#idk i went my whole life not knowing but i hadn’t really been exposed to it as much as i am now. for obvious reasons

[vaperarmand]

whether or not you’ve seen it, if you have a fun story or smth about how you found out i’d love to hear it :)

[katwriteswhump]

Well. That made me think twice.

I’m a cis female. The oc that I torture the most is a cis female, but that’s mostly because I invented her when I was about 10-11, re discovered my old works a couple years ago just after the covid pandemic, and realised that although my mediocre, 10yr old execution of her whumpy situations wasn’t brilliant, she had some great content that I realised I could really use. At primary school age, I went to an all girls school, had a family that was mostly female, and didn’t really include many male characters, mostly because I just didn’t spend enough time around males to really know how to write them. This also meant that, having spent most of my life at this point surrounded by females, I had very strong feminist ideas. (I promise that’s relevant later, I’m getting to it). This would have all happened before I knew about the whump community, or even knew that the stuff I liked writing had a specific name. I’ve spent a lot of time more recently trying to bring on more male characters, but my main characters/Whumpees still tend to be female. It’s also just easier for me as a female to write female characters.

On a linked idea, most of the writing I’m doing now is revival of my old childhood works that I abandoned. Therefore, all of my characters have a massive amount of old trauma that gets awakened. As a result, I’ve planned out their entire childhoods to like, the month or the year. Including the unimportant years when not much happens, before the plot gets reawakened, e.g. between the ages of 3 to 10. The main plot in my main series starts when the main characters are about 11, cus that’s how old I was at the time. Because of this extensive planning, and the fact that I hadn’t been exposed to much LGBTQ+ content, media, or anything, my main revival work does not feature any trans characters. I am working on this. I promise. I’m changing a lot of the details in my outlines so that I can fit in like, trans related stuff, even if one of the characters starts thinking about it, and it only really takes off like, later in the series. My planning at this point has so many intertwined and overlapping plots that it’s hard to fit ANYTHING in. In terms of non hetero characters, I am also changing my works to fit some of them in. The vast majority of my newer works do feature LGBTQ+ characters.

Also, my parents are the kind of parents to like, avoid exposing their kids to LGBTQ+ media, in case their kids like, “get ideas” or whatever. Well, congrats. I’m bi.

Went a bit off topic there, but I’m done. With that part. Anyway.

If I’m writing like, generic Whumpee/Whumpee/Caretaker type stuff I will use they/them pronouns. Because, yk. It’s just the best way in my opinion. Obviously this changes if the plot demands, for example if there’s dehumanisation, and I’m using “it” as a pronoun, or if there’s purposeful misgendering as a form of abuse, or whatever. You know what I mean.

On the whole “strong feminist instinct” thing, this has definitely leaked into my writing. My favourite type of Whumper is a female, whether cis or trans, who likes to fuck shit up. Idk why. I just like to see them torturing the men. I do have female Whumpees, and male Whumpers, I just… idk. I do agree with op that females should be whumped.

So!!! This feels like I’m writing a fuckin essay or something, with like a conclusion at the end, but yk it’s late and I went on a rant so yeah. I think it’s definitely a possibility that cis/trans females and AFABs have internalised the idea that men can like, feel all of the whumpy things more intensely, or like, that they should be tortured because it’s more interesting. And we should definitely have more female/AFAB whumpees.

sorry. that was long. im done. i promise. bye

Whump Community, can we think about something together?

Listen, I know this is going to be controversial, and I’ll be clear: this is not a judgment, it’s not an attack, it’s an invitation to think about the dynamics in the Whump Community and in Whump as a genre. In no way, the ideas I am going to express are meant to shame you or invalidate your experience, I am talking about MYSELF too in this post.

Now.

Could we think about the fact that, maybe, we prefer male/masc-aligned whumpees over female/fem-aligned whumpees because we do have a huge amount of internalized misogyny?

Women are considered a subcategory of human beings, because socially a human being is a male. Women are able to consume and interact with movies, series, books, and stories that are often considered based on “the male experience”, but the same thing isn’t done by men.

Women’s emotions have always been policed, just think about the idea of “hysteria”, or lobotomy, which was often executed on women. If men can’t cry, women can’t be show rage, cry, be happy (Everyone hates fangirls and teenage girls), be horny, they can’t feel anything.

With that being said, isn’t Whump about empathy? Isn’t Whump about seeing a character that you care for, getting through extremely distressing situations, and being able to recover, and be loved?

So does the justification of: “Women have too much on their plate already, so I’m not going to make them suffer” a bit weak? If we all get extremely angry when screenwriters or authors whump the “wrong character”, because “we have to whump the fav one”, why is the whumpee never a woman? Why is the blorbo who deserves to be whumped never a woman?

Is it because we all, cis women, trans women, AFAB people, have internalized the idea that men’s emotions are deeper, are more consistent, are more human? That in a way, the male experience is going to fulfill us in a much greater way than what a woman’s experience could ever possibly do?

[flirting-with-psychology]

Stayed single almost the whole year? 2015: You fucking know it

2016: Same

2017: Almost

2018: Almost, no official relationships or anything

2019: I was taken for most of the year!

2020: Nope! I had a boyfriend the whole year :)

2021: No, had a boyfriend the whole year!

2022: No, I had a boyfriend all year!

Were involved In something you’ll never forget? 2015: Yeah

2016: Yeah, band

2017: My film class

2018: Yeah, Macy’s and the film stuff I did and my house

2019: The B Flat

2020: My relationship, other than that this year was uneventful

2021: Some of the films

2022: Good Night Oppy

Tripped over a coffee table? 2015: Most likely

2016: I can’t recall but probably

2017: There’s like a 98% chance I did

2018: Definitely

2019: Yup, and all the tables at work

2020: Hit my toe on a table leg and it hurt for weeks

2021: Probably

2022: I did not have a coffee table otherwise I would have

Dyed your hair? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No but planning on it

2019: Kinda but it didn’t really take

2020: No

2021: No

2022: Yes! My friend helped me dye it a red ombre

Came close to losing your life? 2015: No

2016: A car cut me off at a crosswalk so maybe

2017: Probably not

2018: No

2019: No

2020: Not unless I was exposed to covid

2021: Probably not

2022: Not that I know of

Saw one of your favorite bands/artists live? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No

2019: I saw some musicals live

2020: No

2021: No

2022: Idk if I’d say they were my favorites, but I saw AJR and Panic! At the Disco

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22: FRIENDS & ENEMIES…

Did you meet any new friends this year? 2015: Yeah I did, and I got closer to old friends

2016: Yeah

2017: Yeah

2018: Yeah

2019: A couple

2020: I met some friends online in an Among Us group

2021: A couple, and I met the among us group in person

2022: Dunno if I met any this year but I definitely became better friends with my DnD groups and some people at work

Did you hate anyone? 2015: Not really hate, but dislike

2016: Same

2017: Yeah kinda

2018: I really didn’t like a coworker (but now we are friends) and a friend’s girlfriend (who I still don’t like)

2019: Not actively

2020: I hate Trump and Mitch McConnell

2021: Idk

2022: Not personally

Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships? 2015: I wish I could have found roommates

2016: I wish I had gotten closer to people on my study abroad. But my roommate was nice and I still talk to her every so often, so that’s cool. A note on last year, I’m glad I didn’t end up living with the friends I was thinking about living with because their apartment got condemned and they had to move to a suburb and commute to school, then one got a girlfriend and moved out and the other one is with her boyfriend a lot so I would have been stuck all by myself out in the middle of nowhere

2017: I kind of regret not getting closer to my roommates

2018: I regret that I don’t value some of them as much as I should

2019: Not spending more time with them once I got a boyfriend. I swore I wouldn’t be that person who ditches their friends once they get into a relationship

2020: I wish it hadn’t gone to shit in my house because of covid

2021: Maybe not hanging out and keeping in touch enough

2022: Maybe not taking full advantage of friendships because I’m awkward

Did you miss any friends? 2015: A little

2016: A little

2017: A little

2018: A little

2019: Yes but it turned out she was just out of the country

2020: I miss all my friends

2021: Yes

2022: A little

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22: YOUR BIRTHDAY…

Did you have a cake? 2015: It had a piece of cake

2016: No, I had IHOP

2017: No, I had pancakes

2018: No, I had chocolate mousse

2019: Yes

2020: Bundt cake

2021: No, I had chocolate fondue

2022: No, I had chocolate fondue

Did you have a party? 2015: No, I went to Vegas

2016: No, I went to brunch with my parents then played in my last home football game as part of the band

2017: Kinda, we did an escape room and then went to dinner

2018: No, just a couple of friends out to dinner

2019: We went to an escape room a couple weeks later because my actual birthday got snowed out

2020: No because of covid

2021: No, I was visiting my boyfriend’s family for thanksgiving

2022: No, I went to see a musical with my mom and then dinner with my boyfriend

Did you get any presents? 2015: Yeah

2016: Yeah, and a win

2017: Yeah

2018: Yeah a few

2019: Yeah

2020: Yeah

2021: Yeah

2022: Yeah

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22: ALL ABOUT YOU…

Did you change at all this year? 2015: I believe so

2016: I’m sure I did

2017: I’m sure I will always change

2018: Yes but not as much as I had hoped or in the ways I wanted

2019: Probably a little

2020: I got worse

2021: Yeah I think so

2022: Yeah, worried less about covid and put myself out there more

Were you in school? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes

2017: For part of the year but then I gruaduated

2018: No

2019: No

2020: No

2021: No

2022: No

Did you own a car? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No

2019: No

2020: I bought a car in September!

2021: Yes :)

2022: Yes!

Did anyone close to you give birth? 2015: No

2016: Not really close, but my mom’s ex-boyfriend’s daughter did

2017: No

2018: No but I’m starting to be friends with people who have kids

2019: No

2020: No

2021: No

2022: No

Did you go on any vacations? 2015: Yeah, I went on 2 road trips and I think a couple others

2016: I studied abroad in Italy and went on 2 away trips with the band, and about to go on a third

2017: I went to London, New Orleans, and Wyoming for the eclipse

2018: I went to Las Vegas for a film shoot

2019: I went to Israel and a few smaller trips

2020: I went to Harry Potter World with my boyfriend

2021: A small one

2022: I made up for lost time and went to visit my boyfriend’s family in Chicago, friends in St. Louis, my cousin’s wedding in California, my aunts in New York

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22: WRAP UP…

Was 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22 a good year? 2015: It was better than 2014

2016: Not as good as I hoped, but some things were good. The football team had a really good year

2017: It was pretty good. The football team did not have as good a year

2018: Overall I think so

2019: It was alright

2020: No

2021: Not really but it was a little better than last year

2022: It was pretty good

Do you think 2016/17/18/19/20/21/22/23 will top 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22? 2015: I hope so

2016: I hope so

2017: I’m not sure, but I hope so

2018: I hope so, I kind of have a good feeling about it

2019: I hope so

2020: God I fucking hope so

2021: If it doesn’t I don’t know what I’d do

2022: I hope so, hopefully there won’t be some new bullshit

IN THE YEAR 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22 I CONFESS THAT I…

Kissed in the snow? 2015: No

2016: Still no

2017: No, but there’s still time

2018: No

2019: Yep!

2020: I can’t remember

2021: Maybe?

2022: Don’t think so

Done something you’ve regretted? 2015: Slightly

2016: Some things, but nothing big

2017: Probably

2018: Yes

2019: Probably

2020: Nothing major

2021: Nothing major

2022: Probably a bit

Painted a picture? 2015: Yes, with watercolors with some girls in my hall

2016: I can’t recall

2017: No

2018: No

2019: Yes, with wax

2020: Don’t think so

2021: No, but I have painted some minis

2022: No

Wrote a poem? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes. Only one or two though, not nearly as much as I used to

2017: I don’t think so actually

2018: I don’t think so

2019: No

2020: Don’t think so

2021: No

2022: No

Ran a mile? 2015: Nope

2016: I probably did cumulatively, in all of 2016, run a total of at least a mile. But not on its own, no

2017: Maybe on the elliptical

2018: On the elliptical

2019: On the elliptical probably

2020: No

2021: I think I actually did one time on the elliptical

2022: On the ellliptical

Visited a foreign country? 2015: No

2016: Yes, Italy

2017: Yes, England and France

2018: No

2019: Yes, Israel

2020: No

2021: No

2022: No

Cut in a line of waiting people? 2015: Probably by accident

2016: Probably

2017: Probably

2018: Probably

2019: Maybe

2020: Don’t think so

2021: Dunno

2022: I probably cut a bunch of people in the Taylor Swift ticketmaster queue

IN 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22 I…

Broke a promise? 2015: Probably

2016: Probably

2017: Probably

2018: Probably

2019: Probably

2020: I’m sure I did

2021: Probably

2022: Probably

Lied? 2015: Probably

2016: Probably

2017: Yes

2018: Yes, but just little white lies

2019: Yes

2020: Maybe just little white lies

2021: Yes

2022: Probably

Disappointed someone close? 2015: Probably, I know I disappointed my parents a couple times

2016: Probably

2017: I know I disappointed my parents a couple times

2018: Probably

2019: Probably my boyfriend a few times

2020: I’m sure I did

2021: I know I disappointed my dad

2022: Probably disappointed my boyfriend

Had a secret? 2015: Not really

2016: A couple

2017: Not really

2018: Maybe kinda

2019: Not anything big reallyy

2020: Not really

2021: A little

2022: Yeah a bit

Pretended to be happy? 2015: Yes

2016: Sometimes

2017: Sometimes

2018: Yes, when I needed to

2019: Sometimes

2020: Occasionally, but didn’t really try

2021: Sometimes

2022: Sometimes

Slept under the stars? 2015: In a tent

2016: Don’t think so

2017: In a tent

2018: No

2019: In a tent community

2020: No

2021: No and I have no idea what I was talking about in 2019

2022: No

Kept your new year’s resolution? 2015: Some of them

2016: Probably a few of them

2017: Probably some

2018: I don’t even remember what they were

2019: Some of them

2020: A few of them

2021: Some of them

2022: Some of them probably

Forgot your new year’s resolution? 2015: I wrote them down

2016: Yes

2017: Yep

2018: Did I even make one?

2019: I wrote them down

2020: I wrote them down

2021: Yeah

2022: I wrote them down but never looked at them again

Met someone who changed your life? 2015: Yes

2016: Probably

2017: Yes

2018: I’m sure I did

2019: Didn’t meet him this year but he has

2020: Not that I know of

2021: No one who has changed it yet

2022: Maybe

Changed your outlook on life? 2015: I believe so

2016: Maybe for the worse. Hopefully I’ll get over that

2017: Maybe

2018: Idk

2019: Not really

2020: I think I got disenfranchised with capitalism and feared death more

2021: Starting to change my balance of risk vs reward

2022: Got a lot more relaxed about covid

Sat home all day doing nothing? 2015: Yup

2016: Yup

2017: I’m sure I did

2018: Probably but not enough

2019: Yup

2020: Like most days

2021: Yeah

2022: Yup

Learned something new about yourself? 2015: Yes

2016: Probably

2017: Maybe

2018: Maybe

2019: I learned what I’m like in a relationship

2020: Probably

2021: Idk

2022: Sorta

Met great people? 2015: Yeah!

2016: Yep!

2017: Yep!

2018: Yep!

2019: I think so, I honestly can’t remember who I met when

2020: Didn’t meet a ton of people

2021: A couple

2022: Got closer with some people

Kissed someone that means a lot to you? 2015: Yes, unfortunately I don’t mean a lot to him anymore. Not even sure if I did then

2016: No. I mean, I kissed one of my friends drunkenly, an she means a lot to me as a friend, but no one romantically

2017: I’m not sure yet how much he means to me. But we are dating

2018: Yes, but so far I’m not sure whether he means a lot to me as a friend or as a romantic interest

2019: Yes!

2020: Yes :)

2021: Yes

2022: Yes

Stayed up till sunrise? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes

2017: Yes, on my film project. I couldn’t even see the sunrise, I just walked outside and it was daytime

2018: Yes on a film shoot

2019: Probably

2020: Yes

2021: Yes, and always felt like I failed when I did

2022: I actually don’t know if I did

Cried over the silliest thing? 2015: I’m sure I did when I was PMSing

2016: Yes

2017: Yes

2018: Yes

2019: Too often

2020: Yes

2021: Yes

2022: Yes

Had friends who were drifting away from you? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes

2017: Yes

2018: Yeah Kylie kind of did

2019: Kylie and Shaina

2020: Yes, especially my roommates

2021: Yeah unfortunately

2022: Yeah a little

Had a high cell phone bill? 2015: Not too bad

2016: It increased a bit, but my parents pay most of it

2017: It decreased because the phone itself got paid off

2018: Lol I still have to pay that

2019: I think it’s the same

2020: No, I don’t remember if I even paid my dad

2021: Not really but I got a new phone

2022: Yeah, I always have to pay for an extra gb each month

Spent most of your money on food? 2015: Quite a bit

2016: That and clothes I don’t need

2017: No, rent

2018: No, rent and shit from Macy’s

2019: Not most of it

2020: Mostly rent

2021: No, mostly dnd stuff

2022: No, mostly DnD stuff and crafts

Had a fist fight? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No

2019: No

2020: No

2021: No

2022: No

Gotten sick? 2015: Yeah for like half this entire semester. Also got shingles over the summer

2016: Still dealing with my immune system’s decision to just fucking walk out

2017: yes, but not so much now that I’m not in school

2018: Yes, I had a cough that lasted 2 months

2019: I had the stomach flu

2020: I think I had a cold once, it was kind of nice not getting sick every month this year

2021: No, it’s the longest time I’ve ever gone without getting sick

2022: I finally got a cold again after like 3 years and then got another one a week later

Liked more than 5 people at the same time? 2015: Not seriously. I had brief little interests that overlapped but I don’t think more than 3 at a time that I really liked

2016: Yeah I think so

2017: Not sure

2018: Probably

2019: Not really other than fleeting attractions

2020: No

2021: I don’t think 5

2022: Not 5

Became closer with a lot of people? 2015: A few

2016: Not really

2017: A couple

2018: A few

2019: With a couple people

2020: With my boyfriend

2021: No

2022: A few

Song that reminds you of summer 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22? 2015: Can’t Help Falling In Love

2016: Bring Him Home

2017: In A Crowd of Thousands

2018: Moving Out

2019: Some jewish song?

2020: Epiphany

2021: Dangerous to Dream

2022: Anything by AJR because I saw them in concert

Lost any friends this year? 2015: Yes. One because she was a bitch

2016: A friend died in April, and I found out about it in June. I don’t know how he died, we had not been close in awhile

2017: Temporarily

2018: My last roommates

2019: Not really

2020: Probably my roommates

2021: Not really I don’t think

2022: Not really

When people say, “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever talked shit about anyone” do you think it’s possible? 2015: Possibly but probably not likely. For awhile I used to think I wasn’t judgmental before I realized I actually am

2016: Unlikely. I’m petty af now

2017: Probably not

2018: Probably not, they probably do even if they don’t mean to

2019: Probably not

2020: Probably not

2021: Probably not unless they have some toxic positivity issues

2022: Doubtful

How do you feel about gay marriage? 2015: So glad it’s legal!

2016: Same

2017: Same

2018: It’s great!

2019: Great!

2020: Great!

2021: Love it

2022: Lov it

Give me a random lyric from the song you’re listening to: 2015: I can’t really make out lyrics

2016: I’m not listening to anything

2017: I’m not listening to anything

2018: I’m not listening to anything

2019: Not listening to anything

2020: If the shoe fits, walk in it Til your high heels break

2021: Not listening to anything

2022: I’m not listening to anything

Do you think you’re approachable? 2015: Not as much as I would like to be

2016: Haven’t solved this problem yet

2017: Not as much as I would like to be

2018: Not as much as I would like to be

2019: Only by customers

2020: Not lately, I would like it if people did not approach me

2021: Not really

2022: Not really

Do you make sexual innuendos about everything? 2015: Kinda

2016: Not as much as I used to

2017: Only on occasion

2018: Sometimes

2019: Not as much as I used to

2020: Not as much as I used to

2021: Sometimes if I have the right crowd

2022: Yeah I’ve been doing it more again now that I’m comfortable with my friend groups

Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? 2015: Not unless it’s like my parents or something

2016: No

2017: Not really

2018: Not really

2019: No

2020: No

2021: Not really

2022: No

Who is the last person you texted? 2015: My friend Kylie

2016: My mom

2017: Guacamole

2018: My friend Sara

2019: The art director from the shoot last year

2020: My boyfriend

2021: My mom

2022: Liked a message from my mom

Song playing right now? 2015: Because We can

2016: Nothing

2017: Nothing

2018: Nothing, but She Used to be Mine is paused on Spotify

2019: Nothing

2020: Epiphany (but the song that was playing when I answered the lyrics question was Long Story Short)

2021: Nothing

2022: Nothing

[paulmccartneyofficial]

I know it’s causing lots of anxiety so pls feel free to say no BUT if you’re feeling it, would you share a lil storyline about your paul concert experience?

hello!!! this experience has definitely been quite earth shattering for me and i’m still on cloud 9 trying to understand how the hell i got here

i’ve had tickets for paul’s first boston show with my mom since they went on sale, right off the bat we were getting close to $500 for nosebleeds so we were in the grandstands. it was kind of a take what you’re served and just eat it type deal, but it’s of course been my dream to just look at his face with my own two eyes since i was itty bitty so a bit of a downer. but he’s special to me and my mom, the beatles were the first music she really exposed me to and i latched on to them from the very beginning so it was great!

but i am insane. so, me and my irl bestie (who is equally as big of a beatles fan as i am) snatched some last minute grandstands seats for his second show as well. as it turns out, though, one of my friends from middle school works at the park and of course asked if i would be there for night 2, and told us she’d get us the hookup. whatever that means.

so my bestie and i head in a bit later than we expected, took the train in and got to the park around 3:30ish and we figured it was already too late for paul and that we’d just meander around for some lunch instead. while wandering the street, we found a group of people lined up on the sidewalk just waiting… and we were grouped with them by security as the last of the group. come to find out, paul hadn’t arrived at the stadium yet, and there i was, first fan waiting on the sidewalk as he drove by, and boy. lmao. his nose his smile his wave his sweetness, he was like 7 feet away from me looking at me and waving.

what the fuck. lmao.

so that was when the heart pounding started. still waiting for it to chill the fuck out.

so my friend texted us to meet her at a gate on the other side of the park and when we finally did, she urged us in and escorted us through and got us a seat upgrade. to the front. on the side, of course, but the front seat of our section, right on rusty anderson’s side! (rusty is the best ok. we love rusty in this house.)

paul came out and waved and everything else and there were many times he looked to us or waved and interacted, his piano was angled right at us with his little hazel eyes peeking just over us as he stared right ahead in our direction. insanity.

the one moment that stuck out for me in particular, however, was during come on to me. towards the end of the song, as we all know, is the pause before he comes back in with the “yes i will, yes i will, yes i will, now!” that literally everyone always falls for as the ending to the song. so as everyone, and i mean everyone—my bestie included—were cheering at the break, paul stepped back and rested his hands to take a look at the audience, slowly. and i sat there, pointing at him with an expectant grin on my face, waiting for the “yes i will!” and he spotted me and pointed back! and while maintaining his gaze on me and the fingers pointed at each other, he backed up to the microphone, and cued us both in with the “yes i will!” part. idk why but the whole idea of paul singling me out because he knew that i knew the song… idk. that was just the coolest fucking shit to me. i’m vibrating just thinking about it.

so yeah. it was insane. rusty was also awesome—he had so much fun interacting with our side, like when he tried to get everyone to wave their hands during the na-nas of hey jude and only me and my bestie did it and he got excited about it. just fucking phenomenal.

it was easily the best day of my life and i can’t even imagine what divine being intercepted my preset plans to give me such blessings, i’ve just been thanking john, george, linda, and kate ever since.

regardless of where you sit—he’s amazing. he’s as amazing up front as he is to the people on the top of the tall building behind the park watching him for free. he’s almost 80 and commanding the stage like no other, with such an immaculate understanding of his instruments and the art he is creating with it. genuinely the best show there is.

[crybabykiko]

Brainrot Kinktober - 10/1

nice guys finish last

Hate sex: Shigeru Yahaba x Fem!Reader

Warnings: oral sex (f. receiving), sex (protected), kinda unhealthy relationship? Lmfaoooo idk how to tag a hate fuck but that’s what it is... frat boys. frat au- frat boys always come with a warning.

Word Count: 1.7k

Brainrot Kinktober Mlist

Of all the people in your contemporary issues seminar, it was just your luck that you had to be paired with Shigeru Yahaba for your midterm project. He was the arrogant, know-it-all, frat boy type that you loathed. It wasn’t that you knew you’d get a bad grade, actually quite the opposite; you both had some of the highest marks in the class- no, it was the fact that you had to spend time with someone who had such an inflated ego, and made it a point to let everyone know that his dad was on the university board of trustees or that his fraternity won the greek wars the past 2 years in a row- Every. Time. He. Opened. His. mouth. But begrudgingly, you had to do this to pass.

After texting back and forth sporadically for a few days, you had agreed to meet and work on the paper in your dorm, as you told Yahaba there was no way in hell you were stepping foot into his frat’s house. You felt a lot better doing the assignment on your terms this way. He, however, decided to show up almost an hour late to the pre-arranged meeting time, only further fuelling your disdain.

“Sorry,” he said flatly, tossing his backpack down to the floor. “Our pledges had a mission that ran over time and as Pledge Master I-“

“I don’t care,” you cut him off. “Let’s just get this project over with, yeah?”

You both set up your laptops and sat in an uncomfortable silence. Every once in a while, one of you would mention the topic at hand for the project, discussing a detail or commenting on the formatting of the paper you had to co-author. But mostly, the air was riddled with a heaviness, a lingering tension that was as close to breaking as possible. It was about an hour and a half before he opened his mouth to actually make conversation- and of course, he chose to press the issue.

“You know… I never really knew what your whole deal was with me,” he chuckled. “You seem to be the only person on this campus that has it out for me…”

“I don’t have it out for you,” you replied. “I just simply don’t like you.” You went back to work, typing feverishly in an attempt to draw your silence back in.

“But… why?” His tone changed, almost to one of desperation. One that let you know that he wanted you to validate him. But you could never give him that satisfaction.

“Because trustfund boys like you are a waste of time, space, and energy!” You yelled. Yahaba’s eyes widened.

“Well at least I don’t think I’m better than everybody for being a loner without friends!” He yelled back.

“At least I don’t have to fucking pay for friends,” you spat. “I worked for everything I have, I worked hard to get here! You think you should just be able to get by because daddy’s money keeps the school afloat!”

Your faces were lingering mere inches from each other, anger boiling over into a sickening feeling of contempt- but also an overwhelming arousal? The feeling of those sinfully familiar butterflies welled up in your abdomen as you stared into his eyes.

It was in a fluid motion that his lips found yours, teeth feverishly tugging at your bottom lip to allow entrance to your mouth. Your head was spinning as you tried to comprehend your current position- but your senses were overriding thought. You melted into the kiss, allowing your jaw to fall open just enough for Yahaba to swipe his tongue against yours. You paused for a second, stopping to look him in the eyes again, seeing his now hooded with an entirely different story than the hateful narrative you had been writing for them the entire semester.

“If we’re going to do this,” you started, taking the time to take a deep inhale before you finished your sentence:

“If we’re going to do this, you better not fucking tell anyone- or you’re dead.”

“Scouts honor,” Yahaba replied, licking his lips and giving you a shit-eating grin. Even though you were thoroughly convinced he had never been a scout, you couldn’t be bothered to care. He kissed you once more, pushing you into the couch before starting to sloppily trail kisses down your jawline, neck, and collarbones. He placed both hands at your waist, pinning you to the surface below as he used his teeth to pull up your shirt, feathering more kisses down your torso. You watched him wistfully, mindlessly following his lead.

You began to kick off your leggings, wriggling them down your thighs while Yahaba had removed his shirt. He found his way back to your mouth, placing sloppy open-mouthed kisses to it as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of your slowly dampening underwear, tossing them to the floor. He ran a finger up your now glistening slit- the sudden sensation of which earned a gasp of surprise from you. Examining his finger, he slowly licked your arousal from it.

“Delicious,” he smirked, positioning his head and body in between your legs, his own feet dangling from the couch. He looked up at you one last time.

“I hope you’re ready for this....” he teased. He wasted no time, flattening his tongue against your core. You inhaled sharply, one hand finding his hair and the other palming one of your now exposed breasts. You rolled your nipple between your fingers as he went to work, lapping at your folds with an almost sinfully slow pace.

“Fuck I need- MORE!” You could barely get the last word out when you were jolted by the feeling of suction his mouth had made on your clit. Slowly, Yahaba had slid a finger at your slit, slowly pushing it within your plush walls, several soft moans escaping your lips. He curled his finger inside of you once or twice before lazily slipping another in, making sure to keep the pressure also building around your clit, rapidly darting his tongue against it.

He released you from his mouth with a pop, fingers still pumping away. He was motivated by the moans you were so desperately holding back- he wasn’t supposed to be making you feel this good. You hated him, you hated what he stood for- why give him the satisfaction of having you come undone at his touch?

“Come on, y/n,” he coaxed. “I know you’re a raging fucking bitch- but can you sound real pretty for me? Let me hear how pretty you sound, tell me how good my fingers feel inside your pretty little hole...”

“Hmmmph~ fuck,” you whined. He quickened his pace. “It feels so- mmmm- so good.”

“Good girl.” His mouth found its way to your clit once again as he removed his fingers from your cunt, bringing them to your lips. You quickly opened your mouth for them, tasting your essence and humming as you wrapped your lips around them. Your eyes fluttered closed as you could feel the knot in your abdomen slowly starting to rip.

“I’m going to c-“ you choked out a half sentence, stopping as you felt your climax ripped away from you as Yahaba removed his mouth from the bundle of nerves, leaving your spasming pussy desperate for attention.

“No you’re not,” he growled. He tore his joggers from his body, boxers following immediately after. Spitting into his hand, he stroked his already hardened cock; looking at you lustfully. He used his free hand to reach into the pocket of his joggers, pulling out his wallet, followed by a condom.

“I’m always prepared,” he winked. As much as you wanted to smack the smug look off of his face, you knew that he would be able to scratch the growing itch you had. You just wish he wasn’t able to talk through it.

“Shut up,” you retorted. “Just fuck me before I change my mind.” You swivelled your hips in anticipation, watching him prepare himself. He lined himself up with your core, sliding himself against your opening.

“Shiiiit,” he hissed, slowly sinking into you. Your head flew back as the feeling of fullness overtook your lower half. Yahaba started moving at an even pace, snapping his hips against you with each thrust. You threw your arm around his side, coaxing him to move a little faster.

“For someone who can’t stand me, you sure are needy,” Yahaba laughed, continuing to pull himself in and out of you at a teasingly slow rate.

“I said shut up and fuck me- that’s all you need to be doing,” you commanded.

He bent down even closer to you, bucking himself into you deeply, attaching his tongue to the sweet spot just below your ear and sinking his teeth into the soft flesh. He started pounding away at your pussy, satiated by the stream of curses and needy moans spilling from your lips. Your nails absentmindedly dug into his back, clawing at him to make sure you could feel every inch of him dragging through your soaking wet walls. The familiar knot in the bottom of your stomach was building itself up yet again, only made larger by Yahaba pressing his hand against your abdomen to deliver more quick and hard thrusts, hitting at just the perfect angle to cause you to snap.

“Fuckfuckfuck I’m- oh my god- I’m cumming!” You choked out as your vision went blurred. Yahaba didn’t let up, continuing to thrust as you rode out the high, your walls spasming around him. Once you went limp, he pulled out, hair still perfectly coiffed and sticking to his forehead from the sweat. He began to dress himself again as you lay sprawled on the couch, your body beginning to prickle with sensation again.

“Wait,” you paused. “You didn-”

“Nah,” he threw his shirt back on. He hadn’t finished himself. You were a little hurt- did he think you were trash?

“I wanted to prove to you that even if you hate me, I’m a pretty good guy… a good guy would never let you go unfinished.”

The hurt you had felt turned into the contempt you knew instinctively.

“Fuck you,” you huffed, pulling your t-shirt back over your own head.

“You just did,��� he smirked.

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[wondernimbus]

ottery st. catchpole — cedric diggory

pairing: cedric diggory x female!reader

request #1: Hi! Do you mind writing a Cedric x reader fic where y/n loves and is the best baker? She hands him a treat and he finds himself slowly falling for for her (idk smth really cute please!) Thanks :))

request #2:  Can you write Cedric and the reader sharing their first kiss together? 🥺

a/n: decided to combine two requests since i thought they’d work well together! 

The muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole was a fascinating place.

The first time Cedric had gone there at age eight, he'd thrown on an odd assortment of muggle clothes: a pink strawberry-patterned shirt, overly large bell-bottoms from his father's closet, and a pair of flip-flops. He learned quickly that that was not the kind of attire that would get him unnoticed by the Muggles—rather the opposite, actually, as he earned odd stares everywhere he went. But there were no "ordinary" Muggle clothes in his closet and nor did his father, so the next time he went to the village and came across a clothesline hanging unguarded outside of a Muggle house, he snatched himself two shirts and a pair of jeans and made sure to leave a thank you note under their door.

Free to wander the village without skeptical stares of Muggles following him everywhere, curious, eight-year-old Cedric made sure to explore every inch of it from the park to the chapel to the tavern.

But his most favorite, perhaps, was the bakery.

It was a quaint little place, tucked away in the corner away from the bustling main road. Its battered sign read "Old Corner Bakery", and underneath it there was a window display of the most delicious, succulent-looking pastries Cedric had ever seen in his life. It looked—though he would never let her hear him say it—even better than the ones his mother would make at home.

And so one day, Cedric, oblivious to the workings of the Muggle world and the fact that their currency was very much different from theirs, walked through the door, marched right up to the counter where his tiny head only barely peeked out from, and held up a single golden galleon. "One of those, please," he told the old lady behind the cashier, pointing at a mouth-watering custard tart on display.

The old lady reached out for the galleon, baffled. "What is this?"

"For a custard tart," replied Cedric, handing it to her.

"I've never seen anything like this," she said in wonder, holding the galleon up to the light. "Good grief, is this real gold?"

Cedric frowned, puzzled. "It''s a galleon."

The lady's face fell. Scowling, she handed it back to him. "So it's a toy," she sniffed. "I would tell you to scram, but I've seen you pass by here ogling at my pastries once or twice before. I'll give you one for free. What was it you wanted again?"

Cedric, although a little confused by how she wouldn't take his galleon, beamed in delight. If it was for free, he wasn't going to complain.

And so Cedric walked out of the bakery a few moments later with half a custard tart in his hands and the other half already snug in his stomach. He wondered to himself if all Muggles were like this; if he went to that shop near the town square, would he get more stuff for free?

He tried, and needless to say, failed.

The next day, Cedric came back to the bakery bearing two sickles. As happy as getting free food made him, something about exploiting an old woman's kindness didn't sit right with him. If she didn't want the galleon, maybe she would take a sickle instead.

But when he walked through the bakery doors, he found that the old woman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in her place behind the cashier, there was a little girl about his age.

"Welcome to Old Corner Bakery!" she beamed, childish face shining brightly. "How may I help you?"

Cedric drew towards her, a pout on his face. "Where's the old lady?"

"The old lady?" she asked. "Oh, you mean grandma!"

He nodded.

"She's in the kitchen—baking, you know. I handle customers like you when she's too busy and I'm not doing homework," the little girl explained, grinning.

"Oh," said Cedric. "In that case, I want a cauldron cake!"

She tilted her head to the side, brows furrowed. "What's that?"

"A cauldron cake," he repeated. "Have you not got those here?"

Bottom lip jutting out in thought, the little girl scratched her head and hopped off of the stool she was apparently standing on to look over the cashier; as soon as she did, she disappeared behind the counter and into the kitchen. "Grandma!"

The familiar voice of the old lady replied, "Yes, dear?"

"Do we have cauldron cakes?"

"What?"

Cedric waited patiently by the counter, hands fiddling with the two sickles he held in his hands. "Cauldron cakes, grandma!" the little girl yelled louder.

"Never heard of 'em!" the old lady replied from the kitchen.

A moment later, the little girl was clambering back onto her stool behind the cashier. "I don't think we have those here," she told Cedric, and then, in a curious tone, "They sound delicious, though! What are they?"

A wide smile stretched across Cedric's round face—he looked as though he'd been waiting to be asked that for centuries. At a rapid pace, he began to gush, "They're chocolate cakes shaped like cauldrons and they've got melted chocolate in them and sometimes my mum uses this spell so that the chocolate doesn't run out and you can keep eating forever. She takes off the spell sometimes, though, because she says if I keep eating I'll get as fat as dad."

The little girl giggled, but then, with her eyes wide, asked, "Did you say spells? Like magic? The kind wizards and witches use?"

Cedric's eyes grew as wide as, if not even wider, than hers. He took a quick step back and cleared his throat, eyes darting around the bakery in panic. He'd forgotten, for a moment, that she was a Muggle—he'd almost revealed the secret of the wizarding world to her and defied his parents' warnings!

"Um," Cedric stammered, stuffing his two sickles back into his pocket. "Nevermind. Sorry!"

And just like that, he dashed out of the bakery, leaving the little girl staring after him, thoroughly intrigued.

—

Cedric did not go back to the village the next day under the irrational fear of accidentally revealing the wizarding world's biggest secret; that magic existed. Obviously, an eight-year-old wizard letting such a thing slip to yet another eight-year-old Muggle would little affect the wizarding world, but Cedric, childish and oblivious as he was, did not want to take any risks.

And so it took him a week before he mustered up the courage to go back into the village. He hadn't been planning to go into the bakery—he only hoped to catch a glimpse of the pastries by the window—but he found that the little girl was sitting outside on the front steps, munching on a piece of bread.

Mere seconds from legging it, the girl looked up and their eyes met. "Hey!" she called out, perking up. "I know you!"

Cedric froze from where he stood several feet away. He thought it'd be rude to bolt when she'd already noticed him, and so he walked forward tentatively, half-expecting her to start badgering him with questions about wizards and witches and magic. But she only patted the empty space next to her and beckoned him to sit down, that same cheery smile on her face that Cedric had seen a week ago.

He sat next to her on the stone steps, crossed arms propped on his knees as he turned his head to look at her. She was tearing the bread she held in her hands into two halves, the other half of which she handed to him.

"Thank you," said Cedric, taking it.

"You're welcome!" the little girl replied, face positively glowing with the warmth of a thousand suns. Taking a bite out of her now considerably smaller chunk of bread, she tilted her head and said, "I don't think I've ever seen you at school before."

He took a bite out of his own, eyes skittering away to look at the pavement. "My parents teach me school stuff at home," he told her. It wasn't a complete lie, although he guessed that the things that she learned in her Muggle school were a stark contrast to the magic he learned from his mum and dad.

"Oh, that sounds fun!" the little girl said, beaming. "Don't you get sad, though? Not having any kids your age to play with? Assuming you don't have siblings."

"I don't," replied Cedric through a mouthful of bread. It was some sort of strawberry crumpet. "I'm an only child. I suppose it does get lonely, sometimes, but that's why I go out here—to the Mugg—I mean, the village."

She nodded, mouth moving to form an o shape. "Neat. So you don't have homework?"

He shook his head. The girl's shoulders slumped and a frown quickly found its way onto her face. "I wish I didn't get homework," she said sullenly. "They give us a whole stack of it over the summer. I hate it."

Cedric bit the inside of his cheek. He didn't quite like the frown on her face; something about it made him feel unsettled, like something had gone wrong in the world. He nudged her shoulder with his. "It can't be that bad," he said, offering her a tiny smile. "There's.. there's worse things than homework. Like—I don't know—losing ekleksiti or whatever you call it.. or unintentionally fumbling with the Quaffle and messing up your team's goal.."

"You mean the football?"

"Yeah.." Whatever that was.

She giggled, turning to smile at him. "You're funny."

There was something about her tone of voice—along with the overall aura that she carried—that awfully reminded Cedric of summer days playing Quidditch outside with his family and warm wind in his face and lying in the grass seeing the clouds drifting above him.

It was that feeling that made it easy for Cedric to forget almost immediately about his illogical fear of exposing the magical world. It was what had him smiling back at her, round face just as bright and filled with the kind of mirthful innocence only children would have.

—

Cedric came back to the bakery the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. Both the little girl—who he learned was named [Y/N]—and her kind, albeit slightly cranky old grandmother, grew fond of him. The latter would make sure to bake him his favorite custard tarts, and [Y/N] would sit with him by the front steps of the bakery, talking about every tiny thing their brains came up with.

"Have you got a favorite movie?" [Y/N] asked him one day.

"A favorite what?"

"A movie. Don't tell me you've never seen one!"

Cedric scratched the back of his neck, abashed. "I don't think so. Is that a Mu—I mean, what is it?"

Looking utterly astounded, [Y/N] began to ramble on about moving pictures and fairytales and stories.

"I've seen moving pictures—but you're telling me they don't talk to you?" quizzed Cedric dubiously.

Frowning, she nodded. "The pictures talk to each other. Sort of. Although it would be cool if they talked to us, don't you think?"

Still trying to wrap his head around the concept of images that don't talk to you but talk to other images whilst following a story of sorts, Cedric rubbed his forehead. "This is giving me a headache."

[Y/N] giggled, shoving the last of her custard tart into her mouth. "Let's go see one one day! A movie, I mean. It'll be fun!"

Prying his palm away from his face, Cedric nodded and couldn't help but grin right back at her. The excited gleam in her eyes shone with the promise of more than just one day seeing a movie; it glowed with the promise of a friendship that would last for a long, long time. That gleam of promise was reflected in Cedric's own gaze, and rest assured it would stay there in the rest of the years to come.

—

Three years seemed to pass by in a blur of endless chatter, ridiculous inside-jokes, and shared pastries out by the bakery's front steps. The pair grew and their friendship did so along with them. Cedric learned to grow cautious about what he had come to call his "magical secret", although he suspected that [Y/N] had started to grow skeptical along the way despite her never bringing it up.

When his letter from Hogwarts arrived, Cedric knew that he had to tell [Y/N]—that, or make up some excuse. Or perhaps invent something akin to the truth, but not quite.

And so it went like this: "My parents are sending me to school."

[Y/N]'s eyes widened. They were sitting in their usual spot out by the bakery's stone steps, identical biscuits in their hands. Out of nowhere, she smacked Cedric's shoulder; he turned to face her, clutching the spot where she'd hit him. "What was that for?" asked Cedric, eyes as wide as hers.

She smacked him again, bouncing with the excitement of a five-year-old child waking up on Christmas day. "That's great!" she squealed, stuffing her biscuit in her mouth and chewing frantically. "I can introduce you to all my friends and we'll get to see each other everyday and not just on the weekends!"

Cedric's heart sank. "Um.."

"And we can do homework together and I won't have to walk back home alone and—"

"[Y/N], I'm not going to your school."

She paused. Her face fell and drooped into a frown so disappointed that Cedric had to tear his gaze away. "What—where are you going, then?"

He scratched the back of his neck, lips pressed together in a weak grimace. "Somewhere far."

[Y/N]'s brows were furrowed. "Where?"

"I don't know. Somewhere in Scotland, I think. I'll be back home for the summer, though."

Her shoulders had slumped, and so had Cedric's. The disappointment was evident in the sulky lines of her face and it was making Cedric feel all sorts of things he normally wouldn't feel around her; incredibly downcast being one of them. He'd known this day was coming one day or another, and so would the day he'd have to leave and not see her for several months—the day that loomed only a week from then.

"When are you leaving?" asked [Y/N], gaze fixed on the pavement, a pout on her tiny face.

"Next week," replied Cedric.

He couldn't bear it. He poked her side, which immediately led to her jumping up and frowning at him. (He'd discovered over time that it was a big tickle spot of hers.) Once he'd gathered her attention, he said in a quiet voice, "I've got a secret. Do you want to hear it?"

Still looking somewhat sullen, she nodded. [Y/N] would never pass up a chance to discover some big, mysterious secret, no matter her mood.

And just because he wanted to cheer her up, along with the fact that he knew he couldn't keep this from her—his best friend of three years who knew everything about him from his favorite pair of socks to his biggest fears—he leaned in, eyes wide, and whispered in a hushed tone, "I'm going to a school for wizards."

She drew back, brows pulled in together in the middle in pure incredulity as said, "You're joking."

"No," said Cedric, grinning. And then, in that same hushed voice, "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone, okay?"

Still looking utterly bewildered, [Y/N] nodded slowly, gaze locked with his.

"I can show you magic, if you like."

At this, her eyes grew wide and a moment later she was nodding excitedly. "Where? When? How?"

"Right now!" replied Cedric, relieved at the smile that split her face and replaced the disappointed frown from before. "Wait here, okay? I'll be back!" And then he sprang to his feet and dashed off.

Cedric was true to his word; he came back half an hour later bearing a mysterious purple package in his hands. [Y/N] was still sitting patiently where he'd left, and she looked up at him calling her name.

"What is that?" she asked, hands reaching out for the box, which Cedric handed to her. Turning it over in her hands, she saw the words "Chocolate Frog" written across the paper lid in shiny golden letters.

"Open it!" Cedric urged, sitting down next to her.

And so she did. Carefully opening the lid of the octagon-shaped box, she let out a loud shriek as a chocolate-colored pair of squirming frog legs poked out from behind it. Out of surprise, the package fell from her hands and onto the pavement, but Cedric's instincts were quick; he hurriedly hopped off the steps to grab the package, hands firmly clamped around it as he brought it back to her with a wide smile on his snickering face.

"Guess you don't scare easy, huh?" he grinned, teasing. "It can get away if you don't hold onto it as soon as you open the package. See, watch."

Heart still beating rapidly, she leaned over with wide eyes and a curious gaze, watching as Cedric carefully opened the lid. He caught something that, sure enough, looked like chocolate—but it was moving in his clasped fist.

"A chocolate frog," said [Y/N], eyes the size of golf-balls.

"Yep," said Cedric, bringing the still struggling treat to his lips and taking a huge chunk out of it. "Don't worry—it's not an actual frog. Just shaped to look like it."

Gobsmacked, [Y/N] stared as he handed her the bottom half of the chocolate frog, the legs of which was still squirming. "That's—woah," excitement bubbling in the pit of her stomach at having witnessed actual magic (albeit in the form of the so-called chocolate frog), she brought it to her mouth, where it instantly stopped moving and dissolved into a creamy mess of delicious chocolate.

Eyes glinting with the same elation that was in hers, Cedric sat down next to her and pulled a card out of the box. He handed it to her.

[Y/N] stared down at the small card in the palm of her hands. "Woah," she said again, voice a stunned whisper. Imprinted on the card was a photo of an old man whose beard stretched all the way down to his waist. He was wearing sparkling magenta robes and looking straight at her, a gentle twinkle in his wizened, old eyes. An odd name was emblazoned under his picture—"Albus Dumbledore"—but then he reached up to adjust the spectacles on the bridge of his nose, and [Y/N] let out another surprised gasp. "He moved!"

Cedric was grinning. "Magic, I told you!"

Exhilarated, [Y/N] looked back down at the card in her hands. The old man—Dumbledore—winked at her through his half-moon spectacles. "Is he—" she swallowed, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, "Is he a wizard?"

Cedric nodded, beaming. "And so am I."

For a few seconds, [Y/N] could do no more than open and close her mouth in pure shock. All of this was a lot to take in—but perhaps her being of the mere age eleven helped, because while the ordinary Muggle adult would have downright refused to believe it, an imaginative young girl like her who had yet to discover the world took the news kindly.

"I'd show you more magic," Cedric said bashfully, "But I don't really know how to yet. That's why I'm going to Hogwarts—the school I was talking about, you know—so I can learn how to use magic. Spells and potions and all of that stuff."

At this, [Y/N]'s lips once more drooped with the threat of yet another painful frown, but she picked it back up with a small smile. "Here," she swiveled around to face him on the steps, knees knocking with his. Holding her pinky finger up between them, she said, "You promise me you'll write, okay? And you have to tell me about all the stuff that you learn there and all the other wizards and witches you meet—there are witches, right?"

Cedric nodded, lips pressed together in a tiny smile as he laced his pinky finger through hers. "I promise. Expect there'll be owls knocking on your window every week or so."

Her eyes widened once more. "Owls?"

He grinned. "We use owls to send letters and stuff around."

"Oh. Neat."

They broke out into a fit of giggles. "Okay," said Cedric, pulling his pinky finger away. "But you have to promise me you'll keep it a secret."

[Y/N] nodded earnestly, a look of the utmost seriousness crossing over his face as she pressed her palm to her chest like she was swearing an oath. "I'll take it to the grave with me, Ced," she said, eyes sparkling. "Trust me."

—

And trust her he has done, for the past few years of his life. Cedric would leave on the first of September every year, but not before bidding her farewell and promising to write at least once a week. To make up for the time they've lost, he would spend almost every day of the summer and winter break with her. His parents understand; he has long since told them about the Muggle girl at the bakery who his heart has grown close to. And perhaps it is his parents who first notice when the friendship that he has with her begins to blossom into something else. Something more.

"Out to meet with your friend already?" asks his father upon catching Cedric already on his way out of the front door. It's his first day back home from his fifth year at Hogwarts, and he has barely even finished unpacking his bags.

Cedric grins. He is a young man of age sixteen now, no longer the tiny eight-year-old boy he once was when he first met [Y/N] all those years ago. And yet despite all that has changed—despite his broader stature and the fact that he now towers over his father—he is still the same compassionate boy he has always been; the one who has always had a love for pastries and a certain girl at the bakery, although he doesn't quite know it yet.

"She's waiting for me," says Cedric, oddly exhilarated. His heart beating with the anticipation of seeing her for the first time in several months, he waves a brief goodbye to his father and dashes down the hill leading to the Muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole.

He goes down the same path he always has; past the small patch of trees at the foot of the hill, through the town square, and finally, in front of the bakery. The door is propped open as though it has been waiting for him to enter, and voices waft out onto the street from the inside.

A smile already having found its way onto his face, Cedric takes the front stone steps two at a time before stepping inside.

"Be careful, grandma—oh, no—no, let me do it."

"It's fine, I can—Cedric, dear boy, you're back!"

A tray of freshly-baked cookies are set aside on the counter before a familiar elderly Muggle woman rushes at him and envelops him in a hug, mitten-covered hands wrapping themselves around his middle—the farthest she can reach him at his tall height and her own short legs. Cedric meets [Y/N]'s gaze over her grandmother's shoulder; she is leaning on the counter, lips pressed together in a barely-suppressed smile as her eyes shine with the kind of light that reminds Cedric of everything good in the world.

It takes a while for [Y/N]'s grandmother to stop fussing over him. When she does, she disappears behind the kitchen with the promise of coming out with a fresh batch of his favorite custard tarts.

And then he and [Y/N] are left alone in the bakery, where Cedric wastes no time and hugs her as close to him as he can. He wants to tell her that he'd missed her—terribly so—but he knows that she knows, and so he just holds her to him and hopes that the words come across alright.

A moment later the two of them are outside of the bakery, sitting on the same stone steps they've perched themselves on so many times before.

"So let me get this straight: you intentionally didn't write about the fact that there was a mass murderer inside your school because you didn't want me to worry?"

"Well, the matter was taken care of—"

"And there were soul-sucking demendoids or whatever you call them roaming the castle and you didn't mention it to me in your letters because you—"

"I didn't want you to worry, yes."

[Y/N] stares at him, deadpan. "And I suppose if you suffer a horrible death you won't care to write to me either because you don't want me worrying."

"Well, if I were dead, I'd hardly be able to write to y—"

"Oh, you get my point!" says [Y/N], rolling her eyes, but she's laughing as she shoves him lightly on the shoulder. Sighing dramatically, she shakes her head. "You learn a few magic tricks and suddenly you cut me out of your life."

Cedric scoffs, but his annoyance is only about as convincing as [Y/N]'s, as he has a smile of his own on his face. "I leave a few details out of my letter and suddenly you want to end our friendship."

"I don't want to end it," protests [Y/N]. "I just don't want you keeping out the bad stuff from your letters just because you don't want me to worry. If anything, I want to hear more about the negatives than the positives so I'll know that I'm not the only one having a hard time."

Cedric raises his brows, the smile on his face drooping as he angles his head to look at her face from where she's leaning on his shoulder. "Why? Tough time at school?"

She shrugs, shifting a little. "Kind of. It's ridiculous, actually. My best friend—well, second-best, since you're first—thinks that her boyfriend," she makes a face, "likes me. She didn't talk to me at all during the last few months of school and I highly expect she'll still be an arse about it when we come back after summer. Rubbish, really." Cedric has fallen silent. When she looks up at him, she finds that there is a frown on his face, so immediately she reassures him by saying, "You don't have to worry, Ced. I've got other friends. Better friends—wizard friends. Or friend. Just the one."

Cedric raises his eyebrows at her. His mood has dampened a little; it shows in the disappearance of the crinkled smile lines around his eyes and the way his lips have tugged down.

"Oh, come on," says [Y/N], sitting up straight. "Don't look so bummed. I've told you it's not a big deal."

He looks away, and then, quietly, "I just don't like the idea of you having a hard time."

A grin slowly stretches across her face. A moment later, she starts laughing. "Always so caring, aren't you?" she teases, reaching out to poke his cheek.

Cedric rolls his eyes, clutching her hand and prying it away from his face. "Whatever," he mutters, making a face at her. She giggles and does one right back, and just like that, they're laughing again.

It's incredibly easy for the innocent, youthful part of Cedric to come to the surface during times like these, when he sits down in front of the bakery with his best friend at his side as they return to their naive, childish shelves and bond over everything and nothing with all sorts of pastries clutched in their chubby hands. Cedric finds that, no matter how much time has passed, [Y/N] still feels the same: warm and comforting and reminiscent of home.

—

Time passes as it has always done, and sooner than both Cedric and [Y/N] would have liked, the day of September comes looming above them a mere week away.

They are on one of the many hills surrounding the village of Ottery St. Catchpole—their favorite one, actually; the one that has a perfect view of the village if they sit at the very top, which is what they are doing. The night sky looms above them as they do as they have always done: talk. And whenever they lapse into silence, they bask in the comfort they have always found in one another.

At present, they are laying on their backs on the grass. Usually, they'd be pointing out random shapes they each notice in the clouds, but it is nighttime and only wisps of smoke from the village chimneys drift across the dark blue canvas. There are only a few stars visible through the pollution hanging in the air; "I could count them all on one hand," says [Y/N], arm stretched upwards as though reaching for the sky. "Bit sad, really. I remember when we were kids there were still a lot of them. Sort of."

Cedric, with his gaze similarly glued to the stretch of sky above them, lets out an exhale. "We can see the stars at Hogwarts," he tells her quietly like they're sharing a secret, which, in a way, they are. "We don't even have to go to the Astronomy Tower to see them—when we look up, they're right there. Right above us. It's.."

He trails off.

"Ethereal?" [Y/N] suggests, tone hushed.

Cedric nods. "I wish I could take you to see them, but. You know."

"I'm a—what was it you guys called us lame, non-magical folks again?" she rolls onto her side to face him, arm tucked underneath her head as her eyes narrowed playfully.

"A Muggle," Cedric says, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "And that doesn't make you lame. It just makes you.."

"Non-magical," she snorts.

"Doesn't matter," mumbles Cedric, shifting to turn on his side as well. "You've got a different kind of magic." And his tone is teasing, but there's a hint of underlying emotion hidden beneath that he wonders if [Y/N] picks up on.

"And what's that?" [Y/N] asks, feigning a haughty look. "Is it my—let's see—supernatural charms? Or my mystical beauty?"

Cedric laughs. "Something like that."

Facing her, mere centimeters away, Cedric sees that moonshine is dancing across the skin of her face; he sees the very stars they were speaking of gleaming in her eyes, and all of a sudden the atmosphere changes and he can't quite breathe properly.

The look on his face doesn't go amiss. The playful smile on [Y/N]'s face falls and reveals underneath it something more—something that has Cedric's heart beating wildly in his throat and his lungs seizing up in his chest.

Ethereal, Cedric thinks to himself as his gaze locks with hers and he finds himself drowning in the sea of constellations inside her irises. The stars at Hogwarts hold no competition to those which he sees in that moment in [Y/N]'s eyes. He wonders if they have always been there, waiting to be noticed, or if they have only just surfaced now.

And then Cedric finds himself leaning in and somewhere in the middle, she meets his lips with her own.

They pause for a moment, as though giving each other time to pull away if they want to, but neither of them do. And he really can't quite tell who moves first—him or [Y/N]—but they let each other's lips begin to whisper over one another's in gentle, slow carresses. They string up, unhurried and soft, one kiss flowing into the next with endless patience and want, and [Y/N]'s lips are inviting and alive and Cedric almost doesn't want to pull away, but he has to, eventually, and so he draws back, eyes blinking open.

He wonders, for a moment, despite the fact that she'd kissed back, if he had gone too far. If he had crossed the line that had always rested between them that made the difference between friendship and.. whatever this was.

But then familiar crinkles appear around [Y/N]'s eyes as she smiles at him. "I believe I've discovered my magic."

Cedric takes a brief moment to respond. Letting out a quiet exhale, he keeps his gaze fixed on hers as he furrows his eyebrows a little and asks with a tiny smile of his own, "What's that?"

She grins and jokes in a hushed, almost theatrical tone, "Seduction."

Cedric's face relaxes into a proper smile and he leans forward, pressing his mouth against [Y/N]'s for the second time. He feels the happy curve of her lips and feels his own curving up in response until they aren't really kissing anymore; just smiling against each other's mouths.

Ethereal, Cedric thinks to himself again, not for the first time that day. Absolutely bloody magical.

—

The muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole was a fascinating place, but perhaps the reason why Cedric thought so was not because of the buildings and the bustling streets themselves, but because of the little bakery owned by a Muggle grandma and a girl whose heart Cedric knew even better than his own.

When the first of September comes around and brings with it the inevitable need to say goodbye, a pair of friends bound together by the passing of time sit on the front steps of the Old Corner Bakery, joking and talking and making promises to write. [Y/N]'s grandmother has insisted on Cedric bringing along snacks in case he gets hungry during the train ride, hence the paper bag full of custard tarts he clutches in his hands.

"I think she loves you more than I do," says [Y/N], watching her grandmother disappear back into the bakery, weeping.

Cedric laughs. "Tell me something I don't know."

And then suddenly it is time to say their farewells, and Cedric is hugging her goodbye but it doesn't feel like enough, so he pulls away, places his hand on the back of her head, and presses a kiss to her forehead. He would press their lips together but he knows that will make it harder to say goodbye, so for now, he settles for this.

"You promise me you won't leave the bad stuff out of your letters, okay?"

"You can count on me."

So Cedric waves goodbye to her with the same gleam of promise from all those years ago sparkling in his eyes like stars that have yet to die out. He can't promise to stay, but he can promise that he will come back—and he will. He always will.

a/n: whether or not cedric comes back to ottery st. catchpole next year is entirely up to you (cough triwizard tournament cough)

[dooptown]

S2 Finale

for once i’m actually going to watch the episode again and get my thoughts down as i do cuz holy hell was this well done, i think

“Comet” playing first instead of the OP was brilliant. Also, as a note, the full music video of that came out, along with some killer animation inspired by the manga.

A detail i love about this music video is Ibuki spotting Free’s motorcycle light in the side mirror before he stops the car and, well, yeah

They actually show Louis reaching for his gun pretty early on into Ibuki’s monologue. I don’t think the manga showed that, but I could be wrong. He definitely has it pointed to him when it’s pitch black same at the anime, but the fact he reaches for it so early means he obviously knows what’s going on, even if he couldn’t pull the trigger.

predictably, the anime does the “darkness” as it always has, with the dark-blue background and bright lines for the characters. The Comet music video does this part of the scene better imo, but it’s not too much of an issue. Free’s whole bit is obviously rushed, and I think the anime suffers for that, but i understand that they couldn’t fit it in. We do miss him escorting Louis out of the BAM though, and also saying he’ll eat Louis if he comes back. That said, I don’t know how Louis gets back...I guess Free drives him back still but we just don’t see it

The Riz and Legosi fight has Riz getting the idea of eating Legosi in his head now that was seemingly missing before. In the manga he was thinking about how he’d become friends with Legosi by eating him, and that never came up in the anime until kinda now. Like I said before it’s an interesting part of Riz’s character so i’m glad it’s touched on a bit at least.

The moth scene is just as confusing here as it was in the manga...and without explanation or confirmation that it’s imaginary chimera (a part of the manga plot that was completely dropped), it just seems like...something. We don’t have Moth-san talking to Riz here or him questioning what he’s seeing so...it could be seen as purely metaphorical but it still remains a mystery (and just like in the manga it accomplishes nothing here cuz Riz just gets up and wails on Legosi) It looks fucking cool though! Word of Power: Respect for Life! It’s all one shot here, so we see every wound inflicted on Legosi, which is only a few slams. In the manga it’s implied he endured way more. That just follows the pattern of the anime, though, where violence is toned way the hell down. I’m not complaining, though. I don’t want to see Legosi hurt...

I knew what i was seeing when it was in motion, but damn does it look fucking good! Orange really is showing how to do CG right by properly stretching models for intense movements and actions! They’ve done this subtly before but here it’s very clear, but not distractedly so (unless you pause frame by frame) However, I still do think the models look a bit stiff when just...like...walking normally sometimes. Like we have this great fight animation but then Riz picks Legosi up and drags him a bit and he looks...off. Ah well

The whole bit about Legosi exposing his stomach doesn’t have the subtleties explained here...and really the anime leaves out a lot of character thinking but i think if they left it in it’d be a bit too hammy and crowded, so it’s fine that they cut it out. But still...tell me more pose isn’t as funny here :(

Legosi’s voice acting shines again here. He sounds really fucking hurt...

The moon cut and then them laying together is nice. Also i do like how there hasn’t been music up until this point at all. Riz talking about everything is nice too...I don’t remember him saying he feels like he could cry in the manga, due to him not remembering anything about Tem but his taste.

Legosi says: “I almost went through the same thing Riz did. If someone hadn’t snapped me out of it, my love for Haru might have made me eat her.” I recall he says something similar in the manga too...but like the only time he ever got close to eating her is when he didn’t know who she was. It really doesn’t seem like the same thing at all...it ties back into Legosi really seeming to have a really firm grasp on everything, all things considered, and he’s just selling himself short. I guess he could also be talking generally but really, he never had a moment where he wanted to eat her again after that first night. And the “someone” who snapped him out of it...Zoe???? Like, I’m just a bit puzzled on this part. I think what it really is is a reference to what he says to Louis later, how he’s the one that guided him and ensured that he is the way he is. Ensured that he did so well to begin with. Like, writing it out like that makes sense, but I guess I’m taking the words too literally.

Anyway, was typing my thoughts out there. I don’t think it’s entirely clear that Louis’s influence is what caused Legosi not to eat Haru after they started spending time together, but if Legosi says that’s what it was, that’s what it was. I felt that Louis’s guidance for Legosi was more about him accepting himself as a carnivore and using his abilities for what he believes in instead of thinking he can only do harm with them...not about controlling his meat eating instincts. I guess it kinda goes hand in hand. Anyway

The hand touch is, well, touching like it was in the manga, however Riz firmly regrasping Legosi’s hand to hoist him up and continue fighting and Legosi sounding surprised isn’t what i pictured. In the manga i saw it more as Riz slowly doing it and Legosi just being too weak to do anything about it. Riz has the advantage, so he can afford to make the action slow and deliberate

Ok here’s where things get interesting. Louis’s appearance is entirely different in the anime, whereas in the manga he appears behind Riz while Legosi is talking to him, with Legosi spotting him and using a distraction to escape with him. HERE!!! Louis actively stops Riz from attacking Legosi again, clearly out of breath as he ran all the way there, but he still has the mind to appear cool and collected and make a lil quip that pisses Riz off. And then when Riz charges him Louis is just walking calmly toward him like!

Like yeah, he does stop and react a bit, but he sees Legosi coming up to stop him so I suppose that’s why he stands his ground (honestly though was he gonna pull his gun? Did he have a plan? I feel like he just got there without one, which makes sense. He just had to stop what was happening no matter what)

And Legosi ragdolls Riz aside to protect Louis. Love wins

Pina scene is the same here. Although previously we didn’t get his thoughts about how he never wanted to get involved with carnivores ever again cuz of these two, but that ties into the whole “anime doesn’t say every single thought that’s in a character’s head like in the manga” thing. I think it’s interesting that they even bother showing him retrieving his phone from the trash bin, since he could have easily just got it from his pocket but it shows that Riz was smart enough to take it away from him (but not smart enough to destroy it or chuck it somewhere or hide it where Pina couldn’t see)

The next scene with Legosi and Louis up on the outcropping..Legosi mentions how this is his last New Year’s. He’s more convinced he’s gonna die than it seems in the manga (although depends on the subs i guess) The part where Riz is looking up while Legosi is talking about their fight to Louis...i never knew if he was supposed to be hearing that or not, here or in the manga. I guess it’s up to interpretation.

Legosi delivering this line in the manga: determined, stoic

Legosi delivering this line in the anime: clearly in love

we finally get one of these scenes for Louis! Season 1 had a few of these for Legosi and Haru when they had moments where they were deep in thought about the other. I thought that Louis’s would have been in his initial meetup with Legosi in the manga, but that scene got cut. It’s cool that they put his here, though! Also correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is the only shot like this in season 2

When Louis’s theme starts here when he’s acting strong, trying not to cry, I thought it’d slowly start to break down as he did and transition into a new track but it just kinda...keeps going. It sounds like a more somber, shaky version at the very least but I think the music at this part is a bit lacking...thankfully the animation and Louis’s voice acting more than make up for it

Boy, does Louis really cry. I’m glad they let him let loose like that but the bad thing about seeing it animated is...they don’t hug! I always wanted a hug here...one that Louis fully embraces unlike the earlier one on the balcony. It makes sense the Legosi doesn’t try to do anything and is taken aback, of course, but damn...and considering how Louis is treated later and at the end of the series...it stings a lot

Idk what to say about this scene...it’s done so well. Louis having his internal monologue, talking to Legosi...Legosi looking so damn guilty that he wants to go back and fight...the transition to the foot reveal...it’s all so good

A change here in the anime...Louis is a lot more steadfast. He offers his foot and is like, completely at peace with it. In the manga he’s still shaking and his expressions are like, more unsure, but here he seems a lot more convinced that it’s what he has to do

jeez

Legosi’s thoughts about how eating his leg feels almost ritualistic and it actually makes him desire and hunger for it is gone...which like, idk why it is. We just hear Legosi say that he wants to but we don’t feel it (we do see his lips pull back and reveal his teeth tho)

Enter: Buffgosi. This happens in the manga but since Legosi’s model is so much smaller in the anime it seems like a much more drastic difference.

intimate...

Legosi doesn’t apologize for not being able to stop growling, but it seems like they did a lot to remove any humor Paru put into these scenes. I guess it doesn’t work that well in one continuous scene vs. chapters broken up by weeks

Louis’s funny deadpool moment is changed with him just...telling Legosi to be a hero again. Guess he really likes that line. The way it’s delivered really feels like a video game, like Legosi is recovering from a hit and Louis pops in to heal him with some words

Seriously, Louis just keeps making this face...after an entire season of being super serious and stone faced he’s looking softer

the Riz and Tem story isn’t changed at all, and can still be read as either romantic or platonic. Seeing it in motion makes it hit harder though, for sure

Legosi still wishes Riz a happy new year here. He seems a lot happier here than in the manga. Also Louis doesn’t berate him for it, instead opting to speak up and talk to Riz here after hearing about his heartbreak. He does it without the pressure of the cops being there, and it truly shows that he really does like carnivores and sympathizes with their struggles now.

Yeah, so the cop scene is gone, which kinda condenses and cuts out a lot (including Pina’s small appearance) but I kinda like it better. It allows all the characters to breathe. Legosi thanks Louis naturally for the meal, and Louis telling Legosi to wipe his face is done in a friendly, joking manner...it just all feels a lot softer and friendlier without the cops being there making it all fucked. Just like in real life

THERE IT IS THERE IT FUCKING IS THEY EVEN GAVE LOUIS HIS LIL SMIRK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

god i keep tearing up around these parts IT’S BEEN ALMOST 2 HOURS SINCE I STARTED MAKING THIS POST GOOD FUCKING LORD

I kinda thought they might put the aftermath in a sort of credits scene, and i think it works, even if it does pave over some important stuff

god it’s just so validating to see Legosi care for Louis and Haru equally. Like we all know it’s the case but they’re both dear to him

Now this is a far departure from his thoughts in the manga. I suppose it only fits with the ending of the season to make it more optimistic, but we skip the while “you can’t marry an herbivore cuz of your record” thing...but here he still cherishes it in a way. Very interesting. Wonder if they’ll backpedal on it in season 3

Legosi actually tells Haru he’s dropping out here too! He still does in the manga but it seems more abrupt there, like he already did drop out and then goes to tell her instead of telling her before he does. He’s also not suffering through his meat withdrawal here like he was in the manga at this scene (or at least the manga’s counterpart at Haru’s house)

The ending convo mirrors what Haru says to him in that scene too. It’s a funny way to leave off on the season without a stinger or anything. It just kinda makes the audience question their relationship (and now that Lougosi is pumping through everyone’s veins...hehehhehehe)

uh, well, anyway, i kinda wasted all of my time off after work writing this so...i hope you enjoyed it? Not gonna get one of these for a while...i know at least some of you like them

Also...what the hell was the extra “broadcast only” scene??????

Well, anyway, I hope you all have a good day, night, whatever, wherever you are. And remember: Legosi and Louis are in love

[allmygyus]

A Piece of You

{Sequel to A different type of love}

⇢synopsis: A month after moving out, Seokmin finds himself lost again and finds himself often longing for a presence he was unfamiliar with. ⇢pairings: reader x Lee Seokmin ⇢genre: angst, fluff ⇢wordcount: 1,675 ⇢tw: idk >-<

Seokmin has been more frustrated lately and all of his friends have seemed to notice. He didn’t know what it was but something just felt off, there was this longing he felt that wouldn’t go away. Bits and pieces of his memories started to return but they were all like mismatched puzzle pieces. He had most of the pieces but he couldn’t mend them together, there was still pieces missing. He became less and less patient, a whole different person. He smiled less and was often quiet, sometimes he would just stare into space and try piecing his memories back together to no avail. Now, the male currently sat in his apartment staring at the picture of the smiling woman who used to be his lover. He wondered if she was doing well and if time was being kind to her. One last time, he told himself.

Seokmin called you on the phone and asked if he could meet with you at your home. You hesitated because you still haven’t healed from the pain of separating from your person, but you could never really say no to him. Eventually, you agreed.

Of course seeing him again made you nervous because you haven’t gotten over him yet. How could you? You spent 5 years with him and the thought of not being together never occurred in your mind. The past few weeks have been hard, you never lost hope that one day he would return to you, but day by day that hope lessened. Just when you think you’ve accepted that he would not come back, he called you. Hearing his voice made your heart ache. You couldn’t find the right words to say and you couldn’t decline his request. You just had to face him again and maybe it would be the last.

You sat in your living room, waiting for him to knock on the door. Maybe he changed his mind. You say to yourself and look at the furnished apartment that you refused to change. You still remember how Seokmin heavily contributed in designing the interior of your apartment. He chose the couch, the color of the cabinets, the type of wood the floors would be. He brought life and color to your once dull apartment but ever since he left, it was anything but that. You somehow knew how he felt when he stayed here after coming home from the hospital. You were constantly reminded of someone who was no longer present whereas he was constantly reminded of a life he didn’t remember. You walk over to your turntable and picked out a vinyl. You picked the vinyl that you last listened to with Seokmin; before the accident. You played the song, sat back down on the couch and stared at the door hoping to hear a knock or a doorbell. He’s not coming. As you get up and make your way to the bedroom, you heard a soft knock which was then followed by three louder knocks.

Your heart skipped a beat at the thought of Seokmin being behind that door. You slowly walk towards the door and place your hand on the door knob. Maybe I should just let him go. Maybe it was better if he lived a new life and forgot about you completely. You think to yourself and let go of the door knob.

“Y/n,” he says. “I know you’re in there. I saw your shadow from underneath the door.”

Hearing his voice in person made your stomach twist and turn. You don’t reply hoping he would just go back to his home. “Just let me in,” he pleads. His voice cracked and it sounded as if he was crying. “Please.”

You unlock the door and slowly open the door with your head down trying to avoid eye contact with him. He looks down at you and the feeling of anger and frustration was subsided. The memories were still blurred but as he stepped in your home; as he savored your presence, he felt at ease and the longing stopped. You still refused to look at him because it hurt to be in the same room yet feel so distant from him. It hurt not to embrace him or even touch him. You loved him so much, and you still do. All of this was too hard to bare. He stood in front of you, with you still refusing to talk or look at him. Because you knew that if you looked at him or spoke, you would break down again.  

“Hi Y/n,” he whispered and hoped you would show your face to him. “Please look at me.” He paused and looked around the room to find where the familiar melodies came from. The melodies that made his head ache.

You shook your head and refused, keeping your eyes on his dark leather shoes. “My memories have been coming back, but it’s all blurred and I can’t piece them together. It’s like parts of a movie jumbled up and I can’t seem to figure out what the story is.” he explains in a sullen voice. “Everyday, I feel this emptiness inside of me. I keep longing for something, for someone. I don’t know. I’m not sure. But, I just want to keep coming back here. When I stepped inside, the uneasiness went away.” He reaches for your hand, his large hands cloaked yours. “I don’t remember living here. I don’t remember you. I don’t remember loving you. All I remember are pieces of you. I can only remember the way walking in this apartment makes me feel warm and calm.” He paused and took deep breaths as he began to cry.  

“I don’t remember who I was before. I just know that when I came in here, when I saw you. I felt at home.”

You listen to him and silent tears began to fall as you stare at his large hands that enveloped yours. Hesitant, you look up and look into his brown eyes that you loved so deeply. By the way his eyes drooped and the circles beneath you could tell he was tired. His hair was shiny and parted in the middle with his forehead exposed. You could tell from the way his cheeks caved that he hadn’t been eating as much. You missed staring at him, you missed everything about him. You wanted to place your hand on his face, pull him closer and never let go.

“Seokmin.” It was the only thing you could say and the way you said his name, the way your lips moved, the way you said it with so much sincerity and fondness, it was one of the things that reminded him of how much he loved you. He let go of your hands and placed his on the temples of his head. He groaned in agony and fell to the couch. Like a swarm, all at once the bits and pieces of the puzzle came together. Memories of the car accident, of the dinner he ate before he left your apartment and memories of you.

Even the song that was currently playing was the song you two danced to before he left, he remembered.

“Seokmin,” you bent down to him and placed your hands over his. “are you okay?” you panicked and ran to the kitchen to grab some water as he sat himself up.

“Are those the glasses we bought last Christmas?” he asked as you approached. You froze, dumbfounded, your grip loosened causing you to drop the glass of water. How does he know that.

“Love!” he stood up looking at the water and broken shards of glass on the floor. “Be careful.”

The four lettered word escaped his mouth without effort, almost involuntarily. He too was taken aback by his actions, but he was also relieved. Relieved that he no longer had to wonder why he felt certain ways when being reminded of you because now everything made sense. The emptiness, the longing, it was all because of you.

“What?” you looked at him, puzzled. Why was he calling you that? Did he remember?

“I remember,” he cried and with tear stained cheeks, smiled at you. He showed his bright gummy smile that made you fall in love all over again.

You covered your mouth with your hand and cried. You wanted to pinch yourself and make sure that this was real and not another dream. He began walking towards you.

“I remember I chose this couch because I thought it was soft and the color was nice,” he got closer and your tears continued to fall. “I remember that you hated the color of the cabinets and you had me pick a color for you so we could paint over it. I remember that we’ve been together for 5 years and I proposed to you a year ago.” he paused and looked at the turn table. “And…I remember this was the song we danced to the night before the accident.”

In his brown shoes, he stepped over the glass and was now face to face with you, his face inching towards you. “I remember everything y/n” he placed his hands on your cheeks caressing your face with his thumbs. He then hugged you. “ and I’m so sorry for ever forgetting.”

You wrapped your arms around him and hugged him tighter. The way his gentle arms engulfed your body assured you that this was not a dream. In that moment his arms squeezed a fraction tighter and you breathed more slowly, your body melting into his. Feeling him this close, made you feel more awake, more alive than ever.

“I love you,” he whispered with his lips pressed on your forehead. He took your hands and, like before, swayed your bodies to the song that echoed throughout your apartment. Just like that, the love that once slipped through your fingers made its way back into your arms and you were certain that this time, this love would remain.

[monaownsmyass]

A Rant about Chapter 11 (From a Zoey Stan)

Disclaimer: I talk about the racism in this chapter which might be triggering for some. I’m also not black and don’t intend on talking over black people so if anything I say comes across that way, I apologise in advance and pls feel free to correct me.

PB

Ever since day one, Zoey was treated like crap. We barely had any other interactions with her besides talking about Kingsley and her give us clothes. Zoey, despite being a confirmed LI, didn’t even have her own diamond scene until chapter 10, much later than when even Poppy, who’s not an LI, got a diamond scene.

But this is the breaking point. How tf are you gonna sideline a confirmed LI and then insert her into the bigger picture only to embarrass her, destroy her reputation, make her a laughing stock and make her publicly humiliated and not call it mistreatment??? To top it off, she’s also a black wlw. How anyone can victim blame Zoey here is beyond me.

For the benefit of the doubt, at first I thought PB was just clueless about what they did and didn’t realise it (it comes across that way in multiple books) but then, then they go ahead and put this in...

So you’re telling me, you’re fucking telling me that they knew how racist this sounded and still fucking went along with it??? If they were gonna make a subplot about how she got racially profiled, fine, good job, you know what the sad reality is like for black people. But to get publicly humiliated and embarrassed for it? That’s fucking RACIST! Idk how you’re gonna justify this when it’s clearly unjustifiable. I bet PB added that dialogue to show how woke they are but congrats, somehow you managed to do the complete opposite.

Poppy

Now let’s talk about Poppy. PB honestly never ceases to amaze me. They took a very complex character with depth and a lot of potential and just chucked all of that out of the window. It’s beyond salvageable at this point. And to make matters worse? The way PB wrote Poppy in that animal shelter scene (where we see a more vulnerable side to her) seems to be hinting at a redemption arc for her. I would’ve been all for it if this hadn’t happen. After this, there’s no way to save her character, I’m sorry but I can’t see it.

Going into detail now, I just wanna say, what. the. actual. fuck. I don’t even know where to start. Actually, I do, let’s take a look at how sad and pathetic this sounds:

Regardless of race, this shit is beyond messed up. But the fact that PB actually acknowledges it was about her race (as shown earlier), makes it baffling. I genuinely don’t understand how they didn’t see this as a problem. The way Poppy went after Zoey for absolutely no reason whatsoever makes it obvious that this is no longer a self-defence mechanism she uses for coping, this is cruelty.

And then we have the whole calling Zoey a ‘human sacrifice’. They do not only mention this once but MULTIPLE times. Poppy even labelled her folder as it. This made me the most upset. Getting a little historically literal here, actual human sacrifices were normally slaves, outcasts and criminals. I think it��s pretty self-explanatory why this was very wrong.

Zetas and Alphas

What a bunch of self-entitled, self-absorbed, low-life pricks that put others down to make themselves feel better.

So public humiliation wasn’t enough for poor Zoey apparently. She now has to endure tomatoes and wine thrown at her. Y’know how this entire scene reads and comes across as? A criminal getting stoned for their crimes. She was a young girl who was pressured into shoplifting by her peers and she was the only one that got caught cuz of her race. Need I say more? I will, that’s fucking RACIST!

Mc

MC is a little complicated for me. In my playthrough, I chose the good girl route and so my MC wasn’t as harsh as I’d assume the bad girl MC would be. I’m not excusing what she did because it was still wrong of her. She should’ve immediately gone to save Zoey. I’m just upset in a book called Choices, we couldn’t even choose between exposing Poppy’s credit cards and saving Zoey.

We’re always given the least important choices and we’re always asking for PB to give us choices that actually matter. This would’ve been the perfect opportunity. I’m playing as black!MC and even though I chose the good girl route, it still felt really... off. I can’t imagine how much worse it would be if players were playing the bad girl route with a PoC character especially if they’re playing as black!MC.

Zoey

Zoey. Poor Zoey deserves so much better. Fuck Poppy and the Zetas and even MC. The image of Zoey covered in tomatoes was so heart-breaking. MC’s convo with her... ugh.

If PB did anything right, it was making Zoey mad. She was right to be angry at MC (regardless if we took the good or bad girl route) and leave the posse. MC doesn’t deserve her. And to people saying Zoey should have known, it doesn’t matter! People are literally throwing things and publicly humiliating her so no it doesn’t matter if she should’ve known better. They shouldn’t have done that!!

I’m so fed up with PB sidelining and mistreating her and most female LIs and it’s even more disappointing that this is still happening after PB released their statement saying they’ll improve.

Idk how they messed up this badly after everything that’s happened, after all of our complaints and suggestions on how to improve. I just want to see Zoey thrive after this, with or without MC. It’s the least PB could do for her.

[shhhlikeme]

Hi love, just wanted to say that you’re so gorgeous and have a lovely smile. I’m a dark skin black girl and have often been told/read hurtful posts about us, but now I’m more confident than ever about being a dark skin girl 🥰.If it’s not too much to ask could you do any character you want with that has a date with his s/o and when he arrives she just glowing in her yellow dress. Like idk if you get the vibe I’m tryna put down but the melanin is hitting different 🤤

Thank you so much for the compliments omg ❤️❤️❤️

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. YOU ARE beautiful! I know black women don’t hear that a lot and that’s why I will tell y’all everyday if I need to. Also, today is national economic blackout day for the culture, therefore I waited to post this today.

& as per your message I absolutely get the vibe!!!!! And you know I had to choose the GOAT Akaashi for this since you left it up to me👀

Here goes:

————————————-

Akaashi Keiji x Black Crush In a Beautiful Yellow Dress (Fluff)

————————————-

Akaashi was NOT ready.

You and Akaashi had been besties for 10 or so years, because your moms have been in the same book club since elementary school

Even though you recently graduated from to different high schools, you both had a good and healthy friendship

You knew that he wasn’t big on talking a lot but you spoke even less than him so it honestly worked well

He was into volleyball and you were really serious about dance

Your moms would always say you just “get” eachother

To Keiji, he was content with having the best of both worlds as best friends: Bokuto: the loud boisterous one, and You: the quiet, beautiful one

Wait did he say beautiful? He meant um... the quiet, wallflower one. sure

Nah he definitely meant beautiful too.

Tbh, Akaashi was very attracted to you via your personality because you were thoughtful, intelligent and relaxing to be around

He thinks of you as the human embodiment of a warm bath at the end of a moving day

And as for your looks.....

Bokuto put his best friends physical attraction to you into words best when he said:

“You want to have Y/N’s babies, don’t you Akaashi? Hmmmmm?”

Akaashi, deadpanning asf, would always answer

“No I do not.”

But when Bokuto would continuously catch him on your instagram page he would keep asking like the pushy friend he is.

At Bokuaka sleepovers, or when they were completely alone is the only time Akaashi would reluctantly but honestly respond to Bokuto’s question with a:

“I wouldn’t mind.”

which is basically undying admission of love by Akaashi standards

Basically, he was crushing on you hard

He admired your dark hair that you always changed into different styles because he never understood how you made them all look attractive

He admired your full lips that he always seemed to have to internally yell at himself to stop staring at when you spoke

He admired your kind and gentle spirit that always seemed to gravitate toward earth tones in attire-expression and he never seemed to understand why

He guessed that being the wallflower that you are; dark colours like black, brown, beige, grey, moss, etc. Acted as a shield as to not bring too much attention to you

He didn’t really care that you stuck to wearing earth tones because you looked beautiful no matter what you wore

But in his dreams he’d always pictured you in bright pink, blue, orange lingerie shirts

He was curious so he asked one day

totally not because he wanted to know how realistic his dreams could be

“Y/N, why do you only wear dark colours?” Asked the most beautiful guy in the world Akaashi as he turned the steering wheel making a left onto the parkway.

The two of you were going to his brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner. You had decided to wear a simple dark button down blouse tucked into a grey pencil skirt. Your curly hair was up in a messy bun and you had your glasses on. You thought you looked whatever.

Akaashi, on the other hand, thought you looked stunning. And like a hot librarian. He tried his best to keep his eyes on the road and not your exposed legs as you sat beside him in the passenger seat.

“Do I?” You looked down at yourself and sighed. You’d never really noticed before, but he was right. You just felt more comfortable in tones that didn’t make you stand out.

“Yeah. Why don’t you try wearing a bright colour sometime? I think......I think you’d look really nice.” Keiji’s eyes looked unaffected as ever but inside he was kicking himself for flirting with you, knowing how shy you are.

“Oh, okay.” Your heart fluttered at your friend’s compliment and you distracted yourself by taking your eyeglasses off and using your blouse collar to clean it where it opened on your chest.

Akaashi almost crashed because when you did that your blouse opened more exposing your glowing chocolate skin. In his mind, his imagination took over and he pulled over to ravish your beautiful skin by ripping open the blouse and kissing your gorgeous dark skin. His eyes glazed over as he imagined you telling him that you want him closer than this car allowed and so he dropped your seat down and got on top of you, kissing your delicious lips and then going back to taste your delicious skin. You were moaning in his ear which was the best sound he’s ever heard and then it was his turn to moan when you reached down to stroke his hard........

“KEIJI-SAN WATCH OUT!”

Keiji was thrust back into reality when he rapidly swerved back into his own car lane. The first thing he did was check to see if you were okay and he was able to breathe again when he saw you looking back at him laughing that angelic laugh. You placed your glasses back on your beautiful face and Akaashi apologized. He asked if you were scared and wanted him to stop driving because he was obviously a new driver. You only placed a hand on his arm and shook your head, assuring him in your quiet voice.

“It’s okay Kashi’, I know you’re a great driver. I trust you.”

“Y-you do?”

“Of course. I trust you more than anyone.” You gave him that smile that he thinks about before he goes to sleep every night and just like that he relaxed and all was well in the world again. He thought back to Bokuto’s daily question, admitting to himself that he not only wanted to have your babies, he wanted to have the pleasure of calling you his girlfriend or anything higher. He’d definitely accept wife.

“Maybe I’ll go shopping with my mom and find a colour to wear to the wedding, you know, take your advice.”

“That would be great.” He pulled into the beach wedding venue parking lot. “I’m ready to see the new Y/N.”

But Akaashi was NOT ready

He was absolutely the furthest thing from ready, 3 weeks later, when he picked you up on his brothers wedding day.

He knew you were still getting ready inside and so he decided to enjoy the weather and lean on his car hood to wait

You never took long because you were a natural beauty, but you put on a little bit of makeup today

You grabbed your clutch and touched up your edge control before spritzing yourself with some of Akaashi’s favourite perfume

You went outside and locked your door.

Turning around, you literally wanted to freeze this moment in time, because THE Keiji Akaashi—literally the most stunning boy 90% of girls have ever seen—was standing outside of his car, much to your surprise

He had his navy blue tuxedo jacket folded over his left arm and he wore a light grey dress shirt underneath held together by a black bow tie. His disheveled hair looked like he had sat in the barber chair of Jesus himself and he hadn’t noticed your arrival yet since you were still on the steps of your deck.

You took a second to compose yourself before stepping toward him as if everything was normal—as if you weren’t lawlessly crushing on this man.

Hearing your heels clack on the smoothed pavement, Akaashi lifted his head up to see you

Remember when I said he was not ready?

Allow me to show you exactly what he wasn’t ready for:

Akaashi felt as though all the air left his lungs when he saw you.

He told you to wear a bright colour but he didn’t know the yellow dress and your dark skin-combo would make him feel like crying

After seeing you in greys and blacks and dull nudes his whole life and still looking pretty, he couldn’t handle himself when you wore a colour that accurately communicated how he sees you: like his literal light

“Good God,” Akaashi gulped.

Keiji is a well-known quiet guy, but even his loudest friend Bokuto wouldn’t be able to beat how loud his emotions screamed at him from inside when he looked at you. You literally had him by the heartstrings, looking like that.

He realized that he is embarassed to admit all that he would give to see you in a yellow bra and panty set.

You smiled up and him and did a spin, so he could see the full picture of the dress. His eyes missed the dress because he couldn’t stop looking at your face.

“I saw it on a mannequin at the mall the other day and never thought my skin would go with it... but after what you said I went back to get it and—“

“Y/N. You— you look—-that colour—-your skin—-You—I—Good....God,” he repeated himself. Akaashi was only slightly disappointed that he couldn’t express to you how much your skin tone WAS MADE for this colour. You were magical.... a queen.

He didn’t want to go to his brothers wedding anymore. He wanted to stand there and stare at the way the sunlight hit your complexion and glistened. He wanted to stand there and have you spin around for him again. He wanted to have your mf-ing babies.

“You’re doing that thing again, Kashi. The thing you did in the car? Don’t we have to go pick up Bokuto, now? Let’s go!”

You gave him a ‘chop chop’ snap and climbed in the car.

When you got in you were so thankful for your dark skin because your blush wasn’t showing. The way your best friend has been looking at you was too passionate, too deep, too full of emotional and physical desire. It made you want to tell him your feelings.

outside, Keiji had still been in a trance, letting out one more “Good.....God,” before he had to literally slapped himself and hopped in the car.

Think of Bokuto Think of Bokuto Think of Bokuto, he chanted internally before pulling out of your driveway.

Speaking of the devil......

“AKAAAASHI!” Yelled his grey-headed best friend as he pulled open the back door of his car. “And, who’s that—wait—Y/N?!”

You gave your best friend’s best friend a weak smile. You were so embarassed by the way he was looking at you.

Bokuto slammed the door behind him and applauded loudly. “Now, I’ve always been jealous whenever you take my Akaashi away from me because he wants to spend time with you, but now I understand why. You’re a 10 when you aren’t hiding behind those freaking vampire colours!!!”

“Bokuto.” Akaashi reprimanded his annoying friend and Bokuto pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key.

Meanwhile, you were regretting wearing this colour. It drew the attention that you always tried hard to avoid.

Akaashi noticed your internal regret, even while driving....so he reached over to place a hand on your thigh.

“Y/N, you said you trust me right?”

You looked at him for a second before nodding.

Keiji elevated at the admission. “Then, trust me when I say you look beautiful. I’m so happy you wore that dress today.”

You smiled, that smile only reserved for him again, and he just about proposed on the spot.

“AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! Hey, hey, hey! Maybe you two love birds should be the ones getting marr—“

Akaashi deadpanned in the rear view mirror, catching Bokuto’s eye immediately. “Bokuto.”

Frightened, Bokuto muttered a quick “Shutting up.” Before actually doing so.

Don’t get him wrong. Akaashi was happy to have his best guy friend at the wedding.

Very happy.

Because Boku was like an alarm...warning him whenever he was acting like a freak around the the girl he has a crush on

Bokuto would just nudge him and smirk whenever Akaashi was drawing attention to himself because he was looking at you in the crowd when his attention should be on his brother and his fiancé saying their vows.

When Akaashi saw you and your mom run over to dip your feet in the water on the beach, then run away because a cold wave hit up to your shins, your smile radiant and your yellow dress flying in the wind, Bokuto nudged him again because he was staring when he had to take pictures with the groom

At night, when Keiji was throwing back shots way more than Bokuto knew his best friend to even like, simply because one of his brothers groomsmen had been talking to you for the better part of the hour and he didn’t fucking like it, Bokuto not only nudged Keiji but he told the bartender to cut him off.

“Go talk to Y/N.” Bokuto grabbed the drink out of Keiji’s hand and drank it.

Akaashi shook his head. “No. S-she’s out of my league.”

Bokuto scoffed. “You do know that you’re literally the best looking person I’ve ever seen in my life right? Like seriously. You look like your face was made in a fucking lab. By chicks. By hot chicks, like Y/N, working together to come up with concoctions to Science their way to make the best looking dude—“

Keiji rolled his eyes. “Is there a point coming at the end of this?”

“Yeah. There is, impatient pants. I was going to say that I wonder if the hot chicks who made you wore bikinis the whole time while they leaned over eachother fighting over the pencil for the blueprint sketches—“

“A point about Y/N, Bokuto! Y/N. The only girl I care about. The only girl I want to talk about. Come back down to this earth. Where. Is. The. Point?”

“Oh. Yeah. Geez, take a chill pill will ya?”

“Bokuto......” He warned. Already on edge because you were now slow dancing with that guy at the wedding instead of being the wallflower you usually were. He liked it better when he was the only one who noticed you. In a way.... But then he remembered how colourful you looked when you got complimented all day and he immediately retracted the thought. Akaashi wanted nothing more than for you to reach your fullest potential, and wearing colours that expressed your beauty would be step one. He yearned to be the one who could bring you up the rest of the steps, because he’d tell you everyday how damn amazing you are. He just wished you weren’t so damn alluring to the majority of men.

Bokuto held his hands up in surrender. “Damn! Okay. Look, my point is...that it doesn’t matter how good looking you are or Y/N is, because everyone knows that even if you two were fugly you’d still have the love story of the generation because your connection is on a whole other level.”’

“What?” Keiji jeered. He didn’t like the idea of your name and ‘anything but beautiful’ being in the same sentence.

“Man, chill. Look, I won’t say anything else. I’m just going to grab Y/N from Mr. I-Didn’t-Make-It-To-The-NFL-But-I-Can-Still-Pull-A-Trophy-Wife over there. When she gets here, try not to ‘Good God’ her to death, hm? She’s gorgeous, yes, but like I said—so are you. Inside and out.”

Without listening to his denial like always, Bokuto somehow slipped in to the dance you were currently having and began dancing with Y/N

As a dancer, you loved moments when you could do it, and Akaashi was falling harder for you every time you spun around elegantly

Bokuto made some bs excuse about not being able to dance for long and waved his best friend over

Akaashi’s legs moved automatically because he has been wanting to be near you the entire night.

Like a fairytale ball sequence, Bokuto handed you off and you were now met with the waiting and hesitant arms of your best friend

Keiji asked if it was alright to touch your waist and you smiled and said yes

As you two danced, you going at the pace you knew Akaashi would be best at.....you took a second to really feel the energy

Your bodies were like magnets and you two were feeling the pull like never before

you leaned forward to rest your head against your best friends chest as you settled into a simple back and forth sway

As he held your waist closer and rubbed his thumbs soothingly in the crevice of your back dimples......

You understood that what you were now feeling was love

What you’ve been feeling for months, what you felt when you spoke to him of trust, when you watched him drive, when he put an extra blanket on you when you two watched movies, when he looked at you in your yellow dress, when you rested your head on his chest.....your mind, body and soul were all telling you one thing. They were louder than ever now. Shouting at you to tell Akaashi those 3 magic words so you two could see where the next level of your relationship would take you. It wouldn’t take much to say—

“I love you.”

Flabbergasted with yourself, you jumped back from his chest so you were looking at him. You couldn’t believe you had the audacity to say it!!!!!

Your mind now jumbled, you thought of an excuse to blame it on the 0% alcohol you had had before you realized..........that you don’t have a deep voice............nor have you opened your mouth since you rested your head on your best friend’s chest.......

“Wh-what?” You asked breathlessly.

Akaashi was looking down at you, confident that he had made you wear a dress that brought out your beauty so fiercely that it ultimately forced him to confess.

“I love you, Y/N. And if we’re always talking about trust......Then trust me when I tell you that I think I always have.”

----------------

I find I enjoy writing both nsfw and fluff equally and you guys request it basically half and half, so the next post will be much more smutty cause you know--balance. 

[maybe-a-fangurl]

The Moon and the Sun (Zuko x Reader) part 8

I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long I had family visiting and idk about how everyone else family is but when mine is visiting there isn't much down time. Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful day!! 

Part 1 Part 7

Masterlist

“Here’s your food.” The waiter said as he placed your plate down on the table in front of you.

“Thank you.” You said with a smile before turning to the plate of food. You had been walking around the middle and lower ring for hours asking people about anything that could lead you to Appa but of course you hadn’t found anything out.

Katara wanted you to dress up with her and Toph to sneak into the party but you knew that after them sneaking into the party that Joo Dee may never let you out of her sight so if you wanted any information that tonight was your only chance. So, after hours of getting no answers you found yourself in a small restaurant in the lower ring eating by yourself.

You turned your attention back to your food before you heard yelling outside of the shop and you turned to see two Dai Li agents run by. You quickly stood up and put some money on the table before going outside and following the yelling until you were outside of a small tea shop where a crowd was standing around two people fighting. You watched as the Dai Li agents pushed their way through the crowd until they were at the front.

“Arrest them, they’re fire benders.” Someone said, and you mentally thanked yourself for wearing your pouch of water as you started to make your way to the front of the crowd, wanting to help if there really were fire benders.

“This poor boy is confused. We’re just simple refugees.” A voice said but you knew by that voice that they weren’t simple refugees, and they were fire benders.

“This young man wrecked my tea shop and assaulted my employees!” Another man said and as you got to the front of the crowd you seen Iroh and Zuko standing there, Zuko holding two blades.

“It’s true, sir. We saw the whole thing. This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city.” A man said, and a smile came to your face when you realized he was talking about Iroh.

“Oh, that’s very sweet.” Iroh said but your attention was drawn to the Dai Li agents who started to step forward.

“Come with us, son.” One of them said as they grabbed the guy who was standing across from Zuko. He swung at them, but they were quick to block his movement and restrain him.

“You don’t understand! They’re Fire Nation! You have to believe me.” The guy said as they started to pull him away. You turned to look back at Zuko and Iroh, who were now talking to the men that spoke up for them earlier.

You started to think of what you were going to do, and you suddenly realized that you couldn’t do anything. With how creeped out you were over the thought of the Dai Li, Joo Dee, and how no one would tell you anything around here, you weren’t’ going to risk exposing them as fire nation. So, you decided that you wouldn’t see them, you wouldn’t talk to them or let them know you were here, you would just make sure they were okay from afar.

-

“Y/N wake up, we’re having a girl’s day out!” Katara said excitedly as she walked into your room, opening your curtains to let the light in.

“A what?” You asked with a groan as you sat up, pulling the blanket with you to block out some of the light from the window.  

“A girl’s day out. I want to take Toph to the spa and I figured why not make it a girl’s day.” She said as she turned around from the curtains and when she looked at you her excitement quickly turned to worry. “You look exhausted, have you not been sleeping again?” “Not really.” You said as you tried to think of an excuse, but you couldn’t think of anything, so you decided to change the subject. “So, spa day? Toph really agreed to that?” “Yeah kind of, I think it would be good for her.” She said as a smile came back to her face. You knew that Katara and Toph had their differences, especially at first, but they still cared about each other and it was moments like this that showed it. “And with how tired you look it would be good for you too.”

“I think it would be.” You said with a smile before you stretched and stood up. “Let me change and I’ll be ready to go.”

Katara nodded before she walked out of your room and once she was out you let out a sigh and put your hands over your face. You were completely drained because truth was you hadn’t slept very much for the past few days, you had been sneaking out at night to go see Zuko and Iroh. You had just been going by the tea shop they worked at every night to make sure they closed and got home okay. They were fire benders and you knew they could take care of themselves but after learning about the Dai Li you were terrified something would happen. You usually made sure they made it home okay and then would come back and sleep, but last night you didn’t come back until the sun was coming up.

“Can I come in?” Sokka asked as he knocked on your door, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Hold on.” You said as you quickly changed your clothes before walking over to the door, and when you opened it you seen Sokka leaning against the door frame. “Yes?”

“Are you going with them to the spa?” He asked as he crossed his arms and looked at you. “Well I guess if she could convince Toph she could convince you.”

“Well, it didn’t take much convincing on her part.” You said as you sat down and started to put your shoes on. “I used to go to the spa with Azula once a week and I haven’t been since I left the Fire Nation, so I think it’s time.”

“Yeah maybe it is time.” He said with a laugh before he looked down at the ground. “Do you want to do something tonight?” “Do something?” You asked as you looked at him confused.

“Yeah like you’re going with Katara and Toph to the spa, you went with Aang the other day to get tofu, so I figured maybe we could do something too.” He said with a shrug as he looked back up at you. “We could go bag shopping.” “That would be fun.” You said with a smile as you thought about the last time you had gone with him to get a bag, and how the whole day turned into running from fire nation soldiers.

“And we would be back in time for you to sneak out.” Sokka said, completely catching you off guard.

“I don’t sneak out.” You said defensively.

“Yes, you do, but it’s okay because I know it’s probably for a good reason.” He said with a small laugh as he looked at the panicked expression you were trying to hide. “But we are going bag shopping so don’t stay out with Katara and Toph too long.” “I’ll try.” You said with a smile as you got off of the floor and walked out of the door and down the hall to where Toph and Katara were.  

You walked behind Katara and Toph as the three of you were making your way to the spa, and you kept thinking how you wished you would have just stayed in the bed last night. You had planned on just making sure they got home okay but when they got home, you heard Iroh talking about a date, so you decided to stay. You respected Zuko’s privacy and you didn’t follow him on his date once the girl showed up, instead you waited until he got back and once he was back you went walking, unable to even think about sleeping. When the sun was rising you found yourself sitting by a pond, like you had many times before only the pond used to be in the Fire Nation.

“So, what were you and Sokka talking about?” Toph asked and you looked away from the ground to see that Katara was looking at you.

“Oh, he wants me to go bag shopping with him tonight.” You said and Toph let out a small laugh at that.

“He’s getting another purse?” Toph asked as a puzzled look came to her face. “What happened to the last one?”

“I’m not sure, but I thought he just got a new one.” Katara said and you just shrugged as you looked back down to the ground.

“That’s what I thought too, but I guess not.” You said as the three of you got to the spa.

It went a lot better than you thought it would, you thought that Toph would complain the whole time, but she actually seemed to be enjoying herself. She even opened up some with you and Katara after she dropped the girls into the water and you and Katara sent them down the river with a wave. You had never seen Toph and Katara get along so well, even Sokka didn’t believe you when you told him about everything while the two of you ate dinner.  

“Okay so now that we have the new bag, I wanted to ask what happened to the last one, we were talking about it on the way to the spa and we couldn’t figure out what happened.” You said as the two of you were walking back to the house, it was dark out now and while you wanted to go check on Zuko and Iroh, you were exhausted from the day and you didn’t think you wanted to risk seeing him go on another date.

“I lost it the other night after everything happened at the poetry place.” He said as he let out a sigh.

“Oh, I forgot about that.” You said and thought about how Toph and Katara would get a good laugh out of that.

“So about you sneaking out, where do you go?” Sokka asked and you looked at him to see that he looked more curious than upset, which was a good sign.  

“I found someone I knew, they’re a refugee now. I haven’t talked to them or anything I’ve just been checking up on them every now and then to make sure they’re okay.” You said after a moment of silence between the two of you while you tried to get your thoughts together. “I think they’re happy here.”

“That’s great.” Sokka said as a smile came to his face and you just looked down at the ground.

“Yeah it is, I’m just upset that I can’t be a part of their life now.” You said as you thought about how Zuko went on a date last night. It made you think of when you fought

“Why can’t you? There’s nothing stopping you from talking to them.” He said as if it were such a simple thing when it wasn’t.

“Because I don’t know where we stand, if they don’t want to see me things could end badly, and they lose this new life but if things go good? We won’t be in Ba Sing Se forever and they may have no other choice.” You said as you thought about all of the possible ways that things could go either way.

“I think Aang would have an actual meaningful way to say this but here’s how I’ll say it, if it’s meant to happen it will happen.” Sokka said with a shrug as if it was such a simple thing. “I mean look and me and Suki, I thought I wouldn’t see her again for a long time but then we seen her a few days ago, and I have a feeling I will see her again.”

“You really think things will just work themselves out like that?” You asked as you looked over at him and he just looked back in front of you, the two of you were back at the house and almost to the door.

“I think they will, look how things worked out with me and Katara meeting Aang, you, and Toph.” He said as the two of you reached the door and he paused before opening it to look over at you. “I even have a feeling things may work out between you and Zuko, especially after you healed his uncle.”

“I hope so.” You said as you gave him a smile and opened the door.

Part 9

@tpwkatsumu @caswinchester2000 @frickin-bats @winchestergirl907 @eridanuswave @the-firebender-girl @myarthetics @royahllty @izzieserra @akariblue  @coldlilheart @thirstyforsometea @cirtruss @lammello @bigbuckyenergy @aangsupremacy @lozzybowe @duh-dobrik @emogril @justab-eautifulmess @whalerus @im-me-and-noone-else @nataliahaslosthershit @oddment-niwit-blubber-tweak @slytherky

[kyidyl]

but then again i also am a lot more anal about never reblogging from any of those types even if i think they mighr have changed, because ive been the target of terf harassment campaigns and dont trust anybody who isnt visibly shouting trans rights on their blog

Yah, no, that’s fair, especially if you are trans yourself. I wouldn’t want to spend lots of time exposing myself to misogynists and fat shamers, so I wouldn’t expect people to subject themselves to groups that hurt them either. But for myself, I am of the opinion that the only way to alleviate problems like this in the long term is by changing someone’s mind. And those slings and arrows aren’t meant for me, and so they don’t hurt. I have the privilege of being immune to the things they’re saying, so someone’s gotta be the meat shield, y’know? I saw a post one time that it isn’t just SJWs, it’s SJ healers, and SJ tanks, etc. it seemed apt to me. And I know peoples’ minds can be changed via exposure.

I mean…mine was. I was raised Mormon. My parents are very conservative. And there was a time when I thought being gay was wrong, or that being trans was wrong. And the key here is that it wasn’t because I was an asshole, but because I didn’t know any LGBTQ+ people. I started questioning these beliefs when I started to have some LGBTQ+ people in my life. I remember the first visibly trans person I ever met. I remember everything about her, including her name. I remember that my first thought on seeing her was that she was wearing a costume, trying to be funny. I never TREATED her that way bc I’m not a bully, but I had those thoughts. I wish I knew then what I knew now bc I was her boss, and if 24 year old me knew what 41 year old me knows, things would have gone a lot differently. I would have fought harder for her and done more to make her comfortable. I think about her and it hurts me that the basic human decency I showed her by just, y’know, not being a dick made her feel like I was the only safe person in the building. Bc it was my desk she turned up at, crying, after a group of boys took it upon themselves to bully her. She wasn’t even on my team anymore. And by that point I’d known her long enough that I didn’t think of her as funny or a costume, she was just…herself. Anyway, if you’re curious about what the consequences were…I was pissed, and I went to their boss - my former boss - and read him the riot act. His whole team was dragged into a conference room, dressed down by him (he was a former navy seal, so he channeled that for the event.), and forced to individually apologize to her. To me tho that’s not consequences, that’s a minor annoyance. They should have been written up, fired, etc. But as a 24 year old who had only this single trans person as my exposure to trans people…idk I just hadn’t come far enough. Sorry to wax on about her, it’s late and I think about her fairly regularly.

On the flip side, I had a former friend unfriend and block me on fb specifically bc she felt I wasn’t a safe person for a trans person to be around. I don’t know why she felt that way or what I said, and I couldn’t ask her bc she sent me the note and then took the action, but tbh that’s her right. I wasn’t mad about it then and I’m not mad about it now. She’s not obligated to stick around while I learn and grow. I’m not gonna stop trying to be better just because I met one person at the wrong time.

So…I guess my point is that I’ve had a lot of experiences that have led me to a place where I think that the resolution to a lot of our ills as a society is via contact and since I can emotionally handle it, I do it. I’ve always been a little like this, tbh. Ive literally seen friends change for the better bc of my influence, and straight up been told that I’m a good influence on a given person. And something like shimigami eyes - where people can report other people for pretty much whatever - does not really seem like something that would gel with me. Tumblr can be a very black and white place. And, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of *concepts* that are black and white. Nazis should be punched, TERFS and SERFS are philosophies that I absolutely do not agree with. But people are not black and white. They’re complex and changeable. And so, for myself, I tend not to write people off. Not because I value their shit philosophies but bc teaching is a task that I can take on, so I try to do it.

Ugh…sorry for all the words. It’s late and I’m like 99% sure I’m not expressing this properly so I’m doing the ADHD word vomit thing. It is what it is. Trans people are great, nazis are shit, but I’m never gonna trust Shimigami eyes. Now I’m gonna try to sleep, lol.

[barnesbabee]

Edge Of Glory || C.J

Pairing: Choi Jongho x Reader

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Angst

Words: Idk but from the top of my head I’d bet on 3126 words

Pieces of lyrics from the song are written in bold

⚠ drug abuse, mentions of physical/psychological abuse (not from the idol), mentions of death and suicide, dystopian!au ⚠

Warning: There are disturbing/ scenes described. Read at your own risk.

ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ x ʟᴀᴅʏ ɢᴀɢᴀ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴘ�� ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ || ᴘ4

ʙᴀꜱᴇᴅ ᴏꜰꜰ ᴇᴅɢᴇ ᴏꜰ ɢʟᴏʀʏ ᴍᴠ

 A worldwide pandemic took all nations by surprise, one worse than any century had ever experienced, one that all safety precautions, medicine and technology couldn’t fight. It came down onto the whole world like a train and the population decreased greatly, along with all of the resources. 

   Hazmats became the trending fashion and hospitals became the new hotels. Everything was at max capacity, and the bodies of deceased people piled up on the streets. Pale corpses that looked like they had been drained of all of their blood laid against the walls, on top of each other, or sprawled on the road. It was every man for themselves, and chaos dominated.

    You were a little relieved, however. Your parents wouldn’t allow you to leave the house for safety, but every time you looked out of the window every deceased person seemed to be of age, more specifically, a mature adult. Mostly people from their thirties on. 

    Maybe it didn’t affect younger people? Maybe their immune system was good enough to fight the disease? 

   You had many doubts, but not enough answers. No one had answers, and suddenly everyone had a God. When nurses and doctors fled, when the news disappeared and it all stopped being transmitted, everyone started praying, ironically.

    Your parents were jittery and nervous all the time, but that was a normal reaction, they had seen and experienced the outside world. You felt safe in their presence, although seeing them come in the house in the yellow suits kind of scared you.

    Months were spent in this routine, and all seemed normal (within the limits). One day, however, you were woken up by loud banging on the front door. You immediately stood up from bed, a little dizzy from the sudden movement, and wobbled over to your door. You pressed your ear against the wooden door to hear whatever went on downstairs. You had never gotten visitors…

    You heard the downstairs door creak open and a male, harsh, demanding voice spoke.

    “Any kids in?” He simply asked.

   “N-no, Sir. We’ve never been able to have kids.”

    You frowned at the shaky voice. They did have a kid though... 

    The nervousness in your mom’s voice, the violent man’s tone, and the lie immediately raised a red flag for you. You became uncertain and shaky. Who was he!?

     You prepared for the worst. You shoved a couple things in a backpack, the absolute necessary, and opened your bedroom’s window as quietly as possible. You looked down at the previously green grass outside. It was far. If you had to jump you were gonna hurt yourself, so you just prayed that they’d leave.

     “Surely you wouldn’t mind us looking around then?” 

    Your eyes widened, and you immediately took this as your cue. You put on the black gas mask your parents had given you in case of emergency and sat by the window pane.

    “What? B-but I told you we don’t have-”

    “Ma’am please step off or you’ll be taken.” He rudely interrupted your mother.

    You heard heavy footsteps echo throughout the house, and without a second thought jumped off. You pursed your lips together to prevent the scream from escaping past your lips as you landed on your side, on top of a couple of rocks. 

   You got up as quickly as you fell down and ran. You ran as fast as you could, always holding your aching side. 

    You had no idea where you were wandering, you had no idea what was safe or not, and you had no idea what was happening, but you ran anyways.

  It had been four days. You had seen some people running around and looting stores, you had seen some people in suits patrolling, and you had seen huge tanks taking over the city. You always felt the floor shake when one of them approached, so it was easy to hide. You wondered what they were for, but then again your imagination had run short.

  You hadn’t found a place you deemed safe yet. You’d sleep in hidden street corners and stolen from beaten-up shops to survive, but you were becoming tired and desperate. Hope died very quickly in a place like that, and every morning it was hard not to give up.

  After the longest days of your life, you decided to risk it. You went into the only part in town you hadn’t scavaged. It was previously known for illegal activity and for being generally very shady. Strangely, it was the most familiar part of town. It was dark, cold and scary, just like before.  

  You walked warily, looking the torn-apart buildings 'from head to toe’. Most of them were locked up, or too damaged to even enter, but a particular building caught your attention. The windows were sealed, but the door had a chain that had been broken. You approached it and carefully removed the chain. The metal door creaked against the floor and made an ugly noise. You closed it just as slowly and carefully inspected the bottom floor with the poor flashlight you had found in a hardware store. 

   It was clean.

  You moved upwards, and all of the floors were clear of corpses. A sense happiness and relief washed over you, as you might had just found a place to stick around in. 

  As you reached the floor just below the rooftop, your eyes glistened and your face lit up. 

  A mattress with a couple of blankets laid against the wall. There were unopened cans of food organized near the window, that gave you a perfect view of the safe and unsafe areas. As you were about to inspect the food and the expire date on them, someone spoke behind you.

  “Hello?”

 You jumped at the voice. You spun around quickly and held the turned-off flashlight close to your chest. Your eyes were widened and you were frozen in place. The male in front of you, on the other hand, was relaxed yet confused.

  He had a long dark fringe covering his eyes, and his skin was very pale. 

  “W-who are you?” You asked, trying your best not to stutter out the whole sentence.

   The man looked at you as if you were stupid.

   “I’m the person living here?... The owner of this five-star suite, actually.”

   Your face fell a little at his statement and he chuckled. 

  “What? Did you think you had hit the jackpot and just found a perfect place waiting for you?”

   You averted your gaze and blushed slightly in embarrassment at how stupid your thoughts sounded when said out loud. Neither of you said anything. You could immediately tell that there was a big contrast between your personalities: while you stood there, stiff and nervous, he was relaxed and staring at you with a mocking glare. You were a little confused as to why the male wasn’t freaking out over a random person walking in where he lived and trying to claim it. It was suspicious…

    The man looked at the mattress on the floor, then at the cans.

    “Wanna share?”

    You were taken aback by the question. Why would he willingly share what he had? Why would he willingly spare half of the very scarce resources he possessed? 

    “Why?” You quietly asked.

    The man understood your confusion, most people would shoo others away and refuse to even let them come close to whatever they had gathered. 

    He walked over to the mattress and sat down with a groan. The stranger took a very poorly joint up to his mouth and took a hit, then puffing out the smoke and creating a small cloud between the two of you. He opened his mouth to say something but was immediately cut off.

   “We’re in the middle of an apocalypse and you’re getting high!?”

   It wasn’t like you to stress over something so little, but the near-death experiences, the fear and all the running away had transformed you into a shell of your former self.

   “It’s… It’s not an apocalypse.”

   You furrowed your brows and cocked your head. How would he know what all this was anyway?

    “Well it’s kinda- Can you fucking sit down or something you’re stressing me out, standing there holding that flashlight like I’m gonna try to murder you.”

    The statement stole a chuckle out of you and you sat down on the floor in front of him.

    “To put it shortly, this pandemic is a war gone wrong.”

    There was a long silence, as he let you process the tiny bit of the puzzle he had just told you. It was understandable that you didn’t know what was going on, no one really did know but the ones that had been exposed to the government’s horrors.

    “This… virus. It wasn’t someone’s carelessness or a lab security breach, it was a biological war that went to shit. A country unbeknownst to everyone apparently sent out a virus to wipe out Japan and Korea, it was speculated inside the borders that it was because of the lucrative rise and some countries were losing their economic powers over a lot of major cities. But it spiraled out of control and everyone is slowly dying. It’s much worse than anything anyone had ever seen, and in a panic, the government started doing what they call ‘recruitment of the younger generation’. Don’t let the name fool you, we were taken against our will…”

    “We? You were there?”

    Jongho sighed, his voice dropped considerably and suddenly the weed tasted odd. He threw away the joint and rested his head against the wall. Guilt and shame filled his body, and he wasn’t able to look you in the eye as he explained what went on in the place he had been confined in.

    “I was… taken. From the house I was in. They take only young people who are healthy and capable. No disabilities inside those walls, only the ones they deem good enough to procreate and rebuild our country. We… We are forced to work, they do tests on us, they treat us like lab rats and the boys… The boys are forced to impregnate girls.” His voice cracked at that, clearly hitting a deep scar. His chest began to rise and fall quickly.

    You became suddenly sad and worried for the stranger. Your face contorted in a pitiful look and you approached him, patting his thigh for him to know he had your support.

    “It’s okay, you don’t need to tell any more…”

    The male glanced at the joint he had thrown away and regretted doing so. He really wished he had something that made the conversation easier.

     “No, the more people know, the easier it will be to destroy this whole shit. Letting the world die is better than what they’re doing to us. I was… forced to make girls pregnant. I- I don’t even know their names. I don’t even know who they are, they push you into a room and they watch you, to make sure you do things right. When people refuse to do so, there’s a punishment. But I was always too scared of it so I just followed the rules. In a couple of months I’ll have… I’ll have a children in there. A son, who knows maybe a daughter… And they’ll be forced to do exactly what I ran away from. Fuck I’m a monster!” 

   The male hit his head against the wall, hard. His eyes were tightly shut (certainly not hurt from the bang against the wall, but from something much deeper) and tears threatened to fall.

    The psychological side clearly was much worse than any physical work they were forced to do.

    “Hey, hey it’s okay. You didn’t do that because you wanted to, right? You did it because you were forced. If those kids are as smart as you surely they’ll get out too.”

   He scoffed and turned his head to look at you.

   “I got out because I was lucky. I was done with life, I didn’t want to be there anymore. But because the suicide rate was crazy high inside those walls everyone was always watching. I knew a guy though, he managed to pass around drugs and my plan was to overdose… But when the time came I always pussied out. As time went by and I kept consuming I became thinner, paler, weaker… I looked like I was about to die and they didn’t understand why, but at some point they stopped wanting me there, they deemed I was unfit. They cut off my food and water, they left me to die in a room. I was lucky because I passed out. They thought I was dead and threw me over the border. I woke up in a pile of dead bodies, bathing in blood, dirt, puke, and God knows what else. I could barely move, but I dragged myself out of the corpses and tried to survive the best I could.”

    You couldn’t believe your ears. You wanted to say something, but what was there to be said? ‘It’s going to be okay’? You both knew it was a lie… There was nothing to be said and all you could do was greet his lengthy life-story of the past couple months with silence.

    “That’s why I smoke weed. Y’know… kinda takes me out and makes me forget everything’s gone to shit, drowns out the worst in my head.”

    You nodded, a little uncomfortable yet understanding his position.

    Luckily, Jongho who had been through Hell and come back, was great at shooing away the awkwardness.

   “Now that you know about my kids, I’m Jongho by the way.”

   “I-I’m Y/N.” You introduced yourself, a little shocked at the way he was fine with joking about it.

    “Well Y/N, buckle up. We’re in a warzone now, it’s the end of the world. There ain’t a reason you and me should be alone.”

  You and Jongho sat at the top of the building. The sun was going down and you sat on his lap. His arms were around your body, holding your hands as he tried to teach you how to properly roll the thin paper. 

    “Y/N! We don’t have infinite weed! Stop messing this up!”

    “I- Are you joking, Jongho!? You pushed this mess onto my hands because you wanted to have a reason to have me on your lap!”

    You stood up (faking anger toward him) and walked up to the edge of the building, dancing and prancing around. 

    Jongho laughed at your cuteness and threw away the very much ruined romantic joint he tried to do with you. He walked over to you and placed his hands on your hips.

     “I won’t get high tonight but at least I was happy.” 

    You looked at him, surprised at the sweet comment. The sunlight gave his skin a golden tone and the slight wind blew his hair back. He smiled at the big eyes you were giving him, and chuckled upon realizing how little it had taken to make you speechless.

     “What?” He asked, as you wouldn’t stop staring.

    You giggled and placed your hands on his biceps, subconsciously playing with them.

    “Nothing it’s just… I didn’t know you could be cute.”

    Jongho faked a shocked expression, never breaking eye contact.

     “Excuse me! I can be adorable!”

     You scoffed and slapped his chest.

    “You’ve been cute to me like, two times.”

     “Two?” He asked, not remembering what the first had been.

     Your eyes drifted away and you blushed slightly. 

     “Well, you let me stay with you… That was really sweet, thank you.”

     Jongho lifted your chin with his index finger, making you look at him.

     “And I’m glad I did.”

     There was a small, comfortable silence before you spoke.

      “Why is that?”

      You were eager for the answer. Jongho was unpredictable, you never knew what to expect of him, so you looked deep into his eyes as you awaited a response. 

     Jongho looked away, before looking back at you and pressing his lips against yours, for a kiss that lasted no longer than a second.

     “Because I like you.”

    It was incredulous. You expected him to say that, but it was so… unexpected. You opened your mouth to speak, but he cut you off as per usual.

     “And I know, I know it’s been like two weeks, but it’s hard not to fall for someone like you once you spend every second of every day with them.”

     You blushed slightly and hit his chest.

     “Plus, you’re one of the most beautiful women out there.” He said as he caressed your cheek lovingly.

     “Jongho, who knew you could be so sweet…”

     “I know, right? But then again, everyone is dying and there’s like, a dozen women out there so you don’t have much competition.”

     You two laughed, and before you could hit him, Jongho ran away and ran downstairs. Once you found him, you tackled him onto the mattress, but of course he won over you, and began tickling you all over. He’d only stop when you begged and were almost crying. 

   You looked into each other’s eyes. The dim light coming from the windows setting a lewd mood. Once you had regained your breath, you grabbed the back of his head and kissed him. The kiss lasted a little longer than the previous one, slightly losing its innocence. 

  You had never gone beyond kissing with anybody, so you were surprised at yourself when you deepened the kiss and rolled your hips against his, you didn’t hate it however. You wanted to continue. The world was ending and you were making out with the hottest man you’d ever been with on a mattress, so if there was a perfect timing, that was it.

   You moaned onto the kiss, signaling that you wanted more, but Jongho pulled away rapidly and looked away, a little embarrassed.

    “Jongho? Did I do something wrong I-I’m sorry I had never done that before and I-”

    “You were fine Y/N, don’t worry… It’s just that. Those things I did… Those girls, it wasn’t that long ago. I don’t think I’m comfortable, I’m sorry, love.”

     You felt bad for making him feel like he had to apologize for his feelings. You started to panic, but you had to calm yourself down in order to make Jongho feel comfortable. 

     You placed a hand on his cheek and kissed his forehead.

     “It’s okay Jongho, I don’t mind waiting. I’ll wait for you a million years, even when we’re both old and looking like raisins, I promise I’ll still want you.”

      The male giggled, showing the gummy smile you loved oh so much, and buried his face in the crook of your neck.

     “I got so lucky… You’re all I need.”

   You woke up with Jongho shaking you and calling for your name. You immediately shot awake and sat on the mattress you called a bed. 

     Your boyfriend threw his heavy mask onto a corner, grabbed both of your cheeks and kissed you passionately. His eyes were teary and puffy. His whole face was red and his coal-coloured hair was stuck to his forehead. You furrowed at the way his hands were shaking as he held you.

     “Jongho?” You asked, a little nervous.

     “Yes, darling?” He questioned. 

     His voice was as shaky as his hands, and anxiety started building up in the pit of his stomach.

     “What’s wrong?”

    His jittery eyes took in all of your features before smiling nervously.

    “Nothing baby!”

    He kissed your cheeks, your forehead, your nose, and finished up with a long kiss on your lips.

    Suddenly, the ground shook. Once, twice… Jongho tried to block the window with his broad back, but you could still see the shiny, shooting star-like object coming down from the sky and colliding with the ground. A loud sound echoed in the air and the ground shook once more before you saw a mushroom-like explosion in the distance.

    You couldn’t hold back the tears as panic immediately enveloped you.

    “J-Jongho what- what’s going on!?” You asked, your voice rising for the first time in months.

    Your boyfriend looked at you with teary eyes and held your face in a way that you couldn’t look at the window.

     “Nothing, doll. Everything is fine, we’re gonna be okay.”

    Jongho hugged you tightly. You quickly wrapped your arms around him and held him as close as possible, as your brain put two and two together.

    The two of you pulled away and looked into each other’s eyes.

   “I love you.” He whispered.

    And, before you could reply, he pressed his lips to yours, in what you both knew to be your last kiss. So you didn’t pull away. And when the sky fell down, and when the blasting got closer to you, you still didn’t pull away.

    And so when everything went black, neither of you noticed, because your eyes were still closed, and you were still holding each other as if the world wasn’t ending, and you were the only thins that mattered to each other.

    Your forever wasn’t long, but as you held each other and tears streamed down your faces, you knew that it had been a good forever.

[flirting-with-psychology]

Stayed single almost the whole year? 2015: You fucking know it

2016: Same

2017: Almost

2018: Almost, no official relationships or anything

2019: I was taken for most of the year!

2020: Nope! I had a boyfriend the whole year :)

2021: No, had a boyfriend the whole year!

Were involved In something you’ll never forget? 2015: Yeah

2016: Yeah, band

2017: My film class

2018: Yeah, Macy’s and the film stuff I did and my house

2019: The B Flat

2020: My relationship, other than that this year was uneventful

2021: Some of the films

Tripped over a coffee table? 2015: Most likely

2016: I can’t recall but probably

2017: There’s like a 98% chance I did

2018: Definitely

2019: Yup, and all the tables at work

2020: Hit my toe on a table leg and it hurt for weeks

2021: Probably

Dyed your hair? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No but planning on it

2019: Kinda but it didn’t really take

2020: No

2021: No

Came close to losing your life? 2015: No

2016: A car cut me off at a crosswalk so maybe

2017: Probably not

2018: No

2019: No

2020: Not unless I was exposed to covid

2021: Probably not

Saw one of your favorite bands/artists live? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No

2019: I saw some musicals live

2020: No

2021: No

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21: FRIENDS & ENEMIES…

Did you meet any new friends this year? 2015: Yeah I did, and I got closer to old friends

2016: Yeah

2017: Yeah

2018: Yeah

2019: A couple

2020: I met some friends online in an Among Us group

2021: A couple, and I met the among us group in person

Did you hate anyone? 2015: Not really hate, but dislike

2016: Same

2017: Yeah kinda

2018: I really didn’t like a coworker (but now we are friends) and a friend’s girlfriend (who I still don’t like)

2019: Not actively

2020: I hate Trump and Mitch McConnell

2021: Idk

Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships? 2015: I wish I could have found roommates

2016: I wish I had gotten closer to people on my study abroad. But my roommate was nice and I still talk to her every so often, so that’s cool. A note on last year, I’m glad I didn’t end up living with the friends I was thinking about living with because their apartment got condemned and they had to move to a suburb and commute to school, then one got a girlfriend and moved out and the other one is with her boyfriend a lot so I would have been stuck all by myself out in the middle of nowhere

2017: I kind of regret not getting closer to my roommates

2018: I regret that I don’t value some of them as much as I should

2019: Not spending more time with them once I got a boyfriend. I swore I wouldn’t be that person who ditches their friends once they get into a relationship

2020: I wish it hadn’t gone to shit in my house because of covid

2021: Maybe not hanging out and keeping in touch enough

Did you miss any friends? 2015: A little

2016: A little

2017: A little

2018: A little

2019: Yes but it turned out she was just out of the country

2020: I miss all my friends

2021: Yes

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21: YOUR BIRTHDAY…

Did you have a cake? 2015: It had a piece of cake

2016: No, I had IHOP

2017: No, I had pancakes

2018: No, I had chocolate mousse

2019: Yes

2020: Bundt cake

2021: No, I had chocolate fondue

Did you have a party? 2015: No, I went to Vegas

2016: No, I went to brunch with my parents then played in my last home football game as part of the band

2017: Kinda, we did an escape room and then went to dinner

2018: No, just a couple of friends out to dinner

2019: We went to an escape room a couple weeks later because my actual birthday got snowed out

2020: No because of covid

2021: No, I was visiting my boyfriend’s family for thanksgiving

Did you get any presents? 2015: Yeah

2016: Yeah, and a win

2017: Yeah

2018: Yeah a few

2019: Yeah

2020: Yeah

2021: Yeah

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21: ALL ABOUT YOU…

Did you change at all this year? 2015: I believe so

2016: I’m sure I did

2017: I’m sure I will always change

2018: Yes but not as much as I had hoped or in the ways I wanted

2019: Probably a little

2020: I got worse

2021: Yeah I think so

Were you in school? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes

2017: For part of the year but then I gruaduated

2018: No

2019: No

2020: No

2021: No

Did you own a car? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No

2019: No

2020: I bought a car in September!

2021: Yes :)

Did anyone close to you give birth? 2015: No

2016: Not really close, but my mom’s ex-boyfriend’s daughter did

2017: No

2018: No but I’m starting to be friends with people who have kids

2019: No

2020: No

2021: No

Did you go on any vacations? 2015: Yeah, I went on 2 road trips and I think a couple others

2016: I studied abroad in Italy and went on 2 away trips with the band, and about to go on a third

2017: I went to London, New Orleans, and Wyoming for the eclipse

2018: I went to Las Vegas for a film shoot

2019: I went to Israel and a few smaller trips

2020: I went to Harry Potter World with my boyfriend

2021: A small one

2015/16/17/18/19/20/21: WRAP UP…

Was 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21 a good year? 2015: It was better than 2014

2016: Not as good as I hoped, but some things were good. The football team had a really good year

2017: It was pretty good. The football team did not have as good a year

2018: Overall I think so

2019: It was alright

2020: No

2021: Not really but it was a little better than last year

Do you think 2016/17/18/19/20/21/22 will top 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21? 2015: I hope so

2016: I hope so

2017: I’m not sure, but I hope so

2018: I hope so, I kind of have a good feeling about it

2019: I hope so

2020: God I fucking hope so

2021: If it doesn’t I don’t know what I’d do

IN THE YEAR 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21 I CONFESS THAT I…

Kissed in the snow? 2015: No

2016: Still no

2017: No, but there’s still time

2018: No

2019: Yep!

2020: I can’t remember

2021: Maybe?

Done something you’ve regretted? 2015: Slightly

2016: Some things, but nothing big

2017: Probably

2018: Yes

2019: Probably

2020: Nothing major

2021: Nothing major

Painted a picture? 2015: Yes, with watercolors with some girls in my hall

2016: I can’t recall

2017: No

2018: No

2019: Yes, with wax

2020: Don’t think so

2021: No, but I have painted some minis

Wrote a poem? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes. Only one or two though, not nearly as much as I used to

2017: I don’t think so actually

2018: I don’t think so

2019: No

2020: Don’t think so

2021: No

Ran a mile? 2015: Nope

2016: I probably did cumulatively, in all of 2016, run a total of at least a mile. But not on its own, no

2017: Maybe on the elliptical

2018: On the elliptical

2019: On the elliptical probably

2020: No

2021: I think I actually did one time on the elliptical

Visited a foreign country? 2015: No

2016: Yes, Italy

2017: Yes, England and France

2018: No

2019: Yes, Israel

2020: No

2021: No

Cut in a line of waiting people? 2015: Probably by accident

2016: Probably

2017: Probably

2018: Probably

2019: Maybe

2020: Don’t think so

2021: Dunno

IN 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21 I…

Broke a promise? 2015: Probably

2016: Probably

2017: Probably

2018: Probably

2019: Probably

2020: I’m sure I did

2021: Probably

Lied? 2015: Probably

2016: Probably

2017: Yes

2018: Yes, but just little white lies

2019: Yes

2020: Maybe just little white lies

2021: Yes

Disappointed someone close? 2015: Probably, I know I disappointed my parents a couple times

2016: Probably

2017: I know I disappointed my parents a couple times

2018: Probably

2019: Probably my boyfriend a few times

2020: I’m sure I did

2021: I know I disappointed my dad

Had a secret? 2015: Not really

2016: A couple

2017: Not really

2018: Maybe kinda

2019: Not anything big reallyy

2020: Not really

2021: A little

Pretended to be happy? 2015: Yes

2016: Sometimes

2017: Sometimes

2018: Yes, when I needed to

2019: Sometimes

2020: Occasionally, but didn’t really try

2021: Sometimes

Slept under the stars? 2015: In a tent

2016: Don’t think so

2017: In a tent

2018: No

2019: In a tent community

2020: No

2021: No and I have no idea what I was talking about in 2019

Kept your new year’s resolution? 2015: Some of them

2016: Probably a few of them

2017: Probably some

2018: I don’t even remember what they were

2019: Some of them

2020: A few of them

2021: Some of them

Forgot your new year’s resolution? 2015: I wrote them down

2016: Yes

2017: Yep

2018: Did I even make one?

2019: I wrote them down

2020: I wrote them down

2021: Yeah

Met someone who changed your life? 2015: Yes

2016: Probably

2017: Yes

2018: I’m sure I did

2019: Didn’t meet him this year but he has

2020: Not that I know of

2021: No one who has changed it yet

Changed your outlook on life? 2015: I believe so

2016: Maybe for the worse. Hopefully I’ll get over that

2017: Maybe

2018: Idk

2019: Not really

2020: I think I got disenfranchised with capitalism and feared death more

2021: Starting to change my balance of risk vs reward

Sat home all day doing nothing? 2015: Yup

2016: Yup

2017: I’m sure I did

2018: Probably but not enough

2019: Yup

2020: Like most days

2021: Yeah

Learned something new about yourself? 2015: Yes

2016: Probably

2017: Maybe

2018: Maybe

2019: I learned what I’m like in a relationship

2020: Probably

2021: Idk

Met great people? 2015: Yeah!

2016: Yep!

2017: Yep!

2018: Yep!

2019: I think so, I honestly can’t remember who I met when

2020: Didn’t meet a ton of people

2021: A couple

Kissed someone that means a lot to you? 2015: Yes, unfortunately I don’t mean a lot to him anymore. Not even sure if I did then

2016: No. I mean, I kissed one of my friends drunkenly, an she means a lot to me as a friend, but no one romantically

2017: I’m not sure yet how much he means to me. But we are dating

2018: Yes, but so far I’m not sure whether he means a lot to me as a friend or as a romantic interest

2019: Yes!

2020: Yes :)

2021: Yes

Stayed up till sunrise? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes

2017: Yes, on my film project. I couldn’t even see the sunrise, I just walked outside and it was daytime

2018: Yes on a film shoot

2019: Probably

2020: Yes

2021: Yes, and always felt like I failed when I did

Cried over the silliest thing? 2015: I’m sure I did when I was PMSing

2016: Yes

2017: Yes

2018: Yes

2019: Too often

2020: Yes

2021: Yes

Had friends who were drifting away from you? 2015: Yes

2016: Yes

2017: Yes

2018: Yeah Kylie kind of did

2019: Kylie and Shaina

2020: Yes, especially my roommates

2021: Yeah unfortunately

Had a high cell phone bill? 2015: Not too bad

2016: It increased a bit, but my parents pay most of it

2017: It decreased because the phone itself got paid off

2018: Lol I still have to pay that

2019: I think it’s the same

2020: No, I don’t remember if I even paid my dad

2021: Not really but I got a new phone

Spent most of your money on food? 2015: Quite a bit

2016: That and clothes I don’t need

2017: No, rent

2018: No, rent and shit from Macy’s

2019: Not most of it

2020: Mostly rent

2021: No, mostly dnd stuff

Had a fist fight? 2015: No

2016: No

2017: No

2018: No

2019: No

2020: No

2021: No

Gotten sick? 2015: Yeah for like half this entire semester. Also got shingles over the summer

2016: Still dealing with my immune system’s decision to just fucking walk out

2017: yes, but not so much now that I’m not in school

2018: Yes, I had a cough that lasted 2 months

2019: I had the stomach flu

2020: I think I had a cold once, it was kind of nice not getting sick every month this year

2021: No, it’s the longest time I’ve ever gone without getting sick

Liked more than 5 people at the same time? 2015: Not seriously. I had brief little interests that overlapped but I don’t think more than 3 at a time that I really liked

2016: Yeah I think so

2017: Not sure

2018: Probably

2019: Not really other than fleeting attractions

2020: No

2021: I don’t think 5

Became closer with a lot of people? 2015: A few

2016: Not really

2017: A couple

2018: A few

2019: With a couple people

2020: With my boyfriend

2021: No

Song that reminds you of summer 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21? 2015: Can’t Help Falling In Love

2016: Bring Him Home

2017: In A Crowd of Thousands

2018: Moving Out

2019: Some jewish song?

2020: Epiphany

2021: Dangerous to Dream

Lost any friends this year? 2015: Yes. One because she was a bitch

2016: A friend died in April, and I found out about it in June. I don’t know how he died, we had not been close in awhile

2017: Temporarily

2018: My last roommates

2019: Not really

2020: Probably my roommates

2021: Not really I don’t think

When people say, “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever talked shit about anyone” do you think it’s possible? 2015: Possibly but probably not likely. For awhile I used to think I wasn’t judgmental before I realized I actually am

2016: Unlikely. I’m petty af now

2017: Probably not

2018: Probably not, they probably do even if they don’t mean to

2019: Probably not

2020: Probably not

2021: Probably not unless they have some toxic positivity issues

How do you feel about gay marriage? 2015: So glad it’s legal!

2016: Same

2017: Same

2018: It’s great!

2019: Great!

2020: Great!

2021: Love it

Give me a random lyric from the song you’re listening to: 2015: I can’t really make out lyrics

2016: I’m not listening to anything

2017: I’m not listening to anything

2018: I’m not listening to anything

2019: Not listening to anything

2020: If the shoe fits, walk in it Til your high heels break

2021: Not listening to anything

Do you think you’re approachable? 2015: Not as much as I would like to be

2016: Haven’t solved this problem yet

2017: Not as much as I would like to be

2018: Not as much as I would like to be

2019: Only by customers

2020: Not lately, I would like it if people did not approach me

2021: Not really

Do you make sexual innuendos about everything? 2015: Kinda

2016: Not as much as I used to

2017: Only on occasion

2018: Sometimes

2019: Not as much as I used to

2020: Not as much as I used to

2021: Sometimes if I have the right crowd

Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? 2015: Not unless it’s like my parents or something

2016: No

2017: Not really

2018: Not really

2019: No

2020: No

2021: Not really

Who is the last person you texted? 2015: My friend Kylie

2016: My mom

2017: Guacamole

2018: My friend Sara

2019: The art director from the shoot last year

2020: My boyfriend

2021: My mom

Song playing right now? 2015: Because We can

2016: Nothing

2017: Nothing

2018: Nothing, but She Used to be Mine is paused on Spotify

2019: Nothing

2020: Epiphany (but the song that was playing when I answered the lyrics question was Long Story Short)

2021: Nothing

[snarkwrites]

"I learned so much more just being out in the world, you know, and a little bit in jail." This quote made me laugh, and now I wonder what kind of headcanons you'd come up with on that theme. (Maybe something with Rick & Shane?) 🌻

I had so much time to think about this whilst sick, my darling sunflower anon and... This is what I came up with. No real appearances of my original character Evie here, btw, so I’m sorry in advance if you were hoping for that? Anyway... This is merely a what if... What if Shane hadn’t gone into law enforcement? What if he’d given into the dark side much much earlier?

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering that, by all means, keep reading.

Is it wrong that I’m tempted to write an AU of walking dead where like... it starts out like this? Maaybe.. But I doubt I do it, lmao.

WARNING:

Heavy on the angst. Mentions of Rick being shot, a bank robbery, several wrong choices in life made by Shane.. Possibly OOC, idk though.. ANGSTY AF.

TAGGING:

@rampagewriting - I guess maybe you’d wanna see this idk? @chasingeverybreakingwave - bc I know you like Shane so I thought maybe this would be of interest... @missjennferb - i thought you might like this idk... 

If anyone wants to be tagged, add yourself to my multifandom doc, otherwise I don’t tag.

OTHER STUFF:

[ masterlist - about - tag list doc ] 

Everyone always told them both “You’re going places, kid.” For Rick, it was surprisingly simple. The world, for whatever reason, deemed him as someone who had great things ahead in life. Rick seemed to rise above and beyond everyone’s expectations. Even those of his father, which were astronomical because the old man was nothing if not a perfectionist. A trait which was definitely passed down to Rick in spades...

-- Shane, not so much. Having a rough around the edges drunk burn out former football star for a daddy only means one thing... Either you get out of his footsteps and you do better, you go farther than the old man, or you succumb to all the pressure and the negativity the old man feeds you and you wind up crushed under it’s weight. 

-- At first, it certainly seemed as if Shane Walsh were destined for great things like Rick, his chosen ‘brother’ from another mother. All-Star on their high school’s football team, took them all the way to state two or three years on the team... But even having that damn State Championship ring wasn’t enough. The harder Shane Walsh pushed the world, the harder the world pushed back until that fateful game day senior year when Shane Walsh finally pushed too fucking hard. The end result was an injury that left his football aspirations shattered on the ground. 

-- Rick did everything he could to keep his best friend uplifted. He was at every single procedure and every single therapy session but Shane was really starting to give up. To lose any shred of hope that he ever held. As a result, he started to resent Rick’s success (and the fact that Rick was the one that their coach chose to fill Shane’s spot didn’t help matters any)... Shane’s father didn’t help either, what with the constant remarks about Shane having never been anything but trash, destined for the same life he lead.

-- Rick went on to the police academy after his own injuries put a stop to his dream of playing college ball. His father was more encouraging. Caring... Despite neither man being able to show emotions all that well. Rick knew he had the love and support of his family, this is something that Shane probably never knew the feeling of.

-- I firmly believe that if Evie were an actual character during this whole universe, she would’ve TRIED and fought like hell for Shane but ultimately, Shane would’ve pushed her away just as he did Rick. I know, I know... This is the only mention I intend of putting about Evie in here though. Anyway, yeah...

Shane goes career military. And at first, he’s fine with it. But he’s sent overseas and he’s exposed to nightmarish conditions, he’s forced to choose between his humanity or caving, giving into darkness and corruption even further. Doesn’t help that during this time, a high ranking officer takes the young man under his wing and basically turns him into a glorified killing machine, puts him into situations that will later spell disaster for the young man.

-- Shane goes awol after a mission goes wrong and he’s left with mild PTSD in the days and weeks following. 

-- I know this wouldn’t happen IRL, but.. for whatever reason, the government chooses not to pursue the rogue officer Shane Walsh. Shane goes back home to King County and he’s a changed man... Darker... More cynical.. Angrier. With time, this grows and festers to a point where Shane is now living an almost sub-human life, taunted by the lives he’s taken and seen taken in front of him. He turns to a life of crime.

This, of course, all comes to a head when Shane’s accepted into a group of known thieves. The bank heist nearly goes off without a hitch until Shane is face to face with his old pal Rick... He freezes, which is a stupid.. stupid.. thing to do. He has to choose between shooting a friend that he still very much cares about and losing that last shred of humanity or running for it, knowing Rick will find him and he will take him into custody. 

-- I say he has to choose but it turns out that he doesn’t. See, one of the guys, a guy named One Hand Fred... He makes the choice for SHane. Shoots Rick in the chest. Shane is then torn between leaving with their score and his ‘crew’ or staying to make sure Rick sees safety.

-- Shane chooses to stay. This is how Shane’s story ends, with him taking the fall for the entirety of the bank heist and being sentenced to prison. Rick knows the truth. Rick TRIES to fight for a better deal, a fairer sentence.. Doesn’t work. Rick asks for one last favor from his co-workers, and that’s that he gets to be the one who escorts Shane to prison... On the way in, the two have a long and deep conversation in which your quote comes into play. Rick asks Shane if he’s really learned anything at all about the path he’s taken in life and all Shane can do is throw up those walls again and shrug it off. “Dunno, Grimes. Ask me again in 15 to 25 years, man.”

[boldly-ho]

Another Life - Chapter 21

Fandom: What We Do in the Shadows 

Pairing: Vladislav x Reader

Series Rating: E

Word Count: 1408 (It’s a shortie.)

Chapter Summary: Vladislav asks reader on a date, and in an almost appropriate way.

A/N: Yes it took us over 40k words to get to him asking her out. Idk why I’m like this, either. As always, this is cross-posted to AO3. (And when I inevitably find typos, I’ll fix them over there.)

A strangled sort of hissing noise pulled your focus from your endlessly scrolling on your phone. You snapped your head up and saw dark robes disappear around a corner. You sat, watching, as Petyr poked his head back around the corner and hissed angrily at you.

“It’s not my fault!” you shot back, leaping off the couch to draw the curtains in the lounge and block out the light from the setting sun, surely the source of his distress. “What are you even doing up so early?”

He shrugged as he entered the now-dark lounge, moving so smoothly you couldn’t be sure he wasn’t gliding.

“Are you ok?”

He nodded once. Thankfully. You shuddered to think what could have happened if he’d come in when the curtains were open.

“Please make sure the sun has set before you start wandering around,” you warned him. “I’m a human. I need the sunlight sometimes.”

~

More women continued to disappear. They disappeared quickly, at a rate of one to two a week. If they were dead, and it was in fact just one killer, that would make this most prolific serial killer New Zealand had ever seen. Maybe even the whole world.

All of the missing women looked like you.

It wouldn’t happen to you though. You didn’t go out to bars anymore. You never went out at night alone. Even after all this had happened, how were these women dumb enough to keep going out?

Victim-blaming.

You knew that’s what you were doing and you knew you were wrong. These women had been taken, probably killed. And you blamed them so that you didn’t have to feel so scared that you could be next.

And so that you didn’t feel guilty.

Not that you had anything to do with the disappearing women.

At least, you were pretty sure you didn’t.

But, being pretty sure wasn’t the same as being entirely sure.

And that difference was enough to make you choke on your guilt.

~

“Y/N?”

You sat up higher in the bathtub, startled by the intrusion. Not that it was an intrusion, really. Whoever it was was still in your bedroom. You couldn’t see them through the small crack in the door, and if you couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see you.

“Hello?” you called back.

“Can I come in?” You recognized the voice as Vladislav’s.

“Um, no?” You sunk back down into the bathtub, causing a bit of water to slosh over the edge of the antiquated claw-foot. There were no bubbles, though, so submerging yourself did little for your modesty.

“Ah.”

‘Ah?’ What did he expect here? You were taking a bath.

You told him as much. “I’m in the bathtub right now.”

“I know.”

“Okay…?”

“May I come in, please?”

A small part of you wanted to tell him to fuck off, but the fact he’d said please took up the larger part of your mind. You’d never heard him say please before. At least, not that you could remember. He might have said it once. He must have. But you certainly couldn’t recall it.

You sighed. “Okay, just hang on a second.”

You leaned forward, water sloshing at the disturbance, and grabbed the end of the shower curtain with your wet fingertips, pulling it around the tub to leave only your head exposed.

You chewed your lower lip nervously. This was dumb; you were overthinking it. After all, Dawn had come into the bathroom to talk while you’d bathed or showered, back when you’d still lived together. Still, this felt different somehow.

Vladislav cleared his throat from behind the door. “Can I come in?”

“Yes!” you replied, before you could change your mind.

He opened the door just wide enough for him to squeeze through, then closed it behind him, keeping the warm air inside and preventing you from freezing. He walked up to the side of the tub, resting his booted foot on the toilet, and leaning forward to rest his forearm on his thigh. In this position, he towered directly over you, and you had to lay back in the tub, looking toward the cracked ceiling, in order to see his face.

With a quick glance down on Vladislav’s part, you felt prompted to tug the shower curtain partially into the tub in order to keep yourself covered. It was both to hide your naked body, and to prevent any more heat from escaping the warm tub. You shivered as chills ran through your body. With Vladislav towering over you, fully clothed, and separated from you only by a shower curtain, you felt exposed.

“What’s up?” It took all your willpower not to visibly cringe. You couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong with ‘what’s up,’ but you regretted saying it nonetheless.

He seemed to suppress a smile.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?”

You blinked in surprise. “Nothing?” you asked rather than told him.

The corners of his mouth twitched and you felt butterflies in your stomach. You made sure you maintained a firm grip on the shower curtain.

“Incorrect,” he said.

“Oh?” you asked, fighting back a smile of your own.

“Mhmm,” he nodded.

“Then what is it that I’m doing tomorrow night?” You felt your heart beating faster. Blushing and looking away felt almost appropriate, but you were caught up in his piercing gaze. You didn’t hate it.

“Well, you have two choices,” he told you, now actively smiling. Looking down at you, fangs bared, he looked almost predatory.

You sunk a little lower in the tub, smiling in return. You found yourself quite fond of whatever game the two of you were suddenly playing. “What are my options, then?” Your voice sounded breathier than you were expecting. If you were misreading this situation, you might just drown yourself.

“You could stay home, reading whatever book you’ve recently pilfered from Viago’s bookshelf, all alone, while I go out into town with the guys.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun for me,” you said, feigning disappointment.

“No?”

You shook your head.

“Good thing you have a second option, then.”

“Which is…?”

“You and I go out and watch the fireworks display over the harbor before going bush walking to a secluded spot I know of to look at the stars.”

Fireworks and stargazing? That sounded incredibly romantic, actually. You wondered just how heightened his vampire hearing was. Could he hear how fast your heart was racing right now?

“That sounds more fun,” you said.

“So what are you doing tomorrow night?” he asked you again.

Fireworks, stargazing, that much was clear. But what was this, really? He’d made a point of saying the first option included his going out with the other guys. So his omission of them from the fireworks and stargazing plan seemed pretty deliberate.

It sounded like a date.

But, hadn’t you overheard him telling Viago and Deacon just the other day that he wasn’t interested in you?

And yet… Fireworks and stargazing… just the two of you…

It had to be a date.

You couldn’t go into this uncertain, though. You had to know for sure. The stress of the next 24 hours would flat out kill you, otherwise.

What are you doing tomorrow night? He was still staring you down, not at all threateningly, but still very seriously, waiting for an answer.

“I’m going on a date,” you told him, trying your best to sound confident. You held your smile, though inside you felt as though you might combust.

Oh, god, if you were wrong…

Thankfully, he grinned and said, “Correct.”

Your smile widened, if that was even possible, and you nearly lost your grip on the shower curtain in your excitement.

“I’ll let you get back to it,” he said, glancing meaningfully to the curtain. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N. Good night.”

As he stood to leave, you stopped him. “Vladislav?” You almost, almost, hated that your voice still sounded so breathy.

“Yes?” He looked so damn pleased with himself.

“Couldn’t this have waited until I was dressed?”

You weren’t sure whether he was just too excited to ask you, or whether he was trying to corner you naked and at your most vulnerable. Surprisingly, neither option really bothered you.

“No. It couldn’t. Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night, Vladislav.”

As he closed the door behind him, you dunked your head below the water to let out an elated laugh you hadn’t even known was building up inside you.