#i hope We can become friends with them too...

[sadisticmagpie]

Danny stared at him and then starts giggling. "You know, you aren't the only one to have said this to me, but you are the first alive adult to do so." He massaged his eyes, "Thank you for that" The halfa looks up at Clark and smiles.

This time, this time there's something tangible in that smile, a silver of hope. Clark looks at the child and sees, sees that this child, while a hardened warrior, a hero, is still a teenager who died. "You're welcome, Danny." Clark smiles back. After a moment of hesitation, he adds. "...Can I hug you?"

Danny again stares at him, ducks his head and gives a timid nod. "Yes" Clark envelops him like a protective blanket. His hug is just as warm as Danny remembered, full of caring and gentleness. As if nothing will hurt him while the kind reporter hugs him. It makes him feel vulnerable, tired, but protected.

Clark feels the boy tremble a bit and his hearing picks up on choked sobs. "Come on, let it out. It's okay, it's alright. It's over. They wont hurt you again." He reassures the ghost boy, holding him as close as he can.

"...what will happen now?" The child asks.

"While you recover, you'll stay here in the Watchtower med-bay. Green Lantern got some ghost yetis to help you and other ghosts recover. You'll have to stay here for however long your doctors deem necessary." Danny interrupts and looks up at Clark "Is one of the Yetis names Frostbite?" He has to pause for a bit at that question. Scott said the leader of the ghostly doctors is called Frostbite. Did Danny know them? Could the reason as to why the yetis seem protective of Danny be that they do know him? Was he healed by them before? "Yes, the leader. Do you know him?" Clark asks.

"Yeah! He's really nice, helped me a lot before with fighting injuries." Danny confirms, smiling brightly at the mention of his friend / doctor.

So Danny had some kind of medical backup, that's reassuring... wait "Did you say fighting injuries?"

At that Danny looks at him proudly, but also a bit sheepishly. "Yeah, I am... was the only one to protect Amity for a while, before befriending a lot of the ghosts and fought them so they won't cause too much damage. And then the GIW..." He gets a distant look in his eyes. "They weren't much of a threat at the beginning, but they learned. Upgraded their weapons, tactics, bases. After a while it became hard to raid them and release the captured ghosts..."

After that confession, Clark had a realization. Danny was the main protector of Amity Park. How much did he have to fight? "You are their hero." There's no doubt about it, no questioning or second thoughts. "Yes. And I wouldn't change my decision any way, or at least after dying." Danny looks up at Clark again. "What about my sister, Jazz, or my friends, or parents? Will they be able to visit?" He asks in a curious and hopeful manner.

"They should be able to, though again, you'll have to clear that with the medical team. I don't think they'll allow visitors for the next several days. Also, it would be a bit hard, with us being in space."

"Thats... good. I don't want to worry them and it'll give us some time to calm down..." Danny admits, then gets a focused expression. "Wait, space? We're in space?" At that, Danny's eyes light up like miniature stars.

"We are, though please don't try to escape your bed to watch it, at least not for a few days. I don't want you to get more injured." Clark pleads, seeing the boys obvious fasciation.

"Okay, okay, i won't go out now. Though no promises next week!" Danny smirks tiredly, with every second becoming more aware of how tired he is.

Clark notices that, lays the boy on the bed and covers him with a blanket. "Now sleep, you'll need to regain as much energy as you can while you're recovering" He said while stroking the Halfas hair.

"Mmmmmm, a'right, just a bit..." And just like that, the boy passes out from exhaustion.

Clark tucks him in, making sure he's comfortable.

"Goodnight Danny"

Danny is gravely injured by the GIW, his voice box is severely damaged.

Making use of his own voice is impossible, but through some ghostly means Danny doesn’t quite understand, he can mimic others voices he hears just fine.

It’s a ghostly ability he found out he had a few years ago, with just a sentence or two heard he can do a flawless impression of that person. Now it’s not so flawless. The mimicked voice warps and fluctuates pitch, it’s crackly and he has a hard time not switching between multiple voices with every sentence he speaks.

His voice is reduced to an uncanny frankenstined attempt at speech that activates the average persons fight or flight response.

It’s no surprise that Superman is startled when he calls out for survivors while freeing the ghostly captives and a “not a deer” version of his own voice responds back.

[ao3cassandraic]

Flooding the zone

Like many in the US right now, I'm having trouble holding my shit together. It's a day-by-day, night-by-nightmare thing. I do not read mainstream news. I have what social media I have left (including this hellsite) filtered to hell and back, because it doesn't take much to send me into a spiral.

So if that's you too right now, I feel you, and I swear I'm not writing this post to make it worse.

I'm writing it to ask us to think about what we're saying and doing and how we're spending our energy.

I'm not a political scientist, but I read a few. I'm not a labor theorist, but I am a union member and officer. Our situation in the US rhymes with other situations, geographically and historically, and one thing that's crystal clear is there are ways to stop this shit and it takes numbers and actions and often time.

The numbers are maybe smaller than you think? That one surprised me. Active resistance from maybe 5% of the population has stopped coups cold.

The rub is, best I can tell, that it's hard to say exactly which actions are gonna turn the tide, never mind when -- this shit's complicated and contextual and frequently opportunistic (as with President Yoon's faceplant in South Korea) such that even hindsight gets a bit murky.

So it seems to me that what it makes sense to do is flood the zone, as they say in American football, and keep flooding it. And yeah, that's a Steve Bannonism too, but what our enemies lack in ethics and care they make up for in cold hard strategy, so why not steal it from them?

(Part of my thinking is George Lakoff, too. Smart dude. Decent one, too. Check him out.)

Flood the zone with truth. Flood the zone with defiance -- it's our country too! Flood the zone with hope.

And not just once, but many times, because we can never know in advance the one time that'll put us over the top. Also because like almost any serious endeavor, resistance takes practice. As we practice, we get habituated to the practice and we get stronger and better at the practice!

I can attest to this myself. I spent most of my adult life pretty lousy at civic engagement (never mind resistance), if I'm honest. I voted routinely, but that was about it. I started switching it up in 2011 (I'm a Sconnie and Scott Walker sure did happen), though -- protests, donations, working the polls, union membership and then service, contacting my legislators, more protests, campaign work, some other stuff.

And now a lot of the above list is plain old routine, for me? It's ordinary as weather. It's just part of how I live my life. I bet civic engagement, including in the form of resistance, can become that way for you, too.

I believe a fair few of us can step onto the same road I've been on if we redirect some of our existing efforts -- because doomscrolling is an effort, venting is an effort, doomsaying and amplifying doomsayers is an effort. Let me gently suggest:

Instead of doomscrolling or ruminating: meditation, spiritual or religious practice if you have one, exercise if it's available to you, reading books or fanfic, doing puzzles or brainteasers (I have developed such a Squaredle habit).

If you can't scratch the doomscroll itch unless you're looking at something political, try Mariame Kaba or Rebecca Solnit or even Ezra Klein. If the problem is the doomscroll finding you, filters and blocks and getting away from algorithm-personalized platforms can likely help, and that last is a good idea all by itself.

Instead of venting to social media or into the void: vent at elected officials! You don't have to start with phone calls, or do them at all (I rarely do) -- remember, we're flooding the zone, and the zone's pretty big. Email or Resistbot or postcards are totally fine. More fun in groups -- postcard with friends!

If you can, try to angle your conversational contributions online and off-, including what you reblog/retoot/boost, away from venting and toward action and hope. This doesn't have to be because you're actually feeling hope -- it absolutely can be (and for me often is) a conscious strategy to develop fellow travelers and discipline my own mind and hands.

Instead of doomsaying, express hope and love and solidarity. Again, you don't always have to feel it -- it's a conscious organizing strategy, get me? If it helps you feel more hope and more solidarity yourself, and it may (especially as others respond to it), that's a grateful bonus.

Or consider a swear-jar strategy. Catch yourself doomsaying? Make a donation or email a legislator or whatever -- just decide on a useful action you'll take when you slip up, and hold yourself to it. Every time.

It's not hard to find people who say that all the above is performative, it's not action, it's not effective, ka-blah-ka-blah-ka-blah. I say that we damned well don't know that and that lots of small efforts from lots of people is totally how zones get flooded.

I also say that everyone starts somewhere, and that the zone ain't gonna flood itself.

Redirect even a little effort to flood the zone with me, please? Thank you. And my love to you and to all of us in these times.

[03junkie]

prompt: despise, slap || @rosekillermicrofic || wc: 474 || song suggestion: like him by tyler the creator

He’d never stopped feeling the sting on his forearm. Even when he’d gotten the mark, it had hurt like a bitch, almost like a part of his soul had gone and tied itself to the ugly thing on his arm. Barty’d rarely felt regret about anything in his life, but the way he was feeling right now could be described as regret. He clutched a bottle of whiskey in his hand, more so for the weight of it than the buzz it gave him. He wasn’t sure what he would say to Evan. He was hoping that Evan would despise him for it, to shut Barty out of his life and never ever look back.

He’d called Evan to see him at 7. It was ten minutes past already. He knew Evan was always slightly late to anything, so he didn’t worry. Soon enough, the scuff of shoes climbing the stairs of the Tower increased in volume, and Barty hastily rolled his sleeve down. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down.

‘Bats? Christ, it’s fuckin’ cold. Oh, there you are.’ Evan smiled down at him. He looked like God with the sky painting his skin in a golden glow. Barty shifted to give the blond space to sit, which he did. ‘What’s the occasion?’ Evan nodded at the bottle in his hand.

‘Evan…’ Barty screwed his eyes shut. ‘Evan, I did something bad.’

‘You can never do anything bad.’

‘No, this time it’s serious. I got so wrapped up in trying to piss my father off that I…’ Barty’s throat felt constricted.

‘Barty, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?’ Barty looked at Evan. Taking in another deep breath, he slowly rolled his sleeve up to his elbow. He heard Evan’s sharp inhale.

‘Why?’ The word was a slap to his face.

‘I was scared, Ev. That I was becoming like him.’ Barty pressed his palms onto his eyes. He felt Evan’s fingers prying his hands away from his face. He looked at Evan, surprised to see no malice in his eyes.

‘You’re nothing like him. You won’t be like him. I’ll make sure of it.’ Barty felt like Evan was telling the truth. ‘But Barty, why did you do this?‘I don’t know.’ He said miserably. Tears had started to flow from his eyes.

‘Do you regret it?’

‘Yes, I think.’

‘Well, I won’t let you regret it alone.’

‘Evan, what are you trying to say?’ Evan smiled sadly.

‘I’ll get one too.’ Barty shook his head.

‘No! No, you can’t. What about�� what about our friends? Reggie, Cas, Pan? What will we say to them? You know they don’t agree with the war.’

‘They’ll understand.’

‘You can’t throw your life away for me. Because I made one bad decision.’

‘I can, and I will. I promised you, didn’t I? To the end.’

[jealousmartini]

"..like c'mon Taz. You know the world doesn't revolve around you"..."i think you'll find it does."

VICTORIOUS & ICARLY CROSSOVER ACTING DR

⌗ WHOSE THAT CHIC ꜝ

000 :: short summary — 18 year old Lucia laCruz born June 20th, 1992 in London, UK, finds herself living her dream career as a rookie actor, in Nickelodeon's Victorious in the year 2010 to 2013 not knowing she would play one of the most iconic side characters in the show "Tazzmin Martinez" along side Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine, Avan Jogia as Beck, Leon Thomas the 3rd as Andre, Elizabeth Gillies as Jade and Matt Bennett as Robbie. With Victoria Justice as the main character, Tori Vega.

Even after the American sitcom abruptly ended in 2013, this wouldn't be the last time she'd make an iconic appearance on a media as her acting, singing and dancing skills would keep people around the world hooked on her, waiting for more.

· · ───────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ──────── · ·

001 :: character name — Tazzmin Martinez

002 :: nicknames — Taz, Marti, Martini, Big T

003 :: age — 16/17

004 :: [Victorious] first appearance episode — "show, don't tell" season.1 ep.5

005 :: character personality — if orange, purple, pink and red were a person (w/ a hint of blue) ★ spontaneous ★ very much ambiverted ★ cunty ★ easily flustered ★ expressive ★ oblivious ★ kinda freaky

006 :: backstory — Tazzmin, originally supposed to be a small side character that would not have much appearance on the show, gets the one chance to expand as a main side character in Victorious and becomes the "Everything arts, fashion, music and Cinematography crazy" Taz Martinez, who travels from her home in the UK to LA to show off her many areas of talent and skills in hopes of introducing new and fresh ideas to America such as Kpop in her music numbers, completely oblivious to what strange and wacky scenarios she would be put in to interact with the main cast of characters against her own will.

· · ───────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ──────── · ·

007 :: character relationships

⌗ Professor Alcowitz (or wtv his name is) — "What a personality Tazzmin is! She's almost as bad as Tori's sister Trina!"

"I will admit though, she is a powerhouse who doesn't know how to hone her skills properly. She needs some proper guidance and by GOD I am not putting one of her friends to mentor her. I've seen the way she looks at them..."

"Every other week, I swear I have a new student, but no, it's just Tazzmin in a new wig"

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "oh. Thats probably the coconut juice speaking. ignore him" "??/10"

•

⌗ Tori — Cool acquaintances! "She's pretty... interesting..! I think she can be pretty unpredictable at times, which kinda scares me but overall she's a really cool girl!

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "I mean she's definitely there! There isn't much I have to say about her because we don't really hang out that much. Our personalities don't mingle as well as id like them to. Her sister is pretty cool though! Love Trina!!! "4/10"

•

⌗ Cat — Cat personality x Cat person "OMGG HAVE YOU SEEN THE WIGS SHE COMES IN WITH?? My personal favourite is her green one. I hope she'll lend me one of hers, one day.."

"She's so cool! And she knows a lot too. I can't count how many times I've gone to her for help on literally ANYTHING and she always helps me and some!"

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "Not to be dramamtic but i would die for her. Shes my babyy" "8/10"

•

# Jade — The unlikely duo/Yin and Yang! "Weird. Sassy. Very unfiltered. Kind of airheaded. But at least she can dress better than these losers"

"She's way more capable of things I didn't even know she could do. I underestimated her before but I've grown to respect her."

"I've seen the way she looks at Andre, Robbie, me and Beck and she thinks she's slick. Just know. I know what you are Taz..."

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "I dont know what shes talking about dont listen to her. Other than THAT.. Her loud and scary persona doesnt fool me. I can tame that beast." "8/10"

•

⌗ Robbie — Cunty babe x nerdy guy trope/ "Taz... kinda makes me nervous with how.. assertive and blunt she can be at times haha.. but tbh what girl doesn't make me nervous."

"It's honestly shocking how much stuff she carries in that one bag. I tried to carry it for her once and I felt my arm dislocate! She's got something for EVERYTHING in there!"

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "My god that loser is so FUCKING CUTEEE. I like to tease him a lot which his puppet Rex equally finds funny lmao. He can hit it." "9/10"

•

⌗ Andre — Wonder duo/My ride or die "Gotta love Taz! She's extremely talented, a bit of a busy body always doing multiple things at once, she's stylish, funny and just a whole vibe gotta be on the same level to get her"

"Were attached by the hip. I probably spend the most time with her, Robbie and Beck."

"She DEFINITELY has a thing for Robbie, Jade and Beck."

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "Im so glad i met Andre. Hes the one i go to for musical advice. And all of his songs slap." "8/10"

•

⌗ Beck — Partners in crime/My ride or die part.2 "Oh Taz! She's... something! That's not to say I don't get along with her, cus I do but yknow.. the things she says catches me off guard."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who clocks what outrageous things she says at times and it makes me feel like I'm going insane. I think she does it on purpose"

💌 ..1 message from Taz, "I do it on purpose. And smash." "9/10"

· · ───────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ──────── · ·

character iconic discography

⌗ list coming sooooooonnnn —

· · ───────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ──────── · ·

Known for

Acapella singing ★ music production ★ juicy couture ★ singing in different languages (introducing kpop, spanish and brazilian music) ★ leg warmers and fur boots ★ creative choreography ★ her timeless late 90s and early 2000s fashion sense ★ her outrageously thick 🇬🇧 accent ★ colourful wigs every other week ★ being "90s type fine" ★ alternative babe ★ randomly appearing in icarly episodes ★ macbook selfies ★ having extravagant acrylic nails ★ lip gloss ★ hubba bubba bubblegum

· · ───────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ──────── · ·

Yall put me in a room of baddies and really thought I wouldn't become the raging bi-con of Victorious?

Baddie tags : @theshifterbride @yemiyuui @hrrtshape @livingmydreamlife5555 @angelic-daiquiri

[see-arcane]

Welp. Been a minute. Overdue for an update.

So.

The Depressing Bit

Going to go ahead and rip off the band-aids quick.

First off, I passed my one-year laidoffiversary a couple weeks back. Still no new job despite applying every day of the week for the past year. A lot of dead-end interviews. Three times as many scams and I don’t dare guess how many entirely false job openings posted by companies who were never hiring in the first place, but wanted the positions out in the open to scare their actual employees with the threat of being easily replaced and to look good to investors with the illusion of growth. So there’s that.

Then, while doing my taxes, I came to a fun little revelation.

You know my novella The Vampyres, ala eBook and paperback? Had its birthday last year, March 15th. As I plugged in my earnings from that book from Draft 2 Digital’s doc, I discovered I'd made a grand total of $278 from it over the course of 2024. Cool.

I paid $275 to purchase the ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) for the eBook and paperback respectively, and a barcode. Which would mean that I made approximately $3 in profit from The Vampyres after a year.

Except I also spent $25 on a ‘change token’ with Draft 2 Digital because I had to make an alteration to the book's interior.

Meaning I spent $300 total on self-publishing this book. And have so far made back $275 of it.

…

Still glad I did it. Still glad a few folks might someday come across it and enjoy the read. But it’s…yeah. Kind of a glum revelation with March 2025 coming up.

Still job hunting. Still writing. Still hoping and going.

Anyway.

New Stuff

Ko-Fi

Added a couple new options in with the doodles and fancier art bits if you want to take a gander.

Substack (For Now)

While I’ve been posting my chapter updates on my Substack for a bit, and my stuff is still going up there for the foreseeable future, I’m going to start shopping around for an alternative platform. Not a big fan of how Substack is apparently buddying up to Elongated Muskrat and his specific idea of ‘freedom of speech.’ The main things I’m looking for is a lack of price tag and easy usability. I’ll let everyone know if/when I make the switch to something better.

StoryGraph

The Vampyres is on StoryGraph (and so am I). I’d appreciate you leaving any reviews on there rather than Goodreads, the latter being one of Amazon’s Bezos Babies. Really, nice reviews anyplace where books are picked up will help, but do consider a hop to StoryGraph in particular.

Merchandise

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is finally setting up shop with a little merch. I want to make stationery and possibly some novelty mugs* as things to start with. I’m browsing around for a good manufacturer and shipping combo option while trying to 100% avoid Shopify or affiliated sites. Not real keen on them being fine with selling Nazi and MAGA merch. (Frankly not keen on how dodging Nazi infiltration has become a rote part of trying to ~Sell Myself~, but here we are.)

I’ll post prospective product pics once I have something solid. Cross your fingers for me.

*The mugs are mostly for me as I have a devastating addiction to charming drinkware. But I guess you guys can have some too.

???

I don’t really have anything salient to put here. I’m mostly just grateful to all my friends out there in the Internet abyss for sticking around and making all this feel a little less lonely. Thank you.

[loveamongdragons]

Hey!! Im sorry, this is a really weird question and you really don't have to answer but I love your atla posts sm and they really make me think. Love your fics too. Here's the thing... I actually just know atla via fandom osmosis so I have no clue what you're talking about in this post:

https://www.tumblr.com/loveamongdragons/774408895286460416/hey-can-we-talk-about-this-as-apposed-to-this?source=share

Could you please elaborate? Thank you! I hope you're doing well, take care and stay hydrated! <3

Hey there! So happy you like my stuff ^^ it's not weird to ask at all, welcome aboard.

So, I concede that I might be grasping at straws here, but at the same time: the thought had randomly occurred to me and then dug its claws into my brain with no warning whatsoever.

My point is that the scenes at hand are quite similar: one person shoots an arch/circle of fire, and Katara is on the receiving end. Her reactions though differ significantly.

I find it intriguing, shall we say, that she shows zero fear when Zuko, "the face of the enemy", the guy that had spent the entirety of the show up until then hunting them, casts the fire in anger, but is petrified when Aang, her friend and love interest, casts fire in his chipper way. Like, isn't that curious?

In that same vein, it is curious how Zuko is the only person whom she ever shows the depth of her anger. You'd think that hurling all sorts of accusations at a person who you perceive to be your enemy, and whom you perhaps even believe to be evil at heart, might scare you a little bit? Or maybe you'd at least expect to deal with retaliation or something. Instead, Katara is perfectly comfortable with her anger around Zuko, up to the point where she turns her back on him in the Crystal Catacombs and starts to cry. With Aang though, she is consistently walking on eggshells and trying to stay amiable and motherly.

At the same time, she seems to be perfectly fine with Zuko's anger, too. For heavens' sake, she looks concerned and confused, and not scared in the slightest when Zuko shoots fire at them in the second gif. In regards to Aang, we get this line from Katara though: "I'm not saying the Avatar State doesn't have incredible and helpful power … but you have to understand … for the people who love you, watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary."

Yeah, so it's as if Aang's bottled up feelings of pain and rage have always been more scary than Zuko's explicit pain and rage. And it's just curious how in those two scenes Katara has less trust in Aang's ability to control himself than when she encounters a pretty emotionally distraught Zuko - who both do the same damn thing, with VERY different consequences, of course.

Now, you could say: hey, it's just because Zuko was a proficient firebender, and Aang wasn't, and Katara thus knew she couldn't rely on Aang's abilities, but she could rely on Zuko's (and... girl... the way this alone sounds!). Which, I fully accept that this might be the case. But it still wouldn't take away from the fact that it's curious as hell that Katara did not show any sort of fear in that scene with Zuko, and the argument becomes interesting again when you imply that she even at this point had enough trust in Zuko that she didn't even perceive him as a threat.

I must say: I adore this scene! I love this encounter between Zuko and Katara because I think it's the first real emotional exchange they have. Katara offers to heal Iroh! She is concerned! He pushes her the fuck away. (Mirrors their later encounter beneath Ba Sing Se, too). Did Zuko spend the next days thinking about her offer? Did he wonder in secret late at night if he should have accepted? Did he find himself feeling cozy, warm, sad feelings towards her, and then pushing them away? Did he think about it when he met her again in the Catacombs, and then later at the Gaang's camp? Did she?

[cocainesuperstarblog]

okay, so... i am sure this has been discussed at length here and i am late as fuck to add to it, but i also don't really care because I joined this fandom two months ago and the brain rot is not going anywhere soon.

~~~

about emmrich's romance - do we think he fell for rook at first sight? or did it gradually build when spending time together? what is the head canon for your playthrough(s) romancing him?

because, honestly, i can see both.

it's just the way he looks at rook right after they have introduced themselves, the way he asks them where they are from and to tell him of their journey's. and honestly? he does strike me as a man who would love those 'love-at-first-sight-stories', probably wished to experience something like this himself when he was younger. his mind considers the rarity of it happening, especially while time flies by, alas the hope never really leaves his heart. emmrich is a man of big feelings, we all know that, so simple crushes would probably go hard, too.

but then again...

emmrich is old-ish. he is a man of experience, with no small number of relationships that were both serious and casual, dalliances, and just a bit of fun. he's seen a lot over the years. would he still be able to be swept off of his feet that easily? rook flirts with him, and the attention is nice, so he flirts back. it's nothing serious until he realises that it is becoming something serious when they help him in the memorial gardens the first time. it is becoming something serious when they chase after the unknown necromancer and they comfort him after it is revealed it has been an old friend of his. it is becoming serious when they show interest in him beyond fancy words and dashing looks and do not mind his necromancy even if it frightens them.

i don't know, i just had to get this off of my chest... i just love my old necromancer so much, and i can not decide which route to go for with my own rook.

what do you think fits him best? love at first sight or gradually building with time or something else entirely? i would love to hear about it!

[cheollollipop]

Fragments of Us - a perfect day. (misc.)

pairing: choi seungcheol x f. reader genre: angst, fluff, smut (minors fuck off, in the nicest way possible) warning(s): fluff. just fluff. summary: two years after a messy breakup, seungcheol and yn reconnect unexpectedly. word count: 1.4k start date: nov. 20, 2024 end date: -

A/N: more random thoughts. this takes place during the beginning stages of cheol's and yn's relationship. just a little insight on how their friendship was. more jeonghan and yn teasing moments. i really want to touch on their friendship a bit more so you all can understand why he seems to be hurt the most (aside from jihoon of course).

The sun was warm against my skin, and the breeze was just enough to keep the heat from becoming overwhelming. It was one of those rare, perfect days—the kind that made everything feel lighter and easier. The park stretched wide before us, with lush green grass dotted with wildflowers—the sound of kids playing and birds chirping blended into an easy, peaceful atmosphere.

I sat on the picnic blanket next to Seungcheol, our shoulders brushing occasionally. It wasn't much, just a simple touch, but it sent little jolts of awareness through me each time. We weren't exactly official yet, but something was happening between us, something new and exciting. I could feel it in how he looked at me and leaned just a little closer when I spoke.

"Alright, who's in charge of snacks?" Jeonghan asked, stretching his arms over his head lazily.

"I brought chips, but someone—" Jihoon shot a look at Dokyeom, who was currently chewing with a guilty expression, "—decided to open them early."

Dokyeom swallowed quickly, a sheepish grin spreading across his face. "Listen, they were calling my name. You can't just bring chips and expect me to wait."

Jeonghan scoffed. "Typical. What about drinks?"

"I brought some," I said, reaching for the small cooler beside me. Seungcheol beat me to it, grabbing a water bottle and handing it to me first before passing others around. It was such a small gesture, but it made my heart skip a beat.

"Thanks," I murmured, glancing at him.

His lips curved into a soft smile. "Anytime."

Jeonghan, who had been watching us with sharp eyes, let out a dramatic sigh. "Ah, young love. So sweet. So innocent."

I felt my face heat up. "Oh my God, shut up."

Seungcheol just laughed, shaking his head. "Jeonghan, don't start."

Jihoon, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly leaned back on his hands and stared at the sky. His expression was thoughtful, and his usual sharp eyes were a little softer. "You guys ever think about where we'll all be in ten or twenty years?"

The group fell silent for a moment. It wasn't often that Jihoon got like this, so when he did, we listened.

Dokyeom was the first to speak. "Hopefully, we're still stealing each other's snacks."

Jeonghan chuckled. "And annoying each other to death."

Jihoon smiled, but there was something deeper in his gaze. "No, but really. I hope we're still like this. Still friends. No matter what happens, no matter how busy life gets."

Something about his words hit me harder than I expected. I looked around at them—Jeonghan with his effortless charm, Dokyeom with his bright energy, Jihoon with his quiet depth, and Seungcheol, steady and warm beside me. These were my people. My safe place.

"I hope so, too," I said softly. "I don't want to imagine a life without you guys in it."

Seungcheol reached over, his fingers brushing against mine for a moment before he laced them together. It was the first time he'd held my hand like this in front of our friends, and I knew without looking that he was watching my reaction. My heart pounded, but I didn't pull away. Instead, I squeezed his hand gently.

"We won't let that happen," Seungcheol said firmly. "No matter where we end up, no matter what changes, we'll always have each other."

Jihoon nodded, his expression determined. "Promise?"

Jeonghan held out his pinky. "Pinky promise."

Laughing, we all linked pinkies, sealing the unspoken vow between us. It was a silly gesture, maybe, but in that moment, it meant everything.

Eventually, the sun had almost disappeared beyond the horizon, casting long shadows over the park. The warm twilight glow wrapped around us, painting the sky in soft purples and oranges. The day had been perfect—full of laughter, teasing, and quiet moments that reminded me how much I loved being with these people.

But something in the air shifted. I felt it before I even turned to look at Seungcheol.

He was sitting beside me, his posture more confident than before, his fingers lightly drumming against his knee like he was gathering his thoughts. But when I met his gaze, there was no hesitation—only certainty.

He exhaled once, steady and calm. Then, with the same confidence that made him the natural leader of our group, he spoke.

"YN."

The way he said my name sent a quiet thrill through me.

I turned toward him fully. "Yeah?"

He didn't look away. If anything, he leaned in just slightly as if making sure I could feel the weight of what he was about to say.

"I've asked you this before," he began, his voice even but laced with something deeper, "but it never felt like the right moment. I always felt like we needed more time or that I needed to wait until I was sure." His thumb grazed my hand, a touch so soft I almost didn't notice it. "But today, sitting here with you, with them—" he gestured toward the others, who were pretending not to eavesdrop "—I realized I don't want to wait anymore."

My heart pounded as he shifted, turning to face me completely. His dark eyes were warm and unwavering.

"I like you. More than just in the way I've been acting. More than just as a friend. And I don't want to keep skirting around it." He reached for my hand, lacing our fingers together like it was the most natural thing in the world. "So, YN, will you be my girlfriend? For real this time?"

It wasn't a question laced with doubt. It wasn't nervous or hesitant. It was a statement—a choice he had already made.

And the best part? I didn't have to think about my answer.

A slow smile spread across my face, my chest feeling light and warm all at once. "Yes. Of course, I will."

Seungcheol's lips curved into a full grin, the kind that made his dimples appear. Without missing a beat, he tugged me closer, wrapping his arms around me in a strong, secure embrace. I hugged him as tightly, letting myself get lost in the moment.

And then—

"FINALLY!" Jeonghan's voice rang out, full of exasperation.

We pulled apart just in time to see him dramatically flop onto the picnic blanket. "Do you guys know how painful it was watching you two dance around each other?"

Dokyeom clutched his chest. "I almost lost faith in love, waiting for this to happen."

Jihoon smirked. "Speak for yourself. I always knew it'd happen—just a matter of when."

I groaned, covering my face. "You all knew?"

Jeonghan snorted. "YN, please. A blind man could see it."

Seungcheol rolled his eyes but didn't let go of my hand. "Alright, alright. That's enough."

Jeonghan smirked. "Oh, it's never enough."

Seungcheol groaned, “You guys are the worst," he muttered, but his voice had no real annoyance—just amusement.

Jeonghan leaned back on his hands, grinning. "I mean, we did have a bet going."

I blinked. "A bet?"

Dokyeom nodded eagerly. "Yep! I said Seungcheol would confess first, but Jihoon thought you would!"

I turned to Jihoon. "You bet against me?"

Jihoon shrugged. "I thought you'd get impatient waiting for him."

Seungcheol scoffed. "Wow. So much faith in me."

Dokyeom nodded eagerly. "Yeah! We need to set ground rules. Like, no excessive PDA around us lonely people."

"Speak for yourself," Jeonghan muttered. "I think it's adorable. Just, you know, not in front of me."

I laughed, feeling my cheeks warm. Seungcheol just squeezed my hand, glancing at me with a smile that sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

Jeonghan, ever the mood-breaker, smirked. “Alright, since we’re making promises and getting all sentimental, should we make it official?”

Dokyeom’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Like a blood pact?”

Jihoon groaned. “Why is that your first thought?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “We are not doing a blood pact, Dokyeom.”

Seungcheol, still holding my hand, gave it a light squeeze before letting go to stretch. “Let’s do something more fun. Like… a game.”

Jeonghan’s grin turned mischievous. “I like where this is going. Truth or dare?”

Jihoon immediately protested. “Absolutely not.”

“Jihoon,” Jeonghan sighed dramatically, “this is why you have no fun.”

“I am the reason I have no fun?” Jihoon shot back. “I have plenty of fun—just not with games that involve embarrassing myself.”

Dokyeom patted Jihoon’s back. “We’ll go easy on you. Maybe.”

I laughed. “Okay, okay, let’s do something safe. How about… ‘Most Likely To’?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. It was a simple game—someone would say a scenario, and we’d all vote on who was most likely to do it.

Jeonghan smirked. “I’ll go first. Who’s most likely to accidentally marry a stranger in Vegas?”

Before anyone could speak, everyone pointed at Dokyeom.

“HEY!” Dokyeom pouted. “Why me?!”

Seungcheol chuckled. “You literally almost signed a contract once without reading it because the guy seemed nice.”

Jihoon snorted. “We had to physically stop you from agreeing to a ‘lifetime subscription’ for free samples.”

Dokyeom huffed. “Okay, fair, but still. I’d like to think I’d know if I was getting married.”

“Would you, though?” I teased.

He muttered something under his breath about betrayal, making everyone laugh.

Seungcheol sat up a little, looking at me. “Your turn.”

I pretended to think for a moment before smirking. “Who’s most likely to cry at a rom-com and pretend they didn’t?”

Jihoon immediately pointed at Seungcheol.

Seungcheol’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?!”

“Don’t ‘excuse me’ me,” Jihoon said, crossing his arms. “I saw you wipe your eyes during that one movie.”

“It was dusty!” Seungcheol defended.

Jeonghan grinned. “Right, because the movie theater was so full of dust right when the main character confessed their love.”

Seungcheol groaned, running a hand through his hair. “You guys are the worst.”

I nudged him with my shoulder, teasing. “It’s okay, Cheol. I think it’s sweet.”

He glanced at me, something softer in his gaze. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He held my gaze for a moment before nodding. “Fine. I may have teared up a little. But only because the soundtrack was really well done.”

We all burst into laughter, and the game continued, each question bringing more teasing, more memories, more laughter.

The teasing continued, but I barely heard it. Because right now, with Seungcheol beside me, his fingers still intertwined with mine, and our friends surrounding us, everything felt exactly as it should be.

Perfect.

[afrsconp]

Sorry Ghosts fam, I need to interrupt the usual content for a second and get these thoughts out about a different fandom.

So I binged all of Mythic Quest really fast, then read a bunch of braddavid fic (A+ stuff btw) and meta, and I'm surprised that, of the two of them, Brad is the one that gets the most character analysis. Because to me, it's David who's much, much harder to get a read on.

I mean yeah, we get almost nothing of Brad's personal life, but the tiny glimpses of his backstory that we do get make it pretty clear that his very traumatic childhood led him to create this asshole persona to protect himself. Like it all seems pretty linear: his natural instinct to be kind and care deeply about people/things led to the trauma of what happened to Kate, so he ended up equating kindness with weakness and taught himself to ignore those instincts and go the opposite direction instead. To not caring about anything other than money and power, because that's how he could build and retain power (and by extension, protection) for himself.

But David? It's a lot harder to figure out. He's so openly clingy and needy and tries way too hard; he's the butt of everyone's jokes. But because he's used for comedy most of the time, it's easier to not notice that when he is being serious, it's revealing trauma that's on par with Brad's. Like that scene when he went up to the rooftop and it's implied that he was considering jumping off the building, and David Hornsby does some amazingly subtle work there because when Jo asks him why he came to the roof, for a second or two you see the most terrible, heartbreaking look in his eyes before the scene switches to comedy again.

And it happens over and over again. The way he was so upset when Ian and Poppy took over the Christmas party, all the hints about his shitty childhood and his ex-wife not treating him well, his extreme loneliness, how much he drinks, taking Xanax, having trouble sleeping. Like the guy is not well, you know?

So the ship is so interesting to me because both of them go to extremes to hide the same truths about themselves (not wanting to get hurt) but they do it in completely opposite ways. Brad went the uncaring asshole route, and David went the oversharing, overly desperate route. It's all just surface level though, and whenever they get rejected they can just blame it on those surface level things instead of deeper insecurities (I'm worthless, I'm fat, I'm a waste of space, I'm old). But like, I get the feeling that Brad almost convinced himself that he really is the uncaring asshole he spends so much time pretending to be, whereas David is a little more aware of the fact that he's lying to himself. Idk.

And then there's the stuff we're getting in the current season, where their character arcs weirdly mirror each other. They started off as opposites - Brad prioritising money/himself and David prioritising other people/relationships - and now they're starting to meet in the middle.

That's why it seemed like such a huge deal to me that Brad actually acknowledged, out loud and to another person, that he's capable of changing due to meeting the right people. Anna tells him that that statement left him exposed, and it really did - and I think part of Brad's arc this season will be realising that being exposed like that isn't necessarily a weakness.

And David's whole breastplate thing, facing his fears, putting himself out there, and coming to terms with certain truths about himself... I keep thinking about the way he shut down Ian's bullshit about the movie so quickly. We've seen him be incredibly effective when he doesn't panic, and I hope we get a little more of that.

I don't think braddavid will ever become canon, but I do hope the show lets them be friends. Because I really do think that they have the potential to understand each other in a way none of the other characters ever could.

[maleyanderecafe]

Pearl (Visual Novel)

Created by: RootFU

Genre: Romance

Although this one is a demo, I am a sucker for yandere type monsters and the artwork in this is gorgeous. It's pretty simple though, with the idea of going out with friends on a bit of an ocean adventure after having some nightmares before a storm comes in.

The story starts out with Pearl having a nightmare, someone dragging them into the ocean. They wake up with a start, remarking how their nightmares have been difficult for them. They drive to the ocean to meet up with their friends, who have planned an event for them to help them feel better about their nightmares. Once arriving at the beach, they meet with one of their friends, Katherine, who has been waiting for them. Their other friend, Derek has gone to get drinks and probably flirt with another girl and is likely to fail spectacularly. When he does come back, Katherine reveals that they are actually going to sail to Kruelto island, unlike their original plan of just hanging out on the beach. However, as they sail out, the weather starts to get bad, raining and storming and they get stuck in a middle of a cyclone. Pearl bumps their head and wakes up to a merman trying to take care of them. If they freak out and attack them, he will get angry for them calling him a monster and snakes will come out to attack and kill them. If not, Pearl will freak out, and the merman will calm them down, with Pearl possibly complimenting him and making him blush. After some conversation, Pearl realizes that Derek and Katherine are missing and goes to look them, however, when he does find them, the merman is nowhere to be seen.

The next day, the storm seems to have kicked in, and after taking a nice sleep, goes to take a shower. However, upon turning on the faucet, they see a strange goo coming out of the tap. The goo reforms into the merman, who explains his situation of how lonely he felt and asks Pearl to come back to Kruelto with him to be together with him, basically telling Pearl that they can become a merperson like him. Pearl tries to back off, but the merperson grabs onto their legs. When Pearl asks why, the merman explains that they were the only person that didn't turn their back on him. Regardless of if you choose to go back or to stay, the demo will end.

So as I said before, the demo is relatively short, but the artwork is very pretty, especially the artwork of the mermaid and his CGs. There's a great mystery to what's going on with Pearl and the dreams, which likely seem to be caused by the merman himself, or at least somewhat related to them. However, it does seem like the merman has never met Pearl before prior to their initial encounter, so I'm not sure how true this might be. The merman, who you can name, also seems to be pretty touchy about whether or not he's seen as a human or not, especially since he sends out snakes to attack Pearl if Pearl attacks him first. I'm not sure if these are actually a part of him, or if they're more akin to familiars, but it does make me wonder where they came from. Perhaps its a power that he will use if Pearl refuses to go with him back to the island. Either way, I hope it's something that we'll be able to see soon after. The other thing I thought was pretty cool was the idea of the merman being able to basically turn into goo and come in through the faucet, though that does lead to a bunch of other questions, like how did he know where Pearl's house was, what happens when he loses too much of his goo, and generally how does he rearrange himself afterwards. Unfortunately, as with a lot of demos, we know very little about why the merman specifically is into Pearl, other than they were the first human that he had seen in such a long time that treated them kindly. Does make me wonder what other poor humans woke up confused to find a giant merman with three eyes staring at them.

Overall, interesting concept and pretty art. I really hope that this game has more going on later down the line because the idea of yandere monsters is very fun and very lacking currently.

[sophiamagia]

Not So Friendly Competition

A Damian Wayne x SpiderWoman Reader

Author's note: Hey! This is a request by a very respectful user with great prompt ideas. I ran to google docs when I saw their request. If @bisexualbitchsgotass wants to keep requesting, they’re always welcome <3 Anyways, have a great night and I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think of the 2nd POV? Also, sorry it’s so long I locked in 😓🙏

Warnings: dominance switch, competitive kink, p in v, light degrading, porn with plot, 

Synopsis: SpiderWoman and Robin were famously always head to head. You enjoyed reading about yourself in newspapers, watching your wins on television. Figuring out a case before he did, and getting to arrest a villian just minutes before he even arrived. The tension presented was thrilling for the both of you. Or…maybe he was feeling a different kind of tension. 

NSFW Content ~ NSFW content ~ NSFW content ~ NSFW content ~ NSFW content ~ NSFW content ~ NSF 

            You panted, shooting another web from your wrist and flexing your muscles to keep swinging from building to building. Your free hand tugged on your mask, making sure the skintight material was properly placed on your head. It was almost midnight, and you could barely see through the thick fog that lay over Gotham City. You left the comfort of your bed within seconds as you received a tip of a nearby crime. By nearby, you mean a few miles out. 

More well known Vigilantes like Robin or Batman weren’t always concerned with the common jewelry store robbery, but you knew better. This had become a game, one which you were beginning to master. You spent your time in school calculating his next move, planning your next play. You were a rather smart person, if not academically. Figuring out any crime before he did was a concept you’d like framed in his own manor, in Bruce Wayne’s office, if you could put it there. Not to mention,

It was hot when he lost, because losing made him feel inferior. Feeling inferior made him frustrated. A very good kind of frustrated.

You lightly land on the ground, the agile DNA of a spider assisting in your stealth. Slowly, you scale the brick wall of the shop, slipping into a window of the second floor. You’ve seemed to have found yourself in the security room. Convenient. The security guard wasn’t in the room. Assuming the worker was on break, or perhaps going to the bathroom, you lock the nearest door and take a seat in front of the screens. No activity yet…just a bored teen at the front desk, on her phone. Been there, right?

A moment passes, and you eventually pull out your phone as well, your attention span far too short to watch a screen that wasn’t the entertaining light of your device. You scroll through a group chat, reading up on the texts you missed. Mostly your friends sharing pictures of their cats. You save a few, and exit the chat. You then click on a certain contact with a heart next to it, reading the last few messages.

Almost done with class, Habibi? I can have someone pick you up early if you’d like.

I’m fine Dami. I plan on stopping by at a grocery store for a snack before I go home anyways. See you later?

Yes, see you. I love you.

Love you too <3

Your heart swells at the messages, a smile unknowingly creeping onto your face. He was so cute, thinking you had given up on beating him to a crime ever since he caught a huge mafia leader a week ago. You would beat him. You would catch as many bad guys as you needed to in order to prove you were a better hero. 

CRASH

You jump in your seat, quickly pocketing your phone and looking at the security cameras. Three robbers, all wearing masks and carrying pretty good quality guns. You stand up, watching them put a glock to the teen’s head, forcing her to comply as the other two men start shoving everything they could see into a bag. Without wasting too much time, you run down, interrupting the fight. You’ve been SpiderWoman for about four years now, you’ve got it in the bag.

“Are we shopping? Because, girls, there are enough cute rings for us all,” you chuckle, shooting a web to the man holding the glock, quickly taking the weapon into your own hands. The two men clearly recognize you, and try to make a run for it. You shoot two webs to each of their backs, yanking the men to the ground, and causing them to drop anything they tried to take. One man hits his head on a table and appears knocked out. The first man runs full force, getting a good punch to your side. With annoyance, you use your webs to quickly pin him against the wall. Before the last man could do anything to get back up or fight back, you handcuffed him to the table leg. With a sigh, you checked the time, your other hand rubbing your rib, where the jerk hit you.

1:09 AM

Son of a bitch, the grocery stores are closed by now. Where the hell will you buy your recovery snacks from now? A small voice breaks you from your thoughts of ramen and candy.

“Uhm…do I like…call the police now?” The teen from earlier asked. You tilted your head back at her.

“Girl, did you not press the panic button when they came in?” 

“Uh…no. I didn’t.” The girl responds with a small shrug, chewing some gum with her mouth wide open, at least that's what it sounded like. With a sigh, you reach behind her desk and press the big red button, allowing the loud sirens to turn on, lights flashing as you speak again.

“Just make sure to tell the police it was me,” You were going to get your credit for this. That’s one more point for you. What was Damian doing right now? He is probably exercising, maybe even in bed, getting his beauty sleep. But he sure wasn’t capturing criminals like you were.

…

You collapsed into your bed, turning on the small heater of your apartment. You took a short shower and were now ready for some self-care time. Silk pillowcases comfort your hair as you lay back, snuggled in blankets. Headphones come on, and Instagram reels are comfortably positioned in front of your face. Fighting crime, silently beating Damian, followed by a comfy doom scroll to end the adventure. Perfect Friday night.

An hour passes, and you begin to feel drowsy. Taking off your headphones, and plugging in your phone, it was time for a comfy sleep. 

You hear light tapping, followed by your spider sense telling you something is wrong. Goosebumps appear on your body quickly, as well as a bad tensing feeling. Was someone in your house? Were you about to fight someone in a sports bra and sweatpants? You immediately grab your phone, trying to text Damian, until you see an unopened message.

Let me in, Habibi.

Calmness, as well as annoyance, fills your very soul. No need to fight off evil in sweats tonight. You get out of bed to go to the front door, only to be startled by a figure in your literal window. Still in full Robin-attire, Damian looked through the glass. The window was unlocked, but he politely waited for you to let him inside. You crack open the door with a nod, laying back on your bed. His deep voice greets yours as he slips through your window, already taking off his gear.

“A petty jewelry store robbery? You’re ridiculous,” You felt a huge smile start to cross your lips. He took off his mask, gorgeous green eyes meeting yours, a contrast to his tan skin. With an innocent voice, you respond.

“I was simply passing by and I saw it go down. Just…Helping the community,” You chuckled, making a spot on the bed for him. Damian didn’t seem amused and ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. He leaned over the bed, speaking slowly.

“That jewelry store isn’t even in this development, and it’s pretty damn far from school. You went right home after classes, so I know you didn’t happen to stop by. That’s cheating. You’re only allowed to stop what you know about or happen to see. You can’t go out of your way to desperately try and beat me…” His voice was low, and full of irritation. Faces inches away, you confidently answered.

“It’s not cheating. Maybe you should try harder…otherwise you wouldn’t be two points behind…” You whispered, a small smirk gracing your lips at the way he glared at your response. 

He shoved you back on the bed.

“Do you think you’re cute? It’s not funny, the way you desperately try to beat me…” He uttered, easily moving over you, trapping you in. He was frustrated, that much was easy to tell. You lifted your leg between him, checking for a bulge, which you easily found. He let out a huff when he felt your knee pressing into his crotch, “I should be patrolling right now, Habibi…”

“I think Batman has got it handled tonight, hm?” You reach up, pressing a small button on his earpiece to turn it off. He was likely patrolling with Batman or Nightwing, and the earpiece was their way of communication. He wouldn’t be wearing it if he was alone tonight. You spoke again, mischief in your tone, “Maybe that’s your excuse…”

“Excuse for what?” he snapped, his tone coming on harsher than expected. The stress of a teasing girlfriend and life as a rich-kid-vigilante was real. You knew he wasn’t really upset with you, especially if we’re going off the tent in his pants that your knee still pressed against. Leaning up, your lips attached to his neck, slowly and gently kissing down his tan skin. You were met with a loud sigh, his neck immediately dropping forward into your shoulder. His arms wrapped around your waist, both of you rolling to the side. You hummed in happiness, placing more sweet kisses along the neck and up to his jaw.

“You’re almost ten points behind me…” He suddenly whispered, his low voice tingling in your ear. You slowly pulled back, looking unamused.

“I stopped a robbery like, an hour ago,” You corrected, and a devilish grin spread across his face.

“I stopped a bank robbery and helped a woman cross the street on my way here, but maybe you should…try harder,” He whispered, and you rolled your eyes. Seriously? A whole ass bank robbery? Helping an old lady cross the street was just to rub it in, too. You sat up slightly, your irritation now growing.

“You’re a real bitch when you want to win. If anyone’s desperate here, it’s you.” You snapped, glaring at him. He grabbed your hips, pulling you onto his lap where he was still lying down.

“Come on, baby. Just admit it,” He uttered lowly, his hands sliding up and under your top. That stupid smirk still hadn’t left his face.

              “Admit what? That you’re better than me or something?”

              “No, admit that you’re into it.”

              “What?”

              “Admit it, Habibi. It turns you on watching me compete with you. You like it when I flip you over and take you the way I want because you’ve beaten me again. Admit you’re a slut,” he whispered the last sentence directly in your ear, and any comebacks you had before quickly drained out.  

               Your lips were slightly parted in surprise. Did you like it when he did that? Was it more arousing when he was rougher and angry with you? Was it a slutty thing that you loved when he was rough?

               Maybe.

               “Now, will you be a good girl and admit you’re my slut? That you like when I fuck you?” He asked slowly, one hand sliding down to rub your clit through your clothes.

               Now, most people would likely give in and just let him do what he wanted so that both of you could be pleased as soon as possible. But arrogance is a core element of who you are, so of course you shook your head no.

               However, a strong stroke of his fingers made your dignity waver. 

               “Give me what I want, Habibi…” he uttered, not bothering to give more than lazy strokes of his middle finger. His gaze was unamused, yet animalistic. He was waiting for you to give in, to let him strip you naked so he could indulge in his beautiful fantasies. He spoke again, “do you want me to make love to you?”

                 Make love? 

                 “Yes…I do,” you gave in. Come on, he said make love. That was hot and romantic…

                 “Yes what, Habibi?”

                 “Yes…please?” You guessed, and he grinned. His hand lifted your hips, tugging your pants down. You helped him out, also taking off your shirt and quickly moving to his belt. While taking off articles of clothing, he flipped you over. Your arms hooked around his neck in the familiarity, your legs automatically parting for him. His breath was already rapid, his cock leaking at the sight of you underneath him. You chuckled and spoke again.

                 “Excited, loser?” His eyes quickly shifted to a glare as he looked down at you. He was leaning on his hands and knees over her and shifted to his elbows so your faces were inches away. You grinned up at him, staring at his lips. You let out a little giggle of excitement when you felt the length of his cock rub against you. 

                 “Let’s see who the loser is after I make you cum first…” he uttered lowly, and all you could think about were those pretty lips and how they moved so subtly when he spoke to you. You spoke again.

                 “Hm, yeah? Another little challenge of yours?” You asked smoothly. He really was quite the competitive guy. You opened your mouth for a witty comment, but a moan left your lips when you felt something hard plunge inside of you. Your thighs shivered as he settled in, a good 6 ½ inches was always such a delight to have.

                  He saw the way your brows furrowed when the pleasure filled your body. He twitched at the sight of your eyes rolling back just a tad bit when he rolled his hips. Grinding was just as good as ruthless pounding in your opinion. 

                  “No, keep those eyes on me…Open them,” he uttered, tilting his head down to brush his nose against yours. He dug his teeth into his lip as your eyes looked up to his, like a siren glaring at a sailor. Your glare was a result of the pleasure and determination to win. Typically, sex with Damian was hot and sweet. Usually slow and relaxing, as it should be. But when a loser and winner was at stake, it wasn’t slow and steady anymore.

                  Hard, fast, and heavenly was a good way to describe how this felt. Two rounds in and your legs were shaking. They were already sore from being SpiderWoman, but being bent over and getting that good spot hit over and over again was…

Fuck.

                  You let out another pitiful moan, your free hand fisting the sheets. His hand intertwined with yours, pushing it into the sheets with every thrust. Sounds of slapping and hot breaths filled the usually peaceful room. You were sweaty, your body hot and knees aching from being bent like this. He was on his knees behind you, taking you from the back. Your ass was up, chest and head resting on the sheets. 

                  “Say it again. Whos the fucking winner?” Damian asked breathlessly, his free hand gripping your hip to make sure you kept moving back into him. He kept his hips thrusting relentlessly into you, panting and sweating. His black hair stuck to his forehead, his tan, lightly freckled muscles flexing and relaxing as he moved.

                  “You…” was the only response you could muster, before a groan. You grit your teeth, eyes shutting as you feel that sweet tingle begin in your legs. Your core finally relaxed as you came, the white cream slowly dripping down your leg as he came soon after. 

                 His pace finally slowed, and he gently pulled out of you. You loosely rolled onto your back, shivering as cum dripped out of you. He saw you panting as well and grabbed a cloth from the bottom drawer of your nightstand. He was already cleaning you off, the tiredness overcoming you. 

                 “You ok?” He muttered, trying to sound nonchalant. You opened your eyes and made eye contact with him, and he had a sort of worried yet relaxed expression. You nodded, and he put the cloth aside to lay next to you. You ruffled his hair, and he closed his eyes to let you.

                  “You win sex but I’m still a better hero…” you whispered, and a small smile showed on his face.

“Go to bed.”

————————><><><><><><><————————

Sorry this took so long cutie pies, I lost inspiration halfway through the smut. Hope you enjoyed my long ass writing lol

[simslegacy5083]

Today's (2/19/2025) Episode: A Promising Start

As Luigi and his darling wife mingled with the crowd, he found Elyse chatting with Betty and Greyson not far from his brother Scott.

Pulling her away from her friends, he introduced the two. “Hey bro; glad you could make it!” he began “This here is Elyse, Skye’s girlfriend.”

Scott looked curiously at him and then back at Elyse before extending his hand. “Uh, hi. I’m Scott. Nice to meet you?”

“So…” Luigi continued “Elyse is aging up soon and hoping to turn her art hobby into her livelihood. I thought you might be able to get her in front of the right sims to help her get a job worthy of her talents.” Scott’s eyes flashed with a hint of annoyance, but he tamped it down and nodded politely.

“I can get you an interview with our staff supervisor” he told the young sim “but then the rest is up to you and your portfolio of work young lady!”

“That would be fantastic, thank you so much! I promise I won’t let you down!” she gushed, as Luigi flashed his brother a grateful smile.

Having spotted Candor across the room, he motioned Elyse to follow him and quickly hustled over to intercept the stately ancient mage.

“Why there’s my birthday boy!” Candor smiled as he spotted his great-grandson. “How’s our little Skye doing these days?”

Elyse had the decency to look embarrassed as Luigi replied “Xe’s good. Thanks again for your help the other night. Xe felt so much better after you confirmed xe wasn’t going to be craving plasma for breakfast anytime soon.” He nudged her forward as he continued: “You’ve met Elyse before.”

“I have, but it’s been a while.” Candor flashed her a flirtatious grin.

“She and Skye have been dating for awhile now,” Luigi quickly continued “and they’re planning to move in together once they both age up. Rather than renting some hole in the wall in the city I suggested they move to The Bay. I was hoping you could help them get settled at the homestead.”

“I’m a big fan” Elyse chimed in “I went to your most recent exhibit at the Arts Centre downtown, it was spectacular. I’m hoping to become a famous artist myself someday; I’d love to learn any tricks you think might elevate my own work.”

“Why thank you kindly” Candor grinned “I’d be happy to teach you everything I know. If you are as talented as you are beautiful, it’s  going to be quite a pleasure working with you.” His smooth wink made the young girl blush.

Feeling a little self-conscious, she was happy to see Skye making xir way over to join xem. “Your great-grandfather is going to help me with my art, do you think he could help you with your photography too?” Her partner looked curiously at xir ancestor, who sadly declared a lack of experience with the medium and departed.

“Pity,” Skye said, “I’d love to talk shop with him. Anyway, Markus says he found a bubble machine. Want to try it now that I’m done with my meds?”

Upstairs they found Markus and Adelaide at the hookah. “How’s living on your own?” she inquired, curious for a glimpse into her future.

“So far so good” he replied “Thank Grim for magic! I don’t know how I’d get anything done without it.”

Intrigued, Elyse pressed him for details, and the more he told her the more excited she became. “Skye!” she exclaimed “are you hearing this!? Why didn’t you tell me there were so many cool, helpful, magic spells out there?”

Xe shrugged. “My dad gets along fine without it, although I know a lot of my extended family spends time on some branch of the occult or other.”

Adelaide, also a caster, laughed out loud. “Spends time? More like saves time! Invite us over for dinner and we’ll show you Scrubberoo and Repairo. You’ll run right over to the portal to reclaim the magical heritage your dad neglected; I guarantee it!” She winked at Elyse in a friendly way. “It’s not too hard for anyone to learn really, and with us to help you ascend you’ll be slinging spells with the best of them in no time!”

“Skye, can we, please??” Elyse pleaded, eyes shining

“Its not dangerous, is it?” Xe looked warily at his cousins “Not as long as you’re careful” Adelaide assured xem “how about we all go to the realm together, we’ll show you around and help you get started?”

At Skye’s nod of agreement Elyse squealed “THANK YOU, THANK YOU! This is going to be amazing; I just know it!”

After firming up their plans for a trip to the realm Elyse thanked the others again and pulled Skye towards the dance floor “I love this one!” she smiled “and this time you can actually dance with me! Icing on the cake of this fantastic evening. Your dad worked everything out just like he promised.” she continued “I can’t wait to age up and get started!”

Skye returned her smile even while xir eyes told a different story. Xe was glad xir father was on xir side, but despite xir lingering resentment a small part of xem hated how unhappy xir decision had made xir mother. Once she sees that we’ve got it all figured out she’ll come around, she has to… xe thought, doing xir best to push those sad thoughts aside as xe joined xir elated girlfriend in getting xir groove on.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[pangaeaseas]

Hmm--I think Sirius not knowing is not necessarily reflective of the wider Wizarding World's knowledge, as Sirius is still limited in what sources he has access to as a fugitive. He absolutely has the motivation to look for information, but not necessarily much information to find--Lupin, the most likely source, might not have known himself, as he seems to have been somewhat isolated from wizarding society post war. When he's telling Harry about other Death Eaters he largely draws on his own experiences in Azkaban, not information he's learned after escaping--so Sirius not knowing only confirms that Snape never was in Azkaban. On the other hand, the fact that Sirius IS saying this on page may reflect the degree of knowledge of Snape's involvement JKR intended readers to have, so maybe broader British society didn't know. We also don't see Order members really grappling with the reality of Snape being a double agent (and thus having to betray them for information security) on page--since I'm not entirely sure JKR thought about that part LMAO.

Now, Snape being a spy for Dumbledore in the Death Eaters was likely known among the people who it would be most important to have known--other Death Eaters, meaning that if Snape was ever to be useful as a spy again he would have to be a double agent (which is a very straining position), and members of the government. I think Dumbledore HAD to tell the government Snape was a spy for him, to be clear: there wasn't really another way to get him out of Azkaban because otherwise he would have been vulnerable. But knowing how Death Eater penetration in the Ministry was quite deep, it's likely Snape realized this would get back to the Death Eaters whether or not he told them. And Dumbeldore was already preparing for a second war at this point--so by telling the Ministry he was ensuring that in the second war, Snape would have to be a double agent (or defect fully to the Order, but he'd be less useful). Wider society knowing doesn't matter exactly: what matters is that the Death Eaters would likely know and thus instead of being a single agent and only a Death Eater, Voldemort would also be expecting him to spy on the Order and so he would be forced to betray Order members to retain Voldemort's trust. I don't really think Snape's employment prospects were affected by Dumbledore's revelation, and you may be right that it didn't spread to wider society, he probably could have become a St. Mungo's brewer and been happier or something but decided to watch over Harry at Hogwarts--I think the problem is his role in the war that Dumbledore was already preparing both himself and Snape for was now circumscribed. If Snape wanted to be useful in the war, which he clearly did want to do, he would have to be a double agent expected to spy on both sides and provide information on his own side to Voldemort knowing people on his own side might die because of it. (Dumbledore also knew this, one would hope: it's the whole point of a double agent). So he can't exactly get too close to Order members with that moral dilemma hanging over his head!

The Order just..not thinking about it seems to be JKR not thinking too deeply about the realities of spycraft--realistically I think Dumbledore must have had to tell them 'Snape's a double agent' and some of them should have then worked out 'in order for Voldemort to trust him he must sometimes give Voldemort information on us, so I don't really wanna be his friend knowing he might have to give me up to Voldemort for a greater purpose'. And ofc to keep the mystery of Snape's loyalties.

Another weird thing about Snape's spying is that...there HAS to have been someone in the Order who knew his true loyalties during DH, otherwise what's the point of making him Headmaster of Hogwarts and Voldemort's trust? What's the point of having a spy who can't give information? He needed to have someone to give information to for his information to be valuable. He can help Harry but Harry's not the whole war. But JKR writes the war as solely focused on Harry and not a wider societal conflict, so there's no sign of Snape having an Order contact when if he didn't it would be a massive waste of everyone's time.

dumbledore revealing Snape as his spy after the end of the first war is so interesting and so reflective of his character: it's an act of mercy and also a saw trap. BC I doubt anyone else, or any other strategy, would have been able to get Snape out of Azkaban: the other death eaters would be focused on saving their own skins, and without the protection of being a Death Eater Snape becomes just another poor half-blood, probably the exact kind of person who would make an easy scapegoat for Death Eater activity (in scapegoat terms he's just like Sirius! For different reasons obviously. See my Sirius the perfect scapegoat meta). So Snape is spared the horrors of Azkaban. BUT: Dumbledore burning Snape as a spy--in full knowledge of two things, that Snape is more motivated now than ever to attack Voldemort after Lily is dead, and that Voldemort hasn't been fully defeated, means that Snape MUST become a double agent. Otherwise he will be useless in the next conflict --a spy in Voldemort's ranks is much more valuable than another fighter, even one as skilled as Snape, and I think at this point in his life he would have wanted to cause the most damage to Voldemort by any means necessary. And being a double agent is no perfect redemption: it means having to betray both sides of the war. Snape can never be fully welcomed into the Order's side because every Order member knows he might have to get them killed so Voldemort will trust him. So by being revealed as Dumbledore's spy, Dumbledore ensures Snape will never have a full place on either side of British society.

[erabu-san]

I enjoyed every second of this quest

[This art has platonic intention. Thank you for not tag ship!]

[thoughtpeek]

I'VE FINALLY FINISHED BROTHERSHIP IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!

[runsonlovepower]

that does anyone want to drown in a lake intertwined by the antlers it has to be weird post reminded me I made these like a year ago in case anyone still thought I was normal about ven vani and sora much less ven and vani by themselves