#imma post the slide after I focus it

[baekhyuns-purple-buttplug]

Focusing the acute appendicitis slide I prepared in histopathology lab while watching episode 9 of Jack and Joker. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME THAT ITS GOOD OR IM FR COOKED!!!!! BUT DAMN I JUS CANT GET THAT KISS OUT OF MY MIND

[skyenemer]

Barbie: Big City Big Dreams is a lesbian romance set in New York and here’s why

So! The new Barbie movie came out a couple days ago and i did not anticipate that i’d want to write a whole essay enthusing about how in love the main characters are. Especially not after last year’s movie (Princess Adventure). But the protagonists said gay rights yet again, so Barbie fandom you can resurrect now-

This want to write about how much Barbie/Malibu, Barbie/Brooklyn nd Emily love each other is heavily inspired by this post on Diamond Castle — which is an amazing read!

Alright so, why write about Big City Big Dreams of all Barbie movies? Here’s a bit of background:

My sister nd i have made it our goal to watch every single piece of Barbie media that exists. A few days before it was released, we saw the trailer for Big City Big Dreams. At the time, we didn’t think much of it — thought they were gunna reuse the Princess and The Pauper plot yet again, plus we’re not big fans of the newer Barbie stuff (excluding Dolphin Magic, v fruity film 11/10). In summary, we weren’t all that excited — but we’d watch it anyway, ‘cause it’s Barbie.

Watched it and omllll was it funn; it’s essentially a lesbian romance story set in a performing arts summer camp in NYC, with surprisingly cool nd beautiful songs! For those reasons, imma rant to you about how gay it is.

(This post is super long and will focus more on Barbie/Malibu and Barbie/Brooklyn’s relationship since they have more screen time together, buuuut Emily has gotta be mentioned ‘cause the three of them together are adorableee).

———

Alright! So, the film begins with the Barbie we know, in a cab in New York, on her way to a performing arts school (Handler Arts Academy). According to what her friends say over the phone, Barbie worked really hard to get into the summer programme here. Her ardour could not be more evident as she fantasises fervently about what could come of this opportunity. (On a related note, we find out later that the programme’s best performing student gets to perform at Times Square).

When she gets there she somehow manages to lose her balance, causing her luggage to slide down the walkway in front of the academy. Fortunately for her, other Barbie skilfully catches it using ballet.

Seeing as their destination is same, the two start talking on the way into the school building. Their interaction here is slightly awkward with lots of giddy laughter, but this makes it all the more adorable. However, after a little while the conversation begins to flow; the chemistry is instant.

To prove my point, here’s some dialogue:

Barbie 1: “Oh my gosh! Thank you!”

Barbie 2: “I should be the one thanking you; I can never get enough practice in.”

Barbie 1: [giggling] “I wish I had two hands so I could applaud.”

Just cute, maybe even slightly teasing/flirtatious, remarks. They giggle at everything the other says, particularly because of the situation, and perhaps also because they’re nervous and excited to have just met.

Something that really cool about other Barbie is, as you’ll see again later, that whatever the situation she makes banter from it to make the other person feel comfortable. For Barbie, this is may be particularly comforting as she manages to get herself into all sorts of mayhem. They’re a good match!

This lasts until Barbie gets herself into another predicament at the academy’s doors, which are rotating doors. She falls while inside them, causing them to spin rapidly until they are both flung into the academy and all their belongings lie scattered on the floor.

Our other Barbie doesn’t seem the least bit annoyed or angry at what just happened, but rather amused, and says:

“I hope you’re better on the guitar than you are with doors.”

This marks beginning of their inside joke (yes, Barbie does get stuck in plenty of other doors).

Whilst they’re collecting their stuff, giggling at each other’s jokes, a member of staff informs them that they’ve arrived a day early. Aw damn! Fortunately, instead of going all the way back home, they’re allowed to set up their dorm (which they share — ‘and they were roommates’-) and get to spend the whole day together!

Until they get to their dorm, they have not idea that they both have identical names, so they adopt the nicknames ‘Malibu’ (because we all know Barbie lives in Malibu) and ‘Brooklyn’ (because Barbie is from Brooklyn). V cute! For the remainder of the movie they use those names, expect from around people they don’t know.

Then the first song starts, and it is a love song if I’ve ever heard one. The lyrics and visuals just show how quickly they’ve fallen for each other (bearing in mind, they only just met):

I love the concrete jungle

And I'm a beach girl

Together we're best of both possible worlds

Our duo's so dynamic

Like fire and rain

Together we can set it off

And make a Big Bang

Hey universe, look who's coming at ya

For the first time I found my perfect match and

How did we ever survive?

Before us (before us)

All I need now in my life

Is more us (is more us)

It's like we're meant to be like destiny so right

Yeah how did we ever survive?

Before us

And the second pre-chorus:

Through thick and thin we've got the brightest future

Where've you been cause I wish I'd met you sooner

Need i say more?

As for the visuals, here are some personal favourites (some of these things happen just before the song):

Here’s them playing a guitar duet together while snuggling into each other’s faces and throwing ‘I’m so in love with you’ glances at each other.

Here’s them dangling their slices of pizza above the other’s head and trying to stop the other from eating it. No idea how they found themselves doing that but, it’s really cute and they up laughing.

They also already share toothpaste…

and do other cool girlfriend things, such as:

Oh and Malibu gives Brooklyn a book, which seems to mean a lot to her because she hugs it to her chest. This book, i believe, is symbolic of their love for one another — the reasons behind this interpretation will become clearer later, but from this scene alone it’s evident that Malibu really likes Brooklyn, so much so that she willingly gives her a possession dear to her. A part of her if you will. Through this book, Brooklyn can learn more about Barbie and her interests — how cool eeeee

On an unrelated note, my sister and i like to think that the song ‘Try It On’, from Princess Adventure, is about trying different pronouns. So in the last film Malibu sang about pronouns and in this film she’s having a cool time with her gf Brooklyn and thinking about her sexuality/having her gay awakening part 2 (Dolphin Magic was part 1).

That aside, right after the song, they get on a train and Malibu has trouble with the doors yet again.

However, even though Malibu is imminent danger (to be more specific, when the train starts moving, she’ll probably die lmao), instead of wriggling out of the doors, she waits for Brooklyn to take her hand and pull her out.

Brooklyn doesn’t get annoyed either; she throws her some knowing glances and immediately eases Malibu’s embarrassment by joking about the situation:

Malibu: Was that a totally clueless tourist move?

Brooklyn: [sarcastically?] No, not at all!

Malibu: Honestly?

Brooklyn: [hint of sarcasm] No. [reaching for Malibu] Not at all.

Then they both lean in and laugh — it’s so sweettt

Now it’s time to sidetrack a little bit and talk about Brooklyn and Emily!

Soo, on the train, Malibu catches sight of a poster of the famous star Emily and, being a massive fan, enthuses about how great and popular she is. Brooklyn responds with apathy and disinterested remarks, pretending that she’s never heard of her, but then reveals (with pained expression) that she actually used to know Emily. She explains that they used to be good friends but one day Emily abruptly stopped talking to her; perhaps because her fame got to head.

At this point, i thought that maybe Brooklyn and Emily were in love but didn’t ever confess to each other — then Emmie left before either of them got the chance to.

Anyways, after that, the cutesttt thingg happens. Malibu, jet lagged and still adjusting to the time zone, yawns and Brooklyn teases her for getting sleepy. Drowsy Malibu protests, insisting that she isn’t tired because she wants to explore the rest of the city, but she falls asleep on Brooklyn’s shoulder. At this Brooklyn smiles, a long, lingering, fond smile; the kind where you’re lost the moment and thinking about something, or someone in her case. Still smiling, she then rests her head on Malibu’s and the two of them fall asleep.

Time skip to nighttime a couple days later when Ken gives Malibu a phone call. Dunno know much about the new Barbie Dreamhouse lore but Barbie nd Ken’s friendship is real cool — and being the supportive bestie that he is, Ken calls Barbie to ask how she’s doing nd encourage her. This phone call was well-timed because Malibu is feeling deflated from trying to keep up with the other students. She also tells Ken about Brooklyn; more specifically, she glances over at her while she’s sleeps and lovingly proclaims that she’s “amazing”.

It has only been a day and Malibu is already so enamoured with Brooklyn.

Alright, we’re just going to take a quick intermission for Rafa’s iconic self and equally as iconic line:

“The only labels we believe in are designer.”

Rafa is alsoo the designer that made the girls sparkly pride flag dresses: Malibu’s dress resembles the pansexual pride flag and Brooklyn’s somewhat resembles the bisexual pride flag. (Both dresses also have silver on them). Barbie, are you trying to tell us something?? (Can’t remember which movie it was but they also did the same thing with some fairies; they both had pride flag wings).

They also go on a little date later and change into their dresses, during which they take a surplus of selfies, stare at each other affectionately, hold hands and giddily spin around together.

It’s one of their very adorable moments because they seem to have made a habit of wandering off together in the city and ending up wherever, and wherever they go, they have an amazing time.

At one point during this little adventure, Brooklyn’s dad calls her and while she’s on the phone Malibu spontaneously tries to make her laugh — which works, and is so cute. She just wants to make her girlfriend happy.

Another thing that’s really cute about this is scene is what Brooklyn says to her dad on the phone:

“Yes. She’s very nice; you’d like her.” (About Malibu, while beaming at her with amusement and loving eyes). It’s as if she’s introducing her dad to her gf.

Then comes the big conflict, which even this couple’s bliss could not avoid. But before we get into that, let’s skip back a little to the moment when the girls and Rafa meet Emily.

So, to set the scene, it’s lunchtime, Brooklyn and Malibu are looking for a place to sit and they see free spaces at this table. Now, there’s someone already sitting at the table who introduces herself as Lee, when in actuality she’s Emily in disguise. She looks up and instantly notices Brooklyn; the surprise on her face is unmistakable.

Rafa comes by and sits next to Lee, whose disguise is soon blown by Brooklyn, who quickly realises that she’s Emily. Emily then explains that she’s wearing a disguise because she just wants a chance to train without anyone treating her differently because of her fame. She also tells them that when she started living with her dad, he stopped her from talking to her friends, basically so that he could exploit her fame.

i would include the scene or a gif here buuut I have surpassed the picture nd video limit, so here’s dialogue for the end of the scene:

Emily: “I even had to beg him [her father] too but my tour dates so I could come here this summer.”

Brooklyn: “I’m glad you did.”

Emily: “Yeah, me too. I’ve… missed you.”

Brooklyn: “Same.”

(They then smile fondly at each other in silence).

Brooklyn: “But don’t worry, I’m not gonna ask you for a selfie of for an autograph.”

Emily: “For you, I’d make an exception.”

Emily and Brooklyn are so obviously gay for each other, and, if you watch the whole scene, Malibu is just a bundle of gay excitement; it’s great.

Okay! So now let’s skip back to the present. Brooklyn, Malibu and Emmie are together on stage, presumably for a class of some sort, and warm-up together before it starts. Why? Well, Rafa is about to take a picture of everyone on stage and Emily, still wearing a disguise, doesn’t want to be noticed. So, being the considerate girlfriends they are, Brooklyn and Malibu walk Emily to rehearse in the corner furthest away from the camera.

The warm-up commences, and while they’re doing it, Emily catches Brooklyn bridal style and looks fondly into her eyes and she helps her back on her feet. Not only is this already incredibly adorable, but the fact that Brooklyn purposefully fell to be caught by Emmie makes it even better. That and the fact that Emily is a shortie.

Unfortunately, during this lovely scene, Malibu accidentally bumps into Brooklyn and she falls from the stage, resulting in a sprained ankle. From the instant that it happens, Malibu feels awful and at fault for her injury. It seems to be the only thing she think about, which is clear when she spends lunchtime ranting worriedly to Emily about it.

But as soon as she sees Brooklyn, she darts from her seat and to her side, all concerned but evidently excited to see her, and Brooklyn greets her with the same knowing smile and loving look she always has.

Brooklyn is actually on her way out of the building and Malibu, who was just eating lunch, follows her out. She just leaves her lunch to follow Brooklyn out of the academy to wherever she’s headed, all because she saw she was okay. It’s as if Malibu is so captivated by Brooklyn that she completely forgets herself — just gunna repeat this: they’re in love, i’m just saying!

Of course, on their way out, Malibu somehow got them stuck in the same rotating door situation as the first time they met — except this time she catches Brooklyn semi-bridal style. Once again, Brooklyn makes a joke out of what just happened to put Malibu at ease, which is just so sweet.

The girls end up at a park and another musical number commences.

The song’s actually pretty cool; they get to sing with Rafa, whose rapping part is nice. This song doesn’t lack in loving glances between Malibu and Brooklyn, and there are plenty of nuances of their affection. Here’s an example:

Interpret that clip how you will, but i like to think that Malibu is so taken by the moment that she almost kisses Brooklyn — and Brooklyn looks like she knows that Malibu’s about to, but they both decide against it in the last second. Why else would you stare into someone’s eyes and move that close to their face?

Alright so, we’re coming towards the end of the film, and now things are gunna take a turn for the worse.

Emily’s stinky, antagonistic father — who she is trying to get away from — decided to show up at the academy to make sure that Emily gets to perform at Times Square.

Annoyingly, he just had to be there when Malibu accidentally pushed Brooklyn off of the stage, so his bitchass uses the accident to his advantage by incriminating Malibu (i.e. claiming that she purposefully shoved Brooklyn to eliminate her competition) and has her expelled. All of this so that Emily has less competition in the contest to perform at Times Square.

So now Malibu is expelled, but before she gets the chance to tell Brooklyn, the headmistress does, and convinces Brooklyn that Malibu sabotaged her.

Upon hearing this, Brooklyn is in a state of shock and disbelief; she denies the possibility because she knows Malibu, and that she knows that Malibu cares about her — she would never do something like this. But this denial slowly becomes deep feelings of hurt and betrayal. It’s sad because, not too long ago, Brooklyn went through the same thing with Emily and now has to undergo that same emotional pain.

Throughout the scene, Brooklyn refers to ‘Barbie’ as ‘Malibu’ but realises that the headmistress has no idea who she’s taking about and hastily switches back to saying ‘Barbie’. Thought this was a nice detail as it could highlight how that was their personal thing, and how natural those nicknames became in such a short period of time. Alternatively, this could show the rift in their relationship as ‘Barbie’ seems formal now — she’s beginning to leave their amicability behind.

Later, Malibu finds Brooklyn in a practice room and tries to talk to her about what happened, but Brooklyn’s replies are cold because she believes what the headmistress said. Malibu protests, hurt that Brooklyn thinks she actually sabotaged her. They begin to argue, and then Brooklyn says the following:

“You know, for a while, I really I thought you were special.”

“I thought this [signalling between herself and Malibu] was special.”

“[Sighs] I guess I was wrong.”

At which I did squeal with a mixture of happiness and sadness; happy because i interpreted these lines to have romantic connotations, and sad because this is basically their break-up scene. Brooklyn called Malibu special!! She called their relationship special!!!! And with everything that’s happened so far, taking these words to mean something romantic just seemed right.

The song that follows is their version of Descendants’ ‘Space Between’, if you will. The lyrics, along with the music video, could be interpreted as a romantic ballad about heartbreak and reminisce.

Let’s take a look at the lyrics!

Brooklyn: Back here again, losing a friend

I thought I was strong, but I'm reeling

This time felt different, our connection was instant

But that was pure magical thinking

Brooklyn found a good friend in Malibu and then realised, now more than ever, that she loved her (suggested by the line “this time it felt different, our connection was instant”).

Sadly, their time together is now over and perhaps the idea that they could be something more was too good to be true, hence the line “but that was pure magical thinking” (as a pose to ‘wishful thinking’ — the change of phrasing here, from ‘wishful’ to ‘magical’, could refer to the surreal quality of their relationship and how ‘magical’ it was; like imagine meeting someone you get along perfectly with within a day of knowing them, you eat each other’s food, spontaneously gift them a an item of yours with sentimental value — in this case the book that Malibu gave Brooklyn, share toothpaste, wonder aimlessly around the city together, fall asleep on them, gaze at them fondly… etc etc).

Just move on from the pain

Soon it'll fade like a memory

You'll start over again

Evolving from this fateful origin story

The lyrics emphasise the extent of Brooklyn’s emotional withdrawal, which is a great amount. She’s trying to convince herself to move on but she keeps singing about Malibu, which could suggest that she’s having a difficult time letting go (further highlighting that she cared deeply about Malibu).

The line “soon it’ll fade like a memory” further implies that she doesn’t even want to forget about Malibu and allows their story to linger in her mind as a “memory”. “Fade” also suggests the gradual, instead of immediate, forgetting of their time together — her memories of their relationship may lose their vibrancy and colour, but they’ll still be there and somewhat intact.

Lastly, if i’m not mistaken, Brooklyn describes their relationship as a “fateful origin story” which are strong words — reemphasising the fact that what she and Malibu had was special.

A chariot streaks across the sky

So majestically

Two girls on an odyssey

In the city that never sleeps

Did a little research about what a “chariot” could symbolise in a romantic context and found out here (on a website about tarot cards, which i don’t know much about) that the chariot card? can mean that the person in question “has strong feelings for you, and they are trying to hold onto them without getting carried away by them”. Personally, i think this interpretation fits them because they refer to their bond as being special and surprisingly strong, and neither of them (not even now when they both feel betrayed) wants to let go/is finding it hard to let go. But they let themselves get carried away by the “magical thinking”, as Brooklyn put it.

However, the website also explains that these “strong feelings” could be a number of different things; romantic love, platonic love, hatred… And this could represent Brooklyn’s conflicting feelings as she sings this song; she’s not sure whether she loved Malibu, or if she hates her out of betrayal.

Riding high on a merry-go-round

Of modern mythology

Glory within reach

In the playground of our dreams, oh-whoa

The “playground” and “merry-go-round” described in the song could be symbols of eternal love, as merry-go-rounds spin and spin and spin, and the time you spend on the playground during your childhood seems to last forever. Nonetheless, at one point or another, these things come to an abrupt halt. But Malibu and Brooklyn weren’t prepared for the sudden stop their relationship would come to — perhaps they thought they’d last forever.

Our destiny with reality

In the race against the wind

Discovering a new part of me

In a fated friend

You’ll see it more as the song continues, but there is perhaps a semantic field of fate and mythology here. This brings to mind the star-crossed lovers trope: their encounter was destined, their relationship is basically sabotaged by external forces (namely, Emmie’s father), and it has now ended in tragedy.

Also, the line “discovering a new part of me in a faded friend” could be a continuation of the feelings expressed in the earlier lyric “this time felt different, our connection was instant”; could, in a romantic context, allude to her discovery of the fact that she likes girls, which she may’ve suspected with Emmie but confirmed with Malibu

Now you can read the rest, if you so wish, with just the occasional comment from me.

I knew finding you would be

An epic journey with no end

Or so that it seemed

In the playground of our dreams, oh-whoa

Brooklyn and Malibu: But you can't see shooting stars

In the city of marquee lights

Fate brought us together

Then tore us apart, tore us apart

Wish I could go back and restart

I'll race across the sky

To a world where dreams and friendships

Aren't destined to collide

Malibu: The chariot has landed

Stranded on this lonely island

Where great beginnings

Don't get happy endings

Glorious mythologies

Can slip out of your reach

In reality, best friends leave

The ride was just make believe

In the playground of our dreams, oh

One last thing before we move on from this love song; during the song we see Brooklyn enter their dorm to find all of Malibu’s stuff gone, except from the book she gave Brooklyn; which is lying alone on her naked mattress. Maybe she hopes that Brooklyn will remember her? Maybe she hopes that she remembers where they started? Maybe it’s a way of saying ‘you know the real me’? Either way, there seems to be this lingering hope on both sides that their relationship could be rekindled.

Right after the song ends, Brooklyn is practicing ballet in a dance studio, which may be her way of coping with/moving on from what just happened. Emily just so happens to walk up to the studio door, gazing fondly through the window with the most infatuation and fondness i have ever seen, at Brooklyn, and walks in.

She comes in just to see if Brooklyn’s okay and talk to her about the situation, but the expressions on her face just clearly indicate that she’s in love.

She also says that Brooklyn and Malibu “kinda reminded [her] of [herself and Brooklyn], you know?”, which says a lot because there is no heterosexual explanation for the way Emily looks at Brooklyn.

Moving on, when Malibu arrives home, she stays holed-up in her room, and when her parents come in to see how she’s doing, she says the following words:

Malibu’s mum: “Everyone who knows you would realises this is just a big misunderstanding.”

Malibu: [Exhales deeply] “I thought Brooklyn really knew me. Getting kicked out is unfair but, [voice gets croaky] Brooklyn thinking I pushed her? That’s worse.”

[Malibu’s parents leave and Playground of our Dreams instrumental version begins to play]

Aaaah she’s far more hurt by the fact that Brooklyn didn’t have faith in her than by losing the chance to fulfil the dream she struggled to keep in sight. Then, with sadness, she places her guitar in the space behind her mirror, where she can’t see it.

Interesting choice because every time she looks at herself she might be reminded of Brooklyn and everything she left behind in New York.

Malibu sinks into her knees and let’s out a lengthy sigh — but suddenly, she hears a faint singing voice. Listening intently, Malibu rises to her feet as the voice becomes clearer and clearer, until it’s owner is unmistakable. She dashes eagerly from her room to the bannister to find none other than Brooklyn singing ‘Before Us’ (their first song) at her front door. Brooklyn!! This girl flew all the way from New York to Malibu (which takes around 6 HOURS) just for Malibu, and to sing “how did we ever survive before us” to her, and also to apologise, and tell her that she’s not expelled because they found evidence of her innocence (courtesy of Rafa and Emmie).

Like she could’ve just called her, which would’ve been far more convenient. But she literally got her mum, who is a pilot, to fly her to Malibu (the place) and drive her to Malibu’s house.

Please, are they not in love???

They hold hands and hug and look at each other lovingly — even their parents give them the look: Malibu’s parents have the ‘oh okay, they’re in love let’s give them some privacy’ look on their faces and Brooklyn’s mum is just like ‘ohhh so this is the special girl she was telling me everything about’.

(Not to mention that the one of the first things Malibu notices about Brooklyn is her healed ankle — which is cute because it could suggest that her concern for Brooklyn came before anything else).

So after this, they fly back to the academy and find out that Barbie Roberts will be performing at Times Square. Which Barbie Roberts you ask? i honestly have no idea baghdhj because the film ends with them performing together in their pan and bi dresses.

Just lesbians being girlbosses on stage👏👏

Anddd thatt concludes this gay analysis of Big City Big Dreams! Sorry it was so long and if anyone is reading this, thanks for reading nd hope this has convinced you to watch the film✨

Fun hc for after the movie: Brooklyn and Malibu start dating nd Emmie confesses to Brooklyn, so they’re all dating now v cool

[p-redux]

PSA:

Yes, I know about the podcast where a disgruntled would be lady friend of Sam's bashes him.

When I first was alerted to it, I didn't bother paying attention to what she was posting on social media leading up to her podcast because I was busy in RL and hadn't had time. Besides, I already knew, like I've been saying since 2014, that Sam is a heterosexual man who dates multiple women, and is not ready to settle down. I don't see anything wrong with that. Meh. This is NOT news.

Then today, I got a ton of DMs on here and some on Twitter, and I got a couple of Anon Asks about it asking me what my opinion is. I literally worked a 10 hour day today and then had some RL stuff to do after. I'm exhausted.

But I finally plopped on the couch and listened to her podcast because people were SO insistent about it. I guess at this point, my followers are wondering why I haven't said anything, and are looking to me to post what I think of it. TBH, I'm SO tired, brain function is slowing down. I'll probably write something when I gather my thoughts and have some time, and some coffee.

But here is my off the cuff initial reaction. Besides anything to do with what happened or didn't happen between Sam and the woman who did the podcast, my MAIN focus while listening to it tonight was: that what she posted sunk the SamCait ship for the millionth time, the "Sam is gay" false narrative got debunked AGAIN, AND we inadvertently got full CONFIRMATION that Sam DID date Georgia Ellenwood (athlete at track meet) and Danielle Kling (girl already living in Hawaii), Gia (new girl he met in Los Angeles and took to Hawaii during quarantine), and that Sam was thinking of rekindling with an ex (Mackenzie Mauzy, pic of her at Comic Con post break up wearing the Barbour jacket he gave her, and I was asked not to post the pic) HAHAHA. Just like I told the fandom. I LOVE when my info gets CONFIRMED. And THAT is and will always be what gets me off in this fandom. The only thing that keeps me here (besides my friends, of course). Sorry if you expected something more lofty...

Bottom line: Sam's a heterosexual human man who is not ready to settle down with one woman. Alert the presses! Lord.

Sam saying to her "Let's get together the next time I'm in town" is not a promise of a date, it's not a promise of anything, it's literally a flashing neon sign meaning "let's leave things open ended," "maybe," "let's play it by ear." And anyone and everyone who has dated enough human males knows this. Did she not get the Man Code Manual? I thought everyone knew this. When a man wants to see you, he doesn't say things like that, he makes CONCRETE plans with you and FOLLOWS THROUGH with them.

PROTIP: an actor who slides into your DMs and says let's get together when we're in the same town, and then doesn't, isn't "ghosting" or "gaslighting" you, he's letting you know without being direct that "he's just not that into you," but doesn't want to hurt your feelings. It seems to me that when the podcast woman figured out that there were women Sam WAS actually into and DID see in person, she got pissed...and got even. It really is a slap in the face to Sam that he helped her with raising funds and she went and badmouthed him publicly. Petty, petty.

MORE PROTIPS: When a man is into you, he, *taps chin* makes the effort to SEE you in person. Simple as that. The fact that Sam didn't, should have been the one and only clue needed to "move on" and find a man who is into you and will want to spend time with you in person. No need to keep waiting around, continuing to DM with or interact with a man who won't SEE you. Me, forever and ever 'splainin the facts of life.

I'm sorry she feels hurt, but it's way over the top that she now has taken it upon herself to "warn" women about Sam. Helloooo, he's not Shia LaBeouf or Armie Hammer FFS. By ALL accounts, pretty much EVERYONE who gets to know Sam says what a nice guy he is, including the women who dated him. Even his ex Cody Kennedy's MOM, Jinx said she didn't have anything bad to say about him, and said he was a "gentleman," and Sam broke up with Cody because, according to what Jinx publicly confirmed on Instagram, "he went back to his old girlfriend in London." (Abbie Salt in 2015)...just like I said sources told me months prior. :-). Sam broke up with her daughter and Jinx said nothing but nice things about Sam.

Is Sam a saint...or Jamie Fraser? NOPE. But, he's not a bad dude, and especially in Hollywood, he's, what I would call, one of the good ones. It's unfortunate that his name is getting smeared over something like this. Her reaction is totally disproportionate to what he actually did. Date a true Hollywood douche and then come back and talk to me. That's not Sam. Sam giving a woman his ubiquitous line "let's get together for a wee dram when you're in town" and then flaking, or flirting in DMs, and not having it lead to anything more did not warrant the bad press she is giving him. But I guess his fans can take solace in the fact that people who actually know Sam know who he really is, and his good heart.

Anyhoo, Imma pour myself a second glass of wine and I'll write something tonight or tomorrow or actually...I don't think I will...I kind of already did. :-).

Pssst: "He's just not that into you." Deal with it.

[mrsalwayswrite]

These Hands Were Made For You (Bill Guarnere x Reader)

Based on this post by @problematicfavesareproblematic​ because its amazing!

This is my first time writing Wild Bill. Lemme know what y’all think!

Warnings: swearing, sexual tension, palming (is that a warning?)

Words:2600

Tag List: @happyveday​ @sydney-m​ @saritanotserena​

  As soon as you stepped into the barn-converted-to-mess-hall in Albourne, you knew what was coming. 

 "There she is, fuckin' goddess of war herself! Come to see how the toughest, most handsome sonofabitch in the 506 is doin' this morning?" 

 You just chuckled and shook your head at his exaggerated smug look. "Yeah, Bill. Something like that."

 Guarnere winked at you and you could not figure out how it was possible for such a simple action to be so dirty. The way he tilted his head just slightly, the corner of his mouth lifted in a half smirk followed by a quick wink...you could feel heat pooling in your belly and your breath catch. 

 The cocky grin on his face grew as he saw the hint of pink on your cheeks. He knew what that wink did to you and he LOVED using it against you. 

 Bastard. 

 "Something you need, Y/L/N?" Martin asked from the table closest to the door.  

 "Yeah, any of you seen Lip?"

 Luz answered from the table, cigarette dangling from between his lips. "Think he went back to the house to grab something. Why?"

 You waved Luz off as you could see him start to stand, stepping further into the barn. "Just need to ask him something. Winters is in a meeting otherwise I'd ask him."

 "Why don't you take a seat, he should be back soon."

 "Perfect spot saved right here for the Valkyrie of Easy!" Bill announced, patting the open spot on the bench next to him. 

 You rolled your eyes but relented, moving past the other table to drop next to Guarnere. On his other side sat Heffron, still looking a bit wide-eyed and nervous that he somehow won the coveted spot with the Toccoa men. Toye sat across, giving you a brief nod when you sat down. Perconte, Christianson, Skinny, and Grant also took up residence around the table. Perco seemed to have been in the middle of telling some overly, exaggerated story. 

 Most of Easy relaxed in the barn. The Toccoa men were grateful for the break from the front-line and hot food instead of K rations. All the replacements were eager for the next jump, ready to soil their ODs, not truly understanding that war would only take from them, never give. The division between Toccoa men and replacements was painfully obvious. 

 Heffron leaned around Guarnere to meet your eyes. "Hey, sorry again about the fellas yesterday. They've been like that since training."

 "Not your fault, Babe." You shrugged, running a hand through your hair. 

 "What's he talkin' about?" Guarnere narrowed his eyes at you. Even Toye across the table was staring at you in concern. 

 "Nothing, Bill. It's fine."

 "If you're sayin' its fine then it ain't fuckin' fine." He growled. When he realized you were not going to elaborate, he turned on Babe. "What the fuck happened?"

 The redheaded replacement looked like he would rather be anywhere else in the world in that moment than being interrogated by Wild Bill. "Some of the men were...ah, tryin' to...um… proposition her." He finished with a wince. 

 A long beat of silence.

 Then Guarnere exploded. 

 He pounded the table with a tight fist, the table shaking at the impact.  A snarl on his lips, he started to rise from his seat, eyeing the tables further away full of replacements. "Who the fuck was it? Someone from our platoon? Imma fuckin' kill 'em. Who was it?"

 "No," you cut in, grabbing his arm and restraining him, hoping to stop him before he worked himself up into a frenzy, "some replacements from third."

 He growled but let you pull him back down. "Goddamn replacements. They touch you?"

 "No, Bill. I handled it."

 Toye spoke up, eyeing his friend carefully as if to see if he was going to have to prevent a replacement's murder or help hide the body. "What you do?"

 You smirked, squeezing Guarnere's arm for good measure then pulled your hand back into your lap. "Told them if they tried to pull that shit again, I'd rip their cocks off and mail them to their mothers."

 All the men at the table either winced or shifted uncomfortably at the mental image. 

 "Hey, don't you be touchin' no one's cocks." Bill said, fury still on his face but also amusement. 

 You raised an eyebrow, "what would you rather I have done? Swung at them? Give Sink a reason to send me packing?"

 "Nah, you swing at 'em, they might fall in love." He winked at you again, telling you he knew exactly what he was talking about. Underneath the table, hidden from view, his knuckles skimmed the outside of your thigh. You attempted to hide the shiver that caused but knew you failed when Guarnere chuckled quietly.

 "Why would that matter?" Babe asked innocently. 

 "Oh, here we go." Toye sighed. 

 "Shut up Joe, the kid asked alright." Guarnere started his story, pleased to have a new, rapt audience. "So here we are, back in Toccoa, right? Most of us have already arrived and started trainin' with goddamn Sobel. Then one day this beautiful broad shows up and we're told she's joinin' the paratroopers. None of us believe it. Why would a broad be joinin'? Don't make no fuckin' sense. So the next day we're supposed to be startin' to learn self-defense and guess who I get paired up with? Huh? Lovely Y/L/N over here. Right, so I'm fuckin' pissed cause I don't wanna be fightin' no broad but Sobel is watchin' like a hawk. I tell her I'll pretend to swing at her and she should just fall down. Play fightin', ya know? Like when youse a kid. I take a swing at her, thinkin' she knew the plan. She easily dodges my swing and before I can right myself, she lands a punch on me. Knocked me flat on my ass and seein' stars. I look up to see this goddess standin' over me, bloody knuckles and all, and she says 'you better get up and fight me like a man before I knock you on your ass again'."

 "So, what you do?" Heffron asked, surprise clearly written all over his face. 

 Guarnere tapped the table with his finger. "What did I do? Well, I got up and told her that when this war is over, I'm gonna fuckin' marry her, that's what I was gonna do."

 Those who had heard the story before chuckled while Heffron sat there, head tilted and eyes bouncing between you and Guarnere like he was waiting for the punchline still. 

 "Why? No offense, Y/L/N." 

 Guarnere threw his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side. "Cause she hits harder than any fella I've ever known, includin' me brother Henry. Boxin' champion that one was. Now if that ain't a reason to marry someone, I don't know what is."

 "And she puts up with your bullshit." Toye deadpanned. 

 You rolled your eyes, sliding out from underneath Guarnere's arm. "That's just words unless there's a ring and I don't plan on marrying for a while yet. Still gotta win a war first." You stood up, smoothing down your ODs. "'Sides, maybe by then I'll find someone who doesn't annoy me so much."

 "Nah, you'd miss my handsome face too much."

 "You keep telling yourself that, Bill."

 "One day you'll come around." He winked, making your insides warm. You would never understand how that was possible. The Philadelphian pointed a finger at you. "You lemme know if any of those replacements bother you again. Can't have those bastards propositionin' my future wife."

 "See you later, boys." You said, not even bothering to answer him. You headed towards the door, intent on finding Lipton; but also to get away from the man who gave you such feels without even saying a word. Then when he did speak, complimenting and claiming you in front of the others…. it was becoming harder and harder to keep your hands and your lips to yourself. 

 ***** 

 You leaned against the doorframe, admiring the man who was too caught up in writing a letter home to have noticed you yet. He twirled the pencil between his fingers as he thought about his words. The chair creaked under him as he shifted, leaning forward against the wooden desk to continue writing. The small bedroom only consisted of the desk, chair and bed. Guarnere's duffle bag was thrown in a corner with things haphazardly pulled out. The NCOs had been billeted in a house together, everyone able to have their own rooms unlike the enlisted men who were forced to share a converted barn.

 When you had first met him, and your first real encounter resulted in you punching him, you had thought he was the most unhelpful, condescending, little shit; and you had no problems telling him that for weeks after. When he had bounced back to his feet and proposed...you had laughed so uncontrollably, it had taken a sharp bark from Lipton to get you to focus again. 

 Over the following weeks, the bastard would openly flirt with you and practically pummel anyone else who tried to. Sometime around Fort Benning, your own feelings toward him started to change. No longer was he a man you loathed. You found yourself happy he was in your platoon, that he hovered around you keeping assholes from other companies away, that you enjoyed his flirting and when you two were alone... you reciprocated. 

 Actually, the first time you flirted back, he almost choked on his tongue he was so surprised. After that, things shifted between you two. 

 He continued openly flirting but understood you could not since you were under far more scrutiny and Sobel was looking for ANY reason to get rid of you. 

 For two years Guarnere had been in your life...and you hoped for the rest of it too. 

 "Enjoyin' the view, sweetheart?"

 You smiled at him as he leaned back in the chair, legs still under the desk. "Should I be?"

 He scoffed. "You know you like what you see...I'll tell you though," his eyes raked over you, "you're a fuckin' goddess with a body to drive a man crazy."

 You laughed, covering your mouth with your hand to minimize the sound, as he winked at you before turning back to his letter. 

 "The other NCOs said you were going out tonight for drinks."

 "Yeah, yeah. Told 'em if I didn't finish this letter for my ma, she'd jump on a boat and come find me. Got three letters from her already. Last one she threatened to come find me. So, I told the fellas I'd meet them there."

 The muffled sounds of the other NCOs drifted up the stairs; they were gathered in the common room getting ready to head out. With that in mind, you moved silently across the room to where he sat at the chair. Coming up behind him, you dragged your hands over his broad shoulders then down his firm chest, stilled his motions. 

 "Y/N…"

 You loved touching him, could not get enough of it when you were able to. What you also loved doing was paying him back for teasing you. 

 One of your hands continued to travel downward until you palmed his cock. He froze, pencil hovering just about his letter. Without a word, you slowly, torturously, stroked him over his trousers. 

 "Fuck, sweetheart." He groaned, tipping his head back slightly. 

 "You said earlier I wasn't supposed to be touching anyone's cocks...does that include yours?"

 Turning his head, he looked at you out of the corner of his eye but before he could speak, you took the tip of his earlobe between your teeth. 

 "Hands on the desk, Sergeant." You growled in his ear. 

 Immediately, his hands slammed on the wooden desk, palms down. The pencil fell to the floor. Letter now forgotten on the desk. 

 "Mmm, yes, sir… you keep them there." You continued slowly stroking his cock over his trousers. "You have no idea how bad I wanted to kiss you earlier when we were at the mess hall." You licked up the curve of his ear, feeling him shudder under your touch. Your hand gave him a gentle squeeze as you continued whispering in his ear. "Think I should punish you for teasing me earlier? That wink you gave me...all the dirty images it put in my head. Want me to tell you about them?"

 "Fuck, sweetheart, yes."

 "I thought about you bending me over one of those tables. Notice how they are at the perfect height? How good you would feel inside me. How deep you would be."

 One of his hands started to move off the table, drifting towards where your hand played with him. 

 You nipped his earlobe sharply, making him hiss. "Hands up, Sergeant, or no reward later."

 "You're gonna kill me, darlin'." His hand slammed back on the desk. 

 You licked a line up his neck before pressing your lips against his ear again. The pace of your hand increased, his chest rising and falling to match. "Remember that time in Mackall where we snuck into the parachute packing building and fucked on the silks. You couldn't wait to get inside of me and almost tore my new ODs. So I made you wait and watch as I started touching myself. After someone came in and we almost got caught."

 His hips were now rutting against your hand, the chair shaking with his movements.  His hands were in white-knuckled fists on the desks, trembling with his desire to get them on you. 

 Unable to help yourself, you grabbed his face with your free hand, turning it to press a bruising, messy kiss to his lips. He greedily took ownership of your mouth and deepened the kiss. He plundered your mouth with his tongue, reminding you how his mouth and skillful tongue alone could drive you wild. 

 Finally you broke away, pressing your forehead against his temple as you attempted to refill your lungs with the oxygen he had stolen. "God, I wish I could kiss you out there. Let everyone know I am yours. Maybe share quarters with you instead of sneaking around like teenagers. Fuck whenever we want."

 "I'd be the luckiest, fuckin' bastard in all of Easy. You're mine. My goddess."

 "There is one thing I need right now. I need the toughest, most handsome sonofabitch above me. I need my man inside me." You squeezed your hand, making him tip his head back and loudly groan. "Now the other NCOs are just downstairs. Think you can keep quiet?"

 He pressed a hard and fast kiss to your lips. "Oh darlin', it ain't me whose gonna have to keep from screamin'."

 "Mmm, think you can help me out?"

 "I'd do anythin' for ya…." He turned in his seat, hands now stroking your waist with a completely wicked and sinful smirk on his face. "Go lock the door."

 You stepped back, admiring the disheveled look on Guarnere, how his eyes blazed with passion and desire. For you. Without tearing your gaze from his, you shut the door and locked it behind you. 

 "Jesus Christ, you're a dream."

 "Only for you. Come on, Sergeant, show me how good you are with your...arsenal."

 Before you could move, he leapt out of his chair, making it clatter on the floor as it tipped over in his enthusiasm. He picked you up easily and tossed you on the bed. You laughed only to be immediately silenced by his mouth slamming against yours, a moan drawn from you as his talented fingers rid you of your clothing with an almost inhuman speed. 

 *****

 Later that night Guarnere was quite late for getting to the pub but he did not mind one bit. Especially since his bed now smelled like you…. And he had been able to remind you how much he loved you. 

 Quite vigorously. 

[gunsmoke-snakeoil]

At the Rivers Edge- Pt 1

Arthur X Female!Reader 

 Part 2| Part 3

Arthur comes into camp with a familiar dark air about him that leaves you hurting in his stead. Being one of the few who know him well enough to read his body language, you do everything to keep his mind off of the one and only Mary Linton

This one ended up getting long, and I wanted to split it up. However I felt like it would take away from the story… So in the end I decided it will just be a really long, short story. I hope you will all forgive me for it’s length, and enjoy this fluffy and angsty little fic! Stay safe and healthy! 

A shit eating grin radiated off your glowing face as you slammed your hunting knife into the table in a wave of victory. Hoops and hollers echoed through the trees as you slouched back in your chair, eyeing your blonde headed opponent. Micah mumbled complaints and slides in your direction while forcing the tip of his knife from the wood grain of the table. He wiped the blade on his pants before spreading his fingers wide.

It was one of those days; too hot to go out but perfect for staying in and enjoying the fleeting cool mountain breeze that happened it’s way through Horseshoe Overlook.  Everyone in camp had that same feeling, so that late afternoon when chores were nearly completed, there was a challenge of five finger fillet  and Micah was the Challenger. People would pay to see you compete against him.

It was well known that a rivalry blossomed between you since the moment he graced the gang with his presence. He hated that you, a woman, stood on a higher pedestal then he did. Your word was held to more importance then his. And whenever you’d take a lead and begin your journey out with Arthur or John by your side; he’d spit venom at you for being one of the side arms of Dutch. Women are second to the man and when I get on top, you’ll be the first to fall. You hardly paid his snarls any mind, you just moved on passed as if the breeze had whistled just a touch.

Ever since his entry in, he worked his way to the top ready to drop who he could. And like an ear mite he began to work into Dutch’s ear. And Micah would challenge you all the way for dominance, whether it was big or small it didnt matter, he just needed to win.

So when Micah stabbed his knife into the table you sat at eating Pearson’s stew and presented the challenge; everyone was gathered to see how well the cocky gunslinger would manage.

You rubbed your smooth, unscathed fingers watching as Micah slipped, nicking the crease of his pinkie finger. He seethed before starting again, quicker this time to make up for the loss. Before he made it back to his oozing pinkie, Lenny slammed the table “Time!” He shouted making Micah curse and toss his knife.

“Well, that leaves (Y/N) with nine, and Micah with eight.” Javier grinned, sipping at a half drunk beer. Micah scowled, watching your sweet eyes move around the crowd.

“Good game Micah,” you smirked, “you talk the talk,” you stood pulling your knife from the table and sheathing it. “But you can’t walk the walk.”

“I think that was luck.” Micah’s voice came off in a airy tone, “I say we do it again. This time will be different.”

The sound of beating hooves caught your attention and you turned your head to see Arthur ride in with a swarm of bad air. “I’d love to Micah, but you ought to rest that bloody stump of a hand before trying again. I’d hate to see you lose a finger.” You narrowed your eyes with a quirky grin before going to greet Arthur.

It was another well known fact that you were very close with Arthur. And just like him and John, you were one of the first. You were young, about 14 when Hosea and Dutch introduced you to the boys. You had a wild look to you, drawn up from abandonment and abuse that lead you to act in a crazed way that intrigued the older gentlemen. You were shaking and covered in bruises and blood when you met the eyes of Arthur and John. It took you a while, but you came around and became close with both boys; especially Arthur. Over the years, you both went sweet on each other but couldn’t gain the courage to admit it. And the feeling always stuck even after he met Mary Gillis.

“How’s it goin’,” you grinned giving his stallion a soft pat as Arthur climbed down.

“Been better.” He sighed while whispering compliments in his horses’ ear.

You knew Arthur pretty well, and you could read some of his body language like a book. His jaw tightened and his blue eyes grew a little cold. Your heart grew heavy, sinking deep towards your stomach. He gave you a weak smile before turning to head into camp. You stood cemented in place, running gentle hands down the mane of his  Dutch Warmblood. 

“Tell me boy,” you whispered as Arthur stopped at Dutch’s tent, with his large hands resting on his gun belt. “Did he meet up with Mary?” The horse whinnied almost like a confirmation. You gave him a sugar cube as a thank you before nodding slowly, “thought so.”

You hated Mary, and Arthur knew that. You didn’t hate her because he loved her; you weren’t that shallow. You hated the way she talked to him, hated the way she treated him and the way she left him. You had watched the way she destroyed pieces of him you were lucky to see before they were damaged. He was a different man after she came through like a tsunami of manipulation and negativity. And even after the engagement was broken, her picture remained at his bedside. You had wished to go back before he met Mary and confess all of your feelings to spare him the heartbreak.

You plotted, while leaning against the post between your horse and his; on how to take his mind off of whatever transpired in the few days he had been gone. If your sole purpose was to bring him back from whatever sad trip he took, then you’d be damned if that job hadn’t been completed. Your wild bay mustang laid his head on your shoulder huffing his hot breath onto your cheek. He lipped your ear gently making you giggle and nudge him off. “I’m thinking Zeus.” Your horse snorted, dipping his head down to catch some grass in his teeth.

You kicked at a rock buried deep in the earth, masked beneath the saw grass that came up to your upper thigh. Digging the tip of your boot to wedge beneath the rock, you kicked it up and smacked it out of the way. Your gaze followed the bending blades of grass and didn’t stop until you found Arthur’s figure again. Now he was talking to a drunk Swanson, who seemed to have a permanent scent of beer staining his weathered skin. People would think nothing of  Arthur’s changed demeanor. Nor would they notice. But you knew by the way he stood, the way his blue green eyes hardly held the motivation to focus on anything in particular. You felt the twinge of restlessness settle in your bones. Just a mild distraction you thought as you pushed yourself off the hitching post. 

Arthur moseyed over to Strauss who sat near the edge of Horseshoe overlook writing feverishly in the ledger. “Ah, Mr. Morgan-” Strauss began, looking over his rounded glasses. Arthur tipped his hat, looking out at the valley below. Strauss wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it up to Arthur, who hesitantly took it and looked over it. You moved through camp quietly, not picking up to much attention as you moved towards Arthur. You hadn’t thought up any plan, but you were better on the spot anyway. Once you stood a few feet from Arthur with his back to you, head down and looking at the paper, you waited a moment for that idea to pop up. And it surely did as soon as he shifted his hat slightly on his head.

You smiled wickedly, glancing around at the less then aware camp behind you. Biting your lip, you rose to your tip toes and grabbed the brim of his hat. With one motion you whipped the hat off his head and rested it gently on your own. It was way to big, and covered your eyes slightly. The whiff of musky scent the hat held filled your body with a sudden nervousness. The confidence that forced your hand to take the hat was pilfered as soon as the hat hit your own head.

He whipped around, meeting your shaking wide grin. You forced the nervousness away for a moment to regain the ability to think straight.

Just a distraction

“What are you doing?”

You shrugged, shifting the hat to properly see the swarm of confusion in his eyes. “I think your hat looks fantastic on me, don’t you?” That nervousness turned quickly to mischievous as you backed up.

“(Y/N) I ain’t really in the mood for this.” He grumbled turning fully to face you. “Give me the hat back.”

With a cheeky grin you popped out your hip. “Now I stole it, you think I’m gonna give it back?” You challenged. “If I robbed a bank, you think imma give that money back cause they want it?” A sudden surge of excitement filled you when he sighed, the look from before dissipated and a spark of playfulness flashed back.

You had everyone’s attention as you backed up slowly towards the horses. “Now if we are playing by that logic,” Arthur reasoned stepping around Strauss “then I have the right to watch you swing.”

“You do, and rightfully so. But in order for that, you gotta catch me.”

“How old you think we are? Twelve?” Arthur grumbled a small smile growing from the corner of his lips.

“Ain’t too old for thievn’ and taking what I want.” You hummed while turning on your heels and walking to your horse. “I always wanted the hat of the great Arthur Morgan!” You called, holding the crown of his hat to your head. The breeze of your stride threatening to knock it off. Shaking his head he gave an airy chuckle while following after you. He had longer legs, so making the distance between you took hardly any time at all. Of course you were slowed by the wind gathering in his hat. You heard his steps before you saw him and held the hat tight to your crown when you felt it tug.

“Come on, you’re being a fool.” He breathed, grabbing you around your waist to keep you from leaving and again he tried to pry the hat off your head.

“Arthur!” You gasped “look!” You pointed to the trees with one hand.

“Don’t think you’re fooling me with that crap.” He huffed as you slammed your butt into his hips. He released you and a laugh bubbled from your throat and warmed your cheeks.

“I know, silly me,“  the rush of shock that fumbled against his face made your heart skip a beat. It didn’t take long for him to bounce back.

“Oh you are gonna get it woman.” He called, as you quickly made it to your horse. In a rushed frenzy you untied him from the post and took off with Arthur close behind you.

“What wild thing bit you on the ass?” He yelled after you, your hands holding tight to the weathered leather perched on your head. You laughed in response while encouraging Zeus towards the  Dakota River. It only took a small gust of wind to knock that hat off your head and send it flying to the river. You gasped before having Zeus turn sharply and dart towards the bank where the hat sat in the gravel. Zeus had hardly made it to the shore by the time Arthur scooped the hat off the ground.

“You are a terrible thief.” He smirked, watching as you climbed off of your mustang.

You huffed, shaking your head. “I know it. Bout as good as Jack,”

“Now that’s just mean towards Jack. He could do better then this half ass attempt.” Arthur chuckled “I’m sure a squirrel could do better.”

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up Morgan…” You rolled your eyes before focusing them on his chest. “Ew now what’s that?” You asked walking towards him, pointing to his left pectoral. “Looks like you hit a June bug.”

He groaned in disgust, eyes flickering towards his chest; searching for the squashed beetle. You smiled ear to ear before running your finger up his chest, hitting his nose and grabbing his hat off his head. “Made ya look.” You giggled, taking off towards the river with his hat secured in your arms.

He couldn’t help but laugh himself. “You make me wonder if you ever grew up.” He smiled admiring you as you stood at the edge of the water, pointed boots dipped into the waters edge.

“Do any of us really grow up?” You asked putting his hat back on your head while looking out at the river.

“I suppose not all of us…” He came to stand beside you, his boots also dipped into the river. “some of us more then others.“ 

“Keeps us from getting boring.” You breathed, the sun growing warmer, the sky burning gold. In that moment, you wished you were kids again. It seemed so much easier, despite the many things stacked against you. Spontaneously, you kicked off your boots and rolled your pants up to your mid calf. The river water danced through the tips of your toes sending soft shivers through your limbs. You held onto his hat with one hand before taking one large step forward. The glacier water was freezing, but at the same time, you couldn’t careless. It felt good, the rushing rapids brushing against your bare legs.

The feeling of his eyes on you made your heart beat harder, stronger then before; sending waves of heat to your already red cheeks. You noticed the look on his face from the corner of your eye, a small smile graced against his rough features. The blue in his eyes shimmered against the oranges of the sun and that look you knew from before turned into something foreign. You looked away, grinning at the birds flying just in front of the sun, and the deer grazing 200 yards away.

It wasn’t long until Arthur joined you, wading beside you. No words were spoken, but that look remained. “I never seen you smile like that Arthur, you okay?”

The moment cut and he looked down at you. “I’m thinking.” He stated shortly.

“Now I’ve seen your thinking face.” Stepping in front of him, you looked up at his face. “Your eyebrows are usually not so loose. They are more knotted.” Your own mimicked what his would look like. “You’re mouth, well usually that sits in a thin line like this.” You pulled your delicate smile into a line. “and your eyes don’t sparkle quite like that. They are more sharp,” you squinted your eyes just a bit forcing a small chuckle from Arthur.

“Do I look that ugly when I think?”

You couldn’t help but gasp, and hurl a handful of water towards him. “You are not ugly, and I like your thinking face!” He laughed at the offended look you gave him. He sent water back with his foot making you yelp, the water sending a cold shock through your body.

“Tell me what this face means then,” he gave you the dumbest look, jutted jaw, crossed eyes, tongue out.

“That’s the look of I’m bout to kick your ass Morgan!” You shouted grabbing his hat off your head and tossing it to the shore. You charged at him, sending barrels of water his way and he did the same back. You went to push him, but he was ready and hoisted you up on his shoulder.  He kicked back cold waves of water from his feet, soaking your upper body and face. You choked out laughter, pounding balled fists into his back in hopes he’d have enough. “Oh you are so dead! Dead like a door nail!” You gasped as he sat you down. Without a beat, you shoved him enough to send him back into the river. And you winced when he hit, water splashing up and hitting your already drenched face.

The shock from his face disappeared when you laughed, and a smile of his own took its place. You helped him up while wringing out your soaked top. Bending, you collected his hat from the ground and combed your wet hair with your fingers; pushing the locks from your face. He stood, groaning at the wet clothes. You climbed up on a boulder just on the edge of shore and sat down, letting the sun dry you off.

“I’m getting to old for your antics,” he groaned while he stepped to shore.  Smiling you tapped the spot next to you, inviting him into the sun.

“As am I.”

He shook his head and sat beside you, running cold hands down his face. You sat cross legged his hat in your lap. Your fingers traced the many scratches on the brim, fingertips dancing towards the crown where the hat dipped. “You went to visit Mary today didn’t you?” Your eyes never looked up from the hat.

“Why does it matter (Y/N)?”

“She ain’t nothing but trouble Arthur. I don’t like seeing you come home looking like that. She ain’t fair with you.” Your grip on his hat tightened. “what did she even want this time? Cause I can tell nothin good came from it.”

“It ain’t none of your business.”

“Yeah, sure, it is when it hurts you cause seeing you like that hurts me. Why do you keep going back Arthur? Don’t you think you deserve better then that?” Your face flushed with frustration.

Sighing, his face sunk into his cupped palms. “I dunno (Y/N), whenever she calls… I come. She has this way with me. I can’t explain.”

“Well what did she want?”

“Wanted me to help Jamie. He got caught with some Chelonians or some crap.” He propped his arms on his knees, looking out at the setting sun. “I dunno (Y/N), She plays me like a fiddle, and wants me to change to fit her daddy’s vision.”

“You thinking of leaving?” Your voice came off quiet, like a wounded animal.

“No. I can’t.” He met your eyes, the concern flooding them making his own glance away. “I’ve got to many people relying on me. You know that.”

“Good. Because I don’t think she deserves you.” You slid off the rock, pebbles stabbing into your feet. You winced a little, but proceeded towards your boots. You slid them on while Arthur climbed down as well.

“I think you got that confused.” He let out an airy chuckle.

“I know what I said.” The hat fumbled in your hands as you stepped closer to him. “She’s manipulative. She is degrading. Arthur if she can’t see the beauty in who you are, then I don’t see why you stick around. She uses you, because you love her and she knows that. I think you deserve better. Sure, we are doing bad things, robbing and killing. But her guilt tripping you into changing just ain’t right.” You now stood inches from him. “I don’t like how she is with you, because I think you are an amazing man Arthur Morgan, despite all of the bad things. Right now, standing here, you are an amazing man, selfless, loyal, and understanding. You deserve more then she gives you.” You gently sat his hat on his head. “If you love her, fine. But you need to stay true to who you are and what matters most. Don’t change because she wants you to.” Your hand slid down his chest before you pulled away and mounted Zeus.

“Thank you, (Y/N).” He breathed as you took off back to camp leaving him at the river’s edge.

[silver-wield]

I want to know what your thoughts are on the optional Aerith resolution scene? Particularly around the time where Aerith says the "love" line?

Awww man, you're gonna make me watch that? Lol

Ok let's do this then.

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response) 

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read) 

Cloti action touching 

Aerti friendship analysis 

Cloti body language chapter 3 

Cloti healthy disagreement 

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15) 

Clerith playground scene 

Cloti body language plate fall 

Cloud and Barret friendship 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Recap time!

So, Aerith's been taken by Shinra and the group is still feeling the after effects of the plate fall. Everyone's pretty demoralised and after they visit deep ground and Cloud gets the aborted flashback of himself inside a chamber being experimented on, he says to Elmyra they should go save Aerith before the same fate befalls her.

Elmyra asks they sleep on it.

During the night Cloud “wakes up” to see a ghostly Aerith heading downstairs. He follows her outside and they talk on the hill top where the lifestream can be seen glowing in the background.

It’s important to note that Cloud has literally just gone through both the train graveyard and seen a bunch of ghosts and the plate collapse where he’s seen a load of people he cares about die. 

Cloud looks surprised. Hmm I wonder why....

Yeah, this is a no brainer opening. Aerith shouldn't be there and he doesn't think he's asleep at this moment. He looks around and figures out it's a dream, but isn't totally sure because how often does anyone have cognisant dreams?

You can see the doubt about if she’s a ghost or not and she doesn’t clear that up, so Cloud’s left wondering if Aerith’s dead already. The following conversation doesn’t reassure him.

Aerith's “Maybe. You tell me,” doesn't actually help here. If Cloud's having doubts about how real it is – and she's aware of his fake persona and wants to know the real him – then causing further doubt in his mind seems counterproductive. It's like she's implying an illusory nature to their relationship. It also feels like foreshadowing the moment Cloud thinks he’s not real. 

She's also not looking at him when she says it, so even if it was a teasing moment between them, she's automatically set a distance between them. Because eye contact matters, remember? When someone can't meet your eye it's for a reason, whether they're uncomfortable or hiding something or whatever. Eye contact is a conscious connection between two people. Deliberately not making eye contact has meaning too.

Aerith exposition. Lots of fidgeting. No eye contact. She seems like she's making small talk to avoid something. Even when Cloud faces her head on she quickly turns away again to stare off into the distance. Cloud remains in her peripheral vision only. When Aerith does turn to reassure Cloud, he looks away.

And after is the immortal line “Don't be silly” in response to Cloud's sarcasm. I mean, isn't she supposed to be the sweet one? So wouldn't her saying silly fit with her vocabulary? Or should she have said something like “Cloud, don't be a fucking moron” because she swore that one time and everyone erupted into cheers over it? Let's say it is a callback to Claudia, who somehow had a prophetic vision of Aerith being “the one”. Aerith didn't say “silly goose” which was the exact line Claudia said, so technically Aerith's only half of what Claudia suggested. If Tifa says “goose” at some point does that validate her being in the running too?

Yes, I'm being facetious. Point is, unlike the promise between Cloud and Tifa when it was Tifa reusing her own words, this relies on Aerith having meta knowledge of what Claudia said to Cloud when he was 16 and Aerith was with Zack. So, with that in mind, why would Aerith care what Claudia had to say about some other guy she doesn't even know when she's already got a boyfriend? The implication of this is that Aerith already knew everything that would happen to Zack and she'd already moved on from him to Cloud before they ever met and yet she kept writing letters to Zack the whole time.

But then after meeting Cloud she decided to take him up on the slide and talk about her dead boyfriend...as a way to let him know she's single?

This is Cloud's face when Aerith says in a perky voice “You worried about me?” This is the bit where he says “Of course.” It's a very neutral expression tbf. There's not anything being given away and the way he says the line is very simple too. Nothing suggests he's revealing a big secret to her or that he's embarrassed by his concern. I'd say it's SOLDIER!Cloud at rest since we know from the devs that Cloud still puts on a front with Aerith because he doesn't know how to deal with her. Which is typical for Cloud since he's emotionally 16 and never dealt with girls.

That perky persona visibly drains from Aerith's face and body language. Her posture sags, she breaks eye contact, she looks sad. This is the image of someone who isn't happy to hear that Cloud's worried about her. Now, if she was into the whole ship wouldn't she be happier to hear that line from him? She's regretful and turns away again, using her body as a barrier to any possible intimacy.

I'm sure people disagree, so imma explain. If she'd turned her back that would be an outright rejection. She'd be fully closing herself off. By turning away, she's indicating the conversation isn't over, but her degree of attention on Cloud is less than if she'd face him head on. If she stayed facing him, then that builds intimacy since face to face is open body language which can have several interpretations – some of which I've mentioned before like confrontational when Cloud steps up to Rude. When it's between a couple, it's suggestive of building intimacy and trust.

And when Cloud takes a step towards Aerith, she steps away again, towards the lifestream in the distance. Not permitting the closing of distance is a sign she doesn't want to encourage intimacy with him. That she walks towards where the lifestream is means that's where her attention and focus is. Whether that's an overarching plot reason or from a “Zack is there” reason is up to your interpretation.

Another immortal line. Considering Aerith just stepped towards where we can see the lifestream and that she's taking up her priestess pose we can reasonably assume she's thinking of Zack, unless you're once again subscribing to the theory that she's meta!Aerith aware of her own death and speaking of that. In which case, yall need to make up your minds whether she's one or the other because you can't swap between the two when it suits you just to justify your arguments.

When Cloud says “I'll remember that” in response to Aerith's advice that “every moment matters” it definitely comes across as one of those character building life lessons that Cloud's had over the course of the game. He got one from Barret about how not everyone has a choice to run away, one from Marle about listening to others and caring and now he's got one from Aerith about making the time they have count. These are mentor moments.

But more importantly, look who Aerith's looking at when she says that line. It's not Cloud, not the lifestream. Us. The players. She is talking to us. This isn't just wisdom for Cloud, it's for us, too.

After a 9 second pause from Aerith, in which she looks at the ground, Cloud offers a suggestion of what she wants to say next. She seems very lost in thought during this time, and almost reluctant to speak. Considering she always seems to know what to say in any given situation, this is off. This very long pause is the longest she's been silent in the whole game. It's notable. She almost seems to be warring with herself as her eyes narrow and she subtly shifts from side to side.

I may well be wrong about the length of time she’s silent. It could be 7 seconds in a callback to the 7 seconds it took for Sephiroth to drop and kill her in OG. 

I'm one of those who does subscribe to the whole OG!Aerith vs meta!Aerith theories – which I stick to throughout every scene involving her so don't even try and @ me and say I'm a liar – and to me, this looks like OG Aerith trying to assert dominance over the situation, while meta Aerith wants to refuse.

When Cloud speaks, Aerith looks grateful for the cut in. It pulls her out of that warring state, while he's trying to look cool and mature still lol (dork)

Okay, so that whole speech she gives about thanking him is definitely coming off like she's aware of things she shouldn't know yet. This may be what OG!Aerith was trying to prevent her from saying. This isn’t something that Cloud should know yet, after all.

After some physical humming and hawing, eyes downcast, then glancing away and we get a shot of her feet – remember all of this is intentional to build a story here – she looks up and we get this line that's making certain people freak out with joy.

Quick lesson on intonation.

Intonation is the rise and fall – the pitch – of how you say certain words. The way you say them gives them their meaning. You can say the same words in many different ways to convey different meanings and/or emotions.

I've previously focused on Aerith's choice of the word “can't” here because this is the key word in the phrase.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how certain people are interpreting this line to turn it into a positive. The word “can't” is synonymous with an impossibility. It means “there are specific reasons why this isn't possible.”

Aerith didn't say “Don't” as in “you shouldn't”. She said “can't” as in “not able to”. She is telling Cloud that he's not able to love her. The specific intonation on the word “can't” supports this evidence. If yall wanna examine it more closely then I suggest you turn the sound down slightly so it's actually harder to hear the whole sentence and see which words have more emphasis. Can't has specific emphasis, which wouldn't be there if she wasn't stressing the word.

As for her facial expression. I mean, this doesn't look like the earlier one where she's sad or regretful. This is matter of fact. She's telling him this as a kindness because he's not yet aware of the reasons that she is.

(Note: I didn't say which specific reasons because some of yall say it's her death and others say it's Tifa, so that's up to you. There's reasons, is my point).

So up until she said that, Cloud was actually looking at her. But this made him turn away in dismissal. Not with embarrassment. He's not caught out and flustered. He's SOLDIER!Cloud, remember? He's all front and super cool facade.

This isn't the first time a girl has thrown herself at him. Jessie did it too, only more ott. Cloud's used to brushing off girls and does it without effort.

I'm sure up to this point some people have been screaming about how biased I've been and unfair and this is so cloti (excuse me while I roll my eyes).

So, if I'm biased why am I about to point out that the above screen is real!Cloud popping in for a visit? This is him overriding the SOLDIER persona to question if Aerith might have a point. But not about her. About Tifa. Because within the previous few hours, Cloud and Tifa shared an intimate moment. And it wasn’t soldier Cloud who did that. It was real Cloud. Aerith is calling attention to real Cloud’s feelings for Tifa, which makes him look to the house where Tifa is sleeping. He gets soft eyed and starts to smile, but then seems to want to question himself, which we know isn’t a good idea. Real Cloud and Soldier Cloud aren’t ready to meet yet.

And while real!Cloud is busy debating with SOLDIER!Cloud about Aerith's words, she's approached completely silently – because, ykno, she's not actually there – and he's caught sight of her hand in his peripheral vision. The second she touches him he jerks back looking surprised. This wasn't a telegraphed move where he saw it coming from 10 feet away and chose to do nothing.

I also question that if he can feel her hand here then it's solid, but when he goes to grab her it's not? So, she chose to let him feel the first touch, but then rejected him grabbing her? Or is it more likely that having caught sight of her hand in his peripheral vision he didn't actually feel her touch his face then or the time after because Aerith's not there. There's no actual physical interaction between them.

This is pity. Not much else to say about it. Meta!Aerith knows Cloud's future and that by introducing these future concepts to him, she's causing confusion ahead of the time it should happen. She feels bad about that and probably about her OG behaviour that she had no control over thanks to the Whispers forcing her to go against her real nature.

Well, I was going to say that Cloud going to grab her wrist – not her hand – is just further proof of her intangible presence. She isn't someone he can hold onto. But having grabbed this screen it's clear he wouldn't have grabbed her wrist at all either. His hand is open and aimed at her forearm and already passing through her well before he tries to close it.

And the reason why goes back to the ghost thing. Cloud thought she wasn’t there in person, that she might be dead or it’s a dream, but then she touched him. So he wants to grab her the same way he did Jessie in the pillar, to try and keep her alive. But his hand goes through her and he’s left looking confused again.

“Do I get a say in all this?”

Well now. That's a bit different. I'm sure like everyone else we've all been convinced that Cloud said “Don't I get a say in this?” like he's arguing with Aerith's decision. That he's admitting he's already in love with her.

“Do I get a say in all this?” is a totally different kettle of fish.

Don't connotates a confrontational tone. It's argumentative. It's rejecting whatever previous statement was made.

Do is a question. It's inquisitive. Placid. Neutral. It's neither confirming, nor denying the previous statement. It's merely asking for more information.

Funny how those little word replacements some people use end up twisting the narrative.

Cloud’s not just speaking about Aerith’s most recent statement either. He’s talking about the whole conversation they just had. The possibility that she’s dead or dying and he doesn’t get any choice about it. This is a throwback to the OG theme of life and death and how the dying get to say goodbye and decide how to leave, while the living don’t and have to figure out how to move on from it afterwards. 

Anyway, Cloud has his back to us, so we don't even know if that's coming from SOLDIER!Cloud or real!Cloud, so that's up for debate and I won't even bother since he's got his back to us and we can't see either way.

And then we've got the cool SOLDIER!Cloud (screen) telling Aerith he's gonna save her. We already know that Cloud does his best to sound cool and confident when talking to Aerith because he doesn't know how to be himself around her. This is the kind of line you'd expect to hear from him.

She replies, “If that's what you want.” which is also very non-specific. It's a neutral statement that leaves things up to Cloud. It could imply an answer to the previous question he asked, since the two do stand beside each other and make sense. However, the interjected “It's almost morning” line breaks this up and makes it less of an impactful statement from her. She's done her upmost to neutralise any romantic context from this scene.

Conclusion

If yall saw romance then okay, you must be right.

I sure af didn't. I saw a regretful Aerith telling Cloud things he shouldn't be aware of yet, feeling more regretful for confusing someone who's already suffering from mental illness and then making non-committal statements that neither reject or encourage his attention.

Maybe she's regretful for her own sake as well, knowing what she does about him and still doing this to push some future narrative only she's aware of, but I wouldn't say this is romantic. It's clearly some kind of goodbye from her. Cloud, for his part, looks confused and guarded through most of the scene. There's one moment when his real self peeks out to question Aerith's meaning, but then he's gone again. We can't say for any certainty that his question was asked by his true self or his SOLDIER persona and without visual context I won't speculate.

[frooopsen]

kyalin - part 1

Tw: self inflicted wound / character death 

Post-TLOK / book 4

Summary: Kya and Lin are already together and Lin’s repressed fears show themselves in an unexpected way.

Notes: Bear with me, as this is my first and also english isn’t my mothertongue. If y’all like it, imma maybe write a second follow-up chapter. + my laptop won‘t let me chose the correct quotation marks...

RESTLESSNESS

Kya was tugging at her hands. „Stop it Kya!“, she huffed, trying to loosen the waterbender‘s firm grip around her wirsts. „Don’t be a bore, just do it! Deep down you want to.“, Kya said shaking her head. When Lin started looking around in search for objects to cling onto, she thought it best not to keep dragging her towards the big windows leading to the garden. Afterall she didn’t want Lin to stomp her feet into the ground. Moving the stubborn woman wasn’t worth damaging their floor.

„Fine!“, she gave in, stepping out into the rain, back turned on her lover. „Alone I go.“ Without bothering to bend the raindrops away from herself she swung around, blowing an exaggerated kiss towards the smiling sillouette, leaning against the windowframe.

Though Lin wasn’t surprised anymore by Kya wandering off into the garden at random times to dance – even in the rain – she didn’t like the idea of being dragged outside herself – especially when it was raining. She much rather stood there, watching her. The silver hair gradually clinging to her shoulders as it became increasingly wet, her tan body moving swiftly as she seemed to be playing with the drops, rather than avoiding them.

As a blow of wind swept by the open window she felt the cold air raising goosebumps on her skin. „Aren’t you getting cold?“, she asked in consideration. Kya stopped spinning and stood with her arms stretched out to regain her balance. „I won’t be if you bring me one of your sweaters.“, she said smirking at Lin.

When she came back from the bedroom, sweater in hand, waiting for Kya to approach her, the other woman didn’t even think about moving. „Stop teasing and come here. We don’t want you getting a cold.“

The waterbender innocently shrugged her shoulders. „Well then you better get over here soon to warm me up.“ Lin knew it was a waste of time arguing with her and her clothes hopefully wouldn’t be soaked, spending a few seconds outside. „The things I do for you.“, she mumbled, stepping onto the lawn.

Desperately trying to keep her scowl, she felt her face growing softer as the distance between them closed. „Look who made it to the party!“, the waterbender kept teasing as she pulled the sweater over her wet clothes before quickly leaning in for a kiss. „Ew, Kya, you’re drenched!“, Lin complained after pulling away. „An now so are you. Come on, just dance with me.“

The earthbender held both hands over her head, shielding her hair. After contemplating for a moment she gave in to Kyas smug smile and wrapped her hands around her waist. „Alright, you win. But we’re going back inside in two minutes.“ The waterbender nodded slowly and placed both her hands on Lins shoulders, encouraging her to sway from left to right.

They each had their focus on the other until their foreheads practically touched. The cold was almost forgotten when after a while Kya broke the embrace and took a step back. Certain of victory she clapped her hands together and the rain stopped completely as the clouds vanished within the blink of an eye. Lin didn’t have time for her confusion to fully settle in before Kya asked, „Don’t you want to say goodbye?“

Her voice was filled with fear, causing Lins heart to sting. „What are you talking about?“ She reached out for Kyas hands but froze as she saw her pulling a kitchen knife from behind her back. „What are you doing?“ Terror filled the earthbender‘s voice as her stance instinctively widened. „Where did you even get that?“

Kya slowly moved the knife towards her own throat, maintaining the eye-contact. The feeling of helplessness swallowed Lin whole as she tried moving but found herself paralyzed. „Kya stop it! This isn’t a joke!“, she exclaimed as the other woman rephrased sternly. „Say it! Time’s running out! Say your good-bye.“ Lin shook her head, trying to regain her sense of self. What was she talking about?

„Drop that knife!“, she demanded, internally thanking her inner chief for kicking in. A relieved sigh escaped her mouth as Kya complied, moving the blade downwards. „You should have just said it.“, she whispered disappointedly. Her words were accompanied by action as she plunged the knife into her chest without a sound or wince.

Lins eyes widened in horror.

Kya fell back, smiling.

„KYA!“, Lin screamed as her voice cracked and her legs gave in. „I’m sorry! I’m sorry!“, she cried, pressing the other woman against herself, rocking the both of them, „I’ll say it! I’ll do it! I’ll say good-bye.“ She couldn’t hear herself against the blood rushing in her ears.

Kya looked up at her, chuckling, „Good-bye’s over now, silly.“

A wave of panic rushed over Lin as she felt the body, she was now hunching over, grow limb. The next wave followed as she felt a strong hand ripping her wrist to the left and a voice calling her name.

„Lin.“ She felt herself blacking out but after a few breaths she noticed she hadn’t blacked out but woken up. „Lin, Lin.“, Kya mumbled while waking herself and turning on the lamp ontop of the nightstand. „What’s wrong? Are you ok?“

Lins eyes met hers and even in the dim light and with squinted eyes, Kya saw a kind of fear she hadn’t seen since Ammon had taken Lin’s bending. „Breathe.“, she reminded her and pulled the blanket away from atop them, revealing the tense body next to her. „You’re home“, her soft voice filled the room, „You’re ok.“

Lin slowly calmed her breathing and her eyes closed in exhaustion. She tried her best to reach their blanket, but her body still wouldn’t move. Kya sat up straight trying not to let the worry she felt, take over her facial expression. „Can you let got of my hand now?“, she whispered as Lin’s breathing slowed down. With now both hands Kya carressed her lover‘s limbs and face, bending away the pearls of sweat, which seemed to gradually lead to less tension. „Try going back to sleep.“, she said, leaving kisses on Lins cheek. She almost overheard the hoarse voice finally answering her, „Can you stay awake, until I’m back asleep?“.

„Of course.“, she smiled, carefully sliding closer and drawing Lin into a loose embrace.

[yeet-imma-skeet]

The Sky Has Fallen

(Based in @starr-fall-knight-rise 's unique universe and part 2 to The Sky is Falling)

(Part 1: https://yeet-imma-skeet.tumblr.com/post/613232997621202944/the-sky-is-falling)

Quiet.

Unbearable, suffocating silence.

The guard hated that the most about their long journey.

A month had passed by since their launch into the unknown. Long ago had they past the sight of their plentiful solar system rich in mineral asteroids and beautiful planets. Away from their warm and loving star. Far, far away from their once vibrant home...

The further they went, the more sorrow they felt. To combat their grieving, they had made plans together for the very first time in years, finding their rhythm with each other once again. They had talked about memories both new and old while working with whatever they could. The Sea Prince monitored and maintained the dolmier quaster, trying to fix their broken navigation rig hit by a stray asteroid. The Sky Prince was studying medical files in the dolmier, a first for both the Sea Prince and the guard, as he found it necessary if one of them were to be hurt. A helpful floating orb of data flew between them, projecting screens of information. It was a rare piece of tech yet a welcome one in their dolmier. It acted rather strange for a machine yet it got the job done.

The guard, a newly anointed Vigil in fact, took her job seriously as she scanned the space outside the dolmier. But she never could expected that the wide expanse of space looked unbelievably beautiful, terrifying for sure but containing endless wonder.

Her gaze was always turned to the ground on their planet Farris. Stay in her place. Bow to the powerful. Serve their whims. Train endlessly where she lacked. Run faster and climb farther. Tear her body down to build it up again. She didn’t mind it if it was all to see her friends every now and then. Even if it was every few years at urgent meetings where she wasn’t allowed to speak. She didn’t mind, she really didn’t...

Plink! Her arials shot open, tilting everywhich way.

“Your highnesses?”

A muffled voice yelled from another room, “One, you don’t have to call us that! Two, what?”

“Did you happen to drop something?”

“No. Wace did you?”

The Sea Prince poked his head out from a doorway, “No.”

Galia narrowed her eyes as her hackles rose, “Get to the control room and lock the doors.”

“What—“

“Quiet. Go.”

A pensive pause hung in the air until they wordlessly hurried away. The guard watched them go, reaching for a long unused sense within her. She couldn’t let them see her as the weapon she was trained to be. They would be horrified, they would hate her as her old littermate Prince Kial did when he witnessed her work. It’s best not to expose them to too much bloodshed. Not after the tragedy a month ago.

She spread her arials as far as they could and went into a hunting crouch. Her footsteps didn't make a sound, different from the usual clicking of claws. Speaking of claws, she flexed her hands, feeling sharp three inch long claws erupted from her fingertips. She prowled into a rounded corridor as her arials twisted everywhich way to catch a sound.

Thunk.

She darted into the halls, running off walls to avoid slowing down. Her arials picked up a suspicious noise in the loading bay. There was no way in hell that the dolmier made the noise. It sounded disturbingly organic.

The guard slid to a quiet stop before she krept to the entrance of the bay. Her body tensed like a spring as her eyes sharpened into an uncomfortable focus. Her mane and tuft of hair on her tail raised, hackled at her hunting mode. The oval door slipped open at her silent command, the guard poised for action in front of the dimly lit room.

Something shuffled behind a few crates. Her eyes locked onto the sound as she prowled into the shadows of towering stacked crates. She heard rapid breathing and felt subtle vibrations from the floor. Though her hearts hammered against her chest, her mind stayed focused on the target. It silenced, stopping its breathing to her arials.

She sprung. An unearthly screech teared through the air, making her head ring to the unexpected sound. But luckily she was trained for this. Her claws dug into wriggling flesh as she raked down the creature with her hind legs. Bodily fluids spilt and the creature screeched louder. The body thrashed as the guard hung on, being hit on all sides by the floor and falling crates. She hissed as it bit her tail, opening her hidden jaws for payback. With stabbing pain, her tail constricted around what seemed to be legs while she slammed the rest onto the ground. The creature stopped, dazed as she chomped down. The vile taste of its blood made her gag, almost making her rear back in disgust. It screeched with more desperation, trying to buck off its attacker. A limb flew back, cutting across her face as she lost sight in her left eye. She roared in muffled pain, doing everything she could to pin down its body. As much as she hated it, her jaws clamped down harder as she swiftly tugged up. The snap of its spine heralded blissful silence. She thought it ironic that she hated the silence a moment ago.

The guard quickly sprang away, spitting out its horrible taste and comedically trying to wipe it off with her hands. Bad idea.

"Oh my goddess, I made it worse!" She spat, realizing her hands were also covered in green blood. Wait, green?

Her mind exploded with fear, making her back away from the dead creature even more. She tried hacking out the taste in her mouth harder until her throat burned. Horrified still, the guard wiped away as much blood as she could with panicked hands.

No! An infected! How is it here?!

She commanded for brighter lights before her hearts dropped to her tail, paralyzing her in horror. The mangled body of a infected Farrisan laid on the metallic floor, lying still in green puddles of blood. Jagged lines of black carved through their white skin, making the flesh bulbous and rotten. Their mane was pure black, unusual for them as they were purely a Sky Dweller. Lastly, its death opened eyes was a glazed putrid green.

Her legs weakened as she slumped to the ground in shock. The disease that the dead body had decimated their planet, killing ninety percent of those who were infected after they turned into mindless abominations. They spreaded it by wandering around and attacking anyone, infecting others with their bodily fluids that she just injested a moment ago. Her tail, though bitten, didn’t bleed because of Farrisan biology but still proved to be a certain wound infested with its saliva. Her claws retracted as she stared at her stained hands, unbelieving at her mistake.

“GALIA!”

Her head snapped up, arials picking up a violent scuffle in the dolmier. It came from the control room.

She launched herself out of the bay, claws digging into the metal floor like butter as she pushed for speed. A horribly familiar screech sounded along with panicked yelling. No! Her legs felt like they were on fire as did her lungs when she sped through the corridors. Her eyes only saw tunnel vision when she burst into the room. A purely blackened Farrisan stood over the still bodies of her friends, a silver trident in its back.

All she saw was red. With a battle cry of rage she attacked. She slashed at the body with everything she had, having no room in her mind for finesse or thoughts of training. Even if she was going to become one of them, she was taking it down with her! The guard kept clawing, slashing, and biting as the infected fell dead in her hands. Blood trickled down her chin before she noticed she was mangling something long dead. Its face was undefinable as was the rest of the torn body covered in deep cuts but she didn’t care. Not when her only two companions left in the world were dead.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.” She cried, “It’s all my fault!”

Her arials shook as the ground seemed to sway under her feet. She stumbled to their bodies, falling to her knees once again in shock. A sorrowful cry built its way up into her chest as she keened. Their once joyful faces would never look at her again. She would never hear their voices laugh and talk.

Gasp. Her arials perked up at the sound. Another slow gasp came from them. Placing her shaking hands on their chests, she felt the undeniable beatings of their hearts. It was slow yet strong. They were still breathing! Thank Matradais!

The orb of info that hung around the pair hovered near from its hiding spot under the deck, projecting an image of stasis pods within the medical bay nearby. She got the idea, heaving the Sky Prince into her arms. Deep lacerations cut through his abdomen, bleeding pale blue blood. It normally wouldn’t have bled if he was awake but she had no time to wake him. The guard ignored the dripping down her fingers as she stumbled into the medical bay. The helpful orb flew to an empty clear cylinder surrounded in metal pipes and panels. Following its direction, she gently set her charge inside the cylinder through its sliding door. With a quiet click and a whisper of escaping gas, it sealed him inside as an unknown liquid poured into the capsule. She watched the tall cyclinder fill with anxiety, uncertain yet hoping. The orb nudged her lightly towards the door, showing an image of an arrow towards another stasis pod.

She rushed out of the room, bringing back the Sea Prince over her shoulder. He was stupidly heavy, almost twice her size but it didn’t stop her from dragging him into the other glasslike cylinder. Liquid filled his container too as she motioned for the orb to approach her.

“Vitals?”

It projected a summary of their injuries and, surpringly, her own. Aleyo by far had the worse injuries out of all of them. His floating form inside the pod looked just as bad as it did on his information. His tail had chunks bitten off as his cuts ran along his abdomen. Wace had less damage, having slashes down his arms and chest and nothing more. Her own wounds just consisted of her tail being bitten and her left eye nonexistent. Her hand shot up to her face as a searing fire flared where her eye used to be as did her tail. Her body allowed her to bleed as the threat was now gone, leaving her in pain and slumped to the floor. With a shocked whir of surprise, the orb zoomed around the room, somehow bringing bandages, string, and needles to her side.

She rasped, “Th-thanks.”

The room was starting to spin as the guard smelt her own blood. She stayed conscious enough to stitch herself up with some prompting from the orb, hissing with every stab to her flesh. Done with her tail, she had to know the rest of her charges damage. She read down the statistics with a critical eye, wrapping her now missing one with bandages.

Both had signs that the infecting disease was running through their systems but for her...

“I’m immune?!”

The orb bobbed in place, it’s own equivalent of nodding. Her hearts hammered inside her chest. She was one of the few, one of less than ten thousand Farrisans to be immune to the harmful affects of the disease.

On its projected screen it asked, “My programming allows for bioengineering research. May I use a blood sample from you to calculate a cure? It will take approximately 673 cycles to calculate.”

Her eye widened, her gaze solely on that one miracle word, “I don’t care how long. Take it!”

————————————

A beautiful swirl of purples, greens, and blues made up the impressively large nebulae outside the UNSC Esperanca. The spaceship seemed to be the size of an atom compared to its grand size. It would make any human feel small and inconsequential compared to its majesty. Which is why they decided to explore it, or more accurately, why the acting commander Adam Vir wanted to explore it but couldn’t personally because he was up to hijinks.

Captain Silva sighed and thought to himself these thoughts. Commander Vir always seemed to be somewhere doing God-knows-what wherever he went. Silva admitted that he was the most qualified to lead space exploration but still felt a bit of anxiety when he remembered Vir lead a fleet. He leaned back in his captain’s chair, gazing around him at the holograms of his ship’s surroundings. The stately bustling of footsteps and low conversations made the atmosphere all the more calming under the stars. A few heavier steps approached him, reminding him of the few Drev he hired on board.

“Any problems, Latinar?” He gruffly asked.

The four armed alien held a tablet within a hand, his beak-like snout turned down to inspect it. The dull silver carapace of his reflected the nebulae above, smattering him with glittering color. It was quite the relaxing light show if it wasn’t for the suspicious look on his face.

Latibar spoke, “We’re receiving an unknown signal from inside that nebula.”

“A signal?” The rest of the main deck started to notice the change in the air.

The gray Drev tapped a few times on his tablet, sending something to the room, “It was a bit hard to understand what it was until Mathan helped smooth it out. You might want to listen hard, though.”

He tapped once more before an audio file played aloud, silencing any conversation. It first started as a fluctuating hum, raising in pitch then lowering rapidly at random times. Some clicks and chittering sounded in some intervals as did some guttural hisses. It lasted for about three solid minutes, never stopping and reminding the humans of a squirrel cat hybrid in distress. At the last chitter, the room sat quiet, unsure of what they just heard.

“What... was that?”

“A message along with an address.”

A static image hung in the air, showing stars and planets connected to each other with lines but labeled with unknown text.

Captain Silva sat up in his seat, scrutinizing the picture, “Lieutenant Crimm?”

A young man at a control panel stared for a moment before typing away as his desk, numbers and letter passing through his screen until he announced, “Its three days away, sir.”

The Drev looked between their locked eyes in confusion, “What is going on?”

Silva combed a hand through his graying hair before rubbing his face, heaving a strained sigh, “Commader Vir ordered all ships to investigate strange phenomena and we fucking found one.”

“Do we reroute our course, sir?”

He stood up with shoulders squared and eyes accepting, surprising Latinar at his unusual behavior. Silva normally bemoaned at the commander’s command, following through yes, but with a grumbling attitude. It’s like he flipped a switch, turning into a focused human leader instead of a grouchy manager of a business. This is what he looked for. To see one of the highest standing humans finally find a challenge.

Captain Silva wolfishly grinned, “Set course for that location. Commander Vir can’t hog all the glory!”

(Part 3: https://yeet-imma-skeet.tumblr.com/post/615142949001527296/where-is-the-sky)

[edwinmuch]

overachiever ✧ {zion}

summary: in which straight A student riley takes a break from her procrastinating to help pretty boy zion with more than just his homework

author’s note: @softhottie‘s submission for @temperaryheart‘s 700 follower challenge! literally posting on the last day but better late than never, right? (haven’t written for leisure in a while so fair warning)

prompt: prettymuch lyric (bolded)

warnings: mention of drugs, smut (oral, daddy kink, overstimulation, edging)

word count: 3.5k

No on-campus college experience is complete without the following things: sleepless coffee-driven nights, at least one blackout drunk party experience, and a casual hookup or two. Third year Sociology major Zion could definitely say he’s checked off all of the above (several times, he might add). He was especially well-versed in the collegiate sport of hooking up. In fact, he would probably be considered something of an MVP. He’s had his fair share of players in his game. But like with any sport, it takes strategy. There was a secret artform to finding the most opportune times for intimacy when in college. Shared rooms and thin walls don’t exactly allow for privacy, especially when the room in question is shared with a nosy Italian business major named Nick.

This is why Zion decided to make every second count when he discovered his best friend and roommate Nick would be out of their dorm room for a few hours. According to Nick, his abnormal psychology midterm was “going to be the death of him.” It was his last exam before finals week, and he knew he couldn’t afford to fail so he announced that he would be spending that entire Thursday evening in the library studying for it. Zion tried to hide his excitement at his friend’s departure.

“Damn bro, that sucks. Happy studying though,” he managed to utter on Nick’s way out, feigning concern.

When the door finally shut, it took him all of 30 seconds to dial up his favorite girl as of late: Riley Williams, this fiery Women’s and Gender Studies major who resided in his building on the floor above his. They had met in his 10AM sociology class about two and a half months ago. She was hard not to notice when her hand shot up for almost every question, portraying herself as someone who obviously reads over the required text after class. But unlike others, Zion actually paid more attention to her cute tendency to absentmindedly let her pen linger between her glossy lips when she found herself concentrating deeply and her seemingly never-ending collection of flattering outfits. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t notice the way her curves looked in one of her cropped cardigan and plaid mini skirt ensembles or the hypnotizing glint of her signature “B-A-B-Y” silver link necklace that adorned her collarbones so well. Despite her engagement in class and endearing mannerisms, she still came off as standoffish, working alone during paired in-class assignments and rolling her eyes at less than intelligent answers from other students in response to the professor’s questions. But, after the fourth lecture of her sitting in her unassigned assigned seat next to his, he decided to take a chance and strike up a conversation, relieved to be met with her dimpled, wide tooth smile; the rest was history.

He doesn’t really know how their current arrangement really came to be. It started off as occasional study sessions in Zion’s room since she obviously knew her material. Then, it had quickly become invitations to binge-watch Bojack Horseman, a show Riley prided herself on introducing to him, or to share a blunt with him and Nick at the end of a particularly stressful school week. But eventually, a few lines had blurred when an innocent smoke sesh (sans Nick) had a salacious end involving her on all fours and her clothes long discarded on his bedroom floor. With this new dynamic between them, he’s made a habit of calling or texting her when late night thoughts of her became too enticing to resist. He hadn’t been hitting her line lately though, the stress of studying for exams and completing assignments keeping them apart. But with midterm season coming to a close and Nick finally being out of his hair, the eager boy was aching to finally invite his favorite girl over once again.

“Hey Z. What’s up?” Riley answered on the second ring, the mellifluous sound of her voice already getting him worked up.

“Hey beautiful. So, Nick is out of the room for tonight,” Zion boasted, the smirk on his face apparent even through the phone.

She waited for him to continue, thinking there was more, but he never did.

“…Okay, and? What’s that gotta do with me? Why should I drop everything to help you get a nut? I’m in the middle of writing a paper, you know,” she replied as she flicked through Netflix titles. He didn’t need to know that her “paper writing” actually equated to television streaming. Her point still stands.

“Babyyy come on, stop playin’,” he whined, “You know, I’m never selfish. Besides, the post-nut clarity of an orgasm or two will help you focus on your paper. Just gimme an hour, please?”

“Ugh I don’t know.” Although the specificities of their current relationship (or situationship, rather) had never been fully discussed, Riley must admit his sweet delivery of “baby” really made her insides scramble. At this point, she was ready to be laid up in Zion’s bed (preferably under him), especially since she wasn’t actually doing anything productive anyway, but she was also ready to hear him beg for it.

“Please baby, it’s been weeks since I’ve had you to myself. I’ll make it worth your while. Nick’s probably gonna be gone most of the night too so when you show up, m’gonna put this time to use,” the insatiable boy persuaded, the seductive rasp of his voice prominent in his last few words.

“Welllll, when you put it like that,” she began, smiling to herself as she was almost able to hear Zion’s excitement through the phone, “I’ll be there in 20.”

~~~

Riley stepped off the elevator and trodded down the RA-decorated hallway in her pink fuzzy slides to Zion’s dorm room door where she placed a soft knock. She barely had time to collect herself before the door swung open revealing a shirtless Zion leaning against the doorframe, his platinum-dyed dreads braided back into two cornrows and his dark gray cotton sweatpants hanging low enough to reveal almost the entirety of his happy trail. He wasted no time pulling her into the room. She couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her face at her observation of the atmosphere Zion had created for her. His Himalayan salt lamp lit the room up in a sensuous coral hue while Next Town Down’s Lovers Theme (Interlude) played in the background.

“Next Town Down, huh?” she teased with a quirk of her lips, knowing she put him on to the musical group.

Zion smiled down at her with a set of dimples to match her own. “Yeah I know you like them. Thought it might help put you in the mood,” he shrugged smugly with his devilish smile still present on his face.

“Oh please! I know you bump them when I’m not around,” she giggled, poking him in his chest as she made her point.

“Yeah whatever,” he chuckled, his hands falling to her hips. He slowly backed them up towards his plush loveseat in the corner of the room. Once the back of his calves touched the suede material of the couch, he plopped onto the cushion. Riley followed suit, climbing onto his lap with her knees digging into the cushion on either side of him and her freshly manicured hands finding their way wrapped behind his head.

Zion made sure the dainty girl was comfortable in his lap before his large hands snaked up her luscious thighs, rubbing her up and down before finding their place on her derrière with a squeeze.

“Mmm I missed you baby.”

“Oh really? How much?” she whispered in his ear, sending chills up his spine.

“Don’t worry, imma show you.” And with that, he started his determined campaign on her neck, kissing up the area of exposed flesh even going as far as to flick his tongue out as he reached her jawline. She pulled away for a moment to slip her cropped sweatshirt over her head, fluffing out the resultant curls of her day old twist out once it passed over her head. She was left with nothing covering her upper half as she had made the deliberate decision not to wear bra to come over.

She couldn’t contain the soft moans and content sighs that escaped her lips. As he sponged wet kisses to the sensitive spot under her earlobe and his nimble fingers worked her hardening nipples, she instinctively ground her hips into his for some added friction between them.

“Need these off you too ma,” Zion whispered, snapping the waistband of her sweat shorts. And with no hesitation she complied, getting up briefly to slide them down her supple legs. She silently thanked herself for her lingerie selection; the pink and navy blue lace of her panties graciously highlighted the warm bronze undertones of her golden brown skin as well as the generous curve of her ass.

She sunk back down onto his lap, hands carefully placed on his shoulders as she returned to grinding against Zion’s ever hardening member with a little more fervor. Before the boy could utter another word, Riley pressed her lips against his in a feverish kiss.

Zion reciprocated with the same amount of enthusiasm, accepting every sloppy collision of their tongues and sensuous bite of his bottom lip with a gratified squeeze of her thigh with one hand and a rub of her lower back with the other. She quickly began her descent down his neck. Nipping, licking, sucking from his jawline to his collarbone.

A lazy smile crept upon Zion’s face as a chuckle passed his lips. “For someone who ain’t even wanna come over here, you sure are eager, huh?”

“Shut up,” she smiled against his skin, “Listen, you promised me ‘an orgasm or two’ and I intend on getting it.”

“And I’m a man of my word baby girl.” And with that challenge, Zion hooked his strong hands under Riley’s thick thighs and hoisted her from the couch, allowing her to lock her legs around his torso. Without pulling their lips away from each other, Zion walked them to his extra large twin sized bed.

He lowered her onto the bed so that her legs dangled off the end. He slinked between her legs before dropping to his knees in front of her. Riley rose off the bed slightly to lean back on her elbows; she watched as he ran his soft hands up her awaiting thighs, never losing eye contact as he did so. His nimble fingers stopped at the elastic waistband of her panties. He smirked as he mentally took note of the ever-growing wet spot in its crotch area before deftly slipping the cloth barrier down her legs and onto the carpeted floor.

“Mmm so wet for me baby,” he wasted no time hooking her legs onto his shoulders.

“Just for you,” she breathed out as a shuddered moan while Zion left lingering kisses up her inner thigh until he reached her throbbing center. He hovered there for a bit, blowing lightly against her folds. She hissed at the sudden cold air hitting her soaking cunt.

“God Zion, do something,” she whined, absentmindedly pushing his head further toward the area she needed him most.

Her wish was his command as he kissed and sucked on her folds before dipping his tongue in between them to lick a stripe at her opening. He took this time to admire her and take note of how cute she looked laying there with her bottom lip drawn between her teeth. That’s when his eager tongue found her sensitive bundle of nerves, flicking figure eights into it before sucking.

“Ahh feels so good,” Riley moaned in a whisper, grabbing at his blond locs as he lapped at her bud. Her hips began instinctively lifting slightly off the mattress as she was nearing her peak. Zion’s large hands took hold of them to anchor her and continue his gluttonous feast.

It wasn’t long before she was met with the all too familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach as she gushed into Zion’s awaiting mouth. Her eyes screwed shut and her mouth fell open allowing a loud stream of obscenities to flow from it.

Once her thighs stopped trembling, Zion released their hold from around his neck and rose from his place on his knees. Riley backed up toward the headboard so her entire body could spread across the bed and she could watch Zion’s every move. In two swift motions, Zion’s sweats were removed from his body to reveal that he was wearing nothing else underneath. He crawled on top of her and placed a wet, needy kiss to her lips. He licked into her mouth sloppily, allowing her to taste herself on his tongue.  

“What next baby?” he uttered breathily between messy kisses. She placed her hand on his chest to signal for him to pull away for a moment. He complied looking down at her flushed face and swollen lips.

“Can I sit on it?” she said softly in the most innocent tone possible. The sight of her plump lips pulled into a pout and her doe eyes peering up at him through her cascading lashes were enough to make his dick twitch.

“Course baby,” he punctuated his confirmation with a kiss to her lips before climbing off of her and landing on his back. He laid comfortably against his pillow, waiting for her to make her next move.

Riley sat up and swung her leg over his body. She hovered over his length before Zion helped her sink down onto it. She winced at the initial stretch but released a satisfied sigh once she finally bottomed out.

After taking a moment to adjust to his size, she began to rock her hips back and forth. Once she found her rhythm, Zion got comfortable, hands clasped behind his head watching her titties bounce as she moved above him. She placed her palms on his chest to steady herself and give herself more leverage to bounce on him more quickly.

“Fuck Daddy, you feel so good,” she drawled out with each swivel of her hips. She praised herself internally at the coy slip of the pet name, knowing how much it riled him up during their last rendezvous. As she expected, the sweet phrase flicked a switch for the boy whose large hands found themselves grabbing at her sides hungrily. It was always a surprise to him when she was vulgar during sex as she was usually prim and proper in any other scenario, but his surprise was most certainly not a complaint.

“Say that shit again,” he growled, beginning to thrust up into her.

“You f-feel so good insi-ide me, Daddy,” she moaned, falling forward in response to a particularly forceful slap to her ass. Zion took this opportunity to capture one of her breasts in his mouth, sucking and swirling his tongue around her erect little bud.

Riley began to fall apart above him, the sinful sound of their skin slapping against each other and the full feeling of him thrusting into her so deeply were taking their toll on her. She could barely form a coherent sentence through her incessant whimpers.

“So cl- close,” she stuttered, digging her nails into his shoulders as she prepared herself for a second orgasm, the buildup much more intense than the last. She loudly cried out a chant of “Yes daddy”s, uncontrollably clenching around him while he continued to rail into her from below. She rode out her high, the longest she’d had in a while. Before long, she fell forward onto her lover’s chest in exhaustion with a drawn-out exaggerated sigh.

Just as she was ready to roll off of him and call it a night, Zion reached up and grabbed her by the throat, whispering in her ear, “You ready for number 3 baby?”

Her eyes widened as she weakly replied, catching her breath, “You said one or two. I already came twice.”

With a mischievous smirk, Zion eyed her naked body with the same hunger he had when she first walked through the door. “Yeah well I also said I’d make it worth your while. What can I say? I’m an overachiever,” he chuckled darkly, easing her off of his length. She winced at the newfound emptiness.

“All fours for me baby,” he rasped, sitting up and allowing her to spread out on her hands and knees in front of him.

“Yes daddy,” she did as she was told. Her glistening core and the remarkable roundedness of her rump on full display. He palmed a large handful of her ass, earning a sharp inhale from her.

“So good for me baby,” Zion whispered, palming more of her flesh into his hand before winding it back for another good slap across her right buttcheek. She moaned loudly in response, falling forward on her elbows from the impact.

He lined himself up, teasing her entrance. The tickle of his squishy head rubbing against her opening was becoming unbearable as she was aching to be filled up for a second time. At the sound of Riley whimpering with her bottom lip caught between her teeth, Zion pushed into her slowly, egged on by her surprised gasp. Just as he was about to fill her to her hilt, he took a moment to admire how he seemed to fit inside her so perfectly, almost as if he was the sword to her sheath.

He started off slow to allow Riley to adjust and to ensure that he didn’t bust immediately. He’d been holding off from his release to make sure his girl had gotten multiple. So, needless to say, he was at risk of busting very soon.

His slow thrusts eventually stilled to a complete halt. Before she could open her mouth to complain, his hand came down to spank her bottom once again. He kneaded the area he just slapped as he grumbled to her, “Throw that shit back for me, mama.” And without skipping a beat, Riley began to rock herself back and forth, allowing her ass to crash against him continuously. The sound of her cheeks clapping against his front and her strangled moans at the feeling of getting herself off on him was like music to his ears.  

“Who’s making you feel this good baby?” Zion questioned with yet another smack to her rear.

“You daddy, only you,” she drawled on, speeding up slightly out of an eagerness to please him.

He was so blown away by her ability to take him so well. But he was not surprised when her movements eventually lost their rhythm, knowing she was probably close to her peak. So in an attempt to regain control, he roughly locked his hands at her hips before ramming into her at a relentless pace.

“Oh my god Zion!” she shouted, leaving her mouth hanging wide open. Her strained cries became louder with every snap of his hips.

If this assault on her insides wasn’t enough, not only did Zion dig his knees further into the sheets, allowing himself to lean back and pound into her at a deliciously pleasurable new angle, but he also skimmed his fingers down her front to ferociously rub circles into her pearl. The sensation was almost too much to bear, especially considering the two orgasms she already had under her belt. Her eyes flew shut as she hit her forearm against the bed repeatedly in a motion that most wrestlers would recognize as a “tap out.”

“Ah fuck, m’not gonna last daddy!” she screamed, legs beginning to quiver.

“Me either baby,” he grunted shortly before she pulsed around him so deliciously, milking him for every hot spurt he had in him.

They languidly rode out their climaxes together until Zion gently pulled out of Riley allowing them both to lay back against his satin pillowcases. She clung to his side nuzzling her face into his chest, appreciative of the post-orgasm high he provided her.

“Okay, ‘Mr. Overachiever’,” Riley sighed, still a bit out of breath as she looked up at him with her bright eyes and lazy smile.

“Mmm, I like the sound of that,” he hummed, smacking an obnoxious smooch to her cheek, “Where’s your phone? I’m changing my name in your contacts to that right now.”

He eyed her brightly colored, flower pressed phone case from across the room and attempted to climb off the bed to retrieve the girl’s smartphone from the couch where, until that moment, it had been forgotten.

“No, stoppp,” she giggled, slinging her leg across his torso and pushing his shoulders into the mattress before he could even make a move. He playfully grabbed at her waist, tickling her sides to try to overpower her. She squirmed under his grasp.

“Nah, I’m changing that shit. Maybe people will see it and think I’m tutoring you for once. Whatchu think?” he joked, his hearty laugh combining with her pleading giggles.

Their tickle fight continued until it devolved into a soft, comfortably silent cuddle between them, thoughts of paper deadlines or interfering roommates being long forgotten, and Zion wouldn’t have it any other way.

[alright--okay]

you ever been to a basement show? pt. 4

tsukishima kei x reader

summary: Tsukishima sees you everywhere, and for a big school thats weird. And it’s not like he’s gonna do anything, that’d be even weirder, but one day in your shared lecture he sees you wearing a shirt with some small band’s name. A band he know. And well, now he has to know who you are.

word count: ~2.7 k

a/n: the first five chapters are already on ao3 so imma post them here real quick, hope anyone reading enjoys!

read on ao3!

pt. 4 Go Home. Play Music. Feel Better. - Michael Cera Palin

“Ohoho, look who decided to show up,” you said to Tsukishima as he moved to sit beside you in the lecture hall.

Tsukishima gave you an exasperated look, “class didn’t even start yet. Also please don’t take on those idiots’ mannerisms.”

“Why not? I think it’s fun. And completely unrelated, but want to come to the store with me after class? Bokuto recommended me this hair gel and I’ve always wanted to try-”

“Please stop,” Tsukishima turned to face the front of the class as you broke out into quiet giggles.

“Seriously though, I didn’t get to eat breakfast this morning so I’m gonna get something at that cafe near our apartments if you want to join.”

This wasn’t a date. Tsukishima knew this. That didn’t stop his heart from beating a tad bit faster or the apples of his cheeks growing rosier.

Tsukishima shifted his arm to one of the uncomfortable arm rests of the seat, leaning his head against his hand to hopefully help cover any of the heat on his cheeks, “yeah, I’m down.”

“Cool,” from the corner of his eye, Tsukishima saw you give your own small smile as you turned to focus on the professor about to start the lecture.

This wasn’t a date.

~~~~~~

Class dragged on, but soon enough you and Tsukishima were making the short journey to the cafe.

“Did you finish the paper for that class?” Tsukishima asked.

“What paper?”

“The one he assigned last week? Due on Wednesday? The one on that civilization-”

“Wait, no, no, no. That paper’s due on the 18th.”

“y/n…” Tsukshima slowed his pace to look you in your eyes, “Wednesday is the 18th.”

You let a quiet “fuck” slip from your mouth as you faced forward, moving quickly to the cafe now only a few shops away, “then no, I haven’t even started it.”

“Yeah that seemed pretty obvious,” Tsukishima said with a smirk.

“He never mentioned it again! I can’t keep track of everything!”

“Yeah, not even the date apparently,” Tsukishima snickered, opening the door for the two of you.

“Alright, listen!” Tsukishima’s laugh only grew louder, “I thought this class was gonna be fun and easy, and now I have to write a paper in like two days. Disgusting,” your attentioned moved to the menu hanging above the register.

“It’s short, you’re being dramatic.”

“Fuck you,” Tsukishima let out a startled laugh while you moved forward to give your order and pay then stood off to the side waiting for Tsukishima to do the same.

Tsukishima silently pointed to a table off in the corner that was free, “what is your major anyway?” he said as the two of you settled down into the seats.

You told him your major with a small shrug, “Nothing too special, but I liked it in high school so I figured I’d just keep up with it. Are you actually archeology or are you also just in this class for the hell of it?”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, “Yes, I’m an archeology major, but this class doesn’t count for much since it's pretty entry level.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’re good at this stuff?”

“I’m not writing your paper.” “I wouldn’t ask that!” you said with a frown, “I was wondering if you could at least help me though. Read it over, give me some advice, make sure it’ll give me a decent grade, stuff like that. Come on, I’ll make you cookies.”

Tsukishima paused for a moment, “What about a strawberry shortcake?”

“I mean I’ll have to go to the store…” Tsukishima continued to stare at you, “but fine! Yes, I’ll make you a strawberry shortcake, you bastard.” You mumbled the last part under your breath as you got up to get yours and Tsukishima’s orders.

Making a cake would be a small price to pay for a good grade in a class you honestly didn’t care about. Spending time with Tsukishima didn’t hurt either.

“Get as much of it done as you can tonight, I’m done with class pretty early tomorrow so we can work on it together at my place whenever you’re free,” Tsukishima gave you the short rundown as you place the food on the table.

“Why don’t we do it at my place? You have like three roommates. I have Yachi.”

“Good point, text me tomorrow when you’re good,” Tsukishima said with a small nod.

~~~

It was a little past one on tuesday when you decided to text Tsukishima.

To Tsukishima archeology:

hey im walking home now so feel free to come over whenever

From Tsukishima archeology:

alright ill be there soon

You slid your phone back into your pocket, trying to turn your focus on the music flowing through your headphones and not on the lanky blonde that would be spending the rest of the day in your apartment.

You saw Tsukishima at least three times a week and most of that time was spent alone with each other in class or recitation, but this was… different. You were going to be actually alone with the guy. No distractions from a professor or a friend or a cafe worker calling out names. And okay Tsukishima was mildly attractive… Okay he was attractive but you wouldn’t let that come between you and the new friend you made in the snarky asshole.

It's not like anything would happen anyway. Tsukishima definitely didn’t like you like that, and no amount of daydreaming him confessing to you would make it come true (even if it was a very nice daydream).

It wasn’t long before you made it up to your apartment. Yachi had a late class today so you weren’t expecting her back until tonight, hopefully after Tsukishima had already left. It wasn’t that you didn’t want Yachi to know… but Yachi had already been making assumptions and Tsukishima coming over to “do work” alone in your room would do nothing but feed her imagination (even if it was the truth).

In the middle of eating a quick snack, Tsukishima sent you a text saying he was at your building.

You scrambled down the staircase of your building to meet Tsukishima who was waiting (somewhat) patiently on the stoop of your building.

“Finally,” he muttered as you widened the door for him to pass.

“You gave me no warning! Should’ve left you out here longer.”

“Should I just leave then? Seems like you don’t want me here so I’ll just-”

You put your hands on Tsukishima’s back, pushing him further into the building, “Nope, you’re helping me. You already agreed, no backing out.”

Tsukishima let out a dramatic sigh, now trailing behind you, “Did you at least start it?”

“Yes, in fact, I did. Almost done too, just need one more paragraph to push me over the word minimum.”

“What am I supposed to do in the meantime? I thought I was just gonna read it over?” Tsukishima asked as you let him into your and Yachi’s apartment, leading him to your small kitchen table.

“I dunno, dude; do other homework, work on your own paper, pick an album to listen to,” you gestured lazily towards your bedroom door, “all my vinyl is in the crates to the right.”

You could tell Tsukishima tried very hard to hide his excitement, “well, I already submitted my paper,” he ‘casually’ slid his backpack off his shoulders and made his way to the door you just pointed out.

You followed him over, showing him the milk crates you were talking about, your record player sitting on the dresser nearby.

“If you're gonna be sitting here, I’ll work at my desk,” you gathered your laptop and the notebook you had used to organize your paper, settling at the small desk, “if you need any help let me know.”

Tsukishima gave you a small smile and proceeded to get down on the floor to sit cross legged, flipping through the crate closest to him.

The two of you continued in silence for a while until Tsukishima gave a light poke to your shoulder, a recognizable album in his hand.

“I’ve never actually used a record player, so can you…” he trailed off, pushing the album towards you.

You tried to contain your amusement. Tsukishima clearly did not want to be asking you this, but you were glad he took this route instead of trying it and scratching up your records.

“Yeah sure, good pick by the way,” you got up from your desk chair and took the album, sliding the sleeve out to get to the vinyl itself, this one in particular being a bright blue as opposed to the typical black.

You ran him through how to handle the records and how to work your particular player so he would be able to flip and change the records whenever, and soon enough the beginning of Just Friends’ album Nothing but Love began to play.

You smiled again, making your way back to your desk to finish up your paper while Tsukishima went back to sitting on your floor, alternating between listening to the music and playing on his phone.

By the time the album came to an end you placed your laptop in Tsukishima’s lap, “be gentle,” you said, moving to grab an album at random and replace the one coming to an end.

“I’m not gonna promise anything,” he replied, adjusting his glasses to begin reading your paper.

You wandered off to the kitchen for a glass of water, not wanting to be in the room while Tsukishima was judging your writing.

“It’s not that bad!” Tsukishima called from your room, you walked over to lean in the door frame, “I marked some stuff you should reword and you should probably include that thing he mentioned a while ago…” Tsukishima continued to talk about your paper, flipping through notes to bring up examples and point out which parts he found errors in.

“But not bad?” you questioned again with a small smile, taking your laptop back.

“Not great, but not bad,” he said getting up to get his own stuff from the kitchen.

“I’ll take it!” you took it as a win when you heard Tsukishima’s laughter from the other room.

~~~

It was well into the evening by now, Tsukishima had helped fully finalize your paper a while ago but the two of you continued to talk and do work in your room. At this point you knew Yachi was going to be here soon. You would have to kick Tsukishima out now if you didn’t want her to notice just how long the boy had spent here and that just seemed rude and unnecessary (plus you didn’t really want Tsukishima to go just yet).

“Did you want to just stay for dinner? Yachi said she's picking something up, so if you want anything speak now.”

Tsukishima paused shortly at your question, “where’s she stopping?”

You relayed your and Tsukishima’s order to Yachi hoping she’d get home soon so you could have a proper meal.

You and Tsukishima were back to the floor, sifting through albums and talking over the music in the background.

“I wish you had A Flourish and a Spoil,” Tsukishima said, examining the art of one particular album.

“By The Districts?” Tsukishima’s eyes darted over to you, making you laugh, “I have that one, just probably got misplaced if it’s not with the D’s,” you took a minute to think back to the last time you had listened to the album, trying to place where it currently was.

You hauled yourself up and went to your dresser. Beside your record player was a short stack of albums you had been listening to the other day but were too lazy at the time to properly put away. Sure enough, the dark album art peaked from the pile.

You took the whole stack over to your crates, passing the album to Tsukishima’s waiting hands.

“We’re listening to this next,” Tsukishima said, eyes roaming the back of the album, examining all the details.

“We can definitely do that,” you replied, sorting the albums, “but Yachi’s gonna be here soon so you good with waiting a little bit?”

He gave you a small nod and the two of you resumed your quiet activities with the current record coming to an end. It wasn’t long after you heard the apartment’s door open with Yachi making her presence known.

The three of you sat around the small kitchen table, eating your food and talking about your days. You tried to ignore all of Yachi’s “subtle” looks in favor of asking about the class she just got out of.

“I hate that it lets out so late!” Yachi complained, dropping her head to the table, “I’m so tired and the walk home gets scary in the dark.”

“You can always ask me or Yamaguchi to walk with you,” Tsukishima said, looking up from his food, “if you’re really anxious we really wouldn’t mind, it’s a short walk.”

“Tsukki!” Yachi let out a cry, tears gathering in her eyes, “don’t listen to them, you’re so sweet, I love you.”

“Wait, listen to who-” Yachi interrupted his questions by giving his stiff posture a hug, “what are people saying about me?”

Yachi continued her hug, Tsukishima slowly raising a hand to pat her back, “nothing, nothing, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

You laughed at Tsukishima’s confused and irked expression, clearly not knowing how to interpret Yachi’s words.

Yachi removed herself from Tsukishima, “well, I am exhausted, goodnight,” Yachi said, giving you both a smile.

“Goodnight, Yachi, see you tomorrow,” you said, Tsukishima giving his own goodnight before turning to look you in the eye.

“It’s time,” he said, quickly cleaning up your plates and then heading to your room.

You laughed as you trailed behind him. He was already setting up the vinyl so you settled on your bed, letting your back fall into the comforter sitting atop your mattress.

The opening beats of the first song gently filled your room, quiet enough to not disturb Yachi but loud enough that the thumping drums still hit in your chest. Tsukishima turned around and you patted the spot beside you. He seemed to hesitate for a second before making his way over, letting his body lay beside your own.

“I used to listen to this album all the time in high school,” Tsukishima said to the ceiling. You turned your head to look at his side profile, “I think at the time it was just cause I liked how it sounded,” he paused for a particular chorus to pass, “but now I actually listen to it.”

You turned your head back to the ceiling, “I get that. A lot of albums have changed meaning for me over the years. This always felt like a new beginning though.”

Tsukishima hummed beside you. You let the music fill the room, you and Tsukishima each focusing on the lyrics of each song and how one connected to another.

Side A came to its gentle end, so you got up to slowly flip it, not wanting to break the calm atmosphere your room held at the moment. You took your spot beside Tsukishima again, trying not to disturb him.

“God, this album slaps,” Tsukishima mumbled under his breath at the crescendo of the song, making you break out into a laugh. Tsukishima surprisingly let out a chuckle of his own, “what? You know it's true.”

“I know, I know,” you let your giggles peter out, “I feel like you have to save that for Young Blood though.”

“It can be applied in a variety of places, don’t go around constricting me.”

“Fair enough,” you smiled at him, scooting your legs further on the bed to get more comfortable.

Young Blood, as good of a song as it was, was eight minutes long and by the final words of it, you could feel yourself drifting. It started with just resting your eyes, but soon your body was trying to catch up on the lack of sleep.

As your mind was shutting down, you heard a soft snore beside you. I’ll deal with this tomorrow, you thought to yourself before succumbing to the warmth of your room and the body beside you, letting the final song of the album lull you to sleep.

[j-hoseok94]

Book:House of Cards

Author: ReyRey

01•02•03•04•05•06•07•08•09•10•11•12

TWELVE

Walking into school next to Jungkook the next day was.. interesting to say the least. All eyes were on us i mean literally everyone. We weren't holding hands but we were close. He lent me one of his earrings which i wore on my left ear. It was one of his black earrings with an upside down triangle arrow and a small black chain. It was cute and just subtle enough to show that we were together. I remembered back to when he gave it to me he said that it was the only way Yoongi would take his words seriously. I didn't wanna say no cause he did have a point. Yoongi would think he's lying to him but this earring would prove that it's "true". I mean i'm not really with Jungkook we hang out sometimes and only at school do we fake a relationship. He's gonna post a few photos here and there to kind of stir the pot.

As we were walking to class he draped his arm around my shoulder and for a moment my stomach clenched. I flinched slightly and i didn't know why. The reactions I've been having to Jungkook make no sense to me. It's like a natural reaction but my mind can't comprehend why. I was deep in thought when Aphrodite walked up to us.

"Well how is my not so favorite couple doing?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder and dropped one of her hips as she settled into her stance. She was the only chick friend i had and to be fair i still loved her bad bitch vibes.

Her tight clothes were fucking cute and i honestly wish that i had her style. She had on a black skirt with this cute little gold chain dangling from her waist. Her hair was braided back partially leaving some of it lose. Her eyeliner on point and i envied how they looked so symmetrical.

"We are doing fine we have hung out a few times but i feel like we might need some more public appearances." Kookie jumped in to answer since i was absorbed in my friend's outfit.

"Baby girl come here. We need to talk about your outfit choices mm mm." She grabbed my wrist and yanked me over to the bathroom.

"Whaa-What's wrong with my outfit? It's comfy." I looked down at my grey sweats and crop top with a very comfy and cute black zip up sweater. My hair was down and in loose waves.

"Girl you look like a damn bum, my wonder Yoongi hasn't asked you out. Where's your 'bad bitch.. imma break your heart' vibe that i got at the party?" I giggled and tried to keep from blushing. She pulled some cute ass clothes from her backpack and threw them my way. "Put those on with your cute ass. I'm bout to make Yoongi see what he's fucking missing. I'm gonna take you from cute to goddamn goddess."

She fluffed up my hair starting to pin it up here and there. She proceeded to do my makeup and she made it gold and brown colors to bring out my hazel eyes. Did my eyebrows and slobbed mascara on my lashes. I was wearing a red and black plaid shirt tucked into a black skirt with an attached suspender like straps with this cute chest harness type design. It was cute, it was a very flowy skirt and i wanted to twirl in it. I had black stocking like socks that went up to my thigh with these very sexy heeled boots that were white and tan suede.

I twirled and she watched me, she smiled, "Well my work here is done. He is gonna for damn sure want you girl. If he doesn't he's lost his damn mind." I laughed and walked out behind her. She stopped in front of me and i almost ran into her. "I present your newly transformed girl." She slide next to me and all i could do was stand there. The whole group was there Jungkook, Tae, Hobi, Namjoonie, Jin, Jimin, and Yoongi. I froze when my eyes settled on Yoongi i broke eye contact and looked down at the floor.

Jungkook was there now stroking my hair and moved my hair gently tucking it behind my ear exposing his earring. I know he did it on purpose just to trigger him but, it still made me uneasy just at the thought. He was close to me and my stomach clenched again, i couldn't breathe and i tried to focus on relaxing as i felt another anxiety attack creeping up.

I felt the familiar tightening of my chest as my breathing accelerated.I started panicking and i backed up away from Kookie. I pushed through the boys as my breathing started getting out of control. I ran past the familiar halls with everyone watching me. My tears started rolling as i reached the double doors to the back of the school i didn't stop, there was only one place that made me feel happy.

I reached the very empty and quiet music room as i plopped myself down in the middle of the room. I broke down, i cried and cried, i felt scared but i can't tell why i was just absolutely freaked. I tried to breathe and comprehend what happened but my mind hit a wall. "Why? Why am i crying?" I wiped at my tears and controlled my breathing. It was working and i slowly got my attack under control.

I stood up and paced back and forth. Something isn't right but i don't know what it is. I keep trying to figure out why the fuck i react that way around him. It's just him i don't fucking get it. I'm so frustrated not being able to piece together anything and just giving myself a headache.

I walked out of the room dropping the subject all together i didn't wanna give myself an even bigger headache. I walked to class shaking of my gut feeling that something was missing. Something i didn't wanna know, that was my gut feeling.

-Yoongi-

She ran off in the middle of one of her episodes. All i wanted to do was run after her, to help her through it like last time. I always want to be there for her. I instinctively turned and went to run after her, there was a hand on my arm and i flipped around. Jungkook was standing there with his hand on my arm keeping me from running after her. "Let. Go. Of. Me. Jungkook." I growled at him. I didn't care that we were in front of the whole school he was pissing me off.

He smirked that stupid smug smirk he gives when he's trying not to laugh at something he finds pathetic. "I can't let you go after her Yoongi." He shook his head as he looked down at me slightly.

"Why the fuck not?" I yank away from his grip, i get out of it but he just grabs my other arm. "Grrrr Jungkook! LET ME FUCKING GO DAMMIT!" I've never yelled at him in all the years i've known him. Through all his crap and fuck fuck games he would play with girls, i still never said shit to him. He released me with a shocked look on his face.

"Yoongi you've never spoke to me like that. What's gotten into you?"

I laughed at his stupid fucking question only anger rising in my chest and mind. "Are you fucking joking? Does anyone know what really happened that night Kookie? Hmm, or did you lie about that too? Do they know how you tried to rape Rose? Do they know that you tried to 'share her with me'? Do they fucking know how you played it off like nothing happened? Do i need to fuck you up again? God look at you. You can't even be honest with yourself! I hope, god i fucking hope that you try some shit with her. I will fuck you up Kookie. I will fucking beat you so hard you won't be able to see straight." I got up in his face and was pointing my finger at him. I was so pent up with anger i couldn't control it.

Before i knew it he struck me in the face i was against the locker. He lunged for me and i held him away from me by arms length. He was going for my throat but i was resisting him. I pushed him off me with all my force and he staggered back into the boys. They stumbled to break his fall but i didn't give him time to regain his balance. The boys pushed him back on his feet and he ducked as i threw my punch. He gut punched me and i dropped to the floor. 'Fuck.' I got up wiping the blood from my lip from the first punch. I smiled and laughed thinking of all the things I've been wanting to fuck him up for over the years. I stared him down trying to find a glimpse of my old friend, I didn't see him anymore.

I stepped forward as did he and i ducked avoiding his punch. Wrapping my arms around his waist i tackled him to the floor. I pinned him to the ground and i continued to hit his face he was trying to block but was failing. I got about four or five hits in before someone was peeling me off him.

I thrashed around trying to free myself from whoever the fuck was holding me back. Jin helped Jungkook off the ground. Jungkook wiped the blood away from his busted lip. He was staring me down and i was trying so hard to get to him. I just wanted to punch his face in. I spit blood on the floor not caring that i was being disgusting. He started laughing and i looked at him through narrowed eyes. "I finally have something that Meow Meow wants. Hahaha wow i'm gonna enjoy this. You're fighting for someone that doesn't even want you. She came to me, she's been with me." His words stabbed my heart as he continued. "She's been with me all week. She has my earring on..We're together and you can't stand that." He laughed again and stood behind Jin's arm. "Guess i was the better choice." He turned and walked off with Jin.

I shook off the arms surrounding me, which turns out was Tae, I turned the opposite way. I punched a locker as i passed by, ignoring the shooting pain it caused my hand.

I headed to my happy place feeling the absolute need to just be away from everyone.

Just me and my music. I loved her and she chose Jungkook.

XX

[thots4daze]

My Boy - Oikawa Tooru x Reader

Hey hey heyyyyyy y’all~! guess what i started and finished tonight?! that’s right, a one shot

BOOM go me~! i did have inspiration and help from @summon-the-stars and @supern-a-vengers

aside from language - cause i use the word FUCK a lot, this is your only warning for that . . . also also i listened to billie eilish “my boy” on repeat for the ENTIRETY of writing this . . . which was like, a total of 2+ hours eeeep

soooo, enjoy y’all!

MY BOY - OIKAWA TOORU x fem!READER 

its almost gender neutral, but i think i fucked up and wrote “she/her” in some places sooooo, imma be safe and say fem! reader 

It was no secret that Oikawa Tooru, THE Oikawa Tooru, the King of the court and volleyball all-star, Oikawa Tooru, who was the bane of every guy’s existence and every girl’s wet dream; was a serial dater. If that was even a thing.

He probably went through girls faster than he does hair product. Though that didn’t seem to stop girls from throwing themselves at his feet, wishing, hoping, wanting . . . begging, to be his next victim. You were the exception. If exceptions still craved for attention from said serial dater. The only difference was, you knew better! Or at least you liked to think so.

Other members of the same sex, hell, even those of the opposite, would shoot you nasty glances anytime the king would waltz through the halls, or classes, or the court. And while everyone else around you were hurling their bodies down before him, you stood erect and just . . . watched on. With what you hoped was an indifferent stare. 

No matter what was going on, Oikawa Tooru attempted to gain your attention, if even for a short while. To have everyone else around him be so smitten and caught up in his presence definitely did a number to his ego. Iwaizumi has always made sure he was aware. And he was. He was no idiot. Not by a long shot. Though the majority of the time he couldn’t stand all the attention on him for his looks alone, he still craved to have it. And from everyone. And that meant you too. And since he wasn’t gaining it, it really burst his bubble.

So, when the Seijoh Squad was having a small gathering, there at their usual lunch table, and Makki and Mattsun brought up the ideas of completing dares for the month, Oikawa snapped his head up from his hands and looked at the meme duo with intrigue.

My boy's being sus

“Go on~” he practically purred. The others just glanced at one another before smirks of their own crawled onto their faces. And if he wasn’t so interested, he might have been a little apprehensive of the whole situation.

“We have to ask out someone, of the other’s choosing of course. And date until the end of the month. The one who can last the longest wins.”

“What do I win?”

“Who says you’re gonna win?” Makki quested pointedly at his captain.

“Psht, please. Have you seen me?” Iwaizumi just shoved his hand in his best friends face and pushed, “You can’t keep a relationship together for longer than a week, let alone a month.”

“Wahhh, Iwa-chan, so brutish. You’ll never keep a girl like that~”

“Having a relationship doesn’t sound all that difficult,” Mattsun voiced out loud, ignoring the other two completely. The others thought about it and agreed.

“Obviously, we’d have to make it public - dates, with pictures. And the occasional hand holding and kissing - that would have to be a must . . .” Makki continued to ramble on under his breath, but just loud enough for the others to hear and agree.

Oikawa was busy staring at you from across the lunch hall, chatting it up with your friends. You were quite popular among the students of Aoba Johsai. Straight marks on everything, leading position in your club. You were cute to boot. Even Oikawa could admit to that. So, when he let out a sigh, his next words trailed after without a second thought, “What about a trophy.” It was more a statement than a question.

The boys around him raised their brows in silent questioning. Snapping out of his daze, but only a fraction, Oiukawa continued, “Ya know, a trophy. Of a conquest.” When the others still didn’t speak up he rolled his eyes, “Undergarments?”

“Ohhhh.” It hit them like a truck. A deep blush crossing each of their features. And then it was settled. Of course, the “trophies” idea was thrown out immediately by Iwa, who announced that if it were to become a thing, he was going to personally kill each and every one of them. No more talk of “trophies” was ever spoken again.

The boys knew of your denial of Oikawa in the past and felt that you were the perfect target for this lil dare. One, you wouldn’t easily fall for his shit and two, that because of that he would be out first. It was a win-win in their eyes. So, at the end of the day, when Oikawa walked into your club room; sauntering the way he does, you didn’t think twice.

“Here for another victim, Oikawa?” You mused, looking up at him through long lashes. Cheeks a little flushed, hair disheveled, and your uniform top rumpled up. There was a heat wave passing through this season and it was killer - especially in the afternoons when you had club meetings in the older buildings on the outskirts of the campus where the AC was constantly on the fritz.

His tongue darted out to lick the seam of his velvet lips. The heat slowly getting to him as he took in your features. You were so much prettier in close proximity. However, your little jab at him brought him back down to earth and with a well placed smile, that everyone took for genuine, he replied, “Why, Y/N, you wound me~ I was just swinging by to see if you would like to walk home after clubs over?”

You were at a loss for words and only managed to glare at him slightly, still being wary of his intentions. But nodded anyways. You weren’t going to flat out deny a chance to spend time with the handsome captain. Are you crazy?

“Great!” He beamed, “Just swing by the gym when you’re done here and we can head out. Later, Y/N-chan~” with a blown kiss, he was out the door and around the corner outta view. The rest of the club that was there were just staring between the door way and you standing there like an idiot. Some of the members even went to work texting out to everyone the situation that just took place. Oikawa Tooru was showing interest in you. And you didn’t shoot him down. The world was coming to an end.

He walked you home, like he promised, stopping at the corner store on the way and purchasing some cold drinks for you to enjoy in the simmering heat. Granted, the sun had set by now, but the heat lingered and it was sticky. Conversations ebbed and flowed easily enough and you soon find yourself melting into his charm and charisma. He was cute and funny and smart. Who would have known? The evening ended with him walking you all the way to your door, before planting a sweet, chaste kiss to your lips and then waving goodnight with that same smile from earlier. And from that moment, you knew you were gone.

--- X ---

Over the past month, your relationship with Tooru grew. Yes, relationship. Yes, Tooru. It was strange, you couldn't get over the thought that this was happening. You were happy, he was happy and you enjoyed every minute of it.

 He was shady enough

At the beginning you were skeptical, especially when he asked you out, in front of everyone. You tentatively accepted but at the back of your mind you knew that it was only going to be for a day or two - so you didn’t do anything different than your normal routine. And so when Tooru would come around to try to be a loving boyfriend, it threw you for a loop. Once one day turned to one week and then to two - you had found yourself sliding into the relationship easier than you would have thought. 

You enjoyed it. You enjoyed him. Cute lil cafe dates - which weren’t really your scene before - somehow became something you looked forward to with him. Pictures taken together were always a must. And of course he always wanted to make sure that you both looked the most perfect you could. When you went to post the picture, he stopped you with a firm grip to your wrist, “Tooru?” You looked at him with a questioning expression.

But now he's just a shadow

“Oh, sorry, Y/N-chan~ I just don’t want my fan club to see and then flock here. Then our lovely date would have to be rushed and over waaaay too quickly.” He let go of your wrist once his plight was heard. Slowly you nodded, that made sense. So, you complied and continued on with your date. A nagging feeling presenting itself in the back of your mind.

My boy loves his friends like I love my split ends

Since the start of the relationship, you noticed that him and his friends didn’t spend too much time together - outside of practise, that is. Which struck you as odd. Thinking back on it, and looking around the lunch hall, you spotted the boys with their new relationships. It was uncanny for all of them to be in relationships at the same time. Normally it was just Oikawa, and then the occasional thought that would float around that Makki and Mattsun were a thing - but obviously not, with the way Mattsun has his tongue down some girl’s throat.

And by that I mean

But since this whole . . . thing started, he hasn’t spent any time away from you. Other than when it’s called for [i.e. home, bathroom breaks, classes etc.] and while you’re appreciative of all the attention you’re receiving from your boyfriend, something seems off.

He cuts em off

The nagging thoughts that he was just going to go through you like all the others before you flashed through your mind and didn’t seem to want to leave as you sat there on your bed. Homework was strewn across the comforter of your bed. Trying to focus on anything other than the negative thoughts of Oikawa Tooru was futile at this point. Music flowed softly from your laptop speakers on your desk to the left of you, but you were too caught up in the confusion to pay any mind to the song, let alone the lyrics. Just that it was smooth.

My boy, my boy, my boy Don't love me like he promised My boy, my boy, my boy He ain't a man and sure as hell ain't honest

Eventually, you push the thoughts to the back of your mind to deal with another time. Final exams were coming up and it wouldn’t do you any good to worry about something that’s obviously not an issue. So, after gathering up all your materials and placing them on your desk, you turn to the laptop making sure to close the music player, noticing the song as you do so. “Hmm, ‘my boy’.”

Sooner rather than later, having slipped into the sheets, sleep takes you and you dream of Tooru. The serial dater.

My boy's being sus and he don't know how to cuss

The next morning, he wasn’t there to walk you to school like he had for the past couple of weeks. You thought it was odd, but didn’t dwell too long. Spring prelims were upon you and you must have not heard him when he said extra practices. Right? Yeah, that must be it.

Making your way to school, you were early enough to stop by the corner store and grab some milk bread for Tooru. He’d be so excited that you got it for him and for breakfast no less. You couldn’t help but let the giggle that was bubbling inside out. You could just picture it now. And it was cute.

It didn’t take much longer after purchasing the food that you were on school grounds and letting your feet take you directly to the gym where you could hear the echoing of volleyballs and the screeching of sneakers on freshly polished wood planks as the team was running drills. It warmed your heart to know that your team was kicking ass and taking names - working their asses off to compete and be at the top.

“Maybe I should make some snacks next time and bring ‘em for the whole team?” Your musings were for nobody but yourself as you walked through the open gym doors. Everyone was busy and so no one took any notice of you entering. Which was fine by you. No need to interrupt their practice just to give Tooru some food.

Looking around you noticed that the other third year’s significant others were nowhere to be found and something in you vibrated. Like the kind of unsettling vibrations where when your standing on a ladder and someone comes around and shakes the base.

Scanning the gym your eyes lock onto their target of fluffy chestnut hair. Regardless of the sweat he’s probably covered in, his hair manages to stay put. For the most part at least. He’s standing off to the side with other third years, rubbing their faces with towels and taking swigs from their water bottles - just taking a small break.

The feeling in the pit of your stomach eases a tad bit as you begin making your way to him. ‘Maybe just to say hey, good morning and a kiss? Yeah, that wouldn’t be too distracting.’ With a steely resolve you continued on your way, making a beeline to get to him and the others. His back was to you and the others didn’t seem to notice your presence at first, so when you heard them talking, you decided to listen in. Curiosity and all.

He just sounds like he's tryna be his father (who are you?)

“Alright boys~” Oikawa cooed like the cat that got the cream. They all groaned in unison as if this wasn’t going to happen. “Fess up, I won.” He stood their victoriously, hands on his hips, a towel draped over his left shoulder. 

Iwa rubbed his hands over his warmed and tinted face, practice had already been brutal for the wing spiker and it was only going to get worse knowing that he, they, were going to have to admit that their captain was a winner. And he, and the others, were not thrilled with this.

So, he opted for what he normally does in these annoying Oikawa situations. He brought his fist down on the top of his head, “Shut it, Trashykawa!” Makki and Mattsun couldn’t stifle their grins, let alone their laughs.

My boy's an ugly crier 

“WAAHHHHH~! Iwa-chan! You’re so meeeeeeeean! That’s why you lost the dare! Your little cutie of an arm piece couldn’t stand your brutish ways!” Which earned him another fist to the head, and more tears to flow from his beautiful eyes. Eyes that you were now privileged to see since arriving that morning.

“Dare?”

“Uh, oh. . .” the meme duo, did everything in unison and at this moment, that didn’t change.

“Arm piece?” Every word outta your mouth just brought more and more confusion to your already fried brain. You couldn’t think properly.

But that all changed as soon as Oikawa made a move to get to you. As soon as he reached out to grab your arm, to try and touch you, to make you understand, to listen to him, it all clicked. All of it. Every little moment with you was a farce. A joke. You were a joke to him and his friends.

“Y/N, please listen.” No -chan. There wasn’t a shred of adoration nor affection in his voice like there had been just 12 hours prior to this conversation. Well, less of a conversation and more of him trying to talk to someone who has astral projected themselves outta this situation.

but he's such a pretty liar

“It’s not what you think.”

Liar.

“It wasn’t a dare, not at all . . .” he was struggling to find the right words to bring this conversation to a close as quickly and painlessly as possible. At least on his part. Liar.

“Yeah, it was more of a bet,” Makki interjected. Even though you were hurting, he was going to get his kicks in at his captain. It just happened to be at your expense.

“Makki!” Iwaizumi jumped at his friend, trying to get him to read the fucking room. 

“A bet? A fucking bet?” At the sound of your low tone rising, Oikawa had to flinch at the noise. This was not going to be pleasant.

“What? You bet that you could woo me and get in my pants? Or, or maybe that you could wrap me around your finger and then humiliate me in front of the school when you broke it off? Get me to make a scene and have me kicked from my position in club?”

“No, nothing like that. . . not exactly.”

“Then what?! What was the fucking purpose!” You were livid. Causing the very scene you accused him of making you commit and if you weren’t so pissed, you would have berated yourself for playing right into it.

At this point the other teammates had halted their practice. Coach had gone off to his office, you supposed, since he wasn’t shouting at everyone to continue and you to leave. But you honestly couldn't be bothered. There wasn't anything he could do or say - that anyone could - that would get you to calm down and leave without getting answers.

“I thought you broke it off with her yesterday?” Mattsun mused from behind them all. His towering frame above the lot of you. His eyes betraying nothing. He wasn’t asking or musing out loud to be rude, it was just who he was. But it still pissed you off.

Oikawa turned slightly away from you to be in view of everyone, “Well, I just never got around to it you know?” He finished with a small, small chuckle. Fixing you with a look that spoke to a different side of Oikawa Tooru.

“Ever the fucking showman.” With that you turned on your heel and walked out of the gym, shoulders back and squared, head high and a trembling lip.

And by that I mean he said he'd "change"

You kept going, only stopping when you got to the club room, no one there that early to bother you. Sinking to the floor, back pressed to the closed door, memories swim through your head as you thought back on the past month. All you time spent with him. How he promised, at the beginning, this was going to be different than his other relationships. You had to laugh out loud at that statement now. He wasn’t wrong.

A few stray tears left your eyes as you sniffed, rubbing them dry and pushing up off the ground. Today was going to be a shitty day.

And as if you were blessed with the clairvoyant gift of foresight, you called it. The whole rest of the day was nothing but whispers among your classmates about how Oikawa had dumped you at practice this morning. And those that didn't know about the breakup - how could you not? - put two and two together when they saw Oikawa flirting it up with the second year cheer captain.

The face you wore betrayed nothing to the masses. They speculated all they wanted, however, it was so far from the truth that you didn’t feel the need to correct them.

My boy, my boy, my boy Don't love me like he promised My boy, my boy, my boy He ain't a man and sure as hell ain't honest

So, the rest of the year came and went without a hitch. With it the changing seasons and graduation ceremonies were taking place across the Sendai region. Once that paper was placed in your well manicured hands you were elated.

--- X ---

University started and orientation came and went in the blink of an eye. You adjusted to the life easily. There were hardly any familiar faces from high school there with you. You were able to start anew - without the curse of Oikawa following you.

Well, you had hoped.

Oikawa Tooru stood there in the doorway of your first class of the day, of the year. He looked around the room, “Probably scoping out his next prey,” you muttered to the girl next to you, a friend that lived in the same dorm as you, a door down. She giggled and stared at the volleyball player. Cause that had to be how he got here. Scholarship.

You shake your head no, you knew that wasn’t true. Tooru was a smart guy. Shifty and shady as fuck, but smart. His eyes land on your friend, who blushes like mad. You don’t blame her, you were once in her position. But you had warned her before hand, regaling in tales of old. Though, those seem to have fallen on deaf ears as you look between her and your, ahem, “ex”. Could you even call him that if he didn’t consider it a real relationship?

Internally shrugging you notice that he’s standing directly to your right, you curse yourself for choosing the aisle seat. He’s ignoring you completely; either out of habit or because he truly doesn’t recognize you, you don’t know and you don’t give a flying fuck either.

“Hello, hello, megane-chan~ mind if I sit next to you lovely ladies -” his litany voice caught in his throat as his sight snapped to your bored face. He may have only been catching your side profile, damn you for looking up at the front of the room, but he was 100000% sure that it was you.

“Y/N, I didn't know you were attending studies here~” he tried to throw on that charm. It might have worked, once upon a time. Not anymore. ‘Sorry, Tooru,’ you thought making it a point to continue your watchful bored gaze to the front, waiting on the professor to begin.

“Y/N?” He whined in that oh so Tooru fashion that just rubbed you in all the ways that matter. Wrong.

You want me to be yours well then you gotta be mine

Sighing you turn your gaze to him and his breath catches. You had only grown more beautiful since that last encounter. Minimal makeup, hair thrown into a messy bun, loose shirt with workout leggings? You were just trying to do things to him. Whether you knew it or not, you were.

He had to internally bite his lip to keep from blurting out something so embarrassing and uncool.

“What is it, Shittykawa?” Like a knife through his heart. He rebounds quickly, “Iwa-chan was such a terrible influence on you,” he makes a motion for you to scoot over so he can join you in the bench like stadium seating, but you make no such move. Just continuing to stare at him, waiting for him to get to his purpose.

When he continued to just stand there, expectant, you sighed loudly again. Blowing a strand of loose hair from your face, you gathered your belongings and stood in one fluid motion. It took Oikawa by surprise with the amount of grace you held in your movements. He wondered if you were as swift in other areas.

Shaking his head, physically, he snapped himself to be present to watch your movements. You stood there before him, books in hand, back slung over your shoulder - now exposed via over-sized shirt - and he audibly gulped. And you definitely caught it.

And if you want a good girl, then goodbye

Eyes narrowing at your ex, they didn’t hold any malicious intent. Not in the way he would have thought, at least. Shifting your weight to one foot, while hoisting your materials in your single grip, you made a move to squeeze past the petrified male.

His caramel eyes watched your every move, trying to figure out your next play. Always trying to stay ahead of everyone, by at least one move. And you were no exception. And when you invaded his personal space he was attentive. Hawk like. What were you up to?

You want me to be yours well then you gotta be mine and

It was almost too easy. You could read him like a children’s book. With pictures and everything. Having grown up with him these last 4 years has made you incredibly aware of him and his ticks. His mannerisms. How he thinks. Or, so you like to think. Based off the entire incident that sent you two into this . . . turmoil, some would think otherwise.

Regardless, shaking off those negative thoughts, you go back to the original plan. Move your seat away from him, but stay in his line of sight. Make him regret treating you like a game. Like a joke. 

But when you saw his gaze on you, trying to burn holes into your skin, you felt a heat dance across your skin that you weren’t too upset over. You couldn’t break! Not now! And not to . . him.

Steeling your nerves, and slinking past your ex, you lean into him. Ghosting your lips over his own. Those velvety lips you used to bite and kiss and lick, just months ago. His breathing hitched, you heard and the smirk that threatened to spill past you was too great. So, moving your lips to the outer shell of his ear, covered slightly by his slightly longer locks, you licked your lips ever so slightly.

Warm breath hitting your neck as he released what he was holding. His hands reaching out, trembling, to get a chance to touch you. To remember what you felt like under his fingers. To feel that bare skin that was taunting him. It looked so soft, so supple.

However, before he could come in contact with you, he froze in his spot for two reasons, the voice with which you spoke was one of soft, teasing tenancies and the motion of you brushing and cupping his growing bulge - only somewhat obscured by the long hoodie he was wearing.

And then of course the words you spoke, in that breathy, soft, teasing tone of yours that was new to him, but he was damn sure he was going to get to know, 

“if you want a good girl, then goodbye . . .”

[silvensei]

Supplementary

Ritsu, the smart student with budding supernatural powers that he is, learned the best way to sneak out of the house is to just leave his body behind.

Words: 6k

So I wasn’t planning on writing another one, but @hydrachea went and was a muse again like the day after I posted Complementary, so. Two weeks later, here we are. 

A continuation of a scenario that will be linked in a reblog because links, ‘member? Also on AO3! (also in reblog!)

“Bro!”

The thump of feet landing outside his window and subsequent clambering at said window would’ve startled most people. Ritsu was used to it by now. He even left the window cracked for this very reason.

Catching a handhold, Shou opened the sliding glass door to his bedroom and poked his head in. He found Ritsu at his desk, just closing up a textbook. “Bro, we gotta go!”

Ritsu raised an eyebrow. He clicked his pen and set it back in its cup with its mates.

His friend jumped into the room proper and hopped from foot to foot, eyes wide, impatient, like Ritsu was holding them up. “Go where?” Ritsu asked when he didn’t expound further on his own.

“To the Pokémon midnight release! Ritsu, come on, we’ve been talking about it for days! I thought you were the smart one!”

“Yeah, but I thought it was a given that I can’t go. It’s already after ten.” He glanced at the clock: 10:12 PM.

“But this game, man! I need someone to trade with!”

“I can just get it tomorrow after school. It’s not the end of the world.” Ritsu pushed his chair back and stood up.

He didn’t get the chance to put his notebook back in his bag, stopped by Shou gripping his shoulders, staring him in the eye. “But they’re only giving out keychains of the starters tonight.”

He knew that; even if he didn’t listen to Shou’s obsessions, his classmates have been talking about it all month. “You know I can’t. My parents are extra vigilant these days, what with exams coming up.”

“But don't you wanna go?”

Ritsu looked at him. He did. He did want to go. But his parents had been strict about their curfew, and both he and Shigeo weren’t allowed out late at night. He understood why. He knew the importance of sleep and the dangers of a city at night.

But Pokémon.

He shook his head. “It’s a school night, and I need to sleep. School may not be your thing but I have grades to uphold.”

“But—!” Shou cut himself off with a small whine, biting his bottom lip. He tightened his grip on his sleeves as he frantically tried to think of a solution. Ritsu gave him a moment to try, after which he was going to shake him off, send him on his way, then get ready for bed. He was just about to do that when he heard, “Doesn’t just your body need sleep?”

“Wh... What?”

Shou perked up. He had found a lead. “And it’s just your body that has to be here! You could leave it here to get some shut eye and ride along with me to the game store!”

His breath caught. Back at it again with possession, but this time suggesting that he do the possessing. “I— Shou, I—” he protested, trying to grasp something, “I can’t astral project, and I don’t know if I’d want to do that to you just for a keychain, and sleep has mental and emotional benefits outside of the physical, too, like—”

“Duuude, c’mon, it’ll be fine! It’s not that hard to learn, and I don’t care about my body, and it’s only fair, right?”

Stomach knotting like it always did when this topic came up, Ritsu stepped back and out of Shou’s reach. “It doesn’t have to be fair, it’s possession. Even the name implies partiality.”

He could see a grin starting to creep onto his face. Oh no. “Nah, nah, nah, dude, it’s cool, normal rules don’t apply to us, ‘member?” He drummed his newly-freed fingers against his thigh and added, “And I gotta check out what the big deal with this thing is anyway. I’m like the only one that hasn’t been possessed yet.”

“It’s not a competition!”

“Ritsu, come on. I swear it'll be fine.” Shou stopped, having stated his case and now waiting for an answer. He held his lip between his teeth again. “I want you to come with me.”

The decision's on him. And there was a right answer. He was thirteen, it was Monday, he had a test in two days, and his life wasn't at risk. He should decline. He should curl up in bed and enjoy some sleep, leaving Shou to his delinquency.

Then he remembered how boring that would be.

Ritsu pursed his lips. “The fact still stands that I don’t know how to astral project.”

Shou nodded. “Young Padawan, it is time for a lesson in the psychic arts.” He sat on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest, his aura faintly flickering into view around him.

Ritsu sighed. Here goes nothing. He crossed his legs and sat down with his back against his desk. “So, how do I...go about this?” he asked.

“Fire up your powers; seems easier that way.”

He took a breath. His last chance to just go to bed.

He felt his skin tingle as his aura lit up, a glittering blue mosaic ionizing the air. His hair shifted in the lessened gravity. “Alright.”

Shou’s own aura emboldened into a more defined shape, but it still was a shadow of what it normally was. That’s right, he realized, I’m supposed to be the one going ghost, not him. “So your powers are you turning an idea into a force that you send out into the world, yeah?” He held up his hands as he spoke, absently bouncing a ball of energy between them. “Once you get used to them, you might not know exactly what the idea is anymore because it becomes an instinct instead of a thought, but it’s still there. So to project, instead of using your powers as a conduit for the idea to leave your head, use them so that you can.”

“Just...follow my powers?” He was right: It did sound simple.

“Pretty much.”

He couldn’t help a small, inquisitive frown. “Why haven’t more people done this, then?”

Shou shrugged. “Many can’t. Most don’t try. A lot of espers find one thing they can do then stick to it. Then there’s also that most espers don’t have a high enough power level to be able to remember it if they do actually project. You’re just held together by psychic energy without your body, so you gotta have a lot of it to function on the same level as usual.”

That was concerning. “And you’re sure I’ll be fine if I—?”

“Of course, dude! I wouldn’t’ve even suggested this if I wasn’t sure you could handle it. You’ve got more skill than you realize.”

“Oh.” Ritsu looked away, a bit embarrassed at the unsolicited praise. Why was he doing this. He allowed himself a brief smile before closing his eyes and muttering, “Okay…. Just follow my powers to...wherever they go.”

The thrum of energy wove through his skin. Apparently, there was an idea at the core of it; of what, he hadn't the foggiest, so he tried to make another: He wanted his powers to pick something up. How about his discarded notebook, wherever that wound up? Easy. The energy moved to concentrate in his hands, spilling over into the room, exerting a slight force on everything as it searched out its target. He tried to follow it, to picture its path in his mind’s eye.

After a minute or two—after he was about to give up and declare perpetual corporeality—a faint trail appeared amid the phosphenes behind his eyelids, a blue leading away from him that grew stronger when he noticed it, a hazy mosaic pattern cracking its color. He hesitated, just for a moment. Then he changed the idea. Instead of sending a generic, nameless force, he pictured sending his consciousness, sending himself—

Everything felt light for some reason.

The room melted into view around him, just blurred around the edges, through clouded glass. He wondered why that was. When he tried to ask, the words refused to form. That was weird. He couldn’t really feel his mouth either. He reached up to check if it were still— did he have hands? The only movement he saw was a shape of smoke appear in front of his face. Why would he be smoke?

A waving of green and white along with what was possibly sound bubbling through the fog caught his attention. There was a figure sitting below him: green torso, blue legs, orange head, even more orange haloing him. Shou’s aura seemed really bright, or maybe it was just because it was the clearest thing through all this haze. His mouth was moving at breakneck speeds. What was he gesturing at?

He looked down. He couldn’t see his feet—oh wait, there they were, a meter or so away, tucked under the crossed legs of a figure slumped against a desk. He couldn’t recognize them through the hair shading their face, but he liked how it was styled. Reminded him of his own hair. Or that was his hair. Why was his hair all the way over there with his body, dropped lifeless after he left?

Oh. Right.

Ritsu shook whatever now passed as his head as he recalled his situation. He’s a spirit now, or a mind held together by energy. He had to focus on his powers, then, since he couldn’t rely on Newtonian physics anymore. As soon as he realized that, he felt coalesced, contained, thoughts running more smoothly.

“—na grab one of those pens— you don’t snap out of it, Imma draw dicks all over— Earth to Kageyama! Come in, Kageyama!”

He turned his full attention to Shou, his aura still the only point of clarity in the room. He still couldn’t answer as he did in fact not have a mouth, but he nodded and tried to drift down to eye level. It took some getting used to.

Shou applauded, his grin not as toothy but just as bright. “Told ya!” he cheered. “Not so hard, ain’t it? The hard part is keeping your head straight as a spirit, and all you gotta do is be smart about it.”

Floating just above the ground now, Ritsu glanced back at his body. He worried a bit about whether sitting limply like that was good for his posture, but what he noticed most was the lack of emotional response. He should be feeling some serious vertigo or whiplash or something, but there was nothing there. When he had hormones and neurotransmitters again, he’d feel sickened by his apathy.

“So?” He turned back to Shou as he prompted, “You gonna take the wheel or what?” He stretched his legs out in front of him, drumming on his knees for a second before holding his arms open. “C’mon, it’s like a ghost hug. Doesn’t hurt.”

Ritsu thought through the situation once more. He should be uncomfortable at the notion of body hopping, of rejecting his existence as a singular physical being and foregoing nature to possess another. However. He didn’t have a stomach that could practice gymnastics at the moment.

What he did have were thoughts, including that he was curious what it was like from the other side and that he was certain of the banality of the alternative.

What the hell, he concluded before drifting forward, reaching out to grab hold of...something. Whatever he could find.

He hit a psychic wall briefly before it disappeared, but it was enough to throw off his momentum, tripping him into a tumble from tangerine into blackness. He fell, possibly for only moments, before something seemed to snap. Like running a finger along a switchboard, his senses reconnected, turning on one-by-one in such quick succession that he couldn’t discern the order. One moment he was nothing, then the next he was on the ground with a phantom jolt, fabric rubbing his skin and air in his chest, until finally a projector slide of his room dropped in front of his eyes. He blinked, but the view stayed the same, solid and real, as if the last minutes hadn’t happened.

His arms ached a touch, hanging out into space. His wrist felt weird, too; not painful, but certainly not right. Ritsu pulled his hands into his lap, holding his right wrist and rolling his hand in slow circles. His sleeves were off-white, his hands too pale, his vision unobstructed by bangs—all minutiae that added together into an experience that was slightly, unsettlingly off.

He swallowed and asked, “You alright?”

Fuck, the timbre was all wrong.

A thought appeared in his head that sounded like Shou whispering, Wicked.

“You say that every time.”

And you say that like it’s a bad thing.

Pressing his palms together, Ritsu bent his hands—Shou’s hands—back and forth. “What’s up with your wrists? They feel...not great.”

I dunno, they’re always like that. I thought it was normal, but yours aren’t the same.

He hated that Shou knew what his wrists felt like. That’s such a weird statement. Back in possession of internal organs, they were able to resume their somersaults at his discomfort.

Ritsu pushed himself off the ground, standing to his full height. Shou was a bit shorter than him but without any obvious point of reference, he couldn’t notice the difference. He tugged his cuffs into place over his wrists and ran a hand along an unfamiliar jaw. He didn’t have time to ask himself how jaws could be unfamiliar before he stopped short at the sight of himself—of his body. His breath caught with the sense of vertigo that washed over him, the very sense he knew he was missing earlier. He didn’t even notice he had stepped closer until he crouched in front of it.

Wack, isn’t it? Shou commented. All he had to go off of was the tone of Shou’s mental voice, but he could picture him reclining, arms pillowing his head. Ritsu didn’t answer as he reached out to lift the body’s chin. It was like looking in a mirror, only...not. Not at all. His face looked pale, peaceful, like he was sleeping, but his head felt heavy in his hand. Like dead weight. A chill pricked at the back of his neck. Was he technically dead?

You gonna kiss or what?

“What?!” he yelped, Shou’s voice hitting the next octave as he shied back, throwing his hands out to catch himself before he hit the ground. Then, startled into action by his body falling over, he pushed forward to catch its shoulders, ramming one into his desk drawer. He cringed at how that was going to ache when he got back.

I don’t blame ya, continued the voice in his head. How many opportunities do you get to kiss yourself?

His tightened his grip on his shirt—or his body’s shirt—his original body’s shirt—to steady himself, frazzled from the brief adrenaline rush. “A lot, apparently! You’ve possessed me like, three times! And as far as I remember, you haven’t made out with yourself at all!”

I’m not, like, completely opposed to the idea, but they’re kinda practically dead without us, y’know? That’s just weird then, like kissing a corpse. Not my kink. And also you would be there, too, and it seemed awkward to just do that without asking, but like, how do you phrase that question to begin with. Wasn't worth the effort.

Ritsu scrunched his nose, growing more uncomfortable by the second. He wanted to change the subject. Without another topic in mind, though, he settled for ignoring Shou and wrapping his body in a telekinetic net. Hair swimming in the aura, it floated limp on the energy, rising a few feet off the ground. He directed it to his bed, standing as he watched it drift. He couldn’t shake the vaguely somber atmosphere of it all.

It bounced on his mattress when he let go. Rolling it onto its side so he didn’t have to look at his own face, he pulled the covers into place over it. Looked normal enough.

Dude, it’ll be fine. It’s only in a coma.

Ritsu took a breath. “Maybe, but it’s still uncomfortable to….” He fumbled his words, the knot in his stomach tightening. “To...be on the outside.”

You don’t have to keep staring at yourself, then.

Ritsu tore his eyes from his messy hair peeking over the blankets and nested his hands in Shou’s jacket pockets. “Morbid curiosity.”

That’s true. You’re first out-of-body experience does something to your view of self. He trailed off for a moment. You alright to come along?

“After all that, now you ask me?” He gave his bed one last look before flicking off the lights. “Come on.”

Fuck yeah!

Stepping out onto his balcony, he turned his powers on himself as he slid the door closed. With a thought he was on the ground, walking down the street into town.

Shou made some kind of noise, one Ritsu couldn’t decipher without the corresponding body language. You can fly us, y’know. Or I can.

“Yeah, rather not,” he said, trying to keep his voice low. There was no one around, but in the quiet night, unaccustomed to his voice, he was worried it would carry further than expected. “It was tough enough to get used to our powers when you possessed me; I’d guess it’s different in this configuration, too.”

I dunno, maybe! Gimme that— And like that, his right arm went cool. It wasn’t the spiking numbness that he felt when thrown out of control before. He might’ve thought it merely a breezy evening if he wasn’t wearing a long-sleeved jacket and also if his arm didn’t move on its own. His hand reached up and snapped, sparking into existence a ruby-orange pulse that wove through his fingers and collected into a vibrating ball. He didn’t realize he was pushed back until Shou said, “Feels the same to me, dude.”

Losing control wasn’t nearly as drastic as before. It was like comparing getting misted with a spray bottle to being thrown into the ocean. He drifted in this vague awareness, pulled along for the ride as Shou continued walking. Their gait changed with the pilot, more pep peppered into their step.

Of course it feels the same, it’s your body, but I’m new here, and I don’t want to be flung into the air without being absolutely sure of our abilities.

“Alright, alright. You are the smart one. Next time.” Shou rolled the ball along his knuckles before flicking it into the air.

Ritsu caught it, watching aquamarine swirl into it as he rolled it in his palm. “Always with the ‘next time’s,” he muttered. He hadn’t meant to take over; he just fell to the front. After tossing the ball onto the sidewalk to see it firework on impact and fizzle out, he decided to voice his observations.

Yeah, I noticed that. I had to really focus on taking over to do it. Like not really focus, but more so than in your body. Maybe the possessor is the default designated driver.

“That doesn’t sound safe for the host.”

Well, what do you expect? You’re pure energy right now; of course you’d get a leg up in mental tug o’ war.

“But what about people without any powers? If they get possessed by an evil spirit...?” A chill ran down his spine. That could’ve been him not too long ago. “They wouldn’t have any say in anything.”

A hum buzzed between his ears. That’s what exorcists are for. But don’t worry, dude, we’re good. I can always kick you out if you get too malevolent.

“That’s reassuring.” It was said out of snark but it actually did help assuage his worry, knowing he and Shou had some defense against possession. It was better than most people could rely on.

As they neared downtown, the streets grew more populated. One person they passed gave him a brief look. It was probably because of Shou’s ostentatious hair, but it made Ritsu self-conscious of how he was walking along as an imposter. “So are we just not going to talk this whole time?” he asked under his breath, pausing to let the next person to pass. “Because the whole ‘talking to yourself while wandering at night’ thing isn’t great for appearances.”

It’s the technological age, Ritsu. I’ve got this. He noticed the shift this time, the gentle offsetting of his senses that pushed him to the passenger seat. Shou dug around in his pockets while Ritsu theorized why things felt different than the previous times (Because I’m not completely rooted in the body? I’m a visitor anyway?) until he snagged some headphones. “Problem solved!” he announced as he put them in. After a second, he plugged the jack into his phone to make it fully convincing. “Everyone talks to themself when on the phone.”

That’ll work.

“That’ll work!” Unlocking his phone, Shou grinned as he opened the camera. The front camera was already defaulted, giving Ritsu a sudden look at his face: bright hair, brighter smile, and oh-so-dark eyes. Shou hesitated. “Oh, shit.”

What? Quid pro quo, Shou. I got your eyes, you get mine.

“Yeah, I know, as expected, but….” He brought his camera closer, his face getting an odd glow from the screen’s light. “I didn’t think it would be this dramatic. I look….” Grin faltering, he said, “Even with the ginger thing, I look real boring. I can’t intimidate anyone like this. The piercing gaze is my thing, man, y’know?”

Ritsu would’ve smirked if he could. As a matter of fact, Shou, I do know.

“It’s just...weird.” Their head turned back and forth, watching the screen. Shou paused mid-stride in one position and snapped a picture. Blinking away the flash, he zoomed in on the image. “Hey, you’ve kinda got a bit of red in there, too,” he noted.

Technically, they’re russet and amber.

“Amber, schmamber. It’s red and it’s rad.”

I guess, but it only shows up in bright light. It’s caused by patches of low melanin in the iris so that when light reflects—

“Ritsu, I appreciate you and your trivia knowledge very much, but I’m not gonna remember that. It’s just hella sweet that you’ve got red eyes with your anime-ass hair.”

You’re one to talk. How much gel do you go through a week?

“Touché.” His phone returned to his pocket, but he didn’t continue walking. Ritsu felt a touch of confusion before realizing they were waiting at a crosswalk. The light changed, letting Shou jog across the street and the remaining few blocks.

They saw the crowd before they saw the store itself, a line of people chattering excitedly amongst themselves. Shou jumped into place at the end and bounced from foot to foot. “Bro, I am so pumped!” he gushed. The girl in front of him turned for a moment before noticing his headphones and returning to her DS.

The energy was infectious. Ritsu smiled, content. He didn’t have a mouth with which to actually smile, but the intent was still there. Do you know which starter you’re going to pick? he asked. They had a while to wait. Plenty of time to converse.

“Oh, I always go fire, man.” He settled into a stance, resting his weight on one leg and hooking a hand in his pocket, leaving the other to gesture in the air. “My Cyndaquil back in the day? She was great. I called her Cyndi. Cyndi the Cyndaquil, ‘cause Cyndi’s ‘bout to kill. Loved her.”

But the first gym is usually rock- and/or ground-themed, and fire isn’t effective against either. And since the water and grass gyms often follow soon after, a grass type would be the most logical for low levels.

“Pshhh.” He waved his hand. “Who needs logic when you have love and chutzpah?”

Ritsu laughed—actually laughed; he felt their chest shaking, his own type of smile on their face, Shou’s voice mimicking his thoughts. Dumbass…, he muttered in their head.

Shou cleared his throat, reigning it back under control. “You just have to work that much harder from the beginning. A challenge mode, if you will.”

Sure.

Shou rubbed his nose and leaned against the building they waited by, watching the occasional car come and go. After staying like that for a moment, Ritsu guessed he was listening in on the excited chatter of their companions. Ritsu would be fine with that, some eavesdropping and people-watching was a good pastime, but another idea came to him instead. Mentally, he tried to copy Shou’s pose: hand in jeans pockets, thumb hanging on belt loop, shoulders loose, head against wall, more weight on his left foot than right. Once he thought he had it right, he tried to add in physical feeling: pressure on his palm and thumb, rough brick digging into his back, headphones plugging his ears—until he felt the ground underfoot before he imagined it.

He blinked. It didn’t take much at all to slip to the front. Was it natural for a bodiless entity to want to be corporeal? Or was he just that much more psychically versatile as a collection of energy? Or Shou just let him take over, but based on his silence, Ritsu doubted he had noticed. Whatever the case, it was mere conjecture for now; he put it to the side and instead listened to a nearby pair debate game strats.

Hey, Ritsu, if I were a Pokémon, what type— hey, hold up. He heard a smile pitch up his voice. You sneaky bastard! When did you—?!

“A couple minutes ago.”

The subsequent noises in his brain tugged a smirk to his lips. Oh! The betrayal! The deceit! To be taken advantage of like so! I thought you were my friend, Ritsu, but nay, to have my very flesh robbed from my grasp! The subterfuge! I’m feeling so fuckin’ attacked right now!

“So when you want to try something, it’s novel and exciting, but when I do it, it’s a crime against you personally. I see.” Ritsu rotated his wrist a few times before crossing his arms. “And I think it’s pretty obvious you’d be a fire-type, given both our conversation and your history.”

Jeez, dude, will you just let it go?

“Maybe fire and fighting.”

Well, you'd be a dark type on account of all this shade you're throwing!

“I'll accept that. They're pretty good.”

No argument? Just gonna take it?

“It's accurate.”

He barked a laugh. You fuckin’ smartass, c'mere!

Ritsu felt a pressure in his head. Shou managed to snag his hand and flip him off before he wrangled it back, gripping his sleeve. He felt a prickling along the back of his neck from an aura; he wasn’t sure if it was his or not. “Nah, I’ve got the high ground here, Suzuki,” he said with a smirk, closing his eyes. “It’s gonna take a lot more than that.”

Fuckin’ try me, Kageyama!

He shifted his feet into a more stable stance, but outside of that, it was a game of mental Twister, trying to keep control. The smirk more or less remained throughout it all as Ritsu tried to stand his ground, his aura dancing on his skin as support. Shou managed to wrestle complete control only twice: The first, soon after the challenge was declared, when he fired up his powers to forcibly pull Ritsu back. Once Shou was able to feel the sharp headache that suddenly caused, though, he held back, and Ritsu was able to use his wincing and hiss of pain to tackle him from behind. The second, Ritsu had slipped up; Shou caught a foot and slid it forward, throwing Ritsu off-balance and stumbling out of his senses. Shou stepped in with a subtle victory fist pump before Ritsu was able to do the same thing right back.

The third time, Ritsu let him win. Alright, alright, he laughed, fine, take it.

Shou adjusted their smile to his own. “Well played, dude! Now that’s what I call a mental workout! How much time did that kill?” He lit up his phone screen. 11:28 PM. He tch-ed. “Not enough.”

Ritsu relaxed, finally able to kick back and put his metaphorical feet up. Don’t worry about it. It’ll go by quick enough.

Digging around in his pocket for a moment, Shou retrieved a compact stylus. “What should I draw?” he asked, opening an app.

I dunno.

“Fat lotta help you are.” He thought for a moment before pulling the stylus out to pen length with his teeth. He opened a new canvas in the app and drew a handful of circles and ovals around the page. Ritsu watch, unsure if it was a bit he should laugh at, until Shou zoomed in on one and changed the brush color. The stylus sketched around the shape, occasionally adding crescent curves and spikes protruding from the rough outline, hatching the bottom to give it a spherical shape. In under a minute, he dotted a nose to finish a little hamster holding a strawberry.

Ritsu watched him finish another hamster—this one sleeping on its side—before he said, I didn’t know you sketched.

“Sure you did.” He furrowed his brow and glanced upward, implying shooting a confused look Ritsu’s way, before moving to a third circle.

I mean, I knew you draw, but I imagined it was, like, setting aside an afternoon with a whole collection of pencils. I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t expect a bunch of round hamsters on your phone.

“I’ll have you know, this one’s a hedgehog,” he corrected, adding more quills. “And yeah, man, any drawing is practice. Quick shape studies and gestures are great for doodling on the go.”

Huh.

“Wanna try?”

Huh?

“Here.” Shou panned the canvas back to his first hamster, drew another circle next to it, and held up the stylus. “Just try to draw it again.”

Ritsu hesitantly took the hand and pen, holding it for a second before sitting down at the helm. “I don’t know how to draw.”

Just copy what you see.

He sighed, but he tapped the stylus on the screen anyway. A collection of dots appeared. He undid the inputs and tried to mimic what Shou had done, roughing out the outline to give the impression of fur. It was a bit of an uneven shape. Adding in the lumpy strawberry, round hands, and eyes that were too big, it did end up looking like an animal. Whether it was a hamster or not was up for debate. “How’s that?” he asked reflexively, immediately regretting it.

Not bad, not bad! It’s cute! It’s shaped like a friend!

“Doesn’t look much like a hamster. Like, I know it’s a simplified drawing, but yours is still recognizable.”

Maybe so, but you gotta start everything from somewhere, and it’s easier to modify an existing image than to keep fretting over it in your head. Plus there’s more art in the world now because of it.

“Well, aren’t you inspirational.” It was a nice thought, though. He handed the pen back, ducking once again into the passenger’s seat like stepping through morning mist. Maybe that’s why your wrist feels odd, he pointed out to take the attention off of him. Maybe you’re not drawing right.

Shou panned to the next circle and said, “It’s just drawing. How is there a wrong way to draw?”

I don’t know, like putting too much pressure on the tendons or the joints.

“It’s just drawing, though, not running a marathon. It’s not like I can warm up before drawing.”

Are you sure about that?

He grumbled, drawing another hamster. “I guess not….”

Ritsu metaphorically shook his head. At least they found one beneficial use of possession: mediocre self-diagnosis.

The next half hour passed quickly. Shou filled in most of the circles with various small animals (and one smirking, blue-eyed Ritsu to torment his companion. Ritsu was indeed tormented. He’d never feel right about that warped reflection of himself). He narrated as he went, describing how he was drawing shapes that looked like animals, not the animals themselves, how hatching and cross-hatching worked, and where to look to draw cleaner circles. Ritsu was fairly certain he was bullshitting a lot of it, but it was interesting to listen to nonetheless.

The rousing of the crowd caught their attention. The compartmentalized chattering became a wave of excitement as the doors opened, the closest barreling through immediately. Turning off his phone and retracting his stylus, Shou put both back in his pocket as he hopped into motion. “Bro—!”

Ritsu would've smiled. I know, man, just go.

Suddenly, he paused. He patted his sides. His face fell. “Dude. I think I forgot my wallet.”

What? You just now—?! He groaned, his hopes crumbling. Leave it to Shou to—wait a second. No, you didn't, it's in your left pocket.

Shou's smirk was back before he finished his thought. “Oh, so it is.”

You son of a bitch.

Ritsu's chastisement and warnings not to do that again (do you know how much I've been through tonight god damn it) only fueled the pep in his step. For being in the middle of a line of a hundred or two, they got in the store fairly quickly, soon wading through the crowd to one of the registers. “Two, please!” he chirped. “One of each.”

The cashier gave him a tired smile. “Sorry, one per person tonight.”

Shou paused. “But we're two.”

“Uh…?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Ritsu jumped in, easily slipping by his stupefied friend. “I meant I was buying for two. Surely you know it's exam season, and I wouldn't dare let my little brother stay up so late before an important test, so he asked if I would go for both of us.”

“I know, it's crappy timing, but we didn't have a say on the release date. Nothing I can do.”

He put on his best pout, just taking a guess at how it looked on Shou's face. “Is there any way to at least get two keychains?”

She shook her head. “No can do. We might have extras tomorrow, but I doubt it. Maybe if— uh…. Kid, if you're trying to flip me off, first: don't shoot the messenger, and second: that's the wrong finger….”

“What?” Ritsu raised his brow before he realized his hand was up, index finger pointing an orange aura into the air. Of course, she couldn't see the energy. He felt his hand catch something invisible and keychain-sized in a fist accompanied by a whispered, Gotcha!

Ritsu stuffed the prize in his pocket. “No, sorry,” he lied, “I was going to try and make another point for my case but decided against it. I understand.”

“Don't worry, you'll have all the time in the world for midnight releases after college. Now, which game?”

Shou took over again, picking out and paying for his game. Ritsu sat back, his mental self-image sporting a dumbfounded expression. Why hadn't they realized that before. Of course they can't get two when they're in one body. What a rookie mistake.

As soon as he was outside and around the corner, Shou jumped and punched a fist into the air. He hung there a second longer than normal before touching down lightly to continue his walk. “Not the simplest way, but that was a success, my friend!”

I'll still have to come back tomorrow to buy my own copy, though.

“That's fine, that's what you were planning to do anyway! Only now—” he pulled out the little red and white bag from his pocket, “—now you got a limited edition collector's item, too!”

Well, don't keep us waiting. Which is it?

“I got it, man, I got it.” He dug through his shopping bag for the other, held the two together, then ripped off the tops simultaneously and upturned them into his palm. Ritsu caught a glimpse of orange and green before their eyes closed, squeezed shut from his wide grin, and he sung, “Sweet~! Dibs on fire!”

The energy was contagious. Fine by me, he said. He'd smile if he could; fortunately, Shou had it covered enough for both of them.

He looked them over, tracing a thumb over the paintwork before again resting his hand in his pocket. “So, where to next?”

Next? You're not going to go home and play through the night?

“I mean, I could, I really want to, but I can wait until tomorrow for you to get yours. But I mean, anything to do right now while out and about?”

He pictured a shrug. I don't know. I'm not usually out this late to know what there is to do.

“Oh, my friend, you are getting the full tour, then. ‘Seasoning City by Night,’ I call it. It's peaceful, it's dim, it's neon, and it's completely different from the town you thought you knew under the sun! What d'ya say?”

Ritsu thought a moment. He sure hoped his body was getting a full night's sleep without him.

Lead the way.

[sapphicluxanna]

1-100 pls 🌹💕

BABE. oh my god. okay here we go, it’s gonna be long!!

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? more cereal than milk I think?

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day? I love winter and everything about it, I’d rather be cold than hot 

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books? post it notes, receipts, I’ve used flowers a few times, really anything that’s in reach

4: how do you take your coffee/tea? tea with a little bit of milk and honey, coffee depends on the day? typically with a lil bit of vanilla creamer. when I make my ‘fancy’ coffee at home with frothy milk on top I always top them off with a dusting of cinnamon 

5: are you self-conscious of your smile? always

6: do you keep plants? ye! I have a succulent/cacti terrarium, some sunflowers, jasmine, african violets, tomato plants, hanging planters, and a few more I forget the names of!

7: do you name your plants? not the ones I have currently

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings? I love ink. I haven't been able to paint with ink in a while, but the movement of that and watercolor are just.. freeing? I dunno how to explain it.  that and drawing using ink, every mark you make is permanent and I just kinda zone out when doing it

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself? aight listen. my future s/o is gonna have to deal with this a lot. shower? singing. car ride? singing. cooking? singing. y'all aint getting a break even if I sound like a dying cat

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? primarily side and stomach!

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends? I cant think of many at the moment but uhhhh. hmm. a few guys and I play a game together and I run the group (in rdr2), and we don't let people join it if their horse’s tail isn't braided so we’ll hunt them down and kill them instead

12: what’s your favorite planet? neptune looks beautiful

13: what’s something that made you smile today? the fact that you wanted to know more about me

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like? lots and lots of plants, kinda modern, a few fish tanks, smells like lavender and coffee

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! mars has the biggest known volcano!

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish? stupidly basic, but chicken parmesan 

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair? I’ve always wanted to impulsively dye it some shade of blue just for a few weeks

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up. I got ridiculously drunk off tequila at a house party and was given my first mojito, thought he picked leaves off the tree out back and threw them in so I dug them out and threw them around the yard in disgust. I have a very vague memory of this but they always give me crap for it

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it? I have a couple! one is my bujo where I keep lists of things like self care ideas, favorite movies and books, quotes, friend stuff, etc. another I use to draw in and like to recreate van gogh sketches, others are private 

20: what’s your favorite eye color? y'all ever really see brown eyes? oof

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces. I don't have this?

22: are you a morning person? I could be if I woke up next to the right person

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations? netflix binging, reading, aquarium shopping, walks with my dog in the woods, making stupid pancakes, and league with a babe

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? it takes time for me to trust people, so probably all my life at some point with a girl. as for family? no

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? I’ve locked myself outta my place a few times and had to go through the window

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit? several pairs of sandals and slides!

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor? just regular mint?

28: sunrise or sunset? watching the sunset on a blanket in the grass with a girl I care about 

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? her voice gets a lil louder and she talks fast when she's excited about something and its flipping adorable

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared? yes. 

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks. I love fluffy socks and patterned socks and ones with dinosaurs and stuff and I love socks so much, don't sleep in them though

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends. we played a drinking game based off how we did in a split screen game, one drink for every kill, got v drunk that night 

33: what’s your fave pastry? I love baclava but I’m horribly allergic to walnuts

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it? I still have it! my dad went down to south carolina a lot and I was, and still am, very much in love with alligators. I think I was six or something but he came home with this giant garbage bag and was moving it like there was an animal inside and when I opened it, it was a giant stuffed alligator. he's currently sitting on my bed, but seems a lot smaller now

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often? I really wanna get into using thicker paper for letters with pressed wax seals and pressed flowers 

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now? I don’t really focus on individual bands too much tbh, I bounce around a lot within genres. anything happy and country atm

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean? I’m tryna keep it cleaner, better habit to make myself get into 

38: tell us about your pet peeves! people smoking around me (I don't care that you smoke whatever, I just ask you don't do it around me bc it makes me feel sick), a group of people that takes up the whole sidewalk going incredibly slow, people that cut me off in traffic without turn signals, people who f around in the tsa line and don't get ready then stand there for ten minutes taking everything off for the scanner and hold us up, “there” and “their” and “they’re” misuses, etc. jeez, didn't realize I had so many and that's not even all of them

39: what color do you wear the most? blue?

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you? I love my claddagh ring, my mom and sister both have the same one and we all match. currently not wearing it bc it was like 100 degrees F then other day and it burned my finger?????

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving? asoiaf!!!!

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it! I like this lil coffee shop about half an hour away, every drink has an individual and funny name and the workers are nice 

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? I honestly can’t remember, but I could really go for this right now

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything? uhhhh it’s been a bit? lotta stressors recently 

45: do you trust your instincts a lot? I try to, should've listened to them regarding some stuff and I didn’t 

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of. what do you call a blind dinosaur? a do-you-think-he-saurus.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe? broccoli

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today? santa and the dark, no on both accounts now 

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought? no, I just use apple music 

50: what’s an odd thing you collect? I dunno about odd, but I keep seashells and shark teeth I find on beaches 

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them? somebody to love

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far? uhhhh I’m bad at keeping up with when these come out but probably the “wait was anyone going to tell me ___ or was I supposed to find out in this ___”

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them? I haven't seen these sorry!

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face? my dad

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? I honestly cannot think of this right now

56: what are some things you find endearing in people? when they get excited about something, when their eyes sparkle a bit in sunlight, when they’re touchy (only certain ones), compassion, weird hobbies and interests, etc

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? it’s an experience. listen with headphones on high or don't listen to it at all

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why? I guess I’d be the wine mom bc I don't drink heavily too often with my friends cause I’m usually the dd, vodka aunt would go to my friend S cause hell she puts that shit away fast

59: what’s your favorite myth? I love greek mythology

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves? sappho

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received? a lil cat bank that grabs a coin with its paw and drags it into the box and a potato, respectively 

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind? not usually

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be? I kept all of my books on a shelf before the move but idk what imma do with them now bc I have no room for a bookcase so they're kinda messy rn

64: what color is the sky where you are right now? pale blue and cloudy

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? a friend who moved away a few years ago, I miss her 

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like? oooooh. hmm. lots of blues and pinks and purples with lil twisty brown vines?

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? I love them, 10/10, perfect. 

68: what’s winter like where you live? we either get 3 feet of snow overnight or a dusting, there’s no in between

69: what are your favorite board games? I cant remember the last time I played a board game??? I liked the game of life and monopoly when I was a kid 

70: have you ever used a ouija board? nope

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea? whatever happens to be in the cabinet!

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it? I have the memory of a goldfish

73: what are some of your worst habits? letting people get away with things they've done to me, being too lenient with people that make me uncomfortable, etc

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns. they’re such a good friend and we have enough years built into our friendship that we can go a few weeks without talking and be right where we left off. they’re kind and caring and ready to help people when they need it 

75: tell us about your pets! my cat is an 8 year old lil grump, but he gets so freaking affectionate and lovey too. he knows when I’m anxious and will come up and sit on my chest and purr. my dog’s a ball of jumping energy, she's always excited and happy, she’s only 2 so hopefully she’ll mellow out. then my clownfish are flipping adorable even though they try to bite my fingers when I’m working on the aquarium 

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t? unpacking and socializing with family

77: pink or yellow lemonade? pink lemonade 

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub? I don't care about them really, but the facebook minion memes passed around by moms gotta stop

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? one of my exes surprise got me flowers sometimes, while the relationship just didn't work that was a cute action 

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why? they’re kinda beige-ish? I just moved here and I don’t wanna repaint them

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. hmm. one of my friends’ eyes are like the leaves on the forest floor, an assortment of greens and browns blended together with the occasional fleck of gold when light filters through the trees

82: are/were you good in school? I’m okay? In high school I was in honor classes and stuff and I've made the deans list a few times in college so far, but honestly I think I’m just average. I have a lot of issues with math and it’s why I couldn't go into one of the fields I was considering. I get overwhelmed quickly

83: what’s some of your favorite album art? tbh I don't look at this kinda stuff but I know kesha’s rainbow was good?

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones? ye! I want a small humpback whale on my left inner wrist, they mean a lot to me and I finally got to see one in person just last year. then I have some scars on my thigh I’ve been tossing around the idea of getting a tattoo to cover up, but idk if I would or what I would get 

85: do you read comics? what are your faves? no sorry! I always wanted to when I was younger but I got psyched out by guys who would say they're not for girls who I never took advantage of the comic shop a family friend owns 

86: do you like concept albums? which ones? I dunno what this is and I’m too tired to google it but imma guess its about music? to which I say I’m v bad at keeping up with everyones stuff 

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? the princess bride, star wars, lord of the rings, the sound of music, indiana jones (NOT crystal skull, it sucked), jurassic park, and a lottttt more. 

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy? impressionism, post impressionism, and expressionism 

89: are you close to your parents? ish. 

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities. I absolutely loved st. malo in france. I need to go back. it’s a giant walled city on the water and it’s just beautiful. I sat and watched an artist on the street for a while and bought two of his paintings afterward, gotta figure out where to hang them in my new bedroom. the air smelled amazing, it rained a lot when I was there but I still loved it and I wish I’d had more time to really explore than I did

91: where do you plan on traveling this year? I wanted to go to sri lanka to see my family but I don’t think it’s gonna happen, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for pennsylvania cause reasons 

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch? cheese is life

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most? I braid it overnight and wear it down during the day!

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday? my dad a few days ago 

95: what are your plans for this weekend? I think I’ve got another family party to go to? feel kinda done with my fam rn though

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot? I literally just installed 2 years worth of updates this morning, so yeah, I procrastinate updates quite a bit 

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house? idk what the first thing is but the others are scorpio and slytherin!

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it? oh wow I can’t remember, but imma say yes? I wanna hike with my dog at some point 

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. somebody to love, la mer, and some others

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why? 5 years into the future. I hope that future me is happy and comfy with someone she loves surrounded by their plants, aquariums, pets, and love. 

[akria23]

You ever just wake up feeling good...?

Yeah me neither.

But! Today I did. I woke up at 6 and got started on my room since I finished building that big ass bed - that I’m probably not even gonna sleep in cause a bish gotta climb and them silk sheets look like they’ll slide a hoe right back onto the floor. I haven’t gotten all my pieces yet but its coming together. I’ve started plotting gifts for my moms b-day. Its not until Feb but yah girl is in a constant financial choke-hold so I find that if you wanna gift nicely you should start months ahead - ohhh if only I could clone myself for my birthday I’d actually get some stuff lol. I should’ve started saving to get myself a present, we’re here in my birth month and I’m penniless  but that just matches every year so... I don’t have to work tomorrow though cause its a holiday so theres that. Which is probably why I’m so happy cause its another day away from the hell hole. Thats kind of pathetic but I’m okay with that.

As i write this, one of those scenes from Dance With Me (with Vanessa Williams -shes so gorg, and Chayanne) plays in the back because for some reason I’m just feeling this type of music today and the scene is fab - I’ll be moving to Salsa next cause it was also fab. I will learn these dances! I don’t care if I gotta be 50 on the dance floor...cause they still get it at 50. Although, probably not cause I have weak bones and joints and I already have signs of arthritis setting in...but lets not kill my vibe.

I also have this new Snowball mic that I got a while ago sitting in the corner. Its all nice and pretty in its box sitting over there with the pop filter and the stand. I haven’t even opened the damn box (at this point I have no clue what Imma use it for either) but I haven’t taken it out or plugged it up. I have a few things on my desk that I haven’t plugged up, mind you, its not cause I’m lazy. Its because theres only one plug on this side and my desk is so big I can;t get to get. Who decided it was acceptable to not build in more then one plug spot...i don’t know. Yes I know, I could’ve set everything up before I built my desk here...but she thought she had her bases covered - don’t judge ha.

Today wasn’t supposed to be a chill day - but...I’ve already listened to some poetry and after this I’ll probably sit through a motivational vid or two, but the focus should be to write. I just don’t know what I wanna write. One side says it should be one of those post dedicated to my blog and the other says, ‘bish what about that fic you’re running out of time to write...’ Its 5 I should probably pick one...but a larger part of me is shouting..

She’s done that too much already!

[xiuyvng-blog]

hey everyone ! i’m jemma and i know this bad boy isn’t gonna show in the tags bc this is a squeaky clean new accnt but imma post abt her anyway so..,,,.

she’s of chinese nobility. her father was considered a duke of the first rank and she has two brothers ( one older and one younger ). 

xiuying tries to visit/send letters to her parents as often as she can but they lowkey.,.,.,..,., don’t rlly care lmao. bc their focus has been on the whole alliances and who her brothers are going to marry 

she mostly just speaks chinese and german but there’s still an accent when she speaks german even after mostly speaking it for like 5 yrs 

like her mother, she’s becom very worrisome over the years and constantly thinking about what will happen and what will not happen and what should happen. 

she’s kind to almost everyone but also p sus of everyone bc ??!! just thinks she needs to stay on her toes 

it’s been such a long day and that’s all i can think of right now ?? but i’d love to plot w everyone so pl S hmu or like this ‘n i will slide into ur dms... ims?? idk what its technically called