#i wanna have as much time to save money and also like. heal

[foxmulderautism]

getting emails about my writing ma offer is soo funny like girl i cannot afford you!

[radiotorn]

having to restrain from saying anything when my dad dares to say that men get paid LESS than women. in what world. are you out of your fucking mind old man.

[celestie0]

gojo satoru x reader | fake marriage au [18+]

in holy matriphony ch7. if u wanna get groceries

ᰔ pairing. fake marriage au - neighbor&realtor!gojo x nurse!reader (ft. choso x reader & suguru x reader)

ᰔ summary. gojo satoru is your extremely annoying next-door-neighbor who you're pretty sure is the most insufferable man you've ever met. given the fact that you exclusively work the night shift at a chaotic emergency dept, just got broken up with your boyfriend of seven years, and have been taking care of your sick mother ever since her multitude of diagnoses, yet somehow your neighbor is the main source of stress in your life should speak volumes. but when your mother's medical bills start to skyrocket to more than you can manage, and you learn that said neighbor of yours has the best private health insurance plan in the country, you ask him to enter a matrimonial agreement with you for the spousal benefits all in the name of saving a few hundred thousand dollars. but you'll have to see if suffering cohabitation w him is worth any amount of money.

ᰔ genre/tags. fluff, smut, angst, enemies to lovers (sort of), annoyances to lovers (that's more like it), small town romance, fake marriage, next door neighbors, lots of bickering, suburban shenanigans, slow burn, mutual pining, gojo likes to play house but you don't, hatred for the american healthcare system, gojo always forgets to mow the lawn, jealousy, an insane amount of profanity, mentions of cigarettes, depression/anxiety; btw gojo in this fic is in his mid 30s n reader is in her late 20s

ᰔ warnings. reader in this fic has a sick mother w alzheimer's & cancer so there is secondary medical angst!!

ᰔ chapter. 7/x

ᰔ words. 10.3k

a/n. hiii my ihm darlings!! i don't have much to say in this beginning author's note haha but i have some author's notes at the end if you want to read them. but anywho hope you enjoy this chapterrr :)

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Ovulation is a very scary thing.

You can imagine many great women have had their lives greatly affected by this phenomenon. 

This biological release of an egg into the fallopian tubes, simply desiring to be fertilized.

Women who have had their hearts set on their dreams, aspirations, full speed ahead towards the finish line on the other end,

Only to be dragged back by–

You shudder to even mention.

Attraction to a man. 

So horrible.

So insane.

So humiliating.

And yet so–...

So natural.

Unfortunately.

You’re pretty sure Sabrina Carpenter has a song about it.

This is what you think of as you lean over the kitchen island, perched up on your elbows as you eat a peach, staring straight ahead at a certain fake husband who is seated on the couch. 

He’s looking at the TV, watching some SNL skit he didn’t get to finish last weekend, tilting his head side to side with his grey sweatpant clad legs stretched out onto the coffee table in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He’s got a can of Celsius he’s swirling around with a loose grip, his elbow up on the cushion for a more lax resting state (which unfortunately also flexes his bicep very sexily from the positioning), and he doesn’t really seem particularly amused by what he was watching. And for some reason, it was hot.

You tilt your head to the right, watching him like a predator from across the hall, chewing down on a particularly juicy piece of peach that bursts its juice in your mouth, and you curse the fact that all you can think about right now is sex.

Sex.

When was the last time you had sex?

You postulated a little over a month ago when you and Choso were still together.

Granted, you’ve been too busy and overwhelmed and overstimulated with all the recent happenings of late to provide your own self with any sort of relief.

And God, it was showing.

Showing in the way that, no matter what, you can’t seem to shake the idea of wanting to sit in Gojo’s lap and be the second reason he never gets to finish watching that SNL skit. 

Maybe it will help.

Maybe sitting in a man’s lap right now would heal you.

You set the now naked seed of peach down on the counter before straightening yourself up and walking around the kitchen island towards the living room. Gojo’s eyes don’t flicker to you until you’re well in his periphery, and when he looks up at you, he straightens himself up on the couch with curious wide eyes and drags his feet off the coffee table to plant his feet on the rug.

You pull your grandma nightgown up to your knees so that you can sit in his lap, surprise evident on his face as he watches your every movement before you’re comfortably seated on him with your hands on his shoulders.

“Fuck me,” you tell him.

“Wh–” he stutters, “I’m sorry, I could’ve sworn you just told me to fuck you.”

“That’s exactly what I said.” The heels of your hands press into his chest further to the point where it has to hurt. 

“Is this a prank,” he asks as his hands fall to hold your hips on reflex.

You sigh, shifting around on his thighs. “Can you just do it already before I change my mind?”

“Wow. That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

You roll your eyes. “Alright. I’ve changed my mind.”

You push off of his shoulders and stand up on one leg, ready to get up and away from him to find some other way to satisfy your desperate desire for a penis, but he reaches out to grab your wrist.

“Heyyy wait wait wait,” he says, pulling you back into a seat on his lap. “Why do you want to have sex all of a sudden?”

You exhale slowly, twiddling with your thumbs as you look at him. “You said it yourself the other day,” you say, “good way to relieve stress.”

“And you’re not gonna kill me afterwards?”

“Umm no promises?”

“Look, as much as I’d like to take you up on the offer, a part of me thinks you’re making a…rash decision here.”

“Oh my fucking god who cares if I am?? Maybe I just wanna fuck for the sake of fucking?? What’s the big fucking deal??”

“The big deal is that, knowing you, you’re not going to speak to me or look me in the eye for three weeks if I let you go through with something you’re not a hundred percent on.”

Your shoulders sulk a little. You thought this would be an easy yes, where he tears your nightgown off and then ravishes you whole on this couch with every primal caveman instinct that’s encoded in his XY chromosome DNA. This was supposed to be spontaneous and sexy…not a candid conversation.

The thought flashes through your head that maybe he thinks that you’re just trying to use him.

“I want to have sex with you,” you clarify. And then a pause. “I think.” You pause for a moment again. “I’m, like, pretty sure.”

He slides you back to where you’re sitting closer to his knees than to his groin, and then fully leans back onto the couch before tucking his hands behind his head like he was physically putting himself in cuffs to prevent himself from touching you any further. “Tell you what. Let’s circle back in an hour, and if you still want to, then sure.”

“I cannot believe how diplomatic you’re being about this.”

“Well isn’t this whole thing between us a diplomatic agreement? That’s what you said to me when we got fake engaged.”

“That–” you blink at him, not expecting those words to eventually be used against you, “...whatever.”

“Also, what happened to the no sex rule?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He grins and leans forward, both of his elbows settling onto the top of the cushion behind him, and you’re proud of yourself for only staring at his biceps for 0.000034 seconds before meeting his line of sight again. 

“Are those rules just suggestions?” he asks with a stupidly teasing look on his face. 

You purse your lips together, skin feeling warm suddenly as you try to push him away by a palm to his sternum. But then you realized something. A fundamental rule of biology. The woman never chases. 

You smile at him, cheeky in a deceptive way that’s meant to scare him, and it does seem to alarm him when you push him back onto the couch rather forcefully. His hands fall to hold your hips again as he looks at you with round eyes, and you scoot forward on his lap, to where you’re almost sitting right above his groin. 

“Hey–” he says, like a warning. 

Like some awful romantic comedy, you’re drawing the tip of your nail down the front of his chest seductively, leaning forward so he catches the faint scent of the perfume you spritzed onto your skin in the morning, and you can tell it’s working from the way he tips his chin up in interest. You innocently “shift” in his lap to get comfortable, and see his throat bob when he swallows hard from the feeling. The finger that’s been running down the soft linen of his shirt trails up until it runs through the hair at the back of his neck, and he’s pulling you closer to him now by a rough grip on your hips. His breathing picks up, eyes somehow wild yet calm as he looks at you with a set jaw, and you try your best to maintain a sultry expression as you tilt your head down at him while strongly fisting at the longer strands of his hair that fall short at the nape of his neck. He shifts underneath you, sinking further into the couch, his breathing fast enough to where you can see the rise and fall of his chest, his gaze finally dropping to your lips as he parts his own, and he briefly runs his tongue over his bottom lip before–

Before the doorbell rings. 

You both blink at each other.

You don’t even realize how close you two were to making out until you realize you can’t even see the tip of his nose anymore. 

“My, uh,” he starts, voice sounding gruff so he has to clear his throat, “my wood just came.”

“Y–” you glance down at his lap, “your wood just what?!”

He leans away from you, sinking his back into the cushion and pointing over his shoulder with a thumb towards the door. “The cedar planks I ordered to finish my woodworking project. Pretty sure they just got dropped off.”

You blink at him, releasing the grip you still had on the hair at the back of his head, your arms moving to weakly rest on his shoulders instead. “Oh.”

“I’ve gotta go sign the delivery.

“Okay.”

“Sometime today, preferably.”

“Alright.”

“Can…can I head to the door? Is that allowed?”

“...I suppose.”

His fingers that were still resting under your butt in a strong grip push up gently on the flesh to prod you off of him, and you (reluctantly) swing your legs off of his lap then slump down onto the couch indignantly beside him, twiddling with your thumbs as you watch him get up off the cushions with a small grunt from the push of his palms on his knees. And then he heads to the door.

Continuing to assess your cuticles with the tuck of your chin towards your collarbone, you hear Gojo talk to whoever was at the door. Another masculine voice. Sounds younger, probably younger than you. Delivery boy. Gojo makes easy conversation with him, some buddy-buddy diction that’s entirely lost on you, and you hear the other man laugh. And the fact that you feel equally as possessed to want to fuck the delivery man makes you realize you need to put yourself in a cage the next time you feel like this.

You hear the door close along with the metallic click of the lock, and you peak your head up over the top of the couch to look at Gojo, who is leaning a giant cardboard box that looks really heavy against the wall. He then exhales, dusting his hands off and he’s stretching his neck from side to side again.

He glances over his shoulder to find you still looking at him.

“You woodwork?” you ask him.

“Yes.”

“Wait. Is that the noisy thing you do at six in the morning while I’m trying to sleep after a night shift?!?!”

“It’s not that noisy,” he says, leaning back onto the wall and crossing his arms. Then he grins. “Want to see what I’m working on?”

“No.”

“Oh come on.” He jerks his head towards the kitchen leading out to the screen door of the backyard. And then he’s shuffling his feet off into that direction. “Humor me for once.”

You slide off the couch onto the floor, grumbling something to yourself before you stand up onto your feet and shuffle your feet across the hardwood floor to follow him, the hem of your nightgown sliding across the surface.

Gojo pulls the screen door back and you step out into the pleasant afternoon. It’s sunny, with crisp air that settles on your senses, the casted shadows of clouds that slowly pass over the grass reminding you of your childhood, or perhaps of simpler times.

You step into the flip flops you see near the shoe mat, and they are nearly twice the size of your feet. Gojo opts for the dustier pair located behind the grill and then he walks across the grass of his backyard towards the shed tucked away near the side of the house. You’ve always been able to briefly see this shed from one of the windows in your house, but you could never see what went on inside. 

He unclasps the metal lock on the wooden door of the shed and pulls it open with a creak. You peer inside, the smell of wood shavings and some other rather comforting chemicals hitting you almost instantly. You also sneeze. And then sneeze again.

“Bless you,” he says, and when you glance at him, he’s smiling at you before he takes a step inside. You cross your arms and rub your elbows, feeling feeble in your ditsy nightgown as you step into a space that looks far too industrial for you. 

“See?” Gojo says once you’re fully inside the shed with him, drawing your gaze from the dusty ceilings towards the covered structure in the center of the workspace. He pulls the blue tarp back, revealing something square-looking. “It’s a coffee table.”

Your eyes widen slightly as you tilt your head to assess it. “Oh. It’s–...it’s actually quite nice.”

“Yeah.” He knocks on the surface with his knuckles. “It’s pretty sturdy. I’ve been looking to replace what I’ve got in the house for a while now. And–” he straightens himself up again, pushing his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. “That wood I just got delivered is black walnut. Stunning stuff. I’m going to use it to finish the corners and the cabinets.”

“Ahhh,” you say, expressing interest. I mean, you were intrigued by his many strange hobbies. How can you explain this…you suppose after many years of working, sleeping, eating, and taking care of your mom, it's somewhat pleasantly disorienting to find yourself in the middle of a normal person’s life. Someone who has time to woodwork in his free time. Endearing. It was kind of endearing. 

“I’ve gotta flip it over though,” he says with a sigh, “I fucked up and forgot to build the base first.”

You lean back on one of the cabinets behind you that was level with your hip, and you watch Gojo for a moment as he bends down to assess all angles of the table before he grips the underside of it with his hands, the strength of his grip evident in the strain of the veins running up his arms and disappearing into the short sleeve cotton of his shirt. 

But he glances up at you before moving it. “Can you stand over there?”

“Huh?” You blink at him.

“Don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Oh,” you say, and realize you were standing in quite literally the exact zone of potential danger. You make a mental note to work on your survival instincts. 

You lean off of the cabinet and step off to the side. 

You watch as he begins to lift up on the table, his biceps flexing with the movement, oh and that grunt that leaves his lips once he’s got it at the angle he wants hits you somewhere you wish it didn’t. The sight of him leaning over, letting out a slow exhale as he slowly sets the table down on its side over the cushioning mat had you in a trance. 

Once he’s satisfied with wherever it’s at, he steps away from it and dusts his hands off. “Alright.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Got an hour to work on this.”

You nod at him.

He glances over at you. 

You stare at him.

He stares at you.

“Did–...did you wanna watch?”

“Nope,” you say, shuffling your slippers to the other side of the door. Because you fear that catching the sight of him all sweaty and disheveled from woodworking would get you into serious trouble today. At least you know when to call it quits.

In the hour that Gojo spends doing god knows what sort of manly sorcery in that shed, you get dressed into something that wasn’t a cozy nightgown much to your dismay, and head over to your house next door. You figure you could use this time to clean up the place a little so that you can take pictures for the house on Zillow. 

When you step inside the house, the nauseating smell of medication hits you. It’s a smell that you can only know if you’ve lived with it for years. Something artificial, something that smells–...well, sick. It’s a scent you associate with sickness. It hits you randomly sometimes with the patients that you treat at the hospital. Patients that smell just like your mom does. Something akin to a pill closet. You’ve always cursed the human tendency to assort semantics to certain senses, because then it only takes away all the healing you thought you had gotten through.

You walk down the hall towards your mother’s bedroom. You figured you’d start here first, since it would be the most difficult to clean for you. Her bed is set up neatly, exactly as you left it before she left for hospice three weeks ago. 

Her well-worn rocking chair sits near the window with the old knit blanket she made over twenty years ago draped over it. It faces the window instead of the inside of the house, which was a habit she always had throughout her life. Maybe as an art teacher, she always felt that whatever was outside was more intriguing than within. 

You run a hand by the sturdy wooden dresser covered in dust and scattered medications, along with all of your mother’s draped headscarves. She liked to change them every day, the pattern of each of them aggressively absurd and somewhat hypnotizing, but it fits for her age–that sort of clothing. Your mother used to have beautiful hair. It was something all her friends had always been jealous of. She made the decision to shave it all off rather than watch as it slowly detangled from her hair from chemo, and she claims to have stashed it away somewhere, but you know that she likely donated it instead.

When you make it to her desk, you see paint splattered over it with a rusted easel holding up a blank canvas. But there were swipes of paint across the palette, as though she were trying to find the perfect blend of colors, but failed before she could put brush to canvas. Beside her little art setup, you see a little sticky note with scribblings on it.

Morning tea

Medications- Gabapentin 600 300

Today is Thursday. Oct 16th

800 432 5555 call Dr Johnson 

Turn off the stove

At the very bottom:

- daughter. Nurse. She loves you

You suck a deep breath in, releasing it slowly.

This was an impossible task.

To stuff all of this away into boxes. 

All of this life.

You slowly peel the sticky note off the desk, folding it neatly before placing it into your pocket. Then you start with the canvas, the easel, the paint. Exactly as is, without cleaning anything at all, you stache them away into boxes. You wanted to preserve what you could, even if it was all for show.

By the time you finish cleaning out her desk, you feel winded from emotions. You decide to take a break and try to clean whatever was upstairs instead. Before you leave the room, you see another sticky note written behind the door.

remember ! wear your sweater, it’s cold today

And that’s when you start crying. 

.

.

.

•┈┈┈••✦☽✦••┈┈┈•

”Hey,” you say as you walk back into Gojo’s house in the early afternoon, holding up a digital camera that you found in the attic in your hand. “The upstairs of my house is cleaned out now, and I’m almost done with the downstairs part…just waiting on finishing one room. Can we start taking photos to put the listing up online?”

Gojo glances up at you from where he’s stood in the kitchen, tugging at his sleeves, and you just now notice he’s dressed up in a dark navy suit with a white shirt underneath. No tie. “Uhh yeah I can help you with it, I’ve just gotta go run a few errands and then we can do it when I get back?” He ruffles his hair a bit and you see that it’s slightly damp like he just took a shower.

“What errands?”

“Gas, amazon return, Costco. Maybe get a donut if I’m feeling like being a bad boy.”

“Ew. Also, why don’t you get gas at Costco?”

“It’s a little cheaper at Sam’s Club.”

You gasp. “You have a Sam’s Club membership??”

“Yes.”

“You’re a traitor.”

He rolls his eyes as he pushes his shoulders back to get better settled into his suit jacket. “I have a Costco membership too.” 

“Can I come?”

“What? For–...for the errands?���

“Yes.”

He blinks at you from the other side of the island, brow furrowing slightly. “Uh. Sure?”

You know it sounds silly to say, but not having to take care of someone twenty-four-seven has left you with little to no sense of purpose, and an even more intense feeling of loneliness. And as much as Gojo gets on your nerves from time to time, you’ve noticed that you’ve been…craving his presence lately. Or maybe a presence might be more accurate than any one specific person, but you can comfortably admit it to yourself that you’re a somewhat codependent person that enjoys being largely implemented into someone’s life. You’ve even started borderline nesting in his home. You bought two new fluffy throw blankets for his couch, set up a bowl of fruits at the center of the kitchen island, and stocked up on laundry detergent, even though he already had two backup boxes. It was driving you crazy. This feeling of having too much free time and personal space than what you knew what to do with.

And it had been a while since you went to Costco. The holy land for all adults. 

“Can I get this? Ohhhh what about this? Can we get this too? Wait. Wait. Brown sugar boba mochi?!” You hold the packet up into the air as if it were baby Simba in the Lion King, and then you turn to Gojo, clutching the bag to your chest. “Please?”

He exhales, leaning over the handle of the shopping cart and levels his gaze with you. “...no.”

You sulk your shoulders and sigh as you put it back.

He begins to push the cart down the aisle again. “You do realize that you have disposable income too, right?”

You trail after him. “No. I don’t. I’m in six figures of debt.”

He nods. “Fair.” And then he grabs a stray bag of brown sugar boba abandoned on top of the instant rice boxes then places it into the cart. 

You watch as Gojo makes his rounds around Costco, very diligently aligning all the items in his shopping cart and assessing the quality of each thing he crosses off his list before deeming it worthy of purchase. Much different than your usual Costco run, which involves a lot of chaos and sweat. And he feels very husband material like this. Breaking no sweat to put the garden fertilizer in the cart shelf meanwhile you would’ve pulled your back out trying to do the same if you were on your own.

As you two make your way through the store, you get stopped by the post-office man, and then the local judge, and then the elderly couple that runs the church's weekly Bingo nights. All greeting you politely with a quick exchange of words and usually a sweet regard for your mother’s health before passing on by. You keep having to introduce Gojo as your husband, and many of them already know who he is, despite the fact that he’s only lived here for a year, which royally pisses you off to great extents, but he’s a social whore so it makes sense. And then all of them coo sweet things like wow, what a beautiful couple and you’re so lucky to have each other and my oh my he’s very handsome and at this point you would pay someone twenty bucks to say something like well she’s a looker! good for you! to Gojo because you’re sick of him always getting the ego boosts. When asked where you guys went for your honeymoon, you both say “Greece–” “Maldives–” at the same time in typical unrehearsed fashion. One of the town locals even asks when the two of you are going to have a baby, and you almost snort your free sample of San Pellegrino out your nose.

Perhaps the only thing that keeps a little pep in your step is the fact that everyone greets you first before they catch the familiar sight of Gojo too. It’s a small thing to celebrate, but when you’ve lived in the same town your whole life, it becomes somewhat of a prideful and wholesome thing when the town librarian, local mechanic, and farmer’s market lady all stop you in your lovely little Costco stroll. It was all in a day’s work.

“Jeez, you’re hella famous, y/n,” Gojo says as he continues to push the cart down the aisle after you just got done catching up with the volunteer Fire Chief.

You toss your hair over your shoulder at him. “Yes. I am somewhat of a princess in this town.”

“Does that make me your prince?”

“No. You’re my filthy peasant.”

“Alright…I like where this is going…”

“Get your nasty degradation kink away from me, you perv. This is Costco. It’s the holy house of God.”

Once you two make it to the wine section, you stare at bottles of dessert wines and hear Gojo talking on the phone off to the side.

“Hey, Sana. I’m at Costco right now. Do you guys need anything? I already got Juno’s muffins,” he says into his phone as he places two containers of blueberry muffins into the cart. You eye the raspberry cream cheese strudels. “Huh? Cornstarch?....If I tried to look for cornstarch at Costco, I’d be here for three hours.”

“Satoru,” you say to him once he gets off the call, tugging at his sleeve, “could we get those Haagen Daz ice cream bars? They’re so good.”

“No,” he says, pushing the cart down the chip aisle before he grabs a bag of tortilla chips. “We can’t get anything that needs to be frozen or refrigerated. I’ve gotta go prep a house that’s in the area since we’re out this far. I’ve got an evening showing.”

“What?!” you exasperate, “I thought we were just going home after this!”

“I never said that.”

“I can’t believe this. I had been dreaming of grabbing those ice cream bars since you mentioned the word Costco back at home. You could’ve brought your little cooler thing that you keep in the garage.”

“Well, I didn’t know that you wanted to come with me,” he says. “My original grocery list had seven non-perishable items on it.” You both glance at the cart, which was almost entirely full of things that you put in there. Things that nobody ever needs. Like a bladeless desk fan and an electric wine opener.

“Ah,” you say.

He smiles, leaning over the cart handle again and pushing it forward again away from the chilly air of the cooler section. “Retail therapy?”

You pout a little. “I haven’t had the chance in years.” You glance at the cart as he pushes it. “I should probably take it all out now.”

“It’s fine,” he says, “I’ll get you your bladeless fan. And whatever the fuck those other things are.”

You stop walking, blinking blankly at his back as he continues to wordlessly push the cart forward. There’s about a five second delay before you finally start trailing after him.

By the time Gojo finishes loading everything into the trunk of his car as you merely stand by for emotional support, and then he comes back from the long trek of returning the cart, you’re absolutely winded. You’re not sure why, because again, you haven’t really done much all day. But God damn, you forgot how exhausting it is to be a regular functioning member of society that contributes to the economy on the weekends (you didn’t pay for anything).

Gojo wordlessly takes off from the Costco parking lot and just when you think he’s going to get back onto the freeway to get to this house of his that he needs to prep, he jumps into the parking lot of a small shopping area before he parks his car in front of a smaller grocery store. 

You give him a puzzled look.

“Hold on,” he says before clicking his seatbelt off, “gotta go get that cornstarch.”

“Wait—” you say, reaching out to grab him by the sleeve of his suit jacket as the most intense sensation of FOMO you’ve ever felt in your life overtakes all of your senses. “I’ll come with.”

He quirks a brow at you. You’re not surprised at his confusion. After all, you’ve been acting like some drug addict in withdrawal of social proximity to him all day long. But you’re at least glad he doesn’t express any further bewilderment and allows you to follow him inside the store like a duckling.

As Gojo veers off in the direction of likely corn starchiness, in a confident manner that would suggest he’s been to this store many times before, you meander about the aisles at your leisure. You get lost in the bustling colors of produce stacked neatly on top of one another, such that they could rival the great pyramids of Egypt. Not to mention, processed foods lining the wall right next to it. This was what suburban life is all about. Matter of fact, this is what dreams are made of. 

“y/n?”

Oh, fuck. That voice is definitely not what dreams are made of.

The opposite, actually.

Nightmares.

You hear that voice in your nightmares.

You turn on your heel to find none other than your ex boyfriend, he who shall not be named (Choso Kamo), standing right behind you as he holds a grapefruit in his hand, blinking at you dumbly with surprise apparent on his face. 

“Wh—” you briefly stutter before the automatic scowl settles onto your face. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I’m buying fruit.”

“For what?”

“What do you mean, for what? To eat, obviously.”

“I don’t know. I’m not convinced you wouldn’t try to fuck that grapefruit. Given you have low standards for what you stick your dick inside of.”

“Uh?…I’ve stuck my dick inside of you plenty of t—”

“Shut it!!!” you yell at him, then turn away with a wince on your face. “I didn’t think it through before I said it.”

“As usual?”

“You’re being a jerk. You know who I meant when I said that.”

“Okay. So, you don’t think things through before you say them. And I continue to deflect said things. Let me know when anything’s changed between us, y/n.”

You cross your arms at him menacingly and unwaveringly glare at him as a meek mother pushes her young son by the shoulders away from the two simmering adults having their savory conversation within the produce aisle. You’re about the snark out another comment but then the automatic water sprayers interrupt your flow. And also a scrawny employee drops a giant box of eggplant onto the ground before placing them onto the produce shelf.

“What are you doing on this side of town? You’re never out here,” Choso says as he sets the grapefruit back onto the stack.

“I don’t know. What are you doing here?”

“This is my new go-to grocery store.”

“Why not go to the Trader Joe’s that we always used to go to? It’s way closer to you.”

His shoulders sulk slightly at that.

Oh.

Oh.

So, he’s been driving an extra thirty minutes each weekend to go grocery shopping on the other end of town,

Just so he doesn’t have to run into you anymore.

“Look…y/n,” he starts, “it’s not that I don’t want to see you—”

“Choso—”

“It’s just that you accuse me of fucking inanimate objects everytime I do see you.”

“I literally do not care if you do or don’t want to see me.”

He narrows his eyes at you, his gaze flitting downwards to your crossed arms, something catching his eye.

You glance down at yourself, and you catch the glimmer of diamond underneath bright fluorescent light.

“Oh come on,” Choso grumbles, “don’t tell me you actually wear that thing twenty-four-seven.”

“I’m a married woman, Choso. It’s what married women do.”

He clenches his jaw at that, tense enough to cause a vein strain in his neck, his brows narrowing into contempt, but just before he can say anything else, an arm wraps around your waist and you’re being pulled back into a broad chest.

“She’s pretty, huh?” you hear Gojo say and you blink up at him with your chin tilted towards the ceiling, and you yelp as he possessively pulls you in closer to him as he establishes jarring eye contact with Choso with that same old easy grin on his face. “Thank god I’m the one married to her.”

Choso almost blows a fuse at that. “I know she’s pretty,” he says through gritted teeth, “for six years, I was the one that got to f—”

“Ahh!!! Sale on tomatoes!!!” you interrupt the crass and ridiculously toxic masculine energy in the air as you wiggle out of Gojo’s grip then run over to the pristinely stacked romano tomatoes, picking some of them up and holding them like precious commodities. “Maybe we can make some tomato soup with grilled cheese tonight, honey???” you say with a forced smile towards Gojo as you now hold fifteen tomatoes in your arms, a couple of them falling to the floor with a bounce as they roll away.

“HEY!! LADY!!” the scrawny eggplant stacking employee from earlier yells out at you. Some late teens kid with acne speckled across his face and shaggy brown hair scattered over his forehead, somewhat slick with either gel or grease. “I just set those up!!! YOU SQUASH ‘EM, YOU BUY ‘EM.”

“Sorry,” you squeak out, putting the tomatoes back onto the display somewhat haphazardly before grabbing Gojo’s arm and tugging him towards the exit. “Let’s get out of here, please.”

“Huh? I’ve still gotta pay for the cornstarch though,” Gojo says, hardly budging despite your best efforts to womanhandle him.

“No time for that, we leave now. They don’t have cameras here, anyway. I already checked.” You continue to tug on his arm, your body leaning at an almost forty-five degree angle towards the exit as you struggle to get some drag to his feet, but again, he doesn’t budge.

You don’t know exactly why you so adamantly want to restrict Gojo from interacting with Choso, but maybe a part of it was embarrassment. You didn’t want Gojo to find out what Choso did to you and what an absolute fool he had made out of you. It would hurt your pride.

“Isn’t this guy a cop?” Gojo asks as he points his thumb towards Choso. “And you’re telling me to shoplift in front of him?”

“Can you just be on my fucking side for one second?” you grit at him, yanking on his sleeve so hard you almost tear the cuffs out of the holes, and he finally sighs before relenting into a gait towards your general direction.

As you hug Gojo’s arm tightly to keep his momentum towards you, you walk backwards and send Choso a nasty glare. His eyes are wide, studying you and Gojo together as you get further and further away from him. And for a brief, brief, brief, ever-so-slight fleeting moment of love and familiarity and the sight of his dark hair curling at the nape of his neck and the memory of warmth when he used to hold you in his arms in bed on cold winter mornings, you find that you miss him a little. But only a little. You swear that it’s only a little.

Gojo still makes a pit stop at the register much to your pleading dismay, but as always he has zero regard or interest for your melodramatic outbursts, but at least he shoves the extra change from the purchase into his pocket in a somewhat timely fashion so that you two can head out the door in your artificial haste.

In the car, you quickly click your seatbelt on and then have to watch Gojo as he takes his time clicking his back into place and enter some address into his car. You see the ETA on the GPS, and how it shows that this address is roughly thirty-four minutes away.

Once he gets onto the freeway, your mind begins to wander back to seeing Choso at the grocery store and how the sight of him rattled you. You twiddle with your thumbs in your lap nervously, shift around in your seat, chew at the edge of your nail, and Gojo seems to notice this.

“You know, having lived in this town your whole life, I would think you’d be used to the discomfort of running into people you don’t want to see,” he says.

You sigh. “Yes. In theory. But with Choso, it’s–…it’s different.” You hesitate.  “It’s just that—” you try again before worrying your bottom lip between your teeth, “it’s just that, sometimes I don’t get him.”

Gojo is silent for a few seconds as he stares straight towards the road before he responds with, “What do you mean?”

“Like, he avoids me like the plague, and then begs me to go back to him, and then he pretends like I’m just a nuisance to him, and then when he sees me with you, he acts all—…I don’t know…all—”

“Jealous?”

You sink into your seat. “Something like that.”

“Hm. Yeah, to be honest, I don’t know. But you’re not wrong to find it strange.”

Feeling strangely validated in your feelings, you sit there twiddling with your thumbs and then glance out the window. There’s a silence that lasts maybe ten seconds before you say,

“Thanks for interrupting back there. Although, you don’t have to try to deliberately make him jealous anymore. Even though I know I literally asked you to do that. Which makes me a woman of severe psychiatric ailment. Of which I am slightly embarrassed about at the moment.”

“Nah,” he says as he turns the right onto the freeway entrance. When you look over at him, he has a smile on his face. “I like it. It’s never boring with you.”

Unsure if that’s a compliment or some shade of insult, you say, “and that’s a good thing?”

He shrugs, releasing one hand from the wheel and curling the other in a tight knuckled grip at the top of it as the car drives steady down the freeway. He rests his right elbow on the storage console. “Well, it’s different from what I’m used to.”

What are you used to? You so badly want to ask him.

But a flashback to his childhood bedroom at his parent’s house comes back to you.

Yearbook signatures, trophies, and photos abandoned underneath a bed.

You almost don’t even want to acknowledge that he has lived a life before you.

Was that self centered? Or perhaps childish? Or perhaps all in human nature?

You decide not to respond, instead directing your attention to the world outside the car window. The blades of grass dance across the shoulder of the road, all greenery following suit in the same swift motion. You watch as the land slowly turns from developed to more and more remote, yet still cozy and charming. Fields of green, vineyard arrangements, a wooden sign for a winery, a picturesque red barn house, a small cattle farm, an old town church with a bronze bell, hills of empty acres that are just begging to be touched by some great idea or civilization.

You’re privy to change in texture underneath the wheels as Gojo makes a turn onto gravel road about two miles after getting off the freeway. He drives up a hill, maybe a forty-five degree angle, with the crunch of rocks rubbing against the tread of the tires and you see a more distinct, purposeful arrangement of short decorative trees that line the properties of this narrow gravel road. They were large houses, sitting on slightly slanted hills that were all a part of a bumpy landscape that extends for miles. Some had formal fences, some had chain links, but all had expansive yards with no clear distinction of boundary, where the backyard could be the front yard too if only you had the imagination for it.

One house in particular catches your eye. It’s a pretty two story house with a detached garage or perhaps shed, painted in a dusky auburn with dark wooden paneling and structure. It sat near the top of this hill, the front yard being a steep upwards slope of grassy terrain that stretched for the full length of the property, about a hundred yards. The backyard dips behind the back of the hill, downwards into some territory you cannot set eyes on. But it’s stunning. It was gorgeous. Serene. With views of lush green surrounding its every corner. Intimately located, yet open enough to fresh air in which you almost feel one with the world. And in the early evening light, it looked like heaven.

You let out a slow exhale as you take in the sight that looks like a painting to you. There was something so romantic about a home. For as long as time, humans have enjoyed personifying objects, such as boats or planes or cars or  trains. But what could feel more of a living thing than a home?

You hear Gojo click his seatbelt off beside you and you glance over at him. You click off your own seat belt and open your door, stepping out onto the gravel road.

Gojo comes around the car and approaches you, holding a folder in his hand with papers you can only assume have information on the property listing. You also hear the jingle of keys in his pocket as he pushes his hand into it. 

“Got about,” he glances at his watch, “twenty minutes to prep. Oh, and if my clients ask, I’ll just introduce you as my assistant. And we’ll pretend that we have some sort of inappropriate workplace relationship. Just to intrigue them. It’ll make the house more memorable. Sound like a plan?”

You roll your eyes. “Whatever gets food on your table.”

You watch as he pushes a copper key into the rusted lock that was clipped onto the chains holding the fence together, guarding the property. He yanks it down once he’s unlocked it and then pulls the fence apart, opening the way to head up the house. It borders on a feeling of trespassing, but you trail closely behind Gojo as he makes his way up the grassy hill, reminding yourself that he has the clearance as a realtor.

You glance around the property a bit more. There’s a small pond in the dip of one of the smaller hills, fuzzy with moss and some small fish you can see snapping at the surface of the water. Off to the right of it, there are similarly moss covered stone benches, small and antique. Perfect to sit there and watch the sun set behind the house. And towards the left, a small gondola with arranged stained glass stepping stones. 

“Charming, huh?” Gojo says over his shoulder at you, and you realize he’s caught you staring at everything in awe.

Gojo makes it to the veranda after lengthy strides across the broad concrete steps that lead to the most stunning hardwood door you’ve ever seen in your life. He turns around to glance at you when he realizes you’re still stuck at the bottom of the steps, digging your heels into the ground underneath you.

“It’s–” you start, looking across the landscape while melancholy washes over you, “...I just can’t believe that someone gets to live here someday.”

He pushes his hands inside of his pant pockets, silent for a few moments. “Is everything alright?”

You look up at him, the question threatening to make the rawness in your throat burn even more. “Yes, I just–” you scoff at yourself a little before turning back to face the little pond, now further in the distance, “I just realized that I’ll probably never be able to afford a house in my life, so I’ll never really know what it’s like to have a realtor show me around a home I could potentially one day call my own. It’s something that sounds so surreal to me.”

There’s a silence that lasts for three seconds, and when you look up at him, his gaze is soft.

“Alright,” he says, jerking his head towards the direction of the door with his hands still lax in his pockets, “let’s take you on a tour of this one, then.”

You blink up at him, heart beating a little faster. “O-...Okay.” And you hop up the stairs to meet him at the top. The fragrance of wild roses and lavender brush past your senses as the leaves sway with the breeze. 

The moment you enter inside, you’re greeted by a faint trace of vanilla lingering in the air. The foyer is warm, inviting, with soft oak floors that creak ever so slightly with each step you two take forward into it, proving the life that it’s lived. To your left, there’s a spacious living room that glows with the golden light of the early evening sun that has started to gently make its descent from high up in the sky. Filtering through sheer curtains, touching your skin from afar, you glance down at your arm and the glow of heaven that’s been imprinted on it. 

Gojo walks further into the living room, pulling the curtains back a bit and then opens one of the windows by pushing up on it. A small draft reaches you as you walk towards him. Off to the right in a corner is a fireplace, the mantle adorned with wilting candles and creased old books.

“Is it wood-burning?” you ask Gojo.

He nods his head. “Can easily convert it to gas if that’s something you’d like better.”

There’s a sense of joy in your chest at the way he continues to play along, pretending as if your opinion truly matters–as if, just for now, you were a serious contender to make this place your home. 

“No,” you say, tracing a finger over the dark wood of the mantle, collecting withered dust. “I like it better like this.”

As he leads you into the kitchen, set your eyes on the marble countertops that meet soft sage cabinetry, the window behind the sink overlooking the rolling landscape of the backyard. You stand on your tiptoes to get a better view of what’s down the hill, and you see a small trickling creek that flows down the valley. Your gaze diverts towards the countertops and you see an elegant collection of mismatched china.

Spinning on your heel, you find Gojo leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest as he watches you inspect every inch. “When were these appliances last updated?” you ask, running your hand across the oven handle.

“About fourteen years ago.”

“Ah, they’re a little old.”

He smiles at you. “So the tolerance for vintage charm ends with kitchen appliances?”

“Charm is cute,” you say, a little cheekily as you move on without him towards the staircase, “but not when the house burns down because of an oven gas leak.”

He hums from behind you as he follows you, and you can hear the smile on his face through the sound alone. “You’re looking out for the right things.”

The staircase, with its dark wood railing and white balusters, curves gently upwards into the second floor. Just like your own home, the third and first steps creak beneath your feet. You always loved the sound, although you know most people attempt to fix such things in a house. For you, it felt like each step had a story, and some were very vocal about never being forgotten. 

The upstairs hallway is lined with more windows, filling the space with the same golden glow that now dances across the soft, tapering wallpaper that has begun to peel around the edges slightly. Your feet wander on their own with a sense of grace that seems to have taken hold of you. 

The first bedroom you stumble across is small, but still enchanting. The bay window has a small reading nook with cushions piled up on the surface, inviting the image of lazy afternoons spent lost in books as the world beyond the glass panes flutters in the wind. The queen-sized bed in the center of the room is minimally dressed and faces an oak dresser that was leaning slightly away from the wall in a crooked fashion. 

The room across from the first bedroom appears to be a study. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves are bolted to the walls and a vintage writing desk sits by another window where the changing light of day turns the room into a living painting. Your mother crosses your mind. And how much she would’ve loved this window. You could picture her setting up her easel and canvas here, painting away with strokes that could threaten even the beauty of the view outside the window. You think about how much joy that would’ve brought to her. 

In that same trance, you walk down the hall to the end with Gojo following behind you. You push through the set of double doors that lead into the master bedroom. It was spacious, yet intimate, with vaulted ceilings and a four-poster bed draped in airy linen curtains. Sitting across from it is another fireplace surrounded by two picturesque little chairs. One with a square backrest colored a dark burgundy, and the other with an oval backrest colored a pinkish opal. Between the two was a small table that had a stack of a few books. 

The attached en-suite bathroom appears timeless, with a clawfoot tub resting beneath a wide, arched window that offers the view of the rolling hills in their entire glory. The marble vanity has vintage brass fixtures that reflect the soft glow of the chandelier that hangs from the ceiling, one that takes the shape of the roof of the house. 

You hear tapping on the window to your right, and when you glance over there, you see a tree branch bothering the surface due to the wind. 

Your eyes also catch the faint bordering corner of wood beyond the frame of the window.

With wide eyes, you turn to Gojo and point in that general direction. “Is that…?”

“The balcony,” he says, then nods, “it’s connected to this room.”

He leads you out onto the wooden platform, the floorboards warm under your feet from the early evening sun. It stretches out about ten feet and wraps around the entire back end of the house, with easily the most breathtaking vantage point you’ve seen thus far. An entire view of the creek that disappears into the valley, the image of dancing wildflowers on distant rolling hills, the sun that continues to glow in the distance, and a gentle breeze with the faintest hint of salt, as though from a distant ocean. It felt like its own quiet little world. A place where time slows, and you can just be as you are. It was difficult to put into words, but you had never felt more at peace in your entire life.

Gojo leans over the sturdy yet worn railing as he glances down at the grass near the foundation of the house. You come up beside him, loosely curling your hands into a grip around the rusted metal.

You see him turn his face to you in your periphery, but you continue to stay staring ahead.

“So…what do you think? Can you picture yourself living here?” he asks you as a soft brush of breeze passes by. 

“Well–” you start, but then a sobering thought flashes through you, “wait, Satoru, what happened to your clients?”

“Oh, yeah,” he pulls his phone out of his pocket to glance at it, “they texted me about ten minutes ago that they weren’t going to make it.”

“You should’ve told me. We could’ve left.”

“Well, you seemed like you were in some sort of trance while you were looking around. I was scared to interrupt it.”

You breathe in deep and then let out a slow sigh, your shoulders dropping slightly. “Mhm. The house is beautiful. And, yes, I could picture myself living here.” 

More than just that. It was like a dream house. The one that a person would see in fleeting memories right before they pass, as it holds all of their most beloved ones. That ethereal, it was. 

He hums softly. You look over at him and find him blinking slowly. The wind brushes through his hair, ruffling it up gently, to where you could see the blueness in his eyes a little more clearly. That, too, was ethereal. 

“Satoru,” you say.

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

He continues to stare at the horizon. “Sure.”

“Where did you live before you moved here?”

“New york city,” he easily tells you.

But the answer surprises you. “R-Really?”

“Yeah.”

“For how long?”

“Really long.”

“Mm. You don’t seem like it.”

“Like what? An asshole from the city?”

“Mhm. Just a regular asshole.”

He laughs. You feel the rumble of it from the way your shoulder was pressed up against his arm. 

“Do you ever miss it?” you ask him. But the question was not one that you had thought to say. Rather, it felt as though it was placed on your tongue by someone else.

You feel his shoulders rise slightly with the deep breath he draws in as he leans over the railing a bit more. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I still own a place there in downtown Manhattan,” he says, “but I don’t really plan on moving back there ever. So I was thinking of selling it and getting something out here instead.”

“Oh?” you say, “like what? Where?”

“This,” he says, pointing to the wooden panels you two were standing on, “this house.”

You blink, caught between surprise and something deeper. “This house?” you echo, your voice quiet. 

He nods, his fingers tapping lightly against the railing. “Yeah. Although, I still show it to people if they’re interested. It’s been on the market for over three years though.”

You let your gaze drift over the balcony, the way the light softens against the weathered wood, and suddenly, the house doesn’t feel the same. Like it carries more weight somehow. Like it feels more real, more alive. And maybe that’s what makes a house a home–the intent to belong in it. 

"You see that greenery over there?" he asks, his arm stretching out as he highlights an area in the distance with his hand, "aaaaall the way down there?" Now pointing at the creak.

"Mm," you squint, "uh-huh!"

"Believe it or not, those are all avocado trees."

Your eyes widen and then you look at him. "No way."

He smiles. "Yeahhh. Three-point-four acres of 'em. And they're all a part of this lot."

Your smile matches his equally as nerdy one. "Wow I bet you loooove that.”

"I do," he grins, and then gratuitously sighs, "all I can eat guacamole 'til the day I die."

You snort.

"Yeah, anyways, that's why no one wants to buy this house," he says, "guess how much it costs to water them per month.”

"Mm, per month?" you look up to the golden sky, "a few thousand?"

"Try a hundred-and-fifty thousand."

"What–...I beg your finest fucking PARDON?!?!"

He laughs. "Yeah that's usually the reaction I get when I end a tour of this house on that note."

“That’s so insane…what’s the point of buying the house, then?”

"Avocados are hard to grow, they can be finicky, but all the land on this lot is extremely fertile," he says, "and if you can import the produce, it actually ends up being pretty lucrative." He points across to the dip in the hill behind the creak. "You could turn that place over there into some kind of ranch, too. Or a wedding venue, and rent it out. I don't know. The property has a lot of investment value. But the house itself is a bit dated. Would need some work."

"Like a fixer-upper on HGTV,” you offer for the conversation.

"Yeahhh. Something like that."

"Mm," you hum.

"Y’know, I was on HGTV once."

"What?! There's no way."

"Yup. House hunters."

"Bullshit. I would've known. I have seen every single episode since I graduated college."

"Oh, well, this was back when they still had Design Star on. I was like twenty-four or something. Fresh new realtor."

"Oh right. I was still in college then. I forgot that you're ancient."

He gives you an irritated side eye.

"So...will you be fixing up this house?" you ask him. His hobby of woodworking starts to make a little bit more sense.

"Maybe. I don't know if I'm too young to be thinking about retirement yet...but that's kind of what I was thinking of turning it into. A dream retirement home."

"You're definitely not young. Don't worry about that."

He gives you another irritated side eye.

"What happens to your other house, then?" you say. "The one next door."

“Hmm," he muses, "I'll probably stay there another year or so and then rent it out eventually."

"You don't want to settle down there? Raise your kids there?" you blurt out. You immediately wince a little at the forward question, but wasn't that something people thought about when thinking of a house? Do they not imagine filling it with their own hopes and dreams? Do they not picture their spouse sitting on the porch outside, swinging with the wind? Do they not picture their children's laughter down the hallway? 

A shiver runs down your spine. You glance over at Gojo, who continues to stare forward towards the horizon, His brow furrowed ever so slightly as he's deep in thought staring out into the landscape as the golden sun begins to turn purple in the sky, casting a dimming glow on his face.

And you wonder. You briefly wonder what a home must mean to him, after having to witness his parents perish in the flames of the one that housed his childhood. 

"It's a nice house," he finally responds to you, "but a part of me wants to live faaaaar away from everyone and everything someday." A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, like he can already tell how contradictory you find that sentiment to be. Mr Grew Up In New York City wants to live in a quaint little cape-cod-esque agriculture farmland property miles away from major civilization? what was it about the city that changed him so much? “Just be at peace, you know. Plant a million more avocado trees out here in the middle of nowhere, and not have to worry about their devilish spawns dropping all over my cute neighbor's herb garden.”

You flutter your eyelids, the comment catching you off guard, before your entire posture softens. "Satoru...it's ok. I'll move my herb garden."

"Oh, you thought I meant you? I was talking about seventy-four year old Barbara to my right."

You sulk your shoulders and roll your eyes, turning away from him to face forward towards the landscape again.

He laughs. "I'm just teasing."

You glance over at him again, and there's that same distant stare he casts over the greenery in the distance. 

"I can't believe your dream in life is to become a farmer," you say.

"Ehhh. It's honest work." he exhales slowly. The sun is now sitting on the hilltop. "It's just a dream, anyways. Just a dream. I'm still allowed to have those, right?" It was asked with genuine curiosity. 

"Why are you asking me for permission?"

His eyes hood ever so slightly, a dip in his expression you can't quite discern. but it's evident in the way his gaze off across the horizon dampens. "Hm. I don't know."

You shiver a little as the evening wind brushes past, and Gojo catches sight of the movement. you mentally curse yourself, because you know that you've just cut this moment short.

"It's cold," he says, "let's get inside."

You try to think of ways to stay here. Ways to lengthen this moment. Ask him for his jacket and make some teasing comment about how he's not a gentleman. Or lie and say that you're not cold at all, that you run warm when you know all your life you've always had cold hands and feet. Or just tell him that you don't want this moment to end. Tell him you want to see the sun through its sunset. Tell him how you never want to step foot off of this house ever again.

"Okay," you whisper. 

And he leads you back inside, down the stairs, and as you stand out on the veranda, at the grassy hills towards his car, you implant this memory in your head, this feeling of standing on this home and dreaming as if it were yours. Before all it becomes is exactly that, 

Only a dream. 

.

.

.

.

.

[end of ch.7, ‘if u wanna get groceries’]

songs of the chapter:  groceries by mallrat  margaret by lana del rey

a/n. thanks so much for reading! this was a fun chapter to write, especially the house sequence. i think it’s mentioned in the chapter somewhere, but yeah…i just think there’s something so romantic and melancholic about a home :’’) i guess that’s a recurring theme in ihm, with reader’s childhood home holding the memories that her mother has lost of her, and then ihm gojo losing his parents to a destructive house fire, and also him being a realtor, and also reader planning to sell her house, and then the dream house in this chapter. it’s been fun breathing a bit of life into these different settings themselves. ah i also decided i want to include little “song(s) of the chapter” to the end of these! just as something kinda fun to do. i’d say these are songs that inspired me to write certain scenes within the chapter, or songs that i listened to a lot while writing the chapter, or songs i could picture playing during the ending credits if this were a tv show xd. but yeahhh!! also just a way to share music bc i love music lol. 

i was asked by an anon to provide some reference photos for the dream house at the end and i shared some here big thank you to my beta readers mirl, leni, and ayelin for helping me out w parts of this chapter n giving me motivation to write it <33 i appreciate you guys sososo much!! i really attribute a lot of my writing motivation towards them, as i’ve been really busy but been able to write these lengthy chapters bc of their support.  i did kinda rush parts of this chapter just because i wanted to get it out on the weekend, so i apologize if there are errors or mistakes of if anything’s a little confusing or sudden. tbh i did want to spend a tiny bit more time on it but, that’s ok. fuck it we ball also! i just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of my readers and those that have stuck around for so long with me or maybe newer readers who have interacted or become invested w my works recently… i know that i am so slow w updates and sometimes inconsistent w it as well, life just gets so crazy for me and it’s a struggle to find proper time to sit down and write, and i wish soooo badly to put out chapters faster, but yea easier said than done haha. but all of my readers who continue to engage with lil ol’ me even despite all of that really means a lot to me, more than i can say :”) i still face self doubts so often w my writing, i’m halfway convinced i’ll never be satisfied w my craft, but the little interactions i have w everyone really make my day and push me forward to write even when it’s hard and i realized i haven’t really said a proper thank u to u guys for that as of late. plus i know jjk manga has ended and also i took a hiatus n also tumblr has lowkey been fuckin me over on the algorithm too lol etc etc i definitely have noticed i’ve lost some readers n engagement along the way, which i understand is natural n just a part of being a long fic author however daunting that may be, but i just really wanted to say a thank you to those who continue to be here irrespective of all of that. i appreciate everyone who sees value in my works enough to read them, follow up w them, interact w them, share them, like them etc. especially w ihm bc sometimes i feel so bad for the slow burn and the yap haha i’m sure some of you may be privy to the fact by now that this story will be very long and also so much more than just the romance. but…i find confidence from you all to follow my vision and i’m really grateful for that.  very likely that the next chapter is in ihm gojo’s pov :0 very exciting and makes me a lil nervous. for some reason i find his pov somewhat intimidating to write for loool. but hopefully i’ll pull it off.

much love!! there will be a delay in getting this chapter up on ao3 and also adding it to the masterlist etc bc i'll be away from keyboard when this posts from my queue, but everything should be updated by the time i'm back home tonight :) see you all in the next one <3 -ellie

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[midnite-c6]

Please please please please, Kim Seo-wan smutty smut... Ever since I read your Seo-wan x Reader I couldn't help but fall in love with that man more than I already was, so... PLS. if it doesn't maik ya uncomfortable obvs (⁠｡⁠•́⁠‿⁠•̀⁠｡"). ((TAKE UR TIME!))

YAYAYSYXTDGEGSYT I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTED TO LET HIM INN BYE ugh i want him (respectfully) added squid game tags since most of you guys watched ddos cuz of roh jae won and i want other ppl to see his role here! <3

kim seo-wan nsfw headcanons <3 || warnings: 18+, cunnilingus, fingering, fluff

∘⁠˚⁠˳⁠° first of all, his daily routine consists of studying, gaming, and being schizophrenic making him not have time for all those romantic, especially physical affection kinda stuff, so you have to convince and show him! it wouldn't be difficult, he's still a guy after all, let alone a guy who plays those "gooner" type of games, and to put it simply: he's a virgin.

when he starts dating you, he'd add a new lesson to his routine: porn. he's already failing his other exams, he doesn't wanna fail you!

no bias guys, but he is a touchy dude, and a kissy one at that. your lips are his revival potion, the taste of your lips is healing his whole being, same goes for your other set of lips, when he found out you make cute cute sounds while he eats you out and make out with your cunny? oh he has defeated that dragon. damn. "y...you like it here, right?" he'd take a small kitten lick on your clit, making a soft moan elicit your lips. his hands on both sides of your waist, holding onto you tightly as if you'd run away from him. "mhm.. there's good.. s'good." he's happy for your praise, lapping his tongue up and down faster, you could feel him mumble a mantra of "you're s'..yummy.." against you, you were so tasty, he loved it so much. he wouldn't even take off his small circle-framed glasses, being pushed all the way to the bridge of his nose. "ah... seo-wan..♡" you could feel the metal frame hit your twitching clit, it was a different kind of feeling.

when you guys are finally comfy, you both know study dates are cute n' all. he'd have his headset on, listening to music, a hand to flip the textbook's pages, and his other arm to be hooked around your waist, holding you securely. you'd be doing whatever too, you liked his company anyway. but whenever studies get stressful and hectic, he won't lose the chance to grope your soft tits, they're the best stress relievers after all. he's definitely a boob guy. "ah.. y/n. move closer, please? .. need ..easier.. access.." i fear he is very touchy, clingy, he doesn't want to let you go.

cosplays!! oh, when you guys save enough money, he absolutely loves to do cosplays with you! he's very grateful your character has little to no clothes, he'd savour your body everytime it's spread on his bed and would treat you like a princess for real. tell him he's super duper strong, it will make him cum in seconds. :< probably accidentally rips off your expensive cosplay too, makes you mad, obviously, but will fuck you as a consolation prize.

he's more of a giver than a receiver, he just wants you to be happy and pleased all the time! ...also makes you overstimulated every session. his fav part on himself is his hands, he knows how fond you are to them, foreplay always takes long because his fingers are stretching your poor hole for hours <3.

again, he barely has the time to do full-on sessions, but when he does, he's gonna make you a squirting mess. holding hands while fucking is sooo real <3.

"mmfh.. don't leave me, okay? stay.." he 'reminds' you, slowly pushing his dick back inside your hole, his thumb pressed firmly on your clit, how were you gonna leave him anyway? he was holding onto you like you'd escape! "i.. won't seo-wannnn..." "ahh... good girl... my healer..." he whispers, kissing you softly, his mind is definitely in another world right now, atleast you're in it. (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

someone requested seo-wan x patient!reader so I AM GONNA FO THAT NEXT HELL YEAH

[clubdionysus]

[DRABBLE] Last Christmas

warnings: alcohol aisle but no consumption lol

wc: 1.2k

bd total wc: 540k (on-going)

minors dni | AO3 | series masterlist 

4 MONTHS EARLIER

"No," you say with a stern look in your eye as you clock Danbi's latest suggestion. At the opposite end of the supermarket aisle you've been down for the past ten minutes, she holds up a dark bottle of overpriced port.

"Oh, c'mon-"

"Absolutely not," you laugh as she walks towards you, shaking your head with playful disapproval. "We both know what happened last Christmas. We're not repeating it again this year."

While Danbi knows you're right, she still pouts. Doesn't even like port that much, just knew it would get a laugh from you, which is why she suggested it.

Late December, you're in need of drinks for the festive little gathering that you're hosting that evening. It'll be a small crowd, just a few friends and other halves, but you're looking forward to it.

You hadn't even been planning on drinking that much, but your boyfriend cancelled earlier in the week, so now you're thinking of just getting wasted. Bars are always open, and Danbi's been whining about a mistletoe kiss all week, so you might even hit the town.

Nothing is set in stone, except for Danbi's need to keep a smile on your face, 'cause Lord knows your 'good-for-nothing, sack-of-shit boyfriend' (her words, not yours) doesn't seem to care about it.

"I'm thinking vodka," you muse, looking at the shelves ahead of you. It's a small section compared to the rows upon rows of wine, but you're not after anything classy.

The aisle you're in is crowded; people stocking up last minute for supplies that will last them for the rest of the festive period. You really should have known better than to leave shopping until the last minute, but had also spent the past two days at home together, with the last of your wine supply and the entire Christmas movie collection on Netflix to see you through.

Christmas is the time to indulge in unhealthy habits, and indulge you have, but you think it's okay if it helps to heal your heart a little bit. So does Danbi. In fact, she's the enabler, here.

"I'm thinking you wanna get shitfaced," Danbi assesses as she meets you, and joins your contemplative gaze towards the clear bottles of alcohol.

The labels are all fairly similar - red, primarily. Shiny. Inherently festive, you think.

There's one bottle that's really grabbing your attention, though. Top shelf. Limited Edition Christmas bottle. Covered in glitter. Comes with a complimentary pot of shimmer dust to pair with the liquor. Is practically calling your name.

"And you don't?" You tease, glancing across to her, pleased to see that she's clocked it too. "What do you reckon? Worth the price tag?"

Nearly three times the price of your regular vodka, you only ever go for top-shelf on very special occasions - important birthdays, your graduation. Christmas doesn't qualify.

"I reckon with the money we'd save by getting the usual bottle, we could get edible glitter from the baking section and just make the bottle glittery at home," she reasons, but is also a sucker for a gimmick. "It is a nice bottle, though. And the vodka is better..."

Her thoughts linger in the air and have you contemplating just saying 'fuck it,' and going for the overpriced chaos of the glittery bottle - until you hear the clearing of a throat beside you.

"Word to the wise," the guy perusing the shelves next to you says, leaning slightly closer so you know that it's you he's talking to, then passes you a bottle from the middle of the self.

Though you can see him in your peripherals, you haven't really bothered to look in his direction - was too focused on the alcohol. The movement of his body spreads the silage of his aftershave, and you're reminded of why you like men so much.

He's dressed in all black, that much is certain, and the hand that passed you the bottle was covered in tattoos. Part of you fears looking in his direction, for the knowledge that you probably won't be able to stop.

"It's made in the same distillery as the top-shelf one," He continues. You don't look at him, still, too busy reading over the label. It's not one you've ever tried before, but it's in the same price bracket as your usual one. "It's just filtered one less time, and doesn't have the marketing budget. You can barely taste the difference. Most of the bars downtown swap the bottles, and no one ever notices. I never told you that, though. And Dionysus definitely doesn't do that. Merry Christmas."

Studying the bottle, you take a second before glancing up across to the man beside you - but he's already walking away.

"Nice to meet you, too," Danbi whistles under her breath as you both watch him head towards the next aisle. Didn't really get a good look at him, either. Didn't realise he was talking to you until the last second. "God. He was like a sauve, sexy Santa, delivering presents and dipping like that. Delightful."

"What does that make us then?" You laugh, still holding the bottle. "His little elves?"

"If that's what he wants us to be, sure," she playfully jokes.

"Well then- ho, ho, ho," you hum in agreement, looking to the now-empty end of the aisle. Broad, tall, and dressed for a funeral, you've no idea what your mystery vodka man actually looks like, but it doesn't really matter. You know he's hot. It was laced in the way he walked away. The way he spoke. The way he'd definitely been eavesdropping and waiting for the perfect time to bestow a little wisdom to you.

If there's one thing you like in a man, it's competence. It's why you're with Seokjin. He has it in abundance. And so did this mystery man, it would seem - or at least, he knows far more about obscure vodka brands than you. Maybe he's a bartender, you hypothesise. Or maybe he's just hot. Maybe both.

"Our very own Christmas miracle," you say with a smile, then turn to Danbi. "Baking aisle? We need edible glitter."

"Baking aisle," she nods, grinning just as brightly as you are. "Shame there wasn't any mistletoe there."

"I have a boyfriend," you remind her, shoulders knocking together as you walk.

Danbi holds her tongue. Could say all sorts of things about Seokjin and his less-than-saintly behaviours. It's Christmas after all. No time for discussions of such unpleasantries. One day, his horrible qualities will just be a memory of the past - as will the presence of your mystery supermarket Santa, and the club he mentioned. You'll think nothing of it as the word Dionysus rings in your head when Hoseok and Danbi insist on going to bars in a few months time to nurse your impending breakup.

You're none-the-wiser now, though. Ignorance is bliss.

Danbi just shrugs. Wraps an arm around you and squeezes you tightly. Giggles. "Bah humbug."

AO3 | MASTERLIST | NEXT

[ohmytyong]

mark me in your heart [teaser]

PAIRING: drug dealer!mark x bartender!reader

GENRE: angst, smut, kinda friends with benefits au, bartender!renjun, best friend!renjun, action au

TEASER WARNINGS: mentions of alcohol, explicit scene of drug use, use of pet names

WC: tba (TEASER WC: 1,2k)

‣[PLAYLIST]: 505 by arctic monkeys, bad omens by 5 seconds of summer, slow down by chase atlantic, why do you only call me when you're high? by arctic monkeys, a little death by the neighborhood, okay by chase atlantic

SUMMARY: when a sensitive and broken heart meets another one of the same nature, their instinctive reaction is to seek comfort in each other, and in order to heal themselves, they both need to be equally strong and willing to put all their broken pieces back together. but sometimes, some hearts aren't strong enough to be saved; the only way to save them is if the stronger heart of the two is willing to take the risk and try for the both of them, whatever it takes.

A/N: i forgot how long i've had this idea sitting in my drafts. i think it's time it saw the light of day and i think it's better if i share this with you

wanna be notified when i post the full fic? join the taglist here or send me an ask! | click here to join my general taglist

“Hey Renjun, pass me that glass” you said as you wiped the thick tall glass completely dry before you put it back on the shelf behind you. You were moving mechanically at this point, the exhaustion of the long night at the bar taking over your entire body. It was 5 in the morning and you had just barely managed to kick out some of the remaining drunk nobodies who were so wasted, that their toxic-infused brains couldn’t even give them the signals to move their own bodies.

Working at the bar wasn’t your dream job but it’s not as if you had a better choice. It was either a bartender or a stripper. Both of them sounded equally bad, so you decided to opt for the slightly better one. If you could even say it like that.

It wasn’t a particularly ideal job but it was enough to get you by. It earned you enough money to buy you food and pay the rent at the motel you were staying at, it got you as many free drinks as you needed to help your mind escape from all your worries and you also got to meet some relatively cool people, so that was somewhat good. The working hours weren’t such a big of an issue either, you couldn’t really sleep anyway. So you were fine with it.

Most nights, the bar usually closed at around 3 am. There wasn’t a set rule on this; it usually depended on how many customers there were and how much they were drinking. Your boss had suggested that you shouldn't keep the bar open all night long, so you kinda decided that it was best to close a few hours after midnight. You weren’t complaining about this though; the sooner it closed, the more time you’d have to get high with your co-worker Renjun at the alleyway behind the bar.

Unfortunately, tonight luck wasn’t on your side, as a group of friends kept on drinking more and more as the hours passed by, which meant that you and Renjun had to keep the bar open until later. You weren’t opposed to this idea, it only meant that you would earn a little bit more money. It was Renjun who started complaining, so he decided to take action into his own hands and practically dragged the drunks out of the bar.

This is how you ended up cleaning up the place this late, rather this early in the morning, with your co-worker. The two of you were too tired to speak, so neither of you made any efforts to spark up a conversation. You both just attended to your respective tasks, waiting for a specific somebody to show up.

Luck surely wasn’t on your side tonight. He would usually show up at around 3:30 am, right after the bar closed, and he would have all the stuff ready, just at the exact moment you needed it. Why was he late today?

It didn’t take a genius to understand that Renjun was clearly affected by the lack of the stuff. He moved around the place nervously, tugging at his hair and stomping his foot rhythmically. He was in a desperate need of it, and you would honestly lie to yourself if you said you didn’t need it half as much as Renjun did.

You put the last clean glass on the shelf behind you and went over to the storage room to grab a broom, so that you could clean the floor a bit while Renjun was still wiping the bar counters. As soon as you closed the door of the storage room, the little bell that hung above the bar’s front door rang with a tinkle and soon after it followed the sound of the so familiar footsteps you were waiting for all night.

“Hey kids, Santa’s here,” his voice resonated in the empty room as he waved a small transparent plastic bag that looked white because of its content. Renjun threw the handkerchief he was holding to the other side of the counter and dramatically jumped over it to go and hug the male who just entered. All of that just at the sight of the clear plastic bag with the snowy content.

“Mark, what took you so long my guy, I’m literally a dead man walking! Give this beauty to me,” Renjun exclaimed and snatched the plastic bag straight out of Mark’s hand. Mark smirked at what Renjun said and immediately started grinning at the sight of the boy’s eagerness.

Renjun went to sit on the bar stool closer to him and placed the bag on top of the counter he had just wiped clean. With slender fingers, he opened the plastic bag and dredged some of the content on the counter. With nervousness in his movements, he set the bag aside and shuffled through his back pocket to find his ID card. He started scattering the white dust all over the counter before he gathered all of it in a straight line with the help of his ID card. When he was satisfied with the result, he put his ID card back into his pocket, lowered his head to the level that his nose touched the cold surface of the counter, took a deep breath and snorted the entire line of crack, the product going straight up into his nostrils.

Renjun blinked several times before he slowly lifted his head. He scrunched his nose and wiped it with the back of his hand, his drowsy eyes looking surprisingly bright considering his state. “Man, whoever hasn’t done crack, never, they haven’t known the beauty of life yet” he chuckled. Mark smirked at Renjun’s comment and you couldn’t help but shake your head amusingly, a small smile creeping up at your face.

Renjun took the plastic bag with the rest of the cocaine and put it in his pocket. “This baby’s for me, thank you,” he amused and turned his heel towards the storage room. “Don’t come look for me, I’ll be right here. If I take too long to come out, then you should be concerned,” he said and closed the storage room door behind him; a scene that was surprisingly quite familiar to you.

You then set the broom down and walked towards Mark. “Hey” you whispered and Mark greeted you back in a low husky voice. “What took you so long? We were expecting you to come earlier” you asked him.

Mark shrugged and leaned his elbow against the counter. “I came by at our usual meeting hour and saw that you guys were still open. I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me so I decided to drop by later,” he said and you nodded in understanding.

“You do have more of those plastic bags on you, don’t you?” you asked him and he chuckled. “Of course I do, pretty. Let’s go outside and treat ourselves a bit, shall we?” he suggested and you nodded again, walking beside him towards the alleyway behind the bar.

* .♡ *:･ﾟ✧ ⋆ ࣪.* ࣪.⋆

TAGS: @peachjaem00 @bbyyhyuck @vdollys @positionslab @matchahyuck @renjun-fairy @back2jisung @doieslefttoe @uwuheeseungie

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[taintedcigs]

skater!eddie is boggling my mind so bad like just eddie alone is so hot and so cool and so dorky and nerdy but now HE ALSO SKATES???

i just know he would own a black board with the hellfire logo underneath. (he lets you draw cute lil doodles on it and smothers u in kisses when u show him the finished product bc he loves it and u so much🥹)

he!! has!! a!! nose!! ring!!!

and he has a dirty black converse that he NEVER EVER TAKES OFF. that white man is probably wearing those converses in the house and you chide him for it so he blushes and quietly says ‘sorry, hun’ and takes them off quickly !!!!! (he also lets u draw little stars on it and insists u put ur initials <33)

skater!eddie who is hooked the moment he first sees u!!! he tries to impress u by doing flips and once u notice him and can’t take ur eyes off of him he gets nervous and trips >:( then u go to ask him if he’s ok and u give him a worried look and he almost MELTS but tries to act all cool “‘m fine! this shit happens all the time, honey, i’m used to it” but once u leave hes screaming in agony.

skater!eddie who teaches u how to skate and he’s so nervous each time you wobble on the board!! he catches u the second you look like u were gonna fall and u giggle at him and hes SOOO SMITTEN and makes stupid pick up lines each time he catches u like “oh! let me tie your shoes so u don’t fall for anyone else, sweetheart” and he has the biggest smuggest grin on his face and winks at u each time <33

and he encourages u no matter how many times u fail or trip >:( he gives u a warm smile as he kisses the top of your head, “you’re doin’ so well princess, wanna try one more?” his heart aches when u get any scrapes, taking care of them the second u come home!! “don’t worry, sweetheart, i’ll take care of it. hey, you want hello kitty plasters or lil puppy ones?” he says giving u a childish grin as he holds the pink plasters in front of u!! carefully placing them as he gives them a lil kiss to heal <33

and when he breaks his board after years of using it hes all grumpy and upset >:( and u feel so bad bc he loved that lil black board sm so u save some money and the first thing you do is ask max where to find the best boards so she helps u get him another one <33 and u draw the hellfire logo by yourself and draw little hearts on it and when u give it to eddie he almost tears up, looking at u with admiration ‘you–you did this all for me?” you nod with a warm smile on your face and the tears are READY to fall from his pretty honey glazed eyes bc no one has ever gotten him anything before, especially not something as expensive as this :(( and he gives u the biggest hug with the sloppiest kiss as he thanks u over and over again, he’s so glad to have you in his life. his honey, his angel, his girl.

i might just write a whole fic for him bc im down so bad for skater!eddie🫡🫡

[nightmare-foundation]

Act like a dog (get treated like one)

Sooo rubs my hands together. I randomly got some motivation to do some practice writing and I really wanna do some writing for my AK Dick au sooo,, let's hope this is decent lol

For some context: this is my au where Dick becomes the Arkham Knight. It doesn't take place in the Arkhamverse, rather it's in my own comics verse, but the au follows the plot of Arkham Knight. So essentially Dick gets tortured for 1-2 years. This is early in his capture, so he's still a fighter. Also, any time frame mentioned here is 100% unreliable on Dicks part. He has NO idea how long he's been stuck in Arkham. I'd say it's probably closer to a month and a half or two months? Idk, it's up to you lol.

Tw for dehumanization, muzzles, collars, mentions of torture, manipulation- really the Joker is his own warning

Dick tugs lightly on his bonds as the guard rolled him down the dirty, dilapidated hallway, the barbed wire cutting into his uniform and skin. The barbed wire did it's job well; it kept him from moving too much, kept him from trying his luck and attempting another escape. Dick bit back a hiss as the metal caught on a still healing wound, tearing it back open. Quickly, he stopped his movement, not wanting to make his injuries worse.

Dick gritted his teeth as the wheelchair passed over a bump in the tile, feeling his broken ankle twinge painfully at the jostle. He couldn't believe the Joker paid off the Arkham guards, and even the damn inmates. Well, actually, he could obviously see the Joker doing that, but people actually going for the damn money? Ignoring that he's here, even participating in this torment?

He smothered his righteous anger at that. The Joker was volatile and insane, and had a terrifying reputation; of course people would turn the other eye if it kept them and their loved ones safe. But even then, safety wasn't guaranteed, so what was the point?

Dick shoved it all down. He couldn't think like that. That was what Joker wanted; to break him down. Well, he wouldn't let that happen. Couldn't let that happen. With any luck, his family would be here soon, breaking down Arkhams walls to save him, if he couldn't escape. So, hopefully, he wouldn't have to worry about being broken. It's only been a few weeks. Or… was it a month? Longer? No- don't think that. It can't have been that long.

He jerks to a stop suddenly, and Dick looks up to see a familiar room- and a familiar face.

He carefully keeps his face neutral as the Joker grins widely, standing up from his chair and opening his arms wide. “Why, hello there, Bird Boy! How nice of you to finally join us!” The Joker waves them over, and the guard rolls him closer to the middle of the room. Dick can see the chains hanging from the ceiling, a warm yellow light bulb flickering nearby. “Come, come! I have sooo many plans for us today! Aren't you just excited?! I do love a good party!”

Worry and fear curdles in Dicks gut. The excitement, the anticipation in the Jokers body language- none of it spelled anything good. Granted, being in here at all wasn't good, but when the Joker was excited like this… well, Dick was already starting to understand that it was a promise of torment.

“Not particularly, no. Doesn't seem like a super thrilling party; there isn't even any cake.” Dick quipped. Even after all this torture, he still couldn't keep his mouth shut. His voice came out broken and hoarse, throat burning as he tried to sound confident like he used to. It was a fruitless endeavor, though, only succeeding in making him sound like the victim he really was. The constant screaming was really doing a number on his poor throat.

The Joker laughed at him, as if amused by his feeble attempt at fighting back. “That's because you're the cake, silly!” He leaned in close, pinching at Dicks cheek. “And I can't wait to just eat you right up.” The Joker pulled away, grimy hand finally leaving his face. The clown gestured at the guard standing behind Dick–Boles? His name would be important for when he escaped–seemingly impatient with him. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get him out and string ‘em up for me!”

The guard shifted to the front of him, hands reaching towards the barbed wire wrapped around Dicks neck. He tugs at it, the metal barbs cutting a bit into his neck as it's unwrapped and untangled. Fear- no, terror makes Dicks pulse race. If he's freed and strung up- the whip cracking, his back screaming in blinding, white-hot agony, blood pouring down his back and legs and dripping, dripping, dripping down in a puddle as the whip made contact again and again and again-

His blood ran cold. That had been within his first week here. Those injuries, his shredded back, were just barely healed. They still tugged painfully whenever he moved, threatening to tear back open. He- he couldn't- he couldn't let that happen. That couldn't happen again, not the whip, not the fingers digging into his flesh, or the skin being pulled at in such agonizing ways until he passed out from the pain. Dick couldn't go through that again.

The hand from Boles moved, and it was just a bit too close, a bit too fast. Instinct and fear lead Dick as he lashed out with the only part of him that was free.

His teeth dug deep into the flesh of the hand, quicker than he could process what he was doing, hot, metallic blood filling his mouth. A shriek escaped the man's mouth as he wrenched his hand away, Dicks clenched teeth taking a chunk of flesh from it. He spat it out as the guard cradled his bloodied, mutilated hand. “You damn animal!” The man snarled at him, fury and pain written all over his face.

Dick looked up through the strands of his greasy hair, up at the Joker. The clown tutted at him, and it was then that his terror-fueled actions hit him. His heart rabbitted beneath his ribcage as the Joker roughly grabbed his face in a bruising grip, unforgiving as the nails dug into his skin.

“Well, that was just plain rude. Is that any way to treat others? No, no, no, that just won't do.” The Joker let go, walking away to the far side of the room, continuing to talk. “You've just been so naughty lately! All the backtalk, scratching, biting- you're like an untrained, feral dog attacking it's owner!” Dick gritted his teeth at the Jokers words. I'm not a damn dog!

The Joker grabbed something and walked back over. In his hands were- oh, fuck no.

“And, well, when a dog gets too aggressive, you have to muzzle them. Officer Boles, be a dear and hold his head back for me.”

Dick jerked backwards as the man stalked forward, grabbing a hold of his hair and yanking his head back. His hair became slick with blood from the man's injury, and his neck strained painfully.

The Joker moved quickly, and Dick thrashed as the muzzle was forced over his face. The bit was shoved into his mouth as the muzzle forced his jaw shut, teeth grinding against the rubber painfully. The straps were pulled tightly and securely, the muzzle firm and unmoving. Then something clicked around his throat; a thick collar.

Before Dick could comprehend what was happening, his bonds were torn off unceremoniously and the collar on his throat was yanked hard. Dick fell to the dirty, tiled floor, slamming face first into it as the wheelchair he was just in was pushed away. Blinding pain shot through his ankle, briefly making his vision white out before the leash was pulled at again.

“On your knees, boytoy, like a good dog.” Jokers taunting voice sounded, and disgust and humiliation crawled up Dicks spine. But he could do nothing but obey, pain making his whole body shake as he sat on his knees, leaning forward on his hands. He could feel blood seeping down his back, down his front, and he knew his wounds had opened back up.

Joker tugged on the leash as he crouched down, pasty white face far too close to Dick for his comfort. “You do realize i have to punish you now?” Dick froze at that, terror striking through him once again. It must've shown on his face, because the Joker cooed at him, stroking his face. “Aww, don't look so glum, dear. You brought this upon yourself.”

Punishments- punishments were… god, if this was Hell, then the punishments were far, far worse than Hell. The last one he got had been after his last escape attempt. That- that had been the whipping. The electrocution, the burning, being slowly, painfully skinned little by little, layer by agonizing layer. It had lasted days- maybe a little longer.

No, no nononono- stupid stupid stupid- horrifyingly, a sob involuntarily pulled itself from his throat. Nonono don't cry, stop crying, that's what he wants, you're not breaking you're not you won't- he tried to swallow down another sob, but the next made him break. Dick shook his head, weak and terrified and- God he was so tired, so so tired and hungry and thirsty and he was beyond fucking exhausted. He hardly got two hours of sleep the previous night before being woken by yet another night terror, he hasn't eaten in at least a couple days- when was the last time he had water?

The Joker cooed sadly at him. “Aww, c'mere. Papa Jokers got you.” The psychopathic clown tugged him forward into his arms. Dick flopped forward, tears streaming out of his eyes as he cried uncontrollably. He felt equal parts disgust, humiliation and utter relief at the kind contact. How long has it been since he's gotten any amount of kindness, manipulative or not?

God. God, he was terrified. He was exhausted and scared.

And worst of all- he was starting to break.

[noobettes-little-box]

yay very long block tales review time yippee

this will only cover the prologue since i don't feel like doing more right now im recovering from surgery

anyways

adding the cut thing so i don't take over the whole dashboard thing

so let's start off with

THE FILE SELECT!!!!

now to most sane people you wouldn't really think much of this considering that most games have save files, however, they're still relatively new to roblox games, most of them only really have one save, some don't even save any progress at all, though those are pretty rare now. the fact this game has 4 files though is pretty cool i'd say

intro!!

summary

upon starting a save file you are woken up by tutorial terry and given three options

choosing the funny option you get taken to the first "battle" of the game

i say battle in quotes because

yea.....

it is funny to see it the first time though

answering "Yeah!" or "No" gets you the same response of him yelling at you to get out of his bed

you talk to him about the plot kinda and he reveals the game takes place in 2010 and that the hotel reception person was looking for you

going down the hall you get these three doors that teach you how the dash works

dashing is your main form of movement if you wanna go fast

this is only really useful for places you've already been to because there's lots of places you can find hidden around and going too fast is a good way to miss them

you go to the receptionist and he reveals that john shedletsky needs you for something at roblox HQ (john shedletsky is the very first roblox employee and made the famous sword fight on the heights)

and upon exiting the hotel the prologue starts!!!

overall a decent intro, it is a little short and a bit confusing on your first play through but it's still fine i think it's only like all of 5 minutes long and it sets up the game fairly well so i think it's fine

now

the prologue!!!!

summary

they're gonna update it in the next few months probably but like

i'll review that when it comes out

upon exiting you are in a place called bizville

this is like the main hub where all of the game will be connected to

the guy to your left tells you to head right to get to roblox hq, so you better go do that!

heading off to the right will take you to east bizville

there's a cafe, job center, arcade, and dog park here!

..but those don't matter right now...

once you get to hq you'll see that the way forward is blocked saying you need a sword to break through

but you only have a ball do the only way to go is inside the building

then you see them

the little shit

the first child you get to beat up

i'll talk about the battle system later

there are more little shits to beat up throughout HQ but that's about all i can talk about right now i think

if you keep going you might find some bux!!! this is always hidden around places. there's a certain shop in bizville where you can use it but i'll get to it later. if you've been exploring you would have more but this is in plain sight, and obviously meant to be the tutorial of "Hey look there's money hidden places!!"

as you ascend you will probably notice that HQ is falling apart but the workers are still working, this is a reference to

uh

something probably!

at the top you find the Red and Blue noobs!!!

they are the first boss in this game, so i'm gonna talk more about the battle system now

BATTLE SYSTEM:

the battle system is somewhat a mix between paper mario and earthbound! woaw!!

you have 3 options here, atleast currently. you can use the ball, items, or a strategy. your strategies currently are just run or defend. defending skips your turn but gives you 1 extra defense point and gives you one SP back

items vary on use but it's either damage enemies or heal yourself or damage yourself

ball is ball

you can do two hits if you press a button at just the right time!

now you don't just have to stand there and take the hit!!

you can also block, dodge or counter depending on the attack!

just like in paper mario you do this by pressing a button right before the enemy hits!

sometimes enemies can give themselves special buffs! like red does here after you defeat blue! it's very cool to know you aren't the only one with these abilities. it's even implied that the enemies use cards like the player can!

cards are just badges from paper mario, have enough build points you can have the card, but there is a max of 30 BP here. idk if there is in paper mario but there is here.

your health also does the slow tick down thing like in earthbound, which gives you time to heal. however in multiplayer this doesn't stop going down until everyone has picked an action so you better hope they pick quickly!

anyways after beating red and blue they say they're going to go tell their boss, and you get to talk to shedletsky

shedletsky says that builders (the guy who made roblox) was kidnapped and that the person who did i'd is going after the Sword Fight On The Heights Swords, a bunch of magic swords with special abilities.

he gives you a wooden sword that you can use to progress yay

upon going through the boards blocking your path before you will see the sharp little shit

most people will just try to ball them but this teaches you that the ball can't kill some enemies (atleast not without the cannon ball card but you don't get that until half way through chapter 2)

the same also goes for the sword (without sword toss)

so the ball is like mario's jump, and the sword is like his hammer, if that helps you remember

after going through the meadows a little you'll encounter the second boss of the game

noobador

this guy is red and blue's boss, and can make you dizzy, giving you a chance to lose an attack

how rude >:(

after beating them up red and blue run away saying "this isn't over" and stuff

after beating noobador you probably leveled up!

i'd show what the level up screen looks like but i'm out of images almost

heading further to the right takes you to a cave and upon entering:

Chapter 1 begins

Review:

overall a pretty good way to start the game, teaches you how to play without actually telling you anything, you're just plopped down and expected to learn stuff yourself! no tutorial guys telling you how to fight for 5 minutes, you're just thrown right in (outside of the introduction to cards.) teaches new players what they need while letting returning players go as fast as they want, good for challenge runs and things like that. it is a little short, but it is just the intro to get you into the game so i think i can let it slide. they did say it would be updated to get longer so i might have to give that its own post

good start to a good game yay

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

I have started Like A Dragon! I've actually already made it to chapter 5.

Why hadn't I made a post already, then?

Well, there's no sugar-coated way to put this so... let's just rip off the bandaid now.

I haven't really enjoyed myself playing this game this far. Yet. Maybe I will at some point. But for now I honestly just haven't had much to say in terms of what's happened in the plot besides the beginning. I don't hate the game, it's just that it hasn't been able to really hook me in yet.

I'll keep going since I've heard this game is one of the generally more loved ones in the franchise. And I know RGG loves its slow burn.

I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but I wanna be totally honest. I doubt y'all would want me to lie about how I feel about the game.

More about all that right at the end of the post. I will list my positives and negatives when it comes to this game (and talk about the battle system) down there.

I know this type of thing is common in RPGs, but I like it all the same. Neat little game mechanic. There's quite a few different ones here, but it's cool.

An interesting background for a main character. Yeah, being an orphan is more than common. But being raised by the employess in a soapland and the townsfolk around him? That's really out there - in a good way.

This was very sad. Ichi lost 15 years of his life to the joint and got nothing in return. The shock and disappointment on his face when he was released and there was just. No one waiting for him.

And after that, all that awaited him was just... betrayal. That's just brutal. I fully understand why Ichiban went into Total Denial Mode for a while; it must have been a totally incomprehensible and shocking situation.

-He got out of prison after 15 years and where he expected to find his family waiting for him, he found nobody. AND he suddenly had the freedom of choosing what to do, when to do it and where to go after 15 years. That can be scary.

-He witnessed how much the world and general society had changed in his absence and probably felt very confused.

-He saw his home totally wrecked and abandoned.

And now his mentor and beloved patriarch, the one who saved his life. The man he would have happily been ready to die for at any moment. That man had changed completely and acted like he didn't know Ichiban.

Yeah... the denial, frustration and desperation are totally valid.

Oh dear. Well, Kiryu wasn't there anymore, the Tojo upper brass kept changing and there was constant conflict within the clan itself. It was just a matter of time before Omi would take advantage of the situation.

I hope Majima and Daigo are okay. Or at least alive ;-;

*Faint sounds of Majima cackling in the distance*

Oops. Majima better hope Ichi doesn't find out who the driver was lmao. I feel bad for Ichiban, but I also love how this single random idea of Majima's still has these consequences that are brought up, even after all this time.

God bless Nanba. He's a sweetheart. That's all I can say about him. I also kinda like Adachi. I'm not attached to these side characters yet, but they're neat. I think they'll grow on me eventually, it's just that I tend to be slow when it comes to becoming attached to new characters.

Legends say that if you pull this bat out, Shinada will appear in front of you and ask for some money....

I did play through the whole soapland thing and then some. I don't have much to say 😭. We do have a woman fighting with us, finally after all this time! #Girlboss

I would honestly happily die for Nancy. No questions asked.

OKAY UHH POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES.

Positives:

-Ichiban

-Interesting premise

-The different jobs satisfy my hyper-optimizing, excel-sheet-making, micromanaging self

-Funny enemy titles like "Piss Wizard"

-Free full heal spots my beloveds❤️

-Voice acting (in the Japanese dub at least) is excellent

-Substories have been fun!

Negatives:

-EXP yield is... not optimal; grinding takes FOREVER unless you go fight higher-level people than yourself, but then the battles can take ages. Job exp grinding especially feels about as pleasant as pulling teeth.

Am I supposed to grind in this game?? I've started to wonder about that since it's such a slow process. I have absolutely no idea. Have I missed a thing that helps exp gain??

-Unless you get lucky with the ability to find treasure, money yield can be tight at times, too. Which is rough, considering the cost of gear with 4 team members (and probably backup members later).

-The premise is cool, but the stuff I've played through in terms of the plot after leaving Kamurocho hasn't been very interesting to me this far (early-to-mid chapter 5) :/

-Substories don't give you EXP 😭

How about the elephant in the room - the battle system?

Well. I'll come out with it straight away; I'm very, VERY picky when it comes to turn-based combat. Shin Megami Tensei and Persona have unfortunately spoiled me too much, so this game had some unfairly MASSIVE boots to fill. And it didn't quite fill them. My bar is way too high and I acknowledge that 100%.

I get that they didn't want to make the system completely "passive" by just having to select moves and it all going smoothly from here. But I dislike the timing-based quick time stuff in the middle of attacks and perfect guard. I can pull off the attack dmg boost thing most of the time, but perfect guard is just... it feels way more difficult to pull off than Tiger Drop in any previous game. It's very frustrating. I frankly feel stupid, having this difficult a time with it.

Grinding is further hindered by spread moves being kind of unreliable - if the enemies are spread out, you're only hitting a single foe. For now. Maybe there will be better moves later on.

Idk if it's just me, but characters' MP pools feel very limited compared to the cost of the moves combined with how little damage you do at times? Maybe it's just the fact that I'm in the earlier parts of the game, but I feel like I have to be replenishing MP constantly.

I like how all the different types of gear can have additional special effects. It's neat.

All in all the battle system feels... very laborius. I can work with it! Absolutely. I'm just not the biggest fan.

God, I wish I could just gush about this game and sing its praises, but that's not happening yet by a long shot. This far? Maybe a 6-6.5/10. I hope my opinion changes for the better as I progress; I really wanna love it as much as other fans seem to.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 50- Part 1

So…can’t go through that gate right now, can’t go anywhere else…I think we’re gonna have to fight some people. I’ll admit, I’m a little concerned since I didn’t get a chance to get more Moomoo Milk before all this, but…maybe it’ll be fine. I’ll start on the left side because why not-

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting Radiance vibes from that background?

Well, just a Wigglytuff is manageable. Let’s give Bloom a try…

And now, a combination of Giga Drain and Venoshock should do the trick.

Girl, Xera is one of the last people you should be asking that question, the heck-?

Okay…what am I gonna see up this hallway…

A Healing Shard, that’s good! The rest of the way is just more acolytes, so…I guess I really do need to interact with the colored Arceus statues to open the gate? What about the right side, is it like a mirror of this side?

Dragonair! Cool, Riptide can handle this one!

Okay, it’s using Dragon Dance, not great, but can it help against Ice Fang!?

Okay but flinching with Dragon Rush can help against that, fair enough. Also, ENOUGH WITH THE FLINCHING!! 

Lemme see…can Glare maybe outspeed and deal the last bit of damage?

Okay mitigating that second Dragon Dance was good, but Glare won’t last much longer, so…maybe it’s better to just heal Riptide and bring him back out.

Alright, just need to land one Ice Fang, come on now-

DO YOU ALSO HAVE A KING’S ROCK!? There’s no way I’ve just been getting that unlucky with flinches these last few chapters, right?

oh my gosh I forgot she still had a second Pokémon…

You know what, let’s just let Kirin have a turn.

I don’t think Shelgon’s Sp. Defense is as good as its Defense, so a Psychic boosted by the Field should deal big damage.

It might be time for manslaughter, folks.

YOU’RE old and forsaken!! Look what you did to the team! Sure, that level-up gave Riptide a much-needed physical Water move in the form of Aqua Tail, but still! Please tell me there’s a second Healing Shard on this side…

Okay, it is a mirror, as I thought, so I’m good to use one of the Shards to heal-

I’m starting to get worried that, aside from Kirin, I’m…not actually that well-equipped to deal with or take advantage of Holy Field. I mean, it’s not like I have any Fairy-types, and Riptide is my only consistent answer to Dragon-types, and Brenda’s Dragonair proved how flawed that plan can be in the right circumstances…

And by now, I only have like…11 Moomoo Milks? If I’d known Xera was gonna get captured and stuck in this building, unable to leave to get anything else, I would’ve actually went to get more of those Milks instead of putting it off! Now I might be in some real trouble, especially if I need to fight more acolytes…

Like, up here, leading to the green statue, there’s a guy. I never thought I’d want to do this, but…is there a way to avoid fighting him…?

Oh, I can!! By going around the far perimeter of the chamber like that, Xera stays outside of that guy’s line of sight (somehow)! 

I know I’m gonna be missing out on a lot of money and exp. points by doing this, but…given how these people are probably perfectly equipped for Holy Field while I am not, and with my limited amount of healing items, and the fact that we’re probably gonna have to deal with a boss fight before we can save Luna…it might be better to just avoid fighting anyone unless we have to. I’m not usually one to pick my battles, especially against enemy forces who I really wanna beat up, but this time…I think I have to.

Next

[ask-postcrash-curly]

Well, with all this time on your hands maybe we can help with talking out and finding you a new dream to pursue once you get back home?

You said you liked winter sports, and you have such a warm comforting reassuring presence! Have you ever thought about maybe teaching skiing classes or something of the like? I bet you’d be super good at it! That way you could leave your options open for other stuff you wanna do year round maybe? Or you could travel!!

Or would you more just need something to make you money while you find something to kinda feed your soul? (That sounds silly but hopefully you get what I mean!)

Sorry if any of this is prying / bad timing, I know you’re healing so I understand if you’d rather toss this aside right now! Healing comes first of course 100% was just wanting to try and get you excited thinking about the future rather than dreading it yk? you’re free not to answer if you don’t want to talk / think about it.

Also I’m having sour skittles right now on a beautiful sunny day and thinking of you ❤️ stay strong! I’ll save a mixed bag of all my favorite sour candies for you! 🫶

-J

Hah. Now there's a thought.

You think my presence is warm-comforting-reassuring? Thanks! I try. Not sure I'll be much good at that back on Earth though. I figure, well, people distrust the strange. And no matter what happens, I'm never going to look anything but. I'm... okay with that, but I'm very aware of how that could affect others' perception of me. Anyway, I'm going to have to relearn how to move before I can even consider doing any sports, let alone teaching them. And I'm not convinced I'll be able to talk, which could make things difficult. Sorry, don't mean to tear down your idea. I appreciate you bringing up my interests that way.

Mhm. Could be. I do get what you mean. That's still going to be difficult though. My options are going to be fairly limited.

You're fine! No need to be sorry. I do want to find something to do with myself if I get that opportunity, but... God, it's so hard to picture when I don't know how much I'll be able to do. Jimmy said something once, before giving me the pills. Something like "You were a good captain and you'll be one again." Bullshit, obviously, for a lot of reasons. I just... I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life before the crash. And now that my options are more limited, I know even less. But I'm open to ideas. Maybe something will click. I hope it will. Still, you're right. Rest and healing come first. And then... the bills.

Hah. Cheers! I'll do my best.

[eliteseven]

So I finally gathered the courage to read the latest chapter and now that ive calmed down i would like to give a comment that isnt just incoherent screaming lol (obvious spoilers)

Holy shit that chapter was intense.

I know we talked about the idea of Shadowheart being controlled but I never considered it the other way around and it fucking broke me.😭 I would like to file a lawsuit for infliction of emotional distress (or i would if i had money lol) The way it turned the tables on Serena in the worst way to going from being abused to in an instant becoming the thing she never wanted to be and being powerless to stop it… fuck man. This poor woman 🥺 i just wanna hug her so bad! The pure horror all over her face and Shadowheart refusing to try and defend herself, just being so loving and supportive till the end just *gross sobbing

Ok can we talk about Nocturne for a minute. First of all the absolute relief that Nocturne was herself and not just a mindwiped thrall was a true blessing. I may or may not have internally screamed when i found out she kept the ring. Just the fact she still cared enough to notice and gave it back. The fact shes still such a good person after everything is so important to me cause it would be really easy for her to turn bitter and jealous but shes not and i love her so much even though she also makes me sad. Their relationship is so complicated and I’ll never not love it. Also love the idea of her transitioning to the harpers tbh. It suits her. Hopefully she can find much better company in that work and some much needed healing. It’s what she deserves.

The fact that we dont know what was lost, and even Serena doesnt know, is absolutely KILLING me. Like was it childhood memories? Was it sandcastles? Was it the moment she first fell for her? Or was it some random thing none of us even thought of as being important until now? That would be an interesting butterfly effect to think about cause some things we think are inconsequential and dumb can sometimes save the world. It would be spicy if we lost stuff from the nobleheart au where they met before the tadpole business, cause that was formative and a turning point for Serena, and if thats gone then neither of them will really know cause it was lost to Shadowheart years ago. At the very least I’m happy she remembers who she loves :)

Looking forward to seeing the aftermath and recovery from these two ❤️❤️❤️😊

Omg 😭🥰 getting to open this made me feel like a kid on Christmas lol so firstly, thank you for reading and making the effort to come on over and share your thoughts!!! ❤️ it’s always appreciated!!!

Onto the subject at hand 👀

Firstly!! I’m so glad you liked it! I’ve said it a billion times but writing action is like my least favorite thing ever so I’m glad you could like…understand it 😅

Yeah…Shar sucks 💀 I think she understood Serena’s deepest fears and utilized them well. Poor Shadowheart didn’t know what to do in that moment except…be there for her. even though her life was on the line. (Wyll is the MVP for taking that shot in the dark- literally!!!). Serena is going to have a very hard time coming to terms with that. She almost hurt her baby 🥺She’s livid that she was compromised and in a position to harm Shadowheart, Shadowheart is livid that Serena was dragged into this mess bc of her… they have some coping/healing to do. They both sorta just lived out part of their worst nightmares. But…give it time. They’ll grow from this.

Nocturne is a good bean 🥹💕 no way in hell I was gonna let her rot in the side-cloister lmao. I think she’d fit in well with the Harpers. I do think she loves Shadowheart- to an extent. Maybe not like full blown romance but she definitely had feelings for her growing up and I think she’s still kinda weak about her. She was super gentle with Serena because she recognized her, too. So this was nice because Nocturne got to repay Shads, and she’s free to pursue her own life now, outside the cloister. That love for Shadowheart will always be there 🥰 now Shadowheart can check in on her and make sure she’ll thrive!

Yeah…tricky thing, memories 😅 you’ll find out what she’s lost in the next chapter, and probably over the course of several more. I had to take away enough to be meaningful, but also refrain from leaving her with no memories- because she’s still clearly in love with Shadowheart, remembers her mother, etc. you take too much away, and that changes. So I had to balance it out a bit lmao.

Certain things, potentially even people who were important to Serena, are really gone, though. Just luck of the draw with whatever memories were at the forefront of her mind when she was getting wiped, I suppose. You have to admire the way she fought to cling to every last memory of Shadowheart, though 🥺💕

But they’re safe and sound now 🥰 and the healing can begin! I hope you enjoy what’s to come!!! (I heard there’s a wedding around the corner lmao) thank you so much for reading and sharing these incredibly kind words!!!

[madamrynodm]

Batman (2022) Sequel thoughts/ideas/wishes

Ok I've thought about this way too much to keep it to myself. So, I cast my thoughts to the void and maybe the void will give me a gold star for my efforts

I've got 2 big hopes/what-ifs for the sequel to The Batman. Easily became one of my favorite superhero films ever, and I cannot wait to see more! Anyway

2 big hopes: Dick Grayson and the Court of Owls. I wanna see them. I wanna see them so bad. I think there's potential for a SICK story if they go that route

1. Dick Grayson. PLEASE GIVE US ROBIN I BEG OF YOU! I think BatPat is a great candidate for a Robin story. Him being fresh on his journey to understand who he is as Bruce and Batman would be great to see contrasted with a young Robin on the trail of vengeance. We could watch him struggle with the desire to help Dick get justice for his parents' deaths (something BatPat hadn't gotten), but also want to protect him from the dark pit Bruce found himself in in the last movie. I'd like for Dick to actually be a kid in this rendition, maybe a teen. Either way, let him be young. I wanna see Bruce lose his mind trying to be a parent while Alfred watches smugly

2. Court of Owls 🦉 They'd be perfect here! Now, I don't want them to be the Big Bads yet. Let's just uncover them. The death of the Graysons can lead the film, and we can discover a deeper conspiracy linked to them later on (set up a 3rd movie?). If I remember correctly, in the Court of Owls run (2011?), they orchestrated the Grayson murders to try and nab Dick. Bring him into their fold as a new assassin. The Court could also play into Bruce's continued struggles with the Wayne family legacy and the "sins of the father" theme (what with the Court manipulating the Waynes for generations)

Ok ok ok now for the meat and potatoes of my rant. Here's how I'd run the Batman sequel if I had any power or even vague experience in filmmaking:

We open the movie loud. The opposite of the first. I'm talking bright lights and loud music. It's a carnival, a public event. Something to raise money for Gotham. Bruce is there, and he hates it. But, hey, if he wants to help the city, he's gotta step up his public game. We follow him through this loud, oppressive environment to the big top. Time for the main event. Circus begins, all eyes on the center ring. Introduce the Graysons! We got Mom, Dad, and Dick all performing their hearts out. The movie gets louder, everyone loves their performance!

Then, it goes dead silent. The Graysons fall. They die in front of everyone, right there. Bruce and Dick both have front row seats to the tragedy. The circus goes nuts, but we don't hear a thing. Cut to later, Dick is alone, maybe with the police, an EMT, idk. Anyway, in a scene that mirrors the mayor's kid in the 1st movie, Bruce sees Dick suffering alone and takes him in. (I don't know if that is when a formal adoption happens or if that's saved for the end of the film)

Moving on, Bruce takes to the streets as the Bat, investigating the Grayson deaths. Something's wrong. This is shaping up to be a murder. He later investigates another murder. Pull this scene from the comics, Owl motifs, warnings, all that. Movie follows that line of tying the seemingly unrelated deaths together and finding the Court beneath it all.

Maybe give Dick a bit of Tim Drake and let him catch on that something is up with Bruce. Dick wants in, he wants to find his parents' killer. Bruce lets him, recognizing his desire for justice and thinking that it'll help this kid. Shenanigans ensue. Like I said before (I think), a central arc we could see is Bruce now watching the path of vengeance from the outside, trying to help this scared and hurt kid heal while giving him and his parents the justice they deserve. Further examination of what it means to be a hero, what it means to truly heal, etc.

We can wrap up with Dick bringing the killer to justice and finding some peace. But it ain't over yet, as Bruce realizes that there's something deeper going on. Gotham's boogeyman, the Court of Owls, is real! And they're up to something! BA BA BA!!

I think Dick should become Robin in act 1 or the start of act 2. Either way, if we are gonna get a live action Robin, I wanna see him in action! Also I wanna see people like Gordon and Martinez react to Bats just... suddenly having a child around. Let Dick make bad jokes please 🙏

Whew! That's is for me! I finally wrote this all down, maybe I can clear out some brain space now

[newtiepat00tie]

Concepts

THEM>> Thinking about making a drabbles fic to get all my ideas out, probably not gonna add in much plot. I just wanna play around with dynamics. This is my baby, Hiccup(Johnny) and his adopted son Florence.

Little drabbles, facts and plots

-Hiccup has severe anxiety, mostly triggered when he feels he has no control. He has prescribed medication for this.

-Undiagnosed neurodivergent(TWINS) ADHD, though he exhibits some autistic traits he is not autistic.(TWINS)

-Hes basically made up of many personal traits of mine, sprinkle world crushing trauma and a cute nickname all in a trench coat.

-Suffers PTSD after the loss of his brother, he lacks the coping mechanism to heal in a healthy manner and is stricken with grief if he's reminded of that loss.

-Didn't have a good childhood either, dead parents at five and passed around in the foster care system all his life.

-his only constant was his brother and lifeline, who's now gone and leaving him scrambling with no way to cope and no real support system.

-Shit ton of therapy.

-Funny enough, he's trying to pursue counseling as a career. With unresolved trauma he's gonna ignore, he's gonna go a help everyone else.

-Hiccup was 17 when he first met Florence, who was only about a year.

-Florence was a foster child, originally with Hiccups foster dad.

-Their foster dad wasn't a good person, he mostly fostered for the money.

-Hiccup was forced to parent Florence while their "dad" did whatever.

-Their foster dad was very neglectful if you couldn't tell. Held no interest in the kids but played a very caring front to everyone outside.

-There was a few other foster kids that came and went, but they were never around long enough to form a significant bond.

-They were also around Hiccups age(15-17), but he couldn't bring himself to bond with them. Reminded him too much of someone he'd lost.

-He grew very attached to this child, and grew fearful of the day when he would hit 18 he would be kicked out of the system.

-gotta love it😒

-He was in fact kicked out at 18, expecting this, he had saved up money from several customer service and retail jobs.

-Hiccup was forced to leave Florence behind for a good few months. Balancing his life thrown out into the world he couldn't exactly start the adoption process for Florence.

-Hiccup was 18 at this time, Florence was about a month away from being 2. With no contact he spent a lot of that time stressed out and worrying over him.

-It was actually a long and difficult process to work on adoption, one I really don't feel like going into detail. But he finally won custody over Florence when he was about 20.

-Within that time he was visiting whenever he could.

-The process was finalized when Florence was about 3, turning 4 soon. Officially Hiccups adopted son.

-Once Florence was in his care he'd do everything in his power to make sure his kid has the childhood he never had.

-Though Florence got basically everything he asked for, he was very emotionally intelligent and very appreciating of his stressed out dad.

-Hiccup worked very tirelessly to support the both of them, working two jobs at a time while still trying to spend time with his kid.

-After a few years of retail and night schooling, running off of little sleep he was able to score a job at the Fazbear pizzaplex.

-It was just general staff, doing whatever was needed at the time. Manning the registers when the staff bots were down, cleaning bathrooms, taking out trash, unpacking inventory, general stuff.

-Easy work, and for 30/hr? Sure the shifts were brutal sometimes, but he needed that money.

-Was he nervous around the giant animatronics at first? Hell yeah he was. A giant gator that lost his temper and destroyed everything in sight, a very seemingly egotistical wolf who barely gave him the time of day, a friendly but overwhelming chicken, the only one he actively enjoyed the presence of was Freddy Fazbear himself.

-He gave off a very fatherly vibe, so much so Hiccup sought out his presence often. Not having any good parental figures in his life.

-It felt nice to be cared for. Even if it was from a sentient animatronic.

-I'd imagine he grows pretty close to the others eventually. He's affection starved.

-hed probably connect to Monty first, he's seen a lot and experienced a lot. He sees through Montys act, fierce and snappy, pushing everyone away and making himself seem more in control. Hiccup knew that defence mechanism well, hell he still pushes others away sometimes.

-He found several mechanics trying to get Monty go down one day from gator golf, who had scraped his claws pretty badly in one of his rampages. Though none of them dared to get close, trying to lure him back from a distance in their intimidating manner.

-Hiccup, seeing the small signs in Montys body language, for animatronics they were strangely expressive. To him at least. He saw well hidden nervousness, hidden behind twitching that could easily be mistaken for repressed anger. Call him crazy, hell his nerves were burning his skin alive and making his knees feel wobbly. But he'd asked the mechanics if he could give it a go.

-Incredulous, they reluctantly agreed out of curiosity, but still readied their on-site medics.(You'd be surprised how many people get hurt, honestly.)

-Regretting every decision he's ever made, he approached the twitching gator. Who took quick notice of his presence and quickly scowled, rows of teeth bared in displeasure. But Hiccup couldn't miss the way he'd tensed. What could have caused this kind of reaction?

-Monty was standoffish, but he wasn't jumping to the attack. He'd probably recognized Hiccup wasn't exactly a mechanic, he had seen him around the 'plex, carrying one thing or another.

-"They sent a runt after me?" He snarled, though confused as he scanned Hiccup.

-"Hey- uh- big guy. My name's Hiccup." Hiccup nervously greeted, suddenly shrinking in on himself. Hell he was never a people person, let alone to a towering animatronic, who was already tall compared to the average person. But next to his 5'6 self? Kill him already.

-Unimpressed, Monty glowered at him, clearly not in the mood for whatever bullshit that would spout from his mouth.

-"Heard you got your hands all scraped up." He helpfully inquired, very good observation skills there, John.. "Mind if I take a look?" Hiccup added softly,

-Like a cornered animal, Monty snapped with a glare. "Like hell, so you can drag me down to parts and service? With those other assholes." His voice leaked anger, but there was a flash of fear in his eyes, noticeably even through the sunglasses.

-Hiccup backed up, giving more space between the two of them. Though more for Montys comfort than his own. "That's fine, I'm not going to force you if you don't want to, bud." He paused in thought, Monty reminded him so much of someone and he was afraid to admit to himself who. "Want to talk about it?"

-Monty paused at that for a moment, hesitating, what? "About what? The shitty excuse of mechanics, too wimpy to face me themselves or parts and service?" He scoffed.

-"If you want, whatever comes to mind." Hiccup eased, leaning on the railing to discretely ease some tension. "What made you so angry, big guy?" He quietly suggested, tapping his fingers on the cool metal rails absentmindedly.

-Stunned, Monty momentarily forgot his earlier resentment. No staff member has done that before, in the face of something new it left Monty a bit uncomfortable. He knew how to handle and react to staff when they tried to get him in parts and service, forceful, going as far as to control him via his system. But this was unfamiliar and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.

-"Why do you care? Bet you're getting some hefty money just talking to me by those idiots." He snapped, trying to gain back some familiarity in the situation.

-"No, I'm not getting paid to be here." Hiccup almost grinned at that. "Here on my own free will. Just checking on a coworker who's having a bad day."

-Monty stared, disbelief clear in his body language.

-"You don't even have to talk about it." Hiccup quickly added, "we can just sit in silence if you like. Or I can leave and tell the mechanics to come back another time?"

-Monty shifted at that. Silence fell over the two of you, the only sounds that were heard were the noises around gator gold.

-Just as Hiccup was about to give the gator space and leave, Monty spoke up. "Some pushy parents can't take a hint." He hissed. "Crowded me at my greenhouse door."

-Hiccup didn't answer, keeping silent and attentively listening to him.

-"Snapped and pushed past them, then some other random staff member had the nerve to tell me off about it. ME! After watching those ADULTS harass me because they were late to the meet and greets." Monty continued, frustration practically creeping through his joints as he waved about his damaged claws. "Took everything in me not to rip into him, not in front of the kids."

-"Wow, sounds like a bitch." Hiccup commented, disgusted. "I mean you have a right to your own privacy, every waking second shouldn't be spent pleasing entitled people."

-"Right?!" Monty barked "Why does no one get that?! Now I have to go down into parts and service, AGAIN, just for this bullshit." He didn't realize how freely he was ranting, probably felt nice to have someone listen for once.

-"Y'know, glad you didn't rip into that guy though, you have more self control than they give you credit for. Everyone has their breaking point, it's unfair how they don't hold you to that same standard." Hiccup criticized. Growing more comfortable in the gators presence, a familiarity he couldn't quite place.

-Despite himself, Monty let out a chuckle that he quickly covered with a scoff. "Glad someone around here realizes it."

-They two stood in easy silence, Monty cooled down enough to hesitantly lean against the railings as well. There was a beat and Monty hesitated, feeling his damaged claws and rubbing along the dents and scraps. Then offered it up for Hiccup to view.

-Surprised, but unwilling to make Monty uncomfortable, he tentatively brought up his hands, holding them just under Montys damaged claws but not touching to give him the option to back out. A few seconds pass with no change and Hiccup cups the gators hands within his smaller ones, assessing the damage.

-Hiccup didn't know what he did, but one of the joints had gone missing and his lands were littered with dents and scrapped paint. With care, he ran his hand over the injury. He couldn't fix it himself, he frankly, had no fucking experience in fixing animatronics and he wasn't down to make it worse.

-Monty, surprisingly stayed silent through the ordeal, though anyone could tell he was uncomfortable with how tense he was. Having evaluated his options, Hiccup gently let go of his hands in thought.

-"Is there a way to fix it without going into parts and service?" Hiccup inquired. Monty snorted a scoff, but his shoulders were sagged in defeat. He clearly didn't want to go but he knew there wasn't much of an option. "No, these poor excuses of mechanics need to use the repair cylinder down there. Something about being dangerous to do manually." He scoffed, but he knew very well he would hurt them if they did manually, a bit accidentally out of reflex.

-He hated it down there though, being strapped down in that chair and watching the mechanical hands above was uncanny, not to mention the lack of control he would have had over his own body. Sometimes, it didn't even feel like his.

-"Well what would make it more comfortable then? I could try and do it myself and have the mechanics guide me?" He knew that sounded stupid, with his little experience but he could understand being afraid of the room. He'd cleaned down there once and it didn't feel nice.

-Monty barked a laugh at that "You could try, runt. But I think you will make it worse."

-"Worth a try, what if I come with you then? Emotional support." Hiccup suggested, though mostly as a joke. Though by Montys silence he was considering it. Hiccup had been more comfortable to be around, at least compared to the uncaring mechanics who didn't give a rats ass about his comfort.

-"Why not? It'll piss them off so much, let's do it." He responded with a grin, but his shoulders loosened with relief.

-They look on the mechanics face when the duo walked out, Hiccup in one piece and a cooperative gator. Who still snarled at the group with a dirty look before continuing on with this interesting general staff member.

-(yeah I know it's rough, didn't exactly plan that out tbh💀 ROUGH DRAFT LETS GOOO. I have a particular fondness for Monty, Hiccup will too now. Also I'm not trying to baby him, he's not gonna be "oh sad baby who becomes golden retriever with comfort" ew. It's a defense mechanism for him to be more aggressive, but I still see him as this confident in himself guy who is just tired of mistreatment from staff.)

-Who also happens to attach himself to the one adult staff member that treats him with respect, and is also willing to listen to his rants, even something as small as being bothered by bright lights when his glasses fall off.(Hiccup assures him his feelings are always valid, and he won't judge. Monty loves him even more lmao./p)

-Hiccup would probably befriend Roxy next, everyone and their mother has the mc wash out her hair from something gross, but I'm not sure how else they'll connect?

-I'd like to think it happens more over time, rather than instant like Monty or Freddy.

-Call it his people pleaser habits, but Hiccup gives out compliments like candy. Roxanne, bless her heart, soaks all of that attention up like a sponge. I think it would be a cute lil friendship eventually. They would definitely do each other's hair btw.

-Hiccup isn't a stranger to make up and fix ups, he doesn't have a fragile masculinity, thank you. They can have a girl's night.

-Chica would probably join in occasionally, and that's how her and Hiccup would become better friends. A friend of a friend situation.

-They become their own little trio of mischief. Hyping each other up and shit omg.

-When one needs time to compose themselves they just kind of flock together for comfort

-Its a very common sight to see him hanging in one of the glamrocks green rooms(with permission, of course)

-Group bonding<3

-Occasionally Hiccup tries to hang with the Music man, it's tight.

-Hes not as close with the DJ as he is with the glam rocks, but he does retreat to the arcade sometimes to chill and listen to music while he makes himself look busy in checking all the arcade games.

-He adores the little music man though, they're so cute and little. It's rare to come by them though, they usually camp out in the vents.

-He does not get along with the daycare attendant at all at first💀

-He has little reason to go to the daycare, but when he does it's to take out the trash. When he entered past the wooden doors he was greeted with a very tall and unhappy sun themed jester.

-Hiccup has no idea why the attendant didn't like him, he thought it might be a territorial thing?? Or he just didn't like adults. Which, hey, fair, but also he didn't appreciate the passive aggressiveness.

-Sun wasn't outright rude, he still has that cheerful voice, with a condescending edge to it. Think of that one, sickly sweet coworker who jabs at everything you do because they don't like you.

-Sometimes he'd sabotage Hiccups work, just to annoy him

-Other times he'll straight up ignore him, or talk to him as if he were stupid. Pronouncing words slowly and pointedly in that condescending way.

-He's kind of an ass

-Hiccup, knowing when he wasn't wanted, was not about to pursue a friendship with someone who obviously didn't want him in his space. He could respect that so he tried to only go there when needed.

-I like to think eventually Sun realizes that this guy isn't going to quit anytime soon as the months go by, and with how highly he hears the glamrocks talk about this Hiccup guy he lightens up a bit.

-Plus, he's never heard Monty or Roxanne talk positively about staff, ever.

-Though, ever the avoidant Hiccup doesn't take notice of the change and continues to avoid the attendant like the plague.

-Or he just does it out of pettiness, because hey, yeah he's human and doesn't appreciate being treated like shit for no reason for months lol. He's forgiving but he's not a pushover anymore. Learned that the hard way.

-Sun probably apologizes eventually and they become polite aquantances.

-Hiccup still holds a grudge, because you can't terrorize someone for months and expect a warm welcome without a bit of work.

-Though when one of the glamrocks stopped by at the daycare for a birthday party pickup, Hiccup happened to be there getting the garbage bags in his sad little cart. Monty had been the one to arrive, grinning as he picked up the kids. In passing, he greeted Hiccup with a pat on the head, too busy to stop for a chit chat. But anyone would notice the way his tail wagged at him.(His emotional support human)

-And Hiccup would laugh at his retreating figure, a fond glint in his eye that was only reserved for Monty.(Platonically)

-And sun couldn't help but reflect how close this random general staff actually was to these guys. And maybe possibly a little envious of the way Hiccup had lit up Everytime he spotted a glamrock, but with him it was a curt but polite nod. Call it childish but he wanted that kind of friendship(and affection). All the human staff assigned to the daycare were awfully rude and ignored him relatively(not commenting how rude Sun is to the adult staff💀 let's be honest he's only really nice to the kids lmao)

-Cant decide if this would take a romantic or platonic route, idc either way tho

-So he brightens up more, adjusting to Hiccups presence more the few times he gets to see him. Which probably eventually grows into genuine excitement when Hiccup treats them as a coworker, as if they were another human! Very strange indeed.

-At some point Hiccup might lighten up a bit more and respond to his advances with friendliness of his own. Though probably not as strongly and more out of politeness.

-Sun sees this, and he pretends it doesn't hurt a little.

-At some point, Hiccup takes pity and allows himself to visit the daycare in his free time to get to know the attendant more, much to Suns delight.

-He still apologizes for his horrid treatment because wow this guy is actually nice and he treated him as an unwanted presence, and the guy still gave him a second chance(after time passes, grudges are fun)

-I think they'd grow closer after awhile, moving to new friend terms. But hey Hiccup actually smiled when he greeted the attendant so that was a plus!

-Hed still get all jealous that Hiccup was closer to the others still

-Im making this another trauma thing YIPPEE

-Suns only real human interactions is with the kids, the glamrocks don't have much time to visit so he and moon only really have each other as company. Isolation 🤯 and sun doesn't like the adult staff and the few seconds of parent interaction doesn't count. Plus Sun can't leave the fucking daycare and moon can only leave to do night patrols.

-I'd like to have a little build up maybe, where Suns just do overwhelmed and lonely that he just kinda has an anxiety attack right in front of Hiccup(who can relate on a very personal level) and he calms the Sun down enough to talk to him.

-Communication is key, chat, idk Sun probably blurts out all their worries and stuff because he's a bit of a chatter and nerves makes that worse.

-Hiccup finally gets a better understanding of Sun and helps him out of his own mind more a bit.

-Dont worry, Hiccup won't be his only support system, it's not healthy to rely on a singular person.

-They become quite close after that, enough to notice that Hiccup now lights up when Sun comes into view and it just makes his rays do that spinny thing. It was nice to feel wanted.

-Its so cute, whoever invented that ily

-Platonic besties

-Still probably not to Montys level because at this point Hiccup probably made the connection of who Monty reminded him of and promptly latched on to that comfort.

-I imagine moon on a similar boat as Sun at first, he's just more obvious with his dislike lmao.

-He doesn't see Hiccup nearly as much as Sun, but enough to annoy the shit out of Hiccup LMAO

-Hiccup won't admit it, but Moon was also a big reason he didn't try to be all buddy buddy with Sun after he lightened up.

-Moon scared the shit out of him bro

-Moon probably still held onto his dislike longer than Sun, but eventually the guy grew on him and he couldn't help but start looking forward to seeing Hiccup.

-Eventually, when he knows Hiccup has a late shift he likes to go and seek him out for company

-Emotional Support human

-all in all the relationships feel so fun to play around with I might get to writing it sooner than I thought.

-Lets help everyone but himself😃

-I'd like to think this is pre-virus. At least for now.

Thank you Solar Lunacy by Bamsara and every other fic I read for inspo ily

[cutekittenlady]

Tumblr Plays Pokemon White 2 - Part 8

((So i actually had to go back and fight a bunch of trainers to get money for more pokeballs to try and catch pokemon with.))

Well hanging out in the lot was a lot of fun but now I think I'll head back down into the sewers and get to the pokemon center. I need to prepare.

Yeah I think he's feeling a little... frustrated. Look its this whole revenge thing, I don't really wanna get into it.

Iris then asks what I'm going to do now, and honestly? While I'm aiming to fight in the gym I think I need to train some first. Get a gas mask, complete a bit more of the pokdedex. Yada yada.

Also I'm actually nearly out of the pokeballs. I've only got, like, four. And three of those I dont wanna use yet.

Guess that means one thing. I gotta fight some trainers for cash.

I start in the sewers. I opt to not use healing items like potions. I'd rather not spend money trying to buy more so instead my team and I are just going to have the train the difficult way by healing at the pokemon center for free. Once we have enough money and balls saved up we can try to fill out more of the pokedex.

Besides I wanna make sure I'm strong enough to beat Burgh and this as good of an excuse as any to train up.

I actually try to avoid most of the wild pokemon, saving up our energy for the trianers.

Turns out one of the trainers I beat is a doctor so i was able to get my pokemon healed up! And immediately after that I found a scientist who gave me a super potion! Dang things are looking up! I found a few items in the sewer I might be able use or sell as well.

Place still reeks though.

Getting curious I choose to check out that gaping hole in the sewers and find myself in a cave system (relic passage) rather than explore further I opt to leave it alone for now and return later.

((I actually completely forgot about Relic passage when making the poll. XD I think I'll include it amongst the potential places to catch mons after we get our eevee encounter once we get enough money for more pokeballs.))

AAAnd that rare bone I found in the sewer sold for fifty bucks

NICE

And I spend ALL my money on great balls. I decide it'll be a good idea to head to that little hidden park to start some training.

I wonder around in the grass a bit and run into an Eevee. A friggin EEVEE! A wild one! I can't believe this! Those are insanely rare in Unova!

EVERY trainer wants an eevee!

Bentley! Aries! Do NOT screw this up!

I swap Bentley out for Molly both to take down Petilil sooner, and to avoid Bentleys old habits from kicking in.

Don't look at me like that Bentley you know what you did!

After that it was a matter of being insanely cautious with the damage.

Once I got eevee down to a reasonable health level I decided that now, now was the time to use that Ultra ball I was given back in Aspertia.

Ultra ball dont fail me now!

I select.

I throw.

aaaaaand

Eevee on the team!!!

Ohhhhh he is just so CUTE!

What shall I name him? I mean he was the first pokemon in this whole thing to win, more or less, by a massive landslide. So I feel like I should incorporate that in the name.

I asked my sister what I should name this Eevee and she suggest Pollemachus in reference to him winning the poll. That sounded werid so I was considering Champ but while we were discussing it and even seeing if Pollemachus would fit into the pokemon nickname section (it did not) we wound up coming across the name Pollux. Which apparently means "very sweet" some sources claimed it also meant "crown"? I'm not sure but given this pokemon by a Poll that was absolutely no contest I think it only seems right to give him a name in reference to it.

So after a LOT of debate the little Eevees name became Polux.

And now for the moment of truth.

The nature check.

I spent so much time looking for this Eevee. I can only hope the pokmeon challenge gods look favorably upon me.

Okay

Bentley. Quiet Nature.

Aries. Hasty Nature.

Molly. Hardy Nature.

Polux.

...

DOCILE NATURE

YES.

Now of course Polux is gonna need training but I think I may be okay to challenge the bug type gym!

There will be a set of new polls soon!