#but that's a fairly high bar to clear they were/are extremely good at it

[distractionactivated]

Resolutely not reblogging a post about the UK biodiversity crisis to point out that drastic declines in biodiversity in the last 20-100 years do not, necessarily, mean that the entire history of human cultivation of nature here is catastrophic. Like, I get the point the person was making and I also think that the 'we made this green and pleasant land' rhetoric is usually thinly-veiled nationalist chauvinism, but also please think about the statistics you're using.

If your stats all point to the major damage being in the last century or two, this relates to industrialisation, industrial farming, power consolidation, and un/deregulation, not the activities of ordinary farmers 500 years ago or whatever. Therefore, it's not actually countering the points the 'green and pleasant land' chuds are talking about.

[candlewaxandp0lar0ids]

jealousy, jealousy || Han x Reader

Summary: You and Han have been dancing around your feelings for each other for… a while, if you're being honest. It doesn't help that your self-doubt makes it hard to make any move, that you're mean enough to scare most people away and oh, yeah, that his ex hates your guts. So when the three of you are at a party together and there are drinking games involved, what could possibly go wrong?

Word count: 4.2k

Genres: college AU, friends to lovers

Warnings & Tags: implied past bullying/ostracizing of the reader, jealousy (duh), kissing (rating T on the verge of rating M, so it remains fairly tame), mentioned alcohol, drinking games, self-deprecating narrator, language.

series masterlist

A/N: this took forever because I was almost done with it when I realized what I'd written didn't work with the theme, so I had to start all over again. This is also my first time writing Han, so I hope you'll enjoy it!

As usual, you hear Jisung before you see him. It's not all that surprising, the boy’s pretty loud, and, if you didn’t have a misanthropic reputation to uphold, you might even admit that you like hearing his laugh when you walk across campus, or when you catch him mid rant as you walk into the cafeteria.

Thing is, it also means that he’s around people, and you don’t… do… people. So, even though seeing him is invariably a highlight in your day, when you hear his voice, you find yourself debating whether you should head in another direction. If you don���t, you’ll have to talk to him, and as a result, them, whoever they are, because it would be weird not to, right, and you’re just not sure you have the energy for that right now.

Or ever.

Today, as isn’t uncommon, you freeze for a second, take a step back, then decide to push on. If anyone noticed that, you probably just looked extremely weird, but it’s likely that no one was paying attention, and so you keep going with a minimal amount of mortification, for now anyway. You might ruminate over it later today, like you will if there’s any hitch in the conversation that's coming, but that’s a problem for 2 a.m. you.

You’re somewhat relieved to find that Jisung’s chatting with Chan and Changbin. You’re not close with them, but you kinda get along with Changbin, and though you find Chan intimidating, your interactions with him so far have been fine, which is high enough of a bar to clear as far as you’re concerned.

Jisung notices you almost immediately, which fills you with pleasant warmth, and he waves at you with a bright smile. You choose to take that as an invitation to come closer and an indication that you wouldn’t be interrupting anything — if it’s not, that’s on him because it was unclear — and make your way over to them.

“On your way to an exam?” Jisung asks you once you’ve reached them.

“Do you think I would make myself late to talk to you?” you reply with a frown.

It makes him laugh. Sometimes it worries you, how funny Jisung seems to find you when you’re being mean. If it was when you’re being a dick to someone else, why not, but to him too? Is he okay?

“I can’t tell if this is you being a good influence on him or not,” Chan says, tilting his head. There’s an amused glint in his eyes too. Okay, that means you’re not doing too bad.

“Are you guys done with classes?” you ask. “Were you heading to the studio?”

“No,” Jisung is quick — maybe a little too quick — to answer. “We were just talking about a track we’re working on.”

Four eyes narrow on him, and Changbin grins.

“Yeah, ‘cause Jisung here’s been feeling all romantic lately, right?”

Jisung throws him a horrified look.

“You’ve been turning in very sappy lyrics lately, hm?” Chan keeps going.

“I’m the draught, you’re rain, I’m paper, you’re a poem, wasn’t it?” Changbin quotes from memory, a wide, shit-eating grin on his face.

“Do you want to die?” Jisung asks, eyes so wide they look like marbles.

The two guys exchange a knowing look, both grinning. It’s not that often they get the drop on Jisung and can tease him, for a change. They obviously find that to be a nice change of pace, but you’re not sure where that leaves you.

Because, okay, you’re not completely clueless. The lyrics could be about you. Jisung’s expressed interest in you before. He’s kissed you. Remains the question of whether that interest was romantic or just sexual.

But the thought that the lyrics are not about you? That he feels that way about another person? It fills your stomach with stones and makes it sink to the bottom of the ocean. Just thinking about it make tears spring to your eyes and you glance to the side to will them to go away.

This is bad. You’re way too far gone. What a fucking dumbass you can be, for someone who’s as academically gifted as you are.

“At least it’s not about cheating, hm?” Jisung says, staring at Chan who seems to find the ground very interesting all of a sudden.

“That’s an uncharitable interpretation of the lyrics,” he mumbles, but he appears quite eager to drop the subject after that. You find that a bit suspicious and you’d kinda like to find out what the golden boy on campus might be trying to hide, but Jisung seems relieved to be able to drop the subject as well.

“Hey,” Jisung says the second the topic’s been let go of, attention snapping to another idea so fast it sometimes makes your head spin, “I’ve been meaning to ask—”

“Oh right,” Changbin says, glancing at his phone, “there’s Sana’s party tonight. You guys coming?”

Jisung pulls a face, but you’re not sure why. It’s not like he doesn’t get regularly interrupted — and it’s not malicious either, it’s just that he, uh, talks a lot. Sometimes people end up cutting him off. In Changbin’s case, you suspect he didn’t even notice.

“I already told her we would,” Chan says, and Jisung’s face gets longer. You suspect he’d completely forgotten about it.

“Are you coming too?” he asks you, a hint of pleading in his voice.

See, even this is a dilemma. Going to a party means you’ll be forced to be in the presence of people who dislike you and who you find fundamentally uninteresting, especially since Seungmin’s been a no-show to most of these now that he’s dating. Even if you go only to see Jisung, you know people will be trying to get his attention all night, and you’ll be lucky if you get to spend ten minutes alone with him before midnight — maybe you’ll get him to yourself for a whole half-hour at around four am though. On top of that, there’s a significant risk that people will talk to him while he’s standing next to you and completely ignore you, and you’ll spend the whole time praying for a hole to open under your feet.

On the other hand, you can’t refuse him anything, and it would be far more devastating to pass on the chance to spend some more time with him.

So you just say “Sure”.

After spending more time on your outfit than you feel comfortable admitting — this isn’t a date, dammit — you show up at the sorority Sana’s a part of. Though your dress feels too short, you’re relieved to feel self-assured on your high heels. Yes, it took practicing walking in them, but it’s paying off in confidence, and it’s a price you’re willing to pay.

People are already there when you arrive, gathered on the porch, filling the house, spilling out on the balconies. You get a few looks, but it’s not like you’re not used to them. At least you’re not pretending that you don’t give a fuck. Many of them don’t like you, and you don’t like them either.

Walking in, you find yourself hesitating. Would it be weird if you just tried to find Jisung right away? Should you try to socialize, spend a few minutes talking to the rare people you know and get along here?

You may not particularly care about what people think, most of the time, but you do care about what he thinks. And the thing is, you know people talk, especially about him, especially since 3racha’s popularity blew up last year. The last thing you want is for him to think that you’re some desperate, embarrassing idiot who’s been misreading—

Enough with the line of thinking. If he’s not interested, he shouldn’t have kissed you. And, okay, the first time was a week after the break-up with his girlfriend, and he was crying, and you don’t think it meant anything to him, but the second time, this summer? It had to have meant something. He wasn’t cruel like that— You didn’t think.

You’re still grateful to make eye contact with Changbin, because it makes things a little easier. You go up to him, exchange a few words, he introduces you to some of the people who’ve flocked to him, they pretend to be interested, and once you decide that you’ve made enough of an impression, you leave them with a polite, though forced, smile.

Finding Jisung isn’t all that hard, you just have to follow the laughter.

You know that he likes his peace and quiet, too, but on a night like that, he’ll be prepared to entertain. Someone else might think that it comes naturally to him, the jokes, the antics, the comedy, but you know better. You know that there’s a surprising amount of work that goes into how good he is at this, how easy he makes it look. You know that, when he’s around you, he’s actually fairly quiet, that he sometimes hangs out on your couch, on his phone, while you’re reading, but pouts if you leave the room.

When you find him, it seems him and the group he’s with are in the middle of some drinking games. You hesitate, again. You recognize some of the girls there as part of the girls’ swimming team, the one whose captain is Jisung’s ex. Who’d hated your guts since first year, independently from Jisung, and then, uh, dependently from Jisung, you’re pretty sure. She was single-handedly responsible for half of campus thinking you were a bitch, a feat that even you find somewhat impressive.

You’d almost respect it, if, you know. It hadn’t made your life hell until you managed to stop giving a fuck.

But Jisung spots you. He always does. You don’t know how he does it, half suspect that he’s on some Spiderman shit, but he finds you in the crowd, and his eyes widen, and his smile brightens, and God, it’s not fair, how he makes you feel when he’s not even yours.

Having Jisung’s undivided attention is— one of the best feelings in the world. Genuinely. He just has a way of making you feel like you matter. It’s a bunch of things he does, one of them being the way he makes people laugh. He always— caters his jokes to the person around him. That means he pays attention, means he remembers, means he cares. That’s already a lot.

“You made it,” he says, a soft edge to his tone, when you reach him. His hand reaches for your arm, pulling you into the circle, then hovers at your elbow, sometimes brushing against your skin. This is another one of the changes that have happened since the summer. He’s more— tactile, and it does all sorts of things to you.

You don’t mind. You don’t mind at all.

“You look good,” he adds, voice low enough that you’re the only one to hear it. You do your best to repress the shiver it sends down your spine.

“Thanks,” you reply, your usually sharp tongue unable to find something to reply.

“Jisung!” some voice calls, and you manage at the last second not to roll your eyes — thank God, ‘cause there’d be hell to pay if you had.

Because it’s Jihyun. Because of course it is. If there’s one thing you can’t take away from her, it’s that she always has impeccable timing. Not for you, naturally, for herself.

If it was just you, you’d be out the door in seconds, leaving the scene before risking any kind of confrontation. Being with Jisung right now means that she won’t directly be a bitch to you, she’s never done it upfront in front of him. She instead goes the passive-agressive route which, bless his precious heart, he basically never picks up on.

You also never spoke about it with him. At first because she was his fucking girlfriend and he clearly adored her, even if there was so much that set them apart, and since then because, well, you’re still afraid you’ll come off as some jealous bitch or he won’t believe you or, worse, take her side. Tell you that you were every bit the bitch she says you are, and that she was right for the shit she put you through.

You only have seconds to brace for impact. But as you compose yourself, not bothering to smile, Jisung’s hand settles on the small of your back.

Which, hmmm, you’d be happy about in pretty much any other circumstances, but right now? Right now it might not be the best thing for you.

“It’s been a while,” she tells Jisung with a stunning smile. “How have you been doing?”

Jisung smiles too, though somewhat tighter. They’re on good terms, from what you’ve heard, but that’s not really something you’ve discussed with him. You force yourself to tune them out quickly, letting your eyes wander in the room. Just being around her makes your chest tighten. You feel on edge, feel the need to watch all of your gestures and anything that leaves your mouth in fear that it will be used against you.

Fuck, you were supposed to be over that.

Whatever Jisung answers, it makes her laugh. She leans forward, puts her hand on his arm. She makes it looks so easy, so natural. Same with how she pushes her hair behind her ear, keeps her voice at the right pitch, even laughs the right way, light and airy. If you tried to flirt the way she does, you’d only embarrass yourself. You'd look delusional. There’d be nothing sexy or attractive about it.

You’re just bad at making people like you.

It’s impossible not to be reminded of the fact that this is who Jisung went for. You don't know if you can go as far as to say she’s his type, but he did choose to date her, and you know how much he cared for her.

With her around right now, it’s really fucking hard to think that he would go for someone like you and that you haven’t been letting yourself get carried away.

On a related note, are you going to have an emotional break down in the middle of the room?

“…and things are looking pretty good for the team, we think we’ll get to the nationals this year,” Jihyun concludes cheerfully.

Wow, that’s impressive! Shouldn’t she be training for that then?

Maybe she has a point. You are a bitch.

“That’s cool,” Jisung says. “Well, it was nice running into you again.”

Her smile falters, just barely, but you don't miss it. She’s good at hiding things, but you’re better at noticing them. Know your enemy and all that.

You’d almost feel bad for her. If you’d had Jisung’s undivided time and attention, and you lost it? Yeah. You don’t know how you’d cope.

But then her eyes light up again, and again, she’s really fucking good at that shit.

“What are you guys playing?” she asks. “I’d love to join.”

You’re not unaware of the way Jisung’s hand closes slightly on your back. As he turns around, he ends up pulling you a little closer to him and your stomach tightens. Less because of his proximity, though obviously that affects you too, and more because you have the sinking feeling that this is about her. Is he— using you to make her jealous?

No. There’s no way. He would never do that.

Right?

“Just some never have I ever for now,” Sana chirps in answer. She gives the three of you a warm smile, and you think she means it. You’ve never gotten shit from her, and that says a lot. Normally you’d argue that people shouldn’t be neutral or anything, but in your case, neutral seems to be too much to ask for, in most cases.

“Alright!” Jihyun grins, lifting her cup as if to signal that she’s ready to enter the game. “Never have I ever… had sex with someone at a party.”

She drinks almost immediately, a cute giggle slipping past her lips, and so do a bunch of other people.

“None of you get close to my room,” Sana warns sternly, and several people laugh.

It’s not until you feel Jisung moving to drink from his cup and catch a glance of his burning red ears that you realize what Jihyun’s point was. With someone else, it might be self-centered to assume you were the intended target. With her, you don’t doubt it a second. Just a little reminder that he used to be hers.

There are a few whistles at Jisung’s attention, but he keeps his eyes down. It doesn’t surprise you that it would make him uncomfortable. It kinda surprises you that she wouldn’t care, though. She’s evil incarnate, but she seemed to care about him, in her own way.

“Aw,” she says, staring straight at you with her sweetest smile, “don’t worry, we’ll find you someone.”

There was a time where that might have upset you, but right now you won’t give her the satisfaction. You let your gaze flicker over her, face-shoes-face, and then glance away with a scoff. It makes you look like a haughty bitch, but, well, you’re already known for being a haughty bitch, so who cares.

Jisung chuckles discreetly next to you. That makes it worth it.

The game goes on without catching much of your interest after that. Jihyun’s sentences remain pointed — either towards Jisung or you, you’re pretty sure, though you doubt anyone notices. At least Jisung doesn’t move away from you for most of it, chin sometimes coming to rest on your shoulder, fingers running gently over your arms, the occasional whispered comment in your ear.

Heat pools in your stomach the whole time, and you’re unable to focus on anything but him. His firm body’s pressed against your back, his proximity overwhelming. You feel that you should drag him away and finally talk about what’s going on between the two of you, but you’re afraid you’ll break the spell if you do.

Eventually, he’s the one who does, peeling himself away from you when Chan shouts from downstairs to get his attention.

It feels cold when he’s gone.

It feels colder when Jihyun’s eyes zero in on you.

Hm. Maybe flight would be the better option right now.

You’re not sure how it happens, but the game shifts not long after Jisung’s left. A bottle appears on the floor, and you tilt your head. Aren’t you all too old for that?

Apparently not, or at least not when so many people are that drunk and giggling at the idea. Soon, some are making out. Others excuse themselves and find a more private spot — Sana reminds everyone that her room should not be that spot, but you’re not sure how efficient that is.

You’re thinking about retreating when you hear someone call your name and again, of course, it’s Jihyun. She gives you a warm smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“It’s your turn!”

There’s tension in the air as you just stare. You don’t want to—

“C’mon, it will be fun!”

You shouldn’t care. You shouldn’t care about what she makes you out to be. But in that moment, you’re back to your first-year self who was still trying to fit and figure out how to make people like you.

So you lean forward and spin the bottle.

It takes you less than a second to realize that that was some dumb fucking decision making. You don’t want to kiss anyone here. The idea vaguely nauseates you, actually, but less than the uncomfortable realization that no one here wants to kiss you. You might be seconds away from facing a harsh, unpleasant rejection. That was probably her point, actually. You fold your arms over your chest, but you still feel your shoulders sink. You know you’re unwanted. You don’t need—

The bottle’s grinding to a stop when a hand shoots out to grab it.

You frown, glance up.

And it’s Jisung. He flashes you a bright smile, then winks.

“Wanna make out?”

Jihyun laughs lightly, tells you to ‘go get it’. But even you can see her heart breaking in her eyes.

None of it matters when Jisung strides over to you and takes your hand in his to pull you away. More people than you’d have expected cheer.

He pulls you into some random room, closes it behind him, and then hesitation appears in his eyes when he looks at you.

“We don’t have to— I mean, I wasn’t trying to make you— If you want to go kiss someone else—”

It sounds like he is down to kiss you, and even if you hadn’t wanted to kiss him before that, you think that little knight in a rock band t-shirt moment would have gotten you going anyway. So you shut your brain up, grab him by his t-shirt, and in the stunned silence that follows, an extremely rare occurence with Jisung, you pull him down towards you.

His lips crash against yours, warm and soft, and after the first few seconds of surprise, during which you see him blinking at you with impossibly wide eyes, he kisses you back like he’s been waiting for this moment his whole life. One of his hands comes up to cup your face while the other’s at your waist, squeezing and bringing you closer, not quite daring to make the move to your ass. Yet, anyway.

There’s urgency in the way he tilts his head to get better access to your mouth. Your hands trail from his shirt to his arm, feeling his toned biceps underneath you fingers, and you feel him grin against you.

“Find something you like?” he teases, before kissing you again.

This time his tongue brushes against yours, and a moan escapes you. You could feel self-conscious about it, but you don’t, not with him. If anything, it only seems to spur him on further, and he gets closer, his toned thigh pushing between yours. You feel hot all over, anywhere he touches you set ablaze, and oh, do you want this. One of his hands slides up your leg, hitching your dress higher.

“Have I told you I really like this dress?” he asks, because apparently he can’t shut up even in moments like that.

He doesn’t let you answer though, and again he’s kissing you, making your head spin. You can’t figure out what to focus on. The softness of his lips, the warmth of his mouth, how his hand is slowly making its way higher up your thigh, setting your skin ablaze, probably intentionally teasing you. Whatever it is, you’re melting under his hands. You want more, undeniably so.

He pulls away for just a second, catching his breath. His chest is heaving quickly, his lips swollen, and you can’t help but think that this is your doing, a thought that somehow turns you on even further. Dark, dilated pupils meet yours, and you think you see a desire that mirrors your own. He licks his lips briefly, glances at the bed in the room. Then his eyes meet yours again. He swallows.

“Do you—”

You jump away when someone tries to open the door.

“Is someone in there?”

Shit. Shit.

It’s Sana.

“No one better be in there,” she says threateningly.

You exchange a panicked look. She’s the sweetest person in the world, but you don’t want to cross her.

In a second, Jisung steps away from you and he’s at the window. He opens it, looks out, and then he throws one leg over the edge.

“What are you doing?” you hiss.

“Saving our lives,” he replies very seriously, stepping out fully on what you assume is the roof over the porch. “Come on,” he adds, “I’ll help you out.“

You roll your eyes, walk over to him and close the window, shooing him away with a gesture of the hand. Then you open the door, and though Saya eyes you suspiciously, you think she believes your story about being tired and wanting a rest and not having realized you’d locked the door.

Then you walk downstairs and let yourself fall on a couch, right next to Jisung, who seems to be all pouty that you refused to escape with him. His thigh brushes against yours, and your stomach does a somersault, but neither of you says anything about— well. About the thing you should be talking about. The moment’s passed, and self-doubt is assaulting you all over again.

Still, right now, you’re the person who gets to let your head fall on Jisung’s shoulder, and it’s your hand he intertwines his fingers with.

In that moment, you’re sure that the two of you will be alright eventually. It’s probably going to take a while, ‘cause you’re too much of a coward and Jisung’s— well, you’re not quite sure what his deal is, but there’s definitely something there.

But, eventually, you’ll be alright.

And there is no space in your brain, at that moment, to spare a single thought for Jihyun, because she’s lost him a long time ago.

Even if neither of you seem to be able to admit it, in all the ways that matter, he’s already yours.

okayyy, again, there's kinda Lore there. i don't know if i'll end up writing it, but in case you're wondering, OC was paired with Jihyun for a class during their first year. essentially, Jihyun was pretty busy due to being on the swimming team and other personal stuff. OC ended up constantly doing all the work for the both of them, and sometimes Jihyun would say she'd do stuff and not do it. eventually, after OC was forced to complete stuff in one night and abandoned for a group presentation, there was a nasty altercation with Jihyun and the teacher became aware of the situation, resulting in a bad outcome for Jihyun. lots of people felt that OC was unfair and should have been more understanding, and OC still doesn't know if that was the right thing, but felt used and upset during the situation. Jihyun also vilifies OC when talking about it, a lot, and OC ended up being kinda ostracized after that. so yeah.

if you read all this, uh, thank you, i hope you enjoyed this, it's my first time writing Han and I love him dearly and I hope this works. it would mean the world if you could reblog this, leave a comment or anything like that! as an author, this is really the only way we get to see that our work is appreciated and it's trully what keeps me writing so it's super important :) thank you for reading and i'll see you later for Hyunjin!

[fadebolt]

Aaaaaalrighty! Second round is starting, with a boatload of same-region polls, seemingly. I'm definitely not complaining, as it makes my job a whole lot easier. This round is going to have mostly interesting, well designed, great looking, and all around memorable rooms, so I imagine there probably wouldn't be too many lowly ranked ones here, under normal circumstances. For this reason, I'm gonna make an attempt to be a lot harsher here. These rooms were deilberately chosen by a good number of people as the best from a set of 10, so being just 'uninteresting, but mostly fine' is no longer gonna cut it. So do bear in mind that if I give a room a low number, that doesn't mean it's terrible, the bar has simply just been raised.

Also, I have received a long list of a bunch of neat rooms I didn't get to cover in the first round. Most of those have made it through, so I'll get to them when they show up here. As for the ones that didn't, I'll cover them in rounds where rooms from that list won't appear. This is mostly to stop myself from potentially commenting on the same room multiple times. But again, if anyone has any questions about specific placements, then feel free to hit me up with 'em.

And now, without further ado, let's begin the round!

Personal Outskirts room rankings:

1 - A43 (8/10) 2 - B01 (8/10) 3 - INTRO01 (7/10) 4 - CAVE02 (7/10) 5 - B14 (6/10) 6 - S05 (6/10) 7 - A31 (5/10) 8 - A35 (4/10) 9 - A12 (3/10) 10 - A63 (2/10)

Extra comment: Well, what do you know, this first round is one of those that didn't get a room from the list. I don't mind that too much, as Outskirts rooms in general are somewhat basic. Most of these do many things well, but I still wouldn't have too much to say about them, really.

As for the request list, we have two Outskirts rooms that dropped out from the first round - A17 and A44.

A17 got fairly close, and I can see why - the room is pretty good at teaching players how to use their platforming, climbing and pipe crossing skills to avoid hungry Lizards. It hits a pretty good balance where it works well for first time visitors, while still not being tedious for veterans (and they also get a Spearmaster broadcast there, in a pretty neat location at that). However, it is placed in an area of Outskirts that is pretty much completely useless, and there are other rooms that do similar things as this one, so I can see why it wasn't high on people's priority lists. I'd probably give this a 7/10, as it is relatively well designed, but it's still not excellent or too unique.

A44 on the other hand, is a tutorial room that nobody voted for. This is kind of funny, because the room absolutely works, it's just extremely basic. And that makes perfect sense - it has one purpose, and once that is done, the players will never visit it again. However, Downpour actually granted players multiple ways that they can easily reach this place (without, you know, cheesy things like starve-backflip-Squidcada-flight), thanks to Spearmaster's start, Outer Expanse, Artificer, Saint and Rarefaction Cell Rivulet. And none of the Slugcats got any changes in this room, despite that, even though there was a clear opportunity for a fun surprise. So yeah, I'm probably giving this a 6/10, as it worked well enough for the tutorial, but there's really not that much more to it.

Pick Your Favorite Rain World Room, Day 182 R2

This is not single elimination! Every room with at least 15.0% vote will move on to the next round.

There is a hidden slugcat in one of the rooms (they can be in any color). If u can see it comment or reblog with where they are and if u are first, u get a cookie!

Credit for game screenshots goes to: Rain World Interactive Map, Rain World Wiki and me

[thetravelerwrites]

Urgan (Orc)

Rating: Mature Relationship: Male Human/Male Orc Additional Tags: Exophilia, Monster Boyfriend, Orc, Male Reader, MLM, Gay Reader, Football Captain, College, Friends to Lovers Content Warnings: Alcohol Poisoning, Children, Kids, Pregnancy, Unwanted Pregnacy, Mention of Abortion, College Drop-Out, Strong Language, Drug Use, Angst, Super Angst, ALL THE ANGST Words: 4385

A super duper angsty commission by the wonderful @severedreamerbeard​​! Urgan is the captain of his college football team and all around cool dude. He's an extremely reliable guy with his whole life ahead of him... until the woman he's been dating winds up pregnant, which turns his entire world upside down. The reader, Urgan's best friend, tries to help as much as he can while watching Urgan's life fall apart. Please reblog and leave feedback!

The Traveler's Masterlist  

Urgan had been your best friend since preschool. You were human and he was an orc, but you were both jocks growing up, both in sports, both athletic. He’d been there with you through all the major events in your life. He was there when your parents divorced, when you came out as gay in middle school, and when the teammates who had once been friends started bullying you because of it. He was always there.

You hoped you had been as good a friend to him as he had been to you. You were there when his dad died, when his mom remarried someone he hated, and when his highschool sweetheart cheated on him. After all that, the two of you were closer than brothers.

College life was easier on both of you. You both had gotten a sports scholarship and found a friend group that was a lot of fun to hang out with. Parties were epic, classes were less so, but you were living the life and loving every second of it.

Then it changed. Not for everyone, not even for you. Or at least, it didn’t have to. You could have made different choices. It would have been far easier if you had, you were sure. But…

“How long have you been dating Kelly?” You asked him over a beer. The two of you were sitting out on the front porch of a house party currently in full swing.

“Who?” He snorted, half-asleep. He’d pulled an all-nighter the day before preparing for his psych exam.

“Kelly,” You said, pointing into the open door at the girl wearing a halter with a half-empty vodka bottle in her hand, some of which she’d spilled on her chest, grinding on another girl who was sucking the vodka off of her clavicle.

“I wouldn’t say we’re ‘dating’,” He replied, throwing back a large swig of his beer. “Fucking, yes. I’m not trying to date anyone right now. I don’t have the time.” He threw his beer bottle into a large trash barrel and stood up. “Where’s Derek? He owes me fifty bucks.”

“For what?” You asked, standing up and following him through the house. He slapped Kelly’s ass as he passed her on the way inside, and she laughed.

“I borrowed it to buy coke three weeks ago,” He said.

“Didn’t he almost OD?” You asked.

“Yeah, but that ain’t my fault, I want my money,” Urgan said, muscling his way through the crowd.

“Don’t be an asshole, bro,” You said, still following him.

“I’m not being an asshole! It’s not like he learned anything, I bet you five bucks he’s doing coke right now.”

“Yeah, I’m not taking that bet,” You laughed. “I don’t know of a time when he’s not on coke. I think he was high when we first met.”

“That’s my point. You know I’m cool about that stuff normally, but it’s affecting his performance on the field,” Urgan grumbled. “I’m team captain, and if he doesn’t straighten up, I have to kick him off the team, friend or not. We lost to E.U. because of him.”

You grimaced. E.U. had been your school’s rival for generations. The loss hurt and was a huge blow to Urgan. It didn’t help that it was televised nationally.

“If you kick him off the team, the other guys will be pissed,” You reasoned.

“I know that,” He said grumpily. “But managing the team internally is my job. If I don’t do something about it, coach will either demote me or kick me off with him for not handling it when I should have. I can’t afford to lose my scholarship over some douchebag’s coke habit.” He made his way into the garage at the opposite end of the house and smacked a seated Derek on the back of the head. “Hey, Derek! Money! Now!”

“Dude, back off!” Derek protested. “I’ll get it to you when I get it, damn!”

“Not good enough,” Urgan said, kicking the mirror that was in front of Derek. Powder went flying.

“Hey!” Derek said, standing up and taking a swing at Urgan. Urgan ducked and caught Derek’s arm, pinning it behind him. He was always quick.

“Quit the coke or quit the team,” Urgan said, snarling. “We’re not losing another game because you’re too high to play.”

“The fuck are you talking about, man?” Derek said, struggling. “Don’t blame that shit on me! It’s not my fault you can’t organize your team!”

“I’m serious, dude,” Urgan said, pushing Derek to the ground. “I’m not getting punished for you. Straighten up or fuck off.”

“Suck my dick, asshole,” Derek said. He jerked his chin at you. “Or get your boyfriend to do it.”

Words like that were water off your back at this point, but it always riled Urgan up. You could already see him tensing.

“Let it go, dude,” You said, pulling him back. “Derek, seriously, you’re bringing the whole team down. Lay off the drugs, at least until after the championship.”

“Get the fuck out of my house if you’re going to act all high and mighty,” Derek said, pushing past you. “And you can forget that fifty bucks. It’s all over the ground now.”

Urgan’s fists were balled up and he was breathing hard.

“He’s not going to stop,” Urgan said.

“Come on, dude,” You said, smacking him on the shoulder. “You’re not going to accomplish anything here. Take it to the field. Show him why you’re captain.”

“I guess,” He said. “I’m hungry, man, let’s grab something.”

“Sure,” You said. “Kelly’s coming over to your place after the party, though, right?”

“Yeah, but she won’t be any shape to do anything but sleep. She knows where the key is, she’ll be fine.”

Finals were coming up, and most people were holed up in their rooms or dorms studying. Urgan was a decent student and never really worried about tests, though you hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, which was odd. He could have been working a lot; he had a part-time job to pay for his own studio apartment. He said the dorms were too small for him.

“Urgan? No, I haven’t seen him in a week.” Joey said. Joey was a coworker from the bar where Urgan worked and also an ex-boyfriend of yours. You bumped into him at the university’s library while looking for Urgan. Urgan hadn’t answered his door when you went to check on him, so you figured he had to be here.

“Is he sick?” You asked, taking out your phone. You’d texted him awhile ago and you saw that he had seen it, but he hadn’t responded.

“I dunno,” Joey said. “All I know is that he asked the boss for some personal time. It could just be finals getting to him.”

You frowned. “Hmm… I’m going back to his apartment. He’s never been this quiet before. Something’s not right.”

“Tell him to come back to work. All the girls try to flirt with me when he’s not there. I need him to be my shield.”

You laughed and waved him off, heading out.

“Urgan!” You called, knocking insistently on his door. “Open the door! Are you alright?”

No answer. Frustrated, you got the spare key that was hidden in a slit of the doormat and unlocked the door. His apartment was dark and looked normal. Urgan was a fairly tidy guy, and nothing was really out of place.

“Urgan!” You called again, walking around the partition that obscured his bed. There he was, passed out on top of his blankets. There were empty bottles of liquor everywhere. Your heart stopped.

“Oh, fuck, please don’t be dead,” You said, crawling on the bed to slap him in the face. “Urgan, wake up!” His skin was cold, which scared the shit out of you, but after a minute feeling for a pulse on his neck you found a heartbeat, and you could see him breathing very slowly, so at least he was alive. But he wasn’t responding to your attempts to rouse him.

“Shit.” You took out your phone and called and called emergency services.

“911, what’s the nature of your emergency?”

“Hey, I need an ambulance, I think my friend has alcohol poisoning.” You said quickly, hoping it was intelligible, and gave them the address.

“Okay, sir, how long has this been going on?”

“I’m not sure, I just found him. I haven’t heard from him in days. He’s got a pulse, but he won’t wake up.”

“Is he cold to the touch?”

“Yes.”

“Is he breathing?”

“Slowly, but yes.”

“Can you make sure his airway is clear?”

You put the phone down and opened his mouth. There didn’t seem to be anything in the way.

“It’s clear,” You said.

“Alright, sir, I’ve got an ambulance on the way. Do me a favor and turn him on his side and bend the leg that’s on the top. Keep his airway clear and keep an eye on his breathing.”

“Okay,” You said, doing as the operator said and trying to keep calm.

The ambulance arrived within minutes, and after several moments of the EMTs attempting to wake him and failing, they loaded him in the rig. You were able to ride with him to the hospital. They took you both to a room, and you stood back as they began hooking Urgan up to all sorts of tubes and wires. They put a tube in his mouth because his breathing was weak and slowing down. They put him on a heavy saline drip and debated whether or not to pump his stomach. Eventually, they left him to rest and you sat with him.

“What the fuck is happening with you, man?” You asked him quietly as he slept.

Eventually, you fell asleep, and when you woke up, they were taking the air tube out of his throat. Urgan was awake and groaning in discomfort as it was removed.

“Dude, what the hell?” You said, standing up.

His eyes were bloodshot and he looked extremely sick, but at least he was awake. He waited for the doctors and the nurses to leave so that it was just you and him before he answered you.

“Kelly’s pregnant,” He said hoarsely. “It’s mine. She’s sure of it.”

“Oh, shit,” You said, sitting back down in the chair next to him. “I thought you used protection.”

“I do,” He said in frustration. “The condom must have broken or something. She told me she was on the pill. I don’t know what happened. I’m so fucking screwed.”

“You may not be,” You said, trying to comfort him, but you knew he was right. Being team captain meant that you put the team before everything. If you had another priority, you couldn’t be team captain. Not to mention the scandal of having a kid during the height of his college career would destroy his reputation and make him seem irresponsible. A baby right now was going to ruin him.

“Don’t bullshit me. I can’t show my face at school. Coach is going to kick my ass as soon as he finds out. My life is over.”

“Don’t talk like that, man,” You said. “What’s Kelly saying about all this? Has she told anyone?”

“No, not yet,” He said, covering his eyes. “Well, she hadn’t when I started drinking, but I don’t know if she has now.”

“She wants to keep it?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t get farther than ‘I’m having a baby and it’s yours’. And then I just started drinking and didn’t stop.”

“How far along is she?”

“Three months, she said.”

“How does she know it’s yours?”

“I was the only person she was sleeping with at the time. We were thinking about dating seriously, but it didn’t work out that way.”

“Do you believe that?”

“I don’t know. We’ll find out, I guess.”

You frowned deeply. “She’s… been partying pretty hard in the last three months.”

Urgan rubbed his face. “I know. I’m scared shitless the kid is going to be born fucked up.”

“Do you… think you can talk her into giving it up? For adoption, I mean? She doesn’t seem like mom material.”

“I don’t know,” He said. “I don’t know what she’ll do.”

“What about…” You hesitated to mention it. “What about an abortion?”

“That’s her decision,” He said vaguely. “It’s her body.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

“No, don’t,” He said. “I’ll do it when I’ve got my head on right.”

“Dude, look where you are right now,” You said, gesturing vaguely. “Let me at least call her.”

He sighed. “Fine.”

You took Urgan’s phone, which was in his back pocket when he was brought in, and called Kelly. She was surprised to hear about Urgan’s condition and said she’d come up to the hospital.

She arrived an hour later and you gave them some privacy to talk. It was a while, so you went to grab a soda. When you came back, Kelly was leaving with tears on her face. You went in and saw Urgan sitting up in bed. His eyes were red from crying.

“Hey man, are you okay?”

“No,” He said, wiping his face and sniffing. “She’s going to keep it. I’m leaving school.”

“What?” You said, coming around. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m gonna finish out the semester but I’m leaving before the baby is born. I have to find a better job. I’m hoping I can come back when the baby is a bit older, like when they start school or something, and finish my degree.”

“But you only have a year left! Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“No!” He shouted. “I don’t want to leave school! I’ve been dreaming of this scholarship since I was a kid! It was my dad’s dream! But I’m not going to be a deadbeat! I have to find a decent job before the baby is born. I don’t have a choice.”

You were stunned to silence and just listen to him breathe through his tears.

“Are you and Kelly staying together?”

“Fuck no,” He said vehemently. “We both know that would be stupid. She’s going to stay in school as long as she can. She’s supposed to be due in winter sometime, so I should have enough saved up by then to give her for the baby, to make sure they’re comfortable.” He scowled. “I’m sure Derek is going to be thrilled. I can just see the look on his face now.”

“Don’t worry about that jackass,” You said. “Dude, I… Is there anything I can do to help out?”

He shook his head. “Kelly and I are going to keep this quiet until the end of the semester so that we don’t have to deal with anyone bullshit. After that, we’ll start telling people.”

“You’re not going to tell your mom?”

“Not yet. I can’t face her yet. She’s going to be so disappointed in me.” His tears began to fall again, and all you could do was put a hand on his shoulder and be there for him.

“I won’t say anything to anyone,” You told him. “I’m still your best friend, no matter what. If you need anything, you know I got you.”

“Thanks, man,” He said, his voice breaking.

Urgan finished out school as he planned, barely scraping a passing grade, and then notified everyone that he wouldn’t be returning. As expected, his coach was furious, his mom was disappointed, and the team was dumbfounded. Derek was the only person who seemed to be enjoying the situation.

During summer, he asked for an amniocentesis, both to prove whether or not Urgan was the father, and also to check for any genetic conditions, since Kelly’s family had a history of genetic diseases. Urgan was hoping that she was lying about only sleeping with him around the time she conceived and that he would wind up not the father so he could go back to school, but the test was conclusive. The baby was his.

Urgan found work pretty quickly at a seafood processing plant near town. It was grueling work and it didn’t pay much, but it was a full-time job and had healthcare benefits, which was the best he could hope for in these circumstances. He began saving immediately to buy clothes and diapers for his kid, which he recently found out was a little girl, and was in frequent contact with Kelly. He didn’t attend any of the doctor’s visits at Kelly’s request. Not that he wanted to be there in the first place.

You continued with college and partied like a normal college guy, stayed on the football team, and was promoted to captain. Urgan seemed happy for you and gave you pointers on leadership. If he resented you for it, he gave no sign.

Many of Urgan’s old friends, mostly team members, dropped him immediately. They no longer invited him to parties or events, and when you mentioned inviting him, they shot you down. As far as you knew, the only one who still stood by him was you, and you couldn’t be there as much as you wanted to as you now had responsibilities with the team.

Even still, if he called, you dropped what you were doing and went over. You promised you’d be there, and you were going to keep that promise. He was your best friend and you were going to stand with him. No matter what.

Urgan’s daughter, Roga, was born in November. She was small, even for a half-orc. You were there in the waiting room for the birth with the grandparents. It might have been your presence that stopped them from being at each other’s throats; the animosity in the air was palpable. Kelly’s dad was there, looking not-best-pleased at Urgan’s mom, despite her being nearly twice his size, but no harsh words were said.

Urgan came out in the full paper surgical outfit, holding the baby. He even seemed happy.

“Here she is,” He said, holding her out for the grandparents to see.

“Oh, isn’t she precious,” Urgan’s mom, Reana, said. “She’s got your eyes, Urg.”

“Yeah,” He said, smiling. “She looks a bit like dad, don’t you think?”

“She does!” Reana said brightly. “That nose definitely looks like his.”

The grandparents took turns holding the baby, and then went in to see the mother.

“Hey,” Urgan said to you, the only one left in the room. “Do you want to hold her?”

You chuckled nervously. “I dunno, man, I’ve never held a baby.”

“Neither have I, before today,” He said. “You don’t have to. I just wanted to offer since everyone else got to.”

“Yeah, but they’re family.”

“You’re family, too,” He said, looking at you like you were being an idiot.

You smiled a little and held out your arms, and Urgan carefully lay the baby into them. She was small and squishy and her face was all wrinkly. Babies all looked like potatoes to you. But she reached out and yawned and grabbed at your hand, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“She’s cute,” You said, letting her grip your finger.

“Yeah,” He said, grinning.

“How’s Kelly?”

“She hates my guts, but she’s okay.” Urgan reached out to take the baby, and you handed her over. “I should take Roga back. The lactation specialist wants to work with her.”

“I didn’t know there was a such thing as a lactation specialist,” You said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah,” Urgan said. “The last nine months have been extremely informative.”

You snorted. “I bet.”

He took the baby back to Kelly and you sat in the waiting room, feeling a little awkward. Why were you here? You weren’t really family. You knew you were supporting Urgan, but… he didn’t really need you there right now. He seemed fine. Happy even, considering the circumstances. Maybe… maybe you should go. You really didn’t belong here.

You texted Urgan to let him know something had come up and to call you if you needed him, and he told you that it was okay, and to be careful going home. As you left, you sighed in relief. But you also felt a little guilty.

Six months later was graduation. You finished top of your class and made valedictorian. You knew that if Urgan had still been in school, he’d have gotten that honor, but…

Urgan didn’t come to graduation, and you understood why. Kelly crossed the stage and accepted her diploma, and you couldn’t help feel a little resentful at her, despite the fact that it wasn’t her fault that Urgan wasn’t there, either. They really had done everything they were supposed to do--used protection, used birth control, was careful--but things just happen sometimes. Even still, it felt like Urgan was the one who had sacrificed the most and had gotten nothing in return.

You managed to get a job at an accounting firm almost immediately after graduation. It was a boring job but the money was good. You were hoping it would be a stepping stone to a better career later.

Since getting the job, you hadn’t really seen or spoken to Urgan much. You were still his best friend, but… you had your own life to live. You felt guilty about it, but your world couldn’t stop just because his had.

Urgan was still working at the fish processing plant, working long hours to support Roga. Urgan was basically paying Kelly’s rent and bills plus everything Roga needed for both homes, since he took her on the weekends from Friday night to Monday morning, when he dropped her off on the way to work.

However, a month after graduation, Urgan called you in a panic.

“Kelly’s gone,” He said. “She’s left. I got a text from her saying she’s gone to Canada.”

“What?” You asked in disbelief. “Did she take Roga?”

“No, I’ve got her here.” He said, his voice shaking. “When she texted me, I was scared she had run off with the baby, but she left Roga with her stepdad. I just picked her up and I’m bringing her back home with me.”

You felt terrible for hoping Kelly had taken Roga with her to Canada. Even though you knew it wasn’t Roga’s fault, all you wanted was for Urgan’s life to go back to normal. You just wanted him to have the things he should have had if Roga hadn’t been born. And you hated yourself for thinking that.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” He said. He sounded extremely distressed. “Can you meet me at my apartment, please? I need someone to talk to. You’re all I have left.”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll be right there,” You said, picking up your keys.

“Thank you,” He said, and then hung up. He was audibly crying.

You made it to Urgan’s apartment before he did, and you saw him step out of the elevator carrying a ton of baby stuff in one arm and hauling Roga in her carseat in the other.

“Can you take her, please?” Urgan said. He looked pale and in shock.

“Yeah, of course,” You said, taking her carrier and looking inside. She was sleeping with a stuffed griffon clutched in her baby hands. “Is she okay?”

“I think so,” He said, unlocking his door. His apartment was strewn with kid stuff. It was so much different than the last time you’d seen it.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” He said, dropping the load he was carrying in the middle of the floor.

“Dude, I don’t care about the mess, are you okay?” You asked.

“I…” He ran his fingers through his hair. He was visibly shaking. “I don’t know if I can do this alone. I had accepted being a dad, but I don’t know if I can be… the only parent. I… I don’t know any babysitters for when I’m working. I don’t… is she off breastmilk? When was her last check up? When is she supposed to see the doctor again? Kelly didn’t tell me those things because I.. I figured she had it handled. I was making sure they had everything they needed. I didn’t think I’d…”

“Okay, calm down,” You said. “Roga is fine. You can find all of that stuff out. I’ll help, I’ll help however I can, okay?”

“Okay,” He said, sitting on his couch heavily. “Okay.” He reached down into her carseat and unstrapped her, putting her against his shoulder, clutching her as if she was a warm stone and he was freezing. He was certainly shaking like he was.

This was the first time you’d seen Roga since she was born. Now that she’d had a chance to grow, she did look a lot like Urgan. It made you feel worse for resenting her.

“Look, can you watch her for a few minutes?” He asked suddenly. “I’m almost out of formula and I didn’t expect to have her right now. I was going to go Thursday to stock up. I don’t want to run out.”

“I…” You hesitated.

“Please,” He begged quietly. “Please. Ten minutes. I promise.”

You sighed. “Okay.”

He transferred Roga from his shoulder to yours. Uncertainly, you gripped her firmly.

“I’ll be right back, I promise,” Urgan said, and he was out the door.

There was a rocking bassinet near Urgan’s bed behind the divider, and you settled Roga in it, staring down at her peacefully sleeping form.

“I wish I didn’t hate you,” You told her, tears welling up in your eyes and falling down your cheeks. “But you took everything from him. I know it’s not your fault, but it doesn’t change anything. He’ll never be the man he should have been because of you.”

Roga sighed in her sleep and snugged into her bed without waking. You did nothing but sit on Urgan’s bed and stare at her the entire time Urgan was gone, allowing yourself to hate her and Kelly and the team at school and everyone who turned their back on Urgan when he needed them the most. When Urgan returned, your tears had dried, and you left.

Roga was still sleeping.

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My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[write-orflight]

Galileo: Chapter 8

**Gif Not Mine**

Prev -  Next

Pairings: SpencerXReader, enemies to friends to lovers trope

Rating: M

Words: 2.1K

Warnings:  None, just painfully fluff.

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary:  Y/N  is an astronomer with her head constantly in the stars. But when a   serial killer is threatening NASA’s top scientists, she is left in the   protective custody of a man who’s gravitational pull threatens to pull   her back down to earth. 

A.N: Unedited. Well guys we’re here. I kinda really like how I ended this chapter so IF I do write an Epilogue it’ll be very very small. So for that reason I’m closing the taglist for Galileo. Thank you all for coming on this journey with me. Check out my other fics if you haven’t. And shoot me an inbox saying what you think! much love, Cia.

                                Chapter 8: Pluto 

Life with Spencer wasn’t easier but it sure was better. 

It had been about 9 months now since the two of you started dating and you knew it would be rough. The two of you traveled a lot for work so it was a lot of missed calls, texts, and video chats in the beginning but now you’d say the two of you got a grip on what you both wanted which was each other. Around month 6, Spencer asks you to move in with him. At first you say no, and you keep saying no until around month 8 when Spencer gets shot on the job and you take care of him and just never leave. Not that he was complaining, it was what he’s wanted since Month 2. 

You met the team officially and without impending danger around month 2 as well. Emily and Derek who you already knew through the investigation welcomed you back with open arms and tequila shots at the bar you met them at. JJ took a while to warm up to you which you completely understood from how you left but she warmed up to you when she realized just how much you loved Spencer and how much you regretted pushing him away. 

You and Penelope Garcia got along like a house on fire which everyone expected the two genius women to. Though her sunny, social disposition and your quiet, mellow one didn’t mix on paper pretty soon you guys were trading baked goods and having sleepovers. It was nice, you never had girl friends you could be yourself around but you found that in them. 

Spencer was still Spencer. 

In some ways, he was still the man you met in the observatory of your job, and in some ways he was very different. He was definitely a lot more touchy than you thought he’d be, seemingly unable to be in the same room as you without touching you in some way. Not that that was unwelcome, you loved him all the same. He was still that nerdy guy who whenever he read something or found out something new about your field he’d call you up and immediately to tell you about it. And you would sit and listen intently, never having the heart to tell him it was something you already knew. You liked to hear him talk anyway. 

You still found out a couple of things too. One being that Spencer gets extremely jealous and you found this out around Month 7 of your relationship, your first official fight. He had come to surprise you at work and you were helping the new Doctor hired on the Terra-Mora project get acclimated with the space. You didn’t think anything of the guy other than he was overly friendly but when Spencer came in and saw the fairly attractive man lingering a hand on your back he became livid. 

The car ride home was awkward because you could tell something was up with Spencer though he wasn’t saying anything. “What’s wrong?” You asked. 

“Nothing, bunny.” He says, you can’t help the smile that crosses  your face at the nickname but you knew there was something wrong. 

“Okay so there has to be something up. So out with it.” 

He’s silent for a moment. “How’s working with Dr. Sutton?” 

“Landon?” You ask. He gives you a look when you refer to the man by first name but you choose to ignore it.  “It’s fine. He’s better at math and he’s been nice.” 

“Bet he has.” Spencer mutters under his breath. 

“Ok, what is that?” You ask. 

“Why did you just call him Landon just now?” 

“His name is Landon….?” 

“Every person you work with you refer to as Doctor, you even refer to yourself as Dr. L/N when talking about work.” He points out. “In fact, the only other person you didn’t do that for was Jonathan, who you had feelings for. So why is he ‘Landon’?” 

“He asked me to call him Landon.” You shrug. “You almost sound jealous, Spence.” You can’t help the small chuckle that leaves you when you say it because it was ridiculous to even think about. You loved Spencer. You couldn’t imagine your life without him or even fathom wanting anyone but him but when you saw the look he gave you back when you said it you knew that was exactly the case. 

“You wanna tell me what this is actually about now?” You question. 

“Why didn’t you say I was your boyfriend?” He whispers. 

“What?” You say, confused. You park the car in front of your apartment and turn fully towards Spencer.   

“You didn’t say I was your boyfriend, you called him Landon…” 

“Baby, I didn’t even realize I didn’t do that.” You say, looking into his eyes. “If I did it’s because everyone knows who you are.” You say, cupping the side of his face with one of your hands, he instantly leans into the touch. “My genius boyfriend, who works for the FBI and saved my life. I talk about you constantly because I am happy and proud to be yours. That you still took a chance on me even though I pushed you away and treated you like shit in the beginning. I am never trying to hide you and you have no reason to be jealous because I don’t see anyone else when I’m with you, ok?” You say, Spencer smiles and leans over the center console to kiss you and just like every time Spencer kisses you, you contemplate the likelihood that the earth could stop its rotation because it seemed that the world stood still every time you were together like this.When you pulled away, you leaned your forehead against Spencers for a second, catching your breath. 

“Plus you really have no reason to be jealous.” You add. “Me and Landon spent most of the morning talking about our boyfriends.” 

Spencer looks at you with a wide eyed expression. “You mean, he’s--” 

“Yup.” You cut off. Getting out of the car, Spencer follows you. “You should get jealous more though. It’s kinda hot.” You shrug. Spencer rolls his eyes at you. 

-----------------------------------------------------

     On your one year anniversary, you go to your first date spot which was the Planetarium. You rolled your eyes at the time when Spencer suggested the date saying that you’d both just end up annoying the tour guide. In the end, you ended up with a 16  year old named Anna, who had the same twinkle in her eye when she talked about Space that you had as a child. You ended up shushing Spencer every now and again so you could listen to the young girl tell you about the planets you both knew so much about. At the end of the tour, you told her who you were and that if she wanted an internship at NASA after high school to give you a call. She smiled excitedly at you and hugged you, which you returned before apologizing profusely for hugging you. When you and Spencer were walking to get food after that he asked the question. 

“Do you want kids?” He says. 

“Whoa!” You laugh. “Big ask for a first date.” 

“I’m sorry, you were just so cute with the tour guide that--It’ll come up eventually is all.” 

“I do want kids someday.” You say, smiling at the man. “I never thought it was in the cards for me but I would love kids someday. What about you?” 

“I never thought it was in the cards for me either but I like the idea of having a family.” He says, reaching for your hand. You smile at him again and the topic never comes back up. 

You guys head to the Planetarium again and Anna is still working there, finishing up her senior year. She lets you guys venture around without a guide this time and you and Spencer just sit in the auditorium alone, talking softly at the fake constellations that pass by. 

After, you ask if you guys can skip dinner to go to the observatory just to see if you can get a peak at Gaia tonight as the sky seemed pretty clear. Spencer smiles and obliges you as the two of you head over to your job. The night security guard just nods at the two of you as you walk in, having come accustomed to your late nights and Spencer accompanying you. 

Spencer sits a ways while you set everything up, booting up your computer and positioning your telescope. The two of you settle into a comfortable silence as you often did around each other. You felt slightly bad, it was your anniversary and Spencer was indulging you just like always. He was really way too good for you. You look up at him and smile, which he instantly returns before you turn your attention to the telescope. 

That’s when you see it. 

Gaia. 

Fully visible from earth for the first time in what could have been a millennium. 

You scream out of happiness and Spencer looks up at you raising a brow as you run for your tape recorder.  Gesturing for him to come look. He looks into the telescope as you type into your computer for a second, making sure your telescope was taking the pictures you needed, before speaking into your recorder. 

“This is Dr. Y/N L/N. I am accompanied by Dr. Spencer Reid. The date is April 12th 2014. For the first time ever Planet KXSY-1029 or Alias Gaia is Fully visible from earth!” You turn off the recorder and jump into your boyfriend’s arms. He instantly catches you and spins you around before kissing you fully on your lips. You moan into his mouth slightly as his tongue meets yours but eventually he pulls away but he is still lifting you fully. 

“Do you realize how big tonight is? This is probably the only time anyone in centuries will be able to see her until we actually start human trials and it’s the only time it’ll probably ever be visible from earth and WE were here for it! This is amazing! This night cannot get bette--” 

“Marry me.” Spencer says, looking into your eyes. 

Your eyes widen, as Spencer sets you down on the ground. “What?” You ask. 

“I was going to ask at dinner.” He says pulling a ring out of his jacket pocket and getting down on one knee. You feel tears welling in your eyes. 

“I ruined your whole plan.” You say. 

“No! No, you didn’t. Because seeing you react to seeing Gaia just now reminded me exactly why I wanted to marry you.” Spencer says, grabbing your hands. “Did you know the greek goddess Gaia in creating the earth, gave humans four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. And Zeus, fearing their power, split them in half and that’s where the soulmates come from?” He asks, you shake your head and more tears fall as he rubs small circles with his thumb on the back of your hand. “Y/N, you are the single most caring, passionate, amazing person I know. And if I could go back and change anything about how we met and when we met, I wouldn’t. If I could take away your hurt and tragedy, I would but I feel like everything I’ve ever done, everything that’s ever happened to me, was designed to lead me to you. Meeting you, loving you was the first time in my life I felt truly like myself, like I was half a person until meeting you made me whole again.” He tears up as he looks you in the eyes. “So, Y/N�� Will you marry me? Please.” He adds softly. 

You nod fast, tears falling more than they were before as you give him a wet smile. “Yes, Spencer! Of course!” You laugh as Spencer smiles up at you as he slides the ring onto your finger. He gets up and kisses you passionately, hands cradling your face. When you pull apart, he hugs you tightly. You breathe in his scent and look behind him at the images of Gaia on your screens. You thought back to the story Spencer had just told you about soulmates and how before you met Spencer you were just going through the motions of life, feeling incomplete and never knowing what was missing. You seemed to have everything you wanted. Your dream job and life. It wasn’t until being with Spencer you realized what was missing. That he was missing.   

In the end, you were just two halves. 

Made whole by Gaia.  

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[adamsvanrhijn]

Thomas’ bad gaydar receipts

-thought Turk guy was gay

-thought jimmy was gay

-didn’t know Richard was gay

Which is (maybe?) weird because ain’t thomas supposed to be good at reading ppl and all that? Idk, it might be the same kind of character inconsistency like where he’s apparently ‘been around’ and is well versed in the kind of seedy bar where he tricks denker but was apparently simultaneously completely unaware of the very existence of gay bars and (possibly?) the gay community itself. Thomas is simultaneously Very Smart and Very Dumb and while I don’t think it’s impossible or unlikely for him to be both(since people in general can be smart in some aspects while being dumb in others, or be smarter on some occasions while more foolish on others), I’m just not entirely sure it always makes logical sense.

Thomas was flirting with Pamuk to find out if he was gay and Pamuk intentionally lead him on with the intent of using him to get access to Mary, i.e. not only was he manipulated into thinking that Pamuk was gay, he was manipulated by Pamuk himself, which IDK about you but I certainly would fall for that.

The entire point of the Jimmy plotline is that he was being manipulated over a period of months to think that Jimmy was both gay and interested in him, and again, he was trying to figure it out on his own!

Neither of the above are bad gaydar anyway because gaydar is about recognizing if a person is gay, not if they're straight, but I do not like the idea that falling for manipulative tactics means he has bad gaydar, like ~any reasonable person in that situation would know better~ like, IDK about you but I think that's just some "If I Were Being Gaslit I Simply Would Not Be" stuff on behalf of the fans saying it

Why should Thomas Know that Richard is gay? Thomas spent a week flirting with Richard and clearly hoped/thought he was on a date with him, what more do people need? It is 1927 and Richard is a diplomatic, charismatic guy in an extremely important high-ranking job who is at Downton for 4.5 days on a business trip. The consequences of making assumptions off of easy conversation and some smiles would be catastrophic. Thomas was pretty clearly hoping he would be gay and getting some vibes that made him think this was worth pursuing, even if he intended to be cautious about it! If anything Richard is an example of him having GOOD gaydar! "But he's so surprised when–" When Richard is like completely chill about smoothtalking Thomas out of literal jail at extensive risk to himself, after Thomas had like, ditched the date-that-seems-to-have-been-a-date and gone off with another man, and now is basically Flirting In Public despite all the reasons he has to want nothing to do with him? Yeah that would shock me too even if I hadn't just had a rollercoaster of a night! If nothing else because of how incredible that is!

Knowing about straight bars doesn't mean you know about gay bars.

We don't even know that he doesn't know about gay bars. The kind of gay bar portrayed in the film did not exist as-is in real life so I don't think we can blame him for not knowing about it, especially when it is Word-of-God established that in-universe it's a pop up thing anyway?

I don't think there is a reason to think he doesn't know about the gay community at all, either? The Chris situation makes it fairly clear he knows about like, cruising and ~Secondary Locations~. He has service friends until S3. What opportunity is he supposed to have to get to know the gay community in S3-S6 when he is spiralling into depression and desperate to keep his job?? Also, he fucks in Manhattan!!

You have actually named my problem with this stuff, which is that there seems to be this whole idea among some fans that Thomas is socially ill-equipped and can't recognize himself in other people, can't respond to interest and engagement, and it diminishes these really complex plotlines down to "bad gaydar" and "oblivious to gay people" like, Thomas is serially abused and taken advantage of (in addition to inflicting harm on others) and dealing with isolation and exclusion and you cannot ignore that when looking at any of this.

And then the notion of everyone bringing up Pamuk, Jimmy and even Courtenay as "gaydar mistakes" and then going "AND he didn't know RICHARD was gay" when actually logically that would be... learning from previous problems and mistakes... and trying to get all the information and form his own opinion this time... which should be a good thing? Like, what do people want from him lol

This is 't @ you lol, it is about a lot of people and a lot of ideas that put a bad taste in my mouth. but thank you for giving me the chance to go crazy about this and Explain My Thoughts

[lucys-key]

Unexpected Encounters (Eren Yeager x Reader)

Part 2: We Meet Again

Rating: Mature (18+ only)

Warnings: Some light alcohol use in this chapter, language, and ~passionate~ making out

A/N: Thank you for the positive response on this story! I had to include some of my fave frat party songs in this chapter LOL. Future chapters will contain smut, so I am changing the rating to NSFW/18+ :)

...

It had been two weeks since you began classes at Shiganshina University, and you were still just starting to get your bearings.

Overall, you had to say that things were going fairly well. Move-in was easy enough, and you were proud of how cute your dorm looked. Your roommate was a petite blonde girl named Historia who you immediately became friends with. Her girlfriend, Ymir, was also often in your room, so they became the people you spent the most of your time with.

There had also been a freshman orientation during the week before classes started, but you didn’t really end up making any other solid friendships from it, with the exception of Annie. She lived down the hall from you and was the one other person besides Historia and Ymir who you spent time with. Annie was in your orientation group, and the two of you had bonded over how exhausting the orientation was and had remained friends ever since.

It was a Friday evening, and you were walking to your dorm with Annie and her roommate, Hitch. You thought that they made an extremely funny pair, as Annie was not very expressive or energetic, and Hitch was the complete opposite. Their personalities complemented each other, however, and no matter how much Annie complained about Hitch’s attitude, you could tell that she liked her.

“I can’t believe it’s Friday again!” Hitch exclaimed as the three of you walked. “We’ve made it a total of three whole weeks here!”

Annie sighed and said, “I can’t believe it’s only been three weeks. I feel like I’ve been here forever.”

You laughed and Hitch poked Annie’s shoulder. “Aww, cheer up!” she said.

As you continued to walk across campus, you passed one of the many frat houses. When Hitch saw it, she made a sound indicating that she had remembered something important.

“Oh yeah!” Hitch exclaimed. “The frats are open tonight!”

To be honest, the idea of attending a frat party kind of terrified you. For the last two weekends, the frats had not been open for their general parties because they were going through the recruitment process for new members.

You, as well as your friends, had chosen not to join Greek life. You figured that your first year of college was going to be stressful enough, and you didn’t need to add sorority obligations on top of everything else. Besides, you could always join next year or the year after.

“How exciting,” Annie said, making it clear that she was not, in fact, excited.

“Oh come on, Annie! It will be fun!” Hitch encouraged, but Annie didn’t give in.

Hitch frowned, but then her expression brightened as she said your name and asked, “Are you going out tonight?”

You honestly weren’t sure. Although the idea made you nervous, you weren’t completely against it.

“I guess I’ll have to see what Historia and Ymir are doing,” you replied, which was the truth. If they were planning on going, then you could definitely be convinced to go with them.

Hitch smiled and nodded at your response.

“Sounds good!” she said, and then began to talk about something else as the three of you continued to walk to your dorm hall.

Once you got back, you stopped at your door and waved to Annie and Hitch as they walked down the hall to theirs. You took your key out of your bag and unlocked the door.

“Hey!” Historia greeted you as you stepped into the room. You saw that she was lying clothes out on her bed while Ymir sat on the chair by her desk.

“What are you doing?” you asked after setting your bag on the floor by your own bed.

Historia continued to move her clothes around while she spoke.

“I’m trying to find an outfit to wear tonight,” she informed you. From the types of clothes Historia had laid out, you assumed that she was most likely planning on going to a party later.

“I keep telling her just to wear anything. It doesn’t even matter,” Ymir said from her place on the chair.

Historia frowned cutely at her girlfriend. “But I want to look good! It’s my first college party.”

Ymir mumbled something under her breath but then stood up to help Historia pick out an outfit.

You smiled as you watched the two of them, but then your phone buzzed from your pocket. You took it out and saw that Sasha had texted you with an update about how her day was going. She seemed to be adjusting really well at her school. You two still talked every day.

You typed out a reply to her message and began to scroll through your social media, but then Historia’s voice shifted your attention.

“Are you coming with us tonight?” she asked, looking hopeful.

You sighed, realizing that you really did want to go. Besides, if Historia and Ymir were with you, everything should be fine.

“Sure. I’ll come,” you confirmed. Historia let out a noise of celebration and Ymir smiled.

After a few seconds, you realized that there was a lot you needed to do before it was time to leave in a few hours.

It was about 7pm, and you wanted to get some last-minute work done before the weekend officially started. You also needed to shower and pick out an outfit for later.

You took a deep breath, suddenly feeling excited about what the night might have in store.

___

Three and a half hours later, you looked at your phone to check the time. It was 10:30pm and you figured it was almost time to leave. You looked at yourself in the large mirror that hung over the back of the door of your room. Since the weather was still very warm, you chose to wear a pair of shorts and one of your favorite tank tops.

After showering earlier, you did your makeup the way that made you feel beautiful, needing the extra confidence boost. The makeup still looked good and you decided that you were ready.

Historia was by her bed adding the finishing touches to her look, and Ymir was tying her shoes. When the three of you were ready, you all complimented each other on how you looked, and then left the room for the night.

When you stepped into the hallway, you saw Hitch coming out of her room, and to your surprise, Annie was beside her. You guessed she had been convinced to go after all.

Hitch waved at you guys and then walked over.

“You all look great!” she said. You saw Ymir put a subtle protective arm around Historia.

“Thanks, Hitch! You and Annie, too!” Historia replied, and then you all made your way out of your dorm building.

Your group ended up following Hitch, as she assured you all that she knew just the place to go. As you walked, you couldn’t help but feel the excitement in the atmosphere. There were people everywhere, and you could hear happy, drunken laughter and music as people spilled out of dorms and houses.

You walked for a few more minutes and eventually ended up in front of a large house. There were a lot of people hanging out outside, and you looked up to see the Greek letters above the porch.

“Come on!” Hitch said. You took a deep breath before following her up the steps.

When you got to the door, there was a muscular blonde guy standing by it talking to someone who you assumed to be one of his friends. You heard Ymir snort from behind you as she walked up to the two boys.

“Sup, Reiner?” she said, and the guy called Reiner scowled.

“They’ve got you newbies working the door?” Ymir continued to tease him. Reiner’s scowl only deepened.

“Nice to see you, too,” Reiner said, and then opened the door. “Just go in already.”

Ymir smiled in triumph, and then you all walked into the house.

“How does she know him?” you asked Historia, and she laughed.

“I know him, too. The three of us went to high school together. He and Ymir have never really gotten along,” Historia informed you. You laughed and nodded in understanding.

You walked through the large house and saw people everywhere. There was a large living room where people were sitting, drinking, and talking, but it seemed like the majority of the action was happening in the basement. You heard music and saw tons of people walking through the living room to go downstairs, so you and your friends followed them.

When you got to the bottom of the stairs, you were surprised by how big the basement was. It was like the house had been designed to host huge parties, which, you think, it probably was. The overhead lights had been dimmed significantly and colorful LEDs were the primary source of light. The main part of the basement didn’t have carpeting, and that’s where people were packed together and dancing, holding red plastic cups in their hands.

“Do you want to get something to drink?” Historia asked, but she almost had to shout because the music was so loud.

Thankfully you heard her and nodded in response instead of trying to speak over the music. Historia said something to Ymir, and then she began to walk towards the dance floor. Historia gestured for you to follow and you grabbed her hand as she led you through the mass of people.

She veered off to the right where there was a small room that had been converted into a makeshift bar.

You looked around and saw a bunch of frat guys standing behind the counter handing people drinks. You couldn’t see their faces because the people in front of you were too tall, so you and Historia waited for them to move. You felt your phone buzz and took it out of your pocket to check it, but then Historia pulled you forward as space became available in front of the counter.

You were still looking at your phone, but then your attention immediately snapped up when you heard Historia speak.

“Hey, Jean!” she exclaimed.

Jean? Did you hear that right?

Sure enough, a familiar face was standing behind the counter. You had to keep your mouth from opening in shock. Somehow you had absolutely no idea that Jean went to your school, or that he had even been planning to go there in the first place. You hadn’t seen him on campus since you got there three weeks ago.

“What’s up?!” Jean enthusiastically greeted Historia, and then he turned to look at you. He was clearly just as shocked as you were.

His initial surprise didn’t last long, however, as he grinned and said, “Oh shit! Hey!”

Historia looked between you and Jean, putting together that the two of you knew each other from somewhere. When Jean took two cups from the counter and began to fill them, Historia turned to you and asked, “You know Jean?”

You nodded and leaned in closer so she could hear you. “Yup. Went to high school with him.”

Historia giggled and then looked back at Jean as he finished filling the cups with what you assumed was a mixture of all different types of alcohol.

“Here you go!” Jean said and handed the cups to you and Historia.

Before you turned around to leave, Jean gave you a knowing look. You weren’t sure what it meant, so you decided to ignore him and walk with Historia back out to the party.

It took you guys a while to find the rest of your friends, but you eventually found Ymir and Annie standing off to the side, looking like they were chatting about something. As you approached them, Hitch suddenly appeared and ran up to Annie to grab her hand.

“Come on!” she urged, and before Annie could object, she was being dragged to the dance floor. You laughed as you watched, but then Historia took Ymir’s hand and gestured for you to follow.

“Let’s go dance!” Historia exclaimed. You followed them, trying your best not to spill your drink as you maneuvered through all of the dancing people.

Eventually, the three of you found a spot that wasn’t so crowded, and you laughed as Historia tried to get Ymir to dance to the beat of “Hotel Room Service.”

Ymir took a drink from Historia’s cup and then relented, letting herself relax as she began to dance with her girlfriend. You took a sip from your cup, too, and felt yourself loosen up. You looked to your left and saw Hitch and Annie moving toward you. You laughed at Annie’s expression, but you could tell she was having a good time.

You danced with them until the song ended, not caring about how you looked and just letting yourself have fun.

After the song was over, your ears got a brief reprieve as there was a pause before the next one started playing. You took another drink, and from where you were standing, you could see the stairs that led to the basement. You saw a group of guys walking down them, and you recognized Reiner and the boy he was talking to at the door of the house. There were two more people behind them, but Reiner and his friend were blocking your view of their faces.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, it was clear that they were all pretty popular as a bunch of guys, who you assumed were in the frat, walked over to greet them and clap them on the back. You snorted at the obnoxious display.

You turned your gaze away from them as your phone buzzed from your pocket. You decided that you should probably check it since you remembered it had also buzzed earlier. But when you looked, it was just Sasha informing you that they had chips at the party she was at. You laughed and sent some celebratory emojis back.

“How was door duty?!” you heard Ymir yell over the music. You looked up to see that Reiner and his friend had made their way onto the dance floor and were standing near you and your friends.

“None of your business,” Reiner asserted, and then said something to his friend that you couldn’t quite make out, but sounded something like, “What’s taking him so long?”

You didn’t know what that meant, and you didn’t have much time to think about it as Historia grabbed your arm started dancing with you. Her movements were dramatic, and you laughed as you danced with her. You had both discarded your empty cups onto the floor with everyone else’s.

You heard Reiner say, “Oh, there you are,” and almost at the same time, felt your back hit something.

You immediately turned around to apologize to whoever it was you had bumped into, and when you did, the other person also turned around to face you. When you saw who it was, you froze.

Because standing in front of you was Eren Yeager.

You kind of stared at him for a second, not knowing what to say or do. You hadn’t seen him since the night you two happened to meet over the summer.

What was he doing in a frat house at your college?

But then you looked down at Eren’s white shirt, and sure enough, the name of your school was written on the front. It appeared that your college was also his college.

Not knowing what else to say, the thing that came out of your mouth was, “You go here?!”

Eren had been staring at you, too, but he laughed after your question.

“Yeah, and I assume you do also?” he asked.

You nodded, still in shock that you had run into him unexpectedly for a second time. Eren looked similar to how he did when you saw him over the summer. His hair was tied back in his usual style, but he had on loose-fitting basketball shorts instead of sweatpants. You also noticed that he had tiny black studs in his ears, which he hadn’t been wearing the last time you saw him.

Eren smiled and then leaned down until his mouth was next to your ear so he didn’t have to talk over the music.

“Funny we keep running into each other like this,” he said.

The air was warm, but you shivered as you felt him so close. Although you hadn’t seen Eren since the summer, he had never really left your mind. You met him when you were so young, and you weren’t sure what you had expected his more mature, adult-self to be like, but you certainly hadn’t been prepared for the Eren that stood in your room at home and in front of you now at this party.

As you looked at Eren’s handsome face, which was illuminated by the colorful flashing lights, you decided to forget about everything else and just enjoy the fact that you were able to see him again.

“Club Can’t Handle Me” was playing over the speakers, and you lightly touched Eren’s arm and looked into his green eyes, grinning mischievously.

“Want to dance?” you asked.

Eren seemed surprised at first, but then he returned your grin as he took your hand and pulled you closer.

You giggled as you put your arms around Eren’s neck, and his hands found your waist. He definitely wasn’t the most coordinated person ever, but it didn’t matter. His movements were enthusiastic and fun, and you were having such a good time. You felt the heat from Eren’s body wherever it made contact with yours.

When the chorus of the song came around, Eren began to mouth the words dramatically, and you couldn’t help but laugh.

He leaned down and asked, “Having fun?”

You nodded at him enthusiastically, and he smiled brightly in return. You saw that a piece of his hair had come loose from where it had been tucked behind his ear, so you brushed it back into place.

“I like your long hair,” you told him before you could stop yourself.

Eren’s eyes widened slightly at the compliment, but then he smirked.

“Really?” he asked playfully.

You regretted telling him for a second, but then you decided to just go with it.

“Yeah. It suits you,” you confessed.

Eren smiled and then brought his lips next to your ear to make sure you could hear him.

“You know,” he said, “I didn’t recognize you at first when we met over the summer.”

You laughed as you remembered that night.

“Yeah, I bet I looked pretty different,” you said. “Six years is a long time.”

“Mhmm,” Eren breathed, and you could hear his words right next to your ear. “You looked good, though. Still do tonight.”

You felt your entire body become hot as your heart rate sped up significantly, the words ringing loud in your ears despite the music. You didn’t know if it was the alcohol that was making you feel so affected by the compliment, or if it was just the fact that it was Eren who had said it.

After a few seconds, Eren moved his head so were looking into his eyes again. You decided that it was most definitely Eren himself who had you all nervous and flustered. Everything about him was suddenly intoxicating, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from his face.

You both stared at each other until your gaze flickered down to his mouth. Your heart rate sped up even more as you realized that you really wanted to kiss him.

It seemed like Eren was thinking the same thing. He watched as your eyes lowered to look at his mouth and he inhaled sharply. He moved his hand from your waist to place it gently on your cheek.

You looked back into Eren’s eyes, seeing your same desire in them. You unwrapped your arms from around his neck and moved them to rest your hands on Eren’s chest. You didn’t care about the music or all of the lights and people around you—the only thing you could focus on was the boy in front of you.

Eren slowly moved his face down until it was mere centimeters from yours. Your entire body felt like it was on fire as Eren looked into your eyes one last time.

“Is this what you want?” he asked, his voice just loud enough so you could hear it over the music.

It wasn’t even a question what you wanted.

“Yes,” you breathed, and Eren smiled.

“Me too,” he whispered, almost to himself, and then brought both of his hands to your face and closed the final gap between you.

It was like nothing you had ever experienced before. As Eren’s lips met yours, you immediately responded to his touch, moving your lips against his eagerly. You could still feel Eren’s hands on your face as he continued to kiss you passionately, making you melt into him completely.

You moved your hands across Eren’s broad chest, feeling the solid muscle through his shirt. He made a noise of approval low in his throat as he expertly parted your lips to explore your mouth with his tongue. You could taste whatever alcohol he had drank earlier that night, and you moved one of your hands from his chest to gently trace the line of his jaw before running it through his hair. Eren moved his hands to your waist and pulled you even closer so there was not even an inch of space where the front of your bodies weren’t touching.

You didn’t know how long you and Eren stayed like that, but eventually, you pulled away from each other, both of you breathing heavy. You stared at him, sort of in a state of disbelief that that had just happened. You’d often mentally roll your eyes at people who shamelessly made out with each other at parties, but you decided that you were beginning to understand the appeal.

Eren appeared to be just as discomposed as you. You had no idea what to say to him after that. You didn’t have to think about it for long, however, as Eren broke the tension.

“Uh…” he said, not able to find any real words to use.

“Yeah…” you replied after a moment, and then you both started to laugh.

Although you hadn’t expected the night to go this way, you had absolutely no complaints. You weren’t sure what this meant for you and Eren’s relationship moving forward, but you decided to worry about that later.

Eren looked like he was about to say something, but then someone came up and threw an arm around his shoulder.

“Yo, Eren, the Pres needs us.”

It appeared that Jean had been released from his job as bartender. You assumed that the “Pres” he was referring to was the president of the fraternity.

“Okay, can you give me a fucking minute?” Eren asked. Jean turned his head to get a better look at who Eren was with.

When he saw you, his eyebrows raised comically, and he smiled knowingly.

“Ahhh, I see,” Jean said, and then he moved his arm off of Eren’s shoulder. “Don’t be too long, though!” Jean called as he walked away.

Eren let out an exasperated breath once Jean was gone.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “New member duties and all.”

You smiled and nodded in understanding. “I get it. You better go, then.”

Eren smiled, albeit regretfully, and then leaned down once more so his face was next to your ear.

“I guess I’ll see you around,” he said, your name leaving his lips at the end of the sentence. You didn’t think you’d ever get used to hearing Eren’s voice so close like that. You didn’t get a chance to respond, however, as Eren had already turned to walk away.

You watched him as he walked until the mass of dancing people blocked your view. You smiled to yourself, so glad that you had chosen to go to this party after all.

You looked around and saw that Reiner and his friend had also gone somewhere else, presumably to the same place as Eren. Before you could look for your friends, you felt someone run up to you and start hitting your back repeatedly.

You turned around and saw that it was Hitch. She had the funniest smile on her face as she exclaimed, “Oh my god! Oh my god!” repeatedly.

“You saw that?” you asked, now feeling shy.

“Yes ma’am,” she said, and then playfully hit your shoulder again. “How could I not?! That was you and EREN FREAKING YEAGER! How do you know him?!”

You laughed at her excitement and said, “It’s a long story.”

Hitch raised her eyebrows suggestively and you shoved her lightly in return.

“It’s not like that,” you tried to convince her.

Hitch just continued to smirk. “Whatever,” she said. “I told you this party would be fun.”

You couldn’t agree with her more.

Read part 3 here

[cuddlesslut]

Live my Life Ch.1

Kuroo x fem reader

Summary: sometimes life is full of making the wrong choices and not knowing till it’s to late.

A/N: this is chapter one of my new story. I’m still writing the Home series I must really wanted to start this story as well. I hope you guys like this one.

Warning: Angst, Smut, Drunk Sex, Underage drinking, toxic behavior

You found yourself sitting in this dingy bar nursing a drink you weren’t supposed to have. This had become part of your routine. It all started about three weeks ago. Your friend Kana, or well you suppose she could be called a friend she was more of a friend of a friend. She seemed nice enough kind of the free spirit type of girl always into the new big trend, not really what you would describe yourself as, more of what you wanted to be. You weren’t exactly some shy shut in but still your anxieties held you back from charging head first into in life and taking the bull by the horns. That’s why you surprised even yourself when you offered to be Kana’s bar buddy.

Kana is bartender at this whole in the wall bar with dim lighting. It got fairly good business but not enough to warrant more than one bartender at a time. That being the case Kana would often be there by herself well late into the night, the neighborhood wasn’t horrible but it still was unsettling sometimes. So as her bar buddy you would come at some point in her shift and find a free seat at the bar hopefully far enough distance from any other patrons. You’d order some fries or whatever greasy snack food you craved and waited there with her while she worked until she was ready to lock up. It was pretty easy you’d just sit there offering her someone to talk when she was bored or when she need to escape some overbearing customers. She’d make her way over too you and pretend to make you a drink. Although she offered you a drink you usually turn her down for the clear fact that you were underage when it came to drinking. It was perfectly fine for you to sit in the establishment since it also served food but at the age of 18 drinking was still prohibited. Being the laid back girl and bartender she was Kana didn’t care about bending that rule for a friend.

Most nights you’d pull out some school work on your tablet that your carried with you or just read some stories on your phone. Usually trying your best to avoid conversation with the regulars. That didn’t work as well as you hoped and soon enough you were quickly learning all of the local gossip and being included in the group known as the regulars. Which is what you were since you found yourself here four nights out of you week. You didn’t mind spending so much of your time here with Kana it was kind of nice to stray from your comfort zone plus you and Kana were steadily getting closer as friends too. Everything was smooth sailing until you met him.

It was a usual Thursday night you got dressed in your causal but sleek outfit. Wearing a comfortable pair of Jeans that hugged your body nicely not too tight but still showed your curves. You paired it with a black blouse and black ankle boots. You freshened up your make up of the day not needing to try to hard seeing as you weren’t going there to impress anyone. In fact you preferred to not draw any attention. Your brushed through your hair finally heading out of your home and too the dingy bar. Things seemed a little off tonight some felt different but still you took your usual seat as you scanned the bar. It was fairly empty only two other customers sitting all the way at the other end of the counter. Kana wasn’t anywhere to be found, she’s probably just grabbing something back you reasoned. And sure enough you could hear a clang in the back of the establishment that was hidden from the public eye. Although it wasn’t Kana that popped around the corner. Instead stood a tall and extremely handsome guy. He was wild black hair that was strewn in a chaotic fashion but it suited him. You could tell by his physique that he was fit , not too overly muscular but when he reached up to put the box he was carrying on the top shelf you could see a peak of a very well defined v line on his tanned skin. This man was the definition of tall, dark ,and handsome. And that wasn’t even mentioning his intense honey eyes that felt like they pierced your soul with just one look. He wore a black pair of fitted jeans and a red button up with strange print on it. You could inspect the odd design more intensely as he approached you with a smirk plastered on his face. Ah they were little black cats that littered his print. The style screamed I’m stylish but quirky.

“Well hello there sweetheart how can I help you?” You could tell he was using his customer service persona. Ah he goes for the smooth talkng flirt, he probably does very well with middle aged woman, you think.

“Um yeah,” you state giving the room one more look “ do you know where Kana is?” You questioned.

His perked at the mention of your friend. You could see him relax a little as he released some tension rolling his shoulders back. “Ahh you must be YN,” he smiled placing his hands on the bar leaning forward. His voice was a notch higher no longer Using his deep Casanova tone, this one was more natural. You eyes widened at the sound of your name leaving his lips.

“Yeah,” you replied hesitant.

“I’m Kuroo Tetsurou,” he presented his hand offering a firm shake to which you awkwardly accepted. “I’m guessing Kana forgot to inform you that id becoming back to work my usual Thursday shift today did she?” He let out a small chuckle.

Damn it Kana you cursed inside your mind. You could have been cozy in bed right now. “Ha nope she did not,” you let out a sigh. “I didn’t realize she was just covering these last few weeks” you respond.

“She just had my Thursday shift Mondays and Wednesdays are still her regular days.” He grinned “she was nice enough to take my shift while I was out with some family stuff.”

“Ahh I see, well I’ll should probably get out of your hair,” you stated starting to slide off the stool.

“Hey wait you came all the way out here let me get you a drink,” he offered.

You froze in your seat for a moment kind of embarrassed. You felt heat creep to your face as you respond “ oh umm I’m not actually old enough I’m only 18,” your eye locked on the surface in front of you.

He let out a chuckle “let me see your ID.”

Your face scrunched in confusion “but-” you start but he cuts you off.

“Shh just hand it over,” he smiles. You raise your eyebrow as you reach into your handbag fishing out your ID and handing it over. He backs upmholding it as though it was valid. “Well look at that! Sure enough you’re 20,” he gives a cheeky smile “so what can I get you to drink?”

You take back your card placing it back safely in your bag a look of shock present on your youthful features. You lean forward whispering “won’t you get in trouble!” Not wanting to have someone risk their job. He lets out a haughty laugh. “My dads the owner so I’m not too worried.” He stated cockily. “So again what are you drinking sweetheart?” Again he flashed that stupid smirk that sent your stomach doing flips.

After two drinks and some idle chit chat in his free time you decided it probably be best if you headed out. He was quick to stop you. “Ahh come on dont leave so soon I was hoping you’d be my bar buddy too,” he pouted. You rolled your eyes at his teasing. It was enough to keep you there though ordering another drink to nurse. It felt nice chatting and casually flirting with this attractive stranger.

This too became part of your routine. You still went to the bar during Kana’s shift to keep her company but you kept going on Thursday and spending you night talking to Kuroo. The both of you spending most of the night getting to know each other. It was just surface things like school, you found out he was two years older than you going to a university near by studying chemical engineering,and your taste in music which was something you had a lot in common. The conversation focused mainly on you. He always directed the flow of the conversation he was so out going and smooth, always asking questions about your day liked hearing about your day as if being a 3rd year in high school was the most exciting thing. You’d sit there for hours with him trying new drinks sometimes finding yourself leaving the bar at three am as if you didn’t have class in four hours. But you didn’t care it was exhilarating this was the most rebellious thing you had ever done. The flirting was harmless never going to far. And although you wouldn’t admit you were getting a crush on the raven haired bartender.

It was just another Wednesday night but today something inside of you told you to dress up more than you’d usually go for. Tonight you wore a simple black dress with a deep neckline that really showed your figure without being to flashy. Your period had recently finished so knowing you were securely dried up you decided to go for a pair of your fancy red lace panties and a matching bra that always boosted your confidence. Not that anyone would be seeing them. You checked yourself one last time before heading out to the bar and damn did you look hot.

When you entered the bar you were surprised to it was rather busy with customers all over the place, luckily you find a seat at the bar. You noticed that Kenma was also behind the bar. Kenma was the other bartender that worked the shifts opposite of Kana and Kuroo. He was also Kuroo’s best friend. You’ve only met him a couple times when he’d come to the bar to see Kuroo while he was on shift. It must be really busy if they called him in to work the bar with Kana.

Kana gave a sigh of relief and smiled as she saw you sitting at the bar. “Oh my god girl hey,” smiled “do you see how hectic it is?” She laughed. She took a moment to fully look you over her eyes wide.

“Damn girl you look fucking hot!” You felt some pride grow in you hearing your friend complement you. She always looked amazing so hearing that she thought you looked great felt like high praise.

“You want a drink babe?” She asked although it was more a of statement as she was already whipping together a drink before you were finished nodding. She handed you a strong yet sweet drink before she was whisked away by some needy patrons.

You sipped on your drink watching Kana handle the crowd. You and Kenmas eyes would lock every now and then but it’s very short and awkward. You don’t know him very well. Part of your anxieties had you convinced he didn’t like you. But you tried not to read into it to much. Kuroo had told you once that it was just that he wasn’t much of a people person only working at the bar as a favor to Kuroo and his father. You sit there silently observing the world around you not noticing someone taking the seat next to you.

“Boo,” a husky voiced whispered into your ear sending shivers down your spine. Kuroo cackled as you jumped turning around clutching your chest.

“What the hell Kuroo!” You gasped trying to steady your breathing. “They call you in too?” You ask referring to the booming business you sat in.

“Nah it’s my day off and I wanted to come have a drink and bug Kenma,” he rose his hand singling said man for a drink. “But looks like I lucked out now I get to bother you all night,” he smirked.

“Oh really and who said I want to have you around I deal with you enough on Thursdays,” you smiled back with a sly look.

He feigned a look of hurt. “Ouch YN you wound me, I thought we were friends,” giving you look that definitely didn’t come off as just friendly. You just roll your eyes trying to hide your intrigue. “Well it seems I need to prove my friendship to you let me by you a drink.” He rested his hand on yours as he signaled for a refill on your drink.

You should have seen it coming but you acted surprised when after several drinks and a couple rounds of shots you found yourself in the back seat of his car. Your red panties tossed to the side somewhere in the vehicle. You were laying back as he dove under the hem your dress. Kuroo looked up to your face his lips barley an inch away from your heat. He had a devious look on his face as he watched your face flush with need. Your lips were swollen from the heated make out sessions you had outside the bar. He quirked his eyebrow teasingly his heavy breath tickling you. He was waiting. It was almost tortuous but you knew what he wanted.

You pouted your chest rising and falling from your hard breathing. “Please!” You begged. He smiled content with hearing your pleas before diving into you his tongue lapping at your wet folds. Your head fell back in pleasure as he ate you out like a man starved. Your moans filled the car as he worked his skilled tongue in and out of you. He could feel how close you were as he felt you clench around his fingers as he worked you loose. Relief flooded your body as you came on his face. Lust still flooding you as you watched him lick up all your juices. He moved up your body sealing your lips into a searing kiss you could taste your essence on his lips.

Your hands reached down his body grabbing at his bulge. He let out a groan in your ear before picking you up and placing you on his lap. He attacked you neck nippping and sucking harsh purple marks into your skin. He pulled the collar of your dress down pulling your breast out . Moving your bra down he latched his lips around your swollen nipple rolling it between his teeth. You let out a pained moan as you rolled you hips into his lap. He finally hit limit. He lifted you up as he pulled his pants and boxers down before lining his achingly hard length with your wet cunt before pulling you down on it. Both of your groans filled the space as you felt him fill you whole. You hid your face in his neck as you panted while he let you adjust to the intrusion. You could feel his hands roaming your ass pushing the skirt of your dress up. A sudden smack came to your ass. You let out a hiss. He rubbed the mark he left on your soft skin.

“Go ahead sweetheart ride my cock,” he demanded. His dirty words sent shivers over body. You did just as he said starting to move your hips up and down rotating on his dick as it reached deep inside of you. Your body was already on edge from your earlier release so it took no time to have you clenching tightly around him you next orgasm fastly approaching.

“Fuck you’re so god damn tight,” he groaned. Lust took over as he grabbed your hips holding you still as he drilled up into your pliant body. Your moans egged him on as he chased both of your climaxes. He loved the feeling of your pussy clamping down on him. Feeling you milk his cock drained him of his will and of his semen as he came deep into you.

You both sat there for a moment both coming down from your highs. Bodies worn from the intense session you had just had. He groaned throughing his head back, “fuck I didn’t wear a condom,” he cursed.

“I’m on birth control” you breathed moving off his lap. You searched for your panties sliding them on quickly trying to contain the mess between your legs.

“Good, that’s good,” he breathed a sigh of relief he looked around both of you. It seemed no one notice dyour little drunken romp in the parking lot. There was a slight awkward pause neither knowing what to say.

“Well that was great,” he offered, “uhh do you need a ride home?” He questioned.

You shook your head, “no I’ll just grab a quick Uber home,” you respond pulling your phone out to do just that.

He nodded seeming to like that idea not wanting you to walk home. “I’ll probably head back in and sober up a little before heading home. I definitely can’t drive right now. I’m not even sure my legs will get me back inside,” he laughed. You giggled as well. A chime rang from your phone, your ride would be pulling up soon.

“Hey give me your number and message me when you get phone safe.” He said taking the phone to send a message to himself successfully trading numbers. He gave you one more deep kiss before you left to catch your Uber.

That night your body passed out exhausted. You knew you were going to regret drinking so much tomorrow morning when you have to wake up for class.

And damn was your body sore. Your head was ponding from all the alcohol and the rest was sore from the wild sex you had. Still you woke up bright and early making sure to shower off any evidence from your delinquent activities. You made sure to take some Advil before leaving for school opting to skip breakfast since your stomach was still unstable from the liquor. Your morning classes were relatively easy not but extremely boring. You found yourself daydreaming through most of your history class thinking back to your night with Kuroo. Little fantasys of dates, and more long talks at the bar, even some naughty ideas popped into your head. It was almost like you willed him into existence because not two seconds later your phone vibrated. Your heart skipped a beat seeing his name pop up in your notifications. You laughed at the way he saved his number last night. Oh my god he texted me you thought you were so giddy. That was until you read the messages.

Kuroo 🥵: Hey YN.

Kuroo 🥵: Last night was a Mistake. Look I have a girlfriend and I love her so I think it’s best we pretend last night never happened. Sorry.

Ouch. That hurt.

General Taglist: @diesinspanishbcimhispanic @graykageyama

Taglist: @captain-janeway @elianetsantana

[studiobeebo]

~♡ Shio, Shoyu, Miso ♡~ [1/?]

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Pairing: Megumi Fushiguro x Female (she/her) Reader

Warnings: None

Words: 1.9K

Genre: y’all already know it’s just gonna be fluff

A/N: so i made a lil thing sorta based off this cute thing i saw on reddit. idk what i’m doing pls don’t ask.

reblogs are greatly appreciated as they are the main way to get my works around so please consider doing so if you like it! enjoy!

When you had first met Megumi, you honestly didn’t think much of him.

Now, that’s not to say you didn’t find him attractive, but a cute guy around your age coming into the shop with a few of his friends just really wasn’t something very noteworthy in your life. You had only been helping your parents around your family owned ramen shop for about a year or so, but that was long enough to know that the general demographic was people who wanted a tasty, warm meal without having to blow too much money. Needless to say, teenagers fit that demographic fairly well. 

Your shop was well known in the area, but it was by no means fancy. In fact the building was a tad bit run down, you didn’t even have any decorations or anything hanging up on the walls and the entirety of it only seated maybe thirty people, so it was clear people didn’t frequent the place because of the ambiance. No, the reason you always seemed to have a steady stream of customers was that the food was simply so good that despite the lack of an enticing atmosphere or even many food options, people couldn’t help but be drawn to it. That mashed together with your friendly family and the decent prices made for a perfect little neighborhood place to eat. So again, when a group of three slightly noisy teenagers sat themselves down at one of the bar tables on the far side of the seating area, you didn’t really have any reason to bat an eye.

“Hey welcome guys!” You put on your usual cheery customer service voice as you filled their glasses with ice water, trying not to lean into any of their personal spaces. “Your options are salt, soy, or miso ramen, with or without beef and or pork. Do you need some time to think about it or do you think you’re ready to order now?” 

Like you said, there weren’t many options.

“Oh, can I get soy?! Or maybe- hm, maybe I’ll have miso…”

“You’re tasteless, miso is the worst kind.”

“I bet you’ve never even tried it, Kugisaki!”

“They’re going to need a minute to think. That bit’s hard for them.” 

The taller boy with dark hair and an apparently permanent scowl on his face groaned out in annoyance, his eyes only meeting yours for a moment before he turned to yell at the other two to lower their voices. You nodded with a smile, leaving them to decide and chuckling to yourself as you moved on to ask the customers at the other tables if they were doing ok.

“Ok! Excuse me- er....crap, what was her name again Fushiguro?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, usually you remember to ask the important stuff like that!”

The not-so-subtle arguing was enough to catch your attention as you made your way back over to the trio, your smile being a bit more genuine this time around in response to their odd yet funny dynamic.

“It’s (Y/N), sorry about that guys! So, what can I get for ya?”

The three of them listed off their orders and after you repeated them back for confirmation, you gave them a quick thumbs up before going back to the kitchen to put their orders in with your dad. Within a moment of your absence, Itadori was turning to Fushiguro with that excited puppy look that adorned his face almost 24/7.

“She’s kind of pretty, don’t you think?”

Fushiguro’s eye twitched, but luckily Kugisaki was quick to butt in with an argument of ‘How come you’re only asking him what he thinks, huh?!’. It was a simple question, but what annoyed him was the added use of ‘kind of’. Itadori was extremely simple, so the thought that he only thought you were ‘kind of’ pretty irritated him because how could Fushiguro be here doing a double take just to get a better look at your features every time you spoke to them while Itadori just barely took note of it? It was uncharacteristic, but he couldn’t disagree. He could tell you definitely had a slight air of putting on a cheery showiness for the sake of good customer service, but either way, you were...cute, and he was insistent on leaving it at that without bothering to admit to it out loud.

“I hope you both know you’re paying for yourselves.” He interrupted, hoping their argument had moved on from their waitress so that he wouldn’t be asked about his thoughts on you again. 

“Eh?! Since when were you so cheap!”

“Ok guys!”

The three of them jumped slightly at the sound of your voice, simultaneously turning to see you holding up a tray with three steaming bowls of ramen sat atop of it. 

“Soy with beef, soy with pork..” You listed off while setting the bowls in front of the copper haired girl and the smiley boy respectively, “And miso with no topping.” You finished, eyes flicking up to meet the dark haired boys as you placed the final bowl in front of him. It was only for a moment, but you could have sworn your saw a speckle of pink dust his cheeks before he looked away from you with a short “Thanks.”.

“Mhm, no problem.” You hummed out, scanning your eyes around the restaurant to see if you were immediately needed elsewhere before deciding to continue and indulge your interest in the three, or more specifically, your interest in the cute boy with the black hair. “So... you guys are from that traditional religious high school, right?”

The pink haired one’s eyes lit up as he struggled to finish the noodles he was halfway through slurping up so that he could speak.

“Yeah, yeah! I guess our uniforms are a giveaway..”

You laughed, leaning your back against the empty seat that sat next to them at the bar. As if you needed any further confirmation, you could tell he was the energetic extrovert of the group.

“Yeah, you don’t really see many of them around. Though I’ve heard it’s kind of a hard school to get into.”

“Pfft, maybe for normal people, it was no sweat for us.” There was that copper haired girl again with a confident look on her face as she too stopped eating to interject, though you hardly took what she said in a bad way as she didn’t seem to mean any harm from it.

“That so? Guess I’ll have to call you guys next time I’m having trouble with my classes, I swear I can barely manage the workload I get.”

“Haha I feel that, I actually started school elsewhere but I just transferred a few months ago! Oh- I’m Itadori by the way! This is Kugisaki, and Fushiguro’s the sulking rude one!”

“Hey.” Fushiguro finally stopped his eavesdropping to join in, sending a glare Itadori’s way, but he just seemed to brush it off as if he’d been under his friends' scrutiny plenty of times before. After a moment though he turned back to you, though as much as he wanted to say something to you, he didn’t really know what to say. He wasn’t like Itadori or Kugisaki who could just strike up a conversation with anyone anywhere, but while he turned over his conversational options in his head, you pushed away from where you had previously been leaning and gave a sheepish, apologetic smile that easily brought his attention away from his thoughts. 

“No no you’re good- Sorry, I should be leavin’ you guys to eat anyway. Just call me over when you’re ready to pay or if you need anything, alright?” You spoke, your words being directed more towards who you now knew as ‘Fushiguro’, however it was his two friends who responded with an affirmation before going back to their meals.

Once again you were off to tend to other tables and do the other tidbits of your job, though this time your head was filled with questions galore. Did Jujutsu Tech students come into town often, or was this some special outing? What grades were the three of them in? And most importantly, you wondered if they would ever be coming back? You weren’t one to get flustered or form crushes easily, but you had to admit you were a bit taken by Fushiguro. He was cute, sure, but he had a cool, mature air about him that could make anyone be left wanting to know more about him, especially because most of the conversation you did have was with his friends and not him. However once again your mental flow was interrupted by Itadori waving you over, barely waiting for you to make your way by their side to start speaking while the three of them handed over their respective payments.

“That was crazy good, (Y/N), we’ll have to come by some time again if that’s ok!”

“It’s not like she’s the one making it, Itadori.”

“You realize that a restaurant’s whole goal is to get people to come back, right? Of course it’s ‘ok’..”

Despite Fushiguro’s matter-of-fact statement, his eyes still shifted to yours as if he secretly wanted to know if you wanted them to come back as well and the smile you gave him in return only solidified the fact that he wanted to return either way. Though of course he boiled that down to ‘The service was good and so was the food’, but part of him knew that was bullshit.

“I’d love to see you guys around again!” You said, collecting up their empty bowls as you spoke. “I work most weekends and some days after class so you should try to stop in while I’m here.”

“Hell yeah!” Itadori exclaimed as the three of them got up from their seats one after the other, Kugisaki and Itadori saying their goodbye’s as they pardoned their way through the tables and other customers to leave, though Fushiguro stayed behind for a moment, a hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he spoke.

“...Sorry about them, it’s practically like wrangling preschoolers whenever we aren’t on du- er, in class.” 

He knew the apology wasn’t necessary and that you didn’t seem all that bothered by either of his friends’ lively personalities, but he found himself feeling a bit...left out in the fact that he had yet to really speak to you. Why he even felt compelled to speak to you in the first place was a mystery, but he figured that was one question that didn’t really need an answer for right now.

“Oh, it’s no problem.” You laughed, giving another smile as you tried your hardest to not act as fidgety as you were feeling on the inside. “I mean- I’ve got friends like that too so I-“

“Excuse me?” 

A polite voice cut you off halfway through your sentence and you turned to see an older woman waving you over, clearly not wanting to be rude but wanting your attention nevertheless.

“Sorry-“

“You’re fine!” You sputtered out, maybe a bit too excited as you slowly backed away from him, “I’ll see you around if you guys stop by again, huh, Fushiguro?”

His eyes widened slightly, a bit surprised by that hopeful tone to your voice before he nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and a bit of slightly shameful excitement tugging at his heart. 

“Yeah, we’ll- I’ll see you around.”

[thecitythatdoesntsleep]

Lukas J. Verino - Character Sheet

Name: Lukas Jade Verino

Nickname(s): Lulu, JJ/JV (Highschool)

Age: 23

Birthday: April 19th, 1999

Profession: 'Contracted' to a club as a live feed source. (Grim's.)

Closest friends: Val Zugravescu, TBA

Love interest(s): Mina Alinsky, Val Zugravescu

Past: Lukas grew up just outside the city limits of Knightvail, close to the mountains and farmland. When he was around 15, a bad storm went well past expected progression and flooded a majority of the area, ruining any chances of farming. His already-strained home life went from bad to worse when his family was forced to move into temporary housing and his father picked up a drinking habit. By the time they were able to move, they did so without Lukas in mind; choosing a single bedroom and giving him the option of a storage closet or the streets.

By the time he was seventeen, the abuse had become too much to handle and he wanted to be anywhere other than 'home'. He started roaming the streets and hanging out at dive bars and diners; whatever he could find open for the night and wherever wouldn't pay him any mind.

One night, he was met with an offer, a shimmering needle full of vampire blood and a smooth-talking, pretty-faced vampire. He turned them down but it didn't take much convincing for him to give in.

Lukas spiraled into insatiable addiction, over and over again to get his re-up until one day, the vampire inquired about payment. When he asked how much he owed, the number towered over him at a million dollars and he finally realized what had happened. They trapped him and hooked him without him even knowing they'd ever require payment. He'd been too naive to think it was free.

Days before his 18th birthday, Lukas was kidnapped and taken to the place he'd spend the next five years of his life. After as little as three weeks of training, he was deemed floor-ready and his first raffle was purchased by Sang Lee but gifted to another vampire.

~Personality (Basic)~

Hobbies-

(Prior to club): Horseback riding, taking care of farm animals, hiking the trails/forests, photography, sketching nature/plants. (During club): reading, physical exercise if not too strained.

(After club): Gardening, running on the beach, swimming, volunteering for animal shelters.

Strengths (mental/emotional): Resilient, Willing to give second chances, Hopeful, Strong willed, Passionate, Loyal to a fault,

Weaknesses (mental/emotional): Easy to manipulate, Falls in love too quickly/Poor relationship boundaries, Self-destructive, Hot-headed, Acts before thinking, Selfish minded, Lives in paranoid survival mode.

Strengths (physical): High pain tolerance, Strong immune system; Good physical health due to vampire blood.

Weaknesses (physical): Masochistic wiring, Easily Addictive system, Bones are strong but tend to break in multiple places at once.

Dreams: Escaping the club, Finding a partner, Working a 'normal' job, Owning a house with enough land for horses.

Fears: Being sold to a cruel vampire/owner, Dying in the club, Being treated like an animal/actual pet, Burning alive, Extremely small spaces such as storage closets or lockers/chests.

-

Extrovert/introvert/ambivert

Dreamer/realist/half-half

Prefers heat/cold

Give/receive

Early/late to bed at night

Weird dreams/good dreams/nightmares/no dreams most nights

Leader/follower

Lover/fighter/more lover than fighter/more fighter than lover

Plan ahead/go with the flow

Strong memory/forgetful (Trauma-related memory loss)

Hugger/extremely physically affectionate/less physically affectionate

~Favorites~

Food: Pizza or cheesecake, any kinds of toppings on either one.

Drink: Clear sodas, lemon lime drinks, anything bitter or sour. Coffee. He’s gotten fairly used to drinking water. 

Season: Spring or fall, when everything is growing or changing colors.

Holiday: Christmas, despite having only a handful of good memories of it. 

Aesthetic: Fresh, open. Light colors, soft things. He’s taken a big appreciation for luxury after being stripped of it. 

 Kink(s): Being man handled, his hair being pulled, overstimulation, being bitten/biting, being restrained. Kissing. He likes it more than he’d like to admit.  

Trait(s) in a partner: Gentle, hard to fluster and able to let him be emotional. Physically affectionate, likes to kiss and touch often, doesn’t mind if he’s clingy. High libido. Enough said.

Relationship Favorite(s): Sleepy cuddles, being relied/depended on, giving or receiving comfort. Sleeping together, doing domestic things together. Being needed and made aware of it. Taking photos together or making things together; something to put on a shelf or wall. 

~Appearance~

Eyes: Kelly Green

Hair: Jet Black

Skin: Pale, naturally pallid. Generally clear complexion.

Height: 5'11" - 180cm

Weight: 144lbs - 65kg

Fashion preferences: Comfortable, relaxed. Teeshirts, sweats, jeans, hoodies, flannels, and tank tops. Boots or Sneakers. No in-between.

Scars/Other: Lukas has a very small, thin scar across his stomach from an appendectomy in his youth. As well as a birthmark of darkened skin on his left buttcheek shaped like a strawberry.

Tattoos: Tiny leaves on his strawberry birthmark and seeds that have been tattooed on.

~Other~

Languages (spoken/read): English, primary and native.

Alcohol tolerance: High, hard to intoxicate.

Drug tolerance: Resistant, high doses needed.

Zodiac: Sun | Aries - Ascendant | Aquarius - Moon | Gemini

Chinese Zodiac: Rabbit

Personality type: ISTP-T

[strawbeebo]

~♡ Shio, Shoyu, Miso ♡~ [1/3]

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Pairing: Megumi Fushiguro x Fem! (She/Her) Reader

Warnings: None

Words: 1.9K

Genre: Fluff

PART 2 | PART 3

When you had first met Megumi, you honestly didn’t think much of him.

Now, that’s not to say you didn’t find him attractive, but a cute guy around your age coming into the shop with a few of his friends just really wasn’t something very noteworthy in your life. You had only been helping your parents around your family owned ramen shop for about a year or so, but that was long enough to know that the general demographic was people who wanted a tasty, warm meal without having to blow too much money. Needless to say, teenagers fit that demographic fairly well.

Your shop was well known in the area, but it was by no means fancy. In fact the building was a tad bit run down, you didn’t even have any decorations or anything hanging up on the walls and the entirety of it only seated maybe thirty people, so it was clear people didn’t frequent the place because of the ambiance. No, the reason you always seemed to have a steady stream of customers was that the food was simply so good that despite the lack of an enticing atmosphere or even many food options, people couldn’t help but be drawn to it. That mashed together with your friendly family and the decent prices made for a perfect little neighborhood place to eat. So again, when a group of three slightly noisy teenagers sat themselves down at one of the bar tables on the far side of the seating area, you didn’t really have any reason to bat an eye.

“Hey welcome guys!” You put on your usual cheery customer service voice as you filled their glasses with ice water, trying not to lean into any of their personal spaces. “Your options are salt, soy, or miso ramen, with or without beef and or pork. Do you need some time to think about it or do you think you’re ready to order now?”

Like you said, there weren’t many options.

“Oh, can I get soy?! Or maybe- hm, maybe I’ll have miso…”

“You’re tasteless, miso is the worst kind.”

“I bet you’ve never even tried it, Kugisaki!”

“They’re going to need a minute to think. That bit’s hard for them.”

The taller boy with dark hair and an apparently permanent scowl on his face groaned out in annoyance, his eyes only meeting yours for a moment before he turned to yell at the other two to lower their voices. You nodded with a smile, leaving them to decide and chuckling to yourself as you moved on to ask the customers at the other tables if they were doing ok.

“Ok! Excuse me- er….crap, what was her name again Fushiguro?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, usually you remember to ask the important stuff like that!”

The not-so-subtle arguing was enough to catch your attention as you made your way back over to the trio, your smile being a bit more genuine this time around in response to their odd yet funny dynamic.

“It’s (Y/N), sorry about that guys! So, what can I get for ya?”

The three of them listed off their orders and after you repeated them back for confirmation, you gave them a quick thumbs up before going back to the kitchen to put their orders in with your dad. Within a moment of your absence, Itadori was turning to Fushiguro with that excited puppy look that adorned his face almost 24/7.

“She’s kind of pretty, don’t you think?”

Fushiguro’s eye twitched, but luckily Kugisaki was quick to butt in with an argument of ‘How come you’re only asking him what he thinks, huh?!’. It was a simple question, but what annoyed him was the added use of ‘kind of’. Itadori was extremely simple, so the thought that he only thought you were ‘kind of’ pretty irritated him because how could Fushiguro be here doing a double take just to get a better look at your features every time you spoke to them while Itadori just barely took note of it? It was uncharacteristic, but he couldn’t disagree. He could tell you definitely had a slight air of putting on a cheery showiness for the sake of good customer service, but either way, you were…cute, and he was insistent on leaving it at that without bothering to admit to it out loud.

“I hope you both know you’re paying for yourselves.” He interrupted, hoping their argument had moved on from their waitress so that he wouldn’t be asked about his thoughts on you again.

“Eh?! Since when were you so cheap!”

“Ok guys!”

The three of them jumped slightly at the sound of your voice, simultaneously turning to see you holding up a tray with three steaming bowls of ramen sat atop of it.

“Soy with beef, soy with pork..” You listed off while setting the bowls in front of the copper haired girl and the smiley boy respectively, “And miso with no topping.” You finished, eyes flicking up to meet the dark haired boys as you placed the final bowl in front of him. It was only for a moment, but you could have sworn your saw a speckle of pink dust his cheeks before he looked away from you with a short “Thanks.”.

“Mhm, no problem.” You hummed out, scanning your eyes around the restaurant to see if you were immediately needed elsewhere before deciding to continue and indulge your interest in the three, or more specifically, your interest in the cute boy with the black hair. “So… you guys are from that traditional religious high school, right?”

The pink haired one’s eyes lit up as he struggled to finish the noodles he was halfway through slurping up so that he could speak.

“Yeah, yeah! I guess our uniforms are a giveaway..”

You laughed, leaning your back against the empty seat that sat next to them at the bar. As if you needed any further confirmation, you could tell he was the energetic extrovert of the group.

“Yeah, you don’t really see many of them around. Though I’ve heard it’s kind of a hard school to get into.”

“Pfft, maybe for normal people, it was no sweat for us.” There was that copper haired girl again with a confident look on her face as she too stopped eating to interject, though you hardly took what she said in a bad way as she didn’t seem to mean any harm from it.

“That so? Guess I’ll have to call you guys next time I’m having trouble with my classes, I swear I can barely manage the workload I get.”

“Haha I feel that, I actually started school elsewhere but I just transferred a few months ago! Oh- I’m Itadori by the way! This is Kugisaki, and Fushiguro’s the sulking rude one!”

“Hey.” Fushiguro finally stopped his eavesdropping to join in, sending a glare Itadori’s way, but he just seemed to brush it off as if he’d been under his friends’ scrutiny plenty of times before. After a moment though he turned back to you, though as much as he wanted to say something to you, he didn’t really know what to say. He wasn’t like Itadori or Kugisaki who could just strike up a conversation with anyone anywhere, but while he turned over his conversational options in his head, you pushed away from where you had previously been leaning and gave a sheepish, apologetic smile that easily brought his attention away from his thoughts.

“No no you’re good- Sorry, I should be leavin’ you guys to eat anyway. Just call me over when you’re ready to pay or if you need anything, alright?” You spoke, your words being directed more towards who you now knew as ‘Fushiguro’, however it was his two friends who responded with an affirmation before going back to their meals.

Once again you were off to tend to other tables and do the other tidbits of your job, though this time your head was filled with questions galore. Did Jujutsu Tech students come into town often, or was this some special outing? What grades were the three of them in? And most importantly, you wondered if they would ever be coming back? You weren’t one to get flustered or form crushes easily, but you had to admit you were a bit taken by Fushiguro. He was cute, sure, but he had a cool, mature air about him that could make anyone be left wanting to know more about him, especially because most of the conversation you did have was with his friends and not him. However once again your mental flow was interrupted by Itadori waving you over, barely waiting for you to make your way by their side to start speaking while the three of them handed over their respective payments.

“That was crazy good, (Y/N), we’ll have to come by some time again if that’s ok!”

“It’s not like she’s the one making it, Itadori.”

“You realize that a restaurant’s whole goal is to get people to come back, right? Of course it’s ‘ok’..”

Despite Fushiguro’s matter-of-fact statement, his eyes still shifted to yours as if he secretly wanted to know if you wanted them to come back as well and the smile you gave him in return only solidified the fact that he wanted to return either way. Though of course he boiled that down to ‘The service was good and so was the food’, but part of him knew that was bullshit.

“I’d love to see you guys around again!” You said, collecting up their empty bowls as you spoke. “I work most weekends and some days after class so you should try to stop in while I’m here.”

“Hell yeah!” Itadori exclaimed as the three of them got up from their seats one after the other, Kugisaki and Itadori saying their goodbye’s as they pardoned their way through the tables and other customers to leave, though Fushiguro stayed behind for a moment, a hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he spoke.

“…Sorry about them, it’s practically like wrangling preschoolers whenever we aren’t on du- er, in class.”

He knew the apology wasn’t necessary and that you didn’t seem all that bothered by either of his friends’ lively personalities, but he found himself feeling a bit…left out in the fact that he had yet to really speak to you. Why he even felt compelled to speak to you in the first place was a mystery, but he figured that was one question that didn’t really need an answer for right now.

“Oh, it’s no problem.” You laughed, giving another smile as you tried your hardest to not act as fidgety as you were feeling on the inside. “I mean- I’ve got friends like that too so I-“

“Excuse me?”

A polite voice cut you off halfway through your sentence and you turned to see an older woman waving you over, clearly not wanting to be rude but wanting your attention nevertheless.

“Sorry-“

“You’re fine!” You sputtered out, maybe a bit too excited as you slowly backed away from him, “I’ll see you around if you guys stop by again, huh, Fushiguro?”

His eyes widened slightly, a bit surprised by that hopeful tone to your voice before he nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and a bit of slightly shameful excitement tugging at his heart.

“Yeah, we’ll- I’ll see you around.”

[tsarisfanfiction]

For the touch ask, could I ask for putting a hand over the other’s mouth to shut them up with John and Scott? Whichever way your muse sways with it?

Bad Night Out

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort Characters: Scott, John

Ooh, yes, this sounds like a fun prompt.  So many possibilities here (and actually narrowing down to one is a challenge!  I’m starting to answer this and I still don’t know where I’m going to roll with it exactly, so we’ll see what happens...

Touches Ask Game

Scott couldn’t see.  That was alarming, because the last he could remember, he could see and he was fairly certain his eyes were open.  His head was also pounding, and he knew he’d been drinking, but he didn’t think he’d been drinking that much.

He couldn’t hear much, either.  There was a ringing sound, faint but high-pitched enough to be annoying, and maybe something nudging against something else with a dull thud in the distance, but nothing concrete.  Certainly nothing to tell him what had happened and why he was blinded.

It also didn’t tell him where his brother was.  John had been reluctant to go out in the first place, but Scott hadn’t wanted to go alone and none of his other brothers were old enough.  Besides, getting out of the house from time to time was good for him, no matter what he might protest.  A few drinks, some turns around the pool table, and a dartboard begging for projectiles - something John was better at than he liked to let on - and it was supposed to be a nice, fun evening.

This wasn’t fun.

“Jo-”

A hand slammed across his mouth, almost yanking his head back with the force of it, and his brother’s name was immediately muffled by someone’s palm.

“Shhhh.”  It was John’s voice, which was the only reason Scott wasn’t immediately throwing the perpetrator off.  A warm body pressed down on his back, bringing his awareness to the fact that he was lying on the floor, and breath tickled his ear.  “Not a word.”  It was barely breathed, almost impossible to make out despite lips brushing his skin.

Scott surmised that there was something he was missing about the situation, but with John’s hand still firmly clamped over his mouth it was clear that now was not the time to ask.

Faint thuds grew louder, closer, and Scott still couldn’t see but he could feel John tensing and the way his chest stilled.  Taking a cue from that, he held his own breath, feeling his pulse thrumming as adrenaline began to spike.  They were hiding - that much was clear, even if he didn’t know what they were hiding from - and Scott frantically tried to get his thoughts and memories in order.

Nothing.  Having fun at the bar, drawing John out of his shell with a pint and just some good brotherly conversation, and then nothing.  Blind, feeling like he had the hangover of the century, and John on top of him with a hand firmly over his mouth.

Something went thud, much closer - close enough for the vibrations through the floor to reach him - and he tensed.  John’s head lowered, cheek pressed against his, and for a moment he feared they’d been found by whatever they were hiding from.

Then something that was recognisably footsteps sounded, gradually fading away, and he instinctively let out the breath he was holding even though John remained taut for several more moments before relaxing himself.

Still, nothing was said and his brother’s hand didn’t move from his mouth until there was another distant thud, sounding disturbingly final.  Only then did John release him, rolling off of his back and presumably sitting up.  Scott still couldn’t see.

“We have to get out of here,” John told him, still quietly.  “Can you stand?”

Scott tried to push himself up, only for his arms to tremble and buckle, sending him back to the floor.  With a grunt of frustration, and trying to ignore the agitated hammers in his head, he tried again.  That time, hands caught his arms and he felt John pull him to his feet.

“What happened?” he grunted as his arm was dragged over John’s shoulders, one hand settling on his waist and long fingers catching his wrist to secure him.

“Extremists,” his brother told him.  “Making a statement no doubt.”  Scott groaned - the Global Conflict might have been over for a decade and change, but there were still pockets of unrest.  John made an agreeing noise, and then Scott was being tugged forwards, stumbling over debris he couldn’t see.

“Anyone turning the lights on any time soon?” he muttered as his toe hit a particularly stubborn piece of something and pain jolted up his leg.

“You took a hard hit to the head,” John replied.  “We need to get to a hospital.”

“What?”

That couldn’t be right.  He... he couldn’t be blind.  If he was blind, then... then...

“Scott, I need you to breathe,” his brother snapped.  “Don’t pass out on me.”

“I can’t see, John.”  His voice was high, cutting painfully through the throbbing, and he felt the hand on his waist tighten its hold.  “I-  I can’t-”

“Panicking won’t help.”  John’s voice was steady.  “It’s probably just the blood in your eyes.”

Blood?

Scott brought the hand not slung across John’s shoulder up to his head, and ow, that was a pain epicentre flaring up.  Black turned to white for a moment and he staggered.

“Scott.”  John brought them to a stop for a moment.  “Don’t touch it.  There’s a triage centre being set up in the street; we’ll get there and they can look you over.”

“What about you?”  He couldn’t see, didn’t know if John was hurt, too.  He didn’t sound hurt, but John had a deadly poker face.

“Couple of scratches but nothing a band-aid won’t fix,” John told him.  “I’m not the one that got hit by a chunk of the bar when it went flying.  Come on, we’re almost there.”

Scott was pulled forwards again, stumbling over the carnage that seemed to be the remains of the bar they’d been in, until John guided him to sit on what felt like a bar stool with a missing leg.

He didn’t let go, which told Scott more about his mental state than anything else.

Then again, as cool, unfamiliar fingers probed at his head and his vision whited out again, Scott realised it was probably also to make sure he didn’t topple off the precarious seat.

“Looks worse than it is,” an unfamiliar voice proclaimed.  “You’ll need a hospital anyway, but he’ll be fine.  Your boyfriend’s got a hard head.”

John stuttered something in response, as uncomfortable as ever talking to strangers, but Scott was fairly sure it was supposed to be a correction.  An agreement seemed to be in the garbled words as well, which had Scott scowling until his head told him extreme facial expressions weren’t allowed.

“The ambulances should be here soon,” the voice continued, seemingly unconcerned with John’s attempts to communicate.  “Not much we can do until then, so just keep hold of him and don’t let him pass out.”

“Head hurts too much for that,” Scott grumbled, finding himself leaning against where John was presumably still standing beside him.  “A nap would be nice, though.”

“Scott.”  John didn’t sound amused, if the warning tone was anything to go by.

“I know,” he groaned.  “Well, this wasn’t the night out I’d planned.”

That, at least, got a reluctant chuckle from his brother.  “I’d be worried if you had planned this, Scotty.  Next time you’re going out to extremist targets, leave me at home.”

“Next time, I don’t want to be here either.”  He closed his eyes, figuring if that he was going to be hopefully only temporarily blinded he might as well make it seem like a choice, and slumped further into his brother’s side.  “This sucks.”

Long, slender fingers carded gently though his hair, away from the source of the pain.  “Agreed.”

[raeynbowboi]

The Character Forge: How to Play as Link in DnD 5e

Link is without a doubt one of the most iconic heroes in fiction, which is why I’m excited to work on this build of Link. Now, of course Link has a long history of games where he’s had a wide variety of skills and abilities. So, for this build, I wanted to focus on his most recurring skills and items, and try to find DnD items with similar effects, if possible, to fill out his arsenal. Link is a multi-talented young man who has a talent for many skills, weapons, and items. He’s extremely flexible in what he can work with, and that was a primary focus of this build: to broaden his abilities as much as I could.

The Makings of a Hero

Hylians are clearly some kind of elf. You could make Link a Human or Variant Human if you want, but if it looks like an elf and it hyaas like an elf, chances are it’s an elf. There are a lot of kinds of elf he could be. Hylians are closely connected to the gods and think highly of themselves, so High Elf is a strong possibility. But Link is also something of a wilderness expert, so he could be a Wood Elf too.

Link is clearly good, but where on the goodness scale is a little less clear. He is a champion for goodness and light, so he could be Lawful Good, but he’s also jokingly famous for breaking into random houses and smashing random pots to steal people’s hidden money, so he could fall under Chaotic Good. And that divide could also make him Neutral Good.

As for background, that also tends to differ between game. Sometimes he’s a simple villager, a rancher, a farmer, a knight, an amnesiac foreigner. He’s so inconsistent that it’s better to just give him a background that covers the skills he doesn’t pick up from his build. Top contenders for Link’s background would be Outlander, Knight of the Order, Soldier, Far Traveler, and Folk Hero.

Skills, Abilities, & Items

Weapons      -Longsword      -Shield      -Bow and Arrows      -Bombs      -Slingshot      -Boomerang      -Greatsword      -Club      -Spear      -Magical Rods Skills      -Horse Riding      -Mounted Combat      -Dungeon Crawler      -Puzzle-solving      -Weapon proficiency      -Fighting Maneuvers Famous Items      -Triforce of Courage      -Master Sword      -Hylian Shield/Mirror Shield      -Hero Bow      -Ocarina of Time      -Power Bracelet/Golden Gauntlets      -Zora Tunic/Mermaid Suit/Zora Flippers      -Roc’s Feather/Feather Cape/Hover Boots/Glider      -Hookshot/Longshot      -Gale Boomerang      -Wind Waker      -Pegasus Boots/Pegasus Seeds      -Biggoron’s Sword      -Fire Rod      -Fire Arrow/Lightning Arrow/Ice Arrow/Light Arrow      -Ball and Chain      -Fierce Deity Mask

Get to Class

Fighter     Arcane Archer     Battle Master     Cavalier/Knight     Champion     Monster Hunter     Scout     Sharpshooter

Paladin     Ancients     Crown     Devotion     Heroism

Ranger     Hunter     Monster Hunter

Rogue     Inquisitive     Scout     Swashbuckler

Stats & Proficiencies

Honestly, Link was hard to stat balance at first. I figured his best stat should be Constitution to correlate with a late-game number of heart containers. Link needs to be able to take a serious hit, and he spends most of the game getting a bigger health bar for just that very reason. Aside from Constitution, nothing really stood out as more important, though Intelligence and Charisma can get the shaft a bit, as Intelligence covers mostly book-learning which Link isn’t really known for, and largely in part to being a mute, aside from dancing in the Subrosia dance hall or playing his Ocarina, Link isn’t exactly great with Charisma-based skills. That’s not to say he’s really bad at anything, though. Link is a real Renaissance Man, as he’s good pretty much everything. Which means he shouldn’t have any negative modifiers. But Link is also not the pinnacle of strength, durability, or insightfulness. He needs items to perform feats of great strength, speed, or stamina, and wouldn’t get very far without them, so he’s also not going to be the max in any of his stats either. Rather, he’s going to be competent in Intelligence and Charisma, and fairly good at everything else.

Proficiencies:      Acrobatics      Animal Handling      Athletics      Insight      Investigation      Nature      Perception      Stealth      Survival

Link’s New Toys

    -Bag of Holding     -Triforce of Courage (Banner of the Krig Rune)     -Mastersword (Dawnbringer)     -Hylian Shield (Shield of the Hidden Lord, Shield +3)     -Mirror Shield (Repulsion Shield)     -Hero’s Bow (Oathbow)     -Golden Gauntlets (Gauntlets of Ogre Power)     -Zora Tunic/Mermaid Suit (Cap of Water Breathing, Cloak of the Manta Ray)     -Gale Boomerang (Storm Boomerang)     -Hover Boots (Boots of Levitation)     -Pegasus Boots (Boots of Speed, Boots of Striding and Springing)     -Fire Rod (Necklace of Fireball)*     -Fierce Deity Mask (Mask of the Dragon Queen) *There are items like the Wand of Fireball and the Staff of Fire, but both items require the holder to be a magic user, which Link is not.

Name: Link Race: High Elf Background: Outlander Alignment: Neutral Good Class: Monster Slayer Ranger (6)             Battle Master Fighter (10)             Inquisitive Rogue (4) Base Stats:      Strength: 16 (+3)      Dexterity: 14 (+2)      Constitution: 18 (+4)      Intelligence: 10 (0)      Wisdom: 16 (+3)      Charisma: 10 (0) Saving Throws:      Strength: +9      Dexterity: +8      Constitution: +3      Intelligence: 0      Wisdom: +3      Charisma: 0 Combat Stats:      HP: 200      AC: 15      Speed: 30      Initiative: +2      Number of Attacks: 2      Proficiency Bonus: +6      Passive Perception: 19      Dark Vision: 60 feet Proficiencies and Expertise:      Acrobatics (Rogue)      Animal Handling (Ranger)      Athletics (Outlander)      Insight (Ranger)      Investigation (Ranger)      Perception (Elf)      Survival (Outlander) Skills:      Acrobatics: +8                 Medicine: +3      Animal Handling: +9        Nature: +6      Arcana: 0                         Perception: +9      Athletics: +15                   Performance: 0      Deception: 0                    Persuasion: 0      History: 0                         Religion:0      Insight: +9                        Sleight of Hand: +2      Intimidation: 0                  Stealth: +8      Investigation: +6              Survival: +15 Condition Resistances:        Charmed Immunities:        Sleep Racial Feature: Elf        Elven Weapon Training: Proficiency with Shortsword, Longsword, Shortbow, and Longbow. Ranger Feature: Fighting Style      Archery: Add +2 to attack rolls for ranged weapons. Ranger Feature: Favored Terrain      Forest     Grassland Ranger Feature: Favored Enemy      Monstrosity      Fiend Fighter Feature: Fighting Style      Dueling: Add +2 to melee damage rolls when using 1 one-handed weapon. Fighter Feature: Superiority Die      5 (1d10s) Fighter Feature: Maneuvers      Disarming Attack: spend a superiority die to force your target to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed roll, it drops 1 item of your choosing.      Feinting Attack: spend a superiority die as a bonus action, and select a target. You gain advantage against that creature and add the roll of your superiority die to your attack damage if you hit the target creature.      Parry: As a reaction, reduce melee damage you take by your dex modifier + the roll of a superiority die.      Precision Attack: add the roll of a superiority die to the damage roll of a melee attack you made.      Riposte: When an enemy’s attack misses you, you can make a counter attack, and add the roll of a superiority die.      Sweeping Attack: Use a superiority die to cause your melee attack to hit a second creature within 5 feet of your first target. Add your superiority dice roll.      Trip Attack: Use a superiority die to force a large or smaller creature to make a Strength saving throw. on a failed save, that creature is knocked prone. Spell Slots:      1st (4)      2nd (2) Link’s Spellbook      Cantrips True Strike      1st Level Cure Wounds Hunter’s Mark Wild Cunning Protection from Good and Evil      2nd Level Find Traps Actions:      Action Surge: take an extra action once per rest.      Primeval Awareness: Spend a spell slot. For 1 or 2 minutes, you sense the kinds of creatures within 1 mile of you, or 6 miles in forests and grasslands. Bonus Actions:      Cunning Action: Dash, Disengage, or Hide once per turn.      Second Wind: Regain 1d10+10 HP once per rest. Features, Traits, and Feats:      Archery Fighting Style: Gain +2 on attack rolls with ranged weapons.      Dueling Fighting Style: Gain +2 on damage rolls when armed with a single one-handed melee weapon.      Ear for Deceit: Any roll of 7 or lower on an Insight check against lying becomes an 8.      Extra Attack: You get two Attack actions.      Eye for Detail: Perform an Insight or Investigation check as a bonus action.      Favored Enemy: Deal +2 bonus damage to Monstrosities and Fiends. Gain advantage on Survival checks to track Monstrosities and Fiends, and Intelligence checks to remember information about them.      Fey Ancestry: Resistance to Charmed effects, immunity to magical sleep.      Hunter’s Sense: As an action, choose a creature within 60 feet. You learn the creature’s damage immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. Can be used 3 times per long rest.      Improved Combat Superiority: Your superiority die become 1d10s.      Indomitable: Reroll a failed save once per long rest.      Insightful Fighting: As a bonus action, make an Insight check against another creature’s Deception check. If you succeed, you can use Sneak Attack against the creature even without advantage for up to a minute. Doesn’t work if you’re disadvantaged. Wears off if you target a new creature with this feature.      Know Your Enemy: If you spend at least 1 minute outside of battle observing a creature, the DM will tell you whether the creature is superior, inferior, or equal to you in any 2 of the following stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, AC, Current HP, Total Class Levels, or Fighter Class Levels.      Natural Explorer: Favored Terrains are Grasslands and Forests. While in your favored terrains: double proficiency bonuses for INT and WIS checks you’re proficient in, difficult terrain doesn’t slow your party down, always alert for danger, can move stealthily at a normal pace when traveling alone, find double food when foraging, and when tracking anything, you can tell how big they were, how many there were, and how long ago they passed through.      Sharpshooter: Attacking from long range doesn’t disadvantage ranged attack rolls, ranged weapon attacks ignore half and 3/4 cover, and you can -5 on a ranged weapon attack roll to add +10 to the damage roll on a successful hit.      Slayer’s Prey: As a bonus action, pick a creature within 60 feet of you. Add 1d6 damage to the first attack you make against that creature.      Sneak Attack: Add 2d6 to damage roll when you have advantage, or another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it.      Thieves’ Cant: You can articulate covert messages in casual conversations.      Trance: Trance for 4 hours instead of sleeping for 8.      Wanderer: You have an excellent memory for terrain and don’t need a map. You can remember where to find settlements, foraging spots, and geographical landmarks. You can always find enough food and water to sustain yourself and up to 5 more people provided the land can provide food and drinkable water.

I’m sure there’s some who will disagree with my picks, but I optimized a build around looking for enemy weaknesses, having a ton of proficiencies, and having a wide and varied arsenal of weapons at Link’s disposal. If you’d build Link another way, tell me what you’d do different. Who do you want to see me make next? And as always, I look forward to seeing you again at the Character Forge, where heroes are made.

[snelbz]

Reckoning and Retribution {4}

An A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Earth and Blood, & Throne of Glass Crossover, Western AU fanfiction.

Based on a prompt sent in for the 4k follower contest {winner}, from Anonymous: “Ok hear me out: WILD WEST AU CROSSOVER”

A/N: Another chapter written with @tacmc​. It’s time for the meat of this one to really begin. Enjoy!

It had been nearly three weeks since Rowan came to Rose Creek. It had been fairly quiet. Mostly just some loose livestock and a drunk bar fight here and there.

But then there were those damn bodies.

Two or three times a week, he’d find the young undertaker digging a new grave, some unknown soul who was found on the outskirts of town, almost always a vagrant or wanted man. And a violent or forceful man, at that.

But today he didn’t see Azriel Draeven digging in the morning sun.

Instead, there was a young woman on her hands and knees, placing a bunch of flowers strategically upon the newest pile of dirt. She had no shame about her skirts getting dirty, which Rowan had to admire. Instead, her brows were furrowed as she concentrated, making the display as beautiful as possible.

Beautiful, even for a criminal’s burial. 

Rowan made sure she heard him coming, forcing his boots to crunch upon the leaves as he approached. The young woman looked over her shoulder, and when she saw Rowan coming, she was climbing to her feet and brushing off her skirts.

“Hello, Sheriff, good morning,” she said, with an incline of her head. 

“Good morning,” he said, smiling softly. “Miss Archeron, is it?”

“Elain, please,” she said with a smile. “I assume you’re looking for Azriel.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, looking around at the mounds of dirt freshly packed down into the earth. “Did you plant all of these?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir. I can’t do much to help out in this town, but if I can bring a little beauty through my flowers, I will.”

Rowan raised a brow as he approached the mound she had just been kneeling in front of, “I’ve always enjoyed lilies.” 

Elain looked surprised. “Is that so, Sheriff?”

Rowan nodded. “My mother used to grow them when I was young. They were her favorite.”

Elain’s smile was genuine when she said, “That’s lovely.”

Rowan smiled back before asking, “Is Mr. Draeven here?”

Elain shook her head. “He’s out tending to business, left not too long ago. Maybe half an hour ago. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Rowan hesitated. It was not okay to speak of such horrid things in front of a lady, and judging by Elain’s attitude, no matter what her sisters were up to, Elain was a lady. 

“You want to know about the deaths?” Elain asked, at last.

Rowan hesitated, yet again, but nodded. “I was hoping to talk to Mr. Draeven about the recent deaths, yes. I’m trying to find a trail.”

“I’m afraid he knows little,” she admitted with a sigh. “He’s admitted to me that he wakes up with the sun to ride out into the lands surrounding the town. If there isn’t a body at sunrise, it usually means there won’t be one that day.”

She gazed out towards the open land, a vast expanse is nothing but dirt, desert and the unbearable sun beating on you until you reach your destination.

For some, that destination is more final than others.

Rowan pondered over the information. “Are there any defining facts about the bodies you know of, ma’am?”

For a moment, Elain was silent as she looked out in the distance. He figured she wasn’t going to answer, but then she said, “I don’t think these killings have all been done by the same person. I may be alone in my suspicions, even Azriel disagrees, but some bodies are found and the fatal wound is obvious.” She hesitated again, and Rowan wondered what kind of a toll this kind of conversation would take on her. “A blade between the ribs, a single gunshot wound, even a hanging was discovered. But then there are others…” she shivered lightly, despite the humid morning. “They’re gruesome, mutilated. Azriel makes me leave before he brings those bodies back.”

Rowan nodded. This wasn’t something he and Aelin had considered, but they had figured the killings were happening under cover of night.

The next question out of his mouth surprised even him. “And Mr. Draeven, you and he are…?” He coughed and said, “I’m sorry, that was extremely forward of me.”

Elain’s smile was kind as she met his eye. “That’s quite alright, you are not the first to question Azriel and mine’s relationship. We are only friends, though. We have been friends since we were young.”

Rowan nodded, thoughtfully. “Have you always lived here, Miss Archeron?”

“Elain,” she corrected, gently, “and yes. With my mother and father, and now with my sisters after their deaths.”

“I am sorry to hear of their passing,” Rowan said, without missing a beat.

Elain inclined her head in thanks. “That is appreciated, Sheriff.”

“Rowan.”

“Pardon?” Elain asked, her voice sweet and soft.

“If I am to call you Elain, then you are to call me Rowan,” he explained.

“Rowan,” she said, trying out his name. “Very well. Is there anything else I can do for you, Rowan?”

“No, ma’am, you’ve been more than helpful. I know more than I did when I arrived, so I’ll consider it a productive visit.”

“I’m happy to help in any way that I can, Sheriff,” she said, and he could tell that she truly did mean it. “Please, if there’s anything else you can think of, don’t hesitate to ask.”

He inclined his head to the freshly planted flowers. “If you ever find yourself with too many of your flowers, the sheriff’s office is mighty bland some days. We could use something as beautiful as you there.”

Elain blushed, the tips of her ears turning pink under her sun cap. “I believe you mean my flowers, Mr. Whitethorn.”

“Those too,” he said, the smile on his lips almost a smirk. It thrilled Elain to no end, how this man felt he could speak so freely with her. He tipped his hat. “Thank you, Miss Elain.”

“Of course,” Elain breathed, and longed to say more, although nothing else came to mind, not when Sheriff Rowan Whitethorn was looking at her like that. 

He had only taken a step away before Elain said, “Mr. Draeven is usually at the saloon at night, if you’d still like to catch him, you could catch him there.”

Rowan looked intrigued. “And what of you, Miss Elain? Do you ever go to the saloon?”

Elain couldn’t stop her smile as she lifted her chin. “From time to time, yes, I do.”

“Then perhaps I will see you there, as well,” Rowan added, tipping his hat, yet again.

Elains back straightened as she said, “Perhaps you will, sheriff.”

Rowan couldn’t help his soft smile as he walked back the direction of his horse, fully aware that Elain was watching him every step of the way.

——————————

Carrying a basket in one hand and her skirts in the other, Elide couldn’t shake the feeling of deja vu as she walked through town. She only had a few more weeks before the students came back from their breaks and she had been enjoying her free time baking and visiting with friends, but she was ready to get kids back. She waved at a few of them as she crossed the main road, playing on the front steps of the apothecary.

Gazing up at the sign on the building in front of her, the feeling of deja vu strengthened, but she rolled her shoulders, shaking it off and entered the office.

She found the front room, as always, blissfully empty, though she could hear voices coming from both the first and second floors. Aelin’s distinctly feminine voice was coming from the direction of her office, so instead she headed down the long hallway to the back rooms.

Her suspicions were correct, Rowan and Lorcan sat at the small table in the small office that had been turned into the overnight room.

Rowan noticed her first. “Miss Lochan, hello.”

Lorcan’s eyes snapped up to hers. For a moment, Elide thought she saw a slight sense of panic, but it was soon replaced with something cold and unfeeling.

She cleared her throat. “Good morning. I apologize for my intrusion, but I only wished for a moment with Mr. Salvaterre.” 

Rowan looked surprised, but he nodded and went back to reading the file in his hands.

Lorcan stared at her for a moment before Elide saw Rowan nudge his foot with his boot under the table. Lorcan grumbled something under his breath before standing up and following Elide into the hallway.

“I know you are a busy man, and I won’t keep you long,” Elide began, and held up the basket, “but, I promised you an official welcome basket, and I must say, there are some goods in here that I promise will exceed expectations.”

Lorcan’s eyes trailed down to the basket, then back up to Elide’s. “It’s appreciated. You can just put it out in the front, in the main room.”

Elide hesitated, her smile faltering. “I… Well, Mister Salvaterre, I made it for you.”

The way he looked at her… it was different than it had been the few times they’d spoken. He was looking at her with…annoyance. He scoffed. “I don’t want it.”

Blinking, Elide asked, “Pardon?”

“I don’t want it,” Lorcan repeated, leaning against the wall behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. “Your exceptional baked goods or your welcome at all. I don’t need to be welcomed to a town, Miss Lochan. I make myself at home, which is exactly what I’ve done. I don’t need a woman to tell me I’ve been accepted into the community.”

Elide faltered, “But you said-.”

“I don’t need nor do I want your charity, Miss Lochan. As you said, I’m a busy man.” Lorcan turned and made his way back into the back room, his boots thumping and spurs jingling the whole way.

Elide swallowed once, before doing as she was told, putting the basket full of the best treats she’d ever made, and hurried out of the office.

_______

Rhysand took his time walking to the saloon. The sun was high in the sky, its warmth comfortable. 

There were pros and cons to being the mayor of such a small town. There wasn’t much to do most days, which fell on both sides of the pros and cons list. Some days were peaceful, others were stressful, but most days he had to search for something to do to occupy his time.

Today was, admittedly, one of those days.

There were a few things he needed to look into, to handle, but none were as pressing as the bodies he was having Sheriff Whitethorn look into. Not that anyone was complaining that their little town was becoming safer by the day. But murder was murder, and he couldn’t condone some crazy vigilante running around killing whoever they saw fit.

Even if he thought what they were doing was right.

His heavy boots thudded up the front steps of the saloon and he pushed through the doors. The meeting he’d had with Az and Beron Vanserra hadn’t gone as he’d hoped. He ended up having to dole out an entire land grant for the corpses to be buried on. Beron had been completely unwilling to share land, said if Azriel had used his land, he was owed the land grant. Rhysand didn’t want his family gaining any more standing in the town.

So instead, he’d signed the grant into Azriel’s name, told him to use it as he saw fit. Beron had stormed out, but Azriel had stood there in silence, staring at the grant in his hands.

Rhysand knew his friend owned nothing, didn’t even own the undertaker’s shack he worked out of. He had nothing from his past life before he came to Rose Creek. He didn’t talk about it much, and he knew he had memories of the war that no one else would understand. The things he’d seen, the things he’d been made to do…

Azriel didn’t talk about it, and no one pressed him to. 

The saloon was empty, all except for the notorious town drunk and the staff. 

Hunt stood behind the bar, drying glasses and putting them beneath the bartop. As Rhysand entered, he whistled. “Mayor, what a pleasant surprise, especially so early in the day.”

Rhysand chuckled. “Always a pleasure, Hunt. I hear things got a little out of control here last night, after I left.” 

Hunt sighed, leaning against the counter. “Just a little fight. Some broken glass, no one got hurt, no one got shot.” 

“Azriel said you have a broken window.”

“Ah.” Hunt nodded to the other side of the room. “Yeah, a man was thrown through it.” 

Rhysand chuckled. “Just a little fight, huh?”

“You know as well as I do what happens when you mix booze, gambling and women, Rhysand.”

A nod and a laugh. “That I do.” He leaned against the bar and tapped his open hand in the gleaming wood top twice. “Well, good. I wanted to come by and ensure there was nothing I could do to help.”

Hunt shook his head, chuckling softly. “I can handle my own. Aside from some more muscle to prevent last night’s excitement or better upstairs neighbors, I can’t think of much.”

Rhysand nodded slowly. He knew Hunt wasn’t asking for a handout, knew the man was too proud to do that. Both he and Rhys knew there was nothing to be done about the neighbor situation, but the other request…

“Can I get you a drink, since you’re here?”

Rhys raised an eyebrow and considered for a moment. Ultimately, he shook his head. “I shouldn’t.”

Hunt smirked. “It’s on the house.”

With a roll of his eyes, Rhys sat at the bar. “Why the hell not. It’s a Tuesday.”

Barking out a laugh, Hunt said, “Let me go get something I keep in the back of the storage closet. A dry aged bourbon from Terrasen.”

Rhys nodded, removing his hat and jacket, draping the latter over the chair beside him and placing the former on top of the bar.

When Hunt left the room, Rhys noticed how quiet the saloon was during the days. The snoring of the man in the corner, the sounds of a client left over from the night before upstairs, the soft footsteps coming up from the back hall.

He turned and saw the stormy eyes of Feyre Archeron on him.

He hesitated, unsure if it was because he was surprised, nervous, excited, or a mixture of all of the above.

“Miss Archeron,” he said, at last. “Good morning.” 

“Good morning, Mayor,” she replied, inclining her head. “Slow enough morning to come by for a drink?”

Rhysand chuckled. “Came to talk to Hunt about the fight last night. I’m afraid he convinced me to have a round.”

Feyre was humored. “Hunt certainly has a way of doing that.”

“He does,” Rhysand agreed, and after a slight pause in the conversation, he added, “I hope you and your sisters are well?”

Rhysand swore he saw her frown, but it was soon replaced with a fond smile. “We are, thank you. Elain has been enjoying her garden before winter comes, and Nesta has been reading a lot. Borrowing books from Miryam and Drakon.” 

“They do have an exquisite library,” Rhysand nodded. “Very impressive, especially for this town.”

“Indeed,” Feyre agreed.

Hunt strolled in, looking annoyed as he placed the bottle on the counter. “Ah, Feyre, good- do you mind? The guy that’s upstairs? Yeah, apparently he’s got a wife and she’s throwing eggs at the back door.”

Feyre lifted a brow. “She’s wasting perfectly good eggs? Surely there’s another way to show her distaste for her husband's adultery.” 

Hunt sighed. “Would you like to go tell her that? Or would you rather just shove her husband out the back door at her?”

Feyre snorted, but was grabbing her skirts up in a hand and hurrying up the stairs regardless. A minute later, a balding, runt of a man in his early sixties was hurrying down the stairs, wearing nothing undershorts and ratty old socks. His clothes were bundled in his arms and Rhysand was surprised to see a small gun clutched in her hand as she followed behind the man. She didn’t hold it up in any way, just held it at her side, so he’d know she had it. They went down the back hallway and then Rhys and Hunt could hear raised voices and shouting. The back door slammed and Feyre returned, gun tucked back under her skirts in case she needed to make use of it again. She stepped behind the bar and said, “Problem solved.”

The stairs creaked and the three turned around to see who was emerging from the den of iniquity upstairs.

Ansel had a robe wrapped around herself. Her eyes were dead, her hair an absolute mess. Without catching the eye of anyone, she plopped down a couple of seats down from Rhysand. Hunt instantly had a drink in front of her and a smoke. 

She nodded her thanks as he lit the tip for her. 

She took a drink, took a drag, then looked to her left, where she found Rhysand and the others.

“Oh,” she said, surprised, as if she just now saw anyone but Hunt. “Mayor, I apologize-.”

“Don’t,” Rhysand begged, as Hunt poured the bourbon into his glass. “I don’t like drinking alone and welcome the company.” 

Her smile was sincere. 

“So, Mayor, what’s on the agenda for the rest of your day?” Feyre began, leaning against the counter. “Isn't it about time we started planning the Autumn festival? You know how the children like the stories of witches and ghouls, told around the campfire every year.” 

As he picked up his glass, he looked at her. Her beauty always staggered him, yet he could never bring himself to tell her. It would be far too inappropriate, overstepping every boundary that society had ever taught him. “Yes, it is. Though, I must admit, I’ve never been the one to plan it.”

She didn’t look surprised in the slightest. “It was Miss Emma, wasn’t it?”

He smiled gently. “It was.”

One of the former mayor’s wives had outlived her husband by quite a considerable amount. Her love for Rose Creek never diminished as she grew older, and the Autumn Festival was one of her days of the year.

She had passed peacefully in her sleep earlier that year, just after the holidays. Their town would never be the same without Miss Emma, but she would live on in the Autumn Festival.

“Well,” Feyre said, her smile genuine, “if you require any assistance, please let me know.”

Before Rhys could take her up on the offer, Ansel cleared her throat, and said, “Feyre, may I speak to you for a moment?”

Her brow furrowed, but she nodded, meeting Ansel at her seat and walking towards the vacant back corner of the bar.

“I’ll provide beverages for the festival, as always, Hunt said, pouring himself a glass of bourbon.

“Your kindness is much appreciated, Mr Athalar.” Rhys finally put the glass to his lips. He sputtered a cough and swallowed the drink down.

The quiet laugh from Hunt made Rhysand’s cheeks heat. “You don’t like fire whiskey?”

“I do,” he said, blowing out a harsh breath. “When I’m expecting the drink.”

“Fair enough,” Hunt chuckled. “My apologies. I thought you knew fire whiskey was Terrasen’s specialty.”

Shaking his head, Rhys laughed, “I did not. But I won’t ever forget now.”

A quiet throat cleared from beside them and when they saw Feyre’s face, both men’s laughter died.

“Ansel believes she may be pregnant.” Rhys swallowed hard looked away, the change in conversation unexpected and something he was unused to hearing. To Hunt, though, it was nothing new. His eyes were sad. She went on, “Her cycle is over a week late.”

“I’ll call for a doctor, but it could be a few days,” he explained. “The closest town I know of with a practicing doctor is a couple day’s ride.”

Feyre nodded, but the information was less than ideal. Maeve would surely notice Ansel’s late cycle, she tracked each and every one of her girls. And if she noticed… 

“If I may,” Rhys said, clearing his throat. “I have an old friend, who’s gone into the medical field. I wouldn’t mind asking-.”

“How soon could he be here?” Feyre asked, interrupting him.

He smiled softly. “If I send a letter out this morning, I can have her here by tomorrow evening.”

“Please.”

The voice behind them was soft, broken. They turned around and found Ansel standing behind them. Her eyes were lined with tears, her wine red hair, messy and matted after her long night. She looked like she could use far more whiskey than she’d drank. “Please, Mayor. I… I don’t want to lose another one.”

Another one.

Swallowing hard, Rhys nodded. He couldn’t intercede with Maeve’s business. But he would help the citizens of Rose Creek in any way he could.

————————

Maeve’s eyes blinked rapidly as she awoke to the late morning sun streaming through her windows. She rolled over to find the other side of her bed empty, which had her sitting up at rapid speed, frowning.

After forcing herself out from beneath her quilt, she was walking to her wardrobe, where she pulled out her clothing for the day. A dress, stockings, a hat to keep the sun off her head. She had to check on her girls, see who made how much the night before. 

See who was another night closer to paying off their debts. 

As she stripped off her nightgown, she looked over her shoulder at the unmade bed. It had been a good night, a great night. She’d fallen asleep perfectly satisfied. 

And she was hoping to be satisfied again first thing in the morning.

Erawan Black had other ideas it seemed.

She was still wearing her dressing gown, hair done and cosmetics half applied, when she smelled it. Her lips quirked up at the ends and she finished getting ready, taking just as much care as she had before, but hurrying the process up. Not pausing to put on her dress, she made her way downstairs, feet still bare, and found Erawan at her stove, fire roaring at his feet, cooking breakfast.

“I would have preferred you in my bed over my kitchen, but I guess I won’t complain.”

He turned around, finding her leaning against the railing at the base of the stairs and he let his black eyes trail up her body. “We have a guest joining us for breakfast so I wanted to get a head start.”

She noticed that he was fully dressed, save for the coat over the back of the chair behind him, the hat resting atop the table. There was already dust around the cuffs of his pants. He’d been up for a while already.

Erawan Black had been busy that morning.

Heavy footsteps sounded from the living room and Maeve turned towards them just in time to see Hybern Black enter the room, cigarette dangling between his lips.

He smirked and took a drag. “We’ve got a business proposition for you, Ms. Alastair.”

[dappersheep]

Food Fantasy: An Analysis on what killed a Golden Goose (2/3)

Welcome back. Before we get started, disclaimers again! I do not own the game or its characters, nor do I claim to know the history and future of the game. What I am entitled to are the thoughts and opinions written within this post. You may or may not agree with the points spoken of here. This post also remains untagged from the main foofan tag. Only my followers will see this.

We are now on the second part, so let's go forward under the cut!

Elex

And here we have our beloved global publisher that most of seem to have Stockholm Syndrome for. Don't lie, at least half of us are still playing this damned game due to sunken cost fallacy, sunken time fallacy and the cute/hot jpegs.

In 2018, everything started out fine. Sure, maybe we had some translation mishaps here and there -coughwe'llgettothatwreckagelatercough- but overall, Elex was running the game fairly well. Rewards were on time, we had active social media and support, and a discord was set up!

Hint: Please note I use quite a bit of sarcasm in most everything I say.

And then somewhere along that road, things got derailed. And I mean it like, we're in the midst of a trainwreck in slow motion and we've only cleared the initial collision and still hurtling forward or backward into a steel wreckage ticking inferno.

Problems started cropping up as early as late 2018, just a few months after the game was launched in July.

⦁ Art contest mishaps. You know when you hold an art contest on Facebook out of all places with its shitty tagging system, you're bound to have entries lost to the void, people forced to register an FB account just to participate (seriously, who even has an FB account that isn't just there to appease family members?) and having to wrestle with figuring out how FB's tagging system works. Add to that the panel of judges happen to be Elex staff who don't have a good eye for good artwork (we actually had a kiddy figure drawing win over a well drawn one during the last contest!) and that they ALSO weren't very good at organizing such contests on FB... well, we had several grievances over that.

⦁ Region blocked FB announcements. Strangely enough, I stopped getting announcements around Father's Day of 2019 while everyone else outside of SEA kept getting updates. Turns out that someone on Elex's staff really didn't like SEA players or was just really bad at fixing the settings for the group and never bothered to revert it back. It didn't matter in the long run though, because...

⦁ Abandoned social media platforms. FooFan Twitter, FooFan Facebook... they all floated slowly into the void and was never heard from again. And this was before the 2020 pandemic.

⦁ Remember what I said about Discord? Yeah, apparently, they opened one up a little too early and the staff in charge of it knew zero about how to setup and mod a discord community, and didn't even have the manpower needed to mod the influx of members that came in! Suffice to say, they had to get help from top players and mods from the FB groups to come in and sort things out because someone kept pinging @ everyone every few seconds other than the usual chaos that comes from a server with no filters and people trying to turn the discord into Global Chat 2.0, minus Russian hours.

⦁ Also in line with the point about abandoned social media platforms, they've also mostly abandoned the discord too and only pop in once in a while to check the bug reports or lost accounts. You have a slightly better chance of response with the in-game support. Only slightly. And there's a running joke with several variations on the main discord that the Owner account of the discord server was manned by an intern-kun who never bothered to pass it on to the next unfortunate soul left to maintain this game.

⦁ Favoritism. Funtoy is also guilty of this but they don't publish the game for Global. If you're a top spender the likes of maxing out your cash rebates within the three months or so and you kept spending even beyond that, Elex could possibly invite you to a funky little club where your voice is more important than say... 99% of the playerbase. On top of that, if you keep spending, you could technically also ask for stuff like getting this frame over that frame, or well.... delay certain features from coming to Global for over a year. Now you can simp AND be heard! (Note: In 2021, it's possible that that club may be dead too, as all things shall be)

⦁ SJW Friendly. I don't know if Funtoy themselves have anything to also do with this particular decision... but it's saying something that after a certain little tiddy tantrum from the community side, Elex decided not to announce anything about a certain event's fate and when asked by it by other parties (not me) they either lie through their teeth, or beat around the bush with a non-answer.

⦁ Partial translations, mistranslations. Now, I understand that a lot of Chinese grammar and semantics are confusing to translate properly into several other languages, but you'd think Elex would have given their translators more context to the character or the mechanic to avoid such mistranslations that later set off gender debates or worded the skill/artifact description a little clearer. That is... unless Elex really is hands-off trying to get to know this IP from the start and only gave it the most bare minimum of English where they can cut costs for it, so people can understand it 'well enough' to throw money at an obviously not beta-read quality game.

⦁ No translations. Yes we do have certain parts of the game that are in Chinese since forever since xx patch. Some characters' voiceline texts are still in chinese, especially during the Pledge scenes. More recent artifacts are also in chinese with no announced translation in sight. And don't get me started on the Food Soul bios, or lack thereof.

⦁ Delayed events. Prime example? We had weeks of minor events/no events and still Elex managed to eff everything up for our second Anniversary in July 2020. We ended up getting the Croissant event in late August with barely any apologies and compensation for the delay... and this likely would have never arrived as 'early' as it did if people hadn't been railing about where our Anniversary event was. As it stands, we are several minor events behind CN, at least a year and a half's worth behind. I know Global had requested heavily for more spaced out events (to save resources, not that it actually worked with all the nerfed rewards we get) compared to CN but this is extremely ridiculous.

⦁ Delayed permanent features. Hm... Guild Wars, Sky Tower, Bar, that Wuchang Fish Showdown... several Quality of Life updates.... that new permanent pool update... Food Souls still missing their JP voice packs... Food Soul Bios... *slowly ticking off more than I have fingers and toes*

⦁ Customer Support is whack. You'd be lucky if you got someone who understood your problem/inquiry right off the bat AND did something about it efficiently. You'd be luckier if they answered you honestly if you were inquiring about event updates or other buggy features or reporting hackers.

⦁ The Great Turkey and Apple Incident of 2020. Well, if you were around for that little SNAFU during the Turkey re-run event, you'd know a percentage of people suddenly got logged out of their accounts and had a baller of a time trying to get their accounts back. You were especially unfortunate if you were playing on an iOS account because even if you did bind it (like a responsible player should be doing), you probably still wouldn't get it back in time to rank properly during Turkey. Some Android players also experienced this, but it wasn't as bad as what the iOS players experienced. And then there was the compensation mishap for that too.

⦁ Hacker-chan and not-so-uwu Hacker-teme. Hacker-chan is a meme. Hacker-chan was a harmless player who regularly topped in Top Showdown every week for a time to send a message to Elex just how easy it is to hack the game in certain rankings and invited Elex to ban them every time, just to test how competent Elex is. In the end, Elex has proven to be incompetent and also glaringly stupid about how their published game works. Hacker-teme is a collective of individuals over time who have cheated the game during important ranking events or in somewhat important permanent battles. If you tried to report a Hacker-teme with evidence to prove it -and trust me, people repeatedly have-, Elex would tell you that they're not cheating and/or lie through their teeth that they're 'investigating the case' and then not do anything about it and let them keep their event ranking and thus get the rewards while someone who actually worked hard/whaled hard to get the spot gets denied. In one case, they believe that if an account has rebate points and the player level is at least around level 80, then the hacker-teme is obviously playing the game fairly. Never mind that their units happened to have low to no artifact nodes opened, and not high in ascension.

And that is the end of the Elex saga. I'm aware there's likely more things about Elex that I've missed, but feel free to add on to this analysis post with your own thoughts.

The last part of this trilogy is probably what many of us are waiting for, for obvious reasons.

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 62 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: The assistant gossip network continued to do its thing, while Courtney lived her best life, Sutan offered Violet some wardrobe assistance, and Bianca planned a coming out.

This Chapter: The Galactica Holiday Party has arrived, and not everyone is prepared...

***

“Remember to find your light!”

Gigi turned her head, trying as hard as she could not to squeeze her eyes shut, the studio lights blinding.

“I said find it, not stare into the sun!”

Gigi blushed and moved her head again, doing her best to try and follow the instructions Sutan kept giving her.

They were in a photo studio in the Bronx, Gigi to get her first pictures for her portfolio taken, while Symone had practiced how to shoot in swimwear, her friend now waiting with her phone for Gigi to finish up.

Gigi had watched Symone move around, completely enthralled by how elegant the other model already was, Sutan barely correcting her.

“Straighten your back!” Gigi did as she was told, a pair of black jeans hugging her body, the long sleeved black shirt she was wearing clinging to her arms.

“Excuse me...” The photographer, who had introduced herself as Widow, looked out from behind her camera, “can I do my job in peace?” Widow smiled even though her tone was clearly sassy, her teeth blindingly white, her black box braids collected in a high bun. She was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans, big red earrings hanging from her ears.

“You know what I hired you for,” Sutan smiled back, and Widow rolled her eyes, making Gigi giggle.

“Yes sir, right away sir,” Widow teased.

“Don’t give the models any ideas with your attitude.” Sutan grinned, his sleeves rolled up around his elbows, refocusing on Gigi who had tried to hold the position he had asked for.

“No, not like, you have to be more.” Sutan moved his shoulders, and Gigi tried to copy it. She knew they were doing this shoot so she could get an idea of what she looked like, so she could train what Sutan called her inner photographer, but it was really difficult.

“No, still not right.” Sutan stepped on the set, getting next to Gigi, the scent of his cologne instantly catching her nose. “Your strength is in your lines Gigi, so you have to stand tall. Use those legs of yours,” He smiled, tapping his own left leg and moving it forward, mirroring what Gigi hoped she was doing. “Try this.”

Gigi moved her leg to copy Sutan, her entire center of balance shifting.

“There we go!” Sutan grinned. “Good job. Now hold it, and find your light.”

***

Violet tried to turn to the side, watching her profile in the big mirror on the back wall of the dressing room.

Her and Sutan had each been swept up by a personal shopper the moment they stepped inside Barney’s, Violet whisked away to the woman's clothes department where everything was outrageously expensive and completely new.

Violet was wearing a beautiful red dress, the hemline just off the floor, her cast barely visible if she stood completely still, which suited her perfectly well.

Violet had every plan to get to the Christmas party, sit down, and then hopefully not move again for the rest of the night, Jovan’s offer of bedazzling her crutches still making her shiver.

“So, what do we think?” Violet’s shopper smiled, the woman standing behind her, her pile of rejected dresses four times the size of the approved ones for the upcoming events, but she couldn’t help being extremely critical, not when everything was so stupidly expensive.

“Well…” Violet looked in the mirror. The dress suited her, even though it didn’t sit snugly at her waist, but that wasn’t something a loose loop stitch couldn’t fix so she could undo it again later and hopefully keep the dress longer. It hadn’t been Violet’s intention to lose weight, and if she was being honest, she had actually expected to gain with a broken foot, but it seemed like that hadn’t been the case, her appetite even worse than usual, her pain killers often making it feel like she had knives stabbing her stomach.

“I’ll take it.”

Violet knew that the dress would be approved by Fame, and loved by Sutan, the low neckline and the opportunity for matching underwear always a treat.

***

“Kat? Are you gonna be okay?” Trixie asked, voice soft.

They were sitting in a little cafe across from her doctor’s office. They’d just gotten the official news - she was pregnant, no doubt about it. She’d put on a transparently false, cheerful face while they were there but barely said two words since they’d left, a croissant and mango smoothie sitting in front of her, untouched.

According to the doctor’s best estimate, she was 14 weeks along, which already limited their options, a fairly invasive procedure now the only way to go if they didn’t want the baby.

She looked at him, blue eyes clear, and said, “I don’t know.”

Trixie nodded, taking her hand in his and holding it lightly. He didn’t want to push her too much, could tell that she was in a fragile state of mind.

“Well...I’m here if there’s anything…Anything I can do.”

“Got a flask on you?” she asked drily, then closed her eyes, immediately chagrined. “I’m sorry, that’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny, babe.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, the two of them sitting side by side, their fingers intertwined.

***

Roxy looked up as Courtney rounded the corner from Miss Fame’s office, flashing her a bright smile. She had just gotten yet another delivery--Roxy was fast becoming BFFs with Greg, the Marie Claire office runner.

“Hey Rox! Whatcha got for me?”

“Hi, Court,” Roxy said, eyeing her suspiciously before handing over the bag, wondering why she was so perky today.

Courtney looked inside the bag and saw what Roxy had already - a large black velvet jewelry box.

“Open it,” Roxy said, and Courtney pulled it out, peeking inside before snapping it closed again. “Come on, you’re not gonna show me?”

A smile pulled at Courtney’s lips, and she leaned forward onto the reception desk, voice low, saying, “You wanna know something?”

“Yes, of course!” Roxy perked up. Was Courtney finally about to admit to her affair with Bianca Del Rio? It was gonna be a hell of a lot easier once she didn’t have to pretend to be in the dark anymore.

“You know how I said that I’ve been...uh...seeing someone who works at Marie Claire?”

“Yeah…you gonna tell me who?”

“Well, no,” she said, and off Roxy’s annoyed scoff, added, “But...we’re coming to the party tonight...together.”

“Oh really?” Roxy’s eyebrows shot up. This actually was pretty decent information, given the potential shit storm it could cause. The drama of Miss Fame’s assistant dating one of her best friends, and them showing up together to a company event? Absolutely delicious.

“Yeah, so...I guess you’ll find out soon enough,” Courtney said, eyes twinkling with mischief.

“I guess I will,” Roxy agreed, smiling placidly, already typing out a DM to Bob.

***

Fame breathed a sigh of relief as the car pulled up to the hotel she had chosen for the Galactica Christmas Party. The facade was decorated with dripping ice crystals, lights and fake snow making it the winter wonderland she had envisioned. The red carpet had been rolled out, guests already posing for photos and talking to reporters about their clothes, Fame recognizing the signature cameras from E! Network and one of Vogue’s journalists.

She had gotten the confirmation from Shangela that the string quartet had shown up, the musicians hired for the lounge area while the caterers had set up shop in the enchanted forest filled with actual pine trees, the bar carrying a line of gins specifically brewed for the event.

“So,” Patrick lifted an eyebrow, a curious expression on his face. The majority of Fame’s skirt was in her husband's lap since she refused to let the silk anywhere near the bottom of the car. “how are we feeling?”

“Me?” Fame smiled, leaning over to press a kiss against his cheek “Quite content.”

***

“Are you sure I can’t talk you into walking the carpet?”

Sutan looked over at Violet, the two of them on the bottom of the steps leading up to the hotel, Raja and Raven already halfway inside. Raja was in a tight-fitting emerald green suit with a deep cleavage, her hair twisted into a gorgeous updo, while Raven was dressed in a floor length gown in matching green, the two of them looking absolutely stunning together.

“Yes.” The message was clear, and Sutan could feel the tiniest curl of irritation in his stomach. Violet was beyond beautiful, her usually pink nails carefully painted the same red shade as her dress, a tiny purse slung over her shoulders, her black hair curled and spilling over her shoulders and back, her posture perfect even though she was leaning on her crutch, only one of them allowed to come along.

He wanted those pictures of them together, even if it was selfish.

“Lovely eyes-”

“I said no.” Violet’s tone left no room for argument, and Sutan pressed his lips together, taking a deep breath through his nose not to let his irritation win out.

“Sutan,” Violet reached out, gently touching his arm. “This isn’t a you issue, it’s a me issue. I’d love to go up there and be on your arm like a dainty little princess or trophy-”

“What?” Sutan raised an eyebrow. He had never thought of Violet as a princess, or even dainty, the muscles he knew she had and the iron will he had seen her possess over and over again so much more attractive than any trophy girlfriend could be. “That’s not what-”

“I know,” Violet squeezed, underlining her words, “But I’d honestly rather jump into traffic than talk to a single one of those reporters, and risk showing up in any of their publications.”

Sutan snorted, Violet’s dark sense of humor as always getting to him. He knew it also had to do with her relationship to her family, Violet’s choked hospital confession still rumbling around in his head, what little he had managed to piece together telling its clear story of a gossip magazine-obsessed mother, his girlfriend posing for his own mothers old canon camera at Thanksgiving without any issues.

“Okay, but promise me,” Sutan took a step, bringing them closer, his hand finding it’s now familiar place on Violet’s waist, “that I can get one soon.”

“A photo?” Violet raised an eyebrow, their hips almost touching, her free hand on his chest.

“Mmh, just for the two of us.”

“I’ll consider it,” Violet smiled, her fingers gently rearranging his tie, making sure it was sitting completely straight. “If you promise me that we can get a cab home.”

“A cab?” They had arrived with Raja and Raven, a driver coming back to pick all four of them up at the end of the night, “Why?”

“Because you, Mr. Amrull, look fucking fantastic tonight,” Violet looked up at him, a smirk on her lips, “and I wanna make out in the backseat.”

*

“You ready?” Bianca asked, looking over at Courtney as their car pulled up to the curb.

Courtney glanced outside, where a crowd of photographers and reporters were gathered, stomach seizing with the reality of what she was about to do, wondering if it was a mistake. Even walking the carpet with Bianca instead of taking the normal entrance with the rest of the support staff suddenly seemed audacious.

“No,” she admitted, looking back at Bianca apologetically. “I’m sorry, I-”

“Would it help if I told you how absolutely gorgeous you look?” Bianca asked, reaching out to take her hand.

Her outfit for the night was probably the most conservative of all the dresses Dan had pulled for her - a black dress--low cut, but not in a slutty way with a little bow at the front and full circle skirt, paired with a pair of Bianca’s beautiful multicolored Louboutins and simple, classy jewelry--including a glamorous strand of pink pearls that Bianca had sent over earlier in the day.

In spite of her nerves, Courtney couldn’t help but smile a little at the compliment, proud of the care she’d taken with her hair and makeup, hoping to make Bianca proud. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and responded with a cheeky, “Look who’s talking…”

Bianca grinned, and Courtney was once again struck by how fantastic she looked, in a red silk organza cocktail dress, the floaty feminine fabric accentuating her curves perfectly, a deep v-neck giving the perfect peek at her cleavage.

“What if we just stayed in the car for awhile?” Courtney suggested, fluttering her lashes.

“I promise to make it worth your while later, angel.” Bianca squeezed her hand, pulling her in close. “But right now, I’m pretty excited to show you off. So whaddaya say?”

Courtney took a deep breath, the churning in her stomach now a combination of nerves and excitement.

“Okay.”

Bianca signalled to the driver, who quickly got out and walked around to open their door.

“Here we go…” Bianca gave her hand one final squeeze and got out, giving the flashing cameras a polite wave before reaching back in to help her out.

Courtney’s mind was a mess. She suddenly had so many concurrent anxieties, like tripping on the carpet, or being dragged to filth by come gossip rag, or, given how lightheaded she now felt, fainting, here in front of all these people. She tried to steady herself, and Bianca’s arm slid securely around her waist.

“I’ve got you, don’t worry. You look amazing,” Bianca murmured in her ear.

Bianca led her down the carpet--a true professional, posing and smiling, calmly directing Courtney so that she knew where to stand and where to look, chatting jovially with reporters.

“Who’s your date, Bianca?” one of them asked boldly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” Bianca joked back. They’d discussed this ahead of time - better to keep Courtney’s name out of things for the moment, given her job title. Courtney understood, and agreed, and was even a bit relieved. For now, on gossip sites and fashion blogs, she’d just be ‘BDR’s latest blonde,’ and she was very much okay with that. After all, the people that mattered to both of them would know, and that’s what she cared about.

“Well, is it serious?” another piped up.

“You tell me,” Bianca said, and then Courtney really thought she might faint, Bianca pressing a sweet kiss to her cheek as about a billion flashbulbs went off in their faces, murmuring, “You’re doing perfectly, angel.”

She turned to Bianca, gazing at her with breathless admiration, feeling like the luckiest girl in the entire world. And then she took Bianca’s face in her hands and impulsively kissed her, right on the mouth, soft but sure. So what if it was only a fling? Courtney didn’t care anymore--she would remember this high for the rest of her life.

Bianca smiled against her mouth and whispered, “Well, that’ll make headlines...”

“Oops,” Courtney whispered back, both of them giggling.

They broke apart, matching grins on their faces as they looked into each other’s eyes, until Bianca turned back to the sea of paparazzi, now in a frenzy, shouting out questions too fast for Courtney to even process the words.

“That’s enough for you demons!” Bianca called, gently pulling Courtney up the steps, giving one last smiling wave at the top, Courtney’s hand still clasped in hers.

*

“Are you done?”

“Nope!”

Raja hid her grin, her shoulder touching Raven’s as they posed for the camera, her fiancée radiating excitement as she chatted and flirted with the photographers.

Raven had always adored the camera, and if there was a journalist behind it, she was practically in love, getting caught by the paparazzi a treat for her each and every time it happened.

Raja didn’t feel the same thrill, didn’t care as much about showing up in gossip magazines and websites since she had gotten more than enough of that in her youth, but she couldn’t be truly upset when it generated so many great pictures, Raven often looking sexy as sin when she got caught leaving the gym.

“Raja! Over here!”

Raja turned her head, the photographer catching her attention, and that was when she saw them, Bianca coming up a little ways behind her.

Seeing Bianca on a red carpet wasn’t strange, but what was frankly bizarre was the familiar blonde at her side.

Raja had expected Fame’s assistant to be somewhere in the crowd, since it was a company party and a big treat for the staff, but what the fuck was she doing on the red carpet? The support staff was supposed to enter the party through the normal pedestrian entrance.

And then, Bianca put her arm around Courtney’s waist, kissing her cheek as she giggled girlishly.

Oh, fuck.

This was not good. Frankly, Raja wasn’t shocked that Bianca had been messing with Courtney, her behavior at the meeting last week making it painfully obvious that she liked her. But this, this was next level.

Just when she thought it couldn’t get any more embarrassing, Raja witnessed something that made her blood run cold. Courtney grasped Bianca’s face in her hands and kissed her on the lips, causing absolute chaos from the group of paparazzi around them.

“Holy shit.”

“What?” Raven looked up at her, a concerned and confused expression on her beautiful face.

“Wait here.” Raja released Raven, leaving her behind on the carpet, prepared to ambush Bianca the second she got to the doors.

Bianca had done a lot of stupid shit over the years - they all had - and dating bimbos wasn’t a new thing for her, but making out with Fame’s assistant in front of the paparazzi?

That was a new level of braindead, even for her, and Raja had to stop it right now.

*

The moment Bianca stepped off the carpet, she felt someone grab her arm and roughly yank her into the lobby.

“Bianca!” Raja hissed, pulling at her arm. “Come here!”

“Ow!” Bianca laughed at Raja. “Let go of me, you fucking mountain gorilla!”

Just because the woman towered over her was no reason to be intimidated, and it was gonna take a hell of a lot more to bring her down at the moment than Raja looking at her like she was insane.

Beside her, Courtney let out a small gasp, and Raja tried to recover, putting an arm around Bianca’s shoulder and giving Courtney the most sugary-sweet, fakest voice she could manage to say, “Hey there Court, can you give us a minute? I have to chat with Bianca about something important. Great shoes, by the way.”

“Oh...yeah, alright. Um…” Courtney backed away, trying to give them some space. “I’ll just wait over here, then-”

“Perfect!” Raja dragged Bianca to the other end of the lobby, away from any reporters.

“This oughta be good,” Bianca grumbled, though she was still too hyped from the carpet to manage to be truly annoyed.

“What,” Raja pushed Bianca into a corner, inches from her face, her voice filled with venom though her eyes betrayed her geniune concern, “the actual fuck do you think you’re doing, Bianca?!”

“Wanna be more specific?” Bianca asked, tilting her head, an impish smile on her face.

"It's bad enough that you're fucking Fame's assistant, but to parade her around on the red carpet? Without even bothering to give us a heads-up? Are you insane?" Raja’s teeth were clenched, clearly trying to keep her voice down.

"Please. Our relationship has nothing to do with-"

"Relationship? Are you actually calling this a relationship?"

"Yes!" Now, Bianca was starting to get annoyed. Who the fuck did Raja think she was talking to?

"Oy, this is so much worse than I thought,” Raja groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please don't tell me this is why you bailed on the tasting menu."

"So what if I did?"

"Oh god."

"Fuck you!"

"And what did you expect to happen, Bianca? What's your great master plan with this childish stunt?"

“Well...to be honest, I didn’t know she was gonna kiss me on the carpet,” Bianca admitted, a giggle slipping from her lips. “It was kinda cute, did you see?”

“I...am going to slap you.”

“Come on, Raj. I did give this whole thing a little thought.”

“Really? It doesn’t fucking seem like it!”

“Well, I have. Look, I know she’s gonna be pissed, but I also know she’s not gonna cause a scene in the middle of the party. And then after tonight, she’s got almost a full week to cool off before she has to see me again,” Bianca said, punctuating her statement with a charming smile. Bianca was no idiot. Of course she knew that Fame would be irritated, maybe even angry, but she figured that this was a situation where it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. And besides, if she had to endure her friend’s wrath for awhile in exchange for being free to put her relationship with Courtney out into the open, then so be it.

“That’s what you think will happen?” Raja huffed. “Bianca, please, Fame hasn’t seen you guys yet. If we get Courtney out the back door, we can make an alliance with Patrick to get Fame drunk and unplug the wifi tomorrow so she doesn’t go online. It’ll be like it never happened, and we'll never speak of it again.”

“Raj, listen. I know this might be a real clusterfuck, but I’m willing to accept the consequences.”

“Oh jesus help me.” Raja groaned. “I hope she’s worth it, Bianca.” She pulled away, shaking her head. “I really hope she’s worth it.”

As she walked away, Bianca took a deep breath, looking back across the lobby at Courtney, who was doing a terrible job of trying to look casual, the anxiety on her face clear as day. Bianca sent her a big smile, reaching out a hand, and Courtney rushed toward her.

“Was she mad?” she asked, brows creased with worry.

Bianca cupped her face lightly, stroking her cheek, and promised, “Not at you.”

“Okay.” Courtney bit her lip, and Bianca leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“Shall we?” she asked, gesturing to the ballroom.

“Yeah...in a minute…” Courtney said, immediately adding, “I’m sorry.”

“Take your time, angel. There’s no rush,” Bianca promised. “In fact, if you’d rather get out of here and go somewhere else-”

“No, no, no…” Courtney laughed, taking her hand. “I’m fine. Let’s go in.”