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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 1 year

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The Bugle’s first episode was on October 15, 2007, so its fifteenth anniversary was last year. In October 2022, I was about a year and a half behind in my chronological Bugle listening, I’d reached the early 2021 episodes. But of course, when they put out the reunion episode with John Oliver to celebrate their 15th birthday, I skipped ahead and listened to that one the day it came out. That day was October 14th, 2022, and my birthday was October 13th, so I was very excited for this excellent birthday present. I do enjoy that The Bugle’s birthday is so close to mine, so every year they’ll do a birthday celebration while I am also having my birthday.

This was John Oliver’s second time on The Bugle since he left it in 2016, following the episode he did in December 2020. The 2020 episode was a lot of fun, but I think their 2022 one was better. My expectations for it were high, and those expectations were exceeded. I was doing an in-person co-op work placement at the time, and I listened to the episode on the bus ride home. I realized fairly quickly, during that ride, that listening to it in public had been a mistake. It made me laugh so hard that I could not do it quietly enough. At one point I realized I had a tear in my eye, due to a combination of 1) laughing so hard I’d cried, 2) the effort of trying not to be too loud and obvious about my laughter, and 3) I don’t know, it was just really good and I’m a sucker for a reunion episode, okay? It was mostly about the first two things, I swear. Anyway, I kept pulling my hat down and my mask up so people would not see me laughing and/or tearing up a bit at this excellent podcast episode.

Shortly after that I took a break from listening to The Bugle, but I have now gone back to it, have listened to the early 2021 to fall 2022 episodes, and have reached their 15th birthday episode properly. So of course I’m listening again. It’s okay, I’m not on a bus this time, I’m in a hotel five hours from home because my best friend/co-coach is attending an annual meeting of the organization that oversees our sport across the province, a meeting that I attended every year for a long time and even got myself voted onto their board (the first time I ever attended one of those meetings I was the only woman in a room with 43 men, and a few years later I became the first woman ever on the board of that organization that had existed for about forty years by then - that’s a good sign, right?) and spent a year doing board meetings and trying to do some stuff about known predators in the sport and other problems but no one fucking cared so I resigned from the board in 2019 and gave up on ever doing any good in the world and then the world ended and I gave up on anything whatsoever, and I’m working on getting back to where I was, caring-about-stuff-wise, but I’m not back the point of being able to attend these fucking meetings again. So the meeting is currently taking place downstairs from where I am, in a hotel meeting room, while I’m hanging out in the room, because my best friend convinced me to come down here for the weekend just to keep him company on the road trip, and to take advantage of the organization that fucked me over by hanging out in the hotel room that they’ve paid for him to stay in last night and tonight.

Anyway, the point is that I’m doing absolutely fine, everything is completely fucking fine, and this feels like an appropriate setting in which to hear this episode again. I’ve just listened to the first few minutes, and was going to summarize what got said in them, but ended up wanting to describe every word so I’ve decided to just transcribe it:

Andy Zaltzman: Hello Buglers! And welcome to another special sub-Bugle to celebrate fifteen years of the world’s leading and only audio newspaper for a visual world. In this episode, I’ll be talking with the person with whom I shared the Bugleverse for eight years, and almost 300 full episodes of this audio newspaper. The one and only John Oliver. Hello John.

John Oliver: Hello Andy, hello Buglers! What an honour it was to share The Bugle with you for eight years, Andy. It was like being on an international space station. But on the ground. And in two different countries. Honestly, that metaphor fell apart instantly.

Andy Zaltzman: Right. But it was still one of the most moving things anyone’s ever said to me, John.

John Oliver: It was just a sense of being in a very confined space. Does that make sense?

Andy Zaltzman: Just the remorseless futility and claustrophobia.

John Oliver: Yeah, the kind of aggressive silence that made you feel like you were truly alone in the universe. Yeah. It was a glorious eight years.

Andy Zaltzman: Well I like to think that probably mirrored the aggressive silence we had at, for example, our Edinburgh preview in York.

John Oliver: I believe so. I think I’ve had a lasting appreciation for the different kinds of silence, due to the work that we were able to do live together. I think we could always tell: this is an interested audience, this is an apathetic audience, this is a very angry audience which is about to vocalize it. And in York, I believe you had all three happening at once at different tables.

Andy Zaltzman: And unforgettably, of course, the space in Docklands, 2004, the night England lost to Portugal on penalties in the European Championships, that was a silence very much caused by no one else being left in the room, after the entire audience had walked out.

John Oliver: That’s right. What it was, was the most natural sound that that room has ever produced. It was really just the walls that were emitting their kind of silence, as our voices were echoed back from the flat surfaces in that room. Voices, at that point, saying, “Shall we still continue? At what point are we just entertaining each other?” And of course, the answer to that was, at all points.

Oh, I’ve missed this. How we’ve all missed this. Well, most of us have missed this.

Right off the top, we have references to their infamous York show, and their general body of double act stand-up work in the 00s, which we’ve been told before received mixed reception in its day. I have seen records that bear that out, in form of very old message board posts that are still on the internet, and they’re not kidding, some people did fucking hate them back in 2004/2005/2006. Oddly, I’ve mostly gotten this from one particular forum that has changed drastically (largely for the better) in the last twenty years, these days it seems to mainly be a Graham Linehan hate site, but I’ve recently seen that they still fucking hate John Oliver, which is almost comforting. Nice to know that some things never, ever change.

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liugeaux · 1 year

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I’m Sure Ben is Broken By Now

Living in MS has a lot of disadvantages. Residents will tell you the trade off is reasonable property value, but it makes sense that its cheap to live where no one wants to be. I don’t know if that’s true for me, but that’s not what this is about. This is about one of my favorite Butt Rock bands and my nearly accidental attendance of over half a dozen Breaking Benjamin (henceforth referred to as BB) shows.

BB has a propensity to play concerts incredibly close to where I’m living. Of the 7 times I’ve see them, only twice have I driven more than 15 minutes, and I’ve never driven more than 3 hours. I don’t know what it is, but of the big 00s butt rock bands, BB found a second home in the Jackson area. I’d say Seether is probably a close 2nd since I recall them playing here at least 5 times.

Let’s talk about each of my concert experiences, or at least what I can remember of them. I’ve never done a post like this, so I hope this is as much fun as I think its going to be.

(Photo taken from Google images, It’s supposed to be the band circa 2003)

Hal & Mal’s w/Saliva - 1/14/2003

In 2003 BB were nobodies. I had never heard of them, and their attempt at a radio hit, “Polyamorous”, was limp, at best. That’s not a condemnation of the Saturate album (I adore that release), they just hadn’t hit it big yet. They were opening for Saliva at Hal & Mal’s an institution of a venue in downtown Jackson. I’d hesitate to name it the premiere Bar/Venue in town (because its neighbor Martin’s would put together a great argument), but by 2003 H&Ms had become an the go-to concert venue for rock bands in the area. I don’t remember most of the fine details of the show, but I do remember being absolutely impressed with the entire performance. So much so, that I immediately went and bought Saturate the following week. I also remember the band’s equipment acting up. “We’ll come back when our shit isn’t fucked up.” exclaimed Ben Burnley about halfway through their troublesome set. Burnley and the band seemed shy the entire show, almost unsure of what to do with the attention they were getting. Showmen, they were not. They were raw and green, but even with Burnley’s obviously timid demeanor, they played those early songs like each one was a smash hit. As for their stage presence, there’s more to come on that.

CPR Fest - 5/4/2003

The farthest I’ve ever driven to see BB is Biloxi, MS. Well, I guess I technically didn’t drive down to just see BB. It was CPRfest and I was mainly there to see a Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Saliva, Trapt and Smile Empty Soul. Yes, a murders-row of cheesy early-aughts post-grunge Mainstream Rock. BB had the prime spot of playing directly before the closer, Godsmack. So, instead of the slumming it outside in the “preshow heat” BB played in the MS Coast Coliseum-proper. Just like the Jackson show 4 months earlier, the band was solid, if not a little stiff. They sounded great, but Brunley in-particular seemed very nervous. It was a much bigger show than the H&M’s show and it felt like he just wanted to get to the end. This was the first BB show I saw as a “fan” and since seeing them earlier in the year, they felt significant in the rock scene.

105 Capitol - 10/1/2004

I 2004 BB were touring in support of their hit album We Are Not Alone. They were headlining and played a show in downtown Jackson. The venue, 105 Capital, didn’t last very long, but this show was great. Thornley (The band Ian Thornley built following the break-up of Big Wreck) opened for them and put on quite a memorable show. I remember being on the second or third row for the entire concert. Burnley had clearly learned a lot about performing live and overall, he felt more like a showman. It was a visceral show, that I’d say, is the best BB concert I’ve ever seen. I got a couple picks a the setlist from the show (pictured below) and I vividly remember the band being very taken aback by how familiar the audience was with their material. They had a real “this rock-star stuff might actually be working” vibe to them. I was 21 at the time, so it sits squarely into my psyche as one the most formative concerts I ever attended.

Hal & Mal’s - 8/22/2006

As promised in 2003, BB returned to Hal & Mal’s when “their shit wasn’t fucked up.” This time, they were the headliner and demanded a much larger crowd/presence. Sadly, I don’t remember much from this show. Since I’m a blogging weirdo I have an old Myspace post I can point to for an overview of that night. If you can get past the terrible writing and clearly un-checked grammar, it’ll give you an idea of what went down.

In retrospect, the biggest takeaway from the show was Dropping Daylight. I love Dropping Daylight’s debut album and I would have never checked them out if not for that BB show. The similarity of me discovering Dropping Daylight the same way I discovered BB is not lost on me. Sadly, Dropping Daylight didn’t have the career that BB has had, but the parallel, seemed significant for years.

Jubilee Jam XX - 6/16/2007

A year later, a block away from Hal & Mal’s, Ben and the (original) boys played Jubilee Jam XX, a now defunct Jackson music festival. Like the previous show, I wrote up a Myspace post reviewing the whole thing. Technically, BB opened for Three Days Grace, but in practice, it was more of a co-headlining show.

I mentioned this in the link above, but footage of one of the coolest parts of that concert is actually available on Youtube. Adam from Three Days Grace helped perform “Dance With the Devil” and somebody with a pre-smartphone camera, captured it. This was the last time I saw the original BB line-up and consequently, the last time I saw them pre-hiatus.

City Hall Live - 10/12/2017

A cool 10 years later, after the 4 year hiatus and the complete overhaul of Ben’s bandmates, BB returned to the Jackson area. This time, they played in my backyard, at City Hall Live, a venue that’s quite literally walking distance (if you consider 38 mins, walking distance) from my house. I wrote about this show in my 2017:The Year of the Concert post. It was quite weird. Billed as an acoustic show (years before they released their acoustic album), it had no opener, and was in an ultra small market. The fact that it even happened is still a shock.

Most of what I want to say about the show is said in the original post, but what I didn’t mention is that my lovely wife, as usual, got the setlist. This isn’t big news. What IS big news, is that she actually got 2 setlists (1 for me and 1 for her sister) and this was at a show where they were selling setlists at the merch table. She is clearly wielding a witchcraft most wouldn’t understand.

Brandon Amphitheater - 5/18/2022

The most recent BB adventure also happened in my backyard. Ben and the boys played the Brandon Amphitheater. Ever since the Amphitheater opened, I wondered what type of artists they would be able to book. Brandon, better yet, central MS, isn’t a haven of popular music. Jackson has some dynamite local artist, but none of them are big enough to headline in Brandon, and to be honest, our radio stations are Olympic-level trash. So, when BB booked the big-boy venue, I was shook. At this point, I’m pretty familiar with what a BB show consists of and the Amphitheater show was EXACTLY what I was expecting. Not that its a bad thing, its just very ... on-brand. Ironically, they were sort-of supporting their acoustic album Aurora and even though they played an acoustic show around-the-corner 5 years earlier, this show was fully electric. The openers were solid; Lacey Sturm and Seether. The coolest moment of the entire night had nothing to do with BB. It was Sturm singing the Flyleaf-classic “I’m So Sick” with Seether during their set. BB put on a predictable and reliable show. Unfortunately nothing too special can really be said about it.

Ever since I saw them as a clumsy opener for a second rate nu-metal act, BB have grown and changed into a modern-rock hit factory, with a tried and true method to sell tickets and entertain audiences. So, many formative memories are tied to BB and my love of their music. I’ll likely be a fan for the rest of my days, however, I think I’m done seeing them live. Or, let me re-phrase that, they would have to make it incredibly convenient for me to see them again. Sure, the last two times have fit that bill, but going forward, I’m not going out of my way to attend a BB concert. Hell, they played Biloxi (a short 3 hour drive) this past week and I didn’t even flinch. Take from this what you will, but it’s definitely not me shitting on the the the band or their live show, its more of a “I’d rather see something new” situation. Who knows? Maybe their next album will be great, and my hunger to see them live will be re-ignited. Until then, Breaking Benjamin ... we good.

EDIT: The above phrase “They would have to make it incredibly convenient for me to see them again.” actually happened. See Below.

City Hall Live - 1/26/2024

They did it again, BB played in my backyard. 6 and a half years after playing City Hall in my hometown, they again played another “stripped down” acoustic show in the same venue. This show was the first time I left a BB show thinking, I might have wasted my time and money. The whole vibe was weird as hell. Burnley hit the stage very talkative and sounding extremely high. Like, two-edibles-deep high. However, since the music sounded great, I’m not going to hold that against him. With a lot of chatting between each songs, the show had 3 less songs than the last time they played City Hall Live and there was no encore. What made the show super weird was Burnley brought his 9 year old son on the stage, as kind of a mini-me, and let him sing and play guitar for THE DURATION OF THE SHOW. He mimicked everything his dad did and even became a key part of Burnley’s banter with the crowd. All of this was done under the guise of “we like to keep it cool and laid back for our unplugged shows, we’re just havin’ fun.” It gave the show a real bootleg feel to it, and the rest of the band didn’t seem thrilled that lil-Ben was getting to tag along. Keep in mind, this was a Friday night show during the school year, and it sounded like mini-Ben had joined them for all their shows. Is Ben Burnley homeschooling his 9 year old so he can bring him on tour? I’m not necessarily shaming his parenting decisions, the whole thing is just exceedingly weird. To add another layer to this, his bandmates may not even feel comfortable speaking out against being Mini-Ben’s backup band, as Burnley has a history of firing bandmates for overstepping.

Quirks aside, as I said, they still sounded great, but twice during the show Burnley asked the audience permission to play deep cuts, with the results being “Away” and “Firefly”, both from their second album We Are Not Alone, and cuts that aren’t that deep. The bigger crime is again not properly capitalizing on the Unplugged format. As I noted in the linked post above, BB have yet to understand what “stripped down” actually means. There shouldn’t be screaming, 3 acoustic guitars is too much, and the drums should be subtle. Everything should be low-key, not just a normal performance with acoustic instruments. Shows like this are a golden opportunity to highlight some of the softer deeper cuts in the BB library. A few that quickly come to mind are “Dear Agony”, “Here We Are”, “Rain” and “Next to Nothing” the last of which notably features an acoustic guitar. With all these factors in mind, I really don’t know if I’ll attend another BB show. At this point, it might just be to further document Ben Burnley’s ever-increasing journey into weirdness.

#breaking benjamin #concert #butt rock #modern rock

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aequoranimae · 3 months

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27th-30th june

I was at Prague main station by nine o'clock. Pastry and coffee in hand, I stood patiently in the sea of people watching the departures board above us, which was yet to announce the platform for the 9:15 service to Wien Hbf. I think a lot of the crowd was waiting for the same information as me, because as soon as the number six appeared alongside our train, a swarm of people began half-running through the underpass towards the platform, suitcases in tow. For some reason that strange mass psychosis had overtaken that convinces everyone that if they don't start pushing and shoving immediately somehow the train is going to leave without them—this was not the case, and we all made it on board. Unlike my previous train journeys nearly everyone seemed to be there for the same reason as me, foreigners completing the transfer from Prague to another famous city of the old imperial world, at least less panicked when it came to disembarking than they had been getting on.

First arriving at Vienna main station I was sweaty and starvingly hungry, so after walking in circles for several minutes I settled on a Subway sandwich that I really let the worker put whatever he felt like on, since I was not quite up to the full cross-language communication of details yet. While I ate I struggled with my phone to buy a three-day public transport pass for the city, feeling significantly sicker than I had the day before. I probably did not need to be so law abiding when it came to ticketing—I don't think anybody else is, and there are no barriers in Viennese stations nor have I seen a single inspector thus far. But I persevered and alighted the metro with as much peace of mind as one can have when getting on a busy, stuffy underground train after several hours of travel.

I arrived at my hostel where for the first time I'm staying in a private room by myself. Up on the fifth floor, it was right on the level to be most abused by the heat, but at least it has a fan and its own bathroom where I can stand under the cold shower and dream of milder days. My only reason for going outside now was to walk up to a pharmacist and buy some painkillers and throat lozenges for my cold, after which I could flop back in bed. The city, though, was already charming me, especially as I wandered back through a small shopping alley with pretty cafes and plenty of green. I was really inspired to participate in some Austrian culture, but I was also really tired, so I downloaded the premiere food delivery app in this part of Europe and ordered myself a Weiner schnitzel meal that came with chips and a drink (feeling bold, I chose the Austrian soft drink of choice, "Almdudler", which still confuses me a bit). It came and it was satisfactorily enormous; I ate the whole thing and drank my Almdudler (which is actually a very nice fruity, herbal lemonade, with charming packaging) and lay down right where I was to sleep. Just me and the pigeons who keep almost flying into my open windows.

My first Vienna morning I got up quite early and walked up the hill to the nearest bakery I could locate to buy an apple scroll for breakfast, as usual communicating mostly through gesture in order to avoid the embarrassing impression that I don't speak German. There's always the danger they ask you something that requires more than a "ya" or a holding up of a credit card to pay, but so far I have gotten through smoothly. Mum and I talked on the phone for a while as I walked mindlessly through the gardens outside the Hofburg palace, past the statue of Mozart and the butterfly pavilion. Soon enough it was time for things to start opening and I first paid homage to the Austrian National Library, feeling immensely jealous of these Viennese students who get to work here all the time (our State Library is nice, but perhaps not so ostentatious). I saw their collection of ancient papyrus texts and also the State Hall, a bit like the Baroque Library in Prague with its painted ceiling and overwhelming decor. But it had that rather more Hapsburg touch of white marble statues and busts depicting the wise men of history, the Austrians really like a statue.

In the Hofburg complex I also saw my first church of the day, a mostly plain gothic interior with a very striking pyramid tomb of the Duchess Maria Christina, before I walked around the corner to the Imperial Crypt to see some more examples of Hapsburg graves. On my way I saw many horse-drawn carriages and strange tiny cars being passed off on tourists, as well as an "Australian pub", whose menu was not exactly reassuring. The Hapsburg crypt was a huge, recently renovated underground complex of tombs, all of them metal rather than the stone one is used to in other lines, all very detailed and morbid. Nearly every significant Hapsburg is buried there in some steely sarcophagus or another, and the air around the whole thing is a sort of strange reverence, as if we were all in mourning for the loss of the empire. Around the grave of the beloved Sisi there was even a pile of flowers, notes and gifts, like she was a personal friend.

The rest of my day was spent touring the churches of Vienna's old town. I visited eight in total and that makes it hard to describe any of them in detail. In St Stephen's Cathedral I was grateful to find a dock where you could rent a power bank for your phone, because mine was running low. In thanks for this gift I paid a euro to light a candle and took the time to appreciate the gaping gothic interior and the sound of the priest's voice as he read out the midday mass. Outside the cathedral the myth instantly collapses with the baying cries of hawkers wearing cheap imitations of 18th-century men's vests in red and gold, dragging tourists aside to try to sell them tickets to "Mozart concerts". They did not seem very interested in me and I passed without much notice on to a funny sandwich buffet in a side street—"sandwich" is a loose use of the term, because these were open finger sandwiches of dark rye bread with toppings of various pastes. Fish, meat, vegetables, cheese, all somehow reduced to semi-liquid form and spread across. I really don't even know what flavours were on the ones I chose, they were all good and the place has been considered a local treasure since the beginning of the 20th century, but I still felt a bit confused.

Aside from the aforementioned, I visited Schottenkirche, Votivkirche, St Michael's Church, St Peter's Church, Church Maria am Gestade, and perhaps another I am now forgetting. I'm sure they were all beautiful in their own way, and I took a lot of beautiful photos, but after the first two or three it becomes hard to pull them apart in one's mind. I remember an ornate painted fresco on the ceiling of a dome, and one with a low arched roof in white plaster with pictures and florals while the next was dark and high-vaulted, grey stone only decorated with the occasional family crest. That heavy stone scent like the grave heavy in my senses, I wandered back to the hostel and settled on a takeaway pizza from around the corner for my dinner.

The next day I got up and the weather was already close to unbearable. Some ungodly heatwave had hit Europe overnight and plunged the city into sweat and searing pavement. As I waited in line in a trendy bakery for my morning pastry, I felt the sweat pouring down my back under my shirt, already glistening on my forearms and my brow. I bought the brioche with poppyseed filling to try something local, and a pain au chocolat in case I hated it. I didn't hate it and saved my pain au chocolat for dessert in the evening, but I feel poppyseed is definitely an acquired taste, and I haven't quite got there yet. By the time I'd finished eating I had arrived back in the haunted white walls of the imperial complex for the Kunsthistorisches Museum. This was a really wonderful museum and gallery, with expansive art collections from painting schools across European history. They had a whole room of Bruegel the Elder and one of Rubens, just in case I hadn't seen enough of them yet, as well as the works of Vermeer, Rembrandt and Raphael. Well, I did like Raphael's painting of St Margaret quite a bit, the Rubens though were becoming a bit exhausting.

The museum also had a huge collection of ancient antiquities, the kind that have people lining up in their thousands outside the British Museum at all hours of the day but was situated peacefully here. I enjoyed seeing the sarcophagi and the precious talismans of the Ancient Egyptians, but I mostly sought out the display of animal relics so I could see a mummified cat. On the same level as the works from the pre-Christian world there was the Hapsburg collection of statuettes, carved from the finest white stone and presented in a checkerboard of glass cases. Outside the museum it had already developed into a furnace. The bright sun bore down upon the unsheltered avenues with twice as much brutality as the day before, draining all inspiration. I was so downtrodden by this weather that when I saw they charged a few euros to enter the tropical butterfly house in the gardens outside the Hofburg, I realised it was a sign from God not to increase my own suffering, and went to find lunch.

After a sandwich I walked back to the same pricey cafe I got my coffee from yesterday—the first really good iced coffee I'd had since Melbourne that had been on my mind all day. I was near the historic Jesuit church of Vienna at that time, so I decided to take a look. Unlike the plain gothic cathedrals and pretty white plaster churches I'd seen so far, this one had a golden roof and countless pink marble columns framing pastel-coloured frescoes, everything elaborate. I was very pleased with this and took some time to soak in the excess. It was too hot to walk, so I went to take the metro back to the museums quarter. Even though there was a delay on the tracks and I had to wait a good while longer than usual, the thought of returning to that hellish world outside kept me at bay. Just the short walk around the back of the Natural History Museum to reach the entrance from the station was a form of torture as the sun bore down on the desert that lay in expanses of white stone between palaces.

Ironically the special exhibit of the Natural History Museum of Vienna was on the Arctic, with a taxidermy polar bear reared up by the door, paws outstretched. Upstairs there was an even larger taxidermy zoo than Prague had, with room after room of animals arranged by genus—at least a dozen different bears, hundreds of birds, from the smallest burrowing shrew to an elephant. Even a decrepit Tasmanian tiger, curled alone in a shadowy corner of the gallery, peered out with empty glass eyes, accusing. On the lower levels they had some very interesting collections dedicated to ancient human history, with troves of prehistoric tools and jewellery and the evidence for other early human species. I always think there is something a little fateful about standing in a museum and looking at these things as the victor who spoils; there were a good few rooms of dinosaur fossils and a strangely lifelike raptor animatronic, coming to life every now and then amongst the skeletons of its compatriots.

Even though my count it was still early, I couldn’t bear anything but a return to the hotel, where the situation was not much better. My room up in the loft was choked with heat and the small plastic fan by the bed wasn’t doing a lot to help, so I ended up spending the evening mostly downstairs in the hotel bar, the one place that had air conditioning. I ordered delivery for dinner again and sheltered in the cool for as long as I could—the Euros were on, but I’m not very good at pretending I understand soccer. I went to bed with a wet towel on my face, knowing tomorrow was unlikely to be any better. With dawn came the return of what little heat had slipped away in the nighttime, my room was already suffocating. I blocked off the windows and prayed for some mercy from the heavens before I went out to brave the heat. With an iced coffee and a croissant I persevered on the sweaty tram to Belvedere Palace, which even as it opened was already crawling with tour groups. I was a little taken aback by this because the palace is an art gallery and so far I have found those mostly abandoned, but like the Louvre and the National Gallery, this place had attracted the attention of the milieu.

I understood why shortly—besides the beauty of the palace, I was first surprised to find David’s portrait of Napoleon on horseback attracting a small crowd, pressing forward to take photos with the painting with so much adoration, it could have been a scene from two hundred years ago. On the upper levels in the modern art section they had a Van Gogh, a few Monets, and rooms full of Klimt. The greatest appeal to the masses, of course, is The Kiss, around which a mob had formed within half an hour, but seeing as I don’t particularly like it I didn’t stop to fight for a turn at the front. It did make it harder when I reached the gift shop for my customary selection of postcards bearing my favourite works, because nearly every item in the store had The Kiss plastered all over, if not that then some other Klimt. I managed in the end, but it reminded me of why I had decided against going into the Hofburg palace itself, I’m not made to be so populist. The lower Belvedere Palace, down the hill at the end of a wide avenue, was much quieter. There they had a collection of medieval pictures and an exhibition on the works of Broncia Koller-Pinell, whose paintings I thought were very beautiful, and refreshing because there are so few collections from women in any of these places. Even in the room in the Upper Belvedere specifically dedicated to “women artists” there was a Monet hanging on the wall sucking up all the attention—I suppose it was there because it was trying to show how his work inspired the women painters, but it still seemed very pathetic. I thought Koller-Pinell's paintings of her daughter were particularly lovely and earnest.

Then began the torment. I should have planned better, knowing it was a Sunday, which to an Australian seems like some strange dystopian realm where ninety percent of the population has fallen off the planet’s surface, leaving the survivors to scrabble for resources. There was no peace to be had in the city’s silence on a day with weather like this. Eventually I was searching for so long for somewhere that could actually provide me with a meal that I ended up back at my hotel, standing in the middle of the shut-up Naschmarket stalls, sweating and hungry. And then like a beacon of light I saw the red banners and serif font of the Café Savoy across the street, one of Vienna’s many old-fashioned cafes, still open on a Sunday. I tentatively approached and eventually managed to grab a waiter’s attention despite the fact the café was very quiet (it takes a lot of patience and determination to be served in Vienna, it’s like a test to see if you’re worthy of getting to eat). I ordered another Weiner schnitzel with a salad on the side. The schnitzel already comes with crispy potatoes, so it was even odder to investigate my side salad and discover it was at least fifty percent potato also. Another quarter was probably dressing, but there were at least a few leaves and pieces of cucumber buried underneath. The blessing of receiving this meal cannot be understated, and though I didn’t manage to finish my schnitzel, I still ordered a slice of Sacher torte for dessert. And once my bill was paid I scurried back across the street to the only refuge, the cool hotel bar, where I retreated for the rest of the evening in a corner with my laptop. Late in the day in my loft room the sudden patter of raindrops on the roof signalled the coming of the change—I opened all the windows to let in the air, a cool breeze for the first time since I arrived on the streets of Vienna.

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zacharyja · 4 months

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Sunday, May 19, 2024

Travel to Kyoto - Shinkansen

Today began decently early again with a class meeting and then a rendezvous at the hotel lobby to check out and head to Tokyo Station. We had an hour to kill at the station while waiting for the Shinkansen to arrive. The Shinkansen, meaning “New Main Line” began production of the first line in 1959, and cost nearly 200 billion yen. The train can reach maximum speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, and got us from Tokyo to Kyoto in under 2 and a half hours, which would normally take about 7 hours by standard train. For lunch we went to a Katsu place and I ordered Chicken Katsu, decent meal but I prefer to have Katsu with curry, 7/10.

The Bullet Train was extremely cool to see in person, as it looks almost like an airplane on train tracks, the engineering for it must have taken quite some time and brain power. Though what I thought was interesting was that the characteristic long nose shape is not even necessary for aerodynamics, but rather helps to keep the train quiet. It was also unreal hour fast the train was going, you really didn’t feel it too much being inside the cabin but looking out the window and seeing how quick the lamp posts pass by. It was also bonkers when another Bullet Train passed by as it was almost gone in half a second, it was almost incomprehensible how something so massive could move so quickly - hence the bullet part of the name I suppose.

After arriving in Kyoto we had to wait until 3pm for the hotel to be ready to check us in. After time had passed we all made our way to a local Kyoto train and headed to the hotel, called “Stay Sakura”. The rooms here are decently nicer and are western style so my bed is off the ground and I have an actual mattress this time which felt really nice to lay down in for the first time in 2 weeks. We also have 2 large twin beds, a small stovetop, bigger mini fridge, and a microwave in our room this time.

After settling in, I took a brief nap before waking up to my new roommate, Luke asking if I wanted to get food with him, Rich and Noah. We then met up and walked around the area of the hotel looking for something to eat. I was already pretty hungry by this point and would have settled for many restaurants that we passed, but it is hard to decide on something that 4 people will agree on. after about 45 minutes of walking and exploring we landed on a Chinese place called Yoichiteki Tenshinsakaba Hao, which seemed to be pretty popular with the locals. Once inside we ordered boiled Gyoza, which turned out to be some of the best Gyoza that I have ever eaten, soup dumplings, which were also hands down the best soup dumplings that I have ever tasted.

I also ordered Crispy Fried Chicken, and Rich also ordered this same item to split with Luke. They brought out the Chicken and I offered it to them to eat first as I was fine with waiting a few minutes for the second one to come out. Though this would turn out to be a mistake as 30 minutes passed and they never brought another plate out, so I had Noah, who is semi fluent in Japanese ask them if they forgot to put the order in or something and they said yes sorry we actually combined both fried chicken orders on to one plate, it will only 15 more minutes to bring another plate out. This was fine I was cool with waiting for that but kind of weirded out that they would combine 2 separate meals into one plate and say nothing about it. Then another 30 minutes pass and I am now very suspicious of where my food is at so we flag the waiter down again and ask about the food, this time in a more passive aggressive way being like whats going on man its been an hour, and they say that they still have not even put the order in, no apology or anything so we ask them to just forget about it and take it off the bill and we would just leave since we were all annoyed about waiting so long for nothing. I was pretty upset by this as I was very hungry from the start and then had to wait 2 hours before getting any real food (sorry for the rant I was pissed off by the bad service but I am not hangry anymore). We then went to Matsuya so I could get some dinner and I was then eating my Gyudon within 3 minutes of ordering. After this we walked over to an ice cream place and got some dessert. Then we walked back to the hotel and I am now finishing up my blog. I will also throw in this photo of a pretty cool Golden “Mikane-Jinja” shrine, dedicated to luck and monetary blessings.

Academic Reflection

After reading about the Shinkansen Bullet Train, and the local impacts that came along with its development, I was able to view it from a much more educated perspective where I did not only view it as a positive net gain for everyone. The idea that many locals were opposed to its construction in some areas seemed odd, as having a super high speed railway anywhere near you would be a great thing in most peoples opinions, as it seems to only really bring about ease of transportation. Though as mentioned in the reading, the process by which these train rails were built was not without conflict. As it was pretty necessary to have straight tracks and were not really able to have many turns because of the nature of the high speed rails, a good amount of land had to be reclaimed by the government via eminent domain to allow for Shinkansen construction. I can see how this would make many people upset, especially if there was not even a stop in their town, so they would be possibly losing their homes or businesses and it would not even positively impact the city in which they reside unless there was a stop there. Regarding stops, many of the cities that did have them saw a crazy high population growth rate, as many people were moving here for access to the Shinkansen and the many doors to other areas that it opened. Though this also had some negative aspects on the other side of the coin, as people were then leaving smaller town and making them even smaller in order to live in Tokyo, or other big cities because they could now have access to the big city, and still be able to visit their parents or grandparents in small cities which would generally lack many good job opportunities.

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aetheternity · 3 years

Text

When their meeting is about to start but they can't get their erection to go away.

Sprays the minors be gone spray

Warning: (Fem reader) In this scenario you have been in a sexual on again off again relationship with these guys individually. You're not dating them. The guys have all tried masturbation before coming to you. Also mommy kink for everyone except Levi.

Armin

Poor thing has been hard since he woke up which was about four hours ago.

He runs into your room almost slamming open the door.

"Mommy, please.. I can't make it go away."

He almost cries when he slips inside. The pain in his balls eased a bit as he wraps his fingers in the blankets.

Mouth open as he lets every noise out unabashedly.

He can't even begin to be ashamed of his noises when your wet cunt continually sucks him in.

"You're so hard baby." You moan as you tug him in close, running your hands over his undercut and through his hair. "What were you thinking about?"

"I wasn't being bad mommy, I promise.. I-I just-" He gasps as he sheaths himself all the way inside. Barely pulling out for each thrust.

Pretty blue eyes rolling towards the sky.

"Hmm?"

"I woke up hard and.. I tried to go back to sleep but it got so painful.."

You kiss his pretty red lips coaxing them out from where he's biting them.

Your legs stay spread for every rough pound of his hips. His cock pressed impossibly deep.

"I need you." He whines "I need you so much."

The ache inside him slowly being released.

"You're gonna make me cum.." He whimpers

You cover his mouth with your hand. His face impossibly red as his eyes finally flutter open.

Blue doe eyes filled with tears that quickly begin to trickle down his cheeks.

"Finish baby. You're such a good boy. Don't moan too loud ok? Let it stay our secret."

When he cums inside you his hips stutter and his screams are covered by your hands.

"That's it, good job baby." You moan back arched for him.

When you release him he inhales sharply letting out one last gasp as he fills you up.

"Mommy there's so much.." He heaves

"Hurry and get to your meeting ok?"

"Ok. I'll be back later to properly thank you." He says tongue curving over his lips.

He takes one more second to stare at his cum where it's flowing down to your ass and he almost gets hard again.

Waits until there's like 10 minutes left before the meeting starts.

Eren

Partially because he thought he could manage to get rid of it before then and partially because he was worried you wouldn't be up this early.

He just kinda awkwardly shuffles around until you notice the very obvious bulge in his pants.

When he does finally go to you he's glad to see you awake.

"I.. it won't fuck off." He grunts

The second you wrap your hands around his cock he lets out the deepest groan throwing his head back. And when it slides inside..

His soul almost escapes him.

"Mommy.." He grunts

You need a couple seconds to adjust even though it hasn't been that long since he last fucked you.

When he finally gets going he's so rough but slow as if he doesn't have a meeting to get to.

His hips pressed right up against your inner thighs and pelvis.

"Baby speed up." You gasp softly "You need to cum so you can get to that meeting."

"I know.. but fuuucckk."

He's absolutely losing his mind.

He's got the bed slamming into the wall, hands making permanent marks where they're squeezing around your waist.

Starts fucking your tight cunt a little harder when you start to sound breathless.

At some point he's pushing both your knees forward into the pillows using that leverage to fuck you so deep you can barely breathe.

He growls into every kiss he plants on your lips.

His cock pounding your g-spot so roughly you've started crying.

Starts to shake when he gets close.

His hands slipping from the backs of your knees to right next to your head.

"God.. fuck!" He huffs, cum painting your insides. "Shit.." He groans in your ear.

You can't even speak too focused on trying to catch your breath.

Veins dark where they show up in his knuckles.

Mouth hung agape as he pulls his now limp cock out.

Gives you a sweet kiss before he leaves.

"Thank you mommy." He smirks at your blissful expression.

Jean

"Help me? Please?"

Doesn't wait as long as Eren and Armin.

Probably around 15 minutes of stroking himself to zero effect before he's coming to you.

"What's the magic word, love?"

"..Mommy."

Has your legs wrapped around his waist. His cock mixing your insides and you can't help but let every sinful noise spill from your throat as he does.

Simultaneously kissing you and playing with your nipples

He's fucking you like you're his girlfriend and he doesn't have a meeting to go to.

"Jean, baby.. you gotta hurry."

Even you don't want him to hurry. Or stop.

"I promise I'll get to my meeting on time I just wanna spend as much time as I can here with you mommy."

Rubs your cheek in circular motions with his thumb when you sob over his pace.

Spreads his legs and presses as deep as he can with a hand on your stomach until you're whimpering on every thrust.

"You feel so fucking good mommy. So good, please keep squeezing my cock."

Till you're cumming around his cock.

Has you moaning his name and arching your back.

Only then does he actually speed up and give in to his need to cum.

Deep moans of mommy falling off his lips onto yours.

Every bit of your pussy full of him till his name is the only word you remember.

He wraps his arms around your shoulders. Keeping himself deep as he empties every drop of his load inside.

He stays in you for almost too long just giving you kisses all over your face and hands.

Whines your name in between little mentions of gratitude

Honestly you're a little sad to see him go.

Finally pulls out and gets dressed.

Connie

"I kept thinking about the mission tomorrow and that kept me up most of the night. Then I started thinking about you and that kept me hard the other half." He laughs

Abuses the fact that he can ask you for sex and you'll almost always say yes.

But it's more because it's you than because he's constantly after sexual pleasure.

Just a little. 🤏

You know because the first time you let him hit was surprising but the 45th time he's still in shock but he's adoring every second he gets to climb in your bed and touch every bit of your skin.

Bites his lip a little when he slips in balls deep.

Only because he loves the fact that it's you more than the fact that he can get off with someone.

As soon as it hits morning and he knows you're awake he's pulling himself out of bed.

"Shit.. mommy this is what I needed." His eyes roll back as he penetrates you from below.

Cock twitching inside with every thrust.

Somehow still manages to smirk and flirt with you while groaning in between each word.

"Mommy, you never deny me.. might as well tell me you're in love with me."

You snort, "Cum already so you can go to your meeting."

"I'll cum when you tell me you love me."

He tries he really does but he's getting so close and the way you're squeezing his cock just isn't fair.

Profanity flying from his lips when you slam your hips down using your knees as leverage.

"God mommy please.." He begs reaching out for your waist.

He lifts himself up latching his tongue to one nipple while his free hand is cupping your breast.

Groans low in his throat when he cums. His eyes fluttering shut

Whispers of fuck and goddammit cresting off his lips.

His cock twitching against your walls. The feeling making you bite your lip.

"You take such good care of me mommy." He cooes

He leans into your ear, "What if I just stayed here and fucked you all day?"

"Go to your meeting!" You huff, getting off of him.

He finally leaves when you give him a silent glare.

Levi

Walks into your bedroom without so much as a knock and locks the door.

He waits it out for almost 3 hours before finally going to you with all his pent up frustration.

He wants it to go away on its own so bad.

"What's up with you this morning?" You laugh as he tosses your panties aside haphazardly.

He doesn't need to answer his dick print speaks for itself.

Thrusts all the way inside with no warning.

Like Eren he has your feet in the air, knees pressed into the sheets.

You wanna tease him so bad for being this hard and a little loud this early in the morning but his cock feels like it's in your stomach.

You can only keep your head back, noises spilling off your lips with every thrust.

Eyes coasting north when he slams into your sweet spots.

Keeps fucking into you like you're his little toy. Simultaneously rough and gentle.

Angles his hips in a specific way to hear you scream and then mutters for you to be quiet.

Groans when your nails dig into his back.

Eventually he lets your legs go, allowing them to wrap around his waist as he finally picks a pace.

His thrusts so hard you can hear small clatters from the wood under the mattress hitting the floor.

And you're clenching around him so tight.

Screaming his name along with every curse word known to man.

He lets out a long drawn out moan as he fills your tight pussy with every bit of pent up frustration he possesses in all 160 cm of himself.

And surprisingly it's a lot.

And finally he's letting you go with a chaste kiss to your lips.

"Good girl." He whispers, thumb coaxing strands of your hair off your cheeks.

Meanwhile your heart beat is slamming against your rib cage so loud you're sure you'll bust.

You probably have shit to do today too but after that you just wanna go back to sleep.

#aot x reader #attack on titan #shingeki no kyoujin x reader #levi ackerman x reader #snk x reader #eren x reader #jean krischtein x reader #armin arlert x reader #connie x reader #aot imagines #aot scenario #aot smut #levi ackerman smut #eren yeager smut #armin smut #jean kirschtein smut #connie springer smut

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rent-a-bat · 3 years

Text

In the end, no

Drabble #5

Promt: #87 “Don't be scared, I’m right here”

Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader

Requested by: Anonymous

A/N: Thank you all who waited to see this one posted! and thanks to the one who requested it, im sorry it took this long but I had a serious case of procrastination. Hope you guys enjoy!

tw: character death

To say you were tired wasn't even close to how you felt.

You were exhausted. Mind, body and everything in between. You had been working nonstop for too long, you were starting to burn out. But as things started to ease out, you finally had time to relax. Today was the first time you'll be going home early and you no longer had to be the first one in the office to begin the day, which meant you'll finally enjoy your free time.

The trek from work to your home was long enough to allow you to list all the things you've stopped doing so far.

You haven't watched your favorite show, too tired at night to even look for it. You haven't read your book, started since the beginning of the year, and six months later still not even half finished. You haven't felt your bed, your body too tired to even feel how comfortable it was before sleeping. You haven't enjoyed your home, barely basked in its warmth and felt its love.

You haven't seen him.

That's what you missed the most. You would arrive too late to see him off before patrol, and your work was too early to say goodbye in the morning when he just came back.

A hand on your shoulder took you out of your trance. You jumped, your mind still somewhere in your thoughts. Your first reaction was to move away, but that only made them hold you closer, their grip on you too strong to break. Before you could panic, a laugh behind you made you react.

“Jason!” You shouted, getting out of his grasp as relief washed over you.

He smiled, clearly amused at your reaction.

“Hello, y/n.” His lips warmed you as he kissed your forehead. You rolled your eyes, not letting him get away with it.

Your fist collided with his arm as you scolded him. “Don't do that again.”

He laughed, holding you once more. Your body relaxing almost instantly.

“I won't do it again… maybe.”

“Hmm.” You answered, your arms circling his waist, pressing yourself more to him. It was an awkward position to walk, but you didn't care, it's been ages since you've been like this, and you weren't passing on the opportunity.

You walked for a few blocks in silence, taking your usual shortcut through the alley, Jason's presence enough to make you feel safe even in Gotham, before you talked again. “Hey, Jay?”

He made a questioning sound. “What?”

“Dick called.” You braced yourself for his reaction. Seeing as he was waiting for you to continue, you did. “He wants us to come for dinner tomorrow night.”

“He does now.” was his answer. You pushed yourself away to look at him, not leaving his arms.

“Yeah. He said, and I quote, ‘He misses his baby bird and wants to see him now that he's in town’” You said, your smile growing with his reaction.

He huffed, shaking his head, looking up at your building.

“Come on. Let's go for a little while and then we leave.” You tried to plead as you went inside.

“Are you sure?” He asked, already walking up the stairs, you followed him behind as he took the lead.

“Yeah. Besides, I like Dick.” He brushed against the walls as he turned to look at you, the hallway to your apartment barely wide enough for the two.

“Of course you do.” He gave you a smile that made you think he wasn't talking about his brother.

You turned away, not wanting to let him see you blush. ”And..., I want to say hi to Alfred”

You stopped at the open door, Jason moving aside to let you go first.

“I’ll think about it.” He finally said, your smile widening at his answer. With a kiss on his cheek you let the door close as you both were finally home.

Tomorrow came faster than you thought.

It was a nice dinner, even if Jason would rather eat his words than accept it.

You arrived at quarter past six, 15 minutes before you agreed, the nerves not letting you stay calm. Dick was already there before you could even knock, Alfred waiting by the door, as he came forward to hug you. You returned it just as earnestly, it had been a while since you last saw him and he definitely was your favorite of the brothers. Letting you go with a smile, he took you to the dining room, taking Jason with him by the shoulder in a half hug. Fighting to hold back your laughter, you followed, hugging Alfred as you passed him.

It was a surprise once you arrived, not expecting Bruce or Tim to be there as well, the two of them receiving you just as warmly.

Everything was great. Once in a while you would sneak a glance at Jason, the way he smiled and how he laughed told you he too liked these little moments with his family, when everything is simple, easy, and you loved seeing him like this, your heart a little warmer at the thought.

Bruce and Tim left after dinner, not waiting for dessert, saying they had business to attend to. Dick followed not long after, asking Jason to go with him. Which left you alone with Alfred, the two of you chatting over a cup of tea before cleaning up.

You helped Alfred wash the dishes and clear out the dinner before heading down to the cave.

You could hear a fight going on as you made your way down, shouts getting louder the closer you got. Jason was pacing as he talked, screamed, at Dick who remained silent, arms crossed while he looked at Jason, his troubled expression the only sign of his emotions.

"How's everything going, guys?" You asked as soon as you stepped out of the elevator, brow raised knowingly at them.

“It's going great” Jason's smile as he came towards you showing it was anything but. “Come on y/n, we're leaving”

“Jay, please, just think about it.”

“I said, no, Dick.” Jason said, taking your hand as he walked towards the elevator.

“What is he talking about?” you asked, pulling back to stop him.

“Nothing.” His answer was short, not looking at you.

"How is it nothing? I wouldn't ask you, beg you, if it were nothing." Dick sighed, pulling at his hair as he looked down, almost defeated.

"What is it?" You asked Dick, his head shooting up to look at you.

"It's this case we've been working on..."

"Don't tell her! She does-"

"No," You cut him off, "I want to know. What is it Dick?"

He shot a glance at Jason before he answered.

"We've been tracking an organization that's been involved in drugs for the most part, but as of lately, they've moved to weapons and human trafficking." He shook his head. "Guess they found a better way to make money."

"Those bastards." Jason said under his breath, huffing behind you.

"We've been following them in Gotham and Bludhaven for a while, but never got to the source." He looked at Jason, "that is, until Jason's last report."

You suck a breath. If they found the source then it means they could take them down forever. They could free not only Gotham and Bludhaven, but any other place they could have a base.

"We are going to the location. Take them by surprise, before they leave." Dick finished, crossing his arms.

You grabbed Jason's hand, feeling the heat of his body behind you. This was big, too important to let it pass and he knew too.

“When are they leaving?” you asked Dick, ignoring the look Jason was surely giving you.

“Right now.” he grimaced, “Bruce and Tim just left, they are on their way to the airport.”

You looked back at Jason, his eyes already on you. You could tell what he was thinking, you just got your time back, and now he was leaving, but you could also tell how much he wanted to help. That's why you knew what to say next.

“You should go, Jason.” The surprise on his face as you answered was one for the books.

“Y/n…” He began to say, still confused. You smiled in reassurance, taking his hand in yours.

“Even I know this is your best chance at getting them.” you squeezed his hand. “So, go.”

He stared at you for a while before he asked, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Go.” You patted his arm, giving him a little push towards his bike.

He stumbled back a few steps, his eyes never leaving you. He looked like a kicked puppy, and you couldn't help laughing a little.

“I’ll be fine , Jason." You fought for your smile to reach your eyes. "I'll be here when you get back."

“Okay.” was all he said after a long pause, barely a whisper, his eyes never leaving yours until he moved. He got into his bike, sending a quick message to Bruce to tell them he was going.

"I love you." He said before putting on the helmet, starting his bike before he left.

The sound of the engine almost covering your answer. "I love you too."

You watched him leave with Dick at your side, the cave suddenly too quiet for the two of you. Now that he had left you couldn't hold onto the smile anymore. You sighed, rubbing at your eyes to keep the tears threatening to come out at bay.

You paced the cave for a while, not wanting to stay still, too afraid of what would happen if you did until you finally stopped, letting your mind do the pacing.

You felt Dick at your side a moment after, his hand rubbing your shoulder to comfort you.

“Don't worry y/n. I'll stay here to monitor if there's any movement in Gotham”, his hand on you a comfortable weight, “I’ll also be in contact with them 24/7. If anything happens, you'll be the first to know.”

You sighed again, something you've been doing lately, tension leaving your body at his words. At least there'll be someone taking care of him.

“Thank you, Dick.” He flashed you a smile, offering his arm to you

“No problem. Come on, I'll take you home.” You smiled in response, taking his arm in yours.

Like that, hours became days, days became weeks, and before you knew it, 2 months had passed. Two months since he left. Two months since you've been alone. No. You weren't alone, he was still out there, working hard, saving people, and yet, you couldn't help feeling that way.

Dick was true to his word, letting you know everything as it happened, day by day, he would call to update you on the mission. Even when there was nothing to report he'd still call you, sometimes to talk, sometimes to listen, you knew he was trying to cheer you up, and you were grateful for that.

Other days you would go to the mansion, spending time with Alfred, letting him guide you through the mansion, telling you stories about Jason and the rest when they were young or chatting through a cup of tea, and with Dick down in the cave, as the two of you checked on them, how they were doing, if they were okay. It had become sort of a routine as you waited.

You were making your way home when your phone went off, your boss sending you home earlier and giving you the next day free after spending the last weeks working overtime, threatening to fire you if you came back without resting. You checked the id before answering, smiling when Dick's name showed on the screen.

"Hey Dick! How’s everything going?" You answered cheerfully, your good mood coming out.

"Hey y/n"

"I just saw Bruce giving an interview. Why didn't you tell me they were back?"

"Y/n…"

“And why hasn't my boy called to tell me? I swear if he tries another of his surprises…” you stopped mid sentence, Dick unusually quiet for a call like this. Anxiety building up inside you before you asked, ” Hey… what is it Dick?”

"Y/n…"

"What?"

"Is Jason.."

"What happened?" you said, dread gnawing on your insides

"I think it'll be better if you come to the mansion."

"I don't see how going there would be any different from telling me now."

“…” His silence became unbearable, your patience thinning with every second that passed.

The last of it breaking as you shouted, "Dick! Tell me!", worry more than clear in your voice.

He heaved a sigh before speaking. "They managed to get most of the men, but their leader managed to escape. He and another guy got into a plane and Jason followed them."

You breathed in sharply.

"He got onto the plane. It was loaded with weapons, mostly explosives. It took off before they could go with him"

No.

"A fight broke and there was a shooting"

No.

“A missing bullet must've hit one of those crates and” he took a deep breath, “the plane exploded.”

No!

"It fell into the sea"

You held onto the wall, your legs giving out, making you slide down to the floor

"Where is he?"

"They've been looking all through the ocean nonstop. So far, they've found two bodies. They’re still looking for hi.., him."

“Don't you have a way of knowing this!? A signal, something?” You were shouting, not caring for the looks people were giving you as they passed.

"The tracker was on his helmet, we believe it got destroyed in the explosion, that's why they haven't been able to find him yet."

It couldn't be. This isn't happening. Not- not again. Not to him.

“Y/n-”

“I'm going there” you cut him out, ending the call.

The next thing felt like a blur, each of his words ringing over and over inside your mind.

The plane exploded.

They are still looking for him.

There's still a chance.

You took a cab to the mansion, barely paying attention to the ride. You jumped out once you reached Wayne Manor, running as fast as you could to the entrance, Alfred already there before you could reach the door, so you went straight down to the cave, Dick waiting for you at the elevator.

“Hey y/n…”

“Please Dick. Tell me it isn't true” you shook him by the shoulders, trying to to stop yourself from crying. “Please tell me it isn't”, eyes burning as you pleaded

“I wish it was” he grabbed your wrists, rubbing circles, trying to comfort you as much as he could.

You shook your head, casting down your eyes, not wanting to see the truth you'd find in his. You didn't want to believe it.

“Please, please please please….” You could feel yourself falling down, your legs no longer holding you for a second time this day.

Dick hugged you, keeping you from reaching the floor. “I'm sorry y/n”

“No!” Tears blurred your vision. Your arms rounding his neck as you hug him back, his hold on you tightening.

It was your fault.

Maybe if you hadn't told him. If you had stopped him before he left, maybe then he'd still be here, still with you. Still alive.

No.

You wouldn't have changed a thing.

You knew Jason, you knew he thought the same. He wanted to help, that's all he's ever wanted. To give a meaning to his actions. He wanted to help those in need, to be useful, to be good. That's why he went, your words only helping to ease the worry of leaving you alone. That's why you said it, and you'd never regret it, and neither would he.

It wasn't your fault.

A sound from behind made you look back. Batman turned from the computer, taking a few steps before removing his cowl. He looked tired, defeated. So different from the looks he had for the cameras not long ago.

You ignored the way he looked, anger rising like a fire making you move away from Dick.

“It was you!” You shouted across the cave. Tears sliding down your cheeks as you made your way to Bruce

“You did this!” you hit him on the chest, your fists colliding with his armor. His face was tired, eyes filled with sadness. He had failed him again.

“You had to look out for him!” Another punch.

“You had to save him!” you said through your tears, your fists losing force.

“Why didn't you save him?” you finally sobed, pressing your forehead against him. The fire burning away, leaving only ashes, your body suddenly cold.

“I’m sorry” was all he said as he held your shaking body while you cried. His warmth and the feel of his arms on your back a comfort around you, but not the one you wanted, the one you may never have again.

You stayed at the mansion after that. Once you had calmed down Dick took you to one of the rooms, giving you a little briefing of what was going on. Tim had stayed on the island, looking over the search in case they found him. Meanwhile Bruce tried looking with the satellites, see if any of the old trackers in his body were still active. If what you knew was true, there was no point on doing that. Jason had taken them all out long ago, not wanting any of them keeping checks on him. Still, it was something, better than nothing.

You felt empty, and yet, hope remained in you, like embers of a fire not quite out, waiting for any kind of fuel to light up again.

You stayed for a week before deciding it was time to go back, those days barely spent doing the bare minimum, crying yourself to sleep every night, trying to console yourself as much as you could, after all you only had so much time off work, you still had to live your life, try to move on and wait.

So you did.

You kept working, doing as much to keep your mind from spiraling that way, from staying as far from your apartment as you could. Still your home but one that's grown colder with every passing day. It was hard, sadness and despair threatening to keep you from doing anything every day, and yet you pushed. For him. Moping around was not something he'd like for you, even if he wasn't here, but he could, if they haven't found a body yet you could still hope, you could still wait.

Hope was slipping down like water through your fingers. You tried to hold on to as much as you could, as long as there was even the tiniest possibility, you would, you could still believe he was coming back, coming home, coming to you.

What else was left?

The sound of your phone woke you up. You checked the clock on your stand. Not yet time for you to wake up, and barely one hour sleeping. Another night of tossing around, unable to sleep, the thoughts in your head too loud to let you rest.

You grabbed your phone, the name on the screen no longer making you smile. You sat up, moving your covers aside, letting your feet touch the floor, the coldness of it waking you up.

You took a deep a deep breath, steeling yourself before answering, getting ready for whatever was going to happen.

But nothing in the world could have prepared you for what was going to happen next.

"Hello Dick." You said, breathing deeply through your nose.

"Hello y/n. How are you?"

"What is it?" You ignored his question, going straight to the point. Whatever it was, you could take it.

You could hear Dick pacing around, almost hear the gears in his head trying to think a way of telling you the news

You could take it.

"There's been news on Jason"

You could.

"They found him"

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding, a wave of relief washing over you.

"You did!?" you shouted, "How is he? Is he- ?" You tried to ask everything at once, barely able to contain yourself before he stopped you.

"We don't know, y/n. The body-"

Your heart went still.

"It's been too long. "

The body.

"We are waiting for it to arrive. Run some tests, dental records, DNA.."

Not him.

"Due to his legal status we can't let them know it's him. We have to wait until he's back with us in Gotham"

"You're sure it's him?" you felt yourself asking, no longer connected to your body.

"There was no one else on that plane they hadn't found"

The last ember of hope went off inside you, leaving smoke to fill its place.

"Y/n?"

"I have to go."

"Wait, y/n! Let me come get you-"

"Goodbye Dick."

You ended the call.

Your phone hitting the floor at the same time you did, hugging you legs tight to your chest, tears burning your eyes, wetting your cheeks. The lump in your throat making it hard to swallow.

And just like that, as if a switch had turned inside you.

You screamed.

Screamed with every fiber of your being, your body shaking every time you did. Your tears falling down like rivers you wanted to drown in. You weren't crying, crying meant sadness, sometimes even happiness, an emotion so big it couldn't be contained inside, whose only way out is like that. This was so much more.

It was pain, full, raw, unbounded. It was despair and sadness, all coming out at once. It was your soul breaking, its shards leaving you with every scream, with every tear, making your face wet, your eyes burn, leaving your throat raw and hurting.

You did it until the smoke inside you left, leaving you hollow. You had to calm down, sobbing thickly, your vision blurry with drying tears.

You tried to breath, the air suddenly becoming too thick, making you dizzy. You could feel the walls pressing on you, too tight, too cold.

You were breaking, your chest hurt, like it would collapse any time now, taking your heart with it.

You needed to leave.

You left your apartment, not bothering to take a coat, welcoming the freezing air, letting it's bite bring you alive.

The streets were empty, fitting for the occasion, like they knew you needed to be alone. You closed your eyes, letting your head fall back as you took a deep breath, and began to walk.

You didn't know how long you were out. Walking aimlessly around letting the pain take you whole, your mind no longer there, trying to escape the grief that consumed you.

You felt hollow, empty, and yet, so full at the same time. Full of fear, of sadness, of anger. Jason was gone, and you didn't know how you'll fill the hole he left inside you. You weren't sure you could. You could only hope you'd learn to live with it, learn to ignore the pain and maybe one day, heal. Just not today, right now you would mourn, let everything out, even if there was nothing left inside.

Your feet were hurting, cold biting your skin, making you shiver before you decided to head back home, taking your usual shortcut through the alley.

Your head was still somewhere else, not even stopping to think about the dangers of your actions. It was Gotham after all, and Jason was no longer here to protect you.

By the time you realized what you’d done, it was too late.

With your head down you made your way to your apartment, less of a home now that he was no longer here, hugging yourself tightly, trying to keep the warmth from leaving. The sole of your shoes echoed through the alley with every step, digging into your flesh, making it hard to walk. The sky rumbled in the distance, which meant you had to hurry if you didn't want to get caught in the rain.

A sound ahead of you took you out of your musings, a second pair of steps joining yours making you look up. A man appeared right at the entrance of the alley, hood up and hands tucked inside his pockets, he walked confidently, like the biggest fish in the pond. The faint light of a nearby post lighting up his face, you could see his eyes fixed on you, his mouth turning to a smirk, whistling as he looked at you.

“Hey pretty, what got you out so late at night?”

You lowered back your head, still moving forward.

“I have to say, I wasn't expecting such a beauty to be roaming here when I came to to see who’s coming, but am I glad it is” he kept talking, almost too close now, making you slow down a fraction as you tried to get out.

“Haha, what is it? Cat got your tongue?” you could fill him right in front of you, making you stop before you could collide with him.

“Is it because we're alone? You don't feel comfortable talking with me? Is it the street? Maybe you need to warm up a little, the street is too cold to be out like that. Don’t worry sugar, we can fix that right away.”

You began to panic. One you could take out, outrun him and lose him, but if he was bringing more. You tried to stay calm.

“Hey, boys! Why don’t we help them feel more comfortable.” You raised your head, fear almost taking over at his words.

From the same place the first one came, two other men joined him, each of them flanking you on either side, both just as big, and the three of them smiling, their eyes roaming your body like they could see what's underneath your clothes.

“Leave me alone.” you said, trying to sound as confident as you could.

“Heh, looks like you're not a mute after all.” He laughed, taking a hold of your arm in a vice grip

“Don't touch me.” he laughed again, turning to look at the others, both doing the same.

“Let me go!” you shouted, pulling at your arm, trying to hit him, kick him, anything to get you free.

“Feisty, we're gonna need to fix that. Can't have you misbehaving like that, can we?” He let you go with a push, making you fall to the ground, the three of them laughing down at you.

You shook yourself, wincing as you stood, your left foot probably hurt. Your mind was running a mile per hour, adrenaline pumping through your veins with every breath, trying to come up with a wayout, a way to escape. You tried to look at your surroundings, taking deep breaths to calm you down, nothing good comes out from being anxious.

You were surrounded by residential buildings, maybe you could scream, ask for help, but screaming in Gotham did the opposite, people ignoring it for the sake of remaining safe.

You could bolt it, turn around and run as fast as you could, go back to the street and hopefully they'll avoid going after you. The guy on your left seemed to think the same, his hand going for the gun on his hip.

You could try calling Dick, or Bruce, but something told you he'd shot you the moment you even tried to pull out your cell phone. Maybe they were already on their way, looking for you, seeing how distressed you were by the news, but maybe not, maybe they were trying to give you space, let you sort things out. Alone.

You were trapped.

“Don't worry, we’ll be leaving soon. Ride's almost here.” the man on your right said, his smirk getting wider.

So much for being calm. You began to panic, breaths coming short as the men in front of you laughed, snickering between them, watching you crumble.

The sound of tires screeching behind you had you covering your ears, the echoing almost deafening, freezing you on the spot.

No. Not like this. They can't take you away.

You closed your eyes, as if it could somehow block out the world, make it turn into a dream, a nightmare you would wake up from. The pounding of your heart too loud on your ears to hear anything else, almost missing the presence behind you.

Your body moved on its own, going backwards like you could escape from it. The sound of someone coming closer hitting like a bullet with every step. They walked with confidence, fast, like an animal who had caught its prey, sure they couldn't escape.

You could feel your heart fall as you collided with a body, stopping you from moving any further, making your eyes burn as you tried not to cry, not in front of them. You jumped as he held you, his chest shaking behind you as he laughed.

The way he laughed sent shivers down your spine, the hands on you too hot. Too wrong. He squeezed your shoulders once before you felt the air on your back, freezing you as he moved away, his hands sliding down your arms as he bent down, his face getting closer to your ear.

“Don't be scared” his breath felt hot, making you whimper, no longer able to hold it in, letting your tears fall freely as you cried. Closing your eyes tighter, not letting them open.

You could feel him move in front of you, his face still close, nuzzling your neck as he whispered, “I'm right here.” You let out a sob, the force of it bringing you down.

It had to be a dream, it had to. There was no way this could be real, for he voice that spoke just moments ago was supposed to be dead.

Your love.

Jason.

The men that held you captive went silent. Holding their breaths at the sight of him, the Red Hood. The deadliest vigilante in all of Gotham crouching in front of you.

He raised his hand to brush away your tears, kissing your forehead before he stood up

“Keep your eyes closed.” he said. You let out a huff, only he could sound amused in a situation like this.

The whole thing was over in seconds. The sound of flesh hitting flesh, bones cracking, the smell of gunpowder flooding your nose with each shot fired, all of it filling the silence. One by one, they all went down, their screams stopping as they each fell. Only when the last of the bodies hit the ground were you able to relax. Your eyes still closed for another reason entirely, now wishing it’d be anything but a dream.

How could you live if it turned out to be just that, if you opened your eyes just find yourself back at your apartment, your tears still fresh and Jason still gone, dead once more.

“Y/n.” You heard him call your name, his voice ever so soft, cautious not to scare you.

You heard him shuffle, crouching once more in front of you. His body blocking the cold air of the night.

“Y/n… Look at me.” he held your face like you were precious, delicate, capable of breaking at the slightest movement, the pads of his thumbs brushing your lashes, trying to coax your eyes to open.

You shook your head, feeling tears fall again, the hands on you catching them before they fell to the floor.

“Please.” he pleaded, his voice full of want, of longing, as he whispered the word, his forehead warm against yours as his hands fell to your neck, rubbing your chin and behind your ears trying to get you to open, to see.

You took in a couple of breaths, steeling yourself before opening your eyes, the faint lights blinding you after having them closed for so long.

The moment you could focus on the person in front of you making you sob. The sight of him threatening to make you cry for the third time this night. He looked just like the last time you saw him, a couple of scratches here and there, but the same nonetheless. The same face, the same smile, the same pair eyes full of warmth, full of love as they looked at you.

You raised your hand to his face, slowly, careful, still not believing this was real.

“Is it really you?” you asked, voice shaking as you looked into his eyes.

“It's me.” a faint smile drawing on his face as he answered, placing his hand over yours, keeping it in place.

You cast down down your eyes, head hanging low as you shook it, not sure if shaking away the tears or something else.

His other hand came up, his fingers hooking up under chin, warm and gentle as he made you stop, tilting up your head, guiding you to look at him.

“It's me.” he said again, his eyes filling up with tears as he held your stare.

You grabbed his hand, placing it against you like he did with yours as you let out a laugh, happiness bubbling inside you before exploding, flinging yourself to hug him. Your arms tight around him, trying to bring him as close as you could. The force of your hug almost made him fall back, losing his balance before he recovered, putting his arms around you as he returned the hug just as fiercely, careful not to hurt you.

“It's you.” you said it over and over like a prayer.

You stayed like that for a while, basking in each other's presence, finally together. You weren't sure how much it had passed before you both let go, a thunder rumbling in the distance reminded you of your situation. You had to hurry if you didn't want to get caught in the rain, and yet, none of you made the effort to move.

A thought came to you as you looked at him, a memory of a conversation that now feels from too long ago.

“You promised you wouldn't do it again.” You said, your fist colliding with his arm.

His hand went to the spot you hit, feigning hurt as he laughed. “I said maybe.”

You couldn’t help but laugh too, too happy to stay mad at him. Not when he was here, when this wasn’t a dream.

With that thought you held him again, nuzzling your face to his chest, inhaling his scent, his hands rubbing up and down your back before settling on your waist, drawing you closer to him.

“Thank you for coming back.” you whispered softly, not sure he would hear you.

“Thank you for waiting.” he said in the same way.

You kissed as you both embraced, your arms around his neck, pressing your bodies tight against each other, the warmth between the two enough to ignore the cold as it began to rain.

Tag list: @togasknifes @thelindalorian @fizassyeda @apric-t @brightjimini @candlestudy @dickgraysonsscrumptiousbooty @profoundgreenturtle @little-miss-naill @drebi-san @vanessafinessa473 @hamilstuck99 (Message me if you want to be added!)

#jason todd #batman #dick grayson #bruce wayne #red hood #Nightwing #jason todd x reader #jason todd reader insert #jason todd x you #jason todd imagine #jason todd red hood #red hood x you #red hood reader insert #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #tw dead mention

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teenyweenynightghost · 3 years

Text

As lucky as the rainbow

A/n: Im sorry. Also. Special dedication to the love of my life, @cantaraiilmionome , who let me write this fic

Warnings: Smut

Word Count: 1.7K

Pairing: Vic X Fem!Reader

Taglist: @fuckim-so-gay @ginny-lily @messyhairday-me @cheese-toastie-11 @wannabemarlenabutiscoraline @simp-per-ethan @maneskinrollercoaster @juststalking @superchrystaldrug @immrbrightsideeee @shehaddreamstoo @tiaamberxx @victoriadeangeliswifey @bidet-and-legolas @makapaka11

My heartbeat was wild and mostly erupting from my chest as the whole world around me seemed to quiet down. The mesh shirt I was wearing was already crumpled from all the times I had fiddled with it nervously. To be honest, could anyone really blame me? I have been obsessed with Måneskin for ages, and I finally get to see them live. A small, really pesky part of my brain kept bugging me. They would have no reason to like or notice you; why are you even here? Well, that definitely did not help the anxious feeling growing in my stomach.

Suddenly, the crowd erupted in cheers as four rock stars appeared on the stage.

And oh god what they were wearing. A certain blonde caught my attention, one who I was more than familiar with. Victoria strutted on the stage, her bass strap wrapped around her, as a small corset did nothing to cover her. Two black stripes of tape covered each of her boobs and she looked celestial. It was unfair to everyone else! How could she just look like that!?

“Is everyone ready?” Damiano’s strong voice sounded out of the speakers, earning an excited cheer from everyone.

As they started playing, I realised I was no longer anxious. Moving from side to side and jumping along with them, It felt as If the world stopped temporarily just for me to enjoy this moment. It was truly heaven, and their magnetic presence made it infinitely better.

“Now, for a fan favorite…” Damiano spoke into the mic, soon interrupted by the all too familiar notes of For Your Love. Oh god.

I couldn’t decide who to pay attention to; Ethan’s godly form playing the drums in a way I wished he would play my ass, Thomas’ talented fingers strumming the guitar chords, Damiano fucking the stage while singing or-

Oh.

I was one of the lucky ones who got to sit up front. So my view of Victoria was truly a dream come true. Her eyes were closed as she thrusted into the air, her hips moving with precision and skill, as she moved her head backwards in rhythm with the song. Two of her fingers were plucking the chords, clouding my mind with thoughts of what else she could do with them.

The whole song became a vivid fantasy for me, as I kept watching Victoria play, entranced by her sensuality. The song sadly came to a stop, and Damiano started speaking again. My lovely brain, however, could only gaze at Victoria, her wonderful top and fingers.

As If on cue, she knelt down right at the edge of the stage, and winked at me. Wait, she did what? My brain stopped functioning as I kept staring at her, eyes comically wide and mouth hanging open.

She smirked at my reaction, and motioned for me to come closer with her finger. A bodyguard came and opened the barrier, as I made my way through.

I was right in front of the stage, looking in her icy blue eyes. She leaned down and cupped my cheek, shaking it softly.

“Wanna stay here, cucciola?” She asked, a sultry smile appearing on her face. I nodded eagerly, causing her to laugh, before returning to her band.

The rest of the concert managed to make me so wet I was convinced my knees would give in the second I would try to walk. Between Victoria grinding on the floor right in front of me, making sure to stare right in my eyes, Damiano jumping in the crowd and grabbing Thomas, as well as Ethan being an overall god-like presence.

It was, however, over, as soon as it started. My face fell as they all waved their goodbyes to the crowd, and I turned around, preparing to leave, but was soon interrupted by a guard.

“Miss De Angelis said that she would like you to go backstage.”

That was the second time the girl’s actions shocked me. I certainly hoped it wouldn’t be the last as I followed the guard to the back.

“Ah, there you are, cucciola!” Her raspy voice exclaimed, as she headed towards me and grabbed my waist, leading me towards a changing room before I could even mutter a word.

“You, I me- mean ...Why? Like… I just thi-I” Damn it, where was my wittiness when I needed it? If I wasn’t already blushing, I probably looked like a sweaty tomato right now.

“Oh darling, I suggest you figure out how to talk, so I’ll know how to please you later.” She murmured in my ear, my knees almost giving up at her words.

“Oh god, umm, I- hi.” I managed to let out. I’m so glad I could ramble about crystals for 3 hours but when It comes to basic greetings my mind just dips. Lovely.

“We have about 15 minutes before we need to leave.” She said, grabbing my body and pulling me right against her, softly nibbling on my neck.

“Considering the way you fucked the stage earlier, I think even 5 would suffice.” Ah yes, my brain was back. Temporarily, though, because Victoria’s hungry lips smashed into mine in a fraction of a second, quickly turning me around so I would be prompted against the wall.

We moved in sync as she sucked every breath out of me and explored my mouth with her tongue. She bit my lip hard, and licked the reddish spot which appeared, before moving onto my neck.

She sucked on every inch of my skin, leaving deep red marks in her wake, which would definitely be an interesting subject of discussion once I got home. I couldn’t help but let out the most pathetic whines, which only seemed to turn Victoria on more.

“So fucking desperate puppy. All I do is dance a little on stage and you’re already willing to be on your knees for me.” She purred right against my breast, earning a deep moan from my treacherous mouth,

“What can I say, I like being a good girl.”

Her mouth bit into the soft skin which was now exposed, as my poor shirt was laying on the floor, discarded seconds ago. I whimpered and bucked my hips into the air, whining even more at the realisation that there was nothing there.

“Please..” I begged, as she kept kissing and licking around my hardened buds, heating me up even more.

“Take your pants off, then” She instructed, and I did it in a heartbeat, the piece of clothing joining my shirt.

The last thing I saw was the blonde’s head lower , before her tongue finally gave me what I wanted. She swiped it deeply inside of me, humming at the liquids pouring from me. Moving to my clit, she started circling around it as one of her long fingers thrusted deep inside of me.

“Fuck… Victoria…”

She added another finger and quickened her pace, as I rapidly approached my edge. God, no one did it as well as her. She was getting rougher by the second, biting at my thighs and sucking hardly, until she heard my breath catch, before I erupted in a mess of loud moans and screams.

I came hard on her hand as she guided me down to the ground, licking the tears falling from my eyes.

“You really do like being a good girl.” She whispered, cupping my cheek and pressing a soft kiss on my puffy lips.

“Oh I can be bad too.” I smirked, watching as her eyes darkened.”

“How about you return to the hotel with me, and we can explore that talent too…”

***

More than half an hour had passed, and I was sitting in an Uber right next to Victoria. While the band packed up their stuff, I hung out on the stage, eating a popsicle Damiano had given me.

“Do you have to be anywhere early tomorrow?” Victoria’s voice interrupted my thoughts, softly grazing her fingers over my thighs.

“Like I wouldn’t cancel them for you.” I responded, earning a soft chuckle from her.

“Excellent. How about we talk a little then, hmm?” She asked, pulling me closer to her.

“About what?” I asked, clearly thinking of innocent topics.

“Which was your favourite part about how I fucked you backstage.”

Oh. My. God. At this point, my brain had stopped working so many times, I probably had approximately 2 brain cells left. And damn, I answered in a corresponding fashion.

“I must say I enjoyed the talking.”

Victoria laughed, a devilish grin forming on her face, as I bet her mind filled with the dirtiest ideas.

“I’ll take your word for it. I’ll make sure we’ll do just enough talking.”

“Wait no- You know, I really liked the cum part too.” I tried to save myself, because let’s be honest, If this woman was anything, it was a tease.

“Considering how loud you were moaning, I bet you were.” She purred again, dragging her fingers further up my thighs.

“Tell me, what did you fantasise about most while watching me play?”

My mind went blank, but not really, as the thought of her grinding on my face while practicing the bass made its way into my head. God, I was royally fucked.

“Tell me, pet.” She snarled against my neck, grabbing it roughly and bending me over.

Her hand wandered down to my ass, grabbing it roughly before slithering back around to my stomach, and pulling me up again.

“Practicing your bass on my face.” I moaned out, red and embarrassed.

“A lovely imagination you have. I’ll make sure to consult it more often.”

“That won’t work. It seems to go blank around you.”

Victoria smirked at my confession and pressed me down onto her lap, slowly working her way under my shirt.

“I really like this. Where did you get it?”

“My mom.”

“She wears this?”

Fuck. “Oh, you meant the shirt?”

Scoffing and rolling her eyes, she pulled the material up, and pressed a wet kiss to both of my breasts. Oh god, this girl would kill me.

“My special thanks to her. And also my apologies, because I’ll fuck you till you scream and cry tonight.”

#victoria de angelis #vic x reader #maneskin fic #maneskin #ethan torchio #damiano david #thomas raggi #this was fun #smut

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crackheadgeminibby · 3 years

Text

better for you

pairing: chris evans x female!black!reader

warnings: age gap, angst, language

word count: 2.7k

a/n: this lowkey sucks and is very poorly edited, i’m sorry but on the plus side, i surpassed 400 followers yesterday!! so thank you to those 400+ people🤍🤍

i do not consent to my work being copied in any way, shape of form or reposted on any other platform

not my picture

You didn’t consider yourself a jealous person. Much less a jealous girlfriend. Not at all. Never had and you thought you never would.

You had practically raised yourself as your parents had always been more preoccupied with their jobs. You loved your parents, you really did, but when your high school counselor told you that you could graduate high school a year and a half early, you took the opportunity to start college immediately and move out of your parents’ house. This drastic change when you were so young made you become extremely independent. Which is why your relationship with Chris worked almost perfectly. You valued your independence, as he did his, and you respected his independence, as he did yours.

As a corporate lawyer that had multiple firms around the country, you traveled a lot, needing to meet with clients. Chris, as an actor, also traveled a lot.

You both trusted the other without a doubt at the beginning of the relationship despite that Chris was, at first, a little wary of being with someone as young as you. As a 24-year-old, he thought that you should be living your life, partying, sleeping with whomever you wanted without being tied down, but you had explained to him that despite your age, those were not the things that you wanted.

You and Chris were truly made for each other, knowing the other more than they knew themselves. You would even dare to call yourselves soulmates.

Which is why you could not fathom why you were in your current situation.

You had left early in the day for California, where you were overseeing the opening and start-up of your newest firm. Chris, on the other hand, had left 3 days ago to go on some trip his publicist had arranged for him. You hadn’t bothered asking what it was about, assuming that it was about ASP. Plus, you didn’t mind it: he had to do what he had to do.

But now, you couldn’t believe yourself.

You were sitting on your hotel bed, in a white and fluffy robe, fresh out of the shower. Your computer was open in front of you, the TV was blaring the news and you had your phone in your hand. It was almost 11pm but you had been doing this for at least 3 hours. All three electronics were talking about the same thing: Are Chris Evans and Lily James dating??

It was a bit your fault that people gave themselves the right to assume things like that, to be honest, since you had been the one to pressure Chris about keeping your relationship secret. You knew that people would talk and judge you for your 15-year age gap. You, personally, didn’t care and neither did Chris but his career was dependent on his public image and you didn’t want to hold him back, especially not at a pivotal moment in his life like right now.

So, you had agreed on telling your families and your very close friends and Chris had convinced you to let him tell his publicist, Megan. God, she fucking hated you. When Chris arranged for you guys to meet, she had called you “a walking, breathing PR disaster”. You had laughed it off calling her funny, but you knew that she was 100% serious. You really shouldn’t have been surprised that she would do something so fucked up at some point.

A bunch of different news outlets were pumping out new stories every 30 minutes, each article a little more detailed than the previous. It was all over the Internet and it seemed to be the only thing that people cared about today.

Considering the 8-hour difference between London and San Francisco, you hadn’t been able to talk to Chris at all since you got to your hotel. You weren’t even sure if you wanted to talk to him. He hadn’t even tried to talk to you. Why was he avoiding you and acting like he had something to hide?

You’re reading the latest Daily Mail article on your computer about how Chris and Lily apparently got to his hotel in the same car when you hear your phone ring on the nightstand. You don’t even bother looking at the caller ID as you reach for your phone, eyes still glued to your computer and answer,

“Hello?”

You hear a loud exhale on the other end of the phone before you hear Chris’ tired voice, “Baby, hi.”

You tense up slightly before asking, trying to seem nonchalant, “What’s up?”

“Have you watched the news today?”

You bite your lip, thinking, before replying, lying through your teeth, “No, why? What’s going on?”

Chris sighs again before answering, “Nothing, it’s fine. How was your day?”

You roll your eyes. Was he seriously not going to say anything?

“Fine, but it’s really late and I have to get up early tomorrow so good night.”

You hang up the phone before Chris can answer anything. You throw the phone at the end of your bed, frustrated beyond belief.

You continue to read the Daily Mail article as you hear a message coming in. You don’t bother to get up to pick up your phone as you see the message appear on your computer screen a couple of seconds later.

chris💙, 11:01pm:

Good night baby girl. Good luck tomorrow🤍

You groan loudly at his message. Even when he had pissed you the fuck off, his words still brought butterflies to your stomach.

You disregard his message and finish reading the article. You roll your eyes as you close your computer and get up to put it on the hotel desk. As you’re walking back to bed, you take your phone from the end of the bed and put it on its charger, ready to go to bed.

You’re not sure how you manage to fall asleep that night as your mind swirls with unending thoughts.

When your alarm wakes you up at 6am the next day, you feel groggy, having slept very badly last night. Which was to be expected.

You get up and change while eating a protein bar before heading to the hotel gym: you needed to do something to get your energy up. Once you finish your workout, you head back to your room to get ready for the day.

When you get out of the shower, you open your computer and, having left the Daily Mail website open last night, you see a new article posted 2 minutes ago: Chris Evans and Lily James seen on a date in a London park.You groan loudly, closing your computer as you hear that your cell phone is receiving multiple texts.

You reach for your phone on the hotel desk and your eyes widen as you see your lock screen.

5 missed calls

12 messages

You open your Phone app seeing one call from Chris, two from your best friend, one from your brother and one from your mom.

You open the Messages app as a new message from your brother comes in.

will, 7:31am:

When did you break up with your boyfriend? And why didn’t you tell me?

you, 7:32am:

i didn’t

yet

will, 7:32am:

You know i’m gonna fucking murder him right?

You smile fondly at your brother’s concern, chuckling softly as you type your reply.

you, 7:33am:

as you should(:

You open the rest of your messages, mostly asking the same thing. You didn’t feel like talking about it anymore so, you ignore them until you get to your conversation with Chris.

chris💙, 5:22am:

Hey, I’m sure you’ve seen the articles by now.

I’m so sorry

Call me when you can, please. I really need to talk to you.

You bite your lip as you think about what to answer. You didn’t have the energy to deal with this right before your firm’s opening. Shaking your head, you lock your phone, putting it back on the desk, getting dressed.

As you get back to your hotel room, exhausted from your day, you hear your phone signal an incoming text for the millionth time today.

You sigh loudly: you knew it was Chris texting you again. You had been ignoring his texts all day because you didn’t want to get in a bad mood while you were opening the firm.

You put your purse and work bag on the floor, unlocking your phone. You open the conversation with Chris, scrolling through his messages.

chris💙, 6:15pm:

I’m leaving a bit earlier than I planned, I should be home tomorrow morning.

Are you back in Boston or are you gonna stay in LA?

You sigh, feeling guilty that you had been ignoring his texts all day. You start typing a reply, your finger hovering over the send button for a couple of seconds before clicking on it.

you, 6:17pm:

i’m still in san francisco i’m leaving tomorrow morning

As soon as your message goes through, you see the three dots pop up in the conversation.

chris💙, 6:17pm:

Oh my God, hi. Are you okay?

Can I call you?

You chew on your bottom lip: you really didn’t think he was going to answer that fast.

you, 6:18pm:

i’m about to take a shower then i’m gonna go to bed i’m really tired sorry

chris💙, 6:18pm:

Okay, I’m sorry

Good night

You groan loudly. You really didn’t know why you felt so guilty: he was the one running around with another woman. As you think about this, you realize that you didn’t really know who she was.

You shake your head at yourself as you pull up Google on your phone and look for her. You don’t even realize it but, 20 minutes later, you were now at the oldest post on her Instagram.

You curse at yourself, dropping your phone on your bed, and head to the shower.

You stay under the hot stream of the shower for at least an hour before you finally get out, toweling off.

You order some room service for dinner, settling down in front of a random show playing on the TV. After pushing your food around for half an hour, you sigh loudly, put the tray on the hotel desk and get under the covers before finally falling asleep.

You had not slept very well so you had been in a rush to leave the hotel and catch your flight to LAX in the morning. You were exhausted and hungry when you got to your shared LA home with Chris but there was no food in sight, considering that neither of you had been here in a couple of months.

As it was not too late in the day, you decide to take a nap and order some food after.

When you wake up a few hours later, the sun has already completely set and the house is pitch black. You rub the sleep out of your eyes and take your phone before heading to the living room to order some food.

As you enter the kitchen and are about to head to the living room, you hear a deep voice, “Hey, you’re up.”

Taken by surprise, you throw your phone in the direction of the sound and scream, “Holy shit!”

“Ow… What the fuck?”

You’re breathing heavily, clutching your chest as you turn on the kitchen lights, brightness illuminating the area as you see Chris holding the side of his head.

“Jesus Christ, Chris! You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!”

Chris rubs at his head as he looks towards you. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Your heartbeat starts to slow down as you roll your eyes.

“What are you even doing here?”

Chris frowns and replies, “Well, you never told me where you were going to be but when I got back to Boston and you weren’t there, I assumed you were coming here.”

You groan silently, crossing your arms over your chest and raising your eyebrows,

“So, London seemed to be very fun.”

Chris shakes his head, looking up at the ceiling, before making eye contact with you, “I didn’t know that’s what the trip was about.”

You chuckle humorlessly, “Really, Chris? Since when do you go on trips, not knowing what they’re about?”

Chris exhales loudly, taking a couple of steps towards you, “I promise that I didn’t know. Megan planned everything and just sent me the info.”

You snort loudly, rolling your eyes. Chris frowns before asking, “What?”

“Megan, Chris? Really? She fucking hates me, of course she would pull a stunt like this.”

Chris frowns again, shaking his head, “What are you talking about? She doesn’t hate you.”

You laugh, this time, actually finding this funny, “Chris, she literally called me a walking disaster.”

Chris struggles to find an answer to that: he knew that Megan used this exact kind of formulation so he couldn’t deny it.

“And you know what? It’s fine. Maybe you really should be dating her instead of me.”

Chris’ face contorts in a mix of hurt and anger, “Why the fuck would you say something like that?”

“Because it’s true, Chris. She’s better for you. She’s actually your age, not a fucking child compared to you. She can give you the things you want from life that I can’t. Maybe it’s better that way.”

“What way?”

You shrug your shoulders, looking at your feet, mumbling, “If we weren’t together.”

Chris scoffs, “You literally have to be kidding me.”

Chris takes large steps, making his way towards you and takes your chin in his hand, forcing you to look at him.

“Y/N, I’ve told you before and I will tell you again. I do not give a shit about your age. And I thought you didn’t either. So, what’s the problem here?”

You bite your bottom lip nervously, “Because what if what Megan said is true? I mean… If people find out that we’re dating, the shit talking would never stop. I can’t do that to you.”

Chris sighs, enveloping you in a hug.

“Baby, it doesn’t matter. None of it matters if we’re not together.”

He lets you go, stroking your cheek, “You’re it for me. There is no one better for me than you. And no one is going to take that away from us. Not you. Not Megan. And certainly not my fans. If they love me as much as they say they do, then they’ll respect you.”

You chuckle slightly, “Chris, I don’t know what kind of fantasy you live in, but in real life, that’s not how things go.”

“Okay, but who cares? There’s two people in this relationship, you and me. Not you, me, Megan and my fans.”

You scoff, mumbling, “Yeah, tell Megan that.”

“I will. The same goes for her. I didn’t know she actually meant those things about you and I’ll tell her that she needs to knock that shit off.”

You sigh, nodding slightly, “Okay.”

“And, baby, I’m sorry.”

You furrow your brows, trying to understand, “I never should have agreed to Megan’s little plan thing. But, most importantly, I should have told you as soon as I knew. It’s just that I kinda owed Lily a favor and she needed this. But it doesn’t erase the fact that I should have been honest with you and I’m sorry I wasn’t.”

You sigh, “I know, it’s okay. I knew this kind of thing could happen when I decided to be with you, and I overreacted a bit so I’m sorry too. I knew it wasn’t true and I should have asked you about it instead of ignoring you. I just… couldn’t let go of the fact that maybe you should be with her.”

Chris shakes his head, “I shouldn’t. And I never will be.”

Chris laughs a bit before continuing, “Sorry, but you’ll have to try harder to get rid of me.”

You laugh loudly, throwing your head back. Looking back at Chris, you smile warmly before hugging him,

“I love you, Chris. Like, a lot.”

Chris chuckles, squeezing you tighter, “I love you too.”

#chris evans #chris evans x black!reader #chris evans x reader #chris evans imagine #chris evans fanfic #chris evans x black reader #chris evans x female reader #chris evans x woc #chris evans fanfictions #chris evans fanfics

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helliontherapscallion · 4 years

Text

Scientia Potentia Est (Adrenaline Junkie Part 10)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: slight PTSD, mentions of death/dying, some description of injury/scars, slight panic attack

Word count: 2,734

(A/N): how are yall liking the story so far?

You were woken up by the obnoxious chirping of various songbirds right outside your window. Cracking open your heavy eyes, you glanced at the clock on your wall. 7 AM. You only got about an hour of sleep. Great.

Groaning, you reluctantly left the beckoning warmth of your comfortable blanket cocoon and stretched out your limbs. You stood up and trudged towards your luggage that laid haphazardly in the corner of your childhood room. Awkwardly twisting your body around to take off the sensors attached to your back and sliding off the prosthetic, you put it on your bed. Pulling out a random shirt and pants without giving them any real thought, you shambled off to the bathroom to shower and preen your wing.

You stood under the warm running water for a while just doing nothing but trying to wake yourself up. The steam drifted idly throughout the room as you stepped out of the shower and finished your morning routine. You still felt dead inside even after your refreshing shower. Is this what Philza felt like in the mornings? Is this what death feels like? Oh wait. You already knew what dying felt like, you’ve died twice already and you had the scars to prove it.

The scar on the right side of your back remained prominent and very noticable, but it faded slightly around the edges. The other scar that stretched across your cheek and stretched down to your stomach was new. They were red and raised. You remembered how you got them like it was yesterday. You, your brothers, your nephew, and Tubbo were following Eret still celebrating your win. You all completely trusted him, he was your teammate after all. Trusting him was a mistake. It was foolish. That power hungry bastard blew up everything you and your brothers built and worked for. He was a traitor to L’manberg. Everyone present lost a life in the explosion.

You shuddered, remembering the explosion. You remembered the feeling of extreme heat on your skin and the deafening boom that left a ringing in your ears. You remembered laying on the ground several feet away from your brothers’ corpses. You were the last to die that day. Everything hurt as you laid there slowly bleeding out from the deep gash running from under your eye to your midsection. The plumes of smoke floated up towards the sunny sky as everything burned around you. You hoped you would suffocate from smoke inhalation before you would bleed out again. The flames licked at your skin, almost taunting you with your oncoming death. Why couldn’t you have died instantly like everyone else? Why did you always have to die painfully?

A soft knock snapped you out of your thoughts. Looking down, you realized that you were clutching the side of the sink so hard that your knuckles were turning white.

“(Y/n), are you in there?” It was Arthur. What was he doing up so early?

You wiped at the tears that had gathered in your eyes and cleared your throat. “Y-yeah buddy. I’ll be out in a second.”

You turned on the water faucet and splashed some cold water in your face. It somewhat worked for the blotchiness and redness, but your eyes were still puffy. You were just going to have to get out of the bathroom and pray that Arthur and Philza won’t notice. You took a deep breath and opened the door. There Arthur stood looking at you happily.

“What’re ya doing up so early bud?”

“My brother said that I’m a morning person.”

Brother?

Despite your confusion, you did your best to grin at him. “Well, early bird, do you wanna help me make breakfast?”

His eyes lit up with excitement and he jumped up and down slightly. “Yes please! I love cooking, Mama and Papa would always let me help!”

Oh, you absolutely hated not knowing something. You needed to have that chat with him as soon as you could.

You smirked. “C’mon then, lets go get started!”

He sprinted down the hallway and towards the stairs. You felt a slight panic flare up inside of you. “Arthur, please don’t run down the stairs!”

To your great relief, he listened and slowed down to a brisk walking speed. You speedwalked over to him. For someone so little, he was surprisingly fast. By the time you reached the bottom of the stairs, he was already in the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Philza was sitting at the table with a steaming cup of coffee in his hands. As per usual, he looked like he’d rather go back to sleep. You walked over to the coffee maker and poured yourself a cup, you were going to need it. Philza’s tired eyes followed you as you poured the steaming liquid into your mug.

“Tired?” His voice was raspier and deeper than usual.

“Yeah, didn’t get much sleep last night.” You sipped at the bitter drink before wrinkling your nose and stirring in an ungodly amount of sugar. Sipping it again, you sighed in content. That was much better.

You walked to the chest and pulled out some bacon strips, eggs, and bread. Setting them on the counter, you turned to Arthur. He was standing on his tiptoes trying to clearly see over the counter. You chuckled, pulling a chair out from the table and dragging it over to him so he could stand on it.

“Don’t get too excited kid, we have to wash our hands first. Then we can get to the fun part.”

Arthur scrambled over to the sink, pulling his chair along with him. Though he was extremely excited, he actually took the time to properly wash his hands. Once you both were clean, you both got to cooking. You let him scramble the eggs and butter the toast while you did the rest of the work. You didn’t want him to get burned, especially by the bacon grease.

Cooking was quickly done with Arthur’s help and before you knew it, breakfast was already halfway done. Over the course of eating, Philza was slowly waking up and adding his own input into the conversation. You were hardly paying attention when Arthur asked you a question.

“Hey, (y/n), where’s your wing?”

“Hm?”

“The fake one.”

Your eyes widened. Shit, you forgot to put it back on after your shower. You suddenly felt every single little touch on your amputated wing. The chair, a light breeze from the open window, the brush of feathers from your complete wing, everything. You felt vulnerable and naked without it on. You felt powerless.

“Oh, I- must’ve forgot to put it back on again. Excuse me.”

You stood up from your chair, a screech resounding from the legs scratching against the floor. Taking care of your half-eaten breakfast, you tried to hurry up to your room as fast as you could scolding yourself the entire way for being so forgetful. So stupid.

You locked the door behind you and saw your silver wing laying on your bed staring at you, as if taunting you for leaving it behind. You rushed to put it back on. Though you felt your muscles tense up because of the sudden cool, it felt incredibly relieving to have your wing back on. You felt whole.

You awkwardly twisted around to fasten the leather belts around the base of your amputated wing and attach the sensors back onto specific spots on your back where your flight muscles were. You put one on your deltoid, one on your trapezius, one on both teres muscles, one on your infraspinatus, and lastly two on your latissimus dorsi muscle. It usually took you at least thirty minutes of testing the prosthetic’s movements and moving the sensors around slightly to get the placement of the sensors exactly correct, so you assumed that breakfast was over and done with ten minutes ago.

Your wing was finally connected and fully functional, so you left your room in search for Arthur. You eventually found him in the basement in your old workshop looking through your filing cabinet of blueprints. He mustn't have heard you come down the stairs because he didn’t react. He just kept looking through your old papers, pulling a few out and putting them on a nearby crafting table.

“Arthur?”

He jumped, the paper he was in the middle of pulling out slipped back into its place inside the filing cabinet. He didn’t turn around to face you at first, so you thought that he was just trying to catch his breath from your little scare. Feeling bad, you walked closer and put a tentative hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. What’re ya doin?”

“I-I’m looking at your old inventions, Philza let me come down here to look at them while he tried to find me more clothes I could wear that fit.”

“Buddy, you should’ve waited until I put my wing back on, I could’ve shown you my prized inventions.”

He looked down to his feet. “I’m sorry (y/n), I just really wanted to see them and you were taking so long. I couldn’t wait.”

You frowned, putting a finger under his chin and making him look at you. You saw guilt darkening his eyes. “Arthur, never say sorry for wanting knowledge. Knowledge is perhaps our greatest weapon against the unknown in the universe. I want you to remember the phrase ‘scientia potentia est’.”

He sniffled. “Scientia… potentia est?”

“Yes, it means ‘knowledge is power’. Knowledge and power are two very… wide subjects, which is why I like the phrase. In a way, it means that you could pull off anything with knowledge. A lot of inventors live by that motto. Personally, it’s a motto that I swear by. Having knowledge gets me out of a lot of sticky situations,” you kindly smiled at him. “Now, do you want me to show you how my prosthetic works? I could even show you the first prototype if you’d like.”

To your delight, the smile that you often saw him wearing quickly returned and he nodded vigorously. You could get used to people wanting to know how your inventions work and why they worked the way that they did. You spent the next two hours explaining and answering questions about your prosthetic. You let him hold and examine your old leather wing. You showed him how the sensors were placed and warned him that if they were even very very slightly off, the wing wouldn’t work right. You even let him craft a sensor with you.

“So, do you have any interest in being an inventor when you grow up?”

“Yes, I wanna be just like you! You’re like, the bestest inventor ever!”

You took a deep breath, kneeling in front of him and placing your hands on his shoulders. “Arthur, would you like to become my protégé?”

He scrunched up his face and squinted his eyes in confusion. “Your what?”

You lightly laughed. “Do you know what an apprentice is?” He shook his head. “Well, I want to take you under my wing. Teach you everything I know.”

His eyes comically stretched and his mouth gaped open and closed like a fish out of water. If it were possible, you’d imagine stars shining in his eyes. “You’d do that?”

“Naturally. You’re perhaps the most ambitious person I’ve ever met in terms of your goals, and at such a young age too. I’ve never met anybody besides fellow innovators that actually wants to know how my inventions are made. It’s refreshing in a sense. Would you accept me being your mentor?”

“I- yes! Yes, yes! A million, no, a billion times yes! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” He cheered, squealing with delight and jumping up and down.

You laughed. “Woah there bud, cool your jets. We have work to do, but first…” you sighed. You really didn’t want to ruin his moment, but you needed to talk to him about this if he were to become your apprentice.

He cocked his head to the side, eyes still wide with excitement. “First what?” “First… we need to talk. About your story, I mean.”

“What do you mean? We are talking.”

“No, not like that. We need to talk about your family. And how you want me to help you with The Warden.”

He visibly deflated, you didn’t think it was possible for someone to change moods so quickly. It was almost unnatural how fast he switched emotions. “Oh… Do we have to?”

“Yes, Arthur. We have to trust each other if we’re gonna work together.”

He shifted on the balls of his feet and fiddled with his thumbs. He looked very anxious to talk about his family.

“If you want, I can show you where I go to relax and think. Would you like that?”

He nodded and wiped at his eyes. You grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs. Since Philza was out, you wrote him a little note and put it on the table where he should see it right away if he came back before you two. You grabbed your satchel and filled it with two glass vials of water, a few snacks, and a blanket. Arthur just stared at you confusedly.

You led him outside and hesitated. Should you ask him if he wanted to fly? It would be a lot faster to get there. “Arthur, would you like to fly there? I know it’s scary, but once you get used to it it’s so much fun!”

He reluctantly nodded, so you bent over and wrapped your arms around him to pick him up. You felt him tense up as you prepped for take off. “Hold on tight, I promise I won’t drop you.”

You pushed yourself off from the ground with a powerful flap of your wings causing Arthur to shriek in surprise. You and Arthur shot into the sky at a moderate speed. When you steadied yourself high above the treeline, you looked down at the boy in your arms. He had his eyes tightly closed and he was shaking slightly. “Arthur, you can open your eyes now.”

You watched as he peeked one of his eyes open and looked at you, you smiled encouragingly at him. “Go ahead, look around.” He observed his surroundings with caution before he opened his other eye. He was looking around in amazement, taking in every single detail from a bird’s eye view. You snorted before redirecting your attention back to flying. You needed to pay attention, especially when you had a passenger that would carry on your legacy after you die.

The flight went by with Arthur giggling at various mobs below and sometimes pointing out something he thought was interesting to you. Your destination was now several meters ahead of you. Landing, you set Arthur down steadying him when he stumbled a little.

You took out the blanket and spread it across the grassy ground, smoothing it out. You beckoned Arthur to sit down next to you on it and you two overlooked the boundless expanse of the grassy plains.

“This is where I came up with most of my inventions. It’s where I first tested my prosthetic. There’s where I jumped off.”

“How’d you know it worked?”

“I didn’t before I tested it. Looking back, it was stupid of me to do. Never, ever, do what I did.”

“What if-”

“No what if’s. Consult me before you test out anything dangerous in the future. I mean it, Arthur.”

“But I want to be like you.”

“Trust me kid, you don’t wanna be exactly like me. Besides, you’re you. You’re not (y/n) Minecraft. You’re Arthur Fox. You’re your own person and it’s important for you to understand that. Never let anyone take that away from you.”

He fell silent as he contemplated your words. You assumed that nobody’s ever told him that before, both due to his young age and potential lack of adult figures in his life.

“Artie, you can tell me about your life when you’re ready. Take as much time as you need, we still have half the day left before we have to start heading back.”

He wordlessly nodded, turning his gaze to stare blankly past the cliff. In the meantime, you would wait patiently until he felt comfortable telling you.

Taglist (comment if you want to be added):

@acecarddraws @goldenstarofthunderclan @ravennightingaleandavatempus @dirtydiavolo @yeiras-world @immadatmostthings @hee-hee-haw @jackalopedoodles @m1lkmandan @vanhakirja @im-a-depressed-gay @coolleviauchihadreamerlove @questioning-sanity @camisascam

@bongwaterflavoredgatorade @kakamiissad @jayistrash4 @lifestylesleep @speedymaximoff @sun-shark-tooth @appetiteofapeoplepleaser @lestrangenymph @kinismanditory @dragons-lurk-here @rinzyx05 @the-wandering-pan-ace @sparkling-gayyyy @angelic-scent @shinipii @dont-hug-me-im-a-fander @izzydimensional @used-avocado @laura--444 @wing-non @lovely-echoo @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @mysteryartisticwriter

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ivy-goldrush · 4 years

Text

Wednesdays Are The Worst

Expresso. Make Friends with It

Series Warnings: Grumpy!Bucky, Bucky being a dick, Angst, Eventual Smut? Slow Burn fic, Maybe a touch of Jealous!Bucky, 18+ cause ✨swearing✨

Word Count: 1047

The morning air was crisp as it whipped its way around you, almost imitating a hug. It was only a short walk from your apartment to the small independent coffee shop you worked at. ‘Café Juniper’ was a very small but bustling coffee shop that had only recently opened and was quickly gaining a reputation for itself ‘From 6 am when we open, to 6 pm when we close, we are here to provide coffee and a smile’ was what Mary, the owner, had said when you first got the barista job there. This job was almost perfect, the staff were amazing along with the customers, and the atmosphere that the shop had was one where you couldn’t help but feel relaxed in. The only problem was that you found yourself getting up at 5:15 am when you were to open the shop and it’s safe to say you are not much of a morning person what-so-ever.

Unlocking the front door, you were instantly hit with the smell of coffee and sweet treats. Mary stood behind the counter organizing the cakes and a cup of coffee sat on top of the workstation.

“Just in time.” The lovely older lady chuckled, smiling at you with creases at her eyes. “At least I’m here Mary, I could have not shown up at all!” Your comment was made with light-heartedness as you clocked in at 5:50 am. You were running only a couple of minutes late, nothing too drastic and it wasn’t as if you had done this regularly. With Mary being the type of woman she was, a few minutes late wasn’t bad at all. The ten minutes till opening time still allowed for you to make a coffee for yourself and make yourself look presentable, tying your pastel flowered Pinney around your waist.

Your hair was neatly tucked into a bun that rested at the nape of your neck however, you knew that it would not look the way it was supposed to by the end of your shift. You could already picture it, baby hairs frizzed up into a small mane and chunks of hair falling out of the bun looking very disregarded. The first half an hour of your shift wasn’t too bad, there weren’t many customers at 6 in the morning. But as soon as the clock struck 6:30 am there was already a small line out the door as the early morning office workers fled to get their coffee fix. During this time the only drinks that seemed to be ordered were Americano’s, Cappuccino’s, and Lattes. With the occasional iced coffee thrown into the mix. This thread of orders lasted until about 8 am, the morning flow of people were now well and truly seated behind their desks and chatting away with co-workers.

You enjoyed the slow pace that this time of day brought around. It allowed for you and Mary to tidy the mess that had been made, wipe down the surfaces of spilled coffee, and sweep out the leaves that snuck in from the streets. The empty shop made it safe for Mary to slip into the back room to sort out stock and the following day’s deliveries.

It was about 15 minutes when the next customer entered the café. The small jingle of the bell above the door alerted you that you were no longer alone. You made sure your voice was loud and clear enough for your boss to hear without it sounding like you were shouting, as you quickly finished the task at hand.

“Good morning! Welcome to Café Juniper, what can I get for you today?” Your voice was clear and sweet as you turned your body to face the customer. You didn’t allow for your smile to falter as you were met with a very tall, very attractive, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, well-built male. He hadn’t noticed your prolonged staring as he was too focused on the menu board. You took the opportunity to scan your gaze over the dark navy suit that clung to his body that you thought would burst at the seams if he tensed even the smallest of muscles. He brought his hand up to his face, rubbing at the well-kempt facial hair. He hummed and nodded, solidifying his thought on what to have before adjusting his eyes to you and speaking.

“Could I get a caramel macchiato to take away please?” His voice was equal parts deep and soft with being bubbly as well. He smiled sweetly and widely at you, and you couldn’t help but smile back with warmth. “Of course. Is that all for you today?” Your silvery voice danced to his ears. He was about to answer with a no when his gaze met the cake counter. His eyes lit up his face, like a kid in a candy shop, and you could tell he was eyeing one cake more than the others. He licked his lips before turning back to you and asking sheepishly “Could I also get a blueberry muffin as well?”. You knew there was no way you could deny his ask, so you reassured him that of course he could, before finishing up his drink and using the tongs to pick the muffin and place it carefully in a brown paper bag. The items were traded with a total of cash. The both of you offering sweet smiles as you went on with your days.

Soon the stranger became a regular at Café Juniper and you soon found out that his name was Steve. Over the course of several months, the two of you had developed a budding friendship and even though you admit he was attractive it never blossomed into anything more as you both knew that you were better off being friends. Morning coffee pick-ups soon turned into him coming in on his off days with a book, reading and then keeping you company on your break or when the café was empty; the two of you even hung out a few times outside of the café and work routines. And you then found yourself being invited by him to meet up with his friend group. You said yes knowing that you could not deny this man of happiness, even in the smallest of forms.

Taglist (Message to be added)

@tonystankschild @angstysebfan @tanyaherondale @justab-eautifulmess @sunflowerbunny2 @yesfanficsaremylife @agos-505

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piracytheorist · 3 years

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Resident Evil Village gameplay watch guide

So you've heard about Resident Evil Village. About Tall Vampire Lady or Daddy Magneto... but here you are wondering about Ethan Winters of all people.

Don't worry, we've all been there. Wondering why in a cast full of interesting characters, we chose to simp for the character equivalent of plain white bread. We're in this together. Don't worry.

So you wanna know more about him. But you're not into horror. You're afraid of jumpscares, you don't like looking at disgusting stuff, you get uncomfortably tense when you don't know what to expect...

So here I am to give you a guide. I’ll be providing a video link of a complete gameplay of the game, that skips most of the wandering around in the game and focuses on cutscenes and gameplay that helps you connect the cutscenes together, making the video three and a half hours long instead of eight hours long. At the same time, I'll be providing timestamps for jumpscares and tense scenes.

I already did this for a friend, and I'm getting the sense that I have more followers intrigued by it but don't know what to watch and how to start. So here I am to offer you help and drag you in ;)

It goes without saying that, as this is a complete watch guide, spoilers (both for Resident Evil 8 and Resident Evil 7) will follow.

A quick intro; re8 (aka RE Village) is a direct sequel to re7. Ethan Winters is the protagonist in both games, there's a slight development from one game to the other, and events in re8 are kind of direct consequence of what happened in re7. Luckily, the game developers took into consideration that some may not remember or have not played re7, so they made a video recap of what happened in re7. A re7 gameplay lasts from 3.5 to 5 hours, depending on the way of playing, in case you're interested in that. But if you’re okay with the 2-minute-long recap (it's pretty good in summarizing what you need to know about it) it's here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULSVsSZ03z0

There’s still more to the story of re7, but most of the stuff you need to connect with re8 and figure out what’s going on will be explained there.

Now, as of the timestamps that I’m providing; I suggest reading the first four bullet points, start watching up to the last timestamp mentioned there, then read the next bullet point and watch up to its timestamp, and keep going like that. Don’t skip bullet points if you don’t wanna be spoiled!

The video includes the boss and mini boss fights in full. None of them take too long, so I would recommend watching them in full as the Bosses have some lines during the fights and listening to those gives a more spherical view of them.

The link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4POQ6FOCMc

The first 12 minutes are generally calm.

Some intense stuff start at about 8 minute mark, but no direct horror.

After the 12 minute mark, it starts getting a little creepy in the environment.

Jumpscare at 13:47 and 16:18

Intense stuff start at 19:00, with some jumpscares, some gore, and some fighting up to 24:00.

Intense stuff at around 33:00, though it's more shocking than scary.

Pretty scary show at 41:20. Like some creepy and disgusting stuff.

A bit intense stuff right after, up to 45:40.

Some gory stuff start at 47:00. At first it might not seem much, but it gets more later. And then even more. That lasts mostly up to 50:00.

Some zombies at 52:00, then mini boss fight.

The scene at 57:25 has some gore and blood, though it's... interesting, and has become a huge meme in the fandom... and elsewhere.

Mini boss fight at 59:59.

Boss fight with creepy, freaky monster from 01:04:00. The end starts at about 1:10:15, and I suggest at least listening to the ending lines.

Some disturbing news at the cutscene in 1:13:34.

At 1:19:00 starts THE most creepy part of the story. It has scary vibes from early on, and almost the entire thing will have you on edge (and you can hear Ethan's breathing and that makes it even more tense) and it's got creepy dolls and stuff, so be prepared for those in case they scare you.

Not exactly a jumpscare, but creepy at 1:21:08 as lights go out.

At 1:26:18 a door opens by itself (nothing is hiding or jumping at you), and an object falls at 1:28:47.

1:30:17 is creepy, but no jumpscare there, aside from an object falling down at the end.

Sudden phone ring at 1:31:31

Figure passing from far away at 1:32:20, then an object falling.

Walking through a dark corridor at 1:33:27. Nothing jumps at you, but it's a creepy place regardless.

At 1:34:03... prepare yourselves. I fully suggest lowering the volume (if anything because it's got disturbing and distorted sounds) and either watch with caution, or don't look at the video, or even directly skip through to 1:40:25 if it's too scary for you. The lights go out, you only have a flashlight, and THE creepiest monster in the entire game appears in front of you at 1:35:15.

From 1:36:57 it gets a bit calmer. The lights go a little brighter, the monster doesn't appear,

but that only lasts until 1:37:31, where the lights go out again, and the monster reappears at 1:38:02. From that point up to 1:39:24 there are disturbing sounds all around, so you can mute or skip those. Again monster reappears from 1:39:58 to 1:40:25.

It's still a little creepy after that, with creepy dolls and creepy laughs, but at least it's got more lights on.

At 1:40:56 a human person appears suddenly, and then creepy dolls start hunting and attacking Ethan. Music gets creepy, creepy laughs are heard, etc. It's an intense game of hide and go seek.

Blood at 1:42:10, 1:43:02,

big jumpscare and slightly gory attack at 1:44:15.

At 1:44:50 there's again blood and some disturbing gore, but then FINALLY that part's over.

And then comes the most disgusting part.

At 1:46:10 jumpscare and gory attack from big monster.

From 1:47:17 and the entire section there's like, disgusting blobs of some acid-like nature, the Boss is quite disturbing (body horror, distorted voice, and he throws up a LOT, starting with 1:47:39)

Jumpscare at 1:49:35.

Less scary jumpscare at 1:49:54. A little scarier at 1:50:56.

Body horror and a shit ton of vomiting at 1:51:20. The next sequence is all running around, with the Boss trying to attack (it's in the general area so it's not "scary" when he comes closer, more like sudden) and the ground shakes all the time.

Yucky stuff at 1:54:56

Monster appearing a little too close at 1:56:25

At 1:59:31 small jumpscare

2:00:20 the monster walking in front of you but not at you.

2:01:20 the Boss fight starts, and it's all yucky and stuff. Personally my least favourite part of the game, I mean at least the doll house has some kind of... aesthetic to it, idk lol. To each their own, though. Unless you are into that stuff or are investing in it, I personally recommend skipping to right after the end of the fight, at 2:06:35.

If not skipping, there's a shit ton of vomitting at 2:02:48, at 2:04:40, and at 2:05:20, though I MIGHT have missed a bit there.

The Boss dies in a quite disgusting way, starting from 2:06:15. I personally always skip his dying cutscene, both when I play the game or watch gameplays. From 2:06:35 it's safe, and accompanied by Ethan's cringey but also very relatable reaction quip.

Boss fight at 2:07:56. It's a bit scary and intense but nothing of note happens (as for horror), it ends at 2:11:00, where once again Ethan inspires with his quips. (You can fast forward through this fight as this particular boss doesn’t speak)

After 2:19:40 on the video skips to the most important moments of that part of the game. In general, in that part Ethan is trapped inside a huge building and is trying to escape, with some "modified" zombies hunting him. A full gameplay won’t really provide anything more, related to the story or the characters (aside from some notes you can read), so you're not missing much. [Though, as I’m checking right now, I realized the editor skipped some dialogue from Heisenberg. Though that can be summed to Heisenberg saying “Miranda is horrible blah blah” and Ethan going like “Dude I don’t give a shit”]

Mini boss fight at 2:22:30. The creature may be a little disturbing. Ethan gets hit at 2:24:22, at 2:25:10 and at 2:25:45, but nothing to note aside from those.

It ends at 2:27:03, once again with another brilliant one-liner from Ethan. God I love him.

Boss fight from 2:33:50. It's got a pretty interesting end at 2:37:55.

After that, there's not really anything more creepy or any jumpscare you need to worry about, aside from, you know, lycans and blood, stuff you've already seen through the video already.

Boss fight at 2:50:00, again with a boss without any dialogue.

Boss fight ends at 2:52:40, and honestly I suggest watching the entire thing from then on.

Watch the credits up to 3:21:36, and the post credits scene that starts at 3:27:30.

And that’s it! You now know the full story! Hope you come back to me to rant about Mold Man Ethan Winters, Dad of the Century!

#Resident Evil #Resident Evil 8 #Ethan Winters #re misc

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mayansmcsblog · 4 years

Text

the prank war has began

sooooo i saw this gif and instantly got an idea but as i wrote it, the idea completely changed and somehow it turned into this.

there is a ton of swearing😂

credit to @thedevilsmoonshine for the gif!

thanks to @withmyteeth for helping me with some ideas of what to add in.

this is the first time I've wrote anything in years and the first time I'm ever publishing my work. sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes

A persistent ringing was what woke you up at 2am for the 3rd time this week. You already knew who it was, let's face it who else would be calling at 2am other than him? Opening your eyes you rolled onto your back, staring at the ceiling debating if you should let it ring out or answer

What if he’s hurt? No, that would have happened during the day not in the middle of the night Maybe he just needed someone to talk to? That was the likely option.

You and bishop always had a ‘vibe’ as some people said. You were friends for a few months before he introduced you to the mc, of course it was a shock at first but after a month it slowly became your life. All the parties? you were there. Club events? You were there.

Overtime you and bishop had gotten closer, he would come over to your place all the time, announced or not.

he would come over in the dead of the night when his mind got too loud ,When he needed someone to talk to ,When he simply wanted the company of a friend that did not judge him for the things he did for the mc. He would come over any opportunity he got.

You could swear he was at your place more than he was his own Most of the time he would spend a few weeks at yours, only going back to his to get clothes.

Over the course of the last 6 months you and him had gotten a lot closer, he spent the night a lot, his stuff is all over the place but you two aren't dating , you didn't have any type of label. Why? You couldn't be sure. Most people assumed you two were dating but they were wrong. You two did everything normal couples would yet- you had no label. you were never his girlfriend and he was never your boyfriend.

Taking a deep breath you reached to your bedside table and grabbed your phone but as you could pick it up, it stopped ringing.

That’s not a bad thing right? Maybe he didn’t want to wake you up. Before you could set it back down you reserved a text, scrolling down your notification panel you read it;

📲: Bishop 🖤

You up?

Two words. That’s it just two short words.

Should you ignore it? Yeah, that's probably the best option. Did you want to ignore it? No

Another ping brought you out of your thoughts

📲:Bishop🖤

The guys are being children and I could either use some help over here or a way out😂please tell me you're awake and not just reading this from your notifications and watching Netflix again.

he knows you too well. Being a night owl you normally go to sleep around 3am, maybe 2am if you have work the next day. Normally you would just ignore bishop till the next morning but somehow he always knew when you ignored him and when you were actually sleeping.

Taking a look at your notifications again you saw you had a lot for snapchat, a few from Coco, a few from Angel along with one single snap from Gilly.

Looks like the trio is having fun.

Opening bishop’s texts you finally reply;

📱: I’m awake just debating on if I should open all the snaps I have from the trio and reply to a seemingly annoyed jefe.

Almost immediately you got a response

📲:Bishop🖤

Ha-ha very funny. Come and sort your boys out, they are messing with that shitty ass car again, trying to do something with the engine

📱: my boys? You're their president, you sort them out. What makes you think they listen to me🤧?

📲: Bishop🖤

They actually like you😂they will listen

📱: keep telling yourself that, they only listen to me when I’m getting them food

📲:Bishop🖤

That counts as listening

📱: whatever

Locking your phone you got up out of bed knowing there was a slim chance you would go back to bed till the early hours now that you were awake.

Putting on a pair of shorts and a shirt you got your phone and went to the kitchen, deciding to get on a bottle of water and find some shitty Netflix show you wouldn’t even pay attention to

Grabbing a bottle from the fridge you heard your phone vibrate on the counter. Pulling down the notification panel once again you saw it was a text from Ez

📲; smart ass😂📚

Please come and get these children, I can't deal with them anymore

Okay something is seriously going on here.

Face timing Ez you set the phone back on the counter, moving towards the window to open it and let the cool air flow thru the room

Within seconds he accepted and his voice came over the speakers

"Ayyy y/n where you at? Come get the children. Me and bishop are going crazy over here" you could hear a hint of playfulness in his voice

Picking up your phone you saw he was sitting on the steps outside the club, his phone in his hand angled so you could just see the side of his head while he was looking at something in the distance.

"I'm at home like all of you should be by now, leave the children alone to play. Are they hurting anyone?" you said as you headed towards the front room and sat on the sofa

"Not yet"

You could hear cursing being thrown around by numerous people in the background along with the clacking on metal and rock music in the distance.

"Yet?" You questioned

"Yeah, I mean other than themselves" he laughed

"Of course"

There was a few beats of silence before you heard Coco shouting

"Boy Scout! Who’s that eh? You got you another girl?" By his tone you could tell he was definitely high

"No it's y/n dumbass" he responded, turning the phone so you could see Coco walking towards him.

"Ohhh damn I thought you was about to get some man" by now Coco had took over the whole screen "heyyyy y/n what you doinnnnn"

"I’m about to hang up on your dumbass"

"No, no, no don’t do that" taking the phone off Ez he stood up "that’s not nice is it"

You could hear Ez asking where he was going with his phone and be replied with a simple "shhhh" as he walked back to where he originally came from

"Want to see something funny?" He said. You weren't sure if that meant he was going to show you Angel tied to a chair again or Gilly attempting a backflip.

Both are amusing but it's doubtful it would happen three times....

"Did you tie Angel to a chair again? What did I tell you about playing nice hmm?" You put on the most sarcastic voice you could

"Ha funny and no...We couldn't find and ropes"

That made you laugh way more than it should have because you knew that Bishop had hid them in the meeting room and under Ez's trailor after the last time they guys got drunk and thought it was a good idea to put rope all over the place like an obstacle course

"Coco you're gonna kill someone at this rate”

"Hush ight? Jesus be quite ino want em to know your here"

"Okay?" Putting yourself on mute you could hear Angels voice in the background along with Gillys and bishops

"Listen," Angel said , slapping something metallic, clearly as high as Coco was and seemingly having one of his 'genius idea' moments

"OI dumbass listen to meeeee" he said again

"What?" Gilly responded along with a sound of something metal hitting the ground "dammit Angel you made me loose the fucking 10mm socket again"

The camera was still pointed at Coco’s shoulder as he walked over

"Boys, boys, boys" damn he sounded like a child "what would you say if I told you I could get y/n to being us food"

You audible groaned as he suggested that, there was no way you was going to get them food this late at night.

You heard both Gilly and Angel say "what" then "tell her to get McDonalds" or "let’s get subway" by they were quickly cut off

"Oi children! Stop it, it's 2:30 in the morning, leave her alone '' bishops' voice was closer than you expected. He was probably sitting in the garage with the others observing what they are doing and making sure they don’t kill each other

You couldn’t help but unmute yourself

"Sorry Obispo but the children need their food" your tone was playful, kind of, half of you was saying it just to annoy him, the other half was wanting to see his reaction

"Gimme that phone" within seconds Coco was gone from the screen and Bishop was in the frame

"So this is why you haven't replied to me hmm?" You couldn’t tell if he was serious or playful

You hadn't missed his text? He never responded to you right?

"Hold that thought" you pulled down the notification panel and saw he did text you.

2:15

📲:Bishop🖤

I’m kicking these guys out in a few minutes

2:20

📲: Bishop🖤

I’m giving them 3 more minutes till I kick them out.

2:23

📲: Bishop🖤

Can I come over if it's not too late after these children leave? "

"Oh, sorry I was busy talking to Ez and then being stolen by Coco"

"Nah you were just ignoring me wasn’t you?" He responded

"No totally not"

"Sure I totally believe you" he laughed

"I think Ez might want his phone back"

"Wow, nice to see you like speaking to me"

"Well then why don't you call me instead? At least smart ass wanted to talk to me, even if it was about the children of the mc"

The line went silent for a moment. All you could hear was the guys cursing about finding the 10m socket and the sound of bishop walking.

"Okay, I’ll be back in like 20 minutes" with that the line went dead, he didn’t even give you time to respond

Wow he deadass hung up on me, how mature.

Maybe it was time you opened those snaps. What else did you have to do?

Opening snap chat you saw there was a purple bubble next to Coco, a red bubble next to Angel and a blue bubble next to Gilly.

You opened Gilly's first

12:22~

"What time does McDonald’s close?"

Followed by

"Nvm its 24 hours isn’t it😂😂"

You quickly replied "dumbass" and moved onto Angel’s chat.

Opening the snap it was a picture of Coco, Gilly and creeper sitting opposite him, beers in hand, while seemingly talking along with the caption

"Come party with us"

Skipping past the snap you was presented with another one, this time a video where Coco was sitting on the roof of a car while Gilly was attempting to push it

"C’mon man it's not that hard" Coco said

"Yeah man come on" Angel said from behind the camera

"Shut up before I make you do this" Gilly responded

What the hell have these guys been up to all night?

The snaps just got worse from there.

Coco’s was full of them doing random stuff, throwing things at each other and even them sitting on Ez trailer roof? How did they even get up there, and how did it not break?

One of them definitely stood out from the others. It seemed like someone else was filming on his phone while Coco was trying to rip off a car door by the handle but it snapped off, sending Coco across the garage and into the wall while Gilly, Ez and Angel laughed at him

His only response was a simple "okay you mother fucker this is war" followed by his practically running like a horse in battle towards the door kicking it resulting in a bent. Unfortunately that's where the snap ended.

Is this what they had been up to? No wonder bishop wanted out.

When the cascade of snaps finished you saw there was still a blue bubble next to Coco's name, clicking on it you could see it was a video around 3 minutes long.

You saw part of it was what you had already seen. Coco trying to pull the door, being flung into a wall, the guys laughing along with Coco kicking the door once again except this time it didn’t end when he kicked the door.

"Bro you’re not doing it hard enough" Angel stated while moving Coco out of the way

"Look you gotta-" he kicked the base of the door "-start from the bottom-'' he kicked it again causing the bottom to cave in slightly "-see? It's easy"

"Shut up man I’m stronger than you let me do it" Coco pushed Angel out of the way

"No" Angel responded, pushing coco slightly

"Yes" Coco pushed back

"No" Angel pushed again

This went on for a few moments before Gilly set the camera down on some type of surface before walking over to them

"Yo I'm stronger then both of you let me do it"

Coco stopped pushing Angel and turned to Gilly "Nah man you will steal all the shit and run off again like last time"

"Shut up man"

All three of the men were too busy arguing to notice Ezekiel had come into the garage in search of something

"Why the fuck are you guys arguing?"

All of them spoke at the same time

"Coco is sayin he’s stronger than me"

"They are children!"

"Angels tryna be a smart ass"

"You guys are fucking stupid" Ez moved towards where the phone was but didn't pick it up, rather opening the draw of the desk that was below it and picking something up, as he pulled back you could see he was holding some keys.

"Move“ He pushed Angel out the way of the door and unlocked it, grabbing a duffle bag out of the back seat, handing it to Coco

"Here"

All of the guys stood in a state of shock. Coco was the first to speak

"Why the fuck didn’t you tell us there was keys!" He exclaimed

"Because watching you guys be idiots and is fun to see you struggle"

"I swear to God I’m going to say no on your patch vote" Gilly butted into the conversation.

Ez just laughed as he walked away, the video ended shortly after all three of them cussed.

Shaking your head you laughed, of course they are dumb enough not to look for keys.

You quickly texted Coco

"You guys are dumb as shirtttt, you’re lucky Ez is around to help your dumbass's. Did the door not want to play nice hmm? Did you put a dent in the wall again with your fat ass? What was so important in that bag?"

Checking the time you saw it was 2:45

Thank god it's a Saturday tomorrow.

Setting your phone on the coffee table you realized you never put the TV on when you sat down, you were obviously too distanced by FaceTime, meaning you were sitting in silence.

Was silence a bad thing? No

Was it somehow deafening? Yeah

Grabbing the remote you turned on the TV, quickly going to Netflix in an attempt to find something decent to watch.

Your watch list was full of horror movies and crime documentaries. Definitely not the best thing to watch on your own. There were a few suspense movies on there but none of them seemed to interest you.

Going to the movie section you passed almost every more option from horror to romance to action because nothing grabbed your attention or seemed interesting.

Going back to the home page you looked at the screen for a few minutes

Was it even worth putting something on? It was almost 3am after all.

Grabbing your phone you decided to scroll through Instagram.

After a few minutes bishop’s name appeared, taking over your screen with an incoming FaceTime.

Accepting the call you were immediately greeted with the site of his kutte, followed by him putting his helmet on. By the angle you could tell his phone was resting between his handlebars and the fuel tank.

"I take it you're still awake then" he wasn’t looking at the screen. Rather he was looking in the distance just above his phone

The background suddenly filled with the sound of bike engines. He seemed to say something but it was overpowered by bikes, so you didn't hear what he said. His bike wasn’t turned on yet because the phone wasn't vibrating.

Suddenly Bishop reached his arm out to someone just out of frame and you saw him lift upwards off the seat slightly, someone’s hand patted his shoulder blade.

By the look of the tattoo on the wrist you could tell it was Coco.

Looking away from your phone you looked back up at the TV. You could still hear engines coming from your phone but now it sounded like 3 of them.

Almost simultaneously they all revved before pulling off. The sound slowly faded out as they got further out the compound.

You were still looking at the TV, you decided to look at the top 10 of the day, maybe there was something good on there.

The Meg

Reading the description it actually seemed like a good movie. Putting it on you set the remote down and looked back at your phone

This time bishop wasn’t in the frame at all. Rather you could just see the length of his bike and the wall behind where it was parked.

Where did he go?

Your question was quickly answered when he picked up the phone.

By the sound of the wind you could tell he was jogging somewhere. The phone was at his side facing outwards, you could see him approaching the steps to the clubhouse. He quickly went up them and opened the door

"Prospect!" He shouted "make sure you lock up, I’m heading out"

You could hear Ez reply with a quick "okay" from somewhere in the back

He picked up his phone so you could see his face. unlike before, you took the time to actually take in his appearance

His eyes looked tired, his beard was longer than it usually is, he looked...well, you couldn’t describe it. He just didn’t seem himself.

You were too busy looking at him to realize he asked you a question

"Y/n"

"What?"

"Did you not hear me?"

"Oh- no sorry I turned my volume down because of the bikes"

"Oh" he paused "I asked if your door was open"

You looked at the screen for a second

"What?"

He placed his phone back on the fuel tank and straddled his bike

"I said, is your door open. You know like your front door.....to your house" he repeated, grabbing his helmet, he must have taken it off while you were looking at the TV, once again he was fastening the buckle.

"No? Why?"

"Do you want to unlock it?" you could see him kick the stand of the bike up by the way his leg moved.

"Why?" You asked he looked at the screen for a few seconds before laughing at the way your face changed as you realized what he meant

"Obispo are you inviting yourself over once again?" You questioned

"Yep"

"What if I don't let you in?" You challenged. Of course you would let him in but sometimes it was fun to mess with him

"What if I climb through a window?" He said, pulling a cigarette out his pocket and lighting it

"Okay now that's just creepy" you laughed. He shook his head as he blew out the smoke from his lungs

"So? Can I come over or not?"

Looking around your front room you saw it was a little messy but you could easily clean it up within 5 minutes.

"Sure"

"See you in 20 querida" he winked as he started the bike before ending the call.

You finished cleaning the front room, kitchen and your bedroom up within 10 minutes

Checking the fridge you saw that there were only 4 beers left, taking a mental note to get more the next time you go shopping.

Sitting back on the sofa you realized you had missed around half of the movie.

Pointless watching it now

You knew by bishop coming over there was a good chance you two would be awake till 4am talking about random stuff and watching something on Netflix or playing some type of game.

You also knew he liked action movies so you went to that section in search of one that sounded entertaining

The platform ~ that didn’t sound so bad right?

Watching the preview, you became interested and wanted to watch it, forget Bishop you can watch it on your own.

"The ones above, the ones below and the one before" the voice of a man came over your speakers, he sounded young but old simultaneously.

You had just got past the introduction when you heard the rumble of a bike in the distance. For a moment you wondered if it was off the TV but as it got louder you realized it was bishop.

Getting up from the sofa you walked towards the door.

You set your hand on the door handle for what seemed like hours as you waited for him to pull up outside. Did you normally meet him at the door? Nope. Most of the time he would invite himself over and just sit down on the sofa with you for hours.

Sometimes you two spoke the whole time he was over until you both went to bed, other times you would sit in a comfortable silence- just happy to me in one another's presence.

You heard the engine cut off just beyond the door. You counted to three before unlocking it, as you did you saw Bishop was parked on the curb, still sitting on his bike while setting the helmet on the handlebars. He was yet to notice you standing at the door.

Taking a cigarette out his pocket he turned towards the street, looking at the houses to see if your neighbor's were awake, you had no idea why he did it but every time he pulled up, whether it was in a car or on his bike he always seemed to look at the neighboring houses.

He lit the cigarette, back still turned to you as he looked down the street. Leaning against the door frame you looked him over you could see that his posture was slouched indicating he was tired, he still had one hand resting on the handlebars almost like he wasn't just looking down the street but also trying to crack his back. The other hand was on the cigarette in his mouth, even from the distance from the doorway to the curb where he parked. You could see his leg was bouncing and so was his hand slightly, now that definitely wasn't normal.

As he exhaled the smoke he turned around towards your house, jumping slightly when he saw you standing at the door. He seemed to compose himself as he took the keys out of the bike and stood up, walking towards you, his head bowed slightly as he tossed the cigarette onto the food

“I hope you are going to pick that up” you said

“I will” he looked up at you, he was just beyond the porch steps. His eyes looked tired, there were clearly bags underneath them. He was definitely tired- if you knew anything about him ,he probably hasn't slept for a few days, and if he did it was for a short time

“You look tired”

“So do you” he cracked a small smile, by now he was standing in front of you

“Maybe because someone woke me up at 2 in the morning then I had to deal with grown ass men asking me to bring them food then suddenly someone decided to invite themselves over?”

“In my defense i thought you were still awake and the children wasn't my fault”

You laughed as you moved away from the door frame and towards the kitchen “just come i stupid before i lock you out”

“Ouch that's harsh” he put a hand over his heart “that insult really hurt” he walked threw the door and shut it behind him, hanging his kutte up on the coat hook in the hallway along with his jacket

“Stop being a wimp”

You heard him move into the front room and sit on the couch.

“Want a beer?” you asked as you went in the fridge for another bottle of water

"Yeah- what's this?" He questioned

“What's what?”

”On the TV dumbass”

Walking back into the front room you saw he had his hand behind his head, his phone was on the table along with his keys.

“Oh, the platform. It seemed interesting so I started watching and only someone distracted me” you said as you handed him the beer and sat on the sofa, leaving some space between you and him.

“What's it about?”

“Not too sure something along the lines of some type of prison system where the food is on a moving platform, I only just started it”

“Hmm” grabbing the remote he pressed play while sipping his beer.

You two sat in comfortable silence while watching the movie but every so often you would look over at bishop, partly to make sure he wasn't asleep and partly to see if he was okay.

Over the time span of 30 minutes you noticed he wasn't watching the movie, rather he was looking at the wall clearly spaced out somewhere in his own mind. He was sitting so his right elbow was on the arm rest and his right hand in his mustache, messing the hair lightly. He always did that when he was thinking about something. His other hand was resting in his lap holding the beer you gave him.

“Bishop?” you waited a few moments but he didn't respond “Bishop'' you repeated, still no reaction. Taking the beer from his hand you set it on the table, putting your hands on his cheeks you turned his face toward you “bishop”

“Hmm?” he finally looked at you. Removing your hands from his face you looked him in the eyes

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing” he said shaking his his head

“Don't lie to me” your tone came out harsher than you intended he raised his eyebrows at you

“sorry didn't mean to sound like i was being mean” you pulled away slightly with the intention of going back to where you originally sat but that idea was quickly thrown out the window when he grabbed your torso and practically picked you up, sitting you on his lap. He put his head in the space between your shoulder and neck while rubbing his hands down your back

“What's wrong Obispo?” you asked once again, putting your hand in his hair, playing with it slightly.

“I'm just stressed” his voice was muffled as he spoke into your shouder

“About?”

“Everything” he moved his head so he was looking up at you “the stuff with Marcus leaving, the mc as a whole with the guys turning against each other ,all the shit going on with other clubs. Everything is just a mess and it's stressing me out” he explained. You kept on hand playing with his hair while the other went to his cheek

“Can you do anything about it?” you asked, he cocked his head to the side slightly clearly not understanding what you meant ”can you do anything about that stuff?” he looked at you for a moment before shrugging his shoulders

you continued “Marcus made his own mind up, you can't do anything there. The mc always sorts itself out, members fight, it's normal, you of all people should know what.” you explained while using your thumb trace the lines across his face caused by the lack of sleep

“Yeah, i guess you're right” he leaned up and kissed you softly “I have to say, I'm a president of a fucking mc and yet your smarter then me”

“I'm not smarter than you, I just look at what's happening and think about in the moment, where as you” you poked his chest lightly “ seem to think its a good idea to overthink stuff and look at consequences a year in advance that will probably never happen” He hummed in response before putting his head back into your neck

“Can i ask you something?” you asked

“You just did”

“Very funny” you moved to get out of his lap but was quickie pulled back down

“What was the question?”

”What the hell was in the duffle bag? coco sent me the video them trying to get it and it seemed like they really wanted it”

“Oh” bishop almost immediately started laughing to the point his whole body shook and his head was thrown back.

“Tell me stoopid” you slapped his chest slightly, playing with his shirt

“Well you see- me and Ez thought it would be funny to lock it in a car that needed scraping while they were getting high and then tell them the doors didn't work to see how long it would take for them to it but Gilly ended up pushing it from the front by the fighting cage to the garage” he managed to get out

“That didn't answer my-”

“Just wait” he cut you off “neither me or Ez knew what was in it but those three are too stupid to just break a window so they were attempting to get it for a good 20 minutes before Ez opened the door and got it out” he explained still laughing slightly “turn out it was just full of junk food and snacks they brought to eat once they get hungry later ”

“You two are evil”

“No we was having fun” he laughed

“Evil”

Just as bishop was about the respond his phone started to ring, you moved out his lap and sat back on the couch while he get up and went out the back to answer it.

looking at the tv you realized the film wasn't interesting you at all. Grabbing you phone you saw you had a snap from coco and one from angel

what did they do now?

opening the app you clicked on to yours and Angels chat only to find a simple text

“if coco send you a video, delete it”

what?

“why” you replied before swiping off the chat and going onto Coco's. inevitably you where present with a video and a chat

“Pease, please watch this it will be the best favor you ever do for me 🙏🏽”

your curiosity got the better of you, clicking on the video you immediately recognized the place.it was Angels front room. Gilly was chuckling lowkey behind the camera while coco was next to the door on a stool with a bucket in his hands while laughing. The camera panned down to show Gilly holding a bag of flour, now you could only assume that the bucket was full of water

surely this couldn't end good

within a few seconds the door opened and angel walked in, coco immediately reacted throwing the contents of the bucket on top of his head while Gilly threw the flour over him.

Angel immediately froze, his face going into a startled expression followed by on of anger. Shutting the door behind him he shook of the excess flour before locking the door.

Gilly and Coco where in hysterics as Angel turned towards Coco and lunged for him, coco had a quick reaction and ran towards the backdoor , only to find it locked

“fuck” he cursed looking for ways to escape, looking at the kitchen window he seemed to weight out his chances. by now Angels attention had gone towards Gilly who was still stood in the same place laughing. Angel lunged for him, tackling him to the ground while coco grab the phone from Gillys hand and made a run for the kitchen.

There was a lot of laughing from Gilly and shuffling in the background along with Angel cussing him out , then there was a bunch of laughing from them both of them but you could make out Angel saying “you think that shits funny huh?” “watch me key your bike” “ I'm gonna get you back so hard man

suddenly the phone was tossed out the kitchen window, shortly after you could see coco's head and body slowly emerging from the kitchen window. after a few seconds he finally managed to crawl out. picking up the phone he began to jog down the front yard

“ha bitchesss I'm freeeee!”he exclaimed “the one time being skinny pays off”

in the background you hear a door unlock followed by Angel shouting “run bitch cuz I'm fucking coming for you”

then the video cut off

you where sat on the sofa crying from laughing so hard you quickly saved the video and texted coco back

“that is the best thing I've seen in months😂”

just as you started to calm down you started to hear bishop laughing from outside the backdoor. almost imminently he walked threw the back door in hysterics

“did you-did you see-” he could barely talk in-between laughing

“did i see the video?”

“yeah”

“yes i saw it” you laughed

taking his phone he turned it towards you, it was a FaceTime from angel covered in flour, his beard was a littler of loose flour and a clumpy mess of flour and water. you couldn't help by laugh at his serious expression

“not funny y/n” he said clearly angry. in the background you could hear Coco and Gilly laughing

“you watched the video didn't you” it wasn't a question rather a statement

“yeah” you replied still laughing

“fuck sakeeee” suddenly he cut the call of cause both you and bishop to laugh even harder

~~~~~~~~

so yh this was men to be a fluff with bishop but i got distracted and it just kind of turned into the start of a prank war between Coco, Angle and Gilly.

#bishop losa #bishop losa imagine #ezekiel reyes #angel reyes #ez reyes #gilly lopez #coco cruz #johnny coco cruz

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lacharcutiere · 3 years

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still [sawamura daichi]

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part eight of i’m gone i’m gone i’m gone miniseries. you can only put these things off for so long.

JST: japanese standard time (GMT +9). EST: eastern standard time (GMT -5). EDT: eastern daylight time (GMT -4).

tings // fluff, a little bit of angst, kinda suggestive at the end ?? // i swear this søng is abøut eating øut my best friend's pussy - cøzybøy // dm, ask or comment to be added to taglist ! minors dni.

☾𓆙𓂻

— JAPAN, SUMMER 2024.

the summer passes like this: you and daichi laughing too loudly in busy restaurants and train cars; having arms around each other in the back of taxis on the way home from clubs; making instant udon at three a.m.; walking up and down the neighborhood a hundred times; laying silently side by side and not needing to say anything. it's a routine, it's familiar—it's home.

a couple weeks before you're set to head back to new york, daichi asks you a question as you lay next to him on a blanket in your driveway, staring up at the stars.

"have you decided what your plans are after college?"

"i'm gonna come back here."

"i thought you wanted to go to grad school? you can do way better in the states, especially with a degree from columbia."

you roll onto your side so you can look at him better. "i know. but i've been away too long already. i miss you."

he gives you a little smile. "but i'm right here."

"right here is pretty fucking far from america."

"hm."

that's the end of the conversation.

— 2 AUGUST 2024. 23:09 JST.

everything happens the exact same way it has for the past three years: he takes you to the airport. you try hard not to cry; you say your goodbyes. check-in, security, buy some candy to eat at the gate. board the plane. sixteen hours later, you're in america.

one thing was different, though.

when he said goodbye, his lips touched yours.

you don't stop thinking about it for weeks.

☾𓆙𓂻

— AUGUST TO NOVEMBER 2024.

slightly relieving is the fact that amid thesis writing and too many classes and working an internship under one of your professors (that one's nice, it even earns you enough to get a small apartment a few blocks from campus), there proves to be little time to be spent missing daichi.

you finesse your schedule to fit weekly facetimes on friday evenings (new york time) and shoot random texts back and forth about your day between classes and during meals, and without much space for anything else, it's enough. good things are worth waiting for, anyway.

— DECEMBER 2024.

but then winter sem break rolls around and there's no school so it's back to having too much lonely alone time with your thoughts. you write daichi a christmas card and drop it off at the post office. it's early this year, but oh, well.

☾𓆙𓂻

a week before christmas you receive a call from an unknown number. the phone speaker crackles when you accept the call.

“hello?”

“hey.” the voice on the other end is bright, smiley, accented. it’s tōru.

“tōru? what’s up?”

“i’m outside,” he says, “come down and meet me?”

you’re a little confused, but you decide to humor him. “uh, okay, give me a minute… do i need anything?”

“bring a coat, it’s cold out. i’ll be waiting down here.” the call ends.

a few minutes later you push through the doors of the building to be met with a brisk wind and tōru standing by a payphone, grinning.

“do you have your subway pass?”

you feel inside your pocket for it and nod.

“good,” he says. “come on, we’re in a hurry.”

“where are we going?”

“downtown.”

“ohhkay?”

he laughs. “‘s not anything you won’t like, promise.”

you follow him into the nearest subway entrance, lost in thought as you push through the barrier and step onto the train. it's only when he nudges you and says, "this is our stop," that you realize you've been looking at the ground the whole time.

tōru notices how absent you seem to be and asks, "are you okay?"

"i would be if i knew what was going on," you respond.

"yeah," he says, leading you up the stairs and into the terminal, "yeah, i think you will be."

you're in grand central. tōru asks if he can borrow your phone for a second. when he hands it back to you, he doesn't say anything, just takes you by the arm smiling widely and leads you into the fray of commuters that fill the station.

"tōru!" you groan, "can't you just tell me where we're going?"

"magnolia," he replies simply.

"we came all the way here just for coffee?"

"mhm."

"tōru!" he stops walking and turns back to you, trying and failing miserably to stop grinning for a second. "what the fuck?"

"come on," he says, "you'll like it."

"we've been here before! what's so special about—"

"you'll see."

☾𓆙𓂻

coffee in grand central is surprisingly good. it's also surprisingly expensive. ah, well, it's new york. new york has much more to offer than just overpriced cafés.

such as... this. such as a laughing man that leads a remarkably pissed-off looking girl by the arm, towards this stupidly good, stupidly overpriced café.

the pair are weaving through a stream of people, almost there, and then they're there, and the girl is looking much less agitated now. she looks somewhere between crying and wanting to run in the opposite direction. thank god, she chooses the former.

he loves you. so much.

☾𓆙𓂻

"daichi?" you mean it to be a scream but your voice cracks a little and it comes out airy.

he has the exact same look on his face that tōru's had this whole time. "hi."

"oh my god, what the fuck?"

"you said it was lonely, tōru told me maybe it would be nice for you to have a date for new year's, i had some extra money saved up. so i came."

"you— what?" you look back at tōru. "you planned this? just? last minute?"

"nah," daichi laughs, "no, i meant to come visit you for christmas a while ago. i already had tickets and everything, i was gonna tell you but then i got your card and figured it might be more fun if it were a surprise."

"oh my god." that's all you can think to say.

— CHRISTMAS 2024.

you can't even explain how good it feels to wake up and walk into the living room to find daichi asleep on your couch on christmas morning, how good it feels for it to not just be you. the whole time he's been here, though, you've forced yourself not to think about the fact that he's going back home in a week and a half, forced yourself not to do anything just yet. soon, though. just a few more months.

☾𓆙𓂻

when he wakes up, you're making coffee for the two of you.

"merry christmas," he says, wrapping one arm around your shoulders. he places a card on the counter in front of you. "open it."

its message is simple.

you do as it says.

"i, uh, haven't gotten you anything yet, but—"

"daichi," you laugh, "it's okay. and um, i may have also not been able to get you anything. also because i didn't know you'd be here."

"wait, wait, i'm not finished."

"okay?"

"what do you want to do after you're done this year of school?"

"i already told you," you say, "i'll move back home."

"no, what do you want to do? you want to go to grad school, right? continue studying here?"

"no, i just want to stop waiting." you sigh, a little frustrated. "i don't wanna have to keep putting this off, it's been—"

he cuts you off. "i'll be here."

"huh?"

"i'll be here. or wherever."

"i don't get it?"

you've always loved the way daichi's nose scrunches up when he smiles. "you're the one planning on studying more, not me. not immediately, anyway. i'll go with you."

"daichi."

"what?"

"you're fucking joking."

he laughs; you look so confused right now. "i'm not. promise."

"i don't even—"

"hey."

"hm?"

"think you can handle long-distance for five months?"

"uh—" you inhale sharply. "yeah."

"good," he says, "then we don't have to keep putting this off."

it's been five months since you last let your lips touch his. it still feels just like the first time it happened.

— 31 DECEMBER, 2023. 19:36 EST.

he tries not to let you pay for dinner, but in the end, you slip the waiter your card while daichi's in the bathroom. it's his birthday; it's your treat.

and after dinner, there's that new year's eve party that tōru's been going on about. it feels good, so good, not to be there alone. it feels good to watch the broadcast from downtown and count the seconds to midnight as daichi's arms are wrapped around you from behind. the clock reaches zero; daichi kisses you hard. you're both drunk on champagne.

you watch him smile across the room at tōru, who's got his girl on his arm. the two of them look happy, too. everything is warm.

— DEPARTURE: 3 JANUARY 2025. 08:15 EST.

daichi's asleep next to you when the alarm on his phone goes off. you'll miss not waking up next to him for the next five months, but at least that's all it will be.

he makes faces at you in the mirror as you both brush your teeth; keeps trying to tug your sweater off when you get dressed. you spend these thirty minutes laughing with him until it hurts. the two of you take the subway back to grand central; make out in a corner of the terminal while he waits for his train to jfk international to arrive.

"see you in may."

— 21 JANUARY 2025.

taglist: @sakruisin-thru @softetsurou @oligbia

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