#i want y'all to know that i've been in nature the past few days just looking at the sea and forest and whatnot

[comediakaidanovsky]

[ turtleneck chants increasing ]

[mad-hunts]

[zegrasdrysdale]

[ take a seat ] q. hughes

day 3 of kinktober (face sitting w/ quinn hughes)

paring : Quinn Hughes x fem!reader

summary: Quinn grows a playoff beard and his girlfriend loves it. the day he decides to shave it after the Canucks get eliminated, she tells him how she really feels about it and Quinn gives her the moment she’s been wanting since he started growing it before he shaves it

warning(s) : smut ! face sitting / riding, oral (f receiving), fingering

author’s note : been waiting to write this one hehe. it’s on the shorter side but i hope y'all enjoy anyway

kinktober schedule

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The playoffs have treated her and Quinn so well. Quinn because he got to captain the Canucks to the second round after a short 3 year playoff drought. Her because Quinn grew a playoff beard over the past month or so and she's barely managed to keep her hands off of him while he was playing.

She loves everything about the playoffs, but especially the fact that Quinn hasn’t shaved in a few weeks. He looks so good with longer facial hair and she loves the way it tickles her lip when he kisses her. She kinda just wants him to go down on her for as long as possible to feel it against her core.

The thought of Quinn eating her out with the beard is enough to soak her. The feeling of his beard on her core is something she thinks about an unhealthy number of times over the course of three weeks. She’s gotten off multiple times just at the thought alone, especially when he's away playing in Nashville and Edmonton. She’s wouldn’t know what to do if it happened.

But the Canucks were eliminated by Edmonton last night so it’s time for Quinn to shave off the beard he has spent the past few weeks growing. He doesn't do it the day after their season ends because he wants to just lay around and have the laziest day ever, so she gets an extra day to admire him.

The morning of the day Quinn wants to shave his beard though, she wakes up before he does. He stopped setting alarms once the Canucks got eliminated two nights ago but she is naturally an early riser. She doesn't dare move because part of Quinn's morning routine is shaving. If she moves and wakes him up, he's going to go shave and that's the last thing she wants right now.

She softly sighs as morning Vancouver sun creates a muted orange glow throughout the room. Quinn already looks so good and he's not even awake yet.

All because of that stupid beard he grew.

Quinn begins to stir moments after she wakes. His eyes flutter open and look bright in the morning sunlight.

"It's creepy to stare at people while they sleep, baby," he tells her, his voice slurred since he just woke up. Also kind of raspy, which she loves.

"Not my fault you look pretty all the time," she replies. "I also just woke up a few minutes ago so give me a break. I wanted to admire my boyfriend before he woke up and started making comments that ruined the whole vibe."

He groans and rubs his face. He touches his facial hair and hums. "I gotta go get rid of this mess," he says. "Then you can admire me all you want, okay?"

Her eyes widen and Quinn begins to move to get out of bed. She quickly grabs his arm to stop him from getting any further.

"I like that mess," she finally admits to him. He turns back around and looks at her. She begins to talk before her brain can catch up to what she's saying. "I mean, you look really hot with that mess on your face. Except, I don't think it's a mess. I wish you wouldn't run off and shave it first chance you get."

Quinn blinks at her slowly like he's processing what she said to him. A smile grows on his lips and she presses her lips into a line.

"Come here," Quinn tells her as he lays back down. She blinks at him, confused. "I know you've thought about it. I've seen the way that you would look at me then excuse yourself to go use the bathroom." She feels her face get hot in embarrassment. She thought she was more subtle than she actually was.

She plays with her fingers while she watches Quinn get comfortable. "Quinn, I-"

"Come take a seat, pretty girl," he interrupts as he runs his fingers over his beard. "Sit on and ride my face. I know you want to so I am giving you what you want before I go shave."

Who is she to say no to him? He's offering so she might as well take it.

Without anymore hesitation, she moves so she's kneeling above his face with her knees on the pillow on either side of his head. Lucky for her, she's only wearing one of Quinn's Canucks t-shirts and a pair of underwear. Nothing else.

Quinn kisses the inside of her thigh right by her core while he pushes the fabric of the t-shirt up. She hums softly as her body finally begins to wake up. She feels the gentle scratch of his facial hair on her skin and she gnaws on her bottom lip. "Oh my God," she sighs.

"I haven't even done anything yet," Quinn laughs.

"Shut up and do something then," she retorts. "Please, Quinn." She's not above begging at this point.

He licks a stripe over her panties, which are soaked by now. Like she said, the thought alone makes her drip. His finger follows his tongue and she hums. Quinn pushes the fabric to the side and runs a finger through her soaked folds. She bites down on her bottom lip to keep from making any loud noises since it is morning and their neighbors are probably still sleeping.

She grabs onto the headboard above Quinn's head as he runs his tongue through her folds. "Fuck, Quinn!" She cries out. "Oh my God."

The feeling of the gentle scratch of his facial hair is almost too much for her. Quinn wraps his lips around her clit and hums, sending a shock through her body. It almost jumpstarts her own movements as she begins to roll her hips.

"That's it, baby," Quinn says against her core. "Take what you want."

His hands rest on her waist and he pulls her down so she's completely sitting on his face but he's still able to breathe. His tongue continues to run through her folds as she rolls her hips. Her core grinds across his face and she feels the scratch of his facial hair with each movement. She welcomes the new feeling. It only adds to her pleasure despite the beard burn she'll probably have when all this is over.

Quinn hums every so often, and she groans with every hum. Her grip on the headboard gets stronger the longer she moves. She's almost afraid that she'll lose her balance despite his hands keeping her from falling.

One of his hands slides up under the loose t-shirt and cups her breast. She throws her head back and lets out a borderline pornographic moan as she continues to ride Quinn's face. One of her hands flies to Quinn's messy hair, fingers finding a home.

He slides his other hand so his thumb can access her clit. He rubs the sensitive nub while continuing to run his tongue though her folds with each movement. "Oh my fucking- Quinn," she cries out. "Holy-"

"Look so pretty riding my face, pretty girl," Quinn mumbles. His words shoot straight to her core. "Fuck."

His thumb moves and slides into her. She gasps and her movement falters for a second while she recovers from the addition. "Quinn," she groans, holding the 'N' sound.

Between his tongue, his thumb, and his facial hair, she's not sure how she hasn't come all over his face by now. Her legs are shaking so she has to stop moving, but Quinn completely takes over despite being under her.

He speeds up his thumb for a second before switching fingers, using his pointer and middle fingers instead. She welcomes the familiar stretch.

His fingers and tongue are enough to bring her to the edge. She's white-knuckling the headboard with one hand while her other hand remains in Quinn's hair.

"Gonna come," she pants. "Quinn. I'm close."

"Told you to take what you want," Quinn replies. "So take what you want."

Quinn speeds up his fingers and curls them in a 'come here' motion. The gentle scratch of his facial hair turns less gentle as he speeds up his tongue movements, but she still loves it.

She throws her head back and cries out his name as she comes. She involuntarily rolls her own hips so her core grinds against his face again. Her fingers curl in his locks so she has something to hold on to as she reaches her climax. She loses her vision for half a second because of how hard her orgasm hits her.

Her body turns to jelly as she recovers. With Quinn's help, she's able to lie back down beside him. Her breathing is labored and she stares up at the ceiling, unable to move to look at her boyfriend.

All this morning showed her is that Quinn needs to grow out his facial hair more often because it made her come harder than she ever has before. She can't move for about ten minutes after her orgasm.

When she's fully conscious again, she looks over at Quinn. He didn't go and shave yet.

"I think I'm going to keep this for another day or two," he tells her. "Just for you. That is going to happen a few more times before it goes away."

She smiles and rolls so she can touch his face. "I'm going to need you to grow it out like this again soon because holy shit, Quinn," she giggles. "So hot. Felt so good."

Quinn matches her smile. "Maybe over the summer," he tells her. "No promises though."

"Gonna need my favorite seat back at some point."

"Next year when we make playoffs against for sure."

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MAIN MASTERLIST

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[thewalkingthread]

"I've been thinking" - D.D.

pairing: daryl dixon x f!reader

summary: After witnessing how good Daryl takes care of Judith and RJ, you think it's about time y'all have one of your own.

warning: fluff

a/n: I love soft Daryl.

You and Daryl had been through more than your fair share of hardships, having faced the trials of the apocalypse together. Your bond had only grown stronger over the years, and now, after the war in Commonwealth settled, you and your community found a place to call home. Despite the chaos of the world outside, you had finally had a semblance of peace and security among friends, new and old. Hell- you guys even had a dog now.

It was sunny today, Judith and RJ ran around on the street with some of the other kids. They screamed and hollered as they played tag, a heart melting smile spread across their faces. Just kids being kids.

You and Daryl sat on the front porch of your house with Dog. Daryl's crossbow rested against the wall as he sharpened the points of his arrows. You watched the kids, you had a smile that mirrored their contagious ones.

"You okay?" Daryl asked, his voice soft, he glanced at you briefly before he continued to work on his arrows.

You nod your head, your eyes still fixated on the kids. "I've been thinking,"

"That can't be good," Daryl scoffed, teasingly. You roll your eyes, reaching over and bumping his shoulder with your fist. "Bout wha?" He asks.

You shrug your shoulders, glancing down at the glass of water in your hands. "The future." You said simply.

Daryl looked up, curiosity evident in his stormy blue eyes. "The future, huh? What's on your mind?" He placed the arrow on the table, giving you his undivided attention.

"Well," You began, a faint blush coloring their cheeks, "I've been thinking about this for a while, but it never seemed like the right time. I mean these past few years have been so... crazy." You wince.

"But now, everything feels right. We're safe. Here, in commonwealth. The kids are safe here, we've got something good going. Something real." You hated saying it, knowing you felt the exact same way with the prison, with Alexandria. I don't think anywhere in this world would ever be safe, but here felt like it.

"We've been dealt some shitty cards. With Rick and Michonne gone, we've basically been given all their responsibility. I know we have to lead these people. I know we have to keep Jude and RJ safe. But I can't help but notice how great you are with Judith and RJ. You're a natural, Daryl. We take care of them like they're our own and-" Your voice trails off, losing the confidence to finish.

"Spit it out, woman." He grunts, staring into your eyes knowingly.

"I want to expand our family... Have one of our own?" You raise an eyebrow, "I wouldn't mind a little Dixon running around."

Daryl paused, his hands grasping yours. He looked at you with the softest eyes, his heart swelling with love and tenderness. "You serious?"

You nodded, your eyes never leaving his. "Yeah, Daryl. I am. I think we're ready. I mean you're obviously going to be one hell of a dad."

Daryl's rough exterior couldn't hide the softness that your words had brought out in him. He scooted closer to you, holding both of your hands tightly in his. "You really think that?"

You smiled, your love for Daryl shining in your eyes. You've been with Daryl from the beginning. Him and Merle found you alone in a convenient store the day everything went to shit. After months of pining over each other you finally bit the bullet at the prison and made it official. Though the two of you been through hell the past 10 years you're here, together.

"Absolutely. I've seen the way you protect and care for those kids, the way you take care of me. It makes my heart ache with how much I love you. We're building something here. I want to start a family with you."

Daryl leaned in, capturing your lips with a tender kiss. It felt just like it did the first time all those years ago. "I love you too, Y/N. Let's do it. We'll make it work, no matter what. Us against the world. The way it's always been."

His arms wrapped around your body and pulled your close to him.

"Are you two okay?" Judith's voice caused the two of you to pull away from each other. Her eyebrow was raised suspiciously at you two. You and Daryl both burst into a fit of chuckles.

"How would you feel helping Auntie Y/N out with a baby?" Daryl's voice was scuffed. Judith's eyes just about popped out as she jumped into y'alls lap.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She cheered. "About time!" She laughed. Dog barked, oblivious to what was happening but happy to see everyone happy.

You and Daryl exchanged amused glances. Deep down inside you both knew you'd be okay. Whatever happened next, you'd handle it together.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hey, steph! how are you, like, genuinely? not the small talk. i wanna listen

Hey Lovely 💜🖤

I want to apologize for putting this off for so long... which should be a clue as to how I am actually doing.

Honestly? Not good, but I'm trying my best. It's been... a time. Will put under a cut for those who don't want to read about the tagged items.

TL;DR – my real life is a bit chaotic, and I hide a lot from y'all because I REALLY try not to be negative here since my blog is where I come to be happy AND because I am a very private person, but I try my best to just keep going day to day as the chaos settles down slowly.

I've got some good things coming though, so I hope a week's rest next week when I'm off (and will probably take a break from here too) will reset my brain.

Work has been insane, and is most of the cause of my mental distress for the past few months. From Easter until Canada Day Weekend at my job is lovingly referred to as "Silly Season" simply because of how on-the-fly, balls-to-the-wall our workload is until summertime downtime officially begins for us. Without disclosing too much, it's basically non-stop, long hours for me until one of the 3 break weeks we get during the this long stretch happens where, incidentally because of the nature of my job and the team I work on, it actually gets BUSIER for us.

It actually ended earlier than we expected this year (yesterday) and we'll be "quieter" until the end of September now. See an opportunity, I actually took next week off between the two long weekends because my mental health has taken a severe hit and I'm having trouble just... enjoying things? I'm haven't gamed or drew in a few weeks, and blogging and writing feels like a chore. I literally just come home, file this blog, reply to one or two asks, and then go to bed, and do it all over again the next day. Day in and day out, for 3 months. On weekends I have to force myself out of my apartment because I KNOW I will sink lower if I don't leave.

On top of that, my brain has convinced me that literally everyone hates me: friends, coworkers, family, you guys, my damned plants. I just feel very alone these days and... I'll be real here, I've almost abandoned this blog a few times in the past few months. I feel like I make fic lists that no one reblogs or likes and tell me they're all shit. I post my art and I barely break 20 notes. I write something and I get maybe 2 likes. I can't really answer any thoughtful asks because my mental state's been in the shitter for months. I desperately want to reply to the few sexuality asks I have and I physically can't. Being on my computer – after working ON a computer for my day job for 12 hour days everyday – feels like too much, so I try to limit my time on the blog now too.

I just try to keep carrying on, encouraged by the once-in-a-blue-moon testimonial ask I get thanking me for still being here. I thank YOU guys for reminding me that people still like coming here.

Stressed about money and food and rent just like everyone else, and just getting frustrated at other things.

And finally, my uncle (my dad's brother and my godfather) hasn't been doing well health-wise, and he's being moved to assisted living next week. His health has been declining since Easter, so it's been a bit of worrying time for relatives.

Having my therapist helps a lot. She talks me through a lot of my complicated feelings, my sense of self and ways to cope with my anxiety and stress. I'm talking to her again next week, so no worries, gang. As I said, I just keep on keeping on.

Some positivity though:

I booked next week off to try to just... recenter myself. To forget about everything and TRY to get back to doing the things I love. I will probably take a break from this blog as well during that time to limit my social-media time. It's not ideal but I need a break from my computer, I think.

I go to the gym a lot more these days, which has helped with the seething annoyance I constantly have at work. Usually feel better after it.

And because of the gym and getting out more, I've been slowly feeling better physically, better than I have since before 2019. The break from work is for the mental health, LOL.

I'm getting my hair recoloured next week. Can't afford it, really, but I just REALLY need to feel better about myself again, and I always feel so different when I colour my hair. I was doing so good for awhile. I want that again.

Anyway, I'm sorry to bombard y'all with my complicated mess of a brain. I really do appreciate you asking, so THANK YOU. I rarely get asked in real life if I am okay because I keep very private due to past people betraying my trust. And I don't like seeing people unhappy, so I feel if I tell people about my problems, then I feel I am a burden, so I just... continue existing.

Thank you for letting me be a burden just this once.

[itsplumwriter]

Baking for Bucky

POV: While browsing a small collector’s shop, Bucky finds a vintage WWII magazine from the 40s. He flips through the pages and spots a dessert recipe, asking if you could make it for him.

A/N: Just some fluffsss. I haven't written a fluffy piece in a while so I really hope you'll like this. I love baking, do y'all? It's such a comfort activity and I think it'd be so cute to bake for Bucky.

--- --- ---

“What are we making again?” you ask, pulling out the flour and sugar.

“Gingerbread. It’s a classic from the 40s,” Bucky says, flipping through the old-timey magazine. “Housewives used to pack it in their husband’s box lunches back in the day.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Housewife? I am a housewife now?”

He lowers the magazine, glancing at you. “You can be..."

You nearly trip trying to get the bowl. “Slow your roll, soldier...”

He chuckles as he helps you pull out the rest of the ingredients. You love him, obviously, and you could definitely see yourself marrying him. But you’re both enjoying the dating phase and there’s no need to rush things.

You add the ingredients to the bowl and stir it's contents carefully, noticing a concerned look on Bucky's face. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

Bucky smiles, enjoying the fact you know him so well. "The smell is just bringing me back... Usually sights, sounds, and smells bring me back to bad memories from my past, so it's kinda nice to have a smell trigger a good memory for once."

You smile and nod, hoping he'll say more; Bucky rarely opens up. When he does, you find it best to just keep quiet and let it flow naturally.

"I kinda miss the old days, you know?..." he continues. "Sometimes I hate that I was frozen for so long. That so many years were taken from me. Sometimes I wish I could have lived in the era I was supposed to.”

“I can understand that,” you say, nodding.

He approaches you, hugging you. “But the thing is if I hadn’t been frozen... I never would’ve met you."

He buries his head in the crook of your neck. "And that sorta makes it all worth it."

“Bucky,” you sigh. His words are sweet, but they make you upset. "I don't want you to say anything was worth what you went through..."

Bucky takes your hand, kissing your palm. “I mean it. And I meant it when I said I want you to be my wife...”

You smile. "Let's see how this gingerbread turns out first. You may change your mind..."

Bucky chuckles, rolling his eyes.

--- --- ---

The entire house is filled with the smell of gingerbread. A warm feeling enrobes the air, reminding you of Christmastime. You both curl up on the couch, eating a few slices with milk.

"You're clearly wifey material," Bucky chimes.

You raise an eyebrow. "Where did you hear that term..."

Bucky stares at you. "Sam."

You chuckle, shaking your head.

"No, but seriously... This has got to be one of the best desserts I've ever had."

You roll your eyes. "...Don't exaggerate, Bucky."

“I'm not! It's the loveliest thing I've ever tasted because the loveliest person made it for me."

You fiddle with a few gingerbread crumbs on your plate, blushing.

Bucky smiles to himself. "I remember one of my buddies used to have these all the time in his box lunch. He’d brag all the time to us that his wife made it for him... I can’t believe I had to wait nearly 90 years for my wife to make me some...”

You clench your jaw. “But I'm not your wife, Buckyy... I love you and I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you. But I don't think I'm ready just yet."

He gives you a soft smile. “No rush, doll... I believe I waited my whole life to meet you... It'd be an honor for me to wait a little longer..."

--- --- ---

AAAHHHH the flufffffff <33 love you all so much!! Did you like??

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Love you, dolls xo

God bless <3

[gingerparker]

PULL ON MY THONG

Pairing: College!Peter Parker X Reader

Summary: Peter needs a vacation. So, naturally, he goes to Vegas during his summer break. He's thin on cash and finds a job at a water park! The hot girl behind the bikini bar is a great bonus to his biweekly paycheck.

Warning: Fluff, sexual tension, teasing, slight body worship, drinking (both reader and Peter are 21+)

Word Count: 7158

A/N: let's pretend this wasn't a summer writing challenge... life happened HARD for it to be posted now.. but i hope y'all enjoy anyway ajsjjs DISCLAIMER!! i know the hotel i used here doesn't have a water park but i was too lazy to use a real one sooo it's an invented one!

It's too warm as soon as Peter exits the airport. It's a sticky and dry kind of warmth, no wind of any kind can be felt around him. His small luggage feels like it weighs 5 tons more than it did mere seconds ago and he realizes how stupid it is to have worn dark clothes.

Travellers push past him to find a cab of any kind to get out of the intense heat. Families get into larger Ubers and some are crazy enough to be walking out. Peter is not that determined.

He has to shuffle through the crowd to find a free cab, they are being filled much quicker than he would have thought. Thank god for his faster pace.

Inside the car, he's blasted with cool air, the sweat on his forehead seemingly evaporating.

The drive to his hotel is smooth. He chugs the rest of his water bottle minutes into the ride. Queen's weather didn't prepare him for this.

In only a few minutes he's on the strip. Billboards of all kinds flash around the cab. It's day outside yet he feels blinded by the colourful lights. He sees half-naked men posing with tourists for money as well as showgirls doing the same. He doesn't let his eyes linger too long. The sidewalk is full of people; after all, it's tourist season.

A bright pink flamingo catches his eye, his hotel seemingly calling out to him! Come, Peter! There's some air con in me maybe you could go to my bar or even check out my casin-

"Sir!" he's startled by the harsh voice that calls him, the cab driver.

"Yes?"

"We're here? I've taken you to your hotel" he gestures to the building they are parked next to.

"Oh! How much do I owe you?"

-

"Y/N, I need you to do the night shift today! Bebe is stuck in St-George, you know how horrible the construction traffic is" Your boss, Xiomara, pleads over the phone. "And I can't come in I have an appointment with my OB"

"What about Charlize?" you ask.

Your phone is on speaker on your bed and you're already looking through the clean bikinis you have ready.

"I haven't been able to reach her, please please please!" she sounds so desperate that you laugh a little.

"Should I wear the blue holo set or go for the pink and red tie-dye one?" Mars squeals loudly, her voice cracks through the speaker on your phone.

"Tie-dye!! You're a lifesaver Y/N/N, I owe you"

"No worries babes, nothing exciting was happening with me tonight" You'll just have to reschedule your date with your vibrator for another day.

"I'll buy you breakfast on your next opening shift! Wait, that's tomorrow, oh god you're gonna be so tired. I can still try and reach Char-"

"Mars! Don't worry so much, keep it going and the baby will just shoot right out of you" you laugh as you pack your bag for the evening.

"I mean I wouldn't complain. I'm very much over pregnancy" she sighs and you only hum as an answer.

You both say your goodbyes and you're quickly doing a makeup look to match your uniform for the night.

Deep red lipstick, a thick black liner that frames your eyes just the way you like and a light amount of everything else. It heats up like crazy in the small bar so you don't want to be sweating it off in seconds. The finishing touch is some body shimmer, that's for the extra tips.

You live in a resort-like rental near the Vegas Strip. Your university funds top students from other states to live in these apartments. When you'd been accepted and offered to house you; you couldn't turn it down. Leaving New York was easy enough, your parents were always travelling for their jobs and your friends were leaving for other schools so it was an easy decision.

A big bonus was that it was only 10 minutes away by foot from your job in a hotel's adult pool.

You gathered all your things and made your way out.

Tuesday nights are the slowest nights. The restricted pool access you work in usually has a long cue to be let in but currently, there are only 5 people. 7 if you count the obviously underage girls that nervously fiddle with their fake IDS.

You've only made 50$ in tips so far which is pretty disheartening. Did you waste your best body shimmer for this?

After cleaning the bar for the third time in the last 10 minutes you give up pretending to be busy. Maybe you should make yourself a drink... A nice cranberry, vodka and watermelon purée slushy... You could even try the new bubblegum gin you received...

As you're trying to figure out what to mix the new alcohol with you spot a guy. A hot guy to be precise. He looks lost as he enters the area and pockets his wallet. His eyes are wide and they seem to be full of awe. First time in Vegas probably. His abs are what make your eyes follow him. For such a soft face the body he has is a pleasant surprise, muscles that don't look too bulky and that highlight the fact that he probably takes very good care of himself.

He looks like a Long Island ice tea type of guy, who likes alcohol but doesn't like tasting it all that much. You almost want to whistle at him or do anything to catch his eye.

He'd be a better date than your vibrator that's for sure.

-

It's Peter's fifth day in Las Vegas and he just learned about his hotel's private pool. They only let people 21 years old and older in. All he knew was that there was a small water park, and the kids' screaming could be heard throughout the day.

There are more palm trees to cover up this part of the hotel's grounds, giving more privacy to whatever happens here. There's a large DJ booth elevated at the end of the pool and at least 3 different bars. The DJ obviously pressed shuffle on a Spotify playlist and decided to scroll through his phone. The 3 bartenders he sees look bored out of their minds and are seemingly playing a card game. Only about 20 other guests are enjoying the privacy of this section.

He chooses to go buy himself a drink, there's nothing much to do besides that and swim right now.

Right as he's about to go and disturb the guys playing cards he sees a little hut next to the jacuzzi. It's pure white and only has a sign on the front where it's written "Cheeky Chicks" with a bright pink bikini painted on.

His brows furrow before he steps back to look inside.

His eyes widen and his breath hitches. There stands a girl. A half-naked girl. A very very pretty half-naked girl. A girl that's already looking at him. Peter's knees might just give out under him. A smirk forms on your lips when you realised cute hot chiselled guy noticed you. This is going to be so much fun.

"Hi," you say while leaning forward on your bar a little. The guy's face heats up instantly. Red creeps up his chest and onto his face. Peter is incredibly weak for pretty girls.

"Hi," he manages to breathe out.

"Come over here," you say with a wink. No one can tell you that you aren't good at your job.

Peter nods and makes his way over to her. His steps are quicker than he initially wanted, he did want to look cool and nonchalant. Too late now!

"What's your name?" you ask when he reaches your hut.

"Um... I'm not sure" his brain is screaming the answer at him but all he can hear is "her eyes are up there, her eyes are up there, her eyes ar-"

"Mh that's unfortunate, guess I'll have to stick with sexy stranger" your smirk grows when his tongue comes out to lick his lips.

"Right, um, I'm Peter?"

"You sure about that babes?" his eyes get as wide as saucers, nicknames are appreciated... You make a mental note of this.

"Peter Parker," he says "That's my name" he nods to himself. Probably feeling very proud that he's remembered it. God, he's adorable your practically melting.

"Hi Peter Parker, I'm Y/N, it's nice to meet you hot stuff" You lean back to your normal position, he's been working very hard to keep his eyes in respectful eye contact.

"What can I get you, Pete?"

"Huh?"

"You walked up to my bar, don't you want a drink?" you gesture to all the alcohol you have around you.

"Oh! Um what's your favourite?" he looks at the numerous bottles around you.

"Anything turned into a slush" you answer honestly.

"Ok... Something with cherry?" he suggests with a tilt of his head. You nod and get to work.

If you mix your shaker more than usual who could fault you? It keeps his eyes on you as silence settles over. After adding a cherry and coconut slush to the alcohol mix you top it off with maraschino cherries and a bright pink swirly straw.

You hand it over to him, purposefully making contact with his hand. He takes a big sip and your stare falls to his neck. Thick but lean, muscular and so soft looking. He'd look so good with hickeys littered all over it. You could even trail some down, down, down... just under where his swimming trucks start. God, you really need to get off.

"So what do you think, babes?" you ask him as he brings his straw away from his lips. He nods excitedly as a smile spreads on his face. How can you want him to rearrange your insides and bake him a cake all at once?

"It's delicious! I can't even taste the alcohol you put in here" he nods seemingly approvingly and you smile smugly.

"That's how you know it's a dangerous drink" you wink, turning around to quickly put away the things you used to prepare Peter's drink.

"So how much do I owe you?" he takes his wallet out and opens it up with one hand.

Maybe this is your chance to be bold. Get a date out of this incredibly slow day?

"Mh it'll only cost you your phone number" you shrug with a smirk on your face. Peter sputters on the sip he'd taken and flushes from head to toe. He shakes his head quickly and puts down his cup.

"I have to pay you" he goes through the bills he has in his wallet, instantly paling. He counts them again to then meet your eyes anxiously. "Um, any luck this cost under 6$?" he laughs awkwardly taking out the six 1$ bill he had. You cringe and shake your head. Why must you go for the broke cutie? He sighs and shoves the bills into your tip jar.

"I'm sorry, my aunt always tells me to budget better but this trip has got me much shorter on cash than usual..." Peter puts his wallet away, already knowing it's best if leaves as fast as he can.

"How long are you staying in Vegas for?" your question surprises even yourself. You both expect to have him just walk away and forget this interaction happened... but alas you're incredibly weak.

"I don't know really... I bought a one-way ticket so... I'll probably try and get a ticket to leave at the end of summer" which is currently two and a half months away.

"And you already have no cash left??" you gasp. How is that even possible? "Do you have a job? Or a sugar daddy?" you add in a rushed tone, shocked at his quite reckless planning.

"Think I'd look good in a bikini?" he teases. Joking at a time like this? He might just be your soulmate.

"You'd look amazing in a bikini but this is a woman owed and woman run" You sigh dreamily at the thought of Peter in a bikini. New kink unlocked? Or are you just incredibly horny... "Although... one of the lifeguards at the water park quit! Maybe I could get a good word in for you" You start shutting off the lights in your little hut and locking up the coolers and stands around you.

"Now?" Peter exclaims. You ignore his shock and turn back to him. You spot his unfinished slushy and hand it back to him.

"Drink it at least, I'm not doing charity for you not to enjoy it" you tease him before making your way out, locking the side door and hanging up the "Closed" sign.

"Oh and I'm still expecting your phone number"

-

That's how Peter Parker got himself a job at his hotel's water park. The man running it barely asked him what his name was before he was hired. They made sure that he had the right certification for a lifeguard job and the next day he was on the schedule. Well, they wrote him in with a Sharpie and they spelt his name wrong but he had a job!

The kids were... tolerable, the pay was ok and the conditions were bearable. His favourite part, however, is the hottie that always put extra cherries on his alcoholic slushes.

It's been three weeks now since he was able to pay back the first one, and it's also been three weeks since you've exchanged numbers.

You've been texting back and forth like crazy. Just facts about your days when you aren't working at the same time or you even like to have him pick out your bikini. He gets exceptionally shy and takes forever to answer but, surprisingly, he's got impeccable taste. Peter knows it's because of how attracted to you he is. Getting to know you has only deepened how doomed he is, how quickly his feelings have shifted from plain lust.

"So you haven't fucked yet?" Ned's voice is loud out of his phone speaker and it scares the shit out of Peter. He's on his lunch break and it's his weekly bro date with Ned. They have lately been full of your name.

"No, women and men can be friends. You know this" Peter knows full well that he'd ditch the friendship in a heartbeat for something more. He'll keep this act up tho, more gentlemanly... right?

"Not when they obviously wanna bone Pete... You're telling me not even a steamy make-out session?" Peter is glad they decided not to FaceTime because he knows what face Ned would be making right now and he doesn't want to see it.

"No" He wishes. He wishes so badly. Like it's actually starting to concern him how much he just wants you to sit on his lap, put your hands in his hair, maybe pull a little, definitely call him babes like you alw- See? He's going insane.

"That's sad Petey, get a move on! If Y/N is as hot as you say then you can't waste any time!" Ned's voice is so diplomatic it's weird but comforting.

"Oh. My. God. Babes you talk about me?" your chipper voice almost startles Peter off his seat and onto the suspiciously green floors.

Peter looks at you with a terrified expression on his face, like you've caught him mid-murder. Damn, his Peter Tingle for not warning him of your arrival!

"Is that her? Y/N! PETER WANTS TO FU-"

His phone is thrown across the room at record-breaking speed, destroying it. You barely seem surprised.

The silence that takes over the room gives Peter time to look you over. What you're wearing today has to be lingerie... just enough is left to the imagination and it's hypnotising. The way the slightest movement makes you look, the up and down of your chest as you breathe, how you look walking closer to him. Wait, walking closer??

His eyes snap up to meet yours as you walk over to him.

"Take me out tonight" You lean down to his eye level. The eye contact you hold is intense. So much is communicated through facial expressions. Peter's mind repeats your statement over and over, making sure he actually heard the right thing.

"Where?"

"Anywhere near an Apple Store so we can get you a new phone" you wink.

-

Smoking hot date, check.

Carefully picked out outfit, check.

Cute but comfortable makeup, check.

Get Peter a new phone before the date actually starts, check.

You and Peter are now slowly making your way down the Vegas Strip. With the ending goal in mind to find someplace interesting to eat. You walked past many many different restaurants but nothing that made you stop walking.

Peter's hand holds yours loosely, the hot weather unsuitable for real hand-holding. He's wearing a light pink shirt with flamingos and flowers patterned around it, obviously, he hadn't packed a "date shirt" before leaving New York and bought it at his hotel. His legs are barely hidden away by his short jeans short that have numerous rips in them... God you want to bite his thighs.

"You're staring at my legs again" You can hear him smirking through the tone of his voice.

"Oh shut up!" you knock your shoulder onto his arm with a laugh.

"It's fine this most likely compensates for the number of times I've at your boobs... or your ass... or anything really when you have a bikini on" he gestures with his free hand to you. Most likely visualising a bikini on you now.

"Mh, that's true... I'll keep staring then!" you smile proudly winking at him. His face and neck flush pink as he ducks his head. He's so fun to tease always so responsive.

Conversation is easy. It always is. Your personalities mesh together perfectly which makes hanging out with him so fun.

This being more officially a date has put weight on both of your shoulders. Somehow, it's made a sliver of anxiety surround the both of you. It must mean you both want this date to go well; to have many more after.

"Oh! How about hot dogs?" Peter points to a small restaurant to his left.

"Those are probably, like funky hot dogs... I'm down, let's go!" you tug him towards Haute Doggery.

You're both greeted by a woman behind the counter when you walk in. The place is small, with four two-person tables and a high counter along one of the only bare walls. That said it's cosy and inviting so you're immediately excited.

"Wow! A foot-long hog dog??" Peter gasps as he reads the menu. You giggle at his reaction now reading the menu yourself. So many options to choose from... "Want to share two regular-sized speciality ones?"

"Only if we get fries" you nod seriously, now choosing a hot dog to share with him.

"I definitely want to try the mac and cheese one" Peter looks away from the menu to meet your eyes.

"Good choice! I saw we get that one and the breakfast one, I can never say no to hash browns"

Once you receive your order you make your way to one of the tables, ready to absolutely dig in. Peter takes the time to precisely cut in half both hot dogs and gives you your pieces.

"Cheers!" you say knocking your half with his before taking a generous bite of the breakfast delight.

-

"So this is my room!" Peter shuffles inside his hotel room before holding the door open for you.

The room is nothing crazy. One queen bed in. the middle, a dresser with a tv on top of it, grey carpet flooring, pinkish walls, a bathroom and a balcony overlooking the pools and the waterpark.

You make your way over to his freshly made bed: thank you housekeeping. You sit down on it beckoning Peter over to you. He toes off his shoes in a hurry before practically lunging at the spot next to you. Cute.

"Had fun, cutie?" you look at him with seductive eyes and a warm smile. You want him to be putty in your hands.

Peter reacts immediately to the name you call him, blushing and wide-eyed.

"Yeah, you're easy to talk to and really sex- I mean smart. Really smart." his words seem to be tumbling out of his mouth in a panic.

"Babes, calm down!! You can compliment me. Physically too" you smack his chest feeling the firm muscle of his peck.

He only nods as an answer but keeps his eyes locked with yours. You're the one to break the eye contact to glance at his lips. You want to kiss him so bad...

"Can I kiss you?" Peter might be a mind reader.

"Please" is what you answer.

Kissing Peter is immediately addicting. He's so enthusiastic, kisses like his life depends on it. His left hand goes to your back and his right cradles your jaw. Your own move around his body. Gripping his muscles, tangling in his hair, slipping under his shirt. You're having a great time exploring his body.

You bite his bottom lip playfully, tugging it towards you and it makes Peter moan in delight.

"You're so hot, I'm going insane" he mumbles between desperate kisses.

You only hum in answer wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him down above you. His body is so warm against yours like he's on fire. You tug off his shirt, to help him cool down is what you tell yourself.

"I know I see you without a shirt more than with one but this is so much sexier" you trail your fingers all. over. him.

Peter turns you onto your side to unzip your romper. His lips never leave yours, the contact staying feverish and fast. It's like he wants to eat you whole. Maybe he does, you'd let him.

The shrill sound of your ringtone startles you, causing you to knock your chin into Peter's nose as you look up.

He groans as you reach to silence the (incredibly rude) device. Unfortunately, your index has other plans and presses the accept call button.

"Y/N?" Xiomara... This can only mean bad news.

"I know you're on a date and I'm so incredibly sorry to be doing this. I just went into labour and you're literally in the hotel somewhere..." Her voice is strained and you breathe out in exasperation.

Peter's head drops into the crook of your neck. His hands don't start roaming, they travel, map your body out. Every single inch of skin he can reach. Inside the romper, your face, legs, arms... Anything and everything.

"I... I don't have a bikini" you manage to say.

"I really don't care what you wear. Actually, you know what I don't care about the bar right now never mind" She hangs up immediately.

"Thank fuck for that" Peter exclaims dragging the rest of your romper off.

You laugh as he readily gets back to what he was doing. His lips on yours, guided your hands into his hair and hips bucking into yours.

Yeah, this is so much better than taking over "Cheeky Chicks" for the evening.

[fellamarsh]

another thing i've been trying to do recently is read more self-published stuff. "but fell," you say, "you're a self-published author. surely you've been reading self-published stuff all along" and then i laugh for so long in response we both become uncomfortable.

see, the fear (which has for a long time been killing my mind) that i'll read other self-published stuff and find out that it's so much better than mine that i might as well stop writing forever kept me from doing that basically ever. i have a hard time not unfavorably comparing my work to others and had convinced myself i was being smart by withholding an avenue of de-motivation (reader: i was not being smart). it also doesn't help that i'm pretty low income and have a hard time spending money on books i haven't already read, and that self-published stuff isn't always available at the library---but really a lot of it was just me being a coward. which i'm working on. i could talk about how this particular cowardice is Very Silly, but i think enough has been said about it on writeblr and in the Writing Space in general that i don't feel the need to (though i will if anyone wants me to).

instead, i wanna talk about the self-published things i have read in the past few months and ask about the self-published things you love!

so: what happened was i got real sick, and while i was real sick i (naturally) read over 200,000 words of ace attorney fan fiction in the span of a few days. eventually i got bored of it (and also maybe annoyed at how people were characterizing some of my guys), but i still wanted to read something gay and romantic and nice, something i knew was gonna end happily, which isn't my typical fare.

now you may be saying (having gotten over all the uncomfortable laughter from earlier) "fell, you write gay romance. what do you mean that's not your typical fare?" listen. until a couple months ago i hadn't read a cut and dry romance novel since before i finished college. for context: i graduated in 2015. i know it doesn't make sense. i'm a guy who doesn't make sense.

but in this case it worked to my advantage. not the not making sense thing, but the not having read Published Romance in 1000 years thing. I didn't know where to start. I was very skeptical of everything the library had Available Now in the Gay Fantasy Romance category. what if it was all bad and also not good?

and then i scrolled past the familiar cover of our very own @ashen-crest's A Rival Most Vial.

now this was comfortable territory! this was a novel by a very nice writeblr person whose posts i enjoy! i already loosely knew the plot, i was familiar with the characters, i knew the names of things like rosemond street and the griffin's claw and that ambrose had blue hair and that at the end of it all there would definitely be Boyfriends. i didn't have to worry that this would be bad! i only had to worry that it would be really good!

but i wasn't worried about that, because i was officially Not Writing at the time, and because why the hell hadn't i read this book yet Ash literally emailed me some very kind words last year when my cat died??

Y'all, I devoured ARMV. If you haven't read it yet---especially if cozy fantasy is more your thing than it is mine---you should check it out Immediately. It was fun! It was heartwarming! It was sweet and earnest and confident! I was delighted to find it was occasionally hot! Ambrose and Eli snuggled up into my sick exhausted heart and found a permanent little place there. (Especially Ambrose. I have such a thing for Stiff Guys who Kind of Suck for Tragic Backstory Reasons and are So So Lonely They Don't Even Realize It. gawd)

(And a very small part of my brain spent the whole time wondering why I had been so afraid to really engage with the work my community is doing. The community that I'm in. The one I'm a part of. Why?! Maybe more on that later.)

But from there the curse was broken! I immediately devoured @stjohnstarling's What Manner of Man in a similar sort of frenzy (and hooooly shit guys am I excited for the expanded, finalized version to come out at the end of next month!) and started digging into @lurinatftbn's The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere (which I can already tell is going to be an All Time Favorite).

And now I want to ask you what your favorite self-published books are so that I can read them, too, but I think I will in another post that doesn't dedicate so much space to talking about my various and sundry Issues and isn't Terminally Long

[catboybiologist]

Oh btw, minor grumpus update if any of y'all were concerned:

Russian Tortoises have a full hibernation cycle that they do in the wild. As pets, full hibernation would have to be induced through a carefully controlled environment. I don't have the expertise to do this fully, however, they naturally go into states of pseudohibernation for about 4-7 months.

The Creature is an absolute weirdo that does this, but switches summer and winter for no discernible reason. He spent most his life in a completely temperature controlled environment, and I guess the lack of cues made his internal season clock drift. My apartment is slightly less temperature consistent, so I thought that might fix it, but nope! He was in pseudohibernation when I got him in July last year, stayed that way until November, spent the Winter and Spring stomping around, and in the past couple weeks, has been gradually slowing down. These past couple of days, he's had an activity level consistent with his past summers.

This unfortunately means that I can't get too many photogenic pictures of him, since he spends most of his days like this:

He's always been like this, during both the time I've had him and the 20+ years he spent as an educational/outreach animal for kids. I also worked with him for a couple years during that time before having him as a full time pet, so I know his habits pretty well at this point.

During my summer travels, he'll be left with trusted relatives who will take care of his day to day care, and I'll be periodically dropping in to check up on how everything is going. They've pet sit for him before, and know what to do.

This is honestly ideal for me, because it gives me time to get/build him a better enclosure. As a very temporary measure, he's been in a too-small habitat for the past few months, with as much outdoor and floor time as possible to give him time to exercise and roam. He spent most of his life in a tank that was 1.5'x5', also with plenty of outdoor and floor time. Both are too small as full time living situations, and its only because of letting him out that I felt comfortable with it even as a temporary measure. Of course I won't stop outdoor and floor time, but I don't want to rely on them. One of my summer projects is to sketch up plans for a larger enclosure (20 sq ft or more, still on the smaller side but still with the idea of giving him the soccer field to roam when necessary), and I want it ready by the time he wakes up. If anyone has suggestions for that, I'm all ears!!!

I'm mildly considering some kind of bioactive, but I'm worried that'll be more effort than its worth, and have a risk of breeding pathogens. Another idea I had was a kind of "seperated bioactive"- have a small glass tanks for isopods and plants separate from him enclosure, and use his food scraps and poop to supplement that enclosure. I could grow some dandelion and edible wildflowers for him in there, closing the "loop" but separating the potentially "dirty" part from the Grumpus himself.

But again, no idea if that'll also be more trouble than its worth. Just pontificating. I welcome any and all suggestions!

[ravenlking]

𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄

𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 (𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐘, 𝐉𝐀𝐃𝐄, 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋, 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐊, 𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀) Darling, what is, oh my, you're learning a new/my language? Of course I will help, now see here...

gender-neutral warnings: - does duolingo count? - in jamil's, the reader is implied to have a crush on him. also, to make it as inclusive as possible, i mentioned how the reader flushes dark. i researched and for POC (Edit: I changed it from colored people bc from feedback, it isn't the appropriate term, sorry if I had hurt anyone!), that's apparently the equivalent of blushing red (?) i hope it makes sense and doesnt hurt anyone's feelings! - a bit of fighting in lilia's, but not too gory. just self-defense. also be prepared for a lot of swearing in his. the reader is also implied to be in a relationship with him :) genre: fluff a/n: - pictures don't belong to me, they go to their original owners! - btw, can y'all tell me where and how do you get your banners for the characters? trying (and failing) to do so as you can tell. - watch me panic as i publish this because i know there might be some people out there who will bully me over this. i'm just gonna say that this is a work of fiction meant to bring smiles to people's faces, not to mock any languages - please give me feedback :)

Let me know if you'd like more!

𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐘 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 + 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐄

Trey was busy baking for the Unbirthday party, measuring with professional precision and practicing ease. He's been doing this for years so he considers himself beyond average (honey, stop being modest, you're doing great)

Enter you. Swinging your seat around the Heartslabyul kitchen island chair, you rotated yourself with glee, glued to your phone. Trey could faintly make out your disgruntled mutters and curses as he worked.

When he set the tarts into the oven, pressing the appropriate buttons, curiosity got the better of him. What had you so frustrated and upset? As the vice dorm leader of Heartslabyul, Trey should help you out! He propped his head in the crook of your collarbone, earning a squeak and causing you to almost fall off the chair. He quickly caught you, grabbing your wrists and pulling you back into your seat.

"Really Trey?" You deadpanned.

Trey only shrugged sheepishly, a dust of red crawling up his neck. He had only wanted a peek at what had ensnared your attention for the past few hours.

"Congratulations on passing this level, Y/N!"

Huh?

Trey looked so helplessly confused that you laughed.

“It's Duolingo!" You explained, showing him the app. Trey's eyes widened at the progress you have made.

"I've been wanting to learn a language, but unfortunately," You pouted. "I chose one of the hardest. Chinese."

Trey snickered, drawing out a seat and sitting next to you. He didn't notice the way your cheeks flushed from your close proximity and his warm breathes caressing your skin.

"I've learned it before," Trey admitted, watching your eyes widen before laughing. "Let me help. So here, you're missing this stroke..."

a/n: before y'all start to bully me, i've been learning chinese since i was born. i know how hard the language is, so watch me self-project in trey's short fic. bro- if trey was teaching me, you can bet that i'll be more focused on trey than chinese lmaoo

𝐉𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐇 + 𝐊𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐍

Jade noticed you coming to the Mostro Lounge very often these days. He was on shift most of the time (no thanks to Floyd's spontaneous disappearances) so he got the perfect chance to observe you at your table. The other customers were boring to look at as he cleaned the bar's glasses but you drew his attention.

You periodically took a sip from your drink before scribbling in that notebook of yours, the green glow from your phone illuminating your face in the dimness of the lounge.

Jade was naturally curious of course. You had been there for more than three hours, what would have consumed your attention for so long?

"Jade?"

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice your eyes on him, raising a hand to get his attention. He put on a smile and came over, menu in hand.

"What would you like to order-"

"Congratulations on passing this level, Y/N!"

Jade's eyes narrowed upon your phone, staring at the obxonious bright green owl that interrupted him. Jade hated being interrupted. For your sake, he kept his polite facade.

"What would you like-"

"Would you like to move onto the next level?"

Again?

The urge to break your phone and throw it into the nearest body of water was growing stronger.

Jade heaved out a heavy sigh and you chuckled.

"I'm learning a new language," You slid over your book as Jade eyed it. "It's called Korean."

"Oh?" Jade raised an eyebrow. "What are these little squiggles? They remind me of ocean waves or mushroom patterns."

You shrugged helplessly. "Mind helping if you could?"

Jade laughed. Most people would be afraid to get tangled up in a deal with Azul...but you? You were fearless. And Jade was delighted with it.

"I shall do my best."

a/n: any koreans reading this, pls don't kill me. kill her instead! *holds sign with directions to riddle's mother*

but on a serious note, i did not mean to offend anyone, it's just for comedy purposes!

𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋 𝐕𝐈𝐏𝐄𝐑 + 𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐂

Jamil was tired from school and taking care of Kalim, so when he stumbled into the Scarabia lounge, the last thing he wanted was you two together, with bright grins on your faces.

It only spelled out trouble for him.

With a sigh, Jamil approached the duo quietly, a mischievous plan to spook them before Kalim's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Now, you say it!"

"أحبك [Uhibuk]," You said slowly, pronouncing the words with your accent twisting it slightly. Kalim grinned and clapped his hands excitedly.

"Perfect! Now, say everything together!" The dorm leader encouraged you as you blushed bright red/dark.

"Shh," You hissed. "Not so loud, Kalim!"

Kalim chuckled before gesturing for you to speak. You took a deep breath in before saying the entire phrase.

"أحبك [Uhibuk] Jamil," You muttered, your entire face flushing red/dark.

"Perfect! The pronunciation is amazing!" Kalim grinned brightly at you. "Now all you need to do is say it to Jamil! He'll love the confession!"

"Kalim, keep your voice down!" You spluttered. "What if he's nearby?"

From behind the pillar, Jamil's face was practically burning. The Perfect, aka you, had a crush on him? You didn't fall for Kalim's charm, but his nonexistent charm? Oh, Prefect, you've managed to ensnare Jamil's heart just fine.

"انا احبك ايضا [Ana ahibuk aydan]," Jamil murmured into your ear as you jumped from the couch, flopping onto the floor before wincing. You were about to shout at the attacker before realizing it was your crush and your face was burning.

"He says 'I love you too'," Kalim helpfully translated before laughing. "I better leave you two alone!"

With that, the boy dashed away, leaving you two alone in the Scarabia lounge. Jamil managed a smirk and leaned in, closing the proximity between you two.

"Next time, you can ask me for help. I'll certainly do my best."

a/n: anyone who speaks arabic, please don't kill me again. i genuinely don't know if it's the correct words (glares at google translate) so i'm sorry if my small oneshot offends anyone!!

𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓 + 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇

"Bonjour, ma cherie!"

Rook practically skipped towards you, a bright grin on his face and sparkles emitting from his aura. As expected of Pomefiore students.

"Bonjour, comment ca va?" You stumbled over the words, making mental notes to make your 'j' sound more like a 'zh' in the future.

The blond hunter was frozen in his steps before tentatively replying. Could this be his dreams coming to life? His heart fluttered at the thought of it.

"Ca va bien, merci. Et toi?"

"Ca va bien."

You replied awkwardly, trying your best to keep the same pace as Rook's fluency in French. Fortunately, Rook was quick to drop the language upon seeing your tentativeness and hesitance in replying.

"Oh ma cherie, you made this poor hunter's heart burst with joy! Why, this day must have been blessed by the Sevens, because it has been a wonderful morning!" Rook exclaimed, grinning at you. "Your accent and pronunciation were perfect!"

"Really?" You muttered in disbelief. "I literally only started a month ago."

Rook laughed before nodding eagerly. "Mon amor, let me hear those divine words again!"

"Bonjour?" You muttered in confusion before Rook dramatically fluttered his eyes, a hand pressed to his forehead as he practically collapsed in your arms. You were quick to catch him, although Rook was sure to put the least amount of his body weight in your arms.

"Rook!"

Rook smiled at you, patting your arm before straightening up. He grinned brighter, his sparkling white teeth blinding you. "If you are eager to learn, then this hunter would gladly take on the role as your teacher!"

"Please do," You nodded frantically. "French has been nothing but words in cursive. It's a world of pain for me."

The vice dorm leader of Pomefiore laughed.

a/n: all my french knowledge comes from duolingo guys, please don't come after me. btw, i know 'ca va' has that squiggling thingy in the C but idk how to type it on my device so *shrugging helplessly*

𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐄 + 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍

"Ma che cazzo?!"

Lilia certainly did not expect such foul words to leave your mouth. It's too early in the morning, it's still 7:55 Y/N! Curse them out later in six minutes okay? Otherwise, the old fae might wash your mouth out with water.

"Chiudi il becco, idiota."

Lilia chuckled, drawing attention from Malleus, Silver, and Sebek. He simply told them that he was going to check on you before he mysteriously teleported away, following the echo of your voice. He reappeared in the courtyard, watching amusingly as you swore and cursed at the Savanaclaw beastmen who decided to pick on you today. The one time Leona wasn't napping away here, his own followers decided to bully you.

"Miserabili pezzi di merda, I have seen more personality in a rusty hoe handle," You spat out, growling at them. They laughed back but you held your ground.

"What does this little prey trying to do?" One roared out in a fit of laughter. "Trying to fight back?"

His hoarde snickered. "Pathetic!"

"Lurido porco," You shook your head before calming yourself. "Just let me pass through."

The beastmen took one look at look before scoffing.

"Why would we listen to you? You just a twig we can snap in half!"

"Merda," You swore. You had completely forgotten them in your rage the fact you were outnumbered by three to one. The beastmen were stupid, but not that stupid. They completely knew that they could beat you in both a physical and a magical fight.

"So what is it going to be?" A panther beastman punched his fists togehter, growling. "A fight?"

You lunged at him, growling. Despite the odds against you, you weren't going to go down with a fight. Your arms stinged as you punched his rock-solid face.

"Fottiti!" You screamed, before being punched in the stomach. You groaned on the ground as they came closer. Pitifully, you inched backwards before your savior stepped in.

"Ma che?" Lilia scowled, a dark shadow covering his face as he stepped out from the darkness.

"Mia colombia [my dove]," Lilia crounched near you, hands fluttering over your wounds. You withhold a painful scream as he mended your wounds. "Carissima, are you hurt anywhere else?"

You whispered out a painful 'No' before Lilia gently smiled at you.

"When we get back, I'll teach you better words than just swears," Lilia promised you before standing up, smirking menacingly at the cowardly bullies. "No one touches what's mine, and you're going to learn that the hard way."

a/n: i'm just using translations from the assassin's creeds books lol. btw, i did my best to search but does anybody know why i can't find any lilia vanrouge dorm uniform card images?

[helslastangel]

mini "r/offmychest" (lmao?)

Honestly, it's so easy to think you enjoy having no friends when you have a ton of hobbies and not much to say. You truly forget what it's like to have big news or just something to share and wonder who to tell first. I don't remember anymore. It's been 10 months totally solo (and 3 years with exactly 1.5 friends, before anyone tells me that's "nothing").

I just... got some great news and instead of being happy, I sat in my room thinking of the first 5 people I immediately wanted to tell... but can't. Because we don't talk anymore.

Disclaimer because I know this is gonna offend people if I don't clarify: I mean local, IRL friends. I 100% believe online friends can be and are real friends but I'm exhausted of online interactions, so I'm talking about flesh-and-blood face to face friendship right now.

And no I don't have family like that. I'm THAT one in my family who everyone wants to vent or announce things to but would be perfectly happy never hearing me so much as breathe for the rest of their natural lives, so without friends, I have no one to tell anything or talk to in general. And I truly thought I had become okay with that until today. I genuinely thought I had managed to break my need to have people to talk to as I've been trying to reprogram myself to stop seek that out every chance I got like I used to.

But nope. Still there. It all came right back. I took 3 different naps trying to get rid of this ... icky feeling that some people call sadness I guess.

Anyway, that plus working a ton of overtime the past couple of weeks has me in my head and out of my mind all at once, so if y'all don't mind I'm gonna be keeping it playful or anecdotal for a few days. I'm not at the energy level I need to do the serious posts. I do actual research for those as I like to merge various perspectives with my studies and observations, so they take more out of me

I have a post in my drafts right now just talking about my mental health journey along with tarot, I'm just kinda nervous to post it and haven't decided if I should or not. I struggle with feeling envious of bloggers who can get personal without losing engagement because I feel like I can't be real for more than one or two posts at a time without a nosedive.

I am not even sure about posting this. though I will because as I've said before, I came back to Tumblr literally because I wanted somewhere to be myself, not to be stuck in performance mode like other platforms kinda force you too.

Anyway, I'm sounding whiny af and going further off-topic than usual which is my cue to shut up.

Just saying, that if some of you followed solely for astrology insights and observations (which I think might be the majority of you, based on the analytics), you don't have to worry that I'm never gonna post those again, I will. I just need to chill out for a bit and tell stories and post whatever jokes and nonsense I feel like until my mood and energy is up again. 🥰♥️

Tertiary Fe trying to work but I'm probably still nipple-deep in Si grip since January (iykyk).

[fivewholeminutes]

so. wembley.

Once I have finally gathered my wits the words did not want to stop coming. This rambling is long; apologies for that. And for the messed up tenses I hate tenses we only have one past tense why is English like this

No photos/videos yet, they are still not properly checked/deleted/edited by me.

It was. Unsurprisingly. One of the best days of my life. But also, I don't remember much from my life, so don't trust me on this one. (Kidding, it totally WAS one of the best days of my life). And uhh... I have a problem with processing events and emotions, so it still feels like I have seen it on a TV screen instead of, you know, actually, physically having been there? Idk how to explain that, I still have to convince my brain that I've been there. I feel detached from it completely. But!! I!! Have!! Been!! There!!

I woke up so early that foxes were still roaming the streets. Didn't talk much with people around me in the queue (hello anxiety), but they were lovely! I signed the blue flag for iii from me & Lia, got the sticker for Projekt Atlantic, received some bracelets, exchanged some bracelets, put some sea creatures tattoos on people (LIA I FORGOT TO GIVE YOU THE WHALE!!!), slept on a pavement, bought merch for myself and others (I've never had anyone to buy concert merch for before, it's such a nice feeling 🥺).

And queueing for so long was so fucking worth it! Third row, baby!! For the first time in the middle!! (Which was my downfall later, but the pre-show me was not aware of that just yet). I couldn't actually hear HEALTH that well, but I really liked their drummer, he was enjoying himself and his joy was contagious. (I've checked them later though and. Last album, my beloved.) During the break, well, you all know what was happening, I have been liveblogging everything (sorry about that <3). The moment someone in the crowd literally screeched when they saw the new masks on instagram was a blessing, I wouldn't have survived seeing them in new masks without a warning. Also, my blind ass would probably realise 3 songs in that they have different masks, I shit you not. Besides, it was super fun having a mental breakdown here on tumblr with y'all <3

When Espera entered the stage, everything else stopped being of any importance to me. I remember my first thought was "oh yeah, sure, the ladies are dressed up and moving like this and you expect me to focus on anything else that is happening on this stage?". And of course, my second thought was "I GOTTA TAKE PICTURES FOR DARYA". Naturally, I was trying to keep up with everything else anyway. I haven't seen ii all too well though and it makes me sad :( Alas. I've had a good vantage point for the ladies. Yeah. Brain went brrrrr every time I was looking at them. Where was I again-

I was still coughing at that time. I got a terrible coughing fit after literally 3 short screams during HEALTH and my idiot ass has left all the lozenges except one in the hotel room an hour before the door opening. I thought I would have to spend the rest of the night not singing along nor screaming and felt utterly heartbroken for a few minutes, but after my Holy Grail Lozenge (and a LOT of water from the venue's crew) my cough has abandoned me for the duration of the whole ritual (thank you, Sleep). Even though, when Sam told us that we have to sing, my only thought was "I CAN'T FUCKING SING EITHER, MATE". But I did. Oh, I so fucking did. I sung my lungs out and did not cough even ONCE.

But you know. I was exhausted, anxious, surrounded by strangers and had more sugar in my veins than red cells at that point, so I wasn't my best self. I really thought the karaoke was for shits and giggles at first. "Oh yeah, it's The Most Popular Song, let's see how it sounds when 10k people sing it without the singer's help!", you know. Thought it was for the recording the announcements warned us about. But then we sung Granite. Ohhhkay. And then The Love You Want - certainly not a song they would leave for an impropmtu singalong. It was then that I (belatedly) realised that yeah, something really was wrong and so my heart broke again. So many preparations! Their biggest gig so far! Even iii managed to be there! And something had to happen!! Specifically!! To Vessel!! Of all people!! That was just not fair. He totally didn't deserve this. But it's just life and its endless fucking bad surprises for everyone, huh.

I didn't have enough time to collect all the broken pieces of my heart from the sticky floor and mend them after this realisation, because after Vessel joined the singing for the last few lines of TLYW, he dropped to his knees in front of us crying and thanking everyone. That sight is now carved into my brain. This is when I realised the 3rd row was a mistake. The psychic damage it gave me is irrevocable. Do you have those moments that you will never forget? A few seconds of an (usually traumatic) experience that will haunt you forever, replaying in your mind like a broken record? It was a bit like this for me. It wasn't traumatic, mind you, but it was definitely something that made a permanent dent in my heart and a home in my brain. And I wouldn't change it anyway.

Another thing that made me think that I will just fall down and never get up was iii & iv's hug. It was. So full of love and reassurence. Idk, you could just feel that emitting from them, okay? I was standing there thinking "yeah sure, just fucking murder me tonight instead, okay. Should've kept staring at Espera only-". Ah yes. The ladies. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Where was I again-

The goosebumps when the whole venue yelled "they won't be missing you" during Nazareth, oh my fucking god. On my previous rituals, in way smaller venues, there's always been a handful of people screaming it. And everyone doing it? Unparalleled feeling. Bordering on the shrimp emotions scale.

The lights were spectacular. I cannot describe how amazing the light show was. I am sending a kiss to each and every light crew member.

Also, Vessel being more emotional during the ritual as a whole. The TLYW moment was the worst for me, but there were many others. (Ascensionism and Bloodsport stabbing me with a rusty knife the most.) I mean, who could've blamed him for the emotions, he would probably be very emotional even without the voice issues. Who wouldn't be!! It was a big night, after all. God, it must have been so difficult for him, I really, really fucking hope the love coming from his bandmates, crew and the crowd was enough to help him focus on the good parts of the evening only. And!! It wasn't even that bad!!! Sure, he lost his voice for a while, but once it was back you could!! Barely!! Hear!! The difference!! I have a whole new level of respect for Vessel because of that. And for staying onstage with us for the songs he couldn't sing. Didn't know I could respect him even more than I already did, but hey. Love being surprised like that. I have seen concerts where the singers were singing way worse live while being completely healthy. Like sure, you could notice he's not using so many uhh, how do you call this in English, vocal ornamentations??? and that his voice is strained, but it was still beautiful. Take care of your voice now though, dude, jfc. Thanks for the sacrifice, much appreciated, but TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF OR SO HELP ME GOD I WILL FUCKING FIND YOU- (kidding, kidding. or am i.) I also liked that he was leaving the more screamy moments in songs for us. Aiming the microphone at us, positive we'll have his back. Like yeah, yeah, other bands do that relatively often, but it's not something they usually do, you know.

I can't vouch for everyone in the crowd, but I sure as fuck did not have a SINGLE thought that the show sucks because of his voice issues. Like it didn't even occur to me. Honest to god. I was shocked when I saw on tumblr that people were leaving? Asking for a refund????????????? I was having the time of my life singing those songs. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, probably!! Who can say they karaoked whole 3 songs with the band playing for them live?? Your local karaoke bar could never. (Bonus points, you could hear Espera better bc of that! Yes, I know, you are not supposed to hear backing vocals too loud in general, I'm just saying it was nice hearing them, bc usually I hear them on recordings only.)

Yeah, sure I was disappointed after the show that there was no Euclid, but that's just me, a total whore for Euclid. It's a completely different thing than being a bitch who leaves halfway, because something out of the ordinary has been happening.

Anyways. I would like to wish all the crowdsurfers a very fuck you. Hope you will all step on a lego every day for the rest of your lives <3

Crowdsurfers and constant giving away of water (which I understand, it was terribly hot there and it was needed) were a bit distracting, I missed some things because of the commotion, the drum solo has been disrupted by me getting a (fortunately very light) kick in the mouth and DRUM SOLO IS SACRED. I HOPE THE CROWDSURFER WHO DECIDED TO GO UP IN THAT MOMENT WILL STEP ON 3 LEGOS DAILY. IT'S LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE RITUAL FOR ME AND THEY HAVE RUINED IT. Thanks to another crowdsurfer, I missed the moment the band was throwing stuff into the crowd and I promised Lia I will catch a pick/drumstick for them!!!!!!! I've had a banner for this occassion and all!!!!! And!!!!! For the whole time things were flying from the scene!!!! I have been under someone's legs and ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Side note: Vessel was throwing away his rings. That's so fucking cool, ahh.

All in all, half of the things that happened there, I've learned from tumblr. The announcements about the recording, people leaving, Vessel being covered in runes (I WAS STANDING RIGHT BEFORE HIM AND DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING. A N Y T H I N G. I HATE BEING A BLIND IDIOT), the Espera ladies laughing at iii for not coming to the photo, hell, even Vessel trying to get his attention. I have NO idea what I've been doing back then, it's a blur again lmao. And. The most important thing: Vessel's "thank you". I didn't catch it back then. I don't hear it on my recording. Tbh I couldn't believe y'all for a long while that it really happened (I'm sorry). But it did and you know what? I'm glad the broken pieces of my heart were left on the arena's floor earlier during the show. I don't want them anymore.

I would also like to thank that one security guy in huge headphones who was our warning that another fucking crowdsurfer was coming our way. I hope the headphones guy's pillow is always cold on both sides, his skin clear, his crops- and so on. Our hero <3

There was also a moment during Atlantic (another important moment disrupted. Smh) where 2 security persons dived into the crowd?? I still have no idea what was happening, bc if someone faints for example, they are always brught to the barricade by the crowd and security picks them up, I've never seen security getting into the crowd before. And because of that, people around me were talking loudly during Atlantic. Kill kill murder kill

Still, Projekt Atlantic was a huge success and I am so proud of the organisers!! They're in the same category of lovely people as the big headphones security guy

Sending a kiss to @murderofcrow for this gif 🖤

To sum up. I will forever be grateful for this band. This music has activated the dormant parts of my mind. I am making art again. I am meeting cool people because of them. I have people to talk about it with who are as excited about it as I am. For the first time in ages I really feel alive again. And life is not good, far from it, to be completely honest with you, they haven't magically fixed all my problems, but I do have something that actually fucking works on me. I know Vessel wouldn't agree, but they are saving people. And you all, lovely ST pocket of tumblr motherfuckers who are reading this, you are saving people too.

And, last but not least!! In hot pink, because I can! Thanks to this ritual I could finally meet @vesselsscarlet and @thevenomousseprent in person!!!!!!!!! I love you guys, you are amazing and I can't wait to see you again 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 You've made me feel so loved that weekend and it's something I haven't felt in a while!!

[therealdisneyfan2319]

The Spider and The Witch Chapter 3: The Athletic Supporter and the Frozen Peas

Summary: Y/N arrives at the Avengers compound where he begins his winter break internship. Along the way, he learns being a superhero is a lot more difficult than Peter made it out to be.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Male Reader

Warnings: Mild language

Word Count: 2.7K

A/N: Hey y'all! Apologies for the inconsistent posting schedule. I've come to a bit of a roadblock writing Chapter 5 and I have no idea where I'm going with this. Any thoughts or suggestions please send them my way!

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

The last day of the semester brought mixed emotions.  There was a wash of relief having finished all your finals papers, projects, and exams, but apprehension loomed overhead with your upcoming Stark Internship.  That’s the story you told your parents when you explained you wouldn’t be able to come home for the holidays: it was a Stark Internship upstate at the Avengers Campus.  There was no way you’d tell them any more than they absolutely needed to know, bless your mother’s heart if she ever found out you were slinging webs.

Peter worked tirelessly to catch you up to speed, filling you in on everything he thought you needed to know.  Most of it was small stuff that wasn’t all too important in the grand scheme of things: don’t eat Bucky’s almond butter, never hand Tony anything, Pietro is always down for Mario Kart, and if you ever see Natasha curled on the couch with a plush orca whale, no you didn’t.  

******

“Okay, do you have everything you need?” May asked as she loaded your suitcase in the car.  “Toothbrush, retainer, deodorant, athletic suppo-?”

“Yes, May.  I’ve got everything I need,” you interrupted loudly.  

“Alright, let’s get a move on!” She slammed the trunk closed.  “We’re on a tight schedule and we do not want you to be late on your first day.”

You buckled yourself into the passenger seat of May’s car.  She was the only other adult besides Tony who knew what was really going on.  Naturally she offered to take you upstate once the semester ended.  It lessened the risk of your parents finding out the real purpose of your internship.  Peter was on vacation in the UK with Ned otherwise he would’ve joined you on the trip upstate.  You knew he missed the rest of the team and would love to see them again.

The trip upstate was pretty quiet once you got out of the city.  May turned the radio on and you stared out the window most of the trip, your head resting on the seatbelt as the landscape slowly transitioned from urban to rural.  The Hudson River on your left, a sense of calm washed over you as the world became quiet once more.

“So,” May started as she turned the radio down.  “Peter told me you aren’t really sure if you want to do this.”  You shrugged in response.  “It’s a lot.  He was in high school when he started messing around with this whole superhero thing.  He tried to balance homework and friends and saving the neighborhood and for a while he couldn’t keep up with all of it.”

“Peter loved being an Avenger, but I don’t want to be a superhero, May.  I just want to be a normal guy doing normal college guy things.  Honestly I only took this to get him off my back.”

May sighed, readjusting her grip on the steering wheel.  “You have to understand that the past few years haven’t been easy for Peter.  He misses it a lot.  Maybe watching you become Spider-Man is the next best thing for him.  I don’t know.  I do think he’s got a point in wanting you to have better control of your powers so you don’t accidentally stick yourself to my ceiling again.”

“Sorry about that,” you mumbled.  

“Give it a chance, Y/N.  You owe it to yourself to at least try.  Worst comes to worst it doesn’t work out and you come back to college and move on with your life.  But who knows. This could open up a whole new world for you.”

“Thanks, May.”

******

As you pulled into the Avengers Compound, you noticed Tony standing out by the circle.  He stood nonchalant, sunglasses on and hands in his pockets as he watched your car pull around and park by the main entrance.  He smirked as he sauntered towards you.   

“May!  Looking lovely like always,” Tony called as May got out of the car and headed to the trunk.

“Hi Tony!  Good to see you again.”  She hugged him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.  “Peter sends his regards.  He’s over in London vacationing with Ned.”

“He should’ve said something.  I would’ve set the two of them up in my penthouse had I known.  Good for him, though.  He needs to live a little.  Oh, allow me.”  He lunged forward and grabbed your rather large suitcase out of the trunk.  “Mr. L/N, glad to have you here.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” you replied as he shook your hand rather aggressively.  While you had already met him once, Tony Stark was still an intimidating figure.  

“You’ll take Peter’s old room while you’re here.  Don’t worry, I’ve already told Vision to mind the phasing.”  He handed you back your suitcase as you slung your backpack over your shoulders.  “Most everyone has gone home for the holidays, so it’ll be quiet around here until the new year.  But don’t worry, we’ll still keep you busy.”  You smiled weakly, thinking about the unknown future that lay ahead of you.

“Well, just call if you need anything,” May yelled as she rolled the passenger side window.  “I’ll see you in a few weeks!”

“Thanks May!” you shouted as the car pulled around the drive.  She honked twice in return.  

******

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, you settled into a routine with those who remained over the holiday season.  Monday through Friday you woke up at 6 to lift weights with Bucky.  After weight training, Natasha took you over to the mats for sparring practice.  In terms of strength you definitely had the upper hand.  That didn’t phase Natasha, who was undoubtedly the better combatant.  You’d never sparred a day in your life and she didn’t go easy on you.  More often than not you ended up flat on your back.

“I don’t know how I’m ever supposed to be good at this,” you complained as she helped you up after a particularly nasty hit.

“Y/N, you’ve only been at this for two weeks.  Give yourself a break.”

“Nat, I can’t even dodge a punch properly and I’ve got this weird Spidey sense thing.”  She hemmed and hawed as she looked at you.  It was true: you were totally uncoordinated when it came to fighting.  You were clumsy enough in your everyday life that it probably seeped into other areas of your life, too.

“Focus and patience.  That’s all this is.  Focus, patience, and practice.”  Natasha pushed a sweaty strand of hair off her face.  The two of you had been at it for the better part of two hours and were equally exhausted.  Your ineptitude wasn’t a reflection of her abilities as an instructor, but you could sense her disappointment in your lack of progress.

Weapons training wasn’t that much better.  Your first foray into that world came from Rocket the Racoon.  The Guardians dropped by shortly after Christmas for a meeting with Tony and upon learning of your arrival, Rocket took it upon himself to teach you everything he could about weapons in an hour and a half.  To say it was overwhelming was an understatement.  Rocket rattled off names, specs, calibers, warnings, makers, anything and anything he could think of involving weapons so fast your head spun.  Nothing you heard made any sense.  It wasn’t until Rhodey took over that he broke things down into manageable snippets of information.  Still, you felt like a fish out of water.

******

The first time you walked into the gym, an oversized room situated with mock building tops, scaffolding, lampposts, and mats, AC/DC thundered over the PA system while Tony messed around with a couple of foam blocks.  You nervously walked in, bottle of Gatorade in one hand and grippy socks in the other.  

“Hey!  Underoos Two!” Tony’s face lit up as he looked up from the screen.  “How’s it going?”

“Good,” you answered, dropping your drink to the floor close to the exit.  

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic there, kiddo,” Tony smirked.  You plopped down, untying your shoes and pulling your socks off.  “Woah, hang on.  Got something for you.”  You grunted as a ball of spandex hit you clear in the face.  “Put that on!”  As you removed it from your face, you looked at the red and blue bundle in your hands.  Black strands that resembled webbing traced up and down the fabric, and a large nanotechnic spider adorned the middle of the suit.  Little suckers peppered the hands and feet of the suit.  A mask with wide white eyes fell out of the bundle and landed face up on the floor next to you.  As the eyes stared back up at you, you couldn’t help but feel that it was Peter watching your every move.

“The design is the exact same as Peter used to wear.  I’ve tweaked it a bit.  There’s a gap in the wrist so you can shoot those, what, are those actual webs you shoot?”  

“I don’t know, I’ve never actually analyzed its molecular structure,” you shrugged.

“Alright, so there’s a gap for you to shoot those web-like thingies from.  That’s new.  Plus, you know, some general upkeep, maintenance, and, of course, a complete OS update for the training wheels program complete with your very own Karen.  She’ll be your guardian angel.”

“Hello Y/N, my name is Karen.”  The robotic female voice greeted you as you pulled the mask over your head for the first time.

“Uhh, hi?”

“Mr. Stark has authorized you to begin the training wheels program in accordance with the commencement of your training as Spider-Man.  Would you like me to go through a complete tutorial of your suit?”

“Maybe later, thanks.”  You pulled the mask off, your Y/H/C flopping in your face as it poofed free of the constraint.

“So,” Tony quipped from the corner, programming the last of his drones with the anticipated training schematic.  “Let’s get started.”

******

To say your first foray into Spider-Man-ing was a disaster was an understatement.  It was the first time you’d ever tried swinging.  The mechanics of it were awkward.  Swinging was meant to be fluid, one smooth web shooting from your wrist at just the right moment as you propelled yourself forward with the one you just shot.  Peter made it look easy.  The reality couldn’t be further from the truth.  

“You alright?” Tony asked as you face planted into the wall for the umpteenth time.  

Groaning, you peeled your sticky body off of it and landed on the floor with a thump.  A dull ache thrummed throughout your entire body.  Peter hadn’t warned you about this part.  The sudden jolts and abrupt stops sent shocks of pain zapping through every painful web swing.  While the impact alone was enough to kill a normal human being, your mutated body could somehow withstand the worst of it.  Still, it hurt like a son of a bitch.  You sensed a cold shower and multiple bags of frozen peas were in your future plans.

“Why don’t we call it a night?  Go get cleaned up, we’ll go again tomorrow if you’re up for it.”  Tony switched off the lights, leaving you lying in the dark as he sauntered out of the gym, whistling all the while.  

“I’m detecting multiple contusions,” observed Karen. 

“Yeah, no shit.” 

******

You winced as you opened the freezer, piling as many bags of frozen veggies as you could find into your bruised arms. You planned on throwing them on every aching inch of flesh you could find and resigning yourself to your bedroom for the rest of the evening.  Dinner?  That was out of the question.  Maybe some Tylenol if you could find it.  Otherwise, you just didn’t have the energy to do anything.

As you turned the corner, a bounding figure crashed into your already sore body.  Frozen asparagus and corn flew all over the hallway as the bags flew out of your arms.

“Oh geez, I’m sorry,” a soft voice apologized.  The figure knelt down in the dimly lit hallway, reaching for the scattered bags. 

“No, sorry that was me,” you apologized in return.  “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”  You reached for a bag of peas, your hand lightly brushing over hers.  It recoiled quickly at your sudden touch, leaving you with the phantom feeling of her soft skin under yours.  “Oh, Wanda, hi.”

Bright green eyes stared back at you from the shadows.  You hadn’t spent much time with the witch or her brother in your two weeks at the Compound.  She was quiet, keeping mostly to herself outside of business unless she was with her twin, Pietro, or Natasha every so often.  Peter hadn’t talked about her much.  The most you ever got was an exaggerated tale about the Scarlet Witch controlling corpses to fight off a barrage of HYDRA agents.  Staring back into those bright orbs made you wonder whether or not he was actually telling you the truth.

“Y/N, right?”  She raised an eyebrow questioningly as you nodded in response.  “Nat’s told me about you.  Says you’re a terrible fighter,” Wanda chuckled.

“She’s not wrong,” you groaned as you pushed yourself off the floor.

“That’s the nice part about magic.  You don’t have to worry about getting punched.”

“Next time I get my DNA re-written, I’ll be sure to ask for magic powers instead of webs,” you joked.

“How long are you staying?” she asked, offering you a bag of corn.

“Just for another few weeks.  I’ll head back to the city before the start of the semester.”

“That’s how you know Peter, right?  You both go to the same college.”

“Yeah, Empire State.”

“What are you studying?”

“Biochemistry.  I’d like to go to med school after I’m done.”

“Oh wow,” Wanda’s eyes widened in awe.  “I’m always jealous of people in college.  I didn’t spend a lot of time in school when I was younger.  I wanted to.  I loved school when I was a kid.  I just never had time for it after my…” Her voice was tinged with sadness as she trailed off.  “You’re very lucky.”  Suddenly you felt a rush of shame for complaining about your packed schedule next semester.  

“Well, you know, it’s never too late to go.  I just wonder what the Scarlet Witch would major in,” you teased.  The throbbing in your knee was too painful to ignore by now, begging you to go back to your room and sit down.  But there you stayed, talking to Wanda Maximoff in the dulled illumination of the hallway.  This was the first conversation you’d ever had with her.  She was incredibly entrancing, her deep emerald eyes luring you in the longer you stayed and talked to her.

Wanda shook her head, eyes drifting to the tiled floor as she pondered your question for a moment.  “I don’t know,” she shrugged.  “I’ve never really thought about it before.”

“I’m sure you’d be good at whatever you wanted to do,” you offered.  

“Thanks, but I think I’ll stick to the magic for now,” Wanda smirked.  She wiggled her fingers, a flicker of red illuminating them as magic danced around her hand.  “I’m pretty good at this.”

“Fun as it is to watch you do that, I’m literally about to pass out.”  The magic faded just as quickly as it appeared.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she countered, walking past you and into the kitchen.

“Hey!” She turned.  “That story about the bodies and HYDRA…is that true?”

“Peter tell you that?”

“Yeah,” you admitted sheepishly.

Wanda opened her mouth as if to say something, closing it and tilting her head to look at you.  Even in the dim light you swore her eyes glowed the faintest hint of red.  “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Y/N.  But then again…” A devilish gleam spread over her otherwise angelic face.  

“I’ll remember to put a line of salt outside the door before I go to bed then.”

“What?”

“You know, to keep the-you know what?  Never mind, I’ll see you later.”  You turned on your heels as fast as you could manage, which wasn’t very given the state of your battered body.  With the thought of the Scarlet Witch puppeteering a corpse into your room fresh in your mind, you made sure to lock the door before collapsing into a deep sleep.

[sequinsmile-x]

hiiii friends <3

I never usually do this kind of thing, and I might delete this later, but I feel really kind of shitty about this at the minute and for once I'm going to say it.

I have never written for the feedback. Don't get me wrong, comments and kudos and reblogs make me so happy but it's not what I do it for. I write because I enjoy it, because it's one of the few hobbies I truly have that isn't ever impacted by my disability.

Saying that, these last few weeks, there has been a noticeable decline in interaction with what I am putting out there (especially on AO3) and it is really disheartening. And my anxiety peaks and tells me I'm past it and no one wants to read my fics anymore so why bother. (I do my best not to listen to that voice, because I know I write for me as much as I write for y'all...but it's hard)

It's always been odd. Multi-chapters ALWAYS get less interaction even though they take much more effort than one-shots. Some things take off even though I pulled them together in a couple of hours, and some things I've planned and spent days thinking about/pulling together don't.

And it's fine, but I am one of a handful of creators for this very small fandom. I'm never going to get 100s of notes here or comments on A03 because of the very nature that this fandom is small, and that's okay. I would rather write for something I truly love, a ship that has truly rotted my brain for close to 3 years, than something else just because it gets more interaction.

But today I'm just feeling a little sad about it, and if there's one thing I've learned it's sometimes better just to say it and get it out, and then move on.

(by move on i don't mean stop writing, i literally have so many thoughts for these two my brain might explode, i mean move on from feeling crappy about something i can't control haha)

[thebeckster]

Y'all want some unrelated to anything bed time ponderings? Of course you do!

Something I've been considering off and on since I started writing How Far Ahead The Road Has Gone, but quite a lot in the past few weeks, as I've been re-diving into LOTR, is the effect, if any, The One Ring would have on a child exposed to it's influence constantly, even before birth.

Like. My fic is mostly canon compliant. Bilbo finds the Ring, Bilbo keeps the Ring, Bilbo uses the Ring. A lot. Aside from it making her feel unwell if she wears it for too long there's no real drawback or cause for concern over this cool magic ring she found. So she uses it whenever she needs to disappear. She spends a month in the mirkwood kingdom wearing it almost constantly. All the while, she's pregnant.

The characters don't know, but the audience will absolutely know that Sauron's Ring is a huge source of malice and corruption. We know what the Ring does to Ring Bearers. But what about the Ring Born?

And like. None of this will have any bearing on the actual story itself. It'll be done long before Bella grows up. But i can't help but ponder the long-term effects such a thing would have on her.

What happens to her when she's exposed to the One Ring in utero and as a newborn and as a child and growing up so close to the influence of the Ring? Because she never leaves her mother's side for so long, and Bilbo never goes a day without the Ring.

Does it change her fundamentally for the worse? Does it make her a crueler, meaner, greedier, more power-hungry Hobbit than most? Does it create tension and division between her and her mother? Both feeling the draw of the ring and a sense of ownership over it and the addiction of it. Does it make her feel ill at ease in the Shire, knowing it's not where she belongs, feeling like such a place will only smother her? Does it give her an uncanny-ness that other hobbits just cannot abide (though they couldn't say why that Baggins girl makes them feel so strange) and it leaves her feeling ostracized from her own people, an unwelcome stranger in her homeland?

Or maybe it's the opposite. Maybe early exposure innoculates her, in a sense, against the Ring's power and corruption. Hobbits being more resistant than most to the corruption, simply because they do not desire the kind of power the Ring promises. Maybe the way Bilbo takes the Ring, not in an act of violence but with an act of mercy, immunizes her baby to it. Maybe Bella, being an infant and not developed enough to want anything beyong Food, Comfort, and Mom, cannot be influenced at all. Maybe the exposure strengthens her ability to resist temptation to cruelty and hate. Perhaps she grows up to be the sweetest and happiest of Hobbits. And the Ring would have little influence on her. Perhaps not to the same extent of Tom Bombadil immunity, but closer to that than any living mortal could be.

What if exposure to the Ring at such a crucial stage in her development gives her Power? Sauron put all his power into the Ring, to the point where the destruction of it means his destruction. The Ring works upon the hearts/souls of the people around it. What about an unborn child? Would that appear to the Ring as an empty vessel? Would it choose to give some power to another host or would it be involuntary? Would the power just bleed through without notice? Particularly when Bilbo spent a solid month swathed in the power of the Ring. What could that power even be? Like the Ring's power, would it be according to Bella's stature/nature? Could she turn invisible at will? Or would that power manifest in different ways? What happens to a person who has absorbed some of a Maiar's power unknowingly? Could Sauron be destroyed if Bella still lived?

And would Anybody know what to do about it? Beyond the dwarves, is there anyone else who sired or bore a child while bearing a Ring of Power? Are Ring-Born children a thing? (It doesn't seem to be for the Dwarves, but they also were not corrupted and controlled by their Rings as the Men were) Do the elves have some idea of what to expect? Would their experiences be able to hold up to whatever is going on with Bella? The difference between the Three Elven Rings and the One Ring (to rule them all) has to change so much. Would Bella just be some worrying Unknown, watched carefully from afar?

So much to think about and literally none of it matters for the story I'm telling! But it's fun ponderings at bedtime! And if you don't think i haven't dropped a grown Bella into various scenes from LotR just to see if she might have anything to say or be told. (Girl's gonna be at the Council of Elrond with her mother, and when Bilbo has her "all right i get it. I started this mess, I'll finish it and take the ring to Mordor." moment and gets gently told "no way, you're too old (and also we're never letting you touch that Ring again)" then Bella would naturally be the next one to say, "I'll do it in my mother's stead." To which Elrond having a 'I haven't stopped freaking out about it since i realized you were literally birthed under the influence of the One Ring. Please tell me you haven't had children because I'm suddenly Very Concerned about your bloodline.' panic moment will immediately shoot that idea down. Leading to Frodo's 'if my Aunt Bilbo and my Cousin Bella can't take the Ring to Mordor, then I will!' declaration.) Is that at all ever going to get turned into a fic? Not as far as I'm concerned at the moment. Has it still been great fun to think about? Absolutely yes.

[swords-of-a-soilder]

Hey guys just a reminder to think critical about the information present to you, when in doubt check it yourself!

I still see misinformation spread about this situation despite it being mostly over. Please note the "victim's" (in quotes because she doesn't seem to like being called such) account is not Private.

You can check for yourself if you see someone sharing around a screenshot of what she allegedly said, it was private before but it's not anymore you can check.

All I ask is you don't harass her; I will say at the moment as someone who's made the mistake of publicity saying "I'm a victim of domestic abuse" and then got spammed by assholes telling me I deserved the abuse and or I'm lying about it, it seems most of her haters are just misgontic trolls.

I've only seen one of them claim to be in support of Forver but the hash tags they present for their movement "protect forever" is just a spam hashtag for a movie promotion and "we Stan with forever" is completely empty.

(I'm not gonna link it because I think it's irrelevant, the person who made the comment is very clearly a troll who intents to make Forver look bad. If you support Forever you would respect the "victim" as he requested)

That being said as someone who's study her account and way of typing for the past few days please know her character right now is "this is what happened but I'm not a victim and please leave Forver alone".

so without naming any names if you see a burner/alt account Sharing a screenshot of her saying something along the lines of oh idk, "Forver has done a lot worst that what it seems they're trying to clean up his image you don't know the full story."

And you, like me was just on her account that morning because despite "ending" your research for mental health reasons you find yourself still looking into it by second nature.

And didn't see a single tweet like that despite checking the replies, yeah press X to doubt on that motherfucker

People will lie for; attention and or to make Forever look worst, do not forget that this started with an Anti and whether you believe it or not antis will contuine to fan the flames so people don't start questioning them.

And it's no coincidence that as soon as a lot of people as started expressing concern of the intention of the account that cancelled Forever, that a screenshot of the victim acting out of character and directly accuassing Forver start circulating.

Check for yourself

Again the "victims" account isn't private right now, you should be able find it on your own but if you been searching for a while and genuinely can't dm me (at least try first, don't spam me) with you regular account no atls or burners, I won't be exposing anyone if that's y'all fear but again as someone who's been harassed by trolls before for Just saying I was a victim I don't trust y'all like that.

You shouldn't be afarid of anyone knowing you went looking for the account anyways, as long as you have good intentions.

If you ask for it using your official active account I will be in less doubt that you want to just harass her for the fun of it. Also I don't wanna just leave the link on this post so ass-wipe who didn't even read the post can click and it try to harass her into going Private again.