#it wouldn't have been an issue if the pink had lasted more than 3 days

[filet-o-feelings]

for everyone who voted in my poll like two full months ago, my hair is finally purple

[alltoowelltom]

a missed chance

tom holland x single mom!reader

from this request here

note: this is a repost! i've been having so many issues with tumblr and posts not showing up so i decided it was best to just re-upload <3

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ:*:✼✿

Almost three years ago Tom came to the conclusion that he'd missed his chance. The photo of two pink lines on a stick you'd sent to the group chat with no caption was an image that Tom saw whenever he closed his eyes. It haunted him in the middle of the night and clouded his mind when he sat in traffic. It summed up the situation, as he saw it - he'd waited too long and the opportunity for your will-they-won't-they friendship to ever grow into something more had slipped out of his grasp.

He settled into his role as Uncle Tom wonderfully. As the eldest of four he'd always been great with kids and he loved your young son as if he were Tom's own, but the tension in your friendship never quite fizzled out.

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ:*:✼✿

Your phone rang as you sat on a park bench, watching Alfie play in the sandbox just a few meters away.

"Hello?"

"Love, you've got to start checking the caller ID before you answer." Tom chastised lightly on the other end of the line.

"Tom!" you squeal, drumming your feet on the concrete ground. "Does this mean you've landed?!"

"I'm touching solid ground," he confirms. "Back in the land of hope and glory."

"Good," you grin. "I've missed you."

"Yeah?" you don't miss the hope in Tom's voice and if you could see him, you'd notice the crinkles by his eyes that only appeared when he received really good news.

"Does that mean I can come over this evening?" he wonders aloud.

"I wouldn't complain," you shrug. "It's your first night back though, you don't want to see your family or anything?"

"How many times do we have to have this conversation?" Tom shakes his head. "You and Alfie are family."

As if being summoned, Alfie begins to whine from the sandbox, seemingly done with the plastic shovel in his hand as he holds his arms in the air, wanting to be picking up by you.

"Alright, I've got to go but I'll see you tonight," you say. "Talk soon."

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ:*:✼✿

"How's my little man?" Tom asks, scooping Alfie up as he runs towards where Tom stands by the front door. He swings Alfie through the air, spinning around before bringing the giggling toddler to rest on his hip.

"He's grown!" Tom remarks. "You're almost too big for me to do that." He tells Alfie, poking him playfully in the tummy.

Tom feels stupid for not realizing how much bigger Alfie's gotten in the last four months since Tom's been away filming. Your FaceTime calls usually took place while Tom was in hair and makeup, right before you went to bed back in London and by that time Alfie was more often than not fast asleep already, so Tom hadn't seen much of the little guy. He wanted to kick himself for once again kidding himself into believing that you and Alfie existed in some sort of time-warp, lives permanently still until Tom came home to London. Of course you guys had your own little life together. You didn't need him, right?

"Yeah, he's getting older by the day," you laugh, wiping your flour-covered hands on your jeans as you step into the hallway. Tom wraps you into a side hug with his free arm, making sure not to squash Alfie between you two, who's fiddling with a loose thread on Tom's sweater.

"Alfie's just had dinner, do you want any?" you call over your shoulder as Tom follows you into the kitchen.

"Hmm, what's on the menu, chef?" He chuckles, placing Alfie down on the carpet and ruffling the boy's hair.

"It's the extremely gourmet and elegant meal of boxed Mac and cheese." You answer.

"Ooh, yes please!" Tom calls as he wanders into the living room.

He's always felt so comforted in your flat. It’s always felt a mile away from the stresses and worries of Tom's life as an actor, and more importantly it's always felt like you. Despite the baby bouncer hanging in the doorway, the discarded toy stuffed behind the TV and a few picture books strewn across the sofa it retains the features that made it yours like the vinyls on display above the record player Tom bought for your birthday one year and the mini chalkboard with a half rubbed out score from a game of beer pong from before everything changed. There was now a hastily scribbled reminder to 'buy teething rings' over the top.

"Sorry about the mess," you say, gently kicking a few brightly colored building blocks out the way. Tom helps by stacking the picture books from the couch into a little pile on the coffee table. "I was going to have a tidy up when Alfie and I came home from the park, but you know how it is."

He doesn't know how it is, not really. As close as you are, he's always slightly on the outside when it comes to you and Alfie, reduced to an uncle just the same as Uncle Haz or Uncle Tuwaine. But he wants to be more than that. He wants to be your partner in this, someone to lend a hand when the house gets messy or a shoulder to cry on when things get tough. For being a web-slinging superhero during the day, he wishes he was brave enough to tell you how he felt.

"Don't even worry about it." He says instead, smiling in thanks when you pass him a serving of mac and cheese in a colorful plastic bowl and a plastic spoon.

"I ran out of real cutlery." You laugh as he looks at it quizzically, one eyebrow raised. "You know, no one tells you how much living with a toddler changes you," you say. "I haven't used adult cutlery in about a week, and just the other day I found myself eating a sucky yogurt for dinner while watching Cocomelon. Alfie wasn't even in the room."

Tom laughs as he spoons the golden pasta into his mouth.

"It sounds to me like you're desperately in need of some adult interactions." He hears how it sounds as soon as he says it and hopes you don't think he's being creepy.

"Oh God, don't even get me started, " you say. "I haven't gotten any sort of adult interactions in like, a year. No wait…two years and nine months."

"Two years and nine months?!" Tom gasps, glancing at Alfie out of the corner of his eye who sits on the carpet playing with a toy train track Tom had given him last Christmas.

"Welcome to motherhood." You grimace.

Tom puts his empty bowl on the coffee table, trying to figure out how to word his next question.

"Do you ever get…lonely?" He asks delicately. "I don't mean physically, I mean actually."

You shrug, pulling a blanket over your lap.

"I mean, yeah. It's just that between work and Alfie, I don't have time to go out and meet people, you know?"

Tom nods thoughtfully, letting you continue as he gently tugs the edge of your blanket, pulling it over his legs too.

"And if I do meet someone, it's hard because sometimes if I tell them about Alfie it's a deal breaker, or if they're okay with it I'm still not comfortable bringing people in and out of his life. If someone's in his life I want them to be in for good, right?"

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Tom sympathizes, placing a hand on your leg.

"I wouldn't change having him for the world," you say quickly. "I just sometimes wish I had someone to talk to who doesn't speak only in Bob the Builder references."

"I'm always here to talk to, lovie." Tom reassures you. "Can we fix this? Yes we can!" He giggles and you laugh too, pushing his shoulder with yours.

"I'm really glad you're home, Tommy." you say quietly, putting your hand over his where it still rests gently on your leg and rubbing small circles into his skin.

"It's good to be back." He agrees. His eyes meet yours and you both lean in ever so slightly. He picks his hand up off your leg and slowly brings it up, only to be interrupted by a shriek from Alfie as one of his trains crashes off the track. You both jump away, Tom's hand hovering in mid-air as the only proof of the moment that might have happened, frozen on its collision course to your cheek.

You avert eye contact, standing up and reaching for Alfie.

"I'm sorry-" Tom starts but you shake your head, eyes shining.

"No don't worry, it's okay." You say. "Uhm, do you want to help with bathtime?"

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ:*:✼✿

"Hello?" Tom calls down the hallway, kicking the front door shut behind him. There's no answer but he hears chatter and laughter from in the distance. He deposits the cake on the kitchen counter, breathing a sigh of relief upon discovering he'd gotten it from the bakery to your house in one piece.

He steps out of the French doors, immediately grinning as he takes in the scene before him. In the back garden Alfie's second birthday party is in full swing. A handful of toddlers play on the mini slide set you'd set up, their parents hovering nearby and chatting. He assumes these must be some of Alfie's friends from daycare. He spots Alfie almost immediately, running (or waddling) around with the top half of his face painted to look like a Spider-Man mask, clearly having the time of his life.

"Tom!" you spot him standing on the deck, excusing yourself from a conversation with a few parents and heading over to him.

"I'm so glad you made it," you say, giving him a quick hug. He lingers for a second, basking in the feeling of being able to hold you close. He lets you go with only a slightly wistful smile.

"Did you get the cake?" you ask hopefully.

"Of course," he says, rolling his eyes but taking you by the arm and leading you into the shade of the kitchen. "It's in here."

He opens the cake box, grinning as you gasp happily.

"It's perfect! Thank you so much for picking it up." you say, giving him a quick one sided hug and he gulps.

"You look pretty." he murmurs before he can stop himself, taking in the glittery dress you'd chosen for the occasion.

"What was that?" you blink, turning your head away from where you were putting two blue candles in the frosting and making eye contact with Tom.

"Uh, I said I love this city." Tom tries to save it, suddenly losing confidence as usual. "Glad to be back, y'know?"

"Okay?" you nod. "'s good to hear."

･*:༅｡

Tom hangs back as Alfie blows out his candles with a little help from you, allowing himself to hide in the small crowd of toddlers and parents. He'd been so confident driving up to your house with Alfie's cake safely in the passenger seat, even going as far as blasting Enchanted by Taylor Swift with the windows down to prove to himself that today was the day. He had to admit how he felt for so many years or it would truly eat him alive. But now here he was, leaning against the wall at a two-year-old's birthday party and feeling like the biggest wimp in the known universe. He silently excused himself to the bathroom, locking the door and knocking his head on the mirror. Come on, Tom!

"Hey," Tom said, tapping you on the shoulder.

･*:༅｡

"Oh shit," you say, whipping around and dropping the pile of paper plates you'd been collecting up. "You scared me, Tom! I thought everyone had left already."

"Sorry," Tom laughed gently. "No I was just in the bathroom. Want some help cleaning up?"

"You were in the bathroom for an hour?" you ask worriedly. "Jesus, is everything okay?"

"Oh, everything's brilliant." He smiles at you. "I was just thinking."

"I didn't know you knew how to do that." you grin at him. He breathes out, glad some of your familiar banter had returned.

"I have to tell you something." he says before he can think too much about it.

You nod, smiling gently for him to continue as you clean up.

"Can you…can you stop doing that for a minute?" he asks shyly, taking the stack of paper plates from you and putting them down. "This'll only take a minute and then I'll be gone, promise."

He hesitates before taking both your hands in his. You lean into his touch, trying to ignore the electricity that radiates from where your hands meet.

"Do you remember that night at the pub a few years ago?" he asks slowly. "It was the night they were doing the trivia night on pop culture and you won our team all those points for knowing the One Direction questions."

"Yeah," you laugh. "Once again the 1D obsession saved all of our asses."

"And then later that night," Tom continues, his voice wavering. "You uh- you found out about Alfie and you sent that picture of the test to the group chat."

You nod, remembering that night all too well.

"I was outside your house that night." he blurts out. Well, I've done it now, he thinks.

"What the fuck, Tom." you laugh. "You got all serious just to tell me you were stalking me almost three years ago?"

Tom groans.

"Will you let me finish, love?" he asks. "You left before any of us. And the boys all hyped me up, and then I left too. I came to your house because I had to tell you how I felt. And then before I could even knock, you sent that photo to the groupchat. And then how could I possibly add more to the situation and tell you that I've been in love with you since we met?"

Your eyes widen after his confession and you slowly take your hand out of his. Tom swears he's never heard a silence quite this loud before, and he takes it as a bad sign.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he babbles. "I just had to tell you because I couldn't keep lying to you and pretending that everything I see or think about doesn't remind me of you."

"No, Tom." you stop him, gently placing one finger over his lips to shush him. "It's just that I don't really know how to respond to that. I mean, you want me? You actually want me?"

"Darling, you could punch me in the eye and I'd still want you." Tom tries to ease the situation and you giggle. You wrap your arms around him gently, breathing in his scent.

"Is this okay?" you ask hesitantly.

"It's more than okay." Tom confirms, copying your actions. He nuzzles his head into your hair, inhaling the sweet smell of your conditioner that he's only ever been able to admire from afar before now.

You nudge him ever so slightly away from you and tip your head up a tiny amount so you're looking at him. He's been so brave, being the first one to make a move so you feel it's only fair that it's your turn to break the ice. Chest flush against his you close the gap between your mouths, meeting his lips in a soft kiss.

Tom all but melts into the kiss, holding you firmly. There's no way he was letting the chance slip away again, now that he was right where he wanted to be.

⭑･ﾟﾟ･:༅｡.｡༅:ﾟ:*:✼✿

tysm for reading! reblogs are always appreciated and really help a writer out <3

[mashihope]

[The Day] || Bangchan, Stray Kids

(This mini moodboard is made by me; I don’t own any of the pics.)

• Member: Bangchan

• Group: Stray Kids

!! • Warning: Mentions of food, of self esteem issues and/or anxiety; Y/N is afab to match the person this is mainly written for.

• Synopsis: Your birthday has arrived. Your boyfriend Chan loves to pay attention to details and has been in charge of planning everything two months in advance. From the presents to the people he's gonna invite to the party, because this is truly going to be an unforgettable event.

[Note: The titles of the songs will be linked to their youtube video :) This scenario is a really late gift for @ailenuspot for her birthday, the cake went into the oven in 2022 and has just came out so the taste may not be as good as it could have been in the beginning. With nothing else to say, happy birthday! <3]

"Come on, Y/N, Chris is waiting outside with the car. We can't make him wait any longer", your friend Hannah said while pulling your arm, trying to get you out of the room.

"I can't, this dress looks horrible on me, have you seen your brother? He's a walking work of art, I can't go there looking like this", you said, trying to pull down the zip of the dress in order to try another one on.

Hannah took your hands and held them in front of you, frowning.

"Y/N, first of all, you don't look horrible at all, you are and look beautiful, Chris would still love you and see you being just as pretty even if you decided to dress up with a trash bag. And second, I'm kinda offended that you're ignoring my divine beauty, where do you think he's gotten it from?", she said, trying not to laugh after her later words. She let your hands go and softly patted your cheek.

You checked yourself one last time in the mirror, trying to process her words and suddenly having an internal debate, wondering if it would be bettter for you to just wear a trash bag instead of that pink strap dress.

She pulled your arm, once again, taking advantage of the fact that you were distracted and finally managed to get you out of the room (ignoring your complains). You followed her out, picking up both of your bags so you wouldn't forget anything. She openned the door after taking a quick look at the time on her phone and walked faster towards the elevator, making you do the same.

You saw your boyfriend leaning against the car with his arms crossed, not being able to hold back the smile that had shown up on his face a few minutes ago while thinking about everything he had prepared, imagining your bright eyes and that smile of yours that he loved so much. He still hadn't noticed that you were already out and looking at him from the top of the stairs so he just kept daydreaming. Hannah shook her head after watching him for a while.

"We can go now", she hit his brother's arm playfully, trying to get his attention after walking up to the car. You were standing behind her so he hadn't see you yet.

"Y/N...", he said softly, trying to make you go out of your hideout.

Your cheeks turned pink when your eyes met. You saw that a thousand stars started to adorn those small brown planets you used to orbit around every day. You felt a tickle in your chest, a warm and familiar feeling, that one that fills you when you know you're safe, at home. That feeling turned into butterflies fluttering around your stomach as you noticed those little dimples that crowned his cheeks like diamonds. Those cheeks that you used to shower with kisses every morning, making the boy laugh under your dancing lips, unable to contain himself due to the tickling they made him feel with each fleeting kiss.

Hannah stood there, beside you, letting that little moment full of magic flow. Her eyes moved from her brother to you, and back to him. She knew it was a normal thing between you two and it usually happened when you stared at each other for more than five seconds… But it was hard for her to get used to and it almost gave her chills.

Neither of you spoke. That silence was more than enough to see and understand the thousands of words that were floating around you, Thousands of unspoken words that sweetly caressed the heart, making it beat faster. It had always been like that. Awkward silence? Never.

The soft summer breeze was the only one that could be heard at that moment, reminding you that you were not alone, making your little bubble of love and happiness burst to bring you back to reality.

"You look beautiful, Y/N", he finally said, still smiling and lovingly pecked your lips. You almost didn't notice that his kiss made the negative thoughts go away for a while.

Hannah made a disgusted noise and stuck out his tongue while walking towards the car door. "I TOLD YOU", she mumbled under her breath (way more loudly than she meant it to be), looking outside through her window after sitting down on the back seats.

Chan glanced at her, shaking his head after nervously chuckling, because he was, in fact, more nervous than he actually seemed. He wasn't afraid but was scared of something going wrong. He would never forgive himself.

At the same time, you were so nervous that anyone who looked at you could have confirmed that even your eyelashes were shaking. You had a love-hate relationship with surprises and no matter how much you tried to imagine it, you would have never guessed everything your boyfriend had prepared for your big day.

After checking once more that everything was right, Chan started the car and began to drive to the party place. To say the truth, you had left the house a little later than expected but he decided not to mention it because after being together for so long he could perfectly imagine the reasons behind that. He didn't want to make you feel guilty for something like that, even less on a day like this.

After a few minutes, the traffic light decided that it was the right time to make you stop. Seeing the line of cars ahead of you and how the drive would probably take longer, Chan began to hum the melody of a song, almost without realizing it. You frowned as you began to recognize it, but you couldn't remember which one it was.

"That sounds familiar, where was it from?", you asked glancing at both of them. Nobody said anything, Chan looked at his sister thorugh the mirror with a guilty smile. She smiled back while shrugging. "Okay, thank you", you said in such an adorable sarcastic way that Hannah hid her silent laugh behind her phone screen.

“According to my sources, ‘it’ should be ready in half an hour”, your friend said in a tone that was way too mysterious for your liking, not looking up from her phone. Chan responded with a sound of affirmation as he nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the road. The cars started moving and he felt like he could finally breathe again.

"Why so much secrecy? Did I miss something?", you asked, looking at both of them while frowning. The silence that filled the car after your words was an indirect confirmation of your doubts.

Hannah decided to put on one of her many random playlists, hoping that it would distract you from asking more questions that neither of them could answer… At least, not yet. She started dancing in her seat as one of her favorite songs filled the silence of the car. Chan bobbed his head to the music.

Shortly after, to avoid making the journey too long for you, Chan decided it was time to change the playlist for one of his own this time. Polaroid Love started playing, drawing an immediate smile on your lips. You noticed Chan's hand giving your leg a gentle, affectionate squeeze, like every time he knew you were nervous.

(...)

An hour later, you looked up from your phone screen as you felt the car begin to slow down. You rolled the window all the way down to look around. A strong scent of flowers reached you, tolerable enough to take a deep breath. The place seemed to be a hotel almost on the outskirts, far from all the noise of the traffic. A pair of "miniature" gardens decorated the entrance on either side of the main door, from which steps with gold details descended. At the final part of it there was a man dressed in a suit, following you with his eyes and smiling from ear to ear.

"We're here", Chan said, not adding a single word. He wouldn't have been able to anyway, his voice was already starting to have a slight tremor (which you didn't notice, still admiring the flowers).

The car stopped and the man in the suit approached Chan's window, waiting for him to get out. They greeted each other happily with a hug. You couldn't help but feel confused, glancing at Hannah, but only managed to see her getting out and throwing herself into the man's arms.

Chan noticed you were still sitting and turned around. He let out a nervous smile, a little guilty perhaps.

"This is Louis, he's an old friend of the family. He's… like an uncle to us. Louis, this is…", your boyfriend began to explain, opening the door for you and letting you out.

"So this is the famous Y/N! It's a pleasure!", Louis approached you, followed by Hannah, "I've heard so much about you… I was starting to wonder who this Y/N is that is making my Christopher so happy…", he made a gentle attempt to take your hands, attentive to any sign of discomfort, "Thank you for everything you've done for him, I can't help but feel proud to see what this boy has become after all… And I know that part of it is due to you".

Your eyes began to fill with tears. There was something in the man's voice… You could feel the sincerity of his words, coming from the depths of his heart to brighten yours. Chan noticed it immediately, pulling you closer to him to put his arms around you.

(...)

After leaving the car for Louis to find a good parking spot, you walked towards the room where the party was going to be held, walking down wide hallways. You noticed a vase of roses (pink, to be precise) on a table. You turned around to talk to Hannah about it, but it was clear that she had disappeared at some point.

"Uh… Where's Hannah?", you turned around completely, letting your feet start to move. Chan gently tugged on your arm, "Don't worry, she must have stopped to go to the bathroom, let's keep going".

You looked at him, you had the feeling that he was lying, but why? Didn't he know where his sister had gone either? You would have liked to ask him one more time but he was already starting to walk away and you didn't want to get lost in that place.

After walking down a couple of hallways and turning around three times, the sound of music started to get closer. You could recognize the song when you were close enough to the doors, it was Darari by Treasure. Certainly, it was a song that had marked many of your dates, appearing when you least expected it (in a personal playlist of some ice cream shop worker, fans listening to it on their phone…) to turn it into a special song for you.

Chan stopped just before opening one of the doors and took a deep breath. He turned around and searched your eyes for any sign of imminent escape, "Are you ready? Should we go and wait a moment?"

"I'm fine, I'm dying to see what you've prepared", you approached him to leave a fleeting kiss on his cheek. His adorable dimples greeted you once again, anyone could have noticed at that moment how happy your boyfriend was to be there with you.

After gently taking your hand, he pushed one of the doors slowly. The sound of the music grew louder, you could even hear the guests talking, some of them laughing excitedly. Chan gestured for you to enter first, being the gentleman he always is.

Under all that noise, you began to hear a faint sound of knocking on the floor, one after another. You didn't have time to try to figure out where it was coming from when a cheerful ball of fur began to move between your feet.

If it hadn't been for Chan, you would have ended up sitting on the floor. Little Berry had recognized you the moment you had appeared through the door and hadn't been able to wait for you to approach her. Between little laughs and words of affection, you tried to pick her up in your arms. The love you felt for each other was obvious.

Stroking Berry's head tenderly, you began to look around. The place was very spacious, with enough tables for all the guests (which you would have sworn would be less, but apparently you were wrong), a dance floor and even a stage. The place was completely lit up, from elegant crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling to the huge windows that collected the warm afternoon light. In every corner, you could see pink decorations of different shades, but none of them looked bad to the eye. You could even see numerous vases similar to those you had seen on the way to the room, all of them decorated with, once again, pink roses.

It all looked like a fairy garden, but the hotel's own decor made it clear that you were witnessing a scene straight out of a fairy tale in which you were the protagonist and that was your palace, with your prince.

"Chan…", you started to say. Neither of you spoke, he had been staring at you from the first moment, unable to hide that huge smile that had appeared on his lips when he noticed the sparkle in your eyes. It was just as he had imagined, maybe even better.

He approached you, with one hand on Berry's head and another on your cheek, and kissed you. All the desserts in that place would have never been as sweet as that kiss. After separating from you, he gave you another smile. He looked around, looking for his family. He saw his parents waving their hands in the air, trying to get his attention.

You walked towards that table, still carrying Berry in your arms like a baby. They had reserved a couple of seats for you and, at the same time, there were another two free seats, with no sign of his siblings.

You tried to ask about it, but you couldn't. After greeting your in-laws and letting Berry rest on one of the empty chairs next to yours, you didn't have time to exchange more words. The sound of a microphone turning on interrupted all the conversations. The little girl seemed scared, you tried to calm her down by stroking her head once more.

All heads turned towards the stage, beside the tables. Above him were Felix and Minho, waving to everyone with a smile. Some of the children waved back happily.

"I would like to welcome you all and thank you for being here. As you may know, today is a very special day, as we celebrate the birthday of a great person and friend to many of us", Felix began to talk, always trying to keep his radiant smile on.

"Some of you may have already started checking out the dance floor or even dropped by the bar, but I'm sorry to say that the drinks will start moving from nine o'clock onwards", Minho said, with one of his well-known mischievous expressions on his face. Some of the guests seemed disappointed after his words, others tried to hide in their seats, visibly embarrassed.

"Before all that, our dear host has taken care of preparing a series of activities so that we can all have a good time, from children to adults. Everyone will be free to choose what to participate in and, most importantly, when to stop doing so", Felix opened the small guide he held in his hand, encouraging the others to do the same with those on the tables.

"Following our motto of freedom, most activities will be open to the general public. Once again, it should be noted that the bar will be closed to anyone under 20… No, Jisung", Minho side-eyed him as he began to look as cheerful as a puppy hearing the words "go for a walk", "you need special permission, we don't want the scene on the bar from last time to repeat". His words seemed to resonate with some of the people there, laughing after imagining said scene. Jisung, on the other hand, tried to hide behind Changbin, who was also laughing remembering that day.

"If we follow the program", Felix turned around and glanced at Minho, letting out a tone in his voice that made it clear that it was important to not deviate from the established "script." Minho didn't even flinch, simply giving him a mischievous look. "We'll be able to see that there are three moments marked in pink, those are the most important of the entire event and, as expected, it would be good if we were all present".

"There will be an adult at all times in the activities making sure that… yes?", Minho looked up from the guide, having seen out of the corner of his eye a hand rising. "What if I need to go pee during the "pink" moments?", a boy of about six years old, who was sitting on his mother's lap, spoke up. "Well… It can be an exception, that's an emergency, we can wait, yes". The boy nodded, satisfied with the answer, to continue drinking his third glass of lemonade.

Felix moved closer to Minho and whispered something to him. Minho frowned, as if he didn't understand what his friend was saying. "When? Now?", he covered the microphone with his hand, trying to prevent the rest of them from hearing the conversation. He coughed to clear his throat. "According to what I'm being told, there will be a therapeutic corner where some shelter workers will be talking about some kittens they have up for adoption, to raise awareness among the little ones… And probably myself, too".

Minho said goodbye and quickly left the stage, eager to meet those cats. "My friend is heading right now to help the people of the shelter get everything ready, please excuse him, it's his weak point". Felix picked up the guide that Minho had accidentally dropped on the floor and cleaned it. "Getting back to the program, the door to the central gardens will be open at all times. In the room to our left will be the medical service to deal with any problems that may arise. To the right, next to the painting of the albino tigers, there is a small hallway that leads to the bathrooms", he winked at the boy with the (now fourth) lemonade, aware that this information would start to be useful to him in a few minutes perhaps.

Felix tried to give a brief talk about each activity, so the guests could start making plans. After that, he made sure all possible doubts were resolved and said goodbye, officially starting the party. He hurried to accompany Minho, knowing that it was all too likely that he had already stayed there playing with the kittens, forgetting everything else.

Chan turned around, looked at his parents with a smile and then at you, "Well, what do you think?", they looked at each other, not really knowing what to answer, "Honey, did you prepare all this by yourself?", his mother asked. Seeing the young man nod proudly, his father sighed, "Christopher, this is all very well made and thought, but I'm guessing you haven't rested a single moment…"

"I'm not going to deny it. Preparing all this has been exhausting, but at the same time it gave me all the energy I needed imagining the results, that smile that I adore so much is worth it all", he patted your head to make it even more obvious that he was talking about you, "also, I couldn't help but think about it every time I tried to sleep. So far, I can only say that all of those sleepless nights had been worth it"

"Honey… When did you grow up so much?"

(…)

Time passed without you noticing, and one of the important moments (according to the guide) arrived. You had spent most of it in the kitten area, listening to the small lecture by the shelter people and talking to the children there. Not to mention the kittens themselves, of course. You would have given anything to take them with you.

While you were playing with a small, striped grey naughty boy, you felt a hand on your shoulder. You would have never paid attention to that distraction if you hadn't recognized the scent of cologne immediately.

"What are you doing, love?", your boyfriend's head peeked over your shoulder. You could feel his breath on your cheek so you decided to break the distance by leaving a quick kiss on his lips.

“You should have known I wouldn’t be leaving here all afternoon”, you said, trying to sound innocent. The cat decided it was a good time to escape from your arms, taking advantage of the fact that you weren’t looking at him and ran off to jump on one of the toys.

“My bad", Chan smiled, at least he knew you had walked through all the activity areas before staying there. The butterfly sticker on your cheek, the cat-shaped balloon, and the flower bracelet gave away that you had spent quite a bit of time in three of them, in fact. “I’m sorry to tell you it’s time to say goodbye…”, he said softly, trying not to let his words affect you.

"I REFUSE!", you crossed your arms, "it's impossible for anything to get better than this. I'm not moving from here".

Chan looked at you with a mischievous smile, convinced that all this time by your side had been enough to have some tricks up his sleeve. He made sure that no one was paying attention to you and tried to leave a kiss on your neck. The result was automatic, he could feel a shiver running down your spine.

"CHRISTOPHER BAHNG!", you let yourself fall to one side, trying to get away from him, looking at Chan with a mix of anger and embarrassment. "Oh no, the government name!", he simply laughed, watching your reaction, so funny to him.

"How dare you…?", you started to speak but a kiss interrupted you. "Y/N, my love, we have to go back, I promise you that we will visit the shelter another time, but now you have to say goodbye", he kissed you again, trying to convince you like that… You and your weak points.

(...)

As you walked back into the main room you saw that the tables had been moved. Someone had been making space so that the middle of the room was open and free, to let all the guests stand there.

“Why do I get the feeling that you've done that?”, you said, gesturing with your head at the tables. Chan followed your gaze, not entirely sure of what you were talking about since he had technically prepared everything for that day. “Oh, that. Kind of”, he let out a nervous chuckle. “I've had a little help, you would have seen that if you had decided to come around at some point”, he continued in a somewhat mocking tone. You simply rolled your eyes in response.

Felix ran past you to quickly walk backwards. “Do you think we’re all here? Minho and I are counting but we can’t get to agree”, he said, visibly nervous.

“Y/N, stay here, my parents will probably join you if they see you”, he let go of your hand and headed towards the stage, followed by his friend. They jumped up and started counting again. You could see them talking from where you were, but you couldn’t hear them. Felix was frowning. Changbin walked in carrying a little girl with chocolate stains on her face. Shortly after, a woman appeared with Seungmin.

“Youngseo!” the woman let go of Seungmin’s arm and quickly walked towards Changbin. “Where the hell have you been?!”

From what you could understand, the girl had been playing in the garden with her siblings, sneaked out to eat some of the desserts behind her grandparents' back, and tried to find the bathrooms to get rid of the evidence. Changbin had found her walking alone in another hallway, but she didn't seem scared. In fact, she had almost completely forgotten her mission and had set out to go on adventures around the hotel.

The woman, who was apparently her grandmother, had gone crazy looking for her. Seungmin had accompanied her to see the medical service while Changbin looked for his granddaughter. Her siblingss (who were older than the little girl) hadn't even noticed her absence.

Changbin took them to the bathroom so the girl could wash her face, making Felix's frustration increase. Chan watched his friend's desperation with a slight smile, there was something in Felix's gestures that he found certainly amusing. He put a hand on his shoulder and stepped away.

"Well, attention, I'd like to check that we're all present except for three people", he decided to approach the microphone, breaking his own rules. The guests began to look at each other, confused by the boy's tone.

Changbin came back, Felix put his hands on his head when he saw that he was alone. If it weren't for his friend's wink he would have started screaming. He stopped his mental count (once again) when he saw that the lady finally came in while leading her granddaughter by the hand.

He cleared his throat when Minho stood next to him, "Now that we're all here, I'd like to…", to his bad luck, the lemonade boy jumped up, previously sitting on the floor. “Wait!” he dropped the empty plastic cup and ran off towards the bathroom.

Felix looked at his friends with wide eyes, about to put into practice one of Minho’s evil deeds. Changbin started laughing from where he was, infecting other people in the process.

A few minutes later, the boy came back, walking calmly. When he noticed the glances Felix and his parents were giving him, he hurried back to join them.

Felix and Minho looked at each other and nodded in unison, as a sign that they were ready to finally get started. "Are we all here yet?", Minho asked, watching the guests carefully. Then he looked at Chan, who responded with a thumbs up. "In that case, and as we had announced, one of the most important moments of the day has arrived. We have tried to make sure beforehand that there were no problems, we apologize in advance".

"And now, let's welcome our dear flower boy", Felix added, smiling in your direction to try and send you a reassuring signal. He had been noticing all those invisible little clouds around you for quite some time, making your nerves all too obvious.

Minho walked off the stage, followed by Felix, and they left Chan waiting, swaying on his feet. His nerves were becoming more and more visible, he would have even sworn they were bigger than all those provoked during performances and concerts.

Everyone turned around when they heard the door open behind them. The speakers filled the room with Hyunjin's voice humming the melody of a song (which no one recognized at first), holding a big bouquet of roses (held between his arm and chest) while pushing a cart with his free arm, full of flowers different from those in the bouquet.

He walked through the middle of the room, in the space that everyone had left for him to pass through. He left the cart beside the stage and went up with the bouquet still in his arms. He nodded to his friend as a greeting, smiling so much that his eyes were about to close. They had a magical glow, almost as bright as the lights in the room.

Chan jumped slightly to get off the stage, took the microphone that Hyunjin handed him, and approached the flower cart. His hand wandered around the small garden, hesitant, but soon after, while picking up a yellow tulip, this was the signal needed for the music to start playing.

He handed out flowers to the guests while happily singing I'm Yours*. Each delivery seemed to have no meaning at first, but anyone who paid enough attention to the type of flower and the person in question would have realized that everything was perfectly planned in Chan's head.

There were all kinds of reactions, from blushing ladies to children grinning from ear to ear. Even Berry received a stuffed flower, made specifically for her. The little girl barked happily as a thank you, making the young man smile.

At some point (and after handing out all the other flowers), your boyfriend approached you, looking into your eyes. All that was left was the large bouquet of roses that he had apparently reserved for you. Among them were small photos (in which the two of you appeared) that he had chosen to add to the bouquet. Before giving it to you, he smiled looking down at the floor, suddenly feeling shy. Then, he placed the bouquet in your hands and kissed you, not caring about anything or anyone.

After separating from you, he looked at you again with that shy smile of his. Seeing your blushing cheeks, he gently ran his hand over one of them. For him, it was one of the most adorable things he had ever seen in his entire life. You didn't even get to say any word, you just blinked, still confused.

(...)

Minho and Felix returned to the stage. Felix proudly wore the daisy Chan had given him, adorning his golden head. Both held a set of cards they were going to use. This time, Jeongin joined them.

After approaching the standing microphone again, they lively commented on the recent delivery. Jeongin stated that he had been close to shedding a couple of tears but that the feeling had been so strong that it had stopped him from doing so on its own.

They started using the cards as a guide, chatting with the audience about different anecdotes and moments that Chan had offered them days before the event. Behind them, a large screen showed some related photos and videos. Funny, adorable memories, everything that the young man had wanted to share with the guests. Little pieces of pure love that did not fail to get reactions, from "oooh" to sincere laughter that seemed to come from the depths of a heart infected by the happiness that Chan was feeling at that moment.

After they finished, they did a quick little performance, staying silent for a few seconds and looking in various directions (which caused several people to do the same). "What's that sweet thing I smell?", Jeongin asked, "Maybe it's the side-effects of everything we just saw and heard?" Felix replied, shaking his head excitedly. Minho positioned himself between them and placed both hands on their heads, "Maybe we should investigate this incident, the culprit may appear and resolve our doubts."

Once again, the door opened, revealing a three-tiered cake, elegantly decorated with (edible) flowers and butterflies. On top of it, two candles indicated your new age. Behind the cake, pushing the cart, your friend Hannah tried to hide her meaningful red eyes behind a smile. By her side, helping his sister, was Lucas, the youngest of the siblings, who didn't seem to care in the slightest that the rivers running down his cheeks were seen by the guests.

The soft melody that filled the room was not able to muffle the boy's continuous sobs, which ended up infecting Hannah again. They did their best to leave the cake next to the food table, then went to take refuge in the arms of their parents, who pretended not to be moved by the scene. Little Berry slowly approached them to lovingly lick the leg of her two dramatic humans.

The brightness of the lights slowly began to dim, leaving only two spotlights illuminating the room. One of them was on the stage, under which your boyfriend waited patiently. Under the other one was you, shaking more than any of the pudding or jelly on the dessert table.

Chan gestured to the sound technicians, took a deep breath, and the music started playing. You could feel one piece fitting into another in your brain to form a small puzzle; the melody that both he and Hyunjin had been humming was none other than Marry You**. Despite this, you were unable to understand or process anything that was happening, your thoughts were still on the recent scene of the siblings.

(…)

The song ended, the guests clapped euphorically at the energy Chan had created on stage, trying to liven up the moment aware that some of them had previously succumbed to the emotion. He looked to his left and saw his friends crying in a corner, even Minho had dropped his "tough guy" facade.

"Oh, sorry to ruin the moment, I hope my friend H.ONE knows how to cheer this place up on the dance floor later", he let out a nervous laugh, some of the guests responded with laughter as well. Others tried to cheer him up, aware of the importance of the moment. "It's appreciated, it almost felt like I was in the middle of a concert", he laughed again.

"Let's see, well, I think I should try to find the right words, wait", some kids found the sounds he was letting out funny due to his nerves, he couldn't help but smile at this. He took a deep breath, "Uhm, okay, I think I got it". He cleared his throat and started talking.

"A long time ago, I used to be someone who was completely unable to imagine that it was possible to receive everything I tried to give to others. I've always been the type of person who did everything in my hand to make others happy, leaving myself aside. At the same time, I was not aware that other people tried to do the same for me, always insisting that I didn't need any of that. Little by little, and thanks to my family, friends and fans, I discovered that all of it was possible. I learned to accept it, because there were still moments when I wanted to reject it unconsciously. And one day, without realizing it, you came to my life, Y/N. I like to think that you came like a miracle and stayed like a dream. It would be a lie to say that I was already "cured" at that time, in fact, you appeared in a rather dark moment of my life. It's not something I usually talk about, but you began to illuminate my darkness without realizing it. There was something about that contagious smile, the way you used to say my name, those sweet eyes… that made me want to stay by your side without caring about anything or anyone. I think I didn't even ponder too much about it, I asked my members for a lot of advice, but I never doubted that this was what I really wanted to do. Fortunately, they all supported me, telling me all the time that they found me happier, freer, more comfortable with my life. I will never forget that moment, with your bright eyes and your sincere tears, after finally telling you what I felt. I would never change all these moments that we have shared together until today, for anything in the world. Opening my eyes in the morning and seeing you resting peacefully next to me is enough to draw a smile on my face and fill me with energy for the new day. Your arms are the refuge I long for every time I feel lost, while your eyes help me find myself again, being my guide to take me to that special place that only we can enter…"

He stopped in the middle of the stage, after walking around nervously, and sighed, pausing to gather his thoughts again. He smiled, not even able to look at you, but he could imagine your confused face and your red cheeks, once again. He decided to continue.

"After this long monologue of mine, I apologize, because nothing I could say would ever be enough to tell the world how much in love I am with you, my princess. As many words as there are stars in the universe are what I would need to tell you how much I love you and how happy and bright you make my life. And that is why, since without you nothing would ever be the same", he paused briefly to take a deep breath and descend towards the ground (receiving in response sounds from the guests in a sign of surprise and emotion), kneeling, he took out a small but significant box from the pocket of his jacket, to open it in your direction (with a slight but noticeable tremor in his hands and a shy smile on his lips),

"would you do me the great honor of marrying me?"

[*original version of I'm Yours / Marry You || **a different versión for each word]

♡ Official playlist: (I'd reccomend reading the scenario first)

[pocketfullofpearlies]

RISE OF RED: A TALE OF HEADS AND HEARTS

(Descendants: Rise of Red Fan fiction/Re-imagining)

Chapter 3

Clothes? Check.

Shoes? Check.

"Chloe!"

Skincare and makeup? Check.

"Chloe!"

Jewelry? Check.

Interior decor for room? Check.

Devices? Check.

"Chloe!"

Extra notebooks and journals?

Extra notebooks and journals!

"CHLOE!"

King Charming's raised voice jolted his daughter out of her thoughts and she blinked at him, putting her sword down at her side.

"Dad..why'd you stop?"

"Maybe because you zoned out for almost three minutes there, hon. If this had been an actual battle ground, you'd be long gone by now,'' King Charming said, walking over to a table at the side and grabbing a glass of water.

Chloe groaned and itched at her neck awkwardly.

''I'm sorry, Daddy. I know I got you out here so I could do some sword training with you to get my mind off of things, yet here I am still stressing over the fact that I might not have enough notebooks for the semester.''

''I doubt that'll be an issue, Chloe,'' a calm, soft, lightly accented voice spoke, causing both Chloe and the King to turn round.

Queen Cinderella walked in to meet her husband and daughter, looking elegant in a simple yet stunning day gown that was silvery-white but shone with a blue hue when hit by the light. The dress complimented her gorgeous brown skin and went well with her honey blonde hair, done up in braids and held in an intricate fish-tail plait.

Chloe loved the way her mother's bedazzled crown was placed on her bed of glorious hair, although she already looked like royalty regardless of it.

''If you run out, which I doubt you will,'' she continued, ''the school has more than enough that you can use, ma cherie.''

''I never once carried a book at the beginning of a new semester,'' the King said, going up to meet his wife.

''And yet he always managed to pass excellently well,'' the Queen said, leaning into her husband's arms.

''What can I say? I am charming,'' he said, giving her a soft kiss on the lips.

''Mmm....that's debatable,'' she teased.

Chloe rolled her eyes playfully.

Her parents were never shy in expressing their love for each other.

Her phone buzzed from a pocket in her pants and she pulled it out only to see yet other text from her older brother.

AP Tip #765: Compliment the lunch lady and she'll give you the Bayou Special like we had at Queen Tiana's restaurant last time we visited.

''Qui est-ce, bébé? (Who is it, baby?)'' the Queen when she noticed Chloe typing back a reply.

''It's just Chad, Mum,'' Chloe answered. ''And now he's video calling.''

She picked and raised her phone up immediately greeted by her brother's smiling face.

''Bonjour, baby sis,'' he said, shaking his golden curls out of his face.

Chad had inherited his features from their grandfather, having fair skin, hair the colour of a wheat field and eyes like a tropical waterfall.

Chloe, on the other hand, had combined their parents looks, with her skin that was a perfect light brown, deeper toned blonde hair like their mother and eyes like a flickering fireplace that matched their father's.

''I assume the pink thong on your lamp doesn't belong to you?'' she whispered back.

''H-how did that get there?'' Chad laughed awkwardly, moving his phone so it wouldn't show.

''Tell Audrey I said hi,'' Chloe said, still in a low voice.

''Yeah, well, she's out getting her hair done so I'll see her much later.''

''Are you talking to Chad, baby? Bring the phone over!'' Queen Cinderella said, gesturing for Chloe to come.

''Mommy! Pops!'' Chad said immediately the Queen took the phone from Chloe.

''Chadwick, mon fils!(my son!)'' the Queen gushed.

''How you doing, bud?'' asked the King.

''About to finish getting ready for the tourney match. You still coming?''

''Of course! Your mum's gonna drop Chlo off, help her settle down and join us there.''

''Really wish I could be there with you, Chloster, but Jay has been on everyone's asses about the game-''

''-Language, Chadwick!'' his mother scolded.

''Yeah, watch your tone around your mama, college boy,'' the King warned, his voice strict, but giving his son a wink through the screen.

''What happened to your manners, your royal blondness?'' Chloe teased.

Chad made a face at her and was about to continue talking when Chloe's phone started beeping and buzzing.

''What's that?'' he asked.

''The alarm I set so mum and I would leave the castle on time,'' she replied, tapping her phone screen to deactivate it.

''I think we'd better head out now, ma cherie. It's a two hour drive to Auradon if we don't run into any traffic,'' the Queen said.

Chloe nodded but her brother noticed how her face fell slightly.

''Hey, it's gonna be okay, Chlo. Auradon Prep is the-''

''-the best, I know,'' she completed. ''And it's even more special because mum and dad went there and so did you.''

''Exactly! It'll be a breeze. Don't be such a worry wart like mum.''

''Very funny, Chadwick," the Queen said sarcastically, but with a small smile on her face .“I’ll see you when I’m done at AP.”

“See you soon, Mummy,” Chad said. “Bye, Dad. Eat rocks, Chlo. Love you.”

The call went off and Chloe sighed, pocketing her phone.

“I guess it’s time to say the final goodbyes,” she said, looking at her dad.

“Aww, hon.”

King Charming wrapped his daughter in a big hug, resting his head on top of her blonde curls.

“I’m gonna miss you, mouse,” he said.

“Me too, Daddy.”

Chloe inhaled his clean, woody scent, knowing she wouldn’t get to smell his cologne for the next few months.

“My princess,” the king said, when he released her from the hug, admiring her features that were so similar to his own.

Queen Cinderella watched them, blinking rapidly to avoiding tearing up.

“Your Majesty,” a servant said, bowing as he stood in the doorway. “All the princess’ bags have been loaded into the car.”

“Thank you, Mithius,” the Queen said. “My loves, I’ll be in the car too.”

She kissed her husband again and stroked Chloe’s face lovingly.

“You can put any last minute things from your room in your rucksack,” the king said as she walked away, “including a new pair of shoes your mum and I got for the semester.”

That made Chloe light up and she beamed.

“Really?”

“But of course. Our baby can’t start school without some new kicks. It’s like a family tradition.”

“Now I’m gonna miss you more than ever.”

“I know, I know. What can I say? I’m amazing.”

“Daddy!”

The king chuckled. “Your mum and I will come visit you regularly, mouse, don’t worry. Plus I’m sure you’re gonna make so many new friends; you won’t ever be lonely.”

Chloe laughed with him. “Yeah, sure.”

“I mean it. Now, go on. You don’t want to keep your mama waiting.”

After one last hug and a trip to her room to pick up some notebooks and her new shoes, Chloe was seated with her mum in their cream coloured limousine.

“This is it, Cherie. You’re on your way to a bright and beautiful future,” Queen Cinderella said, smiling sweetly at her daughter.

“Is that how you felt on your first day?”

“You mean my first day in a new school in a whole new country with step-sisters that hated my guts? Absolutely not.”

“My bad; you definitely had it worse.”

“Well, it’s not a competition, dear. And my greatest joy is that you and your brother have never faced any of the difficulties I did.”

“Do you think grandmere and grandpere would’ve wanted you to attend Auradon Prep? Grandpere was a lord, right?”

“He was, and the title was supposed to be passed onto me when he died, but my step-mother had other ideas and I didn’t have the power to go against her. When we moved from France down here, the only reason she put me in school at all was to avoid suspicion, and even though my step-sisters literally wanted to die at the prospect of me being in the same school as them, she couldn’t bear the thought of anyone thinking she couldn’t afford the best money could buy for even someone as lowly as me.”

“And as chance would have it, you met a French prince that swept you off your feet, and your life has been a fairytale ever since.”

“That’s why I want you to go there and find your own. We can’t keep you hidden away in Cinderellasburg forever. The world deserves to meet you, and you deserve to experience it all.”

“You make it all sound so dreamy, but I don’t know, I’m still scared. I hope I can live up to the legacy you, Dad and Chad have set…..okay maybe just you and Dad’s legacy. You get what I mean, though.”

Queen Cinderella laughed at Chlobeautife’s expression, reaching out to arrange her curls.

“Just be yourself, Chloe. Be true to who you are; don’t compromise. You’re perfect. Okay?”

Chloe smiled gratefully. “Merci, maman.”

Her phone buzzed and she looked at the screen, brightening up immediately.

“It’s Dizzy. She’s asking if we’re on the way,’ she told her mum as she began rapidly typing out a reply.

“Tell her we’ll be there in half an hour, and that her mum can only use a vacation as an excuse to not call back three times before it gets sus.”

“I am not telling my cousin that you just used the word ‘sus’.”

“I know for a fact that I used it within the right context.”

Chloe bit back a snort, raising her eyes from her phone briefly to see her mum’s nose in the air sassily.

It was from moments like this that one could tell where Chad got some of his whims from.

“Ooh, Dizzy says Aunt Faye’s going to be at the Welcome Ceremony today.”

“Yes, she’s officially handing over the role of Principal to Uma today. The ceremony’s going to be incredible.”

“Wait…Uma the pirate? My Principal? Okay, now I can’t wait to get to school.”

The minutes in the car seemed to fly away as a comfortable silence washed over mother and daughter.

Before Chloe knew it, they were driving over the smooth, cobbled paths of Auradon Prep.

The car was parked in the designated spot for the Charmings in the parking lot and the Queen and princess came down.

As usual, there were bows and greetings directed to them the moment they were sighted.

Chloe smiled politely in return as they walked the path together, only to hear an ear-shattering squeal that made her smile double in size.

Dizzy, her step-cousin, ran up to meet them, wearing a green, silky romper with reddish brown hair styled atop her head in space buns that were both childish and mature at once.

“Hey,” they chorused as soon as she got to them and they shared a hug.

“It’s so good to see you again, Chloe. You look sooo cute. And Aunt Ella, ravishing as always. Is that a custom design?”

“But of course. I designed it specially for my baby’s big day.”

Dizzy observed the dress closely, nodding in awe and approval.

“The stitch work is phenomenal.”

“I know. The mice really outdid themselves on this one.”

“I’ll definitely come round the castle sometime to check out your new work. But for now, I need to get Chloe settled it.”

Chloe then noticed the bedazzled ear-piece Dizzy was wearing and the clipboard and pen in her right hand.

“I’m still on the clock right now, but you can just join the line over there to meet my girl Celia. I’ve already picked out the perfect room for you in the system beforehand, so all you have to do is sign in with Celia and pick up your dorm key, okay?”

“Okay,” Chloe said with a nod.

Dizzy gave her step-aunt and cousin one last smile before she walked past them to continue welcoming new students.

“You ready, angel?” Queen Cinderella asked.

Chloe took in a deep breath and released.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

[baldurs-gape]

Okay, you mentioned human!Mystra using a pad in Shores and that got me thinking, just for funsies, would canon mystra have a period? would she just choose not to? LOL, serious 3 am thoughts but now i'm curious. i mean if i were a goddess i would simply choose not to

This definitely got my brain going overtime because there's such potential here! Strap in because this turned into a bit of a ramble.

First thought was that no, Mystra wouldn't have a period because she's a goddess now and I can't fathom why anyone would ever choose to have a period. But then again, she was human once, was she not? It would be kind of fun to make godhood a boon but not a solution to every perceived flaw/inconvenience that exists.

I can imagine the convenience of being able to do away with the cramps, the stains on clothes, the issue of not having pads/tampons/cup on hand. When at one with the Weave, I would imagine she isn't troubled by the physical afflictions, but when in the mortal realms? A whole different matter. Would she have to time her mortal existence to avoid having a period? Whenever she's due, she retreats into the Weave just to not have to deal with the whole issue. Or is it an inevitable thing she still has to put up with because her mortal manifestation only experiences the passage of time when it's in existence. Thus, no matter how she tries to time things, she cannot avoid having her period no matter what. Is now the time to contemplate how time passes at a different rate in different realms? Maybe she realm hops to somewhere days pass quickly when she's got her period just to make it go by quicker. Though that is a relative speed of time rather than actual speed, so to her it would last just as long so maybe that's not a good plan.

Here might be a good time to ponder God Gale and how he forgot to dip his dick in the blue goo of godhood. With the free cam mod you can peek up his robes and see that while his blue tint goes up his thighs, he most definitely has a very pink willy. Maybe, similar to Achilles, he was held by it as he was dipped in godhood, maybe he was in the middle of getting a blowjob as he ascended (making the moment extra special?), or maybe each god has to choose some aspect of their origins to retain. He chose his dick and balls. Mystra chose her monthly cycle.

Perhaps this ties in with fertility (and yes, periods do not automatically equal fertility but that's not the point of the post). Maybe Mystra was hoping that she could be a better god than those before her if she retained aspects of her humanity such as reproduction the 'traditional' way. She could have been hoping it was a link back to her roots, a reminder of where she had come from. Or she was worried about her progeny, wanted human children so she preserved her periods and fertility, not wishing to have demigods as children - be that out of worry for any potential child she had or a more selfish desire to not share even a speck of her power, that's up for debate.

Then we come to the other aspect of having periods - the hormonal fluctuations. Given that gods can be mercurial and unpredictable, I would be inclined to say that maybe they retain a hormonal cycle (or the godly equivalent). This does then raise the curious idea of a human based god and a dragonborn based god having very different rhythms and patterns. If we say dragonborn are like snakes, can we assume that temperature fluctuations influence their activity levels, their hunger (which in god terms could be neediness for worship?) etc? But that's going a bit off topic. Maybe Mystra's hormonal cycle means that in the run-up to a period her visage isn't quite as perfect no matter the state she's in. As a human we've got things like water retention, skin flare-ups etc. Perhaps as a god, Mystra gets cravings for specific kinds of sacrifices and without even meaning to, hold the Weave back from others.

The last bit I wanted to cover in this ramble is the semantics. We have talked about the 'flow of the Weave' and we also have 'monthly flow' as a synonym for periods. Make what you will of that.

And, to wrap this up with something a bit more silly; I know a lot of the BG3 fandom sees Mystra as a negative character with a lot of red flags and someone to portray as evil in the grand scheme of things (in the grand scheme of Gale). It's somewhat of a chicken or the egg situation - does the Weave corrupt, does godhood corrupt (which, looking at the route of Gale keeping the crown, is indeed the truth), or was human Mystra already someone to be wary of?

If you're anti-Mystra, then this one's for you!

Mystra is a period stain in the knickers of humanity.

[clairefoyanttt]

Burnout is becoming a more commonly discussed issue thanks to the pandemic, the shift from remote to in person, etc.

Ten years I would've rolled my eyes at people who were "too lazy to work for their money."

A lot has changed in ten years.

I work for a wonderful company with 5 weeks of PTO, 10 paid holidays, and a hybrid schedule that only requires us in office 2-3 days a week. I have a boss who could give TED talks on leadership and makes even the most difficult conversations positive. Sound ideal? It is. And I'm burnt out anyway.

So, I've decided to blog it since I feel like we hear about it but rarely get to follow the recovery from start to finish.

Therefore, we'll consider this:

The Prologue

I got my first tax paying job at 14 in a local retail shop. As of today, I'm 31 and an Executive Assistant with a multinational corporation. I've done everything from nursing aide to soldier but being an EA fits me best. I love everything about it.

Through no fault of anyone's, however, in the 17 years I've been working, I've never worked the same job, in the same company/department, with the same boss for more than 12 months. That wouldn't be terrible, except my job is based on my department AND my boss, and at the end of every year since I started at my current job in 2019, I've either gotten a new boss or a new department every single December.

Anyone who has been working long enough will tell you this: the first three months, you'll feel like you're drowning, at six months you'll feel fairly confident in what your role is, and at a year you feel competent at your job. Now imagine hitting competency and having to throw it all away and learn an entirely new job every year.

However I've done it every year so I was kind of used to it. So what made this time different?

First, I had a kid. He's a full blown toddler now which means, if he's sent home, he asks for things, gets into things, is nearly impossible to contain, and also requires a LOT of energy to chase after even on days when he is in daycare. Result? My spoons are lower for work than they had been pre-motherhood.

Second, the boss I'd shared my longest EA partnership with gave notice without warning me. I knew he'd been interviewing internally but was blindsided to know he'd interviewed and accepted a position outside the company. It hurt. He was hands down the best boss I've ever had, so incredibly supportive of the new working mom struggle, so for him to leave with no warning was my breaking point.

Third, medical medical. I have been dealing with a new ADHD diagnosis, physical therapy, genetic testing, and a neverending string of colds and bugs from my child. My child has had ear infections, pink eye, the flu, a sleep regression, and more all in the last 8 weeks. My husband is physically disabled due to degenerative disk disease and abruptly got worse when his vertebrae started pinching a major nerve meaning his ability to help with the kid or around the house is limited, and is zero on bad back days.

Sooooo after thinking my ADHD was medication resistant, thinking I had pre menstrual dysphoric disorder, depression, GAD, etc. I took a self test for burnout. And another. And five more after that. Every single one had me at the deepest level of burnout.

What does that feel like?

For me, I felt my body inching towards an anxiety attack whenever I thought about work. I knew I had tasks to do but could not mentally get the energy to do it until someone needed it. I have tons of coping mechanisms for executive dysfunction thanks to having ADHD, the timer method is a favorite, but even that wasn't working. Even if I got started, it's like my mind would do whatever it could to distract me from working on the task I needed to do.

At night, I would struggle to sleep because I'd be berating myself for how little I accomplished during the day.

I started gratitude journaling, meditating, eating better, moving more, socializing more, all the things I know help with depression. And I saw improvements at home during my off hours but as soon as I logged into work, I was right back to the frozen dread.

It got to the point where I was trying to find other jobs but knew that it might ruin my career if I couldn't perform and this problem (which I didn't realize was burnout at the time) carried into my next job. I started budgeting and trying to see if I could be a stay at home mom, work part-time, anything.

Once I realized it was burnout, I had a flash of memory. A manager I'd known had had a bit of a breakdown at one point and gone on short-term disability to recover. I wondered if I would be eligible for a similar leave because I know I don't want to leave this company but clearly need to take a break to recover since I'm too far down the rabbit hole to fix it while working.

I spoke to my therapist about it, she was excited to see me dig deep to find the real issue, agreed it was burnout, and said she would help with whatever I needed to get the disability leave approved.

So, off we go into this recovery process which is equal parts relief and shame. Excitement and embarrassment.

I hope it works.

[bemylord]

ᴘᴜɴɪꜱʜᴍᴇɴᴛ + ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀᴄᴀʀᴇ │ ᴅɪʟꜰ ꜰᴜꜱʜɪɢᴜʀᴏ ᴛᴏᴊɪ

pairings: toji fushiguro x fem!reader.

warnings: nsfw, spit kink, spanking, slap on the cheeks [once], size kink, belly bulge, tears, creampie, marks, dom/sub, cockwarming, nicknames, butt plug, edging [mentioned], degrading, gagging, oral [both?], breeding kink + aftercare and praising <3 grammar issues.

word counter: 4.2k

butler's note: extra hot and extra big. it must a 4.7k but i though it'd be too long, so i deleted some parts. if you like dilf toji - butler's here to serve your thirst. i did toji in his 30s not in 40s bc megumi is three years old.

'on your knees, slut' you swallowed, dare to have a quick look on your daddy before stood on the knees. toji will give you the punishment in a few seconds - you had given up on making excuses, yet preparing your throat and holes for his cock.

the playroom, which toji designated as the 'basement' for megumi, so that his son wouldn't enter, is arranged in relatively red colors: only the toy chest of drawers was made of wood, which had a shade of terracotta.

toji is into toys. edging you 'till your pussy will be soaked enough or else he'd turn the vibrator on the max, sat on the chair in front of the bed, putting his elbows on the armrests, making himself comfortable in the cushioned chair, to watch as how you're being a desperate slut for him.

trying to squirm from vibration on your overstimulated clit, as your legs have shaken as the toy brought you the new piece of the orgasm. toji commanded you to intently stare into his green lewd eyes as you feel the oncoming orgasm.

tears had come to the corners of your eyes, as you had reached the orgasm. you had given up counting the highest you've been reaching, but you knew toji hadn't touched himself - his balls are full of sperm to breed your pussy and mouth.

he turned off the toy, lightly rubbing your clit, as you arch the back for toji's caresses - he had enough to make a few circles as you milked on his fingers.

'your pussy so soaked, your juices are oozing all over your thighs,' he kissed the inner thighs, moving soft kisses to the succulent place. 'let daddy taste it.'

certainly, his tongue could bring you another pleasant satisfaction feeling in minutes due to the kind of torture he had placed you. he licked your oozing hole, tasting the juices, mooing into your bosom, causing vibrations.

you abruptly exhale, as toji moves his mouth to your swollen clit - you've been tortured and haggard, but you'll give your daddy the last creampie on his cock, will you?

of course, you will. you will milk his thick, hot cock when the tip literally touching your cervix, replenishing your vagina with his sperm. you had dig nails into his back, milking the cock, produce the white ring around the cock base, hearing as toji groans into your ear.

now, he won't be lenient. you had been a bad girl, very-very bad girl. you got daddy's permission to cum, didn't you? to be an obedient whore - is your role in the sex, so why did you disobedient the simple rule? you wanted a punishment.

toji sat on the upholstered chair, spreading his legs wide apart as if calling you to have your place. his cock is bulging from the sports pants - despite it was baggy, it seems that the cock would rip the material if it could do it.

you glare at him once again: green eyes are focusing solely on you, devouring, waiting for you to touch the cock with your tongue. he put elbows on the armrests, grinning - it's gonna be the rough punishment.

you placed palms on his knees, rubbing them slowly as if wobbling, should you continuing or you should have to stop. you're unhurriedly moving hands towards the bulge, lick the parched lips - soon, there will be his semen.

you touch his outlining dick with one finger, feeling how hard it is, how big your daddy cock is. the one thing that has been stopping his cock from being in your mouth - the elastic. you've lowered his pants, freeing up a fat cock.

you dare to look at the cock, before pulling it in inside your warm wet mouth: a small amount of precum on the pink glans and the protruding vein on the side of his cock, which you always had licked first. as usual - balls have a large amount of white, salty liquid to paint your mouth and pussy into white color.

fuck, perfect dilf in the prime of his life. toji in his 30s but his cock is fucking amazing. jesus, he's fucking good: he always pleases your needs with his cock, his fingers, his tongue.

fuck, what a perfect daddy you've gotten. primarily, toji hired you as a babysitter for his son, but lately, the both of you began to experience a completely non-working relationship, crossing the thin line of 'friendship' or 'boss and employee'.

do you mind when toji kisses your lips in the morning before making you a cup of coffee? do you ever put resistance towards his attempts to love you?

he snapped you out of your memories with a light slap on the cheek, more like a small touch of his palm on your cheek. toji put his chin on the palm as the little finger slightly covers the scar on his lip.

'suck my cock and gag on it.'

you wrapped your small palms around the base, licking the precum turning your head to lick the prominent vein. you had kept asking yourself, how does his fat cock fit in your little mouth?

although, toji fushiguro is definitely maddening by your small mouth that barely could fit the entire cock. the rare occasion when you managed to touch your nose against his pubic - after touching the bristle hair, you found yourself in tears as the glans touching the throat.

he'd lie if he tells he doesn't like when you get choked by his thick cock. toji feels like he's in heaven - doesn't need to use hands to press your head deep into the base. though, he could do it unexpectedly, take you off guard, overhearing as to how you're getting choked.

you're suctioning the cock as if it a lollipop with strawberry or cherry flavor, sucking as if you've been thirsty for weeks. scattering kisses along the length, pulling out the cock from the mouth with a pop sound.

the sound echoes through the room chugging and chomping. toji is smirking as seeing as his dick disappears inside your mouth, feeling as your tongue playing with the base inside. suddenly, you felt his big palms on your head, as he warned you with his giggled, suc as a telltale sign.

relentlessly, literally from the first second he had touched your hair, he fucks your throat without mercy as if you don't feel any pain. predilection of choke you with his cock.

you're trying to breath with a nose, but [forgive me] as toji replace palms to the throat and nose - this is what he calls a real suffocation. tears are running on your cheek as the glans touches your tonsillar.

'look me in the face, slut' he placed both palms on your throat, periodically squeezing and giving you few seconds to fill your lunges with the air.

you stare at the eyes full of lewd and the pleasure of your weeping face, he knows it hurts and throat will be sore in the morning - that is the reason why he will give you a day off on his large bed, where you'll be resting as toji will take of his son.

he will forbid you to get out of bed as if you could get out - the ass will burn as if you had been fucked by several men, not by one cock. by the way, you don't need several men as you've got toji. toji fushiguro and his cock will rip your pussy like you've been needy for it

there are times when the sorcerer killer is soft, his pace is slow as he covers your collarbone with quick hickeys that go away after a few minutes. he worships you like his queen, whispering that he will marry you one day.

'you're gonna be my little girl forever, only mine girl.'

don't think toji is a monster who loves to fuck you until you'll be a dumb as his cock breeding your pussy, you like it as well, when toji spanking your ass contemporaneously caresses your clit, reaching the new wave of orgasm on his cock.

'open your mouth little one.'

you pull out his cock, open your mouth wide, letting the saliva dripping down onto the chin, as you stick out the tongue. he cups your face, spitting in your mouth, mingling your drools together. you swallowed the mixture as a good girl, stick out again, asking for the supplementation.

'should daddy gives you more, should daddy kisses your lips?'

'yes, daddy, kiss me.' he squeezes the throat at your response.

'yes, daddy, kiss your slut, kiss her, please.'

he smiled, noticing how obedient you are by calling yourself his slut. he lowered his body down to kiss your mouth with a tongue, making you completely a mess, as you moan into the kiss. a small reward before the punishment.

he kisses your lower lip, slightly bites it, taking off your wet panties. not breaking the kiss, he runs the finger in your crotch, has a sensation of your dripping pussy - daddy's perfect slut. he entered with one finger without any warning, feeling your gooey walls.

you opened your eyes from the unaware action, staring into the green, loved one's eyes, feeling as his tongue is playing with yours, his finger tasting and preparing your hole for his cock.

'suck my finger and taste yourself'

you wrapped his wrist with a palm, taking in your mouth the soaked finger in your juice - toji's sperm is tasting better than any other liquid. he gets up from the chair, walking towards the drawer to get the toy.

'what color of the plug my slut wants?'

'whichever daddy chooses'

he put the one with a white, fluffy tail, lubricating hands, and plug. you knees on the edge of the bed, licking lips as anticipating the plug in your hole. fushiguro runs a finger along your hole, lubricating the ass, so it won't hurt too much - only his dick can bring the pleasant tingles.

he entered with one finger, feeling as the tight hole immediately squeezes it. he kissed your asscheeks, replacing into the toy. the sensation of the cool toy made you wobble your pelvis, but instantly you felt the strong hands of Toji, which calmed you down.

you had felt as the toy slowly coming inside the non-stretched, tight hole. you exhaled, arching the back, silently begging for the drooling pussy to be stretched with his fat cock. but instead of his cock you felt as his palms found themselves on your butt, squeezing them.

you screamed when toji spanked the right cheek. you've practically fallen as if toji's another palm which is holding you, so you wouldn't twitch and sneak away from the spanking.

another hit on your butt and another and another. your soft and once pristine skin is now covered with the marks of toji's palms, he marvels as he looks at the 'art' he has created - one touch and you shudder in suffering.

'turn around and face me.'

you hardly turn your body, looking from the bottom to meet his gaze - you've got a lovely opportunity to watch as he takes off the black t-shirt, he threw his arms back, pulling the fabric down, tossing it aside, placing his knee on the bed, opening your mouth with his hand.

he spits again in your mouth, as your hands found themselves on his stomach, outlining his sculpted abs with your fingernails. his muscular, athletic body feels so pleasant under your soft pads.

'give my dick a kiss before i'll rip your pussy'

once again you feel the hard cock in your mouth, salivating the base, pulling out to play with balls for a little. he groaned as felt your mouth has taken one ball then another, playing as toji loves, ogling at his foggy gaze and sanity. his cock twitched, when you kiss the head, turned your body.

his pads deftly find your clit, as the killer lay down on the stomach, moving your hips towards his face, forcing you to repeat his movement and lie on your tummy. he tucked the tail on your back, examining your oozing hole.

he couldn't help but bury his face on your pussy, tasting the arousal, knowing who your hole, body, and mind are belonging to. your arousal as well, tearing apart your pussy with fingers, entering inside with his tongue.

as if he could reach the spongy bug inside your vagina - he will wake you up every morning with a tongue.

going in and out in sharp movements, then lick the entrance such in a tease way. he had added two fingers simultaneously as you immediately squeezed 'em, quelling your moans with the pillow.

with one hand toji is stretching your gummy walls, feeling the friction when you adjust to his thick fingers; with another, he spanks your red butt cheeks, bringing you the discomfort.

't-daddy, i-i'm..'

'you've got my permission, cum on daddy's mouth.'

he caresses your clit with circles, anticipating for the liquid he'll lick. the euphoria had covered you surprisingly, when toji removed the plug, had kissed your ass. his strong hands were holding your legs widely as you were giving daddy the liquid he had been waiting.

licking the drooling cunt 'till your clarity is hazed and dazed by the marvelous feeling, you couldn't think clear, murmuring him different phrases.

'daddy, please fuck me rough, please, i need your thick fat cock in my pussy, daddy~'

you've purred like a cat last word, rocking the hips as you're still in the clouded conduction, unconsciously murmuring his nickname, stuck your butt.

'how can daddy say no to his baby girl.'

toji bent you over on the back, without hesitation threw legs over his shoulders. he spits on the pussy, smearing the saliva on the enterance. although you've been stretching before, his head had come inside with an effort, giving the moment to adjust to his size as the glance have touched the cervix, filling the space.

feel of being full by his cock definitely the best you had ever felt. you're melting by his warm and sweet body - drops of sweet starts to appear on the muscules as you're clenching the dick inside, attempting to adapting to his cock. he fucked your pussy almost every night, but tho you still fucking tight.

that's the thing toji loves - your hole as if renewal, making it difficult to fuck your relentnessly, so in the morning there will the pain between your thighs. he'll apologize with his tongue on your pussy, eating you as you like it.

the moment you clenched his wrists, leaving half-moon marks there, telltale sign for toji to move the pelvis. he pull his cock out to the glans, giving it back in a second, kissing your ankles, staring into your eyes, wrapping hands below the knees, using your legs to push into your wet bosom, stretching the walls to paint after in a white hue.

he moves the pelvis forth and back, beating out the moans out of your mouth, smiling to be the one who can and will bring pleasure to your body and mind. toji casts an insatiable glance over your body - with every thrust into your drooling pussy, your breasts bounce as your palms clutch the sheet, hoping to compensate for the blows.

as well, you glance over the man figure, staring as toji's chest rises when he goes all the way in. when he breathes out, his abdomen is visibly showing you the muscular. you clench the dick, as you have touched the abs, deftly touching his tense stomach.

you caught him twice in the gym, when you wanted to wake up megumi, had stopped by the crack in the door, had a peek on toji's body: wet, strong, and tense as he was standing in the plank position.

you had allowed yourself to watch as he exercises, had forgotten about the task to wake his son - wet strands of dark color fell on his face, if you pussy can talk, it would definitely say: 'fuck me, toji.' thank god your vagina is incapable of spilling your desire.

the goosebumps had covered your body as you saw toji's eyes were focusing solely on you, when you turned your head to look at the time - six in the morning, - you quickly ran to the 'gumi's room, pretending you weren't stalking.

does it count as stalking? toji should lock the door, you were just.. staring as he was exercising.

the next time he asked you to count his push-ups. you were happy. you nodded as the response, counting, as toji suddenly ask a question.

'lay on my back, y/n.'

you barely answered: 'yes, daddy.' again, you nodded uncertainly, afraid to make the slightest movement. can he hold you? but you wanted to feel his strong body more than anything else, and besides - he's your boss, you have to obey him.

you did as you told: first, you sat on his butt, then you lay down on his back with your stomach. surprisingly, he bent his arms faster, like you were a feather.

'one hundred, mr. fushiguro.'

you get on the floor, kinda upset leaving his body.

'you are so easy, have you eaten? i'll order us some food, you should eat more.'

the 'compliment' that toji had addressed to you made you blushed, as you found yourself smiling, looking at his face. you show by the gesture sigh 'okay', left the room.

'and it's toji, for you.'

you had murmured his name in the nights when you were closed as now, masturbating your little clit, pronouncing his name.

'toji.'

he suggested you move in with him because it was difficult to get to his house - he lived far from the city and transportation didn't go to the place.

'toji~'

you purred the boss's name, as the orgasm with a tremble covered your body, leaving you desperate to quell his name in your hand. you were thinking that the owner of the name is sleeping like his son is, therefore you could please your needs.

he was awakened as hell - being a sorcerer killer giving him the opportunity to sneak up on the victim quietly. especially to the mere human like you, who haven't got any curse energy or a good ear to overhear as he's jerking his cock, listening how you're cumming.

a kind of 'we're even' when you peeked at him.

the thing you didn't know is - toji always had peeked on you. in the shower, in the kitchen when you're wearing those fucking tiny shorts or when you just-just have awakened, aimlessly stretching your arms above the head, exposing your breasts as your top went up.

always.

now you are thinking about his massive cock is filling the former empty pussy, thrusting harder when your harsh and resounding voice caresses his ears - a delight to 'em.

the squelches are filling the game room, as you put your legs around his torso, making him bend over towards your face and kiss you.

in this position he could kiss your peachy lips, demolishing the coil in your stomach by his cock.

as soon as you started to rock your hips towards his cock, he momentary started to fuck you mercilessly, feeling as you're dragging nails through his back - he wants to find in the morning a dozen of red stripes dotted on his broad back.

he moves on your neck, like a habit of marking your conspicuous collarbones with hickeys and bites, dragging your teeth across your shoulders, leaving through the way bites or kisses, groaned at your skin.

his back as a bare canvas and your fingers are brushed with which you skillfully paint indecipherable red patterns.

your hole is constricting as toji started to fuck you brainless, grabbing your thighs, leaving a trail of half-moons there, driving the cock all the way in, balls slapping against your ass, prompting squelches that echo around the room.

thanks, megumi had never see as his father fucks the babysitter. megumi once called you mom, but you explained that you ain't his mom, in the response, you heard:

'but my dada [dad] said i can call you my mom'

you saw as toji smiles, waiting for your answer. then you have begun to know each other as partners. toji had known you're gonna the perfect mom and wifey.

'megumi will wake up soon.'

'i will take care of him.'

he kissed your lips before distracted himself from your lips to rock your uterus hard. you're both at your limit, feeling the breath becoming short and the heart beginning to pound frantically - soon the both of you will reach your orgasm.

he put your arm on the tummy, entering as far as it goes, as you felt his cock protrude. he murmured softly through gritted teeth: 'i'm here, baby.'

toji tossed his hand back, when the strands have finally covered his view of you, staring at your cute facial emotions as you're closing your eyes tight, shrinking the hole, milking his cock to cover walls in the white hue.

'cum with me, doll, cum, cum, cum-'

you have come first, creating a ring around his base, sucking out his sperm. his groaning filled the whole room as he fills your walls with his semen. the cock still pulsing in your hole that has been squeezing.

he bent your body over, making you lay down on his chest with the cock inside. your heart beats frantically in your chest as you both try to regain your breath. you squeeze his cock once more, feeling your joined fluid oozing slightly from your hole.

he put his hand behind his head, the other holding your waist. your body trembles slightly in a post-orgasmic state - toji is ready for round two, you can see it in his smug face.

'my good girl, you are my little girl'

you kissed his chest, moving towards his lips, wiggling hips to tease your lover.

'say it again, toji.'

'that you're my pretty little girl or that i love you so much, which one?'

you like hearing toji saying he loves you, kiss your palms and one finger on which he wants to wear a ring that will bind you by the bonds of marriage.

he's certain right now - he had found his family. his wife. he gently kisses your face, as if afraid to scare you off, pulling out his flaccid cock, to bring you as soon as it possible to his face, letting you sit on his stomach.

you run your hands over his strong shoulders, giggling - how he will explain that scratches to megumi? he ran his pads over your tired body, touching you lightly on your oozing crotch.

'love, we should take a bath.'

'not before i dot your body with kisses'

he again bent you over on your stomach, kissing the back of the shoulders, slowly coming down on your butt. as an apology, he grabbed your butt softly, leaving on the red butt-cheeks kisses.

he might be a psycho while spanking you, although always making out with kisses through all your body.

'megumi is probably have woken up, toji~'

'lay down here, princess, i will take care of our son'

he pulled on his sweatpants as he left the room. sex with him at times like this - is exhausting. you didn't notice how he covered you with a sheet before feeding his son. megumi asked him where you are, but toji answered him in a manly way:

'she's resting now after having s-, after playing, 'gumi'

'playin'? why i didn't play?'

he only sighed as he helped his son to eat. a childish question that he could have answered, but he didn't.

when you woke up, you found out toji's head between your legs as he licked you. you didn't try to push him away, you just spread your legs wide.

'you're awake now, baby.'

he kissed your inner thigh, wrapping his teeth around your clit, not biting it, just feeling how tender it is.

'toji, where's megumi?'

you literally jumped out of bed if it wasn't for his hand on your knee. he kisses your hole, clearly hearing you purr.

'baby, he's playing in the garden. focus on the euphoric feeling.'

regardless of still being tired from the spicy hours, you gave yourself to his tongue, allowing him to bring you one more orgasm before you will walk to the megumi to say good morning.

the only thing better than toji's tongue - his thick cock.

you had enough for a few minutes, lavishing his mouth with liquid. he chuckled, licking up all the drops, moving closer to your face to give you a morning kiss.

'good morning, little one.'

* * *

i'm sorry again for the mistakes and the long oneshot, maybe, you don't like big ones and i should make drabbles? it must a drabble, tho. okay, 0.3 notes [because i know it's huge, and you love drabble rather than os] and i'll write abt dilf satoru gojo?

↳ back to the main master list.

[queenoftheworldisdead]

Dennis

Notes: No one asked for this. was inspired this thread. LOL. Also Chris Evans Debuts Trailer for New Movie DENNIS

Summary: A broken pathetic shell of a man with nothing to live for.

Warning: 18+ only please, forced fingering, non con, rape, Dark themes

Dark Dennis Baker x Reader

💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

6:00 A.M.

Dennis hated waking up. Though he was married whenever he arose and reached over to his wife's side of the bed it was always cold. It didn't used to be this way. Not too long ago he would wake to find her snuggling into him, but now it was as if he was a single man all over again.

Scrubbing his hands over his face as he sat on the edge of the bed he wondered where his wife was this time. At some point after he was laid off she started changing. Working out more, staying out more, sleeping over at her sisters for reasons she never made clear to him.

Walking over to the closet Dennis retrieved his uniform, laying it on top of the bed, neatly. The gawd awful pink retail shirt, unflattering khaki pants, with the leather belt and penny loafers made him internally groan at the sight each morning.

As the steam dissipated from the shower Dennis mindlessly stared at his own reflection. Dread poured over him the closer it got time for him to leave for work. This job was a far cry from his former one as Head of IT. A major data breach ruined his career in the tech field. Despite his best efforts to prevent the cyber attack his warnings went unheeded, sighting unnecessary cost for the infrastructure. And when the inevitable happened his neck was brought to the chopping block.

With that blemish on his record it was hard to get another job of similar note with this infraction hanging over his head. Now reduced to technical expert at Betsy's Computer store. A glorified titled for a retail worker that pushed more PS5's than actual technical support.

With the drop in title so did the salary. The mortgage, car note and other bills began piling up on top of each other. Credit cards were starting to hit their own limit, all contributing to his physical and mental decline.

💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

7:00 A.M.

As he began dressing he heard a faint sound coming from down stairs. Tucking in his shirt as he left the bedroom he heard the rare sound of his wife, Sarah. She was talking cheerfully to someone he hoped would be her sister. When he entered the archway his heart sank as she quieted herself, her mood fully changed before slipping her cell into her pocket.

Quickly she picked up a dish that contained scraps of some healthy meal that she only made for herself. Rinsing it off at the sink as Dennis approached her from behind.

Leaning over Dennis tried to kiss her cheek, but swiftly Sarah pulled away. “Ugh!”

"What's wrong?" He knew, but he had to hear it.

"You have a bad penis?" she answered before leaving him alone in the kitchen as he bottled up the hurt as he always did. Tucking away the insult and then burying it deep.

Dennis's erectile dysfunction was just the cherry on his shit cake. He had seen several doctors. All prescribed this or that, but nothing worked. The lack of intimacy helped to further wreck havoc on his marriage.

💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

8:00 A.M.

The entrance to the gaudy pink building dinged as the automatic doors opened.

"Morning Dennis" you smiled as he walked through the opened doors. He scrunched his face as if he didn't recognize you. You had only run into him once or twice since you started last week, so you weren't surprised he didn't remember.

"How did you..?" He looked a mix of tired and confused as he stood between the doorway.

Your head tilted and gave him a look, before tapping the name plate on your chest. Dennis followed your finger, your badge sat perched on your left breast. You shifted on your feet as his eyes lingered on your nameplate longer than you would've liked.

"Hadn't had your coffee yet I see" you joked. Quickly Dennis shifted his eyes away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah" Dennis chuckled dryly.

"Well, there is a fresh pot in the back last time I checked and  a few donuts. I think Richard brought some in. If you hurry you might be able to snatch one up." You brushed off his awkwardness.

Maybe he isn't a morning person.

You could see Dennis on the verge of reply, but your attention diverted to the customer walking to your open lane. "How was your shopping today? Do you have a Betsy card?" You read off your script as they laid their items down. In the corner of your eye you watched him linger a bit, before continuing on toward the back to clock in.

💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

3:00 P.M.

Dennis grumbled with hands on hips as he looked at the disarray of the printer cartage wall. He had organized and reorganized the entire aisle at least five times today. He had only been gone five minutes only to return to chaos.

Quickly taking inventory with his clipboard he made notes of what he needed before storming off to the storage room. Through his irritation he found it hard to stay mad as thoughts of you clouded his head while he walked.

The tiny interaction from earlier in the day had haunted him. Trying in vein Dennis tried his hardest to focus on anything else, but the more he fought it the more you seemed to just pop up. He found his eyes locking with yours in-between various interactions with customers as you cut through his section to get to the break room. Each time you fluttered your fingers and smiled at him, leaving him flustered, returning the smile more stiff and awkward than the time before.

Opening the door to the storage room Dennis's heart skipped a beat when he found you bent over examining a shelf. You hadn't noticed him yet, too focused on the numbers on the paper you held in search of an item.

Swallowing thickly Dennis gingerly closed the door quietly in an effort not to spook you. His cock twitched slightly the longer he stood against the door. When you moaned in frustration after you placed an item back on the shelf a heat rippled through his face forcing him to bite back a groan of his own.

Staying quiet, he released the knob and started to move closer to you. Each step Dennis felt his heart beat through his ears as your hips swayed before him.  

The narrow aisle forced Dennis to squeeze past you to reach his desired destination. Sucking in his bottom lip hungrily he pushed his hips forward as he slid behind, the slight graze made you jump up and yelp in surprise.

"Oh gosh Dennis you scared me!" You giggled slightly embarrassed. You placed a hand over your chest and the other on his shoulder.

"Sorry" looking sincerely at you as he held his hands up innocently. "Just trying to reach the ink." Hoping to take the focus away from his bottom half. The light graze was enough to awaken that piece of him that he had long sense gave up on.

"It's OK. It's super tight back here. Kind of hard not to knock into someone." You brushed of your shock and turn back to your task. With your back to him again adjusted himself awkwardly.

"Hey, wait!" Your call froze him in his tracks.

Dennis's back tensed and a panic shot through his core as he heard your steps approach. His work pants had become uncomfortably tighter all thanks to you.

Slyly he pressed his clip board over his buckle when you rounded his side. Internally Dennis prayed that you wouldn't notice the throbbing erection below his belt.

"Can you help me I can’t find this." You were still focused on the paper you held, pushing it in his line of sight as you waited for him to respond. You were so close that your perfume tickled his nose and he wondered if you tasted just as sweet as you smelled.

Dennis's lips deepened into a frown when Richard, the floor manager, called your name from the now open storage door.  

"We need you back on registers. Let me handle that for now." Richard demanded.  

"Oh OK" turning away from him you handed the papers to Richard as he approached. "Thanks anyway Dennis" you patted Dennis's back before walking off. The sudden lack of touch sent an ache to his heart as he watched you disappear through the door.

💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

5:30 P.M.

The rain came down hard. You hadn't check the weather, when you left your apartment earlier in the day the sky was clear. Without an umbrella you made a mad dash to your car on the far end of the lot. Panting wildly, by the time your reached the car you were soaked through and through.

Slipping in you shrieked when the white flash crashed too close to your car. Fumbling with your keys before sticking them in the ignition you quickly found disappointment. The engine wouldn't turn over. It took several clicks of the turning key, before you stared baffled at the wheel. You had never had issues with your car before, so you were at a loss as to what could be the cause.

A bashing came loud on your side that caused you to scream in fright. Your heart beat rapidly, but when you looked over you found Dennis standing outside your door holding his umbrella.

"You OK?" He queried as you manually rolled your window down.

"It won't start. I think its the battery?" You weren't sure, but it sounded plausible.

"I would give you a jump, but it's a little dangerous. I can give you a ride though." He shouted over the heavy rain.

"Oh gosh, are you sure?"

"Yeah, come on."

Unbuckling your seat Dennis held the door open for you as you got out. You stuck close to his side, huddling under his umbrella as he led you to his car.

Opening the passenger door you thanked Dennis then slipped inside. He closed the door than jogged over to the driver's side, you giggled at his awkward stride and wondered if there was any part of him that wasn't weird. 

💻🌧🍔 💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

Through his peripheral Dennis watched you. Your perfume seemed to waft through his tiny Toyota and he hoped that it would sink into the upholstery.

"It's over there, just turn right on the corner" you directed him. He nodded at your direction. Suddenly sad that the ride was coming to an end sooner than he would've liked.

"You can slow down here. Mine is the one in the middle."

Dennis slowed to park as you gathered your things and readied to disembark. "Um uh I know this is weird, but do you think I can.. use your restroom?" It came out bumbled and he internally kicked himself for that.

"Oh gosh yes of course." You touched his arm as you spoke, the patch of skin sending jolts all throughout.

Dennis exited the car first as you waited patiently for him to shelter you from the rain.

You thank him again as you both jogged to your front door. With your keys at the ready you unlocked the door and allowed him in after you. "First door on your right" you point down the hall as you slipped out of your work shoes.

💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

8:00 P.M.

Dennis didn't move.

"So how is married life?" You nervously inquired, noticing the gold band on his finger.

He didn't answer and the look on his face started to fill you with concern.

He is just an awkward guy. Don't over think it.

"Um would you like something to drink" you made a move to walk toward the kitchen, but Dennis blocked your advance. Stepping a foot back you started to panic. "So h-how do you like working at.."

Before you could finish Dennis sandwiched you between the door.  Fruitlessly you tried to wiggle free as his hands began to roam your sides. Pushing at his chest he stood unmoved by your efforts as he leaned in close to your cheek, peppering you with kisses along your neck.

"Please Dennis.." You trembled out. Dennis wedged between your legs, the feel of his hard cock had you hiccuping as you pleaded with him to stop.

The muscles in your arm burned as you push, your hands flailing and slipping off his wet clothes. He inhaled you, humming with delight as his stubble burned against your neck.

Tears coated your eyes as he began feverishly unbuckling your belt. Your nails clawed into his flesh to no effect, tossing your hands away effortlessly as he continued to maneuver your pants down past your hips.

It was if the mild mannered retail clerk had become a completely different person and you couldn't understand why.

"I see the way you look at me" he growled into your ear. 

"I was just being nice. Please Dennis!"

"So nice for me baby" he kissed your cheek as you turned your face away from him. Through the kerfuffle you hadn't realized you both had moved away from the door. Your side hit the arm of the living room's couch and you found yourself tumbling over with Dennis landing on top of you.

Dennis snatched one of your wrist when you tried to slap him. Threading his fingers with yours like a lover, slowly moving it above your head. Your other hand tried to force him to fall over to the floor, but he refused to budge.

His other arm disappeared between your bodies, the further it sunk down your stomach tensed. You were useless against his determination. There was no out from under him.

Dennis swallowed your sobs, when his hand came dangerously close to your clit. Hot beads of tears streamed your face when  he grazed your mound. The tickle of his finger tips meticulously played with your folds, in an attempt to move away his fingers parted your lips. Sucking and kissing on your neck, you felt a fire begin to pool at his hand.

"You don't want to do this please" you sniffed, but he was too far gone. A long moan fell from your lips when his fingers finally plunged into you.

Dennis's digits curled and pumped, the friction feeding an unwanted need in your core. When you tried to protest again he devoured your mouth greedily.

"I'm gonna fill you up...Have you stuffed full of my cum." Dennis moaned over your mouth.

Your toes started to curl as your heat grew. You wanted him to stop, but a need weakened your resolve.

"That's it baby, I feel you want me too." 

"Fuck" you panted out as you struggled to fight against him and yourself. Your juices coated him thoroughly, you bit back shame as he praised you for it. Mindlessly you gripped his shoulder  as your mounded tightened around him. Panting wildly you came on his fingers.

"That's it baby." He praised, slipping his fingers free which caused you to whimper shamefully. Your legs felt like jelly as you laid on the couch. Dennis hadn't moved, only lifting his hips to  unfastened his belt.

"No! No no please" you whined, pushing backwards on the couch cushion. Dennis snaked an arm behind your back, locking you in place as you pulled at his work shirt to get him off you.

The head of his cock swirled around your juices, pressing hard against your folds to blindly find your opening. "So wet just for me baby."

No matter which way your hips move the determined man found your slick folds. Wedged between your legs Dennis shuttered with delight as he pressed into you. His slow pressure stretched you as you continued to sob.

"So tight for me" he hummed. You hissed the deeper he sunk into you. Breathing heavily through the tightness while his hips rolled into you. The cheap couch groaned at the increase of activity. Dennis palmed your ass, gripping too tight as he fucked you into the couch.

His desperate kisses all over you felt like trails of fire. Your legs began to wrap and tighten around him as he thrusted relentlessly. 

"Dennis.." You panted out as your need took over.

"Do you want to come for me?" he sounded as needy as you did.

"I haven't come in so long... Do you think you can handle it baby?" He taunted.

"Please" you say weakly.

"That's it I knew you needed me"

"Please Dennis." You begged as you dissolved into pleasure.

You were his new life he was sure of it. His cure and he was never letting you go.

💻🌧🍔 💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️💻🌧🍔💍🚘☔️

[beggingwolf]

75 and 88 ! <3

(75. Bed Sharing and 88. Erotic Dreams)

Geno just stares at Sid's room when Sid pushes open the door.

"Sorry," Sid says after a moment. "I know it's messy."

It's been worse, he reassures himself as he steps inside and kicks a stray pair of sweatpants into the corner. He'd even cleaned up a bit last week when his blue striped tie had gone missing. This is pretty good for him, if he considers how he'd been back at Shattuck. Geno's his age anyways—he probably doesn't care too much about a cluttered room.

From the way Geno eyes Sid's unmade bed, though, maybe he does care a little.

"I'm going to shower," Sid says, feeling a flush creep toward his ears. He very calmly makes his way over to the dresser, grabs a fresh pair of boxers, and locks himself in the bathroom before his embarrassment can eat any more of his skin.

He strips himself down and gets into the shower quickly. The instant the hot water hits his skin, the tension starts bleeding out of his muscles. The relaxation that crests over him is deep and encompassing.

If this is the result of staying so close to his bondmate, Sid thinks he can live with it.

The itchiness of the bond has grown worse over the few months he's known Geno. When they'd met, when it had snapped into place, it had felt like a shock of static electricity—almost unnoticeable.

Now, as Sid relaxes in the shower more deeply than he's been able to since November, the real weight of the bond settles on him.

They have a week to fix it. To calm it. To make it cooperate enough that they can dissolve it themselves. If they can't, then the team is bringing in a Bond Specialist, and Sid and Geno are both going on LTIR until they get separated properly.

Sid can't afford it. They'd offered him the C last month, and he's going to earn it this season. He can't spend time sitting idly by while the team plays without him. It would be twice as unfair to Geno, who's already missed time for his shoulder, who's still a black sheep on the corner of the team, quiet and shy unless he's on the ice.

The bond wouldn't be so bad, honestly, if it weren't for the proximity limits. Sid hasn't felt any of the other effects. His passes to Geno seem to connect more often, but he can just as easily chalk that up to getting to know Geno's hockey better. All the bond has meant, really, is that Sid feels itchy if Geno is too far away. Weird, but fine.

It's stronger every day, and come the offseason, Geno will be back in Russia. They need to settle it and break it, and then Sid and Geno can get back to playing good hockey. To settle it, they need to stay near so the bond stops spasming every time they're too far apart.

To stay near, they need to sleep in Sid's bed together, and it's totally not a big deal.

Sid shampoos his hair twice, and scrubs his pits so viciously with the soap that his ragged fingernails catch on his armpit hair and make him curse. It's fine. Sharing a bed isn't a huge deal. The guys back in Rimouski used to practically sleep in a pile after parties. A bed isn't so different.

When he gets out of the shower, his skin pink and boiled-looking, he rubs a towel over his hair, steels himself in the mirror, and enters his bedroom with a mission.

He'll sleep. They'll sleep, and settle the bond, and all of this will be behind them.

Geno is sitting at the desk in the corner, still in his practice sweats.

He bustles into the bathroom as soon as Sid's cleared the doorway. The click of the lock is loud, and Sid frowns at the door before yanking his gaze away. It doesn't matter. This is probably weirder for Geno than it is for Sid. Maybe the team's translator had done a poor job of explaining what was going on. Maybe Russia was weird about bonds.

Maybe Geno had issues sharing a bed with another guy. Whatever. They'd get through it.

Sid huffily turns himself into bed, tugging his favorite pillow into place and slamming his face onto it. The bed's not huge, but it's got enough room for them to fit. Maybe Sid can wedge a pillow between their bodies if Geno keeps freaking out.

He's still stewing when Geno reemerges, damp and twitchy. Geno moves around quietly and tentatively, like something is going to lunge out from behind Sid's laundry basket to eat him. It's weird. Sid misses the funny Geno he'd glimpsed at a party a few weeks back, where Talbo had gotten them all booze and Geno had started laughing loudly, his crooked teeth glinting and his eyes all narrowed with joy.

Sulky Geno hems and haws around the room until he has no other choice but getting into bed. The mattress dipping under his weight is a foreign feeling, and Sid reaches for his bedside lamp before Geno's head even hits his pillow.

Still, though...

"Goodnight," Sid mutters, because he's polite.

Geno makes a noise, but it doesn't sound mad, so Sid closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

-

Sid's not one to remember his dreams.

He remembers the odd nightmare or two. Sometimes he gets a really good one, but most nights he closes his eyes... then he opens them, the morning light blinding and painful. It's nothingness, and he doesn't mind it at all.

He realizes he's dreaming when the scent of the room hits. The room smells strange, foreign-yet-good, not like home. He's laying in this new place, and he's covered by something too light, resting on a surface that's too soft. For a moment he thinks he's weightless, but then the mattress shifts beneath him and something touches his chest.

He can't move, held down by the heft of the dream. The hand isn't one he knows, but his heart says he should recognize it. The fingers on it are tapered and strong, and they rest over his racing heart.

They move down.

His body feels strange under the touch, the bumps of his ribs unfamiliar. The hand flattens against stomach, the palm wide and warm.

It doesn't stop. It keeps going. It reaches the elastic of his boxers, and Sid's body-that-isn't-right needs it to keep going. He wants the touch more than anything else in the world. He's wanted it for a long, long time, so long that he can feel it in his bones. It aches, and...

"Hey," Sid's own voice says above him, and Sid tries to open his eyes.

He can't. He has no control over his body or his dream, and his own voice echoes above him, softer than it sounds in his own head.

"Zhenya," Sid's voice says, and Sid's lips part without his intention. He feels the warm breath on his skin before the lips touch him.

It's the sensation of Sid's own tongue pushing into his mouth that has Sid ripping out of the dream, jerking upwards so violently that the mattress shakes.

The room is night-black but Sid can make out shapes—the door to the bathroom, his dresser, his cluttered shelves. He's in his bedroom. He's fine. He's not being kissed by himself, he—

"Sid," Geno groans from next to him, and Sid whips around.

Zhenya.

He's heard that before. Geno's name hadn't come out of nowhere. They'd heard Gonch calling him that name. Gina. Zhenya. Geno.

"What the fuck," Sid croaks. "Zhenya."

Geno, the outline of him barely visible, freezes.

When Sid reaches out, his fingers hitting Geno's chest, he knows exactly how it feels.

[astriefer]

Please have this messy, badly written scenario as a humble gift to you, because I wanted to do something since I reached 200 followers!

Bits of Truth

They stood in front of the Carstairs' townhouse in Cornwall Gardens. Christopher seemed mildly confused about what they were doing there as if he had not been paying attention. James shared one last glance with Thomas before he knocked on the door.

A few bits of silence flew by, in which they had held their breaths. Then footsteps tapped on the floor, and the door cracked open.

A wave of relief passed through James that not Sona nor Risa or any other maid came to open the door. Then he thought what a peculiar thought it was for him to be relieved by. Alastair looked at them, frozen in place, blinking a few times as if he didn't believe they were truly there. He rejoined his composure hastily. He didn't let them in - he stood in the front door and his eyes searched theirs for an explanation. It was like a weird staring contest. Eventually, Alastair spoke first. "Cordelia is not here. You know it fairly well."

He moved to close the door. "We haven't come for Cordelia," he said quickly, which received another incredulous glance from Alastair. "Well, we have. But not because we thought she'd show up here. We came to talk to you."

Alastair narrowed his eyes, expressionless, and considered James. Then he glanced at Christopher and Thomas, noting their desperate eyes. "About my sister?"

"We won't take long," promised James, despite he wasn't sure it's true. Alastair studied him, and James felt himself going rigid. He leveled Alastair with his indecipherable gaze.

Then Alastair had stepped back from the door and ushered them in. "My mother is in her bedroom, resting, and Risa went shopping for supper. So, you have to be quiet. Make it quick.'

~~~~

Alastair took their coats and tilted his head towered the parlor. A kettle whiselted in the kitchen. As he gestured them inside he turned the other way. A fire burned in the chimney, and a book rested peacefully on the armchair. When James examined closer he discovered it was written in Persian. Thomas mumbled something about Persian poetry.

Alastair came inside with a tray and James thought he was, for a change, being hospitable, but he ignored them and disappeared up the stairs. When he got back, empty-handed, James assumed the tea was for his mother. Alastair placed the book on the table as he sat down in front of them. Thomas and Christopher set on a love sofa and James set stoned on another armchair. He didn't waste time being the kind host, James presumed. "What it is about my sister?"

The golden-eyed boy decided the best tactic was started from what he knew. That wasn't much, but it was the most important thing, and he was certain about it, at the very least. "I love your sister."

Alastair raised his eyebrows, amused. "Yes, that's something that tends to happen between married couples, I've been told."

James shook his head. "This marriage, of Cordelia and I," just saying her name on his lips made a treacherous skip of his heartbeat, full of hurt and love. "It was a sham marriage."

Alastair pools of dark marble were fixed on James when he explained, rather awkwardly, the events that led to their marriage. And then events that led to Cordelia leaving the country. He prospected Alastair would be outraged, throw spears at them, maybe even recite some very angry poetry phrases in Persian. Instead, Alastair was very still for very long. When he did speak, the words weren't the James expected them to be. "I knew the marriage wasn't out of love," Alastair said calmly. "But I didn't expect you to tell all that rubbish."

James blinked. "It's the truth."

"Oh, I know," Alastair returned with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I doubt you would come up with such a ludicrous idea on your own, even if just to spite me. and I also know Cordelia wouldn't have slept with you unwedded, no matter how much she loved you."

All the thieves caught their breath when Alastair leaned forward, his month curving in an odd angle. "I also know being married to you was a wish she never thought would come true, and that you cared for her. You claimed her as yours and you defended her. It was good for Cordelia, and so I said nothing."

James snorted, although he hadn't found the conversation funny. Not the least. "I thought I loved Grace at that time. I felt bad when the thought of living with Cordelia was more appealing than I expected." The thought of Grace made his features harden. "And because of Grace, for years I've been blind. Manipulated. I lost my wife and Parabatai. She played with me like a doll; messed with my feelings, messed with my life. This is unforgivable."

He did not notice Christopher who tensed up and fixed his spectacles on his nose. "She did some bad things," he said, surprising them all. "But I don't think she's evil."

James furrowed his brow. "She's like a siren: beautiful and compelling, but going after her will only end in you being drowned."

"I see," Alastair said, turning back to James. "But why? Why did she do it?"

"Does it matter?" James asked. "She hurt so many people. She doesn't even deserve to apologize. It won't matter anyhow - the damage is done. After all she has done...sorry will never be enough. Nothing will."

"It matters," Alastair said. "Because you don't know her side of the tale. You don't know what she thinks. What she feels. You don't know if she had to do what she did."

He was tempted to say Grace has no feelings at all. "I believe I'm allowed to be angry."

"I do agree that what she had done to you is far above a jest or a play with hearts," there was a strange flame burning in the deep ponds of Alastair's dark eyes. "And you have no obligation to forgive her. But why not hear what she has to say? You are the one with the power. You know the truth. She can not affect you any longer."

James shook his head. "You don't know Grace," he said coldly, gravely. "She will try to use me. She will try and make me do as she wishes. I will not be a pawn in her game again. She controlled my life long enough."

Alastair glanced away, pondering over something. Thomas turned his head nervously between James and Alastair. For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, Thomas inquired, "Why do you insist James will hear her out?"

"You have no idea of her motives," Alastair retorted. "What she's done - she must know it's wrong. And she will have to live with this knowledge for the rest of her days. You are allowed to be angry, James, and rightfully so. But don't let it blind you. That you have been kept from certain kinds of evil doesn't mean everyone else had. You have no clue what led her to those decisions." Alastair looked distanced. James managed to guess he's not been talking only about Grace. "You should talk to her. You may not forgive her, but you deserve to understand, to know why to hear the plain truth. And you should let her mourn what she could have had and lost."

James wasn't sure he fully comprehended. "I wouldn't have loved her. Even without the bracelet issue - my heart belongs to Cordelia."

"What do you mean?" Christopher asked. "That not everyone had been kept from evil."

Alastair shrugged. "I met Tatiana Blackthorn only once. She's a madwoman. She doesn't seem like the kind of caring, kind mother to pet her daughter's shoulder. Besides, Grace seemed to be controlled by Tatiana, rather than working alone or alongside her."

"She took the love of my life away from me," James growled. "Nothing can atone for that."

"The love of your life is my sister," he reminded James. "I can hardly find the idea of her being heartbroken a good thing. And the one who caused this pain is not much liked, as well. But you shouldn't think that just because you would've done it otherwise, it was an option for her. You can't know what are the options in front of people. You can't know how they feel unless you talk to them. So talk to Grace, James. Then seek out my sister. If you love her like you claim you do, will you give up on her so easily?"

"No," James stood up, "I will not."

Alastair nodded. "why did you come and tell me about your little schemes? Why now?"

Now, after so much time of lying, why tell the truth? Why not keep it in its cage of delicately made lies?

James cut his gaze to the book on the table. Thomas answered instead in a quiet voice. "She is your sister. You must have been worried about her. We wanted to tell you because - because you deserve to know the truth and understand why things happened the way they did."

What Thomas did not say was what none of them wanted to admit. Cordelia ran away to Paris with Matthew. Even if she'll be back in only two weeks - they all were worried sick. James couldn't blame her, he was awful and blind. All of this was a mess. If she needed time to calm down in Paris, he couldn't deny it of her, even if he had a say in this choice.

Alastair studied Thomas, and James felt the half-Persian hadn't quite believed them. It was true - they needed his help in the future. But it was a start. "Anything else? A ghost friend? Another evil aunt?"

"No," Christopher affirmed.

"Good," Alastair said. James might have imagined it but he thought he saw Alastair sneak a glance at Thomas before standing up. "Now get out of my house. Risa will be here any minute."

~~~~

I- how?? Thank you so much, everyone!! 🙈 Thank you, you can't understand how much it means to me. 🥺

This is mind-blowing. Truly. For whatever reason you follow me, know that I love you <3

Tagging some of my mutuals, you are all wonderful and make my time here so much better (not all of them because my brain is all wonky, but I mean all of you): @kit-12 @littlx-songbxrd @pink-party-dino @shadowhuntertrash @gummybears-4u @itsdaughterofthemoon @mcrrythievcs @fictionally-fantastic @reyna-herondale I'll tag more but I don't want to bother anyone so... thank you!! I don't know what people find in my blog, but I am grateful, and I appreciate all of you endlessly.

[no-no-no-ahhhh]

So since Monster High might have a come back, and those uninspired dolls have officially been released...

Sus Rasict things Monster High has done

1. White washed an Egyptian character

Cleo looks so white when she's based off of Egyptian royalty. Yall can't even tell me she's tan or anything like that she looks plain white

If you don't think they whitewashed her you can't deny monster high participated in colorism. Cleo our main boo who the audience is supposed to cheer for is lighter then her sister which we are supposed to hate. Her sister is occasional the antagonist.

2. Over sexualize their black character

Yall can try all you want to tell me otherwise but clawdeen was dressed more scandalous then the rest of the dolls. In the anime version of Monster High clawdeen says something along the lines of "One of the cute things about me is my short revealing skirt."

Mattel let that slide by. Many black characters get over sexualized.

https://www.blackburncenter.org/post/2019/02/20/the-historical-roots-of-the-sexualization-of-black-women-and-girls

Can we just stop sexualizing little poc girls. I remember as a child putting clawdeen skirt on her and trying to pull it down a bit , so it wouldn't show too much. When I tried to pull it down it just went down all her legs.

3. Not good at representing indigenous people skin tone.

In MH they do have indigenous based designs but they don't necessarily reflect the way indigenous people look. A little girl can't pick up the doll and say "hey this doll looks like me" and I think all little girls would like to see them self in things they like. Also a lot of poc end up hating that they aren't lighter. It would be nice if they could see their skin represented in a doll.

Dont tell me that oh it wouldn't work with these monsters because the monster doesn't have skin blah blah blah blah. MH has designed black coded vampires and white coded werewolfs before.

Also I'm so tired of companies having so many white people than sprinkling some black people and calling it a day cause they met the "diversity quota". I'm honestly thinking now that they just put Clawdeen in to say they have a poc doll."Look at how diverse we are." If they really where diverse they would not have white washed a Egyptian character in the first place.

4. They just have whitewashed many more characters

First is Gigi Grant, Middle Eastern people can be light skinned but they're are also "tanned" middle eastern people. MH already got a whole ton of white characters. It would not hurt to just give Gigi some melanin.

Another whitewashed character is Marisol Coxi

Her doll and doll art fur/skin is light pink

But in the webisodes she looks like a black coded character

Idk why they changed the way she looks in one media from the other. Just let us have more poc dolls!

Third is Honey Swamp its possible she is simply a lightskined person which is perfectly fine. But it seems like monster high just likes to deny us melanin enriched dolls.

5. The Tiki

They never had a tiki Monster High character that looked like the rest of the MH dolls. Which would have been nice to see but alas it was stolen from us. The tiki where just a plot device for a MH movie Escape from Skull Shores. They don't ever tease the tiki or anything like that, thank goodness. At the beginning of the movie they just follow these white man's orders , which is very sus.

Another weird thing, is in a different movie Scaris City of Frights Cleo accidently destroys the whole village. Then Skelita (an indigenous based character) tells her to apologize to the tiki but instead Cloe is all like "Hah I dont apologize." then she manipulates the tiki into building a ship for her. That unnecessary scene just leaves a bad taste.

Honestly its sad how the tiki are always being manipulated. I think the media should stop using poc as mere plot devices.

6. Having a white character based off poc aesthetic

Monster high gave Jane Boolittle a jungle aesthetic. They state that she never knew her origins. Honestly I think they are trying to go for a Tarzan type of story. "Oh no us rich white people who decided to explore a jungle and brought our kid with us too..... for some odd reason ..... have had something tragic happen to us. Now our child is alone only to be raised by animals ahhhhwww." Later she gets adopted by another researcher/explorer. MH if you are gonna base a character on the "jungle aesthetic" maybe base it off ohh idk people who actually live in the jungle and not some rando white girl!!

I'm so tired of these stupid colonial based stories first with that werid white con-man in Skull Shores and now these white explorers!! I can't.

(Also Jane being a whole stalker is not cute. Her being a stalker endorses that behavior. A kid might see that and be like "wow she's stalking but that's okay because she's shy uwu. " pls never stalk anyone ever. )

If we ever cancel a Monster High character it should be Jane Boolittle.

7. "Race" jokes

I thought monster high was supposed to be about accepting people but the amount of times a monster from a different race has made a race joke on another monster is not even funny. The discrimination and horrible jokes Ghoulia had to hear right in front of her face is so sad. I think its honestly teaching kids to make/be tolerant with rasict jokes.

"Uhhhhhnnnhhhhng I'm a mummie"

For example when Duce made a joke on mummies doing" zombie motions". Like you got the wrong race and a inaccurate stereotype dummy. These writers were stupid. 😑

I dont think we should cancel MH just Jane Boolittle or anything like that. But if monster high comes back and they still haven't addressed/fixed these issues we should definitely fight them.💖

[mollyhw14]

Fallen Angel : Tied to the Devil's Daughter (demon au Lee Donghyuk / Haechan ) ♛ CH1 ♛

Walking across the food court in search of her friend felt like more of an effort to Seraphina today than usual. It was on 12 o'clock, and she was already pissed off with everything. Her alarm hadn't gone off at it's usual time, making her late for school, and then on top of that, she'd completely forgot her gym stuff for her morning periods, resulting in her having to wear clothes from the lost and found which hadn't been washed in years. She could still smell the foul stench of fish that radiated off the clothes, and her face flushed from embarrassment at all the stares she had received, in which she had sent them back a nice hand gesture of her middle finger and a glare which could could burn flames into each and everything person.

Upon spotting a mop of curly blonde hair, she stormed over to the table with her tray of food, not caring who she barged into on the way, and almost launching her tray at the table top.

"Woah what's happened to you? Seriously Phina you really need to lay low on that temper of yours before you end up getting yourself kicked out."

Cheonsa was the definition of a grade A student, perfecting in everything she did. As much as she contrasting towards the fiery girl, she couldn't help but worry over her and how she was always getting herself into trouble. It wasn't even that she'd do something mean or hurtful to someone, she just couldn't hold back her temper, her actions and voice coming across too blunt and harsh a times in which she couldn't stop it.

"You know I can't help it Cheonie, it gets me so mad I literally want to burn everyone's eyes that had to witness that shit show of a gym session this morning. " She sighed, looking at her perfect friend, wishing she could switch lives with the blonde.

"Well how about you go let some steam off in the dance studio, you have a free period now don't you? I can meet you outside school afterwards and we can go over for a coffee at our usual spot?" trying to cheer her friend up, Cheonsa stood up readying herself for her next class. She saw a sheer nod of the dark hair girl and felt satisfied, knowing she'd have calmed down by then.

"Anyway you owe me, it's my eighteenth tomorrow and you still haven't got me a present, and don't even try to deny it, I know you to well Phina." She chuckled as she ruffled the brunettes hair, seeing the scowl that had appeared on her face from the comment before heading  off to her to lesson.

"How the fuck did she know I hadn't bought her a present?"

The dance studio was Seraphina's main way off letting out all the frustration she had built up inside of her. She had always wanted to become a professional ballet dancer, performing on the big stage in elegant pointe shoes. Her dance teacher never paid any attention to the way she danced, blinded by the trio Phina liked to call 'Dicktrio' and their money. After all if it wasn't for their money and parents, the teacher wouldn't even have a job, so that was the reason why she was always seen sucking up to these kid's asses. This however only made Seraphina more passionate about her dream, she wanted to prove herself to her teacher that she was worthy of becoming a dancer.

Upon reaching the dance studio, she soon realised that she wasn't the only one with the same idea. Booming music blared through the doors of the studio, making the walls of the corridor vibrate louder and louder with each step she took. Once reaching the open doors, she peered in spotting a mop of flaming orange hair, dancing effortlessly to the music that blared through the speakers. His body moved almost fluid-like, as his feet floated from one area to the other. His eyes burned into his reflection, mind anywhere other than present, making sure his body hit every beat in the song. The boy was to ingulfed in own world to realise the figure slowly approaching the music stand in the far right corner of the studio. Just went the boy was about the perform the killing part of the song, the music came to a sudden stop, bring the boy back to his senses.

"You're in my time spot." The girl glared at the boy, making sure he heard her loud and cleared.

The boy, pissed off that his dance time was ruined, glared back at the girl not amused with her stopping his music.

He scoffed, looking her up and down, noticing that she looked very unfamiliar, however the strong presence of power clearly radiated off of her.

"Who says?" he made sure to match her tone of voice, striding over to his phone which was situated on top of the music stand.

"Me, that's who." She growled, beginning to get irritated that he wasn't leaving.

There was a silence, the boy not caring that he was probably annoying her and in fact using up her time slot, but it was fun getting to see the way she was attempting to intimidate him. Nothing scared him, not even a 5ft 3 girl with very evident anger issues.

"You're -"

Seraphina was about to start cursing the boy out when a voice cut her off.

"Ah Seraphina Lucifer, I see you have met our newest pupil Lee Haechan, he will be joining in your time slot from now on as we don't have enough room to fit him in elsewhere. Please don't start any trouble, you know what happened last time." The teacher sent a pointed look her way, before collecting her stuff and leaving the room; leaving a livid Seraphina and an amused Haechan.

The boy picked up his bag and turned towards the girl, making sure to get s good look at her face, so that he could make sure to stay clear of her. Her attitude pissing him off, he wanted to make sure he could avoid her presence whenever dance wasn't involved. He was surprised to find that he thought she was in fact breath takingly beautiful. Dark brown hair cascaded down her back in light waves, and her bangs framed her face nicely as they curved on either side of her face. Her eyes were so dark, they almost looked black and cat-like as the light eyeliner she wore gave them a more oval shape. A flush of pink bloomed amongst her cheeks however he could still make out the many freckles she had which littered around her nose and cheeks. He looked down towards her lips, they were a deep shade of pink, full and plump, but he could tell that she bit them too much from the very evident redness below her bottom lip.

Once realising he'd stared a bit too long, he couldn't help but look away, cheeks flushed that he found her attractive. He sighed, it was unfortunate that her personality outshined it.

" Don't worry princess  you can stare at me more another time, I've got a lesson to get to."

She let out a low growl, burning holes into the boy's side as he sauntered off towards the door.

Pausing before he walked out, he turned around.

"Oh and one more thing. Don't miss me too much, you'll be seeing a lot of me princess so you better get that temper of yours under control."

He left with a light chuckle, eyes gleaming with mischief as he went onto his next period.

The girl was speechless, that's for sure. Fist scrunched up at her sides, wanting nothing more than to hit the boy right in that pretty face of his. She knew one thing for sure, as of this day.

She hated Lee Haechan.

[tabloidtoc]

National Enquirer, March 15

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Tiger Woods' car crash

Page 2: Bruce Springsteen has beaten the DUI charges leveled against him after federal prosecutors couldn't find a drop of evidence he had been drinking over the legal limit -- with an acceptable blood alcohol level of 0.02 well below the 0.08 threshold at the time of his arrest in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, prosecutors backed off two of their charges for drunken and reckless driving -- the rocker did plead guilty to a third charge, admitting he had two small shots of tequila on federal parkland and for that, he was fines $500 plus $40 in court costs

Page 3: Patrick Dempsey's dreamy return to Grey's Anatomy was a big hit with fans but his well-received cameo left series star Ellen Pompeo seething with jealousy -- Ellen may have permitted Patrick to revisit his old stomping grounds in Meredith Grey's fever dreams in season 17 but she doesn't want him coming back permanently and swiping her hard-earned glory and she considers herself the anchor of the show and thought she was rid of this guy after making the show her own, but now fans are begging for him to be brought back and Ellen is furious -- it's no secret Ellen hated the first 10 years of the show when Patrick was the star and she feels the series got better after he left and she became a big-shot producer, something she'd been demanding for years -- she likes being in control and calling the shots and clearly thinks she got this deal on her merit alone but it's also because she's the star who's lasted the longest; most of the original cast had already left and bosses had to cave in to keep her -- unfortunately being in charge hasn't amounted to better ratings and show has been slipping consistently in recent years and the main reason they brought Patrick back on was to spike the ratings, which it did and now producers are considering offering Patrick a full-time gig but Ellen will do everything in her power to prevent Patrick from stealing her thunder again

Page 4: Home reno gurus Chip and Joanna Gaines are clashing over his wild spending, and she's desperate to rein him in before they land in the poorhouse -- Chip and Jo are rich on paper and worth $20 million in property and assets but they were hit hard by the pandemic like everyone else and recovery has been sluggish to say the least -- they're just getting back on their feet and under a ton of pressure to get their Magnolia network off to a running start but Chip, as usual, is casual when it comes to money and it frustrates Jo to see him buying things they don't need, like new tools and equipment when the old ones work just fine and overpaying on lumber and masonry -- Chip is always shopping and not always for the house; he's got a boot fetish and has dozens of pairs, plus he treats the crew to free cappuccino and treats from their coffeehouse several time a day and Chip wants the best of everything for himself and everyone else

* Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are ready to welcome baby number four through adoption -- the couple who are parents of daughters James and Inez and Betty hope to find their next child in South America and they've invested time and money sponsoring immigrant children and they're warming up to the idea of providing an orphaned baby or toddler with a forever home -- a 16-year-old girl they sponsored through the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights was deported back to Honduras and they were heartbroken, and Blake and Ryan are now determined to provide a child with a happy home and opportunities he or she wouldn't have in their native country

Page 5: Newlyweds Pamela Anderson and Dan Hayhurst are itching to start a family and are already trying for a baby of their own -- 53-year-old Pam tied the knot with the 40-year-old handyman on Christmas Eve at her Vancouver Island home and she's been telling pals they hope to have happy news soon -- Pam wants to build a whole new clan with Dan and he's on board even though they each have kids with their exes and Dan's two kids from a previous relationship are living with the couple at Pam's pad -- the couple love the idea of adopting or going the surrogate route and it's not something they want to waste any time over

Page 6: Weary Kelly Clarkson is juggling her skyrocketing career and brutal divorce battle with estranged husband Brandon Blackstock on less than six hours sleep a night and Kelly has also been pushing to sell her homes in Nashville and Encino, while running her L.A.-based talk show and recording new music -- she's been running herself ragged for months and she's feeling the burn in a big way but despite her exhaustion, she can't sleep and nothing she tries works and the most shut-eye she catches is two, three hours at a time; she lays awake in bed at night worrying and crying

* Suddenly remorseful Kanye West has spiraled into depression and despair since soon-to-be ex-wife Kim Kardashian filed for divorce -- for all their problems, Kanye realizes she was the one person who was there for him whenever he went off the deep end and now he knows he's alone and seriously doubts he can hold his life together -- without Kim and her family to keep his wild impulses in check, he may succumb to the poor judgment and wild mood swings that have marked his chronic bipolar disorder as they were the ones who reminded him to take his meds and steer clear of recreational drugs and now all he has is a circle of yes-men he doesn't listen to anyway -- since the split, Kanye has shuttled between his ranch in Cody, Wyoming and a hotel in L.A. near the sprawling mansion he once shared with Kim and he's been blowing up her phone to beg forgiveness, but she won't take his calls and it's driving him off the deep end again

Page 7: Kourtney Kardashian is fed up with Shanna Moakler's online barbs and is plotting her revenge against the ex-wife of her new squeeze -- since Kourtney and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker went public with their romance last month, former pageant queen Shanna has been throwing social media shade and Kourtney's tired of taking Shanna's crap and she's going to fire back soon and Kourtney's using her wide network of contacts in Hollywood to bad-mouth Shanna and she's placing calls to casting directors and perspective suitors to put as many potholes in her love rival's path as possible and she plans to make Shanna regret messing with her

Page 8: Nearly two years after Johnny Depp was forced to exit Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise following ex-wife Amber Heard's allegations of abuse, the company has kicked him while he's down by considering her for a plum part -- Johnny is fuming over news that Amber is reportedly in contention to play fairy-tale heroine Rapunzel in the studio's upcoming live-action remake of Tangled -- for Amber to be in the running for a Disney pic is the ultimate insult to him especially because he believes the company made millions of dollars off his name

Page 9: Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle had a whopping $500 million motive to betray Queen Elizabeth -- outraged at being cut loose by the British royals, the couple retaliated by secretly negotiating backroom Hollywood megadeals and going public on TV -- Harry and Meghan see themselves as victims of an out-of-touch monarchy and want revenge and selling out Harry's family is the way to get it and cash in big-time; Meghan's convinced they'll have deals totaling $500 million by the end of the year but they better act fast because Hollywood is a fickle town where even royalty can be chewed up and spat out

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Amelia Hamlin stuck to the shore while pink-haired beau Scott Disick made waves in Miami, Steve Martin nibbled on a pretzel while filming Only Murders in the Building in NYC, Floyd Mayweather turned 44 and celebrated with a birthday bash in Miami, Bachelorette reject Tyler Cameron showed off his toned tummy in Florida

Page 11: Drew Barrymore feels deeply for dad-controlled Britney Spears because she's been there: she said her mom locked her away in a loony bin for over a year when she was just 13 -- Drew said it's hard to grow up in front of people and she empathizes with Britney and Paris Hilton and any star who can't escape the glare of celebrity -- Drew's mom put her in a place that was a full psychiatric ward and says she used to laugh at those Malibu 30-day places because she was in a place for a year and a half called Van Nuys Psychiatric and you couldn't mess around there and if you did, you would either get thrown in the padded room or put in stretcher restraints and tied up

* Eddie Murphy famously bragged he has never changed a diaper in his life despite having so many kids and now he's set on having another baby with fiancee Paige Butcher and this will make baby No. 11 for Eddie -- he says his genes are incredible as ever, so why stop; he's super fit and Paige is in amazing shape at age 41 and wants at least one more baby so they're going to go for it and are already trying

Page 12: Straight Shuter gossip column -- CNN could blitz news veteran Wolf Blitzer as the network revamps its lineup and TV is a young person's game and no one knows that better than Wolf and after 31 years at CNN, he sees new faces getting promoted and knows his days are numbered and Jim Acosta and Poppy Harlow are the future of CNN, not Wolf -- although Wolf's airtime has been cut as Jake Tapper's role expands, he isn't bitter or angry but instead he's grateful for an amazing run

* Love It or List It star Hilary Farr is moving on to her own show and leaving partner David Visentin in the dust -- Hilary's new show is basically the same one she and David have been doing for years, with him edited out and David was blindsided by the news and he knows HGTV has sent out a casting notice for the new show and he's hurt and angry especially because Love It or List It hasn't been renewed yet

* Sacked Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron has reached out to Chris Harrison after he stepped away from The Bachelor amid a racist scandal -- Tom wasn't fired over a scandal, but he knows exactly what Chris is going through because both of them thought they had a job for life, but nothing lasts forever -- Tom is a good guy and wants Chris to know he's around if Chris needs anything

* Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, spruced up for the camera (picture)

Page 13: Brooke Shields isn't letting a busted leg keep her down but she's taking her recovery one step at a time -- she shared an Instagram video showing her cautiously hobbling on crutches and explained she broker her femur and she was beginning to mend -- she didn't reveal what caused the unlucky break

* Outspoken actress Rose McGowan is living a charmed life in Mexico and the Harvey Weinstein accuser has headed south of the border and vows never to return to the United States -- she got her permanent residency card from Mexico and is grateful to have it and says it's a really healing land and it is truly magical -- she moved at the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic because she knew it was going to get really bad in America and she had a moment to figure out where she wanted to be

* Picky perfectionist Blake Shelton listens to around 300 songs to choose what to record for each of his albums, according to his longtime producer -- music pro Scott Hendricks said he wades through nearly 3000 tracks by professional songwriters to select tunes for Blake to consider and then Blake methodically whittles down the nominees until he's certain which songs he wants to record but Scott admitted that process is more difficult for him culling the 300 from the 3000 -- Scott, who has worked with Blake for most of his career, said of their close professional relationship that the chemistry works and they have recorded several hundred or more songs together and they are getting ready to go do some more

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Killer kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's busted beauty queen bride will be marked for death behind bars -- if Emma Coronel Aispuro snitches to the feds about the bloodthirsty Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel long run by her caged husband, she'll put a big fat bulls-eye on her back -- according to a federal complaint, Coronel was intimately involved in her husband's multibillion-dollar drug-running racket and acted as his criminal agent while he was on the lam and the mother of El Chapo's two young daughters helped mastermind her spouse's daring 2015 tunnel escape from a Mexican prison and also paid him $100,000 for another failed bust-out a year later -- they are going to put the heat on her to spill more details on other top operatives in the cartel and take them down, too, but if she spills, it will be open season on her on the inside

Page 16: Dr. Dre appears to rap about estranged wife Nicole Young in a song filled with angry, explicit lyrics calling someone in his life a greedy bitch -- DJ Silk previewed part of a new track from Dre full of digs presumably at Nicole, with whom he has been locked in a nasty divorce -- his lyrics include: Trying to kill me with them lies and that perjury/ I see you trying to f--k me while I'm in surgery / In ICU death bed on some money s--t / Greedy bitch take a pic / Girl you know how money get

* Hollywood Hookups -- Lorenzo Lamas is set to wed for the sixth time to model Kenna Scott, Justin Hartley and Chrishell Stause are officially divorced, Adam Rippon is engaged to Jussi-Pekka Kajaala

Page 17: Former Home Improvement kid Zachery Ty Bryan has pleaded guilty to two felony counts of domestic violence -- Zachery, now 39, has been sentenced to three years of probation and will also have to take part in a batterer intervention program

* John Mayer has dated a succession of famous singers including Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Halsey and he hopes they write chart-topping songs about him and admitted he'd be jazzed if his exes enshrined him in song, saying sometimes a song is so good he hopes it's about him and he even scours their lyrics for clues -- Taylor already has several tracks that have been linked to John including Dear John

* Ruthless chef Gordon Ramsay said he's cooked up his own plan to keep his kids humble -- he has five kids with wife Tana: Megan, twins Holly and Jack, Tilly and Oscar but said he plans to leave most of his reported $200 million fortune to charity -- Gordon explained his kids must tidy up after dinners, can only fly coach and are expected to learn how to cook for themselves and he's forbidden them from taking costly taxis and the foulmouthed foodie insisted they don't swear

Page 18: American Life

Page 19: Roseanne Barr was blindsided by a humiliating new scandal after risque photos from the early '90s recently emerged which appear to show her teenage daughters licking her boobs -- Roseanne posed for the shots with her two youngest girls at a Glamour Shots studio in Iowa more than 25 years ago and the photographer who claimed he snapped the fake lesbian lovefest but did not want to be named dished Roseanne and daughters Jessica and Jennifer who are now in their mid-40s happily hammed it up for the camera but decades later Roseanne and her daughters are all mortified and embarrassed by these pics; they were horsing around years ago and never thought they'd see the light of day

Page 20: Cover Story -- Still recovering from agonizing back surgery, Tiger Woods was pushing himself to the limit when he flew off a California cliff into a career-crushing car accident -- lawmen said the golf legend was lucky to be alive after the horrific wreck that shattered his right leg -- the accident only added to Tiger's physical problems; his movement has been restricted since a fifth back operation in December and he was unable to play golf despite an appearance at a local tournament the weekend before the bloody wreck -- at a press conference days before cheating death, Tiger admitted he was worried about his physical condition and his ability to play again, saying a lot of it is based on his surgeons and doctors and therapist and making sure he does it correctly and he doesn't have a lot of wiggle room left -- Tiger could barely move, and it seemed to get him down and his back rehab has been brutal and he was hobbling around and distraught but he refused to give into his condition and his tough-as-nails mindset could have contributed to the crash: when a person is overwhelmed by physical pain, that dominates everything they do and if you're behind the wheel of a car and in physical pain, it can distract you and likely lead to this kind of disaster -- Tiger was eager to get to a TV taping on the morning disaster struck and he seemed impatient when he left the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, an L.A. suburb, just after 7 a.m. and although traffic cameras show he was driving within the speed limit, his Genesis GV80 SUV crossed the center median onto the opposite side of the road and flipped -- authorities said Tiger appeared lucid to first responders and there were no signs the recovering addict was under the influence of alcohol or drugs and they did not request a blood test when Tiger was rushed to the hospital from the crash site and the incident was an accident -- Tiger was taken to nearby Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where doctors said his broken bones protruded through his right leg and they put a rod in his leg and used screws and pins to stabilize the break and his ankle -- it will take three to four months to heal and then eight months of physical therapy and it is unlikely he will ever run again and he may have a limp and in terms of golf, just walking for extended periods of time will be a big deal and recovery will be agonizing; it's a very real possibility that Tiger's taken his final swing

Page 21: Addiction experts warned Tiger Woods' recovery will test his sobriety after his stint in rehab for prescription painkiller use and it is very, very common for a patient in recovery to relapse after a trauma like the one suffered by Tiger and exposure to painkillers administered directly or prescribed after a physical trauma is highly likely to trigger a relapse -- Tiger will probably need painkillers to get through this, but he'll also need to be connected with like-minded people to keep him away from his old thinking that pills are the solution to his problems

Page 22: Desperate Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to renounce her British and French citizenships in a new bid to get out of jail -- the disgraced socialite's last two stabs at freedom including one package offering $22.5 million as bond money were rejected by a judge who deemed her a flight risk -- now according to her lawyers, Ghislaine will formally commence the procedure to renounce her foreign citizenship to satisfy any concerns the court may have that she may try to seek a safe haven in France or the U.K. -- Justice Department officials were concerned Ghislaine would flee to France, where she was born, since the country has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

* Woody Allen claimed his own words are being used to attack him in the bombshell Allen v. Farrow documentary -- Woody has repeatedly denied adopted daughter Dylan Farrow's claims he sexually abused her when she was seven at her mom Mia Farrow's home -- Woody blasted the documentary which rehashes the claims as a shoddy hit piece and a hatched job riddled with falsehoods adding the filmmakers stole from his autobiography

Page 26: Twice-divorced Ricki Lake's engagement to California attorney Ross Burningham has insiders fearing she may suffer yet another heartbreak -- she announced her happy news on Instagram but Ricki has seen far more than her share of bad luck in the romance department and everyone is praying this final shot at love doesn't end in despair and it's never Ricki's fault, but she's never found a man who could keep her happy

Page 28: A lurid landscape of drug-fueled orgies, suicidal thoughts and fake sexual enthusiasm will play out in a new television series based on model and reality star Holly Madison's X-rated confessions from her shocking 2015 biography Down the Bunny Hole -- Madison first exposed the sleazy details of how she and other young women were plied with drugs and coerced to participate in sex parties with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in exchange for acting as his girlfriends and getting to live inside the iconic L.A. mansion along with a weekly $1000 stipend -- the limited series will star actress Samara Weaving as Holly, who was a member of Hef's harem between 2001 and 2008 -- Holly, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt became the notorious stars of the reality show The Girls Next Door which debuted in 2005 and focused on their seemingly glamorous life with Hef but glossed over the dark secrets behind the scenes -- in her bombshell confessions, Holly revealed the 22-bedroom manor was actually a foul pigsty filled with stained mattresses where Hef's live-in ladies were forced to perform weird bedroom rituals and look excited by it

Page 29: Jack Osbourne has listed his sprawling California home for rent at $16,500 a month -- the 35-year-old son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne is offering the five-bedroom, 5600-square-foot home in Studio City unfurnished -- Sharon was recently seen outside the home with moving vans helping Jack prep the property -- Jack, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, bought the home in 2014 when he was married to Lisa Stelly; the couple divorced in 2018 and share three children: Andy, Pearl and Minnie

* Heidi Klum has snipped all threads tying her to dad Gunther Klum after the cosmetics and modeling honcho skipped her wedding -- Heidi dumped her manager dad after he snubbed her August 2019 ceremony in Capri with guitarist Tom Kaulitz of the band Tokio Hotel and she has also ended her German enterprise Heidi Klum GmbH, originally overseen by Gunther -- Heidi and her dad had a falling out over Tom and Gunther never really approved of him and was dead set against the marriage and it drove a wedge in their relationship

Page 32: Health Watch

* Ask the Vet -- an African Gray Parrot with a feather-picking problem

Page 34: Barack Obama broke a buddy's nose over a racist remark -- he revealed the two classmates were playing basketball when his friend hurled a racial slur and he popped him in the face and broke his nose, Obama told Bruce Springsteen on their podcast Renegades: Born in the USA -- Obama said he doesn't think his pal even knew what the word meant, just that it was meant to be hurtful

* Country singer Keith Urban has shrunk to 140 pounds as the former addict is hooked on a bizarre diet of nuts and berries and even worse, the five-foot-ten crooner appears to be growing thinner and friends are worried the stress of his demanding career and his desperate desire to be a good husband to Nicole Kidman may push him over the edge -- no one sees him eating much more than handfuls of raw almonds or sunflower seeds and berries washed down with gallons of water -- though he's been sober since 2006, pals fear the struggle to avoid giving in to temptation as well as hearing Nicole purportedly mended fences with ex-hubby Tom Cruise may be weighing on the star -- despite his bony appearance, Keith thinks he looks great

Page 40: Evil ISIS terrorists are using the COVID-19 pandemic as cover while they rebuild their network and mastermind new attacks and both Iraq and the U.S. are in their crosshairs -- because the West has been focused on dealing with the pandemic, ISIS and new groups sprung from their shattered forces have been reloading and plotting revenge, according to Ryan Mauro of the terrorist-monitoring Clarion Intelligence Network -- the pandemic has brought decreased confidence in Western governments, which has emboldened the terrorists to launch sleeper cell attacks on foreign soil

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Anya Taylor-Joy