#edit- I'll leave the picture in

[azuresins]

The first thing I noticed in the chapter 204 cover art was both Finny's thorns and, the way his hairclips are arranged like Roman Numeral Eleven. (XI)... This is also a reference to Jesus Christ, which. Seemed like Yana wanted us all to know for absolute certain, that this thorn crown is specifically a Christian reference and wants us to really notice, and for us to compare Finny to Jesus. Which is interesting to me, because in the picture Finny is dressed like a vampire... I can't help but wonder, if Christ's resurrection, is meant to enter our mind, too. ...? The dead can't come back to life that we know of in the context of the manga so far, but there are Bizarre Dolls (I forgot no one calls them Weird Barbies except me and I almost typed that and left it in), and there are Death Gods, both of these are beings that were human, once and have died (more or less). We don't know anything about vampires, but now I have to wonder what Yana has in mind for Finny's fate...

Is he... fated to be die, and come back...?... is that too good (or terrible??) to be true...? Finnian is my favorite, and I know I'm actively trying to talk myself out of the hope that he's not just going to die, and thats it. But, still. That seemed a highly specific choice. There's nothing to suggest any human character will be a Grim Reaper definitively and I certainly can't make that claim off of one thing she's drawn, but Finnian in particular, always kind of gave me pause simply because. He's the gardener. He uses garden tools every day. What if that was some kind of foreshadowing, since all the grim reapers in Kuroshitsuji use a variety of garden tools and not just typical scythes ... is it possible? The only others we've seen garden to that degree, are Grelle (...lol) and Sebastian. For a human character we've known for a long time, to undergo that human to death god transformation, in real time? Before our eyes? We haven't seen that, yet. That could be interesting... but would she do that, and would she choose someone like Finnian (or any of the other servants) for that part? I don't know, but. I am looking directly at this art and I am suspicious of it. If nothing else, it's scratched my brain. Is it possible fanfic fodder, if nothing else? Yes. I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot, but I stand by that I think Finnian is extremely important and paramount to this story, there's more to him than most think... It's also worth mentioning by contrast, Snake, is dressed as a Hogwarts Wizard, right. Except... Snake, really DOES actually TALK to snakes. In that context, this frames that reference a bit interestingly... because to talk to snakes, would mark someone as a respected, feared, and powerful wizard in the context of the series he's making reference to. Our snake isn't a powerful wizard (I mean, that we know of, we really don't know much about snake yet), but that's not the point I'm trying to make. In that series talking to snakes isn't a good thing, but, it still makes his outfit interesting-- because he can actually do that. Talk to snakes. What does Finny, then, have in common with a vampire with a Jesus complex? "Super human" quality? Abused by humans? Guilt? Unwavering loyalty, to the point of martyrdom? ... is that all? Is there anything else? ???

[arseteta]

webbonso jaguar teammates!au

[theabstruseone]

I slept in and just woke up, so here's what I've been able to figure out while sipping coffee:

Twitter has officially rebranded to X just a day or two after the move was announced.

The official branding is that a tweet is now called "an X", for which there are too many jokes to make.

The official account is still @twitter because someone else owns @X and they didn't reclaim the username first.

The logo is 𝕏 which is the Unicode character Unicode U+1D54F so the logo cannot be copyrighted and it is highly likely that it cannot be protected as a trademark.

Outside the visual logo, the trademark for the use of the name "X" in social media is held by Meta/Facebook, while the trademark for "X" in finance/commerce is owned by Microsoft.

The rebranding has been stopped in Japan as the term "X Japan" is trademarked by the band X JAPAN.

Elon had workers taking down the "Twitter" name from the side of the building. He did not have any permits to do this. The building owner called the cops who stopped the crew midway through so the sign just says "er".

He still plans to call his streaming and media hosting branch of the company as "Xvideo". Nobody tell him.

This man wants you to give him control over all of your financial information.

Edit to add further developments:

Yes, this is all real. Check the notes and people have pictures. I understand the skepticism because it feels like a joke, but to the best of my knowledge, everything in the above is accurate.

Microsoft also owns the trademark on X for chatting and gaming because, y'know, X-box.

The logo came from a random podcaster who tweeted it at Musk.

The act of sending a tweet is now known as "Xeet". They even added a guide for how to Xeet.

The branding change is inconsistent. Some icons have changed, some have not, and the words "tweet" and "Twitter" are still all over the place on the site.

TweetDeck is currently unaffected and I hope it's because they forgot that it exists again. The complete negligence toward that tool and just leaving it the hell alone is the only thing that makes the site usable (and some of us are stuck on there for work).

This is likely because Musk was forced out of PayPal due to a failed credit line project and because he wanted to rename the site to "X-Paypal" and eventually just to "X".

This became a big deal behind the scenes as Musk paid over $1 million for the domain X.com and wanted to rebrand the company that already had the brand awareness people were using it as a verb to "pay online" (as in "I'll paypal you the money")

X.com is not currently owned by Musk. It is held by a domain registrar (I believe GoDaddy but I'm not entirely sure). Meaning as long as he's hung onto this idea of making X Corp a thing, he couldn't be arsed to pay the $15/year domain renewal.

Bloomberg estimates the rebranding wiped between $4 to $20 billion from the valuation of Twitter due to the loss of brand awareness.

The company was already worth less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for it in the first place, meaning this may end up a worse deal than when Yahoo bought Tumblr.

One estimation (though this is with a grain of salt) said that Twitter is three months from defaulting on its loans taken out to buy the site. Those loans were secured with Tesla stock. Meaning the bank will seize that stock and, since it won't be enough to pay the debt (since it's worth around 50-75% of what it was at the time of the loan), they can start seizing personal assets of Elon Musk including the Twitter company itself and his interest in SpaceX.

Sesame Street's official accounts mocked the rebranding.

[phantomrose96]

Northeast seasons

Nov 15-Dec 31: Winter (4pm sunset edition)

Jan 1-Feb 28: Icy inhospitable tundra

Mar 1-Mar 14: Winter 2 (5pm sunset edition)

March 15th: Exactly one sunny 56 degree day that makes everyone a little insane and people greet you like "beautiful day! maybe I won't divorce my wife"

Mar 16-Mar 31: Winter 3

Apr 1 - Apr 14: Wet (cold edition)

April 15: Exactly one sunny 65 degree day that makes people say "Maybe I will plant a garden! Maybe I'll hike! Maybe I'll quit my job!"

Apr 16 - Apr 30: Wet (less cold edition?)

May 1 - Jun 15: Beautiful. Gorgeous. What if you lived outside for a month? What if you sold your house and lived in the meadow? What if you started a farm? What if you finally opened that bakery? What if you lie face down in the flowers? What if you lie face down in the flowers forever (brought to you by the I don't have seasonal allergies gang)

Jun 16 - July 2: Well it's pretty humid now but at least it's not Texas yeah? At least it's not Texas. At least we're not Texas. Or Florida. You hear about Florida?

July 3 - Aug 31: Well it's hot and humid. But you hear about Texas? Florida? Florida? My friend in Florida's Chihuahua walked outside and got vaporized in a sun beam. At least it's not Texas. At least it's not Florida.

Sept 1 - Sept 15: Muggy.

Sept 16 - Oct 31: Look at our leaves. Look at our leaves. Look at the leaves. Look at our leaves. Have you seen our leaves? I have a picture of our leaves. This picture is old (2 hours ago) so you should look at the leaves now. Peak foliage is in 4 hours and 37 minutes. You should look outside. You should look at the leaves. You should eat the leaves. You should eat the leaves.

Nov 1 - Nov 14: Oh No It's Coming Back

[wiishopwednesday]

longing for something you can never return to

[ID: a collection of images relating to nostalgia. the first image is a genius screenshot of the lyrics to car seat headrest's "famous prophets (stars)." the screenshot reads "We gotta go back/We gotta go back/We gotta go back/We gotta go back." the second image is the "we got the torture labyrinth tomorrow" meme template, edited to instead say "We got missing what we can never return to tomorrow/What?/We got the beginning of the rest of our lives tomorrow/Ohhhh/Okay." the third image is a discord screenshot, with the user's username and icon cropped out so that only the text is visible, and reads "Duuudeee you missed out on those 7 days where god created earth you are fucked LOL." the fourth image is a screenshot of a piece of text, which reads in bolder font "You can never leave home." underneath it, in normal text, it reads "You take it with you no matter where you go. Home is between your teeth, under your fingernails, in the hair follicles, in your smile, in the ride of your hips, in the passage of your breasts." the fifth image is a screenshot of a post made by tumblr user ryebreadgf, which reads "YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK! YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK! YOU CAN BITE AND SCRATCH AND BEG BUT YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK!" the sixth image is a screenshot of a piece of text that reads, "YOU KILL YOURSELF AND IMMEDIATELY WAKE UP AS A CHILD ON YOUR PARENTS BED. YOU'VE BEEN ASLEEP FOR HALF AN HOUR. THE SUN IS SHINING." the seventh image is a picture of two uneven dark yellow boxed next to each other on a off-white background. the first box reads, in handwriting, "I'm terrified of change." the second box reads, "I'm terrified of staying this way forever." the eighth image is a screenshot of a post made by tumblr user dakotajohnsongf, which reads "women be looking at pictures of their childhood selves and trying to find a way back to them." the ninth image is a screenshot of a post made by tumblr user bestofgentleearth, containing a screenshot from a forum of some kind. a line of text reads "(16 hours ago) butterfly said:" underneath, an indented section of text reads "today, the world looked beautiful again. i'm starting to remember what kept me alive last summer." the tenth image is another tumblr post by user cursedsuggestion, which reads "the friend you miss comes home for good. you never see another mirror. it's summer forever and that terrible thought you keep having finally disappears." the eleventh image is a screenshot of a reddit post, with the original poster's username and icon cropped out so only the text is visible. it reads "I'm not sure how to word this, but I constantly go through this deep sense of loss. I feel like I terribly miss something I love from the bottom of my heart, but I don't know what it is, exactly. Nothing in life satisfies me, nothing makes me content, but l wouldn't say I'm depressed either. There's just this endless search for something, and at times I feel I can catch a glimpse of it - different sceneries pop into my head at times, like of a particular beach at night, and I'm moved to tears. Or I remember a dream and all the feelings that were stirring while I saw that dream, and feel entirely connected to them." the twelfth image is a screenshot of a tumblr post, but the original poster is cropped out so only the text is visible, which reads "wait i wasn't ready. i never finished that game of tag. i still need to learn how to do a cartwheel. my friends and i never finished making that bridge over the creek. i want to go back. can you carry me to bed one last time? and maybe i'll wake up tomorrow in my childhood room with my pink walls and we'll laugh over this dream at breakfast." the thirteenth image is another tumblr screenshot of a post by user heavensghost, which reads "uhhh yh sure u can go back but no one will be waiting for you there."

the fourteenth image is a screenshot of a reddit comment, with the user's information cropped out so that only the text is visible, which reads "HIRAETH (heer-eye-th) 'A deep homesickness; an intense form of longing or nostalgia for a place long gone, or even an unaccountable homesickness for a place you have never visited. A pull on the heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost.'" the fifteenth image is a collection of 3 rows of black boxes, with 3 boxes in each row. the first box has a white, vague form of a human. the second box pictures the human form stretching its arms and legs out. from the third box onward, the human figure starts to dissipate into white dots until it has completely disappeared and only dots remain. the sixteenth image is a tumblr post by user n1ntendos, which reads "I AM HAUNTED BY A PAST I CANNOT GO BACK TO !!!!!!! anyways." the seventeenth image is a screenshot of text that reads "I cling to everything - CDs that skip, rings that turn my fingers green, the dead ends of my hair, old love notes that turn my stomach over and over. And I'm not proud but there are still boxes under my bed. And I'm not proud but my closet is still running out of space. And nostalgia is a fucking waste of time but my heart is full with it. Tell me I won't hold this forever. Tell me there will be a day where I let gloriously go." the eighteenth image is an image of larger text that reads "It's a summer day, and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world." the nineteenth image is a photograph of a large white dog standing in a dark, flowing river surrounded by a dark forest and green trees. the dog is facing away from the viewer with its mouth open. the dog appears to be glowing, likely due to a lens flare of some kind. the entire picture feels very melancholy and nostalgic. the twentieth image is larger text that reads "Nostalgia is the aching realization that you can't go back again. The longing, no matter how intense, can never be met." the twenty-first image is a screenshot of an instagram dm, with the user's username and icon cropped out so that only the text is visible, and it reads "well the time passes anyway so I have to." the twenty-second image is a screenshot of the spotify lyrics for gerard way's song "action cat." the lyrics read "Hey/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you too." the twenty-third image is a screenshot of text that reads "YOUR CHILDHOOD DOG IS ALIVE. YOUR DEAD BEST FRIEND WANTS TO GET COFFEE. YOU HAVE BEEN KIND AND GOOD. THERE IS NOTHING CHASING YOU. YOU CAN SLEEP. WHAT DO YOU DO?" the twenty-fourth image is a continuation of the lyrics from car seat headrest's "famous prophets (stars)" that were pictured in the first image. these lyrics read "We've gotta go back/We've gotta go back/We've gotta go back/(Don't spend too much time on it)." end ID.]

[u3pxx]

EDIT: CLOSED NOW! thank you everyone

---

will be closing on JAN 29, 9 AM PHT/JAN 28, 5 PM PST

thank you so much to those who donated! i wasn't expecting to have a considerable backlog from just the 3 days since i've posted this, that's why i mentioned before that i'll be leaving this up for a week. still, i'm afraid i'll have to cut this short since i've lots more drawings to do and i unfortunately have college to juggle at the same time.

i am extremely thankful for all the generous people who have emailed me about donating! i'll be closing this at 9 am tomorrow (my time) since, again, busy. so if you've been thinking about donating and getting a doodle from me, there's a little bit of time left!

---

hello there! i’ll be doing character doodles for donations (donations done after i post this) for gaza!

what will these doodles look like?

the characters will be drawn from the shoulders up! the higher the donation, the more polish that doodle’s gonna get!

what do you need to do for a doodle?

you could either:

donate e-sims to palestine (starting from sims priced 14+ usd). the post linked includes tutorials, relevant links, and discount codes you can find in the replies. instructions can be also found on https://gazaesims.com/ (you can donate another/more sims for an extra doodle or more polish, you decide)

donate 14+ usd to care for gaza. you can donate to them via paypal over here

or donate 14+ usd to palestine children's relief fund

afterward, take a screenshot that you’ve successfully donated to any of the ones mentioned above and send the proof of donation to u3pxx.contact@gmail.com as well as:

the amount you've spent/donated in usd

the name/reference pictures of the character you want me to doodle (ocs included!)

now, please note that my work is for personal use only, not for commercial use/profit/merch/ai training/nfts. you can use it on icons, headers, etc. but please credit me and do not crop/edit out my signature.

i'll end up being a lot busier in the following weeks so this will be available for a limited time, i'll announce it here once i close this. thank you so much, free palestine!

[tbaluver]

∧,,,∧ (  ̳• · • ̳) /    づ♡ 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

hi my lovelies here is all my works so far if you would like to check them out! <3 i'll update it as much as i can! recently updated: 1/11/2025 MDNI. my works contain smut and suggestive content as tagged below. Finished reading? Here's the link to pg. 2 of my masterlist! Love And DeepSpace Masterlist Pg. 2

✎ = angst ❀= fluff ☾= comfort ✧= silly ღ= suggestive content/ smut

Headcanons/ Scenarios When You're Pregnant ❀ When You Have A Baby ❀ When You're Sick ❀ After Care With Them ❀ ღ When You Give Them AfterCare ❀ ღ If They Were Vampires ❀ ღ When You Cry During Sex ❀ ღ When You're Insecure About Your Body After Birth ❀ Attending Your Daughter's Recital ❀ Boyfriend Headcanons ❀ When They Hear You Singing A Lullaby ❀ Taking Care Of Their Chronically Sick S/O ❀ ☾ When You're Introverted ❀ Comforting You During A Panic Attack ☾ When You're Stressed From School ❀ ☾ Where They Like To Leave Marks ღ When You're Self Conscious About Stretch Marks ❀ ☾ Comforting You From A Nightmare ❀ ☾ Their Favorite Positions + Kinks ღ When You're On Your Period ❀ ☾ Sitting On Their Face ღ Flinching During An Argument ✎☾ When They Finish First ღ When You're An Idol ❀✧ Using Handcuffs ღ Consoling You While You Grieve ☾ When They Turn Into Cats ❀✧ Papa's Little Princess ❀ When You're A Streamer ❀✧ When You Don't Come Back From A Mission ✎ When You Randomly Turn Into A Cat ❀✧ Sending Them A Boob Pic ღ Sending Them A Dirty Video When Their Away ღ If You Had A High Libido ღ S/O Who Faces Mental Illness ☾ Showering With Them ❀ღ Giving Them Head + Small Fic ღ

Full Fics °˖➴♡⃛ currently editing/ revising it again (•̀ᴗ•́ )و

Xavier ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ : Coming Soon

Zayne ദ്ദി(⎚_⎚) Pushing Him Away In Your Sleep ❀ Picture You ღ lightweight ღ Whispers Of Reunions ღ

Rafayel 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 A Slow Night ღ teacher's pet ღ

Sylus (ง'̀-'́)ง Drive Around The City ღ General Headcanons ❀ Pushing Him Away In Your Sleep ❀ Amusement Park Date ❀ his necklace ღ his treasure ღ hold on tight ღ Milk Him Dry! ღ

[cosmosluckycharms]

Bug Like Angel

The adults are talking

Damian couldn't understand why Bruce and Dick were so obsessed all of a sudden.

They were obsessed.

with you.

If it wasn't for your little tantrum making you storm out of the house, no one would've noticed you leaving.

And he knew Jason and Tim thought the same.

The day you were forced here Dick had insisted that they'd talk to you.

The first day you came, Dick interrupted him taking care of Batcow to tell him to invite you to hang out.

During movie night, it was obvious your mind was somewhere else.

He just didn't understand why they had to interact with you, you were okay with just living with Miguel, why were you forced to be with them?

He decided to investigate further.

He made his way to the kitchen, passing by the hallway.

He noticed the newly placed pictures of you.

They were very clearly from your and your friend's social media, he recognized them from when he stalked stumbled upon you and your friend's socials.

In one photo in which Miguel was next to you, he was edited out, leaving an awkward space next to you.

As he got closer to the kitchen, he could hear you and Dick arguing.

He looked over the corner of the doorway in order to not get caught by either of you.

Your spidey senses went slightly off at that, but you ignored it, assuming it was coming from Dick.

Dick held the guitar, which was coated in stickers "Who's is this?"

You glared at him and put your hands on your hips "It's my friend's."

Dick raised an eyebrow at that "why did he even come here yesterday?"

"nunya." you tried reaching for the guitar, only for him to put it in the air, making it impossible for you to grab it

"c'mon birdie, I know you can do better than that!" Dick teased, swaying the guitar back and forth

"Don't call me that." you jumped to try and reach it and accidentally hit the counter, which made a stack of books hit the vase, domino-style.

Which in turn made a vase start to fall.

Stupid spidey-luck.

Before Damian could process it, the vase hit him on the head and shattered.

"watch it!" Damian exclaimed.

You and dick turned your heads to look at him.

You watched as Dick opened his mouth to speak, and quickly took your chance.

You kicked the back of his knees, which made him fall, and grabbed the guitar swiftly.

"bitch." you walked away, holding the guitar triumphantly

Dick sat down in shock for a moment before checking up on Damian.

"Are you alright?" Dick helped Damian up from the floor.

Damian dusted himself off "I'm fine."

Dick kept talking to him, but his voice faded out as Damian got an idea.

if he couldn't tell why Dick and Bruce were obsessed with you, he'll go straight to the source.

Damian burst into your room.

You were blasting music while journaling.

It was then he took a look at your clothes.

You were wearing an outfit he distinctly remembers you not owning.

You were wearing a red sweater, one that showed up in one of your friend's social media posts.

After a minute or two of awkward silence, you finally spoke up. "do you need anything?"

"you hurt me. Apologize." he crossed his arms in a sort of way that reminded you of Bruce

"alright. I'm sorry. Happy?" you stared at him blankly

"I'll forgive you if we socialize together." he had a poker face on, but you could tell he was slightly nervous.

You closed your journal "All alright, I'll hang out with you."

Damian looked confused like he didn't expect you to agree so fast

"I'm bored anyways, might as well. Where do you wanna go?" you got up from your bed and leaned against the wall, staring at Damian.

"Well, if you insist on this, we could go out to shop," Damian smirked

You stretched and started making your way towards your closet "All alright, just give me like 30 minutes to get ready.

"He made his way out your door.

You took a good 10 minutes choosing an outfit before deciding on one you wore once when you went to Peni's birthday, along with a friendship bracelet she made you.

You got started on your hair and makeup, not caring about the time you were taking.

You knew Damian was very punctual about time, but you didn't care.

As you were mid-way through, the door banged open and Damian barged in.

"hurry up." he glared at you

"hold on, I'm almost done." you lied

He grew impatient and started looking around your room. You couldn't fully blame him; it's a household full of detectives, obviously, they were all nosey.

He looked at one of your walls, which had a lot of pictures of you and your friends.

In one of them, you were carrying a sleeping girl. She looked around his age and was wearing a sweater of yours. Her black short hair was braided, like how yours was in the picture.

In another frame, you and all your friends were at a birthday party. He assumed it was yours, the way you had a party hat on and everyone was around you.

In some pictures you weren't even in them.

There was a couple where they were centered around a blonde-haired girl and a boy with the biggest doe eyes.

In one picture, you were all playing in a band someplace where Bruce would never let you step foot in.

"Those are my friends," you spoke, still doing your hair "I feel like you'd get along with them."

"TT as if." he scoffed, moving onto a jewelry box on the side of your vanity.

He opened it and saw a lot of themed jewelry, mostly based on spider people.

Some weren't themed, like a pair of earrings he was now holding in his hands.

You spoke up, still sitting at the vanity "Oh Can you pass me those? I feel like it's gonna complete my outfit."

He walked up to you and handed you the earrings and watched as you put them on.

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

A bunch of crochet plushes on your bed.

They were themed, yet again.

You saw him staring at them"They were based on some people I know. If you want I can ask Gwen to make you one?"

Damian looked at you, slightly confused "Why would I need a plush? That is highly immature. especially since-"

You cut him off. "if this is about them being spider people I could ask her to make a robin plush."

Damian nodded at you, in a way that was so serious it made you chuckle.

Damian was growing impatient. You were taking a long time to get ready.

He walked up to you "Are you done?" he was cartoonishly thumping the floor with his foot like a certain cartoon rabbit.

"Almost, I swear!" you grabbed the perfume on your vanity and sprayed yourself.

Damian was standing next to where you were sitting, and you took that as a sign to put some of your perfume on him.

As soon as you did, he started having a coughing fit.

"what was that?!" he kept coughing and trying to wave the smell away.

You tilted your head in confusion "I thought you wanted some?"

"why would I want some of your perfume?!" his coughing fit slowed down, he was obviously dramatizing it

"oh c'mon, it wasn't that serious!" you got up and grabbed your keys.

You started making your way out your door before remembering you didn't have your purse, which had your phone and wallet.

"Dami," you said in a sing-songy voice "could you grab my purse? It's on my nightstand."

He made sure you didn't see his smile at the nickname as he made his way to your nightstand and took note of the picture frame next to your bed.

It was of all your friends + you huddled up together. You all had a birthday hat on and you had a sash that said "birthday girl".

He knew it was probably from the same birthday he saw in another picture frame earlier.

He grabbed your bag and handed it to you, relieved he was finally gonna make his way to the mall with you.

You guys made your way to the parking garage with all the cars anyone could ask for.

You picked a car, one of which you bought yourself and picked out with Miguel.

It was your favorite color.

"All alright Damian, I'll grab the car seat for you." you joked and tried to look as serious as possible

"wait what?" he watched as you went into the trunk and grabbed a princess car seat fit for a toddler.

You bought it a while ago for car rides with Mayday.

"Alright, get on." you pat the car seat, indicating for Damian to get on.

Damian pouted "I'm much too old for that"

"Are you sure? The car seat says it works until the kid is 8, you're 7 so it's fine." you tried to hide your smirk

Damian glared at you, obviously annoyed. "I am not 7! I'm 14!"

"right....." it was getting harder for you to not laugh

"I'm serious!" his voice cracked midway through the sentence, making you burst out laughing.

His face turned a little red "It's not funny!"

"You're right, I'm sorry." you were trying to calm yourself down, only to laugh out loud really loud again.

Damian tried to suppress his laughter as well, only to let out a chuckle.

"get in loser, we're going shopping." you sat down in the driver's seat and he sat down in the passenger seat.

It was silent for a moment...until you looked at Damian and started laughing for no reason.

Damian looked around confused "What's so funny?"

You tried to calm yourself down and failed "I don't know!"

You only stopped when Alfred heard what sounded to him like a hyena laughing, and went to check out the garage.

As soon as he heard the laughter coming from the car, he made his way to your windows.

As soon as you noticed him, you stopped laughing.

"master damian and mistress Y/N, where are you going?"

You glared at him, annoyed. "out to do errands."

"May I tag along? I too have errands to run. I have to-" You cut him off by pulling up the window and turning on your music.

You could see Alfred trying to talk to you, but you just put on your sunglasses and drove out.

Damian was shocked, he couldn't believe you would do that.

You blasted your music and sang and danced along, to him it felt like a scene straight out of a girly 2000s movie.

He noticed how your keys had an Araña-themed keychain.

The fuzzy dice on the driver's mirror.

The bedazzled steering wheel.

There was some trash on the floor of the passenger seat.

He could see that in the backseats there was a coloring book and random stray crayons.

The car door next to him had a bunch of stickers everywhere.

In the back seat, there was half a broken drumstick.

There was a broken guitar string somehow tied up in a bow and left on the other seat.

There were random traces of paint everywhere.

"why is it so dirty in here?" he looked at you, slightly concerned about how you were driving so well despite putting on lipgloss at the same time.

"I wouldn't call it dirty, it's just chaos. Controlled chaos." you put away your lipgloss and kept driving "Put in a new CD, I'm bored of this album."

He reached into the glove compartment and immediately noticed a ton of snacks falling out of the compartment.

"oh yeah, just ignore that. I keep those just in case," you said

"In case of what?" Damian asked, still somewhat shocked at the amount of snacks and drinks that somehow fit in there

"in case anyone wants some. If you want you can have some. There are some vegan options in there, I think." you pulled out a mascara tube and started doing your lashes.

Damian then pulled out a bag of veggie chips and started eating them.

"well? are you going to get the CD or not?" you questioned, nudging him playfully.

"I can't see them." he pointed out

You waved your hand at him "You have to dig in deep, you'll find it somewhere."

He hesitated before digging and trying to look for it.

Inside he found:

A portable DVD player, a bunch of DVDs, at least 16 business cards from random small businesses, 7 types of nail polish, 2 iPods, an iPad, 4 random band shirts, a deflated soccer ball, an empty wallet, 6 different chargers (4 of which were broken beyond repair), 5 lipglosses, 2 friendship bracelets, and finally some CDs.

"how does all of this fit in this tiny compartment?" he looked at you, concerned yet again.

"hammerspace." you said, casually

Damian looked at you blankly "What?"

"don't even worry about it." you went back to driving.

He pulled out a random one and handed it to you.

"oh, awesome! I love this album!" you placed it in the CD player.

"Why do you even use CDs? I'm sure Father could get you a new car with a working music player." Damian said, putting everything back in the glove compartment.

"I like it better like this. This car has memories and I've owned some of those cd's since I was in elementary. I just think they're neat!" you took a sip of a random drink you found in your car.

Damian raised an eyebrow at that. He didn't remember you bringing that into the car.

"I found this random water bottle here. It's either me or Margos, and it's probably 4 weeks old," you said, as if you read his mind.

you took another sip. "on second thought, this is probably Gwens."

Everything was a mess.

Yet he felt so at home.

When you guys finally got to the mall, you got to work on your errands.

You grabbed your crumpled-up paper shopping list "Alright, first we need to go to a craft store."

"Why do we need to go to a craft store?" he asked, still eating the veggie chips from earlier

"Because," you grabbed a shopping cart "I need to grab a couple of things."

As you guys made it to the crafts store, you got an idea.

"Damian," you pointed to the cart "get in the cart."

"What?" he raised an eyebrow

"get in." you smiled

"Are you serious? I can't do that!" he argued

You put your hands on your hips "I don't care. Get in the cart."

"I will not! This is foolish behavior!" he stomped

You ignored him and picked him up like a cat and placed him in the cart.

You ignored his protests and kept shopping.

After a minute or two he calmed down.

You went to the art aisle and didn't know what supplies to get Miles.

"it was a good thing I brought you, I know basically nothing about what types of markers there are." You handed Damian two options.

"well don't know, I don't use those types of materials." he handed them back

"shit. Well, I'll just get all of them." you put one of each type of marker and strolled away, cart in hand.

You made your way to the sticker aisle and immediately put a ton of stickers in the cart as well.

"Why do you need so many?" Damian asked, picking up one of the sticker packs which was Vocaloid-themed.

"Because you can never have too many stickers!" you put more in the cart and strolled away again.

By the time you got to the checkout aisle, all the things you bought made you look like one of the people from the math problems.

The cashier looked at you a bit crazy but stopped when he saw you pull out a black card.

As soon as you both made your way out the door, you dragged Damian towards a music store.

You picked out some more CDs for you and some albums for your friends.

a Babymetal album for Peni, a Frank Ocean one for Miles, the Ramones one for Hobie, Daisy and the Scouts for Gwen, and a Sza album for Margo.

You dragged Damian to other stores, most of which he hated.

To cheer him up, you decided to take him to a store you knew most 14-year-old boys liked.

A comic book store.

"Damian look at these!" you handed him an invincible comic

"TT. they're just books." he put it back in its place.

You scoffed and kept looking at the comics

"Oh my gosh! They have a limited edition Gwenpool comic! I've been looking for this everywhere!" you held it up in the air dramatically

You could tell he was pretending to be unamused. He kept looking around.You placed your Gwenpool comic in the cart

"Is this an X-Men comic? I've seen Miles read them, he says they're good."

You saw Damian perk up immediately and grab it out of your hands.

Usually, you'd be upset at his bad manners, but he looked at the comic with such childlike wonder he looked 7 years old again.

Sure, back when both of you were younger he'd threaten you and go out of his way to ignore you, but who didn't?You felt a weird sort of nostalgia.

You shook that thought away and kept looking at the comics.

By the time you guys left the bookstore, you guys had a lifetime supply of manga and comics.

"Okay, we should head back to the manor."

"it's still early? It's not even lunchtime?"

"you need your naptime, you keep yawning"

"I am not," he said, suppressing a yawn

You held his hand while making your way to the car, a force of habit from holding Peni's.

He stared at your hands" Why are you holding my hand?"

You chuckled, letting go "Sorry, force of habit."

He ignored how he missed that small sign of affection.

You both put your things in the trunk. You guys ran out of space and had to put some things in the backseat.

You guys sat down and you played your music.

After a couple of moments, Damian fell asleep.

When you guys finally got to the manor, Damian was half asleep, pretending to be fully asleep.

You smiled and started grabbing all the bags.

You picked him up and carried him out of the passenger seat princess-style and made your way to his room, ignoring Alfred trying to ask about your day.

You ran into Alfred the cat, remembering how you completely forgot he existed.

The last time you saw him, you were around 14 and Damian taught him to avoid you.

Despite how many times you'd try to pet the cat, it'd run away.

You continued to place Damian in his bed and tuck him in.

You kissed him on the forehead, accidentally leaving a lipgloss stain.

You started placing down the bags full of the things he bought, not realizing you accidentally left one of your bags in his room.

You walked out of his room, not noticing his small smile.

Now he understood why dick and Bruce liked you.

You were in your room putting your things away.

You were also putting the things you bought for your friends into gift bags.

It took a while for you to notice you were missing your Gwenpool comics and the manga you bought for Peni.

By the time you noticed, Damian barged into your room yet again.

"you forgot something." he handed you the bag, it had the things you were looking for.

"oh thank you!" you skimmed through the comic, taking in the new book smell.

He hopped onto your bed and looked at one of the plushes on your bed.

It was different from the other ones, which were all different variations of spider people, this one was a red robot.

It sort of reminded him of the robots from Evangelion.

He rolled around in your bed for a bit before sitting up.

He was bored.

You spoke up, finishing up folding your laundry "We should do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Oh my gosh! We should go picnicking!"

"what."

"we can cook and bake! I'm kinda hungry anyways."

"..fine."

You guys made your way to the kitchen, you grabbed your cookbook.

It was badly covered in glitter and decorated like a burn book.

As soon as you placed it down on the counter, Damian looked at you confused.

"what is it?" you asked, opening the book.

"why is it covered in glitter?"

"can a girl not be filled with joy and whimsy?"

"fair enough."

"I have an idea! We both make dishes and share them at the park."

"okay?"

Damian then started making his meal, and you made one of your own.

After an hour or two, you both had everything prepared.

You made a few drinks and meals for you and Damian. You also packed some chips just incase he didn't want the food you made.

You both got in your car and left for the park

You lay on the blanket, admiring the bright blue sky.

You pointed to a random cloud "that cloud kind of looks like a butt."

"You're childish." he laid down next to you.

"what do you think it looks like then?" you asked

"...I think it looks like a cat." he pointed out

You laughed "There's no way you see that."

A moment of silence passed through and Damian thought back to the moment with you and Alfred.

Lately, you have been acting strangely rude to him.

"Why don't you like Pennyworth?"

"what do you mean?" you asked, sitting up

"what has he done for you to treat him like that?" he sat up as well

You wanted to tell him.

You wanted to tell him about all those nights you spent sobbing to him asking why no one loved you.

You wanted to tell him about how he'd always defend the people that hurt you.

You wanted to tell him about how you could tell that he only pitied you, and didn't care.

You wanted to tell him about how you knew since the beginning he never cared about you.

You wanted to tell him about Julia, Alfred's daughter, and how he abandoned her.

You decided to stay quiet about those things.

You guys had just now started to get along, it'd be strange of you to randomly dump all your problems onto him.

"I just have a bad feeling about him," you replied

"That's all? No support to that claim or anything?"

"I mean, I am a spider-person, most of us have great intuition."

"you do?"

"yeah!"

It went silent and you decided to change the topic. You didn't wanna keep talking about Alfred

"Well, we should start eating now, right?" you asked, pulling out some Dal you had prepared earlier.

Damian pulled out some dolma he had also made.

You took a bite out of the food you prepared "This Dal is so bomb. Look, try it!"

"no. I have no idea what you could done to that food," he said, backing away from the food as if it was going to bite him

"oh, c'mon! its not that bad. look, I'll eat some so you know it's good." you took another bite of it, basically melting at the taste.

"here comes the choo choo train. Choo choo" You brought a piece to his mouth

"stop this madness at once!" he snatched the piece out of your hand and looked at it.

He hesitated before taking a bite.

"TT. This is acceptable, I suppose."

You smiled and picked him up, "he's alive! he's alive! The food didn't kill him!" Everyone around you started staring at you.

Damian tried to shut up your yelling by putting a hand over your mouth and failed.

You let him down and started laughing.

"You're embarrassing me!" he said, trying to cover up his reddened face.

After a moment of comfortable silence, he spoke up "I'm shocked you can cook."

You gasped dramatically and flopped onto the ground, holding your heart as if you were dying "You're so mean."

Damian took another bite of his dolma "Where did you learn to cook that?"

"Pav and his auntie showed me, it took a lot of trial and error but now I basically know it like the back of my hand." you sat up and took a bite of his food.

He glared at you, but you knew it had a playful undertone.

"I think I burned down his kitchen at least twice. I love his auntie." you took a sip of your drink, which was a horchata.

He looked at your drink "What's that?"

"This is horchata, I learned it from Miguel. He taught me, it's pretty good, have a sip." you handed him your drink

He hesitated a little less than last time

".. I suppose it's fine."

"Prince Damian liking my cooking? It's a miracle!" you clapped and he hit you on the shoulder, making you fall dramatically yet again.

While you both were talking, a brunette little boy came up to you both.

He looked no older than 5, and he had tears in his big black eyes.

He came up to you "Hi, I am Elijah, and I can't find my mommy. She said not to talk to strangers but I don't know what to do!"

He started bawling his eyes out, and in an attempt to calm him down, you handed him a juice box.

"Look, we'll help you find your mom, okay?" you stood up and picked up Ellijah on your hip.

Elijah was starting to calm down.

That was until Damian glared at Elijah, making him cry even harder.

You glared back at Damian, knowing that this was gonna make it harder to find his mom.

You had to make him stop crying, stat.

So, you did the only thing you knew worked for you. The things your friends did when you cried.

"..do you want a piggyback ride?"

That shut up Ellijah really quickly.

After the piggyback ride, you put him down and decided to keep chatting with Elijah.

Damian spaced out both of you talking in order to not get too mad that your time together was being interrupted.

That was until Elijah insulted Damian.

"he's a butthead!" he pointed at Damian

"if you don’t shut it, I’m going to give you a new set of holes to breathe out of." Damian said glaring at Elijah again.

"Damian," you said sternly, bringing Elijah closer to you just in case.

After half an hour his mom finally came."oh I'm so glad I found him!" his mom said, hugging Ellijah close

"Mommy!" Elijah hugged her back, making you smile.

"oh I have to pay you back!" the woman spoke, pulling out a wad of cash from her wallet

"no thank you, ma'am, I'm fine I swear," you said, refusing

"no, I insist!" she tried handing it to you, only for you to push it away.

You backed off a little "It's completely free! he's a sweet guy!"

The woman finally gave up "Do you babysit?"

"Sometimes, yeah! Do you need my business card?" you started pulling one out of your purse

You guys fell into conversation, and Damian was growing impatient.

After another 30 minutes, you both packed up everything and went home.

The car ride was silent, unlike the other times when it was filled with laughter, chatting, and music.

Once you both got to the manor, you spoke up "What was that about?!"

Damian flinched at your sudden anger "What was what about?"

"Why did you threaten a 5-year-old?" you looked him in the eyes

He crossed his arms "he insulted me."

"he called you a buttface." You pointed out

"I stand by my point," Damian said

You put your hands on your hips "Why did you get so mad over a kid? he doesn't even know his numbers!"

"I don't see your point," Damian argued

"youre insuffuerable! I get why everyone calls you a demon." you grew angrier by the second.

"You an annoyance!" Damian stomped"why are you so stubborn, Peni?!" you yelled.

You both froze at the mention of her name.

You awkwardly made your way to your room, avoiding Damian's eyes.

You didn't notice how despite his angry face, there was a tint of sadness in his eyes.

you were in your room, processing what happened after a nice everything shower.

you were doing your skincare when you got a call from Noir.

"hey doll, do you mind taking care of peni for a bit?"

"of course! did anything happen?" you said, putting the call on speaker

"no, its just that peni's been asking to hang out with you for quite a while. plus, it'd be less worrying to go out on patrol and not be scared for her." in the backround, you could make out the sound of peni getting her things ready

"No problem, peni's an angel! what time will you be getting here?"

"is 15 minutes fine?"

"of course! is it a sleepover or just like a hangout?"

"sleepover."

"alright, ill see you both later."

you spent the next 15 minutes putting on your pjs and getting everything ready.

you prepared snacks and a movie night.

you were so ready for her to come over!

15 minutes had gone by when you heard the doorbell ring.

you ran through the dark, haunted looking walls.you pushed back Dick, who was also trying to get to the door.

"I'll get it!" you basically slammed yourself against the door.

you quickly recovered and opened the door.

"Noir!" you noticed how peni wasnt next to him like she usually was "wheres peni?"

"shes getting her stuff from the car."

"thats fine, come in!" you invited him in

"thanks."

alfred and noir made conversation, and you didnt notice damian basically stalking you all

you saw through the window that peni was on her way in. you jumped from your seat on the floor you will never be worthy enough for the family couch and opened the door for her.you spun peni into a hug

"Hi angel!"

Peni laughed, smiling at how tightly ypu were hugging her.

you didnt notice damian sneaking into your room.

As soon as he got there, he ran to your plushies.

Uour stupid plushies.

He pulled out his katana and started ripping them.

He had no idea why he'd done it, he just wanted to.

He made sure to focus on the Miguel plush, he was so mad that man took you away from them.

by the time you got back to your room with Peni not that far behind, you froze looking at the plusihies.

Damian didnt look guilty.

You dragged him away from the plushies, and dodging his kicks and punches as much as you could you scolded Damian "Why would you do that?"

he stayed silent, avoiding your eyes.

you slammed the door on his face and made your way to the plushies.

you held the now mangled miguel plush in your hands, and tried to not let out any tears.

Peni picked up your Miles plushie, which was now missing an eye and got an idea:

"I can probably fix this up, if youd like?"

"Actually?"

"Yeah! noir taught me how to sew a while ago."

She started fixing them and you finished setting up everything, still angry at Damian.

Why would he do this? He was the one who started all of this.everything started off great with him, what happened?

the more you thought of it, the more angry you got.

Meanwhile, Damian was in his room processing what he had done.

He didnt know why he did it exactly.

Could it be the jealousy?

Seeing you treat others that arent related to you like family?

Seeing you treat the little boy like the baby brother you never had?

Seeing you hold Peni and Peni not resisting?seeing how happy you were with her?

He's never felt so humiliated being kicked out of your room while companies over!

He had to apologize before peni could replace him before you hated him like you hated Alfred.

He made his way to your room and heard you and peni talking.

"She said i walk like a bitch, what does that even mean?!" a high pitched voice spoke, damian assumed came from the younger girl.

"Shes so annoying. i dont even know her and she sounds stupid." you said

"She is!" the high pitched voice spoke

Damian barged in.

He saw you painting peni's nails, and a movie playing in the background.

It was legally blonde, a movie he once caught Jason watching in his apartment.

an awkward silence passed by

You looked up at him "do you need something?"

"yes." he spoke up

"..well what is it?"

"i insist she leaves." Damian pointed to Peni

you quickly hid her behind you "She is not leaving."

"Y/n-" peni tried to interject, only to be cut off by you.

"Listen, damian, she isnt leaving. whatever you have to say, you can say it to my face."

"..Fine."he took a deep breath "i apologize." he muttered, ever so quietly.

"what was that?" you said, squatting down a bit to get to his level

"I apologize!" he put his head down in embarrassment

"Was that so hard?" You put you hands on your hipsyou took a deep breath "Okay, its whatever."

you continued "Im also sorry for getting so mad at you. and for calling you by Peni's name."

"You did what now?" Peni said, suprised.

"It's a long story." you started kicking damian out of your room.

The last thing he saw in your room was the now stitched up plushies.

As soon as he got out, you started talking to peni.

"Peni, please be careful around him."

Peni looked at you, confused "What do you mean?"

You opened a nail polish "He threatened a literal 5 year old."

Peni looked at you, bewildered "what?"

it was 3 in the morning when Peni got thirsty.

She knew that most likely, every one of your family members would be on patrol.

She started making her way out your room, making sure you didnt wake up.

Even though you were a heavy sleeper, she didnt wanna wake you up.

She knew her way around the manor, you've prevously hosted small get togethers with the spider-gang without anyone noticing.

As soon as she got to the kitchen, she noticed how damian was there.

She knew you had told her to be careful around him.

She tried sneaking around him, only for him to sneak up on her.

"Boo." Peni jumped at Damian scaring her.

"You scared me."

As she was about to yell at him, she felt something brush past her leg.

a little black and white cat.

"Awww, what a cutie!" She picked him up.

Damian was about to protest, knowing that alfred the cat usually would attack when picked up.

It caught him off guard how calm the cat was.

She put her hand out to him "I'm Peni."

He shook her hand "I know. Im Damian."

"He usually doesnt tolerate newcomers." He spoke

"Well, he can probably sense how i have a cat." Peni pet Alfred.

Damian's eyes lit up at her words "You do?"

"Yep! noir has a cat named Ding Ding, she's so sweet." Peni's eyes also lit up at being able to talk about it.

They both started talking about little cat facts, sitting on the kitchen floor.

They only stopped when they heard a certan voice.

"Can you guys shut up? It's literally 3 am." you rubbed your eyes, half asleep.

"Y-yeah, we'll be quiet, sorry." Peni prayed youd forget the warning you gave her to be careful around Damian.

You turned around to go back to bed, only to walk back when you remembered.

You started lightly scolding Peni about not hearing your warning, with Damian trying not to laugh.

Peni glared at Damian and spoke up "listen, im fully unharmed, see?"

You realised you were overreacting and took a deep breath. "youre right, im sorry. i just got all worried."

you quickly bear hugged her "Im so sorry angel, I wont do this again!"

"Y/n!" Peni laughed as quietly as she could.

"C'mon guys, lets head to bed." You picked them both up by the scruff of the neck, suprising Damian

"Put me down at once! Stop this nonsense!" He tried thrashing around.

He looked at Peni to see if she was doing the same thing, only to see her acting like this was normal between them.

You dropped Damian off at his room and brought peni to yours.

Damian ended up sneaking into your room an hour later

oh my god this is ass lmfao

if it feels rushed thats cause it was i was loosing motavation to finish this

im sososo sorry for the mistakes its like 3 am rn

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[shoukokus]

After chapter 6 I just love the sound of Vil aggressively giving Yuu a signed autographed picture of himself. Yuu is neutral on it but Vil pushes so hard they feel like they have to take it from him.

Yuu: maybe the real autographed picture is the friends we made along the way

prefect/vil schoenheit

Vil never liked to leave a favor unpaid. After Styx where he was admittedly saved, he had a debt. With Rook and Epel, it was simple. He was able to see them regularly, and swoop in when an opportunity presented itself. The Prefect however, was proving to be a challenge.

Every thing he came up with didn't seem right. Simply helping them with schoolwork, the group effort everyone put into Ramshackle, inviting them to dine at Pomefiore... None of it was the correct way in Vil's opinion. It had to be something real, something the Prefect could always see and think of him. In a completely platonic way, of course. Not in a, I'm starting to see you and I like it, way. Obviously...

He hums to himself as an idea begins to form in his mind.

The next day after classes, Vil finds the Prefect in the courtyard with their circle of friends. It was quite impressive, he has to admit, that they found such companionship despite the circumstances. Even Epel, of his own dorm, found solace with the magicless Prefect.

Vil approaches elegantly, standing directly in front of his target as the others watched with baited breath. "Come with me for a moment."

Standing stiffly, they follow, even as a chorus of "oohs" and "they're in trouble," sounded behind them. Turning corners, Vil leads them to a quieter hallway, and finally presents the perfect way to repay the debt.

"Uh," the Prefect takes it, looking a lot less ecstatic than Vil would have thought. "Thank you... what is it?"

That question nearly shatters Vil's perfectly crafted image, but he grits his teeth. They're from another world... they just didn't understand the significance yet. "It is an autographed photo of myself," Vil explains with pride. "From one of my most exclusive magazine shoots. This particular picture wasn't used in the edition, but I kept it, because I look so stunning."

"Yeah..." The Prefect nods as they examine the photo, looking much too confused still. "It's nice."

"N..Nice?" Vil is starting to look a little scary. "That photo alone is worth thousands of thaumarks. With the autograph, maybe triple!"

Something finally seemed to click in their eyes as they looked down at the picture, then back up to Vil. Mouth slightly agape, Vil feels like he's finally gotten through. Until they speak.

"You know I'll help you out anytime, right?"

"You... what?" Vil was flabbergasted at that response.

The Prefect smiles. A dazzling smile so disarming that even he can see the raw charm they possessed. "I don't need anything from you, Vil. I wanted to go to Styx to help, not to..." They gently wave the photo. "Get things from you guys."

This time, Vil was well and truly speechless. They truly were an interesting, little one...

"So, here," they try to hand the picture back. "I don't need a prize for doing what's right."

"Absolutely not." Vil crosses his arms. "Keep it, I insist."

A small pout forms on their lips, and Vil tries not to think of how cute it looks. "Take it, Vil."

Turning his nose away, the Pomefiore dorm leader doubles down. "You are keeping it."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

The back and forth continues, and will probably stay that way for the foreseeable future. At least until Vil find the perfect way to tell them the real reason he wants a picture of himself with them at all times.

[em1989ts]

𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 - 𝐩𝐭 2

part one. main masterlist

word count: 2.6k

summary: after meeting five in the apocalypse, the two of you have a hard time living together. can the two of you control your tempers for one particularly cold winter night to save your lives?

contains: smut so 18+! (reader and five are both 5 years into the apocalypse so they are both eighteen) grinding, dry humping, fingering

author's note: yikes, my first smut. my inbox is open and i'm taking requests!! id love to hear some ideas :) I really wanted to upload this quickly so it's not proofread but eventually i'll edit it . . . but hopefully you guys like this, enjoy!

Living with this stranger definitely changed your life. Whether it was for better or for worse, you had no idea. 

The two of you walked for about an hour to his base, with very little verbal interaction reflecting the very little trust between each other. 

After a little bit of prying on your part, you managed to extract a bit more background information about this guy who you would now be surviving alongside. 

His name was Five Hargreeves. 

He had six siblings. 

They had super powers. 

They were a team of superheroes formed by their father. 

When he first told you, you chuckled through the bandana over your mouth and nose, but he didn’t display the same humor. 

“Wait, you’re serious?”

“Why would I not be?” 

“Well maybe you just went cuckoo here and made up some super stupid backstory!” You replied, pretty certain that he was just nuts. 

Then all of a sudden, he disappeared. 

You jumped at a flash of blue light that suddenly appeared next to you. When you looked back to the area where he was standing, he was gone. 

Looking around frantically, your eyes searched the dusty highway for any signs of him. But there was nothing. 

Was he even there to begin with? Was he just a figment of your overactive imagination? 

Your breathing grew heavy once again as you panicked, then suddenly that blue light and he was right back in his spot next to you, looking amused at your eyes that were wide with shock. 

“Maybe you’re the one who’s cuckoo,” he said with a smug voice. You punched him in the shoulder before the two of you continued walking. 

~~~~ 

His base was interesting, to say the least. 

He had found a building that had only remnants of its walls intact, no roof, and used tarps to makeshift a roof and to cover the enormous gaps in the concrete. 

It didn’t look trustworthy by any means, you’d probably be better off sleeping in cars like you’ve been doing for the past five years. 

He lifted one of the tarps covering a significantly large hole in the wall and crawled in, letting it fall on you as you follow in behind him. You scoffed as you followed his lead. 

He surprisingly had a good stash of resources. Several canned foods, boxes of pasta, and cases of water were stacked in a corner. A makeshift fireplace was in the middle, with a pot leaning next to the circle of rocks. 

There was a small space in the corner. It consisted of what looked like a bundle of tarps and ashy blankets and pillows. You knew whatever happened to the world pretty much converted everything to dust, but he must’ve found those in cars, which somehow withstood some of the fire.

Since you had been sleeping in cars, you collect a couple of sleeping supplies you had found over the years. Thank fuck people decided to road trip before they perished or else you would have frozen to death ages ago. 

You began unpacking your bag and wagon, but you could feel his eyes watching you intently. 

Once you got settled, you didn’t really know what to do to break the unnerving awkward silence, he just sat there staring. You would tell him to take a picture since that would last longer but you're pretty sure there were no surviving cameras in the apocalypse.

The sun had set about twenty minutes ago, leaving the base to get darker as night grew closer. 

He made his way over to the fire pit, and took out a lighter from one of his pockets. When he went to light the wood aflame, the lighter wouldn’t spark. He tried for a while until you couldn’t bear watching the pathetic scene anymore. You took one of the new lighters you had just grabbed today and handed it over to him. He scoffed and snatched it out of your hand, then lit the fire in one try before tossing it on the ground and quickly walking away. 

You were taken aback by his childish actions. Sure, he was alone for years and only had himself to rely on, but now you were here so he shouldn’t be this upset to ask for help with a simple task. 

“You know,” you started with an annoyed tone, “the only reason I’m here is so we can work together.” 

“I don’t need you or your help,” he snapped. 

You cocked your head, not offended but amused. You found his self-reliance ridiculous. 

Sure, it would’ve done him wonders if he truly was the only person on Earth, having no one but himself to rely on. 

But he wasn’t. 

And you sure as hell couldn’t go back to the way things were before. 

If the two of you had decided that you could continue to survive on your own once again, you would drive yourselves mad knowing that there was another human to talk to, that someone else was out there alive and that you weren’t alone. 

You had to stay together to keep yourselves sane. 

“Fine.” 

You had too long of a day to even bother arguing with him. He’d either get used to you or die trying. 

You got up from the dusty ground and tossed yourself on his soft makeshift bed, comfortably taking over. He groaned frustratingly loud, and he tossed his head back and walked outside to get away from the bothersome girl he now had to deal with. 

~~~ 

A few months had passed since Five had encountered the girl at the gas station. That was the last thing he expected when he went out for more supplies that day. 

He definitely never thought he would have to share his hard earned food supply, water supply, and base with her, but that’s exactly what happened. 

She was impossible. She was incredibly sarcastic. She was such a pain. 

And of course, she was a nobody. This meant whenever she got bored of staring into her gross canned beans during those nights by the fire, she would ask about his past. 

He had already told her everything she needed to know, but she kept prying about how he got here, what life was like as a superhero, how his family was. At first, he would ignore her, or at least change the topic to distract her empty mind, but eventually he decided he could tell her little by little. He didn’t trust her, but he knew she wouldn’t try to kill him again. 

Initially, he wasn’t thrilled about being stuck with a girl. He was focused on survival, and his alone. But he quickly realized she was incredibly capable of surviving in this long gone world. Hell, she could’ve shot him dead that first day, yet she didn’t. 

He had been faced with the barrel of a gun several times in his life, yet he’d never felt the way he had when his life rested in the twitch of your finger. 

Your anger did something to him. He blamed it on his teenage hormones, but he couldn’t get enough of when you would pounce at him with a clenched fist. He enjoyed bumping into you purposefully, tripping you, picking you up just to toss you away from him. His constant scowl only hid his raging smirk every time you would get up close, letting him see every detail of your face, how your pupils dilated with intense anger, just to yell about how selfish he was, knowing you were just as guilty. 

If surviving on your own in the end of the world wasn’t hard enough, providing for two was nearly impossible. You had to be extremely cautious about your rations, conserving your intake only to what was deemed necessary. Oftentimes, the two of you would steal from each other when no one was watching, which would piss them off horribly, leading to even more fights. If starvation didn’t kill you, your deadly attitudes would. 

Your tempers had gone through the roof once you started living together. 

Walking away from a fight would call for a knife to be thrown at you behind your back. A snarky comment would result in a hand coming in and punching over your meal. 

While neither of you were going out of your way to deliberately kill the other, you sure wouldn’t mind if it accidentally happened. 

When the nights got colder, and autumn turned to winter, the wind would pick up, making it extremely difficult for the tarps to trap any heat into the base. No matter what the two of you did, the constant flapping drove you insane, and you had already been ticked off when he ignored every single idea you had. His bright idea of just stretching the tarp tight enough over the biggest gap in the whole base led to it ripping right in half, letting the winds fly in with no other tarp big enough to replace it. 

“Great job, you dumb fuck,” you muttered as you turned to the fire, which was too small for its warmth to be felt from the beds. 

Your nose felt like it was about to fall off, your fingers felt like nothing, and your lips were blue. You had put on every layer you could find and it still wasn’t enough. Surely, this was the harshest winter you’d experienced in the apocalypse. 

You had usually been fine sleeping in cars, but every single one within a mile radius had been completely destroyed. The two of you would let out your violent rage on the vehicles rather than each other. 

Five had stared at you from his spot by the hole in the wall, snowflakes freckling his face, holding the remains of the tarp. He did his best to cover as much as he could with the pieces then made his way over to you. He noticed how red your cheeks were, and how pale the rest of you was. You had sat down by the fire and dropped your chin between your knees. 

“We’re not surviving this winter,” you said solemnly. You weren’t necessarily giving up, you would still do what you could, but you had little hope in yourself. Morale was hard to build these days, especially when all you wished was to throw yourself into the fire for even a moment of warmth. 

For Five, giving in to the cold wasn’t an option. Not in the slightest. 

He had an idea, maybe a bold one, but if it meant living to see another spring then he would do it. He walked over to the bed and grabbed as much as he could grab. The tarps, blankets, and pillows stuffed under his arms until he couldn’t fit anymore, and he dropped them right next to you by the fire and started laying them out. 

You lifted your head up slightly and displayed a curious arch in your brow as you watched him remake his bed on the ground. The idea was so obvious you cursed yourself for not thinking of it first. 

As you were getting up to grab your bed supplies, a freezing hand pulled you back down and into him. You caught your balance with your hand on his jacketed shoulder, “What the hell?-” 

“Just listen to me,” he cut you off, “The only way either of us is gonna last the night is if we use our body heat. The fire’s going to help but it won’t be enough.”

You scowled, was that seriously the only option? 

Instead of letting you take your sweet time to contemplate whether or not it was worth it to cuddle with him for your life, he tugged you into him and laid down with you. 

His arms wrapped around your front as he held you against his chest, and holy fuck, it felt as if you had been leaning against a furnace. His heat warmed you up quickly, and you brought a blanket up to your chin to keep that heat locked in. 

The proximity of the two of you was what kept you from falling asleep immediately. His chin resting in your neck made you feel something you didn’t want to admit you felt about Five. His arms around your waist made you want him to move his hands just a little bit lower. 

You had an idea that could get you killed. 

While pretending to adjust and get comfortable, you gently grinded your ass against him, trying to get a reaction. 

Immediately, you could feel his arms tighten around you, and a bulge was already pressing into you. 

He leaned closer to your ear and growled quietly, “What do you think you’re doing?” 

You turned your neck to look at him, performing with the sweetest eyes you could display, “Just getting comfortable.” 

Your lips were inches away from his, yet neither of you made a move to close the gap. Five still looked at you with skeptical eyes even though he knew exactly what you had planned. 

Once you moved your hips again, a little harder, he pressed his face into your shoulder as he sighed and repeated the action. 

You let out a quiet groan, enjoying the pressure, yet you brought the blanket up over your mouth to muffle it, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. 

He picked up his pace, lowering his hands to hold your hips firm, rolling them against his. The blush on your face grew even more red, and you could feel beads of sweat forming on your forehead. 

His grip was tight, his groans were getting louder, and it felt like you really had frozen to death because this felt like heaven. 

His hand crawled through your layered sweatpants as he reached between your legs. As his cold fingers reached the spot you needed him most, you almost cried out, desperately needing the pressure. 

His other hand moved from your waist, traveled under your sweatshirts, and found its place on your breast. The freezing touch had such a strong sensation, and the pressure felt so good. 

“Please,” you let out, knowing you’d be kicking yourself later for sounding so painfully desperate, “I need more.” 

He moaned in your ear as his bulge pushed harder against you, “We can’t.” 

“Please,” you pleaded, as his fingers circled your clit.

God, you felt pathetic but it felt so good. 

He groaned as he gathered your wetness. 

“It isn’t safe,” he said, disappointed at the fact that you just couldn’t risk that in the apocalypse. 

Before you could beg, he plunged his long fingers into you, soft moans spilling from your throat at the motions. 

His actions grew faster and so did his panting, you knew he was getting close and you were too. 

You turned your neck to face him, looking up at his flush face. He met your dazed eyes, admiring how your face glowed with pleasure. His eyes locked onto your lips as he moved closer and captured them with his. 

Moaning into each other's mouths was just too much for you both, as he came in his sweatpants as you came around his fingers. He let you both ride out your highs before he gently pulled out his fingers. 

He looked at you unusually sweetly, and as you turned to ask what that face was about he shoved his fingers into your mouth, sliding your juices onto your tongue, letting you taste yourself. 

You were surprised initially and groaned at the action, then bit his fingers which caused him to scowl and quickly pull them out. 

“This doesn’t change anything.” 

“Of course not.” 

~~~

tags: @groovydazephantom

[writingsofanomnivore]

Back to school- Kuroo x fem! reader

genre; pure fluff

words- 0.6k

these lovely dividers are by @thecutestgrotto

warning: none. grammar mistakes, I'll edit once I've slept enough :(

Your husband has been acting a bit weird this past week. Notes everywhere, cheeks heating up, quiet mumbles. something is up. wait what- he has a crush on you?

You knew your husband was a dork. All those years of high school, teenage years, when you were dating—when you weren’t—just proved how big of a sap he is.

But lately, something was off.

Not in a bad way—if anything, it was sweet—but it was... odd. The sudden blushes when you kissed his cheek. The meek little "thank you" when you handed him his lunch. The way his face lit up whenever you called him your husband. And the notes—so many notes—stuck on your fridge, your nightstand, even your laptop.

Kuroo had always been a loving husband—the kind to bring you breakfast in bed on his day off, surprise you with flowers, and wrap you in his arms like a human koala whenever he got the chance. But this? This past week? It’s like you’re back in high school.

In fact, he wasn’t even this shy back then. The playful banter to make you think he didn’t like you, the teasing—it was all normal. So, this? This surely left you wondering. You would have thought he lost a bet had it not been those lovesick eyes of his. But that doesn't mean you'll leave this as is. Something is definitely up.

instance 1:

"Hey, can you open this?"

"Sure."

Smooch.

"Thanks." A kiss lands on your target's right cheek, which immediately turns abnormally red as he mumbles, "No problem!" he squeaks, speed walking out of the room.

This again?

instance 2:

The time you caught him staring at you in the morning before work.

"Take a picture; it lasts longer."

His eyes widen like you just caught him committing a crime. "I wasn’t staring."

You raise a brow. "Oh? So you just happened to be awake before me, watching me sleep, and then turning beet red when I open my eyes?"

Kuroo groans and buries his face in the pillow. "Let me have this."

You grin.

Oh, you were definitely going to make this worth while.

You considered letting it slide for a while, just to see how far it would go. Turns out? a whole long week more.

One lazy Wednesday afternoon, with nothing better to do, you’re curled up on the couch together, Kuroo’s face buried in the crook of your neck. The aircon is on- his warm body on you when he sighs against your skin and mumbles,

"I think I’ve got a crush on you."

Your heart skips.

You blink. "What?"

His head tilts up slightly, lips brushing your collarbone. A barely audible heavy sigh later . "I’ve got a crush on you."

You pull back to look at him properly. "You." A chuckle escapes you. "You? You have a crush on me? Your wife of three years?"

"Uh-huh." His expression is painfully sincere. "Have you seen yourself lately? The way you take down those fuzzy crawlers—"

"Spiders?"

"Yeah, those demons. And the way you haul all the groceries in one trip? And how you completely shut down Mamiya-san when he was being an ass to Yukito-kun?"

You squint. "And that made you fall in love with me again?"

"How does that not play into it? You’re unfairly attractive, and I am but a weak, foolish old man caught in your spell."

Chuckling, you pull him in a hug as a not so small smile spreads on your face.

"So that’s what the notes and flowers were for." You pause, grinning. "So what will you do now, Mr. Infatuated Rooster?"

He puffs out his chest. "Woo you back, obviously. Can’t let someone snatch you away from this old man."

His bravado should be ridiculous, but then he adds, softer this time—"You’re going to be with me till my last breath… and the life after."

Your breath catches.

Heat rises to your cheeks, your heartbeat stuttering in your chest as you only nod.

Maybe you’ll be the one with a crush next.

Forgot to tag: thank you @dira333 for the spider and grocery idea 😭

[choerypetal]

Hide and Seek / Homelander

(pt 2. of Meet and Greet)

summary ; In part two of the meet and greet, Homelander's obsession reaches new heights, leaving him unsatisfied at his core and willing to do anything to make you his.

!! read part one first! ; !!

ps; english isn't my first language so i apologize for any grammar mistakes, xo' (as it will be eventually corrected if needed)

tag list; @private-eye-on-you ; @lins-shenanigans ; @horrorxgorewhore @siredtom ; @certain-tragedies ; @hotchners-wifey ; @naelis-open-sea

enjoy xo'

Homelander's comment, 'You look lovely in the costume,' lingered in your mind for a week. You couldn't escape his presence. His silhouette, his maddeningly perfect face seemed to follow you everywhere—from your usual coffee shop to the special limited editions of The Vought, and even as you continued watching the show for longer periods of time. From Deep's special cupcakes to the coffee most loved by Homelander, his influence was everywhere, not just keeping the city alive but himself as well.

Although you didn't realize it, Homelander had become just as obsessed with you as he was with seeing his own face on the cup you were holding. From a distance, he watched your every move—the way your plump lips touched the cup, how you drank your coffee, and even how you covered his image with your hand. Despite finding your behavior an offense, he knew he’d eventually have to tease about it. The sadistic man that he was, wasn’t afraid to even acknowledge it. Especially during their weekly Seven meetings. 

"So, I suggest we review some new recruits," Ashley said, her nervousness palpable. She wanted to please not only the public but, most importantly, Homelander. This was no easy task given recent events and the current situation. Homelander's obvious boredom showed his lack of interest, and Deep, poor thing, was just as disinterested, staring blankly at the screen and agreeing with whatever Homelander mumbled. However, Deep was secretly relieved not to have any of John’s powers. Especially right now. Because, at that exact moment, it was your face, and your face alone, that occupied his thoughts. Murmuring your name under his breath, he was fortunate not to get caught up in the moment. That of course, when a single cough from Ashley’s mouth was enough to slip his mind elsewhere. 

"You know, Ashley, just pick whoever you think will fit for now. Sign their papers. My brain is going to fucking explode from this hell hole," he said, standing up without even glancing at her. Not even Ashley's whiny complaints about the complications it might cause could stop him. He paused, considering for a moment that she might convince him. "Don't come to me for the next 24 hours," he snapped, his piercing blue eyes conveying a clear threat. When wasn't he a threat, anyway? "Or I'll personally fuck up every single one of you." That was enough to make her quickly nod in response. Poor thing, she only wanted to make him proud. A satisfied grin played on his lips, mirrored by Ashley's, though hers was a little more nervous. His, however, was genuine. 

You, on the other hand, had been fortunate enough not to see Homelander's face for a while. From the bookstore you frequented to the coffee shop, his presence seemed to pervade your life. Your mother didn’t help either, as she insisted on framing a picture of you with him in the living room—a gesture Homelander found endearing. On some nights, he would see you through the window, dressed in your pajamas, reading whatever caught your interest, with that picture always in the background. Unlike Homelander, it haunted your dreams.  

Deep down, Homelander struggled to resist the urge to invade your personal space, not wanting to frighten you. However, when he saw your forced smile at the meet and greet, he was reminded that a smile meant nothing to him. To him and you alone. It was your scent that drove him wild. At first, he considered going undercover, posing as one of your father’s coworkers, but he realized it would be futile. Why cover his own shame, when he could let his ego take it over?

So, he waited until sunrise. When he could finally entered your room, imagining you in your shortest pajamas, which hugged your curves so perfectly, he had to bite his bottom lip to control himself. Just by the thought of his fingers sinking into your flesh as you leaned toward him for more...

"Goodbye, Mom!" Your voice echoed in Homelander's mind as he realized he'd been lurking around your house since last night. He had been trying to dismiss, the missed call records provided by Ashley, however, unable to ignore them. Fortunately, he was hidden well enough that you didn’t notice him as you exited the house.

Your hair meticulously washed, your skin fresh with makeup, and that dress. Never in a thousand years, aside from his own enemies, did Homelander think he would become so obsessed with someone. He wanted to chuckle to himself at the irony, knowing he wasn’t being the most subtle superhero. When your gaze shifted toward his hiding spot, he quickly concealed himself behind a tree, exhaling in relief when you shrugged off the feeling of being watched. You then left for work, something Homelander knew all too well. This also meant he could meet your mother, who, after all, was his biggest fan. 

Fortunately, you managed to get through the day without a single client yelling at you. However, what you didn’t expect was an unexpected visit from the man himself. As you approached the door, you overheard some mumbling. Did your mother have a visitor today? 

And then it hit you.

Hearing the all-too-familiar voice say, "Oh, these look lovely," with a genuine smile, you froze in your tracks. Seeing your mother so happy, even more thrilled than a fangirl, like she’d seen god himself. She noticed you immediately. "My dear! Look who came to visit," she exclaimed, taking you into her arms for a hug. Before you could greet the guest, your eyes met his—Homelander, in your own home. 

"No need for theatrics, ma’am," he said with a casual chuckle, hushed by his own hand as he munched on the cookies your mother had made, casually wiping a droplet of milk with his thumb. Your mother giggled and said, "Mother is the name. We don’t have to get formal, right darling?" You blinked twice, hardly believing what you were hearing. Your mother was genuinely making Homelander feel comfortable, right inside your home. Given what you knew from your coworkers and the constant rumors, it was hard not to be creeped out by the thought that he might have done more than just a knock on the door that evening. Yet, you shrugged it off, thinking that perhaps playing the same game he did might be what he wanted after all. Like a cat and a mouse. 

There was a brief pause, then an idea sparked in your mother’s eyes as she looked at John one last time. "Why don’t you stay for dinner? Tonight is roasted chicken and mashed potatoes." How could he refuse? Spending more time with you was just the beginning of his obsession with protecting you and never letting you out of his sight. He smiled, his grin seemingly bigger than before, and nodded. "If Y/N doesn’t mind?" he said, his gaze shifting to you with a more serious expression. You gulped nervously, knowing you couldn’t just say no. "Yes—yes, of course," you stuttered. Oh, how adorable you looked.

“Then, make yourself at home dear.” 

Dinner was only just a few hours from now, with your father now back from work had asked for a personal photo with the Homelander, and a talk John appreciated more. Considering his own father exiling him completely, it was a breath of fresh air for him, especially when he’d be glancing a few times at you, doing whatever you had in mind before the dinner. “My daughter is going to be working for us,” your father would be saying proudly, Homelander could only nod listening actively. “She’d do a great addition I am certain.” his gaze now meeting yours immediately, when you gaze up from your book, he could notice a light shade of pink coming your cheeks. Cherishing it a little too much when your father’s voice then abrupt his mind, “She’s beautiful isn’t she?” he’d said a little too proud. 

She is indeed… Homelander thought to himself that same night. Just by how attentive he was with you. Even if it wasn’t  much of a conversation shared, the glances were enough to please him alone. Which during the dinner, he was not afraid to show. 

Dinner had passed rather quickly, you were glad it did. Considering you listening to whatever nonsense Homelander had to offer to keep your mother so relonctent toward him. Let alone, praise him as a her own god. Boosting an ego, to whom you couldn’t comprehend yourself, and that Homelander was sure to make it seem tonight. 

"Thank you so much for dinner, truly," Homelander said, wiping the corners of his mouth, his eyes never leaving you. Your mother’s gasp was enough to momentarily distract him, and he asked if everything was alright. She quickly assured him it was and invited him to stay until her cake was done baking. Naturally, John didn't decline the offer. "Y/N," your mother called your attention just as you were about to excuse yourself, "how about you give a little tour of the house? I'm sure Homelander would appreciate it." The formality of his name seemed daunting, but John quickly corrected her. "John it is. No need to be formal, now, do we?" A shiver crawled down your spine as your mother’s eyes gleamed with hope, her slender fingers clapping together. "Oh, well, of course! Now, Y/N, make yourself useful and make John feel at home." 

A sigh escaped your lips; there was no way to avoid this, was there? "Yes, of course. Where do you want to start?" Your eyes never left his, feeling yourself getting lost in them, becoming his little mouse to play with. "How about..." he began, his eyes wandering as if he couldn’t be bothered to think. "The bedroom," he finally said. You blinked twice, a third time to fully process his words. "What?" you replied, incredulous. He chuckled, amused by your reaction, and shrugged off the question as if he hadn’t meant it seriously. "Nah, kidding. Lead the way," he said. 

So you did. You felt his shadow hovering over you as you both walked through the house for a little tour. John was no longer hiding his presence, leaning in closer to you. You could feel his breath. By the time you reached your bedroom, the tour was complete, and your mother’s cake would be ready. However, John had something else in mind, and he wasn’t shy about showing it. “And this is the bedroom,” you said nonchalantly, hearing an obvious scoff from him. 

"Funny, isn’t it?" he said, this time his tone serious enough to make your muscles tense. His back was to you as his fingers touched the doorknob, ready to close the door. And he did, pausing momentarily. "Finally, we meet again." His remark made you tilt your head. Meet again? As far as you knew, he had been stalking you all along. But knowing who he was—Homelander, with his omniscience and twisted games—you had no say in the matter. Neither did you, especially after hearing his chuckle. 

“Now why so quiet?” the question was enough to make you unsease. You wanted to tell him, to oppose to him. But you couldn’t he was now yours to torment completely. When he leaned further, scoffing once more by your vulnerability. In that precise moment, Homelander knew he won. 

“Heard you were a good, fuck.” his voice so nonchanltly, a gasp leaving from your mouth as you were unable to speak more than standing right in front of him. How his eyes would wondered around your figure, approaching near to you, his fingers now leaning toward your waist. Gripping by its touch, hungry to fuck you there, in the bed. Raw. 

"Thank you?" you stammered, eager to please him. His grin broadened, fighting not to turn into a frown at your response. He was so satisfied that he gently caressed your cheek with his other finger. "You need me, not just to save you, but to satisfy you." Though your heart was broken, you were a toy Homelander cherished without fear. You were his perfect little toy, as he began to lick his bottom lip, his breath drawing closer, closing the gap between you. "Mine," he growled, his voice hoarse, undeniably hinting at his intentions. He was Homelander, able to do whatever he wanted. And that included you being his. "Got it, little mouse?"

Oh, how he longed to watch you squirm between his legs, begging for more, moaning his name. His persistence knew no bounds; he would do anything—from leaving bite marks to scratches, and even hickeys if necessary. But he couldn't just stand there without having a little fun, right?

"You see," he said, his voice dripping with teasing malice. Disgust welled up in your mouth, but you fought the urge to look away. He loved watching you squirm, the fear in your eyes fueling his twisted envy of every inch of you. "How about we play a little game tonight, hmm?" His thumb brushed gently over your chin, lifting your gaze to meet his.

"W-what game?" you managed to say, breaking your long silence. Even he was momentarily surprised, but your stutter made it worth it. "Hide and seek," he said, pausing for effect. "You hide, and I seek. If I find you, you're mine. Got that?"

You gave a quick nod, followed by a satisfied smile from him. "Good then, I'll start counting. One, two..." You hesitated for a moment, just as his grip shifted from your waist to your arm, preventing you from fleeing your own home. When your eyes met his, they were dark with passion, lust, and a desire to capture his little mouse until its very last breath. "Run..."

Little mouse.”

[dellieghtful]

LADS: Under One Roof

🍓A/N: No thoughts at all! Wrote this thru free-will and solely based on a video I saw on instagram lol hope you'd like this one! Banners (?) were all edited by me, kind of rushed since the idea for this was a spur-of-the-moment as well lol

p.s.: some scenes here are suggestive so ‼️MDNI‼️

SYNOPSIS: In which you left for a top secret mission and left them to handle a few of your household chores. Simple and easy enough, right?

📍Characters: Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, Caleb (separate)

I'll be out for a couple of days on a secret mission! I'll contact you guys when I get the chance! See you soon!

Was what the note plastered on your apartment door had written. Although they all knew you'd be out for a couple of days on a top secret mission, what they didn't expect was that you'd asked a specific favor for each one while you were away.

"So, that leaves," Caleb starts, flipping through the little piece of paper attached to your fridge about chores that had to he dealt with while you were away. "Laundry for Caleb, groceries for Rafayel, general cleaning for Zayne, water plants for Xavier, and bills payment for Sylus. Sounds just about right, and everyone's got their own spare keys to this place, right?"

Caleb asks, raising his gaze and eyeing each man, who were sharing the now-small living room space, to which each one pulled out their spare keys to affirm they've received theirs. "I'm surprised everyone had the free-time to show-up," Sylus says, as he leisurely makes his way to the single-couch near the apartment's entrance. "Just goes to show kitten's got us wrapped right around her little finger. Well, some more than others". He continued as he had taken his seat, crossing one leg over the other and carefully resting his arms on the couch's armrest, calm and relaxed as he should be. After all, who would Sylus be if he wasn't both of those things?

Caleb couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the comment, already understanding there was a hidden meaning behind Sylus' words. As Caleb was about to retort, Zayne cut himself in-between the conversation.

"She's been gone for less than a day. Surely, we can all agree that it is in our best interest to follow through with our roles without hassle" Zayne states from across the room, sitting on the right edge of the couch situated in the middle of the room while wiping his glasses clean. "After all, it's just five days without her presence. I'm sure we can all find a common ground".

"Right, and we don't exactly have to be living under the same roof. We have the keys so we don't have to go running after each other just to access her apartment." Caleb pointed out, walking towards the fridge and putting a magnet on top of the paper to keep it in place. "Plus, doing laundry for every single one of you isn't my ideal picture of a week-long break from duties."

"I can barely even tolerate living on my own, how much more with four other people?" Rafayel grumbled, not seeming to care with the on-going conversation as he taps and swipes on his phone, seated in-between Zayne and Xavier. "If this is done, I'm heading out. I'm dying to paint out a new piece to give to cutie once she comes home."

"Then it's settled, we won't stay here far longer than we should and just get on with what we're supposed to do." Xavier concluded, getting off the couch and preparing to take his leave. "We'll get along just fine as long as we don't get in each other's way."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sylus' responds, eyeing Xavier with a smirk plastered on his face. "Jail sounds likes a shallow place for my time and taste. I mean, if you could hold enough power to take me in."

Xavier felt a twitch in his body, already prepared to pick-up a fight with the other silver-haired man who sat right across from him. Zayne couldn't help but sigh and rub both sides of his temples to somehow ease the incoming headache of having to deal with all four men within a span of a week. Even as a doctor, his patience and level-headed coolness could only span so much within a day.

"I'll make a group chat for all of us to share. It should be a lot easier to reach out that way. I'm sure we'll take our responsibilities with upmost care". Zayne finally spoke, cutting through the growing tension in the air as he also prepares to leave, slowly getting off the comfort of the couch and reaching towards the coat rack near the entrance of the apartment.

"Besides, what would be the worst possible outcome that will come out of this small truce?" and he opens the door and closes it shut, leaving the four other men on their own.

XAVIER

Water the plants, simple and easy right? Wrong! Xavier actually spent HALF THE WEEK watering the fake and plastic plants. Now, Xavier's got crusty-dusty pot plants and a well-watered table ornaments. Didn't even bother checking if the plants were fake or not as long as he finished the job.

"Xavier, are you sure you've been watering the plants right?" Caleb called on the phone while Xavier was out for his morning run.

"Yeah, why? The one's in the bathroom, kitchen, and living room. Those are the plants I've seen her tend to while I visit".

"Dude. Oh my God," As Caleb runs through the apartment checking the places where Xavier mentioned the plants he watered were located. "Those were fake. Those were table ornaments. Come on, didn't you even bother to check?"

"Oh."

"And wait, you visit her here? Since when?"

Xavier didn't think twice and ended the call, quickly running towards the direction of Jeremiah's flowershop.

Xavier did manage to replace the plants but, unfortunately not the exact same plants you had kept BUT it belonged to the same plant family. So, that counts right? Surely, you'd never tell the blues from the greens...right?

To salvage his sins, he tried to learn as much as he could about horticultural techniques in hopes he could salvage what was left of your original plants. Even had gone as far as using his evol to initiate photosynthesis. But, of course, nothing ever goes as planned.

"Caleb".

"Xavier." Caleb replied on the other end of the phone.

"Do you think your evol could fix up broken pieces of, let's say, an apartment building?"

"No, why? Did something happen? I'll be right there. Just give me-" But before Caleb could continue, Xavier ended the call and dialed a different number this time.

"Jeremiah."

"Xavier?"

"As a florist, is rebuilding an apartment part of your skill sets?" Xavier asks as he stares at the now-very open portion of what's left of your kitchen wall. Surely, he'll figure something out before anyone gets here.

ZAYNE

Zayne stays committed to the work he's assigned regardless of where he's placed. He makes sure to clean your apartment and arranges everything in the right place such as your paperworks, books, food cans, and basically anything he can sort by color, size, and shape.

On occassions if any of the other guys would visit, he'd somehow end up cleaning after them too. Jackets and coats on the couch? Folded. Leftover snack packs? Tossed out. He makes sure everything in your home is clean and organized.

BUT Zayne should have definitely kept his mouth shut, he should have never offered to create the group chat, and he should have definitely chosen to ignore strings of messages and the numerous group chats he has somehow tangled himself into. Besides, what would be the worst possible outcome that will come out of this small truce? For the love of God. How did he even end up in this situation?

For some reason, Zayne also became everyone's designated driver? For a man who spent YEARS learning about the human anatomy to save lives, who would've thought he'd be demoted as everyone's designated driver.

Between going to the hospital, his home, and travelling towards your apartment, Zayne already has his day packed. So much to his surprise (well, not really), he comes to see your apartment's kitchen with a huge hole in the wall. Great, one problem piling over another.

"No, I don't even want to hear it." Zayne says, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes tightly, hoping what he saw was just a trick of the light. But, no. There IS a huge hole in your kitchen wall.

"You know what, no. I don't want to know how or why, Xavier. I'm going to get coffee, I need a really long break. Fix, whatever you can fix." And Zayne storms off to the nearest convenience store to buy the strongest dose of coffee money could buy at 10:00AM.

RAFAYEL

Does he even do his own groceries? Not entirely. More or less, Thomas would do half the work with Rafayel following nearby (if he decides to not entirely abandon Thomas at the supermarket in pursuit of better things). Unfortunately, despite the main occupation as being "Rafayel's talent agent", Thomas works for multiple roles in Rafayel's life.

"Okay, that's milk, chips, and vegetables..." Thomas pauses over the phone as he skims through the handwritten list from Rafayel. "What kind of vegetables do you need?"

"Oh you know," Rafayel pauses on the other end, busy adding final touches to his new piece that he plans to give to you as soon as you return from your mission. "The ones with colors".

"Be more specific Rafayel, you know vegetables have tons of colors".

"The ones with shapes, you know what they are". Rafayel says on the other end, brimming with joy as his work is finally getting together. "She likes all kinds of fruits and vegetables".

"She? You mean I'm just doing your errands? Rafayel, when I-" The call comes to stop as quickly as it begun as Rafayel ended the call with one press of a button.

Thomas, on the other hand, rubs his fingers over his right and left temple, trying to ease the will to combust in that moment. Taking in long and deep breathes, Thomas pushes the cart over the vegetable isle and says: "One of everything, please".

When Rafayel (Thomas) had accomplished the grocery shopping, he decided to take his newly-accomplished art piece and bring it over to your apartment. Rafayel had already informed the others via text beforehand about his visit just in case anyone else was staying over.

"This would look perfect in her kitchen, cutie will definitely love it!" Rafayel says as he grabs your spare apartment keys and unlocks the door. What he did not expect to see was a part of your kitchen's apartment wall blown to bitz and Xavier standing in the middle of the pile.

"Well, I don't know what blasted itself in here but," Rafayel steps closer towards Xavier and hands him the art piece "if this helps, maybe cutie won't notice if you cover up the wall."

"Do you think you could make maybe 10 more of these?" Xavier asks, lifting up the art piece and matching it to the large hole in the wall and see if it could patch it up miraculously.

"Are you crazy? My art isn't some sort of wall-paste. But, give or take maybe 4 might do? I don't know. Did you call Mr. Spaceman?

"Yes."

"Did you tell him you blew up the wall?"

"No."

"Oh, damn."

Rafayel ended up making additional rushed-pieces while Xavier worked with what he could to patch up your kitchen wall. The hole wasn't too big, sort of? Anyway, it'll depend on your reaction when you get home.

Although, Rafayel loves your home decor, he decided upon his free-will to put his creative mind to work and re-arrange a few of your household furniture. Surely, you wouldn't miss a few or two curtains, sheets, and even pillows. Right?

SYLUS

Sylus rarely stays around your apartment but, when he misses you a little, he'd find time to stop by and leave small trinkets and gifts near your bedroom for you to find when you get home. He'd also find time to actually make and store ready-to-eat food in your fridge when he knows you're date of arrival is nearing. He loves to make sure you're well-taken care of and fed.

AND Of course, out of all the sane chores you could have given the crime boss of the N109 zone, you just had to give him "bills payment". Sure, it was easy but not until the servers crashed which leaves Sylus no other option but to visit the bank. And it's not just any bank, it's the Linkon City Bank.

So, naturally, Sylus had to pull out a fake name and identity to avoid unwanted attention. Unfortunately, today's fit was definitely giving off "crime boss".

Straight up went ahead of the lines and directly to the teller. Unfortunately, his killer charm didn't do him any good as he was told to: "get back in line" and had to wait for a whole 2 hours before being catered. Only to be told to line up again because he didn't fill out any of the forms and paperworks to submit the payments. Well, that's another two hours down the drain.

To top it all off while waiting as a past time, Sylus could be seen polishing his gun in the middle of the bank. Sylus was warned about a couple of times before being asked to leave the premises. Hence, Sylus could be seen hopping from one bank to another.

After the 5th attempt, he finally gave up.

And true to his word, Sylus did keep his promises towards you. Although, maybe next time he would have to beg off from this chore ever again.

CALEB

Going back to his roots to when you were kids, Caleb is once again stuck with laundry duty. But, he's not complaining as long as he's doing yours. Unfortunately, Caleb chose the wrong day to put up with this chore.

It was a day before your return when the guys decided to surprise you with a small "welcome home" party. The truce was still there but of course, living under the same roof for a day does things to a man.

"There's a bin! Look," Caleb starts as he gets into position. "You pick-up, shoot, and toss. It's so easy".

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Don't think too much about a pair of tidy-widies". Rafayel waves off, focusing his attention towards the baked goods on the table. The plan for today was to decorate and prepare a bunch of sweets for your return.

"Well, then stop mixing in the whites with the colored!" Caleb yells out, holding a pair of purple boxers and a now-pink shirt (which was white before Rafayel tossed his colored clothes into the washing machine). "Nobody wants to see purple boxers on a man! It mismatches the whole fit."

While doing the rest of the laundry (which doubled in number for unfortunate reasons, thanks to the guys sleeping over), he finally got to your pile, the clothes he was actually tasked to wash. He was arranging and dumping piles by color when he came across a pair of red lacy thongs and a bra to match.

caleb.exe stopped working!

Wow, she is definitely a big girl now. I remember back then whe she used to wear those cute white undies with the animal prints. Time does flyby really fast as you grow older. And now she's a big girl and-fuck-fuck-fuck! Stop.

Caleb quickly pushes out all thoughts aside and focuses on doing your laundry. Afterall, it's Caleb: mr. man-with-a-plan, mr. I-got-everything-covered, mr. I'm-going-to-shove-this-thong-on-my-

The thought never finished as Caleb quickly smacked his head about these unholy thoughts. To make matters worse, the whole basket he took were full of your lacey underwear.

After breaking down, Caleb was quick to work with folding your clothes in a neat stack inside your drawers. Despite Caleb seeming to be in a razor-sharp focus mode, he can't shake off the feeling of his early encounter with your underwear. Who would've thought his pipsquek would grow up to become a woman with refined tastes and fuck-fuck-fuck! No. Don't go there. Caleb has to fold laundry, just fold the goddamn laundry. Fold laundry, fold laundry, folds...And then Caleb malfunctioned again.

Even if Caleb is only assigned to one chore he makes sure to double-clean the apartment with Zayne. Despite being apart for quite some time, that childhood-bond they both shared as children still continued to hold them together.

Caleb also prides himself as your main meal-provider. So, when he discovers pre-packed and ready-to-heat meals in your fridge from Sylus, so he did what any sane man would do: toss is into the trash. Because if it's not made by Caleb's hand then it's not good enough for you.

AND of course Sylus found out, which is why Sylus changed the passcode and took the spare keys Caleb had hidden under his jacket. Which is why, from a bystander's point-of-view, you could see a grown man climbing up your apartment window trying to get inside.

Sylus could only laugh and watch as Caleb struggles to get through your kitchen's window. "I'm going to come after you, and when I do-" Sylus didn't even bother letting Caleb finish talking and shut the curtain blinds.

"Oh don't be like that Colonel," Sylus starts, opening his phone and skimming through the accessible cameras of the building until he finally spots what he's been looking for. "You could warmly welcome our guest now, she's just right there."

Without needing other hints, Caleb knew what he meant and as he looked towards the building entrance, he could see you with a more than displeased look as you cross your arms over your chest.

"Well, fuck."

part 2? yes, no, maybe so? :3

[corvusphilia]

★ HOW THEY ACT WHEN THEY HAVE A CRUSH (KARASUNO EDITION)

୨ৎ featuring: daichi sawamura, koshi sugawara, asahi azumane, yuu nishinoya, ryunosuke tanaka, tobio kageyama, shoyo hinata, kei tsukishima, tadashi yamaguchi, keishin ukai

୨ৎ notes: first post!! rq are open guys send shit IN (omg haikyuu blog in 2024!!???). also yes i plan on writing crush headcanons for the other teams as well :>

also worth mentioning this is NOT timeskip and reader is implied to be around the same age as the characters (so highschool for most and adult for ukai)

i was gonna write for the girls as well but ive been writing this for the past 4 days and im tired 😭

★ DAICHI SAWAMURA ?!

He genuinely thinks acting like he's your dad or something is a good way of flirting. Sugawara teases him about it constantly. "Do you want to ask them out on a date or to sign adoption papers?"

And I don't mean it only in the cute way. He will scold you if you forget your jacket or something. But the words quickly catch in his throat when he gives you his and you put it on for the first time. Maybe you should keep forgetting yours, actually. For no reason. No reason at all.

Will bring extra food in case you're still hungry by the end of recess. Even makes mental notes about your favorites. This guy is a GENTLEMAN.

While he does reprimand you, it's nothing like he does to his team or his friends. In fact, he seems to calm down whenever you come into the picture. Nishinoya and Tanaka absolutely take advantage of it.

Suga might be the vice-captain, but the team treats you like the second in command. Doesn't matter if you're not part of the team or even a manager. You're now the second parent by correlation.

Speaking of which, Sugawara and Asahi absolutely play wingmen. Suga will come off a bit too strongly, talking about how Daichi is such a catch and you two would make such a cute couple, while Asahi sounds like he's doing a job interview in Daichi's name, listing all his positive qualities and whatnot. Their hearts are in the right place, at least.

He doesn't hesitate much before asking you out. He doesn't want to risk ruining your friendship, but he doesn't want to live with the regret of what could have been if he gave it a shot, either.

The sun was lazily setting in the horizon, painting the sky pleasant hues of orange and pink. It wasn't unusual for Daichi to walk you home — he insisted on it whenever he had the time, even he meant he would only get to his house past nightfall —, but he was weidly quiet. He smiled calmly when you questioned him on it, giving you a look and a sigh.

He came to a stop, standing in front of you. He took a deep breath before reaching into his bag, grabbing what looked like a note and holding it in both hands before stretching it towards you and bowing politely. His grasp was slightly shaky.

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while..." He started, his voice soft, keeping his gaze on the ground. Maybe he was just being overly polite, or maybe he was a bit too scared to look you in the eyes. "You make me... incredibly happy, Y/N. I would like to do the same for you. If you'll let me, that is." He finally glanced up, looking at you through his eyelashes and his posture still low, his eyes filled equally with nervousness and hope. "I don't want to leave any doubts, so... I'll just go ahead and say it. Will you be mine?"

★ KOSHI SUGAWARA ?!

This guy is so whipped, it's not even funny. He doesn't even officially ask you out because he makes it so obvious he likes you. Like, c'mon, EVERYONE can tell he wants to marry you already.

The type to run up to you just to give you something he grabbed or bought because it made him think of you. Which happens very often, because he thinks of you all the time.

Very affectionate. Holds your hand whenever you two walk somewhere and hugs you as a greeting and as goodbye. Might even slip in a kiss on your cheek if he's feeling a little silly.

And god forbid some poor bastard mentions your name in a five mile radius of him. This motherfucker will take any chance he can get to yap about how amazing you are and how much he adores you and—

SO supportive. Genuinely, he thinks you're so talented in everything you do. If you have a specific thing you're passionate about, be ready for him to be bragging to everybody about it. More proud of your accomplishments than his own.

Straight up introduces you to people as his significant other after some time. What? He never asked to be your boyfriend? Well, it's not like you were gonna say no anyway, so...

"Y/N!" The cold winter air causes little wisps of smoke to form from his mouth as he runs over to you through the courtyard, an infectious smile on his face. He stops right in front of you, resting his hands on his knees for just a few seconds to catch his breath before holding out a bouquet in your direction. Roses, baby's breath, and cornflowers.

His smile grows even more when you grab it, a snicker escaping him at the slightly flushed look on your face. "So pretty, right? I saw it and thought of you, so obviously I had to get it." He explains, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Don't look at the price tag, I forgot to take it off." He adds.

He waves a hand dismissively at your 'thank you'. "Don't mention it. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't get you something nice every now and then?" He mentions casually, and lets out a thoughtful hum when you mention that you two are, in fact, not officially dating.

"I guess I did never outright say it, huh? That's my mistake." For some reason, he doesn't sound bothered or reluctant at all. Instead, he grabs your hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Well, no reason to waste even more time. Come on, let me take you on our first official date."

★ ASAHI AZUMANE ?!

He doesn't flirt, let's get that out of the way. His idea of hitting on you is looking at you from a distance while praying you have more balls than him and will take initiative.

If you don't really know each other much, he's scared you'll be put off by his appearance and size. If you do, he's scared you think he's too much of a coward and have no interest.

His insecurities play a huge role in his reluctance. He thinks you're so pretty, and smart, and talented, and he's... well, himself. It's almost difficult to tell if he likes you or not, because while he is polite whenever you interact, he acts that way with everyone (who takes the time to actually speak with him, that is), and he actually seems to avoid you whenever possible, too.

Gets desperate enough he asks everyone in the team for advice. Daichi just says to "Be yourself", to which Suga gives him a side eye with a "Yeah, I don't think that'll work" comment, and the two start arguing rather than actually helping the poor guy out.

Nishinoya and Tanaka are... less than helpful, as you might imagine. Kageyama and Hinata don't know the first thing about dating, and he wasn't about to ask Tsukishima, either. Surprisingly (or not), the good advice came from Yagamuchi and Kiyoko.

It basically summed up to the fact that he needs to make his move before someone else does. Nothing too dramatic, but enough to let you know he's serious about it. At the end of the day, they had a 5 steps plan written out.

He had everything set to go, even went as far as to memorize a script he practiced in front of the mirror a few times this morning. However, when he finally stood in front of you, the sun of the afternoon hitting your features just right, his mind went blank.

"Huh..." He was slightly hunched over, absentmindedly fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. He quickly cleared his throat, seemingly remembering he couldn't just stand there looking at you like a creep, and reached inside his bag to pull out a small, heart-shaped chocolate box. He took a deep, shaky breath.

"I-I, huh... I need to tell you something..." He starts nervously, his brown eyes finally meeting yours, filled with fear and sincerity. "I... I've liked you for a while now, and..." That is not the script he planned out. "You're always on my mind. W-when I'm with you, everything just feels right. I don't really know how to say this, I'm probably making a fool out of myself, but... I like you. A lot."

★ YUU NISHINOYA ?!

This fucking guy has no shame whatsoever. Quite literally asked you to go out with him before he even told you his name. I firmly believe he's a love-at-first-sight kind of dude.

Now, how things progress depends highly on your reaction. If you're a bit shy, he thinks it's the cutest thing ever, but he will take it down a notch to not make you uncomfortable. Will still flirt, don't get me wrong, but a bit more lowkey. If you just accept or — god forbid — flirt back, he shortcuts. A hot person?? Likes HIM??? WHAT.

Like, all of his previous bravado is out the window if you accept. He flirts with a few people, sure, but he never actually expects to go anywhere. It's just kind of a fact that he's going to get turned down. So when things actually go right he doesn't know what to do anymore.

It doesn't last too long, though. After he takes a few minutes for his mind to process what just happened, he's bouncing off the walls.

SO protective. We've seen it with Kiyoko. Anytime a guy looks at you for just a little too long he's growling and foaming at the mouth. Better keep him from biting anyone's ankles.

"Wow, you're SUPER pretty!" The boy stated enthusiastically, stars in his eyes as he stares at you intently, seemingly trying to commit every detail to memory. You've seen him around, usually near the gym, but it looks like this is the first time he has seen you.

He takes a step closer, determination written all over his face. "Will you go out with me?" He asks a bit loudly and suddenly. When your face flushes, he takes a small step back, chuckling. "Ah— I'm Yuu Nishinoya, by the way! Probably should've said that first."

He nods happily when you introduce yourself as well, his eagerness returning to the surface. "Well, you didn't really answer me, so I'll ask again — wanna go out with me?" He repeats, half cocky half sheepish. However, his entire face falls when you give a positive response.

His eyes are wide and he just stares at you, mouth slightly agape. When you question if he's feeling well, his ears flush red as he seems to have find his voice again. "A-ARE YOU SERIOUS!? You said yes!? Wha— am I dreaming? I'm dreaming, aren't I!?" Despite the disbelief in his voice, he's smiling — a huge, excited, thankful smile. He's not leaving your side anytime soon.

★ RYUNOSUKE TANAKA ?!

Since I already covered love at first sight with Noya and we've already seen how he's like with Kiyoko, I'm going down a different route: friends to lovers. Also because this specific trope with him makes me SICK /pos.

He's a friendly guy when you get to know him and past his badboy persona, so he has many friends I feel like. He initially treats you like he does the others, being his usual weird ass self we all know and love.

But one time he sees you laugh at one of his shenanigans and he just pauses. Oh. Oh. This is not good.

Have you always been so pretty? I mean, he already knew you were, but this is another level. Now you're like, angelic. Ethereal, even. What just happened.

Immediately runs to Noya because he doesn't know what to do or even think. He just sees you as a friend, right? A close friend. A hot, funny, amazing, kissable friend. Yeah, that doesn't sound right even to him when he says it outloud.

Doesn't take long for him to come to terms with it honestly and the entire team has to hold him back from proposing to you the next time he sees you.

He waits by the classroom's door, an uncharacteristically nervous look in his eyes. He sucks in a sharp breath when the bell rings and you stand from your desk, slinging your bag over your shoulder while making your way to the exit. "Y/N." He calls out to gain your attention, and his face immediately flushes when you look at him.

Your eyes are so beautiful it's unfair. He lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. "Will you ma—" He pauses, looking at something right behind you. You look back to see Nishinoya half-hiding behind a wall, shaking his head 'No' quickly. Tanaka clears his throat and you look back at him. "... I-I mean, will you... Go out with me? Maybe? Please?"

He sounds almost pleading and a little unsure. He stutters an explanation when he notices your taken aback expression. "I know this came outta nowhere and I know we're like, best buds or whatever, but... God, I really wanna kiss you." His face goes bright red when he realizes what he just said and he starts rambling another flustered excuse. How cute.

★ TOBIO KAGEYAMA ?!

A little like Asahi, he just kind of stares at you from a distance and hope you get the hint. Totally unware of the fact he has a major resting bitch face and is looking at you so aggressively it looks like he's thinking about beating your ass after school or something.

Completely oblivious to the fact he likes you. He's never liked anyone before. His entire life has always been volleyball this and volleyball that — he doesn't know the first thing about crushes.

Surprisingly thoughtful, though. The type to get you your favorite drink from the vending machine when he goes to grab his milk box. He doesn't even think much about it, it's just so natural to him.

Also very perceptive. He comes off as an airhead most of the time, but when it comes to volleyball, he's incredibly observant. Now he's the same way with you as well. Always knows what you're feeling before you have to say anything or if you need something.

And that's how everyone else realizes he likes you and tell him about it (because again, he genuinely could not tell that his feelings are romantic on his own. How can someone be so smart and so dumb at the same time).

He's in denial for a good while, but the more he thinks about it, the more sense it makes. Some teammates try to give him advice (because they don't trust him at all to do this by himself), but in the end he ignores all of it and just says what feels right at the time.

"I swear, you'd be helpless without me." He grumbles, dragging you away from the confrontation, his hand firmly but not tightly wrapped around your wrist. Karasuno had a game against another school, and one of the guys from said school apparently thought you were really cute. So much so he was trying everything to get your contact information before Tobio stepped in.

Just thinking about the situation pisses him off. He scoffs, squeezing your wrist slightly, but there's something more than just frustration on his face. Doubt, perhaps? He looks back at you, eyebrows furrowed. "You weren't really thinking about giving him your number, were you?" He asks, his voice almost too soft before it rises in tone again.

"I mean, he's average looking at best, and a shit player, and... And I'm better!" He blurted, cheeks flushing slightly. He averts his gaze, his thumb grazing over your knuckles. "So... Just give me your number, dumbass."

★ SHOYO HINATA ?!

I need to mention, he looks like he's so easy to fall in love with. Like he's so kind and considerate and with a high emotional intelligence. Very much boyfriend material I wish more people would see him like that instead of an uwu baby yk.

Anyway, back on track. I feel like he'd fluctuate between shy and bold a lot. Like, if you flirt or give hints that you might like him back, he's blushing and kicking his feet and shit, but it is very much not uncommon for him to take initiative.

Especially after matches. The adrenaline is still pumping in his veins and he barely even registers that maybe he's being a bit forward.

If you don't know him really well it's a bit difficult to tell that he has feelings because he's just. so nice. to everyone. But if you do, it's hard to miss the tenderness in his eyes everytime he looks at you.

Insists you come to his games. It's simple math in his head: the two things he loves the most (aside from, yknow, his mom and sister and all that) are volleyball and you, so if he can just mix them together, he'll be the happiest guy in the planet.

It was a tough game — Karasuno barely managed to win right during the last set. The winning point was, of course, scored by Shoyo. The crowd was cheering, his teammates screaming loudly and gathering around him, but in the middle of the ruckus, his eyes are fixated on a single someone.

He dodged Nishinoya and Tanaka and, to the team's confusion, ran towards the stands. It wasn't until everyone say you simultaneously running in his direction that they understood what was going on. Shoyo practically pounced on you, wrapping his arms around your torso tightly and doing his best to lift you and give you a little spin, almost knocking both of you to the ground in his attempt.

His smile was bright enough to outshine the sun. He pulled away just a little so he could look you in the eyes, the two of you still intertwined. "Thank you so much for being here!" He exclaimed, like his success was solely due to you — to your presence. The look in his eyes was a little different as he leaned in slightly before hesitating. Daichi called him over so they could formally bid farewell to the other team, and he gave you a final squeeze before reluctantly pulling away. "Wait for me, okay? I'll walk you home today!"

★ KEI TSUKISHIMA ?!

This fucking guy is so in denial. No, I'm serious, he'd rather eat glass than admit that he likes somebody. He's always seen relationships and especially crushes as a waste of time and energy, things he couldn't be bothered to spare.

So he's extra mean when he realizes he likes you. Is it an attempt to push you away? Kind of. Is it because he genuinely kind of hates you for the way you make him feel? A little. Is it because he's secretly an awkward motherfucker that doesn't know a thing about how to be romantic? Mostly.

News flash: it doesn't work, independently of your reaction. If you just ignore him and don't give him a reaction, he's frustrated but grows to respect you even more for dealing with his sassy ass with that much grace. If you get sad, he feels genuinely bad for the first time in his life. If you get angry, turns out you look really damn cute when pissed off and that's not helping his case either. If you sass him back, he might just get on one knee.

So he just... gives up. He still teases and pokes fun at you, obviously, but now it doesn't sound as mean. If anything, it's friendly banter. He can't deny that he enjoys having you around.

It raised some eyebrows when Tsukishima told everyone he was leaving practice early because he was helping you study. Hinata and Kageyama had to practically get on their knees and beg him to tutor them, and even then, he always looked so annoyed doing it. With you, he almost had a little smile on his face. Almost.

He snapped his fingers in front of your face a few times. "Hey, idiot, pay attention." He scolded, pointing back to the open book in front of you. "I'm not explaining it a second time." He added, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, his long legs stretched out in front of him.

He can't help the small grin that forms on his face when you whine about his 'mean' treatment. "You haven't seen me being mean yet, pipsqueak." He teased, looking down at you through his glasses. He exhales through his nose in an almost-laugh, his voice dropping just barely over a whisper, a tenderness in his tone you're not really familiar with. "You're lucky I kinda like you."

★ TADASHI YAMAGUCHI ?!

Dude is SO flustered around you, like, constantly. Like can-barely-get-a-sentence-out typa shit. Kei has to verbally smack him and tell him to fucking get it together — he's not gonna win you over by being a wuss (or maybe he will, who knows what you're into).

But that's mostly during the honeymoon stage. After the butterflies in his stomach start to go away, they're replaced by a deep sense of comfort whenever he's around you.

Takeda said that Tadashi would have the least trouble out of everyone when it came to dating and he was RIGHT. This guy is such a sweetie. Always saving you a seat and sharing his lunch with you and just watching out for you in general. He's so considerate :(

You make him not so insecure anymore and that's all he could have asked for. Whenever he messes up or just acts like a dork, he feels his heart drop thinking that he messes up any chance he might have had with you, but when you just smile and reassure him he falls in love all over again.

Tadashi has been profusely apologizing to you for the past fifteen minutes now, no matter how many times you tried to insist that it's fine. He was practicing his serves and you were unfortunate enough to get a ball right to the back of the head, and he rushed you to the nurse's office immediately despite you saying it didn't hurt that much.

"I'm so sorry, I promise it was an accident!" He said for what must have been the third time. There wasn't much that the nurse could do aside from giving you headache medicine and telling you to lie down for a while, and he decided to miss practice so he could stay with you while you rested.

"Does it hurt?" He questioned, his eyes soft and full of worry, and his shoulders tensed a little at your answer of 'kinda'. He grabbed your hand, idly playing with your fingers, either to calm you or himself down. "... I want to make it up to you somehow." He stated gently, not daring to look at you. "... I'll walk you home and buy you a snack from the convenience store, okay? You can ask for whatever you want, no matter the price." He paused, then added with a sheepish smile, "Well... Maybe the price matters a little bit."

★ KEISHIN UKAI ?!

Listen. He definitely looks like he has rizz. Does he actually? No. Absolutely not. Like, he has so much negative rizz it does a full spin and actually works out. Absolute man failure.

Deadass the kind to do that yawn and arm around your shoulder thing and think he's nailing it. Like, dude you're not THAT old, c'mon now.

Fluctuates between being a gentleman and just being a scrub a lot. Will open the car door and pull a chair for you only to light up a cigarette and not notice the smoke is going straight in your direction until you start coughing.

He does try, though. Definitely makes an effort to take you on a nice date whenever his money allows it (and sometimes when it doesn't). He's had flings before, sure, but you're special and he doesn't want to mess it up like he always does.

You barely heard the doorbell ringing with the sound of the rain hitting your roof. When you opened it, Keishin stood there, absolutely drenched in a dress shirt and an undone tie around his neck, water dripping down from his hair to his face as he holds out a bouquet in your direction. He sighs deeply.

"I wanted to surprise you, but my car broke down halfway here and then this fuckin' rain hit." He explained, rubbing the back of his neck. You told him to come inside and grabbed him a towel, and he started to dry his hair before sitting on the couch when he was sure he wasn't dripping water all over the place anymore.

He glanced at you, a somewhat guilty look on his face. "... Sorry I messed it up. I wanted to do something nice for once, but..." He trailed off. You sat next to him, a hand on his shoulder as you reassured him it was okay. When you suggested watching a movie since he was already here anyway, he perked up, almost like an invisible tail started wagging behind him. "Really?" He questioned, a bit baffled before trying to hold back a smile as he relaxed next to you, reaching an arm around your shoulders. "... That doesn't sound half bad, doll face."

© ─ corvusphilia ; do not steal, copy, edit, translate or reupload

thanks for reading!

[sourcherryandsprinkles]

What if when Nyra gets crowned, she has a crown made for Jace? His wife could help him get ready for the coronation (I’m talking bathing, hair, dressing, everything). Maybe it’s to show him how serious she is about him being her heir

When I saw this picture (not my edit, idk who made it), I had to write something

my taglists are here + you can send requests here at any time

—

‘’The prince’s bath is ready, Princess,’’ one of the maids informed you, coming to the table where you had been breaking your fast. ‘’Does the prince needs us to assist him? I will call a male servant.’’ 

You thanked her for the bath, then shook your head. ‘’That won’t be necessary,’’ you replied. ''And leave the towels on the chair.''

''Yes, Princess. Should I have his morning meal brought to his chamber? He must break his fast before the coronation, her Grace said.'' 

You glance at the bed in the distance, seeing Jacaerys' sleeping form under the covers. He had difficulty falling asleep last night, his nerves making him restless, so you let him sleep longer. The coronation wasn't until late morning. 

''I will see with him after his bath. I'll send someone to the kitchens.'' 

The maid nodded, then left. 

After you finished your meal, you went to the bed and gently woke your husband, caressing his messy hair. It always baffled you how all over the place they get during his sleep. You pressed a lingering soft kiss to his soft cheek. ‘’It’s time to wake, my love.’’ 

As you expected, Jacaerys grumbled sleepily and pressed his face deeper into his pillow. 

You stifled a smile, finding him endearing when he was acting like a child in the morning. On other days, you would have joined him for another hour of sleep, but you couldn’t allow yourself that luxury today. You needed to prepare for the day you’ve all been waiting for: Rhaenyra reclaiming her seat and — officially — becoming the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. 

‘’Your bath is ready. Come.’’ You stood, knowing he’ll try to pull you with him if you stayed seated on the bed. 

Jacaerys reluctantly dragged himself out of bed. He sleepily followed you to the bathing area, his eyes still heavy with sleep and his curls sticking out in all the places. He looked adorable in his groggy state. 

Like a toddler running after his mama, he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you close. ‘’You left me alone in bed,’’ he complained, his voice still raspy from his sleep, as he buried his face in the crook of your neck. ‘’It was cold without you.’’ 

A smile curved on your lips, and you leaned into your husband’s embrace. His lips skimmed lightly over the sensitive skin of your neck. ‘’Cold? I find that difficult to believe, my love. You were wrapped in a blanket with the fire blazing in the hearth.’’

‘’Still cold,’’ he grumbled, pressing a sweet kiss to the spot where your shoulder met your neck, making you shiver slightly. ‘’I prefer having you in my arms to keep me warm.’’

‘’And I would prefer if you disrobed and sat in the bathtub so I can wash your hair.’’ 

Jacaerys huffed, then released you and started to remove his night tunic. He left it in a lump on the floor, then stepped into the hot bath. 

You sat on the stool right by the tub and filled the pitcher with water to pour it over his hair. ''Cover your eyes.'' 

He closed them, letting the water fall down his face instead of shielding his eyes with his hand. 

You lathered soap in your hands and Jacaerys sighed as you began to wash his hair, finding it soothing how your fingers massaged his scalp. Before he was wed to you, he had servants who assisted him and they were nowhere near as gentle as you. 

''Cover your eyes again.'' 

You poured more water, washing down the sods before applying oils and brushing them with a comb. It was better to brush curly hair when wet than dry. Jacaerys had learned that the hard way as a child...

 Once his hair was oiled and brushed, you began to wash his back and shoulders, the hot water cascading over the light dust of freckles. He hummed pleasantly, enjoying the feel of your slender fingers rubbing the soap into his skin.

‘’I still cannot believe Mother had a crown made for me. Heirs don't wear crowns,’’ Jacaerys said, his nerves making him pick at his nails. 

When the King named Rhaenyra his heir, there was no crown given to her. He only organized a grand ceremony at court to publicly declare the princess  as his rightful successor. 

But Rhaenyra wanted to make things different. 

''Her Grace remembers your fear that a lowborn with white hair might lay claim on the Iron Throne after her passing. By giving you a crown in front of all the Lords, Ladies and other nobles, she wishes to remind you —and everyone — that you are the future rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and that no one can take your place. Being a dragonlord or having Valyrian features does not grant anyone a claim to the throne. You are the heir because you are the son of the Queen.'' 

Absent-mindedly, Jacaerys continued picking at his fingers, drawing blood out. He was more nervous now than he had been on your wedding night. His mind was going through all the possible and impossible scenarios of the coronation... What if something went wrong? What if he tripped in front of everyone? What if the remaining supporters of the Greens tried to sabotage the ceremony?

''Quit doing that,'' you scolded, taking his hand from him. ''A prince cannot receive his crown with blood under his nails.'' You took a brush and scrubbed the blood and dirt around and under his nails. 

He apologized. 

''You're nervous, it's alright,’’ you said, your eyes soft and understanding.  

He sighed and reached over the tub to take the sponge. ‘’You don't need to do everything, you know. I can wash myself.’’ He lathered soap on a sponge and scrubbed his skin while you continued with his nails. 

Once he was thoroughly clean, Jacaerys dried himself with a warm towel, then slipped on his robe. He never wore one before you came into his life, claiming it was for women, but he loved to lounge in one after his bath. The silk was soft on his skin and light. You had one made for him for his eight and ten nameday — a dark and rich red color with an embroidered dragon at the back. 

You made him sit at your vanity table. It was unusual for him. The vanity was your spot. He enjoyed watching you sitting there in the mornings, picking jewelry and scented oils, or simply brushing your hair. Sometimes, he would even offer to brush them for you.

You combed through his damp hair, twirling his curls around your fingers to make them more defined. ''You're gonna be the most handsome prince the court has ever seen,'' you declared, tucking a last curl behind his ear, showing off his beautiful face. 

Though he lacked the classic Valyrian traits, replaced by a perfect reflection of the former Lord Commander of the City Watch, the gods had blessed him with the gift of beauty. If you hadn't been already married to him, you would have been jealous of the woman he called his wife.

 Jacaerys rolled his eyes and pulled you down on his lap. From this close, you could see every freckle across his nose and cheeks. His lips were a slightly darker pink, stained from the cherries he just ate. You couldn't resist kissing them. 

The kiss was brief, causing the prince to pout.  

You gave him another kiss, this one slightly longer, then stood when he tried to chase after your lips for more. You knew that game. You'll never be ready on time if you let him get what he wants. 

''Later,'' you promised, lifting his chin and pulling down a single strand of hair, curling it around your finger. 

He'll look glorious with his crown.

—

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[v6quewrlds]

ALL MINE II, TEE HIGGINS.

pairing⠀⁎⠀tee higgins x reader. word count⠀⁎⠀6.2k.

summary⠀⁎⠀though tee has been nothing short of an angel, you can't help the urge to stay alert. one foot out the door is the accusation that leaves tee's lips. eager to prove him wrong, you don't anticipate a blast from the past that challenges your trust.

author's note⠀⁎⠀i said tonight and technically it is still "tonight" :), don't look too closely, i'll edit later <3 warnings⠀⁎⠀18+ mdni, some angst, jealousy, jealousy, semi-public sex, dirty talking

"You know what's funny?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she sat on the edge of the bed. Tee, sprawled out on the mattress, looked over at her with a quizzical expression. The bed dipped as she crawled over to him, slinging her right leg over his torso. His hands found their way to her waist, holding her in place as she leaned in closer. "How you're all 'Mr. Perfect' now," she continued, her breath hot on his skin. "Makes me wanna find something, anything, to mess up this pretty picture you're painting."

Tee's smile faltered though it soon returned near immediately. "What does that mean?" he asked, his thumbs rubbing circles into her skin. Her lips pursed into a suppressed smile as she leaned in closer, her head nestling in the crook of his neck. The words slipped from her mouth as she strategically avoided his gaze, "I'm waiting for you to fuck it up."

The room went silent. Tee's hands stilled. She could feel the sudden tension in his muscles, the tightening of his grip as his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her against him. "Why?" he asked, his voice a soft rumble. "You think I'm gonna go back to that?"

She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling with the effort. "I don't know," she admitted, finally meeting his gaze. "It's just… old habits die hard?"

"Old habits die hard? Is that what you said?" Tee's voice was a mix of amusement and disbelief. "Baby, you know me better than that. I changed, you changed. Why can't we just live in the moment?" He gently turned her chin towards him, forcing her to meet his eyes. "I'm not that dude no more. I told you, I’m all about you, about us."

She sighed, biting her lip as she studied his expression. "It's just hard to trust, you know?" She whispered. "I want to believe you, I really do. But it's like… I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

His jaw tightened, but Tee's eyes remained soft as he stared into hers. "I get it," he said, his voice thick with understanding. "But I need you to tell me what you thinkin' about, what you feelin'. I can't read your mind, baby." He leaned in, his breath warm on her ear. "If you don't believe me, you gotta tell me. That's the only way we can get past this."

She nodded, feeling the weight of his words. She knew he was right, but it was easier said than done. She didn't want to be that girl, the one always looking for drama, always expecting the worst. But years of heartache had a way of leaving scars that didn't just disappear overnight. "I know…" she sighed, her head falling to his chest. "It's just…"

Tee leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead. "I'll wait," he said, his voice a gentle rumble in the quiet of the room. "But you gotta talk to me."

She nodded as if ready to end the conversation there. But he could feel the tension in her body, the unspoken words that hovered between them like a thick fog. Tee sat up, bringing her with him so they faced each other. "Look," he said, his hand reaching for hers, "I'm not going nowhere. And I'm not gonna be that guy again. But if you can't trust me, this isn't gonna work."

She continued looking for the lie she was convinced must be there. "It's just hard," she murmured, her voice faltering slightly. "I don't want to hold on to the past, but it's like…it's a part of my image of you. All I can think about is what you did before. How you hurt me."

Tee took a deep breath, his thumb tracing the back of her hand in a soothing rhythm. "I know I hurt you," he said, his voice low and sincere. "But I been showin' you every day since we got back together that I've grown since then. That's what matters now, ain't it?"

She nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving his. "It is," she murmured. "You have shown me that, I swear."

He didn't respond for a moment, his gaze holding hers. Then, with a hum of vulnerability he spoke. "I won't lie, it hurts that you can't fully trust me yet, you know? Like, I get why, I'm not gonna act like I don't." His grip on her hand tightened, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed deeply as if collecting his words. "I been trying so hard to make this right. To make you happy. That's my number one priority."

Her eyes met his, and she felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "It's just…I'm trying to let go of the past, but it's hard when it's all I know." Her hand lifted from his, rising to find his jaw, eyebrows furrowed with a mix of regret and affection. "I love that you've changed, that you're here for me, really here. I want to be all in with you, I do."

Tee leaned into her touch, his eyes closing for a brief moment before he opened them again, his gaze intense. "But you're not, though," he pointed out gently. "You got one foot out the door, waitin' for me to slip up."

She felt her face heat up with a mix of anger and embarrassment. "It's not like that," she protested, pulling away slightly. "I just… I don't know, I guess I'm just scared."

Tee's eyes searched hers, the silence in the room stretching out like a tightrope. "Scared of what?" he asked, his voice soft, his expression open. "Scared that Imma hurt you again? Scared that you're gonna get hurt?"

She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Both," she admitted, her voice barely a whisper. "But mostly, I'm scared of being in that situation again, of giving my all to you, and then… nothing."

He hummed lowly, gathering his thoughts before speaking. "Look, I'm not gonna lie," Tee began, his voice measured and calm. "I 'ont know what's gon' happen tomorrow. But I can promise you this: right now, today, every day that I'm with you, I'll do my best to make sure you're happy. And that's all I can do."

She nodded, understanding his perspective, but the fear remained lodged in her chest like a stubborn knot. Tee took a deep breath, pulling her closer to him. "But if you always lookin' for me to mess up," he said, "you're gonna find something, even if it's not there."

"I know," she murmured, burying her face in his neck. "I'm sorry, baby." Her arms wrapped tightly around him, holding on as if he could somehow absorb her fear. Tee held her, his embrace warm and reassuring, until she finally pulled back and took a deep breath.

She felt his eyes on her, studying her before he leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "It's okay," he murmured. "We'll get there. Just gotta have faith, baby."

They laid there, in a comfortable silence that spoke volumes more than words ever could. She felt the warmth of his body seep into hers, his heart beating a steady rhythm under her ear. She wanted to believe him, she truly did. And for the next month or so, she tried. But as fate would have it, her trust would be tested in the form of Ja'Marr Chase's big mouth.

"Are you free right now?", the text came through from Ja'Marr. She, knee-deep in both hers and Tee's laundry, sighed before responding with a curt "Yeah, what's up?" She had learned to expect the house calls and the late night needs for adjustments with Ja'Marr, so she was not surprised when he replied, "Do you mind coming over to look at my shoulder again? Been acting up."

She agreed, tossing her phone onto the bed before grabbing her bag of supplies. She knew Tee wouldn't mind, he would probably decide to come over to Ja'Marr's house after his workout anyway. She stepped out of her car, the crunch of the gravel under her sneakers, and made her way to the front door. It was left unlocked, a habit of his that she remembered debating with him in the past, especially with his son running around - literally.

Ja'Marr was sprawled out on his couch, a controller in his hands, eyes glued to the TV when she entered. "Yo," he called out, not taking his eyes off the screen. She rolled her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips. "Your biggest fan is here for the week," he added without looking up.

Her biggest fan was seated at his father's feet, a rainbow-colored toy car clutched in his tiny fist as he stared up at her. "Hi Uno," she greeted warmly, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the little boy. He giggled, holding out his arms for her, and she couldn't resist scooping him up into a tight embrace.

Ja'Marr grunted, pausing the game. "Damn, can't even get a proper greeting anymore," he joked, his smile wide.

She playfully glared at him as she carried Uno in her arms, wincing when the two-year-old splayed his entire palm over the center of her face. "I got more important things to do than cater to your ego," she teased, setting the toddler down with a raspberry to his cheek before heading to grab her equipment from her bag.

"Do you mind grabbing the massage table from my trunk?" She called out to Ja'Marr as she disappeared into the kitchen to wash her hands. The house was a typical bachelor pad mess, but she had to admit, it had gotten a bit better since the last time she was here.

The shoulder adjustment didn't take too long, her prior work with Ja'Marr making the process almost second nature. About halfway through, her phone rang with a call from Tee, checking in to see if she was still at Ja'Marr's. She barely processed the invitation extended from Ja'Marr to "come through" before Tee announced he was on his way.

Tee arrived just as she was finishing up with the adjustment, his eyes immediately landing on her, a smile spreading across his face. He leaned down to kiss her cheek, whispering, "You smell good," his breath warm against her ear.

"Thank you, baby," she murmured, turning her head to kiss him sweetly. "Just finished up with your boyfriend if y'all want to get a little date in."

The two men protested with a chorus of "Nahs" and "Come on," playfully bickering like old friends. She couldn't help but smile, the sight of them together bringing a warmth to her chest that she had missed during their time apart. She packed up her things, tossing a wink at Ja'Marr as she packed her table away. Ja'Marr and Tee settled into the couch, already loading up 2K while she set her things down near the doorway.

She made a beeline for the floor where Ja'Marr's son was playing with his toys. Uno looked up at her, his eyes lighting up as he held out a toy car for her to take. "Vroom vroom," he said, making engine sounds, and she couldn't help but laugh as she took it from him. "Thanks, bubba," she cooed, playing along as she made her own car sounds.

For a while, she was perfectly content to ignore the easy conversation between the men as she focused on Uno. The little boy had grown so much in the short time she had known him, and she couldn't help but feel a warmth towards him that was almost maternal. But as the afternoon turned into evening, and the two men's voices grew louder, she couldn't ignore the conversation anymore.

"You remember that party last year?" Ja'Marr said, his voice carrying over the sound of the video game. Her hand froze mid-air, the toy car hovering in front of Uno's face. She glanced over her shoulder, watching Tee lean back into the couch with a smirk.

"Yeah," the older of the two said with a shake of his head. "Shit was crazy."

Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't like where this was going. She turned her focus back to Uno, trying to tune out the conversation. But it was like trying to ignore a siren blasting through the top floor of a library.

"Glad you came to your senses and left that Soraya girl alone," Ja'Marr said, his tone light but his meaning clear. Tee stiffened on the couch, his eyes flicking over to her for a moment before returning to the game.

Her heart sank, the name "Soraya" echoing in her ears. She didn't react, instead, her eyes remained focused on the toddler, pushing the toy car across the floor, trying to keep her emotions in check. She was overreacting, she told herself. It's just a name. But the way it rolled off Ja'Marr's tongue, so casually, so familiar, felt like a knife twisting in her stomach.

Tee had assured her that his past was just that, his past. But here it was, slapped in her face without warning. She took a deep breath and continued playing with Uno, trying to ignore the conversation she hadn't wanted to hear. But the more she tried to push it away, the more it intrigued her.

"Man, she was crazy," Tee muttered under his breath as if hoping she wouldn't be able to make out his words. But she heard them, loud and clear.

"Remember when she showed up at the game? She had on your jersey and shit," Ja'Marr said, his laughter bellowing through the room. Tee's eyes flickered towards her again, but she kept her gaze on the floor, playing with Uno's toys, coaxing him to speak to her in that darling baby drawl of his.

Her boyfriend tsked under his breath. "Had my momma lookin' at me sideways, too," he added, shaking his head with a grin. "But she's ancient history. What's good with you and your girl, though?"

And just like that, the two of them moved on from the subject of Tee's… whatever "Soraya" was to him, diving into the stats of some new wideout at Alabama. Her mind, however, remained stuck on the unfamiliar name uttered so familiarly by her boyfriend and his friend. Who was she? Why did she still linger in the background of their conversations? Why did it feel like a secret she wasn't allowed to know? Her curiosity grew with every mention, a thorny vine wrapping around her heart and piercing it with doubt.

The sun set completely by the time the toddler started yawning. His sleepy whining alerting Ja'Marr to the time. "Looks like it's bedtime for my little man," he said, standing up and reaching for Uno. She took it as her cue to leave, standing from her spot on the floor and brushing off her jeans. She turned to look at Tee a soft, "You ready to go?", slipping from her lips.

Tee nodded, turning off the game and calling out a 'goodnight' to Ja'Marr who was busy wrangling his namesake upstairs. The drive home was tense, the usual playful banter replaced by a thick silence that she was afraid to break. When they pulled into the driveway, she turned to him, hesitating before she finally dared to ask, "Who's Soraya?"

He took a moment before responding, his eyes on the dark house in front of them. "Soraya was…someone I was seeing last year," Tee said carefully, his voice measured. "It's not something I talk about because it's not important anymore. It's over."

She felt the tension coil around her chest, tightening. "Why would Ja'Marr bring her up then?" she asked, her voice even.

Tee shrugged, his eyes never leaving hers. "Probably just teasin'," he said, his voice casual, but she noticed the slight annoyance around his eyes. "Guys talk, you know how it is."

But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it. As they walked into the house, she felt a pang of unease that had been absent from their relationship since they had gotten back together. She tried to push it aside, telling herself that Tee had changed, that she had no reason to doubt him. But the name "Soraya" lingered in her mind like a bad taste in her mouth.

She hoped the bad taste would clear with the promise of getting wasted at Ja'Marr's birthday bash. The music was loud, the drinks flowed like a river, and Ja'Marr was the star of the show, surrounded by his closest friends, basking in the adoration. She hovered on the edge of the festivities, finding a familiar group of girls she'd met at previous parties. They were all dressed to the nines, sipping cocktails, and sharing gossip that she was only partly able to follow.

And then she saw her. A woman with honey-colored skin and long, sleek hair dangling down her back sailed over to their little clique. One of the girls to her right, a tanned girl named Nayeli, practically squealed when she saw the newcomer. "Oh my god, Soraya! You're here!"

Soraya.

The name hit her like a sledgehammer to the chest, her eyes widening as she took in the woman's beauty. She had the kind of confidence that was magnetic, that made the room tilt on its axis just a little. She was dressed in a red dress that clung to her curves like a second skin. Her movements were cat-like, dripping with pure seduction. She felt a flash of jealousy so intense it was almost blinding when Soraya drew closer.

The woman's makeup was impeccable, highlighting her high cheekbones and plump lips that curled into a knowing smile as she greeted the group. The skin of her cheek pulled into a perfectly round dimple as she leaned in to kiss Nayeli on the cheek. As if her perfection couldn't get any more annoying, She noticed that she smelled like heaven, a scent that was a mix of vanilla and jasmine that lingered in the air long after she had moved on from the spot.

The conversation shifted to lighter topics as the group of girls chatted and laughed, but she couldn't focus. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Tee and Soraya, wondering what they had shared, how she had made him feel, and why she was still here, still a part of their lives in some way. It was like a slap in the face, a stark reminder of the fears she had been trying so hard to bury.

A strong hand settled onto her shoulder, and she looked up to see Tee's concerned gaze. "You okay, baby?" he shouted over the music, his voice a lifeline in the storm of her thoughts. She forced a smile, nodding as she took a deep breath. He handed her a drink to replace the one she hadn't touched, his thumb brushing her knuckles in a silent gesture of reassurance.

"Thank you," she hummed, laughing as he puckered his lips at her. She took the hint, smiling in the kiss they exchanged, hoping it was enough to cover up her turmoil. Tee leaned down and whispered into her ear, his voice low and steady. "You know I'm all yours, right?" His breath tickled her skin and sent a shiver down her spine.

She nodded again, taking a sip of her drink to wash away the bitter taste. If the question was any indication, he noticed Soraya from across the room—or smelled her—at any rate, he knew she was here, and that was enough for her to feel uneasy. She watched as Tee turned to return to the guys, his tall frame and easy smile drawing in their attention. She tried to lose herself in the party chatter, but the conversation kept drifting back to Tee, and with it, the specter of the woman he hadn't quite left behind.

"You got a good one, girl," a sugar-sweet voice cooed from across the small seating area. She felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees. She turned around to see Soraya lounging on the couch opposite hers, a knowing glint in her eye. "Tee's the best, isn't he?"

The mention of Tee's name in that seductive tone was like nails on a chalkboard to her. She took a deep breath, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, the best," she responded, keeping her tone neutral, scrunching her nose with a faux smile.

Soraya leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "I know, right?" she said, her voice low, a conspiratorial whisper. "The way he moves, the way he looks at you—it's like he can't get enough." She felt a cold shiver run down her spine, not from the compliment, but from the way Soraya's eyes seemingly danced with the memory of a shared past. "But, you know, we had some fun times too," Soraya added, her words dripping with insinuation.

"I heard some of those 'fun times'," Nayeli giggled, nudging Soraya with her elbow. "Remember that time at the pool party?"

Soraya's smile grew wider, a hint of triumph in it. "Oh, yes," she purred. "You would know, huh?"

"Know what?" she questioned, her voice tight, her heart hammering in her chest like a drum. She didn't want to play this game, didn't want to know the details of Tee's past conquests, especially not with this woman.

Soraya's eyes sparkled with glee. "How good he is, puts in the work for sure. Like that one night, when…" Soraya leaned in closer, sharing intimate details about her past with Tee that made her mouth go dry. The other girls giggled, adding their own two cents about their observations of Tee—and all of his features—to the mix. Her grip on her drink tightened, the cool plastic slipping in her hand.

The conversation grew increasingly explicit, each detail about Tee's prowess making her stomach turn. She didn't know if she was angrier at Soraya for flaunting it or at herself for letting it get to her. But she knew she had to get out of there. Immediately.

She threw back the rest of her drink, standing from her seat abruptly. "Excuse me," she mumbled, pushing past the group of women, their giggles and whispers trailing her like a dark shadow. Tee was still in the middle of the room, surrounded by his friends, their laughter and camaraderie cutting through the air.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she approached, the music seemingly louder with every step. He saw her coming, his eyes widening slightly before he excused himself from the group. "You okay?" he asked, his voice cutting through the noise.

"No, let's go," she said, her voice firm and urgent. She didn't bother hiding the agitation in her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. He looked at her, his expression a mix of confusion and concern.

"Aye, you good?" he shouted over the bass-heavy music.

Her face hardened. "Let's go," she said again, her voice harsher this time. Tee searched her eyes, the smile slipping from his face. He knew that tone. Something was wrong. He nodded, following her through the crowd of partygoers without a second glance.

She stomped off to the bathroom on the far end of the venue where the music was just a throb in the walls. Tee followed, his eyes never leaving her figure as he navigated the crowded space, his concern growing with every step. Once inside, she locked the door and turned to him, her eyes flashing with anger and hurt.

"Why is she here?" She spat out the words, her eyes narrowed. "Who the fuck invited her?"

Tee leaned against the sink, his face a mask of calmness. "It's a party, baby. People bring people. People show up. Ion see why it's a big deal."

Her jaw clenched. "It's a big deal because she's your ex-whatever. And she's telling people I don't know what you're packing. In front of me!"

Tee sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Baby, she just talkin' shit. We're not together no more. I ain't bring her here. Why does it matter?"

"It matters because you didn't tell me about her!" Her voice grew louder with every word, her eyes brimming with a well of tears. "You promised you'd be honest with me, and here she is, flaunting herself like you don't have a girlfriend at home!"

Tee's expression shifted, the weight of her accusation sinking in. He took a step closer, his voice soothing. "Baby, I ain't with her. That's ancient history." His hand reached out to cup her face, but she flinched away, the warmth of his touch feeling foreign in the coldness that had seeped into her bones.

"It doesn't feel like it," she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. "She was talking about you like she knew you better than I do."

Tee's eyes softened, his thumb brushing away a stray tear that had escaped her eye. "Baby girl, that's not true. I'm with you now, and I'm all yours. I'm sorry she made you feel that way."

She remained quiet for a moment, staring at her own reflection in the mirror, the harsh bathroom lights highlighting the doubt etched on her face. Tee's hand hovered in the air before falling to his side, his expression a mix of regret and confusion.

"This shit bothers you that much? I ain't even talked to her in damn near a year," Tee said, his voice low and soothing, trying to calm the storm brewing within her. But she couldn't help the insecurity that washed over her. She knew Tee had been with other women before her, been with women after her, but she didn't want to be reminded of it, not when she was still trying to trust him again.

"Talk to me," Tee urged, his voice a gentle whisper that barely penetrated the wall of anger and hurt that she had built around herself. "What do you need from me? Tell me what I gotta do to make this right."

"Fuck me," she murmured, turning away from the mirror to meet Tee's eyes.

A smirk spread across his face, separating his plump lips, revealing a set of teeth so white they looked like they'd been dipped in a vat of bleach. "Is that right?" He leaned in closer, his breath a sweet mix of alcohol and mint. "You want me to fuck you right here? Right now?"

She nodded, her eyes never leaving his. "Yeah," she said firmly. "Prove to me that I'm the only one who matters."

Tee studied her for a moment, the smirk never leaving his face, before he stepped closer, his body pressing into hers, the heat of him seeping into her skin. He leaned in, his breath hot against her ear. "You always been the only one who matters," he whispered, his hands sliding around her waist before trailing down her backside to squeeze her ass. "But I can prove it to you. That's what you want, right, baby?"

Her breath hitched in her throat as his words sent a bolt of desire through her. She nodded again, her voice barely a whisper. "Fuck me, please," she said, her eyes locked on his, the honey specks in his irises dancing in the dim light.

Tee didn't waste another second. He picked her up effortlessly, her legs wrapping around his waist as his mouth claimed hers. His kiss was a declaration of war against her insecurities, a fiery promise of his devotion. He turned her around, pressing her against the wall of the bathroom, the cool plaster a stark contrast to their heated bodies. His hands found the hem of her dress, hiking it up to expose her bare thighs. The fabric of his jeans scraped against her skin as he positioned himself, his erection pressing into her.

Her legs tightened around him, urging him closer. He broke the kiss just long enough to unbuckle his belt and pull down his zipper, freeing himself. She could feel him, hot and hard, against her, and she couldn't wait any longer. He slammed into her, her back arching with a gasp that was swallowed by his mouth. The bathroom door rattled with the force of their collision, the sound lost in the thunderous bass of the music outside.

"Fuck!" Her voice was muffled by Tee's mouth as he drove into her, their bodies moving in a rhythm that was as old as their relationship. He held her tightly, his hands digging into her flesh as he claimed her over and over again, the sound of their skin slapping together echoing off the bathroom walls.

His pace was agonizingly slow. The delicious roll of his hips against her made her toes curl in her heels and she could feel her nails digging into his shoulders. But she didn't care. All she cared about was the way he was looking at her, like she was the only woman in the world, like he hadn't ever been with anyone else. Like she hadn't pushed him away two years ago and allowed him to be ensnared in a trap of vanilla and jasmine scented seduction.

Her own hands slid down his back, feeling the muscles ripple beneath his shirt as he moved, the warmth of his skin setting her alight. She could feel herself getting wetter with every stroke, her body begging for more, for him to go faster, harder. But he held back, keeping the rhythm slow and steady, as if he knew that's what she needed to feel safe in his arms again.

"You feel that?" He muttered against her neck, his teeth sinking into the brown flesh before his tongue swiped the bite, soothing the sting. "It's just us, baby. Just you and me. Nothing else matters." His words were a salve to her soul, a declaration of love and lust that she desperately needed to hear in that moment.

"Just me?" She asked, her voice shaky, her arms holding onto him for dear life.

Tee nodded, his thrusts never faltering, his grip on her thighs tight. "Always just you," he murmured, his breath hot on her neck. Her eyes rolled back as she felt herself climbing closer to the edge. She clung to his neck, her nails digging into his skin as she whispered sweet, near-silent pleas for him to go faster.

"Always," he murmured again, his voice thick with passion as he slammed into her, the word a promise that echoed through her entire body. Her eyes fluttered shut, her head falling back against the wall with a thud as she gave in to the sensation. Tee's hands roamed over her, his thumbs brushing against the wetness between her legs, teasing and playing with her clit.

She took in a deep breath, her chest heaving as sweat began to trickle down the side of her face. "Fuck me harder," she begged, her voice strained, and Tee didn't hesitate to comply. He picked up the pace, his hips slamming into hers with a ferocity that made her legs shake. The music outside grew fainter as their breathing filled the small space, the only sound in the world the wet slap of their bodies coming together.

"I love bein' in this fuckin' pussy," Tee groaned, his voice gruff as he slammed into her, his hands digging into her ass as he pulled her closer. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she felt her climax approaching, the tension in her body coiling tighter and tighter with every stroke. She threw her head back, her mouth open in a silent scream of pleasure.

"You feel so good baby, god - so, so, so good," she panted against his ears. His thrusts grew deeper, more urgent, as if driven by her words. The bathroom was their own little world, the party forgotten, the whispers of the past just that—whispers.

He kissed and licked along her neckline, his teeth scraping her sensitive skin as he found his rhythm. She could feel the tension in him, his muscles tightening as he pushed deeper into her. "Never gave it to nobody how I give it to you," he muttered, his voice a low, guttural rumble that made her shiver. "Nobody ever had me like this. You drive me fuckin' crazy. Can't think straight when you ain't around. Can't think straight when I'm inside you either."

"Tee," she moaned, her voice a plea for more.

"Hmm. That's it, baby, say it louder," Tee urged, his own voice strained as he felt his climax approaching. "Let me hear you scream my name." His hand moved to find her mouth, his middle and ring finger tapping against her bottom lip. "C'mon, open up for me. Need my fingers rubbin' that pretty clit. Wanna see you come apart like you was meant to."

She complied, allowing her lips to part as Tee's fingers slipped inside her mouth. He chuckled darkly when she whined at the loss when he pulled them back. She whispered softly, her eyes snapping open to meet his, the heat of his gaze burning into hers as he kissed her, feeling her tongue against his as his slick hand trailed down to find her clit, just as he said he would.

Her breath hitched, and she gripped his neck tighter as his fingertips began to circle, pressing down with just the right amount of pressure. "Tee," she murmured against his mouth, her hips moving in sync with his, her walls tightening around him.

"Feel good, huh?" Tee said, his voice thick with passion as he worked her body. Her thighs shook in ecstasy as she felt the tension in her core tighten to a near painful point. The music outside was just a faint throb now, perfectly in sync with the throbbing of her own heart.

"Fuckin' amazing," she moaned, her eyes never leaving his. They were a window to his soul, and in that moment, she saw nothing but love and desire for her. It was a heady feeling, one she hadn't felt in a long time, not since before the break-up.

He kissed her again, his tongue delving into her mouth as his fingers worked their magic, setting her body alight. She felt herself climbing higher, her moans growing louder. "I'm gonna come," she gasped, her voice a desperate plea for release.

Tee's eyes darkened, his own need for release mirroring hers. "Go 'head, baby, take it from me," he hummed, his voice a gruff command that sent a bolt of electricity straight to her core. And just like that, she shattered around him, her body convulsing in waves of pleasure as she moaned his name. "Good girl, that's it."

Her orgasm seemed to set him off like a bomb, and with a guttural groan, he buried himself deep inside her, his own release spilling into her. They remained there, bodies entangled, for what felt like an eternity, only aware of the passing time from their ragged breathing and the distant bass of the party.

"Damn, baby," Tee whispered against her neck as he slowly pulled out, his hands gentle on her body as he helped her adjust her dress. "You aight?"

She nodded, her legs wobbly as she slid down to stand on her own. She could feel his cum trickling down her thigh, the sticky warmth a reminder of the raw passion they'd just shared. "Yeah," she murmured, her voice still shaky. "I'm good."

Tee stepped back, his chest heaving with every breath, his eyes glued to her face as he zipped up his pants and adjusted his belt. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I just…" She trailed off, not sure how to put her emotions into words. She didn't want to admit that the encounter with Soraya had left her feeling inadequate and insecure. She didn't want to admit that she let her jealousy get the best of her.

"I know," he said, reaching out to pull her into his chest, cradling her head against him. "I know it's hard, but you gotta trust me. That shit with Soraya, it's in the past." He kissed the top of her head, his hands rubbing soothing circles on her back. "You're the only one I want, the only one I'm with now."

She took a deep breath, the scent of him mixing with the faint smell of alcohol and sweat. It was comforting, familiar, and it helped to ease the tightness in her chest. "I know," she acknowledged, finally allowing herself to believe him.

They stood in the bathroom for a few moments longer, their bodies still pressed together, their hearts beating in sync. The music from the party grew louder as they stepped out of the small sanctuary and back into the chaos. Tee's arm remained around her waist, a silent promise that he wouldn't let go, that he was there for her.

"I need another drink," she huffed, trying to compose herself as she stepped out of the bathroom, her legs still wobbly. Tee chuckled, the sound vibrating through his chest.

"Nah, we're goin' home, baby. I need that ass bouncin' against me ASAP," Tee said with a smirk, his words playful but laced with serious intent. His grip tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to his side as they navigated through the crowd of partygoers.