#kinda rambly but this idea wouldn’t leave my head

[yourlokalescholar]

Worldbuilding idea: a society in which everyone (or near enough everyone) can use magic.

Spells are passed down orally for millennia, resulting in regional differences and localised adaptations.

Different countries and societies that independently develop very similar spells (think, like, the amount of “meat/vegetables wrapped in pastry” foods we have: dumplings, samosas, pasties, pies, gyozas, etc) such as fireball. Of course creating fire is a simple, useful spell that you’d expect any civilisation to have, but it’s approached in different ways across the world: different colours, different ratios of light to heat, some that float and subsist on burning the caster’s magic, some that fly from the hands and burn out quickly unless they hit something flammable…

Children at school have essential spells drilled into their heads the same way they memorise their times tables and ABCs.

Teachers need to memorise spells to detect and nullify all of the common cheating spells such as telepathy, hide writing, illusion, read from afar, etc. Kids are constantly coming up with new spells and alterations on the old ones, and there are always rumours going around about “bypass” spells that the teachers can’t detect.

Magic can be taken from the user’s own internal store or from any other living thing (of course, most people have safeguarding spells on themselves to avoid that; it’s one of the first things they learn at school). It’s replenished with food and sleep, too, but it still requires time in the same way you can’t just eat food and feel fine after working out.

As such, most people have familiars: animals that they take around with them for the primary purpose of using as a battery. They’re bred to have as large energy stores as possible—of course, this means that they have a bottomless appetite, so few have more than one. Less wealthy folk might have unspecialised, non-familiar animals: less useful, but less expensive too.

Plants are another good source of magic, as they don’t move and are less expensive to feed. Some mages would take this too far and let plants and fungi grow on their own body, as a convenient, portable, self-regenerating source of energy. You know how fireproof stuff used to be made out of asbestos and cocaine was in medicine? Yeah, this is the equivalent of that. It went out of fashion soon enough.

Tired, broke college students that skip meals and subsist entirely on magic for much longer than is healthy and use magic to stave off sleep. Bringing back portable plant stores is a common running joke. Some particularly clever, sleep-deprived, and/or desperate folk actually let moss grow on them (“It’s perfectly safe! The roots are shallow, see?”)

Eventually tortoises surge in popularity as a familiar, as they move little and waste minimal energy, and with this comes a resurgence in the use of plants. Tortoises are bred to have thick, concave shells, and portable magic gardens become fashionable. Forums discuss the best plants to use to store the most magic in a small space, and there’s a constant debate between efficient setups, fashionable setups and setups that are best for the tortoise.

Technology that uses runes and written spells and can be recharged by any human, and essentially serves as an easier to use, more accessible version of a spell.

Most people only use the standardised spells they’re taught at school, or follow the instructions for more complicated spells as and when they need them. There’s no shame in it: how often do you make your own furniture, or program your own apps?

Self-taught mages, who make all their own spells and are proud of that fact. Sometimes the spells are unnecessarily dangerous, or terribly inefficient, or accidentally brilliant. Outsiders are horrified and intrigued.

Wealthy noble families who exclusively use their Traditional, needlessly complex, I-Need-You-To-Know-I’m-Better-Than-You magic. Their children need to look both ways furtively before quickly casting “wardrobe portal” instead of “Summon Wraith Servant”, and they beg their parents to let them get a teleport license instead of using their family’s outdated flying machine just to get to school.

Magical disabilities. People with a low internal magic store that are provided a familiar as a service animal, because how can you expect a person to get through the entire day on that little magic? People who are injured or affected by seizures and migraines when using too much magic at a time. And very, very few people who are completely unable to use magic, but every other magical disability tends to get lumped in with them.

Physical disabilities are seen as much less severe. There are spells for blind people to sense the objects around them, and everyone knows one or two spells for silent communication that work for deaf people—even those with walking disabilities can teleport or levitate themselves brief distances.

Of course, being physically disabled sucks out magic quickly, so accessibility spells need to be used sparingly, but the average person assumes it’s not nearly as hard as it is.

[nathaslosthershit]

A Much Needed Interview (OP81)

(Part 2 of Teen Dad) Summary: After the shock of Oscar revealing himself to be a former teen dad, he joins an interview in the hopes of clearing everything up and limiting the overwhelming amount of questions he has been getting.

“Oscar, it is nice of you to sit down with us. I know it has been an interesting few weeks for you and your family. How are you guys all doing?” The interviewer asks.

‘Yeah, y’know, I had expected to one day have to open up about it all, but I never thought I’d have to do it the way I did. It has been fine, obviously my kids are young enough to not be impacted because they aren’t on social media, but it has been strange for my fiancée who is now getting hundreds of requests on her private account. I have sort of decided to take a break from social media because the response has been overwhelming and like none before. Mostly positive but I think a few people have gotten the wrong idea so I was hoping to clear everything up.” Oscar rambled. He was more nervous about this interview than any he had done before.

“Of course. Why don’t we start at the beginning, how did you and your fiancée meet?”

“We actually met at one of my races. She went to support one of her close friend’s brothers. After the race that I sadly didn’t do too well in, I saw her with her friend and I was kinda frozen in my spot, immediately head over heels. Sadly, it seems like everyone but her noticed. I was too scared to do anything so I just watched her leave. I think I sulked for days, totally regretting my decision to do nothing. A totally heartbroken 16 year old. I looked for her every single race until she finally came back a few months later.”

“Oh please tell me you finally got the confidence to shoot your shot.”

“Nope! I just stared at her and stuttered when she caught me looking then ran off. I then had an amazing race, I think part of me was just trying to make up for the embarrassment and luckily it seems my car got the memo. After the race she came up to me and asked for my number.” God, he was blushing profusely at the memory. He knew he would be getting slack for this for a very long time. 

“Such a story! The young Oscar Piastri was no ladies’ man.”

“He was absolutely not. Soon after we started dating.” Oscar awkwardly laughed, sensing what was about to come up.

“And then kids came shortly after?” The interviewer asked with care in his voice, certainly able to sense Oscar’s change in attitude.

“Yeah. Uh, obviously not planned. I don’t think many people plan to become parent’s at 18. It was a shock… I didn’t handle it the best at first, something I think I will always regret. She was scared and while so was I, I should have been more supportive. I was embarrassed for a while. Felt like a total idiot. I didn’t tell anyone outside of my family and made them swear to secrecy. I also began to isolate myself from friends because I couldn’t bring myself to tell them but also felt terrible lying. A few months in I finally snapped myself out of it and began to focus on all the wonderfulness that was to come. I loved her more than anything and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t already imagined a life together in great detail. By the time we found out it was twins, a boy and a girl, I was ecstatic.”

“Well mate, I don’t blame you for your feelings. I definitely would have been a terrible father at 18 so I salute you.” The interviewer joked.

“Honestly, I had the same thought for a while, even when I was excited to have kids. I had so many doubts about it, I mean how could I not? But when it came down to it, I couldn’t afford to be anything less than a great father. Of course I had my moments, and still do years later, but I wouldn’t be able to let myself be anything less than I am. If you love your kids enough, you find a way.”

“How did having kids so young impact your career? Obviously it didn’t hurt it too much considering you are in your second year driving in Formula 1.”

“Well, I decided I wouldn’t advertise my situation unless a team was very serious about me. Prema knew, Alpine did too and of course McLaren does. All were welcoming and accommodating, as much as they could be. I don’t think I would have gone with any of them if they weren’t cool with it though. I realized the minute my kids were born I would give it all up for them, which scared the hell out of me.”

“That is admirable. All these years later you are still with their mother, correct?”

“Yes! I asked her to marry me over break. Everyone close to us had been confused as to why it took so long but we had discussed marriage together many times and made the decision that because our relationship moved so fast with having kids so young, we would wait a bit. I mean, we are still young but I honestly couldn’t wait any longer. She is everything to me and the most wonderful mother my kids could have.”

“Have your kids been around the paddock yet? I assume they are old enough to understand what you do.”

“They have been to the factory and come with me to meetings when we haven’t had a sitter for them. Luckily, they are both very well behaved in public, they also really like watching the races on tv and have somewhat of an understanding of what I do. They don’t believe I actually drive the car though.” Oscar rumbled. Trying to convince his twins that yes, their father actually does drive the cars they see going super fast, has been an ongoing issue. They seem to believe he is tricking them but have no problem believing Uncle Logan and Uncle Lando drive the cars. It has definitely humbled him immensely.

“Well you will have to fix that soon huh? Will they be attending races in the future?”

“I am trying to work that out with my fiancée actually. They are almost four so we don’t want them traveling too far, I also don’t believe they will be able to be entertained solely by the race the entire time so we have a lot to deal with. But I think seeing them on the paddock supporting me will be one of the best moments of my life. I selfishly can’t wait for them to come.”

The interview wrapped up shortly after that. Getting to reminisce on the start of his relationship and how far they have come and how many wonderful things are in the future put Oscar in a deliriously happy mood. He couldn’t wait to get home to his family. 

Walking through the door, he was immediately welcomed to the sound of toddler meltdowns. Fully entering the house, he saw his very tired fiancée rubbing her face as she tried to calm her babies down. Clearly this had been going on for a while.

Despite how upset she looked, she immediately perked up at seeing Oscar had returned. But that immediately went away as she remembered the screaming kids and how messy the house and herself were.

“Sorry honey, I know you are probably so tired after the interview and meetings earlier and these two missed their nap so they are so cranky and I just-” He cut her off with a kiss. Once he pulled away she looked at him, perplexed. A kiss from Oscar was never unwelcome but it was the last thing she expected at that moment.

“Hey, look at me.” He said as he put a hand on her cheek. “I love you and our little family so much and you never, ever have to apologize for something as trivial as this. Why don’t you go get in the bath and relax a little and I will try to wrangle these two, okay?” 

In her eyes, Oscar had never been hotter than he was now. Now it was her turn to surprise him with a kiss, even more passionate than the first. They would have continued if it hadn’t been for more screaming from their two kids.

Still, Oscar wouldn’t change a thing.

[raribella]

Love is Embarrassing | JJ Maybank

summary: although JJ had promised your brother he wouldn’t ever hurt you, you saw him kissing Kie while you were on a break.

pairing: JJ Maybank x Routledge!reader

genre: emotionally heavy anst, fluff in the end

contains: reader being a real bitch, mentions of Luke and parental abuse, inspired by some songs in the album “GUTS” by Olivia Rodrigo, kinda shitty ending but let me know.

word count: 2,7k

author’s note: alright I know I’ve been MIA and a bitch and I haven’t posted anything in months (worse if you see how much stuff is on my “upcoming works” section), but I’ve just had a lot of ideas, little time and little confidence to write. one of my best friends just showed me obx and I’m in love with this blonde and I got (I think) a spoiler about him and Kie and I just had to do something with my feelings.

This is a work of fiction. I do not own the characters of Outer Banks nor any characteristic of the show. I am writing this story solely for my own entertainment and the marvel or comfort of any readers.

“If I fuck up with her that might as well be the last thing I do in my life, John B! I mean it!”

the words that JJ heatedly uttered to your twin brother the day he found out about the two of you were repeating over and over in your head right now. You remembered it all too well; John B was seething, absolutely pissed, seeing red. You and JJ Maybank knew each other for as long as he and your brother were best friends, when you turned 14, he declared to all the Pogues that you were off limits, and about two months ago, you and JJ started seeing each other. One month into it and JB discovered you, which was easy considering JJ already spent most of his time with both of you at the Chateau. JJ promised his best friend that he wouldn’t fuck up with you because two things mattered the most for him in this life; their friendship, and yourself.

But as of lately, he was having some problems with Luke and he asked for some time “out” so he could figure his shit out without involving or hurting you and you disagreed but you’d do pretty much anything in this world for this man so you decided to say yes.

To his bullshit.

Bullshit, you figured out about half an hour ago, when you heard a confusing conversation between him and Kiara – the perfect one – and when you went outside to track the noise, you saw them kissing.

You were fifteen minutes late to leave for the weekly kegger and you forced yourself to lock yourself in the bathroom and call in sick – because that you were, and you wouldn’t handle being out partying and pretending like seeing the kooks, and seeing them two wouldn’t make you feel the same type of nausea at this moment.

Sarah was the third person to try and make you get out of the bathroom. The first being your brother and the second, Pope. Although you were thankful neither JJ nor Kie had tried to talk to you, when you heard your best friend’s voice, you were actually starting to feel sick, you were having a migraine from holding tears up, and you were sweating.

“Y/n, come on! You were so excited to come not even an hour ago, we’re already late and I don’t see why wouldn’t you want to come”

Your vision was blurry as you palmed the door and laid your forehead on it. Sarah realized that you really weren’t coming when she heard your voice crack.

“Sarah please, just, go on out without me this one time, I need not to be there right now and I also need to be alone please don’t ask me questions I can’t handle to answer you this moment I promise-“

As you rambled, she frowned from the other side of the door. Making sure to get everyone to leave for the Kegger, to try and remember asking you about this later on, and to reassure John B that you were actually okay.

You’ve been successfully avoiding JJ for about two weeks now. It started with enough discretion, allegedly going to the bathroom every time he entered a room, or offering everyone any snacks you would spend too much time preparing in the kitchen. For him, it started getting obvious when you looked the other way when he looked at you at the beach, or when you refused to surf and, as of recently, started slamming the doors on him. JJ was getting pissed at this rate. He started by simply frowning and brushing it off, but you couldn’t just keep slamming doors and not even looking at him, and if everyone else noticed, they just wouldn’t budge! The worst part is that he didn’t know what had happened nor if he could fix it. You understood him when he told you he needed time to figure out some stuff with Luke, but the truth was he was still very much freaked out about that. He still loved you, and he couldn’t afford to see you like this anymore, especially when such behavior was being directed at him. JJ missed you. Even if he couldn’t really figure his shit out, he missed you screaming at the top of your lungs as you entered the sea, he missed your smile, your laidback grin that he was the only receiver of, he missed your colorful bikinis, and how they embraced your features as you would jump onto every wooden swing near the shore, your curly hair flying everywhere filled with salt spray. He just missed you, the real you. And he had to talk to you to see if there was even a chance that he could get you back.

You, on the other hand, kept avoiding the questioning looks the pogues would send you every time you were harsh or avoidant at JJ, your brother even attempted to talk to you, silently, just with glances, and figure out if his best friend had hurt you. But even if he did, it only hurt because you loved him too much, and you decided it was best to protect him from John B’s wrath. You felt embarrassed whenever Kiara questioned you with her eyes as well; you felt embarrassed to be near her. You kept crucifying yourself and both her and JJ because of everything, often zoning out of the conversation and just bitterly reminiscing about the times you consoled your boyfriend as he cried late at night in your room, being gentle with his bruises. – thinking how could you be so stupid? giving up everything, betting on him against your brother’s better judgment. You kept paying attention to Kie and how, since that day, she looked like the sweetest thing of the Cut, the fucking hell-side of the island. Her perfume lingered in the air even at the beach and made you feel sick; you saw her everywhere now, even when you looked at him. You saw the scene of them kissing. Feeling every word she would utter toward you in conversation like bullets on your skin. As it was torture how she was the greatest thing to ever exist – how everyone loved her, how she was so much better than you; poisoning everything that you do and still being the sweetest friend, making you despise how rotten your mind was; how jealous your eyes were.

You were bottled up to the brim.

It started out simple enough. JJ had noticed everyone was doing their own thing at the Chateau; John B was absent for the time being, and you were alone on the couch, fidgeting, focused on whatever. It seemed like the perfect window to try and have an actual conversation about what’s been happening. He just didn’t expect it all to escalate so quickly. He didn’t expect you to have seen a part of his conversation with Kiara about his dad – but not everything, not the ending. – He hadn’t expected a conversation with you of all people to become a bomb with a short fuse that would explode into feelings tainted crimson. watching you bleed, making him bleed all over for you.

"Pogues don't mack on pogues, y/n! this shit freaked me out, your brother finding out freaked me out, yeah, even if he’s my best friend and I was afraid that-”

“Oh, so you go ‘round and fucking get with Kiara?! this is fucking bullshit, JJ! bullshit-

“Y/n, listen to me!”

You both were screaming, Kie’s eyes went wide as she tried calling your name as well but you had already started crying and couldn’t pay attention to anyone but him. At this point, as John B arrived at the Chateau and followed the noise, the people around you calming you down couldn’t be sure if they were afraid of his arrival or actually relieved. You kept interrupting each other. JJ pulled his hair and you pointed at yourself and to your side – as if Kiara was still there – strength marking red fingertips above your chest.

“‘Cause she’s not even a real pogue, right?! that’s why you got so confident about it, huh?”

it was almost as if the room went silent. Kiara decided to step outside to give you space; to take a moment to breathe in and take notice that you didn’t mean that. She was sure you didn’t. The rest of the group started to move aside as well although they could obviously still hear the commotion. Only you, John B, and JJ were in the living room. Your brother grabbed your shoulders from behind trying to ground you in any way he could, JJ growing nervous at the rate of the conversation and his friend’s presence.

You looked into his eyes and it was as if the blue in them was slowly fading, his eyebrows shot up and his mouth twisted in a clearly upset frown. As tears stained your cheeks, pride still overpowering your shame and feelings pent up, you started with more meaningless empty jabs, which, said angrily enough, would only make JJ bleed more as he fell silent himself.

“I really loved you, you know? You gotta laugh at the stupidity.. right? Come on you were going around doing that shit and I swear JJ I used to think was really smart… I was just a mesmerizing, paralyzing, fucked-up little thrill for you, tho… best friend’s little twin… ridiculous.”

At that, John B diverted his attention toward his friend with stern questioning eyes. JJ gulped.

“Look, man I just really need to talk to her and explain myself, ‘aight? I didn’t do what- Things are really not what they seem right now and I need her to-“

“Fuck, JJ, that’s bullshit! How can you not even flinch when you fucking lie like that! Things are just like what they seem you never even fucking loved me! You can’t love anyone, ‘cause that would mean you had a heart, right? But you’re a fucking Maybank! And I really tried to help you out all this time but now I know that I can’t!”

You were calming down, but exploded again, as the words left your mouth though, you started regretting them, the most deeply someone could ever regret anything maybe, worsening by the second as you saw the man you still loved muttering a small “no”, cracking at your words and shedding a tear. As Kiara heard what you said from the outside, she didn’t even think before bursting into the house again, turning every head in her direction.

“Y/n you’re spiraling and you’re saying things you’ll fucking regret! I kissed him, alright?! This is my fault. He stopped me, he loves you and he wouldn’t do that, okay?”

Though the words she was muttering were calming you down, she was calling you out, she was absolutely mad at what you said about JJ’s father because she had context and it was really fucked up. You felt small.

“Kiss?!” John B asked, his eyebrows shooting up. It wasn’t his intention to aggravate the situation but it was his little sister involved. JJ tried to start talking and explain the situation – which Kiara had left him to, but he could really only think about one thing.

“I- uh… did you mean it? What you said.”

JJ rarely expressed any sign of vulnerability, so as his voice broke, you felt like your heart did too, rushing to explain yourself now, and trying to get closer to him.

“I didn’t mean it, J, I really didn’t! God, I don’t even know how you can still even look at me right now I’m so sorry I was just so fucking broken at the idea of you che- of losing you, and I- I thought you had found someone else and I damn near started world war III right now and it’s just because I love you so much and I know you don’t deserve another fucked up demonstration of love, you deserve to feel so good, Jay, and I’m really sorry, I love you so so much, and I will understand if you never-“

You were interrupted by the shock of his own body against yours. The both of you were panting, crying, completely tired sighs leaving each mouth as if this was all going on for days and you were so hurt, yet needing each other so much. John B and Kiara were ‘okay’ enough with the newfound situation to leave you both to your own devices again, and you just clung to one another, sitting on the floor for what felt like hours until he decided to speak again.

“Y/n… I asked for us to take some time because it was becoming too real, y’know? What we felt for each other.. it was, touchable- it is. And when everyone else found out, and then John B… You know I don’t talk about this usually, not with anyone but you, but I didn’t want my dad to find out about us, to find out about you. I don’t want him knowing what you are for me I don’t want him knowing that laying a single finger on you can be worse than any punch he could throw my way. And I wanted to figure this out without you knowing about it because you’d say it’s fine, and I-“

As your mind processes his words, you start to think how in the world you got a man whose the first concern about a monster of a father would be you. How could you deserve it, especially after what you had insinuated about him. “It is! It’s fine, honey, we can-“

“No, y/n it’s not fine because I don’t ever want you to even worry your pretty little head about a situation like that, y’know? And It’s not fine because the pogues are my family and the love I feel for you, if anything would happen to you because of him I’ll be damned, damned, and in jail for murder, you can trust me I will.”

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. All you could do was keep the hold you had on each other, slightly caressing his head.

“Since I didn’t want you to know about it, I went to Kie, that night of the Kegger, and she tried to help me and she said she loved me and I did too but then she kissed me and I assume it’s what you saw but I did step back, I promise! I told her off… Y/n I told your brother that if I intentionally hurt you, if I fucked up with you like this then that might as well be the last thing I did in my life and I mean it. I love you so much, little Routledge, and I’m all in now. We can figure shit out as we go but as long as we have each other, okay?”

As JJ spoke, he held your hands, reassuring you at the end. Hours had passed ever since you started talking, so when the pogues felt everything was calmer they decided to go back in the house slowly – figure out how you were, what were the plans for the night.

“Do you really forgive me for what I said? I will understand, J, I’m so, so sorry, I love you so much” You touched your forehead with his, and JJ sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I love you. I love you, y/n… can’t be without you.”

And as you both kissed each other as if you were making up for ages lost, Sarah smiled at the corner of the room, John B interrupting the show. “Come on with the PDA, love birds… What are we doing tonight, then?” He half-heartedly scolded as you got up, hand glued to the blonde's. You let out a big sigh again, before brushing them off with an honest, but half-assed excuse, already making the way to your room.

“I mean, you could go to Heyward’s… I think we’ll just lie down a bit.. ‘twas kinda draining…” you saw a bunch of side smiles as the group left through the door, Sarah grinned, letting out a puff of air through her nose, and when Pope went to close the door, he screamed back in the direction of your room, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” which earned a scream back from an already lying down JJ, “might as well not do anything!” and for the first time in a while, you laughed, making your way to lie on top of him, his embrace being all you needed.

“You know… we could go out to surf tomorrow,” he offered, still missing the sight of a happy you, your bikini, and the ocean.

“First thing in the morning.” You answered.

[nerdasaurus1200]

The hug scene is just too good to not ramble about so let’s get into it

So naturally we’re thrown right into Jinx’s POV here. We start with complete darkness, with the only source of light flickering on and off, her one source of comfort and safety. Just like her, we have NO idea what happened at first. Whether Vander is okay, whether Vi is okay. You can see in her face, Jinx is so alert. And this is so different than usual because in season 1 whenever she was alert like this she still had a very blank look. She was still always kinda teetering on the verge of an episode, the lights were on but no one is home. And here she is FULLY in her mind, fully in the situation, and the poor girl is terrified. Because did she Jinx it again?

She doesn’t know

All she can do is hold Isha close in the darkness and listen as she slowly steps closer to the eerie green light of Vander’s mechanics…

To find by some miracle of the fates, both her dad and her sister are okay. More than okay, they’re reunited. Jinx made Vi understand.

I can’t even begin to fathom the utter relief Vi must feel in this moment. Knowing that despite it all, despite watching him die, her dad is alive. He’s okay, he’s here. And after the few years she’s had this hug is exactly what she needs. She need that moment to let go, and just be in her old man’s arms again and finally stop being a fighter. And it’s just so heartwarming, the way Vander still just cradles her head and holds her so gently and dwarfs her despite being an adult now. No matter how old Vi gets, she’s never gonna fully outgrow Vander. She will never stop needing her dad.

But something’s still missing…

“What are you waiting for? He’s your dad too…”

I’m certain Vander’s thinking the same thing here cause even before Vi addressed Jinx you could see those poor sad eyes looking her way. They both still acknowledge Jinx as their family no matter what, this hug wouldn’t be complete without her.

And you can see this just shatters any walls Jinx had left. All she can do is break down crying, that’s the only way she can let out all the pain and joy and utter relief she feels in this moment. Cause that line is just so meaningful, with those four words, Vi says so much. Naturally it’s a callback to Jinx saying it earlier but Vi saying it back…that’s her saying “You’re still my sister.” That’s her saying “I forgive you.” That’s her saying “You’re safe, it’s okay to move on from the accident.”

And Jinx knows that and you can see it in her eyes, she’s silently asking “Really? You really mean it?”. And that soft look in Vi’s eyes only solidifies that yes, she absolutely means it with every fiber of her being.

So of course Jinx does the only thing she has left to do. She and rushes to join the group hug. She leaves her own light and gets drawn in to her dad’s, leaving behind her own source of comfort and accepting another. She’s finally allowing herself to open up and trust other people again, to seek other sources of comfort. And look at the way Vi instantly holds her, her arm is around Jinx almost as soon as she’s within reach.

And honestly the theme of not being able to outgrow Vander applies just as much to Jinx cause she’s arguably smaller than Vi in some ways and he dwarfs her just as much. And the way Jinx holds onto Vander’s finger, something about that totally reminds me of like…that moment dads have when their newborn baby holds their hand for the first time.

The look on Vander’s face here too is just chilling in the best way, the way his eyes harden just a little. He may not be all the way there thanks to Singed, but he’s there enough to to that his little girls are there with him. They’re okay, they’re alive, they both made it out. And NOTHING is gonna hurt them again, not so long as he draws breath.

And I couldn’t fit it here cause I hit the screenshot limit but the fact that Isha joins too and none of them even prompt her to. Because this is her family now too. The family’s not only complete but enhanced now. They’ve restored what was left of the family and even added to it with new family members.

And the song is just perfect, the constant “What have they done to us” playing in the background. The world has done so much, too much to everyone in this family. They’ve all been starved, beaten, and destroyed emotionally and physically. They’ve grown distorted, they’re no longer the people they once were. I like to think that the chorus is kinda reflecting what all four of them are thinking, they’re all just thinking “what has the world done to us?”

But despite it all, they’re still alive. They’re still here, and NOTHING is gonna tear them apart again, not even Noxians.

(Let me hope XD)

[httpsserene]

ꜱɪɴɢɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴏᴡᴇʀ w/ ʟɴ4

📖ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: lando’s usually well spent sunday off with his girlfriend is different this time around. you put off your everything shower and wash-day causing some edits to the usual routine. how the night ends, however, is 100% lando’s fault. 📖ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: fluff/borderline?crack(if u think im funny). one or two mentions of sex, not explicit at all. not edited to beta-read. 📖ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 2k words 📖ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: lando norris x black!fem!reader 📖ɢᴇɴʀᴇ: oneshot 📖ꜱᴏᴜɴᴅᴛʀᴀᴄᴋ: singing in the shower ~ becky g

ᴘʀᴇꜰᴀᴄᴇ: preface: hello! it’s late night or early morning for me, i guess, when i’m posting this. i was going to say this is my first rpf ever, but that’s a bold-faced lie ☠️but! it is my first f1 work! i hope you enjoy it! i’d love to have some f1 mutuals out here, if anyone wants <3. also requests are open, just come talk to me and ramble about anything, or any idea you have the f1 boys, i’d love to have some great anons and asks to fulfill. hope you enjoy it :)

it’s a rare sunday where you and lando are both home together. usually you two would take advantage of this and make the most out of it. you’d lay in bed late into the morning with an excessively cuddly boyfriend, cook a nice and healthy brunch together you cook, lando handles the soundtrack and vibes because he loses all coordination in the kitchen, play a co-op video game that you guys have been working your way through for a month, go out on a nice little dinner date, and have great sex before knocking out.

HOWEVER, this week you have kinda forgotten that you need to do your hair. originally you had an appointment that tuesday to get a silk press done with your usual hairstylist, but she canceled on you. once you got that “hey girly...” text you’d known there was no hope of rescheduling, for that week at least. so, you decided to do your own hair sometime later in the week, but your boyfriend was home for the first time after a triple-header, and was a terrible lovely distraction. you also had to work, unfortunately, you had to clean the flat, you had to eat, and you had to breathe—so understandably, you’ve ended up pushing your wash-day/hair-day and everything-shower to the last minute.

you apologized several times to lando during breakfast for your forgetfulness and wasting valuable “boyfriend-girlfriend time” as lando coined. but lando is lando—a sweetheart at his core—so he refused to accept your apologies with an “don’t apologize for something so minor, love,” and even offered to help you tackle the fight you end up almost losing every time…. vs. your hair. 

you kindly denied his assistance knowing damn well that if he was in the shower with you, your hair wouldn’t be done until late that night due to a different type of lando-distraction. you suggested that lando streamed while you were doing your shower and hair, and that you could still go out for dinner that evening. lando was pretty receptive to the idea, especially after he made sure that you were 100% okay with him not helping you do your hair (he usually does, you’ve got him trained pretty good; all he needs is the license at this point), and the fact that it’s been like 3 months since he last streamed.

lando posts that he’s streaming starting at noon, and after a brief make out against the sink post-dishwashing that leaves your lips swollen and head foggy, he goes to take a shower and start setting up his stream equipment. cursing lando’s smug-ass face as he walks away, you let him know that you're stepping out to the beauty supply store to get a few items before you start your little routine and that you might not see him before his stream starts. he does a 180, and rushes back to you from down the hallway to give you one more mind boggling kiss and with a smile says, “text me when you get there and when you’re back. i’ll have my phone on dnd but your messages are set to pass through it, so if you don’t want to be seen on stream today you don’t have to worry about it.” internally, you’re pretty sure your heart just imploded at the mindfulness this boy has—that your boyfriend has. somehow, it still surprises you how mature lando is for how silly he acts most of the time.

“you’re too sweet to me, lan.” you respond with a shy smile, “i probably won’t interrupt you today—i’ll let your delulu fans have custody, and deal with you!” lando throws his head back and does his usual demonic laugh, “hey! my fans are not that delusional, but i am afraid that you’re losing the custody battle!” he kisses you on the cheek, and with that you separate until later that day.

or so you thought. you knew lando’s super sweet behavior was too sus without him being his usual gremlin-self at least once.

when you get back from the beauty supply store (which should’ve been a fifteen-minute trip at most, turned into a near hour after the usual shenanigans you find yourself involved in buying things you don’t need), lando’s already started his stream. you text him letting him know you’re about to hop into the shower, and start heading to en-suite bathroom.

when you open the door, the mirror is slightly covered with remaining steam from lando’s shower, and you can see his clothes hanging half-inside the hamper. which is an improvement from being left on the floor—choose your battles, ladies. but as you move further into the bathroom, setting down your everything-shower supplies, changing into your silk robe and bonnet—you pick up on a lingering scent that should not be present.

your ninety-four fucking dollar scalp revival shampoo.

you’ve had that shampoo since you were seventeen, using it only when extremely necessary. you didn’t even pay for it, it was something your mom bought you as a pretty thoughtful and useful gift after you complained about your scalp suddenly getting super sensitive. it lasted through your senior year of grade school, all of university, and goddamn-it, two boyfriends!!! you let out a bit of an hysterical giggle (seek mental help, babe) and walk to the shower to grab the jar. the problem is: you know there was only probably one more usage left.

turning the cap off, your worst fears are confirmed...it’s…empty. with an anguished cry, you fall to your knees on the tiled floor—it’s like your childhood pet died. you gently set the jar down on the floor, and stare dazedly at the ceiling. what makes it worse is: you know that lando probably didn’t even use it properly. he most likely didn’t even let it sit for the mandatory 15 minutes that all girls do as an excuse to waste more time in the shower, he prob- he probably rinsed it out right after he massaged it in; that thought right there almost had you crying. oh, and what makes it even worse-r , what was a one-use sized amount for you was like, three for lando, so if he used it sparingly, you would’ve at least gotten to cherish it for the last time.

and with that, you rise from the floor, like some sort of re-animated monster—and with a twitching eye, start stomping to lando’s stream room. before you barge in, you remember what you're wearing: a black silk robe, matching bonnet, glasses, and your cute orange shark slides (lando bought them for you, he has a matching pair). you do the mental math of caring about this being on the internet for the rest of your life, but eventually the opportunity of terrorizing lando wins out over whatever a digital footprint is.

the door swings open, and with your shout of, “lando norris!” the pinging of his chat becomes rapid. lando looks wide-eyed at the camera and whispers, “oh fuck.” he half spins in his chair to look at you in the doorway, and is met with a flying shark slide to the neck. “oW! what did i do??” he cries out.

“you used the last of my ONE-HUNDRED DOLLAR shampoo, YOU THIEVING GREMLIN!!!” the chat notifications start cutting each other off with how fast they’re being sent.

“i didn’t use your shampoo??” he says with a bewildered look, clutching the shark slide to his chest. you seethe, “the fucking WOODEN JAR, that you didn’t even have the AUDACITY throw away, and left in the shower?!”

lando pauses, and makes an ‘a-ha’ sort of face goes, “oh, i thought that was conditioner.” you scream again and this time you don’t miss your mark. the remaining shark slide bonks him right on the forehead. “oW, again?!”

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE GOOD REACTION TIME??!”

“yEAH?! WELL, i didn’t expect  MY GIRLFRIEND to ASSAULT ME with the shark slides that I bought HER!!”

“yEAH?! WELL, i didn’t expect MY BOYFRIEND to waste MY hair products!!”

lando cackles but surrenders, he reaches for you in the doorway and pulls you in between his legs with his hands gripping your hips. 

he pouts, “i’m sorry. i can buy you another batch, if you’d like. if you need it for your shower right now, i can pause the stream and run and go get for you, or get it delivered?” you sigh, looking at his wide blue eyes. you let him stew for a minute, trying to find it in you to remain mad. his thumbs start petting you gently while you think, and he leans his head forward to rest on your tummy.

you sigh again, hand coming up to play with the hairs at the nape of his neck, and cave, “nah..don’t even worry about it. i don’t even need to use it today, i just wanted to remind you to keep your nosy-ass away from my hair products.” he nods against your abdomen, you start to pull away, and he does the same. you lean down and give him a brief peck on the cheek, and turn to exit the room. 

“oh!” you exclaim now in the doorway, one hand on the doorknob, “i love you, even though you steal all my shit.”

lando giggles, cheeks turning a light pink, “i love you, princess,” the simp dripping out of every pore in his body. you point at him, “this is actually a mutually beneficial situation! now, for date night you can take me to the store to buy hair products,” lando’s smile drops, “don’t worry we can get some for you too, curly boy!” lando doesn’t even try to fight it once he sees the borderline manic grin on your face, just begging him to test you one more time. he accepts his face, “yes, love. i can’t wait for tonight, princess.”

he turns back to his stream when the door closes all the way and shakes his head. he claps his hands once, ready to get back into it, but you burst in again,

“and when i get out of that damn shower in an hour—you’re sure as hell gonna help blow dry and flat iron this shit! it’s silk press season, lando norris, we cannot be caught slacking!” you slam the door shut, and leave.

lando just blinks at the camera, mouth slightly open like that one pikachu meme. he briefly reads the chat, trying to recover, and looks at all of the chatters pick on him like he just got called to the dean’s office. some messages start to roll in about him having to end the stream.

he waits to hear the bedroom door shut, and a few more seconds for the shower to start running before he pseudo-whispers into the mic, “don’t worry, chat! she may have said an hour, but we actually have more like three. it’s her ‘everything-shower’, no-way she’ll finish that quickly. she needs an hour just to sing and dance in there before she starts actually doing anything.”

he starts to open a lobby in cod, sending invites to a few of the boys online and his phone starts vibrating on the desk. the chat starts to go wild again, recognizing its the ringtone he set for your messages. his face drops again when he opens your text thread, “oh my god, chat. she heard me, i forgot she pulls up the stream for background noise. i’m screwed.”

yninstagram • 2hrs ago

liked by landonorris, ybfsinstagram, and 123,978 others

yninstagram hairstylist did his thing for silk press season 👅

tagged landonorris

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landonorris can’t even see our faces but you can’t tell we’re both pretty

➥yninstagram pretty gyal takeover

➥user bro 😭 i can’t even call this sassy

➥user he’s just keeping it real with y’all

landonorris i’ll always take care of you like a princess

➥landonorris and one day very soon, forever treat you like a queen

➥ynistagram lan ☹️🥺

➥user proposal hint?!!!

➥user it’s a 4ever thing y’all wouldn’t understand 🥱

➥user i do 🙄 y/n comes home one day every two years and takes care of our eight children

➥user bitch—LMFAOOO

user not her gatekeeping the stylist 😤 not very girl’s girl of her

➥yninstagram he’s booked out for the foreseeable future sorry babe

➥user oh uh. that’s completely understandable. he doesn’t take walk in’s ? 😃

landonorris • 3hrs ago

liked by yninstagram, maxfewtrell, and 2,321,768 others

landonorris you attract what you fear? word, oh no a pretty gyal who lets me do her hair😱 oohhhhh how scaryyy

tagged yninstagram

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yninstagram damn 🥵 she’s pretty fit

yninstagram heard her boyfriend’s finer

➥landonorris shouldn’t listen to gossip, her bf can’t match her beauty by far

➥user now THATS SOME RIZZ i didn’t know he had it in him

carlossainzjr y/nnita keep brainwashing him i’m getting good teasing material

➥ynistagram sí señor, el gusto es mio

➥carlossainzjr aye,lando her spanish is better than yours🤣

➥landonorris my tractor is better than yours, mmm yeah that’s what i thought

➥user DAMN LANDO CHILL

➥yninstagram he will be issuing a formal apology at the paddock next sunday señor sainz

➥user i just KNOW she got him at shark slide-point

© httpsserene 2023

[slasherbvnnie]

Hello!! Could I request a billy loomis smut about her being new to the school and then sitting beside eachother. It could be like strangers-to kinda friends-friends-good Friends- eventual smut when she gets jealous of Sydney. It’s fine if not! Have a good day! x

Hi! So sorry this request is late, but I really enjoyed writing it and couldn't stop to be completely honest. No smut in this part, but there will be in the second part of this! I honestly might make this longer and into a mini series, I like the idea!! Like, literally, this is longer than any chapter for Until We Found You...

Who's Watching Billy

Part II

Word Count: 2401

Context: Modern day scream au, all characters 18+, afab!reader

“Well feel free to take a seat anywhere, I’ll send you an email later today to update you on everything we’ve done so far. I’m sorry for the complications, admissions is kind of tricky sometimes,” you saw an older lady speaking to a guy. You looked down at the paper in your hand for the hundredth time before looking at the room number on the wall, staring at the two who were blocking the doorway to your class. Thankfully, you made out that the older lady was the professor, so you were thankful that she wouldn’t have any grudge against you for being late for class.

“You must be my other new student, right? Seems like your admins are having a fantastic time with schedules lately,” she joked as she looked to you. You flashed a sheepish smile, giving a nod as the guy turned his attention to you. You couldn’t help but blush, he was pretty cute and having his attention on you just made you want to cower away. A small smile turned on his lips before he looked back to the professor, thanking her for her help before walking into the class. “As I was telling Mr. Loomis, I’ll send you an email after class going over everything we’ve discussed so far. I’ll put all the information you need to know to be able to catch up with us, so just leave a good email with me once lecture is over,” she said as you nodded. “Great, thanks, I hope it hasn’t been too bad. My administrator just told me the class I was enrolled in before wasn’t going to count towards my program and all so- yeah.” You rambled on before nodding, “no worries dear, the only other seat that hasn’t been taken so far will be right next to Mr. Loomis. I’m glad you both arrived today, we’re having a lab later and you’ll need a partner for it,” she said as she moved out of the doorway, you nodded, heading to the back of the class to sit next to the guy from earlier.

“So, did they also fuck up your blocking or is it just your first day here,” he asked as you sat down, shaking your head. “uh- neither. I apparently enrolled in another class that would have just counted as an extracurricular and was told last minute that one I needed, this one, had one seat left open,” you explained as he nodded. “Glad you had a mess up, though. Otherwise I would be out of a partner,” he said, making you smile.

Two days later, you were back at class, seated next to Billy once again. “So, about the project, I was watching a few movies last night to get some ideas,” Billy said to you as you looked over, “oh? You found some movie scenes with chemistry in them?” You asked as he nodded, “have you ever watched who’s watching oliver?” He asked as you thought, “that slasher movie about some creepy dude who kills for his mom?” You smiled when he nodded, “yeah, you know the scene where he’s dissolving all the evidence? I figured that could fit with the project,” he said as you laughed, earning a small glare from him. “I don’t know…I mean, it’s kinda creepy to mention that. How about something more tame, like that movie where jeff Goldblum plays the guy who learned about dna or something,” you suggested as he rolled his eyes. “We could, if you want to be like majority of these idiots. Or, we could be more unique and disturb them while educating them,” he said with a smirk as you laughed again. “How about something better? We have a horror movie night while your set up to an apple watch, then we do some calculations to see if you were scared enough to emit isoprene.” You suggested, seeing his eyes light up. “isoprene,” he questioned as you nodded, “yeah, it’s this chemical we’re always processing but when you get scared, it goes up. We can monitor our heartrates with our apple watches while watching some scary movies and talk about that. We could even timestamp the scenes we got scared at,” you said as Billy smirked. “I’d like that,” he said with a smile as you nodded. “Wanna do it tonight then,” you asked as he looked away and sighed. “Ah, I’ll be busy with my girlfriend,” he admitted as you sighed, “oh…um, tomorrow night then?” You offered as he nodded with a smile. “Tomorrow night sounds good.” He agreed.

After class you said goodbye to Billy and began to head back to your home. You popped in your headphones and turned on your favorite playlist as you made your way to your car. What disturbed your usually normal walk however was seeing Billy with his girlfriend, as well as three others who were talking. You frowned a little, trying to brush off the tiny stupid crush you were developing on Loomis, getting a little angry for thinking that he didn’t have a girlfriend. He was handsome, of course he would have one. You were about to walk past, hearing the two other boys in the group arguing about something you couldn’t make out over your music, but you were disturbed when one came up to you. “Excuse me,” he said, making you pull out an earbud and look to him. “Ah, random awkward question, but do you think you would say you find me attractive. Me and this idiot are having a debate and-“ “leave her alone Meeks, I don’t want you freaking out my lab partner,” you turned to see Billy talking to the male in front of you, the girls and the other male laughing.

“Lab partner, huh,” said the third, you looking to the group in confusion. “Not freaked out, just confused,” you said with a small awkward laugh. “Randy thinks he has a chance with you, caught him drooling over you,” said the unknown male, “and he doesn’t. She’s too smart for him,” Billy said as he wrapped his arm around Sidney. “Sorry about them. That is Randy, a dumbass. The other dumbass is Stu. Then Tatum and…Sidney,” he said, kissing Sidney on the cheek when he introduced her. You tried to hide your frown and instead smiled, nodding. “Um, nice to meet all of you, I guess,” you said as the girls smiled. “So you take chem with Billy? You’re pretty lucky, he’s smart with that kind of stuff,” Tatum said as you nodded, “yeah, he is,” you said with a smile. “Sorry guys, I have to get going,” you said, about to put your headphones back in before Billy called out to you again. “Hey, still good for tomorrow?” He asked as you nodded, “Yup! I’ll text you what time,” you said, seeing Sidney give him a look at your response.

Ever since that night of horror movies, your feelings for Billy had only grown. You were mad at first because you knew him and Sidney were dating, but soon you just became mad that you two weren’t dating. Your anger turned into sadness eventually through the three months of the knowing each other, having been invited to hang out with the friend group more often and becoming a good friend to them. Throughout the months, Billy never seemed to once show interest in you, he wasn’t like Stu who constantly was flirting with others, or Randy who was trying to ask the two for advice on how to make you more interested in him, he just seemed content with Sid. However, October marked a turning point. Casey Becker and Steve Orth were the first thing that began to change the group. The next was the attempt at Sidney which led to Billy getting booked for a night.

You were surprised when Randy called you to let you know what happened, explaining how Sidney was nearly attacked by ‘leatherface’ which he used as a nickname for Billy. “What is this, fucking the house on sorority row or something,” he asked, as you shook your head. “So, did he do it?” “His dad’s some lawyer, even if he did he’s probably getting away with it,” he said as you sighed. “Thanks for letting me know, Randy. Um, I’m gonna call Tate to try and see what’s wrong,” you said, hanging up on him. The next day at school, you noticed that the spot next to you wasn’t empty. Instead, Billy sat, scrubbing his fingers to try and get the ink off. “Hey,” you said softly, his eyes darted up to you before he relaxed and looked back down at his hands, wiping them on his jeans. “Hey…” he said, surprised when you sat next to him. “Not afraid of the killer?” He asked as you laughed, “Loomis a killer? I mean I admit you are kinda creepy enough for it but, no, I don’t think you did it.” You said as he chuckled, “well I’m glad you don’t think so, Sid sure does,” he sighed as you rolled your eyes. “I mean, I could see it if you were in theater. Didn’t she say the killer left then you came out? You’d have to be a track star and the best undresser ever,” you joked, smiling when he laughed.

A bit into class you heard an announcement on the intercoms, you and Billy looked at each other when the overhead voice said that classes were cancelled for student safety. “Wonder what happened,” you said as he hummed. “Maybe ghostface is on the loose again,” he said as you nodded, “scary…” you mumbled, putting your things away and picking up your backpack. Just then Billy’s phone dinged, he looked down at his phone and chuckled, shaking his head. “Ah, there’s a party at Stu’s tonight.” “Macher really does have great timing, truly,” you said as he smirked. “Hey, how about you come with me? I’ll pick you up before it starts,” he suggested as you paused, “what about Sidney?” You asked him as he sighed and shrugged, “she accused me as the killer last night, I think I would say we’re pretty much done.” He said as you shrugged. “Um, I don’t know, Billy…” “Come on, if not as my date then as my friend, yeah?” You saw his eyes piercing into yours, a shiver of excitement going down your spine as you nodded and agreed, receiving a big grin from him.

Billy was running a little late, putting gas is what he had texted you. You were waiting on your porch, pacing back and forth slightly as you waited for him. You looked up when you saw headlights in the dark heading towards your driveway, smiling when he honked at you to get in. “About time, take that long to pump gas?” You teased him, smiling when you saw the ends of his lips upturned slightly. “Didn’t know I had to make a good impression, this isn’t a date, remember?” He said as you rolled your eyes. “And we’re an hour late, you owe me alcohol if Stu is all out,” you hummed, “it’s stu, if he’s out just blow him and more will magically pop up,” he joked, the two of you laughing as he drove off.

By the time you made it to the Macher residence, you noticed not as many people. That didn’t bother you really, you just enjoyed the promise of free alcohol and making out with someone by the end of the night. You two hopped out of the car, heading to the door before seeing Sidney about to walk out. Both of your expressions were the same, confused and a little angered to see the other. Billy and Stu looked at you two before at each other, Stu grasping his hands together as he cleared his throat. “Well look what we have here,” he said as Sidney looked to him. “Did you invite Billy?” Stu stayed silent for a moment, pressing his lips together and sucking them in slightly before letting out a chuckle, “I thought it would be nice for you two to uh…reconcile, you know.” He said as you pushed past them, walking to the kitchen where you saw a few others chugging alcohol and hanging out together. You couldn’t hear much over the loud speakers Stu had set up throughout the house, different songs blasting from his playlist. You poured yourself a drink, heading out to explore what was going on around the house.

Not much caught your eye, just people competing in drinking games, others just hanging out with friends or dancing with their dates of the night. You made yourself comfortable, leaning against one of the walls in the living room, getting a small look at the doorway and seeing Billy and Sidney talking, Stu closing the door as the two talked together. Both of you watched them, surprised when Sidney had moved away and slapped Billy, moving away from him to call out again for Tatum so they could leave.

You were a bit happy to see Billy hurt, but a large part of you was also sad and angered by it. You didn’t enjoy seeing him hurt physically, but it made you a bit more comforted knowing he felt a tiny bit of the pain you were hiding. Stu was quick to try and calm down Sidney, putting his arm around her shoulder as they talked.

You and Billy made eye contact from across the room, he gave a dejected smile and a shrug, heading your way. “Did you know telling a girl that you don’t appreciate being called a killer and assuming that breaks you guys up is not a good idea?” He asked as you laughed, “I could have guessed,” you hummed, sipping on your drink before offering him the cup. “Promise it’s not laced or anything, not yet at least,” you said jokingly as he drank. “I would prefer if it was,” he said as he handed it back to you. “How about we get a refill and head upstairs? We can steal some of Stu’s cds and dvds, hopefully not his porn collection,” he said, making you laugh once again. “Hey, who knows, Stu might have good taste in porn,” you said with a wide smile as the two of you headed out to the kitchen.

[the-travelling-witch]

𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝: 𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍

Character Choice: Levi x gn! Reader Character Class: Comfort Gamer

Profile: Levi understands how exhausting life can be, especially in this household. So he’s really glad you can find comfort in bingeing anime or TSL and playing games with him for however long you want. Still, Levi’s convinced you’re some kind of angel for listening to his long-winded ramblings and if you ask him literally anything about the plot or characters he has half a mind to marry you right then and there.

[nsfw version minors dni!!]

“What’s the password?”

“The second lord…” you began but before you could finish the TSL line, the door already swung open and you were pulled into Levi’s room by your wrist. Blinking to adjust to the dim blue light coming from his fish tank, you closed the door behind you and locked it again. “Someone’s eager today, huh?”

For a second Levi just stared at you like a fish out of water, his eyes flitting back and forth between your teasing grin and his fingers still wrapped around your arm as he processed your words. Then, when his thoughts finished loading he nearly jumped backwards with a shriek.

“I’msosorryHenryIdon’tknowwhatIwasthinkingI’msureyoudon’twanttobetouchedbyadisgustingotakulikeme-” As you watched the colour creep up his face all the way from underneath his collar, Levi was flinging his arms around wildly as if he was trying to swat away a bunch of flies.*

“Levi… LEVI! Text speed 1, okay?” You grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“Just don’t say something like that! Or- Or look at me like that either,” he pouted, warmth still radiating from him. “Give an otaku a warning, you know…”

“My bad,” you giggled, walking past him to plop down in your usual spot. “You’re just too cute when you’re flustered, so you’re kinda doing it to yourself… Levi?”

Noticing he didn’t follow you, you look over your shoulder to see the poor demon frozen in his spot, his eyes wide before–

“HUH?! Cu-Cute? ME??” And before you knew it, he had brought up his hands to shield his glowing face, his lanky figure hunched over. “Woah, that was just like in the secret ending from ‘My super attractive best friend who is now my significant other is coming over to play video games with me and I still can’t believe they’re dating an otaku like me!!’, so cool!!”

You bit back another playful remark and instead held out his controller. “What are we playing today?”

“Oh! There’s a new DLC for Stardrop Mountain coming out today! I really want some of those fire-breathing cows for our farm, we could put them next to the carnivorous chickens!!” His earlier embarrassment completely forgotten, Levi’s orange eyes were lit up with excitement as he went to download the new content. “There’s also this new region unlocked that we totally have to explore. I hear the boss there is super hard but the drops are ultra rare, so farming it might actually be worth it.”

“Sure, sounds good,” you chimed when your demon sheepishly scratched the back of his head before settling down next to you. “Although I’ll probably have to leave most of the fighting to you, I have no idea what mechanics that thing has.”

“Of course! You can play support until you have the pattern down, if you want to.”

For a while, only the clicking of the controllers and some muttered curses coming from Levi were audible. Still, despite your eyes being trained on the screen in front of you, you didn’t miss how Levi shifted beside you or how he kept stealing side glances at you.

“Is everything alright, darling?” Pausing the game, you turned towards the demon, who was busy looking everywhere but in your general direction. “You know you can tell me.”

“I- Uhm- You-” The poor guy looked like he was about to cry. “I wanted to ask if you could uhm… sit in my lap? I mean I totally get why you wouldn’t want to but–”

Before he could get further into his self-deprecating monologue, you had already shuffled over and climbed between his legs. Looking up at him, you were somewhat concerned his eyes would pop out of their sockets at any moment now, so you gently cupped his face and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Then, while Levi was still rebooting his brain, you wrapped his arms around your middle and put his controller back into his hands.

“Is this better?” You asked, doing your best to keep the teasing lilt out of your tone. It already took him all his confidence to ask and you didn’t want to discourage him from voicing his wants and needs in the future. At his furious nodding, you simply smiled before returning to the game. “Thank you for telling me, my Lord of Shadows.”

“O-of course, Henry.”

There was something very comforting about feeling the rise and fall of Levi’s breathing or the vibrations of his laughter against your back. Whenever he pulled you a little closer to himself, you just pretended not to notice, even if you nearly combusted when he smushed his cheek against your head or left a featherlight kiss there.

* Levi to English: “I’m so sorry, Henry. I don’t know what I was thinking, I’m sure you don’t want to be touched by a disgusting otaku like me-”

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[hugemilkshake]

Oh my gosh when I saw and read the Dragons x Reader who is an expert with Dragons

I was wondering if you could do part 2 where the Reader meet the Dragons!

Like bro when Reader found out they we're just ecstatic and started to touch/caress there wings or tails and just be immediately affectionate but gentle of course

Hope you enjoy your milkshake! Now I kinda didn’t have any ideas for Longan so if you have any your willing to share then pls do

Meeting the Dragons

-romantic scenario-

Part 1

Pitaya Dragon

Oh boy, ever since meeting you Pitaya was HEAD over heals for you- not that they would admit it

They planned on telling you they were a dragon… eventually!

But Snap Dragon might have made that revel come sooner than expected…

The two of you were hanging out together when Snap Dragon emerged right from Pitayas hair

The two of you were quite shocked, but you were more excited about Snap Dragon than Pitaya was

You started to coo over Snap Dragon, baby dragons were rare so you were ecstatic

Snap Dragon was LOVING the attention that you were giving them. And they also were happy to meet the cookie Pitaya was always rambling about

Now Pitaya was kinda jealous of the attention you were giving Snap Dragon

So they decided to finally reveal themself to you

At the drop of a cape you noticed your friend had a dragon tail and wings but you quickly realized that you were in the presence of, not just one dragon, but two!

You were so excited, you couldn’t stop asking Pitaya questions! Pitaya even let you touch their wings!

Pitaya smiled as you played with Snap Dragon, this is why they love you.

Ananas Dragon

About a month of the two of you leaving gifts for each other Ananas finally decided it was time for you to meet them

Now The Golden Dragon wouldn’t admit it, but they planed how this meeting would go for days

It just had to be perfect!

So around Dawn The Golden Dragon went to the usual exchange spot and waited for several hours until they heard someone walking towards the area

The dragon took a deep breath, fixed their hair, and made it look like they were leaving a gift

When you saw The Golden dragon you froze, you didn’t expect to see THE Golden Dragon

Ananas greeted you with elegance they rehearsed more than once

Now they did get nervous when you didn’t respond immediately but after a minute you could hardly contain your excitement

Ananas could see this so they allowed you to ask them some questions

That absolutely made your day! You were talking to a REAL dragon

Your excitement made Ananas Smile

Lotus Dragon

Lotus was getting really curious about you. The Blue Dragon only knew about your passion for dragons

The dragon wanted to actually meet you

So they called Hydrangea Cookie to fetch you

When you heard you were required to go to the Lotus Palace, you nearly had a heart attack.

And your heart practically stoped when you were informed that The Blue Dragon wanted to see you

THE BLUE DRAGON WANTED TO SEE YOU???

When you got to the palace you were and absolute mess but The Blue Dragon was calm as an undisturbed ocean

Lotus knew you were nervous but that didn’t bother them, they wanted to get to know you better so they offered you to have tea with them

Lotus just loved the way you rambled on about yourself

Lychee Dragon

Lychee Dragon was SO desperate for your love

But them being Mangosteen Cookie would definitely make things weird so they needed a plan

Their plan was simple, they continued to be Mangosteen Cookie but also have you meet their real self so they can spend the most amount of time with you!

That was the main idea.

So one day when you were alone Lychee Dragon made themself look like they got stuck in one of the Rambutan Tribes traps they didn’t get stuck

When you found them, they could see a mix of a lot of different emotions. Shock, excitement and confusion.

Lychee Dragon, once free, made a whole sob story about how lonely they were.

You believed it. As asked if Lychee wanted to be your friend

They said yes obviously

Now was Lychee manipulating you to some degree by being two separate cookies? Yes

Did they really care about the potential problems this may cause? No

They could just brainwash you to make you forget!

Longan Dragon

Oh boy.

Longan dragon is… interesting to say the least.

They may or may not have kidnapped you for one night so they could meet you

And you may or may not think it was a dream.

But Longan will probably keep taking you in the dead of night and then returning you the next morning.

It’s the only way they can see you without causing a mass panic

[seidenbros]

Can we have a Steve falling head over heels for Robin's college roommate? I'm pretty sure Steve would love a super nerdy bookworm girl. Literature student, maybe? I picture her as a hopeless romantic who's super into the most tooth aching clichès and he definitely finds that cute. But she totally matches Robin's energy, so she is funny + adorable + cute.

He visits Robin on a regular basis and as she is super close with reader, they become friends too but then he realizes that she's everything he ever wanted 🥺

I'm totally vibing with that. Sorry 🤣

Hello love and thank you so much for this request. I decided to mix it with an idea that I couldn't get out of my head, so we have Baker!Steve in this one. I kinda wrote my heart out and just realised that I completely forgot to weave in the hopeless romantic/clichès thing and I'm sorry D: I hope you'll still enjoy it 💚 and if you were wondering what a puddin pretzel is, click here

prompt lists for inspiration | Stranger Things Masterlist Pairing: Baker!Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader Word Count: 6743 Warnings/Tags: mutual pining, use of petnames (doll), broken hearts in the past, fluff, domestic Steve, I mean he bakes come on!, making out, sexual tension Read on AO3

If someone had told Steve Harrington years ago that he would one day earn his money with baking, he would have probably called them crazy. But here he was, still learning this and that, but he was already doing a damn good job. It was work that fulfilled him, baking things that made other people smile, that helped them start their days off right, and he’d even made his first wedding cake. The old man that had taught him, was leaving him more and more in charge of everything, while his granddaughter worked behind the counter to sell everything.

It had started out as a hobby, as a way to experiment at home, since he’d pretty much always been alone. Steve had always had a sweet tooth, so it was just more fun to try this out himself instead of just buying everything. Sure, he had the money, and he often did buy stuff, but he wanted to mix things up. He dreamed about mixing maple syrup with bacon in the form of a cupcake. So he did just that.

While Robin went to college, Steve started working at a shop called Sweet Temptations. Honestly, he’d been drawn in by the name, and then the cupcakes, the cakes and whatnot had made him stay and ask about a job. While Nino, the owner, had told him to bring him something homemade, his granddaughter had immediately said that he could start, because he would definitely draw the younger women in. Sure, they could use the additional customers, but Steve wouldn’t get the job without proving that he indeed had a talent when it came to baking.

And Steve delivered. He did make the Maple-Bacon-cupcakes he’d perfected by now and had wowed Nino with that. So, the old man had told Steve everything he knew, and was still teaching him, even though he only spent one day a week at the bakery, trying to do his best to enjoy his retirement. The shop was still his baby, so he had to drop by and bake with Steve once a week, pass on his secrets, the ones he hadn’t already passed onto him. His granddaughter, Mira, had been right at least, because they had an increase in female customers who even stayed in the shop to enjoy a piece of cake and a coffee, lingering to get a good look at the young baker everyone was talking about.

Meanwhile, Steve’s mind and heart were occupied with someone else: You. God, he had fallen head over heels for you, and he hadn’t seen it coming.

Of course, he’d heard about you from Robin again and again. She loved living with you, because you were so much like her. Sure, you liked different things, and you were someone who did read a lot - maybe natural as a literature student - but you also liked to go out with Robin, enjoyed movie nights, and listened to her ramble on and on. You two just worked so well together, and Robin had quickly become your best friend. While Steve had heard everything about you, you had heard everything about him from Robin.

Still, it had taken a lot of time until the two of you had finally met. Robin had invited Steve over for movie night, and had forgotten to ask you first, so when you’d opened the door for him, you’d been taken aback. You’d seen pictures of him, but seeing him there right in front of you had definitely made your heart skip a beat - and it had been the same for Steve. Robin had apologised again and again, saying that she should have asked you first, but you’d been overjoyed to finally meet that famous Steve Harrington. That alone had made him blush a little. Robin should have seen it right then and there, because she wasn’t used to that kind of reaction from Steve, but she’d been a bit blind in that moment, because she’d still kept apologising to you.

Ever since then, you’d made it a regular thing to rent some movies and watch them together. But it wasn’t just those days that Steve showed up. Sometimes, he stopped by after work and brought a couple of baked goods with him. Sometimes, he came over for pizza in the evening. You liked him, and you liked spending time with him, but never made any advances towards him, because he was Robin’s other best friend. They’d been through a lot, that much she’d told you, but she’d never said what exactly had happened. But you knew that Steve was plagued by nightmares, and that there were certain days that he couldn’t stand bright lights, because they gave him a headache. He’d told you once that he’s had more than one concussion, so the headaches, the light sensibility, those were things that came from that. Not every day, he had good and bad days of course, but when he’d told you about that, you’d hugged him without thinking too much about it. Steve had gone rigid in your arms for a moment, before he’d melted into your touch, had hugged you back and just stayed like this for some time. When you’d separated, none of you had been able to say anything, because Robin had burst back into the room again.

One day, Robin had asked you whether it was really okay that Steve wass dropping by so often. She’d told you that it was okay, if she went over to Steve’s so that you had your peace and quiet to read or study, but you’d quickly told her that it was more than okay. Maybe even a bit too quickly, because she’d smiled at you, leaning in to ask you whether you liked him. The way you’d stumbled over your words had told her everything she’d needed to know.

“I don’t have time for a guy in my life,” you’d told her, but Robin had just rolled her eyes at you, knowing that it was just a way to guard your heart, to not give anyone the chance to break your heart again. If you were honest with yourself, Steve had already managed to slip past the cracks in the wall you’d put up. With his warm smile, his infectious laughter, his caring personality and the love he put out into the world. That was why you had to be careful, watch out that you didn’t fall even more for him. The best would probably be to not spend that much time with him, but you enjoyed it way too much, missed the movie nights when you had something else to go to.

Tonight, though, when Steve knocked on the door to the apartment you shared with Robin, you immediately smiled when you saw him. Steve did the same, before he lifted the tray he was carrying.

“Brought you something new. Just tried it out today!” Steve walked in, taking off his shoes and jacket, while you brought the tray to the kitchen.

“So we’re your test subjects, huh?”

“Oh, you know, I really value your opinion, so…” Steve shrugged his shoulders, before he drew his brows together. Robin was in the bathroom, singing at the top of her lungs, but Steve couldn’t really make out the song.

“I swear, if you keep bringing this stuff, I won’t fit through the door anymore at one point. I already gained weight because of these things.”

“So, do you want me to stop bringing you stuff?” Steve tried to  stop himself from smiling, while his eyes wandered over your body. To him you were perfect, with a couple kilos more or less, he didn’t care as long as you were happy.

“Don't you dare stop!” you said with a laugh as you opened the lid of the tray. The air was immediately filled with the smell of vanilla, making your mouth water. “What is that?”

Your eyes, big and round and filled with wonder, looked up at Steve, ready to take one of these things and take a bite to see if they tasted as good as they looked.

“It’s called a pudding pretzel. See, it looks like a pretzel, but it’s sweet.” He leaned over, his shoulder touching yours as he showed you what he meant. “And the holes are filled with pudding. You just have to try it.”

When he turned his head to face you, your noses nearly brushed. For a moment, you both stayed like this, nobody saying a word, but you quickly straightened, when you heard the bathroom door open.

“Steve?” Robin said, scowling at him as she fluffed up her hair, looking ready to go out. Then, realisation hit her. “Shit, I completely forgot about movie night!”

“Got a hot date or something?” Steve’s eyes locked on her, scanning her outfit, before he started grinning from ear to ear. “Oh you do! And you haven’t said a word!”

“Well…” Now, it was Robin’s turn to blush, but she quickly brushed past the two of you to get to her shoes. “I didn’t wanna jinx it by telling you, and you probably would have talked me out of it.”

That made your ears perk up, and you followed her, because you had an idea who she might be going out with, and it was not a good idea. Still, if that was Robin’s choice, you would accept it and let her go. Once she got her mind set on something, nobody could really talk her out of it.

“I’m really sorry that I didn’t tell you two and postpone movie night. But you’re welcome to stay anyway, Steve. You can watch a movie without me, right?” Robin’s eyes settled on you when she straightened again, her shoes now on her feet. Oh that little minx! Right now, that almost felt like some kind of scheme from her to get you and Steve to spend some time alone.

“It’s alright, I can leave if you want to use the night to read the book you talked about!”

“Already finished that,” you quickly said, surprised that he’d remembered that.

“Should have expected that.” Steve let out a laugh that made your lips curl up into a smile. A laugh that was so genuine that it touched your heart and made the last bit of resolve vanish.

“You’re welcome to stay, Steve. Would love the company for a movie.”

The way you said his name, the way it rolled off your tongue, made Steve smile.

“Alright, then I’ll stay.”

“Good!” Robin clapped her hands, giving you a mischievous grin, before she reached for her bag. “Have fun you two. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” And with that, she was out the door.

“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Steve shook his head, slowly looking your way.

“Tell me about it!” You rolled your eyes with a laugh. “How about I get the movie started and you get these delicious things on a plate?”

Steve agreed without hesitating, but he still watched you leave for the living room. The moment you were gone, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his beating heart. Suddenly being alone with you made him nervous. With Robin there, it hadn’t been awkward at all, but he was scared that he would make it awkward now. He really didn’t want to screw this up with you, but he also didn’t want to make a move because… well, you were Robin’s roommate and her other best friend. If you didn’t like him the way he liked you, it would make things incredibly uncomfortable for all of you.

So, he took a deep breath and put the pudding pretzels on plates, before he walked over to you. He took a seat on the opposite site of the sofa and handed you one of the plates. With Robin not there, there was a huge gap between you.

“Oh my God!” 

Your sudden outburst nearly made Steve jump, because his eyes had been glued to the TV. With big eyes, he looked at you, but seeing the smile on your face made him relax. You wiggled around in your spot, your mouth filled with another bite of the baked goods he’d brought.

“Steve, this tastes absolutely amazing! You gonna sell it at the shop?”

“If Nino agrees, then yes.”

“He’d be an idiot not to sell them. These are better than sex!”

Steve nearly choked on the piece of pudding pretzel he had in his mouth when you said that. He needed a moment, to calm down, before he levelled his eyes at you, trying to figure out whether he’d heard you correctly.

“What?”

“I mean it.” You looked at him for a moment, before you quickly turned to look back at the TV, because the intensity of his stare made you squirm in your seat. Shit, you’d really put your foot in your mouth and had said something that probably wasn’t appropriate to talk about with Steve, especially not because you liked him and had thought about doing certain things with him. “At least better than the sex I’ve had.”

Yeah, you really should have kept quiet, so before you said anything else, you stuffed your mouth with the rest that was still on your plate.

“God, I’m sorry, doll, but then you probably just had the wrong kind of guy by your side.” Steve shook his head, kinda shocked to hear that from you, to know that apparently nobody had made you really enjoy it when you thought that his pudding pretzels were better than sex. It also made him aware that he’d thought about this with you way more often than was appropriate. And he should really not be thinking about it right now, but you’d planted that thought in his head. “Cause it can and should be good.”

“Yeah I know…” You sounded kind of defeated, not wanting to think about how much time you’d wasted with your ex, who’d cheated on you multiple times, and who’d treated you like one of his belongings. But you also didn’t want to think about Steve on the other side of the sofa. Steve, who looked good enough to eat, and who smelled the part as well, because he’d come by right after work, so he smelled just as delicious as the baked goods he’d brought with him.

Steve shifted his sitting position, reached for a pillow to lay it in his lap and balance the plate on top of it, which was more of an alibi move, so that you wouldn’t grow suspicious of him putting the pillow in his lap.

There was about half an hour of silence between the two of you, each one aware of the tension in the room, but staying quiet about it. When you reached for the blanket, though, because you were getting cold, Steve shifted in his seat, looking over at you. Suddenly, he felt a bit bolder. Maybe that was because of your previous topic, maybe it was the overall situation, but in the end, it didn’t matter.

“Come here,” he said, opening his arms for you, a smile on his lips. “I promise I won’t bite, but honestly, I’m like a furnace, so I’ll keep you warm.”

“I-” you started, biting your lip, but if he was offering, it was alright to do it, wasn’t it? “Okay.” You scooted over to him and snuggled up to his side, your heart racing in your chest when his smell filled your nose again.

Steve’s arm wrapped around your shoulders and he pulled you even closer. Your hand found its place on his chest, feeling the rapid beating of his heart through the shirt he was wearing. Was he maybe as nervous as you were? Or was that just your imagination? When you lifted your head to look up at him, you found him staring back, and you could swear that his eyes landed on your lips. Before anything could happen, before any of you could say a thing, the door to your apartment flung open and Robin kicked it shut again behind her.

You scrambled to get up from the sofa, heart beating even faster than before, because you felt like you had nearly been caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing. Which was ridiculous, since Steve and you were both adults and nothing had happened. Still, you didn’t really want Robin to find you like this.

Steve just looked at you with big eyes for a moment, before you left him sitting there alone to get to Robin. He reached for the remote to turn everything off before he followed you.

“Oh lord, what happened?” he asked when he found you and Robin sitting at the kitchen table. She looked a bit out of it, when you held out a glass of water to her. She’d had a couple of drinks, Steve could tell that already.

“She stood me up.” Robin looked up at him for a moment, before she dropped her forehead to the table again, heaving a sigh. “Waited and waited and was so nervous… Maaaaay have had a couple drinks. Then I left.”

“I’m so sorry, Robin. Want me to trip her the next time I see her?” you offered, laying a gentle hand on her back, slowly rubbing up and down to show her that you were there.

“No… Just.. God, I just wanna go to bed.” You could tell that she was on the verge of tears, because of the alcohol. It always made her either more outgoing or emotional, and after an evening like this, it was clear that she wasn’t dancing on tables right now.

“Come on, I’ll take you to bed,” you said, standing up with her, wrapping your arm around her waist. You looked up, your eyes meeting Steve’s

“Go, I’ll clean up here,” he said with a smile. So, while you went to the bathroom with Robin to get her into something more comfortable and wash her face, Steve cleaned the kitchen and put everything away that you’d used. He brought a bottle of water into Robin’s room and put it next to the bed.

“Thank you,” Robin mumbled, as you entered her room and she saw Steve just put the bottle down, but she meant both of you. “I should have just stayed home with you two.” She flopped down on her bed, taking a deep breath. “Did you at least enjoy your evening?”

“Yeah,” Steve said immediately, smiling to himself as he risked a look at you.

“It was a good movie, so yeah!” To be honest, you had no idea what the movie had been about, too preoccupied with the person standing next to you right now.

“Mhm… Good,” Robin mumbled, snuggling into her pillow. “Was hoping for more, though.”

She didn’t offer an explanation or say anything else, mainly because she fell asleep, but she left you curious about what she meant. Well, you had an idea, but you couldn’t be sure about that. It didn’t matter in the end, did it?

As quietly as possible, you left the room with Steve, leaving the door ajar when you brought him to the front door.

“I’ll come by tomorrow morning and take care of breakfast, alright? See how she’s doing.” Steve put on his shoes before he reached for his jacket.

“Sounds good. And thank you, Steve… It was a fun evening.” Maybe, that was not exactly the right word, considering how nervous he’d made you, but the brief moment you’d spent in his arms had made you relax, and it had made you feel so safe.

“It really was, so thank you.” Steve leaned forward to place a kiss on your cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Mhm… goodnight, Steve!” He turned around at the top of the stairs to give you a little wave, before he disappeared from view. The smile on your lips would probably have been able to light up the whole room when you closed the door behind you. The only question was, how you were supposed to find sleep after this.

As you’d expected, you hardly slept at all, tossing and turning, thinking about the previous evening, how close Steve and you had gotten. You hadn’t lied to Robin when you’d said that you didn’t have time for a man, though it was probably more a way to protect yourself than anything else. But Steve… Steve made you laugh, he filled you with happiness, and he always took care of Robin and you. That’s why he wanted to come by and make breakfast.

Shit. Yeah, you really weren’t ready to face him right now, not when you thought about him pretty much all night and were ready to jump his bones, to act on the tension that had been there between you hours later. 

You cast a quick glance into Robin’s room, but she was still asleep, so you left her alone again and put on your shoes. You needed to get out, go for a walk, clear your mind, whatever. But you were not ready to face Steve. But Steve it was, you collided with when you ripped the door open and stepped outside without looking around first.

“Woah, careful there, doll!” One of Steve’s hands wrapped around your upper arm, steadying you, while he was carrying a bag in the other hand. Your own hands landed in his chest, eyes closed for a moment, before you managed to pry them open and look at him.

“You running away from something?” he asked, smiling at you, before he carefully took his hand off your arm. 

God, he had no idea how correct he was. On the one hand, you were running from him, on the other from your own feelings, because you were already feeling your heart pick up its pace, and it wasn’t because of the surprise right now. It was because of Steve’s presence, because of the smell of him that filled your nose, because of the smile that made your knees weak.

“No!” Your answer came a bit too quickly for your own liking and you bit your bottom lip, taking a step back. “I’m just running late. Completely forgot I have a meeting. I’ll see you around!”

You gave him a curt smile and a wave before you were off and bounded down the stairs. Steve watched you leave, his heart sinking a little, because it felt like you were running away from him. Still, he was here to make breakfast, so he walked inside and headed to the kitchen to prepare some scrambled eggs and pancakes.

When Robin walked into the kitchen twenty minutes later, she was greeted with a set table and everything she could wish for. She only had a mild headache, but nothing a good breakfast couldn’t help with.

“Morning,” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes, before she smiled at Steve. “Is Y/N not awake yet?”

“She is… but she pretty much fled your apartment.”

“Huh?” Now, that made Robin’s eyes widen, curiosity shining in them when she took a seat. “What do you mean? What happened?”

Robin reached for the coffee first to take a sip and let the hot liquid wake her spirits.

“She said she has a meeting, but-” Steve heaved a sigh, reaching for his own coffee cup to wrap his hands around it. He looked down, as if he was looking for the right words in the hot beverage. “Kinda felt like she didn’t wanna see me, you know? Maybe, I fucked it up, don’t know.”

“Wait a second!” Robin pinched the bridge of her nose, trying her best to focus. “I feel like I’m missing a vital piece of information here.”

“Nothing happened!” Steve said immediately, looking up again to reassure Robin and make her realise that he was telling the truth. “At least not really. I mean, we were watching the movie and she said that my pudding pretzels were better than sex, so… that topic came up briefly and then we were both quiet… a bit awkward.”

Steve leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, while Robin started eating the pancakes, listening intently to what he was saying. But she didn’t stop him, let him talk until she had all the information she needed.

“When she reached for the blanket, I offered her to come cuddle, ‘cause you know how much heat I radiate.”

“That’s a fact. You’re damn hot all the time.” Robin nodded her head, curious where this was going, as if she was reading a book, or rather having a book read to hear that was just about to get really interesting. “So what then?”

“She snuggled up to me.”

Oh, the smile that appeared on Steve’s lips made Robin really giddy. She’d seen that look before, but it had been a while since she’d last seen that. Sure, Steve had done a lot of dating, looking for the one person that he could call his partner, the one that would stay with him and really love him, but he hadn’t found that person. And now, you were the reason he had that dreamy smile on his lips.

“And then you got hom.”

“Ahh fuck,” Robin groaned, dropping her fork onto the table. “You were doing so well, and then I managed to fuck it up. So much for my plan.”

“Yeah…” Steve was still smiling, but then he realised what Robin had just said. “What do you mean your plan?”

“Forget it…” Robin quickly shook her head, but before she could say anything else, Steve insisted that she should tell him.

“Well… she likes you, Steve! I wasn’t sure how you were feeling, but seeing how much you smile, I don’t need you to spell it out. But Y/N is always like… she doesn’t have time for a boyfriend, she’s scared of getting her heart broken again…”

“Yeah, I know that feeling.” Steve rolled his eyes, tried his best not to get his hopes up at what Robin had just told him.

“Yeah, and that’s exactly why the two of you would never hurt each other like that. That’s why I didn’t tell you two about the date yesterday. So that you’d spend some time alone and maybe, finally take a step towards each other.” Robin leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “And apparently you did. But why do you think she’d be running from you now?”

“I don’t know! I mean, maybe I was too bold yesterday?”

“Steve, you cuddled on the sofa for maybe a few moments, right? And she could have easily said no, but she didn’t.”

“I kissed her cheek when I left and told her I’d come by for breakfast.”

“Oh boy… Nothing of that was too bold, but I guess, she’s too much in her head again, so that’s why she ran.”

“Maybe.” Steve lifted his coffee cup and emptied the last drops into his mouth, before he got up. “You’ll be alright? ‘Cause I think I just need to clear my head a bit.”

“Steve…” Robin really didn’t want to let him go, not when he looked so defeated.

Sure, Robin had told him that you apparently had feelings for him, but right now, he was sure that you’d run away from him, so that was wearing him down. For months now, he hadn’t had eyes for anyone else, only for you, because you were the one person that made him happy beyond words by just existing in his close proximity. Yesterday, getting to hold you and kiss your cheek had made him unbelievably happy, but for you? It sure looked like he’d taken it too far. So he needed some time to himself, and when he needed to clear his head, he started baking.

“Robin…” Steve looked at her, a weary smile on his lips when he stepped up to her. “Will you be alright?”

“Sure,” she said with a huff, not wanting to let him go, but knowing that she couldn’t keep him here. “What about you, though?”

“I’ll be fine. I always manage, you know that.”

Yeah, she did… and that was what kind of scared her, because she knew that Steve wouldn’t bounce back that easily this time, not when you were the perfect match for him and ran out of the apartment as soon as he arrived.

After a long, long walk and some more coffee from the coffee shop around the corner, you came back home, hoping that Steve would already be gone. When you didn’t see his shoes when you entered, you sighed in relief. At least, you were thinking that it was relief, but it was mixed with a weird kind of longing because he wasn’t there.

“Good, you’re home,” Robin said, leaning in the door to the living room. She’d showered and looked way better than the night before, but the serious look on her face made you a little worried.

“Yeah, sorry, I had a-”

“Meeting, so I’ve heard. Now, tell me, why haven’t you mentioned that all week?”

“Well,” you started, eyes wide, because you hadn’t expected that question from her. And that attitude she was giving you, really threw you off.

“Because you didn’t have a meeting and just ran away so you didn’t have to face Steve, right?”

Busted.

“Look…” You ran both hands over your face and through your hair. Steve was Robin’s best friend, and you really didn’t want to make it awkward at all, but right now, you got the feeling that it already was awkward as fuck. 

“Hey, listen,” Robin said, stepping up to you and taking your hands into hers, her voice and her whole demeanour a lot softer than before. “I understand that, ‘cause you’re scared of getting hurt again, but believe me… Steve would never hurt you. God, he’s so in love with you, it’s painful to watch.”

“He… what?”

“Are you really that oblivious? He’s not just being nice to you. He’s completely and utterly in love with you. And he’s scared of getting his heart broken again as well.” Robin shook her head before she smiled at you. “You two really belong together, you just have to open your heart and allow yourself that.”

Robin tapped two fingers against your chest, letting go of your hands to do so.

“I’m just…” You broke off, shaking your head as you were trying to process what Robin had just told you. You had kind of hoped that Steve would feel the same way, but a tiny voice had told you all this time that he had just been nice to you.

“Scared, I know. So is Steve.” Robin placed a hand on your cheek, making you look at her again. “And now he thinks he did something wrong.” “What? No, no, no, he didn’t, I was just… I don’t know.”

“Maybe you should go and tell him that then. Make him stop worrying, because I know he’ll be baking all afternoon to clear his head.”

“You think so?”

“I know it. Because he keeps overthinking every little thing. Something else you have in common.”

Mira walked to the back where Steve was working and put a new cup of coffee in front of him.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Anything else you need?” She leaned in the doorframe, watching him work. He’d come in, looking distracted, and it had shown in the first batch of cupcakes he’d made, because they’d landed in the trash.

“No thanks.” Steve gave her a smile that looked more forced than anything and went back to work. He knew that he needed to concentrate a little more, because that would help him clear his head of you, but it didn’t work. You were there, in his head and in his heart, and by now it hurt to think about you. 

Steve turned the music up a little louder and started putting the ingredients he needed into the mixer. While the mixer was busy, he put some flour on the work surface and made a mould in the middle, because he wanted to make bread as well as some more cupcakes.

He stopped the mixer once all the ingredients were blended together, and tasted it. It was good, no question, but it was definitely missing some more vanilla. Once he had the perfect mixture, he poured it into the baking pans and sent the cupcakes to the oven.

Now for the bread… he mixed the yeast with warm water before he poured the mixture into the mould in the flour. That was the moment you walked into the room, but Steve didn’t realise that he wasn’t alone anymore. He was finally able to clear his head a little, hum along to the music and concentrate on what he was doing. With a spoon, he started mixing a bit of the water mixture and the flour together, before he was finally able to use his hands to make some proper dough. His hands and arms were full of flour, so when he raised his arm to brush the sweat on his forehead away with his forearm, some of the flour stuck to his face and even his hair.

The sight warmed your heart, because he looked completely at ease, so in his element, that you didn’t want to disturb him. At the same time, your heart nearly burst out of your chest, because it was filled with so much love for this man. Now that you were allowing yourself these feelings, they were even bigger than you could ever have expected.

Your eyes travelled up slowly up from his hands, over his forearms, the muscles flexing in them, the veins that stood out, up over his chest, his chin, his lips, and to his eyes that were now looking back at you. You hadn’t realised that he’d stopped kneading the dough and was suddenly aware that you were there.

“What are you doing here?” Steve’s words weren’t harsh, they were extremely soft, surprise shining in his eyes as he wiped his hands on his apron.

“I… I wanted to see you,” you managed to say. “Think I’ve got some explaining to do.”

“You don’t have to explain anything.” Steve shook his head, still trying to smile. “I took it a step too far.”

“Steve, you really didn’t.” You gathered your courage and walked around the work surface to stop right in front of him. “I was just…”

“Scared.” Steve finished the sentence for you, keeping his eyes on you while his heart threatened to beat right out of his chest. “Are you still scared?”

“Yeah.” You swallowed hard, taking the last step to close the gap between you two. “But…”

“But…?” Steve’s voice was low, quiet, but he was so all consuming that you couldn’t think clearly anymore. Your head was filled with him, your body humming because of the proximity of his body, of feeling the heat radiating off him and seeping into your skin. His right hand came up to cup your cheek, tilting your head so that you had to look up at him.

“But…” You tried again, your skin feeling like it was on fire from where he touched you, a hint of flour lingering where his thumb brushed over your cheek.

You ran your fingertips up his stomach, over his chest and to his shoulders, pulling yourself up just slightly so that you could kiss his lips. You had nothing to lose, right? And sometimes, you just had to take that jump that you were so afraid of.

Steve was taken by surprise that you’d taken the initiative, but that surprise was quickly pushed away, and he kissed you back. His hand moved from your cheek to the back of your neck, pulling you even closer, while his free hand found its place on your hip. Your body was flush against his, your hands moving up to tangle in his hair, your breasts pressed against his chest while his tongue delved into your mouth, making you moan slightly into the kiss.

You’d had your experience in kissing, but this… this kind of kiss was definitely something else. You felt it to the tips of your toes, it made your whole body tingle and ache for more. Close wasn’t close enough, and you could have kept going for some time, not wanting to let go of him, but the loud beeping of the oven made both of you pull back.

“Shit… sorry,” Steve mumbled, lips puffy from kissing, glistening slightly, while dark eyes looked back at you. You probably looked just like him, hair a bit dishevelled but you didn’t care.

“‘S alright,” you managed to mumble, smiling to yourself as you stepped back. Steve made quick work of the cupcakes and pulled them out of the oven.

You bit your bottom lip, looking down at yourself. The flour showed where Steve’s hands had been, and it made you grin like an idiot. Yeah, you could really get used to it.

“What are you making there anyway?” Curiosity got the better of you, so you had to ask about the dough that Steve had abandoned due to you kissing him.

“I wanted to make some bread.”

“Bread? And here I thought, you only made sweet stuff here.”

“Ah, see that’s where you’re wrong, doll. Sweet and savoury. Remember the Maple-Bacon-Cupcakes?” You nodded vigorously, because they were among your favourites. “And bread is just something that has to be mastered. Here, let me show you.”

Steve stepped up behind you and manoeuvred you so that you were standing in front of the dough. His arms wrapped around you, his chest against your back, and his hands on top of yours, moving them to the dough so he could show you how to knead it.

“It’s really soft, isn’t it?” Steve��s voice was right next to your ear, distracting you even more than being trapped in his embrace.

“Mhm…” you mumbled, trying to focus on what you were doing, but Steve made it really hard for you. You didn’t even hear most of what he was talking about, too distracted by the feeling of his strong hands on yours, guiding your hands.

“And then we form a loaf,” he nearly whispered into your ear, his lips almost touching it. Steve moved your hands with his, doing what he just told you, and when the loaf was done, he still kept you right in front of himself to walk over to the sink and wash your hands.

“Steve…” you managed to breathe out and turn in his embrace, when his lips immediately came down on yours. His hands were on your hops, lifting you into the surface, sending flour into the air, a fine dust settling on your skin and in your hair, but you didn’t care. All you cared about were Steve’s lips on yours, his hands moving up and down your thighs, while his tongue invaded your mouth, tasting you and making you crave even more. This was definitely not the right place to be doing this, but you didn’t care. Someone else did, though.

“Steve I just - OH SHIT! Sorry!” Mira quickly turned around again and walked out, still apologising.

Steve lifted his head, looking after her, before he burst out laughing. You chimed in, leaning your head against his chest, hiding your face. His fingers slowly carded through your hair, before he kissed the top of your head.

“Maybe, we should continue this somewhere else.”

“Mhm… Maybe you could finally show me how you live, after you’ve been in our apartment most of the time.” Slowly you raised your head to look at him, feet dangling left and right of his legs.

“What do I get if I show you?” Steve wiggled his eyebrows at you, making you chuckle.

“How about… as many kisses as you want?” Feeling a little bolder, you leaned forward to kiss  over his jaw to his ear, taking your time. “Sound good?”

“Perfect.” His hands squeezed your thighs, before he stepped back and held out his hand for you. You really were everything he wanted, and he couldn’t believe that you were finally holding his hand and smiling just for and because of him. What more could he want?

[nereidprinc3ss]

OMG. i’m just a bit of a overthinker so i have this bit of a bad habit where i tend to overanalyze everything when i shouldn’t 😃 but since you asked, here are some of the things that made me consider that reader might have daddy issues.

just please please don’t let this affect your work, your writing is absolutely perfect and nothing about it should be changed. again, it’s just me being a weird intp autistic overthinker.

1. it kinda looks like she uses sex to feel loved. she even confronts him by speculating that he might not be attracted to her. through the entire series reader is constantly scared of the idea of spencer leaving her after finding out who she actually is as a vulnerable person based on her nakedness if that makes any sense?

“But I just… sometimes I worry I’ll scare you away once you realize I’m not as pretty or… good as you thought.”

2. spencer’s character is obviously well known for having an eloquent vocabulary but he even gives me the vibe of being a little bit much older than reader. which is a common thing in women with daddy issues, like me. but again, this is just my way of interpreting the whole thing. he always seems to be so put up together but of course, that might change with the new chapter. even his actions make him sound more older, like in here:

“He smiles up at you like you’re something divine and lets his hands trail over your hips.” 

i’m probably just being weird about it but i just THINK it’s impossible for a guy close to reader’s age to think like this and be this gentle because young men are stupid by default and very few have this sense of gentleness with their actions. even with the way he calls her honey, i have never in my life seen a guy my age call their girlfriend “honey” and sure, this is merely fiction but for this reason i picture both of them with bit of an age gap going on in their relationship.

3. spencer is a bit of a emotionally unreachable boyfriend sometimes! and i’m analyzing this based on his confession towards reader about him regretting his first time. like there is so much rambling in this dynamic and it takes him long enough to be able to directly say it to her. yeah, he wasn’t ready to tell reader he loved her but there were other ways to tell her that he regretted his first time. almost like there is no emotional connection or actual trust between them.

4. sometimes reader is also unable to trust spencer, it’s so easy to see how she’s constantly battling in her head to ask him a simple question or even taking a compliment from him. i know it’s just meant to be portrayed as insecurity but this is actually a common thing in daddy issues as far as i know.

“He likes me and my questions are important to him, you repeat to yourself silently as you work up the strength.”

5. and moreover, this one sentence:

“It’s every fiber of your being screaming to tell him how you feel, to beg him on your knees not to go because you love him like a child loves a parent or a bee loves honeysuckle or the ocean loves the horizon.”

and this one part as well: Somehow, he makes you feel like a scolded child. But he makes it appealing in ways you don’t understand. 

But again, your work is PERFECT. and i wouldn’t have it any other way. you keep doing you. ❤️

me rambling about the DYBMN age gap and reader potentially being neurodiverse below the cut 🙏 bless

oh so it is definitely interwoven throughout the entire thing and i didn’t even realize you are so right omg😭 this is like in tangled when rapunzel realizes she’s been painting the sun emblem subconsciously her whole life

anyway bff this just made me so ridiculously happy. like the analysis??? the attention to detail???? im ecstatic im losing my mind ily this is so insanely thoughtful thank you for doing this!!!

and yeah i think you could be right about the age gap. i think i technically only put it as an implied warning for one of the chapters but the more i write the more i realize that is definitely a part of the dynamic. but also like?? not all the time?? not for sure?? and i don’t necessarily think that if they DO have an age gap it’s a super big one (although it’s up to you guys, none of my business) i think i feel that way because oftentimes they will behave like peers in the same age group which is how i wrote them on purpose. but it could also be that they’re peers in other ways like let me explain something i’ve been thinking about

reader is insecure not only about being inexperienced in romance but in life, and feeling powerless/helpless in the way that a child might. i think that comes from me being neurodivergent and putting bits and pieces of me into the writing. a very common thing among neurodiverse people is feeling behind developmentally from their peers which the reader is DEFINITELY struggling with so i think she’s lowkey nd coded which wasnt my intent but here we are—and so even if she and spencer aren’t super close in age they might be peers in that sense. as an nd person i often don’t relate well with ppl my age and find myself much more comfortable and finding natural connection w people significantly older than me. so that could very much be a part of it but iddkkkkk reader doesn’t have to be nd and they don’t have to have an age gap but it’s fun to theorize! anyway thank you so much for your thoughts lovely they are so appreciated!!

[ham-st4r]

𝓢𝓵𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻 - 𝓛. 𝓗𝓮𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓾𝓷𝓰

🍿Pairing: heeseung + female reader🥤

Warnings: one use of the F word.

Genre: fluff, best friends to something more.

Summary: you hadn't seen your best friend in a while, so he invited you to his apartment to hang out. Before you know it, it's past midnight, and he's asking you to have a sleepover.

Number of words: 1741

Find your way around!

Hello! just dropping by to give you your dose of hee fluff. I hope you love it. Please leave feedback and reblog!

Heeseung, your best friend, had invited you over to his apartment to catch up with you and play some video games after not seeing you for a while, games soon turned into dinner, and then dinner turned into a movie, and after said movie had ended, it was already midnight somehow.

You stretch out on his sofa as the credits roll by, and heeseung turns the lights back on. “Well, I think I should head home now.”

Heeseung frowns at the mention of you leaving. “Already?” He plopped back down next to you with a pout.

“Already?! Heeseung, it’s past midnight!” you exclaim.

“So?” He asks with a shrug popping an M&M into his mouth.

“It’s literally a school day tomorrow” you glare at him and steal one of his M&M's.

“Right, I forgot,” he hummed and nodded his head in understanding. “I forgot that I don’t give a fuck!” you chuckled and slapped his shoulder.

“You’re so stupid, hee,” you giggle.

“I’m not stupid, what’s stupid is that everyone at school gets to see you every day, but I don’t.”

“Well, that’s just the way it is” you stood and walked toward the door to put on your shoes.

“Wait!” He shouts from across the room with a crazy look in his eyes as he walks over to you and lightly shakes your shoulders. “We can have a sleepover!” He smiles brightly, and you can tell how proud he is of his idea from the way he's smiling from ear to ear.

You chuckled lightly and shook his hands off your shoulders. “And why would we do that?”

“To spend more time together” he looks at you weirdly and states the obvious, or at least it was obvious to him.

“Hee, I’ve been here for nearly ten hours,” you whine. It’s not like you didn’t enjoy spending time with him, but it was late, and you wanted to go home.

He just ignored you and started mapping out his little plan. “So, what I was thinking is we watch another movie,” he said, rummaging through his DVDs while he was on his knees in front of his tv stand. “Oh, and I have some of your favorite ice cream in the freezer that you can have.”

You just watched him go on and on about what else he wanted to do.

After a few minutes, you had tuned his voice out, wondering why you decided to even come over in the first place, but then you remembered you wanted to be a good friend and keep him company for the day, but you didn't know his plan was to hold you, hostage, all the night long.

You shook your head a bit, snapping out of your thoughts, and he was still talking.

“The other day, I bought this heated blanket I still have yet to try” he was just rambling, trying to say anything to make you stay. “Do you want to try it together?” He finally slides the DVD into the player and sits back on the sofa, looking at you with hopeful eyes.

“Hee, it’s lat-” He cuts your words before you can even finish.

“Even more reason for you to stay. It’s late, and you shouldn’t travel while it’s dark. You know, I wouldn’t forgive myself if something ever happened to my dearest best friend.”

You stood there with an expressionless face.

He was so shameless, using all your weaknesses against you, and now he was throwing logic into the mix. “Come on, y/n, please. I even put on our favorite movie,” that’s it. He presented an offer you couldn’t refuse, and you kinda hated and loved him for it.

You just sighed and stepped out of your shoes, trudging back over to his insanely comfortable couch. And sitting down on it. “Does this mean you’re staying?” he asks you with puppy eyes.

You glared at him and gulped, eyes flicking to the TV nervously. “Go get my ice cream,” you said in a stern voice.

“Alright!” He smiled and hopped off the couch, running to the kitchen and retrieving your ice cream.

He came back from the kitchen with a giddy smile, and you couldn’t help but smile as well, although you frowned when he only brought one bowl of ice cream. “Where’s yours?”

“I uhh,” a blush spreads across his face before answering. “I only bought a small one specially for you” he cut his eyes at you and tucked his hands under his thighs.

Your heart swelled at the cute gesture, and you dipped the spoon in the bowl, holding it up to his mouth. He parted his lips slightly, allowing you to spoon-feed him a taste of your ice cream. “Good?” You smiled at him softly, and he just nodded with a bashful expression.

“Oh! I forgot” he got back up and went to his room, grabbed the infamous heated blanket, and plugged it in before draping it over you both, making sure the temperature wasn’t too high.

Once you finished your ice cream, you snuggled into the warmth of the blanket, and you can’t lie that it felt absolutely amazing, especially after eating the chilly ice cream. Ten out of ten, definitely worth spending the night.

Heeseung shifted a bit under the blanket, nuzzling into the couch as he focused on the movie that played on the screen.

About an hour into the movie, you had made more popcorn for the both of you and brought some soda with you as you sat back down on the sofa. “I could have made it, you know,” Heeseung whispered to you.

“I know I just wanted to do something for you since you bought me ice cream” you smiled genuinely, and he felt his heart melt at that moment. No one could convince him that you weren’t an absolute angel.

“Thank you,” he mutters shyly and turns back to the tv as your gaze lingers on him just a second longer before digging into the freshly made bag of popcorn.

Once you were both done eating, you pulled the blanket up around yourself and rested your head on his chest.

He leaned into you a little more and wrapped an arm around you, hugging you closer as you hummed in contentment while the rest of the movie played.

Occasionally he’d brush his thumb over your shoulder soothingly. You looked up at him when he did this, scrunching your nose with a smile, He mirrored your expression and accompanied it with a playful laugh that resonated in his chest.

When the movie ended, you both stood up, stretching a bit and cleaning up your mess. It was now nearing two in the morning, and heeseung knew you should have been sleeping sooner, but he selfishly kept you up late.

“No, no, I got it,” he reassured you. Taking all the items, you had used it's the least he could do.

“Are you sure?” You say not wanting him to clean up all by himself.

“Positive,” he smiled and headed to the trash bin tossing away all the candy wrappers and napkins. He threw the empty soda cans away and washed the dishes before turning off the light in his kitchen.

He came back to the living room smiling at you, covered with the blanket. “Sorry I kept you up so late. I feel bad now,” he pouted, and you made room for him to sit back down.

“It’s fine, hee I had so much fun with you tonight” you smile earnestly, letting him know you meant every single word.

“Yeah? He fiddled with his chubby fingers and looked down at his lap, that was covered in Star Wars themed pajamas. “Maybe we could do it again soon” he looks at you with a glint in his eyes.

“Definitely!” You say excitedly, already looking forward to spending another day like this with him.

He smiles warmly and stands up abruptly, picking you up in his arms. “Hee! What are you doing” you giggle and wrap your arms around his neck.

“You have school tomorrow, remember? We need to get you some sleep” He laughs and struggles to open his bedroom door. Once he managed to twist the knob, he nudged it open with his foot, gently laying you down on his bed and tucking you in afterward.

“What about you?” You ask, noticing he wasn’t getting into bed with you.

“It’s fine. I’ll sleep here” he pulls out his gaming chair and grabs a thin sheet from his closet.

You snorted out a laugh as he adjusted in the small chair. His long limbs did not help the situation, and you could see him already shivering from the lack of warmth the thin sheet provided.

He cracked his left eye open, and you instantly stopped laughing. “What are you laughing at? This is perfectly comfortable” he shifted again, and you laughed again. “Seriously, it’s the best seat in the house. I can literally just wake up and turn on my computer and start gaming” at this point, you know he’s lying just so he wouldn't make you uncomfortable, but you really didn't mind sleeping in the same bed with him.

He turned on his side and nearly fell onto the floor. You didn’t even try to hold back your laughter this time. “Wow, this is what I get for trying to make you comfortable,” he playfully rolled his eyes.

“Hee stop playing games and bring your butt to bed” you pulled back the covers so he could join you, and he bolted out of the chair right away, sighing in relief when his back hit the soft mattress.

“Are you sure you’re comfortable with this?” He asks.

“I have school tomorrow,” you remind him so he can keep quiet and let you sleep.

“Like I said, the chair is the best seat in the hous-“ you cupped your hand over his mouth, stopping him from spewing out any more nonsense.

You removed your hand from his mouth and lowered it around his torso, resting it there. “Goodnight, hee,” you whisper softly.

“Goodnight, y/n,” he mutters and rests his hand over yours, and you smile, catching the warm smile that spreads over his features as your eyes flutter shut, and just before you wander to dreamland, you feel him press a soft kiss to your cheek.

Yeah, you definitely couldn’t wait to have another sleepover.

FIN.

[altocat]

You helped me, my friend, so now it’s my turn to help you ❤️

From a complete kudos, comments, and bookmark stance, I can’t express enough how AO3 can get into our heads in terms of wanting to perform well. Despite having no set “algorithm”, being a more library-organized system, that’s not gonna stop the rat race of social media standards from messing with us! I think it’s more than understandable to want a fic to do well; I think it’s more than understandable to want those kudos numbers to be triple digits; I think it’s more than understandable to compare which kinda things resonates with people more in order to achieve those things — bc there IS an undeniable validation and satisfaction that comes with seeing those fics perform well! It’s just how things work in 2024, imo, as good and as bad as it may be. So plz know that, at least from me, you have all the empathy in the world when it comes to this kinda stuff 💞

HOWEVER!~

We can’t let those pressures squash our own creative drives ❤️ Bc at the end of the day, we ARE writing fanfiction… we ARE writing a genre that is completely and utterly free, that has no limitations and no guidelines! We ARE writing a genre that, as much as our brain wants to convince us otherwise, is for Us. There’s really no better ecstasy out there than knowing a fic we wrote is appreciated by others!! (Again, that validation!!) But it should never be the other way around ❤️ It’s a hard endeavor in the world of social media, but we shouldn’t be the ones seeking that appreciation from others. I can tell how much you love to write angst from the sheer passion that goes into every single brutal fic you put out. And lemme tell you know — whether I’m being a broken record or not! — you are So. Fucking. GOOD at it ❤️ Beyond good. Beyond great. Straight up masterful. AMT’s wouldn’t be what it is without the heart-shredding angst that made it as powerful as it was. Sinners wouldn’t make me shriek into my pillow if you weren’t go gifted at wielding the angsty blade. Barrage wouldn’t bring me to tears the way it did; Flashes Before Your Eyes wouldn’t still linger in my mind the way it still does. And I can go on and on, but I think you get my point ❤️ You are beyond extraordinary at what you, my friendo. It still leaves me speechless to this day.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say it… if you wanna write angst, PLZ HECKIN’ DO!!! If only for the fact that there is so much love that goes into it when you do ❤️❤️❤️ And that love is palpable, and it leaves impressions, and those impressions make for one heck of a wildly blessed author. I honestly don’t think a fluffy fic written for the sake of it being fluffy will be able to have the same kinda heart that something like Unrequited did… y’know what I mean? 💖 And plz do not get me wrong — Shelter is phenomenal, and every kudos and comment and bookmark is so, so deserved and more!! But I don’t think that should be the basis/comparison point for your fics. You don’t have to be an “angst” writer; you don’t have to be a “fluff” writer; you don’t have to be anything.

Just be you, Alto ❤️ Bc you are fucking incredible. And I wouldn’t want you to be anyone else ❤️💖

*jumbo hugs!*

(P.S. - I was thinking recently that I should switch over to primarily angst writing bc I thought that’s what the people wanted 😂😂 But maybe the Yin and Yang of fanfic genres are simply meant to balance each other out lmaooo!)

DFGHJGFDSAWSEDFG Thank you Pichu!!!! Don't worry, I wasn't seriously considering cutting my angstfics. Just sort of speculating out loud and seeing if people had preferences. But with that said, this all means so much to me to hear. And I'm so grateful that my fics have meant something to you in the long run. I write for fun, mostly as a means of expressing myself or exploring ideas that are bubbling in the surface. So I'm glad it appeals to an audience, however niche.

I'm rambling lolol Thanks so much. You're such a good writer and a kind friend ❤️

[aroace-poly-show]

also a thing for you if you ever want to ramble about hw- what's emu's story for this? how did she get into illustration, and how did she meet the troupe?

RAUGH I ALWAYS WANT TO RAMBLE AND IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS TY FOR ASKING!!!! also took a while this time my bad man. the route my bus takes has very very shit internet so i couldn’t continue my draft during my ride 💔

anywayyy. good lord this is fucking long. im sorry.

for emu, i’m still figuring stuff out with her, but i’ve been thinking about her a lot more recently, and so far what i’ve got is that she has a little bundle of issues including grief over her grandpa, toxic positivity and not letting herself feel negative emotions properly, some internalized hatred of herself and how childish she is following an argument w shosuke, and generally feeling kinda lost, like the rest of hw, after wonder stage closed bc she doesn’t know what to do w/o shows. yknow.

so like. she still has her whole thing w/ her grandpa. and she while she wasn’t doing the *best* she wasn’t doing that bad in the mental health department. still wasn’t letting herself like. grieve properly. but she wasn’t the worst. she performed a lot on wonder stage and knew that the stage was in danger of being closed down, so she tried really hard to keep it from happening. but the actors for wonder stage began to leave as time went on and the ones who stayed didn’t really get why she was so persistent in keeping this stage open when the others in the park were better and shit. and she didn’t have much help. so unfortunately despite her best efforts wonder stage was kinda doomed for closure. butttt she’s not giving up yet. so she tries to convince her brothers to not close it, or at least to just give her some more time. which Does Not Go Well. shosuke gets real frustrated with her and starts yelling and shit. and while keisuke shuts him down once he gets too heated. well. it’s kinda too late. with what he said about her being childish and demanding that she just grow up already and stuff like that, my girl takes that to heart. and then with the official closure of wonder stage…yeah…she’s not doing the best…

emu’s grief here is made worse w/ the wonder stage closure. cause like. that was her and her grandpa’s favorite stage. girl feels like she failed him. she loved that stage. she loved doing shows there. it was something she had to remind her of her grandpa. and now it’s closed. :(

since then she’s been. different. like it’s just barely noticeable to a lot of people but she’s definitely changed. she smiles and acts cheery and seems like her usual self but like. her smile isn’t quite the same. she’s not quite as talkative. she avoids her brothers a lot more. and her brothers have noticed btw and they both feel AWFUL. especially shosuke. they done fucked up and they know it.

also like technically she could keep doing shows, after all theres the other stages in pheonix wonderland, and she has experience in doing shows + is related to the people who literally own the place so it wouldn’t be hard for her to join one of those stages. but she doesn’t bc after all that, she thinks her goal of just wanting to bring smiles to people is childish. shows make her so so happy but she thinks it’s immature and naive of her to still want to pursue that, especially considering she failed last time. it’s a silly and childish path to pursue, and she needs to pull her head out of the clouds and grow up already, like her brother says. so despite loving shows with all her heart, she gives up on doing them. but since shows are so important to her, she doesn’t rlly know what to do without them, so that’s where that feeling lost stuff comes in. yknow.

for her art, i just think she enjoyed art in general, and with her grief and the wonder stage closure it helped her cope. i have a very specific idea in my head of her style. but i cant remember the artist here on tumblr that i think she does art like. if i can remember their name i will though. i might actually do a post dedicated to what i think her art style is like….

not set in stone just yet, but what i’m thinking for the original meet up is that she meets nene first. nene does music and emu finds it, and it gives her some inspiration for some art. she posts it and credits nene’s music as what inspired her, and nene is so fucking honored. through some light encouragement from rui nene gets the courage to dm emu to tell her thank you, and they start chatting!! they get along pretty well and emu starts making art for nene’s music. eventually rui has the idea to start animating them, so they can make music videos for the songs, and boom hw gets its beginnings online.

this happens before wonder stage closure btw. when it does close, emu disappears from their group chat for a bit. she comes back like nothing happens and while she doesn’t tell them what happened, they both notice she doesn’t talk about what shows shes doing anymore, or shows in general. nene and rui are both very sad at this btw. seeing emu have so much love for shows and be able to talk about them like she did was really nice, so to see her stop with that and seemingly not enjoying shows anymore after something happened, just like they did, it sucks. :(

anyway i think my timeline is like. during nene’s last year of middle school when she transfers to home schooling, she starts doing music -> everything i just mentioned here happens -> eventually they meet tsukasa, and he joins the group -> hollow ☆ wonderland does its thing as a group for a while -> main story shit happens. yeah. 👍

uhhhh. dear god i’m so bad at explaining my thoughst. augh. i hope this made some amount of sense. and that i wasn’t too repetitive lsajdkhfgyfdhsj. anyway miscellaneous emu thingies now.

like i mentioned, wonder stage hasn’t been replaced yet, it’s just closed down and sectioned off. so emu still visits it all the time. there is nothing being done to maintain it. so it is absolutely unsafe. but does emu care. no. girlie wants to disappear and while she’s not *planning* on dying, if she had to die anywhere she wouldn’t mind if it was at wonder stage. she draws there a lot.

a lot of her drawings are traditional!! with lots of bright colors and crayons and colored pencils. she has lots of fun drawing.

this applies to non-au emu as well but she has gifted stickers to all her friends. nene’s synthesizer is covered in them.

wonder stage was closed off at sunset. btw. just to give her another reason to hate sunsets.

[itsatigersharkidiot]

Chapter One-Connor

It was a cool September morning in Akron Ohio. Connor Lassiter was peacefully sleeping in his bed, until his slumber was interrupted by his alarm clock. Connor groaned in annoyance but he got up anyways, despite feeling groggy. He stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the shower, making sure it was scolding hot. He cleaned himself off, got dressed, and didn’t really bother about his hair but tried to keep it nice anyways. He glanced into the mirror once he had finished getting ready, sure there was still scarring on his face but he didn’t bother about how it changed his appearance. Bzzt! Bzzt! Connor’s phone had gone off, it was Lev wondering if they were still gonna walk together. Connor yawned and replied saying that yes, they were still walking. Looking at the time, Connor scrambled to get his bag —which he had packed the night before— and headed out the door.

“Morning Connor.” Lev approached him, his blonde hair long and matted, showing that he was too tired to brush it, as per usual. “Hey Lev.” Connor yawned again. “Sleep well?” Lev asked, raising a brow “because it doesn’t seem like it.” “Nope.” “Of course, you never get out of bed Connor, you’re always almost late.” The two of them continued to walk almost reaching the school until Lev asked a question which caught Connors attention “What if we started a band…wouldn’t that be something?” Connor immediately started thinking about the possibilities. “Yeah…that’d be, pretty cool.” “Yeah! I play drums and you sing so we already got 2 members! We just need a bassist and a guitarist, or maybe a rhythm guitarist and a keyboardist too!” Lev kept rambling on about this idea, Connor listened intently, maybe this wasn’t a bad idea…

Both Connor and Lev had gone down to the office at lunch to see if they had permission to use the music room after hours. After a bit of convincing, Connor and Lev had successfully been able to talk them into it. “Wait…how are we gonna find other members?” Connor had asked Lev, “uh.” “You didn’t think about that, did you Lev?” Connor scowled. “No…but surely it won’t be that hard…trust me. We’ll quickly make flyers and put them around the school! Then people will be interested!” Lev smiled. Connor rolled his eyes “Well then, let’s hurry up with the flyers!” The two of them spent the rest of their lunch hour printing and putting up flyers, Lev remained confident the whole time while Connor…not so much.

Once school had ended, they hurried up to the music room, but while they were making their way up they hadn’t paid attention to where they were going and Connor had accidentally bumped into someone, causing him to fall flat on his ass. “Watch it man!” the boy had angrily said to Connor. “Ah, my bad…Wait, oh it’s you Roland.” Connor rolled his eyes. Roland scoffed “You’re just gonna roll your eyes at me, Lassiter?” Then the girl beside Roland had stepped in “Roland, calm down. They seem to be in a hurry anyways, you’d be the same way.” she said as she nudged his shoulder, Roland frowned realizing she was kinda right. Connor then realized that him and Lev should start heading to the music room again “Oh..we gotta go, bye uh…Layton?” “Yep, I’m Layton. See ya Connor and Lev.” Her and Roland continued to walk down the hallway but Roland turned his head and glared at Connor. He didn’t care and him and Lev quickly scrambled up to the music room.

The nice thing about the school music room was that there was already equipment there that they could use. “So, now what Lev?” “We practice and wait for other people.” Connor sighed and grabbed a microphone from one of the mic stands to practice his vocal range. Lev went to one of the drum kits and started practicing different songs. After a while, that was still nobody and hope has starting to be lost. “Lev can we just go! Nobody’s coming!” Lev sighed “yeah, we should just leave—“ A knock on the door had interrupted Lev mid sentence. They both glanced at each other and Lev went to the door to see who was there.

At the doorway stood a girl, she was carrying a case for an instrument and looked up at Lev. “Is this the band that needs more members?” Connor peered over Lev’s head “Oh Risa! I didn’t know you’d be interested. And perfect timing too, we almost were gonna leave. Come in!” Risa stepped into the music room “So…what instrument do you play!?” Lev asked excitedly. “Keyboard, is that okay?” “Yes it is!” Lev replied. “Play something for us Risa.” Connor asked kindly, trying to make a good impression on Risa; especially since she was a girl who he may or may not have a crush on. Risa had set up her keyboard and started playing a few short bits of some songs, both Connor and Lev were left blown away. They both whispered to each other deciding on if Risa should join. “Risa, Lev, let’s go sit at this table.” Connor pointed to a desk with a few chairs around it. When they all sat down, Connor looked at Lev and up at Risa. He reached one of his hands to hold her hand and finally he spoke a few words, those few words were ones Risa had wanted to hear. “You’re in.”

(This is a repost because the first time I posted it, half of the text was missing😭)

Read next chapter here:

[iris-writesx]

the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me | stede x ed x izzy

read it here or read it on ao3 <3

i’ve spent about a week writing down details and plans for this au that i’m starting, and i planned to introduce it with a fluffy christmas fic, but i had a bad mental health day and projected my heart and soul into stede and this is the result. i’m sorry if this was a rambled mess or if some of it doesn’t make sense, most of it is based on my own experience. sending love to anybody who can relate <3

but first au!!! yay!!! i love these guys with my whole heart and the idea of them in love and living together is just *chef’s kiss*

let me know if you like it! and if you want to see other things! i feel like this isn’t the best opener to the au as things i have planned are more lore heavy but i kinda like this so here you go akdnwkf

title is from “peace” by taylor swift x

4.6k words — modern day au, hurt-comfort, anxiety, dissociation, panic attacks

more from this au; and now i see daylight

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

Stede didn’t know why.

He didn’t know why it happened — why sometimes, the pit inside of him opened up wide enough to swallow him whole. Didn’t know what caused it, why he felt that way, he just… did.

And he hated it. He hated not being able to talk to people, zoning out, barely able to do anything other than listen to music and cry. He forced himself through the motions of the day — breakfast, drive himself and Izzy to work, do work, eat lunch, go home, have dinner, shower, sleep — but on days when he didn’t feel good, it seemed mechanical. Like following instructions. Not like… not like life.

He could tell when he woke up to an empty bed that it was a bad day. Stede was usually the first one awake, and unless he’d been up late the previous night or sick — and he was neither — then it was going to be a bad day.

He was zoned out as he sat up, pulling on one of Ed’s shirts and his joggers, barely focused on anything as he sipped from the water he kept by the bed. His head felt like it was underwater, a little numb and a little thick, and by the time he had made it to the kitchen he felt like a puppet on strings.

The first gut punch of the day was that Ed had already left for work.

Usually, they all woke up together and had about an hour until Ed had to leave first, as the garage he worked at opened at eight o’clock. Stede knew that people wouldn’t be going to a library that early, so he chose not to open his shop — his shop, would have usually made him smile, but it did nothing to cut through the fuzz in his head — and instead opened closer to ten o’clock. Though, he and Izzy got there an hour earlier to set up for the day.

Stede stopped in the doorway of the living room, blinking. Izzy — already dressed and sipping his morning coffee — was in his armchair, and the spot where Ed would usually be was empty.

Part of Stede was upset that he hadn’t come to say goodbye, or Izzy hadn’t woken him up, but he knew they wanted him to get enough sleep. Probably just thought he was tired.

“Stede?”

Stede blinked, eyes back on Izzy, face a little flushed when he realised he must’ve zoned out. He cleared his throat and put on a smile, one that didn’t even feel convincing. “Morning, darling. When did Ed leave?”

“About ten minutes ago. Was just about to come wake you up, are you okay?” Izzy had that look — the one he got when he was worried, looking for whatever was wrong.

Stede put more effort into his smile that time and nodded, forced himself to walk further into the room and over to his partner. “I’m perfect, was just a little tired last night,” he leaned down to kiss Izzy, felt his partner’s hand squeezing his waist lightly. “Did you sleep well, love?”

—

Stede mechanically followed through the rest of his morning.

He had a tea with Izzy, before he went to get dressed in the first clothes he could find, didn’t spend half an hour putting an outfit together like he usually would. If Izzy noticed he was quick, he didn’t mention it.

He skipped breakfast, told Izzy he just fancied a pastry from the café tucked away at the back of his library — the café that Izzy worked at, so really, it was a terrible lie because he’d know if Stede didn’t eat anything. The thought of eating made his stomach turn, he didn’t want anything.

He got his bag for work, made sure Izzy had everything he needed, before going out to the car and drove them there.

He unlocked his shop, and busied himself getting set up; put new books out, organised shelves, greeted the staff as they all showed to work. He let Lucius talk away to him behind the counter about his date with Pete — who coincidentally worked at the garage with Ed — but Stede couldn’t really recall much from the conversation. He hadn’t really been listening.

It was a Sunday, so the saving grace there was that they could get out early, and Ed would be home before them for once since he got off work at lunch time. But they barely had many customers on Sundays, people preferred to be cozy at home.

That’s where Stede wanted to be. Curled up in bed, not thinking, not conscious.

The morning dragged, and by the time twelve o’clock rolled around Stede couldn’t take the silence of the store anymore. The lack of customers and the silence meant that he had time to think — about how much of a failure he was, and how Izzy and Ed probably preferred each other over him, and how he couldn’t be normal, how he couldn’t, he just-

Stede put the stack of books down that he had been carrying and dug into his pockets, pulled out his phone, and his other hand searched for his earbuds.

On days like that, he learned that music helped a little. And a little was enough to keep him sane enough until he could go home.

But his other pocket was empty.

“Lucius?” Stede looked over at him, forced a smile. “Could you stay by the desk for a minute? I need to go out back for something.”

Once Lucius had waved him off he quickly walked through the door behind the desk and into the staff room, searching for where he had put his bag. He found it next to Izzy’s, and every moment that passed as he rooted through it and didn’t find his earbuds, the more worked up he got.

He even resorted to digging through Izzy’s bag, just in case he had dropped them in there by accident, but he couldn’t find them.

He hadn’t brought them.

It was such a silly thing, but it was enough for Stede’s eyes to well with tears, huffed out breaths as he leant against the wall and tried to keep from crying.

But he was so… so strung out, and tired, and overwhelmed, and he couldn’t even stop his stupid brain from overthinking he just-

He choked on a sob and, mortified, covered his mouth with his hands in the hopes that Lucius hadn’t heard him.

Once the damn had broken he had no hope of mending it again, so he stood like a child in the corner of his office and cried.

On days like that Stede wished he could just… stop existing. Disappear. Not have to deal with- with whatever this was.

He was still trying to muffle his crying into his hands when the door opened, and his eyes widened when he looked up to see who had walked in, expecting Lucius or Frenchie — the two who predominantly worked in the library section of his shop with him — but it was Izzy.

He looked just as shocked as Stede did, he clearly hadn’t been expecting to see Stede breaking down in the staff room.

“Stede?” Izzy pushed the rest of the way into the room, shut the door behind him, and wasted no time in going over to hold Stede’s shoulders.

He couldn’t tell if he was more comforted by Izzy’s presence or embarrassed.

“S-sorry-” he sniffled, looked anywhere but at Izzy’s face. “I- god I’m okay, I just- fuck I’m sorry, Iz- Izzy-”

“Stede,” Izzy squeezed his shoulders, his voice hard and grounding. “Take it easy, okay?”

But he couldn’t, not now that he had opened the barrier. Stede all but fell apart, choking on his tears and mumbled apologies and just- he couldn’t help it. He felt so embarrassed and stupid and ugly, and there was nothing he could do.

He only registered the familiar ache in his chest when he felt Izzy’s grip tighten, and he shook him a little, and it was only then that Stede realised that Izzy was talking to him, he just hadn’t been focusing enough to hear it.

The only thing he could focus on was the drumming of his heart against his rib cage, the ache in his chest that was there because-

Oh god he couldn’t breathe.

Izzy shook him again, a little more violently, and Stede blinked at him, eyes wide and choking on his sobs and not getting enough air in-

Izzy grasped one of his hands and pulled it forwards, laid it upon his chest. And though his drumming heartbeat and the buzzing in his ears stopped him from hearing Izzy, he could see what he was doing — he had exaggerated his breaths and kept Stede’s hands firmly planted on his chest, allowed him to feel the steady rise and fall, to let him copy it.

It took a little bit of time for him to fall into the rhythm of it. By the time he had stopped crying heavily enough to actually make a decent effort, he had both hands planted on Izzy’s chest and his eyes screwed shut, just let himself focus on the rise and fall of his chest.

Rise, inhale, fall, exhale; over and over and over.

Stede couldn’t tell if they had been at it for minutes or hours, but eventually he had calmed enough to breathe steadily. The tears were still falling but they were merely silent streams, nothing as- as dramatic as before.

Stede’s hands slipped from Izzy’s chest, and with what little energy he had drained, he opened his eyes to look at Izzy. And the expression he had on his face was so… so mortified. He hadn’t meant to worry him, or freak him out. Just the thought that he had upset him made his eyes brim with more tears.

Izzy sighed, and didn’t say anything as he took Stede into his arms, let him melt against his body. His arms held Stede tightly, and despite himself he felt good. Izzy had always been a firm presence, a stronghold for Stede. Where Ed tended to be better with words, Izzy made him feel safe.

He stood there for a while longer. Felt Izzy’s hands as they dragged up the length of his back and back down rhythmically, like they weren’t both missing their shifts by being shut away in the staff room.

Stede was the one to pull away, and the next time he looked at Izzy he still looked just as worried.

“Sorry,” his voice was hoarse as he lifted his hands to wipe at his eyes, took a deep shaking breath. “Sorry, Iz- thank you, you didn’t need to- that was very nice of you.”

Izzy frowned. “You want to tell me what has you so tightly wound?”

“It-” Stede hesitated. He’d never really… vocalised how he got on those days to Izzy and Ed. They knew he had anxiety, and that sometimes he had bad days, but he’d never told them what it was like, what to look for. And, in the middle of both of their shifts, it certainly wasn’t the time to get into that discussion, so he settled on, “I left my earbuds at home,” Stede paused, suddenly embarrassed at how silly he sounded. “I know that sounds stupid, I’m not- I mean, I’m okay I just- I think I’m a little stressed and I just wanted to listen to music but without the buds I, well, can’t.”

“That’s not stupid,” Izzy shook his head, like he knew something else was wrong. “But you won’t need them anymore.”

Stede frowned. “Well I- I mean, we’re working until four so I hardly think I’ll survive the shift without them,” he exhaled deeply, wiped his eyes again, before looking back at Izzy. “Do I look okay? I don’t want customers to tell I’ve been crying.”

“Are you fucking insane?” Izzy scowled. “You aren’t going back to work, Stede, you almost just fucking collapsed.”

“…that’s a bit of an overstatement.”

Izzy glared at him. “We’re going home. Come on.” He left no room for argument as he stepped around Stede and collected both of their bags, tossed Stede’s jacket at him, and hung his own over his arm, before he was shepherding Stede back out of the office and into the library.

“We’re going home,” Izzy announced to Lucius as they walked by, and Stede made sure not to look up at him so he couldn’t see the tears on his face. “Stede feels unwell.”

“What?” Lucius groaned. “That leaves four of us to run this whole shebang, Iz.”

“This place is fucking empty, shut the shop. Go home early.” Izzy didn’t let Lucius add anything else as he just pushed Stede out of the shop and out towards the car park.

The cold air felt nice on his tear stained face, and Stede made sure to take some more deep breaths as they walked to the car. He didn’t even ask to drive — just let Izzy direct him to the passenger seat, where he got all buckled up and just let himself sit.

Izzy got into the drivers side and connected his phone to the car’s Bluetooth — which had taken literally months for Stede to teach him how to do it — and once they were driving he called Ed.

“Izzy,” Ed’s voice came through the car’s speakers. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“We’re on our way back now,” Izzy informed him. “Stede had a panic attack…”

Stede let himself zone out as he watched out of the window at the cars and trees that whipped past.

It was sat in his own thoughts that Stede realised how truly embarrassing the past hour had been. He was an adult, why did he need music playing to keep it together? Why had he gone into a panic attack over it? And Izzy… he’d probably made him so worried. He made him shut the store for him, all because he couldn’t keep it together.

Nothing was even wrong it was just… just his fucking mind, if anything was wrong it was him, him and his stupid thoughts and his-

There was a tight squeeze on his thigh and Stede jumped, startled, and whipped his head around to see Izzy looking at him.

“Sorry,” Izzy winced at his scare. “We’re home now.”

Stede looked back out of the window, actually focused, to see that they really were back home. The front door opened and he watched as Ed walked outside, giving a wave to the car, and by the look on his face — the poorly masked worry — Stede could only wonder what Izzy had said to him on the phone when he had zoned out.

Izzy took the bags again, so when he got out of the car Stede only had to grab his jacket. All of his movements, again, felt mechanical. Didn’t feel natural.

The only thing that did feel a little closer to normal were Ed’s arms around him once he was out of the car.

“Hey love,” Ed breathed into his hair, and Stede just sunk himself into his embrace. Ed was warm and familiar, it felt like hugging Izzy; good. “Iz said you had a bit of a moment at work. All okay?”

Stede clenched his jaw and nodded. A familiar feeling had built up in his throat, and he knew that if he spoke then he’d just cry.

“I made you some tea, that herbal shit you like. It’s in the living room. Thought you might wanna wear something comfy, too, so I got some clothes out for you to change into, that jumper of mine you can’t keep your hands off of-”

Ed cut himself off when Stede sobbed. He didn’t even know why he was crying at this point. It was just… his partners were so kind. He didn’t deserve it.

“Oh babe,” Ed squeezed him tight, rubbed his back. “Let’s get you inside, okay? We’ll get you all cozy, you’ll be okay.”

Stede nodded — he couldn’t say anything because he couldn’t stop crying — so he let Ed tighten his arm around his shoulders before he led him into the house, just behind Izzy who, Stede realised, had been waiting by the door worriedly. Between the two of them they got Stede over the threshold and into the house, where he was guided to just sit on the sofa in the living room. The change of clothes could wait — Stede didn’t even know if he had the energy to change.

He felt like he had been awake for a week straight. He felt like he wasn’t really there.

Ed had planted himself on the sofa right beside him, and when Stede focused on it he realised that he was rubbing his back, long firm. He let himself focus on that, dragging in breaths in time with the movement.

“You’re alright, mate,” Ed murmured beside him, pressed kisses to Stede’s shoulder in between his words. “We’ve got you, you’re okay.”

“Stede,” he only looked up when he heard Izzy’s voice in front of him, and realised he had a mug in his hand — the tea that Ed had promised. “Here.”

Stede forced a tearful smile as he took the mug in his hands, blinked through the blurriness of his vision as he sipped from the drink.

He wasn’t even sure if he was tasting it.

Instead of taking up his usual seat in his armchair, Izzy sat himself on the coffee table in front of the sofa, in front of Ed and Stede.

“What do you need, love?” Ed murmured from his side, voice soft, and to be completely honest Stede just wanted to stop being so useless. But he knew Ed wouldn't take well to hearing those words.

Stede shrugged, glanced between Ed and Izzy, but when he felt his face burning from the shame of his actions that day he just shrugged and locked his eyes onto his tea. “I don’t know,” he whispered, sniffled through his tears. “I- I’m sorry I don’t- I’m okay I just- it’s silly-”

“If you fucking say that one more time-” Izzy started grumbling in front of him, but shut himself up when Ed gave a swift nudge to his leg.

“What Izzy means to say,” Ed rubbed his back again. “Was that it’s not silly, mate. You’re having a bad day.”

Stede nodded, though didn’t look up nor did he speak. He just sipped his drink slowly, let the embarrassment swallow him whole.

It really was shameful, the whole thing. He was a grown man, he shouldn’t have days where he was so out of control of his own emotions — toddlers had days like that, not- not men. If his father could see him he’d be even more disappointed than usual—

His heart was thumping in his chest again; he could feel it as it sped up, drumming loudly and too fast and almost too forcefully—

What made it worse was that it clearly had such an effect on Izzy and Ed, and Stede hated that; hated that Izzy had to calm him down from a panic attack over nothing, that he had to leave work early, that Ed had to worry and make him a drink and lay clothes out for him like a child. He knew, he knew, that they cared — Stede had never felt so cared for in his whole life, he truly felt like it was the first time he had people who saw him. But that didn’t mean he had to make them worry, had to burden them. Their lives couldn’t revolve around him—

He could feel his heartbeat in his head, in his ears, against his rib cage—

Stede just needed to grow up, needed to-

“Stede-”

He flinched when his cup was wrenched from his hands, tea slopped over the side of the mug, and his eyes were wide as he just stared at Izzy, who was just staring back, holding the mug.

“I-” Stede inhaled, his hands started to shake. “I was- I was going to drink it, Iz, I’m sure it’s lovely-”

“You almost dropped it,” Ed supplied from his side. “You just- fuck, man, you were just staring at the floor for a while and then I thought you were gonna fuckin’ pass out on us.”

He looked at Ed — Ed, who was usually so cheery and smiley, who looked almost gaunt with his worry — and at Izzy — Izzy, who had that look on his face again — and Stede had to swallow through the sudden nausea that clenched in his stomach.

He was being too much for them. He didn’t need to bother them.

“I’m sorry, I’m- I’m sorry, loves, I didn’t- didn’t mean to worry you-” Stede breathed, before his bottom lip trembled and he forced out, “I- I can go and stay at Lucius’, he w-won’t mind, I can just-”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Izzy blurted out. “Why would you- do you want to stay there?”

“No!” Stede choked out, his heartbeat quickening again. “No I- I want to be here but I’m just worrying you both because- because my mind is so stupid and won’t work today and I just-”

“Okay, okay, we get it, easy love,” Ed brought his arm around him and tucked Stede into the curve of his side, pressed his lips to the crown of his head. “You aren’t going anywhere, okay? We want you right here.”

Stede sniffled into Ed’s shirt, utterly exhausted. All he had been doing for what felt like the past few hours was just cry, and he wanted to just stop. His eyes squeezed shut, not quite sobbing, but he did huff out through his tears, mumbled, “I’m so tired.”

He felt a hand as it squeezed his knee, and he didn’t even look, knew it was Izzy. His hand dropped down to cover it with his own trembling fingers.

“What’s going on, hm?” Ed was just murmuring against his head, and it felt nice. His breath was something Stede could focus on, felt it as it hit his skin with every word. “Did something happen at work? Shitty customers? I’ll come down there, Stede, and feed them their fucking teeth I swear-”

“No,” Stede let out a quiet wet laugh, shook his head. “No, it’s not… it’s not anything, really.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing.” Izzy grumbled, squeezed his knee again.

“It’s…” Stede sighed, blinked through his tears and looked between the two of them. “It’s hard to explain. I’m sure you don’t want to be bored by my silly little story-”

“Hey,” Izzy squeezed his knee a little harsher than before and Stede jumped, looked up to meet his eyes. “If it’s causing you this much grief it’s not silly, okay? Stop downplaying this shit, Stede. It matters.”

Stede blinked at Izzy, swallowed the lump in his throat, and forced a nod. “Sorry,” he breathed. “I’m just…” he inhaled, unsure how to put it, and gestured between them all. “I’m not used to… to people caring.”

Both Izzy and Ed seemed to deflate, then, and Stede almost wished to take it back… but Ed kissed his temple and Izzy pulled his hand up and kissed his fingers, and maybe he didn’t need to take it back.

“Well we certainly care, so tell us what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.” Ed punctuated his words with another kiss to his head.

Stede looked down at his lap, curled his fingers of his spare hand into the material of his sleeve. “So… um, so, you both know how I can sometimes maybe get… well, how I do get — quite often actually — um, anxious,” he watched as both of them nodded before he continued, “well, sometimes it… it really overwhelms me and it just… it sticks and doesn’t go away and I don’t know what causes it, but I just feel really detached, but at the same time overwhelmed, and- and there’s nothing that helps I just feel… I just feel really shitty.”

There was certainly a lot more that he could have said, explained it better, but from the looks on his partners faces they seemed to get the gist of it.

Stede was expecting one of them to say something, whether it was something good or something bad — realistically he knew that wouldn’t happen, but nothing about his thought process that day had been realistic — so he momentarily froze in shock when Izzy leaned forwards and kissed him. It took him a moment for his body to catch up with his brain and Stede reciprocated, felt a little lighter by the time Izzy pulled away.

“…that was very nice, dear.” Stede whispered, unsure of what to say.

“Stede,” Ed spoke, then, squeezed his side and didn’t continue until he met his eyes. “Nothing about that shit is silly, okay?” His hand cupped Stede’s cheek and he leant into the warmth. “It’s… it’s a lot, fuck man I’d be a mess if I dealt with that, so you’re already doing better than I could have.”

Stede shrugged, eyes dipped down. “It’s not really an appropriate reaction-”

“Hey,” Ed lightly pinched his cheek, startled him into looking back up. “It’s okay, you can’t help any of it, can you?”

Stede shook his head slowly, glancing at at Izzy before back at Ed. “Suppose not.”

“Right,” Ed nodded, stroked beneath his eye with his thumb, before he leaned in to kiss the spot gently. “It’s okay. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

For the first time that day Stede felt like he could finally breathe. He deflated a little, glanced between them again, murmured, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Apologise again and I’ll chuck this tea over you,” Izzy threatened, and Stede laughed a little, and it felt nice. “You have nothing to be sorry for, just… when it gets like this, you can tell us.”

“Right, yes, you can,” Ed chimed in. “Or if you feel like you can’t say it then you can, I dunno, write us a note. Stick it to the fridge or something, I’ll see it.”

Izzy turned to glare at Ed. “You never read anything on the fridge.”

“Yes I do, thank you very much.”

“What about the shopping list?”

“…handwriting was too small-”

“Or the bills? Or the letter from your mother-”

Funnily enough, it was listening to them bicker that made Stede’s eyes fill with tears again. He just- he had been so frustrated over it, and so overwhelmed by the bulk of his anxiety, and now that they had talked the relief was emotional. He felt loved and cared for, and even if he didn’t feel alright in the slightest, he knew there wasn’t a better place for him.

Their bickering was cut off when Stede threw his arms around both of their shoulders, pulling them all into a hug. It was at a bit of an awkward angle with Izzy on the coffee table, but all of them tucked their arms around one another and they all fit nicely into place.

“I love you both,” Stede choked out softly. “Very, very much. Thank you, loves.”

He felt kisses against his head as their arms tightened around him, and maybe for the first time in his life, Stede truly believed that he might, in the end of it all, be okay.

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

comments would mean the world <3 requests are open!

[fen-the-space-dragon]

Middlepaw info dump cuz I’m bored. No, this will not be well organized. I’m tired and don’t have the energy to organize and also just remembered I gotta do Duolingo, but really don’t wanna… so if I mysteriously disappear, you know why. Anyways, sorry if this is rambly and/or doesn’t make any sense… I may or may not fix it later if needed

- They crave attention because they often don’t recieve a lot of it. Because they haven’t recieved much of it, tho, they aren’t too great at interacting with others… so instead of just talking to cats to get attention, they do some interesting things. Example: approaching Milkwail (quitedisasterous’ character. I absolutely love Milkwail <33) in hopes of being punted because being punted is a form of attention and any attention is good attention (spoiler: this plan failed, but in the best way possible)

- When they do get attention, they have no clue what to do with it. Social situations are not their specialty

- To make up for the lack of interacting with cats, they tend to interact with inanimate objects instead. Rocks, sticks, leaves, whatever. They’ll also just talk to nothing while staring off into the void of time and space. They have like full on convos like this and have specific objects that are their close friends. They tend to keep these ones stashed in hiding places around the territory so that others don’t accidentally mess with them or something not realizing that they have importance. (one of Middlepaw’s favorites is their emotional support shedded snake skin named Jerry. Why is it named Jerry? Cuz I said so. I really don’t know. They keep Jerry extra well hidden compared to the others)

- Middlepaw is very nonconfrontational. For example, if someone were to find one of their object friends and messed with it in some way, they wouldn’t be happy about it, but wouldn’t do anything. They’d probably just watch from a distance and be really tense the whole time and then go find it a new hiding spot the moment the cat left (btw, by “not happy,” I mean like worried, not mad. They understand that these are just objects to everyone else and don’t blame others for not seeing these things the same way they do)

- They talk to themselves and also objects and stuff and they do so both out loud and in their head, so sometimes they mix the two up… meaning they’ll occasionally talk to a cat and accidentally say things in their head and just be staring at the cat waiting for a response to something they never actually said

- They did have a family (parents and two siblings), but they just kinda disappeared one day. I’m still working out the details on this, kinda wanna wait until more canon lore about Mommyclan history comes out before I set the specifics in stone. Middlepaw has a vague idea of what happened to them, but that’s probably about the most info anyone has. Middlepaw also just kinda tried to pretend nothing had happened. This is all subject to change tho. I’ll prob make another post about this once I solidify the details and stuff. Or maybe not, idk. We’ll see

- They’re 10 moons old

- Uhhhhhhhh… more fun facts…. Middlepaw loves mints. They found one once and absolutely loved it

Aaand that’s all I can think of rn. I might do another later if I think of more stuff idk. If you read this, thank you! I appreciate your interest in my ‘lil cat ^^