#i was at my first pro wrestling show

[salirophiliac]

oh btw! there’s this portuguese wrestling promotion called dream pro wrestling and they seem so fucking cool, they promote inclusivity and equality and that’s something a lot of other portuguese promotions can’t relate to LMAO

anddddd one of my irl besties and i are planning on going to their first ever house show next month !! one of the wrestlers who’s gonna be in the main match was trained by fucking gunther dude. that’s fucking crazy to me

it’s gonna be so much fun i’ll post a lot about it :3

[sukuna-dees-nuts]

this is for @nessieartss!! based on this (it was me that asked, surprise) and also the first part of this art

i hope you enjoy!! older brother sukuna lives rent free in my brain right now and i love him being a bastardman

---

“Ay, what the fuck was that?!” Sukuna shouts as Yuuji cackles in glee. His character races into first place, winning the Grand Prix. Sukuna' goes from first place to fourth. “You threw a red shell right after a blue shell! That's fucking cheating!”

Yuuji shrugs, lounging back against the couch and drops the controller next to him. “Don't hate the player, hate the game,” he says with a grin and pulls out his phone. “Those dishes aren't gonna wash themselves.”

Sukuna grunts as he tosses the controller onto the coffee table. “I hate both the player and the game.”

“And the game hates you!” the younger boy calls out after his brother's retreating figure.

Turning his attention back to his phone, Yuuji’s grin melts into a soft smile when he sees Yuko's name on a Snapchat notification. He glances over his shoulder to make sure that Sukuna is still in the kitchen before tapping on the notification. It won't be anything inappropriate, but he knows for a fact that if Sukuna saw that his younger brother was texting a girl, Yuuji wouldn't hear the end of it. 

The Snapchat shows a picture of a latte with the classic tulip foam art and a caption that reads: ‘I think I'm finally getting the hang of this latte foam art!’

Yuuji holds his phone out to take a picture of himself, giving Yuko a big smile and a thumbs up. 

‘That's so good!! Ur a professional now. If I ordered one, would u make me a cat???’

“Yo! Can I put this cast iron pan in the dishwasher?” Sukuna asks from the kitchen. He waits for a response and gets nothing. “I’m about to put this pan in the dishwasher!” Again, no response. Rolling his eyes, Sukuna makes his way back out to the living room. “Dude, if this pan gets ruined, it’s gonna be your fault—”

Sukuna cuts himself off when he catches sight of a picture of a girl on his little brother’s screen. Immediately, he reaches over the couch and snatches the phone out of Yuuji’s hand. “Oh! Who is this?” he gasps, bringing the screen closer to his face for a better look. “Do you have a girlfriend little bro?”

“Hey!” Yuuji scrambles, turning around to lean over the back of the couch in an attempt to grab his phone back. Sukuna places his hand on Yuuji’s forehead, keeping him at arm’s length as he looks over the picture. “Give me back my phone!”

Smacking Sukuna’s arm away, Yuuji vaults over the back of the couch and decides to try and wrestle his phone back from his brother. It doesn’t work, however. The two grapple for a few moments and the next thing Yuuji knows, Sukuna has his arm wrapped around his brother’s neck, holding him in a firm headlock. It isn’t enough to hurt him, but it’s enough to keep him from trying to escape, knowing that it’s futile. 

“Who is she, huh?” Sukuna presses as he slides Yuuji’s phone into his pocket and begins rubbing his knuckles on the top of Yuuji’s head. 

“I’m not gonna tell you!” Yuuji laughs, trying in vain to smack Sukuna’s hand away from his head. 

“Well, I’m not letting you go until I get some answers,” the older boy states, rapping his knuckles against Yuuji’s forehead. Then he pinches Yuuji’s nose. 

Weighing his pros and cons, Yuuji relents. “Okay, okay! I’ll tell you! Just let me go.”

Sukuna snorts. “Nah, if I let you go right now, you’ll just try to punch me and I won’t get what I asked for.”

Yuuji groans. His brother knows him too well. “Her name is Yuko. She’s just a friend. I haven’t asked her out… yet,” he grumbles the last word.

Satisfied, Sukuna releases his hold on his brother and hands Yuuji's phone back. 

In the midst of the struggle, Sukuna hadn’t noticed his own phone had fallen out of his pocket. It dings and Yuuji is the first to snatch it off the ground, curious to see who would be texting Sukuna. His jaw drops at the name displayed on the lock screen.

Sukuna quickly plucks his phone from Yuuji’s hand and goes back to the kitchen as Yuuji shouts after him, “Dude, why is Megumi texting you? And why is there a heart next to his name?!”

[msbigredmachine]

☕Roman Reigns Menu ☕

☕SIGNATURE DRINKS (Multi-chapters)☕

The Boy Next Door

A sexy mysterious man is new in town…but mystery is not all he brings with him… (Co-written with @harmshake) AU. [In Progress]

Power Couple - The Series

They say, “Behind every great man stands a great woman”. But behind the Universal Champion and the Tribal Chief is a different breed of woman, a force of nature capable of bringing even the Head of the Table to his knees…and vice versa. [Completed]

Into The Deep End - The Saga

Sasha has always tried to play it safe, to keep her life as simple and risk-free as possible. Things change, however, when she garners the interest of a handsome, charming, younger man from a completely different world than hers. As she starts to question her own rules, is she ready to take the biggest chance of them all? Will she let herself take that dive? My very first Roman fic set circa 2014. [Completed]

Targets 

Roman Reigns is an agent in the secret organization The Authority and one of the world’s deadliest assassins. When he crosses paths with a mysterious woman during an assignment, he makes a life-changing decision that switches his role from the hunter to the hunted. (AU Espionage Story)  [Completed]

Roman & Jaida: The We Are Series 

He’s not her most favorite person in the world, but she finds it in her heart to be there for him in his time of need. In return, he shows her just how much he appreciates it. Set around the events of the 2015 Royal Rumble and the Blizzard Raw the night after. [Completed]

You Consume Me

She was beautiful, tempting, carefree, and everything I thought I wanted in a woman. One taste and I was hooked, abandoning everything and everyone I cared about to be with her. What I failed to see was the other side of her; a side that was dark, dangerous…Deadly.  [Completed]

Come What May 

Today was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. So why did she feel like she was making the biggest mistake of her life? (Roman Reigns/OC/Tama Tonga)  [Completed]

☕DOUBLE SHOTS (Two-shots)☕

You Again 

That awkward moment when the biggest star in pro wrestling happens to be your high school bully…and he’s in your office. A 2-part series [Completed]

Talking Body 

Photoshoots, lingerie and a long overdue baecation are in store for Roman and Gia heading into their five-year(ish) anniversary. Let’s hope it all goes off without a hitch. [Completed]

☕SPECIALTY BREWS (One-shots)☕

Midnight Sparks - On New Year’s Eve, the OTC retreats to a quiet bar, craving solitude. When a confident and captivating woman crosses his path, their connection ignites, turning a quiet night into something unforgettable.

An Angelic Christmas🎄- On their first Christmas together, Roman and Naima share heartfelt gifts, tender moments, and an intimate celebration that deepens their connection. (Prelude on my upcoming fic, Finding Angel)

Nothing Left - The tale of a marriage built on trust, torn apart by lies, and a woman’s breaking point that should never have been reached.

Handsy - When the OTC asks for help and you oblige him, he’s very happy to return the favor.

Behind The Mask -  Sometimes love demands that you fight not for yourself—but for someone who can’t fight back.

Cheat Meal - The OTC is hungry for a whole lot more than just good food.

Butterscotch & Chocolate - What’s better than a hunky, rich and powerful Samoan boyfriend? Why, two, of course! (Roman Reigns/OC/The Rock)

Kitty Kat - After a lifetime of searching, the Tribal Chief may have finally found the woman of his dreams. Post-Summerslam 2024.

Black Sweatpants - Why did the Tribal Chief arrive late to the Pat McAfee Show? Based on Roman’s appearance on March 22 2024.

Checkmate - The new Smackdown GM reminds the Tribal Chief who’s boss, in more ways than one. The aftermath of the highly entertaining WrestleMania 40 Press Conference.

Santa Daddy🎄- All the Tribal Chief wants for Christmas is you.

Sugar & The Chief - Reader is a best-selling erotic author reflecting on the success of her newest novel, which is based on her secret affair with the man who became her muse.

Say Cheese - A steamy after-work rendezvous with the Tribal Chief and his princess is captured in 4K. 

In Peace - When one of the Wiseman’s incessant phone calls comes at the wrong time 🙄.

Here With Me - As the Bloodline Civil War takes an unexpected turn of events, Reader comes up with the perfect pick-me-up for her Tribal Chief. Post-Summerslam 2023.

M.K.A.M. (My Kinda Morning) - Who says birthday sex has to end after the birthday?

Dirty Little Secret - They are each other’s escape, too good to let go of. Until they have to let go.

I Still Heart You - This year, Valentine’s Day takes an interesting turn for two exes.

Latch - The most meaningful conversations take place in the shower. 

Daddy The Sub - The Tribal Chief comes home to receive his punishment.

Feedback - The Tribal Chief loves it when you tell show him how much you like his promos. Set after that epic unification contract signing segment of Feb 25, 2022

Sex On The Beach - Remember that “Running Around Naked” promo the Tribal Chief cut some months ago? Well, this is exactly what happened on the private island…in my mind at least.

Boss Lady - It’s always good to have a close working relationship with your boss. But what if you want to be closer? More importantly, what if the feeling is mutual? AU.

I Won’t Let You Fall -She was ready to give up on herself, but one man had to let her know he was not ready to lose her, even if it meant revealing a certain secret he’d kept to himself for years. 

Gold Digger - Roman is having a hard time getting rid of his gold-digging ex-wife. What exactly does he have to do to get her out of his life permanently? AU.

Believe - Still hurting from a nasty breakup, Livia is convinced that love does not exist. But Roman decides to prove her wrong…in the most romantic way possible.

The One That Got Away - On the biggest night of her career, Hollywood movie star Beverley Tyler looks back on what might have been. There are things more important than fame and fortune. Beverley learned that the hard way. 

The Mechanic - An impromptu trip to a service station leads to an encounter with a sexy mechanic. Her car isn’t the only thing he works on. AU.

☕ESPRESSO SHOTS (Drabbles)☕

Kiss Me (200 Words in May Challenge)

All banners made by me.

Credit to all the owners of the pictures and gifs.

Divider by @thecutestgrotto

Please don't steal my content. Thank you!

[guywrestlingaddiction]

Everything Great About a Match: Mr.Joshua Goodman v Christian Taylor (bgeast.com)

Everything Great About a Match: +5

Mr.Joshua Goodman v Christian Taylor (bgeast.com)

SPOILER ALERT: I highly recommend viewing this match in its entirety before reading this post.

So let's begin:  +1: For Christian's debut match! Every great wrestler needs an origin story and Christian's story begins with big bad Joshua.  So can he win? Well of course not, this is Mr.Joshua we are talking about here but still enjoy these images of Christian before he was famous and suffered his first pro beatdown.

From Cocky ... To Crippled. 

Mr.Joshua: You, you don't know the rules.  Looks like I'm going to have to explain them to you. 

+1: Mr.Joshua brings the heat and does not hold back on our rookie.  If you were expecting some mercy being the new guy then you picked the wrong opponent because Mr.Joshua does no such thing.  The guy brutally dismantles our newbie and gives him the freshmen match to remember. 

+1: The humiliation.  Not only is our jobber destroyed but Mr.Joshua makes our jobber look as humbled as possible.  He thrashes him and even toys with the guy's head by slapping him to show him he's the man.  Christian is not only dominated but he's made to be humiliated, repeatedly, and with just a little something extra to claim the poor guy.  What a welcome to bgeast! I'm surprised Christian came back from this.  

+1: For this move.  I'm not sure what we're calling this - headlock with leg split variation but our wrestlers know each other's bodies enough to make this work.  How else do you combine Mr.Joshua's chisled muscular frame with Christian's long lanky body to produce a new wrestling outcome?  

+1: For the "Adjustment".  This will always get a point as Mr.Joshua's sexy signature move in my book.  The man knows it's what the fans want and knows how to work it into every match to not let us down!

------- Everything Great About this Match: +5

So there you have it.  This may very well be the toughest, vicious, most primal newbie match I have ever seen and I've seen a ton of matches.  Mr.Joshua goes balls to the walls all over Christian's poor lithe body ensuring that the rookie will never forget his place on the food chain.  In the end, Mr.Joshua takes this match to that extra special place beyond domination and poor Christian may never fully recover from the humiliation.  

[eff-plays]

Long Taash storyline rant by an enby 2, electric boogaloo

I think I finally figured out what to say about Taash's storyline so walk with me here.

It smacks a little bit of white lib homonationalism. If you don't know what homonationalism is, it's when Western countries see themselves as enlightened for being "more" accepting of queer folks compared to other cultures, and when this is used to justify racist (particularly anti-immigrant) politics. Usually you'll have far-right wackos claiming to be so so so pro-gay rights that they simply MUST keep the immigrants away in order to protect those sweet fragile white gays, who will surely be totally fine under a fashy regime.

Now, I'm not a sociologist and I might be talking out of my ass by making this connection. But as a nonbinary, non-white first generation immigrant, who was raised by a single mother who wanted to be free of the politics of her home country and thus moved in order to create a better future for me, when I played the Taash storyline, I got the distinct feeling that the writer of it either had a blissfully conflict-free coming out, or that they have no idea how complex the interplay of identity and culture can be. Or that they're a white lib who thinks getting somebody's pronouns right is more important than being an open-minded and fundamentally compassionate human being at heart.

Thing is, I understand what they were going for, kind of. In isolation. It was supposed to be a tragic death where Shathann finally revealed that she accepted her child as they were, right before dying, and it left Taash feeling like they were cut off from her when things were finally looking like they could be fixed. At least they know their mother loved and accepted them at the end, which makes it bittersweet, right?

But that's kind of what pisses me off about this, y'see. Because in practice, Shathann died for the sin of unknowingly misgendering her child, and for attempting to call them trans instead of nonbinary specifically. And she died because it was the easy way out for the writer -- kill the complex mother who comes from a culture deemed problematic in order to avoid dealing with how they'd move forward together, and how their cultural upbringings would clash with yet be mitigated by their familial love for each other. Help Taash choose between Rivaini or Qunari now that their mother's influence and opinions are gone and they don't have to wrestle with her culture anymore, just what they themselves think of it.

I don't think Taash's mother has any actual right to decide which culture Taash belongs to, that is Taash's decision, but the writers know that her influence would still make things more complicated for Taash. And we can't have that, right? Taash has to decide for themselves, as is their right, their right as a queer person to make decisions independent of and not affected by their mother's backwards culture. Their queerness takes priority, nay, dictates how they relate to their nationality/cultural belonging. Anything that might infringe upon that holy self-realization must be removed.

Y'see where I'm going with this? Y'see why it makes me a little uncomfy?

Now for the part where I put my on stink on it. My mom does not get my being nonbinary. She asked me a bunch of really ignorant and gross things when I came out in her attempt to understand it, or rather, refute it. The whole discussion lasted for about 2 panic-filled hours, and I don't think I changed her mind on anything. She still makes uncomfy comments about trans people. She still misgenders me, though this is partly due to our mother tongue not having any gender-neutral pronouns.

And yeah, all of this hurts, no doubt about it. But the thing is? My mom still loves me. She shows it with nearly everything she does outside of this enby stuff, but even with this stuff, she never pushes me to be more feminine. She said she'd switch to my new name if I ever decide to change it. She once apologized for putting "female" for me on a form she had to fill out because there were no nonbinary options. She bought me a perfume for men just because I idly remarked it smelled nice.

And I know what you're thinking, and yes this is a difficult situation to be put in. It's hard, but it happens every day, in families like mine. When your parent was raised to believe one thing, and have for decades, and they're confronted with something new, the switch won't be instant, or happen at all. And I knew that before coming out to her.

I was Taash's age when I came out to my mom, so Taash would've known that, too. And what's even more frustrating, is that Shathann doesn't even resist the revalation, like my mom did. She tries to apply a concept she is more familiar with in order to understand Taash, but since that concept isn't 100% exactly what Taash identifies with, she's in the wrong, immediately. Taash blows up at her for not instantly getting the name and concept of a completely new term dropped onto her head. And all we can do is console Taash on how poorly it went, but whose fault is that? Shathann removes herself from the situation when she notices Taash is about to blow a gasket, because what's the point in discussing anything with somebody who's already rejected your attempts at understanding them, while demanding you understand them?

And before somebody says that I don't "get" what Taash is going through, start reading the post from the beginning but really read it this time. For those who might say that Taash is justified in expecting the worst on account of how Shathann has been raising them up until now, then I raise you this: If Taash knew their mother wouldn't initially get it, why did they blow up when she immediately tried to get it? If they expected her to reject them, why are they still mad when she doesn't? Did they expect her to attempt to use a cultural concept she's familiar with in order to understand their identity, but didn't have an explanation ready to also frame it in a way that'd be familiar to her?

Instead, the order of events is essentially this: Shathann raises Taash in an overbearing way and places high expectations of femininity on them > her and Taash clash over this frequently > Taash, knowing how their mother is but feeling the need to come out to her anyway, says they're nonbinary > Shathann is confused yet calm, asks if they're trans > Taash gets instantly upset > Shathann, still confused, leaves the situation > Rook comforts Taash on how bad that went and says their mother will surely come around > Shathann, off-screen, figures out what nonbinary is, dies using the correct pronouns and confirming that she does love them for who they are > Taash is sad their mom dies but hey, at least they know she loved them at the end.

Shathann being a somewhat traditional Qunari, her expecting femininity, are all initially framed as obstacles for Taash to overcome. The overbearing, traditionalist parent must be confronted with the truth and realize their idea of their child is wrong. But before things can get too complicated, too bitter, and Taash has to actually confront this "obstacle", Shathann is instead removed from the equation entirely and killed in order for Taash to have their identity confirmed.

Except in that coming out scene, Shathann's characterization takes a strange, seemingly unintentional turn, and rather than reject her child's identity as the plot structure demands, she tries to understand it through her own limited framework. What's telling is that the narrative frames this as equivalent, that not immediately grasping a new concept and term is the exact same as outright rejecting it. It's framed as it being just another instance of her rejecting Taash's personhood and being dogmatic in her beliefs, but that only works if you're in that white lib mindset of "if you don't immediately understand my specific view of things and use the exact correct words that you might not be familiar with, you're a close-minded asshole and a bigot". If you're like me, whose genuinely very loving mother doesn't grasp the concept of being nonbinary, or if you just have a sliver of basic reading comprehension, you'll realize that Shathann is literally, in that scene, TRYING. But because she doesn't immediately get it right, it's deemed as insufficient, we're made to comfort Taash over their mother's grave insult, and Shathann is then killed for drama, but not before confirming that omg, she got it!! She got the fucking words right, and that means she finally loves them for who they are, which she apparently didn't do before!! All is well!!

Nevermind that Shathann is fine with Taash having female lovers, nevermind that, in Qunari culture, Taash being a dragon-hunting warrior would've effectively made them trans already and Shathann seemingly had no issues with that? (This is probably just a plot hole lbr.) Nevermind that she uprooted her whole life in order to provide a better life for her child, and nevermind the part where she admits she's done a poor job as a mother yet still clearly loves her kid. She didn't immediately get the new words and concepts right!! So she has to use the right words before she dies, in order for Taash to finally know that their mother loves them properly.

It's. Kinda gross. You know? It feels like Shathann, rather than being her own person, is essentially a prop to confirm Taash's identity, while hers is shifted around as the plot needs it. The plot both wants her to be an obstacle for Taash to overcome in affirming their identity, but also for her to affirm said identity. It conflates Shathann not immediately understanding and asking questions as her not accepting her kid, as her not loving her kid. And to fix that idea in Taash's mind, she has to die for them while also using the correct pronouns. That's an insane fucking thing to write.

If Shathann was instantly accepting, then that's boring and low-stakes. We can't have a parent who instantly accepts their kid, we want that family drama and painful coming-out story. Taash needs somebody to assert their identity over. BUT we don't want to deal with a parent not accepting their kid at all, that's just a bummer. So Shathann has to be unaccepting enough for Taash to have a conflict, but accepting enough that Taash doesn't have to assert themselves or fight too hard to be understood and accepted. Because that's just a bummer. And might signal that being nonbinary isn't valid and a-ok and totally cool and epic and awesomesauce and take my upvote and leave my good sir.

What's frustrating is that it could have worked. Have Shathann be like "Well you're a warrior, I thought you were aqun-athlok but didn't want to bring it up" and have Taash be like "No it's different, not like that" and Shathann be like "Ok then explain it to me." And maybe don't have Shathann get it fully at the end, but have her try. Have Taash come back from an off-screen conversation with Shathann and say that "We're good. She doesn't quite get it yet, but I think we'll be ok."

But instead, Shathann gets it!! Woo!! But then dies so. Don't even worry about it. At least Taash's enby-ness is validated with Shathann's dying breath. Because that's what really mattered in the end. Taash being so so so so so valid.

[darby-rowe]

PILEDRIVER !

sejanus plinth x fem!District 2!reader summary when you and sejanus get the opportunity to relive your days of amateur backyard wrestling while growing up in district two, things get... well, compromising.

word count 2.5k cw childhood best friends to lovers, the inherent eroticism of wrestling, awkward boner, reader makes the first move, first kiss, cunnilingus, confident sej, p in v, unprotected sex, sej has a big dick, petnames, dirty talk, flexible reader, piledriver position, y/n usage, pulling out, not proofread notes based off of my personal headcanon that district two quickly became filled to the brim with underground fighting/wrestling rings after it was named panem's newest military hotspot after district 13 got its shit obliterated. and i was always obsessed with the idea of a district two character who was heavily involved with these rings, so i decided to "soften" up the idea a little bit by just making reader the type of child who wrestled w/ her family and friends as a little girl. thought this concept was super cute and i hope yall do too! also for anyone who's wondering, sej and reader are supposed to be doing catch wrestling, but i also combined moves from collegiate wrestling and pro wrestling :) so yeah!!

Growing up in District 2, you swiftly grew familiar with back alley tussling as your home district quickly became Panem’s military hotspot after the first rebellion. It seemed as if your entire childhood consisted of backyard amateur wrestling and secret underground fighting rings in which you constantly found yourself getting wound up in.

By the time your family bought themselves a place within the Capitol, you already had a well rounded history of getting broken and bruised by friends, family, and complete strangers. And the thing was that you loved it. You loved stepping inside a poorly made ring and roughin’ it out with your siblings or cousins.

And your parents sure could afford the medical bills after all your broken bones!

So when you were forced to pack up and leave for the Capitol, you were heartbroken to have to transition into a life of high class uppity scumbags – with the exception of your best friend, Sejanus Plinth, whom you felt was your only source of comfort among the sea of self-important snakes.

One late night, Sejanus came to you with bright eyes and grinning lips, eager to show you what he had found. “Oh, and make sure you bring a sports bra, gym shorts, and some good shoes,” he had said before you two went off. Of course you didn’t object to a tiny adventure with your best friend, so you followed him through the quiet streets of the Capitol towards a run-down building that smelled of mold and old rubber. When you stepped inside, your heart swelled with nostalgic joy, and your eyes nearly overflowed with tears.

“Sej,” you gasped as your eyes fell upon the abandoned gym. Sure, it was a fixer-upper, but it was more than perfect for just the two of you. All of the punching bags and weight-racks were right where they were left, but the most important thing in the room were the big circles in the middle of the room.

You looked back at Sejanus with a look of pure gratitude. “How’d you find this place?”

He shrugged his shoulders, his brown doe eyes sparkling with delight. “I may or may not have pulled a few strings,” he teased. God bless Strabo and Ma Plinth, you thought. “Now, enough talk – you up for some old fashioned catch-as-catch-can?”

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

The amount of time this gym must have been abandoned concerned you a bit, making you feel that if you took a big enough breath you’d be a walking incarnate of tuberculosis for the next year. But the two of you didn’t plan on staying long, as trespassing could land you a good few nights in jail. And you and Sejanus being district, that was the last thing you two needed to be added to your permanent records.

You made sure to stretch your body, making sure all your muscles were warmed up deeply before locking up with Sejanus. And him, with his big strong arms, you realized that your body was the only thing warmed up tonight.

“I’m a lover, not a fighter,” Sejanus teased, wounding up his arms in large circles. “I’ll make sure to go easy on you, darling,”

“You think I can’t take you down, big boy?” you challenged, cracking your neck and knuckles. “I’ve done it before, remember?”

“Yeah, when we were five,” Sejanus countered, adding a small chuckle to his words.

There wasn’t a referee, nor a bell or a whistle, so you two shook hands and squatted down as you circled each other. The fingers of your hands slightly ghosted each other, teasing each other at the same time of who was going to grapple who first. The two of you then locked up in a collar and elbow tie-up, your hand grasping the back of his neck as you pulled him in for a standing headlock. You tightly secured Sejanus’s head into the pocket of your forearm as his hands felt around your waist. His strength overtook yours as he pushed himself out of the lock, and you couldn’t help yourself but lightly gasp as he pulls in for a standing headlock of his own and takes you down to the ground with a takeover. The feeling of your body flipping forwards onto your back makes you dizzy for just a second, opening your eyes to see Sejanus’s smiling face looking down straight at you.

“Thought you were gonna go easy on me,” you teased, panting from the combination of sudden movements.

Sejanus still has his arms wrapped around your head, also panting. “Change of heart, I guess,”

You huffed out a puff of air out of your mouth in a chuckle. “What a gentleman,” you locked your hands around his torso and pushed yourself into a bridge, using your strength to roll him over onto his stomach to lay him out prone. You let out embarrassingly loud grunts of effort as Sejanus was larger than you, which made him start laughing as you now laid over his body, hands still wrapped around him. “Shut up, Sej,”

“What? It’s cute,” he responded from under you.

You slowly released your hands from around his already clammy torso and stood back up on your feet, stretching your body once more to prepare for round two. “You didn’t even pin me,” Sejanus said with a tinge of confusion in his voice.

“It’s not like we’re actually doing a match together,” you told him. “What? You wanna do one for real this time?”

Sejanus twisted his body at the waist, knocking out all the kinks in his muscles. “I thought we were doing it for real?”

“Well now we can, grizzly bear,” your voice was almost a purr as you stretched out your arms at the ready. Grizzly bear? The nickname confused him, so you took the momentary distraction to two-step into a double-leg takedown. When he was on his back, you flipped your body over in a jackknife pin, but the sheer swiftness of Sejanus betrayed you.

Sejanus used the strength of his legs to roll you onto the backs of your shoulders, your arms pinned down by his legs, and knees hooked on his shoulders. You were unable to kick out by the time the three seconds were up.

“Nice,” you commented, panting as you looked up at his sweaty face from your compromising position.

“Should say the same to you,” he responded, letting you roll yourself backwards onto your knees. “Another round, darling?”

You got up onto your feet, but before you could agree to another round, you found yourself being tackled onto the ground below and folded in half. Sejanus had your arms pinned down over your head, and your knees were basically parallel with your cheeks.

And you felt the unmistakable feeling of Sejanus’s hard erection pressed against your ass.

Sejanus had you pinned down for more than the 3-second count, and he still hadn’t let you go. You blushed, eyes scanning over his sweaty form dominating over you. What do you even say in a situation like this?

You always thought Sejanus was cute. You watched him grow up alongside you and turn into an extremely handsome young man. He grew into his muscular stature, his brown curls became more defined, his brown doe eyes only grew dreamier.

And now here you were, folded in half like a damn pretzel, and he was hard.

“You’re, um…” you wet your lips awkwardly. “You–... you’re hard, Sej,”

You felt guilt well up inside your chest as Sejanus’s face seemed to drop with embarrassment. Fuck, now you felt like an asshole. “Oh… oh, Y/N, I’m so sorry–”

“Hey, hey, no,” you cooed, trying to put his worries at ease. You reached up and brushed a stray curl from his sweaty face. “No apologies, Sej. Don’t worry,”

Sejanus crawled away from on top of you, letting your body unfold itself, giving your ribcage and your other internal organs a break. You pulled yourself up into a sitting position where Sejanus had one knee folded up towards his chest and his other leg flat on the dusty wrestling mat.

You sat there in silence, thinking of what your next move could possibly be. Should you apologize for pointing out Sejanus’s erection? It seemed as if no matter what you chose to say, it was only going to make the situation worse.

So instead, you said fuck it, and chose not to say anything at all as you grabbed Sejanus’s face and pulled him in for a kiss. You felt his big hands find purchase on your shoulders, as if the initial shock was going to make him fall over.

The taste of his plump, warm lips slotting themselves against yours sent goosebumps down your back, and when you pulled away for a breather, only a few words were exchanged before you two went back at it.

“Are you sure?” Sejanus mumbled against your lips.

“Please,” you whispered. And that was all that needed to be said.

It didn’t take long before you had Sejanus trailing open-mouthed kisses down your stomach and down towards the waistline of your shorts, hooking his fingers beneath the waistband and pulling them down to reveal your plain, cotton panties. Even in the darkness of the abandoned gym, he could still pinpoint the dark spot of your wetness, teasingly circling his thumb on the area. You inhaled sharply. You were already so sensitive. You blamed it on the previous exertion of energy you shared with Sejanus and, well, also the fact that Sejanus’s face was mere inches away from your pussy.

He swiftly pulled off your panties and leaned down to deliver one kitten lick to your clit, making you gasp softly. You could tell that your reaction made the boy smirk, adding to his confidence.

In a matter of seconds you were reduced to a mewling, moaning mess as the curly-haired boy devoured your clit – licking, sucking, slurping up your juices like a man who had been starving for days. The sheer sound of Sejanus’s mouth sucking at your pussy made you blush, and admittedly, you were even a little embarrassed at how wet you were.

You whined at the feeling of his mouth’s absence from your pussy, only to feel his hand lightly grab your face to force you to look at him.

“Wanna see your pretty face, please?” he cooed, and you nodded obediently, earning you his mouth back on your swollen clit. You cried out with delight, placing both of your hands on your breasts and squeezing them.

“So good…” you mewled, your legs beginning to squirm from your increasing pleasure. The knot in your stomach neared its unraveling, until you were once again folded in half, your pussy hovering above you at a near 90-degree angle.

Sejanus’s mouth never left your clit as he lifted your body over itself. Your fingernails dug deep into the mat, your eyes focused solely on Sejanus’s mouth and tongue on your lips and bud. But before you could finally arrive at your orgasm, he stopped abruptly.

You pouted pathetically up at him, whimpering. “Sej,”

He reached a hand down to softly caress the side of your face, his thumb tracing circles on your flushed cheeks. You could see the way his wet mouth shined in the dim light of the gym, licking his lips to taste the remnants of your essence.

“I wanna fuck you so bad, baby,” The way Sejanus was practically begging you had your stomach doing backflips. “Please? Please?”

In what world would you ever say no?

You pawed at Sejanus’s big arms as you nodded up at him, mumbling phrases like, “Please fuck me,” and “Want you inside me, baby,”

Your mouth watered as he freed his hard cock from his shorts, eyes widening at how big he was. Sejanus most likely caught on to your worried face as he quickly made sure to ease your worries. “I’ll be gentle, darling, don’t worry,” he murmured, slipping his cock in between your wet pussy lips. You gasped at his teasing, biting your lip as the tip of his cock pushed against your clit so well. “Breathe, baby,” he sighed, positioning the head of his dick at your tight, wet entrance and slowly lowering himself into you.

You inhaled sharply as the thickness of his cock stretched you open, the two of you groaning simultaneously at the new sensations. Sejanus was slow and cautious at first, but you could tell he wanted so badly to thrust himself inside of you and pound into the mat.

“So big…” you whispered, earning another low groan from the boy above you. When your walls finally stopped resisting against his size, Sejanus began to slowly lift himself up and back down inside you, earning beautiful melodic moans from your mouth.

You hooked your arms around your legs to keep you in this rather compromising position, but the way the curly-haired boy looked two seconds away from pistoning his cock inside you had you salivating. You looked up at him, batting your eyelashes and mumbling how good he felt, how big he was, how pretty he looked. You relished in the sight of him blushing at your dirty praises.

Sejanus’s hands found their place on your thighs to help him quicken his thrusts, and the faster he moved inside you, the louder your moans became. You felt his balls slap against your ass, the skin of his thighs colliding with yours, and his moans – ugh, his moans – you couldn’t get enough of his sounds of pure ecstasy.

“Your pussy feels so good,” he panted, looking down at your blissed out face. And for a moment, you two smiled at each other, just happy to be in this moment together.

Your hands reached up to grab at his forearms as you felt the knot in your stomach near its unraveling once more. “Gonna cum, baby,” you moaned. “Gonna cum all over your cock,”

Sejanus expedited the arrival of your orgasm by taking his thumb and circling your clit, and in a matter of moments you were crying and babbling your way as your walls tightened and pulsated around his dick. The sheer explosion of pleasure had you seeing spots behind your eyelids, gritting your teeth and growling as the boy above you didn’t slow down his thrusts.

As your high came down, Sejanus’s high was approaching as he quickly lifted himself out of you and swiftly started stroking his cock until he was spurting thick, white ropes all over your pussy. You closed your eyes dreamily as you listened to the beautiful sounds of his groans as his cock shot out large amounts of cum all over you.

You unfolded your body and brought your hand up to your chest to feel your heartbeat, breathing heavily as the intensity of your activities wound down. You felt Sejanus lay his large body on top of you, and you instinctively wrapped your arms around him and held him close, kissing the top of his head.

And in a last ditch effort to be the comedian of the moment, Sejanus said one last thing before the two of you cleaned yourselves up and headed home.

“Good hustle,” he mumbled, earning a wheeze from you and a tiny slap to his bicep.

“Shut the fuck up, Sej,”

tagging @spideyhexx — a late bday gift from me to you. ♡

dividers by cafekitsune

[vintagegeekculture]

There are some books that are functionally boy’s adventure books, but are not advertised as such (Stuart Gibbs is a good example), but I absolutely know what you’re referring to. I have some experience in the public-facing library/bookselling field, so I have a guess at some of the reasons that boy's adventure books are currently out of fashion. 

Shonen anime, and graphic novels trying to cash in on being similar to shonen anime, are currently considered to be the main replacement.

The dual successes of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants are seen as the overall representation of “what boys want to read”. As with any success, middling-to-bad (or at least incredibly cynical) knockoffs are rife. 

Right now, books aimed at boys who have poor experiences around masculinity, or little interest in it, are extremely popular. So any story that celebrates masculinity is going to be looked at as being somewhat dangerous.

If you’re not interested in toilet humor and are a masculine kind of guy, you’re going to be looking at slim pickings.

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

P.S. I'm a WWII guy, except for a few years when I was a Spanish-American War guy -- I thought that was the same as having a personality.

Here's my observation on the popularity of Captain Underpants and Dogman: it ties in to an absolutely well understood track for stages of development in boys.

Now, keep in mind that I am not an expert in childhood development or education, but in the past, the reading habits of boys went through three comic book reading stages that maps, roughly, onto their growing capacities as they get older:

Archie/Harvey Comics Stage. This is usually a boy's first comic book, friendly and humorous and childlike. In the past, every boy's first comic is usually Archie, Jughead, or Richie Rich, or Casper the Friendly Ghost, Peanuts, Garfield, or Wendy the Good Little Witch. They like surreal humor, and the absence of concrete thinking and unreality of these books is a positive, as it matches the non-concrete thought processes of young kids, which is why adults often have trouble relating to this: if you ever saw a kid's drawings from this stage, people just float or fly in space, their feet not on the ground, and the sun is often drawn with a face. Notice that kids absolutely accept as a given that Pete and Pete are two brothers with the same name, which is something adults have a problem grasping. If you ever asked yourself why Spongebob Squarepants lives in a pineapple under the sea, of all things, instead of accepting it as a given (of course he lives in a pineapple, what do you expect?), you're probably past this stage.

Superman/Batman Stage. After the Archie/Harvey stage, boys move on to Superman and/or Batman, as their imagination capacities develop, they start to envision adventure and science fiction/other worlds apart from just humorous surrealism. Because they start to experience stories vicariously as their imagination expands to include putting themselves into the story, they tend to start to want adventure and action at this point, power fantasies of muscles, freedom, swordfighting, karate and sweet jump kicks, swinging over a rickety bridge with a rope, and wrestling a monkey (this is also the age that in decades past, boys got obsessed with Tarzan, and in more recent times, got into Adventure Time, a show about two brothers with no parents). All this is mingled with fantasy and science fiction as the ability to think in terms of other worlds and places emerges, but they still prefer pro-wrestling like good and evil as clearly delineated, as their moral reasoning is not super well developed. There are female villainesses in stories at this level, and their master plan is often to get the hero laid, which is a sign of evil instead of good. The fact that Batman and Superman seem to always have all the answers and win cleanly is a plus at this stage, since stories are lived vicariously as opposed to handled and seen with distance. Some people don't move past this stage, and you can usually identify these people because as they identify closely with a main character's state and emotions, put a book down when things get bad for the main character, and often say things like "wow, why does this writer like killing off characters or making them suffer?"

X-Men Stage. After a phase of being into Superman and Batman, most kids move on to an X-Men phase, usually by 6th Grade, but it depends on the kid. They start to be aware of society and the individual, and with that, in the case of many, comes an awareness of being on the outside looking in, so themes of being an outsider, rebel, and alienation start to be important. This is the stage your kids start to turn into little jerks who mouth off to you, and the reason why is the same reason kids (usually) move on from Superman to X-Men: it's the era that kids start to develop moral reasoning, a muscle they flex and apply to every aspect of their life and play with like a new toy. They probably aren't able to articulate it this way, but they like the idea of conflict with society, rebellion (as they are conscious of an individual and society for the first time), and even the idea of moral dilemmas. Also, because boys are going through puberty at this point, they start to find girls interesting, which is why the X-Women like Rogue, Storm, Marvel Girl, and Psylocke were so much more alluring and appealing than Lois Lane and Betty and Veronica. They also start to be aware of status for the first time, a person's relationship in comparison to others, something younger kids are only barely cognizant of, which is why they like things being hardboiled and "cool."

You could, for more modern times, update this list of stages to the Spongebob Stage, Adventure Time Stage, and Jojo/One Piece Stage. In the 1950s, the trajectory would be Tom Swift and other "boy with a helicopter" stories, then boyish gee-whiz adventure writers like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, and finally, big-idea, believable guys like Heinlein and Asimov by age 12-14. The exact content is not important, the developmental stages in boys are.

If you're a Star Trek fan as a kid, Captain Kirk is usually your favorite character early on (in the Superman/Batman stage), where you vicariously experience and enjoy his coolness and ace-status (as a kid, I thought Captain Kirk was cooler than all the comic book superheroes put together), and then it usually becomes Spock as you get older and start to relate to his alienation and the fact he is different from everyone else. Star Trek deserves some genius prize because it has the adventure, cool monsters, and moral framework to appeal to kids at the Superman stage, but then grows up with them with dilemmas and big ideas as they enter the X-Men stage.

I do believe the reason Harry Potter has such a fan following is the books grow up with you. Harry Potter started off whimsical and charming (Harvey/Archie Stage), then became about adventure and good versus evil (Superman/Batman Stage) then was about moody teenagers, where the heroes are outlaws on the run from the clueless government and pair off with each other in love stories (X-Men Stage).

There are bound to be problems when something aims at one stage but has fans of the other. Hulk Hogan and John Cena are often hated by a certain kind of wrestling fan because they are Batman/Superman heroes kids love because they experience their strength and indomitability vicariously, and only grow to prefer the X-Men-like "cool rebel" Rock and Stone Cold later on. You don't like John Cena, or Superman, because he's not for you.

Now, all that said, when you talk about how boys don't move past Dogman, the Archie/Harvey Comics is the stage of development you're talking about, that books like Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Dogman operate at. And the reason they seem to be dominant is that boys stop reading after the Archie stage. In other words, in my opinion, you're confusing effect with cause: they have nothing for them except manga after this point as most boys stop reading entirely past the Archie/Harvey Comics stage.

Why? Your guess is as good as mine, it is simply the largest and underdiscussed social problem of our time, boys stop reading and often never read again. "Young Adult" essentially means girl's books now.

The reason why nobody is examining this issue is simple: men's rights advocates are not particularly concerned with helping boys, but more with bitterly whining about ex girlfriends and gripes with the family court system. So when a legitimate social issue happens that affects boys disproportionately (the fact boys stop reading entirely around age 9-10 and never read a book again in their lives) they have nothing to say and are not particularly interested in the issue.

As someone with a concern and interest in helping boys, I was initially very sympathetic to the Men's Rights idea that society leaves them behind, and it does happen more or less as they say it does: society lets them slip through the cracks, especially in the school system, where they are seen as a problem to be solved, especially when high spirited (normal). However, there was very little sympathy in that group for boys who were physically abused and beaten by parents. Most believe in corporeal punishment, as they care less about boys and more about the primacy of paternal authority - just as you'd expect from bitter, divorced dad, malicious pieces of shit. And boys being molested is often treated as a joke, and not with the seriousness and primacy the issue deserves.

Likewise, despite the talk of feminism helping men, women's rights are not especially concerned with helping boys either, because...well, why would they be? It also doesn't help that the leadership and vanguard (though not necessarily the rank and file or activist base) of women's rights movements are usually professional, striving educated women (a group with high rates of sociopathy and reduced empathy) so their focus is on access to elite institutions and professions. This is more especially obvious in the UK than in the US, where feminism is more explicitly linked to class, as one can see with JK Rowling. As a consequence of this, #MeToo was not about waitresses or gig workers who endure horrible harassment, but about access to elite institutions. There's a reason why when we picture sexual harassment, it's in business suits at a law firm, and not a diner waitress bothered by creeps or her manager.

I will say this: I am very heartened that #MeToo and activism and so on are now starting to include boys who were molested. Very few changes in our culture have been positive and that is one. There's a reason male survivors of sexual abuse and molestation keep their head down, were not included as a part of #MeToo initially, and that is starting to change. Self blame and guilt is a part of every abuse victim, but it is especially crushingly intense with boys too young to understand, and who are trained to endure and not ask for help from male friends.

[mrsarcherofinfamy]

●Bron Breakker x Reader●

Summary: You are a NXT wrestler. Ava suggests that Bron come talk to you about accompanying him to the ring.

_________________________________________

Slinging my leather jacket over my shoulder, I walk into my locker room, seeing Bron Breakker standing there talking on the phone. The camera man is standing in the doorway. I set my bag and jacket on the couch. He looks over at me.

"Yeah. She just got here. Yup. See ya later."

I walk up to him looking up at him.

"Who was that and why are you here?"

"It was Ava. She suggested that I come talk to your gorgeous self."

He runs his hand along my jawline and I make a confused face looking at him.

"Why?"

"I need someone to accompany me to the ring tonight against Josh Briggs with Fallon Henley."

I look up at him and smirk.

"I thought you hated me?"

I put my hand on his chest looking up at him smirking.

"Things... change..."

He mumbles trying not to blush. I giggle looking up at him.

"You're cute when you don't want to admit things out loud, you know that? Go on, just say you love me."

He grabs my waist, pulling me into him and his face is inches away from my face.

"Good work guys. That's a wrap."

The camera guy yells but me and Bron stay as we are staring into each other's eyes. The camera guys grab their stuff and leave. I smirk looking up at him and he lets go of my waist still looking into my eyes.

"Was that just for TV or are you really interested in me?"

I cross my arms looking up at him. He smirks, running his fingers along my jawline again.

"I have been interested in you since you first started in NXT."

"Really? What was so interesting?"

"Well, for starters, you are amazing in the ring. We have very similar wrestling styles. Second, you in your leather jacket."

He does a chef's kiss, looking at me. I laugh, blushing looking away from him.

"And third, you work really hard and have a lot of passion for pro wrestling."

"Thank you Bron. That means a lot. Off topic, but can I kick Fallon's ass tonight?"

"Duh babycakes!"

I giggle, looking away feeling my face turning red at the flirty name.

"Let me go get changed."

"Here. Take this."

He throws me a blue "I got that dog in me" shirt. I catch it and shake my head walking into the bathroom. I change into jeans, his shirt which I cut up into a crop top, and some black leather platform boots. I let my hair down out of my ponytail and shake it a little. I walk out of the bathroom seeing Bron sitting on the couch, on his phone.

"How does this look?"

He looks up at me, drops his phone out of his hand, his eyes go wide and his jaw drops.

"You look.... amazing."

"Thank you."

"God damn."

He stands up and walks over to me.

"What?"

"God damn, I am a lucky man."

He pulls me to him by my waist and I giggle putting my hands on his chest. There is a knock on the door than a producer yells that we have 2 minutes. Bron grabs my hand and we walk out of the locker room heading to gorilla. We get there waiting for Josh and Fallon to finish making their entrance. His music hits as we walk out to the ramp and down to the ring.

_________________________________________

*nearing the end of the match*

Bron hits Josh with a nasty spear and goes for the cover. Fallon climbs in the ring, trying to break up the pin but I climb in and hit her with a nasty spear as well. The ref hits the mat three times and Bron gets the win. I walk over to him, grabbing his wrist and holding it up in victory. He looks over at me smirking.

"That spear you just did was so hot. You gotta keep doing it."

I giggle looking up at him. He grabs my face and kisses me infront of everyone. I kiss him back wrapping my arms around his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist. The crowd starts going crazy as the show ends with us kissing in the middle of the ring.

The End 🫶

[minacoleta]

COVER DROP!!! In case you've missed me talking about this for the past month/past two years, I'm writing a graphic novel!! It's a queer pro-wrestling enemies to lovers extravaganza, and I'm incredibly excited to finally be sharing the first chapter!!

The only way to read it right now is by purchasing the printed zine through my online store or in person, either at one of the conventions I'm going to this year, or by DMing me if I'll be seeing you in person at wrestling shows or around town. Eventually I have a vague idea of uploading the chapter online, but that won't happen till at least next year, so... Double whammy, you get to support me AND read this before the online crowd if you get the physical copy!

If you're a fan of my work, comics or otherwise, this is a huge deal to me and I would love for people to read it and share it and get excited with me!! WHAOO!!!!!

[kitscutie]

Hi, could you can do one where Rafe finds that you are sh, but first he begins to suspect for a long time and begins to ask discreetly, you think that he doesn't know anything and you don't want him to find out either, but in the end they are playing wrestling and accidentally the he discovers it and asks in serious but not angry tones what those are, you try to pretend that they are nothing but this time he doesn't let you escape so easily, in the end you end up confessing and he shows his support and makes you feel good

Sorry if it's too long (I don't know if it was understood)

not alone (rafe cameron x fem!reader)

𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀: 𝗋𝖺𝖿𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗋𝗈𝗇 𝗑 𝖿𝖾𝗆!𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀ꜱ: ꜱ𝖾𝗅𝖿 𝗁𝖺𝗋𝗆, 𝖽𝖾𝗉𝗋𝖾ꜱꜱ𝗂𝗈𝗇, 𝖺𝗇𝗑𝗂𝖾𝗍𝗒, 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍

ꜱ𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗒: 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗏𝖾 ᖯ𝖾𝖾𝗇 ꜱ𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗀𝗀𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗇 ꜱ𝗂𝗅𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺 𝗐𝗁𝗂𝗅𝖾 ᖯ𝗎𝗍 𝗋𝖺𝖿𝖾 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐ꜱ 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗍𝗈𝗈 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝗅, 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 ᖯ𝖾𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗂ꜱ𝖾 ꜱ𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂ꜱ𝗇'𝗍 𝗊𝗎𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖺ᖯ𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎.

𝖺/𝗇: 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂ꜱ 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗉 ꜱ𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗀𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝖺 𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾, 𝗉𝗅𝖾𝖺ꜱ𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗂𝖿 𝗂𝗍 𝗆𝖺𝗒 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗀𝖾𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎, 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝖿𝗂𝗋ꜱ𝗍. 𝖺𝗅ꜱ𝗈, 𝗂 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗆𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾𝖽 ꜱ𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝖽𝖾𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗅ꜱ ᖯ𝗎𝗍 𝗂 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗀𝗈 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖺 𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖿𝖾𝗅𝗍 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖾 ᖯ𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 ꜱ𝗍𝗎𝖼𝗄 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗅 𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖾. 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝗎𝖾ꜱ𝗍ꜱ 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗈𝗉𝖾𝗇!

Kook. A word you had began to hate. You had been friends with the Cameron's since you were only one. Meeting Sarah in a park on figure eight and quickly becoming friends, no, best friends. Since then you had met her family, won over her parents, fell in love with her brother and babysat her little sister.

It was all too good to be true, literally.

Sarah faded out of your life within a week. Meeting John B and seemingly falling in love with him over night. It annoyed you how easily she had moved on, found new friends, never even giving you a good reason. Kie, her sworn enemy had replaced you as her best friend while you were left to rot, the only trace of her existence being your boyfriend (her brother) and the bracelet she made you in sixth grade.

You had always been Pro-Pogue, never talking badly of those with less. Never messing with them, never picking fights and treating them with the same respect you treat Kooks. It seemed she didn't agree. Turning on you as the Pogues convinced her you were just like Rafe, spoiled and all-mighty. You thought she would at least remember that wasn't true. Care that it wasn't true, but she didn't.

Fazing you out of her life as though you were never there in the first place.

Of course that wasn't all that dampened your mood, but it was a start.

"Hey." Rafe commanded your attention back to him as you lay on the sofa of the Cameron house together. "You good? Looking a little lost." He chuckled in the smug Rafe Cameron way that he typically did.

"Fine just, thinking, I don't know." You answered, waving away his concern. Though he had every right to be. Under your shirts sleeve was a physical embodiment of the pain you felt inside. The loneliness of your friends abandoning you, the feeling of nobody liking you, being unlovable, ugly, weird, snotty, jealous. The list went on and on inside your head, a silent battle.

At least you had Rafe, right?

"Don't tell me you're pissed off again?" He asked, seemingly angry at you. "I swear to god if you're upset about Sarah she's not worth it." He scoffed at the thought of his younger sister who was your age.

"She was my friend." You spoke, voice wavering.

"Was. Key word Y/N, she abandoned you. For what? Some stupid Pogues?" He spat getting up from the sofa, seemingly irritated by your emotional state.

"Yeah but I've known her since, well forever Rafe-" you began, though it didn't take long for him to cut you off. Angry? High? You didn't know.

"I've known you forever Y/N!" He yelled making you flinch. It was at times like these that you saw the typical cook Rafe Cameron from figure eight that everyone else did, you hated it. "Long enough to know she's not good enough for you, okay? So stop talking about it." He finished, walking out of the room. Most likely to sniff some coke with Kelce.

Eyes filling with tears you ran up to his room, body filling with pain as you fell into the trap your brain wouldn't let you escape for the third time.

Curled up on his bed you heard a knock on the door and you pulled your sleeved down to hide the scars left behind.

"Y/N?" You heard his voice, soft and gentle, very different from the previous Rafe you dealt with that day. He took a seat on the bed next to you hand gliding over your hip which was nestled beneath many blankets.

"What." You spoke, voice tired and croaky from the hours of shed tears within the past few days.

"Look, I've been speaking to Topp about what I said and, I know I probably took it too far. You have the right to be upset whether I like Sarah or not." He spoke so softly it was almost a whisper. Hand continuing it's soothing movements.

Sniffling once more, you turned onto your side now facing him. With that he saw your puffy and red eyes. His face dropping along with his heart. He could see the way your hands held the bottom of your sleeves down and, of course, he assumed the worst. A pink tinge showing from beneath the white fabric.

"Why're you doing that?" He asked. Taking one of your hands into his own.

"Doing what? You asked, tucking your body up to your neck under the blanket.

"Hm, never mind. Look, I'm sorry and I really do love you even if I'm shitty at showing it." He scampered to save himself, a hand running through his greasy hair that made him look oh so beautiful. His voice almost cut out when saying the word, 'love', clearly not used to that emotion, even if he had said it to you before.

"It's okay." You replied. It wasn't. "I'm just being over-emotional." You chuckled tearily. You weren't.

"You're mine either way so I gotta take care of you, yeah?" He asked, hand stroking the hairs from your forehead as his eyes connected with yours deeply. Rafe had two sides, caring, loyal and loving versus irritable, angry and overwhelmed. As long as you had him, it didn't matter which version you got. "You promise you're okay? I was just being stupid."

"I promise." You tearily smiled, and as he left you couldn't help but let them fall once more. Disappointed that you let his offer of support slip away once more.

Little did you know, his suspicions of you hurting yourself hadn't faded. Your usual self had been missing for a while now, and he couldn't help but blame Sarah.

You don't know how you ended up here but you liked it. In some random house in figure eight, drinking in a shirt and skirt two sizes too small. Rafe's body pressed up against yours as you went upstairs to have some 'alone time'.

The five vodka cranberries you previously drank finally caught up to you as you giggled and stumbled against Rafe's muscular body. Him chuckling in return at your state. He too was drunk, enough to feel a buzz but not enough to put you in danger.

You practically fell into the spare bedroom you had found, bodies colliding on the double bed and his hands, as they usually would in times like this, grabbed onto your wrists in order to hold them down against the mattress though this time, you winced.

Too drunk to realise what was happening you continued pushing your lips against his though the favour wasn't returned. His eyes stuck on your wrists which felt, bumpy?

"Why are you wincing?" He asked, gently cradling your head with one hand in order to keep your eyes on him.

"What do you mean, no I'm not." You chuckled, anxiety setting in as you noticed your mistake.

"You did. Just then when I touched your wrist?" He said, voice whispered as much like you, his anxiety set in. Memories rushed in of your bad attitude, low appetite, teary eyes, clinginess and suddenly it began to make sense. You were depressed and his heart was sinking deeper and deeper into his chest by the second.

"Please tell me you haven't-" He started though before he could finish his panic took over and he pulled your sleeve up, revealing the painful looking scars. "What are those, Y/N?" He asked, voice rough but not annoyed, you couldn't quite distinguish his tone.

No words came to your mouth, only stutters of sentences, never complete. Suddenly, a sob breached your throat and you clung to the boy on top of you tighter than you ever had before.

"Shhh." He comforted you. Instinct to love you taking over any shock there previously. "It's okay baby, it's okay." He soothed once more, hand running over you hair as you tucked your face into his neck. His own tears kissed his eyes though he never let them fall.

"I'm sorry." You blubbered and he scoffed.

"Why are you apologising? This isn't your fault." He cooed, in disbelief one person could carry the weight of so many emotions alone. "You have nothing to be sorry for okay? I should've been there for you, made you comfortable to tell me about stuff like this." He added, holding you impossibly closer.

"Okay." You stuttered. Welcoming his words into your sad mind, feeling the weight they lifted.

"You're not alone anymore. I'm gonna take care of you." He whispered in your ear and for the first time in months, you smiled. Small and almost invisible but your lips twitched. "I love you." He said.

"I love you too." You answered. Going home that night hand in hand and realising it wasn't you against the world anymore, you weren't alone. You had Rafe. You had someone who really loved you and wanted to help you.

And that was enough.

[moonyasnow]

TWST OC Showcase: Timofey 'Spike' Orlov

Voice Claim: Patrick Seitz (in his performance of Franky from One Piece)

Beastman - Kangaroo Right-handed Shaftlands 210cm / 6'10 - #990909 / 153, 9, 9 November 12th - Scorpio - 19-20 y.o. 3d year - Junior - Class C, no. 18 Basketball Club Best Subject: P.E. Hobbies: Watching Pro-Wrestling Pet peeves: Betrayal Favorite food: Poppyseed muffins Least favorite food: Just meat Talent: Fighting Floyd-given name: Sharky Rook-given name: Monsieur de Pointe Cater-given name: Spikey Signature Spell: Wild Stab Can make spikes shoot up from the ground or from his hands. Depending on the amount of magic he pours into it those spikes could become MASSIVE.

Link to all my OC Showcases here!

Some quotes:

"Always known I got a scary mug— didn't realize just how scary, 'pparently… 'M real sorry 'bout before…" He stands awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

"You're the easily bribed kind, huh. Didn't figure you the type at first." — "N-nothing! I—" His face flushes a little "I think 's cute."

"Course! I'd never ditch my comrade-in-arms— uh, no, best bud— ok really gotta work on a word for it— a-anyway! I'd never just ditch you like that. You're important to me, yeah? Where you go, I go, 'n all that."

His mother had him quite young, and his father was never in the picture. When Spike was very little, just around one year old, his mother left Spike to be raised by her mother, his grandmother. She said it was because she was too young to be a mother. She never came back after that. His grandmother, an incredibly forgiving and understanding soul, just hoped that wherever she is now, she's doing well, and that she's lived a good life. And so Spike was raised by his grandma, or 'Gran' as he called her, in a pretty bad part of a big Shaftlands city, and they didn't have much money. But they weren't entirely impoverished— they could afford to put food on the table basically every day, though having to cut corners to save water and electricity. Though it still wasn't at all uncommon for their electricity or water to be turned off once every month or so. Especially since Spike had a very big appetite, and both ate and grew a lot. His grandmother thought it was more important he grow up healthy than save money on electricity. So while they did sometimes have to choose between light or food for the night, it could have been a lot worse.

Though they were poor, his grandmother could afford to send him to a nearby public school. When he got there, even at age 6, he was almost twice the size of all his peers. And he wasn't used to playing with other kids— when they saw him they thought he looked scary, and would hide, or run to a teacher. And he was a lot stronger than them, too. When he tried to pat someone on the shoulder, he might accidentally use too much force, and the kid would run to the teacher saying he hit them. He didn't mean to! He just wanted to ask them to play with him.

Spike spent a lot of time as a kid watching TV. There wasn't much else to do where he grew up. Especially not since he and his Gran were basically broke. And tickets to the cinema, or going bowling, or visiting an amusement park, all cost money. But there was almost always something to watch on TV. But in particular, from a pretty early age he became fascinated by two genres: romcoms, and wrestling. At first, he didn't like wrestling very much because he thought it was sad everyone seemed so mad at each other all the time. But when his Gran told him they were just pretending to be mad, were just acting, it made him feel a lot better. So after that, even as a young joey, he thought the wrestling moves he saw on the screen looked so cool! And the stories…to him, it felt like his own superhero show. And romcoms...just like he grew up idealizing the guys he saw doing wrestling, he grew up wanting to be like the male leads in the romance movies. Love looked so nice, and warm, and happy, and from a pretty early age he became a bit of a hopeless romantic.

All he knew about his mother was what his Gran had told him, that she had moved somewhere, and that she didn't know where, but hoped that she was happy. His Gran never seemed all that sad she wasn't there, so it was never a big deal to him. He never cared all that much that he never had a mom. His Gran kinda filled that role for him anyway. But he was sometimes sad that he didn't have a dad. Because the boys he saw on TV who had dads seemed to have so much fun with them. His Gran was really really nice and he loved her a lot, but the dads he saw on the screen were different; they tried to teach their sons things, like being strong, or how to stand up to people when they're mean to you, or stuff like that. Moms could do that too, of course… But a mom wouldn't be a boy like he was. So there were some things that just wouldn't be the same. So he really wanted a dad. In particular a dad because… He'd seen pictures of his mom, and she didn't look a lot like him. She was a red kangaroo, yes, and shared some features with him, but she wasn't as abnormally tall as him. Or as scary-looking. So he often wondered if maybe his dad looked more like him. If people were scared of him, too. Spike may not always have been able to catch on it was him and his appearance specifically people were scared of in individual cases of them seeming uncomfortable around him…but it did usually click eventually. He looked at pictures of other kids in books or on TV, and then at his own reflection in the mirror, trying to find which parts of him it was that made people scared, and unwilling to be his friend… He hoped that, if he did have a dad, and he could meet him, he could help him. Or at least, he'd have someone else like him. He hoped his dad was like one of the wrestlers he watched. One of the good ones. The nice ones, who fought bad wrestlers. They were big and strong, maybe even a little bit scary-looking, but people all cheered for them, and liked them.

He didn't do well in school, even though he tried his best. He learned to read and write, but thinking deeply about subjects, or counting really high numbers, or putting his thoughts into words just never came naturally to him. And seeing all his classmates get, at the very least decent grades, he felt even more discouraged. If he wasn't learning anything even though he tried, and all the other kids were scared of him, and the teacher always assumed he was aggressive and dangerous just because he was a Red Kangaroo beastman, then he figured he wasn't welcome there. Didn't belong there. So he started skipping. And doing so, he encountered other kids who were also skipping school. With them, he didn't feel as out-of-place anymore. He was just tall with them. Not scary, not dangerous. Just a really tall kid; which they thought was pretty cool actually. So this group of kids, basically running loose with no adult supervision, gradually started doing more and more dangerous stuff, which, as they grew older, started sometimes crossing the line into being illegal. It was mostly just small things at first. Like stealing candy from the store none of them could afford, so they could share it with each other, or painting with spray cans, or roughhousing that got a bit out of hand and ended up with someone losing a tooth. But these things also lead to them slowly growing a distrust for the police, and adults in positions of authority in general, just because they knew that if the adults knew the kinda stuff they did for fun together, they'd all be in trouble. And none of them wanted that; the little gang they'd formed was important to all of them, after all. So that sense of loyalty fostered among each other slowly became a strict code. And as they all grew older still, their activities became more and more dangerous. Now they didn't just steal candy, but larger things, sometimes even TVs, which they promptly found middle-man buyers for, who could pass them onto more 'reputable' sellers, to be sold back to the public. Some of them started stealing ATMs. When people got upset at each other, it couldn't always just be forgiven the next day anymore. Now, if it was bad enough, people beat each other up. And these kids, raised by TV or violent or uncaring guardians, had no one to tell them off for it. So violence, running from the cops, and breaking the law just became common-place eventually. Especially when they started coming into conflicts with other gangs.

Spike's straight-forward, impulsive 'punch first, ask questions later' personality lead to him doing quite well in this world, developing a reputation as an almost scarily good fighter, even though he'd never trained, and was the youngest of the group. That's how he got the name 'Spike'. He ended up learning most of the things he knows that way, through trial and error. He ended up getting real attached to one particular member of that gang, who became like a brother to him. He would always defend Spike if someone else tried to pick on him for not being super smart, or would get intimidated by Spike and try to pick a fight to prove how much tougher than him they were. That older guy, Oscar, ended up becoming the leader of their little gang; he was the smartest, after all, the one who made all the plans, not to mention quite charismatic. The kind of person people rallied behind. Spike looked up to him a lot. Spike ended up getting some money from their activities, which he gave to his gran. When she asked where he'd gotten the money, he told her that he'd dropped out of school, but he'd gotten a job! She was understanding about his dropping out, saying that the straight-forward path isn't for everyone; there's nothing wrong with taking a roundabout path. What was important was that it was what he himself decided on.

Growing up in the gang had started making him more crass, using 'foul' language and things like that. But the gang was also a comfortable place for him. Way fewer people were scared of him, and the few people who were at least tried to stand up and do something about it, even if that was to try to fight him. He could be unabashedly himself— at least for the most part. He did hide the fact that he really liked baking and loved cute things from most of the group except Oscar; he was worried that would have the others making fun of him for it. But the gang also taught him violence. So while it's not exactly something he finds 'fun', he can absolutely fuck someone up if he needs to. And so he did for the gang on multiple occasions, getting rid of rival gangs' members by fighting them, usually breaking a few bones and taking them out of the game for quite a while until they were healed. They were by no means the biggest gang around, despite what they'd thought as younger kids. They were part of a criminal ecosystem now. And some of the others in the gang started thinking Oscar wasn't bold enough. His strategies for things they'd steal were more methodical; carefully planned out so as not to draw too much suspicion to them, so no one would get caught. But they didn't yield for the kind of money some other people got for jobs. And greed and desperation can drive people to do bad things. One of the people in the gang ended up selling them all out to a bigger, more powerful rival gang nearby, who jumped them all one day. People's bones were broken, he- he thought he saw someone get their neck snapped. People passed out from the beatings they got from the members of the other gang that outnumbered them. He was so busy fighting off people who tried to get at him that he could barely see what was happening around them. Until he heard gunshots. That day Spike realized just what small fry they really were compared to other gangs in the area. Spike was the only survivor. He tried to get Oscar to a hospital, but because they were a violent gang, he told Spike not to bother, since they probably wouldn't receive help anyway. And it's not like they could afford it. So it ended with him being forced to see his best friend and mentor, someone who was at once an older brother and closest thing he'd had to a paternal figure, die on the ground. He was only 15 and half. And he'd just watched his best friend die. Of course he knew the stuff they did was dangerous— he or one of the others had ended up wounded or had gotten into a foot-chase with the authorities more times than he could recall. But everyone had always been ok in the end. The worst that would happen was someone wound up in jail. No one... No one had ever died. Sure, he'd heard about it happening with other gangs, but this...

The first thing he felt was a confusing mix of sorrow and pure rage. His friends, who he'd grown up with, who'd had his back for so many years, who made him the person he was, who'd always treated him like he was just any other guy...were dead. They'd been killed. They even got Oscar. The person Spike had always looked up to. Who Spike thought seemed invincible. Because no matter what trouble they got into, he was always the one who got them out of it. Oscar didn't deserve it— he was amazing, the smartest person Spike had ever met, and he cared a lot for his friends even if it didn't always seem like it at a glance. Once, he'd asked Spike what he was doing there: Spike had a home, and his grandma. Not everyone in the gang was that lucky. But Spike said the gang was as much family to him as his gran was. "I know I ain't good for much besides punchin' folks. Couldn't do school. But I can do this. 'F it helps my gran, 'm gonna keep at it." And after hearing that, Oscar just nodded, and didn't bring it up again. Spike knew that he himself didn't have a lot of hope at a better life than what he'd already gotten himself into. Oscar was meant for so much more than this! he was smart! Capable! Cared a lot! He was meant to go places! Better places! More legit places. Get a real job, a real good one, and get out of this violent life. Spike had never been so angry before in his entire life. The other gang, who killed or recruited all his old friends, went to him to try to recruit him to join them. He was already in too deep in the criminal world to stop now, and he needed to provide for his Gran somehow— her having gotten too old to work— so he swallowed his pride and his rage and agreed. He was doing it for his Gran now, and that gave him strength. But still, he couldn't see the old friend who'd betrayed him and the rest of the gang's face without wanting to literally snarl like a rabid animal.

But then his gran died. She'd had quite a bad cough for a while, and pausing to cough had caused her to slip and fall down the stairs. When he found her after coming home, it all felt like some big, sick joke. With that, the last thing keeping him and his emotions in check was gone. He went on a rampage, showing up at the gang's HQ and beating every single member he could find to death, saving his 'old friend' for last— after a brutal beat-down he squeezed his head so hard his skull cracked. He didn't realize until then just how strong he really was. Police who showed up to the scene later would find the entire place covered top to bottom in giant, razor-sharp spikes. It seemed that was how he discovered his Signature Spell: 'Wild Stab'. That was also how he realized he was a mage in the first place; he was too poor to ever have gone anywhere close to any kind of educational source about magic, and any previous occurrences he'd just chalked up as being something else. And those spikes were what had actually done most of the heavy lifting during said rampage. Though he wouldn't know just how much damage he'd caused. All he knew was he got so mad he couldn't think or see anything, and he punched a lot of people, and felt something weird and kindly tingly everywhere. He himself was grievously injured. He'd gotten a bad beating from the people he fought, and was black and blue everywhere, and bleeding. At some point he'd also managed to impale himself in the arm on one of his own spikes. He didn't realize it until after he'd staggered away from the scene and ending up falling into a gutter. He was still alive, but on the brink of death. He thought he was going to die. He was only 16 at the time. But then he heard someone begin to approach him. Spike told whoever it was to: "Screw off and let me die in peace". He was just so tired. He wanted to take a nap... The man said no. He gave Spike an offer: If Spike agreed to work for him, he'd get him patched up, and then get him the funds to retire early. Not really having anything else to do, Spike just answered: "Maybe. Depends on the job."

The next thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital three months later. And when he woke up, he'd gotten a letter in the mail. From a place called 'Night Raven College'. Then they found Spike's biological father, who he moved in with. His father was neither happy nor upset to meet him, but did seem annoyed that Spike would be moving in with him. They quickly came to an agreement that they stay out of each others' space. They were just living together; and only until Spike turned 18. Spike had wondered about what his dad might be like often as a joey, and wondered if he was just as big and scary-looking as Spike. Little Spike always took some comfort in thinking maybe he was, and that maybe he could meet him one day. Turns out he wasn't. He was tall, but definitely not as tall as Spike, and while a little bit rugged, he wasn't exactly scary to look at. He couldn't help but feel disappointed... He'd always hoped his dad would be just like him, and that with him, Spike could finally no longer feel so out-of-place. But now even in what was supposed to be his 'home', he felt like an unwanted intruder. So he just felt more out-of-place than ever. He wasn't exactly upset by his dad not wanting to be his dad. He was just a person living his life, who maybe didn't even know Spike existed at all before this. But... That comforting idea he'd idealized of a dad who was just like him, and was proud of Spike being just like him...someone Spike could go to for guidance, who'd want to help, and never be too busy to come running when Spike really needed help...seemed to just kinda go up in smoke. And for the first time he realized how vulnerable he truly was. He really had no safety net. No one to catch him. His Gran had always tried her best, but she had to work so often, and then became too weak to do a lot but just simple stuff around the house. But all that time, he hadn't really noticed the lack of it. Maybe because he'd also distantly had this thought that he had a dad out there somewhere, who loved him, who'd care for him when he finally met him, and welcome him with a big hug. He went walking around the street that night, because it felt familiar... Eventually he stopped walking next to the bank of the river passing through the city, and just sat down on the ground, and cried, hugging his knees. He missed Oscar. He missed his Gran. He missed all his other friends. He hadn't even begun to fully process they were all gone yet. And he had no one who could help him do that. He was left there, alone. Just a 16-year-old who grew up too fast, with no one to guide him, show him how to feel, how to think.

Miscellaneous facts:

He goes to anger-management classes now. He doesn't get angry often, and if he does it's always for a very clear reason. But when he does, he sometimes goes overboard and ends up causing an absolute mess. His Signature Spell scares him, honestly. He doesn't like that it's so violent, since it's a part of himself he isn't proud of.

He has lanky yet weirdly strong arms.

He's still got the same attitude as he did when he was a street punk, he's incredibly tall, and he's always had a horrendous case of RBF, so most people are scared of him as soon as they meet him. He's not very forward thinking and is pretty bad at planning ahead and he knows it. He just focuses on the thing right in front of him and gets going with it. He's always done better as the lackey of smarter people.

Just how much he can mess both things and people up with his strength when he tries can make him honestly terrifying, especially when he gets genuinely upset. But he's still got a good heart. And when he's comfortable and not on edge, he's actually a giant softie who cries when the dog dies in a movie and gets shy and embarrassed really easily if you know what to say/do. And deep down, he's pretty insecure about a lot of things. His appearance and way of speaking just scares people into being really wary of him. That he looks scary, and that he could really harm someone if he wanted to, are his two biggest insecurities.

He has more manners than you'd expect of a street punk, since his grandmother was very insistent on teaching him, and he does try to follow her advice when he needs to. In practice, this usually means he only swears around his friends, and gives very polite, even somewhat stiff first greetings. And he's super extra polite when he's visiting someone else's house. If they're an adult he always calls them 'sir/ma'am/mx'. He'll be pretty stiff and awkward the whole time, and won't know what he can and cannot stand on, and if he should take his shoes of— And he always tries to bring a gift, even if it's just something small like chocolates or homemade sweets.

He's pretty good at baking, actually! And pretty ok at cooking too. He was actually the go-to cook in the gang when they couldn't go out to some fast food place. He really likes cooking for people, and sharing meals with his friends. The kinda guy who will say, no irony to be found, that 'food always tastes better when you share it with others'.

He doesn't normally have freckles! He has them at NRC because he's so pale, Savannaclaw is so bright and sunny, and he does not put on sunscreen that often.

The city he grew up in was the kind of city that seemed to be constantly either cloudy or rainy, but also got really cold and snowy in the winter.

At NRC

For a while, he didn't really know what to do about the letter he got. He'd never been good at school, after all. And he wasn't good at thinking about the future; what good could going to school even do, if he even managed to finish it at all? But somewhere in the back of his head, he knew Oscar would probably tell him to go for it.

And it's not like he really knew what else to do.

There was that weird guy who'd saved him, and said something about Spike working for him... But he really didn't wanna just stick around waiting for who-knows-what to happen.

So he decided to go.

At the Entrance Ceremony, he was shocked when he heard the mirror call for a 'Timofey Orlov'. His gran was the only one who ever called him Timofey after he dropped out of school. In his head 'Spike' had just become more like his real name than a nickname at some point. He doesn't dislike Timofey, but in a way it feels...somewhat intimate to hear. For the rest of the school-year he had to tell everyone he met; teachers, other people who remembered him from the entrance ceremony (which was a lot, given just how tall he was, and how his height combined with his gravely voice made people ask if he was even a teenager) that he preferred going by 'Spike'.

And then, after feeling very out-of-place in his custom-tailored Ceremonial Robes, having been sorted into Savannaclaw, he found himself standing next to another freshman; some guy with lion ears. And they ended up rooming together. Spike tried to be polite and introduce himself, but all he was met with was the other guy turning his back to him to take a nap.

But he eventually found out the guy's name was Leona. Leona Kingscholar, apparently.

At first it didn't click for him. Spike just said he thought it was cool, and wondered what it must be to like to have the same surname as a royal family, asking if people treated him like royalty because of it. Leona answered 'not really'.

"Huh." Spike said. "Well that blows. 'F you have a cool name, figure other folk'd treat you like you're cool too. Just ends up bein' confusin' then."

When he found out Leona— who'd ended up becoming 'Lona' because of Spike's habit of not paying too much mind to proper annunciation— was a year older than everyone else, and not due to being held back, but having chosen to attend a year later, Spike just looked at the cast still left on his arm and asked "Wait, I coulda done that?! I figured it was a 'now or never' kinda deal!"

Leona ended up becoming a really good friend of his, and Spike basically his first follower/lackey.

At one point, during their second year, the new Housewarden of Octavinelle had tried to recruit Spike to his own dorm. But all he got was a death glare and a 'piss off!' in return, with Spike making it very clear he was "Not jumpin' ship! Doesn't matter what ya try to throw at me!"

Oh, and when Leona eventually straight up told Spike that he was the Leona Kingscholar, as in, the prince, when they were doing homework (read= Spike trying to do his homework in Leona's general vicinity and asking him for help with questions he didn't understand) Spike just went 'Mhm.' . . . "...Wait really?!"

"So that's why you're so rich!" and then rubbed the back of his neck and asked "So uh...d'I gotta start callin' you 'your highness' or 'sir' or somethin' now and junk?" to which he was just met with a "Do whatever you want."

Spike just kinda went 'Oh. Ok.' Then proceeded to ask 'Lona' for help on another question.

(Spike's entire world was rocked when Leona started pointing out all the other people going to their school who were actually big-name celebrities or the kids of rich CEOs or something)

His literal second day, after classes were over, he was approached by Night Raven's entire Basketball team, who proceeded to all get down on the ground and literally BEG him to join their Club. "Uh… Not doin' any other stuff, so guess I could—" then who he thought was probably the leader grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously, thanking him profusely and promising he would not regret it!

He ended up becoming the MVP of the team. If they managed to get the ball to him, it was almost always a guaranteed point for them; most games he was playing in ended up turning into the other team trying their absolute best to work AROUND him, because everyone knew that as soon as he was on the opponent's side of the court and he had the ball, even if he was still pretty far away, he could jump and have a 70% chance of getting the ball in the hoop anyway.

And he became good friends with Floyd, Ace and Jamil, once they joined the Basketball club.

And through the Basketball club, he met Neige— specifically after an NRC vs. RSA basketball match hosted at Night Raven in Spike's second year at school. After saving Neige from some Night Raven students who were harassing him, it was love at first sight for Neige, and it didn't take Spike long to develop a crush.

And eventually, after hanging out more and getting closer, Neige taking every chance he got to visit NRC, they started dating.

Spike was incredibly nervous and sorta awkward at first— he'd had a few crushes growing up, but had never actually gotten even close to a romantic relationship. But the nerves started wearing off with time, leaving just a very happy Spike, hopelessly in love with his boyfriend.

Since he grew up basically without adult supervision, starting to skip school so early and with his gran often working, he was so used to just doing whatever he felt like that having teachers with authority over him came as a shock. He'd never really experienced being told off by adults before— adults who weren't police, at least.

It surprised him when one day he said something about 'when I was a Joey' and one of his teachers responded with 'you're still only 16'.

He sure didn't feel 16.

He started wondering if that was weird.

He started realizing he'd never really been treated like a kid before. Somewhat by his gran, but mostly when he was very little. By the time he was in school, he was much bigger than the other kids and his face also made him look older than he was, so they treated him more like a teenager than a child. And the same went for all the other adults he'd ever encountered.

Throughout all his time at NRC, he kept feeling like he 'stole' his friend's place somehow. Oscar was supposed to be the one going to some fancy magic school— not him. Oscar actually had the skills to make good use of an education— not to mention even get that education in the first place. Spike started skipping school when he was 9, and had dropped out completely by age 11.

Spike knows would never have made it in any of his classes without Leona's help.

And that night…the things he did… He tried his best not to think about it. He partially can't remember much anyway. He just knew he flew into a bloodthirsty rage, and only emerged from it when he was about to finish off the person who betrayed him and the others.

He feels strange, thinking about how easy it was.

That night he realized he had it in him to hurt others. He didn't exactly want to hurt others, but he could. ...Probably good people, too. He didn't feel bad about what he did. Not in the way he knew he was supposed to. He knew he'd be able to do it again.

But he did feel bad thinking that...maybe that was exactly what his teachers and classmates saw in him when he was a joey.

Were they right, then? Was this the only outcome for him?

That night…the reason he accepted the stranger's offer was probably because after what he'd done, he already felt like he was a monster. He'd accepted that he was, even.

But Neige… His hands were so soft. Clean.

He didn't know why he was allowed to hold Neige's hands in his own— his own, that had hurt so many people already, and would probably go on to hurt more, if the vibe he caught from his savior were right.

He hoped that, if he really was a monster…then at least he could be the monster that protected Neige. And Leona. And all his friends.

More sprites:

Tag list: @another-random-paradise @thehollowwriter @faefum @cactus13-rolloflammesimp @beneathsakurashade

@nyx-of-night @theolivetree123 @babyghoul138 @skibidibabygirl @screamintoad

@mishig

[solefae]

THE NEW DIVA. jimmy uso

SUMMARY ── jimmy can’t keep his eyes off the new diva

It was 2014 and Monday Night RAW was electric as always in the Allstate Arena near Chicago. Backstage, Zahra was buzzing with nerves in her debut match against AJ Lee later on. As the newest signee to WWE's roster of Divas, she was determined to show all the haters doubting the biracial beauty.

Of course, having the entire locker room behind her certainly helped calm the jitters. Well, almost the entire room - as Zahra stretched in the corner warming up, she couldn't help notice a certain blue chipper Samoan's lingering gaze from across the way.

Jimmy Uso had been in the company for a couple years now tearing it up alongside his brother Jey, and Zahra had admired him from afar since her FCW days. But this was the first time they were really interacting beyond friendly hellos in passing.

Her heart fluttered when he finally sauntered over, checking out her toned physique on display in her tiny wrestling gear unabashedly. "Aye girl you look ready to kill it out there. Mind if I spot ya?" Jimmy offered in that addictive baritone, already leading her over to the weights.

"Appreciate it, could always use an extra set of eyes. Especially from a pro like you," Zahra replied coyly, laying back on the bench to start pumping out reps under his watchful gaze. His large hands guided the bar smoothly, lingering a few extra beats each time she brought it down to brush her ample chest teasingly.

"Damn you strong too, know you gon hold that gold belt one day for sure ma. And definitely got them looks to match, bet all the fellas tryna holla," Jimmy flirted smoothly in return, leaning down to murmur the compliment lowly in her ear. Zahra shivered despite the sweltering heat coursing through her veins, equal parts nerves and want now.

"Maybe. But only got eyes for one man out here if he's interested too," she shot back playfully once he helped sit her up, unable to resist brushing her fingers along his bulging arm tantalizingly. The look Jimmy gave her in return had Zahra practically melting like putty in his strong hands already.

"Guess we'll have to continue this conversation after your match shawty. Break a leg out there - I'll be watchin extra close," he promised darkly, punctuating the offer with a lingering kiss to the back of her hand that had her head spinning the rest of prep. This match was about to be way more fun than anticipated now.

Sure enough, Zahra felt Jimmy's intense gaze burning into her the entire time in the ring against AJ. She flew around that canvas like the veteran she was training to be, putting on a clinic and thrillng the packed stadium. When she locked AJ into thesubmission for the clean pin, the roar was deafening as confetti rained down celebrating the new princess of WWE officially.

After a crushing hug from all her girls backstage in congratulations, Zahra began searching the crowded hallway eagerly for Jimmy, needing that follow up chat more than ever buzzing off her high. Spotting his towering frame leaned casually outside the showers, she sauntered over confidently, heart bursting.

"So you liked what you saw out there big boy?" Zahra purred brazenly, fisting her tiny hands in his open shirt to drag him into the empty locker room teasingly. Jimmy couldn't resist cupping her supple cheeks, eyes already lidded and dark like a starving man shown an endless buffet.

"Goddamn ma you know you take my breath away. Can't stop thinkin bout gettin my hands all over that sexy lil body," he groaned hungrily, backing her into the locker to hike her leg high around his muscular hips. Zahra whimpered helplessly feeling his thick manhood straining against her throbbing core through their thin barriers, lips locking desperately.

"Then take me already daddy, been wanting you forever," she urged breathlessly, tugging his jersey over his head eagerly. Their clothing disappeared in a flurry, lips and tongues mapping out every new inch of glistening skin fervently. Jimmy lifted her with ease, sinking home between her folds in one smooth glide that had them both crying out at the sensation.

"You feel so damn good n tight on this dick, fuck!" he grunted already, setting a blissful punishing pace in and out of her quivering heat. Zahra could only sob and beg shamelessly for more, hands clawing down his sculpted back as her first orgasm approached fast and mercilessly under his skilled ministrations.

Jimmy was determined to test her stamina after that electrifying showing, pounding into her greedy pussy relentlessly against the metallic lockers. Zahra came again and again, gushing around his thick member each time with increasing intensity until Jimmy finally spilled deep inside her with an animalistic growl of completion.

Collapsing in a sweaty euphoric tangle afterwards, neither could find it in themselves to regret giving into temptation so thoroughly. "Damn ma was worth the wait," Jimmy eventually mumbled against her hair softly, pressing sweet kisses along her heaving collarbones adoringly.

Zahra only smiled dreamily, tracing the lines of his handsome face tenderly as her heart swelled bursting with joy and belonging. "This is just the beginning for us. Who knows what we'll accomplish together," she whispered back confidently, knowing in her soul their story had only just begun unfolding...

taglist aka my loves! ⇩

@kumapassion @truefant4sy

@yeaiamme2 @cody-uso

@riverina69 @shantinextdoor

@christinabae @empressdede

(lemme know if you want to be added/removed!) 🤍✨

©solefae.

[guywrestlingaddiction]

What Turned me Gay: How to Introduce Someone to Gay Wrestling

It's no secret that wrestling turned me gay.  High school wrestling turned into a passion for pro wrestling, which evolved into an obsession with gay wrestling.  Now, while my journey is unique to me, I wondered, how do you turn someone on to gay wrestling? 

What turned me gay (not really) ... 

Troy & Brian Baker v Vinny Trevino & Joshua Goodman (bgeast.com)

This post, inspired by the sidelineland.com blog, takes a tongue and cheek look into "what made me gay (not really)" and in thinking about the topic of introducing someone to gay wrestling, it's helpful to go back to the beginning - at least my beginning.

My first exposure to gay wrestling was on bgeast.com and boy do I still have vivid memories of that experience. Those wrestler profiles, the exciting match descriptions, all of it worked to overly stimulate my young imagination.  Reading about those grunting and groaning men made me feel like I was there, in the ring with them and feeling every strained bicep or the pain of a perfectly timed ball claw.  One particular image forever sealed in my memory from that day was an aggressive Brigham Bell flex-straddling a helpless Dino Serra in a schoolboy pin.  Brigham's cocky look, that vain bicep flex all worked to supercharge my interest.

Brigham Bell v Dino Serra (bgeast.com)

Later, after months, maybe even years of research, when I was finally able to buy my first Bgeast DVD, I picked up Tag Team Torture 3 - specifically because of Mr.Troy Baker.  Now it wasn't intentional but what's key here is that I picked a gay wrestling match without the sex.  As it happened, Troy Baker simply didn't do nudity and after all my 'research' there was no stopping me from wanting to see him.  

Troy & Brian Baker v Vinny Trevino & Joshua Goodman (bgeast.com)A gay wrestling match without the gay sex

I mean can you blame me? 

All that to say that my first introduction to gay wrestling was less about guys doing it and more about the wrestling. Of course I visited other gay sites devoted purely to sex, but somehow keeping them separate - gay wrestling and gay porn helped. In fact, it intensified my gay wrestling passion since there was just nothing hotter than being taken to the edge of excitement, only to be denied it.  Gay wrestling wasn't just a cheesy prelude to the sex, it was an epic story of powerful emotions, humiliation, and masculinity.  Needless to say I was hooked. 

Flyboy v Jose (bgeast.com) Another gay wrestling classic without the sex.

I won't go as far to say that I didn't need the release that typical porn had to offer, but what I will say is that the images of hot guys straining their muscles or the guttural moans each fighter made was simply hotter than anything else I had seen before. Whether it was the intense cries of defeat or the shakiness in their voice when the adrenaline was flowing; all of that was heaven to me.

Mars v Bjorn (wrestler4hire.com)

But the thing that did it for me was the intense realness that gay wrestling brought.  The sweat that proved each man was a fighter, the trash talk boasting how they would dominate each other, and the humiliation showing there were real consequences to all this, all worked in concert to fuel what was rapidly becoming my obsession.  

Grant Phelps v Mark Molina (movimuswrestling) Movimus: The most wrestling focused studio. 

At stake in each wrestling match was a piece of a man's masculinity and pride, with the winner stripping the loser of everything they had. Gay wrestling to me was everything but the sex, everything but the climax, all of which made it a thousand times hotter.

So how do you welcome someone to all that gay wrestling has to offer? Following my path I'd recommend jumping into a classic high quality match minus the sex from a studio like Bgeast then alternating between a studio that offers more sex to one that offers more wrestling. 

After awhile you'll figure out where you land on this spectrum (wrestling and sex) and really begin to see where the stars align for you.  Now for me, if I had to guess what the perfect mix would be, it would be something like 75% wrestling and 25% sex, but to each their own.  

Ron Masters v Cody Brooks (can-am.com) Can-Am: The most sex focused studio. 

Jonathan Bennett v J Durango (bgenterprises) Bgenterprises: Sometimes all wrestling, sometimes all sex. 

Logan v Drake (nrwrestling.com) Nrwrestling: The most non-gay gay wrestling studio.

Luke Truong v Mack Mahoney (muscleboywrestling.com) Muscleboywrestling: More sex focused than wrestling. 

Cali Boy v Christian Thorn (wrestler4hire.com) Wrestler4hire: More wrestling than sex. 

Cody v Tanner Ripley (undergroundwrestler.com) Undergroundwrestler: Gay wrestling with everything but the nudity. 

Kid Leopard v Sean Cannon (bgeast.com) Bgeast: This studio has everything on the wrestling-sex continuum. 

When I first started watching gay wrestling there were really just a few options but now there are countless variations to entertain yourself with. Some of you may prefer more sex, others more wrestling, but whatever the type of gay wrestling you ultimately become interested in, it really is up to you. You see this story, this journey of how I came to obsess over gay wrestling is unique to me as it is to every other person's passion and without a doubt something that turned me gay (not really).

[boasamishipper]

notes from the nnc s3e1 taping

so back in july hannah @bornforastorm and i went to the taping of the new night court season 3 premiere!!! to the best of my memory, here's what went down:

[spoilers below the cut]

pre show:

taping was on stage 10 of the warner bros lot

hannah and i got there early (as instructed) and were pretty much the only ones in attendance who had actually seen og night court (majority of ppl knew melissa rauch from big bang theory)

which is also wild to me by the way?? why would you go to a taping of a show you have never watched??

anyway

we chatted with a very nice belgian lady and a nice australian couple who had been traveling across the country for the last few months (they gave us mini kangaroo pins)

we were not allowed to have our phones on us (alas) or i would have taken a million pictures

new night court set looks a lot more grimy in person?? which i was surprised by because on tv the show looks so much cleaner than the original did. guess that's due to lighting and whatever goes down in postproduction

hannah and i were one of the first ones in line to go into the studio (we all but shoved our way to the front) and got to sit in the second row

they had a magician named mark sweet who warmed the crowd up with very delightful magic tricks (iirc he was also the opening act for tbbt tapings which is how he got this gig)

from where hannah and i were sitting we had a great view of the courtroom set. abby's chambers set and the cafeteria set and the hospital set were more difficult to see

they played a Here's What Happened So Far On Night Court recap for us to which hannah and i were like [ron swanson voice] we know more than you

when larroquette came out for the curtain call opening my vision whited out and i screamed like a maniac

larroquette was very tall and waved cutely and did a peace sign and applauded for melissa and no one else

hannah and i were more insane about that old man than anyone in the whole studio audience

abby's dream sequence scene + julianne's arrival scene:

abby's dream sequence was filmed a previous day; we watched that on tv (it already had the laugh track added)

on the first take of this scene when julianne showed up larroquette did a classic Dan Fielding Yelp and Jumped and hid behind flobert and it was magical to see

this would continue for the rest of the night but on every single take larroquette did something different and it was equally hilarious every time. that man knows how to read a crowd

they told us straight up not to applaud when wendie malick came in as not to distract the actors (or something?? can't remember the reason but i knew she was going to be there so i was not surprised)

gurgslivia canon confirmed (gurgs changed clothes in front of her)

flobert in a wig boston legal reference!!!

when talking about the new prosecutor larroquette did a take where he made an explicit reference to the OG night court pilot (alas i did not write down what it was)

larroquette had to bend down so the makeup people could touch his face up and spritz his hair

larroquette does this little shimmy every time before he gets into character as dan and it's great

great is not a strong enough word actually. seeing him transform into dan fielding before my very eyes was a spiritual experience. i heard colors and smelled sounds.

actors who flubbed the most lines: wendie malick

actors having the most fun with different line readings: larroquette and lacretta and also gary anthony williams

abby's chambers scene:

alternate dan lines: ‘Juicy little mouse’ ‘Juicy little spring lamb’

alternate dan lines: ‘crocheting a shank’ with hand gesture

fantastic line reading: ‘macrame net’

alternate dan lines: ‘chicken feet’ ‘cat brains’ ‘wrestling alligators’ (then that again but in a more southern accent so it was like 'wrasslin gators')

the cheeto bag julianne was holding exploded on the first take but larroquette went with it like a pro

larroquette did extremely hilarious line readings of That’s A Lie every single time

again wendie malick flubbed a lot of lines but she was a champ and got through it

melissa rauch had a lot of fun with the physical comedy in this scene

hospital scene:

julia duffy had soooo much fun slapping melissa rauch

hannah and i SCREAMED when julia duffy implied harry was the father (which i predicted IN MARCH AHAHAHA)

literally i was CLUTCHING hannah's hand. we were losing it

the nice australian couple behind us: .......glad you two are......having fun

melissa rauch once again had fun with the physical comedy

final courtroom scene:

took the longest to film

solid line reading of ‘a scarf with metaphorical strings attached’

some lines were not working during this scene so the writers rewrote them on the spot (and they did not notice my attempt to subliminally get them to hire me for the writers room)

lacretta and nyambi had so much fun during the julianne 'reveal'

when gary anthony williams was dumping the flobert pics out of the bag on one take they got stuck and wouldn't come out and his reaction was very funny

misc:

taping was about four hours long and we were given pizza around the midpoint

saw larroquette chatting with wendie during the breaks very cutely

larroquette swore ‘god damn it’ when he flubbed a line (very rare, he was the best of everyone)

larroquette didn't mix much with the cast other than wendie and melissa

larroquette has a book that he carries his scripts in and it looks leather bound and has a ribbon he uses to mark pages (possibly he has this for every script??)

when larroquette reads dan’s lines while he's rehearsing, he reads them with dan’s scrunched up facial expressions and does dan’s mannerisms (dannerisms??)

phill lewis (director of the ep) came up to the audience at one point and asked if there were any fans of suite life and did the ‘no running in my lobby!!!’ line in moseby’s voice and i shrieked about it

melissa rauch also came up to the audience and said hello and she was very charming

ren bell dialogue coach is hot as fuck

dan rubin was apparently there but we couldn’t see him

larroquette left immediately after curtain call (he does his job gets that paycheck and goes home god bless)

larroquette looked sooooo good in that suit

they filmed some scenes the day before our taping (dream sequence + cafeteria scene) and added a laugh track to them?? but then played them for us so our laughs would be dubbed over the laugh track?? no clue how that works

from what we saw the writers seem to be all relatively young, 20s and 30s (we gotta get more older writers in there for john’s sake)

the best non larroquette actors are easily lacretta and gary anthony williams (who is so funny and needs to be a series regular asap)

wendie malick flubbed a lot of her lines but she is apparently new to filming in front of an audience and she seemed very charming and funny; there were vips in the audience who were friends of hers and she came up and said hi to them

speaking of vips the perks they get include getting to keep their phones on them, being more likely to win prizes from the opening act magician (more on that below), and getting to hang with the actors after the show

melissa rauch impressed me, i think she is really settling into this role and i am excited to see what she does with abby this season

after they had to stop a take bc someone flubbed a line larroquette said something bitchy-funny (‘this is what happens when you-‘) but we couldn’t hear the rest of it

larroquette was doing all the physical comedy his 76 year old self was willing to do and he was amazing

overall seems to be a tight crew and cast god bless

in between takes mark sweet the magician would entertain us and also offered us the chance to win night court merch in exchange for us doing silly things. and at one point mark sweet was giving away signed copies of the script to anyone who had a special talent. so i came up and he had someone from the front row be my assistant. so i said to my assistant okay close your eyes. now reach your left hand out and grab the folder with the scripts out of mark sweet's hand.

i was shameless and got what i wanted :)

anyway overall incredible experience. i came out of there beaming like the joker and with enough energy to pick up a car and throw it five hundred yards. were it not for the laws of this land (aka me living in wisconsin) i would go to tapings every single week.

[damiansgoodgirll]

Damian Priest x reader where he takes her on dates and shows her how much he loves her thank you 🙏

damian priest x reader

tw : mention of past abusive relationship but not that much, i promise

teach me how to love

you weren’t a huge fan of dating. maybe your exes all made you think that you were the problem, always asking for too much when in the end all you wanted was to feel loved.

so after your last break up, you decided to stop dating for a while. that was until you met damian at your local gym.

you’ve never saw him there before and the receptionist lady told you he recently moved from his old house to this new neighbourhood and that he was looking a place closer to his home.

at first he was being nice with you as he was with anyone else. always greeting you when you came from the door and always saying goodbye everytime you were leaving. he then started to initiate small conversations with you, trying to get to know you better. you thought he was just being nice but in the back of your mind you knew he was flirting with you.

you couldn’t deny the attraction you felt for him but you knew that a man like him, handsome and famous, could have anyone he wanted - his instagram following proved you that - not that you stalked him but before trying anything with him you needed to be sure he wasn’t going to take you for granted.

you wanted, you really wanted but the fear inside of you stopped you from moving past the simple conversations you had at the gym.

one day he invited you over to see him wrestle as the raw episode was taking place in the city you both lived in and you said yes without even thinking twice. it’s not that he was going to spend time with you anyway. but once the show was over he looked for you in the crowd and when he found you, he brought you backstage so you could get to know each other better.

from that day on, everytime you were both at the gym together, he would work out with you, sometimes even offering to take you home or to pick you up the following day.

it was the simple gesture that made your heart beat ten thousand times harder only for him.

one day he asked you on a date. you thought about it, you thought about the pros and cons but you ended up saying yes anyway. so the day after he was at your place, with a bouquet of roses in hand, ringing your door bell.

you were wearing a black dress, sexy and elegant but nothing to excessive or revealing. it showed some of your cleavage down to your breast, you loved that dress, it made you feel sexy and powerful but you thought it was too much, especially for a first date. damian’s eyes couldn’t leave your body when you opened the door.

you thanked him for the roses and placed them in a vase full of water. his eyes still on your body, watching every movement you made.

“you like it? if you don’t i can change it…maybe it’s too much, i’ll go change” you said, suddenly feeling self conscious, remembering how your ex would get mad at you if you wore something too revealing.

“no, why would you change it? it’s absolutely amazing, you look amazing” he smiled, taking your hands in his bigger ones.

“are you sure? doesn’t the v-neck make you uncomfortable? you can tell me…” you asked him a little anxious.

“absolutely, you’re breathtaking mariposa” he reassured you “you can go change if you want to, but i want you to know how amazing you look in this dress”

“maybe i should wear a jacket on top of it…” you said, still feeling a little insecure.

“you’re gonna melt…hermosa, why do you think you should cover up?” he asked a little concerned.

“my - my ex never liked this dress, or anything in my closet, he said i wore too many revealing clothes and that i was just seeking for attention, he didn’t like the idea of other men watching me…” you confessed.

damian wasn’t expecting that answer. he couldn’t understand how someone as beautiful as you were could have dated someone as that asshole “hermosa, let me tell you how beautiful you look in that dress…you’re breathtaking and if it wasn’t for the fact that we have to be at the restaurant in twenty minutes i would fucking place you in front of a mirror, lift your dress up and make love to you as you’re watching your reflection” he said while his hands went on your hips. you were shocked by his confession, especially knowing this was your first date. before you could say anything, his lips met yours in a delicate and romantic kiss “trust me when i say you’re beautiful” he whispered against your lips.

and you trusted him.

and after that date, a second date came. a third too, then a fourth and a fifth and then you officially began to dating.

he was helping you to rebuild the confidence you once had and that your ex boyfriend broke down. he would help you with the easiest tasks, if you had groceries to do he would come with you, he would help you to put the groceries away and then he would cook dinner for you. if you had a stressful day at work he would give you a back massage. he would take you on dates everytime he wasn’t busy with work schedule. he would clean your house if you were too busy or too tired from work.

and you quickly realised that it wasn’t you who was asking too much, it was the bare minimum that none of your exes was going to do. but damian taught you how to love again and how to feel loved again.

[tzaraat]

[image ID: an oil painting of two wrestlers grappling on a dark red mat. the colours are quite vivid, complemented by dramatic light and shadows.

on the left, a figure lies on its side, facing right. its left leg stretches in the same direction, while its right is folded at the knee and rests close to the body. both its hands are raised and frame its face, crossing each other. the left hand is tangled with the other figure's right arm. it is dressed in black trunks and boots, as well as knee pads. the figure is painted quite realistically, with opaque layers of paint. its face is masked by shadows, and completely blacked out.

on the right, the second figure sits, facing left. its left leg is extended, covering the other's chest and pinning it down. its right leg goes behind the other figure's body, folded at the knee. its left hand is by its side, pressing on the first figure's leg. its right, tangled with the other figures' crossed arms, rests over its own left thigh. the figure is dressed in blue tights and boots, also wearing kick-pads. the graphic layer shows through, as it is painted as a few semi-transparent glazes, with no opaque base. its face is heavily shadowed, and largely covered by hair, such that few distinct features are visible.

the top-left and bottom-right parts of the painting each contain a rectangular panel, which has been left white. the panels intersect with the figures' bodies. the figures themselves are drawn, in black-pen, as anatomical diagrams - revealing the muscles and tendons. next to the diagrams, also in black-pen, is a schematic rendering depicting sections of Lou Thesz' NWA belt (also known as the tiny Takada belt). the belt sections are covered by a layer of vellum paper, which blurs them out. /.End ID]

my full piece for @moonsaultzine! i'm very proud of all we managed to achieve, and am thankful to have been able to participate. my piece was created while thinking about the symbolic collapse of persons into bodies in motion, and that collapse's relationship to the procedure of pro-wrestling and the artifice of all performances. it was referenced from multiple shoot-style matches (as well as allegedly fixed MMA fights) of the late 90s, particularly ones from UWF-I and RINGS.