#i promise writing long tags can actually be pretty fun ��

[6okuto-moved]

heads up :p

hello. archiving my blog soon. like in the next month or so. not shocking. i still have a lot to queue but i needed to say this so i can't back out for the gazillionth time 😭 i don't have a new blog and i'm not sure if or when i'll be back. as for 6okuto, i probably won't delete it! probably.

thanks for being here for almost 3 years!! it was really nice writing for the first time and getting to know you guys. please take care of yourselves, and i hope you have a good end to 2024! ^^

and just a final request to tell creators you enjoy their work. i can't tell you how many times one kind person stopped me from doing this a lot earlier. please help make tumblr a kinder and stronger community !!

regular pinned - masterlists

[its-a-me-mango]

Oh hey... it's been a while Telly...

Everypony, this is URGEN, and I need your help, I have a sad TV that needs cheering up, can you help me? You guys think you can help me? Pretty please?

THIS IS A FUN LIL OC/SONA DRAWING/WRITING/WHATEVER EVENT THINGY AND YOU'RE INVITED TO TAKE PART!!!

INFO BELOW THE READ MORE!

Hi welcome to below the read more, nice down here innit.

THIS IS NOT AN EVENT WHERE YOU SUGGEST THINGS TO ME, THIS IS FOR YOU TO DO, I WILL BE IGNORING ANY ASKS RELATED TO REQUESTS FOR ME TO DRAW!

Anyway so as I said, you're invited to have your sona, your OC, your AU or heck even one of the SMG4 crew help cheer up Telly! You can do this in anyway you like, wethers it's taking them out somewhere nice like a park or city, to playing games with them, or just hanging out with them! You're in charge of picking out something fun for your character of choise and Telly to do together! They love doing anything as long as its with friends so you're welcome to do pretty much anything!

You can also make this in an medium you'd like, be it art, comics, writing, or anything else you can think of, there is no strict medium this has to be done in so go wild and most importantly have fun!

For the sake of keeping things clear in the SMG4 tag, you can use #SMG4CheerUp as the tag for this event, you are obviously free to @ me but if not, I will check the above tag instead.

Before I go any further, just want to make this clear:

THERE IS NO PRIZE! THERE IS NO DEADLINE! THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!

THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION

Just saying this as I don't want people expecting anything from me in return for this, nor do I want people putting themselves down or comparing themselves to others, I want people to have fun for the sake of having fun.

I'm obviously not super stricks on rules as this is for fun but I do have a few requests:

No just straight up brining Mr Puzzles back, that kinda defeats the point. You're more than welcome to use your AU or OC version of Mr Puzzles for this, but no actual Mr Puzzles, let him rot in prison for a bit please.

I know I said you're welcome to do pretty much anything but please keep your work age appropriate! Telly is meant to be no older than 10 at max so nothing too outrageous please! I don't mind a bit of angst or anything like that but you know, be nice to the kid alright, I will kill you otherwise /j

Also for this please don't use their teen/adult design, this is focused on them as a kid so please keep them as one, no aging up to do anything not age appropriate please.

Please keep in mind that Telly is mute and cannot talk! They can write/type to talk (as they don't know sign language yet) and they can make static noises, but no actual speaking for them!

TELLY USES THEY/THEM PRONOUNS AND NOTHING ELSE, PLEASE JUST REFER TO THEM AS A CHILD/KID

That's all I could think of lol, will add more if I think of anything else.

TELLYS REF IS HERE FOR ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT (it is also linked on my pinned post at all times) I'm not overly strict on design so feel free to add your own lil details to them, I think it's fun! :3

My media asks are off for now, as I'd rather people make their own posts, it's what Tumblr's for and I wouldn't want anyone's amazing work to sit and rot in my inbox! I will be reblogging everything I promise.

You're welcome to ask me any questions but my response will likely be either "yes" or "if it's fun for you go for it!"

There is no deadline as stated, but I'll say this is open for at least a month-ish, or at least until Mr Puzzles comes back or something lol (watch that be, this week! wow how short lived /j)

ANYWAY WITH ALL THAT OUT THE WAY, GO FORTH AND ONCE AGAIN, HAVE FUN ABOVE ALL ELSE!!! :3

[lsunstreakerl]

lil snippit from "honey, your father". at this point it's more of a proof of concept than anything lol. I promise I'm writing it.

the good news is I'm on break now! so you can all expect to see a decrease on the ficlet side of things and an increase in AO3 updates :) it's just spring break though so it's only a week, don't get too excited

Seb POV, 800 words!

Daniel's new teammate is tiny. The kid's a "prodigy", and the media keeps trying to paint him in a mythical light, a new golden boy to fill the void Sebastian has left behind.

As if.

Honestly, the next golden boy better be Danny, for all the work Seb's put into him. This younger generation doesn't get it, but Danny- Seb's pretty proud of what he and Red Bull have managed. Sure, he's got his own set of problems, but they all do, it's part of being in Red Bull.

It'll be interesting to see how Daniel handles having a rookie. Personally, Seb thinks he's a little bit young for it still, but whatever.

He's got his own set of problems, Finn shaped with a permanent frown and a jawline to die for. It's a tad bit distracting, honestly. Sure, he's in Ferrari- prancing horse and Rosso Corsa, all that fun stuff- but if he doesn't sleep with Kimi at least once he'll be letting down the Redbull legacy.

Danny and Max will need to grow into it. The kid's too young- not even a legal adult in some countries. He's a bit of an oddball, now that Seb thinks about it.

He's practically permanently attached to Daniel. Or Rosberg, actually. Seb almost wants to be offended, because if the little limpet wanted a German buddy, Seb is literally right here. Nico's not Red Bull, or even properly German either, which is a double offense.

Maybe Seb needs to step in here. Nico's been on a complete bender with Lewis, and their mess is screwing with the rest of the paddock. Nico doesn't have time to be dealing with an aggressive little tag-along.

Maybe Seb can come off as an older brother figure. Max seems desperate for some kind of family, anything at all to cling to- it's gotten him attached to Nico, so it clearly can't be that hard.

Maybe Seb can encourage him to temper that flame a bit. Settle into his role, his job. He's there to collect any leftover points and scraps Daniel leaves him, and he clearly needs to be reminded of that.

Sebastian nods to himself. This is a good plan. It gives Nico some breathing room to figure out how to next best fuck with Lewis, which is an advantage for everyone, it gives Seb something to toy around with for a bit, and it might even make Danny's life easier.

Never let it be said that Seb isn't a good senior- he's clearly still looking out for his little Australian rookie. A residual fondness for the accent, the dark hair.

That's about where the similarities between Mark and Daniel end. Mark had been something else entirely, blown into Sebastian's life with a brutal ferocity, never gave an inch even when Seb gave his most angelic smile.

He'd fucked Sebastian through the mattress on more than one occasion. Seb remembers it fondly- Mark probably only remembers it in therapy.

Daniel, though. He'd been so eager to please, wild hair and braces hanging onto Seb's every word. It was out of character, but-

Seb hadn't had the heart to break him in like the others. He was even a little bit sweet about it, showing Danny how the paddock worked, who to go to after a rough race, how to look up from under dark lashes to get whatever he wanted.

Jenson helped too, because Daniel pulls off the young and eager bottom look now, but Seb can already tell his rookie is going to be a leader. He knows what he wants, knows how to get it, leans more naturally towards commanding than submitting.

He still has to serve his time, just like the rest of them. It's tradition.

Max, on the other hand-

He's boyish, reminds Seb of a gangly little colt, long limbs with no idea where to put them. He's aggressive and snappish, and it's going to take more than just Daniel to break him in.

Sebastian had almost assumed his older Toro Rosso teammate would do it, based off the rumors of the explosive fighting between the boys fathers. It would be a natural course of action, getting a hierarchy established, but instead it almost seems like Max has wormed his way into Carlos' heart. His Spanish teammate is too soft on him, too fond. Danny seems like he might be falling for it too, which is concerning.

Seb taught him better than that. So did Jenson, and so did Daniel himself, with the way he came into his seat. He knows better.

It's okay, Seb doesn't mind doing Danny one last little favor. He'll get the rookie- Max- all figured out, soften him up and do the hard work for him, make it easier on Daniel when he comes in and crushes his career.

It's a solid plan.

[roomwithanopenfire]

Stats Sunday

(no banner today bc my laptop sometimes does this weird thing where it won't let me upload files and i don't feel like restarting it rn)

Hi! Thanks to @brilla-brilla-estrellita for the tag!

April has been a weird month for writing, but sharing my graphs and stuff is always fun for me (and hopefully you) even though I didn't work on like ANY of my preexisiting wips last month. As always, this post is long, expect stats, graphs, and musings under the cut. (No snippets today tho)

I posted zero fics in April which is understandable given that I have been SO busy lately with school and stuff.

Total words written for April: 22725 (this is the most words i've written in any month this year so far....)

Days I met my writing goal (200 words): 11

Days I didn't write or edit anything: 18 (this month has def been the worst month in terms of consistency bahaha)

Day I wrote the most: Apr 18th with 5957 words (this is the highest daily word count of the year, very abnormal for me, i went insane for a couple of days)

Number of Fics worked on: 1 fic plus one scrapped idea (LITERALLY ONLY 1 FIC AND IT'S NOT ANY OF MY WIPS)

Daily Average: 757 words (but this is a lie, most days i wrote 0 words lol. check out my graph)

I feel like this does not showcase enough how insane i felt on the 18th. Check out this quick graph i made of my daily WC for the whole year...

the spike is insaneee. Let's see my not-very-exciting pie graph i've created and see what i've been working on

No familar wips here. not either of the COBBs that I should be finishing (last years and this years 😭), or the COSW fic that I promise i'll finish eventually, but just 1000 words of a scrapped project and like 20k+ worth of a shiny new idea. The document is titled GET OUT OF MY HEAD because I was just going to write the scenes that were stuck in my head, but, like, it's still in my head and is getting more and more complex and complicated, but i haven't been writing it as much the past few days and i miss the writing demon that was inside of me, come back. channel more words through me please. let me write 6k in a day again, i miss you.

And this fic is not even for a fandom i've written for before, this is uncharted territory. i'm sure that just by glancing at my blog you can guess which new fandom this is for loll. we'll see how far i get on this wip. i've been writing scenes out of order as they come to me, but now i'm losing some steam so i have to decide if i actually want to put the work into making this something. And I think I do. Despite orginally writting it to get it out of my head, it is still very much in there. Taking up space.

And some life update news, the month of April has been pretty good to me. I got a year older, finally figured out my summer job, and i am getting an A in all my classes (at least, most likely. I still have one final left that I could bomb, but it's open-note so i'm not too worried). I have one week left at school, and then I'm home for the summer. (Which I have a whole ton of mixed feelings about. I love being home, but I also feel so much more me when I'm at school. But I'm excited to be making money again omggg.) also just yesterday the girl i have a crush on asked me out so eeeeee. very exciting

tags and hellos

@alexalexinii @aristocratic-otter @argumentativeantitheticalg @artsyunderstudy @arthurkko

@blackberrysummerblog @best--dress @bookishbroadwayandblind @bookish-bogwitch @the-beard-of-edward-teach

@cccloudsss @confused-bi-queer @cutestkilla @drowninginships @facewithoutheart

@emeryhall @fiend-for-culture @hushed-chorus @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife

@theimpossibledemon @jyae23 @larkral @lovelyladzzzz @lovelettersto-mars

@m1ndwinder @monbons @nausikaaa @noblecorgi @orange-peony

@prettygoododds @raenestee @rimeswithpurple @run-for-chamo-miles @rbkzz

@shrekgogurt @simonscones @skeedelvee @supercutedinosaurs @sweetronancer

@talentpiper11 @thewholelemon @valeffelees @youarenevertooold @you-remind-me-of-the-babe 

please let me know if you'd rather not be tagged in just stats with no writing. or if you'd rather not be tagged at all. no hard feelings if you'd rather not get the notif <3

[madamscream]

Many people think that the sloth is the slowest moving mammal on the planet. It’s actually me. Anyways, here's that list of erotic fanfiction I promised @trashy-corvian way too long ago. It's not complete but I've somehow become sort of busy and I figure I can always do a part two!

Since we’re talking about my favourites, there’s going to be a lot of Barbatos, monster-fucking, and dominant!reader. I Know What I Am About.

Will offer the pairing(s), a blurb, and information on reader gender if that’s relevant. As for kinks, please check the tags in any fic before reading, I literally have no way of accounting for everyone’s tastes and I enjoy some odd things. 

If a fic covers most of the cast but excludes some, I’ll list that instead of a pairing. None of the links have anything sexual with Luke, but I’ll still list him in the exclusions if I’m listing exclusions.

Lessons in Demonic Anatomy by Sexxica (tumblr)

MC has no gender, their genitals are not mentioned. Luke, Raphael, Mephistopheles, and Thirteen aren’t in the fic, but everyone else is.

One of my favourite, if not my very favourite smut fic because… I like reading about people jacking off, and this is basically a list of my favourite characters doing that. They are all amply aware they’re being watched, it’s all consensual. A+, have kinda wanted to write my own fic along a similar premise since reading it.

—

wear your independence like a crown by Koumine (thesecretsavant) on Ao3

Lucifer x MC

Written in second-person, the reader has a vagina, gender-neutral though Sir is the chosen title for MC.

I’m pretty eh on Lucifer, but people write some really tasty smut for him. A friend sent me this one, and they were correct to do so. By and large, it’s a collection of explicit scenes between the two that take place over time. It’s well written and the author has at very least done a lot of research into BDSM relationships if they don’t partake in them personally, which is always nice to see in a BDSM fic.

—

Mammon's First and Mammon’s Second by Avatar_Saiki

Mammon x MC

Gender neutral MC, no genitals mentioned for them.

Set shortly after the taming of Cerberus in Nightbringer. Mammon gets a blowjob. Genuinely really good characterization of the brothers and the MC is fun. The blowjob is nice, but I like the conversation between Asmodeus and Mammon ABOUT the blowjob best, because it’s honestly pretty cute imho.

Warm Inside and Out by HiddenOnyx

Gender neutral MC, implied to have a vagina in some of them. Luke, Raphael, Thirteen, and Mephisto are not included.

It occurs to me I’m sort of handing out a very public kink list. Anyways, this is a series of drabbles about cockwarming with the cast.

Kinktober: Obey Me Edition by InvertedPhantasmagoria (tumblr)

Possibly varied on the pronoun/genital situation, honestly not sure. Everyone but Luke, Raph, Mephisto, and Thirteen.

I will not lie, I haven’t read every entry because I just don’t like some of the kinks. The ones I do like are very good though! To no one’s surprise, chapter 31 is my favourite. They’re good at capturing desperation, which is something I enjoy GREATLY.

How do you like your tea? by wubzee

SolomonxBarbatos

I’m a sucker for aphrodisiac fics. Barb + Golden Hellfire Newt Syrup + Solomon’s a bastard. I’d say this is pretty non-con. It’s been a while since I read it properly, but skimming through… it’s pretty non-con.

carpe dick-em by wubzee

LuciferxSolomon (though I don’t think that ever happens actually)

Okay… so… to be fair… when I initially asked someone for the link to the Lucifer erectile dysfunction fic they mentioned, I was not actually aware of the clown fetish aspect. I like clowns just fine, but I am not personally horny about them. Despite the fact that there is next to nothing in this fic I would ever seek out, I did end up really enjoying it. And I’ve just noticed wubzee is on here twice so maybe I should read the rest of their stuff.

Arvandus writes really good Barbatos fanfiction. Also other things too, just… I have a particular area of interest.  As far as smut…

Of Love and Pacts the smut is great, of course, but I read this and my brain has not stopped riffing on the concept since. Making a pact mid-intercourse? Fucking amazing, no notes. Other things also, but it’d be kinda wild to put spoilers in my fic rec…

The Divine is fun because the first half of the fic is a date, deals with mortality, and made me cry like a baby. Then the second half hit me with some of the best-written smut anyone’s ever put to paper. Amazing. I wish all fics were like this… or maybe I just wish someone would pay Arv millions of dollars to write fics about Barb as a full time job.

Really can’t go wrong with earthliving, aka another-lost-mc

If I had to pick favourites… 

Angels at the Door tops the list. Something about characters listening to someone fuck the person they’re into and jacking off to it the next room over is entirely too lovely.

For Your Ears Only I don’t have any specific praises for this one, the whole thing is very nice.

Put A Spell On You I may or may not rotate the bit about Barbatos excusing himself around in my head More Days Than Not 

Got Milk? probably isn’t a favourite out of all their works for me personally but it did spark a very long series of daydreams and thus Must Be Mentioned

Human by getosubaru

Barb x MC, no pronouns but MC has a vagina

I asked a friend for their favourite fics and they happened to drop this one in my lap that I’ve been looking for for AGES. It’s pretty vanilla compared to a lot of the other stuff but it kicked down the door and made a home in my brain.

Various things by frenchfry_writes

Special shout out. They no longer write for the fandom, but they wrote good fic for a lot of very niche kinks that I like a lot and several that will make me tap out of a fic instantly. Often wrote AMAB or trans male reader. I’m not really warning for specific kinks in this list, but piss and vomit are a lot for many people (me included and I’m actively into omorashi) so like… they write for various watersports and emeto. Be aware of that. 

---

Special note: There’s one I skimmed my entire Ao3 history trying to find to no avail, to my severe distress. It’s largely about learning through experiencing how courtship works in the Devildom… Mammon leaves MC the heart of a big bird on their bed, then kills a guy for them. Levi kills a BUNCH of guys for them and they do the nasty while one of the corpses is floating in his floor-to-ceiling aquarium. If anyone knows where I can find that one again, I’d really like to have it back, it had some interesting world building :c I really hope it wasn't deleted.

EDIT: cosmicstarlatte comin' in clutch "the levi fic (you can then click the author for the others): https://archiveofourown.org/works/38520418"

[brainworms-all-night-long]

Hello hi, I'm Brainworms and this be an all inclusive intro to the hellspace that's my brain and this blog!! Do not attempt to find any parallels in my blorbos to my behavior and desires I promise it says nothing about the very core of me as a living being haha

I also have a Bsky and PillowFort in case this place kicks the bucket fr

And if you feeling like you have a lot of money and don't know where to put it, you can Commission me (OPEN) or Buy Me a Coffe!! I am currently saving up for a new phone and headphones

While you're still here, please donate to these fundraisers for Sahar Shehab, Maryam, Wasim, Heba Al-Dahdouh, Mahmoud and Ali as I'm unable to do so myself

Every silly appearing above lives full time in my brain and refuses to pay the mortgage, in fact, is very adamant they will never do so. Henceforth, I yap about them sometimes!! Some more than others *coughNinecough* but they are always present

>Now to the tags I actively use!!

sonic prime / sonic the hedgehog / miles nine prower – The most of thoughts at the actual documented begining of life for this blog, and I like Nine!! A lot!! A character made specifically for me I think....

murder drones / arcane / nimona 2023 / dreamtale (UTMV) – Other stuff besides Sonic that I draw and yap about, although this is still mainly a Sonic blog

me does arts / littol doodl / actually finished doodl – My art tags!! I've been drawing the same character for over two years now help :D Have no idea why I decided to split them into three separate categories but I believe the names are pretty self explanatory

me when I finish writing – I do a drable or two sometimes as well just, don't expect for me to actually finish anything I start writing even though I say I will, that tag name is a lie

the silly text box – answered asks whenever I remember to use the tag lmao

silly brainworms – my yappings, Nine character analyses and headcanons!!

There's no talk tag, if you see my random unrelated thoughts, it was destined and once in a lifetime event

>I also have a few AUs but mostly of the "What if crossover" variety

Prime bros – a more or less non committed collaborative effort of random.headcanons and drables between me and @/000marie198 and anyone else who has thoughts and wants to join in on the fun on the idea of having the Shatterverse foxes (Nine, Sails, Mangey and Tails) living together in green hill and causing mayhem because the way the show left them was bullshit and unsatisfying!!

The same but different is my own personal version of the prime bros universe that is now actually being incredibly slowly written and the first three chapters are on my Ao3!!

Project 09 – a Tails gets adopted by Eggman AU except it's Nine getting "adopted" by the Chaos Council and to no one's surprise, it fucks him and everyone else up in a special way

Over the hills – is a Dreamtale and Sonic crossover brought on by The Nine-tailed travel guide through the multiverse event conceived by @/Donelywell and mashed with my long time held dreamswap au idea of Dream taking Night and running away from the village after taking some drastic measures that is also posted on Ao3!! (more stuff will come to it in time. I hope)

running from a Nightmare – another Dreamtale au, this time about corrupted Nightmare being set loose on the Sonic world by none other than Eggman and the suffering that comes with it (also fighting tooth and tail to get it written)

the n 'n n's (read as m&m's) – unserious crossover where I put Nine Night and Nimona together and have them be silly (perhaps Nuzi will tag along some day too...)

And because I keep having Dreamtale & Sonic thoughts, I do lump them all together under the dreamtale and sonic tomfoolery tag!!

prime arcane – as seen above, I like arcane!! Jinx and Nine are eerily similar in their sibling and identity struggles, I put them together, boom an Au :D other characters are there too but I need to get around actually designing them....

>This will get updated in case I get possessed by something new or remember a tag I forgor

——

Hey you scrolled this far might as well put some more random trivia abt me here :D

>paleontology and zoology nerd, but only as an avid listener to four hour YouTube documentaries, I don't actually know shit- (Miniminuteman, Casual Geo and Lydnsey Nikole hyper carry this special interest shoutout to them)

>Obviously a followup to previous point needed, favorite dinosaur is the Archeopterix and the animal ever is the Blunt Headed Tree Snake (which is also my Sonicsona by the name of Shoelace)

>I have a pet snake, her name is Ebi and is a black head spider python!!

> Graduating a four years study of Mechanical engineering in a weeks time I also have no fucking clue what I'm doing ill be happy if this is finally over

>Favorite color is pink!! (In case you couldn't tell by my art and this whole post lmao) I went through a goddamn hero's journey to learn to love it alright you can pry the seven plain hot pink shirts and hoodies I own from my cold dead hands

>I'm Slovak!! Niečo niečo hokej, Tatry, a zlatý Bažant

>Aro, Ace and Agender (that's where the AAA battery comes in lmao)

>undiagnosed but there's.... something...

> I could recite the story of the ugly duckling backwards as a kid (unrelated to previous two points)

[beer-anon]

Clingy and relentless

Tomioka Giyuu x Fem! Reader

Prologue can be read but doesn't have to be. Background: You're the Moon Hashira

NB: I moved account to @desi-the-blue-eyed-kakushi

Tags: drunk sex, mild coercion?, body worship, minor voice kink, porn with plot (?)

Word count: 4k

I promised to tag you long time ago, but I never got around to finishing/posting so here it is @crimsonkenjii-writes

The izakaya was rowdy, the ‘Welcome, new Hashira!’ party was in full swing. You’d been pulled along by an excited Mitsuri, Uzui pushing your smaller figure forward. The dubious seat of honor was between those two. Each egging you on to drink shot after shot. 

Soon enough, it was getting too noisy and too energetic for you, so you’d excused yourself to get a little breather outside. You felt quite flushed, this being perhaps the second time you ever drank in your life. It was actually pretty surprising how well you held on. 

Soft evening breeze cooled down your heated skin. You sighed in relief. You didn’t know how the Hashira managed to stay in their uniform and haori inside the hot pub. You had only ever worn your uniform, and even now, you’d discarded the jacket, leaving you in the white button-up and dark pants. Despite that, you had to cool down. 

The moon was bright in the night sky, and if you hadn’t been in a lit village, you would see the stars too. The whole night was beautiful. 

You wanted to get lost in it, to forget about the guilt weighing you down, and most of all, you wanted to belong. You wanted to be comforted and to feel safe. To take a deep breath into your lungs unobstructed, without the worries pressing down on your chest.

A loud laughter echoed from the inside. You figured your mini pity party should be over. You needed to return before someone came out to drag you in. 

The short time you were gone saw some seating changes. Rengoku sat in your spot next to Uzui now, and the only two free seats were next to Kocho. It would be weird to sit one seat away from her, so you took the one right by her. 

“Ah, [L/n]-san, nice of you to join me,” her smile seemed dim compared to before. Maybe the alcohol had something to do with it. “You should drink some water too. The sake seems extra strong today.” 

You took her advice and the two of you started talking about poisons. You used to be interested in it when you were younger due to your true crime obsession. 

A few minutes passed by when the Water Pillar took up the seat next to you. You glanced at him. His usually unreadable face was a little flushed. How much had he drunk? 

“Ara, ara, Tomioka-san, you’re quite the light-weight, aren’t you?” 

His lips pressed together in a tight line and the corners were a little downturned. It was the biggest reaction he gave the whole day. 

“Uhm, Kocho-san, perhaps you shouldn’t make fun of Tomioka-san,” you intervened. His dark blue eyes shot to you in surprise, but you weren’t looking at him. You were frowning at Kocho. 

And just like that, you became on her hit list for teasing. “Oh my, [L/n]-san, I never took you to be friendless too~”

The hell? That hit home. She didn’t have to say it out loud though.

You pointedly turned away from her and leaned closer to Tomioka. “I heard you created a new breathing form, right? That sounds amazing. Tell me more about it, please.” 

His eyes darted behind you before his full attention was yours. The flush on his cheeks was worse than before. Did he drink another shot while you weren’t looking?

The rest of the night was spent quietly talking at the edge of the party. You switched to first names somewhen along the way. Giyuu was very nice, and it seemed the alcohol loosened his tense mask a lot. Your thighs touched and you sat closer than appropriate perhaps, but his voice was so pleasant and low that you couldn’t bring yourself to care. 

At the end of the night, it fell on you to escort the woozy Water Hashira home. Since your home was much closer, you decided that he would be better off sleeping at yours - the Moon Estate. 

It wasn’t much of an estate and more of a family house. It used to belong to a Hashira fifty years ago but fell into disrepair since. Ubuyashiki honored your request for something smaller - perhaps he really cared… 

(And you betrayed that trust-

Sit with me.

-like the fraud you were.)

The house was hastily repaired and prepared for you. Unlike the Wind estate or Flame estate with at least five workers each, your home had only one attendant - a quiet woman in her late forties named Sakura. 

Your attendant was already asleep by the time the two of you stumbled through the gates. It was probably a good thing. If she saw the two ‘admirable’ Hashira struggling to support each other while drunk, she’d get a heart attack. To be fair, Giyuu was more of a lightweight than you so he was the one leaning on you really. 

You sat him on the engawa to take off his shoes - no need to make Sakura angry by tracking dust and mud in the house - but he swayed and fell back to lay there instead. 

“Mhmm, your bed i’nt comfy,” he mumbled. “Should’ve gon’ to m’ home. M’ futon is the best.”

You hummed in agreement to entertain his thoughts. After slipping off your shoes as well, you dragged him onto the wooden floor properly and urged him to get up, much to his protest. 

The way he acted and talked was endearing, until you had to wrestle with him to get him in the guest room and undressed out of his uniform. It was official. Tomioka Giyuu, the great Water Hashira, turned into a clingy baby when drunk. It took ten minutes to pry his sleepy death grip on you off so you could go to your own room. 

You really hoped he didn’t remember most of it. You were sure he would be embarrassed.

✿   ✿   ✿

Giyuu remembered everything. Giyuu wasn’t the type to get black out drunk and forget. No, Giyuu was the type who lost his inhibitions, “Liquid Courage” living up to its name for him.

In the morning he laid in the guest futon for a while longer, thinking. The scent of you, despite the smell of izakaya and alcohol, was intoxicating. The warmth of your body was heavenly against his. He wondered how you tasted, how would it feel to kiss you, to devour you.

He wanted more, but he wasn’t sure how to get it. It’s been some time since he had to scratch that itch and he would make sure to make it worth it for you. The night, and morning after, would leave you breathless. He was confident in that - if you wanted him, that is.

And if it was good for you both, maybe more nights and mornings to follow.

The birds screaming outside for attention only made his throbbing headache worse. 

The headache also gave him an idea though.

You didn’t seem to mind taking care of him while he was drunk. Maybe he could test out the waters while under the influence and if you didn’t want it, or him, he could blame it on the alcohol.

Mind made up, it was time to face the outside world.

✿   ✿   ✿

The next time the Hashira went together for a little drinking party was when Rengoku retired. His skirmish with Upper Three left him on a long road to recovery, which he planned to use to train up more young demon slayers in his stead. Everyone, except Muichiro, had a cup of sake in hand and was in a jolly mood. Some disciples of Rengoku were there as well, though they also didn’t have any alcohol. You sat next to Giyuu again, Shinobu on your other side, and the little squad was right next to him. It was strange seeing a demon in the middle of the party, but at least you weren’t in public. This time, you were at the Ubuyashiki estate. 

“That’s really interesting. She just sleeps?” You raised your eyebrows in surprise. Apparently, your promotion to Hashira happened just after the ‘trial’. 

A loud laugh echoed from the other side of the room. Uzui was the source, as Rengoku’s stomach wound prohibited any sort of laughing, which had to be a bit painful. That man was made of sunshine and laughter. At this moment, he had a shit-eating grin on his face though.

“Yeah, she slept for two whole years while I was training under Urokodaki-san,” the boy with the hanafuda earrings, Tanjiro, said fondly while looking at his sister. She was staring at Mitsuri, and occasionally glanced at you, probably because Mitsuri braided your hair for the evening as well. 

“I see. Urokodaki-san also trained Giyuu-san, right?” you turned your attention to him. His face was flushed with alcohol, his eyes bright as they met yours. A high-pitched noise left him, and it took a second to realize it was a whine. “Giyuu-san?”

His lips parted, and closed, before he said, “Yes, he did.” 

Tanjiro giggled. You tilted your head to look at him with a confused frown. “Is something funny?”

The teen immediately tensed up and pressed his lips in a tight smile. “Nothing.” An obvious lie.

A tug on your sleeve distracted you. It was Nezuko, and her wide innocent eyes made you melt. “What is it, Nezuko-chan?”

She made some grumbling noises and gestures but you got the gist of it. She wanted you to braid her hair like Mitsuri’s, and yours. 

“Alright,” you shuffled out of your pillow seat, a difficult motion in your yukata, and patted it. “Sit here. I’ll braid it for you.” You knelt behind her and started to part her hair into two sections. Two braids would be better. Her hair was thick. 

Clothes rustled, and you glanced up to see Tanjiro staring intently at your hands as you worked. Giyuu got pushed out of his seat to let the young man watch but seemed fine with a cup of sake in his hand. 

You felt… content. For once.

Much later, Giyuu leaned heavily against you. You took it as a sign to get up and guide him home. This time, his home was closer, and that’s where he guided you as you supported him.

“[Name], are we friends?”

You looked at him confusedly, “Yeah, I consider you a friend.”

“Good, b’cos Shinobu is always like ‘Aww, Tomioka-san, you have no friends! Tomioka-san~’ and it’s annoyin’,” he pouted, half hanging onto your figure as you trudged through the streets towards his estate. “Now I can tell her I have you, and when she says ‘Oh, but no one likes you Tomioka-saaan’ then I’ll tell her-” he hiccuped “- I’ll tell her you like me and that will show her!” 

The flush on your face wasn’t to be blamed entirely on alcohol. At least it was dark enough that he couldn’t see. 

He saw.

You said nothing as you dragged him through the gates. Giyuu continued his rambling as you forced him to take off his shoes before walking in. 

You sat him down on the engawa and he lied down, much like last time you were helping his drunk ass into bed. 

“Wai’, are we at your place again? Why ain’t we at mine?” he whined.

You snort in amusement. Giyuu truly was a baby drunk. You frowned. Your stupid sandal wasn’t coming off. Did you tie it too tightly? 

“Hey… don’t ignore me,” he breathed against your ear sensually. 

A shiver ran down your spine. When had he moved?! “Giyuu, the hell?” you flinched back with a deep blush. “You scared me.”

His pout was criminally adorable. “You were ignoring me.” 

“I’m just getting my shoes off so we can go in. This stupid tie won’t budge though.” You went back to fighting your sandal.

Warmth enveloped you from all sides when he embraced you from behind. You tensed up but let him do as he wanted. His nimble fingers reached for the tie on your shoe and tugged it free in just a second.

He would never admit he re-tied it tight while you were distracted braiding Nezuko’s hair. His knots were the best, he knew.

Giyuu stayed glued to you for a few moments longer, breathing against your neck.

“Giyuu?” Goosebumps rose all along your skin. “Are you awake?”

He huffed. “Yeah.” The pressure eased and cold evening air stole all the body heat provided to you.

The both of you got to your feet, Giyuu more unsteady than you. He wavered and you immediately supported him. “Well, which way?” 

The room he led you to smelled like him. There was a big futon already prepared on the tatami mats.

“Alright, this is your stop, buddy. Let me set you down. Which way to the guest room?” 

Giyuu looked at you like you were stupid. “You’re staying here, with me.”

“I’m what?” You blinked. “You know what? I don’t really care at this point. I’m too tired to search for it by myself and I don’t wanna wake up your attendants.” 

You left him to steady himself and took off your outer yukata. The white juban was staying on though, despite being tied a bit too tight. You couldn’t risk anything with how clingy Giyuu was. With that, you crawled into his futon, leaving enough space for him to comfortably rest in.

It was silent for a little while.

You heard the rustling of fabric before it fell to the ground. He only wore a yukata before, so if some cloth fell, he had to be naked right now.

“My eyes might be closed, but, please, put your clothes back on…” Your face felt heated and you tried not to think how he looked naked. Your throat felt dry.

Two uneven strides, then: “I want your attention, [Name]...” He ignored your command.

You kept your eyes closed as you felt the covers move. “You have my attention.”

“Open your eyes.” 

“No.” 

A finger poked your shoulder. “[Name]...”

“No.” 

You turned so your back faced him. You thought that was the end of it, but then you felt his body slide against yours, the heat scorching against the thin fabric covering you. 

“What- on- Earth- are you doing right now?” You ground out. You were getting a little annoyed. You were horny, frustrated and a little under the influence of the consumed sake and you were not having it with Giyuu.

“‘m huggin’ you, whaddya think?” he mumbled. The arm he draped over you pulled you closer. You squirmed a little. His hand slid up and cupped your breast.

“Alright, that’s it! You have my attention now,” you huffed and pulled at the hand to stop touching your chest. It didn’t budge, it just squeezed a little. You wiggled and fidgeted, trying to get loose when your butt brushed against something that was not his leg. You froze.

Giyuu’s breath hitched. “Baby…”

His grip lost its strength so you turned around to face him. Soft moonlight was enough to see his flushed face.

“I could kiss you right now…”

“Giyuu… You’re drunk,” you pressed your lips in a tight line. You yourself felt much more sober, yet intoxicated at the same time.

If the walk home helped or not was anyone’s guess, but he rolled over to pin you to the futon. The blanket slid down his back to rest at his hips. You practically stopped breathing and were forcing your eyes to remain on his own. You couldn’t glance down right now.

“I could kiss you right now,” he repeated. “...maybe add a little tongue…” Your face had to be as flushed as his. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Giyuu…” Protests died in your throat a miserable death when he leaned closer. His breath smelled like sake.

“Give me you body… your love… your lips.” The words entranced you. The pace and anticipation were killing you. You never knew Giyuu knew how to be soft, how to express himself in such a way. “You’re so beautiful.” The kiss was barely there, yet it sent a shiver down your spine. 

You sighed against his lips as if in relief, unsaid tension released, and all thoughts left your head. 

He rolled you both so you were under him, shifting so only one of his arms supported his weight off of you. The hard-on you discovered a few moments ago pressed against your stomach. His free hand pulled a few stray hair strands behind your ear and lingered there as he stared at you.

Every second stretched out into infinity. 

Hesitantly, your hands trailed up his bare sides. A violent shiver was your reward. “Baby…” he breathed out harshly.

You remained silent and traced gentle and winding lines across his chest with your nails.

Giyuu let out a strangled moan. “...your touch…” He didn’t elaborate but swooped down for another kiss, this one more insistent and deeper. A scorching heat built up inside of you. “Intoxicating. You’re like- a drug… my drug…” 

The uncharacteristic possessiveness drove you nearly feral with need. “Giyuu, please…”

Your plea was rewarded with a shaky breath from him. He slowly trailed his way down to your neck with his lips, feather-light and teasing. He kissed your pulse point.

“Plea-Ah!” 

He nibbled on the vulnerable flesh while humming in pleasure. The low vibrations of his voice made goosebumps spread all over you.

“More… Stop teasing,” you whined. At this point, you weren’t sure if you were dizzy from alcohol or his touch. Your hands gripped at the futon in an effort to ground you.

Giyuu must have felt merciful, as his sweet worship ran down your body in slow motions. His hands joined in the silent conquest, broken only by his and your shaky breaths. He untied your juban easily - How did he do that? You were sure the knot was too tight - and pulled it open as he went lower and lower. 

Before you knew it, your panties were gone as well and you were as bare as him. He took a deep Breath and dove in with the hunger of a starving man. 

His hands reached up to hold your thighs apart, giving him access to your most sensitive spot. His tongue expertly flicked and teased at your clit. He continued his gorging, building up a rhythm that drove you closer and closer to the edge. 

Just as you were about to cum, he moved his tongue down to lap at your entrance. You whined his name at the ruined orgasm, frustrated. Giyuu didn’t care and continued his assault of your pussy lips, loud slurps and licks echoing in his room.

He added a thumb into the mix to stimulate your clit again. A few light circular motions and you were at the brink again. Just a little more- just a second-

-and you were lost. The intensity of the pleasure pulsing from your pussy was all you could focus on as you trembled from head to toe. Your chest heaved with deep breaths. He continued to lick you softly, clearly still lost in the taste.

“Hmm, delicious…” He licked his lips, before he realized what he just said. “Oh no, I’m starting to sound like Rengoku right now.” His horrified expression, drunken flush on his cheeks, face half wet with your pussy juices, everything about this situation was hilarious. You started to laugh. “Babyyy,” he whined quietly. 

“Sorry,” you giggled breathlessly. 

Giyuu crawled up your body with a pout, holding eye contact, his hips slotting between your thighs easily. “As you should be.” His cock slid over your lower lips easily, wetly humping against you and letting you feel just how massive he was. “Can I…?” 

Instead of answering, you reached down to position his tip at your entrance. He got the message and started to press in, releasing a long shaky groan. His eyes became shiny, too shiny, while he stared into your soul.

You clenched your teeth to stop any noise from spilling past your lips. He filled you in all the right places, the stretch burning slightly. You hadn’t truly realized his size until he fully slid in, pressing against your cervix harshly. Your mouth opened in a silent scream at that, a full body twitch overtaking you, still maintaining eye contact as tears gathered at your lash line.

“Don’t… don’t look… babe…” he exhaled harshly in pleasure, eyes tightly clenched shut and tears finally falling down his face. Your pussy was heavenly warm and snug around his cock. “Don’t look at me.”

You’d always been a little rebellious. Your eyes remained open, short nails digging into his biceps and you urged him on with a low grind of your hips against his. The hitch in his breath gave away his desperation.

The first stroke was drawn-out, Giyuu struggling to breathe properly at the feeling. However it wasn’t long until the pace became a harmonic gooey pat-pat-pat of pleasure. 

“Fuck, Giyuu…” you lost your composure and stopped holding back your noises, sleeping attendants be damned. Every time he bottomed out, he brushed against your clit harshly and his tip smooched the entrance to your womb. It sent shocks through your body, centering in your stomach like a tight knot.

He groaned breathlessly as your walls tightened around him gradually. “So- fucking- perfect- Ah!” The pulsing around his cock was almost mind-numbing. Tears still continued to fall from his eyes slowly, the pleasure overwhelming his drunken body. The drops fell onto your own chest, neck and face with his motions, like the first dew in spring.

Giyuu opened his eyes to watch your face as you got lost in ecstasy. He suddenly gripped your legs and nearly folded you in half. The new position allowed him to thrust against something that made you cry out at first contact. Your hands tried to find purchase in the futon again.

“Y’ like tha’? Like me makin’ a mess of you-?”

Moans were all your throat could produce as an answer.

The heat shared between the two of you built and built, like a simmering pot left unattended, ready to burst at any second.

His pace grew sloppy and uneven, yet it offered no mercy on your puffy pussy, bullying any semblance of sanity right out of your mind. Giyuu seemed to be losing his strength. He leaned down, his body dwarfing yours, and supported his weight on his forearms above your shoulders. He panted and whined right into your ear, the sounds sending electric shocks of pleasure right to the still-tightening knot in your belly.

“Ngh- fuck- ‘m close-!” he grunted, rolling his hips, more grinding than thrusting now. The stimulation on your nub in this position was unreal.

You thought you would explode, but instead went out with a whimper. Eyes unseeing, ears ringing, thighs quivering, you lost yourself in the kaleidoscope of pleasure rolling through your body.

Giyuu suddenly slammed into you with the power of a tsunami, sending another shock through your body. You could scarcely breathe - was it just another wave or was it another orgasm entirely? 

Twice more did he strike just as forcefully before he released a shaky moan, hilting as far as he could. His breath stuttered. Hot spurts of cum started flooding your pussy in the rhythm of his erratic heart. It dripped around his length and out of your ruined hole. He continued rutting into you, as if to fuck his semen deeper into you.

He had ruined you, ruined you for any other man. 

You keened like a wounded animal when he finally pulled out slowly, your gummy walls scraped raw from his cock. Like a broken dam, his cum leaked out of your pulsing pussy. 

He rolled over with a relieved sigh. You could finally unwind from the near-impossible fold he had you in. There was a slight ache in the small of your back, but a good night sleep could fix that… probably. If not, you could always demand a massage.

“Don’t you dare leave me,” Giyuu demanded in a soft whisper after he caught his breath, pulling you close. 

Your face was smushed against his collarbone but you figured he would let up once he fell asleep.

He kissed the crown of your head tenderly. “Never leavin’ me. Not allowed.”

You could hardly protest, as tired as you were from your activities. 

“Please… date me…” he mumbled. Right after, soft breathing indicated he passed out. 

You smiled tiredly. “What an impossible man… Not even awake to hear my answer…”

✿   ✿   ✿

Will be cross-posted on AO3 soon

I'm also writing a bonus scene / part 2 but idk when it'll be done

Next up: Obanai

[steddieas-shegoes]

maybe forever

for @corrodedcoffinfest prompt 'on the road again'

rated t | 689 words | no cw | tags: bisexual gareth, good friend eddie munson, future fic, super famous corroded coffin

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

Gareth stared out the window of the bus, watching as trees passed in a blur as the sun sunk low in the sky. They'd been on the road for four hours and had roughly 81 days to go.

They'd all agreed no girlfriends or boyfriends on the first leg of the tour. This was just for them, for their hard work, for their passion.

Gareth had agreed. He hadn't really thought much about it. He figured they'd be so busy writing music, playing shows, and sleeping it all off, they wouldn't even have time to miss them. But after the initial celebration with drinks on the bus, they all went to their bunks, or in Gareth's case, the table by the long window.

He was lonely.

He was surrounded by his closest friends, and doing his favorite thing in the world, and got to live a life he only dreamed of.

But he was lonely.

"Gare? Probably should get some rest. We've gotta do souncheck as soon as we get there in a few hours," Eddie said to him from next to the bunk beds.

"Yeah. In a minute," he sighed.

But Eddie wasn't the type to leave him alone if he sensed something was wrong. Gareth wasn't the type to be able to hide when something was wrong.

"What's goin' on?" Eddie asked as he sat down next to him, looking out the window too.

"Just miss him," Gareth admitted.

Eddie was the only one who really knew what was going on with him and Sam. Everyone had their suspicions and Frankie even made a joke about him being sad without his boyfriend, but he hadn't officially told any of them except Eddie that that's what he was.

It was still pretty new, but they'd gone head first into something more serious than Gareth had ever expected of what was supposed to be a hookup at a bar.

"Yeah. I miss Steve," Eddie agreed. He put his arm around Gareth and tugged him into his side. "We didn't have to worry about boyfriends on the last tour. Kinda think we made a mistake not having them here."

"Maybe. Might just be something we have to get used to," Gareth leaned his head against Eddie's shoulder. "Do you think i'll have time to call Sam when we get there?"

"I could distract the guys for a few minutes. As long as you promise to let me have the phone after the show to call Steve."

"Deal."

"You really like him, huh?" Eddie nudged Gareth's cheek with his thumb.

"Yeah, he's pretty great."

"Think you might love him?"

Gareth paused. He'd never had a serious relationship. A couple short-term girlfriends in high school, one guy who he thought was cool because he was five years older, but was actually just an asshole who liked fucking younger guys. One guy who was never an official boyfriend, but they met up any time he was in New York and always had fun.

Sam was different.

Sam was maybe forever for him.

It wasn't as scary a thought as it may have been back before Corroded Coffin got famous enough to headline their own world tour.

"Yeah, I think so."

Eddie squeezed him in his arms before letting go. "Then you should tell the guys. Might make it easier if they know. I know it did when I first realized how I felt about Steve."

"They know I'm into both, though."

"But they don't know that you've found someone who means a lot to you, not really. That's the part they need. It's easier when you can talk about him. I promise," Eddie stood up. "I'm taking a nap. You should too."

"In a minute."

Gareth watched as they passed a sign for some small town that they'd probably never see again.

He thought about being on the road, how much fun he always had with the guys, how having Sam here later on would feel.

He smiled to himself as he stood up.

He was ready for this tour, but he was even more ready to show Sam what tour was like someday.

[pearynice]

“Think we can spot the rest of them from here?” Steve asks, peeking over the lip of the ferris wheel. His hair catches in the summer breeze and ruffles the strands, brightening his hair to a shining gold. He’s beautiful, always, but Eddie’s pretty sure that Steve in the sunshine is where he belongs.

After a beat Eddie joins him, peering over and looking down. Everyone already looks like blobs to him, though, and he sees only the vague shapes of beach balls and umbrellas and towels. “I was always shit at Where’s Waldo.” Eddie answers, peering over their handlebars enough that their car begins to swing.

A hand comes to his belt loop, and pulls him back. He starts, glancing over, and Steve’s looking at him. Staring at him in that way that sends Eddie’s heart hopscotching across his ribcage, like all his organs and all his muscles can’t believe he’s worthy of a look like that from this boy he likes so much.

But his brain is starting to get the fucking picture that’s been sitting two inches from his nose for god knows how long. Is starting to trust, and as the Ferris Wheel reaches its peak, Steve leans in.

Their kiss tastes like coffee. Like chapstick and sunlight and every kept promise Eddie will ever know and when Steve smiles against his lips Eddie tastes the joy of it like sugar on his tongue, the sun shining above them and the ocean sparkling below, and Eddie knows, for certain, he’s in love.

Now complete on Ao3!

Thank you again to @ratboybubs for some great prompts, I had so much fun writing this 💗✨

My permanent tag list (closed): @hotluncheddie @hitlikehammers @hbyrde36 @littlewildflowerkitten @chaotic-waffle 

@westifer-dead @perseus-notjackson @finntheehumaneater @theheadlessphilosopher @spectrum-spectre  @itsall-taken @marvel-ous-m @bookworm0690 @acasualcrossfade @transvampireboyfriend @morallyundefined @micheledawn1975 @sidekick-hero @steddieonbigboy @devondespresso

(Sorry taglist I just realized this didn’t generate properly I stg tumblr is actually out for my blood and never lets me TAG ANYONE THE WAY I WANT TO AKDJBSBSJANANAJSNS)

[abyssal-author-and-artist]

My blog is generally pretty lighthearted and I stick to reblogging art and fic and fun stuff, but you know what. I feel like I need to say this.

I am a trans teen in the US. I'm seventeen, so too young to have voted. I'm terrified for my life right now. I usually post about college but I'm actually concurrently enrolled in high school still and the kid who sits behind me in first period government is a massive Trump fanboy. I'm going to have to go to high school Monday and talk about the election. I'm going to have to hear my deadname called and hear people in my super conservative high school talk about how happy they are Trump won. Everything is terrifying. I walk outside of my house and I'm scared I'll be shot. Several months ago I promised that I'd kill myself if that bastard won.

He did and I'm still here.

I'm not thriving. I'm not living my best life. I'm barely living. But I'm surviving. I'm coping. I'm trying my goddamned best. It's hard. I want so bad to just go and take as much medication as I can and slit my wrist for good measure and pass away in my sleep. But I'm still here. And I will be here.

I am in so much pain. But I'm living on spite and determination and everything I can scrape together. I know I need support and those around me need support. So consider this a support masterpost.

Support:

First thing you should see if you're a trans person in the US.

Here's a link to the Trevor Project and here's a link to their suicide hotline page. They've already saved my life once before. Please note - they recommend calling if you need immediate support. Donate if you can, please.

This post is both a suicide hotline masterlist and a post mentioning how something feels deeply wrong here with this election.

On the topic of something being wrong, sign this petition. I'm only seventeen but I did this and it might not feel like much but if we couldn't shoot that bastard (I am not pro-gun but I am when it comes to him) then we'll do the next best thing. Here's the link to the petition itself. Make sure to check the post every once in a while - the original petition got taken down and this is important.

I follow a lot of gimmick blogs, so I got to see this post encouraging us to be loud. Because we should be. Because if we die they've won and my mom didn't smoke weed on the steps of the state capital of Colorado to legalize it just so her son could roll over and die.

Here is the Tumblr Hot Beverage Masterpost, as I've taken to calling it. My personal favorites are the London Fog in the replies, earl grey with milk, honey, and vanilla (in the tags), and some additions from me are hot chocolate with peppermint melted into it, earl grey with lavender, caramel apple tea, and really anything else you can think of. Trust me. This post works better than you think.

Read this post if you haven't seen it already. It's half poem, half Tumblr being Tumblr, all wonderful to read.

Things I just like to see:

PM Seymour and Bettina Levy both have shown their support for everyone struggling right now. It might not be much, but I still really appreciate it and seeing support can really help.

The cat with the kind and reassuring face. No other context.

Four panel comic of hope. Because you're more than enough.

Can't find the post where I found this but this is a link to a virtual toy where you can make your own galaxy.

Please. Eat something. Drink a hot beverage. Draw, write, read, knit, sew, sculpt, bake, do something that helps. Reach out to friends, even if they're online friends. Talk to someone you trust. Make vent art. Write vent fics. It doesn't matter what you do as long as it helps.

Do not roll over and die. Live. Live on spite. Live on determination. Live on shitposts and live on heartfelt stories like this one. If you have anything to add to this post please do. Add more resources. Add more love to this post. I know I'm just a guy on the internet saying shit, but I still care about everyone who sees this post.

[dxncingwithastrxnger]

bring a friend who loves to play, we'll eat all the candy canes (Obey Me!)

A/N: A day late, but here's Belphie's story!!! This one is so cute and I loved writing it sm, it's so fun. Actually had a few others in the story this time, but it's still mainly Belphie, I promise <3

Pairing(s): Belphie x MC

Prompt(s): 7. Belphegor

Summary: A Christmas Eve walk turned epic snowball fight.

Tag(s): Super fluff, a snowball (or two) to the face, and my Belphie-really-really-loves-Christmas-time headcanon :D

Word Count: 1,547

Song Inspiration: Candy Cane Lane by Sia (A very Belphie type of song imo)

Not beta'd, all mistakes are my own.

~*~

[Series Masterlist]

[Read on AO3]

[Author Masterlist]

~*~

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]

~*~

Snow flurries dance on their way to the ground, a blanket of white already covering everything within sight. It’s the middle of a long winter’s night in the capital of the Devildom and everything is quiet. Any shops or businesses open at this time of night are sleepy and slow. On the road leading away from the House of Lamentation, all that can be heard is the crunch of fresh snow and ice alongside the quiet giggles and whispers of a human and a demon on their way to the center of town.

Spinning in a circle with their arms out on either side of themself, facing the sky and trying to catch snowflakes on their tongue, the two are full of amusement as they accidentally run into each other in their lack of attention to how close they are to each other.

The Avatar of Sloth takes the opportunity to wrap his arms around the other and rest his chin on their shoulders, trying to walk backwards while tugging them along, grinning all the while.

MC tries to stay rooted in place, eyes intensely fixated on a very specific snowflake. “Wait, wait, I’m gonna get this one.” And they stick their tongue out and wait.

The demon holding onto them waits as well, staying perfectly still. Only when the snowflake is about to land right on their tongue does he jostle them, trying to tug them along again, effectively causing them to startle and the snowflake to land somewhere else. Belphie is laughing before MC even turns to face him, a dramatic look of offense on their face.

“How dare you, you- you- you demon!” They say, hand above their heart. Despite their words, the look of mirth in their eyes is plenty clear.

Belphie very poorly schools his expression, forcing himself not to smile in any way. “It’s your own fault, human. You shouldn’t be messing around at a time like this, anyways. You could slip and fall and die.” He says in a very familiarly stern and deep tone of voice.

MC tilts their head to the side slightly, a grin growing on their face. “Was that Lucifer?”

“Duh.” Belphie confirms, his voice back to normal. “Pretty good, right?”

A snort leaves the human as they shake their head at him. “It is actually, the best one I’ve heard besides Levi’s.”

He nods in agreement. “Yeah. It seems all that cosplaying has helped him learn a lot about doing voice impressions. At least it’s good for something.” He holds his gloved hand out to MC.

“Hey, be nice to your brother. I think Levi’s cosplays are really cool. Plus, dressing up is always so fun, I love when he lets me join him.” They take his hand and lock their fingers together happily.

Belphie shrugs. “I’m not allowed to be nice to my brothers. That’s the rule.��� The two of them continue walking down the road side by side. “Well, except for Beel. Twin’s are an exception. …And Satan. We’re allies.”

MC holds back a giggle but cracks a grin. “Whatever you say, babe.”

Belphie nudges them playfully in return. “Do you think anyone at Purgatory Hall is still awake?”

Thinking about it, MC shrugs. “Probably. There’s like a 99% chance of Solomon being awake, a 76% chance of Simeon being awake and about a 50% chance for the other two.”

“Perfect.” Belphie smirks mischievously as he catches his partner’s eye. “Do you think they’d be up for a snowball fight?”

They match his look immediately. “They better be.”

The two of them find themselves walking through town a few minutes later, making a beeline straight for Purgatory Hall right by all the many shops and such. They approach the front lawn and both of them share a look before leaning down to gather snowballs. They even take the time to make a small pile of them, stocking up on their ammo ahead of time. Then, with one last one for each to hold in their hand, they’re ready.

“You go knock, then run back over here.” Belphie gestures along with his words.

Nodding, MC walks up to the door and knocks firmly three times, ensuring it’ll be heard, before running back to where Belphie waits by the corner of the building, but far enough out that they both have a direct eyeline of the doorway.

They don’t have to wait long. The door is opened by Simeon less than a minute after the knock, a curious look on his face. Before Simeon can even process that no one’s there, MC throws the first snowball, the packed snow landing right in the middle of the man’s face. His face is covered in snow and he’s frozen in place.

MC puts a hand over their mouth in surprise, not intending to actually hit him in the face, while Belphie whistles quietly, both of them holding back laughter. But as Solomon appears behind Simeon, Belphie throws his own snowball, hitting Solomon square in the face as well, though if the exclamation he lets out afterwards is anything to go by, it was intended.

“Oh?” Simeon is already stepping out of the house, barefoot and without a coat, though seemingly unbothered as he gathers his own snowball. Solomon is quick on the uptake and follows suit as the pranksters dive for their own ammo, a war quickly beginning between the four.

The front door to PurgatoryHall is still wide open, light from the front hall spilling out and lighting up the yard as packed snow flies back and forth. The loud laughter and squeals is probably what draws out the other two members of the household, both of them in pajamas but appearing to be wide awake, looking out at the commotion in surprise.

“Luke! Raphael! C’mon!”

“We’re losing here! We mustn’t let the intruders win!” The last line was said jokingly as Simeon and Solomon wave the other two over.

They didn’t need to be told twice. Suddenly, it was four against two, but MC and Belphie didn’t even think of backing down. Even quicker now, they were tossing out snowballs left and right, walls of snow being built as barriers on either side. They don’t know how long passed, but eventually, the war was over, the “intruders” successfully thwarted, a truce offered out and accepted.

As MC helped Belphie up from his spot on the ground, a snow angel left in his place, Luke waved them towards the door. “C’mon! Simeon’s gonna make hot chocolate and the cookies I was making should be cooled off by now!” Belphie and MC turned to each other with happy smiles before following the angel inside.

Inside of the large house, the fire is going, soft christmas music is playing in the background, and everyone is gathering in the living room. Solomon and Raphael are on one couch together and Belphie and MC sit on the one across from them. Luke comes in with a tray full of cookies, which he sets in the middle of the coffee table, Simeon not far behind him, juggling all six mugs of hot cocoa, all topped with whipped cream. They get passed out and Simeon sits on the other side of MC, Luke choosing to sit on the floor with his back against MC’s legs.

MC turns to Belphie and watches him nibble on a cookie, his mug held close to his chest in his other hand. He’s beaming with happiness, his eyes filled with excitement. It’s so rare the sleep demon is ever wide awake for this amount of time, he’d usually be passed out by now. But according to his brothers, Christmas is Belphegor’s favorite holiday. He’s much more awake around Christmas time than any other time of year. And it’s certainly noticeable. He looks the perfect picture of energy as he chats excitedly with all the others about tomorrow’s celebration plans. It makes them smile happily with clear affection and adoration for the demon in their eyes.

“Why don’t you guys stay here until morning? We can all head to the House of Lamentation together. I’m sure Lucifer wouldn’t mind if we saved everyone a trip to here and the castle.” Simeon points out.

“That’s true, if we all go to their place first thing with all of our presents, it would make things a bit easier. We’d even have some time to relax before getting ready for the Christmas dinner with Diavolo and Barbatos.” Solomon says.

“Oh! Do you think Lucifer would be okay with me using their kitchen to bake all the treats I wanna take to the castle?” Luke asks excitedly.

“I’d like to spend Christmas morning with all of the brothers.” Raphael says quietly, a smile on his face at the thought.

“That’s all fine with me. I don’t mind staying here for the rest of the night. What do you think, MC?” Belphie turns to look at them, a hopeful smile on his face.

MC leans forward to give him a quick kiss before replying. “That sounds fun. Let's do it.”

Belphie grins and kisses them again. “I love Christmas. Especially with you here.” He says softly.

“Good. Cause I don’t have any plans to go anywhere else.” They tell him.

“You better not.”

~*~

A/N: I think this one is my favorite one so far, tbh. I still wanna get Barbatos' out tonight, but I gotta let my laptop charge, so it'll def be out after midnight my time (it's currently 10:05pm)!!!

~*~

Taglist:

@dutifullyuniversallykingdom

@om-adventcalendar

@the-ancient-fae

Please let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist!!

[bella-rose29]

Idiot ~ Anthony Lockwood x f!reader

Requested by anon:

Hii I want to request Anthony Lockwood×fem!reader, with childhood bestfriends to rivals to lovers with the miscommunication trope, but also a happy ending with both of them being together. So the plot could be like, they were childhood best friends but then when Anthony's family died he later wanted to start the business, but she thought that he was out of his mind because she was scared about him being in danger, but he thought she just didn't think he can handle it so they got into an argument and she left. After that, they started hating each, later she joined Fittes as an agent, so he was even more angry. So they became rivals in the ghost hunting business. Then they got put on a mission later, and idk she gets injured and his like "who did this to you," but they're still enemies, even though the whole time there is sexual tension between them. This request is super chaotic, so just make your own plot with these elements, I guess. I'm not good at describing plots, I will be happy with whatever you write, but please let them have a happy ending and be together. Also, could you try to make this as long as you can because there aren't as many Lockwood fics as there should be.

I might have changed some bits a lil bit and probably spent way too long talking about their childhood, but hopefully this lives up to your expectations anon! (Please let me know if it doesn't though)

Word count: 9.5k exactly (holy shit this is insane i had way too much fun with this)

Warnings: swearing, violence, fighting, descriptions of injury, mentions and descriptions of Lockwood's family dying/being dead, major spoilers for the books (and the show), some stuff probably doesn't make sense (like at all), i might also have misremembered and made up some things but we'll go with it, Lockwood is actually kind of a dick for some of this oops, he gets better i promise, hospitals, mentions of being on morphine (for the pain), references to Lockwood being depressed, they're idiots in love.

Tag list: @anathemaloren, @augustisintheair, @avdiobliss, @dangelnleif, @el-de-phi, @karensirkobabes, @mitskiswift99, @mrsklockwood, @mrsyixingunicorn10, @ran23sblog, @superpositvecloudshipper, @t2sh0, @taygrls, @tournesol77, @wandamaximoffbae, @wordsarelife

As always, let me know here if you'd like to be added or removed from the tag list!

It was nearly 3am and Y/n L/n had had enough.

She was exhausted, weary, worn out, and pretty much any other synonym for the word 'tired', and she just wanted to go to bed, but Anthony Lockwood had other ideas.

"Give it here, come on!"

Y/n groaned, then half-heartedly chucked the bits of paper at her best friend from where she was lying on the floor of his living room. Jessica laughed, despite also losing to the 5 year old boy at Monopoly, and shook her head at his greedy smile as he counted the money. How he had ever managed to get the two of them to agree to play with him, Y/n didn't know, especially since she'd not really been paying attention when the rules were explained. But then she saw how happy he was at the idea of playing with the two girls, and Y/n knew she could never make her best friend sad.

She did really want to go to bed though.

Jessica Lockwood appeared to notice Y/n's droopy eyes, and quietly spoke to her brother, stifling a laugh at his pout when she told him they should probably stop.

"But we aren't done yet!"

"I know, Anthony, but you've definitely got the most money, I'm sure of it. You're going to win no matter what, so I think we should let Y/n/n go to sleep, yeah?"

"Oh..." he'd noticed his friend's demeanour now, and felt immediately bad for making her stay awake. "Alright then. Y/n/n?"

"Mmm?"

"You ready to go to bed? 'Cause Jess says I won, so I reckon we can go up now."

"Mkay," she murmured, too sleepy to answer in proper words. Going up to bed was a haze, and she only really woke up when she stubbed her toe at the bottom of the stairs (Anthony hadn't told her that was there, despite saying he'd guide her). She was sure she brushed her teeth, Jessica would have checked, and they were all already in their pyjamas, but the only other thing she remembered before dropping off completely was seeing Anthony's face on the pillow next to her, already snoring lightly.

~~~

Y/n couldn't remember most of Anthony's sixth birthday now, what with all the memories that came in between, but she did remember his joy at receiving her present.

He'd spent the majority of the morning since Y/n and her family went next door gloating about how he was finally six, and now he was old enough to do so much more than Y/n (who was still five). She'd rolled her eyes, laughing when he did victory dances all around the house, and laughing even harder when he fell over while doing one of the previously mentioned dances.

They'd run away and hidden in his room in the attic after collecting plates of cake, and Y/n made sure to pick up her carefully wrapped present on the way up. He'd noticed immediately that she was carrying it, of course, he was far too observant to miss it, and had demanded that she let him open it right then and there. Initially she'd refused, feeling shy and worried that he wouldn't like it, but he'd given her one of his secret smiles, one of the ones reserved specifically for her, and said "Please?" so sweetly she caved.

He placed the cake to the side, then spent a good minute unwrapping the gift, being oh so gentle with the paper in fear of breaking it. When he saw the item inside, his smile burst out, bright and blinding, and Y/n felt her own smile form on her face, pleased at his reaction.

"Do you like it?" Nerves were still coursing through her, but they left her body when he raised his head and met her eyes.

"I love it, Y/n/n," he whispered, lifting the picture frame all the way out of the wrapping. She'd convinced her parents to print the photo off, and then spent hours making a frame that would fit it perfectly, complete with lolly sticks and stickers, trying to make the best gift for the best friend she'd ever had.

The photo was the two of them the previous Christmas, bundled up in ridiculous festive jumpers and sat in front of the Lockwood family tree in the hallway, presents surrounding them. Their parents had insisted on a photo before they ruined the area with rubbish everywhere, and the two of them could barely contain their excitement. There was a slight blur to them, a testament to their energy, but their smiles were so wide and they were hugging so tightly Y/n knew it was the perfect photo to give him.

"Where did you even get this? I thought your mum hid the camera?"

Y/n giggled at his comically wide eyes. "I just asked her, silly. I did have to do some chores but I didn't mind, it was worth it."

She barely had time to move her plate of cake out of the way (she hadn't eaten any in the last few minutes, far too focused on Anthony's reaction) when he surged forward, bringing his arms around her in a crushing hug.

"Thank you," he said, although it was muffled since his head was pressed into her shoulder.

"Anything for you, Ant, anytime."

They stayed there for a while, just hugging on his bed and revelling in each others' presence, both knowing that Y/n had meant her words.

~~~

When Anthony had to fight his parents' ghosts, Y/n had cried.

He was crying too, since he'd seen them die less than a day ago and now he had to keep them dead, but seeing her best friend in so much pain had made Y/n cry harder.

Anthony was trying to push back the tears so that he could see, so that he could fight, and Y/n hated that he was doing this on his own.

She had been kept in her room by her parents, the adults being too scared for their daughter's safety to let her go and help Anthony, and she was watching him through her bedroom window. Despite the tears streaming down her face and the sobs racking her body, she could tell he was crying (or trying not to) because of the way he was hunched into himself, as if by making himself smaller he could make everything stop. His body was shaking too, heaving with silent cries as he fought off the two ghosts in front of him. Why they were in his back garden, Y/n wasn't sure, since they'd died on the road in an explosion a few minutes drive away, but she was only six, and didn't understand much anyway.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, perched on the window seat with her gaze fixed on the boy next door, but she knew that it was far past her bedtime when he finally stopped them, and she woke up with her face stuck to the window, tear stains on her cheeks.

Realising it was light again, Y/n hurried to get dressed, tearing down the stairs and into the house next to them, knocking rapidly on the front door. It swung open a few moments later, revealing Jessica, who smiled sadly at the small girl in front of her and waved Y/n in.

"He's in his room," she said quietly, voice raw from crying.

Y/n nearly tripped countless times climbing the many stairs, and by the time she'd made it to the attic she was out of breath. Pushing his door open, and going up the last few steps (seriously, why were there so many steps?) she froze at the top when she saw him curled up under his bedsheets, shaking with near-silent cries.

"Anthony?"

She heard him sniff, the sound gross and snotty, and then he turned his body around to face her, and Y/n felt her heart break in her chest.

He clearly hadn't slept all night, eyes red from crying and lack of sleep, and he was struggling to keep back the fresh tears that threatened to break through.

"Oh, Ant."

Y/n rushed to the bed, climbing to sit next to him and pulling his head into her lap, brushing her fingers through his hair.

They sat like that for hours, long after Jessica brought up some toast for the two of them, and even when Y/n's back hurt from the headboard and her legs were numb from having his weight on them, she didn't stop stroking his hair, soothing him silently.

When he finally sat up, wiping his eyes and blowing his nose (Y/n made a mental note to put her clothes in the wash as soon as she got back home), she pulled him back in for a hug, both of them sat up this time.

"Thank you, Y/n/n."

She remembered the last time they'd done this, hugged on his bed while he thanked her, but this time it wasn't happy.

"Anything, Ant. Anytime."

~~~

"Ant, don't be stupid!" Y/n giggled, watching him climb the tree.

"I'm gonna get you an apple," he shouted, smiling down at her. "You're gonna love it, I promise!"

He'd just been reaching out for one, bright red and shining, when they'd heard a crash from inside his house, followed by a scream. They'd frozen where they stood, Y/n on the ground and Anthony in the tree, and then suddenly they snapped into action, scrambling to get inside and find Jessica.

They tore up the stairs (somehow Anthony had caught up to her, despite having been up the tree), and he pushed open her bedroom door just in time to see the ghost.

"NO!"

He moved before Y/n did, grabbing a spare rapier from the dresser and moving to fight, hoping to save his sister.

Y/n moved, but backwards, taking a step back out onto the landing, her hand on her mouth.

"Anthony."

He had pushed the ghost back, and was picking up a net.

"Anthony."

He had thrown the net over the broken pot, wrapping it up securely.

"Anthony," she said, eyes fixed on the bed.

"What?" His eyes were wide with terror as he turned to look at her, evidently scared that she was in danger, but when he followed her finger that pointed to the bed, he choked.

"No," he croaked hoarsely, and Y/n felt terrible for making him realise. "Jessica? Jessica please wake up. Jessica. Jessica, this isn't funny. Jessica, please. Jessica."

He kept on like that, repeating her name and asking her to wake up, but Y/n knew that she wouldn't. She moved again then, over to where he stood, rapier hanging limply in his hand. It had only been three years ago he'd lost his parents, why did he have to lose someone else that he loved? Pulling him into her, she let him sob into her shoulder (difficult, given his growth spurt).

Y/n knew at that point that she wouldn't ever leave him.

~~~

"You what?!"

"I'm starting training," Anthony replied, not looking up from where he stood at the kitchen counter, buttering toast.

"But... but why?"

"Because," he shrugged. When he didn't expand on it, Y/n sighed.

She was worried about him.

He'd been vacant, hollow, since Jessica's death, and although he tried to smile and make everybody think that he was doing just fine, Y/n knew her best friend better than that. She saw the bags under his eyes, the lack of joy and mischief that used to reside in his gaze.

"Because what, Anthony?"

"Look, I'll be fine. This guy called Nigel is gonna train me, and then I'll be an agent, and I can keep you safe."

"I can keep myself safe, idiot," Y/n huffed indignantly, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

"I know, I just want to be extra sure that you'll be okay. And everyone else."

"We're nine, Anthony. You went to a funeral a week ago and already you're talking to agents?"

"Yes. I'd like it if you came with me, obviously, but if you don't that's fine too. I'm doing this anyway, with or without you."

That hurt.

They always did everything together, so why was he talking like this?

"Fine. I'll talk to my parents. You need protecting too, dummy."

She'd broached the subject that night at dinner, expecting them to say no.

"Are you sure you want to do this, darling?"

"Yep," she said, stabbing some peas with her fork.

Her parents shared a look.

"Alright. Just promise us you'll be careful, and you'll pay attention in your training, yeah?"

Surprise made Y/n jolt, sending peas skidding across the table. "I can go?"

"Yes, but you have to promise us-"

"I promise!" Her parents chuckled, shaking their heads in a way that reminded Y/n of Monopoly and a late night.

~~~

Training was horrible.

Everybody was mean to her, just because she couldn't run as fast as the others, or move as quickly with a rapier.

"Look at her, she's gonna die within minutes!"

"Nah, she'll never make it that long. On the plus side, if she's in our group we only have to run faster than her!"

"Won't be too difficult!"

Y/n scowled at the whispers, making her way over to Anthony. She huffed, plopping down on the bench next to him and glaring at the girls.

"What's up with you?"

"They're being mean about me. Saying I'll be useless in the field."

"Aw, Y/n/n, they're stupid if they think that. You'll be amazing, I'm sure." He nudged her shoulder with his, smile working its way onto his face. Y/n couldn't help but smile back; his was too infectious. "You'll prove them wrong, I'm sure of it."

After that day, Y/n worked ten times as hard on the practical elements, a new intensity coming into her training with the other agents. She sparred against Anthony when they got home, blunt rapiers clashing in her back garden while her parents cooked dinner.

Within a month, she could beat pretty much everyone she trained with, the only exception being Anthony. He'd shown a skill with the rapier from the very beginning, and his long body made him graceful in a fight. She'd nearly beaten him a few times, but then he'd had a fire light in his eyes and he'd push her back, focus deadly as he forgot everything but the fight. She grew scared in those moments, and had stopped trying to beat him, afraid that he'd forget who she was and hurt her.

~~~

When they were fourteen, Y/n broke her promise and walked out on Anthony Lockwood.

He'd started a business, his own goddamn agency, in his own goddamn house, and he'd wanted her to work with him. She barely recognised the boy that stood in front of her the day he asked her; he was a shell of the best friend she used to have. He was vacant still, and she just wanted Anthony Lockwood back.

"Please? It'll be so much better if we're working together! You can come and live here, and your parents are still next door so you're not too far away, and we'll go on cases together, and it'll be great!"

Y/n had shaken her head, fear creeping up her spine. He'd grown a death wish recently, and although he vehemently denied it, she'd seen how he didn't seem to care about his personal safety when on cases led by the trainers.

"Anthony, you can't do this, please. You're gonna get hurt," she pleaded, hoping he'd come to his senses. If he wasn't so broken, she'd say yes, gladly, and work with him as they had always planned they would. But he was broken, and this job could destroy him.

"What, do you think I can't do it?" His brow furrowed in confusion, and Y/n could practically feel his guard start to go up.

He'd never done that with her before.

"It's not that, I just don't want you getting hurt. You're my best friend, Ant, and I don't wanna lose you."

"You won't lose me," he'd raised his voice slightly, pushing off of the kitchen counter as he got defensive. "You've seen me," he swept an arm out, referencing the training missions. "I'm the best agent they've got, and we both know it. I won't get hurt. I'm too good for that."

Y/n scoffed. "Do you hear yourself, Anthony? Do you realise how arrogant you sound? Because that's gonna get you killed." She'd raised her voice too, to match his, and she jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Arrogant? You think I'm arrogant? I thought we were 'best friends'?"

"Why did you say it like that?"

"What?"

"'Best friends', like we're not. You did little finger quotes like it was sarcastic."

"You always do this! Make something out of nothing!"

"What?" Her eyes narrowed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You tell me! You're the one saying I'm gonna get killed when I'm the most skilled agent we know! Why can't you just trust me?!"

"Because you will, Anthony! You will get yourself killed, and I can't let that happen! You can't start a company, just join Fittes, or Rotwell!"

"Fittes? Rotwell? I'd rather eat my own foot than join one of them! You just think I'm not capable of any of this, don't you? You think, that because my family is dead, I can't do this, because I should be grieving instead. Well I have grieved, and if you don't want to stay, then you can leave. I don't want you here if you're gonna keep being like this. Come back when you've sorted your attitude out." He turned his back, busying himself with making a cup of tea.

Y/n stared at him, mouth open in shock and tears threatening to fall.

"Prick. You're the one that needs to sort your attitude, not me."

She left then, grabbing her bag from the chair and scribbling a 'fuck you, Lockwood' onto the paper cloth on the table.

~~~

A year later, Y/n was working a job, and was actually somewhat happy.

She'd joined Fittes after her argument with Lockwood (she stubbornly refused to call him 'Anthony' until he'd apologised to her), and had been put in Quill Kipps' team. He was nice enough, arrogant and conceited at times, but Y/n put that down to his failing Senses and the stress of being team leader, since he was alright the rest of the time. He was more like an overworked teacher on a school trip with a bunch of primary school kids, and the bags under his eyes really added to the image.

It was a minor threat, Type One ghost that was giving an old lady the creeps, but they'd been waylaid on their way back to Fittes by a group of ghosts in the park, and two figures struggling to fight them all. There had to have been around twenty to thirty ghosts (all Type Ones, but they were angry), and when Kipps wondered aloud who would be so daft as to take them on, Y/n sighed, knowing exactly who would do it.

The Fittes team had jumped in, using the remainder of their flares and energy to help, and Y/n found the source, securing it quickly and efficiently. Mass graves were never fun, and this one wasn't much better. Spreading the silver net over the area, Y/n stood, careful not to jostle it.

"We don't need Fittes coming in, thanks, we were perfectly fine on our own."

"Sure," Kipps snorted. "Because being completely surrounded by ghosts and nearly dying is being perfectly fine. Give it a rest, Tony. Go back to your house and leave the agent work to the professionals, yeah?" Y/n rolled her eyes as she got closer, but she couldn't help but agree with what her leader was saying.

Anthony Lockwood looked terrible.

She had no idea who the other boy was (although he did look vaguely familiar), but he at least didn't look like he was on death's door.

"Y/n?"

She raised her eyebrows (she still couldn't figure out how to raise just the one, despite practicing for hours).

"Lockwood."

He flinched, almost imperceptibly, but she knew him too well to miss it. Nobody else noticed.

"Why are you... Are you working for Fittes?"

"Yes." He wasn't getting more out of her, not until he apologised. Kipps was looking between the two of them, as was the other boy with Lockwood, both clearly confused.

"How do you know each other?" Kipps asked.

"We were-"

"We were neighbours. Didn't talk much outside of that." Her tone was bland, and her face nonchalant, and she turned to leave. "Has somebody called DEPRAC?" Ned nodded, waving the radio in his hand.

"Said they'd be two minutes. Should be here in a minute."

"Perfect. Can we get that tea now, Kipps?"

He hesitated, obviously still unsure about what was going on. "Sure. We'll drop the other Source off first though, yeah?"

They left, and although Y/n could feel Lockwood's stare on her back, she didn't turn around.

~~~

It was a month later that Y/n saw Lockwood again, and it was almost the same situation. Her team had been patrolling the streets, making sure the area was secure, when they'd seen magnesium flares going off. They'd rushed in, and Y/n had scoffed when she caught sight of the long black coat and flashy moves.

"Outta the way, Tony!"

The Fittes team had made quick work of the Type Two, bagging the Source and claiming the reward. Y/n felt a little bad about the money, but at the same time Lockwood needed to learn how to get control over the situations he put himself in if he wanted to keep the reward. He seemed to take on the cases that were ridiculously out of his reach, and if Y/n was speaking to him she'd guess that he was trying to prove a point.

She and her team were warming up in a cafe afterwards, one of the late night ones that opened specifically for agents, when Lockwood and his coworker walked in. The pair breezed past, and when the other boy had smiled apologetically at them and given Y/n a little wave, she remembered who he was.

"George! Wait, it is George, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah," he scratched the back of his head, and adjusted his glasses on his face. "I wasn't sure you remembered me, to be honest."

"I knew I'd seen you before, it just took me a bit to remember where from. Also it was dark the last two times we saw each other, so that won't have helped. Anyway, how are you?"

They chatted for a while, George shifting the piles of paper he had in his arms.

"Do you need to put those down?" she asked after he readjusted them for what seemed like the millionth time.

"I should probably get over to Lockwood, actually. I'm pretty sure he's burning holes in my jumper right now."

"Oh, he's glaring at me, don't worry."

"Why would he be glaring at you? You're lovely," he questioned, confused. "I thought you were just neighbours anyway?"

"Yeah. We had an argument a while back. He was a knob."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see that he would be." George nodded in understanding. "I should definitely go and join him though. We've got all this to get through," he held up the papers slightly, and Y/n smiled up at him.

"Well good luck, George. See you soon?"

"Probably the next time you save us. Lockwood has a death wish apparently. Doesn't let me research for long enough," he complained, shaking his head as he turned and left. Y/n had been right. Lockwood was being reckless, and he'd get himself, and quite possibly George, killed.

She and her team were just finishing up, with Kipps paying the bill and her other teammates standing with him at the till, when Lockwood came over. Y/n had stepped outside, breathing in the cold night air, and when she heard the door she instinctively turned to look, expecting her coworkers.

"Oh. It's you."

"C'mon. Don't be like that, Y/n."

She snorted. "You know you're proving me right, right? You keep throwing yourself into situations you can't win in, and you're going to get yourself killed."

"I'm not proving you right," he started, frown forming on his face. He'd had another growth spurt, she realised. He'd stepped closer to her, out of the way of the cafe door so that other agents could enter, and now he towered over her.

"Yes, you are. Stop being a dick, Lockwood, and realise that you're going to get yourself seriously hurt someday."

"Since when was I Lockwood to you?"

"You know when."

"True. Lovely message, by the way. Great parting gift."

"Yeah, well you were being an asshole, and it felt fitting to write 'fuck you'."

He muttered something under his breath, too quiet for her to hear.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, 'Yeah, I bet you'd like to'," he repeated, louder this time, meeting her eyes with a smug smile on his face.

"Grow up, Lockwood."

"That's not a denial."

Y/n turned to him, looking him dead in the eyes. "Yes it is." She tried to sound threatening, but that was difficult when he was nearly a whole head taller than her. She was saved by her team coming out of the cafe, and she shoved her hands in her pockets, hunching her shoulders against the chill.

"You alright, Y/n?" Kipps asked, concern for his colleague appearing on his face.

"Yeah, fine. Let's go."

~~~

Those meetings kept happening, and it was beginning to frustrate Y/n.

Lockwood had started being more flirty, as if he actually enjoyed getting on her nerves, and the past year had been exhausting.

It was the same every time.

Y/n's Fittes team would be patrolling, or coming back from a job, or heading to a job, when they'd see two figures, or their flares, or hear their shouts, fighting an incessant number of ghosts. The group would jump in, joining the fight, and somehow Y/n and Lockwood ended up next to each other. She was certain he engineered it that way specifically so that he could irritate her with his comments, and that just irritated her even more. What he said was always the same thing, too.

"Do you come here often?"

"We have to stop meeting like this."

"What are you doing after this?"

When she told him to shut up and focus on the job, he'd ignore her, or answer with something just as bad.

"Make me."

"I'll stop talking if you join me later."

Both of those were said with smug smirks and winks, and Y/n went home to her crappy flat close to the Fittes building (she couldn't stand being near him after the argument) every night wondering what the hell had happened to her old best friend.

The last case had been particularly annoying.

The same routine had occurred, but this time there were three of them.

Y/n was surprised to see the girl, but as soon as she saw her fighting she decided that she liked her. She was feisty, and from what Y/n could tell, didn't take any of Lockwood's shit. She looked like the sort of person Y/n would be friends with, or at least get along with, like with George (they had limited contact outside of saving them).

But then the Fittes team had helped, and Lockwood hadn't come near Y/n.

She was glad in some ways, it meant she didn't have his incessant flirting in her ear, and she was glad, until she looked to see where he'd gone.

He was side by side with the girl, and they fought together like they'd been doing it their whole lives. For some reason it annoyed Y/n, despite the fact she'd sworn to block out any feelings for Lockwood other than annoyance and hate, and she grumbled the rest of the night. Kipps picked up on it, and questioned her.

"What's up with you? Surely you'd be happy that Tony left you alone?"

"Yeah, I am. It's something else, don't worry."

"Alright... well, don't let it get to you too much, yeah? We need you focusing on missions, you're too good at what you do."

Y/n nodded, flushing slightly at the compliment.

They made it to the cafe just as Lockwood and Co did, and Y/n bristled at seeing the three of them laughing together.

Well, at seeing Lockwood and the girl laughing together.

George she was just happy to see, he was always nice to her back when he worked at Fittes, and when they passed each other in the Archives or finished jobs together, and she didn't think she could ever be mad at him.

Lockwood and his new colleague, however, she could justify.

"Oh, hi!"

Ugh, she was nice. That made disliking her even harder.

"Hi," Y/n forced a smile, hoping it didn't look too fake.

"I'm Lucy," she said, coming closer to Y/n as the two of them trailed behind the others.

"Y/n. How long you been working with him then?"

"Uh, about a week? Do you... do you not like Lockwood or something?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You just... said 'him' like you wanted to rip his head off."

"Oh. Well, that's one thing I wanna do to him."

Apparently Lockwood tuned in to their conversation at that specific moment, because he turned around, smirk already in place.

"What are the other things you want to do to me, Y/n? I'd love to find out later. My place or yours?"

Y/n scoffed, pushing past him to join her teammates. Behind her she heard a thump, followed by a small "Ow!" Assuming that Lucy had hit him, Y/n smiled, and started liking the girl again. Maybe she wasn't as bad as she originally thought.

~~~

It had been nearly two years since Y/n had first met Lucy, and her second impression of the girl had stuck.

They'd saved Lockwood and Co far too many times since the girls had first met, but Y/n didn't mind. She enjoyed seeing Lucy and George (and Lockwood, but she wouldn't tell anyone that), and if getting involved and having to suffer Lockwood's chatter meant that the three of them lived another day, Y/n would gladly take that sacrifice.

Y/n and Lucy met up regularly in the down time that they both shared, either at Y/n's flat, or in a cafe or shop somewhere. Sometimes George came along, having snuck out under the pretence that he was researching at the Archives, and the three of them had lengthy chats about pretty much anything. Lockwood came up in conversation a lot, of course, given he was something they all had in common, but Y/n always steered away from the subject.

Tonight, however, she wasn't getting let off the hook.

"Why do you always do that?" Lucy asked, stuffing a chip in her mouth. They were sat on the floor of Y/n's tiny kitchen, take away boxes of food in front of them.

"Do what?"

"Whenever Lockwood gets mentioned you start talking about other things. Why do you do that?"

Y/n shrugged, eating some of her own food. "'Cause he's a knob and I don't want to think about him more than I have to?"

"He's always flirting with you though, and you always flirt back."

"Thanks for the observation, George. And I do not flirt back!"

"Oh you totally do, like earlier, right, he was saying something about how your uniform really compliments your complexion or something, and you look really good in it, and you said, wait, George, you take over, I need a drink," Lucy spoke.

"You said 'thanks, I look better without it', and winked at him. I had to physically push him out of the way of a ghost because he was stood staring at you like an idiot."

"He always looks like an idiot," Y/n mumbled, cheeks going red.

"George is right, he's actually gonna end up hurting himself if you two don't get on with it soon."

"He's at risk of death anyway! And get on with what?"

"Snogging," Lucy said, at the same time George said "Making out."

Y/n stared at her friends, hand pausing halfway to her mouth, chip in between her fingers. "What?!"

"Seriously, there's so much tension I could slice it with my rapier. Just stick your tongue in his mouth already."

"Lucy!"

The girl just shrugged. "We are seventeen, you know that right? I know people who've shagged at seventeen. I'm honestly surprised the two of you haven't yet, which is why you need to get on with it."

"That would be... no, that's too weird."

"Why is it weird? He's your old neighbour, you had an argument about something petty probably, and now he's flirting with you 'cause he's realised how hot you are. If he doesn't kiss you I will, just so I can say I kissed the hottest girl I know."

"Aw, thanks Luce. I'd rather kiss you than him, to be honest."

"The bar is low. He's punching."

"Definitely. You alright George?"

"I don't understand girls," he replied, having been quiet the last few minutes while Y/n and Lucy went back and forth. "What did you argue about, anyway? Because you've held a grudge against him for at least three years now and I have never known why."

"Was it petty?"

"No, Lucy, it wasn't petty." Y/n sighed, taking a break from eating. "He... We were fourteen, just finished all of our training, and he told me he wanted to start his agency."

"That is kinda petty though."

"Lemme finish. I don't know how much he's told you about his family," she paused, looking at the other two.

"Not much, but we know they're all dead."

"Yeah, and he showed us Jessica's room."

Y/n raised her eyebrows. He'd kept that room stubbornly locked since she'd died.

"Right. Well, a week after her funeral, he told me he wanted to start training to be an agent. We were nine, and he was definitely not okay at all. Anyway, we did it, and then like I said, when we'd finished, he told me he wanted to start an agency in his house and he wanted me to join him. He was still not himself, and I was just worried that he was going to end up killing himself. Hell, he'd almost hurt me a few times in training. We were the top two in our academy, so we ended up fighting together a lot. But he'd get... intense. Focused. But not in a good way. It was like... he saw anyone he was up against as a ghost, and he wanted revenge for what had happened with his family. We argued about the agency. I told him something about how if he did it he'd just end up hurt, because I knew him and I knew that he wouldn't think he had anything to live for. He took that to mean that I thought he was incapable, and he told me to leave and that I could come back when I'd fixed my attitude."

The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes, Y/n staring at her take away box in her lap, George and Lucy absorbing everything she'd told them.

"Fuck," Lucy finally said, breaking the quiet.

"Yeah."

"Wait, so you weren't just neighbours?" George asked. "You must have been closer than that if you knew him so well."

"Best friends. We're the same age, and our parents had lived next to each other since before we were born. Just made sense really that we were friends."

"Does he know? That you were worried about him?" Lucy questioned.

"Probably not. Should have guessed it though, given how close we were. I mean, he's seen me ugly cry at funerals, and they weren't even my relatives, they were his."

"Maybe you should talk to him? I know, I know, he needs to apologise for being a knob, but you were fourteen. I mean, it's three years on and he's still the mental age of a five year old, but talking might help?"

"Anyway, Lockwood's hopeless when it comes to women. Completely clueless," George added.

"How would you know?" Y/n frowned, not liking the way her heart clenched at the idea of Lockwood talking to other girls.

"Because he hasn't done anything about you, and you're probably the most amazing girl that's ever going to get a chance with in his life. Maybe he's intimidated by you."

"He's not getting a chance. Not like that. Don't look at me like that, Luce. If I don't kiss him that means I'm kissing you."

"Oh, alright then. I'm fine if you don't wanna make up with him," she replied, cheeky smile appearing on her face.

They left the topic alone after that, moving on to other subjects, but Y/n couldn't help but think about the boy with a death wish.

~~~

It was only a week after her evening with George and Lucy that Y/n had to help save Lockwood again (it was so ridiculous she was almost entirely convinced he came unprepared just so that he could see her).

"Miss me, darling?"

"In your dreams, Lockwood," she shouted back at him, dodging a Type Two. She gritted her teeth as she hit the ground, jagged rocks digging in and pain shooting through her side. Rolling, she stood again, panicking for a moment when she realised she'd dropped her rapier.

"Here you go, darling," Lockwood said, appearing out of nowhere with her rapier. "Do I get a reward for returning your belongings?"

"Yeah, you do, actually," she replied, getting close enough to him she could feel his breath on her face. "You get to not be stabbed by me. Duck." He did, almost immediately, and Y/n threw a flare at the Spectre behind him. Lockwood popped back up, somehow still smiling despite the utter carnage surrounding them.

"If I got hurt, would you visit me in hospital?"

"Yeah, to finish you off."

He laughed, and Y/n turned away so he couldn't see the blush rising on her face at the sound. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of something that definitely wasn't dead rummaging around where she had thought the Source for the cluster was.

Relic men.

"Lockwood?"

"Yes, my love?"

"Relic men, over by the Source. What are we gonna do about them?" She hadn't taken her eyes off of the two figures that were crouched by the oak tree, afraid that if she moved her gaze they would run off. When Lockwood only cursed, she panicked, wondering what was wrong. Normally by now he would have charged in to the fight, all guns blazing. Why wasn't he doing that now? Had he suddenly realised that she was right? Because this was really terrible timing if he had. "Lockwood?" Her voice had gone up in pitch, fear making it quiver. Relic men were nasty, and a lot harder to deal with than ghosts. Ghosts she'd been trained for.

"We're surrounded by them. They're blocking all reasonable exits."

"Shit. Okay. What about unreasonable exits?"

"What?"

"You said they're blocking all reasonable exits, yeah? So what about the unreasonable ones? Could we get out anywhere else?"

"Uh... there's a gap in the fence over there," he pointed. "But that would mean letting them have the Source. It's too powerful, we can't let that happen."

"Ugh, okay, hang on. Go and tell the others, just in case they haven't noticed."

"What about you?"

"I'm keeping an eye on these two, make sure they don't get away. I'll try and get closer, but there's a lot of Type Ones in the way."

"You'll be okay?"

"If I die you can take me on a date."

"That's... what? That doesn't make sense."

"Take it or leave it, Lockwood. Get a move on."

He left, casting a last look over his shoulder at her before disappearing into the night to find the others. Y/n felt unease creep up her spine, and she gripped her rapier tighter, her other hand hovering over the remaining flares in her belt. The relic men were still digging, and a few of the ghosts had noticed the disturbance now, moving over. Y/n frowned, a thought occurring to her.

Relic men waited until the ghosts were gone.

So what were they doing here, now? Why endanger themselves? Before she could think on it further, she felt the air shift behind her and ducked to the left just as a fist appeared in the space her head was in mere seconds ago.

Shit.

She pulled herself back up, readjusting her grip on the rapier and taking a quick glance over to the tree. Seeing the two relic men still there, Y/n whipped back around, ducking again just in time to miss the next punch. The man pulled out a knife, the edges jagged, and a wicked grin came over his face. Y/n gulped, then parried his attacks. He was relentless, swinging and then swinging again immediately after, never letting up on her. It was all she could do to keep her arm upright and strong enough to block him, and the ache in her side from hitting the ground earlier was turning into a throb that wracked her body with pain. The relic man noticed the weakness, and his grin grew wider, broken teeth showing. He became even more frantic in his attacks, and Y/n felt herself stumbling backwards over the grass. The floor was uneven, and she tripped, crashing onto her back. She got her rapier up in time to hold off the relic man's knife that had carved a path through the air to cut through her head, but he was stronger than her, and his blade was edging closer to her face. He was only using the one hand, and Y/n realised a split-second too late that his other hand was reaching for his belt, where a second knife was strapped. Her eyes widened in recognition briefly right before he plunged the blade into her side, and she let out a scream.

The pain was all-consuming, and it took everything in her to keep her rapier up, the shockwaves coursing through her body. She took a hazy note of the fact that he hadn't pulled it out yet, which was good, but her vision was blurry, which was not so good. At least if the knife was still inside her body then she wasn't losing too much blood. Her grip weakened, and she saw the other knife jolt towards her face before it disappeared, the man being flung backwards into the bushes in a flash of light. Lucy appeared, hair wild and filled with leaves, her own rapier in hand. She crouched down, pressing a hand to Y/n's cheek and checking if she was okay.

"Threw a flare at him, should knock him out for a while. LOCKWOOD! HURRY UP! Sorry, I told him to get his ass over here just now, but he's stuck with some ghosts, and they're-"

"Lucy?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was hopeful, glad that her friend was conscious enough to speak.

"Please stop talking."

"Y/N!"

She winced at the shout, and Lucy moved over to make room for Lockwood. Y/n rolled her eyes at the cuts on his face, and the gash on his arm. "You can't help yourself, can you? Gotta throw yourself into danger headfirst."

"Shut up. Can you sit?"

"Did you just tell me to shut up? Anthony Lockwood, do not tell me to shut up when I could be dying."

"Y/n, please, don't do this. Can you sit?" His voice was insistent, desperation seeping into his expression, and his glare was convincing enough that she tried to sit up. The pain in her side was too much though, and she ended up half-slumped against a tree. "Who did this? Y/n? Who did this to you?" His tone was lower now, with something dangerous in the background.

"Lucy hit him with a flare. He's over there somewhere." She waved in the general direction she'd seen him disappear in. "Anthony, where are you going?" He froze, looking down at her from where he now stood. The full moon was behind him, and he looked otherworldly in the silver light.

"Lucy will stay with you, okay? Just hang on. I'll be back in a minute. Don't die on me now, Y/n/n." He softened a little at the last part, trying to convey a million emotions in a few words.

"Wait, I'm staying here?"

"Yes, Lucy." And with that he left, stalking in the direction Y/n had pointed him in.

"You alright?"

"Brilliant, thanks Luce," Y/n replied, and then she promptly passed out.

~~~

A soft beeping woke Y/n up, and the harsh light above her and the sterile smell in the air immediately told her that she was in a hospital.

That didn't explain the warmth in her left hand though.

Blinking as she adjusted to the bright light, she turned her head to the left, and had she not been drugged up on painkillers she would have reacted much more quickly and jerked away.

But she was drugged up on painkillers, so instead she just stared at the boy asleep in the chair next to her bed.

Anthony looked peaceful when he slept, he always had, but he didn't look particularly comfortable right now. His right hand was holding her left, and he'd managed to pull one of his long legs up onto the chair, bracing his forehead on his knee while his left arm dangled off the side of the armrest. Yeah, he couldn't be comfortable like that. She squeezed his hand lightly, but he didn't wake. A nurse came in, and upon seeing Y/n awake, smiled.

"Your boyfriend must love you a lot. He hasn't left your side since you came in. Rode in the ambulance with you too, which he wasn't meant to. Paramedics said he was very insistent and needed treating anyway, so they let him. He's been really worried about you." Y/n was on too much morphine to fully comprehend what was going on, and her brain had stopped working properly at the word 'boyfriend' anyway.

"Oh," was all she said, and the nurse smiled, going through her checkups. Y/n drifted in and out of consciousness for half an hour before Anthony woke up.

He blinked a few times, just as she had, stretching like a cat, long limbs going everywhere but never removing his hand from hers. His grip only tightened, and when he saw her watching him with a small smile on her face, he returned it.

"You're awake."

"No, I'm dead," she deadpanned. "Obviously I'm awake, idiot. If I died I'd have to go on a date with you."

He frowned. "Would that really be so bad?"

"Yeah. You should be going on a date with me, not the other way around."

He laughed lightly, more an amused exhale than anything else. "You are so drugged up right now."

"Yep," she replied, popping the 'p'. His thumb was stroking across her hand, and Y/n wondered if he knew he was doing it.

~~~

"Ugh, do I have to live at yours? What's wrong with my house?"

"You live on the fifth floor and there aren't any lifts. You were also specifically told not to climb too many stairs."

"Yeah, but your house has almost as many stairs as my apartment building, so what's the difference?"

"The difference is that I can look after you here, because I live here. Don't touch that, it's still healing, and- ow!"

"Oh shit, sorry. It looks healed."

"Yeah, well you're not the only one that got stabbed, alright? Here, let me get the door."

Anthony sprung up the last step, fishing the keys out of his coat pocket and unlocking the door. Y/n followed behind, wincing when the movement up the stairs put pressure on her wound. She'd been in hospital for two weeks once she'd woken up, and had been told to stay at home until she was properly healed. Anthony had taken on the role of carer immediately, and the nurses had all mentioned (multiple times) what a good and loving boyfriend he was, looking after Y/n the way he was, despite his own injuries.

Neither of them had denied it.

Once inside 35 Portland Row, Y/n took a look around, and was surprised to see that it had barely changed in the last three years.

"Right. Tea? I think George has just put the kettle on."

"Anthony?"

"Yeah?" His smile was tentative, clearly not wanting to scare her off when she'd just started calling him by his first name again.

"Please don't make me sleep on the sofa. Because that looks like the same one your parents got when we were four and I remember how uncomfortable that one is." She pointed to the sofa in question, and he shook his head.

"No, you're not sleeping there. What sort of a boyfriend would I be if I let that happen?" he joked, and Y/n felt her heart flutter at the idea. "You can sleep in my bed, alright? It's only one flight of stairs, which will hurt, but it'll be good for you to get the exercise in, make sure you're healing properly."

Y/n frowned. "Where are you sleeping if I'm in your bed?" She half expected him to say that he'd be right next to her, but he smiled softly again.

"Sofa. No, don't look at me like that, I've slept in worse places."

"What worse places? Ant, you've got to look after yourself! God, you're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days."

She started making her way up the stairs, huffing from the effort. She was tired, despite having spent just over two weeks lying down, and it was already late in the evening.

"It doesn't matter, alright? Just... let's just get you to bed, okay?"

"You're sleeping in a bed, and that's that."

"You are so stubborn sometimes."

"So are you!" She made it to the half landing, and hobbled over to the door she remembered being Anthony's. "You still in here?" At his nod, she pushed the door open, going over to the bed and sitting on the edge. "Seriously, this bed is big enough for the both of us. I'm not letting you sleep on the sofa, Ant. It's super uncomfortable."

"Won't that be... I don't know. Won't that be weird?"

"Why would it be weird?"

"Because we haven't... we're not... you don't like me and I'm scared you're going to murder me in my sleep."

"You... what? Uh... okay. I'm not gonna murder you in your sleep, Ant. One, that's completely dishonourable. I would do it while you were awake so that you could look into the eyes of your killer. Two, I do like you, I just also need you to apologise. For what you said."

"You want me to apologise? I was just defending myself, because I was hurt by what you said. You made out like I wasn't capable and that stung, because you'd always been my biggest supporter."

"Oh for fuck's sake, Anthony. I wasn't saying that at all. I was worried about you because you weren't yourself after Jess died. You were... I don't know. You weren't you, and it freaked me out when you said you were starting an agency, because it's a crazy thing to do! You sort of became a shell of my best friend, and disappeared, and I was worried that you would die and I would lose you because you wouldn't care about living anymore. I know that you are perfectly capable of fighting, and you're one of the best swordsmen I've ever met, but you're an emotional wreck, Ant."

He was quiet for a bit, staring into space as he thought about her words. Y/n sighed, lying down on the covers and closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She felt the bed dip next to her as he sat down. "I'm sorry. I said some horrible things to you and you had every right to leave. I don't have an excuse for what I said, and if you want to leave tomorrow morning then I'll help you move into your flat again. But I just... I'm sorry, Y/n/n."

Y/n sighed again. "I don't want to go. I've missed it here," she admitted. "And yeah, you were an idiot and an arse, but you're my idiot, alright? You have a lot of grovelling to do as well." He nodded rapidly, and a secret smile spread on his face, one of the ones he showed her and nobody else.

"Your idiot?"

"Yes, Anthony. My idiot." They smiled at each other, soft and gentle. A thought occurred to Y/n, and her brow furrowed. "What happened after I passed out in the park? All I remember is you looking murderous and asking who stabbed me."

"Oh, right." Anthony looked away, blush creeping up his neck.

"What happened?"

"He's not coming after you again, if that helps. Or anyone. DEPRAC completely purified the area."

Y/n gaped at him. "You killed him?"

Anthony shrugged. "He hurt you, badly, and you could have been killed. If Lucy had been a second later..." He trailed off, eyes clouding over slightly.

"Ant?" Y/n pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing at the stab of pain that shot through her in protest.

"Hmm?" he turned to look at her, and his eyes went wide when she slid an arm up around his neck.

"Lucy and George think that we need to make out."

"They, uh... they what?"

"They think that we need to make out."

He swallowed thickly, eyes flickering between hers, trying to figure out what was going on. When he spoke, it was in a hoarse whisper.

"What do you think?"

"I think we should listen to them. They're normally right about things. What about you?"

"Uh... okay?"

Y/n hesitated, suddenly unsure.

"Ant, do you want to? Because if you don't that's totally fine, I just assumed that you felt the same as me, and we were both fine with the hospital thinking that we're dating, and I genuinely really like you, and I probably love you-" she was cut off by his lips on hers, slightly chapped but still soft.

"I do want to, I'm just hopeless around girls, especially the ones I've loved since I was about ten." He'd barely pulled away, his nose brushing the side of hers, breath fanning over her lips.

"George was right about that too, then," she murmured, kissing him again. "He said you were hopeless with women."

"Thank god. I thought he knew I've been in love with you for years."

"Oh you're in love now, are you?"

"Started about seven years ago, but sure." He pushed forward again, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek as he kissed her softly and slowly.

"Is that why you flirted with me?"

Anthony flushed, nodding slightly. "In my defence I am completely hopeless with pretty girls, and I wanted to know if there was any chance of you sharing my feelings."

Y/n kissed him again, short and sweet. "I love you, Anthony Lockwood. Just look after yourself more, yeah?"

"I love you too," he replied. Y/n prodded him in the side.

"And?"

"And I'll look after myself more," he said, smiling. "Anything for you, anytime."

They kissed again, for longer this time, exploring each other and being mindful of their injuries, and Y/n thought she could happily spend eternity wrapped up in his arms

"You're definitely not sleeping on the sofa," she said when they paused for air a while later.

"If you say so," he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. She smacked a hand against his chest, face going red at his implication.

"Not like that, idiot."

"Your idiot," he smiled, pure joy on his face as he pecked her lips.

"My idiot," she replied, mirroring his grin.

[vodika-vibes]

oh may I request the "if you had the guts, [name], you would have kissed me." "you think something is stopping me from doing that right now? prompt for Alpha-17? I just love that big grump 🥹

thank you very much:)

Challenge

Summary: You're at a medical seminar, and Alpha-17 is there to play bodyguard for you. And your relationship changes.

Pairing: Alpha-17 x F!Reader

Word Count: 1930

Warnings: Smut, shameless smut

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: This wasn't going to be smut when I started to write it, but Alpha took control and said that this is happening, and I'm apparently weak for him. I'm so sorry if this isn't what you wanted.

Divider by Saradika

“This place is awful,” Alpha-17 grumbles as he folds his arms over his chest and glowers at a scrawny Doctor who looks like he’s about to come over and talk to you.

“You didn’t have to come to this seminar, Alpha.”

“I’m following orders,” He replies sarcastically. “General Ti said you needed a bodyguard. So here I am. Guarding your body.”

“Hm…and what are you guarding my body from, exactly?” You ask, as you flip through the brochure, “What kind of food do you want me to order for us tonight, by the way.”

“Hm?” He glances at the brochure over your shoulder and taps a restaurant, “They have good curry, according to someone else’s bodyguard.” Alpha replies, though he doesn’t finish answering your question until you grabbed the menu for the restaurant that he indicated, “Anyway, I’m apparently protecting your body from horny scientists.”

“...wait, what?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you seriously scaring off potential dates? Alpha!”

“You don’t need a date. You’re here for work, remember.” Alpha snarks.

“You sound jealous.”

“I’m pretty sure that guy can’t go up a flight of stairs without needing to pause to catch his breath.” Alpha says snidely, “He definitely wouldn’t be any fun in the sack.”

“Why are you even thinking about my sex life?” You ask.

“I have a lot of free time.”

“Which you spend thinking about me being naked.”

Alpha tilts his head and drags his gaze down your body, humming thoughtfully, “I have a very vivid imagination, princess.”

You scowl at him, and ignore the way that your face burns with the ease of long practice. You take a deep breath and look away from him, “You talk a good game, Alpha. But what would you do if I actually took you at your word?”

He arches an eyebrow at you, and you roll your eyes and shake your head.

“If you had the guts, Alpha, you would have kissed me already.” You say as you turn and meet his gaze evenly. Challenging Alpha is never a good idea, on account of the fact that he always wins. But you’re so tired of him flirting with you and then not doing anything about it.

Alpha straightens, and his gaze is locked on your face, “You think something is stopping me from doing that right now?”

“I don’t think you will. I think you’re all talk.”

Alpha stares at you for a long moment, absolutely silent, and then he smiles, slow and dark, “Okay.”

You pause and shoot him a strange look, “Okay?”

“Okay.” He repeats, his smile never once changing.

“Okay…” You say slowly, and then you turn your attention towards the brochure rack. However you expected him to react to your challenge, that wasn’t it.

You jerk when you feel his finger trail up your spine to stop in the middle of your neck, “You might just regret that, princess.” Alpha breathes in your ear, and then he’s no longer touching you.

You glance at him, he looks completely calm, though his gaze is locked on your face and the promising smile on his lips hasn’t wavered. You take a steadying breath, and turn to him, “Do you see anything you want to do?” You ask, as you motion at the stand.

He doesn’t take his eyes off of you, “Yeah, I do.” His grin grows when you shift slightly under his heated gaze, “But I don’t see anything on the stand I’m interested in.”

“Great!” You reply as you quickly spin away from him, “Then I’ll just grab a few of the restaurant menus and then we can go.” You hear him chuckle behind you, and you kind of want to pout. But you also brought this on yourself.

You grab a handful, necessary since you’re going to be here at this seminar for the next week or so, and then you turn to head towards the lift. Alpha, dutifully, trails after you and settles against the wall inside the lift.

He slams his finger against the button that shuts the door, causing the doors to slide shut before another scientist can enter the elevator with you.

“That wasn’t nice,” You say as the lift starts moving.

“I’m not nice.”

“Hm. I don’t believe that.”

“You just keep digging that hole, don’t you princess?” Alpha murmurs, his eyes glittering.

You consider him for a moment, and then you lift your chin, defiantly, “I still think you’re all talk, Alpha.”

His smile grows into a grin, and he reaches out to brush his thumb over your lower lip, “You know why I didn’t kiss you in the lobby?” He asks conversationally.

“Because you don’t mean it.”

“Because I fully intend to have you naked as soon as I have you in the room, and no one is allowed to see that but me.” Alpha growls out, “Especially not those scientists down there.”

Your lips part slightly, “Oh.”

His thumb presses a little harder against your lower lip, “Unless, princess, you’re not interested.”

“I never said that,” You reply immediately, and Alpha smirks at you, his gaze heated, but drops his hand as the doors open. He allows you to lead the way to the room. He waits patiently as you key in the door code, and he waits patiently for the door to slide shut behind him.

And then he’s on you.

Your back is pressed against the door, and his lips are warm and demanding against yours. He uses his teeth and tongue to devastating effect, and when he breaks the kiss, you’re flushed and breathless.

He takes a step away from you, and you whine low in your throat, “Alpha-?” As he backs into the room and settles on the couch.

“Come away from the door, princess.” He orders, his voice a low rumble. And you obediently step away from the door, and get to the middle of the room, before his voice stops you, “Stop there.” Alpha leans back against the couch, his legs splayed, as he palms the obvious bulge in his pants. He lazily frees his cock from the confines of his pants, and smirks at you, “See something you like, princess.”

Your gaze is locked on his cock, and you take half a step towards him.

“Did I say you could move, princess?” Alpha asks, his voice low.

You hesitate, but move back into the original position.

“Good girl,” He praises as he lazily strokes his cock, “Strip for me, my pretty girl. I want to see you.”

With shaking hands, you start peeling your clothes off. First your shirt and bra, and then your pants and underwear. And as soon as you’re bare in front of him, you fold your arms over your stomach.

“Beautiful,” He murmurs, his gaze hungrily dragging down your body. Alpha considers you for a moment, and then he smiles, “Come here, princess.”

You cross the short distance quickly, and Alpha pulls you to balance on his knee, rather than pulling you flush against him like how you wanted. “Alpha-” His name slips from you in a whine, and he leans in to kiss you, turning your whine into a sigh.

He pulls away and leans back against the couch, “Touch yourself,” Alpha orders, his gaze dragging down your body to linger on your pussy, “Make yourself cum, princess.”

Your fingers twitch towards his cock, and he laughs softly, “I know what you want, princess.” One of his hands ghosts across your breasts, and he rolls one of  your nipples between his fingers, and he’s rewarded with a moan, “Can you do this for me, princess?”

You release a shaky breath, but you nod, and your hand slides down your body. You ease in a single finger and you thrust slowly, as you twist your wrist so you’re able to rub the little bundle of nerves that brings you so much pleasure.

You fall into your usual habits, your free hand coming up to clamp over your mouth to muffle your needy moans. 

Alpha releases a growl and tugs your hand away from your mouth, “I want to hear you.” He threads his fingers with yours, and he’s not the least bit surprised when you tightly squeeze his hand.

And when you’re right there, right on the edge of reaching your climax, Alpha grabs your wrist and pulls your drenched hand away from your body. “No…’m so close….” you whine out, writhing on his lap for the friction that you need. Though you stop moving when Alpha takes your fingers into his mouth and starts licking them clean.

He releases your fingers, and pulls you a little closer, his lips catching yours in a heated kiss, and you moan at the taste of Alpha mixed with the subtle taste of yourself still on his tongue.

Your hips jerk when you feel the blunt head of his cock against your entrance, and slowly, very slowly, he pulls you down his hard length. He’s big, much bigger than your fingers or any of the toys you’ve used in the past. It’s a little uncomfortable, but as you settle fully on his length, the discomfort fades into pleasure.

Alpha breaks the kiss, his lips moving to your neck, as curses fall from his lips at the way you’re fluttering around him, “So fucking tight,” He groans, “Let me know when you’re ready to move, princess.”

You press your face against his neck, your hands curling tightly into his shirt, and you nod. Slowly you rock your hips, unsure about the unfamiliar position, and it takes you a moment, but you eventually find a rhythm that has the coil in your stomach winding tight again.

“That’s right, princess. Use my cock to chase your pleasure,” He groans in your ear, shallowly thrusting up into you.

You release a quiet whine when you realize that you can’t quite push yourself over the edge, “Alpha-”

“Shh,” He soothes you with a hand down your spine, “What do you need, Princess?”

“I can’t-”

“I have you.” Alpha murmurs, “Wrap your arms around me.” You do as he instructs, wrapping your arms tightly around him, and then he thrusts up into you roughly, as one of his hands slides between you to quickly roll his thumb over your clit.

And finally the coil snaps, and Alpha’s name falls from your lips like a prayer. And he continues fucking you though your orgasm, chasing his own release as he holds you tightly against his chest, praise falling from his lips as you slowly came down from your high.

His thrusts become shallow, and his lips crash against yours as he pulls you down around him, hard, and then he holds you still as he spills his release deep inside you. 

Alpha keeps you flush against him, staying buried deep within you as he presses lingering kisses against your neck and throat. And neither of you speak until you both have your breathing under control.

And then he tilts his head back to look at you, a smug smirk playing on his lips, “Do you believe me now?”

You blink at him, slightly bewildered, and then you pout, “Yeah. I guess.”

His smirk widens, and he lazily smoothes his hand down your spine, “So, Princess, how long do you think you need before round two?”

You release a breathless laugh, “Can we at least move to a bed, please?”

“Not a bad idea,” Alpha murmurs, “This time you’ll be under me, princess.” He kisses you deeply, and then stands, his arms strong around you.

[salzartdump]

Hi blog OP, I don't really know you and just happened to catch this in the tags, so feel free to ignore or delete this if you would rather not further engage with the bitchy anons, but if you don't mind, I have a response: First and foremost, anon, what about yourself? Have you read the entirety of RHATO front to back, every shitty detail and every eye-searing panel of sometimes objectively horrific art?

I have. I'm subjecting myself to it repeatedly and in the long term in a project to write comprehensive meta about it bcs haters like you who are so one-note about the thing and have this agenda to harass people for having different thoughts than you seem to have scared anyone who might have interesting insights into the metaphorical bushes, and, frankly, that bores me. We engage with plenty of other horrific comic arcs with analysis and rewrites to turn badly-done slop with a core element that held actual promise into something Better. Why not this one? Why is this one so fucking taboo we can't even analyze it, discuss what it did wrong and how it could have done better, or acknowledge the rare few things it didn't do half bad (and trust me, when I say rare few, I MEAN Rare)? Who are YOU to try and dictate whether or not others are allowed to do so?

Fandom isn't a monolith. It's not meant to be a monolith. Ships don't have to be canon, they're typically not meant to be canon. Echo chambers stop being fun pretty quickly, you know.

Liking or disliking some portion of comics history isn't inherently moral. In fact, oftentimes a lot of people have far more nuanced opinions like "oh this part was bad, but I liked this one specific thing that they did." Oftentimes, people aren't even financially supporting the slop in question. And it's old enough and the certain type of property that, frankly, even talking about it isn't exactly giving them royalties. There's nothing you could do to support JayRoy or RHATO specifically that supporting nearly any other title in the entire history of DC comics wouldn't do anyways since it's all the same company.

Anon, you didn't even have the balls to leave your icon attached to your message, where's YOUR moral highground? I know comics breed a brand of fans that looove their superiority complexes, & I'm not even going to pretend I'm not one of them, because if I wasn't then I probably wouldn't have dropped in to respond at all.

Learn to curate your own space so you don't have to see content you don't like. And if it's popping up anyways, look at whether or not you're actually doing everything you can TO moderate your own experience. And if you are, and it's truly the fault of, say, a lack of identification, then request that people maybe add something that will allow it to be caught by your moderation, or just block them, or otherwise remove yourself from the space.

Life, and fandom, and especially superheroes, are supposed to be about love, not hate. I'm sorry that you've lost sight of that. I can only hope that one day you'll be happier, and find ways to embrace more joy in your life than you've ever dedicated to cruelty and harassment. I know right now things are pretty rough in a lot of places, and especially in America things feel pretty scary, but that's no excuse to turn on each other.

And, you know, if you or any other actually puts aside your pride enough to read all of this? I hope you have a good day ahead of you. If it's nighttime where you are, then I hope that day is tomorrow, and maybe even every tomorrow after.

Do better.

THIS THIS THIS ^^^

i was not expecting anyone to actually respond to my response and it sure was a Suprise to open my laptop to(not in a bad way)

but that was LITTERALLY what i was ranting to my brothers about, like if you wanted the goddamn attention of a blog whos small enough to read all the asks then you need the attention enough to put your name on it. and i dont know ANY JayRoy shipper whos EVER said they love RHATO, in fact we all HATE IT its objectively bad writing thats a chore to read. i read the first volume and liked it and thought the plot really made sense, but i had a Feaver and was half delirious when i reread it i aged 4 years every panel.

i admire liedownquisition's patients in not only reading that slop multiple times, and writing a project about it, but also just typing this response out, i wish i had that incredible drive and focus, i apricate the response

[officialdaydreamer00]

hello star child!! thank you so much for your service <33 as payment and as thanks, please take this bowl of lollipops!! i'm sure you can find something you'll like ^^ and if not, right next to it you'll find a strawberry cheesecake. i wanted to express my upmost gratitude for your work. you're wonderful ^^

for this event, i'd like to send a letter to my beloved levi from obey me, if that's alright!!

Dear Levi,

Thank you for being alive. Thank you for being yourself. I know you don’t have the highest opinion of yourself but every moment I spend with you is so much fun. I love you dearly, and have for years now, and I hope you were able to eat a good meal today.

I want you to know that no matter what, I’ll always be there for you. Even if though I’m in a different world, far away from you, my heart yearns for you. If that embarrasses you, which I’m sure it will, don’t worry about being annoying or irritating me, you never have and I promise you never will. I want to make sure you know how much you mean to me, and maybe someday you’ll accept it wholly. I’m always yearning for you, whether you realize it or not. I want to take care of you, I want to make you happy, I want to help you with anything and everything I can. I love you, I love you, I love you.

I can’t repeat it enough times. And you know neither of us are good with words, so letters help us express our feelings, so I hope my adoration is conveyed.

You might not like how you look, but I do. I think your hair is such a pretty color, and your eyes remind me of the sunset at the beach. I love kissing your forehead and your cheeks, I love how shaky your hands get when we hug, I love how you put a hand over your mouth when you’re embarrassed or angry, I love all the silly jabs you throw when you don’t know how to react to affection. You’re so wonderful and beautiful and funny and smart, and I love you for all of that and more.

I love you, sin and all. Thank you for falling for me too.

Auburn

*trips on the milky way* IT'S BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I'VE DONE A DELIVERY I'M SO LATE (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

and as always, obligatory nickname conversion:

auburn -> levi's henry

To my Henry,

Can't believe I'm actually sitting down and writing a response to a letter after a long while thinking about it and procrastinating.

A letter from a human I probably don't deserve.

(eugh how do i even write letters i never write letters-)

I'm not good with words, which we both know already, so I'll try my worst and keep it short. I can't believe time flies so fast, has it been years already? Time's really weird when you become aware of it, it just slips through like sand, and I don't think I like that. Especially with a human I've come to, well, care for.

For the longest time, I thought my obsessions, my nonexistent social skills, my struggles, they would deter you from approaching. But... you never did. I used to hate myself for, well, everything (I still do, but that's another thing), but you still stayed by my side regardless. You saw my growth, you went through so much with me and for me, you chose me, solely for who I am, and I can't thank you enough for it.

From the bottom of my heart (and I mean it), thank you. Thank you for everything.

Leviathan

(written with speech-to-text)

tags: @identity-theft-101 @cloudcountry @xen-blank @dove-da-birb @cookiesandbiscuits @edith-is-a-cat + levi likers :D

do reblogs and/or comment if you enjoy my works!

[ladyluscinia]

I'm already so sick of how the fallout of ofmd season 2 has snowballed into people on here going "fandom these days just can't handle Bad Things happening in media-- newsflash, characters have to get hurt and die, grow up!" all condescending like. First of all, in the context of Izzy, most people I've seen discuss his death agree that they would've accepted and enjoyed his death if it had just been handled appropriately, and also. "You just can't handle bad things happening to your fave!" Bruh. We were all partying it up when Izzy lost his fucking leg and was suffering physically and mentally. It can be FUN to see your blorbo suffer!

And that is just one example of a larger trend on this site-- people are really gonna come onto the "we love putting our blorbos in the blender and watching them struggle and suffer" site and say "kids these days can't handle Bad Things happening to their blorbos." Sorry, but that's just nonsense. Fandom loves their fix-its, but they also love shattering their faves. The problem has never been Bad Things happening in general, but HOW those things are framed within the narrative and how that narrative is told. The problem is when something is out of place in its genre, or when it goes against a promise the show has made, or when suffering is used flippantly and uncaringly, or when a character suffers and suffers and then just when they've finally caught a break, they're kicked down again, just for a cheap tug at your heartstrings.

Both within the context of ofmd AND in a wider fandom context, fandoms LOVE when our blorbos are hurt, as long as our blorbos are hurt RIGHT.

... And I think it sure is Something that a fandom can have a rampant issue with fans of a character being harassed and sent death threats and that's just "normal fandom being fandom" but god forbid people feel Emotions. About a Character and a Show. And dare to react by... just Offering Criticism! No, death threats are "fandom culture that comes with the territory," but if you vent post or criticize a writing decision in media, THAT'S being "hysterical" and "overly emotional" and "truly frightening behavior!" I just LOVE (big sarcasm) how back when people were getting doxxed and threatened for liking a guy, the fandom was all *cricket noises,* but NOW suddenly everyone is "terrified and exhausted by fandom's volatility" and "concerned about the fragile mental health of fans" when you simply say "damn that episode sucked and I sure am sad about it."

The OFMD fandom was toxic as fuck for a year and a half and continued to be toxic as fuck for all the airing of S2, so hardly surprising that the aftermath of S2 appears to be... toxic as fuck.

Least surprising thing in the world is that the people who hated Izzy and passively or actively supported driving his fans out of the fandom for "ruining it for everyone else" now think his fans should leave the fandom if they are so upset and stop leveraging "baseless criticism" at the show that is "ruining it for everyone else." They have normal not-at-all-parasocial relationships leading them to directly @ David Jenkins and thank him for a season that somehow managed to be both flawless and have all its flaws blamed on MAX, but those wretched Izzy stans have horrible-evil-parasocial relationships making them harass the crew by *footage not found*

If Mr. Jenkins decides to go scroll the #ofmd s2 tag on tumblr and stumbles across me - a random blog and icon - outlining how I think he fucked his show up, that's pretty clearly on him? This is tumblr. I have no relationship with this man or obligation to tailor every word I say as if he's bound to see it and going to take it personally???

I'm actually a big proponent of "Don't @ the cast and crew about pretty much anything" because the same fandom mentality that makes you think you can randomly ask him about your headcanon like you're chatting is what all these people are melting down about if someone directly goes "hey you killed my favorite character and that makes me mad!" - same fucking people, same fucking parasocial relationship. The standard of "only @ them for good things" is the flimsiest fucking line, as any ao3 writer who has received unsolicited "constructive criticism" or "advice" can tell you.

If we want to snidely get into "what this is really about" well it's the same fucking thing it was before:

People substituting subjective opinion as objective fact with zero self-awareness of doing so. "I liked this so it's good." "I didn't like this so it's bad." "I got bad vibes from that character so he was clearly written to be horrendous and unlikable." "I sympathized with this character so anyone suggesting he has flaws is demonizing him."

Or the deepest circle of fandom hell: "I think [insert identity] rep is so important and this piece of media fits into however I personally define 'good rep', therefore it is flawless and/or morally significant enough to be above criticism."

...which, yeah, leads to temper tantrum levels of fandom infighting, especially since people online express, fairly frequently, "I didn't like it because it was bad" and then present evidence for their point. And also a lot of fandom likes bad TV. Or even just mediocre TV that's entertaining.

I personally was not going to be happy about any person beyond one-offs, blatant villains, and background randoms dying because "they had to" (for their own arc or someone else's) because I fundamentally think if you believe you've written yourself into that corner in a workplace comedy that's built around a main romance arc... you're kinda stupid. Yes, even if it's pirate themed. Enough injuries have been walked off and lampshaded to confirm that part is aesthetic.

The fandom wiki for The Office lists 11 deceased characters. Three of them are fictional characters who die in an action-movie episode. Two are one-offs that get named dropped seasons later as having died offscreen. One of them is an offscreen cat, who appears to have had a more significant death plotwise and emotionally than any of the humans, and another is a woman who literally exists as a picture someone makes up a personality for and then discovers the real woman died. The most significant character on the list is a temp boss that got a four episode story arc about being a useless idiot who died in the hospital after a basketball dunking accident.

That is a show that ran for 9 seasons and over 200 episodes. It's pretty universally regarded as good, and the cringe asshole boss getting genuinely moving emotional beats is a big part of that. I think we can maybe pretty confidently say that reflecting the random realities of death is not essential to every story.

If OFMD wants to be evaluated as a hard-hitting drama or a queer story about the struggle of piracy against the Evil Empire, I will compare it to Black Sails instead of The Office. I just don't think David Jenkins is going to enjoy that comparison.

I'm not going to lower my standards because [insert rep reason the show must absolutely be a wild success here].