#but when i tried to teach here i STRUGGLED with how little actual working together there was

[pearl-kite]

I know consciously that this all day meeting/session/whatever/thing tomorrow is not going to be as bad as my brain is preparing me for but uuggghhh I really hope that the teacher that preemptively called it a waste of time in front of god and everyone calls out and just isn't there

[s-rosie]

AVERY HCSSSSS

i thought our leading lady needed more appreciation so i made these hcs. a lot of these are with avery and another character so lmk if you still like these. enjoyyyyy 🤌✨

avery got braces after she got the money bc she couldn’t afford them before and she was a little insecure about them but jameson thought they were really cute

she used to hate the scars from the times when people tried to kill her but as time went on she learned to love them

i hc hawthorne house had a trampoline park and her and xander had a sleepover in there where they played taylor swift and jumped until xander broke his arm trying to do a triple backflip

her and max always scream when they hop on a call that’s on speaker so they don’t spill the tea when everyone can here

avery is chronically addicted to block blast and she has the highest score you can possibly get on the game (me fr 😭💀)

when she was hooked up to the life support machines after the plane bombing she made a bunch of pictures and videos that she never posted but just bc she thought they were funny (they really weren’t she was just high from the meds)

oren had to teach her how to pick locks and she told him it was just because she needed to open a door but wouldn’t let him do it himself (she lost the keys to jameson’s handcuffs and needed to get him out)

she always has at least one airpod in at all times and always looses them around hawthorne house

she once had a “dream” (😏😏😏) about jameson but she was having a sleepover with libby and max and libby was like “why were you moving around and making noise last night” and ave was like “i was probably just sleep talking” but max knew what was really going on and never let it go

avery switches her aesthetic like every month and switches her room decor/wardrobe with that aesthetic

she has like 50000 pillows on her bed and jameson gets so confused about which he’s allowed to sleep on bc she doesn’t want him to ruin the decorative pillows

ave is an amazing actress and can fake cry on the spot so when she needs to win something she fake cries and jameson knows her fake cry and he doesn’t go over to her to comfort her so her plan will work

she’s allergic to shellfish and she learned that when she ate some at a gala and she started having a reaction and she broke out in hives and was struggling to breath but thankfully oren had an epi pen with him so she didn’t die

she enforces a rule around hawthorne house about no shoes bc she thinks it’s nasty so everyone just slides around in socks like an ice skating rink (they actually think it’s really fun so no one complains)

she loves water bottles and has a whole cabinet dedicated to her water bottles

she has tumblr and a03 accounts that she stayed anonymous on that she kept when she got the inheritance bc no one knew it was her and she needed to rant about her books and write fics and stuff and they said stuff like “omg jameson is such a book boyfriend” and “i want to date him” she was just like yeah so do i… (she was keeping it a secret from the hawthorne s but they eventually found it and made fun of her spicy fics and xander ended up being one of her moots under an anonymous account bc they read the same books)

her and grayson watch shows like the golden girls and i love lucy together bc they love the old style

one time her nash found her✨spicy✨texts with jameson and never let her let them go

sry this is kinda short but i’m sick rn so i’m trying to get my rest but i hope you like theseeee

[hugsandchaos]

Dadow Boom AU snippets and ideas while I try to make sense of it! Hooray! :D

Shadow having a soft spot towards kids, especially his own, means Tails is off limits when/if fighting. He dodges all attacks made by the young fox and tries to disarm him without dealing damage. He’ll even step in if Eggman’s attacking and he’s around to help protect Tails.

Silver is around 8 biologically, but 1,000+ chronologically. He’s a little shorter than Tails.

Warning to all villains: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to kidnap Silver and hold him hostage against Shadow! He’ll have you begging for the sweet release of death! Kidnapping Silver is a one-way ticket to hell!

Silver gets along with Tails well. Silver doesn’t always understand him, but he tries his best, and Tails appreciates his efforts to understand and honesty when he doesn’t.

Shadow does his best to keep their past under lock and key, but sometimes, Silver will say something that sounds like they were struggling a lot before finding Bygone Island.

Silver’s still practicing his telekinesis, but he’s very good at it! According to Shadow, the edgy looking hedgehog himself was accidentally and quite literally tossed across the room by Silver once. Knuckles and Sonic aren’t allowed to help Shadow teach Silver because they tried making him do all these things that were dangerous.

Shadow is a tired single parent, Sonic and Amy are both working together and fighting each other to make him not a single parent. Shadow doesn’t understand what they see in him. Silver disapproves of them flirting with his dad.

The reason they fought in the first place was because Team Sonic took some strange crystals that Shadow needed, so he went to get them back and it escalated into a fight when they refused.

Eggman once picked Silver up because he thought he was a lost child because Silver was practicing his teleportation skills and showed up at his door. It took Shadow so much not to rip Eggman’s head off when he discovered that Silver was in Eggman’s lair.

Shadow being unbelievably pissed and out for blood if someone dares to lay a hand on his son, partially due to past experiences.

Shadow growing Black Arms features (tail, third eye, wings, bigger claws) when he either needs it or when he just wants to. Silver is completely used to this “monster form” as Sticks put it and will ask to be carried during flights.

Because Silver was created with significantly more hedgehog DNA, the only Black Arms feature he actually has is a longer tail, which is still white. They��re not quite sure where the extra fluff came from, but maybe he’ll grow out of it? (Spoiler alert: He didn’t.)

Here are a few bits I’ve thought of, but might not fit in this AU.

Possible Sticks and Shadow meeting before the rest of the group?? Sticks being an honorary aunt for Silver?? Sticks and Shadow solidarity. Sticks making “old man” jokes towards Shadow. Sticks not asking Shadow much about the whole “half alien” thing or much of his past, just enough to understand the bare minimum and then stop despite her curiosity.

“Hey, Sticks, is your friend single by any chance?” — Sonic

Silver climbing on Shadow, pouncing on him, pulling him, shaking him, whatever it takes to get him up so they can play while the rest of the group watches in horror. Shadow either suddenly waking up from a fake sleep at just the right time and grabbing him, or does the whole “Alright, I’m up, I’m up” thing. Just the group being surprised how patient he is with Silver, I guess.

I don’t usually headcanon Shadow showing signs of age or having old scars because the scars are supposed to heal completely and he doesn’t age, but I think this shall be an exception and give Shadow maybe one or two old scars. Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.

[trashpandato]

Magic

“Ah fuck,” Alex growls as the coin clatters on the tile floor.

“Language, babe. You know with Kara here, Esme can still hear you even from her room.”

Kelly’s admonishment is firm but warm, and Lena has to smile when she sees Alex’s frustration morph into adoration for her wife.

“Sorry,” Alex mumbles, before she bends down to pick up the coin to try again.

“It’s okay to fumble a little,” Lena reminds her gently, “the key is going to be to create enough distraction with your voice and words that your subject won’t really be paying attention to your hand.”

They’ve been at it for a while now. It being Lena teaching Alex a couple of very simple magic tricks. Alex isn’t particularly good at learning them, but when Esme came home from preschool a couple of weeks ago babbling non-stop about the “cool tricks” her teacher showed them, Alex promised herself to learn a few so she could keep the glee going at home, too. After she spent a few evenings trying and failing miserably to teach them herself through some YouTube videos, she sent a call for help to the Superfriends. 

And here they are now, Lena sitting in front of Alex, teaching her to hide a coin behind her fingers long enough to pull them out of Lena’s hair.

“You know,” Alex says as she shakes out her hand to get ready for her next attempt, “I know you’re a witch and all, but I never thought Lena Luthor would know these kinds of party tricks.”

Lena laughs. She demonstrates again how to tuck the coin first between and then behind her fingers while Alex watches.

“Lex taught me. Long ago, when we were both young. I think initially, he was trying to impress me, to be the cool older brother. But I saw through the tricks very quickly, so he pivoted to teaching them to me.”

Alex nods. She knows that Lena doesn’t like talking about Lex, especially not about this version of him, the brother who welcomed her into the family when no one else did, the brother she loved. Admittedly, Alex struggles to reconcile what she knows about Lex Luthor with the fragments of stories Lena has shared over the years, but she keeps that to herself. Mostly.

“Alright. Let me try this again.” 

Alex concentrates, holds up her hand, and this time, the coin doesn’t fall. She lets out a loud whoop and gives Lena a high five. The excitement and noise must have drifted into Esme’s room because only a few moments later, both Esme and Kara appear in the kitchen.

“What’s all the ruckus about?” Kara asks.

Alex claps her hands together, beaming. “I learned a new skill. Here,” she waves at Esme to come closer. “Let me show you.”

Esme bounces over to her adoptive mom and Alex directs her to sit down on Lena’s lap. Esme is practically buzzing, kicking her legs out excitedly. 

“What is it, what is it?”

“Hold still,” Alex tells her, and then she focuses on the trick. “See how I have nothing in my hands?”

Alex waves her hands briefly and Esme nods.

“Okay. But you know what? I think you, you might have something riiiight here.”

Alex slowly lifts her hand toward Esme’s left ear and produces the coin. It’s a bit clumsy but the coin doesn’t fall. It sits right in Alex’s hand.

For a brief second, Esme is silent. Then, she frowns.

“You had it tucked between your fingers.”

Alex sighs. She should have known that Esme would see through it. She’s just about to explain that she just wanted to learn a fun trick for her when Lena interrupts.

“I think that was my fault, actually.”

Esme twists in Lena’s lap so she can look at her, and Alex tilts her head in surprise.

“How so?”

“Well, you see, I gave Alex the wrong coin.” 

Lena holds out her hand and Alex places the coin in her palm.

“This one,” Lena continues, “is just a regular coin. We need a magic coin for this to work, so let’s just, let’s get rid of this one, yeah?”

Esme nods, her gaze locked on Lena’s palm. Lena closes her hand, shakes it a couple of times and then opens it again and the coin is gone. Completely gone. Alex tries to see if Lena has it tucked behind her fingers but then Lena turns her hand around and spreads her fingers wide and the coin is nowhere to be seen.

“Now, should we try and find the magic coin?”

Esme nods vigorously this time, her eyes bright and curious.

“Alright. Let me see. Hm,” Lena turns to look over at Kara, who’s been standing a couple of feet behind her, observing. “Ah. I think I know where it is. Kara, could you come over here for a second?”

Kara smiles and steps closer. Lena gestures at her to bend down a little so she is face to face with both Lena and Esme. Then Lena turns to Esme.

“Can you see the coin?”

Esme shakes her head. “No. Where is it?”

“See if it is behind her ears maybe?”

Esme frowns a little but then both hands come up to move Kara’s hair aside. She checks both ears, several times.

“I don’t see it,” Esme pouts.

“Check again,” Lena encourages, giving Alex a quick wink.

And this time, when Esme’s hand moves towards Kara’s right ear to brush her hair to the side, a coin tumbles right into her little hand.

“It’s here!” Esme exclaims loudly, showing off the coin. She hops off Lena’s lap and runs into her room, squealing.

Kara looks a little stunned. “What? How did you do that?”

Alex huffs out a laugh. “You know, it’s not really fair to use actual magic. How am I supposed to keep up with that?”

But Lena just smiles. “No magic involved, Agent Danvers.”

And that leaves Alex just as stunned as her sister. “Wait. Really?”

“Mm,” Lena hums. 

From back behind the kitchen counter, Kelly laughs.

“You’ve always been good with your hands, Lena. Maybe Alex needs a bit more practice?” And then, she smirks: “I’m happy to volunteer as a test subject.”

[lowkeyrobin]

if your taking requests then can i get an mcyt hcs of a s/o with long hair that's curly but like in a taylor swift debut type curly not like a barrel curls type way. anyway so their s/o's hair is like mega wild and they just never really style it, they brush it and take care of it but just not like sit down and style it, and so their hair is almost always down naturally and just how they'd react to it

yes of course!! thanks for the request, I rlly like this one :D hopefully I got everyone you're looking for here lol 🫶🫶🫶

MCYT ; you have long & curly hair

includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, freddie badlinu, niki nihachu, quackity, and foolish gamers

warnings ; language

y/f/c = your favorite color

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

absolutely loves your hair

he loves playing with it & he loves losing his hands in the density

he never asks to style your hair or anything because he doesn't know shit about it, but he likes being walked through how you care for it

at one point he randomly blurts out "you know, I've never seen you style your hair before"

"What, do you want me too?"

you guys have this whole little (civilized) conversation about your hair and how you prefer to wear it down instead of trying to fight with it

he gets interested if he can try and style it himself for you because he thinks you'd look so awesome with some styles

you shrug and let him

he does some simple stuff, needing your help to braid and whatever

he does a waterfall braid, then tries out some small, simple updos and two French braids

after that you go outside while the sun is sitting and take a bunch of pretty pictures of each other

he absolutely loves your hair, natural or styled

he loves learning about how you take care of it and you let him help you do so as well

he just likes watching you do stuff with your hair in general, and likes asking questions on what everything does

such a sweetheart fr

RANBOO

bro you literally saved their dead, fried ass hair /lh

it first started over the fact that you pointed out how fried their hair looked and that they needed to try new products so they took advice from you, obviously

literally spent 5 hours in the bathroom teaching him all about the products you use and what they do for your hair

and obviously they'd work different for both of you because you have totally different hair, but it'd still definitely help his hair

you introduce him to some more clarifying shampoo and massage-in cream/lotion to help his hair not get really dry or overly greasy and excentuate the fluffininess of their natural texture and the layers in their haircut

genuinely doesn't trust anyone with his hair other than you

always asks you questions about his hair, considering you know best

he likes watching you take care of your hair as well, like when you massage your scalp with oil or detangling, or diffusing it after a shower

he also helps you with a lot of this because he genuinely wants to and reaching the back of your head is a struggle sometimes

like when/if you have to section it and clip it up, he'll be there with the hot pink clips and a dream

you teach him all about different combs and he just nods the whole way through

he did actually retain that information

tweeting out shit like "ranboo just learned what a wide tooth comb is today, #parenting #momlife #dadlife #millenial"

FREDDIE BADLINU

loves learning about your hair texture

he also loves taking care of it for you

if you're too sick or tired, just sit down in the bathtub

he's got the detachable shower head, a towel, your products, and a dream

a dream to just make you sit down for 3 seconds and chill, God damn

anyways, you teach him all about the different products you use, how often you use them, why you use them, etc etc

you let him play around with your hair sometimes, but not that much

he likes braiding like 3 strands of your curls together to make some little braids and whatever to frame your face but that's really it

when you're cuddling and stuff, he totally like massages your scalp and loves getting his hands tangled in your curls

it's like a nap when you wake up with lines on your arms/face and your mouth is all dry like you've been drooling

best feeling ever

"wait, what's the difference between almond oil and coconut oil again?"

"the diffuser is this thing, right?"

after a while, he knows all the words like a second language

he ends up getting bored one day and doesn't wanna do the dishes so he decides to organize all your stuff for you

you already had little system but after a while you just threw things back in the general vicinity where they belonged so he was like "eh fuck it this is more fun than doing dishes"

he makes sure to sort by the order you use them and how often instead than in color order which

you walk in, see him organizing and just walk out bc no way in hell were you disturbing him nor were you gonna organize it yourself LMAO

QUACKITY

he really doesn't understand all the different products and tools but he does his best to learn

he just likes helping you take care of it and stuff

he notices literally all your combs and brushes are like breaking at the seams so he's like "fuck it I'll buy you new, more high quality ones"

he's a gift giver/acts of service guy what can I say

he makes sure they're either in black, white, or your favorite color, whatever you prefer

even gets you a new water bottle for backup bc the old one barely functioned

also reorders anything when you're running low asap

will gladly spend 200 dollars on hair care products and replacing old stuff

your happiness matters more than how much money he has in his pocket to him

also helps you organize all your stuff once you get a good little setup going

deadass streams it too

"wait, why aren't we doing it by color?"

"Why would that make sense? you always organize this kinda stuff by the order in which you use it"

"Okay Hermione Granger"

"bro what"

the silence 💀

he barely knows the difference between a fine tooth comb and a master sketcher but it's okay

don't even try to ask him the difference between all the different types of oils

literally gets embarrassed like "no! I knew that, I thought you were talking about something else!"

he's a lawyer and a streamer, not a salon professional dude 😭🙏

NIKI NIHACHU

she loves your hair no matter what you do with it

she loves being able to comb through it with her fingers or help you just tie it back if you're gonna get messy or stream for a bit

don't even worry about having to take care of it out of the shower, she's got you

she knows the whole routine front to back

you guys share some products

especially combs and brushes but duh

it's a mix of black, purple, and y/f/c LMAO

she frequently disinfects all your combs and brushes and everything for you too

after time she labels all the combs and brushes and whatnot so just in case you guys don't mix anything up, especially if you'd rather just not share certain things just in case which is totally fine!

she loves putting clips in your hair to push the front bits away from your face

she's got those cute, little, silver star ones

absolutely loves the smell of the stuff you put in your hair

when you're snuggling, she'll always hide her face in like the crook of your neck or in your hair cause it's genuinely soothing

she also likes braiding 3 strands to just frame your face and to add a cute little sign of her so you carry her around all day basically

FOOLISH GAMERS

has no idea of what's ever going on in the bathroom

but he'll help you if you need it anyways

"whats this one for again?"

he's got a hairbrush, a comb and some clips for any backup random shit

he has no idea what eggshell infused keratin etc etc means (I was trying to thing of my shampoo but can't remember other than the eggshell part LMFAO)

he does like asking questions about everything and learning what it does

"Why do you only use some like less than others?"

he's just here for the learning experience

notices some tattered tools in drawers/cupboards so for your birthday he gets you a whole new set of stuff from a really fancy brand

"Holy shit, how much did this cost??"

the silence afterwards was SO LOUD before you heard quackity literally cackling behind you

tweeting shit like "foolish just learned what a rat tail comb is. holy shit" and "foolish just learned about shrinkage today?"

in his defense, he never really though about shrinkage that much, he totally didn't put it into perspective and forgot your hair is technically double/triple the length of what he usually sees

like you'll pull it away from your face to demonstrate and he's just like "damn how long have you been growing your hair??? how have I not noticed?"

also a photographer when it comes to you

loves posting pics where your hair is a defining subject and just really perfects your presence and beauty <3

[drewsbuzzcut]

This Feeling Is Deeply Profound

Jeremy Swayman x Lyla Blair

A ‘The Masterminds’ fic

Warnings: smut smut smut and slight alcohol consumption

Takes place February 2024

“I fear you’re better at this than I am,” Lyla breaks the comfortable silence that settled over her and Jeremy as they worked through the recipe.

It’s their third date which consists of a private cooking class, so making and eating food with a nice glass of wine. As of late, Jeremy is proving to be a better cook than herself.

“I don’t know. The sauce you made tastes really good,” he compliments which brings a small, appreciative smile to Lyla’s features.

“Well yeah. That was really easy. I’m struggling with this dough kneading,” she says through a giggle.

Her eyes squint up and her cheeks get rosy. It’s a sight Jeremy adores.

“I think I need your strong muscles for this,” she winks at him, her smirk peeking out although she tries to hide it.

She didn’t care how dumb it sounded, she wanted him surrounding her in every way possible.

Jeremy quickly stands from his chair, making his way behind her sitting form and easily slotting his fingers through hers to guide her with kneading the dough. The smell of his cologne invades her senses, and the warmth emanating from his torso ironically makes goosebumps attack her skin.

“Is this better?” He asks, voice deep and sweet.

She tilts her head back, looking up into his eyes that somehow appear shiny in the dim lighting. Lyla feels her heartbeat race and hears the blood pumping in her ears. He’s so close and it kills her to not be able to have him the way she wants to. As if he’s not close enough, he brings his chair around and sits directly behind her. His hands are still laced and helping her, but it’s hard to focus on anything when she can feel his breath of the shell of her ear.

“Yes. See, you’re better at this,” Lyla says in a whisper, too afraid her voice will betray her.

He presses a chaste kiss to her shoulder, making Lyla take a minute to calm herself. This was going to be a long night if he kept doing little things like that.

After the bread comes out of the oven, hot and smelling heavenly, Jeremy helps set their little table setup. Lyla lights the candles, pours the drinks, and Jeremy plates the food.

“This looks so yummy. I got to say we actually did a really good job!” Lyla comes up behind Jeremy, a hand softly resting in the middle of his back.

“We have to taste it first,” Jeremy teases, earning a playful scoff and eye roll.

Though his playful demeanor hides it, Jeremy is trying not to get weak at the knees from her touch. It’s proving to be a challenge.

“Here’s your seat, babe,” he pulls out Lyla’s chair and she almost does at double take at the pet name that slipped from his lips.

“Thank you, babe,” she tests the name, enjoying the way it rolls off her tongue.

They both don’t draw too much attention to the new addition, both just deciding to start eating.

“This is really good, J. We did a good job,” Lyla hums.

“Oh yeah. Told you you’re good in the kitchen.”

“No way, that’s you! You already know how to cook! Yeah, I remember the couple stories you told me about you cooking- which is how we ended up picking this for our date. You were just blessed with better skills than I was,” Lyla rambles, giggles falling between each sentence.

“Well, that means we have to spend more time together, so I can teach you those said skills,” he lowers his voice, pulling her chair closer to his.

Lyla extends her arm out, setting it over his shoulder as they continue their conversation, now facing toward each other. After many laughs and various conversations about many topics, they finally move onto dessert. The decadent chocolate cheesecake wasn’t prepared by them, but made by the cooks who actually work there.

“You have to try this,” Lyla says, eyes closed as she lets out a moan around her fork.

“I can’t have that. Not during the season,” he says, trying not to focus on the sounds coming from her mouth.

“Please. One bite. I promise it won’t do anything bad to you,” Lyla tries to convince him, but he pulls her into a kiss instead.

Jeremy places a hand on the hollow of her throat, pulling her closer to him. Lyla lets the fork clatter down to the plate, desperately holding in the moans she wants to let out. He’s in the same predicament. He can taste the chocolate when his tongue tangles with hers. Lyla’s hands go straight to his hair, gripping lightly so she wouldn’t float away.

“Yeah, I think I want a bite. It tasted really good,” his lips move to her jaw, pressing wet kisses to her skin.

Lyla starts to feel her resolve crumbling. His lips feel too good on her skin for her to continue to act like she didn’t want him. No, not want. Need. She needs him.

“Then take a bite.” A bite of me.

He pulls away, leaving Lyla to blink back to reality. He brings a piece of their dessert to his mouth and lets out similar sounds that Lyla let out. He holds out the fork to her, a piece waiting for her mouth.

She surrounds her mouth around the fork, maintaining eye contact with the goalie. She’s testing him, seeing how much he can handle before he finally makes a move. Maybe she’ll have to make the first move, but she didn’t care because she still loved to see him get riled up. He tries to hide it, but Lyla knows how to pinpoint his feelings. They are the same as hers after all.

The last of their night passes in a blur for Lyla. She’s so focused on the feeling of his hand wrapped around her waist to even pay attention on their walk back to his car. She doesn’t want to come off too strong, but at the same time she wants to get her point across. Hopefully he’ll invite her inside of his place.

“Did you enjoy tonight?” Jeremy asks once they’re settled in his car.

“I really did. It was nice to do something I’ve never tried before- even if it was just something as simple as a cooking class. I’m really glad we did it together,” she responds, reaching her hand out to place his free hand on her thigh.

She watches Jeremy relax into the driver’s seat, looking awfully calm and collected. His eyes are on the road and his hand squeezes at her thigh. She doesn’t know how he manages to look so cool. She’s trying not to combust at the seams from his gentle touch.

“I had a great time, too. It’s nice to step out of being a hockey player for a minute, especially after a loss,” he admits, taking a glance at her when he stops at the red light.

“You and the team will get back on track soon,” Lyla rubs the back of his neck, feeling quite smug when she sees him shiver.

“Thank you, baby,” Jeremy grabs her wrist and kisses her palm.

Lyla has a hard time not reacting viscerally to the second new pet name of the night. She unbuckles her seatbelt, alarming Jeremy, but she starts pressing kisses to his neck and that gets him silent real quick. She holds onto his face, hands on his jaw as she kisses him from his cheek down to his shoulder. It isn’t anything fast or rough, just small pecks to where she can reach without straddling him.

When the light turns green, she retreats back to her seat and buckles her seatbelt once again.

“Do you want to come over to my place? We don’t have to do anything. I didn’t mean it like that. I just don’t want to leave you,” he rambles and Lyla lets out a shy giggle, accepting his offer quickly after.

The rest of the car ride is silent except for the radio. However, Jeremy does turn up the volume when her song starts playing. It was a nice, unexpected moment of laughter. She’d pay anything to see Jeremy poorly sing one of her songs again.

“Do you have something I can change into? These pants are starting to get uncomfortable,” Lyla whispers in his ear.

If someone were to see them right now, they’d probably get weirded out stares. Lyla is attached to his front, arms thrown around him as he walks up to his front door. They’re whispering in each other’s ears as if they had to be silent.

“Of course. You can have a pair of my sweatpants, might have to roll them up, but they should work. You could also use one of my shirts if you’re not feeling the sweatpants.”

“Perfect!”

“Here’s my room. You wait here and I’ll go get you some clothes,” he walks into his closet while Lyla is left to look around his room.

It’s homey, quite organized for a guy. It also smells like him. There are so many scattered picture frames and they make her smile. She loves that he loves his family.

“I got you a shirt and some pants,” he snaps her out of her thoughts.

“Thank you,” she tries to undo the zipper of her blouse, but for some reason she can’t get a good grip.

“J? Can you help me unzip my top?”

She feels his hands land softly on her shoulders before she hears his response. Her breathing slows at the gentleness of his hands as he pulls the zipper down.

She pulls the sleeves off her arms, her bare nipples hardening as they come in contact with the cool air. She’s still facing away from him, but she can feel the tension grow palpable. After one more phrase of encouragement, she turns around. Her breasts are on full display for him. He tries not to stare, but when Lyla places his hands on her ribcage, he finally takes a look. It’s like every thought and breath exits his body. He doesn’t even know how to react when she presses her chest to his.

He tightens his hold on her, though. He needed to ground himself.

The warmth of her back against his hands is nice, but nothing compares to the heat pooling in her eyes and her core. He presses a bruising kiss onto her mouth, his lips lingering. A burning desire flickers through her entire body.

“I know you said that you didn’t want me to come over for sex, but I wouldn’t mind,” she whispers, and puts his hands on her cheeks.

“Are you sure?” Jeremy feels hesitant. It’s only their third date and he doesn’t want to force her to go through with anything she isn’t comfortable with.

“Yes. Touch me,” Lyla pleads.

A hand on her throat and the other moving towards her nipple, Jeremy pulls her in for another kiss. This time it’s softer, but it still makes Lyla feel lightheaded.

He picks her up and softly lays her on his bed. The neutral colored bedspread looks perfect underneath her. They continue to stare into each other’s eyes as they pull off their clothing. Jeremy’s eyes are beautiful pools of vulnerability, but they’re also laced with lust.

They take a moment to just take each other in. This is new for them, them being naked in front of the other. Lyla feels herself grow wet just looking at his body and all that he has to offer, and he has a lot to offer.

Jeremy’s eyes hone in on the small butterfly tattoo on Lyla’s hip and travel along her curves. Her naked body easily becomes his favorite color palette.

“You’re beautiful,” he says with a tone that’s a mix of astonishment and something that’s akin to love.

He lets a lone finger trace from her collarbones down to her abdomen, and there’s a trail of chills left in its wake. He gets on his knees, leaning over her lower half. His lips press onto the inked skin of her hip and Lyla shoots up, seeking for friction. He never thought someone could be so intrigued with a small tattoo, but he is as he sucks the skin into his mouth to create a hickey.

“Jeremy, I want to touch you,” she reaches out for him.

He crawls in between her legs, hands pressing into the mattress above her head and leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead.

Lyla lets her hands wander all over his body. She loves the way his muscles flex under her touch. He loves the way her soft skin grazes each scar and bruise he’s ever had because of hockey.

All too soon, he leaves her touch, deciding to travel down her body. A quick stop at her breasts leads to her nipples becoming so sensitive and hard as he sucks on them.

Slowly but surely he gets to the apex of her thighs, moving her legs apart to spread her open. He gets the perfect view of her dripping folds.

“Look at you. My girl is so wet,” he whispers, opening Lyla up before sucking her clit into his mouth.

Despite the moan that rips through her throat, Lyla tries to stay quiet. Jeremy doesn’t allow her the chance to silence herself, though. His tongue flicks over her clit, mouth closing to create the perfect suction around her. Lyla’s hips shoot off the bed, her hands gripping onto his curls. The taste of her arousal coats his tongue, brain going hazy and moaning wildly around her.

“J! Fuck. More, please more,” she cries.

Deciding to tease her, he rips his mouth away. His beard shines with her wetness and Lyla swears she could cum at the sight. He dips two of his fingers inside of her, slowly pumping them in and out of her.

“I need to get you ready for me, baby,” he mutters into the skin of her abdomen, lips moving to kiss her tattoo.

“No. I want you now. Baby, please. Please fuck me,” she begs, voice barely comprehensible.

Hearing Lyla call him baby and in her sexy voice makes him want to make her scream. He wants the only thing he hears for the rest of his life to be her voice.

“I can feel you squeezing my fingers, baby. Do you think you’re ready for me?” His lips ghost over her mound.

“Yes! Please,” she whines.

Jeremy rises to his knees, fisting his cock and guiding it to her opening. Lyla watches with a meaningful gaze as he spreads her wetness around her fluttering hole. She just wants to be full of him.

“Shit. I don’t think I have any condoms,” Jeremy states, getting off the bed to dig around in his bedside drawer.

That’s not what Lyla wanted to hear. That’s not what anyone wants to hear as they’re about to have their world rocked.

She thinks for a while why Jeremy is looking in his restroom. She doesn’t usually have unprotected sex with people she’s getting to know. Not even people she’s been in long relationships with, but this relationship with Jeremy feels different. She trusts him so much and she feels safe with him.

“Jeremy,” the call for him comes out weak, her voice starting to tremble because she’s more nervous than to begin with.

“Jeremy,” it’s a lot more clear now.

He walks out of his restroom, a wince painted on his face and his eyes cast down.

“I’m sorry. I forgot that I didn’t have any condoms. That sounds so bad. I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting for us to have sex tonight,” he whispers

“It’s okay. I’m on birth control and I trust you,” she stares into his eyes, waiting for his reaction.

“No. I don’t want you to feel like you have to. I swear we can wait, or I can go buy condoms right now,” he rambles, words getting trampled by each other.

Before he can continue, she gets on her knees and pulls him into a kiss. A whimper being transferred to his mouth when she tastes herself on his tongue.

“I trust you. Do you trust me?” She asks, eyes glossy and hands glued to his cheeks.

“I do.”

“Then we can continue,” she nods her head in reassurance.

He presses his lips to hers, hands going to her back and softly lowering her onto the bed.

He lines himself up with her entrance, slowly pushing in so she can adjust.

“Oh my god,” she breathes out.

“Are you okay?”

“Yup. I just need a minute to adjust,” he complies, pecking her face until it’s safe to move again.

Once given the green light, he starts to rock his hips into hers, feeding off her low moans. She fits perfectly around him.

The pull of his hips is slow, deep, and it makes Lyla feel every single part of him. However, she can tell he’s holding back. She can sense it in the way he’s shaking from trying to stop his movements from being overpowering. She can hear it in the way he tries to control his breathing.

Lyla wraps her legs around his waist, pulling his body closer to hers. Her hands roam up his back, fingernails lightly scratching at his skin. He fucks her like he cares and that sets something feral off inside of her.

“You can be rough with me. I promise I won’t break. I can be your good girl,” she wraps her hand around the back of his neck, lifting her head up so she can whisper in his ear.

He lets out the raspiest moan. Lyla grows wetter at the noise and Jeremy can feel it drip down to his balls. His hips start rocking with more force and a faster pace. Deciding to rest on his knees again, he opens Lyla’s legs wider. He presses on her lower stomach and he angles his hips up.

“Oh my god. That feels so good, baby. Fuck. Keep going,” she moans, head tilting back and fingers clutching onto the sheets.

He can feel himself deep inside of her, but when he sees his cock bulge in her stomach, he feels his cock start to pulse. It’s too soon to bust his load inside of her, though.

Suddenly pulling out of her warmth and smirking at Lyla’s grunts, he flips her over onto her stomach. He grips her hips, making her back arch so that she’s face down, ass up. He pulls her back, cock thrusting into her at a lethal pace.

Lyla screams his name, tears already lining her eyes and blurring her vision.

His balls slap against her clit, sending flames throughout her entire body. He pulls her arms behind her back, holding her wrists together in one of his hands. His eyes are glued to the way her wet walls wrap around him. The way she sucks him back in because she’s so tight. The way she makes his cock glisten.

“You like that, baby? You like my cock splitting you open?” He leans down to whisper in her ear.

“Yes!” She shouts.

He lets go of her hands , enjoying the way she immediately fists the blankets. The tip of his length hits her velvety spot and makes her clench around his shaft. Lyla tries to move, the pleasure starting to get to her, but Jeremy pins her hips in place. His thumbs fit perfectly in the dimples on her back, and his cock continues to drill into her.

“More. More.”

Sweat is already starting to gather in the dips and valleys of their bodies, and Jeremy starts to feel his balls tighten. Knowing that they won’t last much longer, he lifts her body so that her back is to his chest.

Lyla rests her head back on his shoulder, throwing her arms around his neck the best she can. Somehow he hits so much deeper inside of her. She lets out the most sultry gasps each time he ruts into her. She turns her head towards his, eyes connecting in their haze of passion. She can see the lust swimming in them. She presses her lips to his hungrily. Their teeth clash and their tongues dance together. Her breathless moans sound perfect right next to his ear.

She bounces her hips up and down, walls caving in and dragging him closer to his orgasm. Both of their bodies move in tandem. It’s crazy how they’re perfectly in sync.

His grunts echo in her head. His noises are smooth and hot. They are the best thing Lyla has ever heard. She wants to place his sounds in the background vocals of all her songs.

Lyla’s breath hitches when he wraps a hand around her throat and lets his other fingers circle her clit. She feels the heat coiling in her tummy, her body quivering against him as she feels her orgasm coming on strong.

“I’m gonna cum. Please let me cum,” she begs, lips glued to his cheek and she kisses his skin hotly as if he needs convincing.

“Cum for me, baby. Make a mess on my cock,” he gives her permission, pounding his hips into hers.

She lets go with a silent scream, pleasure too much for there to be sound. Her eyes roll to the back of her head, but her vision would be blurred by white, hot starbursts anyway.

Her pussy holds onto him with a vice like grip, and he can feel her muscles contract around him. She pulls his orgasm out of his body. His cock exploding deep inside of her while he moans like it’s the best thing ever. And for him, it is. He’s never known pleasure to be so riveting.

He keeps her pressed to his body, hips slowly working them both through their releases.

“Kiss me,” his husky voice whispers in her ear.

Her lips lock with his, but with each movement of his hips her mouth opens and a whimper spills.

He pushes her body forward, guiding her to lay back down. She turns on her back, eyes boring into his. She needs more of him. Although her body still shakes and feels sore, she needed more of him. She’s addicted.

He hovers over her, eyes making a path down to her spent cunt. He leaves a trail of ghost kisses from her breast to her belly button. She watches with bated breath when Jeremy’s hands go back to her hips, his touch sending electricity through her. He lifts her bottom half up, leaning down to let his tongue explore her further.

“I love the way you taste. I love the way you whimper when I do this,” he sucks her clit into his mouth. Lyla whines and writhes underneath him.

He moans at the sight of her leaking his cum. His tongue creeps down to collect their expense, lapping and making the most obscene noises. Lyla’s legs tremble as they try to close around his head, but he quickly pulls her legs apart.

“J, I can’t. Fuck, I want more,” Lyla mewls, body arching up off the bed.

He keeps lapping at her pussy, warm fingers sinking into her. The continuous press of his fingertips into her sweet spot makes her delirious. The familiar burning sensation churns deep inside of her. She quickly feels a second orgasm pounding on her body. Lyla’s body stills before all her muscles release and a loud cry falls for her lips.

She pushes at Jeremy’s head, way too sensitive for him to keep going. Lyla’s chest heaves as she catches her breath. Her previously curled hair is now a mess and matted to her skin by her sweat. Her head is spinning and all she can feel is her heart beating fast. She doesn’t even release Jeremy left until he reappears with a warm, wet cloth to clean her up.

“You did so well,” he whispers as he softly wipes her body clean.

Lyla stays quiet, getting out of bed to use the restroom. The whole time she’s thinking about what’s next. Does she pick up her clothes from his floor, get dressed then leave? Does she get back into his bed? Does he do aftercare? The walk back into the room feels awkward, which is crazy with how intimate they just were. She decides to get in under the covers. Jeremy is still seated at the end of the bed, feeling confused. He didn’t know why she felt so far away.

After he cleans himself up and uses the restroom, he finds her still tucked under the comforters. He lies down next to her, eyebrows furrowing in worry when he sees her visibly shaking.

“Baby, come here. Please be close to me,” he requests, voice soft.

Lyla immediately turns to him, shimmying her way into his arms. She throws an arm over his chest and a leg over his hips. She focuses on his warmth and how softly he holds her.

“Are you feeling okay?” He asks into the skin of her forehead.

“Perfect. You’re perfect. I really love sex with you,” Lyla tilts his head down so he’s looking at her.

She leans in, chastely kissing his lips. Jeremy’s hand finds its rightful place on her throat.

“I really like you, Lyla. There’s no one else like you, and I don’t mean that in the way that everyone else means when they tell someone that. I mean, I truly have never meant someone like you. You’re changing my life in the best way possible,” he stares so deeply into her soul.

“Yeah, well you’re changing mine, too,” she whispers, kissing his chest and cuddling into him.

His hands caress her body, subconsciously finding their way to her hip tattoo. Even though Jeremy’s touch is gentle, her body jerks. The red bruise left behind by his mouth is sensitive.

“Stay the night?” Hands that are soft, but rough around the edges continue to stroke her skin. Lyla finds herself melting into his body.

“As long as you cuddle me the entire night,” the girl counters, lips attacking his neck.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Jeremy holds her tight, falling into a peaceful sleep.

a/n: This is a little rough, but the smut will be better once I start writing more for this pairing! Otherwise, I hope y’all enjoy!

[duchess-kyuupid]

~The Duchess' Thoughts and Drabbles Pt. 1~ Ft. Malleus

In order to get back into the spirit of writing (as I've had a bad case of writer's block for the past few months), I felt like I should just write some informal drabbles and short scenarios for the time being instead of my usual semi-long-form-formal writing. After all, I've heard of the best ways to cure writers block is to just... write. So here goes!

Imagine Malleus with a s/o who likes to arm wrestle.

[Gn!Reader, romantic Malleus x reader but can be read platonic, jealousy, fluff]

You have to teach him how the game works at first, but he's happy to indulge in your human interests if you ask to arm wrestle with him (agreeing to your condition that no magic is allowed during your match) and at first, you can't even get his arm to budge.

Like, you're trying so hard to get his arm the other way just a little bit, your face going red from the effort of trying to move something with the strength of a dragon.

And well, Malleus thought that the look on your face was just simply adorable, so he tried to mimic the way your arm was shaking to make it seem like he was also struggling against you. Even though he's objectively quite a terrible actor, it fooled you nonetheless, and he slowly allowed your arm to take over his.

You don't notice the satisfied look on his face as he grants you this opportunity, you were just so unbelievably happy when you had actually won. You started dancing around the room in your excitement, and all Malleus could think about was that 'losing' the game was absolutely worth it if he got to see you this side of you.

And he'd continue to indulge you in your arm wrestling games, so he continued to let you win. Of course, this winning streak against literally the strongest mage in possibly all of Twisted Wonderland made your ego inflate like a balloon. So much so that you had dared to challenge Jack to an arm wrestling match. In which he won by an almost embarrassingly large landslide.

Malleus thinks nothing of this at first- you were just playing around with your fellow man much in the same way that the smaller fae might play together in Briar Valley. But over time, he continued to catch wind that you were going to Jack and demanding rematches on a near daily basis, all of which ended up with you losing almost immediately.

Now, Malleus has a lot of patience. But it was starting to run thin with the way that you were spending a considerable amount of time away from him just to go to another man to play a silly little game. Now why in the world would you prioritize hanging out with Jack more than him? He once asked you this question (not exactly with those words), to which you replied that, "Well I mean, I know that I can win against you any time, so I'm widening my horizons and facing difficult challenges! I haven't been able to beat him yet, but when I do, I'll find a new rival to beat!" So in other words, you'd keep coming to back to Malleus instead of Jack if he just won every arm wrestling competition against you? Easy.

And so for the first time, he asks for a rematch, to which you gracefully accepted, confident that you'd easily be able to win against the opponent you've beaten 37 to 0. Unfortunately for you, Malleus was quite serious about winning this time. And every other time that you asked for consecutive rematches.

"You aren't using any magic, right? That's cheating," you claim. He shakes his head and reaffirms that he has never used magic to win against you. "This must be the first time you've had to face against the true strength of a dragon, dear, " He states with a smug smirk on his face. You, with your now severely deflated ego, sigh and officially declare your loss, coming to terms with the fact that Malleus was only going easy on you for those previous 37 times. Now you're faced with an embarrassing ratio of 37 wins to 115 loses.

With that same smugness on his face, he smiles at you and asks innocently, "Now, am I going to be your new challenge to face against from now on?"

Dejected, you sigh to yourself, "I don't think it's possible to win against you when you've got that much raw strength... At least with Jack it actually seems somewhat plausible," and you finish your reply with a small little pout.

Okay, and now you've just straight up confused Malleus at this point. Why were you humans just so weird? He thought at first that the problem was the he didn't give you enough challenge, and now he's too much of one? What do you even like about these challenges where you fail so miserably until you get a even a single victory? What's so entertaining about that? Malleus even gets mildy upset when he comes to the realization that Jack's been quite cruel to you in the sense that he never lets you win, even though he knows quite well that there was little you could do to get yourself to be able to physically overpower someone like Jack (or even Ruggie, to be honest).

Doesn't he know that your little victory dance is the single most cutest thing in this world? That your smile could singlehandedly cure any ailment? That the look of pure joy on your face after a victory hard-earned could even stop world wars? How could Jack be so cruel as to deny you any semblance of that happiness that solves world hunger and prevents global warming? What a foolish beastman, to not be able to recognize such things, Malleus thinks.

[v3nusxsky]

Darling talk to me| H&C

*A/n~ this idea has me willing to sit here and not move till it releases its chokehold on me. God I absolutely adore writing for Larissa she's an absolute angel with a protective streak for those important to her and don't forget everyone at Nevermore. Her strength is unmatched. ~proceeding to gay panic over Larissa~ I'm so late to posting this but life is a pain sometimes. okay read on my little doves*

~Second authors note~ from the drafts requests are coming guys, sorry I had some shit happen today

Tw~ assault implied (aftermath bruises mentioned)

Prompt~ number 28 on my prompt list ~ "who did this to you" requested by Abi1468~ wattpad

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Teaching children was always the dream. It took years to decide what subject. Each held a special place in your heart. But one day it just clicked. Language and spell work is a subject you've always excelled at. Your own sorcery flowing strongly through your veins with every thump of your beating heart. The language part was certainly interesting and the spells normally in a language similar to Latin. Due to this you were fluent in Latin but also a few other languages. Your thirst for knowledge never truly quenched so you found another language to learn.

You were Nevermore's  first ever sorceress to teach but also one of the younger staff members. The students at Nevermore absolutely adored you and your lessons. That was a shock. Really, you'd expected them to moan at how much work it would be , struggle to stay engaged when the languages got tricky and in general dislike how you run the class. But no. You saw your students as friends with all the banter and fun you had every day. Each class unique in their own divine right.

Sorcery sounds amazing for those who don't quite understand the burden. The magic that runs through your body is fulled by emotion. Which means you feel a constant need to be in control all of the time. You can't afford any slip ups. After all one time when you were new to your ability you accidentally grew frustrated at tripping over a branch. Immediately your magic responded setting it on fire. That was actually the first time your power made itself known to you. It was a terrifying moment. Alone and scared and only eleven years old. So now at twenty five, you were glad to be helping the next generation of outcasts, ensuring no one was left alone when their ability showed itself.

With exams rounding the corner you had neglected to make a trip into Jericho. Which is how you found yourself stood in your bathroom glaring at the empty tooth paste tube. You could feel the simmering magic in your bones as you tried to calm your frustrations. It was eleven thirty at night. Extremely inconvenient.

You quickly threw on a hoodie and jogging bottoms before walking into Jericho. A petrol station sat just on the outskirts of the town. You made a mental note to come shopping for everything else tomorrow. The moon lit the path in front of you, it was a gorgeous night really but you'd be lying if you said you didn't want to be back in your nice warm cosy bed. Sighing at the thought you wouldn't return to Nevermore for at least an hour. If only you knew.

The walk to the petrol station was a tranquil experience. It was only once you had secured the damned toothpaste did everything go so drastically wrong. You noticed a group of people tailing you. It made every fibre of your magic tingle. Not a good indication. But still this it is late and it is the last thing you need in your exhausted state. Your magic accidentally attacking some Normie gang because it felt threatened would be problematic to say the least. You needed to remain in control now more than ever. The group started to hurl insults at you, words slurring together showing their drunken state. The whole situation putting your magic on a high alert. Something was wrong. But you had to remain in control. You knew how disappointed your boss turned crush would be if that would occur. So you did your best to calm your magic and continue back to Nevermore but suddenly something went connected with your head. Knocking you out cold.

The first thing your body registers is pain. Everywhere. Your limbs stiff, back flat against the harsh pavement as your mind and body fought to return to their usual state. Your eyelids fluttering rapidly as you finally register the blue sky. Not the onyx sky you remembered. No, this blue was the rival of the bluest ocean. How had it become daylight? Wasn't it just night? What the hell happened? Your body too sore to move, you slowly convince your head to turn to each side. From there you identified the fuzzy outskirts of the grounds of Nevermore. The motivation you needed. You wanted your home and you were going to get it. You heaved your bruised body from the ground and slowly but surely trekked back Nevermore.

Thankfully, you could sneak back to your quarters undetected due to the early hour. After all it was a Saturday and no one would willingly be wondering the halls at this time of morning. As soon as you entered the room you immediately found your bed. Carefully climbing into it and letting your weary body rest. Exhaustion was click to claim you.

A few hours passed and you were now up taking paracetamol to go shopping. Only then did you see the full extent of the damaged. Black and blue splotches adorned your usual ivory skin. What was most concerning was the handprints on either of your thighs. You knew you had to cover this up. No one can know.

No one would known if you didn't drop your keys in the hallway. Larissa catching you in her gaze, she spotted the unusual colour. "Y/n? Can I just borrow you?" Your boss called out to you. Your body instantly complying and taking you to her.

Which is exactly how you landed up sat on the sofa under Larissa's intense watchful gaze. "Darling I must say I love the jumper" which caused a blush to adorn your cheeks. It was an old jumper, purely for comfort but the compliment from Larissa meant everything. "Thank you" you mumbled avoiding her gaze. It was only then when things went wrong. The older women was about to tell you you're welcome and that she meant her compliment however, she moved to place her hand on your leg connecting with a bruise.

You yelped out and instantly moved from the source. Concern flashed over her face. And slowly two and two were put together. "Darling? Why are you covered in bruises?" She hummed trying to keep a gentle tone as not to scare you with her line of intrusive questioning. Immediately you began to deny the fact with gusto that she almost believed you. Almost. "Y/n... I saw them in the hallway, and now when I touched your thigh. What happened darling? You can tell me." Her tone remained light and reassuring which is what made you finally break.

Harsh sobs filled the room as you cried. Cried for the confusion, the pain, and the care this women was extending to you. Your magic reacting to the emotional turmoil began to lash out, knocking books off the shelves and even lighting a roaring fire in the fire pit. If you were calmer you'd appreciate the fact it was the fire pit and not the desk. Clearly your magic wished Larissa no harm. Larissa sprang into action carefully gathering you in her arms. "Oh darling, it's okay, your okay, what happened? You're safe here. It's okay." Was the mantra that was ringing through your ears in her soothing voice.

Really not thinking clearly at all, you sat back and took the jumper off, revealing the blue bruises that littered your body. Only then did you also point to where they remained on your lower body. As you got to your thighs you dropped your hands back to your side and waited. For what? You weren't sure. After all you couldn't remember what had happened to you. All you knew is you hurt. Your body aching with every movement.

The taller women gasped at your display and immediately gathered you back in her arms. How could someone be so capable of that? Who? When? Not her y/n. Well you weren't her y/n, but she wished you'd be. "Y/n darling. Who did this to you?" The older women was so deep in her own swirling thoughts, all she could manage was a whisper.

You broke once more. And began to recount the hellish day and night you'd had. If only you hadn't ran out of toothpaste none of this would've happened. So really you were blaming yourself, I mean who else was there? "Darling, you could've come to me. I would've drove you instead..." she trailed off In thought cradling you as if you were glass.

"I didn't want to bother you. I'm sorry. I should've just waited till the morning. I'm sorry" you mumbled into the women's body. Only now calming slightly. "Oh darling it's okay. It's not your fault. Next time you need to go to Jericho I'll take you myself. I really care for you Y/n.... Do you know the people who did this?"

You shook your head at her question. You truly didn't. But she cared for you. And you knew that later when you had to go back to Jericho that Larissa would be there. All you could do was hope the pair of you didn't bump into that group again. For now though, you're just quite content to be comforted by Larissa. The first time feeling safe in the last twelve hours and it's all due to her. Your protector.

Word count ~ 1675

*A/n~ idk how I feel about this one I may rewrite it with one of my other ideas for this prompt.*

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Not going to lie guys I was so excited about this project but when I sat down to actually write it I struggled sooo much. So here it is Part 1, it’s short, it’s setting the scene, it is what it is

Pairings: Jake Kiszka X Danny Wagner *slash for the baes

Warnings and tags: 18+ ONLY!! sorry minors disperse! Adult themes including: insecurity, mention of body dismorphia (very breif), mentions of death of a loved one, mentions of depression, Dad Jake AU, uncle Danny AU (I am not using Danny’s irl sister as inspiration for this, the character referred to here is completely made up), flirting, slow burn

Word count: 3.7k

Jake never imagined his life would end up the definition of suburbia. The days came and went one after the other in a blur of cut-and-dry: school, work, practice, dinner, bed, and repeat. He loved his life, he loved his home, he loved his daughter, but he never really knew what he was missing until life brought him the unexpected.

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Another morning went by after Jake packed a lunch for his daughter and got her ready for school.

“Daddy?” Her little voice called out from the backseat as they waited in line at the drop off. The school was only a couple of blocks away but Jake preferred to drive her himself rather than let her take the bus at such a young age- he could be a little overprotective sometimes.

“Yes darling?” He replied, looking through the rear view mirror to catch a glimpse at her as she spoke.

“Are you coming to my graduation?” She asked, carefully anouncuating ‘graduation’ after they had spent some time practicing on it together.

“Of course I am. You only graduate kindergarten once”.

“Did you graduate kindergarten?”

“I did, a long time ago” Jake chuckled. She was at the stage where everything was a question that led to another question, but rather than being annoyed by it he liked to indulge her a little sometimes.

“Did Mommy graduate kindergarten?”

“She did, when she was just a little girl like you” he answered her again, only this time he quietly hoped this was the end of her string of questioning for now.

When she was younger she never seemed to be bothered about being raised by Jake alone. Having been too little to really remember much about her mother or her passing. It wasn’t until she’d started school last year that she heard other children talking about their daddies and mommies that she started to realize their home life wasn’t exactly the norm.

It was a tough conversation for him to have with her, still believing she was too innocent to have to grasp the concept of death. But when she’d randomly asked one day after school why she didn’t have a mommy, he knew he had to tell her that she did and she was loved so incredibly much, but her mommy just wasn’t here with them anymore.

To make up for that Jake tried to give his daughter as much love and attention as possible. Although even if he’d never admit it, he was exhausted, wearing himself thin with both solo-parenting and working on running the foundation his wife had left him in charge of.

After another successful drop off at the elementary school, Jake finished getting himself ready for the day. Work was just busy enough to keep himself sufficiently occupied, powering through lunch so he could leave early.

Today was the first day of practice with the pee-wee soccer team Jake had volunteered to coach. Sure that was just another responsibility to juggle on his plate, but Jake was actually excited to get onto the field again- even if it was just teaching a bunch of 5-7 year old girls how to kick a ball.

“Did you see that!” Luna gleefully exclaimed as she turned to make sure Jake had seen her kick the ball into her first goal.

“I did! Good job” he smiled back at her, but his grin slowly faded when out in the distance behind her he saw a figure sitting on one of the bleachers. He narrowed his eyes, calling a few of the girls back over and making sure all the little ones were accounted for before he approached.

“Excuse me, you can’t smoke on the field”.

“Oh shit, my bad” the unknown man pressed the cherry of his cigarette into the metal of the bleacher next to him.

Jake crossed his arms across his chest, looking him up and down with an unamused glare. He was wearing a pair of worn in black jeans with a cut up black t-shirt that looked like it barely fit him. “Can I ask what you’re doing here?”

“I’m watching my niece practice” he replied with a casual sideways smile, returning the same up and down look to Jake in his athletic shirt and sweatpants combo he’d just been awarded.

Jake was about to open his mouth again to question him further but one of the kids excitedly yelled from behind him “Uncle Danny!”

Danny hopped off the steps he’d been leaning on and bent at the knees, squatting with his arms held open for a hug. “Hi little miss soccer pro!” He praised her as he picked her up and spun her around, “did you miss me?”

“I missed you!” She squealed as he kissed at her rosy cheeks and gently let her down. “Coach Jake, this is my uncle Danny. I haven’t seen him since Christmas!”

“Is that so?” Jake replied, still deciding if he should give her parents a call and make sure this was okay.

Danny could sense Jake’s reservations and offered with the same smile he’d had since Jake approached, his hand to shake. “Nice to meet you coach”.

Jake took his hand, expecting the simple embrace to be stiff, but Danny didn’t put any strength in his grasp as their hands closed together. “I’m going to be walking Emma home after practices if that’s okay with you”.

Even without having the responsibility of being in charge of all the girls on his soccer team, Jake’s over protective tendencies extended past just his own daughter Luna to Emma specifically. She lived only a block over in their small tight knit suburb and he’d met her parents at a PTA meeting at the start of the school year.

Realizing how close they lived, they started scheduling play dates at the park next to the field between Luna and Emma who easily became best friends. As quickly as Jake announced at a later meeting that he’d be volunteering to coach soccer to the kids, Emma was signed up. Jake had picked them both up from school and got them situated with some snacks before heading out to the field. He’d expected one of her parents would pick her up from his place afterwards, having never heard of an uncle being in the picture.

“Alright, well practice is over in about ten minutes” Jake decided to allow it for now since Emma had been so excited to see him, and guided the girls back over to the others who were still enthusiasticly kicking balls around.

Soon after the other parents started showing up to collect their kids one by one until the only two left were his and Emma. “Luna, do you want to walk Emma home today?” Jake asked, getting no complaint from the girls as they gathered up their things.

“Can I carry something for you?” Danny offered once he’d realized Jake was dead set on following them back to Emma’s parents house, just to be safe. He didn’t mind, in fact he found it quite charming that Jake was so diligent in monitoring the safety of his little team.

Jake was carrying his backpack on one shoulder, full of supplies like a first aid kit, some extra bottles of water in case any of the parents forgot to send their kid with some, and a list of emergency contacts for all the kids in the event something were to happen- otherwise he’d come prepared. Additionally, he had a net full of soccer balls slung over the other shoulder. Neither bag was very heavy, but his hands were full and he’d already made the trip with all of it once when they were heading out to the field earlier.

Before Jake could even get out an ‘I’m fine, thanks’ Danny was already tugging on the drawstring of the bag holding the balls, taking it from Jake’s hand and tossing it over his shoulder instead.

“She’s yours?” Danny questioned next, him and Jake both attentively watching the two girls holding hands on the sidewalk in front of them. Jake nod his head, still reserved towards conversing too much with this random guy who’d interrupted his first practice.

Despite Jake’s initial observation of Danny, leaning on the bleachers in his dark clothes with a cigarette perched uncaringly between his middle and pointer finger- the picture of nothing but a delinquent punk, he actually seemed pretty harmless.

“She’s cute, must get that from her mom”.

Jake shot him a glaring look not sure which rattled him more, the mention of Luna's mom by some stranger, or the fact that Danny had just offhandedly insulted him.

Danny chuckled again, never once feeling intimidated by Jake or his judgmental first impressions. “I mean, she couldn’t have gotten it from you, because you’re way too charming to be considered just cute”.

Taking into account how he was still dressed- not to impress that was, and that his windblown hair surely had strands sticking up every which way out of the loose knot at the base of his neck, Jake wasn’t sure how to respond. Perhaps even his second impression was wrong, maybe Danny was going to be a problem.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel awkward” the lighthearted tone left Danny’s voice, afraid he might have come on a little strong. “My sister told me about the hot single dad teaching Emma soccer today. I had to come out to see it for myself”.

Instead of lingering on the offense turned compliment Jake focused on the reveal that he was Emma’s mom’s brother. With a closer look it made sense. They both had similar facial features, Danny’s were just more chiseled and defined. He was a handsome guy Jake had to admit, but he didn’t let that distract him from the fact that Danny seemed to have this aura of youthful irresponsibility.

Sure Danny might be a good uncle, Emma certainly was enthused to see him, but coming from someone who tended to take things into his own hands Jake almost always doubted the competence of others until proven otherwise.

Saving him from having to come up with a response to that statement, they reached Emma’s house just as the sun was starting to set behind the trees in the distance. He and Luna would have to hurry so they could make it home before night cast its cloak of darkness over the suburb’s quiet late evening streets.

Jake waited until Emma’s parents met them at the door, waving over at them with smiles on their faces as their little one started spilling about her day, how fun practice was, and of course the surprise visit from Uncle Danny. Her dad ushered her along to the kitchen where dinner waited, leaving the rest of them on the porch to talk.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you who was picking her up, I didn’t know he was going to be staying with us until just this afternoon” Emma’s mom apologized, turning to her brother with a cocked eyebrow and her hands on her hips. Obviously she was a little irritated at the situation, but something about her tone gave Jake the impression this was not a one time happening.

“It’s alright, I just wanted to make sure she got home safe” Jake responded, catching a small scoff from Danny who stood by himself against a banister. “Next practice is Saturday afternoon, parents are free to join”.

“Absolutely we will be there! Thanks for all the help by the way, it’s been a madhouse at the firm these past few weeks feels like we’re getting cases by the truckload”.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help, and Luna is always thrilled to play with Emma after school”.

“Yeah, Emma is my best friend!” Luna chimed in, making the two parents chuckle.

“Well, I better be getting her home, we still need to eat dinner ourselves and wash up”. Jake excused himself, looking over his shoulder once as he reclaimed his bag of soccer balls at the edge of the yard to see Danny and his sister deep in conversation together on the porch. Danny had his arms crossed over his chest while she shook her head and closed the front door behind her, then Danny pulled out his pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and disappeared into the open garage.

After getting Luna settled in bed Jake wind down for the night with his own hot shower. He stood in front of the foggy bathroom mirror in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, the details of his figure coming more and more into focus as the stream from the shower started to clear.

Staring at his reflection wasn’t something he’d normally do, but he couldn’t get the comment Danny had made on their walk out of his head. He studied the face that stared back at him, feeling a little dysmorphic about all the changes he saw in himself.

Confidence was always a difficult concept for him to grasp. On one hand he knew he was relatively attractive so that he wasn’t bothered by. On the other hand however, he realized how the more he dedicated himself to parenting and work the less time he spent on maintaining himself.

He remembered watching hours of YouTube videos about how to do his daughter's hair once she started school, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten a haircut. Eating well balanced meals was important for him when he had Luna at home for dinner, but when it came to his own lunchtime he opted more for ease, or sometimes even skipped it all together if he was too busy. When he was a teenager it worked, but now that he was an adult he could tell he was filling out a little and it was becoming more of a chore to stay healthy.

Across his chest, on full display in his nakedness, Jake’s eyes caught his wedding band. White gold secured around his neck with a simple silver chain. He’d taken it from his finger over a year ago but couldn’t bring himself to leave it sitting in a drawer somewhere. So instead he slid the ring onto the necklace and it had been there ever since. Its weight against his heart was a comfort in the times when he felt the most alone.

His late wife’s passing was something he had time to prepare himself for. She knew she was sick before her symptoms even started. The genetic mutation apparent in her blood from the first test she was brave enough to take. That didn’t make losing her any easier though. Depression didn’t even seem to cover the raging storm of emotions he felt when she was gone, but he couldn’t even let himself get lost for too long because now he was all little Luna had.

As time went on things got better. Jake still had that sting from the hole left in his heart, but now it was more of a dull burn than a constant pull. Even three years later, he felt like he was living with her ghost. He saw her everywhere, from the photos he still had placed around the house, to her large glossy white piano sitting hauntingly in the bay window, most of all to the image of her in their daughter.

The ringing of his cell phone from where he’d tossed it onto his bed earlier pulled Jake out of his reflective moment, and he flicked the lights to the bathroom off on his way out.

“How’d practice go?” Josh asked the moment Jake slid the button over to answer.

Jake hit the speaker button next and put the phone back down, speaking up as he turned to gather something to sleep in out of his dresser. “It went well”.

“Did my little LuLu score any goals?”

“I mean she kicked a ball into the net, but they’re not exactly playing soccer yet” Jake snarkily replied before shoving his head through a shirt, trapping his still dripping hair against his back before pulling it out and running the towel through once more.

“I still can’t believe you agreed to coach, what are you going to do if she gets hurt?”

“Soccer is a low contact sport. Just because you got banned from the league for kicking other kids does not mean I’m letting the kids on my team run wild”.

Josh was laughing on the other end of the phone, remembering when they were kids themselves how badly Jake wanted to go to soccer tryouts. Their parents had made them both go even though he really didn’t want to. “Mom let me join theater after that so it was a win for me”.

“Hey, can I tell you something and you not blow it out of proportion?” Jake asked once the laughter died down.

“I’ll try my best, no promises”.

Jake switched off all his bedroom lights next, and picked up the phone before crawling into bed. He hoped talking to his twin about the strange encounter would help him go to sleep and not lay awake over analyzing it. “I think I might’ve gotten hit on today”.

“I told you she was into you!” Josh immediately started going off about one of the girls that worked at Jake’s office. A girl he’d only met once and ever since had hounded Jake about asking her out. She was a sweet girl, but he was technically her boss so he just couldn’t see himself crossing any professional boundaries he’d set to date her.

“No not at work” Jake corrected, though he didn’t offer much more information either.

“On the field?” The animation in Josh’s voice only grew as he tried to piece together what Jake was saying. “You got hit on while coaching soccer? Wow, if I’d known there was more game out there than just scoring goals then I would’ve been onboard with this a lot sooner”.

“Shut up, I hate that you’re always trying to pimp me out. I have enough going on right now to throw dating into the mix”. That was always his excuse when Josh would trick him into double dates or try to give him some random person's number. It was true, Jake didn’t have the time to meet people which is probably why he hadn’t. Underneath that though, Jake worried if he was even ready to be with anyone else yet.

“I just want you to be happy brother” Josh sighed, the tone of the late night phone call turning more serious than he’d originally intended. “You can make time for your own happiness, that isn’t selfish you know”.

“I am happy” Jake tried to argue even though there was a little part of him that knew Josh was right. “Luna makes me happier than anything on this Earth”.

“And that’s beautiful. That child has more love coming at her everyday, but I’m talking about a different kind of love” Josh, ever the wise and thoughtful one, countered.

“I think before we start talking about being in love again I need to meet someone I’m actually interested in first”.

Jake had tried before to get himself back out there. Josh of course was always thrilled to babysit his favorite niece so that his brother could attempt a couple of dates- most of which he had selected for him. They were nice, Josh had good taste in just about everything even including when he played matchmaking, but sadly each date Jake left feeling more hollow and alone than he did going in.

He was missing that spark he felt before. The intensity that started as attraction and built deep within himself to pure adoration for his partner. No one had ever come close to comparing.

“Okay, and what about today stuck out to you?” Josh pushed him, knowing that Jake didn’t bring it up for no reason. He wanted his input. “Are you interested in the person who hit on you today?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t know how I felt about it”. Jake groaned, running his hand across his face as he stared up at his bedroom ceiling contemplating why he was getting so frustrated.

“Sounds to me like you know, you just don’t want to admit it”.

Again, Josh was probably right. Jake wasn’t exactly vexed about Danny’s backward as it was compliment. If he had been then he could easily brush it off and forget about it. What he wasn’t admitting to himself was that for once someone had caught him off guard, and he’d kind of liked the shock it had given him.

The reason he wasn’t allowing himself to enjoy it though was because he had no idea who Danny was. For all he knew Danny could’ve just been fucking with him. In Jake’s mind it made more sense that Danny would think it was funny to flirt with the ‘hot single dad’ rather than be actually interested in him.

“I don’t know Josh. I kind of just want to forget about it and go to bed”. He’d had no luck in talking through this. In fact he was even more worked up now than he’d been earlier, playing out the whole scenario in his head in ways that only led to him looking like an idiot. He couldn’t risk it.

“Alright. Just try not to close yourself off, you never know who life is going to bring you when you’re least expecting it”. Josh sounded like he wanted to say more, he could probably chat Jake’s ear off for at least another good hour, but he knew it was getting late and his brother was on a tight schedule with it being a school night.

The two said their good nights and Jake rolled over, tucking his hand underneath his pillow and closed his eyes. Though he’d had a good time with the kids, he was glad today was finally over with. Both his mind and body were tired enough to pass out within minutes.

He was sure by tomorrow he’d be feeling normal again. Just another day cut-and-dry.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Special thanks to @kultavalo for listening to me complain about writing this

Tags: @lyndz2names @gracev0609 @lipstickitty @sanguinebats

[melimelissa998]

A Favor pt. 2

part 1

A few days later after that night, it was all back to normal in my head. Wake up, teach, stay up late, sleep and repeat. First I felt really bad for that boy getting in trouble, and also anxious that he’ll show up at my door and punch me for being a snitch.

I look at the hour on my watch and decide it’s time to leave work today. I stack all the graded homework together and the rest in another pile for tomorrow, I put them in the drawer and start to clean up my desk.

As I close the classroom door, I hear footsteps approach me; I turn to see Miss Young with a mop in her hand. “Oh miss Y/N, like always staying so late” she says, I see how her face wrinkles into a smile that also makes me smile. “If I grade now, I’ll have my weekend free, it’s worth it” I tell her and she nods, she wishes me a nice sleep and to take care, I wave her goodbye and to also take care.

I walk around the building to the back stairs to get to my apartment. I pass the small playground and stop at the convenience store that's across to buy dinner. I take a moment to think if I should walk to the front of my building or just use the back door that’s straight ahead. I roll my eyes at myself. Like if you would surround the building just to get to the front when the back door is just a few steps away…

Before I open the door and step in, I hear a noise that’s between a cry and a growl. I stay still to check if I’ll hear it again, and I do. I walk to the corner of the building to the small alley where we leave the garbage to see if the noise is P, the small cat that the building adopted a few months ago; but it’s not P.

I see a silhouette trying to stand up and slip to the floor. “Oh shoot” I panic and walk closer “Are you alright?” I ask waiting to know if they needed help. I see his face and instantly recognize it’s the blonde freckle boy from the pool place. But what were the odds to see each other, again. “Are you okay?” I ask again even though I see him struggle. “It’s okay” he replies. I back a little and notice how his left shoulder looks a little off, I focus more on it, and even though there’s almost no streetlight I can tell it’s not normal. “We should.” “No!” he interrupts me with a deep and firm voice. “I said it’s okay, just go” he tells me as he tries to pass me but falls to the floor. He cries out of pain and my heart hurts hearing him. I quickly kneel down, “I-I can’t leave you like this, let me take you to a hos.” Again he interrupts me in the same mad tone “I said no, Y/N” he repeats and I pick up an accent. “O-okay, but at least call someone, call Lee Know, or your other friend” I suggest and he nods, he tries getting up and almost loses his balance but I put my hands on his chest to keep him from falling on me. His head is lays on my shoulder and I call him out “Hey, hey, you there?” I slightly shake him, but he doesn’t verbally respond, only a small growl. “Oh gosh” I complain out loud.

Why me again. I will regret this, I will definitely regret this again… “Hey.” I wanted to call his name but I actually don’t know it? “Let’s get out of here yeah? Just help me out a little” I talk to him hopping he can hear me. We try to walk to the back door building to get us in, but when I mean we, I mean just me with this boy hanging on me on one side and my heavy handbag on the other.

A 3 minute trip to my floor and door turned into maybe a 20 minute walk “Lean on the wall for a sec” I suggest him, he keeps growling and crying from the pain as I look for my keys and open the door as fast as I can. Lucky for us my sofa was close by to the entrance. I didn’t attend to through him on the sofa but he kinda slips off my arms and falls making him cry louder “I, shit, sorry, sorry” I cover my mouth with both hands. He mumbles that it’s fine but I still feel guilty. “What’s your friend number?” I ask as I take my phone out my bag trying get ride of how bad I feel, he nods his head and turns to his right side “My phone” he says, I stand a little confused “In my, my pocket” he explains “Oh, yeah” I say obviously. I take out the mobile waiting for maybe a Samsung or an iPhone but I didn’t expect a 2004 type of phone, I frown and look at him like if he was a mad man. I want to ask what’s up with this but he talks first “Press one” he orders, I am still confused “Speed dial one” he orders again as if it was obvious what he meant, I shake my head to myself. This is not normal, this is mad. Crazy mad. I dial and wait on the tone. “Where are you, mate?” is the first thing that comes from the other side. That accent. It’s him. “Uh, I, em, your friend, he’s not okay and.” I try to explain but he interrupts me “Who the hell is this?” he questions and my heart beat speeds up “Y/N” I gulp down my saliva “Y/N” he doesn’t say it in a question, it sounded more like if he was repeating it to himself. I hear his voice in my head echoing my name in his accent. British? Australian? I try to think a little more… “Where is he?” his question pops me out of my thinking bubble “Uh, he’s with me, my apartment, I, he is bad injured, I think he’ll faint in any minute, I live, em, on Berrywood Parkway, it’s um, behind the.” I am half way in the explanation but he once again interrupts me “I know, I´ll be there shortly, keep him awake” he demands before he hangs up on me, I look at the phone no believing how rude he was right now. I inhale and look at the boy on my sofa have unconscious, I stand there looking at his face, he has a few cuts and a big bruise on his left cheek, I walk to my bathroom and get my first aid kit, I kneel close to him “I’m going to clean you up okay?” I ask softly and nods slowly.

While I clean his injuries I couldn’t stop feeling worried for him, he wasn’t older than me, and he also looks so small in some way. “Felix” he whispers, I am cleaning up his open lip and when I hear him I accidentally press on it too much, he wimps and I apologize "You said Felix?" I repeat “My name, it’s Felix” he repeats and then I notice he also has an accent, just like his friend… “I’m Y/N” I say and he chuckles “I remember you Y/N, bad ass the other day honestly” he lets out a small laugh and I smile, but soon he growls in pain again and touches his left shoulder “It’s dislocated, isn’t it?” I ask and he nods ���W-what happen? Did someone try to assault you?” I ask worried for him but he shakes his head “Just don’t” he suggests me. I want to say something more, but a knock on the door and my name in the unknown accent stops me. Oh shit.

3

[crescentmoonlupin]

If you need help, I'm here to listen..

There are days that are easier than others. When you have depression, you tend to feel like the world is against you and it just feels like a constant battle that no matter how hard you fight, how much experience you have with it, it just never seems to be enough to throw at the problem. And of course, giving up is never ever an option cause once you do, the monster you are battling just gets bigger. Bigger to the point you just must live with the drooling, foaming beast.

I’ve had depression for a number of years, as of 2024, it’s been about 14 years since I was originally diagnosed, but about 17 since it first manifested itself within my mind. It's never been an easy beast to live with. I’ve tried destroying it by destroying myself. I held it down, but the bubbles never stopped coming up. I tried to drown it in sex, making it seem like the reason I was upset so much was because I was alone and needed the company to get me through, I cut myself so I could hold some sort of “control” over it but, of course that never works. Eventually it becomes an addiction that you don't realize you started, and it takes everything in you to stop. Years even.

To this day, I am still self-destructive. Some days, I wish I could still continue hurting myself, but I know its counterproductive, it’ll never solve anything. It just hurts everyone else who happens to catch it when the wounds are fresh. Cutting myself didn’t make me feel better in the sense I thought it would, it just gave me a false sense of control over something I didn’t have control over. The chemicals in my brain didn’t do what they were supposed to when they were supposed to, and I suffered the consequences.

I wanted to blame everyone else for my problems. My mother, my father, my stepparents. Sisters. Everyone who wasn’t me. “You made me do this!” I’d say, when really, I was the one who put the razor or knife to my skin and pulled. I made it count, I counted every mark, and it’s not a pretty number. Not only did I cut but I carved words into my skin, so I would remember why I did it in the first place. So many initials. Failure. Perfect. HIT ME! I’M NOTHING! Sorry :] Smile. And the list goes on from there. Now it’s just a bunch of scars.

I’m not ashamed of them, and I don’t really regret them, they’re part of me and it was what I thought I needed at the time, ultimately, I was wrong in the end, but teenagers never listen, do they?

I do wish I could go back though, and just talk to myself. Tell myself it does, eventually, gets better. That things do start going right, years down the road. That it’s not worth it to be so angry all the time, and to learn to love myself sooner so I didn’t have t struggle as badly as I am now at almost 30, because yes, we do make it past the age of 18, as surprising as that is for me to even believe to this day. Eventually we meet a man who loves us in his own special way, and we have the most beautiful son to raise together. And he loves that little boy as if he was made from his own blood. He reads him bedtime stories and helps him learn to walk. He teaches him to ride a bike and plays in his sandbox with him, the one he made him for his second birthday.

Things do get better, but you have to fall down so you can get back up, so you can grow up the way you need to, because it is necessary. Because as soon as you heard that little boy’s heartbeat for the first time, you know, you just knew, that everything was going to change and you knew that you would do anything for him, even if it meant changing everything so he could grow up better than you did. So, he can go farther than you ever got. So, you can make sure he is actually stable and doesn’t have to recover from his childhood. Make sure he is okay and knows he is heard.

I just hope I’m doing the right things when it comes to that little boy because I don’t know where I’d be or who I would be without him. There’re days where I struggle and all I want to do is to curl up into a ball and cry till I fall asleep. But I have this little boy watching me every day and I just have to keep going to make sure he has everything he needs to grow into a respectable human and a caring man. Fight for what’s right but know when to step back as well.

[spectrumgarden]

Okay so I've never really joined the whole "small talk" argument that's been happening increasingly over the last years because I tend to just not agree with anyone I see discuss it. Like no I dont think people who use it are evil or making things hard on purpose, I also dont think it makes them lesser, ... I Also dont think that someone who refuses to use it / cant use it is automatically worse and will not make friends.

Importantly i also dont think everyone can learn it. I should know because I spent multiple years with professionals trying to teach me how to have a conversation At All and I still am actually nowhere near what would be expected at my age group. (Most recent reports usually go something like "makes slight improvements in having a two sided conversation" - because I can say nothing, or I can ramble on and then not react to your answer. The rest? Struggle time, to this day, in every aspect) No matter how many intricate guides you write, if I fail at the basic concept of a conversational structure very frequently then I will not succeed at small talk either. And additionally I also genuinely can not tell what might be too personal for this other person.

A lot of these people who get upset when people say "I cant do small talk because I'm autistic and I cant learn it, I tried and failed" and go "of course you can!", just sort of like. Ignore that a lot of the developmental delay in conversation and / or (nonverbal) language never closes up for many of us, the way a lot of us generally never reach the developmental level of our peers (in some areas). and it's not because we have not seen enough complex flow charts or not practiced enough. when so many of us literally spend so much additional time of our youth sitting in front of whiteboards and workbooks and such, being explained over and over how to talk to someone at all. I am 22 and after years of explicit teaching I still have to ask for verbal confirmation and explanation of any nonverbal cues that I think were used by my conversational partner, but do not know what they mean. Which is pretty much all of them. And I probably miss a lot of them existing at all. You can scream "just practice until you can recognize the other persons little cues on if they want to deepen or end this" until you turn blue but it will not actually make me accomplish it if the fucking people who've been spending their whole life teaching it didnt make me figure it out. On account of, you know, the developmental delay.

Sure some people can learn! That's why they try to teach us after all! Cause it has been successful! But generally stop with this shit of "everyone can learn this you're just choosing not to!"

I will never be rude to someone for engaging in small talk, I will obviously fail at their attempts to engage me in some, which usually makes them stop trying (thank god). But I will not tolerate others talking shit about it that is uncalled for (implying malice from every user, making fun of people who seem to crave it, ...).

But I also do not care to learn it anymore at this point? It's no goal of mine. I have made multiple friends, most non autistic, without ever using small talk. Including in adulthood. We simply skipped that stage. We went from "hi!" "Hi!" Immediately to "heres when it went wrong in my life (humorous but still often dark / personal). Also these are my political opinions. Sure I want to hear about the girl you dated for years in excruciating detail. Let me retell you the plot of this old indie movie you will never watch for 20 minutes and why I enjoy it. Let's go to a concert together after talking slightly in depth like this twice". Is this the way that you creep everyone out in everyone's friendship acquisition theory I've been seeing? Sure! It's been working perfectly fine, enough of the times for me, though.

Will this work in like a work environment or something? Most likely not, which is why I generally plan to keep to myself. Does this mean I still confuse every stranger who approaches me trying to small talk? Sure. that's why I'm still fucking disabled. But I have created meaningful relationships as an adult without small talk. I have genuinely tried learning in many ways and failed. And I'm done apologizing for that, either you take me with my inability to small talk or you wont.

[those70scomics]

Fictober Day 29: "how did this happen?"

That '70s Show Fanfiction

Laurie sat on a stool in her dad's garage, transforming his car into a monster with washable paint. She'd begun work on it today. This project needed to be done in time, before her parents' Halloween party. She hoped two days would be enough.

Her old college sweatshirt covered half her body. It was one of her painting tops, and the sweater's original red had been replaced by many colors the last few years. Art school taught her the discipline she'd lacked in her previous schools. Probably, as both her therapist and husband told her, because painting actually brought her joy.

Real joy. Productive joy. Not destructive satisfaction.

She dabbed her paintbrush in paint mixed on her pallette. She returned to the creative zone when the garage's side door swung open. Her dad entered. She scooted out of the way so he could see her progress on the car.

He pulled out a stool, sat, and said nothing.

She continued to paint, but his watchful silence bothered her. "If you're waiting to critique my work, don't. I can take it."

"How did this happen?" he said but sounded awed, not annoyed.

"How did what happen?"

"You painting that masterpiece from my dinky little drawing. It's horrendous, and I mean that as a compliment." He pointed to the headlights. "The details ... you've made those look like bleeding, rotting eyes."

She presented her pallette and paintbrush to him. "I've got the right tools."

"Not from me." Dad laced his fingers together on his lap and bowed his head. "When you were a little girl -- hell, until your early twenties, I both coddled and held you to an impossible standard. With Eric, I never hid my expectations. With you, it was subtle." He raised his head and looked her in the eye. "I wasn't a very good father to you. You're a success in spite of me."

Laurie's chest tightened with pain. She wasn't having a heart attack. Dad was breaking her heart, and she put her paintbrush and palette on the drop cloth protecting the floor.

"Dad -- " She went to where he sat and hugged him. He hugged her back weakly, and she said, "You supported me through all my failures. I get that you struggled between wanting me to succeed on merit and your weird, regressive idea of pretty women snagging rich husbands. You only ever wanted me to be safe."

His embrace remained weak. "Safe? I disowned you -- "

"For, like, half a day. Because you had an idealized view of me, and I burst your delusional bubble." She ended the hug he barely participated in. "But you eventually accepted the real me, all of it. I wouldn't have gotten through art school without you or Mom."

Dad's face flushed, and he gestured to himself. "Come here."

She did, and this time he embraced her properly. Strongly. He wasn't crying, but she could make him if she tried.

Instead, she let him talk.

"I'm doing my best to change where I failed. You wouldn't have chased so many dumbasses, the single and married ones, if I'd given you a better example of -- of a man. A father."

Laurie parted from him but kissed his cheek. She appreciated, deeply, that he was owning his mistakes. Her low self-esteem, her therapist said, did stem in large part from being idealized by him and the expectations she could never meet: achieving his concept of a perfect daughter. So she rebelled and became the opposite.

"Since when did you become so introspective?" she said.

"As soon as my house was empty of kids." He tapped his temple. "I finally had time to think.

"Are you looking forward to being a grandpa?"

He grinned. "Oh, yeah. I'll get to enjoy teaching my grandson or granddaughter how to play ball, fix a car, and never have to change a diaper or get up for three a.m. feedings ... and the best part -- they won't live here."

He tossed his head back and laughed.

Laurie patted his shoulder to regain his attention. "What do you mean they? Is someone else pregnant? Is Eric? Donna's the type to make him carry the baby in his womb."

Dad's laughter transformed into a fit of coughing. He struck his chest and gave her the I'm okay sign with his free hand.

"If Eric had a womb," he said once he could speak, "that's probably true. I just meant they as in I don't know if you're having a boy or a girl."

"Maybe it'll be both. If I have twins, Mom said Tim and I could move in here with you."

"Your mother said what?" He got off the stool and matched toward the garage's side door.

She stepped in front of him. "I'm lying, I'm lying." Despite his and Mom's reassurance, his health always worried her. "I doubt we're having twins anyway. They don't run in either of our families."

He blew out a deep breath. "You want me to live long enough to see your kid graduate from high school, right?"

"Right ... "

"Then never joke about moving into my house with your husband and twin babies again."

[padfootagain]

Something Good (IX)

Chapter 9 : London Bridge Virtues

Hi, everyone! Here is a new chapter for my Ben Barnes series!

Things are getting into motion… in some serious motion actually… you’re gonna like this trip to London, I can tell you that!!!!

I hope you all like it, tell me what you think about it!

****

Pairing: Ben Barnes x Reader

Warnings: none! Slow burn, professor AU.

Summary: Coming out of a divorce and trying to get used to being a single mom, while teaching your classes at University, you thought your life could not get more complicated than it already is. But when you are asked to take care of the theatre club with the colleague that you really can’t get along with, you realize that everything can still get ten times more complicated in your life. And when you start actually liking Professor Barnes, the troubles only grow exponentially…

Word Count: 4256

Masterlist for the series – Ben Barnes’ Masterlist – Main Masterlist

Ben was early at the station, that was to be expected. He held onto the handle of his suitcase a bit more tightly as he focused on the list of trains on the board, scanning through the destinations to spot the right train.

Saint Pancras… Saint Pancras…

“Why am I not surprised that you’re already here?” he spun around at the sound of your voice.

You were smiling, your eyes glimmering with humour and something teasing. Playful. It was a good look on you…

He gave you a warm smile in response.

“Maybe because I’m the most responsible here.”

“I’m a mother. I’m the epitome of responsibility.”

“Hard to argue with that. But know that I am a proud plant dad.”

“Congratulations! I’m sure it has your eyes.”

You both let out a bright laugh, before you would nod towards the large board again.

“So, when is our train?”

“I was looking for it, when you interrupted me.”

There was still a little bit of teasing in his deep voice, and you liked it. It suited him well…

Only a couple of minutes more to wait, and your train finally appeared. You walked to the right platform, exchanging some small talk.

It was Sunday, the train station was busy with people leaving for the week ahead and some arriving to go back to work on Monday morning. In the crowd, you were struggling a little with your suitcase, and your rather large backpack, slaloming between people as you tried to reach your train. Ben slowed down when he noticed.

You struggled with your luggage again when you were in the train, trying to put it away in your compartment, but it was heavy, and you struggled to lift it up to get it on the shelf.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Ben offered, taking a hold of your suitcase, and lifting it up before you could react.

He rubbed his hands together once he had put away his own luggage too.

“Thanks,” you gave him a surprised smile.

“Didn’t know you were planning on building something while in London, though. How many bricks did you take with you?” he teased while you walked to your seats.

“I brought books,” you explained.

“We are only staying for a week, you know?”

“It’s for work! Most… of them are for work,” you argued, making Ben chuckle.

You sat down side by side, and waited for the train to finally depart. You barely noticed that you were leaving though, as you talked about work with Ben for a long while.

But he noticed the way you were glancing at your phone often. He tried to take a guess at the reason why.

“How is your daughter, by the way?”

“Fine! She… was a little upset that I was leaving for a whole week. But she’s with her dad, and I’ve warned him that if he was anything less than the best father in the world this week, I would break his bones, so… she’ll be fine.”

“And how are you holding up?”

He looked down at your phone to silently tell you that he had noticed your repetitive gesture and you shied away a little.

“I’m not doing great, to be honest,” you smiled, shrugging.

“First time going away like that?”

“For so long? Yes.”

He nodded, looking for something to say, something that would make you feel better.

He wasn’t sure why the voice of his former best friend rang in his ears all of a sudden.

Good guys never get the girl.

He pushed the thought away, looking up at you again.

Maybe Paul was right, but then again, you did look stressed, anxious even. And sad; more than anything, you looked sad.

And Ben was too nice not to do something about it.

“Have you planned to do something together once you’re home?”

“Sally is deep into painting now. So… probably ruin a few chairs and my floor…”

He laughed at that.

“What does she paint?”

“Flowers. A lot of flowers. She’s not bad for her age! And she’s quite focused too. But she’s five, and when she tires out she turns into a tornado. Then it’s just… pure chaos. Her grandmother made the terrible mistake of comparing it to modern art, so now whenever she does that and I tell her to calm down she claims that she is ‘producing modern art’ and that I am – and I quote – ‘destroying her creative flow’.”

Ben laughed harder, raising an eyebrow.

“Are you sure she’s five?”

“She’s smart for her age. But she also adores Winnie the Pooh, don’t worry.”

“I have a nephew and a niece. They went through this Disney phase where they would watch the same one again and again and again…”

“Tell me about it! The only thing on TV these days are Mulan, Pocahontas, or Moana.”

“You have three! Lucky you! I had to watch Frozen six times in the same day once…”

You laughed together, and you asked him about his niece and nephew, and you talked about your daughter for a long while. When he asked for more stories, you realized what he was doing.

You had not glanced over at your phone for an hour.

He was keeping you busy, and as your mind was focused on your daughter, he let you talk about her all you wanted.

You wondered if he was bored when you realized that you were still talking about her. People usually got bored, because Sally was adorable, but she was your child. People didn’t care after a few minutes.

But when you looked at Ben again, he had something eager shining in his eyes, expectant. Like he… like he didn’t mind that you would be gushing over your adorable daughter for most for the trip to London.

He didn’t really get why you grinned at him then, but he reckoned he must have done something good.

Maybe Paul had been wrong all along.

Maybe nice guys did get the girl…

… although it didn’t matter to him in the slightest. Because he wasn’t interested in you. Not even a little bit. Not at all. And when he noticed the way the light played with the colour of your eyes, he pushed the thought away. It didn’t mean a thing.

The fact that the long ride to London seemed to fly by, spent all in the blink of an eye, because you kept on talking together… it didn’t mean a thing…

London was a little too busy for you.

It was a rush of cars, buses and people. But then again, it fitted your busy schedule.

You had a mere week to spend at the British Library, where you would study original manuscripts. And you had so much to do in such a small amount of time. And Ben was just the same. Monday flew by faster than you could have imagined it possible, and when you walked outside the library late that night, hungry and exhausted, both of you were excited about your day. After all, working directly on original manuscripts didn’t happen often, it was worth a celebration. You asked Ben if he wanted to eat dinner with you and he accepted without a second thought. You settled on some pizza, as Ben craved it, and you found a pizzeria near your hotel.

It didn’t seem like much from the street, just a small establishment in a backstreet. But there was a lovely veranda, filled with plants and kept warm. In the last days of October, it gave you the sensation of being outside, in a small garden, but without the frightful temperatures that made you tighten your hold on your scarf and jacket. There were lights all around the veranda, tiny lightbulbs coupled with candles set at the centre of the tables, giving the place a romantic note. It would have fitted a date perfectly…

Although, you weren’t on a date. You were simply eating with your colleague, that was all, no matter the magic of the scenery.

“This place is so nice,” you commented, reaching for the menu and looking all around you.

“It is. Very romantic,” Ben nodded, studying the menu already.

It took him only a minute to choose a pizza, and he looked up at you again then.

“A shame you’re not meeting up with a lovely girl, then,” you teased him, still scanning the types of pizza.

He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it quickly. He frowned a little at his own reaction, but you didn’t notice.

I am with a lovely girl.

Why did this thought cross his mind…?

“Instead, we’re wasting the setting with professional relations,” he replied, changing his answer at the last second.

“Indeed!”

You were interrupted as the waiter came back to take your order, but the conversation started smoothly once more after he was gone.

It felt a little strange still, to feel so at ease with you. He used to find you insufferable, and he was still annoyed sometimes but… he couldn’t help the way fondness had started mingling with annoyance now. It was almost… endearing, really…

A few weeks before, he could barely bear your presence, and now… now he almost longed for it…

A new friendship, he guessed. Although, it didn’t feel quite like it…

“Any plans in London besides working and spending all your evenings bored to death with me?” you asked, taking a sip of water.

He chuckled at that, imitating you and drinking a little as well.

“My parents live nearby, actually. So does my brother. So, I’ll spend a couple of evenings with them. I should have dinner at my parents’ tomorrow evening, and I was recruited to go around the neighbourhood for Halloween with my nephew and my niece. A friend of mine is throwing a Halloween party too, so I’ll attend after having eaten an awful lot of candy.”

“Sounds fun! You’ll be busy then!”

He nodded.

“What about you? Any plans?”

“None. Just going to… sleep. That sounds nice. I’d love to go to the National Gallery, but I don’t think I’ll have the time before we leave on Saturday.”

“We’ll only leave in the afternoon, you can still go there in the morning.”

“Maybe…” you contemplated the possibility, and reckoned it was a good idea, indeed.

“Nothing else?”

But you shook your head.

He didn’t know where the idea was coming from. As Ben opened his mouth, he didn’t truly realize he was the one speaking at all. Still, the words were spoken all the same…

“Would you like to go the party with me for Halloween?”

You were surprised, clearly.

He expected you to refuse. Why was he so disappointed at the idea that you would say no?

“I don’t have a costume or anything.”

“No costume needed. Unless you find one before Thursday night. But not everyone will be dressed up so… no worries.”

You nodded, a smile slowly spreading on your features.

Ben ignored the way it made his heart skip a beat.

“That would be nice… why not? God, I haven’t been to a party since… Sally was born, really! I might be rusty.”

“It’s not a huge party, don’t worry.”

“It will probably be my only chance to get properly drunk until Sally is old enough to live by herself…”

“Then I’ll make sure you never run short on Tequila.”

You laughed at that, bright and vibrant and absolutely lovely. Infectious, it made Ben smile too…

“How often do you see your parents then? They live quite far away,” you asked, right before the waiter would bring your dish.

Ben thanked the waiter and waited for him to go away before he would answer.

“Not nearly enough,” he admitted. “My mother reminds me of this every opportunity she gets.”

“I’m lucky my mom kind of followed us in Leeds.”

“You moved there with your husband?”

You nodded, your throat tightening a little at the thought.

You should have shut the conversation down. You should have asked another question to bring the attention back on merrier things, but you didn’t. Maybe it was the quiet scenery that almost felt magical. Maybe it was the way Ben spoke to you only with this gentle tone of his these days. Maybe it was because of the way his eyes stared at you with this soft glimmer shining in them, magnetic, infinite black orbs you could have lost yourself into… and perhaps you did, a little…

No matter why, you felt like you wanted to talk about all this, about Liam, your divorce, the way your heart was still aching at the thought, the way you wished it could have been different…

Somehow, you knew Ben would get it. That he wouldn’t judge you. That he would listen without interrupting. You didn’t know how, you just knew. It was enough.

“We moved there over two years ago, Liam… my ex-husband, he… he got a promotion in his firm. And at first we were all excited, although we were quite worried about Sally. But she hadn’t started school yet, so we hurried to move so she could go to kindergarten in Leeds. I didn’t manage to get a job at the University at the time, I had to do quite a lot of travelling, it was tiring, but I did it anyway. But then… Liam just… changed…”

When you looked up at Ben again, instead of blankly staring at your pizza, he had set down his cutlery and was merely listening to you. The ghost of an encouraging smile formed on his lips, he gave you the smallest of nods, barely noticeable at all.

You wanted to cry at the sight.

Go on. I’m listening. I’m here.

It had been a long time since anyone had done that for you…

You went on.

“He got more and more responsibilities, and spent less and less time at home. It got complicated, difficult… between us, but with Sally too. After a few months it was just… fights upon fights and… I just… when I confronted him about it, he didn’t react the way I thought he would. The wayI wanted him to. Instead of telling me he would slow down, he basically told me to quit my job because someone needed to raise our daughter, and if someone had to sacrifice their careers, it wouldn’t be him.”

You saw Ben’s jaw clench at that, his right hand closing into a fist, but he didn’t say a thing, and merely waited for you to keep going.

“I didn’t take it well, as you might have guessed!” you tried to joke, but your voice sounded too sad for it to work. “I think… after that I just… slowly fell out of love with him. He just wasn’t the man I had married. When we met, we were students and he was… funny and a little crazy and smart and… I don’t know I… He made me feel like he would always be here. He promised he would be. And then he wasn’t.”

You shrugged, turning your gaze towards your glass, making it spin in your hand slowly, in an attempt to distract your mind from Ben’s intense dark eyes.

“When did you decide to get a divorce?” he asked after a while, as you didn’t seem willing to talk, or rather, as you seemed to not know where to start again.

“We separated a year and half ago. A little less than that, actually. He claimed that he would make more efforts a couple of times, and so we gave it another shot, but the changes didn’t last more than a few weeks. We filed a divorce a year ago.”

You heaved a sigh, rubbing your palm against your eyes.

“It’s just… I’m drowning a little bit, to be honest,” you confessed, your voice shakier now. “Because I have to raise my daughter on my own, and I can’t really count on Liam for anything these days. And then I have my job, and a home to take care of, and it’s just… it’s a lot. I was used to having someone by my side for all this. It’s hard to reorganize my life now that all the plans have crumbled because I… I had stopped planning my life having no one to help. I thought I would spend my life with him. And it sucks to have your whole life to plan all over again, when you were certain of the way it would unfold…”

You looked up at Ben again, and were surprised when you saw tears glimmering in his eyes.

“I get that,” he said.

He didn’t elaborate, but you could hear in the way his voice dropped by an octave, as if his throat had tightened, in the slight shakiness of his hand as it reached for his glass of water to drink it all done in one gulp… he didn’t elaborate, but you could see that he meant it. That he understood.

You nodded, clearing your throat before speaking again.

“I’m kind of… a mess,” you told him with a smile. “And sometimes I forget things, and… I get a little overwhelmed with everything. I’m trying though.”

Ben felt guilty now. Because he used to get angry at you and your crazy piles of documents, and your dishevelled look, and this expression on your face as if you were lost, and the way your attention was so easily scattered, but he got it now. You just needed help, and there was no one to give it to you.

He wanted to punch your ex-husband in the face so badly, even if he had never met the guy.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed, voice gentle, warm, reassuring.

“No need to be sorry, it happens.”

“I was kind of a knob to you at the beginning. I should have known better. I’m sorry. I should have cut you some slack.”

You gave him a kind smile.

“I was kind of a jerk too, so… I guess we’re even.”

You exchanged a smile, silence settling upon your table, but you didn’t mind. It was warm and comfortable; like a blanket, like a cocoon.

When you focused on your food again, it had grown cold. But you didn’t mind. And Ben didn’t mind it either, for some unknown reason…

It was early still when you walked out of the restaurant, and even though you were tired, the excitement of your first day at the British Library would undoubtedly keep the two of you awake for a while longer. So, instead of heading back towards your hotel, you opted for a walk across London. Ben knew the town very well, so you let him decide of the itinerary. Anyway, you didn’t mind much where you were heading. You were more focused on your conversation than anything else, and Ben seemed to be feeling the same, as he had to stop a few times to guide your steps in the right direction again.

You laughed at the lost expression painted all over his face.

“And you said you would take me home safe and sound…” you joked.

He rolled his eyes.

You were so annoying with your adorable teasing…

“I will, I will… give me a minute… Ha! That way! The parliament is that way! See! I know where we are!”

“Why am I beginning to doubt your orientation skills…”

“You should. I’m terrible with directions.”

“Really?”

“I got lost so many times when I moved to Leeds. Miles had to help me find my classrooms for a whole month…”

You laughed, bright and loud and uncaring of the people looking at you as you passed them by. He smiled at the mere sound of it.

He wasn’t so sure why he offered you his arm when you started to walk again, but you took it anyway with a warm grin, and he liked it. Your smile, the feeling of you being so close to him, your elbow locked with his, the common rhythm of your footsteps…

He liked it, having you so close… his heart was doing very strange acrobatics in his chest. He was afraid to understand what it meant.

The conversation drifted towards your families, it lingered on your daughter and her silly cuteness for a while, before settling on Ben’s parents again. Neither of you noticed the way time was flying by. An hour, then two, and another one… when you reached the shining Tower Bridge, your feet were aching a little, your legs felt sore, but you didn’t want it to stop. And neither did Ben. His arm had grown numb, the one you were still holding, but he was too afraid you would let go if he moved it, so he didn’t. He heard you yawning, and turned to you, about to finally offer to go back to the hotel, even if he didn’t want this night to end just yet…

But he didn’t say anything, the words remained stuck in his throat, as it suddenly tightened. His heart stumbled in his chest. And he could only stare.

He wasn’t sure why he found you so unbelievably beautiful now, under the golden streetlights, with your hair dishevelled by a long day and the wind that blew by the Thames. With your warm scarf wrapped tightly around your neck, and your adorable smile tugging at your lips, and this sweet, tender glint in your eyes and…

He didn’t know why but you were simply… breathtaking…

When your eyes grew round in surprise, that your smile widened in excitement, his head started to spin…

“Oh! Ben, look!”

You pointed at something before you, and he struggled to detach his gaze from your face. But he followed your finger anyway, wondering what had made you smile like this.

The Tower Bridge was opening, splitting into two parts that slowly rose to let tall boats pass. Ben was quite used to the sight, but you were overexcited.

“I had never seen it like that!” you explained before his amused expression.

He hummed, nodding, but his teasing smile didn’t leave his lips.

He didn’t say a thing though. You were too beautiful like this, all smiles and happiness, for him to find any word to say at all…

“Some people say that if you see the Tower Bridge open like that, it means that you’re going to find the love of your life. Did you know that?” you asked him.

He laughed at that, rolling his eyes.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s romantic!”

“No, it isn’t. They just have to let boats pass, that’s all there is to it.”

“Where is your sense of romance, Ben? It’s cute!”

You kept on staring at the bridge, waiting until it was fully up, looking at the boats floating by. You had stopped walking to look at the scene, and you rested your head on Ben’s shoulder, feeling tired but happy. Content. Peaceful. More than anything, you felt calm, your level of stress lowering to a level you hadn’t felt in years. You let out a content sigh, as the two pieces of the bridge were slowly lowered again, lights shining upon the river.

And Ben couldn’t breathe. You didn’t notice the way he was staring at you, the way his heart pounded in his chest because of the weight of your head on his shoulder. He had a dreamy, stupid grin plastered on his lips.

And he felt so… calm. He had not felt so peaceful in years…

And these butterflies that flew in his stomach and the excitement buzzing in his ears, and the rush of his heart in the most delightful way and…

He hadn’t felt this way in such a long time.

When you looked up at him again, the Bridge now lowered once more, back to its motionless state, he could only smile at you.

You yawned, wiggling a little to chase your tiredness away, and he found the gesture absolutely adorable…

“I’m knackered. We should go back to the hotel,” you said, and Ben nodded.

“Yeah it’s… it’s pretty late,” he struggled to let the simple words out.

“It was a very nice evening though, thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he chuckled, but you were serious when you answered.

“It was nice, because we spent it together.”

His smile grew more tender.

“I spent a lovely evening too, Y/N,” he nodded.

“Not too annoyed?” you joked.

“You’re still insufferable, I’m just getting used to it,” he answered playfully, and you let out a loud laugh.

“Same here! I could get used to this kind of evenings though.”

“Me too,” Ben admitted. “Maybe… maybe we could do that again, when we’re back in Leeds.”

“I’d love that.”

You tightened your hold on his arm, to reinforce your words, and you had no idea of the effect you had on him. You didn’t notice the way he flexed his free hand several times as you started walking again, in an attempt to control the rush of emotions that was spreading through his entire frame.

You were oblivious, as you came back to the hotel, to the way Ben leaned against the door of his hotel room once he was safely alone inside the dark room. The way he didn’t turn on the light and merely stared blankly at the darkness, while the realisation hit him fully.

Damn… he was falling for you.

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

Taglist : @reg-arcturus-black @sergeantbuckybarnes @wolfmoonmusic @idek-what-to-put @kpicard

[good-beanswrites]

haii bean !!! I wanted to bully kotoko request some funnies and sillies :) could you please write a drabble with amane and yuno (and anyone else) annoying kotoko . i feel like amane and yuno would go :3 and kotoko would go >:T… ofc feel free to ignore/dlt this :3

LOL of course! I'm sad I've become the Milgram Bully but I'm glad to give the boys a little break 😂 Thank you so much for the request, it was really fun getting back into the swing of writing with this! (also wooooo it's getting me so hyped for Deep Cover!!) Out of everyone, those two could definitely get away with :3-ing Kotoko to no end...

“Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-sev--”

“Hey, Kotoko?”

“Thirty-se, er, thirty-eight...”

“Kotoko?”

“Thirty- uh…”

“Hey, hey, Kotoko?”

She rolled onto her back, having lost count of her pushups. “Yuno.” Her voice was even between heavy breaths. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Actually, I can see you need a break, and I’m happy to provide one!”

With a grunt, Kotoko sat up to face her. Yuno smiled down, her eyes sparkling with... something. Amane stood nearby, looking just as suspiciously sweet.

“What do you two need…?”

“We’re here to join you,” Amane said. “We wish to work out.”

“Oh? You’ve never been interested in exercise before.”

“Well, you yourself have motivated us to get stronger.”

“I’m pretty sure you just got bored…”

“Of course not! We’re committed!”

Kotoko studied them with a harsh look. They smiled innocently back. She narrowed her eyes. They widened theirs in anticipation. She leaned back. They leaned forward.

Yuno clasped her hands together. “Come ooon~ It’ll be fun having workout buddies! I’m a very hard worker, and you’ve seen how well-behaved Amane is. How bad could it be?”

Very, apparently.

She started with some stretches to get them warmed up. It was impossible to get them to focus, or hit the right positions, or stop giggling. Kotoko tried to tell them about breath control, but they seemed more excited to chatter on about everything under the sun. 

“I’ve always thought of stretching like this and being a famous dancer,” Yuno said. “Like a ballerina…” She did a little set of twirls. Kotoko tried to tell her not to do anything to crazy before they’d warmed up, but she just kept on spinning.

Amane’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always wanted to be in a marching band. They’re like dancers, a little bit!”

“Ooh, you’re right! I could never be so uniform, though, I want to do my own thing… like an idol or something!” Yuno did another set of moves. No one was following Kotoko’s perfectly timed toe touches anymore. 

“I guess we can get started…”

There was just as much dancing when they began jumping jacks, despite the fact that there were only two very clear positions to hit. Yuno wanted to do sets that traveled around the room, then ones that turned rapidly around in a circle, then ones that turned really rapidly in a circle. She and Amane made themselves dizzy with it. 

Kotoko decided a good, grounded activity would serve them better. They took turns holding each others’ feet and counting situps. Yuno got distracted easily, delving into nonstop conversation whether she should have been counting, watching, or doing the situps herself. She’d use her hands to talk, letting go of whoever she was meant to stabilize. Amane, on the other hand was practically a drill sergeant the way she tried to keep the others on pace. 

“Eight! Nine! Ten!”

“Amane, I think you’re supposed to count when I sit up, not force me to keep up with you…”

“Well don’t be so slow about it, and you’ll stay in time. Let’s go! Eleven! Twelve!”

“Ack!”

Kotoko rubbed her temples. Maybe adding some equipment could keep them busy? 

Jumping rope brought new struggles. Yuno spend ten minutes trying to recall a schoolyard rhyme to jump rope to, and teach it to Amane. They both encouraged Kotoko to join in, but she was jumping at a faster rhythm. That became impossible as their chanting filled the room. Moreover, none of them could stay in their own space. There were about five rope tangles before Kotoko decided to call a break.

(She didn’t exactly know what they needed a break from, they’d hardly done anything.) The girls seemed happy to sit down and chat, though. Kotoko reluctantly passed her protein shake over as they asked to try it. “One sip…”

She covered her mouth, deep in contemplation. Maybe these exercises were too easy. It was too easy to get distracted out here in the common area. They’d be forced to buckle down and focus on something more taxing, right?

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “After this we’ll head over to my cell, okay? I have a bar installed for pull-ups. It’s tricky, but you have to start somewhere.”

“Hmmmm…” Yuno tapped a finger to her chin. “I’m not sure about that. You know… I think you were right. I think we were just bored. Well!” She clapped her hands together. “I guess we’ll stop bothering you now. Bye!” 

Amane joined her for a curt bow. “Thank you for your time.” 

Kotoko blinked after them. “Er, but…!”

Just like that, they were gone.

She released a long breath. She picked up her shake. It was empty.

[sailorsplatoon]

Chapter 7 is here! I've been looking forward to posting this one, we get to see how a couple of the characters interact with each other!

First (prologue)

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Read it on ao3!

(Fanfic under cut)

Neo walked into the elevator of the apartment building, checking Agent 4’s text again to make sure it had the right address.

Party at my place on Saturday, 4:00

48 Shellendorf Street Apt. 73

(There’s going to be a surprise!)

Neo had only met Agent 4 once, but they seemed like a fun person. It would love to challenge them to a 1v1 sometime. It was arriving ten minutes late, but that wasn’t unusual for it. Neo knocked on the door and it swung open. Four stood there, beaming.

“Hey, Neo! Glad you could make it! Come on in!” They took its arm and pulled it into the apartment.

The other agents were scattered about the room. Captain stood by the counter, taking handfuls of snacks. Eight sat on the couch, bouncing his leg to the beat of the music blaring from the speakers. Agent 1 and Agent 2 leaned against a wall, chatting. Pearl and Marina were there as well, talking with them. Cuttlefish floated around from group to group. And Deep Cut sat on the floor as Big Man tried to teach Shiver and Frye how to play a card game.

“You were invited too? I didn’t know you three knew Agent 4.” Neo walked over to the trio and tried to make conversation. Things had been awkward since it had beaten them in battle and Neo wanted to try and alleviate the tension.

“We don’t, but we heard Boss Marie say something about a party and we wanted to come. It’s kinda boring though,” Frye said before smashing her cards down. “Bam! I win!”

“Ay, ay… (No you don’t, that’s not how this game works…)”

“Okay!” Four stood in the middle of the room, demanding everyone’s attention. “Everyone’s here so it’s time for the surprise!” With that, Four ran into their bedroom, appearing moments later holding an octopus in their arms. They carefully placed the octopus on the ground as they took their humanoid form. The octoling stood next to Four, towering over the inkling beside them. Their tentacles fell over one eye, the other covered with a set of red sunglasses. They wore a black dress that had been torn on one end, held together by a red string. But the most peculiar thing about them, something that Neo had never seen before, was that their skin was green. It was a little bit scared of them, but its curiosity always won out against fear. Who was this strange person? It peered over at Captain for guidance.

“Meet Acht! My amazing partner!” Four squeezed Acht into a hug, the two of them smiling.

Captain felt like they had just been stabbed by a million needles. Four had never said anything about their partner being sanitized. This was not good. Did Four know? Of course they did they weren’t that much of an idiot. But then why would they trust a sanitized octoling, knowing how dangerous they are? Captain looked to Eight. He would get it, he fought those things firsthand. But he was smiling at them. How could he smile at something like that thing? 

“They’re sanitized,” Marie said skeptically. At least she understood. 

“Well, sort of. Not mentally. Anymore.” Four struggled to explain.

“I was partially sanitized years ago. When Marina’s Memverse project went online, I got pulled in. Because it was made to help restore the minds of sanitized octolings, it helped me slowly get better. Due to only being partially sanitized, I didn’t even have to climb the spire to start getting myself back.” Acht finally spoke, helping Four to relay their sanitization status to the group. “While the physical effects will likely never go away, or at the very least take a really long time, my mind is no longer sanitized at all.”

“I don’t understand anything that’s happening right now.” Neo butted in.

“Oh right, I forgot we never filled you in on the whole Deepsea Metro thing, sorry Neo!” Four said. “Actually, Eight you’d probably be better suited to explain this.”

Eight nodded, “The Deepsea Metro is an underground subway system run by Kamabo Co, which was created by Commander Tartar. Tartar was an AI created by humans which decided that cephalopods were not fit to be the new dominant species, and so it decided to try and create a perfect version of us. It put octolings like me through tests, promising that they would go to the ‘Promised Land’ if they gathered four Thangs. Those who did, also like me, were to be blended into an ooze which was used to sanitize other octolings. Sanitization causes them to lose all their memories, personality, sense of self, everything. Acht was only partially sanitized, so it wasn’t so extreme. Captain was also partially sanitized for a short time in Tatar’s attempts to stop me from breaking out of the metro.” 

As Eight said that, Acht looked up at Captain in surprise. There was someone else here who has been controlled by Tartar? Sure enough, there was a large cyan scar over Captain’s eye. I must have been where the ooze touched her skin. But she just looked away from Acht. If she knew what it was like, why did she seem so reluctant to look at them? Eight continued, “Thankfully I was able to save Captain before the sanitization took hold and escape the metro along with putting a stop to Tartar’s plans. Acht escaped later on after their mind was fully returned to normal, though I’m assuming only recently since they never told me that they finally got out. But I figured they would soon since Four asked me for a map. You don’t go to the metro for a vacation.” Eight eyed Acht with a grin along his face. Acht was worried he’d be upset that they’d never told him, but he seemed to just be happy for them.

“Oh so kind of like what Mr. Grizz tried to do. He also wanted to take over the world and control people, but to the best of my knowledge he didn’t blend anyone.”

“He did try to remove Cuttlefish’s brain though,” Shiver spoke calmly despite the gravity to her words.

“If I had a nickel for every time I almost died in the field, I’d be the richest squid here.” Cuttlefish waved a tentacle in emphasis.

“Not by a long shot.” Pearl smirked.

“Wait wait wait wait!” Callie interrupted the conversation with a shout. “Acht you’re a musician, right? I just looked you up on Splatify and it says you recently released a collab with Off the Hook!? Does this mean you’re going to be making music in Splasville now!?”

“Like hell you are!” Frye jumped up. She was paying attention to the conversation now. “The Splatlands are our turf!”

“You think you can waltz in here and try stealing our spotlight? Think again, greenie!” Shiver pointed at Acht accusingly. 

Four shot her a look that said “If you call them that again I will make you feel tremendous pain.” 

“Ay ay ay. (Guys let’s not make this a big thing.)” Big Man tried desperately to calm his bandmates.

“Oh what, so that you can abandon us and do a collab with them too?” Frye shifted her rage to the manta ray.

“Ay ay! (No that’s not what I meant!)”

Acht tried to defuse the situation. “Relax, I’m planning on focusing on Inkopolis Square anyway. I might play a few shows in Splatsville but—”

“Oh good luck with that,” Shiver interrupted. She was very clearly threatening Acht’s shows. Before anyone could try to calm them down further, Shiver and Frye stomped out of the apartment, dragging Big Man behind them.

“They’re going to be a problem.” Four placed a hand on Acht’s shoulder.

“We’ll figure that out when we get there.” Acht smiled down at Four, who quickly stood up on their tip toes to leave a kiss on Acht’s lips.

Captain sighed. Agent 4 did seem happy with Acht, but she couldn’t take any chances. When Tartar had been controlling her, there was nothing she could do to resist it. Would a couple strings of code really be enough to restore Acht’s mind? How could she be so sure that they weren’t still loyal to Tartar’s cause?

“We’ll let them have their fun. As worried as I am about that sanitized octoling, I trust Four’s judgement.” Marie appeared over Captain’s shoulder, yet again knowing exactly what she was thinking.

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” she heaved. “I don’t like the idea of keeping a sanitized octoling around, but Eight seems fine with it and he has more experience with those things than I do. I trust Four. If they’re happy, that’s all that matters.”