#i literally hadn't thought about anything else for the past few days

[cereal-abyss-mage]

it's me and the like ten other people in the "sunday has ocd (honkai star rail)" tag on ao3 against the world

[pinescent-and-gingerbread]

Can I request a drabble where Arthur comforts a female reader who has a broken heart? The reader's ex-boyfriend cheated on her and left with another woman.

Here we go! I took the liberty to name Reader's ex Jim (pretty random name for that place and time so I thought it would fit alright.)

I hope you'll like it anon!!🙌

࣪ ˖✧ The World is living.

✦ Pairing: Arthur Morgan x Fem!Reader ✦ Warnings/Tags: Mention of cheating, reader's ex is a loser (boo him), reader is in a pretty bad mental state but Arthur is here to save the day, cursing cause he's mad as hell someone hurt you. ✦ Words: 1,5k ✦ a/n: As Anon had requested a drabble I tried to keep this short! Takes place in Clement's Point because the lake is so good for that kind of work, reader is part of the gang. Clearly this drabble is a big hug to all my sis out there who have been poorly treated by their ex🫶🏻

You were sitting by the shore, just behind camp. Flat Iron Lake was always beautiful at that time, just before dawn. Frosty, pastel colors on the sky and the water surfaces, melting into a soft shade of pale lavender and teal blue. You could only hear the occasional chirping of birds, splashing of an adventurous fish jumping out of the water, and lonely howls of coyotes.

The World was living.

You couldn't understand how. How did the World was still turning while you were hurting that much? It should have stopped. It should have. This was the only option after what you had been through.

You felt tears watering your eyes again. You couldn't sleep, as often lately, so you just had decided to come and sit here in the sand to do something, anything else than just lying in your cot, alone in the cold night, alone in the cold silence, alone in the cold emptiness. Alone, so alone even though you were surrounded by people at camp; it didn't mattered. He was gone now, and everything felt tasteless without him, everything looked drearier, even the beautiful morning scenery under your eyes.

You were now crying hard. Damn it, you didn't even knew you still had water in your body for it. You had cried so many times in the past few days your eyes were permanently red, your cheeks scarred by two trails of dry tears; you felt like one of those oranges that people squeeze to get the juice, leaving behind only a corpse of fruit devoid of all substance.

You couldn't do it anymore, it hurt too much. You buried your face in your hands, sobbing once again, trying to let out the sorrow that was eating you up from inside like a noxious parasite since he had left you.

"Y/N? Is everythin' okay?"

You tilted your head up, a slight feeling of panic and shame crashing on you as you searched for your interlocutor.

It was Arthur. He was a few meters away from you, empty bucket in his hands. He probably was on his way to the lake to fill it, but had heard you crying. You weren't too surprised to see him this early, Arthur had never slept much, he was always up before you in normal time, already helping everyone around camp.

He looked at you in the eyes, waiting for an answer. He seemed genuinely concerned; you realized you hadn't seen him for a while since he had been on a difficult job for weeks, he probably should have came back during the night, but you were far too deep in your own dark thoughts to have noticed it. He was clearly clueless and surprised about your state, his arms hanging awkwardly by his sides, his blue work shirt's sleeves rolled up carelessly.

"N-no..." You only answered, trying to wipe what you could of the literal torrent of tears flooding out of your eyes, but it just wouldn't stop, you felt even more ashamed. You must have looked pitiful right now.

Arthur let go of the bucket, letting it fall on the ground without an ounce of care. He then slowly approached you, and sat down in the sand next to you, leaving a little space between your two bodies. He didn't look disturbed or annoyed, but almost as stoic as usual. Except for his eyes. His eyes were telling a hundred stories even if he didn't wanted it. Their azure color bright and deep, you almost recognized a hint of sadness in them, as if he was pained seeing you like this. 

"What's happenin' to ya, miss?" He inquired, voice deep and maybe a bit more empathetic than usual. He wasn't extremely expressive in usual times, so yet you could feel just by his presence how he cared about your well-being.

"It's Jim... He... He slept with one of these pretty girls from the Parlour House and he left me for her..." Saying it was making it all even worse. It was making it all too real. You struggled to get those words out, your tone cracking up as if they were crushing your vocal cords.

More tears, your eyes shutting close in a pained expression, the ache in your heart physically hurting you, as if someone had opened your thoracic cage and was crushing it with his bare hands. In a way, that's exactly what he had done to you.

"Goddamn piece of shit..." Arthur mumbled before looking at you, his intense indigo stare fixated on your face. He felt genuinely sorry, and outraged for you. Who in the world could have to audacity to hurt such a sweet girl like you? He was starting to clench his fists, feeling his blood boiling, a silent kettle on a burning fire. After a few seconds of hearing you cry, he couldn't hold it anymore, empathy getting the better of his rage, and opened his arms to gently pull you against him.

His strong, wide body enveloped you, and you let him. You buried your face into his chest, not really thinking about it, your hands wrapping around his waist, and gripping tight on his shirt. Looking clingy or odd was your last concern, you were way too blinded by your pain. You started crying loudly, wanting to make everything go out of you, your pain, your sadness, Him, everything.

"Yeah, that's it girl, let it all go..." He encouraged you, in a calm and quiet whisper. One of his hands had found its place behind your head, gently caressing it, the other resting around your waist. He carried you, as you screamed your pain to the World, as you poured all these gnawing feelings outside of you.

"He's a damn fool, Y/N. You deserve way better than him, lemme tell ya." Arthur murmured to you, voice still deep and caring. You could also hear behind that a hint of genuine anger in his tone, as he truly was pissed at Jim for having harmed you like this. "And you're gonna be okay, alright sweetheart?"

You slightly nodded into his chest, barely able to answer something properly. His scent and warmth were enfolding you, and you felt like you were somewhere else now, somewhere sunny. Somewhere pleasant. Somewhere better.

As the minutes went by, and his embrace didn't loosen, you slowly started to get out of your personal darkness, breath calming, thoughts clearing. You were taking in the fact that usually, Arthur wasn't frankly fond of hugs or other physical attention, and you felt thankful. He was doing this just for you.

"You're gonna be okay." He repeated like a silent vow. You felt like he was going to make sure of it. And for the first time in days, you honestly believed these words. You were going to be okay. It would take time, of course, but you just knew you would, as certain as the Sun was rising and setting every day.

You gently pulled back, both of you still holding each other in your arms, sitting on the sandy shore, but not as close, so you could look at this face. Your tears had soaked his shirt. You tried to apologize for it, but he quickly opposed it, telling you he had been covered in far worse than your tears. You smiled a bit, knowing he was right.

"Thank you so much for that Arthur..." You told him, genuinely feeling so grateful.

"Eh, I may be a cold-hearted killer, but I wouldn't have let a sweet lil' flower like ya cry..." He asserted, a slight grin on his face. You noticed how he looked a bit reassured himself, less worried. Maybe, just like his affection towards the other members of the gang, Arthur actually cared much more about you than what he was letting everyone see.

He carefully wiped the last tear from your cheek, thumb feeling rough but gentle against your skin, before getting up, his hands leaving your body but not going too far away as he proposed one of them for you to take and help you get up. You gladly took it, enjoying the warm contact of your fingers on his skin.

"I just feel like... I'm not enough..." You concluded with a pained tone, your eyes looking down at your feet. The fact that on top of having broken up with you, Jim had left you for another woman, was absolutely destroying you, making you feel like you were worthless. It was also this feeling that was so hard to handle; so hard to live with.

"Listen t'me." Arthur told you a bit more firmly, his eyes searching for yours. He knew how you felt, he felt bad about himself every day of his life. He didn't wanted you to feel like this in any way, ever. "Don't let this bastard make ya feel shitty. You're a beautiful, sweet, kind young woman, that is the truth." He asserted, his hands squeezing yours in a comforting gesture before letting go of them.

"Thank you, Arthur..." You said once more, feeling like you were repeating yourself, but he didn't seem to mind. He was walking back to where he had left the bucket, grabbing it to finish his chore.

"Ah, no worry, miss." He said to you with a smile, now feeling better as you felt less depressed. "Let me tell ya, this piece of shit better be far by now, 'cause I'm goin' to beat the Hell out of him if I ever see him again." He added, still smiling, but you knew he was being dead serious, and he was way more than capable of it. You almost chuckled, thanking him for the third time and telling him you wouldn't mind if he did.

He noticed the little grin that had curled up your lips. He loved it. His days at Clement's point weren't the same without your bright smile and your pleasant presence.

The Sun had completely risen now, the camp slowly emerging from its slumber. The first drowsy voices of your companion softly filling the air, yawning, saying greetings, some already teasing, merging with the sound of nature around you.

The World was living.

And now, so you were.

[danafeelingsick]

Hii I have an idea for 26 (kinda literal). Sickie is (almost?) non-verbal but v affectionate. So when caretaker wants to check if sickie is nauseous, caretaker will try to hug sickie or pet his belly. Sickie loves to be hugged by caretaker, but not when he feels sick. And ofc there must be a bad accident/illness one day.

Novemetober 2023 Rescheduled

@monthofsick

Prompt list | Masterlist | AO3 collection

Day 26. Nonverbal illness indicators

Word count: 1,1k~

CONTENT WARNINGS: descriptions of vomiting, tummy ache, tummy rubs, sickie is non-verbal (non-specified), sickie and caretaker are partners, implied relationship, A & B, caretaker is A and sickie is B, they/them pronouns for both

AN: i'm just going to pop back in with this and disappear again. i hope you like it! :) i love your requests and sorry for the wait!

“Morning, B…”, A greeted sleepily.

Sitting in the middle of the living room, B acknowledged them with a small nod, their eyes focused on the tv.

A found it odd they wouldn't turn to greet them properly, but chalked it up to B being sleepy and made their way to the kitchen to get their breakfast started. It was still odd, considering all they were watching was one of those variety shows A knew they didn't care about.

Sure, they hadn't thought much of it when they woke up and found the bed empty, B nowhere to be seen. They must've gotten up early, and didn't want to bother A on a day they could afford to sleep in. That had to be it.

B wordlessly scooted to the side, letting A take a seat on the sofa. Judging by the empty bowl they had seen inside the sink, A was fair to assume B had already had breakfast. Still, they left a bit of fresh coffee on the pot, just in case.

“Whatcha watching, B?”, they asked, setting their mug on the side table.

Eyes still locked on the TV, B grabbed the remote and brought down the program’s summary. Sure enough, it was some variety show in its millionth season, A was sure that B hadn’t a clue who any of these people were.

“And… you're enjoying it?” A raised an eyebrow, chuckling slightly. B simply shrugged. “Nothing else you wanted to watch?”

B held out the tv remote, willing A into taking it. This time they turned to finally look at them, and A quickly took notice of B’s frowny expression. Sure, they had the right to be a little grumpy that early in the morning, especially with such a nosy partner like A, but that just didn't seem like it.

“Oh? Are you sure you don't want that?”, A joked and B purposely wrinkled their nose, shoving the remote in their hand. A chuckled again, this time with a hint of relief that B was willing to play along. “A shame, I was *so* invested”, they added, leaning back.

It didn't surprise them that their partner hadn't found anything to watch, as soon as they started surfing past the channels, they grew bored. B, on the other hand, looked as if they were paying close attention to the few seconds they were allowed on each program.

A knew they would tell them if there was anything they wanted to watch but, after several minutes, B just seemed to withdraw into themselves. They leaned forward and crossed their arms firmly, their face pinched in a frown. It could've been A’s imagination, but it did seem like they had grown a bit pale.

“B?” their partner scooted closer, trying to take a better look at them. “Is there something wrong, honey?”

Despite B shaking their head vehemently, they curled into themselves, arms wrapped tightly around their stomach. A noticed they were shivering, their eyes squeezed shut and felt their heart drop. B looked like they were about to cry.

“Baby, are you in pain?”, A asked again, and gently pulled their partner closer. A slow touch on their back became a hug, and soon B was nestled in against their chest, fighting to hold back tears. “Is it your stomach?”

B hesitated, letting out a noise like a muffled sob, which prompted A to plant a kiss on their head, murmuring sweet reassurances. Their hands replaced B’s over their tummy and began gently rubbing it, trying to get them to relax.

“Does it hurt here?”, A asked, fingers slinking under the fabric. B shook their head again. “No?”

They felt B’s abdomen almost wince under their touch, as just the pressure of their fingertips was enough to cause them pain. There was a faint bubbling just underneath the surface, making A think the cause of B’s discomfort could be a simple indigestion. Although, their stomach was visibly upset, which threw A off when B denied feeling any pain.

A was about to ask again when they felt B’s hands began to pry their own away, trying to pull away from them. It was a process, B looked desperate to get away from them, but also seemed to be hesitant in applying any force to A’s fingers.

They understood it quickly and held their hands up, just as their partner hiccuped. In any other situation A would think nothing of it, but this time the sound was wet, almost suffocated by gagging. B scurried away from them, managing to lean over the edge of the sofa before they broke into a shallow retch.

A was only able to see their back as it began to heave, the sound of liquid splattering on the floor clueing them on what was happening. They felt awful for not realizing it sooner, but pulled themselves up, running to be by B’s side.

“B…!”

The poor thing continued to heave, fists holding onto the sofa as their stomach emptied itself, their whole body still shaking. A held them by the shoulders, going to brush their hair out of the way when they noticed the fresh tear tracks down B’s cheeks.

“Oh, honey… it's okay, I’m right here with you. I'm not going anywhere”, A reassured them, wiping their face with a thumb.

B shuddered, their face scrunching as they burped out a stream of stomach contents. A glanced at the puddle soaking into their carpet, noticing the bits of pale breakfast cereal and curdles of milk, and quickly looking away. They could do without that sight for now, instead focusing on B as they continued to spew more of it.

“There you go… get it up”, they encouraged, rubbing the side of their arm lightly, slowly so as to not overwhelm B even more.

B coughed as the spell began to taper off, drooling out threads of slimy bile still clinging to their lips. A held them as they worked through the last bits of bile, the sounds were grating to their ears, but A knew they were having it much worse.

“Shh… there you are”, A murmured, reminding them of their presence.

B sniffled, looking at the mess they had made. They couldn't hold back the tears any longer, everything just felt awful, they felt so sick.

“Hey, shh… it's okay, there’s no need to cry”, A told them, resting their hand on their back. “Come here, do you think you’re done?”

B nodded slowly amidst the tears, and leaned into A, letting them pull them into their chest. They hugged them tight, like they meant from the start, rubbing B’s back as they continued to sob.

“Honey, you should’ve told me you were sick”, A said, petting B’s hair. “Nevermind that now. We’ll move to the shower whenever you're ready, okay?”

B nodded, breathing in and out as they tried to calm themselves down.

[bow-of-aros]

Day Fifteen: Are You Ticklish?

Summary: It's Ted's birthday and nobody seems to give a damn as per usual. All he wants is to go home and forget that today ever happened.

Seems like his friends have other plans.

-

Hey folks! This is my very self-indulgent birthday fic bc it's my birthday and I can do whatever the hell I want!! It's my longest fic this month and I'm very proud of it, so enjoy <33

Also, to the person that put in the request for this day, I hope that you in particular enjoy the most!

-

Ted had never had the best experience with birthdays.

Growing up, nobody had really bothered to give half of a shit about him, and it hasn’t exactly changed much since then. Sure, Pete would text him and try to rope him into doing something if he was home, and at one point, there had been Jenny, but that hadn’t exactly worked out.

So when Ted walks into work and is greeted with the usual half-hearted enthusiasm—which is definitely an upgrade from the outright disdain from before The Incident—Ted just sighs and accepts that it’s gonna be another shitty birthday.

The Incident. Nobody’s really quite sure what happened. In fact, they all tried to not think about it as much as physically possible.

Ted’s just grateful that they all seemed to form some sort of trauma bond. Everyone was a bit more tolerant of his antics, sometimes they even smiled at his jokes and references instead of just shaking their heads and ignoring him.

Paul will actually invite him to Beanie’s every once in a while and listen while Ted brags about his genius little brother with something that almost looks like fondness on his face.

Bill doesn’t go see musicals anymore, but he’ll ask Ted if he wants to watch a new movie that’s come out without looking like he’d rather do anything else.

Charlotte got a divorce from Sam and asked Ted to have some space while she sorted out her life and, for once in his life, he respected her wishes and kept his distance. She looked more relaxed around the office and Ted felt like he’d found a real friend in her, like he could just talk to her with only a slight fear of judgment.

And he definitely hadn't set his sights on a beige-wearing, musical-hating coworker of his.

Definitely.

But all of this didn’t mean that they actually liked him. Ted wasn’t stupid enough to think that just because some horrible, incredibly traumatizing thing happened to all of them that they would suddenly start actually enjoying the company of their disgusting sleazeball coworker.

But still, Ted would take what he could get, and he’d actually started looking forward to coming to work, even if he threw up a little in his mouth at the thought.

He couldn’t help but be disappointed when he didn’t even get so much as a ‘Happy birthday’ though. Like, sure, they weren’t exactly best buds, but the bar really isn’t set that high!

As the day goes on, Ted notices that his frien—coworkers are avoiding him more often than was usual. It was almost like they were slipping back into their pre-Incident dynamic. Conversations would stop the second he stepped in the room, attempts at jokes fell flat and were only met with a roll of the eyes, and Ted found himself falling back into his old role in response.

He curled in on himself more before trying to project the false bravado that had once felt like a second skin to him. His any attention is good attention mindset was back in full swing, praying that something he did would get anyone to just talk to him!

Thankfully, that only lasted for a little while before he realized that he didn’t want to be that Ted anymore, and wasn’t that a revelation to examine literally never.

By the end of the day, Ted was exhausted. Mr. Davidson had asked him to stay a few minutes late to help him with some last-minute filing, which could not have been that important but hey, he had nothing better to be doing.

He’d spent a solid few hours picking through his memory to try and figure out if he’d done anything extra repulsive within the past few days and came up empty-handed.

Paul had even gone home early, also known as not thirty minutes late, which he never did and Ted was worried enough—and desperate enough— that he’d sent a u gud? To which he’d received a perfectly punctuated Yeah. Thanks, Ted.

Was it sad that those three words had made him feel better than anything else that day? Definitely.

Was Ted going to take anything he could get? Abso-fucking-lutely.

As he pulled into his driveway, all he could think about was ordering some shitty takeout, drinking some shitty beer, and pretending that he didn’t exist until this shitty day was over. Hopefully, everything would go back to normal tomorrow, and Ted could just chalk today up to his birthday curse.

The key slipped into the door and it turned after the required two seconds of trying to jimmy it open.

As his hand fumbled for the light he called out, “Hey Pete! I’m home! Fair warning to finish anything up before I—OH HOLY FUCK!”

The light flipped on, revealing a very brightly decorated living room and Paul, Bill, and Charlotte gleefully yelling, “SURPRISE!”

Silence rang for a moment.

Two.

“Ted? Are you… Crying?”

At Charlotte’s question Ted whipped around and very unsubtly scrubbed at his eyes as he said, “No! It’s hay fever season! I just have, uh,” He sniffled, damn it, “I just have really bad allergies.”

He turned back just in time to catch an armful of knitted sweater and curly hair.

“I’m sorry!” She said, somehow managing to be the one holding him despite the fact that he had a foot on her at least, “I told them that a surprise party was a bad idea! But they were so set on it and I’m so bad at keeping secrets! And oh my God we were so mean to you today!”

Charlotte pulled away to look him in the eye, “Can you forgive us? Please?”

Honestly, Ted had forgiven them the second he learned that they all hadn’t gone back to not-so-secretly hating them.

And he’d never really been able to say no to Charlotte.

“Alright. I guess I can forgive you.”

She let out an ear-piercing shriek before throwing herself back at him and Ted found himself sinking into the affection.

A warm body encompassed him from behind as Bill joined the hug and, fuck, Ted couldn’t burst into tears again and ruin the image he’d been carefully cultivating for the past however many years.

“Yeah, man. We were kinda shitty today. Sure it was all to keep the party hidden but that’s not an excuse. Are you alright?”

They are not making this easy on him.

“Yeah!” Oh, that was way too high-pitched. Let’s try that one again.

“Yeah.” Much better, “I definitely wasn’t worried that I’d done something wrong and you guys all hated me again and I’d fucked up the only actual friendships I’ve had since I was a kid or anything.”

…Yikes. Great save, Spankoffski.

Ted felt an arm wind its way around his waist, giving him an awkward side hug and holy shit. Paul, Mr. If-you-come-within-two-feet-of-me-I-will-dissolve-out-of-pure-social-discomfort, was hugging Ted.

“Look, Ted,” said Paul in the voice of someone not well-versed in the art of reassurance which, hey, neither is Ted, “Sure, you used to be a disgusting sleazeball that we all tried to avoid.”

“But,” He raised his voice to be heard over Charlotte and Bill’s groaning, “You’ve changed. And we can see that you’ve put actual effort into changing. We honest to God like you Ted, you’re our friend! Hell, would we have done all this for you if you weren’t?”

Paul gestured at the room and Ted looked at the balloons scattered around, at the cake on the table and the three wrapped presents sitting on the couch.

Huh.

“No,” Ted said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around the concept, “You definitely wouldn’t.”

“Exactly! Now, why don’t you say we— What was that?”

The squeeze Paul had given to his side that Ted was sure was supposed to be reassuring had the unfortunate side effect of making Ted nearly jump out of his own damn skin. Of course, it was just his luck that the Spankoffski charm had come with a large dose of the Spankoffski super-fucking-ticklish.

“Nothing!”

He could feel Charlotte grinning against his chest as Bill tightened his hold, effectively eliminating all possible escape routes.

“That didn’t sound like nothing,” Charlotte said, mischief colouring her voice, “You should try that again, Paul! See if we can give Ted some good old-fashioned birthday cheer!”

At that, Ted actually started to put up a fight, if pretty half-assed.

“No! I’m already cheerful so that’s not necessARY— Pahahahaul nononono shihihihit!”

Laughter tumbled from his lips, echoed by the people surrounding him as he tried and failed to escape.

Paul’s voice rose above the noise in utter disbelief, “Are you telling me that you, the guy who can’t get enough of bugging everyone else, are ticklish?! We could have been using this against you for years!”

“No I’m nohohohot!”

Ted was going to go crazy. Paul’s hand had moved up to his ribs and was now prodding at the bones and wiggling between them, making Ted’s laughter pitch up into childlike giggles much to the delight of his tormentors.

“Are you suuurrrreee?” Charlotte asked, giving a quick scribble to his spine and laughing ecstatically at the snort that elicited.

“Yeah, Ted!” Bill chimed in, “You seem pretty ticklish to me! But, if you’re not, then you won’t mind if we stay here a little longer. It is your birthday, after all, gotta make sure that you feel loved and appreciated!”

Paul leaned in close enough that Ted was grateful that the red in his cheeks could be explained away as he said, “All you have to do to make this stop is just admit that you’re ticklish. Is that really so hard?”

He lightened his touch enough to let Ted catch his breath a bit and give him a chance to tap out if he wanted to.

But Ted Spankoffski is a man of honour and dignity and he WILL NOT GIVE IN!

“Go fuhuhuck yourself, Paul!”

Any fire in his words was snuffed out by the lingering giggles, but Paul still gasped, playfully affronted in a way that Ted’s never seen, but knows can’t be good.

“Well,” Paul says simply, “You asked for it.”

And Ted was thrown back into laughter as Paul’s hands dug back into his ribs, aided by the occasional pokes and scribbles from Bill and Charlotte who seemed mostly content to hold him in place and let Paul do all the work.

“PAUL!” Paul had vibrated his hand into the soft space just below Ted’s lowest ribs and, yeah, this is how he was going to die, “Paulpaulpaul plehehehease! I’ll sahahay it! I cahahahan’t!”

“You can’t say it?” Oh that little shit, “I’m sure I can help you out there.”

“No! I’m ticklish! I’m tihihihihicklish! Now please let me gohohohoho!”

With that proclamation of defeat, they all unwound themselves from around Ted, and he did his best to not miss the warm pressure as they guided him to his ratty old couch, unstable legs nearly giving out on him before he collapsed on the worn cushions.

As he sat there catching his breath while Paul settled down next to him and Bill and Charlotte started fiddling with the candles on his cake, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“How the fuck did you guys get into my apartment?”

They all laughed as Paul said, “Peter gave me his key. Told us to not fuck this up.” His voice slid into something a little more fond, “You’ve got a good kid on your hands, Ted.”

“Yeah,” Ted said, the grin on his face more than just the remnants of his ordeal, “I really do.”

Suddenly, Bill and Charlotte were bringing the cake towards him in all its fiery glory.

“Alright sleazeball, make a wish.”

Normally, Ted would hate being called that by someone other than himself, but Charlotte said it with such fondness that he really couldn’t bring himself to mind.

He thinks for a moment, then takes in a big breath and blows out all the candles in one fell swoop.

After the cheering died down, Bill asked, “What did you wish for?”

Ted just gave him his signature grin and said, “I can’t tell you, Billy. It wouldn’t come true!”

The rest of the day flew by, filled with laughter and games and only a few drinks. Looks like the birthday curse is broken, because this one had been pretty damn perfect.

I wish that all of my birthdays could be the same as this one, minus the first half, surrounded by my friends who just want to see me smile.

[ballinandcantgetup452]

The Last Will and Testament of Lex Luthor, Part 2

Throughout the oncoming weeks, Clark didn't stop thinking about Lex. Not to an obsessive degree, mind you, but he always occupied the back of his mind. The more that he thought about it, the more that he realized that there was a very strong potential that he even liked Lex. At first, he thought about what made Lex unique as an antagonist to him. Clark first started at his inherent greed. How Clark's very existence turned Lex more and more bitter by the day. He then decided to push past that initial disdain he had for Luthor. Upon further digging, Clark had realized that he admires Lex's inherent determination. While Clarks' very existence as Superman did make Lex more bitter, it also pushed him to become leagues more innovative. He even thought about how Lex even has pride in things beyond himself. He realized that the one thing they both have in common is a love of Metropolis. He really thought about how other criminals tend not to come to Metropolis. Clark realized that he hadn't seen a non-native Metropolis villain in about 5 years. Every villain that Clark had stopped in the past 5 years has either been alien, small gangs using alien tech to get big, or somebody under Lex's payroll. By the end of the week, Clark had gained a sudden admiration of Lex. That wasn't going to stop him from stopping Lex and anything else he had planned, mind you. But he hadn't really realized that admiration until now.

Upon fully finding this out, he would discuss rogues with anybody he was sharing monitor duty at the Watchtower with over the next few months, to varying results. There honestly wasn't really any common ground in regards to the league's rogues galleries and their opinions on their biggest rogues. There were people like Kyle, who didn't really have any rogues, but just kind of viewed taking in his reoccurring villains as part of the job. Arthur felt somewhat responsible for Black Manta. Then there were people like Wally, who had shared Clark's old views about Lex, but to an even more extreme degree. To be fair, having Zoom as your biggest rogue is bound to wear you down on your fondness of them. Clark became really fascinated with this and was oddly enamored as to how nobody really shared his opinion on their biggest rogue as he did with Lex. 

After a few weeks of asking random leaguers their opinions on their rogues gallery, Clark, Bruce, and Diana meet up on the same gargoyle in Gotham to have their monthly meal and meetup. 

Diana took a bite of her greasy burger on the rooftop, "Bruce, I know that Gotham is so bad that it's literally been described as cursed, but a burger like this is almost worth living here."

Bruce stood on a gargoyle, his cape flapping in the wind. It was almost intimidating until you noticed the chocolate milkshake he was drinking. Clark, sitting criss-cross in mid-air, just so happened to do so. 

"Bruce, I thought you were keto?"

Diana went to defend Bruce, saying, "Leave him alone, Clark. He literally jumps from rooftops every night and does more work than probably all of us combined. I don't think he needs a diet yet."

Clark shrugged, "I guess it's just odd to see The Batman sipping a milkshake."

Bruce quit sipping his milkshake, "Dick put me onto it. When he was a kid, we would go here on Friday nights after patrol and share a milkshake. Or to put it honestly, I watched him drink a milkshake and gave him constructive criticism on what he did wrong that night. I still come here every Friday night after patrol, sometimes Dick or Jason or any of my other kids are there, and we'll share a milkshake."

"I've been thinking about doing something like that with Jon. He's been getting into painting, which sounds like something Jason or Damian would be into. Any tips? Does that sound like a good idea?" Clark asked.

Diana interjected, "Look, I can sense where this conversation is going, but let's stop for a second before we get to a point where I can't ask my question. Clark, what's been up with you and asking everybody about their rogues?"

Clark finished his burger and came clean with his head down. "Lex has been gone for about 9 months now. I've been thinking about him a lot lately." Clark raised his head. "Honestly, I think I admire him. I genuinely think that we're a lot alike, and I kind of feel for the guy."

Bruce looked confused, "Why didn't you ask us?"

Clark put his head back down, "I was honestly a little embarrassed. I thought you guys might think I was crazy."

Bruce and Diana both laughed at the prospect. This raised Clark's spirits a lot.

Diana chimed up first, "Clark, the reason why I barely have a rogues gallery is because of that very same sentiment you have."

Bruce interjected, "Unlike Diana, I still have a rogues gallery. But, I feel the same way, too. It's helped a lot of people. Even Mr. Freeze is working at WayneTech." 

The conversation diverted from there to how Mr. Freeze got all of his charges dropped. But, when the dinner was over, and Diana flew away, Bruce stayed back to tell Clark one more thing. "Clark, I just wanted to tell you, it's a great thing you feel the way you do about Lex. Frankly, we're surprised you didn't already feel like that. When Lex re-emerges, and trust me, he will re-emerge, you'll turn him around. Because you're Superman."

Clark processed Bruce's kind words and hit him with an even harder question, "Do you think that you'll ever turn Joker around?"

Bruce paused, almost as if he never actually considered the question.

"Honestly Clark, I don't know. I speculate that one day one of us will kill the other. But every time I see him, I remind myself to keep on trying, just like you do.

Clark did one more patrol before going home. After beating a random rampaging kaiju in Angola, he went home to Lois. It was pretty late when he got there, so she was asleep in the chair in her bathrobe, already bathed, and waiting for him to come home so they could watch an episode of The Great British Bakeoff before bed. Clark picked up his wife and carried her to bed.

"Hey, I was watching that. I was just resting my eyes," Lois said, groggily, very clearly, in a half-sleeping state.

"Sure you were, hon," Clark said while chuckling. He put his wife in bed and joined her.

Lois tried fighting back the urge to sleep, "How was dinner with Bruce and Diana?"

Clark began to nod off, "Pretty good. I realized that I deeply admire Lex Luthor."

"You know, for a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, you're a really slow investigator of your own psyche," Lois responded, almost back asleep again.

Clark was almost asleep as well, "so you can crack the inner workings of my mind, but you couldn't picture me without glasses for the first 2 years we knew each other?"

As Clark fell completely asleep, Lois had one last response.

"Let's not fight, I'd clearly win. Go to sleep, Smallville."

[rodolfoparras]

been very low energy these past few days... zzzzz

so anyhow have this ask where i write a fic for the fic writer 🫶🏼 little gift

thinking about price who isn't very vocal in bed, not because he's insecure or anything, he knows how much you love the noises he makes. you make it obvious, taking it as encouragement that you're doing well

he just... isn't. it's not something he's used to, having taken a dominant role in past relationships (heteronormativity the worst enemy of gay whimpering men).

that was until you two tried something new, price was reluctant at first, never having been... submissive like this. it felt a bit jarring at first, not that he didn't trust you, of course he did! with his life, even

but all those thoughts oh so quickly melted away, as your hand gently pumped his length. price hadn't expected you to be so gentle with him... so slow and sweet, whispering all the praise in the world into his ears, that he "was taking it so well", "so good for agreeing to this" and "you're so handsome, all nice and hard just for me" needless to say, this was driving him insane.

price wasn't a vocal man, but when you suggested he gives up control, "just to try it out", you'd tell him, it's like a switch turned in his head.

now, he's riding your dick all pretty, soft tears flowing down his cheeks... and so, so loud. he squeaks, whimpers, at basically every movement you make, your cock sliding against his warm entrance and gods, it just filled him up so good.

it was like it brushed against his prostate every time he merely shifted to get a better grip. price really tried to keep his noises in at first but every thought of his was melting into nothing as you thrust inside.

you guided his hips up and down your length, he's so so close, and you, so merciful, lets him cum all over your chest because he has been so good and pliant.

the mess he makes of himself is worth everything you've done to him, begging and moaning your name while his cock spurts small streams of cum after he's so spent and there's nothing left.

FELT SO SILLY WRITING THIS

love u?!?!? /p enjoy

- 🌷

Anonie when I say I have tears in my eyes from how beautiful I found this I’m being 100% serious

Thank you so much you don’t know how sweet of a read this was I’m going to read it over and over and over 😭 literally all I want in life is to be the one to care for price and have him go on auto pilot

Imagine your whole life being the one to take care of others putting everyone before yourself even in bed and sure while it’s absolutely a nice feeling sometimes he just wants to be taken care of, believe it or not at first he thought he couldnt be submissive because he’s always been the one in charge that is of course until he meets you you’re much older yourself a captain as well and beside the fact that you’re a wonderful soldier you’re also a wonderful person

After every harsh mission you’ll be the first to check upon him even though he’s told everyone he’s fine if it’s been a practically hard day you’ll see it on his face won’t mention it but you’ll instead offer to go on a walk with him and he loves it so much, going on long night walks where you talk about everything and nothing sharing cigar and leaving the work and worries behind

Or how you’ll always remember his food preferences and bring it to his office when you see that he hasn’t frequented canteen for the day you’ll even sit with him while he eats and he’ll feel shy about eating alone so he’ll offer you a bite but you’re just happy to spend time with him

You’ll even take time out of your busy schedule to take him away from the base have him visit some places he’s always wanted to visit whether it be a restaurant, somewhere up in the mountains or wherever else his heart desires to go

And out on a mission it feels so different with you sure he has 141 to check up on him but it’s different with someone older someone who’s also in charge keeping an eye on him or an iron grip on his hips to make sure he stays close by and nothing hurts him

Sure he’s been a captain and spent many years in the industry and knows damn well how to take care of himself but it feels so nice to be cared for once

And when he tumbles with you in bed he ends up in a headspace he thought he could never visit, falling so submissive, feeling so safe allowing you to care for him til he’s sobbing in your embrace

[elliessub]

Open Up

Pairing: Ellie Williams x Fem!Reader

Summary: After Joel's passing you go visit Ellie

Genre: Angst, some fluff

Warnings: Crying, depression, depressive talk, kinda self guilt Ellie

Word count: 1.3k

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

You didn't know if this was a good idea. It seemed like a good idea at the time. You could feel the tupperware with cookies you baked quite literally 10 minutes ago warming up on top of your hand. You finally summoned some courage, took a deep breath and knocked on the door of her home/garage.

You didn't hear anything on the other side, it was as if no one was inside, but you knew that was wrong. No one has seen her for the past few days. Ever since Joel’s funeral.

You knocked once more, more forcefully this time and now you swore you heard a quiet groan from somewhere inside the home.

"Ellie, it's me, c'mon open up." You waited. And waited. And waited. After a minute or so you spoke up again, "I know you're in there."

There was noise from inside the home, sounds of feet being dragged to the door and the soft click of a key. The door opened and the auburn haired girl was standing in front of you, the clothes she wore that day still on her as if she didn't bother to change once, she probably hadn't. Her face was sullen, expression one of pure heartache and the bruise on her cheek swollen and purple with a hue of yellow.

"I don't want to see anyone." Her voice matched her appearance. Hoarse and gravely as if she hadn't used it for days. You immediately grimaced at that stupid thought because you were sure she really hadn't.

You tried covering the grimace with a small smile, offering the tupperware to her, "I made you some cookies."

She hesitantly took it from your hands and you decided not to mention how her own shook as she took it. Ellie glanced from the plastic container to you, not really knowing what to say to you. Should she tell you to leave? Should she invite you in? She really wasn't in the mood to have anyone over but the thought of hurting your feelings pulled at her heartstrings. She sighed in defeat and moved to the side to let you in, you stepping into the warm home to beat the Jackson winter cold.

She closed the door after you, turning the key once more to lock it. You were now stuck in her home. Ellie placed the cookies you brought onto her table, sitting down on the couch and looking at you.

You moved towards her, sitting down on the couch as well, the only difference was that she was staring straight ahead while you were staring at her. You inched closer to her on the couch until you were close enough so your legs were pressed together. Other than a quick glance at your legs she didn't look at you or say anything.

You put your hand on her shoulder, "How are you feeling, Ellie?" 

She only shrugged in reply, forcing out a, "Mad," out of her mouth.

"I get that," you nodded in understanding, "But is that all?"

At that she finally looked at you. Only now did you notice the dark circles under her eyes and how red her eyes were. It made your heart break. To think this is the same girl that ranted about dinosaurs and space to you, that brought her pun book to patrol because it made you giggle whenever you heard a particularly bad pun, the girl that planted sweet kisses against your lips and giggled in between each one.

You and Ellie never really talked about what you exactly were. You definitely knew you weren't just friends, but you also weren't sure if you were something more than that. You were sorta stuck in the middle in this relationship you had with her.

"What else is there supposed to be?" She grew agitated, you could tell. "I'm mad! I'm fucking pissed!" Ellie got up from the couch, pacing around like a trapped tiger, "Tommy isn't saying anything about getting back at them and I know whenever he gives me some bullshit excuse it's just Maria speaking through him!" 

You've never seen her like this, sure there were plenty of times she got mad, but Ellie wasn't the type of person to yell when she got mad. No, instead she became very quiet, calculating every move that was being made and every word that was being said. She never yelled.

You walked to her and hugged her with all the strength you could muster. You felt her stiffen in your hold but that just made you hold her tighter. She was panting from the yelling, trying to bring her breathing back to normal. Ellie inhaled and caught a whiff of your scent, the sweet vanilla one she got so used to. It calmed her down quicker. Ellie hesitated with hugging you back, opting to stand basically frozen in her spot as you hugged her.

Then she did something you've never seen her do. She started crying. Sobs racked through her body, each one stronger than the last and the soft whimpers turning into full on wailing as you were telling her it was okay. The screams of agony that fell past her lips were enough to bring you to tears as well. She hugged you back stronger than you hugged her, but you couldn't seem to bring yourself to care if she was hurting you, it only mattered that she felt safe.

"It's like he doesn't care! That's his fucking brother for fuck sake!" She screamed out and continued crying as you rubbed her back. 

You weren't sure how long you stayed standing like that in the middle of her place so you tried bringing the two of you back to the couch. You managed to maneuver the two of you back onto the couch, Ellie letting go of you in an instant, turning to look at the floor as she let out a few more whimpers and sniffing. But you weren't going to accept that. You embraced her once more, locking your arms around her waist and putting your head on her shoulder. 

You stayed like that in silence for some time, the only sounds coming from Ellie with the occasional sniff and the wind that was picking up outside. 

"I was so stupid to ignore him for so long and now he's gone and I'll never be able to tell him 'I forgive you', 'I'm sorry', 'Thank you', 'I love you', none of it." You moved away to look at her, Ellie turning to look at you at the same time. Her eyes were puffy and red, nose red as well and cheeks wet. You could see tears gathering in the corner of her eyes once more. You never knew the full story of why the two stopped talking, only knowing that Joel did something to hurt Ellie beyond measure, something she couldn't forgive him for. 

You rubbed up and down her arm with your hand, occasionally stopping to give her a squeeze.

"I didn't even talk during the funeral," she put her head in her hands, "I-I just couldn't. Whenever I wanted to stand up and speak up my throat would close up and I'd forget the words. Fuck I should have talked during it." She hiccuped out, rubbing her hands over her face, wincing when she pressed against her bruise. You grabbed her hands, bringing them up to your lips to press a kiss.

"Even if you didn't talk during it, I'm sure Joel knew how much you cared for him," you told her with a small smile, "Even if you didn't talk to him for a long period of time I'm sure he was happy to hear that you wanted to fix things between you. He died knowing you didn't hate him and were ready to try and forgive him."

That seemed to be the last drop that overflowed the cup. Ellie breaking down again, pressing her face into your neck as you caressed her head, fingers tangling in her hair and whispering soothing things to her. 

"I promise you Ellie, they're gonna pay."

[this-is-fox-speaking]

ok so. here's my thoughts on how things went for memory recollection.

Sissel remembered the moment they got into their past body. Something about Temsik fragment fuckery, I dunno. That's my only excuse. Merging memories or being hit with memories probably isn't as soul punching when you're literally a little kitty cat. They've been very sworn to their duty to love their families so so much!

Yomiel remembers a little bit after the timelines reset. Like, these memories probably get him for a while as some sort of familiar feeling similar to deja vu, but it actually just hit when he started painting in jail. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was going on or why he painted that figures he knew he hadn't seen before, and- "Oh fuck, wait. That's right. I KNOW THEM." Kinda like a Jowd situation but.. reversed?

It takes a few months or maybe a couple years for Jowd to remember. He gets freaked out when he realizes he knew exactly what his daughter was going to look like, and- then he's immediately hit with it. Yeah, him and Yomiel probably had a few good talks over some of those prison days. He doesn't tell Alma or anything. Even though he feels bad about it, he knows it wouldn't really be the best thing to tell your wife that.. all of that happened. Unless you wanna look like a crazy person. Again.

Cabanela has his own few deja vu moments when he meets the other for the first time after the park incident, like the Pigeon Man or Lynne. I'd like to think he actually remembers a little before Jowd does, since he was literally also possessed by good ol Manipulator over here, and was so obsessed with figuring him out. He doesn't bring it up at first, until Jowd brings it up, then he just casually admits he's been- almost literally- dancing around the topic until the right time. Idk if this is very in character, lemme know. I've only watched through this game a total of once because it's.. really long. And I just recently finished it.

Lynne remembers over time, but it's specifically whenever she sees Yomiel's face. He's familiar, yet she can't place why, and it's not just from the park.. and when she finally gets hit with the memories once shes older, she kinda goes through some stages before going back to regular old, hyperactive lynne, towards Yomiel. He has the face but not the same personality of who she's used to, but.. she knows he's changed. And we know Lynne is.. quite the character! Not negative, just. I dunno how to explain her! Yomiel is her bestie against his will. This is not a choice.

Kamila doesn't remember any of it. It only comes to her in short visions- aka, "nightmares". I imagine as she gets older, it's possible she might remember these memories more clearly/solidly, or she'll ask Jowd and them, and they sigh and begrudgingly admit what really happened. Kinda up to interpretation, truly! It's fun to think about, either direction.

I think it'd be bittersweet if Missile sometimes had small dreams of being a lamp in the city's trash. Or simply being an odd ghostly figure. Or just being his own, lively doggy self, digging about the trash, yet being ignored by all the humans that come by. Sissel doesn't have the heart to tell him the truth. It's bittersweet because even though it means Missile has to remember this sad life of his old self, it still means Ray lives on, even if it's just a little bit. Probably a similar situation as Kamila, where he'll remember once he's much, much older. Past his dog years.

I feel like Pigeon Man would remember but just. Not give a fuck. He rambles about it to Lovey Dove sometimes, when he's bored, but that's about it. He doesn't care. He's got more important studies to worry about.

The Minister... I'm not really sure. I don't wanna have him remember or else he'll be all sad and mopey again. I'm gonna let him be happy with his family.

As for all the other characters- park protector, Minister's wife, his daughter, etc- they all have faint feelings of it. A small bit of deja vu every year or two, but it's nothing huge at all. They never really dwell on it.

[dandelion-wings]

Working on a couple of whump prompts now (I phone-wrote the starts of several during the past week between barn chaos, but this is literally the first day I've had time to sit at a computer for more than half an hour since), but I read this Reddit post this morning and couldn't resist the urge to riff a little, so let's call this a warmup:

"...and the last time I passed out, I woke up with my head in her lap and her favorite blanket over me. She was stroking my hair, and when I looked up, she called me 'dear,'" Jean explains. "Then, this Windblume... don't you think it seems suggestive? But Lisa is so flirtatious with everyone, I really can't be sure." Kaeya seems to be choking on his drink. "The *last time* you passed out?" Diluc repeats, as if he hasn't heard all the rest of her list at all.

"The time before that, I wasn't unconscious for more than a few seconds, but the moment I sat up she got me a pillow and made me lie back down, then sat with me and held my hand until Barbara arrived. I had hit my head quite hard on the floor, though, so that may have just been a reasonable precaution."

Lisa's hand had been soft, and warm, and so gentle around hers. She'd stroked the back of Jean's hand with her thumb, just the slightest buzz of static raised by the motion, but that buzz had seemed to go all through Jean and flutter in her stomach.

Diluc's eyes go wide. "When did you hit your head?"

"Oh, that was shortly after Stormterror appeared. I wasn't truly hurt. The double vision passed within a few days," Jean says, waving his worry away. "Though you're right, I'm afraid. That could have simply been concern, and not anything else. I wouldn't be thinking more of it at all if it wasn't for this Windblume. I thought she would simply give me some flowers, and perhaps more of the perfume she's been making for me. I hadn't even remembered that we talked about this book of poetry. I'm sure it wasn't so difficult to find for her as it was for me, since she *did* find it-"

"Oh, no, she put plenty of work in," Kaeya, apparently recovered from his coughing fit, tells her. "Don't you recall that two-week vacation she took last month?"

"Oh, *no*. She told me she had important personal affairs to take care of. I hope looking for the book didn't cut into them."

Kaeya, in the middle of a long, slow sip of wine, swallows wrong *again*. This time Jean has to stand up from her chair and go over to thump him on the back, and Diluc rises, takes his wineglass away, and comes back from the bar with a glass of water that he sets firmly in front of him.

When Kaeya isn't wheezing anymore, Jean sits back down. "I trust the two of you to tell me if I'm only imagining things. You did when I had that terrible crush on the Grand Master as a teenager. Do you think there's any chance Lisa feels fondly towards me?"

"It seems very possible," Diluc tells her, with a seriousness that assures her that he has, in fact, been listening to her list, despite his apparent distraction. "Have you given her a Windblume in return yet? You may be able to deduce more from her response."

Kaeya's eyes light up. "Diluc, I never expected such an entertaining idea from *you*. Now, Jean, make sure you don't make your poem too formal. Something personal and intimate will produce much more interesting results."

[jinx-on-mars-19xx]

Guess We Belong to Each Other

🩸Previous Parts Here🩸

Dom x Colson (Yungblud x Machine Gun Kelly)

Warnings: ABO dynamics (knots, slick, heats, mpreg), alpha serial killer/hitman Dom, omega mob boss Kells, urges, nervous boys, boys fussing (not a lot don't worry), d/s undertones, baby talks, graphic description of Dom bottoming, dirty talk, cursing, fingering, anal fingering, slight edging, slick as lube, name calling, past abuse, trauma, negotiating kinks (sort of), sex, rough sex, nipple play, sweet moments, firsts, playful boys, spanking, cliffhanger, enemies to lovers 💣 Rating: explicit (AF)

All ideas helped by @iamnotanearthlingmotherfucker 🖤

The Alpha was close to breaking, he couldn't help it. He had urges he was having trouble controlling and he knew it would be oh so easy to take the step he wanted. It was like an itch under his skin. A thorn in his mind. He could barely make himself stop focusing on it. It was driving him absolutely mental. He was close to doing exactly what he wanted and as he stared into the darkness he thought he'd finally made a decision.

“Don't you fucking dare.” The voice of his mate startled him but Colson's arms wrapping around his shoulders soothed the surprise.

He laid his hands over the inked skin of his lover and grumbled, resting his head back against the taller man though the position was getting awkward the larger Col’s bump grew. “But we need a bloody nursery! We only got a few monfs left.”

Kells reached over and flicked on the light switch and they stared into the spare room together. It was just across from their bedroom while Tom had the room down the hall. He very well knew it was perfect for the child he barely admitted existed but… “It's too soon.” He sighed before pulling away to turn for their bedroom.

“Bollocks it is! Look atcha!” Dom was rushing to catch up with his partner and so caught up in his dreams of hot pink paint he barely realized what he said until the omega spun on his foot and glared.

Dom stumbled almost comically to keep from hitting him but the boss couldn't laugh. How fucking dare he even imply something so… correct. Fuck. “Look at me? What about me?” He wouldn't admit it so easily though. He wasn't even that big, not really. If he wore a hoodie no could tell anything was different.

The Alpha chewed the inside of his cheek and pushed his fingers through his hair. He hadn't meant to have his foot in his mouth so early in the day. “Wha’ ya meeeean?” He tried for his patent pout but they both knew he was a sociopath. He was the bunny on Monty Python- adorable but deadly. Red eyes included.

“Don't even psycho. We have time. Plenty of it. Focus on literally anything else, you're not touching that damn room.” The omega tossed up his hands in frustration and took a seat on their bed. Weekends almost always sucked because they had free time and all he wanted was to stay in bed but his need for control made him get up, he always had to find something to do. He used to spend weekends in his clubs but not anymore.

“Ya know tha' if we don't get it ready in time the baby will ‘ave to stay wiv us. In ‘ere. Where we sleep. And fuck.” The boy tried a new tactic as he dropped to his knees and crawled to his mate.

“Don't worry about that.”

“Oh?” Had he won so easily?

“I'm not fucking you ever again once it's out.” The grin the man gave him was withering.

“Wha’ the fuck did I do? And stop calling our whelp an it. If you'd let The Doc tell us-”

“If you know the sex you'll get attached.”

“I'm already attached! Sos you!”

“Besides, Tom will take it if we need.”

Dom laid his palms on his lover's thighs and hung his head between the man's knees. They'd had some version of most of this conversation a few times already and were constantly talking over each other. “So middle of the night and you get ‘orny you jus’ gonna toss our baby to Tom before you crawl on me dick?” He tried to ask as their eyes met again and Colson shrugged. “Ain't gonna ‘appen.”

“It should stay with us anyway. It's not safe out there.” It was the first real thing Kells added to the conversation and it made them both pause. He wasn't even sure he realized that's what had been stopping him but once he started talking… “I can see them right now and I know they're safe. I can feel it. I hate those fluttery things but I know it means they're okay. I can keep them safe. When they're out? If I can't see them…”

“Okay. Alright. We won't worry about it.” Dom soothed, resting his forehead against his lover's as his palms found purchase against the swell of their child. “You'll keep ‘em safe. I know you will. We still need to get shite for ‘em. And… maybe we make tha’ a closet for ‘em? Eventually it can be a room but for now we need space for baby shite. Babies need so fucking much.”

“A closet could work.” Col agreed. He liked that idea. Their baby didn't just need stuff- they would get the best stuff around. He had standards of course. “And if they're in a cot we can still fuck. You just have to keep your mouth shut.”

Dom couldn't help but laugh at that, they both damn well knew the Alpha wasn't the loud one of the two but he nodded just to make his baby mumma happy. “You right. Daft of me. Fhought ya said you weren't fucking me again?” He hummed, pressing kisses to his omega's bare thigh. They'd only made it to underwear and t-shirts that morning and he was thankful, it gave him so much skin to explore.

“Not when you can do this shit to me again. Fuck that. I'll top.” Col sighed as he leaned back on his elbows, offering more of his body to the boy.

“Oh yeah? Tell me about it.” Dom purred, nipping at Colson's cloth covered cock playfully.

“Oh fuck um-” He lifted up his hips when the killer tugged his boxers down and his head fell back when the boy parted his thighs and kissed skin so close to his core he could feel his breath. He pulled his feet up on the mattress and let his knees fall wider, if his partner wanted to treat him he wouldn't say no. At least his brain took sex as something to do. “I'd lay you out on your stomach, a pillow under that monster dick of yours, and I'd spread your legs so I could lick that tight little hole open.”

“Mmm yeah?” The Alpha sounded strained already and it made a fresh wave of slick warm Col’s thighs. He was waiting for his bitch to lick it up but it seemed Dom was listening first.

“I should probably try before actually. I've got a big dick and your ass is virgin. Should probably tease you a little over time. Use my mouth on you. My fingers. Get you used to being full.” His voice felt deeper, raspier as he talked. His aforementioned big dick was aching but even that was untouched. He couldn't see well enough over his stomach to know what his mate was up to but before long he was going to get pissed.

“Wanna feel yas. Wha' else?”

“When that pretty pink hole is finally stretched enough for me and you're begging like the bitch you are-”

“Yeah?” The killer's voice was breathy as hell and that wasn't the only sound Kells heard.

His brows furrowed as he pushed himself up to look for his lover who was on the floor staring at him and jacking off with Col’s boxers wrapped around his cock. “And nothing. You really gonna start with your hormonal mate and then fuck yourself?”

“Shite. No. Wait- I jus’ were really into wha' ya said! Ain't me fault.” The Brit tossed the boxers away and went to his knees, trying to fit himself back between his man's thighs.

“Yeah you're a needy fucking whore who thinks about himself first! Look at yourself!” He was teasing of course, Dom always took care of him first. Sometimes the Alpha didn't even cum as long as he brought Col pleasure. This was the first time he'd done anything like that and it made Kells even hotter for his plush ass. If only he could get inside him soon.

“I'm sorry! I know, I'm a needy wanking whore for yas but you so fucking ‘ot when ya talk like tha'!” Dom tried to explain and his lover answered him by spitting in his face. The boy blinked once. Twice- and something inside him snapped as he stood up and pulled his shirt off one handed. He knew his gaze was crimson as it fell on his omega who watched him with a confused stare. He wasn't sure if he felt more sub or Alpha in the moment and his two sides had never warred so hard. Part of him wanted to demand the other present while the other half wanted to roll over and offer his own ass. Which he couldn't yet do. Bloody hell.

Kells moved slowly because he couldn't yet tell which way his lover was heading. His red eyes said the boss was about to get fucked but his trembling form made him wonder. He gently pulled his top off and scooted backwards to the pillows. “If you want me to try fingering you there's lube in the drawer. If you want my pussy instead…” He trailed off, spreading his legs. He was getting more comfortable with parts of himself because of how much Dom loved them. Even now he was staring like the man was all he'd ever desired. A kid in a candy store that neither of them ever really got to be.

“Wha’ if we finger each over?” The Alpha finally asked, he was overwhelmed with choices and that could always lead to more.

Colson smiled and patted the bed but Dominic didn't move for the lube. “Babe-”

“Use ya slick on me.”

“Oh- yeah? Okay shit.” The omega took a shaking breath as he watched his mate crawl in bed, he didn't realize how excited he would be for this. As the boy got in place against him they shared a soft look. He knew had to be careful with their next steps. “Hike your leg up. Get close. Give me that thick ass.” He teased, completely ignoring his cautious thought. He hoped if he kept Dom preoccupied the Alpha side of him wouldn't get too aggressive.

He was surprised when the killer giggled and blushed, something more soft and sweet that he expected with that red gaze on him. When their cocks slot together they both gasped and he tried to kiss his mate into a level of calm that would help him open up. Dom's left arm that was pressed against the bed moved between them, his fingers exploring the omega's wet folds. “One?” Dom hummed, dipping a fingertip inside him to the first knuckle before pulling out and scissoring two deep. “Or two?”

“Shit- uh…” He couldn't think, not when the boy was spreading his walls open and sliding his touch out slow. He knew he was supposed to be doing something but his mind went blank for a moment. “G-give me some?” Right. He was on a mission.

The killer grinned and pumped three fingers deep before hooking them on the draw out. The bastard pressed against his spot so hard he shook but he kept his palm mostly steady as his lover wiped slick on his skin. The air in the room shifted when he reached his long inked arm around the boy. When his mate started to shake before he even touched him he tried a different way. “Here.” He offered, closing his legs tight and gently pushing on Dom’s hip until he got the hint. “Fuck my thighs?” He offered like it was completely normal and he locked his knees for an extra clench. The kid just stared at him for a moment before swallowing hard.

“Ya know I'll just end up inside yas.”

“Risk I'm willing to take.”

“But you can't get off like tha’ unless I do.”

“You don't know what the hell I can do, and this ain't about me. Get your dick where I tell you and be a good bitch.” Colson huffed, slapping wetly against the boy's ass. He knew this was something that could go terribly wrong and he needed to stay the dominant one. He still wasn't sure exactly what the 'test' had entailed that the asshole doctor had done to the Alpha as a kid but he had a feeling they were about to risk some flashbacks and if he went too soft Dom might break. They both wanted this to be part of their relationship and he'd help his mate through anything he could.

“Oh fuck-” Of course the killer obeyed after that but he was trembling so hard it took a second to get his cockhead between Col's drenched thighs. When he finally slipped against his core they both groaned. He groped roughly at Dom's plush cheek, right over the probably pink skin to spurn him on, one finger teasing softly over his hole.

“Did I say I'd do the work? Or did I tell you to fuck-” He didn't have to finish his question. Dom started rocking his hips, at first almost carefully but it didn't take long before he was pressing back and chasing his omega's touch but Kells kept teasing, circling the tight ring of muscle as he clenched.

Of course Dom's dick caught against his own needy hole, every thrust had his crown popping against where they both needed him, but for once the man found control to keep himself focused on the psycho who always gave him everything. He felt his lover's knot swelling but he knew it wouldn't be full when they couldn't lock together. He normally hated edging himself but watching his mate's pleasure was almost as good as his own. He was more selfish than Dom and they both knew and accepted that, it couldn't be completely overcome but he was trying. The boy was pink and glowing with sweat, his wild hair in his face. Those pretty DSL’s were parted on a harsh gasp and he knew- “Cum for me.” would work.

The Alpha's hips stuttered as he spilled hot between his mate's legs. He couldn't help the pride at painting the other man in his scent but he was confused. When the next peak of his rapture hit and his dick jerked out another load, his partner gave him a soft bite to his bottom lip and slid a finger deep inside him. “Bloody fuck oh-”

Colson's eyes went wide at the mouth on his mate. He'd never heard him be so expressive or loud and it just kept going through more he explored. “Please? Oh fuck- yes! Right- bloodyfuckdaddyright’ere-” The omega was pretty sure he got a new nickname in the mix of desperate curses and needy moans. The moment he found the boy's spot he stayed on it, giving back the same Dom had done to him. The killer trembled in his hold, his hips bucking between the two points of pleasure and it didn't take him long to bust again. No need for a command.

The control was overwhelming and he was sure his partner was overstimulated as hell but as he watched rapture roll through him he knew he wasn't done yet. He couldn't be. He had his own pressing needs. “Suck your fingers clean, you mouthy whore.” He demanded of the panting boy. He loved the sounds he was making but he knew it would help calm him. Dom obeyed, he couldn't seem to help it anymore and he sucked his own digits as masterfully as he took Col's cock. Their gazes stayed locked as he slipped his own free and when he eased his hips back the Alpha whimpered. “Don't worry. Not done with you yet.” It was harder to maneuver with his belly between them but the next time Dom’s cockhead caught against his cunt he angled and drove him deep inside.

“Cols?” The already spent killer whimpered but his omega just smirked at him.

“Lay back. Help me up. Wanna ride you.” Kells rasped. The feeling of Dom’s dick still jerking inside his tight walls made him more desperate for release than he'd realized he was. His thighs were drenched in cum and slick but it barely mattered anymore if the other could get off again. That coil of pleasure was tight in his guts and he needed his mate to fuck it out.

The Alpha blinked but moved to obey, it didn't matter how sensitive he felt, his omega needed him. His hands gripped sweat wet skin and he pushed until Col was above him. He choked on air when the man dropped hard and he hit home deeper than he'd been in a while. His baby mumma went wild above him, his body thrusting so hard he bounced off the mattress. Dom had to grab for him, he had a lot of dick to cover, but he didn't want the other falling off.

Big hands slapped hard over pale skin, nails made half moon marks in blood, they hadn't fucked like this in months but Kells was lost to need. Dom's fingers caressed every inch of him, groping over his ass, his hips, eventually even his chest. When his head fell back and he moaned at the feel the predator stayed locked on. He'd been sensitive for months but it felt overwhelming, as if he had nerves from his nipples to his spot. He felt swollen in both places and over abused but he knew if his mate stopped he'd lash out.

“Can't- fucking- knot-” Dom stuttered out and Colson couldn't care less. He wanted to warn he was close but he couldn't get air enough to talk. Between one breath and the next pleasure shot down his spine and the pressure building in his core released. He came so hard some pearly drops landed on his bitch’s face and he drenched them both in slick.

Eventually Dom had to stop his body from grinding, his hips seemed to have a mind of their own. He laid his omega gently back how they were before and eased his overspent dick free. Their sticky bodies pressed together and they panted each other's air. Dom would need his inhaler at some point but he didn't want to move. He hadn't been that nervous but a few times before in their relationship. The first time they fucked, the second when their minds were clear, and when his lover had presented for him. Each time Colson knew how to handle him and this was no different. His trauma wasn't gone of course but bad memories were helped with new and better ones. He couldn't thank Col enough but he knew not to say a word. Instead he whispered what he hoped was safe. “I love you.”

“Of course you do. I'm fucking awesome.” Kells grinned, kissing his bitch gently. He knew how much was in that one sentence and he tried to take it to heart. “I love you too. Am I hearing shit or did our door slam at some point?” He chuckled, trying to keep the mood light.

“Fink we left it open again.” Dom laughed back.

“Oops. Poor Tom.” They giggled together and hoped their friend didn't divorce them. They just got too wrapped up in each other sometimes. As their breathing calmed the omega realized their roommate wasn't the only one annoyed with them. “Shit. Got a black belt in there I swear.” Their post-coital cuddly moments were the safest feeling times that he could admit their child existed enough to talk about them. He blamed the fucking oxytocin soaking his brain.

“Aye? Being a brat to mumma today?” Dom hummed as Col rolled to his back. He reached for his baby to try and help soothe them but was surprised when he thought he felt something back. It was barely there like butterfly kisses but he was sure of it. His lover was so thin even with the swell he wasn't surprised. He honestly kept expecting to see through him like some alien moving around. He wouldn't say that of course and he tried not to make a big deal in the moment but the omega caught his misty eyes.

For once Kells was at peace enough he just laid his head back and closed his eyes, giving his partner room and permission to connect with their child. He even moved his palm to cover Dom’s to help him follow the flutters he felt from inside. “Probably no shit kicker boots.” He joked and the boy snorted he laughed so hard. He could tell his boy was tearing up but they didn't mention it. He knew as a father the Alpha had urges he needed to let him work out. He hoped as a couple they could work their way through it all together without letting fear get in the way. “They like you.” He hummed softly and he peaked his eye open to see Dom smiling.

“I'd bloody well ‘ope so.”

“I like you.” Colson sighed happily and the boy grinned wider, leaning in for a lingering kiss.

“I like you more.”

“Well that's obvious as fuck. But I like having a little bitch boy.” He teased. He didn't mean the first part of course, he wasn't sure if their love was equal because he didn't think anyone could adore someone more than he did his mate but he hoped their affection was the same. “Such a good bitch too. Even called me Daddy.” He knew he shouldn't bring it up but he wanted to let his mate know it was okay.

Dom flushed red and hid his face against Col’s shoulder. Even now he was laying more in the bitch position he guessed, his leg thrown over the man's thighs, his head on Colson's shoulder. It was comforting for him and it worked between them. “Ya caught tha’ aye?” He mumbled back.

“Hard to miss. Made me wet as fuck.” He offered, trying to ease any nerves and Dom swallowed hard before their eyes met again.

“I like making ya wet. Probably wouldn't work all the time but… When ya top?”

“When I top yeah. I can be your Daddy.” He didn't mean for his voice to drop to a near growl but it did anyway. Fuck, shouldn't they both be spent?

“You spanked me.”

“You liked it.”

“Aye.” They inched closer, their breath coming faster as Dom slid up over his omega.

When Colson's phone went off he thought to ignore it, it was a weekend and everything should be taken care of. Their lips met in a hungry kiss but Dom's phone went off next and they both cursed. He moved to pick it up off the bedside table and it took him a moment to come down to earth enough to read. It was from The Doctor, the omega boy he'd saved a few weeks before had gone missing. In fact, all the omegas that she had been helping heal were gone. What the fuck?

Author's Note/Tags: @iamnotanearthlingmotherfucker @hollywoodxwhore @jaxbreaker @fenoy7 @cole-way-iero28 if anyone wants tagged let me know 🖤

Have some more smut, I can't seem to get away from it 🤭 I'm guessing y'all don't mind. I love the equality with these boys and it's nice to see Kells adjusting. I hope you're all enjoying it 💣🖤

[ham-st4r]

𝓢𝓵𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻 - 𝓛. 𝓗𝓮𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓾𝓷𝓰

🍿Pairing: heeseung + female reader🥤

Warnings: one use of the F word.

Genre: fluff, best friends to something more.

Summary: you hadn't seen your best friend in a while, so he invited you to his apartment to hang out. Before you know it, it's past midnight, and he's asking you to have a sleepover.

Number of words: 1741

Find your way around!

Hello! just dropping by to give you your dose of hee fluff. I hope you love it. Please leave feedback and reblog!

Heeseung, your best friend, had invited you over to his apartment to catch up with you and play some video games after not seeing you for a while, games soon turned into dinner, and then dinner turned into a movie, and after said movie had ended, it was already midnight somehow.

You stretch out on his sofa as the credits roll by, and heeseung turns the lights back on. “Well, I think I should head home now.”

Heeseung frowns at the mention of you leaving. “Already?” He plopped back down next to you with a pout.

“Already?! Heeseung, it’s past midnight!” you exclaim.

“So?” He asks with a shrug popping an M&M into his mouth.

“It’s literally a school day tomorrow” you glare at him and steal one of his M&M's.

“Right, I forgot,” he hummed and nodded his head in understanding. “I forgot that I don’t give a fuck!” you chuckled and slapped his shoulder.

“You’re so stupid, hee,” you giggle.

“I’m not stupid, what’s stupid is that everyone at school gets to see you every day, but I don’t.”

“Well, that’s just the way it is” you stood and walked toward the door to put on your shoes.

“Wait!” He shouts from across the room with a crazy look in his eyes as he walks over to you and lightly shakes your shoulders. “We can have a sleepover!” He smiles brightly, and you can tell how proud he is of his idea from the way he's smiling from ear to ear.

You chuckled lightly and shook his hands off your shoulders. “And why would we do that?”

“To spend more time together” he looks at you weirdly and states the obvious, or at least it was obvious to him.

“Hee, I’ve been here for nearly ten hours,” you whine. It’s not like you didn’t enjoy spending time with him, but it was late, and you wanted to go home.

He just ignored you and started mapping out his little plan. “So, what I was thinking is we watch another movie,” he said, rummaging through his DVDs while he was on his knees in front of his tv stand. “Oh, and I have some of your favorite ice cream in the freezer that you can have.”

You just watched him go on and on about what else he wanted to do.

After a few minutes, you had tuned his voice out, wondering why you decided to even come over in the first place, but then you remembered you wanted to be a good friend and keep him company for the day, but you didn't know his plan was to hold you, hostage, all the night long.

You shook your head a bit, snapping out of your thoughts, and he was still talking.

“The other day, I bought this heated blanket I still have yet to try” he was just rambling, trying to say anything to make you stay. “Do you want to try it together?” He finally slides the DVD into the player and sits back on the sofa, looking at you with hopeful eyes.

“Hee, it’s lat-” He cuts your words before you can even finish.

“Even more reason for you to stay. It’s late, and you shouldn’t travel while it’s dark. You know, I wouldn’t forgive myself if something ever happened to my dearest best friend.”

You stood there with an expressionless face.

He was so shameless, using all your weaknesses against you, and now he was throwing logic into the mix. “Come on, y/n, please. I even put on our favorite movie,” that’s it. He presented an offer you couldn’t refuse, and you kinda hated and loved him for it.

You just sighed and stepped out of your shoes, trudging back over to his insanely comfortable couch. And sitting down on it. “Does this mean you’re staying?” he asks you with puppy eyes.

You glared at him and gulped, eyes flicking to the TV nervously. “Go get my ice cream,” you said in a stern voice.

“Alright!” He smiled and hopped off the couch, running to the kitchen and retrieving your ice cream.

He came back from the kitchen with a giddy smile, and you couldn’t help but smile as well, although you frowned when he only brought one bowl of ice cream. “Where’s yours?”

“I uhh,” a blush spreads across his face before answering. “I only bought a small one specially for you” he cut his eyes at you and tucked his hands under his thighs.

Your heart swelled at the cute gesture, and you dipped the spoon in the bowl, holding it up to his mouth. He parted his lips slightly, allowing you to spoon-feed him a taste of your ice cream. “Good?” You smiled at him softly, and he just nodded with a bashful expression.

“Oh! I forgot” he got back up and went to his room, grabbed the infamous heated blanket, and plugged it in before draping it over you both, making sure the temperature wasn’t too high.

Once you finished your ice cream, you snuggled into the warmth of the blanket, and you can’t lie that it felt absolutely amazing, especially after eating the chilly ice cream. Ten out of ten, definitely worth spending the night.

Heeseung shifted a bit under the blanket, nuzzling into the couch as he focused on the movie that played on the screen.

About an hour into the movie, you had made more popcorn for the both of you and brought some soda with you as you sat back down on the sofa. “I could have made it, you know,” Heeseung whispered to you.

“I know I just wanted to do something for you since you bought me ice cream” you smiled genuinely, and he felt his heart melt at that moment. No one could convince him that you weren’t an absolute angel.

“Thank you,” he mutters shyly and turns back to the tv as your gaze lingers on him just a second longer before digging into the freshly made bag of popcorn.

Once you were both done eating, you pulled the blanket up around yourself and rested your head on his chest.

He leaned into you a little more and wrapped an arm around you, hugging you closer as you hummed in contentment while the rest of the movie played.

Occasionally he’d brush his thumb over your shoulder soothingly. You looked up at him when he did this, scrunching your nose with a smile, He mirrored your expression and accompanied it with a playful laugh that resonated in his chest.

When the movie ended, you both stood up, stretching a bit and cleaning up your mess. It was now nearing two in the morning, and heeseung knew you should have been sleeping sooner, but he selfishly kept you up late.

“No, no, I got it,” he reassured you. Taking all the items, you had used it's the least he could do.

“Are you sure?” You say not wanting him to clean up all by himself.

“Positive,” he smiled and headed to the trash bin tossing away all the candy wrappers and napkins. He threw the empty soda cans away and washed the dishes before turning off the light in his kitchen.

He came back to the living room smiling at you, covered with the blanket. “Sorry I kept you up so late. I feel bad now,” he pouted, and you made room for him to sit back down.

“It’s fine, hee I had so much fun with you tonight” you smile earnestly, letting him know you meant every single word.

“Yeah? He fiddled with his chubby fingers and looked down at his lap, that was covered in Star Wars themed pajamas. “Maybe we could do it again soon” he looks at you with a glint in his eyes.

“Definitely!” You say excitedly, already looking forward to spending another day like this with him.

He smiles warmly and stands up abruptly, picking you up in his arms. “Hee! What are you doing” you giggle and wrap your arms around his neck.

“You have school tomorrow, remember? We need to get you some sleep” He laughs and struggles to open his bedroom door. Once he managed to twist the knob, he nudged it open with his foot, gently laying you down on his bed and tucking you in afterward.

“What about you?” You ask, noticing he wasn’t getting into bed with you.

“It’s fine. I’ll sleep here” he pulls out his gaming chair and grabs a thin sheet from his closet.

You snorted out a laugh as he adjusted in the small chair. His long limbs did not help the situation, and you could see him already shivering from the lack of warmth the thin sheet provided.

He cracked his left eye open, and you instantly stopped laughing. “What are you laughing at? This is perfectly comfortable” he shifted again, and you laughed again. “Seriously, it’s the best seat in the house. I can literally just wake up and turn on my computer and start gaming” at this point, you know he’s lying just so he wouldn't make you uncomfortable, but you really didn't mind sleeping in the same bed with him.

He turned on his side and nearly fell onto the floor. You didn’t even try to hold back your laughter this time. “Wow, this is what I get for trying to make you comfortable,” he playfully rolled his eyes.

“Hee stop playing games and bring your butt to bed” you pulled back the covers so he could join you, and he bolted out of the chair right away, sighing in relief when his back hit the soft mattress.

“Are you sure you’re comfortable with this?” He asks.

“I have school tomorrow,” you remind him so he can keep quiet and let you sleep.

“Like I said, the chair is the best seat in the hous-“ you cupped your hand over his mouth, stopping him from spewing out any more nonsense.

You removed your hand from his mouth and lowered it around his torso, resting it there. “Goodnight, hee,” you whisper softly.

“Goodnight, y/n,” he mutters and rests his hand over yours, and you smile, catching the warm smile that spreads over his features as your eyes flutter shut, and just before you wander to dreamland, you feel him press a soft kiss to your cheek.

Yeah, you definitely couldn’t wait to have another sleepover.

FIN.

[enha-hype]

maeumi & me - ch 26 : misunderstood

a/n : written part comes first. ignore timestamps in pictures as usual but not for the written part!

w.c. : around 2k oops

9:30 am.

You're in the midst of stealing another sneaky glance at Jungwon as he works when Heeseung arrives. He walks over to your table and flops down opposite to you, his annoyance evident in his sarcastic smile. You roll your eyes.

“Okay fineee, I lied about where I was. But I am doing my homework here as you can see!” You wave your worksheets at him. “It's just that Won has been bugging me to try the café's new Dalgona coffee and I was like, what’s so great about Dalgona right, I mean I can make it myself at home and he was like, no we add this special ingredient that makes it absolutely delightful and I was like.…” you trail off, realising you’re rambling and not really helping your case, judging by the look on your friend's face. You clear your throat. “Anyway, I had some time left since my first hour today was cancelled and I thought I might as well come here and get some coffee and finish my homework and I didn't tell you because I mean, you've already been bugging me non-stop since last night,”

“Well of course I have!You two almost kissed!!” he shrieks, drawing the attention of a table of friends nearby.

“Shhh, quiet down he's literally a few feet away! Also wait, you saw that?”

“Yuh huh! Why else do you think I've been losing my–”

“So you interrupted us on purpose?” Shit. Did you actually ask that out loud? You hadn’t meant to. “Actually no forget I said that–”

Heeseung’s eyebrows shoot up, an amused smile replacing his scowl. “Well, I–”

“Nuh uh I don't wanna hear it la la la la la la,” you plug your ears with your hands.

He shakes his head. “Y/n, come on. What are you doing? It's so obvious that you like Jungwon–”

“I don't like him! It's just that he's so nice to Maeumi and so sweet to me and– Ugh, hold on I'm getting a call. Hello?”

It's your classmate calling you up to remind you about the meeting for a group assignment. You promise her you’ll be there on time and hang up. You turn your focus back to Heeseung, who is leaning forward with his hands crossed on the table, looking at you with patient scepticism. You sigh - he’s right. What are you doing? Why are you trying to dismiss these feelings that are as clear as day? “I know that look.”

“What look?”

“The look that says you don't believe my bullshit.”

“Well you got something right at least.”

You put your head into your hands. “Fine. I like him, okay? Maybe a little too much. And yes I came here so I could see him again even though it’s barely been two hours since I saw him back at Jake’s place. And it's just. Ahhhh. I don't know, I've never liked anyone this way before and it feels so nice but also weird because it’s new and a little overwhelming sometimes and I just maybe need some time to come to terms with it before you guys all start freaking out,”

He nods and leans back in his seat, satisfied. “Okay.”

You look up at him in disbelief. “‘Okay’?? That's it???”

He laughs. “What, did you expect me to demand to know everything right now? Come on Y/n, give me some credit. I’m not that bad of a friend.”

“Debatable,” you tease, ducking as he reaches to hit you playfully. “Well no it’s not that. I just, I don’t know, expected a bigger reaction I guess?”

“You know you guys have not really been discreet or anything right? It’s kind of been a little too obvious the past few days. But I will say that I wasn’t expecting you guys to go in for a kiss last night right when I happened to walk in. Which is why I may have, uh, panicked a little and ended up switching on the light,” he flashes you a sheepish smile.

You shake your head, feeling your cheeks get hot as you think back to the moment. God, so close. If only you hadn't been interrupted... “You lil shit,”

“Wha– you just said it yourself, it’s weird! I’ve never seen you do ‘romancey’ stuff and you've always been so blehh about dating and relationships and now suddenly you can’t stop gushing about this guy and I don't know, it's like seeing your sibling kiss. Gross,” he cringes and you slap his hand.

“Ow! Also, where is Jungwon?”

9:06 am.

Jungwon has practically been vibrating all morning from the excitement of what happened last night. Well, of course nothing really happened, strictly speaking. Still, he was happy at the prospect of it. At the idea that he maybe has a chance with you after all. Like, he’s had a crush on you for so long, it seems unreal. He had almost fully accepted the fact that that was all it was ever going to be – a crush. And then things happened, and here he was. He bites the inside of his cheek, trying to keep himself from smiling. From the corner of his eye, he catches the weird looks his older co-barista, Taehyun, has been giving him.

The front door opens with a ding of the bell, indicating the arrival of another customer. Jungwon finishes serving the caffè mocha he was making just in time to greet the new one.

“Good morning, what–” he stops short when he looks up and sees that it’s you. He stutters and completely forgets what he meant to say and gives up halfway. From the way he’s grinning, even a passerby who chances to see him from the sidewalk outside could guess he’s head over heels. Taehyun recognises you immediately – he's only seen Jungwon behave like an idiot one other time, which was the first time you had come here a couple of weeks ago. Jungwon had immediately dropped everything he was doing and had all but run to you despite how busy the cafe had been that day, leaving the poor guy to deal with the growing line of customers all by himself. Although it had been a bit of an inconvenience, Taehyun didn't give him too much of a hard time about it because for one thing, it had been kind of cute to see him all flustered, and for another, Jungwon was someone who was usually pretty diligent with his work.

But here you are again. Cue Jungwon forgetting how to function like a normal human being.

“Hi,” Jungwon finally says, barely able to restrain the grin that he knows is a little too wide to be casual. “What are you doing here?”

You can't help but laugh. “You have got to stop greeting me like that every time I come here! Do you not like me visiting you at work?” You turn as if to leave, mostly to see how he'd react.

“No no wait sorry!” He reaches over and grabs your arm, planting it on the counter. “I just meant that if you were planning on coming here then we could've left together,” he drawls.

“Well, it was more of a last minute decision. Class got cancelled and I thought I'd just drop by and check out the new drink you were raving about. See what all the fuss is about,” you shrug nonchalantly, though the twinkle in your eyes betrays you. You're hyper-aware of the fact that his hand is ever-so-lightly brushing your forearm.

“Oh you’ll see alright,” he assures you, and with just a hint of nervousness seeping into the confidence, he enquires, “so, is that the only reason you're here?” He steals a quick glance at your lips, the pretty curve of them, before meeting your eyes again.

“Why else?” you ask, as though you have no idea what he could possibly be alluding to, although your hammering heart and the cheeky grin spreading across your face tell otherwise. Jungwon’s own giddy smile says he isn’t slow to catch on, either.

“I see. Strictly beverage purposes then.”

“Strictly,” you nod solemnly, suppressing your smile.

Taehyun clears his throat. “So, your order?”

You blink, suddenly remembering that you have an audience, and also that you're not just here to see Jungwon (well that's the story anyway). “Oh right, yes! Sorry. One Dalgona coffee, please.”

Jungwon flashes you an apologetic smile as he gets to work. “Sit wherever you'd like, your order will be ready in 10!”

Jungwon is so nervous about getting your order absolutely perfect that he messes up twice. Taehyun shakes his head, both amused and exasperated. When Jungwon starts to try for the third time, he stops him. “Gimme, I'll do it.” Jungwon mumbles a relieved thank you before internally chiding himself to get a grip. He can't continue to be such a mess every time you're around.

When he's done, Taehyun places the drink on the counter, ready to be served. He can see Jungwon open his mouth to say something and then change his mind and turn away. This happens again when he sees the waiter approaching and Taehyun rolls his eyes. “Oh my God, Jungwon, just go. I know you're itching to give it to them yourself,” he says, smiling despite himself.

Jungwon rubs the back of his neck, embarassed. “You sure?”

“Yeah yeah. We're not that busy yet it's fine. But just don't stay too long – you never know when our manager might drop by to check.”

He places the tray on the table in front of you, making sure to keep it as far away as possible from your books and worksheets so as to not ruin them.

“Ooo, what's this?” you ask, pointing to the ice cream sandwiches.

“Just little complementary treats.”

He watches you take the first sip and sees your eyes widen. “Oh, my God. This is a-mazing! What do you put in it?!”

“Well, it’s called a secret ingredient for a reason,” he beams. If he keeps being this cute you feel like one of these days you might just let your intrusive thoughts win and reach out to poke a finger into his adorable dimples. “Alright well enjoy the rest of it. I'm afraid I gotta get back,”

As he walks back, Jungwon finds that he's kind of glad the kiss didn't happen last night – he would like to properly ask you out first. How should he do it? Maybe he should keep it sweet and simple, make you a latte heart or something. Yeah, maybe you’d like that. And what should your first date be? Something cliché like a movie or dinner date? Or something unique? Ahh, he doesn’t know. If it were up to him, he’d just be content to have you over and do what you used to do before he started the internship. He doesn't care what you do as long as you are together.

9:32 am.

Jungwon steals a glance at your table and is surprised to find Heeseung with you. Huh. Guess you two had plans to meet up here. He waits as he serves two other customers to see if Heeseung would come to order anything for himself. When he doesn’t, Jungwon decides to go over himself and say hi.

As he approaches, he notices that you two seem to be deep in conversation, talking animatedly, and he slows, wondering if he should maybe come back after a while. Bits of the conversation float up to him right then and he freezes :

“It's so obvious that you like Jungwon–”

“I don't like him! It's just that he's so nice to Maeumi and so sweet to me and– Ugh, hold on I'm getting a call. Hello?”

Oh.

Right.

Of course.

It suddenly feels like someone just sucked all the sunlight out of the room. Jungwon turns right around, relieved that neither of you noticed him approaching. Taehyun looks up from scrolling through his phone when Jungwon rushes back to the counter. He yanks his apron off, hangs it up hastily and grabs his things to leave.

“Wha–” Taehyun starts to ask but Jungwon cuts him off.

“Something came up. I have to go,” he apologises for the short notice and is out the door before the latter even has a chance to reply.

a/n : please tell me at least one of y'all noticed the foreshadowing from profiles 2 🙏🏽

prev | masterlist | next

[the-sweet-hibiscus]

On Racism in the Darklina Community

disclaimer: this is less receipt based and just my own personal feelings over the last few days.

With the situation with Christina there was a lot push back and divide between whether or not Merel deserved the vitriol and larger if Darklinas at all deserve the automatic hate and discrediting as fans in this space.

Accusations

There were a lot of responses, and with this I noticed a common theme of accusing Darklinas, in a general sense, of being racist harassers. And I want to discuss it earnestly and genuinely because racism is a very serious thing. So I'm going to show a few tweets and we can go from there (redacted user names because I don't think who is making these accusation is as important as what they're saying).

These come from the same person. I've explained this before and I stand by it — I don't think any one person should be penalized for the actions of someone else. Full stop. The person who was attacked was - only in the family for a few months, hadn't really interacted with Christina before, etc. But that was hashed out in my previous post. My real issue came when people asked for proof of these accusations. "I don't have it, I didn't see a reason to screenshot it." Now this person has since claimed to not be in the Shadow and Bone fandom at all. So lets give the grace and say they thought "not my circus, not my monkey". Right? It's fair. I don't go into other fandoms and screenshot the worst of the worst and put them on blast. But I also don't, months and years later, return and say "oh you're all awful" I just find it weird. But again. We have no proof here. Not a name to look into. Not a phrase that someone might have said. They said this:

But I just. How are we supposed to know what to search right? If I, over the past three years, have never seen the racism people are talking about. How am I supposed to know what to look for? Who am I looking for? They claim just look it up? Look what up? Racism and Darklina as key terms? All I'm asking for is a name. Literally anything to prove that "oh these people are bad, let me disassociate with them." Instead, I and anyone who asks for a modicum of evidence or even just 1 name its "i don't know" or "well I didn't think it was important". For years! Like if you don't think it's important to spread awareness about when it happens, or even provide like the standard "this is you?" or just ANYTHING. Then they call us idiot for asking for it. People are just begging for information. I AM BEGGING for someone to say or show something that can ya know. Justify the claims they're making. That's not insane I don't think. All the time, accusations are put out on the internet. And every time. "Do you have any proof? If not I won't believe you." EVERY TIME. In pop culture off the top of my head — Colleen Balinger v Adam McIntyre. The Ace Family combating sexual assault accusations. Percy Hynes White. Chris D'elia. The list goes on and on. And each time it was like "where are the receipts. Or the receipts are given. Counter-evidence is given. The court of public opinion takes place.

Yet when it's a group of people asking for proof of these actions so they don't interact anymore. It's "you're just like them." This seemed like such a popular response. So popular for people to think "lol proof? fuck you."

No Proof is Our Fault, I guess

So obviously this person wasn't the only one voicing their opinion. And this person said:

Firstly, I hate that anyone would be harassed because they point out racist actions. I'm sorry, that the one person you showed, did something awful. Truly. I'm sorry that the people in question lashed out at you. However. Like I said: if the majority of us didn't see it, right, how are we supposed to call this out? If we didn't see? We never heard it? So now we're all evil, and are going to attack you? Because we said nothing because we saw nothing? But it's people like this, who at the same time will go out of their way to quote tweet, and screenshot when they see minor behavior on the timeline.

To the point that bee briefly deleted her account. So it's like, obviously the capacity to call out problematic behavior is there. The willingness to screenshot, quote tweet, and spread around any tweet from a darklina is there.

But when it comes to racism: "I don't trust you enough to share evidence." "I didn't think it was important."

When it comes to harassment: crickets.

It's not important until darklinas have a problem with being discredited. It's not important enough to screenshot or report until other parts of the fandom want to have a gotcha moment without providing any instances of racism actually happening.

This is long winded already.

Final Thoughts

Idk man. I just feel frustrated because all I've seen for DAYS is "please tell us who these terrible people are, so we can block and stop interacting with them." and then it turns to "Fuck you, you know what you did." NO. I don't! None of the people asking for proof know what you're talking about! That's why we're ASKING.

In literally all of my other fandoms, there are similar dramas and accusations. But it never drags on for years because proof is provided! Those people are excommunicated from the larger space! But it just feels like anti-darklina fans are so gun-ho on demonizing EVERYONE because the actions of the few.

If you see racism and harassment, REPORT IT. Screen shot, share why. Say "hey this is problematic." Everyone talks about cancel culture, but when it comes to serious accusations they think solving the issue is hiding it? Refusing to share what was said so people can make sure no one interacts with them or at least make it know that person sucks ass?

At this point it feels like y'all WANT darklinas to be these bad people who say and do awful things. Meanwhile, this year alone, Darklinas have excommunicated several people for defending Ben Barnes and the racist actions he's committed this year. (This is not a BB call out post, but as BB and Darklinas had a lot of overlap, it was something that came up and overwhelmingly Darklinas shamed Ben Barnes and the defenders).

I just wish this fandom was able to collectively acknowledge when someone is being terrible, regardless of their fucking shipping preference. Racism has no place in fan spaces. It never should. (It has no place in real life, either.) And fan spaces should work TOGETHER to expel racists when it's seen. It's called a fandom community for a reason.

[isa-the-great-and-powerful]

T4T talk, read if you want I guess

I guess I can share it here where all the lil freaks are also. And I saw a post saying the same thing for someone else just now. Two weekends ago I had my first ever T4T experience and it was great. The whole weekend was great. Idk, I guess getting called cute and pretty constantly really revs up this Ace leaning girl a lot more than I'd have thought. I assumed I was Demisexual on the Ace spectrum. And this answered a lot of questions I had about myself honestly. I suspected I might possibly be a switch if anything ever were to happen. and I most certainly am. Albeit a gentle one that is still shy of boundaries. She told me after how she liked how gentle I was... but like a few days later when we were texting said " I could be more rough and she wouldn't mind." So, that's good feedback to hear. :) She is such a lovely person. She melts me. and apparently I have enough rizz to keep her still into me. She is poly and I'm not the only person she has, so that is an interesting dynamic considering my past relationships were all mono types. I'm not nonplussed by that at all, which is another question I had about myself. I get along with her gf well.

I do struggle with thoughts that are leftovers from past traumas and horrible relationships/interactions, and being conditioned for monogamous thoughts. But all of that is stuff that I'd have to deal with with a mono relationship also and has nothing to do with her. so that's something to work on myself about though. Literally it's my brain lying to me about things. and I'm thankfully smart enough to realizes this, despite still feeling the pain from the lies. Literally, as I was having a breakdown she called and calmed me down and assured me she cared a lot for me, and made sure I was calmed down and ok before going back to her errands she was running with someone else. And I hadn't even told her my brain was trying to lie to me about her thoughts of me. Abandonment trauma is a bitch. But for real, she keeps proving my brain's lies wrong. and I love that about her.

If you want a post about that actual event... just ask :P (Oh and this was also my first time with anyone so that was an experience and a half.)

[tocupid]

SAINTS? SAENTS. — FRUITY PEBBLES

synopsis. where an all korean high school finally gets an international student ... turned into a group of 5.

meet saeboms internationals and peek at their lives as they adapt to the new world their thrown in together!

warnings. cussing, jake slander, literally a sprinkle of jen feeling down (but its ok! she has her amazing friends to pick her back up!!!), lmk if anything else should be added

jumping off the bus, you and keeho rushed to the spot that your group usually hung out at. a simple bench that was somewhat between the entrance and school itself since jen absolutely hated walking and wanted to get to a spot as quick as possible but to a distance where it was easy for you to fight your way through a mob of students trying to get to class asap as the bell rang.

you could spot chunhua sitting there, still nervous even after attending the school for 2+ years. "sprinting" (yall know damn well you are NOT sprinting at 7 in the morning) towards the bench, hua practically jumped up, meeting you "half way", hugging you and keeho tightly. a bystander would've assumed the three of you hadn't seen each other in centuries when, in reality, you all had seen each other (including jake and jen!!) 2 days ago for school supply shopping and a sleepover at jens.

"I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE ALONE HERE!!" chunhua dramatically wailed while keeho snickered, and you pressed multiple kisses on her cheeks, knowing that the ticklish feeling would have her laughing her ass off soon. "MY POOR BABY!! MWAH MWAH MWAH MWAH" you wailed just as dramatically back, letting out a few henious laughs in between. keeho simply tried shutting the both of you up, covering his face and trying to cover yours and hers as well, slightly embarrassed at the judging stares whispers aimed at you three.

they'd definitely have more to talk about as jake and jen crashed into the three, laughing just as hard. a few "FUCK YOU JAKE"'s were passed around along with some "I'LL SHOVE FRUITY PEBBLES DOWN YOUR THROAT"'s in the chaos. landing all over and around the bench, the saents continued to catch up over what happened the past 2 days. even if it was all said in the group chat, it always felt like a whole new story when talked about in person. in the middle of jen discussing her petty fight with her sister, rachel, she stopped, mouth still open, hearing the sound of a motorcycle engine running and soon seeing the motorcycle itself pull up into the schools parking lot, visible from where the 5 sat. all heads turned to the direction of the parking lot, heart eyes coming from the majority (including our very own jennifer huh) as han seojun took off his helmet, shaking his hair into place. a few squeals erupted as he got off the bike and walked towards the school, dusting off his uniform. turning his head to glance at a few of the admirers, and even sending a wink towards a lucky one, his gaze landed on jen, giving her a small smile and wave, which she returned back.

they had known each other from when they had partnered up for a project together. based on the rumors, jen DREADED working with him, afraid she'd have to do all the work herself. surprisingly, he had made an effort to understand the task at hand, and with all of the hard work, the two passed with an 82. usually, jen scored higher, being a pretty good student. this time, she didn't seem to mind the 82, knowing how difficult it was for the boy who barely paid attention in class to get his act together for the little time they had for the project. the time spent together wasn't boring at all despite it mostly being on work. he would do his best to make things more comfortable and casual for her, cracking a few jokes (that she laughed VERY hard at) from time to time and doing his best to do as much as the work for her.. even though she ended up having to edit most of it. after the project ended, she expected him to treat her like a stranger all over again, only to see how he did his best to maintain their friendly relationship, helping her out when he could and waving at her with a smile every time he saw her. soon enough, everything he did just made jen's heart flutter and fill her stomach with butterflies as her face slightly reddened with a blush.

it was only until a weight was added to her chest along with all these other feelings when lim jugyeong transferred to the school. everyone knew of lee suho and han seojun's beef at this point and the rumors of a love triangle between them and jugyeong rose. the fact that seojun made it so obvious he was chasing after jugyeong had everyone wondering if he was just doing it to go against suho or if he genuinely liked her, including jen.

watching him run to bother jugyeong, who was chattit was only until a weight was added to her chest along with all these other feelings when lim jugyeong transferred to the school. everyone knew of lee suho and han seojun's beef at this point and the rumors of a love triangle between them and jugyeong rose. watching him bother jugyeong who was simply walking with sooah and soojin at the steps, her smile dropped for a second, only for a smaller one to be brought back up as you, keeho, jake, and chunhua nudged her, giving her big hugs, to cheer her up. then the affirmations came in, and she couldn't help but giggle as they started turning into bickering as well (mostly targeted toward jake because he just can't be fake for a SECOND..) that silenced once she was the one who initiated the big group hug. "thanks guys.. i'll just continue doing my best to get his interest!" jen spoke with a determined and hopeful look that made everyone else feel way better. you were so worried and afraid of your dear friend getting hurt, her beautiful smile falling for longer. all you could hope was things would work out in her favor now. lord.. this school year was going to be a LONG ONE..

taglist. @junoswrlld @beommii @shotaroswifeyily @manooffline

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀masterlist⠀⠀previous⠀⠀next

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep20: Vis a Vis

The only thing I remembered from this episode was Tom's garage holoprogram with the vintage car, and I feel like that's probably my brain protecting me by blocking out everything that sucked in this episode. This ep was so stupid, and not in a good way.

(Content warning for discussion of sexual assault beneath the cut, yet again! Was it 'disrespect female characters month' on the show or something??)

Every character on Voyager got at least one really good episode to themselves, except for Tom. For some reason all of his were awful, and I don't know why. He's a great character, he'd had a strong character arc throughout the show, he was always quietly wonderful in the background of other characters stories, but then they seemed to go blank whenever they tried to make an episode about him, and we're left with crap like this.

I don't recognize the name of the writer, so I'm guessing it was a script submitted by someone who hadn't seen the show since season one, when they were trying so hard (and failing spectacularly) to make Tom a bad boy. The Tom Paris we see in this ep is not the guy we've gotten to know over the last four years- instead of a self sacrificing, eager to help out goober who's ride or die for everyone on that ship, we have a selfish, rude, obnoxious jerk- and that's before the alien body-swapping even starts! I honestly thought the alien had already stolen his body during that scene in the mess hall where he freaks out and gets paranoid and yells at B'Elanna for no reason- what the hell was that?? Where did this weird random 'Tom is suddenly unhappy on Voyager out of the blue, for no reason' stuff come from?? We already did that way back in season 2- and that was fake. By that point, Tom was already 100% commited to Voyager, and only pretended to not be for the sake of a mission. The last time Tom actually got defensive and snappy toward people he loved, it was because he was distraught to be reminded of his life before Voyager, because he's so much happier there than anywhere else. To just ignore that a few episodes later makes no sense. Tom literally has everything he ever wanted for the first time in his life- he's doing his dream job, surrounded by people who love him and believe in him, he has the hottest girlfriend in the galaxy, and he's far away from his dad and Starfleet and all the mistakes of his past that almost ruined his life, and yet we're supposed to believe that he's somehow bored and dissatisfied and wants something better?? Than his life on Voyager?? Like what?? How could anyone on Voyager be starved for excitement when they deal with constant life and death situations every other day?? (Probably too much excitement for most of the crew's comfort tbh.) Feels like some real toxic masculinity to assume that any man who's finally settled in life must actually feel pinned down and constrained by having responsibilties to other people.

I'm supposing they did the whole 'Tom is unhappy here' storyline so he could learn a little 'there's no place like home' lesson at the end. But if that's the story you want to tell, why pick a character who's happy where he is, and already knows that?? If you have to totally twist a character around to fit them into the mold you want, just so they have to do something to get back to the point they were already at- that's bad writing, plain and simple. Pick another character that you don't have to twist around for it, or do a different story.

There wasn't anything clever or insightful, or even funny in this one. It just doesn't work. They didn't even use the body swapping as a device to explore another theme, it was just a straight-up body snatcher trope with no new twist or new insight. It just ended up feeling gross to watch, because the audience knows it isn't really Tom, it's a bad guy with bad intentions, and so we're just watching a bad guy lie to and manipulate characters we love the whole time, and it's extremely unpleasant. Especially with B'Elanna, there was just no way she wouldn't have seen through him, and even if she didn't, she wouldn't have tolerated that behavior from Tom either. She'd have thrown him out of her quarters after that bullshit in the mess hall, she'd never have been moved by the imposter's lame ass attempt at an apology, and she would have punched him in the nose after grabbing her in the transporter room scene. That scene makes me so angry I want to scream. You honestly think B'Elanna fucking Torres is gonna tolerate any man raising a hand to her?? Really?! She knows how to fight, she's not gonna sit there like a passive victim, she'd be angry and fight back. And she'd tell the Captain, because that clearly isn't Tom, and even if it was, assaulting a fellow officer is very much not allowed in Starfleet, and he should absolutely be disciplined for it. Making B'Elanna into some passive victim in this story just makes my blood boil. I'm not even Klingon, and I'm ready to punch a guy in the nose over all this, so just imagine what B'Elanna would do!

Compare this episode to the Next Generation episode 'Allegiance', and you can immediately see the inferiority of this one. The body swapping there was just one element in a larger story, and they didn't reveal to us who the imposter was or what they wanted til the end, so it built dramatic tension as the crew realized what was going on. The way they did it here, with everyone saying to Tom "what's going on with you?? You're not acting like yourself!" BEFORE getting body swapped, and then totally believing in the imposter version, is just like. what?? It makes no sense! (Why did they even accept such a weak script in the first place? I don't know!) Screwing over Tom by making him suddenly act like an asshole for no reason, and screwing over all the other characters by making them so stupid that they can't even figure out it's not really him just doesn't make for great television. (Like B'Elanna wouldn't figure out she was being kissed by a totally different person?? Really?? And it was extremely creepy that it fades out to a different scene after that- please don't leave room to imply that B'Elanna could have gotten raped by the imposter. Especially with his creepy 'give my regards to B'Elanna' line to Tom later on, it just gives off really gross implications, and it's so fucking misogynist to use a female character as a prop for male characters to use or fight over, as though what actually happens to women is somehow less important than how men feel about it. I personally believe that it couldn't have happened, because for one thing, there's absolutely no way in hell B'Elanna wouldn't have figured out it wasn't Tom in that situation, but I hate that they put the ambiguity in there at all.)

And why wouldn't B'Elanna be just as interested in helping repair the alien guy's engines as Tom? Um, hello?! She's an engineer!!! She would jump at the chance to tinker around with a new type of warp engine! Just as much, if not more, than Tom would! These two both love ships so much, they should be bonding over that! What is this weird treatment of Tom & B'Elanna's relationship as though 20th century gender roles still exist?? The whole point of Star Trek is to break down those sterotypes, yet we've still got the show acting like 'oh of course girlfriends don't understand about guy things like fixing enigines!' REALLY?! When said girlfriend is literally A FREAKING ENGINEER!?! WHEN HER ENTIRE JOB IS FIXING ENGINES?!? I just can't with the depths of dude-bro-y-ness in Star Trek writers rooms sometimes!!

It was kind of fun when Janeway was body swapped and got to be evil for a scene, and I really think they missed an opportunity in not writing the bodyswap story for Janeway, since Kate plays it so deliciously. (Of course, they missed an opportunity by not writing a good story in general here, so whatever.)

And then, when they finally catch the imposter, they handwave away the ending with a captain's log saying 'The Doctor found a way to return everyone to their bodies'. How?! That's kind of a big deal! But everything else in this episode points to this guy just being a bad writer, so I guess we shouldn't expect anything from him. There's just so many plotholes and inconsistencies everywhere- if imposter guy (Steth? I think that was his name?) literally steals people's bodies, like physically swaps minds with them, then why was he reverting back to his previous host bodies form?? If he can't permanently take their forms, that would seem to imply he isn't actually stealing their bodies, but mimicking them somehow. And if he can't maintain his stolen forms indefinitely, how come the people he swapped with don't revert back to their original bodies after a certain amount of time too?? It just doesn't make any sense. (Also, how did fake Tom get into B'Elanna's quarters?? Real Tom might know the security code to her door, but this guy sure doesn't- and if he broke in, how would security not be alerted?? Plot holes, plot holes everywhere!)

All of this is so egregiously bad that I can't even enjoy the final scene, which actually would have been adorable if it had capped off a less terrible episode. Tom invites B'Elanna to his garage holoprogram and apologizes for spending more time there than with her, and they make out in the car. Which is cute if they had had a little tiff, but considering he'd yelled at her for no reason, and then she'd been just about assaulted by someone who she thought was him at the time, I just don't feel like this is an appropriate way to address the shit she'd been put through. This script treats B'Elanna like a prop with no feelings, makes Tom out to be an asshole, screws over both characters, fucks up their whole relationship, then glosses over it like it was no big deal. It makes me so damn angry. I need brain bleach to forget this whole episode exists again.

Tl;dr: A story that uses the body-swap trope in an almost voyeuristic way that's extremely unpleasant to watch. It messes with established characterization to the point that Tom seems like he's already been taken over by an alien before it even happens. Just plain bad all around.