#i go With him because he has the membership that lets him bring a friend

[foxcassius]

i DID start going to the gym w jake again but im just so not about the gym.....if we would go and just ride the bike for 30 mins that would be awesome but the fact that we go to the gym for nearly TWO HOURS every time we go just kills me.....like thats my whole evening.....my whole morning......he does weight stuff for an entire hour before going to do cardio and im like whyyyyyy are we doing all this cant we just do like 4 or 5 machines that cover the majority of the muscles and then get on the bike.....or the stairs....or whateverr.....

[scarletwinterxx]

NCT Mark | New Year's Day

All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2025 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.

(gif not mine, credits to rightful owner)

The clock ticks closer to midnight, and the rooftop hums with a crackling energy that only New Year’s Eve can bring.

Strings of fairy lights dangle above, casting a golden glow over Jaemin's sprawling rooftop garden, the perfect blend of chaos and charm. Your group of four fits neatly into this tiny world—Haechan perched on a rickety deck chair, waving a sparkling cider bottle like it’s champagne; Jaemin leaning against a small table laden with snacks, looking every bit the host he loves to be; and Mark, his hands tucked into his coat pockets, standing so close beside you that your shoulders occasionally bump.

"You know," Haechan starts, gesturing wildly with his cider bottle, "resolutions are capitalist propaganda. They're designed to make you feel bad about yourself so you buy gym memberships you’ll never use."

Jaemin arches a brow. "This coming from the guy who swore he'd start meal prepping last January and never made it past buying one Tupperware set."

"I did meal prep! Once. For a week!"

You snort. "You bought six packs of instant ramen and called it meal prepping."

Haechan gasps, clutching his chest. "Et tu, Brute? Betrayed by my favorite person on the roof!"

"Don't flatter yourself," Mark cuts in, his grin wide. "She’s only here because Jaemin bribed her with brownies."

"You’re here because I guilt-tripped you about missing my last party," Jaemin retorts, smirking.

You laugh, shaking your head as they banter, but you can’t help glancing at Mark out of the corner of your eye. His scarf is loosely wound, and the wind has turned his ears pink, but there’s something about him that’s magnetic tonight—or maybe it’s always been that way, and you’re just finally letting yourself admit it.

“Ten seconds!” Jaemin shouts suddenly, snapping you out of your thoughts.

The crowd erupts into cheers, and a chorus of voices begins counting down.

“Ten!”

Mark shifts closer to you, brushing against your side. You glance up at him, heart beginning to race, but he’s already looking at you.

“Nine!”

Your friends chant along, but their voices sound distant now. Mark’s gaze feels like it’s holding you in place, anchoring you as the world speeds up around you.

“Eight!”

The air feels heavier, charged with something unspoken. His lips part as if he’s about to say something, but nothing comes out.

“Seven!”

“Mark,” you start, unsure what you even mean to say.

“Six!”

“Just trust me,” he murmurs, his voice low and warm.

“Five!”

Your breath catches as he steps in even closer. You feel the weight of Jaemin and Haechan’s stares, but they don’t matter. Not right now.

“Four!”

He leans down slightly, his face inches from yours.

“Three!”

“Is this—?”

“Two!”

“Just go with it,” he says softly, and before you can even think of a reply—

“One!”

Cheers explode around you, firecrackers going off in the distance, but it all fades when Mark wraps his arms around you. It’s not a hurried hug—it’s firm, grounding, and the kind of warm you didn’t know you needed until now.

"Happy New Year," he whispers into your ear, his breath brushing against your cheek.

Before you can say it back, he tilts his head, and suddenly, his lips are on yours.

The kiss is soft, like the way the first snow falls—delicate and almost shy at first, but it deepens quickly, warmth spreading through you in waves.

You hear nothing but the rush of your heartbeat, feel nothing but him, and for a moment, it’s like time itself has stopped.

When he pulls back, his forehead presses against yours, and he’s grinning like an idiot, cheeks flushed from more than just the cold.

"I’ve wanted to do that for ages," he admits, his voice just loud enough for you to hear.

You blink at him, stunned and maybe a little dazed. "You couldn’t have told me sooner?"

His laugh rumbles in his chest, and he hugs you tighter. "Thought you’d figure it out eventually."

"FINALLY!" Haechan yells, breaking the spell. You whirl around, cheeks flaming, to see him dramatically throwing his arms in the air. "We’ve been waiting for this since summer! Honestly, I was starting to lose hope."

Jaemin claps slowly, smirking. "I feel like a proud parent. Or maybe a wedding officiant."

You groan, hiding your face in Mark’s chest. "This is so embarrassing."

Mark laughs, his arms staying firmly around you. "Hey, at least we gave them something to celebrate. Happy New Year, right?"

You peek up at him, your lips curving into a smile despite yourself. "Happy New Year, Mark."

And as the fireworks crackle overhead, you let yourself lean into him, knowing you’ve just stepped into a year you’ll never forget.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello, hi, heya! I noticed something and wanted to share it. So the Pop Music Club only has three members and was in danger of disbanding according to Lilia's ceremonial robes story. Malleus and Jade are the only members of their clubs though so how are they not disbanded yet? Vil was also the only one before Ortho but I think he's in a different category since he clearly has mobs in his club. Your thoughts?

Oh, that’s a good point 🤔 Cater says in Lilia’s Ceremonial Robes vignettes: “We've only got three members and we never do anything. If we don't get more people this year, we're getting disbanded!” He also states that “[…] the headmage has his eye on [the Pop Music Club]” because of their low membership, which implies Crowley is the one that handles club disbandment at NRC.

Unlike Vil’s Film Research Club, there are no mob students with membership to the Gargoyle Appreciation Society or the Mountain Lovers Club. Malleus and Jade are stated to be the sole members of their respective extracurricular organizations… so why doesn’t Crowley bring down the hammer of disbandment on them?

… My guess is that Crowley’s too afraid to piss off Malleus and/or Jade 😂 Malleus is the more obvious threat of the two, being someone of royal status as well as a powerful mage. Being told his club is going bye-bye could upset him and result in… uh, Kentucky Fried Crowley, let’s say.

Jade, while the less obvious threat, is capable of coercion through other means. Remember how Octavinelle collects dirt on people (Jade’s Ceremonial Robes vignettes + book 4) to use it against them? Remember how they put Crowley in a tight bind in book 3 by seizing control of a quarter of NRC’s student population so he would cave to their demands? It’s very possible that Jade could retaliate or figure out something similar to make Crowley’s job more difficult than it has to be. I can see why the headmaster wouldn’t want to get in those two’s time with their hyperfixations.

I think it should also be noted that the other half of what Cater says may also be a factor. Their club doesn’t really do anything but sit around, eat snacks, and talk (which is alluded to in events like A Firelit Sky and various voice lines and vignettes). It’s possible that Crowley is harsher on judging their group because they aren’t really doing anything enriching.

Back to the Pop Music Club for a second! It’s true that they have an influential figure of their own in the ranks: Kalim! Wouldn’t Crowley be afraid of upsetting him? Possibly! The thing about Kalim though is that he’s not spiteful or retaliatory. He’d be sad if his club disbanded, but I don’t see him trying to get back at the headmaster for it. Kalim would be sad for a while and then eventually look for another club to join or try to do something to cheer himself up. After all, Kalim seems to have joined the Pop Music Club moreso to socialize than to play instruments. Maybe he can talk to his friends or arrange another social activity to fill in the space of time after classes.

[back2bluesidex]

✨Membership Exclusive Masterlist✨

Hello, everyone! This is Nika.

This masterlist is specially designed to introduce the membership exclusive stories that I will only be posting on my Patreon page. These stories have nothing to do with the works I have posted here (and I will keep posting here so don't worry) on tumblr, so there is no pressure of subscribing.

But you can join if any of these following stories intrigues you and if you want early access to series chapters, special drabbles and extended teasers. And also, I will be taking requests from my Patreon members. so yeah. that's that.

Thank you if you join and support me there. and if you don't I will be loving you regardless. 💖

Check out my main Masterlist.

Key: A - Angst, F - Fluff, S - SMUT, D - Dark

Kim Namjoon

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

Third Time is a Charm [A, S, F] (Ongoing)

Summary: You met Namjoon thrice in your life. For the first encounter, you were his rival. During the second one, he broke your heart. As for the third time, you let him walk in again even when he brings no promise of healing what he broke. But they say, third time is a charm. Will that stay true in your case too?

Masterlist | Patreon Collection

Drabbles

Nothing yet.

Kim Seokjin

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

Nothing yet.

Drabbles

Nothing yet.

Min Yoongi

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

1. Words That Are Unsaid [A, S, F] [Completed]

Summary: In public eyes Min Yoongi aka Augst D is a member of an award winning Rap Trio, a notorious casanova who is embroiled in at least 4 dating rumors a year and a rude jerk. But to you, Min Yoongi is that pale skinny trainee, who looked out for you, the rookie you befriended beyond business hours, the handsome twenty-something you fell in love with and now your ex, who you still very much in love with. Breaking news is that he despises you, or at least that's what you think.

Masterlist | Patreon Collection

2. Six Degrees of Separation [A, Unrequited love au] (Ongoing)

Summary: Break up hurts but what hurts more is being rejected by the man you have loved for five solid years and losing him and his friendship in one damn night - only for him to show up a year later holding your cousin's hand all ready to tie the knot. Break up hurts but going through all six degrees of separation from the Man who was never yours - hurts a lot more.

Masterlist | Patreon Collection

Drabbles (On members' requests)

Advantage of Kindness [A, F]

Request: Reader being Namjoon’s best friend, coming out of a long term relationship and started to hang out more with him and the members. Yoongi never really got to know her and was always really quiet when around reader. Basically needs help with his son, who’s still a baby while doing idol schedules. But is hesitate when having people around baby. Reader helps as she’s good with kids and yoongi falls for her.

Jung Hoseok

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

Nothing yet.

Drabbles

Nothing yet.

Park Jimin

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

1. Everything's Fair [S, F, A] (Completed)

Summary: Jimin has dated a shit ton of people. He has slept with even more of them, but never once he managed to fall in love. That was until you came into his life and managed to make him go head over heels with just one sight. Umm.. so what if you are his fuck-buddy's new roommate? Everything is fair in love and war.  And Jimin only knows how to win.

Masterlist | Patreon Collection

Drabbles

Nothing yet.

Kim Taehyung

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

Nothing yet.

Drabbles

Nothing yet.

Jeon Jungkook

Oneshots/Twoshots

Nothing yet.

Series

1. From Within [A, F, S] [Completed]

Summary: When you fell in love with Jungkook, you wished for your life to turn out as one of those clichéd fairytales, where two best friends fall for each other and live happily ever after. But were you lucky enough? Probably not because you had to watch the man taking vows, kissing the love of his life and promising forever right before your eyes. Unfortunately enough, now you are having to witness him breaking down bit by bit standing at his wife's funeral.

Masterlist | Patreon Collection

2. To Be Popular [S, Drama] [Ongoing]

Summary: You love everything about social media - apart from the ever-growing number of social media influencers. You don't understand how these people gain followers and admirers just by installing a camera and doing very basic things in front of it. And you despise how some of them can do anything to gain fame, to be popular - even if it includes uploading their bedroom scene in pornsites aka people like Jeon Jungkook. But when your company launches a new product and your department head tasks you with signing Jeon Jungkook up as an endorsement partner - you have no choice but to chase him like the corporate slave that you are. However, things turn worse when you embroil in a dating rumor with him and have to keep the game going for the sake of everything.

Masterlist | Patreon Collection

Drabbles

Nothing yet.

[omgkalyppso]

So I really enjoyed the Orc Heritage Armour questline. After getting into dragonflight and Alexstrasza, Kalecgos and Khadgar kind of acting like they'd never met Borgakh (again), being welcomed and greeted by Thrall / Go'el and his family was so fucking delightful.

I'm going to post the screenshots from the final cutscene first and then a few more things with commentary below the cut.

-

Be warned it's long. You can press J to skip it on desktop if you open and change your mind.

-

Tbh, having not played dragonflight I thought they were about to throw Eitrigg into the Nathanos role and this was going to be related to world quests. I'm glad it wasn't. Eitrigg's history makes me uncomfortable.

I care them.

While I kind of wish they'd let Drek'thar cast from his wheelchair, it's also interesting to think of him having some mobility.

I know some people really don't like Aggra, but I have and do, and I found this delightful. A circle completed.

All the little moments with Durak were very sweet. Very grounding after other story elements in the main plot have gotten so convoluted and absurd.

Thank you, Rexxar, for also recognizing a title (Huntmaster). I was really thrown when Khadgar was back to calling you Adventurer and not either Champion, Hero, or My Friend — too open ended for people new to the game!! ^^;

I go back and forth with the Countess from the Court of Harvesters and Huntmaster titles when I run around with Borgakh because while I still hate shadowlands for what it did to the various in game religions (and the orcs especially since I'm biased) I think these titles would mean a lot to her. To be acknowledged and given the promise of authority / contribution / significance wrt Countess, and to be acknowledged by her peers wrt Huntmaster, which is also tied up in my favorite expansion and all the seeds of Horde and Alliance working to a better future together.

When it came to choosing a clan, I imagined Borgakh sharing a look with Aggra about how it was "obvious" that now, given the choice, that she would follow Thrall / Go'el anywhere. But unlike how it presents the player character as having never belonged to a clan, Borgakh has been for Years, headcanoned as part of the Warsong clan. I felt it added depth and weight to her struggles.

And then not only did Thrall / Go'el have The Weakest pitch for joining his clan (undoubtedly because they knew he and the Frost Wolves were going to sweep anyway), but I got to the choice screen and imagined the question for Borgakh as being, "But would I give up a core part of my identity for you?"

She is still part of his Horde, and she would die for him and his family, but I decided to keep her a member of the Warsong clan.

Borgakh has had maxed cooking in this game for like, ever. And that the final trial was to prepare a meal as an offering for her ancestors was something I really enjoyed. That the cookbook included a spicy as hell recipe from the Warsong was a bonus and reaffirmed my enjoyment of maintaining her membership with her clan.

I really appreciated this. After shadowlands? Bring me back to the uncertainty and faith of the past wrt what happens after death and the peace and connection with those lost and those who remain.

That this quest began with the premise that the orcs felt disconnected from each other and their culture and clans and this gathering and a new ceremony to replace the old coming of age ones that an orc could take part in regardless of age was very sweet. I have so many more screenshots of all the smaller npc's and things they've said in case I want to revisit it either for myself or for fic writing in the future. Loved it.

Thank you if you read my rambling.

[itspikamefan]

The quotes have Returned. May lord have mercy

Ojima: *holding a bottle* Is this whiskey or perfume?

Okazaki: *chugs entire bottle*

Okazaki: It’s perfume.

Watari: Hah! 69! You know what that means?

Sasaki: What?

Ojima: That you're a child.

Hiroaki: HOW'D YOU GUESS MY IQ!?

Okazaki: Today is a day of running through hurdles.

Tsuno: Aren’t you supposed to jump OVER hurdles?

Okazaki: Whatever. Fear is only something to be afraid of if you let it scare you.

Kamimura: With great power comes great need to take a nap. Wake me up later.

Hiroaki: Dear friends, your Christmas gift this year… is me. That’s right, another year of friendship. Your membership has been renewed

*Tsuno helping Hiroaki out after he got injured, while the others are watching*

Ojima: How does he look?

Okazaki: A little better than you actually.

Okazaki: Truth or dare?

Hama: Dare

Okazaki: I dare you to kiss the hottest person in the room

Hama: Hey Tsuno.

Tsuno, blushing: Y-yeah?

Hama: Could you move? I’m trying to get to Harada.

Harada: How's the sexiest person here~?

Hama: I don't know, how are they~?

Harada, flustered: I-

Hiroaki, from across the room: I'm doing great, thanks!

Okazaki: Favorite horror movie?

Sasaki: It

Tsuno: Saw

Chiba: Annabelle

Ojima: High School Musical. after watching it I spent all my middle school years terrified that the entire school would start singing something and I’d be the only one who didn’t know the lyrics.

Wada: That’s one of my biggest fears. Like, if I ever woke up as a donut...

Hama: You would eat yourself?

Wada: I wouldn’t even question it.

Yanagi: Can you please be serious for five minutes?

Watari: My record is four, but I think I can do it.

Hiroaki, standing with his back turned: I’ve been expecting you, Sasaki.

Sasaki: How did you do that without turning around?

Hiroaki: ... To be perfectly honest, the first couple of people I did that to were not you.

Hasegawa: Do you have any skeletons in your closet?

Okazaki: You mean literally or figuratively?

Hasegawa: Honestly, the fact that I have to specify...

Tsuno: Please, I'm begging you go to a doctor.

Hayashi: I'm sorry is this OUR stab wound? Stay out of it.

Sasaki: Ok, maybe playing ‘whose family is most dysfunctional’ wasn’t the best idea we’ve had. Yanagi's been crying in the bathroom for an hour. We can’t get him out...

Hayashi: What doesn't kill me should run, because now I'm fucking pissed.

Kamimura: Please bring home PURIFIED water with NO minerals added for taste

Okazaki: We got spring water

Kamimura: NO.

Watari: with EXTRA minerals

Okazako: it's like licking a stalagmite

Kamimura: DON'T COME HOME.

Watari: Mmmmm cave water.

Ojima: Must be hard not being able to laugh

Okazaki: I do have a sense of humor you know

Ojima: I’ve never heard you laugh before

Okazaki: I’ve never heard you say anything funny

Yanagi: 'Person of interest' is almost too flattering.

Yanagi: Like, if the police were to pound on my door and go, 'A man has been murdered in your building and you are a person of interest,' I'd be like, 'Moi? Oh, do go on.'

Harada, trying to ask Hama out: Would you like to stay for dinner?

Chiba: WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER?

Yanagi: Can you keep a secret

Okazaki: Do you know anything about my life?

Yanagi: No… Good Point.

Isono: Where are you going?

Okazaki: To get ice cream or commit a felony, I’ll decide on the way there

Watari: We’ve been conducting an ongoing study to see what Wada will and will not eat.

Okazaki: Grass? Yes!

Watari: Moss? Yes!!

Okazaki: Leaves? Ohh, yes!

Watari: Shoelaces? Strange but true!

Okazaki: Worms? Sometimes!

Watari: Rocks? Usually nah.

Okazaki: Twigs? Usually!

Watari: Ojima’s cooking? Inconclusive!

Tsuno: How did you… test this?

Watari: You just hand him stuff and say ‘eat this’ and if he eats it, he eats it.

Tsuno: ... I don’t know how to feel about this.

Ojima: IS THAT WHERE ALL MY SPARE SHOELACES WENT?

Hama, talking to Harada on the phone: Did you preheat the oven like I told you to?

Harada: You bet!

Hama: At what temperature?

Harada: 535.

Hama: That's the clock.

Harada:

Hama:

Harada: 536.

Store Worker: Would a Mr. Ran Hama please come to the front desk?

Hama, arriving at the desk: Hello, is there a problem?

Store Worker: points to Harada and Chiba

Store Worker: I believe they belong to you?

Harada and Chiba, simultaneously: We got lost :(

Hama: I didn’t even bring you guys here with me-

Wada: You're the love of my life and my best friend, I would do anything for you.

Isono: I want you to eat three meals a day and have a decent sleep schedule.

Wada: Absolutely not.

Kamimura: I'm so tough, I'm on alert even when there's no danger!

Harada: Kamimura, that's PTSD.

Wada: Nothing in life is free.

Tsuno: Love is free!

Harada: Adventure is free.

Sasaki: Knowledge is free.

Okazaki: Everything is free if you take it without paying.

Harada: You lying, cheating, piece of shit!

Hiroaki: Oh yeah? You’re the idiot who thinks you can get away with everything you do. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

Harada: I’m leaving you, and I’M TAKING CHIBA WITH ME

Tsuno, picking up the monopoly board: I think we’re gonna stop playing now.

[fortleegospel]

Gospel News

Dear friends and members of Fort Lee Gospel Church,

I trust 2025 has begun as a good year for you and your family. Today I will be addressing the California fires, the Spiritual Disciplines Initiative, and Church Membership.

1.    The California Fires

We have all seen the devastation of neighborhoods in the Los Angeles County fires. The evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the tragic deaths of many people have been shocking to watch. Some have made the story into a political indictment. Let me approach the devastation from a spiritual perspective.

When Jesus was asked about tragic stories of his time, he responded this way:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

The lesson for us is that tragic events are a reminder that we all need to repent. That is, we need to confess our own sins and ask God for forgiveness and grace. Too often we blame the victims or blame leaders we differ from. Jesus invites us to look in a mirror. Am I right with God? Am I ready to meet my Maker? How would I respond to a fire destroying everything I own? Are my possessions or my comfort more important that my relationship with Jesus Christ? These are hard questions, but worth reflecting on before we stand before Almighty God.

The second lesson from the answer of Jesus is to have compassion on the victims. We pray for the residents of those neighborhoods who are now homeless. We pray for families who have lost loved ones. We pray for firefighters and community leaders as they go above and beyond to respond to a tragic situation. Many of us can give to the Salvation Army or other organizations responding to the broad array of needs.

May God comfort those who mourn, empower those who suffer, save those who are lost, and bring good out of a horrible situation.

2.    Spiritual Disciplines Initiative

It has been encouraging to see the congregation’s response to our January 2025 Spiritual Disciplines Initiative. Our church foyer table has had about 10 different resources to encourage Bible reading, Bible memorization, fasting, recommended classic books, Bible study ideas, etc. We will continue to make these resources available throughout the month.

In addition to our personal devotional life, may I also encourage you to connect with our various Bible Study and prayer groups that meet throughout the week? Some who come to our church have gotten out of the routine of being involved. Others have yet to attend our various meetings. See below for information about the many ways we meet throughout the week. Consider joining us for our monthly fellowship meal after the worship service. Our next meal will be on January 26th.

We are living in a time when aids to spiritual growth have never been so available. Take advantage of the opportunities. Revelation 3:20 says:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Heed Jesus’ invitation to draw near in 2025 and cultivate your faith. Jesus is calling!

3.    Church Membership

The gospel of Jesus Christ is about us repenting of our sins, inviting Jesus to be our Savior, and becoming a part of God’s family. When we define as a Christian, it is expected that we become a part of a church. Peter defines a church this way:

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (I Peter 2:9-10)

Fort Lee Gospel Church has become the church of many who read this article. We are a church that is a member church of the Christian & Missionary Alliance. We have a list of voting members, and a Governing Board to abide by bylaws and guidelines. There will be an Annual Members Meeting in February.

This Saturday, January 18th, we will have a New Members Class at 10 AM for those interested in formally joining the church. We welcome you to attend and learn more about our church doctrines, history, and vision for the future.

-Pastor Rick

Weekly Announcements

Sunday worship service at 11:00 AM is primarily off-line, with only the sermon posted on our website, Facebook page, and YouTube.  

The Tuesday Men’s Lunch and study meets at the church at 12:30 PM for a meal and Bible study.

The Tuesday Bible Study meets at 7:00 PM every Tuesday as we continue to study the book of Romans.

There will be a New Members Class scheduled for Saturday, January 18th at 10:00 AM. This class will review our church’s history, doctrine, denomination, leadership, and other topics. We encourage you to consider formally joining our church fellowship.

The monthly Church Dinner will be on Sunday, January 26th, following the 11:00 AM worship service. Plan to join us for this fellowship meal.

The 6:00 AM Prayer Meeting on Wednesdays and Saturdays is at the church with an option to connect on Google Meet.  

The Women’s Bible Study will resume the study in the book of Psalms this Saturday, January 18th, at 2:00 PM.

Connect info for Tuesday Bible Studies and Morning Prayer is:

Meeting URL :

https://meet.google.com/suk-xpsf-nwh

For dial in: Phone: +1 567-351-1104 PIN: 469 349 929#

[061801]

I wish it didn’t take one little thing to get me upset. Usually I would agree, I shouldn’t let it affect me but why do I have to face consequences of my friends getting upset with me for doing FUCKIN NOTHING WRONG. My own friend is getting mad at me for something HE HAS DONE TO ME AND I WASNT UPSET. He dated this girl and basically ghosted me to be with her so I was like ok fine. I started dating a guy and I even try inviting my friend and he’s like “nah I’m not hangin out with that nigga” when you don’t even know him, he’s never done anything to you, like alrighty bud don’t say I didn’t try to include you and say I’m a bad friend cuz it’s not me. I was gunna cancel my membership but we got back together and my friend IS MAD THAT IM GOING TO THE GYM INSTEAD OF CANCELLING IT TO DRINK WITH HIM. That’s the kind of friends I don’t fucking need in my life. I’ve even invited him and he goes “let me just drop my shit to hangout with you” like I wasn’t telling you do to anything I was trying to invite you because you’re my friend. He’s even called me fake like it’s not like I dropped you for my bf i am literally still trying to bring you around and YOU don’t want to. Sick of people’s fucking victim personality. When I said I’m going to the gym he goes “lol ight” and I know my friends and the way they talk to me so ya saying that doesn’t particularly mean he’s soooooo angry but he’s annoyed and I’m not gunna sit here and have someone tell me I’m over thinking cuz I’m not. He never says shit like that unless he’s pissed off. So anyway

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 3x24 Shakaar thoughts (I’m re-watching, so beware spoilers for future episodes!)

(31/05/2023)

There's just something about Sisko playing darts with Miles :3 I don't think we've seen Sisko just socialising casually before? The crew is becoming found family more and more <3 

"The new head of the Provisional government ... is Kai Winn." DRAMATIC MUSIC. Valid choice, it's pretty bad

"It has been my observation that one of the prices of giving people freedom of choice is that sometimes they make the wrong choice." Feels. That's too close to home (I can't wait for the 2024 election but I'm also terrified that somehow we STILL won't get the Tories out...)

"It's for Vedek Bareil, ACTUALLY." Oh I love you Kira, I'm sorry you have to talk to this woman. 

"He never wanted fame or glory for what he did. As someone who loved him, I'm surprised you didn't that." I HATE HER. YOU THINK YOU'RE SUCH A GOOD MANIPULATOR BUT YOU'RE ACTUALLY JUST A DREADFUL PERSON. And just because someone wasn't seeking game as their motive, doesn't mean you can't recognise their contributions! 

Kira calmly walking away because she feels she needs to be diplomatic with Winn and is seconds away from yelling probably. Proud of you <3

Winn is THE most loathesome character. "Vedek Bareil used to tell me that you could be quite persuasive when you put your mind to it, child." Yuck

Ohh, Kira's smile as she hears about her old friends ❤❤❤

Interesting that he calls her Nerys, but she calls him Shakaar

Can't believe Quark actually persuaded Miles to do the darts and not kayak!

"Somehow replacing the arm seems ungrateful." There's something that really gets me about this. I guess it's just allowing war to be so unapologetically ugly?

The wind in Kira's hair is so powerful. She's beautiful.

"Did you explain to Shakaar that you were there on the direct authority of the First Minister?" She loves power so much, and it's so obvious she thinks she should be respected just because of that authority - she doesn't even try to earn it.

"Shakaar sounds like a prideful and arrogant man." SHUT UP, THAT'S WHAT YOU AR-- "It also seems there's no reasoning with him." Oh my GOODNESS, she's clearly just making excuses why is actually his fault she won't talk to him!

"This isn't your fight, Nerys. Go home." "I am home, Shakaar, and I have been lied to by Kai Winn for the last time. She wants a fight, I'll give her one." YES KIRA

"Don't worry, coach. I won't let you down." Idk just Julian smiling at Miles and everyone being so supportive :3 

I love that Miles bring "in the zone" is the entire B plot though XD

"Look, I'm in the zone. I just need- ARGH! I just need surgery... :/" Ohhh, you tried, Miles 

I'm honestly not sure if they're faking it or not - but Miles is a good actor if so. 

"It's been two weeks since I was forced to send the militia into Dahkur Province." FORCED?! FORCED?!!!!

"I'm more than willing to do that, on one condition... I'd like you to provide a Federation security force to take their place." That's... That's not what he's saying though. He's saying any force out there is Not What Is Needed. 

"I wasn't aware that our relationship needed solidifying." Sisko calmly rebutting Winn will always be my favourite, he's so good at taking her down in a way that's polite yet savage.

"So, you're refusing my request for aid?" "I suppose I am." I love him <3

"That would be an unfortunate overreaction." Which she knows but thinks she can get away with and make the whole ordeal - and rejecting Federation membership - look perfectly reasonable.

"This is a test, a test by the Prophets. They want to see if I'm worthy [...] I will not fail them. I will stop Shakaar by any means necessary." The scary thing is I actually think she believes that this is The Right And Moral Thing To Do. She's terrifying. And just The Worst. 

I really, really love the way this is solved. Real Bajorans not wanting to hurt and fight each other, and recognising they have the power to change something so stupid. 

"So this is a coup?" "No, it's a free election." Well, kind of both if you have military backing... But I love Winn not getting her way. 

(Why did they give her the power of First Minister before having the elections? But I guess it's good they did, or she wouldn't have had enough rope to hang herself with before her power was solidified with a vote.)

Why is Julian looking so shocked at throwing a twenty? It's funny when pre-augmentation things don't quite make sense and you have to headcanon them away. (I'm saying he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing and didn't realise he'd thrown until the board beeped with success.)

[kenovele]

Bogs blog 30

We bit the bullet and decided to buy a six month membership at the climbing gym in Auckland. The gym is approximately a 40minute drive from home, however we have made it our mission to try and go at least twice a week and combine it with either seeing friends or family up in town or another activity. This way we stay motivated as sometimes, when it is raining, cold and a long drive in traffic, it really isn’t the easiest thing to do, so if we try to combine it with our social life we could get into the habit of it! The gym is pretty big. There is a pretty good bouldering section which they seem to update at least once a month, there are a lot of easy routes, and then there is a lead climbing section which is completely over hanging. Very hardcore. The overhanging section is bigger, longer and steeper than the one at Gecko ! The lead climbing section is the area where the routes do look the most interesting though. However, because this is an Anglo-Saxon country, it has rules, and of course, this climbing gym seems to be the strictest gym I have ever seen. Firstly, you need to get your belay license to prove that you can safely belay someone else – fair enough I guess, but the way they want us to belay is completely different to the very relaxed way that Benoit and I have the habit of belaying with. You can’t ‘tunnel’ your hand up the dead end of the rope, instead you have to bring your left hand down to the dead end, hold onto the rope, move your right hand up to the top of the dead end and then put your left hand back on the live end. It is a bit of a mental exercise, especially when someone is climbing quickly, your hands get in a muddle trying to keep the rope sufficiently tight. I believe Benoit also mentioned the belay experience in his last blog, but it merits a repeat due to the shear craziness of it! I digress, after you have your belay licence, you can climb on the top-roping walls, then you can take the lead climbing test, where you have to demonstrate your ability to climb and belay on lead. Which includes knowing how to fall correctly… hmm not my favourite thing in the world to be honest, so we haven’t get gone for our lead climbing test, but we are going to have to go shortly, as the harder routes are tempting us. So far, we have been to the climbing gym only a couple of times, and mainly bouldering, Jamie has come with us and seems to be enjoying it as much as we do which is really neat. He has the body and mindset for climbing, he is limber, tall, strong and fearless. It is impressive to see him going for jumps that my fully developed risk index wouldn’t let me do easily. I guess either his risk taking index is significantly lower than mine or he is better at blotting it out, probably it is somewhere in between the two. But yes, back into climbing and it has been good.

The tiny is pretty much complete, however last weekend we spent the wet weekend indoors making a few additions to the tiny. I made a stand for our gumboots as they are better to be kept outside, but ideally upside down to prevent them filling up with water when it rains. I was rather happy with my construction despite feeling a little bit ‘sloozy’. Benoit, who has transformed himself into a reasonably good woodworker decided to tackle a project a little bit more difficult. He made a shoe box for inside our front door, so instead of having massive pile of grassy shoes cluttering up the space in front of our door, they now fit perfectly into a little box which nestles in so very nicely next to our fridge. Benoit is proud of his creation and rightly so. The box has enough room so that we can each store three pairs of shoes (which probably accounts for the sum of Benoit’s shoes, whereas it is only a small percentage of mine). The shoebox also has two little storage compartments above and below for storing  a few things that are yet to have their place in our little home. It is very practical and ties in very nicely with the rest of our home. So far, we feel that we have made only good decisions when it comes to the decoration and building of our home… Except for the door. Oh that door. The one and only door we have connecting us to the outside world. The door has been a nightmare from the beginning, when we picked it up and it was only single glazed, then after transporting, the aluminium framing was bent, then some of the glass slipped out of the windows, which we managed to fix. Then when we installed it, it started leaking from an unknown place. Luckily Jamie just filled up every area imaginable with silicon and it seemed to have fixed it, at least for now. And now the curse of the door continues, we bought a curtain for it as we hoped that a thick thermal curtain would provide better insulation than a blind. After looking at curtains for a while we thought that we found a good deal in a colour that would suit our home, for the right price. Despite the curtain being the right size and made to measure, the colour is a bold teal blue, rather than the forest green that it looked like on the website. So now I have yet another bugbear with this door and its corresponding bold blue curtain. Yuck. I guess it can be considered a cheap short term solution for winter and that we will take it down over summer and try to find some nicer ones for next winter, but at the moment, it is a bit of an eyesore in our tiny home, and it takes up a lot of visual space. And I think that is the main problem, in such a small area, a big blue square in a cosy cabin of wood and green tones, it sticks out like a sore thumb. A constant reminder. I will have to mediate on it.

These last few weeks, we have really been able to enjoy cooking in the tiny, we have had a few more nights at home, and we are getting into the groove of living small. It is nice to have a space that is just big enough for two people. Cleaning it is a breeze (over in 10 minutes), we have a nice area to relax and snuggle up together to watch a movie on those cold winter nights (while I try to not look at the blue curtain), we have a beautiful bar to eat dinner at and a kitchen big enough that we can make anything. We have even made gnocchi which is a pretty impressive feat with a ‘tiny’ kitchen as the preparation takes up a decent amount of space. We do have a design that really focused on the kitchen and we love working in there together. Benoit has even made a few loaves of bread in the tiny, which he uses my amazing little barbeque to cook it in. Very impressive if you ask me. So yes, we are adjusting well to living small, I am still trying to downsize the amount of clothes that I own, slowly but surely. That is really my only problem with living small at the moment, I have been struggling with the shear volume of clothes that I own, and it is so hard to downsize as I have so many different requirements for my wardrobe. However that has been and continues to be my goal. At the moment, I have bought out everything in my closet that I am not sure about and I am forcing myself to wear it to work, to evaluate how I feel and if I don’t like it, off to the charity shop it shall go. It is a slow process, but I am getting there!

The real stress of these last few weeks as been for Benoit who has really been getting into his physio application and applied to do the English test on Saturday. It is a four part exam which takes into account reading, writing and listening over three hours and then a 20 minute speaking test. Although I am confident in Benoît’s grasp on the English language, it is stressful to be once again sitting in the examination seat. On Saturday we both drove up to town to my old university and while he was most likely stressing about verbs and nouns, I spent a few hours working on my engineering application to become a certified engineer in NZ. So we are both working towards our career goals. Look at us go 😉 Hopefully within a few weeks Benoit will submit his application and it will just be a waiting game for a few months. I will probably encourage him to go find a short term job in the mean time so we can start saving up for our next project or adventure!

All my love, Kate xxx  

[burnedbyshoto]

dedicated to the man who became my gym buddy & eventually we fucked in his car:

quirkless au, yum, & nsfw so aha

bakugou katsuki is a gym rat.

he drinks protein shakes like water, down pre workout like it’s candy, and spends so much time at the gym his phone believes the gym is possibly his house or his workplace.

he typically comes into the gym with black sweatpants on and a compression shirt, a hoodie always in his hand as he scans his membership card and stalks into the gym with his huge water jug. the smell of sweat and pulsating testosterone is no longer recognized by him, and the lingering looks of both regulars and new members never faze him as he enters the wide open space for warm up.

bakugou katsuki is meticulous in his workout routine. everyday, even his rest day, has something specific for him. mondays is upper body. tuesdays lower body. wednesdays chest and arm. thursdays quads and calves. friday back. saturday glutes and hamstrings. sunday is cardio. every week he takes a break from a single day.

it works for him.

and he doesn’t care what his friends say.

but as he’s warming up one day, head peeking up from his form, he sees you doing chest presses, or at least attempting to do so. his eyebrows furrow at your terrible form, the obvious curve in your body that shouldn’t be there, the way your hands are way too close to each other, the bar tilting on most likely your more dominant side way too much, and your feet flailing in the air.

it’s bad posture, but after a long work shift, bakugou has no energy to correct it. he figures another gym rat would help you.

well that is until the bar shakes, your arms give, and you squawk.

bakugou katsuki is known in his gym for being only about himself, sure he’ll share his routine if you ask, he’ll even give you an extra protein shake, or a sip of his water if you’re an insane person who didn’t bring your water, but it’s a known law that he doesn’t help with form and he doesn’t spot anyone.

but no one is around, and even though the 60lb bar will most definitely not hurt you, he finds himself lifting the bar off your chest with an irritated snarl as you gasp and splutter for air. you were not choking.

“oh my god, thank you so—“

“shut up!” he barks in your face, slamming the bar onto the holder with much more force then necessary. “the hell you think you’re doing, idiot? you trying to break your back and ribs?! get a fucking spotter before doing shit you’re not ready for!”

“oh,” you blink, head tilting a bit, your own frown on your face. “well, I don’t know anyone, and no one is here except you? and you weren’t here be—“

“doesnt fucking matter! wait until someone shows up!”

“uh, I needed to do that for my circuit though. according to gymtok I should be doing a lot of things that I haven’t been doing. so I was just trying things out.”

“…what the fuck is a gymtok?”

“oh! tiktoks for gym workouts!” you exclaim grabbing your phone with obviously sore arms before showing the plentiful of preplanned workouts by what bakugou immediately knows are gym posers.

ANYWAYS

thus begins the weirdest friendship bakugou begins as you become attached to his side at the gym, undeterred and overall completely unaffected by every snarl, growl, and screech sent your way. eventually he gets you on his own workout schedule and the two of you even shoot a scoop of pre workout in the parking lot together.

the first time you took his preworkout was the first and last time because it was so highly concentrated that not only did you create new personal records for every machine and free weight, you managed to fit an entire weeks workout into a single day and promptly pass out on the bench outside the gym.

he knows you’re flirting eventually, but he’s a prude and trying to keep his head in the game. and even though you both are frequently texting throughout the day and even go to eat together after workouts 3 times a week, he refuses to let your stupid lips anywhere near his because he’s a virgin prude and he gets nerv— I mean… he’s just busy… ahem…

and eventually you ask if he wants to do a gymtok with him. and it must be because you managed to sling him over your shoulders and squat his weight without so much as a tremor in your form, and he was impressed with elation, excitement, and burning hormones in his dick, he says yes.

he gives you complete fucking consent to do whatever you want.

so you smile sweetly and say, “i’m going to be your savior because you don’t have a spotter. when I save you, you keep doing reps like nothing happened.”

so with a measly bar and 45lbs on each side (his warm up set from three years ago, btw) he does as requested. letting his arms pretend to give out.

but…

oh…

fucking….

HELL!

he feels your ass sitting millimeters above his crotch, and sees your pretty fingers grasp the bar and push it up.

bakugou is harder than a diamond and the bar gives, crushing his chest.

eventually the two of you are able to get the bar off him and he falls onto the floor, stomach down, flexing his biceps and thigh, desperate to erase his boner as you chirp frantic worries around his head.

anyways, he storms away, finally boner free and is just pissed. ignores you the entire rest of his workout routine and is focused on his reflection in the mirror only. but on his way out, compression shirt off his body and sling on his shoulder, you’re waiting with a face he can’t read.

“you know, I think you need to be laid,” you sigh as he pushes past you to where his car waits. “don’t you think?”

bakugou nearly trips and falls on his face, but he plays it off (not really). he snaps his head towards you, full on furious because that might be exactly true but he doesn’t need some little shit that he taught everything to, to tell him that!

“you think I need to be fucking laid?! you know what I think you need?!” he splutters, face flushed red and gym bag dropped by the wheel of his car.

“to be fucked by you?” you respond with lidded eyes and seductive steps his way. all words die on his lips as you’re suddenly in front of him. “cuz I think I really need that too. besides, what’s the point of all that strength if it’s not being used to fuck people in every way imaginable?”

bakugous not entirely sure who kisses who first. he was already seeing red at that point, but he does know that you’re shoving him into the passenger seat of his car and the seat is reclined all the way down with a slam.

it’s messy and a bit gross. the faint smell of BO is eventually washed out with hormones, dripping sex, and sweat. his fingers and pressing around your sweet spots, and bakugou nearly blacks out when your soft, hot, and dripping wet sex presses down and consumes his dick.

he fucks you so well that you hobble around the gym for a solid week & everyone just assumes you went hard on leg day ;)

sex soon becomes your guys cool down routine :)

anyways, I was just thinking about stupid gym rat bakugou who hella needs to get laid and gym regular reader who actually knows what they’re doing but saw bakugou one day and decided they wanted him. and because I love happy endings, they obvi get married & fuck in their limo as a nod to the beginning of their romantic relationship.

[newronantic]

HAIKYUU!! FICS

so this is mostly gonna be for myself to keep track of my favorite fics i’ve read, but hey if anyone else wants to check some of these out then thats great

MHA one is up!!

ill keep updating this as i read more, feel free to send me suggestions!

KageHina

plain as day - emleewrites

In which Hinata has spent the better part of the last twenty years putting his heart and soul into volleyball, hoping to be recognised, to be noticed. And yet he spends all these years also thinking of himself as rather plain, beyond his lack of height and bright hair, and not really noticeable at all.

In Transit - Mysecretfanmoments

Hinata finds that he likes standing close to Kageyama on buses and trains. It doesn't mean anything--probably. Maybe.

I like the way your clothes smell - Mysecretfanmoments

Power outages, ghost stories, and the presence of a certain orange-haired boy lead to bad decision-making on Tobio's part. He'd planned to keep his crush a secret; the universe has other plans.

Chaotic Neutral - akaraka

Who's this Kageyama person on twitter and is he gay?

1: Anonymous: see title

2: Anonymous: curry king

3: Anonymous >> 1: It's the curry king, obviously. Have you been using his memes this whole time without knowing who he was?

4: Anonymous: 1) Hinata Shouyou's boyfriend 2) See above

jellyfish - mysterytwin

At the beginning of his last year at Karasuno High School, Hinata Shouyou starts a list and calls it THINGS TO DO BEFORE GRADUATION, all with high hopes that he’ll be able to complete it before his time runs out.

TsukkiYama

Try This On For Size - CloudMonsta

A lot changed for Yamaguchi Tadashi over the course of high school. He started trying on dresses, for one.

The Great Yamaguchi-Tsukishima Split (Capitalization Necessary) - WyYeuw

"But no, the current situation isn’t normal. This situation requires the full attention of the team.

No, what’s really concerning this time around, is that Yamaguchi is the one ignoring Tsukishima.”

Yamaguchi confesses. Tsukishima fucks up—like, really fucks up. The volleyball club notices and loses a week’s worth of practice.

IwaOi

Terrarium - sausaged

He's practically a professional at being proactive (lies, lies, and lies when it comes to Iwaizumi).

At this point, is he really happy with just staying best friends forever? Will he be writing journals and collecting rocks forever (he will, he knows, but that is aside from the point)?

Can he really tag his Instagram photos with #YOLO if he doesn't actually put that phrase into practice?

A story about Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime, plants, and rocks.

They Say it Rain Diamonds on Jupiter - exsao

"You're in love with him."

Hajime considers denying it. He considers deliberately choking on his drink to express surprise, to create a distraction by spitting onto the man in front of him's pristine white shirt and causing a commotion. Instead, he swallows his mouthful of soda and heaves a small sigh once his mouth is free.

"Yeah," he says instead.

He's never been good at lying, anyway.

bait and switch - Stylographic_Blue_Rhapsody

Oikawa's university volleyball team knows he's in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school. They imagine a sweet-faced girl that matches his sarcasm with patience. They are so incredibly wrong.

my heart is where it’s always been - foreverautumn

Iwaizumi places his phone down carefully.

Oikawa. Pining after someone. There’s no way.

(Iwaizumi knows he shouldn’t care who Oikawa might have feelings for, but within the span of three days, it’s somehow the only thing he can think about.)

KuroKen

Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life - todxrxki

Kuroo Tetsurou runs a private Twitter account where he's constantly tweeting about how desperately in love he is with Kozume Kenma. Little does he know that Kenma sees all the tweets and keeps referencing the account in an attempt to get Kuroo to confess to him. / Or, five times Kuroo didn't notice Kenma hinting about his private Twitter account, and one time he finally did.

the things that get caught in the valves of his heart - ghostpot

Emotional competency is not exactly Kuroo's strong suit. Kenma finds it quite amusing.

Accidentally In Love - todxrxki

Kuroo frowns, but then slowly, the corners of his mouth lift up into a smirk. "Well, if it's so unbelievable, why don't we give it a try?"

Kenma glances up at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Let's do the 36 questions to fall in love," Kuroo says, still smirking stupidly. "If we don't fall in love, then you're right, it's bullshit. But if we do somehow..." Kuroo waggles his eyebrows. "Then I win." / Kuroo decides he and Kenma should do the 36 questions to fall in love as a joke, but they both start to realize they might actually be in love already.

the galaxy is endless (i thought we were, too) - cosmogony

TW: major character death

Kuroken AU where the last words your soulmate will say to you appear on your skin when you turn 16, and how Kenma and Kuroo learn what this means over the course of their lives

even if you’re ahead for a bit, i will catch up - ghostpot

Kuroo first confesses when they're sticky-fingered, wide-eyed kids, and subsequently every day after that. Kenma takes a while to come around.

you’re the brake lines failing (as my car swerves off the freeway) - ghostpot

Kenma thinks that Kuroo looks ugly with his head bent against the arm of the couch like that. Then Kenma thinks that he wants to marry him, and is promptly thrown into the 5 stages of grief.

teach me the way home - icespyders

“Don’t go far off, not even for a day, because —

because — I don’t know how to say it: a day is long

and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station

when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.”

Kuroo and Kenma grow up in transit.

in this universe - crossbelladonna

Living with Kuroo is sometimes, just like this. It always feels surreal like he's living half a world and a lot of things rush by too quickly. Kenma feels like he'd watched him come and go in a blink, eyes wide and wordless as the shared space went snug in an instant and far larger in the next.

All this, and a glass of water.

Beginning’s End - todxrxki

Somehow over the course of Kenma's lifetime, he’s never really had an opportunity to miss Kuroo. He’s always been there. Even when they went to different schools, Kuroo would meet him afterwards so they could walk home together, shoulders brushing, Kuroo occasionally taking the opportunity to guide him when his nose was buried in the newest video game. The thought of Kuroo not being there anymore is uncomfortable, to say the least. / Kozume Kenma's third year and the changes the year brings in himself and his relationship with Kuroo Tetsurou.

All I Want for Christmas is You - todxrxki

“Kuro,” he says. “You’re a single guy.”

“Yeah, great, thanks for pointing that out.”

“And my parents already know you, plus they already know you like guys or whatever so… what if you pretended to be my date for Christmas dinner?” / In which Kenma recruits his housemate and best friend Kuroo to be his fake date for Christmas.

BokuAka

just to miss the sun - rosevtea

Everything begins to implode when MSBY Jackals outside hitter Bokuto Koutarou crashes Akaashi's livestream.

Operation BokuAka - kazzydolyn

After spending two whole years watching Bokuto and Akaashi pine for one another, the rest of the Fukuroudani Volleyball Club has had enough. When everyone meets up for a reunion dinner, the team decides to play matchmaker and finally get the two of them together. Unfortunately, their plan starts to fall apart when they discover that Akaashi is already dating someone. And apparently so is Bokuto. What a strange coincidence.

bitter - silvercistern

He accepted his classmate's chocolates gracefully, then declared his lack of interest with as much dignity as he could muster. She deserved the courtesy. At least she'd acknowledged that Valentine's Day was all about her, and not about him in the slightest.

Because if any of these girls had taken the time to actually get to know him, they’d quickly realize something even more important than his lack of interest in girls.

And that was that Akaashi hated sweets.

In Another Life - LittleLuxray

TW: major character death

Sleeping didn't come as easy as it used to. Bokuto knew this, and now Akaashi did, too.

The hospital AU that no body asked for, but that I took upon myself to write.

120% yes - pissedofsandwich

TOKYO FRANCHISE COMING SOON @OnigiriMiya

in reply to @bokkun_official 

Congratulations! In celebration of your historic engagement, please DM us so we can send you a free membership code with a 25% discount on every fourth purchase!

Kissing Ace - karasunovolleygays

It happens right after training camp.

Akaashi Keiji has a secret he has guarded since he was a child. He won’t go so far as to call it a fear, but more of an aspect of himself of which he is horribly mortified. No one on the team knows about it, and Akaashi does his best to keep it that way.

But years of dodging hugs and casual contact come to naught in the blink of an eye and the swipe of a hand.

daisy rings and frivolous things (i am deliriously in love with you) - gabstar

Akaashi Keiji is in love. Bokuto Koutarou is a star. Everyone on Fukurodani has a gambling problem.

SakuAtsu

The MSBY Black Jackals Read Thirst Tweets - isaksara (syailendra)

Sakusa’s eyes are very dark naturally, sucking in all surrounding rays of light and crushing them in his pupils. For an athlete, he is rather pale. His lips look very pink in comparison. Atsumu is suddenly catastrophically aware that in this instance, ‘accent’ is a euphemism. “Good enough for your Olympic-size ego, Miya?”

(In which Atsumu realizes that he is attracted to Sakusa Kiyoomi in the most inconvenient way possible.)

A Liar’s Truth - internetpistol

In which Sakusa Kiyoomi is raised to believe that gay people go to hell but then takes one look at Miya Atsumu and thinks, then why the hell did God make them so fucking hot?

[idlebeks]

PodFic Recs Part 1 MDZS

Why pay for an Audible membership when we have an incredible community of people willing to provide us with narration of our favorite fanfics for free?! Podfic readers are amazing, and crazy talented and don't get enough love. So, if you listen to and enjoy any of these please leave a comment or kudos for both the original author and the reader. Also, most of these readers have whole catalogs of fics and I can't link them all, so be sure to check out the author page of any that you like, you might find more to love.

[PODFIC] The One-Body Problem by Gwogobo

The good news is that Lan Jingyi has found a mentor, friend, and constant companion through the difficulties in life.

The bad news is that that’s because he’s been accidentally possessed by the Yiling Patriarch.

[PODFIC] Lynchpin by Gwogobo

He can’t get Jin Guangyao’s words out of his head.

If he’d only believed in Wei Wuxian, if he’d only been willing to stand up for him, could it all have been avoided?

[PODFIC] In Your Room, In Your Bed by Gwogobo

After Wei Ying is disowned, Yu Ziyuan forbids Jiang Cheng from letting Wei Ying live with him. Jiang Cheng lets him stay anyway because Fuck That. He tells his parents Lan Zhan is his new roommate instead.

OMG, they were fake roommates.

[Podfic] Drowning in the Sun by flamingwell

He was vengeance, he was hatred. He was the last sons of Lotus Pier, combined.

A fill for a kinkmeme prompt: Golden Core transfer, but Jiang Cheng's aware.

[Podfic] his heart an open wound by flamingwell, jellyfishfire

It's Sizhui who brings it to Lan Wangji's attention, his words so careful and apologetic that at first, Lan Wangji wonders what his son could possibly have done to be so apprehensive.

[Podfic of] the necromancer's fairytale by exmanhater

The Prince of Gusu is kidnapped for ransom. He’s saved by a nightmare made flesh.

Or: A necromancer, his palace of bones, his long-lost husband, and the rise of their dark kingdom.

The Same Moon Shines [Podfic - Cold Read] by kisahawklin, sami

"Zewu-Jun. You once told me about a house surrounded by gentians, where you visited once a month, and how Lan Zhan still waited there, even when the door no longer opened."

Xichen feels light-headed. He feels shocked, and angry. He has never told anyone such a thing, but Lan Zhan is giving Xichen a look of utter betrayal.

"You told him?" Lan Zhan whispers. "When?"

Wei Wuxian takes Lan Zhan's hand. "About twenty years from now."

a yiling laozu who lived [PODFIC] by exmanhater, isweedan, miss_marina95, Opalsong, RevolutionaryJo, Rhea314 (Rhea)

The ancient and powerful villain may have had a calm and gentle face as he spoke, but he was furious, not at the hero, but the gods for continually sending kids and teenagers to fight their battles.

[Podfic of] Covered in Bees by exmanhater

“Cloud Reccesses Apiary,” says a toneless, deep masculine voice, with zero question in it. Wei Ying doesn’t care, because whoever possesses that voice is probably going to come save him from bees like a fucking hero while wearing like, a suit of armor. That’s what you wear to catch bees, right?

“I have like, so many bees outside my front door right now,” he says, mouth running out ahead of him before he can even begin to think about reining it in. “It’s like a sandstorm of bees out there. There are so many bees. I got out of my car and there were just bees and I don’t want these bees. Do you want these bees? Please tell me you will come get these bees. I can’t leave my house and I have enough food for maybe a week but then I’m gonna have to learn how to cook dry beans and no one wants that, especially not me.” Wei Ying runs out of air, takes a breath, and belatedly adds, “My name is Wei Ying. Hi.”

Or: The beekeeping AU that no one asked for.

[Podfic of] this moonlit heart is home by exmanhater

The thing was, Wei Ying wasn't always chaos in feline form. Most of the time he was a perfectly normal human, or at least, as normal as a werecat could be. As normal as anyone could be if they were forced to spend three nights every lunar month in a cat-shaped body.

And besides, it wasn't as though Wei Ying wanted to be a part time cat. He didn't. The moon nights were an inconvenience to be endured, and the rest of the time, he was as human as possible and that was that as far as he was concerned.

Meeting Lan Zhan in cat form was entirely accidental.

Ghosts Shouldn't by ShanaStoryteller [Podfic] by Rhea314 (Rhea)

Wei Wuxian's spirit lingers.

[Podfic] Live from New York by jellyfishfire

Wei Ying lets out a long, ugly groan. “I am fine, Lan Zhan. Everybody is overreacting, it’s so embarrassing for all of you.”

“You had undiagnosed pneumonia, which you walked around with for weeks until you passed out during dress,” Lan Wangji corrects him. “It got a big laugh, until everyone thought you were dead.”

He keeps his voice even and does not tell Wei Ying that it had been Lan Wangji who caught him, who called the ambulance, and who rode with him to the hospital, where he was yelled at by nurses who wanted to know why he hadn’t noticed that Wei Ying couldn’t stop shivering or string proper sentences together.

“Rumors of my demise have been vastly overstated,” Wei Ying says. “Anyway, I’m already feeling much better. Basically fine. Really almost completely back to normal, so stop babying me and tell me why the fuck you let your stupid brother hire the worst man in the world to host our show.”

OR: the one where they all work at SNL, Yanli's ex-boyfriend is hosting, and that's just the beginning of everybody's problems.

[Podfic] Cold read of Battle Chefs by kisahawklin

BATTLE CHEFS IS COMING! by Qin Su

The new season of Battle Chefs is upon us, and once again I will be recapping every episode. Join us to discuss the latest season of everyone's favourite video-game-themed cooking contest!

Wen Qing is returning as the Referee and Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli will be our Players for the PvP section once again. Raid Boss Wei Ying is sure to make things interesting as always, and the trailers for this season promised us new heights of drama and excitement.

They honestly could have just promised us pretty. It's going to be great!

in the arms of the angel [PODFIC] by read by Khashana (Khashana), ScarlettStorm

So there was this jar, and it had so much peanut butter still in it, and when his fox nose scented it and didn’t catch any poison or spoilage, what was he supposed to do? Not avail himself of this gift? No. He shoved his delicate little snout right in there and got to licking, but, you know… Elegantly. Definitely not snarfing and making horrible little fox sounds and rolling around on the ground while he went ham on the jar. Sure, he had to work a little bit to get at the last of it, but anything good is worth working for, right? So finally, triumphant, no longer starving, and maybe a little thirsty now from eating half a cup of peanut butter in about two minutes, he’d tried to remove his head from the jar.

Operative word tried.

Or: Wei Ying gets stuck. Lan Zhan helps.

[Podfic of] save a sword, ride a socialist by exmanhater

In which Lan Qiren and Jin Guangshan are conspicuously terrible, Lan Wangji decides to fake-date Wei Wuxian about it, and literally no braincells are consulted.

through a window softly by impossibletruths [podfic] by Rhea314 (Rhea)

Wei Wuxian plays the flute. Someone in Wei Wuxian's apartment complex plays violin. Sometimes, they play the flute and the violin together, and it's... nice. It's really nice. It's sort of the nicest thing going on in his life right now, honestly.

It's like the poets say: Music is love in search of a word.

misunderstood 'verse by sysrae [podfic] by andreannaness (andreanna)

Lan Wangji has known Wei Ying for a fortnight, the first time he sees him get hit by a car.

[Podfic] speeding up my heartbeat by plonk by inkjunket

The guy is so stupid hot that Wei Ying doesn’t turn away in time. He can’t be absolutely sure, but he thinks the guy sees him sort of turned towards him. Not as bad as being caught outright staring at someone on the subway, except that it’s actually probably worse, because they’re in the cultivation gym’s locker room.

Wearing Down Every Bone [Podfic] by Rionaa

“Sizhui, tell me,” Wei Wuxian says. “Does this feel... familiar to you?”

or

After running into Lan Zhan on a night hunt, Wei Wuxian is cursed to live the same day over and over and over.

[Podfic] One Good Thing by jellyfishfire

Wei Wuxian has been haunting his childhood home for three years. He's perfected the fine art of scaring away all the tenants, and has grown used to living with the dying flowers in the garden as his only company.

When Lan Wangji buys the house, Wei Wuxian fully intends to drive him off too. Except Lan Wangji is beautiful, and interesting, and captivating company - even if he supposedly doesn't know Wei Wuxian exists.

These Things Stay the Same [Podfic] by Rionaa

After a career covering news across the world, journalist Wei Wuxian is unexpectedly on his way home with a child in tow. Unfortunately, the path home isn't without obstacles.

[Podfic] Wireless by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona)

The Jiang Sect was famous for its marvelous creations. Lan Wangji is just as enthralled as everyone else until he gets a closer look.

It's Sizhui who brings it to Lan Wangji's attention, his words so careful and apologetic that at first, Lan Wangji wonders what his son could possibly have done to be so apprehensive.

[Podfic] Cold read of you by kisahawklin for sami

The crow must be lonely, Lan Zhan thinks.

My Brothers, My Sister and Me: Episode One [Podfic] by blackglass, pandamug, RevolutionaryJo, rhythmia

"Me: [comes charging out of the kitchen dripping dish soap and water to feverishly boot up my laptop and type] MODERN AU WHERE THE JIN SIBLINGS HAVE A MY BROTHER, MY BROTHER, AND ME-ESQUE PODCAST"

[Podfic of] The Cycle of Regret by knight_tracer

After Wei Wuxian's death, Lan Wangji finds himself trapped in a loop, living the same week over and over again, struggling to save the man he loves.

[Podfic] I feel like I win when I lose by sisi_rambles

Wei Ying is at his first Grand Final, rated fifth in the solo cultivator rankings, with the Qishan and Lanling silver medals tucked away in his sock drawer, and he’s about to walk into the arena for a match that everyone knows he’s going to lose.

A modern competitive cultivation AU.

In The Dark Right Now [podfic] by someplacelikebolivia

What used to be a wide open cave mouth, propped up with stalactites and mites, has collapsed, leaving a wall of uneven rock. Caving is always a danger, but they’d thought this cave was pretty safe for their study of bat behaviours. The colony living in it is stable, had been here for at least fifty years, and of course the cave has been here for millennia. Nothing going wrong for so long and then a bunch of rocks falling? It’s just his luck, really.

[PODFIC] By Any Other Name by sakizar

Wei Wuxian wakes up in Mo Xuanyu's body and heads straight for Lotus Pier. Wu Yingtai is the newest member of the Jiang Clan and rumored to be the future wife of Jiang Wanyin.

Lan Wangji is not in love with her.

anyway, here's wuji [PODFIC] by Opalsong

The melody gets a little clearer when he breaks out of the trees, and Jingyi changes course with certainty, barreling down the back hill and through the Cloud Recesses, dodging scandalized disciples left and right. He throws open the doors to the Receiving Hall without announcement and bows nearly double, eyes on the floor instead of on the shocked faces of the Mei delegation and the impenetrable gaze of the Chief Cultivator.

"Forgive this disciple," Jingyi shouts, because he's going to get punished for rule breaking regardless. "From the back hill, Hanguang-jun, there is a song in the wind!"

[hyogonokitsune]

haikyuu boys as things my fwb has said to me, part 2

atsumu

I may or may not have slightly edited my tinder photos to make my ass look fatter

I hate having manners

I’m gonna kill myself I just found a tick in doomah. doomah? do mah nuts fit in your mouth 😎

is it weird for me to be obsessed with how big all my friends’ dicks are? whatever

oh, I’m kinda surprised you didn’t smack my ass just now. did you want me to? yeah 😔

oikawa

I just... really wanna get pegged

why didn’t you tell me my lips were so chapped?? I look disgusting

happy pride month, my bisexual queen. although I think you should be wishing me a happy pride, because I’ve recently developed crushes on some UFC fighters and it’s making me question some things

I hear that cum is a good skin soother

I’m only obsessed with select men’s penises

kuroo

only bad bitches have IUDs 😤

look at how small my dick is when it’s soft. just a teeny lil winkie

your coochie is immaculate

a clown must always ride around in his or her clown car, metaphorically, physically, and emotionally

I almost got into an accident the other day. I was, uhh, playing chess on my phone on the highway

I vacillate between a lovable moron and a hyper intelligent troll

suna

*shares positive feedback I got from a professor* that means he wants to stuff you

my friend paid me $50 to do shrooms with him, so that’s why I’m tripping at the gym right now

I’ll pay for us to go mini golfing, and then I’ll take you out for dinner but I’m just gonna pay for my own meal :)

I might have become like a low key drug dealer. just a little bit

middle parts are 💯

osamu

*sends him a picture of a cake I made* that looks BUSSIN

I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little bitter that all these ticks are crawling on me and none of them are on you

those trees that smell like cum are blooming again

I wanted to kiss you just now, but I have Taki breath

do you think it would be disrespectful to bring some snacks with us on this walk through a cemetery?

do you remember that park we were in last night? apparently they found a body there a few weeks ago. whatever

bokuto

how soon is too soon to piss in front of someone in the woods?

the neck is one of the body’s androgynous zones. you mean erogenous zones? yeah that’s what I said

*gets not one, but two bowling balls stuck in the gutter*

sorry I can’t hug you for too long, I might get a boner and we’re in public

kita

come here, let’s enjoy the transient beauty of nature together

are you feeling touch starved? you want a hug?

I’m sorry you had a bad day queen 😔

he needs some goat milk to straighten him out, show him some discipline

sakusa

this is the most disgusting city on the planet, god bless 🙏🏼

god damn, my skin is absolutely glowing today

you’re my favorite little whore

hinata

what’s your wifi password? uhh, BingusBingus

hey can I give you a penny? just so I can say I’ve paid someone for sex

it’s easier for guys to pee wherever they want, but pooping is the great equalizer

I did not shit in those woods. I shat in some other woods

I’m smarter than the average pill bug

iwaizumi

is it homophobic of me to not let you win at bowling?

you sometimes speak like abe lincoln

do I pick friends based on if they are attractive? sometimes

tanaka

I just farted outside of my friend’s house and sent it to him as an audio clip to antagonize him

I just pissed for 55 seconds, who wants to try and beat my record?

god gave me a dick and balls so I could helicopter them at my nemesis's funeral

I’d let you do literally whatever you wanted to me. that made my balls happy reading that

I don’t get the hot boy attention I deserve from enough women

kenma

you listen to music while you go on walks, I listen to podcasts on bloodborne lore while I go to the gym using my stolen membership, we are not the same

quarantine did irreparable damage to my brain

*sends a picture of him holding a frying pan over his sleeping friend’s head* I’m about to tom & jerry this bitch

--

➣masterlist

--

➣taglist (let me know if you want to be added!)

@crystal-lilac @rinniesbbygirl  @rinsangel

[semisgroupie]

Third Time's The Charm

Club Member!Taichi x Fem. Reader

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: fingering (f!receiving), exhibitionism (Oikawa watches), condom usage (i know, crazy right?), praise, many many check ins, safe word mention, characters are college aged (both seniors in college so 21/22)

A/N: this is my submission for the @hqintheclub Haikyuu University Sex Club collab! Read the rest of the works here! I am so thankful for this network and to contribute to the collab, I hope this does a good job in conveying safe sex practices. Also a huge huge thank you to @meiansmistress for beta-reading!!! Yes the safe word is a little tribute to what Taichi does in the timeskip.

Once Shinsuke called the end of the meeting, Kawanishi stood up and made his way to the front of the room with his clipboard in hand.

“Alright my fellow club members, I’m just going to go over the statistics before the end of the month, who need to go for their STD tests and the notes I took from this meeting.” He adjusted his glasses and flipped through the papers. “Okay, so some recommendations from this meeting are, ‘buy scented toilet paper’ by Tooru. Yeah, not happening.”

A whine came from the back of the meeting room.

“Dude, why not? You know how girls have to pee after sex? They could have something that smells good while they do it!” Tooru’s eyes lit up offering his proposal, just like every other month, only to have it shut down again.

“Buy scented candles or something for your smelly bathroom.” Chuckles and snickers erupted in the room while Tooru sat back and pouted like a child. Kawanishi went through the rest of the recommendations and other areas of concern before moving onto the last topic.

“Okay, so for the fun part. Time to see who has had the most and least sex this month.” The room went dead silent as Kawanishi went over the log book. He did a onceover of the totals before looking at the group.

“So the lucky guy with the most amount of happy customers is… Osamu with eighteen.”

“Huh? ‘Samu? He isn’t even here! Not even a member.” Atsumu huffed and kept on ranting and raving about his brother until Kawanishi interrupted him.

“Actually, he’s an unofficial/official member who does not need to really attend meetings since we haven’t properly officiated his membership. But we definitely need to do that since he’s definitely bringing popularity to the club. Next is Mr. Chairperson Tooru and Mr. President Shinsuke both tying in with twelve happy ladies. Congratulations to the both of you. So, now the two least are—well you guys shouldn’t be surprised as these results have been consistent for a while now. But in good spirit, it’s me with two and Keiji with one.”

A shrug came from Keiji as the results were read. Kawanishi felt the same way, it got annoying every single time he had to read the results. They both knew they had to get laid but Kawanishi had his eye on a special someone.

The meeting was called to an end and Kawanishi made his way to his room to get ready for his chemistry lab. There was only one thing circling in his brain—he had to raise his number, but how? There was that one person he wanted but he wasn’t even sure if she even had plans to use the services the club provided, let alone choose him.

You were Kawanishi’s cute little lab partner. Always looking at him with bright doe eyes and always greeting him with a huge smile. You were too cute, too innocent to use the sex club. Kawanishi was sure of that. You probably even had a boyfriend so any hope he had for you was gone.

That was until he overheard you talking to your friends.

You were huffing and complaining about your sex life as you stood in front of the lab room—well, lack of sex in your life. You had a cute pout on your face as you rambled on, completely unaware of Kawanishi eavesdropping on such a private conversation.

“My toys aren’t even as enjoyable anymore! I just give up halfway through because it's the same thing over and over, I’m tired of it! And there’s absolutely no way I’m going to find a random guy on Tinder because he could be a creep or just horrible at sex.”

You sighed and started scrolling through your phone while your friend started thinking about what you said. Kawanishi recognized her, he knew her name started with a J and she was with Osamu last week. He remembered her moaning—well, screams—of Osamu’s name. As Kawanishi shook the thought from his head, “J” spoke.

“Remember that hook up I told you about last week?” She waited for you to nod before she continued speaking, “Well, there’s a website I met him off of. I’ll give it to you now and check it out. I think I saw a picture of your lab partner on the site. But check it out and let me know who you pick. Enjoy your class!”

You gave her a quick thanks before walking into the lab room, getting your goggles and supplies as Kawanishi soon followed. You made small conversation but every time you snuck a glance at him, you couldn’t see him as the type to be a part of the university’s sex club. Jay probably got him confused with someone else but for some reason you couldn’t wait until you got back to your apartment.

You just had to make sure. It was just curiosity. Well, that was what you kept telling yourself when you opened up your laptop and typed the web address in. You were met with the website, seeing the names of all the members and things that they specialized in. While you were scrolling through, your eyes widened and your heart dropped to your stomach.

Secretary: Taichi Kawanishi Specialty: Fingering

“Holy shit. It’s him.”

You read the name over and over again. Maybe it was just the lack of sleep finally getting to you or maybe it was because you unknowingly inhaled some drug that caused you to hallucinate and see his name. No matter how many times you refreshed the screen and rubbed your eyes, nothing changed. His name was still there and so was his specialty.

“Fingering? Well, he does have nice fingers. They are very long.”

You started thinking about his slim fingers, wondering how they would feel on your skin, grazing your most sensitive parts, but before you got too deep in thought you snapped yourself out of it. This was your lab partner! Not some pornstar or prostitute. Not some rando you met on a dating site. You would see him again if you decided to go through with it. How would that change how you two interacted with each other? Would it bring unnecessary tension?

You had this back and forth with yourself all night. You finally made your decision when you couldn’t get yourself off, the toy on your clit no longer bringing the same satisfaction it used to. With a huff you grabbed your laptop and went back to the website. Once the page loaded, you looked through all the guys and their specialties.

“Corsetry? What is that?”

You looked through the rest of the other specialties and you were equally intrigued and confused. You went back to Kawanishi and stared at his name. You didn’t want to ruin anything but you couldn’t stand this any longer—you needed a good fuck and you needed it badly.

“Fuck it.”

You scheduled an appointment with him, Saturday evening, a time where the site said he would be free. You put your laptop away and went to sleep.

The next morning Kawanishi woke up to frantic knocking on his door. He rolled out of bed and opened the door to be welcomed by Tooru.

“Dude, what the fuck? Did someone die?”

“No but check your phone, someone has been scheduled for tomorrow evening.”

Kawanishi rolled his eyes and checked his phone, the notification woke him up.

“Y/N scheduled me for tomorrow evening?”

“Don’t worry my friend. I will get you condoms. But aren’t you glad I sent you for STD testing on Monday? You can thank me later.”

The rest of the day went by normally, then Kawanishi remembered one of the main rules.

“New members and members who fuck the least need to fuck in front of an official club member.”

Kawanishi went to some of the other guys first, but Keiji and Koutarou both said they couldn’t. Shinsuke had to visit his grandmother and some of the other club members were occupied. That left  only one person.

“Tooru, are you busy tomorrow evening?”

Tooru thought for a few seconds then shook his head. He furrowed his eyebrows in a silent question as to why he would be needed tomorrow evening.

“You forgot the rule, didn’t you?” Tooru kept a confused look and shrugged his shoulders.

Kawanishi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before continuing. Only if anyone else was free. He would take anyone at this moment over Tooru.

“People who fuck the least in the club need to fuck in front of an official member, and everyone one else is busy so I’m asking you.”

A smile grew on Tooru’s face as he got up and wrapped his arm around Kawanishi’s shoulder.

“Oh my friend, don’t make me seem like I’m the last choice—“

“—you are.”

“Ouch, anyways I’ll be glad to watch. Do you need any tips? All the girls have left with a smile on their face after a night with me. You know I would’ve never thought I’d say this but you should’ve gone to Seijoh or maybe I should’ve gone to Shiratorizawa… I would have gotten you laid all the time, or at least done a better job than stupid Ushiwaka, you wouldn’t have had this little dry spout you’re having now—hey!”

Kawanishi removed Tooru’s arm and walked out of his room.

“Thanks for doing it, I don’t need your help though. If you try coaching me, I don’t care what I’m doing, I will throw you out of the room myself.”

Kawanishi spent the rest of the night and most of the day Saturday organizing his room, making it neat and stuffing his mini fridge with drinks and snacks. When it was time for you to come over, he waited for you in front of the club house.

As he waited, his nerves were getting the best of him. He hadn’t felt this nervous since he lost his virginity. Before he could really start worrying, he saw you approaching, giving him a small wave before you could greet him with a hug.

“Hey, well first off, thank you for choosing me for this. I should explain that we will have someone watch us, so if that makes you uncomfortable I completely understand. It’s just a rule we have for the club and I can show you the rule book if you need me to once we get to my room.”

“It’s okay. If you don’t mind me asking, who will it be?”

Before Kawanishi could answer your question the man in question wrapped his arms around the both of you.

“Hello you two! I shouldn’t need to introduce myself but I’m Tooru and—oh! I recognize you, Y/N right? I think we had biology together last year. You saved my ass so many times with your notes. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Kawanishi here treats you right—ow!”

Kawanishi pinched Tooru’s side and gave him a mean side eye.

“Tooru, remember what I told you yesterday.”

Tooru raised his hands in surrender at Kawanishi’s warning and you couldn’t help but laugh at the interaction. The sound of your laughter helped calm Kawanishi down a bit. He just had to get it through his mind that you were just a regular person with needs just like him, and he was going to help you satisfy those needs.

Light conversation was shared between the three of you as you all walked to his room. Once you crossed the threshold of his bedroom, Kawanishi took your hand as he led you to the bed and sat next to you. You rested your hand on top of his and offered him a shy smile, leaning in slowly.

“C-can I kiss you Kawanishi?”

He cupped your cheek and closed the distance between the both of you. Your lips felt so soft against his and he couldn’t stop himself from deepening the kiss. His hand moved to squeeze the fat of your thigh that was exposed by the skirt you were wearing. He broke away from the kiss to sit against his headboard, patting his thighs.

“Come on, come sit on my lap, pretty girl and we can get started. If you feel uncomfortable, your safe word is mojito. Once you say it, I will stop whatever I’m doing and we can just cuddle or do whatever you want, okay?”

You settled yourself on his lap with a meek “yes” before leaning back in to kiss him. Tooru was sitting on the spare chair in the room, scrolling on his phone. It was adorable to see you get so shy. You were always so confident and so outspoken, but once Kawanishi got you inside his room you crawled into a little shell.

He pulled you down to kiss you this time as his hands wandered over your body. His hands moved over your clothed breasts, squeezing them softly, making whimpers leave your lips. He moved his hands lower to your ass, squishing the flesh, and when you bucked your hips into his he gave it a light smack, swallowing the moan that left you. He pulled away to look at you.

“Can I touch you some more? I just want you to feel really good for me.”

“P-please touch me, w-want more.”

He smirked at your stuttering—it made this even more enjoyable. He leaned in and trailed kisses from your lips to your jaw and neck, your hips bucking more. You were so sensitive he couldn’t wait to see how you would react to his fingers. His hand trailed up your thigh and his thumb grazed against your panties. You bit down on your lip, trying to hide your moans.

It was embarrassing to you how quickly you were falling apart; he hadn’t even touched your skin for more than a few seconds and you already felt like once his fingers touched your bare pussy, you would cum.

Kawanishi licked your neck as he slid your panties to the side.

“Are you ready? I’ll go nice and slow for you.” He spoke into the skin of your neck as his fingers rubbed your slick folds.

“Yes, please.”

Your head dropped to his shoulder once he slid his middle finger inside you, moving slowly. He hissed at the way your cunt swallowed his finger, thinking about how it would feel once his cock was buried inside you. He sped up his thrusts, your muffled moans and whimpers encouraging his actions further. He slipped another finger in, leaning back to see your expressions as you quickly lifted your head from his shoulder.

Your jaw went slack as moans kept falling from your mouth, your hips bucking into his hand as you got lost in the pleasure, chasing your orgasm. His fingers were so long and hit so deep. They felt so good, better than any toy you had used in the past month or so. You were embarrassingly close to your orgasm after only a short time.

“Ka-Kawanishi, ‘m close!”

“I know, just cum for me, okay? Cum all over my fingers, let me know how good I’m making you feel.”

He thrusted his fingers faster, using his thumb to rub your clit. He rubbed your back with his free hand while watching all your expressions. Your hands made their way to his shirt, balling the fabric in your fists as you came undone on his fingers with a moan of his name. He slowed his fingers down to help you relax, making sure he wasn’t overstimulating you.

“You did such a good job for me. You look so beautiful when you cum. So good for me. Are you okay?”

“Yes I’m fine,” you reply breathlessly.

“We can stop here. All I care about is you cumming. I could continue fingering you until my fingers turn pruney if you want or I could get you some snacks and water and just talk.”

You shook your head; you couldn’t leave him hard. You wanted to fuck him, and the snacks and drinks could always come later.

“I-I want to fuck you. I want you to feel good too.”

“Don’t worry about me, this is all about you and your pleasure. I’m here for you, okay?”

You nodded as he reached over for a condom on his nightstand. You lifted yourself off his lap slightly to remove your panties and skirt as he pulled off his sweatpants and boxers, revealing how hard he was.

“Okay, so how do you want to do this? I want you to be comfortable and enjoy yourself.”

“I want to ride you.”

You sat yourself on his thigh as he opened the foil package and rolled the condom onto his cock, pinching the tip of it. Once it was on, he placed his hands on your hips to help you guide you down on his cock. His grip tightened, feeling your warmth envelop his cock and fighting the urge to just thrust up into you. He moved you down slowly until you bottomed out.

“You did amazing, now take your time. I’ll help guide your hips so you don’t go too fast.”

You placed your hands on his shoulders as you slowly bounced yourself on his cock, the tip brushing against your g-spot over and over again. Praises kept falling from Kawanishi’s lips as moans kept coming out from yours. Tooru couldn’t help but start palming himself over his sweatpants at the sight of you and Kawanishi, your sweet moans and cries filling the room. Your hands went under your shirt, freeing your breasts from the confines of your bra. You played with and teased your nipples, adding extra stimulation to the pleasure you were already feeling.

The closer you got to your orgasm, the more your legs shook, making him take more control. He bounced you up and down on his cock, thrusting his hips up to meet yours. You felt so good around him and the sight of you playing with your nipples turned him on even more. If he thought you looked beautiful when you were fucking yourself on his fingers, you looked like a goddess now. Your pussy clenched his cock tighter and tighter with each thrust, signalling to him that your orgasm was approaching.

“Cum for me Y/N, cum for me. I know you’re close, I feel you clenching me so tightly. Come on and cum for me.”

Once the soft commands were spoken, you came around his cock, your eyes clenched shut as your jaw went slack letting out a silent moan. As you were riding out your orgasm Kawanishi couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. Small beads of sweat rolled down your neck and you finally opened your eyes to make eye contact with him. You leaned down and connected your lips with his once more.

Kawanishi kept thrusting until he filled up the condom with his cum. Once he felt you relax around him, he lifted you up slowly and laid you down on the bed, covering you with a blanket. He pulled the condom off, tying a knot and throwing it out in the trash can in his room. He nodded at Tooru, giving him the signal to leave, and so he did with a wink and a wave.

Kawanishi reached out for your hand and helped you get up as he walked you to the bathroom.

“I just need you to go to the bathroom and then we could watch something.”

You did your business and left the bathroom with a small smile on your face.

“Is there any way we could have this happen again? I don’t know if you guys can have regulars or if it's against the rules.”

Kawanishi chuckled and walked you back to his bed.

“We have no rules about regulars and I’d love to do this with you again.”

He kissed you on the forehead and handed you a water bottle to drink from before laying down next to you.

As he laid down next to you, talking about a random topic you brought up, he finally understood when people said the third time's the charm. He couldn’t have asked for a better person to raise his total to three.

[imabeautifulbutterfly]

The Gym Membership - Part 9 (Tech)

Summary: Tech takes a step with a friend he thought was out of reach.

A/N: Hello Lovelies,

Thank you for being patient, loves, you guys are awesome. Tech’s portion is very sweet - I least I think so, but it’s also going to be a bit of up and down. 

There will be a chess game that is played through out Tech’s portion, it is the game played by Kasparov vs. Topalov - played Jan 20 1999, at the Hoogoes A tournament. Please note I am not a chess player, I do not watch chess, hence why I focused on an already played game. 

I hope you guys enjoy this version of Tech, I thoroughly have. 

Love oo

Warnings: Awkward flirting, chess play, sibling teasing, mentions of human trials for a prosthetic, mentions of prosthetics, mentions of surgeries, difficulties with human trials, fluff, babysitting, mentions of shock, parental yelling, I think that’s it, if I miss any please let me know. 

AO3 Link   |   Words: 5,237 |   PREVIOUS - -> NEXT

Gym Membership Master List  |   Main Master List  

Tech and Zaina were finishing their workout by the far west wall of the gym, both sweaty from their workout, they’d already spent the better part of an hour building up to deadlifts, each bringing out the other’s competitive nature. 

“I’m surprised you did not ask Hunter to help you”

“Well, as much as I enjoy Hunter’s company, I don’t necessarily want to spend every single waking moment with him.”

“Really?” Tech asked his eyebrow crooked upward, “I thought you two were …”

“Oh we are, it’s just …” Zaina placed the barbell down in front of her, turning to look at Tech, “I mean you know what it’s like when you’re dating someone, as much as you enjoy your time with them, and don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with Hunter and Omega, it’s…” Zaina couldn’t stop the giant smile that graced her lips, “they’re amazing and everything I could have wanted, but sometimes it’s nice to have a moment to yourself, or to spend time with someone other than them, just for a little bit. You know?”

“I suppose. Granted most of my girlfriends end up breaking up with me, because I forget I’m dating when I delve into a project.”

“I’m sorry, that sucks. They should be understanding at least”

“Oh no, you misunderstand. It is not that they are not understanding. In fact, it is quite the opposite, I once dated a woman for seven months before she finally broke up with me. Granted I was extremely consumed with my project for the better part of six months, out of those seven.”

“Oh. I see. Can I ask you something?” Zaina tilted her head to have her follow him towards the juice bar.

“Of course”

“Is there anyone now that has your eye?”

“Hmm” Tech took the seat beside her, thinking about the question, was there anyone? There was, but the chances of her being interested in him, that was another thing entirely “Why do you ask?”

“Cause there’s this woman” Zaina began slowly watching Tech’s expression carefully, “I believe you met her, when I had you guys over for games night about two weeks ago” Tech shrugged his shoulders, “she’s one of the girls I work with, blonde hair, gray eyes, very pretty.”

Tech remembered her, she was very pretty, but as interesting as a piece of blank paper, “Right, what about her?”

“She wanted your number, I said I would double check because I didn’t know what your status was or what your inclinations were; so would you be interested if she called you?”

Tech thought about it, he was unattached and maybe she would be fun for a few dates, but in the end it wasn’t his style. He wanted someone he could share ideas with, someone who would interest him not just physically but mentally as well, a quick fling was more up Crosshair’s alley “Thanks Zai for the offer but I’m good. She is …” Tech cleared his throat, scratching the spot behind his ear trying to think of the best way to explain what he meant, “as pretty as she is, she is not my type.”

“Well, what is your type?” Zaina asked, taking a sip of the drink Hunter had left in front of her after leaving a kiss on her forehead, which instantly caused her to look away abashed, yet there was still a coquettish smirk on her face as she looked towards Hunter. 

“Zai, I am not sure I can explain it as easily as …”

“Hi Tech” Tech glanced up to see Kamarie, at seeing her beautiful smile his heart began to beat quickly, he felt as though he couldn’t breathe. If he could describe his ideal woman to Zai, well then that would have to be Kamarie, she was brilliant, funny, kind, beautiful and for some inexplicable reason she was his friend. She was the kind of woman you never forgot, at least to Tech she was. 

Zai tapped his foot subtlety when he hadn’t said anything “Hello Kamarie, it’s a pleasure to see you”

“Not as great a joy as it is for me. In fact, it has been a while since the last time we met, is everything going well with you?”

He felt his throat go dry, and no amount of swallowing was helping the situation, “Yes,” he cleared his throat, glancing over to Zai, “have you met Zaina, this is Hunter’s girlfriend and Mel’s cousin” Tech motioned towards her, she’d been eyeing his interaction the whole time, Zaina pulled herself together, turning to look at Kamarie, holding out her hand readily with her usual friendly smile. 

“Lovely to meet you, Kamarie. Take it, you're a friend of Tech’s?”

I was quick to take her hand, “Yes, we met a while back. He was kind enough to help me when a rather obnoxious and determined gentleman wanted more of my attention than I dared give him. He refused to accept my disinclination for what it was and proceeded to make his attempts to interest me even more forceful, which of course did not impress me even the slightest. As such, Tech interfered and promptly removed the gentleman from my presence with a promise should he attempt to influence my opinion in a manner that greatly distresses me, Tech would be the one to deal with him.”

Zaina glanced over to Tech, whose cheeks had a dark tint, “Wow, impressive Tech. You certainly know how to make an impression” Tech noticed the smirk on Zaina’s face, which he promptly tried to ignore. 

“I did what any gentleman would have done” Tech waved off.

“I doubt that; you and your brothers were raised better than most” Zaina smirked.

Tech seemed to ignore Zaina’s statement completely as he turned his attention to me, “Kamarie, before time passes us, Bishop E3 to H6”

“Oh Tech, you must know such an action would only cause me to act in a manner to defend my Queen and King. Bishop G7 to H6 captures Bishop” I couldn’t help smirk at Tech, “As a man of skill and forthright, I imagined your attacks to be slightly more daring, unless I underestimated the skill with which we are playing.”

“Perhaps I wanted to provide a sense of calmness and wellbeing making sure you understood the gravity of the situation when I tell you, Queen D2 to H6 capturing your Bishop.” Tech looked so proud of his move a smile etched on his face that reached to his eyes, “I would suggest taking the time needed to fully consider the ramifications of your next move. I would greatly dislike the idea that you are leaving your royalty at their most vulnerable.”

I couldn’t hide the smile as I looked at Tech, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him, “Ingenious, as always.” I looked away from him for a second and realized we had gathered a bit of an audience, I cleared my throat,” Tech, Zaina, Hunter, and Echo” I nodded to the four of them, a smile etched on my lips as I headed off to my workout. 

Zaina looked from Kamarie’s retreating form back to Tech, “Okay, what the hell was that?”

“Oh we are playing a very intricate came of Chess, Zai”

“No. I know that; I mean the tension between the two of you” Zaina wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

“Oh, I felt that tension” Echo reinforced, he was biting his bottom lip keeping himself from laughing.

“Don’t bother, sarad’ika” Hunter stated as he passed Tech his drink, while winking at Echo.

“What? Why?” Zai looked from Tech to Hunter, “Tech, you want to tell her?”

“No”

“Come on” Echo nudged his brother

“Hunter” Tech’s tone was final, Hunter shrugged ignoring his younger brother and turning his attention to the woman who was beautiful inside and out, and had captured his heart completely, something that he didn’t think would’ve been possible.

“Fine, I’ll tell her.” Hunter leaned closer to Zaina, he took her hands in his, tracing her knuckles with his thumb, “He is heads over heels for her, has been for some time, right Tech?” Hunter glanced over to his brother, who simply glared at him as he chugged back his drink. He turned his attention back to Zaina, smirking as he continued, “I’m pretty sure she feels the same way Sard’ika, especially after that day Tech stepped in; but Tech is too cowardly to ask her out.”

“I am not as you say ‘cowardly,’ I simply do not wish to impose a desire she may have no inclination towards. I want to be her friend, rather than not being in her presence completely.”

Zaina bit her tongue to keep her from laughing at how adorable Tech was, “Do you notice how his speech pattern changed after she showed up?” Zaina teased smirking at Hunter’s nodding. 

“If you both will excuse me,” Tech stood, irritated with the three of them the seemed to be studying him, “I have to change. I am meeting with one of our equipment vendors.”

“Oh of course, Tech” Hunter smirked, “a meeting” he teased, while he winked at Zaina.

Tech simply rolled his eyes, finishing his drink at the same time, walking away from the three of them. He wished he could be more forthright, more like Crosshair in that sense, being able to just ask or put himself in a position where he could potentially risk a friendship. After all, he never seemed to have any issues discussing how he felt towards someone; then again Crosshair never stayed with anyone long enough to make them valuable enough to treat with the dignity and respect. Tech wanted to be her friend and more than that he wanted to always treat her with respect and dignity, not as just something to occupy his time. 

Tech scrubbed his skin harder than he realized, his frustration clearly evident on his irritated skin. He stepped out of the shower, wondering if he could take that step with her. He wasn’t a romantic per se, in fact he was most definitely not a romantic, according to his previous paramours he was the least romantic person they had ever come across. Granted, the only reason he was with most of them was because they asked him. 

He didn’t want to think more about Kamarie, but no matter how hard he tried that smile, those eyes, that intelligence she demonstrated again and again, were permanently etched into his memory. What he needed was a night out, to forget what he was feeling. She was a brilliant engineer and the last thing she’d be interested in would be someone like him. 

As Tech walked out of the locker room, he noticed Kamarie was sitting at the juice bar with Zaina, he wanted nothing more than to have his feet carry him over to them, to sit and listen to her, to hear her voice fill the space around him, listening to her discuss one subject or another, to hear her call his name yet again. 

“Tech” It was almost as though his thoughts had granted his deepest wish, he glanced over to see Kamarie waving him over. 

Before he even realized his feet were taking him to the very person, who he wished would become his world,“Yes?”

“I wondered if I may trouble you for some assistance with my latest project, as you know I’ve been having difficulties not just with the hydraulics, but the program coding focusing on making sure the hydraulics do not overexert themselves, worse still it appears the coding is refusing to recycle itself at the end of every action.”

“Are you sure the coding is properly entered?” I didn’t even answer him, I simply raised my eyebrow at him, while I leaned into my hand that was propping my head.  

Tech noticed how Zaina was hiding a chuckle behind her knuckles as they pressed into her lips as her elbow rested on the back of her chair, Hunter seemed similarly amused. 

He felt his face heat up, “I would be only to happy to help you address this problem, unfortunately, at the moment, I am on my way to attend a meeting with one of our suppliers.”

“Do not stress yourself, Tech. I will give you my number, contact me once you are free to do so” I promptly handed Tech my business card before I headed to the locker room. It was a little odd to have so many watching us, yet I understood it was due to their admiration for their brother.

Zaina tried, she really did try not to say anything, she wanted to be supportive of Hunter’s younger brother and did not want to embarrass him, but she couldn’t help smirk at his shocked expression, as his eyes read and reread the card in his hands. 

“Do you think his brain short-circuited?” Crosshair’s voice teased as he walked up beside his younger brother. 

“I think his brain is rebooting at the moment,” Hunter laughed, “let’s give him a minute or two to come back to us” Hunter and Crosshair chuckled.

“Will you two stop?” Zaina defended Tech, “Leave him alone. It’s not every day his Bishop captures the Queen” she tried, she really did but she couldn’t stop smiling from ear-to-ear at seeing Tech’s cheeks deepen a darker red at the teasing he was receiving from the three of them. 

“For your information, Zai,” Tech smiled as he turned the card in his hand, before he locked eyes with her, as a self-satisfied smile appeared on his lips, “I always capture the Queen” he smirked as he headed off, tucking the business card into his pocket. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

My stomach was fluttering when I noticed Tech’s caller ID appeared on my cell. I wanted to answer, but of course at that moment, I was inundated with questions, as I did my best to answer the panel before me. 

“Are you sure you’ll be able to meet the deadline?” Lama Su narrowed his eyes on me.

“I understand the panel's concern, but must I remind you we are here for the benefit of veterans and those in need of prosthetics. Human trials for our prosthetics are progressing at exceptional speed. There have been difficulties with seven percent of the trails.”

“Could you please clarify the difficulties?” Tong Wee asked as she readjusted her pen ready to take notes.

“Certainly” I pulled up the next slide from my presentation, “as you can see from overall feedback, most patients have reported they find the prosthetic to be a benefit to their life. Patient FJ-3645 directed our attention to one issue with their neural interface, at times the connection would drop between the patient and the prosthetic. We discovered the problem was a firmware issue; which has since been adjusted — however this particular patient has stated that the issue, although fixed, has affected the overall feel of the equipment. We are currently trying to determine the problem the patient is sensing. I would like to next direct your attention to patient EF-2487 this patient was at work when the prosthetic completely failed. It appears in this case the neural interface completely crashed.”

“I do apologize for interrupting” Nala Se began as she held her hand up, indicating for me to stop my presentation “are you saying most of the issues are neural interface based?”

“In these particular two patients it has been, for Patient FJ-3645 the problem with their prosthetic developed from a firmware issue; for Patient EF-2487, their problems arose due to a temperature issue.”

“A temperature issue? Would you please do your best to clarify this statement” Nala Se tilted her head at me.

“The patient’s body temperature runs higher then normal and works in an environment dealing with extreme heat raising their normal body temperature even greater.”

“Why was this not dealt with before human trials?” Tong Wee noted.

“None of the scenarios could have predicted a body temperature that normally ran as high this patient. Their physiology is actually quite unique.”

“No doubt there would certainly be some patients who inevitably end up running a fever”

“Of course, which was taken into account during the trials and even at time of development. However, what was not taken into account was a normal body temperature of 110. This particular patient was selected for the clinical trials due to their unusual biology.”

“How long did the patient wear the prosthetic before it completely  malfunctioned?”

“A total of 875 hours, approximately 36.4583 days”

“That is quite the achievement, what exactly transpired?”

“The neural interface was burnt from the internal heat.”

“Have you been able to determine, what exactly about the patient’s physiology causes their temperature to run at a higher rate?”

“At this time we are unable to determine the direct cause. The patient has undergone several tests already, the theory at present is a belief the patient has a form of thyroid disease or possibly a heart arrhythmia we are currently running several tests to determine the validity of those theories.”

“What are the other issues?”

“Another patient had a hydraulic issue”

“Excuse me” Lama Su narrowed his eyes at me, “Do any of the problems actual deal with some sort of manufacturing issue?”

“If you turn to page 153 of your reports, you will note out of the fifty complaints we have received out of 700 patients, only one was a manufacturing issue which was fixed promptly”

“Any other issues we should become aware of?” Lama Su looked up from the report I handed out to them at the beginning of our meeting. I was about to open my mouth, when he cut me off, “More specifically, any issues that will cost the company money?”

I let out a sigh, “No. Majority of the issues are due to the physiology of the patient or a firmware issue.”

“In that case, I do not see a need to continue the meeting. Excellent work, doctor. We look forward to your next report.”

“Thank you ladies and gentlemen” I nodded to the panel of six men and women, grabbing my equipment and reports promptly leaving the meeting room, as soon as the panellists all left. I looked at my phone, as a notification for a new voicemail popped up. I couldn’t help smiling at the thought Tech had left me a voicemail.

I waited till I was in my office, closing the door before listening to his message.

‘Hello Kamarie, I do hope this message finds you well. As you requested, I finished with my meeting and contacted you as soon as I was able to; I wish to reiterate that I would be elated to help you figure out the coding issue you have come across. Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. I look forward to hearing from you.’ 

There was a silence for a second before Tech's voice came back on the line.

‘In case, I forgot to mention, this is Tech. Tech from the Marauder Gym. The same Tech you play chess with …’ I heard him let out a sigh, ‘Again, I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.’ 

I couldn’t help smirk at his nervousness that clearly seeped through. I sat at my desk, staring at my phone, I wanted to call him, and tell him I could never forget him, I would always remember him, for as long as I could. 

Yet, regardless of how much I wanted to take a step with Tech, I kept remembering the last time I was so upfront with my affections, not just my affections but also regarding my condition. The last time I informed someone about my future and what I was facing, it didn’t end well. 

However, start something off with Tech on a lie, even if it was an omission was not the way I wanted it to begin and somehow I felt that he would be someone who would not shy away or run away simply because things may be more difficult than expected.

I took in a deep breath, chasing to have faith in a man who by all accounts seemed to be the encapsulation of what I had longed for, my finger shook a little as I dialed Tech’s number.

“Hello”

“Hi Tech”

“Kamarie … I … the message …” Tech took in a deep breath, “I cannot apologize enough”

“Tech”

“No please let me apologize”

“There’s nothing to apologize for”

“If you are sure”

“I am”

“In that case, how can I be of service?”

“Well, I would like to go over the coding issue with you, do you think you’d be able to come by my office?”

“When?”

“In an hour?”

“Unfortunately, that will not be possible, I’m finishing up with some work here, would it be all right if …” Tech cleared his throat, “Would it be all right if we met up for dinner to discuss it?”

“I believe dinner would be an even better suggestion, than what I had planned.”

“Gre…”

‘Did you get a hold of her?’ Another voice came on the line, it sounded like Crosshair cutting off Tech, however I hardly spoke with the man so I could be mistaken.

‘Yeah, I did…’ before he could say anything, more loud steps came booming over the phone. 

‘Hey!’ Another voice called out.

‘Wrecker? What’s up?’ Tech asked

‘I’ve been calling you’

‘We didn’t hear you’ Crosshair’s voice rang through, ‘Anyway, Tech, you should just ask out Kamarie, you like her and she likes you, that’s evident by how she smiles at you.’

‘No di’kut!’ Wrecker’s booming voice came over the speaker, ‘I meant, when I tried calling Tech on the phone, I couldn’t get through, Cross.’ 

“That’s because I’m on the phone … right now … with Kamarie. She’s on speakerphone and no doubt has heard all of this”

“Hi Crosshair, hi Wrecker, I apologize for not saying anything earlier.”

There was nothing but pure silence for a minute, before I heard Crosshair’s voice trail off ‘Oh, shi…’ followed promptly by shifting feet and a door slamming shut. 

I was smirking as I nibbled on my bottom lip, I couldn’t believe he liked me. I thought for sure there was no way he would’ve been interested in me, after all he was … he was amazing, intellectual, kind, dignified, treated me with utmost respect, and quite handsome. I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped from my lips at the sound of the door closing.

“Well, that happened.” Tech chuckled, “I believe there is a requirement here for me to express my deepest apologies on behalf of my siblings, please do not pay attention to anything Crosshair said, he is just … he is an idiot.”

I giggled at his reaction, yet doing my best to still my nerves, “I must disagree with your assessment of the situation, Tech.”

“Please enlighten me”

“Your sibling simply pointed out an interesting fact that has been a quandary of mine for some time”

“How interesting. That is an important factor in this observation. Wouldn’t you agree, Kamarie?”

“I wholeheartedly agree”

“Is what Crosshair stated factual?” Tech asked with hesitancy, maybe she was just being friendly.

“I believe it to be quite accurate, I know for myself it has been some time since my opinion of you has risen considerably. I find my mind often drifts to moments where I spend a significant portion of my time, contemplating your facial features, your kindness and your intellect.”

Tech cleared his throat, “This seems to be a dilemma for the both of us. With this new information available to both of us, would you care to join me for an evening meal with a romantic notion attached?”

“I would be delighted”

“Would you still care to discuss the coding issues at dinner?”

“It could be one of many topics we can discuss this evening”

“In that case, I eagerly look forward to our evening together”

“I do, as well. Tech, before you go, there is something I wish to say”

“Please feel free to alleviate any concern”

“I appreciate that, I simply wish to point out, Bishop C8 to B7”

“Oh now that is quite interesting. Pond A2 to A3.”

“Pond E7 to E5”

“Queenside castling”

“Queen D8 to E7”

“Protecting your King, I see, very clever”

“Would not want my King to be so vulnerable to opposing forces, he should remain vulnerable only to his Queen”

“I agree wholeheartedly, a King and Queen should only be vulnerable to each other”

“It takes a great deal of trust and respect to rule together, to know how to handle the skills each one brings forth.”

“Especially when going into battle for the first time.”

“At what time and where should I meet you?”

“Would 8 p.m. accommodate your schedule?”

“Perfectly, Tech.”

“I will call and make a reservation and provide you with the details promptly”

“I await with eager anticipation”

“As do I”

“Goodbye Tech”

“Goodbye Kamarie”

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

Hunter watched as Zaina held Iris, rocking her back and forth. Even though Hunter understood how much it still pained Zaina to hold something she would never have the opportunity to have, he couldn’t help think she would’ve made an absolutely wonderful mother. He was glad at the very least she would be able to dote on her niece, and they had agreed to look after her for the weekend. 

Wrecker wanted to surprise Mel with a special weekend away for the two of them, to celebrate their engagement. He had wanted to do it sooner, but between Iris remaining in the hospital for a tad longer than they had expected and Zaina being attacked, not to mention the wedding preparations, time seemed to slip away from him and before he knew it, Iris was six and a half months old.

“How’s it going babe?” Hunter whispered as he placed a gentle kiss on Zaina’s temple.

“Good, I think she’s finally asleep” Zaina answered back matching his tone, doing her best to keep her niece asleep.

“Guess what?” Hunter asked as he wrapped his arms around Zaina and Iris

“What?”

“Tech finally asked her out”

“No. Seriously?” Zaina turned to look at him.

“Yup, he was asking what restaurant we went to for our first date today after he got off the phone with her”

“Aww that’s so sweet”

“Dad!” Omega shouted as the front door slammed, waking Iris after Zaina spent the past thirty minutes getting her to fall asleep. Her wailing from the unexpected noise pierced not only the living room but everyone’s ears as well.

“Omega!” Hunter shouted back at seeing his daughter walk over to them wincing at seeing Iris in Zaina’s arms wailing. She felt guilty, she hadn’t realized Iris was going to be there.

“Sweetheart don’t, she didn’t know”

“That’s still no excuse, sarad’ika. How many times have I told you not to slam the door!”

“Sorry, I didn’t know Iris was here, but …” Omega began.

 Hunter chuckled, feeling bad at raising his voice “Doesn’t matter. From now on, unless you are in trouble, bleeding, or running from some psycho, act like everyday Iris is here.”

“Okay dad,” Omega smirked, “but I was wondering, did you know Uncle Tech is sitting in his car in front of our place?”

“Before we begin with your uncle, do you know what time it is my dear?”

“I know I’m later than I said, but not by much, just …”

“Thirty minutes to be precise”

“Z wanna help me out?” Omega pleaded

Hunter looked from his daughter to his future, at least he hoped she’d be his future if everything went according to plan, however his look clearly stated no interference.

“You know Megs I would love to help you but I gotta take care of this little one, see if I can get her back to sleep” Zaina bounced Iris in her arms hoping the rocking motion would calm her down, she headed towards Iris' crib in the spare room, “She’s not wrong” Zaina mumbled under her breath, as she passed Hunter, noticing the smirk on his lips, “He has a point” she mumbled out to Omega as she stood in front of her, before placing a kiss on her forehead, smirking as she went off with Iris.

Hunter let out a deep sigh, “All right, did you eat?”

“Yeah, Hera’s uncle made us spaghetti”

“Did you finish your homework?”

“Yes. We started our project, which is why I was late”

“Okay, let me go talk to your uncle, but you gotta text me, you know the rules”

“Well you didn’t text either”

“Because Howzer texted, next time you don’t text, you are getting grounded missy” Hunter walked over to his daughter, wrapping his arms around her hugging the stuffing out of her as she hugged him back, “sorry for raising my voice.”

“Sorry for not texting and for slamming the door.”

“I’m serious though, next time you’re getting grounded”

“Yes, Dad” Omega chuckled as she released her dad, walking over to the living room.

“Not kidding” Hunter stated as he grabbed his phone simultaneously putting on his shoes and headed out the front door.

“Love you too, dad”

“Yeah, yeah. Say that now with the threat of being grounded looming overhead” Hunter chuckled, as he walked over to Tech’s car. 

He was surprised to see the loon on Tech’s face, he looked shocked, shaken to his very core. The only other time he’d ever seen Tech look like that was when he received news about Echo and Wrecker’s injuries. Hunter knocked on the window, pulling Tech from his own thoughts.

Tech turned his head blinking at seeing his brother beside his car, as he lowered the window, “Hunter?”

“Hey buddy, you okay?”

“Yeah, what are you doing at my place?”

“Tech, you drove to my place”

“What?” Tech looked from Hunter, to the house behind his brother, there was no mistake he had driven to his older brother’s home. He must have been in more shock than he thought, not to mention his body clearly knew what he needed even if his mind was too in shock to register. 

“You wanna come sit with me on the porch, tell me what got you driving to my place at 11 at night?”

“I … uhhhh…”

“Come on buddy, turn off the car”

Tech followed Hunter’s orders, moving without even realizing he had left the car, his keys dangling from his fingers, as he shifted on the seat on the porch. 

“Want a drink?” Hunter offered, Tech simply shook his head ’no’ as he took in a shuddering breath, Hunter nodded as he took his seat, “Want to tell me what’s got you looking shocked?”

“Kamarie”

“Did something happen on the date?”

“It … ummm…” Tech looked at his hands they were shaking, Hunter reached over and grabbed them, hoping he would be a grounding force for his younger brother, “Tech, hey whatever it is, it’ll be okay.” 

Tech nodded squeezing his older brother’s hand, Hunter was shocked, he wasn’t one for emotions or a display of emotion, whatever shook him up, must have been pretty intense, he waited to hear what Tech had to say.

“As you know I met up with Kamarie for our date” Hunter nodded, waiting for Tech to explain more, “everything was going great, better than could have been expected, when …

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