#i'm over here trying to crack jokes and now i'm thinking on this deeply this is bad awraxawraxa

[inavagrant-a]

To this day I still adamantly believe the only one who has a license to cuss in the harbingers is Scaramouche.

[perfectlysanexd]

I haven't done one of these kind of posts in a while, but the expressions in Rebirth were top notch, and I wanted to talk a bit about and analyze Sephiroth's different smiles, both pre and post Nibelheim.

Nibelheim itself is difficult to gauge, because SOLDIER Cloud is actually Zack, and furthermore, some of it is definitely his own wishful thinking. But one thing you can say for sure, is that they portray that Sephiroth, despite being so emotionally weary, still summons up the energy to smile at his friend.

As soon as he turns away from Zack, his smile falls, and he doesn't give one to the Mayor at all.

However, when he turns back to inform the men that they're free until sundown, he summons up another smile for them. I don't think that he's just attempting to keep their morale up, he genuinely has affection for Zack, and cares for the others. He respects them for their service, putting their lives on the line for what they think is a good cause, and Sephiroth—as we saw in Ever Crisis—learned to be a compassionate person, who cares about the lives of others, even enemies.

Of course, he's deeply distressed during this time, the despair is eating him alive. Even Cloud acknowledges(despite having not known Sephiroth on a personal level) that he just wasn't himself once they arrived. But I'm not going to talk about my theories on all the Jenova stuff right now, that's not the focus here. Even at the window, you can tell he's feeling off, but when he turns to Zack, he attempts to smile again.

Sephiroth has never enjoyed his fame, and as we learned in Ever Crisis, he didn't choose it; Shinra made up bogus achievements and declared him to be a hero before even his first field assignment, as part of their recruitment campaign. Can't argue with results, I guess—it certainly got Cloud to join up out of hero worship, right? In EC, Sephiroth admits that all he ever wanted was to be normal, something that he knows he can never have. How sad...

So when this man wants to take his picture, it's no wonder that he's over it by then, and tells him no. And rather politely, too, all things considered. But even before that, he smiles and tells Zack that as long as he does his job, their young tourguide will be safe.

But as soon as he turns his back and walks away? Yeah, that smile immediately fades.

Which certainly doesn't change when the guy takes his picture. But of course, when Zack asks Sephiroth to pose for one, he just can't say no, even though he's not super happy about it. Anyway, he continues to smile at Zack for the duration of their journey up Mt. Nibel, making an effort to talk and even cracking a couple jokes, just trying to be a good leader and keep them in good spirits.

And of course, there's the very sad bridge part, where you can tell that he's genuinely upset that he failed to save the other infantryman that got washed away. He searches for him, but comes up empty-handed. Still, he smiles for Zack and teases him about a performance assessment, since their morale is quite low now, but they need to keep going.

Honestly, the Nibelheim part of Rebirth really did an excellent job of portraying Sephiroth's inner struggle. For reference, there are only 3 points in Remake, I think, when Sephiroth drops his ever-present, sometimes affectionate(towards Cloud) and often unhinged, smile: First, it's replaced with sheer rage as he kills President Shinra.

Second time, is when Aerith has a Cetra moment and suggests that his entire existence is "wrong".

And the third time is when he holds out his hand to Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and is rejected by him.

Anyway, back to Rebirth. Ignoring the bizarre smiles he showed us as Nibelheim was burning, as if he was in a trance and just not all there(that's a subject for a different chat), post-Nibelheim Sephiroth's smiles are interesting, too, if we consider what kind they are, depending on who he's dealing with.

For people he hates, like Tseng, it's much more unhinged looking, and very cold. You can tell there's a certain measure of satisfaction from shanking him, haha...

For someone like Aerith, who...I wouldn't exactly say that he hates her, but she's definitely in the way. I would almost say that he considers her to be actively preventing Cloud from recovering his true memories, leading him to remain as merely Sephiroth's "puppet", but that's a theory for another day. He looks at her coldly, as well, but it's a bit different. There's a bit more respect there than there was for Tseng.

And then there's Zack. Actual Zack. I feel like, deep down, he still cares about him, and has no intention of killing him. I almost sense a little...regret? Maybe? Hm. It's definitely a bit warmer of a smile. And of course, although he had many opportunities to get rid of Zack, he doesn't. Instead, he sends him off into the space between worlds safely.

And of course, last but certainly not least, is the way he smiles at Cloud. I know, I know. "But Sane, you like sefikura, so you're biased!" Look, I won't deny that. However, when you really look at it and compare his smiles, which is what this is all about, his truest smiles are always saved for Cloud. He has 2 different "flavors": pure affection and cruel affection. (There are also a few pity smiles, I think.) The former is used most of the time, whenever Cloud is in his sight, and the latter is used during moments when he's trying to control/influence him. I would almost say that he's...satisfied, yet regretful at the same time?? Like these:

And now, let's contrast that with his more genuine, affectionate smiles for Cloud... (The first shot here ⬇ can be contrasted with the shot 2 up from the bottom there ⬆, as the one above is when he's calling Cloud his puppet, and the one below is when Cloud goes to attack him and he opens his arms wider for the incoming uh...embrace.)

Remake had many interesting smiles from him, too, but that will have to be a different post, as this already has 30 screenshots. Anywho, you're free to draw your own conclusions, and not everyone reads faces in the same way, so maybe I'm nuts. Who knows? Either way, I hope you enjoyed this random, indulgent, very long post, haha. If you made it to the end, you're awesome. 💕

All screenshots were taken by me on my PS5. I won't ask for credit on them, since literally anyone can take an identical shot if they pause at the right second. (The exception are the 3 Remake shots, which were taken on PC with mods and the freecam. For those, I would appreciate credit if you use them anywhere, since I don't watermark them.)

[bananayuyu]

Cabin Fever [part 4]

Pairing: Yunho x f reader

Genre: fluff and smut

Word count: 9.9k

Summary: Sometimes actions have consequences for your fragile body, your morning getting off to a sore start. The day thankfully offers you a calm morning, a long-overdue conversation, and a desperate Wooyoung bringing laughter to everyone, in his own special way.

Warnings: MDNI, smut, fingering, voyeurism

A/n: Apologies for how long it took me to post this chapter, I kept editing and rewriting different sections of it because I wanted it to be perfect. I realized recently how much this series means to me, I think because of how much I relate to the main character, and the kind response I've gotten from all of you <3 I'm so glad to be finally posting, and will definitely continue to write the other parts I've planned. I really hope you all enjoy!

Linked here is my masterlist where you can find the previous parts. Again let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist! (it will be six parts in total if everything goes to plan)

Read part 5 here!

Taglist: @certifiedmoa @pautiny27 @luvbit3z @dawn-iscozy @artistic-rendition

@yeosangiess @drinkingrumandcocacola @smally97 @kierraperkins3 @newworldwritings

@peachyy-jooniee @lucid-galaxys-world @arigakittyo @staytinyroha @yoonjikim

You wake in a blurry haze, the early morning light shining gently in through the window. You wonder for a moment if another storm rolled in last night, if the light is so soft because the sky is blanketed in clouds. A quick glance at your phone tells you it's just the light of dawn, the sun not risen enough yet to fully brighten the room. You groan internally, wishing your body let you sleep in after the crazy day you'd just had. You lay awake for a while, eyes still closed, as you hear Yunho's steady deep breaths of sleep. You try to let your mind rest more, but soon you can tell there's no point, your brain desperately chewing through every intense conversation you'd had the day before. As quietly as you can you sit up and scoot yourself off the bed, rubbing your eyes as you walk yourself to the bathroom.

Immediately upon standing you notice the feeling, a slight soreness deep in your core. It almost doesn't feel bad, at least initially, and it makes you giggle to yourself, remembering your previous night. You hadn't expected Yunho to fuck you so hard, and truthfully you loved it. Miraculously your body had been able to take it, maybe even needed it because of the emotionally exhausting day. But you also knew you might pay a bit of a price for it now. You'd certainly joked with people like Ari, or Wooyoung, about being fucked so hard you could still feel it the next morning. And in theory it sounded like the best case scenario, like something everyone would want. But now that you were here it also felt a little concerning, that your muscles were that sore.

You were quiet in the bathroom as well, not wanting to wake anyone in the living room. You carefully clean your thighs, wiping a damp towel over them, and gently brushing it past your core to clean yourself there as well. Immediately the contact feels a bit painful and you wince, frustration bubbling in you as you breathe deeply, taking a moment to let the pain subside. No matter how many times you try to pretend it isn't true, your body always has a way of reminding you how fragile and delicate it is. With a sigh you finish up, tossing the towel in the hamper, then washing your hands. Making your way back to the library, you open and close the door as carefully as possible, gently settling yourself down on the pull out couch that hadn't been used now in days.

You hadn't had a chance the whole trip to crack open your book, and with the chaos of the previous day some calm, focused reading sounds oh so perfect. You grab it out of your bag and begin reading, the sun slowly brightening as the day starts to bloom. Yunho is still sound asleep, his breaths so gentle you almost forget he is there. Eventually your stomach grumbles and you head out to the kitchen, being met with Seonghwa and Hongjoong sipping their first coffees of the day.

If you're entirely honest, it feels a little uncomfortable seeing them, especially Hongjoong. Though you tried the previous night to just move on, to forget what happened, the tension still lingers, especially now that you know so much of why Hongjoong acted the way he did. You aren't sure if he's told Seonghwa anything yet, and you don't want to say anything that could make things awkward between them, so you decide you'll take your breakfast and head outside, hopefully getting to spend a little more peaceful time by yourself. With a quick hug to both of them you head out to the fire pit, your tea in one hand, breakfast in the other, and book tucked precariously under your arm.

It's refreshing sitting outside by yourself, under the shade of the forest trees, your book the only company you have. You normally spend a lot of time alone, so sometimes on these trips you get a bit overwhelmed by everyone. As the sun begins moving across the sky the day gets warmer, Yunho's hoodie now feeling a bit too heavy. You realize you've been wearing it for days now, and probably should change into something else. But you kick that thought aside, relishing the feeling of being in it. You don't entirely understand your own feelings yet, but something about wearing his clothes feels perfectly right.

"Hey, nerd," you hear Yunho say, lifting your head up to see him walking over towards you, his own breakfast in hand.

"Hi," you respond, smiling at him, but returning to your book. You were just nearing the end of a chapter, and you really wanted to finish it.

"You'd rather read then talk to me?" he jokes, plopping down in a chair next to you.

"Just give me like two minutes," you say, eyes still not leaving the page. Yunho just nods and starts wolfing down his breakfast, glancing over at you occasionally to see if you're really that focused. Apparently, you are, which is something he loves so much. As much as he jokes with you, he finds it precious how lost you get in the things you read.

"Ok, we can talk now," you say brightly, sliding your bookmark into the page you just finished. It makes Yunho chuckle, his eyes bright with adoration.

"I wanted to ask you a question," he says, quickly taking another bite.

"Okay," you respond, not sure where he is headed.

"I wanted to see if you felt okay with everything that's been going on, you know, between us. Make sure I haven't crossed any lines," he says.

"Not at all," you say, looking back at him. You seem reluctant to talk much this morning, which isn't like you, and Yunho feels a bit concerned. But he really wants to know where your head is at; he just honestly didn't think he'd be the one to have to bring this up. You were the one who was so good at talking about your feelings, but you hadn't said anything specific about it yet. Well, maybe you did that night you both said 'I love you,' but nothing had been said since.

"So how are you feeling?" he asks.

"Well my vagina hurts, but otherwise pretty good," you laugh, adjusting yourself in your seat to try to alleviate the soreness.

"It hurts?" he asks, with genuine concern.

"Like it's sore, you know, from last night's activities," you say, cringing at yourself. You didn't feel like you could say 'it's sore from you fucking me so hard,' but some part of you wishes you did.

"In a good way? Or bad way?" he asks.

"Um, kind of both?" you respond, not really sure yourself. "I don't hate it but it's, well, worse than ideal. I have to be careful when I sit," you say, trying to keep yourself from laughing again.

"What's so funny?" he asks you, thankful to see you laughing and not grimacing in pain.

"I just never imagined actually having this conversation with somebody," you say, smiling. You appreciate when ridiculous moments happen, and remind you that life doesn't have to be so serious all the time.

"Was I too rough?" he asks, making you giggle again.

"No, I liked it," you say. "I mean, I guess maybe, I just... I haven't really had this happen before," you say, still laughing. "It's probably cause your dick is, um, so big." You turn to see Yunho fighting to keep a smile off his face at your comment, his head turning away from you for a moment.

"Was it just too hard? Or too long?" he asks, making you burst into laughter harder. "I mean, how I fucked you y/n, not my di- ugh," Yunho covers his face, his cheeks reddening some.

"You're being so funny right now," you say. You can't help but find it terribly adorable how awkward he can sometimes be.

"I'm trying to be serious," he says, fixing you momentarily with a stern grimace, which only makes you both laugh harder. After a few moments you both calm down, making eye contact again.

"For real though, I don't want to hurt you. Was I too rough?" he repeats, truly wanting an answer.

"No, you really weren't. I liked it, I liked it a lot. It felt really good. Sometimes, with the way my body is, I have to sacrifice the future days of pain for doing something I really want to do. Sometimes I feel it's worth it. If I spent my life trying to prevent myself from ever feeling pain, I'd never get to do certain things. And obviously I have to be careful how often I do things like that, because usually it means I have to recover for a day or two, or even longer. But I can do it occasionally. I can deal with pain, extremely well," you finish, emphasizing the last two words.

"But I don't want sex with me to cause you pain," he says, eyeing you. "Is that really worth it to you? Aren't there things we could do that wouldn't hurt you?" he asks.

"Well, honestly part of the problem last night was probably that I just like, put your dick inside me without any warm up. Which was on me, I take full responsibility. But like, if you finger me first, it helps the muscles relax. Just doing that probably would have prevented most of this pain," you say.

"Thank you for telling me that," he says, his mind intently focused on every words coming from your lips.

"I liked what happened though, it was very..." you trail off.

"Feral?" he asks, making you laugh yet again. You put your face in your hands remembering everything, especially the way he grabbed you and flipped you over, and the sounds he made in your ear when he finally came.

"Yeah, I liked that," you giggle, face still hidden. You sigh into yourself, basking in the feeling of this conversation. You never thought you'd be having it with Yunho, and you realize that despite everything you couldn't be more comfortable. He knew you so well, and explaining all of this to someone who didn't know you at all would have been ten times more complicated.

"Y/n, I have to tell you something," he suddenly says, his tone completely different. You quickly put your hands down, turning your body in your chair to face him, as he sets his plate down on the ground, turning to face you as well.

"What is it?" you ask, trying to keep yourself from tensing up.

"I- I don't really know how to say this, I'm sorry if I start rambling. I just, I just need to say this, even though I think you already know, but in case it isn't clear. I-" he takes in a shaky breath, quickly letting it out. "I love you, obviously, I have for many years. But I'm also in love with you, and I don't know if you realized that. That's why certain things just keep coming out of my mouth, when we're having sex, and I'm sorry if it's weird. It doesn't seem to bother you but, I know we hadn't talked about it. I like calling you baby, it feels right, but if you want me to stop, or you want any of this thing, between us, to stop, you just say the word. I don't want anything that I ever do, or say, to make your life worse. You already deal with so much shit all of the time, and it would be my worst nightmare to know that I'm adding to that." Out of nowhere you feel a tear hit your cheek, quickly followed by one hitting your bare thigh. Yunho is staring at the ground between you, not able to stomach seeing your reactions in real time. "Above all I love you, and I want you to be happy, and even if tomorrow you tell me you never want to sleep with me ever again, I'd still love you, I'd still want to live with you and be your friend. I'm serious, I mean that. I would not hold it against you, I would not make things awkward. I don't feel like you owe me anything, at all. But you should also know if you want me to be more than a friend to you, I would gladly oblige. I know I should have probably told you this before we started having sex, but..." finally he trails off, looking up at you.

"Fuck, I'm sorry," he says seeing your tears, thinking he's upset you.

"No, don't apologize," you squeak out, trying to get ahold of your breathing.

"What's wrong?" he asks, coming to kneel next to you, taking your hands in his.

"I- I don't know," you croak, tears still streaming down your cheeks. You truly don't know why you suddenly burst into tears, after having such a calm morning. What Yunho said was sweet, unbelievably so. Your head spins, all the conversations from yesterday again playing through your head, like twenty radios going at the same time. It's incredibly overwhelming when your brain does this, and you grab your ears momentarily to try to make it stop. Yunho wipes the tears from your cheeks, sitting patiently as you calm yourself, as you finally wipe what you think are the last of the tears with the sleeves of his hoodie.

And when you finally look up you're met with big brown eyes that feel like they're looking into the depths of your soul, making your heart ache with a feeling so intense you can't name it. Suddenly the world slows, everything stops. It's just him and you, in this vast forest, and everything feels alright, like it's meant to be. Suddenly you're not feeling your sticky sweaty skin under the hoodie, or the ache in your core. You can't feel any of it when sat in front of you is your favorite person in the entire world. It hits you like a train, that realization. You'd never get over how kind he was to spend nights in the hospital with you, when you were so out of it you hardly remembered a thing. You could have said anything; you knew you acted strange when you were there. But still he was there for you, still he treated you the same. This beautiful, tall, talented man who could have been doing anything he wanted with his life. You could imagine doing everything with him, imagine living with him forever. You couldn't trust him more or respect him more if you tried. You realized the myriad dialogues playing out in your head had gone away, left with only one; a part of you, screaming at the top of her little lungs, 'how did it take you this long to realize?!'

"I'm-I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner," you stutter, leaning down to hug him, to hold him tight. You have so much you want to say to him, but it's hard to get words out with how overwhelmed you feel.

"Shh, it's okay," Yunho comforts you, holding your head in the crook of his neck.

"I love you too," you say, struggling to find the right words. "I mean, more than platonically, I love you. I'm sorry it took me this long to realize it."

"I thought, maybe, that was the case," he says, chuckling into your hair.

"So even you figured that out before I did?" you ask, huffing out a laugh.

"What do you mean, even me?" he responds. You sit up to look at him again, putting your hands on his shoulders.

"Literally all of our friends knew we liked each other before I did," you say, like it's groundbreaking news.

"Does that surprise you?" he asks, incredulous.

"Well, yeah," you respond.

"They always do that though, don't they? I mean we all knew Hongjoong and Seonghwa liked each other since forever ago, it was just a thing. Sometimes I feel like they know me better than I know myself." You nod in response. It was definitely true with your friend group, time and time again.

"But Yunho, if you thought I liked you why didn't you ask me about it earlier?" you ask.

"I didn't want to put you in an awkward spot," he says, stroking his hand comfortingly down your arm.

"But, wait, how long have you suspected I like you?" you ask.

"Um, a while," he says, trying to think. "I don't remember exactly, but probably the last year or so."

"Year??" you ask, genuinely shocked. "How- what made you think that?"

"The way you are with me, when you're sick. I don't think you realize the things you say..." he trails off, grabbing your hands in his again.

"Oh god, what have I said to you?" you groan, trying to look away.

"It's nothing embarrassing, I swear. You just become so clingy with me, in a different way than you are with Seonghwa. Like, in a literal sense, not wanting me to let you go. You've asked me to sleep in your hospital bed before, and nurses have to kindly ask me to move so I'm not in the way. You will sometimes cry about how worried you are that I'll leave you, in a way that made it feel like we were already together. One time you said you were scared I'd stop loving you because of how sick you were. You'll profess your love for me, beg me to stay with you forever. Things like that."

"That sounds intense," you say, imagining it from his perspective. You shudder at the thought, a part of you feeling sick at how overwhelming it must be to care for someone like you.

"Well, yeah," he responds.

"I'm sor-"

"No. Don't do that." He grabs you tightly again, wrapping you in his arms. "I'm grateful for it all. I'm just so glad we finally talked about this. I'll always love you, no matter what happens. I want you to always remember that."

You nod into his shoulder, squeezing him tightly, just as you hear some foot steps approaching.

"Hi guys, I'm sorry to interrupt," Ari starts, speaking gently. You both break apart to give her your attention. "Can I borrow a pad, or a tampon or something?" she asks you, fidgeting. "I don't know why, but my period started today when it wasn't supposed to till like, next Tuesday."

"Oh my god, of course," you say immediately. "They should just be in my bag, easy to find. Feel free to grab whatever you need. Oh and my Tylenol, it might be in the bathroom if it's not in my bag."

"Thank you so much, you're a life saver," she says over her shoulder as she heads back in quickly, nearly breaking into a run. This cabin is messing with our hormones, you think. At first the thought amuses you, but then it feels scary too. Because what if everything that had happened between you and Yunho here, wouldn't feel the same back home? What if your feelings would change? It had taken the chaotic events of this trip to bring them to the surface, and would the monotony and business of real life bury them again?

There's also the possibility that it was inevitable, that all along this was going to happen. It certainly seems that everyone else thinks that, and that offers you some reassurance. But you can't help your own doubts, and your intense fear of what this means. It's all finally in the open, your feelings at least. But will you actually date? There is so much to discuss, and although he knows a lot, Yunho doesn't know the full of extent of your health issues. How much it can affect you, randomly for weeks or even months, how your sex drive changes, your moods change, your likes and dislikes even, if complicated medical issues are happening. You know you're bound to be pissed at him, to not want his attentions sometimes. You know he's bound to be way busier than you; which could be a good thing, you remind yourself. But if spending less time together feels almost relieving in a way, then is dating really the right thing to do? Maybe relationships with other people in general aren't really something you're built for. It's not like you've made many friends since high school, and the ones you have are almost exclusively online. You feel your soreness again, like a stabbing reminder of how messed up your body is.

"What are you thinking about?" Yunho asks you, cutting off your train of thought. It takes you a few moments, but you manage to collect your thoughts.

"Do you realize how sick I am?" you ask, your voice small.

"What do you mean?" The look he gives you is one of genuine care. It makes your heart flutter.

"I- just- I don't know what this is going to be going forward, but like, I can't date someone in the normal way. No, that's not a good way of putting it," you sigh into your hands. Gathering yourself you start again. "Dating me isn't even like dating someone with a diagnosed disease or disability. My health issues are ever changing, and none of them have been truly figured out. Obviously I've fainted since I was young, but sometimes I go through periods where I barely do at all, and then other times it's super frequent. Sometimes I randomly develop an allergy to a new food, and I have to basically obsessively read through every item I buy at the grocery store to make sure I'm not accidentally injesting it. There was a time, three years ago, when I had no desire for anything sexual for like, half a year. My periods were so bad, and everything down there just always felt weird and it hurt, and I literally thought I might never feel horny ever again. These things just, happen, and there's no way for me to predict them. And it would mean that, being with me, would be different," you finish, with a huge sigh.

"I know all of that already," Yunho says, sighing himself.

"But, so- what do you want to happen?" you ask, finally getting to crux of what you wanted to know.

"Whatever you want," he says.

"That's not true, that can't be," you say, feeling dubious. "There must be something specific that you want."

"I want to date you," he says. "But I knew you might not want that, because of everything you have going on. So whatever you're willing to do, I'm in."

"Yunho," you sigh, frustrated. Frustrated because those words feel too good to be true, and as much as you trust him in so many ways, a part of you still wants to run away in doubt. It's a huge deal, trusting someone with this part of you, and it's just hit you now that you've been sleeping with him, in more ways than one, and you haven't batted an eye. If he ever did something, in any scenario but especially a sexual one, that hurt you, it would be so hard to recover. Things had happened in the past to make you understand that. You were so determined to never let those things happen again, that you'd basically stopped dating or even thinking about it. You could physically please yourself, and have your friendships to give you companionship. You'd never felt very centered on romantic relationships anyway. You had so written off the possibility of developing another romantic relationship that you'd stumbled into one without much of a thought. It made you feel so stupid, so immature. It was hard not to scream at yourself internally.

"What do you want to happen?" he asks you, placing a hand on your knee comfortingly.

"I- I don't want to lose you," you say, sighing into yourself. "And I don't want to get hurt. I don't want- I- I don't know."

"I won't hurt you," he says, squeezing your knee.

"I know you'd never intend to, but you can't guarantee that," you say. "And I can't guarantee I won't hurt you, either."

"Isn't it still worth it?" he asks.

"It depends what we decide to do," you say, eyes soft.

"I love you," he says again. It's all he can think to say right now, seeing how much you seem to be spiraling. And it works; it brings you back down into your body, into the chair you're sitting on. Suddenly you feel heavy, like the weight of all of your thoughts crashed down on you in an instant.

"I love you too," you say, nearly tearing up again. "This got way too serious and heavy," you say, trying to shake loose the dread starting to fill your veins.

"Why don't we do something fun today, then?" he asks.

"Like what?" you ask, nodding your head.

"Do you want to go to the falls, just the two of us? I felt bad you couldn't really join in the other day when we all went. If you feel up to it," he says.

"That sounds perfect," you reply, smiling at him. You're thankful he seems okay leaving the conversation where it was. You could feel yourself coming undone a bit, your thoughts running out of control, and you knew there was truly no use in continuing. You needed to reset, to calm down, and Yunho's suggestion seemed like just the thing to make you feel right again.

***

Inside you both change into your swimsuits, grabbing towels and water and snacks for your journey. Yunho liberally applies sunscreen to your body, obviously enjoying the proximity, but also genuinely wanting to protect your skin. You burn extremely easily, and sunburns always make you feel exhausted for days.

"Everyone, the two of us are going to the falls," he announces to the room as you head towards the back door. "Follow at your own risk. Consider this your official warning," he says, eyeing everyone, making you giggle at the implication. He hopes they know what he means.

You take the walk slowly, again picking flowers from the path and putting them in his hair. It's hard for you to resist your little habit, given just how beautiful the landscape is out here. You love the wilderness, but your friends and family and life are in the city, so you cherish your moments out in nature when you can. Especially when you get to place flowers in Yunho's shaggy hair, that you absolutely love. You still haven't told him that, and it gnaws at you now that things are different between you. It wasn't something you would have necessarily thought to tell him before. You generally avoided having strong opinions about others' appearances because you just didn't feel it was your place. But your opinions about his clothes, his hair, had always been a bit stronger. You'd certainly noticed it from time to time, that you reacted when he borrowed his dad's suit for a wedding, or when he'd cut his hair a certain way. Maybe a part of you felt awkward about telling him that, in a way you wouldn't about any of your other friends. You'd justified to yourself that you never said anything because he didn't care about those things either, so you didn't need to say it. But now you realized, maybe it was because you felt nervous. Because there were lingering feelings there that you weren't really aware of.

"I really like your hair right now," you blurt out, not wanting to wait any longer. You were done being distant from your feelings, not understanding them when it came to him. It was too important to you now.

"Oh, really?" he asks you, turning to you with a smile as you near the lake. "The other day my mom said I desperately need a haircut," he laughs.

"No, I like it long like this," you say, admiring your work. You know the flowers will disappear as soon as he dives in the falls, but for now they're beautiful.

"Then I'm keeping it," he says, sighing contentedly as you finally reach your destination.

The falls are beautiful today, the sky bright and blue reflected in the sparkly clear water. You set your things down on a smooth rock, far enough from the edge that they won't fall in. Quickly Yunho dives in, and you follow after him much more carefully, gently lowering yourself into the wonderfully chilly water. The temperature is a welcome pairing with the heat of the day, and you sigh, taking a deep breath before finally dunking your head under. You swim out towards the actual waterfall, breathing in the mist that forms at the bottom, the sound nearly deafening when you're so close. But it feels electric; moments like these always do, when your body is well enough for you to be out experiencing something intoxicating and brilliant. Yunho sidles up beside you, pulling you with him as he ducks through the water to come behind the fall. Behind there is a small cave, invisible to the outside world, with light bouncing across the ceiling as water droplets skip along the surface, finding their final resting place after their journey over the cliff.

Yunho's hands are on you quickly, as you wrap your legs around his waist and your arms around his shoulders. He's holding you up, making it so you don't have to do any work, so that you can just breathe deep and enjoy the peace of the cave. In the water your bodies move slowly, sensually, and it makes you want to touch him as closely as you can. His wet hair sticks to his forehead, water beading down his face and shoulders. The gentle light dances across his face, and the steady sound from the falling water is almost hypnotizing. Your lips are on his before you know it, and it feels just right to open your mouth as he sucks on your bottom lip, letting out a soft moan. His hands are groping you, holding you up by your ass, snaking underneath your bikini bottoms. In here it truly feels like only you and him exist, and you release into that feeling, into the realization of just how strong your feelings for him are. You keep kissing him, small pecks of love, running your fingers through his hair and brushing it out of his face. You tug on it gently, not knowing if he likes that but so intoxicated by the pleasure you're feeling. Yunho groans, making you tug harder, your breathing speeding up from his reaction.

"I wanna fuck you out here," he says over the rushing water, his lips swollen from the kiss. You groan, grinding your hips into his as you lick across his lower lip, coaxing his mouth open again. Your tongues swipe over each other, you both incredibly hungry for more.

"Follow me," he says, starting to make his way back out of the cave. The bright sun feels shocking for a moment when you exit the dimness of the cave, but it feels wonderful. Like you've been transported back to literal paradise. You follow behind him as he swims towards the muddy bank of the lake, the part that boarders a bunch of trees and is relatively shady. When you arrive he lifts you up, sitting you down on the side of the lake where he can reach you.

His lips are back on yours in moments, his hands now able to explore the entirety of your bikini, snaking underneath your top to feel your chest, rubbing his thumbs enticingly over your nipples that are already hard from the cool water. A gentle breeze blows through the woods, making your wet skin feel cold. Your body shivers, from the breeze and from Yunho's touch, and you sigh in pleasure.

"Can I take this off?" Yunho asks as he tugs at your bikini, and you nod, starting to help him remove it. "Wait," he stops you, just for a moment. "You don't really answer me, when we're having sex. Do you like being so non-verbal?"

You just nod in response, showing him just how much it's true.

"Do you like me telling you what to do? Or do you want me to ask?" he continues.

"Either," you say, managing one word.

"And you'd tell me if you didn't like something?" he asks.

"Of course," you answer, feeling it's important. "I just don't like having to talk too much."

"I understand," Yunho nods, taking in your answer. He actually finds it incredibly hot, but again, it's not really something you've fully talked through yet. He so badly wants to know that he isn't hurting you, ever.

"Take this off then," he says, gently tugging on your bikini before pulling back from you. You throw it on the bank behind you, and it falls between two flowers in the grass.

Your feet sink into the mud as he pulls your legs again towards him, gently pushing them open. With your arms behind you, and bare chest to the sky, your naked body is on full display. Yunho's hands trace over the entirety of you, his legs still in the water as he kneels down, bringing himself closer to your center. He eyes your cunt hungrily, and it makes you throb, just how much his demeanor changes when he's finally truly in control. Your whole body buzzes from your surroundings, from the knowledge that you're in the wide open air and anyone could see.

"You like being naked in the forest, don't you," he says, seeing the way you so freely tossed your clothing, how comfortably you bore yourself to the world. You blush and giggle, soaking in the smells of the forest and grass behind you.

Yunho's hands slink down your thighs, finally coming to gently brush over your slit, when you jolt back in pain. The wimper that escapes you is pathetic, the realization of just how sensitive your pussy still is hitting you. It makes you upset, almost irrationally so.

"What's wrong baby?" he asks, immediately coming to comfortingly stroke your cheek.

"She hurts," you pout, looking down.

"Does she need a break today?" he asks.

"I guess," you say, frowning dramatically.

"That's okay baby, you don't need to be upset," he says, pulling you into a hug.

"But I want to do stuff," you whine into his shoulder.

"If your body needs a break, then we should give it a break," he says logically, making you roll your eyes. You feel petulant, and just want this time at the falls to be perfect.

"Is there anything that would help her feel better?" he asks, stroking a hand down your back.

"You could massage her," you say, smiling into him.

"What do you mean? Inside or outside?" he asks. You know it doesn't really make sense, the idea of massaging a pussy. But it makes sense to you.

"Just outside like, real gentle," you say, your voice small.

Yunho pulls back, gently bringing his hand down to your slit again. You inhale sharply at the initial contact, your body reacting without your control. But soon his methodical, slow movements up and down start to feel good. You body finally relaxes into it, your head dropping back as you soak in the warmth of the air. Yunho continues moving his fingers up and down, over and over brushing gently over your clit when he reaches the apex of his movements. The pleasure grows steadily each time and soon you're moaning softly, dropping to your elbows and spreading your legs even wider as your body starts to revel in the feeling.

"Does it feel good baby?" he asks you, and you nod your head, whining in response. He moves his thumb up to focus on your clit, gathering the wetness from your entrance and spreading it around. He adds more pressure to his small circular movements, the focus making your clit feel hot and sensitive. Waves of pleasure run down your legs and race up your abdomen, making your body feel sizzling hot in the summer air. You arch your back further, pushing yourself harder into his fingers, chasing the pleasure.

"You want more?" he asks, making you mewl in response. "I know you can take more baby, even if you're sore. Relax your pussy for me," he says before lining up his other hand, gently gathering more of your wetness on his middle finger before pushing it inside of you. You gasp instantaneously, again wincing at the initial pain. But with his other hand working your clit the pain quickly leaves you, your insides feeling like they're melting from the pleasure. His long fingers feel like they reach all the way inside of you, all the way into your guts, and it feels electric. Your breathing is ragged, your awareness no where else but your core and his fingers. "Good, you're so relaxed for me. I knew you could take it," he says, slowly pumping his finger in and out, focusing on putting pressure on that spongy sensitive spot that feels the best. "That feels good, doesn't it?" he asks, and you moan in response, almost whimpering. It makes blood rush to his cock seeing you so engrossed in how good you feel, the way you can so fully submit to him and your body and all the pleasure it gives you. "You need more," he says, no longer asking. He adds another finger, careful at first to not stretch you painfully fast. Once he can tell your body is ready for it he pumps faster, still focused on adding pressure in the right places.

Your moans are higher pitched now, your clit feeling red hot with pleasure. Your pussy is still sore but it feels so good, his movements mimicking the night before but not as rough, your body remembering everything that had transpired between the two of you the past few days. It's like everything with him; it builds, slowly, and suddenly you realize it's the best feeling in the world having him in control like this, able to read your body perfectly. A true dream come true, and it makes your head fuzzy with desire as you realize just how much you like it when he touches you all over, when he takes you out to a lake in the wide open air and touches you where anyone could see. Your careful, boring life would never have anyone suspect you like this and yet he could see, he knew. It almost feels fated that you went down this path, not knowing for so long what your true feelings were. Truly, how could this get any bett-

"Baby, stop thinking," Yunho says, bringing you back to him. And in a moment you're coming, the feeling ripping through you from your clit, making your whole body tingly with warmth and pleasure. The tightening muscles of your core are sore, but still clamp down around Yunho's fingers as you ride it out, your hips rolling to meet his movements. "Good girl, good girl," he repeats in your ear, or at least it feels like he's whispering into your ear, your eyes closed and taking in every sound so vividly. You finally lay fully flat on your back, riding out the last of your orgasm, your body limp and relaxed against the dirt and grass on the bank. Finally you blink open to look at him, seeing the blown pupils you love so much, taking his hand off your clit with a small 'too much.' He smiles at you, stroking that hand across your stomach and leaning down to kiss you, hungrily coaxing your mouth open and then pulling back to suck on your bottom lip.

***

And unbeknownst to both of you, Wooyoung watched on from behind a tree, his hand down his pants as he palms his painfully hard cock, trying to offer himself some relief. He understood Yunho's implication a mile away, and after spending a long time coming up with a good excuse, trekked his way up the hill to find you two. He really was getting incessantly horny on this trip, which wasn't completely out of the ordinary given his typical predisposition to horniness. But something on this trip especially, the amount of sex happening around him, made him feel insatiable.

As he crested the small hill before the lake he saw you two immediately, saw Yunho's hands under your bathing suit and your head thrown back in pleasure, the perfect curve of Yunho's back as he leaned into you, his hands possessively roaming. Wooyoung felt himself getting hard immediately, especially as he snuck around to between the trees, the threat of being caught adding to the arousal pooling in his pants. He saw you two talking, saw some exchange happen. And then your were stripping off your bikini, throwing it behind you, and your naked body was bare to the sky. He'd told you a million times how hot you were, and you usually laughed it off; but he truly meant it. Though he couldn't hear any of the words between you he could sense your submission and the way Yunho was taking control, the way he comforted you when you seemed to be in pain, and the way he reached down again and touched you differently. Wooyoung wished he could experience Yunho's domination, how kind and gentle it was. It wasn't his usual style, not what he usually wanted. But something about seeing the two of you together made him ever so slightly jealous; it made him think of the woman he was now involved with, how he missed her hands on him.

His hand provided him some pleasure but it just wasn't enough, just couldn't satisfy him the way he needed. His dick was hard and leaking in his shorts, and the longer he watched he just didn't care anymore; he pushed them down, his movements becoming more erratic as he chased his pleasure, not caring when he heard some twigs snap under his foot. The pleasure was good, so good, but he knew it couldn't be enough for him. Did he just watch you come? God he needed the feel of someone else, the intensity of fucking another person. He needed a better look at you, needed to see all that he could, so he stepped beside the tree, a larger branch snapping under his weight and echoing against the cliff, making Yunho's head snap up.

"Wooyoung, Jesus Christ," Yunho laughed, lifting himself off of you and helping you sit up, his two fingers still inside you.

"Oh my god, Woo," you laughed too, seeing his boner even all these feet away. It made you feel good, your core clenching a moment as your realized he'd been watching.

"Sorry, I-" Wooyoung sputtered, not sure what to say. Desperately he pulled up his shorts, his cock creating an obvious tent in the material. You both keep laughing, looking over at his pathetic face, his cheeks red from being caught. Painfully, it turned him on even more, the way you both were laughing at him. "This isn't fair," he whined, trying to look away from your naked bodies.

"What do you mean?" you asked him, still laughing.

"I'm fucking horny," he whined again, his tone still pitiful, but the smirk on his face betrayed just how much he was loving this. "And you guys just keep laughing at me; I'm not even trying to be funny."

"What are you trying to do then?" Yunho asked, eyeing him.

"I-" he started, stopping himself.

"Woo, just say it," you giggled, loving every moment of seeing Wooyoung like this.

"I'm trying to- I need someone to fuck me," he blurted out, finally.

"And you're hoping it'll be me?" you jokingly batted your eyelashes at him, making his head feel fuzzy. "Or, him?" you asked, pointing at Yunho.

"Either of you, I don't care," Woo responded, his whole body flushed with how turned on he was.

"You don't prefer me?" you asked, acting like you were hurt.

"Y/n," Wooyoung groaned, his hand coming put to cover his face. "I know you're fucking with me," he sighed, trying to collect himself.

"Yeah, stop messing with poor horny Wooyoung," Yunho laughed, his hand still inside you. He liked feeling the way your pussy clenched as you teased Wooyoung; you clearly loved doing it, and he filed that thought away for later.

"You both suck," Wooyoung groaned, carefully untangling his shoe from the broken branch, making his way back towards the trail.

"Woo, maybe just ask someone instead of sneaking up on them," Yunho called, his tone light as he chuckled. Neither of you really minded his intrusion, it just probably wasn't the way he was going to succeed at his little mission.

Tumbling down the trail Wooyoung almost broke into a run, adrenaline from the conversation he'd just finished coursing through him. As he neared the cabin he tried to slow down, steadying his breaths as he spotted Mingi shooting hoops by himself, shirtless and no doubt sweaty in the afternoon heat. Taking Yunho's advice he decided to play it as cool as he could, approaching Mingi with a clear goal instead of messily stumbling up a mountain in a pure horny haze.

"Mingi!" he called out, making his way over towards the court.

"Hey Woo," Mingi replied, passing him the basketball. Wooyoung wound up, missing the basket completely, the ball bouncing away into the grass.

"You really are terrible at shooting," Mingi laughed, jogging over to pick up the ball.

"Not nice," Wooyoung pouted, his arms crossing over his chest. "I'm very good at plenty of other things," he stated, jutting out a hip.

"Oh, sure you are," Mingi joked. You weren't the only one who enjoyed messing with Wooyoung; in fact, it was kind of a default setting for most of you. It was just too fun, seeing him get all flustered and bothered in the way that he did. The crazy thing was Mingi hadn't even seen Woo's shorts yet, too focused on retrieving the basketball a moment ago.

"I am," Wooyoung fixed Mingi with a steely gaze, just as Mingi wound up for a shot. The ball bounced off the backboard, headed straight for Wooyoung, but he didn't even bother catching it as he continued to stare Mingi down.

"Woo, what are you- oh my god," Mingi laughed, finally seeing the tent in his shorts. "Did I do that?" he joked, pointing. Wooyoung's face grew pink again, that feeling of being caught doing something bad returning in full force.

"Well, yeah," Woo responded, snaking his eyes down Mingi's entire body. "You're out here playing basketball shirtless, how was I supposed to react?"

Mingi smiled and laughed, honestly flattered by Woo's admission. "So you had an ulterior motive, you didn't actually want to play with me?" he asked, jogging to the back of the court to pick up the ball Woo had let go.

"Mingi, I'm horny," Wooyoung groaned, eyeing him pathetically.

"I'm shocked," Mingi responded, laughing again.

"Mingi," Woo groaned again. "I need someone to help me, to, take care of it," he mumbled, his body tingling with embarrassment.

"Just go jack off, if it's that bad," Mingi replied, shooting the basketball again. It was all so casual to him, this conversation not affecting him the way Wooyoung hoped. Well, that was a failed attempt. Grumbling something incoherent Wooyoung walked away, heading towards the back of the house until he spotted Seonghwa and Hongjoong out by the trees, laying together in the grass. He walked his way over, determined to play it right this time.

"Hi guys," he said brightly, finally coming upon them to see Hongjoong on top of Seonghwa, their lips pressed together in a deep kiss. They were more tangled together than Wooyoung realized, and he braced for the response.

"Oh my god, Woo, you fucking scared me," Hongjoong sputtered, lifting himself enough to look at him. "What's up?" he asked, confused by the sudden interruption.

"How- how are you guys, doing?" Wooyoung asked hesitantly, trying to tread lightly.

"Um, good. We're kind of in the middle of something," Hongjoong replied, Seonghwa holding back a laugh underneath him.

"I know, I- um-" Woo stuttered, not able to come out with it.

"Woo, is something wrong?" Hongjoong asked, getting annoyed.

"No, I'm-"

"Okay then what are you doing! We're clearly in the middle of something!" he nearly yelled, his dick hard in his pants and frustrated with the lack of action he was getting. Wooyoung pouted, the sharp sound of Hongjoong's voice penetrating through him. He liked being yelled at like that.

"He probably wants to join us," Seonghwa laughed, his body still lax against the grass.

"Oh, I should have guessed," Hongjoong replied, laughing too. A moment lapsed, the two of them giggling into each other, before their faces came close again. But just before they could kiss again Seonghwa held his hand against Hongjoong's shoulder, stopping him.

"Woo, seriously, we want to spend some quality time just the two of us," Seonghwa said, his voice gentle but his demand clear.

"God, all of you suck," Wooyoung huffed before turning on his heel, stalking his way back towards the cabin. He now had his sights set on the bathroom, his needs growing too severely now for him to keep wasting time hoping that one of you would join him. It was time to deal with this himself, even if it wouldn't compare to what he really wanted.

When he busted through the door he didn't even consider acting normal for everyone; his desperation was too severe. Ari noticed his strange demeanor right away, pulling him aside in the hallway.

"What's wrong?" he asked, her voice soft.

"Nothing, nothing," Wooyoung replied, trying not to be driven crazy by how attentive she was being. God, he really just needed to lock himself in that bathroom and get this shit over with.

"Woo, clearly it's something," she said eyeing his crotch, wracking her brain for what exactly it could be.

"I really shouldn't have worn these damn shorts," Woo sighed, shaking his head at just how poor his choice was. They truly were the worst, the thin grey material leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. "Sorry, I'm just so horny right now and no one I asked was willing to, uh, sleep with me," he laughed. Saying it out loud made him realize how silly it all was, some of his tension melting away.

"Woo, I-" Ari looked over to San, seeing him engrossed in a conversation with Yeosang and Jongho. "Give me a sec, stay right here," she said before grabbing San, pulling him into their shared bedroom for a quick conversation. Soon she had returned, Wooyoung waiting patiently with his hands covering his crotch as he tried to act as normal as possible.

"Woo, come with me," Ari beckoned, holding out her hand. He grabbed it, following diligently towards the master bedroom. Once inside Ari sat him on a chair, her and San facing him while they sat on their bed.

"Woo, you seem very in need, and well, we're offering to help you," Ari started, not a single awkward pause tainting her sentence.

"Wait, really?" Woo asked looking between the two of them, absolutely shocked. They were the last people he'd ever have thought would be open to this, mostly because he'd never even met San and had no way of knowing what sort of thing he was into. But even Ari, she'd never seemed like the kind of person who'd want to share.

"Yes really. We can, tonight, if you want to," she finished, San nodding along. They'd actually discussed this possibility of this exact scenario about a month before, both laughing at the time about how unlikely it was to really happen. But they both found Wooyoung attractive, and decided they wouldn't rule out the idea of messing around with him together. At that time San had only seen pictures and spoken to Woo on the phone a few times; still, his interest was piqued.

"I-" Woo stuttered again, his words failing him badly with how fuzzy his head had felt for nearly the entire afternoon. "I don't know if, if my girlfriend will like it," he suddenly blurted out, surprising everyone, including himself.

"You have a girlfriend?" Ari asked.

"Yeah, that woman Mingi told you guys about, that choreographer," he responded.

"So things are really that serious, between you two?" Ari asked, so curious. There was no judgement in her tone, this was just truly a bit out of character for Wooyoung.

"We haven't discussed it yet," Woo replied, his own eyes still wide.

"Why didn't you invite her to come along?" San asked him, smiling at how genuine Woo's surprise clearly was.

"I- I didn't even think to," Wooyoung sighed, shaking his head.

"You should text her, we've still got a few days. And aren't your cousins leaving tomorrow morning? That'll free up some space on the couches," Ari said, smiling genuinely at Wooyoung.

"Fuck, I should," Woo smiled, the corners of his lips turning up ever so slightly. "I'm sorry guys, I hope I'm not making you feel rejected or anything, by saying no. I'd gladly fuck both of you, any day," he finished, making them both laugh.

"Don't apologize Woo, it's no big deal. Go, go text her," Ari responded, shooing Wooyoung out of the room. It was honestly so adorable how genuine Wooyoung was being, so careful with this woman's feelings, and it made Ari so happy to see her friend experiencing what all of you had wanted for him for so long.

***

The day pulled to an end, the sun starting to fall beyond the tree line, covering the sky in a beautiful subtle shade of orange. S'mores were on the menu tonight, the whole group of you gathered around the fire pit as Yunho and Mingi stoked the fire, their faces lit up with the brilliant light of the flames. You sat wrapped up in Yunho's hoodie again, yawning hard as you shivered in the cold air of the night. Earlier, when you'd finally made it back to the cabin, you'd realized your skin was burnt, and it only took a few hours for the exhaustion to start setting in. So much for trying to be careful, you thought. But it really was worth it today, getting to spend all that time alone with Yunho.

"How was everyone's day?" Ari asks from San's lap, a blanket wrapped around the two of them.

"So good," you smile at her, and she waggled her eyebrows at you, making you laugh. "I wish I could go to that waterfall, like, every weekend," you say, a murmur of agreement passing through the group.

"I'm sure Wooyoung wishes you could do that too," Yunho adds, looking over at Wooyoung with a smirk.

"Do tell," Ari prompts him, seeing clearly he has a story to share.

"Well, Woo came and interrupted me and y/n while we were, you know, in the middle of the things out by the lake. It was funny," he laughs, smiling at you.

"He did the same to us," Hongjoong responds, making both you and Yunho's eyebrows jump up.

"Woo I told you not to sneak up on anyone else," Yunho chastises him, laughing harder.

"Damn Woo, you really asked everyone today," Mingi laughs, smirking.

"You all are such cunts," Wooyoung responds, fighting back the laughter himself. "You just keep rubbing it in my damn face how you're having sex every goddamn day we're here."

"I haven't been," Mingi retorts, earning an eye roll form Wooyoung.

"Okay well you're rubbing it in my face how perfect your body is, so yeah, you still qualify as a cunt," Wooyoung responds.

"Did you text your girlfriend Woo?" Ari asks.

"Girlfriend?" you ask, looking at him expectantly.

"Yes, girlfriend. And yes I did; she said she has to check her schedule but she's probably coming tomorrow," Woo responds, looking almost nervous.

"Oh my god Woo, this is so exciting!" Ari responds.

"Wait, are you two like, together together? Officially?" you ask. Woo nods, that shy smile not leaving his lips.

"Look at him, he's growing up," Seonghwa sighs, making you all laugh. There is a palpable relief washing through the group, at seeing Wooyoung willing to explore a relationship again after swearing everything about love off so long ago. High school relationships can be so scarring, and a big part of you felt so thankful you never even considered dating at that age, despite at the time feeling like you were missing out on something so integral to growing up.

"And what's the deal with you two?" Ari eyes you and Yunho, smiling at the way your eyes can't even meet hers.

"We haven't talked about it yet, we'll tell you guys in our own time," Yunho responds, not angry by any means but firm enough to shut down the line of inquiry.

"Things are good," you add, seeing the curious looks of everyone.

"Your boyfriend is really cool, by the way," Jongho says to Ari, earning a small chorus of 'so true' and 'I agree' from the group.

"Thank you, that's so nice to hear," Ari responds, snuggling closer in San's lap. "You always worry what people will think of your boyfriend, especially your favorite people."

"He seems basically perfect," you say, Ari's face lighting up with a smile. San has finally lost the battle with himself, his own face curling into a shy smile that makes his dimples pop.

"Aw look, he's blushing!" Mingi calls, making you all break into giggles once again. "Here, who wants the first one?" he asks holding up a toasty marshmallow, Wooyoung holding out his plate of graham crackers and chocolate. "Be careful guys, they're gonna be really hot," he says as he pops another marshmallow on his stick, carefully holding it the perfect distance above the now-steady fire. Eventually you all have hot marshmallows on your plate, the chocolate melty inside the delicious sugary sandwich you all are enjoying. Well, everyone except you has melty chocolate, because of course chocolate was one of those pesky things you couldn't eat. Still you enjoyed the treat, resting your head against the back of your chair as you all chowed down, the group falling into near silence.

"She said she can come tomorrow morning," Wooyoung suddenly announces after checking his phone, the light from the sun nearly totally gone now. You all murmur in approval, genuinely excited to meet this woman who your dear friend so cares about. Soon everyone is done, wiping their faces as they finish the last of their s'mores, the fire slowly starting to die as Yunho and Mingi let it burn out. In the darkness of the night you can see so many stars, the sight always taking your breath away when you have the chance to see it. You lay staring up for a while, trying to find the constellations you know, your eyes eventually feeling too heavy to hold open. Soon you're woken from your slumber by Yunho, as he carries you inside to properly go to bed, your head resting against his shoulder as he carries you. You're out moments after snuggling into the soft sheets of your bed nook, your mind enveloped in a comforting darkness after the wonderful day you'd just had.

[kominigiru]

im gonna start dumping my one-shots here from now on just bc. also posted on ao3!

satoru's guide to wedding day blunders

contains: female reader, fluff, crack, gojo being a menace, reader and toge are siblings, shoko and nanami being so done with satoru's shenanigans part 1 - part 2 (both in ao3)

Gojo Satoru is late to his own wedding.

You stand at the altar, fingers clenched around your bouquet, doing everything you can to keep from grinding your teeth. Shoko, standing to your right as your maid of honor, is shooting you sympathetic looks, while Nanami on the left looks like he's one deep sigh away from physically dragging Satoru here himself.

Your family sits in the front row, their faces showing various degrees of irritation, disappointment, and—worst of all—pity. They're whispering among themselves, making no effort to hide the glances they cast toward you, or the fact that they're annoyed on your behalf.

You close your eyes for a moment, trying to block out the noise. When you open them again, your mother is already halfway up the aisle, moving toward you with a determined look in her eyes.

"Sweetheart," she says, barely acknowledging Shoko and Nanami. "It's been over an hour. I think it's time to accept that maybe this wedding… isn't happening."

You stiffen, fingers going numb around your bouquet. Cancel?

Nanami sighs heavily, crossing his arms. "She has a point. Gojo's behavior today is completely unacceptable. It reflects poorly on him, and worse, on you. We can reschedule."

Shoko snorts in agreement. "Yeah, even I'm tired of waiting, and I'm not the one at the altar. Typical Satoru."

Your mouth opens, but no words come out. You don't speak often—as your Cursed Speech makes casual conversation risky—but the urge to say something now presses hard against your chest. Before you can figure out how to respond, you feel a tug on your gown.

You glance down to see your younger brother, Toge, standing at your side, his tiny arms wrapping around your waist in a comforting hug.

"Aniki's late," Toge mutters, his voice barely audible.

The way he says it tugs at your heartstrings. Even your usually patient brother is starting to lose hope.

Suddenly, with perfect, almost theatrical timing, the heavy church doors burst open, slamming against the walls with a deafening thud. You don't even need to turn around to know who it is.

"Sorry I'm late!" Satoru's voice rings out, loud and unapologetic, echoing through the silent church.

You finally turn, and there he is, Gojo Satoru, standing in the doorway like he's just walked in from some casual errand and not his own wedding. His hair is tousled, his sunglasses perched on top of his head, and he's grinning like this is all some kind of joke.

Satoru saunters down the aisle, waving casually at the guests. "Miss me?"

Your family collectively groans, and you can feel Nanami's simmering rage without even looking at him. Shoko rolls her eyes dramatically, muttering something about "classic Gojo" under her breath. You, however, stay rooted in place, fingers tightening their grip on your bouquet.

Satoru reaches the altar, looking perfectly at ease, as though he hasn't just kept an entire wedding party waiting for over an hour. He slides up next to you, his grin widening when he sees the expression on your face.

"Hey, sweetheart," he says softly, leaning in just enough for only you to hear. "Sorry about that. Had to deal with a curse situation. You know how it is. Life of a sorcerer and all that."

You stare at him, your mouth a tight line.

You've gotten used to Satoru's antics over the years, but even for him, this is too much. Still, speaking directly, even to scold him, could have unintended consequences thanks to your cursed technique, so instead, you breathe deeply through your nose and give him a pointed glare.

"Ah… right," Satoru says, catching on. "You’re upset. Understandable."

Nanami, who's been silent up until now, finally speaks up, his voice thick with irritation. "You're lucky we haven't already canceled the ceremony."

Shoko nods. "An hour late, Satoru? Even for you, that's ridiculous."

Satoru throws up his hands in mock defense. "Okay, okay, I know! But hey, at least I showed up, right? That's what matters."

You can feel the tension radiating from the entire room, but before you can think of how to express your feelings in a way that doesn’t result in your cursed speech accidentally knocking everyone unconscious, you feel a tug at your dress again.

You glance down, and Toge is looking up at you with wide, concerned eyes. "Tuna mayo," he says softly, which is his way of saying, Are you okay?

You crouch down slightly, giving Toge a reassuring smile and patting his head. It's a small moment, but it helps ground you. You straighten up, turning back to Satoru, who's watching the interaction with a sheepish grin.

"Look," he starts, "I know I messed up. Big time. But hey," he adds, flashing a grin, "You know you love me anyway, right?"

You stare at him for a long moment, taking in his disheveled appearance, his unshakable confidence, and his infuriating grin. Despite everything, despite the frustration, the embarrassment, and the whispers from your family, you can’t help but feel the corners of your mouth twitch upward.

Maybe it’s because this is so typically Satoru—unpredictable, chaotic, and yet, somehow, charming in his own way.

You take a deep breath and raise your hand to his chest, pressing two fingers lightly against him. It's a gesture you often use when you can't speak, one that means I forgive you, but don't do it again.

Satoru's grin softens, and he takes your hand, squeezing it gently. "I promise," he says, and for once, there's no teasing in his tone. "I won't mess up again. Well, not today, at least."

Nanami clears his throat. "We'll see about that."

Shoko shrugs. "Honestly, I'm just impressed you got here at all."

Toge, ever the voice of simplicity, tugs on Satoru's sleeve and mutters, "Okaka."

Satoru gasps dramatically. "Betrayed by a child! I thought we were family, Toge!"

Toge just crosses his arms, unimpressed, as you all share a quiet laugh at Satoru's expense.

Satoru turns back to you, his grin back in full force. "So, what do you say we make this official, huh?"

You glance at the altar, the officiant who's been waiting patiently, and then back at Satoru. Slowly, you nod.

Satoru's face lights up, and with a flourish, he turns to the officiant. "Alright! Let's get married before anything else decides to go wrong!"

As the ceremony finally begins, you can't help but feel a mix of exasperation and fondness swelling in your chest. Life with Satoru will never be predictable, but as you look at him now, standing beside you, you know one thing for certain: it will always be interesting.

And in his own chaotic way, you know that Satoru loves you—enough to show up late to your wedding but still make you smile in the end.

You squeeze his hand once more and and he chuckles, leaning down to kiss your forehead and whisper, "I love you, too."

—

Later that night, after the wedding reception winds down and everyone heads home, you and Satoru return to your shared house. You're still wearing your wedding dress, and he's got his suit jacket slung over his shoulder, looking as carefree as ever. He's been trying to sweet-talk you the whole way back, as if he hadn’t shown up an hour late to your own wedding.

"Come on, sweetheart, it wasn't that bad." He grins, nudging you with his elbow. "Everyone had a good laugh, right?"

You give him a sidelong glance, your silence speaking volumes.

"Okay, okay, maybe I pushed it a little. But hey, I made it in the end, didn't I? That's what counts!" He flashes his signature smile, the one that usually gets him out of trouble.

You pause at the front door, turning to look at him. For a moment, he thinks he's won you over. You're smiling, after all. But then, without a word, you toss him a single pillow.

Satoru catches it with a confused look. "Uh…what's this?"

You gesture to the pillow and point to the roof.

His smile falters. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on. You're not serious, right?" His laugh is nervous now. "You forgave me at the altar! We're good! We're married now!"

You shrug and head inside, but before he can follow, you turn around, blocking the doorway with your body. His eyes widen in panic.

"Come on! I can't sleep on the roof on our wedding night! People will talk! Nanami will find out and he will never let me live it down!"

Your only response is a raised eyebrow, and you slowly, deliberately, start to close the door.

Satoru jams his foot in the door with a dramatic gasp. "But I thought you loved me!"

You don't need cursed speech for this one. You give him a sweet, innocent smile—the kind of smile that would normally melt him on the spot. But tonight, it just spells doom for him. He knows that smile. It's the smile that means, "I do love you, but you're not getting away with this."

He groans. "Seriously? After all the curses I've fought, this is how I go down?" He leans his head dramatically against the doorframe, clutching his pillow like a lifeline. "Sleeping on the roof like a stray cat? Come on, babe, be reasonable!"

You sigh, your patience wearing thin. He's still whining.

With a subtle tap into your cursed technique, you say the words that you've been holding back all night. "Sleep on the roof tonight."

The power of your cursed speech echoes through the air, and Satoru visibly flinches. His body moves on its own, turning toward the roof like a puppet on strings.

"W-wait! No! I take it back! I take it back! You don't have to use that—"

But it's too late. His legs betray him, carrying him toward the roof with a dramatic flair, like he's being pulled by some invisible force. You watch as he scrambles helplessly, pillow tucked under one arm as he clambers up to his new "bed" for the night.

From the roof, you hear him groan, his voice tinged with betrayal. "But I'm your husband now! Doesn't that mean anything?!"

You close the door, letting out a small chuckle. Behind it, you hear him muttering to himself in frustration.

"Of all the things to use your cursed speech for..." he grumbles. "Could've just told me you were mad! But noooo, had to make me sleep outside on the night of my own wedding!"

You hear some shuffling from the roof, and then: "At least give me a blanket! It's cold up here!"

You open a window just wide enough to toss him a thin, scratchy blanket, watching it float up to where he's perched.

"Thanks," he mutters sarcastically. "This’ll totally keep me warm."

There's silence for a few moments before his voice drifts down again.

"I'm sorryyyyy!" he yells, his voice carrying through the night air. "I'll never be late again, I swear! I'll be early to everything! Our anniversaries, your birthday, breakfast—you name it! I'll never mess up again!"

You shake your head, smirking to yourself, knowing full well that's a promise he'll break within the month. But for tonight, the roof will teach him a lesson.

From the roof, you hear a long, pitiful sigh. "I thought married life would be more… cozy. Not like… this."

Finally, after what seems like an eternity of grumbling, he goes quiet, probably giving in to the reality of his situation. The stars twinkle overhead, and for a moment, all is peaceful.

Until—

"I bet Nanami's gonna find out and give me that look tomorrow." His voice suddenly perks up again, this time with a hint of dread. "You know the one. The 'I told you so' look. Ugh, I hate that look…"

You roll your eyes, closing the window fully this time, knowing that his whining will eventually tire him out. But still, you can't help but smile.

You know he'll be back to his usual antics by tomorrow, but for now, he can enjoy the roof.

As you settle into bed, you can faintly hear Satoru one last time from outside.

"You'll miss me eventually! No one can resist my charm!"

You smile into your pillow. Not tonight, Satoru. Not tonight.

[noxcheshire]

Rather use the mobile app?

Okay so I'm re-asking this to you if you're okay with it but if you are I had a crack idea based off like this one post I saw of Cass x Danny

I can't remember the name of it but I sure do remember the premise it was like cast taking up her own persona of Brucie Wayne with Danny shapeshifting and like posing as different men around her with her in a bathing suit

And I have been able to stop imagining something like that with Danny and Phantom and the Infinite Realms with Danny laying around something that looks like a large Lazarus pit just just a ghost ocean with Phantom in his ancient form King form and normal hero form just around Danny giving Danny things and I got into like a magazine in the infinite Realm

Many other images like that end up in magazines of like Daddy being around 10 minutes being shown it's like in a romantic way or a flirting way like old timey photos of phantom bringing Danny thousands of roses and jewelry but like those really old time romantically magazines

It can either be Pitch Pearl or it was like a joking matter and it's not actually Pitch Pearl

But because of this Justice League is now convinced that Phantom is deeply in love with a human is willing to do anything they say so they got to interrogate Danny to see or not if Danny is a good or bad person like keep the mortal world afloat don't start a war or start the war and kill all my enemies but here's how I feel like it would start off

Danny at first no idea that his little joke would end up being the start of the tiring month ever it all started when Paulina came into the cafeteria swinging around a glowing green magazine it was clear that it either contaminated with ectoplasm or from the ghost mailman

Paulina was showing it to the other a-listers when a loud scream of "Fenton" could be heard all across the cafeteria us Paulina and Dash stomping over with the magazine pointing it in Danny's face it was the first ever magazine that Danny did with Phantom Danny laying down and swimwear but multiple different versions of Phantom around him serving him lemonade or trying to replace sunscreen to him Danny was so screwed

Wait oh my god I literally don’t ever check my inbox cause I’m always getting those spam bots BUT THIS IS SO GOOD

This is literally the type of shenanigans I want Danny to get up to, cause he’s just doing what he thinks is silly little teenager things, but it often gets blown out of proportion cause it’s DANNY.

YESSSS, go off anon, let those little brain worms wriggle

[bokunokamijirou]

SELF SABOTAGE // Denki Kaminari x reader

m.list

synopsis: Denki is pushing everyone away post-war, reader won't let him :)

cw: sadness, hurt/comfort, depression, isolation

inspo: self-sabotage by waterparks!

Ring ring ring

Denki hears his phone buzz as he lifts his head from under the nice warm comforter. He had been sleeping a lot lately, more than usual. He picks up his phone and glances at the screen with half open eyes. It's you, his best friend and significant other.

He's hesitant to answer, but he does.

"Hey my love, are you almost ready for our date today?" your tone is hopeful over the phone. You two haven't gone out on your own in a while, and you miss him.

"Oh... about that..." his voice is groggy and lacking enthusiasm. You brace yourself.

"It's okay Denki, I understand." you try not to sound too disappointed. Your partner hadn't been around you much lately, and you were starting to worry.

At first, you thought maybe it was something you had done. Then, as the weeks went on, you noticed he was isolating from his friends too. Retreating into himself. He was lacking confidence, his usual charisma, and the smile he always wore.

When you ask him about it, he doesn't give you a real answer. He says he's tired.

But he's been 'tired' for a month and a half now.

"We don't have to go on a date, but can I come over? I miss your face." you practically beg.

"If you want, sure" he replies shortly. After you agree to go to his place, he covers himself in his blankets once again.

When you see him, you can't help but feel concerned immediately. His eyes were heavy and his face was pale. He looked exhausted. You think that maybe he was telling the truth, that he was just tired.

But, when you get closer, you see something else in those eyes. It's pain. It's anger. Sadness. You see the swirls of emotions turning through, paired with an emotionless face to hide it all away.

That's when it clicks for you; Denki Kaminari, human sunshine, is depressed. When the war first ended, you were all in shock. But Denki kept his usual jokes cracking where he could. He seemed alright - even when you asked him to make sure he was doing okay. You realize now that he was lying through his teeth.

"Denki..." you whisper as you crawl into bed next to him. You wrap an arm across his chest and face him, laying on your side as he lays on his back, eyes trained on the ceiling.

"Sorry it's kind of dark in here" he mutters.

You shake your head and look at his face. You examine each part of him, pressing a gentle kiss against his cheek. "I don't mind the dark when it's with you."

He cracks a small smile, but it fades quickly. He breathes deeply and you feel his chest rise and fall beneath your arm.

"I love you Denki." you whisper to him, "and I don't care what it is you're carrying, you don't need to do it alone."

"Everything feels so heavy," he says after a beat of silence.

"It doesn't have to be heavy if you let me carry it with you." you smile slightly but keep your eyes locked on his.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess" he sighs.

"Messes get cleaned up faster in groups, don't you think?" You smile again and close your eyes as you rest your chin against his chest.

"Why don't we call our friends up for a movie night? Being around them could be fun" you suggest.

"... can we make it a pajama party?" he asks, peaking at you from behind his heavy eyes.

"Of course, but you should probably shower first. Don't want them to do you dirty like you did Izuku" you start to giggle, and that breaks him in the best way. He smiles, his first genuine smile in weeks.

"I love you" he breathes.

"I love you more" you press a kiss to his nose.

"I love you most" he smiles again.

“We’ll be okay, I’ve got you” you whisper before pulling him in for a tight hug.

[yuri-is-online]

Well, since you are feeling festive and so am I, could I have request a fic with Ortho? Just doing a little holiday decorating or some other tradition with a homesick prefect? I don’t know, I just imagine Ortho to be the type to be interested in holiday traditions from another world. Thanks!

Oh hell yeah this slaps. Originally I was going to write about tree decorating but then I had a thought and I didn't want the fic to come off as me info dumping for however many words. I hope this is something like what you had in mind, and happy holidays!

notes: they/them used for Yuu, Ortho is the main focus here but the other first years are mentioned, Yuu and Ortho decide to play Santa. I would absolutely love to hear about any personal holiday traditions of yours, dear reader, as I think those are always very interesting. As always, other fic can be found on my masterlist here.

Christmas. Ortho had searched multiple websites, data banks, and even online journals to see if he could find any mention of such a word outside of the few instances he has heard it muttered by the prefect. He initially thought his searches weren't bearing fruit because Yuu pronounced it several different ways (Chrimis, Crisis, Chrysler???) but he has ultimately concluded those were likely jokes based off of their tone of voice.

That had been what finally made him ask, not even his brother liked laughing at his jokes alone.

"Oh that's one of the big winter holidays in my world." You had told him, trying to sound matter of fact but unable to hide the way your voice cracks with the strain of your homesickness. "I made the mistake of trying to remember a nursery rhyme while Grim was around and ended up telling him about Christmas stockings and now he wants one."

And now you have to explain the concept to him, but with much less pressure as Ortho listens carefully with growing excitement.

"Putting presents in socks! That's really silly but I suppose that there are some holidays here you might find really weird too huh?" Ortho can also see why Grim would be so excited about this particular tradition, a gift (in a sock or no) that has the potential to be made up entirely of candy, fruits, and other foodstuffs sounds very much like him. "So do we just need to find Grim some socks he fits in? You already have a fireplace to hang it on... or are you thinking about giving Grim coal?"

“Well-”  It had crossed your mind.  “Sometimes adults give chocolate that’s shaped like coal but that’s not really what’s bothering me.  You don’t usually use socks for this, you make these really big fake socks.  I wanted to make one for Grim, but while I was thinking about how I wanted to decorate it I sort of… thought it would be nice to make stockings for the others, y’know like Ace and Deuce and maaaybe Jack, but then I would need to explain it to them and I don’t want to do that.”

“Oh that’s easy, we just won’t.”  Ortho laughs and takes your hand to eagerly drag you towards Sam’s before you can question just what he means by “we.”   ~~~~ "Operation sock jaw is a go." Ortho mimics rubbing his hands together gleefully, his lab wear feeling deeply out of place in the unofficial official Ramshackle craft room. A small pile of carefully picked out fabrics and season appropriate accents are neatly folded at the corner of the table as you carefully trace out what you think resembles a pattern for a Christmas stocking as Ortho carefully watches.

"You have really good aesthetic tastes," you nod as you look over the drawings Ortho had provided "this one really matches Ace's clown vibes."

"I'm glad you like it!" He laughs. "I figured a harlequin pattern in Heartslabyul colors suited him perfectly! Deuce was a bit harder to figure out... I didn't just want to slap a playing card on it and call it a day. Jack was a bit easier with how often he searches for information on cacti and succulent care. Oh I can cut the cacti out of the felt if you like?"

"With scissors?" You tentatively ask, not entirely sure how your dorm would hold up if he decides to break out the lasers. But the suggestion seems to flatter Ortho rather than annoy him.

"Oh that'd be fun! I've never really had the need to use normie tools before, this will be just like..." his voice briefly trails off as he looks down at the scissors. You wonder if he is capable of zoning out, being a robot and all, but decide that isn't too far out of the realm of possibility as his next words come out in a stutter. "Hey Yuu, does this sort of feel like an anime to you?" It's not too unexpected a question for Ortho to ask, so you look down at your crafts and really try to think about an answer.

"I guess so?" You gently place the pieces you have cut for Ace's stocking down so you can look out at the snow blanketing the world outside your window. The scene isn't too different than one you might see in your world on a card. But then again- "There's a lot of tropes associated with Christmas in anime, there's an entire genre of weird rom com movies about it, so yeah I guess making crafts like this with you does sort of feel like something I would see in an anime?"

"I thought so!" Ortho happily begins to carefully cut the felt with the scissors, mimicking what he had seen you do with the little tuna fish for Grim's stocking earlier. "That makes me glad, if something is a common enough for people to fantasize about it in an anime, then it has to be really important to the people of your world. And yet no matter where I search I will never be able to find data about it in mine!"

"Doesn't that annoy you a little?" It would stress you, does stress you how familiar and yet distant Twisted Wonderland's traditions are to your own. But the smile Ortho gives you is one of such genuine excitement you feel at least a little of that stress fall away.

"It scared me at first, but then when I got my soul I realized that it meant I had a really good excuse to keep talking to you. More data is never a bad thing! You could give me and my brother ideas for a truly unique game or show, so please, tell me everything you can remember about your world. I'll make sure it's remembered." He means every word he says. It's enough to make you cry.

"Alright, but just remember you asked for it. Where to start?"

[belovedspector]

Photographs and Memories

Pairing: Joel Miller x gn!reader

Word Count: 1.4k

Content: Angst with a hopeful ending. Pre-outbreak.

A/N: Based on the song of the same name by Jim Croce. Yes, this is my second time writing a Joel fic based on a Jim Croce song. No, I'm not sorry about it. Enjoy! :)

Immersion Notice: I changed one little lyric to make this more inclusive ("Christmas cards you sent to me" became "Birthday cards you sent to me").

Masterlist

“Photographs and memories, Birthday cards you sent to me. All that I have are these, To remember you.”

“You’re doing it again,” Sarah says flatly from Joel’s bedroom doorway.

“Yeah, you caught me,” Joel acquiesces with a sigh. He sets the shoe box full of photographs that he’d been sifting through aside on the bed.

“You could call, you know. Make things right,” she suggests.

“No, I can’t,” he argues, but there’s no bite to it. He’s too tired for that.

It’s been like this for weeks now—Joel glumly looking back on your relationship, trying to figure out where it all went wrong. He keeps going back to the photos, where the two of you look so damn happy, and the birthday cards, where you’d poured your soul into heartfelt notes meant just for him. Where had he gone wrong? What had changed?

“Yes, you can.” His daughter’s voice brings him back to the present.

“Don’t you have homework to do, or something?” he asks gruffly.

“It’s summer, Dad,” she points out with a roll of her eyes.

“Right,” he mutters. He can’t help but take another glance at the open shoe box. The photo on top shows the two of you at the beach, Joel’s arm around your waist, sunglasses perched on top of your head as you smile brightly at the camera.

“Anyway, I’m going over to Stephanie’s house,” she says. “Please don’t still be sitting here when I get back.”

“Be safe!” he calls out to her as she walks away.

With a sigh, Joel puts the lid back on the shoe box and returns it to its spot on the floor of his closet.

“Memories that come at night, Take me to another time, Back to a happier day, When I called you mine.”

Joel’s lying wide awake in bed. He squints at the alarm clock on his bedside table. 2:51, the display reads.

He can’t stop thinking about you—about your smile, your voice, everything. He remembers the way you danced in the kitchen while cooking dinner, the way you laughed unabashedly loudly at his dumb jokes.

Joel sighs deeply as he looks up at the dark ceiling above him. If he closes his eyes, he can almost imagine you beside him in bed, sleeping peacefully. It wasn’t that long ago that that was his reality. Now, the other side of the bed is cold. He’s since washed the sheets, and the scent of your sweet perfume is no longer lingering on the pillowcase.

With a groan, he rolls over, pressing his face into his pillow. He needs to get a grip, move on with his life.

But he can’t. He can’t stop thinking about you, no matter what he does.

He sits up in bed, reaches over to turn on the bedside lamp, and grabs the book he’s been reading, resigning himself to yet another restless night.

“But we sure had a good time, When we started way back when. Morning walks and bedroom talks, Oh, how I loved you then.”

Joel’s staring straight ahead at the road as he drives to work, but his mind is elsewhere. He can’t help but think about you, sitting in the passenger’s seat, fiddling with the radio and sticking your hand out the window to feel the breeze between your fingers.

He thinks back to the beginning of your relationship—the “honeymoon phase,” Sarah had called it. That kid is wise beyond her years.

He thinks about the walks you’d take on weekend mornings. He’d hated it, at first, getting up at the crack of dawn when he could be sleeping in a little while longer, but your joy was infectious. You always admired the little things, took time to acknowledge the beauty of the world around you. You’d point out flowers on your walk, get excited anytime you passed a dog.

He thinks about lying on his side in the dark next to you, face mere inches away from yours, as you talked about everything and nothing, how you’d shared your greatest fears and hopes for the future.

He thinks about—

“Joel!” Tommy practically shouts, snapping him back to the present.

“What?” he snaps, irritated at having been interrupted. “You just drove past the site, dumbass,” Tommy says.

“Shit.”

“Summer skies and lullabies, Nights we couldn’t say goodbye. And of all of the things that we knew, Not a dream survived.”

Crickets chirp as Joel sits on his back porch, nursing a beer and looking up at the stars dotting the cloudless sky.

He can’t help but be transported to the night he’d taken you stargazing. He’d driven you out and away from the city and parked in a beautiful, quiet area. The truck bed was filled with pillows and blankets, allowing the two of you to lay side by side and look up at the sky. Joel had spent more time looking at you, though, at the way the starlight reflected in your wonder-filled eyes.

He takes a sip of his beer and remembers how hard it had been to say goodbye that night—or every night, really. He never wanted to leave your side, never wanted the night to end, and you felt the same.

And now, here he sits, all alone.

He thinks about all the plans he’d had for your future together, the future he was so sure about but now doesn’t exist, will never exist.

He thinks about the ring, still tucked safely away in his sock drawer.

“Photographs and memories, All the love you gave to me, Somehow it just can’t be true, It’s all I’ve left of you.”

It’s a rainy Saturday morning, and Joel is finally tackling the mess that is his desk, precariously stacked piles of paper taking over nearly every inch of its surface. As he picks up a random stack of papers, one falls, fluttering gently to the floor. The pale pink paper immediately catches his eye.

It’s the love letter you’d written for him last Valentine’s Day.

You’d been nearly sick with nerves when you’d given it to him, afraid that it was a stupid idea. He had assured you that he loved it with tears in his eyes. In truth, it was the sweetest gesture he had ever received.

He reads it back now, hearing your voice in his head as he reads your confession of love. It’s nothing he hadn’t heard a hundred times before, but, for some reason, seeing it written out made it more special, more real.

He’d give anything to hear you say you love him one more time.

He tucks the letter away in one of the desk’s drawers and gets back to work.

“But we sure had a good time, When we started way back when. Morning walks and bedroom talks, Oh, how I loved you then.”

It’s been months since you broke up. Joel still thinks about you, about what you had together, constantly. Despite Sarah’s attempts to play matchmaker with the new, single neighbor that moves in down the street, despite Tommy’s incessant teasing, Joel can’t move on.

He’s grocery shopping when it happens.

He sees a silhouette that looks suspiciously like yours. Then, the person turns around, and, sure enough, it’s you, looking as breathtaking as ever.

Joel feels like he can’t breathe. He drops the tomato he’d been inspecting as he watches you put a container of strawberries in your shopping basket from over the rows of produce.

It’s then that you look up, and your eyes meet his.

Joel’s heart skips a beat. He feels like a kid seeing their crush in the schoolyard.

You offer him a soft smile, and Joel feels fireworks exploding in his chest. He manages to give you a small wave back, but he’s sure he looks shell-shocked.

You walk down the aisle, and Joel thinks that that’s it. That would be enough, really, just getting to see your face in person after only having seen it in grainy photographs and in his mind’s eye for so long.

But, you surprise him. You turn down his aisle and approach him.

“Hi,” you say shyly, shifting your weight from foot to foot.

Suddenly, Joel’s mouth is very dry. “Hi,” he gets out after a moment.

“Listen, I—” you start.

“I’m sorry,” Joel blurts at the same time.

“I—what?” You look surprised.

“I’m sorry,” Joel repeats. “I’m sorry about how things ended. I want to make it right. Is there any chance that we could grab a coffee sometime?” He sounds desperate to his own ears, but he can’t help it.

You smile, and he can practically feel his broken heart mending itself back together. “Yes, I’d like that.”

Joel doesn’t know what will happen from here, but he’s thrilled at the prospect of creating new memories with you.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please feel free to let me know what you think! :)

[greyeyedmonster-18]

good luck rituals (old and new)

(My prompt for this years RSCandyHearts by @goodboylupin was "superstar". While I'm not sure if this is what the box of candy hearts had in mind when it was chosen, this is what I came up with and I immensely enjoyed writing it. For those of you who are unfamiliar, here is short YT clip of the "superstar" reference...

otherwise.

enjoy

xoxo)

-

Remus’s back was pressed firmly against the cool brick of backstage as he listened to the stand-up comic start to wrap up their set. Ending their ten-minute slot with a joke about travel size snacks, that was yielding little response from the audience. Though, Remus wasn’t sure if it was the material (well, not entirely sure) or the lack of audience, having refused to peek around the corner of the wings to look out into the eyes of strangers. Instead, he kept his eyes closed, and he took a breath to try to calm his nerves and the heartbeat he could feel in his fingertips. Trying to remember this is what he had been working for and dreaming about.

All the time spent busking on street corners.

Working a stupid office job making photocopies and answering phones despite how often his voice cracked.

All the time spent practicing in tiny apartments and recording on his ancient computer in coat closets to avoid upsetting his neighbors with the dulcet sounds of improvisational jazz on an alto saxophone.

Time and energy and he had finally landed himself a slot at the Black Lagoon Lounge.

Well.

An unofficial slot on a night reserved for amateurs, that was unpaid, but he had auditioned and one someone over. He was talented enough to be standing backstage, waiting for his name to be announced by the host; for the lights to dim.

Waiting for his own ten minutes in the spotlight.

He was sweating already, thin turtleneck sticking to his skin as he exhaled through his mouth before he put his saxophone down on the piano bench backstage, hearing his old music teachers voices in the back of his mind screaming bloody murder as he did so.

You’ve been nervous before, Lupin. You’ll be nervous again, and you can still do this.

He swallowed and tilted his head back to stair up at the rafters. A mess of narrow catwalks and railings.

“I can do this,” Remus whispered to himself before placing his hands underneath his armpits, fingers applying pressure against his ribcage just so. “I can do this,” he repeated, pulling his fingers out and bringing them to his nose, inhaling deeply.

At least he didn’t smell.

Clean sweat.

Clean set.

“Let’s hear it one more time for Florence!” The host exclaimed, clapping into the microphone on stage. “Now this next one, I think you will really like…”

Remus picked up his saxophone and clipped it to the lanyard around his neck. His mother had knitted a pad for the back of it, bright magenta and yellow resting just below brown curls.

“All the way from Detroit…”

Inhale.

“Please welcome--Remus Lupin, his saxophone called Moony, and jazz.”

Remus snorted at the introduction, exchanging a weak smile with the Host—a man with messy jet back hair and round glasses, in purple plaid pants—as he walked onto the stage. He waited for the lights to dim slightly, blinking out into the lounge.

It wasn’t exactly the roar of the crowd.

A drunk at the back of the bar, slumped over on a stool.

A few staff pretending to be super busy, making scenes of taking a single plate left behind back to the kitchen.

The odd couple making out over their table, second drinks forgotten, in favor of touches and giggles and tongues.

And then there was him.

Remus already suffered from incurable dry mouth, having taken the route of soaking his reeds before playing, learning the hard way that he simply couldn’t conjure enough moisture on his own. His mother always said he lost everything sweating about the small stuff. But this man blinking back at him in the audience caused every drop of moisture Remus had left on this tongue to evaporate.

“H-h-i—” Remus started, his voice cracking, somehow able to turn a one syllable word into three. An impressive skill and he felt his face flush, looking down at the microphone to avoid the stare of him. “I uh, will…spare everyone here tonight a fumbled introduction, I’m not great with talking… just…I think I’ll just play, if that’s alright.”

A small chuckle.

That was the roar.

Remus made quick work of test notes.

Making sure his fingers remembered how to move.

And that his lungs remembered how to breath.

And that is mind and heart loved how it felt to be the center of attention for once for all the right reasons, watching out of his peripherals as the couple stopped making out and the staff slowed their paces as he played.

Remus went to the bar after his set, his saxophone in its case beside him, fiddling with the flimsy red straw in his whiskey and coke. He smiled to himself.

I don’t know what I just listened to, but I’m pretty sure I liked it, The Host had said after Remus exited the stage to the sound of cheers and a whistle.

“I liked your set,” came a voice and Remus looked away from floating ice cubes in his glass to see leather trousers sitting next to him at the bar stool.

“Uh, thanks.”

“I liked your audition tape too.”

“Tape?” Remus asked, panicked and finally looking up at the face that he knew belonged to black trousers. The one with the eyes he had avoided his entire set. The one with the cheekbones and the long, black curly hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail like something out of Vogue. The one who whistled at the end of his slot.

“Sirius Black—I own this place. I couldn’t make it to the auditions, but I did have them recorded…” He trailed off, with a lopsided grin, signaling the bartender. “I knew you were a good bet.” Remus nearly choked on his whiskey, and he sat up straighter on his bar stool unconsciously and Sirius laughed, “Relax, relax. I just said I liked it.”

“And I’ve forgotten every word except for thank you, and I’m…pretty sure I need to impress you further.”

Sirius laughed softly—that was the roar he heard earlier, this man— “Impress me? I just work here.”

“I’m told its part of playing the game…”

“Well, my philosophy has always been let your craft play the game for you��”

“You’re a musician?”

Another bark of laughter, and Sirius took two tattooed fingers and fished the cherry out of the top of his drink, “No, just a Lounge owner, I’m afraid.”

“Then of course you don’t know about the games. I’ve been at this for years and its always the people in charge you need to impress…”

“And you haven’t?”

“My music and…me…we’re an acquired taste, it seems.”

Sirius grinned, that cocky-lopsided one he saw earlier somewhere at his five-minute mark in his set, the one that definitely didn’t make him flush and definitely didn’t make him tongue tied now, “Lucky you then.”

“Wh-y’s,” another crack in his vocal cord, elongating syllables, “that?” Remus quickly picked up his drink and took a large gulp.

“I have a refined palette.” Sirius shrugged, “But—”

“But?”

“I have to ask what you were doing before you played.”

“Oh, I just work a stupid office job. Signatures and…filing.”

“No, backstage before you went on."

“W-What?”

“I went to go ask my brother about something, he's the annoying one with the headset running around back there, and saw you…you know…smelling your hands. Good luck ritual?”

“Oh god,” Remus smacked his hand against his forehead, “I’ll buy you a drink if you pretend you didn’t see.”

“I drink for free.”

“…Hot wings then?” Sirius laughed again and Remus winced, running his hand down his face, “I will give you the ten I made in tips tonight."

"Keep your money."

"You saw...?"

“I didn’t.”

“…Thanks.”

“I’ll just have to wait and see if you do it again next week. Find out eventually. This will be fun."

“Next week?”

“Refined palette.” Sirius said, picking up his pink drink and standing off the barstool, “You’ll get a call Monday.”

“I could kiss you.”

“Slow down there, superstar.” Sirius winked and made his way back to the center of the Lounge where he was sitting when Remus had first seen him to watch the rest of the acts.

--

Remus stood in front of the entrance of the Black Lagoon Lounge, phone stretched out in his hand, and his saxophone in the other as he pasted on a goofy grin and snapped a photo.

We’re still here! Another Saturday! Will send the recording as always.

A year ago, Remus felt lucky to have a 10-minute slot for amateur night.

And then he felt lucky to have a half hour slot to open on Saturday nights.

And then—now—he couldn’t believe his name was the one on the marquee.

TONIGHT: REMUS LUPIN, MOONY, AND....JAZZ

He waved to the security team as he walked in through the double doors, and down the stairs through black velvet curtains. He wasn’t on for another two hours but could smell the smoke and hear the soothing vocals of the singer who opened for his own opener.

It was the same every Saturday, and entirely different at the same time.

A routine he could rely on with familiar faces. The staff. The Host. The doors and his dressing room, now filled with his favorite brand of cigarettes and cards from people who had stumbled by the lounge and heard him play.

He kept his mother’s neck cushion on his lanyard.

He kept his reeds in a cup of water.

Some things didn’t change.

But now he played to full rooms. An actual crowd, the sound of cutlery clinking together accompanying his sets. Regulars who sat in the front every week and put twenties into a hat he left on the stage.

Sirius.

Who stood in the back, leaning against the bar with his long curly hair swept to the side and his array of leather clothing and whistled every time.

Every week for a year

And Sirius went from handsome man who made intense eye contact in a nearly empty lounge To Lounge owner.

To Man He Needed to Impress

To Friend

To Boyfriend.

There was a knock at the door, the backstage manager, who Remus had learned was Sirius’s brother, popping his head in to signal it was getting closer to show time.

Remus still carried his own saxophone backstage with him, not trusting anyone else to set it up just right and the way he liked it.

Remus still got nervous, like it was the first night all over again. Reveling in the sensation of his heartbeat hammering a rhythm of its own.

He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, placing his hands underneath his armpits, and applying light pressure.

“You have been nervous before, and you will be nervous again,” Remus whispered to himself, “And you can do this.”

“You can do this,” came a second voice and Remus opened his eyes, unable to stop himself from smiling at the sight of Sirius in front of him. The toes of their shoes were touching, and Remus sometimes wished he could spend the evening counting eyelashes on grey eyes instead of counting out beats in his head.

Lucky that there was time for both, knowing Saturdays ended with Your Place or Mine? And absent touches on freckles and scars and tattoos and ribcages and hipbones.

Sirius looked at him expectantly, “Go ahead and finish…bad luck if you don’t.”

Remus shook his head but brought his fingers to the base of his nose and inhaled deeply anyway. It was bad luck if he didn’t finish the ritual.

“Still the weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever seen….” Sirius said.

“Ever?”

“Definitely.”

“Well, I have a second good luck ritual now too and its bad luck not to finish it…” Remus teased, and Sirius laughed, bringing a hand up to Remus’s chin and tilting it upward before kissing him softly.

“Good luck, superstar.”

[toastling]

This might be an unpopular opinion from all the responses I've seen here on tumblr this past month, but I think this whole Jack Blacklash has been completely blown out of proportion. I think you might all be a little bit too online. I can't believe I'm saying this with a straight face, but I think we might all need to go touch some grass.

Like, I get it, okay? I make jokes that read like death threats all the time about friends and enemies and politicians alike. We all do. But you and I, we're all literal nobodies. Who cares if we end up on some watch list for some off-color humor, we don't have careers. Not huge, public-facing ones that would be horrifically impacted by said off-color humor.

Jack Black is a public figure. He doesn't have the luxury to say the kind of shit or cosign the kinds of jokes that we all do. And I don't think that's fair, and I don't think that's right, but that doesn't change the truth of the matter. Hate the game, not the player. If you actually watch the event in question, he's right there on stage laughing along with the the rest of us. He's explicitly stated since thta he and Kyle still are and always will be friends *and* that Tenacious D isn't over.

But he, and more pointedly, his PR team, cannot allow that sort of joke about a major political figure, no matter how pathetic and fascistic he may be, to fly. And the response really does read more like PR damage control than it does something he actually has his full weight behind when you take into context everything else he's said about the situation since.

"It's just a joke". Yes, I agree, and personally, I'd have commit career suicide and stuck by it because that's the kind of person I'd be in any given spotlight. I'm not interested in celebrity, and I'm not interested in longevity at the expense of unlimited free expression on my part either. But I'm in the minority on that. Most public facing figures have to tow a line with this sort of thing.

Unless they're A) Already in politics, particularly as a right wing chud or B) Deeply entrenched as an edgy comic, and a stand-up comic in particular, then most famous folks cannot get away with an assassination joke like that and not face disastrous, potentially career-ending consequences and a visit from the FBI.

And yes, it's just a joke, but also, stop and think for a second the kind of world you're trying to create here. The alt-right dipshits all over Twitter and Reddit and the rest of the internet already use the same exact excuse of "it's just a joke" to try and get away with wholehearted bigotry and *actual* calls for violence. And yeah, it's bullshit, and usually, everybody knows it. But it's not always so clear.

If Kyle made that quip a bit more dryly and only made it clear it was a joke after the fact, all we'd have to go on is his word. And he's "our guy", so of course we'd take him at his word. Would anybody else? Not just "the other side", but actual, neutral, not terminally online morons? You know, like most of the world's population is? And even with how it *did* unfold where it was *clearly* meant as humor, it still has very real repercussions *immediately following a legitimate assassination attempt*.

You're really tempting fate and cracking open Pandora's Box there if you genuinely think public figures should be held to the same lax standards as us nobodies. As much as I personally loathe respectability politics, I'm not stupid. I understand very well the purpose that they serve in preventing every minor political squabble descending into outright violence, small scale shitstain vs shitstain or full-on civil war.

For a site that loves to complain about everybody else's lack of critical thinking, I've seen a shocking lack of it from everybody here on this particular matter. Just because the guy we hate was the butt of the joke doesn't make the thing that happened 100% okay. This shit can and does have serious consequences.

And now I see some chucklefucks saying shit like "Oh, Jack Black is the new Chris Pratt now", as if Jack Black attends gaybashing mega churches or has a psychotic paramilitary brother he supports or is in any way on any level even remotely as vapid as the crisped rat.

Like, one single choice we don't like because orange man bad, and literal *decades* of good will just evaporates overnight. Hell, some of you pretend like you never even had that good will in the first place, when you verifiably did. It's not like he called you a faggot or pushed an orphan down the stairs, he got spooked about the fact that the FBI might bust his door down because his friend made an off-color joke in front of tens of thousands of people immediately following an assassination attempt. Like??? You call *this* critical thinking???

Honestly, you guys are no smarter than your parents. And if that pisses you off, then stop being stupid and think about something outside yourself for a second and recognize that Hollywood Superstar Jack Black does not have the same privilege of inconsequential mediocre anonymity you and I do. That doesn't automatically make him "bad" or pro Trump. That makes him somebody who gives a shit about keeping his career going for another 30 years.

In summary: touch grass, eat ass, let it pass.

[redbuddi]

How will you handle the characterization of characters like Sam and Tucker? Danni?

What are some of the biggest changes to the overall story you are looking forward to exploring?

*cracks knuckles* alright here we go!

Sam and Tucker are extremely important to the series, more important than I think people tend to give them credit for, and that importance would be retained in Redux.

Tucker would be more or less the same as the OG Tuck, he's still a big tech geek, still loves meat, is still simultaneously the comic relief and the voice of reason depending on the situation, etc. I mostly plan on just making a few subtle tweaks to his character to flesh him out a bit more than the show was willing to.

Now is the time to mention that Redux will take place the same year the OG show came out, 2004. So the tech that Tucker salivates over will be tech that's dated by our standards, he still uses a PDA like a cell-phone, and carries around a lot of big chunky gadgets like portable CD players and such. While he is mostly a programming guy, he will build and invent things, and will help Danny do the same. He invented Danny's goggles and co-invented the Thermos with Danny.

Tucker is the most emotionally available of the trio, he doesn't always have solutions but he's willing to hear people out, and with his weak constitution he is the least fond of fighting, tho not purely pacifistic. He is the most outgoing of the group as well, but doesn't desire popularity, he's pretty satisfied with his lot in life. He's just a pretty amicable guy and likes to talk a lot. Like in the show, he's been friends with Danny for the longest, and knows him the best.

"Time to hack the mainframe..."

*swats away computer*

"Hello! This is the front desk, right? Sorry, I'm new and no one's told me the company password yet..."

I'd also take out his more wannabe-casanova traits, cause it's just kind of uncomfortable. I see him as more of a jughead-type, commenting on the drama and romance from the sidelines while never himself being too interested in it. He'll still joke about ladies loving him, but it'd be more tongue-in-cheek and self-aware.

Overall he tends to try to outsmart or talk his way out of situations, which can be a huge help, but also sometimes makes things worse. His smooth-talking has a 50/50 success rate.

He has a pretty good relationship with his parents, but can be kind of distant with his Dad, who is pretty overbearing and really wants Tucker to follow in his footsteps as the Mayor. It would be a running joke that Tucker is so disinterested in being the Mayor that he often times doesn't even justify his dad with a response. He will literally just leave if he can tell that that's where a conversation is going.

Sam is probably the character that would be overhauled the most. The OG Sam isn't terrible, but is very obviously an attempt at a counter-cultural character by people who know nothing about counter-culture.

The biggest change I'd make is that she no longer comes from old money. I get what the OG show was trying to do, but even as a little kid I couldn't really buy it or her whole rebellious thing. Not when she still greatly benefited from her family's money.

Instead, she comes from a well-off upper middle-class house, and she hates her parents. Not just because they don't understand her, but because her parents are actually horrible. Her Dad is a lawyer who is always looking for loopholes to get the rich out of trouble, and her Mom runs an MLM selling cheap clothes to desperate housewives (Think LuLaRoe). Her parents don't not love her, but they are deeply terrible people who, at the end of the day, only really care about themselves. Sam has sworn to do everything in her power to not be like them. The only reason she hasn't run away is because they're not home often enough for her to have to deal with them too much.

Danny: "Ow! Watch where you're poking!"

She tries to do as much on her own as she can, up to and including making basically everything she wears out of discount clothes and thrift shop purchases. While she does get an allowance, she doesn't spend any of it, she's saving her money so that she can leave home the moment she turns 18 and never look back. She is more interested in fashion than she often lets on, and dreams of running an eco-friendly fair trade boutique. After destroying capitalism, of course. She designed and made the alterations to Danny's jumpsuit, with the help of spectral thread that Danny had invented for her birthday.

In this series, Sam isn't just a holier-than-thou goth girl, she's a full-on anarchist punk-rock bitch, and she's proud of it. She will always speak her mind when she feels an injustice is taking place, and unlike in the OG series, Danny and Tucker will usually be there to back her up. That said, there's plenty that she gets up to on her own, she has had her brushes with the law, she's gotten into fights, she does not protest peacefully, and she usually doesn't involve Danny or Tucker because she doesn't want them to feel obligated to help her and then get hurt because of it.

She is strongly antisocial, and generally pretty closed off. She is the type of person who will listen to everyone's problems but won't speak about her own unless pushed. She is deeply loyal to and protective of her friends, sometimes to the point of being a little overbearing.

As for Danni, I certainly have thoughts, but I haven't settled completely on how she would fit in to the overall story. I do want her to be in the series, I just need to figure out what her deal would be.

EDIT! Completely forgot to answer the second part of the question!

The biggest change I'm looking forward to is giving Valerie more screen time, haha.

[thefriendlywriter20]

The Story of Jonh and Jokly (part 1)

You watch as Jokly approaches you, his eyes gleaming with mischief. You freeze as he places one hand on your shoulder and leans close. "Smell my fingers," he commands, waving them under your nose. Your heart pounds in your chest, but you obey, inhaling deeply. The scent hits you like a train - intense, pungent, undeniably smelly. It's unlike anything you've ever smelled before, clinging to your nostrils, making your eyes water. It's fucking awful, yet... Arousing.

Jokly grins widely, satisfied with your reaction. He pulls out a rope from behind him, the kind used for climbing. "Kneel down," he orders, pushing gently on your shoulder.

"Hands behind your back," Jokly instructs. You comply, feeling the rough fibers scrape against your wrists as he secures them together tightly.

Jokly sits on a stool facing you, legs spread wide. He locks eyes with you and raises an eyebrow. "I think it's time we found out how much you can take," he says casually.

With those words, Jokly undoes his pants and pulls down his boxers just enough to expose himself. His cock is already hard, the tip glistening with pre-cum. You swallow nervously, knowing what's coming next.

"Please no!" begs Jonh

Jokly smirks, "Oh sweetie, there's no need to beg. I have plenty of plans for you." He moves closer until his crotch is inches away from your face. "Look at me," he demands.

Your eyes meet his as he lifts your chin with his fingers. "Since I'm so generous, how about a game?" He grins wickedly, placing his other hand on his crotch and squeezing his cock through his clothes.

"Head games are always fun," he teases, reaching out to rub his thumb along your cheekbone. "Here's the deal. For every two breaths you smell my ass, I'll let you sniff my socks instead."

Jokly chuckles darkly, standing up and turning around. He reaches back, pulling apart his cheeks to reveal the pink rim of his hole, winking over his shoulder. "Ready when you are," he taunts.

You draw a deep breath and inhale the musky scent of Jokly's crack, filling your lungs with the warm, humid aroma. It's earthy, primal, like fresh dirt after rain mixed with something uniquely him.

Your head spins slightly as you exhale, trying to blink away the faintness caused by the sudden hit of stench. "Again," Jokly commands, releasing his cheeks and turning to face you.

"Sniff!" Commands Jokly. Jonh sniff but Jokly fart right into his nose. Jonh disgusted by the warm smell.

Jokly burst out laughing, wiping tears from his eyes. "That was so worth it," he cackles, "Look at you, all red-faced and miserable. Oh baby, don't look so sad. There's plenty more where that came from!"

Your eyes widen in disbelief. "What do you mean 'there's plenty more'? Is this some sick joke?" Jokly shakes his head, grinning cruelly. "Oh no sweetie, this is far from a joke. In fact, we're just getting started."

Jokly takes a deep breath and spreads his ass cheeks again. "Sniff." He commands once more, His gaze fixed on yours as if daring you to refuse.

As Jonh takes another reluctant sniff, Jokly flexes his anal muscles and lets out another smelly blast directly into Jonh's nose. Jonh retches, squirming, as the noxious gas envelops him.

"I have another suprise!" Grabs ductape. Jokly pushes Jonh's head into his deep ass and ductapes it. "Now... Hope you are ready!" Jokly reqleses a tpxic, warm fart. Jokly laughs maniacly

Jonh struggles against the tape, trying desperately to escape the thick, putrid cloud engulfing him. But Jokly holds fast, pressing down harder onto Jonh's head, forcing him deeper inside his asscrack.

Jokly's laugh subsides as he begins grinding his ass onto Jonh's face, smearing the hot, wet mess across his skin.

Jonh tries to scream but only manages a muffled cry. Panic surges through him as he realizes he cannot move or breathe easily.

Jonathan moves unstopable and somehow the tape breaks. Jonh fell to the ground. Naked Jokly looks at Jonh and says: "I let you go this time... But next time you will be GASSED!" Jokly unties the rope at Jonh's hand...

"Get dressed, Jonh," Jokly says nonchalantly, turning away to pull up his pants. "We'll finish this later. I have some things to attend to first." He tosses a crumpled pair of jeans and an old shirt at you.

"I have some conditions," you say firmly, struggling to your feet while keeping a safe distance from Jokly. "No more ropes. And... No more tying my head." Jokly scoffs, but pauses for a moment before answering.

"Okay... But then you will do it on your own... When I say you do it!" Commands Jokly

Jokly walks towards you, holding out his hand expectantly. "Deal?" Nervously, Jonh puts his hands together, the knot forming between their palms sealing your agreement.

After the day at night Jokly comes home. Jonh is still terrified by the sniffing but he still loves Jonh. "You want to do something? Like movie watching?" Asks Jokly

Jokly tilts his head thoughtfully, considering Jonh's question. "That actually sounds perfect right now," he replies with a small smile. "But maybe not in the usual way..."

Jokly get on the sofa and starts netflix. Jonh brings a very thick cover and puts it on Jokly. Jonh goes inside the cover. Jokly unpants his pants. "Ready?" Asks Jokly.

Jokly pulls down his boxers revealing his hard cock. Jonh starts sucking it.

Jokly moans softly as Jonh tentatively licks the underside of his cock, tasting precum for the first time. It doesn't taste bad; salty and a bit tangy, but not altogether unpleasant.

"Suck harder, baby," Jokly moans, threading his fingers through Jonh's hair and guiding him further onto his cock.

"Mmmm, yes, just like that," Jokly groans as Jonh eagerly works his tongue around the sensitive tip, learning quickly what pleases him. "Fuck, I love your greedy little mouth."

When the netflix ends Jonh stops but stays under the blanket. Jokly fart a very long one.

Jokly asks Jonh, "Hey you're still down there aren't ya?" He smiles and taps the blanket lightly. "Yes, I am," Jonh confirms quietly, staying motionless underneath the covers. "Come up here then."

Jonh hesitates briefly before emerging from the covers, slowly sitting up beside Jokly. The air smells of smoke and lubricant. "So, what's next?"

"Want to sniff my armpit?" Asks Jokly

Jokly undresses under the blacket and raises his arm. "Cmon my man!" Jonh sticks his nose into Jockly's hairy armpit. The smell is very bad and Jonh likes it...

The musk permeates Jonh's senses instantly, a potent mix of sweat, hormones, and remnants of yesterday's activities. He breathes it in deeply, hungrily, hearing Jokly's soft moan above him.

As Jonh inhal the manly aroma, he feels a familiar stirring beneath him. Poking out from under the blanket is Jokly's cock, straining against its confines, eager for attention.

Jokly looks down, smirking. "See how much you like the smell? Why don't you give that naughty cock of mine some lovin' too?" Without waiting for an answer, he pulls Jonh's face towards his lap.

Jonh hesitates, looking up at Jokly uncertainly. "Are you sure?" he asks. Jokly nods encouragingly, rubbing Jonh's cheek tenderly. "Absolutely, sweetheart. Go ahead, give it a lick."

Jonh starts sucking it. The two sleep on the sofa fter 6 minutes.

The end (for now)

#gay #fart #18+

[starry-eyed-writer]

Whispered goodbyes

Just some good old angst with three new OC's hope you enjoy :)

Somehow despite how terrible it was being used by that bastard, being put through that torture for three fucking months, I can’t help but wish I was back there instead of here. I would take any pain over this if I’m honest.

I thought it was bad enough loosing my father to whatever cruel fuck controls life but no. Then I had to lose my moms love to alcohol, lose my virginity and a hefty part of my soul to that bastard but more importantly than any part of me he took the only two people who I couldn’t lose. And now I don’t know how to handle it or what to do.

As I continue to shuffle myself forward carefully gripping my crutches I lose myself to the good memories of the time I spent with them. Finally without noticing I’ve shuffled my way to the front where the twin caskets lie. With a clatter my crutches fall away from me and with them I fall loosing myself to the empty pain and sobbing. The moment I fall, the people around me back away even further, leaving me to be alone with the two people I considered my siblings for the last four years. As I look from my left to my right avoiding the two boxes in front of me everyone I’ve come to know and come to care for looks away unable to meet by eyes. They can’t bear to see the shattered kid I’ve become any more than I can stand to feel like this. Somehow over these past five years I think I’ve lost more than I ever thought possible.

“Vivian…Zane…” I whisper their names out into the world and they float away on the wind gently carrying them both further and further away from me. Deep down I know no matter how much I chase after them or call out for them that they won’t be back but even if I know that I can’t bring myself to stop. To not try because if I give up I let go of them forever and that means losing even more of myself with them. I can’t stand that.

I reach right hand out slowly gripping the edge of Zane's coffin, inside he looks just like he always did, dusty sky blue hair swept forward and fluffy as ever with the side shave looking fresher than before. His silver jewelry looks freshly cleaned and I can see four of his five piercings on display, his bridge, septum, eyebrow, and lobe piercings all catching the rays of sun through the trees. They bring some life to him but nowhere near enough.. It almost seems wrong to see him so lacking of life, with his dark sage green eyes closed and his pierced tongue safely hidden behind his shut jaw. It all seems so wrong, so different from the Zane who would crack a joke at any moment and stick his tongue out throwing his wiggling fingers up by his ears. He’s dressed as he always was, black ripped jeans and a black hoodie contrasting his tan skin but adding to his style with black combat boots rounding it all out.

After a shaky breath I pull my eyes away from his lifeless face and reach my left arm up to Vivian's casket. She looks equally lifeless and it’s disturbing not seeing that signature smirk on her. Her bubblegum pink hair is wavy and beautiful as always, missing her signature pink heart glasses that she always wore rain or sunshine. Her chocolatey skin seems even darker without the light of her blue eyes. Her freckles seem to melt into her skin slowly. For her jewelry is a bit different golden nose ring on her right side nostril, matching snake bite studs and dangly rainbow earrings seem to be the brightest thing about her at the moment. She’s dressed up in a white tank top, ripped light blue jeans and black converse with her signature touch of rainbow converse symbol. Seeing them both like this shatters my heart even more.

Closing my eyes I whisper a silent “I love you to all the stars in the sky.” to both of them. I can’t bring myself to say goodbye though. It feels as if I say goodbye. I'm admitting they’re gone forever and it’s all my fault. Even though I know it is, I can't accept it yet. Breathing deeply as I can for a second keeping my eyes closed I pull my hands away from the caskets slowly as I can. I twist my body surly, scraping my knees even more on the forest floor. I reach from my crutches forcing my protesting body up and to a standing position. I wince hissing and pulling in a breath as I force my aching body to move away and back inside the tall building. I know everyone is watching me now but I don’t look at any of them. I keep my eyes straight ahead making my way back to my room where Kres waits for me to return from the funeral. The funeral I caused.

Hello again everyone! It's been a bit since I've posted, but I'm back and I'm here with this angst introducing three more of my OC's: Alex Cyra, Vivian, and Zane. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Have a lovely day my stars <3

-Starry

[unseededtoast]

Turtle Doves | Joel Miller

Part Ten

Chapter Directory

Series Summary: In which two broken souls connect so deeply, that if one should perish, the other would surely die of a broken heart. (slow burn, timeline changes. After TLOU1, before TLOU2, assumed knowledge of infected, uses elements from both show and game)

Series Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, death, and sexual content.

Also cross-posted on Wattpad and AO3. Link to my masterlist for everything else I’ve posted!

We continue on our route, leaving the cursed town behind us.

The shelf scrapes the floor with a loud squeal as we move it out of the way. Thankfully there are no infected around, otherwise this would have drawn all of them right to us. My body still aches from yesterday, and it'll probably continue to get worse today. Once the shelf is out of the way enough for us to squeeze through, we begin back on our route.

The morning sun is just barely peeking up over the horizon, meaning the air is still cool. I know it won't last long, so I savor it now. If my thoughts are correct, we should be passing through the town marked with a star within an hour or two. Something inside me is wary of this location, but the optimistic part of me is hoping that we find something useful.

As usual, our journey begins with more silence. If we're going to be going to Omaha together, I might as well start trying to break the silence to hopefully make him more comfortable talking to me. However, I will give him credit where it's due, he was rather talkative yesterday. Twisting my neck side to side, it cracks and relieves some pressure; and I wish the rest of my bones would do the same.

"Not as young as I used to be." I say as I try to get my back to crack. After trying two more times I give up and just accept that I'm going to be in pain. Joel lets out what sounds like a small laugh.

"You're tellin' me." He turns to face me, a faint trail of humor shown on his features.

"Finding a car would be nice." I say with a huff, thinking about the luxury of even the most run-down car. Joel nods his head,

"I guess you want a night at a five-star hotel too?" His humor catches me off guard, and I laugh at his joke. He looks ahead once more, focusing on our route.

"Hey if the opportunity comes around I wouldn't say no." The two of us fall into a silence once more, but this one feels comfortable and not forced, I don't feel like this one needs to be broken.

As Joel walks I notice how his shoulders aren't as tense as they have been the past few days. He doesn't make an effort to stay several paces ahead of me either. Maybe he's warming up to me after all, or maybe it's just the exhaustion. Tearing my eyes away from his figure, I look ahead and see the faint silhouette of buildings. That must be the place we're looking for.

"Look." I say and point out the buildings. Joel's eyes squint to see what I'm pointing at before he nods.

"Gettin' close. We should try to scope it out before we walk on up." He says, thinking tactfully.

"There are some trees off to the right, we could take cover in those." I spot a small area of trees off the road a ways up. The town is still rural enough to where it's not all concrete, there's still some traces of nature, unlike the QZ. He nods his head and changes our course so that we head for the trees.

Once we reach the woods, we both crouch down to muffle our footsteps. At first glance the town seems to be empty, but my instincts are telling me there's more than meets the eye here. There are several buildings that people could be hiding out in, and we would never know from this vantage point. Joel's eyes stay intensely focused on the town as I try to pick up on anything that suggests life.

After fifteen minutes of silent surveillance, I still can't find anything. Nudging Joel with my arm, I silently ask if he wants to move forward. His face looks apprehensive, but he ends up nodding. We cautiously make our way to the conglomerate of buildings through the woods. Though I'm not sure if anyone is here, going in this way is still our smartest bet.

I get to the edge of the woods first and crouch down again to check the surroundings. It's like a ghost town. But then again, it's still early enough that the occupants of this place might still be sleeping. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something just feels off. My head turns to Joel behind me,

"Something isn't right." My concerns come out as a whisper, and I wonder if he's picking up on the same thing. His eyes are narrowed, his eyebrows knitted together.

"Stay close, we go in quiet." He says and walks in front of me without another word. The curved knife finds its way in my grasp and I follow Joel out into the town, trying to keep my breathing calm and collected. We enter the town from the side, finding an alleyway to sneak down instead of taking the main road.

As we come to the end of the alleyway, my eyes land on a barrel sitting out in the middle of the main road. The black soot on the rim suggests to me that it might be a burn barrel. The windows of the buildings have all been boarded up, blocking our vision of any possible inhabitants. Carefully, Joel rounds the corner of the alley and we're out on the main road, sticking close to the front side of the building.

I see cars lined up at the end of the main street, almost like a makeshift barricade. Confirming my suspicions, I turn around and see a similar barrier on the other side of the main street. There's most definitely someone here. I tug on the back of Joel's shirt and point to the cars, seeing his face darken as he reaches the same conclusion as me.

Before we have time to duck back down the alley, a door opens across the street from us. Three men walk out lazily. My body freezes in place and I watch with wide eyes how the men turn left and go away from us. The men all look very unkempt. Their hair is long and stringy, their clothes tattered and worn. I'm willing to bet they've been out here a while.

Joel grabs my hand and pulls me into the building we're standing in front of. The space is dark, and I can barely see in front of me. But I do see a shadow move behind Joel. As my eyes adjust to the dim light, I swear I see something duck down behind the counter.

My grip on my knife gets tighter, and my elbow nudges Joel again. His head whips over to me, and I just silently point to the counter. From the looks of it, this place must have been some sort of diner. There are tables scattering the floorspace and an old menu board hangs crooked on the wall.

Keeping my footsteps silent is my top priority as we go towards the counter. Joel walks in front of me, his own knife secure in his palm. I try my best to listen for movement on the other side of the counter, but I hear nothing. However, Joel rounds the corner of the counter and I hear scurrying. Peeking around the corner, I see a man in the arms of Joel, being placed into a headlock. Too stunned to move, I watch as Joel chokes the man out until his body goes limp. Joel leaves the body and we continue our way to clear the rest of the building.

As we go deeper into the building I see several sleeping bags on the floor and supplies scattered on shelves. My hands grab what I can hold and shove the supplies into my bag. Luckily, it seems like nobody else is in this building. Unfortunately, that means they're probably all lurking out there somewhere. Once we're in the kitchen area of the diner, I whisper to Joel,

"What's the plan here?" I have a good idea of what the plan probably is, but if we're both certainly on the same page, then there's less of a chance that I make a wrong move.

"We take what we find and kill who we have to." He replies nonchalantly, like this is nothing new for him. And truthfully, this might be a regular occurrence for him. If that's the case, then I should be thankful he's here with me, and not against me. I nod my head and we continue moving.

Joel opens the back door to the diner so that we're in a back alley, not the main road. There's a door slamming across the street, followed by several voices. They all sound like men to me. I swallow my nerves and focus on the task at hand; surviving. I follow Joel closely as we move into another building, seeming to be some sort of old hobby store.

"Yeah man, he told me he was going on patrol today. Fucker keeps getting all the good shit." A voice loudly speaks as the front door opens. Joel ducks behind a shelf and I'm forced to take cover behind a display case.

"Would be a damn shame if he came back and all his shit was gone." Another gruff voice speaks. They're getting closer to us. The metal of the knife's hilt digs into my palm and I prepare myself for what has to happen. My eyes stay trained on Joel, waiting for his signal to move since he has the better vantage point.

Heavy footsteps fall just in front of the display case I'm behind, and a hand slams on the top of it, making me jump. The man's hand is large, dirty, and thicky callused.

"You know there would be hell to pay. Crazy bastard would kill us all to find his stuff and you know it." My breathing is shallow. Joel slowly motions for my to stay calm and I nod, showing him that I'm not going to do anything rash. He turns around and throws something, causing a clashing in the front of the store.

"The hell?" One of the men say, but only one of them moves to check it out. The hand on the display case stays put.

"What is it?" The man in front of me asks, his hand finally moving off the case.

There's no reply, they must be skeptical of something. Only the soft sound of footsteps can be heard, but I can't really tell where they're at. My breath catches in my throat as I see a leather boot step in front of me. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I make eye contact with the man, and he looks startled.

"There's a woman over here!" He yells out as I lunge forward with my knife. I catch the man's abdomen with the blade's curve and he cries out in pain, doubling over. My hand goes back to wind up another strike, but the injured man stands to his full height and grabs my arm. Thinking quickly, I drop the knife from my incapacitated hand and catch it with my free one, and I waste no time in slashing the man's arm, cutting it wide open with the sharp edge.

The man puts up a fight, but he's losing too much blood too quickly, and soon he falls over. There will be more coming after his tip off, and so I move towards Joel, who took down the second man without any issue. The two of us go to leave through the back of the hobby store, the way we came in, but there's something wrong with the door's lock and it won't budge.

"Shit." Joel grumbles as he tries to force the door open, but to no avail. In the front part of the store, the door opens and there's several people that come rushing in. They're all shouting incoherently and causing chaos in the small space. Joel and I split away once more, trying to hide the best we can.

Luckily I had reloaded my gun just outside of Boston, the night Joel found his stash in the store. So I know I have bullets if I need them. However, if I can use stealth to my advantage, I'm going to do that over wasting bullets on live people.

I try to tuck my body closely underneath the clerk's counter, but my bag is just a little too bulky for me to be able to fit all the way in. The approaching men round the corner and one of them spots me right off the bat. Two men come at me and before I can reach for my gun, they're on me.

Wildly, I slash my knife back and forth, trying to fend them off. They keep backing off quickly to dodge the blade, but one of them moves too fast. He tackles me to the ground, my knife falls from my hand. I reach for my gun in a last ditch effort, but my hands are pinned above me. Across the store I hear gunshots ring out and I can only hope they're Joel's.

I use my legs to try to throw the man off of me, but he's too big. His hips hold my torso down and he's got a sick grin on his face.

"Look what we got here boys!" He announces as I struggle to get free from him. I thrash and twist my body in any way that I can, but it's no use. Soon, another man's face hovers over top of me, his face full of curiosity and perverted thoughts. He licks his lips and smiles before he speaks to my captor.

"Oh she's a pretty one too. Whole team can have fun with her for weeks." He claps my captor on the back and my body is frozen to the ground, no longer able to put up a fight. Hot tears stream from my eyes and the man standing above me crouches down, his finger wiping the tears. Instinctually, my body flinches away from his touch.

"Awe don't cry now hun, we're gonna take care of you." He says sickly sweet before moving out of my field of vision. The gunshots on the other end of the store still ring out, and I hear what I think is a body hitting the floor. My chest heaves up and down in a panic as I feel someone's hands on my hips.

"She's armed to the teeth, look at all this." I feel my hunting knife being taken out of its holster and my gun is tossed from my thigh. My captor chuckles and looks down at me, his black eyes raking over my body while the other man disarms me. If he didn't have to keep my hands pinned to the ground, I fear to imagine what he'd be doing to me.

With no more weapons on me, the hands drift to the button of my jeans to undo it. I try to thrash and kick and fight back to get them off of me, but I think it only makes them more excited. My captor laughs as I sob, the man behind him trying to tug my jeans down.

Suddenly, the hands are gone from my hips and a shot rings in my ears. My captor whips around and I see a bullet go right between his eyes. The man's full body weight falls on top of me, making it even more difficult to breathe. Luckily, the weight is moved off of me and I go to hit whoever is coming for me next.

My swinging fists are caught and I'm looking into familiar brown eyes. It takes a moment to register that it's Joel looking back at me. His eyes are wide and there's blood splattered on his face.

"They're gone, they're gone. It's okay." His voice tries to soothe me but I can't stop the sobs that come through me. He lets go of my fists and I lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling as if my body had become permanently bonded to the linoleum underneath me.

After a few fleeting moments, my breathing has started to level out, though the tears continue to fall. I muster up all the strength I have and sit myself up, quickly redoing the button of my jeans with trembling fingers. My dirty hand wipes my nose and I gather my weapons, putting them all in the correct places.

Without another word I stand to my feet and stumble out of the store. I hear Joel behind me as I turn the corner of the store and get sick in the alleyway. My hands are on my knees to support me as my body ejects whatever was in my stomach. Ragged breaths shake me and I close my eyes, trying to calm myself.

When I find it within myself to open my eyes, I turn around and see Joel standing away from me, a concerned look on his face. I readjust the straps of my backpack and wipe my mouth on my shirt.

Though I would love nothing more than to get out of here, I still have to search these buildings and the corpses for anything useful.

I go building by building and search all that I can. Some buildings have canned goods, others are full of old shoes, old clothes, and other old items. It looks like they used these buildings for anything and everything, there's no organization to this chaos.

As I walk to the last building, I see Joel going through the corpses in the store we were just ambushed in. He's checking their pockets and taking their ammo. With quiet gratitude, I focus back on clearing this building so we can get out of here.

I open all the drawers and go through the shelves, only to find a deck of playing cards. There's nothing useful here. My hands grip the edge of the counter and I close my eyes in an attempt to keep my composure. If we went through all of that for nothing, there will be no words to describe my anger.

Joel comes back out to the street and I meet up with him, still sniffling. He offers me a small smile and tilts his head,

"Ready to get out of here?" He asks and I nod.

We continue on our route, leaving the cursed town behind us. The day is still young, so we have the rest of daylight to travel. Hopefully we get as far away from here as possible. My eyes stay trained on the road below me, and I count my steps to keep my mind occupied on anything except what just happened in that town. For once I'm thankful for Joel's silent nature.

Part Eleven

[warsamongstthestar-keen]

Chapter Forty-Two

What started out as a simple planetary inspection soon grew to be very dangerous when two Inquisitors appeared from the sky. Ezra and Kanan had taken on Fifth Brother, while Keen and Leia, with the borrowed lightsaber, took on the Seventh Sister.

"I'm thinking this planet's not gonna work out as a base after all," Ezra jokes, clearly trying to clear some of the tension from the air.

Keen ducks under the Inquisitor's lightsaber, and it swipes through the air, where moments earlier her neck had been.  "Well, seeing as the key part of secret base, is that it's location remains secret, no, no it will not work, like, at all."

Kanan barely holds back a laugh, as he calls out to his Padawan, "Where's Chopper?"

Instead of Ezra responding, as he was expecting, Leia, who is deeply concentrating on not dying, says, "I signalled him. He's either lost, or he's ignoring us."

Keen watches her Padawan fight, trusting her senses to guide her in her battle, making a mental note to give the Princess more lightsaber training, and maybe a blaster. Kanan, upon hearing what Leia said, grunts, "Oh, he's not lost."

"So, he's ignoring us then. Remind me why we brought him?"

"Someone has to fly the ship," Ezra reminds the Jedi Master.

"Ah, right." There's a break in the conversations, as the Inquisitors increase on their attack. Seeing a chance, Keen shouts out, "Cross!"

The Knight and his Padawan move, now fighting the Seventh Sister, while Keen and Leia attack Fifth Brother. He growls, as he launches himself at the clearly untrained Princess. Ari'abel quickly steps in front of her, blocking the strike. "And here I was thinking we were finally rid of you," he snarls.

"Oh, come on now. You didn't seriously think handing me over to the Empire would kill me did you? You must've realized by now, Fifth Brother, it takes a lot more power than what Vader possesses. And if Darth Vader can't off me, what chance do you have?" She feigns cockiness, knowing deep down that she was completely at Vader's mercy, and the only thing that kept her alive was the tiny shimmer of Anakin Skywalker, deep down inside the mind of the deranged Sith Lord.

Her mind completely on the battle in front of her, most of her energy being extended to protect Leia, she almost misses the conversation going on with Seventh Sister, who is trying to flirt with the Jedi Knight. Kanan, ever the wordsmith, looks her straight in the eyes, and says, "I don't go for crazy" he hesitates a few seconds, before adding, "anymore."

Master Quinara laughs at that, "You really had to add that last bit, eh, Kanan?" she inquires, flipping smoothly to Fifth Brother's other side.

"Just shut up would you. Trying to concentrate here."

"Oh?" she asks, parrying the forceful shove of a lightsaber to her face, "Am I distracting you from your new girlfriend? Do forgive me, I know that three's a crowd."

Ezra doesn't miss a beat, while Seventh Sister releases a probe droid onto Kanan's head, he calls out, "If three's a crowd, what does six make?"

"An orgy."

Fifth Brother snorts, and then glares at the Jedi Master. She cracks a smile at the glare, "So, he does have a sense of humour, who knew your mind was such a dirty place, pervert."

Ezra easily shoots the probe off Kanan's head, but gets thrown to the cliff edge in the process. He shouts for his Master, who quickly grabs his arms.

Seventh Sister starts to approach the duo in the perilous situation, seemingly forgetting the other Padawan. Keen gives a small hand signal, while lunging at the Inquisitor. Leia immediately runs at the Inquisitor, blocking Seventh Sister from attacking Kanan, giving him the chance to pull his Padawan back up to solid ground. Kanan scoops his hilt from where he had set it on the ground, turning to assist Leia in her fight. Ezra whips his saber out, dashing over to Ari'abel. He slashes at Fifth Brother's blade opposite the one he is attacking Keen with. The Inquisitor begins to spin it very quickly, the blade slashing Ezra's arm, very badly. He lets out a scream of pain, which causes Kanan to turn and look at them. Keen quickly disignites her sabers, shoving both Inquisitors back, away from the cliff face, and the Padawan. Leia looks at the cliff face, and calls to her Master, "I think I've got us a ride." She gestures to the cliff with her chin.

"Alright," She nods at her, "Kanan, grab Ezra, and get ready to jump."

"Jump? You're crazy!" Yet, as he shouts at both Jedi Master, and her Padawan, he wraps an arm around Ezra's shoulder, racing for the edge of the crevasse.

"Now!" Leia calls to the others, and jumps off the cliff, Keen is right beside her. Kanan, with Ezra in tow, leaps just behind them.

The group of four land directly on the back of a Tibidee, Ezra grunting in pain. Keen scoots over to Ezra, while Kanan turns incredulously to Leia, and asks, "This was you?"

"Yep. Pretty neat, huh?"

"You're getting there, kiddo," Keen replies, while gently raising Ezra's arm. The boy hisses in pain, glaring at the Jedi Master. "Calm down, Ezzie. It's not like you lost your whole arm. You'll be fine."

"It hurts. A lot!" the boy protests, trying to keep the hot tears threatening to leak from his eyes at bay.

"Well, no kriff kid. I'll heal you once we get to the Phantom."

Just then, the Phantom, with Chopper in the pilot's seat, flies directly in front of the Tibidee. He opens the ramp, and grumbles at the quartet. Kanan looks over at Keen, and Ezra, "After you."

The Jedi Master carefully lifts the boy, jumping from the Tibidee into the hold of the Phantom. She gently lays him on the bench, as Kanan and Leia enter the ship. Keen closes her eyes, focusing on the burns on Ezra's arm. She can sense the intense pain he's feeling, and feeds him a calming effect. She turns her focus from the boy's pain, to the wound covering his limb. Keen focuses solely on seeing the skin knit back together, and lose the angry blistering skin. She can sense him healing, the pain he's feeling greatly decreasing in the process. Once she's certain that his arm is fully healed, she pulls her hand back, dropping it to her side.

Sliding her mask off her face, she's met with a look of awe from both Padawan's. "What?"

"When you said you could heal," Ezra starts, looking at his arm, "I didn't think it would be this complete, or this quick."

"I forgot you've never seen anyone be healed by the Force," Keen states, dropping onto the bench beside Ezra. She gently rests her head into her palm, balancing her elbow onto her knee.

"It's really impressive, Master,"

Ari'abel doesn't respond, which prompts Kanan to turn and look at her. "Is she asleep?"

"Healing takes a lot of energy," Leia states matter-of-factly.

Ezra looks at Kanan, as a thought strikes his head, "Hey, Kanan, what's an orgy?"

He grumbles something under his breath, "Why don't you ask Keen when she wakes up?"

"Okay," he shrugs. "That was a close one, wasn't it?" Ezra adds, dropping his feet to the floor.

Kanan accepts the change of subject. "Yeah, another close one," he grumbles.

"What's wrong?" Leia asks, turning to look at the Knight.

He collapses into the pilot's seat, turning it around quickly. "Everywhere we go we run into those guys, and I don't like it. If this keeps up, we'll never be able to help the rebels establish a base."

"So what are we gonna do about it?"

"I don't know. But it's endangering the whole squadron. We're gonna need advice on this." With those words, Kanan turns the chair back around, opening up the comm.

[themostvindictivemind]

Time to brainrot about something I guess since I'm being kept up with a migraine.

Now you probably wouldn't think it from looking at me, but I am actually very, very much deeply obsessed with linguistics. To an unhealthy degree, some might say. And one of my favorite linguistic concepts is "This is a stupidly hilarious pun in Language A, but it makes no sense in Language B" The prime example of this is an old Sumerian/Babylonian joke that at this point has had several thousand video essays written about it. You know the one: "A dog walks into a tavern. 'I can't see anything!' he says. 'I'll open this one.'"

And who could forget the Greek Philosopher Chrysippus? In one of the accounts of his death, it is said that he got a bit too drunk at a party and, upon witnessing a donkey eating figs, he said "someone should get that donkey some pure wine to wash down the figs!". He then fucking died of laughter at his own joke. Beause apparently that was the funniest shit he'd ever seen.

Now neither of those make sense in any living language or modern culture, but the fact that it was written down at all means it made enough people laugh for it to be worth recording. And it's fun to look at living languages and see what makes the native speakers laugh but still utterly baffles everyone else. Even better, digital archeaologists in a thousand years are going to have a field day with this post if they ever stumble upon it, so here are a few of my favorite untranslatable puns: Hungarian: A man is pulled over by the police. The officer asks, "Are you drunk?". The man replies, "No, sir, Ivett is my wife"

Japanese: Why dont Hawaiians go to the dentist? Good teeth.

Finnish: "A bar and a screwdriver". That's the entire joke, by the way. Set up and punchline, apparently both right there, and in the original Finnish it's only two words. Apparently it's a reference to something? I'm just going to assume this is a thing you say and people laugh, much like "omae wa, mou shinderu"

Spanish: What fruit is the most patient? It's a pear. So fun fact, my Aunt is from Mexico, and I decided to tell her this joke in the original Spanish (which as a consequence of having a Mexican aunt, I speak pretty well). And I shit you not that as soon as the words "es pera" left my mouth, she let out the longest, heaviest, most world-weary sigh I have ever heard in my 20 years of life, before returning to the tamales she was making. I guess she now knows that my pun game has transcended to include her native language, and in that moment she was preparing herself for the ensuing decades of Spanish wordplay

Another from Japanese because they are gods of wordplay: "7-Up, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, they're all types of what?" "Soda?" "That's right!"

Chinese: "Who is Mi's mother?" "Hua, because peanuts". I took Chinese in high-school and I can verify that this is the shittiest pun I've ever seen, but the reddit user who posted it says "I am yet to find a single Chinese/Taiwanese person who does not find it hilarious"

Aussie English (which I'm including both for English rep and because Aussie slang is so markedly different that Brits and Americans are still unlikely to get it): "What's the difference between fat and cholesterol? You can't crack a cholesterol".

Danish: One sign says to another, "Are you married?" The other replies, "No, I'm divorced"

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE: French: "He wished to be Caesar, but he died as Pompey" -- George Clémenceau, commenting on the death of President Felix Faure (I refuse to explain this one or give any further context, go look it up)

Oh and side note. Obviously, no world leader can speak every language, so interpreters are a necessity for negotiation. And of course, world leaders and diplomats are going to try the lighten the mood occaisionally with humor. But for negotiations between most countries, that's hard to do, because there are very few puns with much cross-linguistic utility. Sure, you have that one joke about where cats go when they die that works in English and most Romance languages, but for some more serious negotiations, the number of puns that would make sense in both languages is pretty close to zero, and may very well BE zero. So the question arises, how do interpreters deal with that? Of course there are a lot of possible methods, not all of which are good or even remotely efficient. You could just translate the pun word for word, but as evidenced by the fact that that's literally what I did above, it's not gonna work that well. Explaining the joke also isn't gonna fly, because as we all know, the second you explain a joke is the seond it becomes Not Funny Anymore. The method I've found that I think works best is just to say "They have said a pun that doesn't translate well to English. Laugh now." Which is funny not just because it works, but because it works amazingly. That person on the other end of the table (who we are assuming doesn't speak a lick of English) has no clue what the interpreter is saying, and so must assume their joke was translated faithfully. Sure, their interpreter might know depending on how the whole thing is set up, but considering the vetting process you have to go through to be an interpreter for the POTUS , I highly doubt anyone is going to risk national security over a joke being left untranslated. Both leaders have a laugh, everything ends on good terms, and we avoid nuclear annihilation for another few weeks.