#i may be slower to release these a bit because i don't want to turn them into a chore or get back into that habit

[ducktracy]

!!!NEW REVIEW!!!

the end of an era: "Fat Elmer" sees his demise in this textbook but no less inspired--and at times reprehensible--Bugs and Elmer outing. Mike Maltese flexes his written wit, whether it be tailoring Elmer's lines to his speech ("i'm a disgwace to the wegiment!") or sewing gags that would be best remembered in his many collaborations with Chuck Jones, such as a prototypal Wile E-esque rock painting gag. there's a bit of experimentation in that this is the first short to paint Bugs as a fully fledged villain with a bounty on his head. a scourge of the Canadian Rockies, it's up to Elmer the Mountie to get his man--that, predictably, does not quite go as planned

[searchingsomewhere]

All Too Well, Part 7

{"We're good people, and we both deserve peace."}

Part 1 Part 8

I know we're moving quick here, trying to go at the pace the anime generally goes, but I might write some oneshots of them being teens because I just want them to be happy ;^;

Two weeks and they were back in their regular routine, with some exceptions. At Yaga's request, Miho was allowed to attend several of his classes with Shoko, Suguru, and Satoru. Not every class, but some. Shoko pulled her aside one day as they left the library when she finally noticed Suguru walking Miho to and from her room every morning and afternoon.

"So," Shoko said, linking their arms as they walked, "I noticed you and Suguru are pretty close. Are you dating?"

"We're trying to keep it quiet, but yes," Miho said.

Shoko smiled softly, "How serious?"

"Barely. Just feeling things out," Miho admitted. It really hadn't been long.

"That kind of stuff is hard. You never really know when the two of you will go out, and only one will come back."

Miho watched the ground as they walked. It had only been a few weeks, and she and Suguru had already had that conversation. You had to, going out on missions like they did. It was a tentative situation.

"Just don't let the higher ups hear," Shoko muttered.

That was the whole reason they were being quiet about it. Still, hearing it from someone else peaked her interest. "What do you mean?"

Shoko glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting someone to be watching them.

"They're awfully nosey. I just feel like..." she shook her head, "...I don't know. Just be careful."

Miho squeezed her arm in a quiet 'thank you'. It felt strange, having people looking out for her. She was having trouble remembering how isolating the library had been.

Muted afternoon sunlight filtered into the gym. Thunder rolled softly outside. Suguru was waiting for them there, sitting on one of the bleachers. He had just returned from a mission with Satoru, though the white haired boy was nowhere to be found.

"So how many hand signs does it take to activate Retribution?" Suguru asked.

"Eight. I can do them in about a minute, but I'm trying to get faster. A minute is an awful long time."

She molded her hands into the first sign, keeping her pointer and ring finger down. Shoko stood from her seat nervously.

"Should you really be doing that?" she asked.

"As long as I'm not activating it, it's fine," Miho said. She went through all eight motions slowly, feeling them out, fingers instinctively moving without thought. "I think my problem is cursed energy control."

"How so?"

"Retribution allows me to expend all my cursed energy at once into a single seal. And since it's a Domain Expansion, it's guaranteed to work. But," she dropped her hands, sighing, "it's the expending part that would kill me."

"So if we can train you to better control your cursed energy, you may not have to release so much at once," Suguru said thoughtfully.

"That would tamper with its effectiveness," Shoko said.

"But I'd be alive," Miho shrugged.

"I gotta go," Shoko said, grabbing her bag, "But give me some time and I'll see if I can come up with anything that might help!"

Miho waved to her as she left. Suguru stood, grabbing her tote. "I'll walk you to your room."

It was pouring outside. Miho grabbed his hand and began running through the rain. Suguru gave only the faintest bit of hesitation before letting her guide him. The rain pelted their backs, soaking through their uniforms. Something about the cold rain striking her face was oddly both soothing and exciting.

The closer they got to the dorms, the slower they ran, until they were standing in the downpour, just outside her dorm building. Lightning struck overhead. Miho turned to say goodbye.

Suguru pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. He said something she couldn't hear over the thunder before turning to jog back. Miho stood there, dumbfounded, mouth open and cheeks warm. Another strike of lightning sent her running inside, head still reeling.

---

Satoru's face was impassive as he walked through the school grounds with one hand in his pocket and the other holding an umbrella. He'd only been gone for a few days, just to Sendai to take care of some Curses. And in those few days, Suguru and Miho had both gotten hurt...and started dating.

He was relieved they were both okay. And for that other part...That was fine. Of course it was fine.

"Hey Satoru," Suguru had said just a few weeks before, "What do you think of Miho?"

The two were back in the gym, passing the basketball back and forth.

"She's cute. Not my type, though," Satoru was quick to reply.

He'd seen the way Suguru watched her, how he seemed to hang on to every word she said. He'd been spending a lot of time in the library, too. Satoru only knew because he found himself doing the same thing.

"So, you'd be okay with me asking her out?"

Satoru threw his head back and laughed. "Of course. You think you need my permission?"

Suguru bounced the ball to him. "I figured I'd run it by you. You seem to have taken a liking to her."

He hid his frown with a scoff. "Nah. I mean, she's a sweet girl. I'm glad to have her as a friend. And besides, you two would be cute together."

Satoru blew air from his mouth, rubbing his neck. He'd been fighting a sickening sense of disappointment ever since that day. It was worse now, a few weeks later, seeing their small touches. How Suguru would shyly bump her hand when they walked out in town, fingers interweaving until they were holding hands. Or how he'd put his arm over the back of her chair during studying hours. How red her face would get when he smiled at her. And the way she leaned into his touch.

At first, he told himself that one date didn't mean they'd begin dating. Then, on the train to Sendai, he scolded himself. Of course, they'd start dating. Suguru was a great guy. Truly. He had a good head on his shoulders. He was exceptionally handsome, and incredibly kind. One of the kindest people Satoru had ever met. And Miho was quiet, but sweet and thoughtful. He hadn't quite met a soul like hers. Not once did jealousy ever cross his mind. He wasn't jealous of Suguru. Or Miho.

"Satoru, wait up!" Suguru called behind him. His hair clung to his face, uniform thoroughly sopping wet.

"Dude, you're soaked!" Satoru laughed, stopping in the middle of the path. Suguru ducked under his umbrella. Satoru's eyes glowed and he peered at his friend over his glasses. "Why's your face so red, huh? Huh?"

Suguru grinned, waving it away. "Don't worry about it."

"D'you kiss her?" Satoru gasped, "Oh my god, you kissed her, didn't you?"

"Something like that."

Satoru 'ooo'd and 'ahh'd, jabbing him in the side with his elbow until he confessed. A strange feeling struck him right in the chest, but he laughed it off, opting to tease his friend instead. It wasn't until they were walking to the dorms that he realized what he was feeling wasn't envy.

It was longing.

Part 1 Part 8

[socketballmasks]

I've been trying to figure out how to word some reflections on the last year, and how things are going. I guess I'll start with talk about production:

I don't like how I've been handling orders until now. Taking orders on a preorder basis and putting them into a backlog works, but I wasn't executing that idea that well. I had set up some calculations based on numbers that turned out to be wrong, and had other unexpected setbacks that have dragged things out a couple months longer than they should have been. I ended up spraining my ankle pretty badly near the end of the year, which put me out of all work for roughly six weeks, and then right as I got out of that, I caught covid (at a grocery store of all places), which put me out for another week. Then, I had to put much of my resin workstation toward producing christmas gifts for family, which took another week out. That could have been avoided, perhaps… but I did want to give my folks something handmade this year.

I have been rethinking my methods – to focus primarily on production so that I can deliver orders more faster and more frequently. New calculations of work time based on more accurate numbers look promising, and I am starting to put them into practice. The focus will be to have items ready before or close to their sale dates, so that all of the different factors that longer time periods introduce can be avoided.

For those of you with backlogged orders, I will be delivering them all within the first three to four months of this year. I’m not going to release another “shipping schedule” chart because I don’t want to find myself breezing past deadlines again, and possibly disappointing people that way. I’m very grateful that you all have been so patient with me. I’m closing in on being able to ship out the first of the five backlogged order batches, and anticipate fully achieving that by the end of this month. Because several customers have orders in multiple batches, and I am doing my best to combine them all, there’s a bit of a cumulative effect. Things are slower at first, as I’m not only handling the first batch, but also certain people’s orders across other batches. This picks away at the further batches that need to ship, so things may get faster as I approach the final backlogged batch. Now that I’m able-bodied and no longer sick with corona, there shouldn’t be any crazy setbacks to the backlog fulfillment process.

I don’t have much else to say here, so thank you for taking a moment of your time to read my thoughts this year. Best wishes to you and yours,

Socketball

[sideeffectsofhavingnolife]

IPKKND S:1 EP-5

Thinking of doing a sprint instead of one each day.

Let me grab some tea and churn these out

Me, when high on chai.

Fifth Episode of Iss pyar ko kya naam doon, hoping for progression.

Her being surrounded by men, is just an uncomfortable feeling.

Stop it with the overreaction guys. It's clearly an accidental fall. They are acting like she had a sex tape released.

Oh! Hey Mom, who just came around Khushi after 4 episodes of sulking. Ready to be disappointed once again?

Look at Arnav watching their video, quite fondly, if I may say.

"Meri bezatti karni ki himmat na aaj tak kisi ne ki hai, na ab koi karega." 🙄 He is such a fussy kid!

I just saw Tees Maar Khan's poster behind them. A bit sad that fewer people went to that movie because they were busy watching Khushi's video. Khushi's got Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif beat. Nice going girl!

Oh there we go! The catcallers are here. Why are they always in a group of three though? It was the same in Ishqbaaz.

I doubt you all got even a penny in your pockets.

What the fuck is this acting! Lol!

Damn! The mother is very coy. I'd expect her to get in at least one slap.

A group of hooligans disrespecting women. Tick.

The sleazy dupatta pulling. Tick.

Pushing an elderly man off. Tick.

No interference from the crowd. Tick

Setting the stage so a younger man can magically appear and save the day. Tick

This is an every 2000s and 10s bollywood movie scene ever.

And our savior's got the iconic Salman Khan bracelet.

Could you walk a little slower dude? This way you might actually reach in time.

Why are there people just standing around. Like they are not even hesitantly walking by. They are full-on standing and watching as if that's what they stepped out for.

Yo! What kind of acupuncture pressure point did this man hit for the goon's hand to be shaking that much?

"Kaun hai be tu?" Honestly, I have the same question.

Holy Shit, He just made a 'I fucked you mom' comeback.

Not the shawty eating the watermelon.

More people just entered.

Did the bat just break after coming in contact with his arm?! Is this man unbreakable?

I think they forgot to put the snapping neck effect.

Not him instantly falling in love with our girl. Or does he know her from before?

Stop looking at her, my guy. She wouldn't want a man looking at her for the entire next month.

Also they don't know each other at all. This is an entirely new interaction. I need to prepare my second lead syndrome heart. Why are the second leads always the better choice?

Aghh! Bua ji please shut the fuck up! Why don't you visit the ganga ji yourself, perhaps in a kalash?

Ooh, they are going to delhi? Nice, develop the plot.

But does she really think that Delhi is the place to learn 'sanskaar'?

Ab Bua ji ko bahut problem ho rahi hai.

Oh his sister's still here.

It's the divorce you alll.

Nah! This man is really such a child. Isn't it embarrassing to talk such emo shit in front of his employee.

"Di relax, please." He got so triggered.

She saw the news? But didn't she see it live, I am pretty sure she was there.

I know Khushi feels bad but Payal literally has nothing to do with any of this, yet she is trying her best to cope with it.

"Soch ke hi to kiya hai." This bastard is so turned on by this stuff.

"Aapka pati kaha hai?" Lol.

He is gone, boy, they are divorcing.

I am kinda digging this dynamic more.

No! Tease him more. I can just tell she is gonna be a big shipper of Arnav and Khushi in the future.

Khushi! Girl! I love your spirit but please don't make this worse. This isn't as bad, you should learn to be less dependent on your parents. It's about time.

Yeah! sure this makes you so much less suspicious.

Wow! they really pulled up to the news station.

Does she think that they would have even an iota of regret about it.

At this point she would have to take it to the court which she is likely to lose because well, money.

Dubey ji and Chaubey ji. Right, Not at all fictional.

"Uske liye to aapko Delhi jaana padega!" So it's Arnav then.

Oh, so now they feel bad.

"Hum galat the" Well, that was easy.

Now she knows!

Not that she could do much about it anyways! But atleast she can hate him more viscerally now. And that's what we want!

Okay Byeeee!!

Onto the next one, I go!

[hislittleraincloud]

Well, I mean. The Miller's Girl community (which includes the Martin Freemaniacs) is obvs more welcoming to their pairing since it's just natural canon that everyone can see (and I'm sure more are comfortable with their ages).

Like I may have mentioned somewhere (maybe I didn't, might still be in my drafts), Cairo is the same age as Wednesday. If she was 18 in the Fall of 2023, she was born in 2005 (but if the movie takes place this year/upon its release, then she was born in 2006). I think people forget that in real time, Wednesday is turning 18 this year. 💀 Wednesday is also more advanced than Cairo, generally.

Sigh. I just looked up to the loop and it's her first intimate scene with Donovan. ("Actually, I'd like to speak to Sheriff Galpin...alone.") Ortega spoke so softly with McShane. It's so...charged. I'm so bereft that he's been demoted to a guest starring role, but I guess they're probably going with Sheriff Santiago after Donovan steps down due to his involvement with hiding the truth about Francie and Tyler (which...is pretty much where AtB was going, only slower). We need to see Sheriff Galpin's scars over that. They don't have to be physical. But alas.

Wenovan is still a true pairing for me, but Jairo is tied right next to it. Two old bastards with two unruly teenagers. THAT'S ALWAYS FUN. 💀💀💀💀💀

I hate that there aren't any Donovan .gifs that aren't defiled by subtitles/words. Wenovan deserves more.

Maybe it's that it's harder to wrap minds around the idea that a Very Weird™ and hypersexual 16yo would want someone (much) old/er. But that's the point. Wednesday is Very Fucking Weird™ in comparison to her peers. She IS that rare individual (much like Cairo), that "not like other girls" girl, she's far above average. I just took what was already there and amplified it into Afterburn Wednesday.

Still kinda weirded out that Miller's Girl was basically the ABW/Fortunato situation in less more than 1500 words. And I wanna know which one of you little trolls voted for it. 💩 Man, I do wonder what would've happened if Mrs. Murphy (wow, I JUST now realized that she has the same name as Jon's proxy in Cairo's story 💀💀💀💀💀) hadn't walked in on them. I think maybe she would've gotten as far as beard petting. Maybe some handiwork, too (by both).

But ultimately ABW would not have slept with Mr. Fortunato. Fool around, maybe, but she wouldn't have lost her V-Card on him. He may have been handsome and knowledgeable about English, but he's otherwise kind of uninteresting to ABW (! Right? You would think that an AP English prof would be...well, like Jonathan Miller). He's pretty and he knows his stuff, but there was nothing else in common. And he's closeted. 🙊 Married to a woman, has two young children, but totally 🏳️‍🌈. No one at Sacred Heart knew/knows, or even suspects. He likes musicals, and ABW despises them (once when he was going off about Hamilton — after that bitch Ryleigh brought it up — she excused herself from class claiming bathroom needs and didn't come back until the bell rang to pick up her bag). I think if they had gotten to talking about anything other than English, she'd catch on quickly. If he's 🏳️‍🌈, why the flustering over ABW? Because he's still human. Gay men can still be aroused by and have sex with women, and ABW had turned up the heat real high with the recitation of her 'favorite' passage from Lolita (which is merely a poetic description of the sex between Humbert and Dolores). Wow, so while Cairo prefers Henry Miller, ABW prefers Vladimir Nabokov...which is fitting, considering that Wednesday (15, though she was 14 when she started the class) was a bit younger than Cairo (18) was at their teacher crush points. But it is interesting to note that Nabokov's style is much more grandiloquent than Miller's brash smut; one is a glass of white wine, the other a splash of Everclear, both the alcohol of onanism...the younger's younger choice being more sophisticated in terms of language. But as usual when I'm fkn high, I digress. TLDR; ABW wouldn't have fucked Fortunato. And he escaped the inquiry with his job, though he got suspended for a week while it was happening.

As for Jairo, the clear winner...I don't have much to say unless I'm expressing it through the fiction because oh mah God, UVC Jairo are the cutest goddamn couple ever and I like imagining them both happy and having fun...well, for now. It can't all be peace and tranquility. Jon best buckle in! 👹👹👹👹👹

[heartofspells]

Hello my friend, might I humbly request a snippet of falling-in-love-in-their-30s Wolfstar if you have any to spare? :)

Imp, sweetheart, you may have whatever you like. I'll admit I don't have much yet, mostly just a handful of small, random scenes that will eventually make a larger thing. But you can have them all (well, except one. i'll hold onto that one until the end because it's the closer)

"Why didn't we?"

"What?" questions Remus. Sirius arches one dark eyebrow, fingers twitching around the neck of the bottle cradled between his thighs as he shifts over the ornate sofa. "Fuck around?"

Sirius hums, tipping his head backwards over the arm, pale, slender neck that shouldn't rightfully suit him but always has elongating under Remus' watchful eye. His gaze trickles down to the small bit of chest hair that's peeking out from under his friend's robes before he forces himself to look away.

"Just seems odd, doesn't it? You and me. S'not like there were loads of options for us, were there?"

"For me, maybe," voices Remus without any judgement. "You bent half the school."

Sirius lifts his head, flashing a knowing sort of smile. "Really, though, why didn't we? Seems the easiest solution to our troubles back then now that I think about it. Have one off with a mate instead of slogging through the clusterfuck that was the 'is he?' we had to do," he tosses out far too casually. Remus adjusts a bit in his seat at Sirius' feet. "You were always fit back then. Still are."

"Yes, incredibly fit," scoffs Remus, rolling his eyes. "Like a string bean animated to walk and talk."

"I never said you weren't lanky," counters Sirius, kicking at Remus' hip a little in chastisement. "Doesn't mean you're not fit."

Remus grabs for the bottle and takes a swig, ignoring the comment. He turns it over in his hands for a few seconds before handing it back.

"I don't know," he finally mumbles. "We always managed to find others. You had Fabian for a while. Gideon too, for a spurt." Sirius releases a small chuckle. "I found some blokes along the way too. Eventually settled in with Benjy…"

"Seems I recall having Fenwick for a while as well," comments Sirius a bit devilishly, and Remus knocks at his shin. Sirius throws his head back in a bark of laughter before he calms again, falling silent as his nails pick at the label on the bottle in front of him. "Seems wrong, doesn't it? Unnatural. All our old exploits are dead."

"You're the only one that ever called them exploits," remarks Remus idly, watching Sirius' face. His friend grins wickedly at him, but it fades quickly, resting into somberness once more, shadows flickering over his grey eyes.

"It shouldn't be this way," mutters Sirius darkly. "They should be happy, healthy. They should be loved, be working, have kids by now if that's what they wanted. They should be popping all around the world, watching sunrises and sunsets, but instead, they're – " Sirius falters and stops. He lifts the bottle to his lips and takes a long pull of the liquid inside. "You never did answer my question," he says leadingly after a while, gaze lifting up to look at Remus again. "Why didn't we?"

Remus chews it around for a time, unable to figure out why he doesn't want to look at it that closely right now. Sirius watches him, saying nothing, waiting with a patience he's never possessed.

"You were my best friend, Pads," murmurs Remus finally, voice low, like confessing a secret. "Wouldn't have seemed right. It would have been like you and James messing about."

"James and I had our fun," offers Sirius easily, and Remus' head whips up to stare at him in shock. Sirius smiles a bit wistfully as he shrugs one shoulder, eyes flickering up to the ceiling briefly. "He was a curious bastard. It didn't happen often, and it never went very far, but we had our moments." He takes another swig from the bottle, this time slower, his expression contemplative. "Wouldn't have worked, though. Heart was always somewhere else, that one. But there were a few times that I thought…I dunno. Best mate. No one ever got me like he did. So I thought what if that's how it was always meant to go? Who it was supposed to be. But it wasn't. He only had eyes for Lily, and we likely would have killed one another in the end."

Remus stares at Sirius for a stretch of time before he finally shakes his head. "You still never cease to surprise me," he admits, and Sirius flashes him a small smile, eyes still pulled at their corners with a lingering sadness. "Can't say you ever came across as the settling down type, honestly."

Sirius hums again, the sound thoughtful. "Maybe not," he agrees mildly. "Or maybe I just never found that right person. Maybe I never looked in the right places."

His eyes bore into Remus who resists the urge to squirm and fidget, feeling as though there's a fire that's been set alight inside him, deep within his veins. Sirius doesn't look away, and Remus finally clears his throat.

"Right, well," he starts before fumbling. He reaches over and grabs the bottle again, taking several gulps that sear his innards, but he ignores it. He doesn't give the bottle back this time. "Doesn't matter much now."

Sirius remains silent for a while, still watchful, not moving. "Right," he eventually mumbles, and Remus can't help but notice the hint of melancholy in his voice. "More important things happening."

[incoherentbabblings]

33, 56, 71, 108, 144.

TimSteph

(And yes, I picked some smut because I think you said you're testing your writing muscles, may be wrong but hey, there you go.)

700 Followers Celebration:

33. “You are such a nerd” + 56. “Just marry me already.” + 71. “God, I love you.” + 108. “Is that my shirt?” + 144. “Just let me finish this/this level and I swear ill go down on you until you cum at least three times.”

Blooming heck I can't get over how I said I don't think I'll ever write TimSteph smut and you immediately went nay. 😑

Okie dokie. Consider this your one citrus fic. Minors dni. I mean it. Please. This was absolutely mortifying to write and it's not even that bad but I will not be doing it again so... here! ANiMalS.

“Tim, can you come through?”

The voice of Stephanie, sing song and lilting, caught Tim’s attention, but barely for a moment. Mario died the moment his eyes drifted away from the screen. He quietly cursed, then tried the level again.

“Um, are you sick? Can it wait?”

He got no reply, but he could hear her stomping through from the bedroom. He knew the sound of her walk so well, he could practically hear her hands on her hips.

“You know, sometimes, you’re incorrigible.”

Tim hummed, resisting the urge to swear when he died again. Whoever designed this level had a sadistic streak a mile wide. Tim’s ego would not let it go. He didn’t fail, he didn’t quit, and he didn’t throw his controller against the TV when Mario yelled ‘oh no’ for the fiftieth time in ten minutes.

Stephanie sat next to him, quiet for a moment, and watched him fail four more times.

“Can I play?”

“Uh… when I finally get past this level.”

“How long have you been on this level?”

“Three days.”

“Oh.” She then chuckled quietly to herself. “You are such a nerd.”

“Thanks, Steph.”

Her hand crept up and touched the joint of his wrist. Immediately Tim released his grip on the controller, allowing her hand to slip into his.

“Can you stop? Just for a little while. This is the first night where we’ve both been off patrol for a while. I don’t wanna lose to a video game.”

Tim stared at their joint hands, following her arm up.

“Is that my shirt?” he asked dumbly.

She sighed indulgently. “Come play with me?”

Oh. Oh. Oh.

Tim looked between Stephanie and the tv screen. She sighed, sad that he was even torn, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Fine. Play your game. Let me stay here with you?”

“Just let me finish this level and” -

“And what?”

Tim wasn’t particularly good at saying what he meant, either he was too abrupt or stammered around the times when he wanted to be sincere. He was getting better at it; Stephanie wasn’t exactly the judgemental type, but still, it didn’t stop him from cringing when he blurted out,

“I swear I'll go down on you until you cum at least three times.”

There was a pause as Stephanie took in what he said.

“Promise?”

Cheeks burning very red, he nodded.

Stephanie hummed, right in his ear, pretending to contemplate the offer, then shook her head. “Uh-uh. Not good enough.”

“But…”

He heard, rather than saw, Stephanie shift. One hand disappeared from view, and she turned her head away to rest on his shoulder. Her hips began to roll, breathing shallow, and bit his shirt. When Tim heard the distinct sound of wet, his easily distractible brain found a potential outlet for his frustration. Because, honestly, screw Mario.

“Oh!” He threw the controller across the room, surely breaking it, then turned and pushed Stephanie down, ignoring her laughter and he jostled her legs up and over her shoulders.

As intended, her laughter cut off with a strangled cry. Her hands fumbled on his shoulders and through his hair, unsure and unable to get to grips with how quickly he’d turned around.

“Wait, wait,” she pushed, and sure enough, he stopped, pulling back just enough to kiss her inner thighs. Catching her breath, she said. “Slower. Please.”

The boy had the nerve to laugh, hot air making her twitch and writhe, but then he did as ordered, and Stephanie fell back against the sofa cushions, stroking his hair.

He was very good. And soon enough she was entreating him to stop again.

“Not enough,” she begged, pulling Tim back up to eyeline with her. Words were beginning to utterly fail her, what with the sight of Tim with his pupils blown wide and then he licked his lips and, “More, Tim, more.”

He groaned, exorcizing some kind of demon as he did as ordered, swallowing her yelp with his mouth and tongue. Bruce would be mad, if he knew that his son wasn’t wrapping up. They fit together so well though. In his most unhinged moments, Tim truly believed like it felt like she was made for him. Warm and tight and wet -

“God, I love you,” he muttered, half out his mind, chasing the cliff to tumble off. He wanted her to fall at the same time and went faster, hands scrambling to find their target.

The kiss turned sloppy, the two barely doing more than headbutting each other as Tim worked to get her to cum. He needed it, suddenly, needed it more than oxygen.

He knew she got her to where he needed, when the muscles in her legs began to spasm. Neither of the pair were loud, Stephanie didn’t have the histrionics necessary for loud, exaggerated moaning, nor did Tim find them particularly enticing. No, what they had was better. Heavy breathing, hitches and gasps when they did well, when something felt good. It forced them to listen and learn.

And this felt good. So good. Being with her was the only thing to occupy his mind when he had her like this. Nothing else mattered. He just wanted her to feel good. Better than good. He had to pay close attention, finding boundaries and buttons to push. And so he did. He was always a fast learner. She was a good teacher.

“Tim… there. There. Th”-

Ah, there.

Nails dug into his shoulders, and with a short, broken and quiet cry, she went completely limp.

Tim was forced to cradle her to keep her from sliding off the sofa, and swallowed a laugh. He wasn’t laughing at her, God no, it was just the build of joy needing a way out. Tim was still going, and it was nearly too much for her. Nearly. Her eyebrows screwed up, and her breathing got louder.

Right, time to wrap this up.

Like her, he was quiet when he finally came, breathing louder than after a one on one fight with King Snake. He chuffed, just a little impressed with himself, at the sight of Stephanie’s blissed out face. Job well done, he supposed.

Her arms came up, pulled him in close.

“Good?” he asked.

“Mm,” she sighed, kissing his cheek. “Very good. Better than any video game, right?”

He laughed, regaining enough of his strength to pull her up, settled on his lap. Brushing her hair off her face, he kissed her forehead and cheeks over and over.

“Don’t ever say I’m not a good boyfriend, huh?”

“Oh,” she craned her neck, letting him kiss her collarbone, tugging his button down shirt away so he could reach the swell of her breasts. “Want more.”

“Already? Steph I’ll need a minute…”

She huffed a laugh, tugging at his hair. Shuddering, he moved back up to her mouth.

“No, no. Not that. Boyfriend.” She sighed delightedly, limbs heavy and settled. Perfect. “Just marry me already.”

Tim did not pause or stop his lips on their journey to ensure every inch of her was worshiped. “Ask again… in the morning.”

She pouted. “Why then?”

“...‘Cause I might have beaten that Mario level by then.”

Fuck.

[zannadu]

This is just a continuation of my last post but with the Dekusquad.

Includes: Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, Tenya Iida, Ochaco Uraraka, and Tsuyu Asui

Warnings: fluff, kissing, suggestive stuff, and Todoroki being Todoroki

MHA as Stoners

Continued

Izuku Midoriya

Izuku doesn't usually smoke by himself, he will only do it in a large group of people if they are all doing it.

He is a big cougher

Will take the smallest hits

Not because he doesn't want to

But because that's all he can handle

(God he's so precious)☺️

Eventually, he will get up there, though it takes a while

He is usually shy and VERY awkward around girls that he likes

Especially you

But when he is he turns into a whole new person

He is SUPER confident and will make moves on you till the night's end

He is super grabby

Don't worry he's still a respectful gentleman so if you tell him to knock it off he will (as he should)😌

Likes to brag about how you are all his

He is also super goofy

He will also be super affectionate 💕

———————————

“Izuku if you don't stop right now, ” your sentence was cut off by your outburst of laughter. Your hand tried to muffle the giggles and snorts resigning from your mouth. Izuku continued in his goofy manner of wiggling his eyebrows at you. His face moved from side to side until it was in front of yours. He stopped and just stared at you.

“What are you doing?” you asked, lifting your brow at him. He then raised his eyebrows once more, squinted his eyes, and pulled his lower lip under his teeth. You covered your mouth again in an effort not to laugh. He eyed you up and down and released his lip.

“Damn baby girl, did you sit in sugar, cuz you got a pretty sweet ass, ” he smirked at you waiting for your response. You began to laugh again and put your hand on his chest.

“You're too much Izuku.”

Shoto Todoroki

He really likes dab pens

He has one of his own (can you blame him?)

He doesn't share much as it is or show much emotion and is usually awkward in social encounters

And he still is even when high

He doesn't change much while smoking, except for maybe talking a bit more

He will have actual conversations with you

If you're alone with him he will talk to you about anything

He is a lot softer

Doesn't pick up on social cues until like ten minutes later

He is a lot slower though, in his smarts

Will say the most random shit like

“My dad is a piece if shit”💩

“We know Todoroki” 💁‍♀️

Or he will ask personal things that he shouldn't without realizing

———————————

Shoto hit his one and placed it down in his lap. It rested gently in his hand, as he let out the puff of smoke he stared down at it. A million thoughts crossed his mind in a second. Then out of the blue he remembered something he overheard Kaminari saying to Mineta earlier that he did not understand.

“Wath she hot?” mineta clenched his hands and practically shook while waiting for Kaminari’s answer.

“Dude she was a total MILF!” Kaminari said, almost a little too excited.

What the hell did that mean? And why do I care?

At the time Shoto shrugged his shoulders and forgot about it. But as of now, stoned to the bone, he was curious. And who better to ask than his closest friends.

“Hey guys, ” he looked up at his friends who were all now focusing their attention to him awaiting his question.

“What is a MILF?” he said oh so nonchalantly. The rest of the group all began to start laughing and clutching their stomachs in pain.

“I just heard Kaminari say it earlier and I wanted to know, ” he shrugged again and glanced around the now hysterically laughing teenagers.

“Uh, Todoroki it's not that appropriate to talk about, ” Midoryia scratched the back of his neck, his face entirely red from the situation.

“Oh,” he plainly replied.

Tenya Iida

We all know he isn't one for breaking rules, let alone the law

(though he literally almost committed murder👀)

He doesn't smoke very often but when he does he gets very paranoid😒

He always thinks that he and his friends will get caught

Honestly it's kind of a buzz kill

No one likes someone freaking out the whole time you are trying to chill

Be tries to cover any smells with WAY to much cologne

(it smells good though)

And is always chewing gum so you can't smell it on his breath

Eventually he will relax but only to an extent

He will make sure you're okay every five minutes and offer to get you anything

Like you're sick

But honestly he just cares and he can't help it

He likes to go for walks though🚶‍♂️

———————————

“You guys Mr. Aizawa will smell it!” Iida's hand flew through the air as he addressed the smell now filling the room. Iida frantically picked up the cologne sitting on the desk next to the best and began sporadically spraying it around the room and on everything.

“Iida, calm down it's going to be okay just come sit down, ” Tsu said from her corner, her finger pressed up against her lip, as usual. He turned to look at her.

“But I don't want to disgrace our school and have our homeroom teacher discover that we are smoking drugs in here, ” he sat down unwillingly as everyone choked on the cologne he sprayed and sighed.

“Fine, ” he looked over to you to see how you were doing. You smiled at the boy who was now flushed.

“Hey Tenya, would a walk outside calm you down?” you suggested grabbing his hand and interlaced your fingers with his. He looked down at your now intertwined hands and back up to you the flush beginning to grow deeper.

“I would love too, ” he grinned back.

Ochaco Uraraka

This girl can't afford her own 🌿 so she's gotta mooch off of her friends

Not that they mind

She's a giggly stoner

She really enjoys getting high, in fact she does whenever she can

She also loves to get stoned around you

Because she loves to see you smiling and can't help but laugh at everything you say

You could literally as the dumbest shit and she will laugh💀

She doesn't like other people cuddling you and will tell anyone off if they do

They should know that she likes you

She might make a move on you if she's feeling brave

———————————

“Stop y/n, you're killing me!” Ochaco wrapped her arms around her stomach as she continued to laugh until she almost threw up. Gosh, she's so queasy. All you did was make a joke about how deku always breaks his bones while he's using his quirk. This left her giggling uncontrollably and deku as red as ever.

“I can't help it, man, I'm just too funny, ” you shrugged and watched the girl laugh.

Eventually, when you got tired and wanted to go to bed Ochaco offered to walk you to your room, which you accepted. Once you reached your door you said good night and reached to open it.

“Wait, y/n, there is something I've been meaning to tell you, but I just havent had the courage to say it, ” she grabbed your hand and looked at the ground. She squeezed your fingers ever so slightly and returned her gaze to yours. Her face made her way to yours and she planted a ever so soft kiss on your lips and instantly pulled away.

“I like you, ” she said grabbing your other hand. You stood there in shock, and looked at her. Suddenly, you kissed an unexpecting Ochaco right back. You kicked open your door, lips still attached, and pulled her into your room sealing the exit behind her.

Tsuyu Asui

This girl is hard to read but I know if she likes to smoke, she would like bongs

She likes the bubbling sound it makes

She is very blunt as is and even more so when stoned

However if you can get her to laugh, she will not stop

She is also very funny, and will try her darn hardest to get you to start laughing uncontrollably

This girl is also apart of the alphabet mafia🏳️‍🌈

Try and change my mind😤

Will have the biggest crush on you but won't do anything about it

Will wait for you to tell her

Bottom energy

Definitely loves to shotgun with you

May lead to more things later

———————————

Tsu took a hit off of the long and passed it onto the next person. She turned to you, still holding the smoke in her lungs. You simply nodded at her and slowly leaned in towards her. Her eyes fluttered closed and she parted her mouth every so slightly. Your lips just barely touched hers, sending shock waves through your body and hers. But as much as Tsu wanted to kiss you she couldn't. She then released the smoke out of her mouth, sending it straight into yours. You inhale as much as you could and open your eyes to look at the girl in front of you. The smoke then was exhaled as you both held eye contact, lips still touching.

“Uhhh, ” The moment ended once the other teens began to speak.

You both looked around at the confused teenagers, who were apparently staring at you both the whole time you were doing what you were doing.

“Sorry guys I don't know what happened, ” Tsu tried laughing it off but you knew better, and you continue to stare at her.

She continued to talk to her friends story and change the subject. And in that moment you never wanted to kiss her more than right now.

Let me know if you want more!!❤️ thank you for reading!!

[yamithediaperdork]

Welcome to baby land (Ben 10)

it was a tale as old as time, one that had happened before, would happen this day and despite the fall out from today's events would happen again in the future.

A young boy, fueled by fetish desires and spending hour after hour, day after day bringing himself to the peak as he looked at his chosen fetish, only to pull back last second.

Because the boy knows for what he wants, for what he's going to do.. he needs that desperate pent up denial of release to shut down his common sense. to make him nice and dumb.

His name was Ben Tennyson, and up until a short while ago he had been the hero of the universe and earth. But that was before the watch had been taken, and given to his cousin Gwen who had been picked as being a most reasonable hero. with cutting remarks that he would of never gotten the watch for as long as he had had it's marker realized who was wearing it, and being called to immature.. was it any wonder a bitter and dejected Ben cut himself off from his extended family and drove into the world of porn?

never mind he had beaten off a alien invasion, a 'pants peeing doofus' couldn't be trusted with the watch.

Fine. whatever. if they wanted to look at him as a stupid big baby.. that's what he'd become.

He didn't even like diapers at first when he started, but well.. porn has a way of warping a young boy's mind. Looking at picture after picture, caption after caption and reading the stories Ben for all intents and purposes turned himself in a diaper boy, and a humiliation junkie.

Taking birthday money he even found and brought a package of punishment diapers meant for shaming (though he got it at a discount as the shop was being put out of business) that were super thick, boasted how they could hold any mess.. and also claimed they didn't keep any stink from being contained and guaranteed diaper rash if used.

For a porn addicted loser like Ben, this was pure gold and since he paid for rush devilry he got a enema bag and a small bottle of little crampers, the enema for brats.

Ben knew what he wanted, total, public humiliation but he kept ruining it for himself with self pleasure driving the need out of his mind before he could do it.

finally, Mid October the little porn fueled loser decided enough was enough, he was gonna stop wasting his time and the diapers he'd paid for and set himself up to goon. For a week strait he subjected himself to it, and by the time he was done on Sunday night, Monday morning the little loser set himself up to fail.

waking up early, Ben used the whole bottle of little crampers even though it said to just mix 1/8 with a litlre bag for a enema kit, and groaned and whimpered as he used it, hot water and a dash of castor oil in the big enema bag, only his bulky white and black t-shirt hid the preggo belly he gave himself.

getting back to his bedroom and cramping, the soon to be ruined diaper loser looked at the pack of his punishment diapers and having not worn one till today, toyed with layering at first but they just looked too thick.

Settling on one of the bulky diapers with it sobbing crybaby design, he taped it on then tried the tapes, blushing as the package lived up to it's name.

Once taped on it would take 2 hours for the tapes to come back off, he was truly trapped. again a normal boy of Ben's age would of been panicking, realizing they had gone too fair but Ben just breathed fast, and smiled as he picked his baggiest pair of pants and was delighted that they still only JUST hid the diaper, if he bent over his padded shame would be CLEAR.

Getting down stairs and getting breakfast in himself, he was already seated as his parents came down and made small talk with them even as the delightful cramps started to build. (he'd never admit it, well at least before today's events unfolded but he'd grown to like pain, it made his heart beat fast and smile)

Still he couldn't help but squirm and groan a little bit, and got looks of concern from his parents as he finished his bowl of cereal.

"Benny you feeling alright?" His mother asked, coming over and putting a hand to his forehead. "You can stay home today if your not feeling good."

"N-No I'll be alright. just worried about a math test." Ben said, mixing truth with lies,then added: "Besides, you and dad said you were BOTH gonna be out all day today. who'd stay with me?"

"Heh, He's got a point there.. and good on you Ben. I'm proud your being mature enough not to try and get out of a test." His dad said, totally misunderstanding the happy giggle Ben let out.

His father might of thought it was Ben was so happy he was proud of him, But for diaper bitch Benny, the irony of the comment almost made him ruin the fun early.

If Ben's plan had one flaw (well one he'd admit to) it was the fact that he hadn't taken into account how much slower he'd be having to waddle his massive diaper butt to school with the added fun of having to stop 3 times to force himself not to spoil the fun early.

He'd even left a little sooner then normal, his parents had been quick with their breakfast and he 'accidentally' left his house key on the desk in his room and after making sure the front door was locked, went out the back door as you could lock it from the inside while the door was open.

'No getting out of this by running home!' Ben gleefully thought.

He barley made it into homeroom before the bell rang, though since he was known to be tardy from time to time it didn't raise too much attention, get getting a snide comment from his homeroom teacher about gracing them with his presence.

Even better, home was also his math class and that was going to be first period (which was a good thing for the ever so full little perv as his 'chocolate mud baby' wasn't going to stay in him much longer.)

Mr. Fillawick wasted little time in handing out the tests and after a standard warning that he'd tolerate NO cheating and there was going to be NO bathroom breaks, he offered anyone who had to go a chance to use the potty now.

'OK..this is it..your last chance.. you could just say you need to go, and sneak out the school.fill your diapers in the woods and get out of them once the tapes give up.' Ben thought to himself, biting his lip.

it wouldn't be destroying himself in class and getting him labeled stinky baby for the rest of the year, but it would land him in hot water with the school and his parents and he'd run the risk of being seen outside right?

He almost started to raise his hand when his inner pervert took over and he just turned it into brushing his hand though his hair.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you. you'll have a hour to do the test. good luck." Mr. Fillawick said and shrugged, going back to his desk and sitting down, doing whatever it was teachers did.

Five minutes later and Ben was in a mixture of heaven and hell. he was twitching and sweating a little bit, his pencil twitching in his hand even as he started to leak in little bursts against the front of his diapie.

the cramps were at the point of no return and even if Ben said fuck it and got up to run, he wouldn't of made it more then five steps.

all he'd managed to do so far was write his name on the test and the date, then the cramps had gone over board.

'Ok..Ok.. this was a mistake.. I've leaked enough boy milk to see that.. maybe.. maybe I can still just.. get out..of..' Ben thought, going white knuckled as he gripped the side of his desk with his left hand as a powerful cramp hit, a low rumbling fart coming out his backside though the sound was mostly muted.

the smell however was not as the diapers lived up to their claims and Kids around Ben wrinkled their noses and looked around looking for the source of the smell and eyes zeroing in on his as he was blushing.

"Mr. Fillawick? I think Ben needs to go to the bathroom." A redhead boy behind him said. "Or at Least can he be moved to the back of the classroom.

"Mr. Tennyson had his chance for that Mr. Randal. and I prefer he stay where I can keep a eye on him." Came the teachers amused answer.

even as the class giggled and laughed, two more rotten poots escaped and there was open cries of disgust.

"Gah, at least open a window!"

"What did you have to eat this morning, a skunk!?"

Ben whimpered and squirmed, he had the whole class basically looking at him now and the teasing and taunts had brought his pervert side back up to full power.

'It's now or never.' Ben thought, though he also knew wasn't really a option. it was more like Now or never if he wanted a semblance of control over the act.

it helped he was trembling lots now but Mr. Fillawick who'd never cared for Ben much since he was a rowdy student only watched with sadistic glee.

Ben's Pencil 'accidentally' shook out of his hand and rolled off the desk and onto the floor, and Ben made a show of just reaching into his desk to find anther one.

"Mr. Tennyson, whatever your habits in your own room may be, I run a clean Classroom." the smirking teacher said. "Bend down and point up that pencil."

"Uh..but..If I-" Ben started, putting the perfect crybaby whine in his voice.

"You'll what? fart? like you haven't been doing that already?" the teacher shot back.

Putting on a show of being embarrassed and scared (he was embarrassed but his heart was beating fast) Ben leaned over the right side of his desk and there was a gasp from the students behind him as one thing he hadn't planned on happened.

"BEN'S WEARING A DIAPER!" Hooted Crash.

"A BABY DIAPER!" a blond girl added.

"More like a BIG baby diaper!" Randal noted with amusement.

Somehow his pants must of lowered enough to flash off his embarrassing diaper! Oh god! for all of 2.4 seconds trued to stop what was about to happen but the act of leaning over had been the final trigger.

as the enema finally worked it's magic and the back of his diaper started to swell up Ben could only hear the roar of his mess and though tear filled eyes almost could swear he could see image of him in just diapers and a bib, tapping a shovel on a grave that had been filled in. the tombstone read:

RIP Ben's self respect.

as the force of the mess made Ben fall forward, landing face down and ass up, his pants failing down more so everyone could watch his diapers load up in the back (thankfully they wouldn't be able to tell what he was doing in the front!) The image of baby Ben came over and looked down with a grin at the real one.

"Welcome to baby land~ no going back now."

As Ben's life was ruined, and he was designed to never be able to get that 'excited' again unless he was crapping brains out(heck, he was going to be pulled from school and his parents would begin his new big baby life, treating him like the baby they thought he wanted to be, not knowing he was just a humiliation junkie) Charmcaster smirked in her jail cell.

Sure having to watch all the events unfold from sitting into of a toilet wasn't the way she'd hope to see the spell play out, not to mention it had been that bitch Gwen she had targeting, but this worked out in the end.

Gwen would suffer being the cousin of the big stinky baby and would likely end up having to change him and it wouldn't be too long now before her uncle broke her out. wincing as Ben started to baby babble though she did have one moment's regret.

'I mean, I'm evil and wanna take over the world but was making him a diaper perv too far?' She wondered, then smiled. 'Naaaah!'

The end

[cryingoverafictionalcharacter]

Request from @iwannagotospaceforever​: Could u do a Fred Weasley x reader maybe with prompt 12 and 13???

12: “I’m Fine!” “Y/n, there's blood coming out of your head!”

13: “You’re cute when you want to stab me”

A/N: I love this!!! I hope you guys enjoy, feel free to leave me any feedback or requests you might have <3

Prompt: You and Fred have been friends for a while, you’ll hang out together on school grounds, pull pranks with Fred, and just seem to get along well, unless its on the quidditch pitch, where your competitive natures can get a bit out of hand.

Warnings: Reader is not in the same house as Fred (Gryffindor), Swearing, mentions of blood, Frenemies type shit, Fluff, terrible quidditch writing

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

You walked onto the quidditch pitch, resting your broom against your shoulder as you swung your other arm, excited for game day. You were determined to win this round, Gryffindor having won the last couple games, and you were not going to let your house fall into the same fate. You had been getting up early the past two weeks, trying out new flying techniques, working on your stamina, and practicing chaser moves with Fred. 

You and Fred have been friends since fourth year, having met in Snape's potions class when your concoction may have blown up in Snape’s face. After that you were constantly hanging out. Fred joined in of course, pulling pranks and just talking about random things in general, but for some reason, you and the older twin just had a connection. It might have had something to do with your competitive natures constantly keeping each other on your toes.

You spotted him on the other side of the field with George, each carrying their beaters gear and walking to the Gryffindor rest area. His eyes met yours and a smile spread across his face as he waved. 

“You’re going down” He mouthed, his hand that was once waving now having a thumb pointing downwards. You smiled back.

“Fuck off” You mouthed back, going to give him the bird before you suddenly remembered Dumbledore was watching, and he probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.

Fred made a fake sad face, making you laugh a bit before returning the gesture. Suddenly Lee Jordan's voice rang through the bleachers.

“Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the third game of the season, today we have Gryffindor against (Y/H). Lets have a good game, and may the best team win.

This signaled for you and the rest of your team to get on your brooms and fly up to the starting point, forming a circle with the other chasers on your team as well as the chasers on Gryffindor.

There was a bit of silence, before madam Hooch opened the trunk, releasing the bludgers and the golden snitch, before finally throwing the Quaffle into the air, officially starting the game.

After a few minutes you had finally gotten your hand on the quaffle, headed to the goal, and towards Fred and George. You saw George moving to block your left, and moved right, now having to face Fred. You had been practicing with him for the past few weeks, so you knew his weak spots, but he also knew yours. You faked going for the far right goal before quickly turning and going through the middle, scoring your team a point.

“That's ten points to (Y/H)!” Lee’s voice rang out, causing cheers and boos to ring through the crowd. You flew up beside Fred, having a moment before the next play started.

“You need to up your game Weasley” You said jokingly

“Please I saw you from a mile away” He joked back, suddenly making you think that he might have let you score.

“I swear to God Weasley, if you are going easy on me im going to kill you” You said, giving him a look, before starting to fly off, but not before Fred got in the last word.

“You look so cute when you want to stab me!” He said, causing you to look back at him and giving him a pose, causing the both of you to laugh, but secretly you had butterflies going insane in your stomach.

Did Fred Weasley just call you cute? You weren’t blind, you thought the twin were quite attractive, but every once in a while, you couldn’t help but think about Fred specifically, about how the sun caught his hair, or how his eyes crinkled when he smiled, or how he was able to laugh every day, but also made sure that you felt heard. 

You were quickly snapped out of your thoughts however when you made it back to the starting circle, putting your focus back into the game.

A few rounds later and you were 20-20 with Gryffindor. You had just gotten the ball again and was headed towards the goal, Fred facing you, a smirk on his face which only motivated you more. You were only a few seconds to scoring the goal, when Fred's face changed from irritating smugness, to worry. You didn’t have time to make out what he was saying before the right side of your head suddenly erupted with a sharp pain, and you were spiraling towards the ground.

The fact that you were still on your broom didn’t make the fall to bad, but before you knew what had happened, you were laying on your back looking at the sky.

“Looks like one of (Y/H) chasers got a good knock by one of the bludgers, that gotta hurt” Lee Jordan said

Madam Hooch was knelt beside you, asking you about the pain when Fred suddenly landed next you, running over and kneeling by your side.

“I know you said to not go easy on you but I swear it wasn’t me” He said, quickly, causing you to laugh a little.

“Fucking coward” You mumbled suddenly realizing that the game was still going on.

“Fred what are you doing go play I’m fine!” you said, finally sitting all the way up, your head spinning a bit.

“Y/n, there is blood coming out of your head!” Fred said, making you lift your hand to poke the side of your head, only to pull it back to see blood. Before you could say anything else to get Fred back to the game, Lee Jordan's voice rang through the crowd.

“Harry Potter has captured the Golden snitch! Gryffindor wins!” Lee said, causing the crowd to cheer.

“Well that sucks” You groaned. All the practice, only for the golden boy to catch the snitch AGAIN. You reached out your hand to Fred, motioning for him to help you up, which he took. However as soon as you were on your feet your head started to spin, but Fred saw you sway and caught you.

“I want you to go straight to the medical wing to make sure you don't have a concussion, Weasley can you take them?” Madam hooch said, making you roll your eyes.

“I don’t need to-” You started, not thinking your injury was such a big deal

“I would be happy to” Fred said before smiling at you, you glaring at him in return.

A few minutes later and you were sitting cross legged on on of the bed in the hospital wing, Fred making it his job to annoy you while  Madam Pomfry to checked on you.

“Be honest doc, how long do they have” Fred said, causing you to roll your eyes and swat his arm, which caused him to laugh.

“Y/N will be living for a long while, but you do have a very mild concussion, so I don’t want you to do anything labor intensive for the next week.

“What? But quidditch!” you practically yelled, horrified at the news.

“I don’t want to hear it, now at the end of the week, I want you to come back in so we can see how you’re healing, as for the rest of the day I want you to relax” Madam Pomfry said, giving you a sympathetic look before leaving to check up on someone who had a bad encounter with the wrong Polyjuice potion.

“It could be worse” Fred said, trying to lighten the mood, causing you to glare at him.

“How could it be worse?” You asked

“Well you could not have me to keep you company!” Fred said, causing you to groan.

“Death would have been a kinder fate” You said, before quickly laughing at Fred’s shocked expression. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding” You said, moving to get up, which Fred helped you do without fully realizing it.

“Are you sure you want to stick around? I can’t do any strenuous activities so I’m basically the most boring person in the world right now” You said, causing Fred to shake his head.

“Impossible, you could never be boring, but I have an idea if you’re up to it?” Fred asked, quirking a brow which made you suspicious, but you agreed non the less, nodding your head.

“Excellent, adventure awaits!” He said, before walking off while still having his arm around you.

A while later and you were sitting outside by the black lake, underneath a tree. You had been spending the last few minutes throwing rocks in the water, just watching the ripples.

“You think the squid is mad that we keep throwing rocks in his house?” You asked, causing Fred to laugh a bit.

“Why do you think I brought you along? If he suddenly wants to kill us I know you're going to be way slower than me.” Fred laughed, laughing even louder when you shoved his shoulder.

“Typical, you only bring me places to benefit your secret agenda” You joked, leaning your back against the tree.

“Nah, you're to pretty to sacrifice” He said, suddenly tensing up realizing he just said that.

You were feeling something similar, your face heating up as you shook your head, trying to dismiss the comment as something platonic. He just felt bad because you got hit.

“Fred, I am in dirty quidditch clothes, with crazy hair and a bruise on the side of my head, I wouldn’t describe myself as pretty right now” You said, thinking he would make a joke and that would be the end of it.

“Well I disagree” He said, the sincerity in his voice surprising you, you turned to look at him to see he was already looking at you, before looking down at his hands.

“You really scared me today” He started “When I saw you get hit, and saw you falling, I was so scared. I kept thinking of how it happened, how I could have stopped it, how you were probably out cold, but then I got down there, and you were the same you always were, calling me lame for not intentionally trying to kill my friend at quidditch” He finished, his joking tone returning a bit.

“I think the term I used was coward” You said, smiling a bit.

“Yeah, that I am, not because of quidditch though” Fred said, smiling a bit, but you weren’t, stuck trying to think about what he could be talking about.

“Fred, you pull pranks on professors for fun. You stole your parents car, for fun. I don’t need to say all the crazy things you’ve done to know you’re not a coward. Why do you think that?” You asked.

“Because I never told you about how I really felt” Fred said. Suddenly the butterflies in your stomach returned, causing your face to heat up.

“What?” You asked, not quite believing what you were hearing.

“I like you Y/n, I have for a while, but I haven't said anything because I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same way, and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship” He said, still not looking in your eye and instead looking out on the lake.

“Well then I guess where both cowards” You said, causing Fred’s head to suddenly snap to look at you, which made you laugh a bit.

“What?” It was now Fred’s turn to look shocked. Instead of answering, you just shake your head and put a hand on his cheek, closing the space between you two and connecting your lips. Fred took no time to respond, moving his hand to gently cup the side of your face that wasn’t bruised. We stayed like that for a moment, before finally pulling away for air.

“Well, that was unexpected” Fred said, making you laugh.

“What that I like you back or that I’m such an amazing kisser even with a head injury” You said, making him laugh in return.

“Speaking of which, maybe we should stop, Pomfry said no strenuous activity and I wouldn’t want to-” Fred started but you knew he was joking.

“Just shut it and kiss me dumb ass” You said, smiling as he reconnected your lips again, this time the kiss going a bit further, his tongue sweeping your bottom lip. You opened your mouth, your hands moving to his hair and-

“Oi no snogging with a concussion!” George suddenly yelled from a bit a ways, Oliver and some of your team mates following.

“Mind your own business” Fred said, making you laugh.

“And here we are, trying to be good friends and make sure you haven't died or something” George said, shaking his head in feign disappointment. “This couldn’t have waited a week?”

“No!” You and Fred said in unison, causing the group to laugh before making their way back to the school, wanting to give you two some privacy, but not before George gave Fred a quick thumbs up, glad that he finally made his move.

“Well I’m glad you didn’t wait to tell me” You said once everyone was out of earshot.

“Me neither, except we still have to wait a week to-” Fred started, a suggestive smirk on his face.

“Fred Weasley I swear to God!” You yelled swatting his chest, causing him to fall into a fit of laughter which you quickly followed. Maybe getting hit by a bludger isn’t the worst thing that could happen.

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Ah, to be hit in the head by a giant ball and be comforted by Fred Weasley. The Dream. TBH I know this ending is trash! But still I hope you enjoyed it, let me know if you have any recommendations or feedback! Also @iwannagotospaceforever​ I hope you liked it!

[realityshiftingandblogging]

Dreaming, An Explanation

Okay before I start, I had this posted on Amino a while back so if you go "hey I've seen this on Amino-" that's because it's my post. If you need further proof I'll log in and screenshot XD

I wanted to make this to show others valuable information and maybe clear up how the dream process works! Before anyone asks - yes I did write this. These are my NOTES from the book I was reading. You can find it here: https://books.google.com/books/about/500_Dreams_Interpreted.html?id=g-TqtgAACAAJ

Obviously I do not claim to have a scientific discovery on any bit of this information (lol), it's public information.

I've collected, gathered, and put into my own words. If I had to copy it word for word I have "quotations" and things like "(from the book.)" Also, you'll see me say "quote on unquote." If anything wasn't quoted, I sincerely apologize in advance. I hope you get any answers you have needed, and that this isn't too boring! The whole point of this was to give information on dreams and how make the most of them. I never really understood (until a few years back) why we lucid dream and how it works. Why does it do this and is there anything that triggers it? So here is what I learned and what I also got from the book! (I really hope you find answers because this took....8 hours? To write?) So in other words, I hope this clears things up for you!

Side note: The images are sort of like borders?? I hope they don't bother you. And there are a lot of grammar errors so 🧍🏻‍♀️

Introduction

Dreams can be used to communicate and discover important things about yourself. The process happens when the deepest part of your subconscious, that processes the dream state, sends messages to you - which can be symbols, actions, people, or images. What happens in a dream is usually not meaningless, but it can be confusing at times! These messages are meant to help you evaluate and discover what you are doing right and wrong.

Dreams can consist of personal experiences which are why when your subconscious messages you, it can consist of things that are personal to you. (Such as memories, beliefs, and other things like fantasies and expectations.) This is why if you learn the meanings of your dreams and discover how to use them, you can become better at what you do and achieve a higher level of inspiration and encouragement.

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“When you go to sleep, where do you really go?”    ― Brian Lovestar

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The way to unlock the meanings of your dreams is to realize that

¹ They are not a one-way experience in which your dream self bombards you with information.

² Dreams are not lectures, they are dialogues between your conscious and subconscious minds. The dialogue is created from your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Your dream self then uses this information to create visual pictures to show you what you feel and how you perceive things.

Once you begin to interpret your dreams you will recognize attributes that may not be serving you in the best way possible/positive way. Once you interpret your dreams and learn - you’ll find it easier to face fears and overcome personal challenges. With more practice, you can learn to program and/or “incubate” your dreams to address a very specific problem. Because dreams generally have multiple levels of meaning, the more work, and effort you do, the better.

Why do we dream?

This has no definitive answer, though as far as speculation goes - it's to rejuvenate and repair the body. Others say it’s purely phycological; to review the daily events, relieve the mind, and to release emotions. Here are a few explanations...

Compensation

Carl Jung, a psychologist, believes that we dream to compensate for underdeveloped personalities. His reason is it may explain why the dreaming behavior of some is obviously different from the ‘them’ they personify while awake.

Processing

This suggests that dreams organize and process the conscious and unconscious mind that it received during the day. In other words “refreshing the mind.” And again, in other words, “rebooting/turning it off and on again.”

Coping

Ernest Hartmann, a psychiatry professor, suggests that dreams are projected by certain emotions. The new material is “weaved” into the memory of said dreamer in ways to help cope. In ways such as stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, etc.

Activation Synthesis

In this theory, Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley say that dreams are due to “sensory-motor signals.” These areas activate small parts of the brain that affect memory, emotions, and physical feelings. In this, it creates dreams in relation to the sensations and signals sent.

Resolution

Some scientists believe in this theory: the theory that dreaming is a problem-solving use. They suggest that when we sleep, our brain continues to process all issues of concern that we deal with in our waking hours. In this, it makes up solutions.

So what does happen when we sleep? That we know of?

When you go to bed at night you are alert. The reason is that your brain is still producing a small signal - a beta wave. As you begin to fall asleep these waves slow down and become ‘Alpha Waves.’ When this happens you might experience what’s called “Hypnagogia.” This is the experience of auditory and visual hallucinations that make it hard for you to fall into a “deep sleep.” As others may know it, it can cause Sleep Paralysis and Lucid Dreaming! As Google says: “Hypnagogia is the experience of the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep in humans: the hypnagogic state of consciousness, during the onset of sleep. Mental phenomena that occur during this “threshold consciousness” phase include lucid thought, lucid dreaming, hallucinations, and sleep paralysis.” During the process of attempting this...some people reported hearing their name called, seeing random patterns, and body jerks (which are called myoclonic jerks.) When you’re in this stage it’s as if you’re fighting to stay awake. But actually, this is the first step of sleep.

Every night your body switches between a cycle of REM and NREM states. This happens around every 90 minutes or so, you switch between light sleep and deep sleep and the cycle continues. It supposedly happens around 6 times a night (but varies depending on how long you sleep at night.) The changes between REM and NREM are found by the change of your heart rate, brain activity, muscle tension, and body temperature.

NREM Sleep

State one: In this stage, you should begin to drift off. Your muscles relax, your body temp and blood pressure decrease, and you breathe slowly. As the production of Alpha waves begin to slow, your awareness noise, light, and feeling begin to zone out. Your eyes would exhibit slow movements and this is an easy state to awake you from.

State two: If stage one is undisturbed, state two will enter the stage. In this, you will feel a deeper sense of relaxation and like before… All blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and temp decrease. Your brain produces slower theta waves which will soon introduce “sleep spindles.” Sleep spindles are higher forms of activity. This process usually lasts 10-20 minutes.

State three: This is a deeper form of sleep. You couldn’t be awakened very easily from this state. Yet again temp, blood, and heart rate decrease. Your brain should still be producing theta waves, which gradually change to lower and larger delta waves.

State four: State four is when you are sleeping deeply now but not dreaming. In this stage, it’s difficult to be awoken due to your body’s sensitivity level. In this stage, most of your brain waves are delta waves now.

Back To Rem

Around 20 minutes after being in stage 4 of NREM, your cycle goes back to states 2 and 3. But you won't return to stage one and wake up. Instead, you will just go to REM sleep. This is called “prime dream mode.” The electrical waves/movements in your brain put you in a state similar to being awake. Your eyes will move from behind the lids. Research says this is because your mind is focusing on the dreams. During this, your heart rate speeds up, oxygen increases and so does your temp. After this REM is induced and what is commonly referred to as Sleep Paralysis will begin. This is when all muscles in the body are immobilized. As far as we know - it’s believed to prevent us from “acting out” in our dreams and hurting ourselves.

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Side Note

This happens multiple times a night. The more time you enter State 4 sleep, the more rejuvenation you receive. The more time you spend in sleep, the less time that 3 and 4 will happen and gives you more time to spend in REM/dreaming stage. Also, from the reading, they say early morning dreams are more vivid and happen longer.

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End of the dreaming

When you begin to wake up, you’ll experience “hypnopompia.” This is very similar to hypnagogia, This stage leaves you disoriented and makes you feel “loopy.” It could make you feel like there is pressure on your chest and sometimes causes you to feel, see, and hear things. Such as someone walking into your room and standing there. This process can be described as your mind waking up before your body does. Many times this does happen, but we have no memory of it ever happening. But when people do remember they describe it as frightening or disturbing. If you do happen to experience this, it’s said to remain calm and your body will eventually wake up.

How can you recall your dreams?

The first good step is to keep the visual fresh in your mind! As well, try to remember as many details as possible. Despite whether you only remember fragments or “none at all.” There are a few fun activities you can do!

Window of Opportunity

This method is intended to improve your observational skills, which does improve dream recall. Pick a comfortable spot to sit in, specifically near a window. You need the window. Take a few moments to unwind and relax. Just let your gaze look wherever you like - as long as you're looking at what’s out there. Notice as much detail as you can while being focused. BUT do not feel stressed by it. Don’t “worry” about it either. Just focus on the details. Take in as much as you can like… what color is the sky? Are the trees yellow and brown or green? Are there people? If so, what do they look like? What are they wearing? Once you are done with the scene and you feel comfortable, bring out a notebook and write down every bit of information you remember. It doesn’t matter the order and neither does it if you don’t remember something specific. It can be general things if that’s all you remember. Also, note the emotions you felt as you looked at certain things. Were you tired? Happy? Wanting this to be over? Write that down. If you’re artistic, you may sketch it! Sometimes sketching the scene may help you remember things you didn’t recall before.

Dream it up a bit

After this exercise, you might want to do better/enhance the skill. When you do, you should try being “more creative.” How so? Make it more “dreamier.” Pretend you are actually there in the scene. Strolling a path, smelling the roses, looking at the lake, etc. Once you’re done, jot it down. Remember to do this in the present tense. Write the details of what you saw and then implement yourself into it - just as you imagined.

Rewrite

If gazing out of a window is not something you want to do. There is another way! To do so you need to recall an event that happened in your day and pretend like it was a dream! Write it down in the present tense. Here’s an example: You went to eat lunch. Since you did you need to ask these questions:

•What time do I leave and arrive?

•What am I wearing?

•What’s the weather like?

•What day of the week is it?

•How am I feeling?

•Do I speak to someone?

•How do I travel?

•Am I alone?

You can do this for however long you’d like. Recalling all of these details as if they were a dream helps your mind remember said dreams.

Suggestion/Affirmations

Yep! Suggestion! This is effective and simple. All you have to do is, very often, suggest to yourself that you WILL remember your dreams. You can post reminders on your phone, ask someone to say “hey you're going to remember your dreams” every so often, or even use a “suggestion trigger.” A suggestion trigger is something to remind you to repeat your phrase. A good “suggestion trigger” is whenever you check the time!

Dream Journals and Sleep

Dream journals are your own personal journal and there is no “right or wrong” way to keep one. It’s made based on what you observe from your dreams. Simply put. The most important part of keeping one is that you feel comfortable with it. Here are a few small suggestions before going to bed:

Pick one that suits you.

Yes, it may be nice to buy one of those fancy dream journals that are marketed as such. But you may get it and spend money on something you really didn’t like. So go with what suits you and makes you comfortable.

Prepare yourself and your place.

Avoid anything strenuous before bed and avoid anything that might disrupt your sleep cycle. If you are a tidy type and need a clean room, then tidy before bed. Be sure the room is the right temperature for you and get into something cozy. You may be too lazy to do so but this will help your sleep and your remembrance of detail. It will also make sure you won’t be distracted by small annoying things.

Place the journal near you when you sleep.

Also, keep a pen! If you wake up at night you can write it ASAP.

Before going to bed, open to a new page.

Note where you are and where you live, the date, the time, etc. Leave a space at the top so you can title it later depending on the dream you had. Summarize all events of that day you can think of and write down your reminder phrase! It is optional if you want to include your mood and your health state. Before going to bed, repeat your reminder phrase

Upon Waking Up

Set your clock 15 minutes earlier than your normal wake time. This gives you more time to write your details. If possible, wake up to classical music or radio. Alarms cause sudden noises and sudden noises have been proven to make you forget dream memory upon waking up. As you begin to wake up, lie down, and keep your eyes shut. This will help “cement” the details into your subconscious. (Supposedly.) Without trying to change or manipulate any thoughts, try to recall the details of your dream When you feel comfortable enough, start writing anything you remember. Write in the present tense. Try to relive the dream as you write it. You can start anywhere in the dream, even go backward. The more important aspect is keeping somewhere to relive. Once you finished you should write the time you woke up and choose a title. Assigning a title and table of contents will help your mind's ability to make connections.

Dreamwork during the day

If you couldn’t recall your dream, take some time (when you can) to write about what your day as if it were a dream. Just like what we mentioned above. To “enhanced” this exercise you can imagine that you really did recall something. For example (come from the book): “I awake with a vague feeling of having been in a sunny place. There are brightness and warmth.”

Dream Incubation. What is it? And how do I use it?

Around the world there are places called “Dream temples” These temples were made in the honor of Asklepios, the god of healing. Snakes were allowed to move freely around these temples because it was believed they were secret symbols to evoke the powers of gods. As you may know, there is a popular symbol of snakes. The Caduceus! It’s two snakes wrapped around a staff. This is mainly based on the symbolism that snakes are “healers.” Both emotional and physical. Dream temples were most often placed in a rural area away from loud places. Many people would travel, even from long distances, to stay in these places to receive answers or enlightenment. These temples had a set intention for visitors/seekers to clarify the outcome they wanted. Because of the focus and encouragement received from the temples, it’s said it’s not unusual to receive the specific message they looked for. Not all cultures and places had these temples, but it didn’t stop them from Dream Incubation. (More on that in a minute). The Egyptians wrote the questions they wanted on linen and tied it around the wrist while meditating. Some soaked it in oil and burned it with incense while praying. Then they went to sleep, expecting the answer.

As you know, these days you can’t go to your local supermarket and pass by a dream temple. But, dream incubation is still widely practiced. People still to this day to "program" their dreams.

Your Temple

When trying to induce your routine to practice dream incubation, it can be simple or complex. Whatever you find comfortable. The temple of yours can be anywhere you find comfortable and where you are willing to practice the routine. (Such as writing, scripting, daydreaming, etc). But the main idea is to focus on your desired message.

Here are a few steps:

•Choose your phrase

•Form a clear intention

•Prepare your mind

•Get comfy

•Relax

•Visualize your dream’s solution (Ex: reading it, having the advice handed to you, seeing the answer played out in your very own personal “dream drama.”)

•Think about your reaction to the answer

Incubating dreams

When incubating your dreams you need a pre-set idea. Where do you want to be? In what way do you want your answer given? What symbols represent this? Afterward, start daydreaming about it, try to feel whatever it is that would be around you. Choose phrases that will affirm that it’s what you will dream of. Repeat that as many times possible. Often reflect on how it would feel being there and when you wake up and log as usual. But because you are programming this yourself - there may be nothing to interpret. But it will induce what you wanted to see. (A/N. As I’m reading this book and typing these notes I'm realizing how close they were to figuring out the shifting process. I-. Bye-). But take this moment to think through what happened, there may have been a messaged slipped in.

Lucid Dreams (Fun Fact!)

Believe it or not, the earliest record of lucid dreaming was recorded in the 4th century B.C. This happened when Aristotle, himself, was writing his work ‘On Dreams.’ He said quote on quote “For often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.” In 1867 Hervey de Saint-Denys wrote “Dreams and How to Guide Them.” This book was intended to show you the techniques he used to achieve a state of realization.

To Lucid Dream

When you lucid dream, you can do anything you please when you realize it is nothing but a dream. So how can you tell if it's a lucid dream? How do you lucid dream? Well, there are multiple ways.

Record it.

Record what you remember. Like we talked about with a dream journal.

Power of suggestion.

Even a simple phrase that “I am aware I am dreaming.” Is simple enough! Repeat this during the day and at night.

Checking your reality.

A commonly favored thing is “reality checks.” This requires you to test your surroundings and ask if they are real or not. If you notice something is off, it’s possible you once played it off. But if you looked closer, it was a dream.

Look for inconsistencies.

It’s found that a few things do not remain consistent in a dream. For example lights, watches, the time, sounds, etc. Because these changes are not normal, you know it’s just a dream.

Now that there are tips to know if you’re in a dream; Here are some to help you practice lucid dreaming/become in the state.

Visualize your everyday life (when awake) like a dream! Convince yourself as every small thing is just a dream. Whenever you’re doing something, take a look around and think of it as a dream. Believe that everything you do can be changed because you will it. Daydreaming the small things have changed will help as well. The tree outside? It’s not dead. It’s in full bloom! These practices are intended to help you make conscious and unconscious choices.

[builder051]

I'll take poor Uncle Bucky in the Barton dining room versus Easter dinner with all the decidedly not kosher trimmings and absurdly loud tiny humans if you're in need of prompts.

Powers/No Powers. I shook it up a little, but the basis is there.

TW for food talk, mental health iffy-ness (including suicidal references in the form of very popular song lyrics) and very mild/joking religious discussion in which no one is really offended (but this Lutheran-raised boy does his best to mediate relationships among Christian-ish and Jewish-ish people who really like and don't want to offend each other)

_____________________

They're poised for another tailspin, Steve knows. They both know, but neither of them are willing to acknowledge it. The good meds can only be good for so long. The good hasn't run out yet. Not completely, anyway.

Bucky's in that strange stage of empty, yet pliant. He jumps at the sound of a pillow hitting the floor. Gets up and moves before Steve's hand has quite brushed the organic cotton sleeve swathing his shoulder. Uses empty glasses to trap and release the flies that get caught in the screen door. Overly aware. Painfully

But not always. They're in the car, heading out to the farm on Easter Sunday. As usual, the radio begins spitting static as they cross county lines. Steve gives Bucky a tiny glance before taking a hand off the wheel to twiddle the dial.

Bucky has his head back against the seat. His eyes are open, but unfocused. There's no attentiveness. Almost no life. Steve looks back to the road, but can't help himself from checking Bucky again. There might be a tiny tremor in his arm? The muscle running from his neck to his jaw? Or maybe it's the air conditioning on the collar of his shirt.

The radio changes from an unintelligible guitar and drum finale, a little warped by the fact that the station is an AM channel to something slower, a bit more morose. Steve doesn't recognize it right away. Nor does he care very much.

A truck passes them, an American flag tied to its bumper. The top two stripes have begun to fray and separate. The stars are off, too. Is it seriously a 48-state?

Steve's about to point it out to Bucky, maybe as a laugh, or perhaps to be secretly judgy. He stops short, though, when the car's speakers crackle and lyrics suddenly come in. "Still I hear you say--"

"You want to--" slips out before Steve can slam his hand on the power button, accidentally killing the air conditioning as well as the stereo.

There's a beat of dead silence. Then, "Huh?" Bucky looks at Steve blankly.

"You don't like Three Days Grace, do you?" Steve forces a smile. He thinks he must look like a psychopath, so he rearranges his face to something more contemplative. "I mean..."

"I thought it was Green Day..."

"Hmm." Steve presses his lips together. His heart beats a little harder. He may be second guessing himself now, but there had been a close call coming. Suicide mentions. On the ever loving radio. "Did you see that torn up flag?" Steve resorts to instead. "On that truck a second ago?"

It's definitely been more than a second. "Uh..." Bucky blinks. He looks out the passenger window, as if checking the breakdown lane.

Sweat beads on Steve's forehead, and he turns on the air conditioning again.

When they reach the farm's gravel driveway, Steve guns it a little more than he means to. The sedan's front tires send a few rocks up into the undercarriage, and he grits his teeth as he yanks the wheel to turn and park beside Laura's minivan.

He's in a hurry because of the plume of greyish-black smoke rising from the back of the house. Steve can't smell anything yet, but his time serving has ingrained in him the foul bitterness of burning rubber--and the rapid response needed whenever it arose. Rather than a downed tank or helicopter, though, he's imagining a flaming trampoline, complete with roman candle kids and helpless parents battling with the garden hose.

"Buck, if you wanna stay--" Steve flings himself out of the car, clipping his hip on the door and almost bending it backward. But the moment he takes a breath, he knows he's wrong. Another false alarm. Steve's mouth waters on instinct, and for a second he feels sick. Then he feels utterly stupid.

A deep inhalation does nothing to steady him. Steve holds the warm, woody-scented air, then folds his arms on the roof of the car and sets his forehead down gently on top.

"What're you...?" The un-stuckering sound of Bucky opening his door makes Steve's ears pop.

"Aw, fuck," Steve mutters. The Bartons' next closest neighbors are, what, a mile down the road? How far are they out of town? Because the smell of cooking food has to have wafted right into Paris proper by now.

When Clint had bragged during water-cooler talk at the office a few weeks ago about buying a smoker, no one had taken him seriously. Between the deployments and the PTO he took in recompense, it had seemed like an utter joke. Making hours-long batches of barbecue? How could anyone with both a job and children have time? And the, well, caloric intake? He wouldn't be able to button his jacket.

Laura's generous invitation to Easter dinner a few days after the fact was coincidental. Must've been. She invited them to every holiday, birthday party, champagne uncorking, and minor event Steve can think of. He hadn't put two and two together. Not Easter and ham. Hell, he'd practically forgotten Clint and Laura were married to each other.

No, all he'd thought of was how glued Laura was to Bucky. How unglued Bucky was becoming from reality. It didn't matter if it was 'all over again' instead of 'the first time.' Steve bites his lip to keep inside the feelings of burning shame and disappointment. Everything is an afterthought. He's been watching Bucky slip, but he hasn't realized he's been watching from the ground the whole time.

"You don't have to get out of the car," Steve says flatly. He's going for gentle, but he's so shaken by his own stupidity that it's as if there's no cushion left to mitigate the reality of things. "I'm really sorry, Buck."

Steve's phone buzzes in his pocket. He sighs and reaches to answer it, knowing that ignoring it will only make things worse.

"Hey." It's Clint, who's yelling over the sound of metal slamming against metal. "Why're you standing in the driveway?"

"We parked--" Steve starts.

"Yeah. The camera on the front door can still see you." It seems like Clint's walking through grass now, and a childlike voice pesters who are you talking to?

"I really messed up." Steve runs a hand through his hair, making his bangs stand on end. "Is there, like..." He looks around, knowing there's no way Bucky won't overhear. "Can you give me directions to a Kosher deli, or something? I think some wires got crossed, or--" He shakes his head.

"What?" Bucky sounds ingratiated. Steve peeks at him, and he sees Bucky's brows halfway to his hairline.

"I'm so sorry," Steve says, both to him, and to the phone.

"Fuck, I haven't practiced, since, like..."Bucky shrugs. "High school?"

"See?" Clint's voice wheedles. "It's fine. Come inside. Drink beer. Paint eggs. Food later?"

Steve holds the phone away from his ear. He gives Bucky an honest look. "I am not taking you to a ham festival. I'm not doing that. Disrespecting you. Doing shit against your--"

"Against my 'religion?'" Bucky makes a weak air quote on the final word and lowers his voice a touch to show how little he supposedly cares. "It's not really that important to me."

"You haven't eaten ham since, like, your mom sent you to that evil nun's daycare when you were three years old." Steve intends to be sincere, but once he finishes speaking, he realizes how ridiculous it sounds.

"You haven't eaten peanuts since third grade."

"That's--hey--" Steve pokes the air in Bucky's direction. "Allergies are different things entirely."

"You know, a lot of folks say they're allergic to turkey-and-cheese sandwiches, but as soon as they see a cream cheese bagel..." Bucky manages to hold a straight face for an impossibly long time. When he cracks a smile, though, Steve almost wants to cry.

"You are... fucking ridiculous." Steve keeps talking in an effort to keep his eyes from welling up. "I actually...only really wanted to come because I wanted some space. For you to have some space." Steve shrugs. He's willing to elaborate, but Bucky nods.

"Get three or four other babysitters on me so you can have a beer and take a breath?" He pauses. "You don't have to pretend like that's not it."

"Yeah." Steve can't meet Bucky's eyes this time. "I'm...so sorry."

"I know I'm doing...the thing...the...doing bad..." Bucky takes a breath. "I don't mean to."

"I know." Steve nods once. "I'm... well, I'm glad you said so."

"I'm...glad you said so, too."

"Hm."

Steve's phone starts buzzing in his hand. Clint's evidently hung up and called back. Steve raises the device and gives it a glare. "What do you think? Risk it?"

"For a minute," Bucky says. "There's always the old escape route."

"And what's that, again?" Steve asks, confused.

"I'm Kosher. And I'm losing my marbles."

"Right." Steve smiles. "And I'm in charge of pulling you out of there before it makes a scene."

"Right," Bucky agrees. "I'm counting on it."

[lilith-swbf]

Hi there, I saw you were asking for peeps to send you one. Please may I request ♟: Patching up a wound with fluff and angst overtones, but if I can only choose one then a little angsty please. Hope you have a wonderful day!!

(I got carried away with this…putting it under a cut because it got long)

When Viktor’s sister had called him at twenty-four years of age and whispered the words “there’s been an accident” through her tears, his heartbeat had escalated to a rapid thrumming, his knees had turned to water, and he had felt physically ill.

He had never, ever wanted to feel that level of dread again.

But here he was.

He barely felt his skates touch the ice as he desperately raced to Yuuri, who was crumpled limply on the glassy surface like a discarded ragdoll. Yuri was a few feet away from him, pushing himself up on his arms and looking disoriented. There was a cut on his cheek that was oozing blood.

Viktor vaguely heard Yakov yelling in the background as he threw himself to his knees beside Yuuri, his heart slamming in his throat. Yuuri, Yuuri, Yuuri… it pounded. Please, not Yuuri.

“Oh, fuck,” Yuri gasped out, regaining his senses, his green eyes widening into saucers. He scrambled on the ice to reach Yuuri as best he could, his face white as a sheet. “I-I didn't—he was…shit, I didn’t see him—”

Viktor’s stomach turned at the sight of the blood streaming from the gash on Yuuri’s temple where his head had impacted the ice, plipping onto the ice and creating a stark contrast of color. God, the sound it had made had been absolutely sickening; that resounding crack would be haunting Viktor’s dreams. His mind screamed at him to pick Yuuri up, but he was afraid of hurting him further. He was worryingly still.

“Yuuri, can you hear me?” His voice trembled violently. He touched Yuuri’s cheek very lightly. “Yuuri, wake up, love, please—”

“Katsudon, come on, don't…” Viktor had never heard Yuri sound so scared. He turned to scream at someone, anyone who would listen. “Call an ambulance!” He turned back to Viktor, fear flashing in his eyes. “I'm…I didn’t see him, I wasn't—”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Viktor said distractedly, stroking Yuuri’s hair. At least his eyes were open now, though they were glazed over and unseeing. “Yuuri, babe, can you hear me?” His heart leapt when Yuuri nodded faintly. “Oh, thank you, God…” he slipped one hand underneath Yuuri’s cheek to get it off of the freezing ice. “Can you talk? Can you tell me what day it is?”

Yuuri’s eyes blinked slowly. “Monday,” he slurred. His head became heavier in Viktor’s hand, his eyes slipping shut.

“Yuuri, no, stay awake for me, okay? Don’t go to sleep yet,” Viktor commanded, his throat aching at the naked pain in Yuuri’s eyes. Oh, Jesus, his pupils were uneven—

“Yakov called an ambulance, they should be here shortly.” Georgi’s voice sounded from above him, and Viktor felt a hand on his shoulder. “Here.” Viktor took the offered handful of tissues, balling it up and pressing it to the steadily bleeding wound on Yuuri’s temple.

Yuuri searched Viktor’s face in pure confusion. “Wha…what happened,” he mumbled, his eyes going in and out of focus.

“There was a collision, an accident. You’re fine, Yuuri, you’re going to be okay.” Viktor took the hand that Yuuri shakily held up and pressed it to his cheek, blinking back tears at the soft noise of pain Yuuri made. “Can you tell me where you are?”

“At…the rink.”

“What’s today’s date?”

“July…I…I don’t remember…”

Viktor swallowed, trying not to give in to his panic. “That’s okay, just keep looking at me, sweetheart. Stay awake for me, can you do that?”

Yuuri whimpered. “But I’m sleepy,” he said pitifully, tears pooling in his eyes. He stared at a point above Viktor’s shoulder, eyes growing blank and his brow furrowing in confusion. “What…happened?”

Viktor bit his lip.

“I’m so sorry,” Yuri finally spoke again, wrapping his slender arms around himself, his face pale. He looked much younger than his sixteen years. Georgi wrapped an arm around the teen’s shoulders and, surprisingly, wasn’t immediately shaken off.

“It wasn’t your fault, Yuri,” he said quietly, “it was an accident.”

Yuri clenched his fists, not replying.

Yuuri had gone quiet, but was obediently staying awake, though his eyes were half-lidded and glassy with pain. Viktor talked to him quietly, keeping him as alert as possible, and his heart broke at the bewilderment on his fiancé’s ashen face. He forgot where he was several times, and kept asking what had happened.

Once the ambulance arrived and the paramedics had loaded Yuuri onto a stretcher, Viktor tried to follow them, but was held back. No amount of begging or pleading allowed him to ride with Yuuri, much to his frustration.

“I’m his fiancé! Please!” He yelled to no avail, struggling against Yakov’s hand on his arm.

“Vitya, let them do their job,” Yakov ordered, “I’ll drive you.”

Viktor stopped struggling. “You will?”

The old man grunted. “Don’t make me say it twice.”

Viktor watched helplessly as Yuuri was lifted into the ambulance, feeling distinctly like his world was falling apart. He knew a concussion when he saw one, and it looked to be a bad one.

“It was all my fault,” Yuri muttered angrily, bitterly, “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Viktor managed a smile at Yuri. “It could have happened to anyone,” he started, but Yuri’s face twisted.

“But it happened to him.” His voice was broken. “It…he didn’t deserve that.”

“No one deserves an accident, Yuratchka.” Mila rested her slim hand on his arm, her face sympathetic.

Viktor didn’t hear the rest of the conversation; his mind was consumed by worry. It was eating at him like a living, breathing creature.

People died from concussions.

Yuuri could…

He immediately smacked himself inwardly.

No. Yuuri would be fine.

He just had to be.

-

Hours later, after far too much tense waiting in the emergency room, he was finally called into the room Yuuri had been placed in. The doctor assured him that while Yuuri did have a pretty bad concussion, he was strong and healthy, and he would most likely recover and be just fine in a few weeks.

Viktor had nearly cried in relief.

The sight of Yuuri laying so still in the sterile white bed made Viktor uneasy, but at least Yuuri’s chest was rising and falling steadily. A white bandage covered the gash on his temple, partially covered by his bangs. He turned his head slightly on the pillow when Viktor approached, and a thin smile graced his lips.

“Vitya,” he murmured, reaching out a hand, and Viktor hurried to meet him, taking his hand and sitting on the edge of the bed. Poor thing, Viktor could see the pain in his eyes.

“How do you feel?”

“Tired. My head hurts. They told me there was…an accident.” His brow was furrowed and his words were measured carefully, like he was concentrating hard to make them come out right.

Viktor rubbed Yuuri’s knuckles gently with his thumb, just glad to see him talking relatively normally again. “You collided with Yuri and fell. You have a pretty serious concussion.”

Yuuri exhaled, a gentle, pained release of breath. “That explains…why I feel kind of sick,” he said softly. He did look a bit green.

Viktor tensed. “Do you need the trash can?”

“No…I don’t think so.” Yuuri blinked slowly, looking groggy. “I’ll tell you if I do.”

Viktor forced himself to relax. He lifted Yuuri’s hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles. “They’re going to keep you overnight to observe you. Make sure everything is alright.”

Yuuri closed his eyes. “Great.” Viktor was sympathetic; he knew Yuuri hated hospitals.

There was a knock on the door, and they both turned their heads, Yuuri a bit slower than Viktor. Yuri’s blond head peeked through. He looked so apprehensive that it was unsettling. Viktor had never seen that expression on him before. It didn’t fit at all.

“Yurio,” Yuuri said with a mild smile. “Come in.”

Yuri shuffled to the bed, rubbing his knuckles nervously. “Are you okay?” He asked, his voice tiny.

“No,” Yuuri said truthfully, “But I will be.” He patted the mattress, and Yuri sat down next to Viktor.

Yuri swallowed. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you, I…never would have wanted this to happen.” He looked a little sick himself.

Yuuri shook his head, very slowly. “Wasn’t your fault,” he murmured, “accidents happen.”

Viktor could tell Yuri wanted to protest, but surprisingly, he didn’t. He just nodded, his expression sad.

“So…you’re going to be okay?” Yuri asked, more concerned than Viktor had ever seen him.

“I am. I’ll just have to take it easy for a while,” Yuuri assured, “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

“When you, uh.” Yuri stood and rubbed the back of his neck. “When you’re a little better, I’ll see if grandpa can make some katsudon pirozhki. For you.”

Yuuri smiled softly, eyes dull with pain. “I’d love that.”

“Well…uh, get better soon, then.” Yuri left the room with a backward glance full of guilt. It would probably be a long time before he forgave himself.

“Honey,” Yuuri murmured, and Viktor snapped to attention. Yuuri didn’t use pet names very often. “Lie with me for a while.”

Viktor hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. Please, I…” Yuuri’s eyes held a weariness that made Viktor’s heart hurt. “I need to be close to you.”

Unable to say no to that, Viktor drew his legs up onto the bed and very carefully laid down next to Yuuri, drawing him into his arms with the same level of gentleness he would give to a fragile flower. Yuuri lifted one arm as if it weighed fifty pounds, draping it a bit limply over Viktor’s stomach and resting his cheek on his shoulder.

Viktor held his hand gently. “I…I thought I had lost you for a second back there,” he confessed, his voice barely audible, “when I saw you on the ice like that, not moving, I…I didn’t know if I’d ever get to hear you laugh again. I felt like I couldn’t breathe…” he drew in a shaky breath, trying to block out the gut-wrenching crack of Yuuri’s head hitting the ice that still hung in his mind.

Yuuri reached up to catch the tear on Viktor’s cheek that he hadn’t even noticed fall. “I’m still here, Vitya.” He tugged Viktor’s hand to his mouth, pressing a little kiss to his palm, and the gesture was so sweet that Viktor had to press his lips together to keep from crying. If he had never gotten to see that again…

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Viktor’s voice wavered. He pressed his lips to Yuuri’s hair and sniffled. “I don’t know what I would have done if…”

“Don’t think that, please,” he could hear Yuuri’s voice catch, “I’m not leaving you.”

Viktor nodded wordlessly, running his fingers through Yuuri’s hair with tender care.

They cuddled silently for a while, and Viktor could tell that Yuuri was growing sleepy. He tried to cover up his yawn, but failed.

“You can sleep a little now. I know you’re exhausted. The doctor just told me to wake you up every so often to make sure you’re alright.” Viktor combed Yuuri’s bangs off of his forehead, watching the inky strands fall back into place. Yuuri nodded against his chest, and Viktor kissed his forehead very, very lightly. “Get some rest, my love.”

As Yuuri’s breathing evened out, Viktor watched him. His facial expression slowly lost the pinch of pain. His brows relaxed in sleep. His pretty pink lips parted slightly…

God, he loved this man so much.

He sent up a quiet prayer of thanks that Yuuri would be fine, refusing to think of what could have been.

Instead, he watched his fiancé sleep, the tide of love ebbing and flowing in his heart.

Thank you.