#however she immediately offered a project

[crushpunky]

drew and actress!reader test how well they know each other

masterlist | actress!reader masterlist

this is based off the gq couples interviews. this one was a bit more difficult to write since there wasn't anything to go off of, but hopefully y'all enjoy it :)

Y/n sat in her chair, adjusting her hair to fall smoothly around her face with a calming, deep breath. Drew took his seat opposite her, smiling widely as a production assistant handed each of them a stack of cards. He wore an oversized knitted cardigan over a crisp white t-shirt paired with a pair of distressed jeans, his sharp features and messily styled hair tying the look together in a way that made y/n swoon.

“You ready?” Drew asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. With both of them preparing for the release of the newest season of Outer Banks as well as their respective upcoming projects, their agents suggested they do an interview together. Overjoyed at the offer, the two of them emphatically agreed to sit down with GQ for their Couples Quiz. It wasn’t the first time they had done interviews together, usually joined by the rest of the OBX cast, but this was the first time it had only been the two of them explicitly opening up and talking about their relationship.

“Of course,” Y/n returned his grin, crossing her legs as she glanced over towards the cameras. Since they went public with their relationship, they had never been especially secretive about it, talking about each other easily in passing as their partner or significant other. However, it was a bit nerve racking to be so open and talk so openly about the intricacies of their relationship.

“Alright, y/n you are clear to begin with the introduction…” one of the camera operators focused the lens on y/n, “now.”

“Hello, I am y/n y/ln and this is…” y/n gestured over to Drew, whose gaze still remained on her before he tore his eyes away and looked into the camera lens. 

“Drew Starkey.” Drew said quickly, causing y/n to laugh and a smirk to creep upon Drew’s lips.

“And today we will be taking GQ’s Couples Quiz.” Y/n finished before turning to Drew once more. With a dramatic flare, Drew shuffled his cards and cleared his throat.

“First up, how many siblings do I have?” Drew said with a quirk of his brow.

“Oh that one’s easy,” y/n said, wiping a faux bead of sweat off her forehead, “you are the oldest of four. You have two sisters and a brother.”

“That is true, that is true.” Drew grinned before tossing the card behind his chair.

“Alright, my turn,” y/n straightened in her chair, “what was my first job?”

“Why a barista of course,” Drew said, “and an excellent one at that. This girl makes a fucking killer iced latte—”

“Joseph!” Y/n reddened at his swearing, Drew immediately clamping a hand over his mouth as the two of them laughed.

“Sorry GQ,” Drew chuckled, “but it’s true. She makes a very good iced latte.”

“But yes, you are correct. My first job was in a coffee shop.” Y/n said, resting the cards back in her lap.

“Next,” Drew began, “what was our first date? Ooh that’s kind of a hard one.”

Y/n nodded to herself, thinking back towards the beginning of their relationship. It was by no means a traditional beginning, the two of them already living with each other between seasons of OBX when COVID hit. It had been only a few months into quarantine when they could no longer deny the feelings they had for each other, eventually leading them to finally start dating after what felt like lifetimes of pining over each other.

“Yeah, it is,” y/n chewed on her bottom lip in thought, “I mean we were already living with each other when we started dating, so I think we might’ve skipped that step.”

Drew chuckled, “yeah I think you’re right. But I think we’ve made up for our lost dates, you think?”

“Oh yeah, five years of living with this one I think we’ve made up for it.” Y/n smiled, thinking back to all the nights they’d spent together, whether sitting on the couch watching a movie, out at a fancy restaurant, or tangled in the sheets in their shared home. Continuing on, y/n looked at the next card.

“Drew if you don’t get this one we might have a problem,” y/n said, to which Drew’s eyes widened as he leaned in intently.

“What is my favorite Taylor Swift song?” Y/n peered over the card, a wide grin creeping on her cheeks as she watched Drew let out an exhale of relief.

“I definitely know this one: Getaway Car,” Drew said with a shrug. Y/n turned to the camera, flashing a smile and tossing the note card back. Drew did a fist pump before relaxing back into his seat.

“He knows me so well,” Y/n said. “What’s your favorite Taylor song, Drewseph?”

“Ooh, that’s a good question…” Drew rubbed his fingers along his jaw in contemplation. “I think I’m going to say Daylight because that was what we played at our wedding.”

Y/n rolled her eyes in faux annoyance at Drew’s overly sentimental but oh-so-very-Drew answer before letting out a giggle. Drew playfully rolled his eyes in return, a wide smile still plastered across his face.

“Alright, alright, who is my favorite character in Outer Banks?” Drew asked, tapping the queue cards against his chin as he waited for y/n to respond.

“I know they probably wanted this to be some cute answer and say me, but it’s really not.” Y/n said, causing the crew behind the cameras to giggle.

“Yeaaahhh it’s not.” Drew shook his head with a laugh only causing the crew’s giggles to intensify.

“It’s Barry, Nick Cirillo. The true love of his life.” Y/n said, using her finger to mime a tear falling down her cheek with an exaggerated frown.

“No, don’t say that.” Drew tossed the card at her with a shake of his head. “Yes, Barry is my favorite character, but the love of my life is most definitely sitting right here in front of you folks.”

“Aww, Starkey you sap.” Y/n said, blowing Drew a quick kiss before grabbing another question card.

“Alright, back to the questions,” y/n began. “When did we first meet?”

Drew’s face immediately lit up at the memory, “oh I remember it very clearly.”

“Do you now?” Y/n chuckled, cocking her head as she listened to Drew’s words.

“Yes, it was right after I had gotten a call back for Outer Banks,” Drew said. “They invited me in for a chemistry read and I just remember coming in and seeing this… just, absolutely beautiful girl sitting with the directors and my stomach dropped. Then she came over to me and introduced herself and I thought I was going to pass out. I was so nervous, but I tried my best to play it cool and… yeah. Here we are.”

“There is no way that is true!” Y/n teased, laughing at Drew’s exaggerated gestures as he told his story. She certainly remembered the day fondly, but she didn’t detect any of Drew’s nervousness… Maybe because she herself was so overcome with nerves the second she saw him walk through the door it didn’t even occur to her that someone who looked like that could possibly feel the same way about her.

“It is!” Drew said, raising his hands in surrender. “I thought I was totally going to bomb the audition but once the camera started rolling everything just clicked… and I’ve been totally obsessed ever since.”

Y/n felt her cheeks warm up, moving to cover her face with one of the question cards.

“Ok, here is the final question, baby,” Drew continued, a mischievous grin on his lips as he watched y/n’s flustered expression.

“Oh no!” Y/n said, smoothing her hair down and taking a deep breath to calm the flutters in her stomach. Despite being together for nearly five years, and even getting married, Drew still managed to always make her weak in the knees and remind her just why she loved him so much.

“Where is my favorite place on Earth?” Drew asked.

“Oh, I think I know this one,” y/n said with a smile. “Charleston, South Carolina.”

“Yep. Best place, best people… it’s truly our home.” Drew grinned, putting the card down and resting his chin in his hand as he stared at y/n lovingly. Catching his gaze, y/n stood up before walking over to him, the two of them embracing each other as the cameras continued to roll. Once they pulled apart, Drew rose to his feet, the two of them turning towards the camera.

“Thank you, GQ!” Y/n waved, Drew placing a kiss to the top of her head before waving along, the two of them smiling ear to ear and practically radiating with a love that continued to grow stronger every day.

[cringefailvox]

where would alastor fit into the staticbelle au, :0 ?

staticbelle au

OKAY IT REALLY DEPENDS BC!! we still don't know exactly why alastor is at the hotel! it could be because he's there on orders from someone else, or he's there to entertain himself, or to manipulate charlie for reasons unknown, or something else entirely—and the reason will really impact whether or not he'd choose to try and get involved with charlie if she was already supported by vox. a lot of his sway over the hotel comes from the fact that it was crumbling into disrepair when he arrived and he fairy godmother'd it into a somewhat functional project, therefore winning him a ton of emotional brownie points with charlie, but he wouldn't have that opportunity at all here because i really don't think there's anything he could offer charlie that vox isn't already providing (or wouldn't be willing to START providing if it meant spiting alastor).

however. presuming instead that alastor is not at the hotel to protect or look after charlie, or help her project succeed (since these would already be satisfied by vox), it'd be fascinating if instead alastor comes back after seven years and immediately antagonizes vox into losing his shit and making charlie go "ooookay! i'm gonna have to put my therapy techniques in action because vox is clearly not over his situationship." and that's how her and alastor meet. i think she knows about the alastor thing but hadn't really seen what the problem was before he came back; everyone in hell has enemies after all, and a little healthy rivalry never hurt anyone, but seeing it in action is totally different. after the third time vox plunges the city into darkness because alastor called him an insecure freak on air she's like umm. we might need to talk about this.

she's super worried about vox because she's never seen him this upset about anything before. vox is relapsing hard into his paranoid-obsessive shit that he'd worked on really hard in the seven years alastor has been away, and now it's all rushing back and threatening to ruin everything he's built—but also, his sorta girlfriend princess independent contractor person (???) is now insisting he try to "make amends" and "practice healthy emotional regulation" and "please stop brooding over your pit of sharks with a bottle of tequila i'm really nervous about you falling in and electrocuting yourself even though i know you're waterproof, come watch a movie with me instead?" and he can't decide whether he resents it or appreciates it (both. it's both).

maybe having charlie around to redirect him and encourage healthier outlets for his anger, unlike how val and vel normally handle his radio demon bullshit, DOES actually get him to calm down a little bit. maybe even enough to reluctantly agree to supervised counseling sessions with alastor, because fucking dammit charlie has gone behind his back to talk to al about repairing their broken friendship and he was so excited, vox, you should've seen him, he practically insisted on having me arrange a meeting, i think he really regrets how things ended between you two and wants to do better, please just give it a chance?? cue the worst couple's counseling session in the universe with vox stiff as a board and shaking with repressed rage in his seat while alastor sips tea demurely across from him and asks oh-so-politely how him and charlie met, and isn't this such a charming little affair, and ooh, redemption? how interesting! charlie is eating this the fuck up, overjoyed at the thought of meeting TWO overlords interested in her plan while vox can't do anything about it but seethe and fantasize about shooting alastor in the face when charlie's back is turned.

this actually sort of turns into vox feeling protective over charlie completely without meaning to, because he knows alastor isn't being genuine, he knows he has ill intentions, and vox has invested too much time and energy and honest commitment into both charlie and her dreams to let fucking alastor destroy it all by taking advantage of her desperate need for validation. only vox gets to capitalize on her daddy issues, dammit. but there's real affection there too, reluctant and uncomfortable as he is with its existence, and it's making it extremely difficult for him to handle alastor's Everything without betraying the fact that he's become emotionally compromised and isn't just looking out for his business interests.

charlie, meanwhile, thinks she's going to get to kill two birds with one stone here: she can help vox get over / assuage a broken relationship that's clearly causing him a lot of distress, and she can rope another influential overlord into endorsing her project, which prods the door open that much further for her to enact real change in hell. but alastor isn't the same kind of monster as vox, and she might be a little in over her head this time—because she just can't stop herself from having faith in people's better natures, even when every indication is pointing the other way. it's a kind of earnest and willful naivete that's like blood in the water to people like alastor and vox. at least she knows—she hopes—vox would hesitate now. she can't really say the same for al. either way, she's going to keep trying, and it's really a race between charlie's ability to infect people with soft mushy friendship emotions by double-bluffing their manipulative plots and alastor's ability to pry people open like clamshells and inflict horrifyingly intimate betrayals on them.

(hint: charlie always wins the long-game. there's only so many times you can sarcastically banter about your feelings over scones with your archrival and your girlfriend supervising before you start actually making breakthroughs and unwillingly understanding each other. charlie has weaponized "ironically committing to the bit too hard" in her favor and it works everyyy time)

[tchaikovskym]

My advisor wants me to go work for them as a lab assistant, but the salary is two times lower than my current one. I want to cry.

[jobean12-blog]

This Is Love

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader

Word Count: 918

Summary: You have a late day at work and Bucky wants to walk you home.

Author's Note: This is just some softness because why not! Thank you so much for reading! Much love always! ❤️❤️❤️Divider by the lovely @firefly-graphics thank you Daisy! 🥰

Warnings: soft sweetness and fluff, maybe our reader feeling a little jealous and possessive hehe

The evening breeze ruffles the bottom of your dress, and the fabric tickles the back of your thighs as the scent of hot dogs and car exhaust drifts from the street.

You glance at the curb. “Where’s your bike?”

“Home,” Bucky answers simply as he takes your hand in his. “Thought I could walk you back to the apartment. You know…the old-fashioned way.”

He doesn’t say this to earn any reaction from you, so he misses the way your eyes soften.

You’ve both had late days. You were finishing things up at the office and he was working with Sam at the VA. Now, however, it’s time to go home and he insisted on meeting you so you could make the trip together.

The busiest part of the day has come and gone but you’re still lucky to find seats together on the crowded train. You watch your reflection in the window opposite you and even in the grimy glass and beneath the harsh, often flickering fluorescent lights, it’s impossible to miss how beautiful he is.

He’s loosened his tie, unbuttoning the top of his dress shirt to offer up a triangle of smooth, tan skin. The open shirt frames his long neck, the tempting hint of collarbone peeking out just enough to make you wonder why you aren’t kissing it right now.

As if sensing your gaze, his eyes shift from the passing blur of the city and meet yours in the glass. Your reflections rock with the movement of the train, and he watches you too, a small, knowing smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth.

More passengers board at the next stop and he moves, giving his seat to an elderly lady with a heavy bag in each hand. She showers him with sweet praise before sitting and smiling at you.

Bucky takes the spot in front of you, his right arm raised to grip the handrail suspended from the ceiling.

You now have an exceptional view of his torso and the front of his dress pants.

Yummy.

The sound of laughter draws your attention, and you see a group of girls seated only a few rows away. They sit with their heads pressed together and if their hushed giggles and wide-eyed stares are any indication, you know exactly what they’re looking at. Or rather, whom.

You look up to find Bucky looking down at the older woman, listening and oblivious to the leering glances being cast in his direction.

You can’t blame the girls. If you saw Bucky on the train you’d do whatever you could to get a better look. It makes you think back to the first time you met and how you were immediately drawn to him.

He laughs at something the older woman says, and you watch his blue eyes crinkle at the corners and the dark strands of his hair fall in front of his forehead. He looks boyish and gorgeous and you immediately glance over like the jealous wife you are and sure enough, every head in that group of girls is turned, eyes wide, mouths wider, swooning.

And even though you haven’t spoken a word, you begin to wonder if every thought you have is somehow projected onto a screen above your head. Because it’s this moment he chooses to glance down at you, eyes soft and warm as he reaches to brush his metal thumb along your bottom lip.

You turn into his hand and press your mouth to his palm.

He’s beaming when the train comes to a stop and takes your hand as you stand and pulls you out the door, sliding his arm around your waist as soon as you’re on the platform.

“I like this,” he says quietly, tucking you into his side.

You laugh. “Like what?”

“Walking you home.”

He kisses you sweetly in the middle of the street, causing several people to part and move around you, their muttered grumbles going completely unnoticed. The kiss is so soft, so earnest that your chest swells painfully and you wrap your arms around his neck to hold him to you.

The group of girls walk by and in the background you hear their wistful sighs and comments.

“She’s so lucky,” one of the girls says.

You pull away from Bucky and look their way, grabbing hold of his suit jacket possessively.

“Did you hear that?” you mutter.

“Hear what doll?” he asks, his eyes on you, having never left.

“Those girls have been swooning over you since we were on the train.”

“What girls?” Bucky asks, his full attention still on you.

You finally drag your eyes away from the retreating group to meet his.

“I wasn’t done kissing you doll face,” he says with the corner of his mouth turned up and his eyes sparkling.

His palm frames your cheek, and he pulls you closer, uncaring that you’re still standing in the middle of the busy city street.

You grab his wrist and lean into his touch.

“Bucky.”

The admonishment is totally empty, and he knows it, bumping your nose with his before the soft press of his lips is all you feel.

“You can’t tell me you didn’t notice them,” you whisper, eyes closed, and face pressed to his.

“Look at me,” he murmurs.

Your eyes open.

“I wish you could feel what I feel when I look at you doll,” he whispers against your lips. “Then maybe, just maybe you’d understand why I can’t look at anyone else.”

[vxlkirayaxo]

Stuck like glue

Tags/ warnings: clingy Scara, attachment, kissing, slightly suggestive (?) violence, yandere-ish (just Scara beating someone up for [name])

Character: Scara

When your mothers were young, they were best friends and they made a vow to make you two best friends,"pass down our legacy" they said

Well...you two liked each other too much, you guys were inseparable.

All though poor Scara was more attached to you than you were to him. For scara, you were his only friend but for you you had a lot of friends.

While you two were in preschool he'd follow you around while he'd hold your hand. A grumpy expression on his face as he held his plushie and watched you socialize like a little butterfly.

"His little butterfly." his mother would say when she picked him up from preschool.

...that was another problem, when he went home before you did. He'd cry and scream, throwing a tantrum until his mother would call to see if she could pick you up too and just drop you off on the way home. Each time he would refuse to let go of your hand in the car which just earned a cute smile and giggle from you.

One day in grade school a rude boy put gum in your hair, that didn't end well...he beat the kid up until the kid couldn't walk. Not without you sitting there in the same room with your eyes closed and your ears covered.

The more you started to get bullied the more he became violent, and soon in highschool he became a 'delinquent'. But you didn't leave him during his violent times. When he snuck out of his house, his poor mother thought he was sneaking out to go do drugs and drinking little did she know he was sitting on the floor in front of your bed while you put accessories in his hair and stickers on his face. He didn't mind though, it was you of course.

It got to the point that your mother sat him down and asked him "do you like [name]?" That made him realize that he did, in fact, have feelings for you.

After graduation he offered for you two to move into the same apartment together after all, he really couldn't go more than ten hours without seeing your face.

Pretty soon his feelings got so bad he couldn't sleep without cuddling you. Holding your waist, face buried in your neck as you peacefully slept not noticing the blush on his face and how his breath grew a bit heavier when he noticed how perfectly your bodies fit together.

One day he finally had the courage, he handed you flowers and asked.

"Please be my lover.." he mumbled his gaze avoiding yours as blush stained his cheeks and ears.

You giggled before taking the flowers, a smile on your lips you chimed

"I thought we've been dating since junior high." You hugged him and he felt like he immediately burst into flames from how much he was blushing.

It was true that he had asked to be your partner for a project but you thought he meant actual partner.

"Do you want a kiss?" You looked down at him before he nodded and closed his eyes waiting for the kiss, this was going to be his first one!

You gave him a kiss on the lips before giggling out of embarrassment. He, however felt like he was in heaven.

"Again?" He asked his eyes only partially open.

Throws you this and leaves to go finish another project 🏃🏻‍♀️‍➡️

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

Nobody asked me for my opinion on the controversy that dropped today when the Sonic Movie cast pay rate was revealed, which is fair ig since I try to stay positive on this blog. But in case you're wondering, yeah as a certified AFAB™ I'm pissed, but not really specifically at the Sonic crew. Actor pay rates are usually negotiated between agents and the production companies so just like all the other problems with the Sonic movies, this is most likely an issue with Paramount and their patented dumbfuckery. Disclaimer that obviously it could very well be a Sonic crew issue as well, obviously I don't know the inner workings of the entire film production.

Also, if you're mad about this: please be mad about the pay gap that has been going on as long as Hollywood has been alive. This isn't a problem unique to the SCU. I know the phrase "pay gap" is thrown around a whole lot but do you guys actually know how big an issue it is?

Recent percentages are that male and female actors have "a wage difference of about 25 percent," with an estimated difference of $1-2million between star-power men and star-power women.[x][x] Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone said she made $500k to Michael Douglas's $14mil– and when she was asked to be lead in a film being made in ~2022, the lead male, who was "new", was going to be paid $8-9mil, with her salary still at $500k. Last December, Biggest Monopoly In The World Disney was sued by 9,000 women over their pay gap.

This article is from 2019 but brings up some big fucking pay gaps between leads– for instance, Gillian Anderson was offered half of what David Duchovny was for the X-Files reboot as one of the two main fucking characters, Amanda Seyfried has disclosed she made 10% of what her male co-star made on an undisclosed film, Natalie Portman made 1/3 of the salary of Ashton Kutcher in No Strings Attached, and Ellen Pompeo, the titular character of Grey's Anatomy, was paid less than the actor playing her love interest, Patrick Dempsey. In fact, Dempsey was being paid almost double what she was.

However, BIG issue with the 2019 article: it only focuses on what White actors are being paid. Research shows that Black actresses make 57 cents to every dollar white actors make on a good day. Viola Davis, one of the most popular and talented actresses of our generation, has said that black women "get probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets. And I'm number one on the call sheet." Octavia Spencer had to collaborate with Jessica Chastain to make sure they both got paid the same amount of money on a film they both worked on, and revealed that her new salary increased 500% afterwards.

At the end of last year, while promo-ing The Color Purple, Taraji P. Henson broke into tears while talking about how little she's being paid when compared to her white and male contemporaries. And when she talked about the gap, I find it so fucking frustrating that the general audience response was to immediately blame the only Black female producer on the film. I have a million gripes with Oprah Winfrey but TCP cast has said that she herself managed to fix a lot of the problems on set and was nothing but supportive to them. Oh, and there were a lot of problems on set, including a lack of food and dressing space for the main actors. And this is all from celebrity women. Just think about how Hollywood is treating women who don't have the star power to speak up.

Of course this isn't even a problem solo to Hollywood, let alone Paramount, let alone just one movie. And honestly it was probably really sad that when I saw the pay rate for the Sonic 3 cast, I wasn't even surprised, because I've seen worse on bigger projects.

[darcylindbergh]

I've talked a lot about why you should vote AGAINST Trump. No fucking shit, right? But I want to vote FOR something, too.

Kamala Harris hasn't had time yet to put together her platform documents, though no doubt we'll see those in the coming days. But this is a good analysis of where she and Joe Biden stand - and Kamala is more progressive on every front.

Abortion rights: Joe would've restored Roe, but Kamala would expand it to prevent states from limiting access. The pre-clearance measure discussed here is a non-starter but I'd expect Kamala to be looking at how to frame the issue for another try.

Israel and Gaza: it's true that Kamala hasn't broken with Joe publicly about Gaza. However, the article goes on:

Harris hasn’t exactly broken with Biden over the issue. But she has expressed more public sympathy than Biden has over the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died during Israel’s counterattack. In March, she was one of the earliest high-profile leaders in the administration to call for an immediate temporary cease-fire in March. She also delivered the sharpest rebuke against Israel’s handling of aid flows into Gaza and described the conflict as a “humanitarian catastrophe” for innocent civilians. And privately, she has told Biden and other top officials that the administration needed to take a stronger stance against Netanyahu and focus on a long-term peace to the decades-long conflict, people familiar with her remarks have previously told POLITICO.

Kamala has also declined to preside over the upcoming session of Congress that Netanyahu is speaking at, on invitation by Republicans. She wasn't scheduled to before this, but I think declining now is a clear indicator that her foreign policy will not include the broad support we saw from Joe.

Climte Change: Honestly, the Build Back Better bill was so fucking substantial and incredible I think Kamala would be hard-pressed to do much more. I think Kamala needs to have a solid response ready to the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron, which is the biggest threat to the EPA and other agencies in our lifetimes. (Trump, by the way, would abolish the EPA and the vast majority of environmental protections.)

Student debt relief: She was more progressive earlier, and I expect we'll see many of Joe's relief packages continue expanding.

Similarly:

Free college: Kamala's in full support. I understand Joe's position that students from wealthy families should pay their own way, but I also know from experience that students from wealthy family not immune to financial abuse by controlling parents.

Trade: this is actually a great one to know, because Kamala's hesitance on these trade agreements are related to a) environmental concerns, and b) outsourcing American jobs. Republicans love to lose their shit over outsourcing American jobs. Here's more significance in the trade sphere:

This is going to be a HUGE talking point for your conservative-leaning relatives. Business leaders do not want Trump in office, because the agenda laid out in Project 2025 will make it harder for them to do business - it will make it harder for them to attract global talent, costlier to import and export, and stunt economic growth. Do you know that "undecided" voter who votes red for "fiscal responsibility?" This your talking point. Kamala's platform spends, but in such a way that it will stimulate economic growth and solidify the US as a business leader worldwide.

Artificial Intelligence: I'll let Kamala speak for herself.

“History has shown, in the absence of regulation and strong government oversight, some technology companies choose to prioritize profit over the wellbeing of their customers, the safety of our communities, and the stability of our democracies,” Harris said during her visit to the U.K. for November’s AI Safety Summit.  Last July, during the early days of the White House’s mobilization on AI policy, Harris led a meeting among civil rights, labor and consumer protection groups where she rejected the “false choice” between promoting innovation and protecting the public.

The article also talks about data privacy, where Kamala and Joe are very similar, and animal welfare. Historically, Kamala defended animal welfare protections in CA, but remember that as Attorney General, Kamala's job was to defend the law no matter what her personal feelings were. Biden made some strides here, but many will agree not enough - I think this is a place where Kamala has to tread very carefully because progressives are in favor of more stringent animal welfare protections, but agricultural and rural voters are already a demographic inclined to view progressive agendas negatively, feeling forgotten, misunderstood, and passed over in favor of large cities. It's definitely a weakness for the Dems so I wouldn't expect to hear much about animal welfare as a voting issue.

IN SUM

I'm very happy to vote FOR Kamala, not just against Trump. I think she stands to take stronger action on abortion, stronger action on Israel and Gaza, stronger action on college and student debt relief. I think she'll continue work inherited on environmental protections and infrastructure. I think she will do more to protect LGBTQ+ individuals and unions, as well as standing strong on disability reform and criminal justice reform (yes, I know she was a prosecutor, and I also know that she worked on several important CJ reforms during her time as AG - here's an article about her progressive record as DA).

Remember, there's no such thing as a protest vote. The only people who benefit by third-party voting or choosing not to vote are the far-right.

[papercorgiworld]

Revenge of a simp

Pick your guy: Mattheo Riddle or Theodore Nott

You have been in love with him since forever, slowly you make your way into his life. When he breaks your heart you and Cedric Diggory team up to get him jealous.

So happy to have finally finished this. I really hope it’s good. Not too sure about the title though… Definitely let me know if there are any mistakes.

Warning: save to read until the smut warning, or if you want you can just skip ahead to the smut…

I. You fell first

You liked him and it was obvious. Then again that was kind of the point. After a year of crushing on the guy, it was time to slowly wiggle your way in his life and so far so good.

You talked regularly, mostly before or after class, having small discussions about the material or brainstorm on a project. During the weekends you heard and saw less of him, because he was usually with his small circle of friends. However, most recently you had started to win over Pansy which meant that you tagged along sometimes when they visited Hogsmeade, but even then he spent most of his time talking with his friends. But the most important thing was that you were getting closer to him, you were going to conquer your crush. And today was a magical day.

A small paper butterfly landed on your desk and you frowned, opening it very carefully, wary of any possible pranks. You read it and immediately felt your cheeks heat up. You tried to calm and cool yourself down with a deep breath, before turning around to him and nodding.

Meet me after quidditch training?

Maybe? Please?

M.R.

You nervously waited for Mattheo to finish showering and stared around the quidditch stadium, quietly daydreaming. Suddenly you feel a hand on the small of your back and quickly turn around. “Ready to go?” You smile, but look a bit puzzled. “Go where?” He gestures at the books in his hands. “The library, I really need your help with my history assignment.” You stare at the books and nod. This sure wasn’t the romantic date you were hoping for, but you still get to spend some time with him.

Spending time with Mattheo in the library wasn’t disappointing at all. He settled close to you and gave you all his attention. “I’m so happy to have you here with me. It makes so much more sense now that I understand the assignment properly. I must’ve been distracted when Binns explained it.” You laugh as he eagerly writes some stuff down. “Always happy to help. I could give you my notes. I write down a lot, probably too much, but I like some background information on the events, makes it easier to remember.” He stares at you and smiles. You return his smile awkwardly, tilting your head a bit to ask: why are you staring?. He shakes his head and lets out a soft chuckle. “Sure, your notes will definitely be helpful.”

“Hey, Matt, you joining us up?” Pansy asks as she points her finger up, which refers to the astronomy tower. Mattheo nods and offers you a sweet smile. “Thank you so much for your help.” You try to hide your disappointment and force a smile. As he scrabbles his books and papers together Pansy looks at you. “Are you going to tomorrow's party?” You stay quiet for a moment, you hadn’t really thought about it. “You should. If you want, we can meet beforehand.” You look at her like you’ve fallen in love with her. “Yeah, that would be nice.” She nods.

“What was that about?” You hear Mattheo’s harsh whisper as they walk away. “I could ask you the same?” Pansy whispers back and you can’t help but stay put a moment to think it over.

Meet me after training?

Please?

T.

You were eager and got there early, too early. He had only just landed when you arrived at the quidditch pitch. “You’re a bit early.” He chuckles as walks up to you all sweaty and panting. “I know, but I can just sit in the stands as you shower.” You feel yourself get flustered as he carefully watches you. “The weather is nice, so that’s why I’m early.” You try to sound as casual and convincing as possible, but his soft chuckle is proof of how nervous you sound. “I’ll be quick.” He just says and joins his friends in the direction of the baracs. You sigh, hating how much of a fool you can be when you’re around Theodore. Merlin have mercy, I’m so down for this guy.

Theo watches your hands fiddle as you stare at the clouds. “Hey dreamy, you ready to help me with my potions project?” You jump a little as his voice startles you. You nod. It wasn’t the first time you had studied together, but you were confused that he asked you for help since he was a star student despite his lack of effort. Even more absurd was that he apparently needed your help with potions. You get up and walk towards him. “Potions? Why would you need my help with potions?” You ask with your eyebrows knit together. “I mean you’re like a potions genius.” Theodore laughs at your dramatics, obviously not that good with compliments. “I want some extra credit with Sluggy so I’m writing an essay on Mandrake Restorative Draught. And then I remembered that you wrote an essay on Mandrakes so I thought you might be able to help.” Your eyes get all shiny, you’re happily surprised that he remembered.

While you search for the best books on Mandrakes Theo follows you around questioning you about all things Mandrake. When you try but fail to reach one of the books on the top shelf he is eager to help, but you are surprised by how close he comes, locking your figure between his body and the books. “This one?” He asks with his eyes on yours, referring to the book and you nod, hating the feeling of your face heating up. You feel saved when Pansy shows up. “Theo, you joining us up?” Pansy asks as she points her finger up, which refers to the astronomy tower. “Of course, be there in a minute.” Theodore answers, expecting Pansy to leave. However she stays and smirks. “(Y/n) wanna meet up before the party tomorrow? We can get changed together, it’ll be fun.” You frown for a moment. “I wasn’t planning on going, but I would love to.” Pansy smirks. “Good.” You don’t notice Theodore’s annoyed expression at Pansy and just watch him pass you. “See you later.” Is all he says and you hear Pansy snicker as Theodore growls something under his breath.

II. The kiss

Getting ready with Pansy was a blast. She made all your worries disappear and gave you a massive confidence boost. You stare yourself down in the mirror, checking your outfit and make up, when Pansy pops up next to you in the mirror and kisses you on the cheek. “You look fine, babe, stop stressing about. And lets! Get! Some! Guys!” You laugh wondering if she was really this hyped or she took a shot of something.

She holds your hand as she guides you through the dancing drunks to first get drinks, then dance with some of her friends and finally to the corner where the guys are drinking. When you arrive you notice they’re all focused around Theodore and George who are playing some sort of card game. “I know how to play cards Fred!” George complains as Fred keeps on muttering. You frown, but quickly notice a few galleons on the table. Oh now it makes sense. The next moment Fred and George are bickering and the Slytherins are celebrating. You laugh at their drunk enthusiasm, but suddenly all the laughter seems to go quiet as you lock eyes with him.

Mattheo

When your eyes meet a genuine smile spreads on his face, before he suppresses it and forces his lips into a line. The sparkle in his eyes remains and the corners of his mouth still tug at a smile as he takes a few steps towards you. You look up at him. “Hey, there. Lucky night?” You ask pointing to the table with scattered cards on. His arm snakes around you and he pulls you close. “You have no idea.” You can smell the alcohol, but aren’t bothered by it as you’re too busy enjoying being in his arms and pressed up against his chest. "Let's dance.” He doesn’t wait for an answer and moves you a little further from his friend group to somewhere where there’s enough space to spin you around. You laugh at how playful and drunk he is. Neither of you are bothered by the looks you’re getting.

It was like lightning hit you. He spins you around and immediately pulls you back into him, a little rougher than before. You stumble a bit, but he holds you tightly against him, safe, where you should be. You have no idea what goes through his mind as he looks at you with intense eyes, but it was all you in his head. With one arm around you, his free hand reaches for your face and holds you as he kisses you like no one was in the room. You hesitate for a moment before kissing back and you’re pretty sure you hear Theo and Enzo cheer.

When you break the kiss in need of air, Mattheo slings his arm around your neck and pulls you close to give you a kiss on the cheek. You’re convinced you’re blushing like crazy at this moment, but with Mattheo’s arm around you, you feel safe. All too soon Mattheo is pulled away by his friends to join in some ridiculous drinking game.

When it gets late, or rather early, you and Pansy say your goodbyes and you get one last sloppy kiss from Mattheo, but he’s quick to turn back to drinking. You can’t help but wonder if that kiss actually meant anything.

Theodore

Theo walks over to you grinning and you meet his glinstering eyes. “Remind me to never play games with you.” I say, referring to his ice cold victory and he just smugly raises his eyebrows. His arms reach around you pulling you close to him and his lips move to your ear. “Let's join the crowd and dance.” He pulls away a little to see your expression and you can smell a combination of cigarettes and firewhiskey, but the most intoxicating thing about him are his eyes, which seem to drown in yours. You give a small nod in agreement and he walks you to the center of the room. He never lets go of you and now that you’re surrounded by dancing people he pulls you even closer. You can barely wrap your mind around what’s happening, so you decide to let yourself be guided by Theo’s warmth.

You don’t hide your gaze and just adore Theodore as he sings along with the music in a playful way while his intense eyes never leave yours. You should’ve seen it coming, but you didn't, it came out of nowhere. One moment he was resting his head against yours and the next his lips were roughly moving over yours and biting at your soft lips. It was a drunk kiss, but it felt so passionate that all doubt left your body and you kissed back with the same intensity and desire. When the kiss finally breaks Theodore pulls you close, squeezing you a little too hard, but you weren’t going to complain.

When he lets go of you, the first thing you notice is how you had forgotten about all the people around you, but they had seen it all. Eyes of jealousy and eyes of shock were all around you. With his arm still around you, he guides you back to Pansy and his friends. With a butsqueeze he says his goodbye to you and joins his friends in another game. You’re left baffled at what just happened and join Pansy on the couch. When you announce you’re leaving all you get is a cheeky wink which has you questioning if the kiss meant anything at all.

III. The heartbreak

The next morning you quickly figured out how this was gonna go. All of Hogwarts was talking about your kiss, except for him. As much as it meant to you, you were forced to downplay it. Luna spent her entire day checking on you, worried you would break at the smallest inconvenience. “Drunk people kiss at parties.” You told Ginny. “It probably meant nothing and that’s cool.” You tried to sound as nonchalant as possible but failed miserably.

However, as bad as it sounded when you were forced to say it, it was worse to hear him say it. You spotted him a little further down the hallway.

“I was drunk and she was just there.” I was… convenient?

”She’s been simping since forever, it was just an easy play.” Simping? Easy play?

You turn around, heartbroken. You had a crush on the biggest ass ever.

However, you miss a vital part of the conversation.

Mattheo

Pansy rolls her eyes. “Sure, Matt. You’re definitely not falling for her at all.” She turns on her heels annoyed with his pathetic tough act. Mattheo frowns and turns to Theodore and Enzo. “I don’t have a thing for (y/n).” Lorenzo can’t hide his smile and Theo is grinning at his pack of cigarettes. When Theodore meets Mattheo’s annoyed eyes his face turns a bit more serious. “If you want us to believe that you’re gonna have to stop the staring.” Enzo nods and adds: “And you’ll have to stop asking her for help with assignments we know you’ve already finished.” Mattheo clenches his jaw and snatches Theo’s cigarettes, before pushing them aside and walking away. “Whatever.” He mutters and Theo and Enzo can’t help but grin at their friend in denial.

Theodore

“Yeah, she’s a simp, but you like it.” Mattheo sings the last bit with humor and Theodore rolls his eyes. “It’s pathetic.” Theo argues with annoyance in his voice, but Mattheo just grins. “Isn’t that how we like our girls?” This makes Theodore’s eyes go a little darker, whether the statement was true or not Theo didn’t like Mattheo’s outspokenness about it and reaches for his cigarettes. “Last night’s kiss clearly meant something.” Blaise’s serious voice makes Theo roll his eyes again. It was conversations like these that made him smoke as much as he did. “No. It didn’t.” Draco’s grinning gets even worse and his tongue pokes the inside of his cheek. “Then explain why you need her to help you with potions? Were you out of legitimate excuses to spend time with her?” Mattheo snickers. “Yeah, and what’s up with the staring?” Theodore pulls away his hand holding his pack of cigarettes so Mattheo fails to snatch it. “I don’t stare.” Theo’s voice warns them to stop teasing. When he walks away Blaise raises his eyebrows and Theodore growls when he hears his friends fall into a fit of laughter.

IV. The masterplan

Clearly upset you make your way to your common room intending on hiding in your dorm for the rest of the day. You try to keep yourself from crying as you speed walk through the hallways. You keep your head down to avoid making eye contact, but suddenly you’re forced to look up as some stumbles into you. Cedric Diggory. Walking backwards out of a classroom fully engaged in a conversation and laughing he had walked into you. “Oh by Helga, I’m so sorry.” He immediately apologizes and reaches for your arms to keep you steady as you take a few steps back. When he realizes it’s you, a happy smile tugs on his lips. Even though he was older, Cedric and you had been good friends since first year. You were constantly lost, but leave it to the handsome and sweet hufflepuff to help out first years. You try to force a smile in return, but it turns into something awful and Cedric cheerfulness ebbs away as worry makes his brows knit together.

“Dudes, I’ll meet up with you later.” He tells his friends and swings his arm around your shoulder. “Talk to me, (little puff/ dearest raven/ sweet slytherin/ brave lion).” You try to push him away. “Uhm nothing, I’m just on my way to my dorm. A headache, you know.” You make up the lie on the spot and point to your head, but Cedric isn’t having any of it and pulls you closer. “Sure, but who’s the cause of your headache? Snape? That annoying prefect we talked about last time?” You don’t know how, but he manages to make you laugh. You remember how you’ve always confided in him and not once had he broken your trust. So when you’re in an empty hallway you decide to fess up about your crush, the kiss and what you had heard him say.

Cedric stares at you and you can’t figure out what exactly he’s thinking until he finally speaks up. “I’m not one to throw punches, but excuse me for a moment.” He says and turns around, but you grab his arm and pull him back. “No. It won’t do any good. Plus you’ll get hurt, I don’t want that.” He huffs. “I could take him.” You try to hide your smile as he flexes his arms. “Okay, maybe not a fight, but he has to pay in some way. I mean does he not realize what an amazing person he’s missing out on.” Your eyes glinster as you watch him. Yeah, why couldn’t that idiot see me?! Suddenly something in you clicks and you look Cedric up and down, before pursing your lips with mischief in your eyes. The hufflepuff in front of you frowns as he sees trouble. “You want to help me make him realize he’s an idiot.” Cedric nods, slightly wary of what you’re planning. “Want to be my fake boyfriend?” A cheeky smile tugs on his lips. “I thought you would never ask.” He jokes, but he quickly turns serious. “He is so going to regret taking you for granted.”

V. He fell harder

The plan was simple: hold hands, snuggle, spend a ridiculous amount of time together and simply act like Cedric was the only guy at Hogwarts. Meanwhile Cedric was being a perfect fake boyfriend, he walked you to your classes and held your books. You spent every meal together, sitting uncomfortably close to each other. When no one was around you would spend your time laughing at your own behavior.

But as much fun as you were having pretending to be over your crush, he was far from having a good time. An intense feeling of jealousy settled in his stomach and made his heart ache in a way that turned his eyes lifeless.

Mattheo

Theodore gave Mattheo a soft elbow so he would stop staring at the Hufflepuff table, but he didn’t budge. Mattheo was too busy hurting himself by watching Cedric’s arm hang over your shoulder. When Theodore again shoves his elbow in Mattheo’s direction he looks at Theo with a troubled look. “That’s toxic behavior right. It’s like he owns her or something.” Pansy immediately snickers at Mattheo’s words, making him turn towards her with a scowl on his face. “If you were truly a good friend you would do something about it.” Pansy raises eyebrows at Mattheo's argument. “I love it when karma’s a bitch.” Pansy says looking away from Mattheo with a content smile, not getting involved with his jealous act.

Mattheo ignores Pansy, not ready to admit that maybe he was in the wrong by assuming you would wait for him forever. He looks back over to you and instantly regrets it as he now has to watch Cedric whisper something in your ear that makes you laugh so beautifully that Mattheo feels his heart being ripped from his chest. “Stop looking.” Blaise says when he sees Mattheo’s face fill with pain. “I don’t get girls. Two days ago she was still simping over me like a lost puppy and now it’s Cedric.” No one really wants to respond to Mattheo’s statement, since how Mattheo had treated you wasn’t fair but at the same time they knew he just needed a little more time to come to terms with his feelings. Enzo turns around to look at you and Cedric. “Honestly, it’s not that surprising, they’ve been hanging out since first year. Guess he just finally made a move.” Theodore stares at Enzo for being this blunt about the situation. Mattheo looks at Lorenzo with an unreadable expression, before looking at his plate. “Good for him.” He eventually mutters. After two more bites he gets up and leaves the great hall, you watch him from your cozy spot next to Cedric and you can’t help but miss Mattheo despite how much he had hurt you.

Theodore

He entered the great hall and immediately his eyes rolled at the sight of you next to Cedric. He joins his friends at the slytherin table without taking his eyes off of you. “That’s just inappropriate. She’s basically on top of him.” Enzo turns like the obvious person he is and looks back at Theo, grinning like an idiot while Theo is far from pleased. “They look cute together.” Mattheo’s wide eyes shoot up at Enzo, before he looks at his heartbroken friend. “Yeah. Sure.” Theodore mumbles and finally looks away. “There’s other girls, mate.” Mattheo says before patting Theo on the back. This for some reason hurts even more, Theodore hates the idea of moving on from you. “I don’t get it. Why is she suddenly into him? It makes no sense. She was into me. I mean it was obvious, right?” Enzo raises his eyebrows at Theo’s agitated voice, but before anyone can say anything he continues. “Like, why would she go for that?” His eyes move back to Cedric whispering something, apparently hilarious, into your ear making you giggle.

Theodore grits his teeth. You were so pretty with that slight blush on your face. He used to get to see that every time he talked to you and he loved it. He loved you and now that he had finally realized that you were in some other guy's arms. Pansy’s snickering pulls Theodore away from you, but he avoids her and looks straight back at his plate. “Did you seriously expect her to wait for you forever? Gods, you men are so simple.” Blaise turns to Pansy. “Can you be any more insensitive?” Pansy shrugs. “Like he was when he let her run after him for almost a year.” Suddenly there’s a loud clattering noise as Theodore throws his fork onto his plate and gets up. All the guys judge Pansy, but she couldn’t care less.

With Cedric’s arm around your shoulder, you watch Theodore speed walk out of the great hall. You can’t help but chew your lip wondering if you’re on his mind at all.

VI. You played the game too well

The week went by and you hadn’t talked to him once. Only one or two stolen glances. However, you expected everything to change at tonight’s party.

“Definitely jealous.” Cedric says as you meet his eyes in the mirror. “Really?” You ask, unable to hide your childlike joy. “Yeah, trust me. The staring is so obvious. It’s almost embarrassing.” You chew your lip at the idea that your crush is actually interested in you. “Which is kinda why I think you should talk to him.” Your eyebrows knit together at the Hufflepuff’s words. “Why? He accused me of simping. He should apologize to me.” You turn around to face your fake boyfriend who sat on your bed smiling. “Yeah and I think he should, but I fear you might be expecting too much of a slytherin with issues.” You look at him a little confused and he sighs. “Look (y/n), you’re clearly still into the guy which I don’t think is your best move, but I won’t judge….” You frown. “That’s judging.” Cedric tilts his head in an apologetic way and continues his argument. “The thing is I don’t know if he’s going to start begging…” Your eyes are focussed on Cedric since you clearly haven’t caught on and Cedric tries to explain it as simply as possible. “I fear he might just act out like a toddler that just has his candy taken away. We’re playing this game really well and as confident as he pretends to be I think he won’t reach out if he thinks you’ve forgotten about him.”

Cedric left to get changed for tonight’s party and you continue to get ready as well. You mind dwelled on Cedric’s words. Part of you wanted to reach out and talk, but you also didn’t want to prove how much of a simp you really were for him. He might not be jealous at all and then I would just make a fool of myself. He should come to me… and he will… tonight. With determination you stared yourself down in the mirror. Tonight he would simp for you.

You jump to the music with Cedric and Luna by your side. You’re having a great time, but still your eyes darted around the room. It was past midnight and you hadn’t seen your idiot of a crush yet.

However, his eyes had been on you all night.

Mattheo

Leaning against a wall with a drink in his hand he watches you be pretty and have fun. It was gut wrenching to see you with someone else. He cursed himself and down his drink. When he moves to place his empty cup on a table a very flirty and drunk girl approaches him. With one dance move she wraps his arm around her own body. For a moment Mattheo’s eyes scan over the girl’s body moving against his, but then his mind goes back to you and he searches for your beautiful figure in the crowd.

To his surprise you’re looking at him. His heart starts pounding now that your eyes are on him. But then he notices you’ve stopped moving. He’s not sure, but it looks as if all joy had been drained from your figure. The girl in Mattheo’s arms whispers something in his ear, but he doesn’t even proces her words as he watches you look away from him.

When he sees Cedric look over to him and say something to you he gently pushes the girl in his arms away. The next moment you push Cedric away and move towards the exit, Mattheo desperately tries to follow you. You were clearly upset about something and he just knew he needed to be with you. His heart started racing even more, he hadn’t talked to you in a week and he was unsure what he would say or do if he caught up to you.

He had pushed everyone aside and was only seconds behind you, but when he finally got to the hallway you were nowhere to be seen. His worried eyes darted around until he heard soft sobs and knew by the aching of his heart it was you.

You were standing just behind a corner, in a dark hallway, trying to keep yourself quiet so as to not draw any attention. Your mind was still in the moment where Mattheo was looking at the girl in his arms. The kiss you two had shared was just out of convenience, he wasn’t jealous, quite to the contrary he was over you… if he was ever interested at all. You want to let your body slide down the wall since your sadness is making your legs tremble, but suddenly Mattheo’s hand reaches for your side keeping you steady. Your eyes scan him up and down, not willing to believe it’s actually him. “What happened? Did Cedric do something?” You immediately shake your head, but it takes a while for you to answer as your throat still feels dry. “No.” Your voice is shaky and Mattheo’s thumb caresses your cheek wiping a few tears away.

It’s this gesture that pisses you off. “Go back to that slutty thing.” You snap and push away his hand. He’s shocked by your reaction, but after a second of confusion his eyebrows knit together. “Is that what this is about?” There’s a hint of frustration in his voice. You grit your teeth annoyed with your own jealousy. Frustration boils up, this was not how it was supposed to play out. He was supposed to be jealous. “You said I was an easy play. You don’t just kiss people for the fun of it, Mattheo. I wasn’t simping over you. You hurt me.” Your rant doesn’t make a lot of sense to Mattheo, but those last words trigger something.

“I hurt you? You left me out of nowhere and just… just forgot about me… suddenly you’re all over Cedric. Watching you in his arms, hurt me, every god damn day, (y/n)!” He is so close to your face, it’s intimidating, but you don’t back down. “Good. Now you know to never take me for granted.” Your words are stern and calm him down in a way, so he can now finally connect the dots. His breath is still unsteady, but his eyes have calmed down. “You and Cedric aren't actually dating?” Your heart is still racing, but your anger has subsided. “No.” You whisper. “I really thought you were.” There’s a sadness in his voice that makes you feel a little guilty, but he doesn’t allow you to think about it because the next moment his lips crash onto yours.

The kiss is harsh, almost punishing, but you still desperately embrace it. Your hands make their way up to his neck and hair while he pushes himself into you, earning a soft whimper from you. You had been longing for this for so long, this was the real thing, this was Mattheo’s raw love. “Don’t ever play games like this with me again.” He warns, voice husky and dark, before kissing you with even more lust than before.

Theodore

Seated with his drunk friends Theodore stared at you, like he had been doing for the entire night, only looking away to reach for his drink on the table in front of him. He had barely even gone out to smoke, it was confusing how he continued to torture himself by watching you be happy dancing with some other guy. Theo reached for his drink, when suddenly a very tipsy girl slipped her hand on his leg and settles next to him on the couch. “Theoooo.” She sang as her other hand snaked to the back of his head playing with a few strands of his hair. Theodore stares her down before rolling his eyes and returning his gaze back to you.

It felt like the air in the room was being sucked away as your eyes looked directly at him. He was happy to know you still knew he existed, but it only lasted for a moment. You look almost disgusted with him and immediately turn away from him, making Theodore frown. The next thing confuses Theo even more as he watches you shake your head at Cedric and head for the door. Something was wrong and he just needed to be with you, he felt drawn to you and quickly made his way through the crowd.

When you’re finally outside you can no longer hold back tears. Theodore wasn’t jealous and he wasn’t going to be begging for you tonight. Your plan failed and now you were even further away from him than ever. Sobbing you speed walk to get as far away as possible, but you don’t get very far. His large warm hand wraps around your wrist and pulls you into his tall body. “What happened?” A worried Theo meets your eyes and his free hand snakes up to your face, cupping your cheek.

”You!” You snap and take a step back. “You said I was a simp, I was easy.” Theodore is baffled at your angered voice and the tears that continue to stream down. “You should’ve never taken advantage of me and kissed me.” Theo frowns. “I-I didn’t mean to-” He can’t think of anything to say. He did say those things and maybe he did take advantage of you, but he never meant to because he truly cared about you. He loved you. His silence makes you sob even louder. “And then you just jump the first girl that approaches you. Do I mean nothing to you?” At your question Theodore grits his teeth. “You mean the world to me, but you were suddenly off with Cedric like I didn’t exist. What was I supposed to do?” His eyes are filled with anger and desperation, making you look down at your feet. It’s your sudden silence that makes Theo suspicious. “Don’t tell me you started dating him to get me jealous?” You wisely decide to keep staring at your feet, avoiding his piercing gaze.

He grabs your chin, demanding an answer. “We’re not actually dating. I just wanted you to see me.” Theodore looks away from you as a mix of emotions surges through him. No words can explain how angry and in love he is with you, so after a nasty curse in Italian he pushes you against the wall and slams his body against yours. His kiss is intense and leaves you without air. He rests his head against yours. “Let tonight be a reminder to never play games with me again.”

VII. Smut! bonus: exactly how I like you

Mattheo

You ignoring Mattheo for a week had gotten him more hot and bothered than you realized, but now that he finally had you alone in his room you were gonna find out. He knew you wanted him, so there was really no need for him to be polite about it. He shuts the door behind him and breaks the sloppy kiss to forcefully turn you around, pushing you against a wall. “I want you naked and underneath me.” He whispers in your ear as he unzips your dress. He kisses your shoulders as he lowers your dress until it slips down your perfect figure. His already hard dick pushes against your ass through the fabric of his pants, while he squeezes your breasts through your bra. A whiny moan escapes you as you feel your panties soak, earning you an animalistic growl from deep down his throat. “This is what you’ve wanted for so long, isn’t it? Me having my way with you?” You nod and a sloppy sound of agreement leaves your lips. You can feel Mattheo’s smirk against your skin, but he immediately goes back to focusing on your body, taking off your bra and turning you around so your perked nipples are faced towards him.

Slowly his hands caress your boobs, his mouth hangs open in admiration of your beauty. “You belong to me.” He squeezes your breast and presses his lips against yours. “I belong-” With one hand playing with your nipple he earns a moan from you and presses his smirking lips against your temple waiting for you to finish your sentence. “to you.” You breathe out so beautifully it makes his dick twitch in his pants. “Damn, you need to be fucked so desperately?” You nod and his hand slips to your drenched panties, making you whimper in embarrassment as a filthy smile appears on his face. “Fuck, princess, I love you so much, you’re so desperate for me.” You hear the hunger in his voice and softly buck your hips as he inserts a finger. You cling to his shoulders as the movement of his fingers makes your knees go weak. You cry his name as circles your clit, wanting more of your needy whiny moans.

“Please, Mattheo, fuck me.” You beg as your moans turn into whimpers. His smug smile stays in place as he watches you. “No. You’re going to cum for me.” He demands and curls his fingers in a way that has you instantly climax. While you’re still feeling all the sensations of your orgasm rush through your body, Mattheo picks you up and walks you to his bed. He slips off your panties and just watches your wet cunt as he uncaps his belt and reaches for his hard thobbing cock. You moan at the beautiful sight of Mattheo jerking between your legs. You’ve wanted this exact thing for so long and happily spread your legs a little wider, making him smirk. “I love a good girl.” He whispers darkly as he crawls onto the bed and lines himself up with your entrance. “You are going to take me so well.”

At a slow pace he works himself into your pussy, making sure to stretch you without hurting you. “You’re deep.” You whine at his size fully inside of you. He leans down and kisses you, before moving his lips to your ear. “Yeah, but I’m also fully inside, which means I’m yours.” His hoarse voice has you throw your head back, giving him the signal to start pounding into your desperate cunt. There isn’t much mercy in Mattheo as he grabs your thighs and slams his dick into you again and again and again… As you feel your second orgasm approach you arch your back and he selfishly chases his own high, knowing that you’ll come any moment. As he fills you up with his seed he can’t help but think about how much of a simp you are for him: exactly how I like you.

Theodore

“Let tonight be a reminder to never play games with me again.” Well, you surely were never going to forget tonight and you already knew that when Theo dragged you to a nearby classroom. In between sloppy kisses he had reached for your hand and guided it to his pants, where you eagerly started to pump his dick. When your hand was soaked with his precum he unzipped his pants. “You want me?” You nod, feeling your pussy get wet at the idea. Pleased with your answer, his mouth is back onto yours. “Then get on your knees.” He demands pulling out his hard member. With your mouth already hanging open you lower to your knees. Theodore smirks at the view of your desperate mouth. “I love how compliant you are.”

You struggle to take him whole, but you want to so badly and Theo grips your hair. “Slowly love, give yourself some time.” You take his advice and let him guide his dick in your mouth, fucking in slowly but steadily. “Merlin, you're beautiful on your knees for me.” He moans as you keep your eyes on him. Your eyes get teary as he gets slightly rougher, but his strokes your hair reassuring you. “If you continue to take me this well, I’ll eat that needy pussy of yours.” You almost roll your eyes at his words making a mess of your panties. Only moments later his seed fills your mouth, you struggle to swallow but do so non the less and that view alone almost gets him hard again.

Still panting himself he pulls you up and works down your panties. Your hands grip the desk behind you and for a moment you worry which classroom you’re actually in, making you yelp in pleasure as his mouth digs in on your soaking cunt. You cry his name over and over again as his tongue fucks your pussy, making your legs give in a little but luckily Theodore takes a firm hold of your thighs and keeps you in place. Feeling supported by his strong arms one hand lets go of the desk behind you and settles in Theo’s hair. “I want you, Theo. Please, it’s okay, just fuck me already.” You beg, but it only makes him force his face deeper in between your legs, making your stomach twist just before coming on his tongue. “Now I’ll fuck you.” You hear his husky voice from between your legs and your eyes roll back.

His cock was hard again and he was harsher than before as he turned you around and bent you over the desk you had just held onto. With one brute tugg he pulls your bra and dress down so your breasts are exposed to the cold air. With one hand playing with a boob his other is free to guide his dick inside of you. You cry out his name as he picks up the pace rather quickly. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” He asks and you can imagine the smug smile on his lips. When you don’t immediately answer he starts pounding into you even harder. “Yes. Yes this is what I wanted.” You whimper as your face gets teary. Finally having what you wanted from him felt better than you had ever imagined. Your desperation and Theo’s powerful thrusts had your clit thobbing in seconds and your walls clenched around his cock as you came for a second time that night. Tightly holding onto your breasts Theodore watched his dick slide in and out of you, overstimulating your pussy, until he came for a second time as well. Gods, this was exactly how he liked you: simping for him and filled up with his seed.

Picture source: https://pin.it/6AnYUtD1c

[awkward-walking-potato]

hello! i have a request for logan :)

logan has always loved (y/n). she has the same powers as wanda maximoff and left the school because she had a hard time controlling them and didn’t want to put anyone in danger. months later, when the school is under attack, charles asks for her help telepathically and she comes. logan is impressed by the way she now has full control over her mutation and he finally confesses when they’re not in danger anymore.

please & thank you!

Controlled Chaos

The Xavier Institute stood quiet under the moonlight, but the peace didn’t last long. The alarms blared through the mansion, signaling an attack. Logan’s claws unsheathed with a familiar snikt as he prepared for the inevitable battle. It had been months since you left, and every time there was a fight, his thoughts drifted to you.

You had powers like Wanda Maximoff—an ability to warp reality, move objects with a flick of your wrist, and manipulate chaos energy. But your powers were wild, uncontrollable. The fear of hurting others had driven you away, leaving Logan with an empty space in his chest that only you had filled.

Charles had tried everything to keep you there, offering help and support, but you needed time—time to find yourself, to gain control. Logan had wanted to go after you, but he respected your decision, as painful as it had been for him.

Tonight, however, something felt different. He could sense it in the way Charles’ eyes narrowed, his usual calm demeanor rattled as the enemy breached their defenses.

“Logan,” Charles said suddenly, his voice projecting into Logan’s mind. “I’ve called for help.”

Logan grunted, slicing through an attacking Sentinel with ease. “Help? From who?”

Charles didn’t answer immediately, his attention focused elsewhere. But then Logan heard it—the soft, familiar hum of energy crackling in the distance. His heart skipped a beat, an overwhelming sense of hope and dread settling in his chest.

It couldn’t be.

And then you appeared, stepping through the mansion doors with confidence radiating from you. Your presence commanded attention, the air around you humming with power. You wore a determined expression, eyes glowing faintly with the energy you now controlled with ease. Every movement was purposeful, fluid, as if you had mastered the chaos within yourself.

Logan’s breath caught in his throat as he watched you dismantle the Sentinels with a flick of your wrist, their parts crumbling like dust before they could even touch the ground. It was mesmerizing, seeing you so in control, so strong. You were everything he always knew you could be.

He barely noticed the fight around him as you worked alongside the team, your powers weaving through the battlefield with deadly precision. He had missed you, more than he’d ever let on, and now that you were here, Logan felt a surge of emotions he couldn’t push down anymore.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the battle was over. The mansion was quiet once again, the debris settling as the last of the attackers were dealt with. Logan sheathed his claws, turning to find you standing at the edge of the courtyard, catching your breath.

Without thinking, he approached you, his heart pounding in his chest. The moonlight cast a soft glow over you, and for a moment, it felt like nothing had changed between you two. Like you hadn’t left.

“You’ve… gotten stronger,” Logan muttered, his voice gruff as he stepped closer to you.

You smiled softly, wiping a bit of dirt from your face. “I’ve had a lot of time to practice.”

He nodded, his gaze lingering on you. You were still the same person he had fallen for—kind, powerful, a force of nature. But now, there was a sense of peace about you, a control that made you even more breathtaking.

“I didn’t think you’d come back,” Logan admitted, his voice quieter now. “After you left, I figured…”

You shook your head, stepping toward him. “I never wanted to leave. I just… I had to learn to control it. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Logan said, his voice firmer now. “You wouldn’t have hurt anyone, (Y/N).”

You looked at him, your eyes softening. “I wasn’t sure. But now… now I am.”

The silence between you stretched for a moment, the tension thick in the air. Logan wanted to say something, wanted to tell you how much he had missed you, how much it hurt when you left, how he had spent every night thinking about what could have been.

Instead, he just stood there, his jaw clenched as he struggled with the weight of his feelings. But you could sense it, could feel the emotions swirling in him just as clearly as you could see the sparks of chaos energy that still lingered around you.

“Logan…” you started softly, stepping even closer. “Why did you never tell me?”

His eyes flicked up to meet yours, confusion crossing his features. “Tell you what?”

“That you care about me,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. “That you—”

“I thought it was obvious,” Logan cut in, his voice low and gravelly. He ran a hand through his hair, the frustration clear in his tone. “I thought I showed it, every damn day. But you left before I could—” He stopped, shaking his head. “Hell, I didn’t want to push you away.”

Your heart clenched at his words, and suddenly, everything clicked. The looks, the way he always stood just a little closer than anyone else, the way his protectiveness went beyond the usual team dynamic. He had always cared. You had just been too caught up in your own struggles to see it.

“I didn’t leave because of you, Logan,” you said gently. “I left because of me.”

“I know,” he replied quietly. “But it didn’t make it any easier.”

You took a deep breath, your hands trembling slightly as the chaos energy buzzed under your skin. “I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”

Logan’s eyes softened, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he let himself believe it. Slowly, he reached out, taking your hand in his. His touch was gentle, almost hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to hold onto you.

But you didn’t pull away. Instead, you squeezed his hand, a soft smile tugging at your lips.

“You’ve always had control,” Logan said quietly. “Over your powers, over everything. You just needed to see it.”

You chuckled softly, shaking your head. “I think I needed someone to remind me.”

Logan’s thumb brushed over your knuckles, his gaze locked on yours. “I’m not good with words, (Y/N). But I care about you. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone.”

Your breath hitched, the weight of his confession hitting you like a tidal wave. “Logan…”

“I should’ve said it sooner,” he muttered, looking down at your joined hands. “Should’ve told you how much you mean to me.”

You stepped closer, your free hand reaching up to gently cup his cheek. “I think I already knew.”

Logan’s eyes met yours again, and for the first time in months, the tension between you dissolved. Slowly, carefully, he leaned in, his lips brushing against yours in a kiss that was both soft and full of unspoken promises.

When you finally pulled away, Logan rested his forehead against yours, his breath warm against your skin.

“I love you,” he murmured, the words falling from his lips like a secret he had been holding onto for far too long.

Your heart swelled, and with a soft smile, you whispered back, “I love you too, Logan.”

And for the first time in a long time, everything felt right.

[akaakeis]

home. -- sakusa k.

synopsis : sakusa kiyoomi and yn have been dating for some time now, with kiyoomi dedicating time to his volleyball team and yn dedicating time to their education. in their final year of university, however, they need to travel for a semester to fulfill a credit requirement for their degree. finally, they come back home.

wc : 1661 .ᐟ

gn!reader x sakusa kiyoomi (2nd person)

notes//cw : i'm kinda following the american school system for this since i'm not familiar with any other school system!! (like the months that school runs, when semesters end, that type of thing),, this is msby sakusa so it's like... 2019,, reader is a university student,, reader is implied to be living with sakusa (but this isn't explicitly stated),, kinda sad in the beginning,, fluffy ending,, HEAVILY projecting onto yn with any parts describing how she feels oops,, NOT proofread again,, i was inspired to write this when i heard 'coming home' by beabadoobee!!

January 6th, 2019.

you sit on your bed and open your laptop with a sigh, reading through your class schedule for this upcoming semester. this is your final semester, ever, and it's finally starting to sink in as you read through your schedule. to fulfill a requirement for your degree, you'll have to travel this semester to take your classes. the classes were, unfortunately, unavailable at your own university. you knew you would have to at some point, but it's just awful that you'll have to be away for so long. a quiet thump can be heard as you close your laptop and put it to the side.

rustling can be heard outside of the bedroom as sakusa comes in with a package that was, presumably, just delivered to the front door.

"hey, what's wrong?" he asks immediately, eyes scanning over your face with a slight frown. he can tell from your expression that you're stressed about something.

"mm.. nothing, come sit down, omi. i gotta tell you something." you say, your voice soft and slightly sad. he obliges you, putting down the package on the dresser and sitting next to you on the bed. he looks at you attentively.

you take a deep breath and start to explain the situation. "...so, for this semester, i'll be traveling for my classes. i'll be staying a couple hours away."

sakusa's breath hitches for a moment before he lets out a quiet sigh. "that's okay, you'll do amazing. i'm sure of it, yn." he says, his voice resembling something of reassurance, though he seems a bit upset himself.

you offer him a slight smile, gingerly taking his hand into yours. "it'll be okay. i'll be back in may," you say softly, running your thumb over the back of his hand.

he nods slightly, giving you a slight smile back. he gives your hand a quick squeeze. "yeah. when do you leave?"

"in a week," you reply.

who knew that week would go by in the blink of an eye? it had felt like a mere hour.

January 13th, 2019.

the two of you sit in the car, him in the driver's seat and you in the passenger seat. you quietly squeeze his free hand, keeping your eyes on the road. he was driving you to your new dorm.

it was a two hour long car ride, which both of you spent in silence. you were both enjoying each other's presence while you still could.

the car gradually comes to a stop in front of your new dorm. it's a huge building, and there are numerous people outside, hauling things inside. you assume they're all moving in for the semester as well.

"come on, i'll help you bring in your stuff," sakusa says softly, lightly nudging you.

it takes about an hour, but you and sakusa managed to bring in all of your things and set up all the essential things. you're both seated on your dorm's bed now, not wanting the moment end, for him to go back home. you lean against his shoulder, holding onto his hand.

"i'm really gonna miss you," you whisper.

"i'll miss you too," he says back softly, gently running his thumb over the back of your hand. "it'll be okay. we can call and text whenever."

before either of you realize it, it's already 10:00 at night, and sakusa needs to go home. he has practice tomorrow, after all. with that, the night draws to a close, and the bed feels empty. you're homesick already.

January 14th, 2019.

it's your first day back to school, and unfortunately you have a morning class... at 7:00 am. aside from the fact that you suffered while trying to get up early enough to prepare yourself for the day, the class went smoothly.

everything felt like routine throughout the day as you went from class to class, listening to the lectures and taking notes. this continued until you headed back to your dorm, kicking off your shoes and dropping onto your bed. you had to forcibly stop yourself from getting up to go look for kiyoomi, because you knew he wasn't there. oh, how awful it is to be homesick.

the days seemed to drawl on and blur together as you went to day after day of classes. you managed to text sakusa every once in a while, but he always seemed to be a little busy. since he seemed busy, you obviously didn't want to bother him, so you stopped frequently messaging him.

the homesick feeling never went away. you felt as if you would do anything just to be with him. you felt so far away in your dorm.

March 20, 2019.

it took a while, but you finally felt less homesick. today was sakusa's birthday, and you had something planned. you had coordinated a plan with the rest of sakusa's team to get them to have a celebratory dinner in the city, so that you could surprise him and wish him a happy birthday in person.

the day took an agonizingly long time to pass by, but you eventually made it through all of your classes for the day, heading straight home to prepare for the dinner.

you get dressed nicely for the birthday dinner, wearing semi-formal attire and nice shoes. it's a really short walk from your dorm, so you arrive there quickly. to your surprise, however, the entire volleyball team is already there, including kiyoomi. you immediately rush over to him, hugging him from behind.

he's startled by the sudden hug, but realizes it's you, putting his hand on top of yours. 

"happy birthday, omi. i'm so happy that i'm able to celebrate with you." you say softly, just loud enough for him to hear. the entire team, but particularly atsumu, watches smugly as they see sakusa's face soften over you.

dinner passes by in a blur, but then suddenly, one of the waitresses bring out a slice of cake, placing it in front of sakusa. there's a lit candle on top. everyone present at the table sings happy birthday to sakusa, cheering as he blows out the candle. it's clear that he's extremely happy about all the gestures that have been done for him, despite his more stoic demeanor. those who are familiar with him can tell he's happy.

"thank you, yn. i'm so happy to see you in person... i miss you," he says quietly, gently squeezing your hand.

"of course, omi... i wouldn't miss celebrating your birthday for the world. i miss you too," you say back, offering him a soft smile.

with long, drawn out goodbyes from everyone on the team, the night came to a close. the team drove back home, and you went back to your dorm, knocking out. it felt comforting to see kiyoomi again. it had been a while. in about two months, you would finally be able to say, "i'm home."

May 28, 2019.

today was the day. you could finally go back home. you'd be lying if you said you were more thrilled about the fact that you're finally getting your degree than the fact that you're finally able to go home and see kiyoomi. you packed up everything in your dorm as quickly as possible, heading for the train home. 

the ride home seemed to go by faster than usual, passing by in what felt like 20 minutes.

you walk home quickly, eager to see kiyoomi. once you get to the front door, you quietly unlock it. you open the door slowly to prevent it from squeaking, and you leave your luggage outside so that he doesn't hear the sound of it rolling around as you enter the house. as you close the front door, a quiet click is heard, which you silently curse at yourself for.

you can hear the sound of running water in the kitchen, along with the sound of a plastic bag being rustled around. you peek into the kitchen, trying to see what kiyoomi is doing. he's, apparently, cleaning the kitchen. he's taken the plastic bag out of the trash can and replaced it with a new one. the full trash bag sits on the floor, waiting to be taken out. by the kitchen sink, you can see kiyoomi peacefully washing the dishes. you let out a soft sigh, coming up behind him quietly, peeking out from his side to see what he's washing.

"i'm home," you say softly, causing kiyoomi to turn around, startled by the sudden voice behind him. his face immediately softens upon seeing you. he grabs the dish towel, quickly wiping his hands dry. 

he engulfs you in a hug, his arms snaking around your waist to hold you close. "welcome back," he says quietly, burying his face in your hair.

"let me help you," you say, lifting your head to look up at him, loosening the hug. you let go of him, grabbing the bag of trash that had been sitting on the floor. "i'll take this out, and i'll be back to help wash the dishes."

he smiles slightly, nodding as he watched you walk out with the bag of trash in hand. you step foot out of the house, tossing the bag into the trash bin and heading back inside. you head back to the kitchen, lightly nudging him to the side of the sink so that you can help him wash the dishes. 

the two of you clean up the kitchen in silence, just enjoying each other's presence yet again. once all of the night's chores are done, however, the two of you head to bed almost immediately. kiyoomi holds you close to him, keeping his face in your hair and muttering, "i missed you a lot. glad you're home."

you feel your heart sputter at his words, and you smile slightly, bringing up a hand to play with his hair. "me too. good thing i didn't get home late."

notes :

₊ ⊹ we're all gonna collectively ignore the photos i used because i don't have the energy to actually make it look good... thanks !!

₊ ⊹  yeah i have no idea how university works in case that wasn't made painfully clear at the beginning sorry </3

₊ ⊹ just pretend it makes sense i guess, cause i was NOT about to research how to make that part of the fic make sense 😋

₊ ⊹ not proofread as per usual (are we surprised atp)... please lmk if you find an error though !!

₊ ⊹ after not releasing anything for like a week cause of like everything in my life deciding to gang up on me... WE ARE SO BACK 🗣️‼️ (lie)

₊ ⊹ i randomly got this idea when i was listening to all the songs on bea's new album... honestly i have ideas that i got from a bunch of the songs so stay tuned!! i'll probably write some more oneshots based off her new songs

₊ ⊹ my motivation peaked and then fell within like an hour but i pulled through to get this done😭

₊ ⊹ any other works can be found on my masterlist! (it's pretty small at the moment since i just started though!!)

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

🏷️ : @iiwaijime + @bokukos <3

[bangtanficsforyou]

Hello, Love! (JJK)- 01

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: fluff, angst, probable smut (we don't know yet lololol)

Rating: 18+

Summary: You had a plan when you returned home, seven years later. However, falling in love with your sister's fiance wasn't it.

Word count: 2K (approx)

Warning: mentions of drug addiction, familial neglect.

The ring fits Jungkook as if it was meant just for him. Not one bit tight nor is it one bit loose. Snug around his finger as if it has always belonged there.

A round of applause breaks out and he looks at the smiling faces of his family and that of his soon to be in law's. 

As the cheers and claps die down, he takes it as his queue. His hand makes it’s way to his pocket. However, when he is not met with a small square jewellery box, he immediately checks his other pocket. That pocket, too, disappoints him. 

He looks up awkwardly at his fiancee and tries to give her a reassuring smile. Now checking for the pockets of his trousers, he fumbles around to somehow make the box appear out of thin air. 

Realising that he is running out of time, he turns towards Jimin. “Jimin, did I not give you the ring box on our way here?” 

Jimin looks at Jungkook with eyes wide like that of a newborn baby. “No, you didn't.”

“Yes, I did,” Jungkook claims with more surety than he actually feels inside. 

“When?!”

“When we were outside–”

“You were talking on the phone—”

“And, I gave it to you while—”

“Here,” Riya offers, with the small red box resting on her palm. Before Jungkook can ask, she answers, “I found it lying on the floor of our balcony.”

Jungkook gives an awkward chuckle in response, trying to play it off. “Jimin has become very careless these days.”

Before Jimin can protest and defend himself, Jungkook shoots him a look that somehow shuts him up. 

Jungkook doesn't waste another minute before taking the ring out and putting it on Riya's fingers. The sooner it is done, the lesser are the chances of running into any other bumps on the road.

Another similar round of applause breaks out and Jungkook heaves a sigh of relief. 

The engagement is done. 

“Dad,” Jungkook greets cheerfully as he takes a seat.

“Hmm,” his soon to be father in law doesn't bother looking up as his eyes remain occupied with the official documents he's currently working on. 

Jungkook remains unfazed by the lack of enthusiasm and continues. “You know I'm currently discussing a project with Mr. Elgin, right?’’

“Hmm.”

“And well I was telling him how I'm about to marry your daughter Riya Roy.”

“I see.”

“Do you know the praises he sang for you?”

Now that somehow catches his dear soon to be father-in-law's attention. 

“Did he?” He interlaces his fingers, and relaxes against the chair, temporarily discarding the documents in the process.

“Yes!” Jungkook nods excitedly. “He was telling me how well you would display and advertise your designs to potential investors during the early business days.” 

“What else did he say?” he muses.

“He also told me how well you have single handedly managed the business. How you started it from scratch and made it what it is today.” 

The older man lets out a chuckle. “It doesn't sound too odd for someone to praise me for advertising my clothes in a clothing line business or for working hard when I am the one who started it.”

There's a brief pause where Jungkook seemingly processes the words.

“Now tell me, how much money do you need?” 

Oh. 

Now, it's Jungkook who lets out a chuckle, albeit an awkward one. “You haven't even listened to what he said on learning that you're planning on expanding your business.”

“Trust me, I don't need to know,” comes the reply. “You tell me the amount, I need to get back to work.”

Jungkook considers his options then in the blink of an eye, his whole demeanour changes. “You know how I almost have the contract for this year's cricket world cup?” 

Much like earlier, the man hums. 

“However, suddenly, they have raised the bid by six million.” 

“So you need six million dollars?” 

Jungkook nods, hoping that the amount doesn’t sound as big as it is. 

There’s a pause and then there’s a low hum in response. “Did you return the one million dollar you had taken from Riya?”

“Well I almost have. There’s only a little left to pay back.”

“How much are you yet to pay?”

Sometimes, Jungkook wishes he knew how to read this man a little better. His father in law, undoubtedly, is every bit of the businessman you’d think of him to be. He thinks like a businessman, walks like one and talks like one in every sense possible. 

Jungkook knows that one would never find this man speaking one word, that is not required. And that just makes it all the more difficult to ever get a hint of what his father in law is thinking. 

Sometimes, Jungkook thinks speaking to this man is the equivalent of playing chess with a computer. You’d never know what the next move will be but you can rest assured, that you'll never outsmart them. 

“Some two hundred thousand.”

“That’s the amount you are yet to pay?”

Jungkook pretends he hadn’t heard the question properly, the first time. “Uhm, no that’s the amount I have paid.”

“So what’s the amount you are yet to pay?”

“Eight hundred thousand—,” he replies and then quickly adds, “—but I will pay everything back as soon as the contract is finalised.”

“Sure,” his father in law nods, not buying his words. "I'll need some time to think about it."

“Listen, no matter what, I anyhow, need a meeting to be scheduled with Mr.Shro—I don’t care what his manager is saying about him being busy.”

The wind blows at a steady pace and somewhere in the lobby, a toddler shrieks in joy. 

“Mail his manager as many times as you need to. Just refuse to accept no as an answer.”

Poor Sam, Jimin thinks, pitying the poor boy who didn’t know what he was signing up for when he agreed to be Jungkook’s manager. 

“Yes, yes! Mail them again—not now Jimin!”

Unfortunately, Jimin doesn’t seem to catch the hint and taps him on his back, again. 

“What is it Jim—”, only it is not Jimin. “Sam, I’ll get back to you later.” 

“You asked dad for money.”

Uh oh. Jungkook could tell Riya wasn’t in the brightest of moods, but nothing could have prepared Jungkook for this. 

“Riya why don’t we take this inside?” Jungkook suggests, keeping his voice soft and calm. He hadn’t thought much of it when he was screaming at his manager left and right in the balcony, for everyone to hear. But an arguement between the freshly engaged couple, might just not be that ideal.

“Jungkook, do you not have any self respect?”

I do, in fact that is why I am asking you to move this inside, Jungkook thinks to himself. Instead of speaking the words out, he again, mildly tries to guide her inside a room. 

Riya, however, remains adamant on not cooperating with him. “You tell me, Jungkook, how can i respect a man who has zero self respect?”

“You do—”

“You know what keep your ring, I don’t want it.” In the blink of an eye, the ring that had almost managed to cause a commotion merely a few hours ago, now rests on Jungkook’s palm, again. 

“Riya, what is your problem?” Long gone is the calmness Jungkook was trying so hard to keep. Now, he sounds extremely confused and perhaps frustrated. 

“My problem is the fact that I cannot marry a man who has zero self—”

“It’s not self respect that I lack! Its ego!” Jungkook snaps. “If I know asking for help could get me the opportunity that I have worked so hard for, why shouldn’t I? Plus, it’s not like I have ever failed to pay back.”

There’s a beat of silence, where Jungkook tries to regain his composure. “I don’t understand Riya, the years when you were struggling to make it into the industry, I supported you in every way I could. So now that I'm the one who’s facing struggles, why can’t you find it in yourself to do the same?”

Something in Riya softens at the mention of all the times, Jungkook stood by her side like a rock. Every penny Jungkook earned was spent on Riya’s then struggling career. Lord knows, there were times when she felt like giving up but Jungkook wouldn’t let her. When she lost faith, Jungkook would believe in it for both of them. 

She inhales shakily and looks at the ring and it somehow manages to ground her to why she said yes to Jungkook in the first place. 

“And if it bothers you so much, I won't ask dad for money.”

She nods and then gently takes the ring from Jungkook. It's in that gentle touch of her's that Jungkook knows things are settled, at least for the time being. 

“I'll go look for Mili aunty, I heard she was looking for me,” Riya says, and somehow the abrupt end of argument doesn't surprise Jungkook, in the least. 

As Riya walks back inside, Jungkook releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He finds it a little difficult to believe that Riya almost broke off the engagement. Although he probably shouldn’t be so surprised. 

Over the years, Jungkook has become very familiar with Riya’s habit of breaking up with him at the slightest inconvenience. Now that they are engaged, breaking up means...well, calling off the engagement. 

Arguments with Riya are always like this, short lived but very frequent. Riya would state the reasons why she thinks this won’t work and all the reasons why Jungkook is wrong and then Jungkook would have to remind her of all the reasons as to why the both of them have stuck together for so long. 

Maybe it has always been like this, be it for Riya’s career, or for their relationship, Jungkook has always kept faith on behalf of the both of them when Riya couldn’t. 

Perhaps securing the deal he's currently working on, would finally give Riya the reassurance that she's looking for. Well, he sure hopes so because if this contract doesn't, Jungkook doesn't know what will. 

Getting this deal has the potential of turning you into the equivalent of Leonardo DiCaprio of the event organisation industry. There's simply no looking back from then on. You'd have career stability, money and a reputation among your peers. 

It's probably everything a woman looks for in the man, they are marrying. 

So yeah, he genuinely hopes that he can prove himself to be capable and can put rest to this constant breaking up and patching up cycle the two of them have found themselves in, for years. 

And he's definitely going to give his best, even if that means being rude to his innocent, sweet, doe-eyed manager. 

Chapter two will be up on my Patreon on early access by the end of this week!

[yujo-nishimura]

"Rubber Duckies"

You are stuck with your studies and your research and you decide to use your crew members as rubber duckies to explain to them what you are doing in the hope of overcoming your writer's block. 

Words: 1023

Comment: This is something I wrote while I am really stuck. I hope his helps other people who experience the same right now or need a little motivational booster for their papers/exams. The whole fic is fluff with a hint at smut (Law and Kid just always leave me feral).

Let me know in the comments if I should add any characters.

Luffy

He would listen patiently the whole time, lowering his head, his eyes covered by his straw hat. After several minutes, you realize he has fallen asleep. When you ask him a follow-up question, he jolts awake and gives you his brightest, most infectious smile. Despite your frustration, you can't stay mad at him.

"It all sounds very complicated, Y/N," Luffy says. "But I believe in you, and I'm sure you'll excel at this. Now come here, we can cuddle and snack on some of the crisps I swiped from the kitchen!"

His boundless enthusiasm and unwavering faith in you, even when he doesn't fully understand the details, leaves you feeling a little less stuck. 

Robin 

As you explain your research question and methodology, Robin listens with rapt attention, her eyes never leaving yours. When you finish, she pauses thoughtfully before speaking.

"I think the only thing this study lacks is your confidence, dear Y/N," Robin says, chuckling lightly. Her words strike a chord within you - she has a way of cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

"Can I give you a hug?" you ask, feeling deeply grateful for her patience and wisdom. You know her insights have been invaluable, not just for this project, but for the whole crew.

Robin opens her arms widely and smiles at you. "Of course," she says, enveloping you in a warm embrace. At that moment, you feel the weight of your doubts and insecurities start to lift. Robin's faith in you is a precious gift, and it's exactly the encouragement you need to find the courage to complete your work and submit it.

Law 

You decide to explain your work to Law, hoping his keen analytical mind will provide valuable feedback. As you begin speaking, however, you can see his face growing increasingly impatient. He clenches his jaw, clearly struggling to hold back interrupting you.

When you finally finish, Law wastes no time in his critique. "I think the structure is off, Y/N. I don't understand why you chose this theoretical framework, and I'm lost - did you even have a research question?"

You gulp, suddenly realizing you may have forgotten to explicitly state your core research question. Law's piercing gray eyes have a way of making it difficult to maintain focus.

Seeing your flustered expression, Law sighs. "How about you give me the paper to read, and I'll go over it with a red pen?" he offers.

You nod enthusiastically, immediately moving to retrieve the document. "Not now!" Law interjects, grabbing your arm before you can turn away. A mischievous smile plays on his lips beneath his white hat.

"It may not be the best study," he admits. "But the way you've explained it, showcasing your intelligence, has left me wanting more."

Zoro

Falls asleep immediately. Despite your best efforts to engage him, Zoro remains unresponsive, his gentle snoring the only indication that he's still present. You continue talking, but it's clear you're essentially just speaking to yourself at this point.

In a way, Zoro has become the most authentic "rubber duckie" of all - the perfect listener, oblivious to the intricacies of your work, but providing a soothing presence nonetheless.

Sanji 

As you dive into the details of your research, you can't help but notice the adoring way his eyes are fixed on you. It's clear that Sanji is enamored, and would likely listen with rapt attention no matter what you chose to talk about.

You continue your explanation, confident that Sanji is absorbing every word, even if he may not fully grasp the intricacies of your work. When you finally conclude, Sanji erupts into enthusiastic applause.

"That was amazing, Y/N!" he exclaims, his face alight with genuine admiration. "You've done such an incredible job with this research. I'm in awe of your brilliance!"

You can't help but sigh, knowing that Sanji's feedback, while well-intentioned, isn't exactly the critical analysis you were hoping for. But as you look into his sincere, shining eyes, you also feel a sense of pride and relief.

Even if you haven't quite overcome your writer's block yet, having someone so genuinely praise your hard work feels like a reward in itself.

Eustass Kid

As you begin explaining the details of your research to Eustass Kid, it's immediately clear that he has little patience or interest in the topic. His brows are furrowed in what can only be described as an annoyed scowl, and he fidgets restlessly in his seat.

Despite his clear disinterest, however, Kid sits through your entire presentation, never once interrupting or trying to leave. You can't help but appreciate the fact that he's making the effort to listen, even if he doesn't seem to understand or care about the intricacies of your work.

When you finally conclude, Kid simply yawns and cocks his head to the side.

"So what's the problem with all this?" he asks, his tone bordering on disinterested. "Sounds like a solid piece of work to me."

You sigh, explaining to him once again that you feel stuck and unsure if you've done a good job. You're hoping for constructive feedback, but it's clear Kid isn't the right person to provide that.

Suddenly, Kid reaches out and grabs your hand, pulling you forcefully towards his chest. You can feel the warmth radiating from his skin as his low voice speaks calmly.

"You're asking the wrong guy about this, Y/N," he says. "I can't tell you if any of the things you did for this research make sense. But if you're struggling right now, I know a way to make you feel better..."

You blush as you realize the implication behind his words, and without further thought, you give in. Perhaps a brief break from your studies, spent in the comforting embrace of someone who cares for you, is exactly what you need to recharge and tackle the problem with a fresh perspective.

[eddiemunson-mylove]

"It's Just Us"

author's note -

back again with another smut for ya'll. Was not expecting it to be so long yikes! I'm going to thank @lovejosephquinn for basically threatening me to get this done :)

I'm also going to tag @thepastdied as a fellow big titty bitch. This one is for the girlies like us

a classic friends to lover's trope, with the additional bed sharing trope... ahhhhhh

summary -

After sharing a bed with your best friend, you wake up to see him ogling at your tits... do I really need to say more?

slightlypervy!virgin!Eddie x largechested!bestfriend!reader

Reader can be perceived as plus sized as she is a part of the big titty committee, but it's not necessary

warnings -

18+ | Protected Sex (because they're smart and you should be too) | Strong Language | Reader is very insecure about her large chest (totally not projecting 💀)

word count -

5.3K

masterlist

_______________

When you woke up this morning, to say you were surprised was a slight understatement. It was the rustling of sheets next to you that had disturbed your slumber. There was another sudden movement from beside you, this time the perpetrator landed a thump to your shin followed by a soft “shit”. Typical of Eddie to immediately wreak havoc upon his first few moments awake.

He rustled some more, no doubt trying to stretch his limbs from the uncomfortable position he had left himself in last night. You, however, had yet to open your eyes and welcome in the golden morning light. You just lay completely still, ruminating on the events that had led you here to be kicked in the shin and perspiring from the additional body heat radiating from your best friend. 

_______________

The night before…

Steve was to be the last out of the door. With a quick turn to the two of you as he pointed with a stern look to Eddie, “Look after her, you hear? Get home safe doll,” he directs to you with a wink and shoots off into the night.

Eddie had hosted another successful evening of drinking and catching up with his friends, now ultimately yours too. The trailer held just enough space for yourself, Eddie, Steve, Nancy, and Robin to be seated. Going back and forth with one another with little updates about each other's lives. These kinds of meet ups were rare and cherished, all of you working steady jobs which resulted in time for you all to be together at once. But having known each other from school, their bond would always prevail. You’d hoped that you could get to that point with them all too.

You and Eddie had been friends for just a short while now. You had moved to Hawkins the year prior and he had been one of the first to grace your presence when the long move had kicked your car in indescribable ways. He began taking overtime to work on your lump of metal and even offered to drive you places in the beginning, though you would regretfully decline. Things escalated when you would spot him around town running errands. Sporadic meetings turned into coffee trips, turning into days out together, turning into being invited into his close group of friends. The last year has been nothing short of a dream, and Eddie has been there to encourage you and envelop you in light and laughter. 

As Eddie closed the door behind Steve, he twisted his waist and clasped his hands together, “Nightcap before you go, sweets?” His grin was wicked but you know there was no malice, only mischief and a desire to keep you here longer. 

“Only if I’m pouring Munson,” you clap back, “I’d actually like to wake up again in the morning.” you gave him the most exaggerated wink that you could muster, emphasised further with a pair of finger guns before plodding off into his kitchenette to find clean glasses. He followed you of course. You noticed that he did that from almost the moment the two of you met, like a lost puppy. Although you were the one that felt kind of lost when he didn’t do it.

One drink quickly became two as you began to share your fond memories of your first encounter. Two became three when you both elaborated on your in depth plans for the future, of course, including each other. You lost count after four. Your shared recollections had only catalysed a trip down memory lane, telling wild stories from high school and various adventures that you had both been on and how you wished the other could have been there too. 

It was clear that neither of you were in a fit state to drive. And when a passing glance to the clock that read 2:06 had confirmed your suspicions that a taxi wasn’t going to be an option, you knew you were staying the night. Neither of you were the first to admit it. Although there was evidently a shared understanding after reminiscing about the amount of whiskey Robin had oh-so-graciously spilt over the couch in her final hour here. You were definitely sharing a bed tonight. Neither of you were against the idea. It was just a new boundary in your relationship that was going to be crossed. Friends share beds. It didn’t have to invoke such a reaction in your chest, matched with the heat rising to your cheeks. But it did nonetheless…

The whole ordeal had been awkward beyond belief. Eddie fumbling around with his duvet and clearing the one side of his bed to get rid of the collection of washing (clean or dirty? You didn’t dare ask), before he sprawled himself like a starfish across the expanse of the mattress with a high-pitched giggle to himself. You stood hesitantly in the doorway to Eddie’s bedroom, nervous at the idea of being forced into such close proximity. You suppose you could consider yourself almost afraid. Afraid that you’d become self-indulgent in the situation. That you would internalise the night too much, only to be let down when he would reinforce the friendzone card. 

Too caught up in your tangle of thoughts, you hadn’t noticed that Eddie had rolled over to await your own drop onto the bed only to see that you’d stood paralysed. He shuffled himself into a seated position on the edge of the bed and peared up at you.

“Hey, where’d you go just now?” his voice was almost silent, the soft whisper lulling you gently from your trap. 

“No. Don’t worry about it,” you shake your head, “just zoned out”.

He was standing up now, making his way to you slowly. Both hands had raised up to grip your upper arms delicately. Eddie stooped his head slightly to match your eye level. You too could see a flicker of nerves in his eyes.

“It’s just me, sweets. It’s just us,” he beams, “I won’t bite… unless you want me to.” Finishing his little pep talk with a wink and a nudge to your shoulder with his fist. After a deep roll of your eyes and a tired smile, you went to the bathroom to remove the majority of your clothes for bed. 

Left in only your cami top from beneath your shirt and your panties, you took one final look in his stained mirror. Going braless had taken a considerable amount of convincing, ultimately choosing your own comfort rather than Eddie’s. Sure, you figured your current outfit would have him stoic enough. But you didn’t want to be the cause of his death when visible nipples became involved. Having to once again pull away from your thoughts, your feet pattered back to his room, you find him deep into dreamland anyways. An inevitable effect that alcohol had on Eddie. At least you wouldn’t have to face the awkwardness of explaining that you don’t tend to bring pyjamas with you to any and all occasions.

With just enough space left for you to crawl onto your side of the bed that he had barely left you, you pull the covers over the two of you and place your head on his embarrassingly flat pillows. You were facing each other now, and this gave you a chance to admire your closest friend while he was at his most peaceful. You already knew that you had feelings for Eddie, you weren’t oblivious to this. But to replace the friendship you had with the risk of something more just didn’t appeal to you. You loved him too much to lose him. So with a weak hand reaching up to brush a stray curl out of his face, and a soft “night,” you closed your own eyes and let Eddie’s even breaths lull you into unconsciousness.

_______________ 

Adjusting your eyes until they were just open a slither, you’re met with Eddie facing you. Well, his body was facing you, but the slight tilt of his chin tucked into his chest and the lack of eye contact made it clear that his focus was elsewhere. You were by no means naive. You knew exactly what he was looking at without even having to follow his line of sight.

You had always been a larger-chested girl. You started growing boobs from a younger age than most around you and they never seemed to stop growing until you’d reached your later teen years. You never missed how certain shirts wouldn’t fit you right and how dresses would bunch up if they had chest seams. But you certainly never missed how people would stare. Not even just men, anybody. The non-stop gawking if you were to wear a lower neckline, their eyes flickering from your chest to your face when you wore a tight-fitted outfit. You’d made peace with it, accepted that it’d never change. You can’t say that you were overly shocked to find Eddie in the exact same position, he was only human after all. 

The thing that had surprised you had been the barely-there grin. The fondness in his expression. Almost as though he was gazing in admiration, rather than the pity or the condescension you were used to. The way his lashes fluttered as he grappled between needing to blink but wanting to stare just that little bit longer. A gentle hum escapes his lips as the corners of his mouth twitch upwards some more.

You huff a small chuckle, your own lips beaming in amusement as his head snaps up to meet you. Horror engulfs his face and his eyes, you think, couldn’t possibly widen any more. You wait for his defense, for his panicking, for his justification. But you’re met with only silence. Silence, and the look of pure dread.

“Mornin’,” you smirk at him, a playful glint in your eyes. “Enjoying the view I see. You’re acting like you’ve never seen tits before” you add after a pause, fueling the fire. 

You were wrong. His eyes widened even more…

You won’t deny that there had always been a certain tension between the two of you. Not something you could quite put your finger on but the realisation was always just stuck on the tip of your tongue. You recognised it in the flirtatious banter that you shared, leading many to believe you were a couple. You perceived it in the prolonged touches, the longing stares that both parties were guilty of. But you had always been just… friends. You believed that your feelings for him were rooted in the want for attention, to be somebody’s favourite person. It had only been recently that you felt it blossom into more. Your only dilemma was whether Eddie returned these feelings. 

But with him now shamefully caught ogling at your chest, you at least knew that he was definitely interested in a part of you. You began to snort a laugh at him, rolling slightly onto your back to direct your laughter away from his face into the void air of his room. Going back to face him once again, you’re met with an exaggerated pout as he grumbles out, “It’s not funny”.

You’d calmed down very quickly when you saw just how defeated he had become. His expression was crestfallen, and you’d berated yourself for thinking you’d pushed him too far. Tracing your steps back to when you could have elicited such a gloomy response from him, you suddenly drew in a sharp breath, cringing slightly at the words getting ready to leave your lips.

“Eds… you have seen tits before right?” It seemed like such a dumb question in retrospect, but you had realised in this moment that you had never seen Eddie with another girl that wasn’t Nance or Rob. And that he had never mentioned girlfriends tonight whilst you droned on about the trials and tribulations of school.

He playfully scoffs at you, “Of course I’ve seen tits before. Like, maybe. Just, like, not in real life,” he admits, defeated. It’s at this new piece of exclusive Eddie-lore that you have a lightbulb moment. Clearly he was interested in your rack, and you were interested in him. It seemed like a win-win in the first instance. You could show Eddie your tits, and then he’d fall head over heels for you!

Okay, definitely a tad far-fetched. But this was your one shot. You’d never had an opportunity to express how you felt to him before and while this method was highly unconventional, it was worth a shot. Which is what led you to vocalise,

“I could show you them, if you’d like?” you ask, more timidly than you had intended. Eddie deadpanned, awaiting the punch line. But once he saw your expression was that of sincerity rather than sarcasm, he was quick to splutter his words.

“Shit! Umm, are you sure?” he asks, “I mean yeah, that’d be great an’ all, but like, for real?” clearing his throat and trying to maintain a casual demeanor, he eagerly awaited your reply.

“Sure Eds. I don’t mind, really. As your best friend I would be honoured,” you assert with a lighthearted giggle. You don’t miss the slight wince in his face once you’d pulled out the friend card. It further fueled your hope for the future.

“Well then, as you are being so generous and noble, it is I who would be honoured,” he announced in his best medieval knight voice. The two of you broke into a fit of laughter, both feeling slightly delirious at the proposition laid out before you. That same proposition was also the reason the laughter dies down as quickly as it started and the room began to feel more silent, more serious. You’re the first to start speaking again,

“Hey, umm… before I do this, I just wanted to let you know,” you began fumbling your words in shame, “boobs don’t… look how you may think they do. Especially not like your magazines.” you finished with a tight inhale. One side of your mouth twitched upward to produce a defeated grin. 

“But boobs are just… boobs?” You could see the genuine confusion flash across his features with his reply. His response only pulled a sigh from you.

“Yes. But you see, they get past a certain size and everything just sort of… falls apart?” you attempt. You’re met with no response, his silence urging you to elaborate. “Like, gravity obviously plays a big part in their demise. They’re heavy, and I mean heavy, Eddie. And because of how they fall, how they just drop down, everything is sort of… stretched out. You can see all of the imperfections, all of the pores, the spots and blemishes. And it never ends. They will never be like those blonde pin-up girls in your crusty magazines because they are not real. Real life only leads to disappointment…”

With one final push of air from your lungs you finish your speech with, “You’re more than welcome to see your first pair of real tits Eddie, but I know it’ll only end in you wishing you’d saved yourself the trouble.”  

You could see that Eddie’s eyes had glossed over. You knew he had a hard time with you putting yourself down when he cared so much for you. Yet he said nothing. He just stared, directly into your eyes, as though he’d only been allowed to for the first time. With the quilt rustling again, you didn’t have time to see Eddie’s hand. You had only felt it as it made contact with your cheek, his thumb brushing your cheekbone timidly. And that was when he had spoken,

“Hey…,” his smile was gentle, his eyes were even softer, “It’s just me” 

And you believe then that you know he would never judge you. Of course he wouldn’t. He wasn’t capable.

“It’s just you,” you parrot back to him, your lips finally turning up once again. He pushes out a soft chuckle from the very back of his throat as his hand comes around for his pinky to flick against the tip of your nose lightly.

“It’s just us, princess…”

That was the final encouragement. You were being silly, you thought. They are just boobs perhaps, as you reach to pull at one strap. You were just simply doing a favour for your closest friend, you justify as one arm is free from its constraints. He seemed to like them enough to gawk at them, you reason with yourself, as you begin to unceremoniously tug at the second strap from underneath you. As you whittled the strap down your arm, the fabric that had previously been shielding your modesty had peeled from your chest and your top had now bunched around your waist.

With Eddie’s focus still maintained on your face, you quickly glanced down to make any adjustments that could be deemed unsightly before peering back up to him and giving him a barely visible nod; he had seen it though. As his attention swiftly flicked back into the position you had caught him in barely 10 minutes ago, you kept your eyes on his face, desperately trying to read any facial expression or slight muscle ticks that could indicate any distaste from the man you were so eager to impress.

He retracted his hand from your cheek and began to shuffle backwards in an attempt to gauge a wider field of view for the gifts you had presented to him. The excitement he exudes was impossible to miss. Almost like a child being told to pick out a new toy of choice. His eyes darted between the pair laid out before him. Like you had explained, your boobs had gravitated more towards the mattress and drooped over your bottom arm rather than sat in the centre of your chest, much like how you imagined Eddie had expected them to be. But there was no indication that he seemed to mind as his tongue darts out to caress over his top lip, his eyes blown in bewilderment.

The sudden change in temperature after being freed from your top had hardened your nipples, making them look slightly more ‘normal’ looking than their usual flattened out state. Eddie’s hand that had previously graced your cheek was now laying flat against the bed between your two bodies, his fingers jolting and twitching slightly. You knew what your next move had to be.

“You can touch them, if you’d like?” you voice, sounding more like a small squeak than actual words. Your nerves had sent a fresh sheet of goosebumps over your skin, your nipples still peaked and aching slightly against the draft in Eddie’s room. His eyes meet your instantly, once again widening as though he was seeking your definitive permission before he gets ahead of himself.

“Are you sure?” followed by an audible gulp, “I mean, I’d love to but… you don’t have to do that”

He was so careful with his actions and his gazes that you knew you’d have to instigate anything further. Lifting your hand to grasp at his wrist that lay on the bed, you slowly spread out his palm and pressed your chest up more before placing his hand directly over the centre of your breast. A sigh of relief that you were not aware you were keeping escaped your lips in the same instance that a croaky groan left Eddie’s, the two harmonising together in perfect synchrony. 

The tips of his fingers start to explore the sides of your boob, tracing shapes lightly along the thinner skin there. Allowing his fingers to prod experimentally, he gains enough confidence after a few moments to give his first delicate squeeze. While the action itself was miniscule, it was still enough to elicit a small whimper from you, causing Eddie’s eyes to once again return to yours. With his lips quivering slightly to suppress his satisfaction, his next squeeze was significantly firmer. You watched as, almost in slow motion, the fat of your breast buldged through the gaps of this fingers. Eddie seemed to watch this too, his only reaction being a low “oh, fuck…”

You huffed out a small chuckle before responding, “Everything you expected them to be?” He began to nod vigorously, his curls rubbing against his pillow. Watching his irises dance across your chest had induced many feelings. The most surprising feeling being safety. You knew that in this moment, you could rely on Eddie for anything. He would be cure to all ailments, the cause of all of your laughter. He held the key to your heart, and you knew that he would guard that key with his life. The realisation brings a fond smile to your face. The strongest feeling, however, was enough to wipe the smile straight off your face. That feeling that could not be mistaken for anything else…

You wanted him. You wanted Eddie Munson, your best friend. You desired him, longed for him… burned for him. And just as these revelations had made themselves apparent, Eddie had gently swiped a thumb across your peaked bud causing you to shudder. No, you didn’t want him, you needed him. With your mind now clouded with lust, you reach up a hand to cradle the side of his face, caressing his cheekbone with your thumb. You needed to approach this right. Needed to make absolutely sure that you hadn’t read it wrong, that the line was worth crossing. And as Eddie slowly shifted his gaze to meet yours, his eyes completely blown out and hazy with what you could only recgnise as lust, you had all the confirmation you needed. 

But before you could even process what your next move would be, Eddie had already lunged forward and forcefully connected your lips together. You let out a sudden gasp before fervently reciprocating the kiss. His lips were warm, soft. Of course he had to mock you with having the perfect pillowy lips at a moment's notice. Eddie had opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, but had not yet made any intrusion into your own, just enjoying the moment wholly before he could over-extend his actions. You on the other hand had wanted him to push the boundaries; wanted him to explore your mouth, leaving no corner unsearched. Deciding to test the waters you jabbed your tongue into the tip of his, earning yourself a raspy moan, the vibrations making you exert your own breathy whine.

As your tongues danced with one another in perfect cadence, Eddie’s hand that had previously found home on your breast had now slid its way to snake around your waist. Giving it a slight squeeze, he wraps his arm around you to satisfy his only mission of pulling you flush against his body. As your chest collided with his own, noting to yourself that he hadn’t even bothered changing out of his Slayer shirt and sweats from last night's gathering, a deep guttural groan erupted from his chest. You broke the kiss to meet his eyes, swooning at the closer proximity between the two of you.

“You okay there handsome?” you tease, trying to egg on his newfound confidence. It had seemed to work as he mumbled back to you,

“I’ve just always wanted to know how it felt to have the most perfect tits pressed against me,” he rasps out, “so thank you, Sweets”

Rolling your eyes at his dramatic antics, you playfully retort, “God Eds you make yourself sound like such a virgin.” Feeling brave, you decide to hook your thigh over his hips in order to further reduce any remaining space between you. And that’s when you feel it. You feel just how much of an effect your boobs had had on your best friend. You feel just how much Eddie had needed this too. How he yearned for it… ached for it.

He hissed quietly at the contact, one corner of his now swollen lips turning up slightly. With a bit more courage of his own he goaded to you, “If you want me to stop sounding like a virgin so much… then why don’t you change that?”

Plunging straight back into an impassioned kiss, you shift slightly to be able to wrap both arms around his neck, pulling his face impossibly closer as though any slight distance would rip him away from you. With his arm still tucked snug around the expanse of your back, he swiftly rolls onto his back and takes you with him, leaving you laying on top of his frame. Your hips had already unconsciously decided to grind against his crotch, the friction proving to be delicious for the both of you. You lost yourself in the kiss, delving deeper and deeper as though you sought to drown. Alas, you had to force your mind to swim back to the surface, breaking the kiss to ascertain clarity of the situation.

“Eddie, are you sure about this? Is this really what you want to do?” you question. Ending this now would be a devastating outcome. But it would be necessary if there was a possibility that he was unsure, in order to salvage your friendship, if that’s what this still was. He sits up abruptly and shuffles slightly up on the bed to lean across the headboard, taking your body with his as though that was what they were designed to do. 

“You're kidding right?” he deadpans, “Fuck yeah, this is what I wanna do! Can’t you feel how insane you’re making me?” You chuckle at that and nod, giving your hips a mischievous wiggle, producing a short exhale from him. He continues, “There is no one else that I could even consider sharing this moment with. Me. You. This… it just makes sense.”

He’s staring straight into your eyes now. The deep brown orbs unravel the very last of your previous reservations. And he maintains his eye contact as he removes his arms from your waist to pry his shirt from his skin that had collected a slight sheen from the anticipation. You didn’t see where his shirt went and neither did he, both of you lost in each other's gaze. Your own hands reach down to find the hem of his sweats, hooking your fingers at his hips and tugging them down along with his boxers until they sit just behind you, collected around his mid thighs.

Breaking the stare, you peer downwards in an attempt to see what you’d be dealing with. You were impressed to say the least. Sure, it wasn’t gonna win any awards, but it was definitely the biggest out of what you’d dealt with before. Enough to make your walls clench around empty space. Enough to make your mouth salivate. Sitting pretty against his abdomen, encased in a thatch of curls. You could see that it was waiting for your next move, twitching at the anticipation.

Quickly glancing up to his face and seeing his confident persona falter slightly, you leaned up to press a chaste kiss to his lips before lowering yourself over the shaft, rocking your hips slowly to create a delectable friction. Eddie was quick to whine out at the feeling of your clothed cunt rubbing salaciously against his bare cock. With your forehead pressed to his, you quickly found your rhythm, each rock of your hips making you pant and whimper at the feeling of him rock hard against your swollen clit. 

His hands suddenly shoot to your hips to halt your movements before pleading out, “Please, sweetheart. I can’t take all of this… need to be inside of you, please” The final plea was pathetic, sounding truly fucked out before anything had really begun. Normally you’d be inclined to tease and torture him some more, to use him for your own pleasure. But this was Eddie. Your Eddie. And so it was only right for you to heed his request on demand. 

“Do you have a condom?” you inquire, raising your brows slightly to ephasise the urgency.

“Yeah, uhhh shit hang on,” he reaches to his far right to impatiently yank his top drawer open and fiddled with the unopened box before pulling one out and grinning as though he’d just struck gold. Taking the foil from him, you’re brisk in tearing it open and pinching the tip before wrapping a hand around his shaft to begin rolling it down. He whimpers and hisses at the minimal contact, earning an inquisitive look from you.

“What?! It feels good,” he exasperates, “You’re literally touching my dick”

With a light snort you quip, “God baby, you really have no idea…” You admire the way the pet name brings heat to his cheeks, dusting them pink. Lifting yourself gently with your knees, you use your free hand to swipe your panties to the side whilst lining him up with your other hand still grasped around him. Alerted by a quivering exhale from below you, you pause right on the precipice to smile at the beautiful man.

“Hey… it’s just me,” you mirror from earlier, hoping the phrase could provide him with some comfort, “okay? It’s just us” you finish. Waiting for his curt nod as an acceptance, you slowly lower yourself onto him, the stretch immediately welcomed by your fluttering walls. You had let out an elongated hum the further you sank down, whilst Eddie sang a string of curses at the brand new sensations.

Once you had bottomed out you left little time to adjust for the both of you, your need becoming all-encompassing. You’re quick to lift yourself again, stopping to drop back down sharply once almost at the tip.

“Oh my… fuck. Shit, okay” Eddie had become the shell of a man, losing himself completely in the feeling. With a steady pace, not too slow to cause frustration but not too quick to overwhelm him, you begin to bounce. Eddie’s half-lidded eyes were level with your tits, lazily watching them jolt with your movements, his jaw slack. All that could be heard was the slap of your breasts against your chest as well as your arse on Eddie’s hips, and his pitiful moans.

“Ahh, shit I won’t last sweets,” he mutters out, his words slurred in his pussydrunk state.

You slam your hips into his as hard as you could, relishing in the strangled cry of the broken man before you, before once again grinding your hips to meet that delicious friction of your clit against his thick patch of hair. The sensations cause your walls to flutter and grip his cock sporadically, in turn making Eddie whine with each breath he takes.

With this new motion, along with the pathetic display below you, your high was fast approaching. You opted for a combo of grinding your hips together whilst also lifting slightly for Eddie to feel the insatiable drag through your erratically clenching pussy. Feeling his hips begin to thrash up to desperately chase his high, you feel your own suddenly crash through your entire body. The rhythmic pulsing sends Eddie over the edge with you, gripping your hips like a vice as he yells out his strained groans, his voice significantly dropping a few octaves. 

With your body going limp against his, you’re only able to muster up enough movement to press an ardent kiss to his jaw before tucking your face into his neck, his curls sticking to your face. Feeling a peck placed on your crown, you’re able to shift your head back slightly so that you’re still leaning on his shoulder, but this time able to gaze at his face. His own face meets yours in the middle. The two of you stay like that for a while, taking in the details of each other’s faces. Eddie is the one who breaks the silence,

“Sooooooo… your tits are nice,” he grins cheekily as his eyebrows wiggle at you. Your eyes immediately widen as you gather the strength to swat at his other shoulder tiredly, but still giggle along at his behaviour,

“Eddie Munson, you really are insufferable” 

[piracytheorist]

Twilight Eyes Project: "The Target's Second Son" (part 2)

Part 1 here

Previous episodes analyses

After Damian rejects Anya's apology, Twilight reverts his focus back to Plan A: making Anya an Imperial Scholar through good grades.

And so he starts this chapter with Twilight eyes, too focused on having Anya understand fractions to realize that it's too difficult a subject for her to begin with.

Yor suggests they take a break, but he insists, and his eyes keep their serious look.

And they even narrow further when he warns Anya that she won't get to watch Spy Wars if she doesn't finish her homework.

Feeling stressed, Anya runs to her bedroom. Loid follows her, intent on pressuring her to continue studying, until Yor tells him he shouldn't do that. Narrow (though a little softer in the anime) eyes as he tells her that Anya needs to study hard to become an Imperial Scholar.

Yor asks him if he believes that's what Anya wants... and that exposes him.

He's been too focused on the mission, and in his defense Anya has been amazingly accepting of everything, so now he realizes how much he's been actually pushing her. That she doesn't prioritize good grades the way he does, so she doesn't understand why he's doing what he's doing. His eyes stay narrowed in the manga, but the anime gives him a bit of a sadder expression.

Yor apologizes for interfering in his parenting methods, and he smiles at her in a show of registering her message.

He thanks her for offering her view. He's back on Loid Forger mode. This is a normal moment of a small child getting tired with homework, not the end of the world. Yor's words help him remember he needs to approach Anya with understanding, and not panic.

And so, they make her cocoa as a peace offering, but she doesn't respond when they call her. We still get Loid eyes, though they narrow in reaction to Anya's resistance, not in suspicion.

"Loid eyes" are still on, as he asks Yor about her experience in helping Yuri study. I find it interesting here because this could be an important moment in him learning how to navigate his own methods of helping Anya with her homework, but he just looks... invested. He's learning too, here, not as a spy obtaining information, but as a human gaining life knowledge.

Yor tells him that he can motivate Anya to study, the same way she had motivated Yuri in the past, and he looks down with an uncertain smile. No "Twilight eyes" to show he sees this moment from a cold and detached standpoint, and no "Loid eyes" to show he's pretending to be confident about this. In a way, he's exposing his lack of knowledge and experience to Yor.

The anime gives a little more focus on his reflection on the teacup, just as the soundtrack switches to the "teacups" track. We get what the rules of this post series would call "sad eyes".

Twilight's mind fills with his shortcomings as a father in the mission and he starts despairing. His face turns into an uncharacteristically sad and lost expression until Yor tells him that Anya loves who he is already.

And... I feel I'd do both manga and anime a disservice, if I didn't put his entire change in expression here.

Genuine surprise, to genuine relief... to getting himself back together. Judging by his reaction after, as he quickly turns to Twilight eyes, this seems to be the moment he remembers that his job is a slow, arduous work of becoming someone else, not to immediately turn into someone else.

He thanks Yor for her input and reassures her that it is her place to give such input, but I don't think his eyes show he was being duplicitous in any way here. I'd say he was more focused than anything else.

Back to business. He is a professional spy, after all, he needs to focus back on that.

He does, however, look genuinely thankful for Yor's comment. Sometimes all he needs is affirming words from someone not in the loop. Yor sees how high Anya thinks of him, and she simply reminds him of that, and that this is something everyone can see. To him, that means that the mission is going smoothly.

Judging by his expression here, though, and his comment to himself in the end, I do tend to think he's also influenced by the fact that a little girl feels loved. I mean, the very reason he continued Operation Strix as originally planned was because he didn't want to abandon Anya the way her other foster families had, so despite what he may think, there is a lot of emotional investment here. You can't tell me a part of him wasn't relieved here to know that he was directly ensuring a child's emotional safety. It's just that he can safely keep an emotional distance from the situation because he's certain Anya only loves "Loid Forger", so while he's relieved, he's not overjoyed with paternal love, you know what I mean?

Slightly narrowed eyes when he knocks on Anya's door again, apologetic and willing to compromise with her watching her show first and then studying. I think it's a good balance of him being careful as a spy, and showing his "negotiating parent" face.

Like, think about how all this time, he hasn't shown quite a lot of affection as a father to her. He did pick her up in his arms with a bright smile when she passed first the written exam and then the interview for Eden, but there's no plethora of smiles, terms of endearment, or hugs from him towards her. So maybe he knows he can't really be like "uwu I'm sowwy" nor like "yay I'm happy now you can watch your show and then I'll help you with those fractions :D".

I think by now it's become a little apparent, how he's not using over-willing "Loid eyes" a lot with Anya. Anya's high levels of intuition have thrown him off, and he's realized that this weapon of his is useless against her - she'll immediately see through it. For now he chalks it up to him not knowing a lot about children, but I'm curious to see if he'll notice how other kids can fall for his fake bright smile, and then suspect that maybe Anya is way more intuitive than the average kid... and why that may be.

As Anya doesn't answer when he knocks, he enters her room to find her asleep over her books. He matter-of-factly says she'll catch a cold if she sleeps like that, but then hears as she mutters in her sleep about how she wants to do good on her tests for him.

And through his calm expression (and the blush that the anime once again omitted) he shows how surprised he is by her initiative, but also how he feels a little proud of her.

It's interesting how much he shows with them around, especially Anya. The nature of this mission allows him to open up, after all.

Then, with the SOFTEST OF VOICES THAT I'M STILL NOT OVER, he picks her up and says he'll record the Spy Wars episode for her.

Like I'm sorry but how fucking cute is this. My dude is completely gone. He didn't even have to promise to record her show. He really did mean it when he said "You can watch your show and then study".

A small "WTF" expression as Anya is apparently having a dream of Yor going full Thorn Princess on Papa,

a classic moment of "dad looks at his sleeping child" moment added by the anime,

as he finally closes the shutters back into Twilight eyes. Cause now he's reaffirming that Anya thinks of him as a wonderful father... and he ends up wondering what it would feel like if he had a real family.

An evening of surprisingly vulnerable moments for him. He's not ready to unpack all that, so he retreats back into himself and the security of his spy position.

(no manga spoilers please)

[navia3000]

hello! I'd like to request a Tom Riddle oneshot, maybe a part 2 to Amortentia? But if you don't want that, I have an idea where Tom sees y/n as an academic rival but they get partnered yet realize that they enjoy each other's company.I only request that it's a ravenclaw reader hehe and it's up to you to make it more fluffy hehe, advance thank you!!

Potions Class - T. Riddle

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Pairing : Tom Riddle x Ravenclaw! Reader

Warnings : Cursing

Genre : Fluff, or, where Tom and reader are forced to work together after years of rivalry

A/N : I saw this request and got to work immediately! I hope I did your vision justice! And, I am working on Amortentia part two so I will let you know when that’s out <3

Masterlist

Requests are Open

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“Y/N, you’re with Riddle for this one.”

Her professor’s words made her heart stop. No, she thought, it can’t be. It’s no secret that Tom Riddle is her biggest rival. The Slytherin has been a thorn on her side ever since first year, the two competing for the highest grades possible.

Of course, if you asked her, she’d say she’s the best of the two, and that Tom Riddle is nothing but a stuck up piece of sh-

“Well, I knew the day would come when we would have to work together at some point.” Tom Riddle’s aggravatingly smooth voice jolted her from her thoughts.

“Yes, I suppose so,” she spoke with reluctance. She watched as the boy sat next to her, and she galked at his nonchalance. “Does this not bother you?”

“Very much so, but nothing I can do about it. Well, other than show you how to correctly brew a potion.” He struck a nerve and he knew it.

“I know how to brew a potion, thank you very much. My excellent grade in this class proves it.”

“Whatever you say, darling.” The nickname brought a heat to her cheeks, her mind overrun with thoughts of how devastatingly irritating Tom Riddle was.

The pair got to work in silence, only speaking when reciting the recipe from memory, or asking for an ingredient from the other. As they worked, Y/N found herself oddly at ease. She had to admit, they worked well together.

As they waited for the cauldron to boil, he broke the silence. “What are your thoughts on the Astronomy project?”

She was surprised at first, but answered honestly. “I thought it easy. Not exactly necessary seeing as it was information we both already knew, but I found it enjoyable.” He huffed out a small laugh at her words, an action which took her completely off-guard.

“Yes, I thought it enjoyable as well. Although, I am quite positive I got a better grade than you,” he spoke with a teasing smirk.

“You did not!” She exclaimed with a laugh.

“Did too. Denial is not a good look on you, dear raven.” Once again, she was surprised at seeing this side of Tom, the two so busy competing and never actually getting to know each other. Yet she was enjoying their easy banter, her affection for him certainly growing as the minutes ticked by.

“Alright, just add the basil and stir, and we should be fine.” He spoke as she did what he instructed. However, they were both startled when the potion began bubbling and overflowing from the cauldron.

“What did you do?” Tom exclaimed.

“I did what you said!”

“No, this clearly is not what I said.” At his words, she turned to stare at him in disbelief. How dare he accuse her of messing up the potion? Yet, as the pair made eye contact, they couldn’t help but burst out into laughter, drawing the attention from their classmates.

“Well,” he spoke after three minutes of uncontrollable laughter, “it seems we have managed to fuck this up royally.”

“It seems we have,” the smile was glued on her face.

“What do you say we get together to study, we clearly need the work.” She paused at his words, searching his eyes to decipher a hidden motive to his offer.

“I’d like that,” she spoke after she couldn’t find one.

“Great.” He began cleaning up their workspace.

“Great,” she whispered back.

Tom Riddle is definitely not what she thought.

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[abstractnaturaldisaster]

is it over now? (was it over then?)

part two

part three: you search in every model's bed for something greater

Steve had been doing his best trying to go back to some semblance of normal after Eddie walked out of his life. It wasn't easy and he spent countless nights dreaming up how he could have handled it differently or made Eddie stay or call Robin immediately and beg her to let him tell Eddie (Steve knew she would have but he hadn't wanted to ask her). He knew he could have done countless things differently but the result probably would have ended up the same. At the end of the day, Eddie didn't trust him and at the most basic crux of everything nothing else really mattered.

He was happy for Nance and Robin though. That was the big secret of it all. Robin wasn't ready to come out publicly and Steve offered to let Nancy stay at his place so that if there was any press it would be tied to him and not Robin. Eddie came over at maybe the worst time before he had been able to clear everything with Robin and Nancy was still sleeping off the jet lag from whatever Eastern European country she was reporting in that month. Steve and Nancy had an on again off again thing as kids when they were both getting famous in their own fields having grown up in the same small town. Steve knew Nance was bigger than him but it still stung when they finally admitted it to each other.

Thankfully, the next project Steve was on he met Robin who was the light of his life and his soulmate. He'd been pretty convinced they'd get married at one point until Robin drunkenly admitted she was gay on the bathroom floor of some random afterparty their heads a little fizzy from the champagne. Their relationship quickly pivoted from romantic to platonic and Steve was more than happy to play arm candy to stave off any rumors Robin was sick of circulating. As the years passed and Robin and Steve's circles melded together, Robin and Nancy started gravitating together and even Steve couldn't deny they were kind of perfect together. He'd happily agreed to lend whatever subterfuge he could to keep the two out of the tabloids. Unfortunately he hadn't really thought about bringing his boyfriend in on the plot until a little too late. Fuck him for thinking Eddie would trust Steve though, right? Steve was trying to be more positive as he didn't want to burst Robin and Nancy's new relationship bubble with his grumpy attitude. Instead he was doing what he normally did after a bad breakup -- wallowing and forgetting it happened.

Tabloids followed him around and accused him of sleeping with everyone including Robin’s secret girlfriend but in reality he was mostly at home only scheduling nights out every so often to give the girls some privacy at his loft. Nancy had convinced Robin to head out to the Hudson Valley to have some alone time outside of Steve's apartment so Steve was using his night at home alone to rot on the couch flipping through channels until he spotted a familiar flash of dark curls hammering away on his guitar apparently playing some new single.

Steve was livid. He would’ve been pissed if he had found out about the song in a more low key way way like scrolling through TikTok or getting a text from Robin but he was fucking livid because he found out about the song when Eddie fucking Munson was on Jimmy Kimmel.

Apparently, Eddie had thought it would be fun to release an unexpected single ahead of his band’s rumored fourth album. Steve knew Eddie had to have seen the tabloid fodder after he started going out again making headlines about how his and Robin’s relationship was on the rocks and Steve was auditioning most of the city to take her place. However, he hadn’t expected for Eddie to believe all of the rumors about him. 

Steve's relationship with the tabloids had always been trying. From his very public breakup with Nancy (who everyone asserted won because she immediately starting seeing Jon) to his "slut era" before "settling down" with Robin and more recently to speculating on his relationship with Eddie and what happened with Robin. Steve and Robin had a pretty long discussion about how to handle Eddie and if she wanted Steve to keep Eddie quiet so they could continue playing up their relationship. Robin had given her blessing but Robin wasn't quite ready to come out to anyone outside their tight nit circle of friends even though Steve and Eddie quickly became inseparable. Eddie had understood when Steve told him about Robin's agent and how it was helpful if there were at least rumors of the two dating even though it couldn't be farther from the truth. While they hadn't been super public with their relationship fans of both Steve and Eddie speculated in comments to pictures and stories the two posted but the boys never confirmed anything other than a few cheeky hearts here and there.

Steve had learned about Eddie because one of this kids he grew up babysitting was a huge Corroded Coffin fan and begged Steve to bring him as his plus one to some award show the band was also nominated at. Steve tried to explain to Dustin that is was not common to just run into famous people while they were heading to the carpet but of course the universe proved him wrong and they were right behind Eddie Munson himself. Dustin never had any sense of social propriety so he went right up to Eddie and introduced himself. Steve had pretty quickly fallen for Eddie's quick wit and how kind Eddie was to one of Steve's kids. Steve hung back in the wings but became enamored with the man from afar. Later when they found themselves at the same 30 under 30 event Robin all but pushed Steve into Eddie to force him to finally talk to him. They pretty quickly fell into the rhythm of exclusivity and from there it was a short road to boyfriends.

Early on in their relationship, Steve had thought Eddie and him had gotten over the hump of his history with the press. When Steve and Eddie had started going out on dates without trying to be coy about anything, there was lot of rumors that Steve was cheating on Robin. It had taken a lot of long nights and talks but Eddie seemed to trust that so much of Steve's public persona was presented by reporters who were only looking for a story. Steve thought they'd moved past believing rumors about each other that the press loved to spin. Eddie's song made it pretty clear Eddie believed every shitty headline or tweet or deuxmoi that had come out about Steve fucking his way across town.

It wasn't like Steve could have even tried to set the record straight with Eddie. Steve had tried to contact Eddie shortly after reorienting a very confused and awake Nancy after Eddie slammed Steve's apartment door. Steve didn't tell Nancy exactly what happened but he did tell her that Eddie broke up with him. She held him as he sobbed and realized each way he had to contact Eddie was gone. He'd blocked his number, blocked all of his socials, turned off any messaging Steve could think of.

Steve was devastated Eddie thought Steve was the man the tabloids presented him as even thought he'd worked really hard to make sure all his found family knew he wasn't that person. Apparently Eddie had forgotten all of that. It certainly wasn't helping that Eddie's song was already a Tik Tok trend and Steve was enough of a masochist to scroll through the sound. Steve found far too many edits of him and Eddie timed to the chorus.

Steve felt like he couldn’t escape it or figure out how to at least tell his side of the story. Anything he said would just make him seem like an asshole for moving on so quickly or trying to cover up for cheating on his ex, so Steve kind of resigned himself to private wallowing.

In the end, it wasn't even really all of that that hurt Steve the most. Steve couldn't help but fixate on that one line.

at least I had the decency to keep my nights out of sight

Steve was heartbroken that Eddie had already moved on. Steve may have been going out and putting on a smile at whatever club or restaurant he was passing time in that night. As much as the magazines wanted the world to believe Steve was finding a home in a new girl's bed every night, reentering his notorious bad boy era, Steve went home alone or found himself with Nancy and Robin cuddling on his couch. In Steve’s less than proud moments late at night when he lay awake staring at the ceiling, he’d pull up Eddie’s public insta and may or may not have set up a google alert for any references to Eddie or his band. None of that prepared him for the reality of hearing Eddie croon about his new relationship with someone who wasn't Steve.

Steve had been trying to keep the specifics of their breakup from Robin and Nance. He knew they'd both feel terrible and with no real way to contact Eddie it wasn't worth dragging Robin and Nancy down with him. After going down a Tik Tok rabbit hole listening to people say all kinds of terrible shit about him and doubting his sincerity with Eddie, Steve slunk out of his room to where Nancy and Robin were finishing up their Thursday night movie.

"Steve?" Robin asked as soon as she saw Steve wrapped up in his blanket, eyes puffy and red.

"Rob, I need to talk to you about something." Steve sat across from his friends, tucked his knees into his chest and got ready to dive into the reasons Eddie actually left.

part four

@lololol-1234 (we're getting close to the happy ending i promise)

(if you saw this version earlier when i forgot how i had these two fools meet, no you didn't)