#i'm assuming he's not referring to the cheek kiss anyway

[quick-catton]

hey sorry "we had to kiss"?? what. what? was there a saltburn kiss scene that was fucking cut?? guys.

[shadowtraveled]

"mithrun is the only real monsterfucker in dungeon meshi" is objectively the funniest bit you can get out of his everything, but in all seriousness i think his attraction to his love interest is deliberately overstated—and that makes sense, because romantic jealousy is a classic and digestible motive, which is explicitly what kabru was aiming for in condensing mithrun's backstory, and also because until chapter 94, mithrun wasn't willing to admit to the true nature of his desires.

but because romantic envy is both classic and digestible, it probably isn’t a unique enough or complicated enough desire to tempt a demon’s appetite. mithrun’s wish, as far as we can figure from kabru’s reduced retelling, was to have a life in which he had never become one of the canaries, and that carries like 3857 implications and desires within it. that’s delicious. his love interest acts as sort of a red herring to his motivation for making it, though. (side note: i'm saying "love interest" here because, keeping in mind that i barely speak japanese on a good day anymore, "想い人" is something i'd usually take as just kind of an old-fashioned and romantic way to refer to a lover, but in context i wonder if both the connotation of yearning and the vagueness are intentional, and i think this phrasing gets those aspects of it more effectively. anyway.)

mithrun considered his love interest to be untrustworthy. there was a minute where i thought that comment might be about a similar-looking elf (yugin, one of his squad members), but comparing the two…

the "sketchy" arrow is definitely referring to the elf we know as his love interest—the bangs go toward her right, she only has the one forehead ornament, and, most notably, her ears aren't notched.

every time she’s given a full-body depiction in his dungeon, she’s drawn as a chimera, with the body of a snake from the waist down. (side note: the “what if a dungeon has chimeras before reaching level 4?”/“then the dungeon lord is unstable” exchange just being mithrun grilling his past self alive is so funny. he’s so. but anyway) there are a couple things about this.

first, the snake part of the chimera appears to be modeled after some species of coral snake mimic

which, in the biology-for-fun manga, i��� doubt is a coincidence, especially with the added context of the “untrustworthy” comment. the dungeon’s conjured illusion of mithrun’s love interest was a harmless copycat of a venomous original. for whatever reason, he felt this person was a threat and made up a "safe" version of her to be in a relationship with, and while it’s definitely possible to be attracted to or even love someone you find to be toxic and/or intimidating, when you take that into consideration alongside the configuration of her body, you get some interesting implications.

which brings us to our second point: if we assume that mithrun was not in fact fucking a snake, then sexual attraction, at least, was so far removed from his idea of a relationship with this person that he did not even bother to keep her dungeon copy human enough to maintain the illusion of the option of a sexual relationship. this is somewhat echoed in the depictions of their interactions, which also imply a frankly unexpected romantic distance. she kisses his cheek and he doesn't seem to react; she's at the edge of a narrow bed with only one set of pillows, on top of his blankets while he's underneath them.

the kiss is particularly interesting because it seems to contrast the text. kabru's narration tells us this was everything mithrun could have asked for, but mithrun is there looking unreadable to pensive, likely because this is right before the panel that makes it clear things in the dungeon are beginning to go wrong.

walking through this backwards for a minute, we have the physical barrier of his bedding and the spatial separation inherent in a bed made for one person, the emotional barrier of his mounting anxiety getting in the way of his ability to enjoy the affection he sought, and... the snake, which historically carries the connotation of temptation, yes, but also mistrust, barring physical intimacy. okay. ok. if a dungeon reflects the mentality of its lord, all of this might suggest that mithrun was not able to have any real desire for a relationship with this person. his unwillingness to be vulnerable or let another person in was insurmountable. but in that case, why was she such a focal point that she remained to the end, after his dungeon had stopped creating iterations of his friends to come and visit him? why would he get so upset over her meeting with his brother that he became lord of a dungeon about it?

well. mithrun's brother was also interested in her, probably genuinely. and mithrun had to win.

you have an older brother who your parents completely ignore, probably in part because he is chronically ill/disabled and almost definitely in part because he received a ton of recessive traits that resulted in rumors that he was an illegitimate child. you are aware, most likely because those same parents fucking told you, that you actually are an illegitimate child. but they keep you around because you had the good fortune of looking just like your mother. what can that possibly teach you but that you, like your brother, are disposable?

it's utterly unsurprising that mithrun, under these circumstances, developed a pathological need to be better than everyone around him. people don't keep you otherwise. i'd argue this is also why he says he looked down on everyone he knew while milsiril claims his dungeon reeked of feelings of inferiority—he sought out people's worst traits and prioritized them in his mind to protect his already extremely fragile sense of self-worth, and all the while he tried to be as likable and high-performing as he possibly could be. his parents disposed of him anyway, but even then he tried to keep up the performance. he was kind to everyone. he never once lost to a dungeon.

when he saw his "love interest" meeting up with his brother, what he saw was himself being replaced by a person his parents had always treated as worthless, and if that was what they thought of the child they'd kept, what value could anyone possibly see in the bastard they'd given away to die? mithrun and kabru tell the story like he wanted to win this unnamed elf's heart, but it was never about being with her. it was about cementing his worth, proving that he didn't deserve to be thrown away.

and so it's particularly cruel that his demon discarded him, too. but maybe it's also particularly gentle that, in the end, there was someone who refused to even consider giving up on him.

kui laid it out in three panels better than i could hope to.

yeah. it's love. you wanted to be loved, even when the only way you were able to understand it was through the desire to be wanted, and you wanted that so badly that the idea of being consumed felt like the promise of finally mattering to someone.

[lowkeyrobin]

SHAWN HUNTER ; moonlight

summary ; friends to lovers makeout sesh

warnings ; language, horribley written makeout session, no smut you degenerates

track ; moonlight ; chase atlantic

word count ; 1.5k

masterlist

Y/n and Shawn, Shawn and Y/n. A duo to last centuries and possibly go down in history, at this rate. Obviously, the two had other friends, but they shared a weird bond.

Meeting in eighth grade in English class, due to a music reference that bonded the two, they became very close friends. Now, juniors in high school, they sit in Corey Matthew's bedroom, also accompanied by Topanga Lawrence and Angela Moore. The group were having a sleepover, playing typical 90s teen games such as truth or dare and telephone.

"Hey, should we get snacks and watch a movie downstairs?" Corey asks, seeing the clock read 9:30 beside him.

The group nod and agree.

Corey leads Topanga and Angela to his bedroom door, and notices Y/n and Shawn falling behind, ruffling through their backpacks. He turns away, assuming they were looking for their pajamas or blankets, and leads the two girls downstairs to the kitchen. Seeing the coast is clear, the two look at each other, sharing an awkward look.

Brows furrowed and lips sealed, Shawn is the first to move, making his way to sit next to Y/n. In response, they move their backpack over and lean against the side of Corey's bed. Shawn fidgets with his fingers, avoiding eye contact. Y/n does the same, biting the inside of their cheek, fidgeting with the hem of their shirt.

"So, uhm..." Shawn mumbles, looking up at them for a moment, "What're we gonna do about the obvious?..."

They shrug in response, glancing at Shawn next to them. "We don't have to do anything, I mean, I thought you were going out wirh Angela-"

"Enough about Angela, please" Shawn speaks, "This is about me and you. Shawn and Y/n. We obviously like each other, right? I mean, I'm not getting this wrong, right?" He asks them.

They shake their head no, "I mean, I like you if you like me, I don't fucking know" They awkwardly chuckle.

He nods.

The two bask in silence for a few minutes, unaware of where to take the conversation or handle the situation.

Shawn looks up at Y/n as they glance at him, and holds eye contact, staring into their eyes. He admires their face, unable to think in the moment. He's just mesmerized by how perfect their physical appearance was. Their nose was perfect, their eyes were beautiful, their lips perfectly shaped for his.

He'd already realized that he genuinely liked his friend for more than their appearance, their personality is what got him invested in them anyways. How they had such an amazing music taste, their kindness, their comedic sarcasm, their reasonability, their anxiousness that skyrocketed even over small things. It made him crumble to see them smiling and giggling over one of his jokes.

"Can I kiss you?" Shawn quickly asks, voice almost cracking as he speaks. "Please?"

They nod, slowly moving their right hand to his jawline.

Once he feels the light pressure of their fingers on his jawline, he quickly smashes his lips against theirs, and cups their face with his hands. His fingers brush against their hair a bit, sending a shiver down their spine.

He pulls them closer, feeling that they weren't pulling away from the kiss as he deepens it some more, pressing his lips onto theirs as hard as he could.

He pulls them onto his lap, their knees on each side of his thighs to support their weight. They pull away for a moment and look down at him, hands on his shoulders, silently asking if he's okay with the situation. He leans back in, pulling them forward as a response.

They tug on his hair a bit, pressing their body as physically close to his as they could. He takes a deep sigh, breathing for a moment before looking back up at them.

"You okay? Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable!-" Y/n quickly speaks, pulling their hands away, holding them up.

"No, no, no, no" Shawn shakes his head. "You're fine, uhm... I like that...?"

They furrow their brows, "Is that a question or a statement?"

Shawn rolls his eyes in embarrassment as he mumbles his answer. "Statement"

They giggle, covering their mouth with their dominant hand.

"Don't laugh at me, asshole!" Shawn smiles, "You're the one sitting on my lap"

They quickly change their smile to a blank face, quickly placing one hand in the back of his hair, the other on his shoulder.

Shawn's eyes slightly widen as his smile falters, feeling embarrassed, slightly scared, and very flustered. He knows they'll tug at his hair at any given second, trying to scare him.

"Sorry, sorry!"

They shake their head with a little smile and lean back in, the hand on his shoulder moving towards his neck. He groans again as they pull at his hair, and he moves one hand down to their waist, the other resting at the nape of their neck to hold them close.

The two sit against the side of Corey's bed, making out while their three friends were downstairs debating over the choice of movie to watch. They mutually pull away to breathe, and they smile, giggling a bit.

"Your tooth gap is really cute by the way, I dunno if I said that four years ago" Y/n whispers, their thumb caressing his cheek.

Shawn smiles and giggles, "Thank you" He says, speaking quietly as he's flustered. "I think I like you on top of me like this"

"I think I do too" They shrug, tugging at his hair lightly.

He groans, "Mmm-stop! They'll hear us!" He gasps, glancing back at the bedroom door behind him.

They tug at his hair again to tease him, and he makes them stop by pulling them in for another kiss. He slowly maneuvers them off his lap, and shoves them by the shoulders onto the floor, and he crawls on top of them, and straddles them. The straps of his leather jacket dangle as he looks down at them with a smug smile.

"Told you to stop"

They smile as well, moving some hair out of their face. "Doesn't mean I will"

They tug at his hair again, just a little too hard, however.

Downstairs, Corey, Topanga, and Angela hear Shawn yelp in pain and shout Y/n's name. Then some profuse apologizing.

"I'm pretty sure they heard us, Shawn"

"That hurt!"

[ellecdc]

The Drink Snob

mafia!Remus Lupin x fem!reader | 3200 words

p1 // p2 // p3 // p4

CW: mentions of spiked drink (no one drinks it), reference to past spiked drinks, complaining about misogyny, bad reputation of American tourists in the UK (I'm sorry!)

The short of it was: it had been a long day.

The long of it though, by God, was that you really, really needed a drink.

You got to your favourite pub which was only a brisk 7-minute walk from the university; a tiny, hole-in-the-wall Irish pub which probably had several thousand identical pubs lined across the UK but that didn’t matter, dammit, because this one was special – this one was yours. You chuckled at the irony that you had moved half-way across the world to England only to sit yourself in an Irish chain pub that you’d likely be able to find back home a mere 6000 kilometers away.

You relished the feel of the warm air hitting your rosy cheeks after marching your ass down to the pub in the biting wind in naught but a long coat and a scarf. The warm air stung but in all the best ways as you shucked off your outer-layers and plopped down on a stool by the bar, unawares of anyone else within your vicinity other than the bartender promised to serve you your drinks.

“Alright there, Lass? What can I get for ye?” The fellow asked and you could have kissed him right then and there.

“Can I have a negroni and your tallest pint please.” You asked, hoping the desperation in your voice wasn’t noticeable – the fact that the bartender didn’t comment on the odd combination of drinks let you know that is was noticeable. No matter – you were desperate, what did you care?

Turns out you should have cared more.

“I’m sorry but I must tell you, that is an awful combination of drinks.” A lilting voice came from your left side. You groaned audibly and held your hands up to your temples like blinders to avoid even looking at the voice who dared to speak to you after such a day.

“S’pose its good nobody asked you then.” You muttered darkly. You didn’t make a habit of speaking to people this way often – people already spent enough of your time in the UK mistaking you for an American on account of your accent anyway, you needn’t add fuel to the fire by adding to an already bad reputation.

“Please tell me that you’re ordering for a friend. You’ve surely just ordered for someone who’s meeting you here?”

You knew better – you really did. You don’t let strange men in bars know that you’re alone; make them believe someone could show up to save you at any minute. But dammit, you’ve been fending off jackasses all day – what’s one more?

“Apparently, I live to disappoint men, sir, so no – both drinks are for me. Is that quite alright with you? I didn’t realize I had to pass this decision by the board.” You spat, finally turning your what you were sure was a burning gaze to this mystery guy on a stool to your left.

You hesitated in your ire for a moment: the man was quite a bit larger than you had pictured in your mind – not large in a particularly broad way but the man seemed to be excruciatingly tall; he sat basically spilling off his stool, while still managing to look elegant in doing so. He was dressed sharply but not in a way that made him stand out – respectable but forgettable, he blended into this bar well. Or he would if he hadn’t been so fucking handsome.

He had warm, honey-coloured curls that seemed to artfully fall in front of his face, and eyes to match. You’d never seen amber coloured eyes before, but you couldn’t seem to pull your gaze away from them. You did – by god you did – because the rest of the man was too enticing not too. He had a chunk missing out of his left eyebrow which was arched mischievously at what you assumed was your attitude with him, and his crooked smirk matched. He had a few scars littering his face – most were small, but there was one large one that crossed the bridge of his nose, and another nick on the right of his upper lip that may have continued onto his lower, but you didn’t want to get caught staring at his mouth. And of course, of-fucking-course he’d have a dimple. Why wouldn’t he? Could this day get any worse.

“What was the thought process, then?” He asked, his smirk growing deeper.

“What?” You guffawed. He couldn’t seriously be doing this; people didn’t do this, right?

He gestured between the two drinks sat in front of you with his own – a rum and coke if you guessed correctly. “Why those drinks, specifically? They don’t exactly pair well together.”  

You stared dumbly at this hot, audacious man. You hoped he’d decide you weren't worth the breath and move along. He only stared back at you.

“There wasn’t any.”

“Hm?” He queried.

“There wasn’t any. Thought process, I mean.” You muttered, taking a sip of the negroni. “I like both drinks – usually separately, but I’ve been dreaming about getting my ass down here since practically 9:30 this morning and I couldn’t choose which I wanted first and I knew that I planned on getting at least a little bit tipsy in order to pretend I didn’t have a completely mind-fucking day so I thought ‘fuck it, I’ll order both’ and I thought since it was no one’s business but my own what I put into my body that I could get away with it but clearly, I was wrong.” You felt winded after your mini rant as you looked back at the man. He seemed genuinely entertained at your story, though his eyes grew a bit softer.

“Thinking of drinking at 9:30 am, hm?” He pondered out loud. “You know, that’s usually the sign of a problem; one might call it alcoholism.”

You barked a laugh. ���Yeah, you call it alcoholism, I call it Gilderoy Lockhart.”

“Ah, so boy-problems then, is it?” He asked in a laugh.

You shot him a warning look. “It is not like that.”

“I didn’t mean to offend.” He offered with his hands in the air in mock surrender. “Tell me what it’s like then.”

You sighed dramatically. “It’s really not that big of a deal, I’m just mad about stuff at school.”

“Ah, you’re a student, then?”

“PhD candidate, but technically, yes.” You offered, downing the rest of the negroni.

“Very neat. What’s your focus?” He asked again as you began sipping on your pint, trying not to grimace at the change in drink. You're sure you failed.

“Music.”

“Hm, I didn’t know one could get a PhD in music.” He queried.

“Music theory, but yeah.” You offered, moving your drink back and forth between your hands.

“And that brought you here? To England? Why not stay in Canada – if that’s where you’re from, pardon my assumption.” He quickly apologized.

You smirked at his correct assumption – thankful that you didn’t come off ‘too American’ today.

“She goes wherever the wind takes her.”

Your statement was met with silence, so you turned to see the man had frozen in his movements and stared at you incredulously.

“Are-are you quoting Disney movies to me?”

“So, you did get the reference.”

“I did, I just fail to see how Pocahontas relates to a PhD program in England on music theory.” He mutters, looking up at you from the rim of his drink.

“I finished my Masters, then the wind changed.” You offered with a shrug, “It brought me here.”

He seemed to study you for a few moments before coming to the conclusion that you weren't going to elaborate further. “And what does this Gabriel fellow have to do with the winds of musical theory?”

You snorted indelicately. “Nothing. He just, I don’t know, it sounds stupid now that I try to say it out loud.”

“None of that, now.” The man said gently with the same smirk on his face, “a smart girl like you doesn’t strike me as the type to overreact to male foolishness.”

He seemed honestly interested in your answer, at least, the most interested anyone has ever seemed in your ramblings about your toe headed fellow PhD’er. You tried facetime’ing your friends from home about him many-a-times before, and they listen but they don't get it. And your schedules don’t align and with the time-difference one of you is always either just waking up or going to bed. But this random, handsome guy in your bar making fun of your drinks has done nothing but listen so far and you really wanted to get it off your chest.

So, you did.

You told him how your morning started terribly as you ripped a hole in your stockings and only noticed once you got to campus and you usually don’t dress this formally to campus, but you were guest lecturing for Minerva and you know professors didn’t technically have a dress code, but she always looked well put together so, dammit, so were you. You explained that your mother always was the superstitious type and had you carry an emergency pair on you at all times, so you were thankfully able to change, but only after you spilled coffee on your blazer and had to shrug that off for the day and the lecture halls are ridiculously cold always; you know these stone buildings were built before electricity but surely with the great minds this school has churned out, they could find a way to keep the warm air in and cold drafts out?

And if all that hadn’t been bad enough, the other PhD candidate working under McGonagall is this absolute bell-end that you're almost positive has plagiarized half of his written work because everything he spews is absolute nonsense. He’s rude, and condescending, and spoke over you throughout all of your lectures to wax poetic about different Opera’s he’s performed in across the world - that you swear to God you will fact-check one of these days - that had absolutely nothing to do with the course content. And then, and then, he had the audacity to suggest you were only here because the school was required to accept a minimum number of foreign students and since you were, quote, just a woman, you also checked off their minority requirements too.

“People don’t get accepted here because of their nationality or their gender or their status as a minority. They’re supposed to get here because they’re good.” You muttered, finishing your pint you hadn’t realized you had guzzled during your rant

“And how’d Gavin get in, then?” He asked. You choked on the last of your beer.

“Fucked if I know.” You sighed.

A few more pints were placed in front of you as you continued to rant about the ins and outs of being a scholar in the world of music [for Christ’s sake, what was I thinking? I’ll never work a day in my life.] The man interrupting only to say that switching back to liquor would be a choice you would regret in the morning, and who were you to argue?

And he listened. He scoffed at some parts when you quoted Gilderoy suggesting something ridiculously altruistic that he’d done for the less fortunate while being nothing but condescending, he sprinkled in a few you’re kidding me’s, and even asked you to repeat something he couldn’t fathom the first time.

“See? I knew it. A smart girl like you wouldn’t overreact like that. Sounds like you’re perfectly justified in your ire.” He said.

You hummed as you finished your last pint. You felt thoroughly warm and heavy which was your intention of coming to the pub in the first place. You looked over to notice that the man – whose name you still hadn’t got – was still holding the same drink he had when you first arrived.

“Who are you here waiting for, then?” You asked him.

He looked confused for a moment. “How do you know I wasn’t just in desperate need of a drink myself?”

You nodded toward his still half-full cup in his hand. “Because you really haven’t been drinking.”

He narrowed his eyes and smirked at you. “Observant, aren’t you? Clever girl.” You rolled your eyes at the compliment.

“I was supposed to meet a business associate, actually.” He offered as he looked behind you towards the bar door. You turned to take in the rest of the bar yourself; it didn’t seem like the sort of place one would meet a business associate. The bar was dimly lit and somewhat claustrophobic; it didn’t offer a lot of privacy to talk business. You liked it because it was small - you’d be able to see everyone who was currently in the building with one sweep of your gaze save those who may be in the washrooms, and you could see out onto the street from your seat at the bar.

“I think it might be safe to say they stood you up.” You offered with a smirk as you turned to look back at him, only to find him already looking at you.

“I think you might be right.” He offered, looking you up and down.

You couldn’t help but admit he was quite attractive – and not just in his honey-blond curls and mischievous smirk and long limbs way, but he seemed clever, smart, and clearly he was a good listener. You sort of hoped he’d offer you his name, maybe even his number. You wouldn’t mind waiting around for a business associate of his with him again sometime.

You had no such luck.

He began to stand with an expression that bordered regret crossing his face.

“It appears I must be off.” He offered with a sad smirk as he placed some bills down on the table. You weren't quite familiar with the bills in the UK yet, but it seemed like an awful lot of money for the one drink he had at the bar that was still unfinished. You took notice of said drink as you came to this conclusion and got a weird feeling in your gut as he took the drink by the rim and brought it to his lips.

“Wait!” You said as you grabbed his arm. He tensed immediately and you pulled your hand away as if it burned. “I’m sorry. Just, is that the same drink you had when I first arrived?”

He looked from the drink back to you with furrowed brows. “Yes, why?”

You pointed to the drink he still held in his hand. “It’s old.”

He smirked. “Are you a drink snob, miss orders-two-incompatable-drinks-together-and-drinks-them-at-the-same-time?” You rolled your eyes and snatched the drink out of his hand as he brought it to his lips once again, which earned you an indignant ‘oi!’

“No, you berk, what I mean is, this drink is old. It’s warm to the touch, the ice has all melted and it should be as flat as a board but it’s bubbling, like, a lot.” You said as you held it in front of his eyes. He watched you for a few moments before you continued.

“It looks like someone put something in it.”

His gaze shot back to his drink where, sure enough, his should-be-flat diet coke was fizzing wildly as it began to turn a slightly murky shade.

You watched as he gently plucked the drink from your hand and casually put it back down on the bar and shrugged on his jacket.

“It appears you’re right.” He said in monotone. “Looks like we both ought to take our leave, hm?”

You nodded and followed suit; replacing your jacket and scarf you had ripped off unceremoniously as you had entered and headed for the door. The alcohol made you wobble for but a moment, but you were quickly righted by a gentle hand pressed to your lower back. Mortified, you put your best foot forward and marched out the door, hoping your embarrassment wasn't to evident in your cheeks.

You had to admit, you were beginning to panic. Why were you trusting this man? You had spent the last – you checked your watch – nearly two hours talking to this man whose name you still don’t know completely unaware of what was happening around you, and it turned out that there was someone here drugging drinks.

What if it’s him? An unhelpful part of your brain supplied. Why would he spike his own drink and then almost drink it? You argued back.

“You should be more careful.” You offered in what you had hoped to be a playful manner, but it came out strained. “Do you know of any reason why someone may want to spike your drink?”

He seemed to consider your question as you both walked somewhat briskly down the busy street to the subway station.

“No reason that would be suitable to share in the presence of a lady, I’m afraid.” He offered with a wink, leaning down slightly with his hands in his pocket. This answer didn’t make you feel any better.

“Any particular reason why you’re familiar with the signs of a spiked drink?” He offered back.

“I have a feeling most girls would be able to answer that.”

“Hm, perhaps. But I do not believe all would be as quick to catch it as you were.”

You didn’t answer him; you decided you had shared more than enough with this stranger tonight, and you were officially feeling all sorts of uncomfortable with the situation. You were mostly uncomfortable with how not uncomfortable you felt. It felt easy, walking with this stranger, as if you’ve been walking down dreary streets of London together for ages and this was just another Tuesday.

He stopped suddenly and flagged a taxi. You scowled at how quickly a cab stopped for him and his long as arms.

“Here, it’s too muggy for such a lady to brave the underground.” He offered as he opened the door. You began to protest, you had a tube pass through school for a reason, but his hand was on your lower back again as he gently led you into the car and closed the door before sticking his head in the window of the front passenger seat and tossing a handful of bills at the driver.

“Anywhere she wants to go.” He said, stepping back to the middle of the sidewalk and waving you off.

Between the alcohol, your nerves and being disarmed by the attractiveness of this man, you simply spouted the address of your flat to the driver and turned your face forward. The whole evening seemed otherworldly – like you were missing a big chunk of information of what happened tonight, even though you could account for every minute of it.

Your suspicions would have been proven correct if you had turned around to see your mystery man again, who was now accompanied by two other similarly dressed men - one with an unruly mop of brown curls and a shorter man with long black hair tied back haphazardly - who began chasing a fourth man in earnest down the street in the opposite direction.

Continue to part two here.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 3.2

The thing is Paul just physically can't say what he feels. It's just an impossibility for him. So if he says reading a negative article about himself “doesn't help” or “it's not good” but it “doesn't get home” I just assume he means ‘It hurts, but I can't think about that too hard or I'll go into a self-hate suicidal spiral again’. 

I always love how Paul says Linda. “Linder is er, nature mad.” 

She!!

Hearing Paul talk about watching Mary be born makes me wonder if John was there with Sean? Also I wonder if Linda would talk about the experience so glowingly. Probably. She's tough as nails. I had a lovely experience, personally, after the epidural lol

“Dear friend . . . I'm in love with a friend of mine.” This is such a strange and beautiful song. It's a man who has to apologize to his friend for falling in love with someone else. At least, that's my interpretation. What's everyone else's?

I understand why he's so closed off. I do. But when John is going off every five seconds, we're missing half the picture here and it's turning out warped. They really are such a good study of attachment honestly.

“Nothing will ever break the love we have for each other.” White-knuckling my way through this section with this quote clenched in my fist.

Yoko, talking about John fighting with Paul: any couple will go from swearing to kissing and it's like that. What favors are you doing yourself here, babe? Maybe John's the PR mastermind between the two of them.

I find John's comparison of working with his romantic partner to being ambidextrous very confusing. Does he mean just doing two things at once?

“If I can't have a fight with my best friend, I don't know who I can have a fight with.” -- Intro slutty gender-fluid Wings Paul my beloved -- “Tell me why, why, why do you treat me so bad? So bad? When you're the best friend a man ever had?” I heard on some podcast somewhere. Someone was going on about how forward-thinking the Beatles were to refer to the women in their songs as “friends”. And I was like, nununununu do not give them that credit.

This is just soooo. In this era? 90 minutes in the middle of a recording session?

John: Sorry, my estranged fiance is calling, gotta take a break. Guitarist: again? Drummer: how estranged can they be if they call every three minutes? Yoko: should we just record the other parts or . . . John: (receiver cradled to his cheek, lovesick grin on his face) Hey, how was Heather's school program? Haha, yeah, I bet she was.

Okay, so you've made up with Paul and now you're done being homophobic? *Cardi b voice* well that's suspicious. 

The fact that John's asking Paul to play on stage with him in 1972?? Ugh! If it was just about legalities and money and shit I would be genuinely so pissed at Paul for not going. If only because Come Together sounds incredibly lame without his bass and piano. But also for the obvious fix-it reasons. I have to remind myself of how truly awful Klein was. By being the only one to stand firm against him, Paul actually ended up saving them all from a lot of trouble. But gosh would this have been good!

Things normal people say, for sure, for sure.

Okay in my head it went like this. John calls George and bitches about what an egomaniac Paul is because he won't do anything with him as long as Klein is involved. George gets off the phone and calls Ringo and they make a bet as to how long it is until John decides they should get rid of Klein. 

“Where's your audience, Paul?” “In the theater, Dave.” As he should. The cuntiness is unparalleled. Yeah, maybe people like to see a family friendly eclectic magic pixie sexy hard rock floor show? Ever thought about that, Dave?

Anyway, he seems genuinely pissed when the interviewer even mentions the other Beatles and he refuses to even admit he still talks to any of them. Why? 

John's just so benevolent and selfless. He's completely straight, of course, but he's always offering to do gay shit. You know. To be nice. 

I forget that not only was May their literal employee, but she was ten years younger on top of that. And yet, she managed to do so much good in that relationship. I have so much respect for her. 

There's obviously a lot going on behind the scenes that they don't say in interviews. Duh. But I wonder what it is that caused Paul to be so open and happy in this interview where he's asked about the other Beatles compared to before. I wonder if he and John had a really lovely talk, or if he's heard a demo of “I know, I know.” Or maybe it's just he's so reassured that they've got rid of Klein that he feels safe acting open to a reunion on record. Who knows, Yoko. 

So so smart to pair “In My Life” handwritten lyrics with the matching lyrics of “I know I know” playing at the same time. I forget about that connection (“I love you more”) because it's so overshadowed by the “than yesterday” right after. I seriously wonder if John thought he was being so obvious with this one the way he was with HDYS and half hoped people would ask him if it was about Paul and he could make up for the whole thing. Because it's just so heavy-handed. It's beautiful. I love it. I'm sure Paul loved it. But yeah. John's just beating us over the head with the references here. 

I also wonder (very tentatively!!!) if Paul was maybe a bit more emotionally vulnerable with John than we usually think. I would never think this except for the “you know I nearly broke down and cried” “I'm sorry that I made you cry” and “no more crying!” I don't know. What do we think? 

His little baby smirk. It's so silly and cute. He's being very positive about getting back together, and the interviewer asks if John would initiate that. Just a very coy, “a, well, I couldn't say.” I wonder if at that point if he'd said on live tv that he wanted to get together again if it would've happened. Seems like it might have, but I understand him being scared. 

Elton John taking pictures like a fan and John: I wanna impound all those photos till I get me green card. What a random idea for a commercial. I love it, obviously, it's hilarious. I wonder who thought of it. 

This doc is so good at implication. The smirk as “loving in the palm of my hand” plays. That's not a reference to hand jobs, is it? Certainly not talking to someone with beautiful hands?

Everyone go look up Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five on YouTube. The singing sex is something else, yeah, but I'm always so blown away by the piano part. The fact that he's self taught and doesn't read music and this man will go on to compose symphonies. 

[kayrrhin]

hello!

i saw your commissions were opened after a fic i read, idk if you write for multiple characters but i’d like to request for robin, law, cora, yamato, and ace, with no peculiar pronouns for the reader, it can be fluff or nsfw, as you feel more comfortable with!

feel free to add more or not write for some ofc, no pressure it’s totally understandable, don’t overdo yourself, please and thanks!

I'm going to be honest, you made a commission which literally features all of my all time favorite babies so let's goooo, i also assumed it was all separated since there were no specification, good reading!

3am baking

characters: Robin, Law, Corazon, Yamato, Ace

fluff, use of pet names, ft. teenager law in Cora's part

Reader's gender is not referred so it can be any gender

Warnings: use of swear words, a bit suggestive at Law's part, french

Robin:

"wow, so far it looks good!"

You looked at the cupcakes you and your girlfriend were making, so far there was only the dough but wow it looked good.

"I'm amazed that we're able to make such good cupcakes at this time of day, at least so far the dough is good!"

You grin at the archeologist and wipe some of the flour off her nose.

"Thanks, love."

You smiled and began to put the dough into the moulds, putting them in the oven.

"Now all we have to do is wait!"

Robin put her arms around you from behind and kissed your temple,

"I just hope Sanji doesn't take this the wrong way"

You chuckled a little

"The only thing Sanji might do is cry because we made it ourselves and he didn't cook it for us, or be amazed because it's going to be super good!"

You kissed her cheek and smiled proudly.

"haha, I guess you're right, I have to say though, what a strange urge to want to cook at such an hour, darling"

"Yes, I know, but at least we'll have snacks to read"

She smiles sweetly and kisses you, her soft lips resting on yours.

"Actually, I just hope they're still good tomorrow"

You looked up in a thinking manner for a bit,

"aaah you're right...it's probably going to be a little drier depending on how it goes..."

Your lover chuckled and kissed you.

"Don't worry too much, with a bit of tea it's going to be great, love"

After a little while you finished the cupcakes and boy were they good, as was the sleep you got afterwards.

Law

"You're messing up your sleep schedule right now."

Your boyfriend said, watching you make cookie dough,

"Oh, you're one to talk! At least it's not to overwork myself but to make cookies!"

You smile and continue to work on your work of art, but you feel someone approaching you.

"Let me help you at least, it might be fun... I guess."

He seemed a little embarrassed but helped you with the cookies anyway,

"Aaaw, thanks, love!"

You smiled at him and continued to bake, when the dough was separated, the surgeon put them in the oven, setting the temperature correctly.

"Can you put a timer on please?"

"Yep, I got it!"

You set the timer and start waiting, Law lifts you up to sit on the counter and kisses you on the forehead.

"I'll never understand how you can cook for ten people in the middle of the night"

He then kisses your jaw and puts his hands on your waist,

"I'll say it's my will to eat that gives me this strength, or a mental breakdown"

He chuckled and kissed your lips, slowly moving down to your neck, kissing it and leaving a few marks here and there, he started to get a little more impatient only for the timer to remind you both that the cookies were still in the oven,

"Yes! My cookies!"

You got off the counter, took out the cookies and turned off the oven.

"wooow, these look dashing!"

"Yes. They are."

You laugh, seeing your boyfriend a little frustrated by the sudden stop,

"Come on, sweetheart, we can continue where we left off for a few minutes, the cookies still need to cool."

"I don't know if I love you or hate you, [Name]-ya"

Corazon

"I'm surprised we made it this far without burning the kitchen down!"

You've finished putting your mixture on the plate to put what will soon be brownies in the oven,

"Me too, you've really taken the easiest thing to do"

Your lover wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer to his giant body.

"Yeah, I figured at 3am, burning the house down wasn't the best way to make something"

You laugh, nuzzling your face into his chest, him, resting his head on top of yours.

"You're right, I'm not sure Law would like us to set the house on fire."

He pulled his face closer to yours and kissed the tip of your nose, then your temple, and lips.

"He'd probably kick our asses if we did, I wonder who the real adults are"

You both laughed and stayed like that for a little while, to be fair the reason he hadn't set the kitchen on fire was because you were making sure he wasn't near anything that could catch fire, mainly his coat which was left in the living room for that specific reason.

"I think the brownies are good, let me turn off the stove"

You did so and smelled the brownies,

"wow, that smells really good, mi vida, we did a great job!"

He kissed you on the cheek and stumbled, causing you to lose your balance.

"OH FUCK—"

You looked at the brownies that were about to fall out, but they were replaced by a pillow.

"hah?"

"Can you be careful??? First I wake up because you can't keep it down, when I get up you're immediately about to injure yourself, and you're the adults here?"

"Right! Sorry we woke you up..."

"and thanks for saving us from a third degree burn!"

The teenager looked at you both and sighed.

" It's okay, plus it smells good, it would be sad to let it go to waste"

You look at your partner and both laughed

"Well, I guess it couldn't have gone without at least one little mistake"

Yamato

"Woooh! [Name], look, it's growing!"

You giggled at your golden retriever boyfriend who was looking at the gateau au yaourt in the stove.

"Yeah, that's the baking powder, baby"

Your boyfriend looked at you in awe, it was the first time in a long time he'd cooked in a real kitchen, so when you said you wanted to make a cake at 2:56am, he looked at you and instantly got up, already jumping towards the kitchen.

"This is so cool! And it smells so good too! My love, you are so good at baking! You are a god/goddess!"

Your boyfriend lifted you up in his arms, you laughed at his gesture.

" Pretty boy, I think you're over-reacting, I only have basic cooking skill"

He laughed and peppered your face with kisses, which made you giggle.

"Love, can you put me down? I need to turn off the oven"

"Oh yes, sorry!"

He puts you down and lets you reach the oven, you turn it off and take out the chocolate cake, the smell of the cake reaches your nostrils, but you smell something else, like vanilla.

"Wow, that smells good, you know why it smells like va...ni...la?", Finishing your sentence, you turn your head to notice the empty bottle of vanilla extract on the counter.

"Um... it smelled good, and like vanilla so..."

"Please tell me the bottle wasn't full."

You prayed for a second, imagining that the strong taste of vanilla was too much for your taste buds and mentally cried, but your boyfriend assured you that the bottle was almost empty when he did so.

"Ok, time to try it then, I really hope you're not lying because it smells like vanilla hell right now".

You took a bite and ate it, it was indeed very good and the vanilla taste wasn't overwhelming, which reassured your taste buds, you kissed your lover and took the cake to bring it in your room.

"Ah! I told you I didn't put it all in!"

Your boyfriend exclaimed, proud that he had not made a dumb mistake (for once).

"Yes, you did! I think it's time to eat it while reading about Oden, don't you think, big guy?"

"YES!"

Ace

"oui, oui, baguette ! Quoisan !"

Your boyfriend laughed as he helped you prepare the croissants.

"Ace, shut the fuck up, it's 3am if Tatch hears us, we're dead"

The last time Tatch caught you, you were punished by cleaning the bathroom for 3 months, but you both had a sudden urge to cook after a long make out session.

"Come on, this time we're doing a good job and the ingredients were paid by us, this time if he catches us he won't have anything to blame us for"

He smiles as he rolls the dough into a croissant shape.

"You're right but still, I'm not sure having two dumbasses in your kitchen at 3am is the best way to wake up, even if you just want a glass of water."

the freckled boy finished making the shape and placed a napkin on the plate to let it sit and walked over to you and threw his arms around your waist.

"But I like to cook at night with my dumbass and my dumber self"

He chuckled and kissed your cheek.

"Pff, you're so cheesy, what's happening to you so suddenly, love? A second ago you were speaking broken French if I remember correctly."

You look at him, amused by his sudden display of affection.

"Hey, it's not my fault that my heart races when I see you."

"Oh, you're in your flirty state again, finish the croissant, idiot, and kiss me afterwards."

You both chuckled and he put his lips to yours, he was so goofy, my Lord.

"You two again???"

"Fuck, Tatch, wait, we can explain!"

[dearmura]

heyyy can i request a riki fic where yall argue and u ignore him but he tries realll hard to make it up to u?? tysmmmm

all that matters

☆ cw. she/her pronouns used to refer to reader

☆ pairings. idol! riki × fem! reader

☆ genre. established relationship, fluff, a little angst (they make up in the end dw), misunderstandings

☆ synopsis. when you refuse to talk to riki after a disagreement, he can't stand it, doing everything in his power to make it up to you

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

you have the reached the voicemail of nishimura riki, please leave a message after the tone *beeeeep*

rolling your eyes, you lock your phone, throwing it across your bed with a humph, curling yourself into a ball as you sulk under your blanket. as per usual, it was late at night, way to late to stay out, and riki was still not home from practice. a few texts sent to the other members suggests that practice ended hours ago, yet, riki stayed much later, like always

you appreciated his hard work, you really did. but was it so wrong to miss one's boyfriend? to want to spend time with him? it sure seemed like it to you, considering his empty promises everyday of coming home early, which he never seemed to fulfill

just as you were about to sulk further, you heard keys just outside your door, jolting you from your thoughts. though you were mad, in the end, you still missed him and couldn't resist greeting him, albeit, ready to scold him

slowly creaking the door open, riki assumed you were asleep by now considering how late it was but was instantly proven wrong when he was greeted to a fuming y/n tapping her foot, arms crossed

he knew he was screwed

"hey, angel~ why are you up so late? you didn't have to wait for me you kn-"

"don't 'angel' me, nishimura. I should be asking you that same question, now shouldn't I?" you interrupt, not giving him the chance to sweet talk his way out of this one

"y/n..." he continued, your name feeling weird as it rolls off his tongue, not being used to calling you anything other then a term of endearment

"I'm sorry, I really really am, but I have a comeback just around the corner and that's my priority right now" he tries. though, judging by your reaction, he assumes his words weren't the best articulated. you scoff

"more important than me? you didn't even bother to answer my calls. and don't even try to say you were busy, nishimura. I know practice ended hours ago" you knew you were being a little immature, but you couldn't think straight, fed up with ignorance

"baby I-" "just leave me alone. it's not like you care enough to prioritize me anyway" you spit bitterly

he tried to approach you but you just pulled away, needing a moment to yourself. in the heat of the moment, you walked away, leaving the boy dumbfounded as he watched your figure slowly reach rather and rather away from him. as you reached your room, you slammed the door, sliding down the wooden frame as tears brimmed in your eyes. you knew you were being dramatic but your mind was too clouded by emotions to even care

finally snapping out of his thoughts, riki quickly followed after you, only to be met with the door to his face. the quiet hitches of your breath from beyond the door made his heart break and mind go into overdrive, absolutely hating himself for being the reason you were in that state. as he tries to reason with you, you only pull away further, needing a moment to collect yourself, leaving him feeling what he could only describe as empty

he couldn't be upset with anyone but himself. he knew he was in the wrong for neglecting your feelings and needs in favor his work. he knew you had every reason under the sun be mad at him right now. but he couldn't deny how much he wanted you in his arms right now, showering you with kisses and being lulled to sleep by your little snores. in respect of your wishes, he painfully parts from the door, a tear slipping down his cheek as he lays on the couch. as you sulk to yourself, you don't even realize your boyfriend just in the other room crying himself to sleep, drowning in guilt and self loathing

✧

the next morning, you wake up with a pounding headache, reminding you of your tears the previous night. with a clearer mind, you reminisce of how dramatic you were being and feel a pang of guilt when you see the boy not sleeping beside you. groggily, you shuffle out of bed and into the kitchen to search for the boy, but he is no where to be seen. the thought of him heading to practice this early saddened you just as it did before

with a heavy sigh, you opened the fridge door, searching for something to eat when the front door opened. at this point, you were fed up with his audacity. the fact that he knew you were upset and didn't even try to reason with you, only continuing to make the same mistake again. not even wanting to bother with him, you storm back into your room before he could reach the kitchen

unbeknownst to you, the boy walked in, a devasting smile on his face as he held a bouquet of flowers in his arms, a DVD of your favorite movie, and your favorite snacks, waking up extra early to head to the store as soon as it opened. as he searched the house, his shoulders dropped when you were no where in sight. knocking at your door, he tries to keep a cheery mood but is slapped in the face when you don't even want to talk to him

at this point, his emotions got the best of him and he couldn't hold back his tears. sliding down the door, he drops down to his knees and sobs, utterly disgusted with himself

just beyond the door, you hear little sniffles and whines. though you were upset, he was still your boyfriend after all. worrily, you open the door and your eyes are met with a slumped riki with tear-stained eyes, disheveled hair, and a tear soaked shirt. looking up, he only sobs more

"I-I'm so *hiccup* sorry, angel. I know I'm a horrible *hiccup* boyfriend. p-please don't break up with *hiccup* me" his voice breaks as he offers you the bouquet of flowers, the DVD and snack bags scattered behind him

seeing his state only brought you to tears. wordlessly, you dropped to your knees with him and embraced him a tight hug. the warmth of his hold you missed oh so much brought you indescribable comfort

"no I'm sorry for pushing you away, my love. and I would never break up with you" you reassure him, feeling his hold tighten around you. face emerging from the crook of your neck, he manages to whisper out

"I'm sorry I was so *sniff* selfish and didn't prioritize y-" "shh shh shh, it's okay baby. I understand. you're with me now, that's all that matters" you massage his scalp, placing little pecks here and there, successfully calming him down

"now let's watch this movie" you reach for the DVD laid behind the boy, giving him a smile

"and I call dibs on the Takis" you state matter of factly, making him giggle, ruffling your hair at your cuteness

"it's all yours, princess"

fin

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Seven Days to Fall Again | Monday | Jeon Jungkook

Inspired by the MV "Seven" by Jung Kook ft. Latto (obvi lol) Summary: Dinner and a Breakup. You're ready to end things but Jungkook asks for a second chance, not willing to let you go. Paring: Reader x Jungkook (almost exes to lovers lol) Word Count: 3.4k Warnings: No real warnings honestly just an argument. Start from the beginning

I watch from outside the restaurant window, seeing as he has already been seated and has ordered his favorite wine along with what I can assume is mine right across from his. 'You got this. It's better for the both of us if we just end things here and go our separate ways' I coach myself, hoping to gain some sense of resolve to help carry me through this dinner and do what I've been meaning to do for a while now.

As soon as I grab the handle I see that I've finally caught his eye and he stands up waiting patiently for me to come sit down with him. "There you are" he says with a warm smile and goes to give me a quick kiss to which I turn away a bit, making his lips ultimately land on my cheek. He pull away, giving me a questioning look and I make quick excuses, not wanting to start a fight right away. 

"Lipgloss, sorry. I know you don't like the feeling of it on your lips after kissing me" I say giving his as genuine of a smile as I can muster up, given the circumstances. "I don't really mind it," he says giving me a kiss on my forehead this time instead, "but thank you for telling me anyways" he says with his hands on my cheeks looking at me lovingly, placing a quick pec on my lips before he leads me over to my chair and pulls it out for me to sit down. 

"I thought you had forgotten about me" he teases while he walks back around to sit back down. "Traffic was horrible and I lost track of time" I say taking a quick swig of my wine, praying the alcohol hits my system as fast as possible. Needing what they always refer to as 'liquid courage' to help take the edge off. "Slow down love, let's get some food in you before you start on that" he says, his brows pinched together in confusion. Clearly puzzled as to what might be causing this sudden change in character.

"I just forgot how much I love this wine" I say taking another big gulp, not paying attention to maintaining a lady like image until this alcohol mellows my senses. "We can pick some up whenever you like Noona" he says amused but still concerned at my sudden excitement in my poison of choice as some might say. 

After having what is now my temporary fill of my wine Jungkook suggests we order so the alcohol doesn't hit me too hard, both of us knowing how messy I can get a times but not really voicing it. "Do you know what you'd like to order?" he asks, trying to maintain some sort of conversation between us. "I'm not too sure, I'm trying to decided between these two an-" "Are you ready to order?" our waiter asks while also taking the liberty of refilling our glasses. 

"I think we'll need another minute or so" Jungkook answers for the both of us. "Oh it's okay I think I know what I want now" I say butting in before the waiter leaves. "Oh no that's okay honey we can take an extra second for you to think a little more" he says waving off the waiter, disregarding what what I had said and making the choice for me. 

"Okay" I say dragging out the last syllable a bit and mumbling that I was ready and will order the same thing no matter how much time he thinks I need under my breath. "What was that love?" he questions, catching onto how my demeanor has changed a bit. "Nothing don't worry about it" I say and go back to scanning the menu.

Once the waiter has taken our order Jungkook decides to start asking me about my day. "It was okay, I wasn't too busy at work so it was kind of boring" I reply, giving somewhat of a vague answer but not enough for him to get suspicious. I decide to ask him about his day in turn so he can ramble off for a bit while I try to figure out how to go about this. 

"Jungkook" I say grabbing his attention after he's spoken for a while, cutting him off. He hums in acknowledgment, not bothered at my sudden interruption. But before I'm able to say anything else our food is brought out to our table.

"Was there anything else I could get you?" the waiter asks cutting off the conversation for a moment, another interruption by him added to the tally. "Oh no that's okay I think we're fine" Jungkook answers again for both of us before checking in with me and once again the waiter is sent on his way.

"Now what were you saying love?" he asks now bringing his attention back to me but the rumbling in my stomach leaving me unable to focus. "Nothing can we just eat now? I didn't realize how hungry I was" I laugh off awkwardly.

"Of course go ahead. I hope you end up liking what you ordered" he smiles. 'I had more than enough time to think about it thanks to you' I say to myself, irritated by that previous event that happened moments ago yet again.

"I'm sure I will" I say and take that first bite, realizing it's not what I ordered. "What's wrong?" he says immediately noticing the look on my face. "No I'm fine, it's just the wrong order" I say and take a drink of water to wash out the flavor, being caught off guard by the taste. "I can call the waiter back if you want to send it back" he says and takes a quick look around trying to find him. 

"No it's fine don't worry about it. I don't mind" I say and go ahead to make the effort and take another bite, now tasting a bit better since I know what to expect this time. "But it's not what you ordered" he says, but before he's able to lift his hand up to wave them down I take his hand in mine bringing his attention back over to me. "Jungkook it's fine, let's just go back to eating" I say sternly to which he finally pays attention to, now clearly using my age as a reminder to get him to listen to me.

"Okay Noona. But can we at least switch dishes? I know you'll like mine better than yours!" he offers, hoping this will provide some sort of solution. "Sure" I say and give him a sweet smile after seeing his doe eyes go round, genuinely wanting to find a way to make me happy. We switch plates but end up spilling some water on the floor in the meantime leaving a big puddle right next to us. 

"Waiter!" Jungkook calls for someone to come help. "I'm so sorry do you think you could give us some napkins so I can clean this up?" he asks, clearly embarrassed by the situation once they reach us. "Oh don't worry about it sir, I'll have someone come out to clean it up" the waiter says before scurrying off to the back to find someone to help with the mess. 

"I'm sorry" I say and try to come out from around the table and help pick up some of the bigger shards of glass. "Don't apologize, it was my fault" he excuses. "And don't worry about picking up the glass, I've got it" he says going to grab a smaller piece but pulls his hand back after having sliced his finger right on contact. 

"This is why you need to leave things to me sometimes" I say sitting back up and giving him a napkin to wrap his finger in to stop the bleeding.  "I'm sorry Noona I-" "Keep some pressure on it and go to the bathroom to wash it off" I say sternly cutting him off, not looking for any arguments to which he mouthes a silent 'okay' and heads towards the bathroom to do as I say.

"Is everything okay over here?" a bus boy says, coming over to clean up the mess. "Um yeah everything is fine" I say not really wanting to get into it. "If you're planning on breaking up with him then go for it. It'll be less messy if you just get it over with.

"How did you know?" I say widening my eyes at him once the words have left his mouth. "Girly it doesn't take a genius to tell that you're unhappy" he says before turning to leave, me now confused more than ever. "Are you okay?" Jungkook asks me, somehow sneaking up on me on his way back. 

"I think we should break up" I blurt out, surprising even myself by how easily it came out after talking to that bus boy. Who knew that it would just take one last push for me to finally speak my mind. "What? Why?" he asks completely caught off guard by the abrupt nature of the statement.

"Jungkook, I haven't been happy for a while and I know you probably haven't noticed that you're unhappy as well because you've just become too comfortable in this relationship" he tries to interrupt but I stop him by raising my hand and he gets the memo and sinks back in his chair to listen.

"We've been together for two years already and I feel like we're at the same place we were back then. It feels like I'm the same person I was back then and so are you. We haven't grown and changed at all, as a couple or individually. I feel like my life is going in slow motion, I'm still working on my damn degree because I cut down on my class load to get a job to help pay for our bills and I've lost all motivation to continue pursuing it" I say and take a deep breath.

"You could always quit your job so you can focus on your studies. I told you before that I make enough to support the both of us" he says, having been given an opportunity to jump in. "That's not the point. Do you know how horrible I would feel if I was living off of my younger boyfriend's money? Do you know what people would say about us, about me?" I say, him adding more fuel to the fire unknowingly. 

"They would say I'm a gold digger and that I was too lazy to try and make something out of my life. That I'm taking too much time to finish college and I should just give up on it all together and get a real job" I continue. "I thought you didn't care about what people think" he says quietly infuriating me even more since he obviously knows the answer to his stupid question but decides to make that comment anyways. 

"Well I obviously do" I say and sit back taking a breather for a second, giving him a chance to say something since he obviously feels the need to interrupt. "Did I do something? Did I say something that might've caused you to feel this way? I'll fix, it just tell me" he says trying to understand my reasoning. 

"Oh so now you want to put in an effort? Jungkook you're hardly ever around, and when you are, you're too tired to spend time together. For the most part just heading to bed or getting back when I'm already sleeping. Do you even know how long it's been since you've even bothered to touch me? How long it's been since we had a conversation that wasn't accompanied by a meal. How long it's been since we watched a movie together" I list off and the realization of the actual state of our relationship washes over him.

"Baby I'm so-" "You know it was my birthday last month right? I waited around all day hoping you just weren't saying anything because you had a surprise planned for me but at the end of the night all I had received from you was a simple good morning kiss and then you went about your day, paying no mind to me at all. Holed up in your office on your day off, working and making phone calls, not even bothering to come out to eat dinner" I say getting upset all over again at the memory. 

"Let's celebra-" he tries again. "This isn't about celebrating my birthday! This is about the fact that it feels like you don't even care about me anymore. Every time I try to make an effort to spend time together you cancel at the last minute and come home with a bouquet of tiger lilies asking me for forgiveness and promising to be there next time. Even the simple dinners that I've made when you told me you would be home early enough would go cold, leaving me to eat alone yet again with no call, no text, nothing" I say and I see him hang his head a bit finally seeing things from my side. 

"Is there someone else? Someone else in your life that you're wasting your love on, leaving just a shell of a person to come crawl into bed with me. Then in the morning I wake up alone, the only indicator that you even been there being some new clothes in the laundry basket and the rumpled sheets next to me. I've been thinking recently, 'What are either of us getting out of this relationship?'. At this point we could honestly be roommates and not much would change at all compared to what's going on with us right now" I say and see that he's been holding back from saying anything so I give him a chance to say his piece. 

"There's no one else and you know that" he says sternly, clenching his jaw at the thought that I would actually think that he would cheat on me. "How would I know that" I lower my voice and lean forward trying to provoke him but he's not taking the bait, too concerned about the people around us. "I only have eyes for you and it's been like that for years. I don't even find other women attractive anymore now that I have you". "Flattery will get you no where Jungkook" I roll my eyes at him. 

"Well you're just going to have to believe me then" he says sitting back, fixing his suit jacket a bit to straighten himself out and takes a deep breath. I wait for him to say something else but he just stays silent, I can see the wheels turning in his head but from the looks of it he just can't seem to formulate them the way he wants to. 

"That's another thing, I hate the fact that you're so cautious with me. Always carefully formulating your sentences so they come out perfectly, making choices for me because you think you know best, never even trying to do something new together because you don't want to push me out of my comfort zone" I argue, continuing to point out all of the big things he's done that frustrate me. 

"I just want you to enjoy everything we do together. I don't want something to not meet your expectations and then it all goes to waste" he explains, trying to get me to see some of these things from his perspective. "I understand that, really I do, but people are meant to grow and change and learn new thing, but I feel like since we've been together we've done none of that. Our first few months of course were exciting and new but we soon started to settle into a routine and that's not what I want. To me that's not living" I explain to him, making sure he sees my side as well. 

"This relationship just isn't good for either of us. We're stifling each other's growth and it seems like our ideas of how we want to live are at odds" I say trying to wrap it up. "What's wrong with the way we live? I thought you liked our apartment?" he asks clearly not understanding where I'm going with this.

"Jungkook I literally just explained to you everything that I was unhappy about with the way that we're living. It's not the material things it's us. The day to day with how we do or don't interact with each other. The consideration of making sure you'll follow through on something instead of just expecting forgiveness when you decide to apologize for failing after the fact. The way that I don't even feel like you love me anymore, you're just used to me now so you don't feel the need to put effort into our relationship" 

"But I do love you" he starts but I cut him off without a single care. "You know our anniversary was three days ago right? I wouldn't be surprised if you just took a shot in the dark and picked a random day and convinced yourself into thinking it was the right one" I scoff. "Really?" he asks softly, embarrassed that even now he's messed up. "Yes Jungkook why would I lie to you I-" I start but I cut myself off when the waiter comes by. 

"Would you both like some more wine?" he asks with bottle in hand and as soon as I'm about to accept, hoping to cool myself down a bit Jungkook places his hand over my wine glass, preventing him from refilling it. "No, I think she's had enough don't worry" Jungkook says and takes that as a not so subtle note to not come back over until he asks for the bill. 

"This is exactly what I was talking about Jungkook! You haven't listened to a word I've said have you?" "No I have I ju-" "I want to break up and I don't want to fix thing" I say stating my case, feeling like this whole conversation was meaningless and decide to stop explaining myself. "I'm sorry it was just a habit. I'm listening I promise, if you just give me some time I'll clean up my act and put more effort into us" he pleads with me.

"I said no! End of discussion" I huff, tired of playing his games. "One week, that's all I'll need" he asks, doing better than I am at maintaining a sense of decorum. "I said we're done! Why is that something that you just can't get through your head?" I argue. 

"Please Noona, can you keep your voice down?" he pleads with me, noticing a few more people have taken notice of our conversation. "You can't tell me what to do Jungkook. I'm still your elder whether we are together or not so you do not get to disrespect me like that!" I say getting up from my chair making moves to leave.

"All this time you've been messing around and playing with my heart and I'm done Jungkook. I'm sick of yo-" "Noona watch out!" he yells, grabbing me by my arm and yanking me towards him. "What? What happened?" I say after looking around once I've regained stability.

"There was a fire at that table and it got pretty close to you so..." he trails off getting embarrassed, now noticing that he's the only one that go scared by it. I turn around and take a look a said table where the supposed fire was and see that in fact is a fire over there. 

"It was a flambé Jungkook that's normal and it's far away from us anyway so I don't see why you would act like that" I say turning my vision back over to Jungkook and just now taking notice of how close he is to me. I look at him and I look down and realize that in his panic I somehow ended up on his lap. 

He gives me a shy smile which soon turns into a look of panic when I get up off his lap grabbing my stuff and walking towards the door. "Noona wait please" he says and grabs onto my wrist but I pull it out of his grasp, turning around to face him at the same time.

"Don't bother coming home tonight. Stay at a friend's house or wherever you want, just leave me alone. We'll talk about this later" I say and he calls out to me one final time but I leave before he's able to stop me again.

Teaser / Tuesday

Series Masterlist

a/n: I really hope you like Monday! I said I was going to post something else but I had this done already and I was too excited so I decided to post it! I really hope you guys like it! Also barely edited so have mercy on me. Thanks for all of the support recently on my fics as well! Love you guys <3

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[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A/N: This wasn't supposed to be so long or so angsty, and yet, here we are. . . 🤷‍♀️

What if they accidentally kissed during the Big Boy scene? Aka Eddie's bisexual awakening. . .

Eddie grinned at Steve, Robin peering over his shoulder, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Oh, I'm not going to be the one driving this thing. Harrington's got her, don't ya, big boy?" Eddie smirked.

Big boy? Where the hell did that come from? He hurriedly invaded his space like he does when he feels awkward, and of course, they were already pretty close. Steve just had to move his head. Fuck. Their lips brushed against each other. They froze for a moment before they pulled away. Eddie didn't have any time to think about what just happened because Steve pulled him up, and suddenly, they were peeling out of the trailer park. They were on their way to the War Zone, and Eddie was sitting behind Steve, listening to him talk about his dreams. It gave him plenty of time to think about what the hell just happened.

Holy shit! His first kiss and it was with Steve Harrington. It was an accident, though. It didn't mean anything to him, did it? No, it definitely meant something to him. He wanted to do it again. As he thought about it, his mind began to wonder. More kissing, in the heat of victory. Vecna was dead, vanquished, and Eddie was cleared of any wrongdoing. Steve was grinning as he pulled Eddie into his arms, dipped him, and kissed him like he was a nurse on V-J day. Fast forward years later, and they had a house together. Eddie and Steve were chasing their kids around the house. The sound of their little feet and their giggles filled the home they built together. Wooah, getting a little ahead of yourself there, Munson? Suddenly, a pair of fingers were snapping in front of his face. His eyes came into focus.

"Jesus, what the hell? I thought you were. . .what were you thinking about?" Robin asked with a smirk.

"Sorry, you have to be a higher level to unlock that information, Buckley," Eddie said.

"Damn, is saving your ass not enough?" She laughed. "Anyways, we're going in. Can you babysit Dustin, Lucas, and Steve?"

"I don't need babysitting," Steve scowled.

"The tables have turned, Steve-o. Deal with it," Robin scoffed. "I'm laying my Dingus in your hands. Don't fail me, Munson. Steve, we'll get you clothes and shoes, along with proper bandages."

She followed the others out of the RV after she whispered something to Steve. Eddie was pretty sure she asked if he wanted Eddie to be his nurse. Steve plopped down next to him, his cheeks red. It looked like Dustin was going to join them, but Steve held up a hand to stop him. He twirled his finger, indicating that he wanted Dustin and Lucas to turn around. They rolled their eyes and did it, anyway.

"So. . .are we going to talk about what happened back there?" Steve asked.

"Oh, yeah," Eddie said sheepishly. "I hope I didn't freak anyone out. I was just lost in thought."

"Oh. . .I was actually talking about our lips, you know, connecting. . .but should we talk about that, too?" Steve asked.

"Oh, that. . .I mean, it was an accident, right?" Eddie asked, blushing.

"I mean, it was. . .," Steve trailed off.

"Even if you were into guys, why in the hell would you be interested in me?" Eddie asked.

"You're making assumptions again," Steve said in amusement.

"What other assumptions are you referring to?" Eddie asked.

"Well, you assumed that Nancy and I were still into each other. . .hmm, very wrong about that. Now, you're open to the possibility that I might be into guys, but I definitely wouldn't be into you. You are extremely wrong about the fact that I wouldn't be into you. I was going to say that it was a happy accident," Steve said.

Eddie completely forgot that anyone else was still there when he surged forward to capture his lips. Steve laughed, and Eddie could feel it vibrate against his mouth. Eddie blushed and pulled away.

"Shit, sorry, I forgot we weren't alone," Eddie whispered.

"Don't worry, it looks like they've forgotten too," Steve whispered.

Dustin and Lucas were talking animatedly with one another, their backs facing them. Eddie smiled and went back to kissing him.

[Meanwhile. . .

"So, we're just going to ignore the fact that they're making out behind us?" Lucas whispered to Dustin.

"Yes," Dustin whispered. "We know about Steve, but we don't know about Eddie, so yes, we're going to ignore them until Eddie is ready."]

A moment later, everyone came running in, and Steve quickly pulled away from Eddie before anyone could see them. He jumped into the driver's seat and drove them away to an open field. Erica threw a bag at Steve and Eddie.

"I got you a belt I thought you might like. Steve, I got you some clothes and a jacket that's gonna make you look cool for once. You better wear it. We got you some supplies, and you better tend to those wounds properly because no way in hell is my favorite brother going to die from a dumbass infection," Erica said.

"Excuse me! I'm right here!" Lucas exclaimed.

"I know," Erica said, staring him down before exiting the vehicle.

"This isn't a real suggestion, but if she did face Vecna, she wouldn't even need a weapon, right?" Eddie asked.

"No fucking kidding," Steve said.

"Everyone's out. . .so I'm going to go and let you have some privacy," Eddie blushed.

"Wait, I'm going to need help with my back. . .if you don't mind," Steve said.

"If you wanted me to feel you up, all you had to do was ask," Eddie winked, and Steve scoffed.

Eddie helped him peel off his vest and slung it across the table. He locked the door and turned to face Steve, his cheeks red at the sight of Steve shirtless again. The first time it happened, on that damned boat, and Steve just slung his sweater at him. . .God, there was this jolt of something that awoke in Eddie. He had no clue what it was. . .no, he knew what it was. He just didn't want to admit to it, didn't want to accept it, which is crazy considering how much of everything else about himself he manages to accept. Maybe because it would go against his doctrine again. There was a stirring with Chrissy that he felt. He didn't want to admit that he had a type. No, him liking guys was something he could accept. Steve and Chrissy? No, no way. Chrissy. . .and like a punch to the gut, he was suddenly reminded that nothing was going to happen, not anything because she was dead. He was never going to get to know her, to see her standing in the crowd at one of his shows, or to find out if she would have even been his friend. . .if she would have returned the feelings, or. . . Would she have accepted that he also had feelings for Steve? Shit, he didn't even know what her favorite color was. Oh, she carried around that little pink backpack. Was it pink? Shit. He did not want to build her up in his head, but he knew what kind of person she was in that moment. . . At that picnic table. Will he ever go back to that table and not think of her? It was the loss of knowing her, that he never would, that broke the dam. Suddenly, Steve was cupping his face.

"Eddie?" Steve asked and he burst into tears.

"She's dead, Steve," Eddie sobbed, and Steve's eyes were full of understanding. "I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be helping you and I'm fucking falling apart here."

"It was bound to happen at some point. I'm surprised you managed to keep it together this long," Steve replied.

He pulled Eddie against him and let him cry into his shoulder. Eddie let out a deep, aching sob as he grieved for the girl he never got to know. He whimpered and pulled back.

"I feel like I don't deserve to feel this, but I think I was starting to develop something for her, you know?" Eddie said, sniffling. "Is that okay?"

"Of course, more than okay," Steve said softly.

He leaned against the table and pulled Eddie in between his legs. He rubbed his arms gently before taking his hands in his. Eddie slipped his fingers through Steve’s, interlocking their fingers together.

"After this," Eddie whispered, leaning his forehead against Steve’s. "I'm not going to waste a single moment. I'm going to cherish every single one with you. Ugh! I sound like a sap. Steve Harrington, what the hell are you doing to me?"

"I'm just that irresistible," Steve said with a grin. "You're a cute sap though."

"We only just started getting to know each other," Eddie said. "It seems like all of this is happening so quickly. I fucking ran at lightning speed through my sexuality crisis."

"Yeah, trauma bonding will do that to you. Robin didn't like me at first," Steve said. "But now she's my platonic soulmate, and I can't imagine life without her."

"I just wish it hadn't started like this," Eddie said.

"Look at this way," Steve said, wrapping his arms around his waist. "We would have gotten together no matter what because of Dustin."

"That little shit was determined to get us to hang out," Eddie said.

"And we both would have caved eventually," Steve said, shrugging his shoulders. "That's what I like about you. I don't think there is anything that you wouldn't do for that kid. Neither would I."

"Annoying, isn't it? How he manages to claw his way into collecting older brothers like they're trading cards," Eddie snorted.

"See? We definitely would have bonded over him," Steve said.

"We still can," Eddie said and began to work on Steve’s bandages. "What's your favorite color?"

"Yellow, why?" Steve asked.

"Just curious. Mine's red," Eddie said as he began to disinfect his wounds. "Um. . .boxers or briefs?"

"Seriously?" Steve laughed.

"Just trying to get to know you," Eddie said.

"Both," Steve said as he turned around so Eddie could tend to the wounds on his back.

Eddie paused for a moment before giggling.

"Me too," Eddie replied and they both laughed.

As they prepared for war, Eddie couldn't help but think about the times he would get up early and watch the sunrise on the roof of his trailer. Sometimes, Max would join him on the roof, and they would just sit there quietly.

"You listen to the same music Billy did," Max said the first time.

"I am nothing -," Eddie started to say.

"I know," she said quickly. "Billy never would have taken in Mike, Dustin, and Lucas the way that you did. I wish - "

Max started to say, but she choked up and went quiet. Eddie sometimes wished that he had pushed her to say more, but he knew what it was like at that age to be an angry, stricken with grief kid who didn't want to talk. So, he did what Wayne did and let her sit there with him to watch the rise of a new day. He remembered the rays of light coming through, the twinkle of the stars disappearing into the light, and right now, he couldn't help but compare them to the freckles on Steve’s face. He was the sun, a bigger star surrounded by slightly smaller ones. They were protecting him as much as he was protecting them. Does the sun die a little when one of their smaller stars goes out, or does it burn a little brighter? He'd have to look that up.

But what he couldn't help but ponder on was the rays of light coming through during a sunrise. The colors were a multitude of red, yellow, and pink. He couldn't help but think about what that meant, how it oddly made him think of Chrissy and Steve. His type wasn't preppy people, but people made of pure starlight, both lights hidden safely by the sunlight but seen so clearly standing with the darkness, shining brighter and stronger than before. They were all made of stardust, he thought. Some were just more obvious than the others. He thought about that more on the way back to the Creel House. You're trying too hard to be poetic, Munson, he thought to himself. As Max walked by him, Eddie squeezed her hand and pleaded with his eyes. Come back. She squeezed his hand and did the same.

"Steve. . .," Eddie called out.

They were in the Upside Down now. The other three were off to face Vecna while Eddie and Dustin were set to be the distractions for the bats. Promises had been made. Don't be cute. Don't be heroes. Steve whirled around, and Eddie was nearly thrown back by the soft look in Steve's eyes. God, he wanted to. . .just one more time.

"Make him pay," he said.

What if they died? Fuck it. Eddie threw caution to the wind and closed the gap between them, crashing his lips to Steve’s in a harsh kiss. He can worry about the consequences later. Steve gripped his hips as he kissed him back eagerly, his hands holding on tightly to the bullet belt. Eddie smirked. He definitely liked the belt. He broke the kiss.

"I just wanted you to know that I really think that you look hot in your new jacket," Eddie said, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, I'll wear it more often, as long as you promise to wear that belt when we, uh, start hanging out," Steve said.

"Hmm, the belt and nothing else?" Eddie asked.

"S-shit," Steve stuttered, his cheeks turning red as the image broke his brain.

"Seriously?!" Robin scowled and pulled her best friend away. "You said what you needed to say. Let's go! Do not get my best friend all excited in the middle of a mission!"

"I prefer the term 'quest'," Eddie replied, and she rolled her eyes, flipping him off as she dragged Steve away.

He giggled when Robin slapped Steve out of it. Eddie turned around to find Dustin looking up at the sky.

"I didn't see or hear anything unless you wanted me to," Dustin said, his eyes closed. "Although, I really hope that you didn't want me to hear that last part."

"Relax, Henderson, I have nothing to hide from you. I trust you with my life," Eddie replied, causing Dustin to smile before punching him in the arm.

"NEVER put that image into my head again," Dustin said, and Eddie let out a cackle.

It all happened so fast. The most metal concert occurred, and then the next thing he knew, he was rushing to buy them more time. For Steve. For Chrissy. Suddenly, Eddie was lying on the ground as the bats tore into his flesh, and then Dustin was screaming, crying over him. Man, he wanted it so badly to be his year. As his vision grew dark, he thought he heard Steve screaming his name, and then he was floating. Is this what death was like?

Eddie opened his eyes and blinked at the white lights. Wait. . .what the fuck? Was he in Heaven? What idiot allowed him into Heaven? Wait. . .it was real? Well, if hell was real, then Heaven could be real, too. Okay, there wouldn't be an annoying beeping sound in Heaven. . .unless. . .this was hell, and the annoying beeping sound was his punishment. Oh, fuck, was it too late to turn his life around? His vision became clearer, and suddenly, his uncle's face came into view.

"I'm alive?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, Eds, you're alive," Wayne said tearfully.

"Eddie?" A voice asked.

Eddie looked over and saw Steve on his other side. Eddie grinned.

"Hey, sunshine," he croaked.

"Hey, glad you're awake," Steve said, trying to hold back his emotions. "Everyone is alright. Max has a broken arm, and Lucas's face is busted up, but we have everything all cleared up. You're a free man."

"Holy shit," Eddie muttered.

"You should know that Steve here hasn't left your side, neither has Eddie junior out there for that matter," Wayne said and gave him a soft look.

Wayne was a man of few words, so over the years, Eddie has learned to read his looks. He knew what that one meant. His eyes were full of knowing.

"You know?" Eddie asked with wide eyes. "How the fuck do you know when I didn't even know until everything happened?!"

"Boy, watch your damn language in front of your gentleman caller," Wayne replied. "And you're a terrible liar, especially when you're lying to yourself. I figured you'd tell me when you were ready to accept it."

"Gentleman caller? Wayne, have you been reading romance novels again?" Eddie asked with an exasperated sigh. "I just want to point out that you fucking swore."

"Maybe I have been reading them. So what?" Wayne asked. "And I just want to point out that he's not my gentleman caller. I'm gonna let you two have a minute. Let EJ know what you're awake, and I just remembered I have the perfect hat for him."

"EJ?" Eddie asked as Wayne left the room.

"It's what he's been calling Dustin," Steve said with a smirk.

"Eddie Junior. . .," Eddie muttered. "So, uh, what would have happened if we hadn't accidentally kissed?"

"Oh, you probably would have spent months pining after me, and I probably would have eventually put you out of your misery by asking you out. Maybe," Steve smirked.

"Oh, you would have been the one to pine after me, big boy, so fuck you," Eddie said.

"I hope that's one of your goals," Steve replied with a smirk.

"You really like me?" Eddie asked with a dreamy sigh.

"I really like you, baby," Steve replied and pushed hair out of his eyes.

Even though he was in a lot of pain, Eddie felt absolutely giddy at the nickname.

"You know, before all of this, I really thought that I, uh, hated you, but I think it was always a crush," Eddie blushed.

"I'm glad we were both wrong about each other," Steve said softly as he brushed hair out of his eyes. "You better hurry up and get better because I don't know how long I can wait to take you on a date."

"Uh, Steve, as lovely as that would be, I don't know if going on a date in public after everything that happened would be a good idea," Eddie said.

"No," Steve said, rolling his eyes. "But I was thinking a nice picnic on Mount Weathertop would be very nice and private."

"You're taking me on a date to Middle Earth!? Yeah, I think that's private enough!" Eddie said cheekily and then dropped his smile. "Wait, there isn't a gate that will take us there. . .is there?"

"Sorry to disappoint you. It's a hill overlooking Hawkins," Steve replied.

"Sounds romantic," Eddie replied.

Before Eddie could say anything else, the door burst open, and his room started to fill up. Dustin was at the front of the group, followed by Mike and the rest of Hellfire. Eddie had been surprised to find that Jim Hopper, the same one who used to arrest him and the same who supposedly died last year. Eddie wasn't sure why anything surprised him anymore. Everyone seemed to be talking all at once, but he wasn't paying attention to them. The only thing that he could focus on was the star sitting in the corner of the room.

Eventually, Eddie left the hospital room and healed up enough to trudge up the path to Mount Weathertop with his boyfriend. Now, Eddie was sitting on the blanket with Steve’s head in his lap as he read the Hobbit to him. His voice grew tired, and he tossed it onto the blanket so he could run his fingers through Steve’s hair. They watched as the sun began to set, and as the sky grew dark, Eddie could almost picture Chrissy's smile in the stars that were appearing. He could almost hear her voice telling him that it was okay, that she was free now. Eddie smiled and exhaled.

[be-my-ally]

The Morning After

I’ve been neck deep in smut and I wanted a short little break, I also was on such a roll with some other things (anons in my inbox - what you want is coming soon I promise) so this is a super short sweet one. A follow on/tidying up the morning after from ‘Do You Mind?’

For the prompt “Are you always this shy?”

warnings: none? I don’t think there’s any anyway - lmk if I’m wrong! oh wait. the tiniest reference to 'leading you on' which is obvs not ok. but makes sense in context.

wc: 1.1k - honestly, I'm just happy there's some words on the page.

as always!! thanks for the support + encouragement @whositmcwhatsit @thatbanditqueen @ellie-24 @vintageshanny @missmaywemeetagain @from-memphis-with-love @powerofelvis

The next morning you wake up with Elvis still clutching at your waist, your head pillowed in the crook of his neck. You blink rapidly into his shoulder, trying to assess the situation. It’s unnerving, that you don’t feel more unnerved - you feel unmoored, uncertain of the day and what it has planned, unsure of how to navigate the situation you’ve found yourself in but ultimately, tucked in Elvis’ arms - you feel safe. Calm even. As you’re letting your mind wander his arm tightens around you, his hand squeezing your hip - you’re suddenly very aware that through the night his too-large-for-you shirt has risen up, leaving your lower half exposed in just your underwear. You wriggle, trying to tug it back down to a more respectable length but pause as his chest rumbles. He does a strange little half-cough, voice remarkably low and growly on the top of your head, 

“Are you always this shy?” You lean back a little to glance up at him, taking in the shadow on his chin and cheeks, barely resisting the urge to run your fingers over it. You’ve never even seen a photo of him with stubble. His eyes are still tightly closed, like he’s hopeful he might not actually have to wake up right now. 

“I’m not shy! I’m just - you’re practically a stranger.” You’re indignant on this point, not wanting him to think you were uncool and inexperienced or a massive prude. His fingers stroke your hip, absentmindedly, as if he has no idea he’s even doing it. He hums back at you, 

“Mmhmm, just a stranger, baby, that’s me.” You can hear the smile in his voice, see it lifting the corners of his mouth. He ducks his head lower, eyes blinking open - you’re taken aback at the blue of them in the hazy morning light, your throat dry with the sudden desire. “Just a stranger.” He presses a kiss to your forehead, gently, and you feel your face flush at the intimacy of the gesture. He pauses momentarily, before pulling his hand away and up to your neck, brushing up the side of your body to cup your face. He bends to press his lips against yours, jumping back like he’s been burnt when you jump in surprise and leap out of the bed. 

He laughs, his head falling back on the pillow as you stand there. “Lord. Normally the girls are desperate to get into my bed, not out-ta it.” You feel awkward, and embarrassed - you hadn’t even really wanted to jump out it was just instinct, it had just happened. His laugh though is infectious, and you find yourself giggling a little too. 

“I wasn’t - I didn’t mean to, I didn’t wanna get up!”  He smiles, eyes crinkling as he leans forward, his hair flopping over his eyebrows, looking like he’d been dragged through something backwards. You know he’s had plenty of women but as you look at him lounging in the bed so casual and carefree you have to wonder how many others he’s allowed to witness him like this. You pull his sleeves down over your hands, shuffling your feet, feeling further embarrassment at the strength of the affection you feel for him at just that thought. “Sorry - I didn’t -“ 

“No, No, I’m sorry - I should’ve checked you were - I shouldn’t have assumed.” You stare back at him as his tone turns serious, breaking eye contact with you to look to the side. 

“I was in your bed. I think it was a pretty safe assumption.” 

“Still I should’ve checked first.” You roll your eyes, slightly annoyed that your rash action was being taken so seriously - 

“Honestly, it’s my fault El, I just panicked for a second. I’m not - not ready to do anything much more than kiss at the moment, didn’t wanna give you the wrong impression. Lead you on.” You walk back over to the bed, his expression turns earnest as he pats the space next to him. 

“I ain’t gonna do nothing but kiss doll, swear it - haven’t got, motor ain’t running yet.” He pauses, as if hearing how that sounds, “Not that - I mean, I’d definitely wait for you to ask for that.” He grins, a mischievous expression coming over his face, curling his lip, “Beg for it.” You roll your eyes, 

“In your dreams.” You expect him to laugh, but he nods instead as if agreeing. You rapidly change the subject before he can say anything, lying back down next to him, “Right then. Kiss me.” This time he lets out another shocked laugh, shaking his head as he rolls over to lean on top of you.

“ ’S not a chore doll, is it? You could sound a lil more ‘nthusiastic!” You laugh, reaching up with a hand to cup his face, thumb brushing over his high cheekbone, the creases by his eye. 

“Kiss me and you’ll see how enthusiastic I can be.” You’re not sure where this confidence has come from, but you know you love the look in his eyes when he thinks you’re funny. He presses his lips to the corner of your mouth and you giggle as he completely misses, ending half on your cheek. He mumbles against your skin, 

“Stay still baby,” He moves to slot your mouths together properly and you immediately surge forward, hungry for it, desperate for it - despite your earlier reservations. You didn’t even think about the possibility of morning breath and you don’t now - opening your mouth, inviting him in. His teeth are catching on your lips nibbling on them and it feels unparalleled to any sensation you’ve ever experienced before. The softness of his famous pout, mixed with the gently harsh stubble on his cheeks, and the tug of his teeth on your soft skin. You pull away, 

“God - Elvis, you gotta, need you to,” You reach for his hand, pulling it to land on your stomach, He looks slightly shocked at your clear desire to have him effectively pin you down. 

“That ok?” You nod frantically, 

“Good god, yes, just, just keep going,” He rubs his fingers in a little circle, just barely tickling before he presses it palm down, resting on you. It’s heat seems to amplify everything you’re feeling - down to the little jolts of arousal when he tugs your lip just right.

 You have no idea if you’re making a noise, no idea if you’re even breathing. All you can feel, see, taste, hear is him. Finally his tongue slips in, you don’t fight him letting him straight in, do what he likes. You suddenly hear yourself the little moans and breathy grunts that you’re letting out when he pulls back enough to let them escape, and you gasp as he presses little wet open-mouthed kisses against your cheek. You’re lost to everything but the feel of him, heat thrumming through you as he captures your lips in his again.

He pulls back and you’re in a daze, unable to do anything but lie there and try to catch your breath, hoping to be left there for eternity. 

[bats-after-dark]

I am pleased/horrified to let you know that my stomach LURCHED at the idea of Xiaobao a) doing Huaien's hair, and b) erotically jingling while at it. I'm assuming it's meant to come across as a non-sexual act of service, but the jingles carry... implications. I genuinely don't know how I'll continue to exist on this plane while knowing something referred to as the CNC doc exists, how does it feel to hold my life in the palm of your hands? I may be exaggerating a little but not a lot.

And to return to the ledger of cockwarming, Huaien DEFINITELY needs to check the numbers he went over while Xiaobao was pinballing between sex pest mode and subspace and drooling on his dick. Otherwise Huaien might bring even worse financial ruin on their house than leaving Xiaobao’s math unchecked would have.

Huaien should probably stop pretending to do his little numbers and just fuck Xiaobao instead, except the pretending to do his little numbers is part of the scene, isn't it. Xiaobao wants to be ignored.

Some shockingly domestic jingling:

He’s made it through the better part of his hair with slow strokes, more careful with the knowledge that Xiaobao expects him to be gentle with himself, when he hears soft familiar chimes. His breath catches in his throat. He does not need to turn to know, but he turns anyway. Xiaobao walks in wearing the necklace. Zongzheng Huaien’s mouth goes dry. It’s not the same necklace he had when they first met, less solid gold and more bells delicately suspended across Xiaobao’s chest. Louder. It’s so loud. Zongzheng Huaien is staring so fixedly at the necklace that he almost misses his favorite moment of the morning when Xiaobao’s face lights up upon seeing him. Xiaobao says, “Furen!”, and runs to him, just like he does every morning. Stops at his elbow to bend down and kiss Zongzheng Huaien’s cheek. Up close, Xiaobao smells like osmanthus and the herbs tucked in his sleeve to keep the stink of summer away and, at the edges, the muzzy warmth of sleep. Zongzheng Huaien tips his mouth up to be kissed. May every day for the rest of his sorry life begin like this.

[hearts4golbach]

Light Shower. (Sal Fisher x Fem!Reader.)

part 11

-

"you're the shower of light I devour any day of the week,"

-

I was dying. nobody told me how hard recovery would be. I stared at the ceiling, clenching my fists so hard I could feel the blood begin to form under my finger nails. the temptation wasn't there. I had nothing. all I wanted to do was sleep, but my mind wouldn't allow me to do that. I wanted to breathe. sleep. it felt like I was being held under water, but how can you be breathing without the water filling your lungs and drowning? I choked back tears and picked up my phone.

'sal? r u up?' I stared at my phone, praying he was. *ding.*

'yea r u ok ml?'

I took a deep breath.

'no'

'can we sneak out nd go somewhere?'

'yea sure my dad just left 4 work'

'nightshift'

'yeah I assumed it w as night shift otherwise y would ur dad be working rn.'

'yea yea meet me at the elevator ;)'

I slipped on a hoodie and slides. I snuck out the front door, not like anyone could hear me over my dad's snoring. sal was leaning against the wall facing away from me.

"Hi Sally." I smiled whenever he hugged me.

"Hey, what's going on?"

I wiped my hand on my leg, I didn't want to tell him about how badly I wanted to relapse. "I'm just having a rough night. did you have a nightmare?"

he nodded. the elevator descended to the first floor. "oh shit, I didn't know it was raining." I muttered.

"it's just a few drops. we should be fine." he replied, wiping a few droplets off of his prosthetic cheek.

he was far from right. the rain began pouring down. it slapped against the pavement, turning it a muddy, darker shade of grey. thunder danced around the ski like ballerinas. I smiled to myself, what a silly reference.

"we need to get out of the rain." I mentioned, thunder crashing after I said so. "scary." I smirked.

I pulled my shirt up to cover my head as we ran for the tunnel near school. sal slipped frequently, almost falling. as we ran through the rain, I felt more alive than I had in months. the way my feet slapped against the soaked concrete made me giggle.

"fuck this!" I cackled as I slipped off my shoes. I ran faster barefoot. small rocks jabbed my feet, making me wince but I didn't care.

"y/n, oh my god!" sal was hysterical.

"what?! come on, it's better this way! you're too tense!"

whenever we finally made it to the tunnel, sal and I collapsed. we were breathing heavily as we watched the occasional car drive by.

"Hey, we sound just like when we were having se-"

"y/n!" sal cut me off.

"just saying!" I teased. I jumped up and walked to the middle of the street. I laid in the middle in a starfish position.

"y/n, there are cars, you know!" sals words echoed through the tunnel.

"so?"

"they can't see you." sal moved to stand in front of me.

"so you wanna get hit by a car?" I raised my eyebrow.

"I'd rather get hit by a car than see you get hit."

"sal you're fucking wack." I replied as he sat down next to me. I watched the rain slowly drip out of his bright blue hair. I'm sure he was uncomfortable under his prosthetic.

"y/n! car!" sal yelled. I jumped up and looked behind me to see an empty street.

"you're such a dick!" I giggled pushing his arm.

"you know you love me." I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I was just testing your reflexes!"

"right." I stood up fully and looked down at him. I placed a kiss on his prosthetic lips.

-

"grandma, this is my best friend sal. I told you about him!"

"hello, dear sal. I'm so glad you can stay with us this week! I'm sure you and Y/n will have a great time."

and we did.

-

day 1-

dear diary,

today me and sal played in the backyard. I got stung by a stupid bee! sal was there for me, though. grandma fell asleep early. we made our own dinner. me and sal make the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'm worried about grandma, but I don't want to worry sal. he's asleep, anyway. I think grandma's on sleeping pills again. I remember what happened last time. mommy's going to get angry again. I don't want another fight. especially in front of sal. it's a secret between me and you, okay diary?

day 2-

dear diary,

Grandma said me and sal can't go outside today period she said it was dangerous period she said there's bad people outside period me and sal didn't question. We watched her close all the blinds and sit on the couch holding a  kitchen knife. Me and sal locked ourselves in the guest bedroom. We hid under the blankets and made up stories to tell each other. Grandma called us out and told us dinner was ready. I didn't eat.

day 3-

Mommy is coming to get us today. Grandma took us outside. She said she wanted to beat the demons out of her rug. I think she's been taking too many pills. When mom came, grandma and her fought. Mom knocked grandma to the ground trying to get the pills from her. Me and sal hid downstairs. We held each other til we knew it was over. I told him I was so sorry.

[i-willstealyourtoes]

yo yoo do you think you could try something with Hoxton/reader/houston with reader being the meditator? That’d be so cool

Bro.... I am SO sorry this took so long fr I hope it was at least somewhat worth the wait!!

Houston + Hoxton with s/o who breaks up their fights

Houston

- Bro.... I swear they're like two little kids when they fight

- All it takes for something to happen is ONE LITTLE THING-

- 'Where the fuck is my wrench? Hoxton, where'd you put it, I swear to GOD-'

- 'I didn't fucking take your shitty wrench, just like how I didn't LAST TIME, DIPSH-'

- OH my god they just never stop

- As you walk towards them past Dallas, he can barely believe you can do this everytime

- He may be the leader, but he can NOT be bothered breaking them up every. single. time.

- By the time you get there, they are practically inches away from a physical fight, hurling insults at each other non-stop

- 'Yeah well, it's not MY fault that Bain himself gave me your mask? How are you even still mad about that?!?!?'

- 'I'm mad because it's MY FUCKING MASK, SHIT-HEAD! HOW THE FUCK WOULD I NOT BE MAD?!?!'

- I kid you not, at one point Hoxton starts looking through his drawers to take his old mask back 😭

- 'Get your dirty hands OFF MY STUFF-'

- Houston starts to grab Hoxton and pull him away

- This is the indicator that things will get physical, and you should get between them

- 'That's enough.'

- Houston takes his hands off Hoxton (he knows that you'll pull him off anyway), and looks at you, as if trying to convince you that it was all Hoxton's fault

- 'He fucking started it, he stole my-'

- 'I said, that's enough.'

- He immediately stops when your tone becomes more serious and threatening

- Hoxton (who was just giving Houston death glares) laughed at Houston sudden docile nature

- 'Hah, what are you, a dog-OW HEY OW (Y/N)-'

- (That was the sound of you pulling Hoxton by the ear towards another part of the safehouse)

- Houston would laugh, but he knew that after you were done talking to Hoxton, he would be next

- And then his time finally came

- 'Hey, it was his fault, not mines-'

- 'Does it look like I care? You two have got to stop fighting, otherwise it'll be a problem in our heists too.'

- He knows you're right, but he isn't willing to admit it so freely

- 'It's already a 'problem' letting him on these missions anyway, he's fucking clueless!'

- (He's still heated up from that argument, hold please)

- 'You know that isn't true, you're just being childish now Houston.'

- Yeah, you tell him bro

- After a long (30 minute) conversation, he's finally willing to go up to Hoxton and 'apologise', albeit with a lot of reluctance

- 'Fine... fine! I..... I'm sorry. For assuming that you stole my stuff. There, you hap- OW-' (you pinched him)

- 'Hoxton....do you accept his apology?'

- '....I guess.'

- That'll do for now

- 'See Houston, it wasn't that difficult right?'

- (All you hear is grumbles under his breath)

- 'Oh and by the way, here's your wrench Houston.'

- HOXTON YOU SON OF A-

- He's smirking too as he throws it to Houston

- 'I SWEAR TO GOD, I'M GONNA KILL YOU-'

- 'UHHH HOUSTON QUICK C'MERE WITH ME BYE HOXTON-'

- You have to drag him away by the hand as he literally almost explodes from anger

- 'I'm gonna kill him. I'm actually going to kill him this time.'

- Looks like it's time for your secret weapon

- You kiss him on the cheek

- 'I love you ^^'

- He pauses

- YOUR SECRET WEAPON WAS SUPER EFFECTIVE

- He sighs, as he pulls you in for a hug

- 'I think if it weren't for you, I'd be covered in his blood by now.'

- 'Yeah, what'd you do without me?'

- 'Nothing, (Y/n). You're my rock, you know.'

- (Btw, if you refer to someone as your rock, you are stating that they are someone that is always there to keep you sane/from getting lost in your emotions)

- Deep down, Houston definitely thinks that he's better than Hoxton because he has the greatest s/o of all time

- (You)

Hoxton

- Okay so let's imagine the same situation, but instead it's Hoxton!

- 'Hoxton, get your hands out of the drawer.'

- He turns to look at your face

- 'He has my mask-'

- 'Come with me. NOW.'

- Houston does the whole 'oooooo, you're in trouuuuubleeeee' thing as Hoxton walks with you to his part of the safehouse

- (idk why he's like this, he's going to be scolded later)

- 'Babe, you gotta stop stealing his stuff just to make him mad.'

- 'I didn't!'

- You know this isn't true, as this isn't the first time something like this happened

- This was actually before you were dating, even before you two were actually close on any way

- You decided not to interfere, which resulted in both parties (Houston + Hoxton) getting bruises

- Anyway back to Hoxton being a liar (/lh)

- You glare at him, only for him to chuckle nervously then bring out the wrench from his drawer

- '......You didn't even need it, did you...?'

- 'Nope.'

- His look of pure pride is almost commendable, but all he receives as a prize is a slap (a light one)

- Seriously, he genuinely needs to stop doing stuff like this, because one day, you won't be there in time to stop the fight and someone will probably end up with a broken arm

- 'Babe....'

- He knows he shouldn't, but the wrench was right there in front of him!

- Come on... the opportunity was right there!

- As a heister, he's learnt to take opportunities when they're in front of his face, so this wasn't out of character at all

- (Which is a bit of an issue but we love him anyway)

- 'Come on, give it back and apologise, or no hugs.'

- 'Pfft.... wait seriously?'

- As much as it sounds like a stupid punishment, NO HUGS IS NO HUGS OK HE NEEDS THEM

- '....Fine.'

- He's only doing this because he really likes hugging and holding you

- He walks up to Houston, holding your hand before handing the wrench to him

- '...Sorry, Houston.....here's your useless wrench back.'

- 'YOU DID STEAL IT!'

- 'Yeeeeep. I didn't even need it. My bad.'

- You have to quickly pull Hoxton away from the situation, before he makes it worse

- I swear, he's gotta stop fr

- '.....Hox....'

- 'What? You didn't say I couldn't make him angrier.'

- He has so much pride in him as he hugs you

- 'If you do that again, no hugs. Seriously.'

- 'There won't be a next time. Promise.'

- (Yes there will be, everyone knows this)

- He feels surprisingly happy at this point tbh

- I mean, his 'worst enemy' is annoyed, you weren't that mad at him, and he gets to hug you!

- Yep, this is it. He's made it in life.

[softquietsteadylove]

Thenamesh Ballerina/Boxer AU with Gil protecting Thena.

I love protective Gil so it would be really cool :)

"You sure you wanna do this?" Gil couldn't help but ask as they walked into the loud, crowded pub.

"Oh, come on," Thena smiled at him, pulling his hand to go find where Sersi and Ikaris were waiting for them. "I'm not so opposed to rambunctiousness. I do teach teenagers, if you recall."

"Oh, I recall," he chuckled. The teenagers were the class who loved to 'ooh' and 'aw' when Miss Thena's boyfriend came in to bring her coffee.

"Besides," Thena sighed, half for fun and half in genuine exasperation. "Sersi is quite taken with your old buddy, Ikaris."

"I don't know if I'd use the term 'buddy'."

"I want her to know that we can all spend time together."

Gil grinned, pulling Thena back to him by the hand and securing her there by wrapping his arm around her waist. He pressed his lips to her temple, "you're a good friend, Gorgeous."

Thena lavished in the small affection, even in the middle of the horrifically loud establishment.

"I do owe him a beer anyway," Gil added a little more sheepishly, "after last time."

"Last time?" Thena blinked.

"Well, the time before that," Gil shrugged, referring to a misunderstanding between them that had led to Gil pulverising Ikaris way too intensely for a practice match.

Thena blushed as Gil nipped at the shell of her ear.

"How could I forget last time?"

Thena squirmed in his embrace, pushing on his chest, "we're already late."

"Where the hell are these two?" Gil muttered, looking around the room. Even with its darkened corners, he assumed he would have seen them by now. "You see 'em?"

"No, I--hey!"

"Whoops, sorry 'bout--hello there," the offending stranger shifted from frustrated to smiling at Thena in the blink of an eye. He took her in, visibly, running his eyes over her and tipping up his hat. "Sorry, little lady, didn't mean to jostle you like that."

"It's fine."

"Let me get'cha a drink-"

"She said it's fine, man," Gil grumbled, pulling Thena closer to him again as the walking ball cap and blue jeans refused to stop dragging his eyes over her.

The man turned to Gil, as if noticing him for the first time. "Oh, sorry man, I didn't realise she was with you."

Thena had to wonder how he had missed her literally being held by Gil. But they were on their way again before she could ask. "Gil?"

"That's the other thing about dives like this," Gil muttered, keeping her close as he found them a standing table underneath a light. "The prettier you are, the more of an animal you'll attract."

"I'm not sure if that's so foreign a concept to me."

"Maybe not," Gil conceded, kissing her cheek gently as he parted from her reluctantly, "but the kind of animal might be. I'm gonna see if the bartender knows if they're here and where they might be."

Thena nodded, watching him go as she stayed standing at the table. She swayed absently to whatever tune was playing far too loudly through the speakers. She put her hands on the edge of the table, only to discover there was something on it. Whether it was water or something else she wiped her fingers off on her jeans--the only pair she owned, and wore specifically with this venue in mind.

Sersi got out more than she did. Sersi knew how not to stand out in a pub--a bar, rather. This was for Sersi--who deserved to be happy, even if Thena thought Ikaris was a bit of a meathead for her.

"Buy you a drink?"

Thena stared down at the table, wondering if refusing to engage them at all would be a better route.

"Buy you a drink?!!"

No, they just thought she couldn't hear them. She sighed, turning with a frown, "my boyfriend is at the bar now."

"Then he's not here."

"That wasn't an invitation," she scowled, as the man - and more than one behind him - shifted from their table to hers. She eyed them cautiously, "I'm not here alone."

"Really?--'cause," the front one ran his eyes over her, just like the one from the crowd, "you seem pretty lonesome."

Alone and lonesome did not mean the same thing.

"We can just keep you company," another one suggested, "'till your, uh, boyfriend?--comes back."

"I don't think you want to do that," Thena advised, not that the interloping animals deserved the courtesy of a warning. "He won't like arriving to a scene like this."

"What? We're just talking."

Thena shuffled back from the table, desperate for every centimetre of distance from them she could get. "A discussion to which I never agreed."

"Now what's a flower like you doin' in a place like this?"

"Yeah, you're far too sweet to be roamin' around alone."

"I bet your boyfriend's just some dickhead, anyway."

Thena glared at him.

"Dude, you made her mad," the others slapped his shoulder, laughing between themselves, although clearly her anger was the cause for their amusement. "She's cute when she's angry, though."

"Then you're gonna think I'm adorable."

Thena looked over their shoulders, although the one closest to the back was already getting flipped over Gil's shoulder. His shoes hit the ceiling light dangling above them with a loud clang. "I did tell you."

The one who called Gil a 'dickhead' was next. He tried to make his escape but Gil grabbed him by the wrist, giving it it a good twist until everyone around them could hear the pop! of it.

"Hey, man, we were just-"

"Harassing my girlfriend," Gil finished for the other two, cracking his knuckles loudly and giving his hands a shake, like he did when he was getting ready for the last round of a fight. "Yeah, I heard."

Everyone but Thena winced as Gil landed a punch to each of their faces that looked quite lethal in force. And certainly they went down like a sack of bricks, completely unconscious after a hit like that.

"What the hell's going on, here?!"

"Sorry, sorry," Gil apologised, holding up his hands as the bar staff came rushing over. "I'm going, I'm going."

Thena shuffled around the men on the ground, hopping over one of the bodies to trot out beside Gil. "Are you okay?"

Gil just shrugged, shaking out his fist again. Sure, he was used to gloves, but his knuckles had been conditioned long before now. "I'll be fine. Are you okay?"

Thena offered a shrug of her own as they headed back out into the night. "I've certainly heard worse."

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart," he offered sheepishly, taking her hand in his. "I didn't mean to leave you alone to them, or to get us kicked out like that."

Thena just shook her head, stepping in closer to kiss him again. "I'd hardly consider that your fault."

Gil returned the kiss gleefully. "And for the record, you are cute when you're mad, but only I get to say it."

"Gil," she scolded, slipping her hand under his sports coat to give his side a pinch.

"What?" he laughed, leaving his heavy arm around her delicate little shoulders. "It's super cute when your little goslings tease you for having a boyfriend and you get all flustered."

"Gil!"

"Oi," Ikaris blinked as he arrived with his own arm slung over Sersi's shoulders, "what're you doin' out here?"

"What are we doing?" Gil snorted at his old friend, "you're late even by your standard."

"Yeah, well," Ikaris shrugged. That was the end of his excuse, it seemed. He took another step, "shall we?"

"Uh, we can't go in there," Gil caught Ikaris by the shoulder and turned him around.

"Huh?"

Thena took Sersi's elbow and turned her as well, allowing them to link arms with the men on their outside shoulders. "Gil caved in a gentleman's nose, in there."

"Oh my," Sersi underreacted, perfectly able to imagine him doing so, apparently. "Well, there are other places to get a pint."

"Places that aren't crawling with assholes," Gil muttered, slipping off his jacket and putting it over Thena's shoulders.

Ikaris rushed to do the same for his own girlfriend.

[east-from-west]

It all hit the fan when he took out the trash and did the dishes while she was on the night shift at the restaurant she worked at. Koshii thought that's what a regular husband should do, so that's what he did. This 'Mark' fellow worked from home with very rare office visits while Oakley worked on site, so he figured Mark probably helped with housework anyways. He was wrong. When Oakley got home, she dropped her keys on the table and walked into the kitchen to find her 'husband' at the sink, pink gloves on and scrubbing a bowl. She raised a brow and stood in the entryway, seemingly confused. 'Mark',, having heard her enter, turned with a smile.

"Hey honey, how was work?" He initiated what he assumed was the standard husband/wife conversation model. She blinked, almost in disbelief.

"It was good, thanks." Oakley paused, as if hesitant to ask what she did next. "I thought we didn't do pet names any more? And that housework was 'my job'?" She mumbled.

Koshii froze. Had he blown his cover? He had to find a way to smooth this bump over.

"Ah well I just figured. I work at home, y'know? I'm able to contribute as well." He laughed it off awkwardly.

"Yeah." She returned to awkward laughter, seeming uncomfortable.

"Just so unlike you. Feels like a body snatcher scenario." She said lightly, but the words held some suspicion.

Koshii chuckled nervously. "That's crazy, sweetheart. Still me, Markus."

Oakley raised a brow.

"Yep. 'Markus.'" Oh she was onto him. Koshii remembered too late that 'Markus' was never referred to by his birth name. Only 'Mark'.

"You should get some rest, Oak. It's late and I'm sure you're super tired." He smiled, trying to find an out from this conversation.

"You're right. I think I will go to sleep. Good night." She kissed him on the cheek and he froze up again, face heating like a kettle. Oakley looked at him with an 'ah-ha' look in her eyes. She turned and walked towards the stairs. As she reached them, she paused and turned back.

"It was nice meeting you, by the way. You're much nicer than Mark. Take the couch tonight tonight though."

And with that, Oakley went up the stairs.

Cover officially blown.

Well crap.

You’re an alien spy that has replaced someone in order to blend in on Earth. Turns out the guy you replaced had a very unhappy wife who immediately realised you aren’t him when you treat her like a normal husband should.

[corninthegob]

SEASON FUCKING TWO GOT ANNOUNCED THANK GOD

I'm so relieved that it wasn't cancelled, I'd basically already given up. Obviously it doesn't make sense for stuff to get announced super quickly but I'm a pessimistic guy and it is easier to assume the worst and get hurt by it less then to have hope and get proven wrong. Lmao that is depressing anyway have some gay art in celebration

I "finished" this like a week ago but I forgot about Edward's tattoos and it's on the arm that's usually covered so I procrastinated looking for references for them for ages. It's obviously still not accurate but I want to get the general placement and what the tattoos actually are right (no duh lmao)

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION]

Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach from Our Flag Means Death on the deck of The Revenge. It is set post-reunion (not canon). Stede is wearing a simple white shirt and Edward's red silk is tied around his neck. His hair is slightly longer, and he has a beard. Edward has a short beard and is wearing a purple shirt. He is kissing Stede's cheek.