#just make sure you don't have an ex you can't move on from (/j)

[quickestgold]

1) Love your writing and cant wait to see more!! 2) For the prompt inspiration, what about something along the lines of Jack's girlfriend, that Dana and Robby don't particularly like, shows up seriously injured at the Pitt?

Someone New: Dr. Jack Abbot x Reader

Synopsis: After witnessing the fallout from Jack's failed marriage, Dana and Robby have been skeptical of his new relationship. But when a freak accident forces them to see the depth of Jack’s feelings, their perspectives shift.

Warnings: Canon-typical depictions of trauma; traffic accident, death, injuries, mentions of a failed marriage, divorce

Word count: 1.9k

A/n: LMFAO guys, most of my requests rn are for injured readers are we okay? Anyway... enjoy xoxo (also, thanks so much for the compliment!! messages/comments like these are super motivating <3)

Mistress. Homewrecker. The Other Woman.

You’ve called yourself worse a thousand times. The guilt over how things started with Jack weighs on you. And though his love feels sweet and pure, it offers little comfort in the face of their judgment.

You wish you’d met under different circumstances. Started things the right way.

But in your heart you know it’s real. Even if they don’t.

The truth is, Jack’s marriage was over long before you came into the picture. They were separated when you met, though the divorce wasn’t final.

So you let others believe that it was your fault. Made little effort to dispel the rumors. To introduce yourself properly.

Maybe you were embarrassed.

Definitely ashamed.

Perhaps they had a point and you destroyed a perfectly good relationship. Or at least got in the way of Jack and his ex trying to salvage what was left.

But it doesn’t matter now. Not anymore. Nothing does.

“Female. 30s. Car vs. pedestrian. In and out of consciousness. Possible head injury. Probable femoral fracture”, the EMT presents.

The cold metal of the gurney beneath you makes you shiver, harsh sterile lights flickering overhead.

“Woah. What happened?” Dana’s voice is laced with concern.

“I’m fine", you murmur, but your voice betrays you, weak and unconvincing. “Just a bit sleepy.”

Why is everything spinning?

“You hit your head?” Robby's voice is sharp and suddenly close, the light of his pen so bright it feels like it’s burning through your skull. He instructs you to follow his finger. You try, but your vision is distorted, like shattered glass. You can barely manage to focus.

“I- I’m not sure”, you confess, struggling to catch your breath, your lungs burning.

“Someone pushed her into oncoming traffic", the EMT continues, calm and clinical, part of his routine. "A bicycle hit her head-on and a car slammed into her hip."

His words hit you like a punch to the gut and your stomach twists with horror.

You can't remember any of it.

You try to move, to sit up, but your body refuses.

Why is your face wet? You beg, pray, it’s just tears. It has to be.

But it’s thick and warm. And the familiar, metallic smell makes your head swim.

“J-Jack… I-“, you plead.

Robby’s movements are faster now. His commands sharp and alert. He gestures to Whittaker, who immediately reacts, moving swiftly, as he rushes out of the room, a quiet urgency in his steps.

Everyone knows about you and Jack. Though it feels like no one approves. Almost no one.

“Y/N, it’s okay. Just keep your eyes open for me, alright?” Collins’ voice is warm, grounding. She takes your hand and squeezes it tightly. You’re thankful. Thankful for her presence. To see a friendly face amidst the chaos.

But you can't shake the quiet fear that maybe... it’s the last one you’ll ever see.

Heather is one of the few who welcomed you, made an effort to get to know you.

You’ve become friends.

You meet up for coffee, chat for hours about the boys. And though her and Robby’s relationship ended, you can tell there is unresolved sadness between them. You wonder if either of them will ever admit it.

“Heather… I-I’m…” Your voice is barely audible now. You're slipping. Slipping fast.

You fight to stay awake. To hold on. Just a little longer. At least until you see Jack.

Until you get to say goodbye.

But your eyes grow heavier by the second, something pulling at you, each blink slower than the last.

You can hear yourself saying something. But it’s far away.

You’re shaking. Why is this hospital so goddamn cold?

Before you can say another word, everything fades to black.

“Male. 20s. Cyclist vs. pedestrian. Unconscious. Blunt force trauma to the head. Multiple fractures", another EMT announces, as they rush the gurney into Trauma Two, the team prepared and ready to work in perfect sync.

Jack's moves are quick, methodical. Driven by one clear, urgent goal: to stabilize the patient first, then assess for further injuries.

“Dr. Abbot?” Whittaker’s voice is tentative, his gaze flicking nervously between Jack and the patient on the table. He hovers just inside the doorframe, not quite sure whether to disturb Jack or not.

Jack glances up briefly, his hands moving over the patient's chest, steady and determined.

Whittaker hesitates, his voice shaky. “We need you in Trauma One.”

“I’m a little busy.” Jack mutters. “Get Robby!” His voice laced with authority. An order, not a suggestion.

He isn’t finished with this patient yet, not ready to be pulled away.

Whittaker hesitates, before he nods and steps back. Jack watches him go, but there's no time to think about what might be waiting in Trauma One.

His focus is here, the young patient's life literally in his hands.

“Abbot?” Robby growls, frustrated at Whittaker’s failed attempt.

Whittaker shakes his head, his expression tense. “He’s treating the cyclist in Trauma Two”, Whittaker answers, almost apologetic.

Robby curses under his breath, his eyes flashing to Dana.

He knows Jack will never forgive them if something happens to you and they didn’t tell him. If Jack doesn't get to you in time.

Dana knows, too. She knows that this isn’t just about the accident. It’s about what they owe Jack and what they owe you.

“Hold compressions.” Jack orders.

Everyone’s eyes are fixated on the monitor, but the flatline continues.

“Okay." Jack’s voice drops. "That’s it.”

“Time of death: 10:35”

Jack takes a minute of silent reflection. He’s been here before. Too many times. But it never gets any easier.

He steps out into the bay, taking a breath. His eyes search the nurse’s station, which is unusually empty.

Javadi almost crashes into him, gripping a blood bag tight to her chest. Jack steps back, putting distance between them.

“Slow down. If you trip and fall you’re no good to anybody.” Always the teacher, calm and collected. “Where’s Robby?”

Javadi stumbles over her words, struggling to catch her breath. “Trauma One, a- a pedestrian got hit.”

“Shit." Jack mutters. "I just called it on the cyclist.” His brows furrow. “Need any help?”

“Not sure… it’s not looking good.” And with that, she rushes back in.

Jack watches her go, making sure she doesn’t run into anyone else. His gaze flicks to the glass doors of Trauma One, catching Robby’s eyes. He's pressing into someone’s chest with practiced ease.

But there’s something else. Panic.

Jack’s alarm bells go off. He moves, quickly.

But before Jack reaches the door, Dana steps into his path. She places her palm against his chest, gently pushing him back.

“Jack”, her voice calm but firm. “You can come in, but we need to do this the right way, honey.” Her eyes soften, full of compassion. “Robby’s doing everything he can.”

In that moment, Jack catches a glimpse of the patient’s face. Your bloodied, gorgeous, beautiful face. The woman he loves.

Multiple hands are on you, your own dangling off the side of the gurney.

His eyes lock on the delicate ring he gave you only a few days ago.

The one that was supposed to be forever.

“What the fuck”, Jack tries to push past Dana, but Langdon and Matteo are already there, hands on his arms, holding him back.

“Dana”, Jack’s voice cracks.

“I know, hon. Take a breath”, she rubs soothing circles on his chest, then steps back. “We’ve got her!”

The sincerity in her voice, comforts him, if only slightly.

The fact that he just called his patient’s death a few minutes ago, tells him everything about the severity of your injuries.

There's a deep ache in Jack’s chest as he follows Dana into the room. He steps to your side, his hand brushing gently over your forehead, the way you like it. The way he’s always calmed you.

“I’m here, baby”, he whispers, his voice raw. “I’m here.”

He watches Robby and the team work, each movement calculated, each second agonizing.

He knows his place. He won’t overstep. His only focus is you.

Like many times before, Jack finds himself on the rooftop. Each inhale of the harsh midnight air a painful reminder of you in that hospital bed, fighting for every breath.

Jack feels someone approaching, doesn’t have to turn around to know who. “Who pushed her?” Jack's voice is low and raw with pain.

“They’re…-" Robby pauses, scratching his neck nervously. "They're still looking.” His tone is soft.

Jack nods, but the corners of his mouth turn downward. “You’ve been too hard on her, man.” He exhales sharply.

“I know, brother.” Robby's words are filled with guilt and regret. He wants to make this right. Needs to.

Jack's gaze hardens. “She was afraid, you know. Felt like you were judging her… more than me.” He huffs out a humorless laugh.

Robby’s remorse is palpable. “We were worried about you. Didn’t want to see you get hurt. We had no idea it was serious between you.”

“Does it matter?” Jack’s voice cracks on the last word.

“I- I suppose not.” Robby shakes his head. “I’m so sorry.”

Jack nods. He doesn’t need Robby’s apology. You do.

“She gets it. She gets me.” Jack's looking straight at Robby now, barely bringing himself to say the words. “I wish you’d had the chance to get to know her. You would've loved her…” He tries to hold in a strangled sob, but it escapes anyway.

Robby steps closer, placing a hand on Jack's back, voice gentle and reassuring. “I still can… If she’ll let me.” He realizes he needs to carry that hope for both of them right now.

Jack isn’t convinced, but Robby’s belief gives him a moment’s peace.

The door to the rooftop suddenly slams open. Jack and Robby both turn instinctively.

Dana stands in the doorway, her pulse racing. “Jack.”

Jack is terrified to hear what she has to say, assuming the worst.

The midnight air suddenly feels suffocating.

“Jack?” Your voice is barely a whisper, fragile and tired, the effort of speaking taking all of your energy.

“Hi, gorgeous.” He moves closer to your bed. “Are you in pain?” The concern in his eyes certainly isn't helping, it hurts to see him like this.

You shake your head, but it’s a lie. You know it and Jack knows it too. He doesn’t hesitate, moving swiftly to the IV to adjust the meds with practiced hands.

Warmth floods you and you exhale slowly. The deep physical ache subsides and your thoughts clear. Only now, you can fully appreciate that you’re alive. That Jack’s here.

“I’m here," he repeats, more to himself than to you and for a second you wonder if you said the words out loud.

Jack's hand is gentle against your skin, brushing a loose strand of hair from your face. “Robby and Dana feel badly about how they’ve treated you.” The words heavy with sorrow.

“They shouldn’t.” You're exhausted, but you mean it. “They don’t even know me.” You give him a smile, weak but genuine.

“Maybe it’s time we change that?” Jack leans in gently stroking your forehead, like he always does. Like he always will.

His other hand traces the space where your ring used to rest. You realize it’s no longer there. It was taken off during the chaos of saving you. But Jack knows where it belongs.

With a tender, deliberate touch, he slides the ring back onto your finger, a symbol of the forever he’s promised.

Hahahah aaall the fluff!! It was needed after so many angsty requests lol Pls comment/share your thoughts below. ♡

[bi-writes]

deranged ex husband!ghost thoughts:

he lives up to his nickname. he's not ex husband price who simply Does Not Stop and shows up all the time to demonstrate to your new partners that he is fundamental anatomy to your life.

he haunts you. tampered amazon packages, a room slightly altered when you return from work, he's in your phone, he's in your inbox, he fixes things while you're away just as often as he breaks them.

is there someone in the other room? you bought a travel door lock and replaced every piece of home security tech with something new but you can swear you can hear a window shimmied open, a door lock whirring. you think you're losing your mind. who do you call when you think you're being stalked? when security is your greatest fear? your ex? his friends?

a wriggling and primal part of your mind warns you this is a bad idea. but you unblock his number, you text simon to see if he's still in the area. how are you doing? i know it's been a while, but i need a favor.

oh my goodness............................. (18+)

he says nothing as he does a walkthrough of your new divorcee flat. one bedroom in a nice-enough neighborhood, but you saw the twitch of his eye when he noticed the front lobby doors could be jimmyed open with the edge of a credit card.

the cat greets him like she always does. slender, grey thing that slithers between his thick legs as he moves through your space. you notice his gloved hands ghosting over divots in entryways that he made, flicking the useless lock of your window that he's already broken himself twice. you follow him like a puppy into every room he studies, rocking back and forth, wet eyes and trembling lips realizing as he moves just how unsafe you are.

he says nothing when he stands in your foyer again after doing his thorough once-over, turning to face you silently, where you're already crying. he just stands, not touching you, tilting his head to the side as he watches those glassy, salty tears fall down your puffed cheeks as you sputter through soft breaths that you don't know what to do.

ghost just kisses his teeth and stands there. he's an asshole—he's not going to do anything unless you ask him to. he's mean like that, likes to be wanted. he wants you to open your pretty, wet mouth and ask for it like a good girl. he's not going to assume you want his help; he wants you to put your hands on his thick chest and ask him all pathetic that you need him to do something about the thing that's been breaking into your house.

ghost is not your husband anymore though. when he was, he would've gladly fixed all your things for you. he would've gladly spent the entire day installing cameras, fixing your locks, getting you proper deadbolts, but he's just some man to you now, and his labor isn't for free.

he wants to feel nasty about it, but he can't. you don't even have to ask what he wants—you know what it is. you sniffle, blubbery and whiny, as you put your thumbs into the gusset of your sleep shorts and pull them to the side as you bend over the kitchen counter.

he keeps a big hand tangled in your hair as he fucks you. he yanks your neck back, bending you at the hip, an angle so sharp that your back arches uncomfortably as the edge of the counter digs into your tummy sharply. he barely makes a sound himself, but the slick between your bodies makes up for it.

slap, slap, slap—you're soaked between the thighs, all wound up and hot and breathless after watching ghost be so capable and confident and smart. he's so intelligent. he's so big and brawny and brave. you'd trade anything to feel safe again after living on your own after so long, and honestly, paying for fixed locks for a wet shag with your ex-husband isn't the worst price at all.

the problem between you two was never the sex, that's for sure. in fact, you think the connection alone kept you around longer than you meant to be. ghost would light a cigarette and stick a thick hand down his trousers, and you'd all but fall onto his dick just to placate the heat of attraction that always wound you like crazy.

your eyes roll back in your head when he cups your pussy with a big, hot hand. you grip the counter and grind against his palm, sticking your tongue out as he pounds into you deeper, more forcefully. he's close, you know it by the falter in his breaths, and you can't help yourself.

you just can't.

"inside—" you whine. "don't pull out—"

ghost laughs—why the fuck would he ever pull out?

maybe if he breaks a window next, you'll let him try for a baby.

[ihopeiexplode]

📱 "Stalkers" [←Previous | Next→]

—

—

The moment you woke up you immediately felt someone's arms wrapped around you, once you were fully conscious you realized sukunas arms were wrapped around you as your head was on his chest, once you realized this you immediately pulled away, this was the second time this happened...

Not only did you also realize he woke up earlier than you, he was even on his phone but despite that, he still didn't move away or push you off??? Once he realized you were awake he was about to greet you but before he could you suddenly moved away pushing him away

"I thought you were gonna sleep on the couch not in my bed."

"I was about to but someone seemed to be scared of some thunder, now look where I am"

"to be fair I'm not scared of thunders, j was just uhm.. startled...?"

"yeah sure you are.."

—

—

Sukuna was leaning on your counter while you cooked breakfast for the two of you the smell of food lingering in the air, while you cooked he just stared directly at your window in silence before speaking up

"Why is your neighbor watching us with binoculars"

"Who? Maki?"

"yeah that one, look"

At first, you expected him to be joking around just so the food you cooked would end up brunt, but when you turned to look, not only did you see Maki you also saw: Yuji, Maki, Gojo, and Yuki?...

The moment the four of them realized you two saw them they immediately hid in some nearby bushes, you both would just stare till you shrugged it off and went back to cook, and seeing you shrug it off Sukuna just looked at you absolutely dumbfounded

"Are you not gonna question why you're being watched?"

"am I supposed to? I know them so what's there to worry about"

"anyways, it's been a while since we hung out and well I apologized already so..."

"So? Spit it out, quit cutting your sentence"

"y'know the project thing"

"ohh yeah I forgot about that, I forgot to write on my daily documentary"

"couldn't be me, I still wrote"

"how? Like you said it's been awhile since we hanged out"

"yeah well doesn't mean I can't write, but anyways I was wondering if you wanted to go to the mall"

"the mall? Why?"

"to take you on a shopping spree what else?"

"you do know I have money right.."

"yeah so? Just use my card and go buy whatever you want I don't care"

"what if I accidentally max out your card?"

"Please, I doubt you'll even make a dent"

—

It's been about a whole hour, Sukuna kept trailing behind you holding your bags as you bought everything that you liked using his card, of course, I mean he offered didn't he?

And plus Sukuna isn't worried about you running his card to the max, as if that could happen anyway it's all worth it to see you act all giddy with your eyes lighting up, but to him? Anything he does is worth it if it makes you happy but it's not like he'll ever admit that

after a while, you got hungry so you both stopped to go order some food

—

You sat at some table while eating your food waiting for Sukuna to come back from the restroom, but as you ate your food peacefully suddenly you saw a familiar face, one that was too familiar face.. approaching you.

Once your ex Got closer he took a seat across from you making himself comfortable...

"y/n we meet again no?"

"e/n hi...."

"awh don't act like that now! Anywho who are you with? Don't tell me you have a boyfriend now do you?"

"she's taken"

You turn your head to look behind you to see Sukuna finally came back

"really? By who?"

Before you could respond suddenly you felt Sukuna behind you and took a seat beside you with his hands around your waist pulling you close before staring right into your ex

"by me"

"please. Do you expect me to believe that? You two hate each other don't you? If you really are dating like you claim, prove it."

"why not?"

What? You just sat there and stared, is he being serious? you were quickly snapped out of your thoughts when you saw Sukuna leaning in closer

Should you stay still? Should you move? What do you even do in this situation?...

As you say there frozen, not moving an inch not really knowing what to do, suddenly you see how close his face was to yours before he suddenly crashed his lips into yours...

—

[⛩️] @: Likes & Reblogs R appreciated! ^^

A/N: I had to rewrite this 5 times because I kept cringing

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[validdisaster]

I Probably Won't Watch MisMag, But I Think I'm Glad It Exists?

I don't know if this is a valid feeling or some kind of misplaced trauma reaction, but when I hear American leftists/liberals joking about jkr or performing reparative or critical versions of Harry Potter, I sometimes feel a deep... I dunno, unease? I could be wrong, but I'm not sure a lot of international people really understand the kind of grip she has on the UK.

This is a country where transgender people were banned from the panels and review boards for the 2024 Cass Report that would define how trans children were treated in schools, the healthcare they have access to, and the support they have, then gave recommendations that will pave the way for making it more challenging for trans people as a whole to move through society with general dignity, respect, and essential medical care. Meanwhile, the new (leftwing) prime minister, who has refused to make any declarative claim about his beliefs on transgender people, made special time for a meeting with jkr in a bid for votes just a few weeks before the election to assure her he would do basically whatever she said to 'support women and girls' (whatever that means to a woman who has designated herself the arbiter of who is 'too masculine' for girlhood). Now, I'll be honest, that was before her descent into minor Holocaust denial and the Olympics bollocks, but long after she started paling around with people in far-right white supremacist circles. Her voice was considered more important than any medical professional who happens to be trans.

Personally, (and this is just my anecdotal experience) I've had family members, colleagues and even an ex-partner parrot lines almost word-for-word from her essay as an excuse to get away with some pretty nasty behaviour, despite never having read it and not knowing where that was where it came from - that's how much she has permeated British society. I have a difficult, strained, or nonexistent relationship with people who meant a whole lot to me and I don't know if that would still be true if J K Rowling hadn't decided to go off one day. People hurt me who might not have. She's able to use the fact that she's the writer of the Harry Potter books as a kind of cover to gain this legitimacy that lets people hand-wave away or not look closer at some of the most unambiguously bad stuff you can do and say. Again, I do have to say, I'm from a not-very-liberal area and the work I do is mostly manufacturing or call centre (so full of not-very-liberal people). Idk if other parts of the UK are different, but I sure as shit can't afford to live in them.

This might be a personal despair that I need to work through, but I'm just not sure any reparative stories set in echoes of Hogwarts can possibly do any good. She's still here, she's still hurting us, she still has more of a voice in British politics and discourse than the rest of us working together can possibly muster and her past seems like more of a shield to the bad things she's currently doing than something that can be reimagined correctively.

To be fully clear, I'm not criticising the mismag crew here, and I'm not criticising international folks (trans or cis) for not knowing the detailed minutia of what's going on in my very unimportant neck of the woods. I'm just trying to work through my feelings about a person who's done a lot of demonstrable harm to me and mine, and the kind of casualness that I feel like her impact gets treated with sometimes.

I get the sense that a lot of (particularly cis or non-british) leftwing circles treat her like such an obviously-bad punchline gremlin that they forget she's still a bogeyman to some of us, I'm still scared of what she'll do next. And it's weird to see people having fun in the funhouse-mirror version of her passion project. Maybe it's jealousy. I loved Harry Potter and Hogwarts for a long time. Maybe I just miss feeling safe there.

I hope there will be a day I feel safe enough to laugh about her. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that other people are there already?

[pascaloverx]

Hit The Road

Chapter Four

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Summary: You are a hunter of supernatural beings who is forced to experience a new reality: being a vampire. The only thing stronger than your thirst for blood is your thirst for revenge.

Author's note: the characters mentioned here were created by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name by author L. J. Smith. They don't belong to me. That said, this fanfic will be short. This fanfic may address scenes of violence, inappropriate language and adult content. Minors should not interact with this story.

Waking up dizzy in an unfamiliar room wasn't something you expected. Yet, there was a strange sense of déjà vu lingering in the air, as if you've been in this room before. Something felt oddly familiar, whether it was the irresistibly soft bed tempting you to make it your permanent residence or the piercing gaze of a Salvatore with captivating blue eyes watching your every move.

"What am I doing in your room, Damon?" You inquire, curiosity evident as you struggle to recall how you ended up here.

"Recharging, considering you probably haven't had a good blood meal in a long while. If you're going to expend energy remembering things erased from your memory, Y/N, you need to be strong." Damon remarks, seemingly aware of what's happening to you before you even mention anything.

"You don't need to lecture me; it's not my fault I'm a vampire in denial. I've spent my whole life trying to kill creatures like me." You assert.

"I don't recall you trying to kill me when we were together, but if you say so. Need help changing or taking a shower?" Damon offers with a mischievous grin, prompting you to throw a pillow at him.

"I want help with answers, Damon. I want to know what's been wiped from my memory, who did it, and why I've been having these flashbacks since I got here." You express, a determined look in your eyes.

"I'd rather help you with the shower..." Damon says, and you sense he's trying to change the subject. What the hell could he be hiding?

"Do you want to change the subject so desperately that you're willing to betray your girlfriend?" You say, tossing in a half-truth. Though you can't quite remember, you have a hunch that reasonable Elena is dating one of the Salvatores.

"Who told you about Elena?" He seems somewhat uneasy about the topic. You stand up, facing Damon, who is seated in the chair.

"No one in particular, but a human mentioned that she has a positive influence on you. Seems like I made a good guess." You say, feeling clever for piecing that together. Damon stands up, looking at you as if he thought you'd take longer to question him.

"Currently, Elena is my ex-girlfriend. Satisfied?" Damon says as he approaches you. You quickly take a step back for each step he takes forward.

"Not at all. I'm sorry for your troubles, but I need a lot more than that to be satisfied. Don't want to help me remember because you killed me? No problem. I'll kill you as soon as I can, nothing personal." You say, staring him down. He smiles so genuinely, it's as if you just told a joke.

"I didn't kill you. I'm not even sure I could. I did turn you, that's true. But you're right, I won't tell you what you want or need to know. You'll remember on your own when you're ready." Damon admits. You see him with such a soft face as he says this that it irritates you. You want to understand who you are completely and the only idiot who can help you seems to have fun watching you not understand anything.

"I'll kill you." You almost scream this before throwing Damon into the nearest wall. You hold him by the neck tightly, but he seems to find it amusing.

"You want to kill me? Great, do it right." He says taking my hand and placing it under her chest. Right above the heart.

"Do you think I don't have the courage?" You say, still pressing him tightly. You know you could rip out Damon's heart or break his neck. But I couldn't imagine a world without him. Something inside you screams that you wouldn't survive without him. What a shitty emotional memory.

"I know you love me, you just don't remember it but your body like that your mind, still remember me." You let him go, trying to demonstrate in some way your rejection of what he had just said.

"You can't rely on my memories. I won't hurt you only because, somehow, you might be useful. But as far as I'm concerned, you'll never have that love you remember back, if it's up to me." You assert. He watches you, wearing a sly smile – the kind that says, "Just you wait."

Confused, you look at him. You're not sure how to react to Damon's charm and confidence – it throws you off balance. He seems to sense your insecurity, so he approaches slowly. As if to forewarn you of what's to come, he gently cradles your face in his hands. It feels strange, and you might even find yourself furrowing your brow in response. His lips slowly question you, “Do you want me to stop?”

You wonder if you want him to stop, after all, a lot happens with you. But you shake your head, denying that you want him to stop. Damon's lips are soft. The kiss however is not soft at all. It's as if he's thirsty for you, for your lips and for your closeness. You can feel a little love in this kiss, not from your part of course but from his. The heat inside you can't be love, you refuse to think that you miss Damon. Yet you find yourself holding Damon's head tighter against you. He suddenly picks you up and you feel like you're doing something so good but so wrong. I mean, not long ago you were having sex with his brother. Now it's here, being held by him. He has his hands firmly on your ass. But at some point he sits on the couch and puts you on his lap. You then slowly break the kiss, kissing his lips slowly and down to his neck. Then you go up and give a little peck lingering on Damon's lips. Slowing down the pace is necessary, if not you'll be in Damon's bed with no clothes on in a few minutes.

"Damon, we need to slow down this thing between us. If we keep going... we might regret it." You say between brief kisses, trying to ease the tension between you and Damon.

"You're still the same, always thinking about the future. But I think it's fair to think that you might regret that..." He speaks as if deep down he is hurt.

"I'm not just talking about me, you yourself may regret that I'm not the person you love." You say thinking that his heart has an owner and it's not you.

"Are you going to keep bringing Elena into our every moment?" Damon questions a little impatiently. When you are about to say something, you hear a noise. You and Damon look at each other and you can smell the sweet scent of a feminine perfume coming from you. down there. And something tells me I'm about to meet the famous Elena.

[fujobritta]

long baksbee rant, mostly abt david/kate & brad/david's ex parallels

David/Kate parallels in fics are so interesting to me, I really love when Brad's enamourment with David is framed like this. Because ultimately, Kate is the only way he has ever really felt a nonfamilially loving connection in a way? Like while he wasn't in love with Kate, for. Y'know. Obvious reasons. She's still the strongest connection he's had in his life (aside from, in my headcanons, his mother. But thats not canon… Yet…) so when he's finally let himself be accidentally attached to someone, he views them similarly. David has no power over Brad, but he's a companion. And Brad views him as lesser-than, but still values him and his presence.

I don't think Brad Bakshi is capable of "normal" romantic love, he's built too much of a shell to view it like that. But I think he'd love David in a way that's a little bit more than friendship but not really necessarily romantic, while being capable of being perceived as romantic. Sort of like a QPR in a way? But also not really because I think they would have sex so like… I dunno how to really explain it. But David being a sort of "pet" to Brad also I think shows how Brad sees that David is incapable of surviving without someone else. Well he can, but not well, sort of like how a domesticated animal might survive on the street but would be starving and diseased. David needs him, and Brad is someone who desperately wants to be needed, because during his childhood he felt unneeded. Having David is a reassurance that there is something relying on him, and that feels good.

Also David and Kate being similar kind of drives into Brad's whole predator/prey thing. Brad views himself as a predator, and David as his prey. And as a child, Kate was supposed to be his prey, but he couldn't do it, couldn't kill the pig. And, of course, Brad once again won't be able to really kill the pig, because he would get attached to David, but there is still that semblance of that predator/prey dynamic. Brad is still the more controlling one in the relationship, he holds the strings or the leash or the trap or whatever. And while he never "devours" David and kills him, it's still kind of that same thrill in a way. (This stuff is part of the reason why I can't stand top David/bottom Brad, I just fully cannot see Brad allowing himself to be controlled by someone, and especially not David. But you do you!)

Brad/David's ex-wife parallels also mean so much to me because it speaks to how differently David views Brad in comparison to how Brad views him. David sees Brad as an equal and a partner. He gets attached to people very easily, yearns for a sort of established connection, and really what connection is really more established than marriage? Also I think David views his position in a relationship as more traditionally masculine, despite… not really being like that at all (he's literally a bottom who would probably do most of the cooking and cleaning… One day he'll realize his womanhood. /j) But regardless he'd think Brad is pretty and nice (when he wants to be) and I think his originally assumed heterosexuality would probably make him project feminine qualities onto Brad regardless in an attempt to feel more straight.

I'm pretty sure it also has to do with my personal beliefs abt what David's ex-wife was actually like, too… Like when I close my eyes and imagine her based on what we know about her (that she moved on pretty quickly from David and Brad's "David, are we at your divorce trial? Because I just watched a hot asian chick rip your heart out" from Quarantine) I imagine a hot, mean, middle-aged, Chinese woman that looks like Lucy Liu and rides a motorcycle and pegs guys until they can't walk and is GALAXIES out of David's league. Which is partially influenced by my idea of what kind of person David would be into, but y'know. Whatever. But like regardless I think David definitely has a thing for people being mean to him. Like there's no way to be like That and not be into mean people.

I think a very primary difference between Brad and David in a relationship is that David craves Someone to attach himself to, while Brad just craves Something. David needs a real human connection, he's very people-focused, whereas Brad tries to fill his void with things of material value; money, sex, control, etc. David is more emotionally intelligent than Brad is; Brad just puts up walls and hides his emotions in a little corner of his brain where he can think about them later (but preferably never). But Brad still needs David in a way, because he fills the void in a way that the pointless vanities Brad is so fixated on never could.

Brad needs David more than David needs him, honestly. David is Brad's anchor in the stormy seas of his mind; his dog, his angel, etc. (I love you Mitski. Alexa play "I'm Your Man".) But David also needs Brad, of course — he needs that steady stream of companionship, no matter the source. During MQ, we see him break down repeatedly because he feels alone. David is reliant on people being There, no matter who they are. In TBD, after everyone left, even those who had constantly put him down and made his life hell (Brad, Poppy, Ian), even people who he rarely even talked to (Dana, Rachel), even people who he didn't really care that much about (Jane from Yorba Linda), he still nearly ended it all, right there. And all it took was Jo being on that roof for him to stop. And then he was back to being Fine But On His Last Thread.

In my opinion, Baksbee is the only (serious) M/M ship in MQ that I can see working as a functional relationship in any capacity, because you cannot put Ian into a romantic relationship like you can with David and Brad. There's no way to do it in a way that doesn't require changing who he is fundamentally. Ian is not a man who "does" relationships, or love, or family. Put him with Brad and they'll hook up just to never talk about their feelings; put him with David and he'll manipulate him until he's left David a shell of the already partially hollowed-out man he already was, ignoring every time David wants to address their situation. Bradian and Grimmsbee are interesting to think about and explore, if you enjoy looking into toxic relationships, but overall they don't have any actual substance next to Baksbee. They are relationships doomed to fail, which I do enjoy a lot, but can't really imagine myself being as obsessed with as I am with Baksbee.

Anyways that's all thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[gachawolfiebloom]

Two Hearts In The City of Love

Chapter 5: HotelTrapped

Tags: Love, Love Confession, Romance

Four was mad, but he was scared too. Why did Three have to be so difficult all the time? The two had their differences and settled them out. This minor squabble between them was not as bad as all those years ago. Three trying to take over his channel and trying to...kill him.

Four opened his eyes to find that he was reliving that same intense scene from that night.

"THREE! HELP!"

He looked down, expecting Three to be just as panicked induced as the first time...but he wasn't. If anything, he looked happy to watch this. It was happening again. His fingers slipping off, one by one. "THREE! PLEASE DO SOMETHING!" He didn't move. "ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO LET ME DIE LIKE THIS!?" The moments they shared. The times they had saved each other in the past. Was it all a lie?

The only finger remaining was his index finger. "Three..." There was nothing left for him to do. He didn't shut his eyes this time, but widely opened them with terror as he fell. A loud "BANG!" was heard and his body smashed onto the platform. His hand covered his chest as his vision was blurry. The only thing he could make out was hearing Three laughing at him and slowly bringing his hand up to his face to see a wide range of blood covering him.

"You...why...?" He tried to extend his hand out to Three for help, but the purple man just brushed it away. "I'm not helping you. I hate you!" The moment Four heard those words, his body went cold. "W-What did you j-just say?" It was just like the nightmare before they left. Three didn't answer as he walked away. Four was alone as his mind swarmed with thoughts that he couldn't even tell were true or not.

"Quit wasting your time with him!"

"He's just getting close to you so he can kill you!"

"The only thing you are to him is his enemy!"

"He hates you and he always will!"

"Stop living in a fantasy and WAKE UP!"

Four shot up in a cold sweat. His heart was beating like crazy and his breathing seemed to be increasing every second. The morning sun was peeking through the window and Four looked over to see Three on the other side of the bed. He quickly got out of bed and started getting ready. "I can't deal with him now." With the speed he was going at, it only took him a few minutes to get ready. The last thing he did was put on his cap before looking at Three again. His eyes started to open as Four unlocked the door and ran out before Three could spot him.

Three rubbed his eyes and stretched, but it didn't take long to notice that Four was gone. He didn't care though as he was still mad with his ex rival. Four stepped out of the elevator to find his friends in the lobby, waving goodbye to Luigi as he went off to his job. Meggy turned around and perked up when she saw him. "Four! How did it go with Three?" When she said that, Mario adverted eye contact and whistled.

"Please don't mention him. I don't want anything to do with that guy right now." Tari looked concerned as she asked "Oh no! What happened?" Bob leaned over to her and said "I BET THOSE TWO WERE MAKING OUT SOMEWHERE!" Four rolled his eyes and said "No Bob! Three was just being a jerk like always!"

"I WAS NOT!" They all noticed Three coming out of the elevator with a really agitated look. He stuck a finger in Four's face and yelled back "THIS IDIOT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CLIMB RIGHT WHEN THE FERRIS WHEEL BROKE!" Meggy piped up with a hint of confusion "Wait. The Ferris wheel broke? How did that happen?"

"Oh look at the time! Mario's gotta skedaddle!" The fat Italian rushed off as the two went right back to blaming each other like last night. "No idea, but whatever caused it must have been HIS FAULT!"

"MY FAULT!? HOW THE HECK IS THAT MY FAULT!"

"WELL WE WERE THE ONLY ONES ON THERE AND IT SURE WASN'T ME THAT BROKE IT!"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DID IT!"

"OH YEAH SURE! THE RIDE JUST HAPPENED TO BREAK DOWN AND THE CULPRIT JUST MAGICALLY DISAPPEARED!"

"ARE YOU SAYING I'M LYING!?"

"MAYBE I AM!"

(like the toy story reference I put in there 😏)

That was the last straw. Four lunged towards Three and the two started rolling on the floor, smacking each other back and forth. "Stop it guys!" Boopkins called out.

"ARE YOU KIDDING! THIS IS FUNNY AS HELL!" Bob was sitting in a chair with 3D glasses on and eating popcorn.

Meggy separated both of them and said "Okay, that's enough! Fighting isn't going to solve anything!" Four sighed and Three crossed his arms angrily. "Let's just have a nice breakfast together with no shouting or fighting." Meggy and the rest of their friends went to join Mario, who was sitting at a table in the breakfast buffet. This time, Four sat on the furthest side of the table that was away from Three.

Mario noticed that Four was facing away from his plate. "Is Smg4 going to eat that?" He shook his head as Mario happily took the contents of his best friend's plate and dumped it onto his. He was about to take a bite when he noticed how sad Four looked and how angry Three was. It made a terrible guilt rise up in him. "This is all Mario's fault..." Meggy was happily tucking into some eggs when she noticed Mario's remorse.

~After breakfast~

As the crew was walking through the lobby, Meggy pulled Mario aside and asked him "Are you okay Mario?" He shook his head and nervously played with his fingers. "Meggy...Mario has to tell you something." She raised an eyebrow and said "What did you do Mario?" He peeked over Meggy's shoulder to make sure the boys weren't listening and blurted out "Mario was the one who broke the Ferris wheel!"

"What!?"

Mario took in a breath and said "Last night, Mario snuck away from the group and wanted to join the gays. He accidentally broke the ride and ran off. Now Smg4 and Smg3 blame each other for it!" Meggy sighed and gave Mario a side hug. "It's okay Mario. It was just an accident. But you better go apologize and tell them that it was you who did it before they refuse to speak to each other for the rest of the trip."

Mario flinched and freaked out. "No! Please don't make Mario do that! Smg4 and Smg3 will hate Mario forever if he tells them!"

"I understand Red, but this is only going to get worse if someone doesn't stand in soon." Mario started sweating nervously until he got a brilliant idea. He placed a finger on her mouth and said "Hold that thought Meggy! Mario thought of a better idea!" Meggy looked upon him in annoyance. "Mario..what are you WHOA!" Mario dragged her behind a pillar and pointed to Three and Four. "We need to get the gay boys into their room for Mario's genius plan!"

"And what do you want me to do?" Meggy asked with curiosity. "You get Smg3 to go up to the room while Mario tackles Smg4!" Meggy was unsure about this, but tried to look at this in a helpful kind of way. "Okay...but this better help them."

"Oh..Mario knows it surely will" He said with a smug grin.

Three was still refusing to make eye contact with Four when Meggy approached him. "Hey Smg3!" He scoffed and faced away from her. Meggy thought to herself "Okay, now what would be a good excuse to get Three up to his room without raising suspicion?" She knew it had to be something simple and out of the ordinary. "I know!" She lightly tapped his shoulders and said "Sorry to bug you Three, but could you do something for me?" He raised an eyebrow and asked "Like what?"

"I left something in your room last night. Could you go up there and grab it for me please?" Three wasn't buying it as he looked confused. "Left what? And why the heck would you leave it in my room!?" Meggy scrambled her thoughts in a panic, trying to convince him that he had to go up there. "Oh my Splatshot! I didn't want Mario to get it since he was right next door to me so I left it there for safekeeping."

"And why can't you just grab it yourself?"

"Because I promised Mario I would spend the day with him!" She waved to Mario, who was talking with Smg4 and he quickly rushed over to her for some reason.

As Mario walked over to Smg4, he tried thinking of what he would say. He wasn't like Meggy, who could come up with clever excuses at the drop of a hat. His tactics were more...strange. Four noticed Mario coming up to him and tried to act as cheerful as usual. "Hey Mario! Do you need something?" Being as stupid as he was, the fat Italian blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "There's some interesting memios upstairs!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Uhhh what Mario means is..."

He started to sweat and shake like crazy while Four knew something was going on. "Are you hiding something Mario?" In a frenzy, Mario swiped Four's phone from him and threw it on the ground, stomping on it until it was destroyed for good. "WHAT THE HELL MARIO! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?" Mario shrugged and said "Oops. Now Smg4 has to go upstairs to watch the memios!" Four looked upset with him. Suddenly Mario pointed to the ground and yelled "Smg4's shoelaces are untied!"

"Huh?" Four bent down and Mario took the opportunity to snatch something out of his pocket. "Wait a minute. I don't have shoelaces." Mario then noticed Meggy was waving at him. "Looks like Meggy wants to see Mario. Goodbye!" He quickly rushed off to see Meggy and Smg3 as Four sighed. "Good thing I left my backup phone in my room." He went to the elevator to retrieve the phone.

"Hello Smg3!" Three let his guard down and said "Fine." They had did it. Both boys were going to their room. "We did it!" Meggy cheered as Mario jumped for joy. "YIPPEE!" The first part of the plan worked, but Meggy didn't know what the second part was. "So what do we do now Mario?" He dangled something in front of her that he had just acquired. "Mario...is that...their room key!?" He nodded and grabbed her arm, steering them towards the elevator as well. "LETS-A GO!"

Four made it to the room first. He went to his suitcase and started digging for his spare phone. "Laptop...headphones..." Just then, he heard the door creak open and spun around to find the person that he wanted to run into the least. Three quickly noticed him as well and they both said in unison "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Four was the first to question him as he asked "Let me guess...Mario put you up to this too."

"Ehhhh...Kinda..." Four just ignored him and went back to looking for his phone. Three retorted back "Look. It doesn't matter. I didn't come up here to chat with you. I'm just looking for something for-" The moment he stepped into the room, Four turned around and noticed someone behind him. "Mario?"

"No. It's for Meggy."

"NO! MARIO!"

Three instantly spun around to see the mustached man with the room key in his hands. "MARIO I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He closed the door and waved back "SO LONG GAY BOI!" He shut the door with a slam and locked it. Three ran up and pulled on the lock, but the door wouldn't budge. He pounded on the door and yelled "OPEN THE DOOR IDIOT!!!"

Mario giggled while Meggy looked disapprovingly at him. "Why would you do that Mario!?" He reassured her "Relax Meggy. They got trapped in an igloo several years ago and when Mario came to rescue them, they were making out with each other!" She blinked in confusion. "Did that really happen...?"

"Oh yeah!" Mario began twirling the key around his finger while telling her "All we have to do is give them a couple hours and they'll be boyfriends in no time!" Four started freaking out as he ran to the door and yelled "LET US OUT MARIO! I CAN'T DO THIS AGAIN!"

"Sorry guys, but its for your own good!" Meggy called out from the other side. "Just tell Mario when you start smooching and then he'll let you out!" That encouraged Mario to do something he would regret in just a moment. "Oooo Mario wants to get a picture of that! Let him grab Luigi's camera!" He accidentally flicked his wrist and the key went flying out of his hand and right into a nearby mail slot. "Uh oh..."

"DID YOU JUST SAY UH OH!" Four yelled in a panic. Mario and Meggy shared a stiffened glance with each other before they ran over to the slot and looked down. Meggy turned back to the door and said "We may have a tiny problem...Mario dropped the key into a mail slot..."

"HE WHAT!?" Three yelled. "Don't worry. We'll be right back with the key!" Meggy called out as she and Mario raced back downstairs. "Great!" Three said in annoyance as he slumped down into a corner of their room. Four started pacing the room in circles. "No...no...no...I can't do this again!"

"Pipe down with your stupid whining!" Another thing settled into his mind as he asked "Did you set me up..."

"WHAT!? NO! MARIO WAS THE ONE TO DO THIS!" Three smacked himself. "Of course it was him...I'm going to throw a chair at him once we're out!"

~Meanwhile in the lobby~

Bob, Boopkins, and Tari were all relaxing in the lounge. "It doesn't seem like we have anything to do today." Boopkins nodded and asked the two of them "Maybe we could find something here to do. Any suggestions."

"LET'S GO TO THE ROOF AND TOSS YOU DOWN!"

A panicked Meggy and Mario came rushing up to them. "Guys! We need your help." Bob grabbed Boopkins and said "NOPE. I'M BUSY!" Tari looked concerned. "Oh no! With what?" Meggy gave a stern look at Mario while he sadly looked down at the floor. "Mario locked Three and Four in their hotel room, but now we've lost the key and it's somewhere in the mailroom!"

Bob immediately stopped and dropped Boopkins on the floor. "NEVER MIND. I'M NOT BUSY." Tari and Boopkins were glad to help. "Of course Meggy!" She looked around the lobby and pointed to a directory map. "That might help." Meggy gave her a thumbs up. "Good eye Tari!"

They rushed off to the sign as she scoured the map. "It looks like the mailroom is down below the lobby. The crew ran to the elevator and went down in a hurry to the lower level. While they were sitting in the elevator in silence, Tari piped up "Excuse me for asking, but why are Three and Four locked in their room in the first place?" Meggy looked in Mario's direction and said "That's a good question."

"Uhhh...well Mario..."

He was thankfully spared that question as the elevator dinged and the doors opened to find a long narrow hallway with some doors at the end. They rushed down the hallway and were about to go inside when a man stopped them. "Sorry, but only employees are allowed in here!" Bob questioned in an interrogating way "AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

"I'm one of the mail clerks sir." Tari pushed past Bob and told the guy "I'm sorry, but this is an emergency! My friend lost one of our room keys in there and we really need to get it back!" Unfortunately, the man was not that considerate as he told them "Then you can take that up with the front desk. Have a good day."

They all groaned and were forced to go back the way they came. "What do we do now?" Boopkins asked. Bob then noticed a guy pushing a mail cart down the hall and the mail clerk letting him through. "I HAVE AN IDEA!"

~Back at the room~

Four was trying to stick a paperclip through the key slot and Three looked at him, unimpressed. "What are you even trying to do?" Four looked at him in irritation and said "I'm trying to pick the lock."

"You're such an idiot. That stuff only works in movies." Four grunted and took a stance in front of him. "Well what do you suggest we do! Climb out the window!?"

"It's better than what you're doing!"

"WE'RE FOUR STORIES UP HERE! IT'S FURTHER DOWN THAN THE FERRIS WHEEL WAS!"

"Oh shut up! It's not my fault that you slipped!"

"Well maybe I should have just called someone instead of-"

Four then stopped and stared at his suitcase. "That's it!" He started digging through and told Three "Quick! Help me look for my phone!" Three was a bit lost, but he went to help anyway. "Why? Even if we call one of our friends, how are they going to help us without the room key?"

Four finally found his phone and started to dial someone's number. "I'm not calling our friends. I'm calling the front desk so they can come up here with a spare key!" The phone began to ring as someone picked up. "Front desk speaking. How can I help you?"

"Uh yes hi. Me and...my friend got locked into our room by our retarded neighbor and we need a spare key to get out."

"Okay, uh what is your room number?" Before Four could give the number, Bob ran the person at the front desk over with a huge cart and disconnected the phone. A long beeping sound ran on the other side as Four called out "Hello? Hello!?" Nothing. Three snatched the phone from him and tried dialing the number again, but nobody would pick up. "What a jerk!"

Bob was wearing some kind of white cloak over him with a mailman's hat on and had a pile of envelopes in the cart he was pushing. "This doesn't seem like a good idea Bob." Meggy said from under the pile of letters. "What if we get arrested?" Boopkins said worryingly. "I'm getting paper cuts in here..." Tari said while sticking her finger in her mouth. "Mario thinks that this is nice and cozy!"

"SHUT UP! I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!" Bob rolled the cart to the entrance of the mailroom, but got stopped by the clerk again. "SUP BRO! I NEED TO GO IN THERE TO DROP OFF THESE LETTERS." The mail clerk looked suspiciously at Bob's outfit and said "Why aren't you wearing the hotel's official uniform?" Bob scratched his head and said "BECAUSE...I JUST GOT HERE?" The mail clerk extended his eyeballs closely at Bob until he said "Oh wait! You're the new guy!"

"UHHH YEAH!" The mail clerk politely opened the door and said "Sorry about that! Have a good first day!" Bob pushed past and cheered "HELL YEAH! I KNEW THIS WOULD WORK!"

"Hush Bob! Find somewhere that nobody can spot us so we can get out!" Bob found a back door that didn't seem to have anybody in there so he dumped them out and went back to his normal clothes. "Alright! Now we just need to find the room where the mail slots lead." The crew peeked out from the door to see many guys grabbing mail from the center and sorting them into drawers.

"How are we going to find the room with all those guys?" Tari asked. "Found it!" Mario pointed down a hallway where a door labeled with the words "Mail slots" was at the end of it. "Well that was easy..." They all snuck past the mail clerks and into the room. "Alright guys! Let's split up! The key has to be in here somewhere."

Meggy started looking through the different mail slots, Tari looked through stacks of letters with Mario, except he was kind of flinging the letters around the room, Boopkins tried jumping up to shelves, but he was too short, and Bob was digging through the trashcan. So far they weren't having any luck until...

"I FOUND IT! I WIN!" They all turned in shock and Meggy grabbed the key out of Bob's hands. "HEY!" Sure enough, the key said 403. "Why would the key be in a trashcan of all places?"

~Flashback~

A guy came in earlier to see what letters came in through the mail slots. He saw something come through the one to the fourth floor and upon closer inspection, he noticed it was "A key? Why would someone want to mail a key?" He looked at it and tossed it over his back into the trashcan. "Oh well, time for my lunch break."

"Whatever. Let's just get Three and Four out before any more disasters happen." Tari tapped her on the shoulder. "Uh Meggy? I think another disaster has just happened." She pointed and they were surrounded by hotel security that certainly didn't look happy they were here.

Four tired calling the front desk multiple times while Three was writing in his notebook. "Give it up dude. They're not gonna answer." Four sighed and collapsed onto the bed next to Three. With nothing left to do except sit back and wait to get rescued, Four decided to at least clear things up between them. "I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I didn't mean to yell at you like that."

Three said nothing and continued writing. "And I take full responsibility for us getting stuck. Both the Ferris wheel and now." He heard the book shut and Three actually said something to him that wasn't an insult. "It wasn't your fault. I just said that because I was mad." He turned the other way and faced towards Four. "Can you tell me?"

"About what?" Three softly grabbed his hands and said "About why you've been avoiding me." Four felt an uneasiness. He didn't want to tell Three, but he looked concerned like he wanted to know. "I..." Tears started to appear in his eyes as Three noticed. "Hey...what's wrong?" The waterworks broke loose as Four collapsed into his arms. "Oh Three, it was terrible! I was having this nightmare t-that you couldn't catch me in time a-and I was bleeding out...a-and you w-w-wanted me to! Please don't be mad!"

Three didn't look mad at all. He actually looked worried. "It's okay Four. I'm not mad." He wiped the tears off his cheeks as Four sniffed and said "You aren't?" He pulled Four in closer and stared at him sadly. "If I actually did that, I would hate myself forever!" Four listened closely as he couldn't believe it. Was Three actually...crying?

"I was so scared for you! If I didn't catch you in time, then it would have been my fault and I couldn't bear to lose you!" He smashed his hand on the table by the bed as he screamed "I WISH I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT STUPID IDEA!" Four placed his hand on his cheeks. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm fine and I forgive you." They rested their foreheads on top of each other. "I'm not going anywhere." Three wrapped his arms around Four and they both fell onto the floor, laughing.

"Mario told you this would work!" They both turned to see everyone standing in the doorway. Meggy had the key in her hand. "And what took you guys so long..." Three asked. "We ran into some trouble with the security downstairs, but Bob took care of it." They looked at Bob who was acting innocent while hiding a bazooka behind his back. "Well this will be quite the story to tell Luigi." Tari said.

It was around dinner time so they all went back down to the lobby. By the time they made it downstairs, Luigi was back from work and Mario ran up to give his brother a hug. Bob noticed the front desk and the woman there with bruises on her face. "I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?" Mario walked up to the boys and told them "Mario has something to tell you..."

"You want to finally apologize for locking us in the room and losing the key!?" Three glared at him while Mario said "That's not all." Four and Three shared a confused glance before Mario confessed in front of all his friends "MARIO WAS THE ONE WHO BROKE THE FERRIS WHEEL!" He started bawling and pleading "MARIO'S SO SORRY! PLEASE DON'T HATE HIM!" Four went over to comfort Mario while Three stood there in shock. "It's okay Mario. I don't hate you. I'm sure it was an accident."

"I don't forgive him..." Three mumbled. "Oh come on Three. I think he really means it." Meggy told him. He looked at her with a patient expression, waiting for something. Meggy knew what it was and said "And I'm sorry too." Three rolled his eyes playfully and said to her "I'm just messing with you squid."

"Oh that's a good one Three!" They laughed and made their way to the restaurant for dinner. Mario was glad that he was forgiven, but still felt that things were still rocky between him and Three.

Four was getting ready when he noticed that Three was lying in bed, expecting something from him. He grabbed his pillow and said "I know. I'll sleep on the floor." Three shook his head and said "No. I would like it if we slept together...if you know what I mean." Four was surprised. He slowly climbed in and let Three pull him in closer. "Here. This way you won't have any nightmares." Four softly smiled and nuzzled into his chest. "I like this." The two slowly fell asleep together, cuddling each other all night.

Chapter 6: A Somewhat Romantic Boat Trip

[fuck-customers]

I figured I'd talk about it anyways since I'm here, hey, it's the person who went on the big long rant with housekeeping and the supervisor drama with D and all that shit. I'm here to talk about the borderline p*do we have on staff that no one is doing jack shit about :)

so first thing, Blondie has been caught staring at people's asses all the time. again, specifically the group of housekeepers who are 18-21. I don't know Blondie's actual age, but he's like. in his 40s via his appearance. not the kind of man who should be staring at recent high school graduates. he does this to a lot of people.

(side note: we have two housekeepers with the same name, so I call one Tiny and one Weekend to keep them straight in my head) (same reason i'm calling him Blondie. also because i need some fake thing to call them here)

so Tiny T was running too. Running, i didn't get into in my other ask, is basically taking those big blue carts, and grabbing trash and linen from the hallways, and taking them where they need to go, either laundry or the dumpster outside. So Tiny T was doing a run of linen, and Blondie was like, oh i'll help, because, as i'm sure you can assume by the nickname i'm calling her, she doesn't look strong, and she really isn't. she BEGRUDGINGLY accepts, because what else are you gonna do, and two incidents come from this.

One, Tiny T heard him using voice-to-text to text someone on the phone. whatever, it happens, weird to do at work, but rolls my eyes gets over it. except, what he said, and she quoted it to me, so i'm quoting it here, was "I'm so happy we're together, but you can't tell your mom."

uhm. if you know anything about grooming, that gives you MAJOR pause, because that's some textbook shit right there. voms in my mouth. shudders. but. it's technically out of work, out of our hands, we don't even know who he was talking to, maybe it is a fully grown woman with a shitty mom, who knows, we don't, major side eye and we move on.

then, when they take the linen down and sort it into the tubs for washing, they find a used condom at the bottom of the blue cart. gross, but not uncommon in hotels. he looks at this, then looks at Tiny T (an adult women with a boyfriend, who he KNOWS) and says 'that's for men to use... did you know that? ... haven't used one in ten years...'

fucking EXCUSE ME ??? EX-FUCKING-CUSE ME ???? i'm so fucking sick thinking about it and it didn't even happen to me, it happened to my work friend, i'm SICK. but the next thing here is Worse in my opinion.

A thing about runners that is important to know is that they don't generally go into the rooms, they just grab what's in the halls. when I ran, I would pop into rooms to ask if they needed help stripping a room, but other than that, I wouldn't. they also don't take those blue carts into any room. there's no reason to, it gets in the way, and just. no.

housekeepers also need to keep their doors open, at the VERY least with the latch to the door (forgot the name, the weird thing at the top, secondary lock thing) keeping the door open.

so my coworker P is like, digging under the couch since she saw some trash under there when she hears a noise. So, she sits up to look over the counter of the kitchen to see what that noise was. And it is Blondie. In her room. with the blue cart. and the door SHUT. all the way shut.

nothing came of this, but imagine if she hadn't heard that click. if her music was any louder. it makes me fucking SICK to think about that.

so what does she do ? she goes to Manager, who is both Housekeeping Manager, and part of HR now. she should help right ??

except nothing has been done. he still works here. he still runs. he still has access to the girls. and NOTHING has been done.

i'm encouraging P to come with me to get her the HELL out of this environment, as she's really the main one who he focuses all his gross attention on, but. you can see why we feel uncomfortable with talking to this manager without J by our side, when she literally hasn't done anything to help with something this serious.

i'm so sick of this job tbh. i'm so sick of it. so glad i'm leaving relatively soon honestly :/

Posted by admin Rodney.

[punishedgwyndolin]

Hi! I'm getting married (soonish, we haven't set a date yet) to a transfemme who is early in their transition. I met them when they were 18 and j a depressed anxious socially awkward nerd and over the past like ~year I've watched them blossom into themself (it's magical). But as a tme person sometimes i feel like I'm not fit to be the main person supporting them during this journey, bc they don't have any irl tgirl/transfem friends.

Do you have any suggestions? I'm always trying to learn more about transmisogyny. I took them to get an affirming haircut by a woman I met on Lex, I help with makeup. I've been trying to help them make friends bc they still do have like, a diagnosed social phobia lol. I think it'd be good if I WASNT the main support for this stuff in many ways. And they are like 10x as confident now that they present more authentically, but it's a process. And idk. I know them rly well and love them a lot but I worry sometimes that I'm somehow hurting them or doing the wrong thing.

I know I can't do everything for them (codependency lol) but I want to be the best partner I can be. I'm always asking what they want but sometimes it's like, j figuring out as we go bc it's all new. So what would YOU want from a tme partner ig? How do you assume I could be helpful, better, etc?

Feel free not to respond if this is too much. I don't mean to be putting too much on you. I'm just trying to treat my fiance better and better each day (failing sometimes).

hello and congrats!!! first off this is so touching and aaaa. my god. anyway.

it sounds like you’re really on the right track for sure :) friends are extremely important especially for ppl in minority groups that make socializing harder, so trying to help to her get out of her shell and get to know other people is certainly a great idea; both because she deserves having something of a social group, and because like you say, trans friends can be really critical. i can’t speak with authority since I don’t know you & your situation, but it could definitely help with supporting her and whatnot; i value my transfem friends irl a lot and they’re wonderful with buoying my transition. im not sure id say you’re ‘not fit’ for it unless you dont want to be, since there’s a lot of ways to support and be there for someone’s transition. my femme is tme and she has been wonderful with my transition and helping me explore different gender stuff by helping me with womens clothes, sometimes a little makeup, and her support when im mixing things up with my presentation. she’s happy to change and play with her vocab too; when i realized i like being called pretty from time to time now she works it into when she’s teasing me or being sweet, things like that.

as far as other things id want to see in a tme partner, the willingness to look at transmisogyny and learn about it and work it over is pretty important to me; but it sounds like you’re already working on this, so just keep your mind open with a clear heart. if you make a mistake, trust that you can learn from it and move on. id also say to let her be the one to define and speak about her transition and her past as well, and not to get tripped up on gender too much; i had an ex who was a lesbian and hated hearing me talk about my past as a boy. was very unfortunate. so keep an open mind and if you don’t understand something or you’d like to understand more, try not to be too afraid to ask; I can’t speak for her exactly, but I can say i really don’t mind getting asked about gender stuff or transmisogyny since it shows that someone cares and also gives me a chance to make sure we’re on the same page. and also, while this may be a little risqué, so long as she’s not ace or something id think about making sure you touch and love on her body holistically. a lot of trans women don’t get touched like how cis and other women do, so don’t be afraid to get a little handsy if she doesn’t mind it. having our bodies be actively wanted (touching sides, thighs, etc) can be really very wonderful when we’re taught that we’re repulsive in every way that matters.

so tl;dr: getting her more friends is a great idea for a milieu of reasons! don’t walk on eggshells with transmisogyny too much, just keep an open mind and maybe think about biases sometimes but don’t let it get to your beat and beat you up over it. but I think your concern sounds like it might be a sign that you care and are gonna try, and if that’s the case then approach any issues that come up from an angle of love and i think it should buff out. anyone wanna chime in in the replies?

[astral-from-afar]

Ooh nice to see a fellow Kamen Rider type of person

Personally, out of the three main tokusatsu, I think I watched Kamen Rider more than anything. I did watch all 3 equally at first but my interest went from Ultraman and Super Sentai (from when I was little) to more of Kamen Rider as I grew older.

I haven't watched much from Reiwa since I stopped watching Tokusatsu maybe 3 years ago. But growing up, my parents were into tokusatsu, so I was naturally shown a lot of it, lmaoo. I kinda stopped being open about it after some kid in third grade made fun of me for it 💀

After that, I became self-conscious about it as I grew up, so I told myself I had to stop watching it. My parents still watch it though, and they tell me it's good, but I don't have the courage to start watching again 😭 Lately I wish I didn't do that cause now I feel like I'm missing out on the fun lmao- it was really fun to watch because they tend to have a deeper/darker meaning to them, even if it seems to be for younger audiences at first glance, which I find neat.

I don't really remember much from W, since I watched it way back when I was younger, but I remember the acting was great (I think the actor for Philip was only 15 at that time? I've seen that guy in other J-dramas and his acting is amazing). I remember liking W but I just don't really remember what it was about. Maybe I should revisit it sometime.

I think my favorite was Den-O. I'm pretty sure I've watched all of the heisei ones but I can't recall all of the good ones that I liked. I do remember liking the 3 last Heisei ones which I believe were Ghost, Exaid, and Build, but out of those 3, I think Ghost was the best.

ALSO YOU ARE SO RIGHT the kamen rider soundtracks tend to be bangers

Oops I kinda talked too much about myself LMAOA (I tried to shorten this the best I could. i really did. I DELETED 3 PARAGRAPHS LMAO)

No way you used to be a fan AS WELL. Now I feel a bit embarrassed for recommending stuff. Also Den-o is top tier. Deneb is probably one of my favourite kamen rider characters just for how funny he is.

To be fair I was more of a Power Rangers kid growing up. I started off watching mega force when it was still airing and religiously watched the reruns of older stuff like Dino Thunder, which was my favourite.

I stopped watching after a bit because man are kids RUTHLESS. Some of them made fun of me so I stopped watching for a bit. Luckily I have younger siblings who were watching the show up on it so I became a casual viewer, mostly watching for my siblings and then lying at school the next day.

The reason I got into Toku was actually because of a YouTuber that I was subscribed to. I had 0 clue what kamen rider was and they were praising fourze so I thought ‘I’ve seen jojo part 4, this is practically that with superheroes’ and then proceeded to watch the series. I then moved onto the other series like ooo, build,gaim,W,Den-o,ex-aid and blade.

Funny story about my watch through of blade is that I had no context for where most of the memes in the fanbase came from so I watched Blade to mainly understand everything. I had gotten up to the final arc but had to take a break since mock season was going on. When I finished I remember that I rushed home and decided to watch the last arc, despite being very tired. Yeah big mistake. Who knew a bench could make Astral cry but it did

I’m wondering right now what series to watch now. The smartest decision is to probably catch up to the latest season but I’m probably going to wait until it finishes to binge it. I’m torn on watching a late heisei era show or trying to see more early heisei works. I’ll do what I do best which is spin a wheel and decide what to watch lol.

Nooo man you don’t need to shorten down your thoughts. It’s fun reading this stuff and believe me I’ve been holding back from spamming the dashboard with my random Toku thoughts so you shouldn’t worry about if you’re saying too much. If you want to get back into it the newest season of kamen rider is around the corner so you could start getting back into it from there.

[tinyowlthoughts]

"Sup, G?"

The Grim Reaper grips his scythe ever-so-slightly tighter, but after a few millennia of bumping into each other like this, you've picked up on his little tells.

"I have told you before, that is not my name."

"I can go back to calling you Grimey."

The sound of his teeth grinding together is music to your ears.

Finally, after a moment of grip-tightening and dental damage, he heaves a great sigh (impressive, for a literal skeleton who lacks both lungs and a nose to blow it out of) and shifts his stance, rolling his weight back to the center so he is appears proper and in control.

(It's adorable, that he thinks he has any control over you.)

"I have come to offer you a deal," he intones in a deep, gravely voice that makes you think of tolling church bells and shovels sliding through dirt and worms overturning desecrated soil. In the beginning it had set your nerves alight, had triggered your fight-or-flight and led you to fawn, had left you with a hollow pit as you refused to eat for days (because being immortal didn't mean your body stopped running - it just made it run for longer, for eternity). Now, it was a comforting scrape against your mind - a reassurance that despite humanity changing, shifting from the pastoral, king-ruled fields of London to the bustling streets of Chicago, some things never changed.

"Is your name Jake?"

"It is - what?"

"Jake? Like, from State Farm. You said you want to offer me a deal - are you secretly Jake from State Farm?"

"I - who? What is a state farm?"

"That would make sense, you're name starts with a J, not a G. No wonder you were annoyed."

You can pinpoint the second he realizes you're fucking with him, and the bony fingers tighten hard enough around the staff of his reaping weapon that the wood splinters.

Wisely, he decides to ignore your witty banter and forge ahead. It only took him five-odd centuries to figure that trick out.

"I have come to offer you a chance to regain your mortality." His voice is less church-bells and more annoyed-Walmart-manager-on-Black-Friday now. "You have long walked this world, and the time has come to move on."

You frown, shifting a bit on the bed. "Wait, what? You said if I too the deal I'd never die-"

"Yes. Yes I did say that. But it has been a millennia, and surely you have seen everything there is to see? Your family is waiting for you on the other side-"

"Which one?"

"What?"

"Which family? I've been married seven times - who's waiting for me?"

The Grim Reaper fumbles for a moment, his jaw clacking as he opens and closes his mouth (a poor substitute for flapping lips, but you give him credit for trying). "All of them." He finally decides.

"Wow. Even my bitch ex? The one who kicked our dog?"

"Er..."

"I thought Heaven was supposed to be nice."

The reaper pinches his zygomatic arch (which you'd learned in a failed attempt to get a doctorate and practice medicine) and sighs again. You swear he mutters something along the lines of 'who said you're going to heaven?' but don't get a chance to call him out on it.

"Do you want to move on or not?" He snaps, all spooky, other-worldly pretense dropped.

"Nah, I'm good, J." You relax back into your chair, resting one hand behind your head, the other being occupied.

"This is a one-time offer, human. If you refuse you will never get another opportunity to recant and move on."

"Eh, I figure the heat-death of the universe will sort me out in the end. Can't exist if there's no atoms, right?"

"Look, you should really consider this - how much more can humanity do that you haven't seen?"

"We're getting closer to Mars every day - oh shit, there's an idea! I should be an astronaut! The whole immortality thing would be perfect for long space missions."

"You aren't listening-"

"Dude I gotta call NASA, they're gonna flip-"

"HUMAN!"

The shout is like shattered stained glass, a tree struck by lightning and falling, the keening last cry of a bird as it falls from the sky. You freeze, a little, tiny, itty-bitty bit of that ancient 'fight or flight' coming back to kick your unused self-preservation into gear. You stare at the skeleton.

"You cannot continue to live." He declares, voice back to its theatric deep timbre.

"Yes I can."

"No, you can't."

"Why not?"

The Reaper lets out an exasperated huff and motions to the needle in your arm. "You are sharing your immortality with the world!" He huffs, watching as the blood bag connected to the needle continues to slowly fill with your strange, silver-gold blood. "That was not the intent-"

"It wasn't forbidden in the contract." You have to wiggle, lifting your butt of the seat to grab your wallet, but after a moment you have it and are pulling out the wallet-sized laminated copy of the contract you had signed a thousand years ago. "There is nothing in here about not sharing my blood, or forbidding blood transfusions."

"That is because they did not exist-"

"There's also nothing about updating the contract." You had flunked out of medical school, but law school had been your jam. You'd been a damn good lawyer for a while too, until DC started giving you the ick and you retired. "This contract stands - you cannot amend it, not without the consent of both parties. And I don't consent." You shove your wallet into your front pocket with a shrug. "I don't make the rules."

The reaper hisses through his teeth, a sound like a sad black balloon at a 50th birthday party slowly giving a death cry. "You are upsetting the balance of the cosmos-"

"Not my problem."

"-and the scales of eternity-"

"Still not my problem."

"-and Anubis is on my ass about fixing it! So please, please, either allow yourself to pass on, or stop donating blood!"

You grin - it's all teeth, more than the Reaper himself usually shows, and squeeze the heart-shaped stress ball in your hand. More of your blood - silvery-gold, carrying the cursed gift given to you so long ago - slips down the line and into the bag, which is almost full. As soon as its gone, your body replaces it - a perk of the curse, the blessing, the whatever-it-is. You can stay hooked up all day and never run dry.

The infusions and transfusions don't make anybody truly immortal like yourself, but it's done wonders for cancer treatment and longevity. The work scientist have done in the past few decades, since you outed yourself to the government, has been incredible. People are living far past their predicted time, and the average life span is ticking upwards every year.

"I'm gonna have to go with no." You shrug, and the machine weighing the blood-bag beeps. The Reaper groans, running a hand down his skull. "Hey, you remember what you said when we struck this deal?"

"What?" He snaps, prickly as a hedgehog in a porcupine convention.

You grin. "You told me it would be waste to make me live forever - what could a road bandit with blood on their hands do to help humanity?" You shrug again. "It took me a while, but I figured it out." There are footsteps outside the room, and your smile widens. "Uh-oh, J. Better skedaddle if you don't want to be seen. I know how shy you are." A quick wink in his direction and the scythe haft shatters, sprinkling the room with splinters of bone. With a snarl and a dramatic swirl of black robes, the Grim Reaper vanishes, leaving you to your blood draw in peace.

Cackling, you lean back, hand back behind your head, refocusing on the news playing on the TV above. A story is running - the new average human lifespan is 350 and steadily climbing, and deaths from diseases are at an all time low. With a lowered birth rate, humanity has never had such low death rates, across the world as a whole.

Sure, maybe they're not living forever like you, but being a living blood bag for a few days every week is worth it, just for the stress and havoc it's causing J.

You were given immortality to atone for your horrific crimes against humanity. You wander the earth for millennium. Finally, you are given the option to revoke your immortality and end your suffering. You deny it.

[seelestia]

I'm not in anon mode, so u know exactly what's coming lmao (no surprises here officer /hj)

Our dearest author here has made my little request blossom and grow into something astronomically angsty and amazing so as the person who was part of the reason for all the tears and heartbreak, I am here to offer my gifts to the lovely author who made all our angsty dreams come true

Here's dylm? Reader! (In shadow and outline)

[ Sakura in Readers hair represent love, new beginnings, and optimism ]

[ Glaze Lily in Readers hand represents....well...do I even have to say who? ]

Also here's a bonus of me apologizing to poor reader

(keep in mind this is my interpretation of dylm?Reader and you can make them look different if u want to! This is just my design for them)

Poor reader looking so empty, even in what if endings they still hurt :((

But fr I'm so proud of what Lia's been able to accomplish with this series, and I hope I did dylm?Reader justice with my interpretation of them :'D

Screw Zhongli, gimme reader instead- I can treat u better bestie I swear :''''D

- Sincerely yours, 👹✨ Jae <333

the need to prep myself every time i see you not on anon in my inbox is so real. i literally have to wrap myself in a burrito in case i get so excited i jump like a rabbit. (/hj)

DYLM FANART. JAE ART (NOT JUST ONE, BUT WITH TWO DIFF VERSIONS TOO??).

the symbolism in your DYLM!mc's design is sooooo chef's kiss! i love how mild and gentle and sorrowful they look, especially given that mc was originally much more cheerful in the beginning of DYLM until they were affected by... talks of the past. crying over the sakuras in their hair and the glaze lily, brb. (/j)

and true! this is your friendly neighborhood reminder from us that DYLM!mc (and all mc's in 99% of my works) is gender-neutral. they are never intended to have a specific gender; they could be male, female, non-binary and everything in between! it's 100% up to you to determine what gender you'd like to picture them as <3

[stormberry-12]

the pogues/ESPECIALLY JJ would protect innocent!reader SO MUCH. like she could be the youngest or something and they would go back for her (for ex. when they had to leave jb in s3). anyways jj would so definitely say something like, “you’re like their little sister, but you’re MY girl.” yk

my woman ~ jj maybank x reader

Ahh yes, I totally agree, and I LOVE the innocent!reader and JJ trope>>>

pairing: jj x innocent!fem!reader

warnings: slight language, reader in danger, mega fluff.

notes: lowercase intended, this was made late at night and not rlly edited srry if its bad lmao, not from season 3 but a close concept. :)

you shifted around and felt the sun on your face as your eyes fluttered open. you were in the twinkie bumping along a winding road, clinging onto jj, who was sitting in his seat, like a koala. or as jay called it, "the front pack", it was like a piggyback but on his front because he always wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.

you shifted your legs around his torso and lifted your head from the crook of his neck.

"hiya, cupcake," he whispered softly, taking one of his arms that was wrapped around you and moving it so he could brush strands of hair from out of your eyes. "good nap?"

you nodded, wiping the sleep from your eyes, and he smiled. you suddenly recalled how you had gotten here and relief washed over you.

you were running through alleyways on the cut, you felt betrayed. where had the pogues gone? they were there with you five seconds ago and now you were running away from those bloody square groupers alone.

over by the pogues, jj was having a mental breakdown, "where did she go man?"

"damn it!" john b exclaimed."pope, i thought she was behind you when we cut down this way!

"we have to go back for her-" jj houghed.

"i don't know jay..."

"no... no. we have to." he held his hat in one hand and ran the other through his hair in distress.

"he's right, we have to." pope agreed.

"come on man, we finally lost those guys and now you want to follow em?" john b sighed.

"jb you of all people should understand, she's like a little sister to you man! she's still only 16 and this kind of stuff scares the shit out of her, i can't do that to her guys-"

"john b we're going after her," kie pleaded.

"god! we're wasting time, i'm gonna go after her, even if i have to do it by myself!" jj ran off in your last seen direction. john b gave in and followed along with the rest of the pogues, they all knew jj was right, and their group wouldn't survive without you.

as you continued to run, blood pumping through your ears, you looked for the best spot to hide behind, trying to throw them off. you slid behind a large dumpster and listened as the sets of footsteps of the two men ran past you.

you waited a moment, calming your breathing before you moved from behind the bin. you jumped as the footsteps came back in your direction, but instead of those square groupers, it was jj and the pogues.

"y/n!" j sighed in relief scooping you up into his arms. "I'm so sorry, that will never happen again-"

you just stood there too exhausted to complain, your face buried in his chest. john b brought the twinkie around the corner and you all piled in, driving off into the night.

"you came back for me," you smiled at your boyfriend wrapping your arms around his neck, still facing him on his lap.

"of course," jj said. "you know you're like their little sister, we honestly would fall apart without you... and your my girl."

"your girl?" you giggled.

"my girl, my woman, my soulmate." he repeated smoothly pressing his forehead to yours and closing his eyes. "you sure you're okay?"

"yeah," you said, leaning into his touch, playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. "perfect,"

[kurokoros]

I know you wanted bitchy ST anons yesterday but your recent St/ncy reblog kinda inspired me, I hope that's okay.

Idk the thing about St/ncy that irritates me the most is that those who ship it blame the end of that relationship on Steve. And now that he has changed, it's fine and dandy. First of all Nancy isn't a price but also why is Steve the one to change and not her, when she was the reason why it didn't work in the first place? Like you said even in s1, we could see her actively pining after Jonathan while being with Steve. He was always the second choice to her, she even admits that to Jonathan in s2. St/ncy shippers want Steve to be happy, then why do you ship him with the girl who cheated on him? Just because he still has feelings for her doesn't mean she would be good for him.

Also the whole Steve being a bad boyfriend is simply not true, idc how hard the Duffers want to promote this point. People say Steve never listened to Nancy and didn't take her trauma seriously, but when they come with "proof" it's the scene where he says no to her trying to break the NDA. How is he dismissive by trying to keep her safe? In general Steve dismissing crazy ideas in the show isn't him being an ass or him not caring for that person, it's the opposite because those ideas would backfire in the real world. Like in s4 people really said see Steve is against Nancy's plan again, that means he's horrible to her. Imo Nancy (and the majority of the party) need someone who keeps them in check and not blindly following every move they make (aka Jonathan/J/ncy). [But Nancy doesn't really want that because she hates being challenged] Or Steve saying to Nancy her vision isn't real that Vecna wanted to scare her, people say he was so heartless while I interpreted it as him trying to reassure her that it wasn't real, that Vecna scared Max the same way, but I digress.

Back to s2 when he was a bit annoyed with them going to the Hollands, which was used as further proof to say he was the worst. Imagine sitting across the parents of the girl who is missing, but you know she died in your pool? And that for every week for a year. If Nancy's allowed to have trauma, why can't Steve? Also he's emotionally intelligent, he knows how hard it is for both Nancy and Barb's parents. Trying to make it better, by making like jokes at the dinner or telling Nancy it's not good and they might stop isn't him dismissing Nancy. Plus in the end, he was going with her regardless. Steve was the only one really trying in that relationship, while Nancy was eying Jonathan for a year.

Also tbh we know she blamed herself and Steve for Barb's death, if that topic would come up she would definitely let him know that, if not directly than more subconsciously. Steve isn't stupid and tbh if I were to discuss my trauma from facing a literal monster with my girlfriend while she also blames me vor the death of her bff, I would too pretend everything is fine. That's why he wasn't as phased by her accusation about Barb because he knew it somehow. Like Nancy isn't a sensitive person when she dislikes or has problems with something/someone she let's that person know somehow.

To sum it up, Stancy never worked from the beginning because Nancy never loved Steve and only stayed with him because it was a safe choice and she didn't want to be alone while waiting for the guy she actually wanted. It will never work too because Nancy would have to actively choose Steve first, which was never the case and I honestly don't see her do it in the future.

Oh boy! I'm always up for bitchy anons!

St/ncy as a ship is very weird to me, because I'm not sure who exactly is shipping it. Because the Nancy stans don't seem to like Steve and think he was the reason their relationship fell apart, and I don't know why Steve stans would want him to get back together with the ex who cheated on him with the guy he thought she cheated on him with a year prior (and boy it sure is ironic that Steve's biggest asshole moment in S1 is a result of him thinking Nancy cheated on him with Jonathan, only to have her actually cheat on him with Jonathan in S2). Is st/ncy just the het equivalent of st/ddie and harrin/rove where it makes zero sense canonically but people want the hot (white) characters to kiss? Who is st/ncy for?

Steve being a bad boyfriend has no basis in canon aside from Steve calling himself a bad boyfriend and Nancy not saying anything to disagree. As far as we know, Steve drives Nancy to school. Goes with her to visit Barb's parents for dinner every week. And I can only assume they actually talked about things between seasons. As for Steve not being supportive, I, frankly, think less people should be supportive of Nancy's poorly thought out plans. Like, in S2 I hate the j/ncy plotline because it never should have worked. Owens should have found the recorder, and, if they weren't wrapped up in plot armor, Nancy and Jonathan probably should have been found dead after a fabricated car accident or something. S2 Steve isn't unsupportive of Nancy's asperations, he's unsupportive of her half-baker revenge fantasies that could get people killed.

As for Steve being annoyed about visiting the Hollands... I'm actually on his side in that instance, based on personal experience. When I was a senior in high school, a girl in the grade below me (who I didn't know personally, but did know of) was unexpectedly killed in a car accident. The next day after the news broke, there were a lot of people mourning, and it was an extremely awkward situation to be on the outside of. Because I didn't know her, but I was surrounded by people who did, who were upset, and as empathetic as people try to be, there's still a massive degree of separation between you and people grieving someone you didn't know. In ST, Steve didn't really know Barb. He didn't know Barb's parents prior to her death. So once every week he goes to have dinner with his girlfriend and his girlfriend's dead best friend's parents, and he's the only one not grieving, or maybe he thinks he doesn't have a right to grieve. It's not a fun position to be in. It's not a position anyone wants to be in.

And it's probably an argument Steve and Nancy had a few times. Like, Nancy says Steve doesn't have to go with, but if he doesn't is that something she holds against him? idk there are factors there that it would have been really cool to see the show play around with via flashbacks to the gap year.

Anyway! I fully agree that st/ncy has never worked as a functional couple, and bringing it back romantically in S4 never should have happened unless it was to actually make the two of them talk about what happened in S2 (or to have the Upside Down being stuck in 1983 have a meaning).

[hausofmamadas]

Ngl the second I saw your day1 character pick, I was like, “it was only a matter of time” and was also trying to figure out how this hadn’t happened yet at the same time? bc even though it’s just 2 of them, I sorta view Van Ness and Feistl as the like OG equivalent to the Smash And Grab Crew or at least the Sal and Walt and by that I mean haphazardly put together, ragtag duo of lovable but emotionally dysfunctional manchildren with too much time on their hands and no alternative outlets for their Tiny Feelings to look at this job and say …. Y’know. Maybe not? What if I just? didn’t? Maybe not just ruin my whole life over this jUsTiCe thing that doesn’t?? exist???Maybe therapy instead???? * …… crickets …….* no? Aight, just a suggestion

Anyway, I digress. I also lowkey do not have adequate words to describe how this fic made me feel particularly after this last watchalong of S3. Like before, I might've been all, "awwwwww how cute and sad and happy for them," but when I tell you I was clutching my chest for Jyeeeeezus by the end. And it's not that cracked of a ship, but I lowkey left this shit being like "uhhhhhh YES???? FUCK CANON BC DO WE KNOW HER??? DO WE SUPPLANT HER WITH OUR OWN REALITY???? IN THIS HERE HOUSE OF MAMADAS WE SURELY FUCKIN' DOKSKSK"

Bc straight out the gate, you're hitting me right in the eyes, forehead, heart, gut, you're taking a baseball bat to my gotdamn kneecaps like a regular Capodecina no way in fuck I spelled that right, it's fine sksksj with this: Under the yellow lights, and through the thick glass of the several drinks, he found that his partner looked older than he expected. Worn out, like an embassy vet. When exactly he'd lost that eager Boy Scout look, that look like a golden retriever about to pounce, Van Ness couldn't figure out.

OKAY FIRST OFFKSKSKS I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE TERM "EMBASSY VET" FOR THE NEXT 500 YRS AND NOTHING ELSE. Bc my goldfish memory can't hold any OGdetails for shit I blame Nmx so was this something they said in the show?? that you just put in there bc your eagle eye ear? caught a gem? or did you make that shit up???? Either way, the fact that it's something Van Ness thinks about regularly enough to have a name is like- I can't a[sdfj;qlejweveen idkwhyyyyy I find that so fucking funny. I think it's bc I'm just having visions of him getting to Bogota, walking through the halls of the embassy, taking in all the military personnel and capital-F, Feds in their suits bustling around with their papers, with their presumably haggard-ass faces and being like, "Jesus. Is this what tf are we in for? Cause if so, I need to up my skincare regime. Mfs straight lookin' like those before/after recovery pictures for ppl addicted to amphetamines." Like justasldkjfslkfj is he that catty bitch?? ...I mean, sí, obvio KEKW

God, moving on, and it's really gonna take a biblical amount of strength not to actually quote this whole-ass thing or go as hard as I normally do bc I only have so much finger strength and time to scream if I'm still trying to like eat and sleep and stuff scratch the sleep actually bc when really do I do that sksk but I wasfull hoooowowlwlling at Van Ness telling Feistl he reminds him of his ex wife, followed by just the most sincere outrage from Feistl like you know his Feelings were legit hurt. But bc you knew you had me where you wanted me aka wide open to this deadly offensive you had to go and just- ... they'd never had this argument before, not exactly, but it felt familiar in the way it felt dangerous.

LIKE FOR THE AL;SDFKJA;LS;DKJF;LQKWJE R;O;J LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, HOW IN THE ACTUAL FUCK DO YOU COME UPWITH SHIT LIKE THAT. *refers back to detective notepad, trying not to sob behind impossibly tiny reading glasses* You did it again. What did you do exactly? Well, according to my notes here, it's A Thing You Do that I've noticed where you put to words a common emotional experience that most ppl can relate to but that we don't necessarily have the right or a shared vocabulary for in the general zeitgeist, digital soup of the interwebs? And do it in the most succinct, poignant way possible, where I'm like- I know that exact teetering on the edge of an Actual Fight that will unlock deep and profound truths about you and the other person but you really don't wanna get into it rn, and I've thought about the experience before but only in teh sense that like the thought has bounced around nebulously in mind, but I havne't had the words to describe it. In my experience, it's usually it's a joke couched in Too Much Truth or that thing of like- how do I- okay, it's the one couple that shows up to like someone's engagement dinner and they take sarcastic little jabs at each other all night, to the point that you're like exchanging looks uncomfortably with your homies and when they leave, you all know for a fact they're having a screaming match in the car on the way home SKSKSKS

And then, there was this other devastating banger of a line: He almost missed that Feistl was speaking, only maybe by now it wasn't Feistl, it was Chris. He couldn't be sure, and he thought another aguardiente would've helped. It was probably Feistl. NOOLSKDFJA;LKJ OKAY bc ngl it took me a second to see that this was going in the slash direction bc I didn't fully read the masterlist kskss before copy/pasting the fics into my google doc to read like an Agatha Christie novel bc I am 80 and this was when it finally hit me that he's drunkenly trying to talk himself out of or into going home with Feistl in a don't-think-of-a-Purple-Elephant sorta way sksks and then it broke me apart bc I realized that it's basically the same as Dina saying "David" vs "Barron," or vice versa, him calling her "Dina" vs "Enedina," like the attempted maintenance of distance crumbling so spectacularly in a way that is almost measurable skskjd

And then, in closing, one last assault to really make sure I'm a full 6ft deep in my grave: Dark bar, hard liquor, he could've gotten away with it too—could've figured his way out of the conversation and fled on back to his shitty little apartment for the night. But it wasn't his shitty little apartment he wanted to fall asleep in.

what we do now

for day one of the narcos october challenge: create a fanwork about a canon character you’ve never written about/used before.

Victory lasted them a little while, until one night in some overpriced bar near the embassy, Van Ness looked at his glass and found it was empty.

“Damn,” he said. “I was just getting a taste for that.”

“Aguardiente?” said Feistl. 

Van Ness looked at him. Under the yellow lights, and through the thick glass of several drinks, he found that his partner looked older than he expected. Worn out, like an embassy vet. When exactly he’d lost that eager Boy Scout look, that look like a golden retriever about to pounce, Van Ness couldn’t figure out.

Feistl had undone the top button of his collared shirt and loosened his tie so the dark knot of it hung below the hollow of his throat. That was another thing Van Ness noticed.

“Hey,” said Feistl. “Earth to space cadet.”

It was no use protesting that his mind had been in the present. 

“You’re the one who dragged me here,” Van Ness said. The words came out of his mouth, bypassing his brain entirely. It occurred to him that he was drunk.

“Uh, no. I said I wanted to get arepas at the street stall Trujillo recommended, you said it was too far to walk.” Feistl chuckled, finished his beer, gestured at the bartender for another. 

“This fuckin’ guy,” he added fondly to nobody in particular. “Can’t hold his aguardiente for shit.”

Van Ness heard himself saying, “You remind me of my ex-wife.”

Feistl leaned back an inch, eyebrows shooting up comically, mouth sketching a willingness to smile just in case this turned out to be a joke. “The fuck, Dan?”

“I meant Colombia,” Van Ness said. “You’re the one who dragged me here.”

Feistl slumped his weight a little to the side, onto the elbow he had rested on the bar. Van Ness didn’t think for one minute that meant his partner was relaxing; he knew better.

“You’re the one who followed me here,” said Feistl, and they’d never had this argument before, not exactly, but it felt familiar in the way it felt dangerous. He felt his mouth go dry.

Then, magically, he got saved; Feistl’s eyes flicked over to catch something happening behind Van Ness’s back, and a mischievous smile touched his lips. “Oh shit. Pay up.”

Van Ness turned. In the back corner, Peña had just gotten up, followed by a tall brunette.

What do we do now? Van Ness had asked Peña only ten minutes ago, or maybe it had been Feistl, he couldn’t remember, it was funny how he couldn’t even remember, but anyways, Peña had said nothing. Just downed his drink, stood, and made his way to the back corner where a couple beautiful women were sitting at a table all to themselves.

Van Ness had bet that he’d go for the blonde, Feistl the brunette.

As they watched, Peña started making his way through the crowd, followed by the brunette, followed by—“You pay up,” Van Ness said—the blonde too.

At the door, Peña opened the door for the two women like a gentleman, returned Van Ness and Feistl’s little waves with a cool kid’s nod, and disappeared back into legend. 

Van Ness looked at Feistl, shrugged, and swapped five-dollar bills with him. 

“Guess that’s what you do now, huh,” said Feistl.

“Guess so.”

The two of them eyed each other, Feistl taking a swig of his new beer, Van Ness having nothing to do with himself at all but sit there, feeling unaccountably cheated. He had wanted things to go back to normal, and they had, and now he didn’t want normalcy anymore.

“You want another drink?” Feistl said. 

“No,” said Van Ness. It wasn’t at all what he said, but the way he said it, that made his partner’s expression get a little tireder, a little warmer. His brown eyes were wise; Van Ness missed the early days, when he thought the new rookie was stupid. 

He almost missed that Feistl was speaking, only maybe by now it wasn’t Feistl, it was Chris. He couldn’t be sure, and he thought another aguardiente would’ve helped. It was probably Feistl.

“Dan,” Feistl said. “Don’t.”

“It’s what we do now,” Van Ness said. He felt a little lightheaded.

“What’s what we do now?”

“What we want to do.”

Chris—it had to be Chris, by now—looked at him like he’d just pieced together a fresh, cartel-sized new lead, only a really fucking weird one, ‘cause whatever it was, it seemed to entrance him and amuse him and hurt him and piss him off all at once, and also, somehow, he was smiling. A small, forgotten kind of smile, but still noticeable. To Dan, at least, who noticed all his smiles.

Slowly, after a second, Chris said,“You do know that you don’t have to work a hundred hours of unpaid overtime and catch a cadre of internationally wanted drug lords just to have the thing you want, right? Please tell me you know that.”

“Sure, I know that. Everyone knows that,” said Van Ness “But I worked a hundred hours of unpaid overtime and I caught a cadre of internationally wanted drug lords, so I damn well better get what I want.”

He had aimed for sweeping and gruff and masculine on that last part, but ended up petulant; the difference was doubt. As always. It didn’t help that Chris had stopped smiling.

Chris said, “I wouldn’t want to drag you anywhere.”

He didn’t say it mean, but Dan flushed anyway. Dark bar, hard liquor, he could’ve gotten away with it, too—could’ve figured his way out of the conversation and fled on back to his shitty little apartment for the night. But it wasn’t his shitty little apartment he wanted to fall asleep in.

“I’ll follow you,” Dan said.

And he did.

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[ my narcos fic masterlist ]

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blame it on the alcohol? no, blame it on the @axreliono.

[howl-fantasies]

Imagine, you've been kidnapped by Jeremiah Valeska and everybody is freaking out.

Even Victor? Maybe a bit.

---- GCPD - INTERROGATION ROOM - 4AM

Harvey: Were you tired of playing with her, so you finally shot her and dispose of the body?

Zsasz was frowning hard, far away from Harvey's nonsense and the GCPD incompetence. Y/N didn't answer his last text. That wouldn't have been alarming if it was during one of their infamous bickering. But when it came to business, she or him would ALWAYS find a way to answer. Even a simple "." to say, at least, that they were still breathing.

Something was very wrong. And he didn't like it. At all. He needed to get out of here and investigate to be able to fill the 4W.

When was she taken away? Where has she been before the total silence? What happened? Who was the fucker he needed to torture to death for all of this?

Seeing his lack of cooperation, Harvey grunt and let Jim try to catch his attention again.

Gordon, looking Victor dead in the eyes: I know you didn't kill her.

Zsasz, raised one of his bald eyebrows and despite the crisis grinned a little. Clever, Jimbo. He really meant it when he called him a good egg.

Seeing Victor now paying attention to him, Gordon continued.

Gordon: Even in your own twisted way, you care way too much for Y/N to be the culprit. I know what you did to the mobster who shot her once. I know you would skin someone alive for her. So, help us to find her before it's too late.

The intensity of Zsasz's eyes on him made Gordon visibly flinch. Unwrapping the crazy feelings of a prolific killer in an interrogation room, in front of another cop, and without Y/N to ground him was clearly one of his dumbest move.

The heavy atmosphere was only interrupted by the sound of the hitman squeezing his hands tightly and making his leather gloves squeal. Gordon saw him blink slowly before he relaxed his shoulders a bit.

Zsasz: did you find something in her flat?

The inspector sighed before nodding his head.

Gordon: Her mobile phone. Just that. And that is what we need your help with. There is no name in her contacts, she has some kind of code we don't get very well...

Victor grinned a bit again. She was always so careful. So sly and cunning.

Zsasz: I suppose you've tried to call the contacts?

In the back of the room, Harvey shifted a bit, capting his attention.

Harvey: your little girlfriend is a fucking genius hacker: no number to call nor messages to read properly without a code. She encrypted practically everything. We've asked Fox to crack her little system but the poor guy is ready to bang his head against the walls.

Gordon: we are currently looking for Nygma. He would probably solve the riddle.

Zsasz: Bring it. The phone.

Harvey and Gordon looked at each other a long minute, before the young inspector finally nods and send the older searching Lucius.

The engineer came a few minutes later, exhausted and with a device he put in front of the hitman.

Lucius: Wish you luck with that.

Victor took it and flip it open. It was not locked. Fox at least has cracked that. He saw a familiar plain wallpaper and press the button in the middle.

---- Contacts ---

A

ASPIRIN MAN

Zsasz: sounds like Butch.

C

CAPTAIN DUMB

CRIPPLEPOT

Zsasz: I suppose you get that one?

Gordon: We're not that d-

Zsasz: Dumb? Oh. I can see you and Harvey, under "D".

D

DOMINATRIX

Zsasz: Tabitha. Definitely.

DUMB

Gordon: is that suppose to be me?! And Harvey is dumber?! So the 'Captain Dumb' should be my office?

Zsasz: think so.

DUMBER

Harvey: ... Fucking wicked woman.

G

GREENTHUMB

Gordon: Ivy Pepper?

Zsasz *grins*

I

ISABELLAAAAAHHH

Zsasz: that's Riddler ex-number, when he worked with Penguin.

J

JOKECPD

Zsasz "Pretty sure that one is you too guys"

Gordon *glaring*: Anything useful?!

M

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

MISTER TEA

S

SUE MY HAIR STYLIST

T

THE 1 WHOSE NAME SHDN'T BE PRONONC-ED.

Zsasz: can't wait to see Riddler's face on that one.

W

WHISKAS

Z

ZSPOCK

---- END ----

Zsasz: ...

Gordon: ...

Harvey: I would have felt for you dude, if you weren't a homicidal maniac.

Zsasz didn't have the time to roast Bullock alive, Y/N's phone suddenly buzzed with a new message.

--- 1 New Message ---

*1 File attached - press OK to download*

Harvey and Jim glanced at each other and came on each side of Victor, who seemed frozen.

The hitman finally press "download".

UNKNOWN

Who TF looks so peaceful after being stabbed AND knock out?! The fucker looks like napping peacefully! Not like he just put a bullet in MY FUCKING KNEE!

Zsasz didn't wait Gordon nor Bullock to answer the text.

MY NUMBER

Where are you? - VZ

-------- INCOMING CALL: UNKNOWN

Y/N: Just above the pits of hell if nobody comes to collect my sorry ass! Fucking looks like a warehouse near Gotham let me tell you.

Victor chuckled silently and turned his head slightly in Jim's direction. Almost like saying "what the fuck are you doing track the call, idiot". The inspector jolted and rushed out of the room yelling for Fox to come.

Y/N *sighing*: Rookies...

Zsasz: stay on the phone, sweetness. ... Valeska?

Y/N: will still be asleep when you'll be there I think. His psycho girlfriend is next to us. Knocked out too. Used my pistol grip.

Zsasz grinned. Resourceful, Y/N. He let Lucius plug some wires on her phone.

Lucius: just a minute Miss Y/N, we're trying to locate you.

She didn't answered but the hitman heard her ragged breath.

Zsasz: Y/N. Stay with us.

This time he didn't hear a thing. His blood turned ice in his veins and he grit his teeth.

Zsasz: OI Y/N!

His voice boomed exactly like the day he came to the police station for Jim and shout to gain his attention. The inspector closed his eyes tightly, repressing a shiver. The demanding tone was as sinister and terrifying as in his memories.

Y/N: Shut it Satan. Not today.

Zsasz relaxed a bit. A second later something biped loud and Lucius was looking at them "GOT IT!" The hitman bolted from his sit and rip the device from the man's hands before storming out of the interrogation room. His handcuffs long gone.

Gordon yelled his name but didn't even get a fragment of his attention. The cop should know better than standing between a hitman and his goal.

Zsasz: Gotcha sweetness. Keep Satan at bay, I'm on my way with the girls.

Y/N: waiting for the grim reaper then. Please be quick Vic.

Zsasz quit the GCPD smoothly, still ignoring Gordon shouts and didn't hesitate to threaten the first car he saw with his gun and his best mad face to make the driver stops and run away from him.

Zsasz: Found us a car, treacle. Fancy at that. Don't you dare die on me now.

Y/N: I'll not die before killing you first.

Zsasz: that's the spirit, love. By the way, what is the code to fully unlocked your phone. I need to call the Doc.

Y/N: It's 'Zsaszified'

Zsasz: ... Knew it, you care.

Y/N: that one is classified.