#i would have live blogged this but with the heat comment I guess it makes sense why I did not

[ddems2]

The last two days were surreal, the heat was insane, but I finally saw a gran tour in person

[rose-pearls]

The Perils of Love - Part 2

Did I already had an idea for the second part of The Perils of Love? Definitely and here it is! Thank you for all the comments and love I didn't think so many people would like it! I hope you like this chapter! Requests are also open!

Relations: Clarisse La Rue x reader (endgame), Luke Castellan x reader, platonic!Silena x reader, platonic!Percy Jackson x reader

Main taglist: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187, @nyx2021, @thestarspangledcaptain, @kmc1989 (open)

The Perils of Love Taglist: @chadmeeksmartinswifey, @liv444me, @justanotherkpopstanlol, @taygrls, @10ava01, @2hiigh2cry, @lucycarlisleswife, @thekittyxo-blog, @ahh-chickens, @exactlycoralfox, @quackitysdrugdealer, @lafemmii, @flower-lise, @jaegerlisa1, @valenftcrush, @bdscsjhb, @niktwazny303, @llovvessssssssssssss, @etheriaaly, @spidergyall, @acourtofdeppressionandanxiety

It was quiet, far too quiet after having lived in the Hermes cabin for so long. A statue of Zeus was in the middle of the room, and you couldn’t help but think how vain you father must be to put a statue of himself in here. 

The afternoon had been chaotic, with Mister D and Chiron taking you away from the group to talk, Percy the only one allowed with you as you were now both children of the big three. After that they had sent you to your new cabin, you still had to retrieve your clothes and stuff from the Hermes cabin, but you just needed a moment. 

The quiet was suddenly broken by a loud whistle.

“Damn, Zeus really made an effort here,” you hear Clarisse say as she looks around, curious eyes looking around the room. She was right, it was much bigger than the other cabin’s you had seen with a living room when you entered and a second floor where multiple beds could be placed. It looked like a bank, mixed with lightening bolds and clouds drawn on the ceiling.

“He sure did, wonder why,” you can’t help but say, wondering for the hundredth time in the past hour why the God of Thunder had suddenly decided you were worth something.

There was a silence that accompanied your words before you felt the couch dip and the smell of woods filled your senses. 

“How are you doing?”, Clarisse looks unsure when you turn to her, but the only thing you can do is sigh in response.

“I don’t know, my father suddenly decides that I’m worth something and claims me in front of everyone. Now I am going to be living in this enormous cabin alone and everyone will probably avoid me because a child of the big three is like the most dangerous thing possible,” you take a deep breath after spilling everything that you had been thinking. Clarisse seems surprised at your outburst, and you feel your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. 

“Sorry, I guess it just needed to get out and you are the first person I talked to since then. Percy had to stay with Chiron,” Clarisse makes a noise of disagreement as you turn to look at your hands.

“I don’t mind, really. I mean your life did a complete turnaround in the last hour I think it’s normal for you to be having a hard time,” a smile appears on your lips without you even noticing, and as you look at her, she has a soft smile on her lips, one that you haven’t seen before. 

“I can’t tell you that it will all be alright but try to see the good side of it all, now you have a cabin for yourself without idiots running around all the time,” her words make you snort as you can’t help but agree, as much as you loved the comradery in the Hermes cabin it was always chaotic. 

“And if anyone has a problem with you, you tell me and I’ll make sure they don’t say anything anymore,” the sweet look she had just a second ago has morphed into determination and you can’t stop yourself from smiling.

“Don’t worry Clarisse I’ll be fine, but thank you,” you tell her, and she nods slowly, she looks unsure for a moment and the both of you look at each other before she finally speaks.

“I’m here for you, if you ever need something I will always be there,” she says it with such determination and emotions that you can only believe her, feeling lost at the feeling in your chest at her words.

“Thank you. I’m also always there for you if you need me,” you tell her with a soft smile and she seems surprised for a moment before nodding, you don’t know if you are tired or if there is really a blush on her cheeks. 

“I should go pick up my stuff at the Hermes cabin otherwise I will never get settled in before the bonfire tonight,” Clarisse has a bright smile at the words before getting up with you.

“So, I’ll be seeing you at the bonfire tonight?”, she seems confident as she speaks, but you can see some doubt lingering in her eyes.

“Of course, I’ll see you there!”, you tell her as she looks at you for a moment, seemingly trying to read your expression. Before you can ask her if everything is alright you feel a soft kiss on your cheek and Clarisse running off before you can say anything.

Your mouth is wide open, and your cheeks feel like they are burning as you touch the spot where she kissed you, the feeling of her lips still lingering there. 

--

“Coming to pick up your stuff?”, you hear as you are packing up one of your shirts in the bag, Luke is leaning against one of the double beds as you look behind you.

“I am, otherwise, I will have to come back every time for my stuff. Might not be se practical,” you tell him awkwardly, you didn’t know how to act around him anymore, not after the conversation you had overheard yesterday.

“I guess congratulations are in order,” he says after a few seconds of silence, and you turn around to look at him properly.

“Thank you, never thought this day would come but it has,” the both of you look at each other for a moment before Luke sighs.

“You know that you are always welcome here, right? Don’t ever hesitate to come by, I know the younger kids will miss you,” he says, and you can’t help but smile at his words, you would also miss them and their youthful innocence. 

“I’ll miss you too,” the words make you turn to look back at him from the bunks you were looking at and you can see him now being closer to you then before.

“Really?”, you can’t help but ask, feeling unsure after what he had said to Chris but as you look into the familiar brown eyes you can’t seem to find any trace of lying.

“Of course, you were here for three years I don’t know how it will be now that you aren’t here anymore,” you want to tell him that it will probably better for him without you clinging to him as Chris has said it, but you can’t find the strength to say it.

Luke gets closer to you and suddenly you find yourself having to look slightly upwards to look him in the eyes.

“Don’t be a stranger,” he whispers, and you shake your head slowly, trying to find an answer while getting lost in his eyes.

“I won’t,” you tell him, sure of yourself and Luke seems relieved at your words before he gets even closer to you.

And for a moment the two of you look at each other, wondering what was about to happen and if you should really cross that line until the door of the cabin slams open making the both of you jump away in surprise. Silena is at the entrance of the door, looking at the both of you with angry eyes and you suddenly wonder what you had done to have the Aphrodite girl mad at you.

“I’m here to help you get your stuff to your cabin,” she says, and you would’ve found the gesture sweet if she hadn’t still been glaring at the two of you.

“Thank you, I just finished packing everything,” you say after awkwardly clearing your throat.

“I guess I’ll see you around Luke,” the boy nods in agreement, looking a bit scared to answer as the Aphrodite girl is still glaring at him.

The walk to your cabin is silent, Silena not speaking a word to you, and you know better than to try and say something when she has ignored your previous attempts at a conversation.

“You need to make a choice,” she suddenly says as you drop your bags near your bed, making you look at her with wide eyes.

“What do you mean?”, you feel confused at her statement, but she just lets out a loud sigh, looking annoyed.

“Between Luke and Clarisse, you can’t play with their emotions forever,” the words are like a slap in the face as you look at the girl with wide eyes.

“Wait-what?! I am not doing anything like that!”, you can’t help but say, your voice getting louder as you feel insulted by what she insinuated, as if you had been playing on purpose with their emotions.

“I don’t even know why you would even say that when there is nothing happening between me and Luke or me and Clarisse,” you say before she can even open her mouth and she scoffs loudly.

“You know for a daughter of Zeus you really are clueless,” she says, and you feel even more frustrated.

“What in the gods name do you mean?”, you can feel the anger coming up, as you try to remember what could possibly have led to this conversation.

“It is not my place to tell you, but you really should open up your eyes before you hurt all three of you,” she says with a cold look and you feel once again lost, you thought that the two of you had gotten closer last night but now looking at her you couldn’t remember the sweet girl from that night.

“Acting like a victim or like you don’t know what I’m talking about won’t get you anywhere,” the words feel like a slap in the face, and you try to keep yourself calm but the sound of thunder makes the two of you look up. The ceiling that had previously been a soft gray was now getting darker with thunder rumbling. 

“Get out,” you tell her before turning around, not wanting to see the girl any longer after what she had just told you. 

And for a moment you thought that she had left before her voice broke your thoughts once again, only this time softer.

“I’m sorry, for what I said it wasn’t fair,” the words are spoken softly, carefully like she wants to make sure you don’t get angry.

“It’s okay, guess you needed to say what you really thought, good to know what people think of me,” you can’t help but mutter as you put the last of your stuff away, not hearing the sigh Silena lets out.

“I didn’t think that, not really, I guess that I am protective of Clarisse and sometimes I attack people who hurt her like some kind of-”, she seems to try and find the correct word, so you turn around with raised eyebrows.

“A chihuahua?”, she snorts at the words before nodding slowly, letting you think of her previous words.

“Why do you think I hurt Clarisse? I saw her just two hours ago and everything was fine,” you tell her, and she sighs quietly before sitting down on your bed with a grimace.

“She’s going to kill me,” she whispers under her breath while you can’t help but look at her feeling confused.

“Clarisse likes you; she has for the past two years and probably before that,” the words are like a bullet, hitting you right through your chest. You don’t know what to say as you open and close your mouth multiple times. Silena has an understanding smile on her lips as she pats the spot next to her on the bed, making you sink into it while your thoughts are running wild.

“I didn’t- I really didn’t know,” you tell her, and she nods quietly, like she already knew what you were going to say.

“I know, you don’t seem to realize that people are interested in you,” she says it like a fact, and you can’t help but nod in agreement.

“I don’t know what to do,” you say after a moment, your voice barely above a whisper but Silena seems to have heard you as she sighs.

“I think that you need to wrap your head around all of this and that you need to think about who you really have feelings for. But if you don’t go for Clarisse, please be kind to her, she looks tough, but she has a soft spot,” the words are carefully said but you can’t help but feel offended as she seems to think you would hurt the Ares girl.

“Of course, I would never hurt her,” you say quickly and Silena smiles knowingly, as if she knows something that you don’t know yet.

“Good, I’ll let you think in peace,” she says before getting up and squeezing your shoulder in reassurance.

The silence of the cabin is once again taking over the place but this time you welcome it as your head is filled with questions. Silena seemed to think that both Luke and Clarise were interested in you and that you had to make a choice. Your groan loudly as you put your head into a cushion, wondering how you were going to make a decision.

You had always liked Luke, or at least had a crush on him but as you think back of the last few days the only thing you can think about is Clarisse. The way she had quickly taken you under her wing, kissed you on the cheek and came to see you to make sure you were alright. 

Your thoughts are quickly broken by a loud bang of the door, making you jump in surprise.

“Sorry for the door but I am officially moving in!”, you hear Percy yell and as you look over the silver balcony you come face to face with a smiling Percy, a pillow under his arm and a bag with his stuff in his hand.

“You do know that we have pillows here?”, you say teasingly, unable not to smile as the boy shrugs his shoulders and starts climbing up the stairs. The sight of him makes you calm down as you finally feel at ease for a moment.

“I hope it isn’t an issue that I’m here, it just gets lonely there,” he says, looking a bit awkward for a moment but you just take his bag out of his hand to bring it to the bed on the other side of the room.

“Of course not! I’m glad that you are here, it was getting a bit to calm in here,” you say after a moment and Percy seems relieved at your words.

“So, what’s the gossip?”, Percy asks after laying down like a starfish on the bed making you snort.

“What do you want to know?”, the boy looks unsure for a moment before a mischievous grin appears.

“Everything, but perhaps what is happening between you and Clarisse at the moment,” you glare at the boy, who tries to look innocent, but you can see the mischief in his eyes.

“Fine, I need your opinion on this. But first we are making hot chocolate and face masks,” Percy seems unsure at the second option, but you give him a pointed look before picking up the stuff you would need.

And that is how you find yourself half an hour later in the living room with hot chocolate and the both of you with a face mask telling him everything that had happened.

--

The bonfire was already in full swing as you arrived with Percy, the both of you had quickly gotten ready when you had realized how late it was.

“Now go get her!”, Percy says with a big smile as you look scared for a moment, and you turn around to give him a soft smile.

“Thank you for the advice,” you say but the boy simply shrugs his shoulders, a smile on his lips.

“Always here if you need me, that is what family is for after all,” he says, like it’s the simplest thing in the world and you can’t help but feel a bit emotional at the words.

“I’ll see you later in our cabin?”, Percy quickly nods with a large grin before giving you a thumbs up and moving towards Annabeth and Grover who were waiting for him.

You turn to look back at the rest of the bonfire, but you can’t seem to find the Ares girl, the only girl you find at that moment is Silena, who looks pained. You feel confused as to why before you turn to look closer and see Clarisse and a girl talking, or rather flirting with each other. It feels like someone has thrown a bucket of water over you as you look at the two of them, they looked perfect for each other, and you couldn’t shake the feeling of jealousy as you saw Clarisse touching the other girls leg.

“Please talk to her,” Silena says, and you turn around to suddenly find her next to you. You try to say something, but you aren’t able to as you look at both girls.

“What’s the point? She seems happy, I don’t want to disturb her,” you can’t help but say, feeling defeated.

“Look she is just acting like an idiot to get your attention, she was mad when she saw Luke and you nearly kissing so she is probably trying to see if you will react to her flirting with someone else,” Silena seems to be trying to explain everything as quickly as possible, as if she is scared that you would run out of time or that you would just leave.

“Fine, I’ll talk to her, after all it seems to be my fault she is talking to that girl. But if she tells me to leave, I am leaving,” you say, and Silena quickly nods in agreement. You take a moment to collect all the possible courage you will need before walking towards the two girls.

“Clarisse, hi, could I talk to you?”, you could’ve just started a conversation and then ask the question, but you just needed to talk to her.

“Why?”, the Ares girl suddenly asks, and you feel lost, she doesn’t seem that happy to see you and you try not to feel hurt as she looks at you like you were just some dirt on the side of the road.

“Because I need to talk to you about something, private,” you say as you quickly look at the other girl before turning back towards Clarisse.

“Why don’t you go talk with Castellan, I’m sure he’ll be interested,” she says with a mean smile, and you feel like the air has left your lungs as she turns back to the girl she was talking to.

“Clarisse, please,” you say softly and for a moment you wonder if she has heard you before you see her look up and look at something behind you. You get ready to look at what she could possibly be looking at, but she gets up before you can.

“Fine, you have five minutes,” she says, and you let out a sigh of relief as you follow her away from the bonfire and into the woods.

Your relief is quickly forgotten as you start to wonder how you are going to tell her everything. She seems impatient as she has her arms crossed in front of her and her eyebrows raised at you, making you laugh nervously.

“You know in some cultures, crossing your arms means that you are closing yourself of or protecting yourself,” you can’t help but say, and you want to slap yourself as you realize what you just said.

“So, you took me away to tell me some fun facts? Because then I am leaving,” she says and you see that she is ready to go but you take her arm and she stops immediately, looking at your hand on her arm.

“Sorry, I’m just nervous, let me start again?”, she seems unsure but nods slowly and you clear your throat.

“Right, I don’t really know how to say it, but I guess I’ll start by this. I like you Clarisse,” the words feel like a relief but is short lived as Clarisse scoffs and takes her arm out of your grip.

“Is this a joke? First Castellan now me. Did he reject you and you decided to come to the second-best option?”, the words are like a punch in the guts, and you take a few seconds to react but as you watch her leave, this time towards the lake you can’t help but react.

“Wait! Clarisse! This is not a joke!”, you yell as you follow her and you finally manage to find her as she arrives at the lake, the both of you out of breath.

“Really? How come you were so close to him this afternoon? How come after three years of pining over him you suddenly seem interested in me?”, she yells, and you can see the hurt in her eyes, the pain in them.

“Because I never knew you were an option for me. I never knew you even knew my name Clarisse, so I didn’t think that something could happen between us,” you yell back, feeling desperate for her to listen to you.

“I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize that you were there, that you always were but I am here now, and I am ready to go on my knees to beg you for just a chance,” you tell her, breathless, as you approach her. 

“I have loved you for three years,” she whispers, like a wounded animal, as if she is scared that you would hurt her but instead you take her hand in yours, unsure if she will reject you or not but she just grips it tightly.

“I know, Silena told me,” you tell her softly and her eyes widen at the words, anger coming up but you take her chin between your fingers, making her look at you.

“I am going to kill her,” she whispers, and you smile at the words.

“Please don’t, she’s the one that made me realize just how much I liked you,” you whisper, and she looks surprised for a moment before realizing just how close you were.

“She also helped me go talk to you when I was feeling jealous at the sight of you and that girl,” it’s hard to admit but as you see her eyes sparkling at the confession, you know that you did the right thing.

“Now you know how I felt,” she says, and you can’t help but feel bad.

“I know, I’m sorry for that,” you tell her, but she simply shrugs her shoulders before coming even closer to you.

“Tell me what you wanted to tell me,” she whispers and you shudder at the closeness of her lips against yours but you nod slowly, enjoying her smirk at your reaction.

“I love you Clarisse La Rue and I wanted to ask you if you would like to go on a date with me?”, you make sure that the words are said clearly, that there couldn’t be a misunderstanding.

Clarisse’s lips melting against yours is the only answer you need, as she kisses you like you are the air she needs to breath. You quickly kiss her back, one hand cupping her cheek while the other grabs onto her curls making her moan softly.

“You are going to be the death of me princess,” she whispers, breathless before bringing you into an even deeper kiss, her hands gripping your waist tightly. 

“So, I guess this is a, yes?”, you ask feeling like you are on cloud nine and as you feel her smile against your skin you know you don’t even need her to answer.

“A million times yes,” she whispers against your skin, making you shiver, before continuing to drop soft kisses against your skin.

--

Life had been better ever since that night, Clarisse often joining you into your cabin and learning to live with Percy as the two of them slowly started liking each other more. There were still quests and monsters waiting for you but as you felt her strong arms holding you closer to her, you knew everything would be alright.

[withleeknow]

how he would take care of you during shark week. ⤷ chan / minho / changbin / hyunjin / jisung / felix / seungmin / jeongin

pairing: minho x f!reader genre/warnings: established relationship, lil fluff, lil angst, mentions of physical pain bc it's shark week and we're cramping lol ok, unedited bc i wrote this a couple months ago and i just wanted to post smth today and i'm currently half asleep word count: 0.4k

as always, i’d appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have, and please drop a like and/or reblog if you enjoy reading ♡

main masterlist / blurb masterlist / ko-fi

minho comes home to a quiet house, four of his favorite beings nowhere to be found. he takes off his shoes, hangs up his jacket, put his keys where he can easily fetch them the next morning, and ventures into the living room. though, he soon stops in his tracks when his eyes find the couch situated in the middle of the room.

there’s a human-sized lump completely hidden under a fleece blanket on the cream-colored sofa, surrounded by soonie, doongie, and dori, all curled up and sleeping peacefully.

doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the lump is.

you, his love.

minho approaches the couch with careful footsteps and a pretty good guess as to why you’ve resorted to being a lump for the day. the tracker app on his phone did notify him that it should happen any day now.

when he sits down by your feet, soonie shoots up with a hiss before calming down immediately afterward, upon the realization that it's just his other owner.

“hey,” minho calls softly, placing a hand on your leg. “you sleeping?”

there’s a grunt, then the lump moves. he assumes it’s you shaking your head under there.

“does it hurt?” he asks.

the lump shifts again - a nod, he thinks - but this time, it’s accompanied by a softer sound, nearly a whimper.

he sighs, because he hates to see you in pain. hates that this helpless feeling has become a monthly visitor in your home. the first two days are often the worst for you.

“i’ll be right back,” he says, and again, he doesn’t get anything other than an incoherent noise, but it’s not like he was expecting a verbal response anyway.

minho returns a few minutes later with all of the essentials that you were in too much discomfort to get yourself. your trusty heating pad, a glass of warm water and pills, your favorite mango almond chocolate, a fluffy pillow so your neck doesn’t hurt from lying on the couch for too long.

peeling the blanket off so that he can prop the pillow under your head and give you the heating pad, he practically winces when he sees the pained expression on your face. you open your eyes to find him, and you look like you're close to crying. this month must be worse than usual.

“i’ll make you something to eat and then you can take your painkillers,” he tells you.

“thank you.” the words come out weak, but minho knows you mean them.

soft lips press themselves against your forehead, full of love and an unspoken i wish i could do more for you.

“i love you. give me twenty minutes, okay?”

permanent taglist: @onlyycb97wife @starsandrqindrops @borahae-reads @abbiestearsricochet @cutiespaghetti @anthropologykpopmultistan @moonlinos @mjnhoz @caitlyn98s @piercidh34rts  @stayceebs97 @linocz @yaorzu-blog @biribarabiribbaem @kayleefriedchicken @extrhotjne @caitxx1 @palindrome969 @todorokiskitten @azuna-sz @meanergreener @nxzz-skz @jazziwritesthings @poutypoutybin @bookyeom @jisuperboard @wyzminho @amarecerasus @channection @lastgreatamericandynasty1 @judeduartewannabe @chanshyunjin @firelordtsuki @astronomicallyyy @alm334 @lashaemorow (italicized = can’t tag)

all rights reserved © withleeknow. reposting, translating and/or modifying is not permitted by any means. [posted 02.04.2024]

[herejusttosufferalong]

Okay, I just want to get it off my chest and share my thoughts about what happening with them and their dynamics.

I do recognize we have too little information, and we'll never know, but still I just want to.

After reading all the rumours about them and his break up from various points of view, I feel like they are both right now in very gray and problematic area of their relationships. Upcomming months or even a year will show me if I am right. Blogs who make people think that's not mutual attraction and pinning from both sides are living in delulu land, as well as blog stating Nick rejected him imo.

The way I see it. They both wanted it for a long time, and they've just admitted it that it's not just friendship. Press tour was a trigger, Something sparkled and got out, that was sitting there for a very long time. I mean even Nick comment about 'level of chemistry'. I think their case is subconsciously desiring each other or observing each other from afar, while slightly being interested and acting as friends the whole time because of the other relationship and duties. They've never acted on it during filming though first 2 season, but i 3rd season experience changed the way they see each other. Filming somehow allowed them to fulfill their interest in that area. It's funny, cause I do think it worked as first Polin kiss for them lol. Something shifted during the filming, I fell like for Luke especially. Then, did they hook-up? Who knows, but it seems with the break-up Luke was confused enough. Whatever happened, could it be they've never acted on it or Nic told him its not the right time, or they together decided it was unnessary, or maybe they've never acknowledged that. Anyways, they both took a break. Luke, erm, doing whatever he's doing to heal, while Nic working and maybe dating Eamon. And, well, they kinda forgot and did the relief sigh, thinking they won't need to deal with all of that, cause Luke finally got himself soothed down with A with the unfair power dynamic, where he's not likely to hurt, and Nic just was doing quiet alright, feeling happy.

Well, well, well, the thing is those kinds of feelings, they'll never disapper, u know. Doesn't matter how much you try to close the eyes, it's just there, until you wll act on it.

Press tour started. Nick was or was not in relationship. Someone told tht maybe she broke up with smn in March, while Luke was feeling it for A certainly, untill they started to spend time together again.

And so it went, and it got messier, my lord! This time I guess Luke was aware, juding longing looks that he gave her during all the interviews in Dec, Jan and Feb(but still like it will fade away, I have a girl now), but Nic was kinda still in the era 'aw, we are just friends, lets hype up the season, it would be fun'.

I think that Instyle stunt was like him, really thinking it's serious with Antonia, I bet.

And then Nic and Luke started spending time together again, and they got really flirty, and things stated to heat up. That time the brick of realization hit Nicola. As many said before, her final point was Brazil, Italy was very weird for me, cause it seemed they were slightly worked up and at the same time enjoying each other company, holding hands and e.t.c. But Luke sometimes was kinda pissed with her, while Nic shading all the 'friends to lovers interviews'. I feel like in the beginning of the tour she was friendlier and less subtle with him, but in Italy they were kinda hot and cold. Nic was not THAT touchy INTIMATE feely until Braxil, while Luke only gave her checking-out looks. They were having fun as friends, flirting and so on, time passed, and whatever they did to easy the tension, Brazil was very diffirent! After that they kinda both admitted that it's there and gave into it, doing more and more unhindged things every time. That's the point, when they are stylists started communicating, and I don't think it was a concidence. Luke was feeling it since the filming, I guess. Kinda trope 'he fell first, she felt harded'. Nicola got herself hooked by whatever they were planing to do to sell of their chemistry lol 😆

Luke was still up for it, although in relationships with A. Maybe, he thought it would pass, but nope(sorry lol). And that what made me think that NOW he is even more lost than before. I think A requested to get acknowledgment, cause she watched them in their bubble and realised something is not right(AND IT IS NOT) and it got right in every of her insecurity. This Brazil hair cut was funny, Don't get me wrong, she is young. If I were 23, I would do the same, but you kinda just can't make someone to deny their feelings, no matter how hard you try, That's way paps happened, and that's way I think Luke got more overhelmed, feeling like she's right in her desire to be offical and at the same time thinking about their press tour with Nic.I don't know if Nic and him really spoke about it or maybe they did, and now it's just the way it is. The pap photos got out, and I think Nic is pissed on timing and her feelings make it not easy, and now his time to get it or loose it.

But I do enjoy their dynamic. For me, Luke seems tender and softboy, no matter what he's trying to do with his looks, while Nic is way stronger and dominant, but they do find comfort in each other. I guess he is indeed a lot like Colin, and Nic is kinda Penelope Whistledown post 3rd season era. I like watching couples like that, yay! Thanks for comming to my Ted talk!

I really appreciate you TED talk anon, thank you!!!

I have gotten a bunch of asks recently from people who are claiming to be new to this fandom ship. This right here is a great jumping off point for thoughts and theories regarding the current timeline.

I don't fully agree with everything but a lot of it is consistent with the general theory between L and N within the fandom.

[tonguet33]

My

My Creepypasta hair headcanons no one asked for because I *just* made this blog

[This is my first post so just a couple characters, I take requests !! also I'll make X reader if i feel like i can represent the character authenticity !!]

Eyeless jack

HE IS A BLACK BRITISH GOTH.

I think his hair would be a bit past shoulder length, probably in locs or twists.

Maybe a bit grown out but I think he'd perfer it like that, since yk organ harvesting with freshly retwisted hair isn't exactly ideal.

Also hair jewelry?? I think he'd prefer something metal n sturdy, something that can withstand the wear and tear of his hunts with out breaking. (Yes I've been affected by that one fanart of ej with locs and hair jewelry)

I think he has a habit of wearing his hair infront of his face to hide his eyes, I think his eyes in particular are something he's especially sore about. However if he needs to I think he'd tie back his hair with a scrunchy into a ponytail or a high bun.

His hair probably just smells earthy I guess?? I don't think he'd really have BO since he's at least partially demon. I think he'd just smell like actual dirt or soil, or maybe rubbing alcohol if he's been doing surgical junk.

Nina Hopkins

Let me start this off by saying that in my AU she is Afro Venezuelan, because A) @/seireitonin on tt has the coolest cosplay of her, so that imprinted on my verson of Nina. And B) the orginal creator of NTK is Venezuelan (or at least lives in Venezuela from what I know), and since no ethnic or racial background was mentioned in her original story I think of her as Venezuelan by default. :33

I think when her hair wasn't straightened it'd be in colorful goddess braids or soft locs, probably styled with a deep side part like most scene and emo hair.

TONS of hair accessories.

Owns clip on raccoon tails in every color you can think of, the black stripes drawn in with sharpie.

I think once she matured she's since abandoned a ponytail as her main style and has her hair down more often. Other than killer activities or if she wants her hair out of the way.

Her hair is a bit heat damaged, all that styling with a flat iron and no heat protectant starts to effect you after a while, but you only live once right?? That's what Nina thinks anyway :33

Her hair probably smells like got2Bglued hairspray or some mix of hair products and her perfume.

Jeffery Woods

Nasty, greasy, fithy, matte-

Let's just say he doesn't beat the greasy haired metal head stereotype.

I think his neglection of his hair is partly because of his mental illness, and also because he genuinely just doesn't care about his appearance past his carved smile and how intimidating he looks (or that's at least what he says). Chosing not to dive into how insecure I think he really is though !!

I think he'd complain about his hair getting in his face but doesnt use most hair ties/accessories because he thinks they're "too girly". He has a bad habit of using regular rubber bands in his hair and they rip or beak his hair off.

His hair is matted in certain sections (me too Jeff, me too) and between the lack of consistent water sources and horrible personal hygiene in general, his hair doesn't smell the best. I think if he isn't living in the mansion (which I headcanon a lot of the creeps squat in other places, since being in the mansion means being closer to slenderman so more work + fights w other creeps other for space.) then he'd just shower in a victims home if he really wanted to.

Request junk n I'll probably do it !!

Jeff dyes his hair black and it is so incredibly damaged, he misses spots when dying and if you get up close you can see it.

Has had the same brush since he was a teenager (no emotional attachment he just thinks the brush makes no difference anyway) and refuses to spend money to get a new one becuase "this one still works"

[The rest in the Comments so it's not too crowded]

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

This is going to get personal, and emotional, so just scroll by if you don't wanna cringe yourself to death.

This may stem partly from the heat exhaustion I endured earlier while fighting with yard work, and also from exhaustion from grappling with my child starting school, and also also with general stress, and.

In short, I very well may be a little delirious. But I haven't said so in a while, and I just want you guys to know the following important information:

I love you all so fckin much.

All of you. Muties that interact regularly or just chill on the sidelines, creative anons in the ask box, lurkers who might be to shy to say anything (I usually fall into that category too so do not feel bad, I understand that people are scary which is why I remain as anonymous as possible myself). I love

Absolutely

All

Of

You.

Like. Every time I see an ask that starts with something like "I hope this is okay" or "If you don't want to answer you don't have to" or, GODS FORBID "Please ignore this if it's a problem," anything like that, I just. Wanna give you the biggest hug ever, and wrap you in a comfy blanket and give you all your favorite snacks and make sure you feel safe and comfortable here.

This blog is my own safe space. I'm the human equivalent of a mouse in reality. People scare tf out of me. If I could, I'd happily live in a remote cabin in the middle of the wilderness with a few pets and never have any further face-to-face interaction with other humans again, with the sole exception of my child and one of my nieces. I second guess every single word that comes out of my mouth, even around people I love and care about and would frankly die for. I just. Am not good at people-ing.

My identity here as an unknowable horror isn't just to be silly. I really have a lot of trouble identifying with anyone else, and I legitimately feel like an alien or a monster most of the time.

I second guess everything I post here, no matter how much I try not to. No matter how much I remind myself that it's not important what other people think, and that their opinions have no bearing at all on my day-to-day life.

So maybe it's a little hypocritical of me to say that none of you have any reason to worry about asking or commenting anything, when I spend ninety percent of my own time worrying about everything, including made-up problems that haven't even happened yet and likely never will.

But I really, really do not want you guys to ever worry, or ever feel like you have to apologize, or ever second-guess anything here.

If the world scares you as much as it scares me, and you need somewhere that you can be unapologetically yourself without any judgment, then you are both welcomed and encouraged to do just that here, while I try to do the same thing myself.

This stems a lot from my mom. I lost her when I was sixteen. She had a brain aneurysm and passed away very unexpectely. She picked me up from school, we had dinner together, and a few hours later she was gone. It's incredibly hard for me to talk about her, but I need to mention her here, because she was always my safe space.

She was the one who made me who I am. She had trouble identifying with other people. The few close friends she had were lifelong friends. She was a lot more fierce than I am, a lot more capable of standing up for herself, but she was always kind. Always understanding. She never judged anyone. She always considered others' feelings, others' backgrounds. She hated organized religion with a passion, but she never belittled anyone for their own personal beliefs. She never got to go to college like she wanted to, but she was the wisest person I've ever known. If I could give one reason why, it would be this:

She always treated everyone the same.

Age, religion, place of origin, skin color, likes, interests, it didn't matter. She treated everyone the same. With kindness, with respect, with humor, with love. Everyone. Always.

I'm not saying she had no flaws. She was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry. Her and my older brother had some fights that I'll never forget for sure. She broke down when her own mother died and lost a lot of hope for a while. I was thirteen at the time, and her mom, my Nana, was just as much a pillar of strength for me, and we leaned on each other to get through it.

I really never had any major fights with her that I can remember. I never felt like she was trying too hard to be cool as I got older, she was just naturally cool. I was never, ever ashamed of her. Me and my old best friends went to our first concert with her, and they still talk about how cool she was. How they felt more at ease talking to her about their problems than their own family.

Like I said, this was going to get personal.

But the point to all this, is I want to be there for all of you in the same way that she was there for me, for my brother, for my friends. I want all of you to feel at ease here, even if you don't feel at ease anywhere else. I want you to know that you can always be yourself here.

You can be unapologetically, shamelessly, proudly you.

The most important thing my mom ever taught me is that everyone deserves to have somewhere they feel safe and loved and wanted. I doubt she ever said it in those exact words, but she spent her entire life proving it to me.

So whatever your case, if you need somewhere to be yourself, then you will always be welcome here. You don't have to apologize for it. You don't have to feel bad about it. The only thing you should feel here is safety.

And love. Because I love you. All of you.

If you ever feel like no one else does, then at least rest assured that I do.

Even if we've never spoken, I still love you. Even if you've never felt like anyone loves you, I promise that I love you.

When I say I hate humanity, it's largely because there's such an overwhelming amount of hate among us. It's really the hate itself that I hate. But you, as an individual reading this, no matter how much or how little hate you have in you, I still love you.

Everyone deserves love, and if it's the only thing that I have to give, then I'm going to give it.

[yoongisleftshoulder]

BTS Reacts: Biracial S/O Experiences Racism

A/N: Of course, something like this can be a touchy subject and I will take full responsibility if I write anything offensive or incorrectly. As I've said in previous pieces like this, you are welcome to call me out on any mistakes so I can learn and do better. I personally am not biracial nor have I experienced racism of the sort but my inbox is always open if you need support or someone to stand with you. Also, I apologize but I couldn't find credits for some of the gifs used. I take no credit for the making of them.

TW: General racism, bullying

JIN:

Jin couldn't believe it when you pulled up an antis hate themed blog focused around you. He knew there would be some heat once your relationship was revealed to the public but he never thought people would be low enough to create an entire blog to bully you and insult you just based off of your skin color. It almost blew his mind that someone would take the time to put you down so badly. Jin would gently take your phone out of your hand and close the page, setting the phone down and out of view.

"Don't pay attention to a word they're saying. They're not worth your time, you're perfect the way you are."

Jin made sure the blog and nasty racist comments thrown at you were forgotten quickly, reassuring you that they were meaningless and simply not true.

YOONGI:

Yoongi had been out with Jin picking up food for the two of you when you decided to watch a few video compilations on YouTube that some fans had created for your relationship with him. Most of them were cute and wholesome videos with nothing but positivity in the comment section and you found yourself smiling widely throughout your time reading them. However, on the last video you had chosen, the comments made your heart sink. You weren't sure why they were there all of the sudden but many users had written harsh racist insults towards you, some even going as far as writing out threats. You knew it was stupid and the words were empty and didn't really mean anything but you couldn't control the tears that were forming in your eyes, eventually beginning to spill down your cheeks. Just as you were at peak sobbing and second guessing yourself, wondering if Yoongi really loved you as much as he said, he walked in the door, food bags in hand. Immediately, when he saw you curled up on the couch crying, he dropped the bags and sat on the cushion adjacent to you. He started rubbing your arm, unsure whether or not doing anything further was going to upset you.

"Woah, what's wrong sweetheart?" Your boyfriend asked, his voice soft.

Between sniffles, you did your best to explain how so-called 'fans' were being incredibly racist towards you and saying Yoongi deserved someone of his own race.

Yoongi couldn't believe what he was hearing and was only able to muster out a quiet "What the fuck?" He was pissed to know you were upset and pissed that anyone could say such things to you.

"Don't listen to those assholes, they don't know you and they will NEVER know me. I love you, you're perfect the way you are. They're probably just jealous that there's nothing even mildly interesting about them. They mean nothing."

HOSEOK:

*Ping*

*Ping*

*Ping*

Your phone had been blowing up more than usual. Your boyfriend, Hoseok, was sitting next to you so you opted to check it, wondering who else would be sending you so many texts. Lit up on your screen were texts from your best friend, telling you not to listen to what people are saying on Twitter and that all of those people were wrong about you. Confusion washed over you as you opened the Twitter app to see what was going on. The first thing you saw was your relationship with Hobi on the trending list. Your heartbeat sped up as you tapped on the link to checkout the corresponding posts. As soon as it opened, you were met with post after post about the live you did with him yesterday, where you had revealed your face for the first time. There were comments saying how pretty you were and how sweet you seemed, of course, but among these comments were floods of hate speech. Every single negative comment had to do with the fact that you were biracial. You suddenly closed the app, tossing your phone to the side, startling Hoseok. He closed the book he had been reading in the chair across from you and asked you what was wrong, moving to sit aside you when he noticed tears pooling in the corner of your eyes. All you told him was to check Twitter. Taking out his own phone, he clicked on the trending HoseokxYN link and skimmed through the posts and comments. He very quickly put his phone back into his pocket, unable to read anymore racist words against you. Pulling you into a tight hug, he reassured you that he felt sorry for those people, telling you that they must feel so badly about themselves and have such low quality lives that they had to spew meaningless hate towards you. If anything, they were lower than you and were only doing it to feel better about themselves. Even though the remarks were towards you, it felt painful to read such things and he was overwhelmed by disappointment.

NAMJOON:

As you and Namjoon made your way through the intensely growing crowd inside of the airport, fans yelled and screamed various words of encouragement towards Namjoon. You loved to hear other people showering him with love and positivity, despite the craziness of the crowd itself. You were smiling widely while walking hand in hand with your boyfriend, listening to the fans, until you suddenly heard someone take a jab at the color of your skin. Namjoon heard the person too, stopping for a brief second to turn and glare at them. He shook his head as he turned back around, gripping your hand tighter, pulling it up to his face to lightly kiss your knuckles. Like a chain reaction, that one person being brave enough to say such things to you in front of him set off a wave of more racism. Namjoon began walking even faster, guiding you the whole way, wanting desperately to get you out of there.

"Those aren't my fans. If they were, they would never say such bullshit things to you."

JIMIN:

Jimin witnessing you beginning to cry after seeing racist comments saying you weren't worthy of being with him because you weren't Korean hurt his heart. Your laughter was his favorite sound in the world and he lived to see you smile. Seeing you so upset was painful and made tears prick his own eyes. You were so important to him and yet strangers were bringing you down with nonsense hate. Jimin made sure to pound it into your head that he wanted you and only you; if he wanted someone who was 100% Korean, that's who he would have chosen.

TAEHYUNG:

After a long chat, you and Taehyung decided to reveal your secret relationship to the public after having been together for over a year. Taehyung took the bold leap by posting a couple of cute, romantic photos from Valentine's day on his Instagram. Knowing that it would warrant a little bit of craziness, he did it late at night before the two of you went to bed, planning on checking on it in the morning.

That next morning, Taehyung had woken up before you. Rather than waking you up, he went into the kitchen, fixed himself up some breakfast, and got comfy on the couch with his phone, ready to checkout the reveal reactions. He found himself giggling at some of the comments, even feeling happy over some of the supportive ones he read. Not long after reading, though, he stumbled upon comments he wished he hadn't seen. Many racist insults and death threats filled the comment thread. They were targeting you because you were biracial, spewing hate and saying he deserved better than you, someone who was fully his own race. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"How could these people say things like this?" Taehyung whispered to himself, still trying to be careful about waking you up.

The thought of you waking up excited to read the reactions of army only to see your race being the main focus of the thread made him very upset. He pondered whether he should delete the photo or not, wanting to shield you from everything. After a while of thinking, he simply turned off the comments to the post.

When you finally awoke, the first thing you did was ask him about the public's reaction. He produced a white lie and said the staff recommended that he turn the comments off but allowed him to keep the photo up. Although you were disappointed, he would much rather have you thinking that's what happened, instead of being aware of the nasty racist comments that flooded the post.

JUNGKOOK:

The last thing Jungkook expected when you tagged along on a flight and exited the airport with him, navigating through the crowds of screaming fans, was to hear several death threats and racist remarks thrown around towards you. He gripped your hand tighter and tighter with each disgusting comment he heard, knowing he couldn't do anything in that very moment. He glanced at your face multiple times, checking if you were still mentally there, only to see that you had begun crying quite hard. Instantly, Jungkook removed his jacket and held it over you to cover your face as various people with their phones and cameras hounded you. When you were both sat safely inside of the car waiting for you guys, Jungkook pulled you in close, kissing the top of your head while you buried it into his chest.

"You know I don't think of those things, right? I don't care about your race, I love you for you. Don't listen to those people, they aren't real army."

[bcofl0ve]

So, I have a very gentle, very non-judgmental comment to make about the 'relationship discourse'. I say this with nothing but good vibes and intentions, so please don't interpret it as me coming at you or anyone else!

No matter where you stand, it seems a little odd to be heavily invested in someone else's relationship. I say this as someone who has followed celebrity gossip off and on for a long time, so I get it. It's fun to speculate, but at the end of the day no one really *knows* anything other than the people in the relationship itself. I'm a casual fan, and I was surprised at the strong feelings that this relationship seemed to elicit from so many people. Because (I say with love) no one really knows what goes on in their personal lives, and everything that's discussed (on both sides) is only speculation.

I feel so preachy coming into your inbox with all this, and I know you probably are aware of/have considered most of the points I made. I also know that I used the word 'odd' and I don't feel entirely good about that, because I'm not suggesting that you or anyone else here is odd. I'm also also not trying to act holier-than-thou because I'm a casual fan. I'm just giving my two cents as an observer. I hope that you take this in the spirit I meant it, because I realize this might come off as patronizing through the wrong lens. Long story short? Everyone should take a yoga breath and rewarch Dune before Dune 2 comes out (and not come for me with pitchforks, because I know this is a heated discussion and I fear I may have poured gasoline on the 🔥🫣).

you’re so fine don’t worry. getting Meta about fandom/stan culture etc is actually something i really enjoy- no problems chatting about it when folks are civil like you!

i mean, in the most bare bones terms: i’m invested because i enjoy celebrity culture/hollywood gossip, really like both austin and kaia as creatives and people- and think that the flip side of being so private is that it makes people inherently more nosy about what we don’t see. on both ends, as we see with people taking advantage of all the ‘empty space’ to create wild PR theories, whereas i think the ““shippers”” use the empty space to giggle and kick our feet and lean more towards happier gap fillers like “hm i wonder if they’ll do xyz together!”.

i do consider austin’s fandom my hobby at this point, so i’m invested in him i would be any other hypothetical hobby- not a sports person but maybe that’s a good example? lots of sports fans get really into the people who play on a team they really like- i guess you could see hollywood is my “sport” and two of my favorite players are austin and kaia, haha. i fully acknowledge that’s parasocial, but i do have my own boundaries and try to be an ‘ethical’ a gossiper as possible, even when i know ethical gossip blogger is an oxymoron. the second this is more serious than fun for me is the day i leave- a rule i wish i adopted sooner re: the broadway gossip blog days of yore. fandom is supposed to be fun, and at least right now i’m having a great time!

i will clarify though that re: tumblr specifically, me and that other blog’s issues with each other are deeper than disagreeing about austin and kaia- and so if we seem very heated with *each other* it’s not just. coming from our passionate celebrity opinions lol. i don’t know how closely you follow my blog/how long you’ve been around these parts but that blog has spent a year giving a platform to people personally insulting me as an individual (not just my fandom opinions) and smearing me and at one point got honey potted by someone who decided to see if she’d want to doxx me given the opportunity (someone sent her an anon saying to vague post if she wanted to know where i’m in law school- something i keep very private, i don’t even say what state i live in- and she immediately followed the bait instructions, lol).

i won’t say the tit for tat between us every now and then will ever end because like- it won’t lol. we’re both bitey people and we both have narc followers who send our posts back and forth and we both strongly dislike each other. i think at this rate our occasional sparring is just a staple of the tumblr fandom- god love all of you that put up with it. i hope all of this made sense though, pls feel free to follow up! (:

[gigglesnortbangdead]

for ask meme: 4-6, 11-13, 17-19, 24!

4. what’s an inside joke you have with your family or friends?

a little joke me and one of my besties do is every time there is text on an establishing shot that tells us where the scene is taking place, we say "ohhhh, That's where that is!" and i don't know why we have continued doing this for the better part of a decade, but we do it basically every time this happens. this is not something that is funny, but it is funny that we have continued to do this.

5. what made you start your blog?

it was so long ago.... my bestie had a tumblr and a few fanfic writers that i really liked had tumblrs, and i don't know, i just figured what the hell. and now here we are!

6. what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

specifically about being an online creator, probably the best is that it's a low stakes way to be creative and have people read my work! getting published (or even self-publishing) is such a hassle. i want to write and edit my work, and then just drop it for people to read right away! And because there's that immediacy of publishing, I don't have to feel an intense level of anxiety over a work being "perfect." i'm tempted to say that the worst part is knowing that other people are better liked and more popular than me, but that would still be an issue for me even if I was in traditional publishing. but the online aspect of this (seeing other people get lots of engagement on their accounts, seeing fics with hundreds of comments and bookmarks, seeing particular fics getting discussed as having fandom-wide importance) are really obvious, and it does feel embarrassing to be so jealous of works/creators that are, in the larger scheme of culture, about as unknown as my own work

11. what do you consider to be romance?

At this point in my life, I really do want to be obsessed with someone who is obsessed with me. I am pretty okay spending time on my own, I entertain myself really well, but it means a lot to me when somebody wants to, like, hear about the stuff I did while I was alone. Like "yes, tell me about the movie you watched," or "what color did you paint your nails?" or whatever. I'm not a very interesting person, so I'd like to feel interesting to someone! I also like it when someone wants to touch me! It's good we live in a world where people ask before they touch each other, I guess, but I'm bad at inviting physical contact, so when someone just goes for it (and I like it), that feels really special! Also also I think it's romantic when someone I like makes choices for me, sorry!

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

idk stream Fear of Death? i don't think i'm the person to go to for advice

13. what are you doing right now?

listening to this week's Throwback Thursday playlist on spotify and answering my online correspondence ❤️

17. name 3 things that make you happy

listening to music while i play on my computer, grilled cheese and tomato soup, and my fwends

18. do you believe in ghosts and/or aliens?

like, sure. i mean, i don't know, it's not something that keeps me up. i think i personally veer sort of skeptical about ghosts/aliens in my own life, but i have zero interest in ever telling somebody that their encounters aren't real just because i've never experienced something like that. like i'm fully aware that i'm a spiritual nutjob (semi-ironically, but not ironically enough), so i'm very 👍 to whatever people vibe with

19. favourite thing about the day?

getting to watch people go around with their dogs and kids! also brunch!! and when you do things during the day, it means you can relax at night time! and when the weather is nice, i do like actually being outside during the day and getting some sun (the heat has just been so bad lately, I can't remember what that was like haha)

24. what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

A coworker of mine is writing a script, and he said my notes on the script were both really helpful and also made him laugh a lot, and that made me feel really good!

[marzipanandminutiae]

see now I'm thinking about it and wondering- was there ever any actual medical evidence for this? or was it just anecdotal and/or a myth perpetuated by the same doctors who thought vigorous exercise could cause uterine prolapse, or that skin "breathed" because they shellacked a horse and it died of heat exhaustion?

I've found studies saying that back braces giving similar torso compression to a moderately-laced corset don't cause abdominal muscle atrophy, and someone in the notes made a very good point: nobody makes this claim about weight belts (because that would be absurd)

but like. you're never going to get an impartial study on corsets, I feel, because they have such a bad reputation with modern audiences. and most doctors have never met a habitual corset-wearer in this day and age, so their assumptions will never be challenged

there was an MRI of a corseted performer from Germany that showed no ill effects on her organs beyond a slight slowdown of digestion, but that's about all we've gotten. I recall some study that put women in corsets and then had them work out, proclaiming dire results but never addressing the fact that women wouldn't have been- or wouldn't be even now, in everyday life -working out in their corsets? or something like that? but I don't recall specifics to find it again, unfortunately

(I found this bonkers article from a medical blog where they say that corsets are Bad and Cause Muscle Atrophy- but overweight people may benefit from them. so uh. I guess muscle atrophy is fine by their standards if it makes you Less Fat. and the doctor's assessment of the effects thereof? EXPLICITLY based on medical literature from the 19th century. before most of our modern research standards and technology existed- before you'd even be likely to find enough women willing to speak frankly about their experiences for a decent sample size!)

I've read a few internet comments from elderly people saying "my grandmother claimed that standing for long periods without her corset ached terribly," and heard the story of Bernadette Banner having muscle spasms after wearing her scoliosis brace without breaks as a teenager. and I don't want to pooh-pooh those experiences, because at least in the latter case that's a living person who physically had that feeling herself. but I have to wonder, to what can they be attributed if corseting doesn't actually weaken muscles?

Wait, it’s actually NOT especially likely that habitual corset wearing without core strengthening exercises can contribute to muscle weakness?

While this is good news for me as someone who does enjoy wearing a corset often, I can no longer call the final showdown in Crimson Peak “two women with the abdominal strength of tagliatelle fighting to the death“

Comedy L there

[imongmamabitch]

Will you..? [ Camilo Madrigal x reader ]

... notes : repost from my old blog. reblog if you liked and don't forget to comment your thoughts on the fic.

... contains : aged up characters later in the fic, marriage i guess, gn!reader

In which you live your life with Camilo Madrigal

It was Camilo’s Gift Ceremony, so all of Encanto was invited. The place was bustling with lively people waiting for the young Madrigal to get his gift. You never liked parties, there were too many people. It made you feel claustrophobic so you went outside of la casa Madrigal to get some air with permission from your parents of course.

Taking a deep breath, you eased yourself. You sat on the stairs of the casa and just chilled you know. You heard the laughing of kids your age and adults conversing about adult stuff. You were 5 and yet you were already struggling with socializing. You sighed, your parents and mostly everyone in town are really talkative and are able to be in crowds. Unlike you.

“Hey, why aren’t you at the party?” someone asked. “It’s too crowded.” You answered, not looking at who it was. You felt a tap on your shoulder and turned to see the one and only Camilo Madrigal himself.

“Fair enough.” he said as he sat down next to you, which surprised you. He should be in his room, partying with his family. It’s his party after all. He should be celebrating.

“I’m Camilo Madrigal.” he outstretched his hand to you, “I’m sure you already knew that.” You chuckled, and took his hand, “No person in Encanto doesn’t know familia Madrigal, I’m [ name ] [ last name].”

“Nice to meet you [ name ]! Will you be my friend?” he asks.

You smiled at him and said, “Of course, Camilo!”

-

You and Camilo have been friends for over a decade. Best of friends. You would either prank people with him or each other. And with those 10 years of friendship, comes feelings towards your best friend. Everyone experiences it at some point.

You didn’t know how it happened but one day you just saw your bestest bestie friend, Camilo, in a different light. He started just looking different to you in the littlest ways. His smile would make your heart flutter. His laugh fills your stomach with butterflies. Every time you both touch, your cheeks heat up. Which, thankfully, isn’t that noticeable to him but not for a certain Madrigal.

The Madrigal who hears everything, of course.

You were on your way to hang out with Camilo when his older sister asked you to walk with her. Not letting you answer and just dragging you away by the arm. With you away, Isabela took this opportunity to take Camilo as well. “Dolores…? What do you need?” You asked your friend’s hermana. She smiled at you knowingly, and you – knowing what she was insinuating – walked the other way. But she was quick to catch you.

“Dolores, no, don’t.” You said, dreading what she was gonna say.

She’s been helping you confess to Camilo ever since she’d learned you liked her brother. “Oh come on, he likes you too.” she said with a reassuring squeeze to your hand. You shook your head, “He just sees me as a friend, Dolores. I’m fine with that.” She just shushed you and put a finger over your lips, “No. No negativity here. He will like you back and you two will be together.”

Meanwhile with Isabela, Camilo is freaking out of his mind. Isabela, who’s done with this shit, is just picking at her fingernails. She sighed and stopped the boy from pacing by putting her hands on his shoulders. “Camilo, cálmate.” Isabela said, “Just go up to them and tell them, with these.” She forms a bouquet of [ favorite flowers ] and shoves them into his hands, “Just take a deep breath, alright? It’ll be fine.”

��Are you sure they like me back?” Camilo said with uncharacteristic insecurity, “This would ruin our friendship if they don’t l-” “Okay, stop right there primo.” Isabela walked with (more like dragged) him to the entrance of Casita. “They like you back, period.” She says as she pushes him out of the door, “Trust me.”

With that, Camilo set off to find you. Which wasn’t that hard since Dolores just took you in a loop and you were both on the way back to la casa Madrigal. When Dolores saw Camilo, she immediately said goodbye to you which confused you until you saw Camilo yourself. You felt your heart start beating rapidly as you got closer to him.

“...Hey.” He greeted you awkwardly and you also greeted with an equally awkward, “...Hello.”

“Uhm-” his voice cracked and he cleared his throat, “- we should go somewhere a little more…”

“Private?”

“Yeah, oh and these are for you.” He gave you the bouquet Isabela grew him mere minutes ago and you both walked into the forest. The walk was blanketed with a comfortable silence until you started talking, “Camilo, thank you for the flowers and… I um, I have something to tell you.”

He stops walking and looks at you, “Okay, what is it?” You take a deep breath and hold the bouquet of your favorite flowers tightly in both hands. ‘It’s fine, Dolores says he likes you back which is unlikely but it’s a possibility.’ you thought, ‘You can do this [ name ], don’t chicken out now.’ “Camilo Madrigal, I-” “I like you!!” he beat you to it, saying the words in a high pitched voice.

He realized what he said and heat rose to his face. “I uh, sorry. I interrupted you, you can continue what you said.” he said while avoiding eye contact. You could just hear Dolores’ “I told you so” with a smirk in the distance. “Camilo, I like you too.” you smiled and cupped his face. Turning to face you, it took him a few moments to process what you said.

“Wait, really?” He said with a smile, he was freaking out for nothing after all. You nodded, “Yeah, I really really like you Camilo Madrigal.” He laughed and twirled you around, putting you down to hug you, “I’m so happy to hear you say that, mi vida.”

You hugged him back, surprised by his choice of words. Not that he’s never called you that before, he has, many times. But you knew this time, he was serious. You both separated from the hug and you both had big smiles on your faces.

“ [ name ], will you be mine, like be my partner. As in romantically?” he asked, holding both your hands in his.

Did you even need to think about it? “Yes!” you answered and tackled him in another hug.

-

Years into the future, you and Camilo both stayed the same lovey dovey couple. You have been together for 7 years now. You both were really happy with each other and the familia could see it.

It was a normal day for familia Madrigal. Everyone was always busy with chores, but today they’re extra busy. You observed. There weren't any birthdays or celebrations coming up so you were confused. Maybe it’s something you didn’t know about, so you just went on your day as usual.

You were on your way to la casa Madrigal when you were stopped by Mirabel. “¡Hola, Mirabel!” you greeted her as she dragged you away from Casita. “Heyyy, [ name ] let’s go for a walk!” she said as she continued to drag you around town. Okay, so a little detour. What is going on?

She walked you around the town for 2 hours. Visiting shops and chatting with people. You even had a bouquet of [ favorite flowers ] given to you by a florist. You tried to pay for them but they insisted you take it, saying it was already paid for. Alright, last stop to the impromptu-not-really-a-tour-tour given by Mirabel around Encanto. She had taken you to the town square, which seemed a little deserted when people were flocking at it an hour ago.

There was a path of flower petals, you guessed it was probably Isabela’s doing. You decided following the petal path would be your best bet for getting an answer for what was going on. The petal path ends and you see Camilo turning to face you. “Cam? Do you know where the townspeople are and have you seen Mirabel? I lost her.” you asked your boyfriend.

“Don’t worry about that, mi luna.” he says as he takes your hand, “Follow me, I have something to show you.”

“Alright.”

Taking a firm grip of his hand, he takes you to wherever he’s taking you. You didn’t really know where you both were heading. But he led you to a clearing beside a mountain.

It was beautifully decorated with a blanket draped on the ground and a wicker basket filled with what seemed to be your favorite foods. “Cam, What is all this?” You said as you admired the decorations and fairy lights on the trees. “What? I can’t surprise mi vida with a picnic every once in a while?” he says as he walks towards you and hugs you from behind, “Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful.” you say as you sit down on the blanket. He sat down next to you and gave you a glass of lemon water. The date went by in a blink of an eye. Your head was on Camilo’s shoulder as you both watched the sunset. The colors molded together to make a beautiful gradient. You sensed that Camilo was feeling uneasy about something so you asked, “Cam, is everything alright?”

He takes a deep breath, to calm down. Calm down from what, you have no idea. “Cami-” “ [ name ], I… Sorry I’m a little nervous.” he chuckled awkwardly. Whatever it was he was about to say, you could wait. Being with this man needed to have a lot of patience, “It’s okay, mi sol. Take your time.” Your thumb rubbed the back of his hand.

He held both of your hands in his, taking in a shaky breath. When he finally got it together, he looked you directly in the eyes (which caused his heart to beat fast again because come on, whose heart wouldn’t when they see such beautiful eyes.) and said, “ [ name ]... We’ve been together for… well since I could remember. You’ve been by my side through thick and thin, in my highs and lows.”

He shifted a bit so that he was kneeling in front of you, “Well, I’d like to spend the rest of my life with you. [ name ] [middle name ] [ last name ], will you make me the happiest man in all of Encanto and marry me?” At the end of his speech, he brought out of his back pocket a small velvet box. When he opened it, it showed a beautiful ring. The design was simple but it was beautiful nonetheless.

You were too stunned for words. Obviously you didn’t see this coming, it was a very nice surprise though.

You knew your words wouldn’t even come out of your mouth from the shock so you just opted for a big smile and a nod. This made Camilo tear up and smile from ear to ear. He put on the ring on your finger and tackled you in a hug. Somewhere in Encanto, familia Madrigal rejoiced in the news that Dolores told them.

Talk about eavesdropping from a distance.

-

You were both laying down on what is now your shared bed in your new shared room.

La familia insisted you both stay in the casa. You weren’t complaining, Camilo’s room was spacious. You still felt giddy from the party, still not believing that you, yourself, was now a Madrigal. Part of your beloved’s family.

You turned to your side to face your now esposo, still smiling wide while recalling the day’s events. Camilo turned to his side to face you as well, the same wide smile mirroring yours. “I still can’t believe we’re actually married now, amor.” he said as he cupped your cheek, “It all feels like one very nice dream.” You chuckled, putting your own hand on top of his and kissing his palm, “You better believe it, mi sol. Because you’re stuck with me now, forever. Whether you like it or not.”

“I wouldn’t want to be separated from mi luna.” he says as he starts kissing all over your face making you laugh, “Forever doesn’t seem to be enough time with you.”

“Do you really have to be that smooth all the time?”

“Only for you, mi luna.” he says with a wink, which caused you to hit him with your pillow playfully. You look forward to what the future holds for you and your esposo. He holds you close to him and kisses the top of your head.

My person, you have a long life of chaos and love ahead of you.

© do not repost, translate, heavily reference any of my works please

[wolf-knights]

Lover of mine

Pairing:Chris Evans x m!reader(afab)

A/N: in the previous part I said this would be two parts... But guess what, it's not. My brain had decided it wanted this to be a series so here you have it. Beware this is looong.

mentions: strong language, talk about kids/having kids, slight mention of pregnancy, smut, mention of genitalia(hole, sensitive area). DO NOT READ IF UNCOMFORTABLE OR UNDER THE AGE OF 18. MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS DONT INTERACT. If theres any warning i left out please let me know.

-> 18+only, do not repost, copy or translate my works nor post them anywhere else. minors and ageless blogs do not interact with my blog or my fics. Reblogs, likes and comments are appreciated.

Chris had woken up earlier today. He had a whole day plan ahead for you guys, he just had to make sure to not burn the house down and wake you up.

He gets his phone and calls his mum to get the cookie recipe, which he gets and starts working on it while multi-tasking and making the breakfast, as he puts the cookies in the oven. Chris runs back upstairs to get the girls up, he opens the door to see his two year old looking at him while sitting in her crib as his three year old was still sleeping peacefully. Chris picks ainsley up before gently waking up saylor "sayl it's time to get up sweets." he says as he gently shakes her "daddy?" saylor says sleepily while rubbing her eyes "yeah sweetie it's me, it's time to get up." he says moving her hair our of her face.

As he wakes up properly he sees you sleeping peacefully, he also notices the way you have gotten closer to him relishing in the heat his gorgeous body produces. He softly kisses your forehead before gently and carefully sliding out of the bed and grabbing his sweats and shirt, he gets himself dressed before going downstairs to make breakfast for the girls and make his mother's cookies that you loved more than anything.

He gets the girls up and they go downstairs to eat the breakfast "papa didn't cook?" saylor asks as she doesn't see you "no sayl he is still sleeping, yesterday was a hard day for him." chris says as he kisses her forehead and then help ainsley with her pancakes "taste otay daddy but papa's better." saylor says with a mouth full "well obviously, he is the best cook in this house." he says as he checks on the cookies.

They get ready for the day before taking them downstairs only to see you standing by the oven, taking the cookies out as you turn around, you see chris and see the girls walking to their play area. "did you make these chris?" you ask him as you put the cookie tray down on the counter "I did make them." he says proudly at which you smile "they smell good." you say as you let them cool down. Chris comes near you and kisses your forehead and then your lips "how are you?" he whispers "I'm feeling much better now." you say and look at him with a soft smile and then hear a cry from the other room "that mine ainsley!" you sigh "I'll take a look at it." chris says as he walks to the living room to resolve the issue that has taken place between the sisters.

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You were in your office answering some of the emails, you hear the door open and see saylor walking in "sayl are you okay?" you ask and she nods with a pout, you stand up and pick her up sitting on the couch with her in your lap "what's wrong sweetie?" you ask her gently "mit you." she says almost about to cry "angel you can come to me any time." you say as you kiss her forehead "you busy papa." saylor says as she looks at you with the same pure blue eyes as chris "I'll always have time for you sayl." you say and move a little to open the side drawer and giving her, her favorite candy "don't tell daddy I gave you this." you say in a silly voice and she nods with a giggle.

As saylor leaves the room to go play with ainsley, chris walks in the room without you noticing. He uses on of his hands to turn your chair to look at him "chris?" you question as to what he is doing. You see him pulls the same type of flowers he gave you on your first date from behind him "for you my love." he says, hands you the flowers and kisses your forehead, and then leaves. To say you were confused would be an understatement, you look at the flowers and see a note stuck to them, you carefully remove it from the flowers and open it 'meet me downstairs in two hours(wear something nice <3)' you smile and get up and walk to your room.

Chris was dropping off the girls at his mums house, as he pulls up to the house. His mum stands there smiling "do you have my granddaughters?" she asks as chris gets both of them out of the car. Both Saylor and Ainsley hug Lisa. They all head inside and chris says hands his mum, their bags and hugs her "thank you for this mum." chris says "I love my granddaughters and god knows you and y/n need some alone time." she says like it's the most obvious thing "I know we need to, we both have just been really busy with everything and I guess he was scared after finding about the twins" chirs says, he had earlier told his mother the news, she was over the moon to hear about it. "then go make him happy." she says with playfulness in her voice as she gives chris another hug before he goes back to the car and starts driving back home.

As he arrives back home, he rings the bell already knowing that you would be walking down the stairs, not a moment later, you open the door and smile at him "hi love." he says as he looks at what you are wearing and smiles "hey." you say as you look at him wearing your favorite black sweater of his "this awfully looks like our first date." you whisper as chris moves his hand out to hold yours which you let him "well that was the plan." he whispers in your ear as he opens the car door for you and buckles you in, something that always gave you butterflies and will probably always give you butterflies.

"Where are we going romeo?" you ask while using a nickname that you gave him after you started dating "It's a surprise love." he says back with a grin "please." you say with your puppy dog eyes "I'm not giving into those again."

After awhile he pulls upto the restaurant that you both love "I love you chris." you say as you look at him "I love you too my love." he says and pulls you in for a kiss before it could get anymore heated you break the kiss "we still have to finish this date..."you were about to say the word that got chris all worked up" don't say the word y/n" he says looking into your eyes as you smirk "I won't trust me." you say as chris gets out the car and goes to open your side of the door. You both walk into the restaurant and get settled in and order your food while talking about everything and anything. As the bring out your guy's drink they had brought you wine and you sigh "what's wrong?" Chris asks as he looks at you with concern written all over his face "nothing just they brought me wine but it's okay I'll get it changed." you say and chris nods and starts talking about something else. As the waiter comes with your food, you request a for a water, which he brings back after awhile and you guys dig into your food.

When you get home chris opens the door for you letting you in first following right behind you. He discreetly puts on your favorite song to slow dance too, which makes you turn around and look at him "may I have this dance?" he asks at which you nod and let him pull you closer to him by your waist which makes your cheeks heat up a bit. You both start to sway gently while looking into each other eyes "thank you beautiful." he whispers not wanting to disturb the calmness of the living room "for what?" you whisper back as you rest one of your hands on his shoulder while the other holds his hand "for being with me and giving me such beautiful family." you blush a little "well then I should thank you for being by my side always and through anything." you say back and lay your head on his chest "I love you sugar." he whispers as he turns your face to look at him "I love you too Chris." you say and chris kisses you passionately. You don't break the kiss this time as it starts to get heated, chris pulls away and you follow after him but he chuckles "down pretty boy." he says with a smirk as your cheeks turn red "you are a tease." you say as you lightly hit his chest "I think we established that pretty early on in our relationship." he says smugly as you both continue to sway.

"Chris." you say after awhile of kissing and swaying together "what my love?" he asks sweetly "I want to be close to you." you whisper with red cheeks "we are close sweetheart." he says teasingly "not this way chris, I want you." you really wanted him and just hoped he would catch on to what you meant. "you have me love." he whispers in your ear and feels the shiver run down your spine "Iwantyoutomakelovetomechris" you say quickly, he stops for a sec "what?" he asks and you could see the small smirk on his lips, you repeat it again a little slower "pretty boy you got to be more clear if you want me to do anything." you sigh "I want you to make love to me" you whisper as you hide your face in his neck.

You never where good at asking what you wanted "I understood you the first time, just wanted to you to say it again." he says and you could feel his smug smile "I'll make love to you pretty boy." he whispers as he grabs your chin lightly and makes you look at him before kissing you passionately, he gently pushes you against the nearest wall trapping you between him and the said wall "you look quite beautiful." he whispers in your ear before grabbing your thighs and wrapping them around his waist as your hands rest on his shoulder as you guys kiss repeatedly as chris walk to the bedroom with you in his arms.

As you guys get into the bedroom he closes the door behind him with his foot and goes to sit on the bed with you on his lap as you captured his lips on yours, cupping his face with both of your hands, he smiles into the kiss, moving one of his arms around your waist while the other rests on your hips as yours wrap around his neck, each of you pulling the other close. You break the kiss to catch your breath, chris takes the it opportunity to run his lips and tongue across your neck, licking, sucking and biting. You moan loud, tilting your head back to give him more access.

"C-chris." you whimper already breathless, he smirks a little starting to suck harshly on your skin, you slipped your fingers through his soft hair but didn’t stop him from continuing his work, he hums, the vibration making you shiver "I love marking you pretty boy, I love hearing those pretty sounds you let out" he mumbled against your skin, tightening his hold. You moan once again when he bites on your sweet spot, the sounds you were making, had him groaning and he slips his hand in the back of your pants lightly squeezing your ass "so beautiful. I'm happy about this"he whispers suddenly, staring into your [e/c] that had made him fall in love with you on many occasions.

You look back at his sapphire eyes, you rest your forehead against his forehead "I might have been scared, a-and I still am but now I know I have you with me." chris smiles looking at you, his beaming, beautiful smile that makes your heart melt into millions of pieces. "and thank you for reassuring me last night, i know I can be alot of work sometimes." you say in a loving tone, your fingers played with his hair, something you did unconsciously whenever you had your hand in his hair.

Chris smiles at you with fondness written all over his face and pulls you closer to him, capturing your lips yet again kissing you passionately. You tug at his sweater as he had removed your shirt earlier, the sweater falling beside your button up. You lightly bit Chris's lip before pulling away to admire his body as he did yours before he quickly smashed his lips back on yours, tongue slipping in smoothly and exploring your mouth, fighting against your own wet muscle for dominance and obviously winning.

Chris abruptly flips you both so you were laying back on the soft mattress as he had trapped you between his oh so strong arms, he didn't break the kiss. His hand running all over your body caressing his hand across your cheek and chest, tracing every bit of your body. You moan into the kiss as you feel him run his hand of the thick layer of your jeans.

You were starting to get really impatient, you needed chris badly but you also wanted to enjoy this, which chris knew "c-chris p-please." you whimper as he kisses your neck softly, sucking and nipping at the skin. By this point both of you were completely naked but just had been making out. "what do you need pretty boy? What do you want me to do?" he asks while caressing your cheek "need you s-so bad." he coos at how shyly you say it "anything my love wants. Do you want me to prep you beautiful?" he whispers in your ear sweetly "n-no, I-I did it earlier." you whisper, your cheeks heating up. You hear him let out a small growl "it still amazes me how you could be so innocent yet so filthy." he whispers before grabbing the lube, and lubing himself up align with your hole, intertwining your guy's fingers together before gently pushing himself inside you slowly, as you fully pushed inside you in one go, which made you let out a loud moan. Your eyes rolling to back of your head from the sudden feeling of being filled up with his thick and long shaft.

He buries his face in your neck, your legs around his waist, one of your hands in his hair while the other one is holding his hand "y-you can move chris." you whisper and clenching around him a little. He starts thrusting his hips after giving you a kiss on your collarbone, chris wasn't loud during the times you guys had been intimate, he kept his face closer to your neck and collarbone, occasionally kissing them to muffle his voice but you were able to hear the sounds he was making which were music to your ear same could be said for him.

The warm feeling of your tight hole around him made him want to go wild and he knew you wanted the same with the way you would clench around him when he would thrust harder into you "f-fe-feels good chris." you let out, hiding your face in his neck. His pace starts to get faster and harder but still gentle in its own way as how he was praising you "you are always so sweet and good for me pretty boy" "love the s-fuuuck-sounds you make." He kept up with the pace, fucking you mercilessly into the bed, occasionally leaving marks on your collarbone and neck as you kept moaning and whimpering. He knew he found the spot as you let out quite a loud moan "so perfect." he whispers all of his praise made you feel fuzzy on the inside, like you were on cloud nine.

You both were getting close to climaxing. He thrusts harder into you couple of times while playing with your sensitive area. Eventually you throw your head back, eyes shut close as your back arches and letting out a loud moans, your body squirming and wreathing underneath his glorious body as you cum hard. Your walls tightening around chris as you cum, that was enough for him to release inside you, filling you up perfectly like always.

Pulling out he collapses beside you pulling you closer to him gently, kissing your forehead as you both calm down from the intense orgasm "I love you my love." you smile and cuddling closer to him "I love you too romeo" he chuckles a little "how about I get the bath ready for us, we can relax and enjoy each others company." he whispers as he kisses your neck. "that sounds nice." you say with a smile.

Chris goes and gets the bath ready, coming back to get you with a soft smile "come on sleepy head." he whispers jokingly, as you stand up he wraps an arm around your waist to keep you steady, he leads you to the bathroom. Helping you sit in the bath, before sliding behind you, pulling you closer to his chest. You look up at him as he looks down at you, and you give him a kiss "thank you for this, for today." you say gently still looking at his pure ocean eyes "I'll always be here for you, we go through everything together remember."

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I hope you enjoyed this, and thank you all for reading once again, love you all ❤️

[flightlessangelwings]

Finish Him

Benny Miller x fem!reader x Frankie Morales 

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: slight smut (18+ only), cockwarming, bisexual MMF threesome, fluff, lots of kisses, established relationship, no use of y/n, you can tell I got very nostalgic while writing this lol

Notes: Written for Writer Wednesday (tagging @autumnleaves1991-blog​ and @clydesducktape​)! I saw this photo and immediately thought of Messy Pile of Affection universe! This takes place in that story, but this can be read on its own. Taglists are in the reblog, please fill out the google form on my masterlist if you’d like to be added! Or you can also follow my update blog @flightlessangelwings-updates​ and turn on post notifications to stay updated! Enjoy!

~

“Hey guys look at that,” you exclaimed as you tugged on Frankie and Benny’s hands.

The three of you were out on a date night and it was a perfect evening. The weather was just to your liking, the restaurant was delicious, and the company was perfect. Ever since you, Frankie and Benny had become an official thruple, things couldn’t be better. You were all happier than you had ever been in your lives, and you felt safe and secure with your boys.

As you all walked down the street after dinner, you noticed a new little arcade that recently opened up. The flashing lights and retro colors caught your eye immediately and a wave of nostalgia ran through you.

“How about we go check that out?” Frankie suggested, “I haven’t been to an arcade in so long.”

“Me either,” Benny chimed in as he couldn’t contain his excitement. Benny was usually more physical, with being a professional fighter and all, but he still wasn’t able to resist a good old arcade game either.

Laughter erupted between the three of you as you all bounced into the arcade. The moment you all walked through the doors, however, you all felt the breath leave your lungs as you felt like you were transported back in time. It felt like the old place you used to go to as a kid, and you thought you would cry from the memories.

“You alright baby?” Frankie whispered in your ear.

You glanced between your boys who both had looks of concern on their faces, “Fine,” you breathed as you gave their hands a squeeze, “Just thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve been to an arcade and how much fun it used to be.”

“Well we’ll make it just as fun now,” Benny chimed up as he dragged you and Frankie towards the machines.

Both you and Frankie rolled your eyes as Benny dropped your hand and went right for a classic Street Fighter game. But at the same time, you couldn’t help but giggle as he went right for a fighting game. You shared a glance with Frankie before you let his hand go as well as you went for a Ms Pac Man first. Frankie picked an old racing game from the 80s that you couldn’t remember the name of and told you that he used to play it as a child all the time.

All of you suddenly felt like kids again as you let yourselves get enthralled in the bright colors of the games. Once you finished your game, you moved over and watched Frankie as he raced against the computer players and easily won.

“Guess you haven’t lost your touch then, Frankie,” you murmured as you kissed his cheek.

“Neither have I!” Benny hollered as he raised his arms up in victory, “Now where’s my kiss?” he joked.

Again, you and Frankie rolled your eyes playfully before you both gave him a soft kiss on either cheek. Benny beamed at both of you as he leaned in and kissed you more passionately on the lips before he turned and did the same to Frankie. You felt the tension rise between the three of you as the moment turned more heated, but before it escalated any further, another game caught Benny’s eye and he ran off in that direction.

“After you,” Frankie extended his arm out as you both followed loosely behind Benny and found other games to play.

You all spent hours in the arcade as you rotated between different games. Most you all were familiar with, like Asteroid and Donkey Kong, but you also found more obscure ones that you hadn’t heard of before. Of course, you also shoved the boys into a photo booth that caught your eye and took a few rolls of silly photos that you all would cherish forever. 

“This one is my favorite,” you commented in a soft tone as you pointed to the one where you all hugged each other and your faces were smushed together. It was cute and silly and perfectly encapsulated the relationship between the three of you.

“I like this one,” Benny pointed to the one where you and he kissed Frankie on either side of his face, “What about you, Fish?”

Frankie mulled over the pictures and picked the one where you were in the middle and cupped their faces on either side of you while they both looked lovingly at you and each other, “This one,” he breathed.

A calmness came over the three of you as you looked at the photos in your hands. Both Frankie and Benny covered your hands with theirs as they each took a sheet of pictures and you all shoved them in your pockets. You gave each of your boys a quick kiss before you turned your attention back to the wall of games.

“How about one last game before we head out?”

Benny’s face lit up as his eyes fell on a certain game in particular, “Hey Fish, how about a game of Mortal Kombat?”

A mischievous look came across Frankie’s face as he rolled his sleeves up, “You’re on!”

You watched as they selected their characters and readied their stances. Both men were so focused on the screen in front of them that they didn’t hear you walk up behind them. It was then that you remembered that they both had a serious side, and you darted your eyes between them and saw the fire that burned there. Benny and Frankie had their hands wrapped around the control stick and their other hands were splayed across the panel with their fingers on the buttons. You bit your lip as your eyes trailed up and down their arms and you couldn’t help but get turned on by their intensity.

That was when you got a glimmer of mischievousness in your own eyes and you leaned in between them, “Winner gets to cockwarm in my pussy tonight.”

They both gasped your name and faltered at your words before they looked at you with wide eyes. But they soon turned sharp in their gazes again as the friendly competition started.

You cheered them both on as they fought intensely on the small pixelated screen. As much as you would have liked to play too, this made it just as much fun for you as well. Plus, you knew that neither of them were truly the loser anyway since you all shared your affections equally. It was just a way for you to get them riled up for when you all got home later.

“Finish him!” Benny shouted as he quickly tapped the buttons for his winning attack combo and Frankie’s character lay on the ground in a bloody pile.

“Kitana wins,” he cheered himself in victory.

“I can’t believe you picked her to play as,” you playfully teased him as you kissed his cheek.

“She’s a badass, baby,” Benny defended himself, “Besides, I know she’s your favorite character,” he then turned to Frankie and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Good game babe. My boyfriend was a worthy opponent.”

Frankie looked at him with those soft eyes as he faked a pout, but he couldn’t hold it for long and all three of you burst into laughter.

“Let’s go home,” you whispered to them as you took their hands.

The moment the door to your home shut, the three of you were on each other as you placed heated kisses all over each other’s bodies. A trail of clothes led the way into the bedroom as you all collapsed down naked onto the bed with Benny in between you and Frankie. Hand and lips were everywhere as you all showered each other in affection until you all started to feel tired from the day. As much as you all wanted to make love until the sun came up, you all realized how late you were out as you laid out in bed. You had a promise to keep anyway.

You opened yourself for Benny as you rolled onto your side and parted your legs for him, “Come on, baby,” you purred.

Frankie reached around and stroked Benny’s cock a few times to make him hard and helped guide him into your pussy. You let out a soft gasp when you felt the tip of Benny’s cock at your entrance, but you relaxed when Frankie’s hand caressed and squeezed your ass while Benny slowly slid into you.

Both you and Benny let out heavy exhales once he was fully sheathed inside you and you dropped your head down onto the pillow. The stretch of his cock was a comfort to you and you sighed as he wrapped his arms around you and held you close. Frankie watched with an affectionate look on his face until he settled himself behind Benny and held both of your bodies close.

“You can warm your cock in me, Frankie,” Benny’s voice was low as he turned to face him.

Frankie’s eyes went wide as he stared at him for several moments. Before he moved, Frankie leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Benny’s neck, “Just don’t let me hurt you,” he whispered.

“You won’t,” Benny reassured him before he let out a loud moan when he felt Frankie’s cock against his entrance.

You squeezed Benny with your inner muscles while Frankie caressed his body as he slowly and carefully slid into him. Low moans and groans filled the room as you all connected yourselves to each other and got yourselves comfortable on the bed. Frankie pulled you both in close as you all found the perfect position to lay all wrapped in each other’s arms.

It was quiet and calm and perfect as you all laid in each other’s embrace. Slow, heavy breaths from you and Benny told Frankie you were both close to sleep, but he couldn’t resist the thought that popped into his head. He leaned in close against your ear and whispered, “Hey babe, you gonna finish him?”

Laughter burst out in the room as you all cackled at Frankie’s joke.

“You boys are ridiculous,” you sighed as you kissed them each as your laughter died down and was replaced by a calmness. The three of you stayed wrapped up and connected together as you all fell asleep in your cuddle pile. 

[mostlyinthemorning]

I guess? they think they're joking? and I will get yelled at for taking this too seriously, but it freaks me out how many women are not only comfortable with thinking, but are interested in bragging, in tags, that they would "reach out and yank" Noah's hat down if they saw him wearing it above his ears. People say it about Dan's hats too, toques or baseball caps.

I don't believe any of these women would actually dare to do this, but why do they think it's acceptable and funny to joke about disrespecting someone else's choices about their own comfort and their bodily autonomy because of an aesthetic difference of opinion? I guess it seems harmless to them bc these are men, and powerful ones, so they don't think they can possibly be victims, but all I can think when I see those comments is of all of us who have been fighting so long so that EVERYONE respects consent ALWAYS. I assume these people would agree that consent and bodily autonomy are good things, when pressed, but the way they joke makes it clear they don't think they are actually important in all situations.

Okay, anon, I’m going to take it on good faith that you actually believe what you’ve written here and that you’re not just stirring up drama or having me on and so I’m going to answer in good faith. 

You know it’s funny, the other day it was hot, hot, hot out and my partner decided to wear a sweater to an outdoor event. I probably shouldn’t have said anything because using your logic, questioning their choice to get heat stroke violated their bodily autonomy. 

The fact of the matter is that no one is tugging on Noah’s toque or touching him without his consent in real life. That’s just not happening. Period. It’s hyperbole. People use hyperbole every day, just because someone says something doesn’t automatically signal their intent to make it real. No one is victimizing Noah by joking about wanting his ears to be covered because it’s cold out.

And before you say that Noah hasn’t consented to having people joke about his exposed ears, I feel that I need to remind you that he also didn’t consent to having you claim he was a victim. It’s also interesting to me that you’ve singled out women as your targets for this behavior when you don’t actually know the gender of the people you’re referring to. 

Sometimes a joke is just a joke. Until such a time when fans are assaulting Noah’s toques, I don’t think there’s a problem and I definitely don’t think it’s a consent issue. I can’t tell you how to live your life, but if you don’t like jokes about Noah’s fashion choices, this might not be the blog for you.

[quillsanddaydreams]

puzzle dates

regulus black x reader

—author’s note: I adored writing this. Like a lot. Requested by an anon who wanted some Regulus fluff with a potter!reader. @scvrllet my dearest, gave in prompts for it and a message by @nuttytani darling inspired it. So what happens when you meet Regulus, your friend years after hogwarts? Happy reading ;)

—warning(s): mentions of food and drink. gender neutral!reader (pronouns aren’t used). reader is James's sibling but it's hardly there.

—word count: 1,546

It was raining heavily. You had been out for about an hour, getting groceries for the week. Whispering a spell, making sure no one was viewing in your direction, you watched your wand transform into an umbrella and hurried away from the shop. Stalking towards your house, you tried to make sure not to let your bags get wet. You didn’t notice the man standing in your way.

“Ah, shit—” you began, not looking up far too busy to check whether or not something fell. “I’m so sorry sir, I didn’t notice where I was going—”

“Potter?”

You gazed up meeting someone you hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Regulus.”

For a minute you two just stared at each other. He had changed. The thin, gaunt boy you saw as a child was replaced by a handsome man with the same striking eyes you used to know so well. You shook yourself.

“What— what are you doing here?” you said gesturing towards the damped hair and drenched clothes. Extending your umbrella over his head you continued, “You’ll get sick.”

“Worried about me, are you Potter?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “Why don’t you think the soaked-to-the-bone look works for me?”

You chuckled.

“You didn’t answer my question,”

“Ah, I was here on ministry business but I guess I won’t be able to get it done now,” he said slowly looking around. “Was trying to find a place I could apparate safely. Too many muggles around.”

You furrowed your eyebrows noticing your surroundings again.

“Come with me,” you suggested. “My apartment is nearby and you could dry off before leaving.”

Regulus looked like he wanted to refuse but you cut him off.

“You’ll only ruin your health here, come with me— also it’s been a long while since we talked,” you pointed out and Regulus looked at you curiously. His mouth quirked upwards and he nodded. The two of you moved to the quaint three-story building, climbing up the stairs before reaching your door. You muttered in some spells before hearing a click.

“Don’t trust muggle locks?” Regulus said smugly as you rolled your eyes.

Waving your wand, you started up the fire; the warmth tickling your skin. Regulus took to drying himself off— murmuring incantations. You took to keeping the bags in the kitchen, putting up a kettle for some tea. Taking off your scarf, you sighed and sneaked a glance at Regulus who was now standing awkwardly looking around the house.

“You know you can sit, right?” you asked him. Shaking his head a little, he went to sit down in front of the fireplace. You took out some cups and an assortment of tea bags placing them in a tray along with some cookies you had bought the same day. Regulus smiled as you came in.

“Which one will you have?” you inquired as he gently took the cup from your hand. “Ah, still can’t have tea made by anyone else?”

Regulus threw you a grin.

“It’s a disastrous habit.”

The two of you sat in silence for a while, the tea pleasantly hot against your throat. Rain thrummed at the roof, the noise filling up the place.

“So—”

“How—”

You laughed. Indicating at him to continue, you raised the cup to your lips again.

“So what have you been up to?”

“I’ve been managing dad’s business. Since James joined a quidditch team, there was no one to help so I stood up. I quite like it, it gives me enough room to be creative;” you said softly. “How about you? Tell me something other than your ministry job.”

“Well I tried my hand at painting,” Regulus said after thinking for a while. “Remember how you used to tell me to try it?”

“You had the most gorgeous handwriting and the diagrams you made were always so perfect. Could you blame me?”

Regulus rolled his eyes, smiling as dimples formed on his cheeks. He looked beautiful like that. Curls of hair falling over his forehead, relaxed and carefree. You missed it.

“What?” he asked his cheeks a rosy color. You shrugged.

“Nothing, it’s good to see you after all this time,” you said, ignoring how your stomach tickled. “Remember how we promised to stay in touch?”

“Oh yes,” Regulus said, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “Right after your brother glared at me and threatened to hex me if I don’t stop talking to you.”

You snickered.

“You know he is quite the idiot,” you countered. “And my parents would’ve been proud if I brought you home.”

Regulus raised an eyebrow.

“Brought me home, huh?” he said as you bit your tongue, looking away. “Did you fancy me, love?”

You narrowed your eyes at him, trying and failing to keep a straight face. It was something about the way he called you love that made you feel like a teenager with a crush again.

“The point is,” you pressed. “The point is that it never mattered what James did or said. He couldn’t do anything to keep us from being friends.”

“Yeah, friends.” Regulus breathed. You almost missed it.

The room fell silent again and you could hear the pitter-patter of the rain. Regulus picked up a cookie before speaking again.

“Do you still like doing puzzles?” he said as your eyes lit up.

“Yes, I do,” you said, reminding yourself of all the times the two of you spent together. “I never quite got over it after all the hours we spent together. Sirius used to mutter ‘mental’ whenever he saw us working over one. Especially since we always took up the one which seemed impossible to do.”

Regulus grinned, nodding.

“I don’t think he ever had the patience for it.”

“You know;” you said pondering. “I have bought a puzzle recently. Would you like to do it with me? For old time’s sake.”

“And here I thought it’s because you enjoy my company,” he said with a smug expression. Your heartbeat erratically and you found yourself hating how he still affected you.

“So that’s a yes?” you said, overlooking his jab. Regulus clicked his tongue accepting.

You got up slowly taking out the box you had bought a few days earlier. It was a fiery phoenix, looking at you intently. Regulus rubbed his hands and sat down on the floor beside you. He gasped a little when you put the box down.

“You know, I bought the exact same one about a week ago,” he said, helping you open the pack. “It’s missing a piece.”

You furrowed your eyebrows and Regulus shrugged.

“Should I bring another one? I have—”

“No no let’s do this one, it was fun.”

Folding your legs, you sat down beside him, your arms touching. Starting from the corner the two of you put together pieces. A sense of calm eloped you. The house and everything with it seemed to blur away. Just you, him, and the puzzle remained. It was different from your memories though, neither of you were children anymore. The adoration you had for him somehow hit harder now. Your hand touched his several times and you beamed at him as the puzzle came together.

“Aha!” you exclaimed putting the last piece in its place. It looked pretty. You looked over at Regulus, who was holding a stray piece in his hand, oblivious to what you said.

“Reg? Earth to Reg?” you called out as he finally looked over at you.

“I’m pretty sure you’re my soulmate,” he said as you felt your ears heat up.

“What—”

“This,” he said, indicating the odd puzzle piece. “This is the exact piece my set was missing.”

You snorted trying to deflect how your chest was filled with butterflies.

“Oh? And that makes us soulmates?” you asked, amusedly. “Since when did you believe in soulmates even?”

Regulus had the decency to blush.

“Well didn’t you always say our lives were a big puzzle?” he started. “Right now, you have a portion of mine.”

You didn’t know whether to laugh at the cheesiness or pull him close at the very same moment.

“You’re a dork!” you said poking his head with your finger. The boy smiled but it was strained. His demeanor changed. You could practically see his walls building up. Did you say something wrong?

“Reg,” you said urgently. He hummed in response. “Was that soulmate thing a joke or you meant it? Even if a little?”

Regulus avoided your eyes.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, yes it does.”

“Yeah well then I like you,” he said, looking down. “Always have. But I know you don’t and…”

You put a finger to his lips, stopping him.

“I do,” you said as his stormy grey eyes landed on your own. He cradled your cheek, leaning in tentatively, glancing at your lips. You heaved a sigh as his mouth finally met yours. Grabbing his collar, you kissed him softly. When you pulled back, you had a smile on your face.

“Now that wasn’t how I was expecting the day to go at all,” you commented, delighted. Regulus held your hand kissing the knuckles.

“We’re going to have more of these puzzle dates, aren’t we, love?” he said as you rested your head against his shoulder, interlinking your fingers with his.

“We are.”

—as for the taglist: I don’t make taglists, I have a blog @from-my-quill ​ ​ which is updated whenever I post fanfiction. You could have the notifications on for it and it will work just like me tagging you

⟨⟨REBLOGS AND FEEDBACK ARE APPRECIATED⟩⟩

[snelbz]

Life As We Know It {Chapter 17}

Summary: After the sudden deaths of Nesta’s sister and Cassian’s best friend, they gain guardianship of their nephew, Nyx.

Based on Life As We Know It (2010) and a prompt sent in by anonymous for our Nessian fanfic contest. This is a modern au.

Instead of doing a tag list for this story, we have decided to have a set posting schedule. Chapters will be posted weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Occasional surprise chapters could be posted at miscellaneous times. Chapters will be posted on both my and Tara’s blogs! >> @tacmc.​

Life As We Know It Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

It had been a long day.

They hadn’t done jack shit, but a long day nonetheless, thanks to the run in with Tomas.

After eating lunch, Cassian had taken Nyx out to the pool, letting him float around in his little inner tube and splash in the water. He kept a close eye on him and he wasn’t sure he’d heard so many giggles from the little dude in months.

Not even fifteen minutes after they’d come out, Nesta decided to join them, though it wasn’t to play and splash like Nyx. No, she brought a book hat, and tanning oil, but Nyx squealed his delight when he saw her regardless.

After some goading and thinly veiled threats to splash her smutty book if she didn’t get in, Nesta relented and Nyx had the time of his life.

Until he got chlorine in his eye and had a meltdown.

Just like that, pool time was over, and after taking him inside and getting changed, Cassian was lounging on the couch while Nyx played on the floor.

Nesta started up the stairs and said, “I think I’m going to take a bath. Relax from…earlier.”

From that piece of shit Tomas and the things he’d said. Cassian wished he’d of at least said something, but he most wished he’d have throttled him.

Cassian simply nodded and Nesta was off, hurrying up the stairs and shimmying out of her bikini once she closed herself inside of the master bathroom.

She hadn’t been in the warm water with her eyes closed for five minutes before a horrid sound came from downstairs.

One word screamed at the top of Cassian’s lungs, her name.

“NESTA!”

For a moment, she thought she had imagined it. But, then he screamed again.

“NESTA!”

She shot up in the tub and was about to yell back, when she heard, “COME QUICK!”

Panic rose in the pit of her stomach as she jumped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her wet body as she threw open the bathroom door. “I’m coming! I’m coming! What happened?! What’s wrong?!”

“Come on, come on, come on!” Cassian yelled, but it wasn’t fear in his voice - only excitement. “Hurry, before you miss him!”

Nesta rounded the top of the stairs, and froze. A few feet in front of Cassian, on his own two feet, was Nyx, taking slow, steady steps toward his uncle.

Her feet carried her down the stairs in a flash and she was next to Cassian, on her knees, just like he was. At the appearance of his aunt, he grinned, those angelic cheeks rounding out and reached for her.

And he tumbled down.

“Shit,” Cassian muttered and lifted him back onto his unsteady feet, praying they weren’t about to have more tears. But the dark blue eyes that gazed up at him were not tear-filled, just wide and curious as always.

Taking a few more tentative steps, he reached them, leaning into Cassian, but a hand reaching out to take Nesta’s as he animatedly spoke in his own baby language.

“Good job, bubba,” Nesta cried, hoisting him up into her arms and crushing him in a hug. “Such a big boy.”

Nyx giggled and wiggled to be put down.

He wasn’t done just yet.

His feet hit the ground and he was off. He walked from Nesta to Cassian then back again. Every time he fell down, he got right back up and kept on moving.

“Look at you go, buddy,” Cassian laughed, catching Nyx as he made it to him.

“Think he’ll sleep good tonight?” Nesta asked, watching them both with a smile on her face.

“I hope so,” he chuckled, letting Nyx pat him on the face, grinning up at him.

He meandered back across the room, plopping down at his toys and began playing again.

“And I guess we’re done with that,” he laughed, standing up and shaking his head. “He finally walked.”

“Sixteen months,” she sighed, propping a hip on the side of the couch. “I was starting to think he’d never do it.”

“Me either,” he said, sitting down. He glanced up at her—and froze.

He’d completely forgotten she was wearing nothing but a towel.

“Didn’t we have a rule about coming down here nude?” Cassian asked, under his breath.

Nesta’s eyes darted to his. “Pardon?”

His eyebrows raised and he gestured to her towel, and Nesta looked down, as if she had completely forgotten that she was wearing it, too. “Oh, shit, sorry. I was in such a hurry to come downstairs-.”

“I mean, I don’t blame you-.”

“I could’ve put on something-.”

“I was screaming your name-.”

“Screaming my name,” Nesta repeated, her cheeks heating. Last time Cassian had screamed her name, it had been under very, very different context.

Although, she had been wearing little to nothing then, too.

The memories flashed through her mind, and from the way Cassian was watching her, she assumed that they were flashing through his, too.

She watched as his throat bobbed and his eyes left hers, dragging down her body as if he couldn’t stop himself. He met her gaze again and she felt her cheeks heating. Her cheeks, her ears, her neck, her entire body heated under that gaze.

“I’m going to…” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, towards the stairs. “Finish my bath, I guess.”

“Right,” Cassian replied, his eyes still on her. “I’ll put him down in just a few minutes.”

She glanced over at the baby as she backed up toward the stairs. Nyx was indeed starting to rub his eyes, and noticing Nesta’s attention on him, he yawned and reached for her.

Before she could cross the room, Cassian was on his feet and picking Nyx up.

“I can take him,” she protested, but he shook his head, not looking at her.

“You go relax. I’ve got him.”

Nesta cleared her throat and nodded, convincing herself to say nothing more as she hurried up the stairs, clinging to her towel.

She settled back into the bath, even though the water had chilled.

She couldn’t control her breathing.

She thought of that time when he’d caught her in the bath before, right after they had moved in, when he caught her doing intimate things with herself, alone.

Then she thought of the immense amount of pleasure that he’d given her, and how nothing and no one had ever compared to it.

Her heart began to beat a little bit faster, and a throbbing formed between her thighs.

She wondered if Cassian ever caught himself thinking about it, if he ever wanted to do it again.

Judging by the look in his eyes downstairs, the intense way he had been watching her…

Nesta pulled herself out of the tub.

She dressed and pulled her hair into a ponytail atop her head, but couldn’t decide if going downstairs would be a good or bad idea. She couldn’t decide if being around him right now was a smart decision, not when the thoughts in her head were so distracting she couldn’t even focus on the laundry she had neglected to fold for a few days.

Her phone vibrated where she’d plugged it in on her nightstand and Balthazar’s name lit up the screen.

That was another reason she couldn’t allow herself to entertain the thoughts constantly running through her head. She and Bal weren’t in a relationship, they were in no way exclusive and hadn’t had that conversation, but Nesta wasn’t the type to date—or in this case, sleep with—two men at once.

She could hear Cassian down in the living room again, no doubt cleaning up Nyx’s toys and settling down with a beer. She wanted to join him, wanted to curl up on the other side if the couch with a glass of wine and listen to him commentate whatever stupid show or game he was watching.

But she knew that wasn’t a good idea.

So she laid down on her bed, grabbed the book from her nightstand, and read until all of those emotions that Cassian made her feel faded into the back of her mind where she told them to stay.

*

The next morning, Cassian was on Nyx duty. Since he had the day off, the nanny didn’t have to come, which meant bro time.

First, they went for a jog along the Sidra where both Nyx and Cassian got their fair share of looks from the ladies. Turns out a cute kid was a great way to gain the attention of beautiful women.

On the way back home, Cassian decided to make a detour for some lunch, and ended up pushing the jogging stroller right into Nesta’s restaurant.

He knew where it was, and knew that Nesta was a damn good cook, but somehow, he hadn’t visited the restaurant in the over four months they’d been living together.

It was packed, to absolutely no surprise and when he walked in, he was greeted by an amazing array of delicious smells. Quickly realizing the stroller was going to be a hindrance, he parked it in the corner by the door and held Nyx as he made his way into one of the sitting areas.

“It’s open seating, so please, sit where you like.”

Cassian turned as a deep voice spoke from behind him. The man was watching him, and when he turned, his eyes fell on Nyx. Recognition lit them up for a moment, Nesta having brought Nyx into the restaurant more than once.

“Thanks. Is Nesta free?”

“Last I saw, she was helping out in the kitchen, but I’ll check. Take a seat and I’ll be back.”

Cassian nodded and the man was gone, disappearing through a swinging door to the back.

Indeed, Nesta was manning the grill, an assortment of sandwiches, meats, pancakes and other items sizzling around her. She was reading order tickets and communicating with her line cooks, and everything was exactly as it should be.

Until Helion was leaning on the wall next to her.

She groaned. “Tell me it’s not the lady who claims to find a hair in her food every time she’s here.”

The patron in question was in the dining room, a brunch buffet spread out before her and her friends. Her curly, red hair was piled on top of her head and without fail, she always seemed to find a lone, red, curling hair in her dishes, no matter what she ate and who was in the kitchen. Even though Nesta had no one in her employment with curly, red hair.

“Oh, no,” Helion said, his smirk growing. “There’s a handsome man out front asking for you.”

Balthazar.

Nesta groaned. Even though she didn’t mean to. “Let him know I’m busy, but I’ll be out in just a minute.”

“It’s not him,” he replied, practically singing the words. “This one has a very cute baby with him.”

She was moving before he’d finished speaking, hollering at one of her cooks to take up her place on the line.

When she went into the dining room, Cassian was sitting in a booth, Nyx in a high chair at the end of the table next to him.

“What a pleasant surprise,” Nesta crooned as she approached.

Nyx’s head whipped around at the familiar voice as Cassian looked up from his menu. Nesta was lifting Nyx out of the high chair when Cassian said, “We were out and about. Someone was hungry.”

Nesta chuckled. “Was that someone you or the baby?”

“Fine,” Cassian said, grinning. “Two someones were hungry.”

Nesta snorted as she kissed Nyx’s cheek. “Couldn't have cleaned up before coming in here?” She asked, nodding to Cassian’s damp t-shirt.

He shrugged his shoulder. “This was on the way home. You should be glad we graced you with our presence.”

“Right,” she laughed softly, sitting Nyx back in the high chair and buckling him in. “Any idea what you want?”

He was flipping through the menu, and honestly, every damn thing he saw looked delicious. He smiled up at her. “Surprise us. I can’t choose.”

Smirking, she took his menu and said, “Chicken livers and brussel sprouts, coming right up.”

He rolled his eyes as she walked away, but she entered their order into the system and returned to the table, sitting down in the empty booth seat across from him.

“He have a good morning?” She asked, holding Nyx’s outstretched hand and letting him grip her thumb. He shook her hand as hard as he could and grinned up at her, babbling excitedly.

“Aside from the blow out he had this morning, I’d say so. Which he found very amusing that I had to clean up” Cassian chuckled, rolling his eyes. “This is the only kid who laughs while he’s covered in shit, I swear.”

Nesta shook her head, laughing softly.

Cassian took the chance to look around. “This place is great, Nes. The only thing it’s missing is a bar.”

Nesta looked around with him and nodded. “I’ve thought about it quite a bit. Don’t wanna mess with licensing. I’ve already got too much on my plate around here.”

Cassian cocked his head to the side. “You just gotta get someone to run the bar, that’s all. You don’t have to do everything on your own, you know.”

Nesta looked back to Cassian. “Someone like you?”

“Handsome, smart, with a high knowledge of what it takes to run a bar?” He asked. “Yeah, someone like me.”

She narrowed her eyes and nudged his shin with the toe of her shoe. “Don’t get too cocky. If you decide to leave your bar and want a new project… Sure, I’ll add a bar.”

Cassian blinked. “I can’t tell if you’re messing with me or not.”

Nesta shook her head. “I’m always serious.”

“At one time, I thought that was true,” Cassian muttered.

His shin got another nudge.

“I’m serious,” she repeated, with a quiet laugh. “Shockingly enough, you’d be one of the few people I trust to let into my management.”

He stayed quiet for a minute, long enough that she glanced at him from where she’d been looking at Nyx. He was chewing on his bottom lip and she had to physically restrain herself from reaching over and working it out from between his teeth. Feeling her attention on him, he looked at her, and said, “We’ll talk about it more at home, yeah?”

Nodding, Nesta replied, “Of course. But don’t just do it because I said something, I don’t want-.”

“I’ve actually been thinking about opening my own place for while,” he murmured, and then quickly added, “Not that this would be my place, it’s yours, of course. But I’ve got savings. I can help with any applications and licensing and renovations that need to be done. Not to mention, it would be an investment in a growing business. That always looks good in a portfolio.”

Nesta smiled. “Like you said, we’ll talk about it at home. I’m gonna go check on your food.”

“Please do,” Cassian said, waving her away. “I’m starving.”

With a roll of her eyes, she stood up and walked toward the kitchen, shoving Cassian’s sweaty head as she walked by him.

Helion was waiting by the kitchen doors. “Flirting, how cute. It’s like watching two horny teenagers.”

“Fuck off,” Nesta muttered.

Helion only grinned and followed her into the kitchen. “Admit it. You’ve got the hots for hot uncle.”

“I can fire you, you know,” Nesta said.

“You wouldn’t,” he said, right on her heels. “You’d be bored to death here without me.”

She didn’t need to bother telling him he was right. On either front.

*

Nesta was beat by the time she got off. It was an effort of will to make it home before she fell asleep, but as she parked her car in the driveway, she nearly sighed in relief. Cassian had said he’d handle dinner, so she knew that a glass of wine—and hopefully, an uninterrupted bath—was in her future.

She hadn’t expected to find Cassian on his hands and knees as soon as she came in the door.

He looked up at her, eyes wide and said, “Uh, hey. You’re home.”

“I am,” she replied, chuckling. “What are you doing?”

He hesitated before saying, “Playing hide and seek with Nyx.”

Nesta blinked. “Hide and-? Cassian, he’s one.”

“I left him on the floor with his toys and I went into the kitchen for thirty seconds to check on dinner,” he said, standing up.

She waited for him to go on, not understanding. And then her eyes widened. “You lost him?”

“He’s not lost,” he said, holding his hands up. “We’re playing hide and seek.”

“Cassian-.”

“He’s one, Nesta, he couldn’t have gone far-.”

“He walks now!” She cried, tossing her purse on the bench by the door and hurrying into the living room.

A giggle sounded from the other room, and they both sped around the corner where Nyx had made himself perfectly happy.

In the laundry room, Nyx sat in a pile of Nesta’s laundry, waving her underwear in the air.

As Nesta let out a relieved breath, Cassian chuckled. “Atta boy.”

Nesta whacked Cassian on the shoulder before picking Nyx up and freeing her panties from his grasp.

He immediately started crying.

“Way to take his toy away,” Cassian muttered.

Nesta shot him a look.

Cassian shrugged. “I would’ve cried, too.”

Nesta tried her best not to laugh, but failed. “You’re ridiculous.”

Cassian opened his mouth to reply, but the smoke alarm near the kitchen began to blare.

Nyx’s cries got louder and Nesta stopped Cassian, giving Nyx to him and hurried into the kitchen, pulling a pan of burnt French fries out of the oven and opened the back door and the door leading to the garage. She got a kitchen towel and was waving the smoky air away from the smoke alarm, and after a minute or two, the incessant blaring ceased.

Leaning back against the counter, she took a deep breath and looked at the doorway, finding Cassian standing there, Nyx still in his arms, though the tears had stopped. He was cringing, expecting her to start yelling any moment—.

But Nesta took one look at the charred French fries and started laughing. Deep, belly laughs that made her stomach hurt so badly she doubled over.

Cassian turned to the living room, getting Nyx set up in his playpen, and walked back into the kitchen, where Nesta was still laughing with her hands on her knees, trying to get air down.

“You find something funny, Archeron?” He asked, pausing in front of her. Even he was unable to stop the small smile on his face.

“French fries?” she asked, unable to catch her breath. “You— You burnt frozen french fries? How long have they been in there? Two hours?”

Cassian looked behind him at the clock on the stove and rubbed the back of his neck. “I like them crispy.”

“Oh, they’re crispy,” Nesta promised, straightening her back, small bouts of laughter still finding their way out. “They’re really damn crispy.”

“Shut up,” he muttered, shaking his head. He pulled a series of paper towels off the stovetop and revealed a tray of chicken nuggets and a pot of cooked broccoli. “At least I didn’t burn everything.”

“Chicken nuggets and broccoli?” she asked, her grin still wide. “Kids barely old enough to eat solids and we’re already having kid dinners?”

“Kid dinners?” Cassian repeated. “You’re lying your ass off if you’re telling me that you don’t enjoy a big ass plate of chicken nuggets.”

Nesta laughed, shaking her head. “They’re dinosaur shaped!”

“The dino ones taste better!” Cassian protested.

“We’ll see about that,” Nesta said, and just as she looked up at Cassian, she realized how close he’d stopped from her.

He couldn’t have been more than a foot away, but he felt much closer.

Nesta’s laughter died down, although that light feeling in the pit of her stomach remained.

One of his hands was braced on the counter she leaned on, and though he wasn’t caging her in, she couldn’t help but stare up at him.

“At least it’s not breakfast again,” she murmured, noting the way he was staring at her, too.

“You’ve never complained about my breakfast,” he said, swallowing roughly.

She tracked the way his Adam’s Apple bobbed. “Well, you’ve never burnt it, so.”

The corner of his mouth twitched and she knew he was trying his hardest not to smile. He opened his mouth to reply, but Nyx started talking from the other room, babbling and nonsense and baby language reaching them.

Cassian seemed to realize how close he stood to her and backed up a step, clearing his throat. “If you want to grab him, I’ll put some fresh fries in the oven.”

Nodding, Nesta said, “Yeah, of course.”

“I’m making them crispy, though,” he said, as she left.

Nesta snorted as she shook her head and lifted Nyx out of his pack n play. “Your uncle is nuts. Yes, he is.”

Nyx’s grin melted Nesta’s heart.

Forty minutes later, once the french fries were sufficiently crispy, the three of them were sitting at the table, eating dinner. Nesta didn’t mind it, not one bit, the fact that they sat there every night and ate together.

It was almost as if they were a family.

An odd, dysfunctional, interestingly beautiful family.