#its a bit old but ses i forgot about them

[clowncar-25]

I forgot I had these

Depression ponies coming back at 'cha

YIPPIE

[barleyo]

Hii! Merry Christmas<3 Can I request some nsfw for sir nighteye please? He works late and doesn’t get home until really late at night and the reader is kinda sad because they’re lonely without him. Ty :))

All I Want For Christmas.

Sir Nighteye x F! Reader (smut)

A/N: As you can probably tell, I got the request last year during Christmas. Shame on me for taking so long, I truly apologize. You can beat me up if you wish, anon, I wouldn't blame you </3 (also if you noticed re-used writing of mine from other fics in this... mind your business)

Word Count: 1.4k

Tags: Nighteye's real name used, smut, p, handjobs, oral (f receiving), established relationship

The holidays were always hard. Mirai was dedicated to his job, being Sir Nighteye and all, even as the winter months approached. He never forgot about them, per se, but he never made much room for them. He tried to get off of work earlier when he met you, making sure that he would at least see you before you went to bed every night. A call, a text, anything. He did his best, but no matter how hard he tried, work was his driving force in life.

You tried to not let it bother you, you knew the hardships that came with being with a pro hero. You kept that thought in your head as you stood near the oven, bending down to shove your last batch of cookies in. 

You had been baking the whole day in preparation for Christmas. Hoping that Mirai would join you, you had an apron sitting on the dining room table for him, but that hope had faded out at around 9:30 P.M. when you realized it would be another late night of work for him. Your hands trembled a bit, the heat of the pans seeping through your old, worn oven mitts as you transferred a hot tray to your makeshift cookie decoration station.

You slapped icing on the warm cookies, blowing on them as the sweet frosting melted off of the tops. Your table had become cluttered and messy, with icing, sprinkles, flour, and crumbs dusting the tablecloth. 

“Damn it,” you mumbled, slipping your thumb into your mouth after catching a scoop of icing on it. You took a whole cookie, hands fidgeting at its warmth as you struggled to hold it, and took a bite, trying to enjoy yourself as much as you could, despite your husband's absence.

“They look nice.”

“Hmph?" You spun around quickly, hand wiping quickly at the crumbs on your lips. Your eyes relaxed when you noticed the familiar green tufts of hair and golden eyes before you. “Yeah, I’ve been making them all day.” She held back from adding 'no thanks to you' at the end of her sentence.

“Do you need any help? I don’t have to go into the office tomorrow. I can help out for as long as you need me to tonight.” Mirai offered his hand out to you, but let it fall down to his side when you coldly turned away from him.

“Most of the work is done already, I don’t think I need your help.” You winced at her own words, feeling the venom they were laced with. “I think you should just head to bed. I can handle this."

His stoney face didn’t budge, he clearly wasn’t satisfied with your answer. “I’m sure you can, but I’d like to help you. I enjoy spending time with you, doing things that you enjoy.” Rolling up his sleeves, he began clearing the table of the cookie cutters and mixing bowls, placing them softly in the sink. “I will wash those later, do not worry.” 

You ignored his words and tried to urge him away again. “Aren’t you tired from work? I really think you should go to sleep. Working for so long just to come home and do more work can't be healthy.”

“Is that what this is about then? Me working so long?”

“No, it’s not. And there is no ‘this,’ nothing is going on,” you scoffed, dripping more red icing onto a stray cookie.

There was silence for a moment before you felt arms wrap around your waist, firm but gentle. You placed the icing bag down on the table and tried to look, but your neck couldn’t crane far enough to see him. He slouched down, resting his head on your shoulder.

“I have been neglecting you, haven’t I?”

“Mirai, no, it’s not like that, I know your job is Important. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be a hero, but I just wish…” your voice fizzled out a bit when his large hands started to travel up and down your body, stopping at your chest momentarily.

“That I’d make more time for you? I hear you, dear. I’m not being fair, am I? Here you are, doing all of this alone, and during the holidays. Leaving you alone at a time like this isn’t considerate. Leaving you alone at all isn’t right on my part.”

He licked a stripe over your neck, sucking on the spot softly. His teeth edged the skin, leaving a small purple mark on it. After examining it once more, he let go of you and spun your body around to face him.

“I know you’ve missed me,” Mirai said softly, “I’ve missed you too. Being with you, feeling you, all of it. Can I show you how much I’ve missed you?” 

You nodded, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Please.”

He used his long, thin fingers to untie the knot at the back of your apron, shooting it down to the floor. He made quick work of your pants too, leaving only your shirt on.

Before he touched you, you quickly made your move and unbuckled his belt, slipping his cock out swiftly.

Giving a few, testing strokes, you held as much of his cock that she could manage in your fist. You went fast, tip to base, knowing he would want to stop to please you instead. He shuttered a bit, hips threatening to snap into your hand. 

“You spoil me," he said softly into your ear, jaw tensing with each stroke, "but right now is not about me. I want to apologize to you, to make you feel good. Let me.” 

You didn't let go, instead you focused on the head of his cock, rolling it in your hands. “Not until you cum. I've waited too long for this."

Mirai took a breath through his nose and huffed at you. "Fine." 

He stopped holding his composure and let himself sink into the pleasure that your hand provided. He could cum quite quick if he let himself go, but his tense nature let him last quite a while in other circumstances. 

His breathing went ragged and sharp. He brought his hips back and forth, fucking into your hand desperately. He pulled your hand off of his dick before he could cum, not honoring your little agreement.

"Hey, you promised," you whined, frustration crossing your face while you looked up at him.

"I know. I am such a liar, aren't I?" His breathy laugh fanned your face, and the small smile he flashed was enough to erase any anger you had in that moment.

He placed his hand gently on your face, tipping your head to look up at him.  "Do you want my mouth, or do you want me to fuck you?"

"Your mouth." You felt his hands manhandle you upwards, placing your body on the table behind you.

"Good. I always like when you choose that option."

His mouth made quick work, tongue already gliding small circles around your clit. 

"Stop moving," he said, pressing his tongue flatly on your mound. Your legs kept pressing together, as if you were trying to push him away. He slipped one hand between your thighs and forcefully held them apart. 

His large tongue slid through your wet folds, slowly teasing through, from your entrance to her pulsing clit. He stopped at your clit again and clasped his lips around it, sucking on the tender bud. He let  dribbles of spit fall from his mouth onto your cunt, only slurp it back up again to keep you wet and messy.

Not hesitating, you reached your hand down and gripped his hair, holding him in place, and rolled your hips onto his face. 

He didn't mind, simply letting a soft laugh escape his lips. It was cute, the way you took what you wanted from him. 

Your legs stuttered as you moved, twitching while moans caught in your throat. Your hands still pushed his face into your cunt. The feeling of his nose nudging your clit sent you over the edge. A sweet wave crashed over you, making you practically vibrate with pleasure.

After your grip on his hair loosened, your husband stood up and looked down at you, eyes peeking past his fogged up glasses.

"So, do you think you can forgive me now?" 

You rolled your eyes at the smirk that played on his lips and shook your head. Rolling over, you pushed your ass up against the tent in his boxers. 

"Not yet."

[timemachineyeah]

Hi, I really appreciate your points on Madoka! Thank you for providing that insight that is so desperately needed! Because I am so sick of dudebros acting like it's better than female-empowering Magical Girl works aimed at girls, or how whenever I or somebody else critiques the storytelling and message we just get told "Madoka is perfectly feminist actually and if you don't think so then you're just too stupid to understand how DEEEEEEEP it is go back to your stupid sweet and fluffy anime that's for GUUUUURLS" or alternatively "oh so female characters can't ever suffer ever and have to be happy all the time ever or it's misogynistic trash?!?!?!?! check and mate bitch" like I am just so tired. I'm glad to see your posts even though some of them are quite old. I have to say thank you once again for your genuine critique of Madoka because at this point I feel like I'm being punked whenever I talk about what's wrong with it.

Sorry! I saw this earlier and completely forgot to answer!

My few posts have given me a reputation as a Madoka hater (and, fair enough, because I certainly don't blame anyone who is. Please hate Madoka all you like). The truth is I really do like the original show quite a bit, but YEAH.

YEAH.

I think the thing that gets most exhausting for me, over and over, is bringing up these criticisms and being told, "No! Because Madoka fixed all that!" and even ignoring Rebellion (which I am inclined to do anyway), the girls still die.

They die.

The happy ending is a montage of girls dying. Which is a happy ending only because what they were getting before (specifically as a consequence of choosing to be a magical girl) was a fate worse than death.

And it's worth noting how the incubators are portrayed. They aren't portrayed as malicious. They aren't "evil" in that sense. What they are is practical and indifferent. They are taking advantage of inherent factors in the universe, not creating those factors.

Which means that there's something about PMMM that is saying, this is reality. At least in this fiction, this is the reality of femininity. And it is inherent to femininity! Kyubey even explains - it's weird! But only teen girls are like this! That's why we use them!

I think it's fair to be like, hey, that's fucked up. What kind of gender essentialist fatalism? Bro?

And it's also just denial to pretend it isn't about fanservice or a male audience.

As anyone who's been on my blog recently will know, I'm kinda super into Love Live! right now. It's cute. It scratches an itch.

And there's a lot of plausible deniability built into it, and a lot of pushback from English speaking fandom about it, but, uh, Love Live! is an idol game but it's also a waifu collector.

It's also a catalogue of nonthreateningly sexual anime teenage girls specifically designed to appeal first and foremost to lonely awkward Japanese young working men with disposable income.

And, idk, knowing that doesn't impede my ability to find it cute and wholesome and fun and escapist. The fact that it is that does lead to some of creative decisions that make the series less fun for me (it's not very diverse, for example. The yuri elements are subtext for another. And I either wish the girls were less sexualized or older, personally). But I'm not going to deny what it is.

I'm not even particularly interested in shaming the men its aimed at for liking it, or shaming the creators for making it that way per se (well, okay, sometimes I am interested in shaming the creators a lil bit). But I do think most the things about it that read as feminist to me as an American read that way because I am so far outside the original intended subculture. And I think the same is true about Madoka. You can absolutely read feminist messages in it. I certainly do. But placing these works in their original contexts tells a very different much more... regressive? picture. They were not made for women and girls. They are not made to uplift women and girls. They CAN! And they DO! Both in Japan and elsewhere! But that's anywhere from (at best) a secondary market to (at worst) a complete accident.

It's hard for some people to wrap their heads around because in America at least I think the idea of a "cute" (even if that's subverted in Madoka) media starring a large cast of only girls being for men is pretty alien to how we do stories and marketing. Here we understand playboy magazines and swimsuit editions, but we don't understand men collecting merch of a cute fictional girl they like. It would be seen as emasculating.

We understand the reverse. We get that boy bands and anime like Free! can be aimed squarely at women while being comprised entirely of men or male characters. Which is part of why I'm not shaming the male audiences, because... desiring anime tiddy isn't inherently predatory anymore than a lady desiring anime ass. And that's a crass way of putting it anyway. We don't frame hanging a boy band poster up that way, or playing a game like Mystic Messenger. It becomes more complicated because we live in a complicated patriarchal structure that protects and empowers men and women differently and unequally, but that seems like a poor reason to try to tell individual men they aren't allowed to enjoy things in a way that is obviously natural and parallels how... most humans like to enjoy some things sometimes.

But that also doesn't mean we can't look at those broad cultural patterns and... make observations. And have criticisms. And talk about how it affects people, and the back and forth between media and culture.

But, Madoka is for men first. The girls' suffering is a form of male gaze, and pretty unambiguously a kind of very very softcore torture porn for male gamer types. That's not a judgment against it, that's just its literal intended share of the market. It's a pretty easy read if you understand the context in which it was released and the culture it is coming from and catering to. My Little Pony is a little girls toy franchise. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sells toys to boys. Home & Gardens is for housewives. Top Gear is for car dads. These are true even if other people like them. When an adult fan of children's cartoons (I say, as an adult fan of children's cartoons) tries to say, "But it's not really a kids cartoon!" I feel about the same way I do when a feminist fan of some clearly male-centric media says, "But it's not really!"

And that's - own your shit. Own it. It's fine. It's fine to like it. It's fine to love it. It's fine if it means the world to you. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you if you like a media that maybe isn't the most mature or progressive masterpiece out there. Just don't pretend there's no validity in obvious criticism. I love some real garbage made by real garbage people. I have survived.

Madoka exists in a fictional universe where the laws of that fictional universe are that 1) girls are uniquely emotional, 2) that emotion and their own aspirations can easily be harnessed against them in such a way that in the best possible universe all it does it kill them. In the normal universe it turns them into evil witches. That's just true. That's the world. I'm allowed to look at that, especially in conversation with magical girl media that came before, and go, "you know what? in that context, that's pretty fucked up" and it doesn't even mean that I stop liking the show, so I don't see why everyone else has to get so defensive about it.

(Y'all have no idea. Those posts are old now, but I got so many asks. I had to block so many people. I'm not trying to take your precious anime away calm down.)

Idk if I completely agree with the tone of my original posts - there's a little bit of offhanded vilifying of "men" as a shorthand for... all the bullshit... and I no longer love that language. I love men. Men are people. Some men can be shitty, but shitty individual men and patriarchy aren't the same. But I do still agree with all my broad points.

Plus, yes, also. The thing of a new (often male) fanbase getting into something you've been into for a long time with some new entry and acting like it both invented and fixed everything about the genre (PMMM and magical girls, Friendship is Magic and girl cartoons, Stardew Valley and farming sims) is frustrating, and to hear many an incurious nerd tell it, magical girls were floundering before Madoka! And I hate that.

Anyway, oops, I went on a little rant. That still makes it look like I don't like Madoka. I actually really do like the original series. I have rewatched it multiple times and probably will again. I even tried to play Magia Record (briefly - I couldn't really get into it). I can't speak to the many many spinoff media - but those have so many different writers and so much different lore that I think it'd probably be hard to try to pin any kind of single ethos to the franchise as a whole any more. But while I couldn't get into Magia Record I'd bet there's a short manga story or something that I'd love at this point. When you make like 200 magical girls or whatever that's bound to happen.

Thanks for the ask. Sorry Madoka fans are still so hyper defensive apparently. I hope you are able to survive them and find some better magical girl series out there. <3

[corvid-language-library]

hello! what are the main things that you suggest learning first when tackling norwegian? and some habits that i can pick up early so that i don’t struggle when trying to advance?

i’m a complete beginner and the only way i’ve learned another language was when i was too little to remember. when i know a little more norwegian than just the bare bones i think i’ll test my hand at transcribing stuff from children’s shows but until then i’m unsure of how to structure the beginning stages of learning for myself.

Hi there!

Firstly, yay for starting out on your Norwegian-learning journey! It's a beautiful language and I hope you enjoy the world it opens up for you.

As for what to learn first: alphabet is the best place to start so you're familiar with the sounds and can match them more-or-less to the words you're reading. You don't have to start speaking right away (I certainly didn't lmao I was B1/B2 level in all my other skills before I even really touched speaking) but you should be able to understand what the words you're learning sound like.

Other things to learn are verbs in all their forms. Norwegian doesn't have a lot of tenses and they mostly overlap with English in how they're used, so you can start using past tense/present perfect/imperative very early on. Here's a post I made about it on my old blog.

About the most complicated grammar you'll come across at beginner level is possessive pronouns and definite articles. If you've got a solid grip on those and verb forms then all you really need to do is learn vocabulary and you'll be able to say a lot!

Other than that, just try to learn the most common words. Here's a list I made on my old blog of all the resources I've used (and some I haven't) to learn Norwegian. Check them out and see what you like! (I no longer recommend Duolingo though due to its reliance on AI and just general lack of ethics these days)

Regarding habits to pick up...

The most important habit to pick up is interacting with the language daily imo. You don't have to study every day, per se, but have the radio on as background noise or listen to at least one song or just write the date or something small. Last year @chenopodiumlang started a "no zero days 2023" challenge and honestly by the end of the year I forgot I was even doing a challenge because it's become so ingrained in me that I need to interact with each of my languages every day that I don't think about it; I just do it.

With Norwegian there's a severe lack of material for intermediate level. You'll find plenty of stuff for beginner level and maybe a couple of textbooks that go up to intermediate level, but it's not like more popular languages where there are lots of graded readers, intermediate-advanced textbooks, online exercises etc. So I recommend interacting with native media relatively early on so the transition's less intimidating. Listen to the radio often so you get used to the sound of the language and different dialects. When you hit intermediate level, it'll be just a little bit easier to start watching TV with Norwegian subtitles. Regularly browse the headlines of NRK and see if you can pick out a word or two here and there (don't worry about understanding them all, don't even worry if there are days you can't understand a single word). Eventually you can graduate to reading the first paragraph of a news article, then maybe a short article etc.

Hope that helps! Best of luck with your Norwegian-learning journey 😊 Feel free to ask any questions!

[dokidokitsuna]

For the Gone AU, I'm curious about the realms that these guys rule. What's the setting here? What do they look like? I have a good idea of what the Realm of Stars might look like (involving a lot of robot people and tech) But what about the Realm of Blood and the Realm of Fate? I'm curious!

Well, you're right about the Realm of Stars-- it's basically just a giant futuristic civilization, and it's likely that many of its inhabitants have lived and "died" without even being aware of Star Dream's existence, outside of a nebulous god-concept.

This is probably the safest Realm to live in, if you're alright with the idea of being mechanized, if you can find somewhere to hide from the hive mind, or if you can convince the nearby members that you're not worth worrying about. The people of the RoS can be a bit...stupid and unobservant at times, due to their hedonistic lifestyle. ^^ And it's not like they need to be smart; Star Dream sees everything through them at all times, and if it recognizes any significant problems it will compel them to act the way it wants them to.

Minor things are usually left up to the discretion of the individual members though, so...if you play your cards right, and you're lucky enough to not be visited directly by an Avatar of the Dream, you could make a peaceful life for yourself in this Realm.

+++

The Realm of Blood, on the other hand, is basically everything that Star Dream hasn't touched; the places where all the flesh-creatures still live. Earth IRL would be considered part of this Realm.

Fecto Elfilis doesn't really 'rule' these worlds per se; the RoB is essentially defined by where it tends to hang out and look for "food". ^^; Worlds in this Realm go through a constant cycle of being struck by apocalyptic events of F/E's choosing, having most of their living creatures die out (or get eaten), and being slowly repopulated by whatever's left.

Because Fecto Elfilis is only one entity, whose movements are kind of random, it is almost indistinguishable from any world-destroying force of nature, like a comet strike or the death of a star. The vast majority of the inhabitants of the RoB don't know F/E exists and might not even recognize it as a sentient being if they saw its work firsthand...I mean, if it decided to play 'Roche Limit billiards' with a pair of planets the way it did in Forgotten Land, ain't nobody gonna live long enough to even understand what happened. ^^;;

Because of this, a lot of outsiders to the Realm tend to also see it as relatively safe and even to underestimate F/E itself-- there are probably plenty of smaller galaxy-scale tyrants wrecking shop in the RoB completely undisturbed.

But even if it takes millions of years, the true ruler will eventually wander by and remind them who the top dog really is. Because of the cycle of death and rebirth that binds the RoB and F/E's ridiculously old age, most of the entities that try to challenge it derive their power from some aspect of it (both Star Dream and the Master Crown, for instance) and this is when they tend to very painfully find that out. ^^;

+++

Last but not least, the Realm of Fate...the hardest one to name AND to define. ^^;

I based these three realms on some ancient natural philosophy thing I read once that I forgot the name of...basically, there is a ranked order of materials in the natural world. On one level, you have inanimate objects (Realm of Stars); on a higher level, you have animate creatures (Realm of Blood); and on an even higher level, you have the forces that animate creatures: souls and/or whatever the human mind is made of. This level is represented by the Realm of Fate.

It does have a presence in the physical world-- the first step of the Master Crown's conquest is always a show of force against the world its victims live in. But after that, most of its dealings take place inside of people's heads-- break the victims' reality, and then break the victims' perception of reality, and continue inside from there.

Unlike with the other two Realms, everyone living in the RoF knows what the MC is and recognizes its place in their lives. They only exist to be its puppets, to play its games and destroy each other...and the inside of each of their minds is like a realm of its own, where the MC rules with an iron fist and will torment them until their consciousness ceases to exist.

...Obviously this is the worst Realm to live in, 0/5 stars. ^^; It also makes the plot of GONE a little ironic-- essentially, the Master Crown gets one (1) taste of its own medicine and folds like a deck of cards. XD Not so tough when your own mind is the one being invaded, huh?

[docexe-mx]

Some belated thoughts on the first chapter of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, aka, Boruto part II. Spoilers after the cut.

This chapter being simply titled “Boruto” to contrast with how the first chapter of part I was titled “Uzumaki Boruto” is actually a nice touch. Succinctly reflects the new situation of the main character: From the esteemed Hokage son and golden child of the village, to a pariah considered a traitor and wanted dead by his former home. Ironically, Boruto barely appear in this chapter. Most of it is centered on the rest of the cast (with a particular focus on Sarada), giving out exposition and setting up the current status quo.

Ikemoto’s art is still an acquired taste at best, an absolute eyesore at worst. To be fair, he does have improved since the manga started, but not really enough for my tastes.

I definitely like Sarada, Sumire, Chouchou and Mitsuki’s time skip designs, while Shikadai and Inojin’s leave me a bit cold (mostly because they don’t look particularly older). Himawari’s new attire is good, but I would have preferred if her hair was a bit spikier.

I didn’t care much for Kawaki’s design in the flash forward at the beginning of the manga, but his current get-up post-time skip is actually better, although not by much.

Boruto’s design isn’t bad per se, but outside of the cape and some accessories, his outfit is just not that different from his original get-up, which feels like a wasted opportunity (at the very least they could have given him some additional colors or something).

Kishimoto’s writing has some… issues. So apparently, people could still feel something was wrong with the rewriting of their memories in the early days and the obvious contradictions involving the switch between Boruto and Kawaki, but as time has passed, the Omnipotence Shinjutsu has suppressed the unease and now everyone just accepts their new memories as true. While that’s fine and dandy, it still doesn’t explain what happened to the massive amount of physical evidence pointing out that Boruto was the Hokage’s son. Did all the photographs, written records and videos of Boruto just disappear? Were altered by the Shinjutsu? People look at them and think they are forgeries? Kishi, you might not think any of that is important enough to address it but it’s a genuinely massive plot hole that makes this entire plotline fall apart and it just keeps nagging at the back of my head.

So far it’s confirmed that Sarada and Sumire are the only ones unaffected by Eida’s Omnipotence, and Sarada herself seems to have been turned into an outcast in the village because of her insistence on defending Boruto. As to the matter of how to solve the entire mess, Eida still doesn’t have any control over her powers and doesn’t think reverting people’s memories to how they were originally will be possible, but posits that rewriting them again might work although that still carries risks of its own.

Talking about that, the scene of Sarada and Sumire trying to fool Eida and Daemon regarding how they were unaffected by the Omniptence Shinjutsu but are “definitely” affected by Eida’s charming power was extremely cringe worthy. Although to be fair, it’s kind of implied that neither of the ultra-broken siblings actually buy it and are merely humoring them for the time being.

Shikamaru being the 8th Hokage was a surprise. On the one hand, he is actually a good fit for the position, indeed, back in the original series it was acknowledged he could make for a good one. On the other hand, it also feels weird and I can’t help it but get this nagging feeling that he was made Hokage specifically because Kishimoto forgot that Kakashi was still alive. Then again, his face was not sculpted in the Hokage monument during the flash forward, and if they respect that detail, it would imply he only took the mantle very recently.

While Shikamaru’s antagonism towards Kawaki in Part I wasn’t exactly unfounded (especially considering how things turned out), it did got very old very quickly and now that it’s been transferred to Boruto, it’s even more irritating. He taking out some of that on Sarada for defending Boruto was also annoying, so in that sense, Sarada calling him out and pointing out that it’s his predecessor the one she follows as her role model was actually deserved to an extent.

Kawaki can move freely in the dimension of the Sukuna Hikona. The scene with him watching over the unconscious Naruto and Hinata was really morbid, but it’s clear he is still in a dark place. However, he does seem to care for the safety of the people in the village if his actions to protect them from Code are anything to go by. That’s something at least.

The scene with Kawaki and Mitsuki was heartbreaking. Just the notion of Mitsuki turning against Boruto and fervently wanting to kill him is tragic considering their prior bond, compounded by the fact that his current relationship with Kawaki is clearly not the same and it’s leaving him feeling dejected. I just hope this whole mess won’t end with Mitsuki eventually turning into an outright villain, you just know Kishimoto is itching to explore parallels and contrasts with Orochimaru.

The scene of Himawari training with Chouchou was nice, showcasing their growth as well as Hima’s natural talent. I presume Himawari has already graduated from the Shinobi Academy, although the chapter doesn’t clarify it.

Interestingly, while the chapter confirms Himawari's memories were altered, unlike other village inhabitants, she hasn’t turned against Boruto, refusing to believe that he killed their parents and having faith that they might still be alive somewhere. Of course, all of that is based on her original memories of Kawaki and she is ultimately right. In any case, it’s sweet that she is willing to help her brother and that, in a roundabout way, she thinks highly of her adopted sibling, not only considering her original bond with Boruto but also the bond she and Kawaki formed in the anime.

Code has spent the past few years searching for Boruto after amassing an army from the body of the Juubi. His patience has finally been exhausted so he decides to attack Konoha with the intention of attracting Boruto’s attention. His plan was actually clever, but I’m not exactly fond of him imperiling Sarada specifically, then again this is Kishi’s “traditionalism” rearing its ugly head again.

In any case, the scenes of the attack on Konoha and Boruto’s dynamic entry were cool… or would have been if the art was actually better. All I can say is that I’m eager to see the anime tackling this chapter when it finally returns.

[cieloclercs]

lover, you should’ve come over , send me a description of yourself + a fandom and gender preference, and i’ll ship you with a character

i want it with f1 and it doesn't matter old or current drivers. i sent you this request before but i think i forgot to add preference so it was my fault. hope it doesn't bother you that i'm sending you a new one again, if it bothers you then i'm sorry. i think it's gonna be long so... sorry in advance x2

i'm 22 and history student. i want to be an academic because knowledge is pretty much everything to me. if a djinn grant me 3 wishes, one of them would be to know everything about universe, humankind and other things. i like learning new things and i like to share them with others whether its something scientific, about history, philosophy or just random fact about pop culture it doesn't matter. sometimes i just starting to tell someone a random fact i learned out of the blue so there's that i think. i also think my love language is quality time. i'll remember whats your favorite book, movie, song, sweater, drink etc it doesn't matter i'll etch everything about you into my brain forever. its my curse, sometimes i think that way.

i like buying new books even if i have billions of them i haven't read it yet at my home it doesn't matter. i like to go museums. my idea of relaxing and holiday is going to new historical places, museums, exhibitions, watching something or reading something, explore new music etc so you get the idea.

i like to watch art movies, documentaries, keeping an eye on film festivals. my favorites are those 3 hours long old movies you can hardly find subtitles for but when you do... it gives you everything you need and more.

when i said i like learning new things i mean it as a learning different subjects or matters. it doesn't matter tbh if that thing got me interested in then you probably gonna find me searching it online at 3 am.

i'm a bit cold to others i'm not gonna lie. definetely judge someone and if i dont find them okay-ish then warming up to them and liking them is gonna be hard. i tend to isolate myself and zone out frequently when i'm overwhelmed so even if you continue to talk there's a big chance i'm not gonna hear you but i have pretty good focus so thats the plus for me.

i'm definetely quick to anger and hold grudges really well won't forget something you said to me 10 years ago. but i'm also a ride or die and would bring shovel to your house unquestioned so i guess that's even it out?

but there's a weird and kind of intimidating side of me? at least that what my friends been saying. my classmates and friends often saying to me how they were/are intimidated to talk to me because they didn't want to seem stupid or didnt gage out what would i say or react. weird side of me i think its that sometimes i tend to get awkward not gonna lie...

also i tend to get... disappear for extended period of time out of the blue. i'm just vibing at home or outside by myself. i'm happy with it but others don't.

i hope it's not too long and if it is sorry </3

i ship you with lance stroll!

— i’ve never pictured lance as the academic type per se, but i always get the sense he’s a bit of a dark horse when it comes to his talents outside of f1… i feel like he’d be super interested in all of the stuff you are, especially philosophy. once you guys start dating, i can picture him getting really into philosophy and history and reading to the point where he’s basically just feeding your own need for more knowledge (match made in heaven frrr)

— obviously the guy is loaded so he has no problem buying you whatever books you want. instead of being the kind of boyfriend that goes out and buys his girlfriend jewellery to show affection (bc his love language is DEFINITELY gift giving) he’ll buy you a ton of books instead 😭 i feel like you’ll get so used to it that every time you go out you leave a reading list on the table for him to look at, and when you get back he’ll have bought you EVERY SINGLE BOOK. even the really obscure ones, and you’re like how did he manage to find this at such short notice? 😭

— loads of your dates consist of either movie nights or trips to museums and exhibitions. you might do some more mindless lowkey stuff in-between, but lance will pretty much do whatever it is you want to do 😭 he’ll definitely surprise you with random trips to loads of interesting historical places. even if you only mention a particular place one time in passing, the next thing you know he’ll get you on his private jet and take you there for the weekend 🥹 it just shows he’s a really good listener too !! a bit like you, he just wants to commit everything about you to his memory 🤍

— i never thought i’d say this because i picture lance as being quite isolated a lot of the time, but he encourages you to get out more and stops you from retreating within yourself. he knows that you have no problem being alone with your thoughts, but he also wants you to get out and experience things with new people 🥹

— BUT on the other hand, you guys are definitely the judgy inside joke couple 😭 i mean in the sense that you tell each other everything. if you’re holding a grudge against someone for a particular reason, he knows exactly why and holds a grudge too 😭 basically you always tell each other your drama to the point where you’re essentially just sharing enemies. this unfortunate person will never know why but every time they come near you both you’ll automatically just fall silent and stare them down 😭 half the grid is scared of you both for this but it’s fine you’re iconic

— ps. i’m sorry this took so long! i’ve been mulling over this one for a while 😅

[nonfer]

looks great | 20:24.8 - 21:24.8

today on mobile you can download audio from tumblr.

(six bars seven times with two measures as an empty pad at 105bpm)

105bpm

made the drum a bit louder. listening to it i might start this track's keys and drums softer and gradually bring them up to match the synth. next would be adding snares and a lead before bringing in a bassline and starting the body of the song. maybe add a lead first.

funny how no one elected or appointed in america seems concerned with meeting their accepted responsibilities. learn to type?

apple.com/us/podcast/encore-the-bitcoin-bamboozle/id1616682405?i=1000671005162

don't know what you're talking about, often. tell me again? might be okay. don't think i pay attention. have some leftover fries to get to and am wondering if i should bother to reheat them or just make dip.

[made dip]

losing your transmission - YouTube

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_u7KftpnQQ&list=PLQoAox0-Y2p6f2CUf32zsCO9tnU2lYWkL&pp=gAQBiAQB

actually, i skipped the debate. did see a clip that left me with a question. governor walz was in the national guard for a long time. was that why he was in hong kong and china?

yeah, like i want to pretend to guess.

the massive de-decentralization of bitcoin is more or less concerning than its exorbitant energy cost per day of transactions that don't amount to the number of transactions a popular credit card processes in a day or the fact that bitcoin trades pretty much unregulated by design while affording no privacy with a public ledger.

however, no one in a position of responsibility seems to be concerned, not in this country either. now when china banned that digital nonsense early on, i couldn't understand why that wasn't a hint. instead britain and her courts seem more concerned with someone claiming to be satoshi.

why be diplomatic about so many governments failing to be responsible. it's not a favor to compliment someone for being scammed while they are being scammed is it?

in case anyone forgot or forgets the only reason a bitcoin costs what it does began with at least one stable coin being used to accelerate (unregulated) trading of it.

[when i grew up there were still people old enough to have lived as adults through the great depression. today there are very few people left that were alive when the stock market in america crashed.]

i get that you might not have had the time to look at the concern. i don't do everything that could be done. for one, this is a solo project promoting my independent music project. i run a legitimate concern, online, and have for over twenty years. that being said, cryptocurrency (bitcoin specifically) has been available online for over ten years. i am positive that i'm not the only person who's looked at it.

even if bitcoin, specifically bitcoin, returns to being decentralized it won't be a significant currency. however, eventually it might command a price at or above its current marketed value just as a curiosity. there are a lot of people in the world. who could say what becomes of interest as a keepsake.

44.1- 1:34.10 | 50.8 seconds

[dovveri]

no yeah, i felt kinda stupid after writing that I liked children and had a good relationship with them to justify not liking the movie- it should be common sense. I said that mostly cuz when i read comments about the movie a lot of people were saying that they didn't like it cuz they were parents or worked with kids so it was disgusting for them to see that thing portrayed on the big screen. And yeah, imo i think this also leads into the "I like younger women" discourse where 40 year old men say that they prefer to be with an 18 year old because they're more 'innocent' (which is just so idiotic and disgusting cuz they're chasing this 'purity' that is just- ) No like, that piece of media/literature is actually really good cuz it talks about some stuff that is really important to understand. Imo it's a good literary piece (specially cuz it has an unreliable narrator) even tho it deals with really heavy topics. The thing is, this thing being popularized during the bear vs man discourse is so harmful because of those men who then go on to shame Ellen and generalize her experience. Then when women say that they can relate to an extent her character and feel more empathetic to her case THEY GO BALLISTIC? LIKE OH NO WOMEN ARE RELATING TO WOMEN???? And like, it wasn't her choice per se? she had no other choice and it wrecked her. The narrator of the story after that is always resenting her for doing that AS IF IT WAS HER CHOICE, LIKE- and yes fr. Tbh, I've grown tired of talking about the sex work industry with some men cuz it's just disgusting talking about it with them cuz some are so out of touch that it's horrifying. I forgot but I rly agree w you on the lust and anger thin separation Like, it's the same with love and hate? In a way? Like, for example, Hamlet is a great example of both (btw I hate him, he's a little bitch. If you like him I'm sorry, not really, but yeah) cuz he goes from loving someone to hating/despising them in a second. Like, in the play with ophelia it's all "oh but he really thought she was going to betray him!" Yeah so him being a little bitch, an asshole and a big misogynist saying she was being prostituted by her own father is ok😀 or him saying that she should go to indeed prostitute herself cuz she isn't pure is ok (this was all stuff GROWN MEN IN MY CLASS SAID) And also, in this line of thought of lust and anger, Hamlet (play) deals with pseudo-incest and incest themes😭 like so many innuendos it's honestly surprising how many people in my class never pointed it out? But like, Hamlet is constantly talking about his uncle and his mother's sex life (he's obsessed) and he hates them so much for it, especially his mother. There is a scene tho, where he goes to confront her and he says that he had once loved her and would love her still if she had not 'bed' her husband's brother. But it's so full of sexual innuendo on his part- like he's attracted to her? But he's also always wishing her ill. Idk it's really weird and when you talked about lust and anger I remembered this

This might be a bit confusing😭 I just woke up from my nap (I love being on break. It's the best thing ever)

ALSO HOW ARE YOU

HAHAHAHA NO ITS NOT CONFUSING I LOVE HEARING UR THOUGHTS ur so right on everything again 🗣️🗣️ and i never studied hamlet actually or watched anything to do w hamlet AHHSHAHA and im sorry? hamlet wanted to fuck his mom what 😭 i wonder if freud read hamlet he woulda had a field day

IM OKAAAAYYYYYY its getting closer to finals so ive been buzy trying not to fail 😫 im going to a friends birthday tmr tho and the theme is ‘overdressed’ WHICH EATS i love that theme its kinda giving met gala but we care abt palestine KSKDKSKA but i still havent decided what ill be wearing yet but thats sth im looking forward to 😁 HRUUUUU!!??

[designerblade]

AI: The Somnium Files

I picked up AI: The Somnium Files on a whim recently, when I was desperate for something to play and didn’t have the budget to buy something new. I purchased it from the PlayStation store a few months back on super sale and completely forgot about it. I had no expectations, and ended up really enjoying it!

Let me clear the air by saying I’m a huge Danganronpa fan. Despite their problems, I’ve always really enjoyed the series’ style and mystery solving mechanics. I figured AI: The Somnium Files, also developed and published by Spike Chunsoft, would be up my alley.

Differing from the high school setting of the Danganronpa games, the protagonist of AI is an adult man (probably in his early 30s) who’s a detective for the Tokyo police. His name is Kaname Date. He lost all of his memories and one of his eyes six years ago, and the overarching plot of the game is figuring out how and what happened.

One of the big gags of the game is that Date is obsessed with porn, and that’s often used during the combat sequences. It’s often brought up by the game’s female characters (Mizuki, his child roommate and Aiba, his AI in particular). I always found the use of this humor uncomfortable, especially when being mentioned by a minor. I expected it though, as the Danganronpa series is riddled with uncomfortable, out-of-place sexual humor as well. If that’s to your taste though, you’ll probably enjoy this game.

Another problematic stance this game takes is in its characterization of Mama. Mama is a fat trans woman who’s old friends with Date and runs a local bar. She’s an informant, so you visit her a handful of times throughout the game. She’s motherly and kind, and a bit flirty. Unfortunately, the other characters in the game are regularly transphobic and fatphobic towards her. They refer to her as things like a “monster,” or a “giant grape.” Mama is happy and doesn’t mind, but it’s uncomfortable seeing how she’s treated, even by her old friend. I look forward to the day when Japanese games aren’t like this anymore. My patience towards their use of fat queer people as a joke is gone.

I found a some of the other characters to be compelling, and was always excited to see more of them. Mizuki was very well acted, and I liked her standoffish nature. Iris, a young internet idol, was also always a joy to see. Date’s boss, Iris’s mother Hitomi, and Ota Matsushita (a fan of Iris’s) + his family were also all fun to learn more about.

An important gameplay mechanic is psyncing. Most of the game is clicking through several different locations to look for clues and interview characters. Standard point-and-click mechanics. Psyncing is where they switch things up. Date works for a special unit of the police force called ABIS. Their purpose is to get information, no matter what, and they have a special psync machine that allows them to do so. It puts the suspect to sleep, and lets the officer enter their dreams for 6 minutes to look for clues pertaining to the investigation. During these sections, you run around as Aiba in the body of a young woman.

I never found the psyncing to be much fun. They’re kind of like puzzle rooms, but nonsensical. The option you need to pick to progress is never clear or linear, and you’re timed in the rooms, so making too many mistakes can be punishing. I often had to replay the psync sections a few times to get them correct. Sometimes I had even figured out the solution, but the inputs kept taking too long and forcing me to restart. At best I found the psyncs neutral or tolerable, at worst a frustrating nuisance.

The best part of the AI: The Somnium Files is its use of branching paths. I ran into my first “ending” around 5-6 hours in, and was shocked that I had learned so little. The game encouraged me to play through again, starting from a branching segment from earlier on in my playthrough. I did so, and the differences were WILD. AI is kind of like Nier: Automata, in the way that you really have to see every ending through to solve the case and get the true ending. It was super worth it! There were so many fun twists and turns. I liked seeing how much Date’s relationships changed with each playthrough. In one path he and Mizuki were extremely close, in another they couldn’t even look at each other.

Ultimately, I had great time with this game. I flew through the 25ish hours in about two weeks, which is fast for me. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I also enjoyed the soundtrack! I definitely want to check out the sequel from last year, Nirvana Initiative next time it’s on sale. I’d recommend AI: The Somnium Files to any anime mystery fans! There is fun to be had here!

[lemonpeter]

🧡Day 1: Inc*st🧡

Really starting off strong huh lol anyway, this is very background heavy (I don’t know what happened but now I’m obsessed) and I hope y’all enjoy 🧡

Warnings: inc*st, nff, father/son (but they don’t know), Peter is 18 and an intern at SI, brief substance ab*se mention (and impaired s*x, not between starker)

***

Tony never wanted kids. The thought of someone depending on him in such a way made him feel sick. So he always did all that he could to ensure nothing would happen.

There was always room for accident, though.

***

Tony never wanted kids. The thought of someone depending on him in such a way made him feel sick. So he always did all that he could to ensure nothing would happen.

He never had sex without multiple levels of protection. And he was famous enough that people rarely tried to argue against it. Sleeping with him at all fulfilled what they wanted.

So things were perfectly fine. He never had an issue, he was always completely safe with his partners.

Except for this one night.

He was in a self-destructive episode, in the downward spiral before he hit rock bottom. Mixed every possible substance that shouldn’t have been mixed, impairing him until he wasn’t sure which way was up.

And he had a woman spiraling right along with him.

Her name was…Mary. Mary something. She was a scientist in some field, but he didn’t catch anything else. Or he just didn’t remember it. It didn’t matter anyways, they were both just wanting to ignore what was around them. What their lives had served them.

And maybe he forgot to ask if she was on birth control when he sloppily kissed over her neck.

Maybe he fumbled with the condom to the point where she whispered, “We’ll be fine,” and he believed her.

How it happened didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it did.

Tony didn’t even know.

He didn’t ask for her number the next morning, he just hid out in the bathroom, emptying his stomach of its entire contents while he waited for her to leave.

She was gone by the time he could see straight.

Thank god.

He never heard from her again.

Mary Parker and her husband died six years later and he never knew.

He didn’t know that they had a son. Or she did, at least. There was no way for him to know that the son had been passed along to his aunt and uncle when no other relative was found.

He never knew that Mary Parker had a son. And that her husband wasn’t the one who got her pregnant.

She never crossed his mind again after she left him.

***

Enter Peter.

Tony had new interns come in every year, typically college students that needed the credits, but sometimes someone special would come along.

Peter was a high school senior, but he was one of the smartest people that Tony had ever come across.

Tony had a job lined up for him as soon as he graduated if he wanted it. Not that he’d told him that yet.

He swore that he wasn’t a stalker. He had to prove to Pepper that he wasn’t giving too much attention to one intern over another, and for him that meant that he needed to stay away from Peter personally.

No matter how tempting it was. There had to be a family history of such genius, right? That kind of brains didn’t just occur at random.

But he didn’t look into him at all. He wouldn’t even let himself google search his name.

Oh, but he wanted to. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Peter Parker.

Although maybe he could just do it the old fashioned way. Minimal favoritism involved.

He spent months working with Peter. They became friends. Close friends.

It got to the point where Tony couldn’t help the smile he had when he looked into those warm brown eyes.

He felt it happen, it was official. Peter Parker had his heart.

It didn’t matter how wrong it was, he couldn’t help it. The young man had completely gotten hold of him.

And he hoped that it was mutual.

***

“Peter, can you stay back for a second?” Tony was still standing at the lab table, eyes scanning over the coding that they’d put in place during the session.

Like that was actually what was on his mind.

The young man looked up with wide eyes. Very deer-in-headlights. But it was so cute on him.

“Y-yeah! I actually needed to tell you something, so yes, I can definitely do that.”

Peter sounded a bit nervous which made Tony pause. Maybe his confession could wait a while. Maybe forever. Whatever was on Peter’s mind was infinitely more important to him.

“Okay, you first. I can follow up.” Tony tucked his hands into his pockets, leaning back against the table.

His cheeks burned. “No- no, you can go first. Don’t worry.”

The older man let out a breath. “Peter, you say what you need to. I can wait.”

Peter looked at him, face flushed. He hadn’t really meant to blurt out that he had something to say. He’d thought about it, sure. But he didn’t know-

His brain couldn’t keep up with his body and suddenly he was leaning up, pressing his lips to Tony’s.

The older man froze. It wasn’t what he’d expected at all. But then he relaxed into it, kissing back.

Who knew that they both had the same confession?

But it wasn’t supposed to be happening.

Tony pulled away once he finally got control of his senses again, raking a hand through his hair. “Pete, I’m supposed to be the adult here. I can’t be a good role model if I’m….”

When was he ever a good role model?

“Let me start again. I’m an adult. Kid, I’m old. Old enough to be your dad. And you’re…how old?”

“I turned eighteen in august,” he supplied helpfully.

At least it was legal.

“Eighteen. That’s a thirty year age difference.” Jesus, he was creepy. Falling for an eighteen year old. He couldn’t even buy alcohol for himself.

Peter blinked up at him. “So? I like you, Mr. Stark. I don’t care how old you are.”

Tony sighed softly. “You’re gonna be the death of me. And it’s Tony. If this is what’s happening, call me Tony.”

Even though it had been his plan to confess his feelings anyway, the guilt was still eating at him. He had fallen for a teenager who was just barely legal.

“What is happening, Mr.- Tony?”

Tony leaned in for another kiss, sighing softly. “What do you want to happen, kid?”

“Oh. Well, um, not to be blunt, but- I just- I mean- I really want you.”

He was cute. Innocent. But Tony could tell that what he meant was a bit less innocent.

“Are you sure? You realize this is a bad idea on...a lot of levels, right?”

Peter huffed softly, looking up at him with a stubborn expression. “I don’t care. We can be sneaky.”

Tony snorted. ���Sneaky’ wasn’t really how he’d describe it, but he had to remind himself that his terms were a lot different than Peter’s. Different generations and all that.

He was horrible.

“Okay, kid. We can take this upstairs-” where there was no one to walk in on them. “-and talk about what exactly you’re thinking.”

“How about we don’t talk about it and we just...do?” Peter gave him a shy, devious smile.

“Uh huh. We’ll see.”

Tony grabbed his wrist gently, glancing in the hallway to make sure that no one was coming before he dragged him to the elevator.

Before he could get another word out, Peter’s lips were on his again. And this time there was more heat behind it.

He kissed back, eyes slipping shut just as the elevator doors did. Their lips pushed together insistently and he felt Peter’s tongue clumsily swiping over his lip.

He suppressed a laugh and parted his lips, allowing Peter to lead.

It was all so curious and clumsy that he wondered just how many times Peter had ever kissed anyone. If any. But that was a question for later.

The elevator dinged softly when they reached the penthouse and only then did they pull away from each other.

Tony led Peter out, instantly heading for his bedroom. Bad idea or no, he’d imagined such a scenario so many times. He didn’t want to waste any time.

“Tony?” Peter spoke up, eyes on the bed. “I know this is really straightforward, but I’m glad you, like, don’t hate me. I’ve thought about this...a lot.”

“You and me both,” the older man murmured. “Something I feel like we should cover before anything else...how far are you wanting to go?”

Peter chewed his lip. “Not to rush things, but I really really want to go all the way.”

“Well, not to rush things, but I want that too.” Tony gave him a small grin. “Do you have a preference?”

“Hmm?”

The confused look that he got made him feel guilty again. Just how much had Peter ever done with anyone else?

“Top or bottom, honey. Receiving or giving, pitching or catching, whatever you want to say. What do you want to do?”

Peter blushed, deciding to distract from the question at hand by pulling his shirt off.

It worked. Tony’s attention was instantly elsewhere, his eyes focused on his trim waist but hard muscle.

“Jesus, kid. That’s...wow.” If he wasn’t hard before, he was definitely getting there from seeing just what his innocent little intern was hiding under loose clothing.

“Like it?” The young man grinned to himself, one hand sensually sliding from the v of his hips up to his chest.

Perfect abs. Round, firm pecs. Jesus, Tony was entranced.

But he remembered what he’d asked. “Peter, top or bottom. What’s your preference?”

“I- I don’t...know.”

There it was.

Tony looked at him, tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip quickly. “You’re a virgin.” It wasn’t a question. He knew it for sure. It wasn’t surprising.

Peter got defensive. “I’ve done some stuff.”

“Uh huh. What ‘stuff’?”

He refused to look at Tony, his eyes on his hands as he played with the button on his jeans. “I’ve given oral. Guys and girls. And I’ve gotten, like, a couple handjobs and blowjobs.”

Tony closed his eyes. “I shouldn’t be your first. This- Peter, this is such a bad idea. You should be with someone your own age.”

Peter made an indignant sound, popping the button on his jeans and unzipping them out of protest. “I don’t want someone my own age. I want you.”

He said it with such finality.

Tony stepped closer to the bed, his hands cupping Peter’s face gently. “You promise me you won’t regret this?”

“There’s nothing that could make me regret this.” Peter unbuckled Tony’s belt, slowly pulling it out of the loops before dropping it to the floor.

Tony nodded slowly, not fighting when Peter pushed his slacks down. It was really happening.

“Holy shit-” Peter’s eyes were wide. His eyes were fixed on the way that Tony’s dick was straining at the front of his tight boxers. There was a nervous look in his eyes.

“Good or bad?” Tony teased a little.

“Good. Good, oh man.” Peter reached down and squeezed himself hard. “So big….”

That was nice to hear. “You think so? Do you think you could take it, sweetheart?”

Peter’s fingers ghosted over the length slowly, making it twitch in its confines. “I...I want to try.”

Tony nodded. “We’ll make it fit. Let’s finish getting you undressed.” He pulled his own shirt off and tossed it to the floor before getting onto the bed next to Peter.

He finished pulling the young man’s zipper down and helped him shimmy out of his jeans. Peter’s thighs were gorgeous, Tony was nearly drooling over them. But he couldn’t get distracted.

“May I?” He met the young man’s eyes, his fingers slipping into the waistband of his boxers.

Peter nodded, breathing hard as he laid back more.

Tony slowly pulled the piece of clothing down, biting his lip when he watched Peter’s cock drop against his hip once it was no longer covered. “So hard for me, honey. Look at that.”

The younger man blushed darker. “I’ve wanted this for a long time, Tony….”

“God, me too. Me too, kid.” He pushed his own boxers off, unable to keep himself from wrapping one hand around himself and stroking slowly.

Peter watched him with wide eyes. “Okay. I want you inside me. Now.” He kicked his boxers away, grinning a little.

Tony laughed softly at his eagerness. “We have to get you ready first. Hold on, let me show you….”

Turns out that Peter was incredibly responsive to everything and by the time he was open enough for further activities Tony had already worked him through an orgasm.

If Peter was that responsive to just his fingers, he couldn’t wait to get his cock in him. And the young man was still raring to go.

Tony grabbed a condom - habit, it wasn’t like they were preventing anything - but Peter stopped him.

“Why can't we just do it…without?” He asked shyly.

“I mean…we can. But you’ll have to clean up and that can be annoying.”

“I want…I want to feel you. Is that okay?” Peter hid his face in his hands, embarrassed by the admission.

Tony nodded, biting back a smile. “Yeah. That’s okay.” He set the foil square down on the nightstand before moving back to the young man.

He got between his legs, hands sliding over the strong thighs he was met with. “You’re absolutely gorgeous, kid. I hope you know that.”

Peter smiled up at him, spreading his legs further. “Thank you, Tony….” He leaned back more, laying his head down. “Now hurry up,” he joked.

Grabbing the lube and slicking himself up, the older man shook his head. “Impatient,” Tony chided, laughing softly. But he was already moving to position his cock at the man’s hole, the tip brushing over him.

They both moaned softly, laughing a little at how in sync they were.

“Fuck me, Tony…please?”

The older man nodded, slowly pushing past the tight muscle with a groan. Even though he’d prepped him, Peter was still tight. Just perfectly so.

Peter was tightly gripping the sheets, popping a couple threads even, with the first movements.

It seemed like his effort was in vain, but he really wanted to try to last.

Tony bottomed out, hips pressed flush against Peter’s ass.

The younger man was whining low in his throat at the feeling. His cock twitched between them. He knew that if he was touched at all before he could calm down a little, everything would be over way before he wanted it to be.

“Need me to stay still?” Tony asked. He could tell that Peter was struggling.

He nodded quickly, squeezing his eyes shut. “Yes. Fuck.”

“Okay, honey. Don’t worry, we can take this at whatever pace you want.”

Peter nodded, trying to get a hold on how he was feeling.

It took him a couple minutes, but eventually he signaled Tony that he was okay. And he could start moving.

So he started slow, but Tony started thrusting when he was given the okay.

Peter moaned, mouth falling open around his noises.

He tightened around Tony’s cock, squeezing down with every movement. Then he cried out when a particularly deep thrust hit something that made him see stars.

“What was that?” Peter gasped, hips rocking up wildly.

Tony groaned, laughing a little through it. “I’m going to, fuck, I’m going to assume that was your prostate. Feels good, doesn’t it? I should have showed that to you when I was fingering you.”

“Do it again!”

The older man snorted, aiming for the same spot again as he picked up his pace. He held one of Peter’s legs, lifting it just enough so that he could get at a deeper angle. “I can try.”

From the increasingly louder noises he received, he assumed he succeeded.

He was so lost in the feeling of Peter that he missed how close to the edge his partner was getting. All that registered was how incredible (borderline painful) it felt when the younger man squeezed around him like that.

Then Peter was crying out louder and thrusting up as he spilled onto his stomach.

Tony swore under his breath. “God, Peter.” He watched him, subconsciously speeding up as he chased his own high.

“Tony!” Peter moaned, eyes squeezed shut as he rode out his high. It was the best orgasm he’d ever experienced, alone or otherwise.

But he slowly opened his eyes, wanting to watch Tony cum.

“I’m close too,” the older man moaned, speeding up again.

Peter moaned louder, feeling himself being pushed up the bed with the quicker pace. “Cum, Tony, please, want you to fill me up.”

He wasn’t so sure about dirty talk, but it could only be but so bad because Tony went still moments later. Peter felt the cock inside him pulse briefly before there was a smooth warmth spreading.

The thing itself felt odd, but thinking about what was happening almost made him cum again.

Actually-

His hand flew to his own dick and he quickly jerked himself off before he was cumming for a third time. It wasn’t nearly as good as the other two, but it was still incredible. Especially thinking about how good Tony still felt inside of him.

He opened his eyes when he heard Tony chuckling. “What?”

“You’re insatiable. And I’m amazed that you can just go again that fast.” The older man closed his eyes again, catching his breath.

He was almost in shock that it had actually happened. He had sex with Peter. After thinking about it for months, dreaming about it, it happened.

He slowly pulled out, laying next to the young man. He knew they were both messes, covered in sweat and cum and lube, but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to hold Peter close before they had to go back to real life.

Tony gently wrapped his arms around him, just gathering him close while he pressed a kiss to the man’s temple.

He found out quickly that Peter’s dazed, relaxed post-sex state would only last for so long.

It was only minutes before the man was talking, whispering about anything and everything. And Tony happily listened.

He hummed softly, holding the younger man close to his chest. One hand gently carded through Peter’s soft curls as they talked quietly.

“My mom met you one time,” Peter murmured. “Before I was born. But she would never tell me about it. Just told me that it happened.”

Tony snorted softly. “Yeah, well, about when would that have been? I had a reputation for a reason.” But the confession started pulling at a memory. It couldn’t quite come to light, though.

“Ew.” The young man grinned at him. “But I guess you’re right. I don’t know, she was kinda weird about a lot of stuff. Not just that.”

“What do you mean?”

Peter sighed softly and Tony frowned. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. But Peter started answering anyway.

“I don’t know who my actual dad is. She never told me. I vaguely remember her telling me that Richard was the only dad I needed, but nothing else.”

“You would have been so young,” Tony whispered. “Maybe she just figured it could be a conversation for another time.”

“But she wouldn’t tell anyone else. My aunt and uncle knew that Richard wasn’t actually my dad, but they were never told who was. And I guess it just…died with her.”

The older man nodded. “You could always do a paternity test, right?” Why was guilt pooling in his stomach?

Peter shrugged. “That’s assuming that my dad has done one too that we could match. And sometimes….” He trailed off.

“Sometimes what?” Tony kissed him gently, trying to soothe him.

“Sometimes I’m not sure that I want to know,” he confessed.

It made sense. But something was still trying to pull at Tony’s memory. Forming an idea slowly.

Although he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know the answers.

But he couldn’t just leave a question unasked. No matter how dark the potential answer.

“Peter…when did you say that your mom met me?”

The young man snuggled into him more, shaking his head. “I didn’t. I think it was…the year before I was born or so. Why? Do you remember?”

Tony tried to mentally do the numbers. He’d spent most of that year in a fog, but that had been the theme of that era in his life. But maybe…

“Are you okay?”

The older man closed his eyes, frowning as he tried to remember.

Parker. Had he been with a Parker? He couldn’t remember the occasion at all.

Maybe that was for the best.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay, was just trying to see if I remembered her. I’m sorry.”

Peter leaned up to kiss him gently, shaking his head. “Don’t be sorry. It’s not a big deal, really. Sometimes I just wonder about that stuff.”

Tony tried to assure himself that it wasn’t a big deal.

Maybe it was best to not have all the answers.

He had what he wanted. That was all that mattered.

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Imagine being Sokka’s childhood best friend who left to join the war and reuniting with him years later.

You and Sokka were friends before either of you could walk. Children were in short demand in your tribe so when you were born only 6-months apart it was a given you’d be playmates but you and Sokka also became inseparable almost instantly. You both had the same dry sarcastic humour and your personalities worked well together. For the first few years of your life all you were concerned with was staying taller than Sokka and Polarbear dogs but then fire nation attacked and killed Sokka’s mother.

After the brutal attack the remaining tribesman decided to make one final stand against the fire nation and all the eligible men began preparing to leave with one exception...you. You had just turned 11 and so based on past custom weren’t too young to go to war. Of course your tribe didn’t want to take a child but your only family was your father and he was leading the war effort with Hakoda. You had no other family left to watch you and so you managed to talk your father into bringing you along. Sokka tried to do the same but as he was 10 Hakoda said he was too young. Sokka had been furious to say the least. He didn’t see why you’d be allowed and he wouldn’t be, 6 months was hardly anything and his sexist attitude made it sting all the more. He pouted constantly up until the day you left when he suddenly sprinted to the shore at the last minute and hugged you tightly. “I’m still mad at you but if only one of us can go to war....well I’m glad it’s you and not one of the other kids”. You smiled “not quite a heartfelt goodbye but i’ll take it”. “Y/n come on” your father called and you nodded. “I have to go...”. Sokka nodded “of course, kick some fire bender butt for me and erm....don’t die”. You laughed “you too” and with a final smile to Sokka joined your father and the other men to go to war.

That was 5 years ago and you hadn’t seen or heard from Sokka since. You thought about him and home a lot but honestly life at war was very demanding. You were largely sheltered from it by your fellow tribesmen and didn’t actually engage in any combat until you were 14 but still you felt the burden of the impossible victory on your shoulders. Every time you took a step forwards the fire nation seemed to push you back three...but things changed when the avatar came back. It shook the fire nation and surely but slowly you were making gains in the war.

After one successful victory you were in particularly high spirits and woke up early to go and fetch some water for you and your father. As you returned to camp you set the water down in your tent and headed to get breakfast. The camp seemed different you noted, people seemed to be hurrying to the centre excitedly and so you picked up your pace. You suddenly heard a loud cry and worrying you were under attack began to run to camp. A large group had gathered and you looked for the threat but realised everyone seemed happy...not scared. Everyone was focused on a group of men who had come out of the war tent. The group of men themselves were all talking excitedly, focused on one man in particular. You knew every single man in this camp but couldn’t work out who this one was. He was definitely water tribe and young, around your age and looked oddly familiar. He had bright blue eyes and a sharp chin which suited him very well. Everyone seemed to know him and it frustrated you that you couldn’t work out who he was. He was talking to your father and Hakoda warmly and you stared at his face feeling you knew him. Then it clicked, it was Sokka.

Sokka’s POV

Sokka had been nervous to walk into camp but the second he did everyone rushed to hug and welcome him. Sokka felt happier than he had in a long time. He stood next to his father unable to remove the smile from his face when he spotted your father and a thought occurred to him. "Where’s y/n?" Sokka asked when he spotted you feet away. You looked like you’d just arrived here and were staring at Sokka as if you couldn’t work out who he was. Sokka went to call out to you when you smiled. "Sokka?" you asked in disbelief and Sokka blushed. It may’ve taken you a second to recognise him but he’d know your face anywhere. "It’s me y/n" he smiled and your own smile turned into a large grin. You rushed forwards and hugged Sokka tightly. Sokka heard a lot of “awes” from the crowd but he didn’t process them, he was too focused on you. You pulled away and both grinned at one another babbling greetings and questions. Then there was an awkward pause where you both just stared at one another. It had been over 5 years since you’d seen each other and you had both changed a lot since then so it took a lot of effort to process. Sokka was pleasantly surprised to find he was taller than you now. As kids he had steadily caught you up over the years but you left before he could claim his victory. Now he was undeniably taller than you and he couldn’t wait to tease you about that but he noted you’d beat him in other aspects. Your arms were more toned and bigger than his, well defined and taut after the years of training and Sokka could see the same went for all your limbs by the shape of your neck and shoulders. Your hair too was longer and partially braided which Sokka had never seen before. Of course the braids symbolised battles you’d been a part of and Sokka felt proud not envious at how they decorated your face. Your face too was also more defined, your cheeks seemed higher and more angular but your eyes had remained striking and your lips still bright pink. Even the way you held yourself was different, you were a warrior now Sokka realised and that thought made him feel fuzzy.

Your POV

When the silence between you got too awkward Hakoda coughed "y/n, Sokka has travelled here from his journey with the avatar". "What?" you cried in disbelief and Sokka just smiled lazily “yeah...”. "Sokka why don’t you go with y/n to our tent and tell her all about it over breakfast?" your father suggested. Sokka nodded and you led him away to your family tent. You kept staring at him convinced he wasn’t real. Sokka had changed a lot. The height difference was a shock but not the biggest. His face had lost its baby cheeks resulting in chiselled cheekbones and his hair was a lot longer. He was more toned too, not muscley per se but his arms had definition and you struggled not noticing. His eyes were the same though and they were the one thing that made you sure this was your friend. They made you feel at ease as they always did and you just turned to Sokka and laughed “I can’t believe you’re here”. “Me either!” Sokka cried “I...I imagined this day for so long”. “We all missed you a lot” you said worried Sokka was still upset you got to go when he didn’t “and thought about you every day” you added. “You did huh?” he asked with a smirk and you realised Sokka was fine. You did not need to be worried. “I said we, not me” you said pointedly and Sokka grinned “yeah but I know you meant you missed me, you just didn’t want to admit it”. You forgot how well Sokka could see through you and shook your head “okay I guess I missed you...now tell me everything! How on earth did you become friends with the avatar?”.

Throughout Sokka’s story you stared in awe and barely touched your food. Everything Sokka told you sounded insane and you made him promise several times that he was being serious. Sokka animatedly told each part of the story and you couldn’t help smiling at how enthusiastic he was. You’d missed this and him a lot. 

“So you two all caught up?” your father asked suddenly entering the tent and Sokka shook his head “not even close! I was just telling y/n about our fight with the fire nation navy in the northern water tribe”. Your father laughed placing a hand on Sokka’s shoulder “well that will have to wait, y/n has training...maybe you’d like to join her?”. You saw Sokka’s eyes light up at the thought of attending actual warrior training and smiled. “Yes!” he cried leaping up “if erm...you don’t mind of course”. You smirked “it’s been five years since I saw you, do you really think i’m letting you out of my sight?”. Sokka blushed looking down but you didn’t notice. You were already tugging Sokka out of the tent “come on! If we show up first we get the good armour!”.

Sokka’s POV

All-day you sparred and trained in water tribe drills. Sokka was equally exhausted and exhilarated. When his father declared the session over his exhaustion won however and he collapsed on the sand and crawled to the water. He heard a laugh and you appeared next to him “tired huh?”. “No! I could go for hours!”. You raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. Sokka sipped his water and glanced at you. You were cleaning your sword and the sun reflected off it making your eyes shine. Your eyes had always been darker than the traditional light blue, they were a very dark blue and only when the sun shone on them was their true colour illuminated, like now. Sokka forgot how beautiful they were and looked away before you could notice him staring. “You were really good in training” he said softly and you smiled glancing at him “no sarcasm? Was that a genuine compliment?”. Sokka grinned “yes! You know I can be serious”. “Wow you have changed” you smirked and Sokka blinked “you think?”. You nodded your head “you’re more mature now, you have this sureness about you and an air of confidence like a leader does...it’s nice” you smiled “and then you make a goofy face and you’re back to the 10-year old I remember”. Sokka smiled and leant back on his elbows just enjoying this moment in the sun with you. “You’ve not changed a bit” he told you and you blinked “really?”. He nodded “I saw you earlier trying to work out who I was but I didn’t need two seconds to spot you”. “Well duh i’m the only girl here!” you cried but Sokka shook his head. “That wasn’t it, I’d know your face anywhere. I worried after you left I’d forget it but you’re exactly as I remembered...every detail like I pictured”. You blushed as Sokka spoke so softly but soon regained your bearings, “and you pictured me often?”. Sokka didn’t even blink “of course I did”. Your blush rose again at Sokka’s confidence and you saw he had a small smirk on his face. Sokka went to speak again when an alarm rang out. You both jumped to your feet. “What does that mean?” Sokka asked and you frowned “nothing good, come on” and ran back to the camp. Everyone was gathered around grabbing armour and weapons. “Dad, what’s going on? Are we under attack?” Sokka called. Hakoda nodded “yes, y/n get ready, Sokka.....”.  “Dad I can fight, please let me come with you” Sokka said loudly and you looked at Hakoda to see what he’d say. Hakoda stared at Sokka before he looked directly past him to at you “how would you like to lead your first duo mission Y/n?”. You grinned “I’d love to”. “Great, Sokka stick with y/n and do everything she says, do as she does and you’ll be just fine”. Sokka nodded and rushed to your side. “This is so cool” he whispered and you smirked as you helped him put on his armour. “Don’t get too excited these things can get dangerous quickly, stay with me okay?”. “And you’ll protect me?” Sokka asked batting his eyelashes but his smirk fell away when without a second thought you nodded “of course I will”. Your low voice filled with determination made Sokka blush and look away. “You ready?” you asked and Sokka nodded “ready” and you rushed into battle.

Sokka did exactly what you said and the battle was a success. He was impressed at how much you’d learned and how great a leader you were. You largely kept the fighting away from him by making yourself the bigger target but when Sokka did engage you were always on hand to help push away any fatal blows. Sokka got out of his first battle without so much as a scratch and it was all down to you. When Hakoda declared victory everyone began to cheer and Sokka grabbed you “That was....you were amazing out there y/n!” Sokka grinned and you smiled “it’s nothing...”. “Are you kidding? There were men there twice your age and size but you knocked them aside like they weighed nothing”. “Well what about you?” you asked “you’ve clearly been training a lot since we left, I take back everything I said about your boomerang it’s a great weapon”. “Wow you’re admitting you were wrong? You had changed” Sokka smirked and you smiled.

As this was the first battle Sokka has successfully fought in he was due his first-ever warrior braid. Hakoda explained it wasn’t a large ceremony, he basically just went into a tent without a braid and came out with one but still Sokka was nervous. Of course he’d practised them lots, all water tribe children did for the day they’d get to add one to their hair but now the day was finally here....he was very anxious.

Your POV

You waited with all the other men for Sokka outside the tent. It was taking a while and you wondered what was taking Sokka so long. “I’ll just check he’s okay” you told your fathers and walked through the flap of the tent. Sokka was fiddling with her hair muttering to himself angrily. He didn’t seem to like the type of plait he was making and would shake it out each time with an irritated mutter. “Sokka?” you asked and he jumped. “I can’t get it right!” he cried “I’ve been dreaming of this day since we were five but I can’t make it work. Sokka tried again seizing his hair tightly and you noticed his hands were shaking. You came to stand behind Sokka and pushed his hands away softly “let me”. You grabbed Sokka’s hair carefully and began to braid it into the traditional warrior plait pattern. Sokka watched and saw the concentration on your face as you twisted his hair effortlessly into a pattern. “There” you said softly tying a small band around it “your first warrior plait, is it okay?”. You held up a mirror and Sokka grinned at his reflection, he was finally a warrior! “I love it!” he cried “thank you y/n” and hugged you. You laughed and hugged Sokka back, “no problem, now come on let's show it off”. You and Sokka walked outside and Hakoda grinned. “My son is officially one of us” he cried and everyone broke out into cheers. 

Sokka’s POV

Everyone crowded around to congratulate him and Sokka’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much. The celebrations were well underway and all the men were keen for Sokka to join them but after a courteous sweep of them Sokka found his way back to you.

You were sat on the outskirts of the camp staring out at the ocean. “Not one for festivities?” Sokka asked sinking beside you and you shrugged “I don’t mind them...but peace and quiet are just as appealing” you smiled “that’s hard to get with a camp full of men”. As if to prove your point a loud water tribe chant broke out and you both laughed. “Well let's go for a walk then” Sokka said jumping up and you followed him. You and Sokka walked towards the ocean and you asked him to carry on his story. He talked rapidly about the attack of the northern water tribe. You listened and just let Sokka’s words sweep over you. You were mainly just watching him amused at how many expression he could pull at once and had to look away to stop yourself from chuckling. When Sokka finished his tale and took a breath you smiled “wow that sounds...unreal!”. Sokka nodded “it was, a lot of things on my travel have been like that, from moon spirits to banished princes, i’ve seen it all!”. “You’re quite the explorer aren’t you” you commented and Sokka nodded “yep, and you’re quite the warrior, we’re certainly doing our tribe proud”. “That we are” you nodded and silence fell. You were sat close together and an idea suddenly struck him. What would you do if he placed his arm around you? He wasn’t sure what made him think that, you and he had always just been friends but now...Sokka wasn’t too sure why that was. Out of everyone in camp you were the person he’s been most excited to see and that didn’t feel just like friendship to him. Without really thinking, caught up in the moment, Sokka went to move his arm when you noticed his movement and glanced down at his arm. Sokka blushed and pretended he was scratching it. “Are you okay?” you asked and Sokka nodded “yep just my arm fell asleep”. “Ow that makes sense, you know for a second there I thought you were going to put it around me...”. Silence settled and you realised Sokka had been planning on doing that. Sokka was blushing vividly and you blinked unsure what to do or say. “Sokka i...” you started when you heard loud gasps from camp and both looked up to see Appa. Sokka frowned confused, Aang wasn’t due back for another three days but here he was. Aang soon dismounted and appeared in front of you both “Sokka! Good you’re still here...”. “Yeah we just got back a few hours ago” Sokka explained "Aang this is y/n my friend from the southern water tribe and y/n this is Aang the avatar". "Wow" you said wide-eyed "it’s amazing to meet you". Aang smiled but it was a tense smile "Sokka we have to go" he cried. Aang explained Katara was in danger and worry ran across Sokka’s face. “We have to leave now” Aang said and Sokka nodded “sure just give me two minutes”. Sokka spun around and you were surprised to see he looked nervous. The tension from earlier had gone, this was more serious. "Y/n i’m sorry but i have to go..." he started to explain nervously when you cut him off. "Of course you do" you cried "Katara needs you!". Sokka smiled sadly "i know but it’s been so nice to see you again after all this time, so I was thinking...would you want to come with me?". You were utterly taken back "go with you?". "Yeah, you could travel with us? It’s dangerous and we get attacked a lot but i bet a warrior like you can handle it". You paused "Sokka i’d really like to but i made an oath to our elders to fight in this war...i don’t think i can change it and come with you no matter how much i want to". Sokka’s smile slipped but he nodded his head "it’s okay i figured as much but thought it was worth a shot". You nodded and touched his arm "are you planning on coming back soon?". Sokka bit his lip "i don’t know and we really have to go...i’ll try okay, i really will so hopefully i’ll see you soon". You nodded believing him but also studied his face again in case you didn't see him for another 5 years. "I’ll come back I promise y/n" Sokka told you and you smiled hugging him "i believe you". Sokka melted into you when Aang’s noises of impatience made him pull away. "Until then keep up the good work" Sokka smiled saluting you. You saluted him back as he walked away and flew off on the air bison with the avatar. 

Sokka made Aang tell him absolutely everything and then they sat in silence waiting to arrive back in Ba Sing Sei. Fear filled Sokka’s mind but as scared as he was, you kept coming back into his mind. He wondered what you had been about to say before Appa arrived and wondered if you could possibly, maybe like him too. The fact he liked you was a new sensation for Sokka but he realised he had just been oblivious before and it had always been there. You had always been the one he came to, the one he liked being around the most, the one he cared about more than himself or anything. He’d always liked you he just hadn’t realised it. “Your hair looks nice” Aang said suddenly “the plait suits you”. Sokka touched it absentmindedly and smiled “my friend y/n did it for me”. “The girl you were with?”. Sokka nodded “yeah she’s my best friend”. Aang smiled “I bet it was nice to see her”. Sokka nodded “it really was” and blushed, he’d find a way to see you again and he’d been damned if he had to wait another five years.

[whentheynameyoujoy]

Yup, Sure Was a Finale

I had an epiphany. The reason why I never re-watched the final two parts of Sozin’s Comet even though I’ve popped in episodes at random many times over the years isn’t that I can’t bear the sadness of seeing one of the best, most engaging narratives out there come to an end.

It’s simply that the finale isn’t all that good.

Some honorable mentions of what was enjoyable.

(+) This

Just this.

(+) The Church of Zutara has another convert

“Are you sure they don’t get together?” Hubster, 2020

(+) The tragedy of Azula

And the fact that it’s acknowledged as such. I hope Zuko will do his best to get her help and have a relationship with her…

(+) Sokka being a big bro

And the whole airship sequence in general. It’s wonderfully paced and plotted, with moments of humor, real stakes, Toph being both badass and a scared crying kid, Sokka strategizing and protecting, Suki saving the day, and non-benders being instrumental in thwarting the bad guy firebender’s plans. Would be shame if Bryke never portrayed them this capable ever again…

And now for the main course.

(-) Blink and its over

The wrap-up feels too quick (hashtag Needs More ROtK-style False Endings). A part of this is due to how fast the story goes from the thick of the action to hastily tying up a bunch of loose ends, but the larger issue is how Book 3’s uneven pacing comes home to roost. After spending half a season on filler episodes that at best subtly flesh out established characters while dancing around a huge lionturtle-shaped hole, and at worst contradict the theme of “no one is born bad” with “you’re a hot mess because your great-grandfathers didn’t get along too well”, the frantic “go go go” rush of the second half screeches to a halt with “they won and everyone was happy because now the right people have power and it will be all good from now on yup nothing more to deal with baiiiii”.

Yes, I know, it’s a kids’ show. But goddamn, this particular kids’ show has proven so many times it can do better than the expected tropiness. Showing the characters in their roles as builders of a new world was the least that could have been done.

Oh well!

(-) Ursa

We’ll never know. There will never be a story that delves into this. Yup. Shall forever remain but an intriguing mystery. Is good, though. Mystery is better than a story where Ursa shares her son’s penchant for forgetfulness. Imagine how embarrassing that would be. Speaking of which…

(-) What does Mai see in this jerkbender?

Look, I like to harp a lot on the mess of inconsistent writing that’s Mai but let’s unpack this scene from her perspective, shall we?

Zuko forgot about her! It totally slipped his mind that the one person who prioritized the safety of his dumb ass was rotting in the worst prison in the Fire Nation—because of him! And she was rotting there long enough after the final Agni Kai for the news of Zuko’s upcoming coronation to spread and her uncle to feel sufficiently secure to release her. But then the coronation scene is attended by every single member of Gaang & Friends that was imprisoned?

So what this tells me is that either a) the invasion force had the ability to break themselves out the whole time and for some reason decided not to exercise it until after the war was over, b) Zuko forgot about them as well and no one thought to remind him there were prisons full of POWs until Mai arrived, or, and that’s even better, c) Zuko took care to free every single resistance fighter while making sure Mai would be the one to stay behind bars.

Never thought I’d say this but Mai? Honey? You deserve so much better.

(-) “What does Katara want?”

Asked no one in the writers’ room ever, apparently.

This is not so much anti Cataang as anti romance stories that pay attention to the needs, opinions, and wants of only one partner in general. Over the previous 60 episodes, Katara actively expressed romantic interest in Aang exactly, wait for it,

Once.

And it got retconned out of relevance by the following two interactions where the possibility of a romantic relationship came up, making the Headband dance pretty easy to reclassify as just one of those examples where Aang “teaches” Katara to have fun (as if one of the main obstacles to her having fun wasn’t him constantly fooling around and offloading his duties). And because the writers not only didn’t succeed in portraying Katara’s internal state of mind, but also failed to root her reluctance to pursue a relationship in outside circumstances that could change, her sudden state of unconfused once Aang steps into the spotlight has a single canonical explanation that as much as approaches coherency.

The fact is, though, that trying to interpret canon Cataang from a Watsonian perspective is an exercise in foolishness. Because there is no Watsonian justification for the ship and never has been. Bryke simply conceived of Katara as nothing but a tropey prize for Aang, never saw her as anything beyond that, and were perfectly happy to go on and immortalize her as a passive broodmare for the rest of her life.

And I fully intend to die mad about it.

(-) Iroh dips

OK, it’s been long apparent that the show doesn’t intend to do anything about Iroh’s complicity in AzulOzai’s regime in any meaningful way, and that his sole motivation for doing anything whatsoever is Zuko whom he views as a replacement son which is supposed to be good for some reason. But the finale has him abandon even that, and instead turns him full-on YOLO, idgaf anymore. It really throws Iroh’s supposed love for Zuko into doubt when his last act in the entire show is to take a half-educated 16-year old with no political savvy or an heir to secure a dynastic continuity and plomp him on the throne of a war-mongering imperialist regime where the entirety of the militarist and ruling class is guaranteed to fight him tooth and nail for power.

(I sure hope Mai’s ready to start popping out babies by tea-time otherwise the whole country is fukd in about a week)

Christ, how hard would it be to have Iroh keep the throne warm for a few years while Zuko is getting ready to succeed him? Not only would it make the whole FN reformation bit quite likelier to occur, it would require Iroh’s hedonistic ass to actually sacrifice something for once. And not having Zuko ascend to power, instead spending some time bettering and educating himself first, would be a wonderful message that no matter what you endured and overcame, you never stop growing. A kids’ show, remember?

(-) The conquering of Ba Sing Se

Gee, I feel so blessed to have my attention diverted from battlefields which actually matter to an old dude vanity project I would have been perfectly happy to assume resolved itself off-screen.

The White Lotus in general just bugs me. I was fine with the individual characters and their overall passivity when they were portrayed as lone dissenters living under circumstances where it wasn’t really possible for any single person to mount a meaningful resistance. But as members of a far-reaching shadowy organization that’s left the real fight to a bunch of kids for 59 episodes straight and didn’t turn up until a perfect opportunity presented itself to take control of the largest city in the world and bask in the spotlight?

Yeah, no.

Similarly to the lionturtle-ex-machina, the White Lotus represents a huge missed opportunity for a season-long storytelling. Here’s just a brief list of what they could have been doing throughout Book 3:

orchestrating a Fire Nation uprising;

gathering those directly persecuted by AzulOzai’s regime to help Zuko keep his hold on power once he’s crowned;

establishing themselves as a viable alternative to Ozai;

sabotaging Fire Nation’s war efforts from the inside;

countering Fire Nation propaganda (Asha Greyjoy’s pinecones, anyone?);

running a supply network to alleviate the suffering of Earth Kingdom citizens.

Instead, they sit on their asses until the time comes to claim personal glory.

You know what, good on Bryke for making me conclude that in comparison, the Freedom Fighters were perfectly unproblematic, actually.

(-) Fire Lord Dead-by-Dawn

Yes, a kids’ show, I know! But ffs, this is the same kids’ show that came up with Long Feng and portrayed courtly intrigue, kingly puppets, secret police, spy networks, and information wars. Was it really too much of me to expect something other than “enlightened despot solves everything”? Especially if said enlightened despot has persisting anger issues, no personal support system, no base of followers, and no political experience whatsoever?

If Zuko’s actually serious about regaining the Fire Nation’s honor (i.e. by dismantling the country’s military machine, decolonizing the Earth Kingdom, paying reparations to everyone and their lemur, and funding any and all cultural restoration projects Aang and the SWT come up with), then there is no way, no way in the universe that he doesn’t face a civil war, deposing, and execution within a month.

One reason why his future as a Fire Lord seems rather bleak is that little’s been shown about the actual subjects of AzulOzai’s regime. While we get a vague reassurance that “no Toph, they’re not born bad” (le shockings), they largely remain a voiceless uniform mass of brainwashed clapping seals. What is their view on the Fire Nation’s crimes? Do they associate their condition with their country’s war-mongering? How will they react when Zuko starts dismantling the country piece by piece to rebuild it, bringing it to economic ruin? What will they do when noble Ozai loyalists come out of the woodwork and begin rounding them up under the banner of “Make the Fire Nation Great Again?”

I have no idea, and Zuko doesn’t either because he’s unironically more qualified to rule the Earth Kingdom than his own people.

You know what would have been better? Fire Lord Iroh, White Lotus pulling the strings to maintain the regime, and Crown Prince/People’s Champion Zuko travelling the Fire Nation with Aang and an army of tutors to promote the new boss, only to realize that absolute monarchy is kinda crap for the people he’s one day supposed to rule and gaining their support by ceding some power to them.

I’d laser holes into my TV due to how much I’d enjoy watching that.

(-) All hail Avatar Rock

Literally and metaphorically. Aang doesn’t sacrifice anything, gets everything, and the clever solution of going about getting said everything is handed to him on a silver platter, requiring no active participation on his part whatsoever.

He doesn’t work to unblock his chakras, spiritually or physically.

He only speaks to his past lives to get a pat on the back and a bow-tied solution he could mindlessly follow.

Energy-bending doesn’t require any sacrifice from him, leaves no lasting marks, and only serves for the narrative to praise him as the rare individual that’s unbendable and thus so very very special.

The most infuriating thing is, however, that Aang is clearly shown as being able to beat Ozai without either the Avatar state, or energy-bending.

And he chooses not to. From this moment on, Aang no longer fights to save the world. He fights to preserve his beliefs, going directly against the instructions of his past lives and effectively reneging on his duties as the Avatar.

Again.

It’s not like you can’t portray Aang’s faithfulness to his spiritual beliefs as the key to beating Ozai and saving the world. But that’s not what the show did. There is no link between Aang sparing Ozai and securing a better future, quite to the contrary—Ozai’s survival ends up being a massive problem for the continuation of Zuko’s rule, and consequently a threat to the world at large. His survival benefits Aang and no one else.

Aang’s spiritual purity and his status as a savior of the world are allowed to coexist only due to a deliberate stroke of a writer’s pen.

And I hate it.

Welp, nothing to do about it now except to bury myself up to my tits in fix-it fics I guess.

[heywardsarchive]

Home [Harry Potter]

Requests closed! Based on this request by nonnie : id like to request a harry x gryffindor reader. its the yule ball and harry wants to ask y/n. but the other boys are all over her and he barely gets a chance. so basically y/n is cho but she says yes XD

Summary: Harry recalls a time when he wanted to ask y/n to the ball but couldn't gather the courage to ask her out.

Pairing: dad!Harry Potter x female reader

A/n: I think this is my favourite Harry fic I've written! Im a sucker for dad!Harry, basically any Harry. I just love that man.

Warnings: none, just pure fluff

Word count: 1.9k words

Memories are in italics

******

It was bedtime on a snowy January night in the Potter household as Harry Potter tucked his oldest into bed. James, only eight years old, was an energetic young boy. He wasn't ready to sleep yet and he was determined to stay up. The only way he could do so was if his father told him a bedtime story.

"Daddy," he started pulling his dad's sleeve, "tell me a bedtime story."

Harry looked down at his son who was trying to look as innocent as possible. "James, it's time for bed."

"Please daddy!" He gave his best puppy dog expression, his eyes the same as the woman harry loved most, and Harry melted. Both mother and son knew how to use their eyes to their advantage.

"Alright fine, call Albus and Lily and I will tell you a bedtime story."

James excitedly jumped out of bed and brought his siblings into his bedroom.

"Alright kids, what bedtime story do you want to hear?" Harry sat down on the bed beside the three children. "Tell us about the first time you had a date with mummy!" Albus said and lily and James nodded in enthusiasm.

"Alright then. So the first time we went on a date was when we were in our fourth year in Hogwarts. Remember the time I told you about the wizard tournament I was in?..."

The triwizard tournament, a disaster for Harry. He had unwillingly got thrown into a game he wanted no part of. He managed to complete the first task but the hardest part was yet to start. He needed to find a date for the Yule ball. In his opinion fighting a dragon was easier than asking a girl out.

He knew who he wanted to take but he was yet to gather the guts to ask her. He saw her multiple times over the week but everytime there was a distraction. Whether it was her friends pulling her away or a teacher snapping at him to pay attention. Harry was unable to get to her.

Ron too was struggling, unable to find a date. "Mate, you fought a dragon if you can't get a date nobody can." He told him as they walked through the courtyard of Hogwarts. "Right now, I think I'd take the dragon." Harry sighed. Ron patted his back. Harry's eyes drifted toward the crowd of students, his gaze stopping on her. Y/n l/n, she was the nicest girl in Hogwarts and everyone was her friend. She and Harry were acquaintances, they weren't close per se. Harry had been crushing on her since the end of third year when she helped him in potions.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting on a table doing potions work while everyone around them were talking about their dates to the ball. A boy sitting to Harry's right was whispering to his friend. Harry tried not to listen but potions was boring and he heard y/n's name and his ears perked up.

"Have you heard? David Arden asked y/n to the ball. She turned him down , do you think I have a chance?" He asked hopefully. The boy beside him, the friend he was talking to, scoffed. "She turned down David Arden, he's literally every girl's crush. What makes you think you have a chance? Besides she's turned down all the 5 guys who asked her out this week."

Harry returned to his work. 5 guys asked her out and she turned all of them down? What chance do I have now. He thought to himself. "Ron, do you think y/n will go with me to the ball?" He shook his best friend's shoulder. "You're the boy who lived mate, she'd definitely agree."

"She's turned down 5 boys this week ron! What if she turns me down too." Harry sighed. "You will never know if you don't try." Ron shrugged.

Harry made up his mind he was going to ask her out that evening.

"Did you do it daddy? Did you ask her to the ball?" Little Lily asked excitedly. Albus shushed his sister. "Let daddy finish!" Harry chuckled and continued. "As I was saying..."

Harry kept avoiding the fact that he had to ask y/n to the ball. He made excuses to do it later but the more he delayed it the higher the chance of him not getting to go with her higher.

As he returned from the great hall after dinner, he ran into y/n. The person he wanted to speak to. "Im so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized. "Don't worry about it, I wasn't looking either." Harry chuckled awkwardly.

"I'll be going then." She smiled, but hesitated a bit. "Hey Harry-" "y/n-" they started at the same time. They laughed. "You go first." She said.

"Uh sure, I uh wanted to ask you if you uh wanted to um gototheballwithme." He stuttered.

"Im sorry, what did you say?"

"Do you want to go to the ball with me?" He said, slowly this time.

"What did she say?? Did she say yes daddy? Did she??" Albus asked this time. "Ofcourse she said yes dummy, they're married!" James said to his brother.

Y/n bit back a smile. "Yes, I'd love to."

Harry felt a blush creep up his neck. "Uh great, that's amazing. Uh what did you want to ask me?"

"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go with me but I guess you beat me to it." She smiled shyly. "I'll be going then, see you soon Harry." She kissed his cheek and walked to her common room.

Harry stood glued to the spot with his hand on his cheek a smile on his face. "You good mate?" Rons voice startled him, snapping him out of his trance. "Im brilliant, never better. I asked y/n to the ball and she said yes! Ron she said yes!" "Good job man, I knew you could do it!" Ron pat his best friend's back.

That night Harry fell asleep with a smile on his face.

"How was the ball dad? Did you have fun?" James asked curiously.

"Oh yes, we had the time of our life."

The day of the ball couldn't come faster. Harry's excitement was uncontrollable. He kept practicing his dance steps and talked to himself in the mirror causing Ron to shake his head and pass comments about Harry being 'whipped'. He didn't mind though, he was whipped.

Finally the day was here. Harry stood at the bottom of the staircase and waited for his date to arrive. He looked around the hall, it was decorated with Christmas decor, snow was charmed to fall, there were icicles on the ceiling and everyone was dressed up in beautiful attire.

As Harry was looking around, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hello Harry." It was y/n. She looked absolutely stunning in her dress. Harry forgot how to speak.

"Did you actually forgot how to speak daddy?" Giggled Lily. "It's a saying lils." James explained to his sister.

"You look beautiful." He finally got out. "Thankyou haz, you look dashing yourself." She poked his chest playfully. Harry blushed at the nickname.

"Potter! There you are. We are waiting for the champions. You dance first." Professor McGonagall said. "Wh-what?" Harry stuttered.

"Yes! Now go on we don't have all night." She hurried both the teens.

"I really can't dance, I'm going to make a fool of myself." Harry whispered to y/n. "It's alright, just follow my lead." Harry nodded in relief.

As the champions entered the hall, Harry's grip on y/n:s hand tightened. She squeezed back to comfort him. Everyone's eyes were on them and Harry was feeling self conscious. They stood on stage and Harry placed his hands on y/n's waist and she on his shoulders. "It'll be fine." She mouthed. Harry nodded. His hands were getting clammy and his mouth dried.

The music started playing and all the champions started to waltz to the sweet melody. Both if them swayed to the music and Harry spun her around. He was starting to enjoy it. At last the dance floor was open to all. The attention was off Harry and he felt much better.

Y/n pulled Harry's hands to a more open space on the dance floor and started dancing to the upbeat song. "Dance with me!" She laughed. Harry looked at her and smiled. They both danced badly at the songs, having the time of their life.

Soon they left the dance floor to go and have some refreshments. "You know, I thought you'd turn me down." Harry said sheepishly. "Why would you think that?" Y/n asked curiously. "Because I heard you turned down 5 boys in the same week and I thought you'd turn me down too." "I turned down the other boys because I wanted to go with you." She placed a hand on his cheek.

"I really like you y/n. Im glad we came together." Harry whispered, his face moving closer to hers, staring into her eyes. "I really like you too haz. Alot." She closed the gap between them.

It was blissful. Harry didn't feel the butterflies that others say happen on your first kiss, it felt like coming home, it felt right. It was perfect. When they pulled away Harry realised that he had found the one he wanted to be with forever.

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" Harry asked her. "Definitely." Y/n said kissing him once again.

"Ewww." Gagged all the children when Harry mentioned that they kissed. "Daddy has the cooties." Albus said in disgust. "I think it's cute." James said proudly. Harry laughed and ruffled his hair.

"What's going on here?" Y/n entered the room. "Daddy was telling us about the Yule ball!" Lily exclaimed. "Was he now?" Y/n said smiling at her family. "It truly was a great experience. Maybe when you go to Hogwarts you'll have one too!"

"Alright it's time for bed now. Let's get you tucked in." Harry clapped his hands. James settled himself on the bed and Harry kissed his forehead and shit the door. He tucked Albus while y/n tucked lily.

Shutting the door, Harry pulled his wife toward him. "I love you. You've given me three lovely children and the best life I could ever imagine. You stood by md through everything. I don't deserve you." He kissed her forehead.

"Oh haz, you have gone through so much you deserve everything and more and you make me the happiest woman alive. I love you so much." She kissed his lips.

Just like the day of the yule ball, this kiss felt right. Harry was home and he never wanted to leave.

*****

[whumpzone]

Tomas and Rowe - Part 8

this chapter was a trial and a half to clean up but the support from you guys gave me the final boost i needed! youre all the best

also… no harm to people with eyebrow piercings. i personally really like them lmao. i just needed an example of something that would be considered a bit ‘out there’ in your typical boring office :’D

Masterpost

taglist: @sola-whumping @just-another-whumper @oceanthesarcasamfox @looptheloup @briars7 @black-polarf @zipadeedooda-drabbles @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @rosesareviolentlyread @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @jazz-0307 @kestrelsparverius @whumpsy-daisies @whumpersworld @memoriesneverforget @sky-or-something-idfk @ghostcomit (just ask if you want to be tagged!)

CW: pet whump, dehumanisation, alcohol + descriptions of being drunk, swearing 

- 

‘’Ah, fuck,’’ muttered Tomas, his eyes hovering over the calendar pinned to the fridge with a magnet. Rowe looked up from where he was kneeling on a thin cushion- a compromise since he wouldn’t sit on the furniture.

‘’Master?’’

‘’You know when you get so used to seeing something that you stop really looking at it?’’ he said as he picked up the two freshly-made mugs of tea and walked over to Rowe, ‘’Turns out my old workmate is coming over for drinks tonight. Totally forgot.’’

He set Rowe’s mug on the floor beside him, looking over his shoulder at the paper he was writing on. ‘’Good work. That R is backwards though, watch out for that. Easy mistake to make.’’

‘’Th-thank you, Master, I’ll do better.’’

‘’You’re doing fine,’’ he said, patting his shoulder gently. Rowe flinched, as always, but only slightly. ‘’I’ll have to see what the booze situation in the fridge is. I hope I don’t have to go to the shop. I just made tea.’’

‘’Is he coming for food too, Master?’’

Tomas shook his head, looking at Rowe. What the fuck am I going to do with you tonight?

Ever since he had seen those cuts on Rowe, standing out against the myriad of fading bruises, scarring wounds and old burns, he hadn’t been able to let him out of his sight for very long. Luckily, Rowe hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Tomas supposed it was perfectly natural to keep your Pet near you, ready to submit to any command or punishment demanded of them.

‘’Nah. If it’s alright, Rowe, I’d like you to stay downstairs while he’s visiting. I might need you.’’

…

Master wants to show me off, thought Rowe proudly. Finally, this was something he understood. He was trusted to entertain Master and his friend! This was a chance to prove what a good Pet he could be.

‘’Of course, Master.’’

‘’You don’t mind?’’

Master Tomas asked the strangest things sometimes, Rowe thought. Not that he would ever dare question his Master. But he didn’t understand the point of asking for his opinion like it mattered. Still, he was good at giving the right answer and making Master happy.

‘’No, Master.’’

Sure enough, he smiled, and gave Rowe another pat on the shoulder. Rowe tried not to squirm too much- Master couldn’t have known that he was touching Rowe right where Kasia had cut him, and the pain was a good reminder that no matter how happy Master seemed with him, he wasn’t to get complacent. He did his best to smile back, and Master looked even happier.

When his old master hosted parties, it was always understood that Rowe would serve everyone present. Anyone was able to give him orders, regardless of whether or not his master was in the room. He could only assume it would be the same here.

After they’d eaten, Master went upstairs to ‘get himself looking presentable’, as he described it, and Rowe tidied up. Catching himself in the mirror by the staircase, Rowe swept his hair out of his eyes and brushed down his shirt with his hands like he’d seen Master Tomas do on occasions. Master’s friend was due any moment, so Rowe settled himself down at the back of the room, and focused on being blank, obedient, and well-behaved.

-

Out of the corner of his eye, Rowe could see Master straightening his shirt one last time before going to open the front door. He heard various pleasantries being exchanged, and the door clicking shut.

Rowe wouldn’t dare look up, but he couldn’t ignore the way the footsteps suddenly stopped as Adam entered the house.

‘’So what have I missed since y- whoa, you have a Pet?’’

‘’I- uh,’’ Master began. Rowe’s eyebrows twitched. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was impossible to ignore when it was the only sound he could hear. ‘’Not really, I mean, okay, I might have. He’s not really a Pet, per se, I mean, he’s-‘’

‘’Mate, that is obviously a Pet. Don’t be embarrassed!’’

Master sighed. ‘’Okay, yeah, I’ve got a Pet.’’

Was Master ashamed of him? He shouldn’t have even listened, but something in him sank nonetheless. A pair of feet appeared on the floor before him, and then a hand grabbed his cheek, pulling his face up. He kept his eyes on the ground meekly as Adam looked him over, turning his face side to side.

‘’A real-life Pet. Never thought you were the type, Tomas.’’ Adam peered over Rowe’s shoulder. ‘’Err… no collar? He must be, uh, well trained.’’

His voice was heavy in sarcasm and questioning, and Rowe felt like he’d done something really, really, bad.

‘’He is.’’ Master Tomas said. A warning, Rowe thought to himself. He didn’t need to be told twice. He wouldn’t do anything to upset his owner on an important night.

‘’How on Earth did you afford one? Is it second-hand?’’

‘’Yeah. It was an- uh, impulse decision. I bought him off Kasia.’’

‘’That lowlife?’’ Rowe could practically see Adam’s raised eyebrow in his tone.

‘’Hey, he’s my friend!’’

‘’Come on, Tomas, we’ve all heard the rumours. He could well have sold you a defect.’’

‘’Don’t be rude. And don’t call him a defect,’’ Master Tomas gestured to Rowe, and it took everything in him to not flinch. Tonight was a test, he reminded himself. ‘’He’s right there.’’

There was a pause, and Rowe’s eyes flicked up just enough to see Adam giving Master a very disrespectful look.

‘’It’s only a Pet, mate. You’re spending too much time indoors if you think it’s gonna get hurt feelings.’’

‘’Whatever.’’ Rowe was probably mistaken, he was only a Pet after all, but something in Master’s voice sounded… shaky.

Adam laughed, and tightened his grip on Rowe’s face. ‘’Hey. You’re not listening, are you, Pet?’’

Rowe shook his head desperately, wishing the attention would shift onto something, anything else. He could feel Master’s eyes on him. Adam released his grip and patted Rowe’s cheek roughly.

‘’Go and sit down, Adam.’’

‘’Don’t have to tell me twice. I’ve been looking forward to getting some drinks in me.’’

‘’Yes, yes, hint taken. Coming right up,’’ Master laughed tightly. Rowe dropped his head back down, but Master’s feet lingered in front of him for a few seconds. Long enough that a prickle of fear ran through him. What? What is it? What have I done wrong? Is Master displeased? Do I look ugly? Is that why Master is ashamed of me? I’m not a defect, I promise. Please don’t throw me out.

Eventually, all Master did was ruffle Rowe’s hair, and walk over to join Adam.

…

The night drew on, and the neat lines of empty bottles by the sofa grew longer, and wonkier. Tomas’s head felt ten times as heavy as he slumped back, holding his newly-finished bottle of cider upside down in triumph. Adam cheered and quickly finished up his lager, clinking the two bottles together and messily trying to line them up with the rest on the floor.

‘’What else have I missed at the office?’’

‘’Ahhh…’’ Adam grunted as he thought. ‘’Georgie pierced Dennis’s eyebrow after he lost a bet.’’

‘’Oh my god.’’

‘’He looks awful!’’ Adam cried with far too much force. He fell back laughing at his own loudness, reaching for another bottle but grabbing thin air. ‘’Wuh- got any more beers mate?’’

‘’I….. think so?’’

‘’Pet!’’ Adam shouted suddenly. Tomas would have jumped if he wasn’t so drunk. Rowe appeared by Adam’s side, dropping to his knees once more. Adam batted a hand around in annoyance. ‘’Don’t bother kneeling mate, you’re just about to get back up again.’’

‘’Sir?’’ Rowe asked evenly. Tomas watched Adam warily.

‘’More beers.’’

Rowe nodded and rose gracefully. Adam turned to Tomas as he left and snorted.

‘’Its not bad, I’ll give that to you. I wish people at work called me sir.’’

‘’He’s not an ‘it’,’’ Tomas mumbled, rolling his eyes.

‘’Huh?’’ said Adam, leaning in. Before Tomas could answer, though, Rowe returned with two bottles in his hands. Tomas faltered. He knew the opinion people like Adam held on ‘Pet libbers’. Some people even considered trying to treat a Pet like a human akin to abuse. Went against their ‘natural role’, apparently. Tomas thought it was a load of shit.

‘’I said people at work call you a thick bastard,’’ said Tomas, reaching over Adam to grab the drinks from Rowe, nodding at him while he did so. Rowe retreated back to the corner of the room. Adam grinned at Tomas’s joke and playfully snatched the lager from Tomas.

‘’Well they’re about to start calling you… fucking… Pet having wanker,’’ slurred Adam, howling and fumbling with the bottle opener.

‘’Fuck you,’’ Tomas laughed, wagging a finger at him. ‘’One more crack outta you sunshine and I’ll give you an eyebrow piercing.’’

Adam snorted and the two of them fell about.  Adam’s head slumped to the side, and he suddenly sat straight up.

‘’Where’s your Pet gone?’’

‘’Out of our way, idiot.’’

‘’Dude, I never even thought I’d see a Pet. At least let me have a bit of fun with it.’’

‘’What does that mean?’’

Adam ignored him. ‘’Pet!’’ he called, trying unsuccessfully to snap his fingers. Rowe again appeared and knelt among the discarded bottles.

‘’You’re drunk,’’ Tomas groaned.

‘’So are you. And I wanna put my feet up.’’

Rowe complied without hesitation. He got on his hands and knees in front of Adam, keeping his back straight and not making a sound as Adam roughly slung his legs over him.

‘’Wow, he already knew what I wanted. I bet you do this shit all the time,’’ Adam said, raising the bottle to his face. Tomas looked between Adam and Rowe. He knew Rowe’s back was still healing from the wounds his old owner had given him. Should he say something? Rowe’s face didn’t betray any pain- he looked blank, and calm, and Tomas considered how humiliated he might be if Tomas tried to step in and protect him. He’d take it as his Master not thinking he’s useful.

‘’He just-‘’ Tomas mirrored Adam, taking a drink, although his head was beginning to pound and his eyes kept closing by themselves. ‘’He mostly just helps with chores and stuff.’’

‘’Are you for real? I thought the whole point of a Pet was that you didn’t have to do any chores.’’

‘’A Pet does whatever their Master wants,’’ slurred Tomas, unsticking his lip from the inside of the bottle neck. ‘’And I want him to just- fuckin’- help.’’

‘’I’ve wanted to ask this all night,’’ Adam interjected suddenly, ‘’and now I’m drunk enough to.’’ He rolled onto his side, his feet still weighing on Rowe, and pointed his lager at Tomas. ‘’Do you- oh, I’m so embarrassed- do you torture it real bad like those people on the news? Cause, listen, no judgement if you do, I actually have a lot of stuff annoying me and it seems like a great way to get it off your chest, so…’’

Tomas grimaced. ‘’I do not.’’

‘’Alright, alright, I figured you weren’t like that. You’re a diplomatic guy.’’ Adam leant forward and slapped Rowe’s head roughly. ‘’You’re a lucky mutt! Now, let’s have another drink.’’

Adam dragged his feet off Rowe’s back to let him get up, while his latest empty bottle rolled along the floor. Tomas glanced at the clock. It was two in the morning.

‘’Here, are you tir-‘’ he was cut off as Rowe, on his walk back to Adam, caught his foot on a rogue bottle and fell crashing to the ground, the bottle in his hand smashing and beer foaming everywhere. Tomas and Adam staggered to their feet, Tomas pushing past him to pick Rowe up off the floor. He almost fell over himself; standing up suddenly had made him realise just how drunk he was. He could hardly see as he held Rowe’s elbow and lifted him up.

‘’Rowe, you good? Did any of the glass cut you?’’

‘’N-no, I’m s-s-so sorry M-Master-‘’

‘’Butterfingers!’’ howled Adam, delighted. ‘’That is gonna be a bitch to clean up. Cute nickname too. Rowe? You’re soft as hell.’’

‘’He’s hardly got butterfingers you pisshead, my whole floor is covered in bottles. I’d like to see you not trip.’’

‘’Calm down,’’ scoffed Adam, now satisfied that Rowe didn’t have any exciting injuries. He sat back down heavily. ‘’How’re you gonna punish it?’’

‘’Ugh, fuck off.’’

‘’I’m serious, mate. There’s glass everywhere.’’

Tomas’s head was ringing, his vision was blurry at best and he was pretty sure he was going to throw up.

‘’Why are you so keen to get involved?’’

‘’Because frankly Tomas you’re acting like a fuckin’ wetwipe,’’ Adam snapped, ‘’I mean, Christ, I’ll do it if you can’t.’’

Tomas had hoped Adam wouldn’t reach the point in the night where the booze made him aggressive. There was no way he was letting him hurt Rowe. An idea came to him. He knew it was a bad idea. But he was so drunk, and so desperate to sleep, that he couldn’t think of any other option.

‘’Oh I’m going to punish him alright,’’ he slurred. Rowe froze under his grip. He led him away from the glass, to the clear floor behind the sofa. ‘’I just didn’t know if you wanted to stay or not.’’

‘’Mas-Master, I-I-I’m sorry, I’m s-s-orry, please f-forgive me-‘’

‘’Be quiet, Rowe,’’ he said firmly. Rowe fell silent with a whimper.

‘’Pfft. You said you don’t torture your Pet.’’

‘’I said I don’t-‘’ Tomas fumbled with his words, ‘’-I said I don’t do it to let off steam. Rowe, take your shirt off.’’

Adam’s smile faltered as he saw the state of Rowe’s chest. Tomas tried to ignore the way Rowe was quivering below him. So there are more cuts, he noted hazily. I will deal with that….later.

‘’Turn around. Let Adam see your whip marks.’’

Rowe obeyed and Adam’s face fell.

‘’What the fuck?’’

Tomas pushed Rowe as gently as he could and Rowe sank to his knees immediately.

‘’I think I’ll find the biggest shard of glass that he just smashed and reopen some of these cuts here,’’ Tomas said, staring hard at Adam. He took a fistful of Rowe’s hair, trying his best not to yank it too hard, guiding Rowe’s head back. He could see the whites of his eyes as stared up at him in terror. ‘’You’re lucky I’m too drunk to take my belt off,’’ Tomas said to him. ‘’Since I can’t whip you, I’ll have to improvise. Adam, you got a lighter?’’

Adam didn’t answer. He stood up, taking a shaky step backwards.

‘’No lighter? No problem. I can just turn the hob on and hold his arm over it. Can’t I?’’ he let Rowe’s hair go and he bowed his head forward, trembling. ‘’Can’t I, Rowe?’’

‘’Y-yes, Master,’’ Rowe whimpered.

‘’You’re fucked up,’’ Adam said.

‘’You said it yourself, mate, that’s gonna buh- be a bitch to clean up. So you staying to watch or not?’’

‘’Fuck that. It’s late. I’m off.’’

Adam grabbed his coat and left without another word. Tomas watched him leave, then stumbled to the front door and locked it behind him.

‘’Thank fuck he’s gone.’’

He grabbed a bottle of water and gulped it down desperately. He would have given anything to just pass out, but the thought of leaving Rowe as he was didn’t even cross his mind. Looking over, he saw how hard he was trembling. His eyes were tightly shut, and he was still kneeling obediently with his arms behind his back. He looked achingly vulnerable.

‘’Rowe-‘’ he started, walking towards him. At the sound of his voice Rowe cried out, collapsing onto the floor with his hands propping him up. As Tomas drew closer, he weakly pulled himself away. It broke his heart to see him so scared. ‘’Rowe, it’s okay, I-‘’ oh god, he was so drunk. Rowe scrambled away from him until he was curled in the corner on the room, his knees tucked up under his chin and his arms hiding his face. Shit.

‘’Rowe, Rowe, I know how that sounded, but please listen,’’ he began, knowing there was no way in Hell Rowe was in any state to listen to reason. Rowe only curled further into himself when Tomas sat down beside him.

‘’I-I’m so- s-so sorry, Mas-Master, I’m s-sorry p-p-please forgive me, pl-please f-forgive me it w-will never happen ag- again I swear, I swear Master, I’m s-sorry, please I’m so sorry…’’ he whimpered, his voice barely audible.

‘’Rowe,’’ he said weakly. Rowe whined in fear and Tomas had never felt more inequipped to handle him. He felt like someone had grabbed his head and was pulling it around with every little movement, making the room spin.

‘’I’ll d-d-d-do anything, anyth-thing just p-please, please f-forgive me, I know I d-don’t deserve it I’m a w-worthless Pet I do-don’t deserve a-any mercy, Master, but please, please, I’ll do anything, I’m sorry, pl-please punish me-‘’

Tomas frowned. He had thought Rowe was so desperately afraid because of the punishment. ‘’Rowe, please, look at me.’’

An order was an order. Rowe lowered his trembling hands just enough to let Tomas see his wide, twitching eyes. ‘’I’m sorry, Master,’’ he whispered. ‘’I was careless.’’

‘’You weren’t, you were obeying an order, it wasn’t your f.. wasn’t your fault. I didn’t mean it.’’

‘’I w-was stupid and I didn’t pay pr-proper attention and I-, I’m sorry, it w-was unacceptable, please- please punish-‘’ Rowe faltered, covering his face again. His last few words were no more than a whimper. ‘’Please punish me, Master.’’

I am a fucking idiot. I am a fucking idiot. What the FUCK was I thinking.

‘’Sit up, pal, sit up. No more kneeling tonight- your legs must be aching. Sit cross legged like me.’’

Normally this would have resulted in at least ten minutes of negotiations, with Rowe protesting, convinced Tomas was issuing him with a test of obedience. But tonight, he complied without a word. Tomas realised he could ask Rowe to stand on his head right now and he would do it without a second thought, if it meant not angering his Master any more.

. . .                                                                                                                  

Rowe had never felt the floor drop away from him the way it did when Master Tomas described his punishment.

He had finally pushed Master Tomas’s infinite patience too far. He had already got away with so much- all his crying, pleading, flinching away, struggling with the simplest order, actually injuring Master, screaming every night. No Pet owner should have to put up with such disobedience.

Master’s kindness was a privilege, and Rowe knew he could revoke it at any time, he knew that everything he had, his bed and food and gentle touches could be snatched away if he did anything to displease his Master.

But then Master had been so forgiving, and gentle, and Rowe had started to think that maybe this could go on forever. But he had fucked it up, he had embarrassed Master in front of his guest, he couldn’t even complete a simple task, Master had given him so many chances and still Rowe had fucked up.

I’ve done it now. I never deserved a Master like him. He’ll toss me out. I’ll be put down for sure. No Pet gets tossed out twice. I’m going to be beaten raw and thrown out.

He couldn’t bear to open his eyes. Instead he listened helplessly as Master walked to the kitchen- to pick out the best bit of glass, Rowe assumed. The fall played over and over in his head: if he had only looked where he was going, if he’d walked slower and been more graceful and less twitchy, if he’d taken another route around the empty bottles. It occurred to him that by the time the bruising on his head formed, he’d either be shivering on the streets, or dead.

He heard his name and irregular footsteps approaching him and Rowe still jumped when Master spoke. Why couldn’t he stop being so pitiful?

Looking up, he saw that Master Tomas’s eyes were half-lidded, and tinged red. Drunk eyes. A drunk Master was always the most frightening kind. A drunk Master couldn’t be predicted. Rowe’s hands hit the floor and he dragged himself away, hardly knowing why. This is why I should be properly restrained, he thought weakly. Maybe he just wanted to draw out the punishment, to put off the far worse fate awaiting him once Master was done.

‘’Rowe, it’s okay, I-‘’

Rowe’s body hit the wall and all he could think to do was curl up and beg. He hadn’t even realised Master was speaking to him until he interrupted him. His stomach flooded with a deep, freezing terror.

‘’Rowe, please, look at me.’’ Master ordered, forced to repeat himself, and this time Rowe managed to shut up and look. His heart was pounding as he let Master see his miserable, apologetic eyes.

‘’I’m s-so sorry, Master. I was careless.’’

‘’You weren’t,’’ said Master. His usually soft voice had a rough, intoxicated edge to it. And what did he mean? ‘’You were obeying an order, it wasn’t your f… wasn’t your fault. I didn’t mean it.’’

Mean what? Why wasn’t Master grabbing Rowe and forcing his face to the ground, screaming at him for even daring to disobey him after what he’d already done? Why wasn’t he cutting him? Rowe suddenly remembered to look at Master’s hands. No glass. Maybe Rowe would have to pick it out himself.

‘’I w-was stupid and I didn’t pay pr-proper attention and I-, I’m sorry, it w-was unacceptable, please- please punish- please punish me, Master,’’ he begged, hiding his filthy, insolent face.

Master was speaking, he realised, and he’d missed half of it, oh god oh god, he couldn’t keep his breathing under control and he knew he should be kneeling but something in him wouldn’t let him move and he was going to get chucked out and he was so so sorry-

‘’-legs must be aching. Sit cross legged like me.’’

Rowe obeyed without hesitation. Whatever Master wanted. Maybe this was important for his punishment. He felt like he might throw up.

‘’Fuck, I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m not angry. Look at my eyes- I’m not angry. I just wa- I just wanted him to leave. He was being a fucking twat. I am- I’m so drunk, Rowe. I’m so drunk and I handled that so badly and it wasn’t right. I just wanted to frighten Adam off. But I know it frightened you as well. Is that a fair assum- assump- is that fair? Are you quite frightened right now?’’

‘’Y….yes, Master.’’

Why was Master asking this? Was it not enough to see him trembling, on the brink of tears? Was it not enough to be almost stripped bare, open and exposed before his Master, submitting his body to his owner to punish as he saw fit? His mind was whirling with ways he could explain Kasia’s cuts, dreading the time Master asked where he had got them. He felt so useless. The punishment hadn’t even begun yet and already he was about to cry. His old master would add an extra beating if Rowe cried prematurely.

‘’I won’t hurt you. I promise. In fact-’’ Master reached for Rowe’s t-shirt, like he’d read his mind, ‘’-put this back on, please. Don’t get cold.’’

Rowe obeyed, his hands trembling almost too badly to take the t-shirt from Master’s hand. Master would have to cut him through his t-shirt, then. Perhaps then he’d beat him for ruining his clothes. Master could do that, he could do whatever he wanted. Rowe was just grateful to have his awful cuts covered up. Perhaps- he dared to hope- perhaps Master was too intoxicated to see properly? Perhaps he hadn’t seen them?

Then he remembered that it didn’t matter, anyway. Master was throwing him out. The remembrance was like a stone suddenly sinking into him.

‘’Rowe- why are you frightened?’’

What game was this?

‘’B-because of th-the punishment, Master.’’ He knew that being afraid of a punishment would only get him hurt worse, but he would take any pain, any pain at all, to stay as Master’s Pet. Rowe couldn’t even mention being tossed out. Stupidly, childishly, he didn’t want to say it out loud. Didn’t want to make it real.

‘’But aren’t you used to punishments like this? Do you get this scared every time?’’

‘’N-no!’’ Rowe burst out, pressing his head to the floor, trying to find something in his training to fall back on to navigate this. He couldn’t give Master any more reasons to throw him out. ‘’No, Master, no, I d-don’t, I c-can be good, I can t-take it well, I c-c-can be blank and quiet a-and not m-make a fuss, I promise!’’

‘’It’s okay, it’s okay. I know that. I know how good you are,’’ Master said. Rowe couldn’t understand why his tone sounded so soothing. ‘’But what I wan… want to know is- why is this time different? What’s scared you this time?’’

Before Rowe could even think properly, he whimpered out, ‘’Please… please don’t make me s-say it, Master.’’

Master Tomas’s eyebrows drew together. His eyes blinked open, and he stared at Rowe hard, like keeping his eyes open was a real effort. Rowe felt powerless, cowering in his Master’s gaze. But then the moment passed, and Master closed his eyes and put a hand on Rowe’s arm. Rowe waited for the moment where his Master’s grip would turn painful, but it never came, and when Master took his hand away Rowe found that the absence made him ache.

‘’Rowe. Rowerowerowe. I… I’m sorry. I am not a mind reader. You are gonna have to tell me what else is spooking you. Is it… are you scared of Adam coming back?’’

‘’N-no, Master.’’

Why did Master insist on Rowe saying it?

‘’Then what? How about this- if you tell me what’s wrong, I won’t punish you. How about that.’’

No punishment. Master would go straight to throwing him out. This was what he got for being disobedient. As if he had any right to argue with Master. Rowe scrambled to his knees and ground his forehead into the floor.

‘’Please- please, Master! Please, I d-deserve to be punished, please p-punish me, please!’’

‘’Rowe!’’ Master’s voice cut through him. Rowe had never heard his Master shout like that. He whimpered, keeping his head down. ‘’Rowe, you want to be a good Pet, yes?’’

Rowe nodded desperately.

‘’Then,’’ Master sighed heavily. He sounded so fed up with him. ‘’Then I need you to start cooperating, okay? We can- we can do this slowly. Sit up for me. Good. Now, I know you don’t want to, and if I could avoid it I would, yeah? But you have to tell me what’s wrong. You have to.’’

Rowe felt tears pricking his eyes. ‘’I don’t… I don’t want to be thrown out, Master,’’ he whispered.

There was a long pause. Rowe felt heavy with dread. Was Master going to laugh at him? Or would he order him into the cage he arrived in without another word?

‘’You think I’m going to throw you out?’’

‘’I-I’m a use-useless Pet, Master, I’m sh-shameful and I ca-an’t even follow a s-s-simple task and you don’t-‘’ Rowe began to cry as he forced himself to say it. In a way, it felt cathartic to get it out. ‘’-you don’t n-n-need a broken Pet. I’m no- no good for a-anything, a-a-and you g-gave me so many chances, I’m no good…’’ he choked on a sob and finally, blissfully, broke down entirely. ‘’I can’t e-even answer m-my Master without crying,’’ he moaned. ‘’Serving y-you is a privilege and I haven’t done anything to- anything to earn it.’’

…

Rowe’s raw, vulnerable cries had pulled Tomas out of his drunken haze. The fog in his head was lifting as Tomas began, uncomfortably, to sober up.

‘’What will happen if I throw you out?’’

Rowe looked at him fearfully, and Tomas realised too late that a Pet owner would be expected to know that. This must feel to Rowe like Tomas cruelly reminding him of his fate.

‘’I’ll- I’ll be put down, Master.’’

‘’Ah. Right. Right… okay, Rowe, I know you’re listening. You’re very good at that. I need you to know what I’m saying is all the absolute truth, okay?’’

‘’Yes, y-yes, Master, of course,’’ Rowe replied miserably.

‘’Firstly, I won’t hurt you. I won’t. I made up a punishment to freak Adam out. I’ve never hurt you before so I won’t start now, okay?’’

‘’Okay,’’ Rowe sniffed, glancing up at him with huge wet doe eyes. ‘’Okay, Master.’’

‘’And secondly, I’m not going to throw you out. I care about you, okay?’’ Tomas decided to phrase this in a way Rowe could understand. ‘’If I were going to throw you out, I wouldn’t have spent so much time teaching you to read, would I?’’

Rowe stayed silent, weeping softly, until Tomas pressed him and he choked out an agreement.

‘’Okay. And I wouldn’t have made sure you were eating each day, if I didn’t care about you. If I didn’t want you to stay with me and get better.’’

Get better. Something flashed in Rowe’s eyes and Tomas knew he’d struck the right chord. He was making him good, like Rowe always begged for.

‘’And now that I work from home, you can be my top priority.’’

‘’But I’m…’’ Rowe sobbed, his voice cracking. ‘’I’m j-just a Pet, Master.’’

‘’Nah. You’re Rowe. You’re important to me. I couldn’t just toss you out, you understand?’’

‘’Tha-thank yo-‘’

Before he could finish Rowe was in floods of tears once more, clutching his face and curling in on himself. Tomas’s heart broke and without thinking he pulled Rowe into a hug, the first since he’d got him.

It felt surprisingly normal to be holding his crying Pet, taking care to avoid touching the worst of his injuries. Placing one hand by his shoulder because by now it felt familiar. Slow, gentle movements, keeping his hands flat, keeping his arms loose enough to not constrict him.

‘’It’s okay. I’ve got you.’’

‘’Thank you, yes, I’m yours Master.’’

Tomas smiled weakly. Hundreds of tiny misunderstandings every day, and yet they were coping somehow.

And then Tomas’s body finally gave up and he slumped over, asleep.

[egcdeath]

a date with destiny

pairing: ransom drysdale x reader

word count: 1.9k

summary: fate brings you to a... questionable man more than a few times. 

warnings: lots of fluff, enemies/strangers to lovers, kind of cringe

a/n:  i swear my new thing is poorly writing every played out fanfic trope on the planet, i'm so sorry guys. maybe hallmark can hire me to write a few movies for them

You definitely could’ve avoided this situation if you didn’t wait for the weekend before Christmas to go shopping for your family’s presents.

You had no idea why your time management had to be so bad, but in the midst of working way too many hours in an effort to get promoted, you had completely forgotten about the fact that Christmas was literally right around the corner. And to make it worse, you had a flight tomorrow that you’d also forgotten about.

You sulked to yourself while walking around Nordstrom, waiting for inspiration to strike you for a semi-decent gift for your mother. The whole world seemed to be out that day, and you watched a plethora of shoppers pass you by, with their sour faces and unruly children. After eventually deciding on a black winter sweater for your mom, you went on your way to the candle section, knowing exactly the brand and scent that your sister would love.

This candle was the definition of a non-negotiable for you, and had been the reason you came to a Nordstrom in the first place, and when you found it sitting on a shelf by itself in all of its glory, you had simply become transfixed.

As you walked toward the candle, you didn’t notice that another customer was going for it as well, leading both of your hands to land on the candle, the absurdity of the situation making you blush. This was just your luck.

“Oh, this is awkward,” you played off the encounter, then attempted to subtly pull the candle your way, and away from the man.

“Yeah, it kinda is.” The man whose hand was also placed on the candle said shortly, before attempting to pull the candle his way.

“Hey man, I’m kinda on a tight schedule, and I really need to get this like… right now. I have a flight in like.. An hour,” you exaggerated.

“That’s too bad, ‘cause I really need this candle too.”

You took a deep breath, only you would find yourself in this kind of situation. “To be fair, I definitely saw this candle first. I’m its rightful buyer,” You attempted.

“Mmm, I definitely had my eyes on it first, so with your logic, I deserve this candle.” The man narrowed his baby blue eyes, and put a hand on his hip.

“Oh my god,” you groaned, hoping that maybe if you acted dramatic enough, he’d leave you and your candle alone.

“Sweetheart, can you even afford this kind of thing? I’m sure your friends or family, or whoever the fuck you’re getting this for, would rather you not go into debt over a candle. Just let me have it,” he responded cooly, as if he hadn’t just called you poor to your face.

You looked at him with an open-mouthed expression, completely shocked at the nerve this man had. “Fuck you, you asshole!” You attempted to yank the candle out from his grip, and you could begin to tell that the man’s resolve was beginning to fall.

“Fine. Take the damn candle. But maybe you could give me a little gift in exchange, and go out with me sometime,” he offered, slipping his now free hand into the pocket of his tan peacoat.

You were honestly shocked by this whole exchange. How did he go from insulting you and calling you poor, to asking you on a date? Men are so weird, you thought to yourself. He really isn’t that bad looking, you also considered. “Eat shit, guy,” you told him before flipping him off, and walking away.

-----

Imagine your surprise when you saw the same man from the store sitting in a local Massachusetts restaurant, with whom you assumed were his family. With your sister sitting across from you, you couldn’t help but be gossipy and point him out.

You scoffed and leaned over to your sister once you saw him, “See that guy over there?” You whispered to her, gesturing your head in his general direction.

“Which one?” she asked. “There are like five guys. Are you talking about the dude with the goatee? That old dude with the grey hair? Y/N! I didn’t know you were a grave robber!” she giggled and poked your side while you rolled your eyes, “Or, are you talking about that sexy beast in the white sweater?”

“The se- the dude in the sweater-”

“Oh yeah, he’s pretty hot. You should go talk to him,” she began to scoot out of her seat.

“No, you idiot!” You whisper shouted to her. “That guy basically attacked me in the store the other day. And then, he had the nerve to ask me out on a date!”

He must’ve felt the two of you’s stare, as he turned around and gave you a brief surprised look, then a twisted smirk.

“Oh my god, Bea, act natural,” You whispered before turning your head so fast that you nearly gave yourself whiplash.

You brought a hand up to your face and rubbed your browline in a fit of embarrassment. You looked down, then began to shovel pasta into your mouth at an ungodly fast rate.

“Oh come on, Y/N, he’s cute. What did he say to you that was so bad that you turned down his hot ass?” She asked, glancing back over at the man who was still occasionally looking over at your table.

“It’s kinda a long story. I’ll tell you later,” you mumbled, trying to ignore the heat steadily growing on your cheeks.

Beatrice shrugged, and a waiter approached your table.

“Ma’am, the man over there wanted me to give this to you,” he said before awkwardly placing a glass of white wine in front of you, along with a ripped napkin with a note and number.

We started off on the wrong foot, give me a call sometime?

Ransom

XXX-XXX-XXXX

-----

You looked at the note for so long, that it would’ve been better off being tattooed on the back of your eyelids.

“Just text him, Y/N,” your sister told you, her sentence a bit muffled by the toothbrush dangling from her mouth.

“He really seems like a dick,” you groaned, before rolling onto your back and throwing an arm over your eyes. Your sister rinsed out her mouth in the ensuite before returning with some advice.

“Well, he’s hot. Maybe you can bring him as a date to the Holiday party or something,” she stated before sitting down on the foot of your bed. “What’s the worst that could happen, Y/N? If he hurts your feelings, you can throw a hot drink at him and walk away. At best, you get a hot piece of ass to be your boyfriend.” she squeezed your calf reassuringly.

“Ugh, fine,” you huffed. “I’ll text him tomorrow.”

“That’s my girl!” Beatrice cheered, then placed a kiss on your forehead. “‘Night, Y/N,”

“Goodnight,” you mumbled before attempting to fall asleep.

-----

The funny thing about you, is that you were a master procrastinator. So after a day and a half, you’d put Ransom’s number into your phone, but had contemplated so many different opening texts, that you’d just completely given up. Besides, you had your parents’ holiday party to be attending and to be caring about.

You did some final touch ups of your makeup, before heading downstairs, and watching guests arrive from a safe spot in the kitchen.

Sometime after talking to about seven of your childhood friends, you felt a large hand press against the satin material of your short, red, tie-waisted dress.

“No way, girl I see everywhere?” The man who you know knew was Ransom, asked.

“It’s Y/N. Hi, Ransom,” you bit the inside of your cheek to hold back your laugh at the absurdity of it all, the fact that he was standing in your parents’ home, the fact that he was literally everywhere you went, and because you’d never in your life been called ‘The girl I see everywhere.’

“Why didn’t you ever call me? I mean, not even a text? Also, why are you following me everywhere?” He inquired, moving to stand in front of you.

“Well, I uh.. I forgot. Sorry, I’m a super busy woman. And I also live here... sometimes.. so if anyone is following anyone else, it’s you following me,” you tried to say this confidently, but something about Ransom really threw you off your game.

“You live here? No way. Is this like your family home?” He asked, and you nodded. “So our parents have been friends this whole time, and we had no idea.” He gestured to a doorway, where your mother and his were talking with flutes of champagne in hand.

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” you said quietly, mostly to yourself.

“Maybe, this is just fate. We’re meant to be together, and that’s why we keep seeing each other everywhere,” you raised an eyebrow and tilted your head when he said that to you, genuinely confused at why those words would come out of his mouth. “Oh, lighten up. I’m just kidding,” he said with a bemused smile.

“You have a weird sense of humor, Ransom.” You told him plainly, trying to act disinterested, though you were rather endeared. He definitely saw right through you, as he gave you a little grin before he began to speak again.

“So tell me about yourself.”

-----

After a few too many drinks, you were walking down the sidewalk, hand and hand with Ransom as you searched for any sort of restaurant that could be open at that hour.

Finally, you found a quaint and rather empty 24-hour diner with its lights on. The two of you sat down in a booth, and struggled to contain giggles as you sipped from mugs of stale, lukewarm coffee. Why you were giggling, you weren’t completely sure.

“You know what, Ransom, once you get over the asshole-ness, you’re not that bad,” you reached out a hand, and set it on top of Ransom’s, that was idly sitting on the table.

“Wow, thanks,” he chuckled, a dark pink dusting his cheeks.

“Why did we even come here?” You groaned, “No offense, but this coffee tastes like ass,” you whined,

“And how do you know what ass tastes like?” Ransom burst out giggling at this.

“Shut up. Are you twelve?” You pretended to be annoyed with him, before giving in and laughing along with him. “Can you take me home?” You asked with puppy dog eyes.

Apparently, one for the dramatics, Ransom tossed a $50 bill onto the table, then stood up from his seat at the booth to swoop you up in a bridal style.

“Ohhh my god,” you slurred as he carried you out the door, then eventually set you back down on the pavement once he became tired.

-----

While you walked up to your doorstep, Ransom stood on the sidewalk, watching you contentedly. As you got to your door and turned around, he gave you a big, goofy smile and a wave.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come in with me,” you invited. It was safe to say, Ransom happily obliged.