#i think theres a lot to be taken from her back story that could like come like.. 'in handy' when it comes to hannibal kinda seducing her

[fuyuu-chan]

Jealousy, Jealousy

Pairing: Sylus x Reader

Warning: OOC (this was made pre-release of Sylus) not proofread

Fuyuu-chan: Some thoughts about how you and sylus react when someone else flirts to the other

✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

~You getting jealous~

You know with just his looks alone he already has a lot of girls around him. Fonding and admiring him. Some girls just do it from a far but this time...one of them actually had the guts to go to sylus and try to flirt with him. You were actually walking in front of him excited to go to your next destination but you heard someone approached him so you looked back and thats when you saw the girl walked up to him.

If only she knew his personality. You do give a point for her braveness and boldness. But oh well, he's already taken. You shake your head, feeling sorry for the girl. But when you looked back at her and sylus. They way she still tries to flirt with your man even do he already dismiss it in a "polite way."

The way she twirls her hair and blinks at him, you're cringing but to be honest you feel a tug of jealosuy, cause you're the only who flirts with sylus.

Sylus who sense your stare, immediately dismiss and glared at the girl "cant you understand? I already said no" he says coldly as he immediately approached you and put his hand on your waist as he continue to lead the way making you look away from the girl and look at him.

"You know, i can sense your jealousy from there, your stare already screams it" he tease as he glance at you smirking.

You looked away from him. "no im not" you defend.

"Oh really? So you dont mind someone flirting with me?" He asks and you frowned. "I mind, im the only who can flirt with you" you said.

"So you're jealous, just admit it" sylus says as you roll your eyes playfully. "Okay fine..."

He smiles and looks at you. "Thank you...but seriously no need to be jealous you know i wouldnt let anyone replace you, nor would i entertain someone when i already have the most gorgeous person in the world" 

"Thats cringe" you comment even though your cheeks got tinted red to what he said. "But you like it" he adds. "Anyway, if that really upsets you, i could-" "no dont do that, dont do anything to them, im okay" you cut him off, knowing what he would say.

He merely chuckles at that.

(⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

~Sylus getting jealous~

This man wouldnt get jealous easily and its also hard to make him jealous, he wouldnt get jealous to just some random guy who wants your number because they found you beautiful. I believe Sylus would just chuckle watching them shoot their shot only for them to get rejected by you.

Though....its a different story when he sense that a guy could be a threat. Thats when he will step in or take action. First he would glare at the person. Dude his aura alreadys screams danger. If that guy still wont budge then he better enjoy this day as this would be the last time he would see the light of day.

Sylus would go beside you taking your hand while staring at the guy infront. "Do you know this person (nickname)?" He ask as he glance at you. You shake your head as you look at him and back at the guy.

"Well then, i apologize but you're disturbing our time together, and as she says earlier, she's taken, so please step out of the way and dont push yourself when theres no space for you" he says as he glares at the guy and lead you away from that place. Sylus will make sure he would deal with that guy later tonight.

"Umm what was that?" You asked. "What?" He immeadiately responds.

"Are you angry?" You said a bit surprised, normally he had his composure in check but his tone while he said that to the guy was dangerous. It literally sent a shiver down your spine, so what more about that guy? Poor him.

"Im pissed. I mean you already said no, does he think he have a chance? Does he think he could replace me? Never." He says as he finally stop walking and face you. "He thinks he would have space when i already taken all of the space in your heart"

You chuckled at his jealousy. "Why are laughing at me?" He asks. "You're just sooo cutee" you coo making him pout. "Im not cute" "yes you are" "im not" "yes you are~" you said as you tiptoe and peck his cheek making him freeze and look at you a bit shock.

You chuckled once again before you start walking, leaving him a few steps behind. Sylus watch you hop on your steps before catching up on you.

ฅ⁠^⁠•⁠ﻌ⁠•⁠^⁠ฅ

Please do not copy, translate, repost to any other social media, Thank you

[puhpandas]

was thinking last night about the direction the fnaf story is going and I was thinking about vanny cassie. like vanny cassie would be such a perfect villain because it brings vanny back to the spotlight and cassie has a connection to Gregory as a friend.

her arc would be so tragic in every way and she wouldnt know what or who to believe. she would believe she was abandoned by Gregory again (in this case he didnt cut the elevator) like all her friends and her dad did and that vanny is a friend. both manipulation and supernatural mind control stuff like glitchtrap did to vanessa to create vanny.

and 3 stars could be the protags in a post hw2 dlc game that's big and free roam story like sb. I think Gregory would be a better choice as player because he would have the best reason to chase after cassie; shes his friend. vanessa would be very important also because like. Vannys back. and now she has a family and another kid shes gonna fight like hell for.

"the family missed the greatest opportunity of their lives" vanessa didnt destroy vanny glitchtrap and mimic when she should have, and now they're back. and she isnt gonna run away scared this time. shell finally end them for good

and also Vannys motivation. since vanny killed glitchtrap (probably to take his place as big bad bunny virus) this makes you wonder why shes doing this. we dont know why glitchtrap did it either so I guess the same reason as him. shes supposed to be reluctant tho so? idk what's changed. but we'll go with building the monarchy evil pyramid back up

so vanny would be trying to get all of the followers back, or maybe shes still following mimics orders and it wants them back. could have a potential rebellion plot from vanny at the end but that's besides my point

the point is itd be such a fun spot to reveal ggy. Vanessa's been hiding it from Gregory to protect him, maybe freddy too, and Gregory has no idea and just knows he has tons of memory loss. hes moved past it to live his new life, but after doing all this to get Cassie back, it turns out vanny wants all the followers back and hey, why is she talking about 2?? who is dr rabbit?? why is she after me??

I just think theres a lot of potential in a plot like that for all characters. Vanessa's arc as vanny is already so interesting but cassie has an obviously very similar arc becoming vanny but also so different. she would be manipulated while shes alone hurting and believing she was betrayed with abandonment issues and taken advantage of. vanny would be using her as a vessel, so theyd have to get her out of cassie to kill her for good.

and if Gregory had to find out about ggy at this point, itd be a big deal but also truly make that connection between cassie and Gregory. no matter who cut the elevator Gregory would feel at fault because he either did it or wasnt fast enough to stop cassie before it happened. so he would have to confront condemning cassie to the same fate his family and now apparently HE went through and that's his best friend man. and also not to mention the concpet of vanessa and cassie of course

[shoezuki]

Ok random things/hc bout the aha!sampo divinity AU i was thinkin of

Aha at some is like. Yknow what fuck it im gonna reincarnate as a human n see whats up w this. So he basically takes bits and pieces, dropped change n spilled drinks on the floors of taverns, scrapes the side of the universe, takes scripts and stories and anything made from human joy n makes a body out of it

He starts off as a kid cuz he saw kids n were like o those guys seem to have fun hell ya.

He makes sampo koski and Becomes Him. Is taken in by the masked fools cuz they are all a lil fucked up so spendin too much time w em or struggling to hide his divinity can scramble their brains only so much...... probably.

Also these ppl who worship him not realizing the scrawny kid they took in is aha????? Thats funny as shit

Sampo grows up normally. Well he kinda got it a bit wrong n he grows at a wayyy slower pace than humans but he jus says he got caught in a temporal anomaly or smthing.

It takes him a long time to really get a hold on his powers/presence/divinity and ends up making people go mad quite often. Sometimes on purpose.

The masked fools send him to planets, give him scripts and have him portray characters and sow chaos. He bends reality a bit sometimes to make the scripts more fun. He creates a major presence on the masked fools and becomes infamous in some planets n ships thay marginally survived him

(Some of the things he does cant be attributed to him and it puzzles people. Theres no way a mere human could change the colours of stars or rearrange galaxies n move planets a lil to the left, right? He makes entire waterbodies taste like beer and makes trees bleed when cut and flips mountains upside down)

The role he's given in Jarilo is his longest one yet. Usually he's just like a force of nature running through but this time he becomes a Person on this planet

He meets the underworld ppl and they all have different reactions to his divinity the longer he's around them:

Natasha is fairly sensitive to his power but it doesnt really overwhelm her. She hears childrens laughter when hes around and the air feels warm like sunlight that Belobog hasnt experienced since the eternal freeze and every time he brings her medicine or carries out of her requests she tastes bubblegum on her tongue. She never says anything but sometimes she Stares n it makes sampo squirm

Oleg tenses every time sampo shows up but eventually forces himself to relax. But he always has to be aware of sampo at all times, can't ever turn his back to sampo or be unarmed around him. He has no clue why and thinks theres something wrong with him and its his problem not sampos. But sometimes when he looks at sampo he can almost swear he sees something shift over his skin

Seele doesnt notice anything for a long time. She has to be around sampo for hours sometimes days without break. But eventually she just becomes irrationally angry with him. Everything sampo does grates on her brain and makes her want to attack him. She doesnt think anything of it and just assumes its because sampo is annoying.

Luka is one of the least sensitive to divinity. Any anxiety or unease he feels around sampo he just attributes to sampo being a shady guy. Sometimes sampo's laughter and his voice feels heavy in his skull though

Children in general are highly sensitive and resilient to the divine: sampo doesnt know why. Maybe because theyre brains are still developing? Because they arent stuck in their own ideas of reality n rationality like adults? Regardless Hook KNOWS sampo isnt normal. She doesnt question it, she just knows sampo makes things fun.

He finds a lot of responses with those in the underworld: some want to worship him, others want him dead, some cant look at him without feeling sick. For some reason the overworlders tend to find him more unsettling and disconcerting. Qlipoth probably has nothing to do with it but Sampo blames qlipoth

[sugawarassoulmate]

okok im back with incel!kenma

whats even worse is if you really can’t tell if you’re a guy or a girl, the type of person that gives gender envy. if you have longer hair he just assumes your like him and can’t be bothered to cut it.

OKAY THIS THOUGHT JUST HIT ME MID TYPING! YOU’RE THE BITCH NERD!/LOSER!KURO CANT STOP TALKING ABOUT. THERES TWO MAYBE THREE WAYS HE CAN FIND OUT ITS YOU.

also ik this isn’t one of your hcs for kuro but nerd/loser!kuro x mean!goth!gf but maybe you’re not mean to him but everyone else, people even look at him the wrong way and you have them absolutely terrified. and during your face chats with him you never have your makeup or you daily clothes on. normally just bare faced and in something of kuros. surpising how he didn’t pick up kuros old nekoma jersey

number one: maybe kuro posts a picture of you on his story possibly at your pc playing with incel!kenma. or it could be one of the spicy mirror pictures you made him post because why the hell is the dumb bitch from class feeling up on your man for. maybe you even rant to kenma about this dumb bitch who can’t keep her hands to herself, and why the fuck is she touching a taken man. (okay i think incel!kenma is misogynistic but not homophobic because why the fuck would anyone want to deal with some needy whore constantly.) but that rant solidifies the thought that you are infact a guy maybe not one who hates women on the same level as he does but a man nonetheless. but once kuro posted that picture he figured it out and was disgusted.

number 2: kuro is at your house studying, so to keep your boredom at bay you hop online with kenma, it’s about two hours in when he hears a knock shuffling in the back ground followed by the sound of someone falling onto your bed when he asked about it your response is casual “oh its just my boyfriend.” and he doesn’t pick at it anymore. but then the mic catches a familiar voice in the background. “pretty girl when are you gonna be done, i want to take a nap with you” you give a hum in response to his question. “alright bro gotta leave after this round, so we have to win don’t wanna lose the last match of the day.” obviously you land up losing because kenma can’t get his pretty little head around the fact that he couldn’t tell you were some fucking bitch, you never told him either so that makes you a fucking liar (even tho he didn’t ask). when the game disconnects he’s seething.

number three: this is the worst option really kuro begs him to come hang out with him at his girlfriend, he swears up and down that she’s not the type of woman he’d hate. promises that they have a lot of the same interests. maybe he sends a picture of you cosplaying as one of his favorite characters but that just lowers his opinion, in the photo he can’t even tell its you though. so he’s even more confused when he meets you guys at the arcade. he cautiously calls you by your in game name and you respond with a smile and respond with your irl name. he’s genuinely not sure how to react. not just bc you’re the person he’s been gaming with for almost a year, but with your thick ass platforms you’re just as talk as kuro if not taller. you literally look down at him, can he even talk shit about a bitch like you with out getting his as beat.

anyway this drug out for way longer than intended. but yeah incel!kenma making assumptions and being totally wrong. how funny would it be if he had a crush on kuros gf

bestie.....my beloved......all of the options just sound so amazing to me omg *kisses u*

the absolute torture incel!kenma has to go through upon finding out that 1) his favorite gaming buddy is a disgusting female, 2) she's dating his best friend and somehow he never knew, and 3) she's so fucking hot that kenma can't stop picturing her face every time he rubs one out.

and you just won't let him live you're so fucking mean to him that kenma can't even get a word in when you're roasting him. the only thing that reels you in is kuroo's soft, pleading voice asking you to be nice.

kenma's embarrassed that his friend has become such a simp but fuck if he didn't wish he was on the receiving end of your sweet words.

[iheartliquor]

dam im back again guys i just been taking it east both my laptops r broken the good one and the old shitty onee so i havent been tumblring much . psycosis was the most terriffying experience of my life , and i still cant figure out wat was real and wat wasnt , but the main point is that it doesnt matter and wat matters is just takin care of myself and not letting that happen again . tbh my friends said oh we knew this was coming one day which kinda made me feel bad lol but at the same time like wat do u expect ? u can only get away w that type of sleep deprivation n constnat inebriation and completely ignoring ur mental illness for so long . im doing cbt books now and im refusing to see anything but the love and light in every situation , cause like , u kno j, as they say ,, where we dwell in consciousness is truly where we dwell in life . its just been kinda hard and strange and bad and i feel like i have to like , superstitiously take plan b now wheras before i knew i would be fine . or no i didnt i mean before i would let myself have that as a worry in the back of my mind but now i have to superstitiously take precautaions . i kno that can b its own type of ocd and im doin counciling for that . its all just been really stressful and terrifying .... iwanna tell about the experiecne but i dont wanna like , u kno , spread bullshit around or pay attention to it when its bullshit . some parts were so good and beautiful , but some parts were so terrifying . i really thought i was bein taken to hell , and then i really thought like , i was so convinced i kill:ed myeslf and hurt my mom in that way i promsised myself i would neverr ever hurt her . that wasnt real tho but it felt absolutely so real :((( , i think how many years i would read ghost stories online and that felt like searching for something divine more than bein raised w my lack of god or watever , anyways , yeah im not gunna dwell on everything but basically im doing a lot better , i can tell the full story once im far away from it . ive felt so strongly sometimes like , i wish i could go back , to the world i lived in for the majority of my life where theres nothing that can get me or make me do bad things . and i can , i can i can i can itll just take awhile to get to the mental place where i can plainly see it was all or mostly bullshit / hallucination . brutal summer to be hoenst for tthis gal , oh well , anyways , sending u all all my love . life is scary and life is crazy and its still just all a big mystery , no matter what anyone says , and itll b okay , and i think i'll getta see all the people i love again just in a different way . eternal love , unconditional love , undying love ..... yes those three are the theme of the day...... anyways ok everyone have a lovely evening, its precious beautiful august . summer means so much to me , being where im from , and ive just had to like barely barelyy survive it this year , idk . or i alwayss said Every Single Summer I Feel Like I Was Born Again but this year i really really know wat that feels like , just in the snese of im gunna take my mental problems seriously now , instead of ignore them like my whole entire life . I finally figured out why LIQUOR ALWAYS FELT LIKE MEDICINE..... hahaha ok . all love everybody .

[rise-my-angel]

I’m such a big Targ fan but I can not stand most Targ fans because they don’t get it. The valyrians are interesting and cool because they are fucked up. I love the Targaryens because I am a horror and sci-fi fan. Like yeah dragons are cool too but they wouldn’t be nearly as cool if everything surrounding them weren’t horrifying and twisted. I love Dany because she is a flawed and complex character and it is so easy to draw lines through her narrative to understand why she is the way she is and what led her to make different mistakes and how she got to her self delusions. But most Dany fans will call me a Dany hater for being like hey let’s analyze why Dany has never second guessed her decision to kill Mirri even though every other act of violence she’s been directly or indirectly responsible for (ie the crucifixions or Viserys’s death) has weighed on her conscience to some extent despite the fact that Mirri was a slave who was punished for rising up against her master, Drogo. The cognitive dissonance is so interesting and ripe for analysis but I have been accused of only pretending to be a Dany fan for recognizing this. A lot of actual Dany haters churn out way more meaningful Dany metas because most Dany fans are just oh she’s an unambiguous good hero who will be queen and I think that’s so boring

(note I got off my couch in the middle of writing a new chapter to go to my main computer to answer this that's how much you caught my attention)

The thing is, I totally get what you mean. Theres a Targaryean I am sort of like this for in a way. The character himself has been soured by such a deluded and hostile fan base about what is allowed to be said or thought about him, but if it weren't for the way most targ stans are, I would be 1000% more into Rhaegar as a character.

It would never change I think he's a bad person who did monstrous things for questionable if not quite selfish means who I would never support, but I also love Euron Greyjoy who is 100% an irredeemable monster. Rhaegar's entire existence is fasnicating. From the Ghost of High Hart being the reason his parents were married, to his life defining birth right in the middle of the fiery tragedy of Summerhall which effected his life. How such a terrible place was the only place he was every described as being happy in, likely because his existence is tied with great tragedy. How that likely deeply influenced him into buying into the Ghost of High Harts words of the prince that was promised being born from his father and mothers blood line which led to his delusions which ended up negatively impacting every person in his life leading to their deaths including his own. He should be a fascinating character study for me, but the way targ stans talk about him has ruined any chance of discussion because any nuance I could provide is going to be taken as pro Rhaegar talking points.

Same with Valyria in general. The Valyrian people were delusional and terrifying and the world is better off without them, but I love exploring why. I don't hate Targaryeans to hate them, I hate them because they are interesting to hate. They are facsinating because of what makes them horrible. And liking them as characters isn't at all wrong.

Its the lack of willingness to engage with their favourite charatcers greatest flaws and realistic motivations. It's a disconnect. They will push back against every single argument that Dany is a horrible, selfish tyrant possible, and then cite her atrocities as why I'm wrong and it's like..they have bought so much into the propoganda that they have created a false image of this character they supposedly love. Why love a version of a character that you need to bend over backwards to justify is the real version against the facts of the actual story?

They are desperate to look as if their favourite characters make them morally righteous. When liking a morally honourable character does not say anything about you other then what particular character you enjoy more then another. I am not claiming to be better then Rhaegar stans because I love Ned Stark, but they will slander Ned Stark as much as they can to justify why they prefer Rhaegar instead of just admitting they have a preference.

I get accused of being a Sansa hater, because I am both very against jonsa (ship and shippers) and I am very critical of her post season 4 character. But in the books and the first 4 seasons, shes not my favourite but I love her. But because I go against the popular ship and I am critical of her various actions over the course of the different versions of her character, I am seen as a hater. Its the same with Dany and many Targaryeans.

Its either toe the public opinion, or keep them out of your mouth which is insane for a fandom of a story literally built upon the varying complexities of a characters grey areas.

They want asoiaf/got to be way more black and white then it ever has been. Which is such a poor way of interacting with a story you are passionate about.

Dany can be a tyrant and an interesting character. She can be a cruel and selfishly bloodthristy woman and your favourite character. But these stans are allergic to those ideas not being mutually exclusive.

I dont hate targ stans because they are targ stans, I hate targ stans because they will attack any dissenting opinons that do not fall into their perfect protagonist hero image they've conjured up.

But they got nothing on me. I love Euron Greyjoy. The most disgusting monster in the whole series who I also would rather slingshot him into the sun then let him walk around alive in the world. I will never defend his bad choices, and never condemn someone for calling him an immoral monster. His lack of humanity is what makes his choices so interesting.

These targ stans though, could not possibly be strong enough to be the same for even a minute for their favourite Targaryean.

[butchybats]

god my fav things about like genderswap AUs is asking like, how does this change the way the characters navigate the world or how other characters treat them, right? so like. I JUST IMAGINE LESBIAN DANIEL AS BEING EVEN MORE PRICKLY. So sick of being treated like a girl all the time, so hyper-aware of all deficits in her experience based on how sexism has treated her, MAYBE POSSIBLY MORE WARY OF CREEPS, EVEN CREEPS WHO ARE WOMEN LIKE ARMAND. Is she as unsafe, as blithely monsterfuckig??? Does he have an ounce of self preservation and survival instinct? Is it harder for fem!Armand to find her when she flees around the world?!? ALSO LIKE. I always wonder how many other characters get swapped in these situations like is Louis also a woman? Did Daniel go interview some fucking man in a seedy room all by herself???????? Where's her safety rules at I gotta know. AND ARMAND. Armand. God. I feel like the cult grinds people's personalities down so much like almost as if every COD vampire was this genderless wraith. Does that change for her? Even as a boy Armand had such a fuckd up life like HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT REALLY GET FOR HER LOL. And like is CLAUDIA still a girl like where's the jealousy at between them? thereS JUST SO MUCH TO DISCUSS

I am so glad there’s people actually wondering about the intricacies of this because for me it’s just like woah it would be so hot if they were women hghgh but i love thinking about this so much!!!!

LESBIAN DANIEL WOULD BE SO PRICKLY!!! She is so tired of the world’s shit and I can not blame her one bit. “So sick of being treated like a girl all the time” YES!!!!!! Her gender is dyke and she’s butch <3 (this is totally not me projecting) i feel like she’d experience a lot of sexism that really ties into homophobia so she’s had to learn fend for herself and not take anyone’s shit.

Lesbian Daniel is still the ultimate monster fucker I think <33 she wants these vampires so badly it makes her look stupid! I do think she’d be more wary of Armand in the beginning though like I can not imagine her taking public transportation in the dead of night 😭 no leaping out of a taxi into traffic for lesbian Daniel lmao and I also think she’d be great at not giving strangers the time of day so it might take her a bit longer to warm up to her (but at the same time are they really strangers after hearing about her from Louis and then being locked in a cellar by her? 🤔 HGHG like they are literally uhaul lesbians)

AND I AM ALWAYS GOING BACK AND FORTH ON WHOS ALL GENDERSWAPPED!!!! Because sure ideally i love thinking about them all being women but narratively that doesn’t work out!!! Akasha’s plot line is redundant if there’s no men lol also would Gabrielle feel as estranged from everyone if there were no men?? And just like historically it doesn’t make sense </3 personally the people I would love to be genderswapped are daniel and armand (obviously lol) but also lestat and louis maybe nicki?? umm i think that quinn could be a woman too. As a treat <3 but everyone else I’m convinced could be the same I’d love to see how chaotic that story goes (also i need bianca my beloved to stay the same so that we can have venice lesbians <3)

AND ARMANDDD Armand��� It would probably get so much worse for her 😭I feel like she would really really latch on to Allesandra like more than canon simply because they’re both women in the cult. Also because Armand is a woman I feel like she would need to try way harder to command everyone’s respect and fear she would have to be VICIOUS (said while twirling my hair and giggling) and while gender stuff is probably the least of her concerns when all of this is going down I think it would still fuck with her over time, especially considering canon Armand’s intricacies with gender. Would she feel like she has to perform feminity to be taken seriously? Or does she play into her androgyny (not that she has much of a choice)? But I can totally see her and Daniel having one of their big talks about gender and how they relate to it

THERE IS SO SERIOUSLY SO MUCH TO DISCUSS ABOUT THIS AND TY FOR TALKING TO ME ABOUT IT! <3 my asks and dms are always open to anyone who wants to talk about gay vampires I feel like I could go on forever about them

[vethbrenatto]

TLOVM S2E7 Thoughts

WOW, I was like “i wonder if they’re going to keep in the ‘vex calls scanlan useless’ bits” a day ago and they literally. just started it I’m insane my intuition

I hadn’t even considered grog and the gnomes might not be in the episode but now I’m thinking that e7 might be team half elf plus Percy and e8 will be grog and gnomes

Lmao nerd boy is nerding

You couldn’t just pretend to be happy Vax

Nope totally wrong grog and the gnomes are here

WHAT IF I PUT MY HAND OF YOURS WHILE YOU HEALED YOURSELF WHAT THEN

literally this whole scene he’s holding her how am I supposed to focus

SKINNY GROG CANT HURT YOU

why do i have three peni.

how could you say that about his books vax

COUNTRY TRAVELING SONG WHAT THR FUCKCK

I’m really of two minds about the Pikelan direction they’re going in: I think it aids Scanlan in that it emphasizes his need to deflect sincerity with comedy. However, I think it really detracts from Pike in that campaign-Pike thinks Scanlan is funny. She likes his jokes. A lot of pike’s s1 arc in TLOVM feels inconsistent with her dislike of Scanlan’s crass side- like it’s very in her nature to find this stuff funny. Not that she can’t also like the sincere side, which she does, but just that I think her side of this narrative is making her character seem flatter than it should, especially when you group it with the fact she’s been given a lot of Kiki’s campaign personality traits

the drug trip scene is funny but was it necessary. there’s 8 minutes left where is saundor. or syldor. Where is the Vex focus. Maybe,, they’ll stay in the feywild for e8 while grog and gnomes head to Westruun?

Garmelie was merely the TRAVELER

okay so syngorn next episode.

Best Characterization: Percy. Love u nerd boy

TLOVM S2E8 Thoughts

ohhhh this episode is the Echo Tree, I had the order in my mind wrong no wonder I was so confused about the pacing

Syldor your bitchass can die

WILHAND TRICKFOOT YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS I LOVE YOU SIR

ngl I think the titling hit less animated but fun nonetheless (it’s about the reactions, the live audience, the Matt’s face)

I love saundors voice literally slay sendhil

I adore this Vex in the Echo tree scene, I’ll touch more on it at the end

“My heart is someone else’s” NOW THERES A PUNCH THAT HITS

arty my boyyyy

Best Characterization: Vex

TLOVM S2E9 Thoughts

Boulder parchment shears!!

OKAY THERES THE PIKELAN I WANTED. she flirts back! it’s stupid!! he takes it too seriously!! they joke!!

KAYLIEEE SHES HERE SHES HERE

I don’t have much comment I just love the grog backstory

black hair pike 🥹💚

wait so scanlan wasn’t part of dranzel’s troupe :( that’s such a weird detail to remove

zanror does have a cutie nose

“What if I need you” mirroring s1 buddies ahhhh

Best Characterization: Grog/Pike

Overall Best Characterization: I’ll say Grog.

Okay so I liked this batch a lot, but I’ve got to come back to the question: Split the party- yay or nay?

And I’m still wavering between yay and nay.

Yay: I think the character beats particularly that came from the Grog + Gnomes side of the story hit harder with them sequestered on their own. This new “Grog finds his strength” taken literally storyline is a huge boon to Grog’s character even though I found it a bit superfluous at first. They were able to emphasize the Pikelan and to a lesser extent Scanlan/Grog dynamic that they haven’t been able to touch on as much before.

Nay: I felt like the episodes had some wasted time. Episode 7 I felt like we didn’t need the Feywild side of the story (the most important part is meeting Garmelie- the fight in that episode is essentially to drive further home that Vax is on a diverging path, something I think 4-6 already firmly established). Episode 8 I felt we didn’t need the Grog/Gnomes side of the story (meeting Wilhand was great, but the B plot of “giving grog an enema” was weak)

Ultimately, I think I come down on the side that I would’ve preferred the party to stick together. The weaker plot lines I outlined above I think could’ve been axed and the whole party could’ve gone to the Feywild, we’re still given significant Grog + Gnomes content, and then we’re given just a bit more time to stew in the concept of Syngorn. The punches, specifically with Perc’ahlia in Syngorn, fell flat to me because I don’t think they were given enough time. Had they cut the original E7 fight to make more context for Syngorn, I think it would’ve gone well in expanding context. Then, E9 could’ve remained totally the same just with the rest of VM along for the ride.

That said, maybe the split was worth it just for the country traveling Pikelan bop.

[batbirdies]

Hi! Love your stories but I was wondering what is your writing process? I want to start writing Batfam but it's so intimidating with making creators like you, I just feel like I'll never measure up! What do you do for inspo? Do you plan out every chapter? How long does it take you to write? Do you already know how the stories will end?? Sorry if this is to invasive!

Aw thank you so much that’s very flattering!!

I would try not worry about “measuring up” to anyone as much as that’s easier said than done 😅. Just remember there will always be readers who like your work even if you think it could be better.

As far as your questions no worries! I’m happy to answer questions like this :)

I get inspo from lots of things! Mainly reading really good fic inspires me to write. As far as ideas they come from everywhere! Sparked by other fic often where I think “this is a cool idea but what if this part was different?”

Or sometimes by reading fic I didn’t love lol because I like the idea but want to execute it in a way I prefer.

Otherwise I think discussing ideas and head canons with others is one of the best ways to flesh out and get new ideas. Discord is the way to go. (As far as finding discord servers to join, this can be hard, but if you ask around there are usually some open to inviting new people)

Do I plan out every chapter? I’m inclined to say yes. Usually I write a first draft of the entire fic, then I start a rewrite and post each chapter as I finish the second draft of it. This usually leads to big changes and deviations from the original draft as I go, so I don’t always stick to the plan and often have to go back to the drawing board but yes, I do have a plan.

For me trying to write a publishable draft without a rough draft feels like trying to draw perfect line art without a sketch. It’s just doesn’t work for me.

How long does it take me to write? Honestly impossible to answer 😂 it varies drastically. I wrote CCAKT in about year including first and second draft, the second draft reaching 250k words. I also wrote Live While Breathe and I’ll Come Out Right on the Other Side that same year. Which amounts to roughly 340k words of second draft in one year. The 23k of LWIB was done in about 3 days. So I wrote a LOT that year and fast.

This has since not been the case lol. Took me about a year and half to finish the 31k of overcoming our antecedents. Then theres Penny drops.

I’ve been working on it for like 2 and a half years at this point and I’ve been incredibly slow trying to get the next few chapters out because I keep being unhappy with them. And also because I’ve had some health issues and it’s been hard to have the energy to work on it. I have taken significantly long breaks from writing all together at different times because of fatigue and burnout. But I try to stick with things and eventually finish long projects.

Do I already know how a story will end? Again, yes and no lol. I always have a plan of how it will end from the beginning, but with long fics i inevitably hate my original plan by the time i get there and have to totally rework what i previously had in mind. (This is really the reason i do a first and second draft, my rewrite is always SO much better in my mind than my original ideas)

Short fics are less that way and I usually stick with the plan.

Having said all of that I definitely want to emphasize that everyone is going to have a different process that works for them! Best thing to do is try different methods. I know I’m rare for fully drafting stuff and rewriting it so that might not work for you, but I know @cdelphiki does the same thing. She’s the only other fic writer I know that does it tho lol.

@coyote-nebula plots more with timelines and lists and then writes her scenes out of order but in perfectly publishable prose from the beginning, then does heavy editing run throughs and keeps notes on points to remember when she’s continuing long fics. (I am not nearly so organized)

And of course there’s many other methods! Best thing to do is jump in and try some stuff!

[romanarose]

Leather and Lace: Final Chapter (12)

Santiago Garcia x Fem!OC

Triple Frontier Master List

Chapter 11

Leather and Lace master list

Continue the story with Frankie and Jana in Take Your Time

Summary: For Laci's birthday, all she wants is a weekend at a cabin with Santi and the guys, but she ends up giving Santiago a gift too. Less of a coherent storyline, more of a collection of random scenes of their weekend together, telling the story of how far they've all come. Also: sex

Warnings: Insomnia, addiction recovery, mentions of drinking problems, scary incident involving almost drowning kinda? No real danger with the boys there but still. Santi is a horny teenager. For the smut: PIV sex (you heard me), thigh riding, so, so much dirty talk, so much. praise kink, light dom/sub dynamic IG but theres no rough sex, daddy kink (im so sorry), so much praise it's sickening, fingering, sickly sweet sex idk how it can get cuter, it's practically fluff. protected sex, talk of cum (is that a warning? idk but I get grossed out about stuff so fair warning), food, eating problems, weight, insecurity, potential fertilty problems from trauma but its a brief mention. uuuhhhhhh I think thats it

************************

“They are going to be like this all weekend, aren’t they?” Will said from his driver's seat as him, Benny and Frankie watched Santi exit the doors of the women's shelter, giggling with Laci as she hung off his arm.

Benny sat in the back. “I love them, but jesus christ they are like teenagers.”

“I think they’re sweet” Frankie smiled, watching his best friend so happy made him happy. 

Will turned to Frankie incredulously. “What’s going on with you lately? Acting all lovely dovey”

Benny kicked Frankies seat “Yeah, I thought being there all summer you’d get sick of them”

Will glared at Benny for mentioning Frankie’s living situation, something they were supposed to be pretending wasn’t happening while Frankie focused on sobriety. He had taken a basic engineering job to give him something to do, something to focus on. Nothing fancy, not a lot of pay, he didn’t want to take the money from anyone who actually needed it, but a simple 9-5. A place to be, a schedule, and it had seemed to be helping. Not that it was a cure, by any means, he was a full time pilot when Rosa was born and his license came under review due to his coke use. Coming back from Columbia, he lost it, but could reapply in another two years. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to. For one, he wasn’t sure he could trust himself with that sort of thing anymore. If he relapsed and flew, people could die. However, engineer jobs were in high demand, so he took one, and it was helping him keep focus, rather than sit around all day thinking ‘a little couldn’t hurt’.

 It had been Laci’s idea. She had started volunteering at the shelter Jana worked at, and said it had helped her, gave her more purpose. Frankie had been spending a lot of time with Pope’s girl lately. She was sweet, cooking breakfast and dinner for him and Santi, and taking care of them and the Millers when they worked on projects. Of course, her new-found friendship with his ex-girlfriend had lead to seeing a lot of Jana. At this point, Jana was comfortable with Rosie being alone with Frankie, even for over nights, although with him staying with Santiago, it wasn’t exactly alone. But still, Jana came over quite a bit, the four of them and Rosie spending hours together. Frankie never stopped loving her. He always would love her, even if by some miracle there was someone else in his life, but he couldn’t foresee that. Frankie didn’t deserve Jana, he didn’t deserve Benny, Will, Laci and especially not Santi, in his unwavering loyalty. Frankie sometimes felt like Santi only stuck around him from a sense of duty, that last family either of them had left. They weren’t blood related, but the two of them had grown up in Huston most of their lives together, and were as much family as the broken pair had. As much as he hated being a burden to Santi, he hated being a burden to Laci even more. 

Frankie sat on the couch, watching some infomercial when the door opened. He didn’t even know infomercials were even a thing anymore. Laci emerged from the room she shared with Santi, frowning when she saw him on the couch at two AM.

“Hey Frankie, can’t sleep?”

“No” Fish shook his head. “You?”

“Nightmare. Didn’t wanna wake Santi.”

She was very considerate. It wasn’t like Santi had to be up for anything, he could sleep in as late as he wanted, but she never liked to bother him, as much as Santi never saw it as a bother. 

She headed for the kitchen “Hungry? I was gonna make some pizza rolls”

God, her and Santi shared the same braincell half the time, that fucker loves his pizza rolls. 

Frank shrugged. “I could eat”

“Don’t tell Santi I’m microwaving them, he’s an oven purist.”

Laci and Frankie giggled watching some strange add for wearable towels. “Is it bad this makes me want it?” Laci asked, mouth full of the last few pizza rolls.

“That is the ugliest towel I’ve ever seen in my life Laci”

“I’m a sucker for advertising, what can I say?”

There was a pause, and Frankie watched Laci yawn. “You don’t have to stay up with me”

“I’m not” She lied, watching the TV.

“Laci.”

She turned to him. “I know how it is. I didn’t hardly sleep when I first came here. It’s a lot better now, but I know how hard it can be.”

Frankie nodded. “Pope told me you guys used to spend the night on this couch when you both were up.”

Smiling fondly, looking away as she tugged on the hem of her floral PJ’s. “Yeah, that got me through a very hard period in my life. He was there for me, never asking anything in return. I didn't need to talk if I couldn’t, he was just… there.” Laci looked at him, carefully. “I want to be that for you.”

Frankie was overcome with emotions. He wasn’t quite sure what he did to deserve Laci, Jana and the guys in his life. “No, sweetheart, you haven't even been back a year, you have enough to focus on without this old addict's problems.”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ll just do what Santi did for me. If I’m up, I’ll come out here, and if you’re awake too, we can eat pizza rolls and watch TV. This way, I can have company without waking Santi. This was our special place for a time.” Laci patted the couch and smile at Frankie. “It can be ours now.”

When Santiago woke up that morning, he assumed Laci had already gotten up. He pulled on a shirt and padded out in his boxers to find Laci and Frankie asleep on the couch, Laci’s head resting on his shoulder. Another time in his life, another group of friends or another girl, he might have been jealous or suspicious. But he knew Laci, and he knew Francisco, and it warmed his heart to know they took care of each other. They were family to each other as much as they were for him.

Santi listened to Laci chatter about her day as he walked her to Will’s truck. When she first started volunteering at the beginning of summer, it had been for one hour increments. The first day Santi took her in, he felt almost like a dad at the first day of preschool. He had half expected her to get overwhelmed, to cling to him as she often did, maybe even backing out. But with a kiss on the cheek, she said goodbye and almost skipped away from a stunned Santi, over to where Jana waited to introduce her to the people in the childcare department. Jana waved at Santi, and by the cocked eyebrow on her face, she seemed to be thinking the same thing Will, Frankie, and Benny would tell him ‘she’s not as fragile as you think she is’. 

It wasn’t that Santiago thought she was fragile… well maybe he did… after what she went through? Could you blame him? Sometimes it was hard to reconcile the girl he found all those months ago, handcuffed to a chair, blue lipped and face covered in blood with her hair matted to her skin, to the healthy girl who smiled and ran around parks with Rosie. It was hard to reconcile the girl he thought was dead, who didn’t initially respond to him, who couldn’t even look at him, with the girl who completely submitted and trusted her body to him. The juxtaposition between the girl he had to carry the last leg of their journey out of the woods, whose feet were bloody in the misfitting shoes Benny had found her in the house, who wouldn’t leave Santiago’s presence for months, to the girl he watched happily walk away from him to go help children and family in need, despite her own trauma. She continued to blow him away.

Santi was tempted to wait in the parking lot, but she made him promise to go somewhere. He went to the McDonalds down a few blocks, and by the time he came to pick her up he was fairly certain the anxiety he had been fighting back was entirely one sided. She was fine. Laci asked him to still come in to drop her off and pick her up, still getting used to being alone. Two months in, she was well liked and did good, and Laci had been volunteering longer hours. Santi had shifted from nerves to pride. Here she was, going to therapy, still regularly checking in with doctors and nutritionists, but she still took time out of her week to help children. Every day, he found another reason to fall further in love.

Opening the door for her and holding her hand as she climbed up in Will’s stupidly high truck, Santi followed in after her, pulling out the bags Laci asked several times today for him to remember to bring.

“Hi everyone!” Laci chirped, everyone said hi, and happy birthday. Despite only volunteering for a few months, Laci had been surprised with cupcakes when she came in today. One of the moms at the shelter heard it was her birthday and whipped up the treat for her. Laci promptly began crying, but happy tears. Laci didn’t want anything for her birthday, joking that compared to last year, a regular day was a treat. Santi was not thrilled with her dark joke, and said ‘Well, now that you say it like that, we have to do something’ They settled on a weekend trip, Santi getting a cabin on a lake a few hours out. They’d spend the weekend together, coming in Friday, fishing on Saturday, and head home sunday. Benny had found that the country was having a little concert with a local band, and suggested they all go Saturday night, which Laci seemed excited about. Other than that, just a simple weekend away. Frankie and Will agreed to grill for their ‘gift’ after Laci insisted she didn’t want anything but their presence. “I got you guys all presents for the trip!” . 

“It’s your birthday, and you got us gifts?” Fish turned around to look at her, as did Will as they were still parked. 

“Oh so that’s what you bought” Santi commented.

“I told you not to look!”

“I didn’t! I just saw a charge from etsy on my card statement, I swear I didn’t snoop, baby”

Laci eyed him suspiciously, but went back to the others. “Okay, so everyone remembers Benny’s ‘women want me, fish fear me’ hat right?”

Frankie groans.

“The one fish threw in the bonfire?” Will asked rhetorically. “Yeah I remember”

Benny made the sign of the cross. “RIP to a real one”

“Okay so these are like. A play off of that. And no one has to wear them outside of this weekend, I just thought it was funny. Sorry Frankie.”

“Let’s see what you got, manita” Frankie encouraged.

“Okay, first, for Santi” Laci pulls out a hat and hands it to Santi.

He reads it out loud “Fish want to have a beer with me, women want to fix me.” He glances over to Fish “Well, it’s not wrong”

Frankie smiled. “Women do want to fix you.”

“ME NEXT ME NEXT” Benny was bouncing in his seat.

“Okay okay okay” She handed the next hat to the right where Benny sat.

“Women want me, men want me, fish want me” Benny barely got the words out through his giggles. “Ah yes, the three genders“

“Well, there was one that said they/them want me, fish fear me, but I felt that didn’t really encompass” Laci gestured vaguely “You’re whole thing”

“She’s calling you a whore, Ben” Will called from the front.

“No I’m not!” 

Benny hugged her “I love it, Laci, I’m never taking it off” He covers his blonde hair in the hat, grinning.

“Frankie, this is yours. I know you like your regular hat, but if you can at least wear this for a picture-”

“You got me a hat?” Fish interrupted her, his face so serious, brown eyes wide.

“Well, yeah” She said, finding his. “I wouldn’t just leave you out”

Frankie took his, reading it outloud with a smile “Women want me, the minds of fish are unknowable.”

“I thought it was funny, because, like, you’re a bit of an enigma, but women do love you. It was kinda hard to find one for you, because you are fish in this hats scenario but… yeah”

Frankie took of his ’standard oil’ hat, adjusting his new one with a shy smile, trying to not let his emotions get the best of him. “I love it, Laci, thank you”

Laci smiled, then Will spoke. “Okay hun, lets see what you got for me” he held out his hand for his, then read it. “‘Let any fish who meets my gaze” Will tried to hide his little giggle. “Learn the true meaning of fear-” The stoic, quiet man laughed loudly “Jesus christ, Laci.” He unsuccessfully composed himself to try and read he last line through laughs. “For I am the harbinger of death” He covered his face laughing, a broad smile on his face.

Laci grinned, looking around at her friends all wearing the hat she got them “And this one” Laci pulled out the last one “Is mine”

Santi leaned over to read it, amused by Laci wearing a fishing hat with her white shirt and pink skirt. “Government agents want me, fish fear me”

Laci clarified. “Well, I figure you’re a government agent, and you…” She trailed off, blushing.

“Want you?” Santi finished, taking her chin in his hand. “Fuck yeah I do, babydoll” and took her in for a passionate kiss.

Will, ever literal, chimed in. “Calling him a government agent is a bit of a stretch. That implied the work he did was legal”

*

The evening went smoothly, everyone settling into the cabin and Will firing up the grill on the patio to make baked bean and sausages. They were far removed from any other cabins, so the music was loud, Laci jamming to it.

“Pope” Will said, watching Laci go to town on a guitar solo. “Wanna explain why the 5 foot girl in a ruffled skirt is head banging to Avenge Sevenfold?”

“Hey” Santi raised his hands defensively “This is her playlist”

“Really? I thought she’d listen to like. Matchbox 20, or Taylor Swift or something”

Benny laughed “Taylor Swift? Why, because she’s blonde?”

Will was going to argue, but he shut his mouth, knowing Ben was probably right.

Ben continued. “Laci and I are going to Breaking Benjamin next month, that girl can rock”

Laughing, Will looked at Ben incredulously. “Santi’s letting you take her to a rock show?”

Laci turned around to give Will a pointed look. “Santi doesn’t ‘let’ me do anything, Miller”

“Sorry Laci” Will apologized, then turned back to his brother. “You can’t be drinking, that girl is going to get trampled”

“Laci!” Frankie called, stepping onto the deck, swinging a colorfult gift bag. “I got your gift!”

Laci turned down the music, looking at him. “Frankie! I said no presents!” But she approached him, eyes wide with excitement.

Fish shook his head. “You said you didn’t need anything, not to not get you anything”

Santi smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t fight it, munequita, being friends with Catfish and getting gifts goes hand in hand.” He leaned in to see what his friend got his girl.

“Frankie!!!” She jumped up excitedly. “Oh my god I love it!”

Santi frowns as Laci pulls out the ugliest thing he’s seen in his life. “Mi amor, what the fuck is that shit”

“It’s a wearable towel!” It was a towel with four holes in each corner like they had seen on the infomercial they watched together that first night. She put the horrific thing on over her shirt and skirt, making Benny look as confused as ever. 

“Fish, what the fuck?” Benny wandered over, taking in Laci, who was almost always dressed up so cute, in this ugly towel.

“It’s a wearable towel” Frankie said with a smile. They wouldn’t get it. But Laci would.

Laci practically tackled Frankie in a hug. “I fucking love it!”

*

That morning, Santi make breakfast for everyone. Just scrambled eggs and sausage as well as starting the coffee, but an attempt none the less. He didn’t have the kitchen skills Will and Frankie did, but he didn’t want them to have to do all the food this weekend.

All the guys were up, and Santi was leaning over the counter talking to his old buddies alone, enjoying some time with just them. Frankie was teasing him over Laci calling him daddy, something Will decided he’d absolutely never let go, and Benny was reminding them they can make fun of Santi, but no one is allowed to mention it to Laci. 

Will leaned in front of Santi, hands folded together in front of his face in concentration. “So let me get this straight. No sex”

Santi felt his upper lip curl up in a laugh. “No, Ironhead, no sex, but I swear to god we’re all good in that department”

“Yeah man, I know you are” Will grabs Santi by the scuff of his neck, laughing. “Your neck had no less bruises than when you got fucking strangled!” 

The guys all join in on the laughter, Santi giggling as Will touches his sensitive neck, until the bedroom door opens. “Hey Laci, sorry, did we wake you?” Laci looked groggy as she robbed her eyes and padded in, and Santi had to suppress his morning wood at the sight of her in his Fleetwood Mac shirt. It was long enough it went past the shorts he knew she was wearing but god… did it look like she had nothing on under…

“No” She mumbled with a small smile, trying to remind polite despite being so tired. “Jus’ a lil sleepy” she murmered, walking up to Santi who was sitting on the stool, and wrapping her arms around his neck and she nuzzled her face into his shoulder. “Morn’n guys”

Everyone said good morning, and Will offered to make her a cup of coffee. “I don’t know if we have any creamer, but theirs sugar”

A small, loud whine immites from Laci, still buried in Santi’s shirt, before she looked up. “Sorry, that was was rude. That would be great, thank you Will.”

Santi clarifies. “She usually drinks iced coffee from this shop down the street”

“Regular coffee with sugar will be fine, thank you. I’ll survive” She tried to look more excited for it.

“Actually” Frankie gets up and heads to the fridge, pulling out a carton “I brought this” He holds up caramel iced coffee. “I know you liked this sugary shit, and Santi barely remembered to bring the hamber buns, so I got some for this weekend.”

“Oh thank GOD” Laci said, flopping her head back down on Santi, muttering about a hundred ‘thank you’s to Fish as he poured her a cup over ice.

*

“I’m not wearing a lifejacket!” Laci insisted as Benny, Will and Frankie sat in the boat, waiting for Laci and Santi to stop arguing. Well, as much as the pair could possibly argue with each other.

“Then I’m not wearing sunscreen” Santi countered, knowing how particular she was about that. “And neither is Frankie”

“Oh no,” Fish raised his hands in defeat while Will groaned. “Don’t bring me into this”

Laci ignored him, as he wished. “You’re wearing sunscreen, you’re not getting skin cancer. I don’t need a lifejacket”

“And I don’t need sunscreen, so we’re even” 

She pouted at him. Santiago scrubbed his face, trying to hold on to his resolve, but it was hard when she looked so fucking cute. She wore a white two piece, the bottom was cheeky, but she wore the wrap skirt that went with it, uncomfortable with showing that much buttcheek, but perfectly happy with the minimal coverage over her chest and waist. Laci was insecure about her body being so underweight, and her A-cup and lack of ass, no matter how much Santi couldn’t keep his hands off her. She didn’t seem to understand how much she turned heads, thinking the outfit was simple and cute, not realizing how feral it made Santi. The second she stepped out of the bathroom, Santi felt himself getting hard quicker than he can remember since his teens, pulling her into the bedroom of the cabin under the guise of a ‘quick question’ and ate her out, grinding his hips into the mattress until he came in his swim shorts. Luckily, he brought a spare. 

“The water isn’t even deep!” 

“You are barely 5 feet tall!” Santi crossed his arms.

Benny chimed in. “So are you, Garcia”

Will smacked him.

Frankie was tired. “Santi, put on the fucking sunscreen. Laci, wear a lifejacket”

Laci shot him a look for not taking her side. “You guys aren’t wearing life jackets either”

He rolled his eyes. “Because we’re all over 6 feet!” Fish groaned, taking off his new hat before running his fingers through his curls and putting it back on. 

Just like the old days, Santi could easily read her expression. ‘You aren’t 6 foot.’ Laci crossed her arms right back at Santi, mirroring his determined stance, and raising an eyebrow with a small smile. He knew there was no malice behind it, and she knew he only meant well, even if she did feel a little childish. “I thought we were past you babying me”

Santi smiled back, and took her face in his hands, squishing them until she made a cute pout. “I’m not babying you, I just want to protect my baby” he let go of her face and tickled her neck just a bit

Laci giggled, beaming up at him.

The guys all groaned.

Will flopped his head back. “Y’all can’t be doing this all weekend, I’m gonna get sick.”

Laci ignored him too, looking up at Santiago through her lashes, giving her best, sweetest smile that she knew drove him mad. He’d do anything for her when she did that. “Santi,” She wrapped her arms around his thick waist. “It’s my birthday”

Santi groaned, hanging his head. Like the devil who went down to Georgia, he knew that he’d been beat. “You promise you can swim?”

Grinning, she affirmed her earlier promise and went to get in the boat with no lifejacket, taking Will’s hand he extended to help her in, leaving Santi to get in carrying the bag she had brought. Will offered his hand to Santi with a cheeky grin, but Santi smacked it away.

The day was warm, the Florida sun beating down on them, reminding the group why it was called the sunshine state

Santi and Benny had taken off their shirts in the sweltering heat, Frankie keeping his on to not make Will feel out of place for not taking his shirt off due to the scarring on his back.

Laci didn’t want to do the fishing, feeling bad for the fish as they flopped around. The guys had promised to kill the fish quickly to ‘put it out of its misery’ as Ben said. Santi was not having good luck. He didn’t really fish often, that was more Benny and, ironically, Catfish’s thing, the pair of them going out on fishing/drinking trips that Will was certain would end up with one dead. Santi had very politely asked for no alcohol on the boat. The cabin was fair game, but given Benny’s inability to pace himself and the way Frankies drinking picked up since attempting sobriety, Laci didn’t want to worry about anyone drowning. They all happily sipped on the wide variety of pop Laci was sure to bring, as well as the water she made them drink.

Everyone ate the sandwiches Laci had packed, taking a break from fishing and simply enjoying each other's company.

Santi was applying sunscreen to Laci’s fair skin, wondering how long he could keep fighting the boner that was growing in his shorts, when Frankie looked up from the lake he had been peering in and nudged Laci “Hey, look” 

The two of them peered over the edge, Will telling them to be careful and not fall in, when Laci saw what Frankie was pointing out.

“Santi look! A turtle!” She pointed.

But before Santi could look, Ben came shouting “WHERES THE TURTLE!”, barreling to the opposite end of the boat, tipping the entire thing over.

Santi’s instincts went to grab Laci in some vain attempt in keeping her in the boat, but everything went wildly confusing before he even registered he was in water. Quickly, he oriented himself, popping up under the capsized boat. He could touch the bottom of the lake floor, but the water still rose to his mouth. Not taking more than half a second to take a breath, her dove back in, swimming under the boat and popping up the other end, only one thought on his mind as his head came over the surface 

“LACI!”

Santi can’t see shit in the water, not from where he is barely standing. Will spots a ball of white in the water and quickly scoops Laci up in his arm bringing her up into the air where she gasped for breath. She quickly tried wrapping her arms around Will’s neck, clinging to him for dear life as she sputtered for air. Will pried her away, slinging her over his strong arm and smacking her back a few times until she spit up the water that had gone in her mouth.

“Lace!” Santi quickly swam over, trying to stay above water as he held her face. “Baby, are you okay?”

Regaining her breath, she held onto Will’s strong arm for dear life. “Yeah” Laci gasped out, smiling softly to let her know she’s okay. “I’m okay”

Santi wanted to yell at Benny, but he knew that would only upset Laci more.

Benny had gathered up everyone's hats, and luckily the coolers had remained locked up tight. “Fish, help me tip the boat up. Santi, get the cooler since you need a fucking floaty”

Santi glared, but went to get the cooler. Will grabbed the dry box and Fish and Ben got the boat tipped back up. Frankie helped lift Benny into the boat, and Benny instinctively reached out for Laci as Will lifted her up. As the others climbed in (Santi needing extra help, to his grumbling) Benny pulled a towel out of the dry box (the ugly ass towel Frankie got for her) and tried to dry her off until Santi got in the boat. Benny quickly moved aside, sitting on the bench beside her as Santi knelt between her legs, holding her face tenderly as if she would break. “You doing okay? Can you breathe? Does your throat hurt? Is there water in your lungs?”

“Santi, please I’m fine” She smiled, mostly recovered from her little scare. She thought it probably freaked Santi out more than her.

“Do you wanna go home? We can go home. Or to the ER, do you think you breathed in water-”

“Santi” Lace held his stubbled face in return, looking into his brown eyes with an intensity she only used when she really needed him to listen to her. “Look at me. I didn’t drown, I’m okay, I’m perfectly fine, okay?”

He wanted to argue, he wanted to keep doting on her, but he knew he needed to dial it back. “Okay, if you’re sure your fine. You’ll tell me if you feel funny, right?”

“Of course, baby” Laci kissed his forehead.

Will had already started the motor, guiding the boat back to the cabin. 

“Well” Benny said, breaking the tense silence. “This still went better than the last time we were all on a boat together”

Will and Frankie laughed a bit, and after a pause, Santiago smiled, adding “Well to be fair, the boat went fine. It was the whole prior part” Which made the guys laugh more.

Laci smiled back, happy Santi relaxed, but was curious. “What happened the last time you were all on a boat together?”

The guys all exchanged looks; Benny had assumed Santi had told her the story.

“Oh” She said “This is the story about the money, isn’t it? It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me” She knew they were all secretive about it.

Santi wrapped an arm around her, pulling that monstrosity of a wearable towel around her. “I’ll tell you all about when we get home, baby. It’s a hell of a story”

“Yeah” Frankie added “You could make a movie out of that shit.”

*

Laci and Santi took a nap that afternoon. Well, Laci did. Santi held her tightly in his arms, carefully watching her incase of any warning sign something was wrong.

“You guys ready?” Laci called from the bathroom in the master suite where she was getting ready.

The guys were all waiting in the living area where Santi called “Just waiting on you, hermosa”

He heard her come through the door. “Sorry guys” She apologized for taking so long.

Sant turned to look at her and- holy fucking hell. She was, predictably, in white. A simple dress, nice and snug at the waist with a skirt that flared out, flittering around her thighs as she did a spin for Santi who was, also predictably, gobsmacked as he watched the short skirt, thinking about how he’d like to get under it. The neckline is what got him through. Laci was small chested, thus she had the ability to wear deep cut dresses… ones that required no bra.

Swallowing thickly, Santi stood up, ready to grab her and pull her into the bedroom for the second time that day and holy fucking shit when did he become this fucking horny? “Quick question La-” 

“Oh no” Fish caught his hand, pulling a distraught Pope back. “None of that shit, lets go”

*

The concert was fun, even Will had to admit. For being a local band, they weren’t half bad, and the food venders were good too. Will could be a bit of a foodie, and even he gave his stamp of approval to several as he sampled along.

Santi hadn’t stopped doting on Laci all night, caressing her hair and leaning in, asking how she was feeling, despite her insistence she was perfectly okay. Will couldn’t imagine Santi as a dad, he’d out do every helicopter soccer mom there ever was, and god forbid someone or something actually hurt his kid. Will had geared up for a fight after he fished Laci out of the water, certain that Santi was going to yell as Ben, Will had seen that spark in his eyes that was a surefire sign  one of the two hotheads of their group was going to start something. But Laci smoothed his edges, and she was almost as defensive of Ben as Will was. So Santi sat back, dialing his anger in and concentrating on Laci.

Santi could tell Laci wanted to dance.

Santi could not dance. 

“I’ll be right back” Santi got up, and Frankie wondered what got him so suddenly flustered. 

As he came back, refusing to tell them where he had been, Frankie stood up, holding out his hand to Laci, who was sitting at the bench under Santi’s arm, drinking a lemonade in contrast to Will and Frankies beers, and Benny’s weird girlie drink. Boston by Augustana was playing.

“Can I have this dance, manita?” He smiled at her, Laci’s face lighting up as she took it. 

Santi watched her walk away, kicking himself.

Benny leaned in “You gonna do something about that, old man? Or you gonna wait until one of the young men eyeing her like a piece of meat ask her to dance next.”

“Santi can’t dance” Will clarifies.

“Bullshit! I’ve seen you dance with a shit tone of other women.”

Santi groaned. “Not like that.” Santi gestures to a grinning Laci, who was happily dancing in a square waltz with Frankie. “I can dance like…”

Will chimed in at that. “Like a man-whore”

Groaning yet again, Santi slumped in his seat and hung his head back, until he felt Ben grab his hand.

“C’mon, Santi, let’s go” Ben pulled him to stand up.

“Ben, what the fuck-”

Benny moved Santi’s left hand to his waist. “I’m teaching you to dance.”

Frankie glanced over, and started laughing, gesturing for Laci to look at the scene before them. Benny was holding Santi close as Santi watched his feet, Ben yelling at him to keep his eyes up. Will was leaned against the lit lamppost, smiling widely as he laughed at the train wreck before him.

Laci smiled fondly at the pair. Santi and Benny were definitely the most high strung of the group, and between how much they loved each other, how much they loved her, and the demons they both were fighting, tensions sometimes bubbled over, the two of them fighting only second two the Miller boys brotherly bickering. Laci knew Santi was irritated at Ben for knocking the boat over, but refrained from yelling at him for her sack. It was nice to see scenes like this, to see them getting along so well, a reminder of how much they adored each other. Benny looked up to Santi like Benny did Will, and Santi loved Benny like a little brother, both would do anything for each other.

“Hey Laci?” Frankie spoke, drawing her back to look up at him.

“Yeah?”

“I’m really happy you're here with us.”

“Me too, Frankie” She opted to wrap her arms around him, and danced like that until the song faded out. When the next song started, she heard the ever familiar sound of ‘Leather and Lace’ start. Gasping, she lifted herself off Frankie’s chest and looked to where she thought Santi and Benny would still be “Santi!” But he wasn’t there. She looked around a bit, disappointed he was missing their song, when she felt a tap on her shoulders. 

Santi stood behind her, smiling and handsome as ever. “Miss Lacina” With one hand in front of him and one behind, he bowed, then extended him hand to her. “May I have this dance”

Jumping up a bit, she squealed, then composed herself. Laci curtsied, “You may” she whispered a thank you to Frankie who took his leave as the band started singing Stevie Nicks part. 

Is love so fragile? And the heart so hollow, shatter with words, impossible to follow

It was sloppy, it was not smooth, nor was it nearly as graceful as Santi wanted for her, but he didn’t step on her toes. 

Laci gave him a quick peck on the lips. “You did this, didn’t you? The song.”

Saying im fragile, I try not to be, I search only for something I can’ see. I have my own life, and I am stronger than you know

Smiling, he returned the kiss on her forehead. “Yeah, local bands will play about anything when you pay them good money”

“Santi! You did not”

You in the moonlight, with your sleepy eyes, could you ever love a man like me? And you were right, when I walked into your house, I knew I’d never wanna leave

“I did” he grinned at her. “Anything for my perfect girl”

She snuggled up close to him, not caring about a perfect dance, just wanting him close.  “You know, you never actually asked me to be your girlfriend” She teased with a smirk.

Santi gives a little shrug, a cheeky smile on his face. “We’re just hanging out”

“Hey!” With mock offense, she gently pushes him.

Sometimes I’m a strong man, sometimes cold and scared and sometimes I cry

Santi moved his hands to cup her face, holding her close as she pouted. “I’m kidding, muncequita” He pinches her cheeks before he kissed her little nose. “Will you be my girl?” He let go, taking her hand and girl her a spin, admiring her little skirt twirling up to give a peak of her lavender underwear that he distinctly remembers mouthing over last week. His hands settled on her hips. “Will you go steady with me?”

Laci giggled, beaming at him. “Yes, you goofball.”

First time I saw you, knew with you to light my nights, somehow I would get by

Holding her close, Santi couldn’t help but think how much he’s changed for the better. Will always said she softened him, and it was becoming clear how apparent that was. Not that he was completely softened; he had just killed someone for her two months ago, but he was getting her anger issues underwraps. She had helped him with Frankie over the summer, helping his best friend get sober. And she called him a goofball? Him? No one had called him a goofball since he was a kid. She saw something in him no one else did.

Lovers forever, face to face my city your mountain, stay with me stay

Santiago kissed her forehead and sang along. “I need you to love me, I need you today”

Her hand trailed down his back. “Give to me your leather, take from me, my lace.”

*

Santi helped Laci drag Benny into bed, placing him on his side with a trash can on the floor and a water bottle on the counter; same way they set up Will and Frankie, both of who were also drunk off their ass. Santi had refrained from drinking so he could drive them, and Laci didn’t drink, leaving them to take care of the three drunks.

Waiting at the doorway, Santi watched as she kissed Bennys forehead (this move was reserved exclusively for Benjamin) and thought she’d make a good mom. Santi had never wanted kids before. Not that it was an active decision against, but more than the idea of having kids with someone never seemed like a plausible scenario. His job, his life, the way he was, he didn’t think anyone would even want kids with him. Laci was different. She was so, so different. She was kind, she was patient, she was forgiving. She cared for their friends in a way that makes him think she’d only ever excel as a mother. 

Santiago wraps an arm around her, gently closing the door to not wake Ben, and they retire to the bedroom, Santi getting ready for bed first.

Laci was suspiciously secretive as she grabbed clothes from her suitcase and took suspiciously long getting ready for bed.

“Lace?” Santi called as he sat on the bed in his boxers. “You okay in there? Need anything”

Laci couldn’t help but smile and roll her eyes as she heard him. God, what did she do to deserve him? Everything that had happened since her brothers death told her she deserved bad things, and yet, with Santi, those nasty inner voices didn’t stand a chance. He protected her with a ferocity, and loved her so passionately she couldn’t help feel, yes, she deserved everything he gave her, and in turn she’d give everything she could to him. It was a partnership, and she had never felt so whole in her life. “I’m okay, just stay there, I got a surprise for you”

“Ohhhh, a surprise for me?” 

She could almost picture the boyish grin that was sure to be on his face, something that was reserved only for her. Laci looked at herself in the mirror in the lingerie she got earlier that week with Jana, who insisted on buying it for her birthday gift, since she couldn’t be at the cabin due to work. Too skinny, she thought. She always had been, long before drugs took hold or her year being starved, it hadn’t taken much for her to go from skinny to gaunt, it was no wonder Santi still treated her like something delicate. 

Of course, it didn’t help that she dressed the way she did. Laci considered her clothing choices. She often felt she dresses immaturely, pink dresses and ruffles and lace, but she was uncomfortable dressing in what might be considered ‘sexy’. Shopping with Jana, she would tease Laci by holding up leather bra’s or strappy bodysuits that made Laci blush. She wanted to look like, to dress up for what she was about to do. She knew Santi would devour her either way; she distinctly remembers his hands between her legs many a morning, begging for her as she wore sweats.

But tonight was different. Tonight was special.

“Are you ready, Santi?” She called out, taking a deep breath.

“Always, for you.”

She opened the door and Santiago Garcia stood up, flabbergasted. It was no secret that whatever Laci wore had a tendency to make him hard, especially the clothes she wore this weekend, but this was special. This was something he knew she picked out specifically to get a reaction out of him. And a reaction it fucking got.

He walked over to her, the light make up she wore to the dance had been retouched, and the gentle waves Benny had put in her hair still stayed, but to his shame, his eyes were drawn to her body. She wore a bra and panty set, the light pink that always matched her lips and cheeks. It was skimpy, flattering her body type well, but the thing that got Santi’s mind whirring was the mesh. The breasts and the crotch were a thin mesh material, over slightly covered by the flowers embroidered in the cups and panties, but that did fuck all to cover her nipples. 

“Do you like it?” She asked nervously.

“How about this one?” Jana called in the lingerie store.

Laci turned and felt her eyes widen in embarrassment at the damn near contraption Jana was holding up, a leather corset that had so many straps and buckles Laci wasn’t sure which end was up.

“Laci” She said, laughing as she put it back. “Girl I’m just fucking with you.”

Covering her mouth, Laci spoke through her fingers. “Oh my god, is that what Santi wants?”

Jana shrugged. “I dunno, that’s what Frankie always liked” She joked, looking through the lingerie some more, but stopped when Laci didn’t join her. She looked up to see a horrified and embarrassed Laci, and decided to stop teasing her. Jana took her hands and spoke in earnest. “Laci, Santi likes you for you. That stuff” She gestures to the more risque items. “Is more my speed, but he’s not dating me, he’s dating you. Flowy skirts and flowers in your hair and all. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, you could wear granny panties and he’d rip them off.”

Laci visibly relaxed at that.

Looking over to the side, Jana spoke again, “Speaking of flowers, what about this?”

“Do I like it?” Santi sputtered out, approaching her. “Baby, if you touched me right now, I’d cum in my fucking boxers.”

Laci was still nervous, wringing her hands together. “It’s not stupid looking? Everything else was leather and crotchless and it just didn’t feel right and-”

Santi dove in with a soul consuming kiss, like he was trying to inhale her, sucking her tongue before pulling back, taking in her body again. “Holy fucking hell, Lace, jesus christ”

She giggled now. “I take it that’s good?”

“Good?! You’re fucking crazy” ‘Good’ was no where near enough to explain how she looked in that. “It’s your birthday but I’m getting the gift” He went for her neck with gentle kisses, but she lightly pushed his back.

“Actually, there's another reason I’m wearing this…” She looked nervous still, but significantly more relaxed, oddly, after feeling Santi’s aching erection pressed against her stomach, knowing how desperate he was for her. 

Santi watched her intently, dialing back how feral he felt for her.

She continued, holding his strong biceps and looking up at him. “I’m ready”

All he could do is blink at her. “For what?”

The pink on her face was evident, even in the dark room, lit only by the full moon pouring in. “I’m ready” She said again, just slightly more assertive, a light smile on her face.

“Baby, all my blood immigrated from my head to Dicktown, USA the second you stepped out in that, you’re going to need to be very clear with me”

Entangling her fingers in his soft curls, peppered in gray, she kissed his lush lips. “For sex, Santi”

The man was too stunned to speak. “Oh shit. Are you sure? We don’t have to-”

“I know, baby, I know, But I want to. I trust you” Another kiss, to the corner of his mouth this time. “There’s no one I love and trust more in this world”

Santi grinned at his pretty girl in his arms, hands trailing as he wrapped them around her, toying with the material that barely covered her butt in little flowers. “Tu eres mi flor, mi sol, y mi corazón” He kisses her right cheek. “Mi todos” a kiss on her little nose. “Tu eres el amor de mi vida, mi chica bonita” Finally kissing her lips.

“Tu eres…” she starts, trying to think of the right words “Mi hombre guapo?” Laci asked tentatively.

Santi’s smile split into a wide grin. “Oh yeah? My smart girl can speak spanish?” He kissed her again, this time with a need, with desire, walking her back against the wall, slotting his thigh between her legs, knowing how much she loved to get off on them. 

“S-Santi…” Laci whimpered, chest already flush in the moonlight as Santi worked her up, hands on her hips. “Always feel s’good” She tried to focus on kissing him and moving her body along his bare leg, the boxers having ridden up, the thick curly hair of his thigh adding to the sensations between her still-clothed sex.

“Yeah? You like fucking yourself on my thigh, pretty girl? Could spend my entire life like this, watching you unravel and I don’t even need to take my clothes off. You that desperate? Needy little thing.”

“Only for you” She braced herself against his strong arms, using the leverage to work herself up and down him. “Never felt like this with anyone else, wanna come on your leg, please?” She said breathlessly, little blue eyes pleading.

“Oh baby, I’ll never make you beg.” Santi watched her come apart, and knowing how she reacted when she was close, Santi cupped the back on her head, just in time as she threw her head back, the only thing preventing her from smacking into the wall. “Good girl, my good girl, take what you need, use me, use me to come, sweetness”

She cried out, getting close but her pace was faltering. “Please Santi, it’s too much, need you, need you to help me”

The feeling was too intense, she couldn’t concentrate on her own pleasure, her legs were shaking with her approaching orgasm, but that made it impossible to work herself on him. “Laci, need you to look at me babydoll” He coaxed her blissed out face to him, her lips parted and eyes cloudy in a lusty haze.  “Daddy will take care of his little girl, always, but I can’t have you hitting your head, I need you to rest on my chest, okay? Don’t move, can you do that for me?”

“Uh-huh” She nodded desperately, and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his to keep herself glued to his warmth and his hands moved to her hips, taking over the work for her. She was a doll in his hands, malleable and submissive, but he only used that to bring her pleasure. “Be good for you”

“Good girl” He kissed the top of her blonde head. “I got you, munequita, just relax, focus on the feeling, focus on me” Santiago guides her as she remains tightly nestled in his firm chest. “Think about how good it feels, how wet you are, how sexy you look in that underwear, fuck! Fuck baby, you look so fucking good.”

Tears were brimming in her eyes, her body felt hot and flushed as her core tightened sharply. “I'm your pretty girl” She whimpered, so close to the edge.

Santi beamed; his face buried in her hair. “Yeah you are, you’re my pretty girl, say it again"

"I'm your pretty girl, Santiago, your pretty baby"

Her thighs clenched around him, nails digging into his skin and it was a good thing everyone else was out cold, because Laci shouted his name. He held her close, wrapping both arms around her as she continued to wriggle against him, prolonging her orgasm in the throws of the pleasure he had given her. “That’s it, let go, let me hear those pretty sounds”

With one last whine, she slumped against him, feeling soft and relaxed the way Santi always made her feel. 

“Jesus, Lace” Santi peaked at his watch. “You came in less than five minuets.” he grinned at her. “New record.”

“Did I do good?” Laci, to Santi’s delight, kept wriggling on his thigh, looking up at his, so doe-eyed, so eager. “Wanna make you feel good” She cupped his face, giving him a deep kiss, running her tongue over his lips. “Do I deserve it? Do I deserve you? Please, wanna feel you inside me, want you to claim me” She continued rutting against him. “Want you to make me yours, ruin me so no other man could ever be good enough.”

Fucking hell, he loved when she got like this, when she acted like he was something she had to earn. He said he wouldn’t make her beg, but when she did it on her own volition…

Santi scooped her up, knees be damned, carfully craddling her as he laid her down and- fuck.

“What’s wrong?” Laci saw his hesitation.

“You’re not on birth control, are you?”

She shook her head.

Santi signed, taking all his restraint to not tear apart the flimsy material of her underwear. “I don’t have a condom”

Laci desperately pawed at him, clutching him to her, not wanting his warmth to leave. “Santi, it’ll be fine” A flicker of embarrassment came across her face and she dodged her eyes, looking distant. “Everything cleared up, I promise. I wouldn’t have done anything with you if it hadn’t”

Santi realized what she was worried about. “No! No, baby, I know, I’m not worried about that.”

“It’ll be fine once, Santi, I don’t even know if I can get pregnant“ She was aware that bringing up her trauma wasn’t the sexiest thing.

Santi shook his head. “You’ve been through so much, an unplanned pregnancy would just-”

Laci’s face lit up “I know! Benny!” She exclaimed, scrambling out from under Santiago and pulling the top sheet over her shoulders.

“Laci, what-” But she was out the door, surprisingly bold in her compromising attire barely covered by the sheet. She must really be desperate for it.

She crept into Benny’s room, gently nudging him awake. “Ben. Bennnyyyyy” 

“HM?!” Benny jolts awake, still very drunk. “What’s going on?”

“Benny” She leans over, whispering still. “Do you have a condom?”

A wide, sleepy grin splits across his face. “Aw shiiiit, y’all finally doing it”

Laci returns the grin and nods.

Pointing to the wallet on his bedside, Benny lays back down. “In my wallet, it’s XXXXXXXXXL so I dunno if it’s work for Santi” he jokes, awfully proud of himself. 

Laci grabs what she’s after, kisses Benny’s head, and scampers out the door as Ben mutters something about ‘crazy kids’

“Got it!” She skips in, nearly tackling Santi in a kiss as they roll around on the bed. 

“I hope Benny doesn’t remember this in the morning” Santi mutters between sweaty, wet kisses.

“Santi, please?” 

“So fucking desperate.” He licked a straight line from her collar bone up to her jaw, groping at her tits. “Wanna taste you first”

He feels her shake her head against him. “Just want you, please, I’m ready, I need you, need you inside me”

“Lace-”

She pulled back, pouting. “You said you’d never make me beg”

How could he say no to that? “Can I open you up first? Get you ready to take me? I’ll give you every inch, I promise, Muñequita”

“Okay.” She begins sucking into his neck, giving the bruises Will had earlier remarked on.

Sliding off her underwear, Santi’s rough fingers feel her slicked up core, and he smiled a shit-eating grin. “God damn, all that cum on my leg and you’re still dripping”

Laci smiled, but was in no mood to fuck around, bucking her hips up, before Santi pinned her down with one hand. “Patience, mi vida.” His voice is low and close to her ear before she feels two fingers tap at her lips. “Get them nice and wet for me” With a nip at her collar. “Not that you need it”

When he felt she was accustomed to his fingers, he slowed down, asking gently as he looked her in the eyes. “Would you like to be on top, so you can control the pace, my love?”

Laci thought about this. “Can I start on top, then switched?”

Santi nodded, eyes shining with love. “Of course, baby girl, anything you want.”

Clothes fully off, Santi sat up against the bed frame as Laci knelt before him, straddling his hips as Santi gently kissed her. “I have to ask, one more time… You don’t have to do this because we danced together, or this trip…”

Laci kissed him. “We don’t have to do this because of the trip, or any of the nice dates you take me on, because you take care of me, or you saved me, or because you give me the best orgasms of my life. I want to do this because I love you, I know I’m safe with you, and I trust you to protect me and make me feel good.” She assured him, hands in his hair again and she raised her hips up.

“My good girl, my brave girl, my pretty baby, mi amor” Santi’s lips took her in for a kiss, feeling her inhale as she sank down on him, carefully but not slow. He had prepared her, and she really was ready for him. He groaned, feeling her warmth envelope him, tight and hot and wet, everything she had felt on his fingers but tenfold on his cock. Fucing hell, he was so worked up by this point he had to actively concentrate on not coming. “You okay, baby?”

Laci was enraptured. She fell so full with him inside her, so secure in his arms, and so, fucking, good. “Great, Santiago, you feel so good, so fucking perfect” She began to rock her hips, when Santi hissed, eyes clenched tight and he firmly held her still. “What’s wrong baby?” She asked, hands touching his face, suddenly very concerned. He looked in pain.

Santi shook his head. “Nothin. Just… sit still for a minuet.”

“Why-”

“I’m trying not to blow my load inside you right now” He grunted, taking calming breaths.

A wide, cheeky grin came across her face, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than for Santi to come. Tentatively, she moved on him, and his grip harshed.

His large brown eyes opened. “Lacina…” he said sternly, a warning in his tone.

But all she could do was giggle as she continued moving.

“Fucking brat” Santi leaned over, effectivly switching positions from a giggling Laci straddling him, to make her lay down. The last bit of his resolve falters, and after months of dreaming about it, he begins fucking into her at a punishing pace. “Give me a color, Laci” He checks in, just to be sure.

“Green! Fuck, harder, please? Fuck Santiago, you’re so fucking deep”

Santi leans back, watching himself disappear inside her. “Fucking hell baby, you’re doing to good, can’t believe you’re taking me so well when you’re this fucking tight.”

Her hands tug on his dark and light hair, spurring him on. “Wanted you inside me for so long, you always take care of me, wanna be yours want to make you feel good, daddy”

He kissed the litany of scares sporadically littered across the fair skin, landing on the one on her forehead she always tried to cover with her long bangs. “Always feel so good with you, always. You make me so fucking happy, never been happier than I am with you.” He felt her tightening again and concentrated him hands on giving her more pleasure. “You gonna come again? So soon? Gonna come on my cock?”

“Uh huh” She nods, giggling and smiles melted into a girl on the verge of orgasm, fucked out and sweaty, but ever pretty. “Make me come, please, wanna squeeze your cock when I come, wanna make a mess all over you.”

He felt her fluttering around him, a familiar feeling on his fingers she was about to spill over. “Come for me sweet girl, you earned it. Say my name when you come, fucking say it.”

“SANTI!” She met his eyes as she shouted before it all became tied in with a moan, her legs shaking from orgasm number two. “Thank you, thank you daddy, thank you, thank you.”

His own release had his vision blurring and his hips sputtered, spilling into the condom as he collapsed onto her breathless form. Santi moved to eat her out, determined to give her a third on his mouth, but he felt her grab him.

“You okay, Laci?”

“Yeah” She breathed out, smiling. “M’just too sensitive for another one, is that okay?”

“It’s always okay, pretty girl, always. Lemme get you cleaned up.”

She held onto him. “Can we just lay here for a while? Wanna be close to you”

Santi hoisted her up, draping her over him to lay atop his chest like she used to when they kissed on the couch late at night. He noticed her shiver, the layer of sweat getting cold as the cabin air conditioner blew over them. Santiago pulled the blanket over them. “I love you, Lacina Dumas”

“I love you, Santiago Garcia” She replied sleepily. He had a feeling she was going to be out cold in a few minuets, but he had no problem getting her settled in bed while she slept.

Just before he thought she was asleep, she spoke again, barely awake. “Santi?”

“Yeah Lace?”

“Is Frankie gonna be okay? Benny?”

Fuck, how long had she been worrying about them?

He held her close, kissing her soft blonde hair. “Yeah Lace, they’ll be okay. Might take some time, but I think everyone is gonna be as happy as we are.”

****************

Wow. Okay. It's real a trip guys.

When I posted the sneak peak into chapter 1 months ago, I didn't think anyone would be interested. and yet, here you all are!!!! I love you all, thank you for joining me on this ride. Laci is very special to me, and this has been a journey. I love exploring her and the guys, getting to know Jana, meeting Lorelei etc. Please let me know your thoughts! This chapter took forever to write!

Comment here if you'd like to be tagged in chapter 1 of Frankies story set in this same universe: Take Your Time, which will start after I get Sunshine, Starlight, Sweetheart, Brightside finished.

Frankie’s story starts here, Take Your Time

Also comment if you’d like to continue getting updates for occasional one shots. I have a Valentine’s Day fic planned, and although santi and lacis story will continue through the eyes of the others, I want their big events (I.e. wedding) to have short one shots, so those who don’t want to read the others stories can still keep up with our two fav horny teenagers

Also coming up if you like The Card Counter, my story Black with OCD!William Tell and Autistic!OC

And huuugggeeeeee shout out to my love, @welcometostayingawake for helping me with outfits, for brainstorming developing Jana, and all around being so enthusiatic about something so important to me, always being willing to talk about these guys <3

(p.s. i hope the smut was worth it. I know I edged your for 12 chapters and like. 5 bonus chapters.)

@littlenosoul @bensolosbluesaber @milkymoon2483 @gogh-with-the-flow @itspdameronthings @trinkets01 @p0edameronswife @welcometostayingawake @spxctorsslxt @username21mk @lucianadraven32 @sgt-morgan @xaestheticalien @howaboutcastiel @soapjay

[mochiwrites]

ive just finished catching up on night life and wow! oh gosh!! theres so much to process and so many questions!!! what happened with the last human mumbo was close to? whos the murderer? what exactly is scar being hired to do? whats scars past? wtf is up with scott? did scar set up that illusion with the house fire in the most recent chapter or scott? both?? why????

even if scar does all this to protect tub, wheres the guarantee that scott doesnt just pop in and take him anyways? i doubt theres so much as a drop of honor in that creepy, creepy man. what if scar gets found out and mumbo and grian are betrayed so they stop talking, then scott gets taken by tubs so scar's left alone, and goes to mumbo and grian for help which they ultimately give because how could they deny a friend in need?? WHAT ABOUT PEARL???

oh my gosh PEARL!! im so concerned for her. im so scared for her. if something happens to her ill kill everyone in the fic and then myself /ref

also taurtis?? id assumed he'd died, then grian had some self thinking about taurtis might be dead and now im convinced hes gonna come back somehow?? but how? or am i overthinking this and he IS dead? god poor dude

GRIAN. LORDY LORD how on earth so much guilt can fit in such a tiny man baffles me. at the same time something about him being human and objectively weaker in all this really resonates with me. his desire to be useful and of equal standing. ouch. doesnt hit any weak spots for me there no not at all.

im also very unhealthily in love with this version of mumbo. id die for him a million times over.

the worldbuilding is incredible!! it's a lot but i feel like its being incorporated in a way that isnt overwhelming so we're able to follow along with everything pretty well! plus, the fact that a lot of it is from grian's (very confused) perspective makes him work really well as a sort of source of information for readers! its great!!

i am just. overall very. wow. looking forward to future updates. very much looking forward to that. keep up the incredible work!!

ehehe henlo!! :D

many questions to be had !!! I want to answer all of them SO bad oh man. but I am being so brave and not spoiling *vigorous nodding* some of these answers Are coming soon though!!

scar’s motivations, in a broad and general sense, are really intriguing to consider in this au. he’s someone who’s never been human operating on fae morals while mingling with humans. so there’s this really interesting clash of ideals and goals going on. but if he’s not careful, the fallout could be… messy. extremely messy.

:)

PEARL AND TAURTIS OUGH… taurtis was put on a VERY interesting character path, and let me tell you it was. A major struggle trying to figure out how much of his story to put in the limelight. because taurtis is technically living in a different town while going through stuff and the path that leads him to the arachne is all going on in the background fbfbfbfg but 👀 in regards to his status… who knows! and PEARL… I cradle her So gently in my hands, I care her so much. I am so sorry

and ACK I’ve talked about grian and his humanity and the connection it has to everyone and the story drives me MADE. because realistically speaking, he Is the weakest. he Is the most vulnerable. the most fragile. it would Not take much to kill him. yet that doesn’t stop him from wanting to help. from wanting to be useful. there’s so much drive and perseverance and just… hope. he has so much hope and stubbornness and he is so painfully human. it reminds the non human characters of what they lost. of what they want to protect (mumbo).

and objectively, it’s because of grian’s humanity that he’s able to see the humanity in those around him (mumbo and scar).

songbird!mumbo is SO beloved. little sad and anxious vampire guy… I’m so sorry

but uwahhh thank you !!! the world building is something that I have a lot of fun with in this au. because it’s a fantasy au there’s So much world at my fingertips, which is why it’s so important to find the balance when introducing concepts and stuff. I try not to overwhelm with information <3

and using grian as the reader’s in to the supernatural world is Very purposeful :D when you begin the series, you and grian have the same amount of knowledge. you’re entering the supernatural world together, and learning the same information. so the readers are Literally seeing the world through grian’s eyes.

it’s a very helpful writers tool for world building >:D

and !!!!! 🥹💕 I’m glad you enjoyed it so far !! chapter 5 is already outlined and planned hehe. I’m very excited about this next chapter, and I’m hoping the wait won’t be too long!!

( also, since you mentioned the solar eclipse playlist, this au has a playlist as well! :D in case you’re interested uwu )

[sinkableruby]

owarimonogatari ge spoilers. rgu spoilers too i think

himemiya anthy and oshino ougi are both girls who exist for guys

and yeah i hear you thinking what, misogyny ?! toxic masculinity ?! thats not a big part of ougis arc and yeah it isnt and also other gender stuff BUT. the spirit is still there!! and i have to say it in that way first to do anthy's part justice

bc they Are both people who exist solely for others sake. their ability to define their own existences have been taken away from them. they have no agency! anthy obviously but also ougi has never had agency. ougi was created by araragi to do certain things he couldn't do himself, and this was literally the sole purpose of their existence. if ur in that situation what are you gonna do? not do it? and probably like, cease to exist bc the universe's internal coding is a total asshole? you don't have a choice, you just gotta accept the burden.

they're very silly and goofy and sinister and smiley about it of course but like. i'll say it now a lot of those smiles are not happy. i mean you look at the light novels oshino "ppl are so dumb i have to laugh at them but im crying when im laughing" ougi (edgelord ougi confirmed? LOL ok ok not really) oshino 'araragi theorizes her smile was poignant bc she knew how short her life would be' ougi like yeah ok. get a life, literally. lol (note this is also. for those who have read it. what ougi stay is about. and what my next big thing is going to be about. this is what the significance. anyway)

and anthy does the same thing! all this fucked up shit happens around her and To her and she just watches it all with the same smile like nothing's wrong. the parallels are insane you guys you cant make this shit up. anthy smiling like nothing is wrong during the duels before slowly realizing she doesn't want to be separated from utena is the same as ougi smiling while about to be erased forever even though she doesnt want to die. its parallels!!!!!! even where ougi's situation gets a little muddied with her being Literally araragi (even though she is still the part of him that he ejected and pushed all this work onto and still just exists for him at first so i wouldnt say this is a point against my analysis here), it still very much applies. and that part of 'being him' can loop back around and extend anthy if you want it to. she does whatever her fiancee wants her to, is molded to and reflects them. a reflection-- is that not, in a very big sense, what ougi is for araragi? you could even say that for anthy, the fiancee of the rose bride's attempted domination of her is a way to dominate the femininity within them, to quell and control it. (if this doesnt make sense my excuse is that i havent finished watching yet. but i think it does make sense, and a lot of it, actually)

theyve both got their Roles to play, and play them they do. anthy, the rose bride, and ougi, the culprit, the bad guy. i think about that 'bad guy' framing a lot too btw. when ougi is talking about her unfazed appearance when faced with Forever Death Via Black Hole, shes like 'don't you hate it when in mystery novels the bad guy is so calm in the face of their comeuppance? yeah that sucks so just letting you know im terrified 👍. gotta wonder what happens when your matter gets erased completely yk. like whats that gotta be like lol.' (not even exaggerating at all really) (also shes so funny she relates everything to mystery novels bc she loves them thats so sweet and real i love that :)) (and then she proceeded to say 'nah i think the culprit should kill themself instead' but i wont get into it)

theyve also both got those cute little interests come to think of it. anthy loves like animals and stuff and ougi loves their mysteries. are these two the Same Character (joking) (but really they should hang out)

theres a line in one of the short stories that summarizes it really well, describing ougi as 'a puppet who had come to life.' and yeah, basically. it's implied to be after the ougi dark resolution so there i have even more ✨textual evidence✨ but like fr. its an incredibly apt description for ougi. if yotsugi is a doll, then ougi is a puppet, who has gained agency (and thats the thing, rgu and monogatari are giving these agency-robbed characters agency, thats what ougi dark did, and im like p sure thats what rgu is going to do i havent finished it lol but i did get sorta spoiled on the ending so i think its gonna. in monogatari... its more rocky i feel. its not cut and dry, its not like whoops you have agency forever completely now. its like you Kinda have it. you Maybe Mostly have it. it's complicated i'm writing about it)... i wonder when yotsugi will get her agency, but part of me wonders if nisioisins plan is that she wont. because she's a doll, she's too stuck, she's fixed to what others need her for, she can't work by herself. she hasn't "come to life" yet like ougi has (being a corpse might do that to you)

anyway uhhhh i'm right good night

[1tsjusty0u]

another quastion. how does zelda feel about the castle. pre and post calamity. have people gone into the castle after the calamity and could she sense them/how does her telepathy work/what can she see if anything

HM!!!

ok so. this had me rethink a Lot about my zelda because. trying to tie her into the story and/or give her thematically relevant motives/problems is Specifically Hard with the theme i chose (if you can even call it a theme). and also i had to go over what she would actually think in her situation and it. not really tying into how she thought of it beforehand. im still going over it honestly and canon botw makes this so much harder why did they Do That…. this especially complicates her father and hers relationship at least from normal fandom standards but at the very least i can deal with that

castle time ok!!! pre cal its mostly just her house. one that has stupid rules sometimes but otherwise shes doing pretty great!!! the sheikah tech are extremely abundant near the castle, both seen in the memories (including the champions dlc memory) but also makes sense given where the sheikah tech was buried to begin with. her relationship with her father gets. More Strained as time goes on. to be clear he does care for her and the whole reason he bans her from the tech in a memory is so she can prove to everyone how she isnt a failure. the problem with that though is that he prohibits her only real solution to her powers, the one tangible thing that Can stop the calamity. id also feel like at he end of conversations he would ask about her training which could lead to arguments. shes still able to infodump things to him (only really more towards the beginning though), which he takes more to heart once hes dead. and he kind of has to unban her from the sheikah tech at one point, nearing the calamitys arrival. it leads to a Hell of an argument from both of them because he Wants to keep her banned or grounded more than ever before, but well. circumstances have changed. but back on topic castle wise everythings chill. most of the knights or soldiers cant go into the castle having like. 2 rooms where they are allowed, and the guards are just like maids and such to her. theyre there and they dont intrude Too Much. gestures to the post she doesnt want to Not be a princess she doesnt want to be a Failure of a princess, and the castle doesnt really remind her much of that. her room might..? but theres no signs to that when you go into it when its broken and such. there isnt even a goddess statue in there. so. yeah! i may add that? BUT ANYWAYS.

post cal!!! mixed feelings. on one hand? Anger. anger that the calamity revived There, angry that it came early when she was so close, angry that the payoff she hoped for never came and she had to do all of that only for the castle to get destroyed and 100 years to pass and her friends to die. she doesnt think she did it for nothing, but shes Close to thinking that just by proxy of how events happened. she needs to go in there eventually to retrieve Her Stuff (plushies, printed photos that werent taken by purah, diagrams, books etc) and it just. messes a bit with her how everything is destroyed and how the grass and trees are all dead from malice and guardians. if she rebuilt the monarchy she’d likely leave the old castle in ruins, building another one in a different location, leaving the old one as a monument of sorts to What Happened. she wouldnt view everything as her or links failure she’d just view it as a stupid stupid moment that didnt have to happen but did anyways. especially because she Has Her Powers Now. she got to the springs she has her powers shes a Princess. she didnt fail at what she was supposed to do, its just her monarchy is a failure rather than her if that makes sense??????????? she has no place to Be a princess after she spent so long trying to be one. an ending that wasnt worth it. so the castle is generally unpleasant to be around. shes upset about everything being destroyed but also pretty mad about it. she keeps it there more to hurt herself than anything else. she thinks its a reminder and in part it is its just not a useful reminder of any kind . not to say the monarchy was good mind you just the circumstances in which it got destroyed, Especially For Her, werent great!

people have gone into the castle after the calamity!! or at least before link wakes up but during when zelda is still fending ganon off. that mostly aligns with canon surprisingly as npcs can tell you how they Used to be able to get into the castle for gear but now theres monsters all over the place. i think that ganons malice was still there and the cocoon was also still there he just was less actively fending off the castle because there was no need. priorities 🔥🔥🔥. i..! think she could sense them, but not really realize it was them for lack of a better word. like she knew someone was in the castle but she either was A not able to focus on it too much or at all or B could focus on it but had no idea What It Was. like it couldve just been a feeling when someone was in the castle but she’d have no idea thats what that feeling came from if that makes sense. once link wakes up shes able to focus on other things more outwardly but still focuses more on ganon. her telepathy i think works based on ganon and sheikah tech alerts :] like for example theres apparently a control unit for the towers underneath the castle. if ganon was using that accidentally then zelda would also have a tie to that just by proxy of being eaten by him. its like. she could visually see or audibly hear something change, and that goes for when the divine beasts yell when you come near them and she warns you of them if you havent talked to impa or when ganon yells when you come to the castle. she was able to wake you up to do the shrine of resurrection letting out an alert of some kind. how it works or even if its connected to the castle at all i dont know though. maybe a hivemind or a message system like the divine beasts? where the shr actually the shrine of resurrection Is Technically a divine beast so it could absolutely have a messaging/alert system. how it gets to the castle i have no idea. either the castle is also a divine beast or theres a main control unit under there. or the alerts from the SoR get broadcasted across the main tech that needs it, though i dont know why theyd do that… but the tower is more straightforward thats connected to the castle. the five minutes after playing she just has no idea what links doing and tells him to head there out of necessity . the divine beasts yells are just Loud and more loud to her specifically because ganon has a hand in that. ganon yelling is self explanatory. how shes able to talk to link telepathically to begin with ? no clue. it probably has something to do with whatever her powers are or how zeldas of the past were able to use telepathy, but its more likely just a result of her powers. i think she more or less found out via ganon though. either he can also do that or she just. kind of Had To after being eaten.

for what she sees….! thats tough. i saw a comic once that had zelda be able to see through hylia statues, which is cool however thats kind of bogging her down to being hylia 2.0 which. she isnt. and also considering her Issues with hylia i almost feels mean. she Could be able to see through the divine beasts possibly ? whether im doing that is up for debate though. Though it could make for some accidental horror? like having a divine beast constantly Facing Your Direction no matter how far away you are, or when its moving in a circle it suddenly just doesnt turn and either stands and stares at you or goes towards your direction. horrifying and i dont think zelda would be able to do that (more looking through them rather than controlling them) but i like divine beast horror. anyways considering the divine beasts have consciousness? i dont know if she’d be able to. do that. like hijack it just to see whats happening

inside ganon she can actually see things.! not from the outside mind you but its not just pitch black. whether its a different world, pure malice, just sheikah tech, is up to debate. or up to how i design it honestly i need to figure . that out. but yeag. i shall draw it once i have an idea of it

also please note how she feels about the castle is . Subject To Change. i feel like a conspiracy theorist trying to make her work here. but for now!!!!! yeah!!!!!! im going to try to expand her when i expand the champions. or when i decide how the relationships are going to work and what works better . 👍

[obitv]

compiling all my un-witness protection hcs into one post because. well why not

deadwood as whole is a fairly small town. one small school, the only highschool is actually outside the town. everyone from deadwood gets the bus out there and theyd all know Of eachother if they dont know everyone personally

because deadwood is Fucking Weird kids from there struggle fitting in once they go to the highschool. while a lot of them would be in larger more typical cliques, they tend to group together whenever they can

abilities like seeing/talking to spirits arent.. uncommon? its not like everyone has them and generally it isnt Spoken Of but theres a much higher concentration there than youd find in any other city or town in prime

which is how the upp formed! group of highschoolers from deadwood, all from different social groups who would never typically interact all realise they have some sort of Sight

i just realised theyyre literally like in scoobydoo. this wasnt on purpose oh god

anyway. the group was probably formed both by william (wants to investigate the goings-on but cant actually talk to spirits, only see them) and a more popular, extroverted girl who like probably had a bit of a crush on him but also agreed that something needed to be done and they could do it

just bc deadwood doesnt have heroes doesnt mean teenagers wont get hero complexes! erm

onto the actual upp! theres around 5-6 of them. 2 girls, 3 or 4 guys. i havent fully decided on a number, maybe one guy drops in and out.. for future consideration

im hesitant to give her names but one girl Is called mary. not the extroverted girl, id say shes more of their navigator and is big into survivalism. urban trespassing girlie

theres totally a jock. like there has to be. hes actually a lot smarter than people give him credit for

i think for abilities.. william has the weakest Sight but his investigative skills and motivation make up for that. also sometimes he throws sticks that helps

another one of the guys has the strongest abilities. he can see them vividly and can speak to anything that CAN speak. probably in the same boat as william, he'd be an outcast without the upp. maybe theyre close friends :)

they dont actually go into the woods unless they have to - theyve grown up on stories of how dangerous they can be and how easy it is to get lost or turned around or just Taken, even in groups

typically it was graveyards, old buildings, maybe a trainyard or something idk whats in america

if they were dealing with aware spirits, typically all they needed was some sort of easier seance/exorcism, maybe just having someone to tell their story to, maybe a mystery solved

theres monsters in deadwood too, though. procedure for them varied wildly from RUN AWAY to finding out who they once were and helping them back to that, and then the typical seance/exorcism, to just asking it to go away

after williams incident, they dont fully drift apart. maybe for a while after he left, until they were sure whatever curse he had brought on them was gone with him. they tone down the investigative side of things, and have less cases as a result, but they still do what they can

cant wait for all of this to get decanonised ^_^ itll be awesome. um hope u enjoyed. feel free to ask more details bc i left a lot out actually to try focus on the group instead off Just william. a few of my general deadwood hcs are in here so you can ask abt those too ^_^

[thedeafprophet]

38, 40, and B for all!

38. What memory do they revisit the most often?

Alex:

Alex doesnt thing of the distant past, wont let himself. At least not now. Most things are heavily repressed as much as he can to avoid thinking about that.

In terms of more recent things,,, I think he freudntly revists the memories with his child. He misses the hybrid quite a lot, the parabolan base camp feeling far too empty when he's the only one there. There's a sense of almost nostalgia in returning to those memories, even if the situation was not great, he still misses the times in his own way.

Jamie:

Jamie tries to avoiding revisiting memories (...in more ways then one...) but isn't always so successful in that matter. As far as they're considered the past is done - there's no sense fussing over it, nothing could have been different anyways......

In lighter terms, it's probably happier memories they return to. Old times of telling stories late into the night, adventures when running off into the nearby woods, all sorts of little things.

...in darker terms, it's probably one of the many memories of being alone in the past

Or, perhaps, more recent memories. Of a hand in their hair or the grip on their wrists, and other less entierly wanted things....

Josephine:

She doesn't remember a whole lot from when she was young, both the fading from the years gone by and the ever complicated mix of devasting trauma making it harder to piece together where things fit.

But she remembers lying up in the evening outing, fighting sleep that tried to pull her under, listening to the peaceful sound fingers on keys as her mother played the piano. What that melody was, she has long since forgotten. But the way it made her feel secure, that she keeps.

Aurora:

I think Aurora tends to go back to the memory of her childhood a lot. When she first was taken home by her mother, she gave Aurora a toy bear, the first toy Aurora ever really had. She thinks on that memory a lot, and what came from it, and where she is now.

They also frequently revist a memory of the first time they truly spilt blood. It wasnt even intentional - fencing blades arent supposed to be sharp. they dont know what happened... or truly what they remember

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

Alex:

I think,,,,,, Alex is aware, somewhat, of his flaws. But it really depends on his flaws. Alex knows he's grouchy and awkward and doesnt get along with people because of it- and he's fine with that. Most of the time he wants to be left alone and not deal with other people. It only becomes a problem when he wants to get along and help someone and is left unable to do so. he really doesnt mean to come across as insulting, but he know he does.

Other things well... Alex knows he has a temper. He's aware and tries his best to avoid loosing his cool but well... its hard. especially with the situations he's been in leaving emotional regulation all the more difficult for him. He's terrified of turning out like the people who've hurt him, terrified of hurting those he cares about, and he's quite sensistive about his anger because of these things. He doesnt know what to do.

And then theres the things he's not fully aware of. at least not fullly. Alex's hypocricy and controlling behaviour are things he really should be more sensitive too but... well. its harder to recgonize these things when you believe its justified.

Jamie:

Extremely, extremely sensitive to their flaws. And then some. Jamie tends to over exagerate their own performance and see flaws even when they arent there. Were they talking too loud again? For too long? Did they say the right things? To the right people? Everyone was watching them, what if they did it wrong? They are the type of person to lie awake at night analyzing every single interaction theyve had during the day and then some. They tend to get heavily into their own head and overjudged and anaylze their every fault in a very unhealthy way.

Thats not to say this really effects the way they behave. Jamie still acts selfish and self serving, still tends to talk over and past others, and hardly ever learns their lesson about sticking their nose where it doesnt belong, or insulting people when they really shouldnt. No matter if theyre aware that they shouldnt do these things they still..... do it.

They know what they do isnt healthy. They know interacting with certains things and certain people isnt good for them

They still do it anyways.

Josephine:

Josie is well...she's a very ends justify the mean type of person. Yes of course her obsessive need to know isn't good, yes she can become overly captured on a topic, yes she keeps information she knows from others people but this is all FOR A REASON. she has goals to reach, plans in motion, things to come. is it always morally good? No. But the world they live in isnt either. Some sacrifices have to be made.

Other things, she denies all together. It is very clear to anyone that Josie is too caught up in her grief, her inability to move on. But how can she be blamed for that? When the world has been so horridly unfair to her?

So yes, i suppose Josephine is sensitive to and aware of her flaws. but she would never admit and succumb to them.

Aurora:

Rory has no flaws. She sees nothing wrong with what she's doing. She certainly doesn't sit up at night wondering if there's any purpose in what she does, if killing for the sake of it is at all worth her time.

In other things well.... She grew up with the world so insistent that she had to behave one way, its hard still not to view just existing against the mold as a flaw, no matter how untrue it is. she tends to just shove everything down and try to avoid thinking about it.

B) What inspired you to create them?

idk i just work here.

my ocs come to me in a beam to my head and they exist from then on out

i guess their individual ambitions inspired me ajkfglglhljk

[clatoera]

Always Remember We’re Burned For Better Chapter 10: Our Coming of Age Has Come and Gone

Well y’all. This is arguably my favorite chapter I have ever written. It is not as Clato heavy as it is Victor Heavy, and considering the Quell happens next chapter, that makes a lot of sense I promise. 

This chapter and these characterizations have taken a lot of workshopping to get to this point (heavy heavy thank you to @afterfawn). Some of the initial thoughts I had when I started this fic no longer even applied. The careers are no longer the 15-18 year old kids they were in the games. They’re adults who have grown and have a lot to lose, and I think that really comes out in this chapter. 

I am so proud of the last 3000 words especially. They are some of my favorites I have ever written. 

Theres a lot of rage here, and a lot of it I think calls back to feminine rage that I have written entire essays about (Think reproductive autonomy essay, sexual exploitation in the capitol essays which I can link if you want them!)

All this to say I’m actually really happy with this chapter. It is the longest yet. 

And shit has gotten ❤️ real❤️

Title from: Peace (Taylor Swift) Which, btw, is one of my top inspo songs for this fic anymore. 

Alternative non taylor titles included: 

The Last Night of the World 

alright

Masterpost

AO3

And as always...thank you to my wonderful wonderful Clato besties, like @ms1818 who have been here since day one and listen to me behave in absolutely unhinged ways in the DMs. (especially you @ohhowwehavefallen who literally tolerates 6789 messages a day) 

Alright. Let the chapter begin.

“We look absolutely fucking ridiculous.” Clove hisses next to the chariot, arms crossed over her far too exposed chest. “What happened to the gold and glory and all that shit of the past. They decided to go back to marble for the fucking Quarter Quell?”

“At least you have a shirt.” Cato mumbled, tracing his finger down the intentionally emphasized shadows of his abs. “They may as well have wrapped us sheets and called it a day.”

“You’re supposed to look like statues of the ancient gods,” Enobaria explains, brushing some of the white glitter that is caked on Clove’s collarbones off and to the floor. “At least you look desirable to sponsors, they already know you and how good you are, now they’re getting to see a bit more–”

“A statue of an ancient prostitute maybe?” Clove tilts her shoulder back and steps out of the reach of Enobaria, who is just shaking her head at the young girl’s outburst.

She had a point. Through tight lace corseting and padding they managed to make Clove look far…curvier than she actually is, the top of the white fabric draping dangerously low across the top of her chest. The dress itself was flattering, sure, skillfully draped ivory silk that did make her look rather desirable.

Cato was no better. The same ivory silk that compressed and emphasized her body was slung low on his hips, barely reaching even the tops of his knees. There was no real doubt that they were on display for more than just game sponsors– they were on display for pre-order in case they won.

She didn’t like what that could mean, when winning would mean she was no longer provided the protection of the capitol’s favorite relationship.

Especially, when the current favorite victims, Glimmer and Finnick, would be long past dead.

They had tried not to watch the reapings on the train ride up. It wasn’t going to change their plan– ally with one and four, take out twelve. Enobaria and Brutus, in true mentor mode, had forced them to watch, anyway.

They had watched as beautiful Glimmer took the stage with her signature brilliant smile, only to falter slightly when Marvel was reaped immediately after her.

They watched as Finnick Odair smiles and waves when his name is called, and an incredibly elderly woman takes a hysterical Annie Cresta’s place. They did not know the story, but they knew Finnick would feel incredibly indebted to her. She could be a liability, sure, but having Finnick on their side was far more important than that. Besides, Clove likes Annie. Deep down she is glad she isn’t here to fight too.

Johanna Mason, naturally, was reaped as Seven’s only female option.

A woman from eight who was separated from her crying children, made even Clove pause for  a moment. She wouldn’t be the one who killed their mother, but she also wasn’t going to just let her go if the time came.

The man though. Oh he was hers. She can picture it as if it is still playing in front of her eyes. His hand, her mother’s neck. A one-two smack against the cornucopia that had rendered her lifeless and him a victor.

Oh he is hers. He is going to look into the same green eyes, the same dark hair in his face and he is going to beg her for the mercy of death. This is her grand show, her final gift to herself. She is taking him out and leaving him to be shipped back to eight in a 3 x 3 crate and not a long pine coffin.

Everyone else was unremarkable. Of course fire-girl and loverboy made it back in. This was all their fault after all.

Surely, everyone would be in agreement that they were target number one…right?

Glimmer and Marvel are scurrying over from their own chariot, and Clove’s eyes go wide at the sight of Glimmer specifically.

Her dress is transparent flesh toned mesh, skin tight, and truly leaving nothing to the imagination. There are crystals of some sorts– Clove may so far as to say Diamonds, this is a victor after all– strategically placed so as to keep the dress appropriate for the broadcast.

This girl who is so beautiful and so sure of herself gives a melancholy smile and does a half twirl once she reaches her friends. “Guess they wanted everyone to have one last look at what they’ll be missing, right?” She gives Clove a pitiful glance when she notes the artificial curvature they’ve constructed on her. “Looks like they’re trying to market you two, too…Just think about it. I’ll be dead, Finnick will be dead.. Who’s going to become the newest prize?” She stands closer to Marvel, leaning her head against the sky blue silk of his own diamond crusted shirt.

“Serves them right. Let them do it to their own kind.” Marvel takes her hand and squeezes it, the affectionate gesture far more than Clove has ever publicly seen from the two. After all, it’s far harder to advertise a sale on a girl in a relationship. “We’ll be allies, right? Career Pack to end all Career Packs.”

“Obviously. And we won’t be as stupid as our idiots last year.” Clove rolls her eyes, crossing her foot in front of the other at the same time she crosses her arms over her chest, suddenly even more self conscious about the exposure in the same light as Glimmer. “We’ll want Finnick, obviously. He’s got the old woman but she won’t be a threat. Johanna too. Not a career, but we want her.” She’s our friend goes unsaid.

““And there's Finnick now- Finnick!” Cato calls him over, waving the presumed fifth of their career alliance.

The man saunters over, all bronze skin and a knotted gold net as the entirety of his costume. He’s got that bright white smile as he looks them over. “Are we going to a tribute parade or a brothel advertisement?”

“You know as well as I do what the answer is to that, Finnick.” Clove reaches out to run her hand across the corner of his shoulder. “Are we all covered in fucking Glitter?”

“Capitol special.” Finnick remarks, glancing over behind his shoulder to other gathering districts, seemingly looking for someone, before turning back to address Cato. “You called?”

“Yeah. Figured it goes without saying, but you’ll be part of our alliance, right? We’re all victors, but we’re still the best that it gets.” Cato explains, naturally taking on the leadership of the alliance at least in appearance. Sure, he would be the front runner, but Clove always was and always would be the brains behind the operation. They worked this way.

Finnick grimaces, his jaw tightening as he looks down towards their feet. “Actually..I can’t commit to that. There's other things in the works right now. With Johanna and–”

“You’re actually turning us down?” Clove snaps, dark eyes for the first time seeing him as the enemy he is choosing to be. “We were going to invite Johanna too, that's not an issue.”

“The issue is not Johanna. There are other alliances I've committed to–” He half whispers, and shoots a look towards Glimmer that Clove cannot intercept enough to decipher.

“If it isn’t Johanna then– Oh my god it’s twelve isn’t it?” Clove hisses, Cato’s hand finding her shoulder and holding her back. Now is not the time for their violent outbursts. “You’re choosing that bitch over us? Do you know how stupid you two have to be?” Of course it had to be her. Who else would be worth shirking the career alliance over.

“If you’re not our ally, you’re our enemy. You know that, right?” Cato reminds, the threat evident in his voice. This is the most restrained he’s been in the face of anger in– well, maybe ever. It’s almost scarier to hear than his enraged outburst would have been.

“That's a risk I'm unfortunately going to have to take.” Finnick nods towards Glimmer, but if he is trying to communicate something it is lost on the absolute betrayal in her face.

“After all we’ve gone through together!” Glimmer whispers, disbelief all over her beautiful features. “We have been a team through all of this– and that doesn’t matter to you?”

“Glimmer, this isn’t personal. If you will talk to me after the parade i’ll–”

“No. This is the most personal decision you can make. I don’t want to talk to you, not ever again.”

“Glimmer, I really think you’d like to hear what I have to say–”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Glimmer scoffs, turning on high heels to head back to the one chariot.

“You’re going to regret this, Finnick.” Cato warns, giving Finnick a confused stare. Why would he choose someone else, and why wouldn’t he admit to who it was?

“I certainly hope I don’t.”

-

Training is uneventful as to be expected when the majority of the tributes are well past their prime and battling one addiction or the other.

Cato and Clove, however, are at their peak. This is what they trained for the entirety of their lives, of course. He hacks dummies into pieces, and she never misses a single target. When they sneak off after a particularly good round of hand-to-hand sparring, no one bats an eye.

Johanna catches them all off guard when she struts around completely naked.

Glimmer, for all she is mad at Finnick, is the most social of the careers. She is caught sitting with Finnick’s partner for hours one afternoon, learning various knot tying with the tips of her fingers.

When Katniss pulls the attention of the room with a display of her shooting prowess, the four of them are the only ones who do not cease training to gawk.

When they all earn Elevens in their training session, Clove is sure that they out did her this time.

Katniss and Peeta both get a twelve and Clove whips her head towards Cato.

“That bitch is mine.”

“Not if I get her first.”

-

“I feel like they’re trying to make a point with this.” Enobaria admits, as she kneels down and spreads the back train of Clove’s long, black lace gown out behind her. “This is just atypical for interviews.”

Clove turns to glance at herself over her shoulder in the mirror. Black, bejeweled lace covered from her neck to her wrists, somehow both exposing her skin and covering her completely. The bottom of the dress, the same heavy lace, flowed well past her feel and trailed behind her. There was a heavy black fabric under the lace, too, really holding her in. From the back of her neck to the floor are hundreds of tiny black buttons, holding the dress tight to her body. She imagined this must feel something like being suffocated by a snake.

It was so unlike the capitol, to cover them so fully, and to go with something so…historical?  

“It feels like one of those old timey wedding dresses. Just..in black. It feels like i’m going to a funeral.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Enobaria twists her in her arms, back so she is face to face with the girl she raised. “Well… it kind of is a funeral in its own way isn’t it? Maybe you’re supposed to be the bride of death, or whatever that old story is. You know how they like their symbolism.” She grabs her by the chin, pulling her up to meet her eyes. “I don’t know what you and he are planning on pulling this week, Clove, but you had no reason to volunteer when they pulled me. You know I can handle myself.”

Clove wraps her hand around Enobaria’s wrist, and almost leans into her hand. “Enobaria…”

“No, do not get all sentimental on me right now Clove Kentwell-”

“Let me. You raised me, really. My grandma didn’t want me, I know that much. If you hadn’t been there for me…I don’t know if I’d have survived childhood. And I do know that if it hadn’t been for you I never would have been a victor.” Clove holds onto Enobaria’s hands with her own, leaning her chin into her palm. “I would have lost both of you in the games. After all you have given me.. This is as close to a thank you as I can give you.” Clove wraps her arms around the woman’s shoulders, tucking her face into the crook of her neck not caring for a second longer about the hard facade they have always had to maintain. “Thank you.”

“Don’t be going all teary Clove, you are still in this.” Enobaria reminds her, careful not to mess with the intricate pins and baubles that held up all of Clove’s incredible quantity of hair. “Go out there, and remind them of who you are and where you come from.”

She lifts her head from her tribute’s shoulder when she sees Cato round the corner. “I’ll give you a few minutes alone, okay? Remember what I said.. Remember who you are, Clove.”

Clove turns to face Cato as Enobaria turns to leave, and sees him in a very simple but elegant black suit.

“What is with these outfits? How does this say District Two?” Cato huffs, closing their distance with a few short steps, one hand wrapping around her waist while the other cradles her face. “You look beautiful, anyway.”

“I look fucking bizarre. This weighs more than I do.” Clove slides her arms under the jacket of his suit, resting her chin on his chest.  “What are we even going to say? Yeah we won the games a few years ago. Just replay our first interviews, if they want us to brag about the glory of District Two.”

“We could go tell the world what we did.” He teases, running his thumb over her cheek bone. “Go pull the sponsors with a secret wedding admission.”

“Oh please, like anyone would believe we did that.” Clove rolls her eyes, but smiles regardless. “That’s some shit Loverboy would try to pull.” Clove pushes back in his arms, and playfully spins in a circle. “Oh no, my dress didn’t catch fire to distract from the fact I have no personality.”

Cato laughs, pulling her in with his hands on her face so he can lean down to kiss her. “You’re far too good for those fire girl tricks. Come on, baby.. We’re going to miss our big entrance.”

They descend the elevator hand in hand, and step out just in time to see Glimmer being called onto the stage.

“Let's give it up, for Glimmer!” The voice of Caesar Flickerman booms, his hand gesturing towards stage left where Glimmer makes her grand entrance. Her dress is a short, tight strapless thing, barely to the top of her thighs, absolutely coated in crystal colored stones. There is a shimmering golden fabric from around her waist that trails behind her to the floor in a sparkling, dazzling train. She is all legs and tan skin and she is absolutely glowing.

Their dearest capitol golden girl.

“Aren’t you positively shining.” The man with the lavender hair praises, turning the audience into a crowd of absolute screams for their favorite starlet. He gestures for her to sit and she deftly brings the golden skirt to rest on her thighs, hiding the skin that otherwise would have completely been exposed to the world. “I think we can all agree, we will certainly miss you!”

“Oh well I'm sure you’re all going to miss parts of me, that's for sure!” She never falters, the smile on her face remaining steadfast despite the taken back look of her host.

“Yes…well! I’m sure you’re excited to be going back in? Did you have to out compete your siblings for the honor?”  He directs the microphone in her direction, and she shoots another shining grin, never missing a beat.

“Of course, my parents were very excited to decide which daughter was going to be spared.” Spared of the games or the abuse at the capitol, well, that's up for debate.

“What is she doing?” Clove hissed to Marvel, pulling him in by the shoulder. “Does she realize what she’s–”

“She knows. This is her last stand.” Marvel nods, a proud smile creeping onto his face.  “She knows.”

Caesar adjusts his neckline a bit uncomfortably, eyes shifting across the audience and off stage. “Yes..well. Do you have any hopes for the arena? I think we all remember that beautiful island you won on, are you hoping to return to something that tropical?”

“Of course I remember my arena! When I was fifteen and encouraged to continue to strip down in the heat? When we were dressed in bathing suits? With weather that just kept getting hotter and hotter until I was left in nearly nothing!” Glimmer giggles, one hand waving it off. “I’m sure everyone would love a return of that.”

“She’s putting a target on her back.” Cato whispers, though none of them can dare look away from the screen in which Glimmer continues to command the interview, which is quickly and rapidly slipping out of Caesar Flickerman’s control.

“She doesn’t want to come back to the abuse, does she?” Johanna chimed in from the opposite side of Cato, where she stands with a coy smile on her face. “I never thought blondie had it in her. Good for her.”

“...yeah, well! The only man who actually cares about me as a human is being sent in with me so! We’ll have to see.” She responds to a question they do not hear, and the various gasps amongst the audience end her interview abruptly. Glimmer stands and sees herself off, waving at the crowd as she saunters off the stage.

Glimmer steps down from the stage, and as she approaches the group of victors she abruptly throws her arms around Marvel’s neck, and brings him down with her in a deep, searing kiss.

“Damn, it’s good that Mags volunteered for Annie, this was about to be a fucking episode of the Hunger Games, couples edition. More like the mother fucking newleywed games, at this rate” Johanna snarks, watching as Glimmer wipes her pink lipstick off of Marvel’s face before he goes to his own interview.

They all pause, though, at her comment.

That truly feels far, far, far too coincidental.

Even Clove, who volunteered– did so for the woman who raised her. Naturally, of course she’d volunteer for her.

Conveniently, every single other pair of them had been reaped.

Marvel takes the stage next, with a charming, funny demeanor that can’t help but make you smile. Maybe he’d be the ideal victor out of this, in the end. He talks about his first games, about the rainforest arena, the blistering heat, and how the only two who had been left in the end had been him and a thirteen year old girl. He beams over being a victor, and does not mention how the ghost of the little girl he skewered like shrimp still haunts his dreams.

“Yeah! Actually isn’t it funny? These games are effectively wiping out the victor gene pool.” Marvel laughs, but the smile Caesar naturally wears drops the second the comedic boy’s tone takes this slight shift.  “What are the chances that so many of us got pulled in together! That's just..such a funny coincidence isn’t it?”

“Yes well..How do you suppose that?”

“Well think about it! 25% of us are literally dating each other! There’s a whole pool of untapped potential in what could have been the kids of multiple victors! You don’t think Cato and Clove would have been committed to making sure their own kids were victors over in two? Glimmer’s the most beautiful, funny woman I’ve ever met, and she’s out of the race too. There's a whole generation– of future victors, honestly– just..completely wiped out because their parents are all going to die this week!” He turns to address the audience directly with a wide smile never leaving his face. “You all are the ones really missing out, right? No more Victor weddings! No more Victor kids! Yeah! It’s definitely the Capitol citizens who are suffering for this!”

Clove tightens her hold on Cato’s hand as Marvel sees himself off the stage. The temptation is weirdly potent. To mention how their life events have been manipulated to distract from Katniss Everdeen, how they have relinquished control of their dreams in exchange for safety for his sister. His sister. No, they could not say anything, they came this far to protect her after all. As if she knows he is thinking the same thing, Clove tugs on his sleeve to steal his attention. “We can’t say anything Cato, your sister–”

“We know.” Glimmer promises, intercepting their conversation as she reaches out to take Marvel’s hand upon his return.  “Don’t risk her.”

Clove and Cato both nod, sharing a look in complete and total agreement. No secrets, no rocking the proverbial boat. They were district two, anyway. They were expected to be flawless. The most loyal.

However, when Clove is called to the stage, Cato links his fingers with hers and walks out side by side with her for the last time.

“”Oh, would you look at that! What a treat! We ask for Clove and we get Cato too!” Caesar encourages, though Clove can see the sweat on his skin forming over his perfectly makeup covered face. Already, the victors are getting to him, and the night has just begun.

“We’ve always been a team.” Clove explains, as she moves to sit side by side next to Cato on Caesar's mini couch. “We were always meant to go into the games together. Guess it’s finally our chance.”

The audience gives an awwww, and Clove feels the high neck of lace practically choking her as she forces a smug smile on her face.

“Yes! That’s right! And how do you feel, now that you have gotten a second chance to do this together! Don’t you feel so lucky?”

“We have been partners for ten years.” Cato cooly says, dodging the implication of the question without flat out denying it. “This is, ultimately, what we have always worked for. We’ve always been the best, Clove and I. ”

“And Clove! You are one of our only volunteers this year. What was going through your mind?”

Clove gives half a smile, and looks out into the audience, searching for her mentor. Searching for her friend. “I was thinking that when my mom died.. Enobaria, she raised me. This was my way to pay her back. Or maybe get one up on her, be a double victor, who knows.” Clove meets eyes and nods, and Enobaria just shakes her head. Of course she wasn’t doing this for glory– but they had a reputation to uphold.

They get an entire six minutes, the combination of both of their time, to play the role of the brutal victors from Two one last time.

Finally Caesar asks them, as they sit their arm in arm, grounding each other from the rage that was bubbling up deep inside them. “How will you carry on the legacy of the other, when only one of you emerges as victor.”

Clove feels him tense next to her, and she squeezes his hand tightly. This was the one thing they did not address, the idea they never entertained.

“We have been partners our entire lives.” Cato gets out through a clenched jaw, squeezing tightly to his wife’s small hand in his own. “Going in together has been all we have ever focused on.”

“And who says we will come out without each other?” Clove decides, giving an oh so innocent smile. Sure. It could be read as snarky– but it could also be read as a love struck young girl not yet accepting the death of the love of her life. However they chose to see it was beyond her.

Caesar bristles as he announces them together, and they walk off, hand in hand, never once looking at the audience who gawks at them.

They leave the stage and see their friends still gathered, but more specifically see Finnick and Johanna hounding Glimmer.

“I already told you, you made your choice, and i’m not interested in hearing you out on anything anymore–”

“Glimmer, you need to listen to us–”

“No, Finnick, after all we have gone through you still chose someone else.” Glimmer backs away from both Johanna and Finnick, who are looking over their shoulders in watch and speaking in just above hushed tones.

“Meet with us after the interviews, just for a few minutes.” Johanna half pleads, and Clove can see Glimmer roll her eyes.

“Why, so you can explain your abandonment? No thank you!” Glimmer pushes past them both, brushing both off to stand in her wake. “We’ll see you in the arena.”

“Glimmer. Ten minutes. That's all we need.”

“No. I don’t want to go into tomorrow hating you, so stop it!”

The interviews are continuously eventful.

The man from three questions the legality of the quell, something Cato hadn’t even considered. Since when couldn’t the Capitol decide what was law?

Finnick recites a poem by heart, dedicated to his love. Thousands of capitolite women scream in the audience, both thinking it's for them and at the reality of the loss they will be facing with Finnick’s possible death in the next weeks.

“Annie.” Clove whispers only for Cato as she watches Finnick lock eyes with the camera on stage. “It’s for Annie.”

Johanna is her own kind of unhinged, as to be expected from the woman who walked around completely naked all week. “Fuck that, and fuck anyone who had something to do with it.”

“You’re something else.” Clove laughs at Johanna just as she struts off stage, but is caught off guard when Johanna simply stares past her.

“A wedding dress? Seriously?” She scoffs, and Clove and Cato turn at the same time to see the object of her commentary.

Indeed. There she was. The Girl on Fire in her oversized ivory ball gown, stumbling through like a newborn giraffe learning that it has legs.  

“Well that's why they put me in this then.” Clove snaps, whipping her head towards Cato. “She’s in a wedding dress, I’m in the fucking opposite.  The antithesis of the girl on fire and her white wedding. Even in our last fucking days, we exist to distract from her?” She narrows her eyes at the girl, looking her over with a killer scowl, a hunter sizing up her prey.

“...Snow made me wear it.” Katniss does not meet eyes with Cato and Clove, instead addressing Johanna directly.

Hell, Maybe snow insisted on her mourning dress as well.

The group of them are led to the entrance to the stage, where Cato and Clove are ushered to the top where all other victors were standing for the final ceremony, while Johanna pauses to encourage Miss Girl on Fire.

“Make him pay for it.”

They are stationed beside Glimmer and Marvel, whom they have already planned to meet on the rooftop after the interviews, for one last ‘planning’ meeting for their alliance tomorrow that would just so happen to include their favorite drinks.

Katniss says nothing of substance, yet again, but does in fact spins in her little dress for a big reveal. This time she looks like a bird of some sort, and if Clove is honest, the dress is far less impressive than the gorgeous white gown she had previously donned.

“I don’t get it? A bird?” Cato mumbles in her ear, and Clove has to bite back the snarky smile she so desperately wants to let out. Always on the same wavelength, especially when it came to fire girl.

Peeta Mellark though,  oh that boy is dangerous with his words, this much Clove knows.

The big reveal at his last interviews likely saved his life.

Caesar is prattling on about lost opportunities between the star crossed lovers, and Cato nearly zoned out completely when he hears Peeta drop his first big shocker.

“Oh, actually we got  married. In secret!”

“A secret wedding? Alright, do tell.”

Clove feels Cato’s hand tighten around her wrist and she knows the bored expression on her face has twisted into rage.

“Are you fucking joking?” Cato whispers, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her closer, instructed positions on the pedestals be damned. “There's no way.”

“Not a fucking chance. This is one of his little fucking schemes.”

“Maybe we should have said–”

Their harsh whispers are interrupted by the entire room erupting into gasps and outrage, in a cry for cancellation of the games.

“If..if it weren’t for the baby.”

“Oh absolutely not!” Clove hisses, snapping her head towards loverboy and his bird girl. “They’ve never fucking touched–”

The absolute outrage of the audience throws Clove off.

This is their final straw?

It is not the mother who left behind a toddler, or the other mother who is now on this stage to leave behind three children.

It is not the children trained to kill, chosen in their formative years and handed a weapon that weighs more than they do.

It is not the 23 children who die a year.

It is not the 1701 tributes who have died in the last seventy five years.

It is nonexistent – and oh, Clove isn’t stupid, she knows it is nonexistent– theoretical fetus that belongs to the star crossed lovers of District Twelve.

And yet the rage overtakes her so much that when she sees the joining of hands she cannot help but join in.

When the lights are cut they are all ushered off stage, quickly and aggressively while the audience is forcibly cleared out.

“We'll see you soon?” Glimmer calls out to them as her and marvel are led to one elevator while Clove and Cato are led to another. In the distance she can hear Finnick calling out for Glimmer, a final desperate attempt, but she continues to ignore him out of the betrayal she still feels.

They are escorted by wordless peacekeepers, who drop them off at the entrance of the District Two Floor, suspiciously alone.

“Where are our mentors?” Cato asks, noting the suspiciously silent apartment.

“Tributes are to have no further contact with anyone other than their district partners until the games. New policy.”

“So that's it? We don’t even get goodbyes?” Clove steps forward, and Cato has to grab her before she accosts the uniformed man.

“It’s the policy. You are not to leave this floor until tomorrow.”

They are left alone and Clove’s fists slam on the door behind them.

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”  She hits the wall once again, and violet covered bruises cover her fingers. “What’s happening out there?”

Beyond the windows they can hear the absolute riots that are taking place in the streets, demands to cancel the games, and to send the victors home.

“All of that over a fake baby? Theres no fucking way she’s pregnant, Cato. Look at them! I don’t believe it for a second, that girl is a fucking virgin if i’ve ever seen one–”

“I know. I want him. I want to take out Lover Boy.” Cato pulls Clove back by the waist, keeping her from causing any more harm to herself before morning. Her hands are far too valuable for her survival to let her bludgeon them.  “For that little fake married story. He’s a liar.”

Cato is immediately working to get her out of this constricting dress, to let her change before their midnight meeting. He fumbles with the dozens of buttons, hands far too large for such delicate work.

“Cut it off.” Clove instructs, leaning her arms on the back of the couch. “Cut this fucking thing off of me. I hate it, get it off.”

Cato takes the small knife she slides at him– not asking where she got it from, not the point– and slices through the buttons on her back, freeing her so she can finally take a deep, gasping breath. She never got her goodbye, but she will get her glory.

“Cato?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I better get two fucking canons when I take her out tomorrow.”

-

At midnight, long after the shock of not getting to say goodbyes to their mentors and families, long after the dramatics have died down, they all meet on the rooftop as planned. They know they could face a grave punishment for the blatant disregard for the instructions to stay separated, but really, haven’t they already painted big enough targets on their backs already?

They each come prepared, with a bottle of their favorite Capitol drinks and their favorite Capitol treats, dressed in various combinations of boyfriends’ sweaters and plush capitol sweatpants, a far cry from the luxury and glamorous facade they maintain all week.

Among salsa and chips and pizza and fries and the top quality red wine, they live the last night of their lives as they know it.

If you squinted, for a minute, they just looked like four normal kids. Maybe even lifelong childhood friends, or college roommates at the end of a long semester.

And honestly, for a night, they even felt like normal adults. Sharing stories of training days and childhood, of adolescent affection and academy scandals. If they were going into this as allies, as friends, they were also going to go in knowing the humanity of their team.

“What do you guys think you’d be doing if there weren’t games?” Marvel leans back on the palm of his hand, scooping up another tortilla chip. “Y’know. If you could be anything.”

Clove looks to Cato, and they share a half-hearted shrug. This had been the entirety of their lives, there was never any other option.

“I don’t think we ever gave much thought to that.” Cato admits, finishing off the basket of chips between the four of them. “All we had ever even known were the games. The honor and pride that comes with winning, it’s literally all we were raised on. I don’t think we even have skills for a world that doesn't have games. They stopped regular classes once we were fifteen… Clove, can you even imagine us trying to do math anymore?”

“That was the glory of the academy, you know? You either never need to know these things because you’re a victor, or you’re dead. Either way.. accounting wasn’t ever going to be your calling, baby.” Clove leans back against his chest, reaching for the bottle of wine that had just been passed between them for the last hour or so. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, spending the last night of their lives drinking on the training center roof instead of resting, but truly what did they have left to lose?

“We always planned to be trainers, after.” Clove continues in explanation, Capitol-polished nails clicking along the empty green glass. “ Figured we’d win. Become trainers. Mentor for a decade. That’s really it.”

“That's all you ever wanted? Really? Your entire life just.. built around the games?” Marvel shakes his head, letting out a little huff of disbelief, before he is on his side, his face propped up in his hand as he watches them. “Come on. It’s the last night of the world. The last night of maybe all of our lives. Think about it. If it could be anything at all, what would you do?”

“Of course our lives are built around the games, we’re from District Two, what other choice did we ever really have?” Cato scoffs, but his hand wraps around Clove’s waist and brings her in flush against him. Of course he knew what he’d want- and it was and always would be her. In every version of their lives, it would always have been her.

Cato isn’t sure he believes in anything after death, but if there's another life after this one, maybe he’ll be so lucky to find her there, too.

“I would’ve been a comedian.” Marvel announces, a smile in his voice that betrays that even now he is managing to make .”I have a gift. It’s a shame I didn’t get to share it with the world. Sorry, that's why the games actually exist, to contain me. I’d be too powerful without them. Snow personally has to humble me.”

Clove can’t help but give out half of a laugh at his confidence, and even she had to admit, the kid is funny sometimes.

“I’d have been a mom.” Comes a soft, near-whisper from the Blonde woman, who is toying with the empty wine glass in her hand. “When I was little, I had these two little dolls I took everywhere. I told my own mom all the time, that they were my babies and I was their mama. I remember them so so clearly. They had blonde hair and green eyes, my dad got them for me for my fifth birthday, they were meant to look like me.” She smiles, then, a wishful, longing smile that was still somehow so genuine it made Clove’s heart ache for her and the life she never could have had. “I told my mom all the time that I wanted to have pretty little girls, like me.”

Her face hardens, shifting to a cold, calculated undercurrent of rage that has been brewing inside her for quite some time.

“Noone ever warns you of how dangerous it can be to be a pretty little girl.” Glimmer crunches her hand around the stemless glass, and the faintest crack can be heard. The glass does not shatter, but small hairline cracks begin to spread out like a spider’s web from under her thumb. How representative of her tolerance for the past seven years, to the slow splintering of her life, never quite shattering all the way. Until tonight. “I had never had a choice, once my sister and brother won. I was always going to have to go in…” Glimmer reaches for the final of the four bottles, the only with anything left to try to salvage. “The only way I could protect them was just never to have them. That was my greatest act of love for the daughters I wanted– to never even have them. ”

“Worked out for the best.” Clove offers, threading her fingers through Cato’s, fulling letting his frame envelop hers. “They’d just be orphaned from the games now, anyway. Wouldn’t really recommend that for a kid…” Clove shifts the tone, away from the pain and loss of Glimmer’s dream life. “Speaking of! Tomorrow. I want eight.”

Fire girl they can fight over tomorrow. Finnick and Johanna, who shrugged off years of friendship to team up with Twelve over them, they could deal with at a later date (and maybe, if they were lucky enough, someone else would take out their traitor friends before they had to).  “He’s mine.”

“Some random middle aged man from eight? Weird for you, I thought you’d want one of the actual threats.” Marvel scoffs, as he sits up and brings Glimmer to his lap, wrapping both his arms around her before resting his chin on her shoulder. He whispers something Clove nor Cato catch, though they know it was not for their ears.

Not that they could blame them. Some things are better left between lovers.

“I watched him kill my mother every day for twelve years. I don’t know who’s coming out of these games but it sure as fuck isn’t going to be him. I want him, I want Katniss too, but I want him most of all.”

“You can have him.” Glimmer shrugs, laying back in the arms of her boyfriend, smiling a little at the opportunity to acknowledge him as such for the first (and last) time after her admission in her interview.  “Make him remember what he took from you.” She tucks her head into the crook of Marvel’s neck, her body relaxing entirely once settled against his.

There is an understanding in the silence. In the way they have so casually referred to the night as the end of the world.  Within a week, three of them would be dead. Though, there was an understanding that the fourth likely wouldn’t be fighting their way to the top again either.

“....are we even trying?” Cato finally asks. He has been unanimously understood as the impromptu leader of their alliance. His question is implied, and their silence is good enough as a response.  They will fight. They will put on their show. But they are not coming out of this.

No. Glimmer is not fighting to come back to this world alone. She is not fighting to be placed with a higher value on her head than ever before, when the other top shelf choice would be dead as a result. She is not fighting to survive in a world without Finnick’s sly commentary at auctions. She is not coming back to a world where the only men who touch her do so with aggression in their hands and sleazy comments on their breath. She is not coming back to a world without the only man who has treated her like a person, who made her laugh before he ever tried to touch her, who knows she likes french toast with blueberries, or who has ever seen her as more than a pretty face and a body to kill for.

No. Marvel will not come back without her, either. He is not coming back to a world where his only memorable trait is winning the games with the spear to the heart of a child. He is not coming back to a world that doesn’t remember his last name, but remembers him as the 69th victor. He is not coming back to a world that stares a bit too long if he is not saying something funny, a world that does not see him as anything more than something to laugh at. He is not coming back to a world without long golden hair that covers his pillowcases, a girl who steals his sweatshirts over Capitol couture, who has the only laugh worth earning.

No. Cato may have the most back home, but without Clove, no, he is not coming out either. He is not coming out without the girl who gave him his first real scar at 10, one that still sits where his shoulder meets his neck. He is not coming out without deep green kaleidoscope eyes and snide, snarky commentary that became his damnation. He is not coming out without a girl with perfect aim, who uses those fine, fine skills of hers on more than just her prey. He is not going home to a house that does not have her warm, autumnal scent year round. He is not living in a home without bed sheets folded in perfect squares. He does not want to live in a world where she doesn’t use clover honey in earl gray tea out of dedication to her name (even though she thinks wildflower honey is better). He is not coming home to a space devoid of the way she hums in the kitchen, or talks to herself as she brushes her hair. He is not coming out without the girl he has loved for the majority of his life.  He is not coming out without her. He is not going home without his Clove, his partner.

No. Clove has already lost everything to the games. She has lost her childhood and the only person in the world who loved her in her youth. She has lost her innocence and the child-like comfort of knowing someone would pick her up when she cried. She had lost her mother with a voice like honey and a heart like gold. Clove lost it all to the games, yes, but gained everything she had, too.  Clove was born to one tribute but practically raised by another victor, who taught her the value of self preservation before she could even form sentences. She had met a boy who broke her clavicle the day they met, but hadn’t broken her heart in the ten years since.  She is not going home to a world where the games have taken him, too.  She is not going back without arms that feel as close to home as she has ever known when they hold her.  She is not going back to a world without his mismatched socks, because they are hidden by shoes . She is not going home to a world without things held above her head to make her stand on her toes to plead for it back with a kiss. She is not going back without ocean colored eyes and golden hair like a halo, though he’s always been far from angelic. She is not coming back to a world without him. Without him waiting for her, there is no home to go back to. She is not going home without her Cato, her lifelong forever partner.

They will fight, they will put on the show. But they will not win.

The melancholy silence that has fallen between them becomes too much to bear for Glimmer first.

She wipes at the corners of her eyes so quickly that it wouldn’t have been noticeable if not for the crack in her voice. “Well. I guess we should get going. Before they catch us and just..execute us on the spot.” Glimmer pushes herself to her feet, offering her hand out to Marvel and pulling him up as well.

Clove and Cato nod in their silent agreement, pulling each other to a standing position before their friends. He threads an arm around her shoulder, giving a solemn nod of his head, before they turn to head down their nearest staircase.

“I think in another life, we could have been friends.” Comes across the training center, in the broken, teary voice of the once radiant Glimmer. “If things had been different. We would have been friends.”

Clove turns, shrugging out of Cato’s grasp and making a beeline for the girl. Without warning she reaches out her hand to close the gap between them.

“We are friends. In another life you could have been a mother. In another life I could have had a mother. In another life maybe we would have had a lot of things– but even in this life, Glimmer..we are friends. This is..the closest to friendship that I'll ever have. You are my friend.” Next to Cato, this was the best friend she had ever had.

Glimmer nods and squeezes at her hand, though the smile she tries to give her is overtaken by the flood of tears running down her face. “It would have been really really nice to have had those things, too.”

Their hands fall and in understanding they turn away. Glimmer’s sob echoes across the training center roof, and Clove finds herself curling into Cato’s side.

If she feels a tightness in her throat or a stinging in her eyes well- that's her own secret to keep. If Cato notices her watery eyes– he loves her enough not to mention it.

The next time they gather like this will be around a fire in the arena tomorrow night. If they all even make it that long.

Who knows. Maybe they’ll be target number one. Maybe they’ll be the enemy everyone is out to get, the big bad careers from Districts One and Two, who spent the last night of their lives together,  drunk on wine and tortilla chips.

Somehow, though, it didn’t feel like they were really the villain at hand anymore.

As they slowly descend the staircase they realize they will be alone in the apartment, considering that their little display on stage resulted in the mentors being sent back to their home districts– or at least out of contact with their tributes. Years ago they dreamed of the privacy of the District Two apartment that they would have as mentors. Now, however, even though they are alone, they feel haunted by ghosts of a future they do not have.

“One last night?” Clove asks, leaning her head against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his back to pull herself as close as she could manage.

It all came down to tomorrow, now.

Everything. Ten years of partnership and training. Five years of varying degrees of flirtation and attraction. Three years of dating, two years doing so in public. Three months of private, confidential marriage.

Everything comes down to a final eight hours outside the arena, and a ticking time bomb within.

“One last night.” Cato acquiesced, before slipping one arm under her knees. The other held the small of her back, as he scooped her into his arms bridal style to carry her into the depths of the District Two Apartment. “One last night.”

In the end, neither of them sleep. Instead they are wrapped around each other in silence, watching the sun rise slowly but surely over the horizon.

Morning comes and they are abruptly separated by stylists accompanied by peacekeepers,  who do not give them the luxury of a private goodbye.

There is a quick kiss and a slightly longer squeeze of the hand before she is dragged out and away from him.

There is no long declaration of love or endless devotion, no promises to return home to each other to be had.

“I’ll see you in the arena.” She calls out, desperately. The words I love you are left unsaid, but understood.

Even in the end, some things are left only for them.