#if they didn’t have a monopoly out here then I would have already gone with someone else

[hypaalicious]

My internet was out for a week & this is my survival story.

No deadass I was kinda struggling 😭

But at the same time, I learned a lot about how social media is absolutely affecting my brain chemistry and it’s enlightening.

I’ve often had to take breaks from certain platforms whenever I find myself overwhelmed. But I always had an escape to like, other media.

When I ghosted FB for years, I took solace in Tumblr.

When I got burned out on fandom stuff on Tumblr, I ditched it for Twitter.

Whenever Twitter gets to be too annoying, I just scroll on Reddit.

But this was the first time in many moons that I had absolutely NO access to any of my vices. 🥲 Worst part was not having access to my besties on Discord, I felt so isolated and restless and bored. I depend on Twitter as like, my news station as well so there was a lot of FOMO on my shoulders. I was just sitting in the house like

I’m an asocial introvert but being absolutely cut off from the world at the safe distance I already kept it was brutal.

But, I went back to reading. I absolutely tore through Jacqueline Carey’s newest release in a day. I picked up an Astrology book I’ve had forever and read through that. I spent my time doing more chores or just… not having constant stimulus. I was still anxious because I couldn’t talk to my besties and also work on my VN stopped cause the team was waiting on ME to catch up 😩 But…

I’m calmer, overall. I feel less polarized and combative mentally. I have a lot to catch up on but it’s not as overwhelming in my head as it usually is. I feel like despite all my attempts at trying to get to a deeper understanding of astrology by following knowledgeable astrologers, I got more of a breakthrough NOT being pelted by a thousand astro opinions a day. Reading Carey’s book absolutely reignited my love for Terre d’Ange and adult writing in general; she has such a mastery over words I’ve only been able to grasp like ONCE in my life. I was all up in Joscelin’s story like

You really don’t notice how much you’re not being challenged in your reading until someone with her skill runs you over and you thank her for the privilege, LMAO!

I’m scrolling on Twitter now and feel detached from it in a way that’s good, I think. Being constantly informed is a double edged sword and I’m TRULY understanding how just… very reactionary social media is even when you follow people/topics that mean well. It literally cannot be healthy to absorb the knee-jerk takes and think pieces people make all the time, even if it shows me a perspective on issues I hadn’t considered.

It’s sad that my eternal fight with Cox internet forced me to take a sabbatical but I’m thankful for it. I need to be more disciplined and make my own planned absences from social media because I feel better not being constantly plugged in and doom scrolling. Idk how I’m gonna wrestle my ADHD to comply but ima figure it out, lol.

I guess this ramble is a reminder to take breaks from this hellsite and any other form of social media. It seems like nbd when you’re jumping from a YouTube video to IG to Tiktok all in the span of maybe 20 minutes and have been doing that for years. You don’t notice when you’re being overly influenced. You think cause you’ve curated your feed very well that you’re not stressed, especially when there’s extreme examples of unwell people on display to reassure you that you’re doing just fine by comparison.

Bestie, no you’re not. 😭 You’re drowning in stimulus and giving yourself no time to sit in stillness and find YOURSELF outside of all of the noise. Detox from all that and see how far you’ve REALLY come.

[vodika-vibes]

*slides $800 in Monopoly money over*

Got any sub!Wrecker and Dom!femreader smut in the back?

Our Happy Ending

Summary: You introduce Wrecker to your family, and it goes far worse than you ever feared. Luckily for you, Wrecker knows just how to make you both feel better.

Pairing: TBB Wrecker x F!Reader

Word Count: 1520

Warnings: Smut, cockwarming. Mentions of a toxic family

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: I hope this is close to what you wanted. I'm, apparently, not good at not writing gentle doms. The more you know, right?

You slowly unlock the front door to your apartment, guilt warring with anger in your chest. You thought, hoped, that your family would be happy for you. Happy that you were happy.

Your mother’s words regarding Wrecker ring through your memory, and you wince.

They had been so…cruel. So very cruel, to your gentle Wrecker.

And he just took it.

That’s the worst part, you think.

As much as you defended him, as much as you called out your family for their words, they still said them. 

You don’t know how to apologize to him. It had been your idea to introduce him to your family, after all.

You may as well have said the words to him yourself.

Wrecker’s been quiet since you left the family reunion, his gaze dark as he watches you. He leans against the wall next to the door, his gaze locked on your face, “Well,” Wrecker says slowly, wryly, “That could have gone…worse.”

A bitter laugh, that’s half a sob, falls from your lips. “You don’t have to lie, Wreck.” You angrily wipe the tears out of your eyes, “The only way that could have gone worse is if they pulled a weapon on you.”

He’s quiet for a moment, “It’s not your fault, firefly.” The familiar pet name makes you blink hard to try and keep yourself from crying. You’re not the injured party here, you have no business being so upset.

“I’m the one who insisted on introducing you.” You finally manage to get the door open, “It’s all my fault.”

Wrecker steps away from the wall and wraps his arms around you, kissing the back of your head, “You can’t control the words or actions of other people. I’m not unused to people saying such things about me.” You tilt your head to look at him, and he flashes a small smile, “I’m a big guy, love. I’m used to it.”

“That’s so much worse, Wreck!” You blurt, “I shouldn’t have insisted on introducing you. I-”

“Hey.” His arms tighten around you, “None of that. You wanted to introduce me to the people you love most in the world. They’re the ones who karked up. Not you.”

“...yeah, I guess.”

“Come on,” He nudges you into the apartment and shuts the door behind him, and then he turns you so that you’re facing him, “You’re still upset.”

“I don’t understand why you’re not.” You reply.

“Because I knew something that they didn’t.” Wrecker replies, and at your puzzled look he flashes a wide grin, “I knew that, if they pushed, you would choose me.”

“As if that was ever in doubt,” You reply as you slide your arms around his waist, “I love you, after all.”

“Yes,” He’s smug about it, “You do. And I’m a lucky man for it.”

“Still…” You say, deciding not to call him out on being smug for the moment, “I am sorry-”

“Nope.”

“I…what?”

“You don’t get to apologize for them being assholes.”

You stare at him, your jaw dropped, “I…but…”

“Nope.” He repeats.

“Oh, come on, Wreck! I already feel awful about it. Let me apologize-”

“Not gonna happen.”

“But, why?”

“Because you did nothing wrong.” Wrecker kisses your forehead, and then ducks to lightly press his lips against yours, “So I refuse to accept any apology from you.”

“Stubborn.” You mumble against his lips.

“Yep.”

“Will you at least let me do something to make up for the fact that they hurt you?” You ask, “Something to help you forget their words?”

“That’s not your responsibility-”

“I know you think that. But, Wreck, please? I don’t feel that way.”

He sighs and slowly brushes the back of his fingers against your cheek, “Alright, Firefly, what did you have in mind?”

“I can…make you something to eat?” You offer.

“...I’m flattered,” Wrecker says slowly, “But I have a better idea…one that doesn’t involve us going to the hospital when you inevitably burn yourself. Again.”

Your face heats, “That doesn’t happen every time-” You try to defend.

“It happened the last three times you tried to cook.” Wrecker corrects as he finally guides you out of the hallway and into the apartment properly, “And my idea will make us both feel better.”

“You still haven’t told me-”

“I want to be tied up and used for your pleasure.” He says bluntly, a wide grin crossing his face as you trip over your own feet in your surprise. “Careful, Firefly.”

“You…You can’t just spring stuff like that on me.” You sputter, your face burning with flustered embarrassment.

“You don’t wanna?” Wrecker asks.

“I…didn’t say that.” You reply sheepishly, “I’m still surprised you enjoy it so much.”

“Hm…my absolute bombshell of a girlfriend taking control in bed and taking what she wants while giving me what I want? What’s not to enjoy?”

You avert your gaze for a moment, to gather your thoughts. “Alright.” You finally reply, your voice thoughtful.

A small smile crosses your face as he brightens, you really do love him so much. “I’ll go and get the bed ready then-” Wrecker starts, only to pause when you reach up and press a single finger against his lips.

“Not the bed.”

He blinks at you, “We don’t fit on the couch, firefly.” Wrecker reminds  you.

You smile impishly, “Not the couch either.” And your smile broadens at his, adorably puzzled, expression, “Fill the tub, please? And you can use the bubble bath that you prefer, if you like.”

Delight flashes across his face, “Yes ma’am,”

“And once the tub is filled, you can get in and wait for me.”

Wrecker beams at you, and kisses your finger, which is still pressed against his lips, before he pulls away from you and vanishes into the bedroom. It shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes for him to fill the tub. You linger in the living room for several minutes, until you hear the water turn off, and then you head into the bedroom as well.

You peel off your clothes and toss them on the floor, before you step into the bathroom. The room is steamy, and, much to your surprise, the room is filled with the scent of your favorite bubbly bath, rather than his.

You melt a little bit. Your sweet Wrecker, always thinking of you, even when you tell him to think of himself first.

He’s already in the tub, his gaze locked on you.

“I thought I said you could use your favorite bubble bath,” You chide, very gently, as you carefully sit on the edge of the tub and swing your legs so they’re dipping in the water.

Several months after you started dating Wrecker, you used your Holiday Bonus from work to completely redo your bathroom. With a massive bathtub that can easily fit you and Wrecker at the same time. 

It was expensive, but it was so worth it to be able to see him lounging in the bath.

“You did.” Wrecker’s lips twitch up in amusement, “I intentionally used your favorite.”

You slip into the water and sink to your knees between his legs, “Hm, you’re usually better at obeying than this.” You tease as you slide closer to him and slowly drag your fingers across his broad chest.

“Maybe I want to be punished, firefly.” He almost purrs as you slowly shift to straddle his thighs.

You hum thoughtfully and lightly cup his cheek, “Is that what you want, Wrecker?”

He chuckles, “I want you. I don’t care how.”

You lean in and kiss him. A slow, passionate, kiss that has his hands wrapping firmly around your waist and his and his hips arching against you. “Would you like to hear how I’m going to have you?” You coo against his lips.

“Yes.”

“Yes…?”

“Ma’am.” His eyes glimmer with adoration and you’ve never felt more loved in your life.  “Yes, ma’am.”

You giggle and kiss the tip of his nose, “Good boy,” He groans at your words, “I’m going to slide down your cock, and I’m going to sit there.” You kiss his cheek, “You’re not allowed to move and you’re not allowed to cum. Not until I say you can.”

Wrecker’s hands tighten around your hips, and you know you’re going to have bruises from him, not that you mind at all. Cockwarming, after all, is one of Wrecker’s favorite things. 

He scans your face for a moment, and you can practically see what he’s thinking. Cockwarming is not something that you tend to instigate. Not that you hate it, or even that you don’t enjoy it, but it’s definitely something more for Wrecker than you. 

He slides one hand up your side to cup your face, and he pulls you in for a kiss. It’s slow and deep and passionate, “I love you.” He breathes against your lips. And then, suddenly remembering what he had asked for, he leans back, though his gaze remains soft and adoring, “I can behave.” 

You laugh softly, your heart full, as you settle yourself over the head of his cock, “Well, we’ll see won’t we.” You tease gently.

[landing-amongst-the-planets]

After seeing Season 5 and the way Miguel beat up three different guys to protect Robby in the fight at the Cobra Kai dojo, I need more of protective Miguel over Robby, so here! It’s not a fic, more an outline xD

4 Times Miguel’s Protective Of Robby And 1 Time He Realises Why

1: Robby and a former Cobra Kai are sparring and the ex-Cobra gets way too aggressive and nearly crushes Robby’s leg. Miguel immediately intervenes and knocks him to the ground and really digs into him until Robby has to tell him to cool it and the guy apologises. Tory and Sam snicker in the background and Demetri hands Eli money. Robby spends the rest of the week thinking about that because no one’s ever protected him like that before, except Miguel. For Miguel it’s just another Tuesday xD

2: Miguel finds out Johnny didn’t tell Robby the purpose of the Mexico trip until they were already there and that leads to the loudest fight the entire apartment complex has heard, and that’s saying something. Miguel thinks it’s unfair to Robby that Johnny put him in that position without even telling him and yet again made him feel second to Miguel. Eventually he calms down after Robby pacifies him and Johnny’s impressed and kinda proud that his two sons are getting along so well that Miguel is even protecting Robby from JOHNNY. Yaya gives Miguel a knowing look and Robby a wink and they don’t know what she means but they oddly feel like they’ve been found out.

3: One of the guys from school asks Robby out and he’s so far removed from karate and Carmen tells him it’ll be nice to have a break from the constant training for the Sekai Taikai, so he accepts. Miguel doesn’t know why but he feels weirdly betrayed by his mom. He ends up recruiting Eli and Demetri to follow Robby on the date “just in case”, citing their newly formed friendship and brotherhood meaning he wants to keep him safe. Eli and Demetri exchange that look they always do when they’re communicating in their own way that no one else understands, but Miguel’s one-track mind lets it go. The date does end up going badly cuz the guy is really disrespectful and too touchy and the next day Miguel’s on TikTok for beating the guy within an inch of his life before Robby, Eli, AND Demetri all had to hold him back. The video shows up on Daniel’s For You page on his newly made TikTok and he can’t help but be glad that someone’s looking out for his mentee, because if anyone knows how rough Robby had it it’s Daniel.

4: It’s movie night at the Diaz-Lawrence household and, after an exhausting game of Monopoly where Johnny nearly throws the board out the window when he starts losing, Miguel and Robby end up on the kitchen table together once everyone’s gone to sleep. They start talking about their childhoods and Miguel learns things about Robby’s that he half-figured but never wanted to think about when he was supposed to hate him. But now, seeing the kid who spent his childhood cooking for himself in dingy apartments and having to sweep up broken shards of the bottles of beer his mom or her newest boyfriend would leave on the ratty carpets, the kid who fell in with the wrong crowd too many times and got taken advantage of, the kid who was alone and didn’t have Johnny around…Miguel can’t help himself, he hugs Robby, a full-body hug, for the first time, and says he won’t let anything or anyone hurt him again. And Robby’s pretty sure he forgets how to breathe.

+1: Of course they don’t figure it out on their own. It takes separate interventions from their friends AND their senseis (yes, even Johnny figured it out eventually….ok, Daniel may have had to give him an intervention first) for Miguel to figure out he has feelings for Robby. And maybe that overprotectiveness wasn’t just brotherly love and friendship. And when he comes to this epiphany, it takes another full week for him to stop babbling nonsense when he sees Robby and finally ask him out. Fortunately for him, Robby likes him back, and fortunately for everyone else, they can finally exchange their money for the bets for when they’ll start dating😌

[darkbluekies]

Hedwig w a fuckboy reader?

Monopoly boy

female!yandere OC x male!reader

Summary: Hedwig can't get enough of you. She lives in a imagination of you being hers, despite your reputation. One day she has had enough of sharing you and decides to make you hers only in a way she knows best.

Warnings: mentions of nsfw themes, yandere, manipulation, a little angst?, not feeling enough, somewhat of a nice fuckboy, isolation

word count: 1.9k

Hedwig sighs and pulls her white shirt back over her head. She knows she shouldn’t feel so giddy. You do this to every girl who lends you an eye. But still, she can’t help but feel special. You gave her some of your precious time. You could have given it to someone else and ignored her, but you didn’t. You wasted your time on her and her only. How can she not feel honored?

Despite what your reputation says, you’re a gentle lover and cares for the girls you pull into your claws. That’s just what makes Hedwig come back, begging for more. 

“What are you doing?” you ask in confusion from behind her. 

“Hm?” Hedwig asks and turns her head to see you lying naked in the bed. 

“You always crave for cuddles afterwards. Why are you already leaving? Is something wrong?”

Hedwig stops and looks down at her hands, thinking. Yeah, why is she already leaving? Her heart sinks. She’s so scared of driving you away that she would give up cuddles to keep you. Her biggest fear is annoying you until the point that you won’t be with her anymore. It’s only for short moments, but in these minutes she can pretend that you are hers. 

“Oh … sorry”, she says and crawls back under the warm covers. 

Her heart flutters when you wrap your arms around her and let her rest her head on your bare chest. She breathes in your scent and nuzzles into you as far as she can. She wants to be one with you. She wants you to be hers in a way she can’t understand nor explain. 

“You can stay the night”, you say simply with your eyes closed. 

“I can?” Hedwig asks in shock. “Really?”

You shrug. “I mean, it’s past midnight and I’d be an asshole to send you home now. Just stay until sunrise and then sneak out.”

Hedwig nods carefully with a smile creeping up on her face. 

“Just don’t tell anyone that you’ve spent the night here”, you continue. 

“Why?” Hedwig whispers, smile gone as quick as it appeared. 

“I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea.”

“Oh … okay.”

Hedwig clenches her jaw. If you think that she’s going to keep her mouth shut, you’re delusional. You should know better. Hedwig will do everything to make sure the other girls know that she’s your number one pick. Hedwig’s willing to do everything for you, whatever you want, as long as you’re happy. She’s addicted to the sounds you make when she works her magic and the way you thank her when you reach your end. The more she hears, the less she wants others to have you like this as well. No one else loves you the way she does. The other girls only want you to feel good for a few minutes, but Hedwig … she wants you. Not only your body. She wants to travel with you, have late night talks with you … be with you.

She closes her eyes and cuddles up in your arms with a smile. Sooner or later you’ll realize that Hedwig is the only one who truly cares about you … or she’ll have to take matters into her own hands to make you hers. 

You notice that people are whispering and glancing at you when you pass by in the corridors the following morning. You try to ignore them, but your curiosity and fear grow with every syllable they utter. Every step you take feels wrong.

“What is everyone talking about?” you ask your friend once you come into the classroom. 

“How you let the rich girl stay the night”, your friend chuckles and tilts his head. “Everyone’s talking about how she’s paid you to sleep with her and that she’ll have a monopoly over you now. Money always wins. People are either jealous or surprised that you’re settling down.”

“What?!”

“I mean, I can’t blame you, if I got a chance to sleep with Hedwig I’d take it. I can only imagine how good she looks under all those preppy clothes.”

You frown and give your friend a glare as if all of this is his fault. Before he has the time to ask you why you’re killing him with your eyes, you storm up to find Hedwig. How dare she break your trust? You push past people in the corridor until you find her and her friends on their way to you. Hedwig blinks as you stop her and her friends frown. 

“I need to talk to you”, you hiss. 

“Now?” Hedwig asks worriedly. “Class is starting. We can’t be late.”

"Why did you tell everyone even though I asked you not to?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. It must have slipped out, I'm so sorry, Y/N. Let me make it up to you. Tonight."

You clench your jaw. Hedwig’s sweet hazel, doe eyes make you sigh and nod. You hate to admit it, but you do have a small soft spot for her. She's one of your favorite girls after all. 

“Come, Y/N”, Hedwig says and takes your hand. “Let’s go to class.”

You pull your hand out of her grip. Hedwig whines quietly, but you don’t react. You’ve made sure to tell her that you’re not ready for a relationship and if you continue to feed her attention, she’ll grow attached to you and it’ll be much harder to get rid of her in the future. Unfortunately, you’re not aware that she’s already obsessed and already have a plan in motion to keep you by her side.

After school, you pull Hedwig to your car, too caught up in your hormones to care about the fact that she’s told the entire school about her stay at your house. You drag her into the backseat before wrapping your arms around her and latching your lips onto her neck. She shivers under your touch.

“Y/N”, she breathes, tangling her fingers into your hair. “You should really stop … s-stop being with those other girls. They … they don’t deserve you. You’re too good for them.”

You pull back and look at her, suddenly remembering what she did earlier. The look in her hazel eyes are desperate, but not in the way you think they are. She wants you to listen to what she’s saying! She feels like she’ll start crying in frustration.

“Baby, I’ve told you”, you sigh and take her jaw in your hand. “I’m not ready for a relationship. But you’re right, I am too good … to be hidden away. Since I’m so good, it’d only be right of me to share myself with everyone. I’d be selfish otherwise.”

“No!” Hedwig bursts out and cups your cheeks. “Y/N, please!”

You sigh and remove her hands from your face, holding them between yours. Tears have started to run down her cheeks. 

“I’m saying this to you because I care about you”, you say and meet her desperate eyes. “If you feel like your feelings for me get in the way of hooking up, maybe we should stop? I can still help you with things every now and then, but I don’t want you to continue sleeping with me if it makes you suffer.”

Hedwig hates how nice you are. If you weren’t so damn nice she would have an easier time forgetting about you and moving on … but you’re so sweet. She can’t leave … she’s made up her mind. From today, you’re going to be only hers.

“No”, she sniffles. “It won’t. I’ll keep my feelings to myself. I don’t want this to end.”

“Okay, if you say so.” You rub her shoulders. “Do you want to keep going or should I drive you home?”

Hedwig smiles slightly. “I can keep going.”

You nod and take her trembling frame in your arms again. 

After that afternoon in the car, things have changed. The girls you usually hook up with have excuses every time you call them and they ignore you in the corridors, just like you normally do to them. In the beginning, you thought that they were mad at you for ghosting them, but now you can’t figure it out. A list that originally consisted of ten girls has been lowered down to one and one only. Hedwig.

“Are you and Hedwig a thing now or what?” your friend chuckles. “She’s the only girl you’re with nowadays. What’s the thing that caught your interest in her? Her money? Wait, isn’t she training horse riding? That can’t the only thing she rides, I understand now-”

“Shut the fuck up!” you groan and hide your face in your hands with a loud sigh. “I don’t understand … what have I done? All the girls I usually have don’t want anything to do with me anymore. Hedwig’s the only one I have left! That’s why!”

A familiar face struts into the classroom. You feel a pair of arms around your shoulders and a pair of soft lips against your cheek. 

“Hi, love”, Hedwig smiles. “Why do you look so sad? How can I help you?”

You want to yell at her to get out of your face, but you can’t seem to open your mouth. Hedwig’s the only one you have left. You can’t scare her away, you can’t be lonely! Instead, you turn to her and wrap your arms around her waist, hiding your face into her stomach. You can feel how she pets your hair. Involuntarily, you relax.

“Should we go get some fresh air?” Hedwig asks gently. “Maybe you need something to eat? I have some chocolate in my purse.”

She picks up a chocolate bar out of her designer bag and breaks off a piece. Hedwig gives you one piece and your friend one. Embarrassed, you take the candy in your mouth. It melts softly on your tongue. The sweet little thing somehow helps and you wonder why you haven’t seen how wonderful Hedwig is before. 

“My good boy”, Hedwig murmurs and runs her hand through your hair. “How are you feeling now?”

“A … a bit better … thank you, Hedwig”, you whisper with burning cheeks. 

“You’re very welcome.”

She holds your face in her hands and makes you look up at her. You watch how her face breaks out into a smile. She is cute, always has been. The other girls you’ve been with have always had a different side to them when they’re alone with you. They’ve been greedy with your body, but Hedwig has always been sweet and gentle. Maybe that’s why you’ve been nicer to her as well?

“How about you come over to my house this afternoon and we can watch some movies?” Hedwig asks, caressing your cheeks with her thumbs. “If you’re not feeling well, some comedies and cuddles will cheer you up.”

You give a small nod and Hedwig kisses your lips before running out of the classroom to get her stuff. Her warmth still lingers on your skin.

If only you knew that the reason why your girls haven’t responded to your calls is because of Hedwig both bribing and threatening them to stay away from you so she can have you all to yourself … then maybe you would understand it all, but now you’re head so dull and foggy that you can’t come up with a single reasonable thought. Hedwig has succeeded and there’s nothing you can do about it. She has a monopoly over you and doesn’t plan to let you go anytime soon.

[noa748]

Avert Crisis: Intermission

Just for funsies. Getting back in the rhythm of writing all these characters.

----

Angeal

The last thing he remembered was the world being torn asunder. Unable to stop his fall, he plummeted into blue-green depths.

Mako.

He had thought that surely, this had to be the end. No one survived a plunge into pure mako. It would be like diving into a reactor core.

It was… a relief. He was so tired. So disillusioned. What use did a monster have for dreams? For honor? The ideals he had spent a lifetime upholding… were meaningless.

He was an abomination. The world would be better off without him.

So, he closed his eyes. He gave in.

----

… And then he opened them again.

“Hey, man, you can’t sleep here.”

The voice startled him out of his reverie and his SOLDIER instincts kicked in. Angeal leapt up easily, eyes scanning the environment for threats as he whipped the Buster Sword from his back.

Then he froze. What… what kind of dream was this?

The voice had come from a strange furry creature—a mole, maybe?—with a large red bow on its head. It was, absurdly, toting a garden shovel. The creature was staring at him with inquisitive beady eyes, its whiskers twitching.

“Quick to violence, ain’tcha?” It scratched the side of its head with one paw, looking like it was trying to hold back a laugh.

After a moment of floundering, Angeal lowered his sword and managed to find his voice. “I’m sorry. Who… are you?”

“Man, where do you get off? You barge into my house and don’t even know who I am? Who are you, anyway? Your mana signature is all kinds of whack.”

Mana signature? The SOLDIER was completely at a loss. He looked around, noting that they were in a cavern of some sort. There were torches on the walls, but they almost seemed to be for show; it was far too bright in here, and the typical flicker of torchlight was absent. Curious.

The creature was standing on some sort of dais. There were inscriptions on the front of it, but they appeared to be in a language that was foreign to him.

“I’m… Angeal,” he said haltingly. “You’ll have to forgive me. I don’t know how I ended up here.”

He was met with an appraising stare. “Ohhhhh, so that’s how it is, eh? Heh, what a weirdo. I’m Gnome, the summon spirit of Earth. This right here is my temple.”  

A summon? Angeal’s brow furrowed. No… he didn’t recall ever hearing of a Gnome materia. He had also never encountered a summon that actually talked. Everything about this felt off. The word temple suggested an almost religious context. He hadn’t spent time stationed in Wutai the way Sephiroth and Genesis had, but he had heard about the nation’s many temples dedicated to patron spirits and deities. But if he was in Wutai, how could they be speaking the same language?

“…I’ve never heard of you,” Angeal finally admitted, straightening and returning the Buster Sword to his back.

“’Course not,” the spirit said cheerfully. “Doesn’t look like you’re from here. Too bad, but I can’t help you. Already got a pact with someone else.”

“A pact?”

“Yep. With Sheena of Mizuho. She’s pretty much got a monopoly on this summon spirit business. You want my help, you take it up with her.”

He felt his lips curling in a bemused smile despite himself. He didn’t recall ever asking for the spirit’s help, but that didn’t seem to matter. This was definitely one of the stranger dreams he’d had recently.

The creature lifted its shovel, pointing it somewhere over Angeal’s shoulder. “Exit’s that way. What are you waiting for? Get a move on, weirdo!”

Angeal turned, looking to where the spirit had been pointing. There was indeed a cave opening branching out from the area they were in. The thought of getting above ground was appealing; it was too difficult to get oriented down here.

When he looked back to give the creature his thanks, it was gone. He was alone.

-----

Back when he was a child, his mother had cultivated a small garden out back behind their house. They didn’t have enough land to grow anything substantial and what the garden did produce was meager, but it kept them from starving. He remembered the small statues she had always put out for protection. They were little bearded men that she called “garden gnomes.” They always seemed to keep the pests away from their harvest.

Angeal had to do a double take when he saw one of these gnomes walk right by him as he meandered through the caves. He nearly tripped over another one, and that one yelled expletives at him before going on its merry way. He had to wonder what his mother would think if she saw him now.

Mother…

Continuing on, he heaved a sigh as his thoughts turned down a more negative track. His mother. Gillian. Project G. Hollander.

Monster.

He had been Shinra property from birth. Everything he had thought he knew was false. The SOLDIER creed, the values he had clung to so dearly… it was all a lie. His own mother had been complicit. Even Genesis… Genesis had known, and had kept it from him.

How could he ever face his friends? He had been torn for months, running covert missions for Hollander. He hated Shinra, but didn’t want to fight SOLDIER. It left him with one leg in each camp, uncertain of how to proceed. He wasn’t sure he belonged anywhere at this point. Seeing Zack looking up at him, his eyes full of admiration… it filled him with so much self-loathing he wanted to retch.

He finally reached an area where a row of broken stalactites appeared to create a natural bridge. He hopped across easily, and after ascending a wide staircase, reached the mouth of the cave and saw natural light filtering in.

Angeal stepped out and felt the sun on his face for the first time in what felt like ages. Mountains towered over him to his right, the jagged peaks continuing on into the distance for some ways. To his left was the ocean. The only way to go was forward, through plains and forest.

Something still felt decidedly different about this place. It was so rich, vibrant – full of life. It was hard to describe, but the air felt saturated somehow. It was strangely invigorating.

He felt so present in the moment that he realized, irrefutably, that this could not be a dream. The sun on his face, the light ocean breeze, his boots making prints in the soft earth underfoot… no. Dreams were never this detailed.

Right. If this wasn’t a dream…

He pulled out his PHS. Now that he was above ground, he might be able to figure out exactly where the hell he was and arrange transport.

The screen lit up when he pressed a button on the side, revealing three missed calls, all from Genesis. One voicemail in his inbox.

Angeal frowned, hitting “play” and pressing the phone to his ear.

“Angeal.” Genesis’s voice, sounding strained. “Where are you? We need to talk. It’s urgent – please.”

The frown on his face grew with every word. This was… entirely unlike Genesis. The agitated tone, the clipped sentences… the plea. His old friend never left a voicemail that was under two minutes long, padded with quotes from LOVELESS. Had something happened?

Returning the call was impossible. He had no service.

Not for the first time, his mind wandered back to the people he left behind at HQ. He had been gone for a week and a half at this point. His official mission was to provide protection while Shinra employees combed through the ruins of Corel. Unofficially, Hollander had tasked him with locating a powerful materia that was supposed to exist within the damaged reactor.

Though the reactor core had survived the explosion from a few months prior, reconstruction efforts were paused until the core’s energy readings stabilized. Sneaking past the few posted guards would have been a simple affair.

Except…

Falling.

Angeal shook his head, suppressing a shudder. He couldn’t remember. His world had been flooded with the color of mako. Had he plummeted into the depths of the chasm below the reactor? No one could have survived such a fall.

But he was here, and this wasn’t a dream. He supposed that the how of it didn’t matter at the moment. What did matter was what he was going to do next.

That voicemail from Genesis was very troubling. Despite how bitter, disillusioned and isolated he’d been feeling for the past few months… in the end he just couldn’t bring himself to abandon his oldest friend. Hollander and the Corel reactor could wait. He needed to find Genesis.

----

Since joining the SOLDIER program at the age of fourteen, Angeal had been all over the world. He couldn’t claim to have seen everything, but he had visited all of Shinra’s hubs and witnessed their architectural marvels. Though he hadn’t been everywhere, the company had charted and put its mark on most parts of the globe – even Wutai, now.

But over the past decade, he had never seen anything like this.

He was standing before a colossal bridge that stretched out over the ocean. He could just see the land mass that it must connect to, but the distance it covered was impressive. The platform beneath his feet was smooth, polished stone, and the supports and rails appeared to be solid steel, painted a bright teal that almost matched the color of the water below.

The entrance to the bridge was marked by a large archway bearing a sign.

“Grand Tethe’alla Bridge,” Angeal read aloud, crossing his arms. The name didn’t ring any bells.

He had never even seen so much as a photograph of this bridge. Judging by the street lights that ran the length of it, the bridge was connected to some kind of power source. Certainly not mako, or it would be Shinra-owned. The company’s logo was nowhere to be seen. Not to mention… this didn’t look like a Shinra product. It didn’t even seem built for vehicle traffic, which was absurd—why else would you build a bridge spanning this kind of distance?

The SOLDIER was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice the creature’s approach until it skidded to a halt behind him. The sound jerked him out of his reverie and he swung around in a battle stance, coming face to face with something that looked decidedly canine.

“Whoa! Noishe, what gives?!”

Angeal jumped back to create some distance, looking up and noticing for the first time that there was something red on the creature’s back. No—not something, someone. His eyes met a pair of startled brown ones.

Then the creature started to growl, raising its hackles, and he tensed again.

“Easy, boy. It’s okay,” the youth said, dismounting in a practiced leap. The dog-like animal seemed to grudgingly relax. “Sorry about him. He gets weird around strangers.”

“It’s all right,” Angeal replied, taking a moment to size them both up.

The creature—Noishe?—was huge, larger even than a Nibel wolf. Its back came up to the youth’s shoulders, and it was covered in long white fur with blue-green markings. There was an unmistakable intelligence in its distrustful gaze.

Then there was the stranger in the red coat. He looked to be about a year or two older than Zack, with a mop of unruly brown hair. His clothing looked weathered and well-loved, the boots covered in scuff marks and the coat clearly mended in several places. Two belts crossed his waist in an X, supporting a sword on each hip.

“Hey… on your back. Is that a sword?” Clearly, the youth had been looking him over as well.  

Smiling a bit, Angeal drew the Buster and held it aloft for his appraisal.

“Whoa!! That thing’s huge!” The stranger grinned, approaching him with starry eyes. “How are you holding it one-handed? How do you fight with it? That’s so cool.”

The SOLDIER let out a chuckle before he could help himself. The reaction was so much like Zack that he felt a sudden bittersweet rush of affection and homesickness. It had only been a few days since he had gotten lost like this, so why did it feel like Midgar was so far out of reach?

“Years of training,” he responded in good humor, returning the blade to his back. “And you swing with decisive strokes. When I was younger I was prone to overbalancing. I imagine it’s much different from your fighting style.” He gestured to the swords his new acquaintance carried.

“Yeah. Heh, I used to get my butt kicked because I didn’t know any defensive maneuvers. At least you could probably use the flat of your blade like a shield.” The stranger straightened a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh—I’m Lloyd, by the way.”

“Angeal.” He started to smile, but faltered as a thought occurred to him. Lloyd… why was that name so familiar? He was sure he had heard it somewhere before… Oh.

“Do you by any chance have a sister?”

“Huh?” Lloyd blinked, seeming taken aback. “No. Why do you ask?”

“Ah… I was mistaken. Pay it no mind,” the SOLDIER said, hiding his disappointment. Of course… Lloyd wasn’t an altogether uncommon name. Similar hair color, but it was just a coincidence after all.

“Uh, sure,” Lloyd said. “Are you looking for someone? You seemed kinda lost when we first showed up.”

“I am lost.” Angeal sighed. “Would you happen to know the way to Midgar?”

“Midgar…?” The youth crossed his arms, thinking for a moment. “…Never heard of it. Are you sure you’re not talking about Asgard?”

The troubled feeling that had been building in Angeal’s gut the last few days continued to grow. Lloyd didn’t strike him as a city boy, but you would have to be incredibly sheltered to have never heard of Shinra’s bustling metropolis. The blank look he was receiving, combined with the massive bridge they stood on that seemed to exist outside of the company’s control, left him more confused than ever.

“No…” Angeal pressed a hand to his forehead in a futile attempt to ward off a budding headache. “What… what continent are we on?”

“We’re on the Meltokio side of the bridge,” Lloyd replied, looking concerned now. “Sybak’s on the other side.”

“Right,” he said helplessly. None of those names were even remotely familiar.

He had felt lost in more than one way since he had woken up a few days ago in the summon spirit’s temple. His cell service had never returned, the monsters he had encountered were strange (and strangely infrequent), and none of his materia were working. Their familiar warmth was still present, but at the same time they were quiet and still—almost dormant, in a way. It was something that had never happened before.

A hand on his shoulder startled him, causing him to look up. Lloyd was offering him a too-cheerful smile.

“Hey, why don’t you just come with me? I’m on my way to visit a friend in Sybak. Maybe being in a new city will jog your memory.”

He wanted to say that his memory was perfectly intact, but at the same time he knew it was a lost cause. It felt like the two of them were on completely different pages—almost like they were from different worlds. But he hadn’t seen any sort of civilization since he woke up, and his only conversation up until now had been held with an oversized mole with an attitude. He had to admit that the thought of a traveling companion was appealing.

Angeal returned the smile. “I’ll take you up on that. Thank you, Lloyd.”

“No problem! It’s actually a relief,” Lloyd said brightly. “This bridge is super boring. You know it’s almost sixteen miles long? I was kinda dreading it. Even Noishe hates it. Right, Noishe?”

The creature whined in response.

The older man smiled, listening to Lloyd fill the silence as they begin to walk. The dynamic was very familiar and rather comforting, and he found himself feeling a little more grounded despite the circumstances. Right… he needed to keep his eyes on what was ahead of him, not cast down at his feet. The only way to go was forward. As it turned out, he wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Being good at your job is praxis

You know the joke.

Office manager: "$75 just to kick the photocopier?"

Photocopier technician: "No, it's $5 to kick the photocopier and $70 to know where to kick it."

The trustbusters in the Biden administration know precisely where to kick the photocopier, and they're kicking the shit out of it. You love to see it.

Last July, the Biden admin published an Executive Order enumerating 72 actions that administrative agencies could take without any further action from Congress - dormant powers that the administration already had, but wasn't using:

https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/biden-monopoly-executive-order/

This memo was full of deep cuts, like the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, Northern Pac. Ry Co v US (1958), the Bank Merger Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, and the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/07/09/executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/

The memo opened with the kind of soaring rhetoric that I absolutely dote on, a declaration of the end of Reagonomics and its embrace of monopoly:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

But the memo didn't just offer red meat to tube-feeding activist cranks like me: it also set out 72 specific, technical activities that would make profound, material changes in the economy and improvements to the lives of every person in America, and then the administration executed every one of those actions:

https://www.davispolk.com/insights/client-update/president-bidens-executive-order-competition-one-year-later

They knew where to kick the photocopier and boy did they kick it - hard.

The White House action has Tim Wu's fingerprints all over it. He's the brilliant, driven law professor who's gone to work as Biden's tech antitrust czar. But Wu isn't alone: he's part of a trio of appointees who are all expert photocopier kickers. There's Jonathan Kanter at the DoJ and Lina Khan at the FTC.

Khan is a model of administrative competence and ideological coherence. Her tenure has included lots of soaring rhetoric to buoy the spirits of people like me:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/09/rest-in-piss-robert-bork/#harmful-dominance

But it's also included lots of extremely skillful ju-jitsu against the system, using long-neglected leverage points to Get Shit Done, rather than just grandstanding or demanding that Congress take action. Here's the FTC's latest expert kick at the photocopier: action on Right to Repair that exercises existing authority:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bxaa/ftc-energy-rules-right-to-repair

The Right to Repair fight is a glaring example of democratic dysfunction. Americans broadly and strongly support the right to fix their own stuff, or to take their stuff to the repair depot of their choice. How broadly? Well, both times that the question has been on the Massachusetts ballot, there was massive participation and the measures passed with ~80% majorities:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/26/nixing-the-fix/#r2r

But despite this, state-level attempts to pass R2R bills have been almost entirely crushed by a coalition of monopolists, led by Apple, including John Deere, GM, Wahl Shavers, Microsoft, Google, and many other giant corporations who want the power to tell you your property is beyond repair and must be condemned to an e-waste dump:

https://doctorow.medium.com/apples-cement-overshoes-329856288d13

Right to Repair is a case study for the proposition that "ordinary citizens… get the policies they favor, but only because those policies happen also to be preferred by the economically-elite citizens who wield the actual influence."

https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf

Enter the photocopier kickers, wearing boots. The same month that the White House dropped is massive antitrust executive order, it also published an executive order on Right to Repair, including electronics repair:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/10/unnixing-the-fix/#r2r-plus-plus

The EO built on the evidence compiled through the FTC's "Nixing the Fix" report:

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/nixing-fix-ftc-report-congress-repair-restrictions/nixing_the_fix_report_final_5521_630pm-508_002.pdf

But it also identified that the FTC already had the power to do Right to Repair, in its existing Congressional authorization:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/09/fact-sheet-executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/

The Biden antitrust strategy is powerful because it recognizes that every administrative agency has powers that can be brought to bear to slow down the anticompetitive flywheel that has allowed giant corporations to extract monopoly profits and then launder them into pro-monopoly policies.

Which brings me to today's news: the FTC has carefully reviewed the powers it has under its existing Energy Labeling Rule (you know, the rule that produces those Energystar stickers on appliances) and concluded that it can also force companies to publish repair manuals under this rule:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/10/federal-trade-commission-seeks-public-comment-initiative-reduce-energy-costs-strengthen-right-repair

As USPIRG's Nathan Proctor told Motherboard’s Matthew Gault, "When Congress passed energy conservation policies decades ago, it included the ability to require Right to Repair access. While that provision has gone unnoticed for too long, it’s not surprising it was written that way."

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bxaa/ftc-energy-rules-right-to-repair

The FTC is now planning to exercise that long dormant authority in a game-changing way - to kick the photocopier really, really well. It is seeking public comment on "whether lack of access to repair instructions for covered products is an existing problem for consumers; whether providing such information would assist consumers in their purchasing decisions or product use; whether providing such information would be unduly burdensome to manufacturers; and any other relevant issues"

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/R611004EnergyLabelingANPR.pdf

The Trump years were brutal. Every time we turned around, some Trumpy archvillain was twirling his mustache and announcing an evil plot. Yet so many of these turned out to be nothingburgers - not because they were sincere in their intentions, but because they lacked administrative competence.

Trump embodied administrative incompetence. He was very good at commanding the news cycle, and very good at riling up his base, but he had no idea where to kick the photocopier, and every expert photocopier kicker that Trump hired got immediately fired, because they would insist that Getting Shit Done required patience and precision, not a deluge of chaotic governance-by-tweeting.

To the extent that Trumpland Got Shit Done - packing the courts, handing out trillions in tax gifts to the ultra-rich - it was in spite of Trump and his trumpies, and because of the administratively competent wing of the party: McConnell, Romney, et al. In the GOP, "establishment" is a slur meaning "competent."

This isn't to say that Trump wasn't dangerous - he absolutely was. But it does militate for an understanding of politics that pays close attention to competence as well as virtue or wickedness.

It's one of the things that was very exciting about the Elizabeth Warren campaign - those long-ass policy documents she dropped were eye-wateringly detailed photocopier-kicking manuals for the US government.

Biden himself isn't much of a photocopier kicker. He's good at gladhanding, but the photocopier kickers in his administration represent a triumph of the party's progressive wing. And therein lies a key difference between the parties: in the GOP, the competent are the establishment; in the Democrats, the establishment are the ones who can't or won't act, and the progressives have got their boots on and are ready to kick.

Image: Temple University Libraries (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tulpics/4882641645/

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[Image ID: A photocopier in an office copy room; a silhouetted figure is dealing a flying kick to it.]

[judeswhore]

nothing on you - mason mount

part 2 of not yours ITS HERE IM SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG AND I HOPE ITS OKAY

for @mounthavertz bc i didn’t want to ruin ur life <3

Mason hated being in a fight with you, even small petty fights he’d feel bad and would grovel more than necessary and then the two of you would be talking again. But this wasn’t just a fight over who cheated at Monopoly, this was a full blown he’d royally fucked up fight and he didn’t know if he could ever fix it.

He knew from the very beginning that sleeping with you would be a mistake, not because he didn’t really want to, but because he knew that once you broke that barrier there was no going back. Mason knew from that very first night you spent together that he’d never be able to give his heart to anyone else. And he’s an idiot for not telling you that, he’s an idiot for keeping his feelings a secret for fear he’d ruin your friendship because he went and did that anyway.

He never meant for it to seem like he was thriving off the attention of the girls in the club, he really wasn’t, the entire time he’d been thinking about you and how those girls could never compare. He didn’t want to draw attention to the two of you, your relationship was kept incredibly quiet and he knew if he put his hands on you in that dress he wouldn’t be able to take them away. So he’d distracted himself by making small talk and sneaking glances at you at the bar.

Something had flipped inside of him when he’d saw you with Chilly. He should be the one allowed to touch you like that, he didn’t want anyone else to have that privilege when he already knew just which buttons to press to have your legs shaking. But then Elle had asked him to go with her and Mason knows that’s what really upset you. The thought that you could be easily replaced by a one night stand and then he’d come crawling straight back the second he had his trousers zipped up.

Mason had sent you over one hundred messages since the night before and had called probably just as much but every single one of his pleas to talk had gone unanswered. He felt like he’d lost something and didn’t know where to look to find it, his mind was a mess of thoughts that you’d never forgive him. He didn’t care about the sex, he just couldn’t lose you as a friend.

He let out a frustrated groan into his hands, after attempting to call you yet again. He wanted to see you in person, wanted to tell you everything but he still didn’t know where you’d ended up last night. He pulled his phone toward him again and pulled up Hannah’s contact, your best friend answering on the third ring.

“If it isn’t the man of the hour.”

“Where is she?”

“Hmm. I don’t think she’d want me to tell you.” Mason strained to hear if you were in the background but it sounded like Hannah was at work at the coffee house.

“Hannah, please.”

“You fucked up, y’know.”

“I’m more than aware of what I did. I need to talk to her.” Mason rubbed his knuckles into his eyes, chest tight with the fear of you really hating him.

“If she wanted to talk to you, Mason, she would have by now.”

“I need to fix this. Let me fix it.” He heard Hannah huff out a breath and his heart picked up a little.

“She’s at work till 1AM then she said she was going straight back to her flat.” Mason was nodding even though Hannah couldn’t see and he was flicking his gaze up to the clock on his wall. It was still only 6PM.

“Thank you. I’m sorry I called I just… She’s not replying and I need to see her.” He pushed himself up from the chair at the kitchen island.

“If you’re just going to hurt her again Mason, don’t even bother going. Don’t put her through more than you already have.”

“I never meant to hurt her.”

“Maybe not but you did. I have to go, if she comes crying to me just know I will rip your balls off.” Mason couldn’t help the little smile that pulled at his lips.

“I’m not going to hurt her. But thanks, Hannah.”

Mason parked his car outside of your block of flats a little before 12AM, unable to sit in his house and wait any longer. He switched turned the engine off and settled back in his seat, pulling the sleeves of his hoodie down past his fingers to avoid the little chill still in his car. He’d texted you a few times since the phone call with Hannah but you still hadn’t read the messages and he hadn’t told you he was coming tonight.

He texted Declan while he waited, letting his best friend rail road him for being such a dickhead but he must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he knew he was being jolted awake by someone whacking their fist against his window. At first he thought it was the police and someone had called them complaining about a weird man lurking out front but then his eyes had focused and it was you glaring at him through the window. Despite the look on your face Mason’s heart thumped. He scrambled to get out of the car, almost tripping in his haste to be face to face with you.

“Why are you stalking me?” You asked, completely ignoring his gaze so you could rifle through your bag for your keys.

“You were ignoring me.”

“Of course I was, I don’t want to talk to you but that doesn’t give you permission to linger like some weirdo.” You successfully found your keys, finally glancing up and meeting his eyes. Mason noticed the way you were shivering slightly in the cold air and wanted nothing more than to wrap you up against him.

“You walked home?”

“No, I got a taxi. Go home, Mason.” He shook his head and took a step forward but you flinched back and Mason’s stomach plummeted.

“(Y/N)..”

“I was ignoring you for a reason, I don’t want to see you so go away.” You turned and started up the walkway to your building but Mason quickly followed, clicking the lock on his car over his shoulder. He stepped in front of you, hands on your arms.

“We need to talk.” He tried not to flinch away from your harsh glare, he knew you were angry but he just wanted you to listen to him.

“I don’t want to talk. I want to go to bed because I’m exhausted and I don’t have the energy to have this out with you. I’m sure you can find someone else to fuck. There were plenty of girls passing out their numbers last night.” You started forward again and Mason trailed behind you like a lost puppy, willing his heart ache to go away for just five minutes. “You can’t follow me all the way inside, Mount.”

“Please just let me explain.” You spun around at the front entrance, traces of anger replaced with a look of bone deep tiredness.

“What’s there to explain? You like the attention you get from girls, myself included and I was stupid to think that I was the only girl who had your whole focus. You just wanted to fuck me and whenever you had better options you used them.” Mason opened his mouth to speak but you cut him off. “You were a prick to me. You fucked that girl and then got mad at me for dancing with a guy. We aren’t dating, Mason, we were just sleeping together, it’s fine, we can do whatever we want.”

Mason shook his head, arm reaching past you to grip the door handle so you couldn’t open it.

“I didn’t sleep with Elle.”

“That’s bullshit. The two of you disappeared and you can’t deny how smug you seemed when you first came back.” Your eyes had gone a little shiny and it made Mason’s heart clench painfully.

“I didn’t sleep with her, (Y/N). I haven’t slept with anyone else since you.” He watched as you shook your head this time, disbelief clouding your features. You shoved his arm away from the door and took off inside.

“You’re a liar.”

“Why won’t you believe me?” Mason followed after you, unable to keep the panic from his voice. He kept on your heels as you started up the stairs and he briefly noted that they still hadn’t fixed your lift.

“Because I see the way you are around girls, Mason. I see them throw themselves at you and you act like it’s nothing.” You were slamming your feet against the each step and Mason was worried someone was going to come out and start yelling.

“I act like it’s nothing because it is nothing. I don’t care what they do. Have you ever actually seen me go off with a girl?”

“You went off with one last night! Right in front of me.”

“No I didn’t. I went to the bar because I was sick of seeing you rub yourself all over my best mate.”

“Yeah well I was sick of you flirting with everything that had tits so.” Mason clasped his hand around your wrist when you made it to your floor, spinning you around to face him.

“So you did it to make me jealous?”

“So what if I did? It doesn’t matter anymore.” You tried to pull away but Mason was ridged, eyes burning into yours.

“Why would me flirting with girls piss you off, (Y/N)? I thought we were just sleeping together?” He mocked you slightly with your previous words and he watched you falter and fumble. You blinked at him a few times before answering.

“Because it was shitty of you to do it right in front of me and then just expect me to go home and have sex with you. Because it was wrong of you to always act like that but get mad at me for a bit of dancing. We were just sleeping together so why does it even matter anymore? I’m sure you can find someone else.”

“I don’t want to find anyone else.” You shook your head at this, finally pulling your arm away.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Pretend like you care about me as more than just a shag. I’m not doing that with you.” Mason made an exasperated noise, pushing his hand through his hair.

“God, (Y/N), it was never just about the sex for me how can you not see that?” You were still shaking your head, moving down the hallway.

“Please go home, Mason. I don’t want to do this.”

“Will you just stop and listen to me?”

“I’m not being hurt by you again! You string me along like I mean nothing to you! I’m just here when you need someone to stroke your ego.” The two of you are nearing your front door and Mason feels sick with the thought that you’re going to go inside, lock the door and never speak to him again. He can’t lose you.

“You’re an idiot.” You spin around to face him, key ready to go into your lock.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m fucking in love with you.” Mason stopped dead in the hallway, eyes widening slightly as he watched you rear back.

“Stop.”

“(Y/N)-“

“No, no, stop it. Mason, please don’t.” Your voice was small and you turned to fumble with your lock, key slipping in your fingers. You felt Mason carefully come up behind you, hand covering yours to help steady it. “Please don’t say things you don’t mean.”

“I love you. I was never with you for the sex, (Y/N/N). If that was the only way I could have you then I’d take what I could get but it was never about that.” Your hand shook slightly under his. “It’s always only been you.”

You took in a shuddering breath and unlocked your door, pushing inside but leaving the door open. Mason figured you were letting him in so followed behind you, tracing your steps into the kitchen where you went straight to the fridge.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Your voice was barely a whisper. “Why would you let me torture myself thinking I was just another stupid girl who you could keep hanging on?” You slowly turned to face him, lips turned down slightly.

“I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” You closed the fridge and leant against it, your eyes glued to his.

“That I’d tell you and it would ruin everything and I’d lose you completely. It was easier to just keep pretending it was just sex that way I could keep you in my life.” He took a small step towards you, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jumper.

“You’re a dick.”

“I know. And I’m so fucking sorry, (Y/N). I’m sorry that I ever made you feel like your weren’t important to me.”

“Do you know how much that hurt? Even as your friend, Mason, thinking that in your eyes I was easily replaced and easily thrown away. I’d let you hurt me by being around all those girls and then I’d still end up back in your bed.” You ran your hands over your face.

“Tell me how to fix it. Tell me I haven’t lost you completely.” Mason knew his voice sounded desperate but he didn’t care. He just needed to know he had some sort of chance to make things right. “Forget about the sex and everything else, just as a friend. Please tell me I can fix that.”

You shook your head, stepping away from the fridge, your eyes darting from Mason to different points in your kitchen.

“I don’t want to be your friend, Mason.” His heart plummeted, eyelashes fluttering a few times but before he could say anything you continued. “I’ve been waiting three years for you to tell me that you liked me. I’ve hurt myself thinking that I could never have you how I wanted because I was just another girl who you could use out of convenience. I don’t want to be your friend.”

You’re only a few steps away from him, close enough so that if he wanted he could reach out and pull you closer. He clenched his fists, tilting his head as you took another couple of steps.

“Then what do you want?” You stopped directly in front of him, head tilted to meet his gaze.

“I want you to know that I love you too. That it hurt so much seeing you with other girls because I wanted to be the only girl in your life. I wanted to be the one that you showed off and flirted with and looked at like I hung the moon. That I danced with Ben because I knew it would hurt you and I wanted to get you back for being with that girl.” Your chests were practically touching and Mason could feel the heat from your body.

“I really haven’t been with anyone else since you. I always only wanted you.” He watched as your eyes fluttered closed and you took in a deep breath. Your cheeks were slightly pink and Mason finally reached out to touch you, smiling softly when you leant into his hand.

“I still hate you for making me think I was replaceable.”

“I deserve it.” He cups your jaw in his hands, tilting your head to him. “There will never be anyone like you. Tell me what you want.”

“I want to do it right. I want to forget about the sex and everything that we did and I want to go out with you. On a proper date.” You told him, reaching up to grip his wrists.

“I would be honoured to take you out. We’ll do it properly this time, like everyone else.” Mason dropped a soft kiss against your forehead, heart warming when you melt against him.

“Do you want to stay?” You whispered, eyes closed and you felt Mason nod.

“I’d like that.” He brushed your hair back off your face. “None of those other girls had anything on you. There’ll never be anyone who makes me feel the way you do.” He tilted your head again, eyes burning into yours. “I love you.”

[zachsreaderinserts]

sleepy boys inc x gn!teen! reader headcannons

trying something new! i like bbs and all, but i wanted to write for other youtubers! lemme know if yall wanna see more content like this lol.

this takes place in a minecraft au!!! also, mentions of bad parenting/abusive parents

wc: 2,319

okay the sleepy boys

chaos incarnated, all of them. you can’t deny it

so, when tommy invites a friend from a local village, at first, everyone else is skeptical. since when has tommy made a friend who didn’t hate him within 20 minutes from all the screaming and insults he spewed?

unlike his friends, phil is more excited than anything. though he isn’t tommy’s dad, he feels like it sometimes, so he really wants to meet this new person who has caught the youngest’s attention

techno is very much not on board. he has a hard time trusting people at first glance and having been friends with tommy for the longest, he knows that tommy readily jumps the gun and attempts to befriend literally anything just because he can

and wilbur? indifferent for the most part. yes, he feels the need to make sure tommy is protected and cared for, but he also recognizes that this situation is out of his hands. the best he can do is hope that their friend isn’t an absolute asshole

so, it’s saturday. all three men are sitting on the couch in phil’s cottage, talking amongst themselves as they wait for tommy to come back. techno makes a joke about murdering them, which leads to phil scolding him about his violent tendencies

“you haven’t even met them yet, techno, what the fuck.”

wilbur is simply adding fuel to the fire, making little remarks here and there and watching the whole thing escalate to phil lecturing the piglin hybrid.

because of this, not one of them had noticed that tommy returned, with his newest friend. they both stopped at the sight of phil in dad mode, tommy considering just turning around and taking his friend as far away as physically possible

too late, since techno’s sixth sense made him whip around and stare at the newcomer. this made phil stop lecturing and wilbur quit giggling long enough for tommy to introduce his friend

after saying their name, the friend lifted their hand shyly, face burning from slight embarrassment. their other hand was latched onto tommy’s, feeling intimidated.

can you blame them? the fucking blood god looks like they wanna skewer them and cook them over a campfire.

tommy took notice of their shyness and cleared his throat, “we were planning on going to the carnival in their village if you three assholes feel like tagging along.”

like there was any way they were gonna let tommy and his friend go out without chaperones.

tommy turned back to his friend, “give me a second, i’m gonna go grab my sword just in case.” and proceeded to run up the stairs and towards the guest bedroom in phil’s house that he claimed.

the millisecond he was out of earshot, techno grabbed his friend by the front of the shirt.

“what are your intentions with tommy?”

the friend blinked once, twice, then bit back a smile. “you’re asking that as if i’m about to date that motherfucker.”

this time, it was wilbur who bit back a grin of his own. who would��ve expected the originally shy kid to have replied like that????

techno’s brain short circuited and his grip on their shirt loosened slightly. did.... did this kid just brush off his question???

“can you put me down? you’re gonna stretch my shirt.”

techno’s brain blinked back into focus and he gripped the kid’s shirt harder, shoving them against the nearest wall. “i asked a question, kid.”

“you know, tommy told me something like this would happen. i’m glad i came prepared.” and then, tommy’s friend sucked in a deep breath. techno leaned back, expecting the worst...

“MWISTER TECHNWOBWADE, PWEASE PUT MWE DOWN BEFWORE I SCWEAM”

oh god, this was far worse than anything he thought of.

he dropped the teen out of disgust more than anything, reeling backwards. if there was one thing that haunted his dreams, it was uwu-speak.

phil started howling of laughter, clutching his stomach and hunching over. originally he was going to stop techno from threatening a literal child but this outcome was so much better than anything he was anticipating

wilbur was no better, already tearing up from how hard he was snickering. he started choking on his own spit at one point, smacking his arm against the couch.

tommy was so fucking confused when he came back down the stairs, seeing the mayhem that was, for once, not caused by him. he glanced at his friend, who had the world’s biggest shiteating grin.

yeah, they were gonna fit in just fine.

and they did! phil took them under his wing (both physically and metaphorically) and allowed them to come visit his home whenever they wished. and whenever they did, phil was the first to ask how they’ve been and what they were up to

to phil’s surprise, the kid was overall calm in their choice of activities. things like playing soccer or drawing or figuring out how to learn instruments in their free time. it seemed like they were desperate to get their hands on anything and everything just to learn

he found it funny, though, when their chaotic side shone through. they easily were on tommy’s level when they got into that headspace and it was so hilarious to him.

his favorite memory of the kid was when they walked into the house and marched right up to where techno was reading idly in the corner. planting their hands on their hips, they spoke.

“if you were to fuck a clone of yourself, would it be masturbation or would you be considered gay?”

phil, who was washing the dishes six feet away from them, just about crumbled into a ball on the floor from how hard he was laughing and sobbing.

of all questions, that was the one that came out.

but he had no idea that the chaos was a coping mechanism. he just thought they were naturally like that in their free time.

he soon found out the truth when they came home with tommy, who was cursing up a fit, visibly angry. his friend was slumped over, as if trying to hide themselves from the world

when phil asked what had happened, tommy exploded.

“their fucking dad took all their money from their savings! said he needed it more than them and when they asked for it back, he called them a fucking disappointment! that fucking bitch--”

phil can count very few times when he felt true anger and he can confirm that when tommy had told him what had gone down, he saw red.

but he knew better than to outwardly show it. judging by how hunched over and defeated the kid was, what they needed was a stable support system

so he walked over and shut tommy up with a hand on his shoulder, “why don’t we take the rest of the night to build up that game room you wanted in the basement. i’m sure if we knock it out before techno and wil are supposed to be back, we can all play something like monopoly.”

seeing where phil was headed, tommy nodded and brushed away his anger. he knew that what his friend needed was a serious cheering up. tommy ran towards his guest bedroom, claiming that he was going to find his blocks.

phil crouched in front of the teen, tilting their head up to look him in the eyes. “you’re not a disappointment. you’re an amazing person with a chaotic joke machine going 120 kilos over the speed limit in your head and you are talented. your dad doesn’t know shit about what you’re capable of doing.”

oh boy, the kid’s crying. those are tears, full on tears.

that night was one of the best nights of their life, however. they enjoyed the entire three hour long game of monopoly where they watched the light leave everyone’s eyes. it was funny when wilbur lunged across the table when he landed on a railroad, out for phil’s blood.

speaking of wilbur, he enjoyed every minute in the kid’s presence. they often asked creative and random questions and went along with the abstract jokes he made, the two of them laughing heartily the entire time.

when the kid first mentioned wanting to learn how to play the guitar, he practically burst through the wall of the room next door, breathing heavily and exaggeratedly.

“did someone say guitar”

yeah, he’s feral. that’s canon.

they proceeded to spend the entire day in phil’s garden, each of them equipped with a guitar. despite their outwardly smooth brain and stupid demeanor, the teen was a fast learner and could play the most basic chords by the time the sun was setting.

wilbur’s favorite moment was the first night they met, when they went to the carnival. there was the game where you shoot the water and fill up the balloons and the kid was going head to head against techno and tommy.

it was when techno won that the teen turned to techno with murder in their eyes and spoke in a deadpan tone of voice,

“you’re lucky you won this time, you gentrified mayo monkey.”

wilbur’s jaw dropped, as did techno and phil’s. tommy was already in hysterics, smacking his hand against the counter that held the guns.

needless to say, wilbur found his favorite, not-quite sibling in a heartbeat.

techno was the last to come around with the child. can you blame him? every time he tried to threaten them or had beaten them at something, they would respond in a cryptic threat--

“i’m going to pee your pants if you don’t let me win”

or just brushed him off. without a second thought.

“anyways, i was murdering a chicken the other day, and the fucker had the audacity to ribbit at me.”

to say he was confused was an understatement. he was terrified of the fact that a literal child held so much power and disinterest in things like their own life. so for the first few months, he avoided them.

but he had seen past that when it was around midnight on a weekday. tommy was hanging out with tubbo and ranboo in their village miles away from the area. wilbur was out drinking with schlatt, niki, and fundy, and phil was already asleep.

techno wasn’t too far behind, sitting in front of the fireplace and staring out of the window that showed the front yard. it was only then when he saw the flash of a familiar face and looked closer as the teen walked up to the house quietly. their head was down and they carried a small bag with them.

techno opened the front door with a long creak as they reached the porch steps. it was only when they jumped and looked up in surprise that techno had noticed a deep bruise on their left cheek in the moonlight.

despite the fact that he kept away from them, techno was very protective and territorial of tommy, phil, and wilbur. and since they were attached to the teen, he became protective of them as well.

so all the voices in his head went quiet for a second. before exploding into a mixture of screams and threats, all leading back to protecting the child in front of him.

without thinking, he reached forward and cupped their face for a better view of the bruise. at the warm and soft touch, tears slipped down the kid’s cheeks and they sniffed pathetically.

the voices quickly took a 180, all screaming to take care of them. make them feel better. so, techno led the kid inside and let them spend the night in his room, with them falling asleep on the bed and him falling asleep on the rocking chair in his room.

phil did not hesitate to officially declare himself as the teen’s official father, saying that their biological father was a “little bitch”

now somewhat living with the teen, techno found an appreciation for their quieter moments, when they were reading or simply daydreaming. it was cute, in his eyes. but he also grew to enjoy when they were absolutely feral, especially toward tommy.

his favorite moment with them was when they had gifted tommy a music disc for his birthday. it was sweet and sentimental and tommy just about burst into tears when he saw it.

all of the sappiness quickly vanished when tommy put it into a jukebox.

“FUCK THIS PUSSY, BOY, FUCK. FUCK IT RIGHT, BOY--”

tommy had let out the most terrified scream and it practically engrained itself into techno’s brain. it was the first time he ever laughed at something the teen had done and the teen felt proud of themselves.

and finally, tommy. he was already happy to call himself a friend of the teen’s. they were like peas in a pod, working together.

tommy came to them when his insecurity felt heavy and they came to him whenever their dad’s words got to them. they had a nice system of dependency on one another and neither of them would trade it for the world.

tommy’s favorite moment of being friends with them was during their first birthday living in phil’s house. it was a birthday befitting their personality, with brightly color streamers hung and confetti all over the floor. he knew that they enjoyed it severely and once the cake was cut, the kid turned to phil.

“phil, where’s the big tiddy strippers i requested?”

tommy was GONE

he all but choked on his slice of cake and walked away, shaking his head while trying to stifle his giggles. but when he heard phil’s scream of “WHAT”, he just lost it.

all in all, his friend had made a fine part of the sleepy boys. they were a happy face in an otherwise somewhat bleak and dangerous world. and all four men appreciated it.

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 125.7 Accidental Bonding (Part 7)

(You can start at Part One, if you’d like.)

The whole entire day had sucked.

Harry sat in the corner of the muggle pub he'd wandered into (because it was close to Draco's house and they'd come here for drinks and dinner once and Harry had made him laugh so hard he'd snorted) nursing a scotch (because that's what Draco drank and it made him think of books and coziness) and he wished.

Merlin he wished that he was with Draco right now instead of sitting all alone in this stupid pub.

He glanced up when he heard the tingle of the bells above the door and watched in shock as his two best friends walked in. Harry blinked in surprise, sitting up straighter. "What?" he managed when they clapped eyes on him and made a beeline for his table. "What are you doing here?"

"Like we would be anywhere else when you are obliviously having an emotional breakdown," Hermione replied as she draped her coat over the back of her chair and sat down next to Harry.

Ron slid into the seat across from him, "You really weren't yourself at training today," he added apologetically.

"But how did you find me?" he asked.

Hermione held out her mobile, "You left your 'find my friend' active, so I tracked you."

"I didn't even know that was something people could do."

She nodded, "You learn something new every day," she replied flippantly. "Now tell us. What's going on?"

"Nothing," he said, probably too quickly.

Definitely too quickly if Hermione's expression was anything to go by. "You're drinking scotch," she said, as though that was damning evidence.

(Read more below the cut)

"And?" he asked petulantly.

Ron cleared his throat, "Just, we're here for you, mate," he said. "If there's something you wanted to talk about. We're not going to judge you." He reached across the table and patted Harry on the shoulder, "We just want you to know we love you."

"Okay," Hermione said, "Yes, that, but," she added, "We also want to know what the bloody hell is going on with you and Malfoy."

"Hermione wants to know," Ron said, narrowing his eyes at her, "I'd be glad not to know. If you don't want to talk about it."

"Ronald-"

Harry laughed, he couldn't help himself, and his best friends both looked at him apologetically.

Ron said, "You know you can tell us anything, right?"

"I think I might be in love with Draco Malfoy."

Ron sighed, "I was afraid you were going to say that. I'm going to order a drink and then you can tell us all about it."

----------

Harry spent the next hour talking about Draco, going through the way things had started, to how things had developed, to the way they ended that morning.

"Are you sure he doesn't feel the same way?" Hermione asked.

He nodded miserably, "He told me this morning that he felt the same as he did before the bond."

"He could have been lying," Ron offered.

"I don't think so," he replied, "I've gotten pretty good at detecting when he's not being truthful."

"And you've been checked to make sure there are no traces of the bond left?"

"Yeah. I went to St. Mungo's after work. Apparently I should have been feeling the affects of the bond lessen for the past week or so," he added bitterly. "She ran a thousand diagnostic spells and there's nothing detectable."

"Do you think-" Hermione broke off and bit her lip.

"What?"

She tucked a curl behind her ear, "Do you think it's possible that he liked you before the bond?"

"What? No," he said, shaking his head.

"Right but hear me out," she said, "why would he have asked you to stay for breakfast if he hated you?"

"He didn't say he hated me, he said-"

"That he felt the same as before the bond," she finished.

Ron nodded, "She makes a good point, mate."

"That's impossible! He was just as upset about the bond in the beginning as I was," he protested.

"But was he upset for the same reasons?" she asked.

He sucked his lower lip into his mouth.

"And he did seem pretty..." Ron trailed off.

"Besotted?" Hermione offered and Ron nodded.

"When you brought him with you those times to dinner with us," he finished.

Harry frowned, "No he didn't."

"No offense, mate, but you couldn't see how he was looking at you," Ron said.

"Ron's right," Hermione said, "For all we know he's liked you all along."

"For all we know," Harry argued, "he has hated my guts and that hasn't changed." He shook his head, this wasn't helping, "Let's talk about something else," he said.

Mercifully, his friends dropped it and Hermione started to talk about her day and the law she was trying to push through.

But when they were getting ready to leave Hermione said, "Don't you think you should say something to him?"

"What?" he asked incredulously. "No, I do not think I should say something to him. Are you insane?"

"But the worst case scenario is that he confirms that he hates you, isn't that better than not knowing?" she asked.

He didn't know how to answer her, so he just settled for letting himself be pulled into a hug instead.

"Just think about it," she whispered in his ear and he nodded.

"Come to the burrow for dinner on Sunday," Ron added, giving him a hug, too. "Mum's been missing her favorite son," he added with a wink.

They left the pub and headed toward a little back ally to apparate home. Ron and Hermione went first, and then Harry went; closing his eyes and turning before he was sucked through time and space.

But when he opened his eyes again, he wasn't at his house; he was standing at Draco's front door. He blinked and then Hermione's words rang through his head isn't that better than not knowing?

Without his conscious permission, his hand reached up and knocked on Draco's door. And then he immediately panicked, reaching for his wand as he decided to just apparate away.

Before he could manage it, the door was swung open and Draco said, "yes?" before he caught sight of Harry. Draco's eyebrows shot up and he said on a surprised breath, "Harry."

And it was Harry's undoing.

Draco had called him many things: prat, scarhead, idiot, wanker, Potter, and a thousand others. But he had never used Harry's given name before.

"It wasn't just the bond," Harry finally managed.

"Sorry?" Draco asked, tugging the sleeves of the hoodie he was wearing down so they covered his hands.

Harry blinked, "Is that my hoodie?" he asked, momentarily distracted.

Draco looked down at himself, then back up at Harry pure panic in his eyes, and Harry did the only thing he could do.

He stepped up the final step into Draco's house and kissed him. Harry cupped Draco's face in his hands and molded their mouths together the way he'd been aching to do for weeks.

And Draco immediately melted into the kiss, wrapping his fingers through Harry's hair and holding him close, lining their bodies up fully. "What?" he managed when they broke apart to breathe.

"It wasn't just the fucking bond," Harry said. "Circe. It is so nice to say that. It wasn't the bond," he repeated again because it felt so damn good to get those words out.

"Harry-" Draco said, his voice calm and collected, and Harry knew he was going to try to say something practical, something reasonable but he couldn't stop himself from interrupting.

"Say it again," he begged.

"What?" Draco asked, brow furrowing.

"My name."

Draco's face softened, "Harry," he murmured.

"Godric, Draco," he managed as he swooped back in, pressing the other man back against the wall and snogging him desperately, pouring all of the longing and the aching that he'd been feeling for weeks into the kiss. One hand held his jaw while the other cupped his waist and Harry was flying.

"Harry," Draco groaned into the kiss before he put his hands on Harry's chest and pushed lightly.

Harry took a step back, panting.

"Wait," the other man said. "Just," he shook his head. "Wait a second." Draco scrubbed his hands over his face, "Why are you here?"

"I didn't mean to come here," he said. "I meant to apparate home but I ended up on your doorstep because all I've been able to think about all day is you."

"Right," Draco said, nodding once. "Yeah. We need to get you to St. Mungo's. Obviously the bond has-"

"It. is. not. the. bond," Harry repeated, resisting the urge to shout it but only just.

"This isn't right," he said, shaking his head.

"Do you not feel the same about me?" Harry asked, "Should I not have kissed you? Sorry-"

Draco held up a hand, "Of course I feel that way," he said with a self deprecating laugh.

"But why-"

"Because I felt this way before the bond," he said.

Harry huffed, "Why is she always bloody right?"

"Who?" Draco asked, scowling in confusion.

"Hermione."

Draco rubbed his forehead, "Honestly." He blew out a breath and brushed the thought away, "Right. The point stands, we need to get you to St. Mungos-"

"I've already gone," Harry protested, "because someone kept telling me that everything I was feeling was because of the bloody, stupid bond."

Draco froze, brow furrowing in confusion, "You've already gone to St. Mungos?"

"Yes," he affirmed. "And I am fine. There is no trace of the bond anywhere-"

"It's messed with your mind-"

"Draco," he said, stepping closer and clasping his shoulders. "It's not the bond." He took a breath and let the words hang in the air. "It's me, okay? I am in love with you."

"You're not."

Harry threw his hands up in the air, "Stop it!"

"But Potter this is ridiculous."

"Don't," he said, voice low but firm. "Do not go back to calling me Potter, Draco, so help me."

The other man took a breath, then another, "Okay. We need a minute," he said. "I need a minute." He marched past Harry into the kitchen, "Tea?" he asked.

And no, Harry really didn't want any bloody tea but as he didn't seem to be any closer to getting what he did want, he sighed, "If you insist." As Draco set about making tea, pulling down Harry's favorite mug, Harry said, "Can I ask a question?"

"You have questions?" Draco asked with a dry laugh, "A moment ago, it seemed I had the monopoly on questions."

He huffed, "Why won't you believe me?"

"Because-" Draco started to snap before pausing and taking a breath, and Merlin Harry loved him even more. He carefully poured the hot water into their mugs and then he said, "because you didn't feel this way a month ago, the bond happened and planted artificial feelings, and now you have different feelings."

"Okay, first," Harry said, "The bond planted physical urges," he said. "I still hated you for at least the first two weeks, even if I wanted to touch you." He shook his head, "Not in a pervy way."

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched and something eased in Harry's chest.

"The feelings came later," he said, "After I realized how," he broke off searching for the right words, "fantastic you are. After I got to know you, I realized how many amazing things there are about you and I wanted to spend time with you. Not because holding your hand felt good but because you make me laugh, and because you're kind, and because you are so interesting," he said.

"Harry," he said softly, uncertainly.

"And I know it's scary," Harry assured him, "I'm completely terrified. But I also know that I have never felt as happy, and safe, and cared for as I have the past two weeks with you. And if you'd just give me a chance, I-"

Draco lunged across the island, grabbing Harry's lapels in his hands and crashing their mouths together.

"Mmrph," Harry managed before kissing the other man back, gentling Draco's frantic kissing until he could press love into his lips.

"You," Draco said when he pulled back, "Are the worst."

"What?" Harry asked, even though he couldn't help but laugh.

"How dare you leave me this morning telling me that you felt the same as you did at the beginning of this? How dare you not even stay for breakfast?"

"To be fair," Harry said, leaning across the island to steal another kiss, "You said you felt the same first."

"Yes well, bravery is your house's thing, not mine."

"I'll tell you I love you before I leave every day," he promised.

Draco stared at him, "Don't say things like that if you don't mean them."

He reached out and took Draco's hand in his, "I mean it." After a heart beat Harry cleared his throat, "So, since we're being honest, I have really enjoyed not sleeping alone the past month."

There was a pause as Draco's eyes searched his, "Are you asking if you can move in?" Draco asked.

He shrugged one shoulder, "If you wouldn't mind. We wouldn't have to," he bit his lip, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed, "You know, do stuff," he said, "If you don't want to. Just," he scratched his beard, "you keep the nightmares away."

Draco's lower lip protruded and his eyes looked suspiciously bright, "You can't just say things like that!" he exclaimed. "Merlin, Potter, you don't do anything by halves do you? You absolute nutter."

He came around the other side of the island and pressed a kiss to the tip of Draco's nose, "Harry," he corrected.

"Harry," Draco repeated, breathing love into the word, rubbing his nose up the side of Harry's. "Yes, of course you can stay, you sap."

Harry wrapped his fingers in the stolen hoodie and pulled Draco closer so he could kiss his petal soft lips again.

"Harry?" Draco murmured into the kiss.

"Mmm?" he asked as he trailed kisses from the corner of Draco's mouth along his jaw.

Draco tilted his head back to give him more room to maneuver, "What if I said I did want to do stuff?" he asked.

Harry pulled back and Draco whined. "Do you?" he asked.

"I'm asked you first," he replied.

He grinned, "I would be very open to stuff. If you are."

"You should probably take me to bed, then," Draco replied, pulling Harry back in to kiss him, "And get me out of this hideous, whatever-you-called-it."

Harry laughed and dragged Draco out of the kitchen and back to the bedroom, leaving their half drunk tea to grow cold.

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

True to his word, Harry stayed for breakfast the next morning and told Draco 'I love you' before leaving for the day.

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

(Part 6)

[hopeyallenjoy]

An eventful birthday

Did he want to make love to you?

Pairing : Young Severus Snape x Fem!Reader

Warnings : slight smut ; little bit of swearing ; caught during sex ; teasing in public 

Wordcount : 3, 712 words

Request : Maraudeur era Severus x reader’s first time 

I think I got a little too excited about this order so here is the resume. I did two different version with the same base “ severus and reader’s first time.”  Don't hesitate to tell me if you like it or not.

Resume : Severus and Reader have been together for a while but have never had sex. Reader is getting impatient and decides to invite her boyfriend to her house for the vacations. With Lucius' help, Severus takes the invitation as an implicit request for sex, so he spends the beginning of the vacation educating himself on the subject, until the big day. D-Day, which turns out to be Y/n's birthday... !

Severus waddled from one foot to the other, in front of the blue door of a small country house, wondering if he should enter or not. 

That blue door was yours. You and Severus had been dating since the beginning of your sixth year at Hogwarts. You were the one who made the first move, asking him via owl if he would like to go out with you. To your surprise he agreed. In the early days, your relationship had been tedious, Severus having trouble showing you affection in public and even being unpleasant at times, but you knew him well enough to know that he didn't want to hurt you. He was just a little proud. It had to be said that the rumors that were circulating about you didn't help. Some said Severus had used dark magic to make you fall in love with him, others thought he was using you. In short, the rumors were far from reality, making Severus a despicable man when he was only afraid. Personally, you didn't care what people said or thought, but that wasn't entirely true of your boyfriend. So with all the patience you had, you managed to make him more comfortable, to make your relationship evolve so that it lasts. Taking all the necessary first steps, erasing his doubts one after the other. Yes, your sixth year had been an emotional one.

 And you were not at the end of your sorrows, already another obstacle was standing in your way. A few months before the end of the year, you had started sleeping with Severus, either in your dormitory or in his. Of course you only did this, out of respect for your respective roommates, but mostly because every time you tried to exchange more than a kiss with Severus, he found an excuse not to. This behavior had annoyed you a little and even hurt you but you didn't give up and ended up inviting him to spend the vacations at your place knowing that he would have no excuse and would have to explain what was bothering him. 

Severus was surprised that you invited him so suddenly, he had been disturbed by your behavior for a few months. It must be said, he was not very good with women and had gone to his best friend, Lucius Malfoy, to ask his advice. He had described to him, the changes he had noticed in the way you dressed, the way you spoke to him, and all the weird phrases that just didn't make sense to his ears.

Lucius had laughed at his explanation, confiding that you wanted to have sex with him. Severus was taken aback.

"Don't look so surprised, my friend. You told me she'd had other boyfriends before you, right?” he nodded “So, it's only natural, your little Y/n wants you to fuck her. You want that too, don't you Sev?"

Severus thought for a moment. Did he want to make love to you? The answer had come to him naturally ; of course. You was the smartest girl he knew, you always understood him, you always seemed to know what to say to make him feel confident, he wanted to confide in you all his problems, to hold you until morning and he understood that now, he would love to see your naked body and feel your warmth against him. But he was not reassured by the idea of you seeing him naked, he was afraid of disappointing you. Lucius then set out to teach Severus what he called the basics of a good fuck. He took his role as a teacher so much to heart that he spent most of the night before the vacations making a book for Severus. 

The book was read in one night. Although he wasn't sure if you would like most of the practices described in Lucius's manual, Severus was a little reassured to have a minimum of knowledge before taking action. He would never have thought that sex was a subject that required so much knowledge. Severus didn't have time to continue thinking as the door in front of him opened, revealing a jovial looking woman, whom he recognized as one of your mothers. Because yes, you had two mothers.  

"Severus, my boy, come in! Y/n is in her room. You can join her if you like. We'll call you when the food is ready. Oh and you should take your suitcase up with you."

He didn't have time to put one in before your mother had already joined your other mother in the kitchen. Just starting to get used to so much kindness as he had been coming to your house as a friend for a while, he stammered a slightly embarrassed thank you before running upstairs to find you. You was sitting at your window reading,when he enter your room. When you heard him come in you looked up from your book and smiled at him with a smile that would warm the coldest heart.

You were about to stand up and greet him when to your surprise he came up to you faster than a flash of lightning and kissed you fiercely. You kissed back as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

"Severus" you breathed between kisses.

"Y/n" he replied as he pushed you towards your bed without breaking the kiss.

"Y/n, the boys have arrived, they are asking where they ca... Oh!"

Severus turned around and came face to face with Lily Evans leaning on Y/n's bedroom door. Her gaze darted back and forth between your two faces and the position she had found you in.

"I think... I better go ask your mothers," she disappeared down the stairs, closing the door behind her.

Severus stood up in a bit of a panic as you burst out laughing. He questioned you with his eyes as he thought you had gone mad.

"By Merlin, I've never seen you this enterprising and Lily had to come in.

"Repeating the facts doesn't make them any less dramatic, you know Y/n? What are we going to do now that she's seen us? And what is she doing here anyway?" he said with a frown.

"Well, just like you and pretty much my entire group of friends, she was invited home to celebrate my birthday." your smile lost a little of its luster as your boyfriend broke down before your eyes.

Your birthday. He had forgotten your birthday. Severus felt like the biggest idiot in the world as he stammered a "yes, of course" while trying to avoid your gaze. You could tell by his demeanor, but you didn't have time to get your head around it, as someone knocked on the door. A few seconds later, your other mother's purple head appeared in the doorway, letting you know that the meal was ready and that all the guests were there. You and Severus walked downstairs with your mother to the dining room, decorated with colorful lanterns and holiday streamers. Around the table chatting were your friends, Remus,Sirius, Lily, Dorcas, Mary, Arthur, Frank, James and Marlene. All of them came from different groups of friends but were willing to mix for you. Since only the ends of the table were left, you and Severus sat away from each other. But it was all right, your mind was still on the revelation he had made to you indirectly a few minutes earlier. James and Sirius spat at Severus, who didn't react, just sat at the other end of the table, staring at the plate in front of him. Severus' string of bizarre behaviors reinforced the idea that something was wrong. 

Normally, Severus was one of the sweetest, most caring men you'd ever met, and because of his family history, he was so desperate for love and affection that he found it hard not to look at you, or give you compliments, awkward ones, but still compliments. But the last few weeks before the vacations, he had insisted on sleeping alone, and now he had forgotten your birthday, there was definitely something wrong. You did your best to focus on the moment and not think too much. This allowed you to have a nice meal, surrounded by the good mood of your friends and family. When the meal was over, the lanterns went out as your mom came into the dining room with a huge cake of your favorite flavor in her hands. All your friends began to sing around the table, wishing you a happy birthday. That was it. You were finally 17, you couldn't help but shed a tear or two after blowing out the candles. The cake was cut and served and then it was time for the gifts. One by one the gifts came to rest in front of you as you tore off the wrapping paper that wrapped them. You received a broom set, sweets and many other gifts that filled you with joy. Each of the guests pointed to themselves after you opened their gift for you to thank them.

"And you, Severus? Where is your gift for Y/n?" Mary asked innocently.

All eyes turned to Severus as his cheeks turned crimson. He felt terrible for forgetting your birthday and now he was paying the price. He was going to have to admit that he didn't have one in front of everyone. What kind of boyfriend could forget such an important day?

"I don't..." he began.

"Severus was giving it to me as soon as he arrived, he's still in my room," you answered to avoid an affront to your boyfriend.

For the first time all evening, Severus looked up at you with hopeful eyes. You'd had time to digest the news, and while you weren't mad at him yet, he had better have a good excuse. You knew your friends well enough to know that Sirius and James would have been happy to put Severus down again, so you didn't give them the chance. The rest of the evening was spent in a calm and good mood, the small group of teenagers having moved into the living room to play teenage games like Monopoly, truth or dare etc. Once your mothers were in bed, Severus slid in beside you on the couch and shyly took your hand. Your eyes met for a moment as he squeezed your hand gently. Despite the annoyance of his behavior, you melted a little at the look on his face. You smiled at him and then gently let him know that you too would need to have a chat later. He nodded and moved a little closer to you. With a smile, you turned your attention back to the game on the coffee table and slid Severus' hand over your butt. He gave you a panicked look but you were already paying no attention to him, or so it seemed, just pushing your buttocks to meet his palm. Severus took this as an invitation and pressed his hand to your bottom trying to remember what Lucius had taught him. As quietly as possible, Severus began to knead your buttocks, waiting for a favorable reaction. This created a fire inside you that made you close your eyes for a moment. Then remembering where you were, you opened them again and gently slid Severus' hands away from you. He thought he must have felt bad or that you didn't like it, but your buttocks came to rest on his legs and quickly changed his mind. His hands had only touched your buttocks through your dress, but that wasn't enough, you wanted more. You stuck to Severus by slipping in his ear a few words.

"Touch my breasts, please.

He nodded, not sure how he was going to please you on the one hand and not get caught on the other. He started by pulling down the zipper of your dress, just enough for him to get his hands under the loose fabric. A grunt escaped him, which was thankfully covered by Sirius's protesting cries that he was in no position to win. That growl in your ear felt like a bomb in your body. You weren't wearing a bra and he could see that. That was the reason for his groan.

His fingers eventually found your nipples and he began to knead them in the same way he had kneaded your ass. You bit your lip to keep from letting all the pleasure Severus was giving you out into the open.

"Are you okay, Y/n? You're all red," Arthur said, worried about his friend.

Severus stopped his movements as all eyes were now on you.

You nodded, wanting to reassure them and avoid getting caught.

"Yes, yes. I think I'm just a little tired. Do you mind if I slip away now?"

All of your friends nodded and wished you a pleasant night as the smart ones figured out where the redness in your cheeks really came from. After Severus zipped up your dress, you took him by the hand and got up from the couch, dragging him behind you.

When you got to your room, you closed the door, this time with a key. Then you turned to face him, arms crossed.

" Go ahead. Can you explain to me why you forgot my birthday ?”

"I'm ashamed,I’m so sorry  you know ? " Severus fled your gaze as he reached into the back pocket of his pants but unfortunately you notice and asked for it.

"What are you hiding ?”

You weren't totally mad, but seeing Severus so secretive left your imagination free to invent far-fetched scenarios that almost always ended with Severus admitting to cheating on you and that broke your heart. You joined him on the bed, trying to keep your composure as he sheepishly pulled a book from his back pocket.

 "That's what did it. That's what made me... forgot your birthday." You took it from his hands.

"What's this?" you asked as you began to flip through it quickly.

"It's a book about sex. Lucius gave it to me, and incidentally wrote it as well, when I told him about us.”

Severus explained everything in detail, so much so that by the end of his story, you couldn't be angry anymore. On the contrary. Severus did all this to make sure he would be ready for his first time with you. It was adorable.

"Remind me never to give Lucius a chance if we ever break up " you said with a laugh.

"D-Does that mean that's not how it works ?" questioned Severus confused.

"Well... In fact... I don't know about that, Sev. I'm a virgin too." you confessed making him even more confused.

"You are ? But I thought that... What about your ex’s boyfriends ?"

You settle down a little better on the bed, not knowing how to explain it to him.

"So... Yeah I've had a bunch of boyfriends but none of them have ever touched me. And if they tried..." Severus sits cross-legged in front of you, all ears "... I break up with them. First time, you only get one. I didn't want to give it to just anyone. I never felt safe enough or in love with them enough to take the plunge." your hands find Severus', you intertwine your fingers gently. "But with you, everything is different, Severus."

"Wait Y/n... You mean you..." begins Severus, his eyes sparkling.

You smile softly at your boyfriend, your cheeks turning a little red as he moved closer to you without really realizing it.

"Yes, Sev. I'm in love with you," you finally admit.

"Oh Y/n..." he melts on your lips in a tender but passionate kiss "I think... Me too"

Your heart misses a beat. Since the beginning of your relationship, it was you who took the lead and for the roles to be reversed, it often took a few days or even a few months, so you would never have thought that for such an important confession, he would say it so easily. You could not be happier.

Severus gently flipped you over onto the bed, towering over you as you deepened the kiss. Awkwardly, you undressed each other, urgently seeking each other's lips as quickly as possible. You were the first only in your underwear, at least in your panties, and Severus was speechless. The sight of his fiery gaze titillated your pussy, which had not yet recovered from Sev's caresses in the living room. Instinctively, Severus directed his hands towards your breasts, bringing you out of your dream. He began to knead them again as he had done in the living room, but replaced one of his hands with his mouth and then his tongue, wrapping it around your erect nipples with desire. Small moans came out of your mouth in front of all the attentions of your companion.

"Does it feel good?" he asked, gradually gaining confidence.

You nodded knowing that your voice would break before you could finish your sentence. He seemed to understand as a sly smile came to perch on his lips. He wanted to taste your body, to hear your little moans again, which he found adorable and which excited him more than he wanted to say. His lips went down along your belly to land near your panties asking you for access silently. For all answer you did not delay to pull down your panties wanting desperately to feel him inside you, or at least it was as you translated the sudden heat and tingling that rose from your crotch. Severus in front of you couldn't stop his sex from growing even larger as exotic scents wafted up to his nose.

"Severus," you breathed in a prayer.

"Anything for you, love" he replied.

Within seconds, his tongue met your clit, warming it and covering it with kisses. A few minutes later he was already moving his tongue down to visit your already moistened pussy, making you moan louder than before.

"Please, Sev'. I think I'm going to cum."

"Do you think you can wait for me?" he asked as he lovingly stroked your hair.

You nodded slowly, catching your breath as Severus' tongue left your folds.

"Are you ready?  Lucius told me it can hurt the first time for girls, so tell me if I -" his sex in his hand he placed it in front of your entrance as he towered over you.

"It's okay, Sev. I trust you." your smile encouraged him.

He nodded, not totally reassured. So far, it had been easy, he had been content to trust his desires and the reaction of your body, but now it was going to be harder. He could feel it. But encouraged by your love, he ended up pushing his erect member little by little into your dripping sex. An electric shock went through both of your bodies. He didn't move right away, feeling your walls tightening dangerously around his sex. Then you motioned for him to move, which he did, slowly pulling his sex out of yours before moving back in again, keeping a slow pace. The first few trips in and out were painful, but soon it was pleasure that took over. For Severus, it was pure pleasure and moaning, he loved being inside you, but was still afraid you wouldn't.

"Is that good for you, love? Can I speed it up a little?"

"Yes...; please."

So he accelerated his comings and goings, always focused on the reaction of your body to his. Your breathing became more jerky as his change of pace allowed him to perfectly match your pleasure points. It was the first time he felt like this, he felt like he was too far away from you even though his whole body was married to yours and he wanted to be one with you all the days of his life, to feel your body pressed against his forever. It didn't take long for you to tighten your grip on your lover, feeling your deliverance coming.

"Severus... I-" your sentence was swallowed up by the wave of pleasure that engulfed you.

Severus joined you in your orgasm a few minutes after yours, prolonging it as he continued to go back and forth.

"Y/n, Y/n, Fuck, Y/n!" he moaned in your ear.

Breathless, he pulled out of you and immediately took you in his arms, thanking you for your patience by covering you with kisses. He had been a little rough with you but you thought it had been for the best.

"Perfect," you sighed.

"I couldn't have said it better," he said between breaths. "Do you think we could do this again?" he questioned.

"That was our first time, remember? So there's no reason why it should be the only one." you kissed him tenderly, laughing "We can do it again whenever you want.”

"Even... Now?" he asked with an innocent look but flame of desire in his eyes.

You bit your lip before nodding.

[myonepiece]

Natural Yanderes in One Piece

description: characters who are yandere without an au!

warnings: yandere, mentions of mental/emotional & physical abuse, mentions of sexual assault

a/n: I wanted to write down my thoughts on the natural yanderes in One Piece. this is probably a pt. 1 because I have a lot of thoughts about other characters too :3

I did some research to find out the “actual” names for the different types of yandere, but most of the characters are similar to multiple types so I just put down the definition/example of the type(s)

disclaimer: I didn’t sugar coat anything so just stay with me- and you might not agree but I’m just trying to explain my thoughts

- when I say darling I am referring to crush or S/O 

Doflamingo

yandere rating: 10/10

obsession, violent, removal (”you don’t need anyone else”), training (trains S/O to love him)

Doflamingo is the whole yandere package- mental & physical abuse and manipulation, stalking, obsession and infatuation, kidnapping, locking away, gaslighting, torture, possessiveness, aggression and violence, toxicity.

Doflamingo’s obsession with his darling rivals Hannibal Lecter’s obsession with eating his victims. I often like to compare Doflamingo to Hannibal Lecter, with his manners, intelligence, and sophisticated taste, and niether hold remorse for their victims- now back to the topic.

Doflamingo can be as stealthy and unnoticed as he wants to be. when he sees someone who specially catches his attention (a future S/O per say), he likes to observe them first and understand them and their thinking, especially if this person is a future lover because he’s already planning what fun he can have playing with their mind, what gets under their skin and gets a reaction.

Doflamingo knows that his actions aren’t “normal” or healthy, or safe, but he doesn’t care. he developes a fetish-like infatuation with his S/O and simply has to have them, no way of getting them is off the table. abuse is an occurrence that happens naturally, rather it be because Doflamingo is angry, at his S/O or at one of his subordinates, it doesn’t matter- because his darling disobeyed him, because he is trying to prove a point, because he wishes to see his partner in pain, or simply because he is bored and torturing his lover is much more enjoyable than torturing his enemies/subordinates.

Doflamingo enjoys a chase and he fancies playing mind games with his S/O, seeing them so distraught and unnerved and fearful is one of his greatest joys, possibly even pleasurable. he likes to make them think they have a chance at escaping, luring them into attempting (and failing) so that he can coo at them and punish them, making them think he’s mad when he’s not, making them think he’s happy when he’s not- their confused expression is remarkably adorable and endearing.

unlike some yanderes, Doflamingo doesn’t try to make his S/O think the world outside is crueler than him, that they’re safer in his arms- while he does tell them they are protected by him, he tells them that he is more dangerous than the outside world, so that they’ll be too scared to leave his side, because he is too powerful to escape.

it slightly hurts me to say this and it might be hard for some to think about, but Doflamingo is not against forcing himself on his S/O- they are merely a tool and a toy for him to use and play with and ruin until it breaks- this symbolizing their will to escape or resist, diminishing and ultimately breaking as a toy would

Sanji

yandere rating: 3/10

harmless (as long as they are happy I’m happy”), stalker, obsession (harmless obsession), wrong idea (”they gave me their eraser... they must love me!”), mild possession

we all know that Sanji has an “obsession” with beautiful women, and when he finds one he especially likes, then it becomes a little more. now Sanji would never ever hurt his S/O, never, I want that to be clear- that’s why he is a harmless type. 

Sanji often watches from afar, and it’s not unusal for him to follow his crush/darling around. he’ll usually ask if he can tag along but if they say no he’ll just linger behind and out of sight, mostly to make sure they’re safe but also so he can observe them. he can be... delusional, take things as what they aren’t (wrong idea type)- if his darling compliments him, even just “good to see you Sanji-kun” he’ll interpret it as they missed him dearly and are so happy to see him again. his head is stuck in the clouds and he’s completely lovesick with a fever of 200°.

for a comparison, his actions before getting together would very similar to those of Anthony Hope’s towards Johanna- Sweeney Todd. Anthony is seen standing by the front of the house watching Johanna while she sits in her window, the song he sings about her “Johanna” (I suggest listening to it) contains lyrics such as “I’ll steal you Johanna... even now I’m at your window... buried sweetly in your yellow hair...” Anthony wants to take Johanna because he is obsessed with her but she is also in danger because she did not choose to live there, she is being “looked after”. 

Sanji’s actions always corroborate to what’s best for his S/O, he only wishes to take care of them and spoil them. he is definitely not the most possessive, but he doesn’t like his darling showing much attention to anyone else, in moments they do, Sanji always becomes clingy and pulls them away.

he’s bordering loneliness induction (”it’s okay I’m here, you don’t need anyone else”) and removal type (you don’t need anyone else when you have me”)

I can not stress this enough, Sanji is a HARMLESS yandere, it’s only the possession and infatuation that gives him the title 

Buggy

yandere rating: 6/10

worship (”I’ll do anything for you, I’ll kill for you!”), dependence (”please don’t leave me!”), monopoly (”who were you talking to”), obsession (”where were you? what were you doing?”), wrong idea (”they gave me their eraser... they must love me!”)

Buggy is a very emotional person, shown multiple times like when he cried when reuniting with his crew and when they told him they waited for him, when he is faced with danger, when he got angry at Shanks because of something that happened many years ago, etc. he craves an actual emotional bond because he’s quite a dependent person. if someone shows him the slightest comfort and attention or sign that they’ll be there for him, he’s in love- but only with that person, the second he falls in love with them they’re the only one for him.

for comparison, Buggy’s relationship dynamic is similar to Peter Pan and Tinker Bell’s (though they aren’t really in a relationship, but you understand hopefully), that is Buggy as Tinker Bell and his S/O as Peter Pan. Tinker Bell is quite obsessed with Pan herself, often trying to get him away from Wendy and going to extreme lengths to do so, she get’s angry and jealous easily, and she is more than ready to fight to defend Peter. Tinker would follow Peter to the end of the world and Buggy would do the same with his S/O.

Buggy craves affection and stability and trust, a ride-or-die, a one and only, a true soulmate. when he finds someone like that, he becomes possessive and obsessed with them, constantly asking to accompany them somewhere or making on of his crew do it- he has trust issues and one of his greatest fears is his S/O cheating on him, loyalty is very important to him. he needs constant reassurance even though he won’t say it out loud. he wants his S/O to depend on him as much as he depends on them so they’ll only need each other (bordering removal type).

Buggy won’t hurt his S/O unless it’s in a moment of overwhelming emotions, anger most often- in those moments he can do anything. he would close his hand around hs S/O’s throat and tell them not to leave, to stay with him, but he’s crying the whole time because the mere thought of his S/O leaving is terrifying, Buggy is afraid of being alone. he’ll slap or shove harshly, insults and praises alike, pleading and threatening. he tends to forget his strength and  sometimes his grip on his S/O’s throat ends up making them pass out then he freaks out and regrets everything, he feels extremely guilty after hurting them and he tries to show he’s sorry with his actions- it’s kind of ironic because even when he causes them though most pain and that’s one thing he never wants you to go through (pain) he always asks you to stay.

because of his fear of being alone he is willing to do anything for you, if you ask him to kill someone or at least step up and battle with another crew, he will. if not being a coward, or at least pretending not to be, for one moment is what it takes for you to stay then consider his cowardness gone, *poof*. ask for anything and this man will give it to you, similar to buying your love and sometimes he realizes that practically what it is- but he doesn’t care, as long as you stay. god forbid anyone try to take you away though, he won’t hold back on someone who. tries to take away his darling, tries to tell them Buggy is dangerous and the relationship isn’t healthy- frankly Buggy doesn’t really notice if it’s healthy or not because he’s not experienced at all, he doesn’t realize his actions aren’t normal, he thinks he’s just in love with you and can’t be without you, he doesn’t even consider it’s an unhealthy infatuation with someone because they showed interest in him once.

[aggressive-positivity-network]

do any of the mercs play board games?

Mercopoly (Board Game

Headcanons)

Scout:

You think he has enough of an attention span to play something that doesn’t involve sweating out his energy drinks?

Hell no!

He gets very bored very quickly, especially with something complex like chess.

He’ll play cards sometimes, but only Crazy Eights and Go Fish - that’s all he knows how to play.

However, there is one true board game he plays occasionally: Candy Land.

It’s one of the few board games that you don’t really have to read the rules for, and there isn’t any writing on the cards.

However, he only asks to play it when he’s not feeling very well.

Medic even has a page in his medical journal for the mercs that says, and I quote:

“The Scout has an extremely short attention span, and if an activity isn’t active or immersive, he will not stay long. If at any point he chooses a sedentary activity, a check-up is in order.”

As sad as it is, a request to play Candyland is a good way to know if Scout needs a little extra reassurance or support.

By the end of the game, Scout usually feels more himself, whether he wins or not.

Engie is especially good with Scout when he’s this way, being the one of the most emotionally sensitive of the group. But he also knows Scout would never admit straight-away how he was feeling, so he usually has a more fun way of getting answers.

“You feelin’ more like a King Candy or a Lord Licorice?”

“...Fudge Monster.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah...”

Spy:

If you ask him, he will most likely go off on a tangent about chess, and how it’s a game of strategy, deception, and crushing your enemy with your wit.

He scoffs at any other game, and constantly makes fun of several of his more intelligent peers for finding interest in them.

“You are mercenaries. Blood-thirsty killers of men. And you are playing ‘Hungry, Hungry Hippos’ like a hoarde of kindergartners?”

But one thing he cannot resist is Sorry.

He considers it above normal board games because it has strategy - or at least that what he says.

He actually just likes it because it’s a game of revenge, which is like a drug to him.

He’s gotten so good at it that if he asks you to play Sorry with him, it’s almost guaranteed that he’s mad at you and just wants to let off some steam by giving you a horrendous loss. However, occasionally, he’s the one who loses.

Spy isn’t a poor sport, exactly - he’s too cultured for that - but sometimes his pride outweighs his manners and he convinces himself that the other player cheated through made up signs of deception.

He simply “allows” them to win because he “doesn’t want to make a fuss.”

But god help the unfortunate soul who decides to rub their win in his face.

Sniper had won five games in a row, and it was clear Spy was getting hot under the collar.

Sniper ended their games with a mischievous, “You’ll get ‘em next time, tiger.” and a small pat on his shoulder.

Spy immediately saw red, grabbed Sniper’s hand, and before the aussie knew it, he was against a concrete wall with a butterfly knife to his throat.

“I could kill you right now. Your final cry for Medic will be drowned in blood, and I would leave you here to die a painful, dramatic death. You’ll be replaced with a rusted trash can of a bot until they could grow another clone of you. Every memory will be gone. The team will be shrouded in grief, not because of losing you, but losing what the clone can never have. And I shall bide my time, ask the clone to play the same game, and kill them when they win. Another clone, another kill. And again. And again. And again. You think the Manns give a damn as long as their work is getting done? You will never be able to form a single thought before I spill your blood - caught in an eternal prisoner’s dilemma where you always lose.”

After gathering his bearings, Sniper finally spoke.

“Is this about your takeout?”

Spy scoffed.

“Do you really think - !”

“Tonight, my treat if you don’t kill me.”

Spy squinted.

“Egg rolls?”

“And an extra order of crab rangoon.”

“Your treat?”

“Yep.”

“How do I know you won’t poison me?”

“Chemical test before and after the food arrives.”

“How do I know Medic isn’t in on it?”

“Miss Pauling as a witness and Scout as an overseer. Pauling’s main objective is to keep us alive, and Scout can’t do bloody anything subtle, even if he wanted to. You can also play back the cameras in the lab, if the mood really struck ya.”

Spy held Sniper against the wall for a minute or two while he thought it all over, then let Sniper fall to the ground.

“I don’t need your sympathy, bushman. But you had better keep your end of the deal. I am the only backstabber around here.”

Demo:

Can’t even stay awake long enough to play most board games.

On the rare chance that he’s sober, he, Engie, and Medic like to play Monopoly.

Here’s the thing: you should never ask a drunkard, an engineer, and a sadist genius to play Monopoly together. It will not end well.

They have been playing the same game for years, with new rules in place and physical extensions to the board in order to try and end the game. Every other Friday, they take the weekend to try and finish it.

However, it all ends up fruitless.

Demo is usually the one keeping the peace, since he is the least competitive out of the three. That isn’t to say he isn’t clawing for the win as much as the other two, but he is definitely the least invested. He’s mostly staying out of principle.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, ‘s ta ne’er give up, e’en when the goin’s gettin’ tough. Roll the dice, doc.”

Despite his confidence, he’s not even sure what he would do if he or anyone else won. It would seem more like a relief than a celebration.

Medic:

He’s the one who started the Eternal Monopoly game, which has led to some theories that the game itself came straight from hell, and is one of the many punishments used on sinners. The box does smell a bit of brimstone…

He seems to enjoy the chaos that each round brings and the challenge of coming up with new rules to the game. To any outsider, his commentary and directions are complete nonsense.

“According to zhe ‘Calvinball Rule,’ as stated by Engineer, and the ‘Double Kill,’ as stated by myself, since the current time ends vis a three and ve all received at least two kills zhis veek, ve need to double every other roll and whomever loses zhe resulting game of ‘Bim Bum’ vill have to go to zhe Purple Jail.”

The rules and mechanics are like an unholy amalgamation of Monpoly, Sorry, chess, D&D, Bluff, and poker.

However, when Medic isn’t stapling pages of rules together, he likes to play a nice, relaxing game of checkers with Heavy.

Both of them are excellent checker players, but neither of them care who wins.

In fact, they usually talk over the game, taking the other player’s pieces as one of them shares a story from that day’s battle.

They’ve even played while Heavy was in surgery - leading to many unfortunate times when Medic had to fish a piece out of Heavy’s intestines.

One would think that a genius doctor would also have a passion for chess, but he expresses his disdain for it almost every time the checker board is brought out.

“Ach, people think chess is such an intelligent sport. Let me tell you, liebling, it is terribly overrated. If zhe devil can play chess, anyvun can. He might as vell just give souls avay, vis those shaky claws of his.”

Engineer:

Being the engineer, he is usually the one to add to the Eternal Monopoly.

Pieces, board extensions, cards, trivia - it gives him a nice break from all the weaponry.

He’s usually the one who remembers all the mechanics and rules, and serves as the judge if rules contradict each other.

“Alright, now let’s see here…we’ve got the Infinity Loop over here, but now you’ve got the Time Travel card…how many years? Infinite? Ho boy…looks like I’m gonna have to add a Hilbert’s Hotel square somewhere. Hold on…”

Despite his affinity for Eternal Monopoly, Engineer will play almost any board game. He learns new rules and figures quickly, and enjoys the challenges that brings.

However, if he’s particularly burnt out, he likes to take a break by playing Jenga. He and Spy have a friendly rivalry, since Engie can tell which blocks are supporting and Spy has quick fingers.

Spy, oddly, is a lot more amiable losing in Jenga - he knows Engie won’t think less of him - but Engineer hates when the bricks fall over. Not because it means he lost, but because, to him, it’s a failure on his part…even if it was someone else that knocked it over.

He’s made several blueprints for the perfect Jenga game, but has concluded that no human hand could put it into practice.

During one particularly bad day, Engie bumped the table, causing the whole column to come crashing down. Spy had already recovered from the noise, but Engie was still standing there, stone-faced.

His eyes were covered by his goggles, but it was clear he was crying.

Several of his machines had broken on the job, and to him, this was just another egregious mistake.

Spy carefully put the blocks back in the container, and Engie came to his senses.

“I’m real sorry, Spy. Maybe another time…?”

Spy only nodded. He was thinking.

The next time they played, Spy brought out a different container.

Instead of wood, the bricks seemed to be made of a sturdy foam.

“They fall a bit more…quietly,” Spy explained. He dropped one, and it only made a small bouncing sound. “Pyro uses these, but they allowed me to borrow it.”

Engie was a bit skeptical at first, since it was a new material, but he got the hang of it rather quickly. He was almost ecstatic the first time it fell - the blocks barely made any sound at all!

After a few games, Spy had to leave for an assignment. Engie put a hand on their arm.

“Thank ya, Spy. Maybe you ain’t the cold-blooded backstabber I thought you were.”

Spy chuckled, but said little else. He didn’t want to admit that noise sensitivity plagued him as well.

Pyro:

Pyro loves board games, and has quite the collection in their room.

Each plastic piece is at least a little melted, and all the boxes have two or three scorch marks.

Hungry Hungry Hippos, Candyland, and Uno are among her favorites.

He is an absolute beast at Uno, though.

They take each game very seriously, especially when they can convince the whole team to play.

As you can imagine, it’s pure chaos - it even led to a rule in the Merc Guidebook: “When playing Uno with three or more players with the inclusion of a Pyro, at least one Mann Co. representative and/or a mediating Medic must be present.”

Pyro has been known the hide cards, bribe players, or even try to set flame to competition. Playing Uno is almost like a mission, with weapon preparation and Spy posing as other players.

The mercs even have a betting stand that Sniper runs. All parties have lost a lot of money that way.

It’s pretty much the only time outside of battle that the team remembers how cruel and malicious Pyro can be.

Sniper:

Conventional board games aren’t exactly his forté, but he does enjoy a bit of cards every once in a while - Solitaire being his favorite.

He even has a pack of cards in his Sniper Square for that exact purpose. It allows him the pass the time without having to look away from his targets too often.

On occasion, he could be pressed to play poker, but only if the stakes weren’t monetary (i.e candy pieces, crackers, duties, etc.).

His favorite part of every match is shuffling the cards. Pretty much every merc could shuffle cards, but Sniper could make them almost float with how quick his fingers and wrists moved. He always began the game with a new trick he learned, which delighted his fellow players (usually Spy, Engineer, Medic, and Demo).

You could always tell if he had a busy day because he would avoid tricks with too much movement, which would be murder on his sore fingers and hands.

Pyro is currently learning card tricks from Sniper, and show off what they learn at the beginning of every Uno game.

Heavy:

He isn’t a huge fan of the bright, plastic-y board games that Pyro has, although he will play them if asked.

It’s mostly because of how complicated the rules are and the fact there are almost never a Russian translation for the directions.

He always prefers checkers, cards, or mancala, which he almost exclusively plays with Medic because he’s the only one who speaks fluent Russian.

Heavy can play a mean game of mancala, though, and it’s the only game he can beat Medic at.

Soldier:

The only games he will play are Battleship and Uno - but only after Miss Pauling convinced him it was “American enough” because the game had red, white, and blue cards.

He prefers the electronic Battleship because of the sound effects and voices. However, if it’s out of batteries, he’ll make his own sound effects.

Miss Pauling is the best at pretending to be a commander, so she’s usually the one playing with him - but, sometimes, Demo gets in on the action, too.

[dukethomas]

Summary: Duke’s parents recover and come home. Written for Duke Week 2021 Day Six: Family Bonding.

I was going to write something angstier for this prompt, but it actually turned into just the comfort part of hurt/comfort. Sometimes I need a good cry about something good happening to characters I love.

Also read it here on AO3!

-

His parents were back.

His parents were back, and Duke could cry and cry and cry forever. He sobbed into his mom’s shoulder for who knows how long when he saw them. His mom pat his back—he was taller than her now—and murmured to him, “It’s okay, baby bird. We’re here.”

The use of the nickname he hadn’t heard since he was in elementary school made him sob harder.

His mom and his dad were, were okay, their mouths weren’t contorted into unnatural grins and they didn’t carry that gleam of hatred and they said they were so sorry and they loved him so much and wow, hadn’t he grown up so much—he turned out to be the spitting image of his mother, didn’t he think?

Duke didn’t think he’d ever stop crying.

“I missed you,” he blubbered. “I missed you every day, I swear, I tried so hard to find a cure or something—”

His dad smiled at him, softly, tears in the corners of his eyes. “And you did. We’re right here, Duke. You brought us back.”

He had to call Jay to pick them up, because his parents no longer had licenses and Duke didn’t trust his hands to not shake in the full force of his joy.

-

In the days that followed, Duke didn’t go out as the Signal. How could he? This all felt like a fever dream; he’d been wanting this for so long. If he didn’t spend every waking moment with his parents, he feared they could revert back to what they were, and it would be a dream after all.

Jay took a few days off of work, and Duke called in sick for a few days at school. The Thomas family glowed with genuine grins, because they were whole. They spent the time catching his mom and dad up on what they missed, and having fun playing games or going out the rest of the time. To his dad’s chagrin, Duke had gotten much better at chess, but no one could beat his mom at Monopoly.

Then life came crashing down around them. Jay had to go to work, Duke had to go back to school, and his parents needed to begin a new chapter of their lives. Unbeknownst to Jay and his parents, Duke skipped his first day back at school to chase down a string of thefts he’d read about in the news.

He could never stay away from Signal for long. Gotham needed him, needed all the help it could get.

It wasn’t a difficult case, by any means. Mad Hatter was about as subtle as a barge. Still, Duke embraced the thrill of hunting them down, as the trail of clues led him right towards a newly opened costume store, Wonderland Haberdashery.

Again. Subtle as a barge.

“What are we waiting for?” a man dressed as a giant white rabbit complained.

The dormouse next to him shushed him loudly. She hissed, “The boss’ signal.”

Duke took that as his cue. He launched into action, running forward with a well-timed punch to the rabbit’s face. “You’ve got one right here.” (Those jokes never got old.)

He let himself loose, using all of his training as well as his own metahuman power to demolish his way through the storybook-themed goons. He couldn’t fight the grin on his face; he was having too much fun. His heart reached a thunderous frenzy in his ears and he loved every second of it. These guys couldn’t touch him.

When the time came to knock out Jervis Tetch himself, Duke obliged with glee. He’d just finished tying him to the wall when his phone buzzed with a notification.

It was three, school was over, and he should be heading home. His parents should be home.

His parents were home. It still felt surreal.

He ran into Jay’s apartment and kicked off his shoes faster than he ever had when doing a superheroic change of clothes.

“Hey Mom! Hey Dad! I’m home!” he called. When he heard no response, a chill went down his spine, and he rushed to the living room. There, his parents sat on the couch, fixated on the TV. The news channel was on, talking about an altercation at—oh.

It was talking about him.

“That’s you,” his mom said without turning back to look at him.

A wad of bile as large as a stone formed in his throat. He knew Bruce probably had contingencies for if anyone guessed his identity. Deny it, prove that he was in school, get a shapeshifter to pose as Signal in the same room as him. But he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Yeah.” He couldn’t, he wouldn’t lie to his parents. “Are you upset?”

He’d imagined this scenario many times. What would his parents say about his vigilantism? He was risking his life every time he was out there, and no parent would want that, but he was helping Gotham. He was helping Gotham’s people, just like they had taught him to do.

“Let me take a look at you,” his mom told him, beckoning him towards the couch. Duke listened, sitting in between his mom and dad. His mom cupped his face with her rough hands, and he leaned into the touch. “It’s dangerous,” she murmured; Duke squeezed his eyes shut.

A firm arm reached around his shoulders, holding him tight. His dad. “But you’re happy,” he said.

Duke nodded, his chin trembling.

They dwelled in a moment’s pause, until he was being hugged from both sides. Duke opened his eyes to see his parents with faint smiles. “We couldn’t be there for you,” said his mom, “but you found yourself.”

“I did,” Duke whispered, crying for the millionth time this week. “I did.”

“We’re so, so unbelievably proud of the person you’ve grown up to be, baby bird. We just wish… we just wish we could have been here to see it happen.”

-

His parents laid down some ground rules. No more skipping school unless he had all his assignments done and he had straight A’s. He had to be home for dinner, and after sundown he was off his shift. He could join night shift with the other Bats only twice a week in a limited capacity, and he had to go to sleep before midnight on school nights. And he would tell Jay his secret.

That had been the hardest one. Duke could barely get the words out, suddenly filled with shame for not telling Jay earlier.

But as it turned out, Jay already suspected it. “I’m no genius, but you’re disappearing constantly. I can never find you. Wayne takes you out of Gotham all the time. That’s not just an internship, Duke.” His jaw hardened. “But don’t think that I’m going to be the cool cousin now and let you break any of those new rules your parents set. Safety first.”

Duke rolled his eyes and hugged him. “Love you, man.”

“Love you too, rascal.”

He had to let Bruce know. He’d been keeping in touch with Bruce throughout all of this, but sparingly. He got the vibe that Bruce was keeping his distance out of respect for him and his parents.

Well, no more of that. Duke shot off a text to Bruce to let him know he was coming, then pocketed his phone. “Hey, Mom? Dad? You wanna ride with me on my motorcycle to Wayne Manor?”

He wouldn’t have actually done it (it was too big of an identity risk), but it was worth it to see his parents’ briefly stunned looks before his dad started chasing him with a noogie at the ready.

Jay drove them all to Wayne Manor. His mom and dad walked out of the car tentatively, scrutinizing their surroundings. Duke fidgeted with his shirt, wondering what they thought. For all intents and purposes, this was his home, if only for a little over a year.

Duke rang the doorbell, ready to greet Alfred, but it was Bruce who opened the door for once. The way he held himself struck Duke. It wasn’t extravagant and flighty like Brucie, nor grim and tense like Batman. Duke’s family were some of the very few to see Bruce Wayne as he really was, without a persona.

“You took Duke in while we were… unavailable,” his mom said before Bruce could say hello.

“Yes,” replied Bruce calmly, wearing something on his face Duke didn’t often see. Vulnerability. Anxiety .

His dad held out his hand. “Doug Thomas. Thank you. Thank you for taking care of our boy.”

“It was a pleasure.” Bruce shook Duke’s dad’s hand. “Duke was a delight to mentor and guide. I’m glad he has you both back.”

Duke grinned. “He says I’m a delight but he didn’t think so every time I snuck out of the Manor to track down a lead.”

“You were supposed to be on bed rest.”

“And I rested, in a bed, after I solved the case! I do it every night when I sleep—that’s working overtime on bed rest, Bruce.”

“And you won’t be pulling any of that with us, young man,” his mom told him in a stern tone.

Duke quickly made his eyes as wide, pleading, and innocent as possible. He would never, he was about to say, when Bruce told them to come in.

“A better man than I expected him to be,” his dad said once Bruce had moved far enough he wouldn't hear. His mom hummed in agreement. “And Duke, you felt safe with him?”

Duke snorted. “Define safe.”

“Smartass,” Jay muttered, behind the three of them. He’d been through the tour already. He had a begrudging respect for Bruce, but he wasn’t impressed.

“And who taught me to do that, ever since I was a little kid?”

Duke yelped as he dodged a smack from Jay. “I’m fragile, don’t hurt me!”

“You’re not fragile,” said the amused voice coming from down the hall. Cass, here because Duke asked her to be. Because he wanted his family to meet his family.

“Oh! Mom, Dad, Jay, this is Cass.” He dragged them over to meet her. “She’s like… she’s my sister.”

Cass nodded, observing Duke’s family. “Good to meet you.”

At his parents’ confused glance, he told them, “When you were gone, I made new friends, but I also found new family. Cass isn’t your daughter or Jay’s cousin, but she’s my sister.” In his chest, he felt a weight alleviate, one he hadn’t even been aware of. “Wait until you meet Damian. Remember how I always wanted a baby brother when I was a kid, but you guys kept telling me that I was enough of a handful?”

As he kept introducing his parents to the family he made, he felt a warmth grow within him, tickling his ribs, infecting his lungs. It was like he couldn’t do anything but beam from ear to ear, now that he had almost everyone important in his life gathered together. (He would introduce them to Izzy, Riko, and the rest of the Robins soon.)

His family had been shattered, but Duke had picked up the pieces and created something new. And it could never be the way it was, but that was okay. Duke was happy with his family the way it was now.

His parents were home; all his family was home. Duke couldn’t be happier.

[smallblip]

Okay, but (sorry for my english) I just really love modern hc where they perform as the band No Name during their school festival (their identities are already known and that people know they belong to one of the most famous group in the school /with nanaba and erwin/).

Levi’s the face of the group and almost half of the fans have him as their bias but they really thinks he’s asexual or bi or even gay since they never knew anyone who had been his girlfriend and he doesn’t seem to be that person to be involved in any romance.

But then he surprises everyone when during their performance, he just grabs hange’s ponytail and kissed her deeply.

And people were just like—oh, shit, wait, what.... levi just—kissed his friend....his....friend.....Hange....the Hange

Then the crowd went wilder and even Levi’s fans just gasped with excitement because—damn that’s hot!

Even Hange herself were surprised but she couldn’t do anything since levi’s grip was too strong, lost in his own world as he ravishes her with kisses as if he doesn’t give a shit about everyone watching them

she doesn’t even know how long it lasted.

Then there’s Erwin in the crowd, capturing every moment with a camera because he’s the only one who wasn’t surprised about this

Stop the presses!

“Breaking news! Levi Ackerman frontman of No Name is having an illicit love affair!”

“It’s not breaking news if everyone already knows...” Porco rolls his eyes. Connie groans. Great. Now Porco is in his shot. The school’s journalism club is essentially him and Sasha with her phone’s camera. They do not have the skill nor the budget to edit him out.

“Who’s he dating then?” Sasha shoots back.

“Heard it’s a girl from another school.” Porco shrugs.

“Heard he’s gay...” Reiner offers.

“You just want him to be gay...” There’s sniggering and Reiner wants to punch Porco, but he’s a man of discipline, so no violence before breakfast.

“It’s just a rumour! He isn’t dating anyone! Levi’s too cool to date.” Eren says, gagging at the mention of the word. A literal child.

“Who would wanna date him?” Mikasa scoffs.

“Everyone in the school apart from you, Mikasa...” Petra says, “he’s dreamy...”

Connie urges the discussion on, Sasha capturing all of this. This is the best content they’ve gotten all week. “Come on! There are no bad answers!”

“Maybe he’s dating a fan?” Bertholdt says.

“Maybe he’s dating Hanji... They do seem rather close?” Pieck says, and the silence and scowls are intended to shame her. Connie looks at the aluminium foil on Pieck’s head. Right. The Signs movie screening organised by the conspiracy society is today.

“No bad answers except that one...” Connie says.

—

“You’re the talk of the town again...” Mike says, “they were discussing you on the school’s YouTube channel.”

Levi tsks. He doesn’t know why Mike bothers with that crap. It’s a pretty high quality production... he had justified, but there’s nothing high quality about Sasha’s shaky hands and Connie’s head covering half the frame. Everyone knows Mike enjoys the gossip, and there’s no one that enjoys it more. Except maybe Erwin.

“Do tell! Who is the enigmatic Levi Ackerman dating?” Erwin teases. He knows he’s not getting anything out of tight-lipped Levi. But it’s still worth a shot. Also worth seeing how annoyed he can get. Plus it’s not like they don’t already know.

If the canteen hadn’t been so goddamn full, Levi would’ve relocated long ago. Then again, his lunch groups hasn’t changed since his first day at school. The routine works.

“I’m sure you boys would be the first to know...” Nanaba chuckles. She had been the first to know and frankly. Levi’s inability to confess has been getting stifling. The only thing that really breaks the conversation though? Hanji tripping and landing face first on the table, lucky for her Levi moves her tray out of the way, saving her lunch, “watch it four eyes!”

“What did I miss?” Hanji asks, eyes already gleaming at the possibility of new knowledge.

“We were just talking about Levi’s illicit love affair.” Mike says. This is getting interesting.

“Awww Levi! You didn’t tell your ol’ pal Hanji that you were seeing someone?”

The rest of them exchange looks. God she’s so goddamn oblivious.

“Eat. We’ve got band practice before class.” Levi says, fingers already working to peel Hanji’s orange for her.

Nanaba winces. So goddamn oblivious.

—

“So we enter school today and Sasha what do we see?”

“Merch!” Sasha pops in front of the screen and does jazz hands with Connie.

“In the lead up to the big No Name concert, everyone’s donning their best No Name merch! First, let’s speak to the best in the game, Armin Arlert.”

Armin fidgets awkwardly, “ahaha I’m just a fan who just happens to make high quality merch.” Modest for someone earning big bucks from his enterprise.

“Ah... And you have competition this year!” Connie says into the microphone, which is really just rolled up newspaper.

“Well... The quality of my work speaks for itself...” Armin smiles sheepishly at the camera, but there’s something insidious in his eyes. Armin has to admit having sole monopoly over No Name merchandising in school has gone a little stale. Surely a little competition will spice things up.

“So Zeke, care to tell us more about your entry into the merchandise game?” Connie asks the bearded boy. Who has a full grown beard at their age? Connie makes a mental note to insert “sells bootleg merch” in the little panel that runs below Zeke’s interview. The whole school is also pretty sure Zeke had been behind the whole oregano debacle last year- someone had been passing oregano off as weed and selling it to the younglings.

“What’s there to say? Mine’s cheaper.” Zeke winks.

“So, satisfied customer. Why did you choose to buy Armin’s merch over Zeke’s?” Connie asks.

Pieck glances down at her Hanji shirt, “Armin got Hanji’s nose right.” She smiles.

In the background Armin and Eren are yelling at one another.

“How could you Eren! I thought we were best friends!” Armin says. Maybe the competition spiced things up a little too much.

“It was cheaper Armin! So much cheaper!”

Eren is wearing the ugliest shirt in school so, is it really worth it though?

—

“We are absolutely not blowing our budget on a confetti canon!”

“But Levi!” Hanji whines, “you already rejected so many of my ideas...”

“May I remind you that your previous ideas include a guillotine on stage, you repelling from the ceiling-“

“A tiger...” Mike adds and Hanji shoots him a look, traitor...

“It was two tigers...” she mutters under her breath. “Aww Levi you never let me do anything fun!” She pouts and Mike watches as Levi’s resolve slips an inch. There’s nothing more disgusting than the weakness of a man in love. Mike rolls his eyes. He had told Erwin if he wanted in on the action, he should join their band. There’s just so much to see that Mike has honestly had his fill. Or maybe he’s just saying it. Damn Nanaba was right, he enjoys this more than he’d care to admit.

“If you shut up through the next five songs, I’ll buy you dinner.”

“What about me?” Mike huffs.

“Deal!” Hanji shouts triumphantly, “and if you let me sing the chorus with you on this next song at the concert I’ll buy you dessert!”

“Almost as if I’m invisible...” Mike mutters.

“Fine... Deal... If you can hit the notes that is...”

“Ohhhh snap!” Mike says, and Levi turns to him for a high five. Mike smashes a beat on his drums. Hanji deadpans.

Ba dum fuckin tiss indeed.

—

“So it’s two days before the festival and the big No Name concert. Today, we’ve got a special treat for you. Roving reporter Jean Kirschtein will find out more about Levi’s love affair, straight from the horse’s mouth!”

Jean shoots Connie a dirty look. But the pun had not been intended. Connie mouths a quick apology before continuing, “but first, a word with the people closest to him-“ Connie nudges Jean towards the general direction of Erwin, Nanaba and Mike. Remember you owe me Jean! Connie whispers harshly when he senses his friend’s hesitation, now go!

Jean groans once more. God his reputation was going to take a hit. He’s vice captain of the soccer team for God’s sake. He doesn’t need this.

“Erwin Smith! A word? Uh... Thoughts on the rumours surrounding Levi Ackerman’s love life?” Jean asks. “Erwin Smith, football captain, history club president, student council treasurer, overall overachiever, and Levi Ackerman’s friend” appears on the screen. They all know if anyone’s likely to spill, it’s going to be Erwin.

Erwin’s eyes light up, he’s finally going on the channel he watches religiously with Mike. There’s so much he can contribute, so much gossip to share, so much insight. Maybe they would even invite him as a panelist on their show. The sheer power! He looks at Nanaba and she frowns at him and shakes her head. Ah damn it! He knows she’ll tear into him if he divulges too much.

“That’s strictly on a need to know basis.” Erwin grins.

“Well... Can you give us anything at all?” Jean asks. Please for the love of god he needs to pay Connie back somehow for setting him up on that date with Mikasa. God is generous but he can easily take it all away.

“We have good, solid guesses, but other than that... No... We can’t confirm anything...” Erwin answers, but not before glancing at Nanaba. She’s nodding. Good, that’s a good answer. Ambiguous enough to keep people wanting. Erwin is relieved. Jean isn’t however, he’s now certain that his debt is going to be rolled along a tab he will soon never be able to pay.

“Oh and the history society’s having quiz night next week, be there or be square!” Erwin plugs.

“Nerd!” Nile yells from across the hallway and Mike chortles.

It doesn’t take Jean long to find Hanji, after all she’s president of the biology club, so why wouldn’t she be in a lab elbow deep in a vat of something Jean doesn’t want to know the name of. It’s her kingdom with a whopping total of four subjects.

“Hanji Zoë, I’m here to ask for the latest on Levi Ackerman’s love life-“

Hanji Zoë- the school’s resident oddball, the genius herself, in the flesh, eating a checkerboard cookie. She looks up at him and there are crumbs on her face.

“Oh! Hi Jean!” Hanji looks up momentarily, “that’s easy, Levi’s in love with me.” She winks at Jean and chuckles. Jean’s jaw drops, surely she’s kidding. Hanji’s known for that after all- her quick wit and dismal personal hygiene. He chuckles awkwardly. “Yeah... Okay...”

“See you at the concert?” She beams at him and he replies enthusiastically. Is she kidding? Everyone’s gonna be there. But Jean remains strategic, he leaves right before she gets the chance to talk his ear off about joining her club again. “Shoot... There goes another one...” she says under her breath as he exits the lab.

Jean bumps into Levi when he’s leaving the lab, odd, what’s Levi doing here, no matter, Jean has a job to do.

“Levi Ackerman! Care to comment on the recent rumours surrounding your-“

“No.” Levi interjects and heads off.

Jean flips the camera so he’s in it, “well, that’s the scoop. Back to you Connie and Sasha.”

—

“It’s the day of the festival! But really the whole school is buzzing with anticipation for the No Name concert!” Connie announces into his makeshift mic.

“Will there be another accident on-stage this time? Will Levi Ackerman reveal more on his secret romance? Is there even a secret romance to begin with? More importantly, will Porco Galliard finally pay for his own food at the festival?”

“Hey!” Porco whips his head around to glare at Connie, “did Reiner get you to say that?”

Connie shrugs, “we’ll find out after these messages...”

The concert is a blast, from a spectacular entrance (choreographed, no doubt, by one Hanji Zoë), to Mike’s drum solo, to Levi’s vocal riffs. But there’s an anticipation of another sort- will Levi Ackerman finally address the rumours of his love affair?

“My Levi-Hanji senses are tingling Nanaba...” Erwin says mid-concert. As the self-proclaimed expert on school gossip, there’s no gossip sweeter than that which surrounds his two best friends. Nanaba thinks it’s an overstatement of his abilities.

But Nanaba feels it too- the electricity in the air, “i think it’s finally happening!” She says, nothing short of a vision.

Levi announces the last song for the night, and he makes his way over to Hanji during the last chorus.

HUH?

Sasha’s cameras are rolling. She holds her breath, for what she doesn’t know, but she feels it coming, call it director’s intuition if you will.

Hanji looks at Levi and beams past the bandages over their eyes, now upgraded to a material they can actually see through, ever since that one accident with Hanji trying to execute a stage dive completely blind. It’s not fun explaining to the ER nurse how you managed to fracture your arm in so many locations.

Hanji’s expression changes to one of confusion when Levi closes the distance between them. This isn’t part of any plan. Her lips part in a gasp. The crowd falls silence, breath collectively held in anticipation. It’s happening. The most significant and exciting moment of their young lives.

What in the name of Maria, Rose, and Sheena!

Levi grabs Hanji by her ponytail and crashes his lips into hers. She forgets how to function, her guitar now hanging limp and forgotten. But her arms find their way around Levi’s neck. It’s just Mike on the drums now, roaring with laughter.

“Hell yes!” Mike exclaims and it’s captured by one of the mics, joined by Nanaba and Erwin at exactly the same time. There’s a flash from Erwin’s phone, there, immortalised in a photo forever. He knows it’ll come in handy one day. For blackmail or for a future wedding montage. Either is fine.

What just happened?

Connie’s jaw is hanging.

“Levi Ackerman and... and... Hanji Zoë?” Connie says, more for his own benefit than for his audience. Because this is Hanji they’re talking about? The Hanji Zoë? Resident evil genius, overall weirdo, oddly magnetic and popular amongst both the boys and the girls, Levi’s childhood friend Hanji Zoë? The answer had been staring them right in the face! Levi at the biology labs, Levi glowering at her, the bickering, the chemistry on and off stage.

Connie whips his head over to Pieck, and she winks at him, told you so!

“I don’t believe it! Stop the presses! Levi Ackerman, frontman of No Name, in love with the brilliant, the magnetic, the one and only... Hanji Zoë!”

Hanji is kissing Levi back with fervour, until they’re both blushing and giddy, the music long forgotten, and when everyone is done gawking, the crowd erupts in violent cheering. Who would’ve thought emotionally constipated Levi, Levi whose private life has been kept a secret for so long, safe from the prying hands of the school press and his loyal fans, would choose to make an announcement like this. What a night! What a spectacle!

“I guess that’s all for tonight folks, and what a fantastic and surprising evening it has been!” Connie laughs, “I’m Connie Springer, and you heard it here first!”

The confetti canon goes off. And Hanji watches with uninhibited joy as confetti rains down on the stage.

“So... Tigers next time?” Hanji says, unwrapping the bandages from her face, her eyes glazed over and more beautiful than anything Levi has ever seen. He scoffs, pressing another kiss to her lips for posterity.

“Don’t push it...”

(A/N: prompt so good I had to write a mini fic! Thank you anon💖💖💖)

[missblissy]

Heyo! Do you think you could write something for demon al finding out his demon s/o also likes to sing? I love singing and it think it would be really cute to do it with Alastor 🤲🏻

((I would love to nonny! Im sorry for the wait :') I hope you like it! I turned it more into a song fic? Like.... A... double song fic xD??? Anyways I hope you enjoy!! Here and Here are the songs used in this fic!!))

He took a deep breath in and held on to it for as long as he could. The one and only joy he really had within the walls of this hotel was this. If it wasn't for these weekend shows, he might have just killed everyone by now out of sheer boredom. Every weekend, the Hazbin Hotel opened its doors to the general public. The lounge was opened up, tables were set, seats were filled. Dinner and a show were to be served to all who came in those doors. Though not free of charge, much to Charlie's protests. But the hotel had to make money somehow, so Alastor was put in charge of that.

The curtains pulled and opened before him and a spotlight flashed upon him. Alastor smiled wide, "Hello~!" He said in a cheerful tone. He was already scanning the crowd of people, looking for you, "How is everyone doing tonight? Horrible I hope!" The audience let out a little laugh at that. Alastor kept looking around, but the seat you normally sat in had someone else in it. No noticed, but there was a twitch of anger in his smile for a second, "Well! Let's get this show started!" He snapped his fingers and the spotlight turned off. Music started to play and soon enough Alastor transformed himself into a more casual outfit. As the music picked up, his spotlight turned back on and Alastor was half tempted to not sing this song especially if you weren't even here. Well, he did only meet you a few weeks ago, and you only did just started some... flirtationship if you would even call it that.

Oh well. Here goes nothing. Some much for trying to impress you with this, "I heard the time just slips from your sugarplum lips. So I go there just to watch it fall and then my jaw just drops when your cherry lollypops! I get nervous when you bounce my ball~" He gave a charming smile to no one in general, unfortunately. Come on, were you late? No... You knew when the hotel opened....

"I get the strangest sense we were lovers, past tense. Like a dog in heat, I just can't be indiscreet and when I see you there I whisper my prayer so sweet~ I'm getting shaky on my feet, I'm incomplete~" Alastor's mind raced while he sang on autopilot. Maybe he just couldn't see you in dark? Maybe you were all the way in the back? "I'll be your one-man band, I'll be at your command! Just say the word and I'll be your renaissance man, I swear! I'll go where you don't dare, I'll bury this affair deep down in Sugartown~"

Alastor paused with the music, letting the song play only enough for him to take a deep breath and wonder where the hell was his favorite little play thing, "I heard your glass hips swayed while the jitterbugs played. Every man was on his bended knee~ And all my hopes got smashed as my nerve just crashed! I was as heavy as a boy can be." He went on to sing the chorus again, while somehow giving up on looking for you in the crowd at the same time. It was almost too ironic that the next lines fit his feelings perfectly, "And if you just can't do me right, then, honey, please do me wrong! I'll be your one-man band, I'll be at your command! Just say the word and I'll be your renaissance man, I swear I'll go where you don't dare, I'll bury this affair deep down in Sugartown!"

He sang on, with a slight hollowness to his voice that no one picked up on. He didn't move as quickly or flash as big of a smile. Alastor finished his little musical number and left the stage with a round of applause, and quickly someone else took the stage. All kinds of people showed up to sing, to even do comedy (Which Alastor did as well, he just didn't feel like it today. Maybe he should have seeing as you weren't even here.)

There was a special place where Alastor got to sit. In the very front, in a booth with Charlie, Vaggie, and Husk. Nifty was never around for these kinds of things, and Angel often made some kind of sexual escapade out of a song later into the night. When Alastor finally sat down with the rest of the group, he found it very odd that Charlie was bouncing with joy.

"Hi, Al!" She said a little too loud. She got "shh"ed by a few people close by, "Sorry-" She whispered out, "Hi!" She said again to Alastor with a little wave of her hand.

His ever-present smile grew only slightly, "Hello, Charlie. Excited for tonight, are we?"

"Yeah!" She blurted out again, with another round of people hushing her up. So this time she whisper-yelled, "You're in for a great show tonight, Al!"

Alastor flickered his gaze to the stage, the same person was still there trying to make music out of whatever horrible sounds they were making. He looked back to Charlie and raised a brow, "I am?" He asked, "What makes you say tha-"

"Shh! Shh!" Charlie held a finger to her mouth and waved her other hand in the air, "It's starting!" Alastor looked to the stage again, now empty with no lights shining on it.

Music started to play once again, but the lights remained low. He could barely make out someone walking in the darkness of the stage, then suddenly, the lights flashed on and it was you, "You call me on the telephone, you feel so far away. You tell me to come over, there's some games you want to play," You stared him down, eyes lock on no one else but Alastor. Finally, the table have turned, and little did Alastor know that he was going to be the one seduced with a song tonight, "I'm walking to your house, nobody's home. Just me and you and you and me alone~"

You quickly take step after step down the front of the stage, matching your movements to the tempo of the song. It was only a few steps before you stood right in front of the table Alastor, and everyone sat at. But somehow you made him feel like he was the only one in the room, "We're just playing hide and seek, it's getting hard to breathe under the sheets with you~ I don't want to play no games, I'm tired of always chasing- chasing after you~" It was like you a spell on him. Your words were sultry and loose enough for him to read between your lyrics. You even gave him that sneaky little smirk before going on to sing, "I don't give a fuck about you anyways! Whoever said I gave a shit 'bout you? You never share your toys or communicate, I guess I'm just a play date to you~"

You spun on your heel quickly giving a wave of your hand. You were playing hard to get and you knew Alastor couldn't resist. As you made your way back up the long stage, Alastor couldn't even stop himself before he realized he was following you up there. At that moment, he knew everyone was watching him... and you. How entertaining.

Just as he got close enough, you turned quickly to face him and quickly point a finger at him, then press it into his chest to push him away, "Wake up in your bedroom and there's nothing left to say. When I try to talk you're always playing board games," You then quickly moved your hand and grabbed him by his chin. You gave a dirty little smirk and made sure to give him look he couldn't resist, "I wish I had monopoly over your mind, I wish I didn't care all the time. We're just playing hide and seek~ It's getting hard to breathe under the sheets with you! I don't want to play no games, I'm tired of always chasing, chasing after you~"

You walked circles around him, Alastor's eyes hard on you and watching every move. His smile was weak, shaken, and there was a hunger in his eyes you'd never seen but always wanted to, "Ring around the rosy, I never know- I never know what you need~ Ring around the rosy, I want to give you- want to give you what you need~ I don't give a fuck about you anyways. Whoever said I gave a shit 'bout you? You never share your toys or communicate, I guess I'm just a play date to you."

Alastor made an attempt to reach out and grab you, but he was slowly and only half attempted. You spun by him quickly, missing him, and making sure to give him a wink as you avoided him. But you stopped just shy of him, standing dead center. You smiled, then tilted your head slightly and held your hand out for him to take, "You know I give a fuck about you everyday, guess it's time that I tell you the truth. If I share my toys, will you let me stay? Don't want to leave this play date with you~"

There was a loud round of applause, cheering, and whistling. To say he was stunned, walking around like a drooling dog, that would be an understatement. You smiled wide, giggling to yourself as Alastor started to remember where he was. He didn't like all these eyes on him, and especially on you. He looked over his shoulder and saw Charlie and Vaggie laughing, in a good way, at least. They seemed to be enjoying watching Alastor fawn over someone.

That drew the line in the sand for him. He quickly grabbed onto your wrist and with his free hand, he snapped his finger. In a little cloud of smoke and dust, the two of you were gone from the hotel's auditorium. You watched as Alastor poofed the two of you away, and manifested out in the hotel hallways. His grip on you was tight as you giggled at his flustered face.

Your little giggles grew as you asked, "So? Did you lik- Mwh!" Alastor cut you off by slamming his lips into yours. He held onto you, hands gripping your arms as he dragged you in closer to him. You were caught off guard as he pushed you backward until your back was pressed against a wall. He deepened the kiss, hungry for more and more of you. You moaned, falling into his embrace and giving in to his demands.

Alastor pulled only inches away but made sure to press you into the wall, hard, trapping you against him, "I loved it." His words were deep and husky, filled with a desire you've never seen him have before. The low growl in his voice sent chills down your spine and caused your skin to heat up, "But don't ever do that kind of shit with me ever. Again. Understood?"

You stared back at him with wide eyes and lips pressed together. You nodded quickly and watched as his sinister smiles curled onto his lips, "Good," He gave you a small kiss, then teased you by licking your lips. He knee was quickly between your legs as he rested an arm on the wall behind you. He went to the crook of your neck, whispering in your ear, "Now, where were we~?"

[animeyanderelover]

Hello there! Hope you're doing well on your holiday! This is my first time requesting oof. Could I request how Sebastian, Ash, Prince Soma and Hannah react to their darling outright asking them why they are genuinely interested in them. Darling is confused and believes they're not that interesting to even bring the attention of people like them. They're pretty closed off from others and was at first weary of the intentions they had and just finally just asked to get a firm answer. Thank you! Love your writing!

I enjoyed my holidays whilst they lasted, sadly they’re over now and I have to wait about 3 months until summer break😣.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, paranoia, delusions, kidnapping, manipulation, sabotage, isolation, emotional guilt-tripping, self-harm

Why do you like me?

Sebastian Michaelis

🐈‍⬛He pretty much openly courts you by now, after his time observing you for a bit, finding out what his darling likes and what’s not, how he can get closer to his darling without any problems. Sebastian has every intention to pamper you if you don’t throw a tantrum in which case he has to be more strict on you. And the fact that you are closed off from others is such a delightful thing to witness. It makes the whole situation a lot more easier, he doesn’t have to worry too much about you being interested in someone else or dedicating your time to someone else. I personally believe every demon in Black Butler is isolating due to their posssessiveness.

🐈‍⬛He was prepared for this question of yours, he sensed your suspicions since quite some time and why wouldn’t you? Sebastian is a mysterious man for everyone. On the one hand he is charming and handsome and can do anything, on the other hand there is this mischievous and evil vibe around him that tells you to stay away. It is also a bit unnerving how he seems to know everything about you, from your favorite flowers down to your favorite color.

🐈‍⬛Sebastian is known for keeping his calm and his charm and since he expected you to ask him this sooner or later, he already had much time to prepare an answer, even though he would have been great in answering you that question even if he wouldn’t have known about this. He would give you a charming smile and be very smug about this question of yours, somewhat teasing you by asking if it shouldn’t be obvious by now. He’s trying to court you, kitten. He would find enjoyment if you would look baffled whilst also being fluttered by this answer of his, which might just earn you more playful teasing mixed with fluttering comments why he likes you.

Hannah Annafellows

🟣Similar to Sebastian, she would start expressing her interest openly to you after a while, even though she would even before that try to be a close friends with you. From all the demons in this Anime, I would say Hannah is one of the worse types to have, it’s either her or the triplets Timber, Thompson and Canterbury. She uses isolation and letting people disappear from your life as a way to draw you closer to her and trust her more. So whilst she will be definitely pleasant upon discovering that her darling is a loner, she will also have to think of another ways to make them trust her more since making important people for them disappear isn’t too possible except family which Hannah doesn’t want to kill as long as they don’t do something to annoy her. She has after all only a true place for her darling in her heart.

🟣She just senses how much you are weary of her, especially in the beginning. You have surely your reasons, after all she is from the Trancy manor and there are certain rumors about this place. Next to that she is a demon and whilst being talented in anything can amaze people, it can also scare them. And here as well the fact that she knows so much, too much about you is unnerving as well. Trying to distance yourself wouldn’t really work though, it’s as good as impossible to escape a demon and given your mistrust, Hannah will also start intensifying her strategies to make you cling onto her more.

🟣Different from Sebastian she relies a lot on guilt-tripping to persuade her darling into many things. So there is a chance she will pretend to be a bit hurt by this question, asking how you couldn’t notice. She uses this question as a chance for being so distrusting of her. She will act all saddened and upset, maybe even she’s the one or another tear. This will make you feel most likely bad for her. Secondary to that she will also tell you in a mellow and sincere voice what she likes about you, using it as a way that will hopefully make you fall for her.

Prince Soma

🍛Try to explain to him that you don’t feel the way he does and you’ll quickly discover that his lovesick brain will twist everything you say into what he wants to hear. Soma is together with Finny heavily delusional to the point where about nothing can convince him that you don’t feel the same. For that it is not even courting what he does, it is already acting like you and him are already a couple and will marry later on (which will happen in his mind anyways). Whilst Soma is someone who gets easily jealous, he also doesn’t want you to be alone. He means, you aren’t. You have him. But at the very least Ciel and Agni will become people you will often interact with.

🍛Privacy is gone the moment he fell for you and his interest is painfully visible for everyone. He starts spoiling you, giving you a lot of affection and is everywhere you are all over you. It’s highly uncomfortable given the fact that you don’t even like him and it’s only thanks to Agni that he doesn’t completely monopolies your time and makes you move in with him. But Agni is also loyal to his prince and for that will at least try to talk you into giving Soma a chance. That boy is too oblivious to realize that you are hesitant around him, he’ll just brush it off as shyness.

🍛He is confused, to say the very least. He thought you were just as much in love with him as he is with you. Why would you even ask him this? And try to guess what he will interpret it as, with that sense mind of his. Your prince will start thinking that he didn’t show you enough affection, that he didn’t make his love clear enough yet. It causes him to give you a more childish reaction, suddenly suffocating you in a really tight hug and whining. He’s upset with himself, thinking it’s his fault for making you think that way. Oh well, then he’ll have to show you even more.

Ash Landers

▫️I’m so sorry to say this, but Ash needs not a lot of time to kidnap you, the longest would be a week in which he would act at first more as a secret guardian for you. I mentioned it a lot of times before, but Ash is a lot more hesitant with giving you affection, even though he would honestly die to be able to. You’re perfection in his eyes and he does not think that he deserves you or to be honored enough to touch you. You’re gonna be isolated anyways the moment he takes you, but he would definitely kidnap you even faster when noticing how you seem to avoid people. You’re literally begging him to take you away from the filth. And who is he to neglect you that wish? He will take you and afterwards treat you like a royalty.

▫️Keep with this man always one thing in mind, he wavers very easily, too easily when it comes to you. It’s understandable that you would throw tantrums, but for the love of god, please calm down. He would never show you, but behind the scenes, Ash punishes himself heavily whenever you seem upset with him. He has an obsessive fixation on keeping you happy and safe and by acting that way, showing him how unhappy you are plus the incredibly distant acting due to not trusting him (who wouldn’t when being kidnapped?), you’ll throw him into a whirlwind of dreadful fear and shame and a good piece of paranoia.

▫️He will react emotionally and affected. Ash’s goal is it to show you how special and pure you are, to make it clear to you that you deserve more than the best. He feels like he did pretty much everything wrong if you ask him still what he sees in you, though I’m sure he held already very long speeches about why he had to take you. But it’s still understandable why you would ask. You probably thought that there were far more pure people than you in this town. It’s not the worst reaction you got to see from him though, there were far more unnerving ones. He will very likely burst out in tears since someone like you shouldn’t ask this. Will beg for forgiveness to not be more clear about it and afterwards he will start rambling in a maniac way about why you’re perfect.