#but you don't have to point out the obvious to ME

[kitts-mechanix]

Oh my gosh....I might need a tissue for this....this very much sums up the cycle of abuse in a sibling dynamic.

@lexicorp, @ichbinmeltdown and I have been having a huge discussion about the Seeker Trine and the cycle of abuse, but this comic captures it in a very real way.

The drama in Thundercracker's show acts as a form of foreshadowing. Starscream barges in and starts treating his brother like dirt, and judging from Thundercracker's reaction it's obvious that Starscream has been abusive to him. Starscream only bothers Thundercracker because he needs him to help him defeat Megatron, aka something that will benefit HIM. Thunder isn't eager to do it, Starscream starts rambling off fake apologies and pointing out his brother's shortcomings (eg, "I've forgotten how sensitive you can be but I didn't think you'd actually leave over it"). Now that being said, I don't think Star's comment about how it hurt when Thunder left is entirely untrue, because I do like to think he was confessing at that point, having an inkling of regret--but even then that's only to get what he wants. When Thunder brushes him aside, Starscream cracks and admits he's sorry for everything he's done, names what he did and says he won't do it again. But is he truly sorry? Thunder doesn't buy it so Starscream uses his interest of the Earth to get him to do it. But it's obvious Thunder has reached a point where he doesn't want to keep putting up with Starscream's bullying. No matter how much Star pleads and begs, Thunder finally calls him out on his rash actions, like telling him that he's obsessing over usurping Megatron and shouldn't have tried to mess with him. He's had to watch Starscream constantly destroy himself, and his own brothers, out of self-interest. When Starscream realises he didn't get his way, he went back to blaming his brother and destroys the TV--the one thing keeping Thundercracker sane--out of anger. Thunder points out this is the problem with Star. He's done EVERYTHING for his brother but it's never enough, and he's had enough of trying to please him. Enraged, Star attacks him and calls him a traitor because he knows he can't get Thunder to do what he wants.

Meanwhile Skywarp is just standing there watching the whole thing and not intervening, probably out of fear. Star leaves and makes Skywarp go with him, leaving Thundercracker alone.

I honestly feel bad for all three of them. Starscream was HEAVILY abused by Megatron and he internalises that abuse on his own teammates, and even his own brothers (okay, I know the Seekers being brothers is a fanon thing, but I headcanon it). But to be fair, even his brothers--at least in G1--honestly kind of allow Megatron to abuse Star and even assist him in trying to punish or harm him. And this is likely more because Star treated them like dirt and less because they were afraid of Megatron. WIth this vicious cycle, I can see why Star kicked his brothers off of Astrotrain in the middle of space in TFTM. I firmly believe Megatron is at fault for fracturing the Trine's sibling dynamic with his abusive "leadership", but it was Starscream--the most abused of the three--who carried on that cycle.

Thundercracker is tired of the abuse. Starscream won't stop it because he needs to feel powerful and be in control when Megatron isn't choking the life out of him. Skywarp is too afraid to stop him for fear of getting the laser treatment.

I won't delve too deep into my personal backstory here, but one of the reasons this comic hit me so hard is because the dynamic reminds me of myself and my younger sister. I didn't have a great upbringing that I'm slowly realising was more abusive than I thought. My sister had it much easier since I suspect she was the favourite. To put it lightly, I was like Starscream/Skywarp and she was like Thundercracker. I'm not proud of it, especially looking at this and knowing my sister still sees me as this version of Starscream.

I really want to write a fic where they manage to break the cycle of abuse. I know, it's easier said than done and probably wouldn't work in real life....maybe I just want to give these guys a happier ending with their sibling dynamic 💔

It's a canon event.

[Follow up to this post.]

[littlcdarlin]

My Burning Sun Will Someday Rise — the journey home

summary: Joel drives you home from the airport after your vacation. You miss him as soon as he's gone. warnings: daddy kink (mentioned once), big age gap (23 & 49), orgasm control (reader needs Joel's permission), slight angst, phone sex in your parents' home (the most mortifying thing I can think of actually)

note: sorry this took me so long, I lowkey forgot about it tbh. It's a little angsty, but I swear that angst will be resolved!! Idk when, because I'm writing a different oneshot atm, but at some point I plan on writing more smut & a confrontation with reader's Dad. Enjoy these head canons in the meantime, and thank you for your love on this series <3333

Your Dad calls while you’re still at the airport & Joel tells him he got you home safely (your panties are still ruined from how badly you wanted Joel on the plane, his hand on your thigh the entire time)

He puts the luggage in the trunk of his Bronco, and before you’ve made it halfway home, he pulls over to a deserted parking lot by the side of the road & makes you ride him in the car

So good, baby, let me have it one last time. He comes inside of you like he did every time he fucked you during your trip, and when you grab your tissues to clean yourself, he asks you to leave it, baby, want you to remember me when you get home

So you do, because you always do what he tells you, and because you don’t want to let him go completely just yet. The rest of the way both of you are very quiet

Joel pulls up to your Dad’s house (you’re staying with him to help him with his leg), and before you can get out, he pulls you into a hug, and kisses the side of your head

Hope ya had a good time. You want to cry but you also don’t want to seem clingy, so you nod. Joel doesn’t let you go for a few minutes

When you pull away to say goodbye, he looks like your Dad’s Joel again, wearing his boots instead of flip flops, a pair of jeans instead of your beloved trunks, and his linen shirt is nowhere to be seen

Take care, kid. Call me if you need anything, alright? And don’t study too hard.

Before you can answer, the front door opens and your Dad greets you, leg still in a cast, and considerably less tan than you and Joel

When you get out to greet him, you feel Joel’s cum drip out of you and into your cotton panties. You glance at Joel, who seems to understand and raises one playful eyebrow — he’s still your Joel, no matter his clothes

Your Dad hugs you and the entire time you think he'll be able to smell Joel on you, his clothes you kept wearing, his shampoo you used when you were too lazy to get yours from your own hotel room, his sweat and spit and cum on you, but your Dad just walks over to Joel's window and thanks him

"Had a good time with my girl?"

Joel doesn't really meet his eye, and you think to yourself that my girl is a term only applicable if Joel says it, but he just agrees, says the food was good and that you studied a lot

And that's it, Joel drives away with one last glance at you in the sun, and then he's gone and a strange emptiness settles over you

You tell your Dad you need some time for yourself after a week of socializing, which he doesn't question, so you say good night, plop down on your bed and put on a movie. You don't want to shower, not when you can still feel Joel inside of you

It takes you around twenty minutes to pull out your phone, and when you do, you've already got a message from Joel

Miss you already, baby. At the risk of sounding desperate, call me if you need a break from studying.

The proper punctuation makes you smile and want to cry at the same time, Joel's age so obvious. You take a couple of seconds to answer and fight the urge to call him and ask him to just take you away to live at his place, your Dad be damned

miss you too. can still feel you inside of me. trying hard not to call you right now

Almost immediately, your phone lights up with Joel's name, and then he's there, his beautiful face taking up the majority of the screen, and although you try hard not to cry, you feel tears burning your eyes

You tell Joel you miss your vacation already, that you wish you could go back, that you don't want to sleep alone tonight. You wonder if he just wanted to have phone sex with you and instead got this jumbled up mess of feelings and tears

But there's just kindness and warmth in his eyes, and when he tells you he wishes you were there with him, watching a movie together instead of alone, relief floods your body. He talks to you in his soothing voice until you stop crying, tells you you can always come over

You're scared to ask him what he means, if he's offering a shoulder to cry on, or if he actually wants to keep seeing you, but when he sees the expression on your face, he asks you to come to his place tomorrow and talk there, instead of over the phone

You agree, already longing for his arms around your body, and when you ask him to make you feel good in a hushed voice, he is quiet for a couple of seconds

Want me to help you get off in your Dad's house? You're not even home in your apartment and you already need it this bad?

It's humiliating in a way that switches off your brain, Joel's words exactly what you need to get lost in him – he isn't pretending what the two of you are doing isn't completely reckless and fucked, instead, he embraces it, makes you get off on it

He makes you use your fingers instead of a vibrator, and they feel strikingly small after being stretched out on Joel's cock for a week. By now, he knows your sounds well enough to tell you to stop when you're close, and only after bringing you right to the edge three times with little more than his dirty words, and you beg him with tears in your eyes, Daddy please, he lets you come

That's it, baby, you have my permission.

When you're done, you wonder why he hasn't touched himself, anxiety bubbling up inside of you, but Joel tells you he wants to focus on you, that he'll take care of it when you've gone to bed.

You tell him again how much you miss him, that you don't want to sleep alone, or get off alone, or eat alone, or with anyone else. Joel smiles sadly, and sighs. Don't gotta get off alone, kid, just text me whenever you need me.

But it's all he can offer – his permission to come, but no dinners together, no nights spent basking in his warmth and scent. You take it, though, and promise to ask his permission every time. You know it turns Joel on, but there is also something more intimate about it. The only exclusivity either of you can offer each other at the moment

You both fall asleep while still on FaceTime, but in the morning, your phone is dead

taglist: @allydiasx@b1bbles@monamedeiros12@brittmb115@dansdonunts @mattevioletgirl @pedrospurplerain @fsiryspit @strangerthingslover69 @thanyatargaryen @chochoooooooooo @guelyury @iloveumorethanlove @neayinia @yesjazzywazzylove-blog @clancysinferno @bbyanarchist @pedrofan @cr3aturef3ar @malfoycassimalfoy @akah565

[clovdgyu]

#rafayel x m!reader #smut, fluff #the new lds memories seriously has me in a chokehold. so i made this

#hard and vanilla sex, friends to lovers trope, rafayel is possessed by an incubus, unprotected sex, creampie, rafayel moans a lot, lore-wise rafayel which means he has two dicks (i mean he's a lemurian and a mermaid so...), i'd like to think ebb day is when rafayel becomes in heat lol, foreplay, some mild choking, rafayel's scales hehe, pet names, a bit of blackmail and manipulation, some kind of DUBCON, overstimulation, double penetration, cockdrunk reader, belly bulge

your eyes turned to look at the other male who suddenly dropped down to the floor, placing a hand on his head as he held onto the chair for support. "rafayel! are you okay?" you asked the other male who was whining at the pain.

you looked at him with wide eyes, not knowing what to do. you hummed in panic, thinking of a solution before deciding to get him a glass of water. "fuck. you should've told me you needed to go to the ocean or whatever. let me start a bath for you."

just as you were about to give it to him, the moment you turned around, you were surprised when you saw him just looking down at you. in your shock, you accidentally dropped the cup and spilled the water.

"rafayel? are you finally doing okay? sit down," you told him, guiding him towards the sofa but was stopped when he held onto your arm and pulled you towards him. "wh--raf? what is this?"

the purple-haired male smirked and looked into your eyes, using his other hand to trace along the line of your lips. "hm? and who do we have here? can i have the honor in knowing your name, pretty boy?"

the confusion was evident in your eyes as you tilted your head to the side, thinking the other male was just making fun of you. "what the hell? cut this out, rafayel. it's me, m/n," you answered, looking up at the other male. "what is with this strength? were lemurians usually this strong?"

a curious and mischievous glint in his eyes made you gulp. "m/n, huh? you must be the guy he—" all of a sudden, he slapped himself which surprised you, "--you goddamn psycho, get out of my body!"

what the hell is going on? you thought to yourself as you looked at the other male who was...talking to himself? slapping his face over and over until his cheeks were red. deciding to end this madness, you shouted, "stop! can you just tell me what the hell is going on here? and why are you hurting yourself?"

rafayel let out heavy breaths as he looked at you before removing his arms from you and moved towards the sofa which made you follow him unconsciously. as you two sat down, he began to talk, "i am an incubus."

you let out a scoff. "uh huh, yeah. and i'm thomas. now stop with this pranks," you said. you were just about to move away but realized you weren't able to move. "what-"

"i'm serious. i indulge in the desires and pleasures of any men i see and unfortunately, this man has suppressed feelings," he stated, pointing at himself then smirked as if to say he was confident with something. "which is why i will help him."

"help him? why?" you asked him, confused.

the incubus (in rafayel's form) let out a sigh as he crossed his legs. "because he's currently in the verge of death. if he gets no action tomorrow, he's bound to die," he told you, making you confused yet again.

he pointed towards the calendar and saw that the next day was encircled red. that's when it hits you. "ah...it's ebb day. but he's always survived on his own. was it actually killing him? i never knew," you asked him.

his demeanor changed yet again before he shook his head and looked at you with a frown. "m/n, don't believe a word this demon says. i will be fine."

"fine, my ass! you'll die for fuck's sake. now, m/n, you wouldn't want that, won't you?" the demon told you, looking at you expectantly. it was obvious you were debating, looking at how you nibbled on your lip and eyes were practically quivering.

you let out a sigh before nodding. "alright. i'll help him."

the next day, as you expected, rafayel was heating up and you were there to help him. "wh-what the fuck, dude? this hurts as fuck," the incubus stuttered as he held onto his stomach.

you were already in your robes, ready to give yourself to your lemurian friend. "rafayel, i'm ready," you told him, the other male looking at you with hazy eyes as he sat up weakly.

you got on the bed and crawled yourself towards him, straddling him as you place your hands on his shoulders, blushing. "j-just so you know, this will only happen every ebb day a-and...this is my first time. i've never been on the receiving end."

a simple hum was heard from the other male before he moved to lean his head onto you neck, taking in your sweet scent, placing small kisses as he moved along your neck. you covered your mouth with one hand, stifling your moans.

"don't stop yourself from letting out those sounds, sweetie. i want to hear you," the incubus stated as he pulled you closer towards him, slowly grinding his erect dick onto your--wait, why were you feeling two dicks?

"what's..." you voiced out, pulling back before looking down at him.

he let out a deep chuckle as he looked up at you. "guess he has two dicks. didn't quite expect that as well," he stated before going back to your neck. "you smell so fucking good."

you were just about to protest but then you felt his hand adjust your robe to get your leaking cock out and began jerking you off. "w-wait, i haven't touched myself in a while. i-i might cum easily," you told him, but he didn't do anything, instead he continued his assault on your neck.

he jerked you off as he moved to the other side of your neck, placing love bites and hickeys as he did. "r-rafayel," you called out to him, hands latching onto the other male's hair. "i-if you keep doing that, i-i might--"

"you can cum as much as you like."

rafayel's voice near your ears was like hearing the symphony of the angels, quite ironic. "oh god," you let out, pulling him closer as you began to buck your hips, fucking yourself into his hand.

he let out an amused chuckle as he jerked you off in rhythm, trying to make you cum. "what a needy bitch. do you really want to cum that badly, huh?" he stated, using his thumb to tease the head of your cock that was already leaking pre-cum.

your moans began to grow louder. getting conscious of it, you buried yourself in the other male's neck as you stifled your moans, biting on your bottom lip.

"what did i tell you, hon?" he stated, stopping his movements as he looked at you, earning him a whine from you.

"wh-why'd you stop? i was just about to cum," you complained, brows furrowed as you looked down at him.

the purple-haired male only chuckled as he grinned, placing a kiss on your cheek before he whispered, "just let those pretty moans out, baby boy. it'd feel better that way, trust me."

then, he began to jerk you off once again. his hand was so big that it practically engulfed your whole cock and it made you feel so good. your toes curled at the pleasure as the once denied climax began to crash into you again. "ah fuck! oh my--rafayel, i'm gonna cum."

the man nodded as he placed kisses all over your neck, licking and biting as his hand began to jerk you off faster. "cum for me, m/n. do it."

and just like that, you let out a pleasured cry as you threw your head back, cumming on the other man's hand and splattering some on his toned stomach. "a-ah! cumming..!"

rafayel continued to jerk you off, slowing down once you came down from your high. "that felt good now, did it?" he asked you which you answered with a nod. he let out a chuckle before he let out a pained whine.

"r-rafayel? are you okay?" you asked him.

and then all of a sudden you found yourself beneath him, pinned down on his king-size bed. the usual soft and calm look on rafayel's eyes were replaced with something else. as if he has finally snapped and had enough. "fuck, you're just too sexy."

all you could do was stare up at the other male as he stared down at you, wanting to devour you right then and there. "a-are we...gonna do it?"

cute. rafayel thought as he roamed his eyes around your body, undoing the robe's belt and finally seeing you in your naked glory. "shit. so delectable," he murmured to himself before leaning down, latching his lips onto your nipples.

the suddenness made you flinch (in a good way), placing your hands onto his hair. "th-that tickles—ah! w-wait," you cried out. rafayel, wanting to hear more of you, began to jerk you off once again as he prodded his middle finger against your hole, using your own cum as lube. "no! r-rafayel, i just came!"

"i know you can still cum for me, sweetie. i need to get you ready for my cocks," he said before taking your nipples into his mouth again, licking and biting before moving to the other.

the pleasure was too much for you to handle, it was far too overwhelming. not a second later, the other male inserted his finger inside your hole which made you yelp. "relax, m/n."

you followed his instructions, but all you could focus on was rafayel's mouth on your nipples and his hand that was jerking your hard cock. "r-rafayel. oh fuck," you moaned out, pulling on his hair as he gave you the pleasure you needed.

it took you a moment before you realized that scales were showing on his body. you touched them unconsciously, earning you a hiss. that made you flinch before looking up at him, eyes teary and hazy. "you're seriously turning me on. no wonder this man likes you a lot."

what?

you weren't even given a second to ponder what he just said as he finally entered a second finger, his fingers pistoning inside your hole, preparing you for his big cocks.

rafayel's lips moved up, towards your collarbone, towards your neck then back down onto your chest. he knew how to make you feel so good. as he continued his assault on your nipples and his hand on your cock, he continued to finger your ass.

your moans began to grow louder in volume. "rafayel, it feels—agh!" you let out a yelp, clenching onto the purple-haired male's fingers as he hit a certain spot inside you. "th-that felt strange."

the lemurian smirked as he used his tongue to flick your nipples over and over, the ticklish yet pleasurable feeling making you moan louder. "this?" he asked you before pressing on that same spot again.

this made you throw your head back, a strangled moan escaping your lips as your eyes practically twitched. "quit it! p-pressing on it...ah!"

rafayel heeded no mind to your protests as he pressed onto your prostate ever now and then. he inserted another finger whoch makes it three. he hummed, "you're taking my fingers quite well, m/n. am i making you feel good?"

the question made your mind go haywire as you tried to answer, but all you could do was nod. his fingers were quite long and it could reach the perfect spots inside you which drove you crazy. "use your big boy words, hon."

damn, how can someone be so alluringly sexy yet soft at the same time. you gulped, "y-yes. it feels good."

"that's good to hear," he stated before he began to finger your hole faster, making your toes curl in pleasure. the pleasure on your nipples, cock, and ass was all too overwhelming.

your moans became ragged as you neared your climax. but just as you were about to cum, rafayel stopped whatever he was doing and pulled away, smirking. a whine escaped your lips as you looked at him, watery eyes and cheeks warm. "why do you keep stopping when i'm about to cum."

"cause it's fun tormenting you. and you would probably be asleep by the time we're done here since you're tired," he stated, but you just glared at him.

the other male placed his hands beside your head, looking down at you. "i guess you're finally ready," rafayel stated as he leaned back, using one hand to jerk his two dicks. the size alone was enough to scare you.

"th-that's going inside me? that'll never fit, rafayel. it's too big," you tried to reason with him, hut all he did was growl as he rolled his eyes. "did you just roll your eyes at me?"

he just hummed as he lined his cock towards your hole yet you kept pulling away. fed up, he growled and placed a hand on your neck, choking you. "do you want him to die or not?" he asked.

you shook your head in response. "no...i can't do that," you answered, but sighed as you looked up at him. "fine, just do it slowly."

the other male let out a whispered 'good' before he held onto his cock, slowly entering. you were just about to tell him something but he suddenly inserted his whole cock in. this made your cry out in pleasure, cumming on the spot at how his cock brushed against your prostate.

"fuck! relax, sweetie. you're gonna snap my dick off," he stated, basking in the pleasure of seeing you make a mess of yourself, blabbering and all as you threw your head back, gripping the sheets tightly as your curled your toes and arched your body.

rafayel's eyes turned manic as he placed his hands on your hips, groaning at your tight heat. "shit, you feel so good, m/n," he said as he thrusted inside you harshly, wanting to see you writhe and quiver in pleasure.

the other male leaned down towards you, placing hickeys and love bites on your neck. you let out loud moans which rafayel loved. you placed your hands onto his back, scratching it out of pleasure, eyes rolling back.

"oh, fuck! your ass feels so fucking good, babe. taking me so well," he stated out as he threw his head back, fucking you with no remorse. you buried your nose into his neck, trying to bite back your moans as you engulfed the man in your embrace.

this obviously annoyed the other male as he placed a hand under your chin, making you face him. "what did tell you about holding in your moans, babe? i want to hear you."

"i-it's embarrassing," you answered him, feeling your cheeks warm up.

the man chuckled, amused. "i like hearing them, m/n. moan for me, please?" rafayel pleaded, placing his hands back onto your hips as he began to fuck you once again.

you nodded at him, but still stifled your moans. wanting to hear more of you, he began to jerk you off and he thinks you liked being jerked off cause the moment he did, you began to whimper and moan so loudly. "yes, just like that, baby. let those pretty noises out."

his thrusts gradually increased in speed, placing his arms by the pit of your leg, pushing them towards you into a mating press. "fuck, you feel so good, m/n. i've wanted this for so long. shit, ah."

rafayel's voice became louder as he pistoned his cock inside you, reaching deep inside you with every thrust. his cock consistently brushed against your prostate perfectly, not failing to make you moan every time he pushed his hips towards you.

the sound of your skins slapping against each other reverberated throughout his whole bedroom, your cries and his moans filled the entire area as well. you could practically hear the squelching sound your hole produced every time he thrusted hard inside you.

rafayel leaned down, placing his forehead against yours before placing his lips on yours. you weren't new to kissing but this obviously shocked you. nevertheless, you responded to his kiss as you pulled him closer towards you.

the other male grinned mischievously as he stuck his tongue inside your mouth, exploring the wet cavern. rafayel swallowed your pleasured moans, groaning as he sucked on your tongue, swirling his own wet muscle with it.

his hands moved towards your chest, playing with your erect nipples, making you cry out, gripping hard onto his hair as he played with them, flicking and twisting them.

"fuck," he cursed out as he removed his lips on yours, some saliva dripping down from your lips at the heated makeout session. you wondered why he stopped but you were rid of your questions once you noticed how he let go of your legs and changed your positions without pulling out.

your back was now turned towards him and now you were on all fours. rafayel chuckled as he landed a slap on your ass, liking the way it jiggled. "so fucking hot," he stated as he began moving again, using one hand to hold onto your hip. "you ready for cock number two, sweetie?" he asked.

you didn't know what to answer since you were already to drunk on his cock to even think about anything, blabbering nonsense and something about 'cumming'. taking that as a yes, he lined his second cock against your hole as he stopped moving before pushing all the way in.

the sudden intrusion made you cry out in pleasure as you threw your head back, cumming yet again for the third time that day. "n-no..wh-why...hurts.." you muttered out as your arms gave out, involuntarily sticking your ass up towards him.

"it'll feel good in a moment. okay, m/n?" rafayel assured you as he sheathed his cocks inside your stretched hole. he let out a breathy moan as he threw his head back, feeling even better now that both his cocks were inside your warm hole. "hah, you feel so fucking good, baby."

you adjusted to his cock as you fisted on the sheets. not a while later, he began to pummel your ass needily, moaning out as his cheeks were now tinted in red. "g-good...ah.." you moaned out.

suddenly, rafayel leaned his body down towards you, placing an arm around your neck before pulling you up with him. the position made rafayel's cock reach deeper inside you which got you a moaning mess, throwing your head back as you clenched your fists.

“m-my stomach, no…!” you cried out as the other male reached out a hand and pressed against the bulge on your stomach, pressing down which got you cumming again. “n-no more…fuck! i c-cant cum anymore,” you said, but it was as if he was drunk in pleasure and paid no attention to your protests.

instead, he turned your head and kissed you, choking you with his strong arm while using the other one to keep you both steady. your sweaty bodies mingled with each other, the pleasure making your eyes roll and your cock twitch back to life. you were already too tired at this point.

rafayel's thrusts grew faster and harder, moans getting louder as he held you closer, as if wanting to fuse his body with you. the scales that appeared on his body grew in number as he felt his own climax come to him. “fuck, i'm about to cum, m/n. can I cum inside you, baby? please?” he said, hugging you tightly as he placed soft kisses down on your shoulders.

as you were nearing your own release again, rafayel jerked you once again so you two could cum together. this made you cry out as tears finally dripped down from your eyes at the overstimulation. “rafayel!” you moaned out his name, holding onto his biceps that was around your neck.

rafayel nodded as he gritted his teeth, veins pulsating as he thrusted faster and harder inside you, hitting your prostate spot-on, jerking your cock off in the same rhythm. “cum for me, m/n. fuck, m/n. i'm cumming!”

“m-me too,” you announced, turning your head to kiss the other male who was already waiting for your lips. then your lips parted as you both chased your climax.

with one final thrust, rafayel came inside of you, biting down on your shoulder while you squirted all over the white sheets. “t-tired..” was all you could mutter as you fell asleep in the other male's embrace.

“i hope he's fine. i think i overdid it,” you heard someone say then a rather deeper voice was heard as well.

“well, when are you planning to tell him about this whole shenanigans?” the other male asked as he looked at your state.

rafayel bit his lip out of guilt before he sighed and looked at the demon. “the moment he wakes up, i will tell him everything.”

“tell me what?”

your voice made the two scream out in surprise, looking at each other then back at you. they watched as you blinked your eyes open, then sat up, using your hand to rub your eyes awake. “rafayel? who is he?” you asked, once you finally saw the stranger beside him.

“the demon that possessed him. nice to meetcha. i'll be on my way then, tata!” the incubus stated before he disappeared, leaving you and rafayel alone together.

the purple-haired male turned to look at you and held your hands, checking on your stature first. “are you alright? nothing hurts, does it? i got a bit carried away, sorry,” he asked.

“i'm fine, rafayel. it felt good honestly and thanks for cleaning me up. i got too tired and passed out. if anything I should be the one asking you if you're alright,” you stated, a smile on your lips as you adjusted the blanket draped on you.

rafayel mentally prepared himself before finally blurting out his feelings towards you, not wanting to regret not telling you. “i like you, m/n. ever since we met back then. it was love at first sight and I just couldn't let go of you, I needed you,” he started.

"i wanted to treasure you and the moment i found out you were into men, i got so hyped up. i decided to make you my best friend slash bodyguard. but along with it, my feelings grew stronger. to the point where i wanted to defile your body."

he looked into your eyes, fearing that you'd hate him once you finally found put the truth. "i could never bring myself to do that, and so, i decided to summon an incubus to help me get the courage i needed to touch you. i'm sorry."

once he was done, you let out a laugh before looking at him, wiping a stray tear away. "you mean you were holding back? damn, you liked me that much? you're seriously cute and funny."

"what? no violent reactions?"rafayel asked, confused. but all he heard from you was a simple 'nope'. "shouldn't you be mad at me?"

you smiled. "if you knew i was into, why haven't you asked me out yet?"

"i didn't know if i was your type. what if i--"

"dude! you're a famous painter, tall, handsome, has constant moodswings, and did i mention your two dicks? who wouldn't want you, rafayel?" you stated, making the man in front of you blush, embarrassed. "so, when are you gonna ask me out?"

"will you really go out with me?" rafayel asked shyly.

you scoffed at him hitting his shoulder. "stop acting so coy. as if you haven't rearranged my guts earlier. now why don't we get breakfast, hm?" rafayel smiled before letting out a chuckle. "you're right. let's."

[makeitmingi]

Asking You To Be His Valentine's

[Let The Heart Love Again Drabble]

pairing: wooyoung x danceteacher!reader (y/n) feat. Yoonseo

summary: after agreeing to go on a date with wooyoung, your relationship only grew and blossomed into something much more beautiful. as wooyoung expected, you've integrated perfectly into his and yoonseo's lives. and despite already being in a relationship, yoonseo insists that wooyoung ask you to be his valentines.

word count: 3.1K

a/n: a little late to valentines day posting but ive been wanting to write something for 'Let The Heart Love Again' and what better time to write for them than valentines day!

"Good work today, everyone! Thank you." The boys bowed to each other and the members of BB Trippin, who bowed back. They all split up to go to their phones or get a drink of water after practicing for so long. Wooyoung grabbed his phone and sat with his back against the mirror, to read a message from you.

'Hey! We just ended class, going for a quick snack before going to KQ. See you~ - (y/n)'

He smiled at the picture you attached of Yoonseo eating and sent you a reply before tucking his phone into his pocket and going to drink water. Wooyoung took out a towel to wipe his sweat.

"So, Valentine's day is coming up soon." San said, wiping his body and downed a whole bottle of water.

"I'm aware..." Wooyoung trailed off, giving his best friend a suspicious look, wondering where he was going with this.

"What are your plans? Did you even ask (y/n) to be your valentine's yet?" San asked and sat beside Wooyoung. The shorter blinked in confusion and shook his head.

"What do you mean? We're dating, I already asked her to be my girlfriend. Isn't it obvious that she's my valentine's?" He frowned.

"Oh, hyung! Poor, naive Wooyoung hyung." Jongho chimed in with a shake of his head.

"So what if you're dating? You could be married and girls still like to be asked by guys to be their valentine's! A lot of guys forget to ask and girls can get upset. You have to ask (y/n) to be your valentine's." San pointed out.

"You make it sound like if I don't ask, she'll accept some other guy's request to be his valentine's. And I know (y/n) isn't like that, she's pretty chill." Wooyoung shrugged.

"Even the most chillest girls like to be asked out." Yunho added.

"Coming from all of you who are single!" Wooyoung scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes.

"If you excuse me, my girls are coming. Put on your shirt." Wooyoung threw his towel at San. San rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt on while Wooyound went out.

"There are my girls!" Wooyoung smiled, seeing you and Yoonseo emerge from the lift hand in hand.

"Appa!" Yoonseo laughed and ran forward, landing in her father's arms. He showered her in kisses. You smiled and headed over.

"Hey." You greeted softly. Wooyoung straightened up and smiled softly, reaching out to hold your hand. He leaned in to give you a kiss on the cheek. He knew that you were still a little shy when it came to PDA, especially at the company when you knew that the other members were around.

"How was practice?" You asked.

"Good. Tiring but good. I'm excited for the comeback, new choreography always gets me excited." He said.

"And how was class?" He asked back. You nodded over to Yoonseo, who began to excitedly tell her dad all that she learnt in class today. You listened to her with an endearing smile on your face.

"That's right. She's almost in a full side split." You said and Yoonseo nodded, happy to have your validation.

"Are you staying over tonight?" Wooyoung asked.

"Please! Please stay over!" Yoonseo begged when you didn't answer immediately, thinking of your schedule tomorrow. Wooyoung held Yoonseo's shoulders.

"Don't do that, baby." Wooyoung looked down at his daughter in slight disapproval, making Yoonseo pout.

"It's fine, Woo. I just have practice tomorrow morning for my upcoming showcase." You said.

"It's entirely up to you but I can drop you off if you'd like. I'm off tomorrow so I'll drop you at the studio then Yoonseo at school." He offered. You thought about it and nodded your head. Yoonseo cheered and hugged your legs.

"Hi, (y/n)~" The other members emerged from the studio. You waved and bowed to them. Your serious relationship with Wooyoung was still rather new so you were still formal with the others.

"Good work today." You clapped.

"You too." Jongho smiled kindly. Wooyoung cleared his throat and wrapped an arm around your waist to hold you to his side.

"Gongju nim!" San scooped Yoonseo up and hugged her, the two were always so excited to see each other, even if they see each other at least every other day.

"Geez, you two are always like long lost lovers." Wooyoung scoffed.

"It's cute." You giggled, seeing San piggyback Yoonseo and march around playfully, making her laugh.

"Alright, you two, break it up. It's time to go home." Wooyoung clapped. He loved his members like his family but right now, he'd much rather spend time with you, relaxing at home after working. San and Yoonseo whined, unhappy that they were not able to spend more time together.

"Why don't you two go ahead? I'm free for the rest of the day, I'll drop the princess off tonight." San offered.

"Me too!" Yunho raised his hand. Wooyoung gave an uncertain look, looking at Yoonseo who nodded her head happily, wanting to spend time with her uncles.

"Fine. But have her back home by 6. She has school tomorrow." Wooyoung said. Jongho, San and Yunho saluted to Wooyoung.

"Bye, baby. I'll see you later." Wooyoung opened his arms. Yoonseo came down and hugged her dad.

"Bye, appa." She kissed his cheek before hugging you.

"Have fun, Yoonseo ah. See you later." You hugged her before she went back to playing with her uncles. Wooyoung grasped your hand with his own and led you to the exit.

"Are you hungry?" You asked, cupping his cheek. Wooyoung shook his head and hugged your waist, resting his head on your shoulder.

"Everything ok?" There was more worry in your voice now as your fingers touched the back of his neck.

"Mmm, just tired. I'm glad you're here now." He mumbled. Reaching the basement carpark, Wooyoung opened the car door for you to enter before running to the driver's side to enter. Wooyoung started the car and began to drive.

"Comeback season is coming soon. I'm gonna be busy." Wooyoung said, his hand reaching to rest on your thigh.

"It's alright, Wooyoung. I understand." You placed your hand over his, knowing that he was worried about not being able to see you with his busy comeback schedule.

"We'll make time." He smiled.

"Of course. And if you need me to come over and help with Yoonseo, I'll be more than happy to." You giggled.

"Thanks. I'm sure Yoonseo will be happy to hear that, she loves you and loves spending time with you." Wooyoung chuckled. You felt a warmth in your heart hearing him say that.

"I love hanging out with her too. She's such an amazing kid." You said, making Wooyoung smile proudly.

"Come on." After he parked, you and Wooyoung headed up to the apartment. Even if you didn't live together, you stayed over often.

"I declare that we spend the rest of the day in bed." Wooyoung said as the two of you removed your shoes. You nodded with a giggle, liking that idea. While you unpacked your bag, Wooyoung bent down and kissed your cheek before going to shower. You began to unpack the items in your dance bag.

You placed your ballet shoes by the balcony, next to Yoonseo's to air them. Then you did the laundry, washing your stuff along with Wooyoung's clothes and Yoonseo's.

"This is what it's like living with two ballerinas." Wooyoung laughed, emerging from the room while drying his hair.

"It's only going to get more, you know? More constumes, more dance shoes, all that." You grinned.

"Well, I'll have you to help me sort those things out." He pulled you in by your waist. You slapped his chest and went to shower, wanting nothing more than to spend time with Wooyoung now.

"I'll prepare your snacks for dance tomorrow since I'm preparing Yoonseo's." Wooyoung said through the bathroom door.

"Thank you!" You replied loudly.

"Wooyou-" You paused when you came out after your shower and drying your hair to see Wooyoung fast asleep. He had one of Yoonseo's stuffed animals on his chest.

"Cute." You tried to muffle your giggles and slid under the blanket, sleeping against his side.

After Yoonseo came back last night, all 3 of you had a nice dinner and you helped Wooyoung with putting her to bed. He didn't want to excite her too much since he wanted her to sleep early since there was school the next day.

"I'll see you, jagi." Wooyoung leaned over to give you a kiss as he pulled up to the drop off of the dance academy. You smiled into the kiss and grabbed your bag.

"Mmm, see you. Thanks for dropping me off. Bye, Yoonseo ah. Have a nice day at school." You wished.

"Bye, (y/n) unnie." Yoonseo giggled and waved. You and Wooyoung decided that Yoonseo would call you 'unnie'... for now.

"Stay safe." Wooyoung said as you exited the car. The father and daughter watched as you entered the building and disappeared from their sights.

"So, appa." Yoonseo cleared her throat.

"Uh oh, what did I do wrong now?" Wooyoung asked jokingly, sensing Yoonseo's sudden seriousness.

"This is serious, appa! Uncle Sannie told me you haven't asked (y/n) unnie to your valentine's! What if someone else asks her? We're doomed!" Yoonseo yelled dramatically.

"We're not doomed, my precious baby. I don't know why uncle Sannie is telling you these things but (y/n) unnie is already my valentine's. I don't have to ask her." Wooyoung said with a soft sigh, looks like he'll need to call his best friend to scold him about the things that he's telling his niece.

"Well, did you ask her? Or do you think she is your valentines?" Yoonseo questioned back.

"I don't think, I know. Why do you think she stays over all the time? We go on dates. That means she's my valentines, my white day, everything." Wooyoung explained.

"Hmm, no. You have to ask her before it's too late." Yoonseo shook her head.

"Do you want me to do it for you?" Yoonseo offered when she was met with her father's silence.

"What? No. I don't need you to do it for me. I can ask her, I just don't know why you and your silly uncles are so insistent on this." He scoffed in disbelief.

"We're just trying to help, appa. You like (y/n) unnie and want her to be your valentines right?" Yoonseo asked.

"Yes, of course. I just didn't think I would need to ask her when we're dating. But if it'll satisfy you, I'll ask her, okay?" Wooyoung sighed.

"Okay! You have to do it tonight. And I'll help! You need to get flowers, everyone likes flowers! And write her a card." Yoonseo excitedly started listing things for her father to do and buy, which Wooyoung will have to do after dropping her off at school.

"Alright, now, you focus on school! Have a nice day, baby. I'll come pick you up when you're done." Wooyoung hugged his daughter and kissed her head.

"Bye, appa. Remember to get everything I told you." Yoonseo reminded sternly.

"Yes, ma'am." Wooyoung saluted.

So, Wooyoung went to the shop and got almost everything his daughter told him to get. Then he got home and started decorating. It wasn't even valentine's day yet.

Honestly, Wooyoung has never done this before. His last relationship was with Yoonseo's mother and they didn't date conventionally.

'Asking my girlfriend to be my valentine's |'

Wooyoung sat on the couch and searched online. Looks like his members and own daughter was correct, many girls liked to be asked to be valentine's dates despite already being together.

"Maybe this is why she left me." Wooyoung said bitterly, recalling how Yoonseo's mother threw insults at him.

"Streamers, flowers, cupcakes." Now Wooyoung wanted to make sure he had everything. This wasn't valentine's celebration, it was him asking you to be his valentine's. By the time he was done getting everything ready, he had to go pick Yoonseo up from school. As he waited, he called you.

"Hey. I'm picking Yoonseo up from school. What time will you be done today? I can pick you up." He smiled as he leaned against his car, keeping an eye out for his daughter.

"Hmm, let me run to check my schedule. I have rehearsals for my showcase... And a costume fitting... I don't think I'll be done so early."

"No worries. I know you're busy getting ready for your upcoming performance." Wooyoung chuckled.

"Yeah, I've been running back and forth. Sorry... I think I'll only be done around 8. Don't worry, I can make my way over to yours on my own when I'm done."

"Are you sure?" Wooyoung waved to Yoonseo when he saw her come out with her class and teahcer.

"Positive! I'll see you and Yoonseo at home?"

"Yeah, alright. Drop me a text when you're leaving the studio. Have a good rehearsal, make sure to drink water and eat something. I love you." Wooyoung wished, his heart warm when you referred to his place as 'home'.

"Thank you. I love you too!"

"Appa!" Yoonseo jumped into Wooyoung's arms. He chuckled and hugged her tightly. Despite only being apart for a few hours, he had missed her dearly.

"Come, let's go." He opened the door for her to climb into her booster seat in the car. Of course, there were people still taking pictures.

He is Wooyoung from Ateez after all.

"(y/n) just called, she's coming back at 8 after her rehearsals so we'll surprise her then. I've decorated the house and got everything ready." Wooyoung informed his daughter as he drove.

"Okay! I can make sure you did it right." Yoonseo said. Of course, she was a kid and meant no malice when she said that.

"Yes, boss nim." Wooyoung teased back.

"It has to be perfect, appa!" Yoonseo exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you." Wooyoung groaned, his daughter was nagging him like he was the child and she was the parent. Honestly, she was starting to sound like Hongjoong, which scared him slightly. His life will not be easy if his daughter starts to nag him and boss him around like Hongjoong does.

"So, how did I do?" Wooyoung asked when he opened the door and let Yoonseo into the house, letting her look around. Yoonseo tapped her chin as she inspected the place.

"You did good, appa." She spun on her heels and gave him an approving thumbs up.

"Come here, you." Wooyoung grabbed her and attacked her with kisses, making her squeal loudly and laugh.

"Here, this is for you. Will you be appa's valentine's too?" He grabbed a smaller bouquet with a small puppy plush attached. Yoonseo grinned and threw her arms around her father's neck.

"Yes! Me and (y/n) unnie will be your valentine's!" She giggled, hugging her dad tightly.

"I'm glad." He smiled softly and hugged her.

"Now, we have to get ready for our surprise. Let's go pick out a pretty dress." Wooyoung held Yoonseo's hand, leading her to her room.

After a long day of rehearsals, you finally made your way back to Wooyoung's place. Your friends spent the whole day talking about their upcoming valentine's day plans. You didn't want anything significant, maybe just dinner with Wooyoung and Yoonseo.

"I'm home~" You announced and removed your shoes in the doorway. To your surprise, the house was dark. You thought Wooyoung and Yoonseo would be home. Maybe they were both sleeping.

"Wooyoung? Yoonseo?" You called out but there was no reply. As you walked down the hall to the living room, you gasped.

"Hi, jagi."

"Hi, (y/n) unnie." The father and daughter were right in the middle, both dressed up, with candles and flower petals around. Each of them had flowers in their hands.

"Hi... What's going on? Did I miss an important date?" Your eyes widened in worry.

"No, you didn't. With valentine's day coming up, I was gratefully reminded that I have not asked you to be my valentine's."

"Oh..." You nodded slowly. Yoonseo giggled and ran up to you. You bent down to hug her, wrapping your arms around her waist as you watied for Wooyoung to finish.

"So, will you be my valentine's?" He asked with a crooked smile.

"Yes, Wooyoung. I will be your valentine's. You too, Yoonseo." You giggled. Yoonseo clapped and hugged you before letting you go to Wooyoung. You received the flowers, cradling it in your arms as you leaned forward to give him a kiss. Wooyoung's hands automatically came to rest on your waist.

"Thank you for doing this. It's really sweet." You smiled.

"I helped!" Yoonseo raised her hand with a proud smile. Your hand came to rest on the top of her head, she was really such a great kid.

"Although, I have to admit, I thought we were already each other's valentine's... Unless you were planning on asking someone else?" You raised an eyebrow, teasing Wooyoung.

"What?! No, of course not! It's just that the other guys said... then Yoonseo said... See! I told you." Wooyoung stuck his tongue out at Yoonseo.

"You're so dramatic, appa." Yoonseo scoffed, as if she wasn't the same.

"So, you didn't need me to ask you to be my valentine's?" Wooyoung checked. You shook your head.

"Yeah, she didn't need it, appa. But like uncle Hwa says, it's not a 'need', it's a 'want'." Yoonseo lifted a finger, quoting one of her uncles. Wooyoung sighed and shook his head.

"You need to stop hanging out with your uncles so much." Wooyoung squinted his eyes. You laughed and hugged Wooyoung. Even if you were not expecting this at all, you were still touched that he did this for you. As you both sat on the couch, Yoonseo sat on your lap.

"What's this? Did you make this in school?" You asked, gesturing the the beaded bracelet on her wrist.

"No. Seojun asked me to be his valentine's and gave me this. See the heart?" She showed you the pink heart bead right in the middle.

"Ah... I see. That's sweet." You nodded slowly, turning to glance at Wooyoung. The poor man looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel, his eye twitching slightly.

"And what did you say...?" Wooyoung asked, strained.

"I told him I'll think about it." Yoonseo shrugged. You pursed your lips to hide your laugh at Wooyoung's reaction.

"The answer is 'no', baby. You tell him no. Wait, don't even talk to him anymore. You're only allowed to have girl friends, no boy friends. I'm telling uncle Sannie you talked to a boy." Wooyoung stood up.

"Wait, no, appa! Don't tell him!" Yoonseo slid off her lap and ran after her father.

~

Masterlist

[yimpysdiner]

Ridiculously long analysis of Jimmy's dialogue

Jimmy is one of the most fascinating characters that's ever caught my eye, which is why I think the watering down of his character to "comically evil villain whose always snappy and overtly aggressive" is a little lame. Not only is it lame, it misses the point of his character entirely. I enjoy delving into him so what did I do? I went back through the game and took a screenshot of every single word he's ever spoken

Here I just wanna highlight some key character traits I think are often overlooked, his speech patterns, etc. This isn't gonna be some grand important theory thing or whatever, just looking at key points of his personality that I think often get lost when people are writing him. It's important to my lil hyperfixated mind, alright? Alright. I'm gonna be breaking this down into a few sections.

Speech Patterns Humor Observant Mimicking? Lashing out Hopelessness Remorse I won't be going over a few obvious things that have been pointed out time and time again like him talking down to Anya so much, being a major asshole, etc, we all know already.

General Speech :

Jimmy's speech is almost always blunt and to the point, he doesn't spend a lot of time rambling like Daisuke, isn't quite as outwardly analytical like Anya, doesn't throw in a lot of sarcastic little jokes like Swansea. Funny enough, his speech is most comparable to Curly's. I'll get to that later. When irritated he starts making little jabs, gets all passive aggressive. It's only when he's really pissed or pressured does he start swearing excessively. A lot of his dialogue hinges on passive aggression, things you could maybe brush off but still makes you feel a little... off. I don't really have screenshots for this little portion, you'll see it as we go on.

Humor

Jimmy isn't entirely a drag. Sure, he never really seems like the "life of the party," but he has his moments. This is kind of a nothingburger section but I often see Jimmy written as just some miserable grimacing guy in the corner

There's one more where you close utility when Daisuke is trapped in the foam and he says "much better." I couldn't find a playthrough where the player does this to get the screenshots but I have seen it be done before. It may be me over analyzing, but I think his sense of humor and general way of expressing happiness is very dry. It's not that he doesn't, it's simply that he's just not a very excitable person. He likes the little tradition of parties on Tulpar and jokes around with karaoke getting "violent." The sort of jokes he makes are probably all the sort of jokes you might just take seriously because he says it in such a flat tone, it's the kind of thing where you have to really *know* how he is to get.

So he's not exactly the person you're gonna see moping in the corner of a party because he hates it, he's moping because he's just not outwardly expressive in that respect, but he does seem to enjoy festivities and fooling around

Observant

Something I commonly see in writing is Jimmy not being able to read people's emotions or understand *how* exactly to get under people's skin. Jimmy's actually incredibly in tune with how people feel, what their intentions are, and how to use that to his advantage. He's very aware of what people may think of him, what they think of others and what they may even think of themselves. This also sort of ties in to people thinking he's dumb, while he's throwing out lines like this almost completely unprompted :

The cockpit scene is incredibly important to understand him as a character. Rewatching it I was quite shocked *how* much of this was immediately taken and used against Curly in later scenes. A teensie bit of context is cut as to not make this post far longer than it already is, but I'll do my best to fill in gaps.

Just this line here is interesting to me, while he senses Curly is unhappy in his position, he can't quite grasp why yet. This is after he says he enjoys where he is, he feels they are in control in this position.

In this calmer environment, Jimmy is able to understand why Curly feels like this without much pushback, even able to open up to Curly a little saying he feels he's still climbing up that ladder after him, to which Curly provides comfort and encouragement. I think a lot is told about their relationship here but that's a story for another day.

Later on, every bit of this information Curly confided in him is flipped over on him in a fit of rage. Where he was once understanding and sympathetic, he's now twisted those words to make Curly seem like a villain in everyone else's eyes, which he continues to do over and over until judgement day. Every bit of info you give Jimmy is ammunition.

It's crazy to put this side by side and see when given the chance, Jimmy will take whats a perfectly good fear and throw it right back at you and really twist the knife while he's at it.

Other examples of this is his paranoia over what the crew thinks of him, especially after seeing Swansea and Anya talking. This one's pretty self explanatory

Next one I find pretty interesting, after Jimmy finds Daisuke on the floor crying about being a screw up and after seeing Swansea scold him for not being great at his job, he decides to turn that around on him as well.

He is not only very aware Daisuke looks up to people in power but looks up to Swansea in specific. I dunno, I just thought that was interesting when I was looking back through everything. I know Jimmy's manipulation of Daisuke is super obvious and in your face but it just helps add to the whole point of Jimmy knows how to wriggle his way into people's minds, especially when they're vulnerable.

I've hit the image limit and I'm not even half way done, so, PART 2

[spookystiless]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Unspoken Truths, Broken Ties

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Percy Jackson x reader .𖥔 ݁ ˖

Reader feels insecure and jealous about the close relationship Percy and Annabeth have, leading to an argument between them.

———

The sight of them together, comfortable in their own little world ― just talking and laughing ― made something ugly and painful twist deep inside of you, settling uncomfortably in your gut.

Annabeth and Percy ― they just looked so close, so comfortable around each other. like they always knew exactly what the other was thinking. like their thoughts were constantly in sync ― and it hurt ― gods, did it hurt.

it was obvious they never meant to make you feel this way ― the two of them were oblivious to their surroundings, to you, to the pain they were causing.

you couldn't just stay silent anymore. and so you didn’t— you finally snapped and although the both of them looked at you rather confused at first ― having been snapped out of their little world ― you just continued.

the words just kept spilling out, the pain and jealousy swirling inside of you, making you feel insecure, making you feel small.

which is what lead to you and Percy here.

—

Percy's expression grew a bit frustrated again, his grip on your arm growing firmer, as he dragged you away from where you guys previously were.

“seriously?” he retorted. “are you still going to be mad about that? I told you, I just didn't get―”

“― yeah, you didn't get it,” you cut him off, finally turning your head to look at him. your voice was bitter and sarcastic, and your expression was almost angry. “I noticed.”

Percy's gaze met yours, and his expression was a mix of guilt and frustration.

“I'm sorry, okay?!” he shot back, raising his voice a bit. “I'm sorry ― fine? I'm sorry that I'm such a terrible boyfriend who spends all his time with annabeth―”

“oh, at least you noticed that much!” you snarked, sitting up and glaring at him. “or at least you do have some common sense in that brain of yours after all!”

Percy's expression went from guilty to offended and irritated as you started to jab at him.

he sat up straighter, his shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowing slightly. “oh, is that what you think?” he asked, his tone almost mocking. “that I'm just this idiot with no common sense?”

you rolled your eyes ― Percy's reaction was just proving your point.

“you said it yourself,” you shot back, your voice sharp. “all you do is spend time with annabeth ― you don't even notice me!”

“that's not fair!” Percy retorted, his voice growing more heated.

he got up from the bed, his body tense with the anger that started to bubble up inside of him. “yes, I spend time with annabeth! we're friends, that's what people do!”

you scoffed, shaking your head in disbelief. “yeah, friends who spend all their time together instead of with their girlfriend!”

Percy flinced slightly ― your words stung deeply. but he still tried to defend himself.

“it's not all the time,” he protested, his eyes still trained on you. “c'mon, c'mon, you're talking like we don't spend any time together!”

you laughed bitterly at that, the sound harsh and mocking.

“oh, you mean the few minutes we actually stay in the same room?” you asked sarcastically. “yeah, that's sure enough.”

Percy's expression grew angry again, his jaw clenching as he tried to control his temper.

“stop exaggerating,” he said, his voice gruff. “you act like I neglect you or something!”

you got up from the bed as well, standing in front of him and looking him straight in the eyes.

“but you do neglect me!” you countered, your voice almost a shout. “you're always busy with annabeth, you don't pay attention to me ― if anything, it feels like she's your damn girlfriend, not me!”

Percy winced at your words, his expression changing from angry to hurt in an instant. He took a step back, running a hand frustratedly through his hair. “seriously? you’re jealous of annabeth now?!” he retorted, his tone incredulous and almost offended.

“yes!” you snapped, your fist clenching in frustration. “that's what happens when you spend more time with her than with me ― I get jealous!”

Percy huffed, his expression still frustrated, but there was also a hint of disbelief. “I spend time with her because―”

he stopped himself, a flicker of realization passing across his face. he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

“because…?” you asked ― your voice slightly softer as you saw the look on his face changing.

Percy hesitated for a moment, looking at you with an almost guilty expression. his eyes roamed your face, searching for something.

“because…” he started, but stopped again ― biting his lower lip.

you raised an eyebrow ― his reaction was getting your curiosity up.

“because..?” you repeated, your eyes locked on his face ― waiting for him to go on, waiting to hear what he was about to say.

Percy took another deep breath, his shoulders slightly slumping.

“it's not like―” he began again, his tone growing quieter. “it's not like I don't enjoy spending time with you. because i do. but sometimes…”

he trailed off ― his expression was struggling between guilt and frustration, and his eyes never left your face.

“but sometimes..?” you questioned, your expression growing a bit gentler as you saw Percy struggling ― the whole thing was so uncharacteristic of him that you couldn't help but feel a shiver of worry creeping up your spine.

Percy closed his eyes for a moment ― taking another deep breath as he gathered his thoughts.

“sometimes,” he muttered, his voice growing so quiet that you could hear the slightest tremble in his tone. “sometimes it's just... easier spending time with her. because sometimes it feels like― like―”

“like?” you prompted, stepping closer to him despite being so angry at him.

there was a strange anxiety starting to grow in your chest as you watched him struggling to put words to whatever he was trying to say.

Percy opened his eyes again ― a mixture of guilt, frustration, and hesitation swirling in their depths.

he looked at you for a moment ― his gaze roaming your face as if searching for something. his lips parted ― and then, he blurted out

“― like she understands me better than you do.”

you felt like someone had just sucker-punched you in the gut.

his words hit you like a ton of bricks ― and for a moment, all you could do was stand there in silence, feeling the sharp pain of his words shooting through your chest.

Percy immediately cringed as the words left his mouth ― seeing the change in your expression made him wish he could snatch the words right out from the air and stuff them back down his throat.

he reached out, like he wanted to touch your arm ― but then he stopped himself, his hand hesitating just millimeters above your skin.

you stood still ― your mind spinning at the same speed as your heart.

words just failed to come to you ― they were stuck somewhere in your throat, leaving you speechless and stunned.

there was an unbearable silence as you looked into his eyes that held a mixture of guilt and worry.

“I…” Percy began again ― the hand that was still hovering over your arm was clenching into a trembling fist.

he looked like he had so much more he wanted to say, but he just couldn’t get the words out. his eyes searched your face, trying to find some clue of understanding in your expression ― instead, he saw only hurt and pain.

“I didn’t mean… I…” he mumbled, his voice wavering slightly.

“didn’t mean what?” you finally managed to get out, your voice quiet and almost trembling.

your emotions where all over the place ― pain, confusion, anger, hurt ― you couldn’t even tell what was what anymore. all you knew was that you wanted Percy to explain himself.

“I.. I―”

Percy’s expression was full of agony as he struggled to find the right words ― struggling to find any words at all. his guilt was almost palpable ― his eyes were glued on your face, as if you were the only thing anchoring him to reality.

he opened and closed his mouth a few times before words finally forced themselves from between his lips

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“then how did you mean it?” you shot back, your voice growing a bit more heated.

you stepped closer to him, forcing him to look at you ― to meet your gaze.

“how is it that Annabeth understands you better than I do?!”

Percy winced at the fire in your voice ― an almost visible wave of guilt washing over his face.

“she― she just understands―” he stuttered, struggling to find the words.

“she understands WHAT?!” you snapped ― the anger was getting the better of you, but you didn’t care.

you grabbed his chin and forced his head straight again, forcing him to look you in the eyes.

“come on ― spit it out, Percy!”

Percy winced as you grabbed his chin, his expression pained and guilty. he flinced almost physically ― not from your grip on his chin, but more from the anger in your voice. he swallowed again ― his eyes dropping down again.

“she understands the... the hero thing.” he muttered eventually, his voice quiet and almost ashamed.

your anger deflated a bit ― replaced by an overwhelming wave of confusion.

“the.. ‘hero thing’..?” you repeated, your grip on Percy’s chin loosening a bit.

Percy nodded ― he was biting his lower lip again, a nervous habit of his. he didn’t look at you, his gaze fixed on the floor.

“yeah, you know, the... the whole being-a-hero thing. the prophecy thing.” he murmured, still refusing to look you in the eyes.

you let go of his chin, your hand falling back down to your side. you took a step away, your eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“so...” you started, your tone guarded. “you’re saying Annabeth understands that whole being-a-hero thing better than I do... because she's a demigod as well?”

Percy’s shoulders slumped ― he still refused to look you in the eyes, nodding slightly in response. he was quiet for a moment ― then he let out a deep sigh, ran a hand through his hair, and muttered:

“it's just― it's easier talking to her about that stuff, you know? she knows what it's like because she lives it, too.”

his words ― as rational and understandable as they were ― still stung.

you took another step back, feeling a growing mixture of hurt and anger building in your chest ― though now, the anger was mostly aimed at yourself.

"so.. what," you asked in a hoarse voice. "so I just don't understand, huh?"

Percy’s head snapped up, his eyes finally finding yours. he looked at you ― and the expression on his face almost broke your heart. guilt, shame, pain, worry ― it was clear as day.

he took a step towards you ― his hand reaching out like he wanted to touch you.

“no,” he protested, his voice almost urgent. “no, that’s not what I meant! I―”

“then what DID you mean?!” you interjected, taking another step back ― though not fast enough to escape his reach.

his hand landed on your wrist, holding on to you lightly as if he was afraid you were about to disappear.

“I―I just―” he started again, struggling to find the right words. he took a step closer, still holding on to you.

“it’s just... sometimes it’s just easier to talk to her about the hero stuff.” he muttered, his eyes dropping down again. “because she understands what it’s like. I don’t have to explain anything to her because she knows.”

your heart ached from his words more than you wanted to admit. no matter how rational it was ― it stung knowing that he shared things with someone else that he didn’t with you. someone who apparently understood things better than you did.

you tried to pull away from his grip again, but his hold on your wrist tightened slightly.

Percy could sense your discomfort ― he could see the hurt in your eyes, but he couldn’t find the words to make it better. he knew he was only making things worse with every word he uttered, but he couldn’t stop himself.

he ran a hand frustratedly through his hair again, still refusing to look at you, as he muttered

“I didn’t― I didn’t mean to hurt you. it’s just― it’s complicated.”

“complicated?” you repeated, your voice growing more and more bitter.

“what’s so complicated about it, huh?!” you snapped ― pulling at your wrist and finally managing to escape his hold. “she understands it, I don’t ― so you just spend all your time with her?!”

Percy’s expression was pained as you finally pulled your wrist free ― he ran his hand over his eyes, trying to keep himself together.

"it's― it's not that simple, I―" he started ― then stopped, struggling to get the words out.

he opened and closed his mouth again, as if every time he was about to say something he thought better of it.

“not that simple, huh?!” you retorted, your voice bordering on hysterical. "then make it simple for me! because clearly, I'm just too dumb to understand, since I'm not Annabeth."

Percy flinced at your words ― a mix of pain and guilt washing over his face.

"that’s not what I said," he protested, taking a step closer. He looked like he wanted to reach out and grab your wrist again ― but the look in your eyes told him it was better not to.

"it's― it's not that you're dumb, I―" he started, struggling to find the right words again. he couldn’t meet your eyes.

"what, then?!" you pressed on, your voice rising. anger was taking over your pain and you didn't want to let him off the hook. "what do you mean with ‘it’s easier to talk to her’?"

Percy bit his lower lip again ― his expression was pure misery, but he still wouldn’t look at you.

"I― I just―" he began again, sighing deeply. he finally managed to meet your gaze ― and you could see the guilt and pain reflecting back at you.

"she gets what I mean, alright?" he said, his tone quiet. "she― she understands without me having to explain it to her. she just... she gets me."

your heart clenched in pain as you heard his words. it hurt ― hearing him say it out loud, hearing that there was someone who ‘got him’ better than you did.

"and I don't?" you shot back, your voice growing more and more bitter.

Percy winced again ― the guilt and pain in his face deepening. he ran his hand frustratedly over his face, looking like he wanted to punch himself.

"no― no you do, it’s just―" he started, hesitating for a moment. his eyes dropped down again, his shoulders slumping.

"it’s just― it’s different with her, alright?" he muttered, his voice barely audible.

"different how?!" you fired back ― your anger was turning to rage. you felt like you wanted to scream at the top of your lungs.

how could someone else understand him better??

"I don't know!" Percy exclaimed, his voice growing frustrated as well. he shook his head, running his hand through his hair again.

"I don't know, she― she’s just different, alright? it's― it's complicated!"

Percy looked more and more desperate on the inside ― as if he was fighting a war against himself.

you let out a frustrated noise ― all of your feelings starting to boil over.

you wanted to scream at him ― to yell until your throat hurt. you wanted to scream at him to explain himself properly, to put these confusing and conflicted feelings into words. it wasn’t enough to just say that it’s “complicated”. you wanted answers!

"complicated how?!" you demanded again, your voice growing even more heated.

you were fed up ― fed up of being left in the dark, of being left out of some ‘inner circle’ of understanding.

you were angry that he wasn’t being open with you ― and now he was telling you that someone else understood him better than you did.

Percy was growing increasingly agitated at your demanding tone, but he tried to keep his voice level.

"I already told you, I don’t know how!" he snapped back, frustration and desperation making his words come out harshly. "I don’t know how to explain it, alright?! things are just― they’re just easier with her, that’s all!"

"easier how?!” you snapped ― your voice rising even more.

"because she understands all these ‘hero things’?!” you put air quotes around the last two words, sarcasm dripping from your voice.

"yes!" he snapped back, his voice rising as well.

something seemed to finally have snapped ― all his guilt and shame getting replaced by anger and frustration.

"yes, because she understands things you don’t! she― she knows what it’s like, okay?!"

"so what, you just dump all your ‘hero problems’ on her and don’t bother telling me ‘because I wouldn’t understand, anyway’?!" you shot back.

"that’s not what I said, would you―" Percy interjected, frustratedly running a hand over his face again ― but you didn’t want to hear it.

"no, that’s exactly what you said!" you cut him off, your voice shaking with anger. "you said she understands, you said things are 'easier' with her!"

"well, they are!" Percy snapped back, his own volume increasing.

he was getting angry now ― the guilt finally turning entirely into irritation.

"she understands when I can’t explain things, she gets my jokes, she― she just... she gets me, okay?!”

you let out a strangled noise ― your anger was increasing with every word he uttered.

"so, what, I don’t get you, then?!" you fired back ― you couldn’t keep the desperation out of your voice. "I don’t get your stupid little jokes, I’ll never understand your ‘hero problems’?!"

"I didn’t say that!" Percy protested ― his own irritation rising to the surface.

he was starting to match your volume, his own voice growing more and more heated.

"but you don’t, okay?!" he yelled back. "you don’t understand these ‘stupid little jokes’ as well ― you don’t understand the ‘hero problems’ because you’re not a freaking demigod!"

you nearly flinched at his words ― the truth of them hitting you like a truck.

he was right, goddamn him. you weren’t a demigod, you didn’t have any of the same life experiences as him.

but still, hearing him say that hurt. it felt like a punch to the gut, as if he was rubbing it in that you would never truly understand what he was going through.

"I―" you started, your voice growing shaky again ― the anger was still there, but now it was mixed with pain and resignation.

you didn’t know what to say. he was right ― you would never understand. you could never truly relate to him in the same way that Annabeth could.

your shoulders slumped, the fight slowly leaving you.

and suddenly, all that was left were the feelings ― the hurt, the pain, the heartache.

the anger was gone ― replaced with raw, vulnerable emotions.

"hey…" he muttered ― his voice more gentle now as he slowly reached out for your hand. he took it carefully in his, as if he was afraid you’d jerk away.

his touch was soft ― gentle and delicate. he held your hand like it was made of glass, his thumb slowly tracing small circles in your palm.

you didn’t know when you’d started to cry ― all you knew was, that tears were streaming down your face, and they wouldn’t stop.

Percy’s expression softened even more as he saw your tears, guilt and pain creeping back on his face.

he carefully laced his fingers through yours, his grip growing a bit tighter, but still delicate.

"hey…" he muttered again ― his voice just above a whisper now. he gently pulled you closer, bringing you into his arms, your head ending up leaned against his chest.

his free hand wrapped around your body as he pulled you closer, rubbing small circles on your back.

you could feel the steady beat of his heart thumping against your cheek through his t-shirt ― fast, but steady.

"shh..." he whispered as you tried to stifle a sob, his fingers running through your hair.

"I’m sorry," he whispered, his voice rough. "I didn’t― I didn’t mean it like that, I―"

he sighed deeply ― the sound sending a shiver over your skin.

"I’m an idiot, okay?" he muttered, his voice just above a whisper. his fingers never stopped massaging the skin on your scalp.

you shook your head, your face still pressed against his chest. you didn’t trust yourself to speak ― your throat tight with swallowed sobs.

he let out another sigh ― a sigh filled with guilt and pain.

he gently pulled you a bit closer, his chin resting on the top of your head. his arms wrapped tighter around you ― as if he was trying to shield you from the world.

"I shouldn’t have yelled at you," he muttered ― his voice more of a whisper now. his hand wandered to the back of your head, his fingers continuing to massage your scalp. his other hand was still rubbing soothing circles on your back.

you could hear his heart still beating fast, but steady. he was calmer than he’d been before ― his rage gone, guilt and shame taking its place.

"I should’ve just― we should’ve just―" he muttered, his voice growing more frustrated. he was struggling ― trying to find the right words, any words. he was clearly fighting with his own thoughts, his own feelings.

he let the silence linger for a few seconds, his fingers still tracing slow, soothing circles on your back. he swallowed again ― hard and loud ― as he inhaled once more, as if trying to prepare himself for what he was going to say.

he took another deep breath ― his shaky exhale making his chest shudder. and then, he finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I’m scared."

you swallowed ― the words making your throat feel dry.

he was scared?

you could feel his fingers tighten their grips as he spoke, holding you even closer than before. his heart was going fast under your cheek ― faster than it usually did.

you lifted your head from his chest, looking up at his face. his expression was nearly pained ― guilt, shame, fear, and... something else you couldn’t quite identify.

his grip on you was tight ― his arms holding you against him like he was trying to fuse your bodies together.

his eyes looked a bit glossy ― as if there was something building up behind them, something he was desperately holding back.

he swallowed again ― his throat muscles flexing under your gaze.

"I’m scared," he repeated ― he voice rough and strangled.

he swallowed again ― his throat bobbing visibly as he fought the growing lump.

"I’m scared of losing this," he muttered, his voice strangled. "I’m scared of losing you."

you nearly flinched at his words ― the raw emotions behind them nearly knocking the air out of your lungs.

he was scared of losing you? after everything? after the stupid argument and the words that were said?

the guilt and shame were back on his face ― he looked as if he’d just ripped out a part of his heart.

his grip on you became tighter ― his fingertips pressed into your skin.

"I’m scared that― that you’ll realize that I’m not good enough," he muttered, his voice shaking as he swallowed dryly once more ― forcing the lump in his throat down. "that you’ll find someone better than me. someone who can... understand you―"

you barely stopped yourself from scoffing at hearing his words. like there was someone else ― someone better than him.

did he really think that? did he really think you could ever want anyone other than him?

you wanted to tell him how stupid he was being ― that he’d been an idiot for even thinking you would find someone else.

how was it that the greatest and bravest hero you knew of, was also the most clueless and self-deprecating man?

"You―" you started, your voice thick with tears. "you are the only one I want, okay? that’s all― you. no one else."

his eyes widened momentarily ― shock evident on his face.

he stared down at you for a moment, his expression surprised ― as if he had been expecting some other response.

but your words seemed to do something to him ― the pain on his face lessening ― the fear in his eyes fading, slowly changing to relief and... and hope?

he swallowed ― his throat clicking audibly.

he seemed to be at a loss for words ― his expression almost dumbfounded as he just stared at you, taking in your words.

then, his mouth opened as if he was about to say something ― but he didn’t get a chance to say anything, because you cut him off.

"I don’t care that you’re a demigod and I’m not," you whispered, your words thick with tears. "I don’t care that you have hero problems that I’ll never understand.

I don’t care that you’re stubborn, or that you can’t always say the right thing, or that you have an annoying habit of taking stupid risks. I don’t care about any of it, okay? I just... I just want you.”

he stared at you for a moment ― completely speechless.

his grip on you was still tight ― his fingers pressed into your skin, holding you like you were something precious.

he swallowed once more ― his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion.

"but― b―" he stuttered, but his voice broke before he could finish whatever he was about to say.

you could clearly see the conflict in his expression ― the pain of his past words still present, but now, there was also something more in his eyes as he looked at you.

his hand that was still gripping your back, moved to cup the side of your head ― his rough thumb stroking your cheek with a gentleness that made your heart flutter.

he licked his lips ― a nervous tic, you had noticed early on. he always did it when he was distracted, or nervous, or upset.

"I don’t― I don’t deserve you, you know that, right?" he asked ― his voice still hoarse.

"You’re―" you started, but you took a deep breath, trying to calm the rising anger ― trying to focus on the fact that he was hurting, that he was just as insecure about this as you were.

he needed to know how much he meant to you ― that he was more to you than some heroic boy. he needed to hear it.

you reached up, your hand grabbing his chin again, forcing him to look you in the eyes.

he obeyed without a word, his own gaze moving to yours, even though he clearly didn’t want to ― guilt still present in his expression.

"You’re an idiot," you said, your voice firm. "A complete and utter idiot who can’t see what’s right in front of him."

he winced a bit at your words, a flash of embarrassment crossing his face, but you ignored it, continuing.

you gripped his chin a bit tighter, your voice hardening.

“you think you’re the only one who’s scared? you think you’re the only one who feels like they’re not enough? think again, dumbass.”

he clearly had not expected the sudden anger in your voice ― his eyes widening briefly.

he swallowed once more ― a nervous tic you had noticed he’d recently developed.

he looked so vulnerable in front of you ― his features soft and open, none of his usual defenses present.

"I’m scared too, you know," you continued, your hand still gripping his chin. "everyday I wake up and I’m terrified that you won’t come back. everytime you go out, I wonder if this will be the time you don’t come back. every single time."

his expression darkened ― guilt and shame taking over his features once more.

he knew it was all true. he knew how much pain it caused you whenever he left.

his hand still cupped your face ― but neither of you made any move to close the distance between you.

"but you know what?" you asked, your words softer now.

his eyes flickered back to yours, a hint of hope returning to his expression.

"every single time, you come back to me. and I’m okay. because you’re a hero, and heroes don’t run. they don’t give up, and they don’t die."

"you’re always there," you continued — your voice quiet, almost whispering now. “you’re my hero, okay? you don’t get to decide how much I love you, or how much I need you. you don’t get to decide if you deserve me or not.”

his breath hitched in his throat ― his body tensing at your words, his expression pained.

he wanted to fight you on it. he wanted to argue and tell you he wasn’t good enough ― he wasn’t worthy.

"you are good enough," you said — your voice firm, leaving no room for argument.

"you’re more than enough. you’re amazing. you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. and you don’t get to decide something different. got that?"

he just stared at you ― his expression morphing into multiple different emotions as he tried to process your words.

he seemed torn ― a part of him still wanting to convince you that you deserved better, but the other part slowly losing that internal fight.

"I’m just... I’m just scared," he muttered, his expression weary, the dark circles under his eyes emphasizing the exhaustion you knew he felt.

his face was just a few inches from yours ― you could feel his breath against your lips.

you wanted to touch him ― to kiss him, and touch his face and his body. but you held back, knowing that he needed this ― this reassurance, this talk.

you knew Percy wasn’t good at expressing his feelings ― he was more of a man of actions, using physical gestures to show his care. but it wasn’t just you who needed to hear it, Percy also needed to express it. and this, this was the most he’d ever exposed himself to you.

he was a stubborn, sarcastic, hot-headed hero ― but he was also vulnerable and scared and insecure, and he was still just a 17-year-old boy. and you loved him ― you loved him so fiercely, so deeply and unapologetically.

you gripped one of his wrists in your hand, your fingers gently rubbing the soft skin there.

"we're going to figure it out together, okay?" you reassured him. "whatever happens ― we'll figure it out, together. and I'm not leaving you. ever."

he opened his eyes at hearing your words ― the familiar shade of sea green that always made you feel safe now looking back at you.

he exhaled another shaky breath, the corners of his lips twitching into a weak, tiny smile. it was an expression of comfort and security ― he believed you.

he leaned forward again ― pressing his face into the crook of your neck, his breath ghosting over your skin, making you shiver.

his body was pressed tight against you ― his arms embracing you, holding you tightly once more, as he inhaled your scent.

"I love you," he mumbled against your skin, his voice barely more than a whisper, but you heard him anyway, his words making your heart flutter.

“I love you too.”

[slut4megantheestallion]

LISTEN TO ME, I HAVE A REQUEST THAT HAS BEEN IN MY HEAD FOR A LONG TIME! Arcane women x reader who is part of the du Couteau and Medarda families. Personally, I would like it to be a Medarda by his mother and a du Couteau by his father. It's okay if you don't want to do it that way. As part of two very prestigious families, the reader has a mansion that is TOO gigantic and, of course, elegant. Basically, my request is this: the reader shows his partner his large mansion for the first time. PD 1: For obvious reasons, if the reader has Medarda blood, Mel cannot be introduced here, it would be incest, basically. PD 2: My instinct yells at me that, if you left her, Jinx would do graffiti with her symbol, or put something characteristic of her all over your house. And even sometimes writing: JINX WAZ HERE. Idk, it's just an idea I had.

Arcane Women x Du Conteau- Medarda! Reader- Showing them Your Gigantic Mansion

Warnings ⚠️: reader is rich, Jinx being Jinx, Reader is part of the Du Couteau and Medarda families, fluff.

Characters: Vi, Jinx, caitlyn, sevika.

Summary: The reader shows the arcane woman her mansion/home.

-Vi

●"Damn.. You livin' like this?" Vi is absolutely floored the moment she steps onto your estate. The sheer size, the towering gates, the intricate architecture - everything screams wealth and power. She whistles, stuffing her hands into her pockets as she glances around. "I knew you were loaded, but this is like the next level." She pretends to act casual, but deep down, she feels a little out of place.

●She grew up in the Undercity, in tiny apartments and makeshift homes - this? This is something out of a dream. She can't help but admire how effortlessly you walk through the halls like you own the world. At some point, she plops down on a ridiculously plush couch and just smirks at you. "I might never leave, y'know."

-Caitlyn

●"This is... exquisite." Unlike Vi, Caitlyn doest gawk - she's from a wealthy Piltover family herself, but even her estate doesn't compare to this level of grandeur. She admires the craftsmanship, refined decor, and the regal atmosphere that surrounds everything. "Your family truly spares no expense," she murmurs, trailing her fingers along the polished wood of the staircase railing.

●She asks about the history behind some of the paintings and antiques, genuinely fascinated by how your lineage connects to both Noxus and Piltover. She's the perfect guess - never touching anything without permission, always polite. That is until she sees Jinx's graffiti defiling one of the pristine walls. Her eye twitches. "She's been here? hasn't she?"

-Jinx

●"Hahaha! Look at all this fancy crap!" Jinx is way too entertained by your massive mansion. The moment she steps in, she's everywhere - running through the hallways, sliding down banisters, jumping on expensive furniture. "How the hell do you not get lost in this place?!" And, of course, she leaves her mark. She pulls out a can of spray paint and, without hesitation, starts tagging walls with neon blue graffiti. 'JINX WAZ HERE.' There's even a doodle of her face sticking its tongue out.

● No surface is safe. Chandeliers? She'll hang from them, Priceless statues? Might add a mustache. Your family's giant portrait? Yeah, she just drew a monocle and devil horns on your dad. You knew this would happen, but she's having way too much fun for you to stop her.

-Sevika

●"Tch. Fancy." Sevika is hard to impress, but even she raises an eyebrow as she steps inside your enormous mansion. She's used to the gritty, industrial atmosphere of Zau - dull metal, rusted pipes, dim lights. This? This is luxury on a whole different level. She takes a slow drag from her cigar, glancing around the towering ceilings and polished marble floors. "Damn. You weren't kidding when you said you had money."

●She strolls through the halls at a lazy pace, her heavy boots making a stark contrast against the pristine, polished floors. She's not the type to marvel at wealth, but she does appreciate good craftsmanship. Running a hand along the intricate banisters, she scoffs. "Bet this place could fit half of Zaun in it." There's a slight edge to her voice- part amusement, part resentment.

● She's seen too many people struggle while rich live like this, but... you? You're different. She can tolerate it because it's you. Eventually, she makes herself at home in the grand living room, sprawling across one of the ridiculously expensive couches like she owns the place. "You got any whisky in this oversized palace of yours?" And, of course, she notices Jinx's graffiti the moment she glances at the walls. Her eye twitches. "That little menace was here, wasn't she?" She exhales a slow breath, rubbing her temple. "I swear, I leave her alone for one damn second..." Sevika's tempted to go hunting jinx down for ruining the mansion's aesthetic, but part of her smirks. Figures.

●She leans back, exhaling smoke as she looks at you. "Guess you're stuck with me coming over more often. Someone's gotta make sure your mansion doesn't turn into Jinx's personal canvas."

[mttonex]

if you're still doing art requests could you draw tophabe as ponies..... pretty pls....I'm in love with the way u draw ponies your designs are so cute and make me want to create my own.....

THANK U!!! I'm so happy other people like my ponies as much as i do :3

also yes.. join me in clone pony hell.....

here are their full designs btw 😁😁😁

ok now explaining their cutie marks bc i felt smart for coming up with them:

Abe's is supposed to be a combination of a top hat and lighthouse. A top hat for what i hope are obvious reasons, and lighthouse because his house has lighthouse decor literally everywhere (he doesn't have any of the decor in his room though, so it might just be his foster parents who really like lighthouses but idc let me have this) I also thought just having a top hat as his cutie mark would be too boring so I wanted to add something extra to it lol. The hat kinda gets lost in the design tho and I don't really think people would see it if I didn't point it out but WHATEVERR (note from after I finished writing this: I just remembered Joan's...dream and Abe's lighthouse impression from the sleepover episode, that was NOT intentional 😭😭😭😭😭)

Topher's cutie mark is a horseshoe surrounding the earth, meant to look like a globe. The earth is pear-shaped because Topher has a globe in his room and it looks like that 😭 Also the horseshoe looks like the letter C.... like.... Christopher Columbus..... In this au or whatever I hc he got his cutie mark when he was younger, and when Christopher Columbus got "cancelled" he started covering it up, like how he changed his name (also this implies that all the clone parents are real and ponies in this universe which I think is really funny) Topher's fake cutie mark is a rainbow because of his whole woke ally thing he's got going on 💀 Also a fake cutie mark because he's fake woke...do u get me

um anyway sorry for rambling bye😁

[kalinara]

(X-Men #24)

So this was always a really interesting scene to me. It's the last X-Men during the Krakoa era before everything goes to Hell. And honestly, I like this much better than their disagreement about the Brood.

(Surprise, I like the disagreement where my favorite is at least partially right versus the one where he's blatantly wrong.)

Tangentially, I really like the mention that Scott was directly involved in the creation of the Treehouse. I've mentioned it before, but there's this kind of never-directly-addressed thread of Scott just like building bases out of things. The Treehouse, the Summer House on the Moon, Utopia out of Asteroid M, the hideout in Weapons X, the refurbished Sentinel Facility that they're using now, arguably even the spaceship that Jean mentions him giving her in Phoenix.

Maybe that's the career that Scott should be looking into outside of the X-Men: architect. Or Interior Designer. I bet he'd be great, as long as you don't mind that your porches and balconies are also the most efficient height to be used as security turrets.

But anyway, there's a lot to think about here.

a) I think it's fascinating to see how differently Scott and Jean see Arakko. For her, it's an achievement to be proud of. For him, it's a mistake and a weapon for their adversaries.

But it's particularly interesting that the creation of Arakko happened during the first Hellfire Gala. We're leading into the third. I don't think that the Galas are happening in real time, and certainly in a few years, the rolling timeline won't allow them to be. But it's fascinating that for however long the span between Galas was, this is the first time Scott has ever actually talked about it.

Scott hasn't hesitated to be critical of Krakoan policies in the past. But he's kept his mouth shut and just...never went there. And that's a little mind-boggling in its own right when you think about it.

Scott loves space. He built their home ON THE MOON. Mars has now become the nexus point for Earth's diplomatic contact with the rest of the universe. His son is there a LOT.

And we know how he feels whenever Jean does anything particularly goddess-y. So it's a really interesting character beat that Scott has never been there. Especially since Scott being there or not being there would have no effect on whether or not Arakko can be used against them. You'd think he'd rather set up some strategic advantages in case the worst happens.

But then, it's interesting to think about how, as Krakoa continues onward, and the issues become more and more obvious, Scott's detached from all of it. The X-Men are based in New York. Not an island somewhere. Well. I mean, New York IS an island. But you know what I mean.

And I'm reminded of Scott's letter in Fall of House of X, where he reinforces that he IS an American citizen as well as a mutant. And how when it comes time to start the X-Men again after the fall, he bases them in his birthplace.

(Well, some of the events were unprecedented. But they didn't need to resettle the Sentinel Factory. They could have gone literally anywhere else as long as Illyana's still willing to teleport them.)

Scott responds to Krakoa by becoming more entrenched with humanity and Earth, and that's interesting.

b) Jean's side is interesting too. Because on one hand, Jean's articulating the more compassionate and emotional side. Love will find a way.

But at the same time, Jean's the one reinforcing the idea that they're different from humanity. She's the one saying that they've tried pretending to be the same as "them" for their entire lives and gotten nowhere.

And it's particularly interesting that she's articulating this idea while dealing with her perpetual rejection of her Phoenix side (something we won't see resolved until Krakoa's fall.)

To Jean, Arakko is an achievement, and she's understandably hurt that her husband doesn't seem inclined to share in that. (And we know he's not the kind of man who refuses to share in his wife's accomplishments.) But it's interesting that we've never seen JEAN on Arakko either. I assume she's been there since the creation, or she wouldn't be calling him out for never seeing it. But it's not a place that she seems to vibe with.

Though who knows what would have happened when they retired from the X-Men... Maybe they'd have settled in Magneto's old digs.

It would have been really interesting to see Scott and Jean dealing with the particular culture of Arakko. Jean, at least, has the requisite power level to be taken seriously. But her mindset is very different. She'd be respectful of course, but there's no real way that she'd be comfortable there.

And then there's Cyclops. Because he's definitely not an omega mutant as Krakoa defines it - he's a very decorative gun, basically. And he's no more an Arakkan in ideology than Jean is. But, rather like Storm, he's got the ability to assert himself and a morality that's more conventional than the people around him and get results. Though maybe it'd be a challenge better suited to Utopia-era Scott than Krakoa-era.

Missed opportunities maybe.

c) I kind of love how this issue leaves it open what Scott will decide. Of course, the beginning of the Hellfire Gala issue shows us that they apparently continued their conversation and Scott has agreed with her to leave the X-Men. There's no suspense about that decision.

I wonder if it would have worked. I'm guessing not for long, for either of them.

[ajmakoko]

Because of a beef of 2 possible psyops happening on TikTok that blew up in the last day or so.

Where one creator was anti-Democrat and explaining why they voted 3rd party. Then was told that they hurt trans ppl if they didn't vote for Kamala because Trump will hurt transppl more including with medicaid cuts. The first creator said they didn't care because to them Kamala still supports genocide in Gaza so they couldn't vote for her but they understood why other trans ppl might due to their medical needs.

Then another creator (that truscum overwhelmingly supports) got mad about this and said that they weren't really trans, they look cis so they aren't affected by trans legislation, that ciswomen aren't harmed by anti-trans laws, that transitioning should be equated with medical transition partially for medical treatment reasons and partially for reasons relating to how society sees them. They also emphasized AGAB a lot, even though this info wasn't disclosed or particularly relevant (they assumed AGAB) and then went on a rant about specifically AFAB people who are nonbinary (some TERFy rhetoric tbh). When called out for this, they and their defenders say that the 2nd creator is a black transwoman, the most in danger of all trans ppl from Trump's policies, so no one is allowed to disagree with her. And to go back to the voting topic, ig they don't see the inherent fascism in demanding someone vote how you demand - that that takes away the point of a vote in the first place.

This has caused an explosion of transmedicalism debate. It's still ongoing. Unfortunately, the transmedicalism side has significantly more creators making videos and talking about it. Like really really unfortunately. And the takes are so bad - tbh I didn't expect the regression I'm seeing in education, civil rights, food safety, science, history, etc, to also affect trans education/discourse online but it really has.

For the record, I am genderfluid, do not support transmedicalism, understand gender affirming care can look like many things, hang with homeless trans ppl and trans ppl from many different backgrounds, voted for Kamala. I strongly believe in civil rights and making sure everyone gets the right to vote how they want. I think it was obvious Trump was and is horrifyingly bad. I have had a hard time being chill with people who didn't vote out of apathy (not protest) or who voted for Trump, but truly I tend to blame the Democrats for not earning those voters, and even if they had gotten everything 3rd party vote, they wouldn't have won most likely. Attacking 3rd parties does nothing politically for Dems.

The solution is not then to police votes, but to earn them. Like do your jobs, Dems.

But instead they policed the first creator's trans status and tried to argue with them via appeal to authority for some reason (arguably emotional abuse), and invalidating and gatekeeping them. Like with really transphobic stuff, too. Ig the 2nd creator is an established trans creator (I've never heard of her but I do more in the drag scenes than whatever this creator is involved in), and have been accused of transmedicalism in the past. This creator I guess also has a LONG history of saying TERFy, self hating trans things (according to critics, idk, its just what I read) and has been in controversies for years about hateful things she said about NonBinary folx (I have since learned).

And so maybe at least 1 creator is a psyop meant to make trans ppl want to die. I certainly felt extremely extremely shitty after reading that discourse, when previously I was happy with who I am and my gender as described (and I am doing better now that I've regulated some). Particularly upsetting was the alienating transmedicalism trying to gaslight me that, for instance, homeless trans people who cannot access doctors are somehow advantaged. Brandon Teena was somehow advantaged being AFAB when he was murdered, because he wasn't on hormones so technically he could have passed as a woman if he wanted to or needed to. Really seemed to help him a lot, all that privilege (/s). And if he were still alive, would he be forced to vote how random people tell him who claim they are more disadvantaged than him, even though there's no real way to compare? I mean, that he was murdered kinda shows he was less advantaged than the annoying content creators making money off our suffering demanding we vote in a particular way.

Fuck this timeline.

Why am I seeing a rise in transmedicalism and truscum bullshit? I thought we were past this.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Speedway Review

Originally planned to be a Sonny and Cher picture, the rights were sold by Columbia to MGM. It would subsequently be retooled into an Elvis movie. Given the decline in Elvis' box office success, MGM wanted to recapture the magic of Viva Las Vegas by utilizing the rising star in Nancy Sinatra. This was ironically her last film role as she would go on to focus on her music career. Naturally with movie plots being recycled where we have yet another movie involving Elvis as a racer vying for the affections of a younger woman, a burning question came up: Is Elvis still relevant?

Based on the critics reactions, the answer was no. A relatively generous critic who reacted to the movie as it came out, Kevin Thomas, stated that Nancy Sinatra's song was the high point of the movie with the film as a whole being too much of an imitation of Elvis' other movies. If even an Elvis friendly film critic is pointing out how stale and boring it is, that's a sign serious changes need to be made. But is the movie itself good despite being a copycat of Viva Las Vegas or is it a sign that Elvis and all creative minds involved stopped caring about the product they made? Let's find out.

I'm so used to having the title card with Elvis singing open up the movie, that it's very jarring to have action happen right away. For an opening that's meant to get you hooked for more, all we get is lackluster exposition regarding Steve preparing for a race. I understand that he's supposed to be a racer but why should I care about him winning this one race when we're just meeting him? "Speedway" plays over b-roll of the real life Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Too bad Elvis himself is rear screen projectioned in as all racing footage is b-roll. At least they showcase the real life top named stock car racers such as Richard Petty outside of the opening credits so racing fans have something to enjoy. Oh wait.

I do appreciate that there's a lot of secondary characters to fill in the scenery but too many of them with speaking roles are introduced at once. It'd be one thing if they existed to specifically set up the location, but Steve's pit crew is introduced all at once and will have absolutely no individual character traits. In a movie that's meant to be a comedy, the only thing that's mildly funny is how superstitious the racing world is. One guy kisses the lucky rabbit's foot in his car while another one ups him by taking out a whole rabbit. It's a quirky visual gag.

Steve of course wins and immediately any suspense I had is lost. There's no immediate answer to the question "so what" and it will never be answered. Nancy Sinatra plays Susan Jacks who works for the IRS to investigate Steve's income vs his deductions. The whole premise is weird and I won't bore you with my accounting and tax background on why. It all boils down to the movie's idea of what IRS collecting agents do and how inaccurate it is. I don't like poo pooing movies for not being 100% accurate because I get that to some degree you need artistic licensing. The problem is that nothing involving Susan's character and situation is entertaining to me.

I'm skipping through a lot but in all honesty it's nothing but padding. Steve handing out money for this down on his luck guy and his kids means nothing to me. It's a pitiful attempt to answer the "so what" question given that if things were that bad, these kids would not still be living with him. I don't find these kids charming and it's obvious they want to have a "cutesy" factor because it worked so well in previous movies. All I can think about is how if the dad was that down on his luck that him and his children are sleeping in his car, there would be a lot of law enforcement involved since you have at least one girl who's barely 3 years old. Steve being in the racing circuit means traveling across the country so I have no idea how he's able to keep up with financially supporting this family.

Imagine my surprise to find that at least a year has passed in this movie since it's covered by one montage of Steve winning races. This only makes the Susan issue worse since at some point you would think Steve would question why she's following him everywhere the past year. It also makes "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad" painful to watch because we waste so much time getting to the inevitable scene where Steve finds out how bad his tax situation is. It feels like a propaganda piece that comes off as insulting. We get it, paying your taxes is important. We don't need a song number about it and everyone's faces says it all: Kenny doesn't care about Steve's eventual problem, Steve looks like he's miserable as get out and Gale Gordon looking at both of them like "oh my god I have to deal with these people". I felt like Steve sitting in the office as Gale Gordon reads off all the hokey deductions Kenny tried to make. It's another example of how nothing this is. Does it suck that Steve now owes $145k in back taxes? Yes but it's not like he's being arrested for tax evasion. They just want their money and know him winning his races will accomplish that.

I'm about an hour into this and we're just now getting to the actual conflict if you can call it that. Steve looks annoyed but it's not as if he actually fires Kenny for preparing his returns incorrectly. I get that they want to poke fun of Elvis for the things he did in real life, but even Elvis cut people out of his life once he stopped liking them. For someone that's supposed to be a life long friend, Kenny has been nothing but a creep and just isn't funny at all for someone who's supposed to be the comedic sidekick. Like him making up this wild story about a zoo escape just to keep a woman from going home isn't funny. If anything I "laughed" more at the woman knocking him out with how justified her reaction was.

In a not at all shocking turn of events Susan falls for Steve which completely compromises her position with this case. The reason why I say that is because she's supposed to be a neutral party to this yet by falling in love with Steve, this would create a conflict of interest. It's amazing how the movie is progressive for having a woman work in a pretty powerful entity like the IRS, yet reduces her to the love interest. The funny thing is, the more sexist option of having Susan just be Gale Gordon's secretary actually makes more sense to the overall story. Either that or be even more progressive by having Susan just be Gale Gordon's character so the subsequent consequences actually feel earned. I get that in real life you would have an agent regularly check in, but from a narrative perspective, it's just repetitive since this is your main conflict. The result is that both Kenny and Steve badger Susan just so they can get back to financially supporting themselves. She has absolutely no say in this decision so it makes both of them unlikeable even though the movie wants you to think this is all Susan's fault.

It gets even worse when you have Steve barge into her hotel room to confront her. The writers clearly had no desire to write a good romance as we literally go from seeing Susan running for her life as Steve chases after her to them kissing. I'm sorry what? I can't even begin to describe how disjointed everything is where it's obvious nobody actually read the whole script to see if scenes actually flow together. Not to mention how Steve even doing this makes him look like a monster even in the context of this universe so you really wouldn't want to support this relationship. I get that this is meant to be his breaking point but again THIS IS NOT SUSAN'S FAULT. As I've already stated, the only person responsible for this entire situation is Kenny. So for him to put that on Susan not only makes him a bad person but it also makes the decision to have him fall in love with Susan just terrible writing. I'm beyond confused at how Elvis and Nancy Sinatra had a very good rapport behind the scenes only for none of that to come out on screen.

So Steve ends up in debt because Kenny has a gambling problem and not even that is enough to fire him. But it's ok as with the big race coming up, just doing well enough to win any cash prize will be enough to at least cover Kenny's gambling debt and buy back all the repossessed items. Seriously why bother even having stakes when your problems are pretty easy to resolve? There's being a slice of life movie and there's being painfully boring. Even when Steve randomly crashes despite being the only car on the track, the montage of everyone fixing the car feels flat. Because based on everything you've seen, of course the car's going to be fixed in time. The only so called humor is the dad being stuck in the back seat and having to be physically removed through the front side window as there are no back doors. He's just frozen in place because he was just going over 100 mph after waking up in the "backseat" which doesn't make sense either but moving on.

The final race is a snooze fest and at this point you forget that Paul was his rival. From a narrative perspective he's supposed to be another antagonist but he's not. Steve kept winning or at least placing in his races so there's no rivalry. They're not on equal ground based on what's shown in the movie. It's not even set up where they're rivals in universe but to the audience it's so one sided that Paul talking trash would be funny. There's just nothing to the point where Paul shouldn't even exist as a character. Even Clambake had a better set up than this as you at least had Scott interact with Jamison throughout the movie. With Jamison you at least understood that him being a creep towards Diane had a point. Kenny being a creep with women is practically played off as comedy when it's not funny. I know I'm going on a lot of tangents but it's because Speedway gives us nothing and there's only so much b-roll of actual racers you can watch before you just want the movie to end. After all everyone knows it's just going to end with Steve winning.

Actually it won't. Steve doesn't win the big race. Wow. This subversion of expectations would actually be a fun twist if it genuinely mattered. But it doesn't. Steve wins enough money to pay off Kenny's debt. Of course he still owes $137k in back taxes but forget all that let's go clubbing! I know they mention how he has a long way to go since no one actually expects you to pay off that kind of debt right away, but it's still the concept of it. You feel frustrated that the whole movie built up to this only for nothing to really happen. Clambake at least had an intrapersonal conflict where Scott's trying to see if he's liked for his personality as opposed to his nepotistic roots. Here I know nothing about Steve outside of him being a professional racer. Therefore I do not care about whether he wins or not. After all it's not like anything actually changed.

Sure Steve isn't in immediate debt anymore but that doesn't mean it won't happen again. Steve is treating the symptoms of poverty and debt before treating the actual cancer that is his manager Kenny. In other words, Steve winning this one race doesn't mean Kenny kicked his gambling habit. Steve winning this one race doesn't mean the father got a well paying job that allows him to provide for his children. Nothing that caused Steve to actually be in this position was changed. All he did was win enough money to no longer deal with the immediate negative consequences. Why should I be happy knowing this could all happen again if Kenny makes one bad bet? But who cares when at the end of the day none of what just happened actually matters am I right?

I have no idea why the choices that were made were made since you have Nancy Sinatra being Nancy Sinatra when she's supposed to be an otherwise ordinary woman who works with the IRS. Even if you don't know who she is, the movie itself is just awful with many scenes only existing for padding and a painfully boring story. I'm amazed that watching this movie made me realize I was actually quite harsh on Harum Scarum. Is it nonsensical and very cringe inducing? Yes. Is it a rehash of something Elvis had already previously done and is boring as sin? Absolutely not. Speedway manages to be all of the above. I had very little joy watching it. There's so little plot that you can easily turn this into a short film. The songs add nothing and if anything demonstrates that duplicating successful Elvis movies means nothing if you don't understand why they were successful in the first place.

When combined with a terrible romance and a horrible use of characters this is the worse Elvis movie I've seen so far. If you're a fan of any of the demographics this movie is trying to target do not watch it. Elvis looks like he's permanently trapped at the IRS office with how irritated he looks most of the movie, Nancy Sinatra has absolutely no charm with how boring her character is, and racing fans would feel totally ripped off to see big name racers like Richard Petty get his own name card in the opening credits only for that to be his only appearance. This is a 3/10 simply because I don't know how bad a movie needs to be to genuinely deserve a lower score. It's so beyond shocking how we go from King Creole to this in the span of a decade. The movie being a box office success is the best example of how just because something is popular doesn't mean it's good. And this movie quite frankly is not good at all and is only another brick in the proverbial wall that is Elvis' Hollywood career.

An: Man. I don't like skipping over songs or a lot of scenes in the movie, but I just couldn't find it in me to go through it all in full detail without copying and pasting my live reaction blurbs during a watch party. What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day. I thought this movie was going to be mid at worst but I was shocked at how bad this was. I wish I had a better movie that showcased a strong romance but oh well. Better luck next time I guess. Let's hope March gives me a "pot of gold".

Tagging: @codalysssssworld, @presleysweetheart, @smokeymountainboy, @arrolyn1114, @peaceloveelvis,

@mercsandmonsters, @eapep, @atleastpleasetelephone, @without-him, @lucy114505,

@blighted-star, @rjmartin11, @elvisbdoll, @dragonkingsdaughter, @ifyouloveweedletsgosmoke,

@ilovequeen978, @fuzzymusic94, @halieghhh, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis,

@lola-1013, @father-of-2cats, @southcarolinawoman, @elvisflowerchild, @elviscinema,

@i-r-i-n-a-a, @jadeeloveselviss, @xanatenshi, @thelonelyheart, @vintagepresley,

@iloveelvis2, @elvisfangirl92, @angelelvis, @chihirolunvh, @epcoffeelovenotes,

@jd5824, @ahundredlifetime, @alienelvisobsession, @eptodaytommorowforever, @freudianslumber,

@wanderingelvis, @lustnhim, @lvrdollep, @georgefairbrother, @bioshockpunch,

and @joecartwright1842.

[ebongawk]

kiss 17 and or 18 for hellcheer

18. A kiss while laughing

🖤🖤 .

"Did you end up canceling your reservation then, Nance?"

"No," Nancy groaned before sucking up the last few dredges of her drink. She rolled her neck back, covering her face with both hands. "I've had these reservations for three months, and I was praying Jonathan would be better in time. Instead, he's hacking up new ecosystems into our entire life savings' worth of Kleenex."

"Bummer," Robin sighed, stirring her own drink absent-mindedly. "Vickie and I are having a cozy night in that she's really looking forward to."

"I'd take that over spraying Jonathan with Lysol every three minutes," Nancy grumbled.

"He's probably overreacting anyway," Barb interjected with a loose wave of her hand. "Men always think a little baby cold is the coming of Death."

Heather, Robin, and Chrissy all nodded in agreement.

"Jason was like that," Chrissy lamented, rolling her eyes. "I swear, he'd gripe and moan like his organs were failing."

"Was Jason your last Valentine, Chrissy?" Heather asked, pulling the attention of the entire table. Chrissy looked at each of them individually, sinking into her chair a little. Four pairs of scrutinizing eyes sized her up like hungry predators.

"I-I mean," she said, her voice small. "I've–– I've dated other guys, obviously, but––"

"None for long enough to have a Valentine," Heather finished.

"Have you ever had a Valentine?" Chrissy shot back, trying to yank the blanket of attention off her head.

"Nah." Heather flapped her wrist as she pulled from her straw. "But I don't want one, babe. I'm the free spirit. Every girl group has one."

"What does that make me?" Robin asked curiously.

"The comedic relief," Heather said with a shrug. Robin nodded appreciatively. Pointing toward Nancy, she continued, "The brains-slash-getaway driver." With Barb, "The sensible one." And, back to Chrissy, "The romantic."

Murmurs of agreement made Chrissy bristle.

"I am not the romantic," she argued, immediately regretting her decision when everyone's attention fell once again to her. "I–– I've basically been single for, like, four years now! How does that make me the romantic?"

"Because you believe in true love," Heather sighed dreamily. "C'mon, Chrissy, you can't lie and say you aren't holding out for that spark."

Blinking, Chrissy shrank even further into her chair. Staring at her own colorful drink and ruminating. Because Heather was right, and that was mildly infuriating. Chrissy was perpetually single, though not because guys hadn't expressed an interest.

It was because that instant jolt of connection hadn't run through her. Because the Hollywood drama of love-at-first-sight hadn't hit her, a strike of pink lightning igniting her inside and out. She'd settled for adequacy for years with Jason, and once the shiny newness of first puppy love had rubbed off, Chrissy was left trapped in a relationship of cooling embers and strange, unnamable guilt.

It took her a lot longer than she cared to admit to finally leave him.

"Y'know, I've got this friend," Robin started, glancing from Chrissy to Nancy. "I mean, he's a bit of a weirdo, but pretty much exactly what I picture for you. A romantic at heart. Single."

"And I do still have those reservations..." Nancy hedged, connecting the obvious dots Robin was spooning out.

"No," Chrissy stated, slashing her arms through the air in an X. "Absolutely not. I am not letting you guys set me up on a blind date on Valentine's Day."

The other four girls at the table all smiled, broad and a little maniacal.

🖤🖤🖤 .

Against her will, and with Nancy's extremely persuasive bullying nipping at her heels, Chrissy found herself rushing through her makeup routine the following evening. Nuggets, she was already running late, jumping into her heels and wrenching the front door of her apartment open just as the phone rang.

"Let the machine get it," she mumbled to herself, slamming her door shut and locking it. "Not a big deal. Not important. Nancy would kill me if me and this guy were both late and they gave away the table."

Not that she expected him to be late. But, in her experience, guys were always late to things like this. If they bothered showing up at all.

Her watch indicated that it was eight minutes past when Chrissy finally burst through the main door of the little French bistro Nancy had given her the address to. The Maitre'd was nowhere to be found, probably helping another couple among the sea of couples, and Chrissy took a cursory glance around the restaurant.

In all her detailing, Robin hadn't given Chrissy much of a descriptor.

"He's, I dunno, handsome, I guess? For a guy?" Robin had shrugged. "Brown eyes, I think? Shaggy brown hair? Probably in jeans?"

There.

In the middle of the restaurant, a guy sat alone at a table for two. Eyes obstructed by messy bangs, he thumbed absently at the petals of a bouquet. Shaggy hair (maybe a little longer than shaggy, actually) – check. Jeans – check, though he had a nice black button-up tucked into them. He looked a little bit more like a rocker than Chrissy was expecting, but it wasn't as though Robin described anything about his aesthetic. Just that she thought they'd look good together.

Chrissy didn't question why. Maybe she should have?

Taking in a deep, slow breath, Chrissy waded her way through the tables before she could lose her nerve. Swallowing something thick and anxious in her throat.

"Hi," she said, breathless despite centering herself. The guy glanced up, eyes widening in shock. "I am so, so sorry I'm late. Initially, it was my own fault, and then it was the bus's fault, and normally I'm early, I swear, but everything just fell apart today."

The guy blinked, lips parted, as he took her in. Eyes raking over the curl of her hair, the fit of her dress. Staring in obvious wonderment, making Chrissy suddenly feel entirely self-conscious.

"Shit," the guy breathed, bringing his gaze back up to her face. "You're gorgeous."

"Oh, um. Thank–– Thank you––"

Oh, God. Oh God, she couldn't remember his name.

"Aw, fuck, sorry, sorry," he said, jumping to his feet. Holding out the bouquet, he said, "These, uh, are for you."

Carefully taking the flowers, Chrissy blinked in surprise. She sort of expected roses, because that was the norm. Instead, in her hands was a beautiful bouquet of red carnations.

"Thank you," she said again, much more softly as the man once more jumped into action, helping her out of her coat and pulling her chair out for her. "Did, um. Did Robin tell you my favorite flower?"

Her question was soft enough that he didn't seem to hear her as he took his own seat again. Tucking a finger into the collar of his shirt, he stretched it a little against his neck as he cleared his throat.

"Sorry," he said. "Sorry, uh, just–– You're not exactly what I imagined when you got described to me."

Chrissy smiled a little, pursing her lips. He still had that awestruck look in his eye, so the small part of her that thought she should be offended was easily wiped away.

"Did I live up to your expectations?"

"Exceeded them," he admitted easily. Making a sound like a bomb exploding, he wiggled his fingers in an arc to emphasize his shattered expectations. "Entirely. Which, I know, I know, makes me sound like a total asshole. Just–– Fuck, this is gonna sound so much worse than I mean it, but, uh, you aren't exactly the type of girl people think to try and set me up with."

In spite of herself, Chrissy giggled. And the guy's eyes brightened, lips parting around a broad, beautiful grin.

Oh, he had dimples. This was dangerous.

"I understand," she admitted. "Honestly, I was expecting you to be different, too."

"By that, I'm sure you mean you're floored by my dashing good looks," the guy said, tucking his fist under his chin and batting his lashes at her. Chrissy laughed again, hiding the sound behind her carnations, as the waiter approached.

"Lovely of you to actually join us this evening," he said with a halting smile. Chrissy tucked her lip between her teeth, chastised, though that certainly wasn't how the waiter meant it. She was barely late. "May I get you started with something to drink?"

The waiter left after taking their drink orders, promising to return with the first course of their meal.

"Can I admit something without judgement?" Chrissy asked.

"This is a judgement-free zone," the guy promised, gesturing to himself. "Obviously."

"I, um. I'm so sorry, but I completely forgot your name."

He laughed. This big, broad sound that filled the candlelight between them, spilling joy across the fancy linen tablecloth with sound that Chrissy couldn't help but mirror.

"Eddie," he said, reaching across the table with an outstretched hand. For some reason, that didn't sound exactly right. Too simple of a name for such an interesting man, maybe.

"Eddie," she repeated, letting his name sit on her tongue for a long second as she reached out and put her hand in his. Something electric rushed up her arm, and Chrissy gasped a little as she looked at their clasped hands.

A moment, a breath, and she finally found the wherewithal to say, "I'm Chrissy. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Eddie gave her a curious look, head tilted to one side as though letting her name roll through his skull, but his eyes kept gliding back to their clasped hands.

Did he feel it, too?

"Trust me when I say," he began, "that the pleasure is all mine, Chrissy."

Conversation flowed like water between them. Picking up little snapshots of their lives like flower petals and rushing them downstream. Each one a little piece of the bouquet she had sitting on the table between them, smiling its gorgeous, red-toothed smile with every new modicum of information.

She found out that he was a writer, and that he was in a band, which made sense. Robin was always finding the artsy types to pull into her circle. He grew up in a small town, just as she had, and they bonded over the absolute shock of discovering how much bigger the world was when they finally left home for good.

In turn, she told him about the studio she was hoping to open someday.

"Music or art?" he asked.

"Yoga," she admitted, and Eddie laughed again.

"Do guys ever take yoga classes?"

"Sometimes."

"And, uh, do the pretty instructors ever give discounts to, y'know, guys they went on a really fantastic first date with?"

Pretending to think it over, Chrissy tapped her bottom lip with her finger. Searching the ceiling for the answer she already had waiting on the tip of her tongue.

"Not normally first dates," she said with a shrug. "But, you know, fantastic fourth, fifth, and sixth dates? Then we might be able to work out a deal."

Eddie's responding grin was so bright, it lit up the entire restaurant.

The food was probably really good, everything a preset menu that the couples around them seemed to genuinely enjoy.

Chrissy didn't taste a morsel of it. Far too wrapped up in the existence of Eddie, she ate blindly and quickly, ready for the conversation to continue before she finished whatever part of the meal was in front of her.

"You took the bus here, yeah?" he asked after paying for their meal. Chrissy nodded, and Eddie helped her into her coat. "Can I drive you home? And I swear, I have no ulterior motive except to, y'know, spend more time with you."

Grinning, Chrissy popped up onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his jaw. Watching in fascination the way color suddenly pooled in his cheeks, staring down at her with that same unmitigated awe.

"I'd like that," she agreed.

Though Eddie turned the radio off completely when they got in the car, the drive was never silent. The brook of their conversation widening into a creek, then a stream, flowing faster and easier and pooling more and more petals of conversation in the basin.

She directed him to her apartment, and Eddie turned off the car entirely to walk her to her door.

"This was really great," he admitted. "I, uh. I'm really glad I took the chance, Chrissy. You're kinda amazing, you know?"

Chrissy grinned, tongue caught between her teeth as she shrugged. Feigning nonchalance.

"You're pretty fantastic yourself, Eddie," she said.

"Thanks," he chuckled, hazarding a step closer to her. "And, uh. Is it–– Is it cool if I, like, call you in the morning? Maybe we can get breakfast."

Still smiling, Chrissy took her own step closer. Having to crane her neck back to keep looking at him.

"That would be perfect."

"Nowhere near that fancy, though," he pleaded. "Like, I'm a fan of being pampered as much as the next guy, but those wine prices? Yeesh."

"Maybe we just don't get wine with breakfast, then."

"I like the way you think, sweetness," he murmured, still grinning. Chrissy, too, couldn't stop smiling, even as she leaned in. Their teeth clacked, a laugh escaping them both at the awkward angle, before Eddie's hands came up to cup her jaw and guide her into a proper kiss.

Incredible.

Sparks ignited up the entire length of her spine. Sitting, warm and bright and real, in the base of her skull as Eddie kissed her softly. Meaningfully. Pulling her close when her arms wrapped around his shoulders and holding her tight.

Holding her like maybe he didn't want the night to end.

And maybe she didn't, either.

"You know," she said, brushing her fingertips against his jaw, "you could always come upstairs. I have wine. And eggs. For breakfast."

"Yeah?" he breathed, tucking a strand of her hair back behind one ear. "You have enough breakfast for two, you think?"

"Definitely."

Chrissy's machine was blinking red when they found their way through her front door, but that was at the bottom of her list of cares as she led Eddie back to her bedroom. Bypassing the wine entirely.

Not that either of them seemed to notice.

The next morning, after waking up with Eddie in her arms, then spending an entire morning rolling around in bed, Chrissy finally donned a robe and made her way into the kitchen to pull breakfast provisions from her fridge as Eddie found his way into the bathroom. Pressing the little red button of her machine out of habit.

"Chrissy!" Robin shouted through the speaker of her phone. "Oh, my God, I hope you haven't left yet. But you probably have, because you're notoriously early. Ugh! Okay, okay, whatever, you'll listen to this when you get back, but please, please don't be mad at Steve. He didn't stand you up, I swear. He came down with whatever baby cold ailment Jonathan has, so he's, like, having a full-on crisis. The world is ending and whatnot. I'm sacrificing my own evening with my girlfriend to take care of this full-grown man, but he definitely wants to reschedule! Just, um, call me, or whatever, when you get home. Sorry. Sorry! He sucks!"

The message ended. Chrissy stared at her machine, confused, just as Eddie emerged from the bathroom.

"What have you got?" Eddie asked, grabbing her hip and smacking a wet kiss to her cheek. "Not to, uh, toot my own horn, but I am the fucking greatest at making a mediocre omelet."

Waggling his eyebrows for effect made Chrissy giggle, rolling her eyes, before she remembered Robin's message again.

"Hey, Eddie?"

"Hmm?" He'd slunk out of the kitchen, making his way over to her tape collection and digging through the music.

"Who set you up last night?"

"Uhh?" He popped a tape into the player, shimmying his hips a little as the music started. "Billy did. Of course. Which, honestly, I'm surprised he wasn't just being an ass. That'd be exactly the kind of bullshit he'd pull to make me make a fool of myself. He did tell me your name was Kristen, though." Rolling his eyes, Eddie took her hand in his and spun her across the kitchen floor. Pulling her back against his chest with a sultry grin as they began dancing off-tempo to her Fleetwood Mac tape. "Whatever. He's an ass, and you turned out to be fucking perfect. I'll have to thank him." Snorting, Eddie shook his head. "Never thought I'd say that out loud."

"How late was I?" she asked. "Last night."

He blinked down at her, eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Did he give you the wrong time or something?" Eddie asked. "He told me to be there at six-thirty."

Chrissy looked over at the carnations on her counter. They were so beautiful. Her favorite flower. She'd just barely managed to get them into a vase last night before she was practically attacking Eddie to get his shirt off.

He was still gorgeously, beautifully shirtless, in fact. She let her fingertips trail against his sternum, swallowing heavily.

"Eddie," she breathed, a tiny bit of anxiety taking root in her lungs. Those carnations weren't for her. "I don't know anyone named Billy."

Eddie pulled their impromptu dancing to a sudden stop.

"What?"

"I was supposed to be meeting up last night with a guy named Steve, I guess," she said, nodding toward her answering machine. "My friend Robin set up my date for seven, but Steve got sick and didn't show. She called me as I was on my way out. I, um. I think maybe we highjacked each other after we both got stood up."

For a long, long moment, there was only the sounds of Stevie Nicks's vocals in her apartment.

Then, all at once, Eddie was throwing his head back and cackling.

"Wait," he said, pulling back far enough that he could look down at her. "Wait, wait, wait, baby, please, please tell me you're joking."

"I-I'm not," she stuttered, looking down at Eddie's bare feet. "I'm–– Nuggets, Eddie, I'm so sorry. That... I really thought––"

"Whoa, hey, babycakes, are you–– Wait, do you think I'm upset?" Putting his hands on her shoulders, Eddie swooped down to catch her eye. She looked at him, something wrapping around the anxiety in her throat. The utter happiness in his eyes had it slowly bleeding away. Dripping down her esophagus and choking whatever response she attempted. "Chrissy. C'mon. How fucking funny is that? We both managed to end up at the same place, at the same time, and neither of our dates show? But we don't even notice because we're having too much goddamn fun? That's incredible, if you ask me."

"Yeah?"

He leaned down, kissing her senseless all over again.

"Yeah," he chuckled, spinning her across the kitchen again. "Sounds an awful lot like fate, if you ask me."

kiss roulette!

[mnnuni]

Valentine's day

James Potter x Reader

Summary: James discovers Saint Valentine's day and does the most James things about it

Genre: fluff

Words: 1530

Warnings: nothing, lots of smiles

Author's note: I know I'm late for saint Valentine's -sorry- and maybe this is ugly, but whatever at this point

*gif and pics from Pinterest

*dividers of @saradika-graphics

"Okay" he took a breath in "now explain it another time"

This time Remus actually rolled his eyes and almost scoffed now : it was the fourth time that day already that he spelled out the story behind the celebration of Saint Valentine's day.

"Don't do this to me Moony, I want to make her something special" James was practically whining now, he was almost desperate -all for nothing, obviously-

Remus smiled sympathetically and put a hand on his shoulder "don't worry about the history and the meaning mate, just know that we use this day to celebrate the lovers", his face of almost-terror didn't change so Sirius -finally- jumped in the conversation "Just do what you're good at : be a loverboy"; they managed to share a laugh but James's head was running all around.

(Y/n) didn't say anything about Valentine's day to James, she knew that as a half-blood she had different traditions than the pureblood magic families and besides they weren't officially together, they were "just seeing eachother".

For everyone around them they could already have a child for all they'd known, not that they were so public about their relationship but their sentiments were so pure and visible that it was obvious even to the ghosts of the castle.

Nevertheless (Y/n) dreaded to spend the day with him : on Fridays they both had half the day free, so they always tried to spent most of it together.

Today (Y/n) hoped it was nothing different.

She was wrong.

The strange things started at breakfast when James didn't come down from Gryffindor tower, "he had to ask something about his paper to Minnie" said Peter when she asked why he wasn't there. "I'll see him in history of magic then", Lily who had the class with them instantly lowered her head to her plate and didn't say anything.

But that didn't mean anything, right?

(Y/n)'s suspicious were proven right when James didn't show up in history of magic and Lily refused to even approach the subject. The situation only got worse when James wasn't even at lunch; had something happen to him? She got so up in her head that she ran to check the infirmary ten minutes into the lunch. Madame Pomfrey tough told her he wasn't there.

(Y/n) was rather disappointed that James was apparently ignoring her, almost angry with him when she reached her dorm room. She threw herself on her bed and screamed in her pillow all the bad words she'd tell James if she had him in front of her. It took her too much time to realise that on her bedside table there was a red tulip and a note.

19;30

Whomping Willow

It's a date.

She tried to resist it, but a smile instantly crept up her face. It was automatic when James Potter was involved.

(Y/n) got up and started to prepare for this unexpected date. She really really tried to not overdo herself, because James truly got on her nerves today but it was so natural for her to commit with the best version of herself for James; he was a too caring boy to not influence the people around him to want to be good for him.

During her walk to the Whomping Willow she repeated in her head that he wanted to see her and surely had an explanation for his absence.

The moment (Y/n) saw him tough, she forgot everything and got distracted by the sparkle of his eyes. Her brain disconnected from her mouth and she was only able to yell "where the hell were you today?"

Sure was that James was startled by her reaction, "everything will be cleared up, sweetheart" he extended his hand to her "now, would you please follow me?"

Of course she would.

They didn't walk for long, and while they did James tried to distract her by describing to her every kind of tree they passed. When they arrived at a signed-with-an-x oak James made her stop and close her eyes.

"Why do I have to?"

"Because I'm asking you"

She scoffed but did it anyway.

James guided her another three or four steps ahead when he made her stop again and open her eyes.

(Y/n) was speechless.

Between two large trees there was a big mattress and an exaggerated amount of colorful pillows and blankets. The trees curved in a way to form an arch, as to protect the little space James created. All around that gash of forest they were surrounded by fairies and glow bugs. Above the mattress James managed to enchant a series of flowing notes to have music.

Everything was so romantic.

When (Y/n) turned to look at him James produced a basket from behind a bush and whispered "happy valentine's day".

"How do you know?"

He shrugged his shoulders and half grinned "i have my ways"

Remus, of course.

He invited her to have a seat on their make shift bed and she obliged, still smiling and looking all around.

"I made you a dinner-breakfast" he declared when he opened the basket and a delicious smell came from it. James put out warm pancakes with cream and lots of chocolate chips biscuits, he also had a big flagon of their favourite tea. (Y/n) watched him carefully position everything out for them and couldn't help but smile; she spent all day worrying and getting angry by his absence while he was preparing all this, just for her.

"Thank you" she suddenly said, and James was surprised about it -not because (Y/n) wasn't a grateful person but because he didn't do it to be praised about it, just because he wanted to make her happy-

(Y/n) reached for his hand and squeezed it, "you really didn't have to do this, but I love it"

James smiled one of his purest and warmest smiles. The one he reserved for the people he truly loved and he loved (Y/n) so much.

They ate almost everything, (Y/n) recalled her day to James and he talked to her about how he did everything he did to organise this beautiful set up.

"Sirius helped with the music and Peter with the cooking, you already gathered that Remus is the one to thank for all the Saint Valentine's day knowledge I have now; Lily hated lying to you, because we all know how she is when she lies but-"

James didn't realise it while he rambled but (Y/n) got every second that passed closer to him, to the point that she was brushing his nose with hers.

"James" she whispered to warn him of her presence and then she moved and kissed him.

He was the one stunned now.

He didn't know why, but he really wasn't expecting this.

Her lips were warm and her movements tentative, until James's brain started to function again and he kissed her back. He took her face in his hands and moved her closer, (Y/n) was smiling. When she pulled back she remained her forehead against his, she wanted to feel him all. After a moment or so of the two of them breathing in each other James asked a mere perceivable "why?", (Y/n) opened her eyes and looked him straight in his while finally confessing "I liked this very much, and I like you even more James Potter"

James was grinning so wide he made his dimple pop.

"Good" he decided and proceeded to make (Y/n) lay on her back on the mattress and kiss her until any of them two was at loss of oxygen.

It took him lots of kisses and pulled lips to finally realise, "oh my god, that was our first kiss".

His face was priceless.

(Y/n) chuckled, "yes James", she was playing with some strands of his hair and was looking at him with a kind of sweetness in her eyes James wasn't aware he was ready to see.

He straightened himself a little and tried not to make a face too worried, while he searched for the courage to talk again he started fidgeting with (Y/n)'s fingers. He opened his mouth once or twice, then finally "so what does that mean?"

Oh, James

"Well..." (Y/n) used her fingers to move his face towards her by the chin and smiled, "what do you want it to mean?"

He said the next words with a needing in his tone so touching that even the fairies around them would have reacted, "I really want to be with you"

(Y/n) couldn't understand the fear in his eyes, of course she wanted to be with him too. She just repeated him, "Good." and smiled wider than before.

James exhaled a breath he then called unnecessary and leaned in to kiss her again.

They fell asleep in the forest, tangled in their hugs.

The next day when they missed breakfast and returned to the common room laughing and touching each other every two steps, everyone of their friends had the same thought: "Finally".

Lily jumped to her feet to slap James on the back of his head, "that's for making me lie to her", everyone chuckled, even James, "well... it was worth it in the end".

[dufferpuffer]

What makes you say that Remus gets facts wrong or has put the class behind schedule? JKR describes him in an interview as a wonderful teacher (if you take much stock in her opinion), and the criticisms Snape has of him in the substitute teacher episode are just not well supported. For one thing, it's Snape who falsely tells a student that Kappas are from Mongolia. When he criticizes the progress of Harry's class, he a) doesn't give any consideration for the useless professors they'd previously had, and b) is already well known for setting unreasonable expectations. The students think Remus is great because he gives engaging lessons, not necessarily because he is objectively the best, but if Hermione never criticizes the pace of the class, then he's probably doing fine there as well. As far as disorganization, I can believe that Remus didn't leave good notes for Snape. However, Snape admits this isn’t actually a hindrance--he's just finding something to complain about to help cure the class of their love for Professor Lupin.

Snape's behavior in the chapter is a good example of why Snape's obvious contempt discourages other characters from engaging with him in good faith. Also, it's totally consistent with his character to take an opportunity to leverage the little power he has in response to Dumbledore putting someone he considers dangerous in a teacher's position. Personally I think JKR's accomplishment here is that Snape's hatred of Remus bounces between reasonable and unreasonable as we continue gathering information about Snape vs. the Marauders. Actually it's just fun in general to reread the series and see where Snape was right and where he was wrong.

What makes me say Remus gets facts wrong or put the class behind schedule... It is Snape's observation, mainly - I trust what he has to say - supported by what we see in Remus' classes.

Severus has been a teacher for 13 years and produces students with high level marks. He is a good teacher, just one not every student meshes with - and he doesn't adjust to suit stragglers. It's probably his biggest weakness as a teacher, other than being an asshole.

His critiques of Remus' class are:

'As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far-' 'Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas and Grindy-lows,' said Hermione quickly, 'and we're just about to start -' 'Be quiet,' said Snape coldly. 'I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organisation.'

Lupin has left no notes for Snape despite knowing the schedule of every full moon for the year. He didn't tell Severus what they were up to or what activity he wanted the class to do - he hasn't even kept a record of what they have already completed up until this point.

That's disorganization. That's not knowing where they will get up to next week or the week after, despite having a schedule. Hermione is keeping better track of the class than Lupin is.

Could Snape be lying to the students about his disorganisation? That would be out of character, especially since the students don't give a shit about such a thing. That detail irks Severus, not the kids. He's just havin' a bit of a whinge.

If Remus had written a note he could have torn it up, complained that they are behind and set Werewolves as their task. No reason to lie.

'You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly over-taxing you - I would expect first-years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. Today we shall discuss -'

Could Snape be being hyperbolic here? Yes. I expect him to be. Is Snape a hardass that wants a lot from his students? Yep. Does Snape want to make what Remus teaches them to seem babyish, and his lesson more grown-up and important? Absolutely. Does that mean he is lying? No.

I don't think he is the sort to be too hyperbolic. He wouldn't be out here saying 'I expect a first-year to be able to brew a Draught of Living Death' or something. He never expects the impossible. Whether Red Caps and Grindylows are first, second or third year topics - I believe him when he says they are below their level.

'Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognise a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are…'

...This is harder to tell how serious it is. I don't think they would have been at Werewolves yet. Severus is teaching it out of necessity - would Remus ever do it...? Risk outing himself with his own two hands? I doubt it. Severus is also eager to teach it ASAP because he suspects Remus is a dangerous man working with a serial killer.

So does he seriously think that midway through the year a third year class should know how to identify a werewolf - or does he just want to tell Dumbledore he thinks Remus is avoiding it when he should be focusing on it for the students own wellbeing…? Could go either way tbh. Or both. (Hermione knew the answer but I don't really count that as proof lol)

[…]Snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with Professor Lupin. 'Very poorly explained … that is incorrect, the Kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia … Professor Lupin gave this eight out of ten? I wouldn't have given it three …'

You say Snape falsely told a student Kappa are from Mongolia. He didn't - he says they are more commonly found there. I don't see any reason not to believe him…? Why would he be spouting incorrect facts around students?

Lupin prioritizes student comfort. Snape prioritizes student learning. Remus is more likely to get facts wrong. Snape is more likely to piss people off. Remus is more likely to mark forgivingly - an 8/10. Snape is more likely to mark strictly - a 3/10.

It all lines up pretty well.

Remus' first lesson is poorly organised and he is lenient with points. He lets a Boggart loose amongst students without planning for every student getting a turn (Hermione misses out). He hadn't planned for Harry's fear ahead of time, or the risk of anyone else in the class finding Voldemort a little too much. He put his own secret at risk by revealing his own fear, which Hermione uses to work out he is a werewolf.

'Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone. Let me see … five points to Griffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart - ten for Neville because he did it twice - and five each to Hermione and Harry.'

He smooths everything over by giving out house points like candy. He is giving out points to Griffindor for doing classwork…? Whats next, points for tying their shoelaces?

Professor Lupin smiled at the look of indignation on every face. 'Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay.'

This gets me lol - he's happy they're all pissed off at having to do a big assignment, so he just cancels it. The sheer disrespect...

He could have shortened the length, or pushed back the due date, or dedicated another class to the topic, or even said 'well Professor Snape has his own way of teaching, if he set an assignment I'm sure it's because he thought you could handle it'. Nah. He wants to be the cool teacher that can boss Snape around.

I love the idea that he went to 'speak to Professor Snape' about it. What did he say...? 'Nice try, Sev - I'm cancelling it. B^)'

I don't put much stock into interview responses. The information needs to be at least published in some sort of 'official' format. People can say anything in the spur of the moment.

That being said - Remus WAS a wonderful teacher. I think he was a true natural at it and did a brilliant job overall. His stand-out skills are exactly the things Severus is bad at: connecting with students and encouraging them in ways that suit their individual needs. Remus is a people person and loves the chance to help rather than cause harm.

But he was also a first year teacher teaching a core subject. He was taking at least 2 days off a month and many days off-colour. I wouldn't expect perfection from him, and what Severus critiques (behind on schedule, disorganised, some incorrect information, overly forgiving marking) all sounds like new teacher mistakes. (honestly name a teacher who remains on schedule the whole year irl lol)

It is fun to reread and see where Severus was right and wrong. Especially since on a first read he seems so very wrong, always getting in Harry's way… but most of the time is right, or at least acting very reasonably with the information he has. PoA is a story where he was very wrong. Remus was not working with a serial killer, did not want Harry dead, wasn't working all that hard to bring Harry 'over to his side' (he was sorta annoyingly aloof) and was actually a trustworthy individual and a good teacher - just with a different methodology.

But I don't think that means Severus' observations of Remus' teacher habits were incorrect or grossly hyperbolic. He was looking for evidence that helped substantiated and supported his theories.

[vee-crytraps]

Hiii vee! Just out of curiosity... what do you think each batboys ideal way to ask bb to be their valentine ? Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day <3

Hi!!! Omg this is such a cute question!! Looong post but hope you like! <3 Happy belated Valentines Day to all!

Dick Suave. Shameless. Thoughtful. You don't really pay that much attention to Dick's presence in the manor. There's no point of perking up like a bored puppy when you see that flash of striking blue and inky black, stretched across the strong chest that was the unfortunate source of your earliest 'tinglings'. Entraced in your upside down doomscrolling session on the sofa, you don't even notice the frown that tugs the corners of his lips when you fail to greet him with your usual enthusiasm. Or at all, really. He clears his throat once, and then twice- which finally gets you to drop your phone and right yourself. "Hi." "Hey," he grins, setting a duffel bag at your feet. "Sooo, you're gonna wanna get dressed. And...I kinda can't tell you why." You don't know what you're expecting- but it isn't the Rouge Astronomers Gown and a matching domino mask. "Dick-" "Please, little wing?" You have literally no idea why you're wearing noise dampening earplugs, or how no one saw two distinctly dressed figures grappling into the rafters of Gotham Square Garden- but you do know what it's like to see Juno performed live, soaking up the vibrations of Nightwing's own humming as you lean into his chest. "Will you?" "Huh?" The whites of your mask convey confusion, and then understanding. "Oh." You snort, glancing back down to the dancing Sabrina Carpenter. "What? Let you make me Juno?" "No," he laughs, and you can feel his arm tuck you closer into him as the other fishes for a heart shaped card. "My puns aren't that bad." BB Mine? "You sure about that, Nightwing?" Jason Jason in my head has the capacity to be an old school romantic (even more of a romantic than Dick) but he doesn't have the confidence to do something as overt as he'd like. Jason's desire to look cool and his history of comparing his game to Dick's makes for a storm of overcompensating via nonchalance. But it's super obvious because the romance still comes through in the end. So he'd: - ask BB if she was free 'on Friday' (Valentines Day) - if she wanted to go to 'this bookstore opening' (it's a romance only bookstore such like Lovestruck in Boston). - if she's hungry, they can 'grab something to eat' (it's a picnic. He made the ice tea pink) You'd lay together tucked away in a corner of Robinson Park, full on little treats and pastries and ice tea. You'd share his earbuds, the short wires forcing you into close proximity as you listen to an audiobook together. "Jay?" "Mm." "Is this a date?" "...Do you want it to be a date?" "Jace." "Princess." "Be my Valentine?" You ask, prodding a finger right over his heart. "Is that all I'm worth to you, BB? No card? No Hoizer? No heart shaped- ow!" He groans dramatically as you shove him, and the playfighting that ensues ends with him allowing you to pin him. "Well, if you're gonna beat it out of me," he sighs. "Yeah, sure. I'll be your Valentine." Tim "Whose the lucky guy?" Silas asks as he pushes off the gates marking the entrance to the academy. Students huddle together, whispering behind their hands and doing full 180s to glimpse you in the courtyard. Arm thrown around your shoulders, Silas guides you to your locker. It's stickerbombed with motifs of glitterfied conversation hearts toting classic phrases like 'Luv U', 'XOXO' and 'UR Cute'. There's no note on your locker. You side-eye Silas, who raises his hands in full surrender.

"Learned my lesson last time." He announces, but not to you. He's glancing at Damien, who leans against his own locker looking more displeased than with his usual resting Bat face. The final straw is when you open your locker, shutting your eyes out of reflex as an air cannon full of rose petals and glitter kindly decorates you and a few curious peers. You don't even have to look at your phone to know whose calling.

Fishing the vibrating device from your blazer, you scowl as the screen goes pink, save for some text. BE MINE? -TIM YES | NO (will brick ur phone </3) Damien You think next year, you're gonna ask Bruce if Jason was left out of the Christmas cards by choice. When he first started wearing the bat again, he'd vehemently denied any non-life threatening get togethers with extreme prejudice, but it's been years. Maybe all he needed was another push. You'd hate to think you all have been excluding Jason all these years on an assumption. As Dick, Tim and Bruce help the photographer finish the last of the set up, Damian hands you Ace's brush. You two have been tasked to be the animal wranglers this year (and every year), which involves making sure the handsome black dogs not only look their best, but are pumped full of enough treats not to mind the excessive repositioning. "Do you still check your google calendar?" Damien asks, running Titus' brush down the dog's neck. "Uh, yeah. Why?" "I need some...assistance. With an engagement." "Vague. When?" "Nine weeks from now. You'll recieve a reminder a few hours beforehand."

[mashihope]

❥ [SKZ] Valentine's Day (Hyung line)

(This mini moodboard is made by me; I don’t own any of the pics.)

• Members: Bangchan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin

• Group: Stray Kids

• Warning: Mentions of food, alcohol, drunkenness and metaphorical blood; "subtle" hints of sex; swearing

• Synopsis: It's Valentine's day and your boyfriend has taken a day off to be with you.

Maknae line

He's a very passionate man. He always puts his soul in everything he does. This day wouldn't be any different.

He would have already planned everything like a month in advance. He needs it to be perfect in every way possible.

He had spent his rest-time after every practice trying to connect every dot on his special day schedule. Making actual research of different hotels and restaurants (and their reviews), any additional activity to do together, possible flights or rides to get there, places to visit...

But given the little free time he usually gets he'd just choose a nearby city and a car ride. A place he could take both of you to in a few hours, just in case. You'll never know when your manager will suddenly call you for work, right? *nervous laugh*

However, despite it being a nearby place, he had made sure it is something you'd actually like to see, with nice views and some fresh air.

Regardless of if you have a driving license or not, he would be so stubborn to drive all the way himself. It doesn't matter if you beg him to take a rest halfway. He won't.

He'd even tell you to rest yourself, to take a little nap. He knows you'll need the extra energy.

Funny enough, it wouldn't even be the 14th yet. He'd decide to go to the hotel the night before just so he could get more time alone with you.

To be fair, there's something about skinship... Being able to feel the warmth of your skin on his makes him feel like both of your souls are having a connection.

Saying that, I just know he LOVES waking up in the morning with you by his side, no shirts on, just to take a shower together right after. He doesn't even need for it to get somewhere else.

So that's probably another reason why he'd prefer to wake up with you on the hotel's bed on Valentine's Day.

After coming back from the restaurant at night, he'd tell you to go ahead and take a shower by yourself, he'll try to join in later. But, in any case, he'd advice you to just take your time.

He needs you to be away while he sets everything in the room. Going there wasn't a surprise at all but this is actually supposed to be (you already suspect he'd do something like that at this point but yeah, don't tell him lmao)

He would quickly have everything ready to join you at the shower.

Yeah, that slight hint of sweat on his forehead does totally not make it obvious that he has been running around the room nervously.

Getting out of the bathroom on your bathrobes, he'd stay behind while looking at you with shiny eyes and a smile, hoping you'll like what he's done.

Rose petals making a path towards the bed and ON the actual bed, lit candles, his romantic playlist playing on the background, a bottle of wine and two glasses (although he would also have your favorite drink hidden somewhere just in case you don't want to drink wine)... He would have everything you need for the perfect night. And when I say everything, I mean everything.

After some time chatting, laughing and drinking wine, it was expected that at least one of you would get a little bit... tipsy. Maybe both of you.

Hear me out, I have the strong feeling that this man's future children will be made on Valentine's day night. He always tries to be safe but I guess wine is stronger...

The extra energy you got yesterday will surely come in handy!

It didn't come off as a surprise when he told you he'd go visit his parents (and his kids!)

"People usually go on dates with their partner on Valentine's, but isn't it a day to celebrate love, overall?" that's what he told you while helping you pack your things.

He drove all the way to their house. He tried his best to seem nonchalant about it, trying to stay silent from time to time... but he would start talking about Sooni, Doongi and Dori right after a new random thought crossed his mind.

You could see it in his eyes, the way they had a different type of shine on them. The little smile he was trying so hard to hide, clearing his throat whenever he felt his lips going up again...

You couldn't help but giggle from time to time, watching him working so hard to look serious.

After getting there, he'd leave the luggage to you, suddenly making you hold one of the bags while going away, making you look at him in desbelief, "what the fuck...?"

Leaving you behind after reaching the door, he'd walk down the corridor and be like "Good morning my sweet little children, daddy is back from work~", with the sweetest tone you'd ever heard him use before.

His mom's head would suddenly pop out from the kitchen's door, also going "what the fuck?", so weirded out from his words.

He wasn't expecting anyone home until a couple of hours later so he'd suddenly get shy, clearing his throat and blushing.

He'd go greet her with the warmest hug ever. He may have only talked about the kids on the way there but he was just as excited about seeing his parents again too.

According to a lot of people you've met, he doesn't really look like it but he's actually the human definition of the word "love".

After playing for a while with the cats while talking with his mom, he'd remember about his "other date".

You'd unconciously ask "are you cheating on me?" while making a dramatic gesture, already aware that he would never do such a thing.

This other date, however, would involve walking around the neighbourhood while giving some food to the stray cats, right before actually visiting some nearby shelters to give out some useful stuff (money, food, toys...)

At dinner time, he'd suddenly decide to give you a quick cooking class of his own. You're going to make a special dinner together for his parents (and you two, obviously) today!

His parents can't help but look at each other with a sweet smile, hearing your loving laughs from the living room and reminiscing over their youth... You seem to be such a lovely couple, just as how they were back then!

He's been talking about it for months.

There was this one time when he was resting with his head on your lap, absentmindedly scrolling through his TikTok timeline. He suddenly saw a guy riding karts with his friends, playfully yelling at each other.

He quickly woke up with his eyes wide open, telling you about how much he'd like to do something like that with the members.

He kept bringing the topic back for a few days after that, whenever he got the chance. He wasn't implying that you should do something about it, he was just too excited and couldn't help but daydream about it.

It would be impossible for him to not make it any obvious that he loves the members, always trying to make the best and most fun memories with them.

Some other day he would randomly tell you about how some of his friends have gotten new tattoos and how cool they are.

He'd love to get some one day, but he also knows he would be too nervous to actually do it.

Taking matters into your own hands, you decided to arrange both for Valentine's day. He was so shocked when you told him about it but at the same time he was really excited, already wishing the day would arrive.

The plan was to waste a lot of energy in the morning at the karts place so he would be less nervous while getting the tattoos. Which seemed to make sense at the beginning...

...but wouldn't actually work in the end.

You've decided to get matching tattoos. One of you would be free just so you could hold the other's hand, trying to make it less scary.

But the thing is that, even while watching some cute random videos on your phone (while almost breaking your hand), he wouldn't be able to stop talking nonsense.

He'd tell the artist the most random things, from the food he had eaten that week so far, the music he's been working on lately, to how he actually met you.

You'd give him a little reward afterwards, a sweet kiss that would make all his fears and worries disappear, making it all worth it in the end.

To finish the day in a chill way, both of you would agree that going to the cinema would be a great idea. You'd be able to rest while watching something funny.

You should be ready for what will happen from today onwards, he will definitely show off his new tattoo on every chance he gets!

We always see him being a "fancy" boy with all the luxury clothes and accessories, but I feel like he's more like the "soul first" type of person.

He could be eating at some restaurant, feeding his body, but would that be enough for him to feel at peace?

I think he's the type of person to believe that art is a strong ally, the best way to give peace to your soul, whether it is visual or audible art.

I see him being more on the classic side of Valentine's day, with a little mix of the modern one too. He gives me romantic vibes, what can I say.

He'd show up at your door in the morning, wearing his best outfit and carrying a flower bouquet with a letter he's put his blood, sweat and tears into (not really, you get what I mean)

That letter would be a few pages long, full of poetry and daydreaming about you that he's managed to put into words. The paper would somehow smell like him, making you wonder if he has sprayed his perfume on it.

You can expect little sketches here and there that he's drawn unconsciously while thinking about you. You've kinda assumed by now that he probably draws you more pretty than you actually are.

He'd take you to a museum. He's done research to know when there's less people there so you can take your time watching each art piece.

You don't even notice that most of the time he's secretly taking photos of you with the artworks as a bonus. According to him, he can visit a museum any time he wants just by wrapping his arms around you, enjoying the art every time his lips meet yours.

After this, you can expect him to act like a director, telling you to pose on different places of the street for a photo. He's secretly making an album with photos from your dates, where he even writes and sticks little receipts and candy wraps. He's planning to gift it to you on your Anniversary day.

He's also found a diy café, where you can craft little things while eating some delicious pastries. You'd both try to make a cute keychain and a bracelet for each other.

He won't really tell you but he actually asked Chan for help with today's schedule. Thanks to him, he's managed to fit in a pottery class as well. Yeah, like those cliché scenes where the main characters are working on a piece together... Oops!

You already knew that he loves to make gifts rather than buy them (he finds it more meaningful and special) but it still catches you off guard whenever he gives you things he's actually worked on. Like your new vase for the flowers he gave you earlier!

He wanted to go to a painting class at the end of the day, but pottery wasn't as easy as he thought it would be, taking more time than he expected it to.

Given that, he'd borrow some of your art supplies at home, challenging you to make the silliest painting you've ever done. The only rule being that none of you can see it until you're finished.

He'd try to distract you after a few minutes, though. He'd put some paint on your face and that would be a motive for you to start playing around.

You'd manage to finish both of your paintings while also attacking each other, however, and end up laughing on the floor until your stomachs hurt.

Lovingly enough, among the many paint stains you now have on your clothes, the universe has decided to make a little smiley face on his shirt and a heart on yours.

But no one would ever need to see those subtle hints to know how much you love each other.