the stairs all the same.

                                                       * * *

“Why d’you always want to drink with me anyway, witch?” Skeptical of her intentions, his narrowed eye fixed itself on Nami as she approached him holding two maroon tinted bottles. She offered one to him and he accepted it – but he didn’t let his guard down yet.

Zoro lowered his gaze to check the label out, whistling long and low when he read 23% alcohol per volume. A couple puzzle pieces clicked together in his head ‘Oh, that’s why. Because if she tried to drink this with anyone else they’d pass out after two glasses.’

“Would you believe that I just like hanging out with you?” Though her tone was teasing she was actually being genuine, she had a lot of fun with him whenever they went out.

“No–“ He paused when Nami kicked him in the shin hard enough to make him swear. Reaching down with his free hand he rubbed the sore patch of skin and glared daggers at his crewmate. “What the fuck was that for?!”

“You said you’d be nice, Zoro! So be nice or I’ll charge you a hundred thousand beris for that bottle.” Nami uncorked hers but waited to hand the corkscrew over until he behaved himself. The look he was giving her would probably frighten a small child but she didn’t flinch.

‘This was his choice.’ He reminded himself. Of his own free will he chose to get drunk with Nami instead of napping, and that meant dealing with her bossiness no matter how much he loathed it. ‘Sometimes he just wanted to grab her by the shoulders and make her shut up, there were better things her mouth could be doing anyway-‘

“Why do you keep staring at me like that, do I have a zit or something?”

Zoro sat up so fast that he banged his shoulder on the underside of the countertop. ‘What the hell was that? What the hell was wrong with him?’ He hadn’t even opened the damn bottle and he was already making himself look like an idiot.

“No,” the swordsman grumbled, wracking his brain for a believable excuse, “Just thinking about how I’ll owe you money even after I’m dead if you keep charging me for bullshit.” That made her laugh and Zoro cursed himself for how much he liked hearing it. “Don’t see how it’s funny for me, witch.”

Nami let him take the corkscrew from her, eyes crinkled with amusement while he opened his bottle. “You’ll just have to stay alive until you pay me back in full, I guess!” She trilled before taking a long, heavy drink from hers.

“Yeah?” Zoro snorted before mimicking her and downing about half of the wine in the container. It tasted disgusting, which he’d expected, but that didn’t make the bitter aftertaste any less miserable. His nose wrinkled slightly as he set the bottle down. “I bet even if I did try to pay you off you’d find a way to charge me more.”

“You make me sound so heartless,” the navigator batted her eyelashes innocently, pretending to look hurt, “Why would I ever do such a thing?”

“Hah.” He scoffed before chugging some more wine and failing to keep track of how much he was drinking each time. “Because you want to keep me on a leash since I don’t throw myself at you like that dumbass cook.”

An impish smirk crawled it’s way onto Nami’s face that made him immediately regret what he’d just said. ‘Fuck. Damnit!’

“So…” She began slowly, savoring every second that the swordsman spent avoiding direct eye contact with her, “You admit that you are one of my lap dogs?”

A muscle in his jaw flexed and he stopped drinking for one second to grunt, “That’s not what I said.”

“That’s what I heard!” Chimed Nami as she rose from her seat, stepping over to Zoro and tracing a finger under his jaw while he drained the last few drops of liquid. “I should get you a collar, so people know who to bring you to when you get lost.”

Normally he would have snapped at her for poking fun at his sense, or lack thereof, direction but he wasn’t listening to her. She’d come close enough for him to pick up her scent and maybe it was the alcohol intensifying his feelings, but it was suffocating him in a good way.

He loved the way she smelled. Tangerines from her soaps mixed with salty seawater and traces of sunscreen. A hint of orange blossom, but only when she was close to him like this. 

Zoro inhaled deeply through his nose and, without realizing it, his expression melted into something affectionate and gentle. ‘In two years she’d changed in so many different ways… but she still smelled the same. She still smelled like home.’

                                                        * * *

“What are you thinking about, Zoro?” Her voice void of it’s usual teasing tone, Nami’s curiosity was piqued by his sudden shift in demeanor. He looked soft and peaceful, like he didn’t have anything to worry about. She wanted to know why.

‘Ah, fuck.’ What was he supposed to tell her? That he was thinking about how good she smelled? ‘Yeah right.’ Zoro was quiet for a while, mulling over his words until he came up with an explanation that didn’t sound as creepy – but also wasn’t a lie.

“I guess..” he finally murmured, his gaze shifting to meet hers, “It’s just been a while and… I was thinking about how nice it feels to be back here, with everyone…” a brief pause then he added, “I missed you guys.” ‘Look at him being all gushy and emotional, this wine really was something else.’ Zoro reached to brush his fingertips by her temple, catching a stray lock of hair and tucking it behind her ear, “I missed you.”

When had Zoro ever been this honest with her about the way he felt? Never was the answer, but now he seemed to trust her well enough to know she wouldn’t spill his secrets. Nami took his face in both of her hands, surprising him, and pulled his head down so she could kiss his forehead. “I missed you too, Zoro.”

Something about hearing her say that she’d missed him too broke a dam in his chest that he’d been trying to keep together for two years. Hormoness flooded through his bloodstream quicker than Zoro could even process them and before he knew it he was practically throwing his arms around Nami’s waist and crushing her against his chest.

“Nami—” he pressed his face into her neck to hide the tears that he couldn’t hold back anymore. Sober he might have cared about losing it like this around her but she was here and… ‘He just – needed to hold her.’ Hold her and smell her and feel how real she was because she had almost been taken from him.

‘He’d barely begun to process what he had been through on Thriller Bark when they were attacked in Sabaody. If he tried to think back on it his memories would get hazy and his bones would ache from their very cores. He knew what had happened but it’s like his brain was protecting him from understanding how close to death he’d come. Then – to be torn away from the people he loved with all of his heart? Who he had just nearly killed himself to protect?

It had ripped him apart and rubbed salt into every wound. And it fucking hurt. The same kind of pain he felt when he saw Kuina dead on the floor of their dojo. He was scared, he was furious, he was devastated – all over again but this time it was so much worse. So, so much worse.

That was why he had trained so hard over the last two years. Because he couldn’t bear the grief that came with loving them so deeply – so he got stronger. And stronger. And stronger. No matter the cost to his body, he would become powerful enough to defeat anyone who crossed them. Then… He would never have to feel the agony that he did when he first woke up on Kuraigana Island ever again.

Taking on all of Luffy’s suffering in Thriller Bark had been the most physically painful experience of his entire life – but that was nothing compared to how much it hurt to think that his friends were gone forever, that he hadn’t been able to protect them.

Training made it easy not to think about what had happened -- but now he was home, and they were safe - and he was realizing just how close he’d come to losing all of them. At once. And he could do nothing to stop it.’

Startled by him grabbing her, Nami was prepared to give the pirate a good smack if he was getting handsy but… He started trembling. ‘Was he not feeling well?’ Her mouth opened to form the question then stopped. His breathing hitched while his entire body jerked and she realized…

‘Zoro was crying.’

Roronoa Zoro, who prided himself on his strength, was sobbing wretchedly into her neck. ‘He must have been holding this in since Sabaody.’ Nami’s heart ached for him and his stupid pride that forced him to torture himself instead of letting him cry like he needed to. She’d been expecting him to crash at some point, how couldn’t he? Even someone as strong as Zoro was still a human being.

One of her arms cradled his head while the other wound round his shoulders, her fingers combing gently through his hair. “Oh you sweet, sweet boy…” she spoke in the tone that Bellemere used to use when Nami and Nojiko were frightened by a passing thunderstorm. It always calmed her, maybe it would calm Zoro, too.

‘Quit fucking crying you loser you’re supposed to be a man.’ But he couldn’t, he literally could not stop because he was trying to. “I wasn’t strong enough,” his voice quivered at the edges and he hated it. ‘He was definitely never going to drink this kind of wine again ever. Not if it turned him into a blubbering mess like this every time.’

“Shhh, no. No. Don’t you dare try to blame yourself for what happened. Hey, look at me.” Nami urged his head off her shoulder and cupped his face in both of her palms, “None of us were strong enough, okay? Not even Luffy.” Each tear that fell she tenderly swept away with the pad of her thumb. The corner of her mouth turned up as she assured him, “But we are strong enough now. We can take care of each other. Nothing is ever going to tear us apart again, Zoro.”

‘She was right. Of course, she was right. He needed to have faith in his crewmates and his captain. They could do anything as long as they had each other.’ His breathing slowly evened out as he focused on anchoring himself back to reality. He wasn’t in Sabaody or Kuraigana – he was on the Sunny. In the bar, with Nami who had grown so much since he last saw her. The look in his eye softened like it had before his breakdown.

“You’re staring at me again, Zoro.” The navigator teased, her hands falling to rest on his shoulders. He hadn’t let go of her yet but she didn’t mind, he could hold on to her for as long as he needed.

A ghost of his usual smirk passed across his face. “Sorry, Nami…” Zoro took a little risk by leaning in to press a chaste but lingering kiss to her cheek, then traced a path with the edge of his nose to her ear, murmuring, “Wine makes me a little… Messy.”

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4: New Game Patch (July 20th, 2021)

There’s a new Sims 4 update available for PC/Mac and Consoles. If you have auto updates enabled in Origin’s “Application Settings”, the game will auto-update once you open Origin. If you have auto-updates disabled, you will need to manually update by clicking the game in your library.

Your game should now read: PC: 1.77.131.1030 / Mac: 1.77.131.1230 / Console: Version 1.44

Remove all MODS and Custom Content before updating your game

Hello Simmers!

Hope you are well wherever you are in the world and that you are all having a fantastic Summer of Sims! We are excited to share today’s update with you. There is a lot of info, so make sure you have your tea/coffee/beverage of choice ready to read on. You all know I have my coffee ready for this!

As we continue to get ready to explore the countryside charm of Henford-on-Bagley and cannot absolutely wait to play with the adorable animals in Cottage Living, we also have updates and fixes that should improve and complement your Sims’ everyday life. We have something for everyone and we hope that you all enjoy them. Thank you for all your feedback and support.

Cheers!

-SimGuruRusskii ft. SimGuruRomeo and SimGuruJoAnna

What’s New?

Let’s start with some items that we shared in our last Sims 411!

For this update, we partnered with two talented artists from the LGBTQ+ community, Ashley Lukashepsky, and Mohammed Iman Fayaz, and they have brought their inspiring and beautiful artwork into the game. We have also included the modernized version of the large afro hairstyle that we showed you. But more than tell you about it in text, let me actually attach a screenshot of everything put together:

I love everything about this scene, not only it shows you how the artwork looks in a real game setting, but the whole scene with the two Sims and their surroundings is quite magical. Also, look at that hair! The way the light highlights it, perfection! You may also notice the hair of the Sim on the right, which was also added with this update for everyone. I want to personally thank all Simmers for their feedback and recommendations, as we are continuously working on adding more diverse hairstyles and textures to not only packs, but also to our base game.

Now that we are talking about artwork, the last patch notes I forgot to add the artwork made by the wonderful Jupiter Stevens-Hill. I apologize for that, I totally blanked out. However, I’m happy to see that a lot of you are enjoying it and placing it in your Lots! That makes a very happy Russkii =)

To find Jupiter, Ashley, and Mohammed’s paintings in Build Mode, make sure you take a look at the Paintings and Posters sort and filter by Base Game items. These artists are amazing and we hope you enjoy their creations.

Now, without further ado, let’s get to some new features and improvements that are part of this update!

A little bit of Gallery

When you download a lot made with the bb.moveobjects cheat, the game now notifies you about this so you know to activate the cheat before placing the lot. Builders, this means you won’t need to mention it in the lot’s description anymore!

A little for Sims

Trying to find the Sims in the current neighborhood? Select their portraits in the Relationship Panel.

“Focus the Camera” moves the camera to the Sim.

“Lock the Camera” moves the camera to the Sim and keeps following them.

Where did the Notebook go?

Found it! The Notebook has moved out of the Phone and into its own button for quicker access.

The “Center on Current Lot” button that used to be there has moved to the top right, adjacent to the Camera Controls.

Water Tool

You now can make natural, organic bodies of water! Just head into Build Mode, make a hole with the Terrain Manipulation tool, and fill it with water. It is that easy! The Terrain Manipulation and Paint Tools also have more brush sizes to enable finer detail.

In adding the Water Tool, we also took the chance to overhaul the related tools and object categories. Why not? Enjoy!

Pond Effects

All sorts of critters are available to complete the look of your pond ranging from ducks and swans to pesky mosquitoes. There is even an alligator!

New Pond Objects

Outdoor Water Décor now has an assortment of new Pond Objects to decorate the perfect pond. Some of these objects such as the Bog Log and Colorful Lily Pads have interactions on them in Live Mode to activate Turtle and Frog effects. The new Fishing Allowed Sign enables you to stock your pond with any fish your Sims have previously caught. Try it out!

New Water Styles

Go beyond the original crystal blue and dreamy magenta water. Additional options range from “Mossy Water” to “Pond Scum” to complete that au natural look.

The Shrubs category includes new plants to complement the water styles: “Green Fern”, “Leaning Not-Grass Grass”, “Not-Grass Grass Sans Inflorescence.”

Gardening with Children

Children now can help out in the garden by planting, watering, and weeding. They build their Mental skill as they garden. The process of purchasing and planting seeds is streamlined as well to make gardening more enjoyable for everyone.

Group Cooking

Cooking no longer is a solo affair. Sims now can cook in groups of up to five Sims including children. Start cooking together by selecting a fridge, stove, or any empty countertop.

Zoomers Food Delivery Service

Are your Sims getting tired of the same old pizza delivery every night? Well, gone are the days of redundant pizza nights. Maybe you are in the mood for pasta primavera or even a fancy steak dinner. All this and more are available courtesy of Zoomer Food Delivery. Order delivery through the phone or the refrigerator and the food will arrive in a jif.

Calendar

The calendar, previously available only with Seasons, now is available with Base Game to see upcoming events such as birthdays, school and work schedules, festivals, and fairs. You even can use it to book events, so it’s time to get to party planning!

Bug FixesConsoles

In Snowy Escape, skiing, sledding, and snowboarding on Bunny Slopes now contribute to the Extreme Sports Enthusiast Aspiration.

Also in Snowy Escape, Sims with high enough Skiing and Snowboarding skills now can enjoy the more advanced slopes. Sims also use the Lift to go to the top of the slopes and not go “the hard way.”

Simmers can now rotate Sims downloaded from the Gallery in Create a Sim. Spin them ‘round, ‘round, Simmers ‘round, ‘round –  like a record ‘round, ‘round, ‘round, ‘round.

The Sims 4

We made some improvements that should help our Simulation lag, particularly on the usage of some computer interactions like playing BlicBlock, along with fishing interactions, which should make the game perform a bit better. Note that this doesn’t entirely fix simulation lag but it should help and it is a step in a good direction.

Fixed an issue in which placing Mirrors directly opposite Doors would create a visual glitch in which walls and borders would disappear around them and well it was quite spooky to be honest, glad we solved that one!

Ever wish your food didn’t expire? I know I do, especially when it comes to traveling and coming back to see a fridge in pristine condition, that is a dream… but alas, it is not meant to be in life or in Sims. Fixed an issue in which traveling didn’t let food expire.

Sims stuck sleeping and couldn’t cancel that interaction? Not a product of a sci-fi film as I thought, but I can say that we have fixed this issue, well I hope.

You want to know how to not make my day, have my coffee brew endlessly but without giving me the coffee! Luckily the issue in-game about the Brew Coffee interaction being stuck has been fixed. Wasn’t it odd? Wait… Sleep and Brew Coffee were stuck in a mysterious loop? SUS.

If your Child Sims suddenly interrupted their computer sessions to draw on the activity table when Inspired, worry not, this should not happen after this update.

Fixed an issue that caused the “Items Removed” pop-up to appear when no items were removed from the game.

Fixed an issue in which setting Lots on Slipshod Mesquite would sometimes generate a crash of the game for some Simmers. The Lot couldn’t handle that much flavor.

Some blush and lipstick opacity sliders are back as they were greyed out.

Step-Parent/Child relationships are no longer missing in the Genealogy Panel. Similarly, other cases of broken families in the Genealogy Panel have been fixed as well. It is all about reconnecting or connecting with what is important.

Platforms will no longer raise in height automatically when creating new walls to intersect part of them.

We also fixed an issue in which if you placed platforms in basement levels and a staircase from the floor to the platforms, it would create this gap or hole in front of the stairs and Sims were not able to route correctly. You know, I have played many platformers in my lifetime, but do you imagine Sims trying to jump those gaps? I mean, I am called JumpFail for a reason… glad we fixed this one!

World view Lots that had some off-centered border have been adjusted.

Toddlers will no longer gain negative Sentiments against their parents randomly, especially the Festering Grudge Sentiment. I should not be laughing at this issue as I type it, I should not…<giggles>

We got word that the camera was malfunctioning and bouncing uncontrollably in some Lots across multiple Worlds. We fixed an issue that caused this, but let us know if there are new instances.

Sometimes Ghosts can be part of our Households if we choose to, however, it is really hard to live with Ghosts that constantly break things, it makes it a bit… unlivable. So our expert team of Simghostologists has communicated with these Ghosts in the non-physical realm and they have agreed to not break everything all the time.

Fixed an issue related to flooring glitches while placing the dance floor or crystal clear flooring.

Went through all the trouble in hiring a Nanny only to have your Toddler get sent to Daycare? More than a schedule conflict I imagine having the Nanny show up and there is no Toddler so what does the Nanny do in this case? Do they leave? Do they stay and wait? I must know… However, This should no longer be an issue.

Fixed an issue where using ‘{}’ (curly brackets)  in renaming objects would make these invisible in lists or UI in general.

Fixed an issue in the Likes and Dislikes section in Create a Sim that had some categories displayed incorrectly (either cut off, or words broken apart in new lines incorrectly) for some languages.

There was a clipping issue with the eye preset ymAsian13_Eyes that occurred when Sims were in extreme emotion, like Angry, and blinked. We adjusted this preset so this should not occur.

Toddlers can be picky eaters, but Toddlers not eating any fish recipe? That is suspicious, so we had a chat with the little angels and we have found a way to help them enjoy the complex flavors of our fish recipes.

Our UI team has fixed an issue in which a scrollbar appeared in the Sentiment section in the Relationship Panel when there were no sentiments. The mysterious scrollbar was mysterious. Similarly, they have also fixed an issue in which if multiple Sims gained sentiments together their thought bubbles look quite not right with the incorrect colors, so now they should look proper.

The Likes and Dislikes icon in Create a Sim will no longer overlap its text. It looked weird, honestly.

Droids (if you own Journey to Batuu) and Drones (if you own Get Famous) clipping into all kinds of objects in Build Mode? We saw that too, so there should be a fix for that in this game update. I mean this went beyond just crashing into things…

The option “Join After School Activity” will no longer be available if Simmers don’t have Seasons or Get Famous packs installed.

Sims in deviant paths now can properly reach the Level 4 of the Criminal Career.

Now, this is one that made my day, Cowplants are now able to dance again when Sims play music in front of them. Dance Cowplant, Dance!

Fixed an issue in which relationship points gained by friendly introductions were more than usual if Simmers didn’t have Snowy Escape installed.

We adjusted the color swatches for the S. Cargeaux Counter Island so that when it gets dirty, the counter doesn’t completely change colors. Dirty Counter – who dis?

Fixed an issue where the Scared Emotion UI was displaying a broken pose for Toddlers. The pose was kinda more scary than what the Toddler had been scared of, so glad that is done.

Outfits worn while Purchased and Worn in Festivals/Kiosks/Stalls should no longer remove accessories that were in place for the Sim.

Error code 134:571e5862 that occurred to some Simmers should be fixed now.

We fixed a few hairstyles (yfHair_EP05WavyBob, yfHair_EP01PartedFlat, yfHair_EP05UnderCutDreads, yfHair_EP01ShortSwept, and yfHair_DreamyCrew) that when used with the recently added color options would create splotches in the eyes, change the color of teeth, and/or change the eyelashes color.

As always the Localization team and this author have fixed and improved text across all packs and updates.

Get to Work

Aliens can now enjoy their custom Blush options in Create a Sim. Lewks out of this world!

Retail employees will now appropriately change into their assigned outfits. Listen, I grew up wearing uniforms for school, I get it, sometimes they are not the prettiest… but you have to wear them if you have to go to that establishment. I know the pain too well… but my sense of style grew from that… I think.

We made a fix to some of the swatches from the Barely Better Digital Camera that were missing a description for the item, so now all the swatches will display the text in all its glory.

Get Together

Some of these Sims are not like the others, some of these Sims just don’t belong. Can you tell which are not like the others by the time I finish writing these notes?

Fixed an issue in which some of the rooftops in Winderburg were not displaying Snow (if you own Seasons) correctly.

Fixed an issue where Sims didn’t sometimes change into their Club outfits when a Club Gathering was being held.

City Living

The Scattered Panes window in Build Mode now displays appropriate shadows in all options.

Sims enrolled in the Social Media career will now gain influence at the end of their stream instead of every few Sim-minutes.

Two hairstyles (ymHair_EP03BunHighPins and ymHair_EP03BraidedFlateBun) have been updated to reflect the correct look when choosing the Neutral Black color option.

Your Sims want to shoot some Basketball Close Shots, but they are trying to eat first? Well, now your Sims can finish eating before trying those hoops. Nutrition is important!

Cats and Dogs

We fixed an issue in which whiskers were not being seen applied to Cats. A Cat without whiskers is like Peanut butter without Jelly… or something like that! Just wrong!

Robot Vacuums should all now return to their docks accordingly. I hope this issue was not a sign that they were becoming sentient.

Sims will no longer get a Moodlet referring to the death of their Pet when witnessing the death of another Sim. The loss of a Sim is heartbreaking, but also getting a Moodlet for the death of their Pet when the Pet has not died, that is cold Grimmy, very cold.

Speaking of Robot Vacuums becoming sentient a few lines above, we fixed an issue that made the game crash when Cats would sit on the Robot Vacuum. CatonRobot.exe is now working.

We fixed an issue in which some Simmers experienced a crash with their last played Household loading into Brindleton Bay.

Seasons

Sims were changing into their cold-weather gear… while not in cold weather? We had some conversations with Sims and even though they love their winter outfits, dressing up in full winter gear in the summer was probably not the wisest choice. So the issue in which Sims randomly would change into their winter outfits while not in winter is solved.

Egg Hunts are adorable and fun! But not being able to have the furniture reset after looking for Eggs in them, can be quite the rain on Sims’ parade. But this should no longer occur.

Island Living

Mermaids will no longer keep the “Dried Scales” Moodlet when they are hydrated. Mermaids’ skincare regimen pays off! Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!

Fixed an issue in which Lots that are placed in the sand looked quite odd displaying all edges of the Lot when it rained.

Sims that have the Collector Aspiration Trait are now able to catch Frogs in Sulani as part of their adventures exploring the island waterfall. Good Luck!

We fixed an issue in which some Simmers experienced game crashes when loading into certain lots in Mua Pe’lam. Happy Exploring!

Discover University

Sims having a hard time in Uni? No matter what they do they keep failing classes? Worry not, Sims will no longer fail classes when meeting all the criteria for course completion. Work hard, pass your classes hard!

Having Roommates can be hard. Have your Sims had Roommates complain constantly and leave even when their needs are met? Yeah, we made it so that Roommates don’t do this any longer.

Fixed an issue in which beds were counted incorrectly when placing an ad for Roommates. I mean, as much as Pets and even Toddlers can live with Roommates, the ad should be truthful to how many beds there are actually in the Lot, not count Toddlers and Pets as needing adult-sized beds.

We fixed Servo animations so that they don’t look like they are walking on one leg when hovering to their destination. Now they will hover properly.

We fixed an issue in which in some instances Professors could not go to work when a Professor NPC is added into that same Household.

Fixed an issue in which removing and adding back Household members as Roommates would create some… inappropriate moments, ahem.

Eco Lifestyle

Evergreen Harbor’s peace has been restored: roads and parts of neighborhoods no longer disappear or turn blue when businesses open in Port Promise while the Modern Development N.A.P is active.

yfBody_EP09DressShirt no longer has a weird texture in some of the footwear from various packs, especially platform shoes and chunky sneakers.

Had you moved to Cypress Terrace in Willow Creek and found you couldn’t really do anything there? We fixed the routing failures and interaction failures on the Mitey-Mitey Home – Insect Farm.

Snowy Escape

Mountain Climbing can be challenging, even for those experienced. But having indecisive moments before a climbing route like getting off and on your bike constantly seems that a lot of doubt is passing your mind… However, we did speak to these Sims that were experiencing this behavior and calmed their fears and doubts, so this should no longer be an issue.

The hairstyle yfHair_EP10BobBluntOmbre now covers all of the Sim’s ears.

For Simmers who own Seasons together with Snowy Escape, rain options no longer affect snow.

Sims no longer have the option to give a respectful or military introduction during activities such as Dancing or Bike Riding. I mean, I’m not sure about you, but I can’t dance and respectfully introduce myself at the same time. So many falls… so many falls.

We made some corrections to the Slippers that came with this pack and they should no longer display a greenish texture on Sims’ toes when selected in Create a Sim. Yikes.

Fixed an issue in which for some Simmers playing with the Yoshida Hall Household would generate a game crash when loading into Mt. Komorebi.

We took a look at our Ramen menu and have updated our cooking menu to label Miso and Egg Ramen as Vegetarian safe options. Buen Provecho!

Want to run a Restaurant in Yukimatsu but also want to enjoy the slopes? Now your Sims can enjoy the slopes and dine in style. However, this action is only directed, and will not be autonomous. In the same vein, Restaurant employees will not be tempted to leave work to enjoy the slopes.

Journey to Batuu

Batuu is an awesome destination for those who want to enjoy something fun and different, but if you bought a Droid from the Droid Depot and never saw it in your inventory, I know how frustrating it can be. Never fear, the Droids you were looking for will appear now in Inventories when purchased.

In Journey to Batuu, the First Order ID no longer disappears from inventory so Sims now can Access First Order Plans for the Top Notch Trickery Mission.

Fixed an issue with the Leveling the Playing Field Mission in which the Scoundrel Informant would not appear on the scene after Sims stole the Prototype Blaster and went to Oga’s Cantina to wait for the informant.

Dine Out

Eggs and Toast sound super basic and easy right? They will continue to be that way for our unassuming Chefs on the Chef Station since we fixed an issue that made them… challenging. Sims can also use the second burner for other recipes without fail or routing out.

StrangerVille

The Decorations and Kid’s categories in Build Mode should no longer have a “New” highlight when there’s nothing actually new.

Dream Home Decorator

Lighting can change the ambiance of a room, and your mood in a flash. Luckily we have fixed an issue that lighting was not even on sectional sofas to continue to set the right mood for our Sims.

Our stylists fixed the Sleep ‘N’ Study Styled Room to remove the P.R.I.M.A Computer from it as this is not an item that is accessible for everyone, pardon our dust.

Laundry Day

Fixed an issue where an animation clipped when Sims were loading their laundry machines. Because having your clothes go through you is awkward, are Sims made of fabric? I don’t think so.

Bust the Dust

Don’t need Simoleons, don’t need Fame. Don’t need dinner to have this date. It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes but it might just end your night… the power of Dust, that’s the power of Dust.

Our cleaning agents have determined that Sims won’t get romantic negative Moodlets related to filthy levels of dust in public places like parks.

[sly-merlin]

be my shield | j.suh

Rainodanna requested : Simmiiiiiiii~ how about mafia Johnny coming home covered in blood and you have to patch him up 👀

Words : 1k

Warning : mention of blood

Genre : mafia, worrisome fluff?

Maybe poorly written bcs it's 4a.m and my brain makes mistakes and i couldn't find a beta reader

   

20:45

Bouncing on the tunes of your favourite music, you entered your sweet home, letting the emptiness greet you. You stopped abruptly in the hallway to jiggle your hip to the chorus and whilst giggling at yourself, danced your way to the kitchen. Tossing the large grocery bag on the counter and going through the ingredients, you decided to cook something nice for your fiance as a surprise.

 Johnny, your not so conventional lover, was addicted to many foul habits and the most distasteful for you was him going missing in action for days. Of course the others weren't bearable either but when you fail to ignore something, you somehow manage to live with it. When even after knowing Johnny's job you couldn't unlearn to love him, you decided to gulp down the tainted reality that embraced him. The day you came back to his house was the very day he had vowed to make sure you'd never see the darker side of the moon that he operated in. To minimise your involvement with the black neos, he met you only on certain days and today was one of those special occassions and the exact reason of your shopping spree. Earlier in the morning, he had called you through the symbian phone, confirming his attendance for the whole upcoming week. Hence, you were standing in the kitchen, ready to cook a late night dinner.

Just one more song, you told yourself before turning around with the jute bag to stack the surplus. When you finally unplugged the earphones, you unconsciously expected to be met with the silence that surrounded the premises whenever you were alone but instead uneven grunts startled you. Stumbling upon your feet, you tried to follow the painful voice, praying that your eyes would not meet the scene your mind had conjoured right after hearing the voice. Finding the bedroom void of any existence, you took careful steps towards the connected bathroom and a loud gasp escaped your lips as your gaze fell on the bloodied handle. With no intention of touching it, you pushed the already ajar door with your elbow only to face the dread itself. By the bathtub laid Johnny's limp figure, shirt torn apart showing the severely injured abdomen. You were quick in your steps as you approached him and snatched the rubbing alcohol from his hands with which he was trying to fix himself. Trying!

"Jo-john wha-how did this happen!" You stuttered in worry laced voice. Upon mere physical examination, anyone could say that the now stiffening cut was caused hours ago and that only meant that johnny had resisted against the medics for help. It wasn't your first time seeing him in the excruciating pain but like everytime, watching him damaged didn't hurt any less.

He winced at the pressure of the liquid against the wound and his trembling hand caught yours before you could clean it further. That's when you noticed the stream of tears ruining his face and his pain opened the route of yours too. 

"Please let m-me do it." Squeezing his hand reassuringly, you started patching him up. Whenever he cried in anguish, you shushed him with soothing words. With blurred vision and almost forty minutes of labour, you managed to stitch the knife cut. You helped him out of his reddened clothes and slowly assisted him to carry himself to the bed for the much needed rest. Infinite questions ran through your head but you decided to save the confrontation for some later hour when he would be in actual position to answer.

**

"It's sour! I don't want to eat this!" 

"Baby are you getting a fever?" You questioned, palming his forehead for the taste of the soup, a few minutes ago, was very much sweeter. He wasn't warm but still looked exhausted. 

Johnny was more than what could be described as strong but he was a mere human in the end and it didn't happen very frequently that the great johnny suh could be caught crying like a baby.

"No y/n. I'm alright. It was left open for too long maybe that's why it was hurting too much or maybe i was just being dramatic" he choked out a painful chuckle, wimpering slightly at the stress it caused on his lower body. 

"Where was your bulletproof jacket johnny? You are supposed to wear it. It's given to you for a very specific re-

"Hey. I'm fine now. Besides it was meant to be just a simple pistol exchange! Who knew they were not the giving types." 

 your eyes remained transfixed on his troubling expressions. He was clearly not fine and you couldn't point out what was more painful, him acting strong for you or him trying to divert his eyes so you won't read the truth from his face. 

"What about xiaojun and renjun? Why didn't you go to them? They are the medics John. And how did you even reach her-

Inching forward, he cut your word supply by covering your lips with his hand, leaving you perplexed.

"They were behind me so i dodged them and waited out for the sun to get down so i won't be followed back home " he explained as his fingers brushed your lips to cup your cheek. Leaning your face against it, you kissed his palm, showing your unwavering concern. He knew there was no way he could stop you from worrying and the least he could do was make sure you were convinced. 

"Come here" he said, squeezing your jaw. You crawled over his legs to reach the left side so your touch won't put a strain on the injury. Once settled and tucked under the covers, he let out a content sigh, relishing the much needed company. 

"Promise me next time you won't go out without backup and would be more careful." You requested warmly, snuggling little more into his neck. He softly kissed your hair in return and tugged you closer like it was even possible.

"Yeah. I've to" he mumbled, knowing he didn't need more words to explain what he really meant.

I have to because that's the only way i can shield you.

[vanquishedvaliant]

So there’s this trend I’m seeing on social media about people boycotting / encouraging people not to buy the upcoming Mass Effect remasters.

The reasonings being somewhat varied, some valid, others not, but mostly centering around one thing in specific; cut content relating to same sex relationships that didn’t make it into the games.

Now, I understand not being interested in the product being offered; I’m probably not going to buy it myself for a lack of specific features like multiplayer and... just not needing the buy the game for my fifth or sixth time. It’s completely valid to think the remasters are just not doing enough for you to justify a purchase, or that their faith in the company doing it properly in their current state isn’t there. I get that.

But the mood that’s come up lately isn’t just disinterest; it’s downright outrage. Violent, ideologically charged opposition to even the concept of the remasters because of a perceived failure to meet their extremely specific and often high standards and notions of progressiveness.

Now it’s not exactly news that Bioware has had a rocky relationship with inclusivity over the years, with queer characters flitting in and out of recognition and prominence, appropriation of queer archetypes, and less than stellar execution of what characters they do include. I’ve had my complaints with these myself from time to time, though it’s still always struck me historically as a generally positive, if clumsy attempt at progress that I appreciated despite the flaws; remember that the original Mass Effect 1 came out in 2007, and was the focus of a major media scandal about even including romantic relationships at all in the game, nevermind same sex ones. That’s 14 years ago! The most recent game in the series is 9 years old!

We can talk about the social standards of the times and the progress we’ve made, and we can also talk about the merits of restoring and improving media as it was, or recreating it to more closely reflect the values of today and which or both of them is a worthwhile pursuit, but I don’t think that’s what’s being sincerely argued here.

What we see instead is some protestation that failure to make the exacting changes that they see fit according to their personal ideology is some kind of radically regressive statement, as if it’s a conscious, malicious decision and not either one made in good faith or not at all. This movement has collectively decided that the remaster needs to contain exactly the changes that fit their fleeting whims or the entire thing’s at best a wash and a wasted effort, and in some cases a ‘homophobic’ statement of hatred, or cynically callous laziness. 

Let’s remember; the focus of this argument is the presence of available simulated dating options in a 14 year old game. The arguments posits that some of these alternative options are ones that were cut from the release of the games, notably the first one, and have some or numerous assets that exist in various forms within the game files that with some work can be accessed in the game with user-made modifications. Some of this is true; though much of it is exaggerated or misconstrued in terms of its scope or viability.

Many of these people just assume that this cut content that someone else has restored in a mod somewhere is just some sort of simple toggle done in moments without effort, ignoring the work those modders did on their own time and money to introduce those features. 

Even if we just hand wave any standards of quality or continuity or polish and integration these mods have, you have to consider the dozens to hundreds of volunteer man hours of labor these fans put into many of those mods to make them viable that a company paying it’s employees a fair wage and time to do without overworking has to budget. Which I should mind to you is something also incredibly topically relevant in game dev these days. Adding new content costs money. Restoring old content, still costs money.

Even then, the viability of many of those original assets is at question in itself; the 'ingredients’ used to create the content are not equivalent to the ‘cooked’ content found in the game files, so some of them are difficult to work with or lacking in features or quality. Hell, we know for a fact that half of the god damn development data for ME1 is just fucking gone, which is why the DLC isn’t making an appearance in the remaster at all; it just doesn’t exist anymore and would need to be remade from utter scratch.

Now there’s a dozen reasons undertakings like these would or wouldn’t make their list of priorities for remaster given the other work they are doing re; texture and model uprezzing, gameplay updates, etc. It’s not exactly strange for them to recreate the game largely as it was with a more limited scope of changes. Perhaps the decision was made to preserve some parts of the game largely as it was; with mostly minor cosmetic changes to things like Miranda’s camera angles; things that don’t have much overhead or ripple effect. Perhaps restoring the content was considered, but didn’t make the cut- maybe for the same reasons it didn’t make it into the game in 2007. Maybe for different ones.

Only the people involved know.

Now, would I like to see some of that content restored and improved? Sure! I think it’d have been a great thing if they’d promoted the series as having new or restored content; if they’d promised us such things. But they haven’t, and while it’s one thing to praise taking an initiative like that if they had, I think it’s completely unreasonable to be outraged that they didn’t.

We can celebrate that kind of outstanding and excellent steps forward in inclusivity, but we have to understand that while someone not being ahead of the curve may not be exciting or even disappointing; it is not in itself an act of directed aggression. And treating it like one is a waste of time and energy that we can direct to protesting actual aggression, or celebrating those outstanding steps.

But here’s the major thing that kills me; all those mods they love and praise aren’t going anywhere.

The remaster will come out and unless Bioware is so completely tone deaf and media blind from the past year they pull a WC3, the old versions of the game will all still be available. All those user made mods they cite in these arguments about “how easy” it is to add content to the game will still be there, ready to play as they always were. Some of them might even work or be easily made to work with the new versions!

All of that will still be there! And we’ll have access to a new version of the trilogy that is far more accessible to new players who haven’t yet been exposed to so much of the games content that they are desperate for more of it.

Just look at Mass Effect 1; that game has not aged well, and it was kind of a sloppy mess even when it came out! How many new players can we get to enjoy all the good things the series has to offer with an easily accessed, more enjoyable package to play through the entire series without issue? I’ve done numerous replays of the trilogy through the years, and Mass Effect 1 is always a huge stumbling block. It’s just a pain in the ass, straight out. Don’t you want at least the option to fix that?

And if not, you don’t have to buy it and no harm is done to you! Enjoy your existing version with your mods and familiar features and flaws.

And if you truly, genuinely care so passionately about Bioware improving their record of inclusivity; look instead to the new game that’s coming out and look forward to that instead. Every game in the franchise has been better than the last at this; ME1 cut the same sex relationships, but ME2 had some. ME3 had even more, and then Andromeda had yet even further than that after patching!

How many will the new game have?

Look forward to that and make it clear to bioware you’re looking for that in their games; just.... ease off this ridiculous vitriol in trying to get people to avoid the remaster because it’s not good enough for you. No one needs to have this bullying done to either the developers themselves or the players looking to buy the game for themselves or others. It’s simply not productive.

Especially with this franchise’s sordid history with excessive media outrage and entitlement that’s been absolutely exhausted.

Just... relax. And have some perspective.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Teenagers Part 7

Harry Potter Marauders Era 

Link to Part 6 

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M 

_______

The next morning, Sirius sat in a tea shop that was off of the beaten path of most people. He stirred the cup of steaming liquid in front of him as he anxiously tapped his foot. When the bell about the door jingled, Sirius looked up as Regulus stepped in. His brother was clearly looking over his shoulder for any of their family members. Agreeing to meet up like this was dangerous...for both brothers.

Sirius internally rolled his eyes. He wished that things didn’t have to be this way. If Sirius wanted to talk to his brother then he should be able to. He was in astonishment that Regulus even agreed to meet him in the first place. The relationship between Sirius and Regulus had been “tense” since Sirius packed his crap and ran to the Potters. Regulus would rarely speak to Sirius at school as it was. Sirius had a feeling that the only reason Regulus agreed to meet him today was the younger brother knew that this conversation had something to do with you.

Regulus sat down across from Sirius silently. Neither spoke as the witch that owned the place came over to take Regulus’ order. Sirius sat quietly as Regulus took off his jacket and placed his hands on the table. Regulus’ attention had fallen on a group of older women who were eyeing both Regulus and Sirius hopefully.

In your dreams…

Regulus thought with an eye roll. He was used to the staring. Any time that he or Sirius went somewhere some member of the opposite sex was drooling over them.

“You’re getting a lot of looks from women now.”

Sirius commented. He couldn’t help but be proud of his little brother. The young man was finally coming into his “good looks” and getting the attention that Sirius had been getting for years. Sirius wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if one of the older women in the corner wanted nothing more than to “take care” of his younger brother. With those intense eyes, perfectly sculpted face, and a headful of curls Regulus probably captured many women’s hearts...but none of them would matter. Sirius knew this. Regulus’ eyes were only on one person. If one of these women tried to flirt with him, Sirius had a feeling that Regulus would tell them to bugger off. Teasing them was one thing but intentionally flirting with them when Regulus knew that he had you in his life was another.

Regulus rolled his eyes again.

“They don’t matter to me. Y/n is the only one that I care about.”

Sirius smirked.

“Blow one of them a kiss. They will probably fall out of their chairs.”

Regulus shook his head.

“I’m not here to watch you nor flirt with tea shop tramps. Why did you want to see me?”

Sirius nodded, finally accepting that he wasn’t going to get a smile out of his younger brother. It was probably best to get down to business.

“I need to talk to you about Y/n.”

“Yes. If you are going to tell me that I need to break up with her then you are wasting your time. Furthermore, you can tell James Potter to grow a pair and get over it. He needs to be a better older brother to Y/n. The way that he does her is disgusting. He is honestly lucky that I haven’t tried to kick his ass. If he keeps on hurting her, I may not be so kind. I know how she feels and I will not let her go through the same heartache that I have had to.”

Sirius winced. The little dig at him hit home, just as Regulus wanted it to. Regulus didn’t have to say that Sirius was a crap older brother for Sirius to get his brother’s point. Sirius swallowed back his own want to tell Regulus to shut the fuck up.

I have tried. You ignore me! Anytime that I try to patch things up, you run away to your Slytherin friends. That you. Not me!

The comment was so close to coming out of Sirius’ mouth but he wasn’t here today about himself. This was about you.

“I’ll talk to James. He’s just scared. Y/n is his only sister. She’s a special girl not just to James and I but her whole family.”

Regulus frowned.

“You don’t think that I don’t value her?”

Sirius shook his head.

“I didn’t say that. Reg, I know that you value her. Personally, I know you very well. You don’t do anything unless you have it planned out on a pad of paper. I don’t think that you would be wearing a woman’s locket if she didn’t mean something to you. What I’m telling you is you have to keep her safe from the cult.”

“The cult?”

Regulus questioned, earning a scowl from his older brother.

“Our family, idiot! Like it or not, Regulus, our family is a cult and you’re drinking the kool-aid.”

Regulus raised an eyebrow.

“I guess that you would know. Furthermore, what is Kool-Aid and what does that have to do with anything?”

Sirius put a hand over his face.

“Bad analogy. Look, just keep her safe.”

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest feeling a bit insulted. Did Sirius really think that he would let anything happen to you? Regulus wasn’t going to be leaving your side throughout the whole party and if he did, he would make sure Narcissa or his mother was beside you. If worse came to worse, he would have Kreacher keep an eye on you.

“I won’t let anything happen to her. Merlin, Sirius, you act as if I am going to let them cook and eat her.”

Sirius’ normally happy expression that he wore all of the time was dark and grim. Had Regulus not been insulted he may be a bit more sympathetic to his brother’s position. Sirius, was after all, only trying to protect you and that was commendable enough.

“Keep her safe from yourself too.”

Sirius added. Regulus raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”

Sirius sighed.

“Regulus, you're my brother and I love you but we both know how you can be when our family is involved. You fall right into line with the rest of them.”

Regulus stood up with a cold glare.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

Regulus didn’t give Sirius a chance to reply before grabbing his jacket and storming out of the shop. Sirius groaned. His master plan of trying to fix things totally went down in a puff of smoke.

Standing, he decided that it was best to just get back to the Potter’s family home and spend the rest of the day with his best friend.

“Excuse me?”

Sirius looked up when one of the older women that had been eyeing both Sirius and Regulus spoke.

“Yes?”

The woman blushed.

“We just wanted to say that your brother and yourself are adorable.”

Sirius normally would have played right along. Today he was in no mood and wanted nothing more than to whine to James.

“Trust me, you don’t want any of this crazy.”

Sirius replied before walking out in the opposite direction that Regulus had gone in.

(a few hours later)

You sat in front of your mother’s vanity mirror as she fixed your hair and Lily did your makeup. The morning had been spent finding a dress for the party and now here you were being their own personal doll.

“You picked out a beautiful dress, Y/n.”

Lily said with a pleased smile. Your mother nodded, in agreement.

“It was the first one that she tried on. I think the black lace is lovely.”

You were pleased with the gown that you had chosen even if James made the snide comment of…

“If she marries him that’s all that she will be wearing.”

To your shock, Sirius was the one that stood up for you there. He gave James a displeased expression and asked James to stop. Of course, James immediately shut up since it was Sirius that asked.

You couldn’t help but frown thinking about your brother and how awful that your relationship had become since you began dating Regulus. Could James not be happy for you? You had your first boyfriend that you were actually in love with. Regulus was good to you in return...could that not be enough?

Apparently not.

Lily speaking, pulled you from your thoughts.

“I think Regulus is here to get you, Y/n.”

Walking downstairs, you saw the sight that you expected to see. James sat on the couch ignoring Regulus like a toddler would someone that they were mad at. Sirius sat in between James and Regulus, probably to stop the two from beating the crap out of each other. You made a mental note to thank Sirius later.

Sirius was at least starting to change his views on you dating his younger brother. He had apologized earlier that morning for being a git about the whole thing and if you were happy then he was happy for you. There was also the promise to beat the crap out of Regulus if he did something to hurt you followed by a huge “Sirius Black” smile. Of course, you couldn’t be angry with him after that.

You didn’t expect Sirius to give you a ton of excuses on why he was so angry in the first place...you knew. Sirius was worried about your safety. That went without saying but that didn’t mean that he had to treat you so crappy over the past few months. His genuine apology early that day smoothed that particular hurt over.

Regulus stood up the moment that you walked in. He looked perfect as always. You made a mental note to thank Walburga for driving him crazy over the suit that he was wearing. It made everything about him look ten times better.

“You look beautiful.”

He said before gently kissing your forehead. As much as Regulus wanted to pull you into some long sultry kiss, he decided to wait. It would be funny as hell to watch the expression on James’ face but Regulus didn’t want to get on Fleamont or Euphemia’s bad side. Snogging their daughter right in front of them was probably a bad place to start any kind of potential feelings.

“Thanks. I see why your mother was driving you crazy over the suit. It looks great.”

Regulus smirked.

“You don’t live with her. We should be going.”

Sirius quickly looked up from his place on the couch.

“Watch out for the elf, he bites.”

Regulus turned to his brother with an annoyed expression as he wrapped his hand through yours.

“He bites you because you get on his nerves.”

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. Regulus was probably right on that one. He definitely didn’t do many nice things for Kreacher when he lived at home. Sirius loved to annoy the elf and he was good at it. Regulus, however, treated him like some kind of cutsie pet. It was no wonder that Kreacher always preferred Regulus over Sirius.

“Good point. If mum tries to give you Kool-aid, don’t drink it.”

It took all that that Sirius had to not cackle at the expression on your face and the annoyed expression on his brother’s face.

“What are you talking about?”

You asked Sirius. Regulus wrapped his arm around your waist.

“Don’t even ask. He said that same thing to me earlier. I think it's just him talking. We both know how my brother is.”

As you turned to follow Regulus to the door, James jumped up. He had spent the evening feeling guilty over how he had been doing you. James tried to justify it by saying “I want to keep her safe” but even that was failing him. He had been a cold-ass to you and you honestly didn't deserve it for falling in love. You didn’t get upset when he started dating Lily. In fact, you were supportive. Maybe James needed to back off and let you live your own life?

I’ll always be there to pick up the pieces no matter who the lover is…

James meant it too. He didn’t care if the lover was Regulus Black or some other guy...James was your brother and he would take care of you until he was dead.

“Y/n, wait!”

James called as he slid into the foyer. You were halfway out the door as you turned to face your older brother.

“Yes?”

You replied, surprised to see James standing there looking at you with apologetic eyes.

“Be careful.”

James’ comment was simple but the expression on his face oozed sincerity. You smiled.

“I will.”

When you turned your back, you didn’t see the cold expression that James shot at Regulus. His face clearly said,

“If she gets hurt, I am coming after you!”

Regulus fought the urge to chuckle. He turned without an expression in James' direction and followed you outside.

Arriving at 12 Grimmauld Place, Regulus stopped you before he moved to open the door. He looked down at you with those sultry eyes that made your heart pound.

“I haven’t seen you in some time, you know. I’ve missed you.”

You stood on your tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. Regulus wrapped his arms around your waist to preserve the contact. He didn’t care if there was the very real possibility that one of his bloody relatives could open the door and witness the two of you about to snog. They could stand and watch for all Regulus cared. Regulus had spent the good bit of the past week wanting nothing more than to have your body against his.

“I bet I have missed you more. I’ve been trapped in this house with my parents wanting nothing more than to be with you. You mentioned that your mum put you on muggle birth control?”

You nodded as Regulus titled your head to the side and nuzzled his face against your skin.

“She did. I guess she figured that we were doing things.”

“Well, she isn’t wrong.”

Regulus commented.

“Do you think that we will be able to disappear for a bit?”

You asked. Regulus nodded.

“Easily. My mum will be busy being a show-off. She wouldn’t notice if we disappeared. How about a little preview of what we will be doing later?”

You didn’t have time to respond as Regulus pulled you into a deep hungry kiss. Neither of you was paying the least bit of attention to anything going on around you nor did you notice Bellatrix and Narcissa in the window watching with surprised expressions on their faces.

Both women had been made aware of their cousin finally finding a halfway decent pureblood girl (even if she really wasn’t up to “family” standards) but seeing him snogging on the front steps was a huge shock.

Bellatrix turned to her sister with a grin.

“This will be fun.”

_________

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