#especially since that was the beginning of all that

[beigebeignett]

I do love angst but I'm also a sucker for happy endings and re-incarnation, so here's my take on what happens (decades/centuries) after:

The sphinx and her lover: reimagined

Imagine that the sphinx ends up dying, as all living creatures do, and ends up reincarnated as a very smart yet terrifying young scientist. 

Her passion in her fields equals her distaste for other people; especially men who try to undermine her knowledge and talent at dates. So, she sets up a strategy to determine who is worthy of her time.

If you want to get a date with me, solve my riddles, wrong answers will get you blocked. 

There, done, she thinks. If that doesn't make men stop bombarding her with messages, she doesn't know what will (well, she can think of a few others, but she'd rather not spend more time and energy than she's already spending on such a silly matter). 

And so, she starts getting less messages, with only some men and women being brave (or foolish) enough to try and chat with her. 

The ones that try to answer her riddles don't usually last long; getting the second or third wrong. Some don't even last the first one; those are usually the most bothersome, acting as if she has no right to choose her partner, as if she's being too ruthless (when she'd been honest since the beginning). 

Weeks pass before she gets another message. And so, she does as she always does. This time though, something's different. He keeps getting her riddles right, over, and over, and over. 

How curious, she thinks. How curious indeed, when he asks her if he could try asking her a riddle. She scoffs at her phone, partially amused, and agrees. 

She gets the answer right, of course, so he keeps asking riddle after riddle and she does the same, as if they were playing a game of pass the ball. The riddles get increasingly difficult, and the time those three dots stay floating on the chat grows longer as well; but she doesn't mind. She can wait a bit more for this one. Plus, while she waits, she can get lab reports done instead of worrying about finding new questions to ask that man. 

Sometimes days go by without her seeing any new riddles for him; sometimes a week passes before he gets asked another one. 

She must be busy, he thinks. He must have other things to do, she assumes. 

Between riddles, they start to talk about more mundane things: his job, her career, his essay on ancient Greek marriage practices; her paper on nuclear magnetic resonance in chemical engineering… He sends her pictures of his cat napping on top of his dictionaries and encyclopaedias, basking in the sun; and in turn she sends him pictures of boards filled with equations and pictures of filled excel tables.

Soon, they start chatting more, asking riddles occasionally when they’re both tired of talking about themselves. 

She learns that he’s an Archaeology major, and he finds out that she’s already getting her doctorate; something about chemical engineering, she explains. He’s fascinated by the topic, asking her a million questions about what it’s like, her doctorate subject, how did she choose her career path… And in turn she asks him about archaeology; why did he choose to spend his life studying the past, what is it that he enjoys the most about his field of work… 

They agree to meet up at the local library two days later. 

Almost a foot taller than him; that’s how tall she is. She’s waiting for him sitting near the entrance, browsing through architecture magazines when he finds her. He smiles and warmly waves at her, formally introducing himself, and extends his hand for her to shake; so she stands up as well to take it and introduce herself as well. That’s when they notice.

Even though he’s not short himself (considering the standards) at 5'9", at almost 7 feet tall she towers over him. Their aesthetics seem to clash a bit as well: his outfit is quite simple: some basic jeans and a nice cream wool jumper paired up with some sneakers, and hers consists of a pleated red skirt and a shirt paired with black knee-high boots to combat the cold. Out of the chat, and now face to face, their conversation flows easily; they exchange book recommendations, and of course they ask each other some riddles to pass the time. 

Overall, their first date goes well. Better than she expected, honestly, which is why when he asks her for a second date, she agrees.

To be continued...?

[sunderwight]

scum villain fairytale AU where every night, the beautiful yet cruel peak lord Shen Qingqiu transforms from his regal self into modern nerd Shen Yuan (complete with physical and wardrobe changes).

to keep the secret of his transformations, Shen Qingqiu has taken to locking himself up at night. so every night for the past few weeks, Shen Yuan has awakened to find himself chained and kept prisoner in the bamboo house. since he can't ask anyone, he has no idea that he turns back into someone else come morning, he just thinks he's being drugged or something and that this is his entire transmigration experience -- a prisoner of someone he never sees or interacts with, presumably being fed and bathed while he's unconscious somehow since he hasn't died and doesn't stink, who also hasn't seen sunlight since all of this began.

anyway one day Shen Qingqiu gets distracted and doesn't do the chains up properly (qi deviation issues most likely), and Shen Yuan manages to escape just before dawn. he doesn't completely get away because Shen Qingqiu did set up a last ditch imprisonment array that teleports Shen Yuan back into the house before he can leave the property line, but he gets outside and he calls for help.

disciple Luo Binghe (out early because he got sent to do nine million chores all night and didn't sleep to begin with) sees this thin and obviously frightened young man (in chains!) break out of his master's house and plea for assistance, only to be swallowed up by what looks like some kind of sinister magical effect and vanish.

curiosity piqued, the next night, Luo Binghe masters some of his fear of his harsh shizun and sneaks over to the bamboo house. it takes a few nights more for him to actually work up the nerve to actually peek into one of the windows.

to his astonishment, he sees the young man obviously being held captive inside. what's going on? is it a demon? but then, why would Shen Qingqiu hold him captive instead of just killing him? Luo Binghe is still barely young enough to want to give his cruel master some benefit of the doubt, out of hope for his own prospects if nothing else, but this seems pretty fucked up. especially since the chained man is so pretty, and so scantily clad (shorts and t-shirt)...

anyway, Shen Yuan notices Binghe and starts calling out to him for help. but this frightens Luo Binghe off, because he doesn't know that Shen Qingqiu won't hear and come running. he feels badly though and eventually does go back, and after Shen Yuan assures him that no matter how he screams or begs for help he's sure no one will come (until Binghe, no one ever has), Luo Binghe cautiously stays put and starts talking to him. after a while the young disciple can only conclude that his master must be going down the mountain to spend his nights at the brothels. no one has seen him leave for such trips in months, but he must have discovered a way to do so more secretively.

Shen Yuan has figured out since long ago that he transmigrated, although he doesn't know the setting, so he knows he can't entirely explain his situation to this random teenager. he also knows that there's a chance -- though it seems remote -- that the boy has something to do with his captivity, and isn't just the innocent bystander he seems to be. but with little to loose he's more inclined to trust and hope that this might give him an opportunity to escape.

meanwhile Luo Binghe is still cautious that this strange man might be a demon of some kind, or a trap or test on Shen Qingqiu's part, so he doesn't give his real name or tell Shen Yuan anything about the sect. gradually he becomes convinced of Shen Yuan's sincerity, even though he still doesn't dare go against Shen Qingqiu or actually set foot inside the house.

time passes, and Luo Binghe's visits become more regular. despite the lack of rescue, even just having someone to talk to is such a massive improvement that Shen Yuan doesn't complain. before long he gets the impression that this boy's situation isn't even much better than his own, as he is constantly sporting some bruise or visible injury or another, and offhandedly describes a lot of treatment that sounds frankly horrific as if he thinks it's simply normal. he figures he's in a cultivation setting and some kind of sect, though, and after a while he begins imparting tips and tricks and whatever he can think of to fill the silence with his mystery visitor.

this is eventually how he figures out that he's trapped in the world of PIDW, even if he doesn't quite figure out where or who with yet. because Luo Binghe describes some aspects of cultivation that would only apply to that hack job the author made of cultivation systems. which is a good thing because it lets Shen Yuan offer more specific advice, and also begin to try and make plans.

if he's imprisoned by cultivators, then one day Luo Binghe will probably arrive as part of his eradication of the sects. maybe Shen Yuan can beg mercy from him?

this becomes such an important fantasy that Shen Yuan begins to describe it to his little visitor, playing it off that he sometimes gets "visions" (and trying to help the poor kid some more, given that both of them are in danger in a stallion novel where no man is liable to live long in the protagonist's orbit).

at first Luo Binghe thinks that Shen Yuan has somehow figured out who he is, when the man begins to tell him stories of some great person of destiny who has the same name as him. but by then he's hooked so even though it's risky, he still keeps going back to the bamboo house at night, and after a few weeks he concludes that Shen Yuan really doesn't seem to realize that the name of his imagined demon emperor has anything to do with his visitor. he even describes Luo Binghe's own background and troubles to him, but offhandedly, as if he is just picking up loose details about someone else from a story or dream. even when Shen Yuan observes that the Luo Binghe of his stories has some similarities to the Luo Binghe outside the window, his does this in such a way that it just seems to emphasize that he has no idea that these "visions" he's started having are connected to his visitor. or that the villain Shen Qingqiu he describes is in fact his captor.

Luo Binghe guesses that these visions might be the reason Shen Qingqiu has locked Shen Yuan away. perhaps he is some kind of magical creature, if not a demon, and cultivators can benefit from stealing energy or blood or... other unsavory things from him, although Luo Binghe doesn't think Shen Yuan's predictions sound very accurate. he's still trying to figure it out when, in fact, one of those predictions comes true.

Shen Qingqiu declares that he's going into seclusion, and disappears into the lingxi caves. with him he takes a large box (big enough to hold a man and with vents on the sides), that he moves and handles himself, even though secluded cultivation doesn't usually call for a lot of luggage. from the box, just faintly, Luo Binghe imagines he hears the clink of chains. (Shen Qingqiu plans to lock himself into it every night.)

that night, when Luo Binghe goes to the bamboo house, he finds it completely empty. it's empty again the next night, too, no matter which windows he approaches. as the nights drag on he even grows bold enough to break into the bamboo house, but there's nobody inside.

Shen Qingqiu must have taken his prisoner with him into the caves. Luo Binghe cannot think of a reason to do that which is not nefarious, and he struggles to sleep each night, imagining terrible things that his cruel master could be doing to Shen Yuan as part of his efforts to improve his own cultivation. he can only pray that none of it proves fatal.

being locked in a box at night is pretty bad, but luckily one of the corners was kind of shoddily made, so Shen Yuan manages to get out of it after the second night. he's still chained and he can't leave the circle of an array Shen Qingqiu set up, but the cave is at least a change of scenery. Shen Yuan even feels inspired to attempt some cultivating of his own, although he worries that he's been moved to this weird place because someone caught his little visitor coming to the window, and he hopes that if so, no one has punished the boy (he knows that's a slim hope, given the kind of micro infractions his visitor has apparently been beaten over).

of course, there's a rampaging Liu Qingge qi deviating in the caves, so Shen Yuan gets to deal with that. Liu Qingge thinks he's having some kind of lingering fever dream when he gets rescued by some weird pervert at night, only to come to his senses and find he's being berated by a wild-eyed Shen Qingqiu instead.

Shen Qingqiu is not happy that Liu Qingge's rampage put him in proximity with his incredibly pathetic werewolf curse, the only relief is that the idiot seemed to be too out-of-his head from a qi deviation to remember most of it. and also apparently his "other self" saved the man's life, which Shen Qingqiu is just going to attribute to dumb luck. Shen Qingqiu is 100% convinced that this curse he's under is designed to get him killed or disgraced.

meanwhile, despite his fears about Shen Yuan's state, Luo Binghe does remember that the man told him about a demon attack that followed Shen Qingqiu going into seclusion. he's not sure what to expect, but somehow he isn't as surprised as he should be when Sha Hualing and her goon squad turn up. he is grimly terrified when the fighting tournament starts, and he sees the demon who matches the description of the one he's meant to fight and he can't imagine that working out in his favor... but Shen Yuan was perfectly adamant that despite the difficulty, Luo Binghe would win.

if he wins, does that mean the rest of it comes true? that Luo Binghe is a half heavenly demon, that he will one day become the strongest person alive, emperor of the three realms and owner of the largest harem ever to exist? the one person Shen Yuan seems to think might rescue him from his prison?

the idea of it (well, some of it) gets Luo Binghe through his fight. and then of course Meng Mo shows up, and Shen Yuan is pulled into the subsequent dream and figures out who is "mysterious visitor" really is and is kind of like, oh shit I gave Luo Binghe spoilers about his own destiny. shit. well. done is done...?

Luo Binghe is alright with most of it though. the Abyss sounds deeply unpleasant and he doesn't actually want any wives (so many nights spying on Shen Yuan lounging around in barely nothing and some chains have definitely led to some epiphanies on his part), but if Shen Yuan says he can survive it, he believes him.

and then he will rescue Shen Yuan. after the Abyss he's also completely sold on ruining and killing Shen Qingqiu too. there are no downsides and this plan cannot possibly go awry!

[amoressb]

───── H.S.K.T. 西村 力 N. RK

ꪆৎ ⋆˚࿔ doing a cute dance trend with your ‘too cool’ bf ｡｡ ʙꜰ!ʀɪᴋɪ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ.

FLUFF & wc. 1100 + ; kissing, skinship, petnames ｡｡

──── ARCHiVE

you and riki were just laying down in your bed watching videos. riki had his hands wrapped around your waist, head on your shoulders watching with you since you were both watching on your phone.

after scrolling for a little while, a couple or friends appeared doing the H.S.K.T. trend and you immediately turned to riki grinning like crazy. he looked at you, his smile faltering, “don’t look at me, i am not doing that.”

“aw cmon riki pleaseee” you sulk. “nooo” he buries his head on you back pulling you closer. you don’t see or feel it but theres a smile growing on his face. you separate his hands and get off the bed getting changed. “yesss and were doing it outside so bundle up. oh AND you’re wearing pink so we can match!” you smile at him. “im not doing that cutesy trend and ESPECIALLY not wearing pink.”

“i cannot believe im doing this” riki sighs looking up after you both finish getting the simple moves down. here he was outside, in pink, waiting for you to finish setting up your phone. “okay you ready?” you turn around to him smiling. he let’s out a breathy yes but with a slight smile as he couldn’t help it when you’re being so cute.

you click start and the countdown starts as you both get into position. riki still had his ‘annoyed’ expression in the beginning but it immediately faded away as you two continued to do the dance.

it started off with you pointing at him first , barely reaching the top of his head and then him doing it to you and ended it off with you jumping onto him giving him a bear hug smiling big, riki immediately wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you closer and looking away while placing his head on yours smiling.

“let’s see how it came out!” you excitedly go to grab your phone and grab rikis hand to come and sit next to you.

looking over the video you notice rikis gaze stayed on you the whole time no matter what, as well as how almost immediately, he started smiling, but still trying to keep up that cool guy facade. you roll your eyes playfully and chuckle at him. you started getting flustered at all the attention he gave you.

from rikis point of view, although from the outside he sometimes looks disinterested, he really couldnt have loved these moments more. every time he looked at you, it felt like the world around you two faded away.

he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the way your hair cascaded down your shoulders, how your eyes sparkled when you laughed, or the subtle curve of your lips when you smiled. it wasn’t just your beauty, though—it was the way you made everything seem more alive, more vibrant.

his gaze often lingered, even when he didn’t mean to, as if he were trying to memorize every little detail, afraid that the moment would slip away too quickly. you were the kind of girl who could steal his attention effortlessly, and he didn’t mind at all—he was utterly captivated by your presence.

as you two sat side by side, eyes fixed on the video, the world outside felt distant and unimportant. his arms were wrapped around you, pulling you close as you leaned into him, your head resting gently against his shoulder. he could feel the warmth of your body, the soft rise and fall of your breath, and the faint scent of your hair, all of it grounding him in the moment.

every time you laughed or pointed something out on the screen, his grip tightened just a little, as if holding you a bit closer, cherishing the simple quiet moments you two shared. the video played on, but he wasnt paying much attention to it—he was lost in the feeling of having you there with him, in the ease of your shared space, where everything felt right.

you grinned playfully, raising an eyebrow as you nudged riki with your elbow. “you know,” you teased, “i think you secretly love doing all these cute little things with me.” riki shot you a look of mock disbelief, but you werent buying it.

“oh, come on, dont act like you didn’t enjoy matching in pink with me, or filming these couple trends, or—” you paused, looking at him mischievously, “—how you never complain when we go to that ridiculous little cafe for the third time this week.” he laughed, shaking his head, but you could see the corners of his lips twitching upwards, the slight blush creeping up his neck.

“admit it,” you pressed, your voice softening, he rolled his eyes, trying to act exasperated, but his soft chuckle gave him away. “im just being nice,” he muttered, though his warmth and the way he subtly leaned into you said everything. “yeah, sure,” you laughed, nudging him again.

“youre so ‘nice’—thats why you keep asking if i want to do something cute every weekend.” riki rolled his eyes, but there was a warmth in his expression that gave him away. “okay maybe i do enjoy it,” he muttered, his smile betraying him, “but only because it’s with you.”

“ahhh you love me so bad.” you tease him poking at his chest smiling. you were laughing, your eyes sparkling with mischief as you teased him once again. “you’re not as mysterious—” but before you could finish your sentence, he leaned in, cutting you off with a soft, unexpected kiss.

the playful edge in your voice faltered as you felt his lips against yours, warm and tender, shutting down your teasing in the sweetest way possible.

for a moment, everything else faded as you both just breathed, your hands instinctively resting against his chest. when you two pulled away, he smiled, a quiet confidence in his eyes. “okay, enough teasing for now,” he whispered, his voice low and amused.

you blinked, a smile tugging at your lips as you realized that his kiss was the perfect answer to your playful jabs. “and of course i love you soooo bad princess, how couldn’t i,” he smiles, lips hovering over each other.

riki would do anything for you, no matter how silly or cheesy it might seem. if it made you smile, it was worth it. riki would dance with you in the middle of your living room just because you wanted to, and even let you drag him to yet another cute cafe for “just one more” dessert.

to him, it wasnt about the act itself—it was about the joy of seeing you happy. your laughter, your little excited expressions, your way of making the ordinary feel extraordinary—he would do it all again without a second thought, because to him, making you feel loved was the best thing he could ever do. even if it meant getting rid of his ‘cool look’ for your cute antics.

ooh he’s so whipped for you.

⋆｡°✩ @miukidoll @liwinly @sugarikiz @hyukabean @ijustwannareadstuff20

[sailoryuns]

INAMORATA ─── PSH

genre. idol!sunghoon x model!f!reader | established relationship

warnings. angst, fluff (moreso towards the end), smut, accusations of cheating, hoon being lowkey toxic, cunnilingus, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, some mentions of crying, not proofread wc -> 1.5k

ps. the position i’m referring to is this (nsfw link), i usually hate vids but this was rly good imo.

“i think we should take a break...” you admit, voice growing shakier as you spoke. this was never something you wish to say in a million years, you wanted this relationship to work more than anything. but you were at your wits end with everything, talking to sunghoon was like conversing with the wall, never fully grasping any of your concerns.

you noticed the cracks beginning to seep in the midst of six months of being with him. he would often be dishonest of his whereabouts, saying he was out late due to “work” but was actually out drinking at some bar with jake or something. it made no sense for him to lie about such trivial things but he does it without even thinking. this was supposed to be a lovely vacation in paris together but lately you’ve grown tired of feeling like you’re unappreciated. a break from each other might be the best solution in getting his act together once and for all.

sunghoon felt his whole body turn limp as you uttered those words. not only was he blindsided by your decision, but you never indicated before to him that you were ready to propose such a drastic idea. “but why though? don’t you think this is a bit random? i mean this came out of nowhere y/n, i thought everything was good between us, why are you suddenly saying this now?” his thick, bushy brows furrowed in confusion, he wasn’t letting you off this easy and you know it.

“i just think it’s for the better right now hoon, we’re both so busy. we have a lot on our plate, especially you… and this relationship is just— it’s only putting more strain on everythi-”

“are you serious y/n? do you hear yourself? i knew what i was getting myself into the day i asked you to be my girlfriend. i’m well aware that i can’t be with you 24/7, and neither can you—however, i don’t expect that anyway. all i ever wanted was to have you by my side, i want to work through the hardships with you but if you’re so willing to give up like this then… i don’t know. i don’t even know what to say to this honestly..” sunghoon couldn’t help but cut you off, once his emotions take over, all sense of logic and reasoning is thrown out the window.

he was never one to question his worth in the eyes of his partner, but you were his longest relationship, he saw you as his first and only true love. it never occurred to him that he could lose you, the possibility of this break lasting long enough to make your love fade away was a scary revelation. there had to be a way he could fix this, he couldn’t bear to be without you.

“are you seeing someone else? maybe that’s why you’ve been so distant towards me lately…” he wanted to scream for saying that out loud but at least he got it off his chest. he knows how petty it sounds but he didn’t care, he wanted you to give him answers.

“no! i’m not seeing other people, i don’t have an interest in anyone but you sunghoon. i want to do this for the sake of us, we’re clearly not where we need to be and this break could help with getting us back on track and spending time apart could be beneficial.” you try your best to articulate your words properly but he remained unconvinced, he wasn’t on board with any bit of this.

how could you even be okay with something like this? spending time away from you drove him absolutely insane, he couldn’t fathom taking a break—not from someone as important as you in his life. he just needed to remind you that the love was still there, though it may be but a dull flame, he could ignite the spark again, with the little bit of hope he had left.

the foundation of your relationship was built from shared interests, since you both are part of professions that rely heavily on looks, you refused to see each other based solely off those superficial aspects. instead you got to know each other’s minds, your core values and beliefs, what mattered to you the most. you cherished every one of those deep conversations you shared together, it was a beautiful experience, an indescribable memory that shaped your bond forever.

so why is it now that you feel this way? was he really that oblivious to everything? he should’ve done more to prevent this but now he fears it’s too late. he’s faced with the conundrum of losing you and there wasn’t much time for him to stall or ask for a chance of redemption, he couldn’t waste another second.

“fuck that,” sunghoon angrily spat, his face contorting into a look of pure disgust. “you’re not going anywhere.” he reaches out to grab your waist before you could walk away, aggressively pulling you into his chest.

no matter how much you attempt to escape his hold, he’s not letting you go in the slightest. he’s much stronger than you, could easily lift you up without breaking a sweat. there was no use in fighting, you had no choice but to give in and let this conversation go. once his lips crashed into yours, everything faded to black. as if a simple kiss was the cure-all of mending this decrepit relationship.

sunghoon’s forehead pressed against yours as he pulled away, “shhh, lye down baby,” he hushes your quiet mewls, instructing you to do as he says. “gonna make you feel so good,” his hands slid under your skirt, gently rubbing over your clothed core “you’ll forget everything.”

* :.･ﾟﾟ･ ✿

“oh my- fuckk, sunghoon!” you cry out, almost on the verge of tears just from how skilled he is, rutting your hips upwards into his mouth as he devours you whole.

the pace of his tongue is relentless, roughly lapping up all your juices like he’s the most starved man alive. you’ve lost count at the amount of times he’s already made you come undone just from his mouth alone. your body’s buzzing with titillation, all you can do is scream and clench your pussy around nothing while he fiercely sucks on your clit.

you couldn’t stop twitching, feeling yet another orgasm approaching. your legs anchored over his shoulders, unable to think or speak coherent sentences as his face was fully buried into your sloppy cunt. he relaxes his jaw a bit more, going all the way from the bottom inching further up as he comes back in contact with your puffy clit. at any given moment it feels as if your heart’s about to stop.

“hoon-” your heads thrown back into the pillow, digging your nails into his shoulder blades from how overly sensitive you are. “n-need to cum.. can feel it. m’so close.” it surprises you when you’re able to even express such words.

a low grunt can be heard underneath, sunghoon loves hearing you— it’s arguably the best part about going down on you. the hand that wasn’t occupied went straight to gripping a fistful of his ebony hair, continuously moaning his name so loud that you genuinely feel bad for whomever the unlucky people that got to hear this.

just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore intense, he slips 2 of his slender fingers inside, making you gasp from the overwhelming sensation. flashes of white invade your vision, violently shaking as your lips form an “o” in the throes of ecstasy. sunghoon knows your body so well that this is nothing for him, he’s got it all down to a simple science. no one knows your body like he does, and especially no one can make you cum as hard as he can.

“go ahead, make a mess for me baby,” he strongly encourages, picking up his pace as his digits fuck into you faster. “just gonna clean it up with my tongue all over again.”

your eyes roll back to the depths of oblivion, feeling an out of body experience when reaching your climax. a string of curses leaves your shaky breath, limbs trembling and faint tears stain your flushed cheeks. sunghoon slows his movements, rubbing his thumb over your clit gently to make you even more sensitive. you love the way he calls you “good girl” and how proud the look on his face becomes while you ride out your orgasm on his fingers. he doesn’t stop showering you with compliments, only ramping up his affection as he plants fleeting kisses to your thighs, hips, and stomach.

once he’s finally come back up for air you grab his face to pull him into your lips again. moaning in his mouth while getting a taste of yourself was probably the hottest thing sunghoon’s ever witnessed.

“can’t believe this is all mine.” sunghoon whispers against you, gently massaging your aching thighs. “i love you so much, baby.”

“love you too hoon.” you instantly say back, feeling more at ease now that things are somewhat back to normal.

maybe a break isn’t necessary after all, how else would you be able to have such earth shattering orgasms?

- 完 ♡︎

[tojicide]

chapter one ── pest control. the spider’s sense: a spidercaleb series.

♥︎ spider-man!caleb 𝑥 fem!reader

synopsis. ┆ caleb’s life was perfect—until it wasn’t. a radioactive spider bite turned him into linkon’s friendly neighborhood spider-man, the daily bugle started hunting for the man behind the mask, and to top it all off, he was forced to partner up with you—his smart, competitive, and infuriatingly perfect classmate who threatened his spot as number one in the class rankings.

warnings. ┆ college/modern au, academic rivals to lovers, fluff, angst, eventual smut, gran isn’t evil in this LOL, the canon event, college parties, alcohol consumption, cliches, depictions of serious crime, references to the spider-man comics and movies

chapter summary. ┆ caleb's worst fear comes true when the two of you are assigned as lab partners, especially after your first experiment together goes horribly wrong in more ways than one.

series masterlist. ┆ next: soon!

Most days in Linkon City begin with sirens.

Loud, blaring, unmistakable screeches that cut through the early morning quiet like a blade, carving their way through alleyways and avenues alike. They seep into walls, curl beneath locked doors, and coil around the restless minds of those who have long since stopped flinching at their call.

To them, the inhabitants of this city, it is nothing more than background noise—a city’s heartbeat, rhythmic and ceaseless. But to you, it is a warning. A sign that the world beyond the window of your dorm room is a battlefield, and you, a stranger in its midst, are only beginning to understand the rules of this strange place.

Perhaps, in time, you will grow desensitized as they have. Learn to sleep through the wailing cries, to walk these streets without the ever-present weight of caution pressing against your ribs. In a way, they forbade you from venturing out, instilling a fear within you that if you did, you would be the individual these melodies chased—or worse, the victim they had been called for in the first place. 

The entirety of the first semester has passed, and you haven’t even finished unpacking. Your suitcase remains half-full, a tangible reminder that you do not yet belong here. That you still have a choice—to do something before this place sinks its teeth into you, before you become just another soul who mistakes chaos for comfort.

But that choice is an illusion.

Here, people like you make no difference. You are not a hero, nor anything close to it. You are just a student who knows better, one who recognizes that the sirens will always be there, a requiem for the city’s unrest. And the crime will persist, as will the men in uniform who fail to stop it.

Somewhere beyond the blaring wails, beyond the tangled skyline and shadowed alleys, someone is fighting a battle you will never quite understand.

And for now, all you can do is listen.

Yet, in a way, you know that this was exactly where you wanted to be.

Despite its rapidly deteriorating surroundings, Linkon University remained a place of prestige. Young children dreamed of acceptance into its ranks, babbling to their parents about how they, too, would one day make these halls their stomping grounds. Maybe it was naivety that brought you here. Or maybe it was the last remnants of a dream that hadn’t yet died on your tongue.

Or perhaps, it was the medical journalism program—a rare gem, dwindling into obscurity at every other university.

You were lucky to be accepted. But humbly speaking, luck had very little to do with it. Your stats spoke for themselves: a 1540 SAT, a 4.98 weighted GPA, more extracurriculars than you could count on both hands. A smart cookie, as written in the shining letters of recommendation that paved your way here.

And yet, imposter syndrome festered like a quiet disease, creeping into the spaces between your confidence. You have spent your entire life at the top. Always number one.

Here? You were number two.

Number two to whom? You did not know. Not yet, anyway.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

Caleb’s perfect life has unraveled in the span of a week and a half, but he positively swears it’s not his fault.

It’s yours.

Ten days ago, at precisely 12:57 PM, he endured the worst torment known to man: his seat in the lecture hall was stolen. A cruel move, truly. Class had been in session for four days, he’d claimed that seat twice—twice—and by the unspoken law of university students everywhere, that granted him full ownership. So why, then, were you sitting in his allotted property?

Looking back, Caleb sees only two possible explanations. The first: you had unknowingly taken the seat after enrolling just before the census date. The second: you were out to get him from the very start.

And personally? He’s convinced it’s the latter.

But alas, he hadn’t made a fuss about it then. It wasn’t like he’d just lost the single best seat in the entire hall—the one with perfect access to the exit, the projector, and the professor’s desk. But hey, he could be cool about this, right? Yeah… totally cool. So cool. The coolest.

Days passed, and everyone seemed to be settling into the spring semester just fine. The weather was getting warmer, flowers on the great lawn were blooming, and Caleb was thriving.

That was, until the unthinkable happened.

Time? 2:19 PM. Class? CHEM 001 AH. Location? The Grand Hall.

Caleb sat directly behind you, having resigned himself to the second best seat in the room, as the sound of pencils scratching against paper filled the otherwise quiet space.

Taking practice exams felt pointless. A waste of time, really. His efforts could be better spent elsewhere—like taking the real exam or absolutely demolishing his roommate Zayne in Apex Legends yet again. But instead, here he was, surrounded by classmates diligently scribbling away as the session inched closer to its eventual end.

And when it did, Caleb would have simply packed up and gone on his merry way—if not for the single most bone-chilling sentence he had ever heard in his entire academic career.

You were chatting with the girl beside you, talking about things he had zero interest in. Your shared biology class at 3 PM, your dorm building, plans to meet up at the dining hall later… blah blah blah. But then—an acronym. A single, horrific acronym triggered him like a sleeper agent.

“My GPA? Oh, it’s… 4.30. I think. To be honest, it’s been a while since I checked.”

His jaw went slack. His eyes widened. The color drained from his face.

A 4.30 GPA? No. No. That couldn’t be real. That could not be real.

But as his gaze flickered between the back of your head and your friend’s, he came to the most horrifying conclusion of all.

You weren’t lying. And if that were true… then that meant you had the same GPA he did.

Which meant that, depending on your course load and how well you performed, you could take his spot as number one in the class rank.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

Caleb burst into his dorm room, slinging his backpack onto his mattress before face-planting into it with a sound somewhere between a groan and a hmph.

Across the room, Zayne didn’t even glance up from his desk, fingers tapping away at his mounted laptop. Click, clack. Click, clack. For a stretch of time, that was the only sound in the room—until he finally exhaled, the kind of quiet sigh that could only mean here we go again.

“Rough day?”

Caleb didn’t even hesitate. “The worst day.”

Zayne closed his eyes for a moment, like he was mentally preparing himself, before pushing away from his desk and turning his chair just enough to look at his roommate. “What happened?”

Still face-down on the bed, Caleb let out a long, exaggerated sigh—nowhere near as silent as Zayne’s. “I think I have to take trig next semester. Honors.”

That made Zayne pause. Brow quirked, he leaned back. “Why? Your counselor quite literally said you’re already on track to graduate with honors and as one of the top-ranked students in our year.”

That was the problem, though. Caleb wasn’t satisfied with being one of the best. He wanted to be the best—and now, that source of pride was under attack.

“Well, that was before I found out I’m sharing a GPA with some girl in my chem lecture,” he said, rolling onto his back to stare blankly at the ceiling. “Which means if I don’t get my shit together and pack on a few more honors courses, I’m cooked.”

Zayne laughed. Actually laughed. Shaking his head, he turned back to his desk, plucked his glasses off the mousepad, and slid them on. “You should hear yourself right now.”

Caleb’s head snapped to the side, eyebrows pinching together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s just amusing, is all.” Zayne smirked. “I find it endearing that you, Mr. ‘I can skip the final and still pass with a 94%,’ Mr. ‘I think I might take astronomy honors for fun this semester,’—”

“All riiight, I get it,” Caleb cut in. “What’s your point?”

Zayne snickered, amused. “My point is that if you of all people feel threatened by a classmate you hardly know, maybe there’s a reason for that.”

Caleb hated that there was probably some truth to that. Not that he’d ever admit it. Being threatened by a classmate he barely knew? Please. He knew enough. (And yes, he had meticulously sifted through the entire roster of his chemistry class to stalk your Canvas profile. What? It’s… field research.)

“Y’know, you’re terrible at pep talks,” he muttered, folding his hands behind his head.

“I’m not trying to be,” Zayne replied easily. “But if you want my input—take the trig course next semester. Something tells me you’ll need it.”

Caleb rolled onto his side, fishing his laptop from his backpack as the weight of his evening workload settled in.

And maybe Zayne was right.

Maybe he would need all the help he could get.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

It wasn’t until six days later—today—that Caleb knew for certain fate was no longer on his side.

The professor’s voice cut through the shuffle of students packing up their belongings, all of which were currently praying that their first lab of the semester wouldn’t be a complete and utter disaster. It was a well known fact that Dr. Rappaccini was quite the harsh critic, and an even harsher grader. Her score on Rate My Professors was a whopping 2.8/5 for crying out loud.

“Alright, it’s time for you all to receive your lab partners for the semester. Before heading to the lab next door, please check the list of pairings at the front.”

Luckily, Caleb had committed the syllabus to memory and knew that each person was scored individually no matter how their partner performed, but it was recommended that the pair conduct their experiments together to save time and... okay, maybe he hadn’t memorized it as well as he thought, but at least he knew the core details, right?

Scanning the list, his blood ran cold. He squinted, hoping that the prescription of his glasses had failed him, but of course, it was unmistakable. Your name was printed next to his. Emboldened, unignorable, in a perfectly neutral 12 pt Times New Roman font.

The walk to the laboratory was a quiet one, and you were walking a few feet ahead of him without a care in the world. Reaching for the door handle, he twisted the metallic lever and gestured for you to enter ahead of him with a single nod of his head. It was a force of habit. He may not care for you as an academic peer, but you didn't directly wrong him in any way. Not knowingly, that is.

With a curt nod of your own and a sliver of a smile, you entered the class with a quiet “thank you.”

And before he could follow in step behind you, the neverending line of your fellow classmates began to flood into the room, leaving him to stand idle while offering each of them a thin-lipped smile. It felt like an eternity before he was able to step inside of the laboratory too, and his first instinct was to map out the classroom to find the best possible seating arrangement. 

To his surprise… you’d already claimed the most optimal lab station, and as he approached, you made the first move to speak. 

“I hope you’re okay with sitting here,” you say, fishing out your sleek notebook and a bright blue pencil. “It’s the only lab station with equal access to the exit, the supplies cabinet, and the professor’s desk.”

Caleb raises an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side as bewilderment etches into his features. Were you inside of his brain? He clears his throat, shaking away his confusion as he nods. “Yeah, I’m alright with this spot. Good choice.” 

Smiling, you nod too. “Cool.” 

A beat of silence passes, and you smooth your hands over the black resin material of the table, a movement that his eyes instinctively follow. Then, your hand raises and extends out to him, forcing him to blink himself out of his state of daydreaming. 

You say your name while tilting your head with a smile—this time, a smile with teeth—as you wait for his hand to take yours. “And you’re… Xia?” 

Raising his eyebrows, he shakes his head while a chuckle slips through his carefully crafted exterior. “Caleb,” he corrects, his firm grasp enveloping your hand as he gives it a shake. “Caleb Xia.”

“Ah, got it,” you remark, an epiphany dawning on you as you slip your hand from his hold. “Well, I’m going to go get our safety goggles.” 

But before leaving, you straightened, eyes glued to him—or rather, his head.

Huffing out a laugh through his nose, Caleb’s lip tugs up in the corner. “What are you doing?”

Tapping your chin, you sigh. “I’m trying to see if you have a big head. If you do, I’ll have to go fight tooth and nail for one of the ones with adjustable straps.” 

Rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm, he rests his elbow on the edge of the table before leaning his cheek into his hand. “Well, lay it on me. What’s your diagnosis?”

Humming, you tilt your head back and forth before nodding your head a single time. “Big-head syndrome. I’m positive.”

Caleb’s eyes crinkle as he laughs. “I should take that as a compliment. Big head means big brain, you know.”

“Or a big ego,” you retort with a shrug, giving him a once-over with raised brows before whisking away towards the horde of students currently going to war over the remaining pick of the litter. 

Yeah, that too, he thinks. 

In your absence, he takes the liberty of prepping the lab for the both of you. Beakers? Check. Random substance that the two of you were going to be experimenting on? Check. Hydrochloric acid? Check. Sodium bicarbonate? Check—

“Safety goggles,” you state, plopping down on your stool and handing his pair to him.

Without missing a beat, he speaks. “Check.”

Drawing back slightly, you turn to look at him with an arched eyebrow. “Uh… yeah. Check.”

Faltering, Caleb slides the item onto his face as he stammers through his words. “I was just… never mind, let’s start.”

The class had settled into a low hum—the murmur of newly paired partners, the scribbling of notes, the soft hiss of chemicals reacting. 

As the two of you began the experiment, an incredibly prominent conclusion dawned on him: Disliking you as a person wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped. As a competitor? You were treacherous. As a lab partner? You were… tolerable. Efficient. Annoyingly easy to work with. 

It wasn’t the end result that he was hoping for, if he were to be entirely honest with himself. He wanted you to be difficult to be around, he wanted you to be stuck up, he wanted you to give him a genuine reason to dislike you apart from being the root of his newfound insecurity. But you weren’t, and that was a problem. 

“Pass me the baking soda?” you ask.

“The sodium bicarbonate?”

“Yeah. The baking soda.”

Caleb tilts his head with a smile. “Also known as sodium bicarbonate.”

You glance his way, and your eyes met. “Congrats, big guy. You know big words. Now pass it.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Biting back a smile, he hands it over, only to retract it at the last second. “Wait. What’s it called again?”

Your force smile was all teeth. “Sodium bicarbonate.”

Finally relenting, Caleb places the bowl in your orbit with a triumphant grin. 

He was smart enough to know that this was a bad idea. Despite how easily the two of you worked together, he knew that he couldn’t entertain this any further. You weren’t just his classmate, his peer—you were his competition. And while he’s heard the saying keep your friends close, but your enemies closer just as many times as the next person, he knows that mixing any ounce of developing friendship with his pursuit for greatness would be wrong.

It would work best that way. You can’t be friends, and that’s okay.

And for the first time in what felt like ages, fate seemed to agree with him.

“Hmm,” Caleb soon rumbles, squinting at the beaker. “This isn’t lookin’ too good. You said you added the sodium bicarbonate, yeah?”

You frown, glancing up from your notes. Your stomach twists at the sight of the clock—barely any time left before the lab ends. The professor would be making her rounds any second now.

“What? I didn’t add it. You said you added it.”

Caleb flits his gaze to the side of your face. “No, I added hydrochloric acid.”

Your head snaps toward him so fast he was surprised it didn’t snap right off. “No, I added hydrochloric acid.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

You exhale sharply, frustration creeping up your neck. “How are you gonna tell me what I did or didn’t do?”

Your pulse ticks up a bit faster than it naturally should, and your eyes rose up from the glass cylinder. Around the room, students were already wrapping up their conclusions while the two of you hadn’t even finished the experiment. You suck in a breath and push up from your stool.

“Fine. Fine. Can you just pass me the baking soda?”

Caleb nods, handing over the pre-measured bowl of sodium bicarbonate. While you worked to fix the mess, he jotted down a few quick notes. You added just enough of the powder to neutralize the acid—but not smother it completely.

And then? Silence. The two of you sat. Watching. Waiting. Hoping. Praying.

Then, miraculously, the beaker decided to behave and the fizzing subsided.

Like clockwork, you both exhaled, shoulders slumping as small, victorious smiles tugged at your mouths—

Until yours vanished entirely. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

Caleb falters, eyes narrowing. “I didn’t say thank you.”

“Well, you should have.”

“Why? If I hadn’t pointed out the weird reaction, we’d have been screwed.”

“Oh? If I hadn’t realized neither of us added the sodium bicarbonate—which was your responsibility, by the way—we would’ve actually been screwed.”

Tension thickened between you like a drawn bowstring. You clench your jaw and look away, scribbling down your final observations. Stupid man, you thought to yourself. And here you were, actually believing that this semester wouldn’t be a total shitshow, that maybe, just maybe, you’d gotten lucky.

Unfortunately not.

Then, your attention was caught by something out of the ordinary. Your gaze lands on his neck, and your breath hitched. Staring back at you was a small, multi-legged beady eyed monster. Sticking out your pointer finger, you still find yourself instinctively drawing back, as if it were out to get you next. “There’s a spider on—”

But before you could finish your sentence, Caleb winced, his veins tightening as he instinctively flicked the eight-legged menace off. You sucked your teeth, drumming your fingers on the table. So much for your timely warning.

Glancing his way, your brows elevate as you see the already forming bite mark on his neck. “Yikes. It got you good.”

“Did it?” he asks, raising a hand to rub over the mark with narrowed eyes. “Hm. Guess so, yeah.”

Reluctantly, you ask, “Are you okay?” 

With a nod, he picks up his pencil once more and works on finishing the last of his lab report. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Sighing airily, you can’t help the smile that tugs on your mouth. “Poor spider, being flicked through the air like that.”

Like routine, Caleb shot a glare your way. “Funny.”

“Thanks.”

With that, you left for the washing station. Meanwhile, Dr. Rappaccini stood from her desk, making her rounds. It was in that moment that a shrill of panic shot up his spine—the stimulation foreign, unfamiliar, and… terrifying. 

He could feel his heart rate shooting through the roof, a sweat break on his forehead, and his fingertips flex at his sides—all things that he wasn’t even conscious of. And before he knew it, he was glancing in your direction, noting that you were distracted. Good.

With a quick ease, he snatched up your notepad and erased a few numbers, replacing them with subtle, logicless mistakes. 34? Now a 26. 32 to the power of 5? Not anymore.

It wasn’t his proudest moment. Sabotaging his own lab partner’s work? Definitely not.

Ten seconds. That’s all it took to ruin you just enough. He slid the notepad back into place, brushing away the eraser shavings. Like clockwork, you returned, none the wiser.

Exhaling softly, you turned to him. “Look, I just wanted to say that—”

“Now, you two,” Dr. Rappaccini’s voice cut you off.

You both turned as she scanned and picked up Caleb’s report, making a few marks with her fine-pointed marker before sliding it back into place. You glanced over, making note of his grade. 94.

Then, she picked up yours. A moment later, she handed it back. Your professor held up a roll of stickers, tearing two off before setting them down on the table.

Despite the vibrant designs on the stickers, your stomach dropped. Your grade was big, bold, and unmistakable. 82.

“Wait—Dr. Rappaccini,” you call after her, staring at the page with widened eyes of shock. “I… I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”

“Well, your experiment was solid—your observations were well-written, and your documentation was precise. But your math?” She sighs. “Completely off.” A beat of silence. Then, a smile. “Don’t feel discouraged. You’re a good student as you are—no need to compare your scores to others.”

The implication was clear. She thought you were smart—just not as smart as Caleb.

Huffing, you toss your notebook onto the table, fingers curling against the edge of it.

“You got cut off earlier,” he says casually, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “What were you sayin’?”

Blinking, you tried to retrace your thoughts. “Oh, yeah… I was just saying that…”

Your voice trails, eyes drifting to your lab report. Caleb caught the flicker of realization dawning on you—and when you turned to him, his not-so-hidden grin said it all.

“I was just saying,” you snap, “that you’re an asshole whose handwriting looks like a drunk chicken clawed at my report.”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” he says with a shrug, peeling off his sticker to plaster it onto your shoulder. “Good luck on the exam tomorrow morning.”

And with that, he walks out of the lab.

“Yeah, you too,” you murmur, though he was already gone before he could hear the hissed “bitch” that followed.

Irritation pricks at your skin as you stuff—more like shove—your belongings into your backpack. Prick. So much for not knowing the single person you were beneath in the class ranks.

Guilt stirred in his chest as he walked towards his dorm building… but only a little.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

By the time Caleb stumbled back to his dorm, he felt like he’d been hit by a freight train.

He barely managed to push the door open before kicking off his shoes, letting his backpack slump to the floor with a heavy thud. His head swam, his breath uneven as he widened his eyes in a feeble attempt to stay awake. Slapping himself on the cheek, he quickly realized it was no use. His neck stung worse than it had when the spider first bit him, the dull throb pulsing beneath his fingertips as he rubbed over the puncture point.

"Are you drunk?" Zayne’s voice drifts from across the room.

"No," Caleb mutters, face buried in his pillow. "Just… tired. Really tired."

He sank into the thin mattress like dead weight, the springs groaning beneath him. With sluggish hands, he pulled his glasses from his face and tossed them onto the bedside table, missing by an inch. His breathing grew heavier, his skin slick with cold sweat. His pupils—blown wide as saucers—fluttered shut as he barely mustered the strength to tug his shirt over his head and toss it aside.

And within seconds, he was out like a light.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

The morning sun sliced through the blinds, painting golden stripes across Caleb’s bare back as he jolted awake.

His chest rose and fell in sharp, erratic breaths, but despite the abruptness of it all, he felt… alert. Fully awake in a way that didn’t exactly make sense.

Blinking rapidly, he reached for his glasses and slid them onto his face with a groggy groan. And then—he froze.

His vision was still blurry.

Frowning, he pulled his glasses off, breathed onto the lenses, and wiped them against his bedsheet. When he slid them back on—blurry again. He pulled them down. Clear. Glasses up. Blurry. Glasses down. Clear.

He stares at them in his hands. “...Weird.”

Setting the frames down, he threw his legs over the bed and staggered toward his closet—only to catch sight of his reflection in the mirror. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

Since when the hell did he have abs?

He flexed instinctively, stomach tensing under his own scrutiny. Then his gaze trailed up—to his arms. His biceps. His shoulders.

Turning, twisting, he inspected every angle of himself like a stranger in his own skin. He’d been in shape before, sure, but this? This was different. He would’ve noticed this.

Knuckles rapped against the door, making him flinch.

“Caleb? Are you awake? I forgot my key.” A pause. Then, “Are you feeling any better? You slept like a log last night—perhaps you’re catching a bug.”

"A bug?" Caleb echoes under his breath, flexing again just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “Holy shit… Uh, yeah, man, I’m good. Just—gimme a sec.”

Turning back toward his desk, he reached for his chair, only meaning to push it aside—but the moment his palm touched the wood, it stuck.

His brows furrow.

He yanks once. Then again.

Nothing.

His heartbeat quickens as he curls his fingers, attempting to lift his hand—and instead, he lifts the entire chair clean off the ground.

“What the—” His stomach drops. He waved his hand. The chair waved with it. Up. Down. Side to side. Still stuck.

“Caleb?” Zayne calls from the other side of the door.

Caleb whips his head toward the sound, panic tightening in his throat. Shit. He bolted across the room—chair still attached to his palm—and somehow managed to unlock the door just as Zayne strode in.

Zayne, clearly in a rush, barely spared him a glance as he grabbed a stack of papers from his desk, clipped them together, and breezed back out with a nod.

The door clicked shut behind him.

Caleb exhaled sharply—only to realize his hand was still stuck… to the doorknob.

Huffing, he gave it a firm tug, expecting it to pop free. Instead, the entire knob wrenched out of the door, hinges snapping with a loud crack.

"Shit."

He barely had time to process before his body betrayed him once again—this time, with a sharp thwip.

A thick strand of silk shot from his wrist, attaching him to his bedpost.

His pulse stuttered. 

"What. The. Fuck."

Another sharp tug. Another web. More panic. Before he knew it, his dorm room looked like a crime scene from some horror movie—threads of silk stretching from walls to furniture to the ceiling.

His gaze snapped to the clock on his desk. 12:56 PM.

"Alright," he mutters, inhaling deeply. "Exam starts in four minutes. I’m sticking to everything I touch. I’m half-naked. Cool, cool, cool."

But nothing about this was cool.

If anyone in the history of Linkon University could take an exam like this, it was going to be him.

series masterlist. ┆ next: soon!

a/n like & reblog if you enjoyed!! this was really fun to write :) also i should’ve mentioned it rly isnt specified how old reader is, just that she’s in college and just starting her second semester at linkon university :) she can be a transfer student (which is kinda what i had in mind), a first year, etc lol it doesn’t really matter bc i’m fine with that being a “plot hole”

i could not stop laughing while writing this at 4am bc i was just imagining caleb coming up with an elaborate ass internalized beef with reader and she’s just sitting in her chem lab like

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[hahnslove]

LUSTFUL LESSONS [+18] ⋆˚࿔

CONTAINS : agatha!professor, femreader!agathaharkness, age gap, wlw smut

You are Agatha’s student, and she asks you to come see her in her office because of some concerns…

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .*:☆ﾟ. ───

You’re sitting in class, surrounded by your fellow classmates, on just another normal day of listening to Professor Harkness’s lecture. She is utterly mesmerizing, and you can’t help but be drawn to her; sometimes, it even seems like she’s equally captivated by you, as if there’s a mutual attraction between the two of you. But that’s obviously ridiculous; you are her student, after all.

Professor Harkness clears her throat. “Miss y/ln, are you still with us?” Your soul has left your body. “Yes. Sorry professor.” You sink into your seat out of embarrassment. The rest of the class painfully drags on. Finally, you’re packing your things as the rest of the students file out of the room. “Y/n, will you please see me in my office after your last class today?” You are taken aback ever so slightly. “Yes, of course, professor. Is everything alright?” you respond. “Everything is fine, dear; there are just a few things I would like to go over with you.” The sound of her using that nickname almost brings you to your knees. “Okay then. I’ll see you later.” With that, you practically bolt out of the room. You are slightly terrified at what she could possibly want to talk to you about. Alone. In her office.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .*:☆ﾟ. ───

Now that your last class has finished, it’s time to visit Professor Harkness. As you walk to her office, you wonder how you’ll manage to keep your composure, especially since she’s wearing an incredibly sexy pantsuit. Whoa. You snap out of your thoughts. You can’t think of her in that way; she’s your professor, and it’s inappropriate. But, it sure is fun to imagine.

You finally reach her office door, and after taking a deep breath to calm your nerves, you hesitate for just a moment before knocking. You hear shuffling behind the door after you knock. “Come in,” Professor Harkness says. “Please have a seat.” You take in the space, looking around. “It’s very cozy here; I like it,” you say softly. “Thank you,” she smiles, “I like it too.” She says warmly. “Well, you are probably wondering why I asked you to come see me.” You stay still. “I’ve noticed how distracted you have been in class, and I wanted to make sure you are doing okay.” You definitely weren’t expecting that. “Oh, I mean, I’ve been doing fine,” you respond. “Are you sure, dear? It sometimes seems as if you are in a trance in class.” She leans forward in her chair, her eyes intently fixed on yours. “I-I mean, maybe I have been a little distracted recently.” You say quietly, avoiding eye contact. “Is there any reason for that, Miss y/n?” She observes. “It’s probably just stress or something.” You brush it off. “I think I can help with that.” Professor Harkness gets up from her chair and is now directly behind the seat you are in. “Is this okay?” She puts her hands on both of your shoulders. You nearly gasp at the contact. “Yes, Professor.” You respond. “Alright, love, just close your eyes and relax. I got you.” You exhale and close your eyes. Professor Harkness gets to work and starts massaging your shoulders.

Soon after she begins the massage, you let out a small moan, and then gasp slightly, your eyes widening in embarrassment as you realize what you’ve just inadvertently done in front of your Professor. “I am so, so sorry, Professor,” you stammer, feeling utterly humiliated and embarrassed by your mistake. She turns your chair around, her hands still on your shoulders. “No,” she says sharply. “I liked it,” she then says. You are frozen in place. “And I think I want to hear it again.” You are completely at a loss for words; your mouth opens but no words come out. She then takes a step back. “Oh my God. I am so sorry y/n. That was completely unprofessional of me. I shouldn’t have said that.” That’s when you finally realize that your connection wasn’t just in your head; she felt it too. You stand up and reach for her hand. “You want to know the real reason why I’m always distracted in your class?” you say in a soft playful tone. Her gaze pierces through your soul. “It’s you,” you state. She pulls you in a little bit closer; you can feel her breath on your face. “I get so lost in my thoughts because of you.” You say “Daydreaming…fantasizing.” Your voice is barely above a whisper. You start to lean in and suddenly Professor Harkness pulls back. “Wha-.” You begin to say. “I need to hear you say it.” She interrupts. You already know what she means. You take a deep breath. “I want you, Professor Harkness.”

With those words, your professor pulls you in, and your lips crash together in a heated, passionate kiss. You have fantasized about this for such a long time that you can’t believe it’s actually happening right now. You deepen the kiss, prompting a soft groan from your professor, who wraps her arms tightly around your waist and, in one swift, fluid motion, clears her desk by sweeping all the paper off, then gently sets you down, her eyes locked intensely on yours. Whoa, that was undoubtedly the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen. You pull her back into a kiss with equal passion and intensity, and then you start to tug on her blazer; she quickly catches on and slips it off. After she gets her blazer off, she gives you a kiss on the lips and makes her way down to your neck. She sucks just the right spot on your neck, which makes you gasp. You tug on her hair while she starts to unbutton your sweater, the fabric slowly parting to reveal your bra underneath. Your professor’s pupils are blown wide, filled with want and lust. “I’ve wanted to see you like this for so long,” she says. You simply let out a moan in response, without saying anything else. She attempts to undo your bra clasp, but you quickly intervene and stop her.“Not until this is off,” you say breathlessly, gesturing to her blouse. “I think we can make that happen.” You stop her as she goes to pull on the hem of her blouse. “No. Let me,” you say. Your hands slide up from her hips and lift it over; your hands graze over her smooth skin. You roughly grab her breasts over the remaining fabric. “Fuck, y/n.” She moans. She slides her hands up your back, undoes the clasp on your bra, and throws it onto the floor, which sends a shiver down your spine.

You are still sitting on the desk in Professor Harkness’ arms, and then you push her into the chair and straddle her. She hikes up your skirt, which makes you gasp. You pull her back into a passionate kiss while she rips your tights. “God, I need you so badly,” you practically whine. You press into her even more, and your professor stifles a moan. She slowly moves her hand down your body until she reaches the spot where you need her most. “Christ,” she breathes out. “I haven’t even properly touched you yet, and you’re already soaked.” She chuckles. You can’t even respond because she finally pulls your underwear to the side; she starts by sliding a digit through your folds. You’re certain that your arousal is already dripping down her hand, and you’ve never been more turned on in your life. “You’re so hot, hon,” she says in a raspy tone; you moan in response as she finally enters you, her fingers curling and hitting the spot that drives you wild. She gently rubs your clit with her thumb. As you ride her fingers, you’re practically screaming with pleasure, your thighs trembling uncontrollably. “Fuck, I’m going to come,” you breathe out. “Come for me, y/n,” she says against your ear. Your stomach cramps as your orgasm washes over you; your screams are muffled by her mouth on yours, leaving you in a state of euphoria. As you come down from the high, you’re still slightly rocking in her lap. Your professor pulls away from you, brings her hand to her mouth, and savors your taste, letting out a pleasurable moan. “You taste so good, darling,” she hums. You capture her lips in another kiss.

After roughly kissing each other for about a minute, you begin to shuffle out of her lap. Your professor whines in disapproval. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m just returning the favor,” you grin as you sink to your knees and pull down the zipper on her pants. “You are so sexy, Professor Harkness,” you say, looking up at her. “You can just call me Agatha.” Oh, this is going to be fun.

[pemiski]

tags elementary school teacher! sae x fem! reader, reader wears heels, workplace romance, fluff, spreading my ‘if sae wasn’t a football player he would’ve been good with kids’ agenda

author’s note if you’ve seen this before yes you have actually, i just figured a reblog wasn’t the best format so here’s a repost oopsie

“Ugh.” You rock the snack machine for what feels like the hundredth time, but the stubborn chocolate bar stays lodged behind the glass. Normally, you'd give it a few kicks but A) you're wearing brand new heels, and there’s no way you're sacrificing them for a sugar craving, and B) it’s nap time for your kids, and considering how hard it was to get them asleep in the first place, you’re not willing to deal with the aftermath of waking them up again, and especially not by whacking a huge metal box right outside of the classroom.

Out of nowhere, a hand reaches past you, giving the machine two rough, effortless knocks. The bar tumbles down like it was never stuck to begin with.

“Oh.” You blink, turning to thank your savior, but the words fizzle out the second your eyes meet the flurry of children behind him.

“Thanks,” you manage to mumble, your fingers frozen mid-air as you grip the candy, your eyes unable to sustain is stare.

“Don't mention it.” He straightens the lanyard around his neck, having gone askew due to the impact.

Without another word, he’s already turning back to the group of kids trailing behind him, stretching his arms behind the backs of the ones closest to him to gently push them forward.

“Alright, come on. Let’s go.”

“Hello, Miss L/N!” Leah, one of the little girls, chirps brightly from the line.

“Hi, Leah.” You smile automatically, but your gaze is still stuck on the back of Sae’s head, and the way he holds hands with one of the kids who reached for him, and calmly listens to the way another animatedly talks to him with a soft smile.

You blink, as if snapping yourself out of a haze.

Get a grip, you urge yourself.

It’s not the first time you’ve seen him around, not even close. In fact, ever since he transferred to the school at the start of summer term, it’s been almost impossible not to notice Sae Itoshi. The whole faculty has been whispering about the new 3rd grade history teacher like he’s some rare species.

But for all the talk, you’ve hardly ever exchanged more than a few polite words with him. Good morning, thank you, have a nice day. That’s about the extent of your thrilling repertoire.

Honestly, you’re not the kind of girl who gets flustered by a little knight-in-shining-armor routine, especially not in front of students. And especially, especially not in front of the young, gossipy, nosy ones.

Still...

You steal one last glance down the hall, just in time to catch the broad line of his back disappearing around the corner.

His lanyard is still slightly askew.

God help you.

@pemiski 2025 - all rights reserved. I do not authorize any reposting translating or modifying of my content on any platform

[casscainmainly]

What I find interesting about Cass and ballet in Tynion's Detective Comics (2016) is not so much the communication or artistic expression aspect, but what it means for Cass' relationships to women.

From the beginning, Cass + ballet is heavily tied to her relationships with women. In Batman & Robin: Eternal #7, she first watches the ballet with Harper Row:

Ballet isn't just about "understand[ing] everything" (as Harper says), but about the physical and emotional connection Cass forges with Harper in this moment. The way their hands grasp onto each other symbolises the potential for ballet to form women-to-women bonds. Since this is N52, Cass' relationships with Babs and Steph have been sadly obliterated, so this is her very first connection to another woman.

Then, in Detective Comics #950, we meet Christine Montclair:

Christine is a ballerina who has been "handed" a key to the main stage by "the late Elaine Torsky," and who hopes to hand "that key to another young girl." Ballet becomes linked with a feminine legacy, one tied to "know[ing] exactly who she wants to become." The ideas of a female legacy and coming into one's identity strongly echo Cass' relationship to the Batgirl mantle, and the importance of female relationships to Cass' sense of self.

Ballet is, also, a storytelling medium - Tynion emphasises the importance of storytelling through #955's scene between Christine and Cass, where Christine reads her a story. She mentions that her mom used to read this to her. This is clearly an allusion to Shiva (since this arc is about Shiva), but more broadly this scene points to matrilineal connection through stories, something that Babs and Cass actually do in DC First: Batgirl/Joker. In that issue, Babs tells the story of her first encounter with Joker, which inspires Cass to do the same. Cass' mimicry - something she also does with Christine, copying her movements in the ballet school - showcase her desire for connection with other women.

(The book is also written by Carolyn Wu-San, another connection between women, stories, and family.)

And it's this connection to women that allows Cass to say her name, harkening back to Babs giving her her name in NML. This scene is also funny to me because Tynion created Orphan but he's aware the name is not something Cass actually likes - if anything, 'Orphan' feels like a punishment Cass imposed upon herself (especially in this arc, which doesn't reference that Orphan came from her dad).

It's just interesting that ballet and storytelling are mediums in which Cass finds an expression of herself, but it's not because of the communicative aspect - she never actually performs in front of anyone. Instead, it's the feminine community and legacy that allows Cass to discover herself beyond Orphan.

All this to say it's a shame Cass couldn't be Batgirl here because I really like the parallel of female legacy between ballet and Batgirl, but it gets lost without acknowledging Batgirl (2000) and DC First: Batgirl/Joker. But conceptually, Cass and ballet is about so much more than her 'communicating' via dance, and the role women and stories play in her love for ballet should be acknowledged more.

[drabbletron]

Can you do a Megatron x Reader fluff and smut pls

|| This was surprisingly hard to write! I haven’t written anything for this guy since college and I feel like it shows. I know I’ve grown as a writer and, the way I write him now, I feel, is so much better than I used to write him. Thanks for your request! ||

Behind Closed Doors: Megatron x Reader SMUT

🔞 MINORS DNI 🔞

All is well in the co-captain’s habsuite as you writhe in his palm, data pads and reports cast by the wayside on his spartan desk.

"Megatron, please! I'm so close...!"

Still he maintains that same languid pace between your thighs. Slow licks that dip just barely into your entrance followed by a teasing suck on your clit. Human valves were so much more sensitive than a mech's. The littlest things could have you coming apart on his intake in moments. Megatron liked that about you, the softness and the need. It scared him in the beginning, but now a welcome change after a long day dealing with how wild the Lost Light can be. Finally, someone is happy with him, and that thought alone almost heals him in a way. It fills the cracks a bit and keeps him coming back for more every time, letting himself indulge that absence of thought just a little longer.

His helm sinks farther between your legs and his optics roll closed with a satisfied hum. His whole mouth covers your sex when he's not mass displaced. It makes pleasing you so very easy, especially when you fit so nicely against his servos. He can curl them around your tender body and keep you spread and secure, away from prying eyes. This is just for you and him and no one else, after all. You can't fight the way your hips buck up against his dermas even though he has your legs pinned up and out of the way. He keeps you on that edge and you just feel like it's too much and not enough all at once.

“C'mon, Meg, I'm right there! I need this! I need -- ah fuck! -- I need you, please!”

With a few good rolls of his glossa you're finishing hard against him. As you lay there, limp against his servo, his optics open and the red color paints you in a rosy light. You're beautiful like this.

He presses an appreciative kiss against your sex, and the little taste he has of you almost has him diving in for another round. It's still amazing how you melt after the interfacing, looking so much more relaxed than he's ever seen you, and he finds he's relaxed too. Despite all the goings on and the weight on his shoulders he's content with what he has, with you, with the crew, with his position in the world though he knows it has to come to an end eventually once they find the Knights. Still, right now that is so far from his mind, like it doesn't even exist.

Moments like these are few and far between as the two of you are so busy with your respective roles, and it's nice when you get the chance to just be. After a few more rounds of you then of him, Megatron retires the both of you to the berth where he admires the way you slip off to sleep on his chassis, spent from the night’s events. At least he makes someone happy, if only behind closed doors.

[twins-write]

Half a Truth is Still a Lie

Pairing: Evan Buckley x Fem!Reader

Summary: Buck finally finds out about Y/N's feelings and asks her on a date... but is it a real date, or just a ploy to make Veronica jealous?

Based on 4x08, when Albert invites Buck to a double date with him and Veronica

Warnings: None, just a bit angsty. Could be classified as hurt-comfort.

Notes: Finally posting again! I involved a lot of best friend Eddie as well... I couldn't resist. Hope you guys like this one <3

Word Count: 8.06k.

Author Signature: 🦋

The 118 pulled up to the scene they were called to, hopping out of the firetruck, but not taking any action as they watched a negotiator talk to the armed criminal who was pacing on top of the roof.

“And how did he manage to get up there?” Y/N asked with raised brows while Buck and Eddie chuckled next to her, the former shaking his head as he shrugged, “Guess he wanted to try and prevent himself from getting arrested.”

“Looks like he’s doing a good job.” Eddie commented, scoffing in slight disbelief as they stood next to the firetruck, watching the negotiator try his best to talk the criminal down.

“Oh, look- Taylor’s here.” Buck stated, pointing to the reporter that stood a good distance away from them, talking about the incident to the camera.

Y/N rolled her eyes, the girl having not liked the reporter since the day she met her, but for some reason, it seemed Buck had taken a slight liking to her- especially considering he had slept with her before.

That may be another reason Y/N didn’t like her all that much.

“While we sit here doing nothing, let me continue telling you about Veronica and how Albert-”

Eddie groaned, interrupting his friend, “This again?”

“What?” Buck asked in an offended tone while Y/N shook her head at him, “You’ve been talking about them the whole time we’ve been on shift. That’s six hours.”

“So?” Buck scoffed, “You guys are my friends, aren’t you supposed to listen to me rant?”

The girl next to him shrugged, “Yeah, technically, but you’ve been repeating the same thing over and over. We get it- you had a bad date, bad date girl happens to live on the same floor as you, your roommate took a liking to said bad date girl, and bam, you caught your roommate in her apartment in nothing but a towel.”

She then turned and looked at him with raised brows, “Does that sound about right?”

Eddie laughed while Buck sighed in slight defeat, “Yeah.”

“Why are you so mad about it anyways?” The girl asked him curiously, turning her attention back to the male who was pacing on the roof.

“What do you mean? You don’t think I have a right to be mad?” The blonde male questioned.

She shrugged, “I mean… from what you’ve been saying… you didn’t like her all that much. Why do you have a problem with Albert dating her?”

“It’s bro-code!” Buck argued, causing Y/N to turn to Eddie, “Eds, what do you think?”

Eddie raised his hands in mock surrender, “Oh no- do not bring me into this.”

Buck turned to him quickly, “What? Traitor!”

“I didn’t agree or disagree with you!” Eddie replied in slight disbelief that his friend was now annoyed with him.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll go talk to someone who will listen to me.” Buck said before walking in Taylor’s direction, causing Y/N to scoff, rolling her eyes as she yelled after him, “We have been listening to you for the past six hours!”

Buck didn’t reply nor turn around, only continuing on his path to talk to the red-head, which Y/N realized- releasing a sigh as she watched him begin to converse with her.

Eddie gave her a knowing look, causing the girl to look at him with furrowed brows, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Looking at you like what?” He asked, giving her the same look- the one that implied that he knew something.

She pointed at his face, “Like that!”

He pursed his lips, giving her a small shrug, “I don’t know, just seems like you’re jealous of a certain someone.”

Then he glanced at Taylor, causing Y/N to follow his gaze. She laughed, “You’re joking, right?”

Eddie raised his brows, “No.”

“I’m not jealous of Taylor- of all people.” Y/N told him, annoyance covering her tone.

Eddie looked away from her, mumbling something under his breath.

The girl looked at him and spoke sarcastically, “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

He repeated himself so she could actually hear him this time, “Maybe you’re just jealous that Buck is giving her attention because you see him as more than a friend and he doesn’t realize it.”

“I-” She began, only to stop talking, knowing he was right. The girl sighed, leaning her back against the fire engine, allowing her head to thunk into the side, “You’re right.”

“I know.” Eddie chuckled, leaning next to her and patting her shoulder gently, “You should just tell him.”

“And, what? Make every shift awkward? No thanks.” She said, shaking her head at his suggestion.

“I don’t think that’s how it’d turn out, but okay.” The Diaz male shrugged, deciding to drop the conversation as they walked closer to the rest of their team- minus Buck.

Her and Eddie stood to the left side of Hen, who was sitting down on the side of the fire engine, Chimney and Bobby standing to Hen’s right.

The group sat quietly, listening to the criminal yell while he walked around the roof, “You shut up! You’re a liar! You said you’d help me find a way out.”

“I didn’t mean with a helicopter.” The negotiator quickly replied, gaining a shout from the criminal, “Shut up! I need to think!”

“Eh… should’ve tried thinking before he ended up on a roof.” Eddie stated, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning against the side of the engine again, “I mean, he cornered himself.”

“That there is a whole series of bad life choices culminating in this one unfortunate moment. It’d be tragic if it wasn’t so moronic.” Hen replied.

“Why don’t they just storm the roof?” Chimney questioned, “It’s not that high. We can give ‘em a ladder.”

Bobby shrugged, “It’s a tactic negotiators use to drag out the process in order to wear down the suspect. Eventually they hit a breaking point.”

“Or we do.” Chimney said in response.

“Yeah, you got that right.” Y/N scoffed, shaking her head and looking at Bobby, “Shouldn’t we set an airbag below the roof or something incase he falls?”

He shook his head, “We don’t want to make him think we’re going to push him off or anything. He might just panic if we start setting it up.”

The girl shrugged, “I mean, it’s just a safety precaution, we could tell him that.”

“I don’t think someone pacing on a roof with a gun is going to be thinking rationally, though.” Eddie told her, nudging her in the shoulder as she nodded in agreement to his statement.

“Ten bucks says he falls right off that roof.” Hen muttered, causing Y/N to laugh as Eddie pulled money from his pocket, “20 says he makes a leap for the tree.”

As Bobby looked over to Eddie in slight disbelief, the male replied, “Come on, the guy’s got at least one more bad life choice left in him.”

Y/N looked to the side and noticed how irritated the homeowner looked, the girl smirking as she pulled a bill out of her pocket, “50 says the homeowner pushes him off.”

“That’s morbid.” Hen chuckled with raised brows, causing Y/N to shrug with a grin. 

Y/N, Eddie, and Chim handed Hen money, the woman taking it and pocketing it as they stood, continuing to watch the situation.

After a few moments, Y/N’s eyes trailed over to where Buck was standing, leaning against the railing as Taylor reported to the camera- the male waiting for her to be done.

She shook her head with a sigh, “I need coffee.”

Bobby looked at her with raised brows, “Want to make a coffee run?”

“Am I okay to do that?” She asked her captain, the male shrugging, “I don’t see why not.”

“What am I going to drive, though?” The girl then questioned, knowing she couldn’t take the fire engine or ambulance in case something happened while she was gone.

Her captain hummed in thought as Hen chimed in, “You could always ask Athena if you could borrow a cop car.”

Y/N laughed, “There’s no way I’m allowed to drive one.”

“Then ask for an escort.” Eddie suggested, causing her to nod, “Okay. I’ll be back.”

The girl walked towards Athena, who just so happened to be near Buck and Taylor- Y/N noticing that Taylor was off air at the moment because her and the male were talking.

“Athena!” Y/N yelled, causing the sergeant to turn towards her, “Do you think it’s possible I could get an escort to a coffee shop?”

“As long as you’re getting coffee, I can get someone to take you.” She replied with a laugh.

Y/N smiled as Athena walked away to grab someone, the girl taking this opportunity to go ask her other friend if he wanted any.

“Buck.” She shouted as she got closer, her voice drawing not only Buck’s attention, but Taylor’s also.

“I’m going on a coffee run, do you want anything?” She asked, causing him to nod, “Coffee sounds amazing right now.”

“Your usual?” 

Buck nodded with a smile and then turned to Taylor, “What do you want?”

Instead of replying directly to him, Taylor turned to Y/N and stated her order, the latter trying to make sure her distaste didn’t show on her face as the former spoke.

Once Taylor was done speaking, Y/N gave them a thumbs up, Buck shouting a quick thank you as she walked away, rolling her eyes once she had turned away from the duo.

Eddie chuckled from a distance, having watched her interaction and her reaction as she walked away, drawing the attention of the group next to him.

“What’s so funny?” Hen asked, causing Eddie to shake his head as he smiled, “Nothing.”

-

Two hours in

-

Y/N returned from the coffee run about an hour and a half ago, having gotten her team their specific orders- along with Athena and Taylor’s- and then having gotten a bunch of other plain ones for the first responders that she hadn’t asked. Even though they weren’t their specific orders, she figured the least she could do was bring them some. She also brought sugar packets and more for them to put additives in their coffees if they wanted to.

Her coffee was gone now, though, along with her teams’, and she sat in the back of the ambulance playing cards with Hen and Chimney as the latter talked about the upcoming birth of his child.

“So Maddie really wants to have this baby at home?” Hen asked him as she placed a card into the pile, Chimney’s turn coming up as he replied, quoting what the mother of his baby had told him, “‘I was a nurse, you’re a paramedic, what could possibly go wrong?’”

The duo with him chuckled as Y/N took her turn, Hen replying to him, “Feels like a 911 dispatcher should know the answer to that question.”

They all laughed at that, Y/N chiming into the conversation, “I think you just need to tell her how you’re feeling. I’m sure she’ll understand your point of view.”

Chimney shrugged, “With all the pregnancy hormones, I’m not so sure.”

Eddie walked over to them, peeking around the edge of the ambulance so that he could see all three of them, “How would you guys feel about pizza?”

“Please!” They all replied in unison.

-

Three hours in

-

“I’m so hungry!” Y/N whined, laying her head on Eddie’s shoulder, the male laughing as he wrapped his arm around her and shook her slightly, “He should be here soon. They mentioned that they had a lot of orders, so it would take a while.”

“It’s been an hour!” She replied as Eddie looked towards the edge of the scene where a pizza man was walking in. He pursed his lips, “I think you might’ve summoned him.”

Then he walked off towards the male, Y/N cheering as her stomach growled, “Finally!”

“Good lord. How much trust are we trying to build here?” Athena asked, causing Eddie to turn to her, “Actually, that’s for us.”

“Why does everybody get to eat but me? Maybe I’m hungry too!” Mr. Nowels, the homeowner, complained, causing Y/N to shrug as she walked closer, “You want a slice?”

Mr. Nowels sighed, having only been trying to make a point, and walked away. Y/N shrugged as Eddie paid the delivery man, the girl grabbing the hot bag and pulling the two boxes out with a grin, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to stuff my face with a slice of pizza.”

Eddie chuckled as she handed the bag back to the delivery driver and waved before he walked off, the duo turning and walking back towards the truck.

“Me either, Y/N. Me either.” Eddie replied.

-

Four hours in

-

Y/N looked to the side and noticed one of the police officers leaning against the fire engine as Buck talked to him, the girl laughing and shaking her head as she walked closer.

“Is he bothering you, sir?” She asked the officer, causing Buck to glance at her with a deadpanned expression.

The officer shook his head, “He’s telling me how his roommate violated ‘bro code’, whatever that is. I don’t think that’s a real thing.”

Y/N looked at Buck with raised brows and a grin as the male sighed and then spoke, trying to defend his point, “How do you know, though? It’s unwritten.”

“How long did you date this woman?” The officer asked him. Y/N crossed her arms with a smirk on her face, watching the interaction as Buck replied, “90 minutes, maybe less. We took dessert to go.”

A watch began beeping, the officer glancing at his wrist, “And I’m done. Good luck.”

Then he walked away, Y/N letting out a low whistle before she began laughing. Buck glared at her, “Shut up!”

Then he took his mask off, throwing it at her, which only made the girl laugh more.

-

Five hours in

-

Eddie quietly began chanting under his breath, leaning against the firetruck as he whispered, “Jump. Jump.”

The rest of the team, except for Buck who wasn’t with them, quickly joined in as they watched the criminal continue to pace on the roof, “Jump. Jump.”

-

Six hours in

-

Y/N sat quietly by herself, Buck with Tayor, Eddie with Athena and Bobby, and then Hen and Chim with each other.

The girl quietly picked at her nails as she waited for something to happen so that they could finally leave this scene.

She heard footsteps, but decided to ignore them, until they came to a stop in front of her. The girl looked up from her hands, looking at the officer who had come up to her.

“What’s a pretty firefighter like you doing all by herself?” He flirted, causing the girl to raise her brows before smiling, “Waiting for this guy to be done pacing on the roof so we can leave.”

“Yeah, I feel you.” He agreed, sitting next to her on the asphalt.

He then looked at her, holding his hand out with a grin, “I’m Anthony, but people always call me Mac because my last name is Macallister.”

“Well, Mac, I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you.” She smiled, shaking his hand.

Mac looked over her shoulder for a second, furrowing his brows before bringing his attention back to her, “That blonde firefighter keeps starring at us.”

“Hm?” Y/N hummed before Mac pointed and she turned, making eye contact with Buck, who quickly looked away and continued his conversation with Taylor.

The girl shrugged, “He’s probably just wondering who you are.”

“Yeah, I think he may be a little jealous.” The officer laughed, giving her a knowing look with a smile. Y/N furrowed her brows, shaking her head, “Nah, he doesn’t think of me in that way.”

“You sure?” Mac questioned with raised brows, causing the girl to nod, which prompted another question, “But you like him, right?”

“Is it really that obvious?” She asked with a sigh, causing him to laugh, “Well, I’ve been watching you a bit today- not to sound creepy or anything- and I’ve noticed the stares you give him when he’s talking to that redhead. I just don’t think you realize that he stares at you also.”

Y/N looked at Mac with a small smile, “Yeah, I-”

The girl got interrupted by a loud crash, a car alarm going off. She quickly stood up, looking over towards the criminal and running over there- noticing Mr. Nowels had just pushed him off the room. Internally, she was cheering, knowing she just won the bet, but externally, she began to do her job.

She ignored Mr. Nowels, who was yelling, and ran over to the criminal, Eddie quickly coming over to assist.

They got to work on safely getting him off the car, putting a neck splint on just in case he had a spinal injury before putting him on a backboard and attending to some of his cuts. Hen and Chimney hopped into the back of the ambulance while Eddie went to the front, the rest of the team getting into the fire engine- the ambulance turning on their sirens. Athena followed in her cop car so that she could make sure he was arrested after he got his medical care.

The fire engine drove to the station while the ambulance and police car went to the hospital. Y/N sat in the back of the engine while Bobby drove and Buck sat in the passenger seat.

The latter turned around and looked at the girl, “So, who was that guy you were flirting with?”

Y/N furrowed her brows, “What guy? I wasn’t flirting with anyone.”

“The cop.” Buck elaborated, the girl shaking her head, “Yeah, we were just talking.”

“It looked like more than that.” Buck argued, “What’s his name?”

“You know what? Why does this matter to you?” She spat out, becoming annoyed with his attitude as they pulled into the firestation.

“Because, I…” He began, trailing off and not allowing his next words to come out.

Y/N scoffed, “Unbelieveable.”

And then she rushed out of the engine, missing the look that Bobby gave the blonde male as she went to her locker.

“Idiot.” The older male mumbled to the younger one, causing him to stare at Bobby in disbelief before they both got out of the vehicle.

Y/N angrily got her casual clothes out of her locker, changing and then slamming the metal door shut as Buck walked in.

“Look, Y/N, I just care about you and want you to be safe.” He said as he walked into the glass area.

“Want me to be safe?” She scoffed, “You’re talking about a cop.”

The blonde rolled his eyes, “That doesn’t mean anything. He could still be a jerk!”

“Well, he’s not the one I think is a jerk.” The girl retorted, glaring at him.

“Ok… I deserve that, but-” He began to say, only for her to interrupt him, “Buck, just stop. Why are you so bent out of shape about this anyways? You were flirting with Taylor the whole day and I didn’t complain to you about it even though it annoyed me! So why do you get to complain to me about someone, who wasn’t even flirting with me, giving me attention?”

“Wait- I wasn’t flirting with Taylor.” Buck stated, causing her to look at him, “What?”

“You said you were annoyed with me flirting with Taylor… I- I wasn’t flirting with her. I was just talking to her about the Albert and Veronica stuff because you and Eddie made it clear you didn’t want me to talk to you about it.” He told her.

The girl sighed, “Yeah, I’m sorry. I might’ve been too harsh about that.”

He shook his head, “No, I deserved it. You guys had to listen to me repeat myself multiple times and… I get what you were saying. I’m going to try and be less awkward with Albert about this.”

She smiled and nodded, “Good.”

“And… I’m sorry for bugging you about the cop guy.” He apologized, gaining a nod from Y/N as she grinned, “I appreciate the apology. I know your heart is in a good place, you just didn’t approach it very well.”

He nodded before they went silent, the male thinking about his next sentence while Y/N gathered her stuff, glancing at the entrance of the fire station and noticing the ambulance was pulling in.

“I gotta go talk to Chim, Eddie, and Hen about something, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” The girl smiled, beginning to walk out, but Buck quickly stopped her, “Wait.”

She turned around, raising her brows as an indicator for him to speak, “Why… why were you annoyed when you thought I was flirting with Taylor?”

Y/N just shook her head with a sigh, looking up and waving, not giving him an answer, “Bye, Buck.”

And then she walked out, the male watching her as she walked towards the ambulance.

The girl figured that he could think about it on his own and hopefully come to the correct conclusion.

The three that Y/N had mentioned earlier hopped out of the ambulance, the girl stopping in front of them and holding out her hands.

The trio looked at her with raised brows, and she quickly spoke to ease their confusion, “I won the bet. Mr. Nowels pushed him off the roof. Money, please!”

Then she made grabbing motion with her hands while the three in front of her laughed, Eddie speaking up, “I can’t believe you were right about that.”

Then the money was slammed into her palm from them, the girl grinning, “Thank you all and have a good night!”

She mock-saluted them before turning and walking out of the fire station.

-

The next day, Y/N walked into the fire station with a smile, ready for her shift for the day. 

The girl went to her locker, changing out of her casual clothes and into her fire station shirt along with her turnout pants, putting her gear suspenders over her shoulders.

“Hey, Y/N.” She heard a voice greet, the girl turning and sending a smile Buck’s way as he went to his locker, “Hey.”

“So, I’ve been thinking.” He stated, causing the girl to jokingly reply, “Oh no.”

He looked up at her with a small, joking, glare before continuing his sentence, “I think I figured out why you were annoyed.”

Y/N crossed her arms, leaning against the lockers, “Well, let’s hear it.”

“It’s because you were jealous.” He smirked, pointing at her before opening his locker and getting his stuff out.

The girl stood, waiting for him to continue. She pursed her lips as he said nothing else and she shrugged, “That’s it?”

He shook his head, “No. You were jealous because you… like me.” 

“Yeah. Apparently I’ve been pretty obvious about it, so I’m a bit surprised you just figured this out.” She said as Eddie walked in, “Actually, he didn’t. I told him.”

The girl looked at him with a dropped jaw, “What?”

And then she glanced back at Buck, who was sending a glare Eddie’s way before he quickly directed his attention back to the girl, “Anyways, with that said, are you doing anything later tonight?”

Y/N tilted her head, raising her brows, “No… why?”

“How about you come to my apartment? I can cook us dinner and we can watch a movie?” He suggested.

The girl grinned, “Is the Evan Buckley asking me out on a date?”

“Maybe. Depends on if you say yes or not.” He said with a small smile. The girl laughed and nodded, “Yes, that sounds great.”

“Finally.” Eddie muttered from behind them, having already changed into his clothes for the work day.

The duo that was just talking both rolled their eyes and turned to their friend, speaking in unison, “Shut up, Eddie.”

Eddie was about to speak before the siren went off, causing them to sigh, Hen peeking her head into the room, “Come on, slowpokes. Let’s go.”

The call rang out through the firestation, informing the group that they were on their way to a house to look for someone inside the walls. 

This meant they needed both the ambulance and the fire engine, so Hen and Chimney took the former while the rest of them piled into the latter.

Eddie and Bobby were in the front while Buck and Y/N were in the back, ready to head to the scene. Eddie turned around and faced his friends as Bobby drove, “So… what movie are you two planning on watching later?”

Y/N rolled her eyes as he wiggled his brows at them, Bobby furrowing his brows in confusion at the interaction while Buck replied, “I’m not sure yet.”

Then he turned to Y/N, “What movies do you like?”

The girl shrugged with pursed lips, “Pretty much anything. I’m a huge horror and comedy fan, though.”

He nodded with a grin while Bobby looked in the rearview mirror, “What’s this for?”

Before the two in the back could reply, Eddie did for them, “Oh, Buck finally asked Y/N out on a date. They’re gonna hang in his apartment and watch a movie.”

Bobby’s brows raised in slight surprise at the information before grinning, “Finally.”

The duos’ jaws dropped, the two replying in unison, “Really?”

Eddie just laughed while Bobby spoke, “Yeah, It’s about time. I can see the way you two look at each other. It was pretty obvious.”

“Okay, no, I might’ve been obvious, but this guy was not!” Y/N argued, pointing at Buck who just shrugged in response.

“Yes, he was. I just think you’re both oblivious.” Bobby said as they pulled into the driveway of the house they were going to enter.

“Hey!” The two shouted at their captain, taking offense to his words. Bobby quickly hopped out of the fire engine, wanting to avoid more words from the duo as they both glanced at each other with shocked looks on their faces, Eddie chuckling as he got out of the passenger door.

Buck stood up and went out, holding a hand for the girl behind him. Y/N gratefully took his hand, hopping down from the engine in her turnouts. 

The group all put their masks on as Bobby shouted, “Buck, grab the saw, the rest of you, head inside.” 

The members of the 118 obeyed their captain, except for Buck who was doing as he was told, quickly following behind him as he grabbed a heat signature camera.

They made their way inside and Athena heard them, shouting to alert them of the room she was in. They team walked into the room, noticing the wife was sat in a chair, hands cuffed behind her back with an officer standing behind her as Buck jogged into the room with the large tool in his hand.

“Kinky.” Y/N muttered jokingly, the group looking at her with deadpanned expressions at her words while the wife scoffed.

“What?” The girl asked, Bobby rolling his eyes before turning to his wife and pulling out the heat signature camera, turning it on and scanning the walls by the window.

He looked through the lens, noticing a figure on the screen that was moving, “I’ve got movement.”

“What?” The wife behind them questioned, causing the group to turn towards her, “He’s still alive?”

Once she noticed their expressions, she was quick to change up her words, “I mean… great!”

“Why don’t you start by telling me how exactly your husband got behind that wall?” Athena asked with raised brows.

“Ex-husband. Or at least, soon to be. He filed right before the pandemic-” The wife began to explain, talking about how the courts closed and they were trapped in a house together during COVID. 

Buck raised his brows, leaning in towards Y/N, “If this date doesn’t go the way you expect, do you promise to not put me inside the walls?”

The girl shrugged with a smirk, “No promises.”

Buck turned to Hen, “You heard that right? You’re my witness if something happens to me.”

The woman turned away from him, pursing her lips and feigning confusion, “What did I hear? I didn’t hear anything.”

Y/N grinned, holding up a fist for Hen to fist bump, which she did. Buck’s jaw dropped in disbelief, “Wow.”

After the woman finished explaining her story, Chimney and Hen ran to get their medical supplies while Eddie went and grabbed the needed items to get behind the brick wall.

Once they returned, Eddie handed Buck the chisel and a hammer, giving one to Bobby as well. The duo quickly began hammering away at the bricks in their weak spots, waiting for when they were loose to pull them away. Slowly, a hole began to form in the wall, Bobby yanking the bricks from their position and dropping them onto the ground behind him, “I think I can see him!”

Once the hole was big enough, Y/N knelt down and reached her hand towards the male, “Can you give me your hand, sir?”

She grabbed his wrist as he reached towards her, the girl gently beginning to pull him out, Buck coming to assist her. “You got him, Buck?” She asked as he reached and grabbed the male’s other hand.

“Yeah, we’re good.” He replied, the girl nodding, “Okay, ready, set-” 

“Go.” She then said, both of them tugging him through the hole and onto the backboard.

Y/N was quick to put on medical gloves while Eddie began checking for a pulse and if the male was breathing or not with his stethoscope, “He’s breathing, but barely. Only one side of his chest is rising.”

Y/N reached under the male before pulling her gloved hand back, showing the blood on it, “Stab wound.”

Eddie nodded, “He probably has a punctured lung.”

“Looks like he lost a ton of blood, not to mention extreme dehydration.” Hen said, getting the bag from her medkit, “I’m gonna run two lines wide open.”

“Alright, let’s get him stabilized and prepped for transport.” Bobby ordered, watching over the group as they did what was necessary.

Once they were done, Chimney and Eddie lifted the backboard and began to walk out of the house, Y/N noticing that the other officer that was there had taken the wife away.

The rest of the group began gathering their other tools before returning to the fire engine and putting everything away, the ambulance heading to the hospital while the engine went back to the station.

-

Once the shift was over, Y/N headed to her locker, doing her quick routine of getting back into her casual clothes so that she could leave.

Buck walked in and smiled at her, the girl giving him a grin back as she put her work necessities in her locker, “So… what time should I get to your place?”

“How does 7 sound?” He asked her, opening his locker and taking his shirt off so that he could change.

The girl’s eyes trailed down before she heard Buck laugh, Y/N quickly bringing her gaze up and noticing that he had caught her. She cleared her throat, “7 sounds great.”

“Great.” He grinned, finishing what he needed to do. He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before sending a wink her way and walking out the door, “See you then!”

Y/N’s cheeks turned red as Hen walked into the locker room and spotted the girl standing there, looking dazed. “Someone’s blushing.” The woman stated with a cheeky smirk.

Y/N threw her dirty shirt at Hen in response, causing the woman to laugh and throw it back at her before the former walked out of the locker room with her keys in hand, going to her apartment to prepare for her date.

-

Y/N took the elevator up to Buck’s floor, the girl wearing a dark blue dress that reached her mid-thigh, a black sweater wrapped around her shoulders. She slung her small purse over her shoulder as the elevator reached his floor, Y/N quickly stepping out in her black heels and walking to his door.

Once she reached his apartment, she lifted her hand, knocking on the dark wood and waiting for Buck to answer the door.

Instead of Buck, though, his roommate answered, Y/N smiling at him, “Hey, Albert, what’s up?”

“Nothing much. Buck didn’t mention that you were the one he was dating.” Albert commented, “He’s in the bathroom right now.”

The girl nodded, walking into the door as he stepped to the side, “It’s been a while since i’ve seen you. It’s nice to see…”

She trailed off as her eyes met with the girl in the kitchen, her brows furrowing in confusion.

Buck stepped into the room as Albert introduced the woman, noticing Y/N’s confusion, “Oh, that’s Veronica.”

“Well it’s nice to see you and Veronica, Albert.” Y/N muttered with a clenched jaw, making eye contact with Buck as he gave her a sheepish glance.

“Dinner’s not ready yet, but it should be soon.” Buck told his date, trying to act normal as the girl made eye contact with Albert’s girlfriend once more.

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Veronica asked with a smile, Y/N quickly nodding, “Yes, please. I could desperately use a glass right about now.”

Then the girl placed her bag on the table as Buck came over, placing a hand on the small of her back, “Uh.. shall we?”

He gestured over to the couch, Y/N moving so that his hand slipped off of her as she made her way to the piece of furniture.

“You lied to me.” She muttered as he followed, the male shaking his head, “Technically… I didn’t. I-”

She stopped walking, turning and facing him with an angry glare, her eyes growing watery but she wouldn’t dare to let her tears fall- at least not right now, “That’s not the point, Evan. You failed to mention that this was going to be a double date with ‘bad date girl’ and your roommate. I kind of count that as lying.”

The girl then continued making her way to the couch, muttering under her breath as she took a seat, “I wouldn’t have said yes if I knew you were just going to be using me.”

Buck looked at her like a deer in headlights, opening his mouth to speak but not getting the chance to spit a word out as Veronica and Albert walked back over, the former speaking as she handed Y/N her wine glass, “Dinner is going to take a few more minutes, but I figured we could do appetizers while we wait.”

She then sat down, Y/N quickly taking a sip out of her glass as Veronica spoke up once more, “How long have you two been dating?”

“I was wondering that too, Buck. How come you never said anything? Y/N’s awesome!” Albert chimed in, Y/N immediately giving him a response before Buck could speak, “Oh, that’s because we aren’t dating. He just wanted me here so he wouldn’t be a third wheel. We’re just friends.” 

She then looked at the male next to her, “Right?”

Evan avoided her question, looking at Veronica as he began to talk, “We actually work together. She’s been my partner-in-crime for as long as I can remember.”

“I’d gladly let Eddie take that spot now.” The girl murmured quietly before looking up and smiling at the duo in front of her, “And I know how you two met. Buck has told me about it. Quite a few times, actually.”

The male beside her shook his head, “I- I wouldn’t say that-”

Veronica just looked at them with raised brows as Albert chimed in, gesturing to his girlfriend and his roommate, “I’m actually surprised you two didn’t get along.”

Y/N took a long gulp from her glass before nodding, and nudging Buck with her shoulder, “Yeah. This guy sometimes doesn’t know how to act around women. His ego deflates when someone doesn’t immediately like him.”

“Yeah, I don’t stroke anyones’ egos. That’s not my thing.” Veronica replied with a small shrug, causing Y/N to nod, “Good for you. I think I’m going to try that also.”

She then set the glass down, pulling her phone out from her sweater pocket as her tears were about to spill over. Y/N cleared her throat, standing up as she lied, “Sorry, my coworker, Eddie, just texted me. It’s an emergency and he needs someone to watch his son last minute. I gotta go.”

The girl then pocketed her phone once more, smiling at the pair in front of her, “It was nice seeing you again, Albert- and it was nice meeting you, Veronica.”

“You too.” She heard them say from behind her as she rushed to grab her purse, opening the apartment door and wiping her eyes as she began to walk towards the elevator.

“Y/N- Y/N, wait!” Buck yelled from behind her, the girl listening as his footsteps sped down the hallway, “I know Eddie didn’t actually text you, okay? It’s not what you think!”

She turned, looking up at the ceiling to prevent the water from spilling from her eyes and once she felt that it wouldn’t, she looked back down at him, “What? That you never actually wanted to go on a date with me and that you were just using my feelings for you to get them to see you with someone? Fuck you.”

Then the girl turned back around, Buck quickly grabbing onto her wrist and turning her back towards him, “No- it’s not like that-”

Y/N yanked her wrist from his grasp, “Don’t- Don’t touch me. You… God, I mean, you decided to hurt me just because you can’t stand the idea of someone not liking you? Are you serious?”

“No, that’s- I mean…” He shrugged with a false smile, “Come on, I’m very likeable.”

The girl stood there in silence, swallowing the lump in her throat as a tear finally made it’s way down her face. Buck sighed, glancing off to the side before making eye contact with her, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, okay? Look, Albert invited me over and I knew it was gonna be super awkward, and I didn’t want to sit through that alone. So I asked a friend.”

Y/N gave him a watery smile, “Right. A friend. ‘Cause that’s all I am to you.”

She sniffled as Buck’s heart dropped, the girl wiping her tears before speaking once more, “You could’ve just told me the situation and then asked me as a friend. You didn’t have to lie about having feelings for me.”

A scoff left her lips, the girl continuing, “I mean… If this is how you decide to treat your ‘friends’, maybe the problem isn’t Albert.”

Her eyes met his, “Maybe it’s you.”

Then she turned, walking away from him, hoping he’d say something as she left…

But he said nothing.

So she continued on her way, getting into the elevator and letting the doors close before her tears began to run down her face at a faster pace.

Y/N pulled out her phone as the elevator doors opened to the lobby, the girl pulling up Eddie’s contact, about to hit the call button- but her phone rang before she could.

She raised her brows as she noticed it was the man she was about to call, Y/N hitting answer and bringing the phone to her ear, “Hey, I was just about to-”

He cut her off as he began speaking in a panicked tone, “I need your help, Chris is missing and-”

Her jaw dropped at the words, the girl turning and making her way towards the building exit, but she quickly stopped in her tracks as Chris walked through the lobby doors.

Eddie was still rambling on the other side of the line, Y/N cutting him off so that she could let him know his son was safe, “Eddie, he’s here.”

“At Buck’s place?” He asked on the other side of the line, Y/N nodding even though he couldn’t see her as she replied, “Yeah. He’s here.”

“Okay, I’ll be there to get him soon.”

And then he hung up, Y/N wiping her face before she walked towards the kid who was making his way towards the elevators, “Chris, what are you doing here?”

“I had a fight with my dad. I came here to see Buck.” He informed her, the girl nodding and hitting the up button to the elevator, “Okay, I’ll take you up to him. You can’t run off like this though, your dad is worried sick.”

“Did you talk to him?” The kid asked her, glancing up as they entered the elevator. She nodded, “Yeah, he called me just as you walked in. He’s coming to get you. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He sighed, the adult next to him humming in acknowledgement as they reached Buck’s floor, the duo leaving the elevator and walking to his apartment.

Chris knocked on the door, the girl next to him beginning to walk away, but the kid turned to her, “Wait, where are you going?”

She sighed, “Buck and I aren’t really on good terms right now, buddy. I just wanted to make sure you got here safe.”

Buck opened the door as Chris replied, “I want you to stay.”

“Want who to st-” The older male began to ask before he peeked out of the door and noticed who he was talking about, “-oh.”

“Fine.” The woman muttered, walking into the apartment behind Chris, noticing that Albert and Veronica were now gone and it was just them three in the living space.

“Does your dad know you’re here, Chris?” The male asked the child, who was quick to respond, “Yes, he called Y/N.”

Buck then looked at the girl for confirmation, her nodding in response, “He called me as I was leaving to ask for help finding Chris, but he was walking into the building. Eddie is on his way to pick him up.”

He pursed his lips and then looked at Chris as the said kid sat on the couch, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Chris shook his head as Buck sat on the table, Y/N leaning against the wall near the TV, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, you’re here, so we gotta talk about something.” He said to the child, using a gentle tone with him. Once Chris didn’t reply, Buck sighed, speaking once more, “Come on, look, you were there for me when I needed to talk, so now I want to be here for you. It’s what friends do.”

Y/N scoffed under her breath at that, the action not going unnoticed by Buck as Chris replied, “Dad’s dating.”

The girl gave him a sympathetic look as Buck continued to interact with the boy, “Yeah, that’s gotta be weird for you, huh? Maybe it feels like he’s forgetting your mom, but, Chris, I promise you-”

Chris sighed, interrupting the male, “I wish I could forget.”

Y/N pushed off the wall at that and moved closer, sitting on the table next to Buck and talking to Chris, “What do you mean by that, bud?”

“People go away. Not just mom.” He stated sadly, “Abuelita, Carla, my friends… they leave, and then I miss them. I don’t want to miss anyone else.”

The adults in front of him nodded in acknowledgement, sad looks on their faces as Buck spoke again, “Yeah, um… people- people go away… and i-it’s sad, and it hurts. But, you know, not everyone goes away for forever. Sometimes they come back, and as much as we miss them, that’s how happy we are seeing them again. Your grandma, your friends, Carla… you’re gonna see them all again.”

“Do you promise?” Chris asked.

“I do. And until that happens, you still got us.” Buck replied, gesturing to him and the girl next to him, Y/N sending a small smile Chris’ way and nodding in agreement as she spoke, “We aren’t going anywhere.”

Chris got up, opening his arms and pulling the two adults into a hug. One of Buck’s arms wrapped around Chris while the other wound around Y/N, the young boy’s head in between both of theirs.

“You guys are good friends.” The kid said to them, his arms hanging around their shoulders.

Buck glanced at Y/N over Chris’ back and spoke, “Yeah… sometimes.”

He then patted his back and pulled away, Y/N giving Chris one last final squeeze before doing the same, a knock coming on the door soon after.

All of them stood up, Buck going to the door and opening it, Eddie quickly rushing in.

Once his eyes locked on Chris, he moved forwards, encasing his son in a hug and muttering to him, “Don’t run away like that again, okay? You can’t scare me like that.”

Chris nodded into his shoulder, “I’m sorry, dad.”

“It’s okay, bud.” He replied, pulling away from the hug and standing up, “Let’s go home, okay?”

The kid nodded and Y/N smiled at the duo before looking at the younger boy, “Tell him what you told us. He’ll understand.”

Chris nodded once more, grabbing his crutches and making his way towards the door while Eddie looked at his friends, “Thank you guys.”

And then they went to walk out, Eddie turning around and speaking once again, “You’ll have to let me know how the date went later, okay?”

Y/N pursed her lips while Buck sent a smile his way, the door closing behind the father-son duo.

“Well, I’m gonna go also.” The girl then said, pulling her sweater closer to her frame in an attempt to close herself off as she began to walk towards the door.

“Or… you could stay? And we can try this again?” The male spoke, stepping in front of her in an attempt to stop her from leaving.

She sighed, “Look, you don’t have to pretend to have feelings for me just because you-”

He was quick to cut her off, “It’s not pretend. I’m sorry for making it seem like it was, and I’m sorry for earlier. I do have feelings for you and I should’ve asked you out on a first date a long time ago. I know I messed up tonight, but let me try to make it right, okay? With just us two. If you still hate me later, you never have to talk to me again. I’ll transfer firehouses and be out of your sight for forever.”

Y/N huffed, setting her purse down on the table, “Fine, and even if I hate you by the end of this, which is impossible because I could never hate you- even after what happened earlier, I’d never make you do that. I know how much the 118 means to you.”

He just smiled at her and nodded, one of his hands grabbing her own, “So? What do you want to eat?”

He dragged her to the kitchen, opening the pantry and showing her the stuff he had and giving her an idea of what could be made.

She pursed her lips, “How about we just have some takeout delivered? And watch a movie like we were talking about earlier today?”

Buck squeezed her hand, “Sounds perfect.”

Then he kissed her cheek before making a call to her favorite takeout place while she picked the movie they would watch.

She didn’t notice, but Buck watched as she sat on his couch, making herself at home while she picked the movie.

And he couldn’t help but think how nice this sight would be to see everyday.

[orleans-jester]

“Sounds American enough for me,” Go-Go said. They might as well just loot the store, so she picked up some snacks that she hadn’t seen before yo go along with the alcohol. Poptarts. Hot Chili Takis. Peanut Butter cups. Jelly Bellies. It was Halloween, so bring on the candy rush.

And then onwards to the lengthy tour.

Even with the expensive alcohol burning through her stomach, she was a damn good driver, and took every turn that Dale advised her too, all without crashing onto the sidewalk or into lightposts and fire hydrants. They didn’t have to worry about the average person walking back, Valerie and Thomas had already made their way to the inn, and there were no other walkers.

The classics were cool enough, even if history wasn’t really her thing. “I could see you running one of those tourbuses,” She chuckled up at Dale. “With the microphone, making cheesy jokes to all of the tourists. You would be fantastic.”

She knew who most of the people that he talked about were. Clopin, obviously, they had met a couple of times, not the least of all she had seen him and his husband tonight, having a good time at the Ball. She tried to picture him as a younger man, which was pretty amusing. She could only do so with clown makeup. “They must be pretty close friends then,” She said, about Flotsam bringing up that tree everytime they would have passed it by.

She was snacking now, mixing the spicy with the sweet. Half-melted peanut butter cups with the takis stuffed in them. It was a feast for the eyes, for the ears, and now for the tongue.

“A magic school … full of teenagers … next to a super dangerous forest,” GoGo said dryly. She didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that it was going to go all wrong from the beginning. She didn’t mean to trash on his birth mom but she couldn’t help saying - “Really don’t think she was smart enough to open a school in the first place. Money can’t buy common sense, evidently.”

The construction was forever going to be unfinished. The person who had been working on it, meticulously building it back up, was long dead. Somewhere out there wandering, most likely. Forever searching for his toddler daughter. Tragic. Moving on.

She wasn’t used to these kind of compliments yet. She was growing adjusted to them, since the Laveaus could be complimentary people if they liked you. Especially Scout. But that coming from Dale, plus the snacks, plus the liquor.

She let out a belch as the bubbles from the alcohol seemed to come back up, and then giggled at herself. “Yeah, I’m glad you guys became kiwis too.”

They went into the fancy neighborhood. There was a playground now, at the place where Dale was pointing. The place that had once been the Renault house until Boogie destroyed it. “I always forget that those two were a thing,” She laughed, looking out the window, tilting her head slightly. “I really can’t imagine it.”

When they met, Chip had multiple wives. And Maddy was at the very least engaged to Bastien, and they were married shortly after the Laveaus moved to New Zealand. Anything else just seemed - odd.

“Why do I feel like it was you being the panty-stealer and not your brother?”

They kept on driving and stopping but Go-Go really didn’t mind. They had all night. And all day. “You kicked his ass, didn’t you?” She said about the guy that was running his mouth. That seemed a very Dale-like thing to do.

Funkytown was lit and looked like it was jumping, even if Figaro and Willem weren’t there quite yet. Door clown was dancing in the doorway, his hat just being seen through the window in the front door. Small figures were silhouettes through thin curtains. There was even a thump that could be heard from the outside (Diana’s leg had fallen off again and she took a tumble down the stairs, though she was alright as always). “Well shit, I hope we get to come back for a Funkytown party.”

She’d take occasional swigs of the liquor despite driving. Without any other cars on the roads, or pedestrians, there wasn’t as much worry. The alcohol seemed to help expand her mind during all of these stories, taking in what was behind and between the words. Getting to know Dale in a new light. Hell, they had even lived together and she didn’t know him that well. This was the most that they had talked, at least since her father kicked her out.

They really were going everywhere, from downtown to rich-ville to the trailerpark. This place had a lot of history, though Go-Go was only getting bits and pieces of it right now. She parked the car in front of the trailer that Dale was indicating, the headlights bringing light onto it. It looked abandoned. It looked … rough.

“Yeah,” She nodded, knowing that feeling all too well of losing a best friend. Fuck, she knew it well, as Dale had found out earlier. “I’m sure we would have got on.”

She held out another peanut-butter taki creation and the expensive bottle of alcohol, not saying anything.

“So you just make it your mission to be everyone’s big brother, huh?” She asked after a moment, remembering Babyface and Ellie, the two youngest at the Ball apart from when Frankie was brought up.

She stopped when he suddenly called out the wait, and climbed out through the open window, sitting on the door and leaning over the hood of the car, watching as he ran in and took a bunch of electronics. Even she was eyeing some of the stuff when he brought it back. “Damn, that’s a jacked-up laptop.”

In a good way, of course.

But then back to the roads, passing through places that … looked like a dream. Especially Sherwood forest. With it not being lit up, it looked like something out a horror movie that Figaro would love. Deserted. The joust was over.

“You’re lucky,” She spoke, after Dale was reminiscing about what one could do in the city in the span of a single day. “To have grown up somewhere so cool.”

Down the even shadier road, the trees not being tended to and growing out of control, limbs going out onto the road, making their branches hit the windshield. Nothing cracked it yet, but who could tell what would happen later down the line. There was a feeling of excitement growing inside of her to see the ruins of the old Laveau house, which she had heard so much about. It was like a little kid catching the first glimpse of a ferris wheel or a roller coaster on the way to an amusement park. So closer, just a little further.

“Of course there’s a Skull Rock, why am I not surprised.”

“I don’t know whether to believe you or not,” She teased. A door to another world just seemed … so crazy. So unlikely. And something that someone would definitely snatch up and use to make money or something like that. Build a resort in Christmasland. Capitalism as its finest. “Let me guess, Santa lives in there?”

The smell grew heavier the more they went. A heady, green smell that made her feel a little bit dizzy, though that could have been the alcohol too. She was driving slower, with the swamps all around. It looked and felt as if the car could get stuck and go down into the murky depths at any second. “You said there’s zombies around here, in these woods, right?” She asked, rolling up her window for the time being.

“Oh shit, yeah, probably,” She said, taking in Dale’s outfit again. It had been funny in the first place but now there was grass stains on the pink shirt from when he had crashed into the ground. Dirt stains too, on his knees and other parts of his body. Not to mention that half of him looked like a giant bruise, partly her doing. “I’d offer ya something but - it’s not my car so there’s no sweater in the back.”

She turned her head to look at him with an eyebrow raised, and then laughed, shaking her head, looking back to the trail. It was dark out here, despite the slowly raising sun. They couldn’t see beyond the headlights. More compliments. “Right, and you’ve had how much to drink tonight?”

“My parents hate everything, to be fair,” She cracked up, thinking of what their faces would look like if they could see her right now. “Almost wish I was talking to them again, just so I could tell them about this. Alone, with you, in our costumes, in a stolen car, in an abandoned city halfway across the world, going down what seems like the darkest fuckin’ path known to man.”

They’d probably try to exorcise her or something. Slap her with reeds because she didn’t know discipline. Lock her in her room for forty days and forty nights until she came to her senses or some such shit.

“You’re not too bad yourself, crop tops suit you, actually.”

"Unholy." He'd grin and hiss as he took a swig with all the muscles in his neck stretched involuntarily from the heat after it went down.

"Gummy Bears. Classic. Like Claudette. We know a lady who's so down with champagne gummy bears she baths in that shit, or so I've heard. She's a legend."

He'd grab a couple colorful bags and toss them in the basket with some chips.

"Most American? Oh, damn uh. Putting me on the spot. American American. Something in me wants to say Ballpark hotdogs but we're not at a ballpark so you I'm loading up with Doritos because that's what I like. Cool Ranch and Flaming Hot. I don't know what's most American, but I know what's most southern down here in LousiAnn. I'll get you some creole pork skins and hot peanuts since we aren't stopping for street food tonight." He laughed knowing there were no vendors in Feral anymore. He looked for a bag of that and some classic gator jerky, always a fun tourist pick-up at gas stations in the south.

They were leaving with a basket of snacks and Grey Goose, not to be fancy, but it was his actual go to outside a jack and coke. Blame Flotsam. High proof in GoGo's hand too. They were on their way. She only wanted to see one place and it didn't exist anymore.

"Mayyyyyyyyyybe. I wouldn't mind seeing that place either. Maybe we'll just drive by so you can see what it was like to go there. See what's become of it by now. We'll save it for the end since it's far out in the swamps maybe. I'll figure it out."

"We need no GPS tonight. I know this place like a-a I'm a human compass. Chip might dress like apocalypse is a fashion statement, but trust in me. Don't wig out when after we get past the city part. I'm never lost. I promise."

Sitting down into the car would make him look cripple again. He moved slower, cringed, and groaned as he sat. His injuries were inflamed and showed face the most when he was forced to bend. He let out another great, "Ahhhhhhh." When his back hit the rest he knew he was safely in GoGo's care. He was good to go.

He downed another swig and pulled open a bag of peanuts and a spicy scent of red-hot tickled his nose, but already he could feel numbness in his face. He started to smile. He wasn't particularly hungry after the ball yet, but it was Nola smell. It was home smell, a familiar smell, like a memory. He could close his eyes and almost see mudbug bakes across the quarter. He could almost hear the laughter, commotion, and fun of a Bourbon Street night, or maybe the lid being pulled off a giant pot of gumbo big enough to feed the whole camp. He turned his head and looked in her direction. "I'm feeling better already. Smells like gumbo or mudbugs. Way better than a Pinetree air freshener."

A drink or two later and he was about ready to focus. He allowed himself to enjoy letting the buzz hit him and then sat up so he could think better and tell her where to go. He decided to pretend like he took off a hand speaker from the ceiling like on tour bus rides and started talking into his palm and while giving directions.

What he did was have her drive around the quarter first because of reguar old tourism. It would be intereting to see what was left. He pointed to some classics. "Marie Laveau's cemetery. Her tomb is in there." There were some parts of Nola that just weren't going anywhere even though it was Feral now. He'd ramble on about St. Mark's and let her see some historical places that were easily seen on the internet. The point wasn't historical value. The point for Dale was to show GoGo the little spaces in-between so she could picture their past life. He'd say things he knew even if he didn't live it himself because it was always told to him. It was the history of his family. He'd say things like "-and here's where my dad would always point the tree he used to climb in to watch Clopin do his magic tricks when he was a street performer and living on the streets. We couldn't pass that tree without Dad opening his mouth and telling us as if he'd never told us before even though he told us every single time we'd come to the city. Not even a trip to McD's went without."

Dale would start getting tipsy as the memories started rolling. He would start to sound boring completely on purpose pointing to random historical buildings before rolling up to the large empty space that looked like a construction site. He was grinning so wide.

"And this my lovely, lovely, driving, sight-seeing, friend was once the site of The Magisterium where my deceased mother built a supernatural school for magic kids my father never wanted us to go to, but caved because he always did for her, while at the same time she went into politics and made it illegal for witches to use their magic in the way nature works, refusing to admit there's always a supreme witch that powers pass to from witch to witch even though it just sort of does. She thought she could outlaw nature. It was like trying to outlaw puberty. It was like living with someone who identified as a bleeding-heart liberal who only wanted to do good for the people, who didn't realize they were actually a Trumper with no common sense to what they were actually doing." He was getting a little buzz on so he was laughing. "AND.... she was so slick she decided to put her school next to a forbidden forest for real. RIGHT THERE." He pointed to a tree line way beyond the rubble. "Tons of dangerous magical creatures in there. I know. Let's build a school and put young kids that won't listen to rules right next to it, and I mean young. There was a daycare. I mean I get it if it was Hogwarts. But that's fiction. It was needed for the story to be funny. She did it for real. For real GoGo. She placed a school next to the most dangerous piece of land next to the Cursed 100 Akre Wood in Nola. Let's just say eventually all that shit didn't go over well with the town. And you my dear GoGo are looking at the remnants of my so-called life and why we eventually moved to New Zealand. Aint it beautiful?"

He rolled his head her way.

"At least one good thing came out of it. We met you."

Boy were his lips loose with the high proof. She'd seen Dale drink before, but something had gotten into him tonight.

"Ohhh, drive over there. Hi fancy schmancy lane. This is the road Chip obsessed Maddy over on. The first time we went there it was because we felt like we had to take care of Piper so she wouldn't get taken advangtage of by Pierre. She'd never been around other boys from the real world before. Clopin gave us like... older brother sorta orders and we took them very seriously. We may have stolen panties from that house... twice."

He didn't usually talk so openly about everything. Hell, GoGo lived with Dale as roommates for quite a while and he didn't open up this much. He was ready. Timing. But, at every stop between every drive to each new place he just kept jabbering. Something had gotten into him being back home like this. Maybe it was just the alcohol.

"That is the human school where I may have caused a riot." He started laughing real hard again. "An actual riot. I walked up to a mother fucker who was talking shit and didn't let it slide. Cop evasion was a sport while living here."

He started patting at GoGo's arm and made her turn towards Figaro's place. "That's Funkytown. You don't know anything until you've experienced a Funkytown party. That's where it all started. Damn fucker. Chip fucked the same dude up at a party there. Bunch a bullshit." He'd go into full blown explanations yammering on about silly events of their past and things that had happened all over the town.

If GoGo ever thought she knew these guys at all, she'd know them now because Dale was going down memory lane. He couldn't help himself. He'd stop at every other home or business and have a comment. It wasn't just things like that's where his family's tourist shop was, or that's where the House of Mouse used to be, where his Electric Voodoo used to play all the time. It was more like that's where I had to sit in dressing rooms when I was little until the show was over. It was always Dale's point of view. So, he'd start laughing and tell stories of how much mayhem he caused with his powers like equipment malfunctions, ticket booth sales gone wrong, old Pete's watches and clocks changing so shows could last longer so Chip and Dale could sneak around to cause havoc longer with patrons.

It would be revealed that's where the kids learned a lot of their cooking skills, hanging out with the chefs at the House of Mouse like babysitters while their daddies were jamming on stage. Sure, Cinderella was a kind of homemaker and passed that on to be sure, but she didn't get all the siblings do from being a house maid to the Tremaine's or reading Readers Digest recipes. The real fancy stuff the boys do, that came from the House of Mouse and being unwitting connoisseurs of fine dining. The boys always seemed to pull off what passed as fine dining and didn't seem to pay it much mind as anything special, but to them it's just how they do things. Homeschool kids had brains that soaked up the world. It's how they learned everything. Not that GoGo was looking for explanations to the how this family worked, but through the tour she was getting a look at the gears inside of the Dale cuckoo clock.

It was conversations like that's where he found a baby croc stuck in barbed wire, or the downed heron with the broken wing. It was more personal experiences to Dale that might start to paint a picture of who he was here. That no shame loud voice would bumble out stories of all his research on the animals he and his brother would do while doctoring wild animals and releasing them into the wilds behind their home that birthed the Rescue Rangers. For Dale his mind had a way of going off on the details of the computer programs he'd use to file the information for each animal and everything they'd do for them that he'd built from the bottom up. A bit of a tech side showing face here and there.

He waved his hands around. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Enough of this. You wanna see where Dale spent his time?" He pointed another direction, and he'd lead her close by the trailer park.

"This is where the Beagles lived. Most of 'em." He'd have her drive up to an unassuming single wide. "This is Megabyte's trailer where I spent most my days off the swamp." His smile started to fade for the first time. "He was my best friend, and nobody ever got to know him. I don't think I ever brought him to my house once. We didn't do that. We weren't really allowed. Sort of. I mean we were, but not. It wasn't the best idea. So, I never wanted to bother my parents with friends. They had so much heavy going on. Too risky. That's the hard part of grieving someone nobody knows. Nobody gets it but yourself."

He leaned over the console and said, "He was smart. I mean real smart. You'd have liked him. He'd have been able to keep up with your brain better than me. He was like a genius. He was a tech guy, hacker type but more. The guy that fixed up Maddy's papers from her old name. It's not just forgeries. No trace anywhere of her old self. Do you know how hard that is to do? We'd play games all day in there and talk smack. He was amazing and he was my friend. I wish you could have met him."

Then the pain of what had been going on in Dale, the silent pain that he never spoke of because it was his own. Everyone had their own problems. He carried his own burdens, his own grief. But for just a moment they reddened his face, and his lips held tight, and his cheeks ballooned out as he tried to hold it all in and stuff it back down where it belonged.

He sat back down in his seat and blew out and then pointed at where Babyface's trailer was. "That's where lil' Babyface lived. You met him. That's his lil' brother man. That's why I gotta take care of him if he'll let me. I owe it to Megabyte now that all this has happened. Then once Ellie got involved it was a done deal, but I'd have offered to help the kid anyway."

It was hard for him to be in the trailer park. Tour de Dale had to move on.

"Okay we gotta move this party." He was swigging big here. Shove the world down. Shove. Shove. Shove or he'd ending up really saying shit he didn't need to say. He was starting to remember why breaking things was easier. "Let's get out of this city already. This tour..." He was speaking into his invisible hand mic again, "is swamp ready. It's time to see real Nola. If you want to understand Nola through my eyes we have to get to the depths, baby." He started grinning again.

"WAIT!"

Before they pulled out of the trailer park, he pushed the door open and tumbled out of his car door. He pulled himself back up in a way that looked a little discombobulated. Between his injuries and the alcohol, he wasn't ready for how his head was going to feel. "Woah. Okay then." Then he marched up to the Megabyte's door and held onto the rickety wooden siderails and kicked in the door. It was a trailer. It wasn't hard. Then he came back carrying a cardboard box of laptops with wires hanging all out of the sides. He shoved it into the back of the car.

"I think he'd want me to have them."

He'd have fun going through them later when he got back home to New Zealand.

"Okay ready."

He would be moving better all things considering. The alcohol by this time was masking the pain. He didn't point out a lot after that. His heart was shoving things down still until they made it closer to the borders when he finally said, "OH! Look. There's Sherwood Forest. That's where we picked up weed. It's also where you could Robin Hood style ren faire all year round. Damn, I miss Wulf's strains of weed. He was such a cook too. He made superb edibles."

The memories got him laughing again. "You know a person could spend a day in every spot we've briefed rummaging around like an unlimited vacation stocking up on Mardi Gras masks, Victorian costumes, professional grade instruments, do our own tarot readings, play in crystal balls in all the magic shops, or have a joust in a full suit of armor, and camp out at the faire, and crank up the big Ferris wheel if a person wanted to, and go home with real knight swords and shields, full geek mode unbound. I'm starting to understand this Bastien hoarding thing I keep hearing about."

After that point it got to the long trail through the forest that led to swamplands. As all the city began to disappear, no lights behind them left twinkling in the distance, all nature before them and after gone, he'd say, "This is the drive. The drive we'd have every time we went to town. It's why if we came to the city we'd stay and make ourselves comfortable. There were no quick trips. It's worse than the bush back in NZ because there was our house, but then there was camp. If we wanted to get to camp, there came a spot the vehicles couldn't make it through. No road. You took canoes or kayaks on through the swamp. Also, why once we decided to go to camp, we stayed and made ourselves comfortable. If you forgot something you were so up a shit creek. Whenever we did forget something, Chip blamed it on me. Oh, and me, Scouts, and Chip had the animals to play with. We had taken loads of side quests on the way. Hung out with lost boys or got involved with pirate chases as kids. The Never Swamps are that way. Pirate Cove. Skull Rock. That's a whole other adventure."

Then he pointed to the left and kept talking in his palm. "And that way is the secret path to the holiday trees." He waggled his brows. "Oh yes. Magic trees. It'd take all night if we actually toured all these places. But I shit you not there's magic trees with doors on them that lead to magic lands. I swear to fuck there's a real Christmas Land, like the North Pole. I'm not drunk. I mean, I am. But I'm serious. I wouldn't lie to you." He laughed. "Okay, maybe I would, but not about this. Chip would throw me in just to carry buckets of snow back to the swamp and throw snowballs in the mud."

Beyond this point the drive would become eerie swamp. It was dark and covered by layers of moss in the thick canopy of branches that enveloped the sky. The tour had already been long, but this drive was longer. They'd be lucky to reach old estate land before morning. He started to sink lower into his seat. "Just stay in the trail. It's still a little further out." He watched her as she drove noticing her outfit again. It made him more self-aware of his own. "I should have thought to grab some normal clothes while in town." He shook his head at how silly it was to not think of that as he sat there still in a pink crop top. It was meant to bring laughs that night though. It certainly had done its job. He couldn't help in the lengthy section of landscape as beautiful as the memory of it at all was to admire GoGo in her dress instead.

"You know I meant it earlier. You really were looking hot tonight. I mean... are. I mean... you look extra pretty tonight. You got that head turning look going on." He started to grin sort of goofy and flirty at the same time. "I bet your parents would have hated it. Damn they hated me." He started chuckling low looking up at her, bottle in his lap. "And I've experienced being the first generation after the aftermath of a city with a voodoo genocide and lived in the thralls of supernatural white boy hate. My priv is checked on every corner for being born. But it hardly compared to the look in your parents' eyes the day we marched out of your house." He couldn't help but keep grinning. He got too much amusement out of poking the bear so to speak in GoGo's parent. Plus, she really did look damn hot. "Anyway, what I mean is, you look good."

[crepezinhos]

Anatomy Practices

POV: While walking around the cafeteria in search of a table to sit and eat your lunch, a man unexpectedly rose from his seat and bumped into you with great force, all his worksheets skyrocketing out of his binder and gliding in the air. You decided to help the man out and knelt down to grab some of his fallen sheets, but it was inevitable to ignore how the woman he repeatedly drew over and over in all the sheets resembled you.

⚠️ WARNINGS:

— This is a Yandere, Suggestive SFW Oneshot

— Reader is FEMALE and uses SHE/HER pronouns

— Contains: Obsessive, disgusting and creepy behavior, stalking, invasion of privacy and implications of masturbation.

— Artist!Sunday x Artist!Reader

— AU is: Modern College

The Cafeteria during second lunch was when it was most chaotic. Having students coming in and going out of it at the same time made its paths extremely trafficked and unorganized, especially in the lines for food.

Knowing how much effort and time it takes to set yourself in a table, you preferred to bring your own homemade lunch and avoid the waste of time in the line for food, especially when you considered its mediocre quality compared to your food. But even with this gimmick of yours, you’ve still lost almost 5 minutes walking around in search of a isolated table where the concentration of sound and people wasn’t so dense and deafening.

When you finally found yourself walking between halls and tables that weren’t too crowded, you sighed in relief. Finally having your arms and backpack free of random bumps felt amazing. It felt even greater to know you didn’t have a tray in your hands that ran the risk of turning everything on top of it around if you bumped too hard on some—

POW!

Unexpectedly, the man that was sat in one of the tables you were passing through got up from his seat and immediately rushed in the contrary way, resulting in a hard bump between you two.

Although neither of you were impacted enough to fall in the floor, the same couldn’t be said for the binder the man held in his hands and the glasses in his eyes, that immediately slammed into the floor with its many papers inside it brutally flying away from it. You weren’t exactly bothered with it since nothing happened to you, but the man was immediately bothered with it as soon as he realized all his stuff fell so horribly on the floor.

“Shit!” He cussed while kneeling down in the floor with a worried expression, beginning to pick up those sheets.

Leaving him alone picking it up would be the optimal option for you, but also extremely rude. The both of you had places to be and you assumed he was heading to class seeing how he was leaving a tray with half-eaten food in the table and carrying his materials in his hands, which was more important than your lunch according to your sense of empathy. So you knelt down after he did more slowly, looking forward to speed up both your routines.

“I-I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t realize lunch was over and I’m late to class!” He refused to look up to you while he tried to reorganize his papers, even if he was without his glasses, so you couldn’t quite recognize who you bumped with… but you were pretty sure of who he was thanks to his flapping cranial wings.

Sunday Oak.

“No, no! It’s ok!” You started reaching down for his papers too, especially the ones that had slid behind you.

You grabbed a group of 3 sheets that luckily remained together and turned upside down even after the fall, and due to pure curiosity, you decided to take a quick peek at them. After all, you knew exactly how Sunday Oak did his art and it provoked your curiosity. He’s a weird nerdy guy that lives a few apartments away from you and shares two art classes with you. You were always a bit annoyed at him because of how he always outshone everyone else’s artwork and set high standard for the teachers, but you had nothing personal against him but truthfully, you had a lot of respect and admiration for his art. It was sensible, humane, emotional and beautifully rendered, and Sunday himself was a very respectable man. Even if you weren’t a professional yet, you could proudly say he was a genius in ascension.

Unfortunately, your relationship with him does not go any further than that. You’d see and interact with him daily, and although he seemed to enjoy these little moments, he always seemed to avoid you at the same time. You never understood why and maybe there was nothing to understand, but you still wanted to use this opportunity to try getting to know more of him.

So you finally took a look at the papers you picked.

…

…

…

…

Oh?

What the…

You couldn’t exactly say you were surprised to learn that Sunday Oak had a like in drawing NSFW. He has the maturity for it. But you were surprised at one thing.

The paper you were staring at was covered with multiple doodles of a single naked woman either posing or being fucked by something… a woman looked exactly like you.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t analyze it too much because the papers were suddenly latched away from your hands, accompanied by a scared gasp before the act.

“M-Ms. Y/N..?!” Sunday was looking at you even more nervous now, as if he had finally realized who he bumped with. “I-I’m sorry f-for cussing a-and not talking to you, I didn’t see it was you! A-A-And you don’t really need to help me with these! I-It’s ok! It’s my business! Y-You can go!” He clutched those papers against his chest as if it was his own heart.

“No, no, no! Please, allow me to help you!” You couldn’t help but pause to giggle at his extreme anxiety. “You must know how much I like your works anyway, so it’s an honor for me to help you out.” You winked at him, and his eyes simply widened even more along with his cheeks growing a pink tone.

“You… what?” His voice was barely above a whisper as he tried to process what you said.

“I… really like your works.” You repeated with no hint of embarrassment, although the man now looked like he had fully frozen.

“Y-You do..?” He asked again, still not blinking once and his wings clinging closer to his face.

“Yeah!” You shrugged your shoulders while leaning down again to go back at picking up the fallen papers, but Sunday did not go back to the work for a few seconds.

“O-Oh… Thank you.” Finally he went back to collecting his papers again, but in a way slower pace as yours. You could even feel his eyes peeking at you every now and then, but you decided to ignore them.

Instead, you tried focusing more on what you were picking. Assuming he was flattered with what you said, you thought it was okay to keep looking at his doodles, but when he finally realized you were still peeking at them before giving it back to him, he finally broke the silence between you two again.

“I-I… Uhh… You’re not exactly supposed to be looking at these works, Ms. Y/N. They’re very personal.” His cranial wings worked together to cover his mouth as he took another group of sheets you had grabbed for him, quickly censoring the artwork stamped on it from you.

“I’m sorry… I just really find it interesting how this woman you like to draw really looks like me.” You explained your reasoning to him honestly, but seeing how embarrassed he was when you pointed that out, it immediately hit you that you should definitely take your words back. “Don’t me get me wrong, I really like these! I think you draw the female body beautifully! There’s no need to be ashamed of it! Or at least with me! And we all draw a few naked people here and there every now and then anyway…” You shrugged your shoulders lightly, although you were also starting to feel a little embarrassed too.

“Oh, uh…” Sunday looked down, deciding to fix the position of his glasses for no apparent reason. “T-Thank you… again.” He smiled, but it was surprisingly eerie, as if there was something else making him happy. “A-And… uhhh… I-It’s not you.” He whispered very lowly, head leaning down even further while his wings covered half of his eyes now, avoiding any eye contact with you.

“What did you say?” You leaned a little closer to him, but he only repelled your proximity.

“I-It’s not… you…” He said with little to zero confidence in your perspective, but maybe he was just having a hard time talking about something so personal.

“Oh!” You paused to think about what he said since you didn’t catch it at first. “Well, then, is it an OC?” You tried acting a bit more curious and excited about his work to make the conversation less awkward.

“Uh… yeah! An OC. It’s just an OC.” You could hear him whisper that phrase a few other times but you decided to ignore it. “S-Sorry if it bothers you that she’s… uhh… very similar to you…” His hands involuntarily started clutching on the piled sheets.

“That’s ok! As long as she isn’t an OC for some sort of porn movie, I’m ok with it!” You laughed at your own pun, and he decided to laugh along too, but you could sense how untruthful it was.

“N-No… it’s just… uhhhh… anatomy practices.” Sunday decided to start moving again and collecting those sheets before he had a heart attack in front of you.

“Cool! You’re great at it! I think I could fit to be your muse for her if you’d like.” You winked at him with a little smirk, obviously punning with him, but the way his wings spread when you said that and the way he looked at you told you he didn’t sense the irony.

“M-My… muse..?” His eyes shone brightly as he looked up to you, his body almost entirely stiffened again.

“Pffffttt… no! I’m just messing with ya!” You gently punched his shoulder, which immediately made Sunday wake up to reality and fix his glasses again.

“O-Oh… Sorry.” His wings quickly curled back to his face again and he went back to his mission.

You decided to follow his actions and go back to helping him out, but your attention was surprisingly caught by another detail in his artwork and you were too curious to let it go. When you grabbed a group of two pages, for some reason they glued to each other. It didn’t have any hint of glue or tape on it, so you decided to investigate.

“How old are these pages, anyway? These are the crunchiest pages I’ve ever seen!” You giggled as you forced those pages away from each other, a gluey noise following their separation. “Some of them even have stains…” You said, running your fingers on top of a stained spot in one of the sketches, signaling there was once a pool of something on top of the naked woman he had drawn.

Sunday’s skin tone dropped to a pale tone again as you did so, more than he did before when he realized he was talking to you.

“Uhh… T-They’re very old indeed… A-Almost 3 years practicing the female anatomy…” He scratched the back of his neck, as nervous as a liar. “B-But it’s just water..! Sometimes incidents happen, don’t they..?!” He asked as he pointed to the stain you were touching, trying his best to achieve your validation.

“Yeah, of course! Stupid water… always ruining the most beautiful sketches…” You handed him the pages, and he quickly took them, taking a closer look at the stains and analyzing them, before shoving them down the pile he was making.

“Yeah… haha…” His laugh sounded more honest now, sighing in relief.

“But do you ever glue some pages together sometimes? This doesn’t look like water’s work…” You had to stop helping him out to separate a pair of pages again.

“Uhhh… y-yeah..? I-I… Sometimes I feel too embarrassed to acknowledge some of… uhhh… my sexier products, so I glue them together…” He shrugged his shoulders and finally started putting his feet in the floor to stand up again.

Your missions with him was done. All his sheets had been collected. All that he needed to do now was reorganize them and put them back to his binder, which was something you probably would not be able to help him with.

“Really? But these are beautiful! You shouldn’t do that to them!” You stood up again, following Sunday, and putting your hands on your hips confidently.

“Y-You think so..? T-Thank you…” Sunday hugged his binder tight, looking at you a little weird again.

“Yeah! Keep it up!” You nodded your head, but unfortunately it started to click you how much time you’ve used of your precious lunch break, so you quickly started to tidy up. “I’m sorry for distracting you, Sunday. You should rush to your class.” You scratched the back of your neck as you told him those rude words, trying to laugh it off.

“N-No.” He rose a hand to you, as if he was trying to stop you from walking away. “I should be the one apologizing. I was the one who bumped into you a-and so I’m the one that wasted your time.” But Sunday quickly put his hand back to his hinder in embarrassment, his cheeks growing a little pink again.

“It’s ok! No need to worry!” You shrugged your shoulders, your joyful smile coming back to your lips for a quick moment. “Anyway, see ya in Ms. Ruan Mei’s class!” Due to your need to eat, you didn’t give Sunday a to answer you and immediately walked past him, leaving him standing in the corridor.

…

…

…

…

“See you.”

…

…

…

…

She noticed me.

She noticed my art.

She likes my art.

My art of her.

Does she truthfully like it? Or is she just being the kind, joyful, optimistic woman she is? Her pure innocence made it seem fake for a moment, but somehow that’s just not I view it. It sounded real. It looked real. I want it to be real.

And she wants me to keep up. Is she sure she wants me to keep up with these? If she was aware that it was truly her or the things that I’ve done to get the references of those arts or even how abysmal my feelings are for her, would she still want me to keep it up?

After so many nights I’ve spent stalking her everywhere she went, whether it was inside or outside the campus, secretly taking pictures of every angle I could get of her in every sort of outfit she had, even when the outfit was nothing but her beautiful skin, and recreating it all with my pencil. After so many times I’ve snaked inside her apartment when she was out and got my hands on her material, clothes, products and even underwear simply to savor it with my hands, marking my territory on it.

How disgusted would she be to find out those stains in my arts were not water, and instead my own very essence? The product of the many times I couldn’t resist the temptation of my own work and messed it up with shameless masturbation? How badly would she regret to once have told me to keep up with this abnormal side of mine if she knew it?

A side that is so personal and sinful to me, that was never supposed to be seen by anyone but me, got complimented and touched by its own victim.

I could even feel it in my body when she touched those stains. Was she flirting with me? Did she figure I was lying all along and accepted it? Does she enjoy pathetic guys like me? With secret, disgusting and pathetic habits like this?

She really meant it when she said she wanted me to keep up, didn’t she? Don’t you worry, Y/N. I’ll keep it up. I want to do these just as much as you want it too.

I’ll draw you in every position imaginable.

I’ll draw you in every fantasy imaginable.

I might even start adding myself to these artworks.

Taglist: @gaboplaydespacito

[thelonestarinthesky]

Aight you’re taking requests? I got one for you.

Senku x architect reader

Reader helped Senku make a bunch of his blueprints before the petrification, and once he has his footing in the kingdom of science he decides to send out a group to go looking for Reader’s statue. Only to realize it was one of the many statue’s tsukasa destroyed >:) how do you think yuzuriah would react when she realizes one of the latest statues she repaired was Reader’s? How quickly would Senku try to revive reader after the war with tsukasa is over?

ꜰᴀʟʟɪɴɢ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ

⁺₊✦₊　　

pairing: senku x f!reader

a/n: Thank you for the request!! I hope you like it!!!

⁺₊✦₊　　

Back in the modern world, Senku would most of the time not make his own blueprints. After all, that's why he had [Name] with him. She didn't complain, happy that her drawing skills would at least help him with his learning passion of science.

The two are childhood friends, Senku had practical dragged [Name] in his goal of making a spacecraft, seeing the girl doodle in her notebook during lunch time, taking this to his advantage, the trio was born, before Yuzuriha joined a couple years later.

Up until the purification, she was always by his side, equally showing his excitement in Science because that meant being useful to him by making blueprints and getting his praise!

Drinking his energy drink, Senku looks over at the girl for a brief moment as she happily draws out his idea.

"[Name]!" She looks up confused, hearing his voice only to see a bright light coming straight to her.

"Ah shit." She says, dropping her sketch book.

—

It had been 3700+ years since the world was turned to stone, Senku had tried to look for [Name]'s statue when he had free time but no luck. After Gen had found him wandering around the forest, he knew that Senku quietly looking for someone must mean that they're very important to him.

So, with a little convincing, gathered some of the villagers look for the statue.

When they did actually find said statue, Senku had stood before all the broken pieces of the broken stone. He didn't say anything at first before quietly thanking everyone for their help with the search.

Bending down to gather the broken stones, Gen noticed his shoulder slightly shaking.

After winning the war with Tsukasa, he handed the broken pieces to Yuzuriha before quietly telling her to fix this statue inside the small hut besides the laboratory. Yuzuriha agreed to do so, a little confused with how serious he was. Even stating that fixing this statue would be her first priority with the other ones.

The girl spent days working on it, and Senku wouldn't dare come inside until Yuzuriha was almost done. Stepping back to see if the pieces matched, she almost dropped the pot filled with the substance she used to glue the stones back together, eyes wide with disbelief.

"[Name]?" She says in agony, hands shaking. Sure, she fixed a lot of statues in the past, but to fix one of her best friends makes her want to vomit. Especially knowing that Tsukasa had taken part in her destruction since she was found near the Tsukasa empire.

After crying a bit, she was determined to fix [Name] now, fired up, spending three days without resting.

And soon enough, her best friend was fixed up.

Upon Yuzuriha telling Senku that she finally finished fixing [Name] up, he went over and dumped the revival fluid, a bottle of it he had hidden away when the three had left to escape Tsukasa in the beginning.

For the sole purpose of using it on [Name].

Yuzuriha squeal, clearly shocked on how he didn't hesitate, "Wait, Senku! She's not waring any-"

The [H/C] haired girl fell into his arms, unconscious, her hair barely covering her chest as Senku held her. A genuine smile on his lips as the girl slowly opened her eyes, eyes unfocused before looking up at Senku.

".." She blinks slowly, only to be met with a sight that she would never think she would ever see from Senku. The boy was trying to suppress his tears from rolling down his face but failing as the tears hit her face.

Ignoring the fact that she was completely naked, she comforted him first before Yuzuriha gave her clothes. While helping her face in them, Senku had his back facing them, rubbing his eyes, and ears flushed red.

Its been a couple weeks since [Name] was back, Senku would regular check her over, stating he wanted to make sure there wasn't an lingering side effects of the purification since she was put back together.

She was happily working on blue prints, Senku had made her a sketch book and pencils for her to work with. When he had mentioned building a ship, she went straight to work, laying down on the floor near to the telescope, completely in her work when she feels a hand on her legs, holding them down. Confused, she looks up to see it was Ssnku, looking a little annoyed.

"Oi, you're not wearing pants, so stop kicking your legs in the air. Someone can walk in and see under your dress." He says as she lets out a grumble since she's been interrupted.

Sitting down beside her, he looks over her designs. "Are these blueprints for the ship?" He asked. She nods, looking up at him as she rolls over on her back, legs pressed together and bent.

Her eyes stay on him as he flops the pages only to givgle quietly, "What's so funny?" He asked looking down at her.

"Oh, nothing. I just realized that nothing has really changed since the world changed. We always did this in your room, remember?" Smiling happily, she says

"...i guess you're right." He says, pushing the sketchbook onto her face as she complains about it, completely unaware of the way Senku's face is red. He's just glad that these moments stayed the same even if the world changed drastically.

not proof read so there might be spelling errors!

[toffee4you]

Honestly I'm surprised at how much actual hate I've seen towards the Dawn Armor announcement (mostly Twitter). Just because he's wearing the armor doesn't mean he has to slay/harm Malleus.

Reasoning and anticipated outcome below cut

The reasons:

Already, Silver and Dawn have shown parallels. While they both wish for the unity of fae, humans, etc., Dawn followed any order despite knowing it was wrong because he didn't want to betray Heinrick (and by extension, his family). Meanwhile, Silver was already shown to go against Malleus's order for the greater good (early book 7 in Sebek's dream, when he refused to fall asleep even after being bashed for his disobedience, and fled from Malleus to save him and everyone else). There's also things like rabbitfest where he was completely warranted to dust those delinquents, especially since everyone else initially wanted to do that too, but he immediately went for a passive approach. That's not as strong of an example because there's no lives on the line, though.

Another thing we're forgetting is that Silver and Dawn likely had vastly different environments growing up. Silver was raised by Lilia, a fae who advocated for peace between all species. He also has peers who don't harbor any particular hate towards fae because the modern world is more tolerant. Meanwhile, Dawn might have had good intentions, but from what we see, at least some of the humans he grew up with had little regard for fae (Heinrick). And, judging by lines about their greed and lack of care for the environment, it's highly probable that most others had the same lack of regard. It's a little hard to follow your beliefs when it'll seem like betraying everyone else who you want to protect, ESPECIALLY your family. This leads to what I believe is one of the key differences.

Heinrick manipulated Dawn by telling him it was for Leah's happiness and her father's health. Maleanor is not someone Dawn has personally known, making it less of a loss to slay her in order to save what's important to him (as terrible as it is, and undoubtedly, it was a hard but wrong decision imo). On the contrary, Malleus is a part of Silver's family + his liege, and that's important to him. He's doing this to save Malleus and everyone else, not just to save one side like Dawn was.

Also, Malleus is doing this with misplaced intentions to make everyone happy, and the others seem somewhat aware of this (most definitely Silver, who saw his reasoning from beginning to end). Meanwhile, humans back then probably tried to dehumanize fae (especially Maleanor) by labeling them as the evil ones. No one is actively advocating for Malleus actually be slayed, giving Silver more room to follow his own will, unlike Dawn. So, not only was he raised to follow his will, but his environment is a lot more forgiving. As a matter of fact, if the others also advocate for not harming Malleus, there's really no reason AT ALL for Silver to hurt him.

Besides, it seems like TWST has been trying to represent a theme that the world is slowly changing, and issues do get resolved after overblots. Think of fairy gala. When Dawn said the line praying for all intelligent beings to live in harmony, he was about to slay Maleanor. When Silver said the line, it was because they actually SUCCEEDED at bringing the species together. History did not repeat itself, and I think it would be counterintuitive/more difficult for book 7 to end if they tried making Silver harm Malleus.

Also, did we forget how shaken Silver was when he realized he was related to Dawn? And how he had a whole character development realizing that even though he shared genetics with Dawn, he was still different and he was loved? Then vowed to save everyone? Super counterintuitive to go back on all of that for the sake of angst.

The conclusion:

In my opinion, I think the Dawn Armor has potential to be the opposite of "traumatizing" for Lilia. Sure, at first, he'll probably get a spook seeing that armor come out, but I think he trusts Silver enough to take the right route. I think it might finally give Lilia some internal peace when he sees Silver wield the same armor to save Malleus instead of slaying him, like a good ending version of what happened years ago. I also think Dawn Knight himself would be proud of Silver for doing what he failed at, assuming he's watching over Sil from the ring. At least, that's what I'm personally hoping for.

Feel free to throw tomatoes at me like a medieval villager if I'm wrong tho 🫡

[prince-kallisto]

Ahh these are the sort of topics I don’t know how to word well in English , so forgive me if I have roundabout explanations for things 😆 this is a bit of a fandom bent, I apologize again for any mistaken words on anything 💦

But I guess I’m just a little disheartened by the EN fandom- particularly with the whole manga Yuu situation. I adore all the Yuu’s, I love all the Yuu OCs that this amazing and creative fandom has designed.

But I’m seeing an…over exaggeration? Or pedestal put onto the Scarabia Yuu, Yuuna Oujou, and the way some people have discussed the manga Yuu’s have made me a little uncomfortable.

I’ve seen some people be like “finally! A girl Yuu for the manga!” Or “finally! A Yuu who presents herself as a woman!” (This is way different than a celebration of a femme Yuu btw).

? Yuuka, the Savanaclaw Yuu, IS a woman. Some people have been claiming that she’s “hiding her gender” in the all-boy’s school, or “downplaying” her gender, and how they’re so happy that Yuuna is “unapologetically a woman.”

But Yuuka, even in her previous world, has ways presented as a bit more masc- a very bifauxnen, cool girl type of character who is resolute in her strength because of her judo experience. A translation of the manga I read even has her referring to herself as a “ordinary school girl.” It’s just her own personal style of presenting herself. She also exercises in a sports bra! The only troubles she has is the troubles ALL Yuu’s have: that they’re magicless and aren’t meant to be here at this school and this WORLD.

And frankly, it’s uncomfortable that I’ve seen so many people in the fandom act as if feminine style is the only valid way to present as a woman, the implications that Yuuka is not a woman from the way she chooses to dress or cut her hair.

I’m so so happy that people find joy in a very femme presenting Yuu- I love Yuuna just as much! But when the conversation begins turning into…implying femininity is the only way to be/present as a woman, that’s not…it just feels awful. Yuuka was our first girl Yuu, Yuuna is the second. They present differently, but neither of them ever once worry about having the “hide” their gender. Please celebrate Yuuna’s style if that’s what you mean, instead of the “true girl” Yuu.

And on another note, there is the very popular and so far very likely theory of a “boy-girl” pattern in the manga Yuu’s- especially since all the Yuu’s so far have been the opposite gender as the Disney villains of each dorm. Meaning, the theory is that a male Yuu is likely for Diasomnia.

And I’m seeing a very vocal crowd dismissing the idea of male Yuu in the Diasomnia arc, that they want a girl, they’d hate a male Yuu, “Malleus forgot it’s not an Otome so it has to be a girl Yuu!”, they want a girl to be with Malleus “because [we] want Malleyuu.”

And again. It just feels so…alienating. Malleus and Malleyuu personally isn’t for me, but I’ve spent many years hopping around Otome and romance games in the past, and male and NB fans of these genres are frequently told that they don’t belong in the fandom, that these games cater to women.

But most conversations bringing up the possibility of romance games bringing in he/him, they/them or even customizable pronouns for the player are often shut down in most community spaces. Games like TWST, with an ambiguous MC and individual interactions with a character of your choice (ie the home screen voicelines)- or even games like Obey Me or the Arcana, are a rarity have made me really happy and feel really comfortable in the fandoms. Even if the game’s audience is mostly women, the MC/Yuu has *always* had an open identity.

So…the concept that Malleyuu is only WANTED by a portion of the fandom ONLY it’s a girl Yuu just brings back those same feelings again. Of course you may have whatever Yuu you want in your own personal Malleyuu ship!! But one girl Yuu can never represent the whole fandom, one male Yuu can never represent the whole fandom. So it’s strange there’s this complete outcry at the idea of a boy, and in turn of non-het Malleyuu ships in the fandom. Male Yuu is still Malleyuu. An NB Yuu is a still Malleyuu

The manga and the Yuu’s have never shown a romantic relationship towards any character- any fanservicey moments still remain from the game, no matter the Yuu it’s aimed towards. And not just from Housewardens- all the characters have their bits of fanservice! But it never goes farther than that in the main story especially.

With the reveal of Yuuna, the EN fandom has been celebrating the diversity and openmindness of the world of twst, and how customizable your Yuu’s truly are. Yuu is…you! Yuu can be whoever you want. But it all falls apart when a portion of the fandom see Yuuna as the only valid girl Yuu, when the mere idea of a male Yuu for Diasomnia or for Malleyuu is bashed and hated.

Or you know what- the idea of male or even NB Yuu is bashed entirely every single time there’s a damn announcement for the manga. A while back, the Scarabia manga announcements were mistranslated in English, and the gender ambiguous language for Yuu was accidental turned into he/him (which turned out to be Yuuna). And the level of vitriol I saw over the idea of a male Yuu was so fucking disheartening. And now it’s happening all over again with a future Diasomnia manga.

Edit: this is not to say that I don’t like the speculation over the future Yuu’s. I love hearing about the theories of their possible personalities, interests, looks, etc based on the previous Yuu’s 😆💖 including the super interesting concepts I’ve heard for the story of a girl Yuu in Diasomnia! This vent is aimed towards different comments however

Is the manga and their Yuu’s really a celebration of diversity in the EN fandom? It doesn’t feel that way, at all. Perhaps I’m just being self centered about this, but I’ve found myself increasingly upset about how vocal these two issues have been, and I wish some people could be more mindful about it

Apologies for my incoherency in this vent 💦💦💦💦💦 this is NOT hate toward Malleyuu or Yuuna fans as a whole- or towards anyone in fact. This is just a vent and a slight critique just certain parts of the fan bas

[eirenical]

The Spin Maneuver

Mysterious Lotus Casebook | Lian Hua Lou | 莲花楼 | Episode 33 & 34

(I've had this meta percolating in the back of my mind since my second or third rewatch... so it's been a while. XD)

This show doesn't do anything by accident, so I have to believe that putting these two scenes so closely together serves a purpose. In both cases, Li Lianhua comes flying through the air, gets whipped around a person who is acting as a center pole, and then lands, more or less, stably on his feet. That's a very obvious visual parallel. But if you look a bit more closely, these two moments couldn't be more different.

1) Who is controlling the beginning of the spin?

In the first spin, Shan Gudao grabs Li Lianhua's wrist as he's coming out of his Whirling Steps. In the second, it's Li Lianhua who reaches for Fang Duobing, but the moment Fang Duobing sees him, he reaches right back.

vs.

2) In that first spin, Li Lianhua is jerked right off balance; his entire body goes through a whiplash motion as he's pulled into the air, and when he lands, he's at a sharp diagonal, barely able to keep his feet. With Fang Duobing, he goes into that spin at a MUCH sharper angle; he's practically horizontal, but SO IS FANG DUOBING. And yet somehow they both manage to stabilize each other so LLH can deliver that powerhouse kick to the Demon Monk and STILL land lightly on his feet with both of them well balanced enough to attack again if need be.

vs

And you can see in that second shot of Fang Duobing and Li Lianhua that Xiaobao is contorting his body SO HARD to make sure that Li Lianhua is stable enough to deliver that kick (you can see this better in the gif, but oh well XD). He doesn't let go until the kick is over and Li Lianhua has both feet on the ground.

So why put these two scenes with such a distinctive move so close together?

(This is getting long, so behind a cut we go...)

So first, these two so-similar-yet-so-different moves show exactly how different Shan Gudao and Fang Duobing are. This is a show that goes out of its way so many times to show that while blood relation may be important, it doesn't necessarily make you who you are. And that family you make for yourself is at least equally important.

And here we have two people, blood relations, in fact, who have both been so important to Li Lianhua in the course of his life. And one uses this move to attack, to knock off balance, to throw Li Lianhua away from him. The other uses this move like centrifugal force: to pull Li Lianhua closer, to balance them both, to stabilize him when he's flying in faster than he can easily control himself.

And that's so deeply encapsulating of Li Lianhua's relationships with both of them.

Xiaobao grounds Li Lianhua. It takes him a long time to grow into that role, but once he gets there, he's going to hold on with all his might. And I love this as a representation of that. It's Xiaobao saying: "My father didn't have your best interests at heart and he never did. I do, and I always will. Take that leap and I'll catch you every time."

But why on Earth did Li Lianhua choose to do this move with Fang Duobing in the first place? Especially after what just happened with Shan Gudao maybe ten minutes earlier? We've never seen Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing train together. Hell, until maybe 30 minutes before this, Fang Duobing didn't even know Li Lianhua knew any martial arts! So this is not a move they could have trained or developed together. Fang Duobing, on sheer instinct alone, saw what Li Lianhua was trying to do, adjusted his own stance out of FALLING BACKWARDS AT A SHARP ANGLE into being a counterbalance weight that could stabilize them both and maintain the momentum that Li Lianhua needed to deliver that kick. First of all, that was some RIDICULOUSLY FAST mental calculations on Fang Duobing's part. O_O (All that STEM training paying off, I guess? XD) Second of all, even if figured it out that fast, he still had to physically execute the maneuver! So, like... good on you Xiaobao. Hot damn. 😁

So they had no time or reason to train this move, so why on EARTH would Li Lianhua attempt it?

(And this is where I slide off the meta train and into headcanon a bit. Please indulge me. XD)

I wonder if this was a move that Li Lianhua used to perform with Shan Gudao the way he did with Fang Duobing. With Shan Gudao being so much larger than him, especially in the beginning, he'd have been easy to toss around. And with his whirling steps, a move like this would be a natural extension of the rest of his fancy footwork.

So maybe, like telling Li Lianhua about their shifu's death, using this move against him was yet another way to destroy a piece of the life they had together. To rip the rug right out from under Li Lianhua's feet. And MAYBE Li Lianhua using it so shortly thereafter with Shan Gudao's son, knowing Shan Gudao would have known that they'd never trained that move... would have been a way to take that piece back. Like saying: "You see this thing that was ours? You can't take it away from me because I've already given it to someone else. To your SON."

And I just love the thought of that. ^_^