#i'm still so excited i got to be a part of this project :) easily the best zine experience ive ever had

[elizabysmal]

checkmate ♔ KING ME ♚

my Raphael piece for the fe3h chess zine, @divinepulsezine!! 

leftover sales are going on now, and all the proceeds will be donated to fund cancer research! 

[yanderambling]

omg i’m thrilled that y’all like him so much!!! and these ideas were soso tasty ugh your minds~ i had a lot of fun with this, maybe too much if you look at the wc lol, so i hope y’all enjoy <3 ALSO continuity note: since Adrian is so popular, i won't carry major events through different stories unless requested, that way everyone can have their own version of his story! but i'll be keeping general facts about Adrian the same unless otherwise specified, like his parents being rich because i find it funny~ thank you and goodnight <3 (and yes i switched this gif with the last part shhhh it’s okay)

pairing: Masochist Puppyboy!Yandere(m) x Bully!Reader(gn)

words: ~ 4.6k

you can read the previous part here!

CW: 18+, NSFW, yandere behavior, stalking, bullying, physical/verbal abuse, BDSM themes, poor BDSM etiquette but neither party minds

Adrian nearly choked when he heard his name read next to yours for the school project.

It took you a second to recognize his; you mostly just call him mutt. Once you realized, you loudly groaned at the prospect of spending the week with that pest.

Adrian couldn’t hear it over his racing heart.

As soon as class lets out, he's right at your side, yammering on about project materials and meeting arrangements and times and "we should really meet at one of our houses so we don't have to worry about distractions, I'm fine with coming to yours! It's closer to school anyway, right? It'll be more private- I just think it makes sense-"

You finally shut him up by making the executive decision that you’ll work at his house (you don’t need him shedding on your furniture, or potentially getting any personal ammunition against you; he is way too interested in being inside your home, and how does he know it’s closer to school?).

Adrian was crestfallen that he wouldn’t get to go in your house (and smell the pure you imbued in your furniture, and pretend he’s really your dog while you sit together- maybe in your bedroom!-, and snoop through your underwear drawer when you go to the bathroom, and snoop through your bathroom when he goes in right after you...), but he was still over the moon at the idea of having you in his space.

(He’ll just visit your window later tonight like usual, anyway- he'll still get high off that closeness alone. Win/win!)

Adrian doesn't think about anything else for the rest of the day, zoning through his classes and plastered to your side whenever he gets the chance, just alight with energy and anticipation and not shutting up about it- he's lucky there's too many witnesses for you to knock him quiet (oh, but he would feel so much luckier if you did).

You would totally bail on this project if you weren’t already failing this class, which is mostly on account of you bailing. You’re wondering if all those cut classes were worth having to work with this, but you’re not feeling hopeful.

The day seems to drag on forever for both of you, for vastly different reasons. By the time school lets out, Adrian is buzzing out of his skin and you're seconds away from ripping it off him.

As you two start the trek to his place, Adrian can't get over how surreal it feels to walk beside you. It's like you two are a couple, and you're walking him home for an after school study date!

He gets lost in the daydream easily, giving you a brief reprieve from his energy, and allowing you to absently notice his rapidly wagging tail almost propelling him down the sidewalk. You can't help but smirk a little at the image that conjures in your mind.

He's truly ridiculous, you can't really believe him sometimes. Doesn't that thing ever get tired? What does he think is gonna happen that's got him so damn excited? That he's gonna get in good with you somehow (hopefully) and you'll leave him alone? (never in his wildest dreams.)

Yeah, fat chance.

When Adrian stops at his house, you think he's joking. But then he walks right up the driveway of this random McMansion, motioning you along eagerly, and enters a security code before holding the door open for you with a clearly anticipatory smile.

...The fuck.

You did not count on Adrian’s family being loaded. He certainly doesn't dress or groom like it.

You consider berating him for not mentioning it, but decide against it for the risk of seeming stupid- to Adrian of all people. You do make a mental note for your future errand requests, though.

Adrian’s parents aren’t home, he tells you his mom is always traveling and his dad basically lives at his office. You’re relieved that you won’t have to put on a nice face for the folks, but there’s apparently still a live-in housekeeper that floats around (are you fucking kidding?) so you stay diligent.

Adrian suggests you two work in his room; you figure the further from watchful eyes, the better.

Despite it being his idea, Adrian can't help his giddy nervousness as you enter his room (he’d texted the housekeeper to make sure it was clean as soon as you decided to come over, lucky he keeps his souvenirs hidden away whenever he’s not admiring them).

The room is frankly ridiculous, easily twice the size of yours, a king bed in the corner, a desk and coffee table and two dressers, and yet adorned with piles of clothes and clutter and more genres of nerdy shit than you even knew existed.

"Yeah, okay, parts of this make sense."

Adrian cocks his head, opening his mouth to ask what you mean, when he suddenly chokes on air.

You've made a bee-line right to his desk, covered in books and papers for hobbies and school alike, but also holding a locked drawer at the very bottom in which he keeps his "school collection" (just discarded pencils with bitten erasers, torn up notebook paper he can still smell your hands on, old gym shorts you were probably gonna replace soon anyway, a bandaid here, a plastic fork there; nothing crazy).

He watches with bated breath as you sift through the contents of his desk, occasionally scoffing or chuckling at what you find. He lets out a sigh when you seem to grow bored, just for you to move on to his dresser and have his stomach doing somersaults all over again.

Maybe he should've asked the housekeeper to hide his stuff better and just braved the questions later...

You move throughout the room like you own it (you do, as far as the both of you are concerned), making little jabs at his various posters and figurines which make his whole body flush hot with pleasure because you're noticing things about him, but every other move you make sends his heart jumping into his throat in a completely different way.

It only takes a minute or two for the stress to get to him.

“Ah- hey! Uh, maybe we should- maybe we should start on the project, right?”

You bark a laugh and spin on your heel to face him, an incredulous half-grin pulling your lips and revealing a gut-twisting flash of teeth.

"We?"

Oh, yeah, he much prefers those intense eyes boring into him.

He starts spluttering placations immediately. "No! Well, uhm, I didn't mean- you, you don't- have to- obviously, I mean, I don't- I wouldn't-"

You roll your eyes and shove past him, effectively cutting him off as you flop down onto his abominably soft mattress. "Right, yeah, whatever. Let's get one thing straight here, okay?"

Adrian nods, his whole being drawn to focus at your entrancingly commanding tone. Although, it's incredibly hard to focus on anything with the sight of you on his bed right in front of him; he's already planning how to avoid that area so it'll retain your scent longer, he wonders if he could cut that part of the duvet out and keep it in an airtight container, maybe the sheets under it too just to be safe...

"This is not a "we" situation, got it? I'm not lifting a damn finger for this bullshit, that's what you're there for." Adrian has a purpose to you! "I am only here to make sure you're actually doing it, which shouldn't be a problem because if we get anything less than an A, it's gonna be your ass."

As tempting as it is to see what punishment you would inflict upon him, Adrian really really really wants to please you- and he's pretty good at this subject anyway!

You then cross your arms and lean back just enough to look down your nose at him. "Got it?"

Adrian can't answer fast enough.

"Yes! Yes, that's perfect! Awesome, good- great!"

But then he doesn’t make a move. Ha.

He looks a little lost, standing in the middle of his own room, barely biting down a grin and wringing his hands as he seems to wait for another command.

Apparently, you’ve trained him well.

You scoff and let yourself fall onto your back as you pull out your phone (Adrian's gonna need a bigger airtight container).

"Well, go on then, we don't have all day."

Adrian scrambles to get to work. He quickly positions himself on the floor by the foot of the bed and pulls the coffee table closer, emptying his school bag carelessly onto the carpet.

You huff a laugh at the sight, all this money and the kid's parents couldn't buy him any class. Maybe sloppiness is an inherent trait, like his apparent passion for service- nobody with this much money should be such a pushover. And yet...

Adrian couldn’t be happier, sitting on the floor while you lounge across his bed and periodically weigh in with (mostly incorrect) corrections or snide remarks, an almost alarmingly wide grin settled on his face as his tail taps a steady rhythm against his carpet.

It’s not an unpleasant picture, you muse absently as you look up from your phone, it’s almost comforting to have your little puppy on the floor, cheerily working away for you while you laze about. It certainly beats doing the work yourself, or having to threaten a student with an actual spine to do it for you.

Still, it doesn't take long for you to get bored. Bored enough to notice your empty stomach, at least.

"I'm hungry."

Adrian's head shoots up from the book he was hunched over, ears raised at attention and eyes glittering with something you're not sure you care to identify.

He's on his feet in the next second, knocking his knees on the way up loud enough to startle you yet showing no signs of even noticing.

"I-I'll ask Len to make something!"

He darts out of the room before you can tell him what you want, but you trust he knows your moods and tastes well enough by this point to predict. (Oh, he does, and Len's not going to be making anything- they don't know all the special ingredients!)

The second he leaves, you decide to really cure your boredom by snooping around in earnest. Certainly this creep has something actually weird hidden in here, you just have to look in the right places.

You waste no time in sifting through his bookshelf (nerd shit), closet (nerd clothes, some dirty), a dresser (nerd clothes, mostly clean), under his bed (dirty clothes, nerd shit in boxes)- the door opens behind you.

“Wha-? Oh! Ah- Wh-what- what are you doing?”

You don’t even bother moving from your crouch, most of your upper body shoved under the bedstand while the rest of you... is not.

Adrian’s mouth is completely dry for several reasons.

“What’re you, blind? I’m snooping.”

Adrian slowly comes further into the room, hesitantly setting the serving tray on the low table. He can’t stop his voice from cracking as he stutters out,

“Uh- yeah, okay, yeah, but- um, would you maybe mind- um, not?”

You snicker, at least he has some manners. “Yeah, I do mind, actually. What’s the matter, mutt? Got something to hide?”

“N-no!”

The answer is so immediate, so fervent, that it has you pulling up just to give him an unimpressed look. He stares back at you, eyes wide and frenzied.

“Jesus you’re a bad liar.”

Looking at him now, you can see sweat glistening on his face and his hands clenching by his side. His eyes dart toward the dresser you haven't checked yet.

Bingo.

You jump up from your position and stride across the room with purpose. You only make it a few steps before Adrian seems to materialize in front of you, making you stop short and almost yelp from shock.

“S-sorry! I’m sorry, I just-" he's waving his hands wildly, head ducked as his gaze rapidly flicks between your face and the floor, "You-you can’t- please, please don’t-”

“Okay, creep, I get the gist.”

You shove past him, and he wishes he could relish the firm pressure of your hands on him.

He whirls around and watches in horror as you approach the dresser. He needs to do something, he needs to stop you, but what can he do? You’ve clearly made up your mind, it’s not like it's his place to try and change it...

All he can do is watch, a high ringing in his ears and his body filling with static, while you meticulously sift through every drawer until his clothes are strewn about the floor and you're panting with frustration.

He's about to let himself take a breath when you suddenly squat down and stick your arm into the shallow space underneath. He nearly swallows his tongue when you let out a disbelieving huff and awkwardly slide out a long lockbox.

You look up at him triumphantly, eyes sparkling with glee, and he almost mirrors your smile just for how captivating it is.

"Open it."

"N-no-"

You lean up toward him and cock your head, he has to stop himself from being drawn in by the magnetism of your narrowed eyes. “The fuck did you just say to me?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't- just, I can't-"

"Oh, I think you can. Or you're not gonna like what happens next."

That's where you're wrong, and it only really strengthens Adrian's extremely shaky resolve. He tries to keep the grin off his face as he habitually starts to picture the punishment you might give him; a cuff on the ears, a knee to the stomach, a punch in the face-

But you just roll your eyes and groan, no longer in the mood now that something more interesting has presented itself.

Instead, your gaze floats down to the flimsy looking combination lock on the box, then it fixes on some heavy-standed figurine you'd knocked off his bookshelf earlier.

Yeah, good enough.

Adrian barely has time to flinch before you're snatching it up and breaking the lock with a sound crack.

Then you're lifting the lid.

"No!"

He starts to lunge forward, but your sharply raised hand halts him dead in his tracks.

Fuck.

It's too late anyway, judging by your wide eyes and slightly slack jaw (god how he wishes he could focus on the glorious curve of your open lips, or the way your perfect teeth peek over them, or how it might feel to have those teeth sunk into his skin-)

"What. The. Fuck."

"I-I can explain- It's not-!"

"I literally do not believe that you can."

Adrian's throat goes dry, he feels tears welling in his eyes. "I'm sorry- I'm sorry! I never meant- it's not like-"

You tune Adrian out as you focus on the stacks and stacks of photos arranged in the box before you. There even seem to be books underneath those, thick ones despite the shallowness of the container. You’d say there’s easily hundreds of pictures in here.

But, more concerning than the amount of photos… is their content.

They’re all you.

Undeniable, from every angle and range and setting you could imagine, it’s all you. There’s you at your spot with your friends, sitting in class, in the cafeteria, running errands in town, sneaking off to that private spot nobody else is supposed to know about, asleep in your bed- in dozens and dozens of iterations, like you could probably make a flip book of every scene.

It’s offensively redundant, honestly, a gross waste of paper. Maybe equally as concerning.

(Adrian needs to keep physical copies, and hard drives, and backup hard drives, and another box further under the dresser... What if something happens to his phone? What if he lost all his treasured photos forever? He doesn’t know what he’d do.)

"You're a bigger creep than I gave you credit for." You murmur, mostly to yourself.

Adrian never thought he'd feel anything but sheer joy from hearing that word leave your mouth. "N-no! It's not- it's not like that! I'm not- I don't-"

While Adrian's still blustering and working himself into a tizzy, you're just... processing.

It's oddly unsurprising, once you consider all the other factors together. Looking at it now, of course Adrian had more perverted reasons for complying to your cruelty, what else could he have been getting out of it? You guess you kinda always knew, on some level, but you never thought it would be like this.

But, since it is, you can't help but wonder just how far this perversion has gone, how far it will go...

This night has been boring enough that you're entitled to a little fun, right?

And besides, looking at him now- all wide eyed and droopy eared, his tail pulled between his legs and clutched in his trembling hands- Adrian actually looks a little bit... cute? In a pathetic, dirty stray caught in the rain type of way, of course.

The only real difference is that you'd be much kinder to the stray.

"Alright, shut it, stalker."

Adrian's mouth snaps closed, his tail trying to tuck further at your dangerously low voice.

"Obviously, this severe-" you flap a stack of photos at him, causing him to duck his head and whimper, "-invasion of my privacy can't go unpunished."

Adrian's eyes become impossibly bigger as they flash up to watch you stand. His ears suddenly perk, his tail tugs against his grip as it tries to hesitantly wag.

Jesus, he's shameless.

This is gonna be fun.

But first, a plan. You don't want Adrian getting too bold, so what better way to keep him in his place than by tying him there? Looking around his room, you don't have much to work with, but you're resourceful; a lace from his sneakers should do just fine (who keeps shoes in their room? what a creep).

"Alright. Sit."

Adrian is falling to his knees before his brain can process the words. When it does, he isn't quick enough to bite down on the high keen that builds in his throat.

You scoff, mentally scorning yourself for ignoring his shit for so long, then go to pull a lace. Adrian watches in rapt attention as you test its strength, your hands flexing so tantalizingly as you pull the string harshly several times over.

He holds his breath on instinct when your scrutinizing glare scans the room again.

"Okay, bed. Back to the headboard. Now."

Adrian scrambles up immediately, pulling some of the sheets off in his hurry, eager to obey before you change your mind.

You follow right after, kneeling up and leaning over him to tie his hands to the headboard above him. His dry throat click as he gulps.

You're so close, your heavenly scent filling his lungs like a sweet paralyzing vapor, he can feel the heat radiating from your skin despite the clothes between you, he could probably taste you if he just stuck out his tongue...

He whines as you yank the shoelace tight with a grunt before tying it off. You tug on his hands once more, forcing the string deeper into his skin, and your hum of satisfaction is drowned out by Adrian's low groan.

What a wonderful feeling, the sharp sting of the lace grounding him down like he needs to be; he can't help twisting and pulling until the burn intensifies, imagining it's your firm hands holding him so tightly...

"Jesus, freak, you're already getting into it?"

Adrian just whimpers, barely registering the question past your condescending tone as he continues to squirm.

You suddenly grab the front of his shirt and pull him forward until he's partially hovering off the mattress, the combined pressure of your knuckles under his chin and the shoestring grating his tender wrists pulls a breathy moan along with.

You lean in close, practically growling as you say, "Don't do my job for me, mutt."

You press a relatively fresh bruise on his arm just to see him twitch and bite his lip (it’s actually from a week ago, that’s how good he is at maintaining your marks for you!). It is pretty gratifying.

Almost as gratifying as the bulge you spot between his wantonly spread legs.

A breathless laugh punches out of you. It's oddly jarring to see, and you would later deny that it's slightly impressive, but it's not an entirely unpleasant sight.

"God, you're fucking pathetic. But you know that, don't you, you little creep?"

If your words weren't enough to have Adrian shaking out of his skin, you lean closer and nip his ear; he jerks back instinctively at the pain, which only makes its sting so much sweeter when you sink your teeth in and pull back.

He doesn’t bother trying to keep himself quiet.

“This isn’t even a punishment for you, is it? Is it, you fucking perv?”

Adrian is so far beyond saving face, he’s mostly beyond communication of any kind, so he just shakes his head fervently and grunts and hopes it’s good enough.

“Use your words, mutt.”

He gasps as you yank his throbbing ear, pulling his face closer to yours- oh dear god he can feel your hot breath against his cheeks, every detail of your perfect face so confident and dangerous and ethereal, your sparkling eyes look positively deadly and Adrian is ready to submit himself to their perils-

“Answer me," your sharp words make his lashes flutter, but he keeps his eyes wide open to stare at your taunting smile hanging just inches from his face, "are you getting off on this?”

He nods, he’s starting to get dizzy with all this nodding but he doesn't feel capable of much else, then you tug his hair back with the most glorious burn-

“Ah-Yes! Yes, I love- I love it, please- give me- more- please, I need- I need-“

He cuts off with a choked sound as your fingers slide up his throat and tighten, all too happy to oblige.

"That what you want? You happy now?" You taunt, your breath against the shell of his ear raising goosebumps all over his body.

He tries to nod against your grip, causing you to smirk and push further.

Oh god yes please-

Garbled moans fight their way from his throat as his eyes roll back in ecstasy, his straddled legs pressing tightly together as he thrashes desperately against the headboard, his whole body trembling and pushing up and up in search of contact- but you keep pulling away, putting more pressure on his neck to support yourself, bringing out the most pitiful little whimpers.

"Use your words, puppy."

Puppy.

Adrian chokes for reasons entirely unrelated to your hand on his neck. His tail, which had been beating a rapid tempo since you sat him down, starts flailing into overdrive.

It takes considerably more effort, but Adrian needs to please you- maybe you’ll even reward him!- so he coughs and gasps until he can force out,

"Y-Yes,” a strained cough, “Tha-agh-thank- you-"

A smile curls your lips unbidden. Such initiative! You let your fingers stroke over his throat as your hand presses in harder.

"There, that's a good boy."

Adrian's vision whites out.

He’s not even aware of the stream of whines and moans that force their way from beneath your fingers, he doesn't notice how his body squirms against the pressure of you on top of him, he couldn't tell the frantic thumping of his tail from that of his heart- all he can focus on is the red hot ecstasy filling every inch of him to bursting, the transcendent bliss of being so thoroughly claimed, so completely controlled, so wholly owned by you.

He's still hiccupping moans and thumping his tail when you withdraw your hand for fear of suffocating him, these needy little noises escaping his already bruising throat.

His head lolls back and his mouth falls open as you remain suspended above him, taking in your handiwork.

He’s so vulnerable, his entire body open and happily exposed to you, every muscle trembling in the aftershocks. His chest heaves as sweat and tears drip down onto his shirt, but he seems to pay no mind as his vacant eyes flutter up at you. He struggles to keep them open as a dopey grin spreads across his bitten lips, and you have to bite your own to stop from returning it.

Then, your eyes travel down to the steadily shrinking tent of his pants, now adorned with a dark wet stain- just like you expected.

Hot.

"Pathetic."

You sit back on you heels, seemingly alerting Adrian to your absence as his hand flies up to grab his throat with a high whine- but you cut that shit off right away.

"Yeah, no, I'm not trying to catch a murder charge tonight, thanks. Besides," your eyes pointedly flick down between his spread legs, causing his face to heat up though he makes no move to close them, "it looks like you got more than your share- frankly, you should be grateful for anything I'm willing to give you."

Adrian's voice is hoarse when he tries to insist, "I am! I-" he cuts off with a heavy cough, which only has you wincing with guilt a little. "I'm- I'm grateful. I am!"

You don't doubt it, especially looking into those watery, red-rimmed puppydog eyes of his. However, you do like to be cruel, and you did just get a bunch of texts from some of your friends about this 'super crazy thing you don't wanna miss and you gotta get down here right now!', (and you're maybe feeling a little uncharacteristically giddy as you fully process your situation) so...

"Doesn't matter, I can't reward this insolence."

You untie the shoelace with a deft tug and slide off the bed without another word.

Adrian just barely stops himself from whining again, the sudden loss of the pressure around his wrists leaving him feeling untethered. He has to dig his nails into his hands as he watches you collect your things (the covered platter lay forgotten on the table, insult to injury), just to keep from reaching out for you.

He wants desperately to follow you, but he can't make his body move for how relaxed and heavy it feels, and he knows it would probably just upset you more anyway- and not in the good way.

“Oh, and Adrian?” You slap the doorframe as you hang off of it, and your use of his name has Adrian's groggy head springing up to face you instantly, ears high and eyes hopeful.

“Next time you want a picture of me, just ask. That way I can knock some sense into you right away.” You tap the frame again, a crooked grin fixing your lips before you push off.

“See ya tomorrow!”

Still too fuzzy to move, and in fresh shock from that almost-genuine smile, he can only listen forlornly as your steps grow fainter and fainter until the door shuts downstairs. Then, he's helpless to do anything beyond replay the events of the past ten minutes in obsessive detail in attempts to permanently document every single sensation you gave to him.

He only manages to move about a half hour later, when his phone buzzes with a text.

He slowly leans over the bed and lifts his phone from the floor, blinking blearily as he reads... your name. Attached to a ludicrously extravagant lunch order for tomorrow.

The phone drops from his fingers like lead.

How?

His heart starts racing as he wracks his brain to recall when you put his number in your phone- then, his tail starts up again as he wonders if he'll be punished for already having yours in his (not for anything weird! he just likes to type out walls of text complimenting every part of you and telling you exactly the ways he wants you to destroy him and then deleting them- but maybe he'll send the next one).

It must mean something good if you want to keep in close contact with him, right? That must mean you aren't really mad at him, right? That must mean you like him, right? You still think he’s a good boy, right?

Another text lights up his phone. He scrambles to grab it back, hands shaking as he holds the screen close to his face.

[ur gnna b my bitch 4evr now]

A shaky giggle escapes him.

Those are easily the most beautiful words he’s ever read.

thanks so much for reading! feel free to send a request <3

check my pinned post~

[blindmagdalena]

just because antony starr posts so much about his dogs ... how would homelander feel if vought gave him a dog to raise? you know, to bump up his numbers or something so he couldn't get out of it haha

i'm firmly of the opinion that Homelander doesn't like animals, and animals generally don't like him. he's the kind of guy who poses with horses and gets bit. cats hiss at him. dogs tuck their tails and give him whale-eye.

the thing is he was never raised with animals. he doesn't speak their language any better than he speaks our social language. they stink, they shed, they're lesser. pets are just another thing in this world that he was denied, and instead of letting that be one of many heartaches, he chooses disdain. he can't be hurt by it if he never lets himself want it in the first place.

it's precisely because of this that i really enjoy the idea of a dog being foisted onto him. especially one that inexplicably does like him. an excitable young golden retriever that was born and raised under fluorescent lights, destined for doom in a lab, but some genetic or behavioral incompatibility with the project caused it to be rejected.

he'd be extremely put out. there's something infuriating about the way it wags its tail whenever he so much as looks at it. he wants nothing to do with it, and yet it still follows him absolutely everywhere he goes. it barks and whines when he shuts it out of rooms he's in. it drives him crazy that the thing just won't take the hint.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" he says, practically seething. not even he's completely sure why.

he fucking hates the way it begs. those big dumb eyes not understanding his rejection. how it reflexively performs little tricks over and over and over for any scrap of approval, no matter how many times he tells it to go away. hell, it even starts to get excited about that because at least he's paying attention to it, and god, that's all it wants.

"Would you shut up!"

it's just too much. the whining, the hair, the constant demand. it overstimulates him.

deep down, what he hates is how much of himself he sees when he looks at it. the desperate pleading part of him that barks and sits and fetches when told to. the part of him that always obeys. that always wants to obey.

"What is it gonna take for you to get it? I don't want you!"

Nobody wants you. You're not like them.

he never hurts it. never lashes out physically. he's been told what to do with it and for better or worse, he's going to do it. albeit the most bare minimum.

but then he comes home one day and there's no scratch of paws skittering over wood floors. there's no wagging tail, no excited yelps. his gut churns and for a second he thinks the thing must be dead. instead he finds the pup curled up in its bed by the window, staring vacantly out at the skyline.

maybe there's something worse than seeing what you hate about yourself in something else. maybe it's becoming just like the people who made you the way you are.

after weeks of rejecting the thing, he has the audacity to be hurt that it's given up on him.

who gave it that right? why is this stupid little animal allowed to give up when after years and years and years, Homelander is still Vought's show pony?

"Hey!" he snaps, all anger and hurt and rejection.

the dogs ears pin. it looks at him. and there's just... nothing there. no hope, no expectation. who knew a dog could look depressed? he finally got his point across.

and he hates everything about it.

so he kneels down next to the dog bed, jaw tight. he stares for a long while before he just... gives the dog a pat. he's bad at it, his touch stilted and awkward through the glove, but he sits and he pets the damn dog.

eventually, that little tail thumps lightly against the bed, and he feels something tight in his chest loosen slightly.

"Good boy," he says quietly, a little surprised by how easily the words come to him.

he's always thought of praise and affection as something difficult. something hard won. his life doesn't make sense if it isn't.

the dejection doesn't go away instantly. it's a slow thing, like a wilted flower coming back after too many days without water.

but one day he comes home to the skitter of paws and a flurry of fur, and for the first time, it makes him smile.

[potchi-fics]

Sundo | part two of 8 ball

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

sundô. imagine being so tired from studying, from using your brain so much that you just feel like collapsing. but you remember that at the end of the day, someone's waiting-- waiting for you. a simple gesture yet it makes you feel so many things all at once: happiness, excitement, comfort... and wonder.

NOTE: sundo means to fetch someone from somewhere.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

Y/n leans back on the chair she has been sitting on for hours now. she checks her phone and she sees that it's 5:59 pm. she got too busy with academic work, she always wants to finish her projects as soon as possible because she doesn't like procrastinating.

she sighs through her nose, holding the bridge of her nose, she's so tired. even her ears hurt from the hours of wearing her headphones.

and of course, her friends are studying alongside with her... but they all fell asleep. thankfully, though, they got their work done.

"wake up," she gently shakes Aiki, who whined and shooed her away. she moved on to Monika who woke up with just a nudge. "Noze, it's almost time to go home."

"god," Noze cracks her back, "my whole body hurts. good thing we don't have any classes for two days."

"you're goddamn right about that. somebody wake Aiki up." Monika groans out in defeat.

Y/n tries again, "Aiks, c'mon, it's time to go home."

the three struggled to contain their laughter once they see Aiki's state: drool all over her cheek and table, and the thousand-yard stare.

"aw gross, wipe your face, Aiks." Noze hands her wet wipes.

Y/n struggled even more when Monika showed her the picture she took of Aiki when she woke her up. she looks like a toddler who just woke up.

"is it time to go home? what time is it?" Aiki groggily asks.

she was about to tell her when something caught her eye; a text message from Bada. it read:

"what time's ur dismissal?"

it was sent four minutes ago. she texts back:

"6:30, whyy?"

she didn't get to put down her phone because it buzzed. it's a reply from her:

"i'll come and fetch u. where r u?"

Y/n's weirdly excited about this? and also a tiny bit nervous? nevertheless, she replied:

"library with my friendsss."

and she waits. she can't even stay still, and the other notice it.

"jesus, can you stop with the pen clicking?" Monika complains.

Y/n mutters out a soft sorry.

Noze looks at her with a funny expression, "who were you texting?"

a beat passes before she says Bada's name.

the trio have their what-the-hell faces on. before she could defend herself, they already started teasing her relentlessly; saying things like she's excited to see Bada, or that they were gonna go on a date.

"guys," she starts, "it's not a date and why would i be nervous? it's Bada." she rolls her eyes. "i could squeeze that punk easily."

but she is nervous. she doesn't know why. is it because of what happened at that billiards place? why did she even do that in the first place.

time seems to really pass by because six-thirty comes and they start tidying their place. making silent conversation. they come out of the library and see someone squatted down.

it's her.

Y/n thinks-- god, she's so handsome and pretty, she's not even doing anything. she malfunctions because she did not just think that? that is so not Y/n coded of her, she adds.

her friend's loud voice caught their attention, "hey, Bada!"

"yo," Bada stands up, looking at Y/n. "are you guys done? can i steal her away from you now?"

Y/n could only roll her eyes, "what do you mean by steal me away? as if i would let myself be taken."

"so grumpy," Bada tease, "careful now, you look like that one angry bird."

"well, in that case, i'm a pretty angry bird." she retaliates.

her enemy pats her head, "sure, sure.. let's go. bye guys!"

the trio shakes their head, even walking, the two seems to fight. they witness how Bada tries to carry Y/n's things but she wouldn't let her. however, eventually, Y/n gives in and gives Bada her things.

bada opens her car door for Y/n, receiving a soft thank you from the girl. she puts the things in the backseat and finally enters the drivers seat.

"you hungry?" she asks.

Y/n nods, too tired to talk. she closes her eyes and feel the car start up, she assumes that Bada knows a place.

during the car ride, comfortable silence envelops the pair. it continues that way not until she feels a hand on her thigh. Y/n opens her eyes and her gaze fell on the hand that is on her thigh.

Bada couldn't resist-- she caresses her thigh, rubbing circles on it, even slightly moving it up. she notices that the girl's breath is uneven. she thinks about removing it when a hand stops her.

the tension, even before what happened at the pool table, got so much thicker. it's so thick that they feel like suffocating.

sadly, they arrive at the place they're gonna eat at.

"c'mon, we're here." Bada parks the car.

they both thought the same thing: pussy blocker.

they go in the restaurant and order, wherein Bada insists that she treats her. of course, Y/n tries to pay for her own food but Bada is stubborn gal.

they take a sit once they get their order and start eating. surprisingly, their conversation is easy-going.

"so, what made you fetch me today? missed me that much?" Y/n asks with her mouth full of food.

Bada chuckles at the cute sight, "you're delusional. i just wanted to annoy you."

"oh, trust me," she answers in a grumble, "you're annoying me so much."

"is that why we're enemies?" Bada cackles out. "'cus i'm annoying? you didn't find me annoying back in middle school, though."

yes. they're childhood friends- err, childhood enemies. they're one of those typical rivals where they grew up together. they just haven't told anyone, but not because they don't want to, but because it wasn't just brought up until now.

she pouts out, "i wouldn't say enemies.. but yeah."

a loud laughs emits from the person in front of her again, can't believe the reason.

"stop laughing," Y/n gigges, "it's not funny. i'm just glad i don't have any classes, i'm so tired. and hungry."

Bada watches her with a smile, even though the girl in front of her is stuffing her face with food-- Bada still thinks that she's beautiful.

"stop ogling at me, i know i'm pretty and all," she flutters her eyelashes at her, "are you falling in love with me?"

"you sound so stupid." this time, it was Bada's turn to roll her eyes. "say, you wanna come over to my house after this?"

Y/n makes a playful shock face, "oh my? and you say you're not falling in love with me? but yes."

Bada feels like she's on cloud nine. what is wrong with her?

they finish their meal and she checks the time. it's seven-forty. they exit the place and Y/n complains about being so bloated now. to which Bada teased her by saying that she's always bloated.

banter ensues, even all the way to Bada's house, they're still bickering like children.

time check: eight-twenty-three.

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

should i make the next part smut? or continue with fluff

૮₍ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ₎ა

[number1mingyustan]

Expiration Date (2/2) ☾✹

GIF by shatsusik

artist!joshua x model!fem!reader

Genre: smut, hurt, angst

Warnings: cursing, brief smut, explicit smut, mentions of pregnancy/miscarriage, arguments, a lot of angsty sad stuff

Summary: there’s only one way to go from here

Word Count: 4.1k

_______________________________________________

part 1

Out of the 206 bones in your body, you don't have a doubtful one that believes Joshua Hong is not your soulmate. Everything in you believes you were meant to be together.

You'd bet money that it was written somewhere in the stars.

He loved you and you loved him.

When you first met, everything fell into place with him so easily. He was kind and caring and things were simple with him. He would never shy away from compliments, often painting you because he thought you were so beautiful.

His muse.

It wasn't until he started painting you that his career really began to take off. His previous work was less abstract and interpretive, often capturing different colors and shapes. He never painted people, but of course that all changed when you came around.

His work was known before you, but his popularity skyrocketed, gaining worldwide attention and giving him much more credit within the art world.

You became a large part of his art. He's often mix different shapes and colors with your features. Your eyes, your breasts, your legs, everything he found beautiful about you really.

It gained a lot of attention and people grew curious to know who the mystery woman that appeared in all his new art was. Much like Joshua himself, they too thought she was beautiful.

But that was then. When your relationships still made you feel like you were floating and the honeymoon phase felt like it would never end.

You and Joshua Hong were meant to be part of each other's lives, you don't question that. However, you do question how long you were meant to be together.

---------------Two Years Ago ---------------

"I'm just so glad you guys were able to come down here and visit," Mrs.Hong says for the fourth time since the two of you arrived in LA.

You smile at her excitement.

"I hardly hear from my son since he moved all the way up to New York," she continues, shooting her son a glare.

Joshua rolls his eyes playfully. "I call you every week. Don't be so dramatic."

"It's not the same," she frowns. "I like having you here with me."

"Yeah well I've been busy with my art and everything," he sighs, pulling you closer to his side. His hand is on yours, thumb drawing small circles on your knuckles.

You lean into his touch, breathing in his natural scent. He's so warm and comforting. "Yes... extremely busy," you pout. "He does so much nowadays I can't even keep up with it all. All kinds of projects and interviews, don't know how he does it."

He smiles at you. "I've got the best support backing me up," he pats your head lightly. "With you by my side, I can handle anything."

He opens his mouth to speak again, but he's interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

"Oh- one second. Angel is calling," He excuses himself from the table and exits to take his phone call.

Angelina Yoon, his manager. You absolutely despised her. She was a great manager, you give her credit for that. She's incredibly smart and good at her job, but on a personal level? Couldn't stand her.

You didn't like the way she talked to you or the way she talked to Joshua. She flirted often and acted rudely toward you. Of course any time you brought it up to Joshua, he brushed it off. He'd tell you 'you're being dramatic' or 'she's just doing her job.'

Fucking Angel.

Not a very fitting name for her.

"Soooo where's the ring?" His mother asks, grabbing your hand and inspecting your fingers.

"Ring?" you ask.

"He hasn't asked yet?" she raises an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Aishh this boy," she sighs. "Four years and he still hasn't popped the question."

You retreat, pulling your hand back slowly and pushing your hair behind your ear. "Oh yeah... I mean it's fine. He works so much you know? I think he's just waiting for a better time.... did he mention anything to you about it? L-Like is he planning something?"

"No, I'm afraid not. If he is planning for it, he hasn't told me about it yet at least. I just assumed after all this time he would have done it already. I'll have to talk some sense into that boy," she scoffs.

Your heart breaks a little, but you don't let it show. It's already been a few months since it was first brought up. It was in a similar manner, his mother had brought it up in conversation months prior and put ideas into your head. But that time, Joshua was sitting at the table and he didn't seem too keen on the way his mother had suggested it.

You asked him about it that night and he explained to you how it wasn't the right time with his career taking off. It hurt, but you were understanding. It was something you strayed away from even bringing up.

It stung though.

When Joshua's art first started to gain popularity, Angel suggested keeping your relationship and identity a secret. No one knew who you were, they just thought you were pretty and that Joshua captured your beauty perfectly.

It would create more buzz for him to be capturing some sort of mystery woman. Angel talked about how much it would help his career to keep you in the shadows and him in the light. So you did it.

For nearly the first three years of your relationship, you were a secret. A mystery, a pretty face on a canvas with no name, a nobody. It wasn't easy, having to sneak around and keep your entire life private.

Part of you thinks you lost yourself in those first three years, but that's an entirely different issue.

Thankfully, after you did finally go public with things, the modeling agencies came flooding in and you were in high demand.

"Don't worry about it... I don't want to put any more pressure on him," you give her a half-smile.

She feels for you. "You're too nice sweetheart."

Before anything else can be said, Joshua walks back into the kitchen with an excited smile. You and his mother both look at him as he sits back down.

"So.. Angel just told me there's a huge art exhibit coming up in Sydney, Australia and their main exhibit just fell through so they want me to replace them," he beams.

"That's so great Joshie!" you smile and hug him. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks honey, they want me to do all new pieces though, and they need me in Australia in two days. The exhibit is in three weeks," he explains.

"But we're supposed to stay down here for another week... and then we have our trip planned for Aruba. Josh... the whole point of this trip was so that we could spend our time together and with family. I cleared my schedule for this Joshua." you sigh. "Besides how are you gonna put together a whole exhibit's worth of pieces in two weeks."

"I know baby... but this is important work stuff. You understand, right? We can always plan another trip, but this is a big opportunity for me. My work would be extending all the way into Australia," he places his hand on your shoulder. "Besides I'll probably just use those sketches I've been working on"

"I mean yeah... it's really great Josh, for you. What about me? I cleared my entire schedule for this," you frown.

"I know baby, I'm sorry. I'm sure we can just book two tickets and you can come with me if you want," he suggests.

"I think I'd rather we just go home. You'll be working a whole bunch in Australia anyway," you bite the inside of your cheek.

"There's no time to go back to New York honey. They want me out there in two days. If you want me to book you a flight home, I can do that if you really wanna go back, but I can't go with you. I'm gonna have to leave straight from here. I was hoping you'd come with me."

You frown. "I don't really want to fly alone."

"I mean, you can stay here with mom, until I get back of course. I won't object to it, but I've got to book my flight in the next few hours. So just let me know ASAP," he leaves a quick kiss on your head and stands back up.

"Sorry ma, I'll come visit soon," he hugs his mother and kisses her cheek. "I promise... love you"

His footsteps grown faint as he makes his way upstairs for the night. Your heart breaks a little more. His mother glances at you, she really feels for you.

"I'm getting tired... think I'll go join him," you tell her with a sad smile. "Thank you so much for dinner, I appreciate it."

You give her a light hug before disappearing into the bedroom with Joshua.

_____

He got you pregnant that night. He was much more excited than you were, he couldn't keep his hands off of you. Pulled you onto his lap not long after you walked into the room.

He was quick to strip you and pin you down onto the bed. You were still upset, but the pleasure was a temporary fix for the pain.

Sweaty and passionate lovemaking between the thin sheets of the old bed. His hands were all over you that night. You let the pleasure consume you, allowed it to pull you away from reality.

He told you how much he loved you as he drilled his cock inside of you, even had to cover your mouth with his hand to keep you from being too loud. He whispered dirty words and sweet nothings into your ear and left purple hickies along your skin. He pounded into you over and over again that night, switching positions halfway through.

The bed was old, creaked and shifted every time he thrusted his hips into you. You came twice, once on his fingers and once on his cock.

And when he came, he came inside of you. It wasn't unusual for him to do so, but for some reason your birth control wasn't very effective that time.

You wouldn't know it that night, but you realize that was the best and worse night of your life.

Because as quickly as it came, it went.

You stayed with his mom in LA for the next month while he was in Australia. He didn't call you every day the way he said he would, but that wasn't the least bit shocking. He ended up having to stay another week after the showcase to meet with different people about his work.

While he was sitting in meetings and being interviewed, you were pacing around the bathroom anxiously awaiting the results of the pregnancy test sitting on the edge of the sink.

You didn't tell him until you went back home to New York. You ended up flying alone anyway, Joshua thought it was pointless to fly to LA and then New York when both of you could just go to New York and see each other at home.

He was beyond excited when you did tell him and foolishly got your hopes up about what the baby would mean for the two of you. You'd convinced yourself that having the baby would make Joshua more involved. You thought his excitement would translate into him being more present.

But then you lost the baby two months later and it caused you two to drift more. The doctors told you it was a miracle you were even able to conceive in the first place. They said you were basically infertile and if you were ever able to somehow conceive again, the fetus wouldn't even make it through the first trimester. You fell into a depressive episode, making reckless decisions driven by hurt and pain.

You had to quit modeling and be admitted. The next 9 weeks you got treated and you got better. Although things got better, you'd never say they reached the level of good.

Better is simply and improvement, not necessarily success.

Joshua never saw it that way. He didn't see the way you were still hurting and suffering. He thought you getting treatment and getting better meant that everything was okay. He thought that because you saw a therapist twice a week, that you would just be okay. Because you took two small pills every morning, he thought you were no longer suffering.

It's your own fault partially, you played the role. You hid your hurt well, contributed to his thoughts about you being fine. At first, it seemed like he cared a lot more. But with him constantly asking "Are you Okay?" it was easier for you to just say yes. It was easier for him to believe it too. He threw himself back into his art and didn't put in the extra effort to ensure the well-being of your mental health after that.

It took two years and a very heated argument for him to really see it.

---------------Modern Day ---------------

The bed is empty when you wake up in the morning. It's not a foreign feeling, unfortunately. But with everything that occurred last night, it feels worse than usual.

You're not sure where your relationship stands right now. There's a tightness constricting in your chest and you're dreading the idea of getting out of bed.

After nearly ten minutes of you rolling around in the bed and avoiding it, you finally got yourself out of the bed. You wince when your foot first meet the bedroom floor. A reminder of everything that occurred last night.

After you go into the bathroom to brush your teeth and wash your face, you walk cautiously and quietly through the penthouse. The temperature dropped again and the marble floors are cold on your bare feet.

When you reach the living room, you don't see Joshua anywhere. His blanket and pillow are still on the couch, but you don't see him anywhere.

You let out a breath of relief. You're really not ready to speak with him yet.

You walk into the kitchen, seeing that the glass is still shattered on the ground. You reach down, picking up some of the larger shards.

"Don't worry about it, I'll clean it up," Joshua says from behind you.

You jump at the sound of his voice. You weren't expecting him to come up behind you and startle you. However, you remain silent.

"You need to take your meds, it's past 11. You were asleep for a while," he says and begins picking up the other large shards of glass.

You stand to your feet and nod. You don't look at him, you can't. You simply walk around the island and open on of the cabinets to grab your medicine.

"You have been taking your meds everyday, right?" he asks.

It feels even colder in the kitchen suddenly. The tension in the air hasn't subsided. If anything, it's grown thicker.

"Yes Josh," you say.

Even after all those nights of sleeping alone, Joshua greeted you with a good morning and a kiss. At the very least you could expect some sort of greeting.

But now? Nothing.

"Don't forget to eat something," he reminds you quietly.

You nod. "Right."

You pop a slice of bread into the toaster and wait. It only takes two minutes, but it feels like an eternity. Joshua grabs the dustpan and broom to sweet up the glass.

It's uncomfortable quiet. Your stomach is turning in knots and your leg is bouncing anxiously.

"Where did you just come from? I didn't know where you were," you finally break the unbearable silence.

"On the balcony, needed some fresh air," he says, continuing to sweep up the remaining glass.

"It's thirty degrees outside."

He shrugs, disposing of the glass properly. "Just needed some fresh air. It's not much warmer in here anyway, damn thermostat is broken."

He avoids eye contact with you, stepping away from the kitchen quietly. Your heart rate spikes.

"Joshua..." you start. "We have to talk about-"

You're cut off when your toast pops up.

"Your breakfast is ready," he says shortly and fully leaves the kitchen.

Your eyes follow him. He walks back into the living room, grabbing the blanket he slept under and folding it back up. His footsteps fade as he disappears into the penthouse toward your bedroom.

You sigh and take a few bites out of your toast. You don't have much of an appetite with the way your stomach is churning. You chase the two small pills with a sip of water before walking toward your bedroom.

When you step into the room, Joshua is already in there making up your bed. He's cleaning to distract himself, to avoid you.

" 'Shua," You say quietly, leaning against the door frame.

"Wait," he continues folding the blankets on your bed. "I'm doing something right now."

" 'Shua," you say a little louder.

"Did you wash your dishes? I know you used a glass for the water," he asks.

"Joshua." You say firmly.

He sighs, giving up and sitting down on the bed. He runs his hands from his face up to his hair. You sit down on the bed next to him. In reality it's only a few moments, but it feels like an eternity of silence.

"I'm sorry," he starts.

"Don't apologize... we both said some hurtful, but truthful things last night," you bite the inside of your cheek.

A beat.

"You were right... I did give up on us a long time ago. But it wasn't unprompted, and I want you to understand that. I gave up before you could."

"What?" he asks, turning his head to look at you.

"You work so much... and so hard. I had no idea artists did so much until I met you, but your work has always been your priority. I love that you're passionate about your art, but you'll always put your work before me."

"That's not true," he defends.

"It is."

A beat.

You and Joshua Hong were meant to be, not meant to last. You shared your best and worst moments with him. You spent nearly 6 years creating unforgettable memories and sharing experiences you hold dear to your heart.

Your love was like a candle, it was once lit and burned with fiery passion. But it eventually burned out and faded into nothing but melted wax.

Fire may be pretty to look at, but touch it and you get burned.

"But I love you,"

"You don't.... not anymore"

"Don't try to tell me how I feel."

"Josh-"

"I don't know what it is you're trying to get at or do here, but it's fucked up. If this is you're way of trying to make excuses for falling out of love with me or something, then that’s just wrong Y/n.”

"Joshua! This relationship is not the way it was five years ago and you know it. You couldn't even thank me in your speech last night."

"You told me you were over that. I told you tha-"

"Stop cutting me off and let me speak!" you shout. "You forgot to thank me in your speech while I was standing in front of you with a painting of me displayed in my background. I have become an afterthought in your life and not a priority anymore. You managed to forget about me while looking directly at me... and a painting you did of me. If you loved me, if you really loved me, I would have been the first person you thanked. I wouldn't have slipped your mind Joshua. It may have been a mistake, but it told me everything I needed to know."

He frowns.

"You think you still love me because you love the idea of me. You-you love the way I look on a canvas and in exhibits. You love that even after 5 years of painting me, it still makes you money. But those fucking paintings don't have feelings he way I do," your eyes start to water. "You love the way Angel validates your artwork of me and is constantly working to get your work out there. You would never forget to thank Angel, because she's not just an idea or an afterthought to you. She gets you what you want and I just... don't."

"Oh my gosh how many times do I need to prove to you that I'm not fucking Angel?" he groans and stands up.

"Are you seriously still not listening to me? Not once did I accuse you of fucking her, and that's all you took away?! Fuck's sake Joshua!" You exclaim and stand to your feet. "I'm done."

"What do you mean 'you're done?'"

"It means... I can't do this anymore."

"So what... that's it? You wanna break up because of an argument?"

"IT IS NOT JUST AN ARGUMENT!" You scream. "I don't know how many ways there are for me to say it. I am exhausted, mentally, physically, emotionally. Last night... you said you weren't the only one who lost the baby. But when was the last time I modeled Joshua? I didn't get that chance to just jump back into my work after the loss. I'm sure it affected you, it was a horrible thing to go through, but I didn't just throw myself back into my work and move on. I am still struggling every day and you don't love me anymore. I have no reason to stay here with you."

The truth is... Joshua knows exactly what you're saying. For the first time, he's really really listening to you. He knows what you're saying is true, but he's having a hard time accepting it.

Joshua has never been good with criticism, being an artist and all.

The room is silent aside from you sniffling as you wipe away your tears. Joshua feels the knots twisting in his stomach and it's making him feel uneasy.

“I’m sorry… I know I should just accept it but I can’t. I’m hearing you, I really am. I just don’t want to let go… I won’t just throw away the last five years between us.”

“We can’t keep doing this Josh… holding onto nothing. There’s nothing that could really fix us at this point.”

“We could do therapy..” he suggests.

“Pay $200 a week just to have someone tell us what we already know? C’mon Josh, you know you don’t have the time for that.”

“I’d make the time.”

“You haven’t for the last few years… let’s not kid ourselves”

“So… you just wanna give up? You don’t want to try anymore?”

“I have been trying Josh. But it’s exhausting and there’s no point if there’s nothing worth holding onto anymore.”

“So… you don’t love me anymore either?”

“What?”

“You don’t love me anymore, do you? It’s not just me, right?”

“Yeah Josh, it’s mutual.”

His heart aches when you say it. The words leave a bitter aftertaste on your tongue.

"Okay," he says finally.

"Okay what?" You sniffle.

“Okay then… we’re done. There’s no point in staying together anymore.”

He runs the palms of his hands from his face to his hair and inhales.

“I hate that is had to come to this,” you say quietly.

“Yeah… me too” his voice breaks. “I can be out of here by tonight… you can keep the penthouse.”

“I couldn’t afford to live here on my own anyway, I’ll probably just uh- go back with my parents” You sniffle.

“You don’t-“

“It’s better that way, really.”

Silence fills the room. There’s so much to process. You really just ended things with the love of your life, your soulmate, your Joshie.

He sits on the floor with his back against the bed. He tilts his head back and sighs. You join him, sitting in an identical position next to him.

It doesn’t even feel real yet.

You’ve spent the last 5 years by his side with your mind filled with thoughts of how your story would unfold.

The aching in your heart hasn’t stopped, but you know this is for the best. It was long overdue, past the expiration date.

Much like a carton of milk, you can only drink it until it expires. Once it expires, it's no longer good and there's no way of restoring it to the way it used to be.

_______________________________________________

© number1mingyustan - Do not repost without permission.

[blueiones]

Advantage. Yandere × GN! Reader PT. 1

-> letter from valentine: i haven't posted in a year haha, anyways this will be split into 2 parts, maybe 3 if i feel like adding more. dude still don't have a name so feel free commenting one or something (ó﹏ò｡) not sure when the next part will be so no promises it'll be soon since school year is starting and i'll be busy :> until next time <3 tis very short idk how people are able to write so much (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

He steered clear away from you, who was the popular kid. You did well in class and were absolutely gorgeous (he couldn't deny that).

Everyone knew you. They'd greet you in the halls with a smile or a shy wave. You were perfect, it was as if the world revolved around you. He heard stories about you, how you always tried to help anyone in class.

“Y/n? Oh yeahhh, the one from my English Class. Yeah they're cool as hell, they helped me the one time I didn't attend class.”

“They're in my P.E. class! I don't know how they do it but they totally rock that uniform, especially the ass— uh you won't tell them I said that right?”

“Great student. Always passes work on time, they're always doing some type of extra curricular so I don't know how they manage that. A role model indeed, they'll succeed in life— no matter what path they choose.”

He was jealous, how can you do it so easily? Him? He was just there. He wasn't bullied, he had acquaintances and people he talked to regarding school work but it was just that. It stopped at that. He sometimes thinks the only reason he wasn't bullied was because his family is well-off, even if he was the third son— who was forgotten more often than not his family wouldn't want anyone to think they were a push over.

People only ever talked to him because they needed something, because they wanted to use him for the English project they forgot to do or ask him to be their partner in an assignment so he can do all the work load. His appearance didn't make it any better, he wasn't conventionally attractive, he looked like he was in constant pain with his furrowed brows and had terrible eye bags hidden away with his specs.

So when he was invited to a party hosted by his batch he immediately accepted wanting to change. He promised to himself before going inside the door, he was going to meet people, have fun and get shit faced.

Spoiler. It didn't go as he planned.

An hour into the party he was hugging the toilet seat on the second floor of the huge mansion. Okay, Maybe he got too excited and was peer pressured into a drinking contest but at least he was included, right? That was important, to be part of them, to be like them.

He embarrassingly screeched so loud when a hand gently tapped him on the shoulder. He whipped his head to see you holding bottled water with a sheepish smile.

“Hey uhm, sorry about my friend, he just got excited since you like rarely join these types of things. I uh- saw you running up the stairs so I brought you water, so you can flush all the toxins from your system.” You explained, holding the bottle towards him.

“Oh.” He dumbly said, he reached the water and slightly brushed your hand in doing so. It was only for a moment but he felt the thick callousness of your hands. “Thanks.”

“If you don't mind… I can bring you to your place? I'm not a drinker myself, so I'm sober and can totally bring you home if you don't wanna stay here anymore.” You offered.

Not a party person? He expected the opposite to be honest. He thought about it before agreeing. He definitely did not want to stay any longer, he could feel the headache bouncing inside his head.

“Sure.”

-

Your car looked a little old but smelled and looked clean, he knew a handful of college students who kept their space tidy. There wasn't any type of air freshener which he was glad about, he hated those especially the citrus scents it would've added to his growing migraine. He pushed his head back onto the plush car seat, it smelled like you. Clean.

“You have arrived at your destination.”

“Woah, this place is nice.” You said looking out the window in awe, “Wanna live somewhere this nice in the future, comfortably.” You said to him with a toothy grin.

He looked toward your smiling face with a surprised look, you enjoy things as simple as this? The place wasn't cheap but at the end of the day it wouldn't leave a dent in his bank account alone. “Yea it is nice, thanks for the ride by the way.” He replied sparingly, but nevertheless you still beamed at him.

He walked out of the car and was about to head inside the building when he heard your voice call out. He looked behind in surprise, did you need something else from him?

You jogged closer to him before handing out your phone, “If you don't mind, can I have your number?” You asked shyly at him.

Huh. That was it? Just his number? He looked skeptically before typing it in, he hopes he won't regret it in the future.

-

He dried his hair with a towel, by now he hoped that all the alcohol was flushed out. He still had a headache and felt like it wasn't gonna subside.

Ding!

He glanced at his phone from the table and saw messages pop-out.

UNKNOWN.

> hey!! this is y/n btwww, i don't know if you slept right away kind of hoping you didn't before i got to tell you to take an advil :>> it'll help you feel better in the morning

> i remember the first (and last) hangover i got, wasn't very fun especially since i had class in morning :ppa anywy i think typing too much lololol

> i think i'm*** :[

> goodnight!! ٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-

He didn't think of that, so he found the pill in his drawer and drank to down it and plopped in his bed. He just hoped you're right.

You were, he woke up in the morning feeling better than he expected. He found his phone and went to his messages.

UNKNOWN

UNKNOW|

UNKN|

__________

Y/N.

> goodnight!! :3

seen, 11:43 PM.

(just now)

< Thank you.

to be continued...!

[renova-writes]

lost in the pages. part 1

bucky barnes x reader

word count: 1,350

warnings: none

a/n: I haven't written in forever so please forgive me. I'm trying to get back into it and I started this fit a while ago so I figured I'd finally post the first few chapters of it! I hope you like it!

masterlist

You had your nose fully engrossed in your book, ignoring the lunch you had set out to eat on the table next to you. You had been itching to read your latest story- a crime thriller- all morning, making the minutes agonizing, and once you finally took your lunch break the book was the first thing you thought about. 

Just as the story started to pick up, your coworker David ran into the break room. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, Betty needs you up at the front. Some guy showed up all serious and she had to take a meeting with him.” 

“What about you? I’m on lunch right now. Why can’t you get the front desk?”

“I got story time in five minutes. Unless you want to read ‘Cat In The Hat’?”

“No, thanks. I’ll take the front.” Children stressed you out, the way they could never sit still and pay attention. You were grateful for David and his endless patience.

The library you worked at in downtown Manhattan saw a fair amount of traffic. Unfortunately, everyone always seemed to come in right after you took your lunch break. There was a decent amount of books for one of New York’s oldest private libraries and only three full time employees. Betty, the head librarian, was about sixty years old and a kind old soul. She had been a librarian at this branch her entire life and defended her books with such ferocity that she had been given the nickname ‘the book witch’ by the snot-nosed little kids that mixed up the shelving in the children’s section and ‘old hag’ by the meaner ones . You swore that you saw her hit a teenager over the head with a book when he and his friends were eating in the library. David was an oddball. He was technically in charge of the technology, but the branch had only a handful of computers and, for the most part, relied on paper records to keep track of its books. In the two years you had been working with David, you never once saw him read a book unless he had to. He was a character, to say the least. 

You had been working at the library for the past two and a half years. Growing up you loved to read and went to college at NYU, studying Classic Literature before graduating a year early and deciding to get your degree in Master’s in Library and Information Science and become a librarian. You found your job to be incredibly rewarding but also very stressful. You liked helping people find new books and seeing them get excited about books. However, you were constantly hounded by mounds of paperwork and phone calls and constant organization. During your first week, you had made the mistake of re-organizing the disheveled back room and had apparently done such a good job that Betty decided to put you in charge of all things ‘organized’ and gave you control of the library’s extensive records. You assumed that you had managed it fairly well. Housing thousands of books and newspaper records whilst still using the Dewey Decimal system, it had been a nightmare to digitize everything. The project had occupied a few months of your time but at the end of it, nobody complained and all files were straightforward and easy to find. It was all smooth sailing. 

While sitting at the front desk that afternoon you longed for the book that you were forced to abandon in the break room. Your felt stomach start to complain about the ignored lunch and you were about to go back to grab your sandwich during a rare dead-period when Betty walked over with someone.

 The man next to Betty had messy dark brown hair and a neatly shaped goatee. He wore an old Black Sabbath t-shirt and shaded sunglasses and walked with such confidence and swagger that he was easily recognizable. Tony freaking Stark. 

‘What the hell is he doing here?’ you wondered to yourself. 

“Ah, Mr. Stark, this is who I was talking about. She’s the best librarian and archivist I have ever worked with.” Betty smiled through her rectangle glasses. 

“Thank you,” you beamed, slightly flustered by the compliment, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stark.”

“The pleasure’s all mine. All my prayers have been answered. You are really going to save my ass.” 

Though you had heard that Stark had a unique and slightly confusing way of talking, you were not expecting this. How could you help him? He was a genius. “How exactly am I going to do that, Mr. Stark.”

“Call me Tony. I have a slight problem that I could use your help with.” He began, “Back when we were just starting out a few years ago, after the New York alien invasion disaster, we were supposed to log everything and do debriefs and paperwork and all that stuff but we didn’t exactly know what to do with all of it so it kind of all just got piled up in filing cabinets and boxes. That wasn’t that big of a problem but now we’re supposed to share our records with the UN and they’re a disaster. None of us have any idea how to do it- not that we have time to- so that’s where you come in.” 

“So you want me to organize it all for you?” 

“All of it, by March 26th.” Your eyes widened. That was only three weeks away. Who knows how bad it was? Still, it was Tony Stark and he would probably be willing to pay pretty well. 

“Just as long as Betty and David will be able to manage without me-” you began, but Betty interrupted your only excuse. 

“We’ll be fine, dear.” She smiled, and you could tell that she was trying to encourage you to take the job. The library would survive despite the massive increase in work that she and David would have to endure. 

You looked from her to Stark, who was leaning against the desk and smiling also, then back to Betty. You felt bad about leaving Betty and the library but the opportunity to work with Stark was too alluring. “Okay, okay. I’m in.”

“Okay great! That was easier than I thought it would be.” Tony said, clapping his hands and standing up straight. “I’ll see you at 9 tomorrow, Happy will give you more info, here’s my card,” his mouth was moving faster than you expected and words were being thrown out that you didn’t understand. Who was Happy? Did he want to meet you at the Avenger’s Tower? Before you had even realized what you just got yourself into, Tony Stark was out the door.

You breathed out, muttering a curse word that you hoped Betty didn’t hear. You stood up from the desk and she walked over to you. Clasping her hands around yours she smiled again, “Congratulations, I am so proud of you, dear.” 

“No fucking way, Tony Stark wants you to come organize the Avenger’s records!?” David asked for the millionth time while the two of you were sorting the book returns. 

“I swear to god, David, it was him.” You were starting to get annoyed. David seemed more excited about your job than you were. “I have no idea how bad it is. I only have three weeks to get everything in order.”

“Oh, shit, you might be screwed then. How long did it take for you to get this branch in order?”

“Two, three months. But I also had other stuff to do, it wasn’t like my main job.” 

“You’re gonna be fine. You’re smart and capable and it can’t be that bad. Plus just remember how much he’s probably gonna pay you.” 

“Yeah,” you began but a buzz in your pocket distracted you. You pulled it out to find a text from an unknown number “Hey, I bet this is him with the info, I’ll be right back.” 

This is Happy. 

Avengers tower, 9 o’clock, front entrance. 

Don’t be late. I will meet you in the lobby. 

[imtrashraccoon]

Runs in but trips over my own paws, scattering some papers everywhere

So... I have a new thing that has been taking over my brain... Not sure if I'll end up doing all of the prompts and I know I won't have time to do them all on time, but I want to try!

I decided to take a similar approach to the fic I wrote from the last prompt list I did, Have Some Empathy, Dear. So, rather than write for Classic Papyrus all month, I'm going to split the prompts up among the four Papyri I have created. Some I haven't expanded on much or barely written anything in general, so this is exciting for me! First up, my Underfell Papyrus - Scar!

Thanks to @starlikeswomen for the awesome prompt list! (Let me know if you don't want to be constantly tagged for these...) (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

Edit: I changed the title of the fic as I decided to only do the first seven prompts and I'm also finishing this outside of October.

Next Chapter

Chapter 1: I Guess We're Roommates??

Word Count: 1,884

It was a warm day today but rather than finish unpacking your apartment, you decided to go outside and get some sunshine. You were between projects anyways so it's not like your clients would get upset if you took a break. After grabbing your phone and credit card, you locked the front door behind you and set out to explore the city. Maybe you'd even try out a new restaurant for lunch if you encountered anything interesting.

It seemed like everyone was out and about today, either enjoying the warm weather like you or just going about their business. You didn't live anywhere particularly fancy, but there were plenty of new businesses in the area and your street had become a popular hang out spot for young people. It gave you some hope that you could start a new life here and make some new friends.

The sun was so bright that you almost wished you had remembered to grab your sunglasses but there wasn't anything you could do about it now since you didn't want to go all the way back home. For now, you kept your head down so you wouldn't have to squint constantly, at least some of the taller buildings occasionally blocked the sunlight.

A bus pulled up to the sidewalk up ahead and half a dozen people disembarked. On instinct, you moved towards the buildings so they could easily move past you, but in doing so, you noticed a very tall skeleton in the middle of the crowd. He seemed rather out of place but instead of asking for help, anyone who got too close received a harsh glare.

Despite Monsters being on the surface for quite some time now, they were still a rare sight since they tended to keep to themselves. The general public seemed to like them but you knew there were still many Humans who not-so-secretly disliked them. It just made sense for Monsters to stick together in a world that was still brand new to them.

You waited until most of the crowd had dispersed before attempting to approach the skeleton. He was dressed sharply, and thanks to his sharp teeth, that seemed to be a good word to describe him. Maybe his clothes were a bit too warm for the current weather though.

He had on a bright red scarf, a classy tan trenchcoat, dark slacks, and well-polished leather shoes. He was also wearing dark leather gloves, making his skull the only visible part of him. The most distinguishing features about him were the two jagged cracks that passed through his left eye socket and his scarlet eyelights that seemed to boil with barely concealed frustration.

Just as you were debating if you should bother talking to him or not, he seemed to notice your presence and turned sharply towards you. For a moment, you got the distinct impression that he was evaluating your appearance but he broke eye contact as soon as the thought occurred to you.

"Are you alright?" you asked carefully.

He stiffened and shot a glare at you. "Of Course I Am," he growled in response.

You weren't that surprised by his harsh tone but a part of you wondered if you should just excuse yourself and continue on your way. "I just wondered because I'm new to the city and I know the feeling of being lost quite well," you commented. "If I may ask, do you need help getting somewhere?"

His expression softened ever so slightly but his earlier frustration continued to hold on stubbornly. "No, I Am Not Trying To Go Anywhere," he muttered.

You raised an eyebrow but before you could say anything else, he let out a huff and crossed his arms. "But, If You Do Not Mind, What City Is This?"

You hadn't been expecting that question at all but you managed to keep a poker face rather than betray your bewilderment. "We're in Mountsburg."

His bonebrows furrowed and he propped his chin up in one of his hands in a thoughtful manner. After a moment he huffed again and turned back to you. "I... I Have No Idea Where I Am," he confessed.

You blinked in surprise and looked around but no one seemed to be paying attention to the two of you. So, you moved a bit closer to the skeleton before responding, "I can try helping if you want?"

He nodded, albeit hesitantly, and finally allowed himself to relax some.

Even though you had to basically crane your neck to look up at his easily seven foot frame, you smiled and introduced yourself before asking for his name in return.

He opened his mouth to respond before apparently thinking better of whatever he was going to say. "Scar. You May Call Me Scar," he answered.

A part of you wondered why he'd been reluctant to tell you his name but you decided not to pry for now. You were a complete stranger and he was in a bit of a tough situation after all.

"Would you like to go somewhere so we can talk? I was planning on getting some lunch anyways if you want to join me?"

"That Is A Good Idea," Scar started to say slowly. "Are There Any Good Monster Owned Places Around Here?"

You shrugged, "I don't know but we can find one."

After searching through some local review websites for a few minutes, you settled on one that was nearby with reasonable prices. It turned out to be a little hole in the wall place but on first impressions, it seemed clean at least. Other than Scar giving you the occasional odd look while you were looking for the restaurant, he had no complaints so you decided to give it a chance.

He picked a table in the far corner of the dining room and you noticed he chose to sit with his back to the wall, as if he didn't like the idea of not knowing who might walk in the door. After ordering, he leaned a bit closer to you, resting his arms on the table as he did so.

"I Am Not Sure Why I Am Here," he started to say in a low voice. "But A Small Skeleton With A Large Paintbrush Told Me To Find Someone With The Same Name As You. The Next Thing I Knew, I Was Here And Well, You Know The Rest."

"You just appeared here?"

Scar thought for a moment before nodding. "That Is The Best Way I Can Describe It."

"Can I ask where you're from then?" you asked.

"I Live Near A Place Called 'Surface Home'." When you have him a curious look, he added in slightly exasperated tone, "Our King Is Very Bad At Naming Things..."

You couldn't help but chuckle. "Considering everyone calls the East side of the city 'Monster Town', I'm not that surprised."

"Wait, Humans And Monsters Live Close Together?"

"Most live here in the city but I know some don't like living in the shadow of the mountain, which makes sense."

Scar nodded quietly.

"You know, I could try looking up your town or city on my phone. Maybe that could help you figure out where you are?" you suggested.

He only shrugged in response, although you did catch a glimpse of a curious glint in his eyelights but it vanished almost immediately.

Try as you might, you couldn't find anywhere that was called "Surface Home" or even any other instance of the former Monster King naming another Monster settlement. When you tried asking Scar about himself or anything else that might give you an idea of where he was from, he seemed to grow a bit uncomfortable, so you changed the subject and tried to make casual conversation instead.

You learned that he liked animals and owned a small hobby farm with his brother outside of their town. He used to be in the Royal Guard back in the Underground as well, which is how he got the two scars. You got the impression that while he acted tough, he really just wanted to be left alone, which was something you understood quite well.

Interestingly, you caught him closely studying you while you searched for his town on your phone. He attempted to play it off when he realized that you'd noticed his staring by complimenting the burgundy highlights in your hair. Then, the waiter returned with your orders so you brushed it off for now.

While eating, you noticed how he kept looking around at the other patrons. It was casual, as if he was only curious about what they were wearing or the occasional bits of conversation you could overhear. However, you began to notice that he was actually surveying the room for potential threats. When you asked if he was alright, he seemed a bit startled but gave you a gruff nod.

He insisted on paying separately when the bill came around and you noticed that he paid in Gold. It occurred to you that he could have requested a Monster restaurant for this specific reason but you supposed it could've also been for the food and familiarity.

When you stepped outside again, you turned to Scar. "Do you have any social media? Or maybe a phone number I can use to get in touch with you?"

He cocked his skull and gave you a confused look. "No? I Do Not Know What That Is..."

Well that put a spanner in the works. You should've guessed that he wasn't the type to care about what other people were doing online. That left you wondering what he would do next since he was alone in a strange city with no way of finding his way home. This led you to offer something that you normally wouldn't have if he was anyone else.

"You could crash at my apartment for a while until we figure out how to get you home."

He physically balked at the very suggestion. "No. You Do Not Need To Put Yourself Out On My Account."

"You were supposed to find me, right?" you pressed. "Maybe together we can find out why, but for now, I'd sleep a lot easier knowing that you have a roof over your head."

He frowned and looked away. "I Suppose You Are Right..." he muttered. "But I Do Not Want To Be A Burden..."

"Nevermind that," you huffed and planted your hands on your hips. "I've lived with roommates plenty of times and I doubt you'd be half as difficult to live with as some of them were."

Something about what you said got him to laugh. Maybe it was your tone of voice or maybe it was the sight of your much smaller frame glaring up at him like an annoyed chinchilla, either way he couldn't stop the smile that threatened to overtake his usual sneer. His laugh was very distinct, almost comical, like a truely maniacal villian, except he was a well-dressed skeleton who apparently hated the idea of being indebted to anyone.

"Nyah! Fine! If You Are Going To Be So Stubborn, I Accept Your Offer, Human," he huffed, although he still had a mildly amused look in his scarlet eyelights.

And so began the most interesting period of your life to date.

[your-local-simp-writers]

Stepping Outside the Box

Word Count: 1218

Warnings: None

Dick Grayson x Fem!Reader ︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Happy Harbor High School buzzed with excitement as the final performance – a culmination of months of hard work – approached. Among the students, you stood out as a star dancer in the drama department, your graceful movements and captivating performances earning you a well-deserved reputation.

Dick Grayson, equally well-known, exuded an infectious energy that attracted attention wherever he went. With a sanguine personality, he easily charmed his peers with his humor and charisma. While not particularly known for his dancing skills, Dick's willingness to take on challenges and his ability to turn any situation into a memorable one made him endearing in his own way.

On an ordinary day, you found yourself in class, focusing on your notes as the teacher called your name, along with Dick's. You had been paired up for the final class project, a performance that held immense weight in your final grades. The task was to create a performance that masterfully blended dance and drama, leaving the rest of the class to watch and learn.

"You and Dick are up first," the teacher announced, her voice cutting through the chatter.

Your heart raced as you and Dick made your way to the front of the class. This project marked a new level of collaboration, and a mixture of excitement and apprehension coursed through you.

As the teacher explained the project, you exchanged a surprised glance with Dick. This was an opportunity for both of you to showcase your strengths and create something unique together.

"You're the star dancer, Y/N," Dick whispered, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"And you're the charismatic charmer," you replied with a small smile. "Together, we've got this."

With the explanation over, the two of you got to work. Brainstorming sessions and rehearsals became part of your routine, and it was during these moments that the dynamics of your partnership truly began to emerge.

"I'm thinking we start with a graceful ballet routine," you suggested one day, your enthusiasm evident. "Then, we transition into a contemporary dance that captures the emotions of the scene."

Dick leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "How about this? We start with a jaw-dropping acrobatic sequence, something that instantly grabs everyone's attention. Then, we transition into a dance routine that's a mix of humor and heartfelt moments."

You blinked, taken aback by his suggestion. "Wait, seriously? You want to start with acrobatics?"

Dick's grin widened, his eyes alight with excitement. "Absolutely. Acrobatics, then dance. Trust me, Y/N, this will be unforgettable."

You hesitated, not entirely convinced. "I'm not sure, Dick. Acrobatics aren't exactly my strong suit."

He leaned in playfully. "Come on, Y/N, you're an incredible performer. And I promise I'll help you nail the acrobatic part."

With a sigh, you realized that Dick's enthusiasm was hard to resist. "Alright, fine. But remember, if this backfires, we're both in trouble."

Dick laughed, his laughter infectious. "Deal. But I promise you won't regret it."

As the days turned into weeks, you found yourself navigating the challenges of blending acrobatics and dance with Dick's vibrant energy. Your grace clashed with his audacity, leading to moments of missteps and laughter-filled attempts that echoed through the school's gymnasium.

"I swear, if I have to attempt one more somersault, I might lose it," you declared one afternoon, collapsing onto a gym mat with a mock sigh.

Dick plopped down beside you, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "Hey, it's all part of the process, right?"

You rolled your eyes, a reluctant smile tugging at your lips. "I suppose so."

As the performance date drew near, the most critical decision you faced was the transition from acrobatics to dance. This moment held the potential to elevate or derail the entire performance.

"I still think we should start with ballet," you insisted, your voice full of conviction. "It's a classic way to set the tone."

Dick shook his head, his grin playful. "And I still believe a jaw-dropping acrobatic display is the way to go. Trust me, Y/N, it'll be a showstopper."

You stared at him incredulously, your competitive spirit ignited. "Are you trying to out-charm me into submission?"

He laughed, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, maybe a little. But seriously, Y/N, we need a strong start to capture everyone's attention."

With a sigh, you begrudgingly agreed, acknowledging the strength in his argument. "Fine, but you better deliver on your promise."

Dick's grin widened, his eyes brimming with confidence. "I promise, you won't regret it."

The day of the performance arrived, bringing with it a mixture of excitement and nerves. Backstage, you and Dick stood side by side, dressed in your performance attire, your hearts racing.

"Dick, are you sure about this?" you asked, a hint of apprehension in your voice.

He turned to you, his blue eyes unwavering. "Absolutely. Trust me, Y/N."

And so, the moment arrived. As the lights dimmed and the music began, you and Dick took the stage. The acrobatics and dance flowed seamlessly, a mesmerizing blend of skill and charisma that left the audience captivated.

The performance reached its climax, and as the final note hung in the air, the crowd erupted in applause. You and Dick stood side by side, breathless but triumphant, sharing a knowing smile that spoke of the shared journey and success.

Backstage, amidst the cheers and congratulations, Dick turned to you with a grin that radiated pride. "Y/N, that was incredible!"

You laughed, a mixture of relief and exhilaration coursing through you. "You were right, Dick. It worked."

As the celebrations continued, you realized that your journey with Dick had been about more than just a performance. It had been a lesson in collaboration, in embracing differences, and in forming connections that transcended expectations. But above all, it had been a lesson in friendship – a friendship that had been born from challenges, laughter, and a willingness to step outside your comfort zones.

As the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the horizon, you found yourselves on the school's rooftop – a place that had become a symbol of your journey.

"Who would've thought that the popular dancer and the charismatic charmer could make such a great team?" Dick mused, his tone light.

You smiled, leaning against the railing. "Funny how things turn out, right?"

He turned to you, his blue eyes filled with a mixture of gratitude and sincerity. "Thank you, Y/N. This whole experience... it meant a lot."

You met his gaze, warmth spreading through your chest. "You're welcome, Dick. And thank you, too. You reminded me that sometimes, stepping outside our comfort zones leads to the most amazing discoveries."

He grinned, a playful glint in his eyes. "Who knows? Maybe next time, we'll tackle the trapeze!"

You laughed, shaking your head. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

As the sun dipped below the horizon, you realized that your journey with Dick Grayson had been about more than just a dance performance. It had been a lesson in collaboration, in embracing the unexpected, and in forming connections that defied stereotypes and expectations. But above all, it had been a lesson in the power of friendship – a friendship that had blossomed in the most unexpected of places and had left an indelible mark on both your hearts.

[makeitmingi]

Cause Baby You're My Muse [Chapter 50]

Genre: Romance, Idol!AU, Music, Slight angst

Pairing: Mingi x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Producer!Reader, IdolLyricist!Mingi, IdolProducer!Hongjoong, Idol!Seonghwa, Idol!Yunho, Idol!Wooyoung, Idol!San, Idol!Yeosang, Idol!Jongho, cameo(s) by other celebrities

Summary: You always preferred producing underground, having an unknown face and governed by your own rules. But when you start freelancing for idol groups, you say goodbye to your lone wolf lifestyle as you learn to work with idol producers and lyricists.

Word count: 3.3K

As comeback season right around the corner, you saw the boys a lot lesser. You dealt with whatever came at you on your own until it hit you that your worst fears came true.

You've grown dependent on them.

Having to grow up and take care of Haneul independently, you've always told yourself that you would never be dependent on anyone else. Because you lend yourself to heart break. It was too daunting to trust someone so much that you've built walls around yourself and your heart.

But these 8 boys made you lower your defenses. No one has ever been able to worm their way into your life so easily.

You never thought you were capable of loving another person like you love Mingi. You don't regret nor deny your feelings for Mingi but it still scared you. A part of you felt like you didn't deserve him.

RINGGGGG

The phone ringing on your desk made you jump, breaking your internal monologue. You cleared your throat and lower the volume of your music before answering the phone.

"INDIGO!"

"Don't YELL! My ear is right next to your mouth!" Hongjoong exclaimed.

"Now you're yelling, hyung." Jongho stated.

"Umm... Hello? Is everything okay?" You chuckled at how the boys just turned to arguing amongst themselves or more like Hongjoong scolding them, momentarily forgetting that you were on the other side of the line. But you were used to this.

"Yes, Indigo. Everything is fine, don't worry... Guys, can we get back to the reason we called Indigo? She's waiting for us and you're all just bickering like kids." Yunho got everyone's attention.

"This is why I should have just been the one to call her." Mingi voiced.

"Oh shush, Mingi. But Yunho is right. We want to invite you out for dinner tonight! We'll watch the music video release together." San explained.

"Music video release...?" You tilted your head, frowning in slight confusion. That was when you pulled open your calendar and looked at the date today.

"Dear Indigo. Did you forget that tonight is the music video release?" Yeosang chuckled.

"I... No! I remembered!" You grew flustered. With everything happening, you didn't even remember that today was the music video release day. It was so anticipated, the first time the song with made with Ateez would be put out there. You hated that this person threatening you that took away your excitement.

"It's okay, baby. We understand that you're busy with all your projects and deadlines now, it happens to the best of us. Yah! Stop making her feel bad." Mingi comforted.

"Aww, thanks, Mings." You giggled. Trust Mingi to always be on your side and protect you.

"You're just saying that because you're biased! You let her get away with everything." Wooyoung yelled.

"Of course, she's my girlfriend! If I don't protect her, who will? And I'm not the only one. Hongjoong hyung and Seonghwa hyung are Mr Big Brothers." Mingi argued.

"So I guess we'll see you tonight at the dorm?" You heard Seonghwa's voice through the bickering.

"Yes, Hwa. I'll see you all tonight." You replied.

"Baby, are you in the studio now? Is it a good time for me to drop by for a bit?" Mingi asked before you could hang up. You looked at the studio around you. It wasn't a good idea for Mingi or anyone to be in your studio now.

"Sorry, Mings. Today's schedule is quite packed. I've got back to back calls with clients for my projects then a meeting with Maddox after." You apologised.

"Nothing for you to apologise for, baby. I'll catch you around later then. If not, I'll see you tonight." Mingi assured.

"Okay before you guys start having your own little couple's conversation. I'm taking my phone back and cutting the call."

"I can just call her on my own phone..." Mingi said.

"DO THAT THEN!" Hongjoong yelled, ending the call, either on purpose or accidentally. You blinked in shock and picked up the phone to see that indeed, the call got cut.

The music video releasing tonight marked the start of comeback season, it also meant that the promotional showcase would be happening soon. And before you knew it, the boys would be actively promoting their new album across multiple platforms; music shows, radio appearance, variety shows, even overseas performances.

*DING DONG*

"Coming." You went to the door. You answered it by poking your head out first, in case it was one of the Ateez boys. But it was just Eden so you let him in.

"What's up?" You asked.

"Just wanted to come and see how you were doing. By the looks of it, you got things handled?" He said, looking around the studio space.

"Yeah. But I've been so caught up, I didn't even realise that the music video release was tonight. The boys just invited me over for dinner tonight and to watch the video release." You informed.

"That's good. You should enjoy it, Indigo. Forget all this for a bit, you know?" He chuckled.

"Don't worry, I will. It'll be nice to see what an idol's comeback season is like or at least, witness the start of it." You smiled. Eden nodded, patting your head. He was another person you were grateful for, not only helping you through this but also mentoring you.

"I'll see you at the promotional showcase. If you need help with the other stuff, let me know." He said. You nodded and bowed gratefully, walking him out.

'Hi baby, sorry Hongjoong hyung hung up on you just now. It was rude. But don't worry, Seonghwa hyung scolded him. - Mings'

'Hi, Mings. Don't worry about it, I'm used it. Not the hanging up part, the part about how you guys are utter chaos. Joong must have been driven up the wall by all of you. - Baby'

'They should have just let me invite you to dinner. There wouldn't be fighting over the phone then. - Mings'

'That wouldn't be fair. - Baby'

'Fair?! What fairness is there?! I'm the one dating you! We're a couple, a pair, our minds are linked. These things like inviting you for dinner is my DUTY! - Mings'

Even though fans like to tease Mingi over how possessive he is of his best friend, Yunho, you always thought it was adorable when he acted like that. He would have this little pout when he tells you how upset or jealous he is. And of course, he was rather dramatic, as if you've betrayed an entire kingdom.

'Okay okay, Mr Jealous Pants. I swear, you're just as possessive as Wooyoung. - Baby'

'I'm not going to let you shame me for being possessive over my girlfriend. That's a priviledge of being a couple. And don't compare me to Wooyoung. - Mings'

'Alright, I have to go. I'll text you later. I love you. - Baby'

'Work hard, baby! I love you too. Knowing that I'll be thinking of you. ;) - Mings'

You couldn't help but laugh at how cheesy he was. Mingi liked to play things cool but he was an absolute cheesy goofball around you. It was the real, honest side of him that only you saw.

"Indigo? You free to start our session early?" Jongho appeared outside your studio.

"Sure. Let me get my stuff and I'll meet you in the recording studio." You told him. He nodded and walked to the recording studio. Even Jongho and Seonghwa didn't know the current state of the studio, you didn't want to bother them with it.

"Sorry, I was busy with some calls from other project partners and forgot we're even meeting today." You laughed as you entered and sat down at the table, setting up the system.

"No worries. Take your time." He smiled. While you got ready, Jongho warmed up his vocals behind you.

Jongho offered to help you record some guide vocals for some draft tracks that you have and of course you weren't going to say no.

"Are you sure you have time to do this? You know, with the comeback and all." You asked, facing the screen as you pulled up your notes and composing softwares.

"It's all good. This is under my comeback schedule." He chuckled.

"Sure..." You turned around with a raised eyebrow. When you were ready, Jongho went to the recording booth.

"Ah, ah, ah. Can you hear me?" He spoke into the mic as he put on the headphones, adjusting the volume of the audio that was being fed through.

"Loud and clear." You pressed the button and spoke into your own mic. Jongho sang a tester line to get his starting pitch right. When he was ready, he gave the thumbs up and you played the music. You watched him recording, holding his phone up to refer to the lyrics that he wrote for the guide.

"Sorry, let's go again." He stopped singing to apologise, the track still playing behind him.

"No worries. No need to rush through. Take it slow." You told him upon stopping the music to replay it for him again. Jongho's vocals were so strong, you were honoured to be able to work with him.

"I'll record the chorus again, please." He requested, taking a drink of water as he waited for you to play just the chorus for him.

"Counting into the chorus." You said.

"That's a great one. Take a few minutes and let me know which track you want to do next." You told him.

You worked with Jongho for a few hours, it was a very productive session with Jongho's professionalism and keen ears. Even after the recording was done, he sat with you and was able to offer some advice on what to change.

"Thanks again for today." You patted his shoulder as you both stood outside the recording studio.

"No need to. I had fun. So I guess I'll see you tonight?" He tilted his head. You nodded with a smile and waved to him before you both parted ways.

"Oh, Hwa." You were shocked the see the male standing by your studio door.

"Hey. Did you just come from a meeting?" He smiled, pushing himself off the wall to wrap an arm around you.

"Uh, yeah. Just some guide recording with Jongho." You told him. Seonghwa already noticed the way you suddenly grew nervous but made no attempt to open your studio door.

"So... what's up?" You asked him.

"We've been busy preparing for the comeback and haven't been able to see how you've been doing. Or at least physically visit you. So since I have some free time and I was in the building, I wanted to check in and see if everything is okay. Is now not a good time?" He asked, his expression softening.

"Sorry... But rest assured, I'm fine. Just been busy with everything else." You reassured him. Seonghwa guessed your apology was referring to it wasn't a 'good time' now.

"Don't apologise. I'm glad you're doing okay, at least. Make sure you eat your meals and get some sleep." He patted your head.

"I will. I just..." You chewed on your bottom lip.

"No need to explain yourself to me. I understand." He smiled softly, making you let out a soft sigh of relief. No one should see the state of your studio now.

"I'll see you tonight at the dorm then." He said. You nodded and gave him a brief hug.

Once Seonghwa left, you entered your studio, making sure to lock the door behind you. You sat back at your desk, opening your laptop to start working on the guide vocals Jongho just recorded, distracting you from the moving boxes that sat around you.

-

"There she is." Yunho grinned, seeing you rush out of the lift and into the basement carpark. You waved, knowing they wouldn't be able to see you smile with your mask on.

"Hi, Yuyu." You hugged him. He patted your head and held your bag for you while you climbed into the van.

"Thanks for waiting." You said, removing your mask once the van door was closed.

"We didn't wait long. We just ended too." San assured, moving to the back so you could sit next to Mingi, who had his headphones on. You sat between him and Yunho.

"Hi." Mingi whispered. Since he couldn't kiss you, he slipped an arm around your waist, softly squeezing your hip to show you affection.

"Hey, how was work?" You asked.

"Good. The work out was tiring but we need to build stamina and endurance for the comeback." He replied. You nodded, knowing that all the boys have been working hard in the gym. Throughout the drive, you chatted with Yunho and San about how they have been too since it's been a while.

"Well, your new skincare routine must be working out well because you're glowing, Sannie." You giggled.

"I am? Thank you." San blushed slightly, hands coming up to touch his cheek. Mingi's arm remaind around your waist securely but he was more focused on listening to his music.

"Actually, now that I think about it, we've never seen you dance before, Indigo. Even in informal settings." Yunho pointed out.

"Why would you suddenly bring that up? And I'll have you know, you have never seen me dance because I have two left feet. I suck at dancing." You sighed.

"Really?" San blinked.

"Haneul can tell you all about it. She's always making fun of my dancing." You rolled your eyes.

"Maybe you need a dance lesson. I'll give you a free dance lesson any time you like." Yunho winked. That made Mingi clear his throat really loudly, glaring at his best friend for flirting with his girlfriend right in front of him.

"Thanks but I have no intention of being a dancer. I'll stick to being behind the scenes, producing in my studio, in front of my computer." You chuckled.

When the van pulled up, the manager let you all get out of the van. Mingi wordlessly took your bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"We're home!" San and Yunho announced as you all removed your shoes at the entrance of the dorm.

"Finally. I've been waiting to do this." Mingi wrapped his arms around your waist, drawing you in so he could kiss you. You giggled into the kiss, hands moving to hold his biceps.

"I've missed you, baby." He stroked his head.

"I've missed you too." You smiled fondly at him, tip toeing to plant another kiss on his cheek.

"I missed you the most!" Wooyoung exclaimed as he came over, scooping you up and spinning you around. You burst out laughing as Mingi yelled at Wooyoung for stealing you. With one hand on either side of your face, he aggressively pressed a kiss to your cheek with a loud smack.

"Jung Wooyoung!" Mingi yelled.

"Joongie!" You went to hug the captain, who was standing by the kitchen. He smiled at you and wrapped his arms around you, patting your lower back lovingly.

"How have you been?" He asked, patting your head.

"Good. You've lost weight." You pouted, feeling how small his waist has gotten since you've last hugged him.

"Hi, Yeosangie." You greeted. Yeosang smiled through his wet bangs, having just stepped out of the shower. He wrapped an arm around you to pull you in for a hug.

"We've missed you being around." He chuckled.

"I miss all of you too." You said as he ruffled your hair. Since you were in a hoodie and sweats, you momentarily went to Mingi's room to change into lighter clothes. You stole onto of Mingi's shirts to wear instead. Just as you pulled the shirt down, someone came in.

"Relax, it's just me." Mingi said when you turned around quickly to see who had come in.

"You should still knock when you know I'm changing." You crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow at him. Mingi's hands came to rest at your hips.

"I really missed you. I'm glad you're here." He pressed his lips to your forehead. When he pulled away, you leaned against him.

"Even though we live in the same building, our schedules still take us away from each other." You chuckled.

"Mhmm, it's gonna get harder as comeback season begins." He said, one hand coming up to rub your back as he held you to his body. You bunched the material of his shirt.

"But we'll be okay." He whispered, kissing the crown of your head.

"You two have 5 minutes to come out or I'm going in, and you wouldn't want me going in there especially since I haven't even greeted my daughter yet." You two heard Seonghwa knocking the door. Seonghwa was lying, acting like you didn't have the exchange with him earlier today outside your studio.

"Alright, we're coming!" You giggled. Mingi grasped your hand as you pulled away and left him to the door. Seonghwa opened his arms to hug you. He patted your head like Hongjoong did.

"Have you been well? Taking care of yourself and eating meals?" He asked. You nodded your head.

"Good." He praised. You and Mingi walked to the living room area to see everyone bringing the multiple plates of food out.

"Wow. That's a lot of food." You said.

"We never have enough food." Jongho scoffed, making you laugh. You momentarily let go of Mingi's hand to help Yeosang bring the eating plates and cutlery out.

Mingi stared at the hand that you just let go of, why did it suddenly feel weird when you hand slipped away from his? A heavy feeling settled in his chest. Mingi didn't understand it. His hand felt so empty and cold that he clenched it.

"Mingi hyung, are you okay?" Jongho asked, noticing the taller just stand there, staring at his hand weirdly. Mingi nodded his head. At Jongho's question, you lifted your head to see Mingi walking away.

"Where's he going?" You came to the maknae. He shrugged and you followed where Mingi left.

"Mings?" You knocked on the bathroom door. The lock clicked and you let yourself in. Mingi leaned against the sink.

"You okay?" You frowned in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine, baby. I just spaced out for a moment and needed to wash my face." He said. You stood between his legs as his arms circled around you.

"Are you not feeling well?" You tried to touch his forehead but he avoided your hands, instead leaning down to press his eyes against your shoulder. It was silent and all you could hear was Mingi's slightly heavy breathing right by your ear. Your hands came up to brush the hair at the back of his neck.

"Are you tired? You can sleep if you want." You spoke softly. He shook his head.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to hold you." He mumbled. You let out a hum, giving him as much time as he needed. When he was ready, you both went out to join the others at the table.

"The countdown!" Wooyoung cheered excitedly as you all looked at the Youtube countdown on the screen.

"Turn the volume up." Hongjoong said to Seonghwa, who had the remote. You held Mingi's hand, squeezing it nervously. Even if you didn't appear in the music video, you felt the nerves in your stomach.

"Don't be nervous." He comforted.

"You're nervous? Don't be! The song is great, ATINY will love it for sure." Seonghwa added after hearing Mingi comfort you.

"Shh, it's starting!" San hushed everyone. This was the first time you were watching the video after all the editing. You were offered a chance to watch it by the video production team after the cut and editing but you had declined.

As the video started, you cast glances at the 8 boys around you, their eyes glued to the screen with anticipation and excitement. You couldn't help but smile sadly, knowing you'll miss this.

~

Series Masterlist

[beemers-hell]

Like you did with Doc, can we get your Tricky headcanons please (smiley emoji)

Same format as last time then!

Tricky HCs!

Around ~60-65ish

AMAB gender whatever, doesn't really give a fuck to label himself anything specific Period, he uses "clown" to refer to himself in both the first and third person anyway

Around ~6'07"ish

Mexican (I'm not projecting)

The only thing Hofnarr had going on with him in life was being autistic asf which led him to being very skittish and socially withdrawn but academically superior, and being autistic still applies to Tricky, though he doesn't face the same challenges nor have the same academic desires he did when he was alive bc of him lowkey being a reality bending God atp lmao. He can do whatever he wants now so if something clashes with the autism negatively then he can instantly get rid of it (I'm not projecting)

Aside from that, the only afflictions he's got going on are what you'd expect of a fuckin 60 year old rotting zombie lol

He is still the genius he was when he was Hofnarr! And he's not trying to hide it or anything like that! His interests have just shifted from the academic world to frivolous things that bring him instantaneous satisfaction, like DJing and Partying and Killing People, obvs lol. This isn't to say he doesn't still get enjoyment out of flexing his brain and putting his smarts to use, he just acts much more on impulse and short term dopamine rushes, as opposed to how Hofnarr acted mainly on careful methodical planning and long term dopamine cycles.

He had a thing going on with Jeb when he was still Hofnarr, though neither of them really "pursued" it in a very Definitive or Official capacity. It was very much a "What are we?" kind of situation ykwim. He did of course care very deeply for Christoff but Jeb was too emotionally closed off to truly let him in like that, so it was mainly relegated to chance intimate moments and the occasional heat of the moment "incidents" lol, but they missed out on something real. Tricky, even now, knows there's a part of him that still feels that way for Jeb but he knows damn well that they're not gonna have what they could've all that time ago, so he's more content to just playfully tease him and dick around and get on his nerves than pursue something more, Jeb can't keep up with Tricky's insanity the same way others could. This esp applies in dad au, where Jeb is essentially Boxxy's second dad since he helped raise her, but he's not "with" Tricky like that.

Despite what you'd expect of a homicidal freak like Tricky is, he's incredibly social and down to hang and do whatever cause he's always in search of a good time! Except if he's pissed off about something with Hank or the AAHW but I digress. Dude fuckin loves clubbing and headlining sets for them, he loves breaking it down on the dancefloor, of course half the time he parties it ends in him fuckin massacring the joint he's chilling at but tbh, maybe you just need to get used to the "killin" part of "chillin n killin"

The visual of the static and words that pops up around him in the series obvs is just a cool visual thing with him but I like to think that he can just like…do that shit lol. Like if he so feels inclined, he'll project screams and static into the minds of people, which effects them in such a way where their brain functions are numbed to hell and they practically cease being able to make decisions, form thoughts, or even use brain power to move their bodies n shit, and they're just subjected to internal screaming in addition to whatever the fuck Tricky feels like doing to them.

Whenever he scuffles with Hank, he Especially tries to not use any cheap tricks to get a leg up over him, bc Hank is one of the few people who can actually give him a challenge in a fight and that makes things WAAAAAAY more exciting and fun, so doing some underhanded shit he could easily pull bc of his reality bending powers just makes shit less fun, and he values fun over anything else. Unless Hank actually manages to piss him the fuck off during a fight, in which cause He won't give a fuck anymore, and he'll go full fuck it we ball mode n try whatever to kill his ass, like going flame demon mode n chasing him n shit like that

When he talks he audibly uses tone indicators out loud, like verbally saying "slash J" or "slash Joke" out loud when he speaks. he doesn't do it to be courteous or whatever he just thinks its sounds funny as hell

[lunchtimebedamned1997]

Big secret (bc I'm mean to ya'll) project update :3

You guys aren't ready for this project I'm so fucking excited - it's probably the biggest thing I've ever tried to do - easily.

I've got a still, two backgrounds, and a rough animation test to share rn!

As you can see, I've decided to go for lineless-ly rendered, full-color backgrounds, and then a more sketchy/illustration grayscale style for the characters! I'm really loving the balance that gives and i think it really helps Vox stand out, since he is the central focus of this project mwahahaha!

Then I've got a little hand animation test for part of this that I'm really happy with!

I finished what is out so far of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime (yes I'm devistated, I did not heed the emotional torment warnings I was given lmao) and it's been inspiring me so much! The animation in that show is beyond gorgeous. The movement, the color, the flow - just, holy shit. I've been watching the series and 0 on repeat for 99% of this project bc it's really been motivating me to just try, yk? To put in that extra hit of effort here and there. I'd love to be able to animate things like that someday!

This project is going to be a combination of an animatic and animation, and it's been fun deciding where those extra hours of effort are going!

Anyways! That's the updates for now! I'm still finishing up that Alastor animation asset (for the large center screen on the desk background that I shared in my last post), and I'll probably (maybe?) share that when it's done bc I'm proud of myself :3

Anyways! Hope you're all well! <3

[miscretis]

Discord Mod!Ronin x Discord Kitten!Reader (G.n) [PART 3/FINALE OF A CRACK FIC TAKEN SERIOUSLY]

WRITERS NOTE

Part 3/3 is finally out now! It's been a good few days since I started this series and it has been really fun to write! I'm appreciative of the support given towards this series and I hope that y'all will continue to support me, my artworks, and my writing! Yes you read that right, this is the finale. This is really rushed because I wanted to start on a new AU, a new project. It's going to be another Ronin x Reader but I promise it's a good one! Now, sit back and enjoy the finale of Discord mod!Ronin x Discord Kitten!Reader (g.n)

CW:

-Mentions of murder

- bad and rushed writing

-cringe.

Months flew past and you were slowly wrapping up the novel for a nice and bittersweet ending. You checked your calendar and realised that today was Valentine’s day! What's so exciting about it anyways? It's not like anyone is going to ask you out…

Until…

@goreboy is calling you!

What is he calling me for?

Curiosity was starting to engulf you so you decided to pick up the discord call. pick up the discord call. As you picked up the call, the wine red hair man appeared on the screen before you, a cheeky grin on his face.

“What’s up my darling daredevil? The devil has come to wish you a Happy Valentine’s day,” Ronin snickered.

You rolled your eyes, “Very funny Ronin, very funny.”

He chuckles, “What? Aren’t you thankful that your boyfriend is here for you?

“More than thankful.” Your tone dripped with sarcasm.

“The kitten’s feisty as ever, I like that. But, my patience is running out, writer darlin’.”

Wait..he knows who I am? How?!?! I have been concealing my identity just fine for months!

However, panicking wouldn’t help you in any situation, so you took deep breaths before replying, “ I’m not scared of you, Ronin. You’re just taking this intense role play way too seriously!”

What I said only fueled his amusement, his voice distorted into a maniacal laughter, “Oh darling. When was it ever roleplay? You’ve been playing my game for the longest time, and you still haven’t realised!”

You were surprised. No, in shock. Wait no, do you even know how you feel at this point? You’ve been fooled, utterly bamboozled. You’re like a mouse in a mouse trap, stuck in a sticky situation. The Devil’s Butcher is right in front of you on your screen. It only took you 5 months to notice.

You were utterly speechless.

“What? Cat got your tongue?”

”I know your name, Ronin. I could easily expose you.”

“So what is it?”

You ponder for a while, you only said that out of spite.

“Oh come on, don’t tell me you don’t know your boyfriend’s full government name despite dating me for a few months already! I’ve been whispering it to you.”

You quickly toggled off the calling screen and went to search through Ronin’s DMs, you realised the way he typed his words before calling you was weird…

Soon, it clicked.

“You’re Ronin Beaufort.”

Ronin’s eyes glimmered in pure excitement. You could tell that exhilaration was pumped through his veins, “Hah! You impress me, darling. It’s Ronin Beaufort, the Devil’s Butcher, yours truly. Meet me in Purgatory.”

14th February 2024, 8.50pm. You arrived at Purgatory, the very alley where the Devil’s Butcher gets his hands stained red. Adrenaline pumps through your veins, your heart rate quickens and your hands clammy. You couldn’t believe you’re meeting up with a serial killer, your boyfriend.

He is a serial killer but he is also my boyfriend. Will he kill me or not?

At this point, it doesn't anymore. By agreeing to come along, you've already sealed your fate. As you walked along the alleyway, you saw graffiti all over the wall. It gave it more of an eerie vibe since murder literally takes place here.

Suddenly, you heard a blood curdling scream. You turned around to check your surroundings. Something's definitely up but you couldn't muster the courage to check it out. So, you stay at your current position, waiting for Ronin to come.

Time passes by and he still has yet to come. So, you decided that it was just a prank. Ronin is the type to pull these kinds of pranks anyways.

“Oh writer darling, getting impatient already? Don't worry, I'm right here!” Ronin creeps up from your back and whispers into your ears. You turned out and gasped out in surprise.

Oh god, it's not a prank. It's the Devil’s Butcher in the flash!

But as the wise man says, panicking doesn't solve anything.

Ronin chuckles, “So we meet!”

“Always the devil, Ronin Beaufort.”

“Aren't you a pleasure?” Ronin walks in closer, “Gotta say, meeting you in person got me feeling some typa’ way. And I wonder how you feel about….well…”

Ronin lets out a maniacal laugh, it stirs up some type of feeling in your chest, your cheeks flare up a pretty red.

“Do you like me now?”

“Yes.”

“Oh just speak the truth! Anything but the truth!”

He whispers into your ears, “Write me a love note, darling.”

“I know your name. I could expose you.”

“Coulda, woulda, shoulda. You could end me. You should end me. But would you end me?”

“...”

“I don't think so! Where's the boys in blue? Why's it just us in my favourite gruesome alley? Why's that after knowing who I am, you still wanna see me?”

“So why did you even invite me to the server?”

“I did it for you. You were starving for inspiration, so I gave you insatiability.”

“...”

“You wanted inspiration, so I became your muse. You wanted love, so I gave you love. Isn't that everything you ever wanted?”

“...”

“Why didn't you call the cops? There were so many opportunities that you missed out on!”

“...”

“If I may…I would say you're a little too in love…”

"..."

“So, what would'ja do now? Taste the feeling of metallic death by my crowbar? Or ya gonna kiss me? Or are you gonna kill me? I got a knife right here! ” He lets out a dark chuckle as he closes up the gap between the both of you, pinning you to the wall.

You clenched your teeth, dang it. Ronin really stirred your heart up. If you kill him, you'll be guilty of a crime. If you kiss in, you'll give in.

But fuck it…who cares if you give in or commit a crime anyways? You've gone so far

You pulled him close and grabbed the knife, Ronin dropped his crowbar out of surprise. You've thrown the knife away and leaned him into a heartwarming kiss!

Euphoria spread through both of your bodies and released the unsolved tension between the two of you. You have danced with the devil and now he has now fully corrupted you, having you completely wrapped around his finger. You're now his, he's now yours.

The end.

[annakie]

FIXING THE HOUSE: PART TWELVE - We Can Make It on the Outside

Part One: I Do Not, In Fact, Have the Power

Part Two: Let’s Spend Lots of Money!

Part Three: All These Things That I’ve Done

Part Four: I Really Want to Stay At My House

A little interlude.

Part Five: Power Down

Part Six: You Will Leave Some Paint

Part Seven: Backwards to go Forwards

Part Eight: Master of Bathrooms

Part Nine: Within a Room, Somewhere

Part Ten: Rooms With No View

Part 11: Big Bang Room Part A and also Part B!

Hi, I know it's been like a week and a half but I was damn busy. I went to Minnesota and saw my buddies @ahab99 and @gloriousclio for a long weekend and it was fantastic! And then just generally busy since I got home, doing lots of projects for home and other personal life reasons. But there's still two posts to go after this one, so let's actually finish this!

Today we're going to talk about the garage and I think also just like, outside in general? And we'll leave the two biggest reveals for last.

Let's leave the living room and first head into the garage!

Look, the garage is not that exciting. The most exciting thing tbh was the fact that I got it like, halfway cleaned out back in July.

It's been too damn hot, YES EVEN IN OCTOBER to really finish the job after I, tbh, worked too hard on it in July, but I'm still glad I did that because of how bad it needed it, but we covered that already.

So I said this before but I made enough space to easily walk around, I put up some metal shelving for more storage/organization, and did some general tidying, so hey you can walk through it now.

There's a significant amount of stuff sitting in it that I'm waiting for a friend of mine to come get, idk when that's going to happen but I hope soon. Like a loveseat, a vacuum cleaner, a small desk etc. When those things are out, it'll be even better.

There's also several bags of clothes that need to go get donated and one bag of fandom-related shirts I was going to sell cheap here on tumblr maybe if I ever get around to it.

So one big improvement was just the fact that the drywall was starting to get real iffy. Some of it was straight up threatening to fall down. So that's fixed. I do not care that the new drywall is blue. It's a garage, I'll deal with it later, maybe. Also hey, shelving! Still messier than I want it to be. At least all that crap isn't on the floor anymore.

Also, no pic for this but apparently one of the beams across the ceiling in the garage was either loose or had come completely off the joist, maybe during the re-roofing? Anyway, Arturo fixed that, too.

So yeah, the workbench is still messy BUT.. remember way, WAY BACK in Part Two when I had no internet one night because the plug for this internet box was on the ceiling over my garage and it'd come loose, but I couldn't plug it back in because it was right over my car, which was blocked in by a dumpster?

Yeah, well, see, that won't be a problem again. Yay, I have power next to the workbench! A brand new outlet.

Crazy that there wasn't one there before. The only actual outlet nearby was against the back wall, pretty far away. And that outlet was SCARY. Very loose, felt really unsafe. It's been rewired and looks good now, too.

The most noticable improvement was this...

OK, see? Still TUFF there. It's actually a little better now. BUT... the windows! You can see through them! They don't have paint smeared on them! None of them have been shot through with a BB gun!

Look I love the kids who live across the street (and there are ALWAYS kids in that house, the kids who were kids when I moved in 21 years ago now have their own children, and there are always other kids there.) But occasionally they cause mischief and at SOME point someone shot a BB through my window and also into the siding a bit. I don't have any proof who did it or honestly exactly when, so I never confronted them, but it irked me for the last 2 or 3 years when it was there.

They were also just original to the house, and needed replacing. So now they've been replaced and look nice!

OK, enough of the dirty, stinky garage, at least until it gets actually cleaned out more.

-----

THE FRONT EXTERIOR!

The picture at the top of this post was the last picture I had from "Before" and that was taken day one of roof work back in late June or early July. The old roof, old gutters, old windows... etc. Just old and tired looking. You can see huge cracks in the driveway.

TBH it was starting to just look run down. Other problems were like, the garage door needed painting, honestly everything except the poles needed painting and that's only because they'd gotten so bad a couple of years ago that I had asked my lawn guy do it.

Obviously most of the things that improved the interior along that wall improved the exterior, like the windows and door.

All of the black trim along the fake shutters and next to the door got a fresh coat of black paint. The windows got touched up. I thought about replacing the light fixture but it's only like 10 years old so I didn't.

TBH the brick and cement could use a power wash, I need to talk to my neighbor's son about that since he does power washing. The new door especially looks so pretty. It also needed to be swept in that pic, it has since been, and the bushes trimmed.

My neighbor Veronica keeps reminding me that the bushes out front are too high, and she's right. I talked to my lawn guy about it and we decided to cut them way down in the spring when they'll start to grow back again.

Another improvement outside is security. I have a door lock camera, another camera you can't see in these pictures covering the front porch. There's a motion sensor spotlight camera over the driveway. And more stuff you'll see.

See? Camera.

New windows! Painted garage door!

The plan had been originally to power wash the driveway here. But there were those two HUGE cracks that were a problem. We filled them in with caulk(?) and cement but then you got... well, what's there. Also looked real bad.

Arturo ended up with a couple of extra bags of cement from another project. So he ended up putting a new entire layer of cement over the driveway.

He said it won't last forever, probably in the next couple of years we'll need to do a new driveway in order for it to look good, but by the time we got to this, the money was really starting to run dry.

So here's the front of the house now! It's so much better! Still has a little ways to go, but definitely not in the running for the shame of the block anymore.

Couple of other small things happened, including me washing the glass in my little lamppost, and spending $34 on ONE replacement pane that had broken long ago but it now looks fresh and whole.

There's also now a little sign you can kind of see on the door in a pleasant script that says "NO SOLICITING! Family, friends and Neighbors welcome!" I'm not sure if it's actually working or if people are just skipping my house now that it's clear I DON'T need new windows, but I haven't had any randos knock in a month or two since it went up.

---

Had Arturo make a small improvement to my gates -- there were just BIG gaps between the doors and the walls. Like you could pretty easily see my entire backyard if you wanted to peek in at either door.

So he bought and installed a border around both doors of the same cedar wood, and I had saved a quarter bucket of the stain from Joel so it got painted. I also put locks on the gates because the locks the gates came with seemed pretty easy to open from the outside with like, a coat hanger. Now... not possible.

The sidewalk is swept and most of that junk is gone now, though I'm still waiting on my friend to come get the extra granite that he requested Arturo bring for him. STOP CLUTTERING UP MY HOUSE!! :D

But tbh, I don't have the funds and haven't had the time to pretty up the sides of the yard yet.

BUT... big improvements have been made on the patio!

---

You may recall that the patio was in various states of looking pretty much like this all summer.

Eventually, as we finished up projects, the patio started getting a little cleaner and a little cleaner, combined with Monday or Tuesday Morning cleanups.

Hey, an empty, but ugly, patio floor! You may recall the patio ceiling got painted and the ceiling fan went up very early.

What's this? It's just ONE color instead of three or four worn through colors? I love it!! A nice green, which, again, was a darker shade on the same card as the ceiling color. I'm probably going to need to do yearly touchups but I have the can of paint for that for at least the next year or so. Believe it or not, these are not the same greens as in the dining room, nor the master bath, or the k-- wait we'll get to that. Just a lot of shades of green in the house, all different!

The patio furniture I think I mentioned at some other point got painted from stained red to the same color as the patio ceiling. I bought new grey cushions that look fantastic with them.

I also had taken the rug that had been under my computer desk the last couple of years and washed it off in the backyard, let it dry, then rolled it up and put it in the corner of the patio and forgot about it for a month or two.

When I was finishing the final cleanout of the patio for the painting I had an idea of what to do with it!

I also, back when all this started, had bought an adirondack chair. I wanted a nice lounger to relax on in my backyard, even though I had four perfectly good matching chairs already. But I wanted to lounge. I bought it in like... June, I think? The box arrived, I dragged it to the patio and it basically became a table for two months.

Just this last week I finally unboxed it, and spent three hours putting it together. I do love it!

The rug really adds a bit of homey-ness to the patio I think. It'll probably be need to tossed in a couple of years, but for now, I really like the look.

Hey, you can also see the new bathroom window from the outside here!

I really think the patio came together well. There's an element or two still missing.

And also... what's this?

I bought a house for my feral boys Buster and Peter for the winter! I really wanted them to have somewhere protected from the elements for those long week or three where it's actually cold in Dallas in the winter. I also wanted something that looked cute and gave them both their own space.

Still working on getting them to understand that it's for them, but Peter has at least checked it out!

Buster is under a chair over there being unimpressed. But also it's still in the 60's or 70's at night so they haven't needed it yet. I'm sprinkling food and treats in and on it to get them to try to investigate at least. There are warm beds on both the top and bottom levels for them. And you can see they also have beds in the chairs/floor where I see them sleeping.

They get oral flea medication every month or so btw.

The backyard is covered with cameras covering every inch. Nice cameras that solar recharge and are in high resolution. Every entrance of the house has at least two angles on it now. I'm really happy with that setup. Plus of course monitored alarm system.

There's no perfect home security, but I feel like I've made my house an unattractive target, at least. There are also generic signs posted about the video/alarm surveillance.

ANWYAY...

Fry and Pemily have also been enjoying supervised visits outside!

Fry loves dirt. Pemily loves just chilling out. I love hanging out out there after work and chilling with them. I do want to get a little side table for the lounger, but in due time. And YES I WEAR CROCS AROUND THE HOUSE. They're comfortable, ok? :D

Still gotta get the generator hooked up, and at some point actually finish beatifying the outside, but that's gonna take more money han I have left over now. I'll keep working on it, but also right now I'm letting myself just enjoy it.

OK! Back inside next time for the last two updates!

[annerbhp]

I was thinking about how in the past I have tried to describe my writing process as a sort of weaving or braiding as I try to keep various plot threads woven in and not dropping any of them. But it never felt quite right because there is still a linear quality to both of those activities, and I so far from a linear writer.

But the other day I was doing a jigsaw puzzle and I was like, no, no, THIS is the metaphor for my writing process. Like, a giant jumble of stuff (vague ideas, snippets of dialogue, character beats, plot), all in a giant mess (possibly all from multiple projects all in one box). And I don't know how other people do jigsaw puzzles, but the first thing I do is find the bright, obvious, easily distinguishable areas with maybe weird texture or a vivid color and go through and collect the pieces that might be part of it in various piles. And then I try to put each pile together into something recognizable and guess where it might fit in the larger frame. Like maybe the frame and then four or five very distinct areas. Until you've got something like this:

Like maybe some areas are big, and some are just two pieces together. And sometimes after a while you realize you have a part that's in the wrong place entirely, or upside down! Or, shit, that's from a different puzzle! (okay, that rarely happens. I am careful with my jigsaw pieces, but I am not with my writing.)

And slowly you add more pieces to connect them all, one at a time. Slowly, slowly. A few pieces a day. Here and there. Maybe adding one more piece to one clump and then pieces to a different clump until they connect. Maybe I leave it languishing on the dining room table for a while to collect dust and get trampled by cats. Maybe I go start a different one. (Nope, I don't do that with puzzles. I don't have the space.)

But the puzzle slowly starts to take shape! The pieces go in faster! Only then... At some point I am left with tons of little spaces and a pile of pieces that are all the same uniform color, but are all funky, different little shapes. And it feels like a drag to figure those out (these are the transitions and small filler bits I have just put off over and over again). Sometimes this is where I literally go back and sort all the puzzle pieces by shape and then try them all one by one until they find a place to go. Tedious. Not the most exciting. Easy to get wrong. But we're So Near The End.

And, sure, it doesn't really happen much when I'm doing a puzzle, but if I stretch the metaphor, in writing I can also find pieces that just don't fit and have to go back to the box.

But what TOTALLY tracks in this metaphor is the euphoric feeling of putting the last goddamn piece into place. And you sit there for a moment being like, "oh my god, it's actually done. It's actually freaking DONE!" And you don't know if you need to get up and run around in a circle or just stare in disbelief. Possibly take a nap.

But it is definitely, finally ready to send off to beta. Ah. So lovely. (Not that I have experienced this in a long while. YEARS.)

Anyway. That is a more apt metaphor for my writing process, for those of you who have asked over the years.

It's probably too early for 2024 resolutions or wishes. But I hope to feel this even ONCE in 2024. Yeah, that would be great.

[frozenjokes]

mermaid mumscarian. that’s all. I actually forgot to post the first chapter when I finished it, so congratulations tumblr, you get TWO helpings of dumbassery today.

snippet

***

When Mumbo returned, hungry and irritated about still being hungry, Scar was looking for clams. That seemed to be his favorite activity, sifting through the sand, digging up clams, piling them up, then at the end of day, scattering them back in the sand. Today, Scar was lining up his clams on the shore, letting them sit in the sun for whatever reason. Mumbo wondered if he ever planned on eating them, or if the clams were just toys to humans. Maybe Scar didn’t understand how to get inside them? Mumbo snorted, bubbles floating to the surface. Humans probably thought the clams would just open up for them if they waited long enough.

But not even his sour mood could withstand Scar’s bright smile as the human spotted Mumbo returning; its entire body lit up, every single encounter met with the same excitement as the first time it saw him. Sure, Mumbo was more easily flattered than most mermaids he knew, but anyone would break under the weight of that joy. Was Scar that excited to see everyone, or was it just him? He hoped Scar knew he felt similarly. He wished he could tell him.

Scar’s attention quickly shifted back to the sand though, bending over to sift through with a hand then plucking a clam out of the water. “Oooh this is a big one!”

Across the water, sitting on a rocky outcrop, Grian rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure you’ve shown me that same clam every day since you first got here.”

“It’s big though!”

“It is pretty big.”

“Do you think she’ll win?”

“The- did you finally remember to bring nail polish? And I don’t know, I’ll have to take a look at all of them before I decide.” Grian went back to fishing (and Mumbo was keeping a closer eye than he’d like to admit on the line), but Scar seemed satisfied, taking his bounty to the shore to line it up with the ten or so other clams.

“Well you’d better get ready, because our athletes are all lined up! They’re revving to go, Grian! You should look before they speed away! They’re chomping at the bit I tell you, they’re gonna run right away if you don’t come and look right now.”

Grian made a small noise of assent, not moving. “I'm in no rush.” He re-cast his line.

Scar huffed, trotting to his bag (which Mumbo couldn’t help but notice was placed very far from the shore, what was up with that anyway? Did they not trust him? They could trust him. Come on, no harm in putting them a little closer to the water..) and producing a small vial. Mumbo dragged himself a little closer to inspect it as Scar sat back with his clams. It smelled weird.

“What,” Mumbo said in human, another very useful word he’d learned, and Scar smiled, unscrewing the top.

“We paint our..” he paused, thinking, before gesturing to his dull claws, “Nails.” With the brush attached to the cap, he drew some of the brightly colored liquid inside across one of his ‘nails’, coloring it. Huh. So humans painted their skin just like mermaids did sometimes, very interesting. Unfortunately, Mumbo didn’t have the materials to show him. Scar examined his hand thoughtfully when he finished, throwing Mumbo a soft smile. “This won’t last. I’ll save it for the clams.”

With great care, Scar began to examine his clams one by one, picking them up and spinning them in his hands, saying something about names to Grian, then painting little symbols on the shells once they were dry enough. But why? Mumbo got the sense Scar was preparing them for something- to eat, maybe? Mumbo have never actually seen either human prepare any food; they seemed to bring pre-hunted meals with them every day. Was this.. part of the process..? Why in the world would they name their food?

Well. It was possible Scar wasn’t trying to eat and Mumbo was just thinking about food due to his own hunger. But then what was the point!

Apparently, the painting activity piqued Grian’s interest despite his previous dismissal, a common trend for that human it seemed. Despite holding a somewhat stubborn facade of disinterest, he was quick to contribute a name, and eventually, stopped fishing altogether to check out what Scar was working on.

“This one will be Jellie, the cutest, prettiest, fastest clam,” Scar said, practically shoving one of the clams in Grian’s face. Mumbo couldn’t quite make out the symbol painted on it, (none of the human symbols meant anything to him) but Grian seemed to understand, reaching insistently for the paint in Scar’s other hand. Scar held it out of reach, leaning away, but not without a smile on his face. “What? You don’t like Jellie?”

“Let me make one.”

“I thought you didn’t care about clam racing,” Scar grinned as he shoved back, Grian stumbling a bit in the sand before scrambling back to Scar, throwing himself across the other’s arms in a way that made Mumbo’s fins stand on end. What were they doing? Why were they fighting? Was it about food?

“You can’t put Jellie in the race without Maui and Pearl. At least one of them! I want to draw them.”

“There’s only so many slots for the race, Grian. I’m afraid your cats didn’t make the cut, very sorry, very very sorry.”

“You haven’t even painted all of them yet!” Grian said, in a tone that could have been a growl, though Mumbo had never heard a human make that noise before. Grian pushed at Scar’s face, and Scar laughed(?) hurriedly trying to cap the paint before he dropped it. Grian climbed onto Scar’s back, but as soon as the paint was secure, Scar fell backwards, howling as he crushed Grian in the sand behind him. Grian squeaked, the breath knocked from him, but it wasn’t long before he was squabbling under Scar’s weight, clawing and pushing and being very loud in tones that made Mumbo’s skin crawl. He had to stop them somehow- they were going to hurt each other!