#i feel like they could crunch the same way chips do

[funnywizard3000]

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'The Canton of Zurich has announced the discovery of an intact medieval gauntlet dated to the 14th century. The object was found during excavations to the southeast of Kyburg Castle, located in Kyburg in the district of Pfäffikon, Switzerland.'

[xxblairexxss]

Flushed

Pairing : Charles Leclerc x reader

Theme : Angst / fluff

Requested!

Your attempt to move on from your ex, Charles went terribly wrong.

Based on Google, the symptoms they mentioned were dizziness, abdominal pain, visual problem, trembling and reduced sense of control so I wrote based on it. I’m sorry if it wasn’t accurate! Thank you for the request, anon! I hope it lives up to your expectation!

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“Excuse me?!”

You jolted awake when your friend came bursting into the room with a bunch of chocolates and chips in her arms. Your hair was looking all disheveled, your eyes were red and puffy.

“What?” You brought the tissue paper to your face to blow on your nose before laying back down, tugging on the quilt to cover back your entire body.

“Y/N! It’s been months! You can’t seriously still crying over this. I mean, I get it, break up is sad but is this all what you gonna be doing?”

“I miss him!” Your voice became a muffle under the quilt and you heard Y/F/N groaned as she pulled the quilt away.

“Then call him. Tell him you miss him.”

“Should I?” You looked at her in surprise. She had always been telling you to move on, to just find someone else so you were expecting her to say the same thing over again. “No, I can’t do that. See, he doesn’t miss me as much as I do. I’m the one suffering here!”

“How do you know the break up doesn’t effect him?” She took a seat in front of you and went through all the chips she had bought with her. Her brows raised in excitement as she picked a salt & vinegar flavoured chips, offering you one when she opened it, to which you took and crunch on it.

“Because he doesn’t look like it? Have you seen his Instagram?” You scooted closer and dipped your hand into the chips packet to get another one.

“He’s a freaking Formula 1 driver. Have you ever seen Lewis Hamilton post a crying picture of him when he go through a break up?” She rolled her eyes, looking very much done with you. “What about the guy you were talking to last week?”

“Oh, I stop replying to him. Got an ick. But! I met this other guy.” You took your phone to click on the picture of the guy you were talking about and showed it to Y/F/N. “What do you think?”

“Let me see.” She took your phone away and stared, more like analysing the picture. “Sketchy. I would say no.”

“Why! He’s cute though.” You took the phone back and scrolled to a different picture. “See?”

“Oh, so now you are all interested with other guys just when I asked you to call your ex? I swear you be doing the exact opposite of what I told you.”

“It’s not like it was serious or anything. I still miss him. None of the guys I talked with could make me feel the same way like he did.” You turned off your phone and laid down by Y/F/N’s side, eyes trailing the details of your room for the hundredth times.

“Why don’t you try and go out with him?” She scowled at you jokingly when you turned to look at her. “Not Charles, idiot. That guy. Who knows a proper date could make you stop thinking about the Ferrari guy. One step at a time?”

“Do you think so?” You sat up and gazed at her in hesitation.

“I would prefer to see my best friend all dress up and going out on a date so I could hear some tea instead of hearing you wail over the same guy for another month.”

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“Too much?”

The date didn’t happen until another week after your conversation with Y/F/N as you weren’t exchanging texts everyday with the guy, Alan, and he didn’t mention anything about a date until the weekend arrived. You were actually contemplating to say yes because you had a hunch of something but you weren’t sure what it was and decided to dismissed it as ‘a feeling everyone gets when they try to move on from their exes’.

“Too much? Are you really asking me that? You look absolutely phenomenal!” Y/F/N walked to the dressing table and picked a few shades of lipsticks. “Try this one. It’s gonna pop your look even more.”

“I feel like I’m betraying Charles for this.” You closed the cap of the lipstick once you put it on and fixed the smudge on your eyeliner with your picky finger.

“Stop talking about Charles! You are on to a new adventure and a new dic–“

“Okay, I’m off!” You immediately stood up after applying perfume on your insides wrists and neck, walked back to the bad to get your handbag along with you.

“I just finished the longest shift in the world! Don’t wake me up and keep the tea hot until I wake up tomorrow, okay? Enjoy your date and go crush that dic–“

“Stop it!” You yelled back and slammed the door.

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“You look beautiful.”

“Hi!” You stopped when you were by the side of the table that he had sat. He looked exactly like how you pictured him. Fancy and well formed would be the words to describe him. He had told you beforehand that he would arrive a little early to the restaurant, asking you if you would mind about it to which you said no because it didn’t feel right to make him wait for you.

He greeted you with a hug and you were slightly taken aback when he ran his fingers through your hair, sniffing it as he pulled away. “You smell nice.”

“Oh, thank you.” You smiled back and took a seat as he pulled your chair out.

“I was actually going to wait but the waiter recommended a drink so I ordered it for you. I hope you don’t mind?”

“No, not at all. Thank you.” You placed your small bag on your lap and took a sip from the drink. It looked like a pinã colada so you were expecting a sweet taste on your tongue but this one had a weird smell and tasted salty. “Wow, it’s really strong!” You cringed as the drink hit your throat, thinking it could be a twist drink menu from the restaurant.

“Is it? Should I order a different one? Excuse–“

“No, no. It’s totally fine.” You waved your hand and he retreated his hand from calling the waiter.

“So, what’s up? Wait,” He shook his head and laughed in disbelief. “That was really bad. You are so beautiful it made me speechless for a while.”

He carried the whole conversations and you knew he would. He was also the one who had been picking new topics for you to talk about through texts. He looked exactly like his pictures, yes, but the way he approached certain topics were somewhat interesting, you would say. You saw the way he talked about women and though it was very subtle, he sounded haughty but you weren’t gonna jump into conclusion as maybe, just maybe, he had a bad day today so some of his emotions were conveyed through his way of thinking.

But it was hard for you to deny the discomfited feelings when he kept on touching your hand whenever you put it on the table and you had to continuously taking a sip from your drink just so it gave you a reason to pull your hand away.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah? I’m– I’m sorry I got distracted. What were you saying?” You shut your eyes as you felt yourself spacing out.

“I was asking if you ever had a pet.”

“Yeah? Yeah! I used to have a dog but he passed away like, last year. I’m sorry but I think– I am not sure– but–” You placed your fingers on your temple area and applied a pressure on it. You realised that you started feeling the room spinning around when you focused on him but everything around him swayed, making you nauseous. Everything he said went from clear words to a mumble to nothing at all. Your ears were ringing so bad they were no longer registering anything he said and you only see the way his mouth moves over and over, as if you had put it on mute.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“Yeah, I don’t– I don’t feel really good.” You winced from the pain on your head and took his hand as he stretched out his arm.

“Do you want me to bring you home?” He stood up and for a split second, you saw a smirk. You realised you had been spacing out, disoriented every second now. You didn’t know why, but you knew something was wrong. It couldn’t be from your food as you never had any food allergy. You felt completely fine before you left the house, exhilarated, even. But the little smirk that he had divulged as he offered you a hand sealed everything together.

You quickly retracted your hand and struggled to push the chair back, feeling suffocated as if it was trapping you. “I– I need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me.” You took your bag with you and tumbled when you tried to walk past him.

“Are you sure? Do you want me to walk you there and wait for you?” He held your waist, even pulled you closer as you felt his breath on your neck.

“No, it’s– it’s okay. I’ll be back. I– yeah.” You pushed him away and saw he trailed his eyes from your neck down to your chest, making you grapple to breath. Stepping aside, you held the wall as you took a few steps, leaning against it as you shut your eyes, trying to shake off the dizziness.

“Ma’am, are you okay?”

“Yeah– yeah, I’m fine.” You gave a little smile and continued walking to the bathroom, nearly toppled over a couple of times. You could feel the eyes on you from the workers and customers and there it was, again, the smirk from Alan as he looked at you from the table, hands in his pocket, looking full of pride.

The bathroom was empty, which was a relief and you scurried inside one of the stall and clumsily tried to lock the door, your hands shaking as it felt as if someone was chasing after you. You were now on the floor, your legs gave away as soon as your felt, not safe, but shielded from whatever it was outside.

You tried to unlock your phone but your blurry eyesight and trembling hands made it hard which caused your phone to lock itself from the repeated wrong passcode inputs. “No, no, no, no. Please.” You pressed everything that appeared on the screen and it was finally ringing to which you quickly placed it to your ear. “Please pick up. Please, please.”

The ringing stopped and you were greeted with a soft breathing sound from the other hand. You took in a shaky breath and wiped your tears with the back of your hand. “H–hello?”

“Y/N?” It was Charles.

“I– I don’t know– I don’t–“ Your words were stuck in your throat and you couldn’t stop sobbing so everything became a mess. None of your words were spoken, every sob you took made you feel more and more breathless.

“Y/N? Hey, hey, hey. Slow down. Where are you?”

“I’m at La Table and– I think– something in my drink– my head hurts.” You mumbled and pulled your phone away where you heard footsteps coming.

“Y/N, hey, Y/N, listen. I’m coming to you, alright. Stay on the phone with me. Can you do that?” You nodded but he was expecting to her your voice. “I need words, Y/N. Say something.”

“Yes…”

“I’m heading to my car. Can you tell me where you are?”

“I’m in the bathroom. Can you please–” You flinched when you heard a knock coming from outside your stall.

“Baby? It’s me.” It was Alan. Then came a woman’s voice after his. “Ma’am, we thought you weren’t feeling well so we brought your boyfriend.” The knocking sound came again.

You were trembling so hard that the phone nearly slipped off your hand. You pushed on your leg to scoot as far as you can from the door. The bathroom was big, bigger than usual but it still made you feel like as if there wasn’t enough room for you.

“Charles– I’m– I’m scared.” You whispered, and flinched when they knocked on your stall again. “They– he is outside.”

“I’m 5 minutes away, Y/N. I promise. Fuck!” He slammed his hand on the steering wheel when the traffic light turned red before he could pass.

You turned you head to the door when you heard the clicking sound as the door came unlocking, the handle being pushed down from the outside. “Ma’am, we are unlocking the door for you.” The worker had an extra keys and they had permission from Alan, which they assumed was your boyfriend and guardian to unlock the door and you scurried deeper against the wall. Your phone had now fallen on the floor and long forgotten.

“Baby,” Alan crouched down on his knees and brushed the strands of your hair away, one finger trailing down to your neck and you shook your head in urgency, shutting your eyes and you trembled in fear.

“No, no. I– please, no.”

“What do you mean? I’m your boyfriend. I’m taking you home.” He pulled you by you wrist so your hand were no longer covering your face but you kept your eyes shut, too scared to look at him in the face.

“Look at me, baby.” He gripped on your chin roughly, jerking you which made you opened your eyes in fear. You saw he was looking back, checking if the worker was still there before bringing his face to your ear. “Behave, or I’m gonna make it worse for you.” You felt his tongue under your ear and it caused you to shiver with feart.

“I– go home– I wanna go home.” You saw he pulled a face, nodding as if he was mocking you.

“I can’t wait to go home too, baby.” He bobbed your head, his grip on your face still stayed.

“Move.”

“What?” You heard he said and as you shut your eyes, refusing to look at him in the eyes any longer. You were no longer felt any force on your cheeks but you could still feel his presence near you, in front of you.

“I said move, bastard!” Charles pulled his back by clenching roughly on the back of his collar, pulling his out of the stall, away from you.

“The fuck is wrong with you?!”

He ignored the man and immediately went in front of you. You had your face hidden against your knees. “Y/N,” He timidly tried to hold your trembling body, hands went to grip on your shoulders. His touch was different though you weren’t aware of your surrounding. The significant difference between the touches made stop quivering a little. “Y/N, princess, it’s me.”

“Please– please don’t leave me.” You unable to form any words, slowly lifting your head to seek comfort from whoever in front of you when you found yourself in someone’s embrace as Charles pulled you into a hug, the familiar comfort inundated your heart when his arms tightly wrapped around your shaky frame.

“I’m not, I’m not. I’m right here, Y/N. I won’t leave you.” You didn’t see it but when he stroked his hand on your back, it was shaky. It felt like he had been holding his breath ever since he received your call and now only could he finally filled his lung with air. He didn’t know and hadn’t properly check if you were hurt but you were in his arms, no longer a phone call away where he could only imagine the worst.

“I am so sleepy– I can’t– everything hurts.”

His hand went to stroke your hair as he shushed you, realising that you still couldn’t speak properly. “It’s okay, princess. It’s okay.“

“Who the fuck are you? Let me handle her.”

“Lay your hand on her and I’ll fucking break it. ” Charles pushed the guy away, sending him tumbling back. “Can you stand up? Y/N, hey, look at me. I need you to stand up. Can you do that for me?”

Charles patted you on your cheeks when he saw you were spacing out, your eyes getting droopy. “Fuck it.” He went from crouching to kneeling down as he wrapped his arms around your back and your knees, standing up and your head was leaning against his neck.

“Head hurts. My– stomach.” Your words became a mumble against his skin as you were falling asleep and he leaned his cheek against your forehead, trying to reassure you.

“I know, Y/N. I know.” He took your phone and bag, hanging it on his arm before trying to walk out from the bathroom.

“Y/N–“

“Go fuck yourself.” Charles pushed the guy by his elbow, causing him to crash against the sink. “I’m not done with you yet.”

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When you woke up, you were in an oversized shirt, Charles’s shirt. Your skin didn’t feel moist from all those skincare and makeup products and you had a gel-cooling pad on your forehead. Your head was still throbbing but it was better than what you felt last night.

“Y/N?” Your turned your body to the back, facing the door of the bedroom and saw Charles walked in. “No, no. Just lay down.” He straighten his arms to halt you from sitting up and he crouched down by your side of the bed so he could meet your eyes. He the. caressed the side of your face, letting his hand so stay cupping on your cheek as he gently stroked the temple of your head. “You scared me a lot. Does your head still hurt?” The warmth of his hand, the comfort of his gaze, the reassuring smile could pull you back to sleep. Long gone all the insecurity and perilous feelings from yesterday. You felt sheltered and secured just from his touch. The touch that you had been yearning.

“No, not anymore.” You smiled at him back taking his hand in yours and brushed your lips on the palm. “What’s wrong with your hand?” You frowned and trailed the cuts on his knuckles, stopping when you see him grimaced.

“I got into a fight. It’s nothing, princess.” You haven’t heard the nickname for the longest time ever but it still gave you butterfly.

“A fight? With who?”

“No one. It’s not important.”

“Can you lay down with me?” You saw he blinked, looking at you as if he was asking you to repeat the words.

“Is it– is it okay? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“Please?” Charles gqve in when he saw your look, almost pleading and stood up to get on the bed. You scooted closer, your head finding its way to its home, against his chest as you felt his fingers playing with your hair.

“Why did you do it?” Charles asked, breaking the silence in the room.

“Do what?”

“The date. Why did you go on a date?”

“I–“ You drew in a breath. “I was trying to move on from you.”

“Why?” His hand is now on your back and you felt your shirt tugged a little as if he was trying to snake his hand under it but held himself and went back to stroke your back, hand against your shirt.

“Because I miss you.” You fixed your head on his chest, your legs are all tangled up with his.

He didn’t say anything else and you felt like you were chagrined, feeling rejected, even slightly ashamed for being too blunt with your feelings. You knew you shouldn’t have said that. He probably had been talking to someone else by now.

“I miss you too.”

“Hm?” You tilted your head when you heard his voice cut all the thoughts in your head.

“I actually miss you a lot, princess.” He looked down and beamed when he met your eyes on him.

“But you don’t look like it.” You muttered, making him chuckle.

“What do you mean?”

“Your Instagram, it doesn’t look our break up effect you.” He chuckled even more and leaned his head against your hair. Your voice was so full of diffidence he found it adorable.

“My Instagram doesn’t speak for my feelings, silly. I miss you, a lot. I always wanted to call you but I couldn’t, scared if you would find it annoying. When I got a call from you last night, I thought you were gonna said something, anything about us but I heard you whimpered and my blood ran cold. God knows how many speeding and disobey sign traffic tickets I have gotten by now.”

You giggled and turned yourself facing him, your hands fondled with his chin, feeling the stubble poked against your skin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even know I was calling you. I didn’t want to call you, actually because I wasn’t sure if you would come because, you know, we broke up.”

“We broke up but you are still important to me, Y/N. You always will. I would even take the damn flight if you called me from a different country. Just– don’t call me when you are on a date. No, no more date for you.”

“Why? How am I able to move on if I can’t go on a date, Charles. I can’t keep on crying over you.” You shook your head, looking dejected. You needed to move on. That was what Y/F/N had been telling you. You couldn’t keep on hoping for something that you, yourself didn’t even know if it was worth the wait.

“You don’t have to move on. I’ll be taking you out on your next date. And your next next date. And your upcoming date. All of your dates, basically.”

You sat up almost instantly, hand was still on his chest and you blinked. “What? What do you mean? Are you doing this just because you felt bad for what happened to me last night because if that was the reason, then it’s totally fine. I–“

You felt his lips on yours. It was the kind of kiss that was enough to speak for all of the unspoken words to which he didn’t even have to say anything else. The kind of kiss that erased all your insecurities, all unanswered questions you had been keeping in your head. He pulled away and leaned his forehead against yours. “It means I still love you, princess.” His lips is back on yours as he pulled away, again. “A lot.” Lips were back to mould against yours. “And I don’t want to see you go out on a date with someone else. No more silly date, okay?”

✧.* tags! @i83andrew @cltrlne @karmabyfernando @ohthemisssery @ru-kru @tastebaldwin @f1obessed @aundercover @love4lando

let me know if you would like to be removed or added to my tag list! or if I missed anyone!

Wanted to also point these out. The other symptoms mentioned were difficulty to speak and slurring words, hence why none of the words she said made any sense. Feeling confused, where the reader asked Alan to bring her home and memory loss, where she didn’t ask about what happened last night since she couldn’t remember large sections of it. Hope it makes sense! 🫶🏻

[dykedvonte]

i ADORE how you describe benny! why do you think he slept with the courier AND left without killing them the morning after? i know the game designers had to have that happen but with almost every other option (unless you're able to convince him you'll stay away) ending with him attempting to kill you, i don't see why he wouldn't at what could be a perfect opportunity.

Benny is not at messy and petty as people portray him.

His “cowardly” or stupid actions are really pragmatic when you actually take the time to think about them from his point of view instead of “Omg he’s so goofy what a loser this is obviously a discussion a loser makes.” Before I get to sleeping with Benny I think explaining his other weird moves helps.

The first is by far him waiting for you to wake up before shooting you in the head. It’s an odd thing to do as it holds him up, gives you a glimpse of your attackers and doesn’t match the less than noble things he does like abandoning the Khans and how he took care of the singer in the all roads comic. But it makes sense. Benny has a rather strong sense of personal morals, skewed and contradictory as they are.

If it is a detriment to him and the Chairmen he becomes cold and calculated, he will leave you for dead or make sure you can’t get to him or them. It’s why he tries to kill you at first, per your contract you will hunt him down and that is very bad for a man trying to be discreet. But you seeing his face? Him apologizing about you being in the middle? He expected you to die, to never be found and in a way he puts your loose end to rest. He buries you in one of the few places that is specifically for a dead body. Benny doesn’t want unnecessary collateral and what he deems necessary/unnecessary really just depends of how he accesses you as a risk. It’s the same reason he leaves Emily Ortal alive. It’s very unlikely a Follower is gonna stop a plan for an independent strip even if they’ve been cheated.

It’s why he leaves the Khans. He already dislikes them but the Khans are still raiders/tribals like him and the other casino families. A rose by any other name and all that. Even if they made it and he paid they have such incriminating evidence against him that he’d never be able to stand up to them if they decided to hang it over his head. Yeah he’s making more unnecessary enemies but in his mind it’s that or having another very real threat over his plans.

Benny makes these assessments very quickly. It’s not that you’re some silver tongued charmer when you get him alone but that he genuinely thinks it’s better at this point to keep you alive and get you on his side than kill you. Of course, this is if you can convince him of that and not have him set a trap for you. When you sleep with him he basically thinks you’re fucked in the head, outside of the two bullets he put in there, and more curious and vengeful. It’s quick fun and he dips after because whether you mean to help him or not he’s now on crunch time as it’s impossible House won’t notice his Courier showing up sans one platinum chip.

Most of Benny’s actions towards other people is dictated by if he sees them as a liability. It’s very odd to think deeply about because it clashes with the cool cat persona Benny puts on but it’s very in line with his raider/tribal roots he keeps trying to erase. He gets vulnerable and drops the acts and gets with the Courier because there was no perceived threat, it’s like how Caesar invites you to the Fort even if you like are vilified thinking you’d just like listen.

It’s less the sensible thing to do and more the comfort of your playing field and not feeling threatened in the moment.

[sentientgolfball]

you and i share a dangerous obsession with phantom its dangerous!!! anyways may i request a hurt/comfort type of scenario. everywhere i look its just phantom angst and being excluded from the ghoul pack so why not contribute to this trend!!!!!

reader is out in the woods taking a stroll when they're suddenly charged at by a dog but hearing their scream, phantom comes in and chases the dog away. reader and phantom havent had much interaction with one another given how badly the ghoul pack shoves him away and when reader realizes this, they take him back to their room where they ease phantom with affection and phantom basically MELTS

hes being given more attention by a human than his pack :[

sorry for the lengthy request!!!

Never apologize for a lengthy request ! I hope you like this one I kinda made it a mutual hurt/comfort. Everyone gets to be sad and everyone gets a hug

My requests are open !

The crunching of the leaves underfoot comes to an abrupt halt. You stop and slowly scan the wilderness surrounding you. It’s green and lush, teeming with life and the sweet smells of blooming wildflowers. The whole forest is cast in a golden glow as the setting sun pours through the foliage. You close your eyes and throw your head back and let out a deep sigh that’s been stuck in you all day. You feel the prick of tears in the corners of your eyes but you will yourself not to let them gather. You were out here to feel better, not worse. 

You really don’t know what got to you, but for the past few days you’ve felt like absolute shit. You didn’t understand it, everything was going pretty good in your life you knew that. You got promoted to lead your job at the Ministry, you’ve made a cluster of new friends from the influx of Siblings, and you still maintained close ties with your friends who volunteered to go to different branches. But something struck you every so often. Normally you had enough around you to distract you, but one night one off handed comment that was meant to be more of a joke than anything made something within you bubble. You tried so hard to make it go away, to not focus on it, to rationalize with yourself but you just couldn’t. It put you in a slump for the whole weekend. You had to force yourself to chip away at the project you were tasked with. You had to force yourself to shower. You didn’t have enough left in you to do your laundry or clean your space by the end of the day. You needed to get lost in something that wasn’t your mind. That’s what led you out into the middle of the woods. You remember something about nature being good for mental health. 

You walked for a while, stopping every so often to take a picture of a mushroom or leaf that stood out to you. When the forest got darker you decided it was time to head back to the Ministry, you didn’t feel much better but you couldn’t stay outside forever. You started walking back the way you came letting your feet drag on. You really didn’t want to have to return to the real world, but you knew you had to. You continued a bit farther before stopping. 

Didn’t I already pass that stump?

You take out your phone to check your pictures only to realize it had died. How did you not realize it was so low before coming out into the middle of the woods? You cursed and looked around in an attempt to get your bearings, but it was only getting dark as the sun sank before the horizon. You felt sick as the realization that you were lost starts to sink into your mind. You looked in each direction briefly considering picking a path and following it, but it would do you no good. Everything looked the same in the fading light and it made you disoriented. You hang your head in defeat and try to convince yourself that sleeping outside for one night wouldn’t be so bad. 

Well…at least it can’t get any worse. 

You should’ve kept your thoughts to yourself. You hear a howl in the distance and you freeze, tensing. You forgot about the hellhounds. How could you forget about the hellhounds.

 To be fair, the hounds only appeared at night to act as guards for Ministry grounds and you typically were not out and about after dinner. The issue now, though, is you have no idea what to do. If the hounds catch you you’re definitely dead. If you stay put they’ll find you easily. If you run they’ll chase the scent and you’ll just get more lost. 

You don’t have a lot of time to think before you hear a twig snap. You whip around to find the source and see two red pinhole eyes creeping out from the brush. It’s growling low, drool dripping from its maw. It snaps its teeth and you feel your heart pound in your ears. You slowly start to back up from it before your back hits a tree. You stare wide eyed at the beast and send a quick prayer that whatever it does will be quick and painless. You see the way its hind legs shift and you know it’s rearing back to pounce. You screw your eyes shut and hope for the best when you hear its growl turn into a full bark. You wait for the burn of claws and teeth…and you wait. 

When the tearing of flesh doesn’t come you crack open your eyes to see a soft purple glow and a tail waving side to side. You watch the hellhound creep closer to the figure, sniff it, and then turn and dart into the bush it first came out of. The second it’s gone the glow disappears and the ghoul hunches over with his hands on his knees. 

“Lord’s below that was terrible. The puppies are so cute I don’t understand how they grow into that.” 

“Uhh…”

“Oh!” He turns around suddenly “Are you alright? It didn’t bite you did it? Oh what am I thinking if it did you wouldn’t be standing here.” 

You stare at the ghoul in front of you. The left half of his face is cracked with lichtenberg figure scars that dip below the neckline of his top. His eyes are mismatched, one the typical color for quintessence, the other looks almost hollow with the pupil glowing faintly. He has a shock of white in his hair that perfectly lines up with the end of one of the branches of his scars. But all that isn’t what catches your attention. No, what you notice is the very obvious streaks of dried tears on his cheeks. 

“Yeah…yeah I’m okay. Uh are you?” 

“Hm? Oh yea! The hellhounds won’t attack ghouls. We smell like the Infernal to them.” 

“That’s not” you pause and shake your head “You’re Phantom right? One of the new papal ghouls?” 

His posture goes rigid when you say this but he nods anyway. He asks for your name and you give it to him and you are suddenly very aware of the tension in the air. After a moment he clears his throat. 

“If you don’t mind me asking…why are in the woods? I thought humans couldn’t survive outside for long.”

You almost wanted to laugh at the statement. The way he said it was filled with such genuine curiosity it made your heart warm. But then you remembered why you were out there and your face fell again. His scars seemed to pulse dimly with light and the ghoul suddenly looked panicked. 

“No, I'm sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad by that I was just—“ 

You shake your head “No it’s not anything you did Phantom. I just…had a rough couple of days. Needed somewhere to go.” 

His eyes scan over you for a moment before he wraps himself in a hug, tail curling around his leg. 

“Yeah I…I don’t know much about humans, but I think I know exactly what you’re talking about.” 

“Oh yeah?” 

You look up at him and your heart breaks when you see just how small he looks. You tentatively reach towards him and you’re taken aback by how quickly he jumps into you. You freeze for a second not really sure what to do with a ghoul wrapped around you. You know ghouls are pack creatures so this is normal behavior. You slowly bring your arms up and around him, patting his back softly. That seems to do the trick as you feel his tail wrap loosely around your leg. You shudder feeling a zap of quintessence ripple through you. He pulls back just enough to look at you. He looks like he got punched in the gut. 

“I can make that go away. It’ll be easy and you’ll be happy again.” 

“What?” You say astonished before mentally slapping yourself. Quintessence ghouls can sense emotion, and in rare cases read minds. 

“Just let me make someone happy please.” He sounds desperate, almost afraid. 

“Phantom you can’t…make me happy. Well okay technically yes you can, but that’s magic. It’s going to change what’s wrong.” 

He hesitates “What is wrong?” 

You stare at him for what feels like an eternity before sighing and untangling yourself from him. You slump down against a tree and close your eyes, resting your head against the trunk. A quick smile flashes onto your face when you feel him sit next to you, tail now twining around your arm. You open your eyes and turn to look at him. Something about the way he looks at you makes you feel safe, seen. You feel your throat burn and you cough before you begin to explain what’s been causing you so much grief. 

You were lonely. 

“I know it must be such a silly thing for me to complain about…especially to a ghoul.” You say finishing out your tangent. 

“No,” he whispers, shaking his head “No I get it..”

You look up from where you had been playing with his fingers and gasp seeing the tears welling in his eyes. 

“Phantom what’s—“ 

You were cut off by him pulling you into another hug, but this one was filled with something deep. 

“Why do they all hate me? I didn’t ask for this! I try so hard to be everything they need so maybe they’ll keep me around.”

“Phantom?” 

“But they don’t! They always pair off and I’m the odd one out every time! I know they’d rather have Aether. I’m not stupid, but why won’t they just give me a chance?” 

“Phantom.” 

“I know I’m just a waste of resources to them. I know none of them would bat an eye if I just disappeared.”

“Phantom!” 

He stops and stares at you wide eyed, tears running down his face. You gently reach out and hold his cheek in your hand. He melts into the touch as a sob wracks his body. 

“I want you here.”

“But…we just met. Why do you care? Why would you want me?” 

“I could ask you the same. You came to help me without even knowing my name.”

He sniffs “I wasn’t gonna just let you get ripped to little fleshy bits.” 

You cringe a little at his choice of words but continue “I don’t know the full extent of what’s going on but…it sounds like you could use someone to help fend off those bad thoughts.” 

“Like a friend?” 

“Yeah” you smile “Like a friend. We can be alone together. How about that?” 

“I think I need that.” 

You pull him into you and let him lay his head on your chest. You two sit like that for a long time, silently bathing in each other’s presence. You let a few more tears fall from your eyes. For the little ghoul that was so shunned by his pack he had to find comfort in a human who barely knew him. For yourself who had so many people around them but still felt this hole deep inside of your soul. For both of you who found each other. 

You run a hand through his hair when you hear the softest of purrs vibrate through him. It sounds a bit scratchy at first, but soon it turns into an even rumble. You gently shake him.

“Hey it’s getting cold…we should probably find our way back inside.” 

“Oh” his ears droop “Yeah you’re probably right.” 

“Do you wanna…would you maybe wanna stay with me for the night.” 

He instantly perks up “Really? I mean I would love to. I yes I would yes.” 

You both stand and he leads the way once you explain to him that you actually have no idea where you’re at. You take over, though, once into the Ministry. You both curl up under your mound of blankets and spend the rest of the night going back and forth about the things that plague your mind, about the stupid things that make you smile, about each other until you fall into a deep sleep feeling content with the weight next to you, but also the weight that disappeared from your shoulders.

Maybe being alone wasn't so bad if it led you to him.

[brahmsthirdracket]

another little fic from bits of ancient and unfinished google docs - baby lando and max f

2008 

“Hey bug,” Jon doesn’t need to look up from where he’s holding Oli’s kart steady to sense Lando’s presence, “You okay?”

Lando’s quiet for long enough that Jon does look up then, takes in his small, damp figure, the way he’s fiddling with the zip on his jacket.

Jon straightens up.

“You didn’t wanna hang out with those kids?” He can see them through the driving rain on the other side of the car park, roughhousing under one of the other marquees. 

Lando shakes his head, leans his whole body against Jon’s in an unspoken request for comfort. Jon pulls him in for a cuddle.

“Well you can help me then, yeah? Teach me how to be a mechanic?”

He doesn’t let go until he feels a nod against his chest, and Lando blinks up at him with a weak smile.

For all that Lando follows Jon around like a lost puppy in the garage, once he’s pulled his helmet on, it’s all business. Jon’s not sure he’ll ever get used to how fucking good the kid is. 

On the ferry back to Portsmouth Lando trots after Jon out onto the wet, windy deck instead of whacking the buttons on the fruit machines in the lounge with the other kids. 

The deck is practically deserted this time of year, the other passengers taking refuge in cheap pints and chips laced in salt and vinegar. 

They huddle into their raincoats and lean against the railing. Lando’s got the little green frog sporting a striped Breton shirt and beret that had Jon fished out of the bargain bin in the onboard duty free and shoved over the counter with a Snickers and pack of smokes. Lando’s whole face had scrunched up in surprised joy when Jon handed it to him with a Nice work this weekend.

He watches now as Lando gives it a little kiss and tucks it carefully down the front of his raincoat with its froggy face sticking up over the zip. It’s strange, Jon supposes, an adored child of a multimillionaire, in raptures over a cheap toy.

They lean against the railing in companionable silence, content to let the thrum of the ship’s engine and the fine mist of drizzle wash over them.

“Jon?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you be with me forever?”

Jon looks down at him, at his sweet, earnest face, half-hidden by his hood and the frog. His eyes are the same colour as the churning sea and sky.

Jon, shrugs, doesn’t say Until I get a better job than performance coaching nine-year olds. 

“S’long as you need me, bug.”  

“Cool,” says Lando. He turns his face up into the rain and closes his eyes. “We’re gonna win a World Championship then.”

2009 

True to his word, Jon drives down to Glastonbury for the first weekend of the offseason. He sets off while it’s still dark; stops for fuel and bitter, petrol-station coffee that he downs in two, burning gulps somewhere near Dudley, and turns off the M5 just as the sun is coming up over the rolling Somerset hills. 

It’s only been a month or so since he last saw Lando, but it still feels like something’s shifted since Jon started uni. He wonders, again, if he’s out of mind for agreeing to this, agreeing to miss out on Friday nights at the SU and lazy, hungover mornings with bacon sandwiches and embarrassing pictures. The friendships he’s made still feel new, tentative and he knows that none of them understand why he’s missing parties and intramural football to babysit some kid at karting races. 

He doesn’t say that he could work at Spoons and JD and do the night shift at fucking Asda and he still wouldn’t make the money Adam’s offering him to do this. 

He also doesn’t say that it’s not some kid, it’s Lando and he’s going to win a World Championship someday. 

The last few miles through the patchwork green Somerset countryside, the dew still glistening in the patchwork fields and the spires of sleepy villages, somehow feel like coming home. 

The gravel crunches under his wheels as he turns down the wide, poplar-lined driveway. His mum’s Kia feels small and grubby parked next to a Range Rover with brand-new ‘09 plates. He’s half-in, half-out, hastily shovelling the accumulated debris of protein shake bottles, t-shirts and overdue library books onto the backseat, when something small careers into him from behind. 

“Jon!” Lando squeals, vibrating with anticipation and probably sugary cereal. “I missed you!” He’s run out into the driveway barefoot in what must be his little sister’s dressing gown.

“Me too, bug,” Jon says, scooping him up easily. Lando winds his arms around Jon’s neck and keeps up a constant stream of chatter in his ear. 

The kitchen is as warm and noisy as Jon remembers. He sets Lando down onto a countertop, so he can shake hands with his parents. He gives his sisters high-fives and Oli a fist bump; drops down to scratch the elderly retriever behind the ears.

Over tea, toast and scrambled eggs from the family chickens, Adam spreads out a meticulous printed calendar across the table. 

Lando wedges himself in between them, puts his elbow in the butter dish and beams at Jon. 

“You’re gonna be here like, every weekend. How cool is that?”

They talk logistics for most of the morning: new season regulations, upgrades, race calendars and training schedules. Jon’s not sure if he feels sorry for Lando and Oli or envious. It’s not much of a childhood, but perhaps if he’d spent more time doing interval training as a 12 year old, and less time watching Top Gear reruns and eating Monster Munch, he’d be doing something better with his life.

They don’t seem any the worse for it. They show Jon the new Scalextric set up in their playroom and Oli roundly thrashes him at Guitar Hero. 

Lando for his part, provides a running stream of helpful commentary from the arm of the sofa: “You’re like, okay, Jon, well actually you’re kind of slow but you’re trying so hard!”, until Jon decides that Adam is probably paying him for more than Wii golf and drags them both up onto the hills for a bike ride. 

2010

RFM brings a gruelling European schedule, a truly obscene technical and logistical setup and the stocky, baby-faced son of two stockbrokers who’d apparently dominated the Asian circuits. Max is the same age as Lando, curly-haired and just as weird.  

Max is also very good. 

Jon watches them make shy eyes at each other from across the garage for the best part of a morning before he loses patience. 

“Go and play with him,” he tells Lando, who’s making a nuisance of himself under Jon’s feet, and sends him off in Max’s direction with a gentle shove and a football he has no idea what to do with. 

Max turns out to be steady and gentle foil to Lando’s jittery hyperactivity, and by the time they arrive at Genk for the first race of the season, they’ve sporting Lando Norris friendship stickers on their helmets and Jon has to make actual conversation with adults. 

Inseparable as they are, it’s easier than not for Jon to take Max under his wing as well: to get them racing up and down the tiny hotel pools and endless corridors, to wrangle them under a single big umbrella during rain delays, to tuck them into bed together with Wallace and Gromit on Max’s portable DVD player.

“Night, half pints,” Jon murmurs when he comes in to turn off the light. They’re already fast asleep, little hands entwined on top of the covers.

[crappymixtape]

i hate you ( not )

REQUEST → anonymous, 500 FOLLOWER CELEBRATION ❝ love a good enemies to lovers smutty fic – anything works, just lots of sarcasm and name calling to build up the tension • 18+ | ( 3.6k – a nice lil mountain of angst that rolls down into a big ol’ valley of smut, steve x reader )

I H A T E Y O U ( N O T ) 🎶 dopamine, julius black

“Are you seriously following me right now?” you didn’t even bother looking over your shoulder as you shouted over the crunch of Steve’s shoes in the gravel behind you trying to catch up.

He was fucking impossible. Always finding a way to get under your skin. Telling you the way you stocked the shelves at Family Video was wrong. Making fun of your beater of a car. Chewing his chips so loudly in the break room you thought it’d make you go certifiably insane. Always obnoxious, but easily dealt with til now. When he’d gone too far.

A party down at the quarry. Too much beer and smoke and haze and the crack of the bonfire against the inky black sky. You were trying to talk to a boy you’d run into at the store, a cute boy. One that didn’t smack his lips or slurp his soda. One that didn’t look at you like you were the bane of his existence and it had been going so well for once.

Had been.

Until Steve.

“Yeah, they’re so fucking good live. Maybe I can take you next time they’re in town?”

“I’d love that,” your stomach flipped over, grin pulling at the corners of your lips as Liam looked down at you through his dark curls. Smiled at you warm and soft. Eyes deep and green, like the trees along the fence line at night and god, it was just nice to be treated like this for once.

“You don’t even like them,” Steve’s voice cut in as he stepped up next to you beer in hand, and your cheeks burned. Bright red, embarrassed and angry.

Liam looked over at Steve, confusion pinching between his brows and then glanced down at you.

“Oh, I thought you said–”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” you insisted, turning your back to Steve and trying your best to smile up at Liam, but the warmth on his face had faded.

“Okay,” Liam said, drawing out the vowel. Drinking the rest of his beer he tossed the can into the fire and jammed his hands into his pockets, “Well. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Wait! A-are you leaving? You just got here,” you protested, trying not to sound desperate. Liam was so sweet and all you wanted for once was just to have a nice time, but he was already turning to walk back up the hill.

“Yeah, sorry. I gotta be up early for work. I’ll call you,” he said, but you knew he wouldn’t as he forced a smile. Gave you a small half wave before heading across the gravel of the quarry and up to his truck.

“But–don’t you want to–” you stopped yourself short knowing it was useless. Steve chuckled behind you and you felt heat rise in your chest again.

Eyes squeezing shut and hands balled into fists, your nails pressed half moons into your palms as you spun back around to Steve. The glare you gave him wiped the grin right off his face and his lips twisted into a scowl.

“What?” he asked stupidly and you huffed a sound of disbelief.

“What d’you mean, what?” you shot back, taking a few steps toward him, “You just fucked that up for me. On purpose!”

“I did you a favor, that guy’s an idiot,” Steve grumbled and you laughed then. A hollow, humorless one that pushed itself from your lungs.

“You’re a real dick, Harrington,” you said, stepping up to him in defiance and he crowded down over you. Looked at you like a challenge. Eyes lit up bright in the firelight. Melted caramel. Amber. Whiskey and honey and you didn’t shy away from it.

“Oh, yeah? Well you’re no ray of sunshine, princess,” he was close enough now you could feel his breath warm over your cheek and the air grew thick, too hot, and it had nothing to do with the summer heat or the fire.

“Asshole,” you half whispered, using what little resolve you had left to tear away from him and stalk up the same hill Liam had toward your car, leaving Steve behind in a lurch.

You could hear gravel crunching behind you, the slip and slide of rock on rock punctuated by Steve’s sharp breaths.

“Are you seriously following me right now?”

“Yeah, if you just–Jesus Christ–slow down!” Steve’s feet skidded as he nearly tripped, but you kept going, digging in your purse for your keys.

You didn’t want to stay, didn’t want to hear whatever bullshit excuse he had loaded. You couldn’t. Not without ripping into him. Fumbling your key in your hand you jammed it into the lock just as Steve caught up, hands on his hips as he sucked in gasps of air.

“C’mon. Can you just–can you just gimme a minute?” he asked, out of breath and tone edging on pleading, but you resisted turning around.

“Why the hell would I do that?” you asked against your car door.

“Shit, princess. D’you really hate me that much?” his tone was even softer this time and you shook your head.

“Only as much as you hate me,” you snapped.

Finally getting the lock undone, you tried to wrench the door open, but Steve’s hand stopped you. Pressed into yours and kept it shut.

“God, what’s your problem?” you turned to hurl daggers at him, but the words died in your throat when you realized just how close he was.

Toes bumping into yours, hair falling all messy across his forehead, chest still heaving with the effort of jogging up the hill and everything blurred. Dizzy and spinning and even though you hadn’t been the one running, you couldn’t catch your breath.

“I don’t have one,” he said voice low and you felt your lips fall open at the way it made your stomach twist.

The anger that had settled in your chest shifting into something else. Something that felt dangerous. Swallowing thick you tried to shake your head, shake him, and you pulled your hand away from his.

“Sure seems like it,” you mumbled, mouth firmed in a line, trying so hard to stand your ground.

His brows pinched together. A mixture of frustration, uncertainty. Struggling to put words to the feelings that were squeezing in his chest, just as conflicted as you were. He looked at you through the long sweep of his lashes, eyes searching yours and bit at the inside of his cheek.

He thought he’d been in love with you the minute you walked into Family Video. Wearing your cut off jeans and an old baggy Hawkins High basketball jersey. Hair pulled up away from your face so that he could see the soft curve of your shoulders, the baby hairs that curled at the nape of your neck. You looked grumpy, frustrated, and the frown twisting across your lips drove him crazy. So did the heat in your tone as you talked to Keith, telling him you wanted was ‘a stupid job’ to pay for your ‘stupid bills’ and god if he didn’t feel stupid for staring.

There was no way you didn’t have a boyfriend. You were too hot. Too funny and sharp and cool. Hell, even if you didn’t have a boyfriend he figured there was no way he’d have a chance, so he did what he always did. Acted like he didn’t care. Needled you, pestered you, got under your skin. Got a little mean with it, but he hadn’t expected it to backfire. Hadn’t expected you play back and fuck if it didn’t make it worse.

Took to calling you Princess because he loved the way you glared at him.

Ate half your lunch just so he had an excuse to walk you across the street for a bag of chips.

Said you did things wrong just so you’d shove at him, tell him ‘if he was so good at it why didn’t he show you?’

And when he finally figured out you were single he felt like he’d fucked up. Like he’d taken it too far and there was no way he could be what he really wanted to be for you. No way to tell you how badly he wanted to take you out. How badly he wanted to treat you right. Hold your hand and call you baby.

Hey, baby.

How much he wished he could press his lips into yours and see if you tasted all sweet and tart at the same time. Sour on the outside, sugar on the inside. How he wanted to run his hands up your legs, feel you under him, tell you things that’d pull sweet sounds from your lips, but now you were here at this stupid party. Now there was Liam and he couldn’t help it.

Anything to keep him away from you and now he felt like he was answering for everything.

“See?” you insisted at his hesitation, huffing a sigh and turning back into your car, but Steve grabbed at your hand and spun you around again.

“S’not you!” he said a little too loud, cheeks burning with his admission and he bit his lips between his teeth, “It’s everybody else.”

Your face shifted skeptical, a little cynical, but he was so damn close. Too close and you tried to pull in a breath. Tried to hold onto your anger, but it slipped through your fingers like water. Scattered like wishes on a breeze as the scent of his cologne made you go all hazy. The look in his eyes pouring into you like kerosene on a fire. Made you want to grab fistfuls of his shirt in your hands and feel the full weight of him on you and–

“I don’t see what that’s gotta do with me,” you sniped, trying to keep your tone short, but it came out softer and he took the opportunity and ran with it.

“Everything, actually,” his lips tugged up into a small sheepish smile, but dropped again as he realized there was more to say. “I know I’m a dick–”

“You think?” you cut in and he leveled you with a look.

“Thanks,” he muttered and it pulled a little grin from you, but the next thing he said wiped it off your face, “M’sorry,” and your stomach flipped over at the way he was looking at you. “I just…I wish it were me,” he said, lifting a hand to your cheek and tucking a few stray locks of hair behind your ear.

Wish it were me. Your heart was racing.

“Wish what was you?” you whispered. Afraid to hear the answer. Holding your breath as he leaned in. Nose nearly brushing over your cheek. Close enough to kiss you if he wanted and god did you want him to.

“The one askin’ you out,” he whispered back and it struck you silent.

How was that possible? He was awful. Annoying and irritating and obnoxious and now he was telling you he wanted to ask you out?

“So ask me, Harrington,” you murmured and watched as his brows lifted in surprise, lips parted into a little ‘o’ as his brain raced to catch up.

“Wai–what?” he stumbled over his words and you pressed a hand to his chest.

“Ask me,” you said again and he huffed a laugh, tongue jammed into his cheek as he looked back down at you.

“Okay,” he managed, licking over his lips as he gathered himself back up, “C-Can I take you out?”

“Mmhm,” you murmured, nerves giving way to confidence and you pulled him down into you a little closer. Pressed your lips against his ear and whispered, “Kiss me.” And it nearly knocked him over.

Pulling away you looked up at him, whispered his name like a question and it blew his pupils wide. Dark at the center and fringed in gold and it was enough to make him lean back down. Soft and tentative at first, but bolder and braver when you sighed into him.

An exhale. A release. A realization of what you’d wanted this whole time and it made you grab his shirt in your hands, tilting your head to deepen the kiss and the sounds you pulled from each other were greedy.

More more more.

Hands splaying out over his chest you slid them up his shoulders and into his hair, pulling it lightly as his tongue licked into you and the moan he loosed made you press your thighs together.

“Shit,” he hissed, fingers pressing into the plush of your hips, mouth dragging hot down your neck and across your collarbone. Kisses messy and slipping on your skin and god you needed him. “Christ, princess, you drive me crazy,” he admitted and you grinned, all smug and holding the upper hand, but then he slotted a leg between your thighs and you lost it.

You felt like you couldn’t breathe. Felt like he was the only thing keeping you from falling away and it made you hold onto him tighter. You could still hear the laughter and the music down at the bonfire, but it sounded so far away. Both of you hidden in the thick, indigo shadows that fell out under the stand of trees, dark enough to not care what you were about to ask.

“Steve,” you pulled away just enough to speak and he stopped, both of you panting short breaths into the space between you.

“Sorry, can slow down if you want–”

“No–shit–” you squeezed your eyes shut to focus, “Don’t stop.” Swallowing thick you opened your eyes again and looked right up at him, “Just get in.”

Hands slipping against your car you fumbled to open the door to the backseat and half shoved him in before piling in after. When you closed it behind you the small space was suddenly filled with the sounds of your breaths. Quick and nervous and anticipating.

Steve sat on the bench, just as anxious as you were, and watched with heavy lidded eyes as you climbed over him. Straddled him with a leg on either side. Your dress hitching up and bunching at your hips and all he could do was grab onto your thighs for dear life. Pressing a hand into the seat behind his head you bit your lip between your teeth and pulled in a steadying breath.

“Here,” you whispered, taking one of his hands and sliding it between your legs. Making him feel the heat that had pooled there, showing him what he was doing to you and he groaned. A filthy sound that fell from his lips as he pressed his fingers against your soaked panties.

“Fuck,” he rasped, already wrecked from feeling how wet you were. “Okayokayokay. So fuckin’ hot, babe. Shit,” nonsense fell from his lips and you had half a mind to laugh at him, but his fingers were pulling your panties aside and touching you not your panties and it pulled a gasp from you.

At the sound his eyes darted up to look at you, make sure you were okay and you put your hand back over his. Moving his fingers in slow circles as they slipped against your slick.

“Like that?” he asked eyes still on you, keeping up the motion as your hand fell away.

You tried to say yes, but it melted into another moan and he leaned in to press a kiss to your neck. Mouth open and messy. Licking against the softness of your skin and sucking a bruise on it.

“Tell me,” he said into the hollow behind your ear, trailing kisses as he went, your hips rocking against his fingers as his circles grew tighter and faster.

“Like that–ye–yeah–yes. God, don’t stop,” you stuttered over your words hands moving to grip onto his shoulders as he slipped first one then two fingers inside of you.

He filled you up better than you could at home, your cheek pressed into your pillow, tears welling up in your eyes in frustration as you struggled to reach the spot you wanted. The hot drag of him sliding in and out in and out made you see white, made your tighten your hold on him and as you loosed another moan he bucked up into you.

You could feel how hard he was through his jeans against the bare skin of your thigh and it only made you want him more. “Steve,” you leaned forward and pressed your forehead to his, “Please tell me you have a condom.”

His fingers stopped moving and he loosed a heavy sigh, swallowing down the nerves that had pushed themselves into his throat. “Yeah, course, lemme just–” lifting his hips, and you, from the seat he yanked his wallet out of his back pocket.

He had stopped carrying them around after high school. Felt like it was fucking juvenile, but one time after Steve had watched you leave work, put his returns in the wrong spot and upside down, Robin had thrown one across the store at him. “Here, dingus,” she’d grumbled, “Don’t be an idiot.” And he’d been so embarrassed, afraid to tell her he didn’t think he’d ever need it, but he silently thanked her now. Always saving his ass.

Gently nudging you back into the headrests on the front seats he put his wallet down and fumbled his fingers against the button on his jeans. He was hard as a rock and when he undid his zipper it sprang out without any encouragement.

You couldn’t take your eyes off him as he ripped the foil of the condom wrapper between his teeth and thumb. Of course he drove you crazy at work, but you couldn’t deny you’d thought about him when you were alone in your room. Touching yourself beneath the sheets. Fantasizing about what it would be like and now that you were seeing it for real your heart hammered in your chest, legs slipping together as you grew wetter by the second.

He wrapped a hand around his length pumping once, twice, three times before rolling the condom down from tip to root and looking back up at you.

“Y’okay?” he asked, hands moving to hold onto your hips and you realized how ridiculous you must’ve looked.

“Mmhm,” you murmured and let him pull you slowly back into his lap.

“Gotta tell me if you aren’t,” he whispered and you nodded as he gave you a little smile, brushed your hair out of your face and looked just a little longer. “So pretty,” he said softly, words lighting a fire in your chest, and you pressed a kiss to him again. Sucking on his bottom lip and letting it go with a dirty pop and he thought he was going to come right there on the spot. “Sh–shit, okayokay,” he breathed, pressing his tip against your entrance, hesitating just a little and you helped him the rest of the way, pushing down slowly.

You watched as he filled you up, stretched you out until he was buried deep inside you, the tight fit making you squirm over him.

“Ohhh god, so tight, feel so good babe, Christ,” he rambled and you chuckled a little until he hit the soft, squishy spot at the back of you and you moaned loudly. Fell forward onto his chest and rolled your hips forward, silently begging him to move as if he could do anything else. “I got you,” he promised.

Hands gripping your hips again he slowly turned and lowered you down, your back against the seat bench, his arms on either side of you to hold himself up. Murmured soft, dirty things under his breath as he crowded over you, started rocking his hips into you, the wet sounds of you filling up the car.

“Wish you’d asked me sooner,” you whined, wrapping your legs around his waist and he gave you a smug little smile.

“Yeah? Worth the wait?” he asked, breath hitching in his throat as he picked up the pace, fronts of his thighs slapping against the backs of yours.

“Shut up,” you gasped as he bottomed out inside of you. Tangling your fingers into his hair you pulled and it dragged a groan from him as he started to fuck you faster. Slipping a hand between your legs you drew tight, messy circles over your clit, pushing yourself closer and closer to the edge. “Ste–shit. Steve, harder,” you practically begged and the pleading tone in your voice sent him.

“Harder,” he said back, it was all he could muster, wrecked and chest heaving with each breath he sucked in, fucking into you with heavy thrusts, “M’so close.”

Opening your mouth a so close almost fell from your lips too, but the coil in your stomach had been so tightly wound that the combination of your fingers over your clit and Steve finally made it snap.

You clenched tight around him as you both rode out your climax. Head pressed against the seat and eyes rolling back to look out the window at the stars. The moon as it hung lazy in the sky. Steve spilling sweet words of praise into your ears and bringing you back down to earth. Wrapping you up soft and warm in his voice.

He rested his forehead against yours, both of your brows dewy with sweat, and let out a contented sigh as he softened inside you.

“Wish I’d asked you sooner too,” he murmured, poking fun at himself with your words from earlier and you leaned up to press a kiss to the corner of his lips.

“Worth the wait,” you finally agreed and he grinned.

God damn, was it worth the wait.

crappymixtape™ • steve harrington masterlist // stranger things masterlist

[theaawalker]

Sparks & Sprinkles [Kim P. + Ramona F.]

Pairing: Kim Pines + Ramona Flowers (fluff) Song Inspo: SugarCrash! by ElyOtto Word Count: 1,126 Summary: Kim Pine and Ramona Flowers have a girl's day out: defeating ninjas, eating frozen yogurt, and not talking about Scott Pilgrim. Warnings: violence, use of "slut", mentions of cigarettes Masterlist: see fandoms (pc-friendly)

Sometimes Kim Pine wonders why she even gets out of bed in the morning. She hates her roommate, Hollie (cheating slut), she has the lamest job in the world (yes,sir, we keep those sorts of DVDs in the back, behind the Transformers display), and the one decent thing in her world, playing drums in the band (We are Sex-Bomb-omb!) has ground to an amazing halt because they are "recording."

She just wants to spend a little time with her best friend's surprisingly cool ex-girlfriend Ramona Flowers (soon-to-be-not-ex if he can pull up his pants and woman up) before they have to meet up with Scott later. A day at the yogurt shop sounded just right. Just Kim & Ramona.

Of course, a gang of ninjas wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

Really, jeez, she thinks as she twirls a drumstick around her finger and pokes one of the ninjas in the eye (ZING!), while punching another with a gloved fist (THUNK!) -- is it too much to wish for a bonus level every once in a while, instead of always having to fight toward the big boss at the end?

Ramona obviously feels the same way. Her hair flies back as she scissor-kicks her opponent with a booted foot.

(KPOW!)

"All!" She spins and slices at another in the throat.

(HURK!)

"I!" She cartwheels over to snag a tray.

(WHIRL!)

"Want!" She smacks a girl ninja full-face.

(SLAM!)

"Is!" The girl stumbles back to crash into one of the red plastic tables.

(CRUNCH!)

"A frozen yogurt!"

Kim elbows the last one in the mouth, and he crumples. The ninjas flash like seizure-inducing strobe lights and then disappear. A shower of prize coins hits the table where they left their winter coats. There is a smattering of applause from the other patrons, and then they all go back to their desserts.

Just another day in Kim Pine's Annoying Little Life.

Ramona swipes a hand across her sweaty brow and nonchalantly brushes herself off. Then she walks over to their table and picks up one of the glittering coins. "You want this?" she asks Kim. "I just got paid, so..."

"Yeah, okay." Kim slides the coins off into her hand and then into her pocket. (KACHING! Kim Pine gets $15.79 and 10 exp. points!) No need to go advertising it, but she could use a little extra. Kim jerks her head toward the register. "I'll go get the yogurts. What do you want?"

"They got anything tequila-flavored?" Ramona drawls.

Kim barks a laugh. "You should put in a comment card."

"Then whatever. You choose for me."

"Vanilla, no toppings," Kim says, deadpan. "Don't want the gummy bears to clash with your hair."

Ramona smiles, twirling one pink-dyed lock between her fingers. She gets Kim's sense of humor, unlike Hollie (two-faced slut). "Nice." Ramona says, feigning a lack of sarcasm. "And so thoughtful."

Matching Ramona's sincerity with a bright little nod, Kim slides up to the counter. "One small white chocolate with chocolate chips, and one small vanilla..." She steals a glance at Ramona, who is staring blankly out the yogurt shop window. It's funny. Even with her bright pink hair, Ramona almost seems to fade into the crowd with some unspoken sadness. "...with strawberries."

"Got it." The guy at the register types in the order and then looks pointedly over at the overturned tables to the left.

"What." She gives him a glare. No one picks up at No-Account Video when there's a brawl in the family section except her.

He backs down and shrugs. "Two yogurts, coming right up."

Kim turns her back and doesn't bother to watch him make them. She plays it cool, waiting until he's got the little cup under the noisy yogurt-spewing machine to say, "And don't even think of spitting in them." She doesn't even ruin the effect by turning around again to catch his bewildered, guilty look.

Instead, she watches Ramona.

She's mysterious (Kim likes that), cool under pressure (Kim would give her prize Zildjian to be as cool as Ramona) and fun. Kim doesn't know if it's just the way New Yorkers act, but Kim really enjoys her touch of American badassness in this way-too-Canadian city.

When the yogurts are done, she brings them to the table and sits. Ramona takes her spoon without comment on the strawberries, and digs in, still lost in her own thoughts.

Kim wants to get Ramona out of this sudden funk, but she can't come up with a decent topic of conversation. "Um..." she starts, wincing inwardly. "You... make any interesting deliveries lately?" Then she winces outwardly.

"Huh?" Ramona says, coming out of her daze. "Interesting deliveries? Oh... no, nothing really."

"Still, it's gotta be more interesting than working in a video store." Kim exaggerates a yawn, her plastic spoon hanging from her mouth.

"All right..." Ramona leans forward. "Last month... I almost lit one of my packages on fire with a cigarette."

Kim almost chokes on her spoon. "HAHAHA! How?"

"Guess I shouldn't try to make deliveries the morning after one of Julie's stupid theme parties." She takes another bite of her yogurt. "Too hungover to do two things at once."

"Oh, man, I wish I'd been there to see it...!"

As she's laughing, she sees another freakin' ninja sneak in the side door out of sight of Ramona. Kim prepares to jump up and take him down, but Ramona's hand slips quietly into her purse, and withdraws her giant mallet from the subspace pocket.

With a whirling leap, she smashes the mallet down (THOOM!), just missing the ninja. He jumps over the top of the weapon, sailing above their heads. Kim tries to tackle him to the floor, but Ramona's mallet doubles back and hits the ninja's spine with a satisfying CRACK! He explodes into multi-colored coruscating fireworks.

(LEVEL COMPLETED, 500 bonus points!)

Ramona calmly stuffs the mallet back in her purse. "I almost didn't get that one."

"C'mon," Kim says, completely serious. "You're Ramona Flowers."

The corner of Ramona's mouth turns up. "Guess so."

"Hey, you wanna get some coffee?" Kim asks, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Sure," Ramona says, blowing at a curling strand of pink in her face. "I think we've reached our ninja quotient for the day."

They push their way out of the yogurt shop into the biting winter wind. Kim smiles as the cold starts to numb her ears. Maybe Scott will forget all about this stupid meeting she's secretly bringing Ramona to (he doesn't deserve Ramona, anyway).

She wouldn't mind at all.

• ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ • ♧ •

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[mouthfullofmunson]

i’m begging for more pest eddie and pest reader because they’re so funny

Omg thank you so much 😞

Here is some more just for you :)

Okay okay so they are very lovey dovey, but they are obviously pests so any cute moment between then usually turns into something stupid

Eddie wiping her tears while she’s crying and all of a sudden “your fingers smell like cigarettes so bad have you ever washed your hands in your whole entire life?”

And when he fingers her and she gets close to cumming “Jesus Christ could you moan any louder directly in my ear? There is no way a few fingers can feel that good.”

And if he laughs at one of her jokes a little too hard “nothing I say is never that funny” but then she starts laughing at his wheezing (I’m guilty of doing that one 😔)

I don’t know if I said this already but if they get on each others nerves too bad they will bite each other, hard

He goes on complaining about something for too long, bite on the arm

If she gives him the silent treatment, a bite on the neck

And she LOVESSSS to lie and say Wayne is mad at him or Wayne asked him to do something

“Oh my god Eddie what happened I just got in and before Wayne left for work he told me that he’s not speaking to you?!”

“What?! He said that just now? I don’t think o did anything… all we talked about today is how I finished this huge drawing of this dragon, it was super cool he even helped me tack it up on my wall since I can never get it up straight.”

“You’re so stupid! You should’ve seen your face! You looked terrified!”

“You’re the worst girlfriend ever!”

And she also makes up the most random lies to tell the group just so they ask him about it and then he gets all panicked and confused and then he remembers that his girlfriend is a little shit who does this stuff for her own entertainment

“Y/n told me about your problem and I just want you to know I’m here for you man. You know… I have no problem with that, but if you need to talk in here” Steve says while giving Eddie a little pat on the back

“What? What problem?”

“You know… down there”

“What?!”

“Dude she told me you can’t get hard because you used to jerk off too much”

And he does the same but he fucked up so he makes up the most disgusting lies

“Yeah she can’t give head because she’s got a terrible gag reflex and if she does well… you know. And no one wants to clean that up”

“No I do not! You’re the one who threw up trying to eat a fudgsicle yesterday!”

he wants to constantly tickle her because he knows that she hates it and can’t handle more than two seconds

Anytime he’s talking about something that is boring to her (but she knows it won’t hurt his feelings) she fakes falling asleep and then jolts up “oh my god Eddie, I just had a fucking nightmare that you were talking to me about the most boring shit… wait…”

And he is so the type to pants her

She’ll be brushing her teeth and he yanks her shorts down and runs off

And when they are just chilling in bed and he’s eating he will all of a sudden shove a mouthful of chips into his mouth and start loudly crunching them in her ear

And when she’s irritated with him he with grabs her face and start kissing all over her face “oh baby, forgive me! I didn’t mean to break your heart! It was a mistake, a one time thing! It didn’t mean any! I didn’t mean to pants you infront of Steve and Robin!”

“It wasn’t infront of Steve and Robin it was infront of everyone at family video!”

“Okay so it was in front of them because they are included in ‘everyone’…”

OKAY THATS ALL THE THOUGHTS I HAVE I LOVE YOU THANK YOU SM

:)

[crow-stars]

☙Feathers, (Not) My Friend❧

Summary: Some people like the Prefect. Others... do not. (a.k.a People who don't like/hate crow!yuu)

ওthe ghosts whisper..

ওgonna start tagging my writing stuff as ✎haunted books✎ cause i really wanna try leaning into my theme a bit more. also, i apologize if any dialogue feels strange for idia, i don't write for him often. enjoy!

Ruggie Bucchi

✧ Oh

✧ Oh...

✧ Ruggie hates the Prefect

✧ With such a burning passion too

✧ It’s reasonable (in his eyes)

✧ Let me explain why

✧ Ruggie is a hyena beastman, a scavenger 

✧ He hates letting food go to waste and makes sure to not waste a drop

✧ He also likes his food staying his food, unless he gets a little something out of it

✧ Did you know that crows are scavengers too?

✧ So when Ruggie dropped his half eaten sandwich, went to pick it up, and it got swiftly taken and eaten? And no less by the Prefect?

✧ He was not happy. At all

✧ From then on, it’s been like a silent rivalry between him and the Prefect, defensive over their own goods and protecting it from the other while also trying to get the other’s stuff

✧ Ruggie hates the Prefect

☙✧❧

Ruggie felt lucky to have been able to swindle a meal out of some unlucky freshman. Another bite of the warm sandwich had Ruggie humming happily in satisfaction. The crunch of the vegetables with the meat made for a nice texture too, smiling at the taste. 

“Grim! Give it back!” 

“Mehehe! Only if you catch me!”

Oh great, the freshmen. Ruggie sighed as he stepped to the edge of the walkway, not wanting to bother with the noisy freshies bumping into him while he’s eating. 

Unfortunately, Grim, being the annoyance he is, decided a serpentine method was better to escape Ace and ended up crashing into Ruggie’s legs quite hard. Luckily, Ruggie only stumbled a bit, Grim continuing to run off with Ace passing by soon after. 

Ruggie dusted off his uniform quickly, groaning once spotting his precious meal on the floor. “Ugh...” He was quick to go and reach down for the sandwich, wanting to get back to eating and on his way to his next task. 

A swift hand suddenly reached down, swiping his food away before he could register it. The Savannaclaw student could feel himself freeze, but only for a second, whipping his head to see who would dare steal his meal. 

The only person he could see was the Prefect, running after Ace and Grim, but the scent of his former meal followed the human. Ruggie could feel his ears press against his head, annoyance curling in his chest. 

That Prefect did not just do what he think they did. 

And then, then, they look back at him, the evidence clear with his sandwich stuffed into their mouth.

How, dare they. Ruggie could feel a rare growl bubble in his throat, slipping past his lips. That Prefect was definitely someone Ruggie did not like now. 

Azul Ashengrotto

✧ Azul is a businessman, he values his hard work and his business

✧ So when someone starts interfering with his business, he doesn’t take it too kindly

✧ The first few times it was reported that pieces of the decor seemed to have been damaged, Azul took it as some wear and tear from age and ordered new decorations

✧ However, when the same thing happened a week later, Azul got suspicious 

✧ And the increased visits by the prefect didn’t help either

✧ So Azul resolved to do a little investigation, just to be sure on his hunch

✧ He was thankful when the culprit was caught and to say he was surprised would be a lie

☙✧❧

Azul had finally captured the perpetrator for the constant vandalism at the Mostro Lounge, having been caught by Floyd and now trapped under the eel’s arm. He stared at the one and only inhabitant of Ramshackle, lips pressed into a thin, displeased line. 

“Prefect, would you like to explain yourself?” 

There was a beat of silence, with the Octavinelle housewarden and Ramshackle Prefect staring silently at one another. In the Prefect’s hands, gripped tightly in their palm, a chipped off piece of the faux gems on the railing. After a few beats of silence, the Prefect shook their head. 

“No, not really.” 

Azul sighed and leaned forward in a small attempt to take the fragment back, but was swiftly met with an angry hiss, with the Prefect leaning back as best as they could in protest. He sighed again, heavier this time, pinching the bridge of his nose. How tiring.

“Prefect, you know you’re going to have to pay for the broken furniture, right?”

The Prefect only huffs, holding the broken off piece tighter. A mumbled ‘mine!’ slipped from their pouted lips, eyes glaring at Azul harshly, daring him to try and take it again. The Octavinelle housewarden knew better, though. 

Azul has to resist the urge to groan into his gloved hands. Both Jade and Floyd, though, seem endlessly amused by the Prefect’s stubbornness against Azul’s waning patience, both twins grinning from the start of this confrontation. Oh how Azul wished to wipe those annoying grins off their faces. 

With a sigh, Azul just shakes his head and motions for Floyd to leave the room, leaning against his hand. 

“Throw them out Floyd.”

“Alrighty! C’mon Shrimpy, let’s go!” 

Azul pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched them leave. Seven, he hopes the Prefect won’t bother him much.

Jamil Viper

✧ Jamil has a lot of things on his plate

✧ First off, he has Kalim to look after

✧ Second, he has his own business to deal with, like basketball and being vice housewarden

✧ And now, he has to watch out for the Prefect

✧ By this point, the Prefect’s ‘habits’ are quite known throughout the school and Jamil isn’t interested one bit

✧ And Kalim’s welcoming and coddling attitude towards the Prefect isn’t helping at all

✧ At least 5-7 times a week, Jamil has to participate in some stupid scavenger hunt to find the Prefect because Kalim had decided to give it to them again because “they wanted it!” 

✧ And when he does find them, it’s a fight to pry it from the Prefect’s stubborn hands

✧ Jamil doesn’t want to even get started on the storage room incident

☙✧❧

Another party was being thrown at Scarabia, this time for the Prefect at Kalim’s insistence. Thankfully, the party was going well so far, the Prefect staying perfectly by Kalim’s side, busy trying to reel Grim in at all the food laid out on the table.

Jamil felt like he could take a very brief reprieve. That was his first and only mistake. 

When he went to the kitchen to retrieve another plate of food, he found a great lack of the Prefect, Grim eating hastily at any food he could get his paws on, and Kalim dining by himself with a smile. 

Jamil almost dropped the plate in panic, taking long strides towards his housewarden. 

“Kalim?!” The called student looked up, smiling at Jamil. “Kalim, where is the Prefect?” 

“Oh!” Kalim pointed towards the halls of Scarabia, giving Jamil an attempt at a reassuring smile. “They said they wanted to go to the bathroom. I’m sure they’ll be back soon.” 

He resisted the urge to groan, only letting out a quiet huff through his nostrils. “Alright.” Jamil still stayed standing, attentive and awaiting the Prefect’s return, assuming they’d be back in a minute. 

Well, a minute soon turned to five, and five turned to ten. Jamil felt his eyes wander to the outside, sharp eyes catching the storeroom door open with golden light leaking out. He could feel his nerves jump, giving Kalim a quick order to stay right exactly where he was as he went to check on (more like retrieve) the Prefect. 

Jamil didn’t feel like he was going down the stairs quick enough, but managed to get down and to the storeroom just in time to see the Prefect curiously looking at a ruby in wonder, gasping in delight at the sight of the jewel. 

“Put that down immediately!” 

The Prefect whipped their head to the vice housewarden, glaring at him as they clutched the jewel close to their chest tightly. The ensuing confrontation consisted of Jamil chasing the Prefect around the storeroom. After all those Over Blot incidents, they had become quite nimble in dodging, all leading to them scrambling out of the storeroom with the gem still in possession. 

Jamil resisted the urge to scream, resolving to just dig his fingernails into his palms, glaring harshly at the Prefect when he returned inside.

Never again is he letting the Prefect into Scarabia. Never.

Vil Schoenheit

✧ Vil Schoenheit is basically the epitome of beauty

✧ He focuses on bettering himself almost everyday, wanting to be better than he was before

✧ Vil also is one to use other things to enhance his beauty

✧ Using makeup, face creams, nail polish, anything that can truly make him shine

✧ Unfortunately, in this universe, to shine is not something you want in this NRC

✧ Vil’s first ‘introduction’ to the Prefect was the incident on the spire, one of the curious onlookers who were baffled at how a magicless human was able to climb that high without assist

✧ He eventually left, having club business to attend to, but that incident always floated in the back of his mind

✧ Vil’s second introduction to the Prefect was more up close and personal, but not in the way you would think

✧ Imagine more like a cat that had gotten too fussy and decided to ruthlessly latch onto the face of their next unfortunate victim

✧ Except the cat is a magicless human and the victim is a famous actor and housewarden who just so happened to be trying on some very pretty costume jewelry

☙✧❧

Vil hummed lightly as he inspected the costume jewelry, wanting its quality to be as good as it looked. Rook was at the other corner of the room, unboxing the faux jewels and other fake props. The grand windows were opened wide to let in some natural sunlight and the light gust of wind. The cool air felt pleasant as it swirled around the room. 

“Roi de Poison, what is your opinion on the props?” 

Vil hummed lightly, taking another look at them. “I think I’ll try these on to get a feel of them.” 

Rook clapped his hands together, giving his housewarden a wide smile. “Of course! It’s only natural you would wish for a feel on them.” 

The Pomefiore housewarden only nodded in response, preparing a line-up of jewelry to try on. “While I’m doing this, go find Epel and bring him here so I won’t be waiting long for him once I’m ready for his lessons.” 

“Of course, Roi De Poison.” 

Vil could barely hear Rook leave, the only indication of his departure being the click of the door shutting closed. 

“Can I try on the pretty gems now?” 

It seems that the Prefect was finally tired of staying silent in the ballroom, glaring at Vil. He could almost laugh, shaking his head at such a question. Trying on a piece of the costume jewelry, Vil looked at the Prefect through the mirror. 

“No, you can not.” 

There was an annoyed huff and Vil chuckled softly, smirking as he tried on more jewelry. He could see them glaring softly at him through the mirror, glare hardening as more jewelry was tried on. 

Vil was a bit at fault, though, teasingly jangling the faux jewelry at the Prefect. 

Apparently, though, one can only take so much teasing before one snaps. And, apparently, to the Prefect, snapping meant jumping at Vil with every ounce of rage they could manage. 

A strangled yell left Vil’s lips as he was attacked by the Prefect, little nails scratching at the actor’s face as he was attacked by an angry prefect. 

“Mon dieuー Trickster!”

Rook’s voice broke through the yelling and screeching from Vil and the Prefect, prying them from his housewarden’s face. Epel, in the meanwhile, was no help at all, instead laughing at Vil’s misfortune. 

The Prefect was banned from Pomefiore, or at the very least whenever Vil was present in the dorm.

Idia Shroud

✧ Idia is not the biggest fan of the Prefect

✧ He’s seen them on the school cameras, the antics, the screeching, the annoyance all together

✧ The Ignihyde housewarden doesn’t want anything to do with the Prefect 

✧ He feels lucky that he basically never leaves his room, it’s a huge advantage for him

✧ Except in times when he has to leave

✧ It all feels a bit like a stealth mission to Idia, though

✧ Checking the cameras, finding out where the Prefect is and avoiding that area, making sure that they don't spot him

✧ It makes going to the terrible outside fun, but only a little bit

✧ But the one time he forgot to check the cams...

✧ That was a day that Idia would never forget

☙✧❧

The soft green lighting from the flames and the gentle blue from his hair was good enough lighting for Idia as he made his way to the vending machines. The halls were completely empty, it was in the middle of the night after all, and it was the perfect time for a snack run. 

The target was in sight, the vending machine filled with the items needed. Idia grinned as he approached the machine, getting his money out to get his desired snacks. It shined with golden light, the housewarden humming the tune from one of his games as he inserted the bills into the slot. 

A small noise stopped him, though, like a footstep against the tile floors. It made Idia freeze up, pausing to swerve his head around. 

There was nothing. Or at least nothing he could see. It still made him nervous though, chills running over his pale skin as he slowly turned back to the vending machine. 

This felt like the start of a horror movie chase sequence and Idia was not in the condition to participate in something like that. 

“Eep!”

The same sound echoed through the empty halls again, this time paired with what sounded like scuttling. It only made the thoughts in Idia’s mind worsen, horrible scenarios playing through his head. His citrine eyes darted impatiently to the vending machine, still trying to spit out his desired goods. 

“Damn old tech...” Idia felt his hair flare a bit in annoyance, bidding the machine to work faster so he wouldn’t have to suffer out here in the dangerous outdoors. 

This was when it happened, when the monster in the shadows pounced on the poor, unsuspecting student, clawing at his hair as he screamed. 

The next morning, there were rumors about a ghost last night, many having heard a haunting screech echo through the halls. And meanwhile, Idia sat in his room, an icepack to his head, a frown set on his blue tinted lips. 

He was listening to the students chatter about the night before, feeling glad that he was in no way physically with those people. 

What had actually happened, to Idia’s dismay, was that there was another person in the halls that night, someone who had taken a particular liking to his brightly illuminated hair and decided to try getting some for themself. The ensuing scuffle, well more like Idia screaming bloody murder and his hair was violently tugged on, resulted in the housewarden’s injury. 

He should have just gotten Ortho to get his snacks. 

Sebek Zigvolt

✧ Malleus is a strong mage, one of the top five in Twisted Wonderland, and Sebek admires his future king greatly

✧ But why must the young master be so lenient and forgiving to the rowdy Prefect?! 

✧ Sebek has tried, tried, to understand that human

✧ (Though he’s honestly not sure the Prefect is even human with how they act) 

✧ But no matter how much Sebek tries to reason, understand, or talks with Lilia about it, he just can’t wrap his head around it all

✧ The Prefect is so loud and obnoxious! Always being a disturbance in class time

✧ They’re always taking Malleus magic pen as well! That in itself should be a crime! ✧ Sebek loathes having to retrieve it back because that means he’ll have to do: the chase

☙✧❧

Students were blessed with the daily sound of Sebek’s loud demands, two sets of shoes pounding against the tiles as they pushed and weaved through the student crowds. 

One was more polite, or at least nimble with weaving through the crowds, hands held close to their chest as they ran. The other was the loud one, one who had a general disregard for the people around him as he focused on his only goal, which was to reach the first.

“Get back here, human! You shouldn’t be in possession of the Young Master’s pen!” 

The Prefect had the audacity to look back and stick their tongue out at him. “Tsunotarou gave me permission!”

Sebek could almost scoff at such a blatant lie. Even if it wasn’t, no human should even touch the Young Master’s possessions! The fae could feel annoyance already bubbling in his chest, ready to pop and burst into strong words, ready to be launched at the Prefect once he caught them.

They turned to the left, cutting the corner and running towards the courtyard. Sebek was quick to follow, barreling down the hallway and almost toppling over a few students. They yell at him, taking the Diasomnia student to be more careful, but he could care not one bit. 

He was almost there, almost catching up, almost to the Prefect and...

“AHA!”

There was a pitiful squeak as Sebek snatched the scruff of the Prefect’s shirt, yanking them back and snatching the pen from their grasp. There was a satisfied smile curled onto the student’s lips, teasingly swaying the pen in front of the Prefect where they couldn’t reach. They were being held by Sebek like a misbehaving cat, hanging a few inches from the ground helplessly.

He chuckled, watching the Prefect squirm. “It’s amusing how a small human like you thought you could outrun a fae.” Sebek poked at the Prefect, still smiling. “And now you’re helpless in my grasp.”

Apparently, though, they weren’t helpless enough to not spit at Sebek, hitting his eye and making him drop them. With this opportunity, they fled, running off into the school as Sebek shouted at such a gross act.

He dreaded when he’d have to do this all over again.

wooo! done with this finally! i started this on... november 8th and it's the 23rd now, aha... anyway, i hope you enjoyed this and read it all the way through. now it's time to take another month to complete the next one and that one has eight characters... wish me luck!

☆ ～('▽^人)

[keaalu]

WIP - ‘Kestrel Kestrel’

So apparently “WIP Wednesday” is a thing? Like I need any excuses to dump incomplete ficbits on the internet.

----

Still feeling sore and muzzy, with 55 lurking quietly next to her, monitoring her vital signs, she’d only been human again for thirty seven minutes but Kate was already on her third plate of sandwiches, crunching her way through Spacehawk’s entire stock of crispy snacks. 101 looked alarmed by how quickly his inventory was dropping but wasn’t hesitating at bringing more when she looked at him in a specific way.

“Growing a whole new skeleton really takes it out of you,” she said, accepting the offering when the zeroid trundled over pushing yet another packet of crisps towards her.

“That’s our last pack of those,” 101 informed her, trying but not quite able to keep all the reproach from his tone. “So if you need anything else you’ll need to pick something different. Like broccoli.”

“Sorry, hon.” She suspected it had probably been Hiro’s favourites she’d been happily munching her way through, if the zeroid’s manner was anything to go by. “I’ll send some more up on your next supply run.”

He chirped an acknowledgement and seemed mollified, for the moment.

“I guess it must have felt a bit like this when you got your body back after Zelda turned you into a cube, huh?” she wondered.

“Oh I don’t think my experience was anywhere near as bad as yours, ma’am,” he demurred. “Mine was more like… maybe just a very unflattering new set of clothes.”

Kate patted him on the head, anyway. “I bet it still sucked. And at least you weren’t a were-cube,” she joked, and winced.

“And it didn’t involve a trash compactor,” he agreed, and gave her fingers a bump. “Would you like a coffee? I just heard it finish brewing.”

“That would be amazing. Thank you.”

He squeaked another little nonverbal agreement, and rolled away to get it. (She wondered if she could get away with asking for more sandwiches when he came back.)

“Tea? Oh, yes please,” she heard Hiro say, and looked up to find the lieutenant in the doorway.

“I ate all your chips, so I think I’m in trouble with your little space husband,” Kate apologised, holding the open pack out to him. Even that small action made her shoulders ache. Perhaps she ought to forego more sandwiches in favour of sleeping for a few days.

Hiro smiled and took a single crisp, but otherwise waved her off. “I once told him I particularly liked these, so now he always buys far too many, then pretends they were on offer. Then we have to somehow store four cases of them.” He settled on the floor next to her, cross legged, and nibbled the snack. “I try not to eat them too quickly, because then he panics that we are running out and buys more.” A little sigh. “There are certain nuances to human behaviour that zeroids don’t quite get, yet, and striking a balance between foods we enjoy and sensible nutritional choices appears to be one of them.”

“Well, you have plenty of ‘sensible nutritional choices’ in the form of broccoli, apparently.”

“And why do you think we have plenty of that?” Hiro gave her an arch look, then relented and took another crisp.

“Yeah, I get it.” Kate chuckled, tiredly. “So do you have an update for me?”

“I do. Not much of one, yet, but we wanted to ensure you were kept in the loop.” He held out the tablet for her.

Kate stared at the confusing mosaic of… biopsy images? “What am I looking at?”

He tapped the first image and it enlarged to a graphical representation genetic data. “Initially, when you arrived and we took a skin sample?” At her nod, he went on; “We thought that Zelda must have done something structurally to alter your DNA, but when we analysed it, it was all still human. We could not explain it. How could you be human, but categorically not human, at the same time? So we did a visual scan of your blood sample, instead. And we found… this.” He touched the screen and brought up a new image.

It was some sort of microscopy of a blood film. Kate could recognise red blood cells easily. The irregular, blobby purplish masses were probably white blood cells.

She had no idea what the scattering of angular black flecks were, though.

She felt a set of cold fingers draw up the back of her neck. “The hell are those.”

“We are still working on our analysis, but they look like very small machines of some sort. They have proved hard to extract to get under the electron microscope. Kiljoy is still working on it.”

---

“The black dots.” She let out a breath in a very long exhale. “Can you remove them?”

Hiro’s silence was all she needed to know.

“We will remove them,” he hastily added. “I just don’t know how quickly we can do it, yet.”

“Can you block them?”

“I don’t know.”

“So what you mean is, I could turn back into a bird at literally any moment. Including at the worst possible time. Like… at the controls of an aircraft.”

He took her hand and squeezed her fingers, briefly. “I’m sorry, Kate.”

The two zeroids had both converged on her as well, leaning comfortingly against her.

“It’s okay, guys.” She forced a smile. “I know it’s not your fault. I just… oh, man. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.”

[venus-haze]

I'd be down for more cult!Elvis content at some point... no rush of course :) luv ur stuff

Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoy my writing🖤 The first set of cult leader!Elvis headcanons I did can be found here. I took a different approach with this, though. If you’re looking for more cult leader!Elvis content, @star-shard’s series A Different Kind of Love is incredible.

Cult Leader!Austin!Elvis x Reader

Warnings: Dark themes such as abuse of power, ritual abuse, brainwashing, and emotionally manipulative behavior, which some people may find disturbing or triggering. Implied sexual content which involves coercion. Do not interact if you are under 18 or post ED/thinspo content.

It’s an emotional support group, or something like that you start going to, unable to afford professional therapy, so you opt instead to spend two nights a week sitting in a circle of folding chairs in a high school gym, munching on stale donuts and potato chips as everyone takes turns complaining about their lives 

Elvis, the meeting leader, is quiet, yet intentional with his words, and if it weren’t for the free bitch sessions and crappy snacks, you’d come back week after week just for him. You’re pretty sure most of the other people in the group would too, because every time he opens his mouth to say something, no one fidgets or crunches or glances at the clock–all eyes are on him

When you return home after the meetings, back to your miserable life and your boyfriend who you’re only sure you’re with anymore because neither of you can pay rent on your own, you think back to Elvis. You have his personal phone number, he gave it to you the first night you went to the meeting, telling you that if you needed anything, even just someone to talk to, to give him a call

You could never work up the nerve, though. He must be so busy, so important, your little problems could wait a few days. You got into the habit of writing everything he said down, knowing you must look like some kiss-ass carrying your spiral notebook to and from the meetings, but when you felt low, like nothing would ever go your way, you could turn to what he said for clarity

After you've been going to the meetings for about three months, he asks you to get coffee with him. You feel flattered he wants to meet with you one-on-one, but also worried you may have done something to upset him

Even though he asked you, he wanted you to be there, you couldn’t help but blurt out the second you sat down, “Do you want to be paid for this or something? I feel bad wasting your time”

He smiled, shaking his head, “Y/N, helping people through emotional crises is my gift. That’s a concern of yours, though isn’t it? Your finances?” 

Of course it was, that was almost all you talked about at the meetings, when you weren’t regurgitating the same spiel about how depressed you were and felt like your life was directionless

“Your partner isn’t meeting your needs,” he continued, “taking care of you financially or emotionally. When I gave you my phone number, I meant it when I said to call me”

You feel convicted under his intense gaze, and agree to actually call him whenever you felt the need to, which ends up being often, and the amount of time you spend on the phone with Elvis and the accompanying phone bill becomes another sources of contention between you and your boyfriend, leading to a blow-out fight one night

“If you came to the meetings you’d understand! But you don’t want to understand. You have no idea how much Elvis has helped me”

Your boyfriend argues back, “I’m not a mind-reader, Y/N. If you had said something I would have tried to help. You know that”

“Do I? Elvis said that people who really care about us–” before you can finish your thought, he storms out, and you flinch as the door slams behind him. You and your boyfriend fought a lot, but never to the point where one of you had stormed out before. You feel a pit in your stomach, and almost instinctively move to the phone to call Elvis

He’s at your apartment in fifteen minutes, and suddenly you feel self-conscious about your humble living space. He doesn’t seem to notice, instead he engulfs you in a hug which you welcome as you cry into his shoulder

“He thinks I’ve been cheating on him with you. He says we spend too much time together”

You can’t see the smirk that spreads across his face. He knew he’d be able to get you to crack, but tearing apart your relationship left a satisfying taste in his mouth. Now there was nothing to distract you from him, from reaching your full potential

“You feel like you can’t go to him with your problems. Like right now, he walks out in the middle of you tryin’ to work out an issue, no wonder you turn to someone else for support”

You lift your head, nodding as you sniffle, “You understand everything. It’d be so much easier if–if he were more like you”

That’s all it takes for him to know he has you right where he wants you. He tells you that you shouldn’t be alone, not when you’re so emotionally vulnerable. You pack an overnight bag, gladly accepting his invitation to spend time at his place until things blow over with your boyfriend

Except it doesn’t. You never see your ex-boyfriend or that apartment again after that. As time goes on, more and more of the group members slowly take up residence in Elvis’ house, becoming secretive and insular until you can’t function without Elvis telling you what to do

He cares so much about you, you know he does, even when he twists your own words against you and makes you do things you really don’t want to. He knows best, he hasn’t led you wrong so far, so why doubt him? He set you apart, he picked you first, and as hungry eyes follow his every move, you’re the only one he lets in his bed–if he thinks you deserve it, but you’re always ready and willing to prove you are. Always

Taglist: @eliseinmemphis @crash-and-cure @kittenlittle24 @im-lame-irl​ @loudwombatmugkid​ @rxsesss​ @roseymary04​ @queendelrey​ @jovialladyaurora​ @positivitylane112​ @moonknightswif3​ @holy-minseok​ @datsavageavenger​ @21bruhs​ @luckyevansstan​ @djsjs13949 @butlerslut​ @ash-omalley​ @powerofelvis​ @sad-bisexual-bitch​ @peachy-deaths​ @kibumslatina​ @adoreyouusugar​ @raefoxiegirl @donnamarie23 @ilovehobi101​ @memphis-menace​ @animeketsu-yander​ @phhistheloml @dkayfixates

[kydrogendragon]

Febuwhump - Solitary Confinement

Pairing: None Words: 435 Warning: Character Death Ao3 Link Here

How many days has it been? Christ... maybe it’s been years by now. Feels like it could be years. The worst of it all? Hob doesn’t even know why everyone left in the first place.

He knows they left. The place’s been abandoned, or at least whatever part of the building he’s in was. Now he’s just stuck here. Concrete walls and a one-way glass panel which, if he’s being honest, is the worst of it all. Means he can watch himself slowly deteriorate. At least back in the 1600’s, he could look away whenever he caught his reflection. Now? He gets to wake up to his own derelict face.

Maybe his Stranger’ll come find him. When it’s time for their meeting, that is. That’s gotta be soon, right? Unless he wasn’t actually planning to show up...

But he has to, right? Or at least, he’d probably know if Hob didn’t show up? Yeah… yeah, he just has to wait. Just a little bit longer…

It’s always around this time of day — noon or so, he supposes — that there’s a faint hint of sunlight that creeps under the door to his cage. He’s tried to escape from the door before. There’s nothing in the room to use as leverage or as a weapon save himself. He’d ripped all the fingernails from their beds trying to pry it open some time ago.

Same with the glass. It refuses to budge. He’s thrown himself against it time and time again. Broke some bones doing that. They healed. They always do. Sometimes he wishes they wouldn’t.

There are small chucks of the concrete walls that he’s chipped through. It’s far from food, but the crunch he can get from the few chips is the best sensation he’s felt in a long time. God, he’s hungry. And thirsty.

The lights went out of this place long ago, but there’s still just enough light from around the door to see. Not well, but well enough. Even better now that his eyes have adjusted to the low light for so long. How long will it take for someone to stumble across him here? Even if they did, would they not just cart him off to another research facility? Hopefully one that didn’t plan on getting abandoned anytime soon. They can dissect him and poke and prod him and as long as they feed him, he’d be okay with it.

No one’s coming, are they?

I’m just..... I’m so tired...

I’m sorry, old friend. Wherever you are.

I think I’m ready to die...

“Hello Hob. Let’s get you out of here, yeah?”

[jenyifer]

Dead Friend Forever Ep 5

initial reaction

Omg the flash backs have begun!!! Barcode?! Precious sweet baby who I love and is extra chaotic on insta I have missed thee. What a sweetie.

Okay I’m gonna cut here for spoilers I guess but 🤷🏻‍♀️ let’s do the photo review

Oh so the cult was made up by them too. It’s a set that would make more sense as to why there won’t be a direct road to the temple.

I found the mask man will take a different shape for each person who sees it? Didn’t grab screen shot but I think it was in the pitch meeting

Awww Jin is being super sweet. But bad feels he is just a charismatic bully who is smart and sees Non as a useful tool for him getting to go overseas

Okay so Tee is really being backed in a corner. Doesn’t particularly make sense why he’s so hateful to Non other than Jock mad. Maybe he knows he’s gay cause of non idk. It’s weird. But his plan to have Non take the blame so he can black mail him into opening an account is pretty smart

I really don’t get why we are bashing Non. I guess he’s different. I was bullied too. Just didn’t get the same social queues. Teachers liked me because I’d do a good job then I’d get pushed into things once had a girl crunch a bag of chips then put it in my hair on the way to theater practice because I had gotten a bigger role than hers. But I guess she was afraid of something 🤷🏻‍♀️ people friends with that bully girl also didn’t like me but were more passive aggressive. Ugh I won’t go back to high school if you paid me.

Maybe because he’s poorer than them? Idk but here we see that Fluke knows and like I guessed he was only really friends with Por. Idk how Top gets off on being righteous by killing peeps if he treated Non this way

Jin is trying to help in these two cases I don’t see what he has to gain by standing up for Non and comforting him.

Okay so other killers because as I noticed the masked man looks diff for each of the victims so we have Top kills Por.

Possibly Phee (he could be the heart I mean they were both in kinnporsche together so it would be good for ratings) kills Jin

New (Non’s brother who I assume is going to come back from America and find out what they did to his brother hence the uncle going to jail in the news paper) kills Tee? Or Top?

Fluke is going to kill someone too. Tee or Top

For killer number 5 maybe the Teacher that was sneaking looks at Non? Kills Fluke

Ugh poor baby he is backed into a corner no where to go just wrong place wrong time.

What would I do?

Well…. Tee Id expose his uncle if I was him. Maybe get money as a reward or at least gov support for dad.

Non there is nothing he can do

Jin tell Non how shitty they are and to avoid them.

[dialovers-translations]

Long ask ahead lol but I just got out of a Covid phase, my first time catching it, and my experience with the smell/taste loss was kind of weird. I can tell that everyone experiences the symptoms in a different way and to different degrees, unfortunately nothing is set in stone with this illness.

Personally, I only lost smell/taste on the third day after starting to notice symptoms (in my case, fever and severe body ache came first), and then I couldn't smell nor taste anything, and I noticed when I couldn't notice that my cats' litter needed a change lol. I had a congestion/stuffy nose as well (in fact, I still have it, but less that before), but the loss of smell and taste was absolute for two days before it slowly came back later, with or without congestion. I had a hard time eating w/o taste too, plus the overall sick feeling made me lose some appetite.

The best I can describe my experience is that it was like eating textures. Noodles were some soft slimy texture, crackers were a hard dry one, nothing had any flavor, no matter how much I'd season it. However, here's where it gets weird: I could still feel the kind of flavor they had if it was strong enough, without noticing the flavor itself (?). Like if I ate something salty, like potato chips, I could tell it was salty, as if my taste buds reacted the way they do to very salty flavors. But if it wasn't because I was looking at the potato chip, it didn't taste like potato chip, and it could as well be a teaspoon of salt, because it was the same feeling. No taste, just my taste buds reacting to salt and making my mouth feel like it had salt in it, without tasting the salt. If I seasoned something with salt (or something likely) I felt nothing.

It's similar with sweet flavors. I didn't taste any sweetness, even fruits were tasteless. But I'm guessing that since I love sweets, that's why I could feel my mouth getting more watery at sweet things, although I, myself, had no clue what it actually tasted like. Could be sugar, candy, chocolate, and it was all the same. And again, a soft sweet drink was tasteless. It's like my taste buds were on but muted or at a very low volume, lmao.

And it came back two days later, slowly, and by the next day I was able to smell and taste normally again, although I started having other symptoms instead. Today I fully recovered smell and taste, but I'm still with a small congestion and a cough every now and then, because I'm more short of air than before, and they say it could last some more weeks.

I hope it goes easy on you, make sure to stay hydrated and get lots of rest. I'm guessing that it depends on its severity and viral charge to determine how bad (and how many) the symptoms are, plus previous health conditions and such. But it's still hard to find two people going through it the same way, or recovering at the same pace. Take care and stay safe!

Aah, thank you so much for the input! Your experience is kind of similar to mine in the sense that I had other symptoms before I lost my smell and taste. :3 Knowing that it returned fairly soon is kind of a relief though.

In my case it also isn't as severe to the point where I can't taste or smell anything at all. I just need to really get my nose in there to smell something while otherwise I would be able to smell it from a distance. I can still distinguish tastes as well, but I need to really concentrate and they're not as intense either.

Right now, I've been craving stuff like toasted bread (because of that CRUNCH) and apples because they're juicy, crisp and slightly tart, which is one of the flavors I can still taste best. Also vanilla yoghurt with granola still tastes pretty good too. The yoghurt is refreshing and the granola adds texture so it doesn't feel like eating gloop.

On the flip side...I've always been a wuss when it comes to spicy food so maybe this is my chance to order some Indian or Thai food and actually be able to eat it lol. (Then die from cramps afterwards as IBS kicks my ass)

[geemosses]

The Chef, part 1

I hate it when the workers at a restaurant start to recognize me. Hostess, cashier, waiter, chef, doesn’t matter. As soon as someone at the restaurant starts calling me by name or worse, remembering my order, I bolt, and I find another place.

I think it makes me feel self-conscious. Like yeah, I get it. I eat here all the time. I don’t cook for myself. I eat out way too much. I must be terrible with money because why would anyone spend all that money for a sandwich at the local deli when they could just make one themselves for a fraction of the price?

Well because I’m a terrible cook, that’s why. I don’t know what it is, but no matter how many recipes I find on Google, the deli sandwich always tastes better. Also, I work a lot. I don’t have time to cook for myself even if I wanted to. So, stop judging me.

Anyway, I don’t go to the local deli anymore. The last time I went there, the girl who works the register started ringing up my order the second she saw me walk in the door.

“$12.99,” she said with a smile as I walked up. I did my best to chuckle and muster up an “Oh gee, you caught me,” kind of smile while handing her my credit card. And then I never went back.

It’s been a month since that fateful day. I’ve been surviving mostly on microwavable meals, although sometimes when I’m feeling particularly adventurous, I’ll pick up one those pre-made meal kits that I can just pop in the oven for 15 minutes.

But damn do I miss those sandwiches. The way the bread had just the right amount of crunch as you take that first bite only to have that rough shell give way to a soft and fluffy interior. The way the sauce, a perfect balance between sweet and spicy, coated my tongue and carried those delicious flavors to every corner of my mouth. And the chicken! Oh, the chicken. Some people think chicken is boring. Those people haven’t tried this chicken. It’s coated in spices that I couldn’t even begin to identify but it’s still somehow in perfect harmony with the sauce. And most importantly, it’s never dry!

Surely a month is enough time for a cashier to forget about a customer… right?

So, a month and a day after I had abandoned my favorite deli, I decided I’d risk it and go back. I packed up my work laptop at 6pm on the dot, like I always did, and hopped on the next bus for the 30-minute ride home. The deli was right around the corner from my apartment, so I dropped off my backpack and walked over. My steps slowed a bit as I approached, trying to catch a glimpse through the glass doors of the restaurant. If I could just see if the cashier was the same girl, maybe I could make a last second decision to veer away and continue walking as if I had always been going somewhere else. But the sun at my back was working against me, and all I could see was a bright white glare.

It took a second for my eyes to adjust when I walked inside, but I immediately let out a small sigh of relief when I saw that the cashier was someone totally new. Someone who didn’t know my name and had never taken my order.

The new girl looked up from her phone when she heard the chime of the bell above the door and smiled politely. I weaved my way through the handful of empty tables and chairs towards her. The deli was a popular lunch spot but was almost always empty for dinner, so it was just me and the new girl.

“What can I get you?” she asked.

“One chicken sandwich please. Chips and a soda as well,” I said when I reached her.

“Alright, that will be $12.99 please.”

I paid and grabbed a bag of Doritos and a Coke, then chose a table by the window to sit and wait. The new girl just went back to her phone, not even pretending like she wanted to politely make small talk. Perfect.

Outside, a pair of small dogs had started playing on the sidewalk as their owners had a conversation. They were adorable, jumping on top of each other, wrestling for a few seconds before breaking away from each other to reset. Then they’d start all over again. I was so lost watching them play that I didn’t hear the chef walk up to my table.

“Here’s your sandwich,” he said in a deep but soft voice.

“Oh, uh, thank you…” my voice trailed off as I turned to look at the man holding my order. The man was gorgeous. He was a few inches taller than me and was a bit more muscular as well. Not that I was particularly muscular, but I tried to stay fit. On him though, I could see the definition in his arms and shoulders through his white t-shift. His eyes were a striking blue, the kind that you can’t help but stop and stare at, and his black hair only made his eyes feel deeper.

But what really got me was that smile. It was soft and welcoming. It made me feel safe.

How had I never noticed it before?

“What, do I have something on my face or something?” he asked, lightly brushing his forehead. I must have been staring a little bit too long.

“Uh, no, no, sorry, you just surprised me is all,” I said, clearing my throat and looking away to try and hide the obvious burning in my cheeks.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, since you last stopped by,” he replied.

“You remember me?” I asked. I’d never had a conversation with the chef before. I definitely would have remembered that. Most of the time, all I could even see of him was the back of his head over the grey wall that divided the stove and kitchen area from the rest of the restaurant.

“Yeah,” he said with a smile. That smile that made it seem like all was right in the world. “You used to come in several times a week but then suddenly you just stopped coming. I hope everything was ok?”

Most of the time I would have dismissed his question as boring or polite small talk. People don’t really care how you’re doing when they say, ‘how are you doing’. But somehow, his question felt genuine. Maybe it was those eyes, or maybe it was that disarming smile, but in that moment, I was sure that he really wanted to know if I had been ok in the month since I last visited the deli.

“I was ok, yes. I was just trying to cook for myself a little more often. No matter how hard I tried though, nothing quite compares to your sandwich,” I said with an awkward chuckle. I guess technically everything I said was true. No need to mention my semi-anti-social tendencies.

“Thanks for asking.”

“Of course!” he said. “Well, I hope you don’t wait another month before you come visit again.”

“Definitely not.”

He started to turn to walk away but before I even knew what was happening my hand had shot out and lightly grabbed his arm.

“Uh, sorry. What’s your name?” I asked shyly as he turned back.

“It’s Liam,” he said. His smile grew even wider with what felt like true joy. I couldn’t help but smile an actual, real smile in response.

And when I got back to my apartment, I ate the best damn chicken sandwich I’d ever had in my life.

[homestuckoveranalysis]

Demonstuck episode 1: “Weather Boy”

been a while since i wrote a fanfic and even then it was in an old journal i may or may not have let be lost to time. let’s do this and please go easy on me i’m dummy stupid and i’m still trying to read back to get the characters some degree of familiar.

It’s a quiet day in the house. A young man stands in his room and on this day it is… tuesday.

Your name is John, and you are a freelance demon hunter, which is to say- you sometimes go about and send demons back to wherever they’re from and receive money in the mailbox from an unknown source. It’s a bit sketchy where it’s coming from but less demons means less things killing wayward travelers on cold, lonely nights.

Earlier today your older brother, one Jake Harley, went out on one such demon hunting missions. He tends to be the one to actually go out and fight the ones with solid forms, beit through possession or just existing in a physical way. Often he returns home thoroughly whooped and bruised, but always, always- a toothy grin lazily smeared on his face.

And speaking of such missions, it’s usually around the time your brother would come back to the house… and by that you mean it’s an hour past that.

Maybe you should go find him. He’s probably alright, but it feels like a good idea to check regardless.

You tentatively exit your room and subsequently your house as well, fighting off worries that you’re just getting antsy and that Jake’s fine. At the same time you’ve got worries he won’t get back until midnight, long after the shitty microwave meals you made have gone cold. Kid Cuisine doesn’t taste that great cold, frankly.

The air outside is chilly, as does many an Autumn night up in northern Washington. You live in a typical house, 2 bedrooms, a bath, and also for some ungodly reason- this place’s defining feature is how close it is to rumored demon territories. It’s unclear to you whether it was a good choice for Jake to purchase this place before it got demolished.

But hey. A place is a place, one you’re leaving behind for maybe an hour at most tonight. Gotta find your missing brother, yada yada.

The night is dark, and getting more so every step you take. Thankfully your dinky little flashlight you’ve had since you were 9 is here to guide you. The little decals are long since faded and chipped away, but you can still tell it used to have some lightning mcqueen design on it. Kachow am i right?

It’s quiet outside, not a sound of squirrels clambering up trees, birds chirping love songs to each other, or even the sound of dubiously human footsteps crunching up nearby leaves. Seems ominous but you’ve dealt with spookier stuff.

You continue to walk down the trail that lead out from your house, staying squarely within its borders as if that actually means anything. Honestly it could just be slowing you down, but you continue along the path regardless.

You are now in the thick of it all, the deep part of the forest. This path is likely the only manmade thing in these entire woods, and even then nature is already taking its planty hands and reclaiming it for itself.

You call out for Jake. No immediate response. You call again, even contemplating actually calling the guy. ...

Oh wow you really should have done that before you left, huh...

...

Oh well, you feel like you’re getting close to something, that’s good enough.

One last call into the wild and green, to the wild and green. “Hey, where are you!?” ...

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“!!!”

Chapter Two: ==>