#i bashed this out in like half an hour surprisingly

[delusionalbitchinthehouse]

Dew can't sleep, and he hasn't been talking to Ifrit. Doesn't mean Ifrit doesn't still care, though. I fucking love them what can I say.

It's too late for this shit, Dew thinks, as he lights another cigarette on the balcony, careful not to let the glowing tip brush up against any of Mountain's potted plants invading the already narrow space. Stems curl around the metal railing, leaves dripping down and swaying in the light breeze. It's somewhat of a hypnotizing sight, one that has Dew blinking sluggishly as he attempts to chainsmoke his thoughts away.

It's too late to be plagued by every thoughts and worries known to man, and yet here Dew is. He hasn't bothered to grab his jacket, hoping that the cold would give him something to focus on. So far, it's only making him shiver hard enough to make his back ache. He's unwilling to go back inside though, frozen in place like staying rooted to the spot might be the key to his peace of mind.

Smoke is exhaled toward the night sky, pinpricks of light blinking at Dew's sad little worries on their canva of deep blue. The burning in his lungs helps a bit, but there is no magical remedy to the whirlwind up in the fire ghoul's head, mercilessly keeping him from restful slumber.

Dew doesn't realize how tense his neck is until a warm hand presses against the back of it, thumb digging in stiff muscles. He barely jumps at the sudden presence.

"I figured you'd be the one here."

Ifrit's voice is gentler than usual in the quiet of the night, face soft and hair mussed when he shifts into Dew's peripherical vision, looking very much like he just woke up. The sheet imprint on his cheeks only confirms it, as well as making him look unbearably adorable. Eyes big and searching despite the slight glaze of tiredness still clinging to them, Ifrit has the good sense not to push for an answer, just shrugs his jacket off to wrap it around Dew's shoulders. It's warm and smells like cedar, so achingly familiar. Dew can't help sinking into it. So what if there's unsaid things trapped between them, arguments never quite settled, longing for something maybe past, maybe broken, maybe fixable, that they're too cowardly to attempt saving ?

Right now, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because Ifrit's arm is slung around Dew's shoulders, tugging him into the older fire ghoul's chest, until Ifrit's heartbeat echoes in Dew's ear and he can feel a kiss being pressed to the crown of his head.

Ifrit's throat glows orange when he accepts the half-finished cigarette Dew hands him, a fun quirk of his that Dew admittedly missed. It used to fascinate him, seeing Ifrit's body visibly react to the smoke curling inside his lungs. The longer the drag he takes, the further the glow spreads, sometimes reaching his broad chest in an abstract pattern of light splashed under his skin.

With the both of them sucking onto the filter, Dew quickly ends up stomping on the butt of the cigarette. He doesn't reach for another one. His thoughts are still racing, but tiredness is starting to take its toll, and it's hard to follow what goes on in his brain when his eyes start closing for longer period of times, leaning into Ifrit's warm body and the soft touch of his fingers drawing mindless forms on his shoulder.

Dew still doesn't want to go though.

That's when Ifrit starts to sing.

It's more of a soft hum at the begining, but then words start to flow out of his mouth, ableit softly to fit the late hour. Ifrit has always had a nice voice. Surprisingly versatile, a bit raspy on the edge but able to climb pretty high, just to fall to a low rumble in a steady whiplash of register. Dew has begged him to sing to him many times over the years they've known each other, and every instance where Ifrit complied with rosy cheeks and bashful smiles have a special place carved for them in Dew's mind.

Distantly, he notices Ifrit's not singing in english. Gaelic, his brain provides. To Dew's untrained ears, the pronounciation seems pretty good, which makes him wonder whether Chain taught him, or if it's part of Ifrit's hidden deck of random knowledges.

Either way, the tension in Dew's shoulders is slowly bleeding away. There's a tight ball of yearning in his lower stomach, but that he can withstand. Probably.

The sudden realization that if they don't breach the distance that settled between them ever since Ifrit retired, the older fire ghoul will become somebody Dew used to know, used to love, strikes him like a bolt of lightening, and his hand flies up to grip Ifrit's arm in a tight grasp. It cuts the singing short, which Dew takes half a second to mourn before he chokes out.

"Don't go."

It's not all he'd like to say, but the words stick in his throat, tongue heavy and useless in his mouth. Ifrit, sweet, darling Ifrit, tightens his hold on Dew, mouth moving in his hair as he shushes him gently.

"I'm right here, i'm right here."

You're not, Dew wants to say, I miss you, you're holding me and I miss you.

But of course, it's like Ifrit knows what goes on in Dew's overproductive brain, because he leans forward, really draping himself over the smaller ghoul, planting a kiss on his temple.

"I am here, Dew. I promise."

Dew let himself relax, takes a deep breath.

"Come to bed with me ?"

Ifrit hesitates. Doesn't pull away, barely stiffens, but he does hesitate.

"Isn't Aether-"

"Yeah, he's there already. Ifrit, he wouldn't mind. Actually, I think he would be thrilled. Unless, of course, if you were with Zeph, I wouldn't want to-"

Dew's rambling is cut short by Ifrit turning him in his hold, until they face each other, heart-wrenching fondness dancing in the older fire ghoul's eyes. Carefully, he cups Dew's face in his big hands, pressing a kiss square on his forehead.

"No, I was alone. Let's go then. Before you freeze to death."

For the first time in several hours, Dew smiles bright and wide.

(In the morning, Aether wakes up with Ifrit's arm slung over both his and Dew's waist, two pairs of legs tangled with his. A familiar sight he missed more than he realized.)

[zombieunicorngamerzu]

(Clinically insane Lottie Matthews x fem psychiatrist reader)

[Warnings - GIP insane Lottie, dubcon, mainipulation, guilt tripping, penetration, breeding]

When you first met Lottie she seemed pretty normal surprisingly, kind, more quiet, polite, always helping out other patients, you were looking through her chart, you frowned at seeing she had recently gotten shock therapy as you were highly against the procedure. You felt empathy for the girl, she must have been so scared, but as you sat in your session with the girl, she shook her head with a smile, claiming how shock therapy and meds helped her get better, but you still wished that the doctors would have given her time instead of rushing to such a dangerous treatment.

“Really, all of this has been helping a lot, and I’ve been journaling like you said.” Lottie spoke with that adorable smile, showing her dimples, you were only a few years older than her, she was eighteen and you were twenty-two, having graduated early in college, smiling as you took some notes, “I’m glad it’s helping, Charlotte.” Her smile dropped when you used her full name, whining a little, “Doctor L/N, please just call me Lottie…” You just gave her a soft smile before speaking, “I’m trying to keep some professionalism here.” She just pouted, “Come on, Doctor L/N, I think we’re a little closer than that.”

There it was, the delusion you two have been working on for weeks since Lottie had a “vision” that the two of you were supposed soulmates and the wilderness wanted her to be with you, over the weeks you’ve tried upping her medication, but she was still adamant on you being her soulmate, speaking out with a gentle tone, “Charlotte…” she sighed out with a frown, crossing her arms as she sat back, “Look, I know you don’t believe me, but I swear I’ll prove it to you.” You frowned a little at her words, they seemed to have a bit of a underlying meaning to them, but you brushed it off, Lottie was the sweetest, most harmless girl in the world, and if she loved you, she’d never hurt you.

You ended your session with her after your mandatory hour and a half before Lottie was led out of your office by the nurses back to her room, you didn’t see her again until later that night when one of the guards came in claiming Lottie was stuck in the shower, having a episode. You rushed up and down the corridors immediately, it’s true you have formed a bond with Lottie, you care for her and don’t wanna see her hurt again. When you came in Lottie was crumbled on the floor sobbing with her forehead bleeding again, she must have bashed it against the wall again, speaking out to the personnel in the room, “Everybody out!”

Everyone obeyed, you’d done this multiple times before so everyone trusted you to take care of this, leaving you alone with Lottie, approaching her carefully with a gentle tone, “Lottie, honey, are you okay, can you hear me?” She perked up with a sniffle at the sound of your voice saying her name before sniffling again, your heart broke seeing her like this, kneeling down close to her to rest your hand on her back before you were surprised by Lotties sudden strength as she pulled you down. “Lottie!” You tried to gasp out before she covered your mouth, shaking her head as she pinned you down, “No, No, don’t fight me, it’s okay- trust me- you’ll see… I have to show you, it wants us to, I need to.”

You were shocked at her behavior, thinking about her words from earlier before your eyes widened when she forcefully shoved your thighs open with a gentle smile down at you while you squirmed under her, her fingers pulling your slacks down your thighs, baring you to her as she tried to get you to relax, your cries and pleas were muffled but you didn’t stop fighting, you were surprised by how strong Lottie was, she just flipped you over and pinned you down on your stomach, her hand still on your mouth before she rut her hips against your ass, making you cry out as you felt her cock slip inside you, dropping your head down against the tile as Lottie let out a soft moan in your ear, kissing your cheek, “shh, it’s okay, I promise, you’ll see.”

You were conflicted, she felt so good, Lottie was skilled as she searched for the perfect pace and angle to make you moan, her breasts pressed against your back as her thrusts shoved you down more against the wet tile floor, her cock stretching your soaked tight cunt to fit her, she was pretty big, every buck of her hips took your breath away, your eyes squeezing shut tight as she held her hand over your mouth to hide your cries and Moans, kissing your cheek as she rambled out, “I love you, Y/N, I do, I’m gonna take such good care of you and our baby, I swear!” She moaned out, making you cry louder, your eyes widening as you shook your head, only making Lottie giggle and force your thighs open more before she went wild, getting close to her orgasm, her rambles getting desperate, “Yes, yes, yes, please, please, Y/N, take it! Take it, take my cum!”

Lottie shuttered as you started to tremble and moan into her hand, all she felt was you cumming around her cock, which made her burst with pride and pleasure, biting her hand to hide her cry at how tight your pussy squeezed her cock, practically milking her of her cum as she hugged you tight against her, burying her face into your neck as she started to cry and sniffle, “I’m so sorry, Y/N, I had too, please don’t tell…” she whimpered. You were so conflicted with your emotions, panting heavily as Lottie took her hand off your mouth, she looked like a scared puppy, her lip quivering with fear, making your heart hurt, there was no way you were going to ruin this poor girls life, you just gave her a shaky consoling smile, hesitantly kissing her cheek, “It’ll be our little secret.”

[alvariearmy]

I genuinely love the Scarlet Hollow fandom so much. It's fairly small, if you spend half an hour in the tag, you'll likely see pretty almost every member of the fandom, including the creators. And it is so... healthy? I've seen some fandoms that are so toxic, where people are so hateful of everything. The work they claim to be fans of, other fans who have the audacity to disagree with their theories or opinions, whatever they can find to hate. And those fandoms are so exhausting to be in, so it is so nice to see that this game has generated such a healthy fandom. I am not saying that all fans are perfect or don't get snippy or whatever, but as a whole, I've seen many healthy debated and exchanging of theories and developing theories together. I've seen detailed analyses of the briefest of moments (like Tabitha's sense of smell, I wrote a little analysis of it, and not too long ago, I saw someone else who noticed even more of it than I had, and it's so fun that such a little detail has been noticed this much). I've seen people designing their cousins and everyone is always supportive, I've seen people talking about their canon traits and choices and never bashing others for their choices. Hell, I don't even see people getting icked by the Waynemancers (no judgement from me, he's my favorite goopy man), when you just know that in other fandoms, there would be people crawling out of the woodwork to call you disgusting for it.

I just love this fandom so much, and I appreciate you all. And I am so grateful to Black Tabby Games for making this game, which created such a beautiful environment. My experiences of the fandom have only been through Tumblr, so I can only speak about what is on here, and what is on here is surprisingly wholesome.

[srorgana1]

Carnal Secrets

Rock Star Kylo Ren x Reader/Knights of Ren

Warnings: Alcohol/Drug use, Sexual Preferences/Fetishes, Explicit Sexual Content

A fun and spicy one shot from the Into the Reverb Universe which can be found here and on A03. Lemme know if you like with a like or kudos. I hope you enjoy 🥰

A huge thanks to my beautiful friend and Beta @mrs-zimmerman for dealing with my crazy ideas ❤️❤️

Loud raucous laughter reverberate off the walls and floor to ceiling windows of the hotel suite as you exit your and Kylo’s bedroom. It felt so good to get out of your leather pants and heels, your feet sore and throbbing from dancing around for the last 3 hours. The whole group had tumbled into the suite after a fun night at the Horizons/Rogue/Bitter Harvest show, still hyped up and ready to continue the festivities.

You opt for a pair of sleep shorts and an over-sized KOR shirt. You tie up your hair in a top knot, your face squeaky clean and free of makeup. “C’mon YN! The beer is waiting!” Vic yells to you playfully. 

You roll your eyes as you see all of them lounging on the large sofa and adjacent chairs and loungers. The large coffee table in the middle is covered with various takeout boxes, beer and liquor bottles and the occasional finished roach. 

“Well it sounds like you started without me. You didn't eat all my poppers right?” you say with a smile as you settle in next to a relaxed semi-reclining Kylo. His arm wraps around your side, his thick tattooed fingers tracing light patterns across your covered skin. 

“No promises” he says with a wink, popping one of your mac and cheese bites into his mouth. You glare at him as Kylo sits up and grabs you a cold beer. “You bitch” you snark, taking a sip. “That he is” Poe retorts lazily, giggling to himself as he downs last of his beer.

“Oh fuck you man” Vic says with a laugh. His hair was still wild from the show, sticking up all over. He was still only wearing his hoodie on his upper half, his shirt lost to the madness of the pit. His hooded eyes and flushed cheeks are proof enough that he was already quite inebriated. You were happy to see everyone enjoying themselves, being able to let loose like this. It has far been too long.

Kylo settles back, pulling you closer. You snuggle into his warmth as he turns and kisses the top of your head. “Actually speaking of that” Poe says with a glint in his eye “how's your kinky little Drummer boy?” Vic blushes deeply, taking a swig of his beer. “Oh don't be bashful Viccy” he laughs “I heard you two enough last last tour. You two still into degradation and cock rings?”

Kylo chuckles along with a couple others, watching and enjoying the good hearted ribbing Poe was throwing at Vic. “Hey don't knock it ‘til you try it” Vic retorts with a smile “we just click you know, and it was hands down the best sex I have ever had.” 

Poe’s eyebrows dance playfully as he smiles. “No judging man, just don't peg you as into that.” “If you're so good at reading people Poe, then what’s my kink?” Cardo pipes up, a fresh jay in his hands. Poe smirk turns cunning as his hand rubs his chin like a super villain. 

“Okay, how about this. I’ll take a guess and if I call you out, you gotta drink” he says, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Oh fuck me” Kurak mumbles under his breath. You stuff the last mac and cheese bite into your mouth, nodding along with the others. 

“Okay…” he slurs, his wicked eyes scanning the room “first one will be easy. Tattoo kink.” Not surprisingly everyone takes a drink. Kylo’s hand moves to your tattooed thigh, squeezing it gently. He was over the moon when you finally got the piece you had been wanting. He helped Finn design it. It revved him up to worship your ink just as much as his did to you. 

You turn to him and give him a quick kiss on his neck, right on one of those beautiful tattooed lines. “Okay, something a bit harder than. How about BDSM?” Poe says with a smirk. “Oh fuck you man” Kurak exclaims loudly. Kylo barks out a loud laugh along with some of the others. You shift and look at him quizzically.

“Oh fuck I forgot about that, good call Poe” Kylo says, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Soo this fucker had never been to a BDSM club and naturally when Poe was in town, that’s where he wanted to go” Kylo says, giving a look between a snickering Poe and a red faced Kurak. You couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or the alcohol.  

“Hey, we all know Nyx is the best one within a hundred miles of here. If I’m in LA, I gotta get a fix” Poe says as he leans back on his plush chair. Kylo nods and continues. “So we go out, get trashed and head there and of course it’s a madhouse. Kurak could not stop staring at everything. We finally got to our seats in front of one of the female Doms during her performance. Let’s just say it was a once in a lifetime experience for him.”

A series of laughs bubble up, most loudly by Kurak. “You’re right bro, it was legit the hottest fucking thing I have ever experienced” Kurak says with a sigh “I even ended up buying a membership that very night.” “You did?! That’s hilarious! But fuck yeah I gotta agree with you there” Poe says “I would fucking sub for her and her counterpart any time, anywhere.”

You smile widely, laughing and enjoying the fun. It was good for them to be open with each other like this. The conversation continues as you finish your beer. You place the bottle onto the table and stand to grab another out of the bucket. You squeal when Kylo grabs your hips, pulling you roughly into his lap. He growls into your neck, leaving light kisses as he wraps his arms around you. 

“Fucking love birds I swear. But I think I’m definitely feeling there’s some size kinks around here” Poe says slyly, giving you a wink. You can hear and feel Kylo’s chest shake with his deep chuckle as he wraps around you more. Your eyes flutter shut, absolutely loving when he does this to you. Keeping you safe with his big body, making you feel so small and precious. You feel him nuzzle his nose into your pulse point, leaving a light kiss. “Safe to say that’s a yes” Cardo says dryly, finally lighting the jay and passing it to Vic. Vic shakes his head in agreement, taking a rip.

You open your eyes and promptly take a drink of your beer, feeling embarrassed at your immediate reaction to Kylo in front of everyone. He seems to notice as he keeps you close to him, whispering his love for you into your ear. You turn and give him a soft smile, silently thanking him for his support. 

Poe thankfully changes the subject. “You know what’s always a fav” Poe says, his words slurring more now “hair pulling”. “Fuck yes” you and Vic yell simultaneously, falling into hysterics. You clink your beer with him and take big drinks. You hear Kylo grumble his agreement into your neck. “Drink up Ky, we all know you love it. Her fingers are in your hair all the fucking time” Usher says, rubbing his bald head giving him a laugh.

The game continues on as everyone gets drunker, discussing a myriad of topics. Bondage. Masks. Piercings. Age gap. Breeding. Body parts. Leather. Different situations and scenarios. With lots of laughter and gentle teasing, you learn a lot about the people who you now consider your closest friends.  

Things like that Trudgen was currently dating a transgender female and that Cardo is into cougars and had dated someone twenty years his senior. Usher surprisingly revealed that he was hot for Rae when she was pregnant and low key wants to knock her up so he can see her pregnant again. 

You laugh, wondering in your inebriated mind if that would be happening sooner than later. You know how much Rae thinks of Usher. The man stepped up in place of Kurak and became an excellent father figure to Kayla. Yes, you can definitely see them eventually getting together and having lots and lots of babies.

A very drunk Poe stands and proudly announces he is happily bisexual and really enjoys genital piercings. It was then under some intense jabbing, Kylo warily divulges he used to have one. Poe wiggles his eyebrows playfully at him, saying he would rock it well. Kylo rolls his eyes and promptly shuts him up by throwing one of the pillows at him.

You turn to see Vic’s eyes on you, full of mirth. Fuck. “I’m thinking another thing around here is hands and breath play” he says coyly, passing the jay off. A chorus of responses happens at once. “Fuck yes” Trudgen growls “fucking love when they beg for it.” 

You can feel Kylo smirk where his head is leaning on yours. Your breath hitches when his large tatted hand wraps around your neck. You shiver when he squeezes lightly. “Damn Ky, you bold” Poe laughs, tipping his beer towards him. “Damn right and she loves it” he says lowly, kissing your temple as he releases you. You smirk as you rub your ass against his growing erection behind you, making him groan. 

“Yeah we get it you two are horny little fuck rabbits, don’t need to be rubbing it in us single people’s faces” Kurak says as he takes a bite of pizza. “Takes one to know one” Kylo murmurs, taking a sip of his beer. The group cackles at the sound of Kurak’s choked wheeze. 

You stay in Kylo’s lap for the rest of the night, the group becoming more and more intoxicated. The hype from the show begins to wear off, leaving you to doze off and on. You can tell he doesn’t mind, his fingers gently caressing your curves, lulling tou more to sleep. Around 4am Poe calls it, stumbling towards his room. As the others clean up some, Kylo kisses you awake as he hefts you into his arms. 

“Did you have fun baby girl?” he asks, giving you a soft kiss as he rounds the couch. You hum and nuzzle into him. “Kylo?” you murmur. “Yeah babe?” he responds as he shifts you in his arms so he can open the door. “What piercing did you have?” He stops and stares at you, a slow smirk forming on handsome face.

“Does my baby girl want me to get it redone so she can enjoy it?” he says lowly into your lips. You shrug, returning his light and teasing kisses. “Never experienced that before, could be interesting. But I definitely think you should'' you say, unable to hold in your drunken giggles. “Ugh damn it Y/N, you are legit going to kill me” he whines dramatically, shutting the door behind him.

Come enjoy the whole collection here

[wheels-of-despair]

Always Worth It | Ralph Penbury x You | Series Masterlist

Escape from Penbury Manor Summary: Mr. and Mrs. Penbury attend a Halloween party, but when the sun goes down, it's not all fun and games for the happy couple. Words: 4k

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ralph asks, whirling around from his place at the window overlooking the sprawling grounds.

"Silence. Isn't it wonderful?"

A smile spreads across his sleepy face.

You've returned to Penbury Manor, but you're not alone. Victoria has invited you (and countless others) to a Halloween Bash, a weekend full of fun and friends and festivities. You and Ralph had been a bit hesitant to attend, but decided that if things became overwhelming, you could always just retreat to your bedroom. Or one of the rooms on the drafty third floor that probably wouldn't be in use. Or even Ralph's favorite tree. You'd become quite fond of the place during your long honeymoon, and convinced yourselves that even Victoria and her entourage couldn't dampen your spirits this time.

Until you'd walked in the front door and seen just how many people were here. You were both tired from the long drive - by yourselves this time. Ralph had taken driving lessons and become quite skilled in navigating the roads in his very own automobile. You loved going for drives together, but the distance to Penbury Manor was quite a bit longer than your typical outings. (The thought of spending a long weekend with Victoria and all her friends may have been a bit draining as well.)

But for now, it was just the two of you, in the bedroom you'd spent most of your honeymoon in. The bustle of activity downstairs was muffled by the closed door, and you were grateful for a moment to just relax together and recover from your journey. You kicked off your shoes, left your suitcases unpacked, and collapsed on the bed to recharge before dinner.

A knock woke you from your slumber an hour later.

"What is it?" Ralph asks, rubbing his eyes.

"Drinks and hors d'oeuvres are being served on the terrace, sir."

"Thank you, we're coming." Ralph calls to the closed door. He turns his head toward you. "We've been summoned."

You look down at your wrinkled dress. "I suppose we'd better change. If we showed up to a party in travel clothes, Victoria would have us skinned alive."

"She would." Ralph sighs, then shimmies off the bed. You stay put. Getting dressed again seems like such a hassle. Ralph glances at you, lying there like a slug, and smiles. He opens your suitcases and extracts the clothes you'd packed for tonight. You watch him match shoes and accessories through heavily lidded eyes and wonder how you got so lucky. The man is perfect. He crosses the room and stops at your side, extending his hands to help you out of the tall, extremely comfortable bed.

"Up you get, love. We don't have to stay very long."

You take his hands and slide down the beautiful blanket. Your stockinged feet meet the floor with a thud. You know you're already running late, but you have to take a moment just to wrap your arms around him. You've married the most amazing man in the world.

Ralph holds you until you've had enough - for now - and then you both begin the process of dressing for drinks with Victoria and half the young people of London.

The crowd was less intimidating outdoors. Victoria's guests were spread out and talking amongst themselves instead of rushing about and yelling and tripping over piles of luggage like when you'd arrived. This seemed far more manageable.

The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a gorgeous shade of orange. The terrace was lit by fairy lights and softly glowing lanterns. Waiters bearing trays of drinks and hors d'oeuvres made the rounds. It seemed surprisingly low-key for an event planned by Victoria, but tonight was just for getting settled in; there was to be a masquerade ball Saturday night, and a costume contest on Sunday, and "gazoodles of other surprises" throughout the weekend.

You stuck to Ralph like glue as you wandered around with drinks in your hands and nibbled on hors d'oeuvres, meeting strangers and catching up with casual acquaintances. Several guests lamented that they'd missed your wedding, and were eager to know when you'd be adding Little Penburys to the mix. You smiled politely and kept up the required small-talk until time for dinner.

The crowd moved through the halls as one and filtered into the dining hall, which was fully decorated for Halloween. Pumpkins and vases of fall flowers were used as centerpieces on the long table. A large orange bow was tied to each chair back. There must've been a thousand candles lighting the room.

It was very well done. You were quite impressed with the team of decorators. (Victoria would take credit for this, and probably did supply an idea or two, but the Penburys have a well-paid party planner who typically handles this sort of thing.)

It was quite warm, between the all the people and the candles, and you would've preferred to have dinner outside under the lanterns and the night sky. But you smiled and sat next to Ralph and tried to enjoy the spooky, smoky ambiance of a well-planned party.

Until the amuse-bouche was placed in front of you.

You stared at the tiny cup of bright green soup and tried not to overthink it. It was just pea soup. People eat it every day. Is that… You poke at a mysterious lump with your spoon… and something that looks like an eyeball appears.

Everyone else discovers their surprises too, and laughs.

"How clever!" "Is that an onion?" "It looks just like a little eyeball!" "Oh, what fun!"

"Darling, are you alright?" Ralph leans close and whispers.

"Fine," you force a smile and focus on the tablecloth.

Soon, your untouched goop is taken away, and the table eagerly awaits the next course: soup.

Chunky red soup with pieces of floating meat that have been carved to resemble human toes. When the smell of it hits you, it makes your stomach churn. You push your chair back and scramble away from the table, not even caring that the grating screech of the chair legs on the polished floor probably drew everyone's attention. You just pray that you can make it to the nearest bathroom before everything you've eaten today comes up.

You made it to a potted plant in the hallway.

You held onto the sides of the planter after you finished heaving, trying to catch your breath. At least no one saw you.

"Are you alright, love?" Ralph asks quietly from behind you. You close your eyes in embarrassment, wishing you were invisible. But when you open them again a second later, you still see your hands gripping the edge of the planter, so you straighten, wipe your mouth just in case, and turn to face him.

"I'm sorry," you whisper.

"No, I'm sorry. That was disgusting."

Your eyes fall to the floor.

"The soup was disgusting," Ralph clarifies. "I wouldn't eat it either."

You look up and smile weakly, and then catch a flash of black and white out of the corner of your eye. You and Ralph both look toward it, to see a maid standing by the door shyly.

"Are you all right, Mrs. Penbury?"

You nod.

"Perhaps some tea and biscuits to settle your stomach?"

You start to shake your head, but Ralph accepts on your behalf.

"Bring it out to the terrace, we're going out for some fresh air."

Ralph drapes his dinner jacket across your shoulders, wraps an arm around you, and guides you outside.

The cool autumn night cleanses you almost immediately. The air smells crisp and fresh and nothing at all like that horrible soup. It's not hot or smoky, and there's no one out here but you and Ralph. It's exactly what you need. He steers you to a bench and makes you lie down. He sits on the edge and places a comforting hand on yours.

"Better?"

"Infinitely," you smile. You stare up at the stars until you hear heels clacking in your direction.

"Your tea has arrived, Mrs. Penbury," Ralph informs you. He helps you sit upright, and accepts the tray from the maid. He places it between you and watches you nibble on dry biscuits and sip your tea.

"Sorry I ruined your evening," you say sheepishly, brushing the crumbs off your dress when you've had enough.

"An evening spent with my wife is never ruined," Ralph states. "Would you like to retreat to the bedroom before dinner ends and everyone starts wandering again?"

"Under one condition."

"What's that, love?"

"You stop by the kitchen and get something to eat before you come up. You skipped dinner too. You'll be ravenous in an hour."

Ralph smiles. "Unwell, and still looking after me."

"I'm fine, Ralph. Completely cured." You stand and reach for his hand. He takes it, and you lead him back to the door. You walk together until you reach the bottom of the staircase.

"Go eat while I freshen up, and then perhaps we can relive the glory of our honeymoon." You wink at him, and he blushes. He bids you adieu with a kiss to the forehead before setting off toward the kitchens. You walk upstairs, clean up and put on your nightgown, and decide to lie down while you wait for him.

"Wake up, sleepyheads!"

There is nothing more unsettling than waking to the sound of Victoria Penbury's shrill voice.

"Go away," Ralph grumbles, snuggling closer to you. You're not sure how he's done it, but he's gotten you underneath the covers without waking you up. Well done, Mr. Penbury.

"Oh come on, dear brother, I only came to check on my darling sister-in-law. Are you alright, dearie? Tummy still rumbly?"

"I'm fine, Victoria, thank you," you say as cordially as possible. You wish she would go away. Forever.

"Wondrous! Then you should come upstairs and meet us in the old playroom in fifteen minutes."

"Why?" Ralph whines.

"It's a secret! Come on, it'll be fun!"

She stands there, watching and waiting for either of you to get out of bed. Neither of you moves. When her patience runs out a few seconds later, she marches to the end of the bed and rips the covers off, letting them fall to the floor. You whine. Ralph growls.

"Playroom! Fifteen minutes! Well, fourteen minutes now. I'm leaving you a flashlight on the table! Be there or be square!"

She leaves the door open.

You sigh. "What do you think she has planned?"

"Don't know," Ralph mumbles, finally opening his eyes. "Do you want to find out?"

"What are the chances she comes back and drags us there if we don't go willingly?"

"Astronomical."

"Let's get it over with," you sigh.

You haul yourselves out of bed and put on dressing gowns. She can make you get up, but she can't make you get dressed. Or be happy about it. You plod through the corridor and to the stairs leading to the third floor. Ralph turns on the flashlight at the bottom and lights your way up the winding stairs.

You see candlelight flickering from the door of the playroom when you reach the landing. You grip Ralph's hand a little tighter as you approach the room he hated as a child.

About fifteen of Victoria's closest friends linger around the walls of the old playroom, speaking in hushed tones. A woman you've never seen before is sitting at a round table in the middle of the room. Candles litter the floor, flickering dangerously in the drafty room. You and Ralph stand as close as you can, for both warmth and comfort.

"Oh good, you came!" Victoria squeals, ruining the dark ambiance. For once, you welcome her loudness.

"Is this everyone?" the mysterious woman asks in a gravelly tone.

"This is Madame Moreau, she's going to conduct a séance for us," Victoria explains. "Yes, this is everyone. The privileged few!" She laughs loudly, once again, ruining the sinister ambiance the woman had worked so hard to achieve.

"Gather 'round," the woman instructs. "If anyone is having second thoughts, please leave now. This is not a game, and it is not to be taken lightly."

Victoria and her girlfriends giggle, indicating otherwise. You don't know which is more disconcerting; the strange old woman, or Victoria and her girlfriends being this excited about a séance.

Ralph squeezes your hand. You look up at him, and see that he's looking a bit uneasy about the situation as well.

"Sit," the woman orders.

With a nervous look at Ralph, you reluctantly follow the other lads and ladies, careful not to knock over any candles or set your robe ablaze. You sit between Ralph and Victoria's friend Ernestine.

"Hold hands with the people on either side of you."

Ernestine grabs you with excited force, but you pay no mind to her painted claws. Your husband's hand is cold and clammy.

"Who will we be summoning tonight?"

"Cleopatra!" "Queen Mary!" "Marie Antoinette!"

The voices shout over each other until Victoria silences them with a shrill cry and a stamp of her foot.

"Shut up! We're summoning my grandmother!"

You feel Ralph tense. You watch him out of the corner of your eye, waiting for a signal that he's had enough.

"Tell me about your grandmother, child."

Victoria launches into a passionate speech about her grandmother, but you don't pay attention. You'd heard enough about her during your honeymoon. She was a miserable old hag who walked with a limp and a cane due to a horseback-riding injury, and made it her mission to prevent Ralph from experiencing any sort of joy in his childhood. Your focus, as always, is on him.

Ernestine squeezes your hand with her red talons, dragging you back to the present. Everyone else's attention is on Madame Moreau.

"Eleanor Beatrice Penbury, we summon thee…"

Ralph squeezes his eyes closed and begins to shrink in his seat. He's had enough.

You let out a loud puff of breath, as if you've experienced a sudden pain, and everyone turns to look at you as if you're possessed.

"I'm sorry, I fear I'm not well enough for this. Ralph, would you please escort me back to bed? I need to lie down."

"Yes," he says gratefully, scrambling out of his chair, just like you had only hours before. He helps you up, and you fake a wobble when you reach a standing position. He wraps his arm around you and quickly escorts you to the door.

"Ralph!" Victoria snaps. "You and your wet-blanket wife are ruining my séance!"

"My wife is ill," he snaps back. "Her health is more important than your stupid game."

You let him practically drag you from the room, and when the door is closed, you stand straight again. He looks at you curiously.

"I've had quite enough of that," you say quietly. "That woman was giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"But… you said…" Ralph looks confused.

You smile and cup his face in your hands. "I'm fine, pup," you whisper. "But I'll have no part in pretending to bring that old hag back. Shall we go back to bed?"

You let him go and take a step down the dark hallway, but he grabs you from behind and holds you in a tight hug. "Thank you," he mumbles into the side of your neck.

You place your arms over his and wait for him to detach himself so you can go back to bed. When he finally does, he sighs in defeat.

"I've forgotten the flashlight."

"Is there no electricity up here?"

He starts fumbling at the walls, feeling for a switch. You can hear him growing frustrated.

"Ralph?" you call quietly.

"Yes?"

"The moonlight from the windows will get us to the stairs. We'll just take them slow and be very careful."

"Are you sure?"

"I am."

"Let me go first," he insists. He reaches for your hand again, and leads you toward the stairs. You follow him down, one step at a time, one hand on the railing and the other on his shoulder. You both breathe a sigh of relief when you arrive safely on the warm and well-lit second floor.

You return to your bedroom, and Ralph breathes a sigh of relief when he closes the door. It locks with a click that echoes through the quiet room. You'd stayed in this room for months during your honeymoon, and he'd never locked it before. Perhaps the thought of his grandmother coming back scared him more than you thought.

You pull the blankets back onto the bed, shed your dressing gowns, and crawl beneath the covers.

"I love you, Ralphie," you remind him, snuggling close.

"I love you too," he whispers, holding you tightly.

You drift off together into a peaceful sleep… but it did not last for long.

"Did you hear that?" Ralph's panicked voice wakes you.

"Hear what?" you mumble.

"Listen," he urges.

You close your eyes and listen hard. Your breath. Ralph's breath. A hooting owl. And then… a scraping sound. It's a faint scrape, and then a light thud. It's coming from the room above you.

You turn your head to look at him, and find him petrified.

"It's her."

"Ralph, it's not her."

"It is. It worked. They did it." The tears threatening to spill from his eyes sparkle in the moonlight streaming in from the window. You cup the side of his face, and he nuzzles into your warm palm.

"Ralph, it's just one of Victoria's guests wandering around and snooping while they think everyone else is asleep."

He shakes his head. A tear spills over. You hate Victoria and all of her stupid friends and that strange woman for putting these scary thoughts in his head.

"Do you want to go look?"

"No!" he whispers loudly.

"What would make you feel safe?" you ask, wiping a tear away.

"Being home."

"Do you want to go now?"

Ralph frowns and thinks about it for a moment.

"Listen," you whisper, looking up at the ceiling. "It's stopped."

You both hold your breath for as long as you can, listening for the sound. You can't hear it anymore.

"Just a nosy guest poking around, pup," you assure him… and yourself. "They've found something more interesting to get into now. Think you can go back to sleep?"

He shakes his head, eyes still big and frightened. You don't really blame him.

"How about this," you propose, "We'll turn on all the lights and stay here in bed until sunrise, and then we'll decide if we want to pack up and go home."

"They'll think me a coward if they find out," he whispers tearfully. "They'll laugh at me."

"They will not," you state. "Between the sickness brought on by dinner and the claw marks Ernestine left on my hand, I may need to seek medical attention in the city." You wink.

He gives you a faint smile and nods.

You each slide off your side of the bed, quickly turn on all the lamps on your half of the room, and leap back under the covers.

Ralph still looks scared, and to be honest, it's getting to you a little too. You pull the blankets over your heads, so that you can't hear anything but your breath and beating hearts.

You hold him to you tightly and rub soothing circles on his back and begin to drift off. But just as you were approaching the edge of sleep, you heard it again.

Scraaape, thud. Ralph gasps. Scraaaape, thud. He trembles. You remove your hand from his back and pull the covers off of your head so you can hear better.

Scraaaaape, thud. Scraaaaape, thud. It's getting closer. Was Ralph right? Had those idiots actually managed to drag the old hag back from the grave to torment her grandson further?

"Raaaaaalph," a rasping voice whispers loudly. If Ralph's eyes get any bigger, they're going to fall out.

And then you hear a muffled giggle.

You are going to kill them all.

"Stay here," you whisper to Ralph, pulling away from him.

"No!" he whispers, reaching for you.

"It's alright, pup," you whisper back. "Stay put."

You creep toward the door as quietly as you can. You put your ear to the door and listen. Scraaaape, thud. You slowly turn the lock, waiting for another burst of giggles before letting it click. You glance over at Ralph, watching you with wide eyes from his place on the bed where you'd told him to stay.

Another scraaaaape, thud, and it's nearly upon you. A scratching sound follows, as if someone is dragging their fingernails down the other side of the door.

You put your hand on the doorknob and look back at Ralph. You've never seen him look so scared before.

"Raaaaaaalph," the voice rasps again. That's it.

You rip open the door and land a punch to the very solid figure standing on the other side of it.

It howls and crumples to the ground.

The other girls screech and squeal and come rushing over to the noisy white pile on the floor. Whoever it was had been wearing a bedsheet, like a ghost.

Several pairs of hands tug at the sheet, causing more howling from the person on the floor, and the fabric is finally pulled away to reveal Ernestine. She's sobbing and holding her bloody nose.

"How could you?!" one of the other girls shrieks.

"How could YOU?!" you counter. "Victoria!"

"It was only a joke!" she yells and pushes her way to the front of the crowd to face you.

"It wasn't funny," you hiss.

"Look what you've done to poor Ernestine!" she pouts, gesturing to her bleeding friend on the floor.

"Ernestine deserved it."

"Did not!" Ernestine wails. You return your attention to the girl on the floor, and notice that she's wearing riding boots instead of the heels she was wearing a the séance. A silver-tipped cane lies by her side. Victoria must've taught her how to mimic their dead grandmother's signature shuffle.

"I'll be taking this," you announce, swooping down to pick up the cane. "Now scram before I start using it!" You brandish the stick at them from just inside the doorway.

The girls scramble back, dragging a still-bleeding Ernestine with them. You watch until they're out of sight and then close the door, lock it, and turn back around.

Ralph is standing by the bed and staring at you with a look you can't quite decipher. Is he still scared? Is it because he thought his grandmother had returned, or because you'd been so nasty and violent? Did you take things too far?

A grin splits his face, and you breathe a sigh of relief. He steps forward and embraces you. You drop his grandmother's cane on the floor and hug him back.

"Told you it wasn't her," you mumble into his chest.

He laughs.

"Darling, I'm very sorry, but…" you sigh and look up at him, and his delight fades to concern. "But I really don't think we're going to be invited to Victoria's next séance."

Ralph cackles, then pulls you closer. "Oh no, how ever will we cope?"

"Do you still want to go home in the morning?" you ask.

"It's probably best," he snickers. "I liked it better when it was just the two of us here, anyway."

"You know, Mr. Penbury…" you say mysteriously, reaching for the collar of his pajama top. "I'm fairly certain it's just the two of us now." You grin and pull him with you and slowly walk backwards. When the backs of your legs collide with the bed and you lose your balance, he strikes. He gently tackles you onto the mattress, and you both land with a laugh and a bounce. He attacks your neck with kisses. You giggle and squirm and wrap your legs around him.

"It's a long time 'til sunrise," he mumbles into your neck. "Guess we'll just have to make love 'til morning."

"Oh no, how ever will we cope?" you ask quietly, brushing his messy curls out of his face with a fondness reserved only for Ralph.

You spent the rest of the night making the most of your brief return to Penbury Manor. In the morning, you packed your things and left while Victoria and all of her guests snored away… but not before flinging Eleanor Beatrice Penbury's silver-tipped cane into the pond.

[ut-versotale]

Some Updates!

Heyo! Welcome back. I come bearing some update news!

FANGAME PTRORGRESS! (I'm not retyping that)

The textboxes type more accurately to Deltarune in particular - now automatically shuffling to the next line for me rather than requiring a special "instruction character." There's a LOT of improvements to the textbox now, which was an absolute headache and a half to code, but since it IS the most fundamental required feature for all of an Undertale project to work, I think my time bashing my head in over making it function well was necessary.

The party member pathing code is ALMOST done. It's actually surprisingly not as challenging as I thought it'd be. I put it off for so long because I thought trying to code it would deal actual psychic damage to myself, but it doesn't seem to be that bad. (And I know now I'm gonna find some massive bug with my code that's gonna give me a headache trying to fix for 6 hours straight, but oh well, 'tis what I signed up for, was it not?)

Battle coding is... about the same as it was when I last talked about it however-many-months ago. I'm still not entirely sure where to place the first one that'd work best from a game design perspective - if it should be before or after a party member is added.

Some spoiler stuff I can't talk about, of course. But, like, not even in a cheeky little spoiler section, either. I want y'all to experience this for yourself for sure

The Next Showcase Video

I still do plan on the next showcase video being published before the end of January. I'm setting this more for myself so I get my ass in gear and finish it. It's not in any danger of NOT being released by then, but still, I work best with deadlines.

HOWEVER, I would like to point out that what you see in the video will still be in a very unpolished state. For example, the background graphics for the Surface cutscene are still very much not complete, there's no new music in yet, some animations are janky, Asriel is still (currently, might change soon) hijacking Ralsei's voice blip and Hercine's blip still (Also currently, might change soon) needs to be redone...

Etc., etc., you get the idea by now. Maybe I'm hammering it home too much, but I don't want expectations for this to be TOO high. It's still incomplete. And as time goes on, this beginning section is probably what I'll continuously make showcase videos for.

Final Thoughts

Anyway, that's about it from me! I hope to see you again sometime before the end of January! Thank you all for continuing to follow this small little love letter to Toby Fox's works, especially those of you who have stuck around with me for a whopping seven years through all this AU's ups and downs!

[thefandomwritersblog]

Ghost of the Ten Horizon: Forbidden West Hekarro x Fem!OldOneOC Action/Adventure/Hurt/Comfort Chapter 16

Part 3: Ghost of the Ten

~~

"Some hearts understand each other even in silence." - Yasmine Mogahed

~~

Victoria sat at the edge of her bed, her head heavy in her hands, as she let out another exasperated groan.

"A walk? Seriously?" She muttered, her voice filled with annoyance and disbelief. "First he forces you to eat, and now you're actually considering going on this stupid walk with him? You really have lost your fucking mind, Faraday."

She stood up, her restless feet carrying her back and forth across the tiny room. Was she going crazy? Had hunger and despair finally driven her to complete insanity? It was the only rational explanation for agreeing to Hekarro's request. She didn't even want to think about facing the ruins of her past again, let alone take a stroll with a man she barely knew. So what in the fuck was she thinking?!!

Victoria prided herself a decent judge of character, despite a few past mistakes. She had always been this way, even as a child. With the weight of the Faraday name on her shoulders, she knew that people only sought her out for their own gain - whether it was her mother's influence or access to their status. It was a lonely position to be in, constantly surrounded by those who wanted something from her rather than genuine friendship.

And yet, Hekarro had her stumped.

Usually, it was easy for her to see through people, yet he remained a mystery to her. Stern and commanding, yet surprisingly gracious and self-assured. She almost wanted to believe he was honest, but quickly dismissed the thought with a scowl. In her experience, no one was truly honest; all that mattered was if the cost was worth the lies and manipulation.

So what was his deal?

What did he want from her?

And what was he willing to do to get what he wanted?

Victoria couldn't deny the unease that Hekarro's presence brought. He held all the power in this unfamiliar world - more knowledge, more resources. Even the thought of leaving the museum and braving a world that had changed drastically in the thousand years she was asleep made her pause. Survival would be damn near impossible on her own. Which meant that she was stuck here with Hekarro and his tribe if she wanted to live, under his control.

But then again…

Was it really so terrible to strike out alone and fight for her life, as she should have done a millennium ago?

A bitter chuckle escaped her as tears welled up in her eyes. She could practically hear her mama's disapproving voice, chiding her for her reckless thoughts. But what did her mama know? She was nothing but a fleeting memory now, ripped away too soon, leaving Victoria to question if her life was even worth fighting for anymore.

A sudden noise at the curtain drew her attention. The soft scuffle of feet somewhere on the other side and she scowled as she stalked over to pull it back with a sharp tug. Instead of Hekarro, she was met with Beta, the timid young 'doctor'. Her red curls bounced as she squeaked in surprise at being caught off guard. "I-I have food," she stammered, holding out a tray with shaky hands.

"Where's Hekarro?" Victoria grumbled with a sneer. "He said… He was supposed to be back later, and it's been hours."

"Are you going to throw something at me if you don't like the answer?" Beta asked timidly, flinching slightly as if expecting an outburst from Victoria. White-hot shame flooded her cheeks at that, and Victoria suddenly found she couldn't quite look the girl in the eye anymore.

"No," Victoria bit out sharply. "Just give me the damn food."

With a bashful smile, Beta handed over the tray. It held a small meal of seared meat and assorted vegetables, accompanied by crude silverware and a simple bowl of water. Victoria's nose wrinkled as she grunted under her breath and turned away, letting the curtain fall back into place. She walked over to her bed and sat down. She was half-tempted to throw the tray through one of the many cracks in the wall, but she couldn't resist the gnawing hunger in her gut and began to eat.

Beta's voice echoed from the other side of the curtain, pulling Victoria out of her thoughts. "How are you feeling?"

"Go away, kid," she bit out between mouthfuls of food, but instead of leaving, Beta spoke again.

"I'm… I'm really glad you're feeling good enough to eat."

Victoria scoffed and glared down at her tray, muttering, "Does no one in this crazy, fucked-up world understand the meaning of 'go away'?"

A soft voice responded from behind the curtain, playful and almost teasing. "We do, but only when asked nicely."

A moment passed in surprised silence before a small smile appeared on Victoria's face, and she couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at the audacity. "Feeling bold now that there's a curtain between us, huh?"

"I suppose I am." There was a quiet laugh. "I'll take it though. It means that we get to talk. And talking is good!"

"Yeah? How do you figure that?"

There was a moment of silence, followed by the sound of shuffling feet and a heavy sigh. Then Beta's soft voice broke through, saying, "I used to be just like you. Scared, alone, and hiding from an unknown world outside. It seems easier to be by yourself, but it's isolating and can make you feel hopeless. Sometimes death even seems like a better option than facing it all alone." There was a bitter laugh before she added, "If it weren't for Aloy and her friends, I would have given up completely. They showed me that there are people who care and want to help. And I want you to know that there are people here who care and want to help you too, and that you don't have to be alone…"

Victoria swallowed down the bitter, vile retort that coated her tongue and quickly changed the subject. "You never answered my question: Where's Hekarro?"

"The Chief," Beta replied pointedly, which earned the girl a silent scowl at the curtain between them, "unfortunately had to deal with an emergency. There was a machine attack on the eastern road, and a few Tenakth were injured."

"Wait, what? Machine attack?"

An all-encompassing silence hung in the air, stretching on for what felt like an eternity. Victoria could feel her irritation growing with each passing second, until she finally decided to get up from her bed and march over to the curtain to yank it back. Beta's was looking up at her, wide green eyes regarding her with a mix of apprehension and curiosity.

"It's kind of complicated to explain?" Beta's voice wavered slightly.

Victoria let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, make it less complicated, kid."

Beta scrunched up her nose in thought: "Can I at least come in and sit? It'll be easier to explain that way."

Despite her annoyance, Victoria couldn't resist the pleading tone in Beta's voice. She jerked her head towards the desk before turning away and heading back towards the bed. As Beta made herself comfortable on the desk, Victoria pressed her back against the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. Another moment of silence passed, with the both of them looking at each other. The room suddenly felt small with the pair of them sitting, even though there was a whole expanse of floor between the desk and the bed.

"You know what Project: Zero Dawn was, right?"

The question hung heavy in the air, a reminder of a time when Victoria thought she had all the answers. A thousand years ago, she would have confidently answered yes. But now, she couldn't be so sure. "I thought I did."

"That's understandable," Beta said with a nod. "The truth was kept hidden from most people. It gave them hope, thinking there was a chance for humanity to win against the Swarm. But in reality, the odds were stacked too high against The Old Ones. The biosphere was collapsing at an alarming rate, and the Swarm was multiplying faster than they could keep up."

Her jaw clenched as she was reminded of the futile fight she had waged. Every beat of her heart felt like a painful reminder of the horrors she couldn't escape.

Red, red, red—glimmering red 'eyes' and the sound of mechanical chittering as black clouds blot out the sun.

Memories flooded back, haunting her with images of barren wastelands and the taste of overwhelming fear like bile on her tongue.

Screams ring out, piercing her ears. Gasping for air, she watches in terror as a SCARAB decimates one of their jets, leaving behind a trail of destruction and death. Desperately clinging to hope, she reminds herself that they just have to survive another day. Just hope and pray that Zero Dawn can bring salvation from the chaos of fire, ash, and death.

She clenched her teeth. A lie. All a lie. They were nothing but sacrificial lambs to the slaughter. She forced herself to shut it all out and refocus on Beta. "So if Zero Dawn wasn't supposed to be a superweapon, then what was it supposed to be?"

"Project: Zero Dawn was the brainchild of Dr. Elisabet Sobek and several other leading scientists at the time the Swarm was gaining traction. Simply put, it's a self-regulated terraforming system under the guidance of a fully functioning AI and her subordinate functions. It's job, once it was fully implemented, was to shut down the Swarm and rebuild Earth's biosphere from the ground up, eventually leading to the rebirth of humans from hidden facilities all across the globe."

Victoria couldn't help but cast a glance at the broken walls around her, and Beta could only really offer her a pained smile at that. "It didn't really go exactly as planned."

"Yeah, no shit kid."

"But it still worked!" Beta pointed out quickly, "GAIA, the governing AI, shut down the Swarm and rebuilt the earth. Humans may not have reclaimed their place like Elisabet had hoped, but we're still here. We're still living, still trying to make her dream—all of their dreams—a reality and--"

Beta's words felt like salt rubbed into an open wound, a constant reminder of the ones who couldn't be saved. The ones who deserved to live more than Victoria did.

"You're still here," Victoria snapped back, her hands shaking as she struggled to contain the rage building inside her. "You're the ones still living! Not them. Not me." Her nails dug into her scalp, drawing blood as she fought against the overwhelming grief and guilt consuming her. This wasn't a victory. It was a curse, a cruel twist of fate, that left her alone in a world that was no longer hers.

"Victoria, I'm sorry I--"

"Enough, Beta…."

Victoria's grief-filled reverie was abruptly interrupted by the soft baritone of Hekarro. She turned her tearful gaze up to find him standing in the doorway, an arm pushing back the heavy curtain. Despite the tiredness evident in his eyes, there was a gentle warmth in the way he looked at Beta as he entered Victoria's room and made his way towards the desk. The young woman hopped down from her perch and shifted nervously on her feet before turning to gaze at Victoria with sad eyes.

"I really am sorry." She said softly before she all but fled from the room.

Hekarro watched Beta leave before he turned that tired gaze to Victoria, who swiped away her tears furiously. "Took you long enough." She muttered ruefully, which earned her an amused smile. Hekarro dipped his head slightly and crossed a hand to his heart, thick strands of his hair falling over his shoulder at the gesture.

"Forgive me, Victoria. I would have come and collected you sooner if I could. There was an incident that required my attention."

"Right," Victoria grunted, shifting her position on the bed before standing and joining Hekarro. He nodded towards the curtains, and they exited into the hallway together. "The girl--" she hesitated, scowling at the cracked stone floor. "Beta mentioned something about a machine attack?"

"Yes, that's right." Hekarro responded, taking the lead once again and guiding them back into the museum. "A squad of my Tenakth had an unfortunate run-in with a Shell-Walker convoy on the eastern road leading to Scalding Spear."

Victoria was taken aback by his casual response. She had braced herself for rejection or a dismissive attitude, but instead he spoke to her as if she belonged in his tribe. It confused her just as much as it irritated her. She observed him from the corner of her eye as they navigated around the holograms that flanked his throne and descended into the antechamber, where her mother's exhibit lay still. Hekarro barely acknowledged it as he continued out into the main hall, Victoria trailing closely behind.

As they passed by more flickering JTF-10 holograms and made their way towards the ruined archway that led outside, she finally spoke up. "It's quiet." she observed.

Hekarro responded with a thoughtful hum. "Evenings tend to be quiet around here. The guards are currently rotating shifts and some are recovering from their encounter with the Convoy in the Maw. It should afford you some peace and quiet, yes?"

As she was led beyond the museum archway, Victoria's retort dried up before it could escape her lips. The landscape spread out before her, and for a moment her heart stopped in wonder. The sun was starting to set in the west behind them, the sky transformed into a canvas of vibrant oranges, passionate reds, and deep blues that stretched across the entire horizon like a blazing inferno. Its golden rays cast a warm glow over everything in sight, creating dancing shadows and illuminating every intricate detail of the ruins and gnarled trees surrounding her. Then, a breeze suddenly swept through the jungle, rustling the lush canopy and carrying with it a tantalizing sweetness that seemed to caress Victoria's tongue with every inhale. It was a scent so pure and untainted by the pollution and corruption of her time that it made her heart ache with longing. How could something as simple as a breeze be so breathtakingly beautiful?

She stood there quietly, lost in her thoughts as she gazed at the distant horizon with a mixture of wonder and sadness. Hekarro stood by her side, also silent until he spoke up with a simple yet profound question.

"Does it look how you remembered?"

Victoria couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "No," she admitted, wiping away the tears that threatened to spill over. "This used to be all open fields before…before everything. You could see for miles, with the jets on display for tourists. There was even a road here once." she pointed to the faint outlines in the dirt, where broken asphalt was barely visible under layers of sand, dirt, and vegetation. She looked to Hekarro, who contemplated the distance with a curious look on his face. Almost as if he was trying to imagine everything she described.

Then he turned to her and his eyes met hers with a gentle kindness, and a small smile graced his lips. And her traitorous heart chose that moment to betray her and skipped several beats at the warm gaze of his honey-colored eyes, glinting with flecks of gold in the sunset. Yet again, she couldn't help but find him so stupidly handsome, though in all fairness to herself anyone would be foolish or blind to think otherwise. And she couldn't resist the idle curiosity of whether he was married or not.

She scowled and turned away, determined to block out the thought before it snowballed on her.

Taking the steps two at a time, Victoria reached the damaged road and chose a direction to start walking in. She followed the well-worn path towards the east, her ears picking up the sound of Hekarro's footsteps close behind her. He soon caught up to her as they approached a small river with a sturdy wooden bridge connecting its two banks.

In that moment, she felt completely out of her depth standing at the edge of that bridge. The vast expanse of the horizon taunted her, mocking her previous fast-paced life where she could easily traverse long distances with modern transportation. But now, in this future where she was the sole survivor of a dead time, how long would it take her to reach the Faraday Ranch now? The thought of spending days on foot to get home was both daunting and terrifying, making her feel even smaller in this unfamiliar landscape. She stole a glance at Hekarro, wondering if he understood just how immense the world truly was.

Suddenly, Hekarro motioned to his left and effortlessly matched her pace as they walked north along the bank of the river. The peaceful twilight was only interrupted by the evening birdsong and the buzzing of insects, mixing with the sound of their footsteps rustling the grass beneath their feet. She kept her gaze trained to the flowing river, watching insects and small critters flit between the reeds.

Eventually, Victoria's eyes were drawn upwards towards the sound of a distant rumble, her curiosity piqued as she and Hekarro strolled by the river. As they drew closer, the roaring sound grew louder, building into a symphony that echoed through the jungle. When the waterfall came into view, with the water cascading down and feeding into a vast lake that stretched out into the river, Victoria felt the wonder and awe strike her hard in the chest again.

She couldn't resist wandering away from Hekarro's side towards the edge of the lake. With trembling hands, she reached out to brush her fingertips against the vibrant petals of exotic flowers that crowded the field, their intense colors almost unreal in their beauty. Another breeze carried their intoxicating scent through the jungle, and filled her eyes with tears she couldn't begin to explain.

The lake too was a breathtaking sight, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Its pristine waters allowed her to see all the way to the bottom, where schools of brilliantly colored fish swam among the reeds. But it was a soft twinkling above the water's surface that drew her gaze upwards and sent her to her knees. As she fell, petals of flowers scattered into the air around her, carried away by the night wind. For above her, like diamonds on a silken black blanket, were the celestial heavens themselves. Thousands upon thousands of stars shimmered in the night sky, far more beautiful than anything in this world. Her heart caught in her chest and she fell onto her back, gazing up at the ever-moving cosmos with tears streaming down her face.

It was only when she felt the soft sway of flowers around her that Victoria realized Hekarro had joined her, laying on his back beside her in reverent silence. Together they watched the passage of the world unfold above them, lost in wonder as time slipped away unnoticed.

[writers-requiem]

"Cold blooded lover" The Lizard (1994) X GN! Reader headcannons

Just so we're clear: he isn't a dumb brute. Obviously.

Nor is he actually evil by nature.

Yes he did try to turn New York into a city of lizard people, but he wasn't thinking straight.

Canonically he's married to Margaret Connors, but here you replace her role.

See, Curt and the Lizard are two separate people. Curt is an honest genuinely good man but the Lizard is all about taking the good Curt wants to do and twisting it.

But this is about the Lizard, not Curt. (Sorry)

The Lizard likes to wrap you in the coils of his tail and give gentle squeezes.

He has some screws loose, but he's trying to change that.

He'll occasionally flex his enhanced strength by literally bench pressing you or a friggin boulder. Man is strong AF.

He also likes to play games like hide and seek, obviously loving to play seeker since he's really good about stealth and can really raise cortisol levels, making it easier to find his prey.

He jokingly says he's gonna turn you into a lizard person too and when he does, you bash his chest for even thinking it was funny. But he still got a rise out of you.

If he's tired, he'll just plop on the couch or bed while you're in it and refuse to move until you scratch him for at least half an hour. This reptile is NEEDY.

If you go in for a kiss, he'll pause. He's thinking about how to best approach it. You have a normal mouth and he has a full on muzzle for a mouth.

Where Curt is a chivalrous gentleman, the Lizard is more of an overly menacing flirtatious yet still insanely intelligent hunk.

You're the short one in this relationship. He's 6'8" and you're an average 5'7" sorry.

But even with all that, he still has one thing in common with Curt. They both have hearts of gold underneath their exteriors.

Once you came home later than usual and of course he noticed. With his heightened sense of smell he could tell you tried to get rid of some blood. And he wanted names, descriptions and addresses. Man wanted blood.

Would be the type to carry you bridal style or give you a piggyback ride.

Surprisingly good with kids. At first Billy was scared, for good reason, but over time the Lizard proved he could be a capable and dare I say, normal father.

If he plops himself on your lap and you are about to go do something, he will not let you leave until he gets his head scratches and gives you your daily kiss.

Thank you guys for reading this short yet sweet batch of headcannons for one of my favorite Spidey villains. Personally though, I just feel more attached to the look he has in the 90's animated series, so that's why I did that version of the Lizard. If you guys wanna see more of these fluff -ish headcannons for the big brained reptile, let me know. Asks are open.

[william-r-melich]

Mismatch of the Century - 05/15/2024

Joe Biden versus Donald Trump in a debate on June 27th, I'm looking forward to it. Even though it's on CNN (Communist News Network) with Dana Bash and Jake Tapper hosting, as about as far left you can go. I don't think they expected Trump to immediately say yes, but he has and no matter how they rig it, Trump will wipe the floor with Briben, or Bumden, or Biden that is. I think that's obvious to anyone with a functioning brain. The rules they laid out are heavily in Bumbledin's, or Biden's favor; no audience, turn off Trump's mic while Shmoey is talking, no RFK Jr, and of course two far-left leaning, Briben, or Biden supporting moderators. Trump surprisingly said yes. A second debate was offered by them to take place on September 10th on ABC, with the same rules. Trump then replied back by challenging Bumden, or Biden to another two debates, and have one of them on Fox News with Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier. That seems fair to me. So Bumbledin's team fired back by saying that Trump is playing games. Sounds like kids fighting in a playground. Ridiculous. If there's not going to be an audience, then don't have any moderators and just let them have at it for 1 and-a-half to 2 hours. Maybe at most have a time keeper, but no moderators. I think that would be more fun, but I seriously doubt that would happen. I'd pay $50 to see that on pay-per-view. Hell, I'd pay $100. I am so looking forward to June 27th, go Trump!

[katsumatsu4]

@squib-2006 happy holidays! Here’s your secret santa gift :)

It was my first time writing skylor, so I hope it’s not too awkward :’)

Operation "Fire escape"

Lloyd didn't have anything against Skylor.

Really! She was determined, resolute and knew how to stood her ground, loyal, trustworthy – what's not to like?

Which is not to say he's going to regret anything he does tonight.

"Why, exactly, are you doing this?" said Cole, eyes following the various items disappearing inside Lloyd's black backpack.

Lloyd grinned impishly. He didn't worry that Cole would rat him out; his silence was already bought with two weeks worth of desserts.

"Ah, it's their first official date. And, as the youngest sibling,"-his face morphed into the display of seriousness so sincere it had to be fake-"it is my sacred duty to make it unforgettable."

---

Okay, maybe the snakes were a mistake.

Lloyd watched as the panicked crowd tried to get away from the love ride. He barely heard the screams, more focused on two figures at the edge of the mass of people. They were scanning their surroundings and the boy knew he has hidden too slow. Shit, they must have noticed me.

He brought it upon himself, to be honest.

Weird lights in the mirror room? Innocent enough.

Smoke bombs in the haunted house? A little suspicious, but easy to wave off.

Kelp falling from the ceiling? Weird, but not that uncommon, the tunnel was filled with water after all.

But fake snakes in the river? Lloyd wanted to bash his head against the wall. That was his signature move! Of course Kai connected the dots!

They stopped looking around, now talking to themselves. He let himself have a silver of hope. Maybe they didn't notice after all...

And then they bolted to the exit.

Startled, Lloyd reacted too slow and before he knew it he lost sight of either of them.

Ah, damn. He had so much more planned.

Oh well, there was nothing he could do now. As far as he was concerned, today's work was a job well done. He went to collect his things around the amusement park.

Now it's just waiting for Kai to go back home he thought mischievously.

---

When they stopped running, they were almost half a city away. Kai leaned against the brick wall, trying to catch his breath. Beside him Skylor was doing the same.

"Think we lost him?"

He shrugged. "I mean, probably? We went fast but kid's pretty resilient." He looked over the rooftops and along the street. Thankfully there was no suspicious flashes of green and black in sight.

Kai shuffled his feet, unable to look up at Skylor. That... wasn't how he envisioned this evening.

"Sorry it turned out like that. I don't know what he was thinking!" he grunted, eyes locked on the ground.

She laughed heartily at that. "What are you talking about? It was delightful!" She smirked and run her hand over his furrowed brow. "I won't forget this day to the end of my life."

He sighed but smiled and looked up.

"Yeah, I should have expected that; of course you would find this psychological warfare entertaining."

Skylor wiggled her fingers comically: "Ooooo, how evil I am! Truly, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!" she finished in a sinister voice.

It was his turn to laugh.

"Geez, no wonder you and Lloyd get along so nicely. True menaces."

She nudged him in the side.

"Come on tiger, we probably lost the kid already, there should be no more surprises. How about we go and find some cafe? My treat."

He puffed indignantly.

She quirked her eyebrow. "Now, before you try to be a gentleman or whatever, remind me. which one of us is the heir to the incredibly prosperous noodle empire? And which one doesn't know what taxes are?"

He stuck his tongue at her. The brow went higher.

"Okay okay, let it be your way, your highness." He bent into the mocking half-bow. "Lead the way!"

The cafe was surprisingly empty for the hour, only a few customers scattered by the tables. The woman behind the counter flashed a smile when they strolled through the door.

"Welcome! What can I get you?"

Skylor stared at the menu, suddenly uncertain.

"Hmm, maybe... Coffee. No no, not coffee. Tea maybe? Ugh.."

Kai snorted.

"You really hadn't think it through."

"Shut up, I was trying to be smooth." She shifted. "It's not like I was visiting places like that a lot, you know." She turned to him. "How about you order first, smart-ass?"

He looked at the board.

"Well... maybe hot chocolate? With double marshmallows."

"Sweet tooth much?" she chuckled and turned to the counter. "The same for me please. But just normal amount of marshmallows please."

"Double marshmallows is the normal amount of marshmallows!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say tiger."

The barista gave them a knowing look. "Two chocolates, got it." She gestured to the tables. "Take a seat, I will bring your order in a moment."

Skylor nodded and lead them to the table for two a little on the left. They sat down and finally relaxed. She run her fingers through her hair, trying to get all the green stuff out. She smelled it and smirked.

"Thank the spirits, it's just some sort of seaweed. I was worried it was going to be paint or some other shit."

Kai rummaged through his hair and pulled out some more plants.

"Yeah that was pretty tame compared to what he could do. He must really like you."

"I guess that's good?"

He scowled.

"For you? Sure. But for me it probably means more pranks back home.

"That bad?"

Kai waved it off.

"Eh, nothing I hadn't faced before." Then a shadow appeared on his face. "Unless he convinced others to help. Then it will be a cataclysm." He rubbed his chin. "Maybe i should sleep outside today, just to be sure."

She snorted.

"Come on, you're exaggerating now."

"Yeah, maybe a little. But can you blame me."

Skylor thought back at the snakes in the love tunnel.

"Hardly."

Kai nodded solemnly at that.

"Here you go! Two chocolates with marshmallows, as ordered." The barista winked, putting the additional tray next to the mugs. "And something extra, on the house."

She walked away and they gazed at the tray. There, on the napkins decorated in hearts, laid ginger cookies. Every one looking like two people holding hands.

Subtle they thought simultaneously.

Kai took a first bite, his face lighting up.

"Man, they are good! We should come here more often."

Skylor took one for herself and find out that they were, in fact, delicious.

The munching filled the air for a while.

"Must be fun, huh? Having so many siblings."

He stopped at the question, gulped down the cookie and answered.

"Well, they're a lot sometimes, but I honestly don't know what I would do without them."

She smiled warmly. It was still amazing, seeing their family so close to each other and how much love they had for each other. Compared to her...

She shunned the thought before it could sour her mood and instead focused on the person in front of her.

"Say, are all younger siblings like this,"-she vaguely gestured at the leftover kelp still in her hair-"or is Lloyd a special case?"

Kai snickered.

"Oh, he definitely is not alone in it. You should have seen what Nya cooked up when I tried dating that one guy in middle school. I was finding glitter everywhere for the next month! As for Lloyd, he had a penchant for chaos for as long as I knew him. Have I ever told you how we first met?"

She furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean 'first met'? Didn't the three of you grow up together?"

He blinked slowly, trying to guess where she got that from.

"What? No? I mean, me and Nya did, but we met Lloyd like, four-five years ago?" His eyes widened. "Wait, did you thought we were related?"

"Maybe?! I didn't thought about it, I just assumed-"

"Us and the literal Son of the Dark Lord-"

"Shutupshutup it just didn't cross my mind-"

"Did you thought Garmadon-"

"No, obviously, well, maybe a little, you seemed close-"

"Oh my." He leaned on the table, choking with laughter. "I can't believe you thought Garmadon was my dad."

Her chicks reddened a little with embarrassment.

"Stop it. What was I supposed to think, I barely knew anything about your relationships."

"There there, I'm stopping, see."

His lips quivered with barely contained giggle. She scoffed but decided to let it slide.

"So, what's the story with Lloyd if that's not the case."

He leaned back, thoughtful.

"Well, he tried to imitate his father a lot when he was younger. The evil part, i mean. When we first met he was trying to scare villagers so they would, and brace yourself for that," He made a melodramatic pause. "give him all their candies." He shook his head. "Can you believe the extent of his dreadful deeds?"

Skylor chuckled.

"You're right, I wasn't expecting that. And what happened next?"

Kai smile faltered.

"Well, next..." He scratched his neck, suddenly uncomfortable. "We, I mean me and the guys, took the all the stuff back and kinda left him on his own there."

She froze. That didn't sound right.

"Yeah, I know, not my best decision there. I guess we just... didn't really think about all the implications of a nine year old with no one to look after him." He fell silent for a second, before resuming. "After that he somehow stumbled upon serpentine tombs." He shot her a look. "Though you probably heard that part already? With your dad and all."

She nodded.

"Okay, cool, uh. So, skipping that. Lloyd got in trouble with the snakes, Wu took him in and told us he's there to stay. We were a little annoyed by that, but we began warming up to him over the time. I think Nya was the first to really befriend him though. They seemed to get along pretty good compared to us."

Skylor watched him get silent, mindlessly stirring his drink with a spoon, and wondered if she should say something. Before she reached any decision he took the floor again.

"To be honest, I considered him a little more than a nuisance." Shame was pouring from his words. "But then I had a moment of, uh, clarity I guess. And I realized that I would give anything just to keep him safe." He let out a puff of air. "And that's the story. He's my brother now, as much as Nya is my sister. I just wish it didn't take me so long to get there."

She didn't say a word at first. It was a lot. She could hardly even image Kai being cold to Lloyd, but on the other hand...

"You know, I'm a little relieved."

He looked at her, confused.

"How do I put it? It maybe a little selfish, but I'm relived that even families like yours have their rough moments. When I first saw you all, it was unbelievable to me how close you were. I don't just mean you and Lloyd, but the whole team. You entered a competition designed to turn people against each other, but you still stood together, no matter the cost." She gazed at the window. "I knew my father and I didn't have the most loving relationship, but seeing you... I guess i was jealous. And ashamed, in a way. I thought I could never achieve a relationship like that, and maybe the fault for that was in me. But getting to know you," She caught glimpse of red in the corner of her eye. "Really getting to know you, and now hearing this story, it gives me hope." She turned to face him head-on. "I had an awful start, but I think there is still a chance for me to have something like that. Thank you."

He fidgeted a while before answering.

"You're an amazing person. I'm glad you're finally noticing it." He beamed at her. "Wait, was that a question if you can be part of our family?"

Skylor grunted some vague non-response. He smiled wider.

With nothing else to do with herself, she sipped her chocolate and winced.

"Aw shit, it got cold already."

Kai let his hand engulf in flames and winked flirtatiously.

"May I?"

"Show-off." She grinned and handed him the mug. They watched in warm silence as the liquid slowly boiled, until the small cloud of steam appeared above it.

"Here you go! Careful – it's still hot, you can burn yourself."

She rolled her eyes and reached for her chocolate. The second it touched her hand, she summoned fire to her palm and gasped in faked fright. "Oh FSM, you were right! It really burns!"

Kai blushed involuntarily.

"Oh, right, that. I forgot."

The air around them got significantly warmer.

What a dork she thought with fondness, gulping down her drink.

She set the mug on a table and looked at Kai.

"So, where were we?" she murmured.

She took his hand and kissed his knuckles. He blushed even harder.

She moved her other hand and caressed his face. The guy sitting a table away swept sweat from his forehead.

She leaned to him, eyes locked, hers playful and determined, his flustered but hopeful. Kai's breath hitched and he shifted, eager to meet her sooner. And then their lips gently touched. Skylor felt her blood rushing through her veins, burning like fire. Her heart jolted with joy when Kai deepened their kiss, as trembling as it was. The heat around them was turning uncomfortable, but she could hardly care at the moment, too focused on feeling him so close to her, touching. I wonder if this is his first kiss too she thought when he awkwardly struggled to move his tongue out of the way while she tried to put hers inside his mouth.

They broke apart when the smell of smoke tickled her nose. Looking down, where the moment ago was an immaculate wooden table top, the black scorch marks in the exact shape of three sweaty palms were adoring the surface. She searched for the missing fourth, still on Kai's face, and felt the laughter bubbe inside her chest.

"Well, we should probably leave the largest tip imaginable for that" she finally choked out.

That made him snap out of his stupor. He looked down too and appropriately snorted.

"Yeah." He fished out his wallet and checked out its contents. And then looked at her with a sheepish smile. "Uh, I think that might be a perfect opportunity to use that kingly funds of yours, I'm afraid."

"Probably." She lowered her voice, only now noticing the stares the other patrons were giving them. "And we should do it quick. Before someone asks for autographs. Or calls the police, whatever comes first."

Kai's eyes sparkled.

"You think they will want autographs? I'm joking, I'm joking" he quickly added when she gave him a disapproving look.

She glanced at the half eaten cookies on the tray, an excellent idea suddenly appearing in her head.

"Do you think they would let us have one more order before kicking us out?"

---

Lloyd sat on the couch, reading a comic, trying to look as innocent as possible when Kai entered the living room.

"Oh, you're back already? How was your date?"

At first the only response he got was a tired look.

I know what you did it said.

Oh? And what are you going to do about it? he responded in turn.

Kai sighed and plopped down next to Lloyd.

"You're lucky Skylor had a good time brat" he grunted, last ditch attempt to sound threatening, "or I would have kicked your ass right here and now."

Lloyd rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure you would."

"What, you don't believe me? You think I would be above it? Are you ready to temp fate?" With each question his brother pressed harder on him, until Lloyd was practically laying flat on a couch.

"You're crushing me!" he protested and attempted to shove him off. "I can't breathe!"

"If you have enough strength to wiggle around you have enough strength to breath!" Kai shot back, deeply amused, but pulled away. He then got up, stretched and yawned dramatically.

"I'm going to bed now. Thanks to someone," He threw Lloyd an accusatory glance. "that was a very eventful day. I'm out."

He headed to the door, but stopped halfway.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He pulled out a small package and threw it in Lloyd's general direction. He caught it flawlessly. "Skylor says hi. And that the next time you want to tag along just say it before." He winked and exited the room.

Lloyd glared at the package and tore it open. Inside a dozen of little ginger figures were smiling at him, every head adorned with a pair of horns. They also had tails and, upon closer inspection, little fangs.

Subtle.

[banshee-cheekbones]

kinktober day 9 - frottage

title: care for you (could be a good excuse) [ao3: here]

fandom: Shadowhunters (TV)

main pairing: Jace/Simon

rating: T, for drinking and non-explicit sexual content.

word count: ~1300 words

written for: kinktober 2017, using the prompt ‘frottage,’ and for inktober for writers 2017, using the prompt ‘strings’  

short summary/tags: A chronicle of the various excuses Jace comes up with to explain why he keeps sleeping with Simon.

Spoiler alert: he runs out of good ones quite quickly. 

Tags: human au, college/university au, drunk sex, getting together, 5 things, happy ending.

The first time it happens, Jace has an irrefutable excuse when the morning after comes around.

Said excuse has more than a little to do with the hangover pounding at his temples and unsettling his stomach, the first one he’s had in years.

&.

The Hunter’s Moon is packed with people from wall to wall, crowded around the pool tables two deep, pressed up against the bar, arms waving in the air for service. It’s somebody’s birthday-

(whose birthday, Jace doesn’t exactly remember, even before he starts drinking)

-and the air is buzzing with celebration. Every so often, the room fills with raucous cheers as somebody offers to buy a round of shots for the entire bar, and the mood is just so damn festive that it’s hard to keep from being swept away on it like a wave at the beach.

So Jace doesn’t resist.

When the free rounds of shots are announced, he indulges gratefully, whenever he can shoulder his way up to the bar. Every so often, one of his friends passes by and shoves another drink into his hands, and who is he to say no?

By the time he realizes that he’s unsteady on his feet, he’s lost count of how many drinks he’s had, but he knows that he only paid for four of them.

He drifts through the crowd when he can, but it’s easier said than done; the sheer amount of people packed into the bar has to violate the fire code. Eventually, buffeted along by the tide, he ends up in the corner of the bar furthest from the front door, crowded into a booth with eight other people. He doesn’t know either of the girls sitting between him and the wall, both of whom seem to have a strong case of the giggles.

But on his other side, pressed right against him and still almost falling off the seat, one arm slung around the top of the booth that keeps falling down to drape across Jace’s shoulders, is Simon.

Simon from his Introductory Film Studies class, the one Jace had taken because nothing else fit into his schedule with his fourth year history and psychology classes.

Simon, who talks too much in class, who would probably teach the class if he could get away with it.

Simon, who actually does his share of the work (and more, sometimes) when they’ve been thrown together for group projects.

Simon, who not only smells good but also looks good in dark jeans and a deep blue button-up over a black t-shirt, dark hair slicked away from his forehead, glasses slipping down his nose, smile bright enough to light up a whole damn city, just as drunk as Jace.

In retrospect, frankly, Jace is surprised that they didn’t end up in the alley out back sooner, mere inches away from a fetid dumpster, clumsily frotting against each other until they both come in their pants like teenagers having their first time.

How he gets home is a little bit of a blur, but when he awakens the next morning, his memory of what happened is all too clear.

He blames it on the booze and doesn’t bother to send Simon a text about the subject.

He doesn’t get one in return.

When Simon comes to class on Monday, he takes a seat two spots away from Jace, talks just as much as normal, and when they are told to get into groups to discuss the film they were supposed to watch over the weekend, he slides over and immediately starts giving Jace his opinion.

But he doesn’t bring up the alley, and neither does Jace.

&.

The second time it happens, he has a different excuse.

Unfortunately, this one has far less to do with alcohol and festivities.

&.

It’s a Friday night, and he has his shared suite in the upper-years residence to himself, roommate back home visiting their parents for the weekend. He has a textbook spread across his lap and his phone resting in his hand, displaying a message from Izzy that’s so long Jace has to scroll to read the entire thing.

Despite the length, the message can really be summed up in the first sentence.

Dad had an affair, and Mom is filing for divorce.

He reads the message over and over again, tries to think of how to respond, and eventually gives up in favor of tossing the phone across the room, where it thankfully lands in his laundry basket. His parents have never had a perfect relationship, spent so much time arguing that Jace learned long ago to simply tune it out, but an affair?

He should call Alec or Izzy. Maybe even his mom, see how she’s doing, if there’s anything he can do to help her. Any of those options would be the right thing to do.

And he will do them. Eventually.

But first, to keep himself from calling his father and exploding on him, he needs a distraction.

He’s just reached for his gym bag when there’s a knock on the door.

Simon is standing on the other side, rubbing at the back of his neck, holding his tablet in his hand.

“Hey! Have you had any luck finding a stream for The-”

Jace wraps his fingers into the front of Simon’s obnoxious graphic t-shirt, yanks him in close, and kisses him until he can’t breathe.

When Simon pulls away, cheeks flushed almost comically red, his eyes are owlishly large behind his glasses, and there’s a grin slowly spreading across his face.

“Okay,” he says, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Okay, sure. I can work with this.”

With that, Jace tugs him into his room and kicks the door shut.

Monday dawns bright and sunny, but fall is unmistakably on the way, present in the orange leaves falling from the trees dotting the campus and the brisk wind that keeps finding its way through Jace’s layers as he walks to class.

This time, Simon takes the seat right next to him.

But they don’t talk about it.

&.

The third time it happens, Simon’s hands are Jace’s excuse.

&.

He walks into the Hunter’s Moon on a Thursday night, which happens to be Open Mic night, apparently. Simon is onstage, perched on a stool, strumming an acoustic guitar. After making a few adjustments to the tuning pegs, he waves to the group of people clustered around the stage at the back of the bar, and launches into a song. His voice is clear and confident, fills the room from wall to wall, and his long fingers move effortlessly along the strings, forming chords and picking out notes effortlessly. It seems to be a song of his own creation, so Jace doesn’t know if Simon makes any mistakes, but he certainly doesn’t make any obvious ones, doesn’t fumble with his hand placement or stutter.

Such talent deserves to be appreciated, and that’s the only reason Jace offers to walk Simon home once the show is over.

Really. That’s the only reason.

(They end up making out against the wall just inside the door of Simon’s tiny apartment, jackets shrugged to the floor even though there are coat hooks mere inches away.

“One of these days, I’m going to get you into my bed,” Simon gasps against Jace’s mouth, just as he pops open the button on Jace’s pants.

Jace doesn’t bother to rebut him.)

&.

As for the fourth time...

Well, Jace has an excuse.

Really. He does.

A damn good excuse.

He just can’t quite remember what it is.

(He blames that on how absurdly talented Simon’s mouth is.)

&.

By the fifteenth time, the only excuse Jace has left is that he likes Simon. Really likes him, even if he does talk too much in class, even if his opinions on the movies they watch in class are always the total opposite of Jace’s, even if he has a penchant for kicking Jace hard in his sleep.

And Jace is...

Well. Jace is actually completely fine with that particular excuse.

[damiano-mylove]

How you met them and what dating the members of Måneskin would be like

GN!reader, slight NSFW for Damiano *Masterlist*

Vic

You'd definitely meet Vic at the grocery store

She goes grocery shopping every Saturday at 10 am, and you don't know that because you're creepy, you know that because you do as well (being an adult and such)

Over time, you'd both start to notice seeing each other at the same times and places

Vic would eventually come over, after having traded more than a dozen looks with you

At first, she would give you a random complement (that made your heart soar for reasons unbeknownst to you at the time), and you would immediately compliment her back because there are so many things to complement about the unknown girl at the shops

Those random complements would soon turn into full blown conversations that you both looked forward to, every Saturday at 10 am

Conversations turned into doing your grocery shopping together

Vic would ask you to lunch after one of your grocery shopping adventures, which you gladly accepted given the beautiful woman had stolen your heart at first glance

Lunch would go absolutely swimmingly, and it became the new thing

Your relationship with Vic would evolve from doing your grocery shopping together, then having lunch, to basically spending every Saturday together, then seeing each other other days of the week

One night, having drinks at Vic's place, just the two of you, Vic would join your lips together in a sweet harmony that felt all too right

You brushed off the night as drunken kissing

But she held you hand at lunch that following Saturday, and asked to kiss you before you parted ways

The conversation was bound to happen, and it did. After that, you and Vic were officially an item

She introduced you to her friends, and you did the same - your group loving Vic, and her's loving you

Dating Vic would be full of gentle love bites on your tender neck, fruity red wine, painting your nails matching colours, and late nights

On those late nights, Vic would hold you close, a film playing softly in the back, while her attention laid on you

You, her person, her rock. You made Vic's heart go ablaze and she wouldn't trade you for the world

Nor would you for her

Thomas

Thomas gives off strong Boy-Next-Door vibes

One day, your interest was sparked by moving vans outside your window - someone was moving into the flat above you

It was a very loud day (furniture scraping the floors, heavy boxes being dropped, many feet with much too heavy footsteps) but you were baking

You had a function to attend to the following day, so your day was already planned as a day for baking your famous biscuits that literally everyone loved

Ingredients may have a price tag, but kindness does not. Once all the noise subsided, you brought a plate of cookies up to your new neighbour (hoping to at least buy their friendship so they wouldn't annoy you constantly)

When Thomas opened the door, your stomach immediately turned to static

He looked a little tired, no doubt from freshly moving in, but his beauty was still breathtaking

Thomas smiled at you sweetly and thanked you profusely for the biscuits - he told you about how his grandmother made the same type and he loved them

The next day, right after you'd come back from your function, Thomas brought you back the plate with a bashful smile - 'The biscuits were divine, better than grandmama's'

You giggled at his statement, then invited him in for tea and to finish off the biscuits that were "left over" (you'd actually saved them for yourself, but there was no one else you'd rather share them with)

Happily for the both of you, Thomas accepted the invitation, and he stayed in your flat, drinking tea with you and eating biscuits, till the wee hours of the next day

You and Thomas shared smiles from your balconies and the street below, but when you'd be walking the stairs together, it always turned into an invitation for a drink, or to watch a game, or just a chat

About a month and a half of friendship, Thomas asked you to the cinema

You gladly went with him

In the middle of the film, your hands bumped together, both reaching for the popcorn on your lap - resulting in heated faces and looking away

Thomas walked you back to your flat that night, leaving you with a kiss on the cheek and legs made of jelly

That next day, Thomas asked you to dinner

'Is this a date or just a hang out?'

'It can be whatever you'd like.'

To no one's surprise, you chose the former option

You never officially confirmed your dating status, but you'd figure Thomas introducing you to his family as his partner was confirmation enough

Dating Thomas would include him singing you mellow songs in the evenings, longing glances shared across rooms, lots of tea at all hours of the day, and extremely stupid jokes that turned sickeningly sweet

Those jokes would occupy your mind for days on end, cherishing every single joke shared

Ethan

As cliche as it sounds, you'd meet in a bar

There was a game on between Lazio and Milan - and you both were dragged there by your friends

People clamored around the bar and television screens, screaming and yelling, and everyone decked out in jerseys (the Lazio jerseys outnumbered the Milan jerseys 3:1)

Funnily enough, you met Ethan in the corridor for the toilets

'With a line this long, I might as well piss outside'

For a first impression, Ethan really did make an impression. One that made you laugh and his cheeks tint red at the knowledge that someone heard him say that

It sparked a conversation while you both waited in the long lines

You discovered that neither of you held too much of a love of football, which absolutely tickled you that someone was in the same boat as you

Ethan waited outside the washroom for you, then suggested you both go outside for a smoke

With a drunken smile (the only way to get through a football match is to drink, lets be real), you agreed and told the friends you came with where you'd be disappearing to

Outside, you and Ethan shared three fags each and lots of laughter and conversation

Surprisingly to Ethan's friends, when everyone came pouring out of the bar after the game finished, Ethan had you pressed against the wall in a heated kiss

While being the most shy member of the band, Ethan reacted the most prominently to liquid courage, which you were more than okay with

You traded information, and the next day, you woke up to a sweet text from Ethan, asking you to a cafe to get to know each other in a sober environment

No complaints, you went

Ethan was just as funny as he was last night, and neither of you stopped smiling the entire time you were together

You saw each other quite often after that; sharing the occasional kiss, but full of laughter and stupid faces in silent moments

Eventually, you got brave and asked for Ethan to be your boyfriend

His face and ears went bright red, and he immediately looked to his slender fingers, chuckling nervously - but he happily agreed

Dating Ethan would include a hell of a lot of cuddles, lots of reassurance, few kisses but very meaningful kisses, and more laughter than you've ever shared with anyone else

Ethan will make you one of the happiest people on Earth, and in exchange, he is the happiest, just to have you in his arms in the mornings (even if you drool on him in your sleep)

Damiano

Without a doubt, you'd meet Damiano at a bar

There wouldn't be a game one, it was just a Friday night, and you felt like cutting loose with your idiot friends, whom you very much loved

Damiano would spot you immediately

You, of course, had already spotted him, but your friends were drooling over him, and every single person in the bar was as well, so you just put him out of your mind

That is, until he swaggered right up to you while you were grabbing drinks for your friends who were all on the dance floor

His expensive scent intoxicated you better than any booze behind the bar, making your skin tingle immediately. Damiano radiated heat, but that could've just been how warm it was in the bar from all the people

As the bartender was mixing your drinks, Damiano asked you your name

'A beautiful name for a beautiful person'

You thought he was just looking for a one-night stand, which you were actually quite down for

However, the night was still young, and you still had drinks to deliver to your friends, so you thanked him for the compliment and sauntered off to your friends with the drinks in hand

They called you a myriad of names for you basically turning Damiano down to do what? To dance with people you'd known for years?

Fortunately, walking off hadn't deterred Damiano

His eyes were on you for the entire night, until you built enough nerve to approach him

It didn't take too long for him to offer to bring you back to his place - you didn't need more than a second to accept

That night didn't lead to sex, however. Damiano thought you to be drunk to give him any meaningful consent, so he just left you to sleep in his bed, while he took the couch

When you woke up, you wrote your number with the lipstick in your purse on his bathroom mirror, and you left without a sound to wake him up

He called you that same day and invited you to the bar again

The entire weekend was spent going to the bar, sleeping either with or at Damiano's, which suited you just fine

Unfortunately, you had an actual job that required you to go to work, so when he invited you out on Sunday, you had to decline, then again on Monday

Tuesday, however, you invited him to your place for a couple drinks and you ended up falling asleep on his shoulder on the couch

Damiano woke up with you for your job and stayed with you as you got ready that morning, smiling at you through the mirror of your bathroom

Soon enough, your nightly encounters turned into real dates that changed location and theme constantly

Damiano was spontaneous and you loved it

He'd call you the cutest pet names under the sun, and bring you everywhere you were willing to go with him

Damiano never called you his partner; you were his lover

When you'd be alone, he always referred to you as 'Y/n, the light of my life, the only flower in my field, the cream in my jeans'

Made you blush like mad, but that was Damiano's favourite part

Dating Damiano would include doing each other's eyeliner, lots of PDA, reading side by side on the couch with a record playing softly, never falling asleep alone

Sleeping beside Damiano was like sleeping next to a furnace, so blankets were never needed, but cuddling was required

if it sucks, y’all gotta tell me😩🙏

for @fairyth0rns , i hope you like it

[heytherejulietx]

movie night - stanley uris

↳ a/n - just a little drabble i typed out because i was bored and couldn’t stop thinking of fluffy fluffy stanley <3

↳ content warnings - swearing, aged up losers. that’s it this fic is just pure fluff lmao

↳ 1.2k word count

masterlists

@bucky-j-barnes @whaddyam3an @justanotherkpopstanlol join my tag list

movie nights at bill’s house always went the same; richie would commentate through the whole movie, and would switch seats multiple times because he couldn’t sit still. bev would throw popcorn at richie when he wouldn’t shut up. eddie would insist to sit as far from richie as possible to avoid the popcorn war, which usually ended up with him sat beside bill or mike. and y/n would have to endure more or less than two hours sat beside stanley. it wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy sitting beside him - she loved being near him, but that was the problem. sat beside the boy you’re crushing on and having to resist looking at them was basically torture.

stan and y/n had always been close - they were best friends way before the losers club was even a thing, so between them they had years of friendship before the group. whatever they did, y/n and stan would always end up doing it together. at the fair? they’d go on the rides together. at the cinema? they’d sit next to each other. so at bills for movie night they shared the love seat for the movie.

richie’s night to pick was always the worst, because it guaranteed him to talk even more than usual since it was a movie he enjoyed. y/n couldn’t be mad that he spoke through the movie, she knew her friend well enough to know that he simply couldn’t help it. it just made it even harder to focus on the movie.

though it seemed almost impossible to focus on the movie anyways, because all y/n wanted to do was sleep. she had been staying up later than usual all week to study for a test, so the fact that she’d had five hours of sleep in two days accompanied with sitting on a very comfy sofa pressed against her crush best friend just guaranteed that she’d be fighting sleep the whole movie.

“gremlins!” richie stood in front of the tv set as he loudly announced his movie choice for the night, waving the vhs case in front of all the losers as he grinned.

“isn’t that a christmas movie?” eddie piped up, and richie rolled his eyes.

“yeah, tiny little monsters running around and terrorising everybody. how festive.”

“it’s set at christmas you fuckin’ moron.”

as richie and eddie started bickering y/n rolled her eyes and tucked her legs underneath her thighs to get more comfortable, her back pressed against the sofa cushions. the movie hadn’t even started and she could have fallen asleep. she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palms and sighed, thankful that it was probably only two hours until she could be in bed asleep. provided richie and eddie didn’t argue for much longer.

“now’s the time i get to say ‘i told you so’, right?” stan’s voice made her look up as the loveseat dipped beside her and she sighed, rolling her eyes.

“be my guest, asshole.” she mumbled with a playful punch to his arm and he chuckled.

stanley leaned back into the sofa with his legs stretched out in front of him, and slung his arm around the back of the sofa right behind her. it was something he always had done so she never questioned it. he had a bowl of popcorn sat in his lap that bev was already reaching up to steal from her seat on the floor. y/n reached for a few pieces of popcorn herself as she leaned her head back against the sofa, turning her attention to the tv as richie had stopped bickering with eddie to load up the vhs tape.

the movie started playing and all that y/n could focus on was not falling asleep. for once she barely noticed richie’s commentary of the movie which progressed into bickering with eddie, she barely even noticed anything other than the way her eyelids had grown too heavy and the couch was so comfortable that she could drift off right there. her head was nodding as her eyes dropped shut, and in her half-coherent state she realised her head had fallen against something comfortable. sleepily she smiled slightly and leaned further into the soft material, and relaxed completely against what she was leaning against as she started drifting off to sleep.

she accidentally slept through the entire movie. when her eyelids fluttered open again the credits were rolling (she couldn’t make out the words because everything was a little blurry, but she could see the white lines scrolling against a black background and took an educated guess). she could hear richie arguing with eddie not surprisingly about one thing or another behind the sofa. glancing up she saw bev still sat on the floor, though ben sat beside her that time. bill was sat on the other sofa with mike at his side. where was stan?

y/n realised exactly where he was when she felt an arm tighten ever so subtly around her waist, and her eyes widened as her cheeks flushed pink when she figured out that she had been sleeping against stanley’s shoulder. she glanced down at herself and noticed that a blanket had been draped over her body, too, and couldn’t help but smile softly to herself. stan was comfortable. his sweater made his shoulder soft to lean against, and when she inhaled she could smell his comforting scent of cinnamon and vanilla. she almost wanted to pretend like she hadn’t woken up to spend more time with stan like that. though y/n knew that she would have to be home soon, and she really had to get some proper sleep in her bed. so reluctantly y/n sat up from his shoulder with a yawn and stretched out a little. laying in such a weird poison left her neck feeling funny, and she winced as she tried to stretch it out.

“hey,” stan was smiling softly when she glanced up at him, a look that she couldn’t quite decipher the meaning behind other than knowing that he was happy. “you fell asleep and i didn’t want to wake you. i know you haven’t really been sleeping well, and you looked so peaceful…” he trailed off with a sheepish smile, and y/n gave him a somewhat bashful one in return.

“thank you, i’m sorry for falling asleep on you.” she shook her head a little embarrassed, secretly still joyed over the soft moment.

before stan could respond richie had come back in front of the sofa and started complaining that y/n had missed the movie, though she wasn’t really listening. a small smile was still painted over her lips at the thought of how warm stan was and how nice it felt to be pressed against him.

the next time they had a movie night, stanley and y/n took the loveseat again. they watched labyrinth per bev’s request. y/n leaned against stan again with his arm around her waist, though that time she was fully awake.

[kunikinnie]

Can I have Atsushi fluff headcanons?? Nothing specific, just him with a fem!reader being cute. Please?

a/n: hi! I hope you don't mind me choosing a more specific prompt for this. Please feel free to request again if you had something else in mind :)

firsts

featuring: Atsushi x F!Reader

Date

He had invited you for a movie date during the weekend

Why movie date? He 1. has to talk less 2. if he has to talk, the movie is a great topic 3. you can't see his blushing face for at least an hour and a half

Of course you chose the movie to watch. Atsushi isn't picky when it comes to those kinds of things

Since this is probably his first date ever he took extra effort to look good but casual. You get me?

May or may not have wanted to faint when he saw you in a more casual dress and hair. It's so surreal it almost hurt (he couldn't look at you in the eye before the movie began lol)

He was worried that he couldn't focus on the movie, but surprisingly he got immersed in it as much as you did. It was a good time, really

The dinner part went pretty smoothly. It was a miracle, but by the time you guys went out to eat after his nerves miraculously disappeared

Walked you home after (with a considerable distance between you two, but it was good for starters)

Slept the best sleep of his life that night probably because he barely got any the previous night from the anxiety and excitement

Kiss

He was walking you home (hand-in-hand at this point) after one of your dates (like any other date; he's trying his best to be a gentleman :3)

At this point you were pretty comfortable with each other. He wasn't too shy and nervous around you anymore

But he had yet to make a bigger move on you. Holding hands was your initiative, and deep inside you were hoping he'd be the one to initiate something (since it was established pretty early on his boundaries were less flexible than yours)

As much as you wanted to kiss him right now you were worried it would be a bit too much for him

"We're here now, Y/N-san"

You stared at him in the eye in silence, his confused expression only getting more scrunched as your eyes would flicker to his lips every now and then

"Y/N-"

"G-good night, Atsushi. Thank you for tonight."

Before you could open the gate/door though, his hand firmly but gently grabbed one of your wrists. Once you turned to his direction his face was dangerously close to yours

His hand slides down to yours and squeezes it. "Can I, Y/N?"

After a small nod he slowly and gently presses his lips on yours. The kiss was stiff and inexperienced but not any less loving or caring as he had been with you since he realized he loved you deeply

You would've returned the kiss if he hadn't pulled away so soon. His face was so red and so warm he might have passed out

I Love You

I'm willing to bet he said this when he confessed to you lol but let's forget about that for now

It was his birthday and you decided to prepare something extra special for him. A small dinner and a gift you've been preparing for a while now

You decided to hold it with him alone at his place and as a separate event from the ADA's

He's been elated the whole day but being there with you redefined the limits of his beating heart

"Happy Birthday!"

It's his first time receiving this kind of birthday bash from just you, just his girlfriend. He's still not used to this kind of treatment and pampering that he almost feels like he doesn't deserve it

The overwhelming emotion manifested as uncontrollable tears that fell from his wide eyes

As he hugged you tightly and sobbed on your shoulder, he thanked you not just for today but for being with him until this point

"Thank you for everything, Y/N. I love you so much. Thank you so much-"

His only wish then was to have many more birthdays like this with you

[joheunsaram]

temper tantrums + cookies (myg)

Summary- Being a single dad is hard, especially when Yoongi’s daughter decides to throw a tantrum as he shops for groceries.

word count- 2.8k

pairing- dilf!Yoongi x Reader

rating- PG

genre- fluff, strangers2(maybe?)lovers, meetcute

warnings- YOONGI GROCERY SHOPPING, single fatherhood fears and insecurities

a.n- Omg my first fic on this new blog after the whole debacle. Thank you for everyone who followed me and bore with my clown self. I hope you enjoy this! Yes, I’m a simp for when Yoongi went grocery shopping in New Zealand. sigh.

A huge shoutout to @hobisbeautifulass​ for helping me plot this and @oftenderweapons​ for helping fix the ending! 💕

As always feedback appreciated, a reblog and a like goes a far way. Send me an ask! 💌

perm taglist- @cheesecakes-randomshitz, @aroseforyoongi, @hobisbeautifulass​

-

Yoongi groaned as he strained to open his eyes. He could barely stifle a yawn as he leaned on the stroller slowly moving it through the aisle. His phone rested atop of the little tray attached to the handles, buzzing incessantly as messages from his company bombarded the screen. Could he not have some rest even on a Sunday?

He sighed as he stopped in front of the cereals, examining the boxes, trying to decide between his craving for Froot Loops and the healthier choice of Muselli. Knowing that he would be eating said cereal for dinner this whole week, he opted for Museli, missing the days he had enough time to cook a proper meal for himself.

“Daddy! Up!” Hyunji’s lisp pulled him out of his reminiscing as he watched his two year old daughter wriggling around in her seat, arms up to coax him into carrying her. Rubbing his eyes and trying to balance his grocery basket, Yoongi crouched to her level as she impatiently smacked her hands on the foam bar in front of her. He couldn’t help but smile at her - her tiny eyes almost hidden by her rosy chubby cheeks, hair a mess as she had managed to pull one of her pigtails out. 

“We’ll be home soon, Ji,” he cooed at the chaotic love of his life, placing his basket on the floor to fix her shoe that had seemed to come undone for the eighth time this morning. However, his placades were lost on her as his daughter used her future swimmer lungs to scream, her shrill voice making him wince, but surprisingly working much better than the two iced coffees he had chugged earlier.

With a groan, Yoongi settled on the floor, trying to dodge her little feet that were kicking at him. He really couldn’t wait till she outgrew her temper tantrums. Reaching into his hoodie pocket, he pulled out a small pack of tissues, trying his best to get rid of the snot and tears that flowed down her face as she angrily fought him, her tiny fists colliding with his forearms.

“Ji, please. Calm down,” Yoongi sighed, trying his best to pacify his screaming daughter, while throwing apologetic glances at the shoppers passing by. “Okay, you want to be like that? Then let it out of your system. Go ahead.”

Resigning himself to his fate, Yoongi sat cross-legged in front of her stroller and rubbed his eyes. He knew Hyunji would calm down soon enough, and with the week he had he didn’t care if passerbys thought he was a terrible father for letting his daughter cry her eyes out in the breakfast aisle. In fact, he didn’t care that he himself was close to tears. He felt overwhelmed and bitter, the words of his mother ringing in his ears. “If only you had worked out your issues, she would be here, and you wouldn’t be alone!”

He laughed deliriously, the weeks of shitty sleep catching up to him as he pleaded with his daughter to calm down, bribing her with candy he never bought her to no avail. “Please baby, just half an hour and then we’ll be home,” Yoongi negotiated, his eyes glassy as Hyunji shrieked in response, causing him to startle and bang his shin against the wheel. He hissed in pain, grimacing with his head against the foam rod as she pulled at his dark hair. He loved his daughter, truly from the bottom of his heart, but he couldn’t wait till she started preschool next week and he could get some reprieve. 

“Do you mind if I try?”

Yoongi followed the voice to see you crouching next to him. Dressed in a printed dress with little dinosaurs all over it, and a pair of red glasses that matched your shoes, you didn’t seem like you worked at the store, but Yoongi couldn’t care less. He didn’t know if his exhaustion was blurring his mind, but you seemed like the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He couldn’t stop staring at you, from the slope of your nose, to your hair that fell into your eyes. Had Yoongi really been that deprived of adult human contact that just looking at you made his heart pound in his chest and heat rise to his cheeks? Wow, your lips were really pretty. They looked so soft, crinkling a little on the side when you spoke. Oh shit, you were speaking!

Yoongi was broken out of his thoughts by your voice. “What’s her name,” you asked, tentatively reaching out towards the angry toddler.

“Hyunji.” 

Yoongi felt as if he was in a daze, he couldn’t stop staring at you as you reached out to lightly touch Hyunji, your fingers grabbing her little hand in something akin to a handshake. He watched in awe as Hyunji immediately stopped her screams to look at you curiously, her head tilted to the side as she sniffled. Yoongi would be upset that his daughter seemed to be more calm with a stranger than him if it weren’t for how the soft smile on your face made him lose his train of thought. It made your cheeks puff up a little and he felt his heart skip a beat at the small movement.

“Hey Hyunji! I’m Y/N. How are you today,” you said, as Hyunji finally responded with what Yoongi had spent the whole year teaching her, moving her hand away and looking wary. Yoongi felt pride surge through him knowing that his daughter wasn’t going to let a stranger act all buddy-buddy with her. However, Hyunji’s rejection made a small frown appear on your lips, and Yoongi mentally willed his daughter to be nice to you. 

You weren’t deterred however, and with another smile, you reached into your bag draped across your torso to retrieve a small stuffed toy shaped like a chocolate cookie type character. Yoongi’s eyes couldn’t help but follow the strap of your bag as it rested between your chest, perfectly aligned with the slight cleavage afforded by the dress. He gulped, trying to shake the flurry of thoughts that ran through his mind like how his face would feel if it was the strap. 

“No handshake? Okay. How about a toy,” you asked, grinning and shaking the character in front of the toddler, your smile getting wider as she responded immediately reaching for the toy. So much for stranger danger training. Your voice turned high pitched and cartoonish as you pretended to be the toy, Hyunji immediately lighting up and laughing, the switch an instant 180. “Hi Hyunji, I’m Shooky! Nice to meet you!”

“Shooky!” she exclaimed, waving the toy towards Yoongi to show it to him gleefully. Yoongi smiled, cooing at his daughter. Turning towards you, he found you smiling at him, the same soft smile that made him senseless earlier. He wanted to thank you for saving him, for calming down his whirlwind of a daughter, but his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own.

“Is that a cookie? She’s not allowed to have cookies.”

“It’s a toy…” You seemed confused, rightly so, your eyebrows scrunched together as you blinked slowly, trying to decipher his meaning. Yoongi should’ve clarified, apologized, but he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t double down.

“Shaped like a cookie. That’s a slippery slope.” He waved towards his daughter who seemed to be bashing the poor character against her leg, giggling. He realized his type of humour was not everyone’s cup of tea and so when he watched your lips down turn, he started to apologize only to be stopped by you smirking at him.

“So you’re saying a toy shaped like a cookie is a gateway drug to junk food,” you said, an eyebrow raised at him. Your wit made him cackle, an unattractive, loud scream of a laugh that immediately turned him red in embarrassment. God, he was such a loser! He cleared his throat conscious of the way you chuckled in amusement. He really needed to get out of the house more often.

“I’m sorry. I’m tired. Thank you, really. I had resigned to sitting here for a couple of hours.” He smiled up at you as you stood up and watched Hyunjin in endearment, who was now thoroughly engrossed in ‘Shooky’. Following your lead, Yoongi made to stand up, only to realize one of his feet had decided to fall asleep on him causing him to stumble back with a groan.

“Need a hand?” You raised a hand towards him, one that he took graciously, if only to feel how soft your hands were, and they were so soft. He groaned a little as he stood, taking extra care not to pull you to the ground with him, regardless of how much he wanted to. Jesus, Yoongi. Relax, dude.

“Thanks. I swear I’m not as old as I seem,” he deadpanned as you giggled a little at his bones cracking loudly.

“I didn’t think you were old.” You shrugged in response as he thought of ways to keep the conversation going. However, his mind was blank. You looked at him expectantly, and in true awkward fashion, Yoongi averted your gaze, instead looking at his daughter. His jaw dropped at the sight before him as he squinted at his offspring who seemed to be dozing happily in the stroller, clutching the cookie under her chin.

“She’s asleep… How did you do that?” He was dumbfounded. There was a reason Yoongi still seemed like he was sleep walking even two coffees down. Hyunjin had been having trouble falling asleep for weeks, waking him up at all hours of the night. The doctor said something about her delayed teething, but at this point Yoongi was convinced she just hated him for never letting her have sugar. 

“No biggie. I work in childcare. I’ve been trained.” He looked at you in awe and you chuckled, patting him on the shoulder in an attempt to break him out of his daze. Could he fall in love at first sight? He was beginning to think, yes.

“Yes biggie! She never falls asleep,” he exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. “What kind of witchcraft…” He looked from you to his daughter, still in disbelief as he muttered, earning a hearty laugh from you in response.

“I’m Y/N, by the way,” you said, smiling as you closed your bag and fixed the strap, and he had to physically restrain his eyes from zeroing in on your chest again. He wasn’t going to lie, his eye balls felt strained at the effort.

“Yoongi. But seriously, thank you. I promise I’m not a bad father,” he provided, the shock now wearing off into anxiety as he thought about how much of a crap father he seemed to be so amazed at seeing his daughter fall asleep. You shook your head at him, a small sound of disapproval leaving your lips.

“I think you’re a great father, Yoongi. Don’t worry, toddlers are hard.” The praise made his heart stutter as blood rushed to his ears. The way you softly affirmed him made him feel seen. He didn’t know how much he needed to hear that, and to be honest, he felt a little emotional.

“I… thank you. I’d like to say you’re wrong but yeah, especially alone,” he spoke quietly. He didn’t know why he specified he was single. Maybe to see if you were as interested in him as he was in you. He didn’t think it was possible. Who would want to be with a single father who couldn’t even handle his own child in a public space? He felt his insecurities gnaw at him as he descended further into his head. His sudden silence may have alarmed you because before he could say anything, you touched his shoulder gingerly, the feel of your fingers scorching him through the thick layers of his sweater.

“Well you’re doing great. Professional opinion.” You smiled and Yoongi wanted to cry. Why were you so nice? He missed nice. He hadn’t had nice in a long time. He wanted to say something, ask you for your number, but that seemed too forward so he settled for gratitude, as you picked up his basket and handed it to him.

“Thank you…”

“Cute,” you giggled quietly. “It was nice meeting you Yoongi.” 

Much to his disappointment, you started walking away. He really shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. Hope always led to dismay.

“You too, Y/N. Really great.” He sighed, almost wistfully, resigned to the fact that he would probably never see you again as you waved and turned around.

“Say bye to Hyunji for me.”

“I will.”

----------

He looked at his daughter with pride as she stood in front of him, her dark hair in two slightly lopsided braids, that had taken Yoongi an hour to master through youtube tutorials. He couldn’t help but feel a little choked up as she excitedly pulled on his arm all but running towards her classroom, her frilly pink dress swishing with each step. He couldn’t believe she was old enough for school already - preschool, but still. 

Yoongi tried to stop his brain from conjuring up pictures of her future; her graduating, her walking down the aisle. No, screw sleep, he didn’t need it. This was too fast. He held her hand tightly, reluctant to let her go as they reached the door. 

What was he supposed to do now that she was going to be gone all day? He could almost feel himself tear up at the thought of how much he was going to miss her, and she was still holding her hand. Maybe he could ask the teacher if he could just sit and watch. Sure he had to be at his home office to start work in thirty minutes, but he could just say he suddenly fell ill.

However, all thoughts as well as his breath left him as his eyes fell on a familiar figure - the beautiful, kind woman from the grocery store. You. 

This time around you were dressed in a dress that had little planets on it, looking a lot like Ms Frizzle with your hair in a top knot. Yoongi didn’t know whether to be ecstatic that universe had given him another opportunity to talk to you or be depressed because he knew he would never be with.

“Yoongi!” The joy and surprise in your voice made his face crinkle in a goofy smile that he had absolutely no control over, as he fiddled with his fingers, Hyunjin quickly abandoning him at the first sign of new friends. She definitely did not inherit her stellar social skills from him, as he stood there unable to form a response other than a shy utterance of your name.

“I was hoping to run into you again,” you said, beaming blindly and Yoongi blushed.

With his heartbeat accelerating, he realised that those eight words were probably the best he had ever heard.

-

Like this? Check out my other works. Please consider following 🥰

[zzzallnite]

Playground creep

A beautiful but warm summer day. I am just having my afternoon tea break and  of enjoying the scene outside of the window: an afterschool playground full of kids playing behind the line of oak trees across the street. But, like a dark cloud of thunderstorm that suddenly comes out of nowhere, I notice a broad man, a little bit on the older side, leaning against the wall of the house next to the playground, watching over the children...

The worst of thoughts are just going over and over in my head... Is this man...?

I carefully examine the man before drawing a conclusion. He has a dad-type of body, but much more well-built. His blue plaid shirt looks slightly damped due to the heat, and if not for the three buttons unfastened, it would hug his chest so tightly. Even from my window I can see how much skin he is showing off to the public, including his cheap, dull necklace that shapes like a feather. Really, in front of the children? Where is his decency? (But honestly, if I look that good, I would do it too). Meanwhile, his sleeves are rolled up and it’s like, he’s posing with his hands in his pocket, and legs crossed like a typical macho man. But I wouldn’t suspect a thing if not for his massive erection he’s having under that thin white trousers.

“That’s it!”, I talk to myself as I gather all of my gut and rush down the stairs, to the direction of the peeper. But the image of that buff man makes me realize that I need something to defend myself. (The last time I try to stand up against some creeps in the alley, I woke up with no undies and walking funny for three whole days!) At the bottom of the stairs there conveniently lies a mini fire extinguisher. How lame! But better than nothing, as I pick up the thing and charge across the street.

“Da hell are you doing over there?”, I raise my voice as I approach the stranger. He is first startled, but quickly gains composure and answers with a firm voice:

“Just looking out for my grandkid. He’s over there...”

“Lies! I saw you stalking the kids for half an hour!”, as I continue to confront him. The man notices that I begin to swing around this small ass fire extinguisher toward him, trying to keep him from retreating.

“What are you doing with that thing?... Put it down, you might hurt somebody...”

He realizes what’s going on. He gets caught in the act, creeping on innocent children. He is still trying to defuse the situation so I won’t make a big fuss. Like a true predator he puffs his chest forward to intimidate me, but pretends to raise his hands as a sign of surrender.

“There must be a misunde... Hrghh!...”

Before he can mesmerize me with his silver tongue, I bash the side of his chin with the fire extinguisher. He is instantly rendered unconscious. I know creeps like him are very good with words, and they can talk themselves out of such intense confrontation and make a quick escape. I couldn’t just let him go. Not today.

The man slips down and leans against the wall, with drool coming out of his mouth as his head drops to the side. Out cold and not a single drop of blood shed. I crouch down and check on him. As his body falls backward, his shirt accidentally unbuttons some more, revealing a full set of dark, hairy pectoral. There are many ways to check a man’s pulse, but at the moment I couldn’t think of anything else, so I slither my hand under his opened shirt and start caressing his moist chest. As I rub against his skin, the smell of sweat mix with cologne spreads around, and it is oddly... erotic. I take me a few seconds to properly feel his heart. Still beating strong, especially for man around his age. But what is his age exactly? Could he just look more mature?...

Why am I suddenly care for a pedo? He’s obviously sick in the head. No normal person would have a bulge like his while “watching his grandkid play”... Uhm no, it’s just his wallet. His cock is still limp, and it is surprisingly not as big as I’ve expected, based on the size of his hands and feet. I couldn’t help but to peek inside the wallet and find his ID and a business card.

“Nolan Smith. 59 years old. History professor. Head of Faculty”. And then there is a picture of him, apparently at a birthday party, with a young kid who looks similar to one of those on the playground. But hey, just because you have an esteemed job and fancy pants position, does not keep you from being a creep. An this mofo even has a photo with his victim. How awful! Quickly, I have to get rid of him before anyone sees us!

I put my hands under his sweaty armpits and drag him across the street to my building. This is a perfect occasion for me to test my fireman carries, but this bear is so damn big, I would probably break some parts of my body before I could take him to my apartment.

It takes a lot of effort for me to drag the man’s limp body without anyone noticing. Maybe I was lucky. What’s more immaculate is that his white pants have not a single spot of dirt. Then I look down to his feet. Black socks and blue denim slip-ons? Smithy here clearly has no sense of style at all, but somehow his weird pairing of clothing items is really turning me on. Kinda remind me of my own old man. Always favors comfort over appearance...

Wait...is he living around the area? That might explain the terrible choice of shoes, since no way he would have a good sexy outfit on just to be ruined by his footwear. But he has a belt that matches... Sigh...

I curiously take out his slippers and try it onto myself. Surprise, surprise, we share the same size! I have some other good pairs of dress shoes, but I admit, I was too shy to wear them even on special occasions. Now I have a, willing or not, model with a perfect fit. After a few seconds, I detect the odor emitting from the strange man’s moist socks in my tiny apartment, and my crotch couldn’t help but getting tighter. And I realize that the damped, warm slip-ons are hugging my feet. For some reasons, it starts to look good on me too, as I am also wearing black socks. I walk around the house, trying to channel the man’s alpha attitude before he was knocked out cold. Maybe I was too harsh on him, he seems to know what he’s doing...

It has been a full 10 minutes since I "arrested” him from the playground. Is he dead? No, still breathing...Concussion, perhaps? I pull up his eyelids to examine his pupils. Both are equally dilated. Phew... Uh oh, he’s twitching and starting to stir... What should I do?

I realize that I have saved some sedative for a rainy day. And that rainy day is today - the day that I capture a playground creep. The drug is for my own safety, in case I am up against someone like Smithy over here. I may have ko’ed him, but he could easily come to and turn the table, and I would end up in his current position: unconscious, helpless and at the mercy of a stranger.

I prick him with the syringe filled with ketamine. After finishing injecting him, I pressed my finger against his neck vein where the needle’s punctured his skin to prevent further bleeding, which would ruin his perfect blue plaid shirt, and give him a light pad on the chin for a good job done. He clearly tries to stay awake, but his attempt remains futile...

“Uuhhnnn.....”

As soon as the drug is pumped into the man’s system, his eyes roll to the back of his head and he lets out a faint whimper before returning to dream land. My hand is still glued to his neck, but I am able to lay my head on his slowly puffing chest, listening to his steady heartbeats. Feels like resting on a warm stuffed animal, only muskier. I show my appreciation to such fine male specimen with a gentle kiss on his erected nipple, knowing that he wouldn’t mind.

Outside, the sun is slowly going down. There is a cry echoing around the block. A kid appears to lose his grandpa, and the people gather around trying to help him find his way home. I close the shutters, trying not to pay attention to the commotion. I must focus on my own mission. In here, it is still quiet, as the drug will keep this sicko under for a couple more hours.

“What should I do with you now, you bad, bad man...?”