#but it's fine that's why we have new and tee to make me feel things

[vegaseatsass]

DFF ep10 spoilers/ep11 trailer spoilers

I liked this episode because I'm absolutely feral for New, and for Tee's tears, and for Fluke my beloved unintentional comic relief, but mooooostly I just cannot wait for ep11. That preview completely unhinged me. Oh my god oh my god so many of my dreams are coming true. It turns out as much as I love New and as much as I appreciate White (New you have to seduce him to your side if you don't want him to ruin everything!!!), Non is still my heart and a few split seconds of promised footage is enough to make crawling from this moment to next Saturday acutely painful.

[yoon-kooks]

pastries & promises | jjk

⛓️pairing: hotnerd!jungkook x popular!reader

⛓️genre: smut, fluff, college!au

⛓️summary: After hooking up with the hot nerdy boy in your coding class over the weekend, you’ll use any excuse to keep his hands on your body all week long.

⛓️word count: 3k

⛓️warnings: catdilf!jk, dom!jk, sub!reader, daddy/kitten undertones, praise kink, dirty talk, oc is a horny lil brat, mention of getting wasted at parties, one instance of slut-shaming, oc makes an ignorant comment about earl grey tea lol, no explicit smut in this drabble

⛓️p&p masterlist⛓️

a/n: this takes place a few days after p&p jjk & oc start talking to give us a glimpse of what their new dynamic is like in & out of class✨ btw despite what oc says about earl grey, i personally love it;;

After a weekend of sex, coding, kitten shenanigans, and more sex, you wake up to a beautiful boy with equally beautiful tattoos nagging you to “get the fuck up” for the “hundredth time” because “class starts in twenty minutes” and “attendance is worth 25% of your grade.” It somehow slipped your mind that it’s already Monday. Can he really blame you after fucking you silly several hours ago?

You tug at the collar of his hoodie and pull him on top of you. Still very much naked beneath the sheets, you suggest, “Or we can just skip class and extend our weekend? I’m sure we can find something fun to do.”

“Nice try, but no.” Jungkook offers you a hand and pulls you into an upright sitting position. The sheets slide down your chest, and you catch the boy staring a little too long.

“And you expect me to walk into class without a bra?” It’s not your fault you rushed over to his place last night in nothing but a baby tee and leggings. Why bother throwing on a bra when you know it’s gonna be torn off your body the second you step into his room?

“I mean, I’m not against it.” His eyes are still locked onto your chest. At least he’s a guy who appreciates art when he sees it. When he’s finally done, he digs through his closet and throws one of his grey hoodies into your arms. “But this will keep you warmer.”

You sniff the hoodie. It’s clean but still has the very scent you’ve familiarized yourself with a lot this weekend—blossoms and bergamot. It smells delicious.

With a sigh, you hop out of the bed and collect your pieces of clothing from every corner of the room. Your thong somehow wound up slung over his computer screen, but better there than on the floor.

Once you’re dressed in your day-old clothes, you slip into the boy’s hoodie and drown in his scent. The warmth that engulfs you makes you want to adopt his comfy casual style. At least on school days. Maybe you wouldn’t dread going to class so much if you could just sit there and be all cozy like that.

You’d still prefer to stay home and fuck him, though.

“You know what, I’m not feeling very well all of a sudden,” you lie. “Maybe you should stay home too so we don’t spread any germs to our beloved classmates.”

“Maybe you should just go to class like a good girl, and maybe you’ll be rewarded afterward,” he throws back at you. The way you perk up is almost embarrassing. But you’ve definitely got a thing for being praised and rewarded for good behavior. Especially if the prize is something pleasurable. So yeah, you suppose you’ll endure class for a few hours so that you can have some more fun later on.

“Fine.” You wrap your pinky around his to solidify the deal. He gives you a look but doesn’t pull his finger away. “But just know that you’re a nerd for never skipping class.”

“And how do you know I never skip class?” He raises his brow with intrigue.

“We’ve been in at least three or four other comp sci classes together, and I’ve never seen you miss a day.”

“Oh, so you’ve been keeping tabs on me all this time?” He’s totally calling you out. But he isn’t wrong. As quiet as Jungkook is in class, it’s hard not to notice someone who’s so incredibly smart. Doesn’t hurt that you’ve always thought he was kinda cute too.

“I guess you could say that,” you admit. What you won’t admit, however, is the fact that you’d wanted to talk to him back then but didn’t know how to initiate a conversation. You might be considered popular, but you sure as hell don’t know how to talk to people unless they strike up the conversation first. And Jeon Jungkook clearly didn’t have any intentions of being the initiator.

Thank god for that partner project that started it all.

Just before the two of you can get out the door, a tiny mew stops you in your tracks. The kitten looks up at Jungkook and cries again.

“You have to stay home, little one,” he says, holding a hand up for her to sit and stay. Like the naughty demon child she is, she ignores everything he says and climbs up his leg and into his arms. You can hear her purring as soon as she rests her chin on her dad’s shoulder like an actual baby. It’s so tempting to take a million pictures of the glorious cat dad moment and set one as your phone wallpaper, but you’d definitely run out of storage. Good to know you have some form of restraint when it comes to your infatuation.

After ten heartwarming seconds, he sets the kitten down in her pink bed and gives her a new tiger toy that was special ordered from some fancy cat shop on the other side of the country. 

“Stay,” he tells her again before rising out of his squat. When she does as she’s told, he adds, “Good kitten.”

Oh, how you wish he was saying that to you right now.

“Your daddy really spoils you, you know that?” you giggle, waving bye to the kitty. A second later, you’re overcome by the urge to latch around Jungkook’s arm as you both head to his car. “When are you going to spoil me like that?”

He doesn’t give you a specific answer, but you’ll gladly accept the way he shrugs with the faintest hint of a smile. The two of you haven’t been talking all that long, and yet, he seems to be tolerating your antics well. At the very least, he must like you a tiny bit.

On the car ride over, you feel like you’re forgetting something. And then the boy’s stomach rumbles. Neither of you has eaten anything since the impromptu fast food run last night.

“Ooh, we should stop by the cute little bakery near campus before class,” you suggest, totally not trying to avoid class for the thousandth time today. “I heard they have really good muffins.”

“We’re gonna be late if we make any detours.” He catches a glimpse of your pout as he makes a right turn. “We can go after.”

Your pout quickly becomes a smile because he keeps sweetening the deal. You’re very much looking forward to the promised pastries and sex after class along with anything else he might throw in.

When you get to class, the usual gal crowd is hanging around your desk. Except someone else is there sitting in your seat. It’s Big Tim. Great. You love confrontation first thing in the morning.

Before approaching the seat thief, you watch him throw a cocky ass smile at Jungkook who straight up ignores it as he takes his seat next door. You would’ve appreciated a little help, but there’s nothing from Big Tim you can’t handle. Besides, the two of you agreed to keep the whole hookup thing lowkey and out of the mouths of your gossiping classmates. Otherwise Jungkook would probably end up hearing a wacky rumor-fied version of it from his tattoo artist.

“Hi?” you say to the guy in your seat. You’ll play nice for now.

“Oh hi Y/N, we were just talking about you.” Big Tim gives you a much kinder smile than the one he threw at Jungkook—a byproduct of being popular, you suppose.

“About what?” You’re genuinely confused.

“There’s a party at my place this weekend, and I’m hoping you’ll be there.” This is the first time he’s personally invited you anywhere. Is it a coincidence that he’s doing it in front of an audience?

“Thanks for the invite, but I’m all partied out for a while,” you respond as honestly and gracefully as possible. You have no interest in hanging out with Big Tim, but parties aren’t completely off the table forever. It might be fun to bring Jungkook to one eventually, even though he claims he’s uninterested in getting wasted with people he couldn’t care less about. “Can I have my seat back now?”

Big Tim laughs it off like you weren’t being serious. “Aww, don’t be like that. It’s just gonna be a small thing with you, me, and a few others. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

You and him? You almost gag. That doesn’t sound like fun at all. And what’s up with him dismissing your gentle rejection? If he didn’t want to be rejected in front of everyone, he shouldn’t have hyped it up in the first place. Now it just feels like he’s pressuring you into going along with it because he knows you’re too soft to make him look bad in front of others. Unfortunately for him, that’s not going to happen.

“I’m seeing someone—a single father, actually—and I’ve been helping him with his kid. So I don’t have time for your party.” The single father part is a bit of a stretch, but you kind of like the sound of it. He’s your local hot cat dilf after all.

The girls’ jaws all drop at the same time. Big Tim’s smile also drops a bit, but he continues to shrug it off. “Helping a dad with his kid? Anything for a good dicking, I guess.”

Okay, buddy. 

You tried to stay courteous about the whole situation, and this is what you get in return. He can say whatever he wants to make himself feel better about himself, but it’s also sad to see not a single one of the other girls step in and call him out on his bullshit. You’re sick of it.

“Are you done? Can you leave now?” You look Big Tim straight in the eyes, although you’re hoping the girls take a hint to leave as well.

They don’t. Because they’re too invested in how Big Tim will respond as he opens his big mouth once more.

“She said leave,” Jungkook snaps out of nowhere. If you had to guess, he was trying to catch up on sleep after that long night with you, and now he’s cranky and mad that Big Tim can’t just shut up and take the L.

Big Tim and the girls collectively turn their heads toward the grumpy boy who cuts the conversation off with a death glare to each and every one of them. As expected, Jungkook is the only person who’d ever take your side on anything. And that’s why he’s the only one who matters to you these days.

At long last, the crowd disperses and everyone goes back to their seats. Just in time for class to begin.

As soon as class ends, you stretch your arms out, slip past all the girls who want the deets on this mysterious dilf you’re seeing, and meet back up with said dilf outside the building.

“Bakery time?” You’re smiling awfully bright despite the shitshow that went down before class. But that’s the effect Jeon Jungkook seems to have on you. You’ll take a bad day every once in a while if he’s there to make it a little better.

“Don’t bakeries usually close early?” he asks in a calm voice as if that isn’t the most devastating thing someone has said to you all day. You hadn’t thought about that.

In a panic, you pull out your phone to check the time and google the bakery’s business hours. Before you can get your answer, the boy chuckles, “It’s open. I already checked. You’re just fun to fuck with.”

You’d fight him for messing with you like that, but you’re too distracted by that chuckle. It’s a rare occurrence that you’ll treasure forever. Who knew he had such a charming laugh? And how lucky are you to be the one to hear it?

“By the way, thanks for earlier,” you say as you hop into his car. “I was about to throw hands at Tim.”

“I thought his name was Jim.” The boy looks so confused. You love it. “But yeah, you should’ve thrown hands for all that shit he said.”

“He wasn’t wrong about the good dicking though,” you hum. You can’t even remember the last time sex was this good. 

“Definitely not wrong about that,” Jungkook agrees with a big fat smirk on his face.

When the two of you arrive at the bakery, you’re delighted to see that they haven’t sold out of the famous poppy seed muffins you’ve been eyeing on Yelp. You try to get Jungkook on board with the muffin agenda, but he opts for a buttery croissant—another solid pick. You’ll definitely be stealing a bite out of that flaky pastry of his.

“Which drink are you getting?” you ask, eyeing the drink menu like it’s a map of Disneyland. Everything looks so fucking good that you don’t know where to start.

“A London fog.” You have no idea what that is, but it sounds boring. “It’s earl grey,” he clarifies upon seeing the ignorance in your eyes.

“Isn’t that what old people drink?” you snicker. “You’re a nerd and a senior citizen?”

“Well what are you getting? A hot chocolate, right? Because that’s what babies drink,” he teases back. Now that you think about it, he calls you Baby an awful lot in bed. If the two of you were dating, you wonder if you could get him to call you that all the time. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

You do end up getting the hot chocolate while Jungkook gets his elderly drink. As the barista is ringing the order up at the register, a cute sign catches your attention at the other end of the counter because there’s a cat on it. You wander over to it and pick up one of the baggies with fresh baked cat treats in it. What a coincidence.

“Hey Jungkook, look. Let’s get this for Lucy, too.” Excited by your last-minute find, you scurry back to the register where the boy is already slipping his wallet back into his butt pocket. Fine, if he wants to pay for your breakfast, then you’re paying for the kitty treats.

After you pay and secure all your food, the two of you return to Jungkook’s place. The first thing you do is seek out the kitten who’s busy taking a nap on the boy’s bed instead of in her own.

She blinks at you with heavy eyelids and twitches her nose toward the bag in your hand.

“Good morning, little cutie,” you grin. “I brought you some special treats.”

Her big ears immediately shoot up as she starts pawing at the bag. She’s so fucking cute you could cry.

“You have to ask your daddy if it’s okay to eat one now.” You continue to use your baby voice before turning to the daddy in question standing behind you.

“Just one.” The stern dad voice comes out. “And make sure you break it in half. She’s small, you know.”

“Yes, daddy.” By now, the word slips so naturally off your tongue. You meant for it to be sarcastic this time, but you’re also very aware of what it does to him and his body.

He watches quietly as you break the treat into bits and hold it in your palm for the kitten to gobble up. She meows, optimistic for more special treats, but you stick to the plan and give her more pets and cuddles instead.

“Your daddy is so mean, huh. He doesn’t want you eating any more yummy treats,” you blabber into the kitten’s ear. She makes a whiny sound in agreement.

“Hey, what are you two conspiring about over there?” Jungkook frowns.

“Oh nothing.” You’re about to shoo him away but notice his lock screen flashing on in his hand. It looks like a pic of you and the kitten conspiring together. “Wait, what’s that on your phone?”

“Oh nothing,” he mocks you before changing the subject. “Drink your hot chocolate already. It’s getting cold.”

You take a sip of it as you devour the muffin. Your drink is basically cold chocolate milk at this point, but at least it still tastes amazing. The muffin slaps too.

“Taste,” you say as you offer up your half-eaten muffin to the boy. He takes a bite like a good boyfriend would—except he’s not actually your boyfriend.

“It’s good,” he shrugs as he goes back to the flaky pastry. “The croissant’s better though.”

“Let me taste.” You grab hold of the boy’s chin and taste the butter on his lips. He kisses back with long, tender motions that leave you wanting far more than just a casual makeout session. There’s no doubt in your mind that he tastes better than both the muffin and croissant combined. You pull back for just a second to say, “Hey, wasn’t I promised sex after class?”

“Do the homework first. It’s easy.” Of course Jeon Jungkook has his priorities straight, and of course you listen because you’re craving more of his praise. At least he’s a good influence on you. “And I never said sex specifically, by the way. Is that what you were thinking about in that dirty little head of yours?”

He’s 100% right. Your horny mind just believes whatever it wants to believe. Right now, it's telling you the boy wants it just as much as you do. He’s just better at hiding it.

“It was heavily implied though,” you huff as you take your laptop out and start on a boring coding exercise on his bed. “The sex better be really good!” And that’s a threat.

“When has it not been?” Jungkook shoots you an arrogant look. Good point. And apparently he’s already finished with the assignment because he shuts his computer off and turns his attention to your screen. He sits his ass right behind you, slips his hands up into the hoodie you’re wearing, and whispers into your ear, “Now hurry up and finish. I’m waiting.”

[lustfulslxt]

Only anon bc imma pussy…but like what if matt and them have been friends for a while and she find him like jerking off to pictures and shit. Or like pics that he took of her like bent over while she wasn’t looking🤭

Caught - Matt Sturniolo

warnings : slight masturbation, sex

—

Matt’s POV

It’s currently Friday night and we have the weekend off, so Y/N is spending the night with us. We usually just hang out, eat, play games, watch movies.

Y/N’s been our friend for a good few years, and we’re together a lot. If I’m being honest, she kind of drives me crazy. She’s so perfect and the simplest things she does, quite literally, make me hard.

“Can I pick the movie?” Chris asks, jumping over the couch, landing right next to me.

I shrug, “I don’t really care.”

Nick and Y/N both round the corner, and my eyes are immediately drawn to her. She’s wearing a little baby tee and some booty shorts. It’s not weird for her to be like that, we’ve all been best friends forever now. I’ve just been having new urges for a couple of months.

The two sit on the couch opposite of me and Chris. It’s hard to pull my eyes away from her, but I have to when Chris holds his hand out to me.

“What?” I ask him, raising my eyebrows.

“The remote. Do you not listen?” He retorts.

I only roll my eyes and hand him the remote from beside me. Before my gaze can return to Y/N, I quickly force myself to stare at the blank TV. I don’t know what it is, she’s just got me in some trance lately. Taking a deep breath to push my thoughts away, I roll my neck and shuffle in my seat.

“You good, Matty?” I hear her ask me, causing my head to snap in her direction.

“W-what? Why? I’m fine.” I ramble, before closing my eyes in frustration.

“You seem tense, kid.” Nick calls out.

I just ignore him, a small groan leaving my mouth. Why am I like this? What is this sick shit? I can’t get the thought of bending her over, while she takes all of me, out of my head.

With another heavy breath, I remove my hoodie as I’m beginning to get hot, and place it next to me. I can’t help but adjust myself in my seat again, feeling hot and bothered.

Of course, seeing as I have the worst self control, my eyes slowly trail back over to Y/N. She sat against the arm of the couch, one of her legs perched up, her foot flat with her knee against her chest, her other leg lying beneath that one. The position she’s in shows off her juicy thighs and encircles her core that’s covered by the thin fabric of her shorts. I can feel myself growing harder, wanting nothing more than to drag her back to my room and rail her senseless. Quickly, I grab my hoodie and place it on my lap to cover my now obvious erection.

“Dude!” Chris whisper shouts at me, “What the fuck is going on with you?”

My head shoots over to him in a panic, eyes frantic, wondering if he knows what’s going through my head right now. I can’t even form words, my breath stuck in my throat, so I just shrug and wave him off. My attention is pulled from him when I see Y/N stand up and head into the kitchen. Without thinking at all, I’m on my feet and following her.

When I round the corner, my footsteps come to a halt. There she was, bent over in the fridge. I suck in a breath, gasping at the sight in front of me. Her shorts were riding up her ass, her cheeks being completely visible, her shorts pressed tightly against her pussy. I felt like I wasn’t in control of myself as I pulled my phone out, bringing up my camera and snapping a picture of her. Just as I bring my phone back down, she turns around and locks eyes with me, my face immediately flushing.

“Hey.” She speaks, her voice soft. “Are you okay?”

I nod, gulping, “Can you toss me a water?”

She does so, a smile gracing her face in the process. I give her a small thanks and head back to my room, rather than the living room with the rest of them. I needed space to think without having her consume everything around me.

Once I shut myself in my room, I spread out on my bed, closing my eyes and sighing, completely overwhelmed with my feelings.

Y/N’s POV

It’s been an hour or so since the movie ended, everyone else was in their rooms, presumably going to sleep. I’ve just been scrolling through my phone, not really paying attention to anything on my screen as my mind was occupied elsewhere.

I can’t stop thinking about Matt; he seemed off tonight. I want to make sure he is okay, but so far, he’s only been lying and saying he’s fine. I know him better than that, I know he’s bothered by something, I just don’t know what.

Part of me wants to get up and go to his room, forcing him to talk to me. Another part is telling me to wait until he’s ready. Surely, it’s not too serious. As if the universe is telling me to go to his room, the ‘low battery’ notification pops up on my screen. My charger is in his room.

With a small huff, I remove my blanket from me and stand up from the couch, immediately heading towards his room. I figured he was probably sleeping like Nick and Chris, so I just quietly walk in. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong as he was definitely not sleeping.

His back was turned towards me, but I could see his right arm moving up and down as his head was slightly tilted back. It didn’t take a genius to realize what he was doing, so I just step backwards in an attempt to leave. As I’m about to turn out the door, his bright phone screen catches my eye. You would think he’s watching porn or something, but he’s staring at a picture. More so a picture of me. A picture of me from not even two hours ago.

“Matt!” I whisper shout, bewildered at the fact that he was jerking off to a picture that he sneakily took of me.

He jumps, flinching in embarrassment as he locked his phone and covered himself up. It took him a minute before he finally turned around to come face to face with me, his cheeks bright red.

“What are you doing in here?” He asks, his voice frantic as his eyes dart all around.

“I came to get my charger. What are you doing in here?” I reply, emphasizing my question. When he doesn’t answer, I continue, “I saw you, Matt.”

His mouth begins to open and shut, unsure of what to say. He closes his eyes and inhales, “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You took a picture of me.” I state, as if it wasn’t blatantly obvious by now.

He nods, licking his lips nervously. I could see that he was anxiously anticipating my reaction, but I didn’t even know what to do. What do you do when you’re turned on by your best friend touching himself to a picture he took of you?

I walk over to the bed and sit next to him, “Is this the first time you’ve done this?”

He avoids eye contact with me and shakes his head from left to right, indicating he’s done it before. He opens his phone up, and immediately scrolls to the next picture and, once again, it’s of me. I was wearing a bralette and a mini skirt that barely covered my ass. One of my legs was perched up on the table as I leaned forward to put on my shoe. My asscheeks were out and you could clearly see my lace underwear beneath the skirt.

“Damn, I look good.” I smirk, pleased with the photo.

“Yeah, you do.” He chuckles, immediately stopping and looking back at my face, trying to read my emotions.

“So, you’re fantasizing about me?” I question.

He bashfully nods, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why didn’t you just come to me?”

He shrugs, “And say what? Hey Y/N, so like, I kind of want to fuck the shit out of you.”

I blush, as if it isn’t obvious by the fact that he was jerking off to me, and mimic his shrug. “What if I wanted you to fuck the shit out of me?”

His eyes widen, thrown back by my statement. After taking a moment to recover, he scoots closer to me and softly grabs my face with one of his hands, bringing me closer to him.

“Can I kiss you?” He asks, looking into my eyes for confirmation.

Instead of responding with words, I close the gap between us and press my lips onto him. The kiss is short and sweet, more so testing the waters. It only takes a second before we meet again, our lips lapping one another’s perfectly. He placed his free hand on my back, pulling me impossibly closer as my hands make their way to his hair. A soft groan erupts from his throat as I give his hair a nice tug, the sound of his sultry voice going straight to my core.

Gaining a new found confidence, Matt swiftly pulls me onto his lip and shoves his tongue in my mouth. He’s licking and sucking everything, swapping saliva. I can feel his dick bulging between my legs, fully rock hard. His hands meet my hips, grinding me against him, eliciting a moan from my lips.

“I want you so bad.” He groans into my ear as his lips work on my neck.

“Then take me.” I say, allowing him more access with a tilt of my head.

Like a flip switched, Matt quickly removes my shirt, leaving me topless in his lap. He groans at the sight of my bare chest, his hands bringing both of my boobs into his palms, squeezing them tenderly. He pinches both of my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, kneading them. Soft whimpers left my lips as he did so, his wet mouth also leaving kisses all over my neck.

My hands grab the hem of his shirt and I pull it over his head, connecting our lips once more after. His arm wraps around my back and he turns, laying me flat on his bed, taking position knelt above me, his mouth never leaving mine. His fingers hook in the waistband of my shorts, lingering as if waiting for approval, so I pull away and give him a nod when we make eye contact.

Within seconds, the rest of my clothes are on the floor and I lay bare in front of him. He’s on his knees, in between my legs, and his eyes are boring into me, his pupils blown out with lust. I can see his dick protruding from his boxers, begging to be released from its restrictions, eager for any kind of stimulation. He swiftly removes the piece of clothing, before laying down right beside me.

He pulls me into him, one of his hands on my face, the other on my bare ass. He slams his lips into mine, his tongue instantly swiping against my bottom lip, asking for entrance, to which I gave him. Our tongues battled for dominance, Matt shoving his in my mouth, exploring as much as he can while our teeth clash together. With every touch, I feel my arousal pooling between my legs, drenching my folds. Matt squeezes my ass, kneading it before his fingers trail closer to my opening. He reaches down to my pussy and swipes his fingers between my folds, emitting a moan from me.

“Mmm. You’re so wet for me.” He groans into my lips.

Without another word, he slides two fingers through my slit, immediately entering my hole. He swallows every moan that comes from my mouth as he kisses me, hard. His fingers continue pumping in and out, getting me ready to take him. My hand envelops his throbbing dick, squeezing as I pumped my hand, causing him to shudder and buck his hips.

“I want to be inside of you.” He groans, still bucking his hips.

“Please. I need you so bad, daddy.” I moan out as his fingers thrust back into me.

He swiftly removes his hand, shoving his fingers in my mouth as he rolls me over so that my back is against his chest. I suck on his fingers, cleansing them of my juices. He takes his hand from my mouth and wraps it around my throat at the same time he sinks himself into me. I can’t help them lewd moans that erupt from me. His hand moves from my throat to my hair, grabbing a fistful and pulling my head back, making me arch my back. His opposite hand grabs my leg and lifts it up to the side, giving himself better access as his thrusts pick up.

“Oh fuck.” I moan, my face scrunching up in pleasure.

He picks up the pace, railing in and out of me. He leans forward, his mouth meeting the side of my neck, sucking and biting on the sensitive skin. I can hear his low moans right in my ear and it was turning me on so much more.

“Shit. Feels s-so good, Matt.” I gasp, reveling in the way he’s making me feel.

His thrusts turn more aggressive, my legs now shaking and my breath catching in my throat. His grip on my hair tightens, pulling my head back even more. His eyes meet mine and he’s got a devilish smirk on his face.

“Nah, baby. What’s my name?”

With the way he’s pounding into me, I can’t even think straight. His hand reaches under my leg, using his forearm to keep it up, his fingers meeting my clit, and rubbing in fast, tight circles.

“What’s my name?” He repeats, his tone more demanding and aggressive.

“Daddy! Fu - fuck, daddy! Nghh.” I whine out, my body convulsing.

“Such a good girl. Cum for daddy, so I can fill you up.” He groans, keeping the exact same rhythm with his hand and hips.

My mind is hazy and I can’t hear anything but the sound of my rapid heartbeat as I let go. I shake and tremble, unable to keep my composure as pornographic moans leave my mouth. A moment later, I feel his hot cum shoot into me, loud moans escaping from him. He continues fucking into me, letting us ride out our highs.

He pulls out and drops my legs, immediately rubbing my hip and thigh, as if sensing the incoming charlie horse. After a minute, he flips me over to face him, staring into my eyes. He doesn’t say anything, just gazing at me, intensely. Suddenly a grin pulls to his lips and they’re meeting mine in a sweet and tender kiss.

“Do you want to take a shower with me?” He asks, brushing the sweaty hair out of my face. “Then, maybe spend the night in here with me?”

“Sounds good.” I grin back, pulling him in for another kiss.

—

a/n : mixed feelings ab this, sorry if it’s not what you had in mind! hope you enjoy:) send in reqs 🫶🏼

[bloatedandalone04]

Bets & Bargains - Part 6

Series Masterlist

➪in which you and bradley reach a new point in your...‘relationship’ after your fourth date takes an unexpected turn, and it leaves both of you aching for more.

PSA: strongly suggested to read the warnings before proceeding.

WC; 6k | Do not repost this anywhere, reblogs are fine ♡

You were going into your second hour of class when Bradley texted you, and while you would usually remind yourself to get back to him later and focus on taking notes, you put your pen down and pick up your phone instead, hiding it behind your book as you read the text. 

Fratley: What are you doing later tonight?

You glance up at your teacher, and once you were sure he wouldn’t catch onto what you were doing, you quickly text him back. 

Nothing, why? 

Fratley: There’s a new horror movie out. For some reason I have a weird feeling that you’re into those kinds of movies.

You laugh to yourself, making sure Mr. Clarke wasn’t paying attention before replying to him.

I have no idea how you knew I like horror movies, but I’m down. What time?

Fratley: It starts at 7:20. I can pick you up for 7?

Sounds good. 

You were giddy throughout the rest of the class and had barely paid any attention to what Clarke was saying by the time the class ended. 

You got home at around 6, and quickly had a shower before Bradley would be here. The fact that you and he haven’t gone more than a day without seeing each other since you met was making you feel all sorts of things, and all of them were good. You couldn’t believe how much you liked him in such little time. It was almost concerning. 

Sam was still a bit pissed off with you since you officially ended things with her brother, but you knew she would come around sooner or later. You didn’t need to marry Luke to be able to consider her your sister. In all honesty, you never saw yourself marrying Luke in the first place. You were still so young, why were you even thinking about marriage right now?

You push away those thoughts and get ready for the movie, opting to dress in black leggings and a cropped tee. You grabbed your UVA hoodie and draped it over your arm as you ran your fingers through your still damp hair. It would dry on the drive to the movies, and you were lucky enough to be one of those people whose hair didn’t get overly frizzy if you didn’t blow dry it. 

Fratley: I’m here early. I couldn’t help it. 

You smile at your phone and leave your room. Just as you were making your way to the door, your fingers typing out a reply to Bradley, Sam leaves her room and blocks your path. “Jesus,” you laugh as you abruptly stop walking. “I didn’t know you were home.”

Sam crosses her arms and tilts her head. “Where are you going? On another date with your rebound?”

You furrow your brows and put your phone in your pocket. “My rebound?”

“Yeah, that guy you’ve been seeing pretty much every day since that party,” she replied, squinting her eyes at you afterwards. “You know, the party I took you to.”

She was acting hostile again, and you weren’t sure why. This couldn’t be because you and Luke were done and that you were moving on, right? She wasn’t that petty, right? “Oh right,” you play along, crossing your own arms. “The party you ditched me at.”

Sam straightened up at that and her scowl deepened. “I already said I was sorry for that,” she muttered.

“I know, and I’ve already forgiven you, so I’m not sure why you’re bringing it up again,” you huff, annoyed that she was still going on about this when you could be with Bradley right now. 

“Because,” she rolled her eyes. “If you never went to that party, you would’ve never met that Bradshaw guy and you would’ve never broken up with Luke.”

You laugh in disbelief. “Are you serious?” You ask, and when her expression doesn’t change, you stand up straighter. “Well maybe I would’ve met him on campus. We ran into each other the day after out of pure coincidence, I could’ve met him for the first time then. And Luke and I have been broken up. For a while now. I’ve moved on, and so should the both of you.”

Sam opened her mouth to respond, but you were fed up. You pushed past her and grabbed your keys from off the coffee table, glancing back at her as you shoved them into your bag. 

“And for the record, Bradley is not a rebound,” was the last thing you said before opening the door and closing it behind you. You were a bit heated as you stepped outside, but the sight of Bradley leaning against the passenger side door of his Jeep calmed you down a bit. You were a bit breathless as you walked swiftly down the steps and reached him, lifting your hand and setting it on his shoulder. “Hi.”

He smiled down at you, his hands wrapping around your middle and pulling your body right up against his. “Hi,” he said back before leaning down and pressing his lips to yours. The kiss caught you off guard since it was only the second one you’ve shared with him, but the surprise quickly wore off as you deepened it. Bradley kept his face close to yours when he pulled away and murmured, “I saw that you read my text but you didn’t come out for a while. I got worried.”

His confession had you feeling warm for a completely different reason and you smiled up at him, sliding your hand down and gripping his bicep. “Yeah, sorry,” you trail off, your head a bit fuzzy from the kiss. “I was going to text you back, but Sam, my roommate, decided to start something with me just as I was about to leave.” 

“Ah, the roommate,” he teased, reaching up to run his knuckles along your jaw. “Do I get to meet her soon?”

You laugh and shake your head, glancing behind you at the closed door before turning back to him. “Probably not. She’s my ex’s sister, and she’s a bit more than pissed that her brother and I are done,” you say and Bradley presses his lips together to stifle a laugh. “Might not be the best idea to formally introduce her to my ‘rebound’.” You complete the sentence by lifting your hand and finger quoting ‘rebound’, making Bradley let out a loud laugh as he leans further back against the Jeep. 

“Rebound, huh?” He grunted. “That hurts, babe, it really does.”

You blush and shrug, meeting him halfway when he starts to lean back in for a second time. He kisses you quickly before pushing away from the Jeep and opening the door for you. “Thanks,” you mumble and sit in the passenger seat. “You kept it running?”

“Had to make sure your seat warmer was on,” he simply answered and your blush deepened, but he thankfully closed the door before he could see it. The darkening sky also helped hide it. “Ready to go?” He asked once he was in the driver’s seat, looking over at you with his annoyingly pretty brown eyes. 

“Yeah,” you whisper and put your seatbelt on as he pulls away from the curb. “So what’s this movie about?”

“I don’t know, I think maybe it’s about a nun getting pregnant or something like that,” he answered and you nod with a quiet laugh. 

“Nice choice,” you tease and he glances over at you. 

“Hey, it’s supposed to be one of those scary convent movies. I thought you’d be into that kinda thing,” he smirked and you had to physically restrain yourself from kissing him again. How was he so effortlessly hot?

“Oh, I’m into it,” you hum and take his hand when he holds it out to you. He kept his left one on the steering wheel as you lace your fingers with his, and you tried not to think about just how big his hands are. 

Seriously, Y/n, get a grip here. He’s cute, but he’s just a guy. A very cute guy. A kind guy. A stupidly attractive guy. 

And that’s how you found yourself feeling completely screwed for a second time this week. 

-

Even though it had only been a day, Bradley somehow found himself missing you. 

It was crazy, because he shouldn’t be missing you so soon, but he couldn’t help it. He also couldn’t help the way he kissed you against his Jeep when he picked you up, and he was a bit nervous that you were going to react negatively since you and he weren’t actually official. 

But you kissed him back and he was given the reassurance he needed to go on with this date.

Is this a date? Is this his third date with you? Or maybe fourth if you counted the brief movie night at his place, which he does. 

Four dates in and he hadn’t even asked you to be his girlfriend. He’s seen you almost every day this week, and things were going great in his opinion, so why hasn’t he put a label on this yet?

He never took Bri out as often as three times a week in the eleven months he was with her, so maybe she was right about him not putting enough effort in with her, but that clearly changed with you. He didn’t want to be stuck inside anymore when he could instead be somewhere with you. 

Bradley was still feeling a little guilty about allowing her to come over the other night, and that might have partly played into why he kissed you. He knew now that he wanted you, and knew he was going to stop wasting his time pining over a girl who only wanted him for his body and dick. 

You were so different from her.

Bradley parked in the underground parking lot, and the whole drive here he had to pretend he didn’t notice the way you hadn’t pulled your hand out of his the entire time. Backing up with one hand was hard, but he didn’t want to be the first one to pull away. Maybe you were a sucker for physical touch like he was. 

God, he hoped so. 

You argued with him about buying your ticket, then dropped the attitude when he suggested that you pay for the drinks and popcorn. “This actually works out perfectly,” you hum as you take your drink and the tall bag of popcorn. “I paid for the garden, you paid for dinner, and now we’re equally paying for this.”

“I wouldn’t count me paying for dinner as anything,” he laughed as he tossed a bag of candy onto the counter after you had already paid for the drinks and popcorn. “Five Guys is so cheap.”

But you ignored his words as you glared at him, watching with squinted eyes as he pulled out his wallet. “Hey, I was supposed to pay for the snacks,”

Bradley just smirked and grabbed the bag of skittles. “I can’t have you paying for your own candy,” he said simply then laughed when you raised one brow. “Fine, we’ll share it.”

“I’ll pay you back,” you offered but he just shook his head and wrapped his arm around your shoulders, careful not to spill his drink on you. 

“It’s like, four dollars worth of skittles,” he brushed off your words and guided you over to the ticket person, handing the guy both yours and his tickets. “I don’t think it’ll break me.”

“I just feel guilty when people pay for things for me all the time,” you say quietly as the guy pointed in the direction of the theater. 

“Don’t,” he said just as quietly, pulling you along with him. “I don’t mind paying for things, babes. I have enough money to get me by for quite a while.” He didn’t want to go into too much detail of why he had a fair amount of money as he felt like bringing up the whole dead parents thing was a bit of a weird thing to announce before watching a movie that may include people getting brutally murdered. 

You glanced up at him in a way that made you look so innocent, he wanted to kiss you right in the middle of the hall. “I like when you call me that,” you confess and he grins down at you, deciding to actually go for it now.

He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to your lips, and he was still smiling when he pulled away. “Then I guess I’ll just have to keep calling you it,” he stated, watching as you blushed before ducking into the theater and booking it to your seat, leaving him to laugh as he followed after you. 

Bradley had picked seats that were in the back row since you had told him that you preferred to not have anyone directly behind you, claiming that you’ve had your seat kicked one too many times now. 

The more he found out about you, the more he wanted to know. You had all these cute characteristics and were so incredibly attractive to him, he was sure he would rather spend his time just talking with you than doing anything productive. 

When he sat down next to you, he draped his arm over the back of your chair and leaned in to press a lingering kiss to your cheek. He had a feeling that it would make you blush again, and he was right. 

Even in the dark room that was only lit up by the previews on the screen, he could see the way your face tinted with a blush, and the way you squirmed a bit. “You’re driving me crazy,” you whispered as someone came in and sat down a few seats away from you. 

Bradley laughed and dropped the bag of skittles onto your lap, making you jump slightly. He would be lying if he said he didn’t love the way he was able to make you feel all flustered just by doing the smallest of things, like kissing your cheek. “Trust me,” he murmured. “The feeling is mutual.”

When the movie started, Bradley really couldn’t be blamed for not being able to pay much attention to it. He had, what could simply be described as his dream girl, right next to him and he had made you a blushing mess. 

He was a bit annoyed that he hadn’t met you sooner, and he wondered how he had never seen you around campus before until this week. Surely he would’ve remembered you. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the time he spent with Bri felt like a waste now that he knows he could’ve possibly been spending it with you.

Not even twenty minutes had passed since the movie began and Bradley had already lost interest. It seemed like you might have, too, since you had been not so subtly glancing over at him every now and then for the past five minutes. 

The hand of his arm that was draped over your shoulder moved closer to your neck, and soon he was tangling his fingers in your hair. You shifted in your seat slightly, and the next time you looked over at him, he couldn’t stop himself from leaning down and kissing you. 

You kiss him back almost instantly, as if you had been craving to do it as much as he was. Usually Bradley wasn’t into excessive displays of affection in public, but to be fair it was pretty dark in the theater, and the movie itself took place in a dark convent, so it’s not like anyone could see what you and he were doing. 

And he couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself right now. He’s been so into you since that night at the party, he didn’t know what to do with himself. You were giving him the impression that you were into him, too, and that was enough for now, but he knew it was only a matter of time until he wanted more. 

He wanted you.

Bradley reached over with his free hand and gently gripped your jaw, angling your head so he could deepen the kiss that was quickly becoming too heated to be deemed acceptable in a public setting. 

He wanted to take you out of here and back to his house, but he also didn’t want to rush things with you. He wanted to take his time.

Then you grabbed his wrist and placed his hand on your thigh before sliding it upwards, and he was prepared to ignore all of that.  

You grab onto his shoulders then slide your hands up until they are tugging at his hair, and he swore he had never felt anything better than that. When you started biting down on his bottom lip, he knew he had to either pull away and keep his hands to himself, or take you right out of this theater before something happened. “Y/n,” he rasped when he pulled back, only able to get out the one word before you were kissing him again. He held onto your forearms and pulled away again after a few more seconds. “Let me take you out of here, baby.”

The look you gave him had him not even caring how desperate he sounded as you bit down on your lip and tugged at his sleeve. “Call me that again,”

Bradley was smirking now as he leaned over until he was well into your personal space. “Come on, baby,” he whispered right next to your ear, “Let’s get out of here.”

The moan you let out after that had his cock twitching with want, and you stood up quickly, grabbing your drink as you made a beeline towards the stairs. Bradley grabbed his own drink and the half eaten bag of popcorn, rolling the edges of it until it was closed, then he was practically running after you. 

When he made it out into the hall, you were already halfway down it, but he was able to quickly catch up to you. He wrapped his arm around your middle and turned your body, leaving a chaste kiss to your mouth before he was guiding you back towards the stairwell that leads to the parking garage. “Should we wait for the elevator?” You asked as he pushed you up against the wall beside it, glancing up to see that the elevator was on the seventh floor.

You began placing kisses to his neck and jaw, and when you poke your tongue out and ran it along the scar on his throat, he huffed through a moan, “No, let’s take the stairs,” 

Then he was pulling the door open and tugging you down the three floors with him, neither of you caring at all about the looks everyone gave you as you finally made it to the garage. Damn near everyone in that movie theater were given a free show of you and him not being able to take your hands off one another, as were the people in the lobby, and it just excited him more because he had never felt this worked up before. And he was just kissing you when it happened. 

“Why did you have to park so far away?” You whined as you tried to keep up with him. “I’m dying here.” 

Bradley let out a deep laugh before stopping abruptly. He turned around and picked you up before you could accidentally run into him, and you squealed when he threw you over his shoulder. “Problem solved,” he grunted as he resumed his fast pace towards the back of the garage. 

“Bradley,” you laughed as you clung onto the back of his shirt. 

“What? You were going too slow,” he smirked as he tightened his grip on the backs of your thighs. He finally made it to his Jeep not long after that, and he set you down and held your body close to his with one hand while he unlocked it with the other. 

It was considered a miracle that he was somehow able to not spill his drink on you with just how handsy he was being. He tossed the bag of popcorn onto the passenger seat next to your hoodie then grabbed your drink and set both yours and his safely in the cupholders, turning to you with a smirk now that his hands were free. 

Bradley grabbed hold of your waist and pulled your body close to his, connecting your lips in a deep kiss as he pressed you against the back door. His tongue slipped into your mouth and brushed against yours, and the strained moan you released had him bucking his hips. A string of saliva connected the two of you when he pulled away and murmured, “Come on,” 

He got up onto the driver’s seat and pushed it all the way back before holding his hand out to you. He helps you up and slams the door once you are settled on his lap, then his lips are against yours again. Your hands tangle in his hair as his grip your waist, tugging your body so your chest is right up against his. 

“The things you do to me,” he mumbled when you pulled away and began placing open mouthed kisses to his jaw and neck, focusing on the spot where the hickey Bri gave him was beginning to fade. “It’s not right, the way you make me feel.”

Your laugh against his neck had him grinning as he closed his eyes and leaned back. “How do I make you feel?” You asked, removing one hand from his hair and tracing the tip of your index finger along the scars on his cheek. “Do I make you feel excited? Overwhelmed? Maybe a bit nervous but in the best way? Because that’s how you make me feel, all the time.”

You whispered those last three words directly into his ear and Bradley groaned loudly. “Yeah,” he breathed out, guiding your body into a slow roll against his. “That’s exactly it.”

“Oh, God,” you moaned and it was probably the prettiest sound Bradley had ever heard in his life. Your hands find his shoulders again and twist his shirt as you take it upon yourself to grind your hips against his, tilting your head back and exposing your neck to him. 

Bradley’s eyes dropped down to your throat, and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning in and pressing his lips to your soft skin. The feeling of your covered core rubbing against him was surreal and he felt himself getting more worked up. He wasn’t even properly feeling you, wasn’t even inside you and he still felt so fucking good. 

When he pulled away from your neck, his eyes darkened at the hickey he left that surely would be hard to cover up later, but luckily it was the weekend. Though he didn’t really care much. He secretly wanted the other guys on campus to see it.

Each drag of your core had you moaning louder and louder, and Bradley wanted to make you feel like this all the time. “Feel good, baby?” He asked in a teasing tone, smirking at the whine you let out as you nod. 

“Yes,” you whisper, leaning in to press your forehead against his. “Maybe it’s a good thing that you parked far away.”

A blush took over your face and it sounded like you were forcing yourself to be quieter, and Bradley didn’t like that. “I don’t care if someone hears us,” he rasped, bending one of his knees and grasping your hips tightly. You moan at his words, then moan even louder when he takes full control and bucks up against you. 

“Fuck,” you gasped, clinging onto his shoulders. 

Bradley had never done anything like this in public before, but he knew he couldn’t wait until he got you back home. He also didn’t want your first time together to be in the front seat of his Jeep as he thought you deserved something a bit more romantic than that, so it was kind of good that this was an on top of the clothes type of thing. 

“You’re so pretty,” he groaned as you met his thrusts halfway. “Way too fucking pretty for me.”

You grip his jaw and press a searing kiss to his mouth, the back of his throat silencing your cries of pleasure as you get yourself off on top of him. “Bradley,” you moaned his name and he had to physically hold back a surprise release at just how hot you sounded. “I like you so much, it’s almost pathetic.”

How sweet you sounded when you were insulting yourself. “I like you, too,” he said back, kissing up the side of your neck until his lips met the skin below your ear. “Ever since that night at the party. I thought you looked so fucking good standing in my dining room.”

You bite your lip and dig your nails into his shoulders. “You saved me from being by myself that night,” you struggled to say as you quickened the grind of your hips. “I was ditched just minutes before you came up to me.”

Bradley still had no clue why Sam ditched you, then he remembered that she is related to your piece of shit ex, and it suddenly made sense. He thought back to that awful text Luke sent you when you had fallen asleep during your movie night, and he was appalled that he had the nerve to talk to you like that.

But he could get annoyed with your ex another time, not when you were currently rocking your hips into his and kissing along his nearly healed scars. “You’re gonna make me come,” you warned in a tone that should not have sounded so innocent given the circumstances. 

“Yeah?” He grunted, also feeling himself get close. “You’re going to make me come, too.” 

You grin down at him and kiss his lips as you give a few more rolls of your hips before you tense up against him and release a string of loud, whiny moans. “Fuck,” you stuttered above him, twisting his hair in between your fingers as you came. 

As you were coming down, you never stopped rubbing yourself against him, and not long after Bradley was coming, too. He dropped his head onto your shoulder as he let out deep and breathy groans, feeling his release coat himself in his boxers and jeans. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered as you finally stopped and let out a small laugh. 

Your hands trailed through his hair as you both tried to regain control over your breathing. “Did you..” you trailed off as if you were embarrassed to ask him if he came or not. 

It was almost comical since you had just given him what he thinks was the best orgasm of his life, and he never once penetrated you. All his past times with Bri felt like a bit of a joke now that he knew how good you felt, even fully clothed. “Yeah,” he answered, watching as a proud smile formed on your lips. Bradley leaned in and pressed a much more gentle kiss to your mouth, his hands coming up to smooth out your hair. “Sorry we didn’t get to watch much of the movie.”

Then it dawned on him that you and he left not even halfway through a movie about nuns and celibacy to go hook up in his car, and he had to hold back a laugh of disbelief. 

You huffed as you shook your head, laughing afterwards. “It’s okay. I wasn’t really paying much attention to it anyway,” 

“Me either,” he replied and you laughed again, hesitantly moving off him and crawling over to the passenger seat. 

Bradley watched your every move, and when your eyes trailed down to his lap, you quickly covered your mouth with your hand. “Oh, my God, I’m sorry,” you gasp, making him furrow his brows in confusion before he looked down and noticed the wet spot on his thigh. 

“Don’t be sorry,” he waved you off, not caring a single bit at the dampness on his jeans, but you seemed to be mortified. 

“I’m embarrassed now,” you murmur and cover your face. 

“Don’t be,” he said again, reaching over and taking your wrist in his hand. “I mean it. That was so fucking hot, and I already couldn’t stop thinking about you before. This definitely won’t help.”

That seemed to make you feel a little better as you slumped against the seat and gazed over at him. “I don’t want this night to end yet,” you confessed quietly. 

Bradley slid his hand along your arm until his fingers were laced with yours. “I don’t, either,” he mumbled. “It’s still early. Why don’t we just sit here and talk?” His offer reminded him of the conversation he had with you that night Bri came over and nearly ruined his whole day. Then you called him and made things better, and he found out just how much he likes talking to you - though it was pretty obvious before. 

“Okay,” you agreed, smiling over at him as you got into a more comfortable position, still keeping your hand locked with his. “Let’s play that question game again.”

“Okay,” he laughed, leaning back as well. “What’s your favorite holiday?”

“I love Christmas,” you answer. “It’s like the one time my family actually puts in an effort to spend time together.”

Funnily enough, that was one of the reasons Bradley didn’t like Christmas. He didn’t have a whole lot of family left, and the one person who was a constant in his life wasn’t a big fan of the holiday either. “You guys aren’t close?” He asked and you shook your head. 

“Not really. My parents and I are close, but my sister and I haven’t really talked much since I came here,” you shrug and look over at him. “What about you? Does your family go all out for Christmas? Or is it a once a year type thing like mine?”

Bradley smiled and looked down at your joined hands. “I don’t really celebrate Christmas that much anymore,” he murmured, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb. “I loved it as a kid, but now it just feels like a memory.”

Your face scrunches up in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Oh, God, was he really about to willingly have the dead parents conversation right now? Right after you and he just got each other off in a fucking parking garage? “Um,” he trailed off, looking at the various cars around. “Well…I don’t really have anyone to celebrate it with.”

He looked back over at you when you sat up and gave him your full attention, and he knew there really was no reason why he couldn’t just get this topic over with. 

“My dad, he…died when I was really young, so I don’t really remember much of him,” he mumbled, feeling the way your grip on his hand tightened just slightly. He brought it up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to your knuckles before continuing, “And my mom died when I was still in high school, so the only person I really have is my uncle, and even he is hardly around anymore.”

There it was. His depressing as fuck backstory. 

“Bradley,” you say quietly. “I don’t know what to say.”

He shook his head and gave you a small smile, reaching over with his free hand and running his fingers along your jaw. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything,”

You frown and press the back of his hand against your cheek. “I’m sorry,” you whisper and he shakes his head again. 

“It’s okay, really,” he brushed off your words. “I can talk about this stuff more now without getting too upset. I mean, there’s nothing I can do about it, so that kinda makes it easier to talk about it.”

You nod and kiss along his knuckles. “Hey, I never did ask about what you wanted to do once you graduate,”

“Join the Navy,” he answered as if it was the easiest question he’d ever been asked. “Like my old man.”

“The Navy?” You echoed and sat up. “What, like, the Marines?” 

“No, the Air Force,”

Your eyes widened at that, “You want to fly planes? Like, aviation?”

“Well, fighter jets,” he corrected with a laugh. “But yeah, I wanna fly planes.”

“Wow,” you trailed off, looking out the front window for a few seconds before glancing at him with a teasing glint in your eyes. “What do you want your call sign to be, flyboy?” 

He grinned and shrugged. “I don’t really know. Maybe some kind of bird like my dad,”

“What was your dad called?”

For some reason you were super interested in his life, and he actually appreciated it more than he thought he would. “His call sign was Goose,”

“Goose,” you repeated the name with a small smile. “You should be…Duck. Your call sign should be Duck.”

“Duck?” He laughed and shook his head. “No, absolutely not.”

“Oh, come on, that’s a good one,” you laughed, too, somehow able to effortlessly turn a dark and depressing conversation into a much lighter one. “Fine. How ‘bout…Rooster.”

That one actually didn’t sound too bad, and it had the double ‘o’ like Goose. “Rooster,” he tried it out for himself. “Okay, that’s not terrible.”

“It’s settled then,” you state and lean back. “Your call sign will be Rooster.”

Bradley watched as you kissed the back of his hand before pulling yours out of it in order to open the popcorn bag. He was glad you knew about his parents now, as he wasn’t sure how awkward it would be to bring up later.

“What is your favorite holiday?” You asked as you dug around in the bag. 

“Um, Halloween,” he replied and opened his mouth when you held a few pieces of popcorn up to his lips. “What was one subject in school that you just…fucking hated?” 

You laugh and set the bag in between the two of you. “I was really bad at science subjects,” you mumble. “Like, really bad. I passed Chemistry with a 52.”

Bradley tried to hold back a laugh and brought his drink up to his mouth. “Well, Chemistry is pretty hard,” he offered, then couldn’t help but say, “But yeah, a 52 is pretty bad.”

You glare over at him but the smile on your lips told him that he didn’t offend you. “I’m aware,”

When Bradley was forced to drive you back to your place a little while later, he kept his hand on your thigh the whole time. He wasn’t kidding. He couldn’t stop thinking about you before he got you off in his front seat, and it would only be harder to after this. 

“You know, we need to stop having so much fun every time we see each other,” you mumbled once he parked outside your dorm. “Sooner or later I’ll start expecting it.”

“What, having fun with me?” He teased, reaching over to tuck your hair behind your ear. “Trust me, babes, you’ll have fun all the time as long as you’re with me.”

You grin over at him, “I’ll hold you to that,”

Then you were leaning over the center console and pressing a deep kiss to his mouth. One that had him shamelessly groaning and wishing that you would invite him in with you, but he was also trying to remind himself that he wanted to take his time with you and not rush into things. “Have a good weekend,” he muttered when he pulled away. “I’ll be thinking about you nonstop, I’m sure.”

You blush and reach for the door handle. “The feeling is mutual,” you whisper, then get out of the car and make your way inside, leaving Bradley to wait until he felt like he had enough control over himself to be able to drive back to his place.

[the-record]

CASUAL.

SUMMARY: you want all of her, but abby only wants a friend

PAIRING: college!fwb!abby anderson x reader

A/N: i hate this a little but this is for the person who wanted a casual fic under the abby tag this is for u 💋💋 ur genius bc yes i love abby&casual&chappell so yes here

my masterlist

‘ I’M JUST A GIRL THAT YOU BANG ON YOUR COUCH ’

abby: babyyyyyyyt

abby: when ate you cming overrrrrrtt

angel: when you’re sober!

abby: boooooooooooooooooo

angel: i can come over tomorrow, i work tn anyways

abby: fine

abby: miss u

angel: miss u too babes

“you’re still with her?” dina asks while she reads over your shoulder. “didn’t she ghost you and come back like nothing happened?”

your thumb locks your phone as you turn it over on your lap. “so?” you turn to face the brunette, “its nothing serious anyways.” you have to defend yourself against dina and her girlfriend, ellie, way too often.

“tell that to angel three weeks ago crying in my apartment.” ellie piped up. “we’re just trying to be good friends.”

dina wraps her arms around your shoulders as you turn back around. “exactly babes, we love you.”

“whatever.”

you’re both quiet. an artist you dont know sings soft words while crickets harmonize. abby’s fingers run up and down your bare back and yours tangle in her hair. usually, the girl has an ample amount of topics to bring up, but tonight the jar runs empty.

“what are we?” you question. abby’s hand slows before settling on your lower back, toying with the band of her boxers that you wear.

she sighs before answering, thinking about what to say. “friends?” you snort in response. “i don’t know, i told you i wasn’t ready for anything serious right now. you knew what you were getting into.”

you push off of her and sit up with a soft groan. her room is dark but you’re able to find the tee you wore when you came over. the girl reaches for your hand but you pull away.

“i’m going home for the weekend, if you want to come with.” she smiles when she sees one pull at your face first. “it’ll be fun, a couple days away to seattle? hm?”

you face the blonde, now propped up on her forearm, a tousled braid over her naked shoulder. you give in so easy. especially when her lips find yours.

angel: can someone feed alice for me this weekend?

dina: yea ofc

angel: thanks hon

ellie: why cant u? wya

angel: going out of town :)))

ellie: with?

dina: stop interrogating her babe

ellie: no no

ellie: angel who and where

angel: seattle

dina: with who

angel: werent u on my side????

ellie: BRO

ellie: NO CHANCE OMFG

dina: angel dont omf

angel: i didnt even say who??????????????

ellie: ur so guility

angel: and youre so illiterate “guility”

dina: so defensive holy shit

dina: omg u are going with her

angel: omfg get off my dick

ellie: u literally never listen dude

angel: says u

ellie: tf does that mean

angel: cat?

dina: angel wtf thats low

ellie: ykw

ellie: she literally has a new girl every weekend

ellie: you’re just another fwb girl and u know it

ellie: have fun in seattle.

angel: i will thx xoxo.

her dad is sweet, a surgeon as abby brags. you can tell they’re close. he is observant and does his best to make you comfortable. their home is cozy, fireplaces with incredibly old family photos on the mantle. her senior portraits are hung in the staircase. you learn a million and one things about her on the trip.

she loves blue. big hiker. could play board and card games all day. doesn’t love to smoke. she hasn’t changed her room since the 6th grade. they can make a mean chocolate chip cookie.

you learn one that stays in the front of your mind during breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and the car ride home.

“this is all just casual right? you dont actually have feelings? okay good, as long as we’re on the same page.”

when you come home, ellie ignores you as she moves around cleaning the dinner mess in the kitchen. when dina asks how the trip was, you leave out one small part.

“it was great. we went on an amazing hike and her dad is so kind, i had a lot of fun.”

she offers dinner bur you kindly deny, saying you were tired from the drive and just needed sleep. she smiled and sent you off with a quick hug and an ‘i love you’.

you continue to see abby.

she’s softer and kinder after that weekend. she kisses gently and sweetly. she takes you out on dates. you call her name in the passenger seat of her truck in a field in the middle of nowhere. it’s different now.

you don’t tell dina or ellie.

abby’s name is brought up less when people gossip over who’s with who. you hear less of her rendezvous’ with other girls. less and less until it stops.

you ignore your feelings and enjoy the warmth of her while you still have the chance. her dad invites you back and you spend many weekends with the two, laughing and drinking wine on the couch. she sits behind you on the couch while you watch a cheesy rom-com, making fun of the cliches with you. many smiles shared and laughs sung.

your favorite sleep shirt stays at her place. her favorite hoodie is hung in your closet.

when you go out with her friends she drinks and teases you in front of them. your cheeks warm, you excuse yourself and she always finds you in the bathroom. an apology and kiss lead to more.

ellie slowly forgives you, you all hang out as friends again.

her dad says he thinks of you as his daughter.

abby says she thinks of you as a friend.

angel: we need to talk

abby: woah sounds serious lol

angel: yes it is to me

abby: yea, okay. ill be over tn?

angel: okay, lmk ill unlock the door.

abby: see u baby

angel: see u

abby knocks, she always does.

abby smiles and sits on the edge of your bed.

abby shakes her head when you start to talk.

you can’t do this anymore. “i’m done abby. we’re done.”

shes confused though, “what do you mean? i thought we have fun.”

and you do, shes not wrong. but you have fun as ‘friends’ and not lovers. you hold her as a friend. you kiss, and make love, and drink, and laugh, together, as friends.

“i told you i didn’t want a relationship!” she counters. abby stands and grabs your hands. “i wasn’t ready, you cant be mad at that.”

you smile and shake your head. “im not mad, im just over it. i want more. a label, a sense of security abby.” you sit and pull her down with you. “i dont want casual.”

when she leaves you finally open up to dina and ellie. they’re quiet, but its comfortable as you speak and they understand.

abby texts an apology that night and you react to it, a heart.

when she texts again you don’t answer.

‘ I HATE THAT I LET THIS DRAG ON SO LONG

NOW I HATE MYSELF ’

[iguessweallcrazyithinktho]

ooohhh glad you're back to write new fics! how about something angsty with kylian mbappé where he loses his fiancé due to him "needing space" over a petty issue and only for him to regret and try to win her heart back

Space • kylian mbappé

Warning: none

Pairing: kylian mbappé x f reader

I'll make a master list when I make more fics

Don't repost my work anywhere or I'll send an evil entity after you

Reblogs and feedback welcome

Request are open but I'm writing slowly

Kylian didn’t know what he was thinking when he told you he needed space. It was now one of the worse mistakes he’s ever made in his life. With you he was the bright bubbly kylian everyone knew and love but without you he was dull and lacked the stamina he used to have. It was like you were the antidote to his life and without you he was nothing.

It all started when kylian got home from a game. PSG lost and he was deeply pissed about it. he could have done so many things differently during the match. When he got home you were there to greet him like you always do when he comes home from a game.

“hi,” you say to him with a soft smile on your lips. Kylian ignored you, walked around you and up the stairs to the bedroom. You were shocked by his actions. You knew he lost the game but he’s never reacted like this before over a lost. Not even when he lost the world cup.

You made your way to the bedroom closet where kylian was. “you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

You looked at him waiting for him to answer. Kylian said nothing as he rummaged through the racks of clothes. You huffed, rolling your eyes at his silent treatment.

“I know you lost your game but it’s not my fault. Don’t give me the silent treatment over your own doing.”

Kylian said nothing, continuing to ignore you. You gave up trying to gain his attention and walked out of the room back downstairs.

A good 30 minutes went by before kylian came downstairs. He had changed into some sweats and a white tee. He said nothing to you as he sat down on the couch and pulled his phone out. You started to grow angry with him.

“Kylian please talk to me.” You walked out of the kitchen to him, desperate to get him to talk.

“I don’t want to talk.” He finally said to you. “why not say that instead of just ignoring me?” you asked with a frustrated tone.

“ you’re always in my face when I walk in I don’t need that ok!”

“well excuse me for wanting to comfort you after a game lost!” You scuffed getting up from the couch to return to the kitchen. You had enough of him. You were ready to ignore him yourself.

“We need a break.”

You stopped in your tracks at kylian words. “what?”

“I said we need a break.” Kylian continued. “I can’t keep doing this with you. You’re constantly nagging me and I don’t like it. We need a break. I don’t know what we are going to do after but we need space.”

Kylian looked up at you. You searched his face hoping to find a hint of sarcasm or something, but no. He was serious as can be.

You swallowed the walnut that formed in your throat. “Ok. Fine if that’s what you want then we’ll do that.”

You walked out of the living room to grab your things. While you were packing your clothes. You let a few tears slip from your eyes. You had a feeling you both were over and it made you sick to the stomach.

You returned back down stairs with your bag on your back. Kylian was sitting on the couch. His nose deep in his phone.

“Ok I’m leaving.”

Kylian looked up at you. He looked at your face seeing your red eyes and tear stained cheek. He knew you were crying, but his stubbornness made him not care.

You turned around ready to leave, but stopped.

“Here.”

You pulled the ring off your finger and threw it to him. The ring kylian gave you 3 months ago. It meant so much to you then, but now it meant nothing to you.

You walked out of the apartment leaving kylian alone. He picked up the ring you threw at him and looked at it. Was this really over? Kylian really fucked up and he knew it.

-

Since I'm mean I'll leave you hanging. Maybe I'll write a part two hehe

[ihavemanyhusbands]

Can we pretty pretty please get a blurb of coworker Will Graham x enemies to lovers reader on what he would do when he gets jealous in these trying times?

Thank you for your part in my brain rot 🫶🏻

~ 🔮

OOOOOOO JEALOUS WILL AAAAAAAA‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

(Also shifting gears a bit to lead them closer to the lovers aspect tee hee!!)

————

Given the secret nature of your… arrangement, it wasn’t often that Will sought you out on campus during work hours. But that didn’t mean you wouldn’t cross paths, sharing just the barest nod of acknowledgment.

Secretly, he liked those encounters, too. Simply seeing you would make his day better, reminding him that there were things to look forward to.

But that day, he had found you down in the small cafeteria, drinking coffee with someone he didn’t know. This immediately gave him pause.

He noticed how your eyes were soft and your laughter came easily. The openness of your body language denoted familiarity, and at some point, you reached forward to touch the man's arm.

This made jealousy rake over him like hot coals. He made himself walk away, his hands balled into tight fists.

He envied seeing you so relaxed around someone else. Obviously, he was aware that things between you had started out in a rocky place… and wasn’t entirely out of it yet, despite the not-so-surprising addition of physical closeness.

Jealousy didn’t make it any easier, either. It made him feel irrational, almost desperate. And he just had to do something about it.

Later, close to the end of the day, he was waiting for you outside of your small office. He pushed off the wall he’d been leaning on and fell into step beside you.

“Never thought of Quantico as a very romantic place for a date,” he said all too casually.

You frowned momentarily, but then it dawned on you.

“That wasn’t a date. Just an old colleague from my former job,” you said. “I don’t have issues with everyone I work with, you know?”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

You gasped. “Excuse m—”

He stopped in his tracks, taking hold of your arm so you would, too.

“You heard me,” he said, holding your gaze. “Why waste the energy?”

You blinked at him, the gears turning rapidly in your mind.

“Will, don’t tell me… are you jealous?” You couldn’t help but scoff, amused. “We’re not even together.”

“And yet you let me claim you. Various times, I should add,” he said, leaning closer as his voice dropped to a husky whisper. “And in many, many different ways.”

Your face was burning as you glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. Still, he could see that undeniable gleam in your eye that he had come to know.

He raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk tugging at his lips. “Unless you need a reminder? I wouldn’t mind giving you one.”

Having been secretly craving him all day, you decided you wanted something new in return. It’d be a surprisingly big step for the two of you, but you felt bold enough to ask at that moment.

“Fine, but one condition: we do it at your place, not here. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more room than in your office, right?”

The look on his face told you he hadn’t been expecting that, but still he nodded.

“Oh yes, plenty for us to break in,” he said, letting go of your arm to shock you even further by slipping his hand into yours and squeezing your fingers. “Come on, then, let’s get out of here.”

——

[tbhimnoteasyonmyself]

TAN IS NEW

Hello, fellow associates, I, local deranged man, bring you (by request of @ayansbff who said I should "go make a post and patent it fr." thank you, Naga <3) once again a theory as insane as whatever has been going on in the ASOIAF fandom in the last 10 years (but no, I'm not here to tell you Tan is a horse or New is a faceless man).

For this week's episode: Tan is New (but with some spice).

Pls beware, this will require a certain level of "bear with me", ok? Ok.

Also: long ass post, guys. Be prepared.

So, 1st things 1st: New is obviously studying abroad.

This would mean that, in all the episodes we've seen of the flashback, we wouldn't have seen New. Because he's literally in a different country (cue theory: New is Mhok working as a cook in Hawaii ksksksk /j).

Nevertheless, in the latest events of the past storyline, Non has just gone M.I.A. Which is definitely something you'd tell the kid's brother about. I'd be pretty pissed if I was New and no one fucking told me about my brother vanishing.

(I think it could definitely be argued that their parents might try to hide the whole getting involved with money laundry and even the pedophilic child revenge porn sex tape on Twitter thing, especially their mother. bc, considering their treatment of Non this episode, it would definitely cross my mind that they'd think something along the lines of "New shouldn't be worried about what his fuck up of a brother is involved with, he should just focus on his study". And idk if Thailand's national news would arrive to New in the US just like that (maybe, maybe not, I won't try to speculate too much, I think it's too much of a wild card). YET, I still think, regardless, they'd have their limits even if the rest was true and they'd tell him about his brother being literally MISSING. So yeah...)

So back on track: sure, the police "think" Non has run away with Keng

Or, was convinced by Tee's uncle to accept that storyline

but Non's parents don't believe that shit

("They're TRYING to make our son LOOK LIKE" not "They think our son HAS")

And I think the same feeling could've been passed to New by his parents or just by New himself. But even if not, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume he'd come back to Thailand after that news. Like, if my brother was missing, I'd feel pretty bad, my parents would feel pretty bad and I'd want to go back home and be with them a bit, follow things up close, at the very least.

So, assuming that's true, it's not weird to presume New could be back in Thailand by the time The Hidden Character (the film Non wrote, not the BOC reality show thing) airs. Which would lead us to:

Now, I've seen people say it's Tan, I've seen people say it's White, I've seen people say it's Bible (?)... To me, that's Tan. The voice that calls "Phee" seems to me that's Mio's voice and the person we see in the door, albeit he does resemble Bible, reads to me as him as well.

Besides, we see him being introduced to the class in the ep.9 preview so, yeah, it could be to throw us off, but I genuinely think it's just bc it's Tan.

Regardless, even if not, Tan will appear next episode. So... There's that. Question is: why?

We see both Tan and Phee moving to the gang's class next episode, which the gang points out as "weird". Now, idk why it would be weird to see people change schools in 12th grade but fine, I'm not gonna argue, maybe they know something I don't. Ig you could argue it's bc it's the last year but I'd say people have issues all the time (being the last year of school doesn't change that) and people also move houses all the time. So I wouldn't question it but ok. Moving on.

We know Phee has a connection to Non (as his ex-boyfriend) but we don't know why Tan would be there too. Sure, we can argue Phee has to have friends. But, ngl, if my friend asked me to move schools bc he wants to find out what happened to his bf who mysteriously disappeared, I'd politely decline. I'd support him in his endeavours, of course, but I wouldn't change my entire life for it. I could even go as much as to help him befriend them and hang out with the fuckers but I wouldn't move schools, I think.

So Tan must have a bigger motive, right? And what bigger motive than being the brother of Non, am I right?

Furthermore, we have to consider legal matters. They're all minors. Phee's father, of course, knows about Phee being, at least, friends with Non. And, even if he told him to stay out of trouble and that he himself would not go around poking in the business for Phee's own safety, I think he'd be okay with Phee moving schools for grief reasons (a.k.a being close to Non because that was his school) or even bc he knew Phee was trying to talk to his friends (I don't think he suspects the kids too much and honestly that's a terrible lack of sight on his behalf but, I mean, they're kids, I think it's fair to assume they're innocent).

But what about Tan? Assuming Tan is not Non's brother, would his parents let him move schools to the school where all those nasty kids who keep appearing on the news study??? I don't think so. Sounds dangerous. Things change, of course, if Tan is not actually Tan but New.

Non's parents, despite their obvious lack of parenting skills, care about him. He's their son. They'd want to know what happened. And, sure, New getting involved would be terrible for them (bc he's their son and clearly the favourite child and god forbid he wastes his potential studying there bc of Non's failures AGAIN), but if New specifically requested that, would they go against it? Would they go against their talented son and his show of altruism and love for his brother?? Especially when the police are not doing anything and it's just trying to close the damn case??? I don't think so.

Thus: Tan is New.

"But what about his legal name???", I hear you say. "If they're siblings they'll have the same last name!!" And yeah. That's true. Especially in Thailand where most surnames are exclusive to a singular family. But I thin- "What about the age gap??? New is older than Non!! His mom even refers to him as Non's phi!!!" Yes. I know. That's where the spice comes in:

NEW IS ADOPTED.

There, I dropped the bomb. This would mean that, maybe, his legal name wasn't changed from what it originally was. Sure, it could've, since he's now part of a different family but they also could've kept the original surname. Which is likely if New wasn't adopted in a normal fashion.

We have to consider how poor Non's family seems to be. Whether that's a new situation or it has always been like this we don't know. But that's something. Now, I'm not Thai nor do I live in Thailand but from what I read, income does factor a lot into whether or not a family can adopt a child (at least in theory). So I'd assume a poor family would struggle with it. Nevertheless, it seems Thai law puts a lot of value into family ties with the child so, maybe New was someone else's child originally like of a brother or a sister of one of Non's parents. Or maybe something else entirely, I don't know. I don't think it matters that much.

"That still doesn't explain the age gap though. Tan is only 2 months older than Non!!"

Well, that's still older. Would that qualify him as "phi", idk? Both Pimpa (Non and New's mother) and Non refer to him that way. But maybe that's just another way for the series to tell us there's a ver clear hierarchy between these brothers and Non comes second. Idk. (if you're Thai or know Thai culture well and would like to add input here, pls do)

"WHAT ABOUT THE PICTURES, DANTE???"

Ok, yeah, I know. They make a compelling case.

(I took the liberty to brighten them bc OMG WHY IS THIS SHOW SO DARK????)

And yes, in the picture further to the left it does seem like they have a huge age gap but also, in the picture right next to it, it doesn't seem so (in fact the kid in blue seems about the same age in both pics, only the other one doesn't). So maybe the kid in pic one is not Non, it's some other kid (could be, especially considering he's wearing blue and, as the fandom's most dear colour theorist @shannankle has pointed out on a lot of posts but most especially this one: Non's colour is red). Or maybe it is one of them and they just grew up at different paces, idk. It happens, man.

TBH I'm not greatly concerned about the pics. What I am concerned about is the narrative implications of this. That his parents's (and, as previously established, especially his mother's [who is the most present parent in his life, as stated by the parents themselves in ep.8])

favourite kid is the one who isn't even theirs by blood. That their favourite son is the one that is not actually their son (I obviously do believe adopted kids are as much people's kids as biological ones, family is made not inherited, but I mean this as strictly talking about the blood relations of these people)! That no one ever loves Non enough to actually save him from doom (bc, like a fairytale princess, the thing that could prevent Non's demise was love).

If his peers had loved him enough he wouldn't have felt the need to cling to that awful gang. If Jin had loved him enough he would've helped him get away from Tee in this episode, at the very least. If his parents had loved him enough, they would've prevented him from falling prey to so many people or, at least, would've been trustworthy for him to talk to and helped him get out of the situations he was getting himself into.

This would also play well with the character's names:

Non. That which/whom isn't.

Who isn't seen, who isn't heard, who isn't loved, who isn't perfect, who isn't who people expected him to be, who isn't the gang's friend, who isn't his parent's perfect son (not blaming him but that's how they see it), who isn't the boyfriend Phee hoped he would be (not blaming him for the sexual assault he suffered, just seeing it through Phee's eyes, pls don't misinterpret).

New. That which/whom is fresh, original. That which just arrived.

Who is a prodigy, a talent, one of a kind. Who is so different from Non and his "crooked ways". Who arrived at the family later. Who just arrived in Thailand, who just arrived in Non's school. Who is a new person, who has a new identity, who has a new life goal.

So, yeah, it is a bit crazy and depends on a lot of circumstantial and potential facts that have not been hinted towards AT ALL by the show. And I recognize that. But I think this is what is fun about theories and speculation and, even if this is not true (likely), I still had fun crafting this and showing it to you guys. At the very least it's entertaining and keeps us thinking.

Pls feel free to add stuff or question stuff in this post, I'd love for us to work together as a community for our little murder gays show. Hehe.

Also, I'll leave you a question myself: if this is true, does it mean Phee and Tan are working together as the killers, only one of them is killing or neither is committing murder? 🤔

[msmk11]

Too Far Gone, Don’t Send Help

Part 1

Sirius Black x gn!reader

Word count: 2.5k

CW: Cursing, mention of broken bones

Summary: Multi-part fic of reader pining after Sirius Black and remaining stuck in the friend zone

A/n: Hey everyone! This is a new little fic I decided to start writing because I needed an outlet for my own, unfortunate situation of unrequited pining. I guarantee you that most of my content for this fic will be loosely based on my own experiences. That being said, I have not and likely will not experience resolution to my own unrequited feelings so who knows how this fic will end! Would love feedback or suggestions as I write! Hope you enjoy the first chapter :)

It was safe to say that you were completely and totally fucked. Though you’re not sure if you were ever…. unfucked?

So here’s the deal. You have had a MASSIVE crush on Sirius Black for just about a year now, and you barely know him.

Pathetic, right?

What makes it worse is that Sirius knows. Or, well, at least, knew. After one of your silly little friends had let slip about your crush at a Gryffindor party, one the very same Sirius Black was attending, he had acted sort of weird around you for a few weeks.

In the hallways he’d send you winks, across the lawn he’d shout hellos, and in class he’d pass you notes. But that little bout of attention was merely temporary. Within the month, Sirius seemed to have forgotten you entirely, and you were back to not existing in his world.

So when you find out that Sirius Black has joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a beater, the same team for which you play as a chaser, your stomach is filled with dread. You guess it’s no surprise that he joined, now that his best friend James Potter is captain. Still, you were hoping Potter would have picked literally anyone else to fulfill the position.

Just your luck.

Though anxiety claws at your stomach before the first practice of the season, you decide to act as normal as possible. For all you know, Sirius has totally forgotten about your little crush from last year- the one you still have, actually- but he doesn’t need to know that.

As the team gathers on the pitch for practice, you notice the typical start-of-the-year tension and awkwardness radiating from newbie players. Black, of course, is the exception as he casually stands with the fanciest broom and jokes with James about Merlin knows what.

You curse yourself internally that your body can’t help but react to how bloody good Sirius looks in his training clothes. The loose muscle tee that hangs off his body shows his deliciously muscled arms that just so happen to be covered in ink. His long black hair is pulled back into a casual bun with small pieces that seem to unintentionally frame his handsome face perfectly. You admire the glint in his gray eyes as he laughs animatedly and you wish you were the cause.

Knowing that Sirius was going to be at practices now, you intentionally avoid getting to the quidditch pitch until the last possible second. Still, Potter is automatically on your ass.

“Oi, glad you finally decided to join us,” he says mockingly.

You scoff and roll your eyes, “okay, so, no. We’re not gonna be doing that actually, this whole ‘telling me what to do thing’. Especially not when I’ve been your equal for years, Potter. Maybe even better.”

He huffs out a laugh, “if you were better, why am I captain then?”

“Cause I told McGonagall no,” you answer with a smirk.

His jaw drops and you start laughing. “So we good, pretty boy?”

The brunette rolls his eyes playfully at you and holds his hands up in surrender, “fine, fine, whatever. Let’s start practice. Three laps around the pitch everyone.”

While everyone else groans, you simply tug off your t-shirt, leaving you in a black tank and black Nike shorts. You look over to Marlene who is retying her laces slowly.

“Come on Marls,” you tsk, “the longer you put it off the more you have to dread it. Let’s just go do it.”

The blonde looks up at you and whines, “ugh, fine. Remind me again why you keep letting me come back to play. I hate running.”

“Cause you love being a chaser with me?”

“Ehhhhh…”

“Cause it makes you look bloody hot for your darling girlfriend.”

“Ah, right,” she says, her face lighting up. “That’s it. Race ya?”

“You’re on, McKinnon.”

The two of us tear off down the field at a fast pace, zooming past many of the other team members who, smartly, are doing a light jog. As we pass Sirius and James, who are running side by side, you hear Potter call out, “that’s right, kick their ass, McKinnon.”

Too focused to snark back, you simply flip him off and keep running as he cackles.

For you, running is a long game. So while Marlene is certainly beating you right now, you know that, ultimately, she will lose. Though you’re still running fast, you’ve decided to save some of your energy for the end of the race. When Marlene starts to tire out, you’ll still have stamina and end up passing her.

True to your goal, two and a half laps later Marlene has begun to significantly slow down. As she huffs and sort of holds her side, you gain speed and pass her. A burst of adrenaline shoots through you as you reach the finish line and cheer.

“Ah ha! Yes! I won!”

Marlene merely groans through pants and collapses onto the grass. “Merlin, I’m out of shape. I think I’m dying.”

You drop to your knees dramatically, “no, Marls, please, don’t die on me. I can’t survive this without you.”

Your other teammates who have begun to join you as they finish their three laps chuckle at your dramatics.

“If you die, I must die with you.” You then imitate stabbing yourself in the heart and collapse to the ground.

As you play dead with your eyes closed, you notice a shift in light behind your eyelids. You open them and squint up. Of course, no one other than Sirius Black is hovering over you.

“My, James never told me we had quite the actor on our team.”

Your heart starts beating faster and you flush a little, realizing you totally just acted a fool in front of your crush. “Yeah, well, everyone has their secrets,” you say softly.

“Such a disgrace to hide your talent from the world,” he answers dramatically.

You smirk a little and roll your eyes at the raven-haired boy, “Yeah well….” You stand up and brush yourself off before placing your hands on your hips and give him an awkward smile.

“So, a beater, huh? I didn’t pin you as the type to play Quidditch.”

“I don’t really, besides for fun. But James needed another player, and I have a lot of anger so….”

You shrug your shoulders, “fair enough.”

James interrupts your conversation, thank god, by announcing that you all are now going to run drills. He decides he wants to catch the new players up so he has Fabian Prewett, the seasoned beater, work with Sirius, Marlene work with the new keeper, some 5th year brunette girl you can’t quite remember the name of, and you with the seeker, a 4th year boy with bright blonde hair and wide eyes named Jackson Creevey.

“Okay Creevey. So we’re gonna work on your maneuvering first. Instead of releasing a snitch, I’m going to pretend to be it. I’ll zoom all around and I wanna see how quickly you adapt to wild turns, dives, etc. James will be watching and is going to give you tips. You ready?”

The eager blonde boy nods and mounts his broom. You both raise high in the air and face each other. “Okay, I get a five second head start. After that, try to tag me.”

With that you zoom off towards the goals on the left as fast as you can, anticipating the boy following you. Surprisingly, Jackson is bloody fast, but also a little more unstable on his broom. You pause as he rushes towards you and then at the last second fly vertically upward and flip around in the other direction. He zooms past where you would have been and has to slow down before turning around to follow. You zigzag across the sky, looping around the stands into the clouds and beneath the rafters below. As he gains on you under the rafters, you dart upwards back onto the field. This time, though, he anticipates it, and remains close behind.

“Good,” James shouts, “keep anticipating their moves.”

As you feign to turn left, you actually turn right and slip out of his close grasp.

Reveling in your victory of outsmarting him, what you don’t see is the bludger heading your way. Just as you hear the yell of “look out,” the ball slams into your shoulder and sends you off balance. You cry out in pain as you hear a crack and wobble on your broom. Luckily you are able to keep enough control to land safely before rolling off. A string of curses leave your mouth as you clutch your arm and writhe in pain on the ground.

“Oh fuck!” James hops off his broom and runs over to you. He kneels down in the grass and looks at your face.

“Hey, hey, are you okay?”

With tears stinging in your eyes you shout, “obviously not! I think my arm is broken!”

“Shit,” he mumbles under his breath. “Okay, let’s take you to the hospital wing. I’m going to help you up, okay?”

You grit your teeth, “my legs aren’t broken I-“

“Just let me help you- please” He begs pleadingly.

“Fine, fine okay.”

Supporting your back and using your other arm, he carefully lifts you to your feet. “Sirius, you grab her broom and meet me in the hospital wing. Everyone else, practice is dismissed.”

You ignore everyone’s concerned faces as you walk towards the castle with James. As much as you hate to admit it, tears are streaming down your face from the pain.

“What the fuck happened?” You mumble.

“I’m not sure, I was watching you and Creevey. But I think Sirius hit a rogue bludger and it slammed into you.”

You want to be mad at Black and curse his name, but between your feelings for him and the fact that you know it’s not his fault, you instead huff and say, “well tell him that he should save his hits for the rival teams, yeah?”

The bespectacled boy beside you lets out a quiet laugh and nods. “I really am sorry by the way. I can’t help but feel it’s my fault you got injured. I mean, it’s my first practice of the season as captain and someone already got hurt.”

At this point we’ve arrived at the castle and James rushes ahead to open the doors for you. You give him a small, watery smile and walk inside. As he trails after you you say, “look, you have nothing to be sorry for James. It’s not your fault. Accidents happen in quidditch all the time. It’s part of the game, I know the risks. I should have just been more careful. And anyways, it’s not like I’ve died, yeah? Just some broken bones. Madame Pomfrey will have me good as new by the end of the weekend.”

He sighs and rubs his face tiredly, “I know, I know, you’re right. I just want to do well.”

I stop and look into his hazel eyes very seriously, “James, you’re going to do amazing as captain. Though I might be a better chaser than you,” I smirk, “I’ve never met anyone more dedicated and passionate. You’re not just a great quidditch player, you’re a great leader.”

He smiles softly, “thanks.”

“What are friends for?”

*****

Once you and Potter had finally arrived to the hospital wing, you were promptly rushed to a bed by Madame Pomfrey as she mumbled about how dangerous quidditch was under her breath. As she looked your arm over she confirmed what you thought- broken bones. Though with the flick of a wand your bones were mended, she still ordered you a night’s rest in the hospital wing so that she could keep an eye on you in case anything went wrong. The pill she gave you to help with the residual pain quickly put you off into a deep sleep.

When you awake it is clear a lot of time has passed. It’s now dark outside and the room is quiet besides the soft snores of someone beside you. You squint at the figure sleeping in the hard chair next to your bed and realize it to be…Sirius.

Your eyebrows shoot up in surprise and you inhale sharply through your nose. It seems this startles him as he jolts awake and gasps a little.

“Oh, hi, you’re awake,” He declares softly, looking at you.

“What…are you doing here?” You ask quietly.

“I just…wanted to check on you.”

Your heart quickens at his seeming concern. “Black, I’m fine, really. My arm is all good to go, I’m just staying overnight cause Pomfrey wants to keep an eye on me.”

He scratches his head awkwardly, “oh, right. Well….I also just, wanted to apologize. It’s entirely my fault that you’re here. If only I’d been more careful…”

You smile a little at his anxious stuttering and thank the gods that he can’t see the heat flushing to your face over his cuteness. “Black, honestly, you’re fine. Shit happens, it’s part of the game. And if you really wanna repay me, help win us some games hmmm?”

He lets out a huff and slumps backwards in his seat, now more relaxed. “Yeah, course. Gryffindor is gonna bring home the cup again this year.”

“Well duh, how could we lose?”

“If our star player has a broken arm?” He teases lightly. “Don’t tell James I said that. He’d be offended.”

You roll your eyes and smirk, “of course not, gotta protect his fragile ego.”

Sirius lets out a loud laugh and you beam, though quickly shush him.

“Be quiet! Pomfrey will kill you for keeping me from my ‘much needed rest’.”

“Nah she won’t. Poppy loveeees me.”

You quirk an eyebrow in disbelief, “yeah, uh-huh, sure. All those gray hairs that have popped up on her head since you’ve been here really prove that.”

“Uhm, actually, that’s called aging,” the boy corrects you dramatically. “I am an angel.”

You snort loudly and cover your giggles behind your hand. Though you hear Sirius scoff in offense, you can faintly make out the smile playing at his soft lips.

“Okay Black, whatever you say.”

He hums softly and silence falls over us for a few minutes. Your mind is racing, feeling the need to say something, anything.

“Uh, you know you don’t have to stay. I’m fine, you know. You can go get some sleep.”

Okay, yes, send him away. Great idea, dumbass.

“No can do. It is my duty to stay here with you until you’re out of the hospital. I won’t feel right otherwise. You can go back to sleep though, I’ll just sit right here.”

“Nah that’s okay,” you say, “I’m not really tired after I just took the longest nap of my life.”

“Right, well, wanna play a game?”

You raise an eyebrow at him, “what sort of game?”

“Twenty questions?”

“Alright, but I ask you questions first.”

[markerofthemidnight]

Blinding Eclipse - A CCCC Oneshot (Prompt: Fluff)

Yesterday’s poll sure was a thing, so I wrote this in 24 hours!

I don’t have the attention span to go through all the trouble of making a new fic and beta-reading it myself for now, so I’ll just keep this and the second one on Tumblr for now, then post them to AO3 once all three are done!

(Honestly kinda worried about this? The last time I wrote a oneshot about two weirdos who don’t like each other having an awkward conversation that results in them understanding each other better, and ends in them hanging out and being dorks, it was a fic that I now rather infamously don’t like and will probably put me off writing gift fics for a year. Anyways, here it is:)

Blinding Eclipse

After a particularly nasty fight, Heart gives Mind the time to recover from his injuries by (against his will) sheltering him in his room. By the time the conversation ends, he might understand the emotional side a bit more.

***

A short hum echoed through the dark room followed by a dim blue light, as the android’s systems restarted following a rather… forceful shutdown of them.

He groaned, grabbing his temples. For him to pass out during a fight with Heart was rare: he must have been especially aggressive today for some reason. Where was he now?…

“Hiiiii.”

Oh, goddamit.

He looked up to see a certain avian asshole staring at him with… probably not the smuggest look he’d ever seen on his face, but it was definitely in the top five. It took him a bit to realise… he was lying in his room, in his bed… and had been using his chest as a pillow while he was asleep.

“…Get the hell off me.”

Heart smiled in response. “Technically, ‘Mister’ Mind, you’re the one on top of me. And you’re still not the boss of me. You’re only leaving when I let you leave.”

Mind narrowed his eyes. We’ll see about that, then. When he turned around, trying to wrestle his way out of his grip, he realised- oh fuck. Fuck, he had his wings wrapped around him, this asshole had this planned to a tee.

He shifted uncomfortably in his grip, something Heart clearly noticed as his wings tightened. “C’mon, I had to. I had a, like, 200-and-something-pound robot lying directly on top of me: they would’ve gotten crushed if I didn’t.”

He was absolutely not 200 pounds, but he wasn’t in the mood to correct him over something so trivial right now. Rather… “You carried me all the way here?”

“Yeah. I’m stronger than I look, you know? Turns out, getting into fistfights with a robot on a daily basis does wonders for your muscles,” he gloated.

“No, that’s not- I mean, why?” The android raised a non-existent eyebrow, glaring in confusion at his other half. “You were literally just trying to kill me. Why bother dragging me here when all it would likely do is start another fight?”

“Wanted to make sure Soul doesn’t find out when he comes back,” Heart simply replied. “I needed to make sure you recovered quick, and make you promise you wouldn’t tell.”

“And why would I ever do that?”

“If he finds out, we’ll probably both get punished. He blames us both for the fighting, you know. And besides… don’t you think we should at least try to get along? Just this once, for Soul?”

After he said that… he stopped, and thought for a second. That… sounded about right. Recently, he’d noticed Soul had stopped caring about who started the fights: the way he saw things, if they both participated in the fights, they both deserved punishment.

…Goddamit, Heart was actually making sense right now.

Mind didn’t feel like getting disemboweled- or… whatever the robot equivalent was- today. He was still aching from faux pain from the previous fight right now, as a matter of fact.

“…Fine. I’ll play along with this game. I promise not to tell Soul.” He gave in, sighing. “Well? Now let me go.”

The avian stopped at that. He winced, and hesitantly shook his head. “Not yet. Your legs still feel pretty banged up.”

Now, that came as no surprise to Mind. His legs still hurt like hell- though it wasn’t too big of a deal considering he, unlike most androids, had his own healing factor. He didn’t know exactly how it worked, like most things in the Headspace, but it definitely came in handy often.

Not to mention, it was common knowledge by now that Heart had empathy that bordered on superpowers: all he had to do was touch you, and he’d understand exactly what you were feeling in the moment. Not just your emotions, but physical sensations too, so it was no wonder he’d be able to tell so easily.

Still, he really didn’t feel like staying here for too long. So as uncomfortable as he was, he grumbled and laid his head down on his other half’s chest, to which he smiled and held him closer.

They were sitting like that for a short while. One wallowing in his own shame and embarrassment that he needed Heart’s help, the other simply enjoying the peace he could get with his pseudo-brother.

The Moon stroke his hair, sighing as he broke the silence. “And besides, this is your chance to ask questions. There’s still a lot you want to learn about me, right?”

The Sun didn’t reply, simply nodding. “Well, go ahead. Anything you want- that won’t piss me off- ask away.”

He thought for a second. Well, now he was mentioning it, there were a few things on his mind… “How are you so perceptive?”

“Because I have ears?”

“No- well, yes, but that’s not what I mean. I’ve seen how precise you can be at times. Mid-flight, you always seem to know exactly what you’re targeting and where it is, even if hearing alone shouldn’t be able to help you,” he elaborated.

Heart tilted his head, trying to consider his answer. “It’s kinda hard to describe- I think it’s just… intuition. I just know where my target is immediately, even in the heat of the moment.”

Well, that didn’t help at all. Leave it to the stupid asshole to give a stupid answer.

“That’s the way it feels while flying, anyway. Normally, it relies more on muscle memory and hearing.” He looked away from the Sun at that, with a melancholy smile on his face. “When you lose one of your main senses… you have to learn to adapt.”

He couldn’t help but be intrigued by that, for that smile was so obviously pained that even Mind, who admittedly wasn’t very perceptive when it came to feelings or “reading the room” as the others called it, could notice. “…Do you ever miss it?”

“Kinda?” Came his instant response, as if the blind man was expecting him to ask that. “Like, you know how much I hated it at first. I didn’t know how I could live without sight, but then I forced myself to adapt and… now I see it’s not so bad. Well, it is bad, but I got over it.”

And then, his smile disappeared. “Really, the worst part is the memories. Everything from before I got blinded seems so far away, and I’m trying to hold onto them, but… hell, I barely even remember what you two look like, let alone anything else.”

Heart sniffled, before sighing and internally suppressing the pain. His grip on Mind tightened as he pulled him into a pseudo-hug… and, intentionally or not, began smothering him in his chest’s violet fur. The faint scent of lavender permeated his nostrils as his muffled scream of protest went unnoticed by his fluffy kidnapper.

Seconds after, the grip loosened, at least giving him some room to breathe. He reflexively gasped for air despite not needing it, and sighed. “S-sorry,” his other half sheepishly replied, “Might’ve forgotten how hard I was hugging…”

“See, this is why I call him a creature,” he groaned to himself, “Not because he acts like one, but because his anatomy makes no sense.”

Heart hummed in confusion, tilting his head at that. Mind blinked for a second before elaborating, “Come on, you must know what I mean. All you need is decently-sized wings and you can fly despite a lack of streamlining and flight muscles. Your neck works like an owl’s. You used to hoard shiny objects, I’ve heard you make bird noises on multiple occasions, you- you smell like lavender, for fuck’s sake!”

The Moon continued to stare for a few seconds before simply shrugging, “What’s wrong with lavender?”

“It’s fucking unnatural, that’s what! Humans don’t smell like plants, and neither do animals- it’s just… how are you so satisfied with living as this, when you know you’re supposed to be human?!” He snapped.

Admittedly… Mind let a lot more of his insecurities show just now than he would have liked. Then again, Heart was perfectly aware of said insecurities, so he wasn’t too shaken up. He was staring at him with an empathetic gaze as he finished, and simply turned to the ceiling. “I dunno. Maybe I just find this more… exciting? The flight’s fun, and my wings look really pretty… or used to, but the point is, it’s a lot more interesting than just being a regular person, don’t you think?”

Well, what was wrong with being regular? It wasn’t his fault the boy lacked an attention span and thus thought “order and logic” meant “depressing and bleak”. He should hate being the way he is, just like how the Sun wants to be human again: because being a robot is confusing, frightening and just plain wrong whereas anyone with a working brain knows how being a human works.

Heart should hate being some kind of weird, furry bird-person-creature for the same reasons. After all, it’s not like there were any practical applications that came from some of your limbs catching on fire depending on your emotions.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed that Heart had let go of his grip, still staring at the ceiling. His foot tapped against the side of his bed a few times before he clicked his tongue and turned to him. “You know what?”

Mind raised an eyebrow and sat up, his other half doing the same as he continued. “I think your problem is that you’re so uncomfortable with being a robot that you only see its downsides, and ignore all the good parts.”

He narrowed his eyes, stuttering. “G… good- there is no ‘good’ parts, dumbass. I barely resemble everything I used to be, and as time passes all it does is make me look more like a… a-“

“-Monster?” He interrupted. “That’s what you want to say, isn’t it? It’s how you see yourself. You try to hide it, but it’s still there. Well, think again: after all, I’d say only needing to sleep once a week is a pretty big perk for someone as workaholic as you.”

He stopped at that. He opened his mouth to retort, but felt it slowly closing soon after. That wasn’t exactly… incorrect… he did appreciate that, at least.

“See?” Heart smiled, tilting his head. “I know that silence! You do like that, don’t you? And then there’s your healing facto…” he trailed off before, suddenly, leaping off the bed. “Oh crap, right, your legs! A-are you okay? Can you walk now?”

He, too, had almost forgotten his legs were damaged before this moment. Regardless, he took a few seconds getting off the bed, slightly shaking as he stood up. “…Not perfectly, but I’ll manage just fine. Thank you, Heart.”

Consumed by his thoughts, he likely didn’t even notice that he was thanking him, and if he did, he had no idea exactly what for. Either way, as he took his first slow steps towards the door, the avian once again wrapped his arm around him, forcing him to lean on his shoulder. “Not so fast. I’m not taking any chances with how badly they were banged up before.”

With that, he began borderline carrying the android back to his room. He wanted to complain about this, but… he didn’t.

“We should do this more often, you know,” he smiled. “This is the first time we’ve been able to have a normal conversation in months.”

“Yes. This was… quite satisfactory,” he hesitantly replied. Crap, how should he have worded that?

“Can we hang out again later too? I know walking in to see us getting along for once would really startle Soul!~” the emotional side playfully quipped. “What was that game you were playing earlier? The one you decided to restart cause you… weren’t satisfied with your last run, or something?”

“Lobotomy Corpora-… wait, how do you know about that?!”

“These walls aren’t exactly soundproof, y’know,” he teased. “No, seriously, your little mutterings while playing that’re probably the most emotion I’ve ever heard from you! It sounds like fun!”

——

Another day, another argument.

That was what Soul was expecting to see, anyways, as he materialised back into the Headspace for tonight, only to be met with silence… mostly.

He could hear voices. Distant and quiet, but they were there. As he followed the trail, he realised they were coming from Mind’s room. Huh. Weird of Heart to willingly enter Mind’s room, and they were being so passive as well… what was going on there?

He opened the door expecting to see… anything, really, only to do a double take as he saw what was probably the least likely scenario he could imagine.

Heart, sitting down on one of his little bean bags, was listening intently to an oddly calm Mind as he sat at his computer, taking the time to carefully and even somewhat happily explain the details of some game he was playing to him.

What. The fuck. Was he watching.

Was… was this real? He’s not just, like, hallucinating Heart and Mind getting along, right?! This was actually happening? Being Whole again was a possibility even without his help?!

Regardless, as he opened the door, Heart heard the creaking and turned to the opposite corner of the room, knowing who it must be.

“…so even if Penitence’s defences seem better at first glance, since this is one class higher it’s actually the superior-“ Mind was cut off by his other half tapping his shoulder and pointing to Soul. He looked at him for a few seconds before quipping, “How is it that you look even crazier now than you do when you’re stabbing us?”

…The ruler slowly closed the door, not knowing how else to react. What was that. How did that happen. How did they will themselves into getting along so easily, he could hear Heart giggling like a madman from behind the door like he thought this earth-shattering revelation was funny, oh my god he needed some time to think.

***

Soul would later go on to sit in the kitchen slowly drinking a Monster for ten minutes, all with this disbelieving smile on his face, before going to “supervise” them (really he just wants in on the fun).

Well, aforementioned anxiety aside, I liked writing this! Establishing that Heart makes bird noises as well as his lavender chest floomf, and projecting my Lobotomy Corp liker onto Mind was really fun!

Expect Mind’s instalment, its prompt being Self-Discovery, to come out soon. Or maybe not, after all DoaI Vol. 1 comes out tomorrow so I may be a bit busy.

[papa-evershed]

If you're up for it, your top 3/top 5 hottest (RJC) characters (and why)? Based SOLELY on looks. Feel free to include gifs, if you have the time. Gotta say, Daniel became my #2 and is competing with Saul Silva for No.1 spot. I mean...Goddamn..🤤🍽️ Is Rob aging like a fine wine or do i just have daddy issues?

I think he's aging beautifully. Aging well doesn't only have to mean a lack of aging, but simply getting better as you do it, imo. When all the features of aging—wrinkles, greys, eye-bags, skin spots, etc, actually make a person look like a more beautifully seasoned version of their younger selves? That's aging well too.

As for Daddy issues, IDK, only you can decide for yourself if it's daddy related. 🤓 I ain't here to judge either way. Don't we all want a dad in the streets but a daddy in the sheets? 🤡

I'll put my top five under a cut! Not only just for the length but general cringe and possible thirst talk. So if that isn't someone's thing they can only blame themselves for continuing to read.

#1. Top honor is undoubtedly Daniel fucking Watson. Because speaking of aging beautifully, it's his most recent role so it was pretty much guaranteed to become my new favorite in terms of looks for that reason alone. I'm never going to be that person who is most thirsty for a role that happened fifteen years ago simply because I like men with some age on them. I want a whole ass man. I want the salt and pepper hair, I want the almost-white facial fuzz, I want the eye crinkles that cut deep towards his cheeks. That shit is sexy as fuck. If I wanted someone that looked like Timothy Chamomile I'd be out here giffing Willy Wonka.

And Daniel Watson is serving. The neck fuzz alone tickles the cave woman portion of my brain and makes me feral.

He just walks and moves and carries himself like A Man™ but not the sort that has so much swagger that it seems like they're over compensating. Important difference. A bit tired, a bit weary, just all the things I relate to a good, tired, dad. It feels natural and that's what makes it sexy. (Also the belly.)

And this show is finally giving us proper close-ups and beautiful profile shots. Like you said, based on looks alone, 1000/10. There's nothing to complain about. And another reason it's my new favorite—freckles! They aren't covering the freckles. I just like people's faces to look natural, is that so much to ask for?

The next four are probably interchangeable, it really just depends on my mood as far as who ranks above who. So don't put too much weight into the order, just know they'd round out my top five.

#2. Saul Silva. Specifically, season one Saul Silva though, because yes I'm still bitter about the hair dye. I realize it was likely bc of DA filming but I give not a single shit, I'll stay bitter about it until I die. Saul ranks this high for the same reasons as Daniel Watson really. A bit of grey, a bit of scruff, just looks natural and delicious.

^ That look is pure 🔥🔥 and anyone who attempts to claim otherwise (not that anyone ever has) is a lying liar that tells lies. Also, wardrobe is superior in Fate compared to a lot of his other roles. We got a good mixture of casual wear in addition to his little uniform.

(And also the belly.)

3. Hutch. That's it, that's all I have to say. Just Hutch.

It's a shame that he died but I get it. If I were some big monster I'd eat his ass first too. Literally and figuratively. 🫡

4. Martin Evershed! Can't leave off my boy Mr. Evershed. Again, for a lot of the same reasons as mentioned above. I prefer him recent. I prefer him with greys. I prefer him looking soft and delicious. What Ackley lacked in wardrobe it made up for in just indulging my Dad™ kink.

(And also the belly.)

#5. This fucker from Vera, Richard.

This role isn't talked about much, likely because it was small, but damn if he didn't look great. The scruff, the nose, the plain black tee? Fucking perfect.

(And of course, also the wee bit of belly. 🤠)

TLDR - I think he looks better the older he gets so my favorite roles tend to fall in line with that and I'm a cave troll that wants men to look as natural as I can get 'em.

[ontheshroom]

yess omg ok! what about being friends with jack since you were kids and he's had a crush on you for years but you haven't given him the time of day😭 and he invites you to one of his gigs (pre fame jack has my heart!!) and dedicates a song to you in front of everyone (i would marry him on the spot🫣) then after the performance he's ask you to be his gf

This One’s For You.

Pre-fame!Jack Harlow x fem!reader

Fluff

Synopsis: Jack dedicates a song to you.

“Look at the prettiest girl in the world waiting on her driver.” Jack smiles, wrapping his lanyard around his hand.

“Nah, why are you so late? You were supposed to be out ten minutes ago.” You cross your arms.

“Hey, I don’t become this hot overnight.” He winks.

“Then you might need a few more years cause it still hasn’t set in.” He smacks his lips and unlocks the car.

“Why did we have to get to the mall so early again?” He asks you.

“I have a date Friday night but nothing to wear, and you know my car needs new breaks.” You explain to him.

It seems like his whole demeanor changes after you mention your date. He straightens his back and nods.

“Okay.” He says, putting the car in drive and exiting the driveway.

“Any new music to play for me?” You ask him, turning your head to look at him.

He looks dazed and out of it like he almost looks sad.

“Nah, not right now, y/n.” He tells you shaking his head.

You pout subconsciously, feeling sad that he’s upset.

“Are you okay?” You ask him.

“I’m fine. Drop it.” He says, turning up his radio.

“Okay.” You sigh.

The two of you drive to the mall in silence. You look over at him now and then but his expression never changes.

Once the two of you arrive he puts the car in park and the two of you exit it and walk into the mall. You figure he might just need some space so you walk into a random store and start looking at things. You feel him following you around quietly.

“Are you upset because of what I said? I didn’t actually mean you have to wait years to look hot. You look perfec-“

“I’m not upset at that.” He laughs.

“Glad to know you think I’m hot though, baby.”

“Alright, don’t gas yourself.” You roll your eyes.

“I have a show tonight, can you come?” He asks, shyly.

“Duh, Jackman. I’ve got to every single thing you’ve performed at since I was like 5 and Ms. Maggie made you perform for our church.” You laugh.

“God, I almost forgot about that too.” He groans.

You laugh at him and shake your head. A pretty silver dress catches Jack’s eye and he immediately walks towards it checking it for a size. He smiles brightly as he sees the only one left in your size.

“Can you wear this to my show?” He asks, showing you the dress.

“Jack..that’s a bit dressy no?” You ask him, touching it.

“And expensive.” You crinkle your eyebrows at the $120 price tag.

“I’ll buy it. I just want to see you in it while I perform.” He negotiates.

“I guess.” You sigh.

“I’m gonna wear this dress to my date Friday.” You tell him holding up a regular tee-shirt dress.

Jack clenches his jaw at your words but then nods to the register. The two of you get in line and pay for the items before leaving the mall.

“What time is your show?” You ask him settling in the passenger seat.

“7:30.” He tells you, putting his arm behind your seat and reversing.

“Okay, pick me up?” You ask him.

“Anything for you, princess.” He smiles.

7:00

Three honks from outside let you know Jack is outside waiting for you. You quickly grab your bag, your charger, and your phone and make your way outside to his car.

“God damn! You might be the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen!” He yells.

“Stop.” You laugh at him.

“You don’t look too bad yourself Mr. Harlow.” You compliment him.

“Obviously.” He brushes himself off.

“I take it back, dickhead.” You laugh.

The two of you giggle and laugh all the way to his show

getting there around 7:15.

The two of you meet up with the rest of Private Garden and settle in front of the stage.

“And now, we’re happy to announce our performer, Jack Harlow!” The emcee tells the crowd.

“Woo!” You yell along with the rest of PG.

“Hey everyone, I’ll be performing a few songs from my album 18.” Jack says.

He performs Ice Cream, Obsessed, Selfish, and Got Me Thinking.

“I have one more song to perform for y’all, but this one is dedicated to y/n.” He says looking at you.

“You’ve been beside me since we were babies. Everything I do is gonna be for us, I promise. This is called Routine and it’s on my newest album Gazebo.”

Going through the mood swings. When you care more she don't make time. When she got time we just Facetime, but she beautiful, like real talk though. She come right after that 8-9 so I'm stuck on her. I'm so gone off her. Might lay in bed with some other girl. And talk about her after I bust on her. Like, what you think I should do?

You smile as Jack wraps up the song and says his goodbyes to the crowd before meeting with y’all.

“Jack.” You hit his shoulder.

“You didn’t tell me you were gonna do that.” You smile.

“I don’t want you to go on a date with that loser on Friday. I want you to let me take you out on Friday. I’ve had feelings for you for so long. I know you don’t want to alter our friendship, but I can’t see you as just a friend anymore.” He confesses.

A tear falls down your cheek before you pull him in for a kiss.

“So you’ll be my girl?” He asks with a goofy smile.

You giggle before nodding.

“I guess I’ll settle.” You smile.

“Disgusting.” Urban shakes his head.

“You’re just mad you’re single.” Jack laughs.

“Just don’t get her pregnant.” 2fo adds.

“And don’t break her heart.” Ace threatens him.

“I won’t, I won’t.” Jack holds his hands up defensively.

[live-from-flaturn]

Number 25: Wrapping arms around them when they make breakfast. Bonus points if whoever's cooking is terrible at it.

somehow this thing started off with vaguely horny vibes and then, as per usual, veered directly into character study territory and got sickeningly soft. thanks for the lovely prompt, darlin'!

tw: references to Korn in passing

wordcount: approx. 700

Title: "Tasting Sunrise"

Chay slips his arms around Kim’s waist and hooks his chin over his boyfriend’s shoulder. He watches as Thailand’s current indie sweetheart and rising star stirs wayyyyyy too much chili paste into the soup he’s making. “Whatcha doing, Phi?”

“What does it look like?” Kim sniffs. “I’m making us breakfast.”

“Are you secretly trying to kill me and collect my hefty life insurance policy?” 

“Wh– Why would you ask that?!” Kim spins around in his arms, looking so completely horrified that, for a split-second, Porchay feels kinda bad… 

Then he takes in the ‘Fuck You, it’s MY Kitchen’ apron (which Tankhun had special-ordered when Kim nearly burned down the house last summer making grilled cheese), Kim’s untouched bedhead, and his own rumpled Wik tee covering Kim’s chest. A smile blooms softly across his face. There’s no urgency in the gesture, no driving need to ease Kim’s worry – because Kim is already calm again. One look is all it takes now that they’ve learned how real communication works.

“That’s a lot of chili, P’Kim.” Chay noses along the hinge of Kim’s jaw until Kim finally relaxes back against him and exposes his neck for more. “Are you feeling congested, or did I snore last night and you’re trying to fix the problem with folk medicine?”

“Is it really that much?” Kim blinks at him innocently. Chay still can't believe that for all his ferality, all his killing and maiming and committing violent crimes on a near-weekly basis, Kim has no fucking clue how to read recipes. Something about cooking simply doesn't click; and that's fine with Chay, because cooking is his happy place. 

Therapy rocks and he’ll always be grateful for his access to solid mental healthcare – but sometimes, in the quiet of their kitchen, nothing soothes him faster or better than slicing up vegetables and mixing the correct ratio of seasonings into his broth base. He makes Kim a variety of healthy food and takes great pride in doing so.

“I love you so much, P’Kim… But there’s a reason I make breakfast when we have the time to eat together.” 

Kim pouts cutely up at him in disappointment so Chay smacks a kiss to his forehead. Totally fair compensation, in his opinion. “How about we go out for food, instead? There’s a new crepe place down the block that looks awesome and the reviews are good.”

“I like crepes.”

“Precisely my point.”

“Alright,” Kim smiles and turns off the stove. Chay follows him into the bedroom, pinching at his hips to keep them from getting distracted on the way. 

“Thank you for taking care of me,” Chay whispers, just before they leave the apartment. He takes one of Kim’s hands in both of his and presses several kisses along the ridge of Kim's knuckles. “But please don’t push yourself to do things that make you uncomfortable for my sake. We both make up each other’s slack, right?”

Kim looks apprehensive at this request. Wary. Almost as if he's been cornered. 

Chay wonders darkly if he’s been to visit Korn in the last twenty-four hours.  

“I make us healthy, tasty dinners and sometimes breakfast. You check the deadbolts every night and keep a holster under your bedside table,” Chay ticks the items off on his fingers as if he’s making a numbered list. Mostly he wants Kim to understand his point. Kim nods along, so he continues:

“I keep track of our toiletries and resupply when we’re at the store. You have a cool sixth sense about when we’re low on coffee beans, so we never run out. Cats come up to me on the street so we can both pet them. Your fans take candids of us petting cats together on the street and post them online for me to collect. We’re symbiotic, Kim. Not like Venom, I mean, but like two separate people who fit very well together.”

Kim pops onto his toes in order to bestow a pleased kiss to Chay’s lips. Chay can feel Kim's smile beneath the pressure of skin meeting skin and it makes him smile right back. 

When they pull back for air, Kim gasps, “I love you, sunshine.”

“I love you, too, Phi.”

“Breakfast?”

“Breakfast.”

The crepes, while delicious, don't hold a candle to the taste of Kim's early morning smile.

[bitchin-tubs]

Complain time again tee hee but I’m just like UGHHHH talking genuinely to these ppl is SO hardddddd

With girl A, I spent almost a whole class lecture (friendly) debating with this one girl on why people medically diagnosed as psychopaths and sociopaths are not inherently dangerous, are not narcissistic by default and how ‘masking’ is not a form a manipulation. Her source for all of these… You. The Netflix show…

With girl B, I feel like she’s sooooo,,,, dismissive ?? Idk like I tried to introduce her to my friends once and she genuinely did not gaf. Like I said hi B this is C then she says hi to me and me only. Like my girl C is right here. But at the same time she’s always bringing me into her friend groups which is fine but I dont connect easily so most times I’m kinda just there SPECIALLY if it’s an all men group when I have specially told her I tend to be uncomfortable with men for “no” reason

I was having a conversation with girl A and the topic of autism was brought up, I told her that I think I may be low on the spectrum but there are some things I tend to relate to with autism behaviors, and considering opened up to me about her anxiety and how she had previously talked very openly abt diagnosis I thought maybe she’d get it. I know,,, self diagnosis (u are free to feel any type of way abt it) but idk I thought she’d have any type of nuanced comment about it but I should’ve known from the psychopath talk… I had told her that I find meeting new people very hard, I have difficulty talking to said people and I tend to be very restrictive about who I make a meaningful connection to. She said that my personality is and I quote “mamona” (jerk/snob/asshole ish) and completely dismissed my masking, overstimulation, 10 year old special interest, taking shit to literal and not understanding social cues or instructions as “just being different” yeah so I thought… yknow I might not have autism valid but idk I felt so ignored at that moment

Also don’t think I just unpack shit on her unannounced, we talk and convos play out as they usually do and since the topic was out I was like sometimes I wonder if I have it because of so and so plus she was unwinded with me before so it wasn’t impossible for us to talk abt personal stuff, even though we not so tight we are still close

Another thing I’m very bad at making friends, I think I mirror good enough to have nice interactions with people but not to the point they invite me to shit or talk to me outside of classes. Back when I was in my exchange program I was sharing a room with 3 swifties so I had to pretend to like Taylor swift so I wouldn’t feel singled out, I also watched the summer I turned pretty and witnessed these girls thirst over bad boy #2 when I thought the character was so shitty (the actor is good looking but I’m not attracted to him) and also would also unknowingly spend all-nighters on school nights (as in I didn’t know they were meant to be all-nighters) with them watching a movie I didn’t particularly like and see everyone thirsting over annoying man on screen (one of them was some straight outta wattpad step-sibling story ew, the other pride and prejudice IM SORRY YALL I DIDNT GET THE HYPE 😭 call me uncultured it’s okay

A and B are sólo also hardcore swifties and I can only be neutral abt her otherwise they get on my ass about it and saying I like Taylor swift or her music is too big of a lie even for me

I told girl A about this (or at least a bit) and she said that I should’ve just been me. Girl I can’t be me we were both witnessing a girl being actively bullied (tv show ass bullying they printed a picture of her and drew over it ugly, taped it to her dorm room. Still hurtful and bullying tho) I’m NOT about to ostracize myself

HOWEVERRR these are not my main friends, these are like the friends I made to not be lonely in these extra classes for an American 🦅🦅🦅 diploma. My close CLOSE friends are from my same career classes and they are so much more understanding and can interact more naturally with. So in my day to day I got good genuine friends by my side

I recognize that I can be perceiving these memories differently than how they actually happened, misinterpret their actions and just be in my feeling right now but idk I feel like I’m so difficult and constantly just have to comply with people in order to make others comfortable

[ice-cap-k]

I Always Had Been Partial to the Color Blue (Part 2)

Hey! Got a new story for part of the 2024 MCYT Horror Gift exchange ( @mcythorrorgiftexchange ). Chapter 2 for @spicypotstickerbliss. I hope I did your request justice. I hope I did your request justice. I went a little wild with the prompt...

It's longer than my old whumptober stuff, so feel free to read it on AO3 here: I Always Had Been Partial to the Color Blue

CH 1

_________________________________________________

I went skidding as I rounded the corner that led to the guest rooms.

There was Tommy! The teen was slipping out the door to his room. He was rubbing sleep out of his eyes and trying to flatten the wrinkles in his tee shirt with the palm of his hand. My timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

“Tommy,” I hissed.

“Wil? Good morning to you, fine sir. I don’t know about you, but I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

I all but threw myself at him. I couldn’t let go of the crutch, but still I grabbed at his shoulder and refused to let go with my free hand. “Tommy, we have to leave. Now.”

He pulled back as if I had just slapped him. “What? But why?”

“Toms, please. I just need you to trust me on this.” Truth was, I didn’t have an answer. I couldn’t begin to pretend I understood half of what I overheard, but I didn’t need to understand to know that it didn’t bode well for me or Tommy.

Tommy only slapped my hand away. “No way. Technoblade said he would do another of those ‘sparring’ lessons with me,” he huffed. “And what about breakfast? Think about my poor stomach, Wil. I’ll never make it back home if I starve to death along the way.”

“And what if Techno’s not what he seems?” I blurted.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know!” I threw my hand up in frustration. “I overheard him and Phil talking. I don’t have the details and none of it made sense, but it sounded bad. Really, really bad.”

Tommy wasn’t convinced. His mouth twisted into a scowl as he gave me a skeptical glare. “What kind of ‘really bad,’ are we talking about?” He threw his hands up and flexed his fingers into quotes as he spoke.

Think. Think. I needed to piece together what I could remember of their conversation. “Techno said he could make use of you. That you were bloodthirsty enough for something.”

Tommy’s chest puffed up as pride set in. “So I did convince him of how strong I am! What are you talking about, Wil? That’s great news! Surely that means he’s ready to duel me man to man, eh?”

Somehow, that was even less believable than the reality of our situation. “What? No. That’s not- Forget it. That’s a bad example. Phil! Phil was talking about contingency plans and that they would have to ‘take care of me.’” I was an awful impressionist, but I deepened my voice to try and match the gravenness of Phil’s words. 

Tommy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Uh, yeah. Because your ankle’s still fucked.” 

“I…”

Okay, that was a fair point.

“Fine. That’s another bad example. Look. My point is that they were talking about weird shit, okay? Things that made no sense like domains and something about an inquiry and I’m pretty sure I saw something that they didn’t want me to see but I’m not entirely sure. You just have to believe me when I say that what they were talking about… it didn’t sound as nice and cheery when I was listening to it in person.”

That gave Tommy pause. “You saw something?”

I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t. Bloody walls and red eyes? Monsters? Well, I suppose he had already seen a few monsters the night before, but he would still think I was going crazy. None of it had actually been real, after all.

“Forget it. Come on.” With the arm that wasn’t currently wrapped around the crutch, I pulled him after me. 

I had only gone through the entryway once, but it was yesterday. The memory was still fresh enough that I should be able to find our way back.

“What did you see, Wilbur,” Tommy insisted.

“I’ll tell you when we’re out of here and on our way back home.”

“Oh, come on Wil,” He groaned. “I don’t want to leave yet. If you won’t tell me what’s up and keep pulling me along like this I’ll scream. I’ll scream bloody-fuckin’ murder about being kidnapped.” I rolled my eyes but didn’t slow my pace. “Really? Really, Toms? We are literally in a random castle in the middle of nowhere with a couple of complete strangers, and you’re going to accuse me of kidnapping?” 

“Well, what else am I supposed to do when you’re being unreasonable??”

“I’m trying to be reasonable,” I hissed. “And I am trying to explain. Sure, it doesn’t make the most sense, but I know what I heard.”

“And I don’t.”

He dragged his feet, but he didn’t pull away. He didn’t scream either. All that bluster was just for show. As much as he didn’t want to leave, he wasn’t fighting me on it either. It was a major relief.

He made a couple more half-hearted attempts to dissuade me. Complained about breakfast and what a long walk it would be. It filled what would have been an awkward, stilted experience as I limped my way down the flight of stairs leading to the entryway. I had found my way back easily enough.

Tommy brightened at the sight of a familiar bucket hat visible through the gaps in the bannister.

“Hey Phil!”

Phil stopped mid-step to smile up at the two of us. “Tommy! Wilbur! I was just about to come check in on the two of you. Breakfast is ready.”

“Fuck yeah.” Tommy leaped the last two steps and I stumbled after him. I still had a hold on his arm, after all.

I did my best to gracefully right myself and spare my dignity. Tommy slipped out of my grip completely but didn’t go far. 

“Actually, we appreciate the offer, but me and Tommy really have to get going now.”

Phil’s smile faltered. “You sure? You know you two are free to stay a little longer.” He tilted his head and took a few steps forward. I grabbed the back of Tommy’s shirt and pulled him two steps back. Phil was no fool, though. He froze as soon as I tried taking an uneven step back. The smile reappeared, his face bright and welcoming. “I was even thinking I might take a look at your leg again today. If that’s alright with you, Wil. Change the bandages. Clean it right up again. See how it’s coming along.”

“That’s alright, Phil. I’m doing just fine.”

Tommy snorted. “You can hardly walk.”

“I’m fine,” I gritted out forcefully.

Phil’s eyes narrowed. He looked up at me like a mother would at a child acting particularly stubborn, crossing his arms over his chest as he did. The motion sent the folds of his cloak rippling down his back. I tried not to focus on the edges that looked like feathers. They weren’t real. They weren’t. What was real was the skeptical look on Phil’s face. He looked as unconvinced as Tommy. “Uh-huh. Sure. How far is it to where you're from again?”

“Not far-”

“Kilometers away,” Tommy huffed. “We had to have run a marathon to get here.”

“It was not nearly that far, Tommy.”

“Yes it was!”

Phil silenced us both by raising a hand. “And are you sure you’re feeling well enough to walk that far?” he asked, blue eyes trained on me. 

I looked away as soon as he tried to make eye contact. The thought of holding that gaze after what I had heard… I couldn’t do it. Phil seemed like a man who could see right through you if you let him. I was already having a hard enough time trying to leave without raising further suspicion. Tommy wasn’t helping at all. If Phil looked me in the eye, he would know for sure that I was on to him. At the very worst, he only suspected it for now. 

“Of course.” I had to inject a bit of cheer into my voice. “I might be on the slower side right now, but that’s all the more reason to get an early start. Especially if what you said about those monsters is true.”

Both of his blond eyebrows shot up. “Really now? Is that what’s got you so concerned? I’d rather not worry about you going out there and hurting yourself more. If you go out like that, your ankle will only get worse. I’m sure I can talk Techno into letting you guys stay another night. The extra rest should help.”

My gut twisted at the thought. There it was. The offer to stay another night. Just as I had overheard Phil mentioning. Oh, it was slick. It was simple and almost unnoticeable, if I hadn’t already been keeping an ear out for the offer. With that smile and all his cheer, Phil was convincing. He had Tommy perking right up at that. The teen was nodding along like it was a great idea. And he had presented it in such a reasonable, caring manner. But still, Phil wanted us to stay another night like they discussed. I didn’t want to wait around and find out what their veiled threats concerning me and Tommy would turn into. It was all I needed to solidify my decision in my mind. 

“Thank you, but also no thank you.” I didn’t wait for any further argument. 

The older man made no move to stop me as I worked my way over to the door. Tommy, though, let out a whine from the back of his throat and followed.

Tommy stepped around my side, trying to get in front of me. “Wil, come on… You’re being ridiculous.” If he had meant to stop me, he did a poor job of it. My hand slipped past him and wrapped around the door handle.

I heaved, leveraging the sole of one shoe against the floor to swing the door open. It was time to leave. 

But we couldn’t.

Even with the door open, something was blocking the way.

Every centimeter of the doorway, top to bottom, left to right, was completely overtaken by bright red vines. Vines with pulsing stems and fleshy leaves. Vines that wove into and out of and in between each other so that it was impossible to make out anything through the mess. Vines that couldn’t possibly have grown that fast overnight, because this was the same door we entered last night.

The smile dropped off Phil’s face.

“Shit.”

He moved fast for an older man. In the blink of an eye, he was at the door. One arm flung out in front of me and Tommy, separating us from the vines that were breaking loose without the door supporting them. They fell limp onto the first few tiles of the entryway. With the other arm, he reached for the door. There wasn’t much of a gap between the floor and the door. Wood scraped against the fallen vines as it swung closed, leaving red smears in its wake. When the latch clicked I stepped away from his arm with Tommy in swing and Phil pressed his back against the door.

“Techno! We’ve got trouble.”

“Heh?” Techno sounded distant. His voice was muffled behind the walls of whatever nearby room he was in. The pound of footsteps on tile echoed through the entryway as he approached.

“What the fuck was that?” Tommy asked, sounding more curious than concerned. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”

Phil flipped the deadbolt. “You remember those things that grabbed Wilbur yesterday?”

There was a crash. Glass broke. Footsteps stopped. I could hear Technoblade shout and something else screamed. Another crash sounded out, this time accompanied by the splintering of wood.

A second or two passed of pure silence. Me and Tommy huddled closer to each other, not sure what to make of it all. Then Technoblade’s face appeared at the top of the stairs. There were flecks of blood on his cheek and staining his blue clothes. It didn’t appear to be coming from any wound on him, but it suited him all the same.

“I think we ticked off our neighbors again,” he deadpanned.

One corner of Phil’s lips turned up into a lopsided smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “We alway had a bad habit of doing that.”

“We should have learned our lesson last time. Now history’s repeating itself.”

I looked out the nearest window.  More of those vines were visible. They pressed up against the glass at the bottom of the sill. The sun was higher now than it had been this morning, but I could still make out streaks of red over the open ground. There wasn’t another building to be seen. “You have neighbors?”

“Yeah. You met them last night.”

At that moment, something else appeared in the window. A familiar dark shape with empty white eyes. Crack! A dark fist connected with the glass, sending a spiderweb of lines snaking along the window pane. 

I screamed, pedaling backward. Tommy’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. We wheeled out of the way just before another hit sent shards of glass flying into the room.

It poked its horned head in through the shattered window. Sharp fragments that still clung to the frame scratched against its dark skin, but it paid that no mind. Only pushed further and further inside. It’s mouth was a white maw, snarling as it reached one claw tipped hand out in my direction.

Phil jumped in surprise. “F-fuckin’ hell! They’re REALLY pissed.” 

Techno snatched a trident off a mound on the wall and leaped into action. ‘Leaped’ in the literal sense, as he skipped the staircase entirely to vault over the banister. He landed heavily on his feet. “I’ll handle it. Get them out of here.”

An arm wrapped around my wrist. Phil had peeled himself away from the door. He had a solid grip on both me and Tommy. One that didn’t allow for me to pull away or break the contact. I had half a mind to try, but where would I go? The entrance was blocked and there was a snarling monster trying to squirm through the nearest window. He yanked so hard that I nearly dropped my crutch. 

Tommy let out a garbled shout as we were both pulled along behind Phil. He was fast. So fast that I was afraid my leg really would fall out from under me and the man might end up dragging me instead. It was only by some miracle I was able to keep hopping along and not knock my bum foot into something as we went careening through an open door frame set into the wall opposite the window the monster had just slipped through. The last thing I saw was Techno reeling the massive weapon over his shoulder.

We were halfway down the next hall when I heard the thump of an impact and a shill scream.

“I thought we were supposed to be safe here,” Tommy screeched, having found his voice faster than I could find mine. Phil wasn’t breathing as heavily as me or Tommy as we ran, but there was still a strain to his voice to go to the panic that was filling the space in his vast blue eyes. “Yeah. Well, I didn’t expect them to get this riled up. They’re throwing a tantrum like a fuckin’ child.”

A brown-furred hand broke through the window as we passed. Pieces of red vines and leaves fell off it onto the floor. It came close enough that I could feel claws brush my hair as we passed. “What the fuck!!?” 

Ah. There was my voice. Turns out I wasn’t too stunned to use it after all.

“Shit!” Phil overcorrected, nearly knocking his shoulder into a corner wall as he tried to lead me and Tommy into an inner hall. One that didn’t appear to have any windows. They couldn’t break through and reach for the three of us there, but the smash of glass kept up behind us. Crash. Crash. Crash! Window pane after window pane must have been breaking just outside of our line of sight; all the way around the house. It echoed off the tile behind us and ahead of us.

Phil skidded to a stop. I nearly flew past him before his hold on my wrist jostled me back. He swore as each crash sounded off.

“Shit.” Crash. “Shit.” Crash. “SHIT.” Crash.

If they couldn’t reach for us directly, they were getting through where they could.

“Stairs,” I shouted. My mind chugged to keep up with my words as the half-baked thought took shape. “Up the stairs where they can’t reach the windows and block the way.”

“Good idea.”

Me and Tommy let Phil guide us to the nearest staircase. The sound of snarls and growls was steadily growing. The crashing subsided, but I suspected that meant there were no more windows for the creatures to break. We climbed three whole flights before coming to a panting stop at the top. 

There were two weapons resting against the wall of the landing: a thin sword, and an ax. The landing itself led to a narrow doorway; one without a door, but small enough that it could still act as a choke point.

“We have to block it up.”

“Right.” Phil finally dropped our wrists. His eyes widened as he did so, looking at his palm and then our hands as if surprised he had been holding on this whole time. There wasn’t a bruise, but I could still feel the phantom touch of his grip where one would probably form later. 

He shook off the surprise almost as quickly as it hit him. He reached for the sword. “Tommy. You remember what Techno showed you yesterday?”

Tommy rubbed at the inside of his wrist. “Yeah. Why?”

“Here.” He tossed Tommy the ax. “Hopefully you won’t have to use it.”

The teen nearly fumbled the catch, and if I wasn’t already terrified for my life I probably would have snapped about how unsafe it was to throw bladed weapons around a child.

“We’ll have to find something for you to use later, Wil.”

“He doesn’t know how to use any weapon,” Tommy corrected. “I’ll protect him.”

“Maybe. But if something-”

“I’d be useless,” I croaked. “I can barely stand, and I’d be more likely to hurt myself than anything else.” 

The pen was mightier than the sword. Just this once, though, words might not mean much. I doubted the things trying to get us could understand English. And if they could, they wouldn’t listen. 

“Let’s not worry about that right now.” I tried hobbling towards the nearest display case full of weapons and pressed against its side. “Just help me move this in front of the stairs.”

 Phil understood what I was saying a little faster than Tommy. I helped as much as I could with only one leg, which wasn’t much. I had to give up the heavy lifting to grab whatever lighter objects I could within close proximity. Phil and Tommy piled the cabinet and benches and glass cases up while I threw tapestries and paintings and cushions over the gaps on top. We didn’t stop until the throughway was completely covered over. By then, we could already hear something knocking against the opposite side. Something that howled.

“How long do you think that is gonna hold?” Tommy asked.

Phil shrugged. “No clue. Let’s put some distance between us. I’d rather not stick along to find out.” He turned to me. “Do you need help running?”

I opened my mouth to say I was fine, but Tommy cut me off. “Of course he does.” “Tommy! I-” “I’m not listening to your pride right now, Wil. Shut the fuck up and take the help.”

I snapped my mouth shut. 

Phil looked between the two of us, eyes as wide as an owl’s. He made no move to step between us as me and Tommy stared each other down. 

It wasn’t fair. Tommy still didn’t believe me when I said we couldn’t trust Phil and Techno. He was chalking it up to pride. I didn’t want to fight him over it right now. There were more pressing concerns.

“Fine.”

Phil swooped in to wrap his arm around my back and prop his shoulder beneath my armpit. I stood a head taller than him, but he was more stable than the crutch that now hung uselessly at my side. “I got ya. Let’s go.”

He started forward at a pace that was much easier for me to keep up with. Tommy followed, ax gripped tight in his hand. “It’s your castle, Phil? Where can we go?”

“The towers. There’s one nearby. It overlooks the river. The water’s pretty deep there. If they somehow make it past Techno and that barricade, we can make a jump for it.”

“You’re fuckin’ with me. How high is it?”

“Very.”

“We’re going to die,” I groaned.

“No you’re not,” Phil said firmly. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

He sounded so sincere. 

We had to have crossed the length of the entire castle to get to the base of the tower. It was hard to keep my attention on moving forward rather than on the sound of chaos unfurling the floor below us. I tried not to think about the furniture smashing and angry howls, even as it assaulted my ears. I tried not to notice how it was getting louder. 

Phil pointed ahead. “Over there. That’s the door.”

Thunk!

I tumbled back away from the large spikes that splintered up through the wood floor between me and Tommy.  I fell ass-backward, hard enough that it would leave a bruise. Nearly dragged Phil down with me in the process. The spikes came so close that one of the barbs ripped a slit into the toe of my shoe. Tommy had been further away, but he still nearly jumped out of his skin as he flailed backward, screaming at the top of his lungs.

My ankle up until that point hadn’t been giving me much trouble. I could have just been lucky not to bump it until this point. That, or the adrenaline and fear pumping through my veins had overridden any screaming pain my nerve endings might have been dealing with. I grunted against the pain that now came in a bright flash and curled inward, reaching for my leg.

Phil was at my side, crouching next to me. “Are you okay?” 

“Hurts.” 

It was all I managed to get out before the floor beneath us buckled. It heaved up like a growing hill before the wooden boards gave out with a groan. They split, starting at the point where the spikes stuck through and splintering off until a familiar pink head with a gold circlet shoved its way through.

Phil lurched under me. He reached toward Technoblade, but Tommy got there first. The teen dropped the ax and helped drag the man through the floor. Techno looked as fresh as a daisy, despite the splinters in his air and extra blood stains dotting his blue outfit. His glasses were still perched nice and straight on his nose. His cloak was gone, though. 

He pulled his trident after him and kicked a boot at something with a head wrapped in a red length of cloth that tried to crawl up after him. It whimpered, fingernails grasping at the splintered floor before it slipped and fell back down to the level below. 

“That was sick,” Tommy said with a smile.

Technoblade shook a few pieces of wood out of his braid. “I know.”

My foot was still stinging enough to make my eyes water as Phil heaved me back up. “Was that the last of ‘em?”

Techno shrugged. “Eh… Technically.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Was it the last of those eggheads? Yes. Are we in the clear?” 

He tilted forward just enough to peer over the edge of the hole he had made in the floor. I followed his line of sight. Through blurry eyes, I could still make out the rippling surface of hundreds and hundreds of red vines covering the walls and floor. The tendrils moved much faster than any plant ever could. As I watched, they covered the still form of the thing Techno kicked. They surged up towards the hole as soon as I peered over the edge. I pulled back, and I could hear the slippery swish of them settling back down. 

“Not by a long shot.”

Phil’s shoulders tensed beneath me. He looked at me from the corner of his eye, then looked down at my ankle. 

“You can’t fight that, Techno.”

“I can try.”

“No. I’ve got contingencies. We’ll be okay.”

That word again. Contingency. I felt myself stiffen and Technoblade’s eyes snapped to Phil’s face. Whatever nonchalance he had been sporting was gone. “You sure?”

“We’ll try to make it to the top of the tower and jump for the river,” Phil explained and some of the intensity left Techno’s gaze. “We’ll figure it out from there.”

“Holy shit,” Tommy exclaimed, completely oblivious to whatever underlying meaning had passed between Phil and Technoblade. “We’re actually doing that? I thought-AAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Something red had reached out from the broken floorboards and brushed against Tommy’s foot. He stamped his feet and grabbed his ax to swing at the vines crawling towards me and Phil.

“Tommy!” 

I tried to reach forward, but Phil pulled me back. “Whoops! Time’s up,” he shouted as he half dragged me away. Before I could struggle, Technoblade scooped up Tommy like a sack of potatoes and leaped over the gap in the floor. 

“Let me go!” Tommy screamed, even as the man set him back on his feet. 

“There. Happy?”

“No!”

“Then do something about it and move.”

I could see the effort it took for Tommy not to bite back a retort in the way a grimace pulled at his face. There just wasn’t enough time. More vines were already making their way through the hole. Their twisted leaves shook as they reached closer and closer.

We ran. All four of us ran until we hit an open door to a stairwell no wider than a closet. Me and Phil rushed in first followed immediately by Tommy. Technoblade brought up the rear, slamming the door closed behind him.

Phil helped me climb the steps two at a time. “The window’s at the top,” he shouted or all of us to hear

“Will it be big enough for us to fit through?” I demanded.

“Plenty. I’ve made it through with no issue.”

My voice went up an octave. “You’ve jumped out the window before?!?” 

“That’s so cool!” Tommy jumped in. 

Techno’s voice sounded from somewhere below us. “Uh, guys…”

Crack!

I didn���t have to look back to know that was the sound of the door at the base of the stairs being forced open.  

An edge of panic had worked its way into Techno’s voice as he spoke up again. “Phil, they’re picking up speed.”

“Shit,” Phil spat. His pace faltered and, since he was helping to keep me steady, mine did as well. “How fast?”

“Probably not going to make it at this rate.”

Phil came to a complete halt. “Fuck it. Time for plan B.”

I did not like the sound of that. 

“Wait, Phil.” My voice was shaking. “What do you mean-”

I cut myself off as I looked over to him. His hair was whipping beneath the brim of his hat, but there was no breeze in the stairwell. Those vast blue eyes sharpened to steel, then darkened into something even deeper. The sound of distant thunder rolled, and when I blinked, his entire cloak appeared to be made of pitch-black feathers. 

My mind immediately began to dismiss what I was seeing. It wasn’t real. Nothing like this had been real before. It wasn’t real now. It couldn’t be. But the sudden heave of the stairs beneath our feet was VERY real. So real, in fact, Tommy had to slap a hand against the wall to keep from pitching backward. 

“What was that?” he gasped.

“Oh no.” Techno threw an arm around Tommy. “Brace yourself!”

The ground heaved again.

Snap!

Cracks broke out between the edges of the stairs. They crawled up the walls alongside the vines that were reaching for us. My stomach did a flip as the ground split off around me and Phil. Gaps appeared a few steps above us and a few steps below. The foundation shuttered, and the chunk of stone and wood we were standing on separated from the rest of the tower. 

Separated OUTWARD. 

The floor and piece of the wall we were standing on swiveled out into the open air as if it were on hinges. It drifted out further as if it were suspended.

“Fuck,” I hissed, pressing myself tighter against Phil because there was nowhere else to go. He didn’t respond. That stormy look in his eyes intensified. Something flickered past the pupils in a way that reminded me of lighting. 

More pieces of the tower pulled away. They drifted out, lighter than air, broken and cracked, coming undone like pieces of a puzzle. 

I would have thought it was another in the series of unexplainable things I had been seeing, one that could even top the bloody hallway. If that were the case, though, Tommy wouldn’t be screaming. He had latched onto Technoblade’s side. The man had a scowl on his face as he watched more and more pieces of his castle drift up into the sky. He didn’t look particularly shocked. Just grim.

The tower disassembled itself completely. Many pieces remained suspended in the air, finding some spot out away from their old foundation and settling into a bobbing halt. What was left was a large gap in the crumbling wall. Vines visibly writhed in that gap. Smaller tendrils grew around the edges to feel out where the tower ceased to be. 

I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. Everywhere I looked was red. Everywhere but the blue sky above.

 The snowy ground was covered in red leaves. Red lines were crawling up the outside of the castle’s walls. The gaps in the roof of the castle displayed red vines inside. When I looked straight down, something red stirred beneath the surface of the river. 

“It’s in the river,” I shouted numbly over the heavy breeze that had picked up around us.

“Then that’s not an option either,” Phil growled.

“I’m imagining this. This has to be another waking nightmare. It has to be. It can’t be real.”

Phil’s stormy eyes flicked to me. “Waking nightmare?”

“Tell me I’m seeing shit, Phil. Tell me we aren’t floating several hundred meters in the air. Tell me a bunch of red plants aren’t everywhere I look. Tell me the bloody walls and all the weird shit I’ve been seeing since last night were all in my head. I’d rather be crazy.”

He sucked in a breath between his teeth. I could feel his shoulders slump beneath my arm. “I’m sorry…”

“Technoblade!”

Tommy.

I looked down to see Technoblade and Tommy standing on their own hunk of foundation below us. Techno was shoving Tommy back behind him as he swung out with his trident. Vines were pulling at the corner of their cluster of steps. The mass had grown over itself in a thick clump, building up like a bridge until a few tendrils were able to reach their platform and start tipping it. Techno’s trident cut through them easily enough, but more grew back in their place in the blink of an eye.

“Hold on!” Techno snatched up Tommy and leaped through the air to land on another floating piece of debris. It bobbed in place but didn’t fall. The piece they left behind was quickly covered up by the mass of vines and disappeared. 

Techno tilted his head back and called up. “It’s trying to climb. We need to go higher.”

“I’ll try,” Phil said with a huff. The piece of flooring beneath our feet shifted. It was more subtle than the initial break. Slower, but my heart fluttered at the sight of the ground getting further and further away. I didn’t bother to make heads or tails as to how Phil had done that, but he must have.

 “Can you get up?” he shouted back down to Techno.

“I can’t fuckin’ jump that far,” Tommy shouted as Techno’s gaze fell on a couple of stairs floating a few meters higher.

“I can,” the man said evenly, answering for both of them at the same time. He launched himself once more, and with inhuman strength, his toes hit the floorboards of his target. He put Tommy down and placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “You stay here. Use that ax if it gets close.”

“B-but-”

“Tommy, I saw what you were capable of yesterday, and you have reinforced that today. In the face of a challenge, you step up. Don’t let that step falter now.” 

Tommy’s head tilts back as if stunned. “O… Okay. Go fuck shit up.” 

Techno gave him a closed-mouth smile and let go of his shoulder. He took a step back. That smile grew wider as his foot hit open air, and he dropped down to a piece of debris below. I looked away before the sound of ripping vines could start.

“Should we climb to?” I asked, turning to Phil.

He looked like he was struggling. His eyes were focused on something in the distance that I couldn’t see. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead. We were still rising. “No,” he managed to say. “There’s not much above for us to climb to.”

Sure enough, I hadn’t thought through my question before asking it. Blame the panic. There were a few rocks and broken pieces of wall above our heads, but they were few and far between. Nothing substantial enough to hold one of us, let alone both of us. Certainly nothing close enough I could risk jumping. Maybe Phil could, but he had two working legs. 

“I can get us further,” he added and shifted his position against the wall. “I just have to…”

The foundation beneath our feet began to tilt. It was still going up, but slower now. Instead, it’s path had changed to start sweeping in a horizontal arc through the air. It moved in the beginnings of a circle around the castle. Other bits of debris and floating staircase fragments followed like flotsam caught in a whirlpool. The red mass wriggled at its epicenter. Already it had ahold of a couple pieces of the wrecked tower. Those were held firmly in place, but the ones that the vines were on the verge of wrapping around pulled out of their reach. The tendrils grew sideways to continue their climb, but the lean made the columns of ingrown vines off-balanced. A few toppled over, back to the roof of the castle. Those that did had to start the process of growing upwards all over again. Almost always it started growing in the direction of whatever was directly below me and Phil.

Tommy and Techno were caught in the swirl as well. I could hear Tommy freaking out about his platform moving under him. But while Tommy stuck to his own piece, Techno was on the move. He hurtled from piece to floating piece, a blur of pink and blue. Whenever he landed on a set of floating stairs the vines had just started to manage a hold on, he stopped to rake the tines of his trident over their stems. WIth the connection snapped, the vines would fall, the platform would continue it’s swirling path out of reach, and it would by more time to keep them from reaching any higher. 

I blinked in awe at the sight. “That’s amazing.”

“Much appreciated,” Phil said, though he sounded tired.

We moved round and round like a clockwork. All the while, the world beneath us became more and more red. I watched it all unfold beneath me. What more could I do? I was so far in over my head, I was still half convinced that this was a dream. Dream’s don’t hurt the way my leg had started throbbing again. Phil was already getting tired, and Technoblade was like a machine cutting those vines back over and over and over again. It couldn’t last forever. Something had to give eventually.

That something was a particularly fast-moving set of vines reaching out for Tommy’s platform.

I leaned over the edge to get a better look. 

“Tommy! Behind you!”

“Gotcha!” He lashed out with the ax. Ribbons of vines fell away like confetti. He swung again, and the vines came away completely. They didn’t fall far, though, and it didn’t take them as long to catch up. 

I reached over to jostle Phil’s shoulder. “Hey, I think Tommy might be in trouble. Can these things go any faster?”

“I… I…” The motion of the stairs beneath our feet stuttered. “I’ll try…” He sounded like he was in pain.

Tommy’s platform lurched. He stumbled as it sped up a few meters and then almost immediately slowed down again. It gave the vines a big enough opportunity to latch on once more. This time, Tommy was too busy picking himself back up to cut them away.

“Phil, it’s not working. They’re at his piece of the tower.”

The man was panting with sheer, unseen effort. He rolled his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut. 

Tommy’s platform lurched again, throwing off his balance once more. It pulled as if to continue on its winding path but one of the roots dug itself into a crack in the floorboards and stayed lodged. It was thick enough not to snap under tension.

My heart sank.

“Tommy! Tommy, cut the vines! Hurry!” My words might as well have fallen on deaf ears. They were pointless. Tommy was already scrambling back to his feet and swinging his ax like a madman. Leaves and tendrils fell away from the sides, but he could only reach so far. Could only swing so fast. The vines were like the hydra’s head. Cut away one, and two new ones sprung forth. He was keeping them from passing over the edge, but he could do nothing to stop the ones burrowing into the base of his platform.

Crack!

The whole thing shifted beneath the teen’s feet. Tommy’s arms pinwheeled to right his balance, but the set of stairs broke apart and sent him down to his knees. The ax slipped off the side of the platform before he could grab it.

“No!” With a pained grunt, Phil doubled over. His weight pressed heavily into my side. It was an odd switch from him having to support me to me nearly keeping him upright. It was too much. He was too much for me to keep up. I shifted to let him slump against the fragment of wall still stuck to our floating chunk of steps.

The floor Tommy was standing on strained against the hold of the vines. Some snapped, but it couldn’t break free.

“Technoblade, HELP HIM,” I begged.

Techno looked up from where he was slashing at a larger column of vines and stiffened. 

“Wilbur,” Tommy cried. He looked up at me with a tear streaming down his cheek. The teen reached out to me, though there was no way for him to cross the impossibly vast expanse between us. 

Crack!

What was left of the ground beneath Tommy’s feet crumbled. My heart stopped. His eyes, still desperately focused on mine, widened. The panic barely had a chance to register on his face before gravity caught up to him.

I reached out. It made no difference across the space that divided us.

“TOMMY!!”

He fell.

He fell, and he screamed, and his other arm reached up alongside the first as if that could help him reach me. It didn’t.

He twisted in the air. The wind whipped his hair around his face and pulled at his clothes until we could no longer see eye to eye. All the while, he grew further and further away. Closer and closer to the mass of vines roiling below.

Thud.

Tommy disappeared between the reaching tendrils a hundred-some meters below.

A haze crossed over my eyes. Static filled my head. Made me numb. My legs threatened to give out from under me. I pitched forward. Whether I fell or jumped, it was all the same to me. As long as I went after him.

Something tightened around my wrist.

I was aware enough to recognize the pressure and look down at my arm. Phil was there. He was holding me in a white-knuckle grip. His feet were firmly planted against what remained of our hunk of a floor. He was panting hard. The grimace splitting his face looked out of place. 

“Hang on, kid!” Movement below caught my attention. Technoblade was there. He launched himself off the ledge of his platform, ripping off his glasses with one hand as he went. Without the frames, I could make out a flash of red in his eyes. Red like at dinner, where it looked like two figures were sitting in the same seat. Red like the tusked monster I saw looming at the doorway in the hall. Red like blood.

Seeing him like that, diving down after Tommy, willingly throwing himself at the reaching, slithering, scaling mass below, it kick-started my heart to beat again. To get past that initial, all-consuming numbness that overtook me with the shock of seeing Tommy disappear.

The sound of a heartbeat echoed over the slither of vines sliding past each other. It thudded once, twice, three times, a drum beat signaling what was to come, and then Techno also vanished into the turmoil below.

Thump.

I needed to go after Tommy too.

Phil’s grip tightened on my wrist as I gave it a harsh yank. I turned on him and snarled. “Let me go, Phil.”

“Listen to me, Wil. You can’t go down there-” 

“Tommy needs my help!”

“They’re not after Tommy,” he cried. “I know this has gotta be some pretty strange shit, but surely you’ve figured out by now that it’s you that thing is trying to get to?!?”

“I can’t just sit here and let those THINGS have him!”

“Techno’s got him. He won’t let that happen. He literally can’t be beaten.”

I pulled my hand a little harder. His palms were clammy. Their grip on my hand slipped a little, but not enough for me to break free. “What could Techno possibly do against something like that!?” My mind reached back to the conversation I overheard. “Do you mean whatever domain shit of yours you two have up your sleeve?” 

He looked down at the vines that had stretched across everything, then back up at me. He seemed at a loss for words. “How did you know…” The shock fell away. His eyes lightened and the barest hint of a smile graced his lips. “Wilbur that’s it! That’s the only option!”

“What? I don’t even know what that means.”

“Then it’s a good thing I do.” He reached for the sword he had kept in his belt. The one he grabbed from the top of the landing. It glittered coldly in the morning sun.  It moved so fast that the steel was nothing more than a flash of light. With a flourish, he brought the tip of the blade out to the side and swept it up from his bottom left to his top right, the pommel stopping directly over the head.

The sky unfolded.

It was the only way I could describe what I saw when I leaned back to stare at the space above us. It simply creased down the center and pulled apart, the edges sinking out towards the void of space. In its wake was something darker and more empty than the void itself. Something that practically sucked all the air out from under the dome of the sky. It tugged on my stomach like a string, pulling up through the top of my head. 

“What the bloody HELL!?!?”

Words couldn’t describe how detached I felt from anything that made sense at that moment, but in itself that summed things up well enough. There had been a lot of things that made no sense over the course of these two days.

With another flick of his wrist, Phil had the sword tucked away at his waist once more. 

“Listen to me, Wil,” he said, reaching for my shoulders and giving them a shake. “All of this can end in an instant. I just need you to answer two questions for me? Okay?” He was insane.

Then again, I was convinced I was as well.

“Two questions?”

He nodded. “Two questions. Answer them honestly, and I promise everything will work out. Tommy and Techno we’ll be fine. The nightmare will end.”

“...I can do that.”

“Good.”

Phil kept his hands on my shoulders as he straightened.  His shoulders tensed, making the imaginary feathers that were still there flare out. His entire demeanor changed, eyes going from stormy grey to sharp steel. The expression on his face was unreadable, and when he spoke it sent a shiver down my spine.

“If you could choose to fall into the sky, would you?”

It was strikingly similar to when Technoblade asked Tommy about listening to his gut, or me about listening to the history of our surroundings.

“What kind of question is that?” I shrieked.

“Don’t think too hard about it, Wilbur. If there was any scenario, any justification you could possibly think of where you might say yes, then say it.”

“Now isn’t the time for philosophically nonsensical questions, Phil!”

“Just answer the damn question!”

“If saying yes could make this madness end, then yeah, sure. Whatever it would take to wake up from this nightmare.”

“Is that a yes!?!” “YES!”

As soon as the word tore its way out of my mouth, it felt like the world flipped on its head. It was like an explosion went off with me and Phil at the epicenter. Crumbling castle walls and stone brick cracked and broke, flinging themselves further out out all around us. The debris hung suspended in the air, still, but was now twisting and twirling like leaves caught in the wind. The ground below visibly grew further and further away at a significantly faster pace than before. The pieces of the tower’s floor were climbing higher and higher compared to the hilly landscape below, but rather than my stomach dropping out from under me like it would when riding an elevator to the top floor, it felt like someone had set a hook at the bottom of my heart alongside my stomach and was pulling me up.

When I looked at Phil, none of the strain from before pulled at the corners of his eyes or tightened the way he held his shoulders.

I tried to pull back from Phil’s embrace in my utter amazement. His grip on my arms hardened. His fingers were cold. Far too cold. The chill was painful, even through the fabric of my shirt sleeve. Steel eyes lightened to sky-blue. They looked too wide for his face. Too vast and unending for his age, or maybe that was just it? Maybe that endless vastness behind those eyes was the real Phil? It didn’t match the man who stood before me. Not in appearance. But in personality? Perhaps. Something deeper and greater and all-encompassing that I had only gotten to glimpse a fraction of. 

I didn’t have long to contemplate that before sky-blue gave way to glowing gold, so bright it was like looking into the sun.

A shadow leaked out from the tear in the sky. It spread like ink bleeding through paper until it encompassed everything. In that dark, I could barely make out the outline of Phil’s cloak as a breeze picked up. It whooshed up from beneath us, causing the fabric and feathers to billow out at his sides like a massive set of wings. I could feel the press of my feet on the stairs beneath me growing lighter and lighter. I threw myself to the piece of wall lining the side of our stairs and dug my fingernails into the uneven brick. It gave me something to hold onto because I felt dangerously close to floating away.

The cloak flared once more, wrapping around Phil. The pressure of his hands on my shoulder vanished. I blinked, and he was gone. 

Phil was gone, but the vines were still there. Still climbing up from their new vantage point on Tommy’s platform. Reaching towards me. A few more meters, and they might have me. Their leaves wavered on the breeze. The whistle of it carried a voice.

“If the sky could reach out and catch you, would you trust it to?”

A lump formed in my throat. One so large, I couldn’t hope to swallow around it. 

I had absolutely no reason to trust the two strangers I met last night. Neither had Tommy. Yet we willingly went with them into a decrepit castle. 

What was it that Technoblade said about trusting your gut?

“Yes. I do,” I whispered, and let go.

And the world went radio-silent as I fell up into the broken sky.

____________________________________________________

The first thing I became aware of was a bright, blue light. 

So bright, it shone through my eyelids. 

Next came the horrible sense of falling. I wasn’t moving, though. There was no rush of air or anything like that. In fact, when I groaned and twitched my fingers I was pleasantly surprised to find something solid and rough pressing against them. But still, there was that awful lurch to my stomach that made me feel like I was in the middle of a free fall.

I dared to flutter my eyes open. For as bright as the blue was through my eyelids, it got no brighter once I fully opened my eyes. The sky in all its vast, overwhelming glory filled my vision. Blue and deep, broken by the occasional wisp of clouds, and encompassing everything. I groaned again, this time letting my head fall to the side. There was more around me than just sky. It was a familiar sight, actually. I was lying on the concrete slab of a train platform. 

I let my head flop over to the other side.

It wasn’t just a platform. It was an entire train station. One with an open ceiling and walls encircling booths and benches and waiting areas. There were no trains here. Just tracks and the empty tunnels bored into the wall. The tracks running down them faded away into the dark. 

“Tommy…?” My voice sounded odd to my ears. It reverberated and echoed as if I were in a cave, not a train station. “Phil?” I called a little louder. Still, my voice echoed back at me. “Techno…?”

I pushed myself up to a seat. My whole body swayed as a wave of vertigo washed over me. I didn’t feel grounded.  My sense of direction was so thrown off, that the room may have actually been swaying for all I knew. 

I tried again. “Tommy! Phil! Techno! Is anyone there?”

“I am, mate.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the familiar voice echoing alongside my own. The vertigo was still in full swing, though, so while I tried surging to my feet I really only ended up stumbling into a bench.

Wait… I used both legs to do that…

I looked down and pulled up the leg of my trousers to see that my bum ankle looked normal again. The rash, the bruise, the scratches, they were all gone. “How…”

“It’s all healed,” Phil’s voice sounded out again. “You won’t have to worry about that ever again.”

The train station was empty. No matter where I looked there wasn’t another soul on the platforms or the tracks. I couldn’t see Phil. “Where are you?”

“Look up.”

I tilted my head back. Two pale edges swept out from either side of the station’s open roof. They met in the middle before fluttering back open. When they did, a dark orb, almost like a black hole with light warping around its edges, took up the center of the blue space. 

What I thought was the sky over the open ceiling of the station had just blinked. 

It was an eye. A huge eye as vast as the sky. Bright, unending, and undeniably’ Phil’s. 

My grip on the bench tightened.

The eye blinked again, and then it was gone. Replaced with an empty black void. A pair of legs appeared over the roof’s ledge, and then a torso and head swung into view. There was Phil, peering down at me beneath the brim of his bucket hat. He looked different, but also the same. Gone were the pale blue winter clothes and cloak. Instead, he wore a loose-fitting green robe with a close-fit black undershirt. The black cloak hung in folds against his back. There were cuffs around his wrists with hearts emblazoned on them and his blond hair was wild and pale beneath the hat. It looked sort of like a cloud. 

“This form is probably less scary for ya, I’m sure.” He kicked his legs lazily out over the drop. “What are you?”

Phil’s shoulders pulled up around his ears. “I’m Phil.” He looked away, embarrassed. The moment his eyes left me, that horrible vertigo vanished and I was able to stand up straight. 

“I didn’t ask who you were,” I said, my words harsh.

He turned his eyes back onto me and I nearly toppled over. The bench helped ground me as my head spun. 

“Do you want the short answer or the long answer?”

I wasn’t sure I had the patience for the long answer as long as I felt like this. “Short answer.”

“I’m the sky.”

That made no sense. 

“Fine, long answer,” I spat.

“Wil-”

“Don’t Wil me! Nothing, and I repeat, nothing has made sense ever since those things chased me and Tommy through the woods. Least of all this.” I waved my hands at the train station around me and nearly toppled over in the process. “What the fuck is this?! I just fell into the fucking sky?! So tell me, what the FUCK was all that? And THIS?! AND YOU!?”

“Whoa! Whoa! Easy there.” Though we were several meters apart, he threw his hands up, palms outward as if to shield himself. “Deep breaths. Try to take things slow. You’ve just been through a lot.”

“You’re damn right about that! I’d appreciate some sort of answer!”

“Okay!”

He kicked off the ledge overhanging the ceiling and dropped. What I thought had been a cloak flared up until two black, shimmering wings stretched to catch the air. They were huge! Fully spread like that, the edges came close to touching opposite walls of the station. The very tips of the longest primaries sported that same diamond pattern that had lined the edge of his cloak. The inner coverts shined with countless glimmers of bright light; like stars set in the night sky.

Did that mean I hadn’t imagined the feathers?

He rode the draft down to the concrete below. Sandaled feet hit the ground walking and his wings folded back behind him, dragging and settling like the cloak. 

As he approached, my sense of vertigo lightened. The disorientation became less and less as he walked closer and closer. By the time he stopped in front of me, I felt normal. 

“I’ll try. I’ll try to clear up what I can, starting with me,” he said softly and placed a hand over his heart. “The easy answer really is that I am the sky.  I’m like you, but not,” the wings flexed outward before returning to rest along his back. “If the sky was a person, it would be me.”

“Am I really supposed to believe that?” I huffed, taking a step away from the bench.

“Probably not,” he said with a tired shrug. “But could you possibly come up with anything else that might make sense to you?”

That was a loaded question. Considering I was staring at a man with wings on his back, I suppose the sky incarnate wasn’t as outlandish as it really should have been. 

“So what? Are you supposed to be some sort of god?”

“Pffft. As if.” He leaned back and laughed. “I’m just Phil. It just so happens that being me also comes with a few side gigs that are a little harder to wrap your head around.”

“Like what?”

“Appearance, for starters.” The wings spread out behind him. Not to their full extent. They would have filled to room if that were the case. Just enough so that I could make out constellations glittering amidst his coverts. “Don’t normally have to keep this under wraps, but didn’t really feel like having to explain myself. You’re awfully perceptive, though. Ya didn’t it easy.”

It had been real…? It had been real. The snapshot hallucinations of Phil’s feathery cloak hadn’t been hallucinations after all.

“What else?”

“My lifespan. Or lack-there-of. Remember when I told you about me and Techno’s trip to the Antarctic?”

“Y-yeah.”

“That would have been before your grandparents had even been born.”

I had to reach out to grab the bench again. It wasn’t the vertigo returning. It was because the weight of what Phil was saying was starting to come crashing down on me. This man didn’t look a day over thirty. 

“Wait, does that mean Techno-”

“Mate’s like me,” Phil said puffing up his feathers. “Like me, but not.”

“So definitely not human either?”

He shook his head. “If I am the Sky, then he’s Bloodshed.”

It fit. Yet it didn’t. It seemed like there were a lot of oxymorons I simply had to accept. From what I had seen of Techno so far, he had shown an aptitude for battle. Phil clearly trusted the man to handle himself in a fight. But he was also pretty mild-mannered and reserved. Far from what I would expect from someone who carried a name like Bloodshed.

But did that also mean that there was something else to Techno as well? Something with red eyes and dripping tusks, like I saw looming above me?

Probably.

The thought didn’t scare me as much as it should have. The relief I felt at having so many of my self-doubts flipped on their head overpowered the fear, and I was starting to become numb to being surprised.

And then it hit me that Techno had gone after Tommy and the fear broke through the relief like a swinging sledgehammer.

“And a guy like that went after Tommy?!” I shouted, pulling away from the bench. I felt like I needed to pace and wasn’t up for facing Phil while my mind was racing. I made it a couple of steps before I immediately regretted it. The dizziness kicked back in, making me sway on my feet. 

“Ey! Careful.” Phil quickly crossed the small space I put between us. “You’re still adjusting to the effects of the change in domain. You shouldn’t be pushing yourself.” He stepped in front of me, reaching out to right me, but at the sight of his eyes, the unsteadiness left me. I knocked his hand away.

“Is this what you and Techno were talking about?” I growled, feeling a little more false confidence churning in my gut now that my head didn’t feel like it was spinning. “He had mentioned a domain then too. Is this your contingency? Your plan? Whatever it was you were planning on doing to me and Tommy because I’m adrift?”

Phil’s wings drooped so low his primary feathers lay against the ground. The sheer devastation in his expression almost made me regret the extra venom I had laced into that last word. Almost, but not quite. 

“You heard that?” he breathed.

I nodded. “Yeah. I did.” 

He looked away. “Well… that explains why you were in such a rush to leave.” He pulled his hat off to card his fingers through his hair. A sigh left his lips as his fingers reached the back of his skull. That was where he let his hand come to rest. His elbow pointed up at the void above us. 

“Look. The situation isn’t ideal. And that probably doesn’t sound great. You don’t even know what any of that means, do you?”

I rubbed my forehead with the base of my palm. “Of course I don’t.”

“Right. That’s… not easy to explain.” He sighed. “Ok. I don’t know how much you heard, but me and Techno… we have this thing called a domain. It’s basically whatever we have an influence over. For me, it’s the sky. What’s a good example… oh! You know how the tower broke and the pieces flew?”

I nodded.

“That happened because I could influence it. The tower was in the sky, and I exerted my influence. If we want, we can extend that influence to people. That’s where those freaks that came in with the vines come in.”

“The monsters that chased us?”

He nodded. 

“Techno called them eggheads.”

“Yeah. They were people, but they’ve got no mind of their own. Those bastards and all those disgusting red vines belong to something else. Something like me and Techno, but prefers to exercise complete control over everything in its domain. Its… preferred shape isn’t human.” He shrugged and gestured down at himself, sweeping his arms back to include the wings spreading behind him. “Far less human than this. Like a big fuckin’ egg.” 

“So eggheads?”

“That’s right.”

“How creative,” I said sarcastically.

“Hey!” Phil’s blue eyes brightened at the tease. He plopped his hat back onto his head. “I’m the one who came up with it. I don’t have to listen to this slander!”

I rolled my eyes. The more I thought about his words, though, the more I had to suppress a shudder. “You said they have no mind of their own?”

The light in his eyes faded to something stormy and overcast. “Yes. They may have been able to think for themselves at some point, but they lost that when they became part of its domain.”

“And… you said they were after me?”

He nodded stiffly. “I’ll be blunt. Yes. They were going to drag you into its domain as well.”

It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. I finally had at least a baseline understanding of what was at stake now. Everything that made me… well, me. I tried to picture myself in the place of that dark-skinned creature, punching through glass, throwing myself mindlessly ahead at something, with no thoughts or concept of self-preservation. 

Death sounded preferable.

“One of ‘em marked you when they grabbed you,” he continued. “Their way of saying you were due to be one of ‘em. When I cut you free, you still had the mark, but you weren’t a part of their domain yet. You were adrift. Halfway there, but still a long way to go. I’m surprised they were that dead set on having you in the first place. I thought after the first time I scared ‘em off they would have let the matter drop.”

Goosebumps crawled up my arms. “But it’s gone now,” I said, pulling up my pant leg. Sure enough, it still looked fine. Still didn’t throb or ache. “So what does that mean? Is this my hell? Is this where my mind ends up now that they’ve got me?”

“Oh fuck no,” Phil’s eyes hardened and he shook his head quickly. “After all the shit we went through? Those guys, they take for their domain. Me? I ask nicely. You answered my inquiries perfectly.”

“Inquiries…?” Then it dawned on me. “Those weird ass questions…”

Phil snapped his fingers. “Bingo! You didn’t have to actually fall into the sky, but bonus points for dramatic flair.” 

“Wait, so what does that mean? Is this your domain? Am I gonna turn into one of those weird assed monsters for you?”

“NO!” he exclaimed, throwing up his hands. “God, no. That’s the last thing I want.” He shivered and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “And this isn’t my domain. This is a… crossroads. One of your making.”

“Explain.”

He rolled his eyes. “That mark put you on a similar path as the eggheads. Whenever you answer a couple of inquiries from someone like me and Techno, it qualifies you for a different path. One through us. You answered my inquiries. This is your fork in the road. Your mind just decided to picture it this way.” He swept his wings out behind him as if to gesture to the train station around us. “So you could, I don’t know, get on a train towards your desired destination. Something like that.”

This sounded laughably familiar.

I couldn’t help the smirk that stretched across my face. “You’re not seriously giving me the Harry Potter treatment right now, are you? What, are you about to tell me that I can take a train if I feel like ‘moving on?’”

Phil threw his head back and laughed, one hand going up to cover his heart. “Not exactly. I mean, I guess the situation is a bit similar but it’s not the same.”

“How so?”

He raised an eyebrow. “For one, I’m not dead. Dumbledore was. For another, you’ve got a couple of options.”

A distant roar sounded out, like all of the air rushing out of the room. “What is that?”

Phil didn’t answer.

I turned around to see the lighted clocks and timetable screens flickered to life. Through blinking neon, they displayed all zeros across the number slots. Fluorescent lights flared brighter and buzzed.

Screeeeeeeeeeech!

Yellow light filled the tunnels leading out of the terminal. I could hear trains barreling in long before I could see them. They came from opposite directions on different tracks, and both slowed down until they came to rest directly in front of me. One red. One blue. Their doors slid open, but there was nobody inside. No ticket taker was standing ready at the entry. No people were milling about the aisle. No heads bobbed in the window seats. 

“And there’s two of ‘em,” Phil said, his voice falling somewhat flat. Almost sad. 

“Where will they take me?”

“Back,” he said, looking away from me to stare at the trains. The floor seemed to rock under my feet as the vertigo pressed in. It was faint, but it was still there. “To the present.  It will be like all of this happened within the span of a heartbeat.”

“Which one will take me back to help Tommy?”

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a half smile. He still wouldn’t look at me. “Both. Technically. Your outlook and how you would approach the situation would be pretty fuckin’ different, though, depending on which one you take.” 

I paused.

“Okay, Phil. You told me that those guys with the vines… if I were to end up like one of them, things would be pretty bleak. I believe you. I’m so far out of my depth here that I wouldn’t know what else to believe anyway, so I believe you. So be honest with me. If I were to take this ‘path’ that you opened for me, the one those stupid questions unlocked, what would it entail?”

Some of the heaviness left his voice. “Not that,” he said teasingly.

“Very helpful.”

“I try.”

“Honestly…” He continued. “There might be some side effects. It differs based on the person. But you’d still be you. As much of you as I am me. And if you were part of my domain, then the vines and all those freaks would move on. You and Tommy wouldn’t have to worry about either of them. Techno would be keeping it from hurting him until then, not that it would have cared about him. Then again, if it had you it would leave him be anyway.”

“They wouldn’t be pissed at you if I didn’t pick them?”

“They can be pissed all they want. Wouldn’t change a thing, and they’d know that. There’d be nothing left for them to do about it but move on. Not like they can actually hurt me.”

That only left one other option up in the air that I could think of.

“And if I didn’t take either train? If I just… let them pass?”

“Then you wait for the next one,” he says easily. “And then you really move on. Is that enough like Harry Potter for ya?”

“Yeah,” I say with a chuckle. “Fair enough.”

Phil took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He pulled his wings tight against his back. As he did so, his visage flickered across a vast array of colors and emotions. Red, purple, blue, yellow, happy, sad, angry, content. It was like another hallucination, but as he shifted from one foot to the other, his green cloak was back and those vast blue eyes were understanding. “That’s about all I’ve got, Wil. As much of an explanation as I can give. This isn’t exactly my space. It’s yours. I’ve intruded long enough. I’ll make sure to see you on the other side. Maybe give you some pointers and get you situated, depending on which path you take.” 

I risked the verging sense of vertigo to look away from him and take in the trains once more. They sat completely still on the tracks. One red. One blue. Both pointing in opposite directions, set into different tracks. Not even the doors swung on their hinges. It was so still, I could have been looking at a painting. A big choice made to look deceptively simple. All I had to do was step into a car.

“Phil, wait. Don’t go yet. I’m still so confused and I don’t know what questions to ask, can’t you tell me more?”

No answer. 

“Phil?”

When I turned back, Phil was gone. Where he was standing, a couple of black feathers drifted down to the concrete floor. I looked up, but the space visible above the train station’s open ceiling was void black and empty. He really was gone.

The station was quiet without him. There was no whistle of the breeze or chatter of the crowd. The clocks didn’t tick and the lights didn’t buzz with electricity. There was just the sound of my breathing and the sway of the room.

The vertigo was back in full swing. I stumbled a few steps closer to the trains and it lessened, but without Phil around it wasn’t vanishing anymore. Only subsiding as I came closer and closer to a choice I was pretty sure I couldn’t come back from. One that I didn’t know the full scope of. I cursed out Phi under my breath for not sticking around. 

Still. A choice had to be made. Red. Blue. Or stay?

I always had been partial to the color blue.

[leconcombrerit]

https://www.tumblr.com/leconcombrerit/752365988102684672/sometimes-ill-look-back-to-those-hopeful-posts

I wonder if this is a matter of "What the writers/producers/directors wanted/believed" vs "What the actor wanted/believed". I always felt like Ta himself, in his acting choices, didn't really want the story to head in the direction it did— that in his portrayal/mind, Phee has always been loyal to Non and New/Tan and their plans, and Jin was just a means to an end.

Which in a way, does kinda make sense to me? I mean, a lot of people pointed out Phee could have acted MUCH earlier if he really didn't want anyone to die, like when the first goddamn victim turned out. We didn't even have scenes of him subtly sabotaging New to stop his rampage, for God's sake. He thought of those people as his friends yet he was perfectly fine with them going bonkers and dying and killing each other until it came to his FWB? C'mon now.

Not that it would have been bad for Phee's character to want to move on, have a future. That's realistic and normal, valid, I could have gotten on board with that even if I didn't necessarily agree. But I didn't buy into Ta's portrayal of that conflict, and I personally didn't think he bought it himself either. Again, this is a matter of perspective and interpretation of the script, body language, acting choices— some people would disagree with me on this and read it all differently, and that's more than valid.

(And man, how awesome it would have been to have our Villain!Phee reveal— I always imagined it to be him stabbing someone, mostly Tee in my mind but can be Jin at times, and the camera lingers on his bloodied hand with that red string bracelet around his wrist, finally home after years of being hidden.)

Well I for one 100% agree with you, it's a very interesting view on all this.

Even this picture fits with this take ; what's the point of including it if the writers / producers weren't going to follow-up with it ? And not necessarily with Phee sticking to New's plan to the bitter end. They could have had this anger get slowly mudded with the genuine affection he'd felt for the others. They could have shown Phee grappling with it, or even made the change more insidious, until he realized he'd made his decision long ago when seeing his 'friends' in pain and danger. But they didn't. To me the transition between the shot of Phee's murderous anger to wishy-washy answers that sounded like mere deflections for New's benefit was either off-screen or nonexistent. And therefore made no sense. They made a better job of showcasing doubt, fear and guilt with Tee, for heaven's sake.

I'd even add that Copper's acting goes along with Ta's in that regard. He portrayed Jin's feelings for Non as perhaps naive but also strong and genuine. Even after he leaked the video (if he was ever supposed to have, the mess this plot-line is ugh), he felt extremely guilty. Copper made a great show of it during the scene in which Non attacks them with a knife. He was sorry. He still loved Non, for all we know. And even during the premiere after Non disappeared, he looked disgusted with himself and his friends. Dejected and guilty. Even his sulking when they first got to the house being solely due to Phee stringing him along seemed off to me. I was convinced it was about Non, at least in part. And then he confesses his guilt to Phee and bam, everything's fine and over ? Really ? Where's the guilt ? Where's the love ? Why is there no follow-up, once again ? Why won't Jin's character make sense ?

And that's leaving out some more physical inconsistencies. The axe. The engine noise. Phee's magically accurate guessing abilities regarding some of New's actions he had no knowledge of.

Not to mention that all those scenes and shots got past editing. The directing / producing team decided to keep them. Letting a few things slip I can understand, but here it's a bit much for me. When I look at other aspects of the show and how seamless, emotionally clever they were, I have to say I'm kinda baffled by how this specific storyline was handled. Everything Phee-Non-Jin is a mess. The fact that every side of the argument has rock solid elements to back up their case is bad writing to me.

We won't ever know for sure, but I'm still leaning towards the "shipping patch-up" theory. I believe (and that's my stance, not claiming it to be the undisputable truth) that Phee was meant to stick to Non and New, at least to a greater extent than he did. I believe Jin was supposed to grapple with his guilt and be defined by this rather than with his relationship with Phee, as he ended up being. I believe this is the wish and / or assumptions both actors acted upon. And I believe it wouldn't have sold the Tacopper ship enough to the producers' and company's taste. People would have ended the series with Tabarcode in mind, with hints of Coppercode and Tacopper. If they were aware of Barcode's decision to leave BOC, it would have been a bad move. If they weren't, then they were still shooting their own pairing in the foot and alienating part of the audience (although Tabarcode was a more profitable option I think, meet me at the top of this hill we'll fight a duel).)

(So true for Villain!Phee ! Although I'm a terribly mean person and would have eat it up if Phee had gotten hurt in the process. We'd then have a shot of Phee's face with the slightest hint of sadness or guilt upon looking at White and Jin -he's a good person at heart. It would have shown how much of himself he'd sacrificed for Non. AND THEN New still holds our bleeding Phee at gunpoint, leading him to the edge of the woods. New wouldn't shoot cause New doesn't kill people himself, he's our stage director ; no, he'd tell him to walk bleeding into the woods ; that he'll be forgiven if he gets lost and dies too. Because in the end, helping in Non's revenge won't ever bring him back, and that Phee still contributed in no small part to his death.)

(........... I got carried away by my own narrative and feel compelled to write it now no dear lord no again)